in South

were altogether too favorable to Northern manufactu- Convention rers; and finally a convention was held in the State, in carolina. 1832, to plan secession from the Union. It was decided that no duties should be paid in South Carolina after a certain day; and that, if the United States Government attempted to enforce such payment, South Carolina should organize a separate government. At the head of this organization was to be placed Mr. Calhoun, the vice-president of the United States. Medals were made with the inscription, "John C. Calhoun, First President of the Southern Confederacy." Blue cockades were worn in the streets, with a button in the centre, bearing a palmetto, a symbol chosen for the new nation. All this was called "nullification." Preparation for armed resistance was also made. But President Jackson issued a proclamation announcing, "to say that any State may at pleasure secede from the Union is to say that the United States are not a nation." At the same time, additional troops and vessels of war were quickly sent to South Carolina, and placed under the command of Gen. Winfield Scott; and, soon after, Congress passed a law for a gradual reduction of the duties of which South Carolina complained. After this the threats of South Carolina were withdrawn; and the danger of civil war for that time passed by.

war.

During President Jackson's term of office, several Seminole of the remaining Indian tribes were removed west of the Mississippi, including the Sacs and Foxes, the Chickasaws and Choctaws. But the Seminoles in Florida refused to remove; and a war was carried on with them for a long time in the swamps of that region, - the "Everglades" as they are called. Many fugitive

Antislavery publications.

slaves had escaped to these swamps, and had intermarried with the Indians. These slaves and their children were called Maroons. The principal Indian chief, a half-breed named Osceola, had a Maroon wife, born in the Everglades; and once, when she went with him to one of the United States forts, she was seized as a slave by the former owner of her mother. Osceola was placed in irons while she was taken away into captivity and, after his release, he pledged himself to vengeance against the whites. He was accordingly the leader of the Indians in war, till he was treacherously seized under a flag of truce; and he was then confined in a fort until his death. The war was continued for many years, at a great cost of money and life, until the tribe was almost extinct; but the expense of the contest had been more than three times as much as had been paid to the Spanish Government for the whole of Florida.

This Florida war, having been waged largely against fugitive slaves, only increased the excitement on the question of slavery. During General Jackson's administration, a man named Benjamin Lundy, a Quaker, began a newspaper, called "The Genius of Universal Emancipation," urging that the slaves should be gradually freed. This did not attract much attention; but in 1831 a young man named William Lloyd Garrison, who had been Lundy's assistant editor, established a weekly paper in Boston, called "The Liberator," whose open aim was immediate, unconditional emancipation. This made a great excitement all over the country. The legislature of Georgia offered five thousand dollars for the head of Garrison; and the governor of Massa

insurrec

chusetts (Edward Everett) expressed in his annual message the opinion that the abolitionists might be prosecuted in the courts. Mr. Garrison had, however, said, in his paper, "I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard." The excitement was much increased by an insurrection slave that took place in Virginia, headed by a slave named tion in Nat Turner, who, with a band of associates, went from Virginia. house to house, putting whole families to death. Mr. Garrison was opposed to this, and to all war and to all bloodshed; but the insurrection was, nevertheless, attributed to his teachings. Turner was at last arrested, tried, and executed. After this, the New England Anti- New slavery Society, which was founded by Garrison in 1832, Antiexerted more and more influence. Other societies were founded in different parts of the country. To resist all such agitation, President Jackson urged Congress to pass a law excluding antislavery publications from the mails; but the bill was finally defeated.

England

slavery

Society.

and unpop.

President Jackson was made popular with many peo- Popular ple by the energy and firmness he had shown in several ular acts cases, especially in his first dealings with South Caro- of Jackson lina, and in preventing, by his veto, the establishment of a national bank, to which his party was much opposed. He was, however, much disliked by many, for these same acts; and there was much party excitement while he was in power. He also made himself unpopular by removing from office, in many cases, those opposed to his administration, and appointing his political supporters to the places thus left vacant. This practice had never before existed on any large scale; but it has, unfortunately, continued ever since. The nation was, however,

The surplus of

revenue.

The fifth

census, 1830.

Arkansas

and

prosperous, and out of debt; and indeed there was a surplus of revenue, so that there was a sum of money to be distributed among the States. The census taken in 1830, under Jackson's administration, showed a population of nearly thirteen millions (12,866,020), - more than three times what it had been during the presi dency of Washington. Under Jackson, moreover, two new States were added to the Union,—Arkansas (1836), Michigan formed from a portion of the great Louisiana purchase, and named for a tribe of Indians now extinct; and Michigan (1837), named from Indian words meaning "great lake." Michigan was formed from a part of the old North-west Territory, early explored and settled by the French; and, as slavery had been prohibited in all that territory by the "Ordinance of 1787," Michigan came in as a free State; but Arkansas came in as a slave State.

admitted.

CHAPTER XXVII.

VAN BUREN, HARRISON, TYLER, AND THE ANNEXATION

OF TEXAS.

TH

HE next President was Martin Van Buren of New The eighth
York (1837-1841). Like General Jackson before

him, he was the candidate of the Democratic party,
which differed from the Whig party, as the opposition

party was now called, mainly in insisting more on the rights of the separate States, and less on those of the General Government. During Mr.

Van Buren's administration there was great excitement on the Canadian frontier, because of a rebellion against the British Goyernment in Canada. Many people in the States

MARTIN VAN BUREN.

bordering on Canada sympathized with this rebellion; but the American Government discouraged all active assistance, as being contrary to international law. The rebellion was finally subdued.

President.