When President Monroe assumed office in 1817, he first concentrated on healing some of the nation's political divisions. The New England population had not supported the War of 1812, and even threatened to secede from the Union on a few occasions. Monroe attempted to calm these waters by touring the New England States in 1817. His visit greatly excited the New Englanders, who gave him a warm welcome. It seemed that a spirit of national unity was developing. It was to be short-lived, however, as a crisis was brewing that threatened to bring back threats of secession, this time from the South. A tremendous debate was brewing over whether the Territory of Missouri should be admitted as a slave state or a free state. The Senate refused to approve Missouri's admission as a slave state, and the House insisted upon it. The debate over slavery threatened the national unity that Monroe had desired when he assumed office. Finally, a compromise was reached, with Monroe's reluctant approval, that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. While the Compromise only postponed the Civil War, it was a prudent settlement to what could've been a serious crisis. The Compromise of 1820 pales in comparison to the actions of succeeding Presidents, most of whom refused to compromise on the issue of slavery. While no bloodshed was shed over the slavery debate, plenty of bloodshed was being shed in Georgia. Seminole Indians from Seminole-controlled Florida were crossing into Georgia and attacking American citizens. In retaliation, Monroe, in a prudent and justified move, sent General Andrew Jackson to Georgia to chase the Seminoles out of Georgia. However, Jackson, against his orders, continued on into Florida and slaughtered nearly 40 Seminole Indians. Jackson's actions stirred up great divisions in Monroe's cabinet, with John Calhoun demanding that Jackson be reprimanded, and John Quincey Adams insisting that Jackson be vindicated for his actions. Adams used the incident to pressure Spain into ceding Florida to the United States in the years that followed. Monroe's Jeffersonian principals guided his response to the economic collapse of 1819, which was caused by circumstances that he could not control. By the time that the Depression began, there was little that Monroe could do but watch and wait, and that's exactly what he did. I will comment more on Monroe's handling of this crisis under Economic Management. So, in the final analysis, what can be said about Monroe's crisis management? While many see his support for the Compromise of 1820 to be a weak response to a complicated crisis, I see it as being a prudent response that was necessary to ensure the preservation of our Union. It was not Monroe's support for this compromise that brought us closer to Civil War, but rather his successor's refusal to compromise on the issue of slavery, and that includes containing the growth of slavery. Monroe did what was necessary to preserve the peace. His response to the Seminole problem in Florida was also prudent and bold. Monroe was quite effective in crisis management, and he made his decisions based on prudence rather than on weakness.