the spring of 1832, led to a State convention in South Carolina, in November following. It assembled on the 19th of that month, and the Governor of South Carolina was appointed its president. That assembly declared the tariff acts unconstitutional, and therefore null and void. It resolved that duties should not be paid; and proclaimed that any attempt to enforce the collection of duties in the port of Charleston, by the general government, would be resisted by arms, and would produce the withdrawal of South Carolina from the Union. The State Legislature, which met directly after the adjournment of the convention, passed laws in support of this determination. Military preparations were immediately made, and civil war appeared inevitable. Then it was that the executive ability of the President, so much needed, was fully displayed. Jackson promptly met the crisis by a proclamation, on the 10th of December, which denied the right of a State to nullify any act of the Federal Government; and warned those who were engaged in fomenting a rebellion, that the laws of the United States would be strictly enforced by military power, if necessary. This proclamation met the hearty response of every friend of the Union, of whatever party, and greatly increased that majority of the President's supporters, who had just re-elected him to the Chief Magistracy of the Republic. The nullifiers of South Carolina, though led by such able men as Calhoun and Hayne,' were obliged to yield for the moment; yet their zeal and determination in the cause of State Rights, were not abated. Every day the tempest-cloud of civil commotion grew darker and darker; until, at length, Henry Clay, a warm friend of the American system, came forward, in Congress [February 12, 1833], with a bill, which provided for a gradual reduction of the obnoxious duties, during the succeeding ten years. This compromise measure was accepted by both parties. It became a law on the 3d of March, and discord between the North and the South soon ceased, but only for a season."

5

6

1 Jackson was re-elected by a large majority, in November, 1832, over Henry Clay, the of posing candidate. Martin Van Buren, of New York, was elected Vice-President.

3

Those who favored the doctrine that a State might nullify the acts of the Federal government, were called nullifiers, and the dangerous doctrine itself was called nullification. Page 458. Mr. Calhoun, who had quarreled, politically, with Jackson, had recently resigned the office of Vice-President of the United States, and was one of the ablest men in Congress, He asserted the State Rights doctrine boldly on the floor of Congress, and held the same opinion until his death.

Robert Y. Hayne was one of the ablest of southern statesmen. The debate between Hayne and Webster, in the Senate of the United States, during the debates on this momentous subject, is regarded as one of the most eminent, for sagacity and eloquence, that ever marked the proceedings of that body. Mr. Hayne was born near Charleston, South Carolina, in November, 1791. He was admitted to the bar in 1812, and the same year volunteered his services for the defense of the seaboard, and entered the army as lieutenant. He arose rapidly to the rank of Major-General of the militia of his State, and was considered one of the best disciplinarians of the South. He had exter sive practice at the bar, before he was twenty-two years of age, and it was always lucrative. He was a member of the South Carolina Assembly in 1814, where he was distinguished for eloquence. He was chosen Speal.er in 1818. For ten years he represented South Carolina in the Senate of the United States; and he was chairman of the Committee of the Convention of South Carolina, which reported the "ordinance of nullification." He was soon afterward chosen Governor of his State. He died in September, 1841, in the fiftieth year of his age. Page 500. • Page 459. It is said that Mr. Clay introduced the Compromise Bill with the concurrence of Mr. Calhoun, The latter had proceeded to the verge of treason, in his opposition to the general government, and President Jackson had threatened him with arrest, if he moved another step forward. Knowing

7

President Jackson's hostility to the United States Bank was again manifested in his annual message to Congress, in December, 1832, when he recommended the removal of the public funds from its custody, and a sale of the stock of the bank, belonging to the United States.' Congress, by a decided vote, refused to authorize the measure; but after its adjournment, the President assumed the responsibility of the act, and directed William J. Duane, the Secretary of the Treasury, to withdraw the government funds (then almost $10,000,000), and deposit them in certain State banks. During a northern tour which the President had made in the summer of 1833, he had urged Mr. Duane (then in Philadelphia) to make the removal, but he would only consent to the appointment of an agent to inquire upon what terms the local banks would receive the funds on deposit. The President then ordered him, peremtorily, to remove them from the bank. The Secretary refused compliance, and was dismissed from office. His successor, Roger B. Taney (the present [1856] Chief-Justice of the United States) obeyed the President; and in October, 1833, the act was accomplished. The effect produced was sudden and widespread commercial distress. The business of the country was plunged from the height of prosperity to the depths of adversity, because its intimate connection with the National Bank rendered any paralysis of the operations of that institution fatal to commercial activity. The amount of loans of the bank, on the 1st of October, was over sixty millions of dollars, and the amount of the funds of the United States, then on deposit in the bank, was almost ten millions of dollars. The fact, that the connection of the bank with the business of the country was so vital, confirmed the President in his opinion of the danger of such an enormous moneyed institution.

A large portion of the government funds were removed in the course of four months, and the whole amount in about nine months. Intense excitement prevailed throughout the country; yet the President, supported by the House of Representatives, persevered and triumphed. Numerous committees, appointed by merchants, mechanics, manufacturers, and others, waited upon him, to ask him to take some measures for relief. He was firm; and to all of them he replied, in substance, that "the government could give no relief, and provide no remedy; that the banks were the occasion of all the evils which existed, and that

the firmness and decision of the President, Mr. Calhoun dared not take the fatal step. He could not recede, nor even stand still, without compromising his character with his southern friends. In this extremity, he arranged with Mr. Clay to propose a measure which would satisfy both sides, and save both his neck and his reputation. In justice to Mr. Calhoun, it is proper to say, that in the discussion of the matter in the Senate, he most earnestly disclaimed any hostile feelings toward the Union, on the part of South Carolina. The State authorities, he asserted, had looked only to a judicial decision upon the question, until the concentration of the United States troops at Charleston and Augusta, by order of the President, compelled them to make provision to defend themselves. Several of the State Legislatures hastened to condemn the nullification doctrine as destructive to the Federal Constitution. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, and Georgia, all thus spoke out plainly in favor of the Union. Georgia, however, at the same time, expressed its reprobation of the tariff system, which had brought about the movement in South Carolina, and proposed a convention of the States of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi, to devise measures to obtain relief from it.

By the law of 1816, for chartering the bank, the funds of the United States were to be deposited with that institution, and to be withdrawn only by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The State banks
Confidence was

those who suffered by their great enterprise had none to blame but themselves; that those who traded on borrowed capital ought to break." received the government funds on deposit, and loaned freely. gradually restored, and apparent general prosperity' returned. Now [1856], after the lapse of more than twenty years, the wisdom and forecaste of General Jackson, evinced by his distrust of the United States Bank, appears to be universally acknowledged. The necessity for such an institution is no longer admitted, and its dangerous power, if wickedly exercised, may be plainly seen.2

Trouble again appeared on the southern borders of the Union. Toward the close of 1835, the Seminole Indians, in Florida, guided by their head sachem,

OSCEOLA.

Micanopy, and led by their principal chief, Osceola,' commenced a distressing warfare upon the frontier settlements of Florida. The cause of the outbreak was an attempt to remove them to the wilderness bepond the Mississippi. In his annual message in December, 1830, President Jackson recommended the devotion of a large tract of land west of the Mississippi, to the use of the Indian tribes yet remaining east of that stream, forever. Congress passed laws in accordance with the proposition, and the work of removal commenced, first by the Chickasaws and Choctaws. We have seen that trouble ensued with the Creeks and Cherokees, and the Seminoles in East Florida were not disposed to leave their ancient domain. Some of the chiefs in council made a treaty in May, 1832, and agreed to remove; but other chiefs, and the great body of the nation, did not acknowledge the treaty as binding. In 1834, the President sent General Wiley Thompson to Florida, to prepare for a forcible removal of the Seminoles, if necessary. The tone and manner assumed by Osceola, at that time, displeased Thompson, and he put the chief in irons and in prison for a day. The proud leader feigned penitence, and was released. Then his wounded pride called for revenge, and fearfully he pursued it, as we shall observe presently. The war that ensued was a sanguinary one, and almost four years elapsed before it was wholly terminated. Osceola, with all the cunning of a Tecumseh, and the heroism of a Philip,' was so successful in stratagem, and brave in conflict, that he baffled the skill and courage of the United States troops for a long time. He had agreed to fulfill treaty stipulations, in December [1835], but instead

1 Page 470.

2 The course of President Jackson, toward the bank, was popular in many sections, but in the commercial States it caused a palpable diminution of the strength of the administration. This was shown by the elections in 1834. Many of his supporters joined the Opposition, and this combined force assumed the name of "Whigs"-the old party name of the Revolution-while the adminis tration party adhered to the name of "Democrats."

Page 30.

* Page 27.

• Page 424.

3 Page 468. * Page 124. Osceola had promised General Thompson that the delivery of certain cattle and horses belonging to the Indians should be made during the first fortnight of December, 1835, and so certain was Thompson of the fulfillment of this stipulation, that he advertised the animals for sale.

of compliance, he was then at the head of a war party, murdering the unsuspecting inhabitants on the borders of the everglade haunts of the savages.

3

At that time General Clinch was stationed at Fort Drane,' in the interior of Florida, and Major Dade was dispatched from Fort Brooke, at the head of Tampa Bay, with more than a hundred men, for his relief. That young commander, and all but four of his detachment, were massacred [Dec. 28, 1835] near Wahoo Swamp. On the same day, and only a few hours before, Osceola, and a small war party, killed and scalped General Thompson, and five of his friends, who were dining at a store a few yards from Fort King. The assailants disappeared in the forest before the deed was known at the fort. Two days afterward [Dec. 31], General Clinch and his troops had a battle with the Seminoles on the Withlacoochee; and in February [Feb. 29, 1836], General Gaines was assailed near the same place, and several of his men were killed. The battle-ground is about fifty miles from the mouth of the river.

ARMSTRONG Dade Massacre

SEAT OF SEMINOLE WAR.

The Creeks aided their brethren in Florida, by attacking white settlers within their domain,' in May, 1836. Success made them bold, and they attacked mail-carriers, stages, steamboats, and finally villages, in Georgia and Alabama, until thousands of white people were fleeing for their lives from place to place, before the savages. General Winfield Scott was now in chief command in the South, and he prosecuted the war with vigor. The Creeks were finally subdued; and during the summer, several thousands of them were removed to their designated homes beyond the Mississippi. In October, Governor Call, of Georgia, marched against the Seminoles with almost two thousand men. A detachment of upward of five hundred of these, had a severe contest [Nov. 21] with the Indians at Wahoo Swamp, near the scene of Dade's massacre; yet, like all other engagements with the savages in their swampy fastnesses, neither party could claim a positive victory." The year [1836] closed with no prospect

About forty miles north-east from the mouth of the Withlacoochee River, and eight southwest from Orange Lake.

2 Francis L. Dade was a native of Virginia. After the War of 1812-15, he was retained in the army, having risen from third lieutenant to major. A neat monument has been erected to the memory of himself and companions in death, at West Point, on the Hudson.

Near the upper waters of the Withlacoochee, about fifty miles north from Fort Brooke. Three of the four survivors soon died of their wounds, and he who lived to tell the fearful narrative (Ransom Clarke), afterward died from the effects of his injuries on that day.

On the southern borders of Alachua county, about sixty miles south-west from St. Augustine. Osceola scalped [note 4, page 14] General Thompson with his own hands, and thus enjoyed his revenge for the indignity he had suffered.

Page 433. Edmund P. Gaines was born in Virginia in 1777, and entered the army in 1799. He was breveted a major-general in 1814, and presented by Congress with a gold medal for his gallantry at Fort Erie. He died in 1849.

8

South side of the river, in Dade county. The place where Gaines was assaulted is on the north side, in Alachua county. 7 Page 30. Page 433. In this warfare the American troops suffered dreadfully from the poisonous vapors of the swamps, the bites of venomous serpents, and the stings of insects. The Indians were inaccessible in their homes amid the morasses, for the white people could not follow them.

of peace, either by treaty or by the subjugation of the Indians. The war continued through the winter. Finally, after some severe encounters with the United States troops, several chiefs appeared in the camp of General Jessup (who was then in supreme command) at Fort Dade,' and on the 6th of March, 1837, they signed a treaty which guarantied immediate peace, and the instant departure of the Indians to their new home beyond the Mississippi. But the lull was temporary. The restless Osceola caused the treaty to be broken; and during the summer of 1837, many more soldiers perished in the swamps while pursuing the Indians. At length, Osceola, with several chiefs and seventy warriors, appeared [Oct. 21] in Jessup's camp under the protection of a flag. They were seized and confined; and soon afterward, the brave chief was sent to Charleston, where he died of a fever, while immured in Fort Moultrie." This was the hardest blow yet dealt upon the Seminoles; but they continued to resist, notwithstanding almost nine thousand United States troops were in their territory at the close of 1837.

On the 25th of December, a large body of Indians suffered a severe repulse on the northern border of Macaco Lake,' from six hundred troops under Colonel Zachary Taylor. That officer had succeeded General Jessup, and for more than two years afterward, he endured every privation in efforts to bring the war to a close. In May, 1839, a treaty was made which appeared to terminate the war; but murder and robberies continued, and it was not until 1842 that peace was finally secured. This war, which lasted seven years, cost the United States many valuable lives, and millions of treasure.

In the autumn of 1836, the election of a successor to President Jackson took place, and resulted in the choice of Martin Van Buren, of New York. Energy had marked every step of the career of Jackson as Chief Magistrate, and at the close of his administration, the nation stood higher in the esteem of the world than it had ever done before. At the close of his first term, our foreign relations were very satisfactory, except with France. That government had agreed to pay about $5,000,000, by instalments, as indemnification for French spoliations on American commerce, under the operation of the several decrees of Napoleon, from 1806 to 1811. The French government did not promptly comply with the agreement, and the President assumed a hostile tone, which caused France to perform her duty. Similar claims against Portugal

1 Thomas S. Jessup was born in Virginia in 1788. He was a brave and useful officer during the war of 1812-15, and was retained in the army. He was breveted major-general in 1828, and was succeeded in command in Florida by Colonel Zachary Taylor, in 1838. He is now [1856] a resident of Washington city.

2 On the head waters of the Withlachoochee, about forty miles north-east from Fort Brooke, at the head of Tampa Bay. See map on page 467.

3 General Jessup was much censured for this breach of faith and the rules of honorable warfare. His excuse was the known treachery of Osceola, and a desire to put an end to bloodshed by whatever means he might be able to employ.

* On Sullivan's Island, upon the site of Fort Sullivan of the Revolution [page 249]. Near the entrance gate to the fort is a small monument erected to the memory of Osceola.

Sometimes called Big Water Lake. The Indian name is O-ke-cho-bee, and by that title the battle is known.

The brave leader in the Mexican War [page 481], and afterward President of the Unit 1 States. See page 498. 'See pages 400 to 407, inclusive.