The Senate struck out the words “of America.”  This amendment the British Government would not assent to.  Thus the negotiation on the slave trade, so near a consummation, fell to the ground.

Mr. Monroe’s administration closed on the 3rd of March, 1825.  It was a period of uninterrupted prosperity to the country.  Our foreign commerce, recovering from the paralysis caused by the embargo, the non-intercourse act, and the war, spread forth its wings and whitened every sea and ocean on the globe.  The domestic condition of the Union was thriving beyond the precedent of many former years.  Improvements in agriculture were developed; domestic manufactures received a fair protection and encouragement; internal improvements, gaining more and more the attention and confidence of the people, had been prosecuted to the evident benefit of all branches of business and enterprize.

Another characteristic of the administration of Mr. Monroe is worthy of note.  So judiciously and patriotically had he exercised the powers entrusted to him, that he disarmed opposition.  Divisions, jealousies and contentions were destroyed, and a thorough fusion of all political parties took place.  At his re-election for the second term of the presidency, there was no opposing candidate.  There was but one party, and that was the great party of the American people.  His election was unanimous.

In all these measures, Mr. Adams was the coadjutor and confidential adviser of Mr. Monroe.  It is no derogation from the well-merited reputation of the latter to say, that many of the most striking and praiseworthy features of his administration were enstamped upon it by the labor and influence of the former.  His success in maturing and carrying into execution his most popular measures must be attributed, in no small extent, to the ability and faithfulness of his eminent Secretary of State.  And the historian may truly record that to John Quincy Adams, in an eminent degree, belongs a portion of the honor and credit which have been so generally accorded to the administration of James Monroe.

CHAPTER VII.

MR. ADAMS’ NOMINATION TO THE PRESIDENCY—­SPIRITED PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN—­NO CHOICE BY THE PEOPLE—­ELECTION GOES TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES—­MR. ADAMS ELECTED PRESIDENT—­HIS INAUGURATION—­ FORMS HIS CABINET.

James Monroe was the last of the illustrious line of Presidents whose claims to that eminent station dated back to the revolution.  A grateful people had conferred the highest honors in their gift upon the most conspicuous of those patriots who had faithfully served them in that perilous struggle, and aided in constructing and consolidating the union of these States.  This debt punctually and honorably discharged, they looked to another generation, possessing claims of a different description, for servants to elevate to the dignity of the presidential chair.