Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/123

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 103 however, had Adams entered upon the presi- dency (March 4, 1825),' with Clay as his secre- tary of state, than a coalition was formed between the late supporters of Crawford and Jackson, with the understanding that Jackson should be their candidate, and with the resolute determination to break down the administration of Mr. Adams, and to prevent his reelection. For this purpose no effort was spared. The Crawford presses, which had abused Jackson, now began to sing praises to him. Adams, considering himself the successor to Monroe in the regular democratic line, and wishing to impress that fact on the public, made few or no removals from office, and when vacancies oc- curred hardly ventured to appoint a single federalist a proscription under which that party had labored now for a quarter of a cen- tury, and to which Adams's own charges and denunciations had in fact contributed. It was well known that as to this subject Jackson en- tertained very liberal views ; in fact, that he had advised Monroe upon his accession to a much more liberal course in appointing federal- ists to office than Monroe had seen fit to adopt. Hence, especially in all those states where the opposition was predominant, many enterprising young federalists mustered to the side of Jack- son, some of them even joining loudly in those charges of secret federalism against Adams, and in appeals to the long cherished prejudices against New England, which were conspicuous weapons in the party warfare of that day. The new party, assuming to themselves the title of democrats, refused to accord it to Adams and his supporters, to many of whom, indeed, it was not very agreeable, and who invented for themselves the new name of " National Repub- licans." Some of these young federalists, transformed so suddenly into democrats and Jackson men, hit upon another party expedient no less effective. Even before the election they had gone to Jaokson with the story of a secret bargain between Adams and Clay, to result in Adams's election and Clay's appointment as secretary of state; and the charge of 'bargain and corruption thus originated, and taken up even by Jackson himself, was loudly reechoed after the election, to the damage of both Clay and Adams. The new administration endeav- ored to strengthen itself by assuming the championship of internal improvements, which had hitherto been Calhoun's specialty, and .of protection to domestic industry, of which Clay had been a leading advocate, and which just before Adams's accession had carried the enact- ment of the tariff of 1824. Although the tobacco and cotton growing states were strongly opposed to protection, yet that idea was at this tune far too popular in the middle states to be repudiated. The supporters of Gen. Jackson, at least in the northern and middle states, rep- resented him and themselves as in favor of a "moderate" and "judicious" tariff, as opposed to the high tariff policy which they ascribed to Adams and Clay, In this position of parties, all the free-traders north and south joined the op- position, including for the most part the power- ful navigating interest of New England and the importing interest of New York, thus carrying over to that side a large additional section of the old federal party. Upon the internal im- provement question, the opposition, notwith- standing that Calhoun was one of their princi- pal leaders, took more decisive ground, going so far as to deny, as Crawford formerly had done in opposition to Calhoun, the constitu- tional authority of congress to vote money for that purpose. As additional means of affect- ing popular opinion, loud charges of extrava- gance were brought against the government, whose expenses, exclusive of the public debt, scarcely amounted to thirteen millions a year, and retrenchment and reform were loudly promised in case the opposition should triumph. This was for the people. To the politicians an- other more inviting lure was held out. From Adams's peculiar position in relation to those whom he found in office, he had, as we have seen, nothing in that way to promise his sup- porters. He did not even dare to remove men apparently hostile to him, while the opposition held out the prospect, in case of their triumph, of a general sweep of the present officeholders at least of such as were not strongly on their side and the distribution of their places as spoils to the victors rewards, that is, for elec- tioneering services. The debates of congress at this period were largely made up of elec- tioneering harangues ; and to give free scope to the remarks of John Randolph and other opposition senators, Mr. Calhoun started and acted upon the idea that as presiding officer of the senate he had no authority to call any sen- ator to order. It was in vain to struggle against this combination, which, in the latter part of Mr. Adams's presidential term, had a majority against him in both houses of congress. Nor was his administration any more fortunate in its exterior relations. The congress of Panama, from which much had been hoped in the way of placing the United States at the head of a great American confederacy, was substantially defeated, as to any participation of the United States in it, by the delays induced by the oppo- sition, while an unlucky quarrel with Great Britain as to trade with the West Indies ended in the entire suspension of that traffic. It ap- pears also that an attempt was made by Clay and Adams to purchase Cuba a measure which might have proved very acceptable at the south, but Spain totally refused to listen to their offers. As against the solid combination of the opposition, supported by the name and prestige of the old democratic party, the game had been a desperate one from the beginning. In the eastern states Mr. Adams was pretty well able to hold his own, and in those states, at the second election, he obtained about as many votes as before. But Kentucky and Ohio, in which the popular feeling against New England was greatly embittered, alto-