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The overthrow of White's enemies in Tennessee was complete. Almost the only victory of the Jackson men was the defeat in 1835 of Bell by Polk for the speaker- ship. The Van Buren organs spared no exertions to drive White into the Whig ranks. From his candidacy dated the Whig party in Tennessee, but he never became a Whig himself. He was an independent in the highest sense of the word, steadfast in his principles, and sacri- ficing nothing to party expediency. Such men as these rarely become great statesmen, but they exemplify a noble phase of human character. To the charge of having abandoned his principles, he retorted that he stood firm, that it was Jackson that had abandoned his. He excited deep indignation among his old friends by supporting the bill to prevent federal interference in local elections. He
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pointed to the fact that he had taken this same position in 1826 and that Jackson had been elected on this issue. In a speech delivered at Knoxville on the 5th of April, 1827, while still a warm friend of Jackson, he had defined his views on all the leading questions of the day. In the matter of internal improvements he said : "I think not only that the United States do not possess this power, but further, it ought never to be surrendered to them." In a speech delivered in the Senate in the very heat of the can- vass, he said : " I have been one of those who do not be- lieve the federal government has the power to carry on a system of internal improvements within the States." He said of protection in 1827: "To give protection to a certain extent, I have never doubted the power of the fed- eral government ; but this, like every other power, ought always to be exercised for the good of the whole." These views he never changed. In 1833 he discussed the na- tional bank idea: "I hold that, by the constitution of the United States, Congress has no power to create a bank, and having no power to create it, we have no power to continue it beyond the time of its limitation." As late as August, 1838, after all his leading supporters had gone over to the Whig party, he still held fast to his ancient moorings. He was. comparing the views on this subject
held by Van Buren and himself. "He is against a national bank and so am I." He held, as Jackson had once held, that Congress could create a bank of deposit and transfer. The only specific charge that White had changed his views on this subject was based upon Bell's celebrated Cassidy letter,1 in which, referring to White's position on the bank question, he remarks that it would be unprecedented and do him a great injury to declare beforehand that he would put his veto upon any measure whatsoever. The only variance between the views of 1 Written May 11, 1835, to Charles Cassidy of Bedford County, Tennessee.
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Jackson and White not founded upon Jackson's desire to be succeeded by " the heir apparent to the government." as Crockett called Van Buren, was that upon the bill to prevent federal influence being exerted in order to affect the result of popular elections. On the 16th of Febru- ary, 1835, White, in the Senate, reviewed his course in the matter. He not only established the fact that he had not changed, but proved unanswerably that the change was in Jackson, who had abandoned his earlier professions on this subject. Upon Benton's Expunging Resolutions. the difference was not political but personal. When Benton first introduced his resolutions to expunge from the Jour- nal of the Senate the vote of censure passed upon him for removing the deposits from the United States Bank, Jackson saw at once that this could be made a test ques- tion as between his friends and enemies. Properly used, it could change the complexion of the Senate which was hostile, and it offered an additional weapon in his attempts to make Van Buren his successor. After all, the whole question was a veritable mist without weight or substance. But White, with characteristic disregard of appearances, at once declared it was unconstitutional to mutilate the records of the Senate by the literal destruction or expur- gation of the offensive vote, and that a rescission and a repeal would accomplish exactly the same result. This position he maintained with unwavering courage, and in reality the question was eventually settled in accordance with his views. The Jackson papers, however, ignored this, and persisted in placing him among the foes of Jack- son, the Federalists, the enemies of good government. Both White and Jackson agreed upon the distribution of the sales of the public lands. In his letter of resignation of 1839 he defines his position on this question : " When a bill was introduced having such a distribution as that spoken of for its object, I voted against its passage and in favor of the veto of the chief magistrate, on the
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ground that no such distribution ought to be made until the public debt was all paid." In his message of 1829, Jackson, anticipating the time when " the application of the revenue to the payment of debt will cease," had sug- gested its distribution among the States for purposes of "internal improvements."
When the subject came up again several years later, White voted for the distribution. The debt had all been paid. The attempt to implicate White and Bell and sub- sequently the Whigs with the Nullifiers was regarded as unworthy serious refutation.
The Van Buren-White-Harrison campaign was long, arduous, and exciting, but lies beyond our scope. White was overwhelmingly defeated, receiving the votes of Georgia and Tennessee only. In addition to this, he was voted for by the Whigs of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisi- ana, Arkansas, and Missouri. Jackson had the mortifi- cation of seeing Van Buren lose Tennessee by 10,039 votes. In the Hermitage polling district, White received 43, Van Buren 18 votes. The defeat of White paved the way for the Whigs in Tennessee. Even then, the de- feat of Van Buren by another candidate would have ce- mented the breach, and probably have left them in as hopeless a minority as in Alabama. But Van Buren was elected. The leading measure of his administration was the Sub-Treasury Bill. This was opposed by White in the Senate, who regarded it as a step toward a treasury bank or a national bank owned and operated entirely by the government, with power to issue currency and as in- creasing the power of the national executive. In 1839 Newton Cannon was again a candidate for governor. He was opposed by General Robert Armstrong, one of Jack- son's most intimate friends and a pronounced Van Buren man. The popular exasperation was still undiminished. Cannon was reelected.
Cave Johnson was a member of Congress from 1829 to
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1845, when he was appointed postmaster-general by Polk, with the exception of one term. This was from 1837 to 1839, when he was defeated because of his opposition to White, the year preceding. Polk was saved by local pride in his prominence as speaker. Grundy was beyond the reach of popular displeasure. A notable indication of popular sentiment was the election of Washington Bar- row, editor of the obnoxious " Republican," as a member of the legislature from the Hermitage district. In a speech in the State Senate on the 18th of October, 1837, Anderson of Davidson County, discussing the election of a United States Senator, declared that he " was proud of the good old name of Whig, and that he accepted the title for himself and party." The Whig party was now fairly established in Tennessee. It was strengthened by the contest in 1839 between James K. Polk and Newton Can- non for the governorship. Jackson experienced deep mortification over the loss of Tennessee. He regarded it as a prodigal son, eating the husks of Whiggery. He was anxious to have the State redeemed. It was agreed that Polk should make the race. If elected, he was to be put upon the ticket in 1840 for the vice-presidency. This part of the programme failed. Polk was nominated by the Tennessee legislature and supported by the Jackson interest, but the antagonisms were too strong in the con- vention and no nomination was made for that office. But in this way attention was drawn to him as " presidential timber."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
POLK AND CANNON.
THE charge made against Polk in 1844 that he was an unknown man was merely a campaign dodge which has been so often repeated that it has been popularly accepted. In truth Polk was an unexpected nominee, not an un- known one. He was as prominent in his day as Mr. Car- lisle is in ours. He was as prominent as Mr. Clay in 1824. He was more prominent than Mr. Lincoln in 1860. He was more prominent than Mr. Hayes in 1876. His career had been one full of gradual growth and co- herent expansion. He had filled several positions and all of them well and with honor. Reared under the influ- ence of Jeffersonian traditions, he had naturally attached himself to Jackson. He was well educated and graduated with the highest honors. He was a rare example of a school-boy whose early promise found future fulfillment. He was clerk of the state Senate for several terms and then a member of the legislature. In 1825 he was elected to Congress, and was continued in office until 1839. when he voluntarily withdrew to enter the canvass for governor. In Congress he had been speaker for two terms, defeating both times John Bell, a personal as well as a political enemy, for they did not speak. Polk was a fine illustra- tion of what can be accomplished by the union of a sound mind, discretion, and great energy. He could not be said to have possessed brilliant parts - he was not an orator - he had none of that broad grasp of intellect with which men who lack industry often supply their deficiencies.
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But he had a mind of singular force, and his industry was both methodical and persistent. He was one of the first politicians of his day. He appreciated public sentiment and knew how to guide it, when it could be guided, to evade it or to follow it when it could not be guided. As president his administration was perhaps the most bril- liant before the war. The very order of mind which ren- dered it impossible for him to inaugurate any of the great questions and lines of public policy to the solution of which were called the ablest diplomatic talents of the day, rendered it possible for him to select fit instruments for the accomplishment of the works whose importance he fully appreciated. In state history he deserves a credit which has never been fully accorded him. He was the first great "stump speaker." He taught the art, not of popular oratory, for he was not an orator, not merely of a thorough discussion of public questions, but the art of pop- ular debate. Polk was always full of his subject, ready at retort, sophistical, quick to capture and turn the guns of his enemy against him. adroit in avoiding an issue whose result must be unfavorable, thoroughly equipped with forcible illustrations, humorous anecdotes, and a ridi- cule which ranged through all the changes from burlesque to wit. After the canvass of 1839, which brought into play upon a broader field the powers which Polk had long utilized and which kept him in Congress fourteen years, " stump speaking " became a distinct political accomplish- ment, which some of the most brilliant orators. Clay for instance, never possessed ; which, on the contrary. some of the politicians of third rate power, Governor McNutt of Mississippi for instance, possessed in an eminent de- gree. But Polk taught the art.
" Most can raise the flowers now, For all have got the seed."
In politics he was something more than a friend of Jackson - he was his follower. Jackson tolerated no in-
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dependence, and Polk avoided any clash of judgment with assiduous caution. In 1836 the State of Tennessee was overwhelmingly for White. The most prominent Demo- crats in the State were White, Bell, Grundy, Polk, John- son, and Catron. Bell alone had the sturdy determination to sustain White, and even his courage was strengthened by the known prejudice of Jackson. Grundy, Polk, and Johnson all intended at first to support White. They had given evasive answers to the invitation of the Tennessee delegation to attend the meeting of Decem- ber 19 ; so evasive that they had been reckoned among those friendly to White. But an interview with Jackson at once changed their attitude. They declared they were for White in case White was nominated by the conven- tion. Very shortly after this, Jackson wrote the first Gwin letter suggesting a convention, and very shortly after this the convention nominated Van Buren, as men with less foresight and political sagacity than these three had foreseen. Jointly with Jackson, they did as much to defeat White as they could without danger to themselves. They were ably assisted at home by John Catron. These were the four great pillars of that phase of Jacksonism which involved politieal management.
Catron was perhaps the ablest of the four. He was certainly more sprightly and agile. He was a self-edu- cated lawyer who had been placed on the supreme bench of Tennessee. But he was uncouth, full of eccentricities, and overbearing. He says of himself as a lawyer : "I got on very well but often with an arrogance that would have done credit to Castlereagh." In a judge this ar- rogance was offensive and vicious. The greatest incident evil of the many advantages which flow from civilized government is the insolence of office, and Shakespeare's phrase fitted Catron well. He was very unpopular and when last a candidate was defeated. But he was an un- swerving Jackson man. In 1829 he wrote a series of bril-
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liant and plausible letters against a United States Bank, which were extensively copied, and which were not with- out their effect in Jackson's "war on Biddle's Bank." He pursued White with all the malignancy and force of his rugged wit and crushing satire. He had his reward. Of the four pillars of Jackson in Tennessee, it is worthy of note that Grundy and Johnson both became cabinet of- ficers, Polk became president, and that Catron became a United States supreme judge.
In 1839 the controversy was for the first time between the Whigs and the Democrats. The latter granted con- sistency to the old Whigs, but denounced the "New Whigs," such as Bell and Foster, with as much bitterness as the Republicans of the present time denounce the so- called mugwumps. In our day we have seen the addi- tional vigor with which an October election is conducted in a presidential year in a doubtful State. It was under- stood that the election in 1839 in Tennessee was to be the first skirmish of the presidential battle of 1840. Tennes- see was a doubtful State. The Democrats selected the man of all others best fitted to carry it - a selection concurred in by Jackson and Van Buren. Prentiss, the brilliant Mississippian, refused to concur in the vote of thanks at the close of Polk's term as speaker on the ground that this would be used for political purposes in the approach- ing struggle in Tennessee. Newton Cannon was accepted by the Whigs and came forward as a Whig candidate, the first in the history of the State. He attacked Polk for his course in 1836 and as being supported by federal pat- ronage. Jackson he denounced as a despot. But the ad- vantage was all on the side of Polk. Cannon had rather a slow, ponderous delivery, not adapted to the new tactics of his opponent. Polk was Napoleon in the Italian cam- paign, and Cannon closely resembled the Austrian gener- als. The Democrats had a compact organization, and " the hurrah boys," a phrase which came into vogue during this
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canvass, were all for Polk. He had a definite line of pol- iey, and he was for Martin Van Buren for president. Cannon still hoped to receive the votes of many Demoerats who would be alienated by an outspoken preference for Clay, although White openly announced that as between Van Buren and Clay he would vote for the latter. Polk ridiculed Cannon for his indecision in announcing his preference for president. White's pronounced opposition to the sub-treasury scheme hampered Cannon in his ef- forts to win lukewarm Democrats. He was also accused of having neglected the interests of the Tennessee Vol- unteers who had taken part in the Florida War.
A notable addition to the Democratic party was the ad- vent of Jeremiah George Harris upon the field of Tennes- see journalism. The " Union," heretofore a small weekly, was enlarged and issued three times a week. Harris came from New England, New Bedford, where he had edited the New Bedford (Mass.) " Gazette," which had been strongly tinctured with abolition sentiments. Hay- ing charged Bell with leaning towards the abolitionists, the most fatal of political heresies at that time, the "Nashville Banner " procured files of Harris's paper and published extracts strongly squinting towards abolition- ism. But Harris was a born fighter. Having been brought to Tennessee for the purpose of fighting the bat- tle of Democracy, he was often called " Dugald Dalghet- ty." He had learned from George D. Prentice the art of writing pungent paragraphs that stung and irritated. He dealt largely in personal abuse and ridicule. Let those who accuse the present stage of journalism of being char- acterized by vituperation, read the files of the Tennessee papers from 1839 to 1860. The " Union " was for many years the leading Democratic newspaper in the South- west. Harris was a terse, vigorous, rough writer, and wielding the party whip, he could lash the Democrats into a phrenzied fury. He seemed utterly impervious to even
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the most scurrilous assailants. He had a cut of an eagle with wings widespread which he was in the habit of put- ting at the head of any is. ue of the " Union," containing news of a Democratie victory. Judge Guild has pre- served an amusing story about, this eagle, told him by Felix Grundy. News was expected of an election in an adjoining State. While the mail at Murfreesboro was being assorted, a leading Whig, peeping through a win- dow, exclaimed : " It's all over; there is Harris's infernal buzzard in the mail."
Polk opened the campaign on his side by an address to the people of Tennessee, perhaps the ablest political doeu- ment which appeared in this State up to the time of the war. This was the beginning of the custom, which was subsequently carried to great length, of discussing na- tional questions in local elections. Polk defended this procedure on the ground that the objections urged against his election were based on difference of opinion on national questions.1 In this address, he reviews the course of the Whig leaders, deduces their origin from the Federalists, and defends those who had refused to support White, accusing his supporters of a desire to overthrow Jackson in Tennessee. This address caused a great stir among the Whigs. Bell, especially, denounced it bitterly, saying it was " a tissue of the foulest calumnies and false- hoods he had ever seen published since the sun shone in the heavens." It had a powerful effect on the people. On the stump Polk completely demolished Cannon. He ridiculed him so effectively that Cannon abandoned the joint debate on the score of a press of official duties, but was compelled by party friends to resume. Polk was elected by a majority of 3,000 votes, and the Democrats had a safe majority in the legislature. The breach be- tween the faction of the Democratic party which had
1 In 1839, after Polk's election, a committee on federal relations was raised by the General Assembly.
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refused to support White and that faction which had sup- ported him, was widened and rendered impassable by the course of the Democrats in the legislature who instructed White and Foster, the successor of Grundy, to vote for the Sub-Treasury Bill ari other measures favored by Van Buren's administration, in order to drive them from the Senate. In this they were successful and both re- signed.
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CHAPTER XXXV.
THE FIRST WHIG VICTORY.
THE issue of the " Republican Banner " announcing the result of the election of 1839 called for increased ex- ertions and a more thorough organization among the Whigs to rescue the State from giving its vote to Martin Van Buren and his odious administration. "Let the din of preparation be heard throughout the Whig ranks in Middle Tennessee." On the 25th of October a great Whig dinner was given at Island Springs, just below Nashville. Bell made an elaborate speech, cheering the Whigs and denouncing Polk's address. Clay was in- vited to visit Nashville. The Whig party was now thor- oughly rooted in Tennessee soil. An illiberal party man- agement and a despotic use of party power had, in five years, made doubtful a State which had been regarded as the focus of democracy.
The Whigs were desperately in earnest. Whilst their opponents were still rejoicing over their victory, the Whigs were making preparations for the most marvelous political contest which had ever taken place in the Southwest. Through one of those queer revulsions by which nature endeavors to equalize the forces of the world, a revolution took place in the relative position of the parties. The Whigs now had all the advantages of discipline and earnest determination which came from the loss of a skirmish preceding a great decisive battle. The election of 1839 was the Quatre-Bras of the Waterloo of
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1840. The enthusiasm grew from day to day. Whigs meeting each other in the streets spoke of the next ensu- ing election as if their personal fortunes and the fate of the Union depended upon the result. The Whigs drew hope from a comparison of the votes cast in 1837 and 1839. Cannon, the first year, received 52,660, the see- ond, 52,899. Armstrong in 1837, 32.695 and Polk in 1839, 52,899. Thus Polk had been elected by an increase from votes which had been wanting at the polls in 1837, but had not gained by accessions from the Whigs.
The enthusiasm with which the Whigs went to work alarmed and terrified the Democrats. The Whigs of Da- vidson County met on the 7th of September for organiza- tion, and county after county followed this example until the whole State had been put in the condition of an army or of a secret organization. The Democrats accused them of having secret conclaves, grips, and passwords. The "Union " denounced their organizations and committees as " new and strange fermentations in the body politic to be put down by all lovers of peace and social order."
The Whig National Convention met at Harrisburg on the 4th of December, 1839. The Whigs of Tennessee, whose origin dated from the opposition to the convention that nominated Van Buren, refused to send delegates. Harrison was nominated, and for a moment the Whigs of Tennessee whose hearts were set on Clay threatened to rebel. But the tide of popular feeling was running high, and soon all resistance gave way and " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " were taken up with a rush. The Whigs in 1840 advanced no general principles upon which they pro- posed to administer the government, but relied upon attacks on the party in power, upon phrases and catch- words, upon emblems and monster processions, upon ridi- cule of Van Buren and glorification of Harrison, upon brilliant speeches and imposing spectacles. Every party to be successful should have a plan of action as well as
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a plan of attack. The Whigs of 1840 had but the second, and though successful, they crumbled to pieces.
In February, 1840, a monster demonstration at Column- bus, Ohio, suggested the plan of campaign. This was followed by the Young Men's Convention at Baltimore on May 5, which, we are told by a chronicler of the day in words of overpowering eloquence, was " all the imagina- tion could conceive of beauty, grandeur, and sublimity." The very next day, at the same place, the Democratic Con- vention, of which Governor William Carroll was chair- man, met and nominated Van Buren, but made no nomina- tion for vice-president, to the sincere regret of the Whigs in Tennessee, who expected it would be Polk and who hoped to defeat him. The Democrats, who saw little to attack, at first imagined they would have little difficulty in overthrowing the Whigs. But it was Don Quixote's charge upon the wind-mill. In May a Whig festival was held at Clarksville. There were parades of military com- panies, and a procession in which a log-cabin drawn by four horses figured. A live coon was on the top of the cabin. These were the emblems of the Whig candidate. Some Democrat had spoken of Harrison as an old Hoosier who might get along very well as a clerk whose ambition would be satisfied with a log-cabin and a barrel of hard cider. These were unlucky phrases for the Democrats. The Whigs at once adopted them as battle-cries. Goy- ernor William Carroll made a speech in which he belittled Harrison's military ability. This was violently denounced at a meeting held at Tippecanoe where about 20,000 peo- ple were present. Tippecanoe clubs were formed in all parts of the country, and in June a delegation of Indiana Whigs came to Tennessee to present the Nashville Tippe- canoe Club with an Indian canoe, a cage containing a coon, and other Whiggish emblems. The day of their arrival, a log-cabin had been put up on Market Street, built by the personal exertions of Bell and other promi-
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