[150] In these respects he much resembles the Ex-President, his father, who, curiously and appropriately enough, died within a few hours of his old friend and rival, Jefferson, on the fiftieth anniversary of the day they had helped to render famous, July 4, 1826.

CHAPTER XIX.
the jacksonian epoch, 1829–1837.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS.

343. The Meaning of Jackson’s Election.—Andrew Jackson was the first man of plain birth and breeding to sit in the White House. Born on the border between the two Carolinas, he had early made his way to Tennessee and there had risen to leadership through his strength of character and his possession of all the manly qualities most held in repute by the pioneer settlers. The democratic voters gave him whatever political or military offices he wanted, and were thoroughly satisfied with the effective way he discharged his duties. When Indians or British threatened the South or Southwest, he was the man to whom the general government had to turn, and his constant success made him a popular hero throughout the Union. Thus, in reputation as well as in character, he became more than a mere Tennesseean; he became a representative American. He was not a trained statesman, and his opinions on many important subjects were little more than prejudices. But he was thoroughly honest and fearless and precisely the sort of leader fitted to enlist the sympathy and admiration of the democracy. It is true that he could have done little without his shrewd political friends, and that he was likely to be partly their tool. It is true, also, that with all the virtues of the backwoodsmen, he had some of their vices, notably that of vindictiveness. But when all allowances are made, he was a great man, thoroughly representative of the new electorate.

344. The New Democracy.—The new type of politicians controlling the country was but an index of a new electorate. In the East the downfall of the Federalists and the constant extensions of the suffrage had created a party of “the people,” which would have had little chance of making its wishes law under the régime of Washington, or even of Jefferson. But it hailed in Jackson a leader after its own heart. In the West, where aristocracy was practically unknown, no other party had ever existed, and the young communities had long chafed under the conservative methods of the East, which advanced one Secretary of State after another to the Presidential chair. In the South the planters still controlled affairs, but they treated the democracy with consideration, and directed, rather than thwarted, its energies. Of course, in developing this new political force, the teachings of Jefferson and his school had had much influence; but the growth and spread of population, the increase of territory, the development of means of communication, and the opening up of new industries had been more effective. Jefferson had wanted to have the people recognized as the source of power, but he wished to have educated men use the power thus obtained. He thought, moreover, that tyranny would be averted if these picked men represented localities, or states, which would be jealous of their rights, and not the nation at large, which would not be thus jealous. The new democracy, on the other hand, while suspicious of strong government, was national in its sympathies, rather than local, as was soon proved by Jackson. The lately formed states of the West, being all younger than the Union, many of them creations by that Union out of national territory, had less state pride than the older commonwealths which had formed the Union. The new conditions of trade were, moreover, somewhat obliterating state lines in the North and East by inducing travel and correspondence on the part of business men. Thus the local democracy represented by Jefferson was being more and more confined to the South, but it kept up an alliance with the national and more radical democracy represented by Jackson down to the Civil War. Manhood suffrage, dependence of office holders upon the wishes of the electorate, and other principles of the Jacksonian democracy have become the political heritage of Americans, regardless of party.

345. Changes among the People.—The new democracy was strong and honest, but very ignorant. It was controlled by clever politicians, who used the machinery of caucus, primary election, and nominating conventions, and also introduced the ideas of the supreme virtue of party fealty, and of the propriety of distributing the spoils of office to the victors in each successive election. In other words, men were being taught to distrust their individual judgment and to trust that of their party. These ideas were held in all honesty, and few persons had time to consider whither they would lead. Few saw that party loyalty was taking the place of patriotism, that desire for the gains of office was supplanting the spirit of patriotic self-sacrifice. The country had grown tremendously in area, in population, and in wealth. Steamers were running in every direction, and railroads were soon to be built. Religious and educational lethargy had been shaken, and new ideas were in the air. National democracy, with its theories of the right of all to aspire to office, and its businesslike way of rewarding its successful supporters, was itself, therefore, a part of a great transformation of three-fourths of the American people.

PROGRESS OF THE NATION.

346. Growth of the Nation.—It is difficult to realize the extent of this transformation. In 1789 Spain hemmed us in to the South and West and the British had not abandoned fortresses that belonged to us in the Northwest. Just beyond the Alleghanies the Indians were still a menace. Forty years later our domain stretched far beyond the Mississippi, Spain had yielded Florida, and Great Britain respected our rights. The Seminoles in Florida, and other tribes in the far West, were still to give trouble, but everywhere the wigwam was retreating before the log cabin. A generation before, the Atlantic seaboard had dominated the country in population, education, and wealth. Now the West was, not indeed the equal of the East, but a formidable rival. Since the War of 1812, the migration to Northwest and Southwest had been marvelous. The people seemed determined to fill up their more than two million square miles of territory. Emigrants from Europe had not begun to come over in great numbers, but American families were large and always ready to move to a favorable locality, especially from rugged New England to the fertile West. Improved roads, canals, and steamboats facilitated the movement of population, but even in the South, where roads were bad, enterprising families moved by thousands from Virginia and the Carolinas into Alabama and Mississippi, which with their rich lands invited the cotton planter and his slaves. Under these circumstances it is no wonder that by 1830 the population of the country had reached nearly thirteen millions, and that eleven new states had been added to the old thirteen.

347. Material and Moral Progress.—Perhaps the greatest change that had taken place in America was the increased mental and moral energy displayed by its inhabitants. The people were still provincial, but they were no longer sluggish. The War of 1812 had developed their national spirit; their own growth in population, and their acquisitions of territory, out of which wealth in all forms could be easily extracted, had developed their desire to prosper. They were no longer content slowly to grow moderately rich. They fostered manufactures and commerce and agriculture. They became a nation of inventors, and, what was more important, they developed a capacity for pure science which made the name of America honored throughout the world. Out of their midst sprang essayists and novelists and poets who interpreted their life to them. There was a notable growth of the religious spirit; temperance and other reforms were agitated; more attention was paid to education; public charities of all kinds received popular support. Nor were minor things overlooked. Men of all classes began to strive to provide household comforts for their families. Travel was made more comfortable. Good hotels began to replace bad inns. Urban life did not attract country people as it does now, but the towns had grown and prospered. New York was in 1830 a city of two hundred thousand inhabitants. Philadelphia was not far behind. Cincinnati had grown from a mere village to a town of nearly twenty-five thousand people. Throughout the North, East, and West, therefore, the watchword was “Development.” Even in the South, which was rendered conservative and sluggish by the presence of slavery, there were not wanting proofs that many energetic men would like to imitate their more fortunate brothers of other sections. Like the rest of the country, the South hoped for great things from her future railroads and canals, but her industrial future was still far in the distance.