THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 225 Both sides were the more eager because the number of free and of slave states was then (1819) equal,1 each section having eleven. 243. The Missouri Compromise.-When, therefore, Missouri took steps to gain admission as a slave state, the South urged the measure with all its might, and the North fought against it with equal determination. After nearly two years of angry debate, Henry Clay of Kentucky succeeded in persuading Congress to make a compromise. It was this: Missouri was to be allowed to enter the Union as a slave state, but on the express condition that in all future cases the states formed out of the territory west and northwest of Missouri- that is, north of the parallel of 36 degrees and 30 minutes on the map should come in free.* Congress passed this law in 1820, under the name of the Missouri Compromise. Meantime, Maine had been admitted; so that, when Missouri entered the Union (1821), the balance between the free and the slave states was still kept, — each section had exactly twelve. Many people now believed that the debate about the extension 1 This, of course, was after the admission of Alabama, in 1819. See Table, page xx. 2 Henry Clay was born in Virginia in 1777; died at Washington, 1852. He studied law, and in 1797 removed to Lexington, Kentucky. In 1799, when the people of Kentucky were about adopting a state constitution, Clay urged them (but without success) to abolish slavery. He entered Congress in 1806, and continued in public life from that time until his death. He was a man of remarkable personal influence, a "peacemaker" by temperament, and the greatest orator the Southwest ever possessed. Although ardently attached to his adopted state of Kentucky, yet he declared in 1850 that he owed his first allegiance to the Union, and a subordinate allegiance to his state. See Carl Schurz's admirable "Life of Henry Clay" in the "American Statesmen Series." 8 It was called a compromise because, as will be seen, each side promised to give up something to the other for the sake of making a peaceful settlement of the dispute. 4 See Map on "Territorial Growth of the United States." 5 John Randolph of Virginia called the Northern men who voted for the Compromise "Doughfaces," because he thought they had no more character than a piece of dough. of slavery was settled "forever." But facts proved that in this case "forever" meant something less than twenty-five years;' then, as we shall see, the question was to come up again, and in a more dangerous form than before. 244. Desire to reach the West; the "National Road." Next to the extension of slavery, one of the greatest questions of this period was how to reach the West. To-day, we find it difficult to understand this. To get West, we simply step into an express train, and steam whirls us to our destination at the rate of forty miles an hour. If mountains block the way, the train either climbs over them or goes through them. In President Monroe's time the railroad did not exist, and, although the steamboat did, that could only go where some navigable river or lake opened the way. Look on the map of the United States, and you will see that the Alleghany Mountains shut out the East from the West. As the steamboat could not cross those rough walls of rock, Congress determined to build a road over them. Such a national road had already been begun on the banks of the Potomac, at Cumberland, Maryland. It was now gradually extended across the forest-covered mountains to Wheeling, on the Ohio River, where it would connect with steamboats running to Cincinnati, or even to New Orleans. But that was not enough. There were millions of acres of fertile lands in Ohio and the country beyond it, that emigrants wished to reach more directly than the steamboat would help them to do. For this reason it was proposed to extend the National Road from Wheeling through to the Mississippi. President Monroe earnestly favored this and similar enterprises, but did not think that he had lawful power under the Constitution to spend the people's money for such purposes. Indirectly, however, he used every effort to help it forward. The road was gradually built farther and farther west. It was the first great work of the kind undertaken by the 1 That is, until the question of the Wilmot Proviso came up in 1846, followed by that of the Compromise of 1850 and that of the admission of Kansas in 1854. "" 227 United States, costing, in the end, over six million dollars. It stretched across the country for hundreds of miles, - broad, solid, smooth, - a true national highway.' 245. Traffic on the National Road; Emigrant Wagons. The traffic over it was immense. Gayly painted stage-coaches ran through the more thickly settled parts. Beyond, toward the west, there was a constant stream of huge canvas-covered emigrant wagons, often so close together that the leaders of the teams could touch the wagon ahead of them with their noses. To see that procession of emigrant families going forward day after day gave one an idea of how fast the people were settling that wild western country, which is now covered with cultivated farms and thriving towns. It was the beginning of that great march toward the setting sun which was to keep steadily advancing until the Pacific said. "Halt! "" that is, until we had taken possession of the whole breadth of the continent. 246. The "Monroe Doctrine"; "America for Americans." While the National Road was being pushed westward, Mexico and several South American countries had declared themselves republics, independent of Spain. The Czar of Russia and the European kings looked with a jealous eye on all republics. They were suspected of having promised to help the king of Spain to force the new American nations to bow their heads again under the old despotic yoke which they had just thrown off. But President Monroe cried, Hands off! In his message to Congress (1823) he declared that, while the United States was resolved not to meddle with the affairs of the nations of the Old World, we were equally determined that they should not meddle with the affairs of the New. That declaration is called the "Monroe Doctrine." It means that we consider that "America is for 1 The National Road eventually reached Illinois. 2 President Monroe, in his message of December 2, 1823, says, speaking of the Americans." We stand by the right of the different nations on both the American continents, North and South, to manage their own affairs in their own way, without interference from Europe. 247. Visit of Lafayette. - Near the close of Monroe's administration, Congress requested the President to invite Lafayette, then a venerable man verging on seventy, to revisit the United States after forty years' absence. He came (1824), and spent more than a year travelling through the country as the guest of the nation. He visited every one of the twenty-four states, and all of the principal cities and towns. He had spent much of his fortune in our cause. Congress gratefully voted him two hundred thousand dollars, and made him a grant of twenty-four thousand acres of land. He was everywhere received with enthusiasm and affection. Some of the old soldiers of the Revolution, who had fought under him, were completely overcome by their feelings on seeing their former commander, and fainted when they grasped the hand that had so generously helped them in the dark days of the war. Lafayette took part in laying the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument (June 17, 1825), just fifty years after the battle.1 When he returned to France that autumn he was followed by the grateful prayers of the powerful nation he had done so much to establish. 248. Summary. Three chief events marked the period of the presidency of James Monroe. They were: 1. The debate on the extension of slavery west of the Mississippi River, ending in the Missouri Compromise. 2. The pushing forward of the National Road into Ohio, which opened up a large section of the proposed interference of European governments in America, "We should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety." And again, in the same message, the President says that we should consider such interference "as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." These two passages contain wha is to-day regarded as the "Monroe Doctrine." 1 See Webster's address at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1825. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION. 229 West to emigrants from the Atlantic states. 3. The statement of the Monroe Doctrine, declaring that Europe must keep her hands off of both American continents. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 249. John Quincy Adams's Administration (Sixth President, One Term, 1825-1829); Governor Clinton and the Erie Canal. The year that Mr. Adams became President (1825) the Erie Canal was completed by the state of New York. It was the most important public improvement yet made in the United States. It connected the Hudson River at Troy and Albany with Lake Erie, at the point where the city of Buffalo now stands. Governor De Witt Clinton of New York carried the great work through. When he proposed it, many denounced and ridiculed the undertaking as a sheer waste of the people's hard-earned money. They nicknamed it "Clinton's Big Ditch." They said that it never would be completed, that it would swallow up millions in taxes, and in the end yield nothing but mud. 1 John Quincy Adams, son of President John Adams, was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, in 1767; died, 1848. He was independent in politics, though his sympathies were with the National Republican or early Whig party. This party, the successor of the Federalists (see Paragraph 199), desired, like them, to give a broad interpretation to the Constitution. They favored a protective tariff (that is, a heavy tax imposed on imported goods for the purpose of "protecting" our manufacturers against foreign competition —a revenue tariff is a lighter tax imposed merely to obtain money or revenue for the government). They also favored public improvements—such as the building of roads, canals, and the like -at the expense of the nation, in opposition to the Democratic party, which insisted on a strict interpretation of the Constitution, favored free trade, or a simple revenue tariff, and believed that each state should make its own improvements at its own expense. John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson were the two leading candidates for the presidency in 1824; the latter represented the Republican, or Democratic party, though party lines at that time were not very clearly defined. Neither candidate got a majority of the electoral votes; and the House of Representatives finally chose Mr. Adams President (John C. Calhoun of South Carolina Vice-President). Mr. Adams had refused to make any exertion to secure his own election; and when asked by his friend Edward Everett if he did not intend to do something to obtain it, he replied, "I shall do absolutely nothing." It was one of those rare cases in which the office sought the man, and not the man the office. |
