On the 5th of February, Mr. Adams transmitted a message to Congress,
giving a statement of these transactions, and declaring his determination
to fulfil the duty of protection the nation owed the Creeks, as guaranteed
by treaty, by all the force at his command. "That the arm of military
force," he continued, "will be resorted to only in the event of the
failure of all other expedients provided by the laws, a pledge has been
given by the forbearance to employ it at this time. It is submitted to the
wisdom of Congress to determine whether any further acts of legislation
may be necessary or expedient to meet the emergency which these
transactions may produce."

The committee of the House of Representatives, to which this message was
referred, reported that it "is expedient to procure a cession of the
Indian lands in the State of Georgia, and that until such a cession is
procured, the law of the land, as set forth in the treaty at Washington,
ought to be maintained by all necessary, constitutional, and legal means."
The firmness and decision of President Adams undoubtedly prevented the
unhappy consequences of a collision between the people of Georgia and the
Creek Indians. A new negotiation was opened with the Indians, by direction
of the President, which resulted in declaring the M'Intosh treaty null and
void, and in obtaining, at length, a cession of all the lands of the
Creeks within the limits of Georgia, to the General Government.

As the friend and promoter of internal improvements, Mr. Adams was invited
to be present at the interesting ceremony of "breaking ground," on the
Chesapeake and Ohio canal, then about to be commenced, which took place on
the 4th of July, 1828. On the morning of that day, the President, the
Heads of Departments, the Foreign Ministers, the Corporations of
Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, the President and Directors of the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, with a large concourse of citizens,
embarked on board of steamboats and ascended the Potomac, to the place
selected for the ceremony. On reaching the ground, a procession was
formed, which moved around it so as to leave a hollow space, in the midst
of a mass of people, in the centre of which was the spot marked out by
Judge Wright, the Engineer of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, for
the commencement of the work. A moment's pause here occurred, while the
spade, destined to commence the work, was selected by the committee of