The Young Diarist and Early Legal CareerNovember 1779August 1794
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.
Diplomat, Senator, and ProfessorSeptember 1794July 1809
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.
Later Diplomatic CareerAugust 1809August 1817
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.
Secretary of StateSeptember 1817February 1825
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.
PresidentMarch 1825December 1829
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.
Return to Public ServiceJanuary 1830December 1838
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.
The Amistad Case and Final YearsJanuary 1839February 1848
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.
