The oath to support the constitution was next administered to him by Chief Justice Marshall. This was announced by the prolonged discharge of artillery from various points; during which the president was conducted to his mansion, where he received the congratulations of the people.
Antecedently to the formation of his cabinet, much speculation existed in the country, as to the persons whom General Jackson would call to his counsels. As he was in a great measure uncommitted in respect to the future policy of his government, no inconsiderable anxiety was felt, especially by office holders, on the subject of these appointments, as these would furnish some indications as to his future course. All speculation, however, was soon terminated by the nomination of Martin Van Buren, of New York, as secretary of state; John H. Eaton, of Tennessee, as secretary of war; Samuel D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, secretary of the treasury; John Branch, of North Carolina, secretary of the navy; William T. Barry, of Kentucky, postmaster-general; John M. Berrien, of Georgia, attorney-general. These several nominations were ratified by the senate, without opposition.
At the time of his appointment, Mr. Van Buren was governor of the state of New York. This office he immediately resigned—retiring with a complimentary address from the legislature of that state. Mr. Van Buren was considered as a man distinguished for tact and self-possession, and as destined to act a distinguished part in the public counsels to which he had been called. The attorney-general was considered a man of liberal attainments, and fully qualified, by his learning and eloquence, for the station to which he was elevated. The other members of the cabinet had not been particularly distinguished for their public services. Mr. Eaton was the personal friend of the president. Mr. Ingham had been an active partisan in Pennsylvania, the state which brought General Jackson into the field, as a candidate. The motives which influenced the appointment of Mr. Branch as secretary of the navy were never satisfactorily ascertained. Previously to this time, the postmaster-general had not been a constituent of the cabinet, but it was now determined to introduce him as a member. Mr. Barry, who succeeded John M’Lean, in this office, the latter being removed to the bench of the Supreme Court, was one of the leaders of the relief party in Kentucky.
The cabinet was now constituted; and, after confirming the nominationsof several individuals to diplomatic posts, and lucrative stations in the land office, custom-house, and navy, the senate adjourned on the 17th of March, the Executive having informed that body, that he had no further business to lay before them.
In the course of his inaugural address, General Jackson had expressed his conviction of the necessity of reform, in regard to the distribution of the public offices, within the control of the executive. To this “task of reform,” as he termed it, he immediately addressed himself, on the adjournment of the senate. Availing himself of the right of the Executive to fill vacancies occurring in the recess, he removed the principal officers of the treasury, the marshals, and district attorneys in most of the eastern, middle, and western states, the revenue officers of the chief Atlantic ports, the greater part of the receivers and registers in the land office, and changed the ministers plenipotentiary to Great Britain, France, Netherlands, and Spain.
But a still more unprecedented change was made in the post office department—the number of removals here, between the 4th of March, 1829, and the 22d of March, 1830, being four hundred and ninety-one. These removals contrasted strongly with those of former administrations. Washington, during his administration of eight years, removed but nine; Mr. Adams, ten; Mr. Jefferson, thirty-nine; Mr. Madison, five; Mr. Monroe, nine; John Quincy Adams, two.
The removals thus effected by General Jackson, so sudden, and so numerous, were strongly censured by the opposers of the administration. The president was charged with usurping an authority not conferred by the constitution, which it was contended only gave him the right to fill vacancies, either accidentally occurring, or caused by some official misconduct. It was charged, also, that prior to his election, he had expressed an opinion, that members of congress should not be appointed to office, during the term for which they had been elected, nor for two years after. Yet, in direct opposition to his express views, he was conferring a greater number of offices on members of congress, in the compass of a single year, than any of his predecessors had done, during the entire period of their administration.
On the other hand, the friends of the president justified his course. They maintained that he was “solely invested with the right of removal; that it was a discretionary right, for the exercise of which he was responsible solely to the nation; that that power was given to enable him, not only to remove incumbents for delinquency, or incapacity, but with the view of reforming the administration of the government, and introducing officers of greater efficiency, or sounder principles into its various departments. Occasion was also taken, owing to the defalcation of a few of those removed, to assert the necessity of reform;and great efforts were made to create an impression on the public mind of the necessity of a general removal of the officers of the federal government.”[150]
The preceding changes were the subject of much discussion, on the assembling of congress. A spirited opposition was instituted by the minority in the senate, against the principles of the Executive, in relation to removals, both on the ground of their unconstitutionality and inexpediency. Most of those who had been appointed by the president to office were, notwithstanding this opposition, confirmed; but several were rejected by strong votes.
On the 7th of December, 1829, commenced the first session of the twenty-first congress. Andrew Stevenson was again elected speaker of the house. On the day following, the president communicated his first message. It embodied several topics of interest and importance. The principal of these related to an amendment of the constitution, to the choice of president and vice-president—a modification of the tariff—a provision for the disposition of the surplus revenue, after the extinguishment of the national debt—the assignment of a territory west of the Mississippi for the Indian tribes, within the states—and a consideration of the expediency of extending the charter of the Bank of the United States.