The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-04-30


as his term Of office came to a close,
James Monroe discovered that he would
be forced to exert himself to keep the
wolf from the door. Accordingly, he
repaired to New York, and there en-
gagged in the practice Of law, being the
first Of the presidents ito take up his
private business again" as a means of
earning a livelihood. He did not meet
with great success, however, and his
family keeniy felt the pinchings of
poverty. BY another strange coin
cdence, the author of the Monroe doc
trlne breathed his last on Independ-
ence Day, in 1881.
But the presidential career of
John Quincy Adams is the most re-
markablc and unique of all. When he
left the White House, after the expira-
tion of his term of office, 1t was his
intention to follow the example of his
father, and retire TO his ancestral home,
to devote the remainder of his life to
study and. literary pursuits. But the
people of Massachusetts would not
consent to the arrangement. They
needed a man of wisdom, experience
and integrity to represent them in con-
gress. and so Mr.. Adams was sent back
to Washington, to begin a new official
experience in the house of represent
atives. He became at once the leader
of his party, and really added to his
fame by untiring devotion to duty. His
! fight for the right of position was one
of the greatest parliamentary battles
ever waged in Washington, and the
reputation of John Quincy Adams
would have been surprisingly great
had he never served in a higher posi-
tion than representative from Massa-
| chusetts.
After a legislative experience of
twenty years in congress, he was OBJ
served one day in his seat, overcome by
| illness. He had been smitten by apo
plexy and expired in half an hour, hav-
ing rounded out an intensely active and
useful public career
ANDREW JACKSON.
After two terms of unexampled ex
element and party strife Andrew
Jackson retired from the presidency,
broken in health and weary with the
| conflict, He had been industrious in
office, and had impressed a strong per-
sonality upon his country's history, as
| few of it's chief executives have done.
! The first official act of his successor
was to direct the surgeon-general of
| the army to attend Mr.. Jackson to his
| home in Nashville. After a tiresome
| journey by way of Pittsburg, the Ten
| nessee statesman was conducted to the
! Hermitage, where he partially recov-
cred health and strength. From there
he eXerted considerable influence upon
| the political destinies of his country.
He entertained with lavish hand, and
his Tennessee home became a shrine
for the pilgrimages of Jacksonian DEM
oCrats from every part of the country.
Until his death, in 1S45 this pictur-
esque and unique specimen Of American
political life continued to be the prophet
and law-giver of his party.
Van Buren, was still in the vigOr of
manhood when his administration
came to an end in 1S41. With the eX-
ception of Washington, he was up to
that time the wealthiest of the retiring
presidents, and the leisure which was
forced upon him gave ample time for
cultivating the art of politics. He was,
perhaps, both before and after his pres
idency, the most subtle and crafty po-
litical leader the Democratic party
ever had. Therefore, Immediately af-
ter withdrawing from public life he set
resolutely to1work to secure renom-
ination in 1874. HE almost succeeded,
and would have done so but for the
perfidy of party friends whom he i'm
plicitly trusted. Though the organiza-
tion which had supported him was split
in twain, he did not then give up the
game of politics. He accepted the NOM
ination of the Free Soil party in 1S4S,
and had the satisfaction of seeing the
Democrats hopelessly showed under
in the defeat of Lewis Cass.
His failure to then become president
dampened his ambition, for he realized
that he was getting too old to wait
for another chance to be elected, or
to endure it's trying duties if chosen.
The failure of the Free Soil movement
ended Van Buren's political career,
and he spent the remaining years OF
his life at Kinderhook on the Hudson
in an apparently happy and serene old
age, living until the country had been
plunged into the throes of civil war.
TYLER AND FILLMORE.
EX-President Tyler went to Richmond
after his term of office and was known
as a progressive and public spirited
citizen, taking great interest in local
as well as national affairs. In the
stormy days of the secession move
ment Mr.. Tyler sided with the people
of Virginia, and accepted office under
the Confederate government.
Millard Fillmore returned to his
home in Buffalo and engaged in polit-
zeal activity for some years afterward
He received the honor of a nomination
to the presidency by the American par
ty in 1856, but was unsuccessful at the
polls. Political sentiment was fast
crystallizing for the final struggle on
the slavery question, and there seemed
to be no longer room for theorists OF
figureheads in national affairs.
Franklin Pierce was much embittered
by the party strifes of his tumultuous
administration. Humiliated by his fail
ure to obtain the denomination of his
party, he went to Europe. and sought
forgetfulness in recreation and travel
He finally returned to his home in Con-
cord, n. H.. and took up the thankless
role of a southern sympathizer during
the war. He lived to see his party dis
integrated slavery abolished and near
ly all the principles repudiated for
which he had struggled. He died a
wiser, if a sadder, man. in April, 1869.
James Buchanan left the stormy
scenes in Washington in 1861, almost
with a broken heart. No other presi-
dent has retired from office so utterly
repudiated and detested by a great part
of the people. Withdrawing to his
home in Pennsylvania, he lived in seclu-
| sion watching with keeneSt interest