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.
- Barbour James
- Cutts— Richard
- Cogswell
- Capellani
- Lee— William
- Binney— Amos
- Brent— Daniel
- Watkins— George
- Turberville G Lee
- Clay— Henry
- Bailey— John
There was a numerous party who visited this day the great Falls of the
Potowmack distant 17 Miles from the City— Abigail S. Adams was one of the Company. They returned
this Evening, when she received the news of the death of her Grandfather
Joseph Harrod, at Haverhill:
at 80 years of age— I rode this morning about 14 Miles and was two hours
and a half out. The horse was somewhat lame, and tripped often and
dangerously— Governor Barbour was
here— I had written to him that I must pay him for the horse, to which
he consented— He spoke of the preparations for his departure, and made
some enquiries as to his course of proceeding, on his arrival in
England, upon which I gave him such information as was in my power— He
spoke of numerous persons who had applied to go with him as domestics
and Secretary’s— He asked a furlough for Lieutenant Vinton late Aide de Comp to General Brown that he might accompany
him— He also said that Commodore
Rodgers had manifested a wish to go with him in a Public
Vessel, and to proceed after landing him to the Mediterranean—to resume
his Negotiation with the Sublime-Porte. Mr Cutts the Comptroller
came and introduced the Revd. Mr
Cogswell of Maine; who told me he had been one of my
pupils at Cambridge— Mr Capellani one of the Italian
Sculptors who has been employed on the Capitol came and informed me that
he was now dismissed from that occupation. That he was obliged to return
to Italy with his family, and he brought me a small marble bust of
Chlor
Lee came with Amos
Binney, who took leave; being on his return to Boston— He
asked for the return of some of his papers which had been left with me
in relation to accounts— I had mislaid them, but afterwards found and
sent them to him— Mr Daniel Brent from the State Department came
with George Watkins, the Clerk,
whom I shall employ upon the proposed Negotiation with Turkey— I was not
yet prepared for him— A young man came in and tendered me his hand
without speaking— After meeting his salutation, and making him a sign to
be seated I observed him take out of his pocket a small piece of Slate,
and he wrote r
Clay coming in, terminated this manuscript conversation,
and he withdrew. Mr Clay mentioned the
receipt of despatches from Mr Lawrence at London, and some
others; particularly one from Mr Poinsett, announcing the
death of Mr
James Cooley our Chargé d’Affaires at Lima in Peru— He
died on the 24th. of February, and it is
remarkable that this is the third of our diplomatic Representatives in
South America that have died in the space of five years since our
political intercourse commenced; besides John
Graham about two years earlier in Brazil, and John B. Prevost the informal
predecessor of Mr Cooley at Lima— Mr Clay proposed me to offer the appointment
of Charge d’Affaires in Peru to George
Robertson of Kentucky, to which I assented. Mr Clay likewise proposed to Report to me for
publication a Statement of facts relating to the employment of D. P. Cook last year upon a secret
agency to the Island of Cuba; of which a very disingenuous use has 558been made in the Report of the Retrenchment
Committee of the House of Representatives. Mr Bailey, Member of the
House from Massachusetts was here— He is waiting with his family for the
arrival of Dr and Mrs Judson, expected from the
West-Indies. I signed the Proclamation of the Treaty with the Arkansas
Cherokee Indians— This afternoon I planted in the Nursery 13. Rows of
the Spanish Cork Oak Acorns last received from New Bedford; and some
English walnuts and dry appleseeds.— Also in seedling box N. 5. 10 dry
Apple seeds, none of which I expect will come up— We had this day the
first cherries for the Season—7 Stones of which I planted round the side
of the Tumbler N. 4.