To Clay, too, the slavery struggle brought
embarrassments, for his attitude as a compromiser failed to
strengthen him in the south, while it diminished his following in
the north. Calhoun suffered from the same difficulty, although his
position in the cabinet enabled him to keep in the background in
this heated contest. Jackson stood in a different situation. At the
time he was remote from the controversy, having his own troubles as
governor of Florida, and, as a slave-holding planter he was not
suspected by the south, while at the same time his popularity as the
representative of the new democracy was steadily winning him friends
in the antislavery state of Pennsylvania.
To Adams all the agitation was a distinct gain, since it broke the
concert between Virginia and New York and increased his chances as
the only important northern candidate. He saw--none more clearly--
the possibility of this issue as a basis for a new party
organization,[Footnote: Adams, Memoirs, IV., 529.] but he saw also
that it menaced a dissolution of the Union.
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