Adams only by certain unexpected and more or less accidental
developments. By thus receiving his office at the hands of a branch of
Congress, in competition with a candidate who had a wider popular
support, the New Englander fell heir to all the indignation that had
been aroused against congressional intrigue, and especially against
the selection of a President by Congressmen.

There was, in addition, the charge of a "corrupt bargain." It mattered
not greatly whether the accusation was true or not. The people widely
accepted it as true, and the Administration had to bear the stigma.
"The coalition of Blifil and Black George, of the Puritan and the
black-leg," John Randolph called the new alliance; and while Clay
sought to vindicate his honor in a duel with the author of the phrase,
nothing that he or Adams could do or say was able to overcome the
effect upon the public mind created by the cold fact that when the
Clay men turned their support to Adams their leader was forthwith made
Secretary of State.

A further source of difficulty in the situation was the temperament of
Adams himself. There was no abler, more honest, or more patriotic man
in public life; yet in the presidency he was, especially at this
juncture of affairs, a misfit. He was cold and reserved when every
consideration called for cordiality; he was petulant when tolerance
and good humor were the qualities most needful. He could neither
arouse enthusiasm nor win friends. He was large visioned and adept at
mapping out broad policies, but he lacked the elements of leadership
requisite to carry his plans into effect. He scorned the everyday arts
of politics, and by the very loftiness of his ideals he alienated
support. In short, as one writer has remarked, he was "a weigher of
scruples and values in a time of transition, a representative of