doctrine." The words of this famous utterance constitute two paragraphs in the message sent by him to Congress on December 2, 1823. In the first of these he informs Congress that the governments of Russia and Great Britain have been informed that the American continents henceforth are not to be considered subjects for future colonization by any European power. In the second paragraph he says that the United States would consider any attempt on the part of European powers to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. He goes further, and says that if the governments established in North and South America, who have declared their independence of European control, should be interfered with by any European power, this interference would be regarded as a manifestation of unfriendly disposition toward the United States. These utterances of President Monroe were especially addressed to Spain and Portugal, but they were meant to be understood by all the governments of Europe. The principle they laid down had been vaguely felt by all the governments since that of Washington, but had never been clearly expressed before. The utterances of the President were not only very popular at the time, but they have increased in popularity since. During the Civil War Napoleon III. challenged the Monroe doctrine when he sent Maximilian to Mexico. His action was sharply commented on by Mr. Seward, then Secretary of State, and he was plainly told that, so soon as the Civil War ended, steps would be taken to enforce the Monroe doctrine. The public men of this country have again and again given their adherence to this doctrine. It will probably always hold its place as one of the cardinal principles of this government. James Monroe was the exponent of the idea of "America for the Americans;" that the territory of the United States should be enlarged, and that no foreign interference would be permitted. He always took this position in his speeches, and he bent his whole public policy to agree with it, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. OF John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams, it might almost be said that he was educated in statecraft from the time of his boyhood. He was a man of the most severely Puritan character, to whom the idea of duty was above everything else. What he thought was right, that he would do without thought of the consequences to himself. He was Minister to Holland, to France, and to Berlin, the latter by his father's appointment on the advice of Washington. As Senator from Massachusetts he was in favor of the War of 1812, brought on by the intolerable treatment of American ships by England. He was sent to Russia by Madison, and from there to England, where he negotiated the treaty of peace. As Monroe's Secretary of State he negotiated the treaty with Spain which gave Florida to this country. He took his first stand in opposition to slavery when the Missouri Compromise was being brought about. When elected to the Presidency to succeed Monroe, Adams came out in favor of national banks, internal improvements, and a high protective tariff. By this time the Federalists had become Whigs, and the Republicans had adopted the name of Democrats. As the policy which included these features was that of the Whigs, Adams was regarded as a Whig President, and he was most bitterly denounced by the Democrats. During his tenure of office he lent his influence to all these measures. When Adams left the Presidential chair he was elected to Congress from Massachusetts as the result of the Anti-Masonic excitement, and he remained a representative until his death. It was during this period of his life that he made some very strong friends, and many of the most bitter enemies any man ever had, and acquired his fame. He ranged himself on the Anti-Slavery side, and became the first prominent man among the Abolitionists. He fought the slaveholders, session after session, and brought on his head a storm of abuse which exceeded in virulence and ferocity anything ever seen in this country. Adams, however, did not quail; the man was never afraid of anything in his life. He fought the gag law, which forbade Congress receiving any Anti-Slavery petitions, session after session, until he succeeded in having it repealed. As a President, Adams was not remarkable, but as a member of Congress, taking the side of freedom for the slaves, he was one of the greatest men in that body. IN some respects, Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, was the most extraordinary man that ever ruled this country. Coming, as he did, from the very lowest stratum of the people, so far as education and intelligence were concerned, he was one of those strong characters fitted to rule in troublous times. He was an ideal soldier, patient and wary, yet able to seize an opportunity in the most brilliant way; almost insensible to fatigue, with the ability to control the most turbulent of men, and possessed of a will that drove him ahead to the end he had marked out for himself, in spite of every difficulty and every danger. As he grew up, The boy was a prisoner of war at the age of thirteen. and Tennessee became a territory, he went to Congress. When the territory arrived at the dignity of Statehood, he was elected to the Senate, a place he resigned to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of his State. After some years spent as a merchant, he entered the army during the War of 1812, and was sent to New Orleans. From there he was ordered to the command of the troops in the war with Tecumseh, and, in 1814, returned to New Orleans in command of the Department of the South. He won the battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, and after that his name alone was sufficient to excite the people to enthusiasm. He commanded in the Seminole War, and was made governor of Florida in 1821, when the territory was purchased from Spain. In 1828 he was elected President as a democrat. He was the first to introduce what has been termed the "spoils system" into national politics. In order to understand Jackson and his policy it is necessary to remember he looked on affairs and questions of state as a soldier looks on them. Those who were not on the side of the right-which, with Jackson, was his side always-were enemies, and must be dislodged from their positions of vantage as soon as possible. He was an autocrat by nature, yet he was, curiously enough, personally the most popular President the United States ever had. In fact, Jackson thought as the then great body of the people thought—he was as ignorant, so to speak, as were they. He organized what was called his "Kitchen Cabinet," a body of men with whom he consulted over all his measures, and who might be compared to his personal staff. His Cabinet officers he used as he would the colonels of regiments in his division. He gave them orders. To the surprise of the Democrats, Jackson came out against the doctrine of nullification. This was the form in which States' rights showed themselves, and was, in effect, the right of a State to nullify a tariff imposed by Congress. South Carolina nullified the tariff with a threat to secede, but Jackson declared "no State has a right to secede" and threatened war. The result was a compromise on the tariff. The feature of Jackson's administration which stands out more prominently than any other was his fight with the United States Bank. This great institution was founded on the lines of the Bank of England, and was the depository of the United States fund. Jackson hated Henry Clay, who was, as were all the Whigs, in favor of the bank, and he also had all the distrust of banks felt by uneducated mountaineers. He succeeded in securing a resolution of censure from Congress for the part the bank had played in politics. It must be remembered that the attacks of Jackson had forced the bank to help Clay, its only defender, and that it was no part of the bank's policy to take sides. Having done this, Jackson demanded that his Secretary of the Treasury withdraw the funds of the government from the custody of the bank. The then Secretary refused, was dismissed, and his successor appointed, only to meet the same fate and for the same reason. Then Jackson found Roger E. Tracey, who proved more pliable, and withdrew the money. Jackson's scheme was to deposit the money in certain specified banks, called 'pet banks." He did so, but soon after withdrew it in order to return the surplus to the States. Jackson knew little or nothing about finance, and he treated the banks in the same way he might have treated his personal creditors when in business. He could never understand that the shifting of large sums of money about would upset the whole financial system of the country, nor could he ever be made to realize that the disastrous panic of 1837 was in great part his own work. No President has cost the country as much, and no President did the country as much harm. In the foreign relations of the United States, Jackson forced France to pay the $5,000,000 she owed the United States, by his threat of seizing European French vessels to make up the amount. During his Presidency, railroads and steamship lines were introduced, and there was an enormous expansion of the business of the country. In hardly any sense of the word was Jackson a statesman. He was an honest man, true as steel, and his views were always on the side of right so far as he could see it. The evil he did was the result of a want of knowledge, but the good he did in the nullification business, and as a soldier, will outweigh that evil. He was a popular hero, followed by the people as no other man has been, and he is, to this day, the central figure in many traditions which are still active forces in our politics. MARTIN VAN BUREN. THE first approach to what we, nowadays, call a "machine politician" ever elected to the presidential chair was Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States. He was a Republican when young, but, following the change of name of his party, was elected as a Democrat. He had played an important part in the politics of New York before he went to Washington as Senator from the State. He was in favor of a strict construction of the Constitution, and while he voted for a protective tariff was really in favor of a tariff for revenue only. As governor of New York, he opposed free banking, and became a strong supporter of Jackson. Jackson appointed him Secretary of State, in which position he was able to settle the trouble with England over, the West Indian commerce. Nominated as Minister to England, the Whig Senate refused to confirm him, on which his popularity increased to the point that he was elected Vice-President with Jackson for the second term. He sympathized thoroughly with Jackson in the war on the United States Bank. In 1836 Van Buren was elected President, and in 1837 the crash came. |