RETIRING AND DEATH OF GENERAL JACKSON--ADMINISTRATION OF MARTIN VAN
BUREN.
The second and last term of General Jackson's presidency expired on
the 3d of March, 1837. The next day, at twelve, he appeared with
his successor, Mr. Van Buren, on the elevated and spacious eastern
portico of the capitol, as one of the citizens who came to witness
the inauguration of the new President, and no way distinguished
from them, except by his place on the left hand of the President
elect. The day was beautiful--clear sky, balmy vernal sun, tranquil
atmosphere;--and the assemblage immense. On foot, in the large
area in front of the steps, orderly without troops, and closely
wedged together, their faces turned to the portico--presenting
to the beholders from all the eastern windows the appearance of
a field paved with human faces. This vast crowd remained riveted
to their places, and profoundly silent, until the ceremony of
inauguration was over. It was the stillness and silence of reverence
and affection; and there was no room for mistake as to whom this
mute and impressive homage was rendered. For once, the rising was
eclipsed by the setting sun. Though disrobed of power, and retiring
to the shades of private life, it was evident that the great
ex-President was the absorbing object of this intense regard. At
the moment he began to descend the broad steps of the portico to
take his seat in the open carriage which was to bear him away, the
deep repressed feeling of the dense mass brook forth, acclamations
and cheers bursting from the heart and filling the air--such as
power never commanded, nor man in power received. It was the
affection, gratitude, and admiration of the living age, saluting
for the last time a great man. It was the acclaim of posterity,
breaking from the bosoms of contemporaries. It was the anticipation
of futurity--unpurchasable homage to the hero-patriot who, all
his life, and in all circumstances of his life, in peace and in
war, and glorious in each, had been the friend of his country,
devoted to her, regardless of self. Uncovered, and bowing, with
a look of unaffected humility and thankfulness, he acknowledged
in mute signs his deep sensibility to this affecting overflow of
popular feeling. I was looking down from a side window, and felt an
emotion which had never passed through me before. I had seen the
inauguration of many presidents, and their going away, and their
days of state, vested with power, and surrounded by the splendors
of the first magistracy of a great republic. But they all appeared
to be as pageants, empty and soulless, brief to the view, unreal
to the touch, and soon to vanish. But here there seemed to be a
reality--a real scene--a man and the people--he, laying down power
and withdrawing through the portals of everlasting fame;--they,
sounding in his ears the everlasting plaudits of unborn generations.
Two days after, I saw the patriot ex-President in the car which
bore him off to his desired seclusion. I saw him depart with that
look of quiet enjoyment which bespoke the inward satisfaction of
the soul at exchanging the cares of office for the repose of home.
History, poetry, oratory, marble and brass, will hand down the
military exploits of Jackson: this work will commemorate the events
of his civil administration, not less glorious than his military
achievements, great as they were; and this brief notice of his last
appearance at the American capital is intended to preserve some
faint memory of a scene, the grandeur of which was so impressive to
the beholder, and the solace of which must have been so grateful to
the heart of the departing patriot.
Eight years afterwards he died at the Hermitage, in the full
possession of all his faculties, and strong to the last in the
ruling passion of his soul--love of country. Public history will
do justice to his public life; but a further notice is wanted of
him--a notice of the domestic man--of the man at home, with his
wife, his friends, his neighbors, his slaves; and this I feel some
qualification for giving, from my long and varied acquaintance
with him. First, his intimate and early friend--then a rude
rupture--afterwards friendship and intimacy for twenty years, and
until his death: in all forty years of personal observation, in the
double relation of friend and foe, and in all the walks of life,
public and private, civil and military.
The first time that I saw General Jackson was at Nashville,
Tennessee, in 1799--he on the bench, a judge of the then Superior
Court, and I a youth of seventeen, back in the crowd. He was then a
remarkable man, and had his ascendant over all who approached him,
not the effect of his high judicial station, nor of the senatorial
rank which he had held and resigned; nor of military exploits, for
he had not then been to war; but the effect of personal qualities;
cordial and graceful manners, hospitable temper, elevation of mind,
undaunted spirit, generosity, and perfect integrity. In charging
the jury in the impending case, he committed a slight solecism in
language which grated on my ear, and lodged on my memory, without
derogating in the least from the respect which he inspired; and
without awakening the slightest suspicion that I was ever to be
engaged in smoothing his diction. The first time I spoke with him
was some years after, at a (then) frontier town in Tennessee, when
he was returning from a Southern visit, which brought him through
the towns and camps of some of the Indian tribes. In pulling off
his overcoat, I perceived on the white lining of the turning down
sleeve, a dark speck, which had life and motion. I brushed it off,
and put the heel of my shoe upon it--little thinking that I was ever
to brush away from him game of a very different kind. He smiled;
and we began a conversation, in which he very quickly revealed a
leading trait of his character,--that of encouraging young men in
their laudable pursuits. Getting my name and parentage, and learning
my intended profession, he manifested a regard for me, said he
had received hospitality at my father's house in North Carolina,
gave me kind invitations to visit him; and expressed a belief that
I would do well at the bar--generous words which had the effect
of promoting what they undertook to foretell. Soon after, he had
further opportunity to show his generous feelings. I was employed
in a criminal case of great magnitude, where the oldest and ablest
counsel appeared--Haywood, Grundy, Whiteside,--and the trial of
which General Jackson attended through concern for the fate of a
friend. As junior counsel I had to precede my elders, and did my
best; and, it being on the side of his feelings, he found my effort
to be better than it was. He complimented me greatly, and from that
time our intimacy began.
I soon after became his aid, he being a Major General in the
Tennessee militia--made so by a majority of one vote. How much often
depends upon one vote!--New Orleans, the Creek campaign, and all
their consequences, date from that one vote!--and after that, I
was habitually at his house; and, as an inmate, had opportunities
to know his domestic life, and at the period when it was least
understood and most misrepresented. He had resigned his place on the
bench of the Superior Court, as he had previously resigned his place
in the Senate of the United States, and lived on a superb estate
of some thousand acres, twelve miles from Nashville, then hardly
known by its subsequent famous name of the Hermitage--name chosen
for its perfect accord with his feelings; for he had then actually
withdrawn from the stage of public life, and from a state of feeling
well known to belong to great talent when finding no theatre for
its congenial employment. He was a careful farmer, overlooking
every thing himself, seeing that the fields and fences were in good
order, the stock well attended, and the slaves comfortably provided
for. His house was the seat of hospitality, the resort of friends
and acquaintances, and of all strangers visiting the State--and the
more agreeable to all from the perfect conformity of Mrs. Jackson's
character to his own. But he needed some excitement beyond that
which a farming life can afford, and found it, for some years, in
the animating sports of the turf. He loved fine horses--racers of
speed and bottom--owned several, and contested the four mile heats
with the best that could be bred, or brought to the State, and for
large sums. That is the nearest to gaming that I ever knew him
to come. Cards and the cockpit have been imputed to him, but most
erroneously. I never saw him engaged in either. Duels were usual
in that time, and he had his share of them, with their unpleasant
concomitants; but they passed away with all their animosities, and
he has often been seen zealously pressing the advancement of those
against whom he had but lately been arrayed in deadly hostility.
His temper was placable as well as irascible, and his
reconciliations were cordial and sincere. Of that, my own case was
a signal instance. After a deadly feud, I became his confidential
adviser; was offered the highest marks of his favor, and received
from his dying bed a message of friendship, dictated when life was
departing, and when he would have to pause for breath. There was
a deep-seated vein of piety in him, unaffectedly showing itself
in his reverence for divine worship, respect for the ministers of
the gospel, their hospitable reception in his house, and constant
encouragement of all the pious tendencies of Mrs. Jackson. And when
they both afterwards became members of a church, it was the natural
and regular result of their early and cherished feelings. He was
gentle in his house, and alive to the tenderest emotions; and of
this, I can give an instance, greatly in contrast with his supposed
character, and worth more than a long discourse in showing what that
character really was. I arrived at his house one wet chilly evening,
in February, and came upon him in the twilight, sitting alone before
the fire, a lamb and a child between his knees. He started a little,
called a servant to remove the two innocents to another room, and
explained to me how it was. The child had cried because the lamb was
out in the cold, and begged him to bring it in--which he had done
to please the child, his adopted son, then not two years old. The
ferocious man does not do that! and though Jackson had his passions
and his violence, they were for men and enemies--those who stood
up against him--and not for women and children, or the weak and
helpless: for all whom his feelings were those of protection and
support. His hospitality was active as well as cordial, embracing
the worthy in every walk of life, and seeking out deserving
objects to receive it, no matter how obscure. Of this, I learned a
characteristic instance in relation to the son of the famous Daniel
Boone. The young man had come to Nashville on his father's business,
to be detained some weeks, and had his lodgings at a small tavern,
towards the lower part of the town. General Jackson heard of it;
sought him out; found him; took him home to remain as long as his
business detained him in the country, saying, "Your father's dog
should not stay in a tavern, where I have a house." This was heart!
and I had it from the young man himself, long after, when he was a
State Senator of the General Assembly of Missouri, and, as such,
nominated me for the United States Senate, at my first election, in
1820: an act of hereditary friendship, as our fathers had been early
friends.
Abhorrence of debt, public and private, dislike of banks, and love
of hard money--love of justice and love of country, were ruling
passions with Jackson; and of these he gave constant evidence in
all the situations of his life. Of private debts he contracted none
of his own, and made any sacrifices to get out of those incurred
for others. Of this he gave a signal instance, not long before
the war of 1812--selling the improved part of his estate, with
the best buildings of the country upon it, to pay a debt incurred
in a mercantile adventure to assist a young relative; and going
into log-houses in the forest to begin a new home and farm. He was
living in these rude tenements when he vanquished the British at New
Orleans; and, probably, a view of their conqueror's domicile would
have astonished the British officers as much as their defeat had
done. He was attached to his friends, and to his country, and never
believed any report to the discredit of either, until compelled by
proof. He would not believe in the first reports of the surrender
of General Hull, and became sad and oppressed when forced to
believe it. He never gave up a friend in a doubtful case, or from
policy, or calculation. He was a firm believer in the goodness of a
superintending Providence, and in the eventual right judgment and
justice of the people. I have seen him at the most desperate part of
his fortunes, and never saw him waver in the belief that all would
come right in the end. In the time of Cromwell he would have been a
puritan.
The character of his mind was that of judgment, with a rapid and
almost intuitive perception, followed by an instant and decisive
action. It was that which made him a General, and a President for
the time in which he served. He had vigorous thoughts, but not the
faculty of arranging them in a regular composition, either written
or spoken; and in formal papers he usually gave his draft to an
aid, a friend, or a secretary, to be written over--often to the
loss of vigor. But the thoughts were his own vigorously expressed;
and without effort, writing with a rapid pen, and never blotting
or altering; but, as Carlyle says of Cromwell, hitting the nail
upon the head as he went. I have a great deal of his writing now,
some on public affairs and covering several sheets of paper; and
no erasures or interlineations anywhere. His conversation was like
his writing, a vigorous flowing current, apparently without the
trouble of thinking, and always impressive. His conclusions were
rapid, and immovable, when he was under strong convictions; though
often yielding, on minor points, to his friends. And no man yielded
quicker when he was convinced; perfectly illustrating the difference
between firmness and obstinacy. Of all the Presidents who have done
me the honor to listen to my opinions, there was no one to whom I
spoke with more confidence when I felt myself strongly to be in the
right.
He had a load to carry all his life; resulting from a temper which
refused compromises and bargaining, and went for a clean victory
or a clean defeat, in every case. Hence, every step he took was a
contest: and, it may be added, every contest was a victory. I have
already said that he was elected a Major General in Tennessee--an
election on which so much afterwards depended--by one vote. His
appointment in the United States regular army was a conquest
from the administration, which had twice refused to appoint him
a Brigadier, and once disbanded him as a volunteer general, and
only yielded to his militia victories. His election as President
was a victory over politicians--as was every leading event of his
administration.
I have said that his appointment in the regular army was a victory
over the administration, and it belongs to the inside view of
history, and to the illustration of government mistakes, and the
elucidation of individual merit surmounting obstacles, to tell how
it was. Twice passed by to give preference to two others in the
West (General Harrison and General Winchester), once disbanded, and
omitted in all the lists of military nominations, how did he get
at last to be appointed Major General? It was thus. Congress had
passed an act authorizing the President to accept organized corps
of volunteers. I proposed to General Jackson to raise a corps under
that act, and hold it ready for service. He did so; and with this
corps and some militia, he defeated the Creek Indians, and gained
the reputation which forced his appointment in the regular army.
I drew up the address which he made to his division at the time,
and when I carried it to him in the evening, I found the child and
the lamb between his knees. He had not thought of this resource,
but caught at it instantly, adopted the address, with two slight
alterations, and published it to his division. I raised a regiment
myself, and made the speeches at the general musters, which helped
to raise two others, assisted by a small band of friends--all
feeling confident that if we could conquer the difficulty--master
the first step--and get him upon the theatre of action, he would
do the rest himself. This is the way he got into the regular army,
not only unselected by the wisdom of government, but rejected by
it--a stone rejected by the master builders--and worked in by an
unseen hand, to become the corner stone of the temple. The aged men
of Tennessee will remember all this, and it is time that history
should learn it. But to return to the private life and personal
characteristics of this extraordinary man.
There was an innate, unvarying, self-acting delicacy in his
intercourse with the female sex, including all womankind; and
on that point my personal observation (and my opportunities for
observation were both large and various), enables me to join in
the declaration of the belief expressed by his earliest friend and
most intimate associate, the late Judge Overton, of Tennessee. The
Roman general won an immortality of honor by one act of continence;
what praise is due to Jackson, whose whole life was continent? I
repeat: if he had been born in the time of Cromwell, he would have
been a puritan. Nothing could exceed his kindness and affection to
Mrs. Jackson, always increasing in proportion as his elevation,
and culminating fortunes, drew cruel attacks upon her. I knew her
well, and that a more exemplary woman in all the relations of
life, wife, friend, neighbor, relative, mistress of slaves--never
lived, and never presented a more quiet, cheerful and admirable
management of her household. She had not education, but she had a
heart, and a good one; and that was always leading her to do kind
things in the kindest manner. She had the General's own warm heart,
frank manners and hospitable temper; and no two persons could have
been better suited to each other, lived more happily together, or
made a house more attractive to visitors. She had the faculty--a
rare one--of retaining names and titles in a throng of visitors,
addressing each one appropriately, and dispensing hospitality to all
with a cordiality which enhanced its value. No bashful youth, or
plain old man, whose modesty sat them down at the lower end of the
table, could escape her cordial attention, any more than the titled
gentlemen on her right and left. Young persons were her delight, and
she always had her house filled with them--clever young women and
clever young men--all calling her affectionately, "Aunt Rachel."
I was young then, and was one of that number. I owe it to early
recollections, and to cherished convictions--in this last notice
of the Hermitage--to bear this faithful testimony to the memory of
its long mistress--the loved and honored wife of a great man. Her
greatest eulogy is in the affection which he bore her living, and in
the sorrow with which he mourned her dead. She died at the moment
of the General's first election to the Presidency; and every one
that had a just petition to present, or charitable request to make,
lost in her death, the surest channel to the ear and to the heart
of the President. His regard for her survived, and lived in the
persons of her nearest relatives. A nephew of hers was his adopted
son and heir, taking his own name, and now the respectable master
of the Hermitage. Another nephew, Andrew Jackson Donelson, Esq.,
was his private secretary when President. The Presidential mansion
was presided over during his term by her niece, the most amiable
Mrs. Donelson; and all his conduct bespoke affectionate and lasting
remembrance of one he had held so dear.
END OF VOLUME I.
INDEX TO VOL. I.
A
_A. B. Plot_, The.--
Charges against Wm. H. Crawford, 35;
the A. B. papers, a series of articles which appeared in the
newspapers, 35;
expectation of the accuser that matter would lie over until after
the Presidential election, 35;
immediate action, 35;
committee appointed, 35;
answer of Crawford, 35;
its character, 35;
who written by, 35;
proceeding in the case, 35;
testimony of Edwards, 36;
his proceedings, 36;
report of committee, 36.
ADAMS, JOHN, decease of, 87;
sketch of his character, 87.
ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, Secretary of State, 7;
his diary relative to the unanimity of the cabinet on the Missouri
question, 8;
connection with the treaty of 1818, 15;
on internal improvements, 22;
candidate for the Presidency in 1824, 44;
commencement of his administration, 54;
his inaugural address, 54;
grounds of opposition, 54;
the majority of the Senate opposed, 55;
strong minority of the House opposed, 55;
position of the two Houses with regard to the President, 91;
contest for Speaker, 92;
organization of the committees, 92;
contents of the President's message, 92;
its notice of the Panama Congress, 92;
the finances, 93;
uselessness of retaining a balance in the treasury, 93;
members of the two Houses, 93;
array of business talent, 94;
three classes of men: men of speech and judgment, men of judgment
and no speech, men of speech and no judgment, 94;
on the Committee of Bank Investigation, 241;
his position on the slavery question, 686.
_Affairs, how changed by the War of 1812, and their subsequent
aspect._--War of 1812, 1;
necessity and importance, 1;
changes it produced in American policy, 1;
state of the finances and currency under which it struggled, 1;
its termination with respect to its causes, 1;
gold ceased to be a currency, 1;
silver banished, 1;
local banks, 1;
suspension of specie payments, 1;
Treasury notes resorted to, 1;
depreciation, 1;
their use, 1;
the Government, paralyzed by the state of the finances,
forced to seek peace, 1;
impressment the cause of the declaration of the war, 1;
first time in modern history that a war terminated by a treaty
without a stipulation as to its cause, 1;
treaty of 1807, why rejected by the President, 1;
its importance, 1;
the war showed the British Government that the people of the
United States would fight on the point of impressment,
2;
no impressment since, 2;
causes of the success of the war, in spite of the empty
treasury, 2;
exemption held by right and by might, 2;
the financial lesson taught by the war, 2;
the lesson when availed of, 2;
its effects, 2.
The second Bank grew out of the war, 2;
currency of the constitution not thought of, 2;
national bank regarded as the only remedy, 2;
its constitutionality, 2;
the word "_necessary_," 2;
Hamilton's grounds for a bank, 2;
difficulties of the finances during the second war ascribed to
the want of a bank, 3;
concessions of its old opponents, 3;
many subsequently convinced the constitutional currency had not
had a fair trial, 3;
national bank shown to be unnecessary by the Mexican war, 3;
constitutional question decided, 3.
Protection of American industry as a substantive object grew out
of the war, 3;
incidental protection always acknowledged and granted, 3;
domestic manufactures wanted, during the non-importation period
of the embargo and hostilities, 3;
want of articles of defence felt during the war, 3;
protection for the sake of protection carried in 1816, 3;
course of legislation reversed, 3.
Question of internal improvements developed by the war, 3;
want of facilities for transportation felt in military
operations, 3;
the power claimed as an incident to the greatest powers, 3;
found in the word "necessary," 3;
complicated the national legislation from 1820 to 1850, 3;
the question does not extend to territories, 4;
no political rights under the constitution, 4;
rivers and harbors--internal improvement of based on the
commercial and revenue clause, 4;
the restriction contended for, 4.
Boundaries between the treaty-making power and the legislative
departments a subject of examination, 4;
the broad proposition, 4;
the qualification, 4;
a vital one, 4;
which department to judge of encroachments by the other? 4;
discussions in Congress, between 1815 and 1820, on this
point, 4.
The doctrine of secession was born of the war of 1812, 4;
the design imputed to the Hartford Convention, 4;
its existence raised the question, 4;
the right then repudiated by the democracy, 4;
language respecting it then south of the Potomac, 4;
the question thus far compromised, not settled, 5.
Slavery agitation took its rise about 1819, 5;
manner in which it was then quieted, 5;
the compromise a clear gain to the anti-slavery side, 5;
a southern measure, 5;
its features, 5.
Debt created by the war, 5;
amount of the public debt at its close, 5;
the problem to be solved was whether a public debt could be paid
in time of peace, 5.
Public distress becomes a prominent feature of subsequent
years, 5;
expansion and collapse of the bank, 5;
gloom of 1819 and 1820, 5;
commercial proceedings, 5;
legislative proceedings, 5;
distress the cry--relief the demand, 6;
good results of the war, 6.
_Amendment of the Constitution._--
Mistakes of European writers on our system of Government, 37;
Thiers and De Tocqueville, 37;
the electors but an instrument to obey the will of the
people, 37;
electors useless, 37;
amendment proposed, 37;
views of the convention which framed the constitution, 37;
Benton's remarks on a direct vote of the people for
President, 37;
"evil of the want of uniformity in the choice of Presidential
electors endangers the rights of the people, 37;
the district system, 38;
origin of the general ticket system 10 States, 38;
objection to a direct vote of the people considered, 38;
whence it is taken, 39;
admit its truth, what then? 39;
better officers elected, 39;
ancient history, 39;
triumph of popular elections, 39;
other objections to intermediate electors, 40;
time and experience condemn the continuance of the electoral
system, 40;
even if the plan of the constitution had not failed, it is
better to get rid of the electors, 40;
historical examples, 41."
An attempt to give the election of President and Vice-President
to the direct vote of the people, 78;
various propositions offered, 78;
committee appointed to report, 78;
plan reported by the committee, 78;
its prominent features, 79;
abolition of the electors and direct vote of the people--a
second election between the two highest--uniformity in
the mode of election, 79;
advantages of the plan, 79.
_Exclusion of Members of Congress from Civil Office
appointments._--
Inquiry into the expediency of amending the Constitution so as
to exclude members from appointment to civil office
moved, 82;
motion only applied to the term for which they were elected, 82;
committee report that the exclusion should extend to the
Presidential term during which the member was elected, 83;
proceedings of the convention that framed the constitution, 83;
other conventions, 83;
extracts from the proceedings of Federal Convention, 83;
early jealousy on this point, 83;
provisions for the independence of the two Houses, 83;
instance of the observance of these provisions, 84;
instance of the contrary, 84;
the Constitutional limitation a small restraint, 84;
views of the "Federalist," 84;
what has been the working of the Government? 85;
the effects of legislation, 85;
other evils resulting from the appointment of members to
office, 85;
the independence of the departments ceases between the
Executive and Legislative, 86;
examples of early Presidents, 86.
ANDERSON, RICHARD C., Jun., Representative from Kentucky, 7;
nominated minister to Panama, 66.
_Appropriation for Defences and Fortification Bill._--
Preparation recommended in the message, 554;
referred and reported on, 554;
resolved unanimously that the treaty with France be maintained and
its execution insisted on, 554;
and that preparations ought to be made to meet any emergency, 554;
appropriation of three millions inserted in the Fortification
bill, 554;
rejected in the Senate, 554;
House insist, 554;
Senate adhere, 554;
remarks of Mr. King, of Alabama, 554;
this motion never resorted to until more gentle means have
failed, 554;
are gentlemen prepared to take upon themselves such a fearful
responsibility as the rejection of this bill? 554;
in what does it violate the constitution 555;
appropriations under Washington's administration, 555;
adherence carried, 555;
conference asked by the House, 555;
committees disagree, 555;
question as to the hour of the termination of the session, 555;
remark of Mr. Cambreleng, 556;
responsibility put on the Senate, 556.
ARCHER, WILLIAM S., Representative from Virginia, 7;
on reference of the bank memorial to a select committee, 234.
_Arkansas Territory, cession of a part of to the Cherokees_--
Reasons for making her a first-class State, 107;
a treaty negotiated altering the western boundary, 107;
can a law of Congress be abolished by an Indian treaty? 107;
is it expedient to weaken the future State? 107;
supremacy of the treaty-making power considered, 107;
power in Congress to dispose of territory, 108;
the treaty ratified, 108; a southern measure, 108;
twelve thousand square miles taken off of slave territory, 108;
object to assist in inducing the removal of the Cherokees, 108;
what became of the white inhabitants, 109;
bought by the government, 109.
_Arkansas and Michigan, admission of._--
Application for an enabling act, 627;
Congress refuse to pass it, 627;
people hold conventions on their own authority and form
constitutions, 627;
message communicating the constitution of Michigan, 627;
referred, also a memorial entitled from the "Legislature of
Michigan," 627;
objection to its title, 628;
bill reported, 628;
objections, 628;
remarks of Mr. Buchanan, 628;
bill passed and sent to the House, 628;
the practice of admitting a free and slave State together, 629.
Application of Arkansas taken up, 629;
remarks of Mr. Swift against the admission, on the ground of
slavery, 629;
do. of Mr. Buchanan in favor of her admission, 629;
Prentiss opposes the admission on the ground of the
revolutionary manner in which the State had held her
convention, 630;
remarks of Mr. Morris, 630;
bill passed and sent to the House, 631.
Moved in the House to postpone the Michigan to take up the
Arkansas bill, 631;
remarks of Mr. Thomas, 631;
the point of jealousy between some Southern and Northern
members revealed, 631;
remarks on the motion to refer both bills and combine them in
one, 631;
Lewis's remarks on giving the Arkansas bill the priority of
decision, 632;
further debate, 633;
bills referred to the Committee of the Whole, 634;
points of the debate--
First, the formation of constitutions without the previous
assent of Congress;
Second, the right of aliens to vote before naturalization;
Third, the right of Arkansas to be admitted with slavery by
virtue of the rights of a State--of the treaty of
Louisiana and of the Missouri Compromise, 634, 635, 636;
an account of the session of twenty-four hours, 636;
bill put to vote, 637;
struggle to bring the bills to a vote not to pass them, 637;
causes, 637;
one special one, 637.
ASTOR, JOHN JACOB.--His colony at Astoria, 13, 109.
AUSTIN, MOSES, founder of the Texas Colony, 674.
B
BALDWIN, HENRY, Representative from Pennsylvania, 7;
coadjutor with Clay on the Missouri question, 10;
appointed Justice of the Supreme Court, 120.
_Bank of the United States._--
When charter of first expired, 1;
origin of the second, 2;
its course in 1819, 5.
Constitutionality and expediency called in question in, General
Jackson's first message, 158;
suggestion of one founded on the credit and revenues of the
Government, 158;
a gold currency and an independent treasury suggested to General
Jackson, and approved at once, 158;
cause of a resort to the deposit system, 158;
the idea of a government fiscal agent stigmatized, 158;
reports of committees, 158;
war of the bank commenced, 158;
its alliance with the opposition, 158;
its power, 158;
statement of its president, 159;
its power to ruin and destroy local banks, 159.
Ceaseless activity in behalf of the bank, since the President's
message in 1829, 187;
little done on the other side, 187;
current all setting one way, 187;
failure of attempts to counteract it, 187;
permission asked to introduce a resolution against the
re-charter, 187;
speech on the occasion, showing that the institution had too
much power over the people and the government--over
business and politics; and disposed to exercise it against
freedom and equality, 187;
proposal to revive the currency of the constitution, 187;
"willing to see the currency of the government left to the hard
money intended by the constitution," 187;
every species of paper left to the State governments, 187;
experience of France and England, 187;
a hard money party against a paper party, 187;
justification for bringing forward the question of renewal, 188;
the reports on previous resolutions offered at the close of each
session and all in favor of renewal, 188;
then followed the message of President Jackson, 188;
its reference, 188;
report, etc., 188;
the conduct of the bank and its friends second ground for
justification, 188;
these proceedings, 189;
an example drawn from the British Parliament, 189;
remarks of Sir Henry Parnell, 189;
do. of Mr. Hume, 189;
do. of Mr. Edward Ellice, 189;
do. of Sir William Pulteney, 190;
it is said the debate will injure the stockholders, depreciate
the value of their property, and that it is wrong to sport
with vested rights, 190;
the stockholders know the facts and such assertions absurd, 190;
the institution has forfeited its charter and may be shut up any
hour, 190;
the case of the Bank vs. Owens, 190;
parliamentary rule requiring members to withdraw who have an
interest in the subject of discussion, 191.
The bank is an institution too great and powerful to be tolerated
in a government of free and equal laws, 191;
on renewal, its direct power must speedily become boundless and
uncontrollable, 191;
authorized to own and issue ninety millions, 191;
its indirect power, 191;
to whom is all this power granted? 191;
by whom is it to be exercised? 191;
it will become the absolute monopolist of American money, 191;
what happened in Great Britain in 1795, 192;
letter of the bank directors to Pitt, 192;
condition of Great Britain at that time, 192;
it subdued the minister to the purposes of the bank, 192;
for twenty years the bank was the dominant power in
England, 192;
cannot the Bank of the United States act in the same way? 192.
Its tendencies are dangerous and pernicious to the government and
the people, 192;
the heads of each mischief, 192, 193.
The exclusive privileges and anti-republican monopoly which it
gives the stockholders, 193;
the exclusive legal privileges it gives, 193;
twelve enumerated, 194;
their effect and bearing, 194;
compensation made by the Bank of England for undrawn balances,
194;
amount of undrawn balances, 194;
injury suffered by the people on account of the uncompensated
masses of public money in the hands of the bank, 195;
to discredit and disparage the notes of all other banks by
excluding them from the collection of the revenue, 196;
the power to hold real estate, receive rents, &c., 197;
effect of this vast capacity to acquire and legal power to
retain real estate, 197;
the power to deal in pawns, merchandise, and bills of
exchange, 198;
to establish branches in the different States without their
consent and in defiance of their resistance, 199;
exemption of the stockholders from individual liability, 199;
to have the United States for a partner, 200;
extract from the speech of Pulteney, 200;
amount of stock owned by foreigners, 201;
exemptions from due course of law for violations of its
charter, 201;
these privileges secured by a pledge of the public faith to
charter no other bank, 202;
the government from which we have made this copy has condemned
the original, 202;
correspondence between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the
Bank directors, 203;
how was this Babylon prostrated? 204;
effect of the speech, 204;
how it was received, 204;
leave refused, 205.
Statement that the bank has failed in furnishing a uniform
currency, 220;
it vicious and illegal currency, 220;
origin of the practice, 220;
leave to bring in a resolution declaring it illegal asked
for, 220;
reasons, 220;
"the resolution expresses its own object, 221;
the currency arraigned, 221;
the points of incompatibility between this currency and the
requisites of the charter, 221;
fourteen points stated, 221;
the currency fails at every test, 221;
these orders cannot serve as currency because they are subject
to the law of endorsed paper, 222;
being once paid they are done with, 222;
operations of the bank in 1817, 222;
origin of the branch bank orders, 223;
this currency ought to be suppressed, 223;
the fact of illegality sufficient to require it, 223;
pernicious consequences result from it, 223;
the branch bank orders are not payable in the States in which
they are issued, 223;
practice of the Bank of Ireland, 224;
leave refused, 224.
Message of the President in 1829-30, 224;
its remarks relative to the bank, 224;
the position of the constitutional question, 224;
the democracy opposed not only the bank but the latitudinarian
construction which would authorize it, 225;
it was the turning point between a strong and splendid
government on one side and a plain economical government
on the other, limited by a written constitution, 225;
the construction was the main point, 225;
effect of the message on the democracy of the country, 225;
the contest at hand, 225;
violent attacks upon the President, 226;
remark of M. Tocqueville on President Jackson and the bank, 226;
every word an error, 226;
examined, 226;
application for a renewal of the charter when and why made, 226;
action of friends of Jackson and the bank, 227;
memorial for renewal presented, 227;
course of events, 227;
error of De Tocqueville exposed, 228;
another extract, 228;
its errors exposed, 229;
consequences of refusing the re-charter, 229.
_Re-charter._--Convention of the National Republicans to
nominate a President, 232;
the nominations, 232;
addresses of the convention, 232;
remarks relative to the-bank, 232;
"its beneficial character, 232;
no pretext of any adequate motive is assigned for the
President's denunciation, 233;
are the people ready to destroy one of their most valuable
institutions to gratify the caprice of the
President? 233."
The Bank question presented as an issue of the election by its
friends, 233;
two classes of friends, 233;
one friends of the President, the other against him, 233;
how the consent of the former was obtained, 233;
memorial for re-charter presented, 233;
referred to a select committee in the Senate, 233;
referred to the Committee of Ways and Means in the House, 233;
reason of the difference, 233;
motion to refer to a select committee, 234;
remarks, 234;
this measure entirely disconnected from the Baltimore
convention, 234;
"a select committee the proper one, 234;
the course in such cases, 234;
the question should not be taken up at this session, 234;
the stockholders left the application discretionary with the
directors, 235;
it will divide the whole country, 235;
the bank has been charged with using its funds and those of the
people in operating upon and controlling public
opinion, 235;
this of sufficient consequence to demand an accurate
inquiry, 235;
charged with violating its charter, 235;
other charges, 235;
memorial referred to Committee of Ways and Means, 235.
_Investigation ordered._--
Course necessary to be pursued by the opposition, 235;
to prepare the people to sustain the veto, 235;
policy of the bank leaders, 236;
reasons for taking up the investigation in the House, 236;
motion for inquiry made, 236;
manner in which the motion was treated, 236;
resistance to investigation, 236;
"a re-charter is asked, yet the friends of the bank shrink from
inquiry, 236;
the inference which might be drawn from this resistance, 237;
what is the ground of opposition? 237;
how the memorial was treated in the other House, 237;
result of the examination in 1819, 237;
three years after it went into existence, it was on the verge of
bankruptcy, 237;"
right of either House to make the inquiry, 237;
the misconduct of the bank in numerous instances, 237;
list of accusations against the bank, 238;
the friends of the bank obliged to declare in favor of
examination, 238;
modes of investigation proposed, 239;
restrictions proposed to the inquiry, 239;
remarks upon the manner in which the proposed inquiry has been
treated by the House, 239;
remarks on modes adopted by the bank for extorting usury, 240;
another mode makes the loan take the form of a domestic bill
from the beginning, 240;
effect of the debate on the bank with the country, 240;
speakers against the bank, 240;
advocates of the bank, 241;
the Committee of Investigation, 241;
its composition, 241;
three reports, 241;
their character, 241.
_The three per cent. debt._--
This a portion of the revolutionary debt standing at
sixty-four, 242;
money in the bank to pay it, 242;
the money retained to sustain the bank and the debt not paid
until it rose to par, 242;
remarks on the course of the bank, 242;
the loss to the people, 243.
_Bill for re-charter reported._--
Remarks relative to previous charters, 243;
former course of Webster, 243;
his defence of his present position, 243;
"the years that have passed, 248;
the effects of experience, 243;
action of Calhoun in procuring the present charter, 244;
the vote of Webster against it, 244;
his views, 244;
evils of a disordered currency, 244;
the small note currency cause of the small amount of specie in
the country, 244;"
the grant of exclusive privileges and the bonus required
opposed, 245;
remarks upon them, 245;
the present application of the bank opposed, 245;
"some years before the charter expires, 245;
now late in the session, 245;
not time to do justice to the subject, 245;
other subjects of more immediate and pressing interest must be
thrown aside, 245;
an unfinished investigation presents another reason for delaying
the final action of Congress on this subject, 245;
the people have no opportunity to make up their minds on the
information now printed, 246;
this question belongs to the Congress elected within the next
census, 246;
looks like usurpation on the part of this Congress, 246;
different representation in the next Congress, 246;
a charter should be granted with as little invasion of the
rights of posterity as possible, 246;
this question must effect the presidential election if not
decide it, 246;
take a lesson from the monarchical parliament of England, 247."
A motion declaratory of the right of the States to admit or deny
the establishment of branches of the mother bank within
their limits, offered, 247;
remarks, 247;
"if this amendment is struck out it is tantamount to a
legislative declaration that no such rights existed, 247;
decision of the Supreme Court on the right of the States to tax
the branches, 247;
this is the supremacy of the bank and the degradation of the
States, 247;
the argument that these branches are necessary to enable the
Federal Government to carry on its fiscal operations and
therefore ought to be independent of State legislation, is
answered by the determination of Congress itself, 247;
every thing is left to the bank itself except the branch at this
place, 247;
the establishment of branches is a mere question of profit and
loss to the bank, 247;
point of the question, 247;
motion rejected.
Motion to strike out the exclusive privileges and to make the
stockholders liable, 248;
"example of the Scottish banks, 248;
the excellence of their plan, 248,
clauses granting exclusive privileges, 248;
the establishment of any other bank by the United States
prohibited during the existence of the charter, 248;
this is contrary to the genius of our Government, 249;
the restriction upon future Congresses is at war with every
principle of constitutional right and legislative
equality, 249;
is this Congress to impose restrictions upon the power of their
successors? 249;
in nine months this Congress is defunct, 249;
the renewed charter will not take effect till three years after
the full representation of the next Congress in
power, 249."
All amendments proposed by the opponents of the bank voted
down, 250;
the interest of members of the Senate as stockholders, 250;
bill passed in the Senate and House, 250.
_The Veto._--
"If this government sells exclusive privileges, it should at
least exact for them as much as they are worth in the
market, 251;
the present value of the monopoly is seventeen millions, and the
act proposes to sell it for three, 251;
how can the present stockholders have any claim to the special
favor of the Government? 251;
this act does not permit competition in the purchase of this
monopoly, 251;
not just to set others aside and grant this privilege to the few
who have been fortunate enough to secure the stock, 251;
"the force of precedents for constitutionality argued
against, 252;
decision of the Supreme Court, 252;
examined 252;
remarks, 252;
"precedence is a dangerous source of authority, and should not
be regarded as deciding questions of constitutional
power except where the acquiescence of the people and the
States is well settled, 253;
precedents are really against the bank, 253;
if the opinion of the Supreme Court covered the whole ground of
this act, it ought not to control the coordinate
authorities of this Government, 253;
in the case relied on, the Supreme Court have not decided that
all the features of this corporation are compatible with
the constitution, 253;
the misconduct of the institution, both in conducting its
business and in resisting investigation, 253;
suspicions are entertained and charges made of gross violations
of the charter, 253;
the recommendation of a majority of the committee, 253;
additional reason for less haste and more caution, 253."
The great speeches from the advocates of the bank now made to
repel the effects of the veto, 254;
a transfer of the question to the political arena, 254;
to the presidential election, 254;
frightful distress predicted, and a change of the chief
magistrate the only means of averting the calamity, 254;
remarks of Webster on this point, 254;
remarks of White upon the bank taking the lead of a political
party, 254;
the distress pictured by Clayton, 254;
the winding up of the bank, with regard to time, 255;
case of the previous bank, 255;
menace of distress from the bank if denied a renewal, entirety
gratuitous, 255;
vehement declamation against the veto, 255;
remarks of Clay on the veto power, 255;
reply of Benton, 255;
objects of the vetoes of the French king, 256;
"the fable of the cat and the eagle, 256;
why debate the bank question, now it is vetoed, and not debate
it before? 257;
the bank is finished, why debate it now? 257;
the bank is in the field, fearful and tremendous combatant in
the presidential election, 257;
the Great West is selected as the theatre of her
operations, 257;
ruin is to be the punishment of the West, if she votes for
Jackson, 257;
the bank debt has been created for electioneering purposes, 258;
this point examined, 258;
the establishment of several new branches and the promise of
more, 259;
the alleged necessity for the prompt and vigorous collection of
this debt, if the charter is not renewed, 259;
the opinion of the Senator from Kentucky, about the legality of
this trust, 259;
once in every ten years the capital of this debt is paid in
interest, 259;
the ruinous drain of capital in hard money from the West, 259;
the old banks of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, defended from
the aspersions cast on them, 260;
manner in which the charter was pushed through, pending an
investigation, 260;
the foreign stockholders of the bank, 260;
the bank a monopoly, 261;
English authority for calling the Bank of England a monopoly,
and the British bank in America is copied from it, 261;
the President's idea of his oath, 261;
his independence in construing the constitution, 262;
the drain upon the resources of the West, made by the bank, 262;
address to the Jackson bank men, 262;
address to the West, 262;
the dangerous power of the bank and the present audacity of her
conduct, 263."
"Dissatisfaction expressed that the speeches of some Senators fill
the galleries, and those of others empty them, 263;
charged with a want of courtesy to the President, 263;
charges of the Senator from Missouri, once against the
President, 263.
"No adjourned question of veracity between the Senator from
Missouri and the President, 264;
the prediction charged upon the Senator from Missouri, 264;"
further debate, 264;
direful picture of distress drawn, 265.
_Delay in paying the three per cents._--
Message recommended that the United States stock should be sold,
and that a committee be appointed to investigate its
condition, 287;
referred to a special committee of friends of the bank, 287;
objected that the committee should not proceed until the report
of the agent of the Secretary of the Treasury was
made, 287;
its depreciation of the stock, 287;
this objection fallacious, 287;
the loss of the bank, by depreciation, stated at half a
million, 288;
nothing before the House to make an inquiry into the condition
of the bank desirable, 288;
eventual ability to discharge all its obligations, is not of
itself sufficient to entitle the bank to the confidence
of the Government, 288;
what was the Executive complaint against the bank? 288;
that it had interfered with the payment of the public debt, 288;
effect of the charges upon the feelings of the corporators, 288;
the report of the agent, 288;
the exhibit contrasted with its actual state, 288;
a large surplus presented for the stockholders, 289;
the report a mere compendium of the bank returns, 289;
proceedings of the bank with regard to the three per cents, 289;
investigation referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, 289;
report, 289;
public deposits reported entirely safe, 289;
resolution to continue the deposits in the bank offered, 289;
debate, 289;
the bank exceeded its legitimate authority in relation to the
three per cents, 290;
had the bank promptly paid the public money deposited in its
vaults when called for, 290;
proceedings of the bank, 290;
resolution carried, 291;
loss by the manner the three per cents were paid, 291.
_Sale of Stock in the._--
Sale of United States stock in all corporate companies
recommended by the President, 294;
partnership of government with corporations condemned, 294;
bill introduced, 294;
moved to reject it, 294;
debate, 294;
indication at this persecution of a national institution, 294;
indignities to which members were subjected who presumed to take
any step concerning the bank which militated against that
corporation, 295;
a plain business proceeding, 295;
an isolated proposition, 295;
the bill summarily rejected, 295;
fifty members borrowers of the bank, 296;
the same thing had happened once before, 296;
proposed in 1827 to sell the stock solely on the ground of
public advantage, 296;
remarks on this proposition at the time, 296;
reflections, 296.
_Removal of the Deposits._--
Order for removal issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, 373;
the President's own message, 374;
reports of directors to the President, 374;
extracts from them, 374, 375;
resolutions adopted by the board, 376;
further outrages of the bank, 376;
the exchange committee of the banks, 376;
paper read by President Jackson to his Cabinet, 376;
extracts, 377, 378;
impression produced by the removal, 379.
_Proceedings of the Bank on the removal of the Deposits._--
The reference of the President's paper to a committee, 379;
report, 379;
extracts, 379;
its temper, 379;
gives the lead to proceedings in Congress, 380;
the violations of law and the constitution referred to, 380;
amount of the charges against the President by the bank, 381.
_Report of the Secretary of the Treasury relative to removal of
the Deposits._--
Reasons for the cessation of deposits in the bank, 381;
the duty of the Secretary, 381;
no prospects of a renewal of the charter, 382;
other reasons, 383;
the board of directors, 383;
authority of the Secretary to remove the deposits, 384;
the deposit banks, 385;
difficulty of obtaining the deposit banks, 385;
power of the Bank of the United States, 385.
_In the Senate._--
Report considered, 393;
proposed, that the Senate act upon it at once without the
intervention of a committee, 393;
the House the proper place to investigate the charges made in
that report, 393;
resolution offered, 393;
referred, 394;
report, 394;
remarks on the despotism of the committee, 394;
reply, 394;
report drawn by the counsel for the bank, 394;
inefficiency of the resolution, 395;
no action proposed, 395;
resolution adopted, 395.
Resolution subsequently proposed again with another requiring the
return of the deposits to the bank, 396;
remarks, 396;
impropriety of the resolutions so near the close of the
session, 396;
other considerations, 397;
resolutions adopted, 397;
sent to the House and not taken up, 397.
_In the House._--
Report of the Secretary, memorial of the bank, and of the
government directors referred, 398;
report, 398;
adopted, 398.
_Government Directors, their Nomination and Rejection._--
Opposition manifested to four of the five nominated, 385;
resolution of inquiry into their fitness, &c., offered and
rejected, 385;
four rejected, 386;
no complaint against them except from the bank, 386;
rejected for the report made to the President, 386;
re-nominated, 386;
message, 386;
extracts, 387, 388;
question raised as to which was the nominating power for bank
directors, the President and Senate or the Bank and
Senate, 388;
determination to try this question, 389;
message referred to a committee, 389;
report against the re-nominations, 389;
the absolute right of the Senate to reject, 389;
their privilege to give no reasons, 389;
the general policy of making re-nominations, 389;
extracts, 389;
memorial of the rejected directors, 389;
extracts, 390;
their rights and duties as government directors, 390;
opinion of Alexander Hamilton relative to government
directors, 391;
opinion of Alexander J. Dallas, 391;
reasons why the motion to strike out government directors was
resisted when the charter was under consideration, 391;
they are the guardians of the public interest, and to secure a
just and honorable administration of the affairs of the
bank, 391;
the nominations again rejected, 392;
reasons kept secret, 392;
motion made to publish the proceedings, 392;
lost, 392;
remarks on the Report of the Committee of Investigation relative
to the Exchange Committee, 392.
_Call on the President for a copy of the paper read to his
Cabinet._--
Request to be informed if it was genuine, 399;
and if so to furnish a copy, 399;
Senate not the branch of the Legislature to call for this
document, 399;
uses to which the paper might be put, 399;
it cannot be rightfully called for, 399;
resolution passed, 400;
answer of the President, 400;
denied the right to call, &c., 400.
_Attempted Investigation._--
Select Committee appointed in the House to investigate the
affairs of the United States Bank, 458;
objects to be ascertained, 459;
authority given to the committee, 459;
right of the House to make the investigation, 459;
proceedings of the bank to defeat investigation, 459;
report of committee, 459;
extracts, 460;
treatment of their call for certain books, 461;
action under subpoenas, 461;
a warrant recommended for the apprehension of the president and
directors, 461;
the committee of 1819, 462.
_Investigation by the Senate._--
Since much ground lost in public opinion by resisting the
investigation of the House to retrieve the bank, an
investigation commences in the Senate, 470;
committee moved, 470;
view of this act of the Senate, 471;
the members of the committee defenders of the bank, 471;
the only semblance of precedent, 471;
called the "Whitewashing Committee," 471.
_Downfall of the Bank._--
Copy of resolutions of its stockholders, 471;
extracts from Philadelphia papers, 472;
report of the Finance Committee, 481;
its friendly reception, 481;
its contents, 481;
its declarations contradicted by Senator Benton, 482;
extracts, 482;
imputations upon the President, Vice-President, and Senator
Benton, 482;
committee departed from the business with which they were
charged, 483;
the charge of hostility to the bank on the part of the
President, 483;
defends the Secretary of the Treasury against the imputations
of the report, 484;
misconduct of the bank shown from recent facts, 484;
the abduction of a million and a half from New Orleans, 485;
the report _ex-parte_, 486;
reply in defence of the report, 486;
extracts, 486.
_See Jackson's Administration._
_Banks in the District, recharter of._--
Speech of Senator Benton, 658;
"the charters wrong, 658;
no bank of circulation ought to be authorized in this
district, 659;
none to furnish other currency than large notes should be
chartered anywhere, 659;
ameliorations in charters proposed to be granted in order to
render them less dangerous to the community, 659;
liability of the stockholders, 659;
bank stock to be subject to taxation like other property, 659;
to issue no notes less than twenty dollars, 659;
the charters to be repealable at the will of Congress, 659;
evil of small notes classed under three heads, 660;
the banishment of gold and silver counterfeiting and throwing
other burdens of losses upon the poorer classes, 660;
the basis of circulation throughout the country should be hard
money, 662;
the true idea of banks seemed to be lost in the country, 663;
the faculty of issuing paper money renders banks dangerous, 663;
progress of banking business is alarming and deplorable in the
United States, 663;
the burdens which the banks impose on the people, 664;"
recharter carried, 665.
BARBOUR, JAMES, Senator from Virginia, 7;
governor, 7;
votes for the Missouri Compromise, 8;
on the Virginia resolutions, 35;
Secretary at War, 55;
negotiates treaty with the Cherokees, 107.
BARBOUR, PHILIP P., Representative from Virginia, 7;
on selling the stock of the United States in the bank, 296;
his character, 296.
BARRY, WILLIAM T., Postmaster General, 120;
appointed Minister to Spain, 181.
BAYARD, JAMES, Commissioner at Ghent, 91.
BENTON, THOMAS H., instigator of the clause prohibiting legislative
interference with slavery in the constitution of Missouri, 8;
his first experience in standing "solitary and alone," 16;
views relative to the settlement of Oregon, 13;
first suggests sending ministers to Oriental nations, 14;
denounces the treaty of 1818, 15, 17;
moves amendment to the constitution, 37;
visit to Jefferson, 43;
offers a bill to occupy Columbia river, 50;
remarks on the treaty with the Creeks, 61;
on the duty on indigo, 97;
on the sale of the public lands, 103, 130;
on slavery, 136;
on the peroration of Webster, 142;
on the regulation of commerce, 151;
the repeal of the alum salt tax, 155;
on the Bank of the United States, 187;
his silence relative to the nomination of Van Buren as Minister to
England, 218;
letter to Van Buren, 218;
on the illegal currency of the Bank of the United States, 220;
on government expenses, 231;
against the exclusive privileges of the bank, 245;
reply to Clay on the veto power, 255, 256;
on the compromise tariff bill, 319;
on home valuation, 324;
on Missouri resolutions, 360;
on report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 393;
on the removal of the deposits, 406;
gives notice of the expunging resolution, 428;
on a gold currency, 436;
on public distress, 462;
on the Report of the Senate Committee to investigate the affairs
of the bank, 482;
relative to the expunging resolutions of Alabama, 524;
on the Branch Mints, 551;
on distribution of the proceeds of the public lands, 560;
on the memorial to abolish slavery in the District of
Columbia, 577;
on French affairs, 591;
on abolition petitions, 617;
on the Expunging resolution, 645;
on distribution of the land proceeds, 649, 652;
on rechartering the district banks, 658;
on Texas Independence, 670;
on the specie circular, 677;
on revision of the specie circular, 695, 701;
on the salt tax, 714;
on the Expunging resolution, 719.
BERRIEN, JOHN M., remarks on the treaty with the Creeks, 62;
attorney-general, 120;
resigns his seat in the cabinet, 181.
BIBB, GEORGE M., on home valuation, 324;
on the French spoliation bill, 487.
_Birthday_ of Jefferson and the doctrine of nullification, 148.
BLAIR, FRANCIS P., how led to establish the Globe newspaper, 130.
BLOOMFIELD, JOSEPH, Representative from New Jersey, votes for the
admission of Missouri, 9.
BOULDIN, JAMES W., on the admission of Arkansas, 631.
BRANCH, JOHN, Secretary of the Navy, 120;
resigns his seat in the cabinet, 181.
_Branch Mints at New Orleans and in the Southern gold regions._--
Bill reported, 550;
opposed by Mr. Clay, 550;
unwise and injudicious to establish these branches, 550;
indefinite postponement moved, 550;
no evil in the nullification of mints, 550;
the present one sufficient, 551;
the measure would be auxiliary to the restoration of the metallic
currency, 551;
remarks of Mr. Benton, 551;
"constitutional right to establish these mints, 551;
an act of justice to the South and West, 551;
give the mint five or six branches and nobody would want the bank
paper, 552;
the idea of expense on such an object scouted, 552;
for the greater part of the gold currency is in the vaults of the
bank, 552;
what loss has the Western people now sustained for want of
gold? 552;
in favor of measures that will put down small paper and put up
gold and silver, 552;"
postponement lost, 553;
other motions made and lost, 553;
bill passed, 553.
_British West India Trade, recovery of._--Account of this
trade, 124;
six negotiations carried on between the United States and Great
Britain on this subject, 124;
limited concessions only obtained, 125;
a primary object with Washington, 125;
his letter of instructions to Gouverneur Morris, 125;
a prominent point in our first negotiation in 1794, 125;
attempts of 1822 and 1823, 125;
remarks on the negotiation of 1822, 125;
effect of the word "elsewhere," 126;
attempts of Mr. Adams' administration to negotiate, 126;
effects of his failure, 126;
Gallatin's interview with Mr. Huskisson, 126;
despatch, 126;
facts communicated to Congress by President Adams, 127;
the case presented hopeless, 127;
the loss of this trade an injury to the country, 127;
the position of General Jackson, 127;
minister sent to London, 127;
reasons given for a renewed application, 128;
point of right waived, 128;
the trade recovered, 128;
the trade under the act of Parliament, 128;
the grounds of success, 128.
BROWN, BEDFORD, for Van Buren as Minister to England, 216;
on the branch mints, 551;
on abolition petitions, 612.
BROWN, JAMES, Senator from Louisiana, 7;
votes for the Missouri Compromise, 8.
BUCHANAN, JAMES, presents memorial of the Society of Friends, 576;
on French affairs, 590;
in favor of the admission of Arkansas, 630;
on distribution of the land proceeds, 708.
BURKE, EDMUND, on the sale of the crown lands, 102.
BURR, COL. AARON, _decease of_.--Brilliant prospects ending in
shame, 681;
in the expedition with Arnold, 681;
the opinion of Washington, 681;
position at the close of the presidential election of 1800, 681;
his character as regarded by his compeers, 682;
his talents, 682;
the fate of Hamilton, 682.
BURTON, HUTCHINS G., Representative from North Carolina, 7;
governor, 7.
BUSH, HENRY, Representative from Ohio, 7.
BUTLER, BENJAMIN F., nominated Secretary of the Treasury, 470.
BUTLER, THOMAS, Representative from Louisiana, 7.
C
CALHOUN, JOHN C., Secretary at War, 7;
on internal improvement, 22;
candidate for the Vice-Presidency in 1824, 45;
rupture with Jackson, 167;
his friendship for Jackson, 218;
on the compromise tariff bill, 315;
on home valuation, 324;
offers nullification resolutions, 334;
on the principles of nullification, 335;
on distribution of proceeds of land sales, 364, 651, 709;
on the removal of the deposits, 411;
on the plan of relief, 484;
on the expunging resolutions of Alabama, 526, 527;
on the branch mints, 553;
on the combination of the slave States, 585;
on French affairs, 591;
on abolition petitions, 611, 614, 619;
on the independence of Texas, 667;
on the Expunging resolution, 728.
CAMBRELENG, C. C., on the Committee of Bank Investigation, 241;
on the fortification bill, 556.
CAMPBELL, JOHN W., Representative from Ohio, 7.
CANNON, NEWTON, Representative from Tennessee, 7;
governor, 7.
CARROLL, CHARLES, _decease of_; last of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, 476;
fate of other signers felicitous, 477;
his career, 477;
not present on the day of signing, 477;
signed afterwards, 477;
incident, 477.
CARSON, KIT, application for a commission in the army, 183.
CASS, LEWIS, Secretary at War, 181.
CHAMBERS, E. F., against Van Buren as Minister to England, 215.
CHANDLER, JOHN, Senator from Maine, 9;
votes for the admission of Missouri, 9.
_Chesapeake Canal_ discussed, 22.
CLARKE, GEN., treaties with the Indians, 29.
CLAY, HENRY, Representative from Kentucky, 7;
efforts for the declaration of war in 1812, 6;
moves a joint committee of both Houses on the admission of
Missouri, 9;
often complimented as the author of the Compromise of 1820, 10;
selects the members of the joint committee in the House, 10;
his coadjutors, 10; movement against the treaty of 1818, 17;
on internal improvement, 22;
address to Lafayette, 30;
on public distress, 32;
lays before the House the note of Vivian Edwards, 34;
appoints committee on charges against Crawford, 35;
candidate for the Presidency in 1824, 44;
letter to Benton relative to declaring his intention previously to
vote for Adams, 48;
Secretary of State, 55;
Commissioner at Ghent, 91;
against Van Buren as Minister to England, 215;
nominated for the Presidency, 232;
remarks on the veto power, 255, 256;
on the origin of the protective policy, 267;
report relative to the public lands, 275;
candidate for the Presidency, 282;
on the Compromise Tariff bill, 313;
on Kendall cotton, 319;
on distribution of proceeds of land sales, 363;
on report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 393;
on the removal of the deposits, 402;
on the expunging resolutions of Alabama, 525, 527;
on the bill to suppress incendiary publications, 586;
on distribution of land proceeds, 707;
on the Expunging resolution, 729.
CLAY, MRS., her appearance on the evening previous to the duel
between Clay and Randolph, 74.
CLAYTON, J. M., against Van Buren as Minister to England, 215;
on the coming distress of the people, 254;
on home valuation, 324-326;
on French affairs, 594;
moves a committee of investigation on the Bank affairs, 236;
on the committee to investigate the affairs of the U. S.
Bank, 241.
COBB, THOMAS W., Representative from Georgia, 7.
COOKE, JOHN, Representative from Tennessee, 7.
COLES, EDWARD, publishes correction of errors relative to the
passage of the ordinance of 1787.
_Columbia River, occupation of_, bill to authorize the President to
take possession and occupy the country offered, 50;
object of the British, 50;
the British pretensions examined under their own exhibition of
title, 50, 51, 52, 53;
title as claimed by the United States, 54.
_Combination against General Jackson._--_See Bank of the United
States._
_Commerce, regulation of._--The power which is given to Congress by
the constitution, 149;
not yet been executed in the sense intended by the
constitution, 149;
views of Mr. Jefferson, of Madison, Hamilton, &c., 149;
remarks, 149;
the principle of the regulation was to be that of
reciprocity, 150;
mode of acting, 150;
object to carry out these views on the extinction of the public
debt, 150;
bill to revive the policy of the Madison resolutions, 150;
Madison's remarks, 150;
"the commerce of the United States not on that respectable footing
to which its nature and importance entitled it, 150;
situation of things previous to the adoption of the
constitution, 150;
effects to be produced by the resolutions proposed, 150;
advantageous position this country is entitled to stand in, 150;
our country may make her enemies feel the extent of her
power, 150;"
"bill proposed, 151;
to provide for the abolition of duties, 151;
the title of the bill, 151;
the bill, 152;
the first section, 152;
contains the principle of
abolishing duties by the joint act of the Legislative and
Executive departments, 152;
the idea of equivalents, 152;
in what way may the restriction on our commerce be best removed,
regulated, or counteracted? 152;
two methods, 152;
friendly arrangements, 152;
the plan proposed, 152;
benefits resulting from an abolition of duties, 153;
do not our agriculture and manufactures require better markets
abroad than they possess at this time? 153;
the merits of the plan, 153;
its success, 153;
advantages arising from a payment of the public debt, 153;
the treaties should be for limited terms, 154;"
remarks, 154.
_Committee_ on the charges against W. H. Crawford, 35;
on amendments to the constitution, 78;
on the reduction of Executive patronage, 80;
on the application of the bank for a renewal of its charter, 233;
House, to whom was referred the memorial of the bank, 235;
of investigation into the affairs of the U. S. Bank, 241;
to investigate the affairs of the bank, 458, 470;
on incendiary publications, 580;
on abolition petitions, 621.
_Congress_, 22d, its members, 208;
their talent, 208;
commencement of 24th, 568;
when does the term of its session expire? 598, 599.
COOK, DANIEL P., Representative from Illinois, 7.
CRAWFORD, WILLIAM H., Secretary of the Treasury, 7;
devises a measure of relief for the public land debtors, 12;
on internal improvement, 22;
charges against, 35;
candidate for the Presidency in 1824, 44;
declines the Secretaryship of the Treasury tendered by Adams, 55;
letter to Mr. Forsyth, 182.
CRITTENDEN, JOHN J., on the recision of the specie circular, 698.
CROOKS, RAMSEY, founder of the colony at Astoria, 13.
CROWELL, JOHN, Representative from Alabama, 7.
_Cumberland Road_ discussed, 22.
CUSHING, CALEB, on the admission of Arkansas, 632.
D
DALLAS, GEORGE M., presents memorial for a renewal of the bank
charter, 227;
remarks, 227;
on the operation of the Tariff, 270;
on home valuation, 324.
DANE, NATHAN, claimed as the author of the ordinance of 1787, 133.
DANIEL, on the Virginia resolutions, 351.
DAVIS, JOHN, on the compromise tariff bill, 310.
_Debt_, public, amount of at the close of the second war, 5.
_Deposit Bank bill_, to regulate the custody of the public
money, 553;
bill once defeated in the Senate, 553;
sent up again and passed, 553.
DICKENS ASBURY, writes the answer of Crawford to charges against
him, 35.
_Distribution of the Revenue._--
These propositions first opposed and afterwards favored by Mr.
Calhoun with the salvo of an amendment to the constitution, 556;
committee of inquiry appointed, 556;
basis upon which the committee was proposed, 557;
first meeting and a sub-committee appointed, 557;
the report an ingenious and plausible attack upon the
administration, &c., 557;
debate on the report, 557;
expenses doubled from extraordinary objects, not belonging to
the Government, temporary in their nature and
transient, 557;
the distribution of the surplus and the amendment of the
constitution, 557;
distribution the only practical depletion of the Treasury and
remedy for the corruptions which an exuberant Treasury
engendered, 557;
no minority report made, 557;
custody of the public moneys not illegal, 557;
opponents of the Administration defeated the Deposit Regulation
bill, 557;
the report, 557;
"what is to be done with the surplus? 557;
existence of our institutions and the liberty of the country may
depend on the success of this investigation, 558;
danger from excess of patronage arising from excess of revenue
must be temporary, 558;
the Government in a state of passage from an excess of revenue
to a limited revenue, 558;
objects of investment, 558;
objections to distribution, 558;
effects of distribution, 558;
reasons for suggesting this proposal, 559."
Reply of Senator Benton, 559;
"proposition in the report to amend the constitution for eight
years to enable Congress to make the distribution, 560;
eclipses all other propositions, 560;
predictions from the same source of a deficiency of the
revenue, 560;
anecdote, 560;
the Treasury was to be bankrupt and the currency ruined, 560;
the amendment of the constitution, 561;
this scheme an old acquaintance on this floor, 561;
the statement of a surplus examined, 561;
report of the Secretary of the Treasury, 562;
it is said there is no way to reduce the revenue before the end
of 1842 without violating the compromise, 563;
sources from which a large reduction could be made, 563;
it is said there is no possibility of finding an article of
general utility on which the surpluses could be
expended, 564;
several useful, necessary, and exigeant measures, 564;
defenceless state of the country, 564;
fortifying the coasts, 564;
message of President Monroe in 1822, 565;
extracts, 566;
remarks upon the extracts, 566, 567;"
no vote ever taken on the amendment to the constitution, 567;
deficiency in the Treasury, 567;
distribution afterward took place without the amendment, 567.
Extract from the National Gazette attributed to Nicholas
Biddle, 649;
distribution nearly become a party measure, 649;
the plans proposed, 649;
remarks of Senator Benton, 649;
introduces an antagonistic bill, devoting the surplus money to
the public defences, 649;
making an issue between the plunder of the country and the
defence of the country, 649;
every surplus dollar required for the defences, 650;
bill passed Senate, 651;
sent to the House, 651;
course adopted to secure votes in the House, 651.
Scheme of deposit with the States, 651;
objections, 651;
vote on the passage of the bill, 652;
objections urged against the bill, 652;
attempt to debauch the people, 653;
consequences must be deplorable and destructive to the Federal
Government, 654;
the progress of the distribution spirit, 654;
the measure goes to sap the foundations of the Federal
Government, 655;
is it wise to throw away this money? 656;
nothing but evil in this fatal scheme, 657;
bill passes the House, 657;
feelings of the President on approving of the act, 657.
Moved that a bill be brought in to release the States from all
obligations ever to return the dividends under the deposit
act, 707;
motion condemned at the outset, 707;
laid on the table, 707;
Clay's movement to revive the land distribution bill, 707;
his remarks, 707;
a substitute reported, 708;
kindred schemes, 708;
Calhoun's proposition, 708;
debate, 708;
Calhoun in reply, 709;
proposition rejected, 710;
Allen's proposition, 710;
laid on the table, 710;
deposit clause attached to the appropriation bill, 711;
struck out in the Senate, 711;
lost, 712.
_Delaware._--Her position in relation to slavery, 10.
DE TOCQUEVILLE, errors of, 159;
errors respecting the House of Representatives, 205;
errors respecting Bank of the United States, 226, 228.
_Duel between Clay and Randolph._--
Interview between Randolph and Benton, 70;
Randolph declares he shall not fire at Clay, 70;
circumstances of the delivery of the challenge, 70;
reasons for refusing to fire at Clay, 70;
meaning of "two pledges" referred to by Mr. Randolph, 71;
conduct of Randolph, 71;
characteristics, 71;
Randolph's letter of acceptance, 71;
protest of Randolph, an explanation, 71;
further communications, 72;
remarks on Randolph's speech in the Senate, 72;
attempt of the seconds to delay the meeting, 72;
the report of Randolph's remarks made to Clay, 73;
inquiry between the seconds as to the cause of the quarrel, 73;
further views on the speech, 73;
"Puritan and blackleg," 73;
place of the duel, 73;
interview between Benton and Clay, 74;
subsequent interview between Benton and Randolph, 74;
Randolph arranging his worldly affairs, 74;
Randolph at the bank, 74;
the pieces of gold, 75;
manner in which the word was to be given, 75;
the preparations on the ground, 75;
an accidental discharge of a pistol, 75;
Randolph's remark, 75;
after the first fire Benton interposes, 76;
Clay's answer, 76;
Randolph's feelings and remarks, 76;
the second fire of Clay, 77;
Randolph fires in the air, 77;
reconciliation and gratification of the parties, 77;
the gold seals of Hamilton, Tatnall, and Benton, 77.
DUNCANSON, J. M., interview with Gen. Duff Green, 128.
DUVAL, Judge of Supreme Court, 8.
E
EARLE, ELIAS, Representative from South Carolina, 7;
Governor, 7.
EATON, JOHN H., Secretary at War, 120;
resigns his seat in the Cabinet, 181;
appointed Governor of Florida, 181;
Minister to Spain, 181.
EDWARDS, WELDON N., Representative from North Carolina, 7;
votes for the Missouri Compromise, 8.
EDWARDS, NINIAN, note of, 34;
brought back from his mission to Mexico, by the
Sergeant-at-Arms, 35.
_Election of 1832._--
The candidates, 282;
a question of systems and measures tried in the persons of those
who stood out boldly in their representation, 282;
the defeat of Clay, 282;
the success of Jackson, 282;
the point and lesson of the Vice-Presidential election, 282;
the vote, 282;
Anti-masonic excitement, 282;
its result, 283.
ELLIOTT, JOHN, votes for the Missouri Compromise, 8;
remarks on the removal of the Indians, 27.
ELLMAKER, AMOS, candidate for the Presidency, 282.
EUSTIS, WILLIAM, Representative from Massachusetts, 7;
of revolutionary memory, 7.
EWING, THOMAS, against VAN BUREN as Minister to England, 215;
on the specie circular, 694.
_Expenses of Government._--
Expenses from 1820 to 1831, 230;
comparison with the present day, 230;
remarks, 230;
"it is said that since 1820 the expenses have nearly doubled, 230;
excepting four years the expenses have not increased, 230;
cause of reduced expenditures in certain years," 230;
error in the basis of calculation, 231;
"two great and broad facts in view, 231;
expenditures for different years, 231;
object to show a great increase in a short time," 232;
important to know the correct expenses, 232.
_Expunging resolution_, notice of by Senator Benton, 428.
_Do. of Alabama._--
Resolutions of the General Assembly of Alabama, entreating their
Senators to use their best endeavors to cause to be
expunged from the Journal of the Senate the resolve
condemnatory of President Jackson for the removal of the
deposits, 524;
several States had already given instructions, 524;
inquiry of Mr. Clay relative to the intention of the Senator
from Alabama relative to the resolutions, 524;
reply of Mr. Benton, 524;
the notice given by him at the time of passing the condemnatory
resolution, 524;
reasons for giving the notice, 524;
answer to the inquiry of Mr. Clay, 525.
Remarks of Mr. King, 525;
"surprised at the question," 525;
bound to obey instructions, 525;
if the gentleman from Missouri declined, he should at the proper
time bring forward an expunging resolution, 525;
further remarks, 525;
Mr. Clay's remarks, 525;
"no motion accompanies these resolutions, 525;
the inquiry a natural one, 525;
a hope that the resolutions would be withdrawn, 526;
if, after consulting precedents, the Senator from Alabama should
deem proper to offer them, they would be entitled to
consideration, 526;
until then, his duty to resist such an unconstitutional
procedure as the reception of these resolutions," 526.
"Decline to accede to this proposition, 526;
object to carry out his instructions, 526;
at a proper time a distinct proposition would be presented on
this subject," 526.
Moved to lay the resolutions on the table, by Mr. Calhoun, 526;
object to give the Senator an opportunity to prepare a
rescinding resolution, 526;
curious to see how such a proceeding would be reconciled with
the independent existence of the Senate, 526;
how is it proposed to repeal a journal? 526;
the only course left is to declare that the principle upon which
the Senate acted is not correct, 526;
what is the principle to be overthrown but that "we have a right
to express our opinions," 526;
then it comes to this, that the Senate had no right to express
its opinion in relation to the executive, 526;
"the king can do no wrong," 526;
this is the very question in which the expunging our legislative
freedom and independence is to be agitated, 527;
a question or the utmost magnitude, 527;
none of deeper or more radical importance, 527.
The question on receiving the resolutions, 527;
the case of Georgia legislative proceedings, 527;
the case of Wilkes, in the British House of Commons, 527;
no doubt of the power of the Senate to repeal, 527;
have we not it in our power to retrace our steps when we have
done wrong, or to correct our journal, which asserts what
is not true? 527;
the democratic party of the country had declared the facts of
the journal to be false, 527;
the party to which Mr. Calhoun belongs, 527;
resolution laid on the table, 528;
reception and printing refused to a resolution of a sovereign
State, 528.
_Expunging Resolution of Senator Benton_, 528;
extremely distasteful to a majority of the Senate, 528;
characterized as an indictment which the Senate itself was
required to try, and to degrade itself in its own
condemnation, 528;
remarks, 528;
this bitterness aggravated by the course which the public mind
was taking, 528;
resolutions of several States had arrived, instructing their
Senators to vote for the expurgation, 529;
speech of Senator Benton on the motion, 529;
time of presenting the criminal resolution, 529;
length of its discussion, 529;
date of its passage, 529;
an announcement of a series of motions for its expurgation, 529;
this step considered for four months, 529;
was expurgation the proper mode, 529;
the criminating resolution combined all the characteristics of a
case which required erasure and obliteration, 529;
a case of the exercise of power without authority and without
jurisdiction, 529;
other modes of annulling the resolution not proper in this
case, 529;
they would imply rightful jurisdiction, a lawful authority, a
legal action, though an erroneous judgment, 529;
it is objected that the Senate have no right to expunge any
thing from its journal, 529;
it is said we have no right to destroy a part of the
journal, 529;
to expunge, it is said, is to destroy, 529;
not so, 529;
it is incorporated in the expunging resolution, and lives as
long as that lives, 529;
the case of the Middlesex election, 529;
the resolution to expel John Wilkes expunged from the journals
of the House of Commons, 529;
words of the resolution, 530;
annually introduced from 1769 to 1782, and passed, 530;
the history of the case not lost, 530;
the resolution adopted in the Senate of Massachusetts during the
late war, adverse to the celebration of our national
victories, 530;
expunged ten years afterward, 530;
the Senate tried President Jackson a year ago, now it is itself
nominally on trial before itself, but in reality before
America, Europe and posterity, 530;
the proceedings of this day will not be limited to the present
age; they will go down to posterity, 530;
the first President who has received the condemnation of the
Senate for the violation of the laws and constitution
which he is sworn to observe, 530;
the argument of public opinion in the case of the Middlesex
election, 530;
extract from Wilkes' speech, 530;
do. from Fox's speech, 531;
an English Whig of the old school acknowledges the right of the
people to instruct their representatives, 531;
acknowledges the duty of Parliament to obey the voice of the
people, 531;
the voice of the people of the United States has been heard on
this subject, 531;
the resolution should be expunged because it is illegal and
unjust, 531;
illegal because it contains a criminal charge, 531;
the first step taken in the House on an impeachment, 531;
the British Parliament practise an impeachment to which our
constitution is conformable, 532;
the injustice of the resolution shown, 532;
this point examined, 522;
the resolution vague and indefinite, 532;
the law should be specified and the clause of the constitution
violated, 532;
Giles' accusation against General Hamilton, 532;
different forms in which the resolution was presented, 533;
reasons of such extraordinary metamorphoses, 533;
opportunity for any Senator to speak who would undertake to
specify any act in which the President had violated the
constitution, 533;
the resolution was unwarranted by the constitution and laws, 533;
subversion of the rights of defence which belong to an accused
and impeachable officer, 533;
of evil example, 534;
speech of Mr. Macon on the vote of approbation, 534;
the resolution passed at a time and under circumstances to
involve the political rights and pecuniary interests of
the people of the United States in serious injury and
peculiar danger, 534;
this condemnation of the President indissolubly connected with
the cause of the bank, 534;
instructions sent to the branch banks contemporaneously with the
progress of the debate on the criminating resolution, 535;
extracts, 535;
six positions taken, 536;
no new measures to destroy the Bank, 537;
the President harbored no hostile and revengeful designs against
the bank, 538;
not true that there was any necessity for the curtailment
ordered in January, 539;
no excuse or apology for doubting the rates of exchange,
breaking up the exchange business in the West, and
concentrating the collection of exchange on the four
great commercial cities, 540;
the curtailments of these exchange regulations were political
and revolutionary, and connect themselves with the
contemporaneous proceedings of the Senate for the
condemnation of the President, 540;
the case of the Western branches, 542;
evidence drawn from the bank itself, 543;
extracts from Mr. Biddle's letters, 543, 544;
article in the National Gazette, 545;
the distress of the country occasioned by the bank of the United
States and the Senate of the United States, 546;
history of the reduction of the deposits, 546;
in 1819 the bank was unconnected with politics, 546;
further proof that the Senate and the bank, and the Senate more
than the bank, produced the distress during last
winter, 547;
two instances of the bank creating wanton pressure, 547;
the resolution which it is proposed to expunge," 549.
The expunging resolution laid on the table, 549;
called up on the last, 549;
motion to strike out the word "expunge" and insert "rescind,
reverse, and make null and void," 549;
the friends of the expunging resolution astonished, 549;
an expurgation of the journal would be its obliteration, 549;
inconsistent with the constitutional injunction "to keep a
journal," 549;
the mover of the expunging resolution yields, 550;
carried, 550;
exultation of Mr. Webster that the word "expunge" was
expunged, 550;
remarks, 550;
the original expunging resolution renewed, 550.
Remarks of Senator Benton, 645;
"the condemnation of the President co-operative with the
conspiracy of the bank to effect the most wicked scheme
of mischief exhibited in modern times, 646;
President Jackson has done more for the human race than the
whole tribe of politicians put together, 646;
his services to the country, 647;
no parallel to Jackson crushing the bank except in the Roman
Consul crushing Catiline, 647;
further remarks, 648."
Less than three years were sufficient to express public sentiment
in favor of reversal, 717;
notice of the intention to bring up the resolution, 718;
the resolution, 718;
remarks of Senator Benton, 719;
"the change in public sentiment, 720;
ascertained, 720;
how far should the expression of this will be conclusive of our
action, 720;
the terror of Jackson's administration and its effect for good
or evil on the country," 721, 722, 723, 724, 725.
Meeting of democratic Senators, 727;
final measures taken, 727;
debate on the motion to take up the subject, 727;
the speakers, 727, 728;
feelings of the opposition, 728;
expressions of Calhoun, 728;
feeling and expressions of Clay, 729;
Webster's protest against the act, 730;
resolution passed, 730;
the expunging done in open Senate, 730;
excitement in the galleries, 731;
dinner given by President Jackson, 731.
F
FARNHAM, RUSSELL, founder of Colony at Astoria, 18.
_Finances._--Distress of the Government in 1820, 11;
economy forced upon it, 11;
army reduced from 10,000 to 6,000 men, 11;
naval appropriation reduced one half, 11;
twenty-one millions more than double the amount required for the
actual expenses of the government, 11;
how expended, 11;
mistake to suppose an amount necessary to be left in the Treasury
as a reserve, 11.
_Florida, Treaty and Cession of Texas._--
Treaty of 1818, giving up Texas and acquiring Florida, 15;
its denunciation, 15;
action of Monroe's Cabinet, 15;
treaty approved by the country, 15;
points of the treaty, 15;
letter of Monroe to General Jackson, 15;
repugnance of the Northeast to see the aggrandizement of the Union
on the South and West, 16;
extent of this feeling, 16;
views of Jefferson and Jackson on the cession of Texas, 16;
Spain fails to ratify, 16;
negotiations revived, 16;
treaty ratified, 17;
movement against the treaty, 17;
change in the relations of Spain and Mexico, 17;
treaty with Mexico, 17;
three times ratified by the Senate, 17;
how the territory was got back, 17;
extinguished slave territory nearly, 17;
Indian treaties, 18;
largest territorial abolition of slavery ever effected, 18;
how received at the South, 18;
the inside view, 18.
FLOYD, JOHN, Representative from Virginia, 7;
moves a proposition for the settlement of Columbia river, 13;
his character, 13.
FOOT, SAMUEL A., resolution of inquiry relative to public
lands, 130;
against Van Buren as Minister to England, 215.
FORSYTH, JOHN, on the donation to the Greeks, 63;
for Van Buren as Minister to England, 216;
on the Compromise tariff bill, 315;
Secretary of State, 477.
FRELINGHUYSEN, THEODORE, against Van Buren as Minister to
England, 215.
_French and Spanish Land Claims, settlement of._--
State of titles in Louisiana on its transfer to the United
States, 219;
the treaty protected every thing that was property, 279;
the question was to apply it to the land titles, 279;
boards of commissions established, 279;
their operation, 279;
defects, 279;
the act of 1832, 280;
its first section, 280;
its successful operation, 280.
_French Indemnity._--
Special communication from the President, 588;
French fleet approaching the coast, 588;
implying a design to overawe the government or to be ready for
expected hostilities, 588;
remarks of the message on the subject of an apology, 588;
a private attempt to obtain a dictated apology, 588;
an attempt made to get this refused apology placed on the
archives of the government, 588;
statement of the message, 589;
the interdiction of our ports to the entry of French vessels
and French products recommended, 589;
nature of the treaty that had been formed, 589;
stipulated for reduction of duties on wines by our government
and the payment of indemnity by France, 589;
advantages to France, 590;
reasons of such delay on the part of France, 590;
extract relative to the French armament, 590.
Calhoun charges upon the President a design to have war with
France, 591;
Benton asserts that the conduct of the Senate at its last
session had given to the French question its present
hostile aspect, 591;
remarks, 591;
conduct of France insulting to us, 591;
an example from French history, 591;
a party in the French Chambers working to separate the President
from the people of the United States, and to make him
responsible for the hostile attitude of the two
countries, 592;
comments on the approach of the French fleet, 593;
the present state of affairs charged upon the conduct of the
Senate, 593;
defence of Senators, 594;
the Senate charged with the loss of the defence bills at the
last session, 595;
defence of the Senate by Webster, 596;
further discussion on the time when the second session of
Congress expires, 598, 599;
American arming declared to be war on our side, 600;
denied, 600.
_British Mediation._--
Message informing the Senate that Great Britain had offered her
friendly mediation between the United States and
France, 600;
suspension of retaliatory measures recommended, 600;
all points in the controversy involving the honor of the United
States excepted, 600;
motives of the offer, 600, 601;
reflections upon this subject, 601.
_French Spoliation Claim._--
Ground of examined, 91;
assumptions on which their payment by the United States
rested, 487;
liability of the United States to become paymasters themselves,
in cases where failing, by war or negotiation, to obtain
redress they make a treaty settlement surrendering or
abandoning the claims, 487;
this point examined, 487;
governments not bound to push such interests to the extremity of
a war, 487;
ought not to go back thirty-four years and call in question the
judgment of Washington's administration, 488;
another instance of abandonment, 488;
speech of Mr. Webster, 488;
grounds of the claims, 489;
speech of Mr. Wright, 489;
relations between France and the United States prior to the
disturbances, 489;
stipulations of treaties, 490, 491;
origin of the claims which formed the subject of the bill, 491;
reference to acts of Congress to prove that war existed between
the United States and France, 493;
the treaty of 1800, 495;
what object in the negotiation of 1800, 496;
liability of the United States, 496;
further remarks, 497, 498;
propositions established, 500;
the advocates of the bill concede that two positions must be
established on their part to sustain it, 500, 501,
502, 503.
Speech of Mr. Webster, 505;
"essentially a judicial question, 505;
oldness of the claims, 505;
said most of them have been bought up, 505;
report of the Secretary of State presenting a general view of
the history and character of these claims, 506;
before the interference of our government with them they
constituted just demands against France, 507;
grounds upon which the claims are vested by the claimants, 507;
points admitted, 508;
propositions to be established, 508;
were these subsisting claims against France at the time of the
treaty? 508;
these claims released and relinquished by the amendment of the
treaty and its ratifications, 511;
these claims surrendered or released by the government on
national considerations, 511;
further remarks," 512, 513, 514.
Speech of Mr. Benton, 514;
"the whole stress of the question lies in a few simple
facts, 514;
assumed grounds on which the claims rest, 515;
on what grounds is it maintained that the United States received
a valuable consideration for these claims? 515;
the case as between France and us relative to these claims, 515;
our obligation under the guarantee of France, 515;
the justice and validity of the claims themselves, 516;
how can the American people be pressed to pay these claims when
it would be unreasonable to press France herself to pay
them? 516;
it is said the United States have received full consideration
from France for these claims, 517;
exertions made by the United States on behalf of these
claims, 518;
what were the losses which led to these claims? 519;
one of the most revolting features of this bill is its relation
to the insurers, 519;
what sum of money will this bill abstract from the
treasury?" 520;
bill passed the Senate, 521;
lost in the House, 521;
claim agencies and assignments should be broken up, 521;
assignees and agents constitute a profession, 521.
G
GAILLARD, JOHN, Senator from South Carolina, 7;
President of the Senate, 7;
votes for the Missouri Compromise, 8;
decease of, 77;
nearly thirty years in the Senate, 77;
nine times elected president of the Senate, 77;
his character as presiding officer, 77.
GALLATIN, ALBERT, candidate for the Vice Presidency in 1824, 45;
commissioner at Ghent, 71;
negotiates for joint occupation of Oregon, 109;
interview with Huskisson, 126.
GILES, WM. B., _decease of_, his peculiar talent, 683;
the Charles Fox of the House, 683;
his character, 683.
GILMER, GEORGE, Representative from Georgia, 7;
Governor, 7;
action relative to the Cherokees, 165.
_Globe Newspaper, the establishment of._--
An interview, 129;
scheme to set aside Gen. Jackson and run Mr. Calhoun for the next
President, 129;
propositions, 129;
communicated to General Jackson, 129;
the Telegraph newspaper, 129;
Francis P. Blair, 129;
how brought to the notice of General Jackson, 129;
establishes the _Globe newspaper_, 130;
stand taken by, 182.
_Gold currency_, remarks of Mr. Benton upon a, 436;
bills to equalize the value of gold and silver and legalizing the
tender of foreign coins in either, brought forward, 469;
the relative value of the two metals, 469;
experience of Mexico and South America, 469;
16 to 1, 469;
bill passed, 469;
its good effects, 469, 470.
_Government_, the, its personal aspect in 1820, 7.
GRANNY WHITE, the case of, 105.
GRUNDY, FELIX, offers anti-nullification resolutions, 34.
H
HALL, THOMAS H., Representative from North Carolina, 7.
HAMAR, THOMAS L., on the admission of Arkansas, 634.
HAMILTON, General, argument for a national bank drawn from the
Indian War, 2.
HAMILTON, JAMES A., acts as Secretary of State, 119.
HARDIN, BENJAMIN, Representative from Kentucky, 7.
_Hartford convention._--Design of secession imputed to, 4.
HAYNE, ROBERT Y., on revision of the tariff, 99;
on the duty on indigo, 99;
on sales of the public lands, 132;
debate with Webster, 138, 140;
in reply to Webster, 140;
against Van Buren as Minister to England, 215;
on southern resistance to the tariff, 274.
HENDRICKS, WILLIAM, Representative from Indiana, 7.
HILL, ISAAC, on abolition petitions, 614.
HOLMES, JOHN, Senator from Maine, 7;
votes for the admission of Missouri, 9;
against Van Buren as Minister to England, 215.
HORSEY, OUTERBRIDGE, votes for the Missouri Compromise, 8.
_House of Representatives._--
Errors of De Tocqueville, 205;
reputation of the work in Europe, 205;
immense superiority attributed to the Senate arising from the
different manner of election, 205;
statement of De Tocqueville, 205;
its tenor to disparage democracy--to attack the principle of
popular elections, 205;
advantage of extending instead of restricting the privilege of the
direct vote, 206;
further remarks on his statement, 206;
every man of eminence has owed his first elevation to popular
elections, 206;
experience of England, Scotland, Ireland and Rome, of the success
of a direct vote, 206;
popular election the safest and wisest mode of election, 206;
the difference then between the two Houses has vanished, 206;
causes to account for an occasional difference, 206;
statesmen not improvised, 207;
time often required to carry measures, 207;
instance parliamentary reform, 207;
other great British measures, 207;
short service the evil of the House, 207;
instances of Adams and Randolph retaken up by the people when
dropped from the Senate, 207;
this error disparages the controlling branch of our
Government, 207;
the British House of Commons, 208;
the Senate now occupies prominent public attention, 208.
HUNTER, WILLIAM, Senator from Rhode Island, 7.
I
_Imprisonment for debt, abolition of._--
Act of Congress passed to abolish all imprisonment on process
issuing from the courts of the United States, 292;
effect of the example, 292;
report, 292;
extracts, 292;
"power of the creditor over the debtor in ancient Greece and
Rome, 292;
the history of English jurisprudence furnishes the remarkable
fact that for many centuries personal liberty could not be
violated for debt, 292;
progress of imprisonment in England, 293;
further remarks," 293;
act passed, 293;
effect upon the States, 293;
imprisonment condemned by morality, by humanity, and by the
science of political economy, 294.
_Incendiary publications circulated by mail._--
Moved, that so much of the President's message as related to
this subject be referred to a select committee, 580;
opposed, should go to the committee on post-offices and
post-roads, 580;
object to secure a committee that would calmly investigate the
whole subject, 580;
discussion relative to the committee, 580;
special committee appointed, 580;
bill and report, 580;
dissent of various members of the committee from the sentiments
of the report, 581;
two parts exceptionable, 581;
the nature of the Federal Government founded in "compact" and on
interference of non-slave States with slavery in other
States, 581;
extracts from the report, 581, 582, 583;
insidiousness of the report consisted in the assumption of
impending danger of the abolition of slavery in all the
slave States, and the necessity for extraordinary means to
prevent these dire calamities, when the fact was that
there was not one particle of any such danger, 584;
the report foreshadows disunion, 584;
in vain to expect security or protection for the slaveholding
States except from themselves, and concert only wanted
among them to obtain this end, 584;
Calhoun recurs to secession for a new grievance, 585;
remark of Clay relative to the compromise of 1833, 585;
remarks of Mr. Webster, 586;
examination of the features of the bill, 586;
remarks of Mr. Clay on the bill, 586;
the bill not only unnecessary, but as a law of dangerous, if not
a doubtful authority, 586;
whence did Congress derive the power to pass this law? 587.
Votes on the bill, 587;
three successive tie votes, 587;
yeas and nays called, 587;
the Vice-President called for, 587;
gives the casting vote for engrossment, 587;
remarks on the vote of various Senators, 587.
_Indian Factory System._--
Its origin, 21;
objects, 21;
how carried on, 21;
its inside working, 21;
bill to repeal passed, 21;
shows how long the Indians and the Government may be cheated
without knowing it, 21.
_Indians, removal of._--
Large tracts held by the Indians in South and Western States in
1821, 27;
early policy of the Government, 27;
applications to the Federal Government incessant for their
removal, 27;
what has become of the tribes in the older States? 27;
speech of Elliot, 27;
views of Jefferson, 28;
action of Monroe's administration, 28;
process for effecting the removal, 28;
bill passed, 28;
treaties ratified, 29;
the system of removal begun, 29.
_Creeks, removal from Georgia._--
Agreement between the United States and Georgia, 58;
treaty of removal concluded in 1824, 58;
resisted by the nation, 59;
attempts to enforce it by the State of Georgia, 59;
interference of the Administration, 59;
new treaty negotiated, 59;
objections to it in the Senate, 59;
further negotiation, 59;
treaty ratified, 59;
an incident, 59;
remarks of Van Buren, 60;
remarks of Benton, 61;
others, 62, 63.
_Cherokees, removal from Georgia._--
Facts of the case, 624;
combination of obstacles, 624;
proceedings relative to, 624;
treaty with the Cherokees, 624;
amount of the stipulation, 624;
treaty opposed in the Senate, 624;
protest from the Cherokee nation, 625;
proposition to reject the treaty, 625;
close vote, 625;
saved by free State votes, 626;
involved an extension of slavery, 626;
just and fraternal spirit of the free States to their southern
brethren, 626.
_Final removal of._--
This policy when commenced, 690;
completed, 690;
effects, 690;
extent of the removals, 690;
increase of area of slave population, 691;
conduct of the northern States, 691;
outcry against General Jackson, 691;
statements of De Tocqueville, 691;
remarks, 692;
amount of payments to the Indians, 692;
the smaller remote tribes, 693;
the Indian bureau, 693.
_Indian sovereignties within States._--
Indian oligarchies set up in some of the States, 163;
remarks of President Jackson's message in 1829-30, 164;
"the condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes within
States, an object of much interest, 164;
has the General Government a right to sustain them in erecting
an independent government within the limits of a State? 164;
reference to the constitution, 164;
their efforts discountenanced," 164;
passage of an act to enable their removal recommended, 164;
an old policy taken hold of by party spirit, 164;
proceedings in Georgia, 164;
proceedings of the Cherokees, 164;
action of Governor Gilmer relative to the suit of the
Cherokees, 165;
charge of Judge Clayton to the Grand Jury of the Indian
countries, 165;
address of Milner to the Foreign Missionary Society of
London, 165;
remarks, 166;
the case of George Tassels, 166;
answer of Governor Gilmer to a request to make up a case before
the United States Supreme Court, 166;
settlement, 166.
INGHAM, SAMUEL D., Secretary of the Treasury, 119;
resigns his seat in the cabinet, 181.
_Internal Improvements_ within the States, source of the
question, 3;
New York canal finished, 22;
roads and canals all the vogue, 22;
candidates for the Presidency spread their sails, 22;
advocates of the measure, 22;
two prominent subjects discussed, 22;
extent of the design, 22;
Monroe's veto, 22;
the statement of the question, 22;
constitutional point how viewed in the message, 23;
the post-office and post-road grant of power, 23;
the war power, 23;
the power to regulate commerce, 24;
to pay debts and provide for the general welfare, 24;
to make laws necessary and proper, 25;
to make needful rules and regulations, 26;
the point on which Mr. Monroe yielded, 26;
the act for surveys passed, 26;
places recommended for improvement, 26;
veto message of Jackson, 26;
fate of the system, 27.
J