s now began to make great
reputations. Cooper, Irving, and Bryant were already well known. They
were soon joined by a wonderful set of men, who speedily made America
famous. These were Emerson, Lowell, Longfellow, Holmes, Hawthorne,
Prescott, Motley, Bancroft, and Sparks. In science, also, men of mark
were beginning their labors, as Pierce, Gray, Silliman, and Dana. Louis
Agassiz before long began his wonderful lectures, which did much to make
science popular. In short, Jackson's administration marks the time when
American life began to take on its modern form.

[Illustration: NOAH WEBSTER.]

CHAPTER 29

THE REIGN OF ANDREW JACKSON, 1829-1837

[Sidenote: Jackson's early career.]

[Sidenote: His "kitchen cabinet".]

301. General Jackson.--Born in the backwoods of Carolina, Jackson
had early crossed the Alleghanies and settled in Tennessee. Whenever
trouble came to the Western people, whenever there was need of a stout
heart and an iron will, Jackson was at the front. He always did his
duty. He always did his duty well. Honest and sincere, he believed in
himself and he believed in the American people. As President he led the
people in one of the stormiest periods in our history. Able men gathered
about him. But he relied chiefly on the advice of a few friends who
smoked their pipes with him and formed his "kitchen cabinet." He seldom
called a regular cabinet meeting. When he did call one, it was often
merely to tell the members what he had decided to do.

[Sidenote: Party machines.]

[Sidenote: The Spoils System.]

302. The Spoils System.--Among the able men who had fought the
election for Jackson were Van Buren and Marcy of New York and Buchanan
of Pennsylvania. They had built up strong party machines in their
states. For they "saw nothing wrong in the principle that to the victors
belong the spoils of victory." So they rewarded their party workers with
offices--when they won. The Spoils System was now begun in the national
government. Those who had worked for Jackson rushed to Washington. The
hotels and boarding-houses could not hold them. Some of them camped out
in the parks and public squares of the capital. Removals now went
merrily on. Rotation in office was the cry. Before long Jackson removed
nearly one thousand officeholders and appointed political partisans in
their places.

[Sidenote: The North and the South. _McMaster_, 301-304.]

303. The North and the South.--The South was now a great
co