Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"While Monroe attended the delicate task of appeasing an irate General, John Quincy Adams was busy facing down an irate Spanish minister. Spain demanded the immediate restoration of St. Marks and Pensacola, the disavowal of the military action, and 'suitable punishment' for General Andrew Jackson. Adams's reply was a masterful display of diplomatic skill without resort to doctored evidence or contrived interpretation. He blandly informed the Spanish that Jackson occupied Florida not according to orders or as an enemy of Spain but because of military necessity imposed by the war against the Seminoles. . . . . Furthermore, he said, the President 'will neither inflict punishment, nor pass a censure upon General Jackson' for his conduct, the motives for which were prompted by the 'purest patriotism' and the vindication of which 'is written in every page of the law of nations. . . . self defense.' Turning the argument around, Adams implied that the Spanish commanders at St. Marks and Pensacola deserved censure for having failed in their responsibility to preserve order within their provinces." [Andrew Jackson 1, p. 369-70]