John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was a skillful negotiator and shaper of foreign affairs, using diplomatic skills which he undoubtedly acquired from his mother, as his father’s diplomacy was often somewhat ham-handed. Quincy represented the United States when negotiating the treaty which ended the War of 1812, successfully negotiated the purchase and annexation of Florida from Spain in 1819, and he created the agreement with England establishing the US border with Canada in 1818. It was Quincy who wrote the text of what became known to the world as the Monroe Doctrine while serving as Secretary of State under President James Monroe.
Few men ever entered the presidency better prepared for it than John Quincy Adams. By the time he was elected Quincy had served as the Minister to Russia (the first from the United States), and to the Court of St. James, as had his father before him. He had also served as Minister to the Netherlands and Prussia, as a United States Senator, and as Secretary of State under Monroe. His service as a diplomat and Minister to foreign powers during the formative years of the republic he represented did much to enhance American prestige in the first two decades of the nineteenth century, as Europe collapsed in wars following the chaos of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon.
As President, Quincy was central to driving down the national debt he inherited from his predecessor. Elected in what his rival Andrew Jackson called a “corrupt bargain” when the election was thrown into the House of Representatives, Quincy believed in a broad definition of the Constitution and the power of the federal government. He advocated for internal improvements to more readily connect the growing number of states, with the federal government pushing the Cumberland Road into Ohio, the construction of canals to connect the Great Lakes with the Ohio River system, and navigational improvements on the rivers.
Quincy’s presidency was limited to a single term, and many of the improvements he sought went unrealized due to rising partisanship in Congress. An opponent of party politics, Quincy changed political party affiliations many times throughout his career. During his presidency tariffs imposed by Congress led to the British banning American trade with any of their colonies other than Canada, and imposed tariffs on trade there, leading to a downturn in the American economy which became instrumental in his defeat when he ran for reelection, losing to the populist Andrew Jackson. After leaving the presidency Quincy returned to public service rather than retire to his farm.
In 1830, two years after losing the presidency, Quincy returned to the House of Representatives as a Congressman from Massachusetts (only one other former president served in Congress following his presidency, Andrew Johnson, who served in the Senate). John Quincy Adams was elected to nine consecutive terms in Congress, continuing to serve from 1831 to 1848, when he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on the floor of the House on February 21. He died two days later. When Congress appointed a committee to plan his funeral, freshman Congressman Abraham Lincoln was assigned to serve on it, planning the funeral for a man who began his service to his country during the administration of George Washington.