The President
In 1828 General Jackson was elected President, after a campaign marked by much bitterness. He received 178 electoral votes, and John Quincy Adams 83. In 1832 he was overwhelmingly re-elected, receiving 219 electoral votes. Henry Clay received 49, John Floyd 11, and William Wirt 7.
His administrations were the first to be classed as “Democratic.” Those of Washington and John Adams were known as “Federal,” those of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams as “Democratic-Republican.”
General Jackson’s two administrations were marked by the force and power of his great personality. One of his memorable achievements was his prompt and effective dissipation of the cloud that hung over the Union when South Carolina sought to nullify the Tariff Act, which her citizens claimed was oppressive. President Jackson’s great proclamation in this crisis electrified the nation. South Carolina repealed the nullification act. Another outstanding feature of President Jackson’s administration was his veto of the act passed by Congress to re-charter the United States Bank. Congress declined to pass the bill over his veto, and the Bank went out of existence as a Federal institution at the expiration of its twenty-year charter in 1836. President Jackson, by direct instruction in October, 1833, caused the removal of the Government’s deposits from the U. S. Bank. This led to the establishment of the sub-treasury system, by which the government became the custodian of its own money and disbursed it in accordance with specific appropriations by Congress. The removal of these deposits from the U. S. Bank created a great furor. It was resented by the Bank and its friends. The U. S. Bank, operating under charter from Congress, was undoubtedly a strong political factor. It was the head of what was called the money power, and represented an opposition so strong that no public man in America, save Andrew Jackson, could have overcome it. An adverse Senate, under the leadership of Messrs. Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, adopted a resolution March, 1834, censuring the President for the removal of the public money from the U. S. Bank. The resolution provoked great resentment among the followers of Jackson throughout the country. Many States, through their Legislatures, instructed their Senators to vote to expunge the unwarranted resolution from the Senate records. On January 16, 1837, after a prolonged debate, in which Clay, Calhoun, and Webster sought to stem the tide, a majority of the Senate voted to strike from the record the offensive resolution. Then and there the journal of June, 1834, was produced and the Senate’s Secretary drew heavy ink lines around the resolution and wrote across the face thereof the words, “Expunged by order of the Senate.”
In December, 1834, President Jackson announced the extinguishment of the public debt.
In 1835, one Richard Lawrence, afterwards pronounced insane, attempted to assassinate President Jackson on the steps of the Capitol. The brave-hearted President rushed upon his assailant with uplifted cane, exclaiming: “Let me get to him, gentlemen; I am not afraid.” He would not desist until the would-be assassin was overpowered.
March 4, 1837, General Jackson ended his notable administration as Chief Magistrate, leaving a Government practically free from debt and the country in a highly prosperous condition. He retired to his beloved Hermitage, which became a mecca for the leaders of his party. He continued to exercise a potent influence upon the affairs of the nation until his death, June 8, 1845.
The direction which Andrew Jackson gave to our national life and the marked impress he made upon it are still manifest. In every crisis his memory has been, and is still being, invoked as an inspiration to courage, honesty, and patriotism.