Moreover the irascibility of the conqueror himself was known and
feared. Calhoun, the Secretary of War, who was specially annoyed
because his instructions had not been followed, favored a public
censure. On the other hand, John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State,
took the ground that everything that Jackson had done was "defensive
and incident to his main duty to crush the Seminoles." The
Administration finally reached the decision to surrender the posts but
otherwise to back up the General, in the hope of convincing Spain of
the futility of trying longer to hold Florida. Monroe explained the
necessities of the situation to Jackson as tactfully as he could,
leaving him under the impression--which was corrected only in
1830--that Crawford, rather than Calhoun, was the member of the
Cabinet who had held out against him.
But the controversy spread beyond the Cabinet circle. During the
winter of 1818-19 Congress took it up, and a determined effort was
made to carry a vote of censure. The debate in the House--with
galleries crowded to suffocation, we are informed by the _National
Intelligencer_--lasted four weeks and was notable for bringing Clay
for the first time publicly into opposition to the Tenneseean.
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