some relief to the navigating interest. A bill reducing the duties on wines, passed into a law, after a close division in the house.

With the view of providing a remedy for certain difficulties in the process in the courts of the United States, a bill was introduced at the commencement of the session, regulating the process of federal courts in those states admitted into the Union since the year 1789. This bill, which was intended for the convenience of the new states, after considerable discussion, passed both houses and became a law.

The vice-president, Mr. Calhoun, having construed his powers as presiding officer of the senate, as not permiting him to preserve order in that body, it became necessary to pass some resolution declaring it to be within the scope of his authority. An amendment to the rules was accordingly offered at this session, declaring that every question of order should be decided by the president of the senate, without debate, subject to appeal to the senate.

This simple proposition excited a long and eloquent debate in the senate, in which the opposition generally sustained the view taken by the vice-president of his powers. They thought the authority proposed by the amendment to vest in the presiding officer, as of the most aristocratic character, and threatening the most alarming consequences. The amendment, however, was adopted, by a vote of 31 ayes to 15 nays.

The other business of the session did not possess much permanent interest. The tariff and the presidential election seemed to have absorbed the faculties, and engrossed all the attention of the members, and after a long and rather angry session, Congress adjourned on the 26th of May, without much regret on the part of the community, at the termination of its protracted debates.

The presidential election took place in the autumn of 1828, in the midst of a highly-excited state of public feeling, brought on by protracted discussions on the characters of the candidates for the presidency, and the political questions involved in the contest. These discussions had been carried on through the public press, and at assemblages of the people, in all parts of the Union. The most strenuous exertions were used by each party, and the contest was most animated. The result was the defeat of Mr. Adams, and the election of General Jackson as president, and Mr. Calhoun as vice-president, for the ensuing term of four years. In the electoral colleges the vote stood 178 for General Jackson, and 83 for Mr. Adams. The candidates for vice-president were Mr. Calhoun, who was re-elected by 171 votes (7 being given for William Smith, of South Carolina), and Richard Rush, who received the same vote as Mr. Adams. The number of electoral votes received by Mr. Adams, was one less than he received in 1824, while those given to General Jackson exceeded by one vote the united votes of Jackson, Crawford, and Clay, in 1824.

A change in the cabinet of Mr. Adams took place in May, 1828, Mr.

Barbour, secretary of war, having been appointed minister to England. General Peter B. Porter, of New York, was appointed secretary of war in his place.

The election having terminated unfavorably, Mr. Adams and the mem bers of his administration turned their attention to closing the business com mitted to them, and to presenting to the nation a full and clear statement of the existing state of public affairs, before they gave place to their successors. This was done in the president's message, and in the reports from the different departments, to the 20th Congress, at their last session. That session was held from the 1st of December, 1828, to the 3d of March, 1829.

The president's message was an able review of the condition of the country, and of the condition of our domestic and foreign relations. It differed from his three former annual messages, in now discussing the subject of the tariff, which had before been omitted. A strong hope was expressed, that the exercise of a constitutional power intended to protect the great interests of the country from the hostile legislation of foreign countries, would never be abandoned.

Congress appeared inclined, this session, to provide only for the necessities of the government. The term of the existing administration was too short to allow it to do more than to bring its affairs to a close; and the views and policy of the succeeding administration were not yet developed. Certain measures, however, affecting the navigating interest, were urged upon the consideration of Congress, and the policy of some of these was too obvious to be overlooked. The first of these propositions was a bill extending the term within which goods may be exported, with the benefit of drawback, without any deduction. Another bill allowed an additional drawback on the exportation of refined sugar; both of these bills were passed and became laws.

A tonnage bill introduced in the house, more directly affecting the navigating interest, met with a less favorable reception. This bill proposed to repeal the tonnage duties upon American vessels, and all vessels placed by treaty on the same footing. It passed the house after considerable debate, but was rejected in the senate.

The twentieth Congress was liberal in appropriations for internal communications, by roads and canals, and improvements of the seacoast. The question of constitutionality, as well as the expediency of internal improvements by the general government, underwent a full discussion in the house, and the principle was deliberately sanctioned by majorities in both branches. A subscription of one million of dollars was authorized to the stock of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal company; a grant of public lands to aid the state of Ohio in making a canal from the Miami river to Lake Erie; and four hundred thousand acres were granted to the state of Alabama, to be applied to improvements by canal or otherwise or the Tennessee river.

A bill was also introduced into the senate, which ultimately became a law, appropriating $250,000 for constructing a breakwater in Delaware bay; the construction of a military road in Maine, was also authorized, and $15,000 appropriated for that purpose.

A bill providing for a voyage of discovery and exploring expedition in the South seas and Pacific ocean, passed the house, but was lost in the senate. Bills of considerable importance, authorizing the president to expose to public sale the reserved lead mines and salt springs in the state of Missouri, passed both houses.

The main business of the session was the legislation on the subject of the Cumberland road. The house decided, by a considerable majority, in favor of both the constitutionality and expediency of erecting gates, and imposing a system of tolls, in order to keep the road in repair. The senate, without discussing the constitutional power, struck out the sections relating to toll-gates and the one hundred thousand dollars required to put the road in repair. Another bill passed both houses, appropriating money for the construction of the road westwardly from Zanesville in Ohio.

The appropriations for the public service did not occasion much discussion at this session. The excitement of the presidential election was followed by a reaction in the public mind; and the interest felt by the members in the arrangements for organizing a new administration, left but little inclination for a critical examination of the estimates for the ensuing year.

A treaty concluded with Brazil, recognising the liberal commercial principles of the United States, was not ratified until after the accession of General Jackson to the presidency, although it was completed under the administration of Mr. Adams.

The presidential contest having been decided, the business of Congress was transacted with less interruption from political discussion than usual, and this session was characterized by greater freedom from party asperity than the last.

"Thus terminated the administration of John Quincy Adams; and whatever opinion may be entertained of its policy, and its tendency, it can not be denied that its character was marked and definite; and that it exercised a strong influence upon the interests of the country. The merits and demerits of his policy were positive, and not negative. Certain definite objects were proposed as desirable, and the energies of the government were directed toward their attainment.

"The United States, during this administration, enjoyed uninterrupted peace; and the foreign policy of the government had only in view the maintenance of the dignity of the national character; the extension of its commercial relations, and the successful prosecution of the claims of American citizens upon foreign governments.

"It was, however, in the domestic policy of the government that the character of the administration was most strongly displayed. During its continuance in office, new and increased activity was imparted to those powers vested in the federal government for the development of the resources of the country; and the public revenue liberally expended in prosecuting those national measures to which the sanction of Congress had been deliberately given as the settled policy of the government.

"More than one million of dollars had been expended in enlarging and maintaining the lighthouse establishment; half a million in completing the public buildings; two millions in erecting arsenals, barracks, and furnishing the national armories; nearly the same amount had been expended in permanent additions to the naval establishment; upward of three millions had been devoted to fortifying the seacoast; and more than four millions expended in improving the internal communications between different parts of the country, and in procuring information, by scientific surveys, concerning its capacity for further improvement. Indeed, more had been directly effected by the aid of government, in this respect, during Mr. Adams's administration, than during the administrations of all his predecessors. Other sums, exceeding a million, had been appropriated for objects of a lasting character, and not belonging to the annual expense of the government; making in the whole, nearly fourteen millions of dollars expended for the permanent benefit of the country, during this administration.

"At the same time, the interest on the public debt was punctually paid. and the debt itself was in a constant course of reduction, having been diminished $30,373,188 during this administration, and leaving due, on the first of January, 1829, $58,362,136. While these sums were devoted to increasing the resources and improving the condition of the country, and in discharging its pecuniary obligations, those claims which were derived from what are termed the imperfect obligations of gratitude and humanity, were not forgotten.

"More than five millions of dollars were appropriated to solace the declining years of the surviving officers of the revolution; and a million and a half expended, in extinguishing the Indian title, and defraying the expense of the removal, beyond the Mississippi, of such tribes as were unqualified for a residence near civilized communities, and in promoting the civilization of those who, relying on the faith of the United States, preferred to remain on the lands which were the abodes of their fathers.

"In the condition which we have described, in peace with all the world, with an increasing revenue, and with a surplus of $5,125,638 in the public treasury, the administration of the government of the United States was surrendered by Mr. Adams on the third of March, he having previously left the governmental house, and relinquished the executive power. The next day General Jackson entered upon the administration of the government.'

• American Annual Register.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF

ANDREW JACKSO N.

THE ancestors of Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, were among the emigrants from Scotland to the province of Ulster, in Ireland, at a period when it was the policy of the English government to promote the colonization of settlers from England and Scotland on the confiscated lands of the Irish. The family of Jackson was therefore of Scottish origin; and they were attached to the presbyterian church. Hugh Jackson, the grandfather of the subject of the present sketch, was a linen draper, near Carrickfergus, in Ireland. His four sons were respectable farmers; of whom Andrew, the youngest, married Elizabeth Hutchinson, and had in Ireland two sons, Hugh and Robert. The unfortunate condition of his native country induced him to dispose of his farm, and in 1765, with his wife and children, to emigrate to America, and settle in South Carolina. Samuel Jackson, a son of another of the brothers, at a subsequent period, emigrated to Pennsylvania, and became a citizen of Philadelphia.

Three of the neighbors of Andrew Jackson, named Crawford, emigrated to America with him, and the four emigrants purchased lands and settled in the Waxhaw settlement, South Carolina, near the line of North Carolina.

On this plantation of his father, at Waxhaw settlement, Andrew Jackson, the subject of this memoir, was born, on the 15th of March, 1767. His father died about the time of his birth, leaving his farm to his widow, and his name to his infant son.

Left with three young sons, and moderate means, Mrs. Jackson gave her two oldest a common school education, while the youngest she desired to see prepared for the ministry, and, at a proper age, placed him under the tuition of Mr. Humphries, principal of the Waxhaw academy, where he made considerable progress in his studies, including latin and