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.
rs Swan came at eleven O’Clock
this Morning according to appointment— E.
Coles was here at the same time. She gave a hint that she
had business with me, and Coles immediately withdrew— She came to
solicit the interference of this Government to obtain the release of her
husband James Swan, from the prison
of la Force at Paris where he has been ten years confined— He was there
upon a sentence obtained in the Courts of France after three trials— A
very unjust sentence for they were debtors to Mr Swan for 150,000 dollars, instead of being his Creditors—
All Mr Swan wanted was to get released and
come to this Country for a fair trial. But he would never pay the money
of the Sentence decreed against him there. A great deal of money had
been sent to Mr Swan by her; but it had all
been absorbed in the expences of the trials. Mr Hyde de
Neuville had befriended Mr
Swan very much, and thought if the Government of the U. S. would
interpose, his release might be obtained. I promised to speak with Mr de Neuville upon the subject, and if any
thing could be done for Mr Swan, very
readily to do it— Madame Plantou
came with a Print of her allegorical picture of the Peace of Ghent; for
which she laid me under a contribution. It is a bombastic and foolish
thing, but Madame Plantou gives herself out for a native of
Philadelphia, and is a Painter. This is one of her works— There is an
America, in a triumphal Car, and a Britannia, upon her knees, submitting
to terms of Peace dictated by Minerva, and Hercules— Oh! the voracious
maw, and the bloated visage of National vanity— If it were true that we
had vanquished or humbled Britannia it would be base to exult over her,
but when it is so notorious that the issue of our late War with her was
at best a drawn game there is nothing but the most egregious National
vanity that can turn it to a triumph— I received this morning Notes from
Mr
Bagot and Mr Hyde de Neuville,
to ask if their Ladies could visit Mrs Monroe to-morrow. At
the President’s where I met
Mr
Crowninshield, there was again a consultation; and my
wife called one the
Ladies and informed them that they would also be received at half past
eleven to-morrow— At the Office I had another long Conference with the
Agent from Buenos Ayres, Mr Aguirre—Urging still for the
acknowledgment of his Government. He came to enquire whether it was of
any importance that he should remain here, or whether he might go to
Baltimore or Philadelphia where he could find useful business to do. I
told him he must judge of that for himself. That his demand for the
acknowledgment of his Government was under Consideration of the
President; and that if he should go to Baltimore or Philadelphia, and
any thing important should occur requiring his presence here, I could
have immediate notice given to him— We had a short visit this Evening
from the Abbe Correa the
Portuguese Minister, and from Mr. and Mrs. Walsh.