South and the East are: the _Debates_ of the
constitutional conventions of Massachusetts (1820), New York (1821),
Virginia (1829), and North Carolina (1835), and _The Memoir of John
Quincy Adams_, in twelve large volumes, which covers minutely the period
of 1825 to 1848. This work appeared in 1874-76. It is a remarkable
record of a remarkable man. J. B. McMaster's _History of the United
States_ (1900-13) is a life of the people which no library can afford to
be without, and J. Schouler's _History of the United States under the
Constitution_ (revised ed. 1894-99) is equally good, giving a fuller
account of the political and constitutional development of the country.
A. B. Hart's _The American Nation_ (1904-08) is a fuller cooeperative
work by the leading scholars of the United States. The volumes which
bear upon the period in hand will be cited in succeeding chapters.
Special studies of importance are: C. H. Ambler's _Sectionalism in
Virginia_ (1910); D. F. Houston's _Critical Study of Nullification in
South Carolina_ (1896); W. A. Schaper's _Sectionalism in South Carolina_
(1900); and H. M. Wagstaff's _States Rights and Political Parties in
North Carolina_ (1906).

CHAPTER II

THE WEST

Tens of thousands of eager people witnessed the inauguration of Andrew
Jackson on March 4, 1829; they crowded the streets, stood upon the
house-tops, and peered out from every open window; they jostled the
attendants at the White House and overturned the bowls and jars which
contained the ices and wines intended for the entertainment of the new
President and his friends. "The people have come to power," said a
chastened admirer of Henry Clay as she watched sadly the wreckage of the
dainties which dainty hands had prepared, and as she looked with dismay
upon the wearers of rough and dirty boots striding over costly carpets
where hitherto only gentlemen and ladies had trod. It was a happy
occasion to the unthinking but honest democrats[2] who gloried in the
success of their "hero," but a sad warning to the more refined who had
been accustomed to see things done in due form and stateliness.

[Footnote 2: This term is used to indicate those who believed in
democracy, not those who called themselves Democrats. The distinction
will be observed throughout the book.]

But neither the uninformed masses who looked on with delight that bright
day nor the cultured peop