1824 - John Quincy Adams elected president

Portrait by George Peter Alexander Healy

       John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams (second president) inherits half formed events that are destined to become colossal messes precipitating the first great Constitutional crisis over federalism, Indian sovereignty, and states' rights.

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         At the same time, the new Mexican Constitution stipulated that Indians were citizens, a threshold that would not be crossed by the United States government for another century. Until the 1920s, Indians would be denied the basic rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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