were more plainly visible. His preferences for Mr. Van Buren were well known, as they were never disguised. But in Tennessee, a large portion of the republican party were in favor of Hugh L. White, an estimable and talented citizen of that state, then one of its Senators in Congress; and they desired to have him duly brought forward by a legislative nomination, as their candidate for the presidency. Unsuccessful attempts were made to induce the legislature to make the desired nomination, and a similar effort at the convention called to revise the state constitution, in the spring of 1834, likewise failed of success. In the neighboring state of Alabama, the friends of Judge White were more fortunate; and in the month of January, 1835, the legislature of that state nominated him as their candidate for the succession,but with the reservation, and upon the condition, that he should be "the choice of the republican party throughout

the Union."

Governor Carroll, Ex-Governor Blount, Felix Grundy, James K. Polk, Cave Johnson, and other discerning men in the republican ranks in Tennessee, saw, at a glance, that the prospects of Judge White were utterly hopeless. Indeed, it was idle to presume that the condition mentioned in the resolution of the Alabama legislature would ever take place. Tennessee had been honored. with a president of her own choice, for eight years in succession; and there was nothing in the public services, or in the character of Judge White, that peculiarly entitled him to inherit this distinction, in opposition to the candidates whose nomination was desired in other states. Besides, the general sentiment of the republican party in

the nation, as manifested in a thousand ways, and in the most unequivocal manner, had indicated a decided preference for Mr. Van Buren.

Mr. Polk and his friends were disposed to yield a ready acquiescence to what appeared to be the controlling desire of their republican friends out of Tennessee. He was himself urgently solicited to join in some public manifestation in behalf of Judge White; but he firmly and constantly refused to lend his name or his influence for any such purpose. He esteemed Judge White for his virtues and talents, and was averse to taking ground decidedly against him, although he saw, that his susceptibility to flattery had been taken advantage of by his particular friends, and the opponents of the administration, in order to distract and divide the republican party at the approaching presidential election. Personally, Mr. Polk was not in the least degree unfriendly to the political advancement of Judge White; but he had none of that false state pride, which would have led him to oppose and denounce, as he was desired to do, the preferred candidate of the republicans throughout the Union.

Meanwhile, the course of Judge White and his friends was not calculated to increase his popularity among the supporters of General Jackson's administration. On several occasions he had given evidence of a disposition to thwart the President in some of his favorite and leadingmeasures. At the session of 1833-34, he voted against the "three million amendment" to the fortification bill; he opposed, also, the Ross treaty, and the expunging resolutions of Mr. Benton; and he supported the movement made by the Whigs in Congress, predicated, as they

alleged, upon their fears with respect to the union of the purse and the sword in the hands of the President, to reduce the Executive patronage and power.

In the House of Representatives, the White interest was represented by John Bell, one of the colleagues of Mr. Polk, and between whom there had long existed a sort of rivalship. Both claimed to be the sincere friends of General Jackson, and both approved of the veto of the United States Bank, and the removal of the deposits. But Mr. Bell was in favor of the incorporation of another bank,* while Mr. Polk, in accordance with what had now become one of the cardinal doctrines of the party to which he belonged, as it had been one of the tests of the old republican creed, avowed his uncompromising hostility to any such institution. The latter, therefore, was the most popular with the republican members of the House, and was more particularly honored with the confidence and friendship of President Jackson, and the principal leaders of the republican party. In June, 1834, the Speaker of the House, Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, resigned his seat in Congress, in consequence of his nomination as Minister to Great Britain. Mr. Polk was instantly selected by the majority of the republican, or democratic† members, as the administration candidate for the vacant

* Speech of Mr. Bell on Mr. Clayton's Resolution, 1832.

† About the time of the first election of General Jackson, in 1828, his friends and supporters began to assume the party designation of democrats, or democratic republicans,—the former term, previous to that time, having been generally regarded as one of reproach. The opponents of his administration called themselves national republicans, until 1834, when they assumed the name of whigs. Since that date the two great parties have been usually designated as whigs and democrats. The adherents of Judge White in Tennessee, claimed to be the "no-party party."

position. But the friends of Judge White refused to support him, and voted for Mr. Bell, who, with the aid of the Whig members, was elected over Mr. Polk on the tenth ballot.

In the month of January following, the Alabama nomination was made, as has been mentioned; and during the same session of Congress, the Tennessee delegation in the House, with the exception of Mr. Polk and Cave Johnson, united in recommending the support of Judge White for the Presidency. Mr. Bell, it is said, originally preferred Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky; but the views of the latter in regard to the incorporation of a national bank not being satisfactory to him, he connected himself with the fortunes of Judge White.

Shortly after the adjournment of Congress, Mr. Van Buren was regularly put in nomination as the republican candidate for President, by the unanimous voice of the national convention assembled at Baltimore in May, 1835. Mr. Polk took no part in calling or recommending this convention. It was entirely a new movement, and originated mainly in a desire to organize the republican party in a most efficient manner, in anticipation of a powerful effort on the part of the opponents of the administration to defeat their candidates. After the nominations were made, and received with an almost universal expression of approbation in every State in the Union, Tennessee alone excepted, Mr. Polk announced his determination not to separate himself from the republican party of the nation. Messrs. Carroll, Blount, Grundy and Johnson, agreed with him in sentiment, and active preparations were immediately made to carry the state

at the gubernatorial and congressional elections, in August, 1835. But the time proved too short to counteract the impressions which had been formed, and to change the direction of the popular current. The Whigs united with the friends of Judge White, and succeeded in defeating Governor Carroll, who was nominated for reelection, and all the administration candidates for Congress, save Mr. Polk and Mr. Johnson.

The triumphant return of these two individuals was particularly disagreeable to the combined opposition. The most powerful efforts had been made to defeat them, and their opposition to Judge White was arrayed against them, through the press, and the harangues of public speakers, in every conceivable shape and form. Mr. Polk was assailed in his district with especial vehemence ; but when his opponents discovered that all efforts to defeat his reëlection were useless, and that it was impossible to overcome his strong personal popularity, they sought to pledge him to the support of Mr. Bell for the speakership, in opposition to any candidate beside himself.

He had no terms to offer, or to accept,—no bargain to suggest, or to conclude. He went before the people, and defended his course and conduct, from the stump, in right good earnest. In a speech addressed to his constituents on the 20th of May, and before the Baltimore nominations were announced, he declared that he had at all times been willing to see Judge White elevated to the presidency, since his name had been spoken of, if it could be done by the political party to which they both belonged; "and," said he, "if at any time hereafter, the public sentiment in the democratic republican states, in