HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS.
| John Q. Adams, | Massachusetts, | March 5, | 1817, | Secretary of State. |
| William H. Crawford, | Georgia, | March 5, | 1817, | Secretary of Treasury. |
| Isaac Shelby, | Kentucky, | March 5, | 1817, | Secretaries of War. |
| John C. Calhoun, | South Carolina, | December 15, | 1817, | |
| Benjamin W. Crowninshield, | Massachusetts, | (continued in office), | Secretaries of the Navy. | |
| Smith Thompson, | New York, | November 30, | 1818, | |
| Samuel L. Southard, | New Jersey, | December 9, | 1823, | |
| Return J. Meigs, | Ohio, | (continued in office), | Postmasters General. | |
| John M'Lean, | Ohio, | December 9, | 1823, | |
| Richard Rush, | Pennsylvania, | (continued in office), | Attorneys General. | |
| William Wirt, | Virginia, | December 15, | 1817, | |
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | Fifteenth Congress, | 1817. |
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | Sixteenth do. | 1819. |
| John W. Taylor, | New York, | Sixteenth do. | 1820. |
| Philip P. Barbour, | Virginia, | Seventeenth do. | 1821. |
| Henry Clay, | Kentucky, | Eighteenth do. | 1823. |
The elevation of Mr. Monroe to the presidency was an event highly auspicious to the interests of the nation. Besides having been employed for many years in high and responsible stations under the government, he possessed a sound and discriminating judgment, and a remarkably calm and quiet temperament. In not a few of the qualities of his mind, he resembled Washington, and, like that great and good man, apparently had the true interests of his country in view in the acts and measures of his administration. He may be said to be fortunate in respect to the time and circumstances of his accession to the presidency. A war, of whose justice and expediency a respectable portion of the country had strong doubts—and as to which, therefore, loud and even angry debate had existed, both in congress and throughout the country—that war had terminated, and the asperities growing out of different views entertained of it, were fast subsiding. Commerce, too, was beginning to revive, and the manufacturers were hoping for more auspicious days. In every department of industry, there was the commencement of activity; and, although the country had suffered too long and too seriously to regain at once her former prosperity, hopes of better times were indulged, and great confidence was reposed in the wise and prudent counsels of the new president.
A review of the principal measures and events during the presidency of Mr. Monroe, will require us to notice the following topics:
| Tour of the President, | Revision of the Tariff, |
| Admission of Missouri, | Visit of Lafayette, |
| Provision for indigent officers, &c., | Review of Mr. Monroe's |
| Rëelection of Mr. Monroe, | Administration, |
| Seminole War, | Election of Mr. Adams. |
Tour of the President.—This took place in the summer and autumn following Mr. Monroe's inauguration, and extended through the Northern and Eastern states of the Union. It was an auspicious measure, and contributed, no doubt, in a degree, to his popularity. He had in view, the better discharge of his duty as president, in superintending the works of public defence, and most probably the cultivation of friendly feelings with the great mass of the people. These objects were happily accomplished. The works of public defence, which he wished personally to inspect or to provide for, were the fortifications of the sea-coast and inland frontiers, naval docks, and the navy itself. For all these objects, congress had made liberal appropriations, and by personal observation, he sought the means of guiding his judgment as to the best mode of promoting the interests thus committed to his care.
