Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/90

JACKSON. defense of New Orleans, where Jackson arrived December 2, 1814. The place was without defenses, and but for their own slowness and Jackson's almost frenzied energy, the British might easily have taken the town. Jackson proclaimed martial law, made the utmost of his means, and inspired his men with his own enthusiasm. The army was a motley one, being composed of regulars, militia from the neighboring States, a few pirates, and a battalion of negroes. On January 8, 1815, the British made their grand assault on Jackson's works, and were repulsed with great slaughter—the Americans having not only the better leadership, but remarkably good fortune due to various accidents. The British withdrew with the loss of their commander, Sir Edward Pakenham, and more than 2000 men. The American loss was only 8 killed and 13 wounded. The treaty of peace had been signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814, two weeks before the battle. This victory was the greatest American success on land during the War of 1812, and the position it gave Jackson was preëminent. Besides this personal popularity among the frontier people, whom he so thoroughly understood, he had now a national reputation. A mutiny in September, 1814, arising from a misunderstanding as to enlistment, resulted finally in the execution of six men in February, 1815. This unprecedented sternness seems to have been justified, but when an attempt was later made to manufacture out of it political capital, Jackson, contrary to his usual method of action, disavowed responsibility. For the arrest of a Judge Hall during the prevalence of martial law Jackson was fined $1000 for contempt, but thirty years later this was refunded by Congress.

In April, 1815, Jackson was appointed commander-in-chief of the Southern Division, and Congress voted thanks for his services. His next active work was in the war against the Seminoles in Florida, in the course of which occurred another of his acts which created no little excitement. He arrested and put to death, on the charge of inciting the Indians, two British subjects, an English adventurer, Ambrister, who was not proved guilty, and a Scotch trader, Arbuthnot, who seems to have been innocent. At the same time Jackson hanged two Indian chiefs, and then seized Pensacola (1818) in spite of the remonstrance of the Spaniards. These proceedings created intense excitement in England; but after much angry correspondence there was a peaceable settlement. In Congress Jackson's conduct was very generally condemned, but all attempts to pass a vote of censure failed. On the cession of Florida to the United States he was appointed Governor (1821), and during his brief term of office had some serious difficulties in consequence of the arrest of a judge for issuing a writ of habeas corpus. Efforts in Congress to pass censure for this act were not successful. In 1822 the mission to Mexico was offered to him, but he refused to accept it.

The Seminole War closed Jackson's military career, and with no inclination of his own he was again taken into political life. In 1823 the Legislature of Tennessee elected him to the United States Senate, and at the same time nominated him for President. At the election the next year there were four candidates who received electoral votes as follows: John Quincy Adams, 84; William H. Crawford, 41; Henry

Clay, 37; and Jackson, 99. No one having a majority, the House of Representatives elected Adams, and Jackson retired to private life. But four years afterwards he was supported by all the opponents of the Administration, and elected by an immense majority—the vote being Jackson, 178; Adams, 83. Calhoun was reëlected Vice-President. The contest was one of the most personal and bitter in American political history, because Jackson, taking as a personal matter the party slander which accused Adams of buying Clay's support in the preceding election by the promise of the portfolio of State, threw his whole force into the struggle. Jackson was reëlected in 1832, his principal opponent being Henry Clay. In his second term Van Buren was Vice-President.

Jackson's eight years' administration of the Government meant the rise of the people to power. Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and even J. Q. Adams had also been affiliated with the Democratic-Republican Party, but they had been trained statesmen, who administered the Government in the interests of all classes. Now a man sprung from the people, relying upon them and thoroughly representing them, held the reins of power. He happened to he more or less of an autocrat, but it was inevitable that his successors would become more and more servants of the people or of the politicians who controlled the people. A new regime purely democratic had begun, and it was the people of the Union as a whole, not of the States as units, that had risen to power.

The chief feature of the new régime is to be found in the general sweeping of Government employees out of office on account of their political affiliations. Up to this time there had been few removals on such grounds, but Jackson acted upon the doctrine, enunciated by Marcy in 1831, that “to the victors belong the spoils of the vanquished.” (See .) The leading facts of Jackson's two administrations were the scandal concerning Mrs. Eaton (see ), whereby the Cabinet was broken up; the veto of the United States Bank charter; the removal of the deposits of public money from that bank; and particularly the prompt and complete crushing of the nullification movement in South Carolina in 1832. This movement was started in opposition to a high tariff, and Jackson himself was opposed to such a tariff; but he gave South Carolinians to know that while the laws remained unrepealed they should be enforced at any hazard. Before any serious conflict had occurred the matter was settled, chiefly through the influence of Henry Clay. During his second term Jackson was engaged in the ‘bank war.’ He ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to stop making deposits of public money in the United States Bank and its branches. The Cabinet was not favorable to such a policy, and Jackson put William J. Duane at the head of the Treasury; but as he declined to do the required services, he was displaced, and Roger B. Taney was appointed. Taney obeyed Jackson's order, and, in retaliation, the Senate refused to confirm his nomination as Secretary, and he was subsequently made Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Feeling ran so high in this bank war that the Senate passed a resolution of censure on the President, a proceeding unheard of till