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.
r Thorpe, several of the
Aldermen and their families, with other city Officers and Strangers, and
a musical party, Sir George Smart,
Mr
Lacy, Mrs Bianca Lacy, Mrs
Billington, Mrs: Salmon, Miss Goodall, and some others. The
Barge was elegantly ornamented with Streamers, and the Duke of Kent’s Band of Music were on board.
We started from Westminster Bridge just at Noon, and were rowed down the
Thames to Richmond, passing through the Vauxhall, Battersea, Putney, Kew
and Richmond Bridges— The weather was fine, and the barge was surrounded
all the way down by a number perhaps twenty boats filled with company
Ladies and Gentlemen, as witnesses of the Scene. We passed by Chelsea
Hospital, Craven House, which is the Margravine’s Villa, and some other
Country Seats, as well as several Villages on both sides of the river.
But the prospects are not on the whole equal to my expectations— The
Country on both sides is very low, and not remarkably picturesque. The
60Duke of
Sussex and Lord Arthur
Hill came on board at Kew-Bridge. At Richmond we found the
new, or Navigation-Barge, called the Maria Wood, in honour of the
present Lady Mayoress. It is much larger than that in which we had come
from Westminster-Bridge, and the whole company passed from the one to
the other— Just then the Duke of
Cambridge was seen, walking with Sir Carnaby and Lady Haggerston, and the Lord
Mayor, accompanied by the Duke of Sussex went on shore, and invited them
to come on board— They came accordingly, but could not stay to the
dinner. The Navigation Barge was towed up the river to Twickenham as far
as the Lord Mayor’s Villa, passing by Pope’s House and Grotto which now belong to Lord Mendip, and several other Country
Seats. We returned and anchored about five O’Clock near Richmond Bridge,
when the whole company sat down to an elegant cold dinner. The Carriages
were ordered to be at Kew Bridge, at eight o’Clock, but it was nine
before we left the table, and ten by the time we got back to Kew Bridge.
The usual toasts were drank, and the usual Speeches made after dinner,
by the Lord Mayor, the Duke of Sussex, Lord Erskine, the Sheriffs, the
Aldermen, and Lord Arthur Hill, and myself— The Duke of Sussex, as he
always does, put Politics into his speeches— Lord Erskine was more shy,
although the Lord Mayor in toasting him, alluded to his inactivity of
late years, and hoped he would soon come forward again— The Duke of
Sussex is ambitious enough to come forward, and told us that he was to
move for the repeal of the alien act at the next Session of Parliament—
He also declared himself against the new political doctrine of
legitimacy, but Lord Erskine took care to declare himself in its favour.
This party consisted for the most part of whigs, and they were very much
perplexed at the result of a Meeting of the City of London yesterday, in
Common Hall— It was a Meeting called to deliberate upon the distressed
state of the Country. A number of violent Resolutions were passed
unanimously, at a very numerous meeting, and a petition to the Prince Regent was voted, to be presented
to him seated on the throne, which it is known he will refuse; at this
meeting there were only three Speakers, all on one side, that of the
Reformers, and equally inveterate against the Ministers and the leading
whigs. Neither a whig nor a Tory ventured to open his lips at this
meeting, yet the Resolutions and the Petition were voted unanimously at
a meeting of two thousand persons— The Lord Mayor mentioned it with
surprize, to Alderman Christopher
Smith, who it seems is to be Lord Mayor the next year, and
who is a staunch Ministerial man— All the resolutions unanimous! said
the Lord Mayor— And some of them, very strong— Aye, said Smith, and if
they had put it to vote to hang the Lord Mayor, they would have passed
that unanimously too!— No—not this year—perhaps they might the
next—replied the Lord Mayor, much to the diversion of the Company who
enjoyed a hearty laugh, at the expence of Alderman Smith. Perry, the Editor of the Morning
Chronicle, was of the party this day, and invited me to dine with him
next Saturday, in company with the Duke of Sussex and Sir Robert Wilson. Perry is a whig;
and not satisfied at-all with the proceedings of the city meeting
yesterday.— There was an Article in the Morning Chronicle, asserting
that notwithstanding the lateness of the Season there would be this year
an uncommon fine harvest— Mr Hunt, one of the Speakers in the City
yesterday, contradicted this statement upon his honour as a Gentleman,
and censured the Morning Chronicle as attempting to impose upon the
People, by it— Perry still insists that according to his information
from all parts of the Country, the harvest will be excellent if they
have yet good weather— Lord
Castlereagh told me the same thing yesterday. Cobbett proclaimed three weeks ago
that the harvest would be bad. Hunt yesterday pledged his honour that it
would be— It is strange that such a thing should be made a party
question, but so it is. Lord Erskine told me this day that he still
intended to pay a visit to the United States; I observed to him that it
would be best to fix a time, to carry his project into execution— He
said he thought he should go the Summer after next. He was much
gratified with receiving from Dr Roymayne at New-York by
Dr
Mason, a copy of his Speeches, reprinted at New-York, from
an Edition published here by Ridgway— The Margravine of Anspach was once
a Lady Elizabeth Berkley, sister to the late Earl of Berkley and the Admiral. She married first a
Lord Craven, and as Lady
Craven, published her travels in the Crimea. Her second marriage was
with the Margrave of
Anspach, of whom she is now the widow— She is nearly seventy,
and very tenacious of her title of Highness. She has been heretofore a
very distinguished person in fashionable life, but is now so forgotten
that she puts up with a Lord Mayor’s and City party. Lady Elizabeth
Forbes who accompanied her, is her niece. The Margravine was toasted
after dinner but made no speech. There were some Country dances before
and after dinner, but the most delightful part of the entertainment was
the songs and glees sung by the musical guests; which were without
accompaniment of instruments, but in the very highest Style of
excellence. The Duke of Sussex sung a glee Rosy Bacchus, God of
Wine—tolerably well. When his Health was given the singing party gave
the cheer of three times three hurra’s in musical intonation, which was
called for again and repeated.— As the Night came on the surrounding
boats drew up closer to the barge which was thus surrounded by genteel
people looking in upon the company, and participating in the pleasures
of the Music. A Mr Henry Newman, holding some office in the City,
introduced himself to me, as having been invariably a friend to
America.— It was very dark when we landed, in a Boat from the Barge at
Kew Bridge. We found our Carriage there, and 61were
at home shortly after ten. I found a Note from Lord Castlereagh—an
answer upon the case of R.
Shapley’s Vessel, refers him for a remedy to the admiralty
Court— A Letter from G. W. Erving
at Madrid: waiting for the king of
Spain— From T.
Dickason, asking again for the Spanish Ambassador’s interposition
in the case of the William and Mary— From the Glennie’s, complaining that they
can get no answer from the Treasury, on the case of the Ship
Independence at Glasgow; and asking for my assistance in another case,
that of the Ship Lion and Cargo, belonging to Hollins and M’Blair, and to
George Stiles of Baltimore—
From A. H. de
Chateauneuf, with several copies of Prospectuses for two
works. One a History of Buonaparte, and the other the Chronique de l’Europe, a
periodical journal; both to be published in numbers, twice a Month. He
solicits my subscription— I forgot to mention that among the company at
the Lord Mayor’s party this day was Mr John Reeves formerly of the
Alien-Office. This person from having been one of the most inflexible
supporter’s of the doctrine of unalienable allegiance, and being a
lawyer, was led to pursue the principle into its consequences, and
brought himself to the conclusion that all Americans born before the
Declaration of Independence and at least their children were entitled
unalienably to the privileges of British Subjects.— So that while he was
at the head of the Alien-Office, where he had been placed, in
consequence of the fiery zeal of his loyalty, he used to tell every
American, who came to him for a Passport, that he was no more an alien
than himself, and that he needed no Passport. The Government, who could
not answer his argument, but whom his inferences did not suit, removed
him from the alien-office, upon which he published a book, in support of
his theory. He has now all the stubbornness of a religious or political
bigot, upon the subject of his doctrine— It was but just as we were
going down to dinner that he discovered who I was; and he was quite
anxious to have a long conversation with me— He told me that he had read
Mr
Hay’s pamphlet upon expatriation, and asked my opinion of
his book— I told him I thought his conclusions were correctly drawn from
the British premises; but that in America, our principles were
different; and of course they led to different conclusions— He said that
some People here did not like his doctrine—what was that to him? He knew
it to be the Law—and no lawyer in England would dare to say it was not—
Let any body try it, in the Court of King’s Bench— No judge would dare
to decide the question against him. I told him I thought if the question
was brought before them; they would devise some means to get rid of
it—they were subtle persons and I should be sorry to have a stake
depending upon that question before them— Mr
Reeves was very sangwine that they must decide it, according to his
theory, but he had not time to explain it to me at large.