American Lion
Page 64
44 that the army was protecting Jackson FPB, 86–87.
45 took up the issue in the Globe Ibid.
46 a delegation of Jacksonian congressmen Ibid., 87.
47 Donelson took Jackson’s annual message Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, December 4, 1833, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.
48 “the unquestionable proof” Messages, II, 1249.
49 “whether the people of the United States” Ibid.
50 “Violent opposition may be expected” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, December 4, 1833, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville. Donelson also noted one of the political factors of the moment: “The grand object will be … the creation of resources to start a new candidate, or rather a no administration candidate for the Presidency.…” The thrust of Donelson’s point: that the anti–Van Buren forces might attempt to use the Bank battle to field a rival to the vice president.
51 Henry Clay, fresh from Lexington PHC, VIII, 669. Clay arrived in Washington on the evening of November 30.
52 “Depend upon it” Ibid., 679.
53 “I mean myself to open and push” Ibid.
Chapter 24: We Are in the Midst of a Revolution
1 arrived in the city four days before Christmas R. K. Polk to James Polk, December 23, 1833, Polk and Yeatman Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2 what he called “a burning fever” Ibid.
3 Clay was to speak Schurz, Henry Clay, II, 32.
4 consumed by callers and business Emily Donelson to her sister, December 25, 1833, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection.
5 “I suppose you all are at my Dear Mother’s” Ibid.
6 “We are in the midst of a revolution” Remini, Henry Clay, 449–50. See also PHC, VIII, 684.
7 “The eyes and hopes” AAK, 396.
8 Van Buren was forced PHC, VIII, 685.
9 “You would be surprised to see the General” Andrew Jackson Donelson to Edward Livingston, March 7, 1834, Andrew Jackson Donelson Papers, LOC.
10 “was clearly and manifestly” PJCC, XII, 207–8.
11 “There are but two channels” Ibid.
12 “What, then, is the real question” Ibid., 218.
13 “artful, cunning, and corrupt” Ibid., 221.
14 removal of the deposits and the prospect of a national Democratic nominating convention Ibid.
15 “dictate the succession” Ibid., 221–22.
16 “We have arrived at a fearful crisis” Ibid., 225.
17 a weak moment with Kendall AAK, 416.
18 “The distress so much complained of” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, March 1, 1834, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.
19 had brought about “indiscriminate ruin” Remini, Jackson, III, 164.
20 “We are gaining strength politically” Andrew Donelson to Stockley Donelson, March 1, 1834, Donelson Family Private Collection, Cleveland Hall, Nashville.
21 Benton would come down to the White House Benton, Thirty Years’ View, I, 424.
22 never seemed “more truly heroic” Ibid.
23 “We shall whip them yet” Ibid.
24 the Bank “ought not to be rechartered” Remini, Jackson, III, 166–67.
25 “I have obtained a glorious triumph” Correspondence, V, 260.
26 had at last “put to death” Ibid., 259.
27 a resolution of Clay’s PHC, VIII, 685.
28 referred to Jackson as “Caesar” Ibid., 686.
29 “The whole community of the United States” Sir Charles Vaughan to Viscount Palmerston, April 20, 1834, FO 5–290.
30 The tally in the Senate was 26 to 20 PHC, VIII, 685.
31 Resolved, That the President Ibid.
32 the Chamber of Deputies in France Duc de Broglie to Sérurier, April 8, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 95–96, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères. In this letter, de Broglie writes Sérurier: “This bill was rejected by the legislature by a majority of 8 votes. I will not try to explain to you what is incomprehensible here for everyone—that is, how such powerful reasons for passing the bill were swept away, when we had every reason to believe that the law would be approved. Be that as it may, Monsieur, what is important for you to know, and what you will have to inform the Cabinet in Washington, is that the king’s government has formally resolved to call for a vote on the issue in the next session of the legislature.… The king’s government expects that this legislative decision will be received in the U.S. first with bitterness and irritation.” And de Broglie sounds a warning: “Any hasty measure, any behavior contrary to the good relations and friendship which the interests of our two nations ardently desire, would only decrease the king’s government’s chances of success.”
33 by a margin of eight Ibid.
Chapter 25: So You Want War
1 in the form of dispatches from Edward Livingston Sérurier to Paris, May 11, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 127–37, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
2 struggled to figure out what to do Ibid. “Since I have no instructions from you,” Sérurier wrote home, “I must just wait. Immobility and self-respect have often succeeded for me here. Will that be enough now?”
3 Thinking of “the President’s fiery character” Ibid.
4 Sérurier called on McLane Ibid., 131. “Mr. McLane replied calmly and said that he appreciated the reasons for my visit and that he would inform the President.”
5 “I was informed” Ibid., 129.
6 “It would no longer” Ibid.
7 Jackson’s reaction “is what I feared the most” Ibid.
8 came to see the Frenchman Sérurier to Paris, May 20, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 140, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
9 “He told me that” Ibid.
10 “had hit the President like a thunderbolt” Sérurier to Paris, May 11, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 131, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
11 It was Henry Clay, in a fury Sérurier to Paris, May 11, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 133, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
12 “Well, he said to me, so you want war” Ibid.
13 The two continued their conversation Ibid.
14 made his first visit to the White House Sérurier to Paris, May 20, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 143, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
15 “The President was very cold” Ibid.
16 “take the political temperature” Sérurier to Paris, June 20, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 380, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
17 “I have always loved France” Ibid.
Chapter 26: A Dark, Lawless, and Insatiable Ambition!
1 document entitled “Protest” Messages, II, 1288–1312. In his memoirs, John Quincy Adams writes that Jackson sent his “Protest” to the Senate on April 17, 1834.
2 “Having had the honor” Ibid., 1288.
3 “The judgment of guilty” Ibid., 1294.
4 “If the censures of the Senate” Ibid., 1310.
5 “the President is the direct representative” Ibid., 1309.
6 “In vain do I bear” Ibid., 1311–12.
7 seeking to “concentrate” Ibid.
8 “The domineering tone” Memoirs of JQA, IX, 51.
9 to Webster the protest amounted Peterson, Great Triumvirate, 244.
10 Calhoun was even angrier PJCC, XII, 310.
11 “Infatuated man!” Ibid.
12 recounted an interview John C. Hamilton to William Gaston, September 27, 1834, William Gaston Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
13 saying the “charge” Ibid.
; 14 Clay referred to Jackson’s foes as Whigs PHC, VIII, 714–15.
15 “a denomination which, according to the analogy of all history” Ibid., 714.
16 rescue the nation from “a Chief Magistrate” Ibid., 715.
17 Claiming to have heard a rumor Ibid., 717.
18 Sérurier wrote that “Mr. Forsyth” Sérurier to Paris, July 2, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 206–7, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
19 because of “intolerable heat” Sérurier to Paris, July 8, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 216–18, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
20 Sérurier marveled at the old man’s enduring vitality Ibid.
21 Sérurier came across Nicholas Biddle Sérurier to Paris, August 18, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 248, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
22 “One of the first people” Ibid.
23 “The South seems to be asleep” Frederick W. Moore, ed., “Calhoun as Seen by His Political Friends: Letters of Duff Green, Dixon H. Lewis, Richard K. Crallé During the Period from 1831 to 1848,” Publications of the Southern History Association 7 (July 1903), 287.
24 Emily had given birth to her fourth child EDT, II, 68. Hearing the news, Sarah Jackson quickly dispatched congratulations from Nashville in a letter that was also filled with concern for the head of the family. Sending her regards to Emily, Sarah then took on a wifely tone with Jackson. “I have not been able to read the papers for some time, but heard of your triumph over your and our country’s enemies,” Sarah wrote Jackson. “I congratulate you, my dear Father, and pray that your health may be restored and your life prolonged, and that your strength increase” (Sarah Yorke Jackson to Andrew Jackson, May 2, 1834, Andrew Jackson Papers, LOC).
25 in the White House FPB, 88.
26 he gave her Rachel’s wedding ring FPB, 175–76.
27 he and Lewis had drunk “Ice sangree” Ibid.
28 bought the house Ibid., 92.
29 would bring the president a pail Ibid.
30 “We are very much pleased” EDT, II, 68.
31 Her niece Elizabeth Martin Ibid., 66–68.
32 being courted by Lewis Randolph Ibid.
33 Emily had entertained Hunt, ed., First Forty Years of Washington Society, 307.
34 “I am well except [for] weakness” EDT, II, 69.
Chapter 27: There Is a Rank Due to the United States Among Nations
1 the construction of the first home of their own EDT, II, 70.
2 Emily managed the details Ibid.
3 kept a crate of her china Correspondence, V, 302.
4 fire broke out at the Hermitage Remini, Jackson, III, 179–91. The house burned on the afternoon of Monday, October 13, 1834.
5 “Oh, had I been there” Ibid., 185.
6 the slaves who were on hand Ibid.
7 Sarah “acted with firmness” Correspondence, V, 296.
8 had given him “the means to build it” Ibid., 302.
9 “Was it not on the site selected” Ibid.
10 He gave orders about Ibid.
11 “I suppose all the wines” Ibid.
12 The French remained a problem In an August 9, 1834, letter, Edward Livingston insisted that Sérurier had led Jackson to believe that the Chamber would resolve the problem before the American Congress met in December 1834 (Livingston to de Rigny, August 9, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 240–42, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères). De Rigny denied that the government had made any such promise (ibid., 243–44). Still, Jackson held his temper, further perplexing the French. On October 2, 1834, Sérurier called on Jackson, expecting an unpleasant visit. Instead, Sérurier was “happily surprised. The President received me with his usual politeness and kindness without any visible change in his attitude.” Jackson avoided the subject altogether (Sérurier to Paris, October 8, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 291, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères).
13 met with Sérurier Sérurier to Paris, October 22, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 302–7, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
14 “The President was deeply hurt” Ibid.
15 “No, gentlemen” Parton, Life, III, 569–70.
16 in the eighteenth Messages, II, 1319.
17 “the whole civilized world” Ibid., 1325.
18 a law approving “reprisals upon French property” Ibid.
19 “inflexible determination” Ibid., 1326.
20 France “would but add violence to injustice” Ibid.
21 “Threats are far from being avoided” Sérurier to Paris, December 2, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 338, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
22 fell back on the caricature of Jackson Sérurier to Paris, December 5, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 342, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
23 “It is generally agreed” Ibid.
24 “iron will subdued all resistance” Ibid.
25 “very cold and disagreeable” Emily Donelson to Mary Donelson, December 25, 1834, Mrs. John Lawrence Merritt Collection. 293 Emily dined alone with Mrs. Forsyth Ibid.
26 composing a coded message Sérurier to Paris, December 25, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 360, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
27 “If we have war with the U.S.” Ibid. Henry Clay also clearly thought things were heading in a warlike direction, and the situation brought out his instinct for compromise and conciliation. Clay came to see Sérurier and spoke as though he too believed war was not far off. “He told me that he was distressed by the Message, by its threats and the effect it would have on both sides of the Atlantic,” Sérurier wrote Paris on December 28, 1834. “He added that the wisest men in Congress, all while blaming the rash step taken by the head of the republic, could not wish to abandon him when he was fighting for their own interests against a foreign power. However, he continued, everyone was loath to be associated with the defiant tone, the threats, and even more, the reprisals … in this unfortunate document. He said that they would do what could be done to bring about reconciliation in the best interests of all” (Sérurier to Paris, December 28, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 362–69, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères).
28 “Never since Washington’s death” Sérurier to Paris, July 2, 1834, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1834, 210, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
29 On New Year’s Eve, Adams rose in the House John Quincy Adams, Oration on the Life and Character of Gilbert M. de Lafayette: Delivered at the Request of Both Houses of the Congress of the United States, Before Them, in the House of Representatives at Washington. December 31, 1834 (Trenton, N.J., 1835).
30 the king of France recalled Sérurier home to Paris De Rigny to Sérurier, January 14, 1835, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1835, 389, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (Letter published by Courier des Etats-Unis, New York, January 30, 1836).
31 “The impression that President Jackson’s message produced here” Ibid.
32 had summoned Edward Livingston Ibid.
33 “passports will be at his disposal” Ibid.
34 presented to the Chamber on Thursday, January 15, 1835 Ibid.
35 A new clause said that “all or part” Ibid.
36 an additional requirement Duc de Broglie to Alphonse Pageot, June 17, 1835, Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1836, 52, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères.
37 “the true meaning and real purport” Ibid.
38 had to offer “new testimony to the good faith” Ibid.
39 John Quincy Adams rallied to his foe’s side Parton, Life, III, 577.
40 “Sir, this treaty has been ratified” Ibid., 577–78.
&n
bsp; 41 “The President told me” Sir Charles Vaughan to Viscount Palmerston, Washington, November 5, 1835, National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew.
42 the suggestion that he would apologize Messages, II, 1407–8. The French chargé, Jackson reported to Congress on January 15, 1836, had asserted that “We will pay the money, says [the chargé], when ‘the Government of the United States is ready on its part to declare to us, by addressing its claim to us officially in writing, that it regrets the misunderstanding which has arisen between the two countries; that this misunderstanding is founded on a mistake; that it never entered into its intention to call in question the good faith of the French Government nor to take a menacing attitude toward France.’ And [the chargé] adds: ‘If the Government of the United States does not give this assurance we shall be obliged to think that this misunderstanding is not the result of an error.’ ” And finally: “ ‘the Government of the United States knows that upon itself depends henceforward the execution of the treaty of July 4, 1831’ ” (italics in the original).
43 “of naval preparations” Ibid., 1411.
44 “large and speedy appropriations” Ibid. Two days after this communication, Alphonse Pageot followed Sérurier in returning to France. It was January 17, 1836 (Correspondence politique: Etats-Unis: vol. 1836, 64, Archives de la Ministère des Affaires Étrangères).
45 “The conception that it was my intention” I am indebted to Belohlavek, “Let the Eagle Soar!” 122, for the insight about the annual message. The full passage of Jackson’s is a mouthful: “The conception that it was my intention to menace or insult the Government of France is as unfounded as the attempt to extort from the fears of that nation what her sense of justice may deny would be vain and ridiculous. But the Constitution of the United States imposes on the President the duty of laying before Congress the condition of the country in its foreign and domestic relations, and of recommending such measures as may in his opinion be required by its interests. From the performance of this duty he cannot be deterred by the fear of wounding the sensibilities of the people or government of whom it may become necessary to speak …” (Messages, II, 1376–77).