John Quincy Adams
Rodriguez Omar
Martin Joey
Period 5
Andrew Jackson vs. John Quincy Adams
When Andrew Jackson ran against incumbent John Quincy Adams in 1828, it was not pretty.
Adams’ previous term had not been a very successful one, but he was prepared to sling a little
mud anyway.
Background/Family Slide
 Adams, John Quincy was the eldest son of President John Adams,
sixth president of the United States, was born on July 11, 1767.
 At the age of 15, the young John Quincy Adams served as Secretary
to the Mission to Russia.
 He made his greatest contribution to his country after his
presidency, while serving in the United States House of
Representatives as a staunch opponent of slavery and expansionist
war.
 His wife is Louisa Catherine Johnson and his sons are called George
Washington, John Adams II and Charles Francis.
Presidency/Political
 Member of Massachusetts State Senate(1802-1803) , United States
Ambassador to the Netherlands(1794-1797) , United States
Ambassador to Prussia(1797-1781) , United States Ambassador to
Russia(1809-1814) , United States Ambassador to the United
Kingdom(1815-1817) , United States House of Representatives from
Massachusetts’s 8th, 11th, and 12th district(1831-1848) , 8th United
States Secretary of State(1817-1825) , United States Senator of
Massachusetts(1803-1808) , United States 6th president(1825-1829)
 Adams served as the sixth President of the United States from
March 4, 1825, to March 3, 1829. He took the oath of office on a book
of laws, instead of the more traditional Bible, to preserve the
separation of church and state
Key Domestic Policy
 John Quincy Adams worked on developing the American System.
 In his first annual message to Congress, Adams presented an
ambitious program for modernization that included roads, canals, a
national university, an astronomical observatory, and other
initiatives.
 The position of Adams was unknown, because his constituency was
divided.
 After Adams lost control of Congress in 1827, the situation became
more complicated.
 By signing into law the Tariff of 1828, extremely unpopular in the
South, he limited his chances to achieve more during his presidency.
Key Foreign Policy
 Adams is regarded as one of the greatest diplomats in American
history, and during his tenure as Secretary of State, he was one of
the designers of the Monroe Doctrine.
 On July 4, 1821, he gave an address to Congress:
“...But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.
She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.
She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”
 Thanks to the successes of Adams' diplomacy during his previous
eight years as Secretary of State, most of the foreign policy issues he
would have faced had been resolved by the time he became
President.
Elections


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Although issues clearly separated the candidates along lines more distinct than any since
the election of 1800, the campaign itself was highly personal. Indeed, it was the first
campaign in history to use election materials such as campaign buttons, slogans, posters,
tokens, flasks, snuffboxes, medallions, thread boxes, matchboxes, mugs, and fabric images
so extensively. Almost all of these campaign trinkets depicted some aspect of the
candidate's popular image.
Neither candidate personally campaigned in 1828, but their political followers organized
rallies, parades, and demonstrations. In the popular press, the rhetorical attacks reached a
level of cruelty and misrepresentation not seen since the election of 1796. Jackson was
accused of multiple murders, of extreme personal violence, and of having lived in sin with
his wife, Rachel. Adams, on the other hand, was attacked for his legalistic attitudes and
reportedly for having procured young American virgins for the Russian czar as the primary
achievement of his diplomatic career. Adams's critics referred to him as "His Excellency"
while Jackson came under attack as an ill-mannered, barely civilized backwoods killer of
Indians.
The campaign turned out twice the number of voters who had cast ballots in 1824 -approximately 56 percent of the electorate. Jackson won the election in a landslide, which
would not be matched until the twentieth century, and by a wide margin of 95 electoral
votes. Adams carried New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and
Connecticut), Delaware, New Jersey, most of Maryland, Rhode Island, and sixteen of New
York's electoral votes -- nine states in all. Jackson carried the remaining fifteen states of the
South, Northwest, mid-Atlantic, and West.
President’s Quote
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was
this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the
principles of civil government with the principles of
Christianity. ”
-John Quincy Adams
Successes and Failures
Success
Failures
 John Quincy Adams served only
 Adams is considered to have
one term as president. He
supported internal
improvements including the
extension of the Cumberland
Road. In 1828, the so-called
"tariff of abominations" was
passed. Its goal was to protect
domestic manufacturing. It was
strongly opposed in the South
and led Vice President John C.
Calhoun to argue again for the
right of nullification - to have
South Carolina nullify it by ruling
it unconstitutional.
been a failure as a President
principally because he was such
a poor politician in a day and age
when politics were beginning to
really matter again.
 His idea of the federal
government setting a national
agenda, while a lofty and
principled perspective, was the
wrong message at the wrong
time. As a great visionary,
Adams was out of touch with
political reality
Domestic Affairs
 John Quincy Adams wholeheartedly supported the
role of the federal government in the sponsorship of
projects and institutions designed to improve the
conditions of society.
 He had no constitutional doubts about the authority
of the President and Congress to construct a system
of internal improvements, ranging from roads and
canals to harbors and rivers.
 he supported the "American System" first proposed
by Henry Clay while Clay was Speaker of the House.
The general plan rested upon the notion of a selfsufficient, but regionally specialized, national
economy.
Old Man Eloquent
 As one of the House's most articulate and forceful
spokesmen opposed to slavery, Adams earned the
nickname of "Old Man Eloquent.“
 Whenever he rose to speak, especially in his twilight years,
silence swept over the chamber as the congressmen turned
their attention to the former President.
 In 1841, Adams argued successfully before the Supreme
Court to win freedom for fifty-three slave mutineers aboard
the Spanish ship Amistad. The Africans had mutinied
against their Spanish captors on the high seas and were
then captured by an American warship off Long Island. The
court ruled that the mutineers were free men because
international slave trade was illegal under British and U.S.
law.
Life After the Presidency
 Adams served nine post-presidential terms in Congress
from 1830 to 1848, usually voting in the minority.
 He supported the re-chartering of the Bank of the United
States, opposed the annexation of Texas and the war with
Mexico, and struggled for eight years to end the House's
notorious "gag" rule to table without debate any petition
critical of slavery.
 Adams attempted to read into the record at every
opportunity the hundreds of antislavery petitions which
abolitionists around the country sent him on a regular basis.
The House finally relented and repealed the rule in 1844.
Timeline

1767 Born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts on July 11th

1794 Became minister to The Netherlands

1797 (July 6) Married Louisa Catherine Johnson

1801 Son George Washington Adams was born

1803 Son John Adams was born

1803 Elected to the United States Senate

1807 Son Charles Francis Adams was born

1809 Appointed as minister to Russia

1811 Daughter Louisa Catherine Adams was born
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1814-1815 Helped negotiate peace with Great Britain
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1815 Became minister to Great Britain
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1817 Appointed Secretary of State
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1825 The House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams as the 6th President of the United States
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1825 The Erie Canal was completed
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1825 The first women's labor union was organized

1825 U.S. population was 11,252,237
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1826 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die. 1828 Webster's Dictionary was published
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1829 Russia defeated Turkey in war, gaining ports on the Black Sea
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1830 Elected to the House of Representatives
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1844 Died on February 23rd in Washington, DC
Bibliography
 millercenter.org
 americanhistory.com
 Wikipedia.org
 apples4theteacher.com