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.
- Force Peter
- Laurence
Rain, great part of the day which confined me to the house. Mr Force and
Mr Laurence
came, as a Committee from the National Institution for the promotion of
Science; and stated that they proposed to hold a Meeting of the Society
on the first Monday, the 4th. of January
next, when a discourse is to be delivered by Mr
Poinsett— The Society are desirous of obtaining the use of
the Hall of the House of Representatives that evening for that
purpose—and wished me to offer the Resolution that it be granted; which
I promised to do.— They said the Institution was likely to flourish, and
that great interest was taken in it, by the people here— Mr Force left with me a memorandum of two
books which I borrowed of him more than three years since, and which I
have not yet returned.— The day was fully occupied and quickly passed
away— I made out my list of the persons to whom the documents of which
extra-copies are printed by order of the house, are to be sent— My rule
of distribution is 1. One copy to each of the Editors of the Newspapers
published at Plymouth (the Old Colony Memorial[)] Hingham Patriot and
Quincy Patriot— The Boston Courier and Evening Gazette. 2 To my Son, and a few other personal
friends. 3. To the Senators in the Legislature of Massachusetts from the
Counties of Plymouth and Norfolk 4. To one representative from each of
the 24 towns in the 12th. Congressional
District of Massachusetts— My portion of the extra documents, is seldom
sufficient for the whole of this supply— Often for not half of them— My
Son—the Newspaper Editors, and the County Senators are first served— The
others are furnished according to the numbers of my allowance— I keep
lists of the extra documents printed by order of the house at each
Session, and of the names of the persons to whom I send them— I made out
my lists for the present Session; and despatched by the mail 17 copies
of the Presidents annual
Message.— But the lists are imperfect till the meeting of the
Massachusetts Legislatures shall ascertain the Senators for the Counties
of Plymouth and Norfolk, and the Representatives from the 24 towns of
the 12th. Congressional district— I thought
it necessary to look into the case of the Amistad captives, to prepare
for the argument before the Supreme Court in January; of which I dare
scarcely to think— I read especially the Article in the American and
foreign Anti-Slavery Reporter of 1. October 1840. entitled the Amistad
case—p. 48–51. with deep anguish of heart, and a painful search of means
to defeat and expose the abominable conspiracy executive and judicial of
this Government against the lives of these wretched men— How shall the
facts be brought out? How shall it be possible to comment upon them with
becoming temper—with calmness—with moderation—with firmness—with
address—to avoid being silenced, and to escape the imminent danger of
giving the adversary the advantage in the argument, by over heated zeal.
Of all the dangers before me, that of losing my self possession is the
most formidable— I am yet unable to prepare the outline of the argument,
which I must be ready to offer the second week in January. Let me not
forget my duty.