Crockett's Tour to the North and the East.
His Reelection to Congress.--The Northern Tour.--First Sight of a
Railroad.--Reception in Philadelphia.--His First Speech.--Arrival in
New York.--The Ovation there.--Visit to Boston.--Cambridge and
Lowell.--Specimens of his Speeches.--Expansion of his Ideas.--Rapid
Improvement.
Colonel Crockett, having been reelected again repaired to Washington.
During the session, to complete his education, and the better to
prepare himself as a legislator for the whole nation, he decided to
take a short trip to the North and the East. His health had also begun
to fail, and his physicians advised him to go. He was thoroughly
acquainted with the Great West. With his rifle upon his shoulder, in
the Creek War, he had made wide explorations through the South. But the
North and the East were regions as yet unknown to him.
On the 25th of April, 1834, he left Washington for this Northern tour.
He reached Baltimore that evening, where he was invited to a supper by
some of the leading gentlemen. He writes:
"Early next morning. I started for Philadelphia, a place where I had
never been. I sort of felt lonesome as I went down to the steamboat.
The idea of going among a new people, where there are tens of thousands
who would pass me by without knowing or caring who I was, who are all
taken up with their own pleasures or their own business, made me feel
small; and, indeed, if any one who reads this book has a grand idea of
his own importance, let him go to a big city, and he will find that he
is not higher valued than a coonskin.
"The steamboat was the Carroll of Carrollton, a fine craft, with the
rum old Commodore Chaytor for head man. A good fellow he is--all sorts
of a man--bowing and scraping to the ladies, nodding to the gentlemen,
cursing the crew, and his right eye broad-cast upon the 'opposition
line,' all at the same time. 'Let go!' said the old one, and off we
walked in prime style.
"Our passage down Chesapeake Bay was very pleasant. In a very short run
we came to a place where we were to get on board the rail-cars. This
was a clean new sight to me. About a dozen big stages hung on to one
machine. After a good deal of fuss we all got seated and moved slowly
off; the engine wheezing as though she had the tizzic. By-and-by, she
began to take short breaths, and away we went, with a blue streak after
us. The whole distance is seventeen miles. It was run in fifty-five
minutes.
"At Delaware City, I again embarked on board of a splendid steamboat.
When dinner was ready, I set down with the rest of the passengers.
Among them was Rev. O. B. Brown, of the Post-Office Department, who sat
near me. During dinner he ordered a bottle of wine, and called upon me
for a toast. Not knowing whether he intended to compliment me, or abash
me among so many strangers, or have some fun at my expense, I concluded
to go ahead, and give him and his like a blizzard. So our glasses being
filled, the word went round, 'A toast from Colonel Crockett.' I give it
as follows: 'Here's wishing the bones of tyrant kings may answer in
hell, in place of gridirons, to roast the souls of Tories on.' At this
the parson appeared as if he was stumpt. I said, 'Never heed; it was
meant for where it belonged.' He did not repeat his invitation, and I
eat my dinner quietly.
"After dinner I went up on the deck, and saw the captain hoisting three
flags. Says I, 'What does that mean?' He replied, that he was under
promise to the citizens of Philadelphia, if I was on board, to hoist
his flags, as a friend of mine had said he expected I would be along
soon.
"We went on till we came in sight of the city and as we advanced
towards the wharf, I saw the whole face of the earth covered with
people, all anxiously looking on towards the boat. The captain and
myself were standing on the bow-deck; he pointed his finger at me, and
people slung their hats, and huzzaed for Colonel Crockett. It struck me
with astonishment to hear a strange people huzzaing for me, and made me
feel sort of queer. It took me so uncommon unexpected, as I had no idea
of attracting attention. But I had to meet it, and so I stepped on to
the wharf, where the folks came crowding around me, saying, 'Give me
the hand of an honest man.' I did not know what all this meant: but
some gentleman took hold of me, and pressing through the crowd, put me
into an elegant barouche, drawn by four fine horses; they then told me
to bow to the people: I did so, and with much difficulty we moved off.
The streets were crowded to a great distance, and the windows full of
people, looking out, I suppose, to see the wild man. I thought I had
rather be in the wilderness with my gun and dogs, than to be attracting
all that fuss. I had never seen the like before, and did not know
exactly what to say or do. After some time we reached the United States
Hotel, in Chesnut Street."
"The crowd had followed me filling up the street, and pressing into the
house to shake hands. I was conducted up stairs, and walked out on a
platform, drew off my hat, and bowed round to the people. They cried
out from all quarters, 'A speech, a speech, Colonel Crockett.'
"After the noise had quit, so I could be heard, I said to them the
following words:
"'GENTLEMEN OF PHILADELPHIA:
"'My visit to your city is rather accidental. I had no expectation of
attracting any uncommon attention. I am travelling for my health,
without the least wish of exciting the people in such times of high
political feeling. I do not wish to encourage it. I am unable at this
time to find language suitable to return my gratitude to the citizens
of Philadelphia. However, I am almost induced to believe it
flattery--perhaps a burlesque. This is new to me, yet I see nothing but
friendship in your faces; and if your curiosity is to hear the
backwoodsman, I will assure you I am illy prepared to address this most
enlightened people. However, gentlemen, if this is a curiosity to you,
if you will meet me to-morrow, at one o'clock, I will endeavor to
address you, in my plain manner.'
"So I made my obeisance to them, and retired into the house."
It is true that there was much of mere curiosity in the desire to see
Colonel Crockett. He was a strange and an incomprehensible man. His
manly, honest course in Congress had secured much respect. But such
developments of character as were shown in his rude and vulgar toast,
before a party of gentlemen and ladies, excited astonishment. His
notoriety preceded him, wherever he went; and all were alike curious to
see so strange a specimen of a man.
The next morning, several gentlemen called upon him, and took him in a
carriage to see the various objects of interest in the city. The
gentlemen made him a present of a rich seal, representing two horses at
full speed, with the words, "Go Ahead." The young men also made him a
present of a truly magnificent rifle. From Philadelphia he went to New
York. The shipping astonished him. "They beat me all hollow," he says,
"and looked for all the world like a big clearing in the West, with the
dead trees all standing."
There was a great crowd upon the wharf to greet him. And when the
captain of the boat led him conspicuously forward, and pointed him out
to the multitude, the cheering was tremendous. A committee conducted
him to the American Hotel, and treated him with the greatest
distinction. Again he was feted, and loaded with the greatest
attentions. He was invited to a very splendid supper, got up in his
honor, at which there were a hundred guests. The Hon. Judge Clayton, of
Georgia, was present, and make a speech which, as Crockett says, fairly
made the tumblers hop.
Crockett was then called up, as the "undeviating supporter of the
Constitution and the laws." In response to this toast, he says,
"I made a short speech, and concluded with the story of the red cow,
which was, that as long as General Jackson went straight, I followed
him; but when he began to go this way, and that way, and every way, I
wouldn't go after him; like the boy whose master ordered him to plough
across the field to the red cow. Well, he began to plough, and she
began to walk; and he ploughed all forenoon after her. So when the
master came, he swore at him for going so crooked. 'Why, sir,' said the
boy, 'you told me to plough to the red cow, and I kept after her, but
she always kept moving.'"
His trip to New York was concluded by his visiting Jersey City to
witness a shooting-match with rifles. He was invited to try his hand.
Standing, at the distance of one hundred and twenty feet, he fired
twice, striking very near the centre of the mark. Some one then put up
a quarter of a dollar in the midst of a black spot, and requested him
to shoot at it. The bullet struck the coin, and as Crockett says made
slight-of-hand work with it.
From New York he went to Boston. There, an the opponent of some of
President Jackson's measures which were most offensive to the New
England people, he was feted with extraordinary enthusiasm. He dined
and supped, made speeches, which generally consisted of but one short
anecdote, and visited nearly all the public institutions.
Just before this, Andrew Jackson had received from Harvard University
the honorary title of LL.D. Jackson was no longer a favorite of
Crockett. The new distinguished guest, the renowned bear-hunter, was in
his turn invited to visit Harvard. He writes:
"There were some gentlemen that invited me to go to Cambridge, where
the big college or university is, where they keep ready-made titles or
nick-names to give people. I would not go, for I did not know but they
might stick an LL.D. on me before they let me go; and I had no idea of
changing 'Member of the House of Representatives of the United States,'
for what stands for 'lazy, lounging dunce,' which I am sure my
constituents would have translated my new title to be. Knowing that I
had never taken any degree, and did not own to any--except a small
degree of good sense not to pass for what I was not--I would not go it.
There had been one doctor made from Tennessee already, and I had no
wish to put on the cap and bells.
"I told them that I did not go to this branding school; I did not want
to be tarred with the same stick; one dignitary was enough from
Tennessee; that as far as my learning went, I would stand over it, and
spell a strive or two with any of them, from a-b-ab to crucifix, which
was where I left off at school."
A gentleman, at a dinner-party, very earnestly invited Crockett to
visit him. He returned the compliment by saying:
"If you ever come to my part of the country, I hope you will call and
see me."
"And how shall I find where you live?" the gentleman inquired.
"Why, sir," Crockett answered, "run down the Mississippi till you come
to the Oberon River. Run a small streak up that; jump ashore anywhere,
and inquire for me."
From Boston, he went to Lowell. The hospitality he had enjoyed in
Boston won his warmest commendation. At Lowell, he was quite charmed by
the aspect of wealth, industry, and comfort which met his eye. Upon his
return to Boston, he spent the evening, with several gentlemen and
ladies at the pleasant residence of Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong. In
reference to this visit, he writes:
"This was my last night in Boston, and I am sure, if I never see the
place again, I never can forget the kind and friendly manner in which I
was treated by them. It appeared to me that everybody was anxious to
serve me, and make my time agreeable. And as a proof that comes
home--when I called for my bill next morning, I was told there was no
charge to be paid by me, and that he was very much delighted that I had
made his house my home. I forgot to mention that they treated me so in
Lowell--but it is true. This was, to me, at all events, proof enough of
Yankee liberality; and more than they generally get credit for. In
fact, from the time I entered New England, I was treated with the
greatest friendship; and, I hope, never shall forget it; and I wish all
who read this book, and who never were there, would take a trip among
them. If they don't learn how to make money, they will know how to use
it; and if they don't learn industry, they will see how comfortable
everybody can be that turns his hands to some employment."
Crockett was not a mere joker. He was an honest man, and an earnest
man; and under the tuition of Congress had formed some very decided
political principles, which he vigorously enforced with his rude
eloquence.
When he first went to Congress he was merely a big boy, of very strong
mind, but totally uninformed, and uncultivated. He very rapidly
improved under the tuition of Congress; and in some degree awoke to the
consciousness of his great intellectual imperfections. Still he was
never diffident. He closed one of his off-hand after-dinner speeches in
Boston, by saying:
"Gentlemen of Boston, I come here as a private citizen, to see you, and
not to show myself. I had no idea of attracting attention. But I feel
it my duty to thank you, with my gratitude to you, and with a gratitude
to all who have given a plain man, like me, so kind a reception. I come
from a great way off. But I shall never repent of having been persuaded
to come here, and get a knowledge of your ways, which I can carry home
with me. We only want to do away prejudice and give the people
information.
"I hope, gentlemen, you will excuse my plain, unvarnished ways, which
may seem strange to you here. I never had but six months' schooling in
all my life. And I confess, I consider myself a poor tyke to be here
addressing the most intelligent people in the world. But I think it the
duty of every representative of the people, when he is called upon, to
give his opinions. And I have tried to give you a little touch of mine."
Every reader will be interested in the perusal of the following serious
speech, which he made in Boston. It is a fair specimen of his best
efforts, and will give one a very correct idea of his trains of
thought, and modes of expression. It also clearly shows the great
questions which agitated the country at that time. It can easily be
perceived that, as a stump orator in the far West, Crockett might have
exercised very considerable power. This phase of his peculiar character
is as worthy of consideration as any other.
"GENTLEMEN:
"By the entire friendship of the citizens of Boston, as well as the
particular friendship with which you have received me this evening, I
have been brought to reflect on times that have gone by, and review a
prejudice that has grown up with me, as well as thousands of my Western
and Southern friends. We have always been taught to look upon the
people of New England as a selfish, cunning set of fellows, that was
fed on fox-ears and thistle-tops; that cut their wisdom-teeth as soon
as they were born; that made money by their wits, and held on to it by
nature; that called cheatery mother-wit; that hung on to political
power because they had numbers; that raised up manufactures to keep
down the South and West; and, in fact, had so much of the devil in all
their machinery, that they would neither lead nor drive, unless the
load was going into their own cribs. But I assure you, gentlemen, I
begin to think different of you, and I think I see a good many good
reasons for so doing.
"I don't mean that because I eat your bread and drink your liquor, that
I feel so. No; that don't make me see clearer than I did. It is your
habits, and manners, and customs; your industry; your proud,
independent spirits; your hanging on to the eternal principles of right
and wrong; your liberality in prosperity, and your patience when you
are ground down by legislation, which, instead of crushing you, whets
your invention to strike a path without a blaze on a tree to guide you;
and above all, your never-dying, deathless grip to our glorious
Constitution. These are the things that make me think that you are a
mighty good people."
Here the speaker was interrupted by great applause.
"Gentlemen, I believe I have spoke the truth, and not flattery; I ain't
used to oily words; I am used to speak what I think, of men, and to
men. I am, perhaps, more of a come-by-chance than any of you ever saw;
I have made my way to the place I now fill, without wealth, and against
education; I was raised from obscurity, and placed in the high councils
of the nation, by the kindness and liberality of the good people of my
district--a people whom I will never be unfaithful to, here or
elsewhere; I love them, and they have honored me; and according as God
has given me judgment, I'll use it for them, come of me what may.
"These people once passed sentence upon me of a two years'
stay-at-home, for exercising that which I contend belongs to every
freeman in this nation: that was, for differing in opinion with the
chief magistrate of this nation. I was well acquainted with him. He was
but a man; and, if I was not before, my constituents had made a man of
me. I had marched and counter-marched with him: I had stood by him in
the wars, and fought under his flag at the polls: I helped to heap the
measure of glory that has crushed and smashed everything that has come
in contact with it: I helped to give him the name of 'Hero,' which,
like the lightning from heaven, has scorched and blasted everything
that stood in its way--a name which, like the prairie fire, you have to
burn against, or you are gone--a name which ought to be the first in
war, and the last in peace--a name which, like 'Jack-o'-the lantern,
blinds your eyes while you follow it through mud and mire.
"Gentlemen, I never opposed Andrew Jackson for the sake of popularity.
I knew it was a hard row to hoe; but I stood up to the rack,
considering it a duty I owed to the country that governed me. I had
reviewed the course of other Presidents, and came to the conclusion
that he did not of right possess any more power than those that had
gone before him. When he transcended that power, I put down my foot. I
knew his popularity; that he had come into place with the largest
majority of any one that had gone before him, who had opposition: but
still, I did not consider this as giving him the right to do as he
pleased, and construe our Constitution to meet his own views.
"We had lived the happiest people under the sun for fifty years,
governed by the Constitution and laws, on well-established
constructions: and when I saw the Government administered on new
principles, I objected, and was politically sacrificed: I persisted in
my sins, having a clear conscience, that before God and my country, I
had done my duty.
"My constituents began to look at both sides; and finally, at the end
of two years, approving of my course, they sent me back to Congress--a
circumstance which was truly gratifying to me.
"Gentlemen, I opposed Andrew Jackson in his famous Indian bill, where
five hundred thousand dollars were voted for expenses, no part of which
has yet been accounted for, as I have seen. I thought it extravagant as
well as impolitic. I thought the rights reserved to the Indians were
about to be frittered away; and events prove that I thought correct.
"I had considered a treaty as the sovereign law of the land; but now
saw it considered as a matter of expedience, or not, as it pleased the
powers that be. Georgia bid defiance to the treaty-making power, and
set at nought the Intercourse Act of 1802; she trampled it under foot;
she nullified it: and for this, she received the smiles and approbation
of Andrew Jackson. And this induced South Carolina to nullify the
Tariff. She had a right to expect that the President was favorable to
the principle: but he took up the rod of correction, and shook it over
South Carolina, and said at the same time to Georgia, 'You may nullify,
but South Carolina shall not.'
"This was like his consistency in many other matters. When he was a
Senator in Congress, he was a friend to internal improvements, and
voted for them. Everything then that could cement the States together,
by giving them access the one to the other, was right. When he got into
power, some of his friends had hard work to dodge, and follow, and
shout. I called off my dogs, and quit the hunt. Yes, gentlemen,
Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and Tennessee, and other States, voted for him,
as a supporter of internal improvements.
"Was he not a Tariff man? Who dare deny it! When did we first hear of
his opposition? Certainly not in his expression that he was in favor of
a judicious tariff. That was supposed to be a clincher, even in New
England, until after power lifted him above the opposition of the
supporters of a tariff.
"He was for putting down the monster 'party,' and being the President
of the people. Well, in one sense, this he tried to do: he put down
every one he could who was opposed to him, either by reward or
punishment; and could all have come into his notions, and bowed the
knee to his image, I suppose it might have done very well, so far as he
was concerned. Whether it would have been a fair reading of his famous
letter to Mr. Monroe, is rather questionable. He was to reform the
Government. Now, if reformation consists in turning out and putting in,
he did it with a vengeance.
"He was, last of all, to retrench the expenditures. Well, in time, I
have no doubt, this must be done; but it will not consist in the
abolishing useless expenditures of former Administrations. No,
gentlemen; the spoils belonged to the victor; and it would never do to
lessen the teats when the litter was doubled. The treasury trough had
to be extended, and the pap thickened; kin were to be provided for; and
if all things keep on as they are, his own extravagances will have to
be retrenched, or you will get your tariff up again as high as you
please.
"I recollect a boy once, who was told to turn the pigs out of the
corn-field. Well, he made a great noise, hallooing and calling the
dogs--and came back. By-and-by his master said, 'Jim, you rascal! you
didn't turn out the pigs.' 'Sir,' said he, 'I called the dogs, and set
them a-barking.'
"So it was with that big Retrenchment Report, in 1828. Major Hamilton
got Chilton's place as chairman--and called the dogs. Ingham worked
honestly, like a beaver; Wickliff was as keen as a cutworm: all of them
worked hard; and they did really, I suppose, convince themselves that
they had found out a great deal of iniquity; or, what was more
desirable, convinced the people that Andrew Jackson and his boys were
the only fellows to mend shoes for nothing, and find their own candles.
Everett and Sargeant, who made the minority report, were scouted at.
What has come of all this? Nothing--worse than nothing. Jackson used
these very men like dogs: they knew too much, and must be got rid off,
or they would stop his profligacy too. They were greased and swallowed:
and he gave them up to the torments of an anti-Jackson conscience.
"Yes, gentlemen, as long as you think with him, very well; but if
not--clear out; make way for some fellow who has saved his wind; and
because he has just begun to huzza, has more wind to spare. General
Jackson has turned out more men for opinion's sake, than all other
Presidents put together, five times over: and the broom sweeps so low
that it reaches the humblest officer who happens to have a mean
neighbor to retail any little story which he may pick up.
"I voted for Andrew Jackson because I believed he possessed certain
principles, and not because his name was Andrew Jackson, or the Hero,
or Old Hickory. And when he left those principles which induced me to
support him, I considered myself justified in opposing him. This thing
of man-worship I am a stranger to; I don't like it; it taints every
action of life; it is like a skunk getting into a house--long after he
has cleared out, you smell him in every room and closet, from the
cellar to the garret.
"I know nothing, by experience, of party discipline. I would rather be
a raccoon-dog, and belong to a negro in the forest, than to belong to
any party, further than to do justice to all, and to promote the
interests of my country. The time will and must come, when honesty will
receive its reward, and when the people of this nation will be brought
to a sense of their duty, and will pause and reflect how much it cost
us to redeem ourselves from the government of one man. It cost the
lives and fortunes of thousands of the best patriots that ever lived.
Yes, gentlemen, hundreds of them fell in sight of your own city.
"I this day walked over the great battle-ground of Bunker's Hill, and
thought whether it was possible that it was moistened with the sacred
blood of our heroes in vain, and that we should forget what they fought
for.
"I hope to see our once happy country restored to its former peace and
happiness, and once more redeemed from tyranny and despotism, which, I
fear, we are on the very brink of. We see the whole country in
commotion: and for what? Because, gentlemen, the true friends of
liberty see the laws and Constitution blotted out from the heads and
hearts of the people's leaders: and their requests for relief are
treated with scorn and contempt. They meet the same fate that they did
before King George and his parliament. It has been decided by a
majority of Congress, that Andrew Jackson shall be the Government, and
that his will shall be the law of the land. He takes the
responsibility, and vetoes any bill that does not meet his approbation.
He takes the responsibility, and seizes the treasury, and removes it
from where the laws had placed it; and now, holding purse and sword,
has bid defiance to Congress and to the nation.
"Gentlemen, if it is for opposing those high-handed measures that you
compliment me, I say I have done so, and will do so, now and forever. I
will be no man's man, and no party's man, other than to be the people's
faithful representative: and I am delighted to see the noble spirit of
liberty retained so boldly here, where the first spark was kindled; and
I hope to see it shine and spread over our whole country.
"Gentlemen, I have detained you much longer than I intended: allow me
to conclude by thanking you for your attention and kindness to the
stranger from the far West."
The following extract also shows the candor of his mind, his anxiety to
learn, and the progress his mind was making in the science of political
economy:
"I come to your country to get a knowledge of things, which I could get
in no other way but by seeing with my own eyes, and hearing with my
awful ears--information I can't get, and nobody else, from book
knowledge. I come, fellow-citizens, to get a knowledge of the
manufacturing interest of New England. I was over-persuaded to come by
a gentleman who had been to Lowell and seen the manufactories of your
State--by General Thomas, of Louisiana. He persuaded me to come and see.
"When I was first chose to Congress, I was opposed to the protecting
system. They told me it would help the rich, and hurt the poor; and
that we in the West was to be taxed by it for the benefit of New
England. I supposed it was so; but when I come to hear it argued in the
Congress of the nation, I begun to have a different opinion of it. I
saw I was opposing the best interest of the country: especially for the
industrious poor man. I told my people who sent me to Congress, that I
should oppose it no longer: that without it, we should be obliged to
pay a tax to the British Government, and support them, instead of our
own labor. And I am satisfied of it the more since I have visited New
England. Only let the Southern gentlemen come here and examine the
manufactories, and see how it is, and it would make more peace than all
the legislation in Congress can do. It would give different ideas to
them who have been deluded, and spoke in strong terms of dissolving the
Union."
Crockett returned to Washington just in time to be present at the
closing scenes, and then set out for home. So much had been said of him
in the public journals, of his speeches and his peculiarities, that his
renown now filled the land.