tering that institution, were justly looked upon, as evincing his determination to enforce those views with the whole influence of the Government. In no instance however did this anti-federal feeling manifest itself, in a mode more calculated to excite apprehensions as to the stability of the political institutions of the country, than in the course adopted in reference to the controversy between the State of Georgia and the Cherokee Indians. With the view of depriving that tribe of the countenance and advice of the missionaries, a law was enacted by the Georgia legislature, requiring all white persons residing in the Indian country, to take an oath of allegiance to the State; and two missionaries being arrested under that law, they were discharged on the ground, that they were residing there and acting as agents of the federal Government, in disbursing the fund annually provided by Congress for the civilization of the Aborigines. A disavowal having been obtained from the government at Washington of their agency, they were again arrested under the law; and the fact of residence being proved, notwithstanding the unconstitutionality of the State law was pleaded, they were sentenced to four years confinement at hard labor in the Penitentiary of Georgia. Steps were immediately taken to bring this decision of the State Court in review before the Supreme Court of the United States; and after a full consideration of the subject, the Court decided, that the law of Georgia was contrary to the constitution,

treaties and laws of the United States, and consequently void; and a mandate was issued to the State Court reversing its judgment and ordering the missionaries to be discharged. Upon the delivery of this mandate to the State Court, it refused to obey it; and shortly after the decision, an article appeared in the semiofficial Journal of the Government denying the soundness of the decision of the Supreme Court. The representatives of Georgia at Washington openly asserted, that the President would not enforce the judgment; and the opinion previously expressed by him in favor of the course adopted by that State, and the support afforded to her measures against the Cherokees, afforded too much ground for that assertion.

The right of the federal judiciary to maintain the supremacy of the federal constitution, laws and treaties, was thus openly brought in question; and recurring to the attempt to repeal the 25th section of the Judiciary act at the last Congress, many began to believe that the Government had fallen into the hands of a party, that was hostile to its powers and willing to curtail them so far, as to render it unable to defend itself from the encroachments of the States. Although that attempt was promptly defeated, and that by so triumphant a majority as to demonstrate the futility of the expectations of those, who sought to make the government depend upon the states; still the fact that the measure was brought forward by the Judiciary Committee, and sustained by those who were

generally deemed to represent the views of the administration in Congress, induced a common belief that it formed part of a system of policy, which aimed to curtail the prerogatives and diminish the powers of the federal government. As this policy was regarded with great distrust in all quarters, except at the South, and by a few politicians in the eastern and middle States, it was not explicitly avowed as adopted by the government. On the contrary, efforts were made to exonerate the President from the charge, that he was hostile to the supremacy of the federal judiciary, and his friends insisted, that he could not be called upon to enforce the decisions of the supreme court, until the powers confided to that tribunal should prove to be inadequate to that end. However undeniable this might be, it was too true that this collision between the Supreme Court and the State Government, had been in a great measure occasioned by his refusal to enforce certain provisions of the Indian intercourse act, directing the President of the United States to repel all encroachments upon the territory secured to the tribes by treaty. With the view of rescuing the government from the hands of those, who took this narrow view of its duties and its powers, a strong opposition was organized, under the denomination of National Republicans, and the various topics calculated to render the President unpopular were urged with all the skill and force that political ambition and party animosity could inspire.

The friends of the administration on their part were not idle, and in the contest which ensued, they were aided by all the influence and patronage of the federal Government. At no time since the commencement of our history had the executive and the public functionaries dependent upon him taken so direct a part in the elections; and the consequence of this interference was, to cause the contest to degenerate into a personal struggle to a degree, that had not been before witnessed in the United States. The personal qualities of the President and his military services were relied upon in those States, where his course of policy was deemed counter to public sentiment; and his anti-federal construction of the constitution, and the inconsistency between his professions and his course after his election, were overlooked in consideration of his success in the war with England and her Indian Allies. The mode in which the election was conducted increased the tendency, already sufficiently great on the part of the President, to shape the public policy according to his personal feelings and prejudices. Like all men of strong character his passions partook of the strength of his will; and being in a sphere comparatively new, he was less under the influence of his own judgment, than of those to whose better information he was accustomed to defer. With the best intentions, he was, therefore very liable to err; and in his hostility to the views of his political opponents, he was thus led to espouse

doctrines not only contrary to his previous opinions, but entirely incompatible with the existence of the Government of which he was temporarily the head. His personal opposition to Mr Clay made him an opponent of the American System; and the decided stand he took against the Cherokees in their controversy with Georgia, finally led him to question the authority of the very tribunal, expressly created to determine all controversies arising under the constitution of the United States.

Nor was this the only evil arising from the personal character, which the contest assumed. It stimulated zealous partizans to lose sight of their duty as citizens, and during the first session of the twentysecond Congress some of his indiscreet friends ventured to assail members of Congress, for the part they took on the floor of the house, in urging an inquiry into alleged abuses of the Government. Such a high handed attempt to overawe the national Legislature in the discharge of one of its most important duties excited great indignation among the opposition, and the President was charged with seeking to arrogate to himself all the powers of the government. The frequent use of the veto was imputed to him, as an additional proof of his disposition to encroach upon the powers of the coördinate branches of the government; and the avowal of his determination to construe the constitution for himself, in questions settled both by judicial decisions and by the practice of the government, evinced more of the

decision and character of a soldier, than that regard for the permanency of our political institutions, which should have been manifested by the chief magistrate of a republic. Upon these grounds the National Republicans put in nomination as a candidate in opposition to General Jackson, Henry Clay of Kentucky, and his election was urged as the only means of saving the institutions of the country from destruction.

Mr Clay was a warm friend of domestic manufactures and of internal improvements. He was indeed considered as the father of the American System, of which those measures formed so prominent a part; and a long course of service in Congress had shewn to him the necessity of maintaining the constitutional authority of the federal judiciary. As a candidate for the Vice Presidency, the same party nominated John Sergeant of Pennsylvania, a jurist and statesman of high and deserved reputation.

On the side of the administration Martin Van Buren of New York was nominated as a candidate for the Vice Presidency. Upon retiring from the State Department he had been appointed by the President Minister to the Court of St James, and when, according to the constitution, his nomination was submitted to the Senate for confirmation, the National Republicans in that body opposed it on the ground, that in his instructions given while Secretary of State, in relation to the Colonial trade, he had so far lost sight of the dignity of his country, as to claim as a sort of merit in the eyes of

the British government, that the party now in power had not sustained the claims urged by the government of the United States, when Mr Adams was at the head of affairs. For this reason they voted against the appointment, and being joined by a few Senators, who were dissatisfied with the conduct of Mr Van Buren while in the Department of State, the nomination was rejected by the casting vote of the Vice President. As the minister had already departed on his mission, his recall in this manner produced a strong sensation throughout the country. It was the first instance, in which the representative of the United States at a foreign court had been recalled, in consequence of the refusal of the senate to concur in the selection of the President. The partizans of the President insisted, that he was personally dishonored by the rejection of his minister; and that it was incumbent on his friends to convince the world, that he had not lost the confidence of his countrymen by electing Mr Van Buren to preside over the body, which had declared that he was unworthy to represent the country at the British Court.

This mode of reasoning prevailed, and notwithstanding the efforts of the delegates of states where Mr Van Buren was unpopular, he received the nomination of the convention appointed to nominate a candidate, to be supported by the administration party for the Vice Presidency.

This nomination entirely alienated the friends of Mr Calhoun from the administration: and al

though the ultra anti-federal doctrines espoused by his adherents, prevented them from joining the opposition in their support of Mr Clay; it was soon understood, that the President had lost their confidence and would not receive their suffrages. The character of the contest however effectually precluded them from openly lending their aid to overthrow the administration. It was a contest in relation to the powers of the federal government, although from the cautious and ambiguous manner in which the opinions of the executive were promulgated, the true nature of the question at issue was not fully understood by the people in certain portions of the Union.

Even where it was

so understood, no deep universal conviction prevailed, that the result of this election would be decisive as to the powers of the federal government. Many hoped from the strong personal enmity manifested towards Mr Calhoun, that the President would finally be brought to oppose doctrines, of which that gentleman was now considered the chief advocate; and the experience of a few years had furnished ample proof, that he would not be deterred from taking that step by any apprehension of a charge of inconsistency. The further development of the views of the dominant party in South Carolina too, now began to excite great fears of a premeditated de. sign to dissolve the union; and it was supposed, that while on one hand the inclination towards antifederal doctrines previously shewn by the President, would prevent

the disaffection from extending itself to the other southern states; on the other, that the energetic manner in which he executed his decisions would completely put down the dangerous heresy of nullification, and in the end strengthen the general governinent.

The apprehension that his reelection would tend to unsettle the government, consequently did not operate upon the mass of the Electors to the same extent as upon the leaders of the opposi

tion.

They were governed by the more ουνίους considerations growing out of the pressing question of nullification on the part of South Carolina; and as he had declared himself opposed to the pretensions of that State, the distant dangers to be apprehended, from the effect of the principles advocated by the President in the Georgia controversy were by many disregarded. Even among the mass of those, who professed to be governed by a desire to preserve the constitution from destruction, there was a want of that untiring energy, and self-devotion, which flow from a deep conviction of the importance of a cause. An unwillingness to postpone plans of personal advancement, or to sacrifice individual prejudices and private views to the good of the cause, too much characterised the opposition to the administration. Its members professing great independence of character were too apt to forget, that where combined effort is required, individual will must give way, and the plans of the party were constantly thwart

ed by the refusal of its members to unite upon a single candidate.

This intractibility, which was so often witnessed in the local divisions of the opposition, was manifested in a most striking manner at this election in placing two candidates for the chief magistracy before the nation.

The anti-masons professed an equal dislike with the National Republicans to the principles and policy of the administration, and both parties declared themselves ready to combine to defeat the election of General Jackson. Neither however were willing to yield to what they called the dictation of the other. The former declared that they could not, under any circumstances, bestow their suffrages upon a high mason, who refused to renounce the order, and they accordingly nominated William Wirt of Maryland as their candidate for the Presidency, and Amos Ellmaker of Pennsylvania, for the Vice Presidency. The latter on their part professed great confidence in the integrity and qualifications of Mr Wirt; but insisted that they could not with honor sacrifice Mr Clay to what they denominated an unreasonable prejudice, nor could they consistently with their selfrespect give up the candidate of the great majority of the opposition to quiet the scruples, whether real or affected, of a small minority of their party.

While the two divisions of the opposition were prevented from coalescing, by what they regarded as insuperable obstacles; the friends of the administration united in its support with a zeal and