country; he was possessed of ample means and leisure; he was an adept
at pulling judiciously laid and well-concealed political wires; he
fully understood the ideas, aspirations, and feelings of the classes
whose support was necessary to the success of his plans. In the
present juncture he worked on two main lines: first, to arouse
Jackson's own State to a feverish enthusiasm for the candidacy of its
"favorite son," and, second, to start apparently spontaneous Jackson
movements in various sections of the country, in such a manner that
their cumulative effect would be to create an impression of a
nation-wide and irresistible demand for the victor of New Orleans as a
candidate.

Tennessee was easily stirred. That the General merited the highest
honor within the gift of the people required no argument among his
fellow citizens. The first open steps were taken in January, 1822,
when the _Gazette_ and other Nashville papers sounded the clarion
call. The response was overwhelming; and when Jackson himself, in
reply to a letter from Grundy, diplomatically declared that he would
"neither seek nor shun" the presidency, his candidacy was regarded as
an established fact. On the 20th of July, the Legislature of the State
placed him formally in nomination. Meanwhile Lewis had gone to North
Carolina to work up sentiment there, and by the close of the year
assurances of support were coming in satisfactorily. From being
skeptical or at best indifferent, Jackson himself had come to share
the enthusiasm of his assiduous friends.

The Jackson managers banked from the first upon two main assets: one
was the exceptional popularity of their candidate, especially in the
South and West; the other was a political situation so muddled that at
the coming election it might be made to yield almost any result. For