the United States. These Missouri Compromises postponed the conflict with the slave power for a whole generation and thus may be considered to have been justifiable.

Monroe's first administration was in many respects the most successful in the history of the country. He was re-elected President in 1821 without opposition, receiving two hundred and thirty-one of the two hundred and thirty-two electoral votes. The one odd vote was thrown away by a New Hampshire elector, who was determined, so runs the story, that no one save Washington should enjoy the honour of an unanimous election. As to Monroe's successor there was no such unanimity of opinion. When one speaks of the "Era of Good Feeling" one thinks

The Election of 1824.

more particularly of the people as a whole. Among the leading politicians there was no good feeling at all. Monroe had gathered about him four of the ablest men in the country: J. Q. Adams, Secretary of State; W. H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury; J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War; and William Wirt, AttorneyGeneral. The first three of these aspired to succeed Monroe at the end of his second term. Two other men, Henry Clay of Kentucky and Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, also decided to be candidates. Crawford was the most active of them all. He was a skilful intriguer, and turned the Treasury department into a strong political machine. To aid him in this business he secured (1820) the passage of an Act limiting the tenure of civil offices to four years. This enabled him to drop from the Treasury all officials who were unfavourable to his pretensions. His action marks the beginning of the systematic use of the Federal patronage for party purposes. Crawford was recognized by a factional congressional caucus as the "regular" candidate for the presidency. Calhoun abandoned his presidential aspirations for the moment to accept an assured election to the vice-presidency. Adams was put forward as a candidate by the New England legislatures; and Clay, in a similar manner, was

nominated by the legislatures of five States, including that of his own State. Jackson was nominated by two State legislatures, those of Tennessee and Pennsylvania. He represented in his own person the honest hard-working masses; and to the amazement of nearly everyone, received more electoral votes than any other candidate. As he had not attracted a majority, however, the election went to the House of Representatives, which was confined in its choice to the three candidates who had received the largest number of votes. Clay stood fourth on the list, and therefore could not be chosen. He had many friends in the House of which he was Speaker, and, using his influence in favour of Adams, that candidate was elected. There was no constitutional reason to prevent the Representatives from electing whichever of the three highest candidates they chose although now-a-days public sentiment would probably require the choice of the first on the list. There is no reason whatever for supposing that Adams and Clay made any bargain. It was unfortunate, however, that Adams offered Clay the position of Secretary of State, and that Clay accepted the office. There are always persons who insist on finding evil motives for the actions of great men. John Randolph was one of these, and he lost no time in denouncing what he termed "a combination of the Puritan and the black-leg." Jackson on his part stated his opinion of the matter when he declared that Clay was "the Judas of the West." The close of Monroe's administration was in every respect the end of the "Era of Good Feeling."

statesman;

J.Q. Adams's Administration, 1825-29.

John Quincy Adams was an honest, upright but the story of his administration (1825-29) is melancholy and soon told. It began in a cloud caused by charges of "corruption and bargain," which were never proved. They were constantly reiterated until even those who knew them to be false must have begun to doubt the evidence of their own senses.

The

first Congress of Adams's administration was lukewarm, the second was decidedly hostile. The public suspicions were kept on the alert by constant and causeless inquiries and investigations into the actions of public officials. Everything that Adams proposed was proposed either too soon or too late. He suggested in general terms a vast system of internal improvements. This was displeasing to the Southerners, who were now turning away from a national policy and beginning to formulate the doctrine of "States-Rights." Even in matters of foreign policy, Adams's own peculiar province, everything went amiss.

Foreign Relations.

Among other proposals of the time was one for a Congress of all the American Republics to be held at Panama. This did not originate with the United States, but that government was naturally asked to send delegates to the meeting. The Southerners, fearing lest slavery might be discussed there, opposed the scheme. Nevertheless, delegates were sent, and the Congress proved a flat failure. Nor was Adams's conduct of the relations with European powers more successful. A series of accidents resulted in the closing of the British West India ports to American vessels. Gallatin was sent to England to negotiate on this business, but Canning curtly declined to discuss it at all.

Adams's home policy.

The only important legislative achievement of the four years was the passage of the Tariff Act of 1828, which will be described in the next chapter. But this Act, which was very distasteful to the South, only weakened Adams still more. Had he been unscrupulous, he might have organized the government service into a strong party "machine." But he steadily refused to use the government patronage for his personal advancement. Bearing all these facts in mind, it is not strange that Adams was defeated in the election of 1828. It is remarkable, however, that he received as many electoral votes then as in 1824.

The Election of 1828.

The campaign of 1828 was fought with a bitterness and intemperance only equalled by that of the campaign of 1800. Jackson's canvass was managed by Martin Van Buren, of New York, a skilful and unscrupulous politician, and by a few of Jackson's personal friends. The charges of corruption and fraud were made over and over again, and Adams was held up to scorn as a President who had not been elected by the people. It was well understood that Jackson was a man "who stood by his friends," and those who worked in his interests felt reasonably sure of some reward. Adams's canvass was managed by Clay, and the contest seemed to be a conflict between Jackson and Clay rather than between Jackson and Adams. In the end, it was found that while Adams received as many votes as he had before, the electoral votes which in 1824 had been given to Jackson, Crawford, and Clay, were now all given to Jackson, who received one hundred and seventy-eight votes out of a total of two hundred and sixty-one. Calhoun was re-elected VicePresident by a somewhat smaller vote than that given to Jackson.

Importance of Jackson's Election.

CHAPTER VIII.

DEMOCRACY.

THE election of General Jackson to the presidency was the most important event in the history of the United States between the election of Jefferson in 1800 and that of Lincoln sixty years later. Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams belonged to the Jeffersonian school of statesmen who, while holding liberal views, yet represented in their education and habits of thought the older and more courtly type of statesmen of which Washington was the most conspicuous example. Jackson, on the contrary, was an indigenous product of the American soil. Vigorous, and absolutely without fear, he was a born leader of men. The Jeffersonian theory aimed rather at the establishment of state democracies, while Jackson's mission was the founding of a national democracy. The succession of Secretaries of State to the chief magistracy was rudely interrupted by the elevation of a man of the people to that office. It will be well to examine with care the condition of the country at an epoch which is so important from a political point of view, and one which was also midway between the downfall of federalism and the abolition of slavery.

The total population of the country had increased from a little over five and a quarter million souls in 1800 to nearly thirteen millions, in 1830. The area of the United States