MONROE 



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MONROE 



destiny. Was the Constitution made for the 

 benefit of the Atlantic margin of the country 

 only for the few millions then inhabiting this 

 country? "No," he exclaimed, "every man who 

 looks at the Constitution in the spirit to entitle 

 him to the character of a statesman, must ele- 

 vate his views to the height which this nation 

 is destined to reach in the rank of nations. 

 We are not legislating for this moment only, 

 or for the present generation, or for the present 

 populated limits of the United States; but our 

 acts must embrace a wider scope reaching 

 northwestward to the Pacific, and southwardly 

 to the River Del Norte. Imagine this extent of 

 territory covered with sixty, seventy, or an hun- 

 dred millions of people!" 



This was the vision of Henry Clay, and to a 

 lesser degree became the vision of nearly every 

 man and woman in the United States. During 

 Monroe's Presidency it was still regarded by 

 many as a dream, but Clay held to it. Five 

 states were admitted to the Union Missis- 

 sippi in 1817, Illinois in 1818, Alabama in 1819, 

 Maine in 1820, and Missouri in 1821 and 

 Florida was purchased in 1819. These were 

 visible signs of national expansion, and it was 

 only a few years before the nation was con- 

 vinced of the need for internal improvements. 



War with the Seminoles and the Florida 

 Purchase. During the War of 1812 United 

 States troops had taken possession of West 

 Florida, but East Florida remained in the hands 

 of the Spaniards. The latter made no attempt 

 to preserve order, and the territory was over- 

 run with white adventurers, escaped negro slaves 

 and Seminole Indians, the latter being a tribe 

 of hostile Creeks. Not infrequently bands of 

 Indians and negroes crossed the Georgia fron- 

 tier on marauding expeditions, and then fled 

 back into Spanish territory. The Georgians 

 lived in constant danger and were also annoyed 

 that their runaway slaves had such an easy 

 refuge. At the end of the year 1817 war broke 

 out between the whites and the Seminoles in 

 Georgia. General Andrew Jackson was ordered 

 to take command of the United States forces. 

 Jackson advanced through Georgia with great 

 haste, and by March, 1818, was on the Florida 

 frontier. 



Jackson's theory was that he was to follow 

 the Indians until he caught them, wherever 

 they might go. He therefore pursued the In- 

 dians into Florida, and after defeating them, 

 turned and captured Pensacola, whose Spanish 

 governor had been supplying the Indians with 

 arms. In five months Jackson broke the power 



of the Indians, established peace on the border, 

 and for all practical purposes had conquered 

 Florida. In itself the campaign was insignifi- 

 cant. Jackson's army included 3,300 men of 

 whom 1,500 were friendly Indians; not one 

 white man was killed, and the Indians lost only 

 twenty men. Yet in its results the Seminole 

 War was one of the most important in Ameri- 

 can history. It nearly caused a war with Spain 

 and with Great Britain, two of whose subjects 

 Jackson had summarily and unjustly con- 

 demned to death. It did actually result in the 

 negotiation, in 1819, of a treaty for the sale of 

 Florida by Spain to the United States for the 

 sum of $5,000,000. The treaty was formally 

 ratified in 1821, and in March, 1822, Florida was 

 organized as a territory of the United States. 



The Missouri Compromise. Early in 1818 

 Missouri, which had been a territory since 1812, 

 applied for statehood. The House of Repre- 

 sentatives agreed to the admission of Missouri 

 on condition that slavery be prohibited. This 

 provision was defeated in the Senate, and thus 

 for the first time brought slavery prominently 

 before the public as a national political issue. 

 The slave and the free states were henceforth 

 anxious to maintain the balance between the 

 two sections. Whenever a territory applied for 

 admission as a state, it was always necessary to 

 consider the question of balance between those 

 states in which slavery was permitted and those 

 in which it was forbidden. Largely through the 

 efforts of Henry Clay an arrangement known as 

 the Missouri Compromise (which see) was 

 agreed on in 1820. President Monroe approved 

 the bill for the admission of Maine on March 

 3, 1820, and for Missouri three days later, but 

 the admission of Missouri was delayed for a 

 year, until the Missouri legislature agreed not 

 to exclude free negroes from the state. 



The Monroe Doctrine. In his annual message 

 to Congress in 1822, President Monroe recom- 

 mended the recognition of the independence of 

 the South American republics. Congress 

 promptly responded. In December, 1823, Mon- 

 roe made certain references to American for- 

 eign policy; these form the basis of the famous 

 Monroe Doctrine. This historic document is 

 discussed at length under its title. 



The American System. In spite of President 

 Monroe's opposition the vogue of internal im- 

 provements steadily increased. In fact, inter- 

 nal improvements became a part of what 

 Henry Clay named the "American system." 

 In 1821 the Republicans in Congress defeated a 

 bill providing for the beginning of a national 



