[Illustration:  SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF UNITED STATES 1795]

[Sidenote:  Treaty with Spain, 1795.]

[Sidenote:  Right of deposit.]

216.  The Spanish Treaty of 1795.—­France and Great Britain were not the only countries with which there was trouble.  The Spaniards held posts on the Mississippi, within the limits of the United States and refused to give them up.  For a hundred miles the Mississippi flowed through Spanish territory.  In those days, before steam railroads connected the Ohio valley with the Eastern seacoast, the farmers of Kentucky and Tennessee sent their goods by boat or raft down the Mississippi to New Orleans.  At that city they were placed on sea-going vessels and carried to the markets of the world.  The Spaniards refused to let this commerce be carried on.  In 1795, however, they agreed to abandon the posts and to permit American goods to be deposited at New Orleans while awaiting shipment by sea-going vessels.

[Sidenote:  Washington declines a third term.]

[Sidenote:  His Farewell Address.]

217.  Washington’s Farewell Address.—­In 1792 Washington had been reelected President.  In 1796 there would be a new election, and Washington declined another nomination.  He was disgusted with the tone of public life and detested party politics, and desired to pass the short remainder of his life in quiet at Mt.  Vernon.  He announced his intention to retire in a Farewell Address, which should be read and studied by every American.  In it he declared the Union to be the main pillar of independence, prosperity, and liberty.  Public credit must be carefully maintained, and the United States should have as little as possible to do with European affairs.  In declining a third term as President, Washington set an example which has ever since been followed.

CHAPTER 21

THE LAST FEDERALIST ADMINISTRATION

[Sidenote:  Hamilton’s intrigues against Adams.]

[Sidenote:  Adams elected, President, 1796.]

218.  John Adams elected President, 1796.—­In 1796 John Adams was the Federalist candidate for President.  His rival was Thomas Jefferson, the founder and chief of the Republican party.  Alexander Hamilton was the real leader of the Federalists, and he disliked Adams.  Thomas Pinckney was the Federalist candidate for Vice-President.  Hamilton suggested a plan which he thought would lead to the election of Pinckney as President instead of Adams.  But Hamilton’s scheme did not turn out very well.  For by it Jefferson was elected Vice-President.  Indeed, he came near being President, for he had only three less electoral votes than Adams.

[Sidenote:  Relations with France, 1796-97. McMaster, 210-212; Source-Book, 191-194.]

[Sidenote:  The French government declines to receive an American minister.]