In the first annual message of President Jackson strong ground was taken against the United States bank, then the depository of the national moneys, and subsequently, when he directed the withdrawal of the deposits and their removal to certain state banks, the result was disastrous to the business of the country. Benton took up the matter, addressed himself to a consideration of the whole question of finance, circulating medium, and exchange, and urged the adoption of a gold and silver currency as the true remedy for the existing embarrassments. He made on this subject some of the most elaborate speeches of his life, which attracted attention throughout the United States and Europe, and the name of “Old Bullion” was given to him. His style of oratory at this period was unimpassioned and very deliberate, but overflowing with facts, figures, logical deduction, and historical illustration. In later life he was characterized by a peculiar exuberance of wit and raciness that increased with his years. The elaboration of his views on the national finances paved the way for subsequent legislation, and did much to bring about the present sub-treasury system of the United States.
To Col. Benton is to be given the credit of moving the famous “expunging resolutions.” A formidable combination had been effected in the senate, headed by Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, and a resolution condemning the president's course had been adopted. Benton took it upon himself to have the resolution expunged from the records. From 1841 till 1851, under Presidents Tyler, Polk, and Taylor, he participated in the discussions that arose in regard to the Oregon boundary, the annexation of Texas, and other important subjects. The democratic administration of Mr. Polk was nominally in favor of lat. 54° 40' N. as the boundary of Oregon, and his party had promised this in its platform, but was opposed with so much force by Mr. Benton, that Mr. Polk acquiesced in his views and accepted lat. 49° N. as the line. By this the United States relinquished a piece of territory that would now make its possessions continuous to Alaska and give it every harbor on the Pacific coast. During the Mexican war Col. Benton's services, and intimate acquaintance with the Spanish provinces of the south, proved most useful to the government. On his suggestion the policy of a “masterly inactivity,” at first determined upon by the president, was abandoned, and that of a vigorous prosecution of the war adopted in its stead. At one time it was proposed by President Polk to confer upon him the title of lieutenant-general with full command of the war, in order that he might carry out his conceptions in person. Questions in regard to slavery were brought on by the acquisition of Mexican territory. These were adjusted by the compromise acts of 1850, which were introduced by Mr. Clay, were opposed by Col. Benton, and defeated as a whole, but passed separately. In the nullification struggle, Benton became Calhoun's leading democratic opponent, and their opposition to each other increased into a life-long animosity. The compromise of 1833 brought a lull in the storm; but the same views soon reappeared in connection with the far more complicated question of slavery. The Calhoun doctrine was introduced into the discussion of the abolition petitions in the house of representatives in 1835, and was definitely presented in the session of 1846-'7. On 19 Feb., 1847, Mr. Calhoun, in answer to the “Wilmot proviso,” which excluded slavery from all territory subsequently to be acquired, introduced resolutions that embodied his doctrine as to state rights. Col. Benton, although representing a slave state, would not deviate from the positions he had maintained on former occasions, he denounced Calhoun's resolution as a “fire-brand.” Calhoun expressed his surprise, saying he expected Benton's support because he represented a slave state. Benton replied that he had no right to expect any such thing, and from this moment the two intellectual giants were matched in a ferocious warfare against each other's ideas and interests. The resolutions never came to a vote, but they were sent to the legislature of every slave state, were adopted by several of them, and were made the basis of after-conflict and party organization. It was Calhoun's determination to make them a basis of instruction to senators in congress, and in his hostility to Benton he confided them to certain democrats in the Missouri legislature whom he knew to be unfriendly to his re-election. By skilful management the resolutions were passed in both branches without Col. Benton's knowledge, and a copy was sent to Washington. He promptly denounced them as not expressing the sense of the people, and containing disunion doctrines designed to produce separation and disaster, and declared that he would appeal from the legislature to the people. On the adjournment of congress he returned to Missouri and canvassed every section of the state in a series of speeches famed for their bitterness of denunciation, strength of exposition, and caustic wit. The result was the return of a legislature in 1849-'50 with Benton men in the plurality, but composed of opposite wings, and he was defeated by a coalition between his democratic opponents (known as “anties”) and the whigs. At the close of his term he therefore retired from the senate, after six successive elections and thirty years' continuous service. In 1852 he announced himself a candidate for congress, made a direct appeal to the people in his congressional district, and was elected over all opposition. He gave his warm support to the administration of Franklin Pierce; but when the Calhoun party obtained the ascendency he withdrew. The administration then turned on him, and displaced from office all his friends throughout Missouri. Soon afterward the Kansas-Nebraska bill was brought up, and he exerted himself with all his strength against it, delivering a memorable speech, which did much to excite the country against the act, but failed to defeat its passage. At the next election he was not returned to congress. Retiring from active politics, he devoted two years to literary pursuits, when he became a candidate for governor in 1856, his old friends rallied to his political standard, and his course became a triumphal procession; but a third ticket was in the field, and by the dividing of forces his election was lost. In the presidential election of the same year Col. Benton supported Mr. Buchanan in opposition to his own son-in-law, Col. Frémont, giving as a reason that Mr. Buchanan, if elected, would restore the principles of the Jackson administration, while he feared that the success of Frémont would engender sectional parties fatal to the permanence of the union. Afterward, during the Buchanan administration, he modified many of his opinions, and in several instances took a decided stand in opposition.
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The first volume of his “Thirty Years' View” of the workings of the government (New York, 1854) presented a connected narrative of the time from Adams to Pierce, and dealt particularly with the secret political history of that period. The second and last volume appeared in 1856. He
