SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, ss. BE it remembered, that on the 19th day of May, A. D. 1827, in the fiftyfirst year of the Independence of the United States of America, G & C. Carvill, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors in the words following, to wit: "The American Annual Register for the years 1825-6, or, the fiftieth year of American Independence." In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also, to an Act, entitled, "An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." FRED. I. BETTS, Clerk of the Southern District of New-York. Sleight & George, Printers, Jamaica, L. I. PREFACE. THE want of a work, similar to the English Annual Register, has been long felt, and generally acknowledged, in this country. From the difficulty of procuring accurate information, concerning the domestic history of the United States, public opinion at home has been often misled, with regard to the conduct of the government; and the moral force of our free institutions has been much diminished abroad, by the ignorance, which prevails in other countries, relative to the condition of the American states. It is also essential, in order to facilitate the progress of liberal principles; that there should be given of the course of events in the European states, a historical statement, uninfluenced by the governments, which there to a great degree control the means of affecting public opinion. With the view of attaining these desirable ends, the American Annual Register is commenced. Much difficulty has been found in collecting authentic materials, relating to the local and domestic history of the United States. Hereafter it is with good reason hoped, that the requisite information will be more easily procured. Notwithstanding the deficiencies of this volume are felt, it is thought important to commence the publication, as one of the surest means of facilitating the collection of information, and ensuring the ultimate success of the work. Pursuant to the plan originally proposed, the history of the year, according to the legal division, from one national anniversary to the succeeding one in 1826, has been given. This plan, however, has not been rigidly adhered to, when it was necessary to give unity to a historical statement, either by tracing it back to its origin, or by bringing it when practicable, to a conclusion. Among other matters, biographical sketches of such eminent men as have died within the year, have been inserted. In doing this, the materials have been collected from other publications; and in the European biographies, the language has been preserved. This publication will be conducted upon strictly national principles; and it is contemplated, that a volume will make its appearance in the spring of each year. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Retrospective view-Independence of the United States-Abolition of Colonial System-Views of Great Britain-Independence of Spanish America-Policy of the United States-Dissolution of PartiesVisit of La Fayette-National Jubilee-Deaths of Adams and Jefferson. The interest, however, which was derived from a recurrence to past events, was soon absorbed in the important occurrences that were crowded within the year. Although the revolution, which was to produce an entire change in the condition of America, had previously commenced, and had already advanced to that point, from which (experience teaches) it could not retrograde; it was reserved for this year to witness those signal events, which have forever separated the greatest part of the western hemisphere from Europe. The 50th year of the national ty, and its gradual emancipation independence of the United States, from European sway. will be long regarded as marking an important epoch in the history of the western hemisphere. A common prejudice, founded upon associations connected with our religious faith, had imparted to this era an interest, growing out of the recollections of the revolution, and the important consequences of that event. The attention of the American people was naturally directed to it, as the jubilee of national independence, and a comparison was instituted between the infancy and maturity of the country; between the condition of the United States, when as thirteen colonies, thinly scattered along a narrow strip of the Atlantic coast, they asserted their claim to independence, and vindicated it by a recital of their wrongs, and now, when reposing in conscious strength on the bosom of the continent, they are witnessing the progressive triumph of their principles to its southern extremi On the 25th of August, 1825, the extensive empire of Brazil was finally severed from the mother country, by the formal recognition of its independence by the king of Portugal, and afterwards, when, by the death of his father, the Portuguese crown devolved upon Don Pedro, the emperor of Brazil, the inconvenience of such a connection was so strongly impressed |