MONROE 



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MONROE 



canal system, but in the next year only the 

 President's veto prevented the appropriation 

 of funds for the Cumberland Road. In 1824 

 the supporters of the American system were in 

 the majority in both Houses, and Monroe 

 finally signed a bill providing for surveys of 

 national canals. The other essential of Clay's 

 system was a protective tariff, the argument 

 being that protection was necessary to build 

 up home industries and to provide a home 

 market for their products. Politics played 

 some part in the passage of a protective tariff 

 act in 1824, but party lines, so far as any ex- 

 isted, were disregarded. It was the year of a 

 Presidential election, but the four leading can- 

 didates Clay, Adams,' Crawford and .Jackson 

 were all open advocates of protection. The 

 tariff of 1824 was approved by the Central and 

 Western states, for it increased the duties on 

 iron, lead, wool and other articles for which 

 they desired protection. But it was strongly 

 opposed by the South and by all the New 

 England states except Rhode Island and Con- 

 necticut. 



It is worthy of note that the demand for 

 protection was preceded, then as many times 

 since, by a financial crisis and industrial de- 

 pression. During the War of 1812 business 

 was stimulated and prices were high. The 

 tariff of 1816 was passed to ward off the flood 

 of cheap English goods which began to pour in 

 as soon as peace was declared, but it failed to 

 achieve its object. The expenditures of the 

 government decreased, there was less demand 

 for foodstuffs, and there was an unusual de- 

 mand for precious metal in Europe, with the 

 result that it became difficult for banks in the 

 United States to resume specie payments. 

 Money became "tight," and in 1819 came a 

 crisis. Prices began to fall, many businesses 

 failed, and more careful living was necessary. 

 Hard times was followed by a cry for relief, and 

 relief was expected through protection. 



Elections of 1820 and' 1824. In 1820 Monroe 

 was reflected President without opposition. He 

 received all the electoral votes but one, which 

 was given to John Quincy Adams. The elec- 

 tion of 1824 was of a totally different charac- 

 ter. The "era of good feeling" had left the 

 country without political parties, and the per- 

 sonal question became the rriost important one. 

 At first there were six candidates, Jackson, 

 Adams, Clay, Crawford, Calhoun and Clinton 

 of New York. Calhoun and Clinton soon with- 

 drew, and the former was later elected Vice- 

 President. As ell the candidates belonged to 



the same party, the stump speakers and news- 

 papers talked about personalities. Adams 

 wrote in August that "the bitterness and vio- 

 lence of Presidential electioneering increase as 

 the time advances. It seems as if every liar 

 and calumniator in the country was at work 

 day and night to destroy my character." Craw- 

 ford was called corrupt ; Jackson was denounced 

 as a murderer; and Clay was labeled the gam- 

 bler. When the result of the election was 

 known it turned out that Jackson had received 

 ninety-nine electoral votes; Adams, eighty- 

 four; Crawford, forty-one; and Clay, thirty- 

 seven. This result threw the election into the 

 House of Representatives. 



According to the Constitution the House of 

 Representatives was limited to a choice be- 

 tween Jackson, Crawford and Adams. Clay 

 was deeply disappointed, the more so because 

 the five votes of Louisiana were said to have 

 been lost to him by trickery. Instead of being 

 made President, he now found himself able to 

 make a President, for his influence in the House 

 of Representatives commanded sufficient votes 

 to decide the election. The story of this epi- 

 sode has been told again and again. Clay was 

 urged to give his support to Jackson, then to 

 Crawford, and finally to Adams. But weeks 

 before the election in the House, Clay's mind 

 was made up, and in a letter to a friend he 

 stated that he would lend his influence to 

 Adams, because he could not vote for Craw- 

 ford, who was a helpless paralytic, and be- 

 cause he did not think that a military hero 

 was a fit man for the Presidency. Even before 

 the vote was taken Jackson's managers at- 

 tempted to prove that a "corrupt bargain" ex- 

 isted between Clay and Adams, but no evidence 

 to support this charge was ever found. On 

 February 9, 1825, the House elected Adams. 



Monroe's Last Years. Thus Monroe's suc- 

 cessor was chosen less than a month before the 

 end of the latter's term. Monroe retired to 

 private life, spending part of his time on his 

 Virginia estate and part in New York City. 

 With his two predecessors as President, Jef- 

 ferson land Madison, he served in 1826 as a 

 regent of the University of Virginia, and in 

 1829 was a member of the Virginia constitu- 

 tional convention. He died at New York on 

 July 4, 1831, five years after the deaths of John 

 Adams and Thomas Jefferson. His remains rest 

 at Hollywood, Richmond, Va. W.F.Z. 



Consult Oilman's James Monroe, in His Rela- 

 tion to the Public Service; also his James Mon- 

 roe, in American Statesmen Series. 



