CHAP. the General Government to enforce what she deemed an XLVIII. unconstitutional law.

1833.

Feb.

11.

The President immediately issued a proclamation, moderate in its language but determined in tone. In plain terms he expressed his views upon the subject, and intimated that he would vindicate the power intrusted to his hands. He appealed "to the understanding and patriotism of the people of the State, and warned them of the consequences that must inevitably result from obeying the dictates of the convention," which had advised resistance to the law.

Previous to this, Calhoun had resigned the vice-presidency, and now appeared in the Senate in the place of Hayne, who had retired to take the office of Governor of South Carolina, and who now replied to the President by a counter proclamation. He warned the people of the State against "the dangerous and pernicious doctrines" in that document, and called upon them to disregard "those vain menaces" of military force, " to be fully prepared to sustain the dignity and protect the liberties of the State, if need be, with their lives and fortunes.”

Nothing daunted, South Carolina proclaimed herself hostile to the Union, and resolved to maintain her rights as a Sovereign State, by organizing troops and providing munitions of war. Meantime her Legislature passed laws which forbade the collection of United States revenue within her boundaries; and intimated that if an attempt was made by the General Government to enforce the collection of such duties, she would exercise her right to secede from the Union, and "forthwith proceed to organize a separate government." The attitude of the State was imposing and resolute. But the President was equally as decided in his measures to enforce the laws. Soon a national vessel, with troops on board, appeared in the harbor of Charleston; they came to aid the officers in the collection of the revenue. The State receded from

THE COMPROMISE BILL-ITS FINAL PASSAGE.

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ber defiant position, and the storm calmed down; the CHAP. famous Tariff Compromise, just passed by Congress, furnished a convenient reason for that act of prudence.

Henry Clay was the principal author of the measure, and to him belongs the honor of introducing it into the Senate. The Compromise consisted in gradually diminishing for ten years the imposts, till they should arrive at a uniform rate of twenty per cent.—the revenue standard for which the opponents of the tariff contended.

The crisis was near. enforce the law; he

The secret history of the final passage of that Compromise bill in the Senate is singular. Its opponents had denounced the principle of protection to American industry, as unconstitutional. In order to prevent opposition to the bill on that ground, after it had become a law, it was necessary that those opposing it should be induced to vote for it; to vote, not only for the bill as a whole, but for its separate articles. The President had determined to scouted the idea of compromise, and stood ready to arrest the leaders, especially Calhoun, and bring him to trial for treason. John M. Clayton, of Delaware, privately gave the parties to understand that he should move to lay the bill on the table, where it should lie, unless the nullifiers should one and all give it their individual support. He assured them that there was a sufficient number of senators (whose names he refused to give), to prevent its passage, if this condition was not complied with. The amendments to the bill had all passed but the last; the one which embodied the principle of home valuation. This Calhoun and his friends opposed with great vehemence. Clayton moved to lay the bill on the table, and no persuasion could induce him to withdraw the motion. The opponents of the measure withdrew from the hall for a few minutes, to consult. One of their number presently returned and requested Clayton to withdraw his motion, to give time to consider the amendment. He consented,

1833.

Mar.

3.

XLVIIL

Mar.

3.

CHAP with the understanding that, if necessary, he would renew it. That night, consultations were held by the 1833. Southern members. The next day, when the bill was under consideration, it was intimated that it could be passed without the aid of Calhoun's vote. But Clayton was inflexible-his vote must be given for the bill, or nothing would be secured by it. It was the last day of the session-another Congress would not meet for months. It was a solemn hour. If the impending collision between the State and the Government should occur, who could tell what would be the result? How could South Carolina be extricated from the difficulties of her position? Calhoun remained to the last, his friends one by one voting for the amendment. After making a few remarks on the conditions upon which he should act, he also voted for the amendment, and afterward for the bill as a whole.1

On the fourth of March, General Jackson entered upon his second term of office, with Martin Van Buren, of New York, as Vice-President. The principal opposing candidate was Henry Clay.

According to its charter, the Bank of the United States was the legal depository of the public funds. The Secretary of the Treasury only, with the sanction of Congress, had authority to remove them. By resolution, Congress had expressed the opinion that the public moneys were safe in the keeping of the Bank. The President thought differently. When Congress was not in session, he made known to the Cabinet his intention to remove the public funds from the custody of the Bank, and to transfer them to certain State Banks. The majority of the Cabinet were opposed to the measure. As he could not reach the money except through the Secretary of the Treasury, William J. Duane, he directed

REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS-INDIAN WARS.

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him to remove the deposits; but the Secretary viewing CHAP the measure as unnecessary, unwise, arbitrary, and unjust," refused. The President immediately dismissed 1833. him from office, and appointed Roger B. Taney, the present Chief Justice, in his place, who hastened to issue an order to the collectors, forbidding them to deposit the public moneys in the Bank of the United States. The intention being to withdraw the funds already in its possession, as they should be needed in defraying the current expenses of the government.

The measure spread distrust through the whole mercantile community, and destroyed that confidence which is essential to the success of business transactions. The notes of the Bank were at par throughout the Union, but now the whole system of exchange was thrown into confusion. Universal distress prevailed. The wages of daily laborers were especially depressed. Memorials from all parts of the country poured into Congress, asking it to adopt measures that would give relief. After a time, the State banks endeavored to relieve the monetary distress by liberal loans. These loans, in turn, were the occasion of exciting a spirit of speculation that produced still greater evils.

Oct.

The Administration was not exempt from Indian troubles. Some of the north-western tribes, led by Black Hawk, a chief of the Sac nation, made incursions against 1832. the frontier settlements of Illinois. The government sent troops, under General Atkinson, who soon, with the aid of the militia, drove the savages beyond the Mississippi. In one of the skirmishes, Black Hawk himself was captured. To impress him with the greatness of the nation, he was first taken to Washington, and then to visit the principal eastern cities.

Two years afterward an attempt was made by the government to remove the Seminole Indians beyond the

XLVIII.

CHAP. Mississippi River. They refused to emigrate, and another Indian war was the consequence. Skulking through the 1834. swamps and woods of Florida, the savages would suddenly dash into the settlements to murder and destroy. Many valuable lives were thus lost. Among these were Major Dade, and more than a hundred men, who all perished by falling into an ambuscade. On the same day, the United States' agent, Mr. Wiley Thompson, and five of his friends were killed and scalped by Osceola, the leading chief of the Seminoles. The year before, Thompson had injudiciously offended the savage, by confining him in irons for a day. Though he feigned friendship, his proud spirit thirsted to revenge the insult. The Creeks joined the Seminoles, and attacked several villages, both in Georgia and Alabama. The unhealthy vapors of the swamps, the bites of poisonous snakes and insects, inflicted intense sufferings upon the troops. It was impossible to subdue the Indians, who, after their attacks upon the Whites, would retreat to their hiding-places in the swamps. Led by Osceola, the war, or rather skirmishing, continued for years; the troops were baffled again and again. At length his own policy, of making treaties only to break them, was practised upon himself. One day he appeared under a flag of truce at the American camp. General 1837. Jessup, who was in command, immediately made him prisoner, with all his followers. Osceola was sent to Charleston, and while there confined in Fort Moultrie, a fever terminated his eventful life.

Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterward President of the 1842. United States, was sent to succeed Jessup. Taylor, by great exertions, brought the war to a close, but not till it had lasted altogether seven years, and cost the nation. 1836. many lives, and thirty millions of dollars.

During this administration, died John Marshall, one of the most remarkable men of the time, at the age of four-score. He had served in the army of the Revolution,