It will form here-after a pleasing incident in the annals of our Union, giving to real history the intense interest of romance and signally marking the unpurchasable tribute of a great nation's social affections to the disinterested champion of the liberties of human-kind.
Adams reflects on the lasting impact of General Lafayette's visit, highlighting the deep gratitude of the American people.
Share
More from John Quincy Adams
But an unsettled coast of many degrees of latitude forming a part of our own territory and a flourishing commerce and fishery extending to the islands of the Pacific and to China still require that the protecting power of the Union should…
Complaints equally groundless have been made by the commanders of the Spanish royal forces in those seas; but the most effective protection to our commerce has been the flag and the firmness of our own commanding officers.
I now transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence and information requested by the resolution.
It was not considered a conclusive reason for declining this invitation that the proposal for assembling such a Congress had not first been made by ourselves.
Other voices in this conversation
