John Fiske

“ After an absence of eight years, John Quincy Adams was called back to his native land to serve as secretary of state under President Monroe. A new era in American politics was dawning. The war which had just been concluded has sometimes been called our second war of independence; certainly the year 1815, which saw the end of the long strife between France and England, marks an important era in American history. ”

“ He supported the policy of recognizing the independence of the revolted colonies of Spanish America, and he was the principal author of what is known as the "Monroe Doctrine," that the American continent is no longer open to colonization by European powers. His official report on weights and measures showed remarkable scientific knowledge. Toward the close of Monroe's first term came up the first great political question growing out of the purchase of Louisiana: Should Missouri be admitted to the union as a slave-state, and should slavery be allowed or prohibited in the vast territory beyond? ”

“ Questions of foreign rather than of domestic policy then furnished the burning subjects of contention in the United States. Our neutral commerce on the high seas, which had risen to very considerable proportions, was plundered in turn by England and by France, until its very existence was threatened. In May, 1806, the British government declared the northern coast of Europe, from Brest to the mouth of the Elbe, to be blockaded. By the Russian proclamation of 1780, which was then accepted by all civilized nations except Great Britain, such paper blockades were illegal ”

“ Difficult and embarrassing questions arose in connection with the capture of the confederate commissioners Mason and Slidell, the negligence of the Palmerston-Russell government in allowing the "Alabama" and other confederate cruisers to sail from British ports to prey upon American commerce, and the ever manifest desire of Napoleon III. to persuade Great Britain to join him in an acknowledgment of the independence of the confederacy. The duties of this difficult diplomatic mission were discharged by Mr. Adams with such consummate ability as to win universal admiration. ”

“ Henry Henry, author, another son of Charles Francis Adams, born in Boston, February 16, 1838. He was graduated at Harvard in 1858, and was his father's private secretary in London from 1861 to 1868. From 1870 till 1877 he was assistant professor of history in Harvard college, and was one of the ablest instructors the university has known during the present generation, possessing to an extraordinary degree the power of inciting his pupils to original work. ”

“ Mason, the Confederate commissioner, subsequently retired from the field leaving Mr. Adams complete master of it. Taken altogether his career in England from 1861 to 1868 must be cited among the foremost triumphs of American diplomacy. In 1872 it was attempted to nominate him for the presidency of the United States, as the candidate of the liberal republicans, but Horace Greeley was selected as the candidate in preference. He was elected in 1869 a member of the board of overseers of Harvard university, and was for several years president of the board. ”

“ As a parliamentary debater he has had few if any superiors; in knowledge and dexterity there was no one in the house who could be compared with him; he was always master of himself, even at the white heat of anger to which he often rose ”

“ Adams translated Wieland's "Oberon" into English. In 1798 he was commissioned to make a commercial treaty with Sweden. In 1800 he made a journey through Silesia, and wrote an account of it, which was published in London and afterward translated into German and French. When Jefferson became president, Mr. Adams's mission terminated. He resumed the practice of law in Boston, but in 1802 was elected to the Massachusetts senate, and next year was chosen to the senate of the United States instead of Timothy Pickering. ”

“ Adams was elected to Congress by the republicans of the 3d district of Massachusetts, and in 1860 he was reëlected.
In the spring of 1861 President Lincoln appointed him minister to England, a place which both his father and his grandfather had filled before him. It was an exceedingly difficult time for an American representative. There was much sympathy for the U. S. government on the part of the workmen in the manufacturing districts and of many of the liberal constituencies in Great Britain, especially in Scotland ”

“ John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, born in Braintree, Mass., July 11, 1767; died in Washington, D. C., February 23, 1848. He was named for his mother's grandfather, John Quincy. In his eleventh year he accompanied his father to France, and was sent to school near Paris, where his proficiency in the French language and other studies soon became conspicuous. In the following year he returned to America, and back again to France with his father, whom, in August, 1780, he accompanied to Holland. After a few months at school in Amsterdam, he entered the university of Leyden. ”

“ First, had congress the constitutional right to prohibit slavery in a territory? and, secondly, in prohibiting slavery "forever" in the territory north of Mason and Dixon's line, as prolonged beyond the Mississippi river, did the Missouri bill refer to this district only so long as it should remain under territorial government, or did it apply to such states as might in future be formed from it? To the first question the cabinet replied unanimously in the affirmative. To the second question Mr. Adams replied that the term "forever" really meant forever ”

“ Adams taking that firm stand in opposition to slavery which thereafter was to make him so famous.
Mr. Monroe's second term of office had scarcely begun when the question of the succession came into the foreground. The candidates were John Quincy Adams, secretary of state; William H. Crawford, secretary of the treasury; John C. Calhoun, secretary of war; and Henry Clay, speaker of the house of representatives. Shortly before the election Gen. Jackson's strength began to loom up as more formidable than the other competitors had supposed. ”