1815.]

The National Bank.

87

by the passage of a bill for the charter of a National Bank, to expire in 1836. It was modeled upon the one which the Republicans had opposed in 1791 and 1811. Hamilton's argument in favor of such a bank was republished by Republican newspapers with a warmth of approval which showed how far the party had forgotten its strict constructionist principles. Congress adjourned April 30th, 1816.

12. Presidential Candidates were nominated by the usual Congressional caucuses. Among the Republicans the Virginia influence, which had named the President for 24 of the 28 years since 1789, was again successful in nominating James Monroe, his principal competitor being Wm. H. Crawford, of Georgia. Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, was nominated for the Vice-Presidency. For President the Federalists supported Rufus King, of New York, but united on no one for the Vice-Presidency. The Presidential Election in November resulted in complete Republican success. Only three States, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Delaware, chose Federalist electors.

13. Congress met December 2d, 1816. DecemXIVth Congress, ber 11th, Indiana became 2d Session. a State of the Union. This Session was almost without party contest. In February, 1817, the electoral votes were counted and were found to be, for President, 183 for Monroe, and 34 for King, and, for Vice-President, 183 for

Tompkins, and 34 for various other persons. Monroe and Tompkins were therefore declared elected. March 3d, 1817, Congress adjourned, and March 4th Monroe and Tompkins were sworn into office.

CHAPTER IX.

EIGHTH ADMINISTRATION, 1817-1821.

James Monroe, President.

Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice-President. XVth and XVIth Congresses.

1. The President appointed a Republican Cabinet. He had been urged to ignore parties in his appointments, but in his opinion the time had not yet come to do so. May 31st he began an extended tour through the Northern States, being the first President to imitate Washington's example in this respect. The welcome everywhere given him probably helped to blot out the last remnant of Federalist opposition.

2. Congress met December 1st, 1817. The proXVth Congress, fessed Federalists were very

Ist Session. few. In the House Speaker Clay was re-elected almost unanimously. December 10th Mississippi became a State of the Union.'

The first Act of this Session abolished the internal taxes which had been imposed during the war. In his Message the President had taken occasion to recommend a Protective Tariff. The question

I Appendices C and F will show how carefully a new Free State was at once balanced by the creation of a new Slave State, in order to control the Senate.

was compromised, nearly unanimously, by the passage of a bill continuing for seven years the Tariff of 1816 on cottons and woolens, which was slightly protective. A proposition was made to use the dividends of the United States from the National Bank, instead of appropriations. It was postponed because of the opposition of Strict Constructionists. A resolution, supported by Clay, to recognize the South American Republics, formed by Spain's revolted colonies, was rejected. Congress adjourned April 20th, 1818.

3. It is plain that the all-powerful Republican party already contained the Nucleus of a New Party, and a leader for it in the person of Henry Clay. He had headed, or advocated, every attempt to increase the army and navy, to make the Tariff protective, to begin a system of general public improvements at national expense, or to make the Federal Government prominent in foreign affairs, as the guardian of the infant Republics of South America. All of these measures seemed to Strict Constructionists either unconstitutional or unwise. Some of Clay's followers were only temporarily attracted by his personal influence, but the great majority were Loose Constructionists, Federalists in reality, though they would have disliked the

name.

4. The summer of 1818 was marked by Indian difficulties in Florida, which deserve mention because their investigation took up much of the time.

1818.]

The Seminole War.

91

of the next Session of Congress. In quelling disturbances among the Georgia Indians Andrew Jackson had been systematically thwarted by the Spanish authorities of Florida. He therefore entered their territory, seized their principal towns, and captured and put to death, "as outlaws and pirates," Arbuthnot and Ambrister, two British subjects, who had led the Seminole Indians.

5. Congress met November 16th, 1818. DecemXVth Congress, ber 3d Illinois became a State. 2d Session. of the Union. In the House the Committee on Military Affairs offered two reports on The Seminole War. The majority report proposed a censure upon Jackson for his execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, declaring it unwise, unnecessary, and unjustifiable by the laws of war or of nations. The minority report approved his action. The majority report was rejected by the House and postponed by the Senate. The contest was then transferred to the newspapers, where it raged violently.

6. February 22d, 1819, a treaty was concluded by which Spain sold the Floridas to the United States for $5,000,000, and the United States abandoned all claim to the territory West of the Sabine River (afterwards known as Texas), which had formed part of Louisiana as purchased from France.' A territory worth ten Floridas was thus surren

1 Within thirty years the determination of the South to regain this abandoned territory forced the United States into war with Mexico.