Produced by Julia Neufeld, Curtis Weyant and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Transcriber's Note: Passages in italics are indicated by _underscores_. Small caps have been replaced by ALL CAPS. American Statesmen EDITED BY JOHN T. MORSE, JR. American Statesmen THOMAS HART BENTON BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1890 Copyright, 1886, BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT. _All rights reserved._ FIFTH EDITION. _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE THE YOUNG WEST 1 CHAPTER II. BENTON'S EARLY LIFE AND ENTRY INTO THE SENATE 23 CHAPTER III. EARLY YEARS IN THE SENATE 47 CHAPTER IV. THE ELECTION OF JACKSON, AND THE SPOILS SYSTEM 69 CHAPTER V. THE STRUGGLE WITH THE NULLIFIERS 88 CHAPTER VI. JACKSON AND BENTON MAKE WAR ON THE BANK 114 CHAPTER VII. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SURPLUS 143 CHAPTER VIII. THE SLAVE QUESTION APPEARS IN POLITICS 157 CHAPTER IX. THE CHILDREN'S TEETH ARE SET ON EDGE 184 CHAPTER X. LAST DAYS OF THE JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY 209 CHAPTER XI. THE PRESIDENT WITHOUT A PARTY 237 CHAPTER XII. BOUNDARY TROUBLES WITH ENGLAND 260 CHAPTER XIII. THE ABOLITIONISTS DANCE TO THE SLAVE BARONS' PIPING 290 CHAPTER XIV. SLAVERY IN THE NEW TERRITORIES 317 CHAPTER XV. THE LOSING FIGHT 341 THOMAS HART BENTON. CHAPTER I. THE YOUNG WEST.