On the 22nd of February, 1819, a treaty was concluded at Washington, between the United States and Spain, by which East and West Florida, with the adjacent islands, were ceded to the Union.  The negotiations which resulted in the consummation of the treaty, were conducted by Mr. Adams and Luis de Onis the Spanish Ambassador.  This treaty was very advantageous to the United States.  It brought to a close a controversy with Spain, of many years’ standing, which had defied all the exertions of former administrations to adjust, and placed our relations with that country on the most amicable footing.  In effecting this reconciliation, Mr. Adams deserved and received a high share of credit.

The recognition of the independence of the Spanish South American Provinces, by the Government of the United States, took place during Mr. Adams’s administration of the State Department.  The honor of first proposing this recognition, in the Congress of the United States, and of advocating it with unsurpassed eloquence and zeal, belongs to the patriotic Henry Clay.  Mainly by his influence, the House of Representatives, in 1820, passed the following resolutions:—­

“Resolved, That the House of Representatives participate with the people of the United States, in the deep interest which they feel for the success of the Spanish Provinces of South America, which are struggling to establish their liberty and independence.

“Resolved, That this House will give its constitutional support to the President of the United States, whenever he may deem it expedient to recognize the sovereignty and independence of any of said Provinces.”

Mr. Adams at first hesitated on this subject.  Not that he was opposed to the diffusion of the blessings of freedom to the oppressed.  No man was a more ardent lover of liberty, or was more anxious that its institutions should be established throughout the earth, at the earliest practicable moment.  But he had many and serious doubts whether the people of the South American Provinces were capable of originating and maintaining an enlightened self-government.  There was a lack of general intelligence among the people—­a want of an enlarged and enlightened understanding of the principles of rational freedom—­which led him to apprehend that their attempts at self-government would for a long season, at least, result in the reign of faction and anarchy, rather than true republican principles.  The subsequent history of these countries—­the divisions and contentions, the revolutions and counter-revolutions, which have rent them asunder, and deluged them in blood—­clearly show that Mr. Adams but exercised a far-seeing intelligence in entertaining these doubts.  Nevertheless, as they had succeeded in throwing off the Spanish yoke, and had, in fact, achieved their independence, Mr. Adams would not throw any impediment in their way.  Trusting that his fears as to their ability for self-government might be groundless, he gave his influence to the recognizing of their independence by the United States.