THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 SATER
 
 JLCSJB LlBRAIft
 
 THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 A PAPER 
 
 READ BEFORE THE KIT-KAT CLUB 
 ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3,1916 
 
 By 
 LOWRY F. SATER 
 
 WITH A FOREWORD BY 
 JAMES E. CAMPBELL 
 
 Former Governor of Ohio
 
 OF THIS PAPER TWO HUNDRED COPIES 
 
 WEREPRINTEDIN DECEMBER NINETEEN 
 
 SIXTEEN, EACH BEING NUMBERED AND 
 
 SIGNED, THIS BEING NUMBER
 
 Foreword 
 
 MR. SATER'S admirable essay upon the Whig 
 Party deserves more than a mere perusal. As a 
 concise yet complete epitome of some of the 
 most interesting eras in American history, it is worthy 
 of careful study. His keen judgment of men and affairs, 
 and his absolute impartiality in dealing with a political 
 party of which his people were hereditary foes, are 
 beyond praise; while his copious and well chosen vocab- 
 ulary has made his treatise a delightful classic. 
 
 The fact, not generally known, that the name 
 "Whig" was not applied to the party until 1834, is duly 
 noted by Mr. Sater. Party names, however, were of 
 little importance for, from 1820 to Jackson's death in 
 1845, the entire electorate of the country was divided 
 into "Clay Men" and "Jackson Men." Each of these 
 magnetic leaders had an ardent following the like of 
 which this country has never known. Mr. Sater in 
 commenting on this blind idolatry quotes a passage 
 written by James G. Elaine which eloquently depicts 
 the unprecedented devotion of the adherents of Clay 
 and Jackson. As an incident throwing light upon the 
 unswerving loyalty and unreasoning affection of Clay's 
 followers, I may relate a conversation which I had in 
 1860 eight years after Clay's death with an uncle of 
 mine residing in Illinois. He was a warm personal 
 friend of Lincoln and his active supporter in the presi- 
 dential campaign then in progress, yet he said to me, 
 "I would rather vote for Clay's old boots than for any 
 living statesman." Verily, it was an uncanny sort of
 
 4 THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 hypnotism which could cause intelligent and sensible 
 men to think more of Clay's old boots than of Abraham 
 Lincoln; yet, in spite of this, fate played such fantastic 
 tricks with Henry Clay that he died, broken hearted 
 from his many failures to reach the presidency. 
 
 The Whig party was made up of many incongruous 
 elements which coalesced for the sole purpose of indis- 
 criminate opposition to the Democratic Party which 
 ruled the country from 1801 to 1861. The only positive 
 policy of the Whigs was the support of tariffs for the 
 protection of "infant" industries; but the present high 
 protective theories would have been as odious to them 
 as to the Democrats. Mr. Sater has graphically des- 
 cribed the conflicting and apparently inconsistent posi- 
 tion of statesmen upon the tariff a century ago (in 1816) 
 when Calhoun advocated protection and Webster 
 declared for free trade; yet, fifteen years later Calhoun 
 caused South Carolina to nullify the tariff while Clay 
 and Jackson, agreeing for the only time in their lives, 
 combined with Webster to uphold the tariff and fight 
 nullification a proof that statesmen sometimes change 
 their minds, and that there is truth in the old adage that 
 "politics makes strange bed-fellows." 
 
 Both presidents elected by the Whigs were popular 
 military heroes whose election was not, in any sense, the 
 result of a strict division on political lines. The extra- 
 ordinary nature of the campaign of 1840, in which 
 General Harrison was elected, is well illustrated by the 
 description (quoted by Mr. Sater from Randall and 
 Ryan's valuable History of Ohio) of the monster Whig 
 meeting held at Dayton and attended by sixty thousand 
 people. They went on foot and on horseback, by ox 
 teams, farm wagons and canal boats; and, today, three 
 million people could be assembled there more easily and
 
 FOREWORD BY JAMES E. CAMPBELL 5 
 
 quickly by rail, trolley and automobile. The character 
 of that spectacular but somewhat ludicrous campaign 
 may be inferred from the following paragraph written 
 by Carl Schurz in his Life of Henry Clay: 
 
 "There has probably never been a presidential campaign 
 of more enthusiasm and less thought than the Whig campaign 
 of 1840. As soon as it was fairly started it resolved itself into 
 a popular frolic. There was no end of monster mass meetings 
 with log cabins, raccoons and hard cider. One-half of the 
 American people seemed to have stopped work to march in 
 processions behind brass bands or drum and fife, to attend huge 
 picnics and to sing campaign doggerel about Tippecanoe and 
 Tyler too." 
 
 Mr. Sater has acutely portrayed the political crisis 
 at the time of the so-called Compromise of 1850 when 
 the great Whig leaders (Clay and Webster) as well as the 
 Democratic leaders from both sections of the country, 
 rested under the curious delusion that they had dis- 
 posed of the Slavery Question the ever recurring 
 Banquo's ghost of American politics. As an illustration 
 of the universal confidence and satisfaction in this sup- 
 posed settlement, Thomas H. Benton, then serving his 
 thirtieth successive year in the Senate, told a young 
 friend (who was just coming into Congress) that there 
 was no future career for a man in that body, because all 
 of the great questions which could arise African 
 Slavery, the Tariff and the Bank had been finally 
 closed. Great statesmen are not always prophets, and 
 the answer to Benton's prediction is that slavery was 
 afterwards abolished at the expense of a bloody civil 
 war; that the tariff has been a subject of continuous 
 and bitter controversy for forty-five years ; and that the 
 entire banking system of the country has been so com- 
 pletely transformed that Benton and his great col- 
 leagues in the Senate (if alive today) would behold it 
 with mingled awe and amazement.
 
 6 THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 Further favorable comment upon Mr. Sater's 
 thoughtful and scholarly essay might be appropriately 
 prolonged, but is withheld because no amount of com- 
 ment could add to its interest. The hope is expressed, 
 however, that his masterly dissertation may be widely 
 circulated to the pleasure and profit of his many friends 
 and admirers. 
 
 JAMES E. CAMPBELL.
 
 A Paper by Lowry F. Sater 
 
 IN the history of American politics, no administra- 
 tion has demonstrated more clearly than that of 
 John Adams the expeditious and effective manner 
 in which the majority party, under capable leadership 
 in that regard, may bring about its utter effacement. 
 Of the many battles that have since been waged for 
 party mastery, none have approximated in bitterness 
 and malignancy the interminable quarrels in which the 
 great leaders of the Federalist party indulged during 
 these four years. 
 
 As the central figure about which these controver- 
 sies raged, and chargeable, perhaps, more than any 
 other of the distinguished disputants with the con- 
 ditions then obtaining, it is neither strange nor un- 
 fitting, that Adams should have been the first victim of 
 the "Rule-or-Ruin" school of practical politics, in 
 which so many brilliant, but misguided men, since that 
 day have been trained. Blaming almost every one but 
 himself for his defeat, embittered, resentful and defiant, 
 he retired from the presidency with less grace than any 
 one who has occupied that exalted station. 
 
 As he drove away from the executive mansion 
 shortly after midnight on the 3rd of March, 1801, the 
 Federalist party went with him into retirement. When 
 Thomas Jefferson dismounted at the Capitol a few 
 hours later, (from the horse which he is supposed to have 
 ridden) to take up the duties of the office that his testy 
 predecessor had laid aside so unceremoniously in the 
 dark, the party of which he was at once the founder and 
 acknowledged leader, assumed control of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In the course of the long and useful lives of these 
 two remarkable men, which touched at so many points
 
 8 THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 of honorable achievement, there never was a time when, 
 from their actions and conduct, they seemed to have so 
 little in common as on this memorable occasion. 
 
 With Jefferson's election, says Carl Schurz, "the 
 American people for the first time became fully con- 
 scious of the fact that the Government really belonged 
 to them, and not to a limited circle of important 
 gentlemen." 
 
 Excepting Washington, Jefferson, as president, 
 exercised and enjoyed a personal power greater than any 
 other occupant that office has known. The conciliatory 
 tone of his inaugural address, the prosperity, and general 
 serenity of his first administration, and the good 
 fortune which attended upon his administrative policies, 
 steadily attracted larger, and ever larger numbers of his 
 countrymen, who were ready to accept and act with 
 him in putting into execution his ideas of government. 
 His great faith in the people, his sympathetic insight 
 into their everyday life and thought, his winning 
 personality, and his genius for organization, made the 
 man as popular, as the Executive was successful. So 
 thoroughly in accord were the people with his views, 
 and so generally and gladly did they recognize his 
 leadership, that in the election of 1804, he received all 
 but fourteen of the one hundred and seventy-six 
 electoral votes. Following, closely as it did, upon the 
 death of Hamilton, this all but unanimous endorsement 
 at the polls gave Jefferson a political supremacy that 
 remained absolute and undisputed until the day of his 
 death. 
 
 From the time of his accession until the election 
 immediately following his death, the unity of the party 
 he had founded was unbroken, and membership in it 
 was so essential to political advancement that practi- 
 cally all national opposition to it came to an end. 
 
 In 1809 he was succeeded by James Madison, his 
 Secretary of State, whose views were so thoroughly in 
 accord with those of his illlustrious preceptor, that 
 Parton declares, "The only noticeable change made in
 
 THE END OF THE FEDERALIST PARTY 9 
 
 the administration was that of the signatures." It is 
 one of the ironies of history, that the administration of 
 this peace-loving statesman should be remembered 
 generally by our people because of the second war with 
 England. I do not refer to this occurrence for the 
 purpose of discussing whether the glory, or discredit, as 
 the case may be, with which the young nation emerged 
 from that contest, was due to preparedness or the want 
 of it, but for noting the farewell performance of the 
 Federalist party on the one hand, and of presenting on 
 the other, a goodly company of young gentlemen with 
 whom we shall hereafter become much better ac- 
 quainted. From the questionable and unpatriotic 
 utterances and actions of Pickering, Cabot, Otis and 
 Quincy, that culminated in the Hartford Convention, 
 we may turn with pride to the splendid services that 
 were rendered during this period on the field of battle 
 and in the halls of Congress by Andrew Jackson, Wil- 
 liam H. Harrison, Winfield Scott, Lewis Cass, Henry 
 Clay and John C. Calhoun. 
 
 The campaign of 1812, which was a contest between 
 the peace party and the war party, rather than between 
 political parties, resulted in Madison's re-election. 
 Properly speaking, there was now but one political 
 party in the country. The principles of this party were 
 neither Federalist nor Republican, as originally con- 
 ceived, but a combination of both. Party principles 
 then, as in these days, depended a great deal upon the 
 situation of the party advocating them. The principles 
 of the Federalist party, when in power, were as unlike 
 those of the party out of power, as the principles of the 
 Democratic party out of power, were to those of that 
 party in power. When the Federalists were loose con- 
 structionists, the Democrats were strict constructionists 
 and States Rights' men; and when the Republican 
 party abruptly changed front, and became loose con- 
 structionists, the Federalists, as inconsistently, became 
 strict constructionists, and denounced as unconstitu- 
 tional what they had before not only called constitu-
 
 10 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 tional, but demanded as absolutely necessary for the 
 welfare of the nation. 
 
 "The Era of Good Feeling" that followed the war, 
 was a period of political peacefulness, as well as material 
 national prosperity. The country, it seemed, had gone 
 out of politics; or rather, politics had gone out of the 
 country. As an instance of this, and of how completely 
 party lines had disappeared, it will be remembered that 
 in 1820 Monroe was re-elected without any formal 
 nomination, and without a single elector being 
 chosen against him. One elector, however, William 
 Plummer, an ardent Republican of New Hampshire, 
 voted for John Quincy Adams, for the purpose, as is 
 generally believed, of preserving for Washington alone, 
 the signal honor of an unanimous election to the presi- 
 dency, rather than because he regarded Monroe as a 
 weak man, as his son later attempted to explain. 
 
 The one great act that marked the peaceful ad- 
 ministration of Monroe, was the announcement of the 
 great Declaration bearing his name, which in the 
 century that has passed since its assertion, without the 
 sanction of the legislative branch of the Government, 
 but "finding its recognition in those principles of inter- 
 national law which are based upon the theory that 
 every nation shall have its rights protected and its just 
 claims enforced," as President Cleveland so aptly 
 expressed it, has come to be regarded by our own 
 people as the fundamental law of the land. Although 
 no mention or recognition of this doctrine is found in 
 the International Code, and its validity at times has 
 been seriously questioned, the vigor with which it has 
 ever been asserted by our government, has com- 
 manded and won for it the generous and wholesome 
 respect of the nations of the world. 
 
 Notwithstanding the unity of political action that 
 characterized these years, which Randolph, of Roanoke, 
 cynically designated as "the unanimity of indifference," 
 there were differences. In the ranks of the triumphant 
 party, differences of opinion regarding the tariff, the
 
 THE WAR OF 1812 n 
 
 increase in the army and navy, the inauguration and 
 construction of a system of internal improvements, 
 began to manifest themselves, and with all, as might be 
 expected, there were more or less personal differences. 
 While the party of Jefferson was still all powerful, it was 
 impossible to say whether it was a party of loose con- 
 struction or of strict construction. For a time it was 
 neither. For this same time, therefore, it must have 
 been both, in literal fulfillment, as it were, of the saying 
 of its founder, "We are all Federalists; we are all 
 Republicans." 
 
 The leader of the loose constructionists at this 
 time was Henry Clay. It is hardly too much to say 
 that as Speaker of the House he, more than any other 
 American, was responsible for our second war with 
 England. The indignities to which the country was 
 subjected as a result of the various orders, acts and 
 decrees of the English and French governments, aroused 
 in him a spirit of retaliation, to which the country, under 
 the spell of his ringing eloquence, eagerly responded 
 without a thought, apparently, on the part of either, as 
 to whether the nation was prepared for entering upon 
 such a course. 
 
 Ably supported in these efforts by a half dozen 
 other Young Hot-Spurs, he literally drove the country 
 into war, which, he vehemently asserted, would be 
 brought to a speedy and glorious conclusion by the con- 
 quest of Canada by a few regiments of Kentucky 
 militia, and the dictation of peace in Quebec or Halifax. 
 As he hurried, a few months later, to a place of safety, 
 by the glare of the flames that were devastating the 
 Hall in which these declarations were made, he must 
 have realized what a goodly portion of our people at 
 this time do not seem to understand, that eloquence, 
 mere eloquence, however effective it may be as the 
 producing cause, can neither prepare a nation for war, 
 even against flintlocks and six pounders, nor prosecute 
 it with the same felicitous expedition to a glorious and 
 triumphant peace.
 
 ll THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 In view of the fact that the direct and proximate 
 cause of this war was not settled for nearly half a 
 century after peace was declared, and not until each 
 country found itself occupying the position the other 
 had held during this struggle, and of certain other inci- 
 dents hereinafter referred to, I have wondered at times, 
 as a matter of pure speculation, whether the war of 1812 
 would ever have been known to history, had the then 
 Honorable Speaker of the House of Representatives 
 thought for a moment, that the gods of war would have 
 singled out from all those who participated therein, as 
 their favored son of fortune, a rough, impulsive, head- 
 strong and indomitable leader from the backwoods of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Without reflecting, however, upon the American- 
 ism of Henry Clay, or itemizing the charges, if any, that 
 might be entered against him and his eloquent sup- 
 porters on this particular score, we are naturally led to 
 ask whether or not it was worth while. 
 
 "If the warlike impulse in this case was mere sentiment, 
 as has been said, it was statesmanlike sentiment. For the 
 war of 1812, with all the losses in blood and treasure en- 
 tailed by it, and in spite of the peace which ignored the de- 
 clared causes of the war, transformed the American Republic, 
 in the estimation of the world, from a feeble experimental 
 curiosity into a power a real power, full of brains, and with 
 visible claws and teeth," It made the American people, who 
 had so far consisted of the peoples of so many little common- 
 wealths, not seldom wondering whether they could profitably 
 stay longer together, a cemented, united nation, with a com- 
 mon country, a great country, worth fighting for; and a com- 
 mon national destiny, nobody could say how great; and a 
 common national pride at that time filling every American 
 heart brimful. 
 
 "The war had encountered the first practical disunion 
 movement and killed it by exposing it to the execration of 
 the true American feeling; killed it so dead, at least on its 
 field of action in New England, that a similar aspiration has 
 never arisen there again. The war put an end to the last 
 remnant of Colonial feeling, for from that time forward, there 
 was no longer any French party, or any English party in the 
 United States; it was thenceforth all American as against the 
 world; a war that had such results was not fought in vain."
 
 THE AMERICAN SYSTEM 13 
 
 With this vision of a greater nation before them, 
 this same school of Progressive Republicans found, as 
 they thought, in the enactment of a revenue measure, 
 with protection as an incident thereto, the means of its 
 immediate realization. Clay insisted that such a 
 measure would not only pay the war debt and the 
 expenses of the government, but that it would encourage 
 and protect American manufacturers, and further, pro- 
 vide a fund for the creation of a system of internal 
 improvements. His ablest advocate in support of this 
 doctrine, as his warmest champion in the prosecution 
 of the war, was John C. Calhoun, whose speech of 
 almost a hundred years ago (April 6, 1916), represents 
 more accurately than anything I have found, the prin- 
 ciples thereafter represented by the Whig party. In 
 support of the "American system," as Clay later styled 
 this new doctrine, he never adduced a stronger argu- 
 ment in its favor than was offered at this time by the 
 great South Carolinian. 
 
 In this connection it is interesting to note that 
 Daniel Webster opposed the plan, and spoke with all 
 the force of his powers in favor of free trade. The 
 measure was a disappointment, however, and after an 
 unsuccessful effort at revision in 1820, the question, 
 upon the recommendation of President Monroe, was 
 again brought up for discussion. In this contest Clay 
 led the administrative forces to a thin-edged victory 
 against the growing and powerful opposition of Web- 
 ster, and the tariff of 1824, as a triumph of the American 
 system, became the law of the land. 
 
 While the discussion of the great questions that 
 characterized the administration of James Monroe in- 
 tensified the differences that manifested themselves in 
 the minds of the great men who participated therein, 
 there was, as yet, no break in the unity of the ruling 
 party. Until this time the question of succession, from 
 the time of his first election, had been decided by 
 Jefferson. Whether he was unable to choose from 
 among the number of his followers, who laid claim to
 
 I 4 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 this right upon the retirement of Monroe; whether he 
 purposely witheld his counsel, that the party might 
 determine for itself the leadership which he was re- 
 linquishing, or whether he feared the party would no 
 longer respect his choice, excepting a reference in a 
 letter to Richard Rush, in which he states that "either 
 Adams or Crawford will be chosen," he expressed no 
 choice as to who should be selected. In the free-for-all 
 race that followed, there were six entries: Henry Clay 
 of Kentucky, Speaker of the House; William H. Craw- 
 ford, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury; John 
 Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Secretary of State; 
 Andrew Jackson, a private citizen of Tennessee; John 
 C. Calhoun of South Carolina, Secretary of War; and 
 DeWitt Clinton, Governor of New York. 
 
 These men were all Democrats, or all Republicans, 
 or all Democrat-Republicans, as you may wish to call 
 them. There were no regular nominations, nor were 
 there any platforms. It was not a party contest, but 
 one in which the personalities of the candidates was the 
 determining factor. Clay and Adams were loose con- 
 structionists, Crawford and Jackson were strict con- 
 structionists, excepting that the latter favored what he 
 termed a "judicious tariff." Clinton and Calhoun 
 withdrew from the race, for which modesty, the latter, 
 the youngest of the sextette, was rewarded with the 
 vice presidency. The results of this election were far 
 greater and more decisive than any of its participants 
 could have imagined. With it "the era of good feeling" 
 came to an end, and the era of personal politics began. 
 It is a most interesting chapter that describes the im- 
 mediate results the selection of Adams by the House, 
 his appointment of Clay to the State Department, the 
 "bargain and corruption cry," the high-toned, bloodless 
 Clay-Randolph duel, and, greatest, perhaps, as regards 
 the subject under consideration, the personal enmity 
 that sprang up between Clay and Jackson, which was to 
 defeat the dearest ambition of the one, and embitter the 
 life of the other to its very close.
 
 THE POLITICAL HEIRS OF JEFFERSON 15 
 
 As president, the younger Adams maintained, 
 throughout his entire administration, the high standard 
 of public service that had been established and upheld 
 by his predecessors. To the faithful and conscientious 
 discharge of the duties of this high office, he directed, 
 with singular success, all the power of his great learning 
 and experience, upon which he set with all his strength, 
 the stamp of the highest personal character. He re- 
 moved but two men from office during his four years in 
 the presidency, and they were dismissed for very good 
 cause, and in the discharge of all his official duties he 
 looked solely to what he considered to be to the best 
 interests of the nation. While more courteous and 
 democratic than his father, he was quite as indifferent 
 to public favor. He made no effort whatever to secure a 
 re-election, and with more grace, but hardly any per- 
 ceptible decrease in the proportion of the majorities 
 against him, he, like his father, turned over the office he 
 had honored so highly, to the political heirs of Jefferson. 
 
 These heirs, however, with each succeeding elec- 
 tion were becoming more and more estranged. As the 
 personal factor in the equation contributed more than 
 anything else to this condition, both factions to the 
 separation clung to the old party name, as if each would 
 be considered as the legitimate successor of the party 
 from which it had arisen. They were known as National 
 Republicans and Democratic Republicans; Adams and 
 Clay Republicans, and Jackson Republicans. The 
 simplest and most significant division, however, during 
 the campaign of 1828, would have been Jackson men on 
 one side, Clay and Adams men on the other. 
 
 It is stated, upon reliable authority, that when, in 
 connection with his election to the Senate in 1823, some 
 one of his ardent supporters in Tennessee suggested 
 Jackson's name for the presidency, the latter then 
 and there disposed of the matter in his usual emphatic 
 manner.
 
 16 THEVVHIGPARTY 
 
 "Do they suppose," said he, "that I am such a damn 
 fool as to think myself fit for President of the United States? 
 No, sir! I know what I am fit for. I can command a body 
 of men in a rough way, but I am not fit to be president." 
 
 Within one year from this time, however, Jackson 
 received a larger popular vote for president than either 
 of his distinguished competitors, and in the Electoral 
 College had 99 votes, against 84 for Adams, 41 for 
 Crawford, and 37 for Clay. If Jackson was correct in 
 what he said about his unfitness for the office, his con- 
 stituents were either ignorant or unconcerned in regard 
 thereto. The candidate and the constituency were 
 agreed, however, that in the election of Adams by the 
 House, the "will of the people" had been thwarted, a 
 wrong which neither could tolerate, and which both set 
 about vigorously to redress. 
 
 In the campaign that followed, the eminent qualifi- 
 cations of Adams, who was now known as a National 
 Republican, for re-election, were no match for the 
 popular qualities of the Hero of New Orleans, who 
 appealed to his countrymen as a Democrat. Instead 
 of defining the principles, if any, these parties were 
 supposed to represent, the time was spent in maligning 
 the characters of the candidates. Hardly anything was 
 said of the one; hardly anything unsaid of the other. 
 If there had been the least particle of truth in what 
 was said of either of these men, they were of all men in 
 the country, the two least fitted to the office to which 
 they aspired. 
 
 When the votes were counted, it was found that 
 Jackson had won by overwhelming odds, receiving 178 
 electoral votes to 85 that were given to Adams. Adams 
 carried the New England states, with the loss of one 
 vote in Maine; also New Jersey and Delaware; and 
 divided, about equally with Jackson, the votes of New 
 York and Maryland. South of the Potomac and west 
 of the Alleghenies Jackson swept everything before him. 
 All of the Clay states of 1824, including his beloved 
 Kentucky, were carried by Jackson. In some parts of 
 the country it was regarded as a triumph of the South
 
 A DEMOCRATIC DESPOT 17 
 
 over the North, when really its sectional significance, 
 if it had any, came from its being a victory of the West 
 over the East. Adams felt the defeat keenly, and 
 declared that "the sun of his public life had set in 
 deepest storm." 
 
 By virtue of his elevation to the presidency, Jack- 
 son (who regarded the victory as a personal vindication 
 of the wrong he had suffered in 1824), became the 
 recognized leader of the party, of which he at once as- 
 sumed command. Had he taken an oath to preserve and 
 perpetuate the party of his choice, as he did to preserve, 
 protect and defend the Constitution of his country, he 
 could hardly have served the one more faithfully than 
 we know him to have served the other. His cabinet 
 officers, whom he regarded more as clerks, were chosen 
 with some reference to their official fitness and capacity, 
 let us hope, but it is quite as reasonable to believe that 
 the degree of hostility entertained by each of these gen- 
 tlemen for Henry Clay was not overlooked in determin- 
 ing these appointments. He had looked so long upon his 
 personal opponents as the enemies of his country that 
 he now regarded his political opponents as dangerous, 
 and as an evidence of his sincerity, in the first year of 
 his "reign" as Von Hoist terms it, he made 740 removals, 
 or, exactly ten times as many as had been made in the 
 forty years previous by the six great men who had 
 preceded him. 
 
 Against the injustice of this proceeding Clay and 
 Adams, along with other leading statesmen, including 
 some of the president's own party, stoutly protested. 
 As a result the president persisted in his course only the 
 more stubbornly. It is interesting to note that it was 
 because of his protest, as Postmaster General, against 
 the indiscriminate changes in his department, that John 
 McLean, the first man from Ohio to enjoy that dis- 
 tinction, was transferred from the Cabinet to the 
 Supreme Bench. 
 
 In all the busy years of his combative career, we 
 doubt whether Andrew Jackson in the same length of
 
 i8 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 time ever participated in as many fights as engaged his 
 attention during his first term as president. It is too 
 long a story even to summarize, and it must suffice to 
 say, that notwithstanding all the opposition that he 
 invited and encountered, whether in connection with 
 the "spoils system," the Bank Question, or nullification; 
 with his Cabinet, the Senate, or South Carolina; with 
 England over the boundary line, or France concerning 
 the payment of delinquent claims, he emerged vic- 
 torious, only to meet his first, and so far as I have 
 observed, his only defeat, in a social engagement that 
 he waged with the women of Washington society in 
 behalf of Peggy O'Neil. 
 
 In the midst of all this confusion we here meet for 
 the first time with that great spectacular feature of 
 American politics, known as the National Convention. 
 Whatever credit may attach, in the light of some of our 
 present day theories, to the inauguration of this im- 
 proved system of nomination, belongs to an aggregation 
 known as the Anti-Masonic party, a sort of a Guardians- 
 of-Liberty organization, which met at Baltimore in 
 September, 1831, and named William Wirt, who had 
 been a member of the Masonic Order, as its candidate 
 for president. I know of no possible claim that this 
 alleged party can have for mention or remembrance, 
 than that ascribed to it in this statement, notwith- 
 standing the fact that it numbered among its supporters 
 such men as Chief Justice Marshall, Joseph Story, 
 Wm. H. Harrison and Wm. H. Seward. 
 
 On December 12, 1831, Clay, as the recognized 
 leader of the anti-administration forces, was nominated 
 for the presidency amidst the greatest enthusiasm by 
 the National Republicans in convention assembled at 
 Baltimore. In the following March, the Democratic 
 Convention likewise met in Baltimore, and adopted the 
 two-thirds rule that has prevailed in every one of its 
 National Conventions since that time, confirmed the 
 action of the New York legislature in its renomination 
 of Jackson, and by the nomination of Van Buren for
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OF 1832 19 
 
 vice president, threw Calhoun out of the line of suc- 
 cession, who now with a little band of nullifiers, set 
 about to organize a party of his own. 
 
 No platform was adopted by either of these parties, 
 and Clay of his own choosing made the Bank Question 
 the paramount issue of the campaign. "If he had cast 
 about," says Schurz, "for the greatest blunder possible, 
 under the circumstances, he could not have found a 
 more brilliant one." 
 
 Early in the year a bill for the rechartering of the 
 Bank of the United States was introduced in Congress, 
 and after a memorable discussion, in which Calhoun 
 joined with Clay and Webster in support of the measure, 
 it passed both Houses, and was sent to the President. 
 The President, in his forcible and fearless manner, 
 promptly vetoed the bill, and strange to say, one of the 
 strongest reasons he gave for doing so was the argument 
 that Clay had used in 1811, when opposed to recharter- 
 ing the Bank. Webster, Clay, Ewing, Clayton, and all 
 the opposition now thundered against the veto, but to 
 no avail. The necessary two-thirds vote could not be 
 obtained, and the veto was sustained. In the mean- 
 time, the Senate, under Clay's leadership, with the vote 
 of Vice President Calhoun, had refused to confirm the 
 nomination of Van Buren as Minister to England. The 
 embarrassment that Van Buren suffered on this account 
 was very slight, as we shall see, to that which came in 
 time to both Clay and Calhoun. 
 
 The contest was of unusual violence and defama- 
 tion, aggravated by the personal enmities existing, and 
 growing continually in intensity, between the two candi- 
 dates. Of the 288 electoral votes, Jackson received 239, 
 and Clay, excepting his own State, received only the 
 votes of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
 Delaware and Maryland. The anti-Masonic candidate 
 received seven votes from Vermont, and South Carolina 
 on account of Calhoun's hatred for Jackson, gave her 
 votes to John Floyd of Virginia.
 
 to THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 Strange as it may seem, nothing was said during the 
 campaign about the slavery question. It had not yet 
 been thought of as a political issue. In his "Life of 
 Benton," Theodore Roosevelt says, that "At this time 
 there was ten-fold more feeling in the North against 
 Masonry and secret societies generally, than there was 
 against slavery." Upon this same subject John Quincy 
 Adams wrote, "the dissolution of the Masonic institu- 
 tion in the United States, I believe to be really more 
 important to us and our posterity, than the question 
 whether Mr. Clay or General Jackson shall be presi- 
 dent." 
 
 "Jackson held that his re-election," says Prof. 
 Sumner, "was a triumphant vindication of him at all 
 points in which he had been engaged in controversy with 
 anybody, and a kind of a charter to him as representa- 
 tive, or rather tribune of the people, to go on and 
 govern on his own judgment, over and against every- 
 body, including Congress." 
 
 Clay and his friends had hardly regained political 
 consciousness, when South Carolina, led on by Calhoun, 
 raised the standard of nullification, and threatened to 
 withdraw from the Union. While the immediate pre- 
 text of this outbreak was the enforcement of "The 
 Tariff of Abominations," as the Act of 1828 was called, 
 which favored the New England states, as was claimed 
 by Calhoun, at the expense of the people of his section, 
 the real cause had its origin in the Constitutional Con- 
 vention of 1787, as one writer facetiously says, "As to 
 whether it was proper to say 'The United States are/ 
 or, 'The United States is,' a Nation." 
 
 No chapter in the history of the Republic is more 
 inspiring than that contributed at this time by Daniel 
 Webster, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay. Animated 
 by the same lofty purposes, and acting in conjunction, 
 though upon his own initiative and in his own proper 
 sphere, neither of these men ever served the country to 
 a better advantage than during this crisis. Patriotism 
 in each of these great leaders was a passion, and
 
 "OUR FEDERAL UNION; IT MUST BE PRESERVED" i 
 
 violently as they opposed one another politically, they 
 agreed perfectly as to the preservation and defense of 
 the Union. In his defense of the Constitution, Webster 
 here appeared at his best. The "Liberty and Union," 
 of which he spoke with such enduring eloquence, were 
 to him at that time, and always, "one and inseparable," 
 in the same sublime sense of those terms, as to the brave 
 men who died, with his son, a generation later, that the 
 "Nation might live." 
 
 To this sentiment, so "dear to every true American 
 heart," there was no response at the time more patriotic 
 than that which came from the White House. However 
 much Calhoun and his devoted followers might except 
 to Webster's interpretation of the Constitution, they 
 knew too well the folly of attempting to dispute with 
 Andrew Jackson the question of its supremacy and 
 enforcement. Confronted by this formidable alliance, 
 and for the purpose of making as graceful a retreat as 
 possible, Calhoun now turned to Clay for assistance. 
 The devotion of the Great Pacificator, to the Union, was 
 so strong that for the sake of quieting the storm he was 
 not only willing to sacrifice the protective features of 
 his "American System" and accept in its stead a tariff 
 for revenue only, but was able to secure the adoption 
 of the idea as a peace measure. As a result of this 
 alliance, a controversy arose between the adherents of 
 these two men as to the motives that prompted its 
 formation, which increased in bitterness until it was 
 taken up by the principals themselves, and finally 
 culminated on the floor of the Senate in an exhibition 
 equally disgraceful at the time, as it was later, regret- 
 table to both. 
 
 Majestic as Webster appears, and incalculable as 
 we know his services at this time to have been to the 
 cause of the Union, it must, nevertheless, be said that 
 but for the commanding proclamation of Andrew Jack- 
 son and the compromise legislation initiated by Henry 
 Clay, his eyes would hardly have been spared to look
 
 at THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 upon the picture which he was, even then, unwilling to 
 contemplate. 
 
 The popularity of these two great leaders had now 
 risen to its Nth power. With the cheers of their idola- 
 trous followers ringing in their ears, and the attention 
 of the nation focused more intently upon them than 
 ever before, they turned from the settlement of the 
 nullification proceedings, to take up, with renewed 
 energy and ferocity, the fight in regard to the re-charter- 
 ing of the Bank of the United States. In this contest, 
 Webster and Calhoun, under the leadership of Clay, 
 united in a common warfare upon the President. 
 
 Jackson's supporters controlled the House by a 
 large majority, but in the Senate they were in the 
 minority. The struggle that followed was one of the 
 most exciting, and in many respects, the most extra- 
 ordinary in the history of our country. It was truly a 
 battle of the giants. Benton led the administration 
 forces in the Senate, and except the voting, did most of 
 the fighting himself. The opposition fought heroically 
 and for what they believed to be right, but they could 
 not replace the deposits nor prevent the distribution of 
 the surplus. The best they could do was to censure the 
 President and reject his nominations. This of course 
 nettled Jackson greatly, but he had won his point he 
 had destroyed the financial monster, the United States 
 Bank, and with this he was satisfied. 
 
 For the immediate evils that followed in the train 
 of this reckless legislation no blame can attach to Clay 
 and his followers. 
 
 It was about this time that the opposition party 
 received its baptismal name. In February, 1834, James 
 Watson Webb, editor of the New York Commercial 
 Enquirer, suggested the name "Whig," for the reason, 
 as he said, that the party was pledged to resist arbitrary 
 government, as the English Whigs had resisted royal 
 tyranny. About the same time, in referring to a 
 municipal election in New York City, Clay, among 
 other things said :
 
 A POLITICAL CHRISTENING 13 
 
 "This election has been a brilliant and signal triumph 
 for the Whigs. They have assumed for themselves, and 
 bestowed upon their opponents, a name which according to 
 the analogy of history is strictly correct. The Tories were 
 the supporters of executive power, of royal prerogative, of the 
 maxim that 'the King could do no wrong.' The Whigs were 
 the champions of liberty, and the friends of the people. The 
 Tories took sides with the King against liberty; the Whigs, 
 against royal executive power and for freedom and independ- 
 ence. And what is the present, but the same contest in an- 
 other form? The partisans of the present Executive sustain 
 his power to the most boundless extent. The Whigs are 
 opposing Executive encroachment and a most alarming ex- 
 tension of Executive power and prerogative. They are con- 
 tending for the rights of the people, for free institutions, for 
 the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws." 
 
 With this acceptance by its great leader, the party 
 readily adopted the new name, but its attempt to force 
 upon the opposition the name of "Tory" was altogether 
 unsuccessful. They soon had occasion to learn, how- 
 ever, that in politics, at least, there was no particular 
 potency in a name, and that without organization a 
 party was little more than a name. 
 
 "After the election of 1832," says Prof. Alexander 
 Johnson, "the party, regardless of principle, began a 
 general course of beating up recruits, which was the 
 bane of the organization throughout its entire existence. 
 No delegate could come amiss to their convention; the 
 original Adams Republicans, the South Carolina Nulli- 
 fiers, the anti-Masons of New York and Pennsylvania, 
 the States Rights delegate from Georgia, and the 
 general mass of dissatisfied voters from everywhere, 
 found a secure refuge in its conventions, where awkward 
 questions were never asked nor special attention given 
 to political principles," an organization, indeed, that 
 might be likened unto a certain other party of a much 
 earlier history, which included "every one that was in 
 distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one 
 that was discontented." 
 
 It was in this distracted condition that the party 
 entered the campaign of 1836. Without holding a
 
 24 THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 National Convention, it decided to place several candi- 
 dates in the field with the hope that from the strength 
 these leaders would develop in their respective locali- 
 ties, a majority of the electors might thus be chosen, 
 who, in turn, would unite in the selection of the strong- 
 est of these candidates. Hugh L. White of Tennessee, 
 Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, John McLean and 
 William H. Harrison, both of Ohio, and the last of whom 
 was also the anti-Masonic candidate, where placed in 
 the field, and the party stood calmly by, awaiting the 
 results. The Democratic party was in splendid order, 
 and its candidate, Van Buren, whom Jackson had 
 named as his political heir, was chosen by a majority 
 of 46 from all competitors. 
 
 On the 4th day of March, 1837, Andrew Jackson 
 retired from the presidency, as one would suppose, a 
 supremely happy man. He had ruled with a rod of 
 iron for eight years, carrying his triumphs to the very 
 end, despite the efforts of the most brilliant array of 
 talent ever marshalled in American history; every one 
 of his favorite measures were enacted, and through it 
 all, he enjoyed a popularity greater than any man of his 
 time, and now, upon his retirement, he was able to hand 
 over the reigns of government to the most tractable and 
 promising of his followers. "To this day, we are told," 
 says John Fiske, "there is some happy valley in western 
 Pennsylvania, the precise location of which is not too 
 strictly indicated, where old men, every fourth year in 
 the month of November, still hobble to the polls and 
 drop into the ballot box their loyal vote for Andrew 
 Jackson." 
 
 Whether Jackson could have controlled the con- 
 flagration that he had lighted, and that seemed to 
 scorch his very heels, as he retired from office, I do not 
 know, but it may be stated as an accepted fact of 
 history, that Martin Van Buren was unable to do so. 
 
 Since the days of Washington, no president at the 
 outset had faced a more distressing political situation 
 than that which confronted Van Buren. The ruinous
 
 THE PANIC OF 1837 5 
 
 effects of Jackson's financiering were felt everywhere. 
 The extravagance and speculation that followed the 
 withdrawal of the deposits and the distribution of the 
 surplus, culminated in the financial crash of 1837. 
 Distress petitions from all parts of the country poured 
 in upon the Cabinet at every meeting. Van Buren 
 faced this calamity with the fortitude and firmness of a 
 veteran, and did all within his power to restore confi- 
 dence and relieve the money market, but there was no 
 relief. The distress was widespread, and fairly appalling 
 in its intensity. The popular clamor against the admin- 
 istration was deafening, and high above all, rang out the 
 cry of the exultant Whigs, "We told you so!" All the 
 acts of the administration, good, bad and indifferent, 
 were denounced with equal fluency and vehemence. 
 The new party began to gain ground. It carried Ten- 
 nessee, the ex-president's state, and followed this up 
 with a victory in New York, the president's state. Led 
 on by Clay and Webster, the Whigs opposed the 
 Independent Treasury bill, and with the assistance of a 
 few Bank Democrats, were able, for the time, to prevent 
 it becoming a law. Benton, however, brought up the 
 bill at the next session, fought it through the Senate 
 with an increased majority, and succeeded, after a 
 bitter contest, in getting it through the House. From 
 that time until this, with but one exception, the Sub- 
 Treasury Law has stood as the one distinguishing 
 feature of our financial system. Time has proven its 
 efficacy, and acknowledged the wisdom and statesman- 
 ship of its author, but the people of 1840 were not in a 
 state of mind to consider or appreciate either of these 
 qualities in Martin Van Buren. 
 
 On the 4th day of December, 1839, the Whig party 
 met in convention at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to 
 nominate its candidates for the approaching election. 
 Availability, even at this early stage, was the watchword 
 of the party, and Clay, who confidently expected and 
 was clearly entitled to the nomination, was defeated by 
 a successfully planned trick of General Harrison's
 
 26 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 friends, under the leadership of Thurlow Weed, who at 
 that time was the leader of the Whig forces in New 
 York, and perhaps the most consummate politician in 
 the party. John Tyler, of Virginia, a dissatisfied 
 Democrat, but now an ardent follower of Clay, was 
 nominated for vice president, partly, as Weed afterward 
 said, "because they could get nobody else to accept," 
 but rather, for the purpose of attracting votes for the 
 ticket from the discontented in the ranks of the opposi- 
 tion. No platform or declaration of principles was 
 adopted, no resolutions passed or addresses issued at 
 which any of the malcontents might take offense. It was 
 simply a case of "anything to beat Van Buren." Clay 
 was utterly cast down at his defeat. "My friends are 
 not worth the powder that it would take to kill them," 
 he said. "If there were two Henry Clays, one of them 
 would make the other President of the United States. 
 I am the most unfortunate man in the history of the 
 parties, always run by my friends when sure to be 
 defeated, and now betrayed for nomination when I, 
 or any one else would be sure of election." 
 
 In this connection, a similar incident is told of the 
 great man, who, more nearly than any one of his genera- 
 tion, may be likened to Henry Clay. Col. McClure 
 relates that shortly after his nomination for the presi- 
 dency in 1884, Mr. Elaine, while talking with a special 
 correspondent of the "Times," said "Clay was defeated 
 in two conventions when he could have been elected 
 president, and he was nominated for president when his 
 competitor was elected, and that competitor was one 
 who had not been publicly discussed as a presidential 
 candidate before the meeting of the convention in 1844. 
 I was defeated in two conventions when I could have 
 been elected; I am nominated now with a competitor, 
 alike obscure with the competitor of Clay," and con- 
 cluded by repeating "1844-1884," in a manner that 
 seemed to indicate that, like the Great Pacificator, he, 
 too, would fail in the realization of his fondest hopes.
 
 "TIPPECANOE AND TYLER, TOO" 27 
 
 Van Buren was nominated six months later upon a 
 Strict Construction platform, the first pronouncement 
 of its kind in national politics, the most prominent 
 planks of which were those which denied the power of 
 Congress to re-charter the National Bank, to protect 
 manufacturers by a revenue tariff, and to carry on 
 public improvements at the expense of the nation. A 
 slavery plank, the first of its kind in politics which 
 declared against the interference of slavery in the 
 states was also inserted. The campaign that followed, 
 which the Democrats characterized as one of "noise, 
 numbers, and nonsense," was a wild delirium of "hard 
 cider, log cabins and coonskins." There was much the 
 same enthusiasm displayed for Harrison, as had 
 characterized the Jackson campaigns. Meetings were 
 measured by acres of men, one of the most memorable 
 being held upon the battlefield of Tippecanoe. These 
 gatherings were addressed by the greatest men of the 
 party, which, perhaps, in its entire career, was now at 
 its best. Among these speakers were Clay, Webster, 
 Corwin, Ewing, Prentiss, Choate, Clayton, Reverdy 
 Johnson, Edward Everett, and a host of others, scarcely 
 less prominent. As descriptive of the fervor with 
 which this entire campaign was conducted, I am happy 
 to quote from our distinguished fellow members, 
 Messrs. Randall and Ryan, who, in their admirable 
 History of Ohio, state that: 
 
 "Of all the meetings of this campaign, that of September 
 loth, held at Dayton, was the greatest in numbers, as well as 
 the most effective in its influence, throughout the country. 
 It has not been equalled since in the history of politics. The 
 present generation, notwithstanding its cheap transportation 
 and increased population, has furnished no meeting to rival 
 it. The Brough-Vallandingham campaign in 1863 more 
 nearly approached that of 1840 in the deep interest and en- 
 thusiasm manifested by the people, but it furnished no such 
 counterpart as that of General Harrison's meeting at Dayton. 
 With a due regard to the historic, the anniversary of Perry's 
 victory on Lake Erie was the date fixed upon. The memor- 
 able message of the young commodore to his commander-in- 
 chief was on every tongue, and there was a patriotic revival 
 of the memories of General Harrison's military life.
 
 28 THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 The approach of General Harrison to Dayton was a 
 series of triumphal marches from his home at North Bend. 
 Vast multitudes followed along the roadside all the way on 
 foot and horseback. As to the meeting itself, it can only be 
 accounted for on the theory that the people had taken up his 
 election as a mission. It had developed into a crusade, and 
 time, distance, weather, or transportation were not taken into 
 consideration. The multitude covered ten acres by actual 
 measurement. While General Harrison was speaking, ac- 
 cording to Miles* National Register, (September 26, and 
 October 3, 1840), the ground upon which the crowd stood was 
 measured by three different civil engineers. Allowing four 
 persons to a square yard, the three estimates placed the 
 numbers at seventy-five thousand, six hundred; seventy- 
 five thousand, and eighty thousand respectively." 
 
 The people wanted a change, and they got what 
 they wanted. When the result of the election was 
 known, it was about as the Whigs had put it when 
 they sang, "Van, Van, he's a used-up man." 
 
 Nineteen states, with two hundred and thirty-four 
 electors voted for Harrison, while Van Buren received 
 but sixty votes from six states. Tom Corwin was 
 elected governor of Ohio at this time by sixteen thou- 
 sand majority. The Whigs were wild with delight. They 
 could hardly wait for inauguration, but the day finally 
 came, and on the 4th of March, 1841, the Whig party, 
 with its hopes pitched to the highest point of expect- 
 ancy, assumed control of the government. The day of 
 deliverance, that would witness the inauguration of all 
 their pet policies of Bank and Tariff was come. With 
 Clay as their high priest to frame and secure the passage 
 of these laws, and a pliant executive to approve and 
 enforce them, the future teemed with promise of 
 abounding prosperity for the country, and long-con- 
 tinued place and power for the party. 
 
 President Harrison selected an exceptionally able 
 Cabinet, and in his public utterances meagerly out- 
 lined a policy that promised much for the administra- 
 tion. A special session of Congress was called, to meet 
 May 3 ist, for the purpose of considering the financial 
 situation. A few days after issuing this call, President 
 Harrison died, and John Tyler became president.
 
 JOHN TYLER, OPPORTUNIST V) 
 
 General Harrison was 68 years of age at the time of 
 his election, and from the hardships through which he 
 had passed, was physically unable to meet the exactions 
 that were put upon him. In an endeavor to meet and 
 greet his exuberant friends, the greater part of whom 
 seemed to think that their services were absolutely 
 necessary for the success of his administration, the old 
 warrior literally wore himself out. This was a grievous 
 disappointment to the Whigs, but it was only a fore- 
 taste of what they were to endure. 
 
 Tyler's record had been badly mixed. He had 
 floundered around in the Democratic party for a num- 
 ber of years, with no policy more firmly fixed than that 
 of a personal opposition to Jackson, and had been 
 placed on the ticket after Webster had declined the 
 honor, for the sake of bringing in the votes of dis- 
 gruntled Democrats like himself. 
 
 "He has been called a mediocre man," says one of 
 his successors who, like him, reached the presidency by 
 accident, "but this is unwarranted flattery. He was a 
 politician of monumental littleness, whose chief mental, 
 and moral attributes, were peevishness, fiftul obstinacy, 
 inconsistency, incapacity to make up his own mind, and 
 the ability to quibble indefinitely over the most micro- 
 scopic and hair-splitting play upon words, together with 
 an inordinate vanity that so blinded him to all outside 
 feeling as to make him really think that he would again 
 be nominated for the presidency." In other words, had 
 Tyler lived at some later day, according to this same 
 authority, he would have taken high rank in that select 
 company of distinguished, though unenviable public 
 men that were put down respectively as "jackasses, 
 molly-coddles and honey-fugglers." 
 
 In his estimate of this man, with whom the Whig 
 leaders were obliged to work out their legislative 
 program, John Fiske says: 
 
 "As for Tyler, while we cannot call him a great man, 
 and while for breadth of view and sound grasp of fundamen- 
 tal principles he is immeasurably below Van Buren, at the
 
 30 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 same time he is not so trivial a personage as his detractors 
 would have us believe. He was honest and courageous, and 
 in the defeat of Mr. Clay's theory of government he played 
 an important and useful part. If he is small as compared 
 with Jackson and Van Buren, he is great as compared with 
 Pierce and Buchanan.'* 
 
 Tyler retained Harrison's cabinet. A bill was 
 hurried through Congress abolishing the Sub-Treasury 
 Act, which the President as hurriedly signed. A Bank- 
 ruptcy Bill was next enacted; then a Distribution Bill, 
 which divided among the states the money from the 
 sale of public lands. These last two measures were 
 shortly afterwards repealed. The great measure of the 
 session, which was to be the chief glory of the Whig 
 administration, was a bill to re-establish the National 
 Bank. The bill had smooth sailing until it reached the 
 President's desk. Tyler vetoed the measure, and justi- 
 fied the act upon constitutional grounds. 
 
 The Whigs were now both angry and disappointed, 
 but they prepared another bill, hoping thus to overcome 
 his objections, and to obviate further collision with the 
 President. Tyler vetoed this bill too, closing his mes- 
 sage, however, with an earnest plea for party harmony. 
 This was too much for the Whig leaders. They read 
 the President out of the party, and all the cabinet (Bell, 
 Badger, Ewing, Granger and Crittenden) but Webster, 
 resigned two days before the adjournment of Congress, 
 and joined in the general chorus of his condemnation. 
 For his refusal to resign and join in this denuncia- 
 tion, Webster was roundly abused by the party leaders, 
 to which he replied in an open letter in these words: 
 
 "Lest any misapprehension should exist, as to the 
 reasons which have led me to differ from the course pursued 
 by my late colleagues, I wish to say that I remain in my 
 place, first, because I have seen no sufficient reasons for the 
 dissolution of the late Cabinet by the voluntary act of its 
 own members. 
 
 "In the second place, if I had seen reasons to resign my 
 office, I should not have done so without giving the President 
 reasonable notice, and affording him time to select the hands 
 to which he should confide the delicate and important affairs 
 now pending in this Department."
 
 WEBSTER'S POSITION 31 
 
 Throughout all the confusion that now raged within 
 the party, Webster, to his great credit, remained calmly 
 and courageously at his post, until the treaty that bears 
 his name and that of the great English statesman with 
 whom it was negotiated, was adopted by both countries. 
 Whatever his distinguished compeers might be pleased 
 to say or do, he was hardly the man that would sacrifice 
 or compromise any duty imposed upon him as a public 
 servant, for the purpose of participating in either a 
 partisan, or personal contest, and especially so, when 
 Henry Clay was to be the chief beneficiary of such a 
 performance. 
 
 Immediately following his retirement from the 
 cabinet, he returned to Massachusetts, to answer the 
 charge of political apostasy that had been brought 
 against him, where he drove his detractors from the 
 field and assumed anew the leadership of the party in 
 New England. "I am a Whig," he said, "a Massa- 
 chusetts Whig; a Boston Whig; a Faneuil Hall Whig; 
 and if any man within the reach of my voice wishes to 
 read me out of the pale of that communion, let him 
 begin here, now, and we will see who goes first." 
 
 A new tariff bill was framed by the Whigs and 
 passed both Houses, only to be disapproved by the 
 President. The Whigs were now exasperated beyond 
 all expression. They prepared a third bill, leaving out 
 the clause most obnoxious to the President, which he 
 approved, and has since been known as the Tariff of 
 1842. Von Hoist sums up the situation about this 
 time as follows: 
 
 "Half a year had passed since the Whigs had taken hold 
 of the helm and the unprincipled policy which had selected 
 "change" for its program in order to bring all the elements 
 of the opposition under one captain, had reaped a rich har- 
 vest. The breach between the party and the President had 
 taken place. 
 
 "On the left was the Democratic party, full of contempt 
 for the two-faced renegadism of the President, but making the 
 most of it, without the moral responsibility of the governing 
 majority but exercising a greater influence than a minority 
 ever did before; in the center the Chief of the Republic, sur-
 
 3 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 rounded by a little crowd of unscrupulous aspirants, vainly 
 wearing himself out in the endeavor, with the help of the 
 spoils cement, to form a compound of both parties' program, 
 as the basis of a Tyler party; to the right the Whigs, blindly 
 embittered by their own powerless supremacy, grasping at 
 the radical Democratic thunder of their opponents, and per- 
 verting the principle of resistance to the usurpation of the 
 Executive, into the principle of the establishment of the 
 Omnipotence of Congress." 
 
 Of this condition, and the manner in which it 
 affected the country, McMasters says : 
 
 "That the excitement wrought by the irregular cam- 
 paign of 1 840 should be followed by a period of re-action was 
 inevitable. Apathy was everywhere visible and discontent 
 all but universal. The fine promises of the Whig journals 
 and Whig orators had not been fulfilled. Wages had not 
 increased; times had not grown better; the currency was 
 still in disorder; most of the banks refused to pay in specie; 
 the debts of the states were increasing; mills and factories 
 were closing down; and in place of '$2.00 a day and roast 
 beef,' we have, said the Democrats, 'ten cents a day and 
 bean soup.' The change for which Webster said the people 
 longed, the change from hard times to easy times, from a bad 
 currency to good currency, from heavy taxes to light taxes, 
 from low wages to high wages, from general depression to 
 prosperity had not yet come about. Angry and disappointed, 
 the people came rapidly to what Van Buren called the sober 
 second thought, and at the time of the election of 1841 de- 
 serted the Whigs by thousands." 
 
 From this testimony it would seem that our grand- 
 fathers were fully acquainted with the merits of the full 
 dinner pail and bread line argument. 
 
 Humiliated and spurned by the President whose 
 personal following, though "only a corporal's guard," as 
 Clay said, was yet large enough when acting with the 
 minority party to defeat any measure the majority 
 leaders might favor, Clay's influence, as Benton graph- 
 ically said, "was dissipated until he found himself a 
 dreg in the party for which for years he had been the 
 conspicuous leader." The situation finally became so 
 intolerable that he resigned his place in the Senate, and 
 on the 3 ist day of March, 1842 less than a year from 
 the death of General Harrison Clay, at the conclusion
 
 THE TEXAS QUESTION 33 
 
 of a speech of dramatic intensity, retired to the peace 
 and quiet of his beautiful home at Ashland, It would 
 be alike unfair to the chivalrous spirit of Clay and the 
 beautiful character of Calhoun, if it were not noted in 
 connection with this valedictory address, that at its 
 conclusion the great South Carolinian, although he had 
 not spoken to the great Kentuckian for years as a result 
 of the quarrel over the respective parts they had 
 played in the settlement of the nullification pro- 
 ceedings, rose from his seat, walked over to Clay and 
 extended his hand, which, it is needless to say, was 
 grasped with the same cordiality that had characterized 
 their early years of public service. 
 
 In the midst of this the Texas question loomed up, 
 to add to the disorder. Annexation was one of Tyler's 
 ruling passions, and as soon as Webster retired from his 
 cabinet he set his successor to work to conclude the 
 treaty. Calhoun finally arranged the terms, and the 
 bill was sent to the Senate. Here, to the extreme disgust 
 of Tyler, the treaty was rejected by a vote of 35 to 16. 
 From this time forward until Appomattox, the slavery 
 question, in some horrid form or other, was continually 
 before the public. 
 
 As Tyler's term neared its close, the parties made 
 ready for the selection of his successor. The first 
 nominations made, were those of the Liberal party, a 
 straight-out, anti-slavery organization, made up largely, 
 of northern Whigs under the direction of Salmon P. 
 Chase, John P. Hale and others. Its candidates were 
 James G. Birney, an ex-slaveholder of Kentucky, and 
 Thomas Morris, of Ohio. 
 
 On the first of May, 1844, the Whig Convention 
 met at Baltimore, and without the formality of a ballot 
 Clay was nominated by acclamation, amidst the wildest 
 enthusiasm. For the first time in its history the party 
 adopted a platform. It was a "loose construction" 
 document from first to last, favoring a National Cur- 
 rency and Protective Tariff, and a distribution of the 
 surplus revenues among the states. Nothing was said
 
 34 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 regarding Texas. That was all left for the candidate to 
 do. It was expected that Van Buren would be the 
 Democratic nominee, but as his views on the Texas 
 question were not pleasing to the Southern members of 
 the party, Calhoun and Walker, with the co-operation 
 of certain influential leaders from the North, set about 
 systematically to defeat him on the one hand, and to 
 nominate in his stead some one favoring annexation. 
 The success with which this work was done is shown by 
 the fact that the platform not only favored the annexa- 
 tion of Texas at the earliest practical period, but also 
 tendered to Martin Van Buren "in honorable retirement 
 the assurance of the deep-seated confidence, affection 
 and respect of the American Democracy." 
 
 Although Van Buren had a majority of the dele- 
 gates, he was unable, under the two-thirds rule, for the 
 adoption of which more than any other man of the 
 party he was responsible, to secure the nomination, 
 which went to James K. Polk of Tennessee, who was 
 vouched for as "a whole-hogged Democrat," the first 
 "dark horse" to win in such a race. 
 
 Clay was at first opposed to the annexation, but he 
 experienced a change of heart when it was seen that this 
 attitude would cost him votes in the South, and he 
 wrote in his Alabama letter as follows: "Personally I 
 could have no objection to the annexation of Texas." 
 At another time he said, "I have, however, no hesitation 
 in saying that far from any personal objections to the 
 annexation of Texas, I should be glad to see it, without 
 dishonor, without war, with the common consent of the 
 Union, and upon just and fair terms." 
 
 Clay wanted to be president very badly, and for a 
 time it seemed that he would have an easy victory, but 
 these utterances weakened him where he was strong, 
 without strengthening him where he was weak. The 
 annexation people could not trust him, nor would the 
 opponents of annexation. The new Liberty party 
 attacked him secretly, and drew heavily from his 
 supporters in the close states. Clay did his best to
 
 JACKSON AND CLAY AN ESTIMATE 35 
 
 explain and reconcile his position with the sentiments 
 expressed in these letters, but to no purpose. He 
 received but 105 electoral votes as against 170 for Polk. 
 The Liberty party failed to carry a single state, but if 
 Clay had received the votes that were cast for its 
 candidate in New York and Michigan, in addition to 
 those actually cast for him, he would have been elected. 
 It was a terrible blow to Clay, who realized when it was 
 too late that this defeat had come wholly and solely 
 because he had been untrue to himself. 
 
 In the gloom and disaster of this defeat, some 
 heart-broken admirer told the whole story truthfully 
 when he said that "Henry Clay could get more men to 
 run after him to hear him speak, and fewer men to vote 
 for him than any man in America." 
 
 Concerning this campaign, and in summarizing the 
 political activities of the two great men who faced each 
 other here for the last time, Mr. Elaine says : 
 
 "No contest for the presidency, either before or since, 
 has been conducted with such intense energy and such deep 
 feeling. Mr. Clay's followers were not ordinary political 
 supporters. They had the profound personal attachment 
 which is looked for only in hereditary governments, where 
 loyalty becomes a passion, and is blind and unreasoning in 
 its adherence and its devotion. The logical complement of 
 such ardent fidelity is an opposition marked by unscrupulous 
 rancor. This case proved no exception. The love of Mr. 
 Clay's friends was equaled by the hatred of his foes. The 
 zeal of his supporters did not surpass the zeal of his op- 
 ponents. All the enmities and exasperations which began 
 in the memorable contest for the presidency when John 
 Quincy Adams was chosen, and had grown into great propor- 
 tions during the long intervening period, were fought out on 
 the angry field of 1844. 
 
 Mr. Polk, a moderate and amiable man, did not represent 
 the acrimonious character of the controversy. He stood only 
 as the passive representative of its principles. Behind him 
 was Jackson, aged and infirm in body, but strong in mind, 
 and unbroken in spirit. With him the struggle was not only 
 one of principle, but of pride; not merely of judgment, but 
 of temper; and he communicated to the legions throughout 
 the country, who regarded him with reverence and gratitude, 
 a full measure of his own animosity against Clay. In its
 
 36 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 progress the struggle absorbed the thought, the action, the 
 passion, of the whole people. When its result was known, the 
 Whigs regarded the defeat of Mr. Clay, not only as a calam- 
 ity of untold magnitude to the country, but as a personal 
 and profound grief, which touched the heart as deeply as the 
 understanding. It was Jackson's final triumph over Clay. 
 The iron-nerved old hero died in seven months after this 
 crowning gratification of his life." 
 
 In his inaugural address, President Polk said that 
 "the enlargement of the Union would be the extension 
 of the dominions of peace over additional territories of 
 millions." There was very little in his administration, 
 however, that would justify this remark. His term of 
 office was a stormy one. Upon everything else but the 
 slavery question the President was a pronounced strict 
 constructionist. His views regarding slavery were very 
 loose. He took up the annexation question where 
 Tyler had left it, and in December, 1845, Texas and the 
 Mexican War became a part of the United States. The 
 Whigs were opposed to both of these acquisitions, but 
 when they were acquired, they voted almost unani- 
 mously to defend both. They openly accused Polk of 
 falsehood about what he said as to the cause of the war, 
 and yet there were but 14 votes in Congress against the 
 bill sustaining the resolution that war "existed by the act 
 of Mexico." While they denounced the war as unjust 
 and dishonorable, and spoke of it contemptuously as 
 "Polk's War," they voted almost as a party for its 
 prosecution. 
 
 By this time slavery and its numerous accompani- 
 ments had become the all absorbing question of Ameri- 
 can politics. Hardly any legislation could be enacted 
 without bringing in some phase of the troublesome 
 question. In 1846, when a bill appropriating two mil- 
 lions of dollars for the expense of negotiating peace with 
 Mexico was introduced into the House, David Wilmot, 
 a Pennsylvania Democrat, proposed an amendment 
 which nationalized his name, and in a very short time 
 had the entire country in a heat of excitement and 
 exasperation. This amendment provided that slavery
 
 POLITICAL MISFITS 37 
 
 should be prohibited in the territory acquired from 
 Mexico, and was by far, the reddest flag that had been 
 waved in the face of the slavery beast. The attacks 
 it provoked did not end until April 9, 1865. The bill, 
 with the proviso, passed the House, but was defeated in 
 the Senate. The next year it was brought up again and 
 defeated in both Houses. The Whigs, to their credit, 
 supported the measure throughout. The Oregon 
 Boundary question was settled at 49; instead of "544.o', 
 or fight," as the Democrats had insisted upon, by a 
 strange coalition of the Southern Democrats and the 
 Whigs. 
 
 In the next Congress, the Whigs, who controlled 
 the House, endeavored to pass a bill embodying the 
 principles of the Wilmot Proviso, but a number of 
 Free-State Democrats now voted against it, and the 
 measure was lost. Both parties were seriously embar- 
 rassed by the persistency with which the slavery ques- 
 tion was kept at the front. Both were afraid of it, but 
 neither, nor both, could settle it. The Democratic 
 party had now come to be a Southern party, led by 
 Northern men, while the Whigs were a Northern party 
 under Southern leadership. This fact was clearly 
 established by the presidential contest of 1848, in 
 which the Democrats nominated General Cass, a nega- 
 tive Northern man with positive Southern principles, 
 upon a platform remarkable for two things : the obscur- 
 ity of its strict construction principles, and the severity 
 with which it abstained from saying anything re- 
 garding slavery. 
 
 Under the masterly direction of Thurlow Weed, 
 the Whigs, for a second time, threw their principles to 
 the wind, and with no policy or platform, other than that 
 of expediency, and the popularity of their candidate, 
 nominated General Taylor, who had already been 
 named as the candidate of the National American party. 
 Taylor at this time was the owner of three hundred 
 slaves. He had never voted, and the clearest expression 
 he had ever made either of his political faith or affilia-
 
 38 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 tion, was the avowal that "he was a Whig, though not 
 an ultra Whig," which statement, according to a liberal 
 translation given by the gifted author of the "Bigelow 
 Papers," was the equivalent of saying: 
 
 " 'Ez to my principles, 
 I glory in hevin' nothin' of the sort. 
 I a'int a Whig; I a'int a Tory; 
 I'm just a candidate, in short." 
 
 As illustrative of the business-like and energetic 
 manner in which Taylor conducted his campaign of 
 political neutrality, we quote from one of the great 
 number of letters that he addressed at this time to an 
 inquiring admirer, as follows: 
 
 "I have laid it down as a principle, not to give my opinion 
 upon, or pre-judge in any way, the various questions now at 
 issue between the political parties of the country, nor to 
 promise what I would, or would not, do." 
 
 So far as my observation goes, this is the only in- 
 stance in which a really formidable candidate has sought 
 the presidency solely upon the grounds that he wanted 
 a job. Despite the nonpartisan character of his candi- 
 dacy, there were a large number of delegates who feared 
 that Taylor was a Democrat, and for that reason would 
 not accept the nomination as a Whig. In order that the 
 party might not be subjected to any embarrassment of 
 this kind, Lewis D. Campbell, who represented the 
 Dayton, Ohio, district as a delegate in the Convention, 
 offered a resolution just before the balloting began, to 
 the effect that "The Convention should not entertain the 
 candidacy of any man for President or Vice President, 
 who had not given assurances that he would abide by 
 the action of the Convention, that he would accept the 
 nomination, and that he would consider himself the 
 candidate of the Whig party." This was followed by 
 another resolution from a delegate from New York, 
 providing that no man should be nominated for presi- 
 dent unless he stands pledged to support, in good faith, 
 the nominees, and to be the exponent of Whig prin- 
 ciples.
 
 A NEUTRAL NOMINEE 39 
 
 The circumstances attending this unusual nomina- 
 tion terminated in a very ludicrous manner. However 
 loose a Contructionist the nominee may have been in 
 either public or political affairs, he was the original 
 strict Constructionist in matters of propriety. 
 
 Greatly as he had desired the nomination, and 
 delighted, as he was, to have received it from any party, 
 he felt that he could not accept, until he had received 
 formal notification in writing, of the coveted honor. 
 Upon the letter of notification, which, like hundreds of 
 other letters that were addressed to the nominee from 
 all parts of the country, the postage had not been paid, 
 and as the charges on these communications ranged 
 from ten to forty cents each, he refused to receive any 
 of these letters, and ordered the postmaster to send 
 them all to the Dead Letter Office. Tiresome and 
 fearful as was their long journey from Philadelphia to 
 his plantation home, the Committee on Notification was 
 relieved, and the party rejoiced, to know that the 
 hitherto inexplicable silence of their chosen leader was 
 attributable to the strictest observance on his part of a 
 rule of political etiquette, and not to any struggle with 
 himself regarding either the principles, or the lack 
 thereof, either in himself, or the party of his adoption. 
 
 Having nominated a man who represented no 
 policy or principle, the Whigs had, of course, no need for 
 a platform. A resolution favoring the adoption of the 
 Wilmot Proviso was howled down, and the Convention 
 adjourned in great confusion and disorder. The only 
 thing upon which they were able to agree was that they 
 wanted to win. There were large numbers in both 
 parties that were disgusted with these nominations. 
 Clay declared that the Philadelphia Convention had 
 degraded itself and had dishonored the party, and took 
 no part in the campaign. Webster, who was likewise 
 mortified by his own defeat, and who spoke of the 
 nomination of Taylor as one not fit to be made, yielded 
 late in the campaign to the demand of the party 
 managers, and supported Taylor only because he
 
 40 THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 thought it safer to trust a slaveholder, a man without 
 known political principles, and the party that had not 
 the courage of its convictions, than to risk another 
 Democrat. Abraham Lincoln was a delegate to this 
 Convention, and in his characteristic manner he wrote, 
 upon its adjournment: "In my opinion we shall have a 
 most glorious and overwhelming triumph. One un- 
 mistakable sign is that all the odds and ends are with 
 us, Barn-Burners, Native Americans, Tyler men, dis- 
 appointed office seekers, Loco-Focos, and the Lord only 
 knows what else." 
 
 The anti-slavery Democrats, who were dissatisfied 
 with the nomination of Cass, assembled at Buffalo, 
 where they were joined by the old Liberal party, and a 
 number of the most prominent, but disgusted Whigs, and 
 nominated Martin Van Buren as their candidate for 
 president. The platform of the new party, which was 
 largely the work of Salmon P. Chase, declared that 
 "Congress had no more power to make a slave, than to 
 make a king," and concluded with these ringing words, 
 "We inscribe on our banner, "Free Soil, Free Speech, 
 Free Labor and Free Men," and under it will fight on 
 and fight ever, until a triumphant victory shall reward 
 
 our exertions." 
 
 In the triangular fight that followed (the first in 
 which all the electors were chosen by ballot) the "Free 
 Soilers," which was the name given to the new party, 
 drew most of their support from the Democrats. The 
 Whigs, who derived the greatest benefit from the 
 organization, seemed to be more incensed at the new 
 party than the Democrats, probably because their 
 candidate was the more insincere. Taylor was elected 
 by a majority of the votes of fifteen states, eight of 
 which were from the South. Cass likewise carried 
 fifteen states, seven of which were from the South. Van 
 Buren received about three hundred thousand votes, 
 but did not carry a state, although in New York, Massa- 
 chusetts and Vermont he received more votes than 
 Cass, in whose defeat he found a solace for the part Cass
 
 THE OMNIBUS BILL 41 
 
 had taken in defeating him for the nomination in 1840. 
 Although he received thirty-five thousand votes in 
 Ohio, Cass carried the state largely by reason of the 
 great vote he received in the Western Reserve. This 
 was the first of the third party movements to be led by 
 an ex-president. That the experiment was not as 
 popular in certain sections of the country as in the last 
 of such movements, is sufficiently shown in the fact 
 that in all that great Democratic region, extending from 
 Virginia to Texas inclusive, the Sage of Kinderhook 
 received only the votes of seventeen men. 
 
 For the part he played in the organization of the 
 new party, Chase was elected United States senator 
 from his state, by the commanding generalship of two 
 members of the Legislature, who held the balance of 
 power between the two old parties, one of whom was 
 our late and honored friend, Dr. Norton S. Townshend. 
 
 From the Congress that came in with President 
 Taylor, no one knew what to expect. The Senate was 
 Democratic, while the House was so evenly divided that 
 the balance of power was wielded by the Free-Soilers. 
 With the incoming of this administration begins another 
 transformation of parties, which in a short time de- 
 stroyed the one completely, and changed the other so 
 radically, that out of the process was evolved a new 
 organization that soon came to power, for having done 
 what each of the old parties had so carefully refrained 
 from doing. 
 
 The application of California for admission into 
 the Union, with a constitution prohibiting slavery 
 within its limits, brought all the contending hosts 
 again to the field in a more hostile state of mind than 
 ever before. The struggle that followed the introduc- 
 tion of this bill is the greatest political contest the nation 
 has ever known. It is a thrilling chapter that describes 
 the passage of the Compromise Bill of 1850. No cause 
 was ever more honorably championed, no advocates 
 more earnest and eloquent. The three great central 
 figures of debate, Clay, Webster and Calhoun, met
 
 4 THEWHIGPARTY 
 
 together for the last time. Clay pleaded, with all the 
 powers of his wonderful eloquence, for peace. His one 
 object was to save the Union. Of the North he asked 
 concession; upon the South he urged moderation. 
 Calhoun, too ill to speak, came from his chamber to 
 bear witness for the last time to the cause of his people, 
 and against further compromise. Webster shocked and 
 startled the nation, by sacrificing and surrendering his 
 life-long principles to the slave power, in the delusive 
 hope of at last reaching the presidency. 
 
 It is a wonder that out of such a discordant 
 assembly any compromise could have been effected. 
 The several provisions of the measure were intended 
 to satisfy all parties and opinions. The provisions were 
 voted on separately, and it was difficult to trace any 
 definite party action through all. Clay was supported 
 by such Northern men as Cass, Webster and Douglass, 
 and such Southern Whigs as Bell and Badger. Benton 
 opposed the bill and supported Taylor, whose stout 
 insistence upon the immediate and unconditional ad- 
 mission of California so incensed such Southern leaders 
 as Mason, Soule and Jefferson Davis that for a time all 
 hopes of a settlement seemed to be lost. President 
 Taylor died in the midst of this discussion, shortly after 
 which, with the co-operation of Fillmore, who reversed 
 the policy of his predecessor, the Compromise became 
 the law of the land. The enactment of this legislation, 
 which it was thought settled the slavery question, 
 temporarily strengthened the Democratic party. On 
 the other hand, the Whigs were losing ground in all 
 parts of the country. 
 
 For a little time now, there were no party contests 
 in Congress ; both Democrats and Whigs gradually sup- 
 porting the administration. With the approach of 
 another election, the Whigs attempted to unite their 
 scattered forces by agreeing to accept the Compromise 
 as a finality, but the results were unsatisfactory. The 
 Southern representatives after much discussion declared 
 that they would support no man for the presidency
 
 A HOUSE DIVIDED 43 
 
 whose principles were not plainly defined, and who did 
 not accept the Compromise as they accepted it. To 
 find a candidate, therefore, acceptable to the majority, 
 was no small undertaking. 
 
 The Convention was held early in June. Strange 
 to say the first act of the assemblage was to adopt a 
 platform. This was the work of the Southern delegates. 
 It declared that the series of acts of the thirty-first 
 Congress, including the "Fugitive Slave Law," were 
 received and acquiesced in by the Whig party as a 
 settlement, in principle and substance, of the dangerous 
 and exciting questions which they embrace, and as far 
 as we are concerned, we will maintain them and insist 
 upon their strict enforcement until time and experience 
 shall demonstrate the necessity of further legislation to 
 guard against the evasion of the laws on the one hand, 
 and the abuse of their powers on the other, not impair- 
 ing their efficiency, and further, "to frown down all 
 further agitation of the question thus settled as danger- 
 ous to our business," etc. 
 
 In return for this favor, the Southern Whigs, who 
 controlled the Convention, permitted their Northern 
 brothers to name the candidate. After six days' ballot- 
 ing, in which the friends of Fillmore and Webster were 
 unable to decide as to which should be nominated, the 
 Convention agreed upon General Scott, a man in whom 
 the South had little confidence, but who was ready to 
 accept on any platform that might be made. Of the 147 
 votes necessary for a choice, the Southern delegates 
 agreed to cast 106 for Webster at any time he could 
 obtain the other 41 from his Northern supporters. 
 Hopeless, as everyone but himself felt this would be, 
 Webster was confident to the last, that he would be 
 nominated. To this Convention, Clay, from his death- 
 bed, addressed the party of his choice and creation for 
 the last time. Whether in urging his faction-ridden 
 followers to support Fillmore, he hoped the more to 
 serve his country than to humiliate Webster, this action 
 on his part added nothing to the peace of mind of either
 
 44 THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 of these great leaders, and provoked a controversy 
 among their followers that was not allowed to end with 
 their lives. "My God!" exclaimed Webster when he 
 was informed that Scott had been selected, "what will 
 history say of Daniel Webster?" 
 
 In the bitterness of this final and overwhelming 
 disappointment that had come to him, Webster wrote 
 two weeks before his death : 
 
 "I have now to state to you that no earthly considera- 
 tion could induce me to say anything, or do anything, from 
 which it might be inferred, directly or indirectly, that I con- 
 cur in the Baltimore nomination, or that I should give it in 
 any way the santcion of my approbation. If I were to do 
 such an act, I should feel my cheeks becoming scorched with 
 shame by the reproach of posterity.' ' 
 
 The party was now ready for its last charge. The 
 Democrats named Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, 
 another Compromise man upon a platform, as com- 
 promising, to say the least, as that of the Whigs. The 
 Free-Soil Democrats in their platform denounced the 
 Compromise of 1850, and both parties that supported 
 it, and declared that slavery was a sin against God and 
 a crime against man. Divided as they were, the Whigs 
 had no chance whatever of winning the election, a fact 
 that every one, excepting their candidate seemed to 
 realize. 
 
 The time had come and was now at hand when, as 
 stated a little later by one of the most brilliant members 
 of their party, the voters "would join themselves to no 
 party that does not carry the flag and keep step to the 
 music of the Union." 
 
 The Southern members of the party were ready to 
 sacrifice the candidate to save the platform, while the 
 Northern members were ready to renounce the platform 
 for the sake of the candidate. The Democrats were just 
 as bad, but they were better trained and disciplined. 
 Pierce received two hundred and fifty-four electoral 
 votes against forty-two for Scott. General Scott was 
 not only defeated, but the Whig party was destroyed,
 
 "ONE FLEW EAST, AND ONE FLEW WEST" 45 
 
 and the former showed his unconcern in the whole 
 matter when he said he was glad of it all. 
 
 There were still many Whigs in the country, but 
 the party organization was no more. In the thirty-third 
 Congress which assembled in December, 1853, there 
 were ninety-one members. In the succeeding Congress, 
 there were less than one-half that number. 
 
 Adams, Clay and Webster were in their graves. 
 Winthrop, Ewing and Corwin were in retirement. 
 Fillmore was the leader of the Know Nothing move- 
 ment. Tyler and Choate were affiliated with the party 
 of Jefferson, which was again all powerful. 
 
 There was opposition continually, but it was dis- 
 united, and, for a time, discredited and demoralized. 
 There were Free-Soilers, Know Nothings, Anti-Nebras- 
 ka Men, Native Americans, Pro-Slavery Whigs, and 
 finally, what came from all of these, a party which was 
 shortly to prove the greatest rival the old party had 
 ever met. The part taken by the few genuine Whigs in 
 the discussions that made Pierce's administration a 
 troublesome one, is unimportant. In 1856 they made 
 no nomination, ratifying in a perfunctory manner the 
 nominations of the Know Nothing party, which combi- 
 nation mustered only enough strength to carry the state 
 of Maryland. After this the party is known only to 
 history. 
 
 In conclusion there is but little to be said. Ac- 
 cording to Theodore Roosevelt 
 
 "The principles of the Whigs were hazily outlined at 
 the best, and the party was never a very creditable organiza- 
 tion; indeed, through its entire career, it could most easily 
 be defined as an opposition to the Democratic party. It 
 was a Free Constructionists party, believing in giving a 
 liberal interpretation to the doctrines of the Constitution, 
 otherwise, its principles were purely economic." 
 
 It was rich in able men, yet it advanced no settled, 
 or sound policy of government. It was poorly discip- 
 lined, and was as lacking in political sagacity, as we know 
 the Federalist party to have been. It oscillated con-
 
 46 THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 tinually between principle and expediency in such a 
 manner as to throw away every advantage that it might 
 otherwise have enjoyed. It existed for a quarter of a 
 century. In that time it held but one representative 
 convention, ventured but once to nominate for the 
 presidency a candidate with any avowed political prin- 
 ciples, and adopted but two platforms. It acted but 
 once in unison as a party, and this was from personal 
 rather than political reasons. After the slavery question 
 became the dominating issue before the country, its 
 economic doctrines were well nigh forgotten, and upon 
 this question it could neither write, speak nor keep 
 silent, without injuring itself, more than the opposition 
 party. It died, as one of its own members said, " From 
 an effort to swallow the Fugitive Slave Law."
 
 LIBRARy
 
 4 REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY