VII. POLITICAL PARTIES. Three parties prepared to enter the contest of 1840. 1. The Abolition party met at Warsaw, N. Y., November 13, 1839, and adopted the following declaration : Resolved, That, in our judgment, every consideration of duty and expediency which ought to control the action of Christian freemen, requires of the Abolitionists of the United States to organize a distinct and independent political party, embracing all the necessary means for nominating candidates for office and sustaining them by public suffrage. James G. Birney, of N. Y., and Francis J. Lemoyne, of Penn., were then nominated. These both declined the candidature, but notwithstanding, 7,609 votes were cast for them in the Free States. 2. The Whig party met in National Convention at Harrisburg, December 4, 1839, and on the first ballot the vote stood: for Harrison, 149, Clay 90, Gen. Scott 16. Ballots had been repeatedly taken in committee for three days, but no candidate could be agreed upon, and it was left to the convention to make its own selection. John Tyler received a unanimous nomination for the vice presidency. No platform was adopted. The Whig party claimed to be the supporter and representative of individual and national independence, of free suffrage, of progress and conservative measures; meaning by the latter term a policy proceeding directly from the real majority as expressed through their lawful representatives. 3. The Democratic party held a National Convention at Baltimore, May 5, 1840, and unanimously named Van Buren for reëlection, but made no choice for the vice presidency. They adopted the following platform: 1. Resolved, That the Federal Government is one of limited powers, derived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power shown therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and agents of the government, and that it is inexpedient and dangerous to exercise doubtiul constitutional powers. 2. Resolved, That the Constitution does not confer upon the General Government the power to commence or carry on a general system of internal improvement. 3. Resolved, That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the Federal Government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of the several States, coutracted for local internal improvements or other purposes; nor would such assumption be just or expedient. 4. Resolved, That justice and sound policy forbid the Federal Gov. ernment to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the interest of one portion to the injury of another portion of our common country-that every citizen and every section of the country has a right to demand and insist upon an equality of rights and privileges, and to complete and ample protection of persons and property from domestic violence or foreign aggression. 5. Resolved, That it is the duty of every branch of the government to enforce and practice the most rigid economy in conducting our public affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is required to defray the necessary expenses of the government. 6. Resolved, That Congress has no power to charter a United States Bank, that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the best interests of the country, dangerous to our republican institutions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the business of the country within the control of a concentrated money power, and above the laws and the will of the people. 7. Resolved, That Congress has no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States; and that such States are the sole and proper judges of everything pertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitu tion; that all efforts, by abolitionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences, and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanence of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend to our Political Institutions. 8. Resolved, That the separation of the moneys of the government from banking institutions is indispensible for the safety of the funds of the government and the rights of the people. 9. Resolved, That the liberal principles embodied by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, which makes ours the land of liberty and the asylum of the oppressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the Democratic faith and every attempt to abridge the present privilege of becoming citizens, and the owners of soil among us, ought to be resisted with the same spirit which swept the Alien and Sedition Laws from our statute book. The following preamble and resolution, which was adopted, will explain why no candidate for the vice presidency was selected: WHEREAS, Several of the States which have nominated Martin Van Buren as a candidate for the presidency, have put in nomination different individuals as candidates for vice president, thus indicating a diversity of opinion as to the person best entitled to the nomination; and whereas some of the said States are not represented in this convention, therefore, Resolved, That the Convention deem it expedient at the present time not to choose between the individuals in nomination, but to leave the decision to their Republican follow-citizens in the several States, trusting that before the eletion shall take place, their opinions will become so concentrated as to secure the choice of a vice president by the Electoral College. The campaign of 1840 proved one of great vigor and unbounded enthusiasm. The opposition assailed the Administration, laying to its charge the financial disasters which had involved so many in ruin and bankruptcy. The war with the Florida Indians had been conducted with great extravagance, and was barren of important results. Van Buren was represented as "a Northern man with Southern principles." On the other hand, it was asserted that Gen. Harrison had lived in a log cabin. This fact was made to play an important part in the canvass, and log cabins were erected in the public parks of some of the wealthiest cities, ornamented with coon-skins, after the fashion of frontier huts, to show the complete identification of the party with the common people and their interests. Monster meetings, covering many acres of ground, were held in many parts of the Union. Eloquence and song-"Tippecanoe and Tyler too"-with, perhaps, a little cider drinking, united to extol the merits of the Whig candidates. Gen. Harrison himself addressed an open-air meeting at Dayton, Ohio, estimated to number about 80,000 people. On this tide of popular favor, Harrison and Tyler were carried into office by an overwhelming majority. VIII. FINANCIAL STATEMENT. In regard to the financial prospects of the country, the President, in his last message, said, "the industry, enterprise, perseverance and economy of the American people cannot fail to raise the whole country, at an early period, to a state of solid and enduring prosperity, not subject to be again overthrown by the suspension of banks, or the explosion of a bloated credit system." The debt increased $4,833,988. Year Public Debt. Expenditures. Exports. Imports. $140,989,217 113,717,404 162,092,132 1837 $1,878,223 $37,265,037 $117,419,376 1838 4,857,660 39,455,438 108,486,616 1839 11,983,737 37,614,936 121,088,416 1840 5,125,077 28,226,553 132,085,936 107,641,519 IX. OUTLINE OF CONCURRENT EVENTS. England: Death of William IV., accession of Victoria, (Hanover separated from), June 20, 1837, Coronation, June 28-Canadian rebellion suppressed by battle of Prescott, U. C., Nov. 17, 1838; penny postage, January 10; Marriage of Queen with Prince Albert, February 10-Victoria's life attempted by Edward Oxford, June 10, 1840; Union of Upper and Lower Canada, February 10, 1841. France: War with Mexico declared July 12, 1838, concluded by Peace at Vera Cruz March 9, 1839; Louis Napoleon taken prisoner in an attempt with 50 followers to restore the Empire, near Boulogne, Aug. 6, and sentenced to imprisonment for life at Ham, Oct. 6-Louis Phillipe's life attempted by Darmès Oct. 15, 1840. CHAPTER IX. THE ADMINISTRATION OF HARRISON AND TYLER Whig, then Liberal, and finally Democratic. One Term, 1841 to 1845. I. CABINET. PRESIDENTS. 1841. William Henry Harrison, Ohio, (died April 4th, 1841.) 1841. John Tyler, Virginia. VICE PRESIDENT. 1841. John Tyler, Virginia. SECRETARIES OF STATE. 1841. Daniel Webster, Massachusetts. 1844. John C. Calhoun, South Carolina. SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY. 1841. Thomas Ewing, Ohio. 1841. Walter Forward, Pennsylvania. 1843. Caleb Cushing, Mass., (rejected by Senate.) 1843. John C. Spencer, New York. 1844. George M. Bibb, Kentucky. SECRETARIES OF WAR. 1841. John Bell, Tennessee. 1841. John McLean, Ohio, (declined.) 1841. John C. Spencer, New York. 1843. James M. Porter, Pa., (rejected by the Senate.) 1844. William Wilkins, Pennsylvania. |