over his great deed, he passed onward, and ceased to be mortal. Jefferson had gone an hour or two before. How fortunate the occasion of his death! His son was then president of this mighty nation; and on its fiftieth birth-day, calmly, quietly, he shook off the worn-out body, and, following his sentiment, went forth to "INDEPENDENCE FOREVER."-Historic Ameri

cans.

Adams and Jefferson.-Wirt.

1. THE scenes which have been lately passing in our country are full of moral instruction. They hold up to the world a lesson of wisdom, by which all may profit. In the structure of their characters; in the course of their action; in the striking coincidences which marked their high career; in the lives and in the deaths of the illustrious men whose virtues and services we have met to commemorate; and in that voice of admiration and gratitude which has since burst with one accord from the millions of freemen who people these United States, there is a moral sublimity which overwhelms the mind, and hushes all its powers into silent amazement!

2. The European, who should have heard the sound without apprehending the cause, would be apt to inquire, "What is the meaning of all this? What had these men done to elicit this unanimous and splendid acclamation? Why has the whole American nation risen up, as one man, to do them honor, and offer to them this enthusiastic homage of the heart? Were they mighty warriors; and was the peal that we have heard, the shout of victory? Were they great commanders, returning from their distant conquests, surrounded with the spoils of war; and was this the sound of their triumphal procession? Were they covered with martial glory in any form; and was this the noisy wave of the multitudes, rolling back at their approach?" Nothing of all this: no; they were peaceful and aged patriots, who, having served their country together through their long and useful lives, had now sunk together to the tomb.

3. They had not fought battles; but they had formed and moved the great machinery of which battles were only a small

and comparatively trivial consequence. They had not commanded armies; but they had commanded the master-springs of the nation, on which all its great political as well as military movements depended. By the wisdom and energy of their counsels, and by the potent mastery of their spirits, they had contributed pre-eminently to produce a mighty revolution, which has changed the aspect of the world.

4. And this, be it remembered, has been the fruit of intellectual exertions,-the triumph of mind! What a proud testimony does it bear to the character of our nation, that it is able to make a proper estimate of services like these; that, while in other countries the senseless mob fall down in stupid admiration before the bloody wheels of the conqueror-even of the conqueror by accident,-in this, our people rise with one accord to pay homage to intellect and virtue! This is a spectacle of which we may be permitted to be proud. It honors our country no less than the illustrious dead. And could these great patriots speak to us from the tomb, they would tell us that they have more pleasure in the testimony which these honors bear to the character of their country, than in that which they bear to their individual services.

5. Jefferson and Adams were great men by nature; not great and eccentric minds, "shot madly from their spheres" to affright the world and scatter pestilence in their course; but minds whose strong and steady lights, restrained within their proper orbits by the happy poise of their characters, came to cheer and gladden a world that had been buried for ages in political night. They were heaven-called avengers of degraded man. They came to lift him to the station for which God had formed him, and to put to flight those idiot superstitions, with which tyrants had contrived to inthrall his reason and his liberty.

6. That Being, who had sent them upon this mission, had fitted them pre-eminently for his glorious work. He filled their hearts with a love of country, which burned strong within them even in death. He gave them a power of understanding which no sophistry' could baffle, no art elude; and a moral

heroism which no dangers could appal. Careless of themselves, reckless of all personal consequences, trampling under foot that petty ambition of office and honor which constitutes the master passion of little minds, they bent all their mighty powers to the task for which they had been delegated-the freedom of their beloved country, and the restoration of fallen man.

7. They felt that they were apostles of human liberty; and well did they fulfill their high commission. They rested not until they had accomplished their work at home, and giveņ such an impulse to the great ocean of mind, that they saw the waves rolling on the furthest shore before they were called to their reward; and then left the world, hand in hand, exulting, as they rose, in the success of their labors.-Oration on Adams and Jefferson.

The American System.-The subject of domestic manufactures engaged a large share of the president's attention. In 1828, a tariff-law was passed, based upon the principle of protecting home manufactures, by imposing heavy duties upon imported articles of the same kind. This policy, known as the American System, had its friends and opponents then as it has now.

Election of Andrew Jackson.—Toward the close of the presidential term, the contest for the succession was carried on with great bitterness of party feeling. Adams was a candidate for a second term, but was defeated by Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, then vicepresident, having been elected four years before, was again chosen to that office.

Jackson's Administration.-Veto of the United States Bank.-Jackson's inauguration took place on the 4th of March, 1829. In his first annual message to Congress, the new president took ground against the renewal of the charter of the United States Bank. Notwithstanding the objection, Congress, in 1832, passed a bill to re-charter it, but Jackson vetoed the bill, and the bank consequently ceased to be a national institution when the charter expired.

Black Hawk War.-In 1832, the northwest frontier suffered from Indian hostilities. Black Hawk, the most noted of the savages, and from whom the contest that followed took its name, was taken prisoner. After a detention of some months, during which he was conducted through Washington and other cities, for the purpose of convincing him that resistance to the power of the whites was useless, he was allowed to rejoin his people. The Indians finally gave up a large tract of territory and removed further west.

Nullification.-The tariff-law of 1828 caused dissatisfaction among the people of the cotton-growing States; and although, in 1832, àn act was passed removing some of the duties on foreign goods, the feeling was greatly increased. A

convention in South Carolina declared the tariff-acts unconstitutional, and therefore null; and proclaimed, that, if any attempts were made to collect the duties, the State would secede from the Union. Jackson acted with promptness and firmness. He sent General Scott to Charleston, and issued a proclamation against the "nullifiers," an extract from which is given below. A" compromise bill," providing for the gradual reduction of the duties, was offered by Henry Clay, and passed by Congress. It was accepted by Calhoun, Hayne, and the other South Carolina leaders, and thus quiet was restored.

Proclamation to South Carolina.—Jackson.

1. FELLOW-CITIZENS of my native State! let me not only admonish you, as the first magistrate of our common country, not to incur the penalty of its laws, but let me use the influence that a father would over his children, whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that paternal language, with that paternal feeling, let me tell you, my countrymen, that you are deluded by men who either are deceived themselves, or wish to deceive you. Mark under what pretenses you have been led on to the brink of insurrection and treason on which you stand! Look back at the acts which have brought you to this state!— look forward to the consequences to which they must inevitably lead!

2. And something more is necessary. Contemplate the condition of that country of which you still form an important part! Consider its government, uniting in one band of common interest and general protection so many different States; giving to all their inhabitants the proud title of American citizens; protecting their commerce, securing their literature and their arts, facilitating their intercommunication, defending their frontiers, and making their name respected in the remotest parts of the earth!

3. Consider the extent of its territory; its increasing and happy population; its advance in the arts which render life agreeable, and the sciences which elevate the mind! See education spreading the light of religion, humanity, and general information into every cottage in this wide extent of our territories and States! Behold it as the asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find a refuge and support!

4. Look on this picture of happiness and honor, and say, "We, too, are citizens of America! Carolina is one of these proud States. Her arms have defended, her best blood has cemented this happy Union!" And then add, if you can, without horror and remorse, "This happy Union we will dissolve; this picture of peace and prosperity we will deface; this free intercourse we will interrupt; these fertile fields we will deluge with blood; the protection of that glorious flag we renounce; and the very name of Americans we discard!”

5. And for what, mistaken men! For what do you throw away these inestimable blessings? For what would you exchange your share in the advantages and honor of the Union? For the dream of a separate independence;—a dream interrupted by bloody conflicts with your neighbors, and a vile dependence on foreign power? If your leaders could succeed in establishing a separation, what would be your situation? Are you united at home? Are you free from the apprehensions of civil discord, with all its fearful consequences? Do our neighboring republics, every day suffering some new revolution, or contending with some new insurrection,-do they excite your envy?

6. But the dictates of a high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that you cannot succeed. The laws of the United States must be executed. I have no discretionary power on the subject: my duty is emphatically pronounced in the Constitution. Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their execution, deceived you; they could not have been deceived themselves. They know that a forcible opposition could alone prevent the execution of the laws; and they know that such opposition must be repelled. Their object is disunion; but be not deceived by names: disunion by armed force is treason!

7. Are you really ready to incur its guilt? If you are, on the heads of the instigators of this act be the dreadful consequences, -on their heads be the dishonor; but on yours may fall the punishment; and on your unhappy State will inevitably fall all the evils of the conflict you force upon the government of your country.