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House, and came to
Senate.

no conclusion in the

When Spain ceded Florida to the Union, Jackson was appointed Governor of the Territory. In 1823 he was elected to the United States Senate by the Legislature of Tennessee, which, at the same time, nominated him for the Presidency. This nomination, though ridiculed on account of Jackson's alleged unfitness for the office, nevertheless resulted, at the ensuing election, in his receiving more votes than any other single candidate; but the choice devolving on the House of Representatives, Adams, as we have seen, was elected. For Henry Clay's part in this success of Adams, Jackson became his bitter enemy, stigmatizing him as the "Judas of the West." In the next campaign, however, Jackson achieved a decided triumph, having a majority of eighty-three out of two hundred and sixty-one electoral votes.

In retaliation for the bitter personal attacks he had received during the campaign, Jackson commenced a wholesale political proscription of his partisan opponents. Adopting the war-cry of his Secretary of State, Marcy, of New York, that "to the victors belong the spoils," he initiated that system, ever since so prevalent, of turning out of office every man not on the side of the winning party. His veto of the bill re-chartering the United States Bank, which for a time caused quite a panic in commercial circles, and his determined

stand against the "nullifiers," under the lead of Calhoun, who, with threats of armed resistance, demanded a reduction of the tariff, excited a warm opposition to the President. But, in spite of every effort, the election of 1828 brought him again into the Presidential chair with an overwhelming majority, he receiving two hundred and nineteen electoral votes out of two hundred and eighty-eight, which was then the total number.

On the 10th of December, 1832, Jackson was compelled by the conduct of South Carolina to issue a proclamation threatening to use the army in case of resistance to the execution of the tariff laws; but, fortunately, Mr. Clay succeeded in bringing about a compromise, by which, the tariff being modified, the South Carolinians were enabled to recede from their position with becoming dignity.

Jackson's removal of the deposits, in 1833, caused an intense excitement throughout the country. In Congress, his course was censured by the Senate, but approved by the House. A panic existed for some time in business circles; but before the close of his second term the great mass of the people were content with the President's course.

Jackson's foreign diplomacy had been very successful. Useful commercial treaties were made with several countries and renewed with others. Indemnities for spoliations on American

commerce were obtained from various foreign countries. The national debt was extinguished, the Cherokees were removed from Georgia and the Creeks from Florida, while the original number of the States was doubled by the admission into the Union of Arkansas, in 1836, and of Michigan, in 1837. On the other hand, the slavery dispute was renewed with much bitterness, and the Seminole War re-commenced.

On the 4th of March, 1837, Jackson retired from public life. He returned to "the Hermitage," his country seat, where he remained until his death, on the 8th of June, 1845. The immediate cause of his death was dropsy; but through the greater part of his life he had been a sufferer from disease in one form or another.

General Jackson has been described as a man of unbounded hospitality. He loved fine horses and had a passion for racing them. "His temper," writes Colonel Benton, "was placable as well as irascible, and his reconciliations were cordial and sincere." He abhorred debt, public as well as private. His love of country was a master passion. “He was a thoroughly honest man, as straightforward in action as his thoughts were unsophisticated." Of book-knowledge he possessed little scarcely anything; but his vigorous native intelligence and intuitive judgment carried him safely through where the most profound learning without them would have failed.

T

MARTIN VAN BUREN,

HE eighth chief executive of the Union, was the son of a thrifty farmer in the old

town of Kinderhook, in Columbia County, New York, where he was born on the 5th of December, 1782. Early evidencing unusual mental vigor, a good academic education was given to him. Finishing this at the age of fourteen, he then began the study of the law. After seven years of study he was admitted to the bar, and commenced to practice in his native village. His growing reputation and practice warranting him in seeking a wider field, in 1809 he removed to Hudson. In 1812, he was elected to the Senate of New York; and, in 1815, having been appointed Attorney-General of the State, he removed to Albany. In 1821, he was elected to the United States Senate, and was also a member of the Convention to revise the Constitution of New York. He speedily rose to distinction in the National Senate, and, in 1827, was re-elected to that body, but the year following resigned his seat to take the position of Governor of New York.

In 1829, General Jackson, whose election to the Presidency was no doubt due in a great measure to the shrewd political management of Van Buren, offered him the post of Secretary of State.

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perspective of the past since you responded to your country's call, and mighty changes in the eventful march of nations have taken place.

This passing time has laid its gentle lines upon the heads of many of you who shouldered your muskets before the first beard was grown. But however lightly or however heavily it has dealt with you, your soldiers' and sailors' organizations that have been kept up prove that the heart has been untouched, and that your love of country has but been intensified with the advancing years. Your arms have been as strong and your voices as clear in the promotion of peace as when lent to the science of war, and the interest which you take in national affairs proves that you are patriot-. ically determined to maintain what you fought for, and that which our lost comrades gave up their lives to secure for the benefit of those who survived them.

"During the past twenty years, in which we have been blessed with peace, the Republican party has been continued in the administration of the Government. When the great question of preserving or giving up the Union of the States was presented to us it was the Republican party which affirmed its perpetuation. I open no wounds, nor do I resurrect any bad memories in stating this as an undeniable fact. When you and I, my friends, and that vast body of men, who, having declared in favor of preserving the

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