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.
- Thom. George.
In the Hall of the House of Representatives this morning I heard the
Revd. Dr. Welsh of Albany, preach,
from 2. Kings 5.12. “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus,
better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be
clean. So he turned and went away in a rage” The Discourse was a curious
exemplification, of the manner in which Democracy and demagoguism have
crept into the Pulpit in this Country— The story of the cleansing of
Naaman the Syrian is one of the most
beautiful narratives of the Old Testament, but this preacher from
Albany, turned it to political account. Its object in the Scripture is
by a miraculous event, to display, the superiority of the religion of
the Hebrews, over that of the Heathen Nations even of the conquerors of
the Jews.— This is the perpetual object of all the Scriptures of the Old
Testament— Naaman, Captain of the Host of the King of Syria, was a great
man with his Master and honorable, because by him the Lord had given
deliverance unto Syria, he was also a mighty man in valour but he was a
leper—A maurauding party of his Army had
invaded the Land of Israel and carried off 563captive, a little maid, who waited on Naamans wife, and she said to her mistress would God, my
Lord were with the Prophet, that is in Samaria, for he would recover him
of his leprosy— So Naaman goes with a Letter from the King of Israel to
the King of Syria with presents of immense value and the King thought,
he sought to quarrel with him, but Elisha the prophet, went to the King of Israel, and
requested he would refer Naaman to him. So Naaman came with his horses
and Chariot and stood at the door of the House of Elisha, but did not
condescend to see him, but sent a Messenger to him, directing him to go
and wash in Jordan, and promising, that this would cleanse him from his
leprosy— Thereupon Naaman flies into a passion and draws the comparison
between the rivers of Damascus, and the waters of Israel.— selected by
the Preacher for his text—and concludes by going away in a rage— Upon
reflexion however by the advice of his Servants, he concludes to go and
dip himself seven times in Jordan and is cleansed from his leprosy— He
then returns to Elisha, the man of God, and acknowledges, that there is,
no God, in all the Earth, but in Israel—and offers to Elisha magnificent
presents; which he refuses. There is a sequel to the story, not less
interesting than the tale itself, but of which Dr. Welsh took no notice, nor can I for want of time. But the
Democracy of Dr. Welsh consisted in
contrasting, the rank and pomp and grandeur of the Syrian Field Marshal,
with the poverty and humility of the Hebrew Prophet— He commented much,
upon the scorn, with which, the Grandee treated, the direction, of
Elisha, and after many invidious contrasts, between the great and noble
of the Earth, with the lowly condition of the Prophet, he finally
concluded his Discourse by assuring his Auditory, that they might depend
upon it, there was no aristocratic way to Heaven. After dinner I
attended at the Second Presbyterian Church, where the Revd. Matthew Hale
Smith, preached from Psalms 77–19—“Thy way 564is in the Sea, and thy path, in the great waters[”]—a
sermon, upon the condition of Sailors— Immediately after the close of
the Service, a Meeting of the Members of the Society was held, of which
I, was Chairman and presented a resolution of thanks, for his four
Lectures addressed to young men, to young ladies, to married persons,
and to parents—with a request, of a copy of them, for publication. The
resolution was unanimously adopted, the ladies of the Society according
to the practice of this church, voting as well as the men. The meeting,
occupied not more than a quarter of an hour, and was then adjourned— At
half past seven in the evening I attended at the Unitarian Church, where
the Revd.
Samuel. K. Lothrop, Minister of the Brattle Street Church
in Boston, preached from Genesis 37. part of the 15 verse. “What seekest
thou,” This is a question put by a certain man to Joseph, when he was
wandering in the field sent by his Father Israel, in search of his
brethren, who were feeding their fathers flock in
r.
Lothrop dismissed all notice of this context, but taking the simple
question “What seekest thou,” by itself and applying it, specially to
his Auditory, said he would address each one of them, with that
question, and inquire what they were seeking— He said it was probable,
that the ready answer of every one would be, he was seeking for
happiness—and then he proceeded to shew, that happiness, was not, in
itself, the proper object of search for the Christian— That this proper
object was, the development of his own character; the pursuits of life;
of which happiness would be the ultimate result: the practise of the
virtues, and the control of his own passions, which would lead to
happiness, and which require An earnest examination and search, for
practical application, to the duties of human life— On returning home I
found Lieutenant Thom, of the
Topographical Engineers here—on a visit to the ladies— Mrs. Smith left us yesterday to
go to her sister Mrs. Frye’s