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.
- Brent. Daniel
- Erwin
- Porter Peter B.
- Rush Richard
The morning being cool and pleasant we rode on the Rockville turnpike
road to the gate of Mr Daniel Brent’s place in about 9 Miles, and
the longest morning ride we have yet taken. Mr Brent brought me a Note from Baron Krudener the Russian Minister to Mr Clay, with
copy of a Circular from the Russian Vice Chancellor Count Nesselrode to all the Russian
Ministers abroad, and a copy of the Instructions from the Russian
Government to the Commander of their fleet in the Mediterranean,
prescribing the conduct they are to observe towards the Navigation of
neutral Nations, in the present War between Russia, and the Ottoman
Empire— The principles prescribed to the Russian Admiral are those of
the Treaty between Russia and Great-Britain of June 1801. with the
explanatory Convention of October the same year— This Treaty was the
first abandonment on the part of Russia of the Empress Catherine’s armed
neutrality. It was a compromise with Great-Britain, in which she acceded
to the Russian doctrine of Blockade and list of Contraband, and Russia
conceded the belligerent right of capturing the property of Enemies in
neutral vessels— The first question that occurred to me was whether
these Treaties of 1801. between Russia and Great-Britain were still in
force between the parties to them as Treaties, and I found on referring
to Hertslett’s Collection of
all the existing Commercial Treaties of Great-Britain with other Powers
made in 1821. that they are not included in it— In the War of 1809. the
Emperor Alexander
47returned to the principles of the armed
neutrality, and never afterwards renewed the Treaties of 1801. with
Great-Britain— I mentioned to Mr Brent, the
substance of the answer to be returned in the absence of the Secretary
of State, to Baron Krudener’s Note, in which I desired him to introduce
the enquiry, whether the Treaties of 1801. were considered by the
parties, as still in force, and also the expression of a wish, that the
principles of the armed neutrality had been adopted by Russia, on the
present occasion— Mr Brent mentioned that
Baron Krudener had intimated a desire of a private Audience from me, to
which I agreed and fixed for one O’Clock to-morrow— Mr Ewrin,
the Son in Law of Mr Clay called to pay a
visit— His wife has been some time
here, and he has just arrived from New-Orleans— General Porter and Mr Rush
were successively here. General Porter said his attention had been
particularly turned to the expenditures and the accountability in the
Indian Branch of the War Department, and he thought they required the
establishment of a system of regulations, which he contemplated
preparing— But he thought he should derive great assistance in the work,
from Governor Cass of the Michigan
Territory—and Genl. W. Clark formerly governor of the Missouri
Territory; both thoroughly acquainted with the Indians, and with their
relations, with us. He proposed therefore to invite them to come to
Washington next October, and by consultation with them to prepare the
system of regulations. To this I assented, but advised him to write to
them previously, and to request a written communication from each of
them of his ideas relating to the subject generally. Mr Rush is still much occupied in carrying
into effect the Act of the last Session of Congress for the relief of
the Officers and Soldiers of the Revolutionary War— He has also now to
settle the accounts of C. J.
Ingersoll and Josiah
Randall for services as Counsel in the Causes before the
U.S. Circuit Court in Pennsylvania, resulting from the failure of
Edward Thompson— Their
charges are high, and I advised him to reduce the allowances to the
scale of an average of allowances made under former administrations for
similar services— I signed as of 1. August a Commission to Captain D. T. Patterson, as a
Commissioner of the Navy.