COMMENCEMENT OF GENERAL JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION.
On the 4th of March, 1829, the new President was inaugurated,
with the usual ceremonies, and delivered the address which
belongs to the occasion; and which, like all of its class, was
a general declaration of the political principles by which the
new administration would be guided. The general terms in which
such addresses are necessarily conceived preclude the possibility
of minute practical views, and leave to time and events the
qualification of the general declarations. Such declarations are
always in harmony with the grounds upon which the new President's
election had been made, and generally agreeable to his supporters,
without being repulsive to his opponents; harmony and conciliation
being an especial object with every new administration. So of
General Jackson's inaugural address on this occasion. It was
a general chart of democratic principles; but of which a few
paragraphs will bear reproduction in this work, as being either
new and strong, or a revival of good old principles, of late
neglected. Thus: as a military man his election had been deprecated
as possibly leading to a military administration: on the contrary
he thus expressed himself on the subject of standing armies, and
subordination of the military to the civil authority: "Considering
standing armies as dangerous to free government, in time of peace, I
shall not seek to enlarge our present establishment; nor disregard
that salutary lesson of political experience which teaches that
the military should be held subordinate to the civil power." On
the cardinal doctrine of economy, and freedom from public debt, he
said: "Under every aspect in which it can be considered, it would
appear that advantage must result from the observance of a strict
and faithful economy. This I shall aim at the more anxiously, both
because it will facilitate the extinguishment of the national
debt--the unnecessary duration of which is incompatible with real
independence;--and because it will counteract that tendency to
public and private profligacy which a profuse expenditure of money
by the government is but too apt to engender." Reform of abuses
and non-interference with elections, were thus enforced: "The
recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes, on the list of
executive duties, in characters too legible to be overlooked, the
task of reform, which will require, particularly, the correction
of those abuses that have brought the patronage of the federal
government into conflict with the freedom of elections." The oath of
office was administered by the venerable Chief Justice, Marshall,
to whom that duty had belonged for about thirty years. The Senate,
according to custom, having been convened in extra session for the
occasion, the cabinet appointments were immediately sent in and
confirmed. They were, Martin Van Buren, of New-York, Secretary of
State (Mr. James A. Hamilton, of New-York, son of the late General
Hamilton, being charged with the duties of the office until Mr. Van
Buren could enter upon them); Samuel D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania,
Secretary of the Treasury; John H. Eaton, of Tennessee, Secretary
at War; John Branch, of North Carolina, Secretary of the Navy;
John M. Berrien, of Georgia, Attorney General; William T. Harry,
of Kentucky, Postmaster General; those who constituted the late
cabinet, under Mr. Adams, only one of them, (Mr. John McLean, the
Postmaster General,) classed politically with General Jackson; and
a vacancy having occurred on the bench of the Supreme Court by the
death of Mr. Justice Trimble, of Kentucky, Mr. McLean was appointed
to fill it; and a further vacancy soon after occurring, the death
of Mr. Justice Bushrod Washington (nephew of General Washington),
Mr. Henry Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, was appointed in his place. The
Twenty-first Congress dated the commencement of its legal existence
on the day of the commencement of the new administration, and its
members were as follows:
SENATE.
MAINE--John Holmes, Peleg Sprague.
NEW HAMPSHIRE--Samuel Bell, Levi Woodbury.
MASSACHUSETTS--Nathaniel Silsbee, Daniel Webster.
CONNECTICUT--Samuel A. Foot, Calvin Willey.
RHODE ISLAND--Nehemiah R. Knight, Asher Robbins.
VERMONT--Dudley Chase, Horatio Seymour.
NEW-YORK--Nathan Sanford, Charles E. Dudley.
NEW JERSEY--Theodore Frelinghuysen, Mahlon Dickerson.
PENNSYLVANIA--William Marks, Isaac D. Barnard.
DELAWARE--John M. Clayton, (_Vacant._)
MARYLAND--Samuel Smith, Ezekiel F. Chambers.
VIRGINIA--L. W. Tazewell, John Tyler.
NORTH CAROLINA--James Iredell, (_Vacant._)
SOUTH CAROLINA--William Smith, Robert Y. Hayne.
GEORGIA--George M. Troup, John Forsyth.
KENTUCKY--John Rowan, George M. Bibb.
TENNESSEE--Hugh L. White, Felix Grundy.
OHIO--Benjamin Ruggles, Jacob Burnet.
LOUISIANA--Josiah S. Johnston, Edward Livingston.
INDIANA--William Hendricks, James Noble.
MISSISSIPPI--Powhatan Ellis, (_Vacant._)
ILLINOIS--Elias K. Kane, John McLane.
ALABAMA--John McKinley, William R. King.
MISSOURI--David Barton, Thomas H. Benton.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
MAINE--John Anderson, Samuel Butman, George Evans, Rufus
McIntire, James W. Ripley, Joseph F. Wingate--6. (_One vacant._)
NEW HAMPSHIRE--John Brodhead, Thomas Chandler, Joseph Hammons,
Jonathan Harvey, Henry Hubbard, John W. Weeks--6.
MASSACHUSETTS--John Bailey, Issac C. Bates, B. W. Crowninshield,
John Davis, Henry W. Dwight, Edward Everett, Benjamin Gorham,
George Grennell, jr., James L. Hodges, Joseph G. Kendall, John
Reed, Joseph Richardson, John Varnum--13.
RHODE ISLAND--Tristam Burgess, Dutee J. Pearce--2.
CONNECTICUT--Noyes Barber, Wm. W. Ellsworth, J. W. Huntington,
Ralph J. Ingersoll, W. L. Storrs, Eben Young--6.
VERMONT--William Cahoon, Horace Everett, Jonathan Hunt, Rollin
C. Mallary, Benjamin Swift--5.
NEW-YORK--William G. Angel, Benedict Arnold, Thomas Beekman,
Abraham Bockee, Peter I. Borst, C. C. Cambreleng, Jacob
Crocheron, Timothy Childs, Henry B. Cowles, Hector Craig,
Charles G. Dewitt, John D. Dickinson, Jonas Earll, jr., George
Fisher, Isaac Finch, Michael Hoffman, Joseph Hawkins, Jehiel
H. Halsey, Perkins King, James W. Lent, John Magee, Henry C.
Martindale, Robert Monell, Thomas Maxwell, E. Norton, Gershom
Powers, Robert S. Rose, Henry R. Storrs, James Strong, Ambrose
Spencer, John W. Taylor, Phineas L. Tracy, Gulian. C. Verplanck,
Campbell P. White--34.
NEW JERSEY--Lewis Condict, Richard M. Cooper, Thomas H. Hughes,
Isaac Pierson, James F. Randolph, Samuel Swan--6.
PENNSYLVANIA--James Buchanan, Richard Coulter, Thomas H.
Crawford, Joshua Evans, Chauncey Forward, Joseph Fry, jr.,
James Ford, Innes Green, John Gilmore, Joseph Hemphill, Peter
Ihrie, jr., Thomas Irwin, Adam King, George G. Leiper, H. A.
Muhlenburg, Alem Marr, Daniel H. Miller, William McCreery,
William Ramsay, John Scott, Philander Stephens, John B.
Sterigere, Joel B. Sutherland, Samuel Smith, Thomas H. Sill--25.
(_One vacant._)
DELAWARE--Kensy Johns, jr.--1.
MARYLAND--Elias Brown, Clement Dorsey, Benjamin C. Howard,
George E. Mitchell, Michael C. Sprigg, Benedict I. Semmes,
Richard Spencer, George C. Washington, Ephraim K. Wilson--9.
VIRGINIA--Mark Alexander, Robert Allen, Wm. S. Archer, Wm.
Armstrong, jr., John S. Barbour, Philip P. Barbour, J. T.
Boulding, Richard Coke, jr., Nathaniel H. Claiborne, Robert B.
Craig, Philip Doddridge, Thomas Davenport, William F. Gordon,
Lewis Maxwell, Charles F. Mercer, William McCoy, Thomas Newton,
John Roane, Alexander Smyth, Andrew Stevenson, John Taliaferro,
James Trezvant--22.
NORTH CAROLINA--Willis Alston, Daniel L. Barringer, Samuel
P. Carson, H. W. Conner, Edmund Deberry, Edward B. Dudley,
Thomas H. Hall, Robert Potter, William B. Shepard, Augustine H.
Shepperd, Jesse Speight, Lewis Williams--12. (_One vacant._)
SOUTH CAROLINA--Robert W. Barnwell, James Blair, John Campbell,
Warren R. Davis, William Drayton, William D. Martin, George
McDuffie, William T. Nuckolls, Starling Tucker--9.
GEORGIA--Thomas F. Forster, Charles E. Haynes, Wilson Lumpkin,
Henry G. Lamar, Wiley Thompson, Richard H. Wilde, James M.
Wayne--7.
KENTUCKY--James Clark, N. D. Coleman, Thomas Chilton, Henry
Daniel, Nathan Gaither, R. M. Johnson, John Kinkaid, Joseph
Lecompte, Chittenden Lyon, Robert P. Letcher, Charles A.
Wickliffe, Joel Yancey--12.
TENNESSEE--John Blair, John Bell, David Crockett, Robert Desha,
Jacob C. Isacks, Cave Johnson, Pryor Lea, James K. Polk, James
Standifer--9.
OHIO--Mordecai Bartley, Joseph H. Crane, William Creighton,
James Findlay, John M. Goodenow, Wm. W. Irwin, Wm. Kennon, Wm.
Russell, William Stanberry, James Shields, John Thomson, Joseph
Vance, Samuel F. Vinton, Elisha Whittlesey--14.
LOUISIANA--Henry H. Gurley, W. H. Overton, Edward D. White--3.
INDIANA--Ratliff Boon, Jonathan Jennings, John Test--3.
ALABAMA--R. E. B. Baylor, C. C. Clay, Dixon H. Lewis--3.
MISSISSIPPI--Thomas Hinds--1.
ILLINOIS--Joseph Duncan--1.
MISSOURI--Spencer Pettis--1.
DELEGATES.
MICHIGAN TERRITORY--John Biddle--1.
ARKANSAS TERRITORY--A. H. Sevier--1.
FLORIDA TERRITORY--Joseph M. White--1.
Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, was re-elected speaker of the House,
receiving 152 votes out of 191; and he classing politically with
General Jackson, this large vote in his favor, and the small one
against him (and that scattered and thrown away on several different
names not candidates), announced a pervading sentiment among the
people, in harmony with the presidential election--and showing that
political principles, and not military glare, had produced the
General's election.