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.
Between seven and eight this morning I went with my Son John to the Union Hotel at Georgetown
where were assembling the President and Directors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company; the
Mayors
and Committees of the Corporations of Washington, Georgetown and
Alexandria— The Heads of Departments, foreign Ministers and a few other
invited persons. About eight O’Clock a procession was formed preceded by
a band of Music to the wharf where we embarked in the Steam-boat
Surprize; followed by two others: we proceeded to the entrance of the
Potowmack Canal, and up that in Canal boats to its head: near which,
just within the bounds of the State of Maryland, was the spot selected
for breaking the ground— The President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Company with a very short Address delivered to me the Spade, with which
I broke the ground: addressing the surrounding auditory, consisting
perhaps of two thousand persons— It happened that at the first stroke of
the Spade, it met immediately under the surface a large stump of a tree;
after repeating the stroke three or four times without making any
impression, I threw off my coat, and resuming the Spade, raised a shovel
full of the Earth, at which a general shout burst forth from the
surrounding multitude, and I completed my Address, which occupied about
fifteen minutes. The President and Directors of the Canal, the Mayors
and Committees of the three Corporations; the Heads of Departments,
members of Congress, and others followed, and shovelled up a wheelbarrow
full of the Earth— Mr Gales the Mayor of
Washington read also a short Address and was answered extemporaneously
by Andrew Stewart the Director of the Company from Pennsylvania. 21After a short repose under a tent on the banks of
the Canal, we returned by the Canal boats to the landing and thence in
the Steamboat, where as we redescended the Potowmack, the company
partook of a light Collation upon the deck— I was asked for a Toast and
gave the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal—Perseverance.— Mr Mercer and Mr Rush also gave toasts—
About half past two I was landed at Davidsons wharf where my Carriage
was waiting; and after taking Mr Rush home I
returned to mine.— The Marshals of the day escorted me home on
horseback; came in and took a glass of wine, and took leave with my
thanks for their attentions— A young man named Dorset, from Maryland, was the only other visitor—
Dr.
Huntt and Thomas J.
Hellen dined with us— The day was uncommonly cool for the
Season, with a fresh breeze, and towards Evening there was a gentle
Shower— The exertion of speaking in the open air made me hoarse, and
with the anxiety more oppressive than it should have been to get well
through the day, exhausted, and fatigued me so that I was disqualified
for thought or action the remainder of the day— As has happened to me
whenever I have had a part to perform in the presence of multitudes, I
got through awkwardly, but without gross and palpable failure.— The
incident that chiefly relieved me was the obstacle of the stump, which
met and resisted the Spade, and my casting off my coat to over come the
resistance— It struck the eye and fancy of the Spectators, more than all
the flowers of Rhetoric in my Speech, and diverted their attention from
the stammering and hesitation of a deficient memory— Mr
Vaughan, Chevalier
Bangeman Huygens, Barons
Krudener and Stackelberg, and several other members of the Corps
Diplomatique were present, and thought it perhaps a strange part for a
President of the United States to perform. Governor Kent of Maryland was
there as one of the Directors of the Company; and compared the ceremony
to that said to be annually observed in China— I wrote a short Letter
this Evening to Charles.