He could have - and lead one of the armies of one of the three nations America would have divided its self into if he HAD NOT been President. There was no one else on the national scene at the time, that as president, could have stopped the “nullification” acts being proposed. Had they succeeded, undoubtedly the South, New England, and the middle states would have gone there separate ways.
Sometimes only a madman can stop mad ideas. Since I like the country better in one piece, I'm glad we had him. If John Quincy Adams had been reelected, America as we know it would not exist.
>If John Quincy Adams had been reelected, America as we know it would not exist.
An intriguing thought, I think, is “What if Arron Burr had been President?”
Adams certainly wasn’t capable, but Clay was absolutely capable of stopping the nullification acts, and anyway, nothing really “stopped” them short of rewriting the Tariff of Abominations so that they were not needed. No, Jackson as not indispensable.