Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/10

4 and patriotic good sense of John Adams gave the right turn to affairs in 1798; but first and last it was the alert, adroit, and vigorous diplomacy of Jefferson, with his passion for peace and faith in the people, that was most powerfully effective in winning the heart of the continent. The primacy of Jefferson in conceiving and ardently cherishing the idea of the American control of this continent as a whole, and the perfecting of American ideals on it, and his having the largest part in the realizing of that idea, can not be questioned. His Lewis and Clark exploration was an integral and initial part of it all. It is fitted to symbolize all. It surely enhances the significance of what was accomplished by the fortitude, courage, skill, and devotion of the noble captains, Lewis and Clark, and their men to find this higher and more sustaining human interest in this exploration because of what Jefferson planned and purposed with it.

That Jefferson in his thought regarding the future of this continent was far in advance of the development of events is shown by the position he took when our government was for the first time called upon to meet an emergency that threatened to have far-reaching influence on the destiny of this continent. In 1790 the Nootka Sound controversy brought England and Spain to the verge of war. In the event of war England would in all probability send a force from the Great Lakes across our territory to the Mississippi River and down that stream to take New Orleans from Spain. As Secretary of State Jefferson was ready with suggestions of alliance with poor Spain, if our interests demanded it; and as the price of that alliance moved for the independence of Florida and Louisiana or the cession to us of a port near the mouth of the