CH. I.] MR. BENTON ON REMOVALS FROM OFFICE. we know, that the views of all parties, as parties, now are, that changes of the most thorough and complete description should be made in the officials of all kinds, when a new administration succeeds to power. Nevertheless, 1829. we are bound to say, that, in the judgment of impartial men, great mischief was set on foot when the plan of the seventh president was carried out, and when he furnished an example which later presidents have been only too ready to follow. This is acknowledged, in substance, by Senator Benton, who undertakes an elaborate defence of the course and policy of Andrew Jackson in this particular. In justice to the president, whose advocate he is, we may quote briefly from Mr. Benton's chapter on this topic, in his "Thirty Years' View." Having stated, that notwithstanding the extent to which removals had been effected, General Jackson left many thousands, who were in his power, untouched, Mr. Benton goes on to say of the president; "He came into office under circumstances well calculated to excite him to make removals. In the first place, none of his political friends, though constituting a great majority of the people of the United States, had been appointed to office during the preceding administration; and such an exclusion could not be justified on any consideration. His election was, in some degree, a revolution of parties, or rather a re-establishment of parties on the old line of federal and democratic. It was a change of administration, in which a change of government functionaries, to some extent, became a right and a duty; 373 but still, the removals actually made, 1829. Such is the defence of General Jackson which Mr. Benton urges, and it is probably the best that can be offered; yet he himself is by no means blind to the effect of the system of removals on the scale on which it has ever since been put into operation. "The practice of removals for opinion's sake is becoming too common, and is reducing our presidential elections to what Mr. Jefferson deprecated, 'a contest of office instead of principle'; and converting the victories of each party, so far as office is concerned, into the political ex converts elections into scrambles for office, and degrades the government into an office for rewards and punishments; and divides the people of the Union into two adverse parties each in its turn, and as it becomes dominant, to strip and proscribe the other. I deprecate the effect of such sweeping removals at each revolution of parties, and believe it is having a deplorable effect both upon the purity of election and the distribution of office, and taking both out of the hands of the people, and throwing the management of one and the enjoyment of the other, into most unfit hands." The twenty-first Congress assembled for its first session on the 7th of December, 1829. There was a large gathering of the members of both Houses, and the strength of the new administration was shown by the re-election of Andrew Stevenson, as speaker of the House, by a hundred and fifty-two votes, against twenty-one given to William D. Martin, and eighteen scattering. On the next day, the first annual message of President Jackson was received and read to the two Houses. It was very long, drawn up 1829. Benton's "Thirty Years' View," vol. i., pp. 159163. For some interesting remarks, which Mr. Benton criticizes, see M. De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," vol. i, chapters viii. and xvii. evidently with much care, and gave an elaborate view of the foreign relations and domestic concerns of the United States. Among the principal measures recommended were; an amendment of the Constitution on the subject of electing the president, in order that it might be done by the people, without the intervention of electors, and that he should be ineligible for a second term a review and alteration of the judiciary law, so as to extend the circuit court to all the states; a discontinuance of building ships of the larger classes, and the collecting and storing of materials instead; a gradual reduction of duties on articles of general consumption, which are not the production of the country; the re-organizing the department of state; etc. state; etc. A few extracts from this elaborate message, in which Jackson's policy is clearly shadowed forth, may serve to put before the reader the views of the president on the various great questions at issue at that date. In connection with his proposed amendment to the Constitution, Jackson set forth his views on the subject just spoken of, and which had excited considerable noise already, we mean his extensive removals from office. "There are, perhaps, few men who can for any great length of time enjoy office and power, without being more or less under the influence of feelings unfavorable to the faithful discharge of their public duties. Their integrity may be proof against improper considerations, immediately * Andrew Jackson, however, like Thomas Jefferson, whose sentiments on this point he reiterates, was prevailed upon to consent to be elected for a second term. CH. I.] THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. addressed to themselves; but they are apt to acquire a habit of looking with indifference upon the public interests, and of tolerating conduct from which an unpractised man would revolt. Of fice is considered as a species of property; and government rather as a means of promoting individual interests, than as an instrument created solely 1829. for the service of the people. Corruption in some, and in others a perversion of correct feelings and principles, divert government from its legitimate ends, and make it an engine for the support of the few, at the expense of the many. The duties of all public officers are, or, at least, admit of being made so plain and simple, that men of intelligence may readily qualify themselves for their performance; and I cannot but believe, that more is lost by the long continuance of men in office, than is generally to be gained by their experience. I submit therefore to your consideration, whether the efficiency of the government would not be promoted, and official industry and integrity better secured, by a general extension of the law which limits appointments to four years. "In a country where offices are created solely for the benefit of the people, no one man has any more intrinsic right to official station than another. Offices were not established to give support to particular men, at the public expense. No individual wrong is therefore done by removal, since neither appointment, nor continuance in office, is matter of right. The incumbent became an officer with a view to public benefits; and when these re 375 quire his removal, they are not to be sacrificed to private interests. It is the people, and they alone, who have a right to complain, when a bad officer is substituted for a good one. He who is removed has the same means of obtaining a living, that are enjoyed by the millions who never held office. The proposed limitation would destroy the idea of property, now so generally connected with official station; and although individual distress may be sometimes produced, it would, by promoting that rotation which constitutes a leading principle in the republican creed, give healthful action to the system." In speaking of the tariff, the president stated, that its operation thus far had not proved so injurious to agricul ture and commerce, or as beneficial to manufactures, as had been anticipated; that foreign importations had not diminished, while domestic competition, under an illusive excitement, had increased the production much beyond the demand for home consumption; and that consequently, there had ensued "low prices, temporary embarrassment, and partial loss." In discussing this topic, the president urgently recommended the laying aside local prejudices and the like, and the dealing with it on a truly national scale, under "the patriotic determination to promote the great interests of the whole." The balance in the treasury, on the 1st of January, 1829, was stated to be nearly $6,000,000. The receipts of the year were estimated at above $24,600,000, while the expenditures, it was thought, would amount to more than $26,000,000; so that the 1829. balance in the treasury, at the end of the current year, would be a little less than $4,500,000. During the year, $12,405,000 had been paid on account of the public debt; which amounted now to $48,565,406. "The sudden withdrawal from the banks in which it had been deposited, at a time of unusual pressure in the money market," said the president, of so large a sum as nearly $9,000,000, which was paid off on the 1st of July, it was feared "might cause much injury to the interests dependent on bank accommodations. But this evil was wholly averted by an early anticipation of it at the treasury, aided by the judicious arrangements of the officers of the Bank of the United States." In anticipation of the time, when, by the payment of the debt, the demand upon the federal treasury should be greatly diminished; while by the progress of commerce the revenue should be largely increased; it was suggested, that the surplus should be apportioned among the several states, " according to their ratio of representation." In the same connection, the president urged, that there be no resort to strained constructions of the Constitution, but an appeal to the people, to amend the national charter in all matters requiring it. "The scheme has worked well," he remarked. "It has exceeded the hopes of those who devised it, and become an object of admiration to the world. We are responsible to our country, and to the glorious cause of self-government, for the preservation of so great a good. The great mass of legislation, relating to our internal affairs, was intended to he left, where the federal convention found it, in the state governments. . . . I cannot therefore too strongly or earnestly, for my own sense of its importance, warn you against all encroachments upon the legitimate sphere of state sovereignty. Sustained by its healthful and invigorating influence, the federal system can never fall." Many suggestions relating to the treasury department were next offered. They bore upon the method of collecting the revenue; the large amount of public money outstanding; the release of debts to the government, "where the conduct of the debtor is wholly exempt from the imputation of fraud;" and the numerous frauds committed on the treasury, which had necessitated sev cral prosecutions. "And," continued the president, "in connection with this subject, I invite the attention of Congress to general and minute inquiry into the condition of the gov ernment, with a view to ascertain what offices can be dispensed with, what expenses retrenched, and what improvements may be made in the organization of its various parts, to secure the proper responsibility of public agents, and promote efficiency and justice in all its operations." 1829. Beside the topics already noticed, the president warmly commended the academy at West Point, urged the extending the benefits of the pension law to all the surviving Revolutionary veterans, and spoke of the removal of the Indian tribes, as called for by every consideration of policy and propriety. At the close of his message, the presi dent gave his views on the subject of the United States Bank, which, as mark CH. I.] THE PUBLIC LANDS QUESTION. ing out his determination in regard to that institution, and as closely connected with the excitement which subsequently arose on the subject, we quote in full: “The charter of the Bank of the United States expires in 1836, and its stockholders will most probably apply for a renewal of their privileges. In order to avoid the evils resulting from precipitancy in a measure involving such important principles, and such deep pecuniary interests, I feel that I cannot, in justice to the parties interested, too soon present it to the deliberate consideration of the legislature and the people. Both the constitutionality and the expediency of the law creating this bank, are well questioned by a large portion of our fellow-citizens; and it must be admitted by all, that it has failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency. "Under these circumstances, if such an institution is deemed essential to the fiscal operations of the government, I submit to the wisdom of the legislature whether a national one, founded upon the credit of the government, and its revenue, might not be devised, which would avoid all constitutional difficulties; and, at the same time, secure all the advantage to the government and country, that were expected to result from the present bank." The question of the public lands, always an interesting one, came before Congress early in the session, and gave rise to a very ardent and very important discussion. It is to be borne in mind, that, owing to the failure of many purchases made by speculators, and the inability of other buy 1829. VOL. III-48 377 ers to pay when the full sum was due, so much public money on the land account was outstanding after some years, that a measure for the relief of insol vent purchasers was passed by Congress, and the upset price per acre was reduced from two dollars to one and a quarter, on condition that the payment should be immediate. The practice of selling at the minimum price, the lands not sold by public auction, failed, however, as is not surprising, to bring purchasers for the less valuable tracts, and the state governments, not unnaturally, looked upon the general government and its land system, as hostile to the progress of their sovereignties in population and prosperity. This was the feeling of the western states especially, and in 1826, Senator Benton, who was virtually the representative of that section of the country, proposed a system of prices, graduated according to the actual value of the unsold lands, so as to secure a more evenly dispersed population; he also recommended the donation of small tracts to settlers, for the purpose of attracting such as were unable to migrate westward, in consequence of poverty. The views of Mr. Benton were warmly supported by the western states, who were disposed to claim entire and exclusive sovereignty over the lands within their boundaries, as was clearly shown by a vote of the General Assembly of Indiana, in January, 1829. Some steps on the part of the general government seemed to be plainly required; and accordingly Mr. Foot, of Connecticut, on the 29th of December, submitted to the Senate a resolution, |