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ROBERTSON, D.D. BISHOP OF MISSOUKI • ■> tm ^ i » I ^ t J ■<• a ( . I <• , . • I ^ > a ■ • I C ■ ) * * i ' I 4 f > • « e a D I •§, > > I 1 1 » t 1 NEW YORK ii LOND 5N G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 188s i ■i w COPyRlGHT BV AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 1883 H Press of G. P. Putnam's Sons New York w THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE IN ITS INFLUENCE UPON THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. I U Having my residence in a portion of the Union which was never under the British flag but was acquired in that large accession of territory secured to this country from France at the beginning of this century, I am naturally interested in the transaction itself, and in the marked results which it has left upon our Amfiricai. system. In this interest I am well assured that all students of our country's history, who seek for the causes of the present in the past, will largely share. That this addition to our national domain was not an in- significant one, may be in part inferred from the fact that it added to the United States a territory nearly four times as large as that comprised in the original thirteen United colo- nies ; and, according to the last census, had in it a popula- tion of nearly one-fourth of that of the entire country. The acquisition of the Louisiana territory was not caused by the pressure of population in the older portions of the country, crowding out the frontiers, and compelling expan- sion. The regions west of the Alleghanies were in any part only sparsely settled, and in the greater portion the Indian titles were not extinguished, and many parts were unex- plored. At the same time, the enormous productiveness of the soil about the settlements in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennes- see was making necessary an outlet more convenient than the laborious journey to the East across the mountains. Given a soil like that of the great interior valley of this 253] 5 The Louhiana Piirc/iuse in its country, and it would bo but ;i question of time when pos- session of the mnutli of the Mississippi River would be de- manded and conceded to this country. A full understanding of the great value of this outlet was had by Spain and France ; and therefore the varied forms of hindrance inter- posed by them to our acquisition of the possession of it are natural and intelligible. They knew that the power which controlled the mouth of the river must inevitably become the dominant factor on this hemisphere. The steady, inex- orable pressure of Anglo-Saxon force among the upper waters at length thrust out all opposing European power at its outlet. The needs of Napoleon and the fear of England were the exigencies in Europe which were the immediate occasion of the cession ; but the result would have been the same within a short time, even without this emergency. The cession of the vast territory west of the Mississippi was but an accident. The main object sought was an un- controlled and uninterrupted passage out of the river, and a market for the teeming products of the Mississippi valley. Talleyrand almost thrust ' into our indifferent hands the regions to the west of the great river. All that our minis- ters insisted upon was the island of New Orleans, to the east, and at the mouth of the river, where could be the place of deposit and port of transshipment of our goods. In the carelessness as to the value and possession of the vast trans- Mississippi region, and in the difficulty of compassing the price which Napoleon asked, Mr. Livingston, our Minister in Paris, even suggested to Mr. Madison that, if only New Orleans and the Floridas could be kept, the purchase-money to be paid might be realized by the sale of the territory west of the Mississippi River, along with the right of sovereignty, to some power in Europe, whose vicinity we should not fear.' The knowledge that the purchase of t le territory was actually possible, and the details as to .he amount and manner of purchase, only reached President Jefferson, and 1 ' Gayarre ; " Span. Dom.," p. 502. ' Gayarre . " S. I) ," p. 509 t ') 255] Influence upon the A inerican Systepn. the people of this country, after the transaction had been completed. There was deep n{:[itation on the subject, and insistence here. Mr. Monroe was sent over by the President to join Mr. Livingston, the better to conduct the delicate business. He reache-l Paris, however, only after the matter had been virtually closed. Napoleon wns as changeable as a girl. Every day his mood varied. It had been the dream of his life to establish a transatlantic empire. lie was watch- ing the news from London where the war-clouds were gather- ing, and did not wish to lose a sale for Louisiana, and cause it to fall into the hands of the British, who had a fleet in the Gulf of Mexico ready to fall upon it, in case that hostilities should be declared. In twenty days after he gave his con- sent to the sale, the convention was signed, with all the particulars concerning the amount to be paid, and when and how it should be paid. The Ambassadors, knowing the temper in America, had to take the risk that their work would be ratified at home. The purchase was a transaction for which in this country there had been no precedent. While it marked a vast acces- sion to the national domain and strength, still there were interests which conceived that they were injured by the pur- chase, and which, therefore, raised objections to it. Mr. Jefferson ' admitted t'.iat the purchase and annexation were unauthorized, and even proposed an cx-post-facto amendment of the constitution, to give sanction to the measure. He wrote', "The Constitution has made no provision for our holding foreign territory, still less for incorporating foreign nations into the Union. The Executive, in seizing the fugi- tive occasion which so much advances the good of the country, has done an act beyond the Constitution. The Legislature, in casting behind them metaphysical subtleties, and risking themselves like faithful servants, must ratify and pay for it, and throw themselves on their country for doing for them unauthorized what we know they would have done, had they been in the situation to do it." At the same time, ' Adams ; " Federalism of New England," p. 54. ' Jefferson's Works, iv., p, 500, etc. (' 8 The Louisiana Purchase in its [256 Mr. Jefferson observed that the less that was said about any constitutional difficulty the better, and that it would be de- sirable for Congress to do what was necessary in silence. Mr. Monroe had written from Paris that there was reason to believe that, if the tb'ng were to bo done over again, it could not be obtained, and that if the least opening was given, the French ould declare the treaty void. For this reason Mr. Jefferson thought that, whatever Congress should deem it necessary to do, should be done with as little debate as possible, and particularly so as respecting any constitutional difficulty. The general position of M; , Jeflersoii in regard to the Constitution required him to hold that Congress possessed no residuary powers, only such as were distinctly created by that instrument. At the same time he knew that nothing must be said that would give France a pretext for retracting. And so he wrote to Mr. Breckenridgc, the Senator from Kentucky, and sent the draft of a proposed new article of the Constitution : " Louisiana, as ceded by France to the United States, is made a part of the United States," and asked him to desire the presence of every friend of the treaty on the first day of the session, in order that it might be quietly and expeditiously passed ; and to send private letters for this purpose especially to the Senators of all the western States. B it Mr. Ereckcnridge ' held to the inherent right of the United States to acquire territory, and so no constitu- tional amendment was proposed. The terms of the treaty were ratified by Congress, and Louisiana, as ceded by Fran^, to the United States, was made a part of the United States, with a provi'^'on that its white inhabitants should be citizens, and stand on the same footing with other citizens in analox gous situations. As to the territory, however, lying north of an east and west line drawn through the mouth of the Arkansas River, no new State was to be established out of it, until the action of Congress should be had. Even after the purchase it was not known what had been bought. The tract extended vaguely off to the north, and It h L ' Mag. Am. Hist,, Aug. 1885, p, iqg. Jefferson's Works, iv., 498. 257J Injluence upon the American System. C) toward the South Sea ; but, for scores of years afterward, there was very little idea of all t' c it included. There were very few white people living in the purchased terrcory then. There were some settlements on the lower Mississippi in the Teche country, and along the Red and Washita rivers ; a few at the mouth of the Arkansas. Farther up, there were the settlements at New Madrid, St. Genevieve, and St. Louis. As for those on the Missouri River, the explorers, Lewis and Clarke, reported, a few months after the purchase, that they left the last establishment of the whites at La Charette, cnly fifty-four miles from the mouth of the river.' Almost all the whites who lived in the territory were French, and mainly from Canada. There was a natural disposition, directly after the purchase, to ascertain somewhat more clearly what had been acquired. As the treaty of purchase was signed on the 30th of April, during the same summer Mr. Jefferson planned the expedition under Meriwether Lewis and William Clarke, to explore the course of the Missouri River, cross the Rocky Mountains, and follow the waters of the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. They started from St. Louis in the spring of .804, and, having accomplished their task, returned in Sep- tember, 1 806. In the summer of 1804, the exploration of the Washita River was made by Mr. Dunbar, of Natchez, by order of the President. In August, 1805, Captain Zebulon Pike started up the Mississippi to discover its source. He was absent about eight months. In July, 1806, after his return, he started with a party up the .vlissouri River, and then up the Osage, crossing over to the Arkansas and the Red. By mistake he passed the Spanish frontier into New Mexico, was taken prisoner, and in July, 1807, was conducted out to the American posts at Natchitoches.'' Later, the publication of the journal of this expedition, with its descrip- tion of the interior of New Mexico and Texas, was a strong inducement to the removal of many to these regions. By means of these surveys a very great increase was had ' Lewis and Clarke Exp., i., 7. 'Pike's Journal, Voy. Sources A'k , p. 202. I I ' ll i i t I 10 The Louisiana Purchase in its [258 in the knowledge of the natural features and resources of the vast region that had been acquired. Later still, other expeditions were set on foot. In 18 19, Major Long was directed to ascend the Missouri River, for the purpose of exploring the regions west of the Rocky Mountains. In the same year. General Cass, Governor of the Northwestern Ter- ritory, with the assistance of Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, sent Mr. Schoolcraft to explore the sources of the Mis- sissippi River with greater exactness than had been possible by Captain Pike. The boundaries of the territory were not fully determined for a number of years. The northwestern angle of the territory of the United States, at the time of the purchase, was the point at which a line stretched due west from the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods would strike the Mississippi River.' The next step was taken in the treaty of 1818, when it was declared that the boundary line between this country and Canada should be a line drawn due south from the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, until it should intersect the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, and then should follow that parallel to the Stony, or Rocky, Mountains. It was furthermore agreed that any country that might be claimed by either party on the northwestern coast of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, should be free and open for the term of ten years, without prejudice to the citizens of the two powers. In a convention, dated on the sixth of August, 1827, the provisions of the treaty of 18 18 were extended for an indefi- nite period, eitht. party to give twelve months' notice of its intention to annul or abrogate the same. At this point 'jhe matter rested, until the treaty of 1846, which carried on the boundary along the forty-ninth parallel, from the Rocky Mountains to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, and thence south through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca Straits to the Pacific Ocear To the southwest, the boundary was nut settled until the ' Treaties U. S., p. 276. i\ ' 0i I 259] Influence upon the American System. II treaty was ratified with Spain, on the twenty-second of February, 18 19,' when the Hne was fixed, as beginning, at the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Sabine River, in the sea, continuing north along the west bank to the thirty- second degree of north latitude, being the northwest corner of the State of Louisiana ; thence due north to the Red River, following the same westward to longitude one hun- dred degrees west from London, and twenty-three from Washington ; thence crossing the Red River, and running due north to the Arkansas River ; thence along the southern bank of the same to its source in latitude forty-two north, and thence by that parallel of latitude to the South Sea. If the source of the Arkansas was found to be north or south of latitude forty-two, then the line was to run north or south to that degree, and thence along that line to the South Sea. By the charter of Louis XIV.,' the country purchased to the north included all that was contiguous to the waters that flowed into the Mississippi. Consequently its northern boundary was the summit of the highlands in which its northern waters rise. By the tenth article of the treaty of Utrecht, France and England agreed to appoint commis- sioners to settle the boundary, and these commissioners, as such boundary, marked this summit on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude.' This would not carry the rights of the United States beyond the Rocky Mountains. The claim to the territory beyond was based upon the principle of continuity, the prolongation of the territory to the adja- cent great body of water. As against Great Britain, the claim was founded on the treaty of 1763, between France and Great Britain, by which the latter power ceded to the former all its rights west of the Mississippi River. The United States succeeded to all the rights of France. Be- sides this, there was an independent claim created by the discovery of the Columbia River by Gray, in 1792, and its 'Treaties U. S., p. 787. 'JefTerson's Works, vii., 51, Marbois, p. 284, Eng. tra, * B.ube Marbois, p. 263, Eng. tr. 12 'J7ie Louisiana Purchase in its [260 exploration by Lewis and Clarke.' All this was added to by the cession by Spain in 18 19, of any title that it had to all territory north of the forty-second degree. The western boundary of the territory was the Rio Bravo, from its mouth to its source, and thence along the highlands and mountains dividing the waters of the Mississippi from those of the Pacific. The line along the highlands was based upon the charter of Louis XIV. That of the Rio Bravo stood on the fact that when La Salle took possession of the Bay of St. Bernard, Panuco was the nearest possession of Spain, and the Rio Bravo was the natural boundary half-way between them. Such were the boundaries of the vast territory acquired from France in 1803. It could not be otherwise than that the addition of this great domain to the South and West would have a tendency to create apprehensions that the equilibrium of the political and commercial interests of the Union would be thereby disturbed. The addition of such weight on one side of the ship of state would threaten dangerous oscillations in the steady bearing of the vessel. Of course at first the enor- mous area was but a geographical expression ; it was an un- known quantity as to its value or resources. Like the pow- ers hidden in the youth, they could only be gradually apprehended and brought into play. But even at the out- set, there were conditions at the time in the temper of the country which caused the purchase of the Louisiana terri- tory to deepen irritations and alarm which had been created and fostered by other considerations. The business and prosperity of the country were poised between the two rival and contending interests of agriculture and commerce. Manufactures were not as yet arresting much attention. Steam had not begun to be applied largely to machinery. Eli Whitney was now just perfecting his cotton-gin. and thus enabling that fabric to be cheaply made into cloth. The country had still to look abroad for the simplest of manufactured articles. Speaking broadly, the Rush. Resid. in London, pp. 105-407. -^ 261] Influence upon the American System. n South represented the interests of agriculture, while com- mercial pursuits dominated in the North. At a time when there were great public burdens, resulting from the War of the Revolution, to be distributed, and tax- ation to be laid with even pressure upon those little able or disposed to accept it, it became a matter of the most anxious concern that the load should be distributed fairly, and with no discrimination against any interest. For this reason the constitution of the representative body which was to impose the taxes and to make the laws, became a subject of great importance. So delicate was the equilibrium in Congress, that the admission of Kentucky into the Union was held back until the counterpoise was had in the admission of Vermont.' The opposition in the Senate to the ratification of the treaty of the purchase of Louisiana was wide and out- spoken. Uriah Tracy, of Connecticut, said, concerning the acquisition : " If done at all, this should be done by universal consent ; and this universal consent, I am positive, cannot be obtained to such a pernicious measure as the admission of Louisiana — of a world, and such a world ! — into our Union. This would be absorbing the Northern States and rendering them insignificant in the Union, as they ought to be if by their own consent the measure should be adopted.'" The vote to ratify the treaty passed the Senate by a vote of twenty-six to six, these latter votes in opposition all being from New England. The issues of political partizanship were further embittered by the division of the country into hostile parties : the one urging the need of strong central authority, the other empha- sizing the original and indefeasible rights of the States ; the one magnifying the benefits coming from the recently adopted Constitution, and the other seeing in it the danger of an aris- tocracy or royalty. Political divisions were created also by the commercial complications which were occasioned by the vast struggle between France and England being carried on, in which we, as the principal carrying nation, had large stakes. The result was a condition of political acrimony, of ' Bancroft, Const., i., 373. 'Annals Cong., 8th Cong., istScss., p. 5S. H The Louisiana Purchase in its [262 which the country since has known none more intense or virulent. In the winter, therefore, of 1803-4, immediately after, and as a consequence of, the acquisition of Louisiana, certain leaders of the Federal party conceived the project of the dis- solution of the Union, and the establishment of a North- ern Confederacy. The justifying causes to those who enter- tained it were, that the annexation of Louisiana to the Union transcended the constitutional powers of the govern- ment of the United States ; that it created, in fact, a new confederacy, to which the States, united by the former com- pact, were not bound to adhere ; that it was oppressive to the interests and destructive to the influence of the Northern section of the Confederacy, whose right and duty it therefore was to secede from the new body politic, and to constitute one of their own. It was lamented that one inevitable con- sequence of the annexation of Louisiana to the Union would be to diminish the relative weight and influence of the North- ern section ; that it would aggravate the evil of the slave repre- sentation ; and endanger the Union itself, by the expansion of its bulk, and the enfeebling extension of its line of de- fence against foreign invasion. A Northern Confederacy was thought to be the only probable counterpoise to the manufacture of new States in the South.' This project was quietly and extensively discussed at the time," by the members of Congress from Massachusetts and Connecticut especially. General Hamilton, indeed, was chosen as the person to be placed, at the proper time, at the head of the military movement which, it was foreseen, would be necessary for carrying the plan into execution." He was consulted on the subject ; and although it is quite cer- tain that he was opposed to it, he consented to attend a meeting of Federalists in Boston in the autumn of 1804, but his untimely death, in the summer of that year, prevented the meeting. To whatever proportions, however, the project might Ki, • I , ^ ' Adams' " Feder. in N. E.," p. 77. *Ib., pp, 107, 146. •Adams' Fed., p. 53. K.. 263] Infl:icnce upon the American System. 15 otherwise have gone, it was checked by the advantage which was evident to all of the securing of so large a domain, by the great desirablenesi^ of preventing France from holding the mouth of our great river, and by the settlement of the question of our national boundaries. These considerations gave a quietus for a time to the suggestions of sectional jealousy. Occasions somewhat later, however, gave them renewed activity. The jealousy of Great Britain at the prosperity of our commerce caused her, at first, in 1805, to re-enact her obsolete rule of war of 1756 — that no trade of a neutral nation with a belligerent power, in time of war, is lawful, except a trade which had been lawful between the same parties in time of peace. When this was resisted by the United States as opposed to the law of nations and oppressive, it was only replaced by the proclamation, aimed at Napoleon, but instantly affecting us, of a sweeping blockade of the whole coast of Europe from the Elbe to Brest. This, while greatly injurious to France, laid our commerce under the peril of being seized as pri7.es. Napoleon retali- ated by the Berlin decrees of the twenty-first of November, 1806, declaring the British Isknds in a condition of block- ade, and forbidding the admission into France of any vessels which had been to England since the publication of the decree. As against this action, the Orders in Council were issued on the seventh of January, 1807, by Great Britain, which subjected to capture and condemnation every neutral vessel and cargo bound to any port or colony of any country with which Great Britain was then at war, or from which British vessels were excluded. Napoleon soon after followed with the proclamation of the Milan decrees on the seven- teenth of December, 1807, which declared every vessel which should have submitted to be searched by an English ship, or been on a voyage to England, or should have paid any tax to the British Government, denationalized, and subject to capture and condemnation. The effect of all these proclamations, together with the vague claim of impressment of our seamen, was to cripple I i i6 The Louisiana Purchase in its [264 i I our carrying trade. President Jcuerson therefore, for the safety of our commerce, in view of the decrees and orders, on the twenty-second of December, 1807, recommended the enactment of embargo laws, which were passed, by which all vessels within the jurisdiction of the United States were for- bidden to leave, except that foreign vessels might leave in ballast, or with the goods which they had on board at the time that the notice of the embargo was received. Of course the result of the embargo was to put a stop to all our commerce. Vessels were decaying at their wharves. The distress in the cities became pitiful. It was alleged by the Federal party that the law was designed as a help to France, because it had no navy. The distress v as most deeply felt in New England, and it concurred with the political animosities of the time in stir- ring into renewed life the project for a Northern Con- federacy, which had slumbered since shortly after the pur- chase of Louisiana. The embargo laws were, on the first of March, 1809, re- pealed, and the non-intercouse law passed, by which all intercourse with Great Britain and France was forbidden ; except that; if either power should modify its hostile action, then trade with that power might be resumed. The letter of Mr. Pickering to Governor Sullivan ot Massachusetts, de- nouncing the general government and the embargo, and call- ing upon the commercial States to make common cause against the alleged oppressions, intensified the discontent. The degree of interest felt by Great Britain in the apparent loosening of the bonds of union, and her disposition to foment the trouble, and profit by it, was shown in the mission of Mr. Henry to the New England States by the Governor- General of Canada. The consternation in Congress was extreme, when, on the tenth of March, 1812, President Madi- son sent ' in a message, communicating the entire correspond- . ence between the Governor-General and Mr. Henry, who was an Englishman, familiar with the States, and had been em- ployed in the spring of 1809 to pass through the Eastern ' Niles' Reg., ii., 68. '\ ■ I ■ • \-i\\ ^3BL, I m-i^ , ,. 1* mm t ; -(- • 4-V\i 265] Injlucucc upon the A mcrican System. '7 States and observe the degree of defection from the govern- ment, and place himself in communication with any persons who were disposed to address or approach the English authorities with a view to a better accommodation of their section with the iiritish Government, Mr, Henry revealed the correspondence because of the failure of the English ministry to remunerate him according to his supposed deserts. There was never, however, any doubt as to the genuineness of his authority, nor of the truth of his representations. The Governor, in his insi actions to Henry, states that " it has been supposed that if the F'cderalists of the Eastern States should be successful in obtaining that decided influ- ence which may enable them to control public opinion, it is not improbable that they will exert that influence to bring aboat a separation from the g'ineral Union." Henry pro- ceeded through Vermont to Boston, and wrote back the observations that he had madj from time to time, using an assumed name. He writes from Boston, on the seventh of March, 1809: " Should the Congress possess spirit and inde- pendence enough to place their popularity in jeopardy by so strong a measure, the Legislature of Massachusetts will give the tone to the neighboring States, will declare itself per. manent until a new election o'' members, invite a congress to be composed of delegates from the Federal States, and erect a separate government for their common defence and com- mon interest." * * * " What permanent connection between Great Britain and this section of the republic would grow out of a civil commotion, such as might be expected, no person is prepared to describe. But it seems that a strict alliance must result of necessity." ' Eight days after, Henry wrote : " To bring about a sepa- ration of the States, under distinct and independent govern- ments, is an affair of more uncertainty ; and, however desirable, cannot be effected but by a series of acts and long-continued policy, tending to irritate the Southern and conciliate the Northern people. The former are agricultural, the latter a commercial people. The mode of cheering or de- ' Carey's " Olive I3r.inch," p. 152, etc. I8 The Louisiana Purchase in its [266 pressing cither is too obvions to rcqi- "'lustration. This, I am aware, is an object of much inti . to Great Britain, as it would forever secure the integrity of his Majesty's pos- sessions on this continent, and make the two governments as useful and as much subject to Great Britain as her colonies can be rendered." * * * " I lament the repeal of the embargo, because // was calculated to accelerate the progress of these States toward a revolution that would have put an end to the only republic that remains to prove that a gov- ernment founded on political equality can exist in a season of trial and difficulty, or is calculated to ensure either security or happiness to a people." Mr. Henry continued to report with complacency the seditious expressions used in the newspapers of Boston and by public speakers; and on the twentieth of March declared that it should be the peculiar care of Great Britain to foster divisions between the North and the South ; and that the men of talents and property preferred the chance of main- taining their property by open resistance and final separa- tion to an alliance with France and a war with England. While in Boston, Mr. Henry mingled freely in good society, and entertained handsomely; but he mentions in his letters the names of none with whom he was specially in communication. As Great Britain withdrew the Orders in Council about this time, the strain in the relations of the two countries was temporarily relaxed, and Mr. Henry was withdrawn. President Madison paid him $50,000 for the information, and Henry stipulated that the names of persons concerned should not be insisted upon. The excitement produced by this evidence of the disposi- tion of Great Britain to foster divisions in the United States, was one of the exciting causes of the proclamation of war with Great Britain, which took place on the eighteenth of June, 1812. The Federalists put out an address in opposition to the war, because, by shutting up the commerce of the Eastern States, it was involving them in loss and distress. The governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut ' declined ' Dwight's " Hartford Conv.," p. 247. i..- ,i ■ ^^^ — ^I^ ^ -J 1 267] Influence upon the A merit ,in Systein. »9 :d to answer to ;i requisition from the President for troops, except as they should be used to repel invasion, and refused to yield the command of the State militia to the ofificcrs of the regular army. The Legislature of Massachusetts issued j'n invitation to the Legislatures of the other interested New England States, to appoint delegates to meet in convention to consider their grievances and recommend measures of redress. The Hartford Convention met on the fifteenth of Decem- ber, 1814, at which delegates were present from all the New England States. It was opposed to the war with England, and was unwilling to contribute to its prosecution. It was offended at the measures of the several administrations whose executive head had been from Virginia, as those measures had been disastrous to the commercial interests of New England. It objected to the authority over the State militia by the general [ovcrnmcnt, and of its claim to command them, and its assertion of power to use the troops beyond the borders of the State. The convention found the final cause of these evils- and here the matter connects itself with my subject of the r suits following upon the acquisition of Louisiana, — in the threat- ened inordinate growth of the country to the west and the southwest. It therefore put forth the declaration that the admission of new States into the Union, formed at pleasure in the Western region, has destroyed the balance of power which existed among the original States, and deeply afTected their interests. It expressed the belief that the Southern States will first avail themselves of their new confederates in the West, to govern the East; and finally the Western States, multiplied in number, and augmented in population, will control the interests of the whole. It therefore resolved that amendments to the Constitution of the United States should be recommended to the States represented, to be proposed by them for adoption by the State Legislatures ; and that the States should persevere in their efforts to obtain such amendments, until the same should be effected. ' Dwight's " Hartford Conv.," p. 371. I 20 The Louisiaita Purchase in its [268 Among the amendments thus proposed, having in view the object of checking the creation of new States out of the recently ac(|uircd territory, now rapidly filling with popula- tion, were these : {n) The exclusion of slaves from the basis on which repre- sentation was proportioned. {b) The reciuir.itlon that in the admission of new States, the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of both houses ohould be necessary. (r) A prohibition of Congress from interdicting commer- cial intercourse with foreign nations, except with the concur- rence of two-thirds of both houses of Congress. {(i) The rcciuisition of the concurrence of two-thirds of both houses of Congress, in order to the declaration of war or. the authorization of acts of hostilities against foreign nations, except in defence. ((') The provision that the President should be eligible only for a single term, and not be chosen twice in succession from a single State. An incidental evidence of the anxious effect upon Presi- dent Madison's nund of what he conceived to be the sedi- tious spirit shown in the Northeast, is had in a letter written by Wm. Wirt to his wife in October, 1814.' " I called," he says, "on the President to-day. He looks miserably shat- tered and woe-begonc — in short, heart-broken. His mind is full of the New-England sedition. He introduced the sub- ject, and continued to press it — painful as it obviously was to him. I denied the probability, even the possibility, that the yeomanry of the North could be induced to place them- selves under the power and protection of England, and diverted the conversation to another topic ; but he took the first opportunity to recur to it, and convinced me that his heart and mind were painfully full of the subject." The irritation which had called forth the remonstrances of the Hartford Convention had been intensified by the ill- success of the military operations of the war ; the ineffectual and vexatious efforts to subjugate Canada, the surrender of ' Wirt, i., 349. .i -. 2691 Iiijliu'iicc upon the American System. General Hill, and the .ipi)reliensions of the eajjture of New Orleans by the British. Tlie conclusion of peace, however, just at this time, an •Hit wu f W ' * ''' ^» 'iF T t \ 273] Influence upon the AmericaH System. 25 Wilkinson, then commander of the army, at New Orleans, asking him, as Washington was unable then to act, to meet him in Philadelphia, in order to confer as to the disposition of the forces in the West and South, in view of a probable attack by the French upon the South in case of the breaking out of hostilities." In reply to Miranda's letter to hi.n, Hamilton wrote to Miranda, through Rufus Xing, the American Minister in London : " I could personally have no participation in it, unless patronized by the government of this country. * " * The plan, in my opinion, ought to be a fleet of Great Britain, an army of the United States, a governor of the liberated territory agreeable to both the cooperators. We are raising an army of about twelve thousand men. General Washing- ton has resumed his station at the head of the army. I am appointed second in command." It is altogether probable that the strong desire of Hamilton to have precedence in the proposed army, immediately after Washington, and there- fore his successor in command in case of his death, which occurred a few months after, or his inability to take rank over Pinckney and Knox, matters which were warmly dis- cussed at the time, came from Hamilton's wish to command the forces which he was determined should not cease their operations until they were employed in what he deemed their most important business, of helping the revolution in South America, and emancipating the oppressed colonies from Spanish rule.'' On the nineteenth of October Miranda replied that Ham- ilton's views were approved by the British Minister, that the land-force would consist of American troops, and the marine be English ; that every thing was ready, and only awaited the fiat of the President ; and that an intended insurrection in South America had been deferred to await the action of the cooperating powers. ' Miranda wrote to the President, and sought to enlist his ' Wilkinson's Mem., i., 440. ' Hamilton, vii., 215 ; Van Buien ' Hamilton's " Kepub.," vii,, 220. ' I'olit. Parties in U. S.," p. 86. «^ t A * l> i 26 Tlic Louisiana Purchase in its [274 sympathy. He closed with the exclamation : " Would to God the United States would do for my countrymen of the South in 1798 what the king of France did for them in 1778!" The President made no reply, and gave no countenance to the project. He had no sympathy with any policy which emanated from Hamilton. Adams' grandson, in editing his works, says : " The bare suggestion of an alliance with Great Britain contributed materially to modify the policy toward France." ' England would only help in the revolt in South America in case Spain was not able to save herself from a revolution, anu i,Mrd to the boundary lines in the northwestern parts of America. Russia made claim to territory which was disputed by the United States. On the seventeenth of July, 1S23, John (Juincy Adams, the Secretary of State, declared to Baron Tuyl, the Russian Minister, that the United States were ready to assume distinctl)' the principle, that the American continents are no longer subjects for any new European colonial establishments.'' The President, Mr. Monroe, thought that the situation was : o grave that he called upon the ex-1'residents, Jeffer- son ;ind Madison, for their advice. Mr. Jefferson said: " Our first and fundamental maxim should be never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe. Our second, never to suffer Europe to intermeddle with ci w\.tlantic affairs. America, North and South, has a set o{ Interests tlistinct from those of Europe, and peculiarly her own." In this judgment Mr. Madison concurred. The President, on the second of December, 1823, in his message to Congress, put forth the declaration which has since become so famous : " In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded, or seriously menaced, that we resent injur)', or make preparation for our defence. With the movements on this hemisphere we are, of necessity more intimately connected. * * * We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and the powers of Europe, to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies and de- ' Tucker ; " Monroe Doct.," p. 13. 'J. Q. Adams' Mem., vi., 163. ■T- '%■ rki UnitM States may be elected as honorary members, and shall be exempt from the payment of assessments. % IV. The officers shall be a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and an Executive Council consisting of the foregoing officers and of four other members elected by the Association. These officers shall be elected by ballot at each regular annual meeting of the Association. 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