2004-6-9
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VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
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Last week, we reported the election in Eighteen-Thirty-Six of
Martin Van Buren as the eighth president of the United States.
Van Buren had been very close to the outgoing president, Andrew
Jackson. He had been successful in putting together a strong
political alliance that helped to put Jackson in the White House in
Eighteen-Twenty-Eight. Jackson was grateful for this help, and asked
Van Buren to come to Washington to serve as Secretary of State.
Van Buren had just been elected
governor of the state of New York, but decided to accept Jackson's
offer. VOICE TWO:
Van Buren quickly became the most powerful man in Jackson's
cabinet. He was able to help Jackson in negotiations with Britain
and France. But his greatest help was in building a strong political
party for Jackson. It was this party that gave Jackson wide support
for his policies.
Van Buren built up the national Democratic Party with the same
methods he used to build his political organization in New York
state. He removed from government jobs people who had not supported
Jackson. These jobs were then given to those who had supported the
president.
Van Buren served as Secretary of State for two years. He resigned
because he saw his resignation as the only way of solving a serious
problem Jackson faced.
VOICE ONE:
The problem was Vice President John C. Calhoun. Calhoun had
presidential hopes. He did not think Jackson would serve more than
one term. And he planned to be a candidate in the next election.
Three of the five men in Jackson's cabinet supported Calhoun.
Jackson could not trust them.
And he wanted to get them out of the cabinet...but without a
political fight.
Then, later, he named Van Buren minister to Britain. But
Calhoun's supporters in the Senate defeated Van Buren's nomination.
By this time, Jackson had decided that Van Buren would be the
best man to follow him as president. He offered to resign after the
Eighteen-Thirty-Two elections and give Van Buren the job of
president. Van Buren rejected the offer. He said he wanted to be
elected by the people. But he did agree to be Jackson's vice
president in Eighteen-Thirty-Two.
VOICE TWO:
Four years later, at Jackson's request, the Democrats chose Van
Buren to be their presidential candidate. He was opposed by several
candidates of the newly-formed Whig Party. The opposition was
divided. And Van Buren won the election with little difficulty.
Andrew Jackson stood beside Martin Van Buren as the new president
was sworn-in. Physically, the two men were very different.
Jackson was tall, with long white hair that flowed back over his
head. Jackson's health had been poor during the last few months he
spent in the White House. He seemed tired. There was almost no color
in his face.
Van Buren was much shorter and had much less hair. His eyes were
brighter than those of the old man next to him.
VOICE ONE:
In his inaugural speech, Van Buren noted that he was the first
American born after the Revolution to become president. He said he
felt he belonged to a later age. He called for more unity among
Democrats of the North and South. He said better times were ahead
for the country.
Van Buren had a strange way with words. He could talk with
excitement about something, but say very little about his own
feelings on the subject.
Once, he spoke in New York about the tax on imports. Two men who
heard the speech discussed it later. "It was a very able speech,"
said one man, a wool buyer. "Yes, very able," answered his friend.
There was silence for a moment. Then the first man spoke again. "Was
Mister Van Buren 'for' or 'against' the import tax?"
VOICE TWO:
The new president was a warm and friendly man. He tried to keep
his political life and his social life separate. It was not unusual
to see him exchange handshakes, smiles and jokes with men who were
his political enemies.
Van Buren had a poor education as a boy. He went to school only
for a few years. His father was a farmer and hotel keeper at a
little town in New York state. Van Buren had a quick mind and was a
good judge of men. But he always felt he could have done more had he
received a college education.
VOICE ONE:
Van Buren had been president for just a few days when an economic
crisis and a political storm struck the country. The storm had been
building for many months. It really began with the death of the Bank
of the United States, more than a year before.
Andrew Jackson had opposed the powerful bank in which the
government's money was kept. He vetoed a bill that would have
continued it.
The bank was so strong that it was able to control the economy
throughout most of the country. It did so through its loans to
businessmen. By making many loans, the bank could increase economic
activity. By reducing the number of loans, the economy could be
tightened.
VOICE TWO:
The Bank of the United States also helped to control the smaller
state banks. It refused to accept the notes -- or paper money -- of
these banks, unless the state banks were ready to exchange the paper
for gold or silver money.
After the end of the Bank of the United States, there was little
control of any kind over the state banks. Many new state banks
opened. All of them produced large amounts of paper money...many
times the amount they could exchange for gold or silver. Much of
this paper money was used by business speculators to buy land from
the government.
These men bought the land, held it for a while, then sold it for
more than they paid. The government soon found itself with millions
of dollars of paper money.
VOICE ONE:
To stop this, President Jackson ordered gold or silver payments
only for government land. This made it necessary for speculators to
exchange their paper notes for gold. Many banks could not do this.
They did not have enough gold.
There was another problem. Congress passed a law on what was to
be done with federal money not needed by the national government.
This extra money -- or surplus -- was to be given to the states.
Since the closing of the Bank of the United States, the
government had kept its money in a number of state banks. Now these
banks had to surrender the government surplus to the state
governments. This left even less gold and silver to exchange for the
huge amounts of paper money the banks had issued.
VOICE TWO:
There was still another demand for what gold the banks had.
Eighteen-Thirty-Five and Eighteen-Thirty-Seven were bad years for
American agriculture. Many crops failed. Instead of the United
States exporting farm products to Europe, the opposite happened.
American traders had to import these things from Europe. And they
had to pay for them in gold or silver.
As more and more paper money was put into use, the value of the
money fell. Prices rose higher and higher. Poor people found it
almost impossible to buy food and other necessities. In
Eighteen-Thirty-Five, a barrel of flour cost six dollars. Two years
later, the price had jumped to more than twelve dollars. The same
was true with meat and other foods. Even coal -- the fuel people
used to heat their homes -- cost twice as much.
VOICE ONE:
Poor people protested. But businessmen were satisfied. They
wished to continue the flood of paper money. Violence finally broke
out at a protest meeting in New York City.
A crowd of angry people heard speakers criticize the use of paper
money. Some in the crowd began demanding action against the rich
traders. A crowd of about one-thousand marched to a nearby store,
broke into it, and destroyed large amounts of flour and grain.
In the spring of Eighteen-Thirty-Seven, the demand on banks for
gold and silver grew too heavy. The banks stopped honoring their
promises to exchange their paper money for gold. They said this was
just temporary. That it was necessary to stop -- for a while -- all
payments in gold or silver. The crisis got worse.
That will be our story in the next program of THE MAKING OF A
NATION.
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VOICE TWO:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Steve Ember and Gwen Outen.
Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A NATION
can be heard Thursdays.