The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-06-08
THE PARTY OF COALITIONS.

The history OF the presidential election
campaign Of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS time,
shows that the opposition to his administra-
ton was made up Of coalitions Of the most
heterogeneous elements. There were the
Crawfordites, the Jacksonians, the Calhoun
ties, the Clintonians, the ancient Federal
lists and a hundred other parties, all as d.
verse in their opinions Of public policy as
men could well be, but all united by one
bond, the cohesive power Of public plum
der'' They saw, that separately they could
effect nothing for themselves or for any body
else, and that general coalition alone could
enable them to gain. power. Each party
opened regular INSTRUMENTATION with
each other, and the result was, a determine
ton to sacrifice all personal feelings and
preferences and to unite upon Jackson, who
had about him the elements Of personal pop
ularity in larger degree than either Of the
other gentlemen at the head Of theirrespect-
i've combinations Power must be had at
any price, and the bargain was struck by the
instruments Of each party, assigning to each
the share which each was to have in the plum
der ofthe public Offices. We have ever re-
garded the coalitions that united upon JACK
SON as its leader, as one Of the most corrupt in
its tendencies and practices, that ever cursed
free country. 1t was the basis Of dynas-
ty of twenty years duration, IA dynasty that
came near uprooting and overturnng our
free institutions 1t was corrupt from its
beginning, because the objects were origi-
nally corrupt The cohesive power Of pub
lin plunder,' waists sole object and purpose.
Every other object or purpose assigned, was
mere pretence The canvass that elected
JACKSON, was the. most violent, ribald, un-
scrupulous and personal, that ever disgraced
the annals Of politics in this country The
appetite Of the parties who supported him,
was whetted to the keenest edge, by the
contemplation Of twenty thousand public Of
fees, (which they had agreed, beforehand,
to parcel out among the victors. The pub
lie press of that era, in the interest Of the
Jacksonians, teens with evidence of the
truth Of what we have just hastily set forth.
We do not tell a twentieth part Of the state
Of things then existing, and Of the causes
that led to them, but we have told enough
to revive the memory Of that furious contest,
blackened as it was by detraction, malice
and calumny, freely INDUCED in by both Of
the two great parties tot and to fix upon
the right shoulders the origin Of minorties
coalescing for the purpose Of obtaining pow
or, for the mere sake Of power.
The coalitions Of the heterogeneous ele-
ments in existence during the younger
ADAMS administration, overturned that ad-
ministration, and, when their successful men
got fairly into power, these men denomi-
mated themselves the representatives Of the
Democracy Of the country, and the men,
whom they defeated, they called the repre-
sentatives Of aristocracy In little while,
the political cognomens Of the two parties,
the ms and the outs, took on the form Of
Democrats and Wings. Other titles were
given to them in common parlance, with
view to opprobrium and ridicule, such as
Federalists and Locofocos. The party Of
the coalitions reGkoned not without their
host, in calculating the effect of the cohe-
sive power Of public plunder,as cement by
which party could be elevated to the posses
sion ofthe government. They piled unceasng-
ly all the selfish machinery Of party invention,
to keep themselves in power. And when, at
the commencement Of Jackson's administra-
tion, it was found that the mere cement ofpub-
lie plrnder, when once distributed, was not
sufficiently powerful to prevent the disinte-
grafton Of their party, they began to seek for
new elements Of union by declaring war up
on the interests Of the country, and seeking
to usurp powers, that were not conferred up
on the Executive by the constitution. The
public mind must be kept in an excited state,
said they land forthwith the moneyed interests
the then Bank Of the United States. In the
prosecution Of this war by the Executive,
Gen. JACKSON usurped powers that were
not conferred by the constitution, and he
was sustained by the party Of coalitions, 80
He led ON his army Of coalitions, not only
against the minority, but against the institu
tons Of the country. He usurped the whole
Legislative power Of the federal republic, in
effect, and. reduced the Congress to be a
mere register Of his edicts, whether legisla-
tive or executive. He drove from Office
every man opposed to the views Of the party
Of coalitions and to his scandalous usurpa-
tons. He built up the dynasty with the
same materials of which its corner stone was
compounded. He established corruption in
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