"We look too much abroad," said he. "Let us
break these commercial and political fetters; let us no longer watch
the nod of any European politician; let us become real and true
Americans, and place ourselves at the head of the American system."
[Footnote: Annals of Cong., 16 Cong., 1 Sess., II., 2727.]
Clay was steadily gaining support in his efforts to force the hands
of the administration: his resolutions won by a fair majority, and
again, in February, 1821, he secured the almost unanimous assent of
the House to a resolution of sympathy with South America. Another
resolution, expressing the readiness of that body to support the
president whenever he should think it expedient to recognize the
republics, passed by a vote of 86 to 68, and the triumphant Clay was
placed at the head of a committee to wait on the president with this
resolution.[Footnote: Ibid., 2229, and 2 Sess., 1081, 1091; Adams,
Memoirs, V., 268]
Although the victory was without immediate effect on the
administration, which refused to act while the Florida treaty was
still unratified, Adams perceived that the popular current was
growing too strong to be much longer stemmed; the charge of
dependence upon England was one not easy to be borne, and Clay's
vision of an independent American system guided by the United States
had its influence on his mind.
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