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retary of the treasury, and a pronounced political opponent of Calhoun, and Clay, who was in factious opposition to Monroe because of failure to obtain the coveted office of secretary of state, and who, with Crawford, headed the attack on Jackson's conduct in Florida in the session of 1818-1819. It is interesting to note that Adams, between whom and Jackson there was soon to develop bitter enmity, appears as the official defender of Jackson's course, and in his communication to Onis adduced arguments which were essentially those of Jackson himself.1

The treaty of 1819 with Spain for the purchase of the Floridas was ratified February 22, 1821, although the actual transfer did not take place until five months later. In March, Jackson was appointed governor of the new acquisition. The position was a delicate one, not only because of Jackson's prejudice against the Spanish authorities, but also because the laws of the United States had not yet been extended to the territory. Jackson's course was as high-handed as at New Orleans and St. Mark's. A refusal by Callava, the ex-governor, to deliver certain papers relating to a land controversy was followed by his summary arrest and imprisonment, and a quarrel with the judges who had issued a writ of habeas corpus for Callava.

1 Am. State Papers, Foreign, IV., 497-499. 'Niles' Register, XXII., Suppl., 148.

• Documents in ibid., XXI., 73-75, 86-89, 149-152; cf. Turner, Rise of the New West (Am. Nation, XIV.), chap. x.

Some friends of the ex-governor, who ventured to defend him in print, were ordered out of the territory. In October, Jackson resigned, having already retired from the army. Monroe's offer of the Mexican mission in 1823 was declined. Shortly after he was elected to the Senate from Tennessee.

The briefest survey of Jackson's public career down to the time when he became a presidential candidate is sufficient to show the essential traits of his character. All but an insignificant portion of his fifty-seven years had been passed either on the frontier, or in communities whose frontier characteristics were still predominant. His education was of the slightest, and there is no evidence that he ever sought to make good his deficiencies in this respect; but he was not illiterate; he could express himself in clear and vigorous English, and his ideas were his own. A strong common-sense, instinctive sympathy with the opinions of the lower classes, a large capacity for vigorous and aggressive leadership, and an open contempt for forms and theories had brought him to the front and given him an enthusiastic following. His judgments were quick and erratic, his opinions the result of impulse and temper rather than of observation and reflection. No one ever illustrated more perfectly the dictum of a certain sect of Greek philosophers, that truth was that which was most vividly apprehended. All of Jackson's notions were vivid; they admitted of no controversy; all who were not for him were against

him. Again and again his hasty temper and arbitrary methods had involved him and others in needless and fruitless entanglements from which a modicum of self-control and regard for the rights or feelings of others might have saved him; yet no one could have profited more than he by sheer good luck. Of all the men whom the winds and currents of American life had thus far thrown to the surface, none had less respect for the past, less breadth of culture or personal experience, less self-restraint than Andrew Jackson. It is a matter of profound significance that the leadership of the new democracy, which was to work a revolution "in head and members" of American political methods and ideals, should have been devolved enthusiastically upon a man apparently so dangerous.

CHAPTER III

ELECTION OF 1828

(1824-1829)

THAT Jackson should become a candidate for

the presidency was, in view of his public career and of the conditions which had determined the selection of the first five presidents, not only natural, but inevitable. He stood high in the esteem of the people of Tennessee, had held important local offices, and had served acceptably, if not with prominence, in the Senate and House of Representatives. In the rough and ready life of the frontier he had proved himself a born leader of men. His education was crude, his tastes uncultivated, his temper violent and ill-governed; but he had somehow acquired dignity of manner, his sincerity and honesty were undoubted, and his private morals were singularly pure. His military reputation exceeded that of any living American; and a soldier candidate has always been popular in the United States. Further, as a product of the new west, he understood, better than any man of his time, the temper of the section whose idol he was soon to become and whose political creed he was to formulate and enforce. He had

shown no desire for political life, and had kept himself free from political entanglements. Not the least element of his strength was his entire independence of the political hierarchy which had controlled the federal government since the accession of Jefferson, and which was not yet disposed to relinquish its power.

There was early recognition of Jackson's availability. November 20, 1815, Aaron Burr wrote to his son-in-law, Joseph Alston, governor of South Carolina, a long letter denouncing Monroe and the caucus system, and urging the nomination of Jackson.1 Adams notes in his diary in December, 1818, the disposition of "a considerable party" to bring Jackson forward as a candidate, though himself confident that Jackson's recent course in the Florida war had alienated support." Jackson himself made light of the suggestion even as late as 1821. That his cause was skilfully urged, however, notwithstanding his disclaimer of fitness, was largely due to his friend, William B. Lewis, who devoted his consummate political abilities to paving the way for an announcement of the candidacy. In July, 1822, Jackson was nominated for president by the legislature of Tennessee, and the six years' campaign began.

In 1824, though Jackson's political opinions were unknown, he was endorsed by numerous local conventions in all parts of the country. In Penn

1 Parton, Jackson, II., 351. 'Adams, Memoirs, IV., 197.

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