President John Quincy Adams
Compiled by D. A.
Sharpe
President John Quincy Adams was born July 11, 1767 in Braintree, Massachusetts, living to the ripe
old age for those days of 80 years old.
He died February 23, 1848.
Adams is the sixth President of the
United States. He served two terms,
1825 Ð 1829. In his first campaign
for the Presidency, in 1824, no candidate had sufficient votes to win. Adams was running against Andrew Jackson
and two other men. CongressÕ House
of Representative decided the election by voting for Adams.
He is the 30th cousin, three times
removed to me. Our ancestors in common are Ragnvald I Eysteinsson (died in 890 AD) and his wife, Hild. These are
Vikings who resided in what today we call Norway. Another description of our relationship is
being the 10th cousin, four times removed of the husband of
Ellen Newton (born about 1614), the stepdaughter of the my 6th great
grand uncle, Danette Abney, born about 1723.
Ragnvald EysteinssonÕs father was Eystein Glumra Ivarsson, who is my 32nd great grandfather. Eystein Glumra Ivarsson is the
ancestor in common between my daughter, Tiffany Lenn Sharpe Westmoreland and
her husband, Steven O. Westmoreland. So, my daughter and my son-in-law
are related to each other as 34th cousins, four times removed, as well as by
husband and wife status. President
Adams is the 17th cousin, eight times removed to my son-in-law, Steve O.
Westmoreland.
A lateral genealogical trail can be
displayed from John Quincy Adams back to Godwulf, an
early figure in Norse history from the Northern Germanic and Norwegian areas,
who lived about 80 AD to about 125 AD.
At one place, President Adams is
quoted as saying, "Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the
present generation to preserve your freedom.
I hope you will make good use of it."
"The first President who was the son of a
President, John Quincy Adams in many respects paralleled the career as well as
the temperament and viewpoints of his illustrious father. Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1767, he watched the Battle of Bunker Hill from the top of Penn's Hill above the family farm. As
secretary to his father in Europe, he became an accomplished linguist and
assiduous diarist.
"After graduating from Harvard College, he became a
lawyer. At age 26, he was
appointed Minister to the Netherlands, then promoted to the Berlin Legation. In 1802, he was elected to the United
States Senate. Six years later
President Madison appointed him Minister to Russia.
"Serving under President
Monroe, Adams was one of America's great Secretaries of State, arranging with
England for the joint occupation of the Oregon country, obtaining from Spain
the cession of the FloridaÕs, and formulating with the President the Monroe Doctrine.
"In the political tradition of
the early 19th century, Adams as Secretary of State was considered the
political heir to the Presidency. But
the old ways of choosing a President were giving way in 1824, before the clamor
for a popular choice.
"Within the one and only
party--the Republican--sectionalism and factionalism were developing, and each
section put up its own candidate for the Presidency. Adams, the candidate of the North,
fell behind Gen. Andrew Jackson in both popular and electoral votes, but received more than William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. Since no candidate had a majority of electoral votes, the election was decided
among the top three by the House of Representatives. Clay, who favored a
program similar to that of Adams, threw his crucial
support in the House to the New Englander.
"Upon becoming President, Adams
appointed Clay as Secretary of State. Jackson
and his angry followers charged that a "corrupt bargain" had taken
place, and immediately began their campaign to wrest the Presidency from Adams
in 1828.
"Aware that he would face
hostility in Congress, Adams nevertheless proclaimed in his first Annual
Message a spectacular national program.
He proposed that the Federal Government bring the sections together with
a network of highways and canals, and that it develop
and conserve the public domain, using funds from the sale of public lands. In 1828, he broke ground for the
185-mile C & 0 Canal.
"Adams also urged the United
States to take a lead in the development of the arts and sciences through the
establishment of a national university, the financing of scientific
expeditions, and the erection of an observatory. His critics declared such
measures transcended constitutional limitations.
"The campaign of 1828, in which
his Jacksonian opponents charged him with corruption and public plunder, was an
ordeal Adams did not easily bear. After his defeat he returned to
Massachusetts, expecting to spend the remainder of his life enjoying his farm
and his books.
"Unexpectedly, in 1830, the
Plymouth district elected him to the House of Representatives, and there for
the remainder of his life he served as a powerful leader. Above all, he fought against
circumscription of civil liberties.
"In 1836
southern Congressmen passed a "gag rule" providing that the House automatically table
petitions against slavery. Adams tirelessly fought the rule for eight years
until finally he obtained its repeal.
"On February 21, 1848, John
Quincy Adams collapsed on the floor of the House from a stroke and was carried
to the Speaker's Room, where two days later he died. He was buried--as were his father,
mother, and wife--at First Parish Church in Quincy. To the end, "Old Man Eloquent" had fought for what he considered right."
There are several bits of trivia
about President John Quincey Adams that are interesting to know. He is the only
House of Representatives member who served in the House AFTER serving as
President of the United States. Adams
was the first President to give an interview to a woman. Adams had repeatedly
refused requests for an interview with Anne
Royall, the first female professional
journalist in the U.S., so she took a different approach to accomplish her
goal. She learned that Adams liked to skinny-dip in the Potomac River almost
every morning around 5 AM, so she went to the river, gathered his clothes, and
sat on them until he answered all of her questions.
On another occasion, while Adams was
skinny-dipping in the Potomac River, a tramp stole the clothes he had left on
the riverbank. Adams remained in the river for nearly an hour, until he saw a
young boy walking along the river bank. He called to the boy to "Go up to
the White House and ask Mrs. Adams to send down a new set of clothes for the
President." Twenty minutes later, the boy returned with a servant from the
White House, bearing a new set of clothes for Adams.
The "c" in Adams' middle
name "Quincy" is properly pronounced with the z sound, not the s
sound, just like the city of Quincy, Massachusetts, and Quincy Market in Boston
(names derived from the same family).
According to a study by psychologist
Keith Simonton, Adams has the highest estimated IQ of any US president.
Source:http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/ja6.html
John Quincy Adams,
one of John Adams sons, was the sixth president of the United States. He also
served in the U.S. Senate before becoming president, and the U.S. House of
Representatives after his presidency.
John and his wife,
Louisa Catherine Johnson, bore four children: Louisa Catherine Adams, George
Washington Adams, John Adams and Charles Francis Adams.
JQA was a devoted
Christian who had a habit of reading through the Bible once a year. He also wanted very much for his children to
understand the importance of the Bible. When he was serving as a diplomat
overseas, he wrote several letters to his son George Washington Adams on this
subject. Those letters can now be read in a book called ÒLetters of John Quincy Adams to His Son
on the Bible and Its Teaching.Ó He was a member of the Unitarian Church.
Like his father, he
believed slavery was morally wrong. He had no qualms whatsoever about an
imaginary Òseparation of church and stateÓ and bringing his religious
convictions about slavery into the public arena. He was so ardently
opposed to the institution that he became known the ÒHellhound of Abolition.Ó
Many of his colleagues didnÕt want to deal with the issue of slavery in the
U.S. House, writing it off as a Òmoral issueÓ or as being too controversial.
But he fought slavery year after year.
In the early days of
the republic, Monday was ÒPetition DayÓ since the U.S. Constitution says the
people have a right to Òpetition the government.Ó People could bring issues to
congress and their congressman could introduce them as a measure to be
considered.
JQA came with lots of
petitions from the people to end slavery, which frustrated the pro-slavery
majority. The majority had the Rules Committee make a change to the House rules
which said that while Monday was still Petition Day, petitions on slavery would
no longer be accepted. It was essentially the ÒJohn Quincy Adams Gag Order.Ó
JQA kept coming in
with anti-slavery petitions, however. The House leadership tried reprimands and
censures to shut him up, but none worked. He refused to compromise on his
principles.
When he was asked why
he kept doing this year after year, and whether he got frustrated, he uttered
one of my most favorite quotes: ÒDuty is ours, results are GodÕs.Ó In other
words, we have a duty to attempt what is right, regardless of the results.
In his 14th year, his
persistence finally convinced enough of his peers that they rescinded the gag
order, and came up with a three-step plan to end slavery and a constitutional
amendment that could have ended slavery in 1843 and avoided hundreds of
thousands of American deathsÉif the Senate would have had the same moral
courage.
At the end of his
life, JQA was in the U.S. House of Representatives at his desk when he was
struck by a cerebral hemorrhage (I have stood in the exact location of his
desk). He died a couple of days later in the SpeakerÕs Room in the
Capitol with his last words indicating no fear as he passed into the next life:
ÒThis is the last of Earth. I am composed.Ó
During his last year
of life, JQA met a young House freshman who would only serve one term in the
U.S. House, but this freshman would go on years later to become President of
the United StatesÉand finally end the horrible institution of slavery in
America. This man, of course, was Abraham Lincoln, and Lincoln would use
several elements of JQAÕs original plan to end slavery.
Throughout his life,
John Quincy Adams was another shining example of the committed Christian faith
of AmericaÕs founders.
Source: http://www.dakotavoice.com/2010/11/the-faith-of-john-quincy-adams/
Here is a quotation reflecting his
Christian faith, describing the worth of the Bible:
ÒNo book in the world deserves to be
so unceasingly studied and profoundly meditated upon as the Bible. The first and almost the only book
deserving such universal recommendation is the Bible.Ó
Source: John Quincy Adams, ÒLetters
to His Son on the Bible and Its TeachingsÓ (New York: Derby, Miller &
Company, 1848), page 119, and B. B. Edwards and W. Cogswell, The American
Quarterly Register, (Boston: Perkins & Marvin, 1840), Vol. XII, page 86,
Letter from John Quincy Adams to members of a literary society in Baltimore on June
22, 1838.
JQA served several U.S. Presidents
in a Diplomatic capacity. JQA declined an appointment to the
Supreme Court. Only one other U.S. President has served on the Supreme Court,
William Howard Taft. When JQA was
asked for an autograph, he often would include an original poem heÕd composed. JQA was the first U.S. President to be
photographed.
One of the more unusual gifts given
to a President was from the Marquis de Lafayette, who gave John Quincy Adams a
pet alligator. The alligator lived at
the White House for several months.
My friend, G. Wilson Gunn, Jr., a Presbyterian Pastor, believes that John Quincy Adams was a member of
the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Currently
Wilson serves as General Presbyter at National Capital Presbytery, offices in
Rockville, Maryland. (as of 2018)
It is a church Suzanne and I have
visited, and a church where quite a number of well
known political figures and elected officials have worshipped, the most recent
of which I am aware is President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It
was Eisenhower who listened to a sermon preached on February 7, 1954 at that
church by the Rev. George McPherson Docherty who included the need to include the phrase
"under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag. Eisenhower's promotion of that idea
resulted in legislation passed by Congress and signed into law on June 14,
1954, the day now recognized nationally as National Flag Day!
President John Quincy Adams, truly,
was one of the outstanding Presidents by whom our nation has had the privilege
of being led.
Compiled by:
Dwight Albert (D. A.) Sharpe
805 Derting Road East
Aurora, TX 76078-3712
817-504-6508