In 1814 gens. Scott and Ripley crossed the Niagara, and sharp actions, with no decisive results, were fought at Chippewa and Lundy's lane, close by the great cata ract. Gen. Wilkinson also invaded Canada on the Sorell river, but was easily repulsed. A British invasion, by lake Champlain, by gen. sir George Prevost, with 14,000 men and a flotilla on the lake, was no more successful. On Sept. 6, the flotilla was defeated and captured in the harbor of Plattsburg, while the army was repulsed on shore, and retreated with heavy loss. In August, a British fleet ascended Chesapeake bay, took Washington with but slight resistance, and burned the government buildings. A subsequent attack on Baltimore was unsuccessful. New York, New London, and Boston were blockaded, and a; large expedition was sent against Mobile and New Orleans. On Jan. 8. 1815, gen. Packenham, advanced with 12,000 men against the latter city, which was defended by gen. Jackson, at the head of 6,000 militia, chiefly from Tennessee and Kentucky, aided by a small force of artillery, recruited from the Barataria pirates. The Americans were sheltered by a breast-work, and the British assault was met with so deadly a fire of riflemen, that it was repulsed, with the loss of gen. Packenham and several with 700 killed and 1000 wounded; while the entire American loss is stated to have only amounted to 71. This ill-planned and unfortunate action was fought more than a month after peace had been concluded between England and America, and was followed by two naval actions in February and March. Though during this contest fortune at first favored the Americans on the high seas, she changed sides completely from June, 1813, hs if to counterbalance the disasters of the British on land. June 1, the Chesapeake was taken by the Shannon; June 3, the Growler and Eagle were captured by British gun boats; the Argus was taken by the Pelican, Aug. 14; the Essex by the Phabe and Cherub, Mar. 29, 1814; the Presidentby the Endymion, Jan. 15, 1815; the only counter-balancing sucess being the sinking of the British sloop Avon by the Wasp, Sept. 8, 1814. In Dec., 1814, the federalists of New England held a convention at Hartford in opposition to the war and the administration, and threatened a secession of the New England states. See HARTFORD CoNvENziox. In 1815 commodore Decatur, who had taken a distin guished part in the recent war, commanded an expedition against the Algerians—whose corsairs had preyed on American commerce in the Mediterranean—and dictated terms to Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.
The democratic republican party having brought the war to a satisfactory conclusion, the federalists disappeared; and in 1817 James Monroe was elected • the presidency, almost without opposition, in what was termed "the era of good feeling." A rapid emigration from Europe and from the Atlantic states to the richer lands of the west had in ten years added six new states to the union. Difficulties arose with the warlike southern Indian tribes, whose hunting-grounds were invadeu; and gen. Jackson, sent against the Seminoles, summoned to his aid the Tennessee volunteers who had served under him against the Creeks and at New Orleans, defeated them, pursued them into Florida, took Pensacola, and banished the Spanish authorities and troops. He was. however, supported in these high-handed measures by the president; and in 1819 Florida was ceded by Spain to the United States. In 1820 Alabama and Maine, a slave and a free state, were added to the union; and the question of the admission of Missouri arose iu congress—the question of its admission with or without slavery. At the period
of the revolution, slavery existed in all the states except Massachusetts; but it had grad ually been abolished in the northern and middle states, except Delaware, and excluded from the new states between the Ohio and Mississippi by the terms on which the territory had been surrendered by Virginia to the union. Under the constitution, slaves were not counted in full as a represented population ; but by a compromise, three-fifths of their numbers were added to the whites. The slave states were almost exclusively agricultural, with free-trade interests. The free states were encouraging manufactures by protection. The two sections had already entered upon a struggle to maintain the balance of power against each other. After an excited contest, Missouri was admitted, with a compromise resolution, that in future no slave state should be erected n. of the parallel of 36° 30' n. lat.—the northern boundary of Arkansas. During the second term of Mr. Monroe, in 1824, gen. Lafayette visited America, and was everywhere received with great enthusiasm. In the presidential election of 1824 there were four candidates —John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford. There being no choice by the people, the house of representatives chose Mr. Adams; John C. Calhoun being elected vice-president. Party and sectional feeling became stronger. Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, who had heretofore acted with the party of Jeffer son and Madison, were henceforth identified with what was called the national repub lican, and later, the whig, and finally, in union with the anti-slavery party, the repub Bean party. In 1826 two of the founders of the republic, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died on July 4, the anniversary of the declaration of independence—an event which made a profound impression. The four years of Mr. Adams, during which there were violent contests on protection and the powers of the federal government to carry out public works within the states, ended with an excited election contest, which resulted in the triumph of the democratic party and the election of Andrew Jackson, with John C. Calhoun as vice-president. The bold, decisive, and impetuous character of gen. Jackson was shown in a general removal of those who held office, down to small postmasters and tidewaiters, under the late administration, and the appointment of his own partisans. An act for the rechartering of the United States bank was met by a •eto of the president, who declared it unconstitutional and dangerous. In 1832 an Indian war. called the Black Hawk war, broke out in but the passing of a high protective tariff act by congress caused a more serious trouble. The state of South Carolina declared the act unconstitutional, and therefore null and void, threatening to withdraw from the union if an attempt were made to collect the duties on foreign importations. The president prepared to execute the laws by force; Mr. Calhoun resigned his office of vice-president, and asserted the doctrine of state rights, including the right of secession, in the senate. A collision seemed imminent, when the affair was settled by a compromise bill, introduced by Henry Clay. providing for a gradual reduction of duties, until 1843 when they should not exceed 20 per cent ad valorem..