rhetoric raised sectional differences to levels that threatened Congress with political schisms not seen since pre-Union days during the Confederation. General Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, won the popular vote, but neither he nor any one of the other three candidates—Secretary of State John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Secretary of War John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, and Speaker of the House Henry Clay of Kentucky—won a majority of electoral votes on December 1. The House of Representatives would have to select the president.
Again, Lafayette’s presence proved fortuitous for the nation. The four candidates had little choice but to put aside their differences to celebrate their nation’s independence and Lafayette’s heroism when he arrived to address a joint session of Congress on December 10. As he entered the great hall, two thousand people rose as one to cheer the great knight. The feuding presidential candidates rose with them, as did the justices of the Supreme Court, leaders of the army and navy, and the entire diplomatic corps, with one exception: the French ambassador was absent.
Three days after his speech, President Monroe asked Congress to compensate “the Nation’s Guest” for his services and sacrifices to the nation. Although the arrangements committee was paying all his expenses on his current tour, he had spent half his fortune on the American Revolution, lost the rest in the French Revolution, and had spent much of the capital that Adrienne had recovered to finance the abortive revolution of the Charbonniers. He would have to live thereafter on the volatile proceeds of his farm. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both supported the proposal, and Congress granted him $200,000 in government bonds yielding 6 percent annually and redeemable in ten years. It also awarded him a township of about thirty-six square miles of unsold public lands in Florida, on the southern Georgia border near Tallahassee, which it named La Grange Township.
On New Year’s Day, Congress gave a banquet in Lafayette’s honor; the four feuding candidates were there. The president, who would soon retire after eight years, broke with tradition and also attended, and the dinner began with Henry Clay’s toast to Monroe. After a portrait of Lafayette was presented to the Congress, Clay raised his glass to Lafayette: “To the great apostle of liberty whom the persecutions of tyranny could not defeat, whom the love of riches could not influence, whom popular applause could neverseduce. He was always the same, in the shackles of Olmütz, in his various labors on the summits of power and glory.” 26
Lafayette stood to reply with a toast “to the perpetual union of the United States. It has always saved us in times of storm; one day it will save the world.” 27 His prescient words embarrassed the candidates into softening the tones of their bitter rhetoric. On February 9, 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president. Some Jackson supporters had threatened violence, and foreign diplomats were gleefully predicting the collapse of the American republic, but at President Monroe’s reception for the president-elect at the Executive Mansion, Andrew Jackson appeared and stepped forward, his hand outstretched, to congratulate John Quincy Adams and pledge his loyal support. Lafayette beamed with satisfaction as he watched the promise of American liberty and republican self-government fulfilled. The French knight was content: liberty in America was secure.
In March, he began touring southern and western states, spending a few days each in the major cities of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The governors greeted him in every state capital, and Masonic lodges sponsored banquets in every town. He all but exploded with pride in North Carolina, where he visited the first American town named in his honor—Fayetteville. In the years that
Again, Lafayette’s presence proved fortuitous for the nation. The four candidates had little choice but to put aside their differences to celebrate their nation’s independence and Lafayette’s heroism when he arrived to address a joint session of Congress on December 10. As he entered the great hall, two thousand people rose as one to cheer the great knight. The feuding presidential candidates rose with them, as did the justices of the Supreme Court, leaders of the army and navy, and the entire diplomatic corps, with one exception: the French ambassador was absent.
Three days after his speech, President Monroe asked Congress to compensate “the Nation’s Guest” for his services and sacrifices to the nation. Although the arrangements committee was paying all his expenses on his current tour, he had spent half his fortune on the American Revolution, lost the rest in the French Revolution, and had spent much of the capital that Adrienne had recovered to finance the abortive revolution of the Charbonniers. He would have to live thereafter on the volatile proceeds of his farm. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both supported the proposal, and Congress granted him $200,000 in government bonds yielding 6 percent annually and redeemable in ten years. It also awarded him a township of about thirty-six square miles of unsold public lands in Florida, on the southern Georgia border near Tallahassee, which it named La Grange Township.
On New Year’s Day, Congress gave a banquet in Lafayette’s honor; the four feuding candidates were there. The president, who would soon retire after eight years, broke with tradition and also attended, and the dinner began with Henry Clay’s toast to Monroe. After a portrait of Lafayette was presented to the Congress, Clay raised his glass to Lafayette: “To the great apostle of liberty whom the persecutions of tyranny could not defeat, whom the love of riches could not influence, whom popular applause could neverseduce. He was always the same, in the shackles of Olmütz, in his various labors on the summits of power and glory.” 26
Lafayette stood to reply with a toast “to the perpetual union of the United States. It has always saved us in times of storm; one day it will save the world.” 27 His prescient words embarrassed the candidates into softening the tones of their bitter rhetoric. On February 9, 1825, the House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president. Some Jackson supporters had threatened violence, and foreign diplomats were gleefully predicting the collapse of the American republic, but at President Monroe’s reception for the president-elect at the Executive Mansion, Andrew Jackson appeared and stepped forward, his hand outstretched, to congratulate John Quincy Adams and pledge his loyal support. Lafayette beamed with satisfaction as he watched the promise of American liberty and republican self-government fulfilled. The French knight was content: liberty in America was secure.
In March, he began touring southern and western states, spending a few days each in the major cities of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The governors greeted him in every state capital, and Masonic lodges sponsored banquets in every town. He all but exploded with pride in North Carolina, where he visited the first American town named in his honor—Fayetteville. In the years that
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