USA > Alabama > Memorial record of Alabama. A concise account of the state's political, military, professional and industrial progress, together with the personal memoirs of many of its people. Volume II pt 1 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
--
-
1 F
21
1
ALABAMA IN FEDERAL POLITICS.
store for them. Anti-slavery agitation in the north was destined to be met by counter agitation in the south. Crimination was to provoke re- crimination, the fiercest passions were to be aroused, and all was to end in the bloodiest war of modern times. In all the controversies that led.up 'to this deplorable result. and more especially in those steps that immedi- ately preceded the secession of certain of the southern states, Alabama played a notable part.
In 1820, one year after the admission of Alabama, the anti-slavery sentiment of the north began to show its power in resisting the admis- sion of Missouri, which had adopted a constitution authorizing slavery. The dispute was finally settled by what is known as the Missouri com- promise, Henry Clay. being the author of the terms of the settlement, which provided that the state of Missouri should be admitted with, its constitution as it was. and that slavery thereafter should not exist in any portion of the Louisiana territory west of Missouri and north of latitude 36° 30'.
Clay, Calhoun and a large majority of southern members of congress, including all of those from Alabama, voted for this compromise. Mr. Clay, at that time, was a leading republican, the name by which the party was then most generally known. "Democrat" was first applied to them by their opponents, the federalists: "Jacobin democrats" they were sneeringly entitled. to liken them, on account of their radical views, to the French revolutionists. The name "democrat" was never objection- able to Jefferson, and it was not long before his followers began to take it up, though the name "republican" continued to be used for many years.
No political compromise ever gave more general and immediate satis- faction than that of 1820, and it was patriotically supposed to be a final settlement of the territorial question.
In 1820, congress abolished the system of selling the public lands to the highest bidder on credit, and established a cash price for such lands at $1.25 per acre. Many lands in Alabama had been bid off at ruinous prices. The new law allowed purchasers to make a part surrender and retain so much of their purchases as the partial payment made would entitle them to at the price fixed by law. These laws afforded much relief and the Alabama delegation. particularly Senators King and Wal- ker, received the grateful plaudits of their constituents for the efficient services they had rendered in procuring their enactment.
The earlier republicans or democrats were opposed to United States banks as being unconstitutional and inexpedient. Jefferson was espe- cially hostile to such an institution, and the charter of the bank author- ized in 1791 for a period of twenty years had been allowed to expire in 1811 without an extension. But the exigencies of the war of 1812 seem to have convinced President Madison and his friends that such a bank was both necessary and constitutional, and in 1816, a second bank of the
22
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA,
United States was chartered for a like period of twenty years. Strange inconsistency ! many democrats favored and a democratic president signed the bill, while the federalists for the most part opposed it. As these latter, however, had opposed the war, they now seemed to think they ought to oppose every measure that appeared to be an outgrowth of the war, no matter how much they might have been previously committed to such legislation.
In 1824. congrees increased tariff duties. Many members advocated this increase avowedly for the sake of protecting American industries. The leader among these was Henry Clay, who then began to be known as the great apostle of the "American system." But the public debt had then grown to $90.000,000; increased revenues were necessary and Presi. dent Monroe signed the bill. Alabama, however, was always opposed to the theory of protection. King and Kelly in the senate and Owens in the house spoke against the bill.
The republican party had now begun to disintegrate. For years it had been practically without an organized opposition and it could no longer hold together. The lines of clevage were somewhat like those that had separated democrats and federalists. Those who, with Clay, believed in such a latitudinarian construction of the constitution as would authorize a protective tariff and internal improvements, denominated themselves "national republicans." Their adversaries continued to style themselevs "democratic republicans" or "democrats." But the lines of separation were not yet complete. and the whig party as such had not yet come into existence. In 1824, no candidate having received a majority of the elec- toral vote, John Quincy Adams was elected president by the house of representatives. In 1828. congress again increased the tariff by what was called the "bill of abominations." said to have been secured by a combi- nation of manufacturing interests All the Alabama members took a decided stand against this bill. but they did not, with Mr. Calhoun. support the subsequent attempt by the state of South Carolina to nullify the, act, although there was more or less sympathy with the movement-espe- cially in the part of Messrs. Dixon H. Lewis and David Hubbard of the house.
In the election of 1828. which immediately followed the passage of the "bill of abominations," General Jackson was chosen president. This was understood at the time to be a victory for those opposed to protective tariffs and internal improvements. It subsequently proved to be also a triumph over the bank of the United States, for President Jackson in his first message began his war upon the bank and was able, during his first term. by rallying democrats to his position and by the interposi- tion of his veto, July 10, 1832. to defeat a bill to re-charter that institu- tion.
Democratic anti-tariff sentiment was not strong enough in congress to repeal the tariff act of 1525 during either of the first three sessions under
23
ALABAMA IN FEDERAL POLITICS.
Jackson's administration, but the debates in and out of congress had steadity incraesed the hostility to that act, public opinion becoming much inflamed-especially in South Carolina. Her senators and representatives began to maintain in the halls of congress the right of a state to nullify a law of congress held by the state to be unconstitutional and oppressive. Mr. Hayne claimed, with much show of reason, in his great debate with ' Webster, that this right was sustained by the Virginia resolutions, which, as has been stated, were written by Mr. Madison, and especially by the Kentucky resolutions, of which Mr. Jefferson was the author. It was also asserted that the Hartford convention, representing those in the New England states who were opposed to the then pending war with England. and especially to the embargo act, had taken the same position, the jour- nal of that convention of January 4, 1815, declaring, "That acts of con- gress in violation of the constitution are absolutely void is an undeniable proposition. It does not, however, consist with the respect due from a confederate state toward the general government to fly to open resistance upon every infraction of the constitution." "But in case of deliberate, dan- gerous and palpable infractions of the constitution affecting the sover- eignty of the state and the liberties of the people, it is not only the right but the duty of such state to interpose its authority for their protection in the manner best calculated to secure that end. When emergencies occur which are either beyond the reach of judicial tribunals or two press- ing to admit of the delay incident to their forms, states, which have no common umpire, must be their own judges and execute their own deci- sions." Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge, in his Boston oration July 4, 1879, says: "The union was never in greater peril than in 1814, when New England threatened secession unless the administration and the ruling party yielded to her demands."
- The presidential election of 1932 was very exciting. Henry Clay and John Sargent were the candidates of the national republicans, as the whigs were then called, and Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, of the democrats. Party lines were now distinctly drawn. The recent dis- cussions in congress growing out of the tariff, nullification and Jackson's "war upon the bank." had inflamed the public mind to a white heat. South Carolina was getting ready for nullification and took no part in the election. Clay stood for the bank, the tariff and internal improvements- Jackson was for a lower tariff, against internal improvements and against the bank. He contended that the bank was not only a vicious institution, corrupting the morals and endangering even the liberties of the people, but that it was also unconstitutional. All the power of the bank of the United States, and it was said, of all the banks in the union, and cer- tainly of all the manufacturing interests, was arrayed against him. but Jackson was re-elected by an immense majority, and the incoming con- gress was in full sympathy with him on all these questions. Alabama's senators and representatives were all democrats.
.
:
24
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA
The election was on the first Tuesday of November, but, notwithstand- ing the result was such as to promise speedy relief from the oppressive high tariff of which she complained, the state of South Carolina, in con- vention assembled. on the 24th of November, proceeded to pass "An ordinance to nullify certain acts of the congress of the United States pur- porting to be laws laying duties and imposts on the importation of foreign commodities." The ordinance declared the right and purpose of the state to prevent the enforcement of these laws within its limits after the first of February following, and the state was taking steps to carry out this purpose when President Jackson issued his celebrated proclam- ation exhorting South Carolina to desist, denouncing nullification and warning the people that he would use the whole power of the Federal government to to enforce the lies.
The state continued her attitude of defiance and was organizing troops and collecting munitions of war. The president early in January called upon congress for additional legislation to aid him in enforcing the laws. A bloody crisis was imminent. when Mr. Clay matured and both houses passed his celebrated compromise tariff bill of February 12, 1833, which contemplated a series of annual reductions, one-tenth at a time, of the tariff rates until they should be at 20 per cent., which was to be the universal rate on and after September 30, 1842. South Carolina gave over her project of resistance and the conflict that had seemed inevitable was averted. In . Alabama the masses sustained, as the country rightfully did, the position taken by the president, although many prominent citizens of the state were outspoken nullifiers.
There is no room in this article for even an epitome of the great argu- ment of Jackson's proclamation against nullification. But it is to be . noted as an instance of striking inconsistency that. notwithstanding the firm and decided stand he took against the attempt of a state to nullify a lowe of congress, President Jackson. nevertheless, permitted the state of Georgia to nullify a decision of the supreme court, a co-ordinate depart- ment of the general government. and did not make even a protest. One George Tassells, a Cherokee half-breed, had committed a homicide within the' limits of a certain territory, claimed to be Indian, in the state of Georgia, and by a court of that state was condemned to be hanged. The supreme court of the United States upon writ of error declared the con- viction illegal and void, and it is related that the president thereupon said: "John Marshall (the chief justice) has made his decision, now let him enforce it." The state of Georgia defied the supreme court and Tas- sells was executed December 2-, 1930. The fact is that democrats in the earlier days of the republic were very much disposed to treat with con- tempt the decisions of the supreme court, taking their opinions from Mr. Jefferson, who early declared that tribunal to be a "corps of sappers and miners undermining our constitution."
We have seen that President Jackson, in the campaign of 1832, not
25
ALABAMA IN FEDERAL POLITICS.
content with having the people decide on the expediency or inexpediency of the United States bank, had also had them to declare that it was unconstitutional. notwithstanding the fact that the supreme court in Mccullough vs. Maryland had decided otherwise. Thomas H. Benton, who was the right arm of Jackson in his war against nullification, tells us in . his "Thirty Years in the United States Senate" (Vol. 1, page 24), that Senator Gabriel Moore. of Alabama, made a motion during the discussion of the bank bill in 1832, "declaratory of the right of the states to admit or deny the establishment of branches of the mother bank within their limits." This was after the decision in Mccullough vs. Maryland on the very point, and yet Mr. Benton tells us that he supported Mr. Moore's motion and he gives his argument.
In 1833 a serious controversy arose between the authorities of Alabama and of the United States, growing immediately out of the killing of one Owens by the United States soldiers who were engaged in removing trespassers from lands within the Creek rsservation. It was much like Tassells case. The United States officer denied the jurisdiction of the state courts to try the soldier for murder, and a sharp corre- spondence ensued between Governor John Gayle and Mr. Cass. secretary of war at Washington. So angry and threatening did the controversy become that the attention of the whole country was attracted to it. A committee of young men in New York city offered the services of a company of volunteers to Governor Gayle and the state legislature declared, by resolution. its approval of the position taken by the governor in firmly maintaining the jurisdiction of the state courts. The president sent down Mr. Francis S. Key. author of the "Star Spangled Banner", as special commissioner to negotiate with the Alabama authorities. A compromise was effected by admitting the jurisdiction of the state courts over the soldier who kileld Owens, modifying the order for the removal of settlers and providing for the carly settlement of titles to the lands in question.
In the canvass for the presidency in 1936, the whig party, destined for twenty years to be the great antagonist of the democratic party. was in the field for the first time . under that name, with Gen. William Henry Harrison. the hero of Tippecanoe. as its nominee. This party comprised, within its ranks. a large share of the wealthier class of voters. and. as wealth gives educational advantages, it boasted also of the conservatism and culture of its followers. The democratic party from the days of Jef- ferson, its founder. has appealed always by its pronounced democratic teachings. more powerfully to the masses of the people. Thus it was that Jefferson was sustained in his fight against Hamilton by the masses, while the latter gathered 'into the folds of the federal party the same classes who now composed the dominant element of the whig party. But the whigs never advocated the extreme docrines of the former opponents of the democracy, and always resented the appellation of "federalists"
26
1
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
when applied to them, as it often was, in the bitter political contests which were to follow. Indeed. there was at all times to be found in the south a considerable number of states' rights whigs. The whigs, how- ever, as a party gave a more latitudinarian construction to the Federal constitution and favored a stronger general government than did the dem- ocrats, whose politics pivoted on state sovereignty as the muniment of local self-government and individual liberty. These lines, as distinguish- ing the two parties, were clearly drawn in the canvass of 1836. The whig . platform favored a national bank. a protective tariff and internal improve- ments; all these the democrats opposed, and they elected their candi- date, Martin Van Buren. by a large majority.
Alabama voted for Van Buren, all the more heartily because it was understood he was General Jackson's preference. Her people never for- got their debt of gratitude to Andrew Jackson. He was the hero of the Creek war; he had fought on Alabama soil for the protection of Alabama, and subsequently in Florida in order to give peace to her borders, he had taken upon himself by a stretch of military authority to hang those enemies of her early settlers, Arbuthnot and Ambrister. The eloquent philippic pro- nounced against Gen. Jackson by Henry Clay, in which he pictured the danger to our free institutions from the abritrary exercise of authority by a military chieftain, only fixed the old hero more firmly in the affection of the masses, for there is nothing that attracts the people more than courage, especially when displayed in trampling under foot more or less of law and precedent in their behalf.
From the day of her admission into the union. Alabama had been represented in Washington by men of ability and high character. . William R. King, noted for his polished manners, good judgment and fidelity to every obligation, had been continuously in the United States senate from the admission of the state. For the first three years his colleague was John W. Walker, a man of great talent and culture. These had been succeeded by William Kelly, Henry Chambers and John McKinley, and now by Gabriel Moore. The delegation in the house at this period consisted of Reuben Chapman, who subsequently became governor. Joab Lawler, Dixon H. Lewis, afterward, senator. Joshua L. Martin. afterward governor, and Francis S. Lyon. who was destined to endear himself to Alabama by ac- complishing the difficult task of winding up satisfactorily the complicated affairs of the state banks.
The Alabama delegation in congress heartily supported Mr. VanBuren's administration, including his sub-treasury scheme. This contemplated a sub-treasury and branches in which were to be deposited public funds. and the establishment of these finally completed the divorce of the government from the banks. The Alabama democracy also supported enthusiastically the celebrated resolutions of Mr. Benton expunging the resolution condemning President Jackson for removing the government deposits from the United States bank. This was considered "a great
/
27
ALABAMA IN FEDERAL POLITICS.
triumph for Jackson. and Mr. King was no doubt highly gratified to be in the chair as presiding officer of the senate when the resolution passed. But almost as soon as Jackson retired to private life, the tide began to turn against the triumphant democracy. The great panic of 1837 came upon the country, bringing distress and bankruptcy in its train, begetting the remarkable whig triumph of 1840. and eventually the bankrupt law of 1842. The whigs attributed the panic to General Jackson's financial policy, the refusal to re-charter the United States bank. the removal of the deposits and the specie circular requiring all payments for govern- ment lands to be paid in coin. The great contest between the whig and democratic parties. that was to continue in Alabama for many years, was now fairly on. The state banks, notwithstanding extravagant issues to them of state bonds, like the banks all over the Union, had suspended specie payment. Coin was exceedingly scarce and the specie circular was a heavy burden for the party to carry.
In 1838, George W. Crabb, a whig, was elected from the Tuscaloosa district to fill out the unexpired term of Joab Lawler, a democrat, and not only was Crabb re-elected in 1539, but another whig. Mr. James Dellett, a very able man, was this year returned from the Mobile district.
And now came on the great campaign of 1840. The issues were already made up and the whigs again put General Harrison at their head, the democrats re-nominating Van Buren. During the previous year (1839) an angry and irritating debate had taken place in the house of represent- atives at Washington upon anti-slavery petitions presented by Mr. Slade of Vermont, and southern democrats sought to avail themselves of the animosities engendered by this discussion to aid them in the presidential canvass. The Alabama senators, King and Clay, and Representatives Dixon H. Lewis. Reuben Chapman and David Hubbard, had issued an address to the people of the state, in which they said: "The democratic state convention in Ohio and most of the democratic conventions in the free states have openly denounced abolitionism. We challenge our oppo- nents to show where a whig convention. a whig legislature. or any other whig association in a non-slave-holding state, has uttered one sentiment. of disapprobation of the abolitionists and their incendiary schemes." But the battle was not to be fought on that line. Nothing could divert attention from the financial condition of the country. The charge that President Van Buren was using gold spoons in the White House, was more potent than any apparition of the demon abolitionism. that could be conjured; and to complete the discomfiture of the democrats, the ridi- cule of General Harrison by a democratic editor now gave a final turn to the canvass that nothing could resist. Denominating him a "harmless old man." this luckless editor said that "if supplied with a barrel of hard cider and a good sea-coal fire. he would be content to pass the remainder of his days in his log cabin without aspiring to the presidency." Instantly log-cabins, ornamented with coon skins and strings of red pepper, and
28
MEMORIAL RECORD OF ALABAMA.
supplied with cider barrels, appeared all over the country. The latch- string was always outside the cabin door to represent the unpretending hospitality of the farmer and of his representative, the old hero of Tippe- canoe, in his home. The whole country went wild with enthusiasm, that grew and continued to grow during the many months of the canvass, which lasted from January to November. In Alabama, Georgia. Indiana, Ohio, and many other states, protracted political gatherings were held. lasting sometimes a whole week. The demcerats held their protracted meetings also and strove manfully to stem the tide that was setting against them, but in vain. Harrison secured 234 electoral votes: Van Buren ouly sixty.
But Alabama had been saved and the democrats were disposed to make the most of it. Governor Bagby, in a message to the legislature, recom- mended that the five representatives to which the state was entitled should be elected by the "general ticket system." This plan contem- plated election by the state at large, and, as the state was democratic, would deprive the whigs of representation in congress. In his message the govenror said: "With the view to concentrate more perfectly the political energies of the state. so far as practicable. and of consummating the genuine states rights' doctrine, I beg leave respectfully to suggest the propriety of changing the mode of electing the members of congress by districts, and of substituting, instead thereof, the general ticket system. Every state entitled to a separate and independent existence is supposed to possess a sovereign will, constituted according to the theory of our govern- ment, of the opinions and wishes of a majority of its people. This sovereign will, when ascertained according to the provisions of the constitution. forms after all the great operative principle of representative democratic government. Hence in elections, whatever method is most likely to obtain an expresion of that will and to carry it out in practice. is the most con- genial to the theory of our form of government. According to the theory of our government. the people of the states are represented in the popu lar branch of the legislature-the people of the states in their aggregate sovereign capacity-and if it be true that the will of this aggregate sov- ereign constitutes the great cardinal and distinctive feature of represent- ative government, it would seem to follow. inevitably. that whatever method was most likely to ascertain that sovereign will and preserve it entire, is most conformable not only to the spirit of the constitution. but most conducive to the perpetuity of the sovereignty of the states." etc. The suggestion was followed and the general ticket system was adopted. The result was that, in 1841. Payne. Chapman. Lewis. Shields and Houston, all democrats, were elected. after a campaign in which the whigs inveighed bitterly against the general ticket system.
This system proved unpopular, and the legislature of 1842 repealed it, substituting a law dividing the state into seven congressional districts on the "white basis," or according to the white population. Up to the time
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.