The Daily Missoulian., 1910-11-01
Congressional Campaigns
Growth of Sectional Division.
BY Frederic J. tsaskin.

Writ. the candidate of the anti Ma
sonic party. South Carolina was now
the only state In which the popular
democratic movement OF the early
Jackson day had not tfiumphed, and
its Legislature still elected its presi-
Dental electors. Calhoun commanded
the legislature. and the electoral votes
were held ready to be cast for Clay
ii they might thereby defeat jackson.
When It was found that Jackson had
a large majority, the votes were
thrown away and South Carolina
passed the ordinance OF nullification.
The president at once issued his
famous proclamation in: which he de-
clared that the constitution formed a
government. not a league, and In which
ne threatened the nnllifiers with all
the power Of the federal government.
Calhoun now resigned the vice presi-
dency and came to the senate The
battle seemed to be on. Jackson swore
by the eternal, the federal union
must and shall be preserved. =
Again Clay came to his aid, and by
1int Of exercise of his most persuasive
faculties he framed another cOmpro-
mise tariff bill which enabled Jack
son to maintain his bold front against
the nullifiers and at the same time
to back down from extreme protec-
tiOntsm and therefore in measure
to placate southern sentiment. When
Jackson was about to retire and had
east his mantle upon the shoulders
Of Van Buren. the opposition could
not agree upon candidate. They
held no national convention. Van
Buren received 40 electoral votes
against "a for William Henry Harri-
son. who received the greater part
OF the Whtg support, '26 Cor Hugh
Lawson White. an insurgent demo-
cratic senator from Tennessee, and II
for Willie p. Magntim. being the vote
Of the South Carolina legislature. All
this time the opposition to Jackson
held to the official name of national
republican," while the jackson mon
called themselves .democratic-republi-
cans" Four years later. in 1870. the
democrats generally adopted the pop
ular name which they still bear. and
the national republicans made "whig''
their official as well as their popular
title.
All OF this time the leaders Of both
parties were careful not to say any
thing whatever about the real pl loblem
which was pressing for solution-slay-
cry. 1t was not a federal question.
| Neither party would take stand
upon 1t. Calhoun and his South Car
olinians were always fighting the tar
iff, but the wings could depend upon
them to oppose Jackson. Jackson and
Clay. the chief leaders of each party
| were Shareholders from the south The
only hope of overthrowing Jackson lay
In a combination Of New England,
South Carolina and the southe n whis
states, for< New York, sPennsyivania
and the west were for Jackson. There
was no possible way to bring up the
slavery question, Y Nl1tlIoat. destroying
both political partfes. s.and thu, for
20 years all politicians iof whatever
party were willing to fight together to
keep slavery out of politics.
1t was kept sout OF national cam.
paigns. but 1t was kept always before
congress by John Quincy Adams IL,
the house. and it wis always beforA
the people in local elections. Mem
bers of congress were chosen first be-
cause of their stand on the issue ol
slavery. secondly because they were
wings or democrats: When they ar
rived at Washington they divided
without regard to party appellation In
support or opposition of John Quincy
Adams perpetual efforts to submit
anti slavery ,petitfons. But for the
general public, and In all admittedly
political questions. they were yet dem
ocrats and wings.
The long series of democratic tri.
umphs was ahout to- be broken. The
panic of 1887 did the work, and in 1885,
the wings made great gains. and wher
the house met to organize there were
ll9 democrats and 11s wings. exclu.
/ sve Of the five members from New
Jersey whose seats were contested
The governor had issued certificates
to the wings. The clerk of the house
was democrat. He refused to cal
bers. For four days the house wa.
In turmoil, until finally the venerable
ex-president, Adams. assumed tht
chair amid general acclaim and thu
houses decided to elect a speaker be
fore deciding the New Jersey contest
This gave the democrats o majority
OF one. hut some Calhoun supporters
became insurgents and united with thu
wings to elect r. N. T. Hunter 0
Virginia He is distinguished in his
tory as being the only speaker Of tn
i house of representatives who declined
! to take any part in partisan warfare
u Two years later Van Buren wa
again the democratic nominee, whil'
the wings set aside their idol. Clay
because he was a Mason and the!
wished to pander to the anti-Masoni
sentiment. They nominated Harrison
because he was o war hero. Then the.
selected John Tyler for vice president
!. as he was a southern states righ
man of the Calhoun type. The whig
that time threw away their one .grea
1 chance by trucking to expediency
The campaign was one OF the mos
! exciting the country ever saw. and
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