JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

Quincy, Massachusetts
July 11, 1767−February 23, 1848
His Father’s Son

John Quincy Adams was the only Founding Father’s son to become president of the United States. He was well qualified, even if he did not live up to many people’s expectations. In his early years in politics he served as a minister to the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and Britain. Later, he was a Massachusetts state senator, U.S. senator, U.S. congressman, peace and commerce treaty negotiator, secretary of state, and U.S. president. Sadly, his mother, Abigail, did not live to see him become president.

Like Father, Like Son

Ideally, the best way for a Founding Father to make sure the ideas of his generation were carried over to succeeding generations was to inculcate them in a son. That way, the son would act as a conduit. It did not quite work out that way for John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

John Quincy Adams watched the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill from the family’s farm when he was seven years old. It had a chilling effect on him, as he described in a March 1846 letter. It terrified his mother and placed him and his family in “unintermitted danger” from that point on.

By the time he was fifteen years old, he had visited more places and done more things than most people several times his age. He accompanied his father to Europe in 1768 and 1780, traveled to Russia, began his studies at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, and participated as an “additional secretary” in the peace talks in Paris to end the Revolutionary War.

Throughout his life, he worked to expand on his father’s and his contemporaries’ visions of a strong republic, although he did not always agree with his father’s political views. He had many opportunities to accomplish the mission.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“ALL MEN PROFESS HONESTY AS LONG AS THEY CAN. TO BELIEVE ALL MEN HONEST WOULD BE FOLLY. TO BELIEVE NONE SO IS SOMETHING WORSE.”

—JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

By the time he graduated from Harvard in 1787 and passed his bar exam three years later, he was an experienced diplomat. President George Washington took advantage of his experience.

John Q. the Minister

In May 1794, Washington appointed Adams the U.S. minister to the Netherlands, then transferred him to Portugal. After John Adams was elected president, he redirected his son to Berlin in 1797, where he negotiated a treaty of amity and commerce with Prussia.

His ministerial career came to an abrupt halt in 1801 after Thomas Jefferson became president. John Quincy returned to the United States and applied his talents to politics, starting his legislative career as a state senator. In 1803 he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He broke away from his father’s Federalist Party once there. He sided with the Democratic-Republicans on issues such as the Louisiana Purchase and a trade embargo against Britain.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“AMERICA DOES NOT GO ABROAD IN SEARCH OF MONSTERS TO DESTROY. SHE IS THE WELL-WISHER TO FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF ALL. SHE IS THE CHAMPION AND VINDICATOR ONLY OF HER OWN.”

—JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

That was contrary to the wishes of the people of Massachusetts and resulted in the state holding a special election several months before his term was scheduled to end. He lost the election and resigned from the Senate to become a professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“ALWAYS VOTE FOR PRINCIPLE, THOUGH YOU MAY VOTE ALONE, AND YOU MAY CHERISH THE SWEETEST REFLECTION THAT YOUR VOTE IS NEVER LOST.”

—JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

He switched to the Democratic-Republican Party and resumed his political career after his three-year hiatus as a teacher.

His father’s old—and growing older—friends continued to advance John Quincy’s career. President Madison named him as minister to Russia, a post he filled from 1809−14. Next, he accepted the same post in Britain, where he served from 1815−17.

Adams did not stay in England long. He returned to the United States in 1817. President James Monroe appointed him as secretary of state. That opened the door for Adams to participate in two major events: the 1820 acquisition of Florida and the 1823 implementation of the Monroe Doctrine, which warned European powers for the first time to keep their distance from the United States’ sphere of influence, which included South America and the Caribbean islands.

FEDERAL FACTS

John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and his son, Charles Francis Adams, all served as ministers to Great Britain during their careers.

REVOLUTIONARY REVELATIONS

Even though the Monroe Doctrine is attributed to James Monroe, historians credit John Quincy Adams with being the true architect of the policy.

The Second President Adams

Adams campaigned to replace Monroe after Monroe’s second term ended. Adams entered a four-candidate race in which he ran second to Andrew Jackson in the popular election. Because no one achieved a majority of the popular or electoral votes, the House of Representatives cast the deciding vote.

The House of Representatives voted for Adams. Jackson was convinced that Adams had promised Henry Clay—a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, an unsuccessful candidate for president, and a political ally of John Quincy Adams—a position as secretary of state in exchange for using his influence to woo House members to vote for Adams. Jackson called it a “corrupt bargain” and withdrew his support for Adams during his presidency. The feud that developed between Jackson and Adams as a result prevented Adams from accomplishing anything significant during his term, since Jackson’s followers in Congress refused to support the president’s initiatives. Jackson ran against Adams again in 1828 on an anticorruption platform and won election by a wide margin.

John Quincy Adams returned to Massachusetts to retire. His retirement did not last long. Like his parents, he did not have the patience to sit and do nothing when there were constituents to serve.

FEDERAL FACTS

In the 1824 presidential election, Andrew Jackson won 43.1 percent of the popular vote and 99 of the 261 available Electoral College votes. Adams got 30.5 percent and 84 votes respectively. The other two candidates, William Crawford and Henry Clay, split the rest almost evenly. Since no one candidate had a majority of electoral votes, the decision as to who would be president fell into the hands of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Quotations to Live (and Die) By!

“PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE HAVE A MAGICAL EFFECT BEFORE WHICH DIFFICULTIES DISAPPEAR AND OBSTACLES VANISH.”

—JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

Any bitter feelings he experienced following the presidential election of 1828 dissipated after the people of Massachusetts elected him to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1830.

For the next eighteen years, John Quincy Adams concentrated on abolishing slavery. At first, he was like a man with laryngitis whispering into a gale force wind: Nobody heard his message. Gradually, he started winning converts. By the time his tenure in Congress—and his life—came to a close, he had made significant progress in bringing about the end of slavery.

Adams did not live to see it happen. He suffered a stroke in the House of Representatives on February 21, 1848, and died two days later.

It was a fitting end for a man who strived diligently to uphold the virtues and goals of his father and his contemporaries: His political career ended in a legislative building as he was fighting for what he and they believed in so strongly.