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.
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Crawford, who was well acquainted with his character and
with his conduct in France, would also recommend him— He kept me above
an hour, explaining to me how exceedingly convenient it would be to him,
to his affairs and to his family to have the Office, and telling me all
his family concerns, removals and projects— I asked him if he understood
the Spanish language, and observed it would be a qualification very
useful to a Commissioner under this Treaty— He said no, he was not
acquainted with the Spanish; but he thought he could easily learn enough
of it in a short time, to answer every necessary purpose— This Gentleman
was followed by Mr Roberts the Senator from Pennsylvania, who
came and introduced to me, Mr John Binns, Editor of the
Democratic Press; an evening Newspaper published at Philadelphia, &
a personage of high political consequence in that State. Binns is
publishing a splendid Edition of the Declaration of Independence,
engraved upon copper-plate, surrounded by the arms of the thirteen
original States, and surmounted with Portraits of Hancock, Washington and Jefferson— He has now come here
with his engraver to take fac simile’s of the signatures; and asked
permission to take them in one of the Offices at the Department; to
which I consented. He was afterwards at the Department, and brought one
of the impressions of his Plate; which I saw— At the Office, came
successively Mr M’Rae, who was last Spring appointed Consul at
Amsterdam, but has not yet concluded whether he will accept the
appointment or not. He is a particular personal friend of the Presidents and a man of talents and
information. He gave me some account of the political intrigues which
have been working at Richmond upon the affairs of the Seminole War, and
General Jacksons
transactions. Some of the men of the highest standing and greatest
abilities in Virginia, are personal rivals and adversaries of Mr Monroe— His popularity however throughout
the State, supported by the weight and influence of Mr Jefferson, and Mr Madison
, is so great that they do not venture to assail him directly and in
front— They are therefore constantly on the watch for any occasion upon
which they can attack his administration, and Jackson and the Seminole
War have furnished the best of which they have yet been able to avail
themselves. They are hitherto unsuccessful. But the 49misfortune of Mr Monroe is, that the
Virginians have discovered it will be necessary to render his
administration unpopular for the purpose of securing the next Presidency
to a Virginian— Mr Buck the Consul general from Hamburg came to
take leave, upon his return to Philadelphia, and to express his
gratification, at the Act which has past extending the revocation of
discriminating duties to the Ships and Shipments of Hamburg. Mr
Appleton came to solicit again the nomination as Secretary
of Legation to Rio de Janeiro— Dr Everitt has concluded it
seems, not to accept; and the President and Mr Graham are both
willing that Appleton should be appointed— This Evening, I attended with
Mrs Adams and Mary
Buchanan, a Ball, given by subscription of Members of
Congress together with some of the principal Inhabitants of Washington
and Georgetown, to Mr and Mrs Bagot, upon their intended return to England.
This is a compliment which has never before been paid to any foreign
Minister, and which is not universally approved; as a bad precedent— We
attended by invitation. The Ball was at Crawford’s Hotel in Georgetown and numerously attended.
The managers assigned to me Mrs Wirt, the Attorney General’s wife, to lead down
to supper— There was a single toast given after supper; Mr and Mrs Bagot;
upon which he rose and returned thanks in a short, modest and suitable
speech—upon which the band of music struck up, God save the
king—immediately followed by Yankee-doodle. An association about as
incongruous, as any that I ever witnessed. We came home immediately
after supper, but it was near one of the Morning. Mr
Middleton spoke to me of Judge William Johnson of the Supreme Court; who has
obtained through Crawford’s influence the appointment of Collector of the
customs at the Port of Charleston, and after getting the place will
neither accept nor decline it; but is negotiating to keep his Office as
judge upon condition that his
brother, a very good Carpenter at Charleston shall be
appointed Collector in his stead— Middleton says that Johnson is one of
Crawford’s electioneering machines. That previous to the Legislative
caucus of 1816. Johnson who was then here, sitting as a judge of the
Supreme Court, took great, constant and indecent pains in support of
Crawford against Mr Monroe. That he
solicited and urged Lowndes,
Calhoun and him Middleton in
behalf of Crawford; although they were all in favour of Mr Monroe. He says that Johnson’s brother is
utterly unfit for the Office of Collector, and is not a little incensed
at this intrigue to obtain the appointment for him.