This was a period of great national prosperity. During this term the first railroad in the United States was completed, and the Erie Canal opened. The debt was fast diminishing, and there was a surplus of $5,000,000 in the treasury. A protective tariff, known as the "American System," reached its height. It was popular at the east, but distasteful to the south.
[Footnote: The southern States, devoted to agricultural pursuits, desired to have foreign goods brought to them as cheaply as possible; while the eastern States, engaged in manufactures, wished to have foreign competition shut off by heavy duties.]
Adams was a candidate for re-election, but Andrew Jackson, the hero of New Orleans, and the democratic nominee, was chosen. The principle of a protective tariff was thus rejected by the people.
JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION.
[Footnote: Andrew Jackson was born 1767; died 1845. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. His father died before he was born, leaving his mother very poor. As a boy, Andrew was brave and impetuous, passionately fond of athletic sports, but not at all addicted to books. His life was crowded with excitement and adventure. At fourteen, being captured by the British, he was ordered to clean the commander's boots. Showing the true American spirit in his refusal, he was sent to prison with a wound on head and arm. Here he contracted the smallpox, which kept him ill for several months. Soon after his mother had effected his exchange, she died of ship-fever while caring for the imprisoned Americans at Charleston. Left destitute, young Jackson tried various employments, but finally settled down to the law, and in 1796 was elected to Congress. His imperious temper and inflexible will supplied him with frequent quarrels. He first distinguished himself as a military officer in the war against the Creek Indians. His dashing successes in the war of 1812 completed his reputation, and ultimately won him the Presidency. His nomination was at first received in many States with ridicule, as, whatever might be his military prowess, neither his temper nor his ability recommended him as a statesman. His re-election, however, proved his popular success as President. His chief intellectual gifts were energy and intuitive judgment. He was thoroughly honest, intensely warm-hearted, and had an instinctive horror of debt. His moral courage was as great as his physical, and his patriotism was undoubted. He died at the "Hermitage," his home near Nashville, Tennessee.—Jackson and Adams were born the same year, yet how different was their childhood. One born to luxury and travel, a student from his earliest years, and brilliantly educated; the other born in poverty, of limited education, and forced to provide for himself. Yet they were destined twice to compete with each other for the highest place in the nation. Adams, the first time barely successful, was unfortunate in his administration; Jackson, triumphing the second, was brilliant in his Presidential career.]
(SEVENTH PRESIDENT—TWO TERMS: 1829-1837.)
President Jackson commenced his administration with an inflexible honesty that delighted all, but with a sturdiness of purpose that amazed both friends and foes. He surrounded himself at once by his political friends, thus establishing the now popular principle of "rotation in office."
[Footnote: "During the first year of his administration, there were nearly seven hundred removals from office, not including subordinate clerks. During the forty years preceding, there had been but sixty-four.">[
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.—Nullification.—South Carolina (1832) passed a Nullification ordinance declaring the tariff law "null and void," and that the State would secede from the Union if force should be employed to collect any revenue at Charleston. President Jackson acted with his accustomed promptness. He issued a proclamation announcing his determination to execute the laws, and ordered troops, under General Scott, to Charleston.
[Footnote: John C. Calhoun and Robert Y. Hayne were the prominent advocates of the doctrine of "State rights," which declared that a State could set aside an act of Congress. During this struggle occurred the memorable debate between Webster and Hayne, in which the former, opposing secession, pronounced those words familiar to every school-boy, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." Calhoun's public life extended over forty years. He was one of the most celebrated statesmen of his time. As a speaker he was noted for forcible logic, clear demonstration, and earnest manner. He rejected ornament, and rarely used illustration. Webster, his political antagonist, said of him, "He had the indisputable basis of all high character, unspotted integrity, and honor unimpeached. Nothing grovelling, low, or meanly selfish came near his head or his heart.">[