SETTLEMENT OF OUR BOUNDARIES
%291. Monroe inaugurated.%--The administration of Madison ended on
March 4, 1817, and on that day James Monroe and Daniel D. Tompkins were
sworn into office. They had been nominated at Washington in February,
1816, by a caucus of Republican members of Congress, for no such thing
as a national convention for the nomination of a President had as yet
been thought of. The Federalists did not hold a caucus; but it was
understood that their electors would vote for Rufus King for
President.[1]
[Footnote 1: In 1816 there were nineteen states in the Union (Indiana
having been admitted in that year), and of these Monroe carried sixteen
and King three. The inauguration took place in the open air for the
first time since 1789.]
[Illustration: on the right of the previous paragraph, with caption
"James Monroe"]
%292. Death of the Federalist Party.%--The inauguration of Monroe
opens a new era of great interest and importance in our history. From
1793 to 1815, the questions which divided the people into Federalists
and Republicans were all in some way connected with foreign countries.
They were neutral rights, Orders in Council, French Decrees,
impressment, embargoes, non-intercourse acts, the conduct of England,
the insolence of the French Directory, the triumphs and the treachery of
Napoleon. Every Federalist sympathized with England; every Republican
was a warm supporter of France.
But with the close of the war in 1815, all this ended. Napoleon was sent
to St. Helena. Europe was at peace, and there was no longer any foreign
question to divide the people into Federalists and Republicans. This
division, therefore, ceased to exist, and after 1816 the Federalist
party never put up a candidate for the presidency. It ceased to exist
not only as a national but even as a state party, and for twelve years
there was one great party, the Republican, or, as it soon began to be
called, the Democratic.
%293. The "Era of Good Feeling."%--A sure sign of the disappearance
of party and party feeling was seen very soon after Monroe was
inaugurated. In May, 1817, he left Washington with the intention of
visiting and inspecting all the forts and navy yards along the eastern
seaboard and the Great Lakes. Beginning at Baltimore, he went to New
York, then to Boston, and then to Portland; where he turned westward,
and crossing New Hampshire and Vermont to Lake Champlain, made his way
to Ogdensburg, where he took a boat to Sacketts Harbor and Niagara,
whence he went to Buffalo, and Detroit, and then back to Washington.
Wherever he went, the people came by thousands to greet him; but nowhere
was the reception so hearty as in New England, the stronghold of
Federalism. "The visit of the President," said a Boston newspaper,
"seems wholly to have allayed the storms of party. People _now meet in
the same room_ who, a short while since, _would scarcely pass along the
same street_". Another said that since Monroe's arrival at Boston "party
feeling and animosities have been laid aside, and but one great
_national feeling_ has animated every class of our citizens." So it was
everywhere, and when, therefore, the Boston Sentinel_ called the times
the "era of good feeling," the whole country took up the expression and
used it, and the eight years of Monroe's administration have ever since
been so called.
%294. Trouble with the Seminole Indians.%--Though all was quiet and
happy within our borders, events of great importance were happening
along our northern, western, and southern frontier. During the war with
England, the Creek Indians in Georgia and Alabama had risen against the
white settlers and were beaten and driven out by Jackson and forced to
take refuge with the Seminoles in Florida. As they had been the allies
of England, they fully expected that when peace was made, England would
secure for them the territory of which Jackson had deprived them. When
England did not do this, they grew sullen and savage, and in 1817 began
to make raids over the border, run off cattle and murder men, women, and
children. In order to stop these depredations, General Jackson was sent
to the frontier, and utterly disregarding the fact that the Creeks and
Seminoles were on Spanish soil, he entered West Florida, took St. Marks
and Pensacola, destroyed the Indian power, and hanged two English
traders as spies.[1]
[Footnote 1: Parton's _Life of Jackson_, Chaps. 34-36; McMaster's
_History_, Vol. IV., pp. 430-456.]
%295. The Canadian Boundary; Forty-ninth Parallel.%--This was
serious, for at the time the news reached Washington that Jackson had
invaded Spanish soil and hanged two English subjects, important treaties
were under way with Spain and Great Britain, and it was feared his
violent acts would stop them. Happily no evil consequences followed, and
in 1818 an agreement was reached as to the dividing line between the
United States and British America.
When Louisiana came to us, no limit was given to it on the north, and
fifteen years had been allowed to pass without attempting to establish
one. Now, however, the boundary was declared to be a line drawn south
from the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods to the
forty-ninth parallel of north latitude and along this parallel to the
summit of the Rocky Mountains.
%296. Joint Occupation of Oregon.%--The country beyond the Rocky
Mountains, the Oregon country, was claimed by both England and the
United States; so it was agreed in the treaty of 1818 that for ten years
to come the country should be held in joint occupation.
%297. The Spanish Boundary Line.%--One year later (1819) the boundary
of Louisiana was completed by a treaty with Spain, which now sold us
East and West Florida for $5,000,000. Till this time we had always
claimed that Louisiana extended across Texas as far as the Rio Grande.
By the treaty this claim was given up, and the boundary became the
Sabine River from the Gulf of Mexico to 32°, then a north line to the
Red River; westward along this river to the 100th meridian; then
northward to the Arkansas River, and westward to its source in the Rocky
Mountains; then a north line to 42°, and then along that parallel to the
Pacific Ocean.[1]
[Footnote 1: McMaster's _History of the People of the United States_,
Vol. IV., pp. 457-480.]
%298. Russian Claims on the Pacific.%--The Oregon country was thus
restricted to 42° on the south, and though it had no limit on the north
the Emperor of Russia (in 1822) undertook to fix one at 51°, which he
declared should be the south boundary of Alaska. Oregon was thus to
extend from 42° to 51°, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. But
Russia had also founded a colony in California, and seemed to be
preparing to shut the United States from the Pacific coast. Against all
this John Quincy Adams, then Secretary of State, protested, telling the
Russian minister that European powers no longer had a right to plant
colonies in either North or South America.
%299. The Holy Allies and the South American Republics.%--This was a
new doctrine, and while the United States and Russia were discussing the
boundary of Oregon, it became necessary to make another declaration
regarding the rights of European powers in the two Americas.
Ever since 1793, when Washington issued his proclamation of neutrality
(p. 206), the policy of the United States had been to take no part in
European wars, nor meddle in European politics. This had been asserted
repeatedly by Washington, Jefferson, and Monroe,[1] and during all the
wars from 1793 to 1815 had been carefully adhered to. It was supposed,
of course, that if we did not meddle in the affairs of the Old World
nations, they would not interfere in affairs over here. But about 1822
it seemed likely that they would interfere very seriously.
[Footnote 1: See Washington's _Farewell Address_; Jefferson's _Inaugural
Address_, March 4, 1801; also his message to Congress, Oct. 17, 1803;
Monroe's _Inaugural Address_, March 4, 1817, and messages, Dec. 2, 1817,
Nov. 17, 1818, Nov. 14, 1820; see also _American History Leaflets_,
No. 4.]
[Illustration: %NORTH AMERICA AFTER 1824%]
Beginning with 1810, the Spanish colonies of Mexico and South America
(Chile, Peru, Buenos Ayres, Colombia) rebelled, formed republics, and in
1822 were acknowledged as free and independent powers by the United
States. Spain, after vainly attempting to subdue them, appealed for help
to the powers of Europe, which in 1815 had formed a Holy Alliance for
the purpose of maintaining monarchical government. For a while these
powers (Russia, Prussia, Austria, France) held aloof. But in 1823 they
decided to help Spain to get back her old colonies, and invited Great
Britain to attend a Congress before which the matter was to be
discussed. But Great Britain had no desire to see the little republics
destroyed, and in the summer of 1823, the British Prime Minister asked
the American minister in London if the United States would join with
England in a declaration warning the Holy Allies not to meddle with the
South American republics. Thus, just at the time when Adams was
protesting against European colonization in the Northwest, England
suggested a protest against European meddling in the affairs of Spanish
America. The opportunity was too good to be lost, and Adams succeeded in
persuading President Monroe to make a protest in behalf of the nation
against both forms of European interference in American affairs. Monroe
thought it best to make the declaration independent of Great Britain,
and in his annual message to Congress, December 2, 1823, he announced
three great guiding principles now known as the
%300. Monroe Doctrine.%--
1. Taking up the matter in dispute with Russia, he declared that the
American continents were no longer open to colonization by
European nations.
Referring to the conduct of the Holy Allies, he said,
2. That the United States would not meddle in the political affairs of
Europe.
3. That European governments must not extend their system to any part of
North or South America, nor oppress, nor in any other manner seek to
control the destiny of any of the nations of this hemisphere.[1]
[Footnote 1: McMaster's _With the Fathers_, pp. 1-54; Tucker's _Monroe
Doctrine_.]
The protest was effectual. The Holy Allies did not meddle in South
American affairs, and the next year (1824) Russia agreed to make no
settlement south of 54° 40'.
SUMMARY
1. At the presidential election of 1816 the Federalist party, for the
last time, voted for a presidential candidate. Party politics were dead,
and the "era of good feeling" opened.
2. Many important matters which were not settled by the Treaty of Ghent
were disposed of:
A. The forty-ninth parallel was made the boundary from a
point south of the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains.
B. Oregon was held in joint occupation.
C. The line 54° 40' was established.
3. The boundary between the United States and the Spanish possessions
was drawn, and Florida was acquired.
4. The Monroe doctrine was announced.
* * * * *
SOME RESULTS OF THE WAR.
_Death of the Federalist party_ ...
End of the European war.
Disappearance of old party issues.
Monroe elected President.
The "era of good feeling."
_Seminole War_ ...
Creek Indians join the English.
Driven out of Alabama by Jackson.
Take refuge with Florida Seminoles.
After the war rise against the settlers in Georgia.
Destroyed by Jackson.
_The boundaries_ ...
1818. Northern boundary of Louisiana
settled to the Rocky Mountains.
1819. Treaty with Spain settled the south
boundary of Louisiana.
1818. Joint occupation of Oregon.
1824. North boundary of Oregon established at 54° 40'.
_The Monroe Doctrine._
The Holy Allies.
The South American republics.
Proposal of the Holy Allies to reduce the
South American republics.
The Monroe Doctrine announced (1823).