CHAPTER XIII.

HARRISON AND TYLER'S ADMINISTRATIONS.

1841-1845.

PRESIDENT'S POLICY.

The whig party came into power without any well-defined principles, other than their opposition to the preceding administration and its measures. The party itself, in fact, was composed of heterogeneous elements, and the convention which nominated General Harrison wisely omitted the adoption of a platform. He himself, though for a long time in public life, as a member of Congress, a senator, and governor of the territory of Indiana, had not played a conspicuous part in the discussion of political measures. During the campaign his friends paid no attention to charges brought against him by the opposition, but concentrated their forces in an offensive warfare. They relied upon the brilliant military record and the "sublime personal honor" of their candidate, and in this they were not deceived. The cry of "Harrison and Reform" spread to all sections of the Union, and swept away, as by a tide, the party in power. In his inaugural the President set forth what he conceived to be the constitutional powers of the various branches of the government; the nature and use of the veto power; the necessity of preserving inviolate the freedom of the press, and of the impracticability of an exclusive metallic currency. He pronounced himself from the first as in favor of the one-term principle.

THE PRESIDENT'S DEATH.

On March 17 the President, by proclamation, summoned

Congress to meet May 31, for the consideration of the financial difficulties of the government. Before the time arrived Harrison's death occurred, April 4, 1841. This sad calamity made a very deep impression throughout the whole country. Being the first President to die in office, the provisions of the constitution, transferring, in such an emergency, the functions of the President to the Vice-President, were put to a practical test for the first time. Mr. Tyler was officially informed of the event by a letter from the cabinet, and at once started for Washington, where he arrived on the 6th, and took the usual oath of office. General Harrison's cabinet was retained.

TYLER'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

The President's inaugural was an address of condolence to the country, in which he sanctioned the call, by his predecessor, of an extra session of Congress, and announced his intention to carry out the will of the people in their election of General Harrison.

REPEAL OF THE SUB-TREASURY ACT.

Congress met May 31, 1841, the whigs having a majority Twenty-seventh Congress, in both branches. A bill for the Extra Session. repeal of the sub-treasury passed both houses, and was signed by the President. It prohibited any officer having charge of public revenue from investing the fund or devoting it to his own use.

In his message to Congress, the President set forth the embarrassed condition of the treasury and the urgent necessity for speedy relief; but he, at the same time, pointed to the fact that the people had successively condemned the bank of the United States, the state deposit system, and the subtreasury law as schemes of national finance. He deferred to the judgment of the immediate representatives of the people on this question, and promised acquiescence in any action

they might decide upon. In compliance with the desire of Mr. Tyler, the secretary of the treasury submitted to Congress a plan of a bank, which specified that the institution should be called "The Fiscal Bank of the United States." A bill, in accordance with this plan, which was devoid of many of the objectionable features of the old United States bank, was passed by both houses. The bill was returned with a veto message. The President's objection was that the powers granted to the bank were such as he and a majority of the people believed to be unwise and unconstitutional. This was surprising, and, under the circumstances, inexplicable, to the whigs. The party leaders, eager to avoid the disaster of a rupture with the President, asked from him an outline of such a bill as he would approve. This request was complied with, and Congress framed and passed a bill drawn according to his own suggestions; but it was vetoed, September 9, six days after it passed the Senate.

RUPTURE BETWEEN THE PRESIDent and the wHIGS.

This action of the President produced great indignation on the part of the whigs: All the members of the cabinet resigned, except Mr. Webster. Tyler was denounced everywhere as a traitor to the party which elected him. In defense of his course it was answered that the bank question had not been a party question in the campaign, and he was not, therefore, bound to any specific position with regard to it. At the close of the session seventy whigs signed a manifesto, declaring that "from that day forth all political connection between them and John Tyler was at an end." This declaration, on the part of the whigs, threw him upon the democrats for support, but, from this source, no support came, only so far as party interests might be subserved thereby. Congress adjourned September 13, 1841.

TARIFF OF 1842.

Congress met December 6, 1841. The principal thing of Twenty-seventh Congress, this session was the passage of a Congress,} thw imposing tariff on imports. First Session. law

The compromise act of 1833 reduced our manufactories to a languishing condition, while the government revenues were less than the expenses. Several bills were drafted, and the main question in them all-the increase of duties-elicited a violent discussion on both sides, which revived many of the scenes of 1833. The whig majority, at length, passed a bill continuing, for the present, the duties under the tariff law of '33, according to which protection was to cease after 1842, and providing for the distribution of any surplus revenue among the states. This was vetoed by the President. The bill, with the clause providing for the distribution of surplus revenue left out, was returned to him, and he signed it August 30, 1842. Congress adjourned August 31, 1842.

Congress met December 5, 1842. The session was marked Twenty-seventh Congress, by nothing of party interest. The Second Session. Santi-slavery whigs were preparing to meet the question of the annexation of Texas, by working up the people of the north against it. They declared, in an address issued to the public, that it would result in, and justify, a dissolution of the Union. Congress adjourned March 3, 1843.

THE NATIVE AMERICAN PARTY.

This party was organized in 1843, and operated principally in large cities. The organization was occasioned by the great inflow of foreigners to the city of New York, and held up as its distinctive principles opposition to Catholicism and the election to office of men born in a foreign country.

HUNKERS AND BARNBURNERS.

In 1843, the democrats in the legislature of New York divided on minor questions, one faction receiving the name of "liberals." The breach thus begun widened till alienation between the factions became complete. Several years passed before a name was given to each division. In Polk's administration the "liberals" were called "barnburners" and the other wing" hunkers."

Congress met December 4, 1843. The House was demoTwenty-eighth Congress,cratic, and the Senate whig. The First Session. President, in his message to Congress, had recommended appropriations for internal improvements for the western states. Accordingly, two bills were passed, the eastern and the western harbor bill. The former was vetoed, but the latter was signed. The Senate rejected a treaty by a vote of thirty-five to sixteen, which the administration had concluded with Texas, providing for annexation. Congress adjourned June 17, 1844.

ELECTION OF 1844.

The liberty party met in national convention at Buffalo, New York, August, 1843, and nominated James G. Birney and Thomas Morris as their candidates. They adopted a lengthy platform, "denouncing slavery, and calling upon the free states for penal laws to stop the return of fugitive slaves."

The whig convention was held in Baltimore, May 1, 1844. Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New York, were nominated. They adopted a loose constructionist platform, advocating a "national currency, a protective tariff, and a distribution of surplus revenue among the states." The position of Mr. Clay on the question of annexation tended to alienate from his support some of the ultra whigs at the south, but the ticket was generally received with enthusiasm.