USA > Illinois > Brown County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 5
USA > Illinois > Cass County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 5
USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Biographical review of Cass, Schuyler and Brown Counties, Illinois: Containing biographical sketches of pioneers and leading citizens > Part 5
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Andrew was now, at the age of twenty, a tall young man, being over six feet in height. He was slender, remarkably grace- ful and dignified in his manners, an exquis- ite horseman, and developed, amidst his loathesome profanity and multiform vices, a vein of rare magnanimity. His temper was fiery in the extreme; but it was said of him that no man knew better than Andrew Jackson when to get angry and when not.
In 1786 he was admitted to the bar, and two years later removed to Nashville, in what was then the western district of North Carolina, with the appointment of so- licitor, or public prosecutor. It was an of- fice of little honor, small emolument and great peril. Few men could be found to accept it.
And now Andrew Jackson commenced vigorously to practice law. It was an im- portant part of his business to collect debts. It required nerve. During the first seven years of his residence in those wilds he
traversed the almost pathless forest between Nashville and Jonesborough, a distance of 200 miles, twenty-two times. Hostile In- dians were constantly on the watch, and a man was liable at any moment to be shot down in his own field. Andrew Jackson was just the man for this service -- a wild, daring, rough backwoodsman. Daily he made hair-breadth escapes. He seemed to bear a charmed life. Boldly, alone or with few companions, he traversed the forests, encountering all perils and triumphing over all.
In 1790 Tennessee became a Territory, and Jackson was appointed, by President Washington, United States Attorney for the new district. In 1791 he married Mrs. Rachel Robards (daughter of Colonel John Donelson), whom he supposed to have been divorced in that year by an act of the Leg- islature of Virginia. Two years after this Mr. and Mrs. Jackson learned, to their great surprise, that Mr. Robards had just obtained a divorce in one of the courts of Kentucky, and that the act of the Virginia Legislature was not final, but conditional. To remedy the irregularity as much as pos- sible, a new license was obtained and the marriage ceremony was again performed.
It proved to be a marriage of rare felic- ity. Probably there never was a more affectionate union. However rough Mr. Jackson might have been abroad, he was always gentle and tender at home; and through all the vicissitudes of their lives, he treated Mrs. Jackson with the most chival- ric attention.
Under the circumstances it was not un- natural that the facts in the case of this marriage were so misrepresented by oppo- nents in the political campaigns a quarter or a century later as to become the basis of serious charges against Jackson's moral- ity which, however, have been satisfactorily attested by abundant evidence.
Jackson was untiring in his duties as
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United States Attorney, which demanded frequent journeys through the wilderness and exposed him to Indian hostilities. He acquired considerable property in land, and obtained such influence as to be chosen a member of the convention which framed the Constitution for the new State of Ten- nessee, in 1796, and in that year was elected its first Representative in Congress. Albert Gallatin thus describes the first appearance of the Hon. Andrew Jackson in the House: " A tall, lank, uncouth-looking personage, . with locks of hair hanging over his face and a cue down his back, tied with an eel skin; his dress singular, his manners and deport- ment those of a rough backwoodsman."
Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Democratic party. Jefferson was his idol. He admired Bonaparte, loved France and hated England. As Mr. Jackson took his seat, General Washington, whose second term of office was just expiring, delivered his last speech to Congress. A committee drew up a complimentary address in reply. Andrew Jackson did not approve the ad- dress and was one of twelve who voted against it.
Tennessee had fitted out an expedition against the Indians, contrary to the policy of the Government. A resolution was intro- duced that the National Government should pay the expenses. Jackson advo- cated it and it was carried. This rendered him very popular in Tennessee. A va- cancy chanced soon after to occur in the Senate, and Andrew Jackson was chosen United States Senator by the State of Ten- nessee. John Adams was then President and Thomas Jefferson, Vice-President.
In 1798 Mr. Jackson returned to Tennes- see, and resigned his seat in the Senate. Soon after he was chosen Judge of the Su- preme Court of that State, with a salary of $600. This office he held six years. It is said that his decisions, though sometimes ungrammatical, were generally right. He
did not cnjoy his seat upon the bench, and renounced the dignity in 1804. About this time he was chosen Major-General of militia, and lost the title of judge in that of General.
When he retired from the Senate Cham- ber, he decided to try his fortune through trade. He purchased a stock of goods in Philadelphia and sent them to Nashville, where he opened a store. He lived about thirteen miles from Nashville, on a tract of land of several thousand acres, mostly un- cultivated. He used a small block-house for a store, from a narrow window of which he sold goods to the Indians. As he had an assistant his office as judge did not materially interfere with his business.
As to slavery, born in the midst of it, the idea never seemed to enter his mind that it could be wrong. He eventually became an extensive slave owner, but he was one of the most humane and gentle of masters.
In 1804 Mr. Jackson withdrew from pol- itics and settled on a plantation which he called the Hermitage, near Nashville. He · set up a cotton-gin, formed a partnership and traded in New Orleans, making the voyage on flatboats. Through his hot tem- per he became involved in several quarrels and " affairs of honor," during this period, in one of which he was severely wounded, but had the misfortune to kill his opponent, Charles Dickinson. For a time this affair greatly injured General Jackson's popular- ity. The verdict then was, and continues to be, that General Jackson was outra- geously wrong. If he subsequently felt any remorse he never revealed it to anyone.
In 1805 Aaron Burr had visited Nash- ville and been a guest of Jackson, with whom he corresponded on the subject of . a war with Spain, which was anticipated and desired by them, as well as by the people of the Southwest generally.
Burr repeated his visit in September, 1806, when he engaged in the celebrated
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combinations which led to his trial for trea- son. He was warmly received by Jackson, at whose instance a public ball was given in his honor at Nashville, and contracted with the latter for boats and provisions. Early in 1807, when Burr had been pro- claimed a traitor by President Jefferson, volunteer forces for the Federal service were organized at Nashville under Jack- son's command; but his energy and activ- ity did not shield him from suspicions of connivance in the supposed treason. He was summoned to Richmond as a witness in Burr's trial, but was not called to the stand, probably because he was out-spoken in his partisanship.
On the outbreak of the war with Great Britain in 1812, Jackson tendered his serv- ices, and in January, 1813, embarked for New Orleans at the head of the Tennessee contingent. In March he received an or- der to disband his forces; but in Septem- ber he again took the field, in the Creek war, and in conjunction with his former partner, Colonel Coffee, inflicted upon the Indians the memorable defeat at Talladega, Emuckfaw and Tallapoosa.
In May, 1814, Jackson, who had now ac- quired a national reputation, was appointed a Major-General of the United States army, and commenced a campaign against the British in Florida. He conducted the de- fense at Mobile, September 15, seized upon Pensacola, November 6, and immediately transported the bulk of his troops to New Orleans, then threatened by a powerful naval force. Martial law was declared in Louisiana, the State militia was called to arms, engagements with the British were fought December 23 and 28, and after re-en- forcements had been received on both sides the famous victory of January 8, 1815, crowned Jackson's fame as a soldier, and made him the typical American hero of the first half of the nineteenth century.
In 1817-'18 Jackson conducted the war
against the Seminoles of Florida, during which he seized upon Pensacola and exe- cuted by courtmartial two British subjects, Arbuthnot and Ambrister-acts which might easily have involved the United States in war both with Spain and Great Britain. Fortunately the peril was averted by the cession of Florida to the United States; and Jackson, who had escaped a trial for the irregularity of his conduct only through a division of opinion in Mon- roe's cabinet, was appointed in 1821 Gov- ernor of the new Territory. Soon after he declined the appointment of minister to Mexico.
In 1823 Jackson was elected to the United States Senate, and nominated by the Ten- nessee Legislature for the Presidency. This candidacy, though a matter of surprise, and even merryment, speedily became popular, and in 1824, when the stormy electoral can- vas resulted in the choice of John Quincy Adams by the House of Representatives,. , General Jackson received the largest popu- lar vote among the four candidates.
In 1828 Jackson was triumphantly elected President over Adams after a campaign of unparalleled bitterness. He was inaugu- rated March 4, 1829, and at once removed from office all the incumbents belonging to the opposite party-a procedure new to American politics, but which naturally be- came a precedent.
His first term was characterized by quar- rels between the Vice-President, Calhoun, and the Secretary of State, Van Buren, at- tended by a cabinet crisis originating in scandals connected with the name of Mrs. General Eaton, wife of the Secretary of War; by the beginning of his war upon the United States Bank, and by his vigorous action against the partisans of Calhoun, who, in South Carolina, threatened to nullify the acts of Congress, establishing a protective tariff.
. In the Presidential campaign of 1832
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Jackson received 219 out of 288 electoral votes, his competitor being Mr. Clay, while Mr. Wirt, on an Anti-Masonic platform, received the vote of Vermont alone. In 1833 President Jackson removed the Gov- ernment deposits from the United States bank, thereby incurring a vote of censure from the Senate, which was, however, ex- punged four years later. During this second term of office the Cherokees, Choctaws and Creeks were removed, not without diffi- culty, from Georgia, Alabama and Missis- sippi, to the Indian Territory; the National debt was extinguished; Arkansas and Michigan were admitted as States to the Union; the Seminole war was renewed; the anti-slavery agitation first acquired impor- tance; the Mormon delusion, which had organized in 1829, attained considerable proportions in Ohio and Missouri, and the country experienced its greatest pecuniary panic. .
Railroads with locomotive propulsion were introduced into America during Jack- son's first term, and had become an impor- tant element of national life before the close of his second term. For many rea- sons, theretore, the administration of Presi- dent Jackson formed an era in American history, political, social and industrial. He succeeded in effecting the election of
his friend Van Buren as his successor, re- tired from the Presidency March 4, 1837; and led a tranquil life at the Hermitage until his death, which occurred June 8, 1845.
During his closing years he was a pro- fessed Christian and a member of the Pres- byterian church. No American of this century has been the subject of such oppo- site judgments. He was loved and hated with equal vehemence during his life, but at the present distance of time from his career, while opinions still vary as to the merits of his public acts, few of his country- men will question that he was a warm- hearted, brave, patriotic, honest and sincere man. If his distinguishing qualities were not such as constitute statesmanship, in the highest sense, he at least never pretended to other merits than such as were written to his credit on the page of American his- tory-not attempting to disguise the de- merits which were equally legible. The majority of his countrymen accepted and honored him, in spite of all that calumny as well as truth could allege against him. His faults may therefore be truly said to have been those of his time; his magnifi- cent virtues may also, with the same jus- tice, be considered as typical of a state of society which has nearly passed away.
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MARTIN VAN BUREN .: +
ARTIN VAN BU- REN, the eighth President of the United States, 1837- '41, was born at Kin- derhook, New York, December 5, 1782. His ancestors were of Dutch origin, and were among the earliest emigrants from Hol- land to the banks of the Hudson. His father was a tavern-keeper, as well as a farmer, and a very decided Democrat.
Martin commenced the study of law at the age of fourteen, and took an active part in politics before he had reached the age of twenty. In 1803 he commenced the practice of law in his native village. In 1809 he removed to Hudson, the shire town of his county, where he spent seven years, gaining strength by contending in the courts with some of the ablest men who have adorned the bar of his State. The heroic example of John Quincy Adams in retaining in office every faithful man, without regard to his political preferences, had been thoroughly repudiated by Gen- eral Jackson. The unfortunate principlc was now fully established, that "to the victor belong the spoils." Still, this prin- ciple, to which Mr. Van Buren gave his ad-
herence, was not devoid of inconveniences. When, subsequently, he attained power which placed vast patronage in his hands, he was heard to say: "I prefer an office that has no patronage. When I give a man an office I offend his disappointed competi. tors and their friends. Nor am I certain of gaining a friend in the man I appoint, for, in all probability, he expected something better."
In 1812 Mr. Van Buren was elected to the State Senate. In 1815 he was appointed Attorney-General, and in 1816 to the Senate a second time. In 1818 there was a great split in the Democratic party in New York, and Mr. Van Buren took the lead in or- ganizing that portion of the party called the Albany Regency, which is said to have swayed the destinies of the State for a quarter of a century.
In 1821 he was chosen a member of the convention for revising the State Constitu- tion, in which he advocated an extension of the franchise, but opposed universal suf- frage, and also favored the proposal that colored persons, in order to vote, should have freehold property to the amount of $250. In this year he was also elected to the United States Senate, and at the con- clusion of his term, in 1827, was re-elected, but resigned the following year, having been chosen Governor of the State. In March, 1829, he was appointed Secretary of
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MARTIN VAN BUREN.
State by President Jackson, but resigned in April, 1831, and during the recess of Congress was appointed minister to Eng- land, whither he proceeded in September, but the Senate, when convened in Decem- ber, refused to ratify the appointment.
In May, 1832, Mr. Van Buren was nomi- nated as the Democratic candidate for Vice- President, and elected in the following November. May 26, 1836, he received the nomination to succeed General Jackson as President, and received 170 electoral votes, out of 283.
Scarcely had he taken his seat in the Presidential chair when a financial panic swept over the land. Many attributed this to the war which General Jackson had waged on the banks, and to his endeavor to secure an almost exclusive specie currency. Nearly every bank in the country was 'com- pelled to suspend specie payment, and ruin pervaded all our great cities. Not less than 254 houses failed in New York in one week. All public works were brought to a stand, and there was a general state of, dismay. President Van Buren urged the adoption of the independent treasury system, which was twice passed in the Senate and defeated in the House, but finally became a law near the close of his administration.
Another important measure was the pass- age of a pre-emption law, giving actual set- tlers the preference in the purchase of public lands. The question of slavery, also, now began to assume great prominence in national politics, and after an elaborate anti-slavery speech by Mr. Slade, of Ver- mont, in the House of Representatives, the Southern members withdrew for a separate consultation, at which Mr. Rhett, of South Carolina, proposed to declare it expedient that the Union should be dissolved; but the matter was tided over by the passage of a resolution that no petitions or papers relating to slavery should be in any way considered or acted upon.
In the Presidential election of 1840 Mr. Van Buren was nominated, without opposi- tion, as the Democratic candidate, William H. Harrison being the candidate of the Whig party. The Democrats carried only seven States, and out of 294 electoral votes only sixty were for Mr. Van Buren, the re- maining 234 being for his opponent. The Whig popular majority, however, was not large, the elections in many of the States being very close.
March 4, 1841, Mr. Van Buren retired from the Presidency. From his fine estate at Lindenwald he still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics of the country. In 1844 he was again proposed as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency, and a majority of the delegates of the nominating convention were in his favor ; but, owing to his opposition to the pro- posed annexation of Texas, he could not secure the requisite two-thirds vote. His name was at length withdrawn by his friends, and Mr. Polk received the nomina- tion, and was elected.
In 1848 Mr. Cass was the regular Demo- cratic candidate. A schism, however, sprang up in the party, upon the question of the permission of slavery in the newly- acquired territory, and a portion of the party, taking the name of "Free-Soilers," nominated Mr. Van Buren. They drew away sufficient votes to secure the election of General Taylor, the Whig candidate. After this Mr. Van Buren retired to his es- tate at Kinderhook, where the remainder of his life was passed, with the exception of a European tour in 1853. He died at Kinderhook, July 24, 1862, at the age of eighty years.
Martin Van Buren was a great and good man, and no one will question his right to a high position among those who have been the successors of Washington in the faithful occupancy of the Presidential chair.
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PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
ILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, the ninth President of the United States, 184 1, was born February 9, 1773, in Charles County, Virginia, at Berkeley, the resi- dence of his father, Governor Benjamin Harrison. He studied at Hampden, Sidney College, with a view of entering the med- ical profession. After graduation he went to Philadelphia to study medicine under the instruction of Dr. Rush.
George Washington was then President of the United States. The Indians were committing fearful ravages on our North- western frontier. Young Harrison, either lured by the love of adventure, or moved by the sufferings of families exposed to the most horrible outrages, abandoned his med- ical studies and entered the army, having obtained a commission of ensign from Pres- ident Washington. The first duty assigned him was to take a train of pack-horses bound to Fort Hamilton, on the Miami River, about forty miles from Fort Wash- ington. He was soon promoted to the
rank of Lieutenant, and joined the army which Washington had placed under the command of General Wayne to prosecute more' vigorously the war with the In- dians. Lieutenant Harrison received great commendation from his commanding offi- cer, and was promoted to the rank of Captain, and placed in command at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, Ohio.
About this time he married a daughter of John Cleves Symmes, one of the fron- tiersmen who had established a thriving settlement on the bank of the Maumee.
In 1797 Captain Harrison resigned his commission in the army and was appointed Secretary of the Northwest Territory, and ex-officio Lieutenant-Governor, General St. Clair being then Governor of the Territory. At that time the law in reference to the disposal of the public lands was such that no one could purchase in tracts less than 4,000 acres. Captain Harrison, in the face of violent opposition, succeeded in obtaining so much of a modification of this unjust law that the land was sold in alternate tracts of 640 and 320 acres. The Northwest Territory was then entitled to one delegate in Congress, and Cap- tain Harrison was chosen to fill that of- fice. In 1800 he was appointed Governor
W. H. Hanijon
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WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON.
of Indiana Territory and soon after of Upper Louisiana. He was also Superin- tendent of Indian Affairs, and so well did he fulfill these duties that he was four times appointed to this office. During his admin- istration he effected thirteen treaties with the Indians, by which the United States acquired 60,000,000 acres of land. In 1804 he obtained a cession from the Indians of all the land between the Illinois River and the Mississippi.
In 1812 he was made Major-General of Kentucky militia and Brigadier-General in the army, with the command of the Northwest frontier. In 1813 he was made Major-General, and as such won much re- nown by the defense of Fort Meigs, and the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813. In 1814 he left the army and was employed in Indian affairs by the Government.
In 1816 General Harrison was chosen a member of the National House of Repre- sentatives to represent the district of Ohio. In the contest which preceded his election he was accused of corruption in respect to the commissariat of the army. Immedi- ately upon taking his seat, he called for an investigation of the charge. A committee was appointed, and his vindication was triumphant. A high compliment was paid to his patriotism, disinterestedness and devotion to the public service. For these services a gold medal was presented to him with the thanks of Congress.
In 1819 he was elected to the Senate of Ohio, and in 1824, as one of the Presiden- tial electors of that State, he gave his vote to Henry Clay. In the same year he was elected to the Senate of the United States. In 1828 he was appointed by President Adams minister plenipotentiary to Colom- bia, but was recalled by General Jackson immediately after the inauguration of the latter.
Upon his return to the United States, General Harrison retired to his farm at
North Bend, Hamilton County, Ohio, six- teen miles below Cincinnati, where for twelve years he was clerk of the County Court. He once owned a distillery, but perceiving the sad effects of whisky upon the surrounding population, he promptly abandoned his business at great pecuniary sacrifice.
In 1836 General Harrison was brought forward as a candidate for the Presidency. Van Buren was the administration candi- date; the opposite party could not unite, and four candidates were brought forward. General Harrison received seventy-three electoral votes without any general concert among his friends. The Democratic party triumphed and Mr. Van Buren was chosen President. In 1839 General Harrison was again nominated for the Presidency by the Whigs, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Mr. Van Buren being the Democratic candi- date. General Harrison received 234 elec- toral votes against sixty for his opponent. This election is memorable chiefly for the then extraordinary means employed during the canvass for popular votes. Mass meet- ings and processions were introduced, and the watchwords "log cabin " and " hard cider " were effectually used by the Whigs, and aroused a popular enthusiasm.
A vast concourse of people attended his inauguration. His address on that occasion was in accordance with his antecedents, and gave great satisfaction. A short time after he took his seat, he was seized by a pleurisy- fever, and after a few days of violent sick- ness, died April 4, just one short month after his inauguration. His death was universally regarded as one of the greatest of National calamities. Never, since' the death of Washington, were there, throughout one land, such demonstrations of sorrow. Not one single spot can be found to sully his fame; and through all ages Americans will pronounce with love and reverence the name of William Henry Harrison.
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JOHN TYLER.
OHN TYLER, the tenth President of the United States, was born in Charles City County, Virginia, March 29, 1790. His father, Judge John Tyler, possessed large landed estates in Virginia, and was one of the most distinguished men of his day, filling the offices of Speaker of the House of Delegates, Judge of the Su- preme Court and Governor of the State.
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