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232

LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY

[1830-1833

owners and compel them to close their factories. Congress refused to abolish the protective tariff.
   Calhoun told the people of South Carolina that the tariff law was contrary to the Constitution of the United States. He said that they ought to refuse to obey it (§ 210). They took his advice, and held a state convention at which they declared that (after February 1, 1833) they would not pay duties on goods imported into Charleston from Europe. This refusal was called nullification. In Charleston preparations were made to resist the collection of the duty. Governor Hayne, of South Carolina, threatened that if the government used force, his state would secede from the Union and declare itself independent.
   268. Webster's Reply to Hayne and Calhoun; what we owe to Webster. When, in the Capitol at Washington, Senator Hayne, of South Carolina (1830), boldly upheld the right of nullification (§ 267), Daniel Webster1 replied to him, closing with the well known words: "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable." Later, when Calhoun in the United States Senate defended the right of secession, Webster made a powerful speech, in which he declared that "there can be no secession without revolution." He saw that if a state is resolved to leave the Union, the national government, sword in hand, must insist that it shall remain in its place and obey the laws.
   We owe an immense debt to Webster's commanding eloquence on this subject. In the remarkable series of speeches which he delivered at this period (1830-1833), he made Americans realize the inestimable value and sacredness of the Union as they had never felt it before. Thirty years later when the Civil War threatened to destroy the nation, the reverence for the Constitution and the Union with which that great statesman had inspired so many

   1 Daniel Webster, born at Salisbury, New Hampshire, 1782 (see note to § 92) died at his residence at Marshfield, near Boston, 1852. He graduated at Dartmouth College, and began the practice of law in 1805. In 1812 he was elected to Congress, and again in 1822. From this time forward he was constantly in public life, as representative, senator, or in the cabinet. He was unquestionably the greatest orator this country has produced, and as a statesman he stood second to none. His defense of the Union in his second reply to Senator Hayne, January 26-27, 1830, has been called "the most remarkable speech ever made in the American Congress." Webster's "Reply to Calhoun" was delivered February 16, 1833.


John C. Calhoun

JOHN C. CALHOUN


234

LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY

[1832-1837

hearts, made thousands willing to die to save it. The North and the South are now one. Discord has passed away, and as brothers we join in honoring the memory of Daniel Webster for his services to our common country.
   269. Jackson's Fidelity to the Union; his Orders to General Scott; Henry Clay obtains a New Tariff. President Jackson had the same feeling that Webster had of the necessity of preserving the Union. He did not like the protective tariff as it then stood (§ 267), but he resolved to enforce it so long as it remained law. He saw that what was called the doctrine of "State Sovereignty," that is, the so-called right of a state to decide for itself when it would obey Congress and when it would not (§§ 210, 267), was destructive of all national government.
   The Union, said he, is at present like a bag of meal with both ends open. Whichever way you try to handle it you will spill the meal. "I must tie the bag and save the country."
   So saying, the President ordered General Scott (1832) to go forthwith to Charleston and enforce the law. It was done, and the duties on imported goods in that city were collected as usual.
   A few months later (1833) Henry Clay, the "great compromiser and peacemaker" (§ 243), succeeded in getting Congress to adopt a new tariff which gradually reduced the duties or taxes on foreign goods. This change of policy pacified South Carolina and that state said nothing more about nullification (§ 267). At that time we were very prosperous and did not owe a dollar of public debt.
   270. Growth of the Country; Extension of Canals and Railways; Use of Coal; the Express System. With the exception of a very destructive fire in New York City (1835), Jackson's presidency was a period of rapid growth for the entire country, but especially for the West. New canals had been opened (§ 249), lines of steamboats had been established on the principal western rivers and on all the Great Lakes (§ 220), and the whistle of the locomotive was beginning to be heard beyond the Alleghenies (§§ 254, 255). Arkansas and the rapidly growing territory of Michigan were admitted to the Union (1836-1837), making twenty-six states in all.


DANIEL WEBSTER

DANIEL WEBSTER


236

LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY

[1832-

   Both hard and soft coal1 had been found in immense quantities in Pennsylvania, and they were now coming into use for manufacturing. These coal mines have been worth more to the country than all the gold mines of California.
Indians Attacking   The increased activity of the country, in connection with steamboats and railways, gave rise to a new enterprise. A young man named Harnden 2 conceived the plan of making a business of carrying parcels between Boston and New York, and shortly after (1839) began it. At first a small hand bag was sufficient to hold all the articles sent. In that humble way he laid the foundation of the American express system, which now extends to every town of the United States, and employs millions of money and an army of men to do its work.
   271. Indian Wars; Growth of the West; Chicago. The increased growth of the country alarmed Black Hawk, a famous Indian chief at the West, and he (1832), at the head of a large body of Indians, attempted to prevent emigrants from taking possession of public lands in the state of Illinois and the territories of Iowa and Wisconsin. He was defeated and driven beyond the Mississippi. This greatly encouraged emigration to the western states and territories.
   Shortly after this the second Seminole War began (1835) in Florida (§ 238). The Indians were led by Osceola, a celebrated chief, who had been badly treated by the whites. The war lasted

    1 Hard or anthracite coal was not discovered until 1790. The first load taken to Philadelphia, in 1803, was used as stone to mend roads.
   2 William Frederick Harnden was born in Reading, Massachusetts, in 1813; died 1845. On his monument, erected at Mount Auburn cemetery, near Boston, by the "Express Companies of the United States," he is called the "Founder of the Express Business in America.
"



1833]

ART, BOOKS, AND NEWSPAPERS

237

Chicago in 1833nearly seven years. The Indians were defeated by Colonel Zachary Taylor; they were finally conquered, and all but a few were sent west of the Mississippi by General Worth.
   On the Southwestern shore of Lake Michigan stood Fort Dearborn. A struggling slab village was growing up on the mud flats around it. Two years later (1833), the little Chicago To-daysettlement took the name of Chicago. It had then become a lively town of between five and six hundred inhabitants, and some of its people were bold enough to think that it might grow to be still larger. To-day the population of Greater Chicago is estimated at about 2,500,000. It stands the great metropolis of the Northwest.
   272. American Art, Books, and Newspapers. America had already produced five eminent painters -- West, Copley, Stuart, Trumbull, and Allston. We also had three noted writers. They were Cooper, the novelist, who wrote exciting tales of life on the sea and in the wilderness; Bryant, our first great poet; and Washington Irving, the author of "Rip Van Winkle" and of many more delightful stories. But when Jackson was first elected a book had just been published (1828) in this country which was in one respect more remarkable than any that had yet appeared, for it contained the



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