1829.]

his own bidding, who could govern a Territory as if it were a gaol, and the next moment flatter the crowd as if it were the nation, appeared hardly the man for Chief Magistrate of a commonwealth of civilians who put their trust in the law, and would scarcely permit a professional soldier to exist among them. The adherents of the party once called Federal regarded these antecedents of Jackson with much dislike; but they were now a powerless minority, and could only await in patience the dawn of better days.

One of the first acts of the new President was to change the existing Cabinet, in order that all the chief offices might be filled by his own supporters. Mr. Martin Van Buren was made Secretary of State; Mr. Samuel D. Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury; Mr. John H. Eaton, Secretary of War; Mr. John Branch, Secretary of the Navy; and Mr. John McPherson Berrian, AttorneyGeneral. It was at the same time determined to make the Postmaster-General a Cabinet officer, and Mr. William T. Barry was appointed to the place. The custom of changing the members of the Government on the accession of a new President was begun by Jefferson, as the reader is aware; but it was extended by Jackson to the minor officials, with a degree of rigour never before equalled. The removals from office during the eight years of Jackson's Administration amounted to six hundred and ninety, while the entire number during all the preceding Presidentships, from 1789 to 1829, was only seventy-four. This sweeping application of a rather questionable power provoked a good deal of opposition in some circles; but, as the policy of the former Government was not radically changed, the people generally took little heed of the matter.

Jackson, indeed, after he had secured his position by liberally providing for his friends, exercised his powers at first with greater moderation than had been expected. He was favoured, in the early part of his rule, by a condition of great tranquillity, both at home and abroad. The country was prosperous, and the President was able to announce in 1830 that the revenue of the Federation was twenty

When Arbuthnot and Ambrister, the two Englishmen in Florida, were tried by court-martial for assisting the Indians (as related in the last chapter of Vol. II.), the sentence of the court on the latter was that he should be whipped and imprisoned-not that he should suffer death, which was the penalty imposed on the other offender. Jackson annulled the milder sentence, and the result was that Ambrister, as a soldier, was shot, and Arbuthnot, as a civilian, was hanged. The American General vindicated what he had done on the plea that the two prisoners, by assisting to make war against the United States while those States were at peace with England, put themselves in the position of outlaws and pirates. But such an argument might be made to justify any oppression.

11

four millions of dollars, while the expenditure was not much more than thirteen. In the same year, a treaty of commerce was concluded with Great Britain, by which the ports of that Power in the West Indies, South America, the Bahamas, the Caicos, and the Bermudas, were opened to American vessels, and the ports of the United States were declared free to British vessels coming from those places. By some, the provisions of this treaty were afterwards objected to, on the ground that they gave the carrying trade between the United States and the West Indies chiefly to British vessels; but the agreement was a step out of the rigid Protectionist principles which had existed for some years, and was on that account a gain to the community. In 1830, also, a treaty was signed at Constantinople between the United States and Turkey, securing to the former Power the free navigation of the Black Sea and the trade of the Turkish Empire.

The following year (1831) passed without any events of note; but 1832 was not so tranquil. On the 9th of January the Senate received a petition from the officers of the United States Bank, praying for a renewal of the charter granted in 1816, near the close of Madison's Administration, and made terminable in twenty years from that date. On the 13th of March, 1832, a select committee of the Senate, to whom the petition was referred, reported in favour of renewing the charter for fifteen years; and, after prolonged debates, a Bill for carrying out that object passed both Houses of Congress during the summer, though not without many adverse votes. Jackson, however, had long entertained a great dislike of the principles involved in such an institution. In his first annual Message, delivered in December, 1829, he had argued that the Bank had failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency, and that it was opposed to the nature of the Federal Constitution. The Message for the two next years contained further objections against the Bank, and it was therefore well-known that no Bill for renewing its charter would have the support of President Jackson. The Act passed in 1832 was vetoed by him on the 10th of July; and, as the majority required by the Constitution for passing a Bill into a law without the sanction of the President (viz., two-thirds) could not be obtained, the Bank-charter expired in 1836. The commercial part of the community anticipated this change in a spirit of the most gloomy foreboding ; and a good deal of temporary disturbance was in fact the result

Indian troubles arose in 1832. The State of Georgia laid claim to certain lands held within its limits by the Cherokees, and, in consideration of

promises of compensation for territory given up in former years, required the assistance of the Federal Government in extinguishing the Indian titles. The question had first arisen, as narrated in a previous chapter, in the year 1825, under the Presidency of John Quincy Adams, when the Federation was opposed to the view adopted by the State. That view was now upheld by Jackson, and the Georgians accordingly proceeded to take possession of the lands then occupied by the savages. The Supreme Court adjudicated on the matter in March, 1832, when a decision adverse to the claims of Georgia was pronounced. Jackson, however, countenanced the Georgians in resisting the decision, and a state of internal dissension arose, which, as regarded this particular question, continued for some years. The Chickasaws and Choctaws had consented to remove into the wilderness bordering on Arkansas, and had received from the Government of the United States the expenses of their journey, a certain allotment of land, and a year's provisions. But the other tribes were determined to resist, and the Cherokees, in particular, denied the right of the Federal Government to transport them against their will. Some creditable advances in civilisation had been made by the Cherokees, who had organised a species of government, framed a body of written laws, and created a national legislature. These very facts, however, were considered by President Jackson as additional reasons for the removal of such communities. He argued in his first Message to Congress, near the close of 1829, that the United States could not tolerate anything in the nature of independent governments within their limits. This, of course, was reasonable, if such feeble attempts at local administration could be regarded as independent governments at all. But the Indian Parliament and the Indian Executive might have been left to die out gradually, as they would assuredly have done in a few years, and the Indian tribes been allowed to pass by absorption into the larger and higher civilisation which some of them appeared to be approaching. Instead of this, they were relegated to a stern and inhospitable desert, or only suffered to remain under the most despotic regulations. The Georgian Legislature, supported by the President, extended the laws of the State over the Indian Territory, annulled such laws as had been established by the aborigines for their own guidance, and declared, on the 20th of December, 1829, that "no Indian, or descendant of an Indian, residing within the Creek or Cherokee nations of Indians, should be deemed a competent witness or party to any suit in any court where a white man is a defendant." Here was a

direct incentive to oppression and perjury; and the Supreme Court of the United States, in March, 1832, declared the acts of the Georgian Legislature to be unconstitutional. This decision was disregarded, and President Jackson informed the Cherokees that he "had no power to oppose the sovereignty of any State over all who may be within its limits." He therefore advised them to abide the issue of the new relations into which they had been brought, without any hope that he would interfere.

It is but fair to Jackson to add that he gave it as his opinion that the emigration should be voluntary; that he characterised as an injustice the compelling of the Indians to forsake the lands of their forefathers; and that he condemned the unscrupulous rapacity with which the white man often treated the red man. Nevertheless, when the latter refused to remove voluntarily, General Jackson had no more scruples about compulsion. Yet, as regarded the Cherokees, it was not until 1838, during the Presidency of Mr. Van Buren, that a strong body of troops was sent into the country in dispute, to remove the savages, by force if necessary, beyond the Mississippi. The conciliatory management of General Winfield Scott, who had command of the soldiers, brought the matter to a termination without the necessity of any resort to violence; but, in consenting to migrate, the Cherokees did nothing more than yield to the inevitable. They were forced into the wilderness by the stern hand of the white man, who coveted their possessions. the Indian will not adopt the habits of civilised life, it is but fair that he should be compelled to give up his lordship over the soil which he abuses by his indolence and barbarism. the case with the Cherokees. churches and schools; they had set up a printingpress; they were agriculturists, not hunters and trappers; they had exhibited a capacity for peaceful industry and progressive improvement. Surely they might have been suffered to remain beneath the protection of the national flag, and to develop whatever capacity of culture was to be found in them. But the old Roman art of civilisation has never been understood by the nations of the modern world.

Where

But this was not They had built

The evident disposition of President Jackson to deal harshly with the aborigines may have had something to do with a rising of the Indians on the North-western frontier in the spring of 1832. Three tribes, known as the Sacs, Foxes, and Winnebagoes, having their seats in the Territory of Wisconsin, began hostilities against the white. settlers. They had for their leader an energetic

had been either forced or cajoled. This was the case with the Sacs. General Gaines said one day, in a council with the chiefs, that the President was displeased with the refusal of the Sacs to go to the west of the great river. Black Hawk, who had fought on the side of the British in the late war, replied that that tribe had never sold their lands, and were determined to retain them. Gaines then asked, somewhat contemptuously, who the speaker was; whether he was a chief, and if he had any right in the council. The Indian left the assembly

panic, and Generals Scott and Atkinson were sent against the confederated Indians. The troops had not long embarked in steamers, sailing from Buffalo on Lake Erie, when cholera-a disease at that time new to the western world-broke out amongst them. The mortality was great on board the vessels, and the force was still further thinned, on landing, by numerous desertions. Those who forsook their colours gained nothing by that breach of faith and abandonment of military duty. They fled into the woods, where several died from want of food, or from the malady which had already slain so many of their comrades. Scott, bereft of a large number of his men, was unable to reach the scene of the disturbances; but Atkinson pushed on by special efforts, and in August defeated the warriors of Black Hawk with considerable loss. Among the prisoners were the chief himself and his two sons, who, after being sent in irons to Fort Jefferson, were conveyed to Washington, where they had an interview with President Jackson. A treaty was then concluded, and the captives relinquished all claim to the lands for the possession of which they had fought, and promised to remove to the western side of the Mississippi. They were afterwards taken through several of the eastern towns, that they might see the power and greatness of the nation they had defied, and judge for themselves the hopelessness of any further efforts. Ultimately they were released, and allowed to depart for their new homes.

Black Hawk and his people settled on the river Des Moines. The old chief lived in a bark cabin, which he furnished, in imitation of the whites, with chairs, a table, a mirror, and mattresses. His spirit as a warrior was thoroughly broken, and, giving all his time to the cultivation of his ground, he grew his corn and his melons in peace. He was invited one year to Fort Madison, to join in the celebration of Independence Day, though the anniversary could have had little attraction for him, and it was somewhat of a cruel honour to solicit his presence. The speech which he is reported to have delivered on this occasion is marked by a touching dignity and a melancholy sweetness, which show how much might have been done with such a man, had he been considerately and fairly treated. "It has pleased the Great Spirit," he is said to have observed, "that I am here to-day. I have eaten with my white friends. The earth is our mother; we are now on it, with the Great Spirit above us. It is good. I hope we are all friends here. A few winters ago I was fighting against you. Perhaps I did wrong—but that is past; it is buried—let it be forgotten. Rock River was a beautiful country.

I loved my towns, my corn-fields, and the home of my people. I fought for it. It is now yours. Keep it as we did: it will produce you beautiful crops." The latter years of this chieftain's life were pervaded by a profound feeling of mournfulness. He probably foresaw the extinction of his race, and tasted of that inconsolable sorrow which belongs to all perishing communities. On the 3rd of October, 1838, he died, at about seventy-two years of age. After his decease, he was dressed in a uniform which had been presented to him at Washington, and stretched on a rude bier, with bark laid across. The body was carried to the place of burial by four warriors, followed by the family and about fifty of the tribe. It was set on the surface of the earth in a sitting posture, on a seat contrived for the purpose. The right hand was made to rest on a cane presented to Black Hawk by Henry Clay. Trophies, favourite weapons, and Indian garments, were placed beside the corpse, and the American flag was planted at the head of the grave. The body was then enclosed with palings, and the earth filled in, in accordance with a method which is said to be usual with Sac chieftains. Black Hawk was an Indian warrior of the old school; but he had some of the better qualities of his race. A great American authority on Indian life has said of him that "he was more to be respected and pitied than blamed. His errors were the result of ignorance, and none of the cruelties of the war were directly chargeable to him. He was honest in his beliefhonest in the opinion that the country east of the Mississippi had been unjustly wrested from him; and there is no doubt but the trespasses and injuries received from the reckless frontier emigrants were of a character that provoked retaliation. He sought to restore his people to a position and rights which he did not perceive were inevitably lost. He possessed a degree of intellectual vigour and decision of character far beyond the mass, and may be regarded as one of the principal minds of the Indians of the first half of the nineteenth century."*

A much greater danger than any that could proceed from Indian discontent now threatened the Union. The Southern States had been sorely irritated by the Tariff Act of 1828, and the causes of annoyance thence arising were increased by another Act of Congress, imposing additional duties upon foreign goods. This was passed in the spring of 1832, and immediately caused a violent agitation in the non-manufacturing parts of the

Schoolcraft's Personal Memoirs of a Thirty Years' Resilence with the Indian Tribes. Philadelphia, 1851.

1832.]

country. On the 19th of November, a State convention was opened in South Carolina, under the Presidency of the Governor. This assembly declared that the Tariff Acts were unconstitutional, and therefore null and void; that the duty should not be paid, and that any attempt on the part of the Federal Administration to enforce payment would be resisted by arms, and cause the withdrawal of South Carolina from the Union, and the establishment of an independent Government. The State Legislature met shortly afterwards, passed laws in support of the resolution thus expressed, and recommended that the authorities should request the withdrawal of certain United States troops which had been stationed there to guard against a slave-insurrection. The people began to make military preparations; and when Congress re-assembled in the autumn, the aspect of affairs was exceedingly black. President Jackson, though generally inclined to support the doctrine of State Rights, was not prepared to see that view carried to the extent of actual rebellion. On the 10th of December he issued a proclamation, in which he denied the right of a State to nullify any Act of the Federal Government, and warned those who were engaged in fomenting rebellion that the laws of the United States would be strictly enforced by military power, if necessary. He declared that, as Chief Magistrate of the Union, he could not, if he would, avoid the performance of his duty, and that the laws must be executed at any cost. horted the people of South Carolina to desist from their opposition, and called upon the citizens of the United States to support him in upholding the Constitution. Jackson had just been re-elected to the Presidency for another term of four years, in opposition to Henry Clay; and at the same time Martin Van Buren, of New York, became VicePresident. Mr. Calhoun, who had for some years occupied the second position, was now free to follow his own conception of what was proper in this dangerous controversy. He accordingly took his stand in Congress on the most extreme interpretation of State Rights. He was a native of South Carolina, and one of the most able advocates of the views asserted in that part of the Union. Another eminent South Carolinian, who ranged himself in opposition to the Federal Government, was Robert Y. Hayne, who had represented the State in Congress for ten years, and was chairman of the committee of the convention which reported the ordinance of nullification. Not long afterwards, Hayne was chosen Governor of his native State, and his influence in that quarter was of the most powerful kind.

He ex

15

On the other hand, a vast majority of the American people were determined to sustain the general Government. The prospects of a collision became more serious every day. The President's proclamation found some support even in South Carolina, where a party called "Friends of the Union" started up. This, of course, rendered the chances of disturbance even greater; but the dangers of the hour were happily averted by a Compromise Bill, introduced into Congress by Henry Clay on the 12th of February, 1833. It is said that Mr. Clay brought forward this Bill with the concurrence of Mr. Calhoun. The latter had gone so far in his opposition-had, in fact, touched so near on downright treason that President Jackson had threatened him with arrest if he presumed any further. Every one knew that Jackson was a man who never hesitated at extreme steps when he had made up his mind to them; and Calhoun recoiled before the menace. He came to an arrangement with Mr. Clay for proposing in Congress a measure which would satisfy both sides; and when the matter was being debated in the Senate, he earnestly disclaimed any hostile feelings towards the Union on the part of South Carolina. The State authorities, he asserted, had looked only to a judicial decision upon the question, until the concentration of the Federal troops at Charleston and Augusta compelled them to make provision to defend themselves.* The President had, in truth, taken very decided measures. He had caused Castle Pinckney, a fortress commanding both the inner harbour and the city of Charleston, to be put in a complete state of defence; had strongly garrisoned Fort Moultrie; and had ordered several ships of war to be stationed in the Bay. The "Nullifiers," as they were called, were staggered, and not a little alarmed for their personal safety. The nullification doctrine was condemned, as destructive to the Federal Constitution, by the State Legislatures of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, and Georgia; although the last-named expressed at the same time its reprobation of the tariff system which had led to so much perilous dissension, and proposed a convention of the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi, to devise means of relief.

The determination of so large a part of the Union to uphold the general Government, and to repress sedition, rendered Mr. Clay's attempt at conciliation all the easier. A Bill for substituting a lower rate of duties for the obnoxious tariff had,

* Lossing's History of the United States.