Whig managers to remove it from the field of local politics by directing attention to these state economic problems. They were forced into the background at the presidential elections and immediately brought forth again as soon as the canvass was over. In that way much was done toward keeping party spirit alive in the South. Another factor in determining Whig strength in the South was the work of the southern Whig leaders, men of ability and of controlling personalities. Some were in the closing period of careers of public usefulness, wise and sage, ripened by years of experience. Others had just stepped upon the stage of national politics, young men but born leaders, sometimes rash and impetuous, but surrounded by influences that inclined to moderation. Able they all were, and in few instances has such a large group of able men been brought together to work under a single banner." The circumstances which gave birth to the party and which added to its power were such as to throw all the great leaders of the South in opposition to Jackson-Van Burenism and to furnish opportunities for new leaders to spring into prominence. Clay was, of course, the master mind of the party. Coming from a state on the border line between the North and the South and avowedly nonsectional in his views, he had an advantage which, with his personal qualities, peculiarly fitted him for the part he was called upon to play. He was regarded as the embodiment of Whig principles but was in reality the formulator of them. He was above all a leaderhe knew how to make friends and how to keep them, Dem. Rev., II, 315. This was especially true before the withdrawal of Calhoun. how to win men over to a measure and how to hold them to it. He was used to issuing commands and at the same time he made sure that they were carried out according to his instructions. According to Benton, he wielded his power in Congress especially through the party caucus," and his dictatorship cut down the number of independents to very few. His crowning victory came in Tyler's administration when he proved himself able to keep the great body of the Whig party together with the official influence of the government pulling in the opposite direction. In Virginia the number of leaders was cut down to less than normal by the split with Tyler; Archer, Botts, Taliaferro, William B. Preston, and A. H. H. Stuart chose, however, to follow Clay rather than the president from their own state and were always able to give convincing proof of their orthodoxy. Summers of the Kanawha Valley district was an able advocate of Whig doctrines as well as of the interests of his own part of the state. Rives again returned to the Whig ranks before the election of 1844. North Carolina Whigs followed the guidance of a prominent set of leaders. Badger and Graham, original followers of Clay in the time of Adams's administration, constituted a connecting link between the Whig party there and the National Republicans. Mangum, who for the succeeding fifteen years occupied a leading place in North Carolina and national politics, was one of the leaders of the "State Rights Whig party" which was formed in the middle thirties, and became an ardent admirer of Henry Clay. Clingman, like Mangum and Graham, came from the western part of the state and later distinguished himself. 42 Benton, Thirty Years View, II, 361. for his defense of slavery and southern rights." Only less prominent were Edward Stanly and Kenneth Rayner, the former one of the ablest champions of whiggery in Congress." The state rights wing of the Whig minority in South Carolina was led by Preston" and Waddy Thompson, both of whom became close friends of Clay. James L. Petigru represented the broad construction element, bridging the gap which separated the Whig from the old Federalist party. This trio was shortly joined by Legaré and Yeadon from the Democratic ranks. Of the powerful group of Whig statesmen in Georgia, nearly all claimed to be followers of the precepts of Jeffersonian Democracy." The sage of the party there was John M. Berrien, a thorough aristocrat whose hold upon his party continued up to his death. With him worked William C. Dawson and the inseparables, Toombs and Stephens, the Orestes and Pylades of politicians, aided within the state by Jenkins and Wilde. The ablest Whig in Alabama was probably Judge A. F. Hopkins, originally an Alexander Hamilton Federalist and always of latitudinarian inclinations." More conspicuous, however, was the eloquent Hilliard of whom it was said that it was worth going the full length of the state to hear him pronounce the word "Alabama". He, Brodnax, and Judge B. F. Porter represented the 43 In the fifties, when he turned Democrat, he carried his district for Congress as easily as formerly, though it afterward became Whig again. Dowd, Prominent Living North Carolinians, 16. *J. Q. Adams, Memoirs, XI, 19. 43 In Adams's mind one of the ablest men in Congress, ibid., 249. 46 Cf. Avary, Recollections of A. H. Stephens, 15; Miller, Bench and Bar of Georgia, I, 263; Wheeler, History of Congress, II, 62. 47 Hilliard, Politics and Pen Pictures, 119; Garrett, Reminiscences of Public Men in Alabama, 377-379. state rights brand of whiggery there." Another gifted Whig orator from Alabama was James Dellet who for some time represented the Mobile district in Congress. He had supported Adams for president in 1828 and always subscribed fully to the party program." Other Alabama leaders deserving of mention were Gayle, Alston, and Dent. The rank and file of the party in Mississippi received orders from an able corps of leaders, representing both wings. A list of these would be a long one, including Poindexter, Prentiss, Sharkey, Yerger, McClung, Guion, Alcorn, and Brooke." In connection with Louisiana it is necessary but to mention the names of her Whig senators-Porter, Barrow, Johnson, Conrad, and later Benjamin. In the Whig states of Kentucky and Tennessee where the problem was to conserve the strength of the party rather than to create a majority, the party workers were especially numerous, but in Kentucky they operated under chiefs who planned the various moves. There Clay shared the direction of affairs with such men as Crittenden, Letcher, Morehead, and Underwood, and matters usually went along smoothly. In the neighboring state of Tennessee the lack of proper controlling influences cut down the efficiency of the Whig machinery. Ambitious local leaders were too numerous for party harmony," and the more able ones like Williams, 45 Garrett, 96, 317. "I confidently state that my influence over the press of the State, is greater than that of any other public man." H. W. Hilliard to Fillmore, April 22, 1851, Fillmore MSS. 49 J. Q. Adams, Memoirs, X, 277. 50 See Foote, Bench and Bar of the South and Southwest, and Lynch, Bench and Bar of Mississippi. 51 Conflicting sectional interests within the state added to the complication. Niles' Register, LXXIII, 209. In 1851, there were six Whig candidates for United States Senator representing the various sections. Nashville Republican Banner, Nov. 4, 6, 1851. Bell, Jones, Gentry, and Brown seemed to lack the alertness and aggressiveness necessary to cope with the situation." The task of this formidable array of talent was to further the interests of the party in so far as was consistent with sectional and local interests and personal ambitions. In some cases this did not mean a break with former principles but it did with several state rights Whigs when they yielded to the party's espousal of an increased, if not protective, tariff and a national bank. But rarely did this apparent inconsistency force them from the party. Had not strong reasons existed for their presence in it, they would probably have joined the exodus of the late thirties." They saw the advantages of a national party to act as a check upon the Democrats. As sectionalism became more and more pronounced, they realized the necessity of making concessions to the northern wing of the party, as on matters of tariff policy, expecting that they would be met by concessions equally vital to the South. As members of Congress, therefore, they in general, aside from any particular personal attachments, cultivated cordial social relations with the northern Whig representatives and leaders at Washington, which always proved an invaluable foundation for acting in harmony with them in the formulation of the Whig program and in putting through Whig measures. 54 A list even so incomplete as this should not omit the names of Henry S. Geyer and Edward Bates of Missouri, of John M. Clayton of Delaware, and of Reverdy Johnson of Maryland, all of whom, besides their local leadership, had a powerful influence on Whigs of both sections on account of their advantage in hailing from border states. 53 See Tyler, Tylers, II, 707. 54 In recognition of the importance of this fact, we find Sargent, at the opening of the special session of 1841, suggesting the value of regular |