Allusion must be made to the invasion of Florida by General Jackson in 1818. From 1812 difficulties had existed with the Seminole Indians, while many fugitive slaves fled to the northern part of the State and amalgamated with the savages. These negroes settled on the Appalachicola River, and, furnished with arms by the British, defied the American authorities. Their stronghold was destroyed by General Clinch in 1816, but annoyance from the Seminoles continued. In 1818 General Jackson invaded Florida, destroyed the Indian towns, and took possession of the town of Pensacola and the Spanish fort of St. Mark’s. The controversy thus provoked with Spain resulted in the cession of the whole of Florida to the United States, February 22d, 1819. The political state of the country from 1816 to 1820, during Monroe’s administration, was peculiar in that only one political party existed--a condition of affairs never witnessed before or since. This was known as “the era of good feeling.” Industrially, however, it was an era of great depression. The prosperity which followed the war of 1812 had vanished, and the natural revulsion from abnormally high prices had come. The banks suspended specie payments and gold and silver disappeared. The Bank of the United States was in a demoralized condition, and ruin and bankruptcy prevailed everywhere. From this distress it took several years for the United States to recover. A notable feature of the time was the consideration in Congress of the problem of internal improvements. Large appropriations were made for a canal route across Florida, for a national road from Cumberland, Maryland, to Ohio, etc. The greatest enterprise was the Erie Canal, built by the State of New York at a cost of ten millions of dollars. Among other events worthy of mention was the founding of the Anti-Slavery Association in 1815, the formation of the first savings bank in Philadelphia, the founding of colleges and universities in almost every State in the Union, and the crossing of the first ocean steamship. The history of this period must not be closed without allusion to the famous “Monroe Doctrine.” America had long held itself aloof from interference in European affairs, but until now she had never asserted her determination not to be interfered with. In Monroe’s message of 1823, occurs the passage which, although it never received official sanction from Congress, immediately became a fixed and unalterable part of our national policy: that any attempt to extend foreign systems of government to any part of this hemisphere is declared dangerous to our peace and safety, and shall be taken as a manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.