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HE new President entered upon the duties of his station under circumstances of great encouragement. Peace had been concluded with all belligerent powers, the great commotions which had so long disturbed Europe had subsided, and the energies of the country were beginning to recover what had been lost during the war. Mr. Monroe devoted his exertions to the encouragement of manufactures and commerce, and in protecting the border settlements against incursions from the Indians. In 1817 the territory of Mississippi was formed into a state, and in the following year Illinois was also admitted. Alabama and Maine were in a little while added to the confederacy.

In 1817, an individual styling himself "Citizen Gregor McGregor, Brigadier-General of the armies of the United Provinces of New Grenada and Venezuela, and General-in-Chief employed to liberate the provinces of both the Floridas, commissioned by the supreme

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WAR WITH THE FLORIDA INDIANS.

521

government of Mexico and South America," landed with a party of adventurers at Amelia island, at the mouth of the St. Mary's river. These men soon showed that their object was outlawry and aggression; and when their means of perpetrating mischief were exhausted, they made the island a channel for the illicit introduction of slaves from Africa to the United States, an asylum for fugitive slaves from the neighbouring states, and a port for all kinds of smuggling. A similar establishment, but more extensive, was instituted on an island in the Gulf of Mexico, near the Texan coast, under the command of an adventurer named Aury. These two parties were soon afterwards united under the latter individual, who received a further accession to his strength by the arrival of about twenty British officers thrown out of employment by the general pacification of Europe. These outlaws conducted themselves in so outrageous a manner that the President was at length obliged to send against them a squadron and a battalion of artillery under Captain Henly. On the 22d of December he commanded Aury to evacuate the island with his company, leaving property as he found it; which being complied with, possession was taken on the following day.

Towards the close of the year General Jackson was ordered to assume the command of Fort Scott, so as to keep in check the Seminole and other Florida Indians, who had lately shown symptoms of insurrection. These savages had long been countenanced by the Spanish authorities in their incursions into the United States, a circumstance which made them peculiarly bold and reckless in the prosecution of hostilities. One of their most aggravated acts was an attack upon a boat carrying a number of women and wounded soldiers, under the direction of Lieutenant Scott. All who fell into their hands were murdered, and their scalps suspended from poles. The efforts to stop these outrages having hitherto been productive of little good, General Jackson determined to invade Florida and demand of the Spanish authorities satisfaction for their countenancing the Indians. Accordingly, collecting a number of volunteers and others who had served under him at New Orleans, he advanced into the Indian country, defeated the savages in several skirmishes, and then marched with twenty-eight hundred men for the Spanish fort of St. Marks. Here, contrary to his expectations, and to the reports which had led to the movement, he found no Indians present. He took possession, however, and shipped the garrison and authorities to Pensacola. One of the American vessels lying off the coast decoyed on

board the two chiefs Hillishago and Hornet Henrico, both of whom were subsequently hung.

ACKSON was now reinforced by fifteen hundred friendly Creeks, and with his whole force he marched against the towns belonging to the chief called Bowlegs. After chasing six mounted Indians, he entered the villages, killed eleven negroes and Indians, and took two prisoners. Here a person named Ambrister was taken prisoner; and, being accused of unlawfully aiding the savages, was tried by court-martial, together with one Arbuthnot, both of whom, being declared guilty, were hung.

For this occupation of a neutral territory General Jackson was subsequently called to account; but the measure was defended by the Secretary of State, Mr. J. Q. Adams; and soon after all complaints on the part of the Spanish authorities were silenced by a treaty ceding Florida to the United States.

Mr. Monroe, having been elected to a second term of office, signed, in 1824, a treaty with Russia relative to the north-western boundary, and another with Great Britain relative to the suppression of the African slave trade. The same year was signalized by the visit of Lafayette to our country. During his stay he visited most of the principal cities of the Union, and was everywhere received with the most enthusiastic marks of respect. Congress, being in session, voted him the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, and a township of land six miles square. At Boston he witnessed the ceremony of laying the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill Monument. On the 7th of September he sailed for France in the new frigate Brandywine, expressly fitted out for conveying him home.

At the presidential election of this year, J. Q. Adams was chosen. by the House of Representatives, there being no choice by the popular vote.

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JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

CHAPTER XLIV.

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

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HE peaceful administration of Mr. Adams, renowned for the enlarged views of its chief officer, his liberal political tenets, and his respect for learning and religion, affords but little opportunity for the parade of historic description.

Soon after his inauguration he concluded a treaty with the Creeks, who ceded all their lands lying in the state of Georgia, for an equal extent of territory west of the Mississippi. The Kansas tribe ceded all their lands lying in and around Missouri, for the payment of an annual sum of thirty-five hundred dollars for twenty years. A similar agreement was made with the Great and Little Osages, who were to receive for their territories in Arkansas an annuity of seven thousand dollars for twenty years.

In 1825, a general convention of peace, amity, navigation, and commerce, was concluded with the Republic of Columbia; and, in the following year, similar ones with Denmark and Central America.

On the 4th of July, 1826, a singular coincidence took place in the death of the two ex-Presidents, Adams and Jefferson-the one at Quincy, in the ninety-first year of his age; the other at Monticello, in his eighty-third year. Each of these remarkable men had lived

to see their exertions for human rights crowned with the happiest success; and, after having been elevated to the highest office in the gift of the people, both expired on the same day, just half a century after signing the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia.

In 1828, a new tariff law was passed by Congress, which met with much opposition in the south. This tariff was very unpopular in the southern states, where the policy was considered unconstitutional and oppressive; but it continued in force for years, notwith standing the complaints of its opponents.

As the season for a new election of president approached, a strong party was formed in favour of General Jackson, who had been one of the candidates opposed to Mr. Adams at the previous election Great efforts were used by each party, and the contest was most animated. The result was the defeat of Mr. Adams, and the election of General Jackson as President, and Mr. Calhoun as Vice-President, by a vote in the electoral colleges of one hundred and seventy-eight to eighty-three.

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