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.
H.R.U.S. A Resolution was adopted, offered by Garland of Virginia, calling upon the
Secretary of the Treasury, to
report at the next Session a list of all the defaulting receivers,
collectors and depositors of the public money, since the first of
January 1834— Whittlesey from
the Committee of Claims, obtained leave, to sit if necessary during the
sittings of the House— The Florida War investigation returned, and
M’Kay explained— He moves to
have it postponed until the Winter Session, and then referred to the
Committee on the expenditures of the War Department; a majority of whom
he said were of the opposition— I replied to M’Kay, and gave a History
of the composition of the Committee of Manufactures at the first and
second Session of the 22d. Congress, and of
the utter insignificancy of that Committee ever since— And I shewed the
uselessness of the reference of this investigation to the Committee on
the Expenditures of the War Department— Lewis Williams called for the yeas and nays on the
postponement, and the debate was continued by Bond, M’Kay, Reed, Whittlesey of Ohio and Augustin H. Shepperd, who in the
last Congress was Chairman of the Committee on the expenditures in the
Department of State, and having shewn a disposition to ferret out some
abuses, and actually detected some, has this Session been silently
removed to another Committee which was noticed by Whittlesey.— Bond
presented a statement of the Appropriations for the suppression of
Indian hostilities, since the 1st. of Jany 1836. amounting to 10,120000 dollars
348dollars— Shepperd disclosed some of his
experiences, in the course of his researches into the expenditures of
the Department of State, shewing the necessity of a watchful eye over
incipient abuses, and perhaps, accounting for his removal from the
Committee— The Sub-treasury Bill came up, as the order of the day—in
committee of the whole on the Union, Smith in the Chair— Rice
Garland of Louisiana, attempted without success, to get up
the bill for adjusting the balances of the late deposit Banks— Haynes of Georgia, made a flabby
speech in support of the Bill— Haynes is a Doctor, but this Session has
puffed himself up into a self-conceit of Statesmanship, and fancies
himself the Main Stay of the administration. Calhoun of Massachusetts followed in
a very sensible, temperate speech against the bill, chiefly repelling
without retorting, the malevolence of Pickens’s preachments of insurrections to the labourers
of the North— He was too tame; but strenuously opposed the Bill—
Mr
Pope of Kentucky, commenced an elaborate speech against
the Bill, and for a Bank of the United States— He was interrupted by the
recess which I occupied in copying a Letter to Minott Thayer concerning the pension
claim for Mrs
Allen— After the recess, while the few punctual members of
the House were waiting for a Quorum, Cushman began a formal speech of self-justification for
his habitual practice of moving the previous question— W. Cost Johnson however called him
to order, and said, that, if he persisted, he would start the previous
question upon him— A hearty laugh of the house
ensued, and Mr Pope rose to continue his
Speech— It was often amusing and sometimes instructive in details—never
wasting in words, and occasionally sprightly, but wanting in connection,
and shewing no approach towards the sight of Land— After speaking
without discontinuance, at least for two hours, he sunk down exhausted
into his chair, without finishing— A motion was made for the Committee
to rise, but W. Cost Johnson, agreed with him and by the tacit leave of
the House to take the floor in his place, reserving to Mr Pope the right of concluding his Speech
to-morrow Morning; and Johnson then proceeded in a speech of at least
two hours, full of sarcasm, drollery, sound sense, generous sympathies,
intrepid spirit, moral philosophy, and idle humours, such as I believe
was never before delivered in a deliberative Assembly— Legare then moved the Committee to rise,
but they refused. Garland’s substitute was rejected 73 to 90— Dawson moved another— A Bill in nine
long Sections which was ordered to be printed— Cushing moved again the Committee to
rise; that Legare might have the floor to-morrow morning—and they rose
98 to 89— Whittlesey from the Committee of Claims reported a Bill to
pay, for the lost horses and Mules.— Just before 9 O’Clock, Patton, moved to adjourn.— Cambreleng called for the yeas
and nays which were 102. to 85— It was half past nine at night when I
got home— I have this week however the benefit of the Moon.