Part 28 (2/2)

Adams,” said Benton, ”was also a violation of the principle, Demos Krateo.” In consequence, many members of Congress who had voted for Adams lost their seats.

135. THE PANAMA CONGRESS (1825-1826).

[Sidenote: Adam's cabinet.]

The new President was handicapped from the beginning of his administration by his inability to make up a strong cabinet. Clay was eager and venturesome; the other members, except Wirt, were not men of great force.

Adams manfully withstood the pressure put upon him to remove the adherents of Crawford and of Jackson in the public service; a high-minded and magnanimous man, he was determined that his administration should not depend upon the political services of office-holders.

[Sidenote: Proposed Spanish-American Congress.]

In December, 1824, Gen. Simon Bolivar had issued invitations to the Spanish American governments to send delegates to a Congress at Panama, and the invitation was later extended to the United States. One of the questions to be discussed was ”resistance or opposition to the interference of any neutral nation” (-- 129). Another was ”the manner in which the colonization of European Powers on the American continent shall be resisted.” The evident purpose of the proposed meeting was to secure some kind of joint agreement that the Monroe Doctrine should be enforced.

In such a meeting the United States might naturally expect to have a preponderating influence; and Clay accepted the invitation a few days before the first Congress under Adams's administration a.s.sembled.

[Sidenote: Objections to the Congress.]

The proposition was taking, and it was undoubtedly in line with the policy of the preceding administration. Nevertheless it was resolved by the opponents of Adams to make a stand against it, and it was not until March 14, 1826, that the nominations of the envoys were confirmed by the Senate.

The first objection to the scheme was that it would commit the United States to a military defence of its neighbors. To this, Adams replied that he intended only an ”agreement between all the parties represented at the meeting, that each will guard by its own means against the establishment of any future European colony within its borders.” Among the powers invited to send delegates was Hayti, a republic of revolted slaves as yet unrecognized by the United States government. To Southern statesmen, a.s.sociation with Hayti meant an encouragement to slave-insurrection in the United States.

[Sidenote: Connection with Monroe Doctrine.]

The controversy was now transferred to the House, where an informal resolution was pa.s.sed that the United States ”ought not to become parties ... to any joint declaration for the purpose of preventing the interference of any of the European powers.” The necessary appropriations were with difficulty secured, and the envoys despatched Before they reached Panama the Congress had adjourned, and it never rea.s.sembled. The instability of the Spanish-American governments was such that any joint agreement must have obliged the United States to a.s.sume great responsibilities, without any corresponding advantage.

136. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS (1817-1829).

[Sidenote: Monroe's veto.]

The failure of the bonus bill in 1817 (Section 121) had only checked the progress of internal improvements. The c.u.mberland road had been slowly extended westward, and up to 1821 $1,800,000 had been appropriated for it; but on May 4, 1822, Monroe vetoed a bill for its preservation and repair.

The technical objection was that tolls were to be charged; in fact, the veto was, like Madison's, a warning to Congress not to go too far.

[Sidenote: First harbor bill.]

[Sidenote: Preliminary surveys.]

[Sidenote: Stock subscriptions.]

Nevertheless, on March 3, 1823, a clause in a lighthouse bill appropriated $6,150 for the improvement of harbors. Up to this time the States had made such improvements, reimbursing themselves in part out of dues laid by consent of Congress on the s.h.i.+pping using the harbor. The next year another step in advance was taken by appropriating $30,000 for preliminary surveys: the expectation was that the whole ground would be gone over, and that the most promising improvements would be undertaken and finished first. A third step was the act of March 3, 1825, by which the United States subscribed $300,000 to the stock of the Chesapeake and Delaware Ca.n.a.l.

[Sidenote: Opposition.]

At the beginning of Adams's administration, therefore, the country seemed fully committed to the doctrine that, under the Const.i.tution as it stood, Congress might build works, or subscribe money to aid in their construction, and ought to look forward to completing a general system.

Clay had declared, Jan. 17, 1825, that he considered the question of carrying into effect ”a system of internal improvements as amounting to the question whether the union of these States should be preserved or not;” and in his inaugural address, March 4, 1825, Adams urged the continuance of the system. Here again appeared opposition, partly sectional, and partly intended to embarra.s.s Adams. The Virginia legislature declared internal improvements unconst.i.tutional; and on Dec.

20, 1826, Van Buren introduced a resolution denying the right of Congress to construct roads and ca.n.a.ls within the States.

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