Rise of the New West, 1819-1829

by Frederick Jackson Turner

For a list of records of debates, legislative journals, documents,
statutes, judicial decisions, treaties, and the like, see the
"Critical Essays" in the neighboring volumes, and in Channing and
Hart, Guide, p. 30.

WORKS OF AMERICAN STATESMEN

To the various editions of the works of James Monroe, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Rufus King, described in other volumes of this series, may be added John Quincy Adams, Memoirs: Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848 (edited by Charles Francis Adams, 12 vols., 1874-1877). The diary is unusually full, and abounds in valuable material for understanding the politics of the period and the character of Adams. He was biased and harsh in his judgment of contemporaries, but conscientious in his record. The Adams papers are now in the private archives of the family at Quincy.

For statesmen of lesser distinction, see W. W. Story, Life and Letters of Joseph Story (2 vols., 1851); L. G. Tyler, Letters and Times of the Tylers (3 vols., 1884, also 1896). A collection of De Witt Clinton's letters was published in Harper's Magazine, L., 409, 563, and other letters and papers are in the following: David Hosack, Memoir of De Witt Clinton (1829); W. C. Campbell, Life and Writings of De Witt Clinton (1849); James Renwick, Life of De Witt Clinton (1854). There is no collection of Crawford's works; he is said to have destroyed his papers; a few letters remain, some of them in the possession of Dr. U. B. Phillips (University of Wisconsin). In E. B. Washburne [editor], Edwards Papers (1884), and N. W. Edwards, History of Illinois and Life and Times of Ninian Edwards (1870), are important letters illustrating national as well as western politics; see also the letters of Senator Mills of Massachusetts, in Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings, 1st series, XIX., 12-53; and those of Marshall, Kent, Story, and Webster, in ibid., 26. series, XIV., 320 et seq., 398, 412 et seq. A collection of Macon's letters in this decade is in North Carolina University, James Sprunt Historical Monographs, No. 2. Literary men and journalists are described by Herbert B. Adams, Life and Writings of Jared Sparks (2 vols., 1893); John Binns, Recollections of His Life, Written by Himself (1854); Amos Kendall, Autobiography (edited by W. Stickney, 1872), valuable for Dartmouth College life and for Kentucky in this period; Thurlow Weed, Autobiography (1883), useful also for western New York; E. S. Thomas, Reminiscences of the Last Sixty-five Years (2 vols., 1840), editor in Charleston, South Carolina, and in Cincinnati; William Winston Seaton of the National Intelligencer: a Biographical Sketch (1871), contains useful letters by various persons from Washington; The John P. Branch Historical Papers of Randolph—Macon College, Nos. 2 and 3 (1902, 1903), contain some letters and a biography of Thomas Ritchie, editor of the Richmond Enquirer.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

In the group of autobiographies, reminiscences, etc., Thomas H. Benton, Thirty Years' View; or, A History of the Working of the American Government, 1820—1850 (2 vols., 1854), is the most important: as a member of the Senate, Benton was active and influential, and, despite his positive character, he aims at fairness; Nathan Sargent, Public Men and Events [1817-1853], (2 vols., 1875), is made up of chatty sketches, with an anti-Jackson bias; Josiah Quincy, Figures of the Past (1901), pen-pictures of men of the period; B. F. Perry, Reminiscences of Public Men (two series: 1st, 1883; 2d, 1889), anecdotal views of South Carolinians; S. G. Goodrich, Recollections of a Lifetime; or, Men and Things I Have Seen (2 vols., 1886).

MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS

Manuscript collections are located in the reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, published by the American Historical Association in its annual Reports; and in Justin Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, VIII. (1889). The Library of Congress contains important manuscripts of Madison (calendared in Bureau of Rolls and Library, Department of State, Bulletin, IV.); of Jefferson (ibid., VI., VIII., X.); Monroe (indexed in ibid., II.), and in W. C. Ford [editor], Papers of James Monroe (1904); indexes of the manuscripts of Jackson and Van Buren are in progress. In the New York Public Library are collections of correspondence of various statesmen of the period (New York Public Library, Bulletin, V., 306 et seq.), including Monroe (calendared in ibid., V., 316, VII., 210, 247-257); Jackson (ibid., IV., 154-162, 188-198, 292-320, V., 316); Calhoun (ibid., III., 324-333); James Barbour (ibid., V., 316, VI., 22-34). The Clinton Papers are in the State Library at Albany, N. Y. (American Historical Association, Report, 1898, p. 578). The papers of Senator Mahlon Dickerson, of New Jersey, including letters from important statesmen of the period, are in the possession of William. Nelson, corresponding secretary of the New Jersey Historical Society. The correspondence of Senator W. P. Mangum, of North Carolina, including letters from Clay, Webster, etc., is in the possession of Dr. S. B. Weeks, San Carlos, Arizona. The papers of Vice-President Tompkins in the State Library at Albany are described in Albany Institute, Transactions, XI., 223-240. The Plumer papers are in the New Hampshire Historical Society.

PERIODICALS

The newspapers and periodicals constitute indispensable sources. For the former the following catalogues are useful: Check List of American Newspapers in the Library of Congress (1901); Wisconsin Historical Society, Annotated Catalogue of Newspaper Files (1899); W. F. Poole [editor], Index to Periodical Literature (1853 and later editions), renders the magazines of the period accessible; and W. B. Cairns, Development of American Literature from 1815 to 1833, with especial Reference to Periodicals, in University of Wisconsin, Bulletin (Literature Series, I., 1898), enumerates a list of periodicals not indexed in Poole. Easily first in importance among the periodicals useful on the period from 1819 to 1829 is Niles' Weekly Register, edited by Hezekiah Niles (76 vols., 1811-1849), which abounds in material, political, social, and economic; although Niles was a strong protectionist, he was also fair-minded and conscientious in collecting information. The North American Review (Boston, begun in 1815 and still continues); The American Quarterly Review (Philadelphia, 1827-1837); The Southern Review (Charleston, 1828-1832); The American Annual Register (New York, 1825-1833). The Quarterly Register and Journal of the American Education Society (1829-1843); The Methodist Magazine (1818-1840); The Christian Examiner (Boston, 1824-1869); and Christian Monthly Spectator (1819- 1828), are examples of religious and educational publications. Among periodicals which contain articles dealing with the decade, although published later, are The Democratic Review, of which the first number appeared in 1837; Hunt's Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review (first volume, 1839); and D. B. De Bow's Commercial Review of the South and West (first volume, 1846). Among the short-lived magazines of the West are: The Western Review (Lexington, 1820- 1821); The Western Monthly Review (edited by Timothy Flint, Cincinnati, 1827-1830); The Illinois Monthly Magazine (edited by James Hall, 1830-1831); The Western Monthly Magazine (continuation of the former, Cincinnati, 1833-1837).