became a great lawyer and slave-owner in New Orleans.

The yearly migration of thousands of Eastern men to the valley of the
Mississippi was still further augmented by streams of refugees from the
unsettled and distressed conditions of Germany. In Ohio, Kentucky,
southern Illinois, and Missouri these idealistic emigrants from Europe
found new homes and substantial encouragement. They sent glowing
accounts of the new world to their friends at home, and the tide of
immigration which was destined to enrich American life steadily
increased. All this stimulated speculation in Western lands, in canal
and banking ventures. The Government sales of lands rose from $4,837,000
in 1834 to $24,000,000 in 1836. And the canal schemes of Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois found financial support in New York and in London. No
wonder the eastern manufacturers sometimes desired to close the roads
that crossed the Alleghanies.

"Nothing succeeds like success" is an American saying which applies
admirably to Jackson's second administration. The Western President had
won all his great contests; Calhoun and the radical South had been
tamed; Clay and Webster were dragged behind his car of state; the
National Bank was rapidly passing from the political stage; and the
tariff was no longer a troublesome factor in public life. The receipts
of the Treasury had steadily outrun the expenses, and in 1834 the last
of the national debt was paid. Since the income was almost certain to
continue great, Jackson was at a loss what to do. Henry Clay urged a
simple distribution among the States. The President feared the effect of
this, and vetoed a bill to that effect; he even proposed that the
Federal Government should buy stock in all the railway corporations in
order that these growing monopolies be duly restrained. After two years
of disagreement a law was enacted which offered to deposit the surplus
with the States without interest charges, but subject to recall. The
States hastened to make the necessary arrangements, and during the
second half of 1836 and the first quarter of 1837 more than $18,000,000
were thus deposited.

The land speculations, already at fever heat in the West, the building
of railways and canals, and the prospective distribution of millions of
the public money warned the wise that sail must be taken in, else
disaster would ensue. Jackson, therefore, issued an executive order in
July, 1836, requiring the land offices to accept only specie