Chapter II: Preface

It is the purpose of the author to deal, more minutely than is possible in a general history or biography, with the brilliant, dramatic, and epochal party battles and the fascinating personalities of the eight years of Andrew Jackson’s Administrations. From the foundation of the Republic to the last two years of the Wilson Administration, the Nation has never known such party acrimony; nor has there been a period when the contending party organizations have been led by such extraordinary politicians and orators. It was, in a large sense, the beginning of party government as we have come to understand it. It was not until the Jacksonian epoch that we became a democracy in fact. The selection of Presidents then passed from the caucus of the politicians in the capital to the plain people of the factories, fields, and marts. The enfranchisement of thousands of the poor, previously excluded from the franchise, and the advent of the practical organization politicians, wrought the change. Our government, as never before, became one of parties, with well-defined, antagonistic principles and policies. Party discipline and continuous propaganda became recognized essentials to party success.

This period witnessed the origin of modern party methods. The spoils system, instead of being a mere manifestation of some viciousness in Jackson, grew out of the assumed necessity for rewarding party service. The recognition of party government brought the national convention. The new power of the masses necessitated compact and drilled party organizations down to the precincts of the most remote sections, and even the card-index system known to-day was part of the plan of the incomparable politicians of the Kitchen Cabinet. The transfer of authority from the small coterie of politicians to the people in the corn rows imposed upon the leaders the obligation to furnish the rank and file of their followers with political ammunition for the skirmishes at the country stores as well as for the heavy engagements at the polls, and out of this sprang the intense development of the party press, the delivery of congressional speeches for “home consumption,” the party platform, and the keynote speech.

The triumph of the Jacksonians over the Clays, the Websters, and the Calhouns was due, in large measure, to their development of the first great practical politicians--that much-depreciated company sneeringly referred to as the Kitchen Cabinet, to whom all politicians since have paid the tribute of imitation.

With the appearance of Democracy in action came some evils that have persisted through the succeeding years--the penalties of the rule of the people. Demagogy then reared its head and licked its tongue. Class consciousness and hatreds were awakened. And, on the part of the great corporations, intimidation, coercion, and the corrupt use of money to control elections were contributed. These evils are a heritage of the bitter party battles of the Jacksonian period--battles as brilliant as they were bitter.

The purpose of this volume is to describe these mad party struggles, and to picture, as they really were, the great historical figures, “warts and all.” If Henry Clay is here shown as an unscrupulous, selfish, scheming politician, rather than as the mythical figure who “would rather be right than President”; if John C. Calhoun is here described as petty in his personal hates and spites and in his resentment over the failure of personal ambitions; if Daniel Webster, the most admirable of the three during these eight vivid years, is set forth, not only as the great Nationalist who replied to Hayne and sustained Jackson’s Nullification Proclamation, but as the defender of the Bank from which, at the beginning of the fight, he bluntly solicited a “refreshment” of his retainer, it is not through any desire to befoul their fame, but to set down the truth as irrefutably disclosed in the records, and to depict them as they were--intensely human in their moral limitations.

The necessities of history happily call for the featuring of some figures, potent in their generation, attractive in their genius, and necessarily passed over by historians covering much longer periods. No close-up picture of the time can be painted that ignores Edward Livingston, patriot and philosopher; Roger B. Taney, the militant party leader; John Forsyth, the “greatest debater of his time”; John M. Clayton, the real master of both Calhoun and Clay in the Compromise of 1833; George McDuffie, the tempestuous Danton of the Opposition; Hugh Lawson White, the “Cato of the Senate” and the Nemesis of Jacksonian Democracy; William Cabell Preston and Horace Binney, the polished orators, now almost forgotten; Major Lewis, the master of political details; Frank Blair, the slashing journalistic champion of the Administration; and Amos Kendall, the genius of the Kitchen Cabinet.

An analysis of motives and methods has led to some unconventional conclusions. Not only do Clay, Webster, and Calhoun dwindle in moral grandeur, but others, traditionally considered small, loom large. Thus the John Tyler of these eight years stands out in intellectual honesty, courage, and consistency far beyond others to whom history has been more generous.

No apology need be offered for featuring the personalities of the time. They throw light on motives and explain events. The episode of Mrs. Eaton changed the current of political history. The gossip concerning Mrs. White indicates the putridity of political factionalism. The scurrilous biography of Van Buren written by Davie Crockett on the suggestion of Senator White is illuminative of the popular prejudices of the times; and the solemn investigation of the charge that Senator Poindexter had instigated the attempt upon the life of the President at the Capitol discloses the morbidity of the partisan madness. Through the gossip of the drawing-rooms, the jottings of the diaries, the editorial comments of the contemporary press, the social and political intrigues of women, the attempt is made to re-create something of the atmosphere by which the remarkable statesmen and politicians of the Jackson Administrations were affected.

Generations have been taught to respect or reverence the memories of the extraordinary men of the Thirties who rode on the whirlwind to direct the storms; and, their human weaknesses forgotten, their sinister, selfish purposes ignored, their moral or intellectual limitations overlooked, they seem, in the perspective of the years, stern, austere, always sincere, and singularly free from the vices of politicians, as we have come to know them in the leaders of a later day. And yet it would be difficult to find creatures more thoroughly human than these who are usually presented to us as steel engravings, hung high on the wall in a dim light. They move across the page of history scarcely touching or suffering the contamination of the ground. They seem to play their parts upon a stage impressive and imposing, suspended between earth and heaven. That they lived in houses, danced, gambled and drank, flattered and flirted, gossiped and lied, in a Washington of unpaved streets and sticky black mud, made their way to night conferences through dark, treacherous thoroughfares, and played their brilliant parts in a bedraggled, village-like capital, is not apt to occur to one. Thus, in tracing the political drama of this portentous period, an attempt is made to facilitate the realization that they were flesh and blood, and mere men to their contemporaries, not always heroic or even admirable, through the visualization of the daily life they lived in a capital peculiarly crude and filled with grotesque incongruities.

No period in American political history is so susceptible to dramatization. There is grim tragedy in the baffled ambitions of Calhoun and Clay; romance in the rise of Kendall and the fall of Mrs. Eaton; rich comedy, when viewed behind the scenes, in the lugubrious procession of “distress petitioners” trained to tears by the art of Clay and the money of Biddle; and rollicking farce in the early morning flight of a dismissed Cabinet minister, to escape the apprehended chastisement of an erstwhile colleague whose wife’s good name had been assailed.

The drama of party politics, with its motives of love, hate, and vaulting ambition--such is the unidealized story of the epochal period when the iron will of the physically feeble Jackson dominated the life of the Nation, and colored the politics of the Republic for a century.

The Drama--its motives--its actors--such the theme of this history.

CLAUDE G. BOWERS

CONTENTS

I. THE WASHINGTON OF THE THIRTIES 1

The journey from Philadelphia--The first railroad--Communication with the West--First impressions of visitors--Hotels--Looking for lions--Trials of calling--Unpaved streets--Uncouth appearance of town--Impressions of contemporaries--Surroundings of Capitol--Neighboring quagmires--Cows in the streets--Unlighted thoroughfares--Advantages of Georgetown--Drives and walks--Arlington--The Tayloe mansion--The Van Ness mansion--Sight-seeing--The Capitol’s popularity--Society in Senate--In House--In Supreme Court--Manner of living--House rent--Servant hire--Slaves and Southern masters--Boarding-houses--Congressional messes--The Woodbury mess--The law of the mess--Popularity of--Adams a diner-out--Hospitality of the town--Miss Martineau’s triumph--Ignorance of her books--Thomas Hamilton’s experiences--Literary celebrities--First society letters--First Washington correspondents--Crude performances in Washington theater--Booth’s appearances--Fanny Kemble’s--Rules and prices in theater--Weather postpones performances--Traveling circuses--The race-course--Cockfighting--Gambling--Heavy drinking--Moral laxity--A Washington season as a lark--Affectations of fashion--Parisian gowns and hats--Leading shops--Daily routine of a lady of fashion--Party lines in society--Mrs. Livingston’s leadership--Mrs. Stevenson--Mrs. Woodbury--Mrs. Forsyth--Mrs. Tayloe--Men’s styles--Conversationals--Formality--Pictures of Clay, Webster, and Calhoun in society--Day of gossip--Of gallantry--Entertainments--Introduction of ice-cream--The dances--Dense crowds--Incongruous dresses--Diplomats set fast pace--Events at Carusi’s--The quiet Sundays--Unhealthiness--Death-rate--The cholera scourge.

II. THE RISING OF THE MASSES 31

The scurrility of 1828--Slander of Jackson and Adams--Democracy triumphs--Gloom of Whig aristocracy--The faithful march on the capital--The throne room at Gadsby’s--Jackson receives office-seekers--Politics in Cabinet appointments--Calhoun confers on patronage--Jackson ignores Adams--King Mob at the inauguration--The reaction on the Cabinet--Attempts to conciliate the disappointed--The morbid bitterness of Clay--Miniatures of the Cabinet.

III. THE RED TERROR AND THE WHITE 64

Party organization and the spoils system--Demands on Jackson for place--The provocation--Jackson’s attitude--Van Buren’s doubts, and Lewis’s--Kendall’s pain--The harassed Cabinet--Ingham and Van Buren angrily rebuke Hoyt--Terror of the clerks--The exaggerated impression of the dismissals--The “martyrs” who were also criminals--The Senate launches the White Terror--Rejection of the nominations of Jackson’s newspaper friends--John Tyler’s part in it--His personal and political character--Type of anti-Jackson Democrat--The prejudice against “printers”--The cases of Lee, of Noah, of Kendall, and of Hill--Effect on Jackson--Hill sent to Senate that rejected him--Unprecedented party bitterness foreshadowed.

IV. JACKSON BREAKS WITH CALHOUN 88

Political significance of the Jackson-Calhoun quarrel--Calhoun turns the corner--His previous political character--Effect upon it of the quarrel--Relations of Hayne-Webster debate to quarrel--Latter’s party character--Jackson’s attitude--Livingston speaks for Administration--Nullifiers miscalculate Jackson--The Jefferson dinner--Its purpose--Jackson accepts the challenge--His toast--Effect on Calhoun--Jackson’s dinner to Monroe--Learns of Calhoun’s hostility in Monroe’s Cabinet--Crawford’s statement to Forsyth--Letter of Forsyth is shown Lewis--Jackson hears of it and demands it--Jackson calls on Calhoun for explanation--Latter’s reply--Jackson breaks--Crawford’s character and career--Calhoun’s desperate efforts to extricate himself--Appeals to Adams--Latter’s notations--Calhoun’s pamphlet--Newspaper battle--Calhoun’s ambitions wrecked.

V. MRS. EATON DEMOLISHES THE CABINET 116

“Peggy” O’Neal--Marriage to Eaton--Society outraged--Mrs. Eaton cut by Cabinet ladies--Jackson’s indignation and efforts--Van Buren’s advantage in the game--He features “Peggy” at dinners--Cabinet unable to confer--Van Buren proposes resignation--Jackson plans complete reorganization of Cabinet--Mrs. Eaton’s attitude--Jackson’s interview with Branch--How new Cabinet was formed--Branch and Berrien place blame on “Peggy”--Mrs. Ingham tarred by same brush--Eaton’s pursuit of Ingham--Latter’s early morning flight--Portraits of Livingston, Taney, and Cass--A Van Buren Cabinet.

VI. KITCHEN CABINET PORTRAITS 144

Dominance of Kitchen Cabinet--Portrait of Amos Kendall--Harriet Martineau’s impressions--Portrait of Major Lewis--Of Isaac Hill--Secret of partisan bitterness--The Marat of the Kitchen Cabinet--The establishment of the “Washington Globe”--Portrait of Frank Blair--Relations of the “Globe” to the President--To the National Democracy--Considered the Court Journal by diplomats--Buchanan’s experience with Nesselrode in Russia--The specialties of the Kitchen Cabinet members.

VII. CLAY LEADS THE PARTY ONSLAUGHT 171

Whigs clamor for Senate leadership--Clay responds--Portrait of Clay the politician--Is nominated for President--Doubts success--Hopes to carry Pennsylvania or New York--His battery of genius in the Senate--Whig advantage in ability in the House--The rejection of Van Buren’s nomination as Minister to Great Britain--Its motive--Its stupidity--Flimsy nature of charges--“Kill a Minister to make a Vice-President”--Character of John M. Clayton--He opens attack on Post-Office Department--His open appeal to Calhoun to join Opposition--Clay’s tariff plans--Calls conference at Everett’s--His dogmatic manner--Adams unimpressed--Clay’s great tariff speech--Tyler’s reply--Impressions of public--Failure to involve Jackson as planned--The House battle--The dual reference--Character study of Adams--Of George McDuffie--Adams coöperates with Secretary McLane--Jackson attempts a reconciliation--Cause of failure--McDuffie’s bill and report--His slashing attack on protection--Adams reports bill based on Treasury report--Adams’s bill passes House--Amended out of recognition by Clay protectionists in Senate--Surrender of Senate conferees--The politics in it--Clay’s fury--He fails to make political capital--Tariff eliminated from campaign--Jacksonians take offensive--Embarrass Clay on land question--Political effect in new States--Kitchen Cabinet makes headway.

VIII. CLAY FINDS HIS ISSUE 201

The son of Alexander Hamilton--His intimacy with Jackson--Phrases first attack on National Bank--The inspiration of Jackson’s hostility--The Mason incident--Biddle’s flippant reply to Ingham--Kendall’s editorial in “New York Courier and Enquirer”--Biddle’s alarm--His attempts to conciliate--His contradictory advice and information--The strange attitude of Major Lewis--Clay plans to drag Bank into politics for selfish purposes--Treachery of Livingston and McLane--Clay urges immediate application for recharter--His inconsistency--Jackson prefers to postpone Bank issue--Reasons--McLane’s embarrassing report--Clay presses the Bank to act--Biddle sends agent to Washington to investigate--Cadwalader’s conferences--Sees selfish political aims of Clay and Webster--His conversion to Whig plan--An historical conference--Biddle blackmailed into action by threats of Clay and Webster--Application presented--The House investigates the Bank--Results--Political effects--Biddle takes charge of fight in Congress--Recharter Bill passes--Biddle and Clay expect veto--Plan to make Bank the campaign issue--Effect on Jackson--Authorship of Veto Message--Van Buren’s midnight conference at White House--The Veto as a campaign document--Opinion of Biddle--Of Clay’s organ--Of the “Globe”--Both parties pleased--Senate debate on the Veto--Webster’s speech--Arrays Bank against Jackson in appeal to the people--Hugh Lawson White accepts the issue--Clay’s unworthy performance--Benton’s reply--Clay and Benton exchange the “lie”--The issue goes to the people.

IX. THE DRAMATIC BATTLE OF 1832 227

New campaign methods of 1832--Class consciousness aroused by both parties--The intensive use of the press--Biddle subsidizes newspapers and bribes editors--Kendall’s campaign textbook--Clay’s intrigues--Negotiates with the Nullifiers--Calhoun’s strange plan considered--Coalition of Bank, Whigs, and Nullifiers--Blair makes the most of it--Ties the Whigs to Nullification movement--Jackson defies the Nullifiers--Clay intrigues with Anti-Masons--His letters--Nomination of Wirt--Latter’s political relations with Clay--The trick planned for New York--Seward’s testimony--Jacksonians ignore the Anti-Masons--The Bank the issue--Clay’s campaign plans--Bank’s corruption of the press--Bank resorts to intimidation and coercion--Attempts to frighten the timid--Circulation of stories as to Jackson’s health--Blair meets them--Stories of Jackson’s bloodthirstiness revived--The anti-Jackson cartoons--Kitchen Cabinet arouses and organizes the masses--Use of the press--Intensive organization--Monster meetings of Democrats--A Jackson parade in New York--Hickory poles--Glee clubs--Songs--Demonstration for Jackson at Lexington--Personalities--Cholera plays a part--The presidential candidates--Jackson’s confidence--Jacksonians “on the turf”--Notable Jackson victory--Ominous action of South Carolina.

X. THE POLITICS OF NULLIFICATION 252

The Nullifiers win in South Carolina--Jackson’s fury--Hastens to the capital--South Carolina’s changed views--Calhoun’s exposition--Cavalier vs. Cavalier--Calhoun’s letter to Hamilton--Joel Poinsett’s part--Jackson energetically prepares for defense--Steps taken--His reliance on public opinion--His caution--His Proclamation--Drama of its preparation--Effect on public--Hayne’s reply--Clay’s criticism--He plays to Nullifiers--Effect on State-Rights Democrats--Ritchie’s straddle in Virginia--Tyler’s despair--Jackson has Cass prepare appeal to Virginia--Purpose to isolate South Carolina--Van Buren’s embarrassment--Also straddles on Proclamation--Calhoun disappointed with Proclamation--His “death march” to Washington--Drawing-room sympathy for him--Takes the oath as Senator--Jackson-Poinsett correspondence--Jackson asks Congress for additional powers--Calhoun’s agitation--The Force Bill--Tyler’s attack--Appeal to Clay--Clay’s interest in Tyler’s reëlection--Whig’s ungracious support of Force Bill--Clayton’s speech--Bitterness of debate--Poindexter and Grundy--Jackson clears decks for action--Webster asked to lead debate for Administration--Livingston’s call upon him--Calhoun’s speech--Webster’s reply--His relations with White House--Jackson’s delight--Jacksonian cultivation of Webster--Calhoun concerned--Whig, Bank, and Nullification combination--Dangers to the tariff--Clayton’s proposal to Clay--The politics in Compromise Tariff of 1833--Calhoun hears from Jackson--Clay’s Tariff Bill--Tyler’s delight--Jackson’s disgust over the unholy alliance--Clay’s frankness--Force Bill passes--Clayton whips Calhoun--Effect of Cass’s letter to Virginia--Nullification Ordinance rescinded--Political effects of fight--The drama of the last night of the session.

XI. JACKSON VS. BIDDLE 287

Cabinet reorganization--Duane becomes Secretary of Treasury--His reputation and party standing--Jackson’s New England tour--Plans removal of deposits--Consults Hamilton in New York--Conversion of Van Buren--The Bank’s cockiness over accession of Nullifiers--Blair makes the most of the coalition--Kendall’s reasons for immediate action--Conservatives of Cabinet alarmed--Kendall attempts to convince McLane--Van Buren rebuked by Kendall--Jackson polls the Cabinet--Kitchen Cabinet’s continuous sessions--Debate on the time for removal--Kitchen Cabinet favors recess action--Conservatives would postpone until Congress meets--Duane’s strange reticence--Jackson presses him for decision--Kendall’s mission--His experiences with politicians en route--Newspapers open fight--Jackson perfects his plans at Rip Raps--Van Buren hard pressed--Taney moves to Jackson’s side--Jackson’s Paper to the Cabinet--McLane and Cass threaten to resign--Benton’s delight--Duane’s many letters of protest--Is dismissed--Taney assumes command--Webster advises a “disciplining” of the people--The Bank plans a panic--Its methods and results--Clay advises distress meetings and petitions--Political purpose--Jackson and distress committees--Reaction against Bank--New leaders--Benton--Preston--Leigh.

XII. THE BATTLE OF THE GODS 322

Bitter battle in Congress--Clay leads onslaught--Calls for Paper read to Cabinet--Forsyth kills the effect--Senate rejects Government directors on Biddle’s demand--Webster reminds Biddle of his retainer--Attempt to exclude Lewis from Senate--Webster appeals to Story for opinion--Latter’s reply--Clay appeals to Tazewell--Is rebuked--Intense interest in congressional battle--Distress oratory--Forsyth’s cynicism--Jacksonians counter with memorials--Whig mob-baiters sent to country to continue the excitement--Clay’s censure resolution--His bitter speech--Speeches of Preston, Benton, Calhoun, Forsyth, and Webster--Clay’s motive--Webster’s disgust over Clay’s plan--Proposes compromise recharter plan--His speech--Calhoun presents another--Bank champions divided--Clay’s fury over Webster’s independent action--Forces Webster to kill his own bill--Forsyth makes the record clear--Clay’s attempt to involve Van Buren--His histrionic appeal--Van Buren makes it ridiculous--Censure passed--Jackson’s spirited Protest--Effect on masses--Reception in Senate--Forsyth’s clever move to pass the issue to the people--Protest rejected--Battle in the House--Adams’s activities--Horace Binney--The debate--Blair’s attack on Judge Hopkinson--Bank investigation ordered--Farcical nature--Clay’s resolution orders restoration of deposits--Debate--Senate rejects nominations of Stevenson and Taney.

XIII. POLITICAL HYDROPHOBIA 354

Whigs determine to win in New York City election--Lewis’s advice to Hamilton--Mayoralty nominees make Bank the issue--Mixed result--Whig celebration at Castle Garden--Democrats celebrate inauguration of anti-Bank mayor--The fall elections--The Whigs take their name--Forsyth’s sharp comment--The hotch-potch combination--Jackson visits the Hermitage--His confidence--Cabinet changes--Whigs impatient of Bank issue--Biddle’s indignation--Jackson’s triumph in New Jersey--Whigs redouble efforts in New York--Liberty poles--Mobs in Philadelphia--The Virginia campaign--Leigh reëlected through a betrayal--Effect--Poindexter defeated in Mississippi--Whigs accept result as defeat--Weed dumps the Bank--Webster abandons it--Clay tired of its troubles--Effect on politics of Bank fight--Bitter congressional session of December, 1834--Attacks on Post-Office Department--Instructions from legislatures to expunge censure--Effect on Whigs--Post-Office scandal--Kendall made Postmaster-General--What he found, and did--Mrs. Eaton tries a bribe--Attempt to assassinate Jackson--Poindexter accused--His character and career--His quarrel with Jackson--Demands an investigation--Is exonerated--Calhoun’s fight on Federal patronage--Its political purpose--Debate--Democrats celebrate wiping out of national debt--Whig Senators refuse to buy paintings for President’s house.

XIV. WHIG DISLOYALTY IN THE FRENCH CRISIS 386

The French indemnity treaty--French indifference to the obligation--Jackson determines to enforce treaty--Portrait of John Forsyth--Livingston sent to Paris--Real cause of difficulty there--Chamber again fails to appropriate--King sends regrets and assurances--Chamber again fails--Livingston advises show of spirit in Presidential Message--Jackson’s Message--Whig embarrassment, and criticism--Message reaches Paris--Livingston presents copy to de Rigny--King recalls French Minister--Livingston’s tact--Whigs plan to isolate Jackson--Whig papers apologize to France--Foreign Relations Committee of Senate packed against Jackson--Blair’s protest--Clay’s report--Circulated as political document to isolate the President--Clay suggests France may ask apology from Jackson--Buchanan explains the Paris state of mind--Defends Message--Senate passes Clay’s resolution--“Intelligencer” calls it to attention of France--Livingston’s spirited reply to de Rigny--Approved by Jackson, Van Buren, and Forsyth--Serurier refused audience by Forsyth--War clouds lower--Strange happenings in French Legation--House considers crisis--Adams’s attitude--Pays tribute to Jackson’s spirit--The amazing debate--Adams protests against tributes to France--Amendment to Fortifications Bill--Whig filibuster against it--The Nation naked to its foe--The Whig jubilation--French Chamber authorizes payment conditional on an apology from Jackson--Livingston leaves Paris--Mrs. Barton and Madame Pageot--Livingston’s tumultuous ovations in New York--Forsyth’s instructions to Barton--Diplomatic relations broken--“Oil or water?”--Livingston advises moderate tone for Message--The Message--Public indignation over failure of Fortifications Bill--Blair fans the flame--Approach of French squadron--Webster defends Senate and attacks House--Adams and Webster--Adams’s spectacular reply--Democrats follow Adams’s lead--English offer of mediation--Terms of acceptance--France recedes--Jackson’s triumph--Effect on America’s prestige in world.

XV. THE BATTLE OF THE SUCCESSION 423

Van Buren the heir apparent--Senator White’s disaffection--Whig plan to use him--Clay’s plan of campaign--Whig sneers at Mrs. White--Blair’s rebuke--The schism of Tennessee Democrats--Polk leads for Van Buren--White wins--Portrait of White--Kitchen Cabinet’s attack on him--Also determines to retire Bell from Speakership--“Globe’s” attacks on latter--Baltimore Convention--New York and Virginia combination broken--Van Buren’s reconciliation visit to Castle Hill--Whig confusion--Clay sulks--His complaint--Slavery question in campaign--Attempts to turn slave States against Van Buren--Davy Crockett’s biography of Van Buren--Holland’s--Adams’s comment--Van Buren’s serenity--Congress convenes--Bell defeated--Van Buren’s toothache--Whig fight on Taney--Whig Senators harassed by instructions from home--The embarrassment of Virginia Whigs--Ritchie’s mirth--Calhoun’s fight against abolition literature in mail--Purpose to embarrass Van Buren--Latter’s friends “play politics”--Calhoun’s extreme bill--Its partisan motive--Tie votes--Van Buren does not dodge--Calhoun’s bitter reference to Jackson--White’s bitter attack--Calhoun’s insult to Van Buren--Congress adjourns--Issues of 1836--Adams’s contempt for all the candidates--Enthusiasm for Jackson continues--Whig depression--Newspaper battles--Clay’s sulking--His one speech--Jackson’s electioneering--White’s campaign speech--Results of election--Their significance.

XVI. TWILIGHT TRIUMPHS 457

Jackson’s illness--Whigs attack him while down--He fights back--House Whigs’ last effort against Whitney--Jacksonians turn the tables--Threats of murder--Peyton and Wise--Benton plans to expunge--His speech--Bitter replies--The conference at Boulanger’s--Refreshments in Benton’s committee room--Clay’s theatrical speech--Scenes in Senate Chamber--Webster’s protest--Benton wins--Dramatic situation--The mob in the gallery--Benton’s friends arm--Mrs. Benton’s alarm--The Clay-Benton altercation--Jackson dines his friends--Last days in White House--His Farewell Address--Its real significance--His last reception--Jackson the Man--White House memories and women--The inauguration of Van Buren--Jackson the central figure--Homage of the multitude--Last night in the White House--The last conference at Blair’s--The end of the “Reign.”

BOOKS, PAPERS, AND MANUSCRIPTS CITED AND CONSULTED 481

INDEX 489

ILLUSTRATIONS

ANDREW JACKSON _Steel engraving frontispiece_

From a painting by Ralph Earle.

MARTIN VAN BUREN 54

From a photograph by Brady in the collection of Mr. Frederick Hill Meserve.

THOMAS HART BENTON 54

From a photograph by Brady in the collection of Mr. Frederick Hill Meserve.

MRS. JOHN H. EATON (PEGGY O’NEAL) 118

From a photograph by Brady.

EDWARD LIVINGSTON 134

From the bust by Ball Hughes.

AMOS KENDALL 144

From an engraving in the _Democratic Review_, 1838.

FRANCIS P. BLAIR 162

From an engraving by Sartain in the _Democratic Review_, 1845, after a painting by T. Sully.

ROGER B. TANEY 162

From a photograph in the collection of Mr. Frederick Hill Meserve.

WILLIAM B. LEWIS 162

From a photograph reproduced in S. G. Heiskell’s _Andrew Jackson and Early Tennessee History_.

JOHN C. CALHOUN 172

From an engraving in the _Democratic Review_, 1843, after a miniature by Blanchard.

HENRY CLAY 172

From the portrait by Marchant in the State Department, Washington.

DANIEL WEBSTER 172

From the collection of Mr. Frederick Hill Meserve.

NICHOLAS BIDDLE 212

From a painting by Thomas Sully.

JOHN FORSYTH 386

From a lithograph, by courtesy of Mr. Waddy B. Wood, of Washington, D.C.

THE PARTY BATTLES OF THE JACKSON PERIOD