"When I review the arduous
administration through which I have passed," declared the President
soon after the results of the election were made known, "the
formidable opposition, to its very close, of the combined talents,
wealth, and power of the whole aristocracy of the United States, aided
as it is by the moneyed monopolies of the whole country with their
corrupting influence, with which we had to contend, I am truly
thankful to my God for this happy result."
Congress met on the 5th of December for the closing session of the
Administration. The note of victory pervaded the President's message.
Yet there was one more triumph to be won: the resolution of censure
voted by the Senate in 1834 was still officially on the record book.
Now it was that Benton finally procured the passage of his expunging
resolution, although not until both branches of Congress had been
dragged into controversy more personal and acrid, if possible, than
any in the past eight years. The action taken was probably
unconstitutional. But Jackson's "honor" was vindicated, and that was
all that he and his friends saw, or cared to see, in the proceeding.
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