rigour, for the purpose of producing the belief that they originated with the present administration; and an assertion on the part of the President of his constitutional right, to appoint, in the vacation of congress, diplomatic agents to transact the foreign business of the country, was construed into an usurpation of a new and unconstitutional power. Exceptions were also taken to certain of his recommendations to Congress, as indicating a wish for a magnificent and expensive scheme of government, and a tendency towards consolidation on the part of the federal authorities.— These objections, which at first were confined to that class of politicians who contended for a strict and narrow construction of the constitution, were not at once adopted by the friends of the Vice President. They professed to found their opposition on the corrupt origin of the administration, and asserted that it was the clear and manifest will of the people, that Gen. Jackson should be elected President.

This portion of the opposition, for it was obvious that there was no cordial agreement between the two sections of the party, either as to the powers of the government or the mode of administering it, at once declared open hostility against the administration, and proceeded to nominate candidate for the presidency. In conformity with

one of the grounds of opposition, they fixed upon Gen. Jackson, who, in the month of October, 1825, was nominated by the legis lature of Tennessee as a candidate in opposition to Mr. Adams. This nomination was formally accepted by him, in an address delivered before both branches of the legislature, in which he resigned his seat in the senate of the United States. After stating that he was originally induced to accept the station he then held, because he understood that he would not be required to serve longer than for the term of one congress, he says, that he would still continue if any important service could be performed, but that he was not aware of any important business likely to be brought before congress, except an amendment of the constitution in relation to the choice of a chief magistrate.

He then alluded to the nomination of himself as a candidate, and proceeded as follows:

"Thus situated,—my name presented to the freemen of the United States for the first office known to the constitution,--I could not, with any thing of approbation on my part, consent either to urge or encourage an alteration, which might wear the appearance of being induced by selfish considerationsby a desire to advance my own views. I feel a thorough and safe conviction, that imputation would be ill founded, and that nothing

of the Vice President, in the discussion on the amendment proposed to the constitution by Mr. M'Duffie, in the first session of the nineteenth congress. These insinuations were at that time warmly repelled, and none seemed disposed to rely upon this ground of opposition, except that class of politicians, who in all questions of the constructive power of the federal government, and the mode of administering it, agreed rather with the friends, than the opponents of the administration.

This discordance in the materials of the opposition, prevented any harmonious concert of action and purpose at the first session of congress; but during the vacation and the succeeding session, great progress was made towards

a

stricter union between its different divisions, and before the adjournment, the party had assumed a consistent shape. At what time this more intimate union took place, it is difficult to ascertain; but shortly before the termination of the second session of the nineteenth congress, a leading opposition member from Virginia announced to the public, that the combinations for effecting the elevation of Gen. Jackson were nearly complete, and in fact greater concert was manifested in their party move. ments after that time. During the session several topics were introduced, developing the principles of

parties more distinctly against each other. Among these may be enumerated, the bankrupt act, the bilis for the gradual improvement of the navy, authorizing dry docks and a naval school, the appropriations for surveys and internal improvement, the controversy between Georgia and the general government respecting the Creek treaty, the bills augmenting the duty on imported woollens, and closing the ports of the United States against British vessels from the colonies, after a limited period. On all these subjects the opposition party took ground, either from a real difference in sentiment from the friends of the administration, or from an unwillingness to permit any measure to succeed, which could reflect credit upon them. So great was this opposition to the business before congress, during the last session, that it was generally believed that the minority had concerted to stop the passage of all important bills, for the purpose of rendering those administering the government unpopular. The ordinary business of each day was opposed, with almost the same vehemence, as that which had a political bearing. In this manner much of both sessions was consu. med, and as the adjournment of congress approached, many im. portant bills were lost for want of time to mature their details, and to

reconcile the two houses upon points which a little reflection would have placed in a clear point of view.

The colonial bill was one which was peculiarly unfortuate on this

account.

At the first session of the nineteenth congress, a bill was introduced into the senate, to accept, as far as practicable,the terms proposed by the British acts of 1825, regulating the intercourse of foreign powers with her West India islands. Ow. ing to the long and interminable debates for political effect in that body at that session, this bill was not passed, and in the vacation the British government interdicted the trade. The next session, measures of retaliation were proposed, but no definitive steps were taken until the close of the session, and by a disagreement between the two houses, the bill was lost, and the executive was compelled to close our ports in an abrupt manner, without any conditions.

The woollens bill was lost from a similar cause. The discussion on this bill, from the supposition that the north and west alone would be benefitted by its passage, at once assumed a party character.

The southern members, who formed the nucleus of the opposition, opposed its passage with unusual vehemence, and stigma. tized it as an attempt to tax their constituents for the benefit of

the wool growers and manufacturers of the north. It finally was lost in the senate, "after having passed the other branch of the legislature. The pressure of other business was the ostensible reason of its being laid on the table of the senate; but the political character of the senators, who voted for its postponement, plainly indicated, that political feelings entered largely into the cause of its defeat.

The opposition to the other bills was of a mixed character, proceeding partly from an unwillingness to increase the patronage of the general government, and partly from apprehensions of an invasion of the rights reserved to the states. Indeed, the party attachments of the members of the opposition had now become so strong, as to induce them to forego their own opinions as to the constitutional powers of the government; and while this sacrifice of political opinions was made by the friends of the Vice President and the earlier friends of Gen. Jackson, to propitiate that class of politicians, who contended for a narrow construction of the federal compact, the latter were induced to relinquish their doubts as to the political orthodoxy of the Vice President, for the sake of union, and, after nearly two years of doubt and hesitation, joined in denouncing the administration corrupt in its origin.

as

In this manner the sectional

On many

character of the opposition was modified, and, although local interests and prejudices still predominated in its councils, its principles, which now affected the construction of the powers of the government itself, were adopted by the inhabitants of other parts of the country, and assumed a consistent and decided character. subjects, but on none more than on the extent of the powers of the national government, it differed from the friends of the administration. As a party, it contended for a strictness in the construction of the constitution, entirely at variance with the established practice of the government. It denied the rightful exercise of many powers, which had been hitherto unquestioned, and sought to reduce the federal government to a complete dependence upon the state govern

ments.

The old arguments against the constitutional existence of the United States bank were revived, notwithstanding a contrary construction had been acquiesced in, almost from the first organization of the government; and the right of the national authorities to take an active part in any work of internal improvement was resisted, because it could not be exercised without acting upon the territory, and thus violating the sovereignty of an independent state. It was still more

vehemently denied, that congress possessed the power to impose any duty for the protection of domestic manufactures. The effect of the law was, by an extraordinary process of reasoning, urged as an argument against the constitutional right to enact it, and the motives of the members who voted for it, were invested with a retroactive power, so as to deprive them of the authority to pass a statute, which, if enacted upon different grounds, would have been clearly constitutional. This extraordinary doc. trine, which, if correct, would have overthrown every revenue law in our statute book, was not only asserted by the leaders of the opposition in congress; but also by the legislatures of Georgia and South Carolina, the former of which went so far as to declare its own construction of the constitution to be correct, and that it would submit to no other.

The insubordinate and violent conduct of the government of the same state in relation to the Creek treaty, produced a colli. sion between Georgia and the general government, and the decided steps which the president was finally compelled to take, (after the most earnest efforts to satisfy her claims,) in order to preserve the tranquillity of the country, and to maintain the integrity of the constitution, were reprobated as