THE MAKING OF A NATION 59 - Andrew Jackson, Part 3

THE MAKING OF A NATION #59 - Andrew Jackson, Part 3
By Frank Beardsley

Broadcast: Thursday, April 22, 2004

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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In our last few programs of THE MAKING OF A NATION, we described the violence of the presidential election campaign of eighteen-twenty-eight. It split the old Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson into two hostile groups: the National Republicans of John Quincy Adams and the Democrats¹ of Andrew Jackson. The election of Jackson deepened the split. It became more serious as a new dispute arose over import taxes. This is what happened:

VOICE TWO:

Congress passed a bill in eighteen-twenty-eight that put high taxes on a number of imported products. The purpose of the import tax was to protect American industries from foreign competition. The south opposed the tax, because it had no industry to protect. Its chief product was cotton, which was exported to Europe. The American import taxes forced European nations to put taxes on American cotton. This meant a drop in the sale of cotton and less money for the planters of the south. It also meant higher prices in the American market for manufactured goods. South Carolina refused to pay the import tax. It said the tax was not constitutional...that the constitution did not give the federal government the power to order a protective tax.

VOICE ONE:

 
Vice² President John C. Calhoun
At one time, the Vice President of the United States -- John C. Calhoun of South Carolina -- had believed in a strong central government. But he had become a strong supporter of states' rights. Calhoun wrote a long statement against the import tax for the South Carolina legislature. In it, he developed the idea of nullification -- cancelling federal powers. He said the states had created the federal government and, therefore, the states had the greater power. He argued that the states could reject, or nullify, any act of the central government which was not constitutional. And, Calhoun said, the states should be the judge of whether an act was constitutional or not. Calhoun's idea was debated in the Senate by Robert Hayne of South Carolina and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. Hayne supported nullification, and Webster opposed it. Webster said Hayne was wrong in using the words "liberty first, and union afterwards." He said they could not be separated. Said Webster: "Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable."

VOICE TWO:

 
President Andrew Jackson
No one really knew how President Andrew Jackson felt about nullification. He made no public statement during the debate. Leaders in South Carolina developed a plan to get the president's support. They decided³ to hold a big dinner honoring the memory of Thomas Jefferson. Jackson agreed to be at the dinner. The speeches were carefully planned. They began by praising the democratic ideas of Jefferson. Then speakers discussed Virginia's opposition⁴ to the alien and sedition⁵ laws passed by the federal government in seventeen-ninety-eight. Next they discussed South Carolina's opposition to the import tax. Finally, the speeches were finished. It was time for toasts. President Jackson made the first one. He stood up, raised his glass, and looked straight at John C. Calhoun. He waited for the cheering to stop. "Our union," he said. "It must be preserved."

VOICE ONE:

Calhoun rose with the others to drink the toast. He had not expected Jackson's opposition to nullification. His hand shook, and he spilled some of the wine from his glass. Calhoun was called on to make the next toast. The vice president rose slowly. "The union," he said, "next to our liberty, most dear." He waited a moment, then continued. "May we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the states and by giving equally the benefits and burdens of the union." President Jackson left a few minutes later. Most of those at dinner left with him.

VOICE TWO:

The nation now knew how the president felt. And the people were with him -- opposed to nullification. But the idea was not dead among the extremists of South Carolina. They were to start more trouble two years later. Calhoun's nullification doctrine⁶ was not the only thing that divided Jackson and the vice president. Calhoun had led a campaign against the wife of Jackson's friend and Secretary of War, John Eaton. Three members of Jackson's cabinet supported Calhoun. Mister Calhoun and the three cabinet wives would have nothing to do with Mister Eaton. Jackson saw this as a political trick to try to force Eaton from the cabinet, and make Jackson look foolish at the same time.

VOICE ONE:

The hostility⁷ between Jackson and his vice president was sharpened by a letter that was written by a member of President Monroe's cabinet. It told how Calhoun wanted Jackson arrested in eighteen-eighteen. The letter writer, William Crawford, was in the cabinet with Calhoun. Jackson had led a military campaign into Spanish Florida and had hanged two British citizens. Calhoun proposed during a cabinet meeting that Jackson be punished. Jackson did not learn of this until eighteen-twenty-nine. Jackson wanted no further communications with Calhoun. Several attempts were made to soften⁸ relations between Calhoun and Jackson. One of them seemed to succeed. Jackson told Secretary of State Martin van Buren that the dispute had been settled. He said the unfriendly letters that he and Calhoun sent each other would be destroyed. And he said he would invite the vice president to have dinner with him at the White House.

VOICE TWO:

With the dispute ended, Calhoun thought he saw a way to destroy his rival for the presidency⁹ -- Secretary of State Martin van Buren. He decided not to destroy the letters he and Jackson sent to each other. Instead, he had a pamphlet written, using the letters. The pamphlet also contained the statement of several persons denying the Crawford charges. And, it accused Mister van Buren of using Crawford to try to split Jackson and Calhoun. One of Calhoun's men took a copy of the pamphlet to Secretary Eaton and asked him to show it to President Jackson. He told Eaton that the pamphlet would not be published without Jackson's approval. Eaton did not show the pamphlet to Jackson and said nothing to Calhoun's men. Calhoun understood this silence to mean that Jackson did not object to the pamphlet. So he had it published and given to the public.

VOICE ONE:

Jackson exploded when he read it. Not only had Calhoun failed to destroy the letters, he had published them. Jackson's newspaper, "The Washington Globe," accused Calhoun of throwing a firebomb into the party. Jackson declared that Calhoun and his supporters had cut their own throats. Only later did Calhoun discover what had gone wrong. Eaton had not shown the pamphlet to Jackson. He had not even spoken to the president about it. This was Eaton's way of punishing those who treated his wife so badly.

VOICE TWO:

Jackson continued to defend Margaret Eaton's honor. He even held a cabinet meeting on the subject. All the secretaries but John Eaton were there. Jackson told them that he did not want to interfere¹⁰ in their private lives. But, he said it seemed that their families were trying to get others to have nothing to do with Mister Eaton. "I will not part with John Eaton," Jackson said. "And those of my cabinet who cannot harmonize with him had better withdraw. I must and I will have harmony." Jackson said any insult to Eaton would be an insult to himself. Either work with Eaton or resign. There were no resignations.

VOICE ONE:

But the problem got no better. Many people just would not accept Margaret Eaton as their social equal. Mister van Buren saw that the problem was hurting Jackson deeply. But he knew better than to propose to Jackson that he ask for Secretary Eaton's resignation. He already had heard Jackson say that he would resign as president before he would desert his friend Eaton. Mister van Buren decided on a plan of action.

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VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were stuart spencer and Maurice Joyce. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A NATION can be heard Thursdays.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 sedition   

n.煽动叛乱

参考例句：

• Government officials charged him with sedition.政府官员指控他煽动人们造反。
• His denial of sedition was a denial of violence.他对煽动叛乱的否定又是对暴力的否定。

6 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

7 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

8 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。