heir responsibility.
Jackson, a very different man from the former man of the people, seized
the opportunity. Thus the campaign of 1828 began in 1825, and in the
course of the bitter struggle which ensued men divided into social
classes much as they had done in 1800. The small farmers of the country
districts and the artisan classes in the towns of the East accepted the
leadership of the West and waged relentless war on behalf of the "old
hero," as Jackson came to be called. The Southern gentry who had
followed Crawford, the Calhoun men, and certain remnants of ancient
Federalism were now compelled to choose between the so-called radicalism
of the West and John Quincy Adams, the Conservative. Two parties thus
took the place of the four Republican factions which had contended for
the control of the Government and especially the offices in 1824.

But contemporary with this larger national conflict there were important
state and local struggles on which the success of Jackson and the West
depended, and which we must survey and estimate, else the real
significance of the campaign of 1828 is apt to be overlooked.

Beginning with the South, where Jackson's lieutenants were expecting
their greatest gains, South Carolina was rent in twain by a conflict of
social and economic forces which was soon to overshadow national issues.
According to the constitutional bargain of 1809, the low country and the
black belt, that is, the region of the historic river plantations and
the newer cotton country, were always to have a majority in both houses
of the legislature, which chose the governor, the judges, and other
important officials. The reason of this was that the great majority of
the slaves were held in this section, and without complete control of
the Government the masters felt that their interests would be
sacrificed to the democracy of the up-country. The hill and mountain
region, on the other hand, had a large majority of the white population.
But by the arrangement of 1809 the people of this section must content
themselves with remaining in the minority in the state legislature, and
suppress whatever of opposition they felt toward the institution of
slavery, the cause of their effacement.

It was, however, this up-country which had been the mainstay of the
Jeffersonian party. Calhoun was a son of this region, and he had grown
up in the midst of the bitterest opposition to the eastern aristocracy.
But gradually, under the infl