John Quincy Adams: A Strong Diplomatic Politician | Politics of the Presidency: Washington to Lincoln

Edward Flynn

For John Quincy Adams

My assignment was to create a presidential campaign ad for the Election of 1824. I was to create a video supporting John Quincy Adams and his quest for the presidency in 1824. John Quincy Adams followed very much in his father’s, John Adams, footsteps in becoming a great politician. Adams was born in 1767 in Braintree, Massachusetts as the eldest son to John and Susanna Adams. Adams quickly became acquainted with the world of politics as he accompanied his father on many trips across the Atlantic and into Europe. In 1787, Adams graduated from Harvard and began practicing law in Boston. However, that did not last long as he entered the world of politics by being nominated to the post of Minister to The Netherlands by President George Washington. John Quincy spent much of his young political career overseas as he was a foreign minister on four different occasions (The Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, and England).

After already having spent time in the senate and as an ambassador, John Quincy was made Secretary of State by President James Monroe. He served the two terms with President Monroe and then began his preparations for a run at the 1824 Presidential Election.

My video starts with a picture of a young and ambitious John Quincy Adams with the quote saying, “He must be our next president.” This quote was from the Tennessee paper the Clarion which is quite astounding because that is the opponents Andrew Jackson’s home state. In this article, the paper discusses how John Quincy Adams is the most qualified man for this job and an actual politician. The next slide is a quote from the newspaper the Baltimore Patriot stating that “When President Monroe shall retire, we believe no individual will stand more conspicuous for the Presidency than Mr. Adams.” This article was written in 1820 which means that very early on in his career, the public knew that John Quincy Adams was a presidential candidate. The Baltimore Patriot thinks that there is no other candidate in the United States that is better qualified than Mr. Adams.

The next three slides were a collection of one quote that said, “Character of an able citizen, elegant scholar, and pure patriot.” These are three big qualities that I wanted to base my pro-Adams platform on. The first picture is admittedly the only picture that doesn’t quite fit the election date because it is an older John Quincy Adams, it was a great real photo of Quincy showing that he was a great person. The next picture is the only picture I found of a childhood John Quincy Adams. I wanted to emphasize education with the young JQA in the painting. The third and final picture is actually a photo of JQA’s signature toward a land grant in Michigan. I saw the picture saying United States and his name so I thought it was appropriate for the Patriot quote.

The next slide has perhaps my favorite photo of John Quincy Adams because he actually looks good (he wasn’t a man known for his looks!). I wrote strong diplomatic politician because the picture is of him at the conference in Ghent, Belgium where he agreed to the Treaty of Ghent as the United States secretary of state. I also included politician in the phrase because I wanted to emphasize the politician aspect of John Quincy Adams which was considered one of his strengths. The next slide is a long quote of how he performed as the secretary of state. The main point is how he “exhibited talents competent to every and to all the stations, to which he had been called.” I couldn’t find a better quote on the quality of work that JQA did while secretary of state, but this one describes that he was an excellent diplomat and met all the needs of the country.

The next slide is a painting of John Quincy Adams speaking to the House of Representatives. This again emphasizes the political skill that JQA maintained. With the following slide I found a fantastic quote about the praise John Quincy Adams was getting before he was elected. This article was written by the Enquirer from Richmond, Virginia in August 1824 which was right before the presidential election. The final slide was a beautiful portrait of John Quincy Adams which was painted of him as president which emphasizes him as the president. Also, the I said Vote for a Politician and Vote for a Leader, because I wanted to bring together the arguments of the advertisement.

Lastly, the music is a bit odd which you will probably notice in class, but I thought it was very fitting with John Quincy Adams. The music comes from the movie Amistad which was directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie is about the ship La Amistad which transported slaves and they revolted and eventually won the Supreme Court case and were taken back to their native Africa. The music is also by John Williams which is exceptional. The curious point about it is that John Quincy Adams plays the president of the United States in the movie, but he had been out of office for 10 years at that point. John Quincy Adams did have slavery issues in which he addressed while in the Senate later on in his career.

Bibliography

Enquirer, page [3], vol. XXI, iss. 28

Publication Date:

August 10, 1824

Published as:

Richmond Enquirer

Location:

Richmond, Virginia

Headline:

[Richmond; John Quincy; Adams; Friday; August; Capitol; Leroy; anderson; Secretary]

Article Type:

News/Opinion

Baltimore Patriot, page [2], vol. XV, iss. 22

Publication Date:

January 27, 1820

Published as:

BALTIMORE PATRIOT & MERCANTILE ADVERTISER.

Location:

Baltimore, Maryland

Headline:

John Quincy Adams

Article Type:

News/Opinion

City of Washington Gazette, page [2], vol. VII, iss. 1242

Publication Date:

December 29, 1821

Published as:

Washington Gazette

Location:

Washington (DC), District of Columbia

Headline:

From the (Ten.) Clarion. the next President

Article Type:

News/Opinion

Newspapers:

The Clarion (Tennessee)
The Enquirer (Virginia)
Baltimore Gazette (Maryland)

Photos: