Date: 1982-03-04
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. on yesterday I spoke for the 48th time on the United States Senate. The title of my speech yesterday was "The Senate Comes of Age: 18291833." I was unable to complete my statement on yesterday. I discussed at quite some length the WebsterHayne debate. and I wish now to continue my statement with respect to that title-"The Senate Comes of Age: 18291833." There were reports that after Hayne had made his first speech. the president had sent him a congratulatory note. Jackson was no doubt kindly disposed toward the argument Benton had begun by criticizing eastern capitalists. But this was before the senator from South Carolina had been led by Webster into open advocacy of the right of a state to sit in judgment upon an act of Congress. Since Websters famous second reply. Old Hickory had kept his own counsel. to the great frustration of both sides and to Calhouns particular exasperation. Benton. Felix Grundy of Tennessee. and other administration senators not from the southern branch of the Democratic party believed that for the benefit of his protariff constituents Webster had overstressed the perils of the situation. On the Senate floor. Benton came to Haynes defense. Though the president neither applauded nor criticized Benton. Southerners took his silence as boding well. They should not have been so naive. Instead. they should have listened more closely to the speech of Senator Edward Livingston of Louisiana a few days later for clues to the presidents true feelings. Livingston was an intimate friend of the president and was destined soon to leave the Senate for the cabinet. In his speech. Livingston sought to return the debate to its original ground but also offered a brilliant defense of the Union against nullification. If the personal views of Jackson are to be found in the Senate speeches. they are in. this speech by Livingston. not in those by Hayne.25 After waiting impatiently for more than a month for a sign from the White House. the South Carolinians decided on a scheme to force the issue. Here Calhoun and Hayne put their own heads into a trap. The occasion was to be the first Democratic party Jefferson Day Dinner on April 13. 1830. The place was Washingtons Indian Queen Hotel. known by the luridly painted picture of Pocahontas swinging in front. Calhouns men planned the evening and. by scheduling twentyfour toasts. all of which were in praise of nullification. hoped to associate that doctrine with Jefferson and. most importantly. the guest of honor. Andrew Jackson. They scheduled Jackson to offer the first voluntary toast after the twentyfour. That night. light blazed from the Indian Queens windows and was reflected through the sparkling decanters of whiskey. The air was filled with the scent of turkey. partridges. and pickled cystersand heavy with suspense. At each plate lay the program listing the twentyfour speakers. Their meaning was clear. The Pennsylvania congressional delegation entered. took one look. and left. At the White House. Jackson and Van Buren. his Secretary of State. considered what their course of action should be. The conspirators intentions were clear. How to show by his toast that Jackson was familiar with their intent and to demonstrate his determination to preserve the Union at all hazards was the puzzle. They settled on a plan. "Thus armed." wrote Van Buren. "we repaired to the dinner with feelings on the part of the Chief akin to those which would have animated his breast if the scene of this preliminary skirmish in defense of the Union had been the field of battle instead of the festive board."2 Benton arrived to find the hall alive with excitement. Dinner was served. From the head and foot of the central table. Calhoun and Jackson eyed each other. As each course was served. the tension mounted. Hayne began the speeches with a flowery reiteration of his challenge to Webster. Then came the twentyfour toasts. Jackson sat impassively. betraying nothing of his intentions. Finally. it was time for the volunteer toasts. and Jackson stiffly arose amid cheers. So many diners were on their feet that the diminutive Van Buren could not see and so climbed onto his chair. Andrew Jackson looked straight into the eyes of John C. Calhoun and said. "Our Union: it must be preserved." Utter silence followed. "A proclamation of martial law in South Carolina and an order to arrest Calhoun where he sat." said Isaac Hill. "could not have come with more blinding. staggering force." Jackson raised his glass. a signal the toast was to be drunk standing. As a man. the room arose. Calhoun with the rest. Slowly. Calhouns hands closed around the stem of his glass. Hill reported that "his glass trembled in his hand and a little of the amber fluid trickled down the side." Calhoun drank with the rest. while Jackson continued to stare at him. For a moment more. the whitehaired president stood there. and then walked away to talk with Benton. Finally. all were reseated. The toastmaster called upon the vice president. Calhoun arose slowly. He lifted his glass. He picked up the challenge. surrendered nothing. Slowly but clearly he said. "The Unionnext to our liberty most dear." Within five minutes. the room had cleared. men fleeing from the scene as from a battle.27 From then on. the already strained relations between the president and his vice president went from bad to worse. Calhoun sagged under the strain. A visitor to the Senate gallery found the South Carolinian "more wrinkled and careworn than I had expected from his reputed age. His voice is shrill and to my ear disagreeable ... His manners have in them an uneasiness. a hurried. incoherent air." Calhoun. fortyeight years of age. was indeed uneasy. Once more Van Buren had scored over his rival in the contest to ride Old Hickorys popularity into the presidency.28 Calhoun sat uncomfortably in the vice presidents chair in the Senate chamber. wishing for the end of the session and release. Before relief came. with the close of the first session of the Twentyfirst Congress on May 31. however. the Senate and the president locked horns once again. Despite his strong stand for the supremacy of the Union. Jackson had given ample evidence that on other issues he would support the exercise of national au. thority only in limited areas. One of these limited areas was that of internal improvements. The House and Senate were indulging in an orgy of socalled "pork barrel" legislation that provided federal aid to individual projects. The logrolling was fast and furious on Capitol Hill. Would Senator A support Senator Bs bill for a highway in his district? The trading of votes and cooperation. either for the passage or defeat of bills would in time become a basic and complicated part of congressional procedure in the movement of legislation through committees and on the floors of both houses. How reminiscent of the battle for Amtrak! But in 1830. Jackson and his followers were disgusted by the raid on the federal treasury and the mileage such efforts gave to Henry Clay and his "American System." Jackson told Van Buren to watch Congress and bring to the White House the first vulnerable bill to meet his eye. By the end of April. Van Buren told the president that he had found the victima measure to authorize the government to subscribe $150.000 worth of stock to build a sixtysix mile turnpike from Maysville to Lexington. Kentucky. Henry Clays state. The bill had passed the House and would soon pass the Senate. Van Buren sat down to help Jackson write his first veto message. justifying the action by noting that the road lay entirely within one state. Despite a great deal of bluster. Clays supporters in the Senate could not override the veto and they had to leave for. home on a crestfallen note. Jackson vetoed twelve. measures during his administrationthree more than all.his predecessors combined.29 As the session finally closed. Henry Clay fumed in the West. Calhoun angrily presided over the Senate. nursing his wounds. and Webster still basked in the glory of his recent speeches. It has been a busy five months for the senators and they gladly went off for a seven month rest. Can you imagine thatseven months. During the second session of the Twentyfirst Congress. the national spotlight shifted away from the Senate. but. with the opening of the Twentysecond Congress on December 5. 1831. the full glare focused on the senators once again. In October 1831. Henry Clay sat in the library of Ashland. his Kentucky estate. reading a letter from Daniel Webster which went as follows: You must be aware of the strong desire manifested in many parts of the country that you should come into the Senate. The wish is entertained here as earnestly as elsewhere. We are to have an Interesting and arduous session. Everything is to be attacked. An array is preparing much more formidable than has ever yet assaulted what we think the leading and important public interests. Not only the tariff. but the Constitution itself. in its elemental and fundamental provisions. will be assailed with talent. vigor. and union. Everything is to be debated as if nothing had ever been settled. It would be an infinite gratification to me to have our aid. or rather. your lead. I know nothing so likely to be useful. Everything valuable in the government is to be fought for an we need your arm in the fighte0 Websters message was clear. The Opposition was gearing up for a major battle with the obstinate president whose candidacy for reelection in 1832 was almost assured. To combat the Democrats. the Opposition needed a strong leader and it turned to Clay. whose own nomination for the presidency was also a foregone conclusion. Clay responded to the call to carry the fight into the enemys camp. In the face of a ferocious Jackson press attack. Clay was elected to the Senate by a small majority of the Kentucky legislature and set off for Washington in November. He arrived. said Mrs. Smith. "borne up by the undying spirit of ambition." looking "well and animated." to be received with "the most marked deference and respect." a1 Henry Clay was the consummate politician. Few have been his equal. Few have ever approached his effect upon a partisan audience. Fluent. and at times capable of passages of inspired eloquence. a master of sarcasm and ridicule. his was the oratory that moves men to action. Webster and Calhoun spoke in abstractionsClay spoke the language of the people. Webster and Calhoun- inspired respectClay love. Calhoun once said of him: "I dont like Clay. He is a bad man. an Impostor. a creature of wicked schemes. I wont speak to him. but. by God. I love him." a This was the militant figure that strode down Pennsylvania Avenue to take his place at the head of the Senate opposition when the Twentysecond Congress convened on December 5. 1831. 151 years ago. Five days later. the National Republicans held their nominating convention in Baltimore and offered him the high office he long had sought. As Clay surveyed his colleagues in the Senate. he must have rejoiced at his advantage. At his side was Webster. with all the prestige of his great name. Still presiding. though he knew his days as vice president were numbered. was John C. Calhoun. whose break with the president was now complete. There also was Hayne. obviously no friend of Websters but. out to revenge the wounds inflicted on his mentor in the chair by the president. willing to join with the Opposition now. Also in Clays camp were John Middleton Clayton of Delaware and Thomas Ewing of Ohio. the latter a robust partisan and able debater. And. while they were of the states rights persuasion and hostile to the tariff and internal improvements. Clay could scarcely fail to catch the signals that the erudite Henry Tazewell and John Tyler of Virginia were sending out to make it known that they were ripe for Opposition. Against him. Clay could count John Forsyth of Georgia and. of course. Benton. These two were aided by Senators Felix Grundy and Hugh Lawson White of Tennessee. Isaac Hill of New Hampshire. and Mahlon Dickerson of New Jersey. Clay and his Opposition faced off against the Jackson men. The Kentuckian was a dominant figure in the debate that winter. An impatient listener. he was wont to sit at indifferent ease. reading. or eating sticks of striped peppermint candy. a procedure varied by occasional restless wanderings over to the snuffbox that stood on the center table. When he spoke. his telling arguments and effective gestures compelled the attention of his listeners.8 S Skirmishing began almost at once. But Clay was looking for an issue on which to leap. A less provocative message than that with which Jackson opened the Twentysecond Congress. however. could hardly have been penned. For lack of a better scapegoat. the Opposition seized upon the nomination of Van Buren as Minister to England. At least on this issue. Clay knew that Calhouns and Haynes hatred of the "Red Fox of Kinderhook" (Van Buren) would keep them in the Oppositions folds. Van Buren had resigned as Secretary of State in 1831. when Jacksons entire cabinet was overhauled. In June of that year. Jackson had named him to the London mission. too late for the Senate to act upon the appointment. By January 1832. his confirmation was at the mercy of his foes. and a pettler story of party politics is scarcely found in the Senates history. None really doubted Van Burens ability or questioned his integrity. The Calhoun faction acted out of spite. Clay. Webster. and Clayton acted out of partisan ranged tie. In triumph. Vice President spleen. Calhouns men took the tack Calhoun cast the deciding vote for rethat Van Buren had plotted the dis- jection. ending. he was sure. his rivals ruption in the cabinet and engineered enreer. Within ear shot of Benton. the quarrel between the president and Calhoun gloated "It will kill him. .ir. the vice president. Clay and Webster kill him dead. he will never kick. sir. and their followers denounced him as never kick." Benton knew differently. a spollsman and thundered against Said he. "You have broken a Minister. Van Burens part. as Secretary of and elected a vice president. Marcy State. in the negotiations on the West wrote happily to London to inform India trade. Van Buren. jokingly pretending to be When the nomination reached the transmitting evil news. Van Buren reSenate. nothing was done for five turned to the United States a political weeks. The leaders of the Opposition martyr. In May. the Democrats chose were carefully preparing their speech- him as Jacksons vice presidential runes for publication and wide distribu- ning mate.86 tion because they did not have Xerox One might think that the presidenmachines in those days. The venom tial election would overshadow all behind the procrastinaition was finally other events in 1832. Instead. a new revealed in a resolution. entrusted to crisis. really a longsmoldering crisis. an obscure member. Senator John suddenly came to a head more quickly Holmes of Maine. to recommit the than anyone had expected. Ever since nomination with instructions to inves- the tariff of 1828. the socalled "Tariff tigate the disruption of the cabinet of Abominations." South Carolina. and whether Van Buren had "partici- with Calhoun at the helm. aided by pated in any practices disreputable to Hayne. had been nursing the doctrine the national character." This cavalier of nullification. measure was withdrawn without To try to conciliate the South. Jackaction but then the grander orators son had asked Congress to revise the began. One after another. with a poor harsh 1828 tariff. And. indeed. a new. simulation of sorrowful regret over milder tariff did pass Congress on July the necessity of injuring an amiable 14. 1832. with Southern support. man. a former senator at that. poured Those who thought the threat had forth his protest against the nomina- passed failed to reckon on the determition. Clay. Webster. Clayton. Ewing. nation of South Carolina and John C. Hayne and seven others recited their Calhoun. In August. Calhoun wrote a elaborately prepared harrangues public letter to South Carolina Goverunder the approving eye of Calhoun in nor Hamilton defending nullification. the chair. The governor then called a stateconOnly four replies were made. the vention which met 1% Columbia In Noprincipal one by John Forsyth. the ac- vember and adoptea an ordinance nulcomplished floor leader of the admin- lifying the tariff and prohibiting the istration. Forsyth bitterly assailed the collection of any duties within the partisan crucifixtion and sarcastically state beginning February 1. 1833. The commended the fine public spirit of legislature passed laws to enforce the the senators who voluntarily brought ordinance. President Jackson respondsuch distress upon themselves in the ed by alerting United States forces in public good. Forsyths barb hit home. South Carolina and by Issuing his Hayne later admitted that he had famous proclamation condemning nulspoken and voted against his judgment lifleation and asserting the supremacy at the behest of party alone. John ci the federal government. Tyler noted that he finally voted for As Christmas 1832 approached. confirmation. "not that I liked the threats of war and secession were man overmuch." but because he could heard on every side. Charleston. South find no principle to justify his rejec- Carolina looked like a military depot. tion and did not care to join "the noto- Realizing that Jackson already considriously factious opposition . . . who ered him a traitor. Calhoun allowed opposed everything favored by the Ad- himself to be chosen by the South ministration." 4 Carolina legislature to fill the Senate We should not be surprised that so seat of Hayne. who willingly stepped few Jackson men came to Van Burens aside and was elected governor. A few defense. Many of them rightly saw days later. Calhoun resigned the vice that in his defeat could come his victo- presidency. (By then it was clear that ry. Benton. who did not participate in Jackson and Van Buren had won the the Senate debate. was of this view. NoVember elections. The electoral vote Benton believed that though "rejec- would be 219 for Jackson. 49 for Clay.) tion was a bitter medicine. there was The same as Jimmy Carter received. health at the bottom of the draught." Calhoun addressed a hurried note to Freshman New York Senator William Secretary of State Edward Livingston: Marcy. a firm friend of Van Buren. Sir. having concluded to accept a seat In agreed: "There would have been some the United States Senate. I herewith resign difficulty in erlisting the popular feel- the.office of VicePresident of the United ings for his (Van Bureas) favor. but States. the blow aired at Van Buren. Old To this extraordinary document. neiHickory will receive. and the two are ther the Secretary nor the administraand will be identified." *5 tion paid any attention. It was so comWhen the vote was finally taken for pletelv ignored that Calhoun finally confirmation. it ended In a prear- wrote Livingston to see if he had received it. Even the Senate disdained to Secognize the withdrawal of its presiding officer. Business continued as usual as Calhoun prepared to leave South Carolina to carry his states battle onto the floor of the Senate.37 Calhoun was literally taking his life into his hands when he left Charleston. There were rumors that Jackson had sworn to hang him. Loyal followers acompanied him as far as the Virginia line into Washington but even they began to drift off as the border was reached. Only a few curious spectators saw him enter his old boarding house. The mail that awaited him. full of drawings of skulls and coffins. did little to quite his nerves. Crowds lined the streets the next morning. January 4. 1833. to watch him head off to the Senate. The Capital was packed and curious friends and foes thronged the Senate gallery. Calhoun entered the chamber. d.athly pale but calm. The chamber was just as he had left itthere was the familiar sound of scratching quill pens. knuckles rapping sand off the wet ink. the rustle of newspapers. tossed down as he passed. As the new senator from South Carolina sat down. several Southerners came to shake his hand. but many former friends. as they sometimes will hung back. Some deliberately avoided his gaze. And. my. what a gaze. the piercing black eyes of Calhoun. When he strode forward to be sworn in. his colleagues watched in wonder as the Great Nullifier solemnly swore to "uphold. defend. and protect the Constitution of the United States." Chalhoun held his peace in the Senate until Jacksons Force Bill. designed to enable to president to use the army and navy to enforce revenue laws. arrived in midJanuary. He sprang to his feet. His words were exceedingly bitter. In youth. he told the Senate. he had "cherished a deep and enthusiastic admiration of this Union." He had looked "with rapture" on the federal system. but always knew that in the last resort the body that delegated the power could regain the power. And now. for.merely daring to assert the states constitutional rights. "We are threatened to have our throats cut. and those of our wives and children." He stopped suddenly and told his already startled colleagues. "No. I go too far. I did not intend to use language so strong." An amazed correspondent for the Baltimore Patrot noted. "Mr. Calhoun spoke under a degree of excitement never before witnessed in a parliamentary body. His whole frame was agitated."9 When another senator hastily assured Calhoun that the government would appeal to South Carolinas sense of justice and patriotism. Calhoun retorted. "I am sorry that South Carolina cannot appeal to the sense of justice of the General Government." When several senators called him to order. Calhouri again "begged pardon March 4.. 1982 for the warmth with which he had expressed himself." But he could never take back his words. The stage was set for another memorable debate in the Senate and this time the principals would be. not Hayne. acting as a surrogate for the silent vice president. but the former vice president himself up against Daniel Webster.** That Webster should represent the aLdministration in this dramatic confrontation had a delicious Irony for the swarthy New Englander. Almost simultaneously he was battling Jackson on the bank issue. about which I shall speak later. Webster end Jackson had not even been on speaking terms for more than a year. but astute senators were aware that Webster was being wooed to take up the administrations part on this issue. Senator Tyler of Virginia. a Calhoun supporter. wrote home in January that. "I dined at the Palace (White House) . . . a few days since and found Mr. W. there in all his glory." 40 The great debate began in midFebruary 1833. Calhoun had introduced three resolutions which stated that the United States existed by virtue of a constitutional compact through which each state retained its sovereignty and could Judge for itself whether or not the laws of the United States should apply in its case. The resolutions also included a specific denial that the people of the United States were or had ever been "one union." He set the stage dramatically for his opening salvo to defend his resolutions and condemn the Force Bill. Pushing some chairs down to both ends of a long desk which stood in the front of the chamber. he enclosed himself in a sort of cage where he could pace up and down as he spoke. Close observers noted how rapidly he had aged in the past few months. His dark eyes were sunken. his shortclipped hair. brushed back from a broad forehead. was streaked with gray. To some. the gaunt figure looked "the arch traitor . . . like Satan in Paradise." To others. he was a great patriot with his back against the wall. battling fiercely in defense of violated liberties. Calhouns speech. which consumed two days. was uncharacteristically emotional and vindictive. He attacked the president and his friends. He attacked Webster and New England. He claimed that the Force Bill declared war against South Carolina: "It decrees a massacre of her citizens . . . It enables him (Jackson) to subject every man in the United States . . . to martial law . . . and.under the penalty of courtmartial to compel him to imbrue his hand in his brothers blood." All the while. Websters head was bent over a paper on which he busily took notes. At the end of the first day. in the midst of "the tempest and whirlwind of his (Calhouns) oratory." a voice screamed from the gallery: "Mr. President. I am being squeezed to deathi" The almost unbearable tension snapp 4 and the Senate. except for Calhoun. rocked with laughter and adJourned until the next. day when Calhoun took up his thread again for another hour before stopping. As soon as Calhoun finished. Webster arose to speak. He had to pause for the cheering from the New Englanders in the gallery to subside. Standing in the wings were Jacksons intimates. ready to speed down the Hill to the White House with news of the confrontation. Websters speech was essentially a replay of his part in the Hayne debate. It was late in the evening when he concluded his masterful argument on the proposition that "the Constitution is not a compact between soverign States." Brushing arde personalities. scarcely referring to any speech made during the debate. he stuck to his subject and spoke earnestly. without passion. Long before Webster finished. the lights had been lit in the chamber where the crowd remained densely packed. With his conclusion. the galleries rose and cheered. Outraged. Senator George Poindexter of Mississippi demanded an immediate adjournment. The victory was Websters. The president was delighted. Jackson wrote to a friend that "Calhoun was in a state of dementationlils speech was a perfect failure. and Mr. Webster handled him like a child." On February 24. the Force Bill came to a vote. With the beginning of the calling of the roll. Calhoun and all the enemies of the measure. with the single exception of John Tyler. arose and filed from the Senate chamber. A few moments earlier Clay had left the chamber on an unknown errand. The Force Bill passed 32 to 1the nay was Tylers. Troops stood ready to march into South Carolina to wrest the federal revenues from their coffers. but all sides hoped that there was still time for an eleventh hour compromise. At the same time the Force Bill was moving through Congress. a compromise tariff bill was keeping pace with it. Administration supporters had introduced a measure for the immediate lowering of the tariff. Neither Henry Clay nor Calhoun wanted to see this bill pass for it would permit Jackson and Van Buren to take credit for settlingand winningthe issue. Instead Clay formulated his own compromise tariff bill and Calhoun reluctantly agreed to support it. Clay introduced his modified tariff bill on February 13. 1833 declaring. "I have ambition. the ambition of being the humble instrument in the hands of Providence to reconcile a divided people." As the "humble instrument" sat down. Calhoun arose and stiffly announced his support. The galleries thundered with applause. By March 1. the measure had passed both Houses of Congress. The new tariff bill and the Force Bill were both signed into law by Jackson on March 2. the last day of the Twentysecond Congress. The Nullification Crisis was finally over. South Carolina suspended the Nullification Ordinance after the new tariff passed. Both sides claimed victory. What lessons had the three giants of the Senate learned from the experience? Calhoun. sullen and bitter. now knew that no state standing by itself could successfully carry out the doctrine of Nullification. The South would have to unite if it was to stand at all. Webster was frustrated. He had supplied the brilliant arguments. but Jackson was getting most of the credit for routing the Nullifiers. And Clay had turned the crisis to his advantage. when. after staying out of it until the very end. he had negotiated a genuine compromise and bolstered his sagging political stock.4 Even while the burning issue of Nullification was before the Congress. the drama of another major dilemma continued to grow apace. This was the issue of the Second Bank of the United States. The question of the Bank is very complicated. and. at the end of the Twentysecond Congress. it still hung fire. But since it affected the Senate and the election of 1832. I Intend to touch on it here briefly before I close. The issue between the president and his opponents in Congress was the renewing of the Second Bank of the United States whose existing. twentyyear charter was due to expire in 1836. In his first message to Congress in December 1829. Jackson had revealed his basic antagonism to the Bank and suggested an investigation into its deal. ings. Along with his supporters in the House and Senate. most notably Thomas Hart Benton. Jackson viewed the Bank as a national monster. estab. lished unconstitutionally and run privately and in a dictatorial fashion by its president. the aristocratic Nicholas Biddle of Philadelphia. The Bank existed. claimed Benton and others. for the benefit of the privileged commercial interests of the Northeast to the detriment of the government and the agrarian interests of the South and West. To many others. however. Clay and Webster among the leaders. the memory of the countrys nearfiscal collapse during the War of 1812 after the demise of the First Bank had not faded. To them. the Bank was the source of the nations stability. and. since this group still held a slim majority in both houses. Congress paid little attention to Jacksons call for an investigation. Jackson. however. meant business. and. in the next annual address to Congress in 1830. he recommended that the Second Bank of the United States be replaced with a new government bank that would be a branch of the Treasury. Thomas Hart Benton took up the presidents cause in the Senate. On February 2. 1831. he tried to Introduce a resolution against recharter of the Bank. Despite a fiery speech that lasted several hours. Benton was denied permission even to present his resolution. His words were not wasted. however. ProJackson presses circulated his speech widely and the antibank argument began to make an impact on the electorate. Meanwhile. Clay. fighting mad over the Maysville Road veto. returned to the Senate to lead the fight for the Bank and to give Benton a run for his money.4a Confident of a majority in the current Congress and wary of increased Jackson strength in the next. supporters of the Bank decided to apply at oncefour years earlyfor a renewal of the charter. The move led to frantic scrambling in both the House and Senate. In the House. a freshman representative and proJackson man from Georgia. Augustin Clayton. recited a list of fifteen charges against the Bank. They had been written down for him by Senator Benton on a small piece of paper that Clayton kept wrapped around his finger to refresh his memory as he spoke. Benton had his own problems in the Senate. Isaac Bassett tells us: While Mr. Benton was making some remarks on the United States Bank bill. an incident occurred in the Senate Chamber. A piece of iron. part of a horseshoe. was throrn from the gallery into the body of the Chamber. passing near the head of Senator Benton. The person who threw. hastily withdrew from the gallery but was followed and apprehended by Mr. Shackford. the Doorkeeper. After being detained a little while. he was released by order of the Vice President. It sounds a good deal like the way things happen these days. He was found to be deranged.4s He must have been. Even crib sheets could not save the antiBank forces. On June 11. 1832. the Senate voted 28 to 20 for recharteron July 3. the House concurred. 107 to 86. For seven days. it looked as if the Clay forces had made a shrewd. early move. But on July 10. the House and Senate received Jacksons stinging veto of the Bank recharter.44 Clay and Benton faced off in the chamber that very hot Julyno air conditioning in those daysto debate the presidents veto. Benton rose to defend the president and. in the course of his harangue. charged that Clays attack wanted courtesy and decorum. Clay took the remarks personally and retorted savagely. pointedly telling Benton that when "some senators" rose to speak. "the galleries are quickly emptied. with whatever else the Senate chamber may then be filled." The Kentuckian professed himself at a loss to determine which of the Missourians opinions of Jackson one was to take for the correct one. and made caustic allusion to the fight between Jackson and the Benton brothers that had taken place years before. Certainly. Clay sneered. "I never complained of the President beating a brother of mine after he was prostrated and lying apparently lifeless." Benton flung back taunt for taunt. Aspersion brought aspersion until. somewhat belatedly. the chair called for order. Finally. the question was put on the passage of the Bank bill. By a vote of 22 for and 19 against. the Senate failed to override the veto. It was Friday. July 13. 1832. and a black day for Henry Clay.45 Jackson viewed his overwhelming presidential election victory over Clay in the fall of 1832 as a mandate to proceed against the Bank. In September 1833. he announced that the government would begin removing Its deposits from the Bank and placing them in selected state banks. Chastened but not undone. Biddle meanwhile began a campaign of restricting loans and tightening credit to create financial distress and arouse protests that would force the president to change his policy. When the new Congress convened in December 1833. Webster. Clay. and Calhoun were at the forefront of the battle to save the Bank. Day after day. they held up important Senate business to read "distress memorials." In time. delegations of hardpressed businessmen began to show up to lobby their senators- and representatives. Webster and the other opponents of the administration welcomed themWebster even once ushering a group of thirty men onto the floor of the Senate. placing them in various spots around the chamber while he read aloud their petition. Thus. it was clear at the opening of the Twentythird Congress that the Bank issue would not go away. Indeed. it would continue to escalate until it resulted in the first and only Senate censure of a president. The dramatic story of the censure of Andrew Jackson is so coipelling that I would like to save It for my next historical statement on the Senate. The years we have just reviewed. 1828 through 1833. which included the WebsterHayne debates. the rejection of Van Buren. the Nullification Crisis. and the opening salvos of the Bank war have been far busy enough. Mr. President. I ask unanimous conAent to have printed in the RECORD at this point the notes concerning these remarks.