For himself he knew well, none knew better, that "He who ascends to mountain-tops shall find The loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow.
He who surpasses or subdues mankind, Must look down on the hate of those below.
Though high above the sun of glory glow, And far beneath the earth and ocean spread, Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow Contending tempests on his naked head, And thus reward the toils which to their summits led." The federal authority had so long been factiously opposed, that the popular respect for its laws needed to be renewed.

The State of Georgia presented the fit occasion.

She insisted on expelling, forcibly, remnants of Indian tribes, within her limits, in virtue of a treaty which was impeached for fraud, and came for revision before the Supreme Court and the Senate.

The President met the emergency with boldness and decision.
The demonstration thus given that good faith should be practised, and the law have its way, no matter how unequal the litigating parties, operated favorably toward restoring the moral influence of the Government.

That influence, although sometimes checked, has recently increased in strength, until the federal authority is universally regarded as final, and liberty again walks confidently hand in hand with law.
John Quincy Adams "loved peace and ensued it." He loved peace as a Christian, because war was at enmity with the spirit and precepts of a religion which he held to be divine.