The Greater Republic Part 23

The Barbary States did not forget their rough treatment at the hands of the United States a few years before. During the war they allowed the British to capture American vessels in their harbors, and sometimes captured them on their own account. In 1812 the Dey of Algiers compelled the American consul to pay him a large sum of money to save himself, family, and a few friends from being carried off into slavery. We were too busily occupied elsewhere to give this barbarian attention, but in March, 1815, war was declared against Algiers, and Commodores Decatur and Bainbridge were sent to the Mediterranean with two squadrons to conduct operations.

They did it to perfection. After capturing several frigates, they approached the city of Algiers and demanded the immediate surrender of every American prisoner, full indemnity for all property destroyed, and the disavowal of all future claims to tribute. The terrified Dey eagerly signed the treaty placed before him on the quarter-deck of Decatur's ship. The Pasha of Tunis was compelled to pay a round sum on account of the American vessels he had allowed the British to capture in his harbor during the war. When he had done this, the Pasha of Tripoli was called upon and forced to make a similar contribution to the United States treasury.

FOUNDING OF THE NATIONAL COLONIZATION SOCIETY.

The negro had long been a disturbing factor in politics, and, in 1816, the National Colonization Society was formed in Princeton, N.J., and immediately reorganized in Washington. Its object was to encourage the emanc.i.p.ation of slaves by obtaining a place for them outside the United States, whither they might emigrate. It was hoped also that by this means the South would be relieved of its free black population. The scheme was so popular that branches of the society were established in almost every State. At first free negroes were sent to Sierra Leone, on the western coast of Africa, under the equator. Later, for a short time, they were taken to Sherbrooke Island, but in 1821 a permanent location was purchased at Cape Mesurado, where, in 1847, the colony declared itself an independent republic under the name of Liberia. Its capital, Monrovia, was named in honor of the President of the United States. The republic still exists, but its functions were destroyed by the war for the Union, which abolished slavery on this continent, and Liberia has never been looked upon with great favor by the colored people of this country.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1816.

It has already been shown that the course of the Federal party in the War of 1812 ruined it. The Federal nominee for the presidency was Rufus King, of New York. He was a native of Maine, a graduate of Harvard College, and had served as a delegate to the Continental Congress. It was he who in 1785 moved the provision against slavery in the Northwest Territory, and he was an active member of the Const.i.tutional Convention of 1787, afterward returning to Ma.s.sachusetts and giving all his energies to bringing about the ratification of the Const.i.tution. He was United States senator from New York in 1789-1796; was minister to London, 1796-1803; and again a United States senator, 1813-1825.

John Eager Howard, the candidate for the vice-presidency, had hardly a less claim upon the recognition of his countrymen, for he joined the patriot army at the outbreak of the Revolution, and fought with marked gallantry at White Plains, Germantown, Monmouth, and Camden, and won special honor at the Cowpens in 1781. He was afterward governor of Maryland, declined the portfolio of war in Washington's cabinet, and was United States senator from 1796 to 1803.

These facts are given to show the character and standing of the candidates of the Federalists in the presidential election of 1816. The following was the result: For President, James Monroe, of Virginia, Republican, 133; Rufus King, of New York, Federalist, 34. For Vice-President, Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, Republican, 183; John Eager Howard, of Maryland, Federalist, 22; James Ross, of Pennsylvania, 5; John Marshall, of Virginia, 4; Robert G. Harper, of Maryland, 3.

Vacancies, 4. Thus Monroe became President and Tompkins Vice-President.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIRST TRAIN OF CARS IN AMERICA.]

CHAPTER X.

ADMINISTRATIONS OF JAMES MONROE AND JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 1817-1829.

James Monroe--The "Era of Good Feeling"--The Seminole War--Vigorous Measures of General Jackson--Admission of Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri--The Missouri Compromise--The Monroe Doctrine--Visit of Lafayette--Introduction of the Use of Gas--Completion of the Erie Ca.n.a.l--The First "Hard Times"--Extinction of the West Indian Pirates--Presidential Election of 1824--John Quincy Adams--Prosperity of the Country--Introduction of the Railway Locomotive--Trouble with the Cherokees in Georgia--Death of Adams and Jefferson--Congressional Action on the Tariff--Presidential Election of 1828.

JAMES MONROE.

James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States, was born at Monroe's Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia, April 28, 1758, and died July 4, 1831. It will be noticed that four out of the first five Presidents were natives of Virginia, and in course of time three others followed. It will be admitted, therefore, that the State has well earned the t.i.tle of the "Mother of Presidents."

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAMES MONROE.

(1758-1831.) Two terms, 1817-1825.]

Monroe received his education at William and Mary College, and was a soldier under Washington. He was not nineteen years old when, as lieutenant at the battle of Trenton, he led a squad of men who captured a Hessian battery as it was about to open fire. He studied law under Jefferson, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, and, when twenty-five years old, was a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was minister plenipotentiary to France in 1794, but his course displeased the administration and he was recalled. From 1799 to 1802 he was governor of Virginia, and, in the latter year, was sent to France by President Jefferson to negotiate the purchase of Louisiana. In 1811 he was again governor of Virginia, and shortly afterward appointed secretary of State by Madison. He also served as secretary of war at the same time, and, as the treasury was empty, pledged his private means for the defense of New Orleans. Monroe was of plain, simple manners, of excellent judgment and of the highest integrity. While his career did not stamp him as a man of genius, yet it proved him to be that which in his situation is better--an absolutely "safe" man to trust with the highest office in the gift of the American people. Under Monroe the United States made greater advancement than during any previous decade.

Everything united to make his administration successful. The Federal party having disappeared, its members either stopped voting or joined the Republicans. Since, therefore, everybody seemed to be agreed in his political views, the period is often referred to as "the era of good feeling," a condition altogether too ideal to continue long.

TARIFF LEGISLATION.

Shortly after Monroe's inauguration he made a tour through the country, visiting the princ.i.p.al cities, and contributing by his pleasing manner greatly to his popularity. The manufactures of the country were in a low state because of the cheapness of labor in Great Britain, which enabled the manufacturers there to send and sell goods for less prices than the cost of their manufacture in this country. Congress met the difficulty by imposing a tax upon manufactured goods brought hither, and thereby gave our people a chance to make and sell the same at a profit. The controversy between the advocates of free trade and protection has been one of the leading questions almost from the first, and there has never been and probably never will be full accord upon it.

THE SEMINOLE WAR.

Perhaps the most important event in the early part of Monroe's administration was the Seminole war. Those Indians occupied Florida, and could hide themselves in the swampy everglades and defy pursuit. Many runaway slaves found safe refuge there, intermarried with the Seminoles, and made their homes among them. They were not always fairly treated by the whites, and committed many outrages on the settlers in Georgia and Alabama. When the Creeks, who insisted they had been cheated out of their lands, joined them, General Gaines was sent to subdue the savages.

He failed, and was caught in such a dangerous situation that General Jackson hastily raised a force and marched to his a.s.sistance.

Since Florida belonged to Spain, Jackson was instructed by our government not to enter the country except in pursuit of the enemy. "Old Hickory" was not the man to allow himself to be hampered by such orders, and, entering Florida in March, 1818, he took possession the following month of the Spanish post of St. Mark's, at the head of Appalachee Bay.

Several Seminoles were captured, and, proof being obtained that they were the leaders in a ma.s.sacre of some settlers a short time before, Jackson hanged every one of them.

Advancing into the interior, he captured two British subjects, Robert C.

Ambrister, an Englishman, and Alexander Arbuthnot, a Scotchman. There seemed to be no doubt that the latter had been guilty of inciting the Indians to commit their outrages, and both were tried by court-martial, which sentenced Arbuthnot to be hanged and Ambrister to receive fifty lashes and undergo a year's imprisonment. Jackson set aside the verdict, and shot the Englishman and hanged the Scotchman. He then marched against Pensacola, the capital of the province, drove out the Spanish authorities, captured Barrancas, whose troops and officials were sent to Havana.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN INDIAN'S DECLARATION OF WAR.]

Jackson carried things with such a high hand that Spain protested, and Congress had to order an investigation. The report censured Jackson; but Congress pa.s.sed a resolution acquitting him of all blame, and he became more popular than ever.

Spain was not strong enough to expel the Americans, and she agreed to a treaty, in October, 1820, by which East and West Florida were ceded to the United States, the latter paying Spain $5,000,000. The Sabine River, instead of the Rio Grande, was made the dividing line between the territories of the respective governments west of the Mississippi.

Jackson was the first governor of Florida, and, as may be supposed, he had a stormy time, but he straightened out matters with the same iron resolution that marked everything he did.

STATES ADMITTED--THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE.

A number of States were admitted to the Union while Monroe was President. The first was Mississippi, in 1817. The territory was claimed by Georgia, which gave it to the United States in 1802. Illinois was admitted in 1818, being the third of the five States formed from the old Northwest Territory. Alabama became a State in 1819, and had been a part of the territory claimed by Georgia. Maine was admitted in 1820, and, as has been shown, was for a long time a part of Ma.s.sachusetts, and Missouri became a State in 1821.

The strife over the admission of the last-named State was so angry that more than one person saw the shadow of the tremendous civil war that was to darken the country and deluge it in blood forty years later. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 had made cotton the leading industry of the South and given an enormous importance to slavery. The soil and the climate and economic conditions caused it to flourish in the South, and the lack of such conditions made it languish and die out in the North.

Missouri applied for admission in March, 1818, but it was so late in the session that Congress took no action. At the following session a bill was introduced containing a provision that forbade slavery in the proposed new State. The debate was bitter and prolonged, accompanied by threats of disunion, but a compromise was reached on the 28th of February, 1821, when the agreement was made that slavery was to be permitted in Missouri, but forever prohibited in all other parts of the Union, north and west of the northern limits of Arkansas, 36 30', which is the southern boundary of Missouri. The State was admitted August 21st, increasing the number to twenty-four. The census showed that in 1820 the population of the United States was 9,633,822. The State of New York contained the most people (1,372,111); Virginia next (1,065,116); and Pennsylvania almost as many (1,047,507).

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1820.

It was in the autumn of 1820, during the excitement over the admission of Missouri, that the presidential election occurred. The result is not likely ever to be repeated in the history of our country. There was no candidate against Monroe, who would have received every electoral vote, but for the action of one member, who declared that no man had the right to share that honor with Washington. He therefore cast his single vote for Adams of Ma.s.sachusetts. For Vice-President, Daniel D. Tompkins, Republican, received 218; Richard Stockton, of New Jersey, 8; Daniel Rodney, of Delaware, 4; Robert G. Harper, of Maryland, and Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, 1 vote each. Monroe and Tompkins were therefore re-elected.

THE MONROE DOCTRINE.

South America has long been the land of revolutions. In 1821, there was a general revolt against Spain in favor of independence. Great sympathy was felt for them in this country, and, in March, 1822, Congress pa.s.sed a bill recognizing the embryo republics as sovereign nations. In the following year President Monroe sent a message to Congress in which he declared that for the future the American continent was not to be considered as territory for colonization by any foreign power. This consecration of the whole Western Hemisphere to free inst.i.tutions const.i.tutes the MONROE DOCTRINE, one of the most precious and jealously guarded rights of the American nation. The memorable doc.u.ment which bears the President's name was written by John Quincy Adams, his secretary of State.

America could never forget Lafayette, who had given his services without pay in our struggle for independence, who shed his blood for us, and who was the intimate and trusted friend of Washington. He was now an old man, and, anxious to visit the country he loved so well, he crossed the ocean and landed in New York, in August, 1824. He had no thought that his coming would cause any stir, and was overwhelmed by the honors shown him everywhere. Fort Lafayette saluted him as he sailed up New York Bay, and processions, parades, addresses, feastings, and every possible attention were given to him throughout his year's visit, during which he was emphatically the "nation's guest." Nor did the country confine itself to mere honors. He had been treated badly in France and was poor.

Congress made him a present of $200,000 in money, and sent him home in the frigate _Brandywine_, named in his honor, for it was at the battle of the Brandywine that Lafayette was severely wounded.

An important invention introduced into this country from England in 1822 was lighting by gas, which soon became universal, to be succeeded in later years by electricity. Steamboat navigation was common and travel by that means easy. On land we were still confined to horseback and stages, but there was great improvement in the roads, through the aid of Congress and the different States.

COMPLETION OF THE ERIE Ca.n.a.l.

The Erie Ca.n.a.l, connecting Buffalo and Albany, was begun on the 4th of July, 1817, its most persistent advocate being Governor De Witt Clinton.

It was costly, and the majority believed it would never pay expenses.

They dubbed it "De Witt Clinton's Ditch," and ridiculed the possibility that it would prove of public benefit. In October, 1825, it was opened for public traffic. It is 363 miles long, having the greatest extent of any ca.n.a.l in the world. It pa.s.ses through a wonderfully fertile region, which at that time was little more than a wilderness. Immediately towns and villages sprang into existence along its banks. Merchandise could now be carried cheaply from the teeming West, through the Great Lakes, the Erie Ca.n.a.l, and the Hudson River, to New York City and the Atlantic.

Its original cost was $7,600,000, and its earnings were so enormous that in many single years they amounted to half that sum. It is now operated by the State without charge to those using it.

No combination of statesmen are wise enough to prevent the occasional recurrence of "hard times." Nearly everyone has a cure for the blight, and the intervals between them are irregular, but they still descend upon us, when most unexpected and when it seems we are least prepared to bear them. No one needs a long memory to recall one or two afflictions of that nature.