John Quincy Adams, then serving in President James Monroe’s cabinet as secretary of state, found himself managing a potentially combustible situation in 1818 centered on Florida, at the time a Spanish territory. The War Department sent General Andrew Jackson to deal with the ongoing threat faced by settlers in southern Georgia of attacks carried out by members of the Seminole and Lower Creek tribes operating out of northern Florida. Potentially exceeding his authority, Jackson crossed the border into Florida to destroy Native American villages, seize Spanish forts, and arrest two British nationals accused of rendering assistance to the marauders, both of whom were executed. These actions drew concern from members of the Monroe cabinet who worried that Jackson was acting in defiance of his orders, and elicited protests from the Spanish government, represented by its envoy to the United States, Don Luis de Onís y González-Vara, who began meeting with Adams to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.