Caroline Berry

From Sea To Shining Sea chapter 8 summary

This chapter of From Sea To Shining Sea, titled “The Last Puritan”, is primarily about

John Quincy Adams, President Madison, President Monroe, and Andrew Jackson.

An “era of good feelings” began when Monroe became inaugurated as 5th President of

the United States in 1817. This era became disrupted as the Indian tribes of Florida

terrorized American families and stole their livestock under the government of Spain,

who would do nothing to stop this injustice.

Andrew Jackson proposed to seize the whole of East Florida and by doing so, end the

Indian raids and Spanish corruptness. He successfully completed this task and Florida

became U.S. land. Florida had been taken secretly without approval of American

government. In order to avoid a war with Spain and Britain for this bold act of taking

Florida, Jackson was asked to change his story or cover up by lying. But he refused;

personal honor was very important to him. Eventually national approval ruled out

opposition against Jackson and he was let off without punishment.

John Quincy Adams was a moral statesman with a strong Puritan heritage and belief

system. He was “the last puritan” of whom the chapter title speaks. Another important

leader was John Adams. He was a big follower of the Unitarianism movement and

thought it “the only sensible course a man with an inquiring mind could take”. JQA and

John Adams were never in one accord because of these huge differences in beliefs.

In 1819, the Transcontinental Treaty was signed between the Spaniards and

Americans, marking a clear border all the way across the U.S. continent. This was

America’s greatest single-handed diplomatic achievement in American history; this also

marked an end to other governments’ oppression or control of the United States.