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Short History of the United States, A

<h2>X</h2> <h3>THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY, 1829-1844</h3> <h4>Books for Study and Reading</h4> References.--Scribner's Popular History, IV; Lodge's Webster; Coffin's Building the Nation, 251-313. Home Readings.--Roosevelt's Winning of the West; Hale's Stories of Inventions; Wright's Stories of American Progress. <h2>CHAPTER 28</h2> <h3>THE AMERICAN PEOPLE IN 1830</h3> Changes in conditions.] 293. A New Race.--Between the election of President Jefferson and the election of President Jackson great changes had taken place. The old Revolutionary statesmen had gone. New men had taken their places. The old sleepy life had gone. Everywhere now was bustle and hurry. In 1800 the Federalists favored the British, and the Republicans favored the French. Now no one seemed to care for either the British or the French. At last the people had become Americans. The Federalist party had disappeared. Every one now was either a National Republican and voted for Adams, or a Democratic Republican and voted for Jackson. Population, 1830. Area, 1830. Growth of the cities. Settlement of the West. 294. Numbers and Area.--In 1800 there were only five and one-half million people in the whole United States. Now there were nearly thirteen million people. And they had a very much larger country to live in. In 1800 the area of the United States was about eight hundred thousand square miles. But Louisiana and Florida had been bought since then. Now (1830) the area of the United States was about two million square miles. The population of the old states had greatly increased. Especially the cities had grown. In 1800 New York City held about sixty thousand people; it now held two hundred thousand people. But it was in the West that the greatest growth had taken place. Since 1800 Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri had all been admitted to the Union. Difficulties of transport over the Alleghanies. McMaster, 252, 280-282. The Cumberland Road. 295. National Roads.--Steamboats were now running on the Great Lakes and on all the important rivers of the West. The first result of this new mode of transport was the separation of the West from the East. Steamboats could carry passengers and goods up and down the Mississippi and its branches more cheaply and more comfortably than people and goods could be carried over the Alleghanies. Many persons therefore advised the building of a good wagon road to connect the Potomac with the Ohio. The eastern end of this great road was at Cumberland on the Potomac in Maryland. It is generally called, therefore, the Cumberland Road. It was begun at the national expense in 1811. By 1820 the road was built as far as Wheeling on the Ohio River. From that point steamboats could steam to Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, or New Orleans. Later on, the road was built farther west, as far as Illinois. Then the coming of the railroad made further building unnecessary. The Erie Canal, 1825. McMaster, 282-284. De Witt Clinton. Results of the building of the Erie Canal. 296. The Erie Canal.--The best way to connect one steamboat route with another was to dig a canal. The most famous of all these canals was the one connecting the Hudson River with Lake Erie, and called the Erie Canal. It was begun in 1817 and was completed so that a boat could pass through it in 1825. It was De Witt Clinton who argued that such a canal would benefit New York City by bringing to it the produce of the Northwest and of western New York. At the same time it would benefit the farmers of those regions by bringing their produce to tide water cheaper than it could be brought by road through Pennsylvania. It would still further benefit the farmers by enabling them to buy their goods much cheaper, as the rates of freight would be so much lower by canal than they were by road. People who did not see these things as clearly as De Witt Clinton saw them, spoke of the enterprise most sneeringly and called the canal "Clinton's big ditch." It very soon appeared that Clinton was right. In one year the cost of carrying a ton of grain from Lake Erie to the Hudson River fell from one hundred dollars to fifteen dollars. New York City soon outstripped all its rivals and became the center of trade and money in the United States. Other canals, as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, were marvels of skill. But they were not so favorably situated as the Erie Canal and could not compete with it successfully. [Illustration: CONESTOGA WAGON AND TEAM.] The first railroads. McMaster, 285-289. 297. Early Railroads.--The best stone and gravel roads were always rough in places. It occurred to some one that it would be better to lay down wooden rails, and then to place a rim or flange on the wagon wheels to keep them on the rails. The first road of this kind in America was built at Boston in 1807. It was a very rude affair and was only used to carry dirt from the top of a hill to the harbor. The wooden rails soon wore out, so the next step was to nail strips of iron on top of them. Long lines of railroads of this kind were soon built. Both passengers and goods could be carried on them. Some of them were built by private persons or by companies. Others were built by a town or a state. Any one having horses and wagons with flanged wheels could use the railway on the payment of a small sum of money. This was the condition of affairs when the steam locomotive was invented. <ANTIMG src="images/271.jpg" width-obs="40%" alt=""> AN EARLY LOCOMOTIVE. Invention of the locomotive, 1830. Hardships of early railroad travel. 298. The Steam Locomotive.--Steam was used to drive boats through the water. Why should not steam be used to haul wagons over a railroad? This was a very easy question to ask, and a very hard one to answer. Year after year inventors worked on the problem. Suddenly, about 1830, it was solved in several places and by several men at nearly the same time. It was some years, however, before the locomotive came into general use. The early railroad trains were rude affairs. The cars were hardly more than stagecoaches with flanged wheels. They were fastened together with chains, and when the engine started or stopped, there was a terrible bumping and jolting. The smoke pipe of the engine was very tall and was hinged so that it could be let down when coming to a low bridge or a tunnel. Then the smoke and cinders poured straight into the passengers' faces. But these trains went faster than canal boats or steamboats. Soon the railroad began to take the first place as a means of transport. <ANTIMG src="images/272.jpg" width-obs="60%" alt=""> A LOCOMOTIVE OF TO-DAY. Use of hard coal. Growth of the cities. 299. Other Inventions.--The coming of the steam locomotive hastened the changes which one saw on every side in 1830. For some time men had known that there was plenty of hard coal or anthracite in Pennsylvania. But it was so hard that it would not burn in the old-fashioned stoves and fireplaces. Now a stove was invented that would burn anthracite, and the whole matter of house warming was completely changed. Then means were found to make iron from ore with anthracite. The whole iron industry awoke to new life. Next the use of gas made from coal became common in cities. The great increase in manufacturing, and the great changes in modes of transport, led people to crowd together in cities and towns. These inventions made it possible to feed and warm large numbers of persons gathered into small areas. The cities began to grow so fast that people could no longer live near their work or the shops. Lines of stagecoaches were established, and the coaches were soon followed by horse cars, which ran on iron tracks laid in the streets. <ANTIMG src="images/273.jpg" width-obs="40%" alt=""> AN EARLY HORSE CAR. Growth of the school system. Dictionary." American men of letters. American men of science. 300. Progress in Letters.--There was also great progress in learning. The school system was constantly improved. Especially was this the case in the West, where the government devoted one thirty-sixth part of the public lands to education. High schools were founded, and soon normal schools were added to them. Even the colleges awoke from their long sleep. More students went to them, and the methods of teaching were improved. Some slight attention, too, was given to teaching the sciences. In 1828 Noah Webster published the first edition of his great dictionary. Unfortunately he tried to change the spelling of many words. But in other ways his dictionary was a great improvement. He defined words so that they could be understood, and he gave the American meaning of many words, as "congress." American writers now began to make great reputations. Cooper, Irving, and Bryant were already well known. They were soon joined by a wonderful set of men, who speedily made America famous. These were Emerson, Lowell, Longfellow, Holmes, Hawthorne, Prescott, Motley, Bancroft, and Sparks. In science, also, men of mark were beginning their labors, as Pierce, Gray, Silliman, and Dana. Louis Agassiz before long began his wonderful lectures, which did much to make science popular. In short, Jackson's administration marks the time when American life began to take on its modern form. [Illustration: NOAH WEBSTER.] <hr style="width: 35%;"> <h2>CHAPTER 29</h2> <h3>THE REIGN OF ANDREW JACKSON, 1829-1837</h3> Jackson's early career. His "kitchen cabinet". 301. General Jackson.--Born in the backwoods of Carolina, Jackson had early crossed the Alleghanies and settled in Tennessee. Whenever trouble came to the Western people, whenever there was need of a stout heart and an iron will, Jackson was at the front. He always did his duty. He always did his duty well. Honest and sincere, he believed in himself and he believed in the American people. As President he led the people in one of the stormiest periods in our history. Able men gathered about him. But he relied chiefly on the advice of a few friends who smoked their pipes with him and formed his "kitchen cabinet." He seldom called a regular cabinet meeting. When he did call one, it was often merely to tell the members what he had decided to do. Party machines. The Spoils System. 302. The Spoils System.--Among the able men who had fought the election for Jackson were Van Buren and Marcy of New York and Buchanan of Pennsylvania. They had built up strong party machines in their states. For they "saw nothing wrong in the principle that to the victors belong the spoils of victory." So they rewarded their party workers with offices--when they won. The Spoils System was now begun in the national government. Those who had worked for Jackson rushed to Washington. The hotels and boarding-houses could not hold them. Some of them camped out in the parks and public squares of the capital. Removals now went merrily on. Rotation in office was the cry. Before long Jackson removed nearly one thousand officeholders and appointed political partisans in their places. The North and the South. McMaster, 301-304. 303. The North and the South.--The South was now a great cotton-producing region. This cotton was grown by negro slaves. The North was now a great manufacturing and commercial region. It was also a great agricultural region. But the labor in the mills, fields, and ships of the North was all free white labor. So the United States was really split into two sections: one devoted to slavery and to a few great staples, as cotton; the other devoted to free white labor and to industries of many kinds. The South and the tariff, 1829. Calhoun's "Exposition." 304. The Political Situation, 1829.--The South was growing richer all the time; but the North was growing richer a great deal faster than was the South. Calhoun and other Southern men thought that this difference in the rate of progress was due to the protective system. In 1828 Congress had passed a tariff that was so bad that it was called the Tariff of Abominations (p. 231). The Southerners could not prevent its passage. But Calhoun wrote an "Exposition" of the constitutional doctrines in the case. This paper was adopted by the legislature of South Carolina as giving its ideas. In this paper Calhoun declared that the Constitution of the United States was a compact. Each state was a sovereign state and could annul any law passed by Congress. The protective system was unjust and unequal in operation. It would bring "poverty and utter desolation to the South." The tariff act should be annulled by South Carolina and by other Southern states. [Illustration: DANIEL WEBSTER, 1833.] Hayne's speech, 1830. Webster's reply to Hayne. 305. Webster and Hayne, 1830.--Calhoun was Vice-President and presided over the debates of the Senate. So it fell to Senator Hayne of South Carolina to state Calhoun's ideas. This he did in a very able speech. To him Daniel Webster of Massachusetts replied in the most brilliant speeches ever delivered in Congress. The Constitution, Webster declared, was "the people's constitution, the people's government; made by the people and answerable to the people. The people have declared that this constitution ... shall be the supreme law." The Supreme Court of the United States alone could declare a national law to be unconstitutional; no state could do that. He ended this great speech with the memorable words, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." Tariff of 1832. "Nullified" by South Carolina, 1833. Jackson's warning. He prepares to enforce the law. The Force Bill, 1833. 306. Nullification, 1832-33.--In 1832 Congress passed a new tariff act. The South Carolinians decided to try Calhoun's weapon of nullification. They held a convention, declared the act null and void, and forbade South Carolinians to obey the law. They probably thought that Jackson would not oppose them. But they should have had no doubts on that subject. For Jackson already had proposed his famous toast on Jefferson's birthday, "Our federal Union, it must be preserved." He now told the Carolinians that he would enforce the laws, and he set about doing it with all his old-time energy. He sent ships and soldiers to Charleston and ordered the collector of that port to collect the duties. He then asked Congress to give him greater power. And Congress passed the Force Bill, giving him the power he asked for. The South Carolinians, on their part, suspended the nullification ordinance and thus avoided an armed conflict with "Old Hickory," as his admirers called Jackson. Tariff of 1833. 307. The Compromise Tariff, 1833.--The nullifiers really gained a part of the battle, for the tariff law of 1832 was repealed. In its place Congress passed what was called the Compromise Tariff. This compromise was the work of Henry Clay, the peacemaker. Under it the duties were to be gradually lowered until, in 1842, they would be as low as they were by the Tariff Act of 1816 (p. 231). Second United States Bank, 1816. Jackson's dislike of the bank. 308. The Second United States Bank.--Nowadays any one with enough money can open a national bank under the protection of the government at Washington. At this time, however, there was one great United States Bank. Its headquarters were at Philadelphia and it had branches all over the country. Jackson, like Jefferson (p. 163), had very grave doubts as to the power of the national government to establish such a bank. Its size and its prosperity alarmed him. Moreover, the stockholders and managers, for the most part, were his political opponents. The United States Bank also interfered seriously with the operations of the state banks--some of which were managed by Jackson's friends. The latter urged him on to destroy the United States Bank, and he determined to destroy it. Jackson, Clay, and the bank charter. Constitution, Art. I, sec. 7, par. 3. Reëlection of Jackson, 1832. 309. Struggle over the Bank Charter.--The charter of the bank would not come to an end until 1836, while the term for which Jackson had been elected in 1828 would come to an end in 1833. But in his first message to Congress Jackson gave notice that he would not give his consent to a new charter. Clay and his friends at once took up the challenge. They passed a bill rechartering the bank. Jackson vetoed the bill. The Clay men could not get enough votes to pass it over his veto. The bank question, therefore, became one of the issues of the election of 1832. Jackson was reflected by a large majority over Clay. The people were clearly on his side, and he at once set to work to destroy the bank. The bank and the government. Removal of the deposits, 1833. McMaster, 305-308. 310. Removal of the Deposits.--In those days there was no United States Treasury building at Washington, with great vaults for the storing of gold, silver, and paper money. There were no sub-treasuries in the important commercial cities. The United States Bank and its branches received the government's money on deposit and paid it out on checks signed by the proper government official. In 1833 the United States Bank had in its vaults about nine million dollars belonging to the government. Jackson directed that this money should be drawn out as required, to pay the government's expenses, and that no more government money should be deposited in the bank. In the future it should be deposited in certain state banks. The banks selected were controlled by Jackson's political friends and were called the "pet banks." [Illustration: ANDREW JACKSON, 1815. "Our Federal union, it must be preserved." --Jackson's toast at the Jefferson dinner.] Speculation in Western lands. McMaster, 309. The specie circular, 1836. 311. Jackson's Specie Circular, 1836.--The first result of the removal of the deposits was very different from what Jackson had expected. At this time there was active speculation in Western lands. Men who had a little spare money bought Western lands. Those who had no money in hand, borrowed money from the banks and with it bought Western lands. Now it happened that many of the "pet banks" were in the West. The government's money, deposited with them, tempted their managers to lend money more freely. This, in turn, increased the ease with which people could speculate. Jackson saw that unless something were done to restrain this speculation, disaster would surely come. So he issued a circular to the United States land officers. This circular was called the Specie Circular, because in it the President forbade the land officers to receive anything except gold and silver and certain certificates in payment for the public lands. [Illustration: A SETTLER'S CABIN.] Payment of the national debt. McMaster, 309-310. 312. Payment of the Debt, 1837.--The national debt had now all been paid. The government was collecting more money than it could use for national purposes. And it was compelled to keep on collecting more money than it could use, because the Compromise Tariff (p. 248) made it impossible to reduce duties any faster than a certain amount each year. No one dared to disturb the Compromise Tariff, because to do so would bring on a most bitter political fight. The government had more money in the "pet banks" than was really safe. It could not deposit more with them. Distribution of the surplus. Van Buren elected President, 1836. 313. Distribution of the Surplus, 1837.--A curious plan was now hit upon. It was to loan the surplus revenues to the states in proportion to their electoral votes. Three payments were made to the states. Then the Panic of 1837 came, and the government had to borrow money to pay its own necessary expenses. Before this occurred, however, Jackson was no longer President. In his place was Martin Van Buren, his Secretary of State, who had been chosen President in November, 1836. <hr style="width: 35%;"> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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