It was subsequent to the veto of Mr. Madison (when he had reconsidered his action, and recommended the re-chartering of the bank,) that debates ensued, in which the question was exhausted.  In these debates, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Clay, Felix Grundy, William B. Giles, and Mr. Calhoun led.  They were continued through several sessions, up to 1816, when they ultimated in the chartering of the last bank of the United States.  This charter expired during the Administration of General Jackson, and by him the bank was finally crushed.

Three great measures constituted what was then termed the American System—­the United States Bank, a protective tariff, and internal improvements within the States by the General Government.  An opposition to this party was formed at the very outset of the Adams Administration.  This opposition denied the constitutional power of Congress to create or sustain either.

The South, at the commencement of this opposition, was almost alone.  The North was a unit in its support of the Administration, because its policy was vital to her interests.  The West, influenced by Mr. Clay, was greatly in the majority in its support.  The Southern opposition seemed almost hopeless; and to this cause may, in a great degree, be ascribed the bringing forth to public view the transcendent abilities of the young men aspiring for fame in Georgia, and in the South generally.  McDuffie, Hamilton, Holmes, and Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina; Colquitt, Cobb, Toombs, Stephens, Johnson, Nesbit, and John P. King, of Georgia; Wise, Bocock, Hunter, Summers, Rives, and others of Virginia; Mangum, Badger, and Graham, of North Carolina; Bell, Foster, Peyton, Nicholson, and James K. Polk, of Tennessee; King and Lewis, of Alabama; Porter, Johnston, White, and Barrow, of Louisiana; Ashley, Johnson, and Sevier, of Arkansas; Chase, Pugh, Pendleton, and Lytell, of Ohio; and Douglas, Trumbull, and Lincoln, of Illinois, were all men of sterling talent, and were about equally divided in political sentiment.  Kentucky had Tom and Humphrey Marshall, Crittenden, Menifer, Letcher, Breckinridge, and Preston.

General Jackson was now the avowed candidate of the States-rights party, which soon after assumed the name of Democratic, and his political principles and great personal popularity were not only dividing the West, but the Middle States, and even those of New England.

During the entire administration of Adams, there was a majority in Congress supporting his policy.  It was then and there that the great battle for supremacy was fought.  Berrien and Forsyth, from Georgia, in the Senate; McDuffie and Preston, from South Carolina; Cass, from Michigan, and Van Buren and Silas Wright, from New York—­all giants in intellect.  But there were Webster and John Davis, from Massachusetts, George Evans, from Maine, and others of minor powers, but yet great men.  Between these great minds the conflict was stupendous.  Every means were