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Indiana University Studies 
opportunity to remove the present Executive of the United 
States” ought to be seized, declared the New York Evening 
Post, in order to regain the privilege of trading with the Brit- 
ish West Indies.^®^ Consequently the Opposition hosts, val- 
iantly led by this same New York Evening Post and its old 
ally, the Richmond Enquirer, with the aid of a powerful re- 
cruit, the Philadelphia Gazette, energetically continued their 
attacks. But the Administration was not left undefended; 
it had four powerful and active advocates in the National 
Journal and Daily National Intelligencer of Washington, the 
New York American, and the influential weekly, Niles' Reg- 
ister. The papers on both sides teemed with editorials ; their 
columns were crowded with letters which poured in on the 
subject. Influential men resorted to this device to attack or 
defend the Administration. One set of letters, for instance, 
written over the signature “Senex”, appeared in the Norfolk 
Herald and was widely copied by Opposition editors.^®^ When 
they were later published in book form in England, it devel- 
oped that they were written by no less a person than Senator 
Tazewell of Virginia, an active anti-Adams man in Congress.^®® 
It was to the interest of the Opposition, naturally, to mag- 
nify the issue to its greatest extent. This was the particular 
contribution of the Philadelphia Gazette. It maintained that : 
in its probable consequences, and in its various connections both imme- 
diate and remote, it is by far the most important question that has been 
submitted to the people of the United States since the conclusion of the 
last war.^" 
Its warning sounded ominous: 
It is not the amount of the trade . . . that gives this question 
its importance. It is the effect it must have on the general policy of 
the two countries in relation to various other points which must shortly 
come under discussion. The question of peace or war hangs upon iE^^ 
In its opinion the question was “far more important than the 
succession to the presidency”. It might “affect the condition 
of the country under half a dozen Presidents”, ^®^ 
Having thus magnified the situation as to its importance 
Quoted in New York American (for the country). May 8, 1827. 
Reprinted in Richmond Enquirer, April 20 to May 8, 1827. 
Tazewell, A Review of the Negotiations between the United States of America and 
Great Britain. 
Philadelphia Gazette, April 11, 1827. 
’^<^^Ibid., April 25, 1827. 
^^Ubid., July 10, 1827. 
