JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION, 1829-1837.
The new President was a military hero--a man of great talents and
inflexible honesty. His integrity was unassailable; his will like iron.
He was one of those men for whom no toils are too arduous. His personal
character was impressed upon his administration. At the beginning he
removed nearly seven hundred office-holders and appointed in their
stead his own political friends.
[Sidenote: National Bank Abolished.]
[Illustration: Andrew Jackson.]
2. In his first message the President took ground against rechartering
the Bank of the United States. He recommended that the old charter be
allowed to expire by its own limitation in 1836. But the influence of
the bank was very great; and in 1832 a bill to recharter was passed
by Congress. The President opposed his veto; a two thirds majority in
favor of the bill could not be secured, and the new charter failed.
[Sidenote: Nullification Debates.]
3. In the congressional session of 1831-32, additional tariffs were
levied upon goods imported from abroad. By this act the manufacturing
districts were favored at the expense of the agricultural States. South
Carolina was specially offended. Open resistance was threatened in case
the officers should attempt to collect the revenues at Charleston.
In the United States Senate the right of a State to nullify an act of
Congress was boldly proclaimed. On that question had already occurred
the great debate between Colonel Hayne, senator from South Carolina,
and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts.
[Illustration: Daniel Webster.]
4. The President now took the matter in hand and issued a proclamation
denying the right of a State to nullify the laws of Congress. But Mr.
Calhoun, the Vice-president, resigned his office to accept a seat in
the Senate, where he might defend the doctrines of his State. The
President, having warned the South Carolinians, ordered a body of
troops under General Scott to proceed to Charleston. The leaders of the
nullifying party receded from their position, and bloodshed was avoided.
[Sidenote: The Black Hawk War.]
5. The lands of the Sacs and Foxes had been purchased by the
government, but the Indians, influenced by the chief Black Hawk,
refused to quit them. The government insisted that they fulfill their
contract, and hostilities began in 1832. General Scott was sent with
troops to Chicago to cooperate with General Atkinson. The latter
waged a vigorous campaign, defeated the Indians, and made Black Hawk
prisoner. The captive chief was taken to Washington and the great
cities of the East. Returning to his own people, he advised them to
make peace. The warriors abandoned the disputed lands and retired into
Iowa.
6. Difficulties also arose with the Cherokees of Georgia--the most
civilized of all the Indian nations. The President recommended the
removal of the Cherokees to lands beyond the Mississippi. The INDIAN
TERRITORY was accordingly set apart in 1834. The Indians yielded with
great reluctance. More than five million dollars was paid them for
their lands. At last General Scott was ordered to remove them; and
during the years 1837-38, the Cherokees were transferred to their new
homes in the West.
[Sidenote: The Seminole War.]
7. More serious was the conflict with the Seminoles. The trouble arose
from an attempt to remove the tribe beyond the Mississippi. Hostilities
began in 1835, and continued for four years. Osceola and Micanopy,
chiefs of the nation, denied the validity of a former cession of
Seminole lands. General Thompson was obliged to arrest Osceola and put
him in irons. The chief then gave his assent to the old treaty, and was
liberated, but immediately entered into a conspiracy to slaughter the
whites.
8. Major Dade, with a hundred and seventeen men, was now dispatched to
reinforce General Clinch at Fort Drane, seventy-five miles from St.
Augustine. Dade's forces fell into an ambuscade, and all except one
man were massacred. On the same day Osceola, with a band of warriors,
surrounded a storehouse where General Thompson was dining, and killed
him and four of his companions.
9. In two successive engagements in December and February the Seminoles
were repulsed. In October Governor Call of Florida, with two thousand
men, overtook the savages in the Wahoo Swamp, near the scene of Dade's
massacre. Here the Indians were again defeated and driven into the
Everglades.
10. In the mean time, the President had put an end to the Bank of the
United States. After vetoing the bill to recharter that institution, he
conceived that the surplus funds which had accumulated in its vaults
had better be distributed among the States. Accordingly, in October
of 1833 he ordered the funds of the bank, amounting to ten million
dollars, to be distributed among certain State banks designated for
that purpose. The financial panic of 1836-37, following soon afterward,
was attributed by the Whigs to the destruction of the national bank and
the removal of the funds. But the adherents of the President replied
that the panic was attributable to the bank itself.
11. In 1834 the strong will of the chief magistrate was brought into
conflict with France. In 1831 the French king had agreed to pay five
million dollars for injuries formerly done to American commerce. But
the government of France neglected the payment until the President
recommended to Congress to make reprisals on French merchantmen. This
measure had the desired effect, and the indemnity was paid. Portugal
was brought to terms in a similar manner.
[Sidenote: Arkansas and Michigan Admitted.]
12. In June of 1836, Arkansas, with a population of seventy thousand,
was admitted into the Union. In the following January, Michigan
Territory was organized as a State and added to the Republic. The
new commonwealth brought a population of one hundred and fifty-seven
thousand. In the autumn of 1836 Martin Van Buren was elected President.
As to the Vice-presidency, no one secured a majority, and the choice
devolved on the Senate. By that body Colonel Richard M. Johnson of
Kentucky was chosen.