used. So violent was the party spirit that one editor—in Columbia, South Carolina—sold his paper and announced that he retired from journalism with disgust.
The time, 1831-1832, was one in which political conventions first came to the fore, and became not only popular, but almost a fashion. It was at a convention of the National Republicans, held in Baltimore in December, 183 1, that the first platform, in the form of an address, was adopted. One of the planks in this platform related to the corruption of the press by the Jackson administration. It was asserted that Jackson had cried out against the misuse of the press by the previous administration, but that under him "partisan editors were now the most favored class of pretenders to office."[1]
It was as the defender of the President, and incidentally of northern office-seeking editors, that Bennett first tested his ability to develop a discussion of national importance. Jackson had sent fo the Senate the names of four editors for public office. Calhoun's differences with the President led him to oppose those whom he considered unfriendly, with the result that two southern editors were confirmed by the Senate, two northern editors being rejected. This led Bennett to attack the Senate. The papers throughout the country took this attack up and much debate ensued over the question—" Are editors eligible for office? "The question was an interesting one for that time, and most of the lawyers—who saw good offices going, from their point of view, astray—answered vigorously in the negative. All this was inspiring material for Bennett; the discussion was given another lively twist, with the press vigorously depicted by him as the " living jury of the nation."
From that time on Bennett became a political force, as
- ↑ McMaster, vi, 130.
