SERIES TEN LECTURES FORTY-FOUR TO FORTY-SEVEN The Jacksonian Democracy and the Rise of the New West: The Period of Sectional Divergence, 1829-1849 44. Jackson and Nullification 45. Activities of the Abolitionists 46. Foreign Relations 47. The Surplus, the Deposits, and the Panic of 1837 THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER I. 1829-1830. OPENING MEASURES OF JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. - Proscriptions - Biddle's correspondence with Wood The Rise of the Spoils System Jackson's inauguration and the subsequent scramble for office among the office-holders - Benton's views Assaults on the bank bury and Ingham - Jackson's attack on the bank in his first annual message Foot's resolution on public lands - Benton's speech - The debate between Webster and Hayne - The nullification toasts of Jackson, Calhoun and Van Buren-Madison's letter on nullification The debate on internal improvements The tariff bill of 1830- - The debate on the renewal of the Bank charter. FTER the electoral vote had A been counted and Jackson had been declared Presidentelect, he was beset from morning till night with a host of office-seekers, office-holders, and admirers. For the first time since 1801 there was evidence of a complete political revolution and a real change in the administration. Never before had the will of the Nation respecting a change in the administration been expressed so clearly and emphatically. Up to this time the Spoils System. was comparatively unknown in National politics. When the Republicans came into office, succeeding party changes brought retaliation and both parties were soon committed to the practice. Popular approbation confirmed, and popular apathy allowed, appointments made exclusively for political reasons, and changes were so frequent that there was no time to investigate merit.* In 1820 New York had attempted to adopt a reform when a new constitution was adopted. The Council of Appointment was abolished and the power and responsibility were concentrated in the hands of the governor and the senate, while the number of appointive offices was greatly decreased by placing the election of militia officers and justices of the peace in the hands of the people. The Spoils System, however, was too firmly intrenched to yield, and, as we have seen, the Al Roosevelt (Life of Benton, p. 79 et seq.) says it is unfair to assert that Jackson was the originator of the Spoils System, though he was certainly its foster-father. It was from the Eastern men that this most effective method of debauching political life came. See also Peck, The Jacksonian Epoch, p. 330 et seq. See Shepard, Martin Van Buren, pp. 65–73; Bancroft, Martin Van Buren to the End of His Public Career, pp. 62-109. |