Date: 1981-10-30
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. my most recent statement on the Senates history concluded with the year 1825. The socalled "Era of Good reelings." along with the second administration of James Monroe. had just ended on a decidediy sour note. Any remaining good will among statesmen had been drained away by the presidential election of 1824. a contest so close that it had to be resolved in the House of Representatives. Today I would like to examine the next four years of the Senates history. the Nineteenth and Twentieth Congresses. covering the period 1825As they had hoped It would. the hardwon Missouri Compromise brought the senators and representatives a respite from the nagging problem of slavery In the territories that had plagued the Congress throughout the preceding decade. All. however. was far from tranquil. New crises arose which threatened to dissolve the Union. Unlike the beginning of Monroes eight years in the presidency. there was no "honeymoon"s between the new president and the Congress. John Quincy Adams administration got off to an extremely Inauspicious start. Adams was elected prcsident by the House of Representatives on February 9. 1825. In the end. he owed his victory to Alexander Hamiltons brotherinlaw.the elderly Federalist. New York Representative Stephen Van Rensselaer. who cast the deciding vote with the crucial New York delegation. The last of the great Hudson River patroons. Van Rensselaer was reportedly undecided between candidates Andrew Jackson. then a senator from Tennessee. and William Crawford. former senator and Secretary of Treasury. As he shared a. boardinghouse with the persuasive Senator Martin Van Buren of New York and other Crawford partisans. It was assumed that his vote would finally go to Crawford. On the morning of February 9. Van Rensselaer assured his fellow lodgers over breakfast that nothing could induce him to vote for Adams. But when he arriva~d at the Capitol. he was set upon by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. who suggestad strongly that a victory for anyone but Adams would have grave consequences for the security of Van Rensselaers own property. In his autobiography. Van Buren described what happened next: He (Van Rensselaer) took his seat fully resolved to vote for Mr. Crawford. but before the box reached him. he dropped his head upon the edge of his desk and made a brief appeal to his Maker for his guidance In the mattera practice he frequently observed on great emergencies--and when he romoved his hand from his eyes he saw on the floor directly below him a ticket bearing the name of John Quincy Adams. This occurrence. at a. moment of great excitement and anxiety. he regarded as an answer to his appeal. and takIng up the ticket he put It In the box. When the results were announced by the House tellers. Daniel Webster and John Randolph. ]Randolph remarked loudly. "it is impossible to win the game. gentlemen. The cards were packed." Soon both Webster and Randolph would move from the House to the Senate and the new president would have no peace from either of them. To be indirectly elected by the House of Representatives was not the happiest way of becoming President. While Adams. of course. accepted the close decision. in private. he confided that the election had not taken place in "a manner satisfactory to pride or to Just desire. not by the unequivocal suffrage of a majority of the people. with perhaps twothirds of the whole people adverse to the actual result." I This shaky beginning did not augur well for the new administration. When Adams soon afterwards named Speaker of the House Clay to be Secretary of State. Jackson iren. who branded Clay Footnotes at end of article. the "Judas of the West." vowed revenge The charge of "corrupt bargain." though repeatedly denied by Adams and Clay. irreparably hurt both men. It tarnished Adams administration and haunted Clay all his life. following him Into the Senate and crippling his many attempts to win the Presidency for himself. In his relations with Congress.Adams was doomed from the start. Clay was of some help to him in the House. but the president seemed friendless In the Senate. Part of his problem was not of his own making but due to the changing position of the Senate. For the first time. this body was beginning to challenge the House as the principal legislative forum of the nation. Due to increases in population and the admission of new states. the membership of the House rose to more than two hundred with the 1820 census." The burgeonIng of membership forced the House to adopt rules that inhibited opportunities for debate and showmanship. In the Senate. however. by 1825. membership had grown to fortyeight. making it a more lively and rewarding forum for those who wanted to be seen and heard. In addition. the equality of state representation In the Senate. and the increasIng concern over the importance of divisions between slave and free states. underscored by the Missouri dilemma. heightened the Senates role as an arena where Southerners could block the actions of a hostile House majority. As Webster. on the verge of leaving the House for the Senate chamber. said of It. the Senate was "a body of equals. of men of individual honor and personal character. and of absolute independence."I The Senate soon set out to prove Webster right on his point of "absolute independence." As I noted in my earlier remarks on committees. prior to 1823. Senate committees had been named by ballot. but in that year the chamber conferred the authority on its presiding officer. Thus. Vice President John C. Calhoun. In the first of what Adams construed as his many acts of treachery. assumed the right to name committees and their chairmen. So brazenly did Calhoun pack the committees with the presidents foes. "Jackson men." that at last the Senate in disgust voted to strip the vice President of his appointing power. and of his supervision over the Senate Journal." The action was not due to the fact that the Senate loved Aaams more but that. at the time. It loved Calhouns highhandedness much less. Though Calhouns Plan backfired. It made clear to all that the supporters of Jackson. some of them in Adams own cabinet. were conspiring to ensure that the president would serve only one term. Perhaps no vice president of that era presided over the Senate with more dignity. poise. and courtesy than John. C. Calhoun. but it is clear that no man ever more successfully tortured two presidential administrations...Adamst and Jacksonsthan he did.. As early as 1826. Calhoun wrote a colleague that If he and his friends did not Foo tnotesat end of article. openly support Adams. they would be *denounced as in opposition: "We must pledge support to Mr. Adams reelection. and recommend all of those principles for which we have ever contended." Yet. *almost simultaneously. he was writing of the administration he served that. "because of the way it came to power.. (it) must be defeated at all hazards. regardless of its measures." That Calhoun was deep in Intrigue. many senators suspected. His very presence as presiding officer was proof. Since the days of Aaron Burr. vice presidents had frequently not even come to Washington during thesessions of Congress. much less making themselves outstandIng personalities in the Senate chamber. Calhoun piously protested that he could not accept his pay without fulfilling the duties of his office. but his driving ambition was too well known for that explanation to satisfy. This was a man who was sowing the seeds for his political future. In the face of an antagonistic vice president. an emergent Senate. and his own uncertain mandate. President Adams sent to Congress. in December 1825. an annual message that one historian has characterized as "suicide by manifesto." It was the violent reaction to this first presidential message that hinted at the extent of the presidents troubles with the Senate. Though written with the purest of motives. it was interpreted as concealing the most devious of plans. Adams message stressed the importance of internal improvements. the advocacy of which. as he had said in his Inaugural Address. was to constitute the main policy of his administration. He recommended the building of public roads and canals. establishment of a national university. and the building of an astronomical obserVatorya "lighthouse of the skies." Even Henry Clay. the champion of internal improvements. shuddered. It was not the Idea of improvements. however. that gave Clay pause. but in Adams enumeration of the purposes of the improvements and the powers of Congress that he saw the gravest danger. He "approved the general principles. but scrupled a great part of the details." 7 Indeed. it was hardly tactful of Adams to warn the senators and representatives against being "palsied by the will of our constituents." when a great many of their constituents already believed their own will had been palsied by Adams election. Nor was It politic of the president to warn senators and representatives. some of whom had fought In the Revolution. that failure to do so as he wished amounted to "treachery to the most sacred of trusts." when many believed the most sacred of trusts consisted in curbing the powers of the federal government. Nor were many in his audience. particularly the Democrats and Revolutionary patriots. impressed by Adams argument that the monarchical governments of Europe were far ahead of the United States in Internal improvements. Reaction to Adams message was swift and dreadful. In the Senate. the most vehement assault upon the principles It set forth came on March 30. 1826. The speaker was John Randolph of Roanoke. and the speech was characteristic of his tirades--wandering. but brutal. Though he spent most of his political career In the House. during his two years In the Senate. Randolph left an Indelible mark. Indeed. he was one of the most brilliant.deranged. arrogant. and pathetic men. all rolled Into one. of his age. Like his contemporaries. who were mesmerized and terrorized by Randolph. I am fascinated still by this lean. haughty Virginian who used to stride Into the old Senate chamber down the hall. trailed by his yipping hounds. flicking a ridIng crop against his boot with one hand. while grasping a cup of porter (beer) in the other. Randolph was born Into a wealthy Virginia planter family In 1773. About to enter public life in his twenties. he was described as "a tall. gawkylooking. flaxen haired. stripling .... with a complexion of a good parchment color. beardless chin. and as much assumed selfconsequence as any two footed animal . . ." So youthful did Randolph look at twentysix. when It was time for him to be sworn In for his first term in the House of Representatives. that Speaker Theodore Sedgwick reportedly asked him whether he was old enough to serve. "Ask my constituents." came the sarcastic reply.0 After several terms in the House. Randolph moved into the Senate in 1825 to fill a vacancy left when James Barbour became Secretary of War. By the time he arrived in the Senate. the insanity that he anticipated and dreaded was gaining on him. He had been. as he liked to say. "dying. sir. dying." for the past fifteen years. but he was still far more alive than his enemies wished. Randolph was still an electrifying speaker. and he brought to his task a great deal of genius as well as a measure of madness. His hatefilled words were punctuated by the slap of his whip on leather. and pauses to sip from the Jug held by his young slave. Such arrogant behavior was guaranteed not to win friends among Northern senators when It came. as it did. from a man who owned nearly four hundred slaves. Even If his behavior In the chamber had been less eccentric. Randolphs costumes would have brought him notice. He varied his garb from blue riding coat and buckskin breeches to a "full suit of heavy. drabcolored English broadcloth. the high rolling collar . . . almost concealing his head." and the skirts swinging about the white leather tops of his boots. Sometimes he wore a red huntIg shirt. or an overcoat which dragged behind him along the carpet. and once he wore six or seven overcoats. which he peeled off. one by one. upon arrival. tossing them in a heap on the floor~u Tall and slim. from a distance. even at fiftytwo Randolph appeared boyish. Some unkown disease of his youth had left him impotent. beardless. and with a Voice like a shrill flute. On closer Inspection. his parchment face was creased with a thousand fine wrinkles. At times. lhe resembled an ancient mummy antmated by some demon. Drink. drugs. disease had had their way with him..A friend described him as "more like a disembodied spirit than a man adequately clothed in flesh and blood." In the idst of his most demonic harrangues. however. there would shine forth some passage of such terrible invective. some paragraph of such exquisite construction. or some phrase so brilliantly apt. that his colleagues were reminded that though on the brink of madness. he had not lost total control. It was for these glimpses of brilliance that visitors flocked to the galleries to hear him and senators. apprehensive lest his bitter arrows be aimed at them. remained In their seats."2 That Randolph was intoxicated by his own rhetoric Is beyond doubt. On occasion. he wnuld begin one of his outbursts at four In the afternoon and continue unabated until ten. the chamber gradually emptying as hunger drew offhis colleagues. Vice President Calhoun alone would retain his seat. seldom even changIng his position. as Randolph leaped from subject to subject. In thirty minutes he might discuss the superiority of the Church of England to the Episcopal Church of America. the "revolting racial Issue" in Othello. the military mistakes of William the Conqueror. and the "adulterous Intercourse between the Dowvager Princess of Wales and the Earl of Bute." Then he might veer off course to launch a missile of evil words at a colleague. Even fellow Southerner Calhoun was not Immune. In one of his outbursts Randolph addressed him as "Mr. VicePresident. and wouldbe Mr. President of the United States. which God in his infinite mercy prevent." Calhoun remained utterly impassive. as one newspaper noted. "without once noticing the indecorum to himsel for others." 11 Randolph was a tormented man whom neither his friends nor his enemies understoodso clever. so cruel. so bewildered. He lived his whole life in the flickering light of what lie conceived to be the truth. And it was Randolphs Perception of the truth that led to his vicious attack on Adams In the. Senate." For Randolph. truth was the Old Republicanism of his youth. But his was the Old Republicanism filtered through clouded eyes. He Passionately claimed allegiancee to the Jeffersonian tenets of states rights. human 1Igerty. and reistance to centralized power.- Naturall . Adams first annual message struck him as a mass of dangerous and threatening proposals. But Randolph was also motivated to speak out on the Senate floor by his hatred of the president which exceeded even his distaste for the presidents father whom he had battled in his Youth. "The cub." he said. "is a greater *bear than the old one."" 1 Randolph also despised Henry Clay. whom he regarded. with loathing. as an exVirginian. a slaveholding Kentuckian who had become a renegade from the one true way of life by engineering the Missouri Compromise. and giving rise to the socalled "American System." Randolph had never forgiven Clay for eclipsing his charismatic dominance over the House. He had Footnotes at end of article. been plotting his revenge on both Adams and Clay. and. in March 1826. he seized the moment to strike. The specific issue between the president and the Senate which presented Randolph with the opportunity to vent his spleen was United States participation in the Panama Congress of South American states. called with the idea of forming a loose confederacy for military and commercial purposes. Clay had secured an Invitation to the Panama Congress for the United States. and Adams had unwisely accepted without consulting the Senate. Members of the Senate were furious. Van Buren opened the battle by offering resolutions designed to annoy Adams by requesting. the president to tell the senators whether or not he had truly sent them all the papers involved in the matter." Van Buren haa judged Adams well. The -resolution goaded Adams Into a tactless reply In which he questioned the honesty of the senators. angering them further."7 Following Van Buren. Senator John Branch of North Carolina attacked the presidents assertion that he had the right to appoint ministers independently of the Senate. In his speech. Branch launched the first direct assault or) Adams: He came Into offce in opposition to threefourths of the American people. In opposition to seventeen or eighteen states out of the twentyfour. He came In by the prostration or our dearest principles. He came In by the total disregard of the right of Instruction. the basis of a Republic. He came In. sir. In. opposition. not only to tho sovereign will of the people. but he overcame the most formidable of all difficulties: He came in in opposition to the will of the Representatives too."b It was now Randolphs turn. He rose to his feet on March 30 and. his voice growing shriller and shriller. began the speech that goes on for eight tightlypacked pages in the Register of Debates. At first he rambled from topic to topicthe administrations internal improvements program was an attempt to buy Congress with its own moneyNow that Judas had received his thirty pieces of silver. let him buy a potters field with them In which to Inter the ConstitutionOld President Adams was the Apostle of Monarchy. But after what must have been an hour of general invective. Randolph began to home in on his victims. Adams and Claty. As the other senators listened in horror. Randolph rose to new heights of nrialiciousness and openly compared the union between Adams and Clay to that of Biful and Black George. Anyone familiar with Henry Fieldings novel. Tom Jones (and most of Randolphs contemporaries certainly were). knows how disgusting are the characters of Bliful. the canting hypocrite. and Black George. the blackguardly gamekeeper. The senators were stunned. Perhaps Randolph had not meant so vile a slander and would recant. But. no. Toward the end of the harrangue. he not only uttered the same insult. but embroidered upon It. ClaimIng that he had been trying to save the last shreds. of Jeffersons dream. Randolxph shouted: I was defeated. horse. foot and dragoonscut upand ciean broke downby the coalition of illiful and Black Georgeby the combirntion. unheard of till then. of the puritan and the blackleg."t President Adams was outraged at Randolph but even more angry with his own vice president. Calhoun. who impassively presided over the Senate during Randolphs outburst. oblivious to the many appeals to call Randolph to order. Not only had Calhoun declined to call Randolph to order. he had exhibited "the most perfect indifference to whatever was said." Masking his enjoyment at the Virginians attack on the administration. 011 this. as on earlier occasions. Calhoun gravely insisted that. since hie was not a member of the Senate but merely Its presiding officer. he had no wish to usurp its power and interfere with debate. In 1828. the Senate adopted the forerunner of our Rule =I governing the propriety of the members remarks so that the presiding officer. or a member. could call to order any other member casting aspersions against another senator. n member of the House. or a state. but the right to criticize the executive was carefully maintained. On May 1. the proAdams Washington National Journal carried fin article bitterly attacking the vice president for not exercising a power clearly his and charging Calhoun had not done so because hie was "the residuary legatee of General Jacksons pretensions to the Presidency." Signed "Patrick Henry." the style suggested that its author was the president himself. On May 20. the rival Inteiligencer carried a response signed "Onslow." The trenchant style clearly identified It as the work of Calhoun. For the next six months. the public was treated to the spectacle of the president and his vice president slugging It out in the pages of the Washington newspapers." Randolphs insults were too much for Clay to bear in silence. He challenged Randolph to a duel. and Randolph. waiving his privilege not to be held responsible for words uttered in congressional debate. accepted. Neither man was an expert at handling. arms. but nonetheless. the senator and the secretary of state met on the afternoon of April 8. 1826. In a clearing on the Virginia side of the Potomac. just above Little Falls Bridge. If he were to die. Randolph wanted to do so on the soil of his beloved native state. Randolph arrived wearing a dramatic White. flowing flannel Wrapper. In the first exchange of shots. both men missed. Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. himself no stranger to the dueling ground. had come as a spectator and conciliator and rushed from the woods to demand that the duel should cease. Clay brushed him aside. Randolph agreed to shoot again. but whispered to Benton that he did not Intend to return Clays fire. He calmly stood still whilp Clay fired a bullet that went through the hem of the white flannel overcoat without hurting him. Randolph then fired into the air. tossed his pistol aside. held out his hand to Clay and said. "You owe me acoat. Mr. Clay." Said a much relieved Clay. "I am glad that the debt is nograe." Randolphs stay in the Senate was brief. The Virginia state legislature refused to return him in 1827. putting John Tyler in his place. His own district. however. Immediately returned Randolph to the House where hie continued his antiadministration maneuvers. After a brief and disastrous stint as MinIster to Russia during the Jackson administration. Randolph broke down entirely in 1831. Struggling with total Insanity. he used opium and drank excessively. He died in Philadelphia in 1833. while awaiting a ship to England. He was buried at his estate. "Roanoke." as he had ordered. facing west In order to keep his eye on Henry Clay. In the turmoil that followed Randolphs March 30 speech. Adams Panama Mission took a back seat. While the Senate debated the executives power to appoint ministers. the House came out in support of the mission. Ironically. though the Senate yielded. nothing ever came of the enterprise. Owing to the delay. the Panama Congress. after a poorly attended session. adjourned before the representatives of the United States could arrive on the scene.21 Though few spoke as openly or as harshly as John Randolph. many senators in the Nineteenth Congress opposed the president and his Policies. The irony was that the president. the senators. and the representatives were. In 1825. all nominally members of the same party. Though the unity this single party designation Implies was chimerical. they were all ostensibly National Republicans. When Adams took the oath of office on March 4. 1825. he had Tileaded for complete and final Political harmony. Few of those listening. however. really believed that the party system could or should be eliminated. Indeed. by the time Randolph spoke out In the spring of 1826. the bitterness lingering from the presidential election. the rivalries of the defeated candidates and their partisans. sectional Interests. conflicting political theories. and economic changes all combined to defeat Adams Pious wish. Adams viewed It as a Providential sign when. in one of the supreme coincidences in American history. former presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4. 1826. the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. which each had signed. If these two longtime foes could become reconciled through a warm correspondence in their old age. certainly the next generation could iron outtheir differences. But. as the President stood beside his fathers grave in Quincy. there were clear signs that his administration was In danger of collapsing. As the fall elections approached In 1826. anyone looking at the Senate could have easily perceived two Political groupings. On the one hand. there were the Nationnl Republicanx. the followers of Adams. Clay. and Webster. land on the other. the Onnosition. gathered under the banner of Jackson. and tentatively. Calhoun. and including Senators Van Bluren. Johin Eaten of Tennessee. and Benton. which would eventually become the Democratic party. Footnotes at end of article. Within these opposing camps. there were some surprising and uneasy alHances. As historian Glyndon Van Deusen notes: Federalists. under the leadership of swarthy Daniel Webster. already the servant of the vestod Interests In Massachusotts. and Jeffersonian Democrats of the Clay stripe found themselves side by side In the National Republican ranks. Many high tariff men looked to Clay for leadership. A strong Western clement championed internal Improvements at national expense. The party was conservative. by and large. favored a vigorous national government. and sought to establish Its predominance by an alliance of East and West. The Opposition was decidedly heterogeneous. There were South~jners. hating the tariff and fearing that a strong central government would endanger slavery. Northern h igh tariff men. who distrusted Adams or disliked Clay. states rights advocates and strict constructionists. moved to wrath. by Adams woefully Inept championship of a vast system of Internal Improvements at national expense: democrats and demagogues who championed the downtrodden. demanded a government free from corruption. and cried out against aristocratical successions. The Opposition had n liberal tint. but the group. as a whole. required careful handiing.24 Obviously Randolph was a member of the Opposition. The fact that the Virginia legislature did not return him to the Senate did not obscure the fact that the winds of change had begun to blow hard and much of the South was rapidly shifting to the hard antinational position he and other Opposition leaders espoused. These were nebulous times. when new coalitions. one of which would emerge as a major national party. were forming on every side. Historian George Dangerfield has suggested that. while Monroes administrations have been labeled "The Era of Good Feelings." Adams unstable times might well be called "The Era of Suspense." 13 Martin Van Buren was one of the leadIng figures of this political ferment. Short. plump. beautifully dressed. he was a poised and witty companion. One of the most astute political mhanagers in the country. he was determined to ruin his enemy Adams. Van Buren was a deadly adversary. who assassinated quietly anj with a smile. In a delightfully apt phrase. John Randolph said of Van Buren that "he rowed to his object with muffled oas" Calhoun. about to become one of Van Burens victims. did not realize the treachery until after the deed was done. Van Buren greeted enemies with a smile. suffered defeat gracefully. and played his cards close to his vest. He relished his reputation as a wily fox and gleefully told this story against himself: "Mr. Knower. Mr. Knower." an Albany wool merchant once said ito a friend at the conclusion of one of Van Burens tarisl speeches. "1that was a very able speech." "Very able." replied Mr. Knower. There was a pause. "Mr. Knower." said the wool merchant. "on what side of the tariff question was It?"" Throughlout 1826. Van Buren and other members of the Opposition worked feverishly to Increase their ranks In Congress In the autumn elections. While the fall results were diffcult to decipher. when the Twentieth Congress convened In December 1827. it was clear that the Opposition had gained strength. In the House. the proadministration Speaker. John Taylor of New York. was replaced by the hostile Andrew Stevenson of Virginia. who gave all the important chairmanships to Jackson men. In the Senate. John Tyler of Virginia made his debut. with the expectation that he would continue. with more discretion. Randolphs attacks on the administration. Opposition leaders were extremely annoyed when Clay published an old letter from Tyler congratulating him on his vote for Adams. The Opposition carried the day. however. when the Senate chose for its printer the ebullient Duff Green. whose Washington United States Telegra ph was violently abusive of Adams. For the first time in their history. both the House and the Senate had majorities hostile to an administration only two years old. Nearly every measure that camne up In the Twentieth Congress was debated and voted on from the point of view of Its likely effect on the 1828 presidential election. National Republicans sought to discredit Jackson while the Opposition sought to destroy Adams. A resolution was Introduced by Jackson men to have one of the large. empty panels in the rotunda of this building filled with a painting of the Battle of New Orleans. Adams partisans defeated that move. Then the presidents friends offered a resolution calling for an inquiry into the court martial and execution of six Tennessee mutineers by Jackson during the War of 1812. Handbills were scattered across the country bearing six black coffins and this verse: Ohl Did you hear the plaintive cry Borne on the. southern breeze? Saw you John Harris earnest pray For mercy. on his knees? The resulting House committee report exonerated the general.-" Jacksons supporters then took the offensive. calling for an Investigation of how the president spent the governments money. Among the documents presented was a White House Inventory listing a $61.00 billiard table and a chess set costing $23.00. Cried one Southern representative. "Is it possible. Mr. Chairman. to believe that it ever was intended by Congress that the public money should be applied to the purchase of gaming tables and gambling furniture? And If It Is right to purchase billiard tables and chessmen. why not. also. fare banks. playing cards. race horses.. and every other article necessary to complete a system of gambling at the Presidents palace . . . ?" " As a matter of fact. the Inventory was Incorrect. The chessmen had been Purchased with Private money and the billiard table had never been bought at all. but this Information did not serve the Oppositions purposes and was squelched. The most important Item before the Preoccupied Twentieth Congress was the tariff question. Quickly dubbed throughout the South the "Tariff of Abominations." It mirrored the Political turmoil of the nation. Like all tariffs. the tariff of 1828 was a very complicated affair. Historians still debate the true intentions b 2b of the principals involved. What is clear against Calhoun. The defeat of the defe is that. byf the time the tariff finally be- woolens bill roused a northern demand tual came law. the South was threatening to for a tariff that would protect all sorts T secede from the Union. John C. Calhoun of different products. And such a bill on1 had been maneuvered out of second place wvas produced In the Twentieth Congress. ate. in the coalescing Democratic party. and. the Congress filled with a new influx of sent even though things had not worked out Jackson supporters. in the Senate. where "da: quite as he planned. Martin Van Buren Jackson was stronger than ever. Van ble had taken Calhouns place. Buren. Benton. and Eaton of Tennes- dull Both Calhoun and Van Buren would see were among tho~se who watched out argi have liked to ignore the tariff question for the Generals interests. and saw in are but. by 1827. this wvas Impossible. High- the tariff a wvay to embarrass President era. tariff propagandists had met with sue- Adams. as I cess in stirring up protariff sentiment Van Buren. however. was playing two Art] among farmners everywhere except in the games: trying to win support for Jack- MeC South and Southwest. Merchants and son and discredit Calhoun at the same laui bankers In the Northeast. particularly time. First. he traveled to the South. new~ Massachusetts. had been converted to trying to bring the Crawford Radicals trie the cause. as was evident when Daniel Into Jacksons fold. He did so by promis- T Webster. still In the House. drove through ing Crawford. who was. slowly dying. T a bill that gave woolen manufacturers all that he would do everything In his power entl the protection they asked for. This wool- to ruin Calhoun. Crawfords great bug- ern ens bill put both Van Buren and Calhoun bear. Such a maneuver would be tricky. dev in a terrible predicament. Calhoun was still a Jackson man. and On Van Buren had decided that opposi- Van Buren was far too shrewd to openly Eve tion to Adams. represented by Webster In break with him at this paint. But Van Iani this ease. must be founded upon "the Buren also knew that he could never ern most natural and beneficial combina- rise in the new Democratic party if Cal- ure tion . .. that betwveen the planters of houti were to remain Jacksons heir- frol the South and the plain republicans of apparent. In the tariff. Van Buren saw tuir the North." 01 Unfortunately for him. on a way to force Calhoun to cause his own atic this issue. planters of the South were op- fall from grace." the posed to protective tariffs while those The first draft of the new tariff bill of fer plain republican farmers of Van Burens 1828 was hammered out in the House stoc own New York state favored them. What Committee on Manufacturers in Decem- plai was Van Buren to do? He solved the ber 1827. The smiling and cordial Van the problem by not voting at all. Long after- Buren was repeatedly seen "lurking". in wards. he lamely explained that he was outside the committee room. He was in que absent from his seat because he had the habit. observed the Massachusetts tot "promised to accompany a friend on a Journal. "of calling out the Jackson Offe visit to the Congressional Cemetory.11 11 members of the committeedaily. and cat -- More likely. it was his own political many times a day. to hold talks with H burial Van Buren feared. Other senators them. and it is presumed that nothing foil also found it convenient to disappear. Important was done or has been reported H When the woolens bill came up for a vote without his knowledge and consent." The bee on February 28. 1827. the result was at proAdams National Journal confirmed had 2020 tie." So the issue was placed the report and sarcastically added: "We the squarely in the lap of Vice President believe that every thing has been am- and Calhoun. At one point. Calhoun had ranged under the superintendence of Mr. fact been a mild advocate of protectionist Van Buren. who. from managing the can tariffs. going along with Clay and other Albany legislature. has kindly taken was nationalists because of the plausible upon himself the management of Con- We arguments that South Carolina and gress. so far as relates to the tariff ... 11 V other southern states might become In- Duff Green. editor of the friendly the dustrialized. But few plants had been United States Telegraph. and the official tho built In the South. and now tariffs and printer to the Senate. attempted to re- plot internal improvements. most of which fute these claims. assuring his readers Bud linked the North and West. encouraging that the senator from New York "did goil growth in those sections rather than the once . . . call at the committee room. betr South. worked to the disadvantage of and that was done upon the request of RE the Southern states. his friend. Mr. McLane of Delaware." frier Calhoun was definitely caught in an Greens protest notwithstanding. Van witt impossible situationwhat we would call Buren was responsible for the tariff bill be today a Catch22 situation. A tiebreak- as eventually reported." thro Ing vote. in either directio n. was bound The bill first went to the Senate Corn- baso to hurt him as a national figure. His mittee on Manufactures. and on May.5 ator position in Jacksons emerging Demo- was reported out. Historians disagree a mn cratic party was still Insecureespecially over Just what the strategy of the Jack- utti since he had aroused the Jealousy of Van sonians was at this point. Many argue ever Buren. Certainly. the vice president must that they decided to play a devious and his have wished he could have gone sight- dangerous game. By joining with the T seeing that day. too. But Calhoun had Adams protectionists and loading the bill hist to make a decision. He could not vote with so many outrageously high duties. Van "maybe." He had to vote "aye" or he had they were sure Congress would kill the was to vote "no." and he did. bill and they could then blame the Ad- whe .He voted no and killed the woolens ams forces for its defeat. The Intrigue awe bill.3 bore all the marks of the work of Van hou Now the maneuvering began in Buren and his partner In the House. Jac earnest. Jackson men plotting against New York Representative Silas Wright. amn the president. Van Buren Plotting As the plotters would soon find out. it seer Footnotes at end of article. was one thing to devise a strategy for thai ating the tariff. and another to acly carry it off.-1 hroughout the spring of 1828. debate the tariff filled the House and SeonMuch of it was uninspired. Repre~ative John Taylor complained that y after day passed without any senisiadvance in the public business. One *prosing speech after another and unients for the fiftieth time rcpeated hashed up and dished in newv coy" And one can picture the Housp t looked to Taylor. with. as historian tur Schlesinger. Jr. described it. abems "lolling back in armichairs. ghing. coughing. spitting. rattling spapers. while some poor speaker d to talk about the din." 3 hings have not changed much. hrough the din. Jacksonians obediLy set about antagonizing the northmanufacturers with a variety of beiling amendments increasing duties pig Iron. flax. hemp. and so forth. ryone supposed that the New Eng1 Senators would Join with the Southantiprotectionists to kill the incasDaniel Webster. who had moved nthe House to the Senate in the auin elections. emerged. to the consternin of many. as one of the leaders of protariff forces. On May 9. hie of4 an extraordinary spectacle. He Ed in front of his colleagues to ex.n why he was about to repudiate all freetrade arguments he had made the House in 1824. He was not elolit. not the "great cannon loaded to ~he lips." but he was very honest. He red no moral or intellectual justifiLons for the switch. [ow strange to the ear of some of us. owing the vote on AWACS. [e changed his mind. he said. simply ause New England. his constituency. accepted the protective system as estabished policy of the government. after 1824. had built up her manuturing enterprises on that basis. This did avowal of allegiance to a Gection one the public would not forget and bster wvould later regret." ice President Calhoun presided over tariff debates with an easy mind. He ught he knew just what Van Burens was and he approved. He approved. denly. he realized that things were ig very much awry. Years later. the ayal still rankled and he recalled: elying on the assurance on which our ids acted In the House. we anticipated confidence and joy that the bill would defeated and the whole system overwn. by the shock. Our hopes were soon ted. A certain individual. then a Senbut recently elected to the highest ofIn the Union. was observed to assume yaterious air In relation to the bili. very e In accordance with what. there was y reason to believe. would have been course." hat things went awry is clear. but orians still debate whether or not Buren. that "certain individual." actually in control of the shift or ther he was taken by surprise and pt along with the tide just as Caln was. What did happen is that ksonian senators. while offering endments in Jest to sink the bill. ned to be seized with the realization tit might Just pass and then their own constituents might not be protected. So we have the spectacle of Thomas Hart Benton mockingly asking for a duty on indigo. but very seriously requesting a duty on furs and a duty -on lead for Missourians. -Suddenly. Senator Mahlon Dickerson of New Jersey. who had discovered that a solitary vermicelli factory did business In his State. wanted a fifty Percent duty on imported vermicelli. The jest had turned serious. Van Buren could no longer control -the forces hie had set loose. Though the bill was a bad one for all concerned. many felt It was bettei than no bill at all. To the astonishment of Jacksons supporters. the tariff bill passed the House and Senate and became law on May 19. 1828. Senator Littleton Tazewell of Virginia was among those who felt tricked. He cornered Van Buren and said. "ISir. you have deceived mue once. that was your fault: but if you deceive me again the fault will be mine."" The "Tariff of Abominations" was denounced on. both sides. Protectionist journals like Niles Register repudiated it as did anti -protectionist organis such as Richmond Enquirer. The legislatures -of South Carolina. Georgia. Mississippi. and Virginia condemned It. In Washington. the South Carolina delegation met at the home of Senator Robert Hayne to consider withdrawal from the Congress. After violent argument. It was decided to do nothing extreme until after the upcoming presidential election. Calhoun. now fully identified with southern Interests. was not uresent at these meetings. but he influenced them. He counseled restraint. He could not. however. restrain himself from writing an anonymous and widelycirculated essay expounding the dotrine of the right of a state to nullify what It considered an unconstitutional law. The groundwork for the Nullification crisis. which would haunt the Twertyfirst Congress. wac laid. In addition to the major issues of the day such as the tariff. the Senate also considered ix wide variety of other more routine matters during these four years. A glance at the Index to the Register of Debates rekveals a fascinating array of resolutions introduced but not passednothing new to the Senateburning issues that quickly lost their fire. familiarsounding debates. information about Incidents In this building. and the revision of the Senate rules that continue to guide us today. These events and Issues help give us a sense of the daytoday life In the early nineteenth century Senate. No sooner had the Nineteenth Congress convened in December 1825. than Thomas Hart Benton presented a resolution "to inquire Into the expediency of amending the Constitution of the United States. so as to provide for the election of the Pres!dent and Vice President by a direct -vote of the People.""" Senator Robert Hayne applauded Benton and went even -further. suggesting that the election of the president be removed -from the ?intervention of the House. Senators Nathaniel Macon -of .North Carolina and Mahlon Dickerson xootnotesa at -end of article. of New Jersey joined Benton and Hayne in pushing these measures. The motives behind these resolutions were quite transparent. following as they did so closely afterithe 1824 elections. Their promoters were all ardent Jackson men. -their opponents. like Senator John Holmes of Maine. Adams partisans. It Is doubtful that the Opposition expected these resolutions to bear fruit. and in this they were realistic. but they wanted to make it clear that they felt that Jackson had been robbed of his victory. winning the popular vote only to have the House hand the presidentcy to Adams. What Is most interesting about these debates. however. is not that nothing came of them. but :how current they sound today. Benton bhad encouraging words of support for those who continue to seek construc tive constitutional change. He said: !No great reform Is carried suddenly. It requires years of persevering exertion to produce the unanimity of opinion vihich Is necessary to a great popular reformation: but because it Is diffcult. It is not Imapossible." Another unsuccessful resolution. introduced by Senator Thomas Cobb of Georgia. was even more pointed. Cobb suggested an amendment to the Constitution which would prohibit the appointment of any senator or representa.tive "to any office of honor. trust. or profit. under the authority of the United States." during -the period for which they were elected." ItT Intent. said Benton. was to cut off the possibility for a member to receive an appointment from "a president to whom he might have lent a subservient vote." OBenton had a specific member in mind. Henry Clay. the alleged coconspirator in the "Corrupt Bargain." had resigned from the House to become Adams Secretary of State. And Just -in case the point of both of these resolutions was lost on the proadministration senators. the Opposition Introduced a third resolution. on December 19. to prohibit any president from serving more than -two terms. Though they expected to defeat Adams in 1828. the Opposition obviously did not want to take the chance that the presidency would be "stolen" a third time.0 During this period. the Senate also recodified :the rules :set down- In .1820. Among the signifIcant changes was the dividing of the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures into panels for each of its named subjects and the creation of committees on agriculture and private land claims." As the eye runs down the Index to the Flenate debates for this period. the liumes btand out that set the followers of Jackson apart from those -of Adamns. issuts% that would Increase in Importance as the years went by. Debates on .bank.ruptey. a theme dear -to the hearts of antibigmoney Jacksonians. pubic lands. the pet of Benton and the westerners. and internal Improvements like the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Cumberland Road. extolled -by adherents .to ClayIs "American System." fill the pages -of -these -dustyx~olumes. Justms the eyebegins to weary of the -columns of fine. faded..print. an item will leap off the page and demand.investigation. Such an entry appears under "0" In 1828: "Outrages in the Capitol. two resolutions laid on the table in relation to the assult made by Russell Jarvis on the presidents personal secretary. and that of Duff Grcen on Edward Vernon Sparhawk. one of the reporters.""1 Now. I know senators sometimes have their differences with the press. but they seldom come to actual blows! Who wore these men. Messrs. Green. Sparhawk. Jarvis. and the presidents secretary. and what provoked the "outrages"? Let us -begin with the case of Jarvis. a Journalist. and the presidents private secretary. who also happened to be his son. John Adams. In April 1828. Mr. Jarvis. -responding to a rude remark that young Adams had directed at him several days earlier at the White House. assaulted Adams as -he was walking through the Rotunda from the House to the Senate on official business. The President was outraged. and he sent a message to both the Senate and the House asking for redress. Unfortunately. his message did not spell out the particulars of the case so we must rely on Jarvis own communication to the Senate. wvhich wag printed In full in Niles Recgister. a nationallycirculated Baltimore newspaper. Jarvis. letter is marvelous in its detail and I would like to read from It: ..while he (Adams) was In the rotunda of the Capitol. T accosted him and asked if hie had given his fintI answer to my note. for I still hoped that -he might be induced to offer some apology or explanation. on saying that his final answer had been given. I was excited by his continued refusal. and by a recollection of the offense. -to commit an assault upon his person. which consisted merely In pulling his nose and Lslapping one side of his face. with my open hand. rn doing this I disclaim any intention of inflicting upon him any bodily Injury. for I was totally unarmed. and assailed him merely in the manner above describedl. while hie was provided with a stout cane. I also disclaim any intention of waylaying him. for our meeting at the Capitol was accidental. More especially do I disclaim any intention of infringing on the rights. or assailing the dignity of the president of the United States. of either house of Congress. or of any public functionary. or any -intention of obstructing an officer -of the general government in the discharge of his official duties.-When I accosted Mr. John Adams :in the rotunda. I. supposed he had discharged his official duties. and was on his way .from the Capitol..I was not aware of his being charged with a message to the Senate. or of his being on his way to the chamber of *that body. I viewed the -rotunda -as common ground. as a public passage. not particularly -within the jurisdiction of either house of Congress. and differing in no respect. so far as it related to the rights or dignity of any public functionary. from any public street or highway .1 know that an assault upon an individual -within the public ipeace. Is a violation of the laws. and I regret that any indignity should have been offered to a party of ladies -under my protection. and In a place where they expected. at least. the ordinary forms of civility. -whereby I was Impeuled to an offense against the civil authority. which 1 -hope. that I may be always disposed -to maintain. .as a sober and pet~ceful !citizen. But. if either house of Congress shall consider that I1 have. unintentionally.orinadvertently.vio.lated its rights or dignity. or those. of the .executive. by resenting. within the walls of the Capitol. a grievous insult (earlier at the White House) to. -the -ladies -of my family. October 30. 1981 CO]l and which insult I chose to consider entirely of a private character. I am ready and disposed to dler any atcncment that shall be due to such body.49 The upshot of the incident was that both the presidents message and Jarvis epistle were laid on the table to quietly slip into history.w The case of Duff Green and Edward Sparhawk was equally dramatic and suffered the same fate In th.- Senate. Green. as I have already noted. was the editor of the rabidly proJackson Washingfon United States Telegraph. a rising star In the emerging Democratic party. and printer to. the Senate. Spurhawik was apparently a reporter for the New York Americiun. On January 25. 1828. the two men camne to blows in a roomn set aside for the Senate Committee of Claims. On Januiary.29. Spalhawk presented the Senate with a memorial. accompanied with affidavits. which "humbly showeth. that. having been subjected to Insult andviolence in the ropof of the Committee of Claims of the Senate of the United States. from a person called Duff Green. an officer of the Senate...and having been threatened by said Green with further violence. in case your memorialist should ever write a line about hlm--considering that said violence was not. in any manner provoked by your memorlalidt. and that It was commlItted within a room devoted to -the -ue of the Senate. Therefore. your memorialist humbly prays that such notice may be taken of this matter as may. In the opinlon of your hontorable. body. comnport with Its dignity. and extend protection to individuals while within the precincts of the Senatep The next day. Green begged to present his side of the story. and his is the only side that was printed. According to Green. Sparhawk was the author of an anonymous article which charged that Green had grossly and irnentionally misrepresented remarks by John Randolph in an article in the Telegraph. Green. finding out that Sparhawk was the author. "felt as every honorable man would feel In his situation. as the editor of. a public journal of extensive circulation." He. accosted Sparhawk and demanded to know if he was. indeed. the author of the piece. According- to- Greens account. written in the third person. "Not receivIng a satisfactory answer. he proceeded to assault Mr. Sparhawk. having no intention to offer personal Injury to him. his sole object being. not to hurt. but to disgrace him." Green contended he had no intention of dishonoring theSenate. for which he had the profoundest respect. but only -to chastise onewho had sullied a senators name. Sparhawk had been. Green concluded. a "profligate instrument of falsifying the reports of the proceedings of the coordinate branch of Congress." and he had taken it Into his own hands to right the situation .12 Despite Greens pains on its behalf (and no doubt the painof Sparhawk i). the Senate did not express its gratitude. Then r- gain. neither did It condemn him. As with the JarvisAdams affair. this one was laid on the table and relegated to obscurity. During the course of this examination of the years 1825 to 1828. 1 have mentioned the rise of the Democratic party. I would like to end my remarks. then: Footnotes at end of article.