ExclusiveJohn Quincy Adams: Old Man Eloquent

As Americans, we're all so familiar with the concept of freedom, liberty, and the right to pursue your own happiness that we often take it for granted. However, at the beginning of our nation's history, those concepts, those principles seemed like a pie-in-the-sky idea, just a crazy dream. It was the work of individuals to make that dream a reality, and something which could be enjoyed by many generations. These people who dedicated their lives to the pursuit of this ideal are what we would call American legends. My name is Tiffany Brannon. Each culture has its legends, and that could be myths or different stories, but here in America, our greatest legends are the wonderful heroes who are right from our history pages. Now, some of these heroes are very famous, and some are obscure, but each person deserves to be discovered because each man or woman stands as a great example of how we can be better Americans in our daily lives. In this episode of American Legends, we'll be talking about the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams. The first four or so presidents of the United States were the Founding Fathers. They are all pretty recognizable names who were very much involved with the founding of the nation. They were involved with the Revolutionary War and signing the Declaration of Independence, writing the Constitution, and so on. But they could only last so long, and by the time the fifth, sixth, and seventh presidency came along, there had to be some new blood. By the time that the sixth president was elected, a whole new generation was ready to take leadership, and thus, the sixth president of the United States was the son of the second president of the United States. John Quincy Adams, who was elected in 1825 to 1829, was the first and one of only two presidents who was the son of another U.S. president. Like his father, John Adams, he was only elected to one term. That made them the only two out of the first six who only had one term of office. Nevertheless, during his rather brief presidency, John Quincy Adams made some great contributions to this nation. His legacy is one of a president who tried to do a lot of things, but was unable to do some of them because Congress wouldn't pass many of his ideas. Nevertheless, that didn't stop him from making a very important mark on the country. His legacy goes far beyond his four years in office, and it's interesting to look back at him now, because we are now exactly 200 years past when he first became president. I bet it would have been hard for him to imagine that the United States would still be continuing in the same manner 200 years in the future. He was a man of extremely high principles, and his life is an interesting one. You might look and say, huh, look at all the nepotism in the early United States. One president and then his son just a few presidents later was another president? Was it just part of some dynasty where they all were coming from the same place? But John Quincy Adams distinguished himself far from his own father's reputation. He made his own legacy because he was a man who stood on his own feet. I think one of the things that distinguishes him the most is that he wasn't tied to any political set of ideals, which makes him a lot like George Washington. Washington remains the only U.S. president who refused to affiliate himself with any political party. And in that same manner, Quincy Adams did not want to affiliate himself with any political party as he was a young man. His early life was very interesting because his father wasn't often at their home in Massachusetts, Braintree where he was born. So Abigail Adams, the very strong second first lady of the United States, was the main parent involved in raising him. Nevertheless, his father was very actively involved in his life through a lively correspondence. They wrote frequently to each other and John Adams Sr. urged his son to read the great works. The great works not only of their day, but of antiquity. Thus, as a young man, John Quincy Adams learned to read and write in French, Latin, and Greek. He learned even more of these great foreign languages and law in his travels with his father because John Adams was appointed as a foreign minister to many different countries in the early days of the United States, even before the revolution. And oftentimes, John Quincy Adams would accompany him in these travels even when he was still an adolescent. Thus, he got to see firsthand the politics of these foreign countries, how the law works, and he learned these foreign languages, which would be pivotal in shaping the greatest contribution which he made in his own political career. Not even as president, but as a foreign minister. When he returned to the United States as a young man, John Quincy Adams studied law. He studied at Harvard and he became part of Phi Beta Kappa. He was a very brilliant young man and extremely intelligent. Later on in his career, he would serve as a teacher, sometimes teaching logic, other times philosophy. He also had a law practice in his early days. As he first began his political career, he did not want to align himself with any political party. And I think if you study the rest of his political career, you can see why. He would frequently be in one party, but be in disagreement with a lot of the other members because he supported principles from the opposing party. He wasn't a party player, he didn't want to just follow some set of beliefs because that's what everybody else was saying you should do. He believed in judging things as you see them, not judging them by what the party says. He first aligned himself with the Federalist Party, which was the party of his father. And that was believing more in being similar to the British government, rather than the French government, and having a local, strong central government. And in his early days, you can see why he believed that, because he wrote under a pen name that he thought Britain actually had the better model for government than France. But then, as he was serving as a Federalist in Congress, as a Senator, he disagreed with a lot of the other Federalists by supporting Thomas Jefferson, who was the President, and advocating for the Louisiana Purchase, which Federalists didn't like, and as a result he ended up resigning from the Senate because everyone disagreed with him. Because of this, even though he wasn't part of the Democratic-Republican Party yet, which was the party of Thomas Jefferson and fourth President of the United States, James Madison, he attracted their attention and admiration. And as a result, he was given more minister positions by James Madison. He served in some form of government under all five of the Presidents who preceded him in the office. He was a minister to foreign countries under George Washington, John Adams, and James Madison. Under Thomas Jefferson, he served in the Senate, representing Massachusetts. In the later part of James Madison's tenure, and then under James Monroe, the fifth President, he was the Secretary of State, and that is where he truly distinguished himself. Looking at all the history of the United States, he is considered one of the finest Secretaries of State. He had excellent policy, and he helped James Monroe in forming what would be his most lasting contribution, the Monroe Doctrine, which was basically a strong statement that the United States would not tolerate any European powers colonizing land in the New World. He was a big part of that. Throughout his time, whether he was being a minister to England, Portugal, Prussia, which would later become Germany, Russia, or any other country, or his work back in the United States, a recurring theme that you see coming from him is that the United States should not get involved in foreign wars. And that's a policy which aligns him more with the Federalists, because his father and George Washington were both very much opposed to the brand new nation getting mixed up in the Napoleonic Wars. England and France were going at each other, and many people, like Thomas Jefferson, believed that maybe the United States should be supportive of France, because they saw France as our brother of liberty, because the French were copying us with their French Revolution. But George Washington, John Adams, and then John Quincy Adams saw, we have our own problems. We're a brand new nation, we're not close to Europe at all. We broke off from England. France helped us a little, but still, we're not closely aligned to any other country. We need to support our own interests. And like the president right before him, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams actually saw more benefit in supporting other American countries, such as the South American countries. Because he saw that while we were this new nation of freedom, most of the other countries and lands in the Americas were still owned by European powers. And while he wasn't necessarily trying to incite some kind of a revolution, he thought we should support South American countries, Canada, or any other part of the Americas which wanted to declare its freedom, even though it might make us unpopular with Europe. He was very much against the Mexican-American War and the annexation of Texas, for a very good reason. Now this might seem like, again, he's trying to get mixed up in some foreign war. But he was a man of strong principles, and he wanted to get rid of what he saw as one of the biggest problems in the United States, slavery. It's a recurrent issue that comes up as we look at these early presidents. Because we see, how could they be advocating all men are created equal while owning slaves? Especially because most of the early presidents were from Virginia, a southern state, a slave-owning state. Most of them owned slaves. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, they all were slave owners because they were Virginians, part of what was called the Virginia Dynasty. Now John Adams was from New England, he was not a slave owner, and he was against it, as was his wife. So John Quincy Adams wasn't a slave owner either, although it's believed that he may have owned some slaves, or rather just inherited them, rather employed them because of his marriage. But personally, he was very much against it, and he may be one of the first presidents to not employ slave labor at the White House. But he also began advocating for more and more legislature against it. And he saw the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War as a way to get more slavery into the United States, so that's why he was against it, and he was very vocal on that. Now most presidents serve their time in office, and then they retire to write their memoirs or go live on their plantation, maybe start a university. But he holds the record as the only president to then serve in Congress, because he still thought he had more to give to the country after being president for one term. He didn't try to run again after he was unsuccessful with his second election attempt. You see, he barely won the first time, it was a very hotly contested first election. There were five men who were going for the presidency at the time. His competitor, Andrew Jackson, who was a Democratic Republican, actually won more electoral votes. But John Quincy Adams beat him with the popular vote, so it was put into the House of Representatives to decide, and Henry Clay was in charge of that at the time. He was in favor of John Quincy Adams, so he won. But Andrew Jackson won by a significant amount when he came up for re-election, so instead he decided to run to be part of the House of Representatives, and he was elected. And in that position, he was very much against a lot of the things that Andrew Jackson did. Throughout his career in politics, John Quincy Adams is believed to have been part of five different political parties. First Federalist, then Democratic Republican, and while he was in office as president, the Democratic Republican Party split off into the two separate parties, the National Republican Party and the new Democratic Party. It was the National Republican Party which supported him, and the Democratic Party began to be more with Andrew Jackson and have differing beliefs. So after he was no longer president, he was done with the Republican Party as well. So then he became part of the Anti-Masonic Party, which was against the things that Andrew Jackson was doing, and it was under this party that he first was in the House of Representatives. Then a few years later, in 1834, he switched to the Whig Party, which was a new party even though the name was quite old. It was a political party that had been used in England years back. So that was his final party, and he held his position in the House of Representatives until his death in 1848. He suffered a stroke on the floor in the chambers of the House of Representatives, and then he rested for a few days, then he came back because he wanted to die in Congress, and he got his wish. He did, in fact, die there. Throughout his life, John Quincy Adams wrote a lot, and he made many great speeches. He wrote under his own name, he wrote under other names, and he influenced people all across the world. As we see from his time, first as a president and then in the House of Representatives, he wasn't afraid to make bold statements that were very unpopular. For instance, he was extremely critical of the Gage Act, which was in place in Congress while he was in the House of Representatives, which effectively meant slavery could not be discussed in Congress, since it was such a controversial topic. But he would allude to it a lot, to how unfair this Gage Act was going against the First Amendment, the right to free speech. And largely because of his criticism, the Gage Act was repealed, and thus he openly spoke against slavery in Congress, making him the first person to do so. He also was against the suppression of rights of women. He thought that everyone should have a voice in the nation. He didn't necessarily write that women should have the privilege to vote, but he was definitely against unfairness. He didn't think that one party should rule over another. He thought that we all should be equal to varying degrees, and he believed very strongly in having a strong set of morals, good Christian values, and saw these as not only beneficial, but absolutely necessary to make the United States functional and a prosperous nation. I looked up some quotes from John Quincy Adams, and he said so many inspiring and wise statements that it was hard to choose just one. I think you can almost learn more about him and the fine man he was by just reading some of the things he wrote. They really say a lot about what he believed about government and individual responsibility. But here are a few of his best. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. That should be on T-shirts or on wall plaques. That's just a great motivational quote, not necessarily political. But it really says, what does it mean to be a leader? Should you be because you're powerful or you can force people to do things? No, if you could inspire others to be better themselves, to dream and to learn. And I think he got that example from his father, who, rather than telling him to do things, inspired him to be a great reader, to be a writer. He inspired him to start journaling at the age of 13, and he kept a journal to the end of his days. He also said, try and fail, but don't fail to try. That sounds like a more eloquent version of the famous Yoda speech from Star Wars. Do or do not, there is no try. But it's very true, and it's very indicative of what he did. He didn't always succeed. I mean, most of the things he tried to put past Congress were turned down. But that didn't keep him from passing more things. He just kept trying because he felt it was more of a failure to not even try. And finally, he said, always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest retention that your vote is never lost. That reflects his own political background, in that he often was against members of his own political party, because he didn't want to just go with the popular vote or do what everybody else was saying. He believed in doing what he knew to be the right thing, no matter how unpopular it was. As he lived into 1848, he's the first U.S. president to have an actual photograph rather than just a portrait taken of him. This picture was taken in his later days, taken in 1843, five years before his death. It remains the oldest picture of a U.S. president. There's so much more to learn about any U.S. president, any individual. His life is fascinating, and I would urge you to read more about him and by him. But just in a nutshell, the legacy of John Quincy Adams may not be the most remarkable of any president, but his whole life serving the country in so many different positions shows that he was what the ideal American should be, a person of principle who wanted to inspire others, who wanted to make good connections, who placed America above any other nation, and who believed in personal responsibility for preserving the ideal of the United States of America. Thank you for spending this time with me, talking about the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, a great man who deserves more recognition. I inspire you to be challenged by his example, to consider how you can inspire others, how you can look to make the right choice, even if it goes against some political ideal, against some party, some group mentality. Are you looking to your own conscience as your guide, to your own morality and what you know to be right, rather than just doing what seems popular? John Quincy Adams is a great example to all of us, and I encourage you, as you've watched this video, to take that as your example. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.