John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams I INTRODUCTION John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), sixth president of the United States (1825-1829), who devoted his life and his great ability to serving the people of the United States. Of the 81 years he lived, 50 were spent in public office. His service ended only with his death at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Adams's career of public service was one of the most varied and distinguished in American history. He served his nation as a diplomat, senator, secretary of state, president, and, for the last 17 years of his life, member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The measures he took in these high offices profoundly assisted the growth and development of the United States. The expansion of U.S. borders westward and southward, the acquisition of Florida, and the formulation of the Monroe Doctrine all were due, at least in part, to the efforts of John Quincy Adams. II EARLY LIFE John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, on July 11, 1767. He was the second child and eldest son of John Adams, who became second president of the United States in 1797, and Abigail Smith Adams. In 1778, at the age of ten, John Quincy accompanied his father to France when the elder Adams went to seek aid for the American Revolutionists. Young Adams spent the next eight years in Europe. He studied with tutors and attended school in France and the Netherlands. He had few friends his own age and preferred the company of diplomats. His mastery of French, the language of European diplomacy, brought young Adams his first official appointment. Although only 14, Adams became interpreter and secretary to Francis Dana, U.S. envoy to Russia. After almost two years in Saint Petersburg (then the capital of Russia), Adams returned to The Hague in the Netherlands and resumed his studies. Soon afterward, his father summoned Adams to Paris. There, in 1783, he witnessed the signing of the treaty that ended the American Revolution. At this time he began keeping a diary, which he continued throughout his life. The diary, published many years later by his son Charles Francis Adams, is an important historical document. In 1785 Adams visited his parents in Great Britain, where his father was serving as U.S. diplomatic representative. Young Adams then returned to the United States, entered Harvard College, and graduated two years later. After studying law, he began his own practice in 1790. Adams found the practice of law dry and tedious, and he soon became involved in important public issues. III EARLY CAREER A U.S. Diplomat A1 Publicola When war broke out between France and Great Britain in 1793, loyalties were deeply divided in the United States. Some Americans followed Thomas Jefferson and urged support of France. Many members of the anti-Jefferson or Federalist Party, wanted an alliance between the United States and Great Britain. President George Washington, although he sympathized with Federalist principles, insisted that the United States remain neutral. Washington's policy of neutrality was supported by Vice President John Adams but was bitterly attacked by many. In this crisis the president received unexpected support. An anonymous author, using the pen name Publicola, published a series of articles in a Boston newspaper that were reprinted and read throughout the nation. The articles offered a closely reasoned and brilliant defense of Washington's policy and concluded with these words: "It is our duty to remain, the peaceable and silent, though sorrowful spectators of the sanguinary scene." The president soon discovered that John Quincy Adams had written the articles. A2 The Netherlands Welcoming the support of the young lawyer and son of his vice president, Washington appointed Adams diplomatic representative to the Netherlands. Adams was especially qualified for the post. He spoke both Dutch and French, he had studied international law, and he understood the intricate workings of European politics. From his post in the Netherlands, Adams observed and reported on the wars that enveloped most of Europe as a result of the French Revolution (1789-1799). He was convinced, more strongly than ever, that neutrality was the wisest policy for the United States. His diplomatic dispatches repeated this conviction again and again. Washington incorporated many of Adams's thoughts and phrases into his Farewell Address of 1797, which urged the United States to avoid involvement in European affairs. While serving in the Netherlands, Adams married Louisa Catherine Johnson, daughter of the U.S. consul in London, England. The couple had three sons. A3 Prussia In 1796 John Adams was elected president of the United States. Washington advised the new president that he should not "withhold merited promotion from Mr. Jn. [Quincy] Adams because he is your son. ... Mr. Adams is the most valuable public character we have abroad ... the ablest of all our diplomatic corps." In 1797 John Adams followed Washington's advice and sent his son as U.S. diplomatic representative to Prussia (now part of Germany), where he negotiated a treaty of friendship and commerce. During his three years there, Adams had little to do. He read, and he toured Germany. His Letters on Silesia (1804) are an account of some of his travels. B United States Senator The year after his father was defeated for reelection in 1800, Adams returned to Boston and resumed the practice of law. He was still interested in politics. He wrote in his diary: "I feel strong temptation and have great provocation to plunge into political controversy." In 1802 the Federalist Party leaders in Massachusetts, impressed by Adams's record as a diplomat and by the fact that he was the son of John Adams, helped him win election to the state senate. Shortly afterward, in 1803, the Federalists in the state legislature elected him U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Adams was a most active and conscientious senator. He served on numerous committees and sponsored measures to encourage and develop commerce and industry. His supporters, however, demanded much more. As senator, Adams was expected to further the interests of New England and of the Federalist Party. Adams regarded these as secondary interests. He would not support any measure unless he believed the entire United States would benefit from it, and he wrote: "I would fain be the man of my whole country." When President Thomas Jefferson requested Senate approval of his treaty for the purchase of the French colony of Louisiana, Adams was the only New England Federalist to vote in favor of it. He realized that the power and influence of his own New England would be reduced if the vast territory were added to the nation, but he was convinced that the national interest would best be served by the purchase of Louisiana (see Louisiana Purchase). Adams again broke with his New England supporters in 1807, when he voted for the Embargo Act. The act banned all American trade with Europe and was intended to force Britain and France to respect U.S. rights on the high seas. The embargo not only failed to win British and French compliance but dealt a severe blow to U.S. commerce. Massachusetts shipowners, especially, suffered heavy financial losses. Adams was denounced as a traitor to his state and to the Federalist Party. In 1808, several months before his term was up, the Massachusetts legislature elected a senator to replace him. Adams resigned. C Later Diplomatic Career C1 Russia Adams resumed his diplomatic career in 1809, when President James Madison appointed him U.S. diplomatic representative to Russia. The post was an important one, for at that time Russia was the only European outlet for American trade. French and British blockades had closed other ports in Europe to U.S. ships. For the next four years, Adams skillfully advanced American interests at Saint Petersburg, and he won the lasting friendship of the Russian leader, Tsar Alexander I. In 1812 French Emperor Napoleon I invaded Russia, citing the tsar's defiance of the French embargo as provocation. Adams was a witness to the triumphant advance of Napoleon's armies into Russia's old capital, Moscow. A month later, when the French armies began their retreat, Adams wrote his mother: "The two Russian generals who have conquered Napoleon and all his Marshals are General Famine and General Frost." C2 The Treaty of Ghent During the same year the United States declared war on Britain. A major cause of the War of 1812 was the British seizure of American ships to enforce its counterembargo against Napoleon. The tsar proposed to Adams that Russia mediate the differences between Britain and the United States. Adams relayed the offer to President Madison, who accepted it early in 1813. Britain, however, rejected Russian mediation and offered to deal directly with the United States. Madison agreed to the British proposal. Adams was head of the U.S. peace commission at Ghent (Gent), Belgium, in 1814. After months of negotiations the Treaty of Ghent was signed. Adams termed it "a truce rather than a peace," for it merely ended the fighting. All the issues that had led to the War of 1812 were left unsettled. C3 Britain In 1815 the United States resumed diplomatic relations with Britain, and Adams was appointed diplomatic representative. During the next two years he tried, with little success, to resolve British and American differences. He did, however, lay the groundwork for the Rush-Bagot Convention of 1817, an agreement between Britain and the United States that provided for disarmament along the U.S.-Canadian border. Adams also helped to negotiate agreements that guaranteed American trading rights in British overseas possessions, including India, and that fixed the boundary between the United States and Canada as far west as the Rocky Mountains. D Secretary of State D1 The Purchase of Florida In 1817 Adams was called back to the United States to become secretary of state in the Cabinet of President James Monroe. Adams took up the post at a turning point in American history. The country had begun a period of expansion and development, and for the first time since its founding, the United States was not involved in European struggles, because Europe itself was at peace. There were, however, difficult problems facing the new secretary of state. One that immediately confronted him was a conflict with Spain over its colony of Florida. Spain had confined its troops in Florida mainly to garrisons at Saint Marks, Pensacola, and Saint Augustine. The remainder of the territory was inhabited by the hostile Seminole people, runaway slaves, and outlaws. Spain was required by treaty to prevent these people from raiding across the U.S. border, but failed to do so. When U.S. troops entered Florida in late 1817 and burned a Seminole village, killing some of the residents, the Seminole retaliated by ambushing a U.S. hospital ship and killing 42 people. This act led to the First Seminole War (1817-1818). General Andrew Jackson was sent to subdue the Seminole. Jackson not only drove the Seminole back into Florida, but marched into Spanish territory and occupied Saint Marks and Pensacola. He captured, courtmartialed, and executed two British subjects who had encouraged the Seminole. As a result of Jackson's forceful action, Spain and Britain filed strong protests with the U.S. government. Adams was the sole member of Monroe's Cabinet to support Jackson. Insisting that Jackson had not exceeded his orders, Adams argued that the blame should be placed on Spain for its weak administration of Florida. He persuaded Monroe to accept his view and then instructed Spain either to govern Florida more effectively or cede it to the United States. Already troubled by revolts in its South American colonies, Spain, after long negotiations, agreed to the demands of Adams, and Florida was ceded to the United States. In the negotiations, Adams secured another important concession from Spain. The western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase had never been agreed on. Acting completely on his own, Adams persuaded Spain to agree that Louisiana ran all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The boundary began at the mouth of the Sabine River, ran northwest to the 42nd parallel (the northern boundary of California), and then extended directly west to the ocean. There still existed British and Russian claims to the Oregon country that could cut off this western ocean access; but the Spanish agreement removed the major obstacle to America's sea-to-sea expansion. D2 Monroe Doctrine Perhaps the most important event of Monroe's administration was the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine. The doctrine resulted from two problems. Adams was concerned over moves by Russia to establish colonies in the Oregon country. At the same time, Britain feared that the Holy Alliance, consisting of Austria, Prussia, France, and Russia, was ready to help Spain recover its colonies in Latin America. The British had obtained trading advantages in the new Latin American republics, and these very profitable arrangements would end if the republics were restored to Spanish rule. The British foreign secretary, George Canning, proposed that the United States join Britain in warning the Holy Alliance not to intervene in the western hemisphere. Adams had a firm reply to the Russian threat. As he reported later, he told the Russian diplomatic representative in Washington, D.C., that "we should contest the right of Russia to any territorial establishment on this continent, and that...the American continents are no longer subjects for any new European colonial establishments." Thus, Adams stated one principle of the Monroe Doctrine more than a year before Monroe stated it himself. His answer to Britain was equally forceful. President Monroe at first was willing to go along with Canning's proposal, but Adams argued against it. Adams believed that the United States should determine its own policy. "It would be more candid," he said, "as well as more dignified, to avow our principles explicitly to Russia and France, than to come in as a cock-boat in the wake of the British man-of-war." Monroe was persuaded that Adams's stand was right, and in 1823 the president announced the Monroe Doctrine. The doctrine contained two important principles. First, North and South America were no longer open to European colonization. Second, Europe must not "interfere in the internal concerns" of any nation in the western hemisphere. The first of these principles came directly from Adams. E The Election of 1824 Adams ran for president in 1824. Opposing him were General Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, Speaker of the House Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford of Georgia. None of the candidates received a majority of electoral votes. The vote was: Jackson, 99; Adams, 84; Crawford, 41; and Clay, 37. Adams's chief support came from New England and New York. Jackson carried most of the South and West. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States requires that if no candidate for president receives a majority, the election is decided by the House of Representatives from among the three candidates with the highest electoral votes. In the House, Clay's support gave Adams the necessary majority, and he was elected president with John C. Calhoun as his vice president. When told of his election, Adams stated that if it were possible to call an immediate popular election to give the president a clear mandate to rule, he would do so. Since the Constitution did not provide for such an election, he accepted the presidency. Later, when Adams chose Clay to be his secretary of state, the supporters of Jackson angrily accused the new president of having entered into a corrupt bargain with Clay. The cry of "Corrupt Bargain" was to haunt Adams throughout his presidency, and it contributed to his defeat in 1828. F President of the United States The presidency proved to be a frustrating and disappointing experience for Adams. He tried to be the leader of all the people, but he was confronted by hostile criticism of his policies from the Congress of the United States. Jackson's supporters, still bitter over the "corrupt bargain," consistently worked to thwart and embarrass the president. Adams was also hindered by his cold and aloof personality. He did not enjoy mingling with crowds. He and his wife did only as much entertaining and receiving of guests as was strictly required of them. Their son Charles Francis Adams noted: "I never saw a family which had so little of the associating disposition." Adams was not a "political" president. He was concerned with a man's competence, not his political affiliation. Adams even appointed political enemies to important offices, and he remained so free of partisanship that one of his supporters later declared: "Mr. Adams during his administration failed to cherish, strengthen, or even recognize the party to which he owed his election, nor... with the great power he possessed did he make a single influential friend." In his first annual message to Congress, Adams proposed a program to strengthen the nation and bind it more closely together. He advocated using federal funds for new canals, highways, harbor improvements, a stronger navy, military schools, and a national university. States' rights advocates in Congress opposed the federal government's assuming these responsibilities and refused to support the president. His request for funds to promote the arts and sciences, specifically to support scientific research and to build astronomical observatories, was especially criticized. Adams was far ahead of his time in believing that the federal government should finance projects that would serve and benefit the people and the nation as a whole. Adams met frustration even in his foreign policy. Although the president was the most experienced diplomat in America, only one important measure dealing with foreign policy was presented during his administration. In 1826 the United States was invited to attend a Pan-American Conference at Panama City, Panama (then part of Colombia). Adams sought the Senate's approval for two U.S. delegates and asked Congress to appropriate money for their expenses. Congress finally gave grudging approval and appropriated the necessary funds. But Adams's success turned into failure. One delegate died of fever on the way to the conference, and the other's departure was delayed so long that the meeting adjourned before he arrived. Early in 1828, Congress passed the so-called Tariff of Abominations, which placed high import duties on manufactured goods and raw materials. The tariff was intended to protect developing industries in the North from cheap foreign competition. But the South was hurt because it depended on those imports to produce cotton, its major export. Although Adams disliked the tariff, he signed it into law. He had the power to kill it by veto, but at that time no president used this power unless he thought the bill was unconstitutional. As his opponents had intended, the tariff was an embarrassment to Adams. Jackson's supporters used it to discredit the president, calling him the spokesman of the wealthy. Jackson, in contrast, was pictured as the friend of the common people. In 1828 Adams ran for reelection against Jackson. The enemies of Adams united to campaign vigorously for Jackson, appealing especially to the new voters in the Western and Southern frontier areas. Adams was supported only by a new, loosely organized party of National Republicans. The campaign of 1828 was one of the most bitterly contested in American history. Both sides spread malicious slanders against each other. Adams was decisively defeated, receiving 83 electoral votes to Jackson's 178. His support was limited to the New England states, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. His defeat reflected the expansion of voting rights to all white adult males in many states. The new voters readily identified with Andrew Jackson. Adams was so bitter at his defeat that, like his father, he refused to remain in Washington for his successor's inauguration. IV LATER LIFE After his defeat, Adams returned to Massachusetts, expecting to spend the remainder of his life in political retirement. He planned to supervise his farm and to write. However, in 1831 conservative Massachusetts political leaders persuaded him to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. To critics who believed that an expresident should not humble himself by seeking election to Congress, Adams answered, "No person could be degraded by serving the people as a representative in Congress." He overwhelmingly defeated his Jacksonian opponent in the election. As a congressman, Adams followed an independent course. In 1833 he tried unsuccessfully to stop President Jackson from moving federal funds from the Bank of the United States into selected state banks, called "pet banks." Adams stated that the use of the pet banks would result in a financial depression, and he believed his prediction was borne out by the economic crisis that came to be known as the Panic of 1837. In 1832 Adams helped formulate a new tariff that lowered several of the high import duties imposed by the Tariff of Abominations. Although substantial concessions were made to the South, they were not enough to please Southern planters. Northern manufacturers, in turn, were outraged at the tariff reductions. A compromise bill that gradually lowered rates over a ten-year period was eventually worked out in 1833. In 1836, when the question of annexing the independent republic of Texas first arose, Adams opposed annexation. He feared that Texas would be made into one or even several slaveholding states, since it had been given the right to divide into as many as five states. Adams became further involved in the slavery issue in his long struggle to revoke the so-called gag rule. The gag rule was adopted in 1836 to stop an ever-increasing flow to Congress of petitions demanding the abolition of slavery. Such petitions, many of which were presented by Adams, were to be tabled in the House without discussion. Adams regarded the gag rule as a violation of the constitutional right to petition, and for eight years he used every parliamentary technique he knew to discredit it. Finally, in 1844, Adams rallied enough support to force repeal of the rule. Adams again acted on his anti-slavery convictions when he helped argue the Amistad case before the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1839 two planters in the Spanish colony of Cuba purchased a group of about 50 Africans who had been transported there in violation of bans on international slave trading. After obtaining false identification papers in order to establish their status as legal slaves in Cuba, the planters placed the Africans on the ship L'Amistad and joined them on a voyage to another part of Cuba. After several days at sea the Africans killed the captain, took over the ship, and ordered the planters to sail to Africa. Instead, the planters secretly navigated toward the United States. When the U.S. Coast Guard seized the ship off the coast of Long Island, New York, the planters accused the Africans of murder and sought to have them returned to Cuba as slaves. After a trial court concluded that the Africans had never legally been slaves and should be returned to Africa, the U.S. government appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. Due to his alignment with a proslavery faction of the Democratic Party, president Martin van Buren favored the return of the Africans to the planters. However, the Supreme Court, after hearing lengthy arguments by Adams, agreed with the trial court and ruled that the Africans were free. With money raised by abolitionists, 35 of the survivors returned to West Africa in 1842. The others had died at sea or while waiting trial. When President James Polk asked Congress to declare war on Mexico in 1846, Adams voted against it. He believed that Polk, a Tennessee slaveholder, had deliberately schemed to start the war to obtain territory from Mexico for the creation of new slave states. He criticized Polk for sending troops to disputed territory on the U.S.Mexican border. Adams believed that by his action Polk had already declared war on Mexico in fact if not in name, and had thus overridden the constitutional provision that gave this power only to Congress. However, when Congress declared war on Mexico, Adams voted for the necessary military appropriations. Adams was not concerned solely with political and diplomatic matters. He had long been interested in scientific research, and mainly through his efforts the bequest of British chemist James Smithson was used to establish the Smithsonian Institution. Late in 1846, Adams suffered a stroke. He recovered enough to resume his seat in Congress a few months later. One year afterward, on February 21, 1848, he responded to a roll call of his name in the House chambers, then fell forward on his desk. It was a second stroke. He was carried to the Speaker's room in the Capitol. Adams died two days later, on February 23rd. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.