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 Cushman of Maine called this morning at my
house, and spoke of the appointment of a District judge of the United
States, in Maine, in the place of Albion K.
Parris, elected Governor of the State. Cushman is for
Whitman, a member of
Congress from the State; besides whom the Candidates are Ashur Ware, a Mr Ames,
and Williamson, also a
member of Congress from the State— Cushman said Williamson would call
upon me to-morrow morning.— At the Office, I had a visit from Dr. Glendy,
who in the course of half an hour’s Conversation gave me a history of
his adventures in this Country, since his arrival here from Ireland, in
1799. particularly his relations with Mr Jefferson, to whom he
had brought Letters of recommendation. I dined with the Russian Minister, Poletica, it being
the Emperor Alexander’s birth-day—
About 25 in company, heads of Departments, and the Corps Diplomatique—
The dinner was rather dull— Mr
Canning r Baker,
the British Consul General who was with him, on entering the Parlour;
went up and spoke to the Baron Hyde
de Neuville, who immediately went with him out of the
Room. When dinner was announced, on passing into the dining Hall, we
found Mr De Neuville, and Baker were there—
Hyde and Canning neither spoke to nor looked at each other— Mr Poletica, asked me for the toast as usual,
upon which I gave the Emperor Alexander, and the cause of the Cross:
which he returned by toasting the President of the United States, and the cause of Peace,
as long as possible— None of the other usual toasts in honour of the
holy allies were given; we were a very short time at table, and the
company retired almost immediately after dinner. The President of the
Senate Gaillard, and the Speaker
of the House P. P. Barbour were
of the Company. I asked Stackelberg the Swedish Chargé d’Affaires, whether he had
seen the quarrel between Hyde de Neuville, and Canning, in the Entrance
Hall, at the President’s— He had seen it all; and twice interposed
between them— I asked him what they had said? He answered he did not
know—by which he merely meant to decline telling what they had said—
Poletica was a little more communicative— He said that the quarrel had
long been brewing— That one of its principal recent causes, was a Letter
of Sir George Collier’s, lately
published in all the Newspapers, and containing severe reflections upon
the French Government, as still suffering the Slave-trade to be carried
on under their flag. Mr De Neuville had been
much hurt at this Letter, and Canning had indulged himself in some
sarcastic remarks upon it— At the Ball given by De Neuville last week in
honour of the Duchess of
Angouleme’s birth-day, Mr
Canning went away before supper; De Neuville, spoke of this to Canning,
while sitting at table at the President’s; and expressed his regret at
the circumstance— Canning it seems answered that there were places where
he took pleasure in staying, and others where attendance was mere
compliance with forms— De Neuville was much offended at this, but said
nothing more at table. They left the Drawing-room after dinner, nearly
at the same time; and before the Carriage of either of them had arrived—
While in the entrance-hall De Neuville took Canning aside, to ask
explanation of what he had said at table; but instead of being satisfied
with his answer, was more incensed by it— The irritation increased on
both sides, until De Neuville, raising his voice, said “oui Monsieur, je
vous la repete en présence de tout le Corps Diplomatique, que la
franchise et la politesse sont des qualités éminemment Françaises[”]— Poletica did not say what was
Canning’s answer; but the fact was that before they parted there was
menace of personal violence between them on the spot— By De Neuville
with the clenched hand; by Canning, in laying his hand upon his sword—
Poletica says that De Neuville was wrong in breaking out, there, and
that he is now sensible of it— But he says the original wrong was in
Canning, who is apt to 189make sarcastic remarks.
There has been some correspondence between them, since Friday, but
apparently no adjustment of the difference between them hitherto.
Mrs Adams was rather better this day; we had an
oyster supper at home—