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.
- Elgar Joseph
- Barbour— James
- Southard Samuel L
- O’Sullivan— Edward
- Hassler F. R.
- Mercer
- Walch Robert
- Fendall— Philip R
- Nourse Charles J
- Ingersoll Charles. J
Immediately after the scarcely clear rising of the Sun, I took my daily
walk round the Capitol Square, and on returning gave my fourth sitting
to Mr
Greenough at Mr King’s— He said he should
want but one sitting more. I spoke to him to make a marble bust of
my father next Summer; which he
promised to do— Mr Elgar called upon me after breakfast, upon
Mr Robert
King’s claim to certain lots in the City, in payment of
Services as a Surveyor. There was a Letter from Mr Thomas
Munroe, to Coll. Lane, setting forth Mr King’s claim; which Lane however declined
to recognize— I desired Mr Elgar to send me
the record of King’s purchase of the lots which he afterwards did.
Governor Barbour and Mr
Southard were here together— The Governor spoke of the
honours to be paid General Brown at
his funeral— The first process was to search for precedents; and the
only precedent found was that of the decease of General Washington; who like
General Brown was at the time of his decease Commander in Chief of the
Army; but his circumstances and situation were so peculiar that few of
the measures then adopted could now be followed with propriety. The
event was then announced by a special message from the President to
Congress. I thought that would now be neither necessary nor proper— The
event was also then announced by a General Order in the name of the
President to the Army— I supposed it should now emanate from the
Secretary of War— Governor Barbour said that Coll.
Jones the Adjutant General had made a draft of an Order;
but the Governor thought it would be susceptible of improvement, and he
asked me to make a sketch of such a paper; which I promised to do, but
desired that Coll. Jones’s draft might be
sent to me; observing that I presumed much of it might be preserved— The
Governor afterwards brought a new Letter of complaint from the Governor of Georgia about another
murder by Creek Indians— Mr Southard spoke
of a Court of inquiry to be convened at Boston, upon the Charges against
Lieutenant Percival— He
afterwards sent me the opinion of the Attorney General, and the papers relating to the claim of
Coll.
Henderson, to appoint the Staff-Officers of the Marine
Corps— Edward O’Sullivan, a
boy of about 14 came with a Letter from his mother, whom he called his
father— I referred him for his solicitation to the Secretary of War—
Mr
Hassler called and gave me a new book lately published by
him entitled a popular exposition of the System of the Universe— He is
now going to Richmond. Major
Mercer came with Mr Walch from Annapolis, whose object is to
obtain the appointment 447of Superintendent of the
Public buildings— Mr Fendall came from the Department for some
book, which contained a correspondence called for by a Resolution of the
House of Representatives. Major
Nourse brought me all the papers relating to the
controversy between Generals
Scott and Gaines,
respecting their several Ranks. Mr Charles Ingersoll, called on
me just from Philadelphia, and announced to me the wedding in my family
this Evening— My second Son John
Adams was married to Mary
Catherine Hellen, by the Reverend William Hawley, Rector of St. John’s Church in this City— The persons
present as witnesses, were besides my wife and myself, Abigail
Smith Adams, Judge William
Cranch, and his daughter Elizabeth, Edward
Everett, Mr and Mrs. Frye, and their Son
Thomas, Johnson and Thomas
J. Hellen, Dr Henry Huntt, Columbus and
Frances Munroe, Matilda
Pleasonton, George and Sophia Ramsay, Tench Ringgold, Mary C. Roberdeau, Mr and Mrs W. S. Smith, Dr Watkins and his Son
William— The Servants of
the family were likewise all present— After the ceremony we had a
supper, and the company retired about midnight. May the blessing of God
Almighty rest upon this Union!