THE PRESIDENT AND THE SENATE: WANT OF CONCORD: NUMEROUS REJECTIONS
OF NOMINATIONS.
Mr. Tyler was without a party. The party which elected him
repudiated him: the democratic party refused to receive him. His
only resource was to form a Tyler party, at which he made but little
progress. The few who joined him from the other parties were, most
of them, importunate for office; and whether successful or not in
getting through the Senate (for all seemed to get nominations), they
lost the moral force which could aid him. The incessant rejection
of these nominations, and the pertinacity with which they were
renewed, presents a scene of presidential and senatorial oppugnation
which had no parallel up to that time, and of which there has
been no example since. Nominations and rejections flew backwards
and forwards as in a game of shuttlecock--the same nomination, in
several instances, being three times rejected in the same day (as it
appears on the journal), but within the same hour, as recollected
by actors in the scene. Thus: on the 3d day of March, 1843, Mr.
Caleb Cushing having been nominated to the Senate for Secretary
of the Treasury, was rejected by a vote of 27 nays to 19 yeas.
The nays were: Messrs. Allen, Archer, Bagby, Barrow, Bayard,
Benton, Berrien, Thomas Clayton, Conrad, Crafts, Crittenden,
Graham, Henderson, Huntingdon, Kerr, Linn, Mangum, Merrick, Miller,
Morehead, Phelps, Porter, Simmons, Smith of Indiana, Sprague,
Tappan, White. This vote was taken after dark in the night of
the last day of the session. The President, who according to the
custom on such occasions, attended in an ante-chamber appropriated
to the Vice-President, immediately sent back Mr. Cushing's name,
re-nominated for the same office. He was immediately rejected
again by the same 27 nays, and with a diminution of nine who had
voted for him. Incontinently the private secretary of Mr. Tyler
returned with another re-nomination of the same citizen for the
same office; which was immediately rejected by a vote of 29 to 2.
The two senators who voted for him on this last trial were, Messrs.
Robert J. Walker and Cuthbert. The 19 who voted for the nomination
on the first trial were: Messrs. Bates, Buchanan, Calhoun, Choate,
Cuthbert, Evans, Fulton, King, McDuffie, McRoberts, Sevier,
Sturgeon, Tallmadge, Walker, Wilcox, Williams, Woodbury, Wright. The
message containing this second re-nomination was written in such
haste and flurry that half the name of the nominee was left out. "I
nominate _Cushing_ as Secretary of the Treasury, in place of Walter
Forward, resigned," was the whole message; but the Senate acted upon
it as it was, without sending the message back for rectification,
as the rule always has been in the case of clerical mistakes. These
re-nominations by Mr. Tyler were the more notable because, as
chairman of the committee which had the duty of reporting upon the
nomination of the United States Bank directors in the time of the
"_war_," as it was called of the government upon the bank, he had
made the report against President Jackson on the re-nomination of
the four government directors (Messrs. Gilpin, Sullivan, Wager and
McEldery), who had been rejected for reporting to the President, at
his request, the illegal and corrupt proceedings of the bank (such
as were more fully established by a committee of the stockholders);
and also voted against the whole four re-nominations.
The same night Mr. Henry A. Wise underwent three rejections on a
nomination, and two re-nominations as minister plenipotentiary and
envoy extraordinary to France. The first rejection was by a vote of
24 to 12--the second, 26 to 8--the third, 29 to 2. The two yeas in
this case were the same as on the third rejection of Mr. Cushing.
The yeas and nays in the first vote were, yeas: Messrs. Archer,
Buchanan, Calhoun, Choate, Cuthbert, Evans, Fulton, King, McDuffie,
Sturgeon, Tallmadge, Walker. The nays: Messrs. Bagby, Barrow,
Benton, Berrien, Clayton (Thomas), Conrad, Crafts, Crittenden,
Dayton, Graham, Henderson, Huntingdon, John Leeds Kerr, Mangum,
Merrick, Miller, Phelps, Porter, Simmons, Smith of Indiana, Sprague,
Tappan, White, Woodbridge. Mr. Wise had been nominated in the place
of Lewis Cass, Esq., resigned.
At the ensuing session a rapid succession of rejections of
nominations took place. Mr. George H. Proffit, of Indiana, late of
the House of Representatives, was nominated minister plenipotentiary
and envoy extraordinary to the Emperor of Brazil. He had been
commissioned in the vacation, and had sailed upon his destination,
drawing the usual outfit and quarter's salary, leaving the principal
part behind, bet upon the presidential election. He was not
received by the Emperor of Brazil, and was rejected by the Senate.
Only eight members voted for his confirmation--Messrs. Breese,
Colquitt, Fulton, Hannegan, King, Semple, Sevier, Walker. He had
been nominated in the place of William Hunter, Esq., ex-senator
from Rhode Island, recalled--a gentleman of education, reading,
talent, and finished manners; and eminently fit for his place. It
was difficult to see in Mr. Proffit, intended to supersede him, any
cause for his appointment except his adhesion to Mr. Tyler.
Mr. David Henshaw, of Massachusetts, had been commissioned Secretary
of the Navy in the recess, in place of Mr. Upshur, appointed
Secretary of State. He was rejected--only eight senators voting for
his nomination: they were: Messrs. Colquitt, Fulton, Haywood, King,
Semple, Sevier, Walker, Woodbury. The same fate attended Mr. James
M. Porter, of Pennsylvania, appointed in the recess Secretary at
War, in the place of Mr. John C. Spencer, resigned. No more than
three senators voted for his confirmation--Messrs. Haywood, Porter
of Michigan, and Tallmadge. Mr. John C. Spencer himself, nominated
an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, in
the place of Smith Thompson, Esq., deceased, was also rejected--26
to 21 votes. The negatives were: Messrs. Allen, Archer, Atchison,
Barrow, Bates, Bayard, Benton, Berrien, Choate, Clayton, Crittenden,
Dayton, Evans, Foster, Haywood, Henderson, Huntingdon, Jarnagin,
Mangum, Merrick, Miller, Morehead, Pearce, Simmons, Tappan,
Woodbridge.--Mr. Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire, was another subject
of senatorial rejection. He was nominated for the place of the chief
of the bureau of provisions and clothing of the Navy Department, to
fill a vacancy occasioned by the death of Charles W. Goldsborough,
Esq., and rejected by a vote of 25 to 11. The negatives were:
Messrs. Allen, Archer, Atchison, Bagby, Barrow, Bates, Bayard,
Benton, Berrien, Breese, Clayton (Thomas), Crittenden, Dayton,
Evans, Foster, Huntingdon, Jarnagin, Mangum, Merrick, Morehead,
Pearce, Sturgeon, Tappan, Walker, White.--Mr. Cushing was nominated
at the same session for minister plenipotentiary and envoy
extraordinary to China, the proceedings on which have not been made
public.