MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION, 1817-1825.
[Illustration: James Monroe.]
The policy of Madison was adopted by his successor. The stormy times
of the war gave place to many years of peace. The new President was
a native of Virginia, a man of great talents and accomplishments. He
had been a Revolutionary soldier, a member of Congress, governor of
Virginia, envoy to France and England, and Secretary of State under
Madison. The members of the cabinet were: John Quincy Adams, Secretary
of State; William H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury; John C.
Calhoun, Secretary of War; William Wirt, Attorney-general. Statesmen of
all parties devoted their energies to the payment of the national debt.
Commerce soon revived; the government was economically administered,
and in a few years the debt was honestly paid.
[Sidenote: Mississippi Admitted.]
2. In December of 1817 Mississippi was organized and admitted into the
Union. The new State came with a population of sixty-five thousand
souls. At the same time the attention of the government was called to a
nest of pirates on Amelia Island, off the coast of Florida. An armament
was sent against them, and the lawless establishment was broken up.
Another company, on the island of Galveston, was also suppressed.
3. The question of internal improvements now began to be agitated.
Without railroads and canals the products of the interior could never
reach a market. Whether Congress had a right to vote money to make
public improvements was a question of debate. Among the States, New
York took the lead in improvements by constructing a canal from Buffalo
to Albany. The cost of the work was nearly eight million dollars.
[Sidenote: Trouble with the Seminoles.]
4. In 1817 the Seminole Indians of Georgia and Alabama became hostile.
Some negroes and Creeks joined the savages in their depredations.
General Jackson was ordered to reduce the Indians to submission. He
mustered a thousand riflemen from Tennessee, and in the spring of 1818
completely overran the hostile country.
[Sidenote: The Cession of Florida.]
5. While on this expedition, Jackson took possession of St. Mark's.
The Spanish troops stationed there were removed to Pensacola. Two
Englishmen, named Arbuthnot and Ambrister, charged with inciting the
Seminoles to insurrection, were tried by a court-martial and hanged.
Jackson then captured Pensacola, and sent the Spanish authorities
to Havana. The enemies of General Jackson condemned him for these
proceedings, but the President and Congress justified his deeds. The
king of Spain now proposed to cede Florida to the United States. On the
22d of February, 1819, a treaty was concluded at Washington City by
which the whole province was surrendered to the American government.
The United States agreed to relinquish all claim to Texas, and to pay
to American citizens, for depredations committed by Spanish vessels,
five million dollars.
[Sidenote: New States.]
6. In 1818 Illinois, the twenty-first State, was organized and admitted
into the Union. The population of the new commonwealth was forty-seven
thousand. In December of 1819 Alabama was added, with a population
of one hundred and twenty-five thousand. About the same time Arkansas
Territory was organized. In 1820 the province of Maine was separated
from Massachusetts and admitted into the Union. The population of the
new State had reached two hundred and ninety-eight thousand. In August
of 1821 Missouri, with a population of about seventy-four thousand
souls, was admitted as the twenty-fourth member of the Union.
[Sidenote: The Missouri Compromise.]
7. When the bill to admit Missouri was brought before Congress, a
proposition was made _to prohibit slavery in the new State_. This
was supported by the free States of the North, and opposed by the
slaveholding States of the South. After long and angry debates the
measure brought forward by Henry Clay, and known as the MISSOURI
COMPROMISE, was adopted. Its provisions were--_first_, the admission
of Missouri as a slaveholding State; _secondly_, the division of the
rest of the Louisiana purchase by the parallel of thirty-six degrees
and thirty minutes; _thirdly_, the admission of new States south of
that line, with or without slavery, as the people might determine;
_fourthly_, the prohibition of slavery in all the new States north of
the dividing-line.
8. The President's administration grew into high favor with the people;
and in 1820 he was reelected. As Vice-president, Mr. Tompkins was again
chosen. The attention of the government was next called to a system
of piracy which had sprung up in the West Indies. Early in 1822 an
American fleet was sent thither, and more than twenty piratical ships
were captured. In the following summer, Commodore Porter was dispatched
with a larger squadron. The retreats of the sea-robbers were completely
broken up.
[Sidenote: The Monroe Doctrine.]
9. About this time many of the countries of South America declared
their independence of foreign nations. The people of the United States
sympathized with the patriots of the South. Henry Clay urged upon
the government the duty of recognizing the South American republics.
In March of 1822, a bill was passed by Congress embodying his views.
In the President's message of 1823 the declaration was made that _the
American continents are not subject to colonization by any European
power_. This is the principle ever since known as the MONROE DOCTRINE.
[Illustration: Henry Clay.]
10. In the summer of 1824 the venerated La Fayette, now aged and
gray, revisited the land for whose freedom he had shed his blood. The
patriots who had fought by his side came forth to greet him. In every
city he was surrounded by a throng of shouting freemen. His journey
through the country was a triumph. In September of 1825 he bade adieu
to the people, and sailed for his native land. While Liberty remains,
the name of La Fayette shall be hallowed.
11. In the fall of 1824 four candidates were presented for the
presidency. John Quincy Adams was put forward as the candidate of the
East; William H. Crawford, of Georgia, as the choice of the South;
Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson as the favorites of the West. Neither
candidate received a majority of the electoral votes, and the choice of
President was referred to the House of Representatives. By that body
Mr. Adams was elected. For Vice-president, John C. Calhoun, of South
Carolina, was chosen by the electoral college.