planted in the far east will endanger monarchical institutions there. There has been considerable controversy as to whom belongs the credit of originating the Monroe Doctrine. Mr. Sumner claimed it for Canning. But it has already been shown that Jefferson, about twenty years earlier, suggested the doctrine in his message to Congress. Further, in July, 1823, John Quincy Adams told the Russian minister that "we should assume distinctly the principle that the American Continents are no longer subject for any new European colonial establishments." Adams was, at the time, Monroe's Secretary of State, and hence his mouthpiece in speaking of foreign affairs. So it is clear that Jefferson initiated the idea, and Monroe made it a direct and bold practicality. In 1824 the constitutional construction pendulum. swung more freely. Acts were passed for surveys for a system of national canals. He had had Monroe's second term has been characterized as “the era of good feeling." Our foreign relations were amicable; domestic peace and prosperity prevailed; old political animosities were buried; and while there were some evidences of disintegration in the Democratic party, the only political organization extant, there would be no schismatic upheaval or violent rupture. And so Mr. Monroe happily closed his administration. an active, useful, and eventful career. He had been a soldier in the Revolutionary army, twice Governor of Virginia, a Senator in the first Federal Congress, Minister to France, to England, to Spain, Secretary of State and of War, and President of the United States for eight years. Energy, honesty, simplicity, and patriotism were his dominant qualities. He was not a public speaker. His enduring fame rests upon the record of untiring, faithful, and able administrative labors. The simplicity, modesty, and thorough Americanism of Monroe were well illustrated when, after his Presidency, he retired to his home in Virginia, was elected a justice of the peace, and cheerfully discharged the duties of that humble office, conscious that he was still serving his country. In 1824, there being but one party, the contest was almost purely personal. An attempt to revive the system of making nominations by the Congressional caucus had failed, and this year witnessed a race" free for all." The result of the vote for President was: Andrew Jackson John Quincy Adams. Henry Clay..... 99 84 41 371 John C. Calhoun had a majority for Vice-President over five competitors, and was, of course, elected. But, there having been no election, by the electors, for President, the House of Representatives was again called on to make the election. The Democrats, who adhered to the candidates endorsed by the people, had a large majority in the House; but as the vote had to be cast by States, each State having a single vote, and its direction being determined by a majority of the Representatives thereof, John Quincy Adams was chosen. Thus a second time a President was chosen by the House of Representatives. The Anti-Jackson men took the name of 1 The electoral votes for Jackson were: New York, 1; New Jersey, 8; Pennsylvania, 28; Maryland, 7; North Carolina, 15; South Carolina, 11; Indiana, 5 Illinois, 2; Tennessee, 11; Louisiana, 3; Mississippi, 3; Alabama, 5-total, 99. The States voting for Adams were: Maine, 9; New Hampshire, 8; Vermont, 7; Massachusetts, 15; Rhode Island, 4; Connecticut, 8; New York, 26; Delaware, 1; Maryland, 3; Louisiana, 2; Illinois, I—total, 84. The electoral votes for Crawford were: New York, 5; Delaware, 2; Maryland, I; Virginia, 24; Georgia, 9-total, 41. Electoral votes for Clay were: New York, 4; Kentucky, 14; Ohio, 16; Missouri, 3-total, 37. National Republicans, which was soon changed to Whig. At this time the Whig party came into existence. Clay's friends in the House having united with the followers of Adams, and thus secured the election of the latter, and, upon his inauguration, Adams having appointed Clay Secretary of State,-it was openly charged that there had been a corrupt bargain between the two. Impugning the motives of public men is one of the most common, and usually one of the most baseless, attacks to which they are subjected. It is just as easy, and quite as reasonable, to believe that Clay, finding his own election impossible, threw his strength to Adams in preference to Jackson, and that Clay's recognized abilities at once commended him to Adams as one admirably qualified to fill the position of Secretary of State. scandal had its believers, and left its effect. But the In the House 13 States voted for Adams, 7 for Jackson, and 4 for Crawford. The ballot was secret, and it was not known how the various States voted.' Adams had had an extensive and varied experience in public affairs. From 1794 to 1801 he was Minister to the Netherlands and to Prussia under the Federalist administration. From 1803 to 1808 he was a United States Senator as a Democrat. From 1809 to 1817 he was Minister to Russia as a Democrat. Then he became Secretary of State under Monroe. When defeated for a second term as President, he was elected in 1831 to the House of Representatives, and continued to serve in that body until his death in 1848. 'The electoral votes for Jackson were: Maine, 1; New York, 20; Pennsylvania, 28; Maryland, 5; Virginia, 24; North Carolina, 15; South Carolina, 11; Georgia, 9; Alabama, 5; Mississippi, 3; Louisiana, 5; Tennessee, 11; Kentucky, 14; Ohio, 16; Indiana, 5; Illinois, 3; Missouri, 3-total, 178. For Adams: Maine, 8; New Hampshire, 8; Vermont, 7; Massachusetts, 15; Rhode Island, 4; Connecticut, 8; New York, 16; New Jersey, 8; Delaware, 3; Maryland, 6-total, 83. He was a man of distinguished abilities, and was conscientious and devout. But he was cold, irritable, austere, and repellent. He was a somewhat exaggerated type of the Puritan his father had been. The peculiar political condition of the country and the circumstances attending his election placed him in an embarrassing situation. The offices were filled with Democrats, his own party affiliates; hence he could not make removals, and thus he lacked patronage — that efficient means of securing a following. But, in connection with Clay, Webster, and others, he laid the foundation of a new party, based on a protective tariff and a general system of internal improvements. He recommended both in his inaugural address and in his first message to Congress. We have seen that the Democrats were no longer as rigid constructionists as at first. it is one thing to approve or acquiesce in a measure fathered by one's own party leaders, and quite a different thing to be called on to support the same measures under the championship of one's adversaries. And there was now a growing hostility between Adams and his friends upon one side, and the Jackson Democrats on the other. Adams had been friendly to Jackson, and wanted him to be Minister to Mexico. But this was before Jackson became a prominent candidate for the Presidency. The suspicious disposition of Adams had caused him to distrust Crawford, a colleague in Monroe's Cabinet, and others who might stand in the way of his laudable ambition. But he was elected, and naturally aspired to a second term; all of his predecessors, except his father, having received this mark of public favor. Some of the elements of opposition have been indicated, and others. developed as his administration progressed. When he became President the Senate was composed of 38 Democrats and 10 Whigs, and the House of 134 Democrats and 79 Whigs. Calhoun, now Vice-President, John Randolph, and Martin Van Buren, with Crawford and Jackson, were a strong adverse array. As there were no matters of special interest during Adams's term, much time, on both sides, was given to rival schemes and combinations for the future. Indifference, or even dissatisfaction with domestic affairs, are forgotten when a diversion is presented by a popular and successful foreign policy. But Adams was unfortunate in not being able to develop such policies. The Panama Congress was a pet measure of Mr. Adams. Perhaps it was an ingenious device to arouse the patriotic ardor of the people, and to rally round him, as the great promoter of the glory and dignity of the United States, those who had become lukewarm in his support, and even those openly hostile. The project was to assemble at Panama representatives from the SpanishAmerican states, and to form a league, with the United States at its head, for commercial and political purposes, and to aid in maintaining the Monroe Doctrine. But the Monroe Doctrine thus to be maintained was emasculated, "each State to guard, by its own means, its own territory from European colonization." The project was debated in the Senate with considerable heat, and proved to be a boomerang, doing Mr. Adams more harm than good. And by a disagreement with England, all our West India trade was lost. So it came about that the twentieth Congress contained II Adams and 37 Anti-Adams Senators; 85 Adams and 128 Anti-Adams Representatives. The parties are thus designated because almost all were nominally Democrats. Some one, writing of the status of affairs, has said that the opposition to Adams in Congress, from a minority, in 1827, became a large majority; a state of things which had never before occurred under the Government of the United States." 66 |