The 1820 State had been practically conceded, though it did not take place until the following year. There would then be eleven slave and eleven free States. As the slave States were outnumbered in the House of Rep- Missouri resentatives, it was considered of vital impor- Comtance for them to preserve an even balance in promise, the Senate. When, therefore, Representative Tallmadge, of New York, introduced an amendment to the Missouri bill prohibiting the further introduction of slavery and providing for its ultimate extinction, a fight was at once precipitated. As the District of Maine, until then a part of Massachusetts, was also applying for admission as a State, the Southerners insisted that Missouri should be admitted without any restrictions as to slavery so as to preserve the balance in the Senate. The Tallmadge amendment passed the House in February, 1819, but it was defeated in the Senate. A year later when the fight for the admission of Maine and Missouri was renewed, Senator Thomas of Illinois proposed a compromise, which, with the aid of Henry Clay, was finally adopted. It provided for the admission of Missouri as a slave State, but forever prohibited slavery in the rest of the Louisiana purchase lying north of the parallel 36° 30'. Maine was at the same time admitted. Slavery was thus excluded from the greater part of the Louisiana purchase, and some writers have maintained that the South got the small end of the triangle, but it is hardly possible that slavery could ever have gained any foothold in the vast region north of Missouri, even had it been permitted by law. American As we have already seen, the treaty ceding Louisiana to the United States did not make it clear as to whether that province included West Florida on the one hand, or Texas on the other. Before this matter could occupation be adjusted Spain was occupied by Napoleon, of Florida, whose brother Joseph was placed upon the throne. Diplomatic relations between the United States 1810-1815 and Spain were thus interrupted from 1808 to 1814. In 1810 the United States took possession of that part of West Florida lying between the Mississippi and Pearl rivers and in 1813 the region around Mobile was occupied. When diplomatic intercourse was reëstablished with Spain in 1814 the Florida situation was a difficult one to handle, and it was further complicated by claims of American citizens against Spain arising out of the suspension of the right of deposit at New Orleans in 1802, and out of the seizure of American vessels by the French in Spanish waters. In 1818 President Monroe sent Jackson into East Florida to punish the Seminole Indians, who were rendering assistance to the Creeks. Jackson exceeded his authority by seizing the Spanish forts of St. Marks and Pensacola and by executing two British subjects, who had incited the Indians to hostilities. The Florida Treaty, signed, 1819; ratified, 1821 These matters were all finally adjusted by the Florida treaty of 1819. The United States on its part agreed to assume the claims of its citizens against Spain, which amounted to $5,000,000, while Spain agreed to relinquish both East and West Florida to the United States. At the same time it was agreed that the boundary between the United States and the Spanish provinces to the southwest should run from the mouth of the Sabine River in an irregular course, following certain lines and rivers, to the source of the Arkansas, thence north or south, as the case might be, to the forty-second parallel, and along this parallel to the Pacific. The United States thus surrendered whatever claim it had to Texas, but acquired whatever claim Spain had to the Oregon country. The Senate promptly ratified the treaty, but the Spanish monarch held it in suspense with a view to delaying the recognition by the United States of his American provinces then in a state of revolution, so that it did not go into effect until 1821. tion When Napoleon placed his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain the Spanish provinces in America were left to shift for themselves. With the British navy supreme The Spanon the seas Napoleon could take no steps toward ish-Ameribringing them under his control. The Spanish can Revolucolonies soon took advantage of the situation to admit British and American vessels to their ports, a thing which had been strictly prohibited under the Spanish system, and with British and American commerce came liberal ideas. The whole of Spanish America went through a period of enlightenment such as had never been dreamed of before, and revolutionary governments republican in character were soon set up in several of the provinces. When Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne in 1814, he did not have the sense to realize the change that had taken place in his colonies and he undertook to reimpose on them with unrelaxed rigor the old colonial system. The revolution now opened on a large scale, and by 1821 republican governments had established themselves in all the provinces. In September, 1823, the so-called Holy Alliance, composed of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, with whom France was now in full coöperation, began to consider the question of helping Spain to reconquer her lost provinces and a formal conference was called to meet in December at Paris. Meanwhile the head of the Holy Alliance, the Emperor of Russia, had issued a ukase in 1821 claiming the Pacific coast of North America as far south as the fiftyfirst parallel and forbidding all foreigners to United trade in that region. This claim was opposed States by both England and the United States. Eng- conquest of land was also strongly opposed to the reconquest Spanish of Spanish America, as she enjoyed a lucrative trade with that region. When, therefore, Canning, the British foreign secretary, was informed of the proposed meeting of the Holy Alliance at Paris, he immediately sent England and oppose re America for Richard Rush, the American minister at London, and proposed that the two countries should unite in opposing the intervention of the European allies in America. Rush replied that he was not authorized to enter into such an alliance, but that he would immediately notify his government of the proposal. When his dispatches were received in Washington, President Monroe at once forwarded copies to Jefferson and Madison, both of whom strongly favored joint action with England, but after weeks of discussion in the cabinet it was finally decided that, since the attitude of England was already known to the European powers, an independent declaration on the part of the United States would be just as effective as a joint declaration, and would furthermore relieve the United States from any embarrassment that might result from a formal alliance. The Monroe Accordingly, in his message to Congress, December 2, 1823, President Monroe declared, first, that, "the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers," and, secondly, that "with the governments who have declared their independence, and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration, and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling, in any other manner, their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States." This announcement created a profound impression abroad, and together with the known attitude of England put a stop to all further idea of intervention in Spanish America. Canning, however, was greatly chagrined at the turn his proposition had taken. He had proposed an alliance; here was an independent declaration which he had the foresight to see would be applied in future years against England as well as against the continental powers. Nevertheless he claimed full credit for having put a stop to European intervention, and boasted on the floor of the House of Commons that he had "called the new world into existence to redress the balance of the old." 1824 Monroe had been reëlected in 1820 without opposition, receiving all the electoral votes save one. In 1824 an effort was made to revive the caucus method of nomiThe presinations, but when Crawford's friends called a dential meeting the friends of the other candidates stayed campaign of away. About one fourth of the members of Congress attended, however, and nominated Crawford for president and Gallatin for vice-president. As there was only one party, divided into personal factions without clearly defined lines, the campaign was largely a personal contest. The candidates were, in addition to Crawford, Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and John C. Calhoun. Before the campaign was over Calhoun, realizing that he was out of the running, agreed to accept the vice-presidency, while Crawford's prospects were seriously injured by a stroke of paralysis. In the election Jackson received 99 electoral votes, Adams 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. Calhoun received a majority of the votes for vice-president and was declared elected, but as no candidate had a majority for president the election was thrown into the House. Election of Jackson not only had the largest electoral vote, but he had also the largest popular vote, and his vote was more widely distributed over the country than that of any other candidate. As Clay stood fourth Adams by on the list he was eliminated by the provision of Repreof the Constitution, and the House had to choose sentatives, between Jackson, Adams, and Crawford. On 1825 account of Crawford's state of health the real contest was the House |