John Quincy Adams

by James Traub

  234“united to a powerful mind: Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Administration of James Madison (New York: Antiquarian, 1962), 231.

  234“Calhoun thinks for himself: Diaries, January 6, 1818.

  234“On all subjects,” he wrote: Adam Hodgson, Letters from North America: Written During a Tour in the United States and Canada (London: Hurst, Robinson, 1824), 52.

  235Monroe himself was even more: Charles M. Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, vol. 1: Nationalist, 1782–1828 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1944–1951), 145.

  235“There is slowness: Diaries, January 9, 1818.

  235“Adams has a pointed pen: Charles N. Edel, Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014), 117.

  236The structure, in fact, was still being rebuilt: William Seale, The President’s House: A History (Washington DC: White House Historical Association with the cooperation of the National Geographic Association, 1986), vol. 1, 146–147.

  237“At the present moment,” he cried: Robert Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York: Norton, 1991), 174.

  237“I told him I should: Diaries, March 18, 1818.

  237In April, the president called Adams: Ibid., April 4, 1818.

  238“This Government is indeed assuming: Ibid., December 17, 1818.

  238“I think him a man: Robert Remini, Andrew Jackson, vol. 1: The Course of American Empire, 1767–1821 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), 418.

  239“There is not in either house: Diaries, January 5, 1819.

  239After meeting a man: Ibid., April 27, 1819.

  241On January 21 Louisa went: Judith S. Graham, Beth Luey, Margaret Hogan, and James C. Taylor, eds., Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams (Boston: Belknap, 2013), 459.

  242In November, he had instructed: JQA to Richard Rush and Albert Gallatin, November 2, 1818, in Writings.

  242“the right to board vessels: Diaries, April 29, 1819.

  242“the mass of coloured people: Ibid., April 30, 1819.

  243If but one man could arise: Ibid., February 11, 1820.

  244slavery “taints the very sources: Ibid., March 3, 1820.

  245If acquiesced in, it would change: Ibid., November 29, 1820.

  CHAPTER 18: SHE GOES NOT ABROAD IN SEARCH OF MONSTERS TO DESTROY (1820–1822)

  247construction of two new government buildings: “Buildings of the Department of State,” Office of the Historian, US Department of State, https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/buildings/section24.

  248Adams tried to calibrate: The Diaries of John Quincy Adams (hereafter Diaries), December 3, 1819, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/php.

  248“So seducing is the passion: Stanislaus Murray Hamilton, ed., The Writings of James Monroe (New York: G. Putnam’s Sons, 1898–1903), vol. 6, May 26, 1820.

  249“Among all the great characters: Judith S. Graham, Beth Luey, Margaret Hogan, and James C. Taylor, eds., Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams (Boston: Belknap, 2013), vol. 2, 725.

  249“the same romantic enthusiastic: Ibid., vol. 2, 577.

  249“I assure you,”: Ibid., vol. 2, 426.

  250“This woman is made up: Ibid., vol. 2, 482.

  250“If you watch his character,”: Ibid., vol. 2, 488.

  250“He is always domineering: Ibid., vol. 2, 556.

  251“Since God in his wisdom: Ibid., vol. 2, 541.

  251“one of the most capricious women: Diary of Charles Francis Adams, vol. 1, May 20, 1824, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.

  252“The blast of mediocrity,”: Diaries, September 30, 1821.

  252“The operations of my mind: Ibid., December 25, 1820.

  253material “will never be fit: Ibid., end of May, 1820 (“Day”).

  253Adams’ report on weights and measures: Ibid., August 25, 1820ff.

  253“Thank God we hear: Graham et al., Diary and Autobiographical Writings, vol. 2, 540.

  254“stimulated by the passion: John Quincy Adams, The Report of the Secretary of State upon Weights and Measures (Washington, DC: Gales & Seaton, 1821), 30.

  254The “universal uniformity”: Ibid., 59.

  254“Nature,” he noted: Ibid., 62.

  256He called for America to support: Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (New York: Norton, 1949), 356.

  256“Seventeen times has the sun: John Quincy Adams, “An Oration, Pronounced July 4, 1793, at the Request of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston.”

  257“to rekindle no angry passion: John Quincy Adams, “An Address, Delivered at the Request of the Committee of Arrangements for Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence, at the City of Washington on the Fourth of July 1821.”

  257“from one end to another: Bemis, John Quincy Adams, 357.

  259was fond of citing Adams’ dictum: John Lewis Gaddis, George F. Kennan: An American Life (New York: Penguin, 2011).

  259“realism” is too chastened: See Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994).

  259he insisted later to one of his correspondents: John Quincy Adams (hereafter JQA) to Robert Walsh, July 10, 1821, in Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Writings of John Quincy Adams (hereafter Writings) (New York: Macmillan, 1913).

  260“Gen. Jackson has rendered: Diaries, January 2, 1822.

  260“there was no spirit of freedom: JQA to Richard C. Anderson, May 27, 1823, in Writings.

  262“There the boundary is marked: Diaries, January 27, 1821.

  262He is of all the foreign Ministers: Ibid., June 24, 1823.

  262“more commanding than attractive: Bemis, John Quincy Adams, 271.

  CHAPTER 19: IF HE WISHES FOR PEACE WITH ME, HE MUST HOLD OUT THE WHITE FLAG (1822–1823)

  263“The principle of my life: The Diaries of John Quincy Adams (hereafter Diaries), May 2, 1820, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/php.

  264“Crawford has been a worm: Ibid., March 3, 1821.

  264The second decade of the nineteenth century witnessed: Carol Sue Humphrey, The Press of the Young Republic, 1783–1833 (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1996).

  264“outrageously partisan,”: David Paul Nord, Communities of Journalism: A History of American Newspapers and Their Readers (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001).

  265“I will have no stipendiary editors: Diaries, February 25, 1821.

  265“would be beset: Ibid., July 28, 1822.

  266Soon the Franklin Gazette of Philadelphia: Charles M. Wiltse, John C. Calhoun, Nationalist 1782–1828 (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1944–1951), vol. 1, 191.

  266Unlike Adams, Clay had built up: Robert Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York: Norton, 1991), 244.

  266“an eloquent man: Diaries, March 9, 1821.

  266“It is in our power,”: Remini, Henry Clay, 174.

  267Adams held virtually identical views: William Earl Weeks, John Quincy Adams and American Global Empire (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1992), 93–94.

  267he appears to have carried out an audacious plan: See Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (New York: Norton, 1949), 498–509, for an extensive discussion of the Russell affair.

  268“one of the artifices of Clay: Remini, Henry Clay, 216.

  268Adams immediately winkled: Diaries, April 25–30, 1822.

  268Adams persuaded his friend Walsh: Ibid., May 12 and 23, 1822.

  269“he must hold out: John Quincy Adams (hereafter JQA) to Peter Paul Frances DeGrand, July 5, 1822, in Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Writings of John Quincy Adams (hereafter Writings) (New York: Macmillan, 1913).

  269a pamphlet—in fact, a book: John Quincy Adams, The Duplicate Letters, the Fisheries and the Mississippi: Documents Relating to the Transactions at Ghent (Washington, DC: Dav
is and Force, 1822).

  269In the months to come: Diaries, November 16, 1822.

  269“I regard Mr. Russell: Bemis, John Quincy Adams, 508.

  269“an affair of more than life: JQA to LCA, October 7, 1822, in Writings.

  270Ernest May, one of the great scholars: Ernest R. May, The Making of the Monroe Doctrine (Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1975), 132–189.

  270“I have my own errors: Diaries, July 11, 1822.

  270Hopkinson accused Adams: Joseph Hopkinson to LCA, reprinted in Diaries, between JQA entries in January 1823, vol. 6, 130.

  270a letter he titled “The Macbeth Policy.”: “The Macbeth Policy,” in Writings, vol. 7, 356–362.

  271One day, as an experiment: Diaries, June 8 to July 8, 1823.

  272The answer was no: JQA to John Adams II, May 29, 1823, in Adams Papers Microfilm (hereafter APM), Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.

  272He had written to other prominent alumni: JQA to John Davis, September 15, 1823, in APM.

  272The visit brought back ancient memories: Diaries, September 1, 1823.

  CHAPTER 20: THE MOST IMPORTANT PAPER THAT EVER WENT FROM MY HANDS (1822–1823)

  275Adams wanted Cuba: The Diaries of John Quincy Adams (hereafter Diaries), September 27 and 30, 1822, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/php.

  276America, too, was inflamed: Ernest R. May, The Making of the Monroe Doctrine (Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1975), 9.

  276Adams had also received a letter: Diaries, August 15, 1823.

  276“Calhoun descanted upon: Ibid.

  277Both London and Washington: Dexter Perkins, The Monroe Doctrine, 1823–26 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1932), 7–8.

  277the United States “should contest: Diaries, July 17, 1823.

  277In instructions to Richard Rush: John Quincy Adams (hereafter JQA) to Richard Rush, July 22, 1823, in Adams Papers Microfilm (APM), Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. All letters cited in this chapter are from APM unless otherwise indicated.

  277The most disquieting event: Perkins, Monroe Doctrine, 109ff.

  278The Spanish royalists still hungered: May, The Making of the Monroe Doctrine, 104–108.

  279Adams returned to Washington: Ibid., 3–8, and Rush to JQA, October 2, 1823.

  280“the question presented: Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, October 23, 1823, in Stanislaus Murray Hamilton, ed., Writings of James Monroe (New York: G. Putnam’s Sons, 1898–1903), vol. 6.

  283Monroe adopted Adams’ positions: James Monroe, “Seventh Annual Message (Monroe Doctrine),” December 2, 1823, http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/speech-3604.

  285argued that it was Monroe: Dexter Perkins, The Monroe Doctrine 1823–26 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1932), 100–103.

  286Kissinger once wrote: Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994).

  CHAPTER 21: WHO CAN HOLD A FIRE IN HIS HAND BY THINKING ON THE FROSTY CAUCASUS? (1823–1824)

  287The America of 1824 was recognizably: Ernest R. May, The Making of the Monroe Doctrine (Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1975), 174.

  288For all these reasons, the election of 1824: See ibid., 132–189.

  288not a single instance: The Diaries of John Quincy Adams (hereafter Diaries), February 5, 1824, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/php.

  288“Let the people: Robert Remini, Andrew Jackson, vol. 2: The Course of American Freedom, 1822–32 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), 38.

  289Newspapers wrote lavish profiles: Ibid., 75–77.

  289“On the subject: Andrew Jackson to James Tallmadge, March 12, 1824, in John Spencer Bassett, ed., Correspondence of Andrew Jackson, vol. 3: 1820–1828 (Washington, DC: Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1926–1935).

  289“Nothing but the virtue: Jackson to Andrew J. Donelson, February 12, 1824, in Bassett, Correspondence.

  289“It is now a contest: Jackson to Brigadier General John Coffee, February 15, 1824, in Bassett, Correspondence.

  289He authorized John Eaton: John Eaton to Jackson, April 4, 1824, in Bassett, Correspondence.

  290“I am told,”: Jackson to Major General George Martin, January 2, 1824, in Bassett, Correspondence.

  290Several months later, a friend would ask: Diaries, March 11, 1824.

  290Louisa sent out five hundred: Louisa describes the preparations and the party itself in her diary. Judith S. Graham, Beth Luey, Margaret Hogan, and James C. Taylor, eds., Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams (Boston: Belknap, 2013), vol. 2, 684–688.

  291“break the course: Joseph Pleasants to John Quincy Adams (hereafter JQA), June 19, 1824, in Adams Papers Microfilm (APM), Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. All letters cited in this chapter are from APM unless otherwise indicated.

  291“for your justification.”: JQA to Pleasants, June (no date given).

  292Newspaper editors allied: Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought? The Transformation of America, 1815–48 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 206.

  292he turned the man away with “an epithet: Diaries, January 19, 1824.

  293Clay wrote exultantly: Henry Clay to Francis Brooke, May 28, 1824, in James F. Hopkins, Mary W. M. Hargreaves, et al., eds., The Papers of Henry Clay (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1959).

  293The stroke had left Crawford: Robert Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York: Norton, 1991), 237.

  293One ally, Josiah Johnson, wrote: Ibid., 241.

  293he recorded at the end of March: Diaries, end of March (“Day”).

  293Adams asked William Plumer Jr.: Ibid., April 5, 1824.

  294“there was no mission: Ibid., April 17, 1824.

  294Were it possible to look: Ibid., May 8, 1824.

  295a treaty “for the effectual abolition: Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (New York: Norton, 1949), 427.

  296When it came to a vote: Bemis ably recounts this narrative in ibid., 428–435.

  297Negotiations with Great Britain proved: Ibid., 520–527.

  298The great remaining prize was New York: Remini, Henry Clay, 244.

  298Weed delightedly recorded: Harriet A. Weed and Thurlow Weed Barnes, eds., Life of Thurlow Weed Including His Autobiography and a Memoir (Boston: Houghton and Mifflin, 1884), 115.

  298“His sight is so dim: Diaries, September 6, 1824.

  299General Henry Dearborn: Ibid., September 8, 1824.

  CHAPTER 22: I TREAD ON COALS (1824–1825)

  301a cheerful rapscallion: As he describes himself in Life of Thurlow Weed Including His Autobiography and a Memoir, ed. Harriet A. Weed and Thurlow Weed Barnes (Boston: Houghton and Mifflin, 1884).

  301“the placatory professional: Richard Hofstadter, The Idea of a Party System: The Rise of Legitimate Opposition in the United States, 1780–1840 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), 216.

  301One of those counterplots: Weed tells this tale with delightful relish, and no doubt some hyperbole in Life of Thurlow Weed, 128–157. A more neutral account is available in Robert Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York: Norton, 1991), 244–248.

  303Adams began fielding a flood of visitors: The Diaries of John Quincy Adams (hereafter Diaries), December 10–15, 1824, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/php.

  304“harbored no hostility: Ibid., December 17, 1824.

  305He sounded Adams out: Ibid., December 22, 1824.

  305Adams paid a visit and said: Ibid., January 2, 1825.

  305“Incendo super ignes,”: Ibid., December 23, 1824.

  305He wrote a letter to a confidante: Henry Clay to Francis Blair, January 8, in James F. Hopkins, Mary W. M. Hargreaves, et al., eds., The Papers of Henry Clay (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1959).

  305Jackson did pay a visit: Remini, Henry Clay, 255.

  306�
��free & confidential visit”: Ibid., 257.

  306“He wished me,” Adams recorded: Diaries, January 9, 1825.

  306Adams had not received: Robert Remini, Andrew Jackson, vol. 2: The Course of American Freedom, 1822–1832 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), 89.

  307Johnson of Kentucky confided to Adams: Diaries, January 22, 1825.

  307Senator Thomas Benton of Missouri: Thomas Hart Benton, Thirty Years’ View (New York: D. Appleton, 1854–1856), 47.

  307“almost universal” currency: Diaries, January 25, 1825.

  307Word of the agreement: Diaries, January 23 and February 4, 1825.

  308By now, news of the “corrupt bargain”: Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Union (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1956), 57, and Diaries, February 3 and 4, 1825.

  308the National Intelligencer reprinted the letter: National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), February 4, 1825, and Robert Remini, The Election of Andrew Jackson (New York: J. B. Lippincott, 1963), 20–22.

  308“The knaves cannot comprehend: Henry Clay to Francis Blair, in Papers of Henry Clay.

  308“He spoke to me with: Diaries, January 29, 1825.

  308Adams held long conversations: Ibid., January 31, 1825.

  308“I think a little better: Daniel Webster to Jeremiah Mason, May 9, 1824, in Charles M. Wiltse and Harold D. Moser, eds., The Papers of Daniel Webster (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1974–1989), vol. 1.

  309Webster now read to Adams: Diaries, February 3, 1825.

  309By Wednesday, February 9: National Intelligencer, February 8, 1825.

  309Each state had its own: National Intelligencer, February 10, 1825.

  310the patroon was waylaid: Remini, Henry Clay, 263.

  310he had plunged into a state: This is according to the colorful account in John Clement Fitzpatrick, ed., The Autobiography of Martin van Buren (New York: Da Capo, 1973), 150–152.

  310“The tellers of the votes: National Intelligencer, February 10.

  311“May the blessing of God: Diaries, February 9, 1825.

  311Jackson said graciously: John Meacham, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House (New York: Random House, 2009), 45.

  CHAPTER 23: THE SPIRIT OF IMPROVEMENT (1825)

  315On the late morning of March 4: National Journal (Washington, DC), March 4, 1825, and The Diaries of John Quincy Adams (hereafter Diaries), March 4, 1825, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/php.