The Constitution in Congress: Democrats and Whigs, 1829-1861

PREFACE

ABBREVIATIONS AND SHORTENED TITLES

Part One: Death of a System

INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE

CHAPTER 1: INTERCOURSE

I. The Maysville Road

II. Rivers and Harbors

III. Ebb Tide

IV. The Undelivered Veto

V. Congress Insists (A Little)

VI. Tonnage Duties

VII. The Iron Horse

VIII. The Golden Gate

IX. The Telegraph

CHAPTER 2: THE PUBLIC LANDS

I. The 1833 Distribution Bill

II. The 1841 Distribution Law

III. The Mad

IV. The Learned

V. The Footloose

CHAPTER 3: THE BANK WAR

I. President Jackson's Veto

II. Removal of the Deposits

A. The Statute

B. The President's Powers

C. Censure and Protest

D. Expungement

E. Ruminations

III. State Banks and State Treasuries

IV. And Tyler Too

CHAPTER 4: CUSTOMS

I. The South Carolina Exposition

II. The Hayne-Webster Debate

III. The Nullification Ordinance

IV. President Jackson's Response

V. The Compromise of 1833

VI. Cadenza

Part Two: The Kitchen Sink

CHAPTER 5: ENUMERATED AND LIMITED POWERS

I. Admiralty and Commerce

II. The Broken Bench

III. The Smithsonian

IV. Retrocession

V. Prayers

VI. Spoils

CHAPTER 6: PRESIDENT, VICE-PRESIDENT

I. The Veto

A. The President's Pocket

B. Tippecanoe

C. Mr. Tyler and the Bank

D. Mr. Clay's Amendment

E. Mr. Tyler and the Tariff

F. Winding Down

II. The Appointing Power

III. The Sanctity of the Cabinet

IV. His Accidency

V. Casting Votes and Other Quiddities

CHAPTER 7: ALL ABOUT JUDGES

I. The Impeachment of Judge Peck

II. Another Who Got Away

III. The Wheeling Bridge

IV. The Court of Claims

V. Good Behavior

CHAPTER 8: MORE MISCREANTS

I. Sam Houston

II. Miss Otis Regrets

III. The Caning of Senator Sumner

IV. The Sins of Orsamus Matteson

V. Immunity

CHAPTER 9: JUDGING CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS

I. Threshold Questions

II. Vacancies

A. Mississippi

B. Kentucky

C. Vermont

III. The Three I's

A. Illinois

B. Eligibility Encore

C. Indiana and Iowa

CHAPTER 10: OTHER ELECTION ISSUES

I. Districts

A. Time, Place, and Manner

B. Co-Opting the States

C. Undoing the Deed

II. The Speaker

III. The Snowstorm of 1856

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX A. DRAMATIS PERSONAE

APPENDIX B. PRINCIPAL OFFICERS, 1829-1861

APPENDIX C. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES

INDEX