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Witness for the Defense
Rachel Donelson Jackson (1767-1828)
Wearing the white dress she had purchased for her husband's inaugural ceremonies, Rachel Donelson Jackson
was buried in the garden at The Hermitage, her home near Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas Eve in 1828. Lines
from her epitaph--"A being so gentle and so virtuous slander might wound, but could not dishonor"--reflected
Jackson’s bitterness at campaign slurs that seemed to cause her death.
Rachel Donelson was a child of the frontier. Born in Virginia, she journeyed to the Tennessee wilderness with her
parents when only 12. At 17, while living in Kentucky, she married Lewis Robards, of a prominent Mercer County
family but their marriage was short lived. His unreasoning jealousy made it impossible for her to live with him; in
1790 they separated, and she believed that he was filing a petition for divorce.
Andrew Jackson married her in 1791; and after two happy years they learned, to their dismay, that Rachel’s first
husband, Robards, had not obtained a divorce, only permission to file for one. Now he filed a law suit accusing
Rachel of adultery (having an affair). After the divorce was finally granted, the Jacksons quietly remarried in 1794.
They had made an honest mistake, as friends understood, but whispers of adultery and bigamy (having more than
one spouse) followed Rachel as Jackson's career advanced in both politics and the military. Jackson was quick to
get angry at, and ready to avenge, any insult to her.
The scandal of her marriages caused Rachel Jackson to withdraw from society’s glare even though her husband led
a public life. However, her private life with Jackson was happy and fulfilled. She helped him build their home, the
Hermitage. Her pleasant nature had a calming effect on his hot temper.
Rachel's unpretentious kindness won the respect of those who knew her--including innumerable visitors who found
a comfortable welcome at The Hermitage. Although the Jacksons never had children of their own, they gladly
opened their home to the children of Rachel's many relatives. In 1809 they adopted a nephew and named him
Andrew Jackson, Jr. They also reared other nephews; one, Andrew Jackson Donelson, eventually married his
cousin Emily, one of Rachel's favorite nieces.
Rachel Jackson would not live to be First Lady, but she did live to see her husband elected President in 1828. The
elections of 1824 and 1828 caused Rachel Jackson much grief. Her one visit to Washington made her feel inferior.
Her health, which was poor due to heart problems and excessive weight, had declined even further by 1828. After
listening to scandalous, petty accusations during the campaign, Rachel dreaded the outcome of the 1828 election.
Her husband was, however, elected. She made the best of it and had even purchased an inaugural gown. Before
she could wear it, she was fatally stricken by a heart attack in December 1828.
The White House. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/rj7.html>. Viewed 3/25/05.
National First Ladies’ Library. Copyright 1998-2002.
http://www.firstladies.org/Bibliography/RachelJackson/FLBioSketch.htm>. Viewed 3/25/05.
Witness for the Defense
Martin Van Buren
Youth. Martin Van Buren was born at Kinderhook in upstate New York on 5 December 1782. His parents were
farmers and had inherited a tavern, and apparently were modest slaveholders as well. Van Buren attended local
village schools and became a law clerk at fourteen. By 1800 he had acquired a reputation as an advocate. He was
licensed to practice law in 1803 and became a partner of his half brother. In 1807 he married Hannah Hoes, who
gave birth to four sons before she died in 1819.
"Little Magician." Standing five feet six inches, not really short for that era, Van Buren always dressed
immaculately, and his cheerful disposition and wit won him many jurors and voters. In 1813 he was elected state
senator, on an anti-bank platform. In 1815 he became a regent for the State University of New York, was reelected
in 1816, and became state attorney general in the same year. In an age when most Americans rejected political
parties, or factions, as corrupt sources of influence, Van Buren believed that parties could actually serve the people
by organizing them to resist limits on their freedom. Called the "Little Magician" for his ability to organize and
motivate, Van Buren challenged established politicians on a variety of issues and sought to expand democracy by
creating a party that would protect the people's interests. His faction, known as the "Bucktails," or the "Albany
Regency," helped to elect him to the United States Senate in 1821. In the Senate, Van Buren voted for the tariffs of
1824 and 1828 and against internal improvements, like the National Road.
Loyal Jacksonian. Van Buren became New York's governor in 1828 but immediately resigned to become Andrew
Jackson's secretary of state. As secretary of state, he resolved issues involving West Indies trade with Britain and
French compensation to Americans for impressment of ships and sailors. A division in Jackson’s Cabinet soon
developed because of Jackson's differences with Calhoun, his Vice President. These differences became serious
during the Nullification Crisis, when Calhoun supported states’ rights to nullify federal laws. As a way to get rid of
Calhoun supporters in Jackson’s Cabinet, Van Buren suggested that all Cabinet members, including himself, resign
so that Jackson could appoint a new, more loyal Cabinet. Jackson took his advice and when he tried to reward Van
Buren’s loyalty by appointing him Minister to Great Britain, Calhoun voted against the appointment. This made a
martyr of Van Buren who was seen as a loyal politician caught in the middle of the fight between Jackson and
Calhoun. Nominated as minister to Great Britain, he was defeated by Calhoun's tie-breaking vote. Once Calhoun
resigned as Vice-President, Van Buren was rewarded for his loyalty to Jackson and elected Vice President in 1832.
Van Buren then won the Presidency in 1836, after Jackson retired, in part by promising to continue Jacksonian
politics. In 1838, the removal of the Cherokee took effect during his presidency.
"Van Ruin." Once Jackson retired after a second term, Van Buren faced a divided opposition party in 1836. The
split allowed Van Buren to win the presidency by a large margin. Almost immediately Van Buren faced a severe
economic depression, the Panic of 1837. Opposed to banks and paper money, Van Buren had few ideas to address
high unemployment, foreclosures and financial instability. Blaming banks for the depression, he sought an
independent treasury that would allow the government to control monetary policy. Whigs and pro-bank Democrats,
however, blocked his efforts, and the public increasingly blamed Jackson and "Van Ruin" for the lasting crisis. In
the 1840 election the Whig Party avoided the issues and promoted their candidate, William Henry Harrison, as a
man of the people born in a log cabin and raised on hard cider, while calling Van Buren a "used up man" and an
extravagant spender. Van Buren lost in a landslide.
The White House. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/mb8.html>. Viewed 3/25/05.
Witness for the Defense
James K. Polk (1795-1849)
James K. Polk was born on Nov. 2, 1795, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. As a child, he moved to an area
in Tennessee settled by his grandfather, a land speculator. After graduation from the University of North Carolina in
1818, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1820. Elected to the state legislature in 1822, Polk became
known as an opponent of the state's banks and land speculators. He supported Andrew Jackson, who was an old
friend of his father, for the presidency in the election of 1824, and later consulted him for advice on many political
decisions.
Polk was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1825, becoming a leader of the Democratic party. He
advocated a strict states'-rights position, emphasizing restricted government. He also supported Jackson's banking
policies, including removal of the government's deposits from the Bank of the United States. As a reward for his
support, Polk was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1835 and served until 1839. In the House of
Representatives, Polk was a chief supporter of Jackson during his Bank war. He was in Congress when the Indian
Removal Act and Treaty of New Echota were passed and ratified by a slim majority. He served as Speaker of the
House between 1835 and 1839, leaving to become Governor of Tennessee.
Until circumstances raised Polk's ambitions, he was a leading contender for the Democratic nomination for Vice
President in 1844. Both Martin Van Buren, who had been expected to win the Democratic nomination for
President, and Henry Clay, who was to be the Whig nominee, tried to take western expansion out of the campaign
by declaring themselves opposed to the annexation of Texas. Polk, however, publicly stated that Texas should be
"re-annexed" and all of Oregon "re-occupied."
Andrew Jackson, now retired from politics, correctly sensed that the majority of the American people favored
expansion, urged his party to choose Polk (instead of Martin Van Buren, ex-president and Jackson’s second term
vice president) as their nominee for the presidency because of his commitment to expansion. Polk received the
Democratic nomination for president in 1844. Polk went on to win the 1844 election and served just one term in
office. While president, Polk achieved his goals of expansion by annexing Texas, winning the Mexican Cession and
negotiating with Britain for the Oregon Territory, thus fulfilling Jackson’s ideals.
Historians generally consider Polk to be one of America's "Ten Greatest Presidents." During his term he
strengthened the office, achieved his legislative goals, and added a great new empire. But these goals were
achieved at a great cost: war, the destruction of the Democratic party, the increased division between the North,
South and Western sections of the country and further displacement of Native American groups.
The White House <http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jp11.html>. Viewed 3/25/05.
Witness for the Defense
President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)
A Life in Brief Andrew Jackson was the first man to be elected to the highest office of the United States without
money, an expensive education, and upper-class connections. Born in 1767, the third child of impoverished Irish
immigrants, Jackson joined the Army at the age of thirteen to fight in the Revolution, a cause which had already
taken the life of his oldest brother. Jackson's commander immediately recognized his exceptional horsemanship and
promise on the battlefield, arming him despite his young age. Both Andrew and his middle brother were captured by
British troops. During the war, an angry British officer wielding a sword struck him in the face for being disrespectful.
Jackson carried this scar for the rest of his life, a reminder of his hate for the British.
From the Battlefield to the White House After a few short years practicing law in Tennessee, where Jackson met
his wife, Rachel Robards, Jackson was anxious to be back on the battlefield in the War of 1812. Jackson organized
a volunteer army to fight the Native American Creek tribe, who had attacked a settlement in what is now Alabama.
With the help of volunteer soldiers from other native tribes, Jackson destroyed the Creek forces and forced them to
surrender 23 million acres of their land, bringing him to the nation's attention. As a result, he was promoted to the
Army's highest rank and given command of the entire southern theater of the war, where the British were preparing
a full-scale invasion of Louisiana. In the historic battle of New Orleans, on January 8, 1815, the British suffered
1,971 men killed and wounded; the Americans lost only 70. There was instant talk that "Old Hickory," as Jackson
had come to be called, would surely be President someday.
In 1824, Jackson, representing the Democrats, ran against John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. Jackson lost the
election, which he felt had been wrongly given to Adams when it had to be decided in the House of Representatives.
He was determined to avenge the "stolen" election and deny Adams a second term. The election of 1828 was the
first mass-marketed campaign, complete with fireworks shows, barbecues, and rallies. It was also very nasty.
Jackson's opponents publicized the scandal of his relationship with Rachel Robards, who was not yet divorced
when she and Jackson had married. Despite such mudslinging, Jackson won in a landslide.
Native Americans, National Unity, and the Monster Bank One of the most pressing problems of Jackson's
presidency was how to remove Native Americans from their ancestral lands in the Southwest. Claiming concern for
their welfare, Jackson proposed moving them to distant lands in present-day Oklahoma, west of the Mississippi. The
policy was a disaster. Thousands of the Cherokee Nation perished on the "Trail of Tears," a forced march of over
800 miles. By the end of the 1830s, virtually all Native Americans originally from the East had been resettled in the
West.
Within Jackson's own administration, there were bitter battles waged. Vice President John C. Calhoun and
Secretary of State Martin Van Buren fought and plotted against each other as to who would succeed Jackson as
President. Their battles became most intense during the Nullification Crisis when Calhoun claimed that states had
the right to nullify national laws. While Jackson forced Calhoun and South Carolina to back down on this matter, the
debates that followed continued to divide the country.
Jackson will also be remembered for taking on the powerful Second National Bank of the United States. This fight
against the "Monster Bank" won him popular support among the working classes and helped him win re-election of
1832. His political opponents accused him of taking too much power and called him ‘King Andrew I.’ Behind these
accusations lay the fact that Jackson, unlike previous Presidents, frequently used his power of the veto and his party
leadership to command the government.
Personal Political Casualty Although Andrew and Rachel Jackson never had children of their own, they adopted a
child and raised an abandoned Creek boy as well as two of Jackson's nephews. Lonely after Rachel died in 1828,
Jackson became famous for his hospitality, filling the White House with friends, family, and children. Jackson
blamed Rachel's death (which occurred a short time before he took office) on the brutal campaign tactics of his
opponents, who called Rachel's first marriage a scandal.
As the first president to be chosen by the people and not the elite, Jackson is known for bringing the common man
into the government. He also was the first powerful and aggressive President, claiming that he could understand the
will of the people better than Congress. His style brought in a new era of increased political participation by the
common man. At the same time, however, the "Age of Jackson" was one in which personality, the spoils system,
and negative tactics dominated the campaign process.
Andrew Jackson. <http://www.historywise.com/KoTrain/Courses/AJA/AJA_In_Brief.htm>. Viewed 3/25/05.
Witness for the Defense
Winfield Scott (1786-1866)
Winfield Scott (1786-1866) was the leading general of the Mexican War and a superb tactician. He was the Whig
nominee for president in 1852.
Winfield Scott became a soldier at a time when the U.S. Army was very ineffective. By study and hard work, he
made himself the best military man in the country, wrote the standard manuals on tactics and infantry, and upgraded
the Army into an effective unit. Moreover, he was a negotiator who avoided war on several occasions. Yet the
presidency, which he coveted, eluded him.
Scott was born near Petersburg, Va., on June 13, 1786. Failing to inherit the family wealth through legal
technicalities, he attended William and Mary College but quit because he disapproved the irreligious attitude of the
students. After reading law, he was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1806 and practiced until appointed a captain in
the military in 1808. Sent to New Orleans, he was soon in trouble. He declared that the commanding general of the
department, James Wilkinson, was a traitor; Scott was court-martialed and suspended from the Army for a year
(1810).
A lieutenant colonel at the outbreak of war, Scott distinguished himself in a number of battles. Several times
wounded, the 6-foot 5-inch, 230-pound officer showed such judgment and courage that he was promoted to
brigadier general, was breveted a major general, and was voted the thanks of Congress and a gold medal. He
declined the offered position of secretary of war in James Madison's administration.
Scott went to Europe in 1815 and in 1829 to study foreign military tactics, and he wrote military manuals for the
Army that remained standard for half a century. He married Maria D. Mayo of Richmond, Va., in 1817. He also
conducted military institutes for the officers of his command, the Eastern Division, which was headquartered in New
York City.
In 1828 Scott participated in the Black Hawk War. Four years later President Andrew Jackson sent him to South
Carolina during the nullification controversy, and his tact prevented civil war at that time. In 1835 Jackson sent him
to fight the Seminole and Creeks in Florida, but he was deprived of materials and moved slowly. Jackson removed
him from command to face a board of inquiry. The board promptly exonerated him with praise for his "energy,
steadiness and ability."
In 1832, Scott saw service in the Black Hawk War and later was sent by President Andrew Jackson to Charleston to
calm the South Carolinians during the Nullification Crisis. In 1838, Scott was responsible for overseeing the removal
of the Cherokees from Georgia across the Trail of Tears to reservations in the West.
Winfield Scott arrived at Cherokee Nation territory in May of 1838 and immediately began with his plans for removal.
He divided the Nation into three military districts and in each of these districts the Cherokee were rounded up and
herded into unsanitary "forts," one of which was named for the general. The conditions at these “forts” were so bad
that nearly one-third of all the Cherokee deaths attributed to the Trail of Tears were a result of this confinement in
Georgia.
The first parties to leave Georgia suffered huge losses in both people and livestock, attempting to travel west in the
scorching heat of summer. The Cherokee clearly viewed Scott as their "warden" or prison guard when they
appealed directly to him to postpone the removal until cooler months. "We, your prisoners, wish to speak to
you...We have been made prisoners by your men but do not fight you..."
The appeal worked. Scott not only agreed to postpone the removal, he backed a proposal for the departing parties
to be led by Cherokee chiefs rather than the U. S. Army. Nevertheless, the “Trail of Tears” was a 1,000 mile
journey during which hundreds of Cherokee died.
After overseeing the Removal Policy, Scott was appointed general-in-chief of the U.S. army in 1841 and occupied
that position for 20 years.
U-S-History.com. 2004-2005. <http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h138.html>. Viewed 3/25/05.
Witness for the Defense
Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858)
Thomas Hart Benton was born on March 14, 1782, in North Carolina. As a young man, he studied law until he was
called home from college by his widowed mother to manage the family estate. Like many other ambitious young
Southerners of his day, Benton was attracted to the opportunities and excitement of the frontier state of Tennessee.
In 1799, he moved his family to a 40,000 acre plot near Nashville which he had inherited from his father, and set to
work building a plantation, roads, mills, school and meeting houses, and other buildings necessary to the town he
founded there.
While in Tennessee, Benton finished his studies and became a lawyer, active in state politics and military affairs. He
attracted the attention of Andrew Jackson, one of the most powerful men in Tennessee. At the outset of the War of
1812, General Jackson appointed Benton his aide-de-camp, and gave him the rank of lieutenant colonel. Benton
saw no military action, however. His political connections and sharp mind made him more valuable to Jackson as a
military representative in Washington D.C. where he smoothed over General Jackson’s differences with the federal
government.
Already impatient at the lack of opportunity for military glory, Benton was enraged when he heard that Jackson, his
friend, had insulted his brother. The two quarreled bitterly; Jackson publicly threatened to whip Benton. The hot
tempered Benton exploded, and the affair climaxed in a brawl in Nashville's City Hotel. Jackson ended up getting
shot and Benton was thrown down the stairs. Both men survived the fight but continued to be angry at each other.
After the fight, Benton fled from Jackson to Missouri where he became active in law and politics. Benton was elected
the Senator of Missouri in 1820 and served five terms, the first man to serve 30 years in the U.S. Senate. For most
of those years, he virtually controlled Missouri, was one of the most powerful and influential men in the country, and
"grand old man" of the Democratic Party. He was in the Senate when the Indian Removal Act and Treaty of New
Echota were passed and ratified by Congress.
The development of the West was Benton’s greatest passion, and he worked unceasingly on all projects important
to western interests. He was famous for his efforts to establish a system of land distribution that would enable
honest settlers to purchase public lands at low prices. He championed the pony express, the telegraph, interior
highways, the opening of the Oregon and Santa Fe trails, and transcontinental railroads. When Andrew Jackson
became President, the two men forgave each other for their old fight and joined together in a crusade against and
eastern capitalists.
Most importantly, Benton worked throughout his years in the Senate to realize his vision of a United States
stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He favored the annexation of Texas, and was the first to introduce in the
Senate a bill demanding exclusive American control of the Oregon country, In 1846, his efforts met with success,
and the United States laid claim to all of the Pacific Northwest south of the present boundary between the United
States and Canada. Benton and Jackson’s shared vision of “Manifest Destiny” ultimately overcame their quarrel.
Thomas Hart Benton: http://www.co.benton.wa.us/html/thomas_hart_benton.htm
http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/benton.htm
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000398
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/northamerican/ThomasHartBentons
RemarkstotheSenate/Chap1.html
Witness for the Defense
John Rollin Ridge (1827-1867)
Ridge, either three-eighths or one-half Cherokee (accounts vary), was born in the Cherokee Nation East on March
19, 1827. This area, soon to be part of Georgia (near the city of Rome), was home to many of the Ridges and their
relatives. His father, John Ridge, and grandfather, Major Ridge, were outstanding and prosperous Cherokee citizens
and tribal leaders of the time. Ridge's mother was a white American, Sarah Bird Northrup of Connecticut. She had
married his father when he attended the Cornwall Indian School in Connecticut. His parents' marriage "was opposed
by both families and so scandalized the Yankee 'do-gooders' that they soon closed their Indian school," Ridge wrote
in an essay published in A Trumpet of Our Own.
Both Ridge's father and grandfather were active in Cherokee politics and in the acculturation of the tribe with white
society. They were key members of the "Treaty Party," which believed that the Cherokee land in Georgia should be
sold to the U.S. government and that the Cherokees should be voluntarily, peacefully relocated to new lands west of
the Mississippi. They believed that resistance to leaving Georgia would prove devastating to the Cherokees, both
individually and collectively as a nation. However, the majority of Cherokees supported the "Ross Party," led by
Cherokee principal chief John Ross, who believed that negotiation with the federal government and use of the U.S.
court system would allow the Cherokees to stay in what was left of their ancestral lands. Major Ridge wrote a law
stating that any Cherokee who sold or bargained away tribal land would be guilty of a capital offense against the
tribe. Even so, Major Ridge and John Ridge agreed themselves to sign the Treaty of New Echota in 1835.
The Treaty of New Echota provided the Cherokee Tribe with 13.8 million acres for settlement in the Indian Territory,
$4.5 million and an annuity payment to support a school. While the Ridges insisted that they had negotiated the best
possible deal, many Cherokees were outraged at the prospect of removal to the West. To make matters worse, the
journey to the Indian Territory was poorly planned; many Cherokees died during the treks of 1836 through 1839,
which became known as "The Trail of Tears." By the time the removal of the Cherokee had been completed, the
Ridge family's leadership was under attack by a hostile faction who accused them of profiting from their people's
misery.
On June 22, 1839, the Ridges' rivals got their revenge. Ridge witnessed his father's murder when he was 12. The
scene and its story haunted him for the rest of his life and he told it whenever possible. His father was dragged from
the house and stabbed to death by armed men. His mother took the children and fled to Fayetteville, Arkansas,
some 50 miles away, but out of the Cherokee Nation. In 1841 Ridge was sent east to Great Barrington School in
Massachusetts. This was not successful, however, and he returned to Arkansas, where he worked with the
missionary Cephas Washburn. Ridge flourished under this tutelage and enjoyed studying the classics.
In 1847, before Ridge was 23, he married Elizabeth Wilson and they had one daughter, Alice Bird Ridge (Beatty).
Ridge always had a quick temper and a strong desire for revenge against the Ross faction. Ridge claimed to be
actively involved in the guerilla warfare between the Ross and the Ridge factions in the late 1840s. When he shot
and killed David Kell, a Ross follower and local judge, in May 1849, he fled to Missouri (leaving his wife and
daughter in Arkansas) rather than risk a trial in the Ross-controlled Cherokee Nation--even though it was widely
thought that the dead man had been assigned to kill Ridge and the intended victim had merely gotten the advantage
over him. Ridge's thirst for revenge is revealed in his correspondence of the time. For example, in a letter to his
uncle, Stand Watie, he says "The feeling here is that of indignation against the Ross party. They would be glad to
have every one of them massacred."
Whatever the exact circumstances, Ridge decided not to risk a trial and decided to flee to California. Encouraged by
news of gold strikes there, Ridge took out mortgages on his two slaves to finance the trip and departed with his
brother and one slave in April 1850.
Witness for the Defense
David Crockett (1786-1836)
Davy Crockett, the son of John and Rebecca Crockett, was born on Aug. 17, 1786, in Tennessee. John Crockett
failed as a farmer, mill operator, and storekeeper. In fact, he remained in debt, as did Davy, all his life. Because of
continuing poverty, Davy's father put him to work driving cattle to Virginia when he was12 years old. Returning to
Tennessee in the winter of 1798, Davy spent 5 days in school. After a fight there, he played hookey until his father
found out and then, to escape punishment, ran away.
Crockett worked and traveled throughout Virginia and did not return home for nearly 3 years. Several years later he
decided that his lack of education limited his marriage possibilities, and he arranged to work 6 months for a nearby
Quaker teacher. In 1806 Crockett married and rented a farm. Frontier farming proved difficult and unrewarding to
Crockett, who enjoyed hunting more than work. After five years he decided to move farther west. By 1813 he had
located his family in Franklin Country, Tenn.
Life on the Frontier
Shortly afterward, the Creek War began. During the summer of 1813 a party of frontiersmen ambushed a band of
Creek Indian warriors in southern Alabama. Settlers in the area gathered at a stockade called Ft. Mims. The Native
Americans attacked on Aug. 30, 1813, found the garrison undefended, and killed over 500 people. Within 2 weeks
frontier militia units gathered for revenge, and Crockett volunteered for 3 months' duty that year. In September and
October he served as a scout. During the famous mutiny against Andrew Jackson in December, Crockett was on
leave, and reports that he deserted the militia during the Creek War are unfounded. He served again from
September 1814 to February 1815. During this campaign Crockett was a mounted scout and hunter; apparently his
unit encountered little fighting.
Local and State Politics
After the victory in the Creek War, Crockett participated in local politics as justice of the peace and later, commander
of the local militia. During the campaign for state level legislature, Crockett showed a strong connection to his
fellow settlers on the western frontier of America. He realized that their isolation and need for recreation outweighed
other desires. Therefore, he gave short speeches laced with stories, followed by a trip to the ever present liquor
stand--a tactic well received by his audience, who elected him. Having grown poor and without property, Crockett
proposed bills to reduce taxes, to settle land claim disputes, and in general to protect the economic interests of
western settlers.
Congressional Career
In 1827, Crockett ran for Congress; he campaigned as an antitariff man, however, and the incumbent easily
defeated him. Throughout his congressional terms he worked for the Tennessee Vacant Land Bill, which he
introduced during his first term. This proposal would have offered free land to frontier settlers in return for the
increase in value which they would bring about because of their improvements.
In 1829, although he opposed several of President Andrew Jackson's measures, Crockett campaigned for reelection
as a Jacksonian Democrat. But during his second term in Congress, Crockett grew increasingly hostile to Jackson.
He opposed the President on the issues of Native American removal, land policy, and the Second National Bank. In
the election of 1831 Crockett was defeated. Two years later he regained his congressional seat by a narrow margin.
By 1834 he had become such an outspoken critic of Jackson that Whig party leaders used Crockett as a popular
symbol in their anti-Jackson campaigns. Crockett was defeated in 1835, ending his congressional career.
During his three terms in Washington, Crockett tried to represent the interests of his frontier district. In doing so, he
became enmeshed in a dispute with the Tennessee Jackson forces. The continuing fight with this group not only
prevented him from making any lasting legislative contributions but also ended his political career.
Witness for the Defense
Sam Houston
Houston was born on March 2, 1793, in Rockbridge County, Va. Following the death of his father, he and his mother
moved to Tenn., in 1807. Houston received less than a year and a half of formal education. In 1809, when farming
and clerking proved distasteful to him, he ran away to live with the Cherokee Indians for 3 years. The Cherokee
called him "The Raven." In 1812 he established a subscription school, where he also taught for a year.
Soldier and Lawyer
During the War of 1812 Houston enlisted as a private and rose to the rank of second lieutenant. He was severely
wounded during the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, and Gen. Andrew Jackson, commander in the engagement,
commended him for his coolness and courage. After the war Houston applied for a commission in the Regular Army
and was assigned to Jackson's command at Nashville, where he also served as subagent to the Cherokee.
Resigning his commission in 1818, he studied law and was quickly admitted to the bar. He established his practice
at Lebanon, Tenn.
Entering politics in 1819 as a Jacksonian Democrat, Houston proved a colorful and magnetic orator and was elected
attorney general of Tennessee. Two years later he was named major general of the Tennessee militia. In 1823 he
was elected to Congress and reelected in 1825. He was elected governor of Tennessee in 1827 and probably would
have been reelected in 1829 had not personal tragedy interfered. In January 1829 he had married Eliza Allen, but in
April she left him. In response, Houston resigned his governorship and went to live with the Cherokee in the western
part of Arkansas Territory.
Establishing himself near Ft. Gibson (in present Oklahoma), Houston opened a trading post and took a Cherokee
wife, Tiana Rogers. Twice he represented the Cherokee in dealings with the Federal government. On the second
trip, in 1832, Ohio representative William Stanberry charged him with misdealings with the Indians; enraged,
Houston beat the congressman with a cane. Houston was tried by the House of Representatives, which issued a
reprimand.
Career in Texas
In late 1832 President Andrew Jackson sent Houston to deliver peace medals to tribes of western Indians and to
negotiate with them. After fulfilling this obligation, he decided to settle in a Mexican province of Texas territory and
practiced law there.
Houston was elected a delegate to the Convention of 1833, which advocated separate statehood for Texas within
the Mexican Republic. He aligned himself with the militant faction of Texans, and when the revolution began in
October 1835, he was elected commander in chief of the army. However, the volunteers refused to follow his lead
during the winter of 1835/1836, and he spent his time with the Cherokee. Again, in 1836, he was named
commander in chief of the Texan forces, this time by the convention that met to declare Texas independent.
Houston rallied a small army, drilled it briefly, then led it into battle. On April 21, 1836, he met the force commanded
by Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana at San Jacinto. Houston's 783 men fought an estimated 1,500
Mexicans. The battle lasted 18 minutes and was a decisive defeat for the Mexicans. Santa Ana was later captured.
In 1836 Houston was elected the first president of the Republic of Texas. During his 2-year term he followed a
conservative policy, seeking annexation to the United States, peace with the Indians and with Mexico, and minimum
government spending. He served as president again from 1841 to 1844. His chosen successor, Dr. Anson Jones,
concluded the annexation of Texas to the United States in 1845, and Houston became one of the state's first
senators.
Source Citation:
"Houston, Samuel (1793-1863)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale Biography In Context.
Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
Witness for the Prosecution
Calhoun, John Caldwell (1782-1850)
American statesman and political philosopher. From 1811 until his death Calhoun served in the national
government, as Congressman, Secretary of War, Vice President, Senator, Secretary of State, and again as Senator.
He was at the heart of the issues of his time, notably the nullification crisis and the conflict over slavery.
Early Career. Born in Abbeville district, S.C., on March 18, 1782, Calhoun grew up in an atmosphere of controversy
and social change. The popularity of cotton as a cash crop was bringing slavery into South Carolina, where small
farmers like his father were challenging the political control of rich planters from the state’s coast. Calhoun was
largely self-educated before he entered Yale as a junior in 1801. He graduated with honors in 1804; went on to law
school, in Litchfield, Conn.; and began his law practice in South Carolina in 1807. Even as a young lawyer, Calhoun
quickly gained the reputation that took him to the state legislature from 1809 to 1811. Calhoun's own future, both
socially and economically, was assured by his marriage in 1811 to a wealthy cousin, Floride Bonneau Calhoun. The
couple settled at Abbeville, moving in 1825 to the Fort Hill plantation near Pendleton, the future site of Clemson
University.
National Politics. Calhoun entered Congress in 1811. While in Congress, he proposed measures to financially and
economically expand the nation- known as the "American System" a combination of protective tariff, internal
transportation, and national bank.
In 1824, Calhoun was elected vice president of the United States with support from both the Adams and Jackson
factions. He served under the victorious John Quincy Adams, but in 1828 he supported Andrew Jackson and was
again elected to the vice presidency when Jackson won the presidency.
Between the War of 1812 and the election of 1828, the American scene had changed radically. A postwar
depression had created hostility against the Bank of the United States and had brought the first of a long series of
increases in the tariff (tax on imported manufactured goods). The question of state versus national power was
reopened by a series of Supreme Court decisions, and other events sparked disagreements over slavery.
Despite overproduction and falling prices within the country, the Southern cotton planters blamed their financial
problems on the tariff, which raised the cost of foreign manufactured goods and tended to decrease trade of
Southern cash crops abroad. The very high Tariff of 1828 drove the cotton states to the verge of rebellion. To
advise incoming President Jackson of what the South expected of him, the South Carolina legislature asked
Calhoun to prepare a report out. His South Carolina Exposition (1828), was the first public statement of Calhoun's
unique political ideas.
Nullification. The idea that a state could nullify, or refuse to obey an act of Congress that it believed to be
unconstitutional had been developed by Thomas Jefferson in opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. The
belief of states' rights was based on the idea that each of the states originally had been sovereign and independent
before the Constitution was ratified. As a result, Calhoun argued, if the tariff were not reduced, the states could use
their “sovereignty" to stop the law within their own borders.
When Congress did not reduce the tariff in 1832, a special convention in South Carolina declared the tariff null and
void within the state. Luckily a compromise tariff was negotiated at the last minute and the state backed down.
Although a large-scale crisis of state nullification was avoided, the tariff put Jackson and Calhoun sharply at odds.
Jackson forcefully opposed states rights and advocated for a strong central government and chief executive.
Making matters worse, he had requested Congress to grant him emergency military powers to enforce the tariff in
South Carolina. By now, the president learned that Calhoun, when Secretary of War in 1818, had opposed
Jackson's pursuit the Seminoles into Spanish Florida. The two men stopped speaking. Calhoun resigned the vice
presidency to reenter the Senate, where he could better defend South Carolina. When Jackson removed
government deposits from the Bank of the United States in 1833, Calhoun joined Whig Senators to censure the
president- even though he was not a traditional supporter of the Bank. . He was in the Senate when the Indian
Removal Act and Treaty of New Echota were passed and ratified by Congress.
“Calhoun, John Caldwell.” Encyclopedia Americana. Charles M. Wiltse. Copyright © 2005 Scholastic Library
Publishing, Inc. Reproduced in The American Presidency. <http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=007123000&templatename=/article/article.html>. Viewed 3/25/05.
Witness for the Prosecution
Biddle, Nicholas (1786-1844)
Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844) established the Bank of the United States as an early version of the modern central
banking system. Using the power of the bank to expand and contract the money supply, Biddle played a prominent
role in creating a stable currency and in bringing order to the chaotic American marketplace. A true American
aristocrat, he read classics in their original language and collected art. Following his retirement from banking, he
helped establish Girard College in Philadelphia and held literary salons at Andalusia, his country estate.
Biddle was born in Philadelphia, into a well-to-do merchant family. Biddle was admitted to the University of
Pennsylvania when he was ten years old. His parents took a keen interest in his education. At age thirteen, he
entered Princeton University as a sophomore and graduated in September, 1801. At the age of fifteen, he was the
highest ranking student in his class.
In 1804 Biddle went to France as a member of the American legation, where he worked on claims resulting from the
Louisiana Purchase. After one year, he took a tour of Europe and Greece, then settled in London where he worked
for two years as secretary for future President James Monroe (1817-1875). During the time he spent overseas,
Biddle gained valuable insight and experience in international finance.
In 1810, Biddle met and later married Jane Craig, whose father's estate was one of the largest in Philadelphia. That
same year he was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature, at one point delivering a speech supporting the First
Bank of the United States.
Using the power of the bank to expand and contract the money supply, Biddle played a prominent role in creating a
stable currency and in bringing order to the chaotic American marketplace. In 1822, he was appointed by President
Monroe to lead the Second Bank of the United States--the first effective central bank in U.S. history. The bank
carried out regular commercial functions, and also acted as a collecting and disbursing agent for the federal
government. Under Biddle's guidance, the bank expanded to twenty-nine branches and controlled one-fifth of the
country's loans and bank notes in circulation.
Biddle was a brilliant administrator who maintained complete control over the Bank of the United States. His
political instincts, however, were less astute: He believed that any reasonable person must agree with him on the
value of the bank to the nation's economy. His hard--headed convictions proved disastrous for the bank.
By 1828 the central bank was under attack from President Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) whose personal
experience had given him a deep mistrust of financial institutions. Uncertain of the bank's future, Biddle decided to
press for re-chartering the bank in 1832, four years before the bank's original charter required the action. Jackson
vetoed the renewal, publicly describing the bank as a monopoly that was under foreign influence. Though the
reputation of the bank had improved under Biddle's leadership, public opinion favored Jackson's position.
Bolstered by his supporters, Jackson resolved to destroy the bank. He directed the removal of almost $10 million in
government deposits, which were placed in state or "pet banks." Biddle responded by limiting loans. Though the
move may have been necessary to protect the bank, the restriction of credit dealt a serious blow to the US
economy. Bankruptcies multiplied while wages and prices declined. These hardships turned people further against
the bank.
The bank's federal charter was terminated in 1836, but it was granted a state charter to operate as the Bank of the
United States of Pennsylvania. The loss of stability that the central bank had provided caused the Panic of 1837- an
economic depression involving inflation and job losses. As President of the Bank of the United States of
Pennsylvania, Biddle played an important role in trying to shore up the nation's failing banking system. He also
intervened heavily in the cotton market to prevent its collapse.
Biddle finally resigned from the Bank in March 1839. Although the bank continued to operate, its situation grew
steadily worse because of falling cotton prices and mismanagement. In February 1841, the bank collapsed, taking
Biddle's personal fortune with it.
Source Citation: "Nicholas Biddle." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Gale Group, 1999. Student
Resource Center. Thomson Gale. 27 March 2006 <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC>
Witness for the Prosecution
John Ross (1790-1866)
John Ross was the first and only elected Chief of the Cherokee Nation from the time it was formed until his death in
1866. Son of a Scottish father and part-Cherokee mother, Ross was one-eighth Cherokee in blood lineage. Ross’
education reflected this background: he participated in Cherokee festivals, attended a missionary school and
worked at his father’s trading post.
Growing up with the constant raids of whites and Indians, Ross witnessed much of the brutality on the early
American frontier. In his youth, he served as a Lieutenant and translator for the United States Army in the Creek
War. The Creeks were a rival tribe of the Cherokee, who had rejected U.S. claims to lands in Georgia, based on the
1783 treaty that had ended the Revolutionary War. The Creek argued that U.S. claims were not valid because the
Creek had not taken part in the treaty. The Creek War broke out in 1813 and ended the following year with Andrew
Jackson’s defeat of the Creeks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. During this time, John Ross fought alongside
many famous Americans, including Sam Houston. When Andrew Jackson called the Battle of Horseshoe Bend "one
of the great victories of the American frontier," losing 50 men while killing 500 Creek men, women, and children,
John Ross wrote the words of the treaty signed by the Creeks, Cherokee and United States. In it, the Creek then
gave up about 23 million acres to the United States.
During the next few years, Ross worked as a translator for missionaries and US government. He proposed selling
land to the missionaries for their school, a new idea to a Cherokee society that did not believe land could be subdivided or sold. Ross was viewed as astute and likable, and frequently visited Washington, DC representing the
Cherokee nation in Georgia.
In Ross’ lifetime, the Cherokee adapted certain aspects of American culture out of admiration and self-protection.
They developed a written Cherokee alphabet, a newspaper called the Cherokee Phoenix; many converted to
Christianity and wore American clothing. Ross himself became one of the richest men in North Georgia, with a 200
acre farm and a number of slaves. Ross also organized the Cherokee tribe as a nation, with its own Constitution,
modeled after the Constitution of the United States of America. In 1828 he was elected the first Principal Chief.
Despite these adaptations to American culture, white settlers continued to push into Cherokee land - particularly
with the discovery of gold in the 1820s.
As chief of Cherokee Nation, Ross fought for his tribe not with weapons but words. As the intrusion of white settlers
and gold prospectors grew, he turned to newspapers to report the story. When a state land lottery divided Cherokee
land among whites settlers, he filed suit against Georgia, a case that was taken up by the US Supreme Court.
Although the Cherokee’s right to their land was confirmed by the Supreme Court, this ruling was unenforced by both
the state of Georgia and the national government, led by Andrew Jackson. When another group of Cherokee
agreed to the Indian Removal Act and signed away Cherokee land in the Treaty of New Echota. Ross got 16,000
signatures of Cherokees to show the Treaty did not speak for a majority of the tribe, but Andrew Jackson forced the
treaty through Congress and Ross’ petition was never presented.
Throughout the winter of 1837-38, Ross stayed in Washington and tried to prevent removal, or at least minimize its
damage. By early spring, after instructions from the U.S. War Department that the Cherokee should stop spring
planting and ready themselves for removal, Ross departed for home. The U.S. Army, under the command of Major
General Winfield Scott, had been making preparations for the removal. Although Scott ordered his troops to treat the
Cherokee respectfully, events turned ugly. Soldiers rousted out families from their cabins and fields, looted and
burned belongings, and even robbed graves of valuable artifacts. Scott dispatched two groups westward that June,
and almost a third died before he halted the process until cooler months.
Ross organized remaining Cherokee into groups and planned supplies. He requested about $66 in removal
expenses per person. However, the funds Congress set aside amounted to $30 per person. The trek t the
Cherokee took became known as the "Trail of Tears." Owing to geographical, climate, and political factors, the
emigrants journeyed a long, winding route to Indian Territory. Most did not arrive there until March 1839. Shortages
of supplies plagued them, as did the weather and river ice. Winter clothing they received was no match for sleet and
cold. Greedy subcontractors, ferrymen, and toll road owners all cheated the vulnerable parties. The removal was
extremely costly. The final expenses averaged nearer to $103/person. The real cost, however, was in the deaths
and demoralization for the Cherokee. Perhaps as many as 1,600 died en route but maybe as many as 2,400 more
died in the preremoval camps or shortly after arriving in Indian Territory. Four thousand deaths would have
represented about a fourth of the tribal population- including Ross’ own wife, Quatie.
Witness for the Prosecution
Samuel Austin Worcester (1798-1859)
Samuel Worcester was the 7th generation of pastors in his family, dating back to when his family lived in England.
When Samuel was born his father, the Rev. Leonard Worcester, was a minister in Peacham, Vermont.
Young Samuel exhibited an unusual strength in foreign languages. While studying in New England the minister met
and befriended Buck Oowatie, a Cherokee Indian who had taken the name Elias Boudinot. The two men became
close friends, with Boudinot teaching Worcester the Cherokee language. When Worcester joined the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, he requested assignment to a Cherokee village that Boudinot
believed was in particular need. Within days of arriving at the community in the vicinity of present-day Brainerd,
Tennessee, Worcester was not only preaching in this Cherokee community, he had taken over duties as blacksmith,
carpenter, translator and doctor. Worcester’s Cherokee name was "The Messenger."
Boudinot asked Worcester to help in establishing a Cherokee newspaper. Worcester, a visionary, saw not just a
newspaper, but a tool to teach the Cherokees to read and write, and a way to draw the loose Cherokee community
together and promote a unified Cherokee Nation. Using his missionary connections, Worcester acquired money to
build a printing office, buy the printing press and ink, and cast the alphabet's characters (since the "talking leaves"
were new, no type existed). The first edition of the Cherokee Phoenix rolled off the presses at New Echota in 1828.
From this point on, Worcester probably had input in most Cherokee publications until his death.
The westward push of white settlers had begun to dramatically affect the Cherokee- especially when gold was
discovered on tribal lands in Georgia. The Cherokee, with the help of Worcester, fought the intrusion of white
Americans on their lands in the court system, their last hope. No other government authority would support the
Cherokee right to live on the land they called home for hundreds of years.
In 1832, Georgia Governor George Gilmer and the state legislature officially adopted a policy of forcible Indian
removal and began plans for the Land Lottery. Since 1805, the state had held six previous lotteries to distribute
land taken from both Cherokee or Creek Indians in the area. These lotteries were unique to the state; no other state
used a lottery system to distribute land. Applicants could be white males over 18 (or 21 depending on the lottery),
orphans, or widows. Fees depended on the lottery and the size of the lot won, but in general they only covered the
cost of running the lottery. The state did not profit from allocating these lands. For each person subscribing to a
lottery a ticket was placed in the barrel. (Almost ¾ of the land in modern Georgia was organized from the lotteries
held during this time period).
Worcester and 11 other ministers published a resolution in protest of another law the assembly had passed. This
law required all whites to get a license to work on Native American land. Worcester believed that obeying the law
would, in effect, be surrendering the independence of the Cherokee Nation to make their own laws and control their
own destiny. He believed that the state of Georgia had no right to dictate who entered and left Cherokee lands- it
was the Cherokee who should have the right to determine who could enter and leave their own communities.
But Governor Gilmer ordered the militia to arrest Worcester and the others who signed the document. Quickly
brought to trial and convicted in the state of Georgia, Worcester and the others held firm to their beliefs. Their
lawyer appealed their case, however, and in late 1832, it had arrived at the Supreme Court, the highest court in the
United States. The Supreme Court ruled the Cherokee Nation was independent from state laws and all dealings
with them fell under federal jurisdiction. The ruling was ignored by Gilmer and President Andrew Jackson, who
continued to hold the men prisoners. Jackson also signed the Indian Removal Act, stating “{Chief Justice} John
Marshall has made his {court} decision, now let him enforce it.”
After his release from prison, Worcester realized that the battle had been lost because the white settlers in Georgia
and the president of the United States himself refused to abide by the decision of their own court. He moved to
Oklahoma in 1835 to prepare for the coming of the Cherokee. Within three years the Cherokee Nation was forced to
follow the "Trail of Tears" and escorted by the United States Army to Oklahoma.
About North Georgia. Copyright 1994-2003. <http://ngeorgia.com/people/worcester.html>. Viewed 3/25/05.
Witness for the Prosecution
Red Eagle (William Weatherford, 1780-1824)
Native American chief, b. present-day Alabama. Red Eagle belonged to the Creek tribe. Many Creek Indians
wanted to keep traditional ways. Though some learned English, they generally spoke their own languages. Most
preferred their religion and festivals over Christianity. They believed the tribe, not the individual, should control
property, and that much of the land should remain as forest. In the woods the Creek could hunt the deer whose
skins they traded to the Europeans for manufactured goods.
During the War of 1812, Red Eagle joined Tecumseh’s movement. A Shawnee chief, Tecumseh tried to unite a
number of Native American tribes into a confederacy to prevent land cessions and to develop Indian character and
stamina against the money and weapons offered by the white settlers. Angry at the land hunger of the whites,
Tecumseh believed that no sale of land to the whites was valid unless all Indian tribes assembled and agreed to
such a sale. He said that the land did not belong to any one tribe, that it belonged to them all in common, and that
the U.S. government had recognized this principle in 1795 at the Treaty of Greenville, when all tribes had
assembled to make the agreement, after which the government had guaranteed title to all unceded land to the tribes
in common. Tecumseh also knew that in unity there was strength, and he began to try to confederate all tribes from
the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico to oppose the whites. Tecumseh was aided by the British in Canada, who
wanted allies against the Americans. He obtained arms, ammunition, and clothing from them. With British advice,
he foretold the appearance of a comet in the heavens. When it appeared, as he had forecast, in 1812, the Creek
Indians were so impressed that they arose against the whites--with disastrous results for their tribe.
As part of the Confederacy, Red Eagle made the decision to lead a Creek war party against Americans. On Aug.
30, 1813, he attacked Fort Mims, a temporary stockade near the mouth of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers.
There his warriors massacred some 500 whites. Later, in the battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River
(Mar. 27, 1814), Gen. Andrew Jackson completely broke the power of Red Eagle and his nation.
The battle has been described as a slaughter. European American soldiers and their Indian allies killed as many
Creek followers of Red Eagle as possible. In the end, 557 Indian warriors died on the battlefield and an estimated
250 to 300 more drowned or were shot trying to cross the river. Only 49 Tennessee militia men died that day, and
another 154 were wounded, many mortally. Surprisingly, Red Eagle was pardoned by Jackson after the Battle of
Horseshoe Bend. Jackson supposedly admired his courage, and Red Eagle lived peaceably in Alabama until his
death. However, many other Creek Indians were forced off their land as a result of Jackson’s Indian Removal
Policy.
The National Park Service: Links to the Past; The Battle of Horseshoe Bend:Collision of Cultures. 3/23/05.
<http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/54horseshoe/54horseshoe.htm>. Viewed 3/25/05.
“Weatherford, William.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2004 Columbia University Press.
Reproduced in Bartleby.com. <http://www.bartleby.com/65/wt/WthrfdWm.html>.
Witness for the Prosecution
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848)
A Life in Brief John Quincy Adams was born in Massachusetts on July 11, 1767, the son of a father who served in
the Continental Congress, helped draft the Declaration of Independence and became President.
When the boy was ten, John Adams was posted to Europe as a special envoy of the Revolutionary American
government, and John Quincy accompanied him. For the boy, it was an incredible introduction to the courts of
Europe and the practice of diplomacy. For seven and a half years, John Quincy lived in Paris, Amsterdam, St.
Petersburg, and London. Young Adams served as secretary to his father through the negotiation of peace ending
the American Revolutionary War and, in 1785, returned home to complete his education at Harvard College.
In 1790, Adams began practicing law in Boston -- with surprisingly little success, considering that his father was vice
president of the United States. In 1794, President Washington appointed him minister to the Netherlands, where he
served with distinction. He also reencountered the woman he would marry, Louisa Catherine Johnson, the daughter
of an American merchant living abroad. Adams had first met her in France when he was twelve and the two were
married in 1797.
Political Trials and Tribulations After an assignment as the minister to Prussia, Adams returned home and won
election to the Massachusetts legislature. In 1803, the legislature appointed him to the United States Senate -Senators were not chosen by popular vote until 1913. As a senator, he supported Thomas Jefferson in the
Louisiana Purchase and was the only Federalist in either house to do so. In 1808, the Federalist-dominated
Massachusetts legislature declined to return him to the Senate. He then switched his allegiance to the Republican
Party.
Adams's loss of his Senate seat launched the first great phase of his career. President James Madison named him
the first U.S. minister to Russia, after which he was assigned to head the five-person delegation that successfully
negotiated the peace agreement ending the War of 1812.
With the election of James Monroe to the presidency, Adams came home to become secretary of state. He played a
major role in formulating the Monroe Doctrine, which warned European nations not to meddle in the affairs of the
Western Hemisphere. During his eight years as secretary of state, he built a powerful and efficient American
diplomatic service.
Bitter Fight for the White House Four men campaigned for the presidency in 1824: William H. Crawford of
Georgia, Henry Clay of Kentucky, Tennessee's General Andrew Jackson, and John Quincy Adams. After a fierce
campaign, Jackson won the largest number of popular votes; however he did not receive enough electoral votes to
win the Presidency. Because there was no clear winner, the House of Representatives met to select the President.
Speaker of the House Clay threw his support behind Adams and gave him the election by a single vote. Soon
thereafter, Adams named Clay secretary of state. It was a bad beginning. Jackson resigned from the Senate and
vowed to unseat Adams in 1828.
Adams believed strongly that it was constitutional and appropriate for the federal government to pay for programs to
improve American society and prosperity. Adams proposed to Congress an ambitious program involving the
construction of roads, canals, educational institutions, and other initiatives. Lacking congressional allies, Adams was
unable to maneuver most of these programs into law. Congress also blocked many of his foreign initiatives. His
support of the so-called Abominable Tariff of 1828, which protected American interests but caused higher prices,
cost him popularity among the voters.
By 1828, Andrew Jackson had been campaigning for three years. He characterized Adams's election as a "corrupt
bargain" typical of the elitist eastern "gamesters," such as Adams and Clay. Following a campaign marred by vicious
personal attacks –(Jackson's wife was called an adulteress) -- Jackson won the presidency in a landslide.
“John Quincy Adams:”
www.whitehouse.gov
Witness for the Prosecution
John Marshall, 1755-1835
John Marshall was the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. During thirty-five years on the Supreme Court, his
decisions greatly refined the powers of the different branches of government.
John Marshall's father was a Pennsylvania frontiersman who married and moved west to a valley at the base of the
Blue Ridge Mountains modern Farquier County, Virginia. He was the oldest of fifteen children, helping to raise his
younger brothers and sisters. All the children helped on the farm, which was a far cry from the large plantations to
the east.
Marshall received his early education from his father and briefly attended a nearby academy. The climate within the
colonies was also an education: by 1770, cries for freedom from British taxes and government were resounding
throughout the colonies. The rights of the colonists were being debated everywhere. By age twenty, Marshall
began to study law for but took a “detour” to fight under command of George Washington in the American
Revolution.
After the war Marshall moved to Richmond, the new capital of Virginia, to open a law practice. There, the untrained
lawyer soon demonstrated the qualities that would make him one of the country's most respected leaders. He
eventually earned a place in the state legislature.
After a number of years in the legislature, Marshall’s popularity as a lawyer, support for a strong national
government and the new Constitution earned him consideration for a post in the federal government. He briefly
served as John Adams's secretary of state. But his best known contributions came when Adams appointed
Marshall as the fourth chief justice of the United States.
As chief justice, Marshall wrote forty-four decisions, many of them laying the groundwork for the modern American
government. Three of these cases were landmark decisions, defining the role of the Supreme Court and executive
branch of government. In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), for example, the Supreme Court declared its right to
review a state court’s decision. In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), the Supreme Court declared the federal government’s
right to regulate interstate trade and established the precedent that the Constitution should be interpreted broadly.
These cases set patterns for understanding and interpreting the Constitution and for establishing the Supreme
Court’s power of judicial review.
During Marshall’s decades as Chief Justice, presidents who favored more rights for the states and a weaker national
government did not like Marshall or his court. Andrew Jackson became president in 1828, succeeding John Quincy
Adams. Adams's presidency had been filled with problems, including accusations of government corruption, and
Jackson felt it his duty to reform it. At the same time, Jackson had to deal with continued unrest among the Indian
tribes and white settlers while supporting his own position as a plantation and slave owner. Giving states more
rights would better serve his purposes. Jackson had already resolved one issue by abolishing the national bank,
which Marshall had earlier defended.
One group of Indians, the Cherokee, lived mostly in Georgia. As white settlers pushed for more land, the state
claimed much of the Indians' territory. In 1832 the Cherokee, who had developed their own written alphabet and
were publishing their own newspaper, sued in the Supreme Court to keep their land. In this case, Worcester v.
Georgia, Marshall ruled that the state of Georgia had no right to claim Cherokee land. The state, however, chose to
ignore this ruling and continued to demand the removal of the Indians.
Once more Marshall was in disagreement with a president of the United States. Jackson sided with the state,
refusing to use the federal government to stop the state's action. It was reported that Jackson said that Marshall
had “made his decision, now let him enforce it.” The Cherokee continued to resist the taking of their land. Six years
later, General Winfield Scott rounded up 15,000 of them and marched them out of Georgia to Oklahoma (then called
Indian Territory). On the sad march west, called the Trail of Tears, 1,500 Cherokee lost their lives.
Source Citation: "John Marshall." U*X*L Biographies. U*X*L, 2003. Student Resource Center. Thomson Gale. 28
March 2006 http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC
Witness for the Prosecution
Henry Clay 1777-1852
Early Years. Henry Clay was born in April 1777 in Henrico County, Virginia. The seventh of eight children, his
parents John and Elizabeth had ties to the earliest settlers but were of modest means. Henry's father died when he
was four, and his only formal education took place in a local log school. Fortunately, Clay's mother married a kind
man who took an interest in Clay's future. After working briefly as a court clerk, Clay began to study law with
Virginia's attorney general, Robert Brooke. He was licensed within a year and moved to Lexington, Kentucky. He
became the city's most successful criminal defense attorney. In 1799 he married Lucretia Hart, and the two had
eleven children. He outlived six daughters and one son.
Politician. Clay. He served in the Kentucky legislature from 1803 to 1809, interrupted by a few months in 1806 and
1807 in the United States Senate, filling in the remainder of another senator's term. He returned to the Senate in
1809, where he supported programs that favored the West, including territorial expansion, internal improvements,
and banking, but he also praised Thomas Jefferson's embargo. In 1810 Clay was elected to the House of
Representatives and was chosen Speaker. There he advocated his "American System." Intended to make the
country's sections interdependent, Clay's system was based on a central bank, internal improvements, and a
protective tariff. Clay also became the leader of the nationalist "War Hawk" faction, and during the War of 1812
James Madison selected him to help negotiate a peace treaty with Britain. He returned to Congress after completing
the treaty and pushed his American System, passing several key portions, including a new bank charter, a
protective tariff, and an internal improvements bill. In 1820 he was instrumental in arranging the Missouri
Compromise that established the 36'30" line across the Louisiana Purchase territory, separating future free and
slave states.
Ambition. Clay believed that his experience and talent qualified him to be president, but his ambition went
unfulfilled. In 1824 he ran for the office but polled fourth of four candidates. As Speaker of the House, Clay
influenced the outcome of the close election by throwing his support to John Quincy Adams instead of the more
popular Andrew Jackson, contrary to the instructions of his constituents. Adams immediately made him secretary of
state, and Clay subsequently fought several duels in defense of his honor against those who charged that he and
Adams had made a "corrupt bargain." These four years apparently bored Clay, who missed debating and
parliamentary maneuvering. Adams's defeat in 1828 left Clay without a post, but he returned to the Senate in 1831
to oppose what he considered Jackson's arbitrary exercise of power and to fight for tariffs, internal improvements,
and the Second Bank of the United States. He proposed the rechartering of the bank four years ahead of schedule
in order to make the bank an issue in the 1832 election, when he challenged Jackson for the presidency as the
candidate of the nascent Whig Party and lost again. In 1833 he returned to his role as the "Great Compromiser" by
working out a compromise tariff that helped to defuse the nullification crisis.
Union Whig. As the leader of the anti-Jacksonians, Clay continued to oppose Democratic initiatives, including
Jackson's removal of federal deposits into "pet banks" and Martin Van Buren's independent treasury plan. He
argued that Jackson had become far too powerful and was a threat to the people's liberty. He refused to run for
president in 1836, sensing that Van Buren would win the contest on the strength of Jackson's popularity. The
collapse of the economy during Van Buren's administration, following the Panic of 1837, seemed to ensure a Whig
victory in 1840, and Clay fully expected his party's nomination. He was disappointed by the Whig decision to run a
Democratic-style campaign replete with a war hero, William Henry Harrison, as candidate. Clay refused to join the
administration and remained in the Senate to engineer the Whig economic program, but Harrison's sudden death
and John Tyler's vetoes ended Clay's efforts. Clay resigned from the Senate in 1841, but eager for another run at
the presidency, he accepted the Whig nomination in 1844. He opposed Texas's annexation, however, because he
feared a war with Mexico. His opposition to expansion cost him his best chance at victory, and he lost to James K.
Polk, who vigorously favored adding Texas to the Union. Clay's fear that annexation would lead to war proved
accurate, but once the war was under way he supported it, even after the death of his son, Henry Jr., at the Battle of
Buena Vista. Clay returned to the Senate in 1849, hoping to end sectional conflict over the Mexican Cession. In
1850 his last great attempt at compromise initially failed (later to be revived by Stephen Douglas), and he left
Washington to recover his health. He died on 29 June 1852.
Source Citation:
"Henry Clay 1777-1852." American Eras. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
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