still talked of as a suitable candidate for the Vice-Presidency on the ticket headed by John Quincy Adams.

It became gradually apparent to the knowing few, that the State of New York was to be the real battle-ground in this contest. Mr. Van Buren soon discovered that Crawford was not the choice of New York, and that nothing but the strictness of party discipline could procure him the electoral vote of that State. Presidential electors in New York had been hitherto nominated by the Legislature, a plan that gave a fine field for the operations of the party manager. A desperate effort was now made to change the system, and give the choice of electors to the people. The friends of Crawford, however, succeeded in defeating the proposed change, and kept the game, for the moment, in their own hands.

Great clamor had arisen from the nomination for the VicePresidency of Mr. Albert Gallatin, who was not a native of the United States. One of the ten thousand paragraphs aimed at this nomination suggested for the presidency another American citizen of foreign birth, Talleyrand. "By electing these two distinguished citizens of the world, as the chief magistrates of this nation, we shall give the most conclusive proof of our entire freedom from ancient prejudices that any people ever gave: our local feuds will be staunched, and the caucus party will be doubly gratified in finding two cosmopolites chosen by the American people instead of one.”

The Crawford men yielded to the clamor, and Mr. Gallatin was induced formally to withdraw his name from the list of competitors. This movement certainly increased Mr. Calhoun's chances for the vice-presidency, but had small effect upon the prospects of Mr. Crawford.

If any man in the world could have carried the State of

* The following was Mr. Gallatin's brief letter of withdrawal:

FAYETTE COUNty, Pa., Oct. 2, 1824.

Understanding that the withdrawal of my name may have a favorable effect on the result of the approaching election of President and Vice-President of the United States, I request that I may no longer be considered as a candidate for the office of Vice-President. ALBERT GALLATIN.

New York against Mr. Adams and General Jackson, Mr. Van Buren was that man. He had a powerful inducement to exertion. The New York American was not far out of the way when it remarked, that "The apparent question now before the public is, who shall be our next President? but the real question is, whether Martin Van Buren shall be President of the United States on and after the 4th of March, 1833 ?" The American explains its meaning thus: "At that time, the great State of New York, having never furnished a President, will have irresistible claims to that honor. If any of her citizens are now qualified, the blossoms of eternity, fast gathering on their heads, will have fallen, they will be superannuated, that is, they will have passed the age of sixty years, that gloomy period, when the Constitution of New York declares that judges lose their senses, and that all flesh is grass. In that day Mr. Van Buren will be in the full strength of life, the only New Yorker fit for the Presidency." These slight indications of the nature of the presidential campaign of 1824, will enable the reader to follow understandingly the personal movements of General Jackson; to whom we now return.

CHAPTER III.

GENERAL JACKSON IN THE SENATE.

"ANDREW JACKSON, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Tennessee for the term of six years, commencing on the fourth day of March last, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat."

December 5th, 1823, is the date of this entry in the journal of the Senate. Twenty-six years had passed away since last Andrew Jackson had pressed the senatorial morocco; during which period the number of senators had increased

from thirty-two to forty-eight. And again, as we look down the list of names, we are astonished to observe how few of them are known to the present generation. Rufus King, Martin Van Buren, Nathaniel Macon, John Branch, Robert Y. Hayne, Richard M. Johnson, John M. Eaton, Thomas H. Benton, are all the names universally remembered at the present day. In the House of Representatives were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, C. C. Cambreleng, Egbert Ten Eyck, Stephen Van Rensselaer, James Buchanan, Samuel D. Ingham, Louis McLane, John Randolph, William C. Rives, Andrew Stephenson, Willie P. Mangum, George McDuffie, Joel R. Poinsett, John Forsyth, Sam Houston, Elisha Whittlesy, Edward Livingston. The delegate from the Territory of Florida was Richard K. Call, General Jackson's former aid-de-camp.

The session lasted six months, and General Jackson sat it nearly out. He made four speeches of about two minutes each; one in which he testified to the valor and good service of an officer who had fought at New Orleans; the others brief explanations respecting a projected road in Florida. He voted, however, on almost every question that came to a division.

He voted for the construction of that Florida road, on the ground that it was necessary to the defense of the Territory. He voted for the abolition of imprisonment for debt. He voted against reducing the duty upon imported iron; against reducing the duty upon cotton goods; against reducing the duty upon wool and woolen goods; against increasing the duty on India silks; against removing the duty on cotton bagging; for lowering the duty on blankets; for removing the duty of "four cents per pound" on frying

pans.

For the sake of economizing space, it may may be stated here, that during the two sessions of General Jackson's service in the Senate he voted in the affirmative on the passage of the following internal-improvement bills: A bill authorizing a road from Memphis in Tennessee to Little Rock in Arkan

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sas; a bill for making a road in Florida; a bill to procure necessary surveys for roads and canals; a bill to improve the navigation of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri; a bill for making a road in Missouri; a bill to subscribe to the stock in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company; a bill to extend the Cumberland road to Zanesville; a bill authorizing a subscription to the Portland and Louisville Canal Company.

The great topic of the session was the tariff. General Jackson, as his votes show, was a tariff man—an advocate of the system of "protecting" native industry by the imposition of high duties upon the importation of manufactured articles. We are not left to the testimony of General Jackson's votes on this question. While the revision of the tariff was proceeding in Congress, Dr. L. H. Colman, a member of the Virginia Legislature, wrote to General Jackson, asking his opinion upon the subject. This correspondence was very famous in its day, and won votes for General Jackson even from anti-tariff men-the General's candor and boldness atoning for his alleged heterodoxy of opinion.

DR. COLMAN TO GENERAL JACKSON.

"WARRENTON, VA., April 21st, 1824.

'DEAR SIR: Being one of the six members of the Virginia Assembly in the caucus last winter who voted for you as a fit and proper person to be supported by the people of the State for the presidency of the United States, and having since heard that you are in favor of the "protecting duty policy," I take the liberty of desiring you to inform me whether you intend voting for the Tariff Bill now before Congress. I wish to have information on the subject as soon as your convenience will permit, that I may answer the Fredericksburg Committee who invite my coöperation in getting up a ticket for the Hero of New Orleans. In this county you have many friends, and some think your support will be better in Petersburg than in any of the contiguous counties. We are anti-Tariff here; and candor requires me to say that should you be the advocate of a measure to which our interest is evidently opposed-the zeal with which you have been hitherto supported will be relaxed.

GENERAL JACKSON TO DR. COLMAN.

"WASHINGTON CITY, April 26th, 1824. receive your letter of the 21st My name has been brought be

"SIR: I have had the honor this day to instant, and with candor shall reply to it. fore the nation by the people themselves without any agency of mine: for I wish it not to be forgotten that I have never solicited office, nor when called upon by the constituted authorities have ever declined where I conceived my services would be beneficial to my country. But as my name has been brought before the nation for the first office in the gift of the people, it is incumbent on me, when asked, frankly to declare my opinion upon any political or national question pending before and about which the country feels an interest.

"You ask me my opinion on the Tariff. I answer, that I am in favor of a judicious examination and revision of it; and so far as the Tariff before us embraces the design of fostering, protecting, and preserving within ourselves the means of national defense and independence, particularly in a state of war, I would advocate and support it. The experience of the late war ought to teach us a lesson; and one never to be forgotten. If our liberty and republican form of government, procured for us by our revolutionary fathers, are worth the blood and treasure at which they were obtained, it surely is our duty to protect and defend them. Can there be an American patriot, who saw the privations, dangers, and difficulties experienced for the want of a proper means of defense during the last war, who would be willing again to hazard the safety of our country if embroiled; or rest it for defense on the precarious means of national resources to be derived from commerce, in a state of war with a maritime power which might destroy that commerce to prevent our obtaining the means of defense, and thereby subdue us? I hope there is not; and if there is, I am sure he does not deserve to enjoy the blessing of freedom.

"Heaven smiled upon, and gave us liberty and independence. That same providence has blessed us with the means of national independence and national defense. If we omit or refuse to use the gifts which He has extended to us, we deserve not the continuation of His blessings. He has filled our mountains and our plains with minerals-with lead, iron, and copper, and given us a climate and soil for the growing of hemp and wool. These being the grand materials of our national defense, they ought to have extended to them adequate and fair protection, that our own manufactories and laborers may be placed on a fair competition with those of Europe; and that we may have within our own country a supply of those leading and important articles so essential to war. Beyond this, I look at the Tariff with an eye to the proper distribution of labor and revenue; and with a view to discharge our national debt. I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to