captured posts returned to Spain but what must be done with the glorious, willful general? It was at this meeting that Mr. Calhoun, secretary of war, expressed the opinion that Jackson ought to be court-martialed. Mr. Crawford and the other members of the cabinet disapproved Jackson s course. John Quincy Adams, the secretary of state, alone of the cabinet defended him unreservedly. The president was opposed to any measure of punishment or censure. Jackson was ordered to surrender the Spanish posts, and friendly letters of explanation were written to him. General Jackson obeyed the orders, but with deep mortification, and attributed the action of the administration to the intrigues of his enemies, and especially blamed Mr. Crawford. The deliberations of the cabinet being conducted under the injunction of secrecy, the proceedings could not be honorably divulged. General Jackson for many years believed that Mr. Calhoun had been his defender and champion in the cabinet, and entertained for him the most cordial friendship. Ten years later the proceedings of this cabinet meeting became public and led to a rupture between General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, which produced important political effects.[1]
It was now necessary for President Monroe to enter on the diplomatic task of appeasing Spain and Great Britain by disavowing General Jackson s acts, without disgracing or even censuring the author. This delicate task was confided to the secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, whose diplomatic work had heretofore been eminently successful, and who had been the friend and champion of General Jackson in the cabinet, and who really approved his course. This duty was brilliantly performed.
—
- ↑ The controversies in regard to General Jackson s course in Florida and the cabinet action are given at length in a pamphlet published by Mr. Calhoun in 1829; in Benton s "Thirty Years in the United States Senate," vol. i, p. 167, et seq., containing General Jackson s "Exposition;" in "History of the United States," by James Schouler, vol. 3, p. 68, et seq.; and in an article "Monroe and Rhea Letter," Magazine American History, October, 1884, by James Schouler.
