How the States Got Their Shapes Too_ The People Behind the Borderlines - Mark Stein [58]
Adams consequently decided to stake out an ambitious opening bid in his negotiations over the border. “I would henceforth never recede an inch from the [Rio] Bravo,” he wrote, referring to the river now known as the Rio Grande, which he proposed as the new southern boundary of the United States.4 This boundary would follow the Rio Grande to its source in the Rocky Mountains, then follow the Rockies north to the Colorado River, then follow the Colorado River to the Gulf of California. In 1848 all this would become part of the United States (with the exception of Baja California). In 1818, however, it was a hefty opening bid.
Adams-Onis Treaty, 1819
Amazingly, Onís did not immediately say no. Adams’s reading of Jackson’s actions in Florida and the reactions to them had been accurate. Realizing that the Americans perceived its weakness, Spain sought to cover up by claiming that when Adams had referred to the Colorado River, they had thought that meant the Red River. “How this mistake could have been made is inconceivable to us,” Adams wrote, in conferring with the U.S ambassador in Spain, “inasmuch as we know of no maps which call the Red River of Natchitoches the Colorado.”5 The Colorado River and the Red River, being on opposite sides of the Rockies, would make for rather different borders.
Jackson, meanwhile, remained in hot water, facing a congressional investigation into whether or not he had disobeyed orders. Though he and Adams were both eyeing the 1824 presidential election, no personal enmity yet existed. Adams invited Jackson to dine at his home, an invitation Jackson declined, saying that he was accepting no social engagements during the investigation. Shortly thereafter, Jackson made a point of apologizing for declining the invitation.
Regarding the situation with Spain, Adams and Jackson continued not only to work well together but to see eye to eye. “I called on General Jackson,” Adams wrote in his diary, “and mentioned in confidence to him the state of the negotiations with the Spanish Minister, and what we had offered him for the western boundary, and asked what he thought of it.” The two men continued these discussions the following day at Adams’s home, where they could speak more privately.
Adams and Onís proposed and counterproposed for another twelve months as they honed in on a boundary, much of which remains today in the eastern border of Texas. Adams’s eventual success, which helped propel his nomination for president in 1824, was due in no small measure to the assist he had received from Jackson’s adventure in Florida. Jackson’s military successes likewise propelled his nomination in the same election. Still, their relations remained good—so good that Adams and his wife hosted a ball in Jackson’s honor in January of that year, to help refute the view that Jackson was uncouth and slovenly. “It is the universal opinion,” Mrs. Adams wrote afterward, “that nothing has ever equaled this party here, either in brilliancy of the preparation or elegance of the company.”6
Two other candidates ran in the 1824 presidential election: Speaker of the House Henry Clay and Treasury Secretary William H. Crawford. As it turned out, none of the four received the necessary majority of votes in the Electoral College, so the decision went to the House of Representatives. Despite the fact that Jackson had won the plurality of electoral votes, the House chose John Quincy Adams.
The political manipulations behind this decision set the stage for an Adams-Jackson rematch in the 1828 election. This was a campaign that set a new low for mudslinging, stooping even to insinuations regarding Jackson’s wife. Today’s