The country came to the belief that the National Bank should not be revived. It accepted and perpetuated Van Buren's independent treasury plan. The annexation of Texas, which Jackson strongly favored, became an accomplished fact with the approval of a majority of the people. The moderated protective tariff to which Jackson inclined was kept up until the Civil War. The removal of the Indians to reservations beyond the Mississippi fell in with the views of the public upon that subject and inaugurated an Indian policy which was closely adhered to for more than half a century. In his vindication of executive independence Jackson broke new ground, crudely enough it is true; yet, whatever the merits of his ideas at the moment, they reshaped men's conception of the presidency and helped make that office the power that it is today. The strong stand taken against nullification clarified popular opinion upon the nature of the Union and lent new and powerful support to national vigor and dignity. Over against these achievements must be placed the introduction of the Spoils System, which debauched the Civil Service and did the country lasting harm; yet Jackson only responded to public opinion which held "rotation in office to be the cardinal principle of democracy." It needed a half-century of experience to convince the American people of this fallacy and to place the national Civil Service beyond the reach of spoilsmen. Even now public opinion is slow to realize that efficiency in office can be secured only by experience and relative permanence. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE The events of the period covered in this volume are described with some fullness in all of the general American histories. Of these, two are especially noteworthy for literary quality and other elements of popular interest: Woodrow Wilson's History of the American People, 5 vols. (1902), and John B. McMaster's History of the People of the United States, 8 vols. (1883-1913). The Jacksonian epoch is treated in Wilson's fourth volume and in McMaster's fifth and sixth volumes. On similar lines, but with more emphasis on political and constitutional matters, is James Schouler's History of the United States under the Constitution, 7 vols. (1880-1913), vols. III-IV. One seeking a scholarly view of the period, in an adequate literary setting, can hardly do better, however, than to read Frederick J. Turner's Rise of the New West (1906) and William MacDonald's Jacksonian Democracy (1906). These are volumes XIV and XV in The American Nation, edited by Albert B. Hart.