CHAPTER VI


THE "REIGN" BEGINS

Jackson's election to the presidency in 1828 was correctly described
by Senator Benton as "a triumph of democratic principle, and an
assertion of the people's right to govern themselves." Jefferson in
his day was a candidate of the masses, and his triumph over John Adams
in 1800 was received with great public acclaim. Yet the Virginian was
at best an aristocratic sort of democrat; he was never in the fullest
sense a man of the people. Neither Madison nor Monroe inspired
enthusiasm, and for John Quincy Adams even New Englanders voted, as
Ezekiel Webster confessed, from a cold sense of duty. Jackson was, as
no President before him, the choice of the masses. His popular vote in
1824 revealed not only his personal popularity but the growing power
of the democratic elements in the nation, and his defeat in the House
of Representatives only strengthened his own and the people's
determination to be finally victorious. The untrained, self-willed,
passionate frontier soldier came to power in 1828 as the standard
bearer of a mighty democratic uprising which was destined before it
ran its course to break down oligarchical party organizations, to
liberalize state and local governments, and to turn the stream of
national politics into wholly new channels. It was futile for men of
the old school to protest and to prophesy misfortune for the country
under its new rulers. The people had spoken, and this time the
people's will was not to be denied.