ex-Postmaster-General John McLean the Anti-Mason candidate; but in the second convention at Baltimore, in 1831, in which thirteen States were represented by one hundred and twelve delegates, William Wirt received the nomination for President, and Amos Ellmaker for Vice-President. Seward wrote to Mr. Weed from Auburn, October 19, 1831, "The name

of William Wirt added to the splendid names recently enrolled on our banner is destined to be the proudest and most victorious."

The Clay men were sadly out of humor with these proceedings, having all along indulged in the delusion that the Anti-Masons would nominate Clay, or else make no nomination. Now they determined to unite in a desperate effort to break down the Anti-Masons altogether. They as

sumed the name of National Republicans, and held a convention in Baltimore, in December, 1831-three months after the Anti-Masonic convention. Henry Clay was nominated by a unanimous vote for President, and John Sergeant for Vice-President.

The details of this presidential campaign, if fully written out, would present one of the most extraordinary pictures in our political development. The electioneering processes would read like romance. The wheels within wheels were kept on a perfect whirr. Leading men and renowned orators rode through the country in springless wagons and on horsebackfor railroads were not yet to stir men into action, and increase the popular vote; and in their zeal thought little of swimming rivers or sleeping under hay-stacks if thereby their party could be served. The controversy between the two rival chieftains, the blind devotion of both parties, the inveterate prejudice of each to the other, the eloquent vituperation and inelegant sarcasm of the angry disputants in public places, and the herculean industry of the Anti-Masons in trying to advance the interests of the "blessed spirit," by breaking the ranks of both the Jackson and Clay men, distinguished this election above all others in our annals.

But Jackson, even while vetoing the bill that had passed both Democratic houses of Congress rechartering the Bank of the United States, was the second time borne like an enchanted prince into the presidential chair. He received two hundred and nineteen of the electoral votes; Clay fortynine; Wirt seven; and John Floyd, governor of Virginia from 1829 to 1834, eleven.

Henry Clay remained in the Senate from 1831 to 1842, and offered the famous resolution of censure when President Jackson commenced his second term by the removal of the deposits from the Bank of the United States, an act which was pronounced unconstitutional.

William Wirt was a scholarly man of some sixty years, a lawyer by profession, who had served twelve years as Attorney-General of the United States. He specially distinguished himself in the trial of Aaron Burr for treason at Richmond in 1807, and henceforward was considered one of the foremost in his profession. "His style was classic, figurative and flowing, his reasoning powerful, and often overwhelming." He was fond of literary pursuits, and wrote on many subjects with elegance, rapidity, and enthusiasm. He was a man of singular amiability of temperament, and greatly beloved by his friends.

The unsuccessful candidates in 1837 were four in number. Of these, William Henry Harrison received seventy-three votes, Hugh L. White twenty-six, Daniel Webster fourteen, and Willie P. Mangum fourteen.

Martin Van Buren of New York, Vice-President during the last four years, was the winning candidate. He had been the devoted supporter of all Jackson's Democratic measures, presiding over the Senate in the most graceful and parliamentary manner through the tempestuous scenes of his second term. But financial disaster was the grand legacy of Jackson's administration. When the public money which had been withdrawn from the Bank of the United States was deposited in the local banks, it became easy to obtain loans. Speculation extended to every branch of trade, and especially to western lands. New cities were founded in the wilderness, and fabulous prices charged for building-lots. Foreign goods at the same time were imported heavily, for which gold and silver were sent abroad in large quantities. When Jackson, just before retiring from the chair of State, issued his famous "specie circular" requiring payments for the public lands to be made in hard money, gold and silver were swept into the treasury. Consequently business men could not pay their debts. Consternation seized all classes. The storm burst with terrific fury in New York within one month after Van Buren's inauguration. Two hundred and fifty houses suspended during the first three weeks of April. From New York the panic extended all over the Union. The failures in New Orleans reached twenty-seven millions in two days. Even the national government could not pay its debts.

Up to this time the political parties had not openly divided on the question of slavery, although it had created much excitement in Congress. The opposition had taken the name of the Whig party, and were quietly jubilant over the test by which it appeared possible to elect Harrison in the next struggle. He was a man of the people, though not equal to Clay in leadership. But then Clay was a Free Mason, and unacceptable to the Anti-Masons, and his advocacy of the protective tariff made him unpopular in certain portions of the South. He was not willing to have his name used if the cause could be better promoted by any other. Harrison was nominated, with John Tyler for Vice-President. The utmost enthusiasm greeted the announcement. Songs came into vogue that were heard the country through, and once heard were never forgotten. Great meetings were held and so much noise made that the campaign has gone into history as the "shouting campaign." Invention was racked for new methods in which to display the log cabin. In one instance, as an illustration, in a remote Massachusetts mountain town, a public meeting was called in the church. The farmers collected, built a log cabin on wheels, to which they attached eighty yoke of oxen-trimmed with green boughs, and banners, and flowers-and preceded by as many young girls on horseback as

there were States in the Union, this imposing procession marched for miles to the place appointed, the multitude singing on every side the rattling song, with its chorus:

"For Tippecanoe and Tyler too,

Tippecanoe and Tyler too;

With them we will beat little Van,

Van, Van is a used-up man,

And with them we will beat little Van.".

The same crude song was repeated, with others similar in style, in the church between the speeches, and this in a pre-eminently religious community. The "log cabin" and "hard cider" were seized as emblems of the simplicity of Harrison's early Western life, and his military reputation, like that of Jackson, “carried him on to fortune." He received two hundred and thirty-four votes, and Van Buren was the unsuccessful candidate, with only sixty.

Daniel Webster as well as Henry Clay participated in this presidential struggle. Webster had recently been in England, where his fame had preceded him, and where his great speech in the Senate against the right of an individual State to nullify an Act of Congress was quoted as next to the Constitution itself the most correct and complete exposition of the true powers and functions of the Federal government. He had not been unwilling to risk being the second time an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency, but circumstances led him to withdraw his name prior to the convention. He was appointed Secretary of State by President Harrison immediately after the election. At the end of two years he resigned, and his great opponent in the State sovereignty doctrine, John C. Calhoun, was his successor, appointed by President Tyler. This eminent statesman and brilliant orator had been Secretary of War in President Monroe's cabinet eight years, Vice-President of the United States eight years, and for a long period in the Senate. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, was graduated from Yale College in 1804, studied law, and soon entered public life. "That young man has talent enough to be President of the United States," said Dr. Dwight, of Yale, before Calhoun had finished his college course. And but for his peculiar doctrine of State rights honestly entertained and earnestly advocated, and his ultra views on the tariff and slavery questions he would have been, through his commanding talents and unspotted integrity, one of the most available of candidates. In arranging the canvass for 1845, Calhoun's name was before the Democratic public, and South Carolina and Georgia were in favor of his nomination. The Whigs were united for Clay, and Calhoun in one or two instances remarked

that nothing could prevent the election of Clay but his own candidacy. The Democrats had been so exasperated at the success of the Whigs in 1841, that every point was guarded in relation to their next choice. Early in January, 1844, Calhoun wrote a letter in which he refused to have his name

go before the nominating convention. But South Carolina cast her votes for him, nevertheless. The adherence of the Democrats to Mr. Van Buren was by no means unanimous, although many were in his favor. The following is an unpublished letter from Henry Clay to Thurlow Weed, dated: