nobly supported by the leaders of the opposition party in Congress, with Mr. Webster at their head; and the South Carolinians were finally pacified by the passage of the well known compromise act proposed by Mr. Clay, which provided for a gradual reduction of duties on imported merchandise.

During the year 1832, some difficulties occurred with the Indian tribes on the north-western frontier of the United States. The hostile incursions of the Sac and Fox Indians under Black Hawk, necessarily led to the interposition of the general government. Detachments of troops, under Generals Scott and

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Atkinson, and of the militia of the state of Illinois, were called into the field. After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country, and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed or destroyed.

Before the meeting of Congress in December 1832, the presidential election had taken place, and the votes of the electors for president stood as follows: Andrew Jackson 219, Henry Clay 49, John Floyd 11, and William Wirt 7. For vice presidentMartin Van Buren 189, John Sergeant 49, William Wilkins 30, Henry Lee 11, and Amos Ellmaker 7.

The second session of the 22d Congress commenced on the 4th of December, 1832, and continued till the 3d of March, 1833. In his annual message to Congress, the president referred particularly, and at great length, to the laws regulating duties on imported articles, more especially on woollen and cotton goods; although an act on the subject passed at the previous session of the legislature, was adopted after mature deliberation, and was intended to be continued in force for some years, and until the entire payment of the public debt should be effected. But that act had not given general satisfaction; for after its passage, the opposition in South Carolina to the system of high duties for the protection of manufactures had continued, and assumed an alarming character, as already related. The president did not, indeed, recommend a total repeal of the law in consequence of such opposition, but he expressed the opinion and desire that some compromise should be made; and

the law so modified as to be less exceptionable than it was with its present provisions. An act already referred to as proposed by Mr. Clay was accordingly passed by Congress, before its adjournment in March 1833, modifying, in some important points, the law of the previous session. It provided for the gradual reduction of the duties on imports, to take effect, in part, on the first of January, 1834; on the first of January, 1836; on the first of January, 1838; and on the first of January, 1840: in the following mannerfrom all duties, which exceeded twenty per cent. on the value of the imported goods or articles, one-tenth part of such excess should be deducted, at each of the said periods; and that on and after the first of January, 1842, one-half of the residue of such excess should be deducted, and the other half on and after the first of June, 1842.*

In his annual message in December 1832, the president recommended the removal of the public money from the United States Bank; but the committee of ways and means in the House reported a resolution, which was adopted by a vote of 109 to 46, declaring that the deposite, in the opinion of the House, might be safely continued in the Bank of the United States.

At the close of President Jackson's first term of service, the foreign relations of the United States, with the exception of those with France, were in a favourable position. The first instalment of the indemnity to be paid according to the treaty, by France,

* Bradford.

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was drawn for, in a bill of exchange by the American government, but the French chambers had not made any appropriation to meet it, and the bill was not accepted. This neglect was warmly resented by the president. Instructions were given to the American minister to urge upon the French government a prompt compliance with the treaty. With Russia, a treaty of commerce was concluded in December, 1832, upon the principles of reciprocity. A similar treaty was made with Belgium. Some claims of American merchants against Portugal for illegal captures were prosecuted to a successful result, and an effort was made by the administration to procure satisfaction from Spain, for illegal detentions and captures of American property, subsequent to the treaty of 1819; and an acknowledgment of their justice was finally extorted from that government. A treaty of commerce was concluded with Chili.* The United States was in this favourable position at the close of Jackson's first term of service in March, 1833.

SECOND PRESIDENTIAL TERM.

N the fourth of March, 1833, General Jackson assumed, for the second time, the responsible station of President of the United States. At 12 o'clock on that day, he, with the Vice President elect, attended by the heads of departments, Senators, Representatives, Judges of the Supreme Court, foreign ministers, and the municipal authorities of the city of Washington, entered the Hall of the Representatives. The president took his seat in the chair of the speaker of the House; the vice president elect, Martin Van Buren, occupying a seat