XII Dr. Kirkland’s Discourse in Commemoration of 
He obtained leave to return home after February, 1788; 
having been nine years abroad, engaged in various important and, 
in some instances, very trying negotiations, on which the fortunes 
of the country seemed to turn. 
The Federal Government was organized, and Mr. Adams, 
being the second choice for President, became Vice-President at 
two successive elections. As the government was taking its first 
steps, there was great occasion for good counsel, and Mr. Adams, 
though not of the cabinet, was often resorted to by President 
Washington for information or advice. He was also sometimes 
called to decide critical questions in the Senate by a casting vote. 
The first year after he held this station he wrote his “ Letters 
on Davila,” intended, like his “ Defence,” to show the importance 
of checks and balances in a republican government, as an antidote 
to faction. 
Already he began to realize one of the apprehensions ex- 
pressed in a letter from Holland, just after he had intelligence of 
the adoption of our State Constitution. “There is nothing I 
dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, 
each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in 
opposition to each other.” He dreaded justly ; for well he knew, 
that the seeds of party are sown deep and thick in the soil of 
liberty. 
President Washington declining a re-election, Mr. Adams 
was chosen his successor, Mr. Jefferson being Vice-President. 
During his administration, the party, which had been long opposed 
to the leadig measures of the federal government, obtained 
sufficient strength to prevent his second election, and placed his 
competitor in the chair. Mr. Adams from that time lived in 
retirement without public office, excepting that he was President 
