Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/437

 The Old South. 431

ern birth. Fifty-seven years of the eighty were spent under the ad- ministration of Southern- born Presidents. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jackson, each served eight years, in all forty years just one-half the life of the Nation. Of the six Northern Presidents John Quincy Adams was elected by the House of Repre- sentatives and not by the people, and contrary to the wishes of the people. Nor was Mr. Fillmore elected to the Presidency, but on the death of General Taylor succeeded to the office and served out the unexpired term. So during the existence of the Old South, John Adams, Van Buren, Pierce and Buchanan were the only Northern Presidents elected by the people. A remarkable thing is, that all the Southern Presidents were re-elected by the people, except Mr. Polk, and he did not seek a renomination. This fact speaks volumes for the capacity of Southern men for the administration of affairs. An- other curious fact is, that every Northern President had associated with him as Vice- President a man from the Old South. Thus, the first Adams had Jefferson, the second Adams had Calhoun, Van Buren had R. M. Johnson, Pierce had W. R. King, and Buchanan had Breckenridge. On the other hand, Jackson served one term as President with a Southern man, Calhoun, as Vice- President ; Harri- son and his associate were both born in Virginia ; Lincoln and John- son were both born in the South.

This period of eighty years has been called by the North : " The Era of the Domination of the Slave-power." Without raising an objection to the discourteous phraseology, I would simply say that it is an admission that the South had marvelous success in its desire for political supremacy one of the two objects of its ambition. Before passing to our second question : " Did the Old South produce brave and successful warriors?" I will allude to a few characteristic inci- dents of the Old South, which do not bear materially upon either of the two questions under consideration.

" In the year 1765, on the passage of the Stamp Act, Colonel John Ashe, Speaker of the House of Commons of North Carolina, in- formed Governor Tryon that the law would be resisted to every extent. On the arrival of the British sloop of war Diligence in the Cape Fear river, he and Colonel Waddell, at the head of a body of the citizens of New Hanover and Brunswick, marched down together, frightened the captain of the sloop so that he did not attempt to land the stamped paper. Then they seized the boat of the sloop, and carried it with flags flying to Wilmington, and the whole town was illumi- nated that night. On the next day they marched to the Governor's