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.
- Graham— George
- Strickland William
- Southard Samuel L
- Flajet Bishop
- Abel
- Matthews— William
- Clay— Henry
- Rumpff— Vincent
- Rush. Richard
- Elgar— Joseph
- Anderson— Willis’s Mother
- His wife
- Gales— Joseph jun
r - Donaldson
We rode round by the Navy Yard, and returned by a way leading to the
Turnpike gate and the Capitol. Mr Graham the Commissioner of
the General Land-Office came and spoke of an Application from Mr Owen of
Alabama, that the Government would purchase certain Reservations of
Lands of Creek Indians in that State, to which Mr Graham thought there might be some objection from the
opinion that the Lands are worth more than the minimum price of those
sold by the United States, and yet that they ought not to give more for
them— I agreed that the purchase should be made, on condition that the
minimum price should not be exceeded, and that no advantage should be
taken of the Indians in the transaction. Mr
Strickland was here and said he must return to
Philadelphia to-morrow. I told him that I should very gladly employ him
as an Engineer in the construction of the Breakwater near the mouth of
the Delaware Bay, and referred him to the Secretary of the Navy— He said he thought the first thing
to be done would be to make a Survey to fix on the spot where the work
shall be erected— I requested Mr Southard to
appoint Commodore Rodgers,
General Bernard, and Mr Strickland to make the Survey to fix upon
the spot and prepare a plan for the work— This evening I wrote a
direction to the Secretary of the Navy to that effect— Mr Southard mentioned the offer of Mr Owen of Alabama, to treat with the
Cherokees for a purchase of lands, which I had declined on account of
his being a member of Congress; and proposed that F. W. Armstrong the Marshal of
both Districts in Alabama, who is now here, should be charged with this
business, to which I assented— Mr Southard
stated that about half the appropriation, made at the Session of
Congress before the last, had been expended in the abortive attempt of
the last Summer. Mr Matthews, the Roman Catholic Priest,
introduced Bishop Flajet of
Kentucky—and another Clergyman named Abel,
who said he was a native of that State— They are returning from
Baltimore where they attended last week at the consecration of an
Archbishop— At one O’Clock Mr Clay came and introduced
Mr
Rumpff the Minister Plenipotentiary from the Hanseatic
Cities, to an Audience for taking leave— He addressed me in a short
Speech, as usual upon such occasions expressive of the friendship and
good will of the Governments of the three Cities of Lubeck, Bremen, and
Hamburg, towards the United States, and of his own grateful sense of the
kind reception, and friendly treatment that he had experienced in this
Country. He spoke in French, and I answered him in the same language— I
desired him upon his return to his Constituents to assure them of the
friendly feelings of the Government of the United States towards them,
and of the great satisfaction with which we had concluded the Treaty of
Amity and Commerce, which it had been the object of his mission to
negotiate. It had been the more gratifying to me, as I had from a period
of very early youth been personally acquainted with two of the three
confederated Cities, and recollected with warm gratitude the kind and
hospitable treatment I had received in them; and its repetition more
than once afterwards at 565Hamburg— As to himself I
was happy to learn that he had been pleased with his reception here, and
could express no other sentiment than that of regret at his departure;
with cordial good wishes that his voyage might be prosperous and his
future life prosperous and happy—after this interchange of official
compliments, I invited him to be seated—we conversed a few minutes upon
indifferent topics, and he withdrew— Mr Rush was here and spoke
again of the appointment of President and Directors of this Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal— The name of Mr Gallatin for President had
been mentioned to him since yesterday; with the use of some influence
upon his mind against the choice of C. F.
Mercer; but I told him considering what Mercer had done
for the Canal, I could not listen to the mention of any other name, for
that office— It was due to him, and could not without gross injustice be
diverted from him— Mr Elgar the Commissioner of the public buildings
brought me a Letter to him from Coll. Trumbull— A Resolution of
the House of Representatives, directed Elgar to take measures under the
direction of Trumbull, for preserving the Paintings in the Rotundo from
dampness, and to make him a reasonable compensation therefor— Elgar sent
him a copy of the Resolution, and his Letter was to ask an explanation
of its meaning—whether he was to devise the measures, or merely to
superintend the execution of them; and what was understood by a
reasonable compensation— I told Elgar I thought the Resolution intended
that Trumbull should indicate the measures for the preservation of the
Pictures—but what it meant by reasonable compensation I could not
determine. The wife and mother of Willis
Anderson, came again with their recommendation from
Alexandria, for a pardon, but without the signature of the District
Attorney, or of either of the judges— They said Mr Swann
had told them there were so many names signed to the recommendation that
his name was not needed— I could act upon it without that. I endorsed
upon the paper a reference of it to the District Attorney, and a call
for his Report and opinion— They brought me after dinner a Letter from
Swann saying that the crime of W. Anderson, in his opinion had been
murder— That the verdict of the Jury reducing it to manslaughter, and
that he could not recommend a pardon; and Judge Cranch had also refused to recommend it— I declined
further interposition— I began a walk this afternoon in the garden but
was recalled by a visit from Mr Gales who introduced a
Mr Donaldson
from North-Carolina— Mr Gales was much
gratified with his re-election last Monday, almost unanimously as Mayor—
We had an evening hail and thunder gust followed by heavy Showers.