Memoir of the Life of John Quincy Adams.

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Mr. Clay and his friends were not disposed to permit a calumny so
opprobrious to pass without disproof; yet during two years they could
only oppose to it a general denial; but, in March, 1827, a letter from
Mr. Carter Beverly, a friend of General Jackson, came into their
possession, by which it appeared that Jackson, before a large company,
in Beverly's presence, had declared that, "concerning the election of
Mr. Adams to the Presidency, Mr. Clay's friends made a proposition to
his friends, that if they would promise for _him_ not to put Mr. Adams
into the seat of Secretary of State, Mr. Clay and his friends would _in
one hour_ make him the President;"[5]--a proposition which, Jackson
said, he indignantly rejected. No sooner was this statement made known
to Mr. Clay, than he pronounced it "a gross fabrication, of a
calumnious character, put forth for the double purpose of injuring his
public character and propping up the cause of General Jackson; and
that, for himself and his friends, he defied the substantiation of the
charge before any fair tribunal whatever." This compelled General
Jackson, in self-defence, to come before the public; and in a letter to
Carter Beverly, dated the 5th of June, 1827, he made specific charges
against Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams. He stated that early in January, 1825,
a member of Congress, of high respectability, informed him that there
was a great intrigue going on, which it was right he should know; that
the friends of Mr. Adams had made overtures to the friends of Mr. Clay,
that if they would unite in the election of Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay should
be Secretary of State; that the friends of Mr. Adams were urging, as a
reason to induce the friends of Mr. Clay to accede to their
proposition, that if he (Gen. Jackson) was elected President, Mr. Adams
would be continued Secretary of State [_Innuendo_, there would be no
room for Kentucky]; that the friends of Mr. Clay stated, that the West
did not wish to separate from the West, and if he would say, or permit
any of his confidential friends to say, that, in case he was elected
President, Mr. Adams should not be continued Secretary of State, by a
complete union of Mr. Clay and his friends they would put an end to the
presidential contest in one hour; and that this respectable member of
Congress declared that _he was of opinion it was right to fight such
intriguers with their own weapons_. To which General Jackson replied,
that he would never step into the presidential chair by such means of
bargain and corruption; and added, that the second day after this
communication and reply, it was announced in the newspapers that Mr.
Clay had come out openly and avowedly in favor of Mr. Adams.[6]

[5] _Niles' Weekly Register_, vol. XXXII., p. 162.

[6] _Niles' Weekly Register_, vol. XXXII., p. 316.

To this accusation Mr. Clay, in a letter to the public, dated the 4th
of July, 1827, made "a direct, unqualified, and indignant denial," and
called on General Jackson "to substantiate his charges by satisfactory
evidence." General Jackson immediately gave to the public the name of
James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, as "the respectable member of
Congress" who made to him this communication and proposition. This
declaration compelled Mr. Buchanan to come before the public; who
accordingly, in a letter dated the 8th of August, 1827,[7] published to
the world what he declared to be "_the only conversation which he ever
held with General Jackson_," in which he stated to him that, having
heard a rumor that he intended, in case of his election, to appoint Mr.
Adams Secretary of State, and thinking such an appointment would "cool
the ardor of his friends," he called on him, and informed him of the
rumor, and asked him whether he had ever intimated such intention; that
Jackson replied he had not, and that, if elected President, he would
enter upon the office untrammelled; and that this was substantially the
whole conversation. Mr. Buchanan added, that he did not call upon
General Jackson as the agent of Mr. Clay, or his friends, which he was
not; and that he was incapable of entertaining the opinion Jackson had
charged him with, that "_it was right to fight such intriguers with
their own weapons_;" and that he thought that Jackson "could not have
received this impression until after Mr. Clay and his friends had
actually elected Mr. Adams President, and Mr. Adams had appointed Mr.
Clay Secretary of State."

[7] Ibid., p. 415.

A more full, direct, and conclusive contradiction of every fact asserted
by General Jackson is impossible. Yet it had no effect upon his
prospects or policy. His partisans continued to propagate the calumny,
and profess their belief in it; and he gave encouragement to this course
by maintaining a scrupulous silence on Mr. Buchanan's contradiction. Mr.
Clay, speaking on this point, observed: "After Mr. Buchanan's statement
appeared, there were many persons who believed that General Jackson's
magnanimity would immediately prompt him to retract his charge. I did
not participate in that just expectation, and therefore felt no
disappointment that it was not realized."[8]

[8] _Niles' Register_, vol. XXXIII., p. 297.

The calumny had done its work. It had been, for more than two years,
cankering the public mind. General Jackson realized that it was an
efficient means of victory, and was not disposed to diminish its power.
His partisans, as Mr. Adams anticipated, had "surrendered themselves to
their passions, and believed, without evidence and against evidence, as
suited their own wishes."

The inveteracy of opposition to the administration of Mr. Adams was
systematic, violent, and unprincipled. Party spirit determined that it
should be prostrated. It was stated publicly that "a highly-respected
member of Congress, of General Jackson's party, had declared that it was
to be put down though it be as pure as the angels which stand at the
right hand of the throne of God." No respect was paid, no regard had,
for either faithful services or acknowledged integrity. An
administration conducted on the most elevated and consistent principles,
as far above party and selfish motives as it is possible for human
beings to attain, was destined to be sacrificed. General Jackson entered
upon his civil career in the spirit of a military chieftain. He knew
well how to collect round his standard those intriguers in the free
states who were content to adopt his badge, and ride into power in his
train. Of the slave states he was sure, from both affinity and policy.

Mr. Clay, in his address to the public in December, 1827, thus
represents the spirit of General Jackson's party at that period:[9] "The
rancor of party spirit spares nothing. It penetrates and pervades
everywhere. It does not scruple to violate the sanctity of social and
private intercourse. It substitutes for facts dark surmises and
malevolent insinuations. It misrepresents, and holds up in false and
insidious lights, incidents perfectly harmless in themselves, of
ordinary occurrence, or of mere common civility."

[9] _Niles' Register_, vol. XXXIII., p. 303.

During these agitations Mr. Adams was diligently watching over the great
interests of the country, and assiduously fulfilling the duties of his
station, and no further interesting himself in the struggles of party
than when compelled to notice them by their virulence, or by the
earnestness of political friends. A member of the Senate having asked
him how the interdiction of commerce by our vessels with the British
colonies could be counteracted, "My opinion is," he replied, "that there
should be an act of Congress totally interdicting the trade with all her
colonies, both in the West Indies and North America; but the same act
should provide for reopening the trade, upon terms of reciprocity,
whenever Great Britain should be disposed to assent to them."

Early in 1828 Mr. Adams was informed that the question of Free-masonry
was the conclusive criterion on which the elections in the western parts
of the State of New York would turn; and that it was industriously
circulated that he was a Free-mason. If the assertion was denied, offers
had been made to produce extracts from the books of the lodge to which
he belonged. He was, therefore, requested publicly to deny being a
Mason. He replied, that he was not, and never had been, a Free-mason;
but that, if he should publicly deny it, he would not be surprised if a
forged extract from some imaginary lodge should be produced to
counteract his statement. Such are the morals of electioneering!

On the subject of the Indians in the State of Georgia Mr. Adams said:
"Our engagements with them and among ourselves, in relation to the
lands lying within that state, are inconsistent. We have contracted
with the State of Georgia to extinguish the title to the Indian lands
lying within that state, and at the same time have stipulated with the
Creeks and Cherokees that they should hold their lands forever. We
have talked about benevolence and humanity, and preached them into
civilization; but none of this benevolence is felt when the rights of
the Indians come into collision with the interests of the white man.
The Cherokees have now been making a written constitution; but this
_imperium in imperio_ is impracticable; and, in the instance of the New
York Indians removed to Green Bay, and of the Cherokees removed to the
Territory of Arkansas, we have scarce given them time to build their
wigwams before we are called upon by our own people to drive them out
again. My own opinion is that the most benevolent course towards them
would be to give them the rights and subject them to the duties of
citizens, as a part of our own people. But even this the people of the
states within which they are situated would not permit."

In January, 1828, Mr. Adams received a letter from his friends in
Pennsylvania, proposing a subscription for the purchase and setting up a
German newspaper in support of the administration, and inquiring if he
would permit his son, John Adams, to contribute to that object. He
replied that, on full consideration of the transaction, he deemed it his
duty to decline; that how far the employment of money to promote the
success of the election might be proper in others, it was not for him to
determine; he could only lament the necessity, if it existed; but to
apply money himself for the promotion of his own election he thought
incorrect in principle, and had invariably avoided it. He knew that
others were less scrupulous, and that it had been done by one individual
to the pecuniary embarrassment of his whole life. He had been solicited
to adopt a like course, but had uniformly declined, not from pecuniary
considerations, but because he could not approve of the thing.

In January, 1828, Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, who had taken upon himself the
inglorious office of hunting up and disseminating malign aspersions
against President Adams, brought before the House of Representatives
statements concerning his accounts, which had been long before settled
at the treasury of the United States; and, after recapitulating the
number of the public offices he had held, and swelling to the utmost the
amount he had received out of the public treasury, terminated his
censorious attack with the mean sneer that he did not complain, since
every man should make his own living, if he can. To this, Mr. Everett,
of Massachusetts, replied, with truth and dignity, that whatever Mr.
Adams had received, be it great or small, was sanctioned by other
administrations, with which Mr. Adams had nothing to do, either in
establishing the office fixing the compensations, or seeking the
employment. For a third of a century passed in the service of his
country, neither he, nor his friends for him, with his knowledge nor
without his knowledge, ever solicited any public office or employment;
and that, taking into consideration the number of years passed by him in
the public service, and the variety and importance of the missions with
which he had been intrusted in whole or in part, no foreign minister had
ever received less than Mr. Adams, while many have received more. These
statements he supported by many minute, accurate, and unanswerable
details. In a like spirit Mr. Sargent, of Philadelphia, reprobated and
refuted the calumnies uttered against the administration relative to
these accounts.

In January, 1828, Mr. Chilton, of Kentucky, introduced a resolution into
the House of Representatives, declaring the necessity of retrenchments,
to save money and pay off the national debt; and proposing reductions
not only in executive contingencies, but also in those of the two
houses. This movement disconcerted the party to which Mr. Chilton
belonged. They were disposed to point the battery against the
administration, but charges of abusive applications of the public moneys
by the past as well as the present administration, and both houses of
Congress, did not suit party purposes. Randolph, of Virginia, Ingham, of
Pennsylvania, and McDuffie, of South Carolina, accordingly strove, by
amendments, to narrow down the discussion so as to make it bear upon Mr.
Adams or Mr. Clay, and to give countenance to every slander with which
the newspapers were teeming against them, but deprecating all general
investigations.

Being repeatedly asked concerning his rule of conduct relative to
appointments to office, Mr. Adams answered: "My system has been, and
continues to be, to nominate for reaeppointment all officers, for a term
of years, whose commissions expire, unless official or moral misconduct
is charged and substantiated against them. This does not suit the
Falstaff friends 'who follow for the reward;' and I am importuned to
serve my friends, and reproached for neglecting them, because I will not
dismiss, or drop from executive favor, officers faithful and able,
because they are my political opponents, to provide for my own
partisans. This I will not do."

In February, 1828, Mr. Wright, of Ohio, defended Mr. Adams and his
administration, on the subject of his votes in the Senate on the
acquisition of Louisiana, on the Mississippi and fishery question at
Ghent, on an expression in his message to Congress in December, 1825,
and other charges and falsehoods which the friends of General Jackson
were publishing against him in newspapers, handbills, and stump
speeches, throughout the Union.

Mr. Adams was earnestly entreated by his friends to reply to a pamphlet
by Samuel D. Ingham, of which many thousands had been franked by members
of Congress to their constituents. He refused to do it, saying, "The
slanders and falsehoods of that pamphlet have already been abundantly
refuted in the speeches of Jonathan Roberts, Edward Everett, and John C.
Wright."

In the committee on retrenchments, Mr. Wickliffe and Mr. Ingham were
extremely busy in search of charges against the administration, and
asserted that there was a large item of secret services, vouched only by
the certificate of Mr. Adams. A member of Congress informed him of their
proceedings, and asked, if there should be any clamorers on that
subject, whether he would have any objection to make a communication
with regard to it. Mr. Adams replied: "Certainly. The secret was
enjoined on me by the constitution and the law, and I shall not divulge
it. It might be alleged as probable--and such was the fact--that,
although the accounts had been but lately settled, the expenditures had
been incurred and the payment authorized by the direction of the late
President Monroe."

As the electioneering struggle was progressing, Mr. Adams, being asked
to advance money in aid of his own election, replied: "The Presidency of
the United States is not an office to be either sought or declined. To
pay money for securing it is, in my opinion, incorrect in principle. The
practices of all parties are tending to render elections altogether
venal, and I am not disposed to countenance them."

On the subject of personal interviews with the President, he thus
expressed himself: "I have never denied access to me as President to any
one, of any color; and, in my opinion of the duties of that office, it
never ought to be denied. Place-hunters are not pleasant visitors, or
correspondents, and they consume an enormous disproportion of time. To
this personal importunity the President ought not to be subjected; but
it is, perhaps, not possible to relieve him from it, without excluding
him from interviews with the people more, perhaps, than comports with
the nature of our institutions."

In Kentucky the Senate of the state constituted itself into an
inquisition on a charge against Mr. Adams of corruption, sent for
persons and papers, and invited _ex parte_ depositions and garbled
statements, where the parties inculpated had no opportunity of being
heard, and where the testimony given and the testimony suppressed were
alike adapted to promote groundless slanders.

In South Carolina movements were made towards civil war and the
dissolution of the Union, for the purpose of carrying the election by
intimidation, or, if they should fail in that, of laying the foundation
of a future forcible resistance, to break down or overawe the
administration after the event.

Evidences of the vehement party war stimulated and personally waged by
General Jackson against Mr. Adams might be easily multiplied; but enough
has been stated to vindicate the character of his administration and the
judgment of Henry Clay. By daring to exercise his constitutional rights,
by taking the responsibility of preferring Mr. Adams to General Jackson,
Mr. Clay postponed for four years an administration characteristic of
its leader, violent, intriguing, headstrong, and corrupt. After the
passions and interests of the present day have passed away, his vote on
that occasion will be regarded by posterity as his choicest and purest
title to their remembrance.

To aid the adversaries of Mr. Adams, and to awaken against him in the
Northern States, where his strength lay, the dormant passions of former
times, the name and influence of Mr. Jefferson were brought into the
field. In December, 1825, a letter had been drawn from him, by William
B. Giles, a devoted partisan of Jackson, and given to the public with
appropriate commentaries and asperities. In this letter Mr. Jefferson,
after acknowledging that "his memory was so broken, or gone, as to be
almost a blank," undertook to relate a conversation he had with Mr.
Adams in 1808, and connected it with facts with which it had no
relation, and which occurred several years afterwards, while Mr. Adams
was in Europe. These mistakes, in the opinion of Mr. Adams, required
explanations. He, therefore, gave a full statement of the facts, so far
as he was concerned, and of the communications he had made in 1808 to
Mr. Jefferson. These explanations had the tendency which Mr. Giles and
the authors of the scheme intended; but the controversies which ensued
are not within the scope of this memoir. Feelings and passions, which
had slept for almost twenty years, were awakened. Correspondences
ensued, in which the policy and events of a former period were discussed
with earnestness and warmth. But the ultimate object, for which the
broken and incoherent recollections of Mr. Jefferson's old age were
brought before the public, was not attained. Those who differed from the
opinions of Mr. Adams, and had condemned his political course in former
times, although their sentiments remained unchanged, were satisfied with
the principles and ability he evinced in his present high station, and
indicated no inclination to aid the projects of his opponents. The
embers of former animosity were indeed uncovered, but in the Eastern
States, where the friends of Mr. Adams were most numerous, no
disposition was evinced to favor the elevation of General Jackson to the
Presidency.

In other sections of the Union a combination of influences tended to
defeat the reelection of Mr. Adams. In Virginia William B. Giles engaged
in giving publicity to violent and inflammatory papers against his
administration; Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, strenuously endeavored to
destroy his popularity in the West; while Martin Van Buren, the leader
of the party which then controlled New York, also devoted his efforts to
secure Jackson's ascendency.

When Mr. Adams was informed that Mr. Clay's final and full vindication
of himself against the aspersions of General Jackson had appeared from
the press, he said: "It is unnecessary. Enough has already been said to
put down that infamous slander, which has been more than once publicly
branded as falsehood. The conspiracy will, however, probably succeed.
When suspicions have been kindled into popular delusion, truth, reason,
and justice, speak to the ears of adders. The sacrifice must be
consummated. There will then be a reaection in public opinion. It may not
be rapid, but it will be certain."

By one of those party arrangements which ever have shaped, and to human
view forever will decide, the destinies of this republic,--a coalition
being effected between the leading influences of the slave states and
those of New York and Pennsylvania,--Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun,
both slaveholders, were respectively elected President and
Vice-President of the United States.

CHAPTER VIII.

PURSUITS OF MR. ADAMS IN RETIREMENT.--ELECTED TO CONGRESS.--PARTIES
AND THEIR PROCEEDINGS.--HIS COURSE IN RESPECT OF THEM.--HIS OWN
ADMINISTRATION AND THAT OF HIS SUCCESSOR COMPARED.--REPORT ON
MANUFACTURES AND THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES.--REFUSAL TO VOTE, AND
CONSEQUENT PROCEEDINGS.--SPEECH AND REPORT ON THE MODIFICATION OF THE
TARIFF AND SOUTH CAROLINA NULLIFICATION.

On the 4th of March, 1829, Andrew Jackson was inaugurated President of
the United States, and Mr. Adams retired, as he then thought forever,
from public life. His active, energetic spirit required neither
indulgence nor rest, and he immediately directed his attention to those
philosophical, literary, and religious researches, in which he took
unceasing delight. The works of Cicero became the object of study,
analysis, and criticism. Commentaries on that master-mind of antiquity
were among his daily labors. The translation of the Psalms of David into
English verse was a frequent exercise; and his study of the Scriptures
was accompanied by critical remarks, pursued in the spirit of free
inquiry, chastened by a solemn reference to their origin, and influence
on the conduct and hopes of human life. His favorite science, astronomy,
led to the frequent observation of the planets and stars; and his
attention was also turned to agriculture and horticulture. He collected
and planted the seeds of forest trees, and kept a record of their
development, and, in the summer season, labored two or three hours daily
in his garden. With these pursuits were combined sketches preparatory to
a full biography of his father, which he then contemplated as one of his
chief future employments.

From the subjects to which the labors of his life had been principally
devoted his thoughts could not be wholly withdrawn. As early as the 27th
of April, 1829, a citizen of Washington spoke to him with great severity
on the condition of public affairs, and of the scandals in circulation
concerning them; stating that removals from office were continuing with
great perseverance; that the custom-houses in Boston, New York,
Philadelphia, Portsmouth in New Hampshire, and New Orleans, had been
swept clear; that violent partisans of Jackson were exclusively
appointed, and that every editor of a scurrilous newspaper had been
provided for.

Again, in June of the same year Mr. Adams wrote: "Mr. Van Buren is now
Secretary of State. He is the manager by whom the present administration
has been brought into power. He has played over again the game of Aaron
Burr in 1800, with the addition of political inconsistency, in
transferring his allegiance from Crawford to Jackson. He sold the State
of New York to them both. The first bargain failed by the result of the
choice of electors in the Legislature. The second was barely
accomplished by the system of party management established in that
state; and Van Buren is now enjoying his reward."

On the abolition of slavery, Mr. Adams observed: "It is the only part of
European democracy which will find no favor in the United States. It may
aggravate the condition of slaves in the South, but the result of the
Missouri question, and the attitude of parties, have silenced most of
the declaimers on that subject. This state of things is not to continue
forever. It is possible that the danger of the abolition doctrines, when
brought home to Southern statesmen, may teach them the value of the
Union, as the only thing which can maintain their system of slavery."

On the course and feelings of Mr. Jefferson on this subject, Mr. Adams
thus expressed himself: "His love of liberty was sincere and ardent, but
confined to himself, like that of most of his fellow-slaveholders. He
was above that execrable sophistry of the South Carolina nullifiers,
which would make of slavery the corner-stone of the temple of liberty.
He saw the gross inconsistency between the principles of the Declaration
of Independence and the fact of negro slavery; and he could not, or
would not, prostitute the faculties of his mind to the vindication of
that slavery, which, from his soul, he abhorred. But Jefferson had not
the spirit of martyrdom. He would have introduced a flaming denunciation
of slavery into the Declaration of Independence, but the discretion of
his colleagues struck it out. He did insert a most eloquent and
impassioned argument against it in his Notes on Virginia; but, on that
very account, the book was published almost against his will. He
projected a plan of a general emancipation, in his revision of the
Virginia laws, but finally presented a plan leaving slavery precisely
where it was; and, in his Memoir, he leaves a posthumous warning to the
planters that they must, at no distant day, emancipate their slaves, or
that worse will follow; but he withheld the publication of his prophecy
till he should himself be in the grave."

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