The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1845-08-02

FIRST principles.
We tread on ashes, where the fire
is not vet extinguished;ye not to dwell
on his career as President, were TO leave
out Of view the grandest Illustrations
ofhis magnanimity.
The legislation of the United States
had followed the precedents of the leg
islation of European monarchies; it was
the office of Jackson to lift the country
out of the European forms of legisla-
ton. and to open to it career resting
on Americsn sentiment and American
freedom. lie would have freedom
every where-freedom under the res
traints of right; freedom of industry, Of
commerce, of mind, of universal action;
freedom, unshacbled by restrictive priv
ieges, unrestrained by the thraldom of
monopolies.
The unity Of his mind and his con-
sistency were without a parallel. With
natural dialects, he developed the polit-
ical doctrines that suited every emer-
gency, with a precision and harmony
that no theorist could hope to equal
On every subject in politics--l speak
but a fact--he was thoroughly and pro-
foundlv and immovably radical; and
would sit for hours, and in a continued
flow ofremark make the application of
his principles to every Interpretation of
the constitution.
His expression Of himself was so
clear, that his influence pervaded not
our land only, but all America and all
mankind. They say that, in the phys
ical world, the magnetic fluid is so diff
fused, that its vibrations are discernible
simultaneously in every part of the
globe. So it is with the element of
freedom. And as Jackson developed
its doctrines from their sources in the
mind of humanity, the popular sympa-
thy was moved and agitated through
out the world, till his name grew every
where to be the symbol ofpopular pow
er.
Himself the witness Of the ruthless
ness of savage life, he planned the re-
moval of the Indian tribes beyond the
limits of the organized States; and it is
the result Of his determined policy that
the region east of the Mississippi has
been transferred to the exclusive pos
session of cultivated man.
A pupil Of the wilderness, his heart
was with the pioneers of American life
towards the setting sun. No Ameri-
can statesman has ever embraced with
in his affections a scheme so liberal for
the emigrants as that of Jackson. He
longed to secure to them, not pre-emp-
ton rights only, but more than pre-
emption rights. He longed to invite
labor 10 take possession Of the unoccu-
pied fields without money and without
price; with no obligation except the
perpetual devotion of itself by ale
glance TO its country. Under the be-
nefcent influence of his opinions the
sons of misfortune, tie children Of ad-
venture, find their way to tie unculti-
waited west. There in some wilderness
glade, or in the thick forest Of the fer
tile plain, or where the prairies most
sparkle with flo wers, they, like the wild
bee, which sets them the example Of
industry, may choose their home, mark
the extent of their possessions by driv-
ing stakes or blazing trees, shelter their
log cabin with boughs and turf, and
teach the virgin soil to yield itself to
the ploughshare. Theirs shall be the
soil, theirs the beautiful farms which
they teach TO be productive. Come,
children of row! you on whom the
Old World frowns; crowd Gearlessl " to
the forests; plant your homes in con-
fdence, for the country watches over
you; your children grow around you
as hostages, and the wilderness at your
bidding, surrenders its grandeur of use
less luxuriance to tho beauty and love
illness of culture. Yet beautiful and
lovely as is this scene, it still by far falls
short of the ideal which lived in the af-
fections of Jackson. His heart was
ever with the pioneer, his policy ever
favored the diffusion Of independent
freehoIders throughout the laboring
classes Of the land.
1t would be sin against the occa-
sion, were | to omit to commemorate
the deep devotedness Of Jackson TO the
cause and to the rights of labor. 1t
was for the welfare of the laborng
classes that he defed all the storms OF
political hostility. He longed to secure
to labor the fruits of IFS own industry;
and he increasingly opposed every sys-
tenn which tended to lessen their re-
ward. or which exposed them to be
defrauded of their duties. The labor
ers may bend over his grave with af-
r. e.. - -, t,Ja