witnessed the return of Napoleon from Elba and the exciting events that followed up to the eve of Waterloo. Here his wife and children joined him, after a tedious journey from St. Petersburg, not without distress and peril by the way. By this time Mr. Adams had been appointed commissioner, with Clay and Gallatin, to negotiate a new commercial treaty with England. This treaty was completed on 13 July, 1815; but already, on 26 May, when Mr. Adams arrived in London, he had received the news of his appointment as minister to England. The series of double coincidences in the Adams family between missions to England and treaties with that power is curious. First John Adams is minister, just after his share in the treaty that concluded the revolutionary war, then his son, just after the treaty that concluded the war of 1812–'15, and then the grandson is minister during the civil war and afterward takes part in the treaty that disposed of the Alabama question.
After an absence of eight years, John Quincy
Adams was called back to his native land to serve
as secretary of state under President Monroe. A
new era in American politics was dawning. The
war which had just been concluded has sometimes
been called our second war of independence;
certainly the year 1815, which saw the end of the long
strife between France and England, marks an
important era in American history. Our politics
ceased to be concerned mainly with foreign affairs.
So suddenly were men's bones of political contention
taken away from them that Monroe's
presidency is traditionally remembered as the “era of
good feeling.” So far as political parties were
concerned, such an epithet is well applied; but as
between prominent individuals struggling covertly to
supplant one another, it was anything rather than
an era of good feeling. Mr. Adams's principal
achievement as secretary of state was the treaty
with Spain, whereby Florida was ceded to the
United States in consideration of $5,000,000, to be
applied to the liquidation of outstanding claims of
American merchants against Spain. By the same
treaty the boundary between Louisiana and Mexico
was established as running along the Sabine and
Red rivers, the upper Arkansas, the crest of the
Rocky mountains, and the 42d parallel. Mr.
Adams defended the conduct of Gen. Jackson in
invading Spanish Florida and hanging Arbuthnot
and Ambrister. He supported the policy of recognizing
the independence of the revolted colonies of
Spanish America, and he was the principal author
of what is known as the “Monroe Doctrine,” that
the American continent is no longer open to
colonization by European powers. His official report
on weights and measures showed remarkable
scientific knowledge. Toward the close of Monroe's
first term came up the first great political question
growing out of the purchase of Louisiana: Should
Missouri be admitted to the union as a slave-state,
and should slavery be allowed or prohibited in the
vast territory beyond? After the Missouri
compromise had passed through congress, and been
submitted to President Monroe for his signature,
two questions were laid before the cabinet. First,
had congress the constitutional right to prohibit
slavery in a territory? and, secondly, in prohibiting
slavery “forever” in the territory north of Mason
and Dixon's line, as prolonged beyond the Mississippi
river, did the Missouri bill refer to this
district only so long as it should remain under
territorial government, or did it apply to such states as
might in future be formed from it? To the first
question the cabinet replied unanimously in the
affirmative. To the second question Mr. Adams
replied that the term “forever” really meant
forever; but all his colleagues replied that it only
meant so long as the district in question should
remain under territorial government. Here for
the first time we see Mr. Adams taking that firm
stand in opposition to slavery which hereafter was
to make him so famous.
Mr. Monroe's second term of office had scarcely begun when the question of the succession came into the foreground. The candidates were John Quincy Adams, secretary of state; William H. Crawford, secretary of the treasury; John C. Calhoun, secretary of war; and Henry Clay, speaker of the house of representatives. Shortly before the election Gen. Jackson's strength began to loom up as more formidable than the other competitors had supposed. Jackson was then at the height of his popularity as a military hero, Crawford was the most dexterous political manager in the country. Clay was perhaps the most persuasive orator. Far superior to these three in intelligence and character, Mr. Adams was in no sense a popular favorite. His manners were stiff and disagreeable; he told the truth bluntly, whether it hurt or not; and he never took pains to conciliate any one. The best of men in his domestic circle, outside of it he had few warm friends, but he seemed to have a talent for making enemies. When Edward Everett asked him if he was “determined to do nothing with a view to promote his future election to the presidency as the successor of Mr. Monroe,” he replied that he “should do absolutely nothing,” and from this resolution he never swerved. He desired the presidency as much as any one who was ever chosen to that high office; but his nature was such that unless it should come to him without scheming of his own, and as the unsolicited expression of popular trust in him, all its value would be lost. Under the circumstances, it was a remarkable evidence of the respect felt for his lofty character and distinguished services that he should have obtained the presidency at all. The result of the election showed 99 votes for Jackson, 84 for Adams, 41 for Crawford, 37 for Clay. Mr. Calhoun, who had withdrawn from the contest for the presidency, received 182 votes for the vice-presidency, and was elected. The choice of the president was thrown into the house of representatives, and Mr. Clay now used his great influence in favor of Mr. Adams, who was forthwith elected. When Adams afterward made Clay his secretary of state, the disappointed partisans of Jackson pretended that there had been a bargain between the two, that Adams had secured Clay's assistance by promising him the first place in the cabinet, and thus, according to a usage that seemed to be establishing itself, placing him in the line of succession for the next presidency. The peppery John Randolph characterized this supposed bargain as “a coalition between Blifil and Black
