The Second Generation: Following the Founding Fathers
Andrew Jackson | John Quincy Adams | Henry Clay | John C. Calhoun | Daniel Webster | Sam Houston | Martin van Buren
George Washington died in 1799. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4, 1826. John Marshall died in 1835, and James Madison, the last of the Founders, in 1836. Between 1810 and 1820 the second generation of American leaders arose. Although by no means as illustrious as the founding fathers, they nevertheless are remembered in American history as the men who carried the nation forward. A number of important leaders emerged between the Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Adams administrations and Abraham Lincoln's presidency, which began in 1861.
This project will ask you to take one or more of these leaders and examine his (their) contributions to American history. Each made his own unique contribution to the growth of the republic; each is remembered as a great American leader; each contributed to the carrying forth of the ideals of the Revolution, even as the nation moved towards the terrible Civil War.
Andrew Jackson was a giant among these later generations of Americans. Elected president in 1828, he served two terms, and his rule was such that it spawned a new political party, which came into existence chiefly to oppose his policies. Great tension existed between the office of the president and Congress, the question being, where was power in the republic going to reside? Would the focus of power be the White House, the president's residence and office? Or would the seat of power be the capital: the Senate and House of Representatives, the Congress, located on Capitol Hill at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Jackson had a stormy life, full of violence and controversy, and a stormy presidency as well, but he was nevertheless fully dedicated to what he saw as his cause—the preservation of American freedom.
John Quincy Adams is not noted especially for his presidency—he served only one undistinguished term. But his presidency was not his finest hour, beginning as it did with the so-called “corrupt bargain” of the election of 1824, the last election decided in the House of representatives. On the other hand, John Quincy Adams is believed by some historians to be the most brilliant who ever served in the White House. He spoke several languages and was a fine diplomat, the finest in American history, according to some. Perhaps his most impressive, if least known, contribution came after his presidency. The only holder of that office to serve subsequently in the House of representatives, Adams was a tireless worker in United States Congress against what he saw as the evil of slavery. AS brought to life in the recent movie, “Amistad,” John Quincy Adams is remembered for his oration on slavery before the United States Supreme Court in that now famous case. While John Adams's son does not excite the memories of many Americans, his many contributions taken in sum guarantee him a place among the great leaders of American history.
Henry Clay of Kentucky was known as the “great compromiser.” Henry Clay probably should have been president; he worked hard for the office, running for it several times. From 1810 to 1850 he was at the center of American politics; he served off and on in the House in the Senate, and as Secretary of State. He seemed to be at the midst of many of the most controversial events of his terms of public office. He was involved in the Missouri Compromise of 1820 rescuing it from almost certain failure. He was involved in the controversial election of 1824, which some claimed was stolen due to the machinations of Henry Clay behind the scenes when the election was taken into the House of Representatives, where he was lord. He was involved in the nullification crisis of 1832 when the State of South Carolina refused to obey a federal tariff law. When it seemed as though President Jackson might actually lead troops into South Carolina to the state into obedience, Henry Clay again played the great compromiser, forcing a compromise tariff through Congress, thereby allowing South Carolina to back down and still save face. A vigorous Whig and opponent of Andrew Jackson, Clay tried to marshal his forces for the presidency but was not elected, although he came close on at least two occasions. His final contribution was his participation in forging the Compromise of 1850, during which he made an eloquent speech about the issue of slavery, which he himself as a slave owner understood.
John C. Calhoun of South Carolina started as an ardent Nationalist—one of the “war hawks” elected to Congress in 1810. Calhoun was a well-educated man of fierce convictions who also wanted to be President. But his Nationalist ideas eventually gave way to his becoming a spokesman for the Southern states' rights. Calhoun is the only American ever elected vice president twice under two different presidents—he served under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He made many enemies in his career, none less than President Jackson himself, and he eventually resigned from the office of vice-president and led the forces of the South, guarding against attempts by the free states to interfere with the institution of slavery. His final chapter, like Henry Clay's, came during the Compromise of 1850, where he vigorously defended the South's position.
Daniel Webster, known as the “Divine Daniel,” was one of the great orators in American history. Webster is remembered for his speaking as much as for anything; his argument before the Supreme Court in the Dartmouth College case, for which he is revered by that venerable institution, brought Chief Justice Marshall's to tears. Webster's his debate with Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina conducted in 1830 was one of the most memorable in American history. The line, “It is, sir, the people's Constitution, the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people. in which he saw the Constitution of being made by the people made for the people answerable to the people” obviously inspired not only his audience, but also another young Whig, Abraham Lincoln, soon be elected congressman from Illinois. What one biographer believes to be his most eloquent speech, however, came during debates over the Compromise of 1850, when Webster again spoke with great eloquence about the need to preserve the union. As Secretary of State he was also the architect of the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, which staved off what might have been a serious clash with Great Britain, coming as it did as the nation slipped toward civil war.
Clay, Calhoun and Webster, each of whom might have been president, were tied so closely together that they were referred to as the “great triumvirate; indeed, a triple biography of the three men with that title has been written by Virginia historian.
Sam Houston was another second-generation leader—a man with a strange and controversial history of his own. He is the only American ever to be president of a foreign country (the republic of Texas), the only man ever to be governor of two different states (Tennessee and Texas), and a man who served as the Cherokee Indian ambassador to the United States when his friend Andrew Jackson was president. Famous for his black hair, he was known by the Indians as “the Raven,” but as he was also famous for his drinking, they also called him “big drunk.” Instrumental in the independence movement in Texas, he won one of the most startling battles in American history at San Jacinto, when in the course of 20 minutes he destroyed an army under the leadership of Mexican President Santa Anna, thus forcing the latter to agree to Texas independence. As the first president of the Republic of Texas, he worked to get Texas admitted as a state; where he became governor. His political career ended in ignominy when, as governor of Texas, he vigorously opposed secession; having worked hard during his career to get Texas admitted to the union, he fought against seeing his state secede. One of Sam Houston's biographers claims that Houston was the most influential American during the period between 1830 and 1860, and given his role in the Texas Revolution, which led to the Mexican-American War and thence to the largest land session in American history, it is arguable that Houston was indeed the most influential American of his generation.
Martin van Buren. The first American president of Dutch descent, Van Buren was also the first of many presidents from New York. A wily politician and ally of Andrew Jackson, whom he joined on the first real political “ticket” in the election of 1832, van Buren also helped forge one of the earliest political machines in the country, known as the “Albany Regency.” Also depicted, perhaps unfairly, in the movie “Amistad” as being more or less friendly to slavery, van Buren ran for President on the anti-slavery “Free Soil” Party along with Charles Francis Adams, son of John Quincy. His candidacy probably changed the outcome of the election, as it took votes from Democrat Lewis Cass in van Buren's home state of New York.