John Quincy Adams’s (JQA) diary, which was inspired by his father John Adams (JA) and started as a travel journal, initiated a lifelong writing obsession. In 1779, twelve-year-old JQA made his second trip abroad to accompany his father’s diplomatic mission. While in Europe, he attended various schools and traveled to St. Petersburg as an interpreter during Francis Dana’s mission to Russia. He subsequently served as JA’s secretary at Paris during the final months before the Anglo-American Definitive Peace Treaty was signed in September 1783. Two years later, JQA returned to the US. After graduating from Harvard College in 1787, he moved to Newburyport to read law under Theophilus Parsons and in 1790 he established a legal practice in Boston. JQA’s skill as a writer brought him public acclaim, and in 1794 President George Washington nominated him as US minister resident to the Netherlands.
John Quincy Adams (JQA) entered diplomatic service in September 1794 as US minister resident to the Netherlands. He married Louisa Catherine Johnson (LCA) in July 1797 after a fourteen-month engagement, and their three sons were born in this period. During his father John Adams’s (JA) presidency they moved to Berlin where, as US minister plenipotentiary, JQA signed a new Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce. JQA returned to the US in 1801 and entered politics, elected first to the Massachusetts senate in 1802 and then to the US Senate in 1803. His contentious relationship with fellow Federalist members over his support of some Democratic-Republican policies led to his removal from office. In May 1808 the Federalist-controlled Massachusetts legislature voted to replace him at the end of his term, prompting JQA’s resignation in June. Between 1806 and 1809 he also served as the first Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard.
John Quincy Adams (JQA) returned to diplomatic service in August 1809 as the US’s first minister plenipotentiary to Russia. In St. Petersburg JQA was well-liked by Emperor Alexander I and closely followed the battles of the Napoleonic Wars then raging across Europe. When the US declared war on Great Britain in 1812, Adams watched from afar as the conflict dragged on for two years. In April 1814, he traveled to Ghent, Belgium, as part of the US delegation to negotiate an end to the war with England; the Treaty of Ghent was signed on Christmas Eve. Subsequently appointed US minister to the Court of St. James’s in May 1815, JQA served in London for the next two years.
John Quincy Adams (JQA) served as the US secretary of state during James Monroe’s presidency. Adams’s duties included organizing and responding to all State Department correspondence and negotiating agreements beneficial to the US. His achievements as secretary of state include the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, which established the US border with Canada along the 49th parallel, and the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 (Transcontinental Treaty), which resulted in the US acquisition of Florida. JQA also formulated the policy that became known as the Monroe Doctrine, in which the US called for European non-intervention in the western hemisphere, specifically in the affairs of newly independent Latin American nations. As Monroe’s presidency came to an end, JQA was among the top candidates in the 1824 presidential election. When no candidate earned the necessary majority, the House of Representatives decided the election in JQA’s favor in February 1825.
John Quincy Adams (JQA) was inaugurated as the sixth president of the US on 4 March 1825 and began his administration with an ambitious agenda of improvements for American society. His presidency was embattled. Supporters of Andrew Jackson, who believed their candidate had unfairly lost the 1824 election, worked ceaselessly to foil JQA’s plans. Domestically, JQA refused to replace civil servants with partisan supporters, and his administration became involved in disputes between the Creek Nation and the state of Georgia. JQA’s foreign policy also suffered, as partisan bickering in Congress failed to provide timely funding for US delegates to attend the 1826 Congress of Panama. Political mudslinging in advance of the 1828 presidential election was particularly fierce, and by mid-1827 JQA knew he would not be reelected.
In 1831 John Quincy Adams (JQA) became the only former president to subsequently serve in the US House of Representatives. As the chairman of the House Committee on Manufactures, he helped compose the compromise tariff bill of 1832. He traveled to Philadelphia as part of a committee that investigated the Bank of the United States, drafting a minority report in support of rechartering the bank after disagreeing with the committee’s majority report. JQA regularly presented the antislavery petitions he received from across the country, and he vehemently opposed the passage of the Gag Rule in 1836 that prevented House discussion of petitions related to slavery. He opposed the annexation of Texas, and in 1838 he delivered a marathon speech condemning the evils of slavery. JQA also chaired the committee that oversaw the bequest of James Smithson, which was used to establish the Smithsonian Institution.
During his final years of service in the US House of Representatives, John Quincy Adams (JQA) continued to oppose the Gag Rule that prevented House discussion of petitions related to slavery. In 1839 he joined the defense team for the Africans who revolted aboard the Spanish slave ship Amistad. The Supreme Court declared the Amistad Africans free on 9 March 1841 after JQA delivered oral arguments in their favor. In 1842 JQA faced a censure hearing and ably defended himself against charges from southern congressmen. He introduced a successful resolution that finally led to the repeal of the Gag Rule in 1844. JQA voted against both the annexation of Texas in 1845 and the US declaration of war with Mexico in 1846. He collapsed on the floor of the House on 21 February 1848 and died two days later.
st.l: Humphreys,
& Mr:
Williamos, called upon me, and I went out with them as far as S t: Germain en Laye where
James the 2d:
held his Court after he was driven away from England; and where Mr: Short, has been
these 6 weeks learning the french Language. We went out through the bois de Boulogne. and over the Pont de
Neuilli. the distance from Paris to St:
Germain is about 12 miles. we go along by the side of the Seine, almost all the
way: the Lands are either cultivated in wheat, or in Vines for the most Part. the
road is very good. St: Germain, is situated, on the
top of a hill, which is not very steep, but which I suppose to be a month mile long. I should imagine it contains about
10,000 inhabitants but may be much mistaken, as I guess only from the apparent
extent of the town: a great number of them are the descendents from
52from those british families that follow’d the fortunes of
James the 2d the Castle which he inhabited belongs as
I was told, to the King. and has a charming terrass before it. We descended at the
Prince de Galles tavern and went immediately to Mr: Shorts lodgings but found him he was out: we then walk’d about the place, which is very agreeably
situated. from the terrass you may see Mont Calvaire,
Montmartre, and the Church of the Invalids. in a clear day I suppose part
of Paris may be also seen from thence. Mr: Short came
to us, and dined with us. Mr: Williams is gone to Paris, to set off for England.
his Lady1 & the Alexander family live
in the Castle, but were not to be seen this day: on account of the Death of a
friend. After dinner we walk’d again, in the Gardens of the Maréchal de Noailles,2
grandfather of the Marquise de la
Fayette, who owns here a fine house and a good Estate. Mr: Short is vastly pleased with St: Germain, and thinks it a very excellent place for learning the
Language. if we may judge from him it is certainly so: for he has made a wonderful
proficiency in the short space of time he has been there. We left him at about
five, and as we return’d we look’d at the Machine de Marli, which is very famous,
but which appears to me
53to me very clumsy; and it is very complicated so that I
could not understand any thing in it. the principle is very simple. The current of
the river sets a number of mills going; they put in motion a quantity of pumps
which transport water from that place to Versailles about 2 leagues distant from
it. But this machine was built more than a century ago, and has been very 254much celebrated; if it were to be built at present, it
would be considered in a ridiculous light. When we return’d we found Mr: and Mm: d’Ouradou getting into their Carriage,
to return: they had been some time here. Mrs: & Miss
A. were gone to Paris. Mr: Jefferson was with my father. Young Mr: Franklin is very ill of a fever.
it seems to be a sickly Time.
Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S.,
5:5; Jefferson, Papers
, 7:256).
Louis de Noailles, Duc d’Ayen from 1737, Duc de Noailles from 1766, and
Maréchal de France, 1775 (Hoefer,
Nouv. biog. générale
;
Dict. de la noblesse
).