USA > Michigan > Newaygo County > Portrait and biographical album of Newaygo County, Michigan : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county also containing a complete history of the county, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 3
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Mr. Madison served as Secretary of State under Jefferson, and at the close of his administration was chosen President. At this time the encroach- ments of England had brought us to the verge of war.
British orders in council destroyed our commerce, and our flag was exposed to constant insult. Mr. Madison was a man of peace. Scholarly in his taste, retiring in his disposition, war had no charms for him. But the meekest spirit can be roused. It makes one's blood boil, even now, to think of an American ship brought to, upon the ocean, by the guns of an English cruiser. A young lieutenant steps on board and orders the crew to be paraded before him. With great nonchal- ance he selects any number whom he may please to designate as British subjects ; orders them down the ship's side into his boat; and places them on the gun- deck of his man-of-war, to fight, by compulsion, the battles of England. This right of search and im- pressment, no efforts of our Government could induce the British cabinet to relinquish.
On the 18th of June, 1812, President Madison gave his approval to an act of Congress declaring war against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the bitter hostility of the Federal party to the war, the country in general approved; and Mr. Madison, on the 4th of March, 1813, was re-elected by a large majority, and entered upon his second term of office. This is not the place to describe the various adventures of this war on the land and on the water. Our infant
navy then laid the foundations of its renown in grap- pling with the most formidable power which ever swept the seas. The contest commenced in earnest by the appearance of a British fleet, early in February, 1813, in Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole coast of the United States under blockade.
The Emperor of Russia offered his services as me ditator. America accepted; England refused. A Brit- ish force of five thousand men landed on the banks of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into Chesa- peake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of Bladens- burg, upon Washington.
The straggling little city of Washington was thrown into consternation. The cannon of the brief conflict at Bladensburg echoed through the streets of the metropolis. The whole population fled from the city. The President, leaving Mrs. Madison in the White House, with her carriage drawn up at the door to await his speedy return, hurried to meet the officers in a council of war. He met our troops utterly routed, and he could not go back without danger of being captured. But few hours elapsed ere the Presidential Mansion, the Capitol, and all the public buildings in Washington were in flames.
The war closed after two years of fighting, and on Feb. 13, 1815, the treaty of peace was signed at Ghent.
On the 4th of March, 1817, his second term of office expired, and he resigned the Presidential chair to his friend, James Monroe. He retired to his beau- tiful home at Montpelier, and there passed the re- mainder of his days. On June 28, 1836, then at the age of 85 years, he fell asleep in death. Mrs. Madi- son died July 12, 1849.
James Monroe
35
FIFTH PRESIDENT.
JAMES MONROE.
387566
AMES MONROE, the fifth President of The United States, was born in Westmoreland Co., Va., April 28, 1758. His early life was passed at the place of nativity. His ancestors had for many years resided in the prov- ince in which he was born. When, at 17 years of age, in the process of completing his education at William and Mary College, the Co- lonial Congress assembled at Phila- delphia to deliberate upon the un- just and manifold oppressions of Great Britian, declared the separa- tion of the Colonies, and promul- gated the Declaration of Indepen- dence. Had he been born ten years before it is highly probable that he would have been one of the signers of that celebrated instrument. At this time he left school and enlisted among the patriots.
He joined the army when everything looked hope- less and gloomy. The number of deserters increased from day to day. The invading armies came pouring in ; and the tories not only favored the cause of the mother country, but disheartened the new recruits, who were sufficiently terrified at the prospect of con- tending with an enemy whom they had been taught to deem invincible. To such brave spirits as James Monroe, who went right onward, undismayed through difficulty and danger, the United States owe their political emancipation. The young cadet joined the ranks, and espoused the cause of his injured country, with a firm determination to live or die with her strife
for liberty. Firmly yet sadly he shared in the mel- ancholy retreat from Harleam Heights and White Plains, and accompanied the dispirited army as it fled before its foes through New Jersey. In four months after the Declaration of Independence, the patriots had been beaten in seven battles. At the battle of Trenton he led the vanguard, and, in the act of charg- ing upon the enemy he received a wound in the left shoulder.
As a reward for his bravery, Mr. Monroe was pro- moted a captain of infantry; and, having recovered from his wound, he rejoined the army. He, however, receded from the line of promotion, by becoming an officer in the staff of Lord Sterling. During the cam- paigns of 1777 and 1778, in the actions of Brandy- wine, Germantown and Monmouth, he continued aid-de-camp; but becoming desirous to regain his position in the army, he exerted himself to collect a regiment for the Virginia line. This scheme failed owing to the exhausted condition of the State. Upon this failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at that period Governor, and pursued, with considerable ardor, the study of common law. He did not, however, entirely lay aside the knapsack for the green bag; but on the invasions of the enemy, served as a volun- teer, during the two years of his legal pursuits.
In 1782, he was elected from King George county, a member of the Leglislature of Virginia, and by that body he was elevated to a seat in the Executive Council. He was thus honored with the confidence of his fellow citizens at 23 years of age ; and having at this early period displayed some of that ability and aptitude for legislation, which were afterwards employed with unremitting energy for the public good,
36
JAMES MONROE.
he was in the succeeding year chosen a member of the Congress of the United States.
Deeply as Mr. Monroe felt the imperfections of the old Confederacy, he was opposed to the new Constitution, thinking, with many others of the Republican party, that it gave too much power to the Central Government, and not enough to the individual States. Still he re- tained the esteem of his friends who were its warm supporters, and who, notwithstanding his opposition secured its adoption. In 1789, lie became a member of the United States Senate; which office he held for four years. Every month the line of distinction be- tween the two great parties which divided the nation, the Federal and the Republican, was growing more distinct. The two proniinent ideas which now sep- arated them were, that the Republican party was in sympathy with France, and also in favor of such a strict construction of the Constitution as to give the Central Government as little power, and the State Governments as much power, as the Constitution would warrant. The Federalists sympathized with England, and were in favor of a liberal construction of the Con- stitution, which would give as much power to the Central Government as that document could possibly authorize.
The leading Federalists and Republicans were alike noble men, consecrating all their energies to the good of the nation. Two more honest men or more pure patriots than John Adams the Federalist, and James Monroe the Republican, never breathed. In building up this majestic nation, which is destined to eclipse all Grecian and Assyrian greatness, the com- bination of their antagonism was needed to create the right equilibrium. And yet each in his day was de- nounced as almost a demon.
Washington was then President. England had es- poused the cause of the Bourbons against the princi- ples of the French Revolution. All Europe was drawn into the conflict. We were feeble and far away. Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality be- tween these contending powers. France had helped us in the struggle for our liberties. All the despotisms of Europe were now combined to prevent the French from escaping from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse than that which we had endured. Col. Monroe, more magnanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in their extremity. It was the impulse of a generous and noble nature. He violently opposed the Pres- ident's proclamation as ungrateful and wanting in magnanimity.
Washington, who could appreciate such a character, developed his calm, serene, alinost divine greatness, by appointing that very James Monroe, who was de- nouncing the policy of the Government, as the minister of that Government to the Republic of France. Mr. Monroe was welcomed by the National Convention in France with the most enthusiastic demonstrations.
Shortly after his return to this country, Mr. Mon- roe was elected Governor of Virginia, and held the office for three years. He was again sent to France to co-operate with Chancellor Livingston in obtaining the vast territory then known as the Province of Louisiana, which France had but shortly before ob- tained from Spain. Their united efforts were suc- cessful. For the comparatively small sum of fifteen millions of dollars, the entire territory of Orleans and district of Louisiana were added to the United States. This was probably the largest transfer of real estate which was ever made in all the history of the world.
From France Mr. Monroe went to England to ob- tain from that country some recognition of our rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate against those odious impressments of our seamen. But Eng- land was unrelenting. He again returned to Eng- land on the same mission, but could receive no redress. He returned to his home and was again chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon resigned to accept the position of Secretary of State under Madison. While in this office war with England was declared, the Secretary of War resigned, and during these trying times, the duties of the War Department were also put upon him. He was truly the armor- bearer of President Madison, and the most efficient business man in his cabinet. Upon the return of peace he resigned the Department of War, but con- tinued in the office of Secretary of State until the ex- piration of Mr. Madison's adminstration. At the elec- tion held the previous autumn Mr. Monroe himself had been chosen President with but little opposition, and upon March 4, 1817, was inaugurated. Four years later he was elected for a second term.
Among the important measures of his Presidency were the cession of Florida to the United States; the Missouri Compromise, and the " Monroe doctrine."
This famous doctrine, since known as the " Monroe doctrine," was enunciated by him in 1823. At that time the United States had recognized the independ- ence of the South American states, and did not wish to have European powers longer attempting to sub- due portions of the American Continent. The doctrine is as follows : "That we should consider any attempt on the part of European powers to extend their sys- tem to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety," and "that we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing or controlling American governments or provinces in any other light than as a manifestation by European powers of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." This doctrine immediately affected the course of foreign governments, and has become the approved sentiment of the United States.
At the end of his second term Mr. Monroe retired to his home in Virginia, where he lived until 1830, when he went to New York to live with his son-in- law. In that city he died, on the 4th of July, 1831.
9, 2. Adams
39
SIXTH PRESIDENT.
JORD QUINCY ADAMS.
OHN QUINCY ADAMS, the sixth President of the United States, was born in the rural home of his honored father, John Adams, in Quincy, Mass., on the IIth of July, 1767. His mother, a woman of exalted worth, watched over his childhood during the almost constant ab- sence of his father. When but eight years of age, he stood with his mother on an eminence, listen- ing to the booming of the great bat- tle on Bunker's Hill, and gazing on upon the smoke and flames billow- ing up from the conflagration of Charlestown.
When but eleven years old he took a tearful adieu of his mother, to sail with his father for Europe, through a fleet of hostile British cruisers. The bright, animated boy spent a year and a half in Paris, where his father was associated with Franklin and Lee as minister plenipotentiary. His intelligence attracted the notice of these distinguished men, and he received from them flattering marks of attention.
Mr. John Adams had scarcely returned to this . country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. Again John Quincy accompanied his father. At Paris he applied himself with great diligence, for six months, to study; then accompained his father to Holland, where he entered, first a school in Amsterdam, then the University at Leyden. About a year from this time, in 1781, when the manly boy was but fourteen years of age, he was selected by Mr. Dana, our min- ister to the Russian court, as his private secretary.
In this school of incessant labor and of enobling culture he spent fourteen months, and then returned to Holland through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and Bremen. This long journey he took alone, in the winter, when in his sixteenth year. Again he resumed his studies, under a private tutor, at Hague. Thence,
in the spring of 1782, he accompanied his father to Paris, traveling leisurely, and forming acquaintance with the most distinguished men on the Continent; examining architectural remains, galleries of paintings, and all renowned works of art. At Paris he again became associated with the most illustrious men of all lands in the contemplations of the loftiest temporal themes which can engross the human mind. After a short visit to England he returned to Paris, and consecrated all his energies to study until May, 1785, when he returned to America. To a brilliant young man of eighteen, who had seen much of the world, and who was familiar with the etiquette of courts, a residence with his father in London, under such cir- cumstances, must have been extremely attractive ; but with judgment very rare in one of his age, he pre- ferred to return to America to complete his education in an American college. He wished then to study law, that with an honorable profession, he might be able to obtain an independent support.
Upon leaving Harvard College, at the age of twenty, he studied law for three years. In June, 1794, be- ing then but twenty-seven years of age, he was ap- pointed by Washington, resident minister at the Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in July, he reached London in October, where he was immediately admit- ted to the deliberations of Messrs. Jay and Pinckney, assisting them in negotiating a commercial treaty with Great Britian. After thus spending a fortnight in London, he proceeded to the Hague.
In July, 1797, he left the Hague to go to Portugal as minister plenipotentiary. On his way to Portugal, upon arriving in London, he met with despatches directing him to the court of Berlin, but requesting him to remain in London until he should receive his instructions. While waiting he was married to an American lady to whom he had been previously en- gaged,-Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, daughter of Mr. Joshua Johnson, American consul in London ; a lady endownd with that beanty and those accom- plishment which eminently fitted her to move in the elevated sphere for which she was destined.
40
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
He reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797 ; where he remained until July, 1799, when, having ful- filled all the purposes of his mission, he solicited his recall.
Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen to the Senate of Massachusetts, from Boston, and then was elected Senator of the United States for six years, from the 4th of March, 1804. His reputation, his ability and his experience, placed him immediately among the most prominent and influential members of that body. Especially did he sustain the Govern- ment in its measures of resistance to the encroach- ments of England, destroying our commerce and in- sulting our flag. There was no man in America more familiar with the arrogance of the British court upon these points, and no one more resolved to present a firm resistance.
In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the Pres- idential chair, and he immediately nominated John Quincy Adams minister to St. Petersburg. Resign- ing his professorship in Harvard College, he embarked at Boston, in August, 1809.
While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense stu- dent. He devoted his attention to the language and history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; to the European system of weights, measures, and coins ; to the climate and astronomical observations ; while he kept up a familiar acquaintance with the Greek and Latin classics. In all the universities of Europe, a more accomplished scholar could scarcely be found. All through life the Bible constituted an important part of his studies. It was his rule to read five chapters every day.
On the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. Monroe took the Presidential chair, and immediately appointed Mr. Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of his num- erous friends in public and private life in Europe, he sailed in June, 1819, for the United States. On the 18th of August, he again crossed the threshold of his home in Quincy. During the eight years of Mr. Mon- roe's administration, Mr. Adams continued Secretary of State.
Some time before the close of Mr. Monroe's second term of office, new candidates began to be presented for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. Adams brought forward his name. It was an exciting campaign. Party spirit was never more bitter. Two hundred and sixty electoral votes were cast. Andrew Jackson re- ceived ninety-nine ; John Quincy Adams, eighty-four; William H. Crawford, forty-one; Henry Clay, thirty- seven. As there was no choice by the people, the question went to the House of Representatives. Mr. Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to Mr. Adams, and he was elected.
The friends of all the disappointed candidates now combined in a venomous and persistent assault upon Mr. Adams. There is nothing more disgraceful in the past history of our country than the abuse which
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was poured in one uninterrupted stream, upon this high-minded, upright, patriotic man. There never was an administration more pure in principles, more con- scientiously devoted to the best interests of the coun- try, than that of John Quincy Adams; and never, per- haps, was there an administration more unscrupu- lously and outrageously assailed.
Mr. Adams was, to a very remarkable degree, ab- stemious and temperate in his habits; always rising early, and taking much exercise. When at his home in Quincy, he has been known to walk, before breakfast. seven miles to Boston. In Washington, it was said that he was the first man up in the city, lighting his own fire and applying himself to work in his library often long before dawn.
On the 4th of March, 1829, Mr. Adams retired from the Presidency, and was succeeded by Andrew Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected Vice Presi- dent. The slavery question now began to assume portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams returned to Quincy and to his studies, which he pursued with un- abated zeal. But he was not long permitted to re- main in retirement. In November, 1830, he was elected representative to Congress. For seventeen years, until his death, he occupied the post as repre- sentative, towering above all his peers, ever ready to do brave battle' for freedom, and winning the title of "the old man eloquent." Upon taking his seat in the House, he announced that he should hold him- self bound to no party. Probably there never was a member more devoted to his duties. He was usually the first in his place in the morning, and the last to leave his seat in the evening. Not a measure could be brought forward and escape his scrutiny. The battle which Mr. Adams fought, almost singly, against the proslavery party in the Government, was sublime in its moral daring and heroism. For persisting in presenting petitions for the abolition of slavery, he was threatened with indictment by the grand jury, with expulsion from the House, with assassination ; but no threats could intimidate him, and his final triumph was complete.
It has been said of President Adams, that when his body was bent and his hair silvered by the lapse of fourscore years, yielding to the simple faith of a little child, he was accustomed to repeat every night, before he slept, the prayer which his mother taught him in his infant years.
On the 21st of February, 1848, he rose on the floor of Congress, with a paper in his hand, to address the speaker. Suddenly he fell, again stricken by paraly- sis, and was caught in the arms of those around him. For a time he was senseless, as he was conveyed to the sofa in the rotunda. With reviving conscious- ness, he opened his eyes, looked calmly around and said " This is the end of earth ;"then after a moment's pause he added, "I am content." These were the last words of the grand "Old Man Eloquent."
Andrew Jackson
4.3
SEVENTH PRESIDENT.
00 ANDREW JACKSON.
NDREW JACKSON, the seventh President of the United States, was born in Waxhaw settlement, N. C., March 15, 1767, a few days after his father's death. His parents were poor emigrants from Ireland, and took up their abode in Waxhaw set- tlement, where they lived in deepest poverty.
Andrew, or Andy, as he was universally called, grew up a very rough, rude, turbulent boy. His features were coarse, his form un- gainly; and there was but very. little in his character, made visible, which was at- tractive.
When only thirteen years old he joined the volun- teers of Carolina against the British invasion. In 1781, he and his brother Robert were captured and imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British officer ordered him to brush his mud-spattered boots. "I am a prisoner of war, not your servant," was the reply of the dauntless boy.
The brute drew his sword, and aimed a desperate blow at the head of the helpless young prisoner. Andrew raised his hand, and thus received two fear- ful gashes,-one on the hand and the other upon the head. The officer then turned to his brother Robert with the same demand. He also refused, and re- ceived a blow from the keen-edged sabre, which quite disabled him, and which probably soon after caused his death. They suffered much other ill-treatment, and were finally stricken with the small-pox. Their mother was successful in obtaining their exchange,
and took her sick boys home. After a long illness Andrew recovered, and the death of his mother soon left him entirely friendless.
Andrew supported himself in various ways, such as working at the saddler's trade, teaching school and clerking in a general store, until 1784, when he entered a law office at Salisbury, N. C. He, however, gave more attention to the wild amusements of the times than to his studies. In 1788, he was appointed solicitor for the western district of North Carolina, of which Tennessee was then a part. This involved many long and tedious journeys amid dangers of every kind, but Andrew Jackson never knew fear, and the Indians had no desire to repeat a skirmish with the Sharp Knife.
In 1791, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman who supposed herself divorced from her former husband. Great was the surprise of both parties, two years later, to find that the conditions of the divorce had just been definitely settled by the first husband. The marriage ceremony was performed a second time, but the occur- rence was often used by his enemies to bring Mr. Jackson into disfavor.
During these years he worked hard at his profes- sion, and frequently had one or more duels on hand, one of which, when he killed Dickenson, was espec- ially disgraceful.
In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee then containing nearly eighty thousand inhabitants, the people met in convention at Knoxville to frame a con- stitution. Five were sent from each of the eleven counties. Andrew Jackson was one of the delegates. The new State was entitled to but one member in the National House of Representatives. Andrew Jack- son was chosen that member. Mounting his horse he rode to Philedelphia, where Congress then held its
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44
ANDREW JACKSON.
sessions,-a distance of about eight hundred miles. Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo- cratic party. Jefferson was his idol. He admired Bonaparte, loved France and hated England. As Mr. Jackson took his seat, Gen. Washington, whose second term of office was then expiring, delivered his last speech to Congress. A committee drew up a complimentary address in reply. Andrew Jackson did not approve of the address, and was one of the twelve who voted against it. He was not willing to say that Gen. Washington's adminstration had been " wise, firm and patriotic."
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