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DEATH OF EX-PRESIDENTS JEFFERSON AND ADAMS.

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of the Indian lands reserved within her own limits. The CHAP XLVII. national government promised to fulfil its part of the agreement "as early as the same could be peaceably ob- 1825. tained on reasonable terms." Twenty-five years had passed, and these titles had not been purchased. The Indians were not willing to sell their territory. However, a treaty had been recently made by some of the chiefs, who ceded the lands, but the great majority of the Indians declared these chiefs had no authority to sell the property of the nation. Thus, according to the original contract, the national government could not extinguish the Indian titles.

treaty, but the State
The latter sent sur-
divide the lands into

The government cancelled this of Georgia determined to enforce it. veyors into the Indian country, to portions suitable for farms, before distributing them by lottery to the citizens of the State. The Federal government took the part of the poor Indians, and the President proclaimed that he would enforce the laws committed to his trust, while Troup, the bellicose Governor of Georgia, wrote to the Secretary of War: "From the first decisive act of hostility, you will be considered and treated as a public enemy." The matter for the present was adjusted by the Creeks consenting to dispose of their lands, and to emigrate. Rather than be thus harassed they were willing to remove from their happy homes, and give up their hopes of civilization.

This year was marked by the deaths of two distinguished men, whose names are identified with the history of the government-John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Both were men of liberal education, and both chose the profession of the law; both had been consistent and strenuous advocates of national independence, and were upon the committee which proposed that famous. declaration. The one drew it up, and the other was its most efficient supporter; both signed it; both had been

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on foreign missions; both were first Vice-Presidents, and then became Presidents. "They ended their earthly 1826. career at the same time and in the same way; in the regular course of nature, in the repose and tranquillity of retirement, in the bosoms of their families, on the soil which their labors had contributed to make free," and within a few hours of each other, on the fiftieth anniversary of American independence.

A certain William Morgan, of Western New York, a member of the society of Free Masons, suddenly disappeared, he having been seized and forcibly carried off. Sept. He had proposed to publish a book revealing the secrets of the order, some of whose members were charged with his murder. The affair created a great excitement, which led to the formation of a political party, whose avowed object was to exclude Free Masons from office. In several of the States the party polled a large number of votes, but in a year or two it disappeared.

The manufacturing interests were still laboring to sustain themselves against foreign competition. The sentiment prevailed, especially in the northern States and in some of the southern, that measures should be taken to protect the industry of the nation. In accordance with this view, a convention of delegates from twenty-two States of the Union assembled at Harrisburg, in PennsylJuly, 1827. vania. Four of the slave States did not send delegates.

The Convention memorialized Congress to grant protection to American industry; to impose a tariff on imported goods, sufficiently high to shield American producers of the same articles from the ruinous effects of foreign competition; and they also asked that this policy should be fixed, and thus give stability to the enterprise of the country. Capital would not be invested in domestic manufactures, if they were liable at any time to be ruined either by the combination of foreign competitors

THE TARIFF-DEBATES IN CONGRESS.

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or by change of policy at home. The people of New CHAP. England had complained of these changes. Their climate and soil forbade their becoming rivals of their sister States 1828. in agriculture, and their industry had been turned into other channels, especially those of commerce and the fisheries. Upon them had fallen nearly all the losses inflicted by the cruisers of France and England, and yet they had been more discouraged and had suffered more loss by the embargoes and other restrictions of their own government. During this period, the central position of New York had been gradually drawing to herself much of the commerce and shipping that once belonged to Boston. A territory so extensive, and climates so diverse, brought into existence many kinds of industry that were liable to be injured or ruined by foreign competition. At first New England was opposed to the policy of protection, and the Middle and Southern States were in its favor. Now this was reversed. New England had been forced to adapt her industry to the change of national policy, while the South had changed her views.

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Said Webster, when this bill was under discussion in Congress "New England held back and labored to restrain the General Government from the adoption of this policy, but when it was adopted she then adapted herself to it, and turned herself to manufactures, but now just as she is successful, another change is to be brought about, and she set adrift in another direction."

The South, on the other hand, expected to reap the harvest, not merely from the exports of the raw material, but also a due share of the profits arising from manufactures. She was disappointed in seeing northern towns becoming cities, and southern cities decaying; the North a money lender, the South a borrower. Before the Revolution she was pre-eminently the richest part of the colonies, a position which she fully expected to retain after that period. Hers were the only exports from the

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CHAP. land; the North was dependent upon commerce and fisheries; both precarious. Since the Revolution, the South 1828. had exported more in value than three times all that the mines of Mexico had produced for the same period, yet she did not prosper. This effect she attributed to the protective tariffs of the National Government. She failed to notice that this decline began before these tariffs were May imposed. Other causes aided in the result.' A bill passed Congress, imposing higher duties upon cottons and woollens, and also other foreign articles, which would come into competition with those of domestic origin. The dissatisfaction felt in South Carolina led, two years after, to the open avowal on her part, of the doctrine of nullification and secession, based upon the ground that the act was unconstitutional.

15.

The contest for the office of President was between Adams and General Jackson. The "era of good feeling" had passed away, and party lines were stringently drawn. The spirit of the contest was more violent than ever before; and the whole nation seemed moved to its very centre. The denunciation of the candidates and their principles was, on both sides, unjust, unreasonable and disgraceful. The choice fell upon Jackson as President, and Calhoun as Vice-President. The election over, the excitement calmed down. This fact, as usual, was adduced as an evidence of the stability of our institutions, and of the willingness of the people to submit to the will of the majority. Yet who does not lament such exhibitions of party strife, or their demoralizing effects?

The nation had never been in a condition so prosperous as at this time. The national debt was much diminished, and a surplus of more than five millions of dollars was in the public treasury. The blessings of peace had been showered upon the land, and it was rejoicing in prosperity and abundance-the rewards of active industry.

'Benton's Thirty Years' View, Chap. xxxiv. Vol. i.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION.

Appointments to Office.-Removal of the Indians from Georgia.-Bank of the United States.-Hayne and Webster's Debate.-Nullification.-The Compromise Bill; its final Passage.-Removal of the Deposits.Effect upon the Country.-Indian Wars.-Black Hawk; Osceola.-Indemnity for French Spoliations.

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THE new President nominated the members of his cabi- CHAP. net, at the head of which he placed Martin Van Buren as Secretary of State. The Postmaster-General was now for the first time admitted as a Cabinet Officer.

The President professed to take the Constitution as the chart by which he should be governed in fulfilling the duties of his office; rather, it would seem, as he himself understood it, than as expounded by the Supreme Court of the United States. His vigorous arm was immediately exerted in favor of his political friends, and this gave to his administration a decided partisan character. The former Presidents, during a period of forty-four years, had removed sixty-four persons from office; during his rule of eight years, Jackson removed six hundred and ninety, and put in their places his political friends. These sweeping removals secured ardent partisans, as well as produced bitter opponents; but regardless of either friend or foe, the President pursued the course he had marked out, with his wonted determination.

1829.

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