[146] Born in 1767; died, 1848. Taken to the University of Leyden early in life, and at fourteen was secretary to the Minister to Russia; graduated at Harvard, 1788; admitted to the bar, 1791; Minister to Holland, 1794–1797; to Prussia, 1797–1801; United States senator, 1803–1808; Minister to Russia, 1809–1814; Minister to England, 1814–1817; Secretary of State, 1817–1825; elected President by House of Representatives in 1825; reëntered House of Representatives, 1831, where he continued till his death, a model legislator in every department of public business. His diary, twelve volumes of which have been published, is a mine of valuable information. [147] It should be noted that in 1824 Lafayette made a triumphal tour of the country as the guest of the nation. The reception given him is said to have made even the Presidential campaign seem of secondary interest. [Illustration: UNITED STATES IN 1825–1830] [Illustration: UNITED STATES IN 1825–1830] PART IV. SPREAD OF DEMOCRACY AND EXTENSION OF TERRITORY, 1825–1850. * * * * * CHAPTER XVIII. =THE ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 1825—1829.= FAILURES OF THE ADMINISTRATION. =335. Character of Adams’s Administration.=—Adams was a statesman of great ability and experience and of high integrity, but he represented ideas of strong government not pleasing to the masses. He seemed to be a Federalist veneered with Democracy. He did not have the faculty of winning and holding friends. He could not be easy in his manners, and, on the other hand, his dignity lacked grace. Besides, his election had been disputed, his opponents were factious, and events favored him almost as little as they had done his father. The strongest man in his Cabinet, Clay, was really a source of weakness to him, for Jackson’s friends continued to pretend to believe in the corrupt bargain.[148] Adams’s administration was, therefore, on the whole, a failure. =336. Foreign Affairs.=—Even in foreign affairs, where, being a trained diplomatist, he had been previously successful, things went against Adams. He secured a number of good commercial treaties, but lost the important trade with the British West Indian ports through the failure to comply in time with certain demands of Great Britain. Perhaps if he had used the tact afterward displayed by Jackson, he would have secured the trade without trouble. But, as it was, the fault lay mainly with Congress, which took delight in humiliating the President.