ny pleasant Sunday or
holiday in the public garden in Boston from the group of Italians who
gather about the statue of Washington, showing, by their mobile faces
and animated talk, that they revere him who is the father of their
adopted country.

During these five administrations, at least two important extensions or
assertions of executive power were made. In 1803 Jefferson bought
Louisiana, doing, he said, "an act beyond the Constitution." He was a
strict constructionist, and was deeply concerned at the variance between
his constitutional principles and a desire for the material advantage of
his country. In an effort to preserve his consistency he suggested to
his Cabinet and political friends an amendment to the Constitution
approving and confirming the cession of this territory, but they,
deeming such an amendment entirely unnecessary, received his suggestion
coldly. In the debate on the Louisiana treaty in the Senate and the
House, all speakers of both parties agreed that "the United States
government had the power to acquire new territory either by conquest or
by treaty."[164] Louisiana, "without its consent and against its will,"
was annexed to the United States, and Jefferson "made himself monarch of
the new territory, and wielded over it, against its protests, the
powers of its old kings."[165]

The assertion by the President in 1823 of the Monroe Doctrine (which Mr.
Worthington C. Ford has shown to be the John Quincy Adams doctrine) is
an important circumstance in the development of the executive power.

President John Quincy Adams was succeeded by Andrew Jackson, a man of
entirely different character from those who had preceded him in the
office, and he represented different aims. Adams deserved another term.
His sturdy Americanism, tempered by the cautiousness in procedure which
was due to his rare training, made him an excellent public servant, and
the country erred in not availing itself of his further service. The
change from the _regime_ of the first six Presidents to that of Jackson
was probably inevitable. A high-toned democracy, based on a qualified
suffrage, believing in the value of training for public life and
administrative office, setting a value on refinement and good manners,
was in the end sure to give way to a pure democracy based on universal
suffrage whenever it could find a leader to give it force and direction.
Jackson was such a leader. His followers felt: "He is one of us. He is
not