" He appealed to
Congress to support an American system by recognizing these sister
republics, and argued that, both in diplomacy and in commerce they
would be guided by an American policy and aid the United States to
free itself from dependence on Europe. His motion was lost by an
overwhelming majority, but the speech made a deep impression.
[Footnote: Annals of Cong., 15 Cong., 1 Sess., II., 1474.]
In the two years which elapsed between the negotiation and the
ratification of the Florida treaty, the president was several times
on the point of recommending the forcible occupation of Florida, but
he withheld the blow, hoping that the liberal Spanish government
established under the constitution of 1820 might be brought to give
its consent to the cession. The impetuous Clay chafed under this
delay, and on May 10, 1820, he broke forth in another speech, in
support of a resolution declaring the expediency of sending
ministers to the South American states. Charging the administration,
and especially John Quincy Adams, with subserviency to Great
Britain, he demanded that the United States should become the center
of a system against the despotism of the Old World and should act on
its own responsibility.
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