nected with slavery, directly or indirectly, were found in the free as well as in the slave labor States, but on slavery the geographical line was definitely drawn.

The following year Missouri again applied for admission to the Union, and at the same session Maine, formerly a part of Massachusetts, also applied. The latter was granted admission by the House without opposition, but the former was again refused because the amendment prohibiting slavery was insisted upon. When the matter came before the Senate, it joined the two interests in one bill and passed it. It was the first instance of the policy initiated for the purpose of having the increase of the Senate equally divided between the free and slave States. When the Senate bill came to the House it was rejected. A compromise followed, known as the famous Missouri Compromise (1820). By this, Missouri was admitted to the Union, but it was provided that thenceforth slavery should be prohibited in all Territories lying north of the line 36° 30' and west of the State line of Missouri.

President Monroe was elected for a second term (1820), with only one electoral vote against him. The tendency to a more liberal construction of the Constitution was manifest from the fact that the House elected John W. Taylor of New York its Speaker. He was in favor of a Protective Tariff, of a system of internal improvements, and also of limiting the extension of slavery. The Southern members took umbrage at the action of the House; already were heard mutterings about the dissolution of the Union.

The strict constructionists were, however, able to defeat an attempt to enlist government aid in favor of a national canal system, and also a tariff having more protective features.

During the first session of the last Congress (XVIIIth) of Monroe's administration mention was made by him in one of his messages of the revolt of the Spanish colonies on this continent against that country. It was then that he announced as the policy of the United States that they would not interfere in European affairs, neither would they tolerate any European power obtaining a controlling influence on this continent. This declaration has passed into history as the Monroe Doctrine;

but its inspiring spirit was John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State.

The tariff of 1824 was an advance in its protective features. It was passed by the votes of the Northern members, while the Southern were almost unanimously opposed to it on the ground that it was unconstitutional. They also charged that it was sectional. Congress at the same session, passed a bill to institute a series of preliminary surveys for a national system of lands. The era of good feeling had obliterated organized parties, yet there was pervading the minds of the people a distinct recognition of the change going on in respect to the interpretation of the Constitution.

The result of the disintegration of political parties was that when the contest for the Presidency in 1824 commenced, vari ous coteries put forth their favorites as candidates. There were four in all; William H. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury; John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, Secretary of State; Henry Clay, of Kentucky, Speaker of the House, and General Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, then in private life.

Party lines were not clearly drawn, but Crawford and Jackson were recognized as strict constructionists-Adams and Clay as more liberal. Jackson was, however, inclined to favor a Protective Tariff. John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, Secretary of War, was generally supported for the Vice-Presidency by the friends of the other candidates, and he was selected by the popular vote.

Of the four candidates for the Presidency Jackson had 99 electoral votes; Adams, 84; Crawford, 41; and Henry Clay 37. As no candidate had a majority of the whole electoral vote the election, according to the Constitution, was transferred to the House of Representatives, which on such an occasion votes by States. Only the three candidates having the highest number of electoral votes were eligible to be voted for; hence Henry Clay was excluded. The friends of Clay gave Adams their vote, and he was elected President; thirteen States voted for Adams, seven for Jackson, and four for Crawford.

As soon as Adams assumed office the strict constructionists -the Jackson and Crawford men-joined forces in general op

position to his administration. This had the effect of uniting in its defense the liberal constructionists, the supporters of Adams and Clay. These combinations of the four factions formed two parties. The first retained the name Democrat, (the name preferred by Jackson) and the second was known as National Republican. The latter organization was composed of the remnants of the Federal party and the more liberal and progressive elements of the Democratic party which had joined them.

In the first session of the XIXth Congress (1825) the liberals had only five majority in the House, and that was liable at any time to change sides on doubtful questions. In the Senate they also had a majority. In that body an important change was made in the appointment of its committees. From the foundation of the Government, thirty-seven years before, the presiding officer had named the members of the several committees. At this session Vice-President Calhoun was charged with packing them in such a manner as to give the control to the "Jackson men;" and the Senate, to avoid the application of such illiberal partisanship, changed the rule, and since then has chosen its own committees.

During the remainder of Adams' administration the opposition virtually resolved itself into obstructionists in order to prevent the passage of measures that would have a national bearing. The House passed a bill increasing somewhat the rates of the existing tariff, but Vice-President Calhoun defeated it in the Senate by his casting vote. In 1816 he had favored a Protective Tariff, as he had also inclined to a National Bank. But as the champion of slavery he became the very champion also of States' rights.

The elections for the Twentieth Congress resulted in giving the Democrats the control of the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile discussions in regard to the protection of American industries continued among the people and in the newspapers, especially in the free-labor States. A tariff having higher rates than that of 1824 was demanded. In this demand numbers of Democrats of the latter States joined the Protectionists. The strict constructionists, especially in the slave

labor States, were in favor of what they termed a "Tariff for revenue only." The latter States had scarcely any manufactories or diversity of industries; they had cotton, tobacco, and the proceeds of their pine forests to send abroad in exchange for what they received from outside their own States. After a debate of some six weeks the tariff of 1828 was passed, which in its general protective character satisfied the manufacturers of the free-labor States, but was bitterly opposed by the cotton and tobacco raisers in the slave States. The latter characterized it as "legalized robbery." Now were heard the mutterings of nullification, to sanction which were invoked the prin ciples of the resolutions of '98.

Meanwhile a Presidential canvas was going on; the candidates of the Democracy were Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun; of the National Republicans, John Quincy Adams and Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania. This was the first time that the candidates of both parties were taken respectively from the slave-labor and free-labor States. Both selections were deemed sectional. In the election the Democrats were successful by a large majority.

The last session of Congress under J. Q. Adams' administration was comparatively quiet; the obstructionists had obtained their object-the future control of the Government. The President in his message strongly advocated protectionUnusually large appropriations were made for internal improvements, though opposed by the "strict" Democrats on the ground that they were unconstitutional.

During General Jackson's administrations (1829-1837) the leading parties remained the same. This was the period of the Anti-masonic party, which arose in Western New York. It grew out of the kidnapping of William Morgan (1826), a citizen of Batavia in that State, and a member of the society of Freemasons. He proposed to publish a book revealing the secrets of the order, and suddenly disappeared under circumstances that aroused suspicions of foul play. The affair caused great excitement in that portion of the State, and a political party was formed, whose "avowed object was to exclude Freemasons from office." It disappeared in a few years, after hav

ing polled in several States, and at different times, a large number of votes, though it never became a national party. Members of it appeared, however, in limited numbers on the floor of Congress, and the party assisted in making nominations and in supporting candidates for the Presidency. In general political views they sympathized with the National Republi

cans.

Another organization-"The National Anti-slavery Society "-suddenly appeared (1833), and afterward exerted a tremendous influence upon the destinies of the Nation, though it never claimed to be a national political party.

The National Republicans became more and more dissatisfied with their name, and in the State of New York (1834) they adopted that of Whig, borrowed from Revolutionary times. This name was gradually accepted and in a short time it became the recognized title of the organization.

When the Presidential canvas of 1836 was impending, the first of our National Conventions was held at Baltimore, a year in advance, by delegates of the Democratic party, who nominated Martin Van Buren, of New York, for the office of President, and Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, for the second place. The Whigs and the Anti-masons, after a rather informal nomination, supported General William H. Harrison, of Ohio, for the office of President, and Francis Granger, of New York, for the second place. Van Buren was elected, and Johnson, not having received a majority of the electoral votes cast, was chosen by the Senate.

Van Buren's administration (1837-1841), in its general policy, was designed to be the prolongation of that of Jackson, the new President announcing upon his entrance upon office his purpose "to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor." The latter had "sown the wind," and the former was about "to reap the whirlwind." It came in the form of the national financial crash of 1837, up to that time the most tremendous in our history. The banks of New York city were the first to suspend specie payments; those of other cities soon followed. The failures were specially numerous in New Orleans; corporations became bankrupt as well as business men,