FOOTNOTES
[1] Andrew Jackson was born in Waxhaw, North Carolina, 1767, but always considered himself a native of South Carolina, for the place of his birth was on the border of the two states. During the Revolution a party of British came to the settlement where Jackson lived. An officer ordered the boy to clean his boots, and when Jackson refused, struck him with a sword, inflicting wounds on his head and arm. Andrew and his brothers were taken prisoners to Camden. His mother obtained his release and shortly after died while on her way to nurse the sick prisoners in Charleston. Left an orphan, Jackson worked at saddlery, taught school, studied law, and went to Tennessee in 1788; was appointed a district attorney, in 1796 was the first representative to Congress from the state of Tennessee, and in 1797 became one of its senators. In 1798-1804 he was one of the judges of the Tennessee supreme court. His military career began in 1813-14, when he beat the Indians in the Creek War. In 1814 he was made a major general, in 1815 won the battle of New Orleans, and in 1818 beat the Seminoles in Florida. He was the first governor of the territory of Florida. He died in June, 1845. Read the account of Jackson's action in the Seminole War and the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, in McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. IV, pp. 439-456.
[2] The inauguration was of the simplest kind. Uncovered, on foot, escorted by the committee in charge, and surrounded on both sides by gigs, wood wagons, hacks full of women and children, and followed by thousands of men from all parts of the country, Jackson walked from his hotel to the Capitol and on the east portico took the oath of office. A wild rush was then made by the people to shake his hand. With difficulty the President reached a horse and started for the White House, "pursued by a motley concourse of people, riding, running helter-skelter, striving who should first gain admittance." So great was the crowd at the White House that Jackson was pushed through the drawing room and would have been crushed against the wall had not his friends linked arms and made a barrier about him. The windows had to be opened to enable the crowd to leave the room.
[3] Editors of newspapers that supported Jackson were given office or were rewarded with public printing, and a party press devoted to the President was thus established. To keep both workers and newspapers posted as to the policy of the administration, there was set up at Washington a partisan journal for which all officeholders were expected to subscribe. The President, ignoring his secretaries, turned for advice to a few party leaders whom the Adams men nicknamed the "Kitchen Cabinet."
[4] Calhoun maintained (1) that the Constitution is a compact or contract between the states; (2) that Congress can only exercise such power as this compact gives it; (3) that when Congress assumes power not given it, and enacts a law it has no authority to enact, any state may veto, or nullify, that law, that is, declare it not a law within her boundary; (4) that Congress has no authority to lay a tariff for any other purpose than to pay the debts of the United States; (5) that the tariff to protect manufactures was therefore an exercise of power not granted by the Constitution. This view of the Constitution was held by the Southern states generally. But as the two most ardent expounders of it were Hayne and Calhoun, both of South Carolina, it was called the South Carolina doctrine.
[5] On the anniversary of Jefferson's birthday, April 13, 1830, a great dinner was given in Washington at which nullification speeches were made in response to toasts. Jackson was present, and when called on for a toast offered this: "Our Federal Union, it must be preserved."
[6] Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 153-163.
[7] Daniel Webster was born in New Hampshire in 1782, graduated from Dartmouth, studied law, wrote some pamphlets, and made several Fourth of July orations, praising the Federal Constitution and denouncing the embargo. In 1813 he entered Congress as a representative from New Hampshire, but lost his seat by removing to Boston in 1816. In 1823 Webster returned to Congress as a representative from one of the Massachusetts districts, rose at once to a place of leadership, and in 1827 entered the United States Senate. By this time he was famous as an orator. Passages from his speeches were recited by schoolboys, and such phrases as "Our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country," "Thank God, I, I also, am an American," "Independence now, and Independence forever!" passed into everyday speech. In his second reply to Hayne of South Carolina, defending and explaining the Constitution (p. 290), he closed with the words "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." In 1836 he received the electoral vote of Massachusetts for the presidency. He was a senator for many years, was twice Secretary of State, and died in October, 1852.
[9] Read the speeches of Calhoun in Johnston's American Orations, Vol. I, pp. 303-319.
[10] Shortly before February 1, 1833, the day on which nullification was to go into effect, the South Carolina leaders met and suspended the Ordinance of Nullification till March 3, the last day of the session of Congress. This, of course, they had no power to do. The state authorities did not think it wise to put the ordinance in force till they saw what Congress would do with the tariff.
[11] In 1826 a Mason named William Morgan, living at Batavia, in western New York, threatened to reveal the secrets of masonry. But about the time his book was to appear, he suddenly disappeared. The Masons were accused of having killed him, and the people of western New York denounced them at public meetings as members of a society dangerous to the state. A party pledged to exclude Masons from public office was quickly formed and soon spread into Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New England, where it became very strong.
[12] This so-called removal consisted in depositing the revenue, as it was collected, in a few state banks, the "pet banks,"—instead of in the United States Bank as before,—and gradually drawing out the money on deposit with the United States Bank. Read an account of the interviews of Jackson with committees from public meetings in McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 200-204.
[13] The principles of this new society, formulated by William Lloyd Garrison, were: (1) that each state had a right to regulate slavery within its boundaries; (2) that Congress should stop the interstate slave trade; (3) that Congress should abolish slavery in the territories and in the District of Columbia; (4) that Congress should admit no more slave states into the Union.
[14] Read Whittier's poem A Summons—"Lines written on the adoption of Pinckney's Resolutions."
[15] The surplus on January 1, 1837, was $42,468,000. The amount to be distributed therefore was $37,468,000. Only three installments (a little over $28,000,000) were paid. For the use the states made of the money, read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 351- 358.
[16] Martin Van Buren was born in New York state in 1782, studied law, began his political career at eighteen, and held several offices before he was sent to the state senate in 1812. From 1815 to 1819 he was attorney general of New York, became United States senator in 1821, and was reflected in 1827; but resigned in 1828 to become governor of New York. Jackson appointed him Secretary of State in 1829; but he resigned in 1831 and was sent as minister to Great Britain. The appointment was made during a recess of the Senate, which later refused to confirm the appointment, and Van Buren was forced to come home. Because of this "party persecution" the Democrats nominated him for Vice President in 1832, and from 1833 to 1837 he had the pleasure of presiding over the body that had rejected him. He died in 1862.
[17] Specie payment was resumed in the autumn of 1838; but most of the banks again suspended in 1839, and again in 1841. Read the account of the panic in McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 398-405.
[18] Financial distress was not the only thing that troubled Van Buren's administration. During 1837 many Canadians rebelled against misrule, and began the "Patriot War" in their country. One of their leaders enlisted aid in Buffalo, and seized a Canadian island in the Niagara River. The steamer Caroline was then run between this island and the New York shore, carrying over visitors, and, it was claimed, guns and supplies. This was unlawful, and one night in December, 1837, a force of Canadian government troops rowed over to the New York shore, boarded the Caroline, and destroyed her; it was a disputed question whether she was burned and sunk, or whether she was set afire and sent over the Falls. The whole border from Vermont to Michigan became greatly excited over this invasion of our territory. Men volunteered in the "Patriot" cause, supplies and money were contributed, guns were taken from government arsenals, and raids were made into Canada. Van Buren sent General Scott to the frontier, did what he could to preserve peace and neutrality, and thus made himself unpopular in the border states. There was also danger of war over the disputed northern boundary of Maine. State troops were sent to the territory in dispute, along the Aroostook River (1839; map, p. 316); but Van Buren made an unpopular agreement with the British minister, whereby the troops were withdrawn and both sides agreed not to use force.
[19] In the West, men came to these meetings in huge canoes and wagons of all sorts, and camped on the ground. At one meeting the ground covered by the people was measured, and allowing four to the square yard it was estimated about 80,000 attended. Dayton, in Ohio, claimed 100,000 at her meeting. At Bunker Hill there were 60,000. In the processions, huge balls were rolled along to the cry, "Keep the ball a-rolling." Every log cabin had a barrel of hard cider and a gourd drinking cup near it. On the walls were coon skins, and the latch-string was always hanging out. More than a hundred campaign songs were written and sung to popular airs. Every Whig wore a log-cabin medal, or breastpin, or badge, or carried a log-cabin cane. Read McMaster's History of the People of the U. S., Vol. VI, pp. 550-588.
[20] The battle fought in 1811, meaning Harrison, the victor in that battle. See note on p. 254.
[21] John Tyler was born in Virginia in 1790 and died in 1862. At twenty- one he was elected to the legislature of Virginia, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1821, and favored the admission of Missouri as a slave state. In 1825 he became governor of Virginia, and in 1827 was elected to the United States Senate. There he opposed the tariff and internal improvements, supported Jackson, but condemned his proclamation to the milliners, voted for the censure of Jackson, and when instructed by Virginia to vote for expunging, refused and resigned from the Senate in 1836.