This final post of 2023 will profile another historical character from my novel, The Lafayette Circle. Although John Quincy Adams plays a relatively minor role in this tale of intrigue and mayhem in early 19th century America, he does provide the seed of ideas that made the Marquis de Lafayette's 1824-1825 visit more than just a celebration of friendship between two nations.
Apprentice Diplomat
John Quincy Adams was destined to grow up in the shadow of his father, John, an accomplished lawyer, statesman, and politician who helped shape the American Revolution and establish the foundation of the United States, becoming its second chief executive. Young John Quincy was born on July 11, 1767, at the family home in Braintree, Massachusetts, which is present-day Quincy. His intensely patriotic and accomplished parents influenced his early upbringing and provided him with a classical education. The American Revolution unfolded before his eyes as he was among the many people in and around Boston who nervously watched the patriots battled lines of redcoats at Bunker Hill in 1775.
Exchange Student
Three years later, he left his mother to accompany his father on a diplomatic mission to Europe, which marked the beginning of his real education. From 1778 to 1779, he studied at a private school in Paris, where he developed his fluency in French, the language of diplomats. Following this, he attended the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, where he learned some Dutch.
By 1781, he was skilled enough in French for his father to arrange a post for John Quincy as private secretary to one of America's foremost diplomats, Francis Dana, who had been named US Envoy to the court of Russia in St. Petersburg. When Dana's mission proved unsuccessful, he returned to Paris, where he worked as a secretary to the American Commissioners during their negotiations with the British.
The Law and the Hague
When the Treaty of Paris was signed, he returned to the U.S. to study at Harvard College and then in Newburyport under the guidance of Theophilus Parsons, where he studied law. By 1790, he was a member of the bar in Boston. Adams entered private practice but also started writing pamphlets on political doctrine and foreign policy, supporting President George Washington's strong stance on neutrality in the latter case. This earned him an appointment as US minister to the Netherlands in 1794.
The wars of the French Revolution were raging, and The Hague was a capital filled with diplomatic intrigue. Adams's dispatches and letters provided the Washington administration (which included his father as Vice President) with valuable information. He held a temporary position in London to help facilitate the 1794 Jay Treaty—a pivotal and controversial foreign policy initiative.
The Diplomat
For his commendable service, in 1796, President Washington appointed him as the US Envoy to Portugal. However, when Dad became the nation's second president, he changed his son's assignment to Prussia. But pleasure before business—Adams married Louisa Catherine Johnson, a diplomat's daughter whom he met in Paris when he was just twelve. She proved to be a charming and capable partner to the rising young diplomat. They married in London before heading to Berlin, where he negotiated a treaty of amity and commerce with the Prussians. But in 1800, politics turned against him with the election of Thomas Jefferson, who recalled Adams from his post.
Political Life
Adams returned to Boston, where state and federal politics became his new playground. By 1802, he was a member of the Massachusetts State Senate, and in 1803, he was elected as a US Senator from Massachusetts. "Battleground" is actually a more accurate description. Adams was as acerbic as his father and did not favor "factions." He voted his conscience, which often placed him at odds with one party or the other. He grew estranged from his dad's Federalist Party, which by now had turned on him.
This all came to a head when he voted in support of Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act, a measure opposed by New Englanders who valued Britain as a trading partner. In 1808, the Massachusetts Senate voted him out of office, leading to his resignation. Adams aligned with the Republicans and took a position as a professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard College.
Envoy to Russia
The world was at war with Napoleonic France, and President Madison needed a player to sort things out. The highly experienced Adams was the right man, especially since he had broken with the Federalists. From that position, the astute Adams observed the dissolution of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's army in 1812 and the destruction of his empire over the following two years. Adams was at the Court of St. Petersburg just as Czar Alexander rose in stature as a leader in the coalition against Napoleon.
Treaty of Ghent
Meanwhile, war had broken out between the U.S. and Great Britain, which was Russia's ally. Adams eagerly accepted Czar Alexander's offer to mediate in the fall of 1812. The initiative, with Adams as one of the lead commissioners, ultimately fell through. However, a follow-up attempt in 1814 under Adams's leadership led to the Treaty of Ghent. This face-saving status quo ante arrangement changed little diplomatically or politically. Still, it provided the small U.S. with the morale-boosting confidence of having gone toe-to-toe with what was now the world's hegemon.
Like Father, Like Son
After a brief stay in Paris, during Napoleon's short return to power in 1815, he followed in his father's footsteps. He went to London, where he and Henry Clay negotiated a "Convention to Regulate Commerce and Navigation." Soon afterward, he became the U.S. minister to Great Britain, as his father had been before him and as his son Charles was to be after him. His time at the Court of St. James was brief, as Adams returned to the United States in the summer of 1817 to become secretary of state in President James Monroe's cabinet. This appointment was mainly due to his diplomatic experience but also because the president wanted a sectionally well-balanced cabinet during what came to be known as the Era of Good Feelings.
Manifest Destiny
Adams's tenure as Secretary of State was, as one would expect, outstanding—especially for someone groomed for the job since the age of fourteen. He worked diligently with Spain to resolve the long-standing dispute over America's western and southwestern borders. The Spanish Minister Onis agreed that Spain would relinquish its claims to lands east of the Mississippi River. For his part, Adams decided that the United States would forgo its claims to Texas. The two settled on a boundary drawn from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Years of dispute were resolved by the signing of what was called the Adams-Onis Transcontinental Treaty.
In 1818, he also resolved the northern frontier dispute with Great Britain, establishing the 49th parallel all the way to the Rocky Mountains.
The Monroe Doctrine
Adams was a principal driver of U.S. policy on foreign interference in the Western Hemisphere. This is his key role in my novel, The Lafayette Circle. Rather than a joint U.S.-British proclamation addressing European powers and the Spanish territories in America, he persuaded President James Monroe to act independently. The letter he helped craft to Congress in late 1823 and issued in 1824 served as a stern warning to those wishing to capitalize on the former colonies that seemed ripe for the picking by certain powers. What later became known as The Monroe Doctrine aimed to protect the newly independent lands from recolonization and established the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for over one hundred years.
The Second President Adams
The 1824 election was marked by chaos and political maneuvering, all within the boundaries set by the US Constitution. With none of the four candidates—Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William Crawford—receiving the required number of electoral votes, the election was thrown to the House of Representatives to select from the top three (Jackson, Adams, Clay) in a one-vote-per-state "play-off." Henry Clay regarded Jackson as a dangerous demagogue and lent his support to Adams, effectively placing him in the Oval Office. The Jacksonians cried foul when Adams later appointed Clay as Secretary of State.
Adams worked long and hard as president, but the ire of the Jacksonians (who suspected a corrupt bargain) hung like a cloud over his term, as they opposed him in everything. Adams's hopes of creating a national university and a national astronomical observatory were dashed. His notion that the western territories should experience only gradual development was dead on arrival. Even his infrastructure initiatives—building bridges, ports, and roads with financial aid from the federal government—were stymied. Jackson returned to defeat Adams in the 1828 election.
In an interesting connection to my novel, The Lafayette Circle, one of Adams's first acts as president was to accompany General Lafayette on a farewell visit to former President James Monroe at his estate in Leesburg, Virginia.
Representative of the People
In a move that stunned many as "degrading to a former president," Adams ran for a seat in the House of Representatives in 1831, asserting that serving the public as a representative in Congress was not degrading. He represented the people in Congress until his death in 1848. During those years, he fought tirelessly against slavery and its expansion, as well as the various tactics employed by the slave bloc in Congress to expand and uphold their peculiar institution.
Bold Advocate
When Africans arrested aboard the slave ship Amistad were destined to return to their masters, John Quincy Adams took up their cause, defending them before the U.S. Supreme Court—and won their freedom. Adams's entire career had directed him toward one primary goal—doing the right thing. In this, he experienced a mix of success and failure, but his steadfast efforts placed him among the best of early America's generation of leaders following the founding fathers.
The Lion's Last Roar
