John Quincy Adams 2 Essay, Research Paper
John Quincy Adams
Good evening everyone. I, Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, will be your spiritual guide on this rainy December night to tell you about my late husband and all of his endeavors. My dear John was a wonderful man and I truly am a fortunate woman to have had him for a husband.
My dear John was born on July 11, 1767 in Braintree Massachusetts. I believe that now you call it Quincy Massachusetts. He had an older sister, but was the eldest son of his John Adams, his father, and Abigail Smith Adams, his mother. As you probably already know, his father became the second president of the United States in 1797, so my dear John was born into a political family.
From what I can recall, John spent many years of his childhood in Europe and studied mainly with tutors, but at one point he did attend an actual school in France and the Netherlands. He was never very sociable with children of his own age, and preferred to mingle with the other diplomats.
In 1783 my dear John was summoned by his father to go to Paris. There he witnessed the signing of the treaty that ended the American Revolution. It was then that my dear John began keeping a diary. He continued to write in it from that day to the last day of his life. I hear that it s been published and is now available for all the world to read. My dear John sure did know how to impress me.
My dear John returned to the United States to study at Harvard College. He graduated two years later, he really was a very studious man. He started his own law practice in 1790 but he never really enjoyed practicing law and he soon gave it up to become involved in important public matters.
An anonymous author, using the pen name Publicola, published a series of articles in a Boston newspaper that were reprinted and read throughout the nation. The articles offered a closely reasoned and brilliant defense of Washington s policy and concluded with these words: It is our duty to remain, the peaceable and silent, though sorrowful spectators of the sanguinary scene. The president soon discovered that my dear John, John Quincy Adams had written the articles.
After that incident he held many important offices. General George Washington himself advised others that my husband, my dear John, was an important man to have involved in political issues. Some of the positions he s held include: the diplomatic representative to the Netherlands, diplomatic representative to Prussia, United States senator from Massachusetts, diplomatic representative to Russia, secretary of state in the Cabinet of President James Monroe, President of the United States, and United States representative from Massachusetts.
Now if I do say so myself that is one mighty long list, but my dear John had the shoes to fill the position for each and every one them. He was such a dedicated and devoted man, and he never did let me down.
I married my dear John while he was diplomatic representative for the Netherlands. WE had three beautiful children together, but I must get back to the rest of his life if I am to make this presntation under the limits!
One of the most impressive things on his list of accomplishments is his presidency. I mean how many men do you know that can say they were they president of the United States? My dear John ran for presidency in 1824. The presidency proved to be a frustrating and disappointing experience for my dear John. He tried to be the leader of all the people, but he was confronted by hostile criticism of his policies from the Congress of the United States. It was a very difficult time for he and I. I tried to encourage him and change his personality, but what was a woman of the 19th century to do?
1828 my dear John ran for reelection against Jackson. The campaign of 1828 was one of the most bitterly contested in American history. Both sides spread malicious slanders against each other. My dear John was decisively defeated, receiving 83 electoral votes to Jackson s 178. My dear John was so bitter at his defeat that, like his father, he refused to remain in Washington for his successor s inauguration.
Late in 1846, my dear John suffered a stroke. He recovered enough to resume his seat in Congress a few months later. One year afterward, on February 21, 1848, he responded to a roll call of his name in the House chambers, then fell forward on his desk. It was a second stroke. He was carried to the Speaker s room in the Capitol. There, two days later, my dear John died.
My dear John, the sixth president of the United States, devoted his life and his great ability to serving the people of the United States. Of the 81 years he lived, 50 were spent in public office. His service ended only with his death at the US Capitol in Washington, DC My dear John s career of public service was one of the most varied and distinguished in American history. The measures he took in these high offices profoundly assisted the growth and development of the United States. The expansion of US borders westward and southward, the acquisition of Florida, and the formulation of the Monroe Doctrine all were due, at least in part, to the efforts of my dear John, John Quincy Adams.