1825-1829.]

Opposition to Adams.

139. Organized Opposition to Adams (1825-1829).

259

It has been seen that on most of the great questions which arose in Adams's administration there was a division, not so much on principle, as between the friends and opponents of the President. The four years of his administration were really a long-drawn Presidential cam paign. The friends of Jackson sought in every possible way to make Adams odious in the public mind.

Executive

One of the early evidences of this personal opposition was a report brought in, May 4, 1826, by a Select Com. mittee on Executive Patronage; it included patronage. Benton and Van Buren, who had heartily given in his adhesion to Jackson. They reported that the exercise of great patronage by one man was danger ous, and they proposed that a constitutional amendment be secured, forbidding the appointment of senators or representatives to office. In the next Congress, from Retrench- 1827 to 1829, the Jackson men had a majority in both Houses, and an attempt was made to prejudice Adams by showing that the government was extravagant. Resolutions were adopted calling for a retrenchment; but no misuse of the public money could be brought home to the President.

ment.

The so-called investigations were only political manœuvres : a President who permitted his political enemies to remain in office was upbraided for abusing the appointing power; a President who had never removed one person for political reason was accused of a misuse of the removing power. Nevertheless, the steady waning of Adams's popularity shows that he was not in accord with the spirit of the people of his time.

Meanwhile, a formidable combination had been formed against him. In October, 1825, Jackson had been renominated by the Tennessee legislature. Crawford's

health had failed, and his followers, chiefly Southern men, threw in their lot with Jackson. Van Buren preJackson's pared to renew the combination of Southern campaign. and Middle State votes which had been so successful in 1800. His organizing skill was necessary, for the Jackson men lacked both coherence and principles. Strong bank men, anti-bank men, protectionists, and freetraders united in the support of Jackson, whose views The Demo- on all these points were unknown. Towards the end of Adams's administration the opposition began to take upon itself the name of the Democratic party; but what the principles of that party were to be was as yet uncertain.

crats.

140. The Triumph of the People (1828).

John Quincy Adams's principles of government were not unlike those of his father: both believed in a brisk, Adams's energetic national administration, and in extendpolicy. ing the influence and upholding the prestige of the United States among foreign powers. John Adams built ships; John Quincy Adams built roads and canals. Both Presidents were trained statesmen of the same school as their English and French contemporaries. The outer framework of government had little altered since its establishment in 1789; within the nation, however, a great change had taken place. The disappearance of the Federalists had been followed by a loss of the political and social pre-eminence so long enjoyed by the New England clergy; and in 1835 the Congregational Church was disestablished in Massachusetts. The rise of manufactures had hastened these changes, both by creating a new moneyed class, and by favoring the increase of independent mill-hands having the suffrage and little or no property. Cities were growing

New political forces.

1828.]

Triumph of the People.

261

rapidly, especially in the Middle States: in 1822 Boston gave up the town-meeting; in 1830 New York had two hundred thousand inhabitants, and Philadelphia one hundred and seventy thousand; and the voters in the cities were more easily controlled by a few master minds. In the South alone was the old principle of government by family and influence preserved; but even here the suffrage was widely extended, and the small planters had to be tenderly handled.

Power of the West.

The West was the most important new element in the government. The votes of the States west of the mountains elected Jefferson in 1800, and Madison in 1812, and gave Jackson his preponderance of electoral votes over Adams in 1824. The West was at this time what the colonies had been half a century earlier,

· a thriving, bustling, eager community, with a keen sense of trade, and little education. But, unlike the colonies, the West was almost without the tradition of an aristocracy; in most of the States there was practically manhood suffrage. Men were popular, not because they had rendered the country great services, but because they were good farmers, bold pioneers, or shrewd lawyers. Smooth intriguers, mere demagogues, were not likely to gain the confidence of the West, but a positive and forcible character won their admiration. It was a people stirred by men like Henry Clay, great public speakers, leaders in public assemblies, impassioned advocates of the oppressed in other lands. It was a people equally affected by the rough and ruthless character of men like Jackson. An account which purports to come from Davy Crockett illustrates the political horse-play of the time. In 1830 he was an anti-Jackson candidate for re-election to Congress. He was beaten, by his opponents making unauthorized appointments for him to speak, without giving him notice. The people assembled, Crockett was

not there to defend himself, his enemies said that he was afraid to come, and no later explanations could satisfy his constituents.

et system.

The political situation was still further complicated by the adoption in nearly all the States of the general ticket General tick- system of choosing electors; a small majority in New York and Pennsylvania might outweigh large majorities in other States. In a word, democracy was in the saddle; the majority of voters preferred a President like themselves to a President of superior training and education. Sooner or later they must combine; and once combined they would elect him.

There was practically but one issue in 1828,— a personal choice between John Quincy Adams and Jackson. Not Democracy one of the voters knew Jackson's opinions on vs. tradition. the tariff or internal improvements,— the only questions on which a political issue could have been made. A It was a strife between democracy and tradition. change of twenty-six thousand votes would have given to John Quincy Adams the vote of Pennsylvania and the election; but it could only have delayed the triumph of the masses. Jackson swept every Southern and Western State, and received six hundred and fifty thousand popIt ular votes, against five hundred thousand for Adams. was evident that there had risen up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.”

66

INDEX.