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.
th. of March next was consummated. Of the
votes in the electoral Colleges there were 99. for Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, 84 for
John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, 41. for William Harris Crawford of
Georgia, and 37 for Henry Clay of
Kentucky. In all 261. This result having been announced on opening and
counting the votes in joint meeting of the two Houses, the House of
Representatives immediately proceeded to the vote by ballot from the
three highest Candidates, when John Quincy Adams received the votes of
13, Andrew Jackson of 7. and William H. Crawford of 4. States— The
election was thus completed, very unexpectedly by a single ballot—
Alexander H. Everett gave
me the first notice, both of the issue of the votes of the electoral
colleges, as announced in the joint meeting, and of the final vote as
declared. Wyer followed him a few
minutes afterwards— Mr Bolton and Mr Thomas the Naval Architect
succeeded; and B. W.
Crowninshield, calling on his return from the House to his
lodgings at my house, confirmed the reports— Congratulations from
several of the Officers of the Department of State ensued—from D. Brent, G. Ironside, W. Slade, and Josias W. King— Those of my wife, children, and family
were cordial, and affecting; and I received an affectionate note from
Mr Rufus
King of New-York, written in the Senate chamber after the
event. On my return home James
Strong M.H.R. from New-York, came with some solicitude of
enquiry concerning the obstacles to the election of Ambrose Spencer, as Senator from
that State in the place of Mr King. He asked
if my friends considered Spencer as hostile to me. I said I believed
they had considered him as favouring the election of Genl. Jackson. He asked if I did not consider
Spencer pledged at least, if elected, not to come with purposes of
hostility to the Administration— I said I did not— He said Spencer was
an honest man; and if he gave such a pledge would be faithful to it.
After dinner the Russian Minister Baron
Tuyll called to congratulate me on the issue of the
Election— I attended with Mrs Adams the
Drawing Room at the President’s—
It was crowded to overflowing— General Jackson was there, and we shook
hands. He was altogether placid and courteous— I received numerous
friendly salutations. D. Webster
asked me when I could receive the Committee of the House to announce to
me my Election. I appointed to-morrow Noon, at my own house— The
Committee 77Committee consist of Webster; Vance of Ohio, and Archer of Virginia— I asked S. L. Southard the Secretary of the
Navy to call on me to-morrow morning at ten O’Clock— Mr. Daniel Brent had called on me this
morning, and said that Mr John Lee M.H.R. from Maryland had told him
that he should at the first ballot, be obliged to vote for Jackson; but
if the election should not be completed this day he would come and see
me to-morrow Morning— He was disposed to give me his vote, but wished
some explanation from me of certain passages of my Oration delivered on
the 4th. of July 1821 which had been
offensive to the Roman Catholics. I said I would very readily see and
converse on this subject with Mr Lee;
regretting that anything I had ever said in public should have hurt the
religious feelings of any person. Dr. Watkins came likewise and
expressed much confidence in the issue that took place. But urging me,
if it should be otherwise, and I should attend the Drawing room this
Evening, to carry a firm and confident countenance with me, and
remarking that a bold outside was often a herald to success— There was
fortunately no occasion for this little artifice. I enclosed Mr R. King’s Note with a Letter of three
lines to my father, asking for his
blessing and prayers on the event of this day; the most important day of
my life, and which I would close as it began with supplications to the
father of mercies, that its consequences may redound to his glory, and
to the welfare of my Country. After I returned from the Drawing Room, a
Band of Musicians came and serenaded me at my house— It was past
midnight when I retired.