In the summer of this year an expedition was undertaken against East Florida by persons claiming to act under the authority of some of the revolted Spanish colonies. The leader of this expedition styled himself ‘Citizen Gregor M‘Gregor, 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 governments of Mexico and South America.’ The persons that combined for this purpose took possession of Amelia island, at the mouth of St. Mary’s river, near the boundary of the state of Georgia. The president, apprized of this transaction, ordered an expedition, consisting of naval and land forces, to repel the invaders, and to occupy the island. A squadron, under the command of J. D. Henley, with troops under the command of James Banhead, arrived off Amelia island on the 22d of December, and the next day took possession of it, hoisting the American flag at Fernandina. The president, in a message to congress relative to the capture, observed: ‘In expelling these adventurers from these posts it was not intended to make any conquest from Spain, or to injure, in any degree, the cause of the colonies.’ The real reason of the measure seems to have been, that the invasion interfered with endeavors which were then making on the part of the United States to obtain the cession of the Floridas from the Spaniards.
In the following year the Union received the accession of another state, that of Illinois. At the time of its admission, the government of the United States granted to the state one section or thirty-sixth part of every township for the support of schools, and three per cent. of the net proceeds of the United States’ lands lying within the state for the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part must be exclusively bestowed on a college or university. The constitution happily provides that no more slaves shall be introduced into the state. In 1819, the Alabama territory was admitted as a state into the Union; and the Arkansaw territory was, by an act of congress, erected into a territorial government. In the following year the district of Maine was separated from Massachusetts, formed into a distinct state, and admitted into the Union.
During this year the American congress did themselves honor by providing more effectually against carrying on the slave-trade. The enactment declared, that if any citizen of the United States, being of the ship’s company of any foreign ship or vessel engaged in the slave-trade, or any person whatever being of the crew or ship’s company of any ship or vessel owned by, or navigated for, any citizens of the United States, shall on foreign shore seize any negro or mulatto, not held to service or labor by the laws either of the states or territories of the United States, with intent to make him a slave, or shall decoy or forcibly bring or receive him on board with such intent, he shall be adjudged a pirate, and on conviction shall suffer death.
A treaty for the cession of the Floridas was concluded at Washington, February 22, 1819, between Spain and the United States. In the year1821, it was reluctantly ratified by the king of Spain, and possession was taken of those provinces according to the terms of the treaty. On the 1st of July, general Jackson, who had been appointed governor of the Floridas, issued a proclamation, declaring ‘that the government heretofore exercised over the said provinces under the authority of Spain has ceased, and that that of the United States of America is established over the same; that the inhabitants thereof will be incorporated in the union of the United States, as soon as may be consistent with the principles of the federal constitution, and admitted to the enjoyment of all the privileges, rights, and immunities of the citizens of the United States; that in the mean time they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion they profess; that all laws and municipal regulations which were in existence at the cessation of the late government remain in full force, and all civil officers charged with their execution,’ with certain exceptions and limitations, ‘are continued in their functions.’ On the 7th of July, the colonel commandant, Don Jose Gallava, commissioner on the part of his Catholic majesty, made to major-general Jackson, the commissioner of the United States, a delivery of the keys of the town of Pensacola, of the archives, documents, and other articles, mentioned in the inventories, declaring that he releases from their oath of allegiance to Spain the citizens and inhabitants of West Florida who may choose to remain under the dominion of the United States. On the same day, colonel Joseph Coppinger, governor of East Florida, issued a proclamation to the inhabitants, announcing that, on the 10th day of this month, ‘possession will be given to colonel Robert Butler, the commissioner legally authorized by the United States.’ The American authorities were accordingly put in possession of the Floridas.
During this year Missouri was admitted as a state into the Union, forming the eleventh state added to the thirteen confederated states which signed the declaration of independence, making the present number of the United States twenty-four. The proposition for the admission of this state, which was brought forward in the session of 1819, produced vehement discussion in the congress, and excited an intense interest throughout the whole Union. The inhabitants of Missouri, the territory having been considered as a part of Louisiana, had derived from their connection with the Spaniards and French the custom, which they deemed equivalent to the right, of possessing slaves; it was proposed, however, in admitting the territory to the privileges of a state, to prevent the increase and to insure the ultimate abolition of slavery, by the insertion of the following clause: ‘Provided, that the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; and that all the children born within the said state after the admission thereof into the Union shall be free at the age of twenty-five years.’ Judging from the previous views and measures of the general government, in similar and analogous cases, it could hardly have been conjectured, that the result of proposing such a limited and qualified restriction would be doubtful. The house of representatives, after a short but animated debate, refused to pass the bill without the restriction; but the senate refused to pass the bill with it; consequently the bill itself was lost, and Missouri still continued under her former territorial government.
Such was the rapidity with which the several proceedings passed in thetwo houses of congress, that it was scarcely known beyond its walls that such a question was agitated, before it was decided. When, however, it came to be generally known what principles had been advanced, what votes had been given, with what ardor and vehemence the advocates of slavery had urged their demands, not merely upon the justice, the reason, and good sense of congress, but upon their interests, their prejudices, and their fears, by how slender a majority a measure had been checked, which, in the estimation of many of the best friends of American liberty, would have been productive of incalculable and interminable mischiefs, it excited a feeling of universal surprise and alarm.It is instructive to observe that many of the staunchest advocates of liberal ideas, who delighted in appropriating to themselves exclusively the name of republicans, suffered their jealousy of the interference of the congress in the internal government of an individual state to engage them on the side of the perpetuators of slavery. Jefferson, who prided himself in being the devoted friend of liberty, thus expresses himself: ‘The real question, as seen in the states afflicted with this unfortunate population, is, are our slaves to be presented with freedom and a dagger? For, if congress has the power to regulate the conditions of the inhabitants of the states within the states, it will be but another exercise of that power to declare that all shall be free. Are we then to see again Athenian and Lacedemonian confederacies? to wage another Peloponnesian war to settle the ascendency between them? Or is this the tocsin of merely a servile war? That remains to be seen; but not, I hope, by you or me.Surely they will parley awhile, and give us time to get out of the way.’[149] The consequence of this combination was the passing of the bill for the admission of Missouri in the next session of the congress, without the restricting clause.
No circumstances of particular interest in the transactions of the general government occurred till the year 1824, when articles of a convention between the United States of America and Great Britain for the suppression of the African slave-trade were subscribed at London by plenipotentiaries appointed for that purpose. By the first article, the commanders and commissioned officers of each of the two high contracting parties, duly authorized by their respective governments to cruise on the coasts of Africa, America, and the West Indies, for the suppression of the slave-trade, are empowered, under certain restrictions, to detain, examine, capture, and deliver over for trial and adjudication by some competent tribunal, any ship or vessel concerned in the illicit traffic of slaves, and carrying the flag of the other.
In the spring of this year a convention was also concluded between the United States of America and the emperor of Russia. By the third article of this convention it was agreed, ‘that, hereafter, there shall not be formed by the citizens of the United States, or under the authority of the said states, any establishment upon the northern [north-west] coast of America, nor in any of the islands adjacent, to the north of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude; and that, in the same manner, there shall be none formed by Russian subjects, or under the authority of Russia, south of the same parallel.’
This year is signalized in American history by the visit of the venerablela Fayette, on the express invitation of congress. He arrived in the harbor of New York on the 13th of August, and proceeded to the residence of the vice-president at Staten island. A committee of the corporation of the city of New York, and a great number of distinguished citizens, proceeded to Staten island to welcome him to their capital. A splendid escort of steam-boats, decorated with the flags of every nation, and bearing thousands of citizens, brought him to the view of assembled multitudes at New York, who manifested their joy at beholding him, by acclamations and by tears. At the city hall the officers of the city and many citizens were presented to him; and he was welcomed by an address from the mayor. While he was at New York, deputations from Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Haven, and from many other cities, arrived with invitations for him to visit them. After remaining a few days at New York, he proceeded to Boston, where he met with the same cordial reception. The general soon after returned to New York, visited Albany and the towns on Hudson’s river, and afterwards passed through the intermediate states to Virginia. He returned to Washington during the session of congress, and remained there several weeks. Congress voted him the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, and a township of land, as a remuneration, in part, of his services during the war of the revolution, and as a testimony of their gratitude.
In the year 1825, John Quincy Adams was inaugurated president of the United States, and John C. Calhoun, vice-president. In his speech to congress the president took a retrospective view to the epoch of the confederation. ‘The year of jubilee since the first formation of our union,’ observed Mr. Adams, ‘has just elapsed; that of the declaration of our independence is at hand. Since that period, a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from sea to sea. New states have been admitted to the Union, in numbers nearly equal to those of the first confederation. Treaties of peace, amity, and commerce, have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. The people of other nations, inhabitants of regions acquired, not by conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings.’ Having noticed the progress of agriculture and of settlements, of commerce and arts, of liberty and law, Mr. Adams thus sketches the features of the administration of the preceding president: ‘In his career of eight years, the internal taxes have been repealed; sixty millions of public debt have been discharged; provision has been made for the comfort and relief of the aged and indigent among the surviving warriors of the revolution; the regular armed force has been reduced, and the constitution revised and perfected; the accountability for the expenditure of public moneys has been made more effective; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific ocean; the independence of the southern nations of this hemisphere has been recognised, and recommended, by example and by counsel, to the potentates of Europe; progress has been made in the defence of the country, by fortifications and the increase of the navy; towards the effectual suppression of the African traffic in slaves; in alluring the aboriginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of the soil and of the mind; in exploring the interior regions of the Union; and in preparing, by scientific researches and surveys, for the furtherapplication of our national resources to the internal improvement of our country. In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my predecessor, the line of duty for his successor is clearly delineated. To pursue to their consummation those purposes of improvement in our common condition instituted or recommended by him, will embrace the whole sphere of my obligations.’