John Quincy Adams succeeded at everything he did—except at being president. He was a tremendously effective foreign diplomate, perhaps our greatest secretary of state, and as congressman an indefatigable opponent of slavery (Congress enacted the gag rule to silence him). As an attorney he was instrumental in winning the freedom of 39 African captives aboard the schooner Amistad. But as our nation’s sixth president, John Quincy Adams was pretty much a disaster. How to explain it? That’s made perfectly clear in this marvelous little book (155 pages) by Robert V. Remini. Remini is a noted historian and an entertaining storyteller.
“John Quincy Adams” is part of The American Presidency series—short, cogent bios by noted authors about each of our nation’s presidents. Interestingly, Remini devotes but five of the book’s 12 chapters to Adams’ presidency. Indeed, this is the least interesting part about the man who’s great gifts seemed to have been misspent while in the White House. His true calling was in the diplomatic service, and, in his post-presidential years, as an outspoken advocate of fundamental human rights.
As a diplomat, Adams played a key role in negotiating several important treaties, including the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812. As secretary of state, he negotiated with Britain over the United States' northern border with Canada, negotiated the deal with Spain that allowed for the annexation of Florida, and he wrote the Monroe Doctrine. Ironically, Adams was the one man in the Monroe administration against the censure of General Andrew Jackson, who many thought (including President James Monroe) had overstepped his authority by slaughtering a number of Native Americans and executing several Spanish officials in Florida, at the time a possession of Spain. Later, in Washington, Adams held a ball in Jackson’s honor, while secretly the general was planning his bid for president against Adams’s candidacy. Indeed, no one would do more to undermine Adams’ four-year presidency than Andrew Jackson.
As president Adams was probably too far ahead of his time in seeking to modernize America in proposing the building of an extensive system of roads and canals, bridges, and highways, as well as a national university and a naval academy similar to West Point. He further recommended the “erection of an astronomical observatory." However he was stymied time and again by a Congress controlled by his enemies, most of whom were Jacksonian democrats. Also, as talented as he was in negotiating treaties with European countries, he was out of his depth in negotiating land deals with Native Americans, and in the end could not protect them. Says the author: “His effort to protect the Indians under the legal authority of the federal government gained him nothing but the hatred of those southerners who lusted after Indian territory and could hardly wait for the next election to replace him in the White House with Andrew Jackson.”
After leaving office, Adams was elected as U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, serving for the last 17 years of his life with far greater acclaim than he had achieved as president, notably in his stand against expanding slavery into the western states. Among Adams’ greatest hours was his forceful arguments before the Supreme Court in the Amistad case. He was so convincing that eight of the nine justices, including chief justice Roger Taney, a slave holder, agreed with Adams and declared the Africans freemen.
“Perhaps more than anyone else of his generation John Quincy Adams represented the thinking, opinions, and attitudes of the vast majority of Americans,” writes Remini, “just like his father before him. Unfortunately it took another century before the fact received the recognition it so rightly deserved.” I appreciated this book for its brevity and insights. Remini does a bang-up job in humanizing a cold and under appreciated public figure. Five stars.
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Top reviews from other countries
Richard Atkinson
Bad President, but a good precedent
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2015