His war on the United States Bank to pre ent its securing a se,cond charter was due pri arily to his distrust of anything savoring of onopoly or special privilege. He gave notice in his first annual message of his doubts about the Bank, and vetoed the bill introduced by Clay for a new charter on 10 July:=. This be came the principal issue in the election of 1832 between Jackson and his opponent Clay. With his re-election by a large majority he was con vinced that he had received a mandate from the people approving his attitude towards the Bank. In his second annual message he ques tioned its solvency, without warrant, and then made plans to destroy it. He ordered two suc cessive Secretaries of the Treasury to remove the government deposits, and after both refused, appointed a third, Roger B. Tutu, who, in September 1833, ordered government money to be deposited in sundry State banks, 'pet banks,* lafter 1 Oct. 1833. As money was withdrawn 'from the United States Bank to pay govern / ment expenses, its resources decreased. Jack son's avowed purpose was to prevent the Bank from buying up members of Congress in order to secure another charter. There followed the resolution of the Senate 28 March 1834, origi nally introduced by Clay, to censure Jackson on the ground that he had usurped powers not con ferred upon him by the Constitution. Later, in 1837, Jackson had the satisfaction of having this resolution expunged from the records. Growing out of the activity of the State banks in making loans of public funds, and through the issuing of large quantities of paper money by other State banks, with little or no specie as a reserve, there arose a fever of speculation, especially in western lands which were paid for in paper money. Jackson called in a part of the government funds and issued his famous specie circular 11 July 1836, to the effect that only gold and silver would be received in pay ment for public lands. These incidents contrib uted largely to the panic of 1837.
Jackson reversed the policy of Adams in up holding the right of the Indians of Georgia to own lands, as guaranteed by treaties with the United States. He upheld Georgia in its refusal to obey decrees of the Supreme Court, and him self refused to execute them. He withdrew Federal troops from the Cherokee country, and allowed the State to assume jurisdiction over the Indian lands. This attitude was due partly to his hatred of the Indians, partly to the fact that he did not look upon the attitude of Georgia as one of defiance to the National government, but considered her as acting wholly within her rights. This was not understood thoroughly at the time, and misled the leaders of nullifica tion in South Carolina, who supposed that Jack son had conclusively proved himself to be a states' rights man. and could be depended on to support their theories.
The first hint of trouble with Jackson in the nullification controversy came at a dinner in honor to Jefferson held at Washington 13 April 1830. Jackson proposed a toast in reply to several in favor of nullification, "Our Federal Union: it must be preserved,' in contrast with one proposed by Calhoun, in effect, 'Liberty dearer than Unions The question arose let cause of the opposition of South Carolina to the high tariff of 1828, °the tariff of abominations.* This was believed to be unconstitutional and peculiarly unjust to the South. ' A convention held 19 Nov. 1832, declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832. null and void in South Carolina, to go into effect 1 Feb. 1833, and threatened seces sion if the federal gdvernment attempted to collect duties. Jackson ordered General Scott to Charleston, and sent two war vessels to the same port. He instructed the collector of the port to collect duties by force. He issued a proclamation 10 December telling the people of South Carolina that disunion by force was armed treason, and said, °I consider the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed.* This made
Jackson almost as popular a civil as a military hero. The controversy ended in Jackson% favor, as the ordinance was never enforced, though the tariff was reduced by the Act of 1833.
Jackson's constitutional views as illus trated by his attitude on the Bank, Indian and nullification questions, are difficult to compre hend unless one thoroughly understands his view of the final source of authority in our governmental system, and the agency for exe cuting it. According to Jackson, final power was the will of the people. A popular mandate was superior to acts of Congress or even to a decision of the Supreme Court. The President was the interpreter of just what the will of the people was, and must execute it independently of and without interference from Congress or the Supreme Court. The chief results of Jack son's two administrations were a reduction of the tariff, the preservation of national authority as against the states, a check on tendencies to.1 ward monopoly and privilege, the enhancing of the power of the executive, the introduction of the spoils system, the destruction of the Unite& States Bank, encouragement of speculation and inflation, and the extension of a vicious ing system.
Jackson's character and policies affected peo ple differently and'opinions vary even to this day. His nature was so positive that his traits stand, out boldly, whether good or bad. His was an untrained mind, but one of great natural power, and he would have made his mark in any society or environment. Lacking the discipline which comes from close association with trained minds and from study, he was incapable of weighing evidence and deciding questions on the basis of the facts. Rather he formed his opinions and made his decisions intuitively, or• in accordance with his feelings. He made fewer' mistakes than many men highly trained, be cause of his honesty of purpose, and his deter mination to carry out a policy once he had made, up his mind. His ideas were original and grew out of his experience. They were seldom directly borrowed from other men, either the dead or the living. He was a typical son of the unadulterated frontier, and truly repre-; sented the mass mind of the frontier, and that meant at this period the greater portion of the American People:. His meet striking traits were those of the frontier—provincialism, self-con fidence, energy, persistency, belligerency, insub ordination, individualism, honesty, simplicity, ignorance of books, loyalty to friends, and ha tred of enemies. He was the idol of the mass of the people — of the man. To the more cultured portions of American society he was an uncouth, illiterate backwoodsman Though Harvard University conferred on him the degree of doctor of laws, the comment of John Quincy 'Adams doubtless represented the attitude of many of the educated class towards Jackson: Adams said, *As myself an affection ate child of our Alma Mater, I would not be present to her., disgrace itt conferring lIer highest! twat* honors upon a barbarian Who could fie wriie'n,sentence of grammar and hardly spell. his own name.» The guage is' exaggerated. 'but the spirit of the re mark was the Sentiment of many, who could not divorce fioM the* minds the notion that erntrierit ;Mist be administered only by trained, educated. men.