 Section 5 of the History of the United States by Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard. Part 4. The West and Jacksonian Democracy. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. History of the United States by Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard. Part 4. The West and Jacksonian Democracy. Chapter 11. Jacksonian Democracy. Concluded. The Rise of the Whigs. Jackson's measures arouse opposition. Measures so decided, policies so radical, and conduct so high-handed could not fail to arouse against Jackson a deep and exasperated opposition. The truth is, the conduct of his entire administration profoundly disturbed the business and finances of the country. It was accompanied by conditions similar to those which existed under the Articles of Confederation. A paper currency almost as unstable and irritating as the worthless notes of revolutionary days flooded the country, hindering the easy transaction of business. The use of federal funds for internal improvements so vital to the exchange of commodities which is the very life of industry was blocked by executive vetoes. The Supreme Court, which under Marshall had held refractory states to their obligations under the Constitution, was flouted. States' rights judges, deliberately selected by Jackson for the bench, began to sap and undermine the rulings of Marshall. The protective tariff under which the textile industry of New England, the iron mills of Pennsylvania, and the wool, flax, and hemp farms of the West had flourished, had received a severe blow in the compromise of 1833, which promised a steady reduction of duties. To cap the climax, Jackson's party, casting aside the old reputable name of Republican, boldly chose for its title the term Democrat. Throwing down the gauntlet to every conservative who doubted the omniscience of the people. All these things worked together to invoke an opposition that was sharp and determined. Clay and the National Republicans. In this opposition movement, leadership fell to Henry Clay, a son of Kentucky, rather than to Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. Like Jackson, Clay was born in a home haunted by poverty. Left fatherless early and thrown upon his own resources, he went from Virginia into Kentucky, where, by sheer force of intellect, he rose to eminence in the profession of law. Not the martial gifts or the martial spirit of Jackson, he slipped more easily into the social habits of the East, at the same time that he retained his hold on the affections of the boisterous West. Farmers of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky loved him. Financers of New York and Philadelphia trusted him. He was thus a leader well-fitted to gather the forces of opposition into union against Jackson. A round-clays standard assembled a motley collection representing every species of political opinion, united by one tie only, hatred for, quote, old hickory. Nullifiers and less strenuous advocates of state's rights were yoked with nationalists of Webster's school. Ardent protectionists were bound together with equally ardent free traders, all fraternizing in one grand confusion of ideas under the title of National Republicans. Thus the ancient and honorable term selected by Jefferson and his party now abandoned by Jacksonian democracy was adroitly adopted to cover the supporters of Clay. The platform of the party, however, embraced all the old federalist principles. Protection for American industry, internal improvements, respect for the Supreme Court, resistance to executive tyranny, and denunciation of the spoils system. Though Jackson was easily victorious in 1832, the popular vote cast for Clay should have given him some doubts about the faith of, quote, the whole people, in the wisdom of his, quote, reign. Martin Van Buren and the Panic of 1837. Nothing could shake the general superb confidence. At the end of his second term he insisted on selecting his own successor. At a national convention chosen by party voters but packed with his office holders and friends, he nominated Martin Van Buren of New York. Once more he proved his strength by carrying the country for the Democrats. With a fine flourish he attended the inauguration of Van Buren and then retired, amid the applause and tears of his devotees, to the hermitage, his home in Tennessee. Fortunately for him Jackson escaped the odium of a disastrous panic which struck the country with terrible force in the following summer. Among the contributory causes of this crisis, no doubt, were the destruction of the bank and the issuance of the, quote, specie circular. Of 1836, which required the purchasers of public lands to pay for them in coin instead of the paper notes of state banks. Whatever the dominating cause the ruin was widespread. Bank after bank went under. Boomtowns in the west collapsed. Eastern mills shut down and working people in the industrial centers starving from unemployment begged for relief. Van Buren braved the storm offering no measure of reform or assistance to the distracted people. He did seek security for government funds by suggesting the removal of deposits from private banks and the establishment of an independent treasury system with government depositories for public funds in several leading cities. The plan was finally accepted by Congress in 1840. Had Van Buren been a captivating figure he might have lived down the discredit of the panic unjustly laid at his door. But he was far from being a favorite with the populace. Though a man of many talents he owed his position to the quiet and adept management of Jackson rather than to his own personal qualities. The men of the frontier did not care for him. They suspected that he ate from quote gold plate and they could not forgive him for being an astute politician from New York. Still, the Democratic Party remembering Jackson's wishes renominated him unanimously in 1840 and saw him go down to utter defeat. The Whigs and General Harrison. By this time the National Republicans now known as Whigs, a title taken from the Party of Opposition to the Crown in England, had learned many lessons. Being a leaf out of the Democratic Book they nominated not Clay of Kentucky well known for his views on the bank, the tariff, and internal improvements but a military hero, General William Henry Harrison, a man of uncertain political opinions. Harrison, a son of a Virginia signer of the Declaration of Independence, sprang into public view by winning a battle more famous than important. Quote, tip a canoe, a brush with the Indians in Indiana. He added to his laurels by rendering praiseworthy services during the war of 1812. When days of peace returned he was rewarded by a grateful people with a seat in Congress. Then he retired to quiet life in a little village near Cincinnati. Like Jackson he was held to be a son of the South and the West. Like Jackson he was a military hero, a lesser light but still a light. Like old Hickory he rode into office on a tide of popular feeling against an eastern man accused of being something of an aristocrat. His personal popularity was sufficient. The Whigs who nominated him shrewdly refused to adopt a platform or declare their belief in anything. When some Democrat asserted that Harrison was a back woodsman who sole wants were a jug of hard cider and a log cabin, the Whigs treated the remark not as an insult but as proof positive that Harrison deserved the votes of Jackson men. The jug and the cabin they proudly transformed into symbols of the campaign and won for their chieftain 234 electoral votes while Van Buren got only sixty. Harrison and Tyler. The hero of Tipa Canoe was not long to enjoy the fruits of his victory. The hungry horde of Whig office seekers descended upon him like wolves upon the fold. If he went out they way-laid him. If he stayed indoors he was besieged. Not even his bed-chamber was spared. He was none too strong at best and he took a deep cold on the day of his inauguration. Between driving out Democrats and appeasing Whigs he fell mortally ill. Before the end of a month he lay dead at the Capitol. Harrison's successor, John Tyler, the vice president whom the Whigs had nominated to catch votes in Virginia was more of a Democrat than anything else, though he was not partisan enough to please anybody. The Whigs railed at him because he would not approve the founding of another United States bank. The Democrats stormed at him for refusing until near the end of his term to sanction the annexation of taxes, which had declared its independence of Mexico in 1836. His entire administration, marked by unseemly wrangling, produced only two measures of importance. The Whigs, flushed by victory with the aid of a few protectionist Democrats, enacted in 1842 a new tariff law destroying the compromise which had brought about the truce between the North and the South, in the days of nullification. The distinguished leader of the Whigs, Daniel Webster, as Secretary of State in negotiation with Lord Ashburton, representing Great Britain, settled the longstanding dispute between the two countries over the main boundary. A year after closing this chapter in American diplomacy, Webster withdrew to private life, leaving the president to endure alone the buffets of political fortune. To the end the Whigs regarded Tyler as a traitor to their cause, but the judgment of history is that it was a case of the biter Bitten. They had nominated him for the vice presidency as a man of views acceptable to Southern Democrats in order to catch their votes, little reckoning with the chances of his becoming president. Tyler had not deceived them and thoroughly soured he left the White House in 1845 not to appear in public life again until the days of secession when he espoused the Southern Confederacy. Jacksonian democracy with new leadership serving a new cause, slavery was returned to power under James K. Polk, a friend of the general from Tennessee. A few grains of sand were to run through the hourglass before the Whig party was to be broken and scattered as the Federalist had been more than a generation before. The Interaction of American and European Opinion. Democracy in England and France. During the period of Jacksonian democracy as in all epics of ferment there was a close relation between the thought of the New World and the old. In England the successes of the American experiment were used as arguments in favor of overthrowing the aristocracy which George III had manipulated with such effect against America half a century before. In the United States, on the other hand, conservatives like Chancellor Kent, the stout opponent of manhood suffrage in New York, cited the riots of the British working class as a warning against admitting the same classes to a share in the government of the United States. Along with the agitation of opinion went epic making events. In 1832 the year of Jackson's second triumph the British Parliament passed its first reform bill which conferred the ballot, not on working men as yet, but on mill owners and shopkeepers whom the landlords regarded with genuine horror. The initial step was thus taken in breaking down the privileges of the landed aristocracy and the rich merchants of England. About the same time a popular revolution occurred in France. The Bourbon family, restored to the throne of France by the allied powers after their victory over Napoleon in 1815, had embarked upon a policy of arbitrary government. To use the familiar phrase they had learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Charles X, who came to the throne in 1824, set to work with Zeal to undo the results of the French Revolution, to stifle the press, restrict the suffrage and restore the clergy and the nobility to their ancient rights. His policy encountered equally zealous opposition and in 1830 he was overthrown. The popular party under the leadership of Lafayette established not a republic as some of the radicals had hoped but a quote liberal middle class monarchy under Louis Philippe. This second French Revolution made a profound impression on Americans, convincing them that the whole world was moving toward democracy. The mayor, alderman, and citizens of New York City joined in a great parade to celebrate the fall of the Bourbons. Mingled with cheers from the new order in France were harassed for, quote, the people's own Andrew Jackson, the hero of New Orleans and the President of the United States, end, quote, European interest in America. To the older and more settled Europeans the democratic experiment in America was either a menace or an inspiration. Conservatives viewed it with anxiety, liberals with optimism. United leaders could see that the tide of democracy was rising all over the world and could not be stayed. Naturally, the country that had advanced furthest among the new course was the place in which to find arguments for and against proposals that Europe should make experiments of the same character. To Tocqueville's democracy in America. In addition to the casual traveler there began to visit the United States, the thoughtful observer bent on finding out what manner of nation this was springing up in the wilderness. Those who looked with sympathy upon the growing popular forces of England and France found in the United States in spite of many blemishes and defects a guarantee for the future of the people's rule in the old world. One of these, Alexis de Tocqueville, a French liberal of mildly democratic sympathies, made a journey to this country in 1831. He described in a very remarkable volume, Democracy in America, the grand experiment as he saw it. On the whole he was convinced. After examining with a critical eye the life and labor of the American people as well as the constitutions of the states and the nation, he came to the conclusion that democracy, with all its faults, was both inevitable and successful. Slavery he thought was a painful contrast to the other features of American life, and he foresaw what proved to be the irrepressible conflict over it. He believed that through blundering the people were destined to learn the highest of all arts, self-government on a grand scale. The absence of a leisure class devoted to no calling or profession merely enjoying the refinements of life and adding to its graces. The flaw in American culture that gave deep distress to many a European leader de Tocqueville thought a necessary virtue in the Republic. Quote, amongst the democratic people where there is no hereditary wealth, every man works to earn a living, or has worked, or is born of parents who have worked. A notion of labor is therefore presented to the mind on every side as the necessary, natural, and honest condition of human existence." It was this notion of a government in the hands of people who labored that struck the French publicist as the most significant fact in the modern world. Harriet Martinu's Visit to America This phase of life also profoundly impressed the brilliant English writer Harriet Martinu. She saw all parts of the country, the homes of the rich and the log cabins of the frontier. She traveled in stagecoaches, canal boats, and on horseback, and visited sessions of Congress and auctions at the slave markets. She tried to view the country impartially and the thing that left the deepest mark on her mind was the solidarity of the people in one great political body. Quote, however various must be the tribes of inhabitants in those states, whatever part of the world may have been their birthplace, or that of their fathers, however broken may be their language, however servile or noble their employments, however exalted or despised their state, all are declared to be bound together by equal political obligations. In that self-governing country all are held to have an equal interest in the principles of its institutions and to be bound in equal duty to watch their workings. End quote. Miss Martinu was also impressed with the passion of Americans for land ownership and contrasted the United States favorably with England, where the tillers of the soil were either tenants or laborers for wages. Adverse Criticism. By no means all observers and writers were convinced that America was a success. The fastidious traveler, Mrs. Trollop, who thought the English system of church and state was ideal, saw in the United States only roughness and ignorance. She lamented the, quote, total and universal want of manners both in males and females, adding that while they appear to have clear heads and active intellects there was no charm, no grace in their conversation, end quote. She found everywhere a lack of reverence for kings, learning, and rank. Other critics were even more savage. The editor of the Foreign Quarterly patchulently exclaimed that the United States was, quote, a brigand confederation, end quote. Charles Dickens declared the country to be, quote, so maimed and lame, so full of sores and ulcers that her best friends turned from the loathsome creature in disgust, end quote. Sidney Smith, editor of the Edinburgh Review, was never tired of trying his caustic wit at the expense of America, quote, their Franklins and Washingtons and all the other sages and heroes of their revolution were born and bred subjects of the King of England, end quote. He observed in 1820, quote, during the thirty or forty years of their independence they have done absolutely nothing for the sciences, for the arts, for literature, or even for the statesman-like studies of politics or political economy. In the four quarters of the globe who reads an American book, or goes to an American play, or looks at an American picture or statue, end quote. To put a sharp sting into his taunt he added, forgetting by whose authority slavery was introduced and fostered, quote, under which of the old tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave whom his fellow creatures may buy and sell, end quote. Some Americans, while resenting the hasty and often superficial judgments of European writers, winced under their satire and took thought about certain particulars in the indictments brought against them. The mass of people, however, bent on the great experiment, gave little heed to carping critics who saw the flaws and not the achievements of our country, critics who were in fact less interested in America than in preventing the rise and growth of democracy in Europe. References J. S. Bassett, Life of Andrew Jackson J. W. Burgess, The Middle Period H. Lodge, Daniel Webster W. MacDonald, Jacksonian Democracy Note, American Nation Series Ostra Gorski, Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties, Vol. 2 C. H. Pack, The Jacksonian Epic C. Scherrs, Henry Clay Questions Question 1. By what devices was democracy limited in the first days of our Republic? Question 2. On what grounds were the limitations defended? On what grounds were the limitations attacked? Question 3. Outline the rise of political democracy in the United States Question 4. Describe three important changes in our political system Question 5. Contrast the presidents of the old and new generations Question 6. Account for the unpopularity of John Adams's administration Question 7. What had been the career of Andrew Jackson before 1829 Question 8. Sketch the history of the protective tariff and explain the theory underlying it Question 9. Explain the growth of Southern opposition to the tariff Question 10. Relate the leading events connected with nullification in South Carolina Question 11. State Jackson's views and tell the outcome of the controversy Question 12. Why was Jackson opposed to the bank? How did he finally destroy it? Question 13. The Whigs complained of Jackson's quote executive tyranny. What did they mean? Question 14. Give some of the leading events in Clay's career Question 15. How do you account for the triumph of Harrison in 1840? Question 16. Why was Europe especially interested in America at this period? Who were some of the European writers on American affairs? Research topics Jackson's criticism of the bank McDonald's documentary source book pages 320 to 329 Financial aspects of the bank controversy Dewey financial history of the United States sections 86 through 87 Elson history of the United States pages 492 through 496 Jackson's view of the Union see his proclamation on nullification in McDonald pages 333 40 nullification McMaster history of the United States volume 4 pages 153 through 182 Elson pages 487 through 492 The Webster-Hain debate analyzed the arguments extensive extracts are given in McDonald's larger three volume work select documents of United States history 1776 through 1761 pages 239 through 260 The character of Jackson's administration Woodrow Wilson history of the American people volume 4 pages 1 through 87 Elson pages 498 through 501 The people in 1830 from contemporary writings in heart American history told by contemporaries volume 3 page 509 through 530 biographical studies Andrew Jackson J. Q. Adams Henry Clay Daniel Webster J. C. Calhoun and W. H. Harrison end of section 5 recording by Robert Scott Mojo move 411.com Mojo MOVE 411.com December 2007 history of the United States section 5 of history of the United States by Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard part 4 the West and Jacksonian democracy this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org history of the United States by Charles A. Beard and Mary R. Beard part 4 the West and Jacksonian democracy chapter 12 the middle border and the Great West we shall not send an immigrant beyond the Mississippi in a hundred years exclaimed Livingston the principal author of the Louisiana Purchase when he made this astounding declaration he doubtless had before his mind's eye the great stretches of unoccupied lands between the Appalachians and the Mississippi he also had before him the history of the English colonies which told him of the two centuries required to settle the seaboard region to practical men his prophecy did not seem far wrong but before the lapse of half that time there appeared beyond the Mississippi a tear of new states reaching from the Gulf of Mexico to the southern boundary of Minnesota and a new commonwealth on the Pacific Ocean where American immigrants had raised the bear flag of California the advance of the middle border Missouri when the middle of the 19th century had been reached the Mississippi River which Daniel Boone the intrepid hunter had crossed during Washington administration to escape from civilization in Kentucky had become the waterway for a vast empire the center of population of the United States had passed to the Ohio Valley Missouri with its wide reaches of rich lands low line level and fertile well adapted to hemp raising had drawn to its borders thousands of planters from the old southern states from Virginia and the Carolinas as well as from Kentucky and Tennessee when the great compromise of 1820 21 admitted her to the union wearing every jewel of sovereignty as a florid orator announced migratory slave owners were assured that their property would be safe in Missouri along the western shore of the Mississippi and on both banks of Missouri to the utter most limits of the state plantations tilled by bondsmen spread out in broad expanses in the neighborhood of Jefferson city the slaves numbered more than a fourth of the population into this stream of migration from the planting south float another current of land tilling farmers some from Kentucky Tennessee and Mississippi driven out by the onrush of the planters buying and consolidating small farms into vast estates and still more from the east and the old world to the northwest over against Iowa and to the southwest against Arkansas these yeoman laid out farms to be tilled by their own labor in those regions the number of slaves seldom rose above five or six percent of the population the old French post st. Louis enriched by the fur trade of the far west and the steamboat traffic of the river grew into a thriving commercial city including among its seventy five thousand inhabitants in eighteen fifty nearly forty thousand foreigners German immigrants from Pennsylvania and Europe being the largest single element Arkansas below Missouri lay the territory of Arkansas which had long been the paradise of the swarly hunter and the restless frontiersmen fleeing from the advancing borders of farm and town in search of the life wild and free where the rifle supplied the game and a few acres of ground the corn and potatoes they had filtered into the territory in an unending drift squatting on the land without so much as asking the leave of any government territorial or national they claimed as their own the soil on which they first planted their feet like the Cherokee Indians whom they had as neighbors whose very customs and dressed they sometimes adopted the squatters spent their days in the midst of rough plenty beset by chills fevers and the ills of the flesh but for many years unvext by political troubles or the restrictions of civilized life unfortunately for them however the fertile valleys of the Mississippi and Arkansas were well adapted to the cultivation of cotton and tobacco and their sylvan piece was soon broken by an invasion of planters the newcomers with their servile workers spread upward into the valley toward Missouri and along the southern border westward to the Red River in time the slaves in the tier of counties against Louisiana ranged from 30 to 70% of the population this marked the doom of the small farmer swept Arkansas into the main current of planting politics and led to a powerful lobby at Washington in favor of admission to the union a boon granted in 1836 Michigan in accordance with a well-established custom a free state was admitted to the union to balance a slave state in 1833 the people of Michigan a territory 10 times the size of Connecticut announced that the time had come for them to enjoy the privileges of a Commonwealth all along the southern border the land had been occupied largely by pioneers from New England who built prim farmhouses and adopted the town meeting plan of self-government after the fashion of the old home the famous post of Detroit was growing into a flourishing city as the boats plying on the Great Lakes carried travelers settlers and freight through the narrows in all according to the census there were more than 90,000 inhabitants in the territory so it was not without warrant that they clamored for statehood Congress busy as ever with politics delayed and the inhabitants of Michigan unable to restrain their impatience called a convention drew up a constitution and started a lively quarrel with Ohio over the southern boundary the hand of Congress was now forced objections were made to the new constitution on the ground that it gave the ballot to all free white males including aliens not yet naturalized but the protests were overborn in a long debate the boundary was fixed and Michigan though shorn of some of the land she claimed came into the union in 1837 Wisconsin across Lake Michigan to the West lay the territory of Wisconsin which shared with Michigan the interesting history of the Northwest running back into the heroic days when French hunters and missionaries were planning a French Empire for the great monarch Louis the 14th it will not be forgotten that the French Rangers of the woods the black robed priests prepared for sacrifice even to death the trappers of the French agencies and the French explorers Marquette Joliet and Menard were the first white men to paddle their frail barks through the northern waters they first blazed their trails into the black forests and left traces of their work in the names of portages and little villages it was from these forests that red men in full war paint journeyed far to fight under the fleur de lis of France when the soldiers of King Louis made their last stand at Quebec and Montreal against the imperial arms of Britain it was here that the British flag was planted in 1761 and that the great Pontiac conspiracy was formed two years later to overthrow British Dominion when a generation afterward the stars and stripes supplanted the Union Jack the French were still almost the only white men in the region they were soon joined by hustling Yankee fur traders who did battle royal against British interlopers the traders cut their way through forest trails and laid out the routes through lake and stream and over portages for the settlers and their families from the states back east it was the forest ranger who discovered the water power later used to turn the busy mills grinding the grain from the spreading farmlands in the wake of the fur hunters forest men and farmers came miners from Kentucky Tennessee and Missouri crowding in to exploit the lead oars of the northwest some of them bringing slaves to work their claims had it not been for the gold fever of 1849 that drew the wielders of pick and shovel to the far west Wisconsin would early have taken high rank among the mining regions of the country from a favorable point of vantage on Lake Michigan the village of Milwaukee a center for lumber and grain transport and a place of entry for eastern goods grew into a thriving city it claimed 20,000 inhabitants when in 1848 Congress admitted Wisconsin to the union already the Germans Irish and Scandinavians had found their way into the territory they joined Americans from the older states in clearing forests building roads transforming trails into highways erecting mills and connecting streams with canals to make a network of routes for the traffic that poured to and from the great lakes Iowa and Minnesota to the southwest of Wisconsin beyond the Mississippi where the tall grass of the prairies waved like the sea farmers from New England New York and Ohio had prepared Iowa for statehood a tide of immigration that might have flowed into Missouri went northward for free men unaccustomed to slavery and slave markets preferred the open country above the compromise line with incredible swiftness they spread farms westward from the Mississippi with Yankee ingenuity they turned to trading on the river building before 1836 three prosperous centers of traffic Dubuque Davenport and Burlington true to their old traditions they founded colleges and academies that religion and learning might be cherished on the frontier as in the states from which they came prepared for self-government the Iowans laid siege to the door of Congress and were admitted to the union in 1846 above Iowa on the Mississippi lay the territory of Minnesota the home of the Dakotas the Ojibwe's and the Sioux like Michigan and Wisconsin it had been explored early by the French scouts and the first white settlement was the little French village of Mendota to the people of the United States the resources of the country were first revealed by the historic journey of zebulan pike in 1805 and by American fur traders who were quick to take advantage of the opportunity to ply their arts of hunting and bartering in fresh fields in 1839 an American settlement was planted at Marina on the St. Croix the outpost of advancing civilization within 20 years the territory boasting a population of 150,000 asked for admission to the union in 1858 the plea was granted and Minnesota showed her gratitude three years later by being first among the states to offer troops to Lincoln in the hour of peril on to the Pacific Texas and the Mexican war the uniformity of the Middle West there was a certain monotony about pioneering in the Northwest and on the middle border as the long stretches of land were cleared or prepared for the plow they were laid out like checkerboards into squares of 40 80 160 or more acres each the seat of a homestead there was a striking uniformity also about the endless succession of fertile fields spreading far and wide under the hot summer sun no majestic mountains relieved the sweep of the prairie few monuments of other races and antiquity were there to awaken curiosity about the region no sonorous bells in old missions rang out the time of day the chaffer in red man bartering blankets and furs for powder and whiskey had passed farther on the population was made up of plain farmers and their families engaged in severe and unbroken labor chopping down trees draining fever breeding swamps breaking new ground and planting from year to year the same rotation of crops nearly all the settlers were of Native American stock into whose frugal and industrious lives the later Irish and German immigrants fitted on the whole with little friction even the Dutch oven fell before the cast iron cooking stove happiness and sorrow despair and hope were there but all encompassed by the heavy tedium of prosaic sameness a contrast in the far west and southwest as George Rogers Clark and Daniel Boone had stirred the snug Americans of the seaboard to seek their fortunes beyond the Appalachians so now Kit Carson James Bowie Sam Houston David Crockett and John C. Fremont were to lead the way into a new land only a part of which was under the American flag the setting for this new scene in the westward movement was thrown out in a wide sweep from the headwaters of the Mississippi to the banks of the Rio Grande from the valleys of the Sabine and Red River to Montana and the Pacific slope in comparison with the middle border this region presented such startling diversities that only the eye of faith could foresee the unifying power of nationalism binding its communities with the older sections of the country what contrasts indeed the blue grass region of Kentucky or the rich black soil of Illinois the painted desert the home of the sagebrush and the coyote the level prairies of Iowa the mighty Rockies shouldering themselves high against the horizon the long bleak winters of Wisconsin California of endless summer the log churches of Indiana or Illinois the quaint missions of San Antonio Tucson and Santa Barbara the little state of Delaware the Empire of Texas 120 times its area and scattered about through the Northwest were signs of an ancient civilization fragments of four and five story dwellings ruined dams aqueducts and broken canals which told of once prosperous peoples who by art and science had conquered the aridity of the desert and lifted themselves in the scale of culture above the savages of the plane the settlers of this vast empire were to be as diverse in their origins and habits as those of the colonies on the coast had been Americans of English Irish and Scotch Irish descent came as usual from the eastern states to them were added the migratory Germans as well now for the first time came throngs of Scandinavians some were to make their homes on quiet farms as the border advanced against the setting sun others were to be Indian scouts trappers fur hunters minors cowboys Texas planters keepers of lonely posts on the plane and the desert stage drivers pilots of wagon trains pony riders fruit growers lumberjacks and smelter workers one common bond united them a passion for the self government accorded to states as soon as a few thousand settlers came together in a single territory there arose a mighty shout for a position beside the state commonwealths of the east and the south statehood meant to the pioneers self government dignity and the right to dispose of land minerals and timber in their own way in the quest for this local autonomy there arose many a wordy contest in congress each of the political parties lending a helping hand in the admission of a state when it gave promise of adding new congressmen of the right political persuasion to use the current phrase southern planters and texas while the farmers of the north found the broad acres of the western prairies stretching on before them apparently an endless expanse it was far different with the southern planters ever active in their search for new fields as they exhausted the virgin soil of the older states the restless subjects of king cotton quickly reached the frontier of louisiana there they paused but only for a moment the fertile land of texas just across the boundary lured them on and the mexican republic to which it belonged extended to them a more than generous welcome little realizing the perils lurking in a peaceful penetration the authorities at mexico city opened wide the doors and made large grants of land to american contractors who agreed to bring a number of families into texas the omnipresent yankee in the person of moses austin of connecticut hearing of this good news in the southwest obtained a grant in 1820 to settle 300 americans near bexar a commission finally carried out to the letter by his son and celebrated in the name given to the present capital of the state of texas within a decade some 20 000 americans had crossed the border mexico closes the door the government of mexico unaccustomed to such enterprise and thoroughly frightened by its extent drew back in dismay its fears were increased as quarrels broke out between the americans and the natives in texas fear grew into consternation when efforts were made by president jackson to buy the territory for the united states mexico then sought to close the floodgates it stopped all american colonization schemes canceled many of the land grants put a tariff on farming implements and abolished slavery these barriers were raised too late a call for help ran through the western border of the united states the sentinels of the frontier answered david crocket the noted frontiersmen bear hunter and backwoods politician james bowie the dexterous wielder of the knife that to this day bears his name and sam houston warrior and pioneer rushed to the aid of their countrymen in texas unacquainted with the niceties of diplomacy impatient at the formalities of international law they soon made it known that in spite of mexican sovereignty they would be their own masters the independence of texas declared numbering only about one fourth of the population in texas they raised the standard of revolt in 1836 and summoned a convention following in the footsteps of their ancestors they issued a declaration of independence signed mainly by americans from the slave states anticipating that the government of mexico would not quietly accept their word of defiance as final they dispatched a force to repel the invading army as general houston called the troops advancing under the command of santa ana the mexican president a portion of the texas soldiers took their stand in the alamo an old spanish mission in the cottonwood trees in the town of san antonio instead of obeying the order to blow up the mission and retire they held their ground until they were completely surrounded and cut off from all help refusing to surrender they fought to the bitter end the last man falling a victim to the sword vengeance was swift within three months general houston overwhelmed santa ana at the san jacinto taking him prisoner of war and putting an end to all hopes for the restoration of mexican sovereignty over texas the lone star republic with houston at the head then sought admission to the united states this seemed at first an easy matter all that was required to bring it about appeared to be a treaty annexing texas to the union moreover president jackson at the height of his popularity had a warm regard for general houston and with his usual sympathy for rough and ready ways of doing things approved the transaction through an american representative in mexico jackson had long and anxiously labored by means none too nice to ring from the mexican republic the session of the coveted territory when the texas took matters into their own hands he was more than pleased but he could not marshal the approval of two-thirds of the senators required for a treaty of annexation cautious as well as impetuous jackson did not press the issue he went out of office in 1837 with texas uncertain as to her future northern opposition to annexation all through the north the opposition to annexation was clear and strong anti-slavery agitators could hardly find words savage enough to express their feelings texas exclaimed chanting in a letter to clay is but the first step of aggression i trust indeed that providence will beat back and humble our cupidity and ambition i now ask whether as a people we are prepared to seize on a neighboring territory for the end of extending slavery i ask whether as a people we can stand forth in the sight of god in the sight of nations and adopt this atrocious policy sooner perish sooner be our name blotted out from the record of nations william loyde garrison called for the secession of the northern states if texas was brought into the union with slavery john quincey adams warned his countrymen that they were treading in the path of the imperialism that had brought the nations of antiquity to judgment and destruction henry clay the wig candidate for president taking into account changing public sentiment blew hot and cold losing the state of new york and the election of 1844 by giving a qualified approval of annexation in the same campaign the democrats boldly demanded the re annexation of texas based on claims which the united states once had to spanish territory beyond the savine river annexation the politicians were disposed to walk very warily van buren at heart opposed to slavery extension refused to press the issue of annexation tyler a pro-slavery democrat from virginia by a strange fling of fortune carried into office as a nominal wig kept his mind firmly fixed on the idea of re-election and let the troublesome matter rest until the end of his administration was in sight he then listened with favor to the voice of the south calhoun stated what seemed to be a convincing argument all good americans have their hearts set on the constitution the admission of texas is absolutely essential to the preservation of the union it will give a balance of power to the south as against the north growing with incredible swiftness in wealth and population tyler impressed by the plea appointed calhoun to the office of secretary of state in 1844 authorizing him to negotiate the treaty of annexation a commission at once executed this scheme was blocked in the senate where the necessary two-thirds vote could not be secured balked but not defeated the advocates of annexation drew up a joint resolution which required only a majority vote in both houses and in february of the next year just before tyler gave way to polk they pushed it through congress so texas amid the groans of boston and the hurrahs of charleston folded up her flag and came into the union the mexican war the inevitable war with mexico foretold by the abolitionists and feared by henry clay ensued the ostensible cause being a dispute over the boundaries of the new state the texans claimed all the lands down to the rio grande the mexicans placed the border of texas at the new aces river and a line drawn thence in a northerly direction president polk accepting the texan view of the controversy ordered general zachary taylor to move beyond the new aces in defense of american sovereignty this act of power deemed by the mexicans an invasion of their territory was followed by an attack on our troops president polk not displeased with the turn of events announced that american blood had been spilled on american soil and that war existed by the act of mexico congress in a burst of patriotic fervor brushed aside the protests of those who deplored the conduct of the government as wanton aggression on a weaker nation and granted money and supplies to prosecute the war the few wigs in the house of representatives who refused to vote in favor of taking up arms accepted the inevitable with such good grace as they could command all through the south and the west the war was popular new england grumbled but gave loyal if not enthusiastic support to a conflict precipitated by policies not of its own choosing only a handful of firm objectors held out james russell lowell in his big low papers flung scorn and sarcasm to the bitter end the outcome of the war the foregone conclusion was soon reached general taylor might have delivered the fatal thrust from northern mexico if politics had not intervened polk anxious to avoid raising up another military hero for the wigs to nominate for president decided to divide the honors by sending general scott to strike a blow at the capital mexico city the deed was done with speed and pomp and two heroes were lifted into presidential possibilities in the far west a third candidate was made john c fremont who in cooperation with commodore's sloat and stockton and general carney planted the stars and stripes on the pacific slope in february 1848 the mexicans came to terms ceding to the victor california arizona new mexico and more a domain greater in extent than the combined areas of france and germany as a solve to the wound the vanquished received 15 million dollars in cash and the cancellation of many claims held by american citizens five years later through the negotiations of james gadston a further session of lands along the southern border of arizona and new mexico was secured on payment of 10 million dollars general taylor elected president the ink was hardly dry upon the treaty that closed the war before rough and ready general taylor a slave owner from louisiana a wig as he said but not an ultra wig was put forward as the wig candidate for president he himself had not voted for years and he was fairly innocent in matters political the tariff the currency and internal improvements with a magnificent gesture he referred to the people's representatives in congress offering to enforce the laws as made if elected clays followers mourned polk stormed but could not win even a renomination at the hands of the democrats so it came about that the hero of buena vista celebrated for his laconic order give him a little more grape captain brag became president of the united states end of section six section seven of history of the united states by charles a beard and mary r beard part four the west and jacksonian democracy this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox dot org history of the united states by charles a beard and mary r beard part four the west and jacksonian democracy chapter 12 the middle border and the great west continued the pacific coast and utah oregon closely associated in the popular mind with the contest about the affairs of texas was a dispute with great britain over the possession of territory in oregon in their presidential campaign of 1844 the democrats had coupled with the slogan the re-annexation of texas two other cries the reoccupation of oregon and 54 40 or fight the last two slogans were founded on american discoveries and explorations in the far northwest their appearance in politics showed that the distant oregon country larger in area than new england new york and pennsylvania combined was at last receiving from the nation the attention which is important warranted joint occupation and settlement both england and the united states had long laid claim to oregon and in 1818 they had agreed to occupy the territory jointly a contract which was renewed 10 years later for an indefinite period under this plan citizens of both countries were free to hunt and settle anywhere in the region the vanguard of british fur traders and canadian priest was enlarged by many new recruits with americans not far behind them john jacob aster the resourceful new york merchant sent out trappers and hunters who established a trading post at astoria in 1811 some 20 years later american missionaries among them two very remarkable men jason lee and marcus whitman were preaching the gospel to the indians through news from the fur traders and missionaries eastern farmers heard of the fertile land awaiting their plows on the pacific slope those with the pioneering spirit made ready to take possession of the new country in 1839 a band went around by caporn four years later a great expedition went overland the way once broken others followed rapidly as soon as a few settlements were well established the pioneers held a mass meeting and agreed upon a plan of government we the people of oregon territory runs the preamble to their compact for the purposes of mutual protection and to secure peace and prosperity among ourselves agree to adopt the following laws and regulations until such time as the united states of america extend their jurisdiction over us the self-government made its way across the rocky mountains the boundary dispute with england adjusted by this time it was evident that the boundaries of oregon must be fixed having made the question an issue in his campaign poke after his election in 1844 pressed it upon the attention of the country in his inaugural address and his first message to congress he reiterated the claim of the democratic platform that our title to the whole territory of oregon is clear and unquestionable this pretension great britain firmly rejected leaving the president a choice between war and compromise poke already having the contest with mexico on his hands sought and obtained a compromise the british government moved by a hint from the american minister offered a settlement which would fix the boundary at the 49th parallel instead of 5440 and give it to vancouver island poke speedily chose this way out of the dilemma instead of making the decision himself however and drawing up a treaty he turned to the senate for counsel as prearranged with party leaders the advice was favorable to the plan the treaty julie drawn in 1846 was ratified by the senate after an acrimonious debate oh mountain that was delivered of a mouse exclaimed senator benton thy name shall be 5440 13 years later the southern part of the territory was admitted to the union as the state of oregon leaving the northern and eastern sections in the status of a territory california while the growth of the northwestern empire dedicated by nature to freedom the planting interest might have been content had fortune not rested from them the fair country of california upon this huge territory they had set their hearts the mild climate and fertile soil seemed well suited to slavery and the planters expected to extend their sway to the entire domain california was a state of more than 155 000 square miles about 70 times the size of the state of delaware it could readily be divided into five or six large states if that became necessary to preserve the southern balance of power early american relations with california time and tide it seems were not on the side of the planters already americans of a far different type were invading the pacific slope long before poke ever dreamed of california the yankee with his cargo of notions had been around the horn daring skippers had sailed out of new england harbors with a variety of goods bent their course around south america to california onto china and around the world trading as they went and leaving pots pans woolen cloth guns boots shoes salt fish naval stores and rum in their wake home from california rang the cry in many a new england port as a good captain let go his anchor on his return from the long trading voyage in the pacific the overland trails not to be outdone by the mariners of the deep western scouts searched for overland routes to the pacific sebulan pike explorer and pathfinder by his expedition into the southwest during jefferson's administration had discovered the resources of new spain and had shown his countrymen how easy it was to reach santa fe from the upper waters of the arkansas river not long afterward traders laid open the route making franklin missouri and later fort leavenworth the starting point along the trail once surveyed poor caravans heavily guarded by armed men against marauding indians sandstorms often wiped out all signs of the route hunger and thirst did many a band of wagoners to death but the lure of the game and the profits at the end kept the business thriving huge stocks of cottons glass hardware and ammunition were drawn almost across the continent to be exchanged at santa fe for furs indian blankets silver and mules and many a fortune was made out of the traffic americans in california why stop at santa fe the question did not long remain unanswered in 1829 ewing young brought the path to los angeles 13 years later fremont made the first of his celebrated expeditions across plain desert and mountain arousing the interest of the entire country in the far west in the wake of the pathfinders went adventurers settlers and artisans by 1847 more than one-fifth of the inhabitants in the little post of 2000 on san francisco bay were from the united states the mexican war therefore was not the beginning but the end of the american conquest of california a conquest initiated by americans who went to till the soil to trade or to follow some mechanical pursuit the discovery of gold as if to clench the hold on california already secured by the friends of free soil there came in 1848 the sudden discovery of gold at setters mill in the sacramento valley when this exciting news reached the east a mighty rush began to california over the trails across the isthmus of panama and around cape horn before two years had passed it is estimated that a hundred thousand people in search of fortunes had arrived in california mechanics teachers doctors lawyers farmers miners and laborers from the four corners of the earth california a free state with this increase in population there naturally resulted the usual demand for admission to the union instead of waiting for authority from washington the californians held a convention in 1849 and framed their constitution with impatience the delegates brushed aside the plea that the balance of power between the north and south required the admission of their state as the slave commonwealth without a dissenting voice they voted in favor of freedom and boldly made their request for inclusion among the united states president taylor though a southern man advised congress to admit the applicant robert tombs of georgia vowed to god that he preferred secession henry clay the great compromiser came to the rescue and in 1850 california was admitted as a free state utah on the long road to california in the midst of forbidding and barren waste a religious sect the mormons had planted a colony destined to a stormy career founded in 1830 under the leadership of joseph smith of new york the sect had suffered for many cruel buffets of fortune from ohio they had migrated into missouri where they were set upon and beaten some of them were murdered by indignant neighbors harried out of missouri they went into illinois only to see their director and prophet smith first imprisoned by the authorities and then shot by a mob having raised up a cloud of enemies on account of both their religious faith and their practice of allowing a man to have more than one wife they fell in heartily with the suggestion of a new leader brigham young that they go into the far west beyond the plains of kansas into the forlorn desert where the wicked would cease from troubling and the weary could be at rest as they read in the bible in 1847 young with a company of picked men searched far and wide until he found a suitable spot overlooking the salt lake valley returning to illinois he gathered up his followers now numbering several thousand and in one mighty wagon caravan they all went to their distant haven brigham young and his economic system in brigham young the mormons had a leader of remarkable power who gave direction to the redemption of the arid soil the management of property and the upbuilding of industry he promised them to make the desert bloom as the rose and verily he did it he firmly shaped the enterprise of the colony along cooperative lines holding down the speculator and profiteer with one hand and giving encouragement to the industrious poor with the other with the shrewdness befitting a good businessman he knew how to draw the line between public and private interest land was given outright to each family but great care was exercised in the distribution so that none should have great advantage over another the purchase of supplies and the sale of produce was carried on through a cooperative store the profits of which went to the common good encountering for the first time in the history of the anglo-saxon race the problem of aridity the mormons surmounted the most perplexing obstacles with astounding skill they built irrigation works by cooperative labor and granted water rights to all families on equitable terms the growth of industries though farming long remained the major interest of the colony the mormons eager to be self-supporting in every possible way bent their efforts also to manufacturing and later to mining their missionaries who hunted in the highways and byways of europe for converts never failed to stress the economic advantages of the sect we won't proclaimed president young to all the earth a company of woolen manufacturers to come with machinery and take the wool from the sheep and converted into the best clothes we want a company of potters we need them the clay is ready and the dish is wanted we want cement to start a furnace forthwith the iron coal and molders are waiting we have a printing press and anyone who can take good printing and writing paper to the valley will be a blessing to themselves and to the church roads and bridges were built millions were spent in experiments in agriculture and manufacturing missionaries at a huge cost were maintained in the east and in europe an army was kept for defense against the indians and colonies were planted in the outlying regions a historian of desert as the colony was called by the Mormons estimated in 1895 that by the labor of their hands the people had produced nearly half a billion dollars in wealth since the coming of the vanguard polygamy forbidden the hope of the Mormons that they might forever remain undisturbed by outsiders was soon dashed to earth for hundreds of farmers and artisans belonging to other religious sects came to settle among them in 1850 the colony was so populous and prosperous that it was organized into a territory of the united states and brought under the supervision of the federal government protests against polygamy were raised in the colony and at the seat of authority three thousand miles away at washington the new republican party in 1856 proclaimed it the right and duty of congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism polygamy and slavery in due time the Mormons had to give up their marriage practices which were condemned by the common opinion of all western civilization but they kept their religious faith monuments to their early enterprise are seen in the temple and the tabernacle the irrigation works and the great wealth of the church summary of western development and national politics while the statesmen of the old generation were solving the problems of their age hunters pioneers and home seekers were preparing new problems beyond the Alleghenies the west was rising in population and wealth between 1783 and 1829 11 states were added to the original 13 all but two were in the west two of them were in the Louisiana territory beyond the Mississippi here the process of colonization was repeated hardy frontier people cut down the forest built log cabins laid out farms and cut roads through the wilderness they began a new civilization just as the immigrants to virginia or massachusetts had done two centuries earlier like the seaboard colonists before them they too cherished the spirit of independence and power they had not gone far upon their course before they resented the monopoly of the presidency by the east in 1829 they actually sent one of their own cherished leaders andrew jackson to the white house again in 1840 in 1844 in 1848 and in 1860 the mississippi valley could boast that one of its sons had been chosen for the seat of power at washington its democratic temper evoked a cordial response in the towns of the east where the old aristocracy had been put aside and artisans had been given the ballot for three decades the west occupied the interest of the nation under jackson's leadership it destroyed the second united states bank when he smote nullification in south carolina it gave him cordial support it approved his policy of parceling out government offices among party workers the spoils system and all its fullness on only one point did it really dissent the west heartily favored internal improvements the appropriation of federal funds for highways canals and railways jackson had misgivings on this question and awakened sharp criticism by vetoing a road improvement bill from their point of advantage on the frontier the pioneers pressed on westward they pushed into texas created a state declared their independence demanded a place in the union and precipitated a war with mexico they crossed the trackless plain and desert laying out trails to santa fe to oregon and to california they were upon the scene when the mexican war brought california under the stars and stripes they had laid out their farms in the willamette valley when the slogan fifty four forty or fight forced a settlement of the oregon boundary california and oregon were already in the union when there arose the great civil war testing whether this nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated could long endure references gp brown westward expansion american nation series k come in economic beginnings of the far west two volumes f parkman california and the oregon trail rs ripley the war with mexico wc rives the united states and mexico 1821 to 48 two volumes questions one give some of the special features in the history of missouri arkansas michigan wisconsin iowa and minnesota two contrast the climate and soil of the middle west and the far west three how did mexico at first encourage american immigration four what produced the revolution in texas who led in it five narrate some of the leading events in the struggle over annexation to the united states six what action by president pope precipitated war seven give the details of the peace settlement with mexico eight what is meant by the joint occupation of oregon nine how was the oregon boundary dispute finally settled ten compare the american invasion of california with the migration into texas eleven explain how california became a free state twelve describe the early economic policy of the Mormons research topics the independence of texas mac master history of the people of the united states volume six pages 251 to 270 woodrow wilson history of the american people volume four pages 102 to 126 the annexation of texas mac master volume seven the passages on annexation are scattered throughout this volume and it is an exercise in ingenuity to make a connected story of them source materials in heart american history told by contemporaries volume three pages 637 to 655 elson history of the united states pages 516 to 521 and 526 to 527 the war with mexico elson pages 526 to 538 the oregon boundary dispute shafer history of the pacific northwest revised edition pages 88 through 104 and 173 to 185 the migration to oregon shafer pages 105 to 172 coman economic beginnings of the far west volume two pages 113 to 166 the santa fe trail colman economic beginnings volume two pages 75 to 93 the conquest of california coman volume two pages 297 to 319 gold in california mac master volume seven pages 585 to 614 the mormon migration coman volume two pages 167 to 206 biographical studies fremont generals scott and taylor sam houston and david crocket the romance of western exploration jg nihart the splendid wayfaring jg nihart the song of hou glass end of section seven end of history of the united states by charles a beard and mary r beard part four the west and jacksonian democracy