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.
- Seward. W. H.
- Robinson
- Cole Isaac
I called this morning at the Banking House of Corcoran and Riggs, then at the
Bank of the Metropolis and next at the Office of J. J. Nourse to deposit, an order
from the Speaker of the House for
four hundred dollars, which I took in gold and deposited with three
hundred dolls in Bills at the Bank of Metropolis upon which I drew a
check of 501.25 payable to J. J. Nourse for City Corporation 6. per cent
with a brokerage of one quarter of one per cent. Thence I attended at
the House A person by the name of Isaac
Cole had been here with a subscription paper for the
Building of a Methodist Episcopal Church near Dover Mills Baltimore
County— I requested him to call here to-morrow— At the House Edwin H. Ewing from Tennessee, elected
in the place of Joseph H. Peyton
deceased took his seat and was introduced to me by his
Colleague—Milton Brown—
Francis A.
Cunningham—offered a Resolution with a preamble declaring the
Negotiation with Great Britain relating to Oregon Territory terminated
and that it is the imperative duty of Congress to adopt immediately such
measures as will fully protect our Citizens whom now do or may hereafter
inhabit that Country and effectually maintain our just title to the
whole of the Country of Oregon— McKay Chairman of the Committee
of Ways and means objected to the introduction of this Resolution
Henly and Wentworth moved a suspension of the
Rules to receive this Resolution which was refused by yeas and nays 73.
to 89. Soon after a Question arose as to the day appointed for the
consideration of the Bill from the Committees on the Territories for
extending our Jurisdiction over the whole Territory of Oregon— Garrett Davis moved a suspension of
the Rule to introduce a resolution that the Committee of the whole House
on the State of the Union should be discharged from the consideration of
that Bill and its ten sections be recommitted to seven of the standing
Committees of the House— The House refused the suspension of the Rules—a
Debate followed concerning the publication of the tenth volume of the
Laws. Reports from Committees were called Hugh A. Haralson Chairman of the Committee on Military
Affairs Reported a Bill to provide for the organiza365tion of two Regiments of Riflery—he moved its referrence
to the Committee of the whole on the State of the Union and made the
special order for next Tuesday— A long Debate followed, at the close of
which I took a part in it by a Speech which I fear gave satisfaction to
no part of the House when I finished James J.
Faran of Ohio moved the suspension of the Rules to offer a
Resolution but the House without hearing it read immediately adjourned.
W. H. Seward Late Governor
of New York came to me at my seat and inquired if I should be at home
this evening. I said I should. he promised to call on me and did so with
Mr. Robinson
who now reports the proceedings of the House for the New York Tribune— I
had a long conversation with them in which Mr. Seward declared his full approbation of my speech in the
House but some doubt whether it would meet the concurrence of the Whig
Party— In coming down the stairs from the House Mr. John W.
Houston a Whig member of the State of Delaware had
introduced himself to me and told me that he concurred entirely with the
sentiments which I had just delivered— This is probably the last great
movement of my political Life—it will pass through a fierly ordeal the
result of which as concerns myself I leave to the great disposal of
events—