States, must have attained the age of twenty-one years, and have been
fourteen years a resident in the United States. He holds his office
for four years. He is elected at the same time as the vice-president,
who is president of the senate, but who has no vote, unless the votes
be equally divided. The president, vice-president, and all civil
officers of the United States, are removed from office on impeachment
for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and
misdemeanours. The president is commander-in-chief of the army and
navy: he has the power by, and with the advice and consent of the
senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present
concur: he can convene both houses of congress, on extraordinary
occasions; and adjourn them in case of their disagreement as to the
time, to any time he may think proper: he appoints ambassadors, other
public ministers and consuls, judges of the supreme court, and all
officers of the United States whose appointments are not otherwise
provided for by the constitution, and which shall be established by
law, &c. &c. The president and vice-president are elected by electors
appointed in each state equal to the whole number of senators and
representatives to which the state may be entitled to in congress;
but no senator, or representative, or person holding an office of
trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an
elector. The method of choosing these electors is threefold: by the
state-legislatures; by general-ticket; and by districts. The two latter
are more generally preferred, as the choice emanates more directly
from the people. Four only of the states,—Delaware, South Carolina,
Louisiana, and Tennessee, adopt the former. I think it would be tedious
and unnecessary to give an analysis of these three methods; suffice
it to remark, I have heard it regretted that the constitution did not
limit the choice to one mode. Chancellor Kent says “there would be
less opportunity for dangerous coalitions and combinations for party,
or ambitious or selfish purposes, if the choice of electors were
referred to the people at large; and this seems now to be the sense
and expression of public opinion.” When the electors have made out
the requisite lists, they are sent up to, and opened in the presence
of the senate and house of representatives; and the president and
vice-president are chosen in the manner prescribed by the twelfth
article of the amendments to the constitution. In the year 1801, the
federalist candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency were Mr.
Adams and General Pinkney; the republican favourites were Mr. Jefferson
and Colonel Barr. The two latter obtained a small, but equal majority
over the former; and to decide between them was the allotted office
of the house of representatives. Mr. Jefferson was chosen after no
less than thirty-five trials. In the mean time the people were kept in
suspense; the tranquillity of the Union was endangered; the possibility
of a recurrence of similar difficulties was forcibly impressed upon
the minds of Americans; and an alteration of the clause regulating
the mode of election of the president and vice-president was resolved
upon. The old clause contained these words, “The person having the
greatest number of votes to be president, if such number be a majority
of the whole number of electors appointed; and if there be more than
one who have such majority, and have an equal number of votes, then
the house of representatives shall immediately choose by ballot one
of them for a president, &c.” The mode of election was altered; but
it may still happen that the vote of a single member of the house
of representatives may decide it. In President Jackson’s Message of
December, 1830, he says, that “the necessity for an amendment is made
so clear to his mind by the observation of its evils, and by the many
able discussions which they have elicited on the floor of congress,
and elsewhere, that he should be wanting in his duty were he to
withhold another expression of his deep solicitude on the subject. A
contingency which sometimes places it in the power of a single member
of the house of representatives to decide an election of so high and
solemn a character, is unjust to the people; and becomes, when it
occurs, a source of embarrassment to the individuals thus brought into
power, and a cause of distrust of the representative body. Liable
as the confederacy is, from its great extent, to parties founded
upon sectional interests, and to a corresponding multiplication of
candidates for the presidency, the tendency of the constitutional
reference to the house of representatives is to devolve the election
upon that body, in almost every instance; and whatever choice may
thus be made among the candidates thus presented to them, to swell
the influence of particular interests to a degree inconsistent with
the general good.” The election of the president, immediately by the
people, without the intervention of electors, is here hinted at. There
is a levelling spirit abroad in the United States, that sheds its
influence over new laws and institutions: if there be a possibility of
a tendency towards either the federal or the democratical principles,
that tendency is sure to be democratical; and it is by no means
improbable, that such a mode of election may, at some future day, be
contended for and adopted. Chancellor Kent says, “that the mode of
appointment of the president, presented one of the most difficult and
momentous questions that could have occupied the deliberations of the
assembly which framed the constitution; and if ever the tranquillity
of this nation is to be disturbed, and its peace jeopardised by a
struggle for power among themselves, it will be upon this very subject
of the choice of a president. It is the question that is eventually
to attest the goodness and try the strength of the constitution, &c.”
Should the mode of election be altered, as I have just supposed it
may be, we may bid adieu to the Union forthwith. When we consider the
increasing population of the United States, the immense variety of
interests, and that every free inhabitant feels, I may say, personally
concerned,—whether he be really so or not,—in the success of his
favourite candidate, we can, in some measure, foresee even under the
present mode of election, how violent, how convulsing, at no very
distant period, will be the struggle and party-feeling exhibited at
the election of an officer, whose opinions on the construction of the
articles of the constitution, during his short ascendancy of four
years, will affect millions with a sentiment of attachment or disgust.
When General Jackson came into office, he immediately thought proper
to turn out several hundred subordinate officers, whose places were
filled up by his own party. The number of those who lost their places
at the commencement of any preceding presidency was extremely small,
bearing no proportion whatever to those dismissed by the General. The
increasing weight and importance of the affairs of the United States
rendered it partly a matter of expediency to do so; and, in all human
probability, future presidents will find themselves obliged to follow
the example. I make no remark on the late petticoat confusion in the
United States’ cabinet; like the battle of Navarino, the best that can
be said of it is, that it was an “untoward event.”
The salary of the president is 25,000 dollars (5625_l._) a year, with
the president’s house at Washington for his residence; but his expenses
do not equal his income. Mr. Calhoun, the vice-president, receives but
5000 dollars (1125_l._) a year. The secretaries for state, treasury,
war, and navy, and the postmaster-general, receive a yearly salary of
6000 dollars (1350_l._) each, and work very hard for it, their time and
attention being fully occupied, and often till a late hour of the night.
In the Message of 1830, to which I have before referred, General
Jackson invites the attention of congress to the propriety of promoting
such an amendment of the constitution as will render the president
ineligible after one term of service; and yet General Jackson is again
a candidate, and most probably a successful candidate, for the office
of president at the next election, on the first Wednesday in December,
1832, preparatory to his taking office for the twelfth presidential
term of four years, commencing on the 3d of March, 1833.
The election of the next—and heaven knows how many future
presidents!—will depend upon the known opinions of either candidate
upon “the Cherokee case;” upon the question of the renewal of the
charter of the United States’ Bank, to which I have before adverted;
on Masonry; on whether there is or is not a power granted by the
constitution to lay out the federal funds upon internal improvements
throughout the Union; and lastly, on the still more important question
as to the continuance or modification of the existing tariff. The
candidates will most likely be General Jackson, the president of the
day, Mr. Clay, Mr. Wirt, and Mr. Calhoun.
The opinions of General Jackson are in favour of the removal of the
Cherokees: he is averse to the renewal of the charter of the United
States’ Bank: he is a Freemason, and believes that the application of
the federal funds to internal improvements would be unconstitutional.
His opinions on the tariff question are oracular and uncertain.
Mr. Clay is opposed to the removal of the Cherokees; he is in favour
of the renewal of the Bank charter; he is a Mason; is an advocate for
internal improvements; and a staunch friend to the protecting, or, as
it is called by its supporters, the American system.
Mr. Wirt, a gentleman of Maryland, was the counsel for the Cherokees
before the supreme court. He has lately been started as a candidate by
the Anti-masons. Since the abduction and supposed murder of William
Morgan, who, a few years since, wrote a book revealing the secrets
of Freemasonry, the Anti-masons have become gradually more and more
numerous. They profess a hatred of all secret societies as dangerous
and unconstitutional; and although they will not be able to secure the
presidency to themselves, yet it is probable they will be sufficiently
strong to defeat the election of either of the more obnoxious
candidates. Mr. Wirt’s opinions are supposed to coincide with those
of Mr. Clay generally; but with respect to the internal improvement
system, and the tariff question, he is at present uncommitted.
Mr. Calhoun, the vice-president of the day, is the great champion
of the interests of the southern states, the nullifiers, and the
anti-tariff party; and in that character, if at all, he will be elected
to the presidency. His opinions are in favour of the removal of the
Cherokees, and of the existence of the United States’ Bank. On the
subject of internal improvements his opinions are said to be changed,
he having been originally an advocate of the system when secretary
at war in 1819. He is a “Nullifier,” although his situation as
vice-president has prevented him from showing himself in that character
so uniformly as he would have done. The term “nullifier,” which, like
the word “radical” in England, has now grown into common use, was first
adopted by the members from South Carolina, in congress, about two
years ago; the doctrine they profess was broached at the same time. A
nullifier is a person who holds that the federal constitution is merely
a compact or league between the several states; and that each state has
a right to decide for itself concerning the infractions of that league
by the federal government, and to nullify or declare void an act of the
federal congress within its limits.
Whatever may be urged by the party who are opposed to the opinions of
General Jackson, with reference to the advancement of prosperity in the
United States by his internal policy merely, his administrations of
the affairs of his country with regard to its relations with foreign
powers, has certainly been generally successful. He has obtained for
her the command of a profitable trade with the British West Indian and
North American colonies, thereby settling a question which had already
been the subject of six negociations. The president, in his Message,
at the second sitting of congress, on the 7th of December, 1830, says,
that this desirable result was promoted by the liberal provision of
congress, in allowing the ports of the United States to be open to
British shipping before the arrangement could be carried into effect
on the part of Great Britain, thereby requiting a similar act of
liberality on the part of the British government in 1825.
He has recovered claims upon the Brazils, Columbia, and Denmark, from
which kingdom the payment of 650,000 dollars is secured to the citizens
of the United States, for spoliations upon their commerce in the years
1808, 9, 10, and 11. Similar claims upon France, for injuries during
the war, have also been lately adjusted with that power.
He has concluded a treaty of commerce with Mexico; and by another with
Columbia, he has freed the American merchants from the discriminating
duties which had been imposed upon them; and by another with Turkey
he has secured a free passage for American merchantmen, without
limitation of time, to and from the Black Sea, by which their trade
with Turkey is placed on an equal footing with that of other nations.
By a compact made between the United States and the state of Georgia,
on the 24th of April, 1802, and long before any gold mines were thought
of, the United States engaged to extinguish for the use of Georgia,
“as early as the same could be peaceably obtained on reasonable terms,
the Indian title to the county of Talassee, and to all the other lands
within the state of Georgia.” As gold mines, within two or three years,
have been discovered in that state, it has naturally followed, that the
inclination of the Indians to remain, and that of the Georgians to get
rid of them, has become far more decided than formerly. The Indians
(Cherokees) however, claim a voice in the affair of their removal
from the land of their fathers; and that their assertions have other
foundations than those of an appeal to common justice and humanity, is
proved by the fact, that from the 28th of November, 1785, the general
government has made with them no less than fifteen different treaties,
thereby plainly acknowledging their independence, and their capacity
and power to treat. Within the last two or three years, however, gold,
as I have before remarked, has been discovered on the territories
of the Indians; and the state of Georgia has applied to the general
government to fulfil the contract, and rid them of the Cherokees. The
general government would be willing to come to a proper arrangement
with the Cherokees, but they are unwilling to go. The number now left
is about 15,000; the remainder of the tribe, since the year 1809,
having acceded to the offer of the United States, and removed to the
lands provided for them beyond the Mississippi. When this part of the
tribe petitioned to be allowed to remove, the answer of the president
(Mr. Madison) contained the words, “those who are willing to remove may
be assured of our patronage, our aid, and our good neighbourhood.” The
Georgians, however, happen to think that this is just the time for them
to go, and they forcibly prevent them from digging for gold on their
own land, saying, that every year will but increase their anxiety to
remain; and that they have no right to dig for gold when the reversion
of the land is in the state. These disputes yet remain unsettled.
The Cherokees are far advanced in civilization; and have among them
men of very superior abilities. They adopt in part the costume of
Europeans; they have schools, and churches, and a printing press
among them; and were fully competent to understand the following
precious piece of humbug, forming part of President Jackson’s message
to congress, in 1830. “Humanity has often wept over the fate of the
aborigines of this country; and philanthropy has been long busily
employed in devising means to avert it; but its progress has never
for a moment been arrested, and one by one have many powerful tribes
disappeared from the earth. To follow to the tomb the last of this
race, and to tread on the graves of extinct nations, excites melancholy
reflections. But true philanthropy reconciles the mind to these
vicissitudes, as it does to the extinction of one generation to make
room for another. In the monuments and fortresses of an unknown people
spread over the extensive regions of the west, we behold the memorials
of a once powerful race, which was exterminated, or has disappeared,
to make room for the existing savage tribes, &c. &c. The tribes which
occupied the countries now constituting the eastern states, were
annihilated or have melted away to make room for the whites. The waves
of population and civilization are rolling to the westward; and we
now propose to acquire the countries occupied by the red men of the
south and west, by a fair exchange, and at the expense of the United
States, to send them to a land where their existence may be prolonged
and perhaps made perpetual. Doubtless it will be painful to leave the
graves of their fathers; but what do they more than our ancestors
did, or than our children are now doing? To better their condition
in unknown lands, our forefathers left all that was dear in earthly
objects; our children by thousands yearly leave the land of their
birth to seek new homes in distant regions. Does humanity weep at
these painful separations from every thing animate and inanimate with
which the young heart has become entwined? Far from it! It is rather a
source of joy that our country affords scope where our young population
may range unconstrained in body or in mind, developing the power and
faculties of man in their highest perfection. These remove hundreds
and almost thousands of miles at their own expense, purchase the lands
they occupy, and support themselves at their new home from the moment
of their arrival. Can it be cruel in this government, when, by events
which it cannot control, the Indian is made discontented with his
ancient home, to purchase his lands, to give him a new and extensive
territory, to pay the expenses of his removal, and support him a year
in his new abode? How many thousands of our own people would gladly
embrace the opportunity of removing to the west on such conditions. If
the offers made to the Indians were extended to them, they would be
hailed with gratitude and joy.
“And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger attachment
to his home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is it more
afflicting to him to leave the graves of his fathers, than it is to our
brothers and children? Rightly considered, the policy of the general
government towards the red man, is not only liberal but generous. He
is unwilling to submit to the laws of the states, and to mingle with
their population. To save him from this alternative, or, perhaps, utter
annihilation, the general government kindly offers him a new home; and
proposes to pay the whole expense of his removal and settlement.”
I will here introduce a few remarks on what is called the gold region
in the United States, with the kind assistance of Mr. Damm, a Swedish
gentleman resident at New York, and connected with the gold mines. I
have selected them, with a very few alterations, from the reports on
the subject lately published by the government. It is now about thirty
years since gold was discovered in North Carolina; it was found in the
sand and gravel of different water-courses, first in Cabarras county,
soon afterwards in a county of Montgomery in that state. Until within
a few years past, the process of washing for gold was principally
confined to the two counties just named. The greater portion of the
gold thus procured was found in small pieces, varying in size from one
pennyweight down to particles of extreme minuteness; at most of the
mines, however, it is not uncommon to find pieces of a much larger
size; for example, at Cabarras, a single piece has been found weighing
twenty-eight pounds avoirdupois, besides several other pieces varying
from four to sixteen pounds. The proprietor of the same mine affirms,
that about a hundred pounds avoirdupois have been found in pieces,
about one pound in weight; these large pieces, however, compose but a
small portion of the whole product of the mines.
At a mine in Montgomery county, a number of pieces of about one pound
weight have been found. One of them weighed four pounds eleven ounces,
and another three pounds. In Anson county, during the summer of 1828,
a piece of gold weighing ten pounds, another of four pounds weight,
together with a number of small pieces, were taken up out of the sands
and gravel of Richardson’s creek. These discoveries have been chiefly
made in or near beds of streams; but in some instances deposits of
considerable extent have been found on the sides and tops of hills.
It was not, however, until about six years ago, that the gold mines,
properly speaking, were discovered in North Carolina, that is, gold
in regular, well-defined veins. This discovery, like that of the
alluvial deposits, was in some measure accidental. A person, while
washing the sand and gravel of a small rivulet for gold in Montgomery
county, observed that he could never find it beyond a certain spot in
ascending the stream; but at the point where the gold seemed to cease,
he discovered a quartz vein running into the hill on one side of the
channel, and at right angles with the course of the rivulet. Having
frequently taken up out of the bed of the stream, pieces of quartz with
bits of gold attached to them, he came to the conclusion that the gold
found scattered below, must have come out of the vein of quartz; and
he determined to pursue it into the hill. He had done so but for a few
feet, when he struck a beautiful deposit of the metal in a matrix of
quartz, and subsequently another in carbonate of lime. In following
this vein about thirty or forty feet longitudinally, and at a depth of
not more than fifteen or eighteen feet, he found a succession of what
are technically termed nests, from which he took out more than 15,000
dwt. of virgin gold. Soon afterwards the mine fell into other hands;
and the working of the vein has been discontinued in consequence of the
quantity of water which made its appearance; though it is understood
that it will be resumed in a short time. This discovery of the metal in
regular veins, presented the subject in a new and interesting point of
view; and directed a search for gold among the hills and high grounds,
and particularly for veins traversing the earth.
In the course of the summer, after the developement of Barringer’s
mine, some valuable mines were discovered in Mecklenburgh county.
The product of these, worked in the rudest manner, without skill or
capital, was so great as to excite general notice; and stimulated the
land-owners in that section to search for these hidden treasures. The
mines now began to attract the attention of the public; and several
persons of enterprise, and some capital, repaired to the spot. Some
of them made investments, began to erect machinery, and worked the
veins with system and regularity. The success of the first adventurers
in this new enterprise, and for a time the attention of every body
who sought to engage in the mining business, was exclusively turned
towards Mecklenburgh county. The consequence was, a constant search
for gold was kept up in that county, and not unattended with success,
as many very promising veins were discovered. These Mecklenburgh mines
were the first that attracted attention; and the first that were
examined and worked with skill and management. They were, of course,
greatly in advance of every other part of the region, and the products
have been greater in proportion to the labour, and capital, and skill
that have been applied to them.
In the course of the succeeding year, a very extensive and rich vein
was discovered in Guilford county; and it was soon operated upon by
more than one hundred hands, who flocked in from the country around,
and received permission to dig there. The discovery of one vein in
a district, furnishes the means of finding others. The people of
the neighbourhood visit it, examine the appearances of the ores, and
other signs and indications, and thus in some degree are qualified to
make a search on their own lands or elsewhere. This was the case in
Guilford county; the discovery of the first vein was soon followed by
the opening of several others. The same plan will be followed in every
district, until the gold region be explored, and the places which
exhibit any external signs of gold be thoroughly known. About this time
Cabarras county, which had hitherto been only considered as productive
in its washings, was ascertained to be a vein-mining district; and
discoveries to the same effect were made about the same period at
Lincoln.
It is less than two years and a half ago, since gold in veins was
first discovered in Davidson county; it having previously been found
only in and near the beds of rivulets and creeks. Within the last few
months, veins have been opened in the adjoining county of Randolph.
Rowan, situated between Davidson and Cabarras counties, embraces a
considerable section of the gold region, and contains many veins whose
external appearance is good and promising. The metal is also found in
the streams: some few veins have also been opened in Tredell county,
and are now in a course of developement.