Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1868-07-01
THE KNOXVILLE WIG.
Marked Personalities.
TIE INFLUENCE or PERSONAL oUARRrLs
UPON OUR PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS.

10 IS interesting and instructive at all times 10
-s how In 81 ages the vicisstudes and the fate of
...s-tie5 empires and republics have been snaDed
Tie in.rigues Of disappointed aspirants for place
.rl power. The Presidential politics Of the United
...-. iu. Instance, elnco the retirement Of Wash
..s..u. hsye been very largely shaped and control.
... av those lnGuences Beginning, however vyitb
the stormy administration Of General jackson. We
aia +. can be very readily shown that the drift of
American politics and the ups and downs Of our no
..eal parties since that day have been sbaped
through the dissppointments and revenge. of iess
diam "a dozen iudividualE.
With General Jackson as President. IN hi. Rrst
seai0n, Calhoun came In rs Vice President ana ss
.as Tigktful heir 70 the mantle of " Old Hiekorvu
Blt Martin Van Buren, as Secretary Of state &c \
trlged 90 sgpplant him. How Jackson's frst Cabi
al came 90 resign CT DlGSse how Van Buren, sent
5a. ag Minister 70 England, was compelled 10 re-.
.171, rejected BY the senate through the casting
taof Calhoun; how Van Buren thug becaDoa h9
t-o viii Of eackson (ls52,) Vice President on the
Jsazs0u ticket and in 1856 President in the foot
prints oi bis illuatriouf predecessor need not
51rs detail. IL is enough 10 know that IN being
Implanted by Van Bursn IN the regular Demo
gsliC line Of succession Calhoun actively began 70
.T .ao foundations Of purely Southern politicsl
ssalizsii0n, dFBt Gs balance Of power and lastly
a the machinery FOR n Southern CODfederacy. THIS
-l-ri3r design sharply cropped oat an angie Of
.or7-lve degrees ia the South Carolina nulliaca-
#1r movement Of 1929 Calhoun al thai time he.
ls-GGrg points With Jachsol's administration. In
1882 under Calhonns influence against jackson
and Van Buren, South Carolina cast her PreBdan-
..I V3t8 Tor John Floyd, Of Virginia, and in 1886
G Willie z. MaDgum, Of North Carolina but in
1850 -le came round 70 Van Buren,, on his promise
.lal If elected and Congress should send him bil
.faiaIiag slavery in The District Of Columbia be
H.ald give iL bic veto. Thus, apparently the fsud
.-.H--u Calhoun Oh the one side aId jackson and
saE Burgr On the other compromised on the
ehu n -ntsv hat
.TIC5 wHs short one
i1 1874, falling % come up 60 the requisition of
enc Southern Calbonn pro-slavery oligarchy on the
Texas annexation, Van Buren, was over-slaughed
53 them IN the Democratic Convention with the in
PRODUCTION of the two-thirds rule snd Polk was
-gnina1ed Van Buren consenting with the under
standing that ho should have another trial in l8Se
But in the convention Of that year Cssf chosen
.al Van Buren, not disposed to trhe any longer
cook JlG Geld as so independent candidate on the
.6z soil plattorn-no further extensions Of slavery
-ald thus Cs5s was defeated. This too the
.5glnaT1g of the breaking-up ar TO u. Northern
Democracy on the slavery question. Ia la52. the
form Of both parties and General Scott being the
WdiE candidate tbe Wing party destroy sd,
nom TIE diEtrus1 among the conservatives of the
AJ0tiOnjst Seward, as the head Of the Whig party,
and from the disgust Of the antslavery msn with
5l1tIa compromise platform. 1874 Clay would
doubtless have been elected but Tor his quarrel with
President Tyler, whose influence thus turned
over 60 the Democratic party, as Csss would have
been elected in IsSs but Tor the quarrel with and
detection OF Van Buren,.
In 1855 Fimore't independent ticket fand Fill.
more had hi5 grievances to rectfy) took away suHl-
5,aH. strength from Fremont to give the election TO
Buchanan and IN 1850 an old quarrel In the spOilt
Erin of Seward Weed and Greeley resulted in TIE
Gsslving of Seward at Chicago and in the nomina
t.r1 Of Abraham Lincoln. In 1860, on the other
s.5a iu retaliation for his rough treatment in the
Senate at the hands of JEFF. Davis, Benjamin, Ms
Hla ard Sidell, We End Douglas taking such a po-
sition Of antaRonism on slavery rs to break up the
Democratic Convention and the Democratic party
lhe resulia being Lincoln's election secession,
Southern Confederacy the greatest rebellion in his
t1rv and the greatest political revolution of mod
arn limes In 1858, in their violent rspudia;ion
and denuucistions Of Chief Justice Chase, the Re
rubcaus have lost their best and greatest states
mon, while In the nomination of Grant and Colta
DID their two faced platform, they have so incense
old Ben Wade" that be IS ready TO repeat tn
tsssal8 oi Van Buren Rt the frst invitation.
Thas ;. win be seen that since the time Of Jack
..a ous Presidential politics and the destinies o
tlIs great country have been shaped and drecte
8y The paIz5nsl rghga and wrongs, and intrigue
and reveugos of less than dozen men. We se'
J-1 that while Jackson, strong and resolute mar
was in power over it. the Democratic party was bel
tagether intact against sl personal defections an
3s5e7l'o1s that when be withdrew from it's msT
aganenJ the party began 70 break to pieces. w
sue that it was the same with the Whig party, VI
Ger Henry Clay, and the same may be said OF LIN
coin and the Republican party. A political part,
% held together, requires recognized master, Jus
as 81 ship requires a captain. Without one on eitht
side wa find the great parties of the present day a
st eaa-NUg York Herald.