Jackson's eight years' of Om Government meant the rise of the people to power. Jefferson, Madison, :Monroe, and even J. Q. Adams had also been affiliated with the Democratic-Republican Party, but they had been trained statesmen, who administered the Govern ment in the interests of all classics. Now a man sprung from the people, relying upon them and thoroughly representing them, held the reins of power. Ile happened to be more or less of an autocrat, but it was inevitable that his successors would become more and tuo•e servants of the peo ple or of the politicians who controlled the peo ple. A new regime purely democratic bad be gun, and it was the people of the Union as a whole, not of the States as units, that had risen to power.
The chief feature of the new regime is to be found in the general sweeping of Government empldyees out of office on account of their politi cal affiliations. Up to this time there had been few removals on such grounds, but Jackson acted upon the doctrine, enunciated by Marcy in 1831, that "to the victors belong the spoils of the van quished." (See CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM.) The lending facts of Jhekson's two administrations were the scandal concerning Mrs. Eaton (see EATON, EARGARET) , whereby the Cabinet was broken up: the veto of the United States Bank charter: the removal of the deposits of public money from that hank; and particularly the prompt and complete crushing of the nullification movement in South Carolina in 1832. This move ment was started in opposition to a high tariff. and Jackson himself was opposed to such a tariff; but be gave South Carolinians to know that while the laws remained unrepealed they should he enforced at any hazard. Before any serious conflict had occurred the matter was settled, chiefly through the influence of Henry Clay. During his second term Jackson was engaged in the 'bank war.' He ordered the Secretary of the Treasury to stop making deposits of public money in the United States Bank and its branches. The Cabinet was not favorable to such a policy, and Jackson put William J. Duane at the head of the Treasury; hut as he declined to do the required services, he was displaced. and Roger B. Taney was appointed. Taney obeyed Jackson's order, and. in retalia
tion, the Senate refused to confirm his nomina tion as Secretary, and he was subsequently made Chief -Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Feeling ran so high in this bank war that the Senate passed a resolution of censure on the President, a proceeding unheard of till then. In 1837 this resolution was by vote ex punged from the record. The `ba-nk war' closed in 1836-37; the old bank was not rechartered; and after some time the independent treasury or 'sub-treasury' system was invented to take its place as a depository for public money. During Jackson's terms the national debt was entirely paid off; the Indians were removed from Georgia, and nearly all of them from Florida; and two States, Arkansas and Michigan, were admitted to the Union. The chief disturbing element was the question of slavery, and the great financial panic of 1837 was just beginning when he left the chair. His personal ascendency allowed him without opposition to name his successor, Martin Van Buren, who had skillfully won his friendship. On quitting office he published a farewell address, and retired to the Hermitage, as his home near Nashville was called, where he passed the re mainder of his life, always, however, taking a deep interest in public affairs. Ile died June 8. 1345.
Jackson seems to have been very amiable when things were going his way, but when opposition arose his violence of temper and action was ungovernable. He was essentially a man of action and not a thinker, although in his often assailed bank policy he seems to have been nearer right in some respects than his critics. He was, take him all in all, one of the most commanding personalities in our history; but it seems clear that many of his decisions were determined by the way of manipulation by friends—known as the 'Kitchen Cabinet'—who shrewdly used his force and popularity. For his biography, con sult: Eaton (Philadelphia, 1824) ; Cobbett (New York, 1834) ; Kendall (New York, 1344) ; Par ton (3 vols., New York, 1360) ; and Sumner, in the "American Statesmen Series," new ed. (New York, 1900) ; also Benton, Thirty Years' View (New York, 1854) ; and Peck. Jacksonian Epoch (New York, 1899).