The "Virginian Oligarchy," although it was the work of Jefferson and his followers, was an anachronism in a state governed in the spirit of Jeffersonian Democratic principles.

It was better for the Jacksonian Democrats to sacrifice what they believed to be an obnoxious precedent to their principles than to sacrifice their principles to mere precedent.

If in so doing they were making a mistake, that was because their principles were wrong.

The benefit which they were temporarily conferring on themselves, as a class in the community, was sanctioned by the letter and the spirit of their creed.
Closely connected with their perverted ideas and their narrow view of life, we may discern a leaven of new and useful democratic experience.
The new and useful experience which they contributed to our national stock was that of homogeneous social intercourse.

I have already remarked that the Western pioneers were the first large body of Americans who were genuinely national in feeling.