Washington, its sights and insights [1909]Monroe, Harriet Earhart
History
Washington, its sights and insights [1909]
Monroe, Harriet Earhart
Washington (D.C.) -- Description and travel
Then would follow that man whose life grows radiant in the strong
search-light of history—John Quincy Adams; that Adams, who could
truthfully say at the close of a long, brilliant, and useful life, in
the words of an old Roman: "I have rendered to my country all the great
service she was willing to receive at my hand, and I have never harbored
a thought concerning her which was not divine." With him would be his
compeers, Madison, Monroe, Burr, Clay, Webster, Jackson, John Randolph,
the elder Bayard, and Calhoun.
That father would not fail to make plain the stern patriotism of Andrew
Jackson and Daniel Webster against the insidious treason of Calhoun and
his coterie.
During the early days of President Jackson's administration he gave a
state dinner in honor of Jefferson's birthday. On his right sat Calhoun,
Vice-President of the United States, and up to this time the intimate
friend and confidential adviser of the Executive. On Jackson's left sat
Webster, with the black brows of Jove.
The toasts of the evening had been ambiguous. Mr. Calhoun gave this
toast: "Our union, next to our liberties the most dear; it can only be
preserved by respecting the rights of States, and by distributing its
burdens and its benefits equally."
Webster nudged the President. Old Hickory sprang to his feet and gave
the toast: "Our federal union; it must be preserved." Every man drank it
standing, Calhoun among the rest.
How near our country came to open rebellion is shown in the last hours
of Jackson. A friend at his bedside said: "What would you have done with
Calhoun and his friends had they persisted in nullification?" "Hanged
them, sir, as high as Haman. They should have been a terror to traitors
for all time," said the dying statesman.
That father could tell part of the story of liberty in the life of the
younger Adams. At the age of eleven Adams decided that he would be a
Christian. He said: "Of this one thing I must make sure: I shall humbly
serve God. If He makes me a great man, I shall rejoice; but this He
surely will do: if I trust Him, He will make me a useful man."
God took Adams at his word. He sought the Kingdom first. God added
place. Adams was diplomat, Senator, Secretary of State, President,
Congressman. He might well say with his dying breath, as he was carried
from his place in the old House of Representatives to the Rotunda, "This
is the last of earth, but I am content."
Well he might be content. He had been a faithful, honest, upright
Christian man, who had received at the hands of his fellow citizens the
highest honors they could confer, and in his death he passed to a home
among the redeemed, there with enlarged intelligence and clearer vision
to continue his work for God in the beyond.
In this day, when writers are striving to make black appear white, the
father who would mingle Christianity with patriotism would not fail to
sketch the life of Aaron Burr in contrast with the young Adams.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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