BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

WHEN the constitution of the United States was formed, in 1787, and the question of its adoption was before the people, the opponents of a consolidated government, and those who preferred the old confederation, represented the executive established by the constitution, as the chief of an elective monarchy. Mr. Jefferson considered him a bad edition of a Polish king, as he expressed it. But no one apprehended any danger of the office of president ever becoming hereditary. It is, however, a curious circumstance, that the only one of the first five presidents of the United States who had a son, should have lived to see his eldest son elected to the presidency. It must not from this be supposed that the circumstances of the birth and family of John Quincy Adams had any influence in contributing to his elevation to the same high office which his father had previously filled. On the contrary, the jealousy of the American people on the subject of any supposed preference in consequence of family or rank, probably operated to the prejudice of Mr. Adams, and diminished the popular support which he would otherwise have received; for no American was ever more fully qualified by talents and education for the various important stations which he has been called to fill, than the distinguished statesman who is the subject of the present memoir.

Born in the year 1767, on the 11th day of July, at the mansion of his father, John Adams, who then resided in Boston, although the family-seat was in the present town of Quincy, Massachusetts, John Quincy Adams (who afterward became the sixth president of the United States) took the name of John Quincy, his great grandfather, who bore a distinguished part in the councils of the province, at the commencement of the eighteenth century.*

In the very dawn of his existence the principles of American independence and freedom were instilled into the mind of the younger Adams. A part of this sketch is an abstract of a memoir of Mr. Adams published in 1828.

Both his father and mother were the most zealous promoters of the cause of their country in the struggle with Great Britain. When the father of Mr. Adams repaired to France as joint commissioner with Franklin and Lee, he was accompanied by his son John Quincy, then in his eleventh year. In that country he passed a year and a half with his father, and enjoyed the privilege of the daily intercourse and parental attentions of Doctor Franklin, whose kind notice of the young was a peculiar trait in his character, and whose primitive simplicity of manners and methodical habits left a lasting impression on the mind of his youthful countryman.

After a residence of about eighteen months in France, young Adams returned to America with his father, who assisted in forming a constitution for Massachusetts, but was soon called upon again by Congress to repair to Europe, as a commissioner for negotiating treaties with Holland and other powers, but particularly with Great Britain, as soon as she was disposed to put an end to the war.

He again took his son with him, and sailed in a French frigate, which in consequence of springing a dangerous leak, was compelled to put into Ferrol, in Spain. From that place Mr. Adams and his son travelled by land to Paris, where they arrived in January, 1780. For a few months Mr. Adams sent his son to school in Paris; but in July, the same year, he took him with him to Holland, where he was called to negotiate a loan for the United States. He placed his son first in the public school of the city of Amsterdam, and afterward in the city university of Leyden, In July, 1781, Mr. Francis Dana (afterward chief-justice of the state of Massachusetts), who had gone out with Mr. Adams as secretary of legation, received from the continental Congress the appointment of minister to the court of the empress of Russia, and John Quincy Adams was selected by Mr. Dana as a private secretary of this mission. After spending fourteen months with Mr. Dana, he left him to return through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg, and Bremen, to Holland, where his father had been publicly received as minister from the United States, and had concluded a commercial treaty with the republic of the Netherlands. He performed this journey during the winter of 1782-'3, being only sixteen years of age, without a companion. He reached the Hague in April, 1783, his father being at that time engaged at Paris in the negotiation of peace. From April to July his son remained at the Hague, under the care of Mr. Dumas, a native of Switzerland, who then filled the office of an agent of the United States. The negotiations for peace being suspended in July, Mr. Adams's father repaired on business to Amsterdam; and on his return to Paris he took his son with him. The definitive treaty of peace was signed in September, 1783, from which time till May, 1785, he was chiefly with his father in England, Holland, and France.

It was at this period that he formed an acquaintance with Mr. Jefferson, then residing in France as American minister. The intercourse of Mr.

Jefferson with his former colleague in Congress, the father of Mr. Adams was of an intimate and confidential kind, and led to a friendship for his son which, formed in early life, scarcely suffered an interruption from subsequent political dissensions, and revived with original strength during the last years of the life of this venerable statesman.

Mr. Adams was, at the period last mentioned, about eighteen years of age. Born in the crisis of his country's fortunes, he had led a life of wandering and vicissitude, unusual at any age. His education, in everything but the school of liberty, had been interrupted and irregular. He had seen much of the world-much of men-and had enjoyed but little leisure for books. Anxious to complete his education, and still more anxious to return to his native land, when his father was, in 1785, appointed minister to the court of St. James, his son, at that period of life when the pleasures and splendor of a city like London are most calculated to fascinate and mislead, asked permission of his father to go back to his native shores. This he accordingly did. On his return to America he became a member of the ancient college of Harvard, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he graduated in July, 1787.

On leaving college, Mr. Adams entered the office of Theophilus Parsons, afterward chief justice of the state, as a student of law, at Newburyport. On a visit of General Washington to that town, in 1789, Mr. Parsons, being chosen by his fellow-citizens to be the medium of expressing their sentiments to the general, called upon his pupils each to prepare an address. This call was obeyed by Mr. Adams, and his address was delivered by Mr. Parsons.

After completing his law studies, at Newburyport, Mr. Adams removed to Boston, with view of commencing the practice of his profession at the bar. His time not being fully occupied, Mr. Adams employed his leisure hours in speculations upon the great political questions of the day.

In April, 1793, on the first intimation that war between Great Britain and France had been declared, Mr. Adams published a short series of papers, the object of which was, to prove that the duty and interest of the United States required them to remain neutral in the contest. These papers were published before General Washington's proclamation of neutrality, and without any knowledge that a proclamation would be issued. The opinions they expressed were in opposition to the views generally prevailing, that the treaty of alliance of 1778 obliged us to take part in the wars of France. But the proclamation of neutrality by General Washington, sanctioned by all his cabinet, including Mr. Jefferson, was shortly made public, and confirmed the justice of the views which Mr. Adams had been (it is believed) the first to express before the public on this new and difficult topic of national law.

In the winter of 1793 and 1794, the inflammatory appeals of the French minister to the United States, Mr. Genet, caused much excitement in the

public mind. Among those who co-operated in support of the administration of Washington in resisting Mr. Genet, none was more conspicuous than Mr. Adams, whose essays in favor of neutrality were read and admired throughout the country.

His reputation was soon established, as an American statesman and political writer. Before his retirement from the department of state, Mr. Jefferson recommended him to General Washington, as a proper person to be introduced into the public service of the country. The acquaintance between Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams which had been formed in France, had lately been renewed, on occasion of a visit to Philadelphia in 1792; and the promptitude and ability with which he had seconded the efforts of the secretary of state in enforcing neutrality, no doubt led Mr. Jefferson thus to recommend him to General Washington.

The publications of Mr. Adams above alluded to, had attracted the attention of General Washington. He had in private expressed the highest opinion of them, and had made particular inquiries with respect to their author. Thus honorably identified, at the early age of twenty-seven, with the first great and decisive step of the foreign policy of the United States, and thus early attracting the notice, and enjoying the confidence of Washington, Mr. Adams was, in May, 1794, appointed minister resident to the Netherlands, an office corresponding in rank and salary with that of a chargé d'affaires at the present day. The father of Mr. Adams was at this time vice-president of the United States; but the appointment of his son was made by General Washington, unexpectedly to the vicepresident, and without any previous intimation that it would take place.

Mr. Adams remained at his post in Holland about two years. He was an attentive observer of the great events then occurring in Europe, and his official correspondence with the government was regarded by General Washington as of the highest importance.

Toward the close of General Washington's administration, he appointed Mr. Adams minister plenipotentiary to Portugal. On his way from the Hague to Lisbon, he received a new commission, changing his destination to Berlin. This latter appointment was made by Mr. Adams's father, then president of the United States, and in a manner highly honorable to the restraint of his parental feelings, in the discharge of an act of public duty. Although Mr. Adams's appointment to Portugal was made by General Washington, and President Adams did no more than propose his transfer to Berlin, yet feelings of delicacy led him to hesitate, before he took even this step. He consulted his predecessor and friend, then retired from office, and placed in a situation beyond the reach of any of the motives which can possibly prejudice the minds of men in power. The following letter from General Washington, is the reply to President Adams's inquiry, and will ever remain an honorable testimony to the character of Mr. Adams :