New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-07-01

even the opposition of Jackson redii! "'''"''N
the policy Of improvements as an attribute
Of the Fed aral power. What took the business
Of making wagon roads and canals OUT oI 'hS
hands of the general Government was the IN
vcnton Of steam railroads.
Meanwhile. there yet no sign OK slavery
as a cause of dsunion. South Carolina ana
Georgia. as represented in Congress, were more
national in their rrocliIities than was New-EnS-
! land. Even the long controversy over the adj
/ mission ~ Missouri. though it outlined the tut
ure struggle between freedom and slavery d'i
not make an immediate sectional cleavage. n
fact. men still un1tcided in their opinions
IN the subject. They were already trying II
keep ii out Of the National councils. For the
moment they were fortunate IN succession Of
topics which indirectly favored National develop
mcnt without awakening consciousness Of the
fact The little wars in Florida and the acqui-
sition % that country. giving the Union its
natural boundary at the southeast; the threat
cned cncroachmcnts OF Russia the Pacific
Coast. to which the United States az yet made
no claim, but which their manifest destiny de-
manGcd very loudly; the apparent purpose of the
Holy Alliance to carry It's European uonarchical
reaction against Bonarartism into Spanish
. America. and the growing certainty that boun-
dar"s would have to be corrected In the fer
Southwest. we'll the small hut pcrtinacious
quarrel over the line between Maine and tn.
British Provinces. kept people alive t. the lact
that the United states were nation even II
the commemorative did talk Of breaking the
Federal compact now and then. About the
main principles people were so we'll agreed that
there was but one political party in existence.
ON the surface this scemed very satisfactory
state Of things. But in reality the conservatism
which it indicated was an irritation to many.
Since the adoption Of the Constitution all the
Presidents but ono had been Vrginians They
had all risen 20 the Presidency In turn from the
Cabinet. The feeling grew that this "A Writ
ual defeat for popular government. Each Presi-
dent practically nominated his successor. IT, as
in the case Of John Quincy Adams. he retained
the Cabinet OF his predecessor. merely filling
vacancies. he only added to the grievance Of
those who thought that the honors and emou-
ments Of public life should he more widely dis
tributed The manner in which the Presidency
was handed down was only Of the political
annoyanccs Of the day. As matter OF fact all
the Federal Offices were held by a distinct class
Of people. which slowly rs it changed in person
mel was still slower to change in it's character
istlcs ~ a class. There were those who scented
aristocracy ana incrJcnt royalty In all this. and
around Jackson. whose election as President was
the signal for complete upheavaL The infer
ence from Professor Burrcss's account OF these
matters is that tho change was important in It's
bearing on controversies which had hitherto been
held In allegiance. The new men had compare
lively little Of tho drxterty and polish of their
predecessor They buntly quarrced where
the older politicians politely disagreed. This
was not n good omen for tho delicate task Of
handling slavery and other irritating questions
by constitutional methods.
Tho Missouri controversy had convinced the
Shareholders that their peculiar institution would
never gain favor In the North. The tariff dis
cussons and onactmcnts led them 10 tho dis
covcry that they could never have profitable
manufactures with slave population. The
failure Of notification deprived them Of their
most p!ausih" device for checking the rest Of
the Naiipn under tho Constitution. on the
other hand. the case with which the North and
especially thu New England States. turned the
protective system 20 profit insured It's perma-
nence In short. the Shareholders began 10 feel
as II they wcrc cntangled In net which they
had helped to weave. ana IL was I'm this cond-
tion II affairs that Calhoun passed from his
fornc. position as National man 10 position
where the only relic q his Nationallsm was an
ever present dread az disunIon. II nj this
time too. that President Jackson gave popu-
lar lesson In scctonalIsm by means OF his attack
on the United States Bank Professor Burgess
describes the famous message yciolng the bill
10 rcchartor the bank as "a curious pOtp0urri Of
strength and weakness ~ sound sta,csmanahlp
and cheap GomaGoglsm. Of shrewd politics ana
silly commonplaccs." But hc.mantalns against
Won Hoist that IT restored the balance between
the executive and legislative departments OF
Government. which had been threatened by the
encroa chmcnts of Congress.
However the salient feature Of the message
the ono which won for Jackson a second term
was the effort TO array the West against the
East Tho President showed that nearly the
whole Of the banks stock was held In the East
while about half It's profits came from the
Western States. Apparently. nobody who sup
ported Jackson stopped to think that the real
meaning Of the figures was that the bank was
lending money at low interest limited by law to
Western borrowers. and thus was helping To Do
velop new country. Jackson caught the West
orn settlers by the cry that the Eastern money
power depressing the West. This was Of
piece with the part Of the message which
arraycd the poor against the rich. Now. II the
West had been falling behind in comparison
with the rest Of tho country as the South was
then and later IT is easy to imagine that Jack
sons dcmagoSism might have borne bitter fruit
and that the war Of secession might have been
fought on different lines than those it was
fought on but what actually happened was
that the West. after gratifying Jackson, sat
irizcd the Jacksonian policy by finally defeat
ing Martin Van Buren, with Western man.
The West was prosperous. ana II was free
Not only by act Of Congress. but by the laws OF
from the northern half of the country, which
few years later was extended 10 the Pacific
Occsn by tho settlement Of oregon. Professor
Burgess does not sympathizc with those who
Criticisc the conquest OF the Southwest. He
holds that these countries must sooner or later
have come into the possession of the United
States. Ills estimate of the slave power in
ation to the question Is very similar to that OF
Webster and Everett Mature herself was