lution the president sent in his protest to the senate, containing an elaborate argument on the subject, in which he denied the right of the senate to censure him in this way, and demanded that this remonstrance should be placed on their records. This the senate refused.

The senate, on the 4th of June, also adopted two joint resolutions offered by Mr. Clay, declaring, 1st, that the reasons of the secretary of the treasury were unsatisfactory and insufficient; 2d, requiring the deposite of the public moneys to be made in the bank of the United States. The first of these resolutions was adopted, 29 to 16; the second, 28 to 16. In the house of representatives they were laid on the table-ayes 114, noes 101.

The removal of the deposites caused intense excitement and much commercial distress throughout the Union. Numerous committees, appointed by merchants, mechanics, tradesmen, and others, in the principal cities and towns, waited on the president, asking that he would recommend some measure of relief. To these he replied, in substance, "that the government could give no relief, and provide no remedy; that the banks were the occasion of all the evils which existed, and that those who suffered by their great enterprise, had none to blame but themselves; that those who traded on borrowed capital ought to break." Petitions for the restoration of the deposites, or some other measure of relief, were poured into Congress during the whole session; they were favorably received in the senate, but as the house of representatives sustained the president, petitions to counteract his views met with but little favor in that body.

Resolutions reported by the committee of ways and means in the house, were adopted on the 4th of April; 1st, that the bank of the United States ought not to be rechartered-ayes 132, noes 82; 2d, that the public deposites ought not to be restored to the bank of the United States-ayes 118, noes 103.

On the 2d of June, the speaker of the house, Mr. Stevenson, having been nominated by the president minister to Great Britain, resigned his situation as speaker; and the house proceeded to ballot for a speaker in his place. John Bell, of Tennessee, was elected, on the tenth ballot, receiving 114 votes, to 78 for James K. Polk, and 26 scattering and blanks. Mr. Polk was the administration candidate, and Mr. Bell was elected by the votes of the opposition and a portion of the administration party who were opposed to Mr. Van Buren as successor to General Jackson.

On the 23d of June the senate rejected the nomination of Mr. Taney as secretary of the treasury, 28 to 18; and on the 24th Andrew Stevenson was rejected as minister to England, 23 to 22. The ground taken on the rejection of Mr. Stevenson was, that he had received the offer of the mission to Great Britain in a letter from the secretary of state, by order of the president, in March, 1833, after which he had been elected to Congress

and made speaker of the house, the committees of which he had appointed in conformity with the views of the president. Being called on by the senate for a copy of the letter to Mr. Stevenson offering him the mission, the president communicated the same, although denying their right to ask for it, and informed the senate that the contingency on which Mr. Stevenson was to be appointed did not arise, but the negotiation expected was commenced at Washington instead of London. The mission to England continued vacant for several years after the rejection of Mr. Van Buren, in 1832, and the affairs of the United States with that kingdom were, during the period, intrusted to Aaron Vail, who had been secretary of legation under Mr. Van Buren. The president declined nominating any other person as minister, until Mr. Stevenson was named, and after he was rejected, the place still continued vacant until March, 1836, when Mr. Stevenson was again nominated, and then confirmed by the senate. Strong objections were raised in the senate in 1834, against the frequent appointments of members of Congress to office by General Jackson. During the first five years of his administration he had appointed to office thirteen senators and twenty-five representatives. In June, 1834, Mr. M Lane having resigned, John Forsyth, of Georgia, was appointed secretary of state, Mahlon Dickerson, of New Jersey, secretary of the navy, in place of Levi Woodbury, appointed secretary of the treasury.

An important act respecting the coinage of the United States was passed at this session. By this law the weight of the gold eagle of the United States was reduced twelve grains, being equal to 664 cents less in value than the old coin of that denomination. Two other acts were passed, regulating the value of certain foreign gold and silver coins. The object of these several acts was to infuse a larger proportion of gold and silver into the currency of the United States than had been used; and this became a favorite project of the president and his supporters in the cabinet and in Congress. Increased activity was given to the mint, and the display of the new gold coin among the people had an important bearing on the elections in the different states, and operated favorably to the administration.

Among the other acts passed at this long and arduous session, those of most general interest were as follows: making appropriations for certain harbors and rivers; for completing a road from Memphis to Little Rock, in Arkansas; authorizing certain roads in Arkansas; aiding roads in Michigan; continuing the Cumberland road; appropriations for lighthouses; for improvement of the Hudson river; authorizing the purchase of the papers and books of General Washington.

The course of the president with regard to the bank of the United States, although it was popular with the mass of the people in some sections of the country, caused a considerable diminution of the strength of the administration in the commercial states, as evinced by the elections in

1834. Many of those who had supported General Jackson, now joined the opposition, the combined forces of the party opposing the administration now assuming the name of "whigs," and thus applied, the term was first adopted in the state of New York. The friends of the administration adhered to the party name of "democrats."

The twenty-third Congress held its second session from December 1, 1834, to March 3, 1835. George Poindexter, of Mississippi, had been chosen president pro tem. of the senate, at the close of the last session, but as the vice-president, Mr. Van Buren, was constantly in his seat as presiding officer, President Jackson was saved from the mortification of seeing at the head of the senate one to whom he was personally inimical; a quarrel having occurred between the president and the senator from Mississippi.

But few acts of general interest were passed at this short session. Appropriations were made for roads and surveys, also for certain harbors and rivers; and, as usual, for the Cumberland road. Branches of the mint were established at the gold mines in North Carolina and Georgia; also at New Orleans. In conformity with the recommendation of the president, an act was passed regulating the government deposites in the state banks. At the close of the session, John Tyler, of Virginia, was elected president pro tem. of the senate. He had generally acted with the opposition after the removal of the deposites from the United States bank, by President Jackson.

There was an impression at this time, that General Jackson contemplated retiring from the presidency, leaving the reins of government in the hands of Mr. Van Buren for the remainder of his term; but if he had such an intention it was abandoned. He was, however, anxious that Mr. Van Buren should be his successor in the presidency, and in February, 1835, he came out with a letter to a friend, in which he expresses himself in favor of a national democratic convention, to nominate a president and vice-president. The convention was a favorite project of Mr. Van Buren, and it soon appeared that all the supporters of the administration who were in favor of Mr. Van Buren as successor to General Jackson, advocated a nomination by a convention, while the opponents of Mr. Van Buren, in the same ranks, denounced that mode of nomination. A large section of the Jackson party gave early indications of an intention to support Hugh L. White, one of the Tennessee senators, for president, and in January, 1835, he was nominated by the legislature of Alabama, and, about the same time, by the people of Tennessee, and by the Tennessee delegation in the house of representatives, all of whom signed a letter in his favor, except James K. Polk and Cave Johnson. Mr. Van Buren was already nominated for the presidency by a state convention in Mississippi. Three candidates had been named by the whig opposition, namely, General William H. Harrison, of Ohio, by a meeting at Harrisburg; John'

M'Lean, of Ohio, by a legislative caucus in that state; and Daniel Webster, by the whigs in the legislature of Massachusetts.

The national democratic convention for the nomination of president and vice-president of the United States, met at Baltimore on the 20th of May, 1835. More than six hundred delegates were in attendance, and twenty-two states were represented. Upon the first ballot, Martin Van Buren received the unanimous vote of the convention for president. This was expected, as none but the friends of Mr. Van Buren took part in the convention. Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, received the nomination for vice-president, by 178 votes, to 87 for William C. Rives, of Virginia. The delegates from Virginia protested against the nomination of Colonel Johnson, declaring that he could not receive the vote of that state.

William T. Barry being appointed minister to Spain, Amos Kendall was appointed postmaster-general in his place, in May, 1835.

The payment of the first instalment of the French indemnity being still refused by the French chambers, the president instructed Mr. Livingston, minister to that court, to return to the United States. He accordingly asked for his passports, and arrived home in June, 1835. The affairs between the United States and France now wore a threatening aspect, but the matter in dispute was finally settled, through the intervention of the British government, in 1836.

The twenty-fourth Congress assembled on the 7th of December, 1835, and the first session continued until the 4th of July, 1836. James K. Polk, of Tennessee, was elected speaker of the house of representatives, having received 132 votes, against 84 for John Bell, the late speaker, and 9 scattering and blank votes. Mr. Polk was the administration candidate, and Mr. Bell was supported by the opposition, including the friends of Judge White for the presidency.

The statements in the message of the president at the opening of this session, indicated a high state of public prosperity, so far as the national treasury was concerned. The public debt had then been extinguished, and there was a large surplus remaining in the treasury. The country had at this time somewhat recovered from the panic and shock affecting public and private credit, occasioned by the removal of the deposites, and concomitant circumstances.

Mr. Clay again introduced a bill to provide for the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among the states, which passed the senate by a vote of 25 to 20, but was not acted on by the house of representatives.

The most important act of the session was the distribution act, or a bill to regulate the deposites of the public money, which was passed in June, 1836; it provided that the money which should be in the treasury on the 1st day of January, 1837, reserving the sum of five millions of dollars, should be deposited with the several states, in proportion to their respec

tive representation in Congress, which should by law authorize their treasurer or other competent authorities to receive the same. The deposites to be made with the states in quarterly amounts, commencing on the 1st of January, 1837.

The bill to distribute the proceeds of the public lands, as proposed by Mr. Clay, having failed, and there being a large surplus in the treasury, the bill just mentioned, for the distribution of the surplus revenue, was devised, to effect temporarily the same purpose; and to obviate the scruples of the president, the law provided for a deposite with the states without interest, instead of a positive transfer or quit-claim from the general government to the states. The law, however, received the support of more than two thirds of each house.* The amount thus divided among the states, with no expectation of being again recalled (and that can not be done till directed by Congress), was over twenty-eight millions of dollars. The balance of the public debt was paid off in 1835, and the amount of revenue from customs and sales of the public lands, in that and the succeeding year, had swollen the surplus in the treasury, in 1836, to more than forty millions of dollars. Owing to the subsequent pecuniary difficulties of the government, in 1837, Congress suspended the fourth instalment to be deposited with the states.

A new law respecting patents was also enacted at this session, and all former general laws on this subject were repealed. The state of Michigan was admitted into the Union, on certain conditions; but those conditions were not complied with until the following year, when the state was formally admitted. The state of Arkansas was also admitted into the Union. Among other important acts of the session, those of most general interest were those making appropriations for the improvement of certain harbors and rivers, and for continuing the Cumberland road. At the close of the session, William R. King, of Alabama, an administration senator, was elected president pro tem. of the senate. At the commencement of the session there was an opposition majority in the senate; but several changes had taken place, and the administration now claimed a majority in both branches of Congress.

A bill was passed by Congress fixing the day of meeting and adjournment, which was vetoed by the president, in the following message to the senate, on the 9th of June :

"To the Senate of the United States :

"The act of Congress 'to appoint a day for the annual meeting of Congress,' which originated in the senate, has not received my signature. The power of Congress to fix, by law, a day for the regular annual meeting of Congress is undoubted; but the concluding part of this act, which is intended to fix the adjournment of every succeeding Congress to the second Monday in May, after the commencement of the first session, does not ap* It passed the senate, ayes 39, noes 6-house, ayes 155 noes 38.