Chase impeachment, for instance) ornprevent him from being chivalric towardnopponents in personal relations.nDespite his firmness, Macon was oftennpragmatic in matters of political tacticsnand knew when to compromise andnyield to his party on smaller issues. Hisnjudgment was always well-balanced, hisndealings moderate. His speeches werenbusinesslike and to the point, his firstncongressional speech reportedly beingnone sentence. With one pithy questionnin debate he burst many grand congressionalnbubbles. “Be not led astraynby grand notions or magnificent opinions,”nMacon told a young follower.n”Remember you belong to a meeknstate and just people, who want nothingnbut to enjoy the fruits of their labornhonestly and to lay out their profits inntheir own way.” With this philosophynhe dominated the state for decades. Innonly one brief period, 1801-1805, wasnhe a dispenser of federal patronage,nand then he refused to use it politically.nMacon’s political career had threenphases: JefFersonian Republican leader,n1791-1807; “Tertium Quid,” 1807 tonabout 1815; and elder statesman thereafter.nWhen he entered the House inn1791, he was immediately identifiednwith the group opposed to the emergingnFederalists and took a leading rolenin the parliamentary battles of then1790’s in which the JefFersonian coalitionnwas forged. These services led tonthe Speakership, a post which, Maconnsaid, he entered without seeking andnleft without regret. Losing the chair inna disagreement with the administrationnwing of the party, which he felt hadncompromised with Federalist principlesnand had used rather than eliminatednthe federal patronage, he was thereafternidentified with the “Old Republican”ngroup. He opposed taxes, thenprotective tariff, a navy, internal improvementsn(at federal expense), allnexpenditures not necessary to the honestnfulfillment of the most essentialnfunctions of the government, a nationalnbank, executive patronage and discretion,nand any compromise withnNorthern antislavery agitation. Thenprinciples that John Taylor expoundednand John Randolph dramatized, Maconnpersonified. Remaining independent,nnever attending the party caucusnand opposing both Madison’s andnMonroe’s elections, he supported thenincumbent administration when hencould and never engaged in oppositionnfor opposition’s sake. He reluctantlynvoted for the Embargo. During thenWar of 1812 he was willing to raise andnsupport troops but opposed a navy,nnational conscription, and executivendiscretion.nBy the time he entered the Senatenin 1815 Macon was already a venerablenfigure, a stature that increased asnsurvivors of the Revolution and exponentsnof pure republican principlesnbecame rarer. Although he was evidentlyndispleased with the increasinglyndynamic politics of the postwar periodnand felt that true republican virtue wasnbeing lost, Macon undoubtedly had annot inconsiderable impact on the nextngeneration as a prophet of both “Jacksonianndemocracy” and Southern separatism.nTowns and counties across thenSouth were named for him. He wasnwidely discussed for the Vice Presidencynin 1824 and received the electoralnvotes of Virginia for that office. Inn1828 he was wooed unsuccessfully bynJohn Quincy Adams as a runningnmate. He was lukewarm to Jackson butngave the Jacksonian coalition his supportnas a lesser evil from 1828, andnserved as a Van Buren elector in 1836.nHe evidently regarded the emergentnDemocratic Party as the nearest availablenapproach to a coalition of South-n• »-»-t»-t^^.t^t–.—-.–t.-tt.-..^ttt-••»-•-•-•-••••••••••.•^.^•-•-^^^^^••••-•-•••••.^.•••••-(.••»»•••••-•-•-•–•.-••••-•-tt-nWhat Is This?n• Short stories by a college president?n• Foreword by an economist?n• Praise from a poet, a PBS film critic,nand a best-selling spy novelist?n”Come with George Roche to the shadow ofnMt. Shavano, where the snow piles up overnthe rooftops and animals howl in the nightnand the road is closed for the season. . . “n—George GildernEconomist, Author, Microcosmn”There is a weathered, homemade feelingnabout these stories, a feeling of remembered,nrather than imagined texture. I loved thenbright solidity of this volume and admire itnvery much indeed.”n—Fred ChappellnPoet, First and Last Wordsn”As fiction writing, this work is deceptivelynsimple—a plain, earthy guts-and-whiskey surfacenthat only hints at the spiritual punch andnresonance that the stories achieve.”n—Michael, MedvednPBS Film Criticn” . . very iiBpiring. The ability of our peoplento triumph over adversity is what made thisncountry great and George Roche reminds usnof this fact.”n—Clive CusslernAuthor, Raise the Titanic and Deep SixnA Reason for Living is a new collection ofnshort stories by George Roche, the Presidentnof Hillsdale College, about the rough-andtumblenlives of people in early-to-mid-20thncentury Colorado who find a reason for livingnin the very adversities of everyday life —nwhether they be crippling accidents, crimenand corruption, or the pressures of imminentnmatrimony.n• – ^ ^ ” ” • i ‘ H-.f—nnnACoDection of Short aoriesnTOBEWDSD BY CfORGE GILDER :nGEORGE ROCHEnAREASONnFOR LIVINGnOrdering InformationnBy special arrangement with Regnery Gateway,nA Reason for Living, by George Rochen$14.95 cloth ($3.00 off the list price)nVisa/MasterCard orders, call:n1-800-837-4247nFree shipping!nTo order by mail:nFreedom LibrarynHillsdale CollegenHillsdale, MI 49242n’-“^”^”^”^”^^^’-*-^ —–“^’-•nDECEMBER 1990/49n