Jackson

of national importance might be countenanced,
but that the road in question was of local inter-
est only. He thus did not argue on strict-con-
structionist grounds, but on grounds of expedi-
ency (Richardson, post, II, 1896, p. 487). His po-
sition was badly taken, however, for the highway
from Wheeling to Maysville was one of the
most important in the whole West, and the
great southwestern mail was being carried along
it at the time.

In 1832 the Democratic party held its first
national nominating convention for the purpose
of naming Van Buren for the vice-presidency.
Since the congressional caucus had favored
Crawford in 1824, Jackson and his following op-
posed it as an undemocratic institution and suc-
ceeded in killing it. The nominating convention
grew up to take its place. This device was advo-
cated as giving a more direct expression to the
will of the people, but Jackson was not inter-
ested in the will of the people unless it coincided
with his own, as his attitude toward this and
the succeeding convention well proves. In the
election of 1832 Jackson stood before the coun-
try with his policy well developed. The theorist
would have found it difficult to determine whether
he was a strict or a liberal constructionist, an
advocate of state rights or of nationalism; but
such abstract questions did not enter much into
consideration. The bank question was the para-
mount issue, and the President's stand was
immensely popular. The back-country people cor-
rectly regarded the banks as privileged institu-
tions, and they looked upon the losses which they
themselves sustained because of a fluctuating
paper currency as amounting to sheer robbery.
Jackson's position appeared to them to be a
manifestation of pure democracy, and they sup-
ported it with utmost enthusiasm. The result
was that the President was reflected over Clay
by a popular vote which slightly exceeded that
of 1828 and broke the opposition even in New
England. Shortly after this election, the nulli-
fication controversy came to a head. A new pro-
tective tariff measure was passed in 1832 and
South Carolina called a convention which for-
bade the collection of the duties within the state.
Jackson countered with a proclamation threat-
ening to use force if necessary in the execution--
of the law. In this crisis Clay secured the pas-
sage of the compromise tariff of 1833 and the
danger was averted, each side claiming victory.
Jackson's attitude in this matter was character-
istic of his temperament, and he doubtless acted
upon his own initiative. While nullification re-
ceived little support outside South Carolina, the
state-rights school in the South was offended

Jackson

by the President's assumption of the right to
coerce a state, and some of the leaders of this
wing of the party deserted to the opposition.

Having prevented the recharter of the Bank
of the United States, Jackson feared that it
would retaliate by trying to bring on a panic. In
order to curb its dangerous power, he decided
that the federal deposits should be withdrawn
from its vaults. After he had experienced some
difficulty in finding a secretary of the treasury
who would cooperate in the work, the object
was accomplished The Senate passed resolutions
condemning the action of the President, and an
important group of leaders in the Southern wing
of the party was alienated. But the Bank was
dead, and the government funds were distrib-
uted among state banks. Neither the credit nor
the currency of the country was improved by
these measures, which were in effect inflationist,
but the "money power/' once so arrogant, had
been humbled and the masses who were not in-
terested in commerce applauded the policy. His
"specie circular" (July n, 1836) later added to
the difficulties of sound banks and served in part
to precipitate the panic of 1837.

Jackson's record as an expansionist was all
that should have been expected. His policy of
removing the Indians west of the Mississippi
quieted a dangerous situation in Georgia, where
he had upheld state aggression in defiance of
John Marshall and the Supreme Court, but met
with less success in Alabama. His desire to take
advantage of the Texas revolution in order to
secure the annexation of that province to the
United States was not gratified. It seems prob-
able that he hoped, through the instrumentality
of his friend Samuel Houston, to find an excuse
for intervention, but the plan did not succeed
and prudence did not permit it to be pushed (H.
A. Wise, Seven Decades of the Union, 1872, p.
149). In diplomatic affairs the administration
succeeded signally. The trade of the British West
Indies was opened to the United States for the
first time since the Revolution, and a claim
against France for Napoleonic spoliations was
settled by strong-handed methods. The last great
struggle of Jackson's career was over the selec-
tion of his successor. He had chosen Van Buren
for this honor, and the nomination of the latter
by the convention of 1836 was secured by force-
ful action. Jackson apparently did not realize
that it was inconsistent with the principles of
democracy for a president to select his successor
by manipulating a convention, but many of his
followers saw it and deserted his cause. Thus
Jackson, at different times, alienated several
groups of his earlier supporters, and these joined

533