Around Clay’s standard assembled a motley collection, representing every species of political opinion, united by one tie only—­hatred for “Old Hickory.”  Nullifiers and less strenuous advocates of states’ rights were yoked with nationalists of Webster’s school; ardent protectionists were bound together with equally ardent free traders, all fraternizing in one grand confusion of ideas under the title of “National Republicans.”  Thus the ancient and honorable term selected by Jefferson and his party, now abandoned by Jacksonian Democracy, was adroitly adopted to cover the supporters of Clay.  The platform of the party, however, embraced all the old Federalist principles:  protection for American industry; internal improvements; respect for the Supreme Court; resistance to executive tyranny; and denunciation of the spoils system.  Though Jackson was easily victorious in 1832, the popular vote cast for Clay should have given him some doubts about the faith of “the whole people” in the wisdom of his “reign.”

=Van Buren and the Panic of 1837.=—­Nothing could shake the General’s superb confidence.  At the end of his second term he insisted on selecting his own successor; at a national convention, chosen by party voters, but packed with his office holders and friends, he nominated Martin Van Buren of New York.  Once more he proved his strength by carrying the country for the Democrats.  With a fine flourish, he attended the inauguration of Van Buren and then retired, amid the applause and tears of his devotees, to the Hermitage, his home in Tennessee.

Fortunately for him, Jackson escaped the odium of a disastrous panic which struck the country with terrible force in the following summer.  Among the contributory causes of this crisis, no doubt, were the destruction of the bank and the issuance of the “specie circular” of 1836 which required the purchasers of public lands to pay for them in coin, instead of the paper notes of state banks.  Whatever the dominating cause, the ruin was widespread.  Bank after bank went under; boom towns in the West collapsed; Eastern mills shut down; and working people in the industrial centers, starving from unemployment, begged for relief.  Van Buren braved the storm, offering no measure of reform or assistance to the distracted people.  He did seek security for government funds by suggesting the removal of deposits from private banks and the establishment of an independent treasury system, with government depositaries for public funds, in several leading cities.  This plan was finally accepted by Congress in 1840.

Had Van Buren been a captivating figure he might have lived down the discredit of the panic unjustly laid at his door; but he was far from being a favorite with the populace.  Though a man of many talents, he owed his position to the quiet and adept management of Jackson rather than to his own personal qualities.  The men of the frontier did not care for him.  They suspected that he ate from “gold plate” and they could not forgive him for being an astute politician from New York.  Still the Democratic party, remembering Jackson’s wishes, renominated him unanimously in 1840 and saw him go down to utter defeat.