JACKSON

ANDREW JACKSON was born in 1767, at the Waxhaw or Warsaw Settle

ment on the boundary of North and South Carolina, whither his parents had emigrated from Carrickfergus in Ireland, in 1765. He had no regular schooling. Some slight share he had in the War of Independence, and was taken prisoner in 1781. Subsequently he studied law at Salisbury, North Carolina, and, having been admitted to the bar, began to practice at Nashville, Tennesвее. In 1796 he helped to frame the Constitution of Tennessee, and represented that State in the Federal Congress, where he distinguished himself as an irreconcilable opponent of Washington. In 1797 he was elected a United States Senator, but resigned in the following year. He was Judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee from 1798 to 1804. At the trial of Aaron Burr in 1807, Jackson was one of his conspicuous champions. In 1813, as MajorGeneral of Militia, he commanded in the campaign against the Creek Indians in Georgia and Alabama, and there first attracted general notice by his talents. In May, 1814, he was commissioned a Major-General in the regular army to serve against the British. In November, he captured Pensacola, which had been used as a base of operations, and on January 8, 1815, he inflicted a severe defeat on the enemy before New Orleans. In 1818 he received the command against the Seminoles in Florida, and in 1821 he was appointed military governor of that territory. In August, 1822, the Tennessee House of Representatives nominated Jackson for President, and in the following year he was sent to the Federal Senate. In the general election of 1824 Jackson obtained the largest number of electoral votes, but at the ensuing election by the House of Representatives Adams was chosen. In 1828 Jackson was elected President by a large majority, and was re-elected to a second term. In the course of his administration he overthrew the Bank of the United States, crushed the attempt of South Carolina to nullify Federal statutes, and, having quarrelled with John C. Calhoun, gave the weight of his influence to Van Buren's candidacy for the Presidency. When he went out of office on March 4, 1837, he was far more popular than when he first became Chief Magistrate, and, until the last day of his life, his name was a spell to conjure with. He died near Nashville on June 8, 1845.

STATE RIGHTS AND FEDERAL SOVEREIGNTY

SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, DELIVERED MARCH 4, 1833

Fellow-Citizens:

TH

HE will of the American people, expressed through their unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself the duties of President of the United States for another term. For their approbation of my public conduct through a period which has not been without its difficulties, and for this renewed expression of their confidence in my good intentions, I am at a loss for terms adequate to the expression of my gratitude.

It shall be displayed to the extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to administer the government as to preserve their liberty and promote their happiness.

So many events have occurred within the last four years which have necessarily called forth-sometimes under circumstances the most delicate and painful-my views of the principles and policy which ought to be pursued by the general government that I need on this occasion but allude to a few leading considerations connected with some of them.

The foreign policy adopted by our government soon after the formation of our present Constitution, and very generally pursued by successive administrations, has been crowned with almost complete success, and has elevated our character among the nations of the earth. To do justice to all and to submit to wrong from none has been during

my administration its governing maxim, and so happy have been its results that we are not only at peace with all the world, but have few causes of controversy, and those of minor importance, remaining unadjusted.

In the domestic policy of this government, there are two objects which especially deserve the attention of the people and their representatives, and which have been and will continue to be the subjects of my increasing solicitude. They are the preservation of the rights of the several States and the integrity of the Union.

These great objects are necessarily connected, and can only be attained by an enlightened exercise of the powers of each within its appropriate sphere, in conformity with the public will constitutionally expressed. To this end it becomes the duty of all to yield a ready and patriotic submission to the laws constitutionally enacted, and thereby promote and strengthen a proper confidence in those institutions of the several States and of the United States which the people themselves have ordained for their own gov

ernment.

My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the destruction of our State governments or the annihilation of their control over the local concerns of the people would lead directly to revolu tion and anarchy, and finally to despotism and military domination. In proportion, therefore, as the general gov ernment encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same proportion does it impair its own power and detract from its ability to fulfil the purposes of its creation. Solemnly impressed with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find me ready to exercise my constitutional

powers in arresting measures which may directly or indirectly encroach upon the rights of the States or tend to consolidate all political power in the general government. But of equal, and, indeed, of incalculable importance is the union of these States, and the sacred duty of all to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support of the general government in the exercise of its just powers. You have been wisely admonished to "accustom yourselves to think and speak of the Union as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety, discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.' Without union our independence and liberty would never have been achieved; without union they never can be maintained. Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened with numberless restraints and exactions; communication between distant points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace; the mass of our people borne down and impoverished by taxes to support armies and navies, and military leaders at the head of their victorious legions becoming our lawgivers and judges. The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevi tably follow a dissolution of the Union. In supporting it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the freeman and the philanthropist.

The time at which I stand before you is full of interest.