MR. ADAMS' RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES--ELECTED TO THE MASSACHUSETTS
SENATE--APPOINTED U. S. SENATOR--SUPPORTS MR. JEFFERSON--PROFESSOR OF
RHETORIC AND BELLES LETTRES--APPOINTED MINISTER TO RUSSIA.
John Quincy Adams returned to the United States from his first foreign
embassy, in 1801. During the stormy period of his father's administration,
and the ensuing presidential canvass, he was fortunately absent from the
country. Had he been at home, his situation would have been one of great
delicacy. It can hardly be supposed he would have opposed his father's
measures, or his reelection. Yet to have thrown his influence in their
behalf, would have subjected him to the imputation of being moved by
filial attachment rather than the convictions of duty. From this painful
dilemma, he was saved by his foreign residence. He came home uncommitted
to party measures, untrammelled by party tactics or predilections; and
thus stood before the people, as he could wish to stand, perfectly
unshackled, and ready to act as duty and conscience should direct.
Arriving in the United States with distinguished honors gained by
successful foreign diplomacy, Mr. Adams was not allowed to remain long in
inactivity. In 1802 be was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts, from
the Boston district. During his services in that body, he gave an
indication of that independence, as a politician, which characterized him
through life, by his opposition to a powerful combination of banking
interests, which was effected among his immediate constituents. Although
his opposition was unavailing, yet it clearly showed that the integrity of
the man was superior to the policy of the mere politician. But higher
honors awaited him.
In 1803, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, by the
Legislature of Massachusetts. Thus at the early age of thirty-six years,
he had attained to the highest legislative body of the Union. Young in
years, but mature in talent and experience, he took his seat amid the
conscript fathers of the country, to act a part which soon drew upon him
the eyes of the nation, both in admiration and in censure.
The period of Mr. Adams' service in the United States Senate, was one in
which the position and the interests of the country were surrounded by
embarrassments and perils of the most threatening character. The party
which had supported his father had become divided and defeated. Mr.
Jefferson, elevated to the Presidency after a heated and angry contest,
was an object of the dislike and suspicion of the Federalists, The
conflicts of the belligerent nations in Europe, and the measures of
foreign policy they severally adopted, not only affected the interests of
the United States, but were added elements to inflame the party contests
at home.
In 1804, Bonaparte stepped from the Consul chamber to the throne of the
French Empire. All Europe was bending to his giant rule. Great Britain
alone, with characteristic and inherent stubbornness, had set itself as a
rock against his ambitious aspirations, and prosecuted with unabated vigor
its determined hostility to all his measures of trade and of conquest. In
November, 1807, the British Government issued the celebrated "Orders in
Council," forbidding all trade with France and her allies. This measure
was met by Napoleon, in December, with his "Milan Decree," prohibiting
every description of commerce with England or her colonies. Between these
checks and counterchecks of European nations, the commerce of the United
States was in peril of being swept entirely from the ocean.
During most of this perplexed and trying period, Mr. J. Q. Adams retained
his seat in the United States Senate. Although sent there by the suffrages
of the Federal party, in the Massachusetts Legislature, yet he did not,
and would not, act simply as a partisan. This in fact was a prominent
characteristic in Mr. Adams throughout his entire life, and is the key
which explains many of his acts otherwise inexplicable. His noble and
patriotic spirit arose above the shackles of party. He loved the interests
of his country, the happiness of Man, more than the success of a mere
party. So far as the party with which he acted advocated measures which he
conceived to be wise and healthful, he yielded his hearty and vigorous
co-operation. But whenever it swerved from this line of integrity, his
influence was thrown into the opposite scale. This was the rule of his
long career. No persuasions or emoluments, no threats, no intimidations,
could turn him from it, to the breadth of a hair. It was in consequence of
this characteristic, that it has so frequently been said of Mr. Adams,
that he was not a reliable party man. This was to a degree true. He was
not reliable for any policy adopted simply to promote party interests, and
secure party ends. But in regard to all measures which in his judgment
would advance the welfare of the people, secure the rights of man, and
elevate the race, no politician, no statesman the world has produced,
could be more perfectly relied upon.
This disposition to act right, whether with or against his party, was
developed by the first vote he ever gave in a legislative body. While in
the Massachusetts Senate, the Federalists were the dominant party. It was
the custom in that State, to choose the whole of the Governor's Council
from the party which had the majority in the Legislature. In May, 1802,
Mr. Adams was desirous that a rule should be adopted more regardful of the
rights of the minority. He accordingly proposed that several
anti-Federalists should have seats in the Council of Gov. Strong, and gave
his first vote to that measure.
On a certain occasion, Mr. Adams was asked, "What are the recognized
principles of politics?" He replied, that there were no principles in
politics--there were recognized precepts, but they were bad ones. But,
continued the inquirer, is not this a good one--"To seek the greatest
good of the greatest number?" No, said he, that is the worst of all, for
it looks specious, while it is ruinous. What shall become of the minority,
in that case? This is the only principle to seek--"the greatest good of
all." [Footnote: Massachusetts Quarterly, June, 1849.]
A few months after Mr. Adams' entrance into the Senate of the United
States, a law was passed by Congress, at the suggestion of Mr. Jefferson,
authorizing the purchase of Louisiana. Mr. Adams deemed this measure an
encroachment on the Constitution of the United States, and opposed it on
the ground of its unconstitutionality. He was one of six senators who
voted against it. Yet when the measure had been legally consummated, he
yielded it his support. In passing laws for the government of the
territory thus obtained, the right of trial by jury was granted only in
capital cases. Mr. Adams labored to have it extended to all criminal
offences. Before the territory had a representative in Congress, the
government proposed to levy a tax on the people for purposes of revenue.
This attempt met the decided opposition of Mr. Adams. He insisted it would
be an exercise of government, without the consent of the governed, which,
to all intents, is a despotism.
In 1805, he labored to have Congress pass a law levying a duty on the
importation of slaves. This was the first public indication of his views
on the subject of slavery. It was a premonition of the bold, unflinching,
noble warfare against that institution, and of the advocacy of human
freedom and human rights in the widest sense, which characterized the
closing scenes of his remarkable career, and which will perpetuate his
fame, when other acts of his life shall have passed from the remembrance
of men. Although at that early day but little was said in regard to
slavery, yet the young senator saw it was fraught with danger to the
Union--conferring political power and influence on slaveholders, on
principles false and pernicious, and calculated ultimately to distract the
harmony of the country, and endanger the permanency of our free
institutions. He labored, therefore, to check the increase of slave power,
by the only means which, probably, appeared feasible at that time.
But a crisis in his senatorial career at length arrived. The commerce of
the United States had suffered greatly by "Orders in Council," and "Milan
Decrees." Our ships were seized, conducted into foreign ports and
confiscated, with their cargoes. American seamen were impressed by British
cruisers, and compelled to serve in a foreign navy. The American frigate
Philadelphia, while near the coast of the United States, on refusing to
give up four men claimed to be British subjects, was fired into by the
English man-of-war Leopard, and several of her crew killed and wounded.
These events caused the greatest excitement in the United States.
Petitions, memorials, remonstrances, were poured in upon Congress from
every part of the Union. Mr. Jefferson endeavored by embassies,
negotiations, and the exertion of every influence in his power, to arrest
these destructive proceedings, and obtain a redress of grievances. But all
was in vain. At length he determined on an embargo, as the only means of
securing our commerce from the grasp of the unscrupulous mistress of the
seas. An act to that effect was passed in Dec., 1807. This effectually
prostrated what little foreign commerce had been left to the United
States.
In these proceedings Mr. Jefferson was stoutly opposed by the Federal
party. Massachusetts, then the chief commercial State in the Union,
resisted with its utmost influence the Embargo Act, as pre-eminently
destructive to its welfare, and looked to its Senators and Representatives
in Congress to urge an opposition to the extreme. What course should Mr.
Adams adopt? On the one hand, personal friendship, the party which elected
him to the Senate, the immediate interests of his constituents, called
upon him to oppose the measures of the administration. On the other hand,
more enlarged considerations presented themselves. The interest, the
honor, the ultimate prosperity of the whole country--its reputation and
influence in the eyes of the world--demanded that the Government should be
supported in its efforts to check the aggressions of foreign nations, and
establish the rights of American citizens. In such an alternative John
Quincy Adams could not hesitate. Turning from all other considerations but
a desire to promote the dignity and welfare of the Union, he threw
himself, without reserve, into the ranks of the administration party, and
labored zealously to second the measures of Mr. Jefferson.
This act subjected Mr. Adams to the severest censure. He was charged with
basely forsaking his party--with the most corrupt venality--with the low
motive of seeking to promote ambitious longings and selfish ends. But
those who made these charges in sincerity labored under an entire
misapprehension of his character and principles of action. At this day,
aided by the instructive history of his life, and by a perfect knowledge
of his patriotism and devotion to truth and principle, as developed in his
long and spotless career, it is clearly seen that in the event under
consideration he but acted up to the high rule he had adopted, of making
party and sectional considerations secondary to the honor and interest of
the nation--an example which no pure and high-minded statesman can
hesitate to follow.
The Legislature of Massachusetts disapproved the course of Mr. Adams. By a
small majority of Federal votes, it elected another person to take his
place in the Senate at the expiration of his term, and passed resolutions
instructing its Senators in Congress to oppose the measures of Mr.
Jefferson. Mr. Adams could not, consistently with his views of duty, obey
these instructions; and having no disposition to represent a body whose
confidence he did not retain, he resigned his seat in the Senate, in
March, 1808.
Although Mr. Adams gave most of his days to the service of his country,
yet he was fond of literary pursuits, and acquired, during his hours of
relaxation from sterner duties, a vast fund of classic lore and useful
learning. At an early day, he had become distinguished as a ripe scholar,
and an impressive, dignified, and eloquent public speaker. His reputation
for literary and scholastic attainments quite equalled his fame as a
politician and statesman.
In 1804, on the death of President Willard, Mr. Adams was urged by several
influential individuals, to be a candidate for the presidency of Cambridge
University. He declined the proffered honor. During the following year,
however, he was appointed Professor of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, in
that institution. He accepted the office, on condition that he should be
allowed to discharge its duties at such times as his services in Congress
would permit. His inaugural address, on entering the professorship, was
delivered on the 12th of June, 1806. His lectures on rhetoric and oratory
were very popular. They were attended by large crowds from Boston and the
surrounding towns, in addition to the collegiate classes--a compliment
which few of the professors since his day have received.
Mr. Adams continued his connection with the University, delivering
lectures and conducting exercises in declamation, until July, 1809. "It
was at this time, and as a member of one of the younger classes at
college, that I first saw Mr. Adams, and listened to his well-remembered
voice from the chair of instruction; little anticipating, that after the
lapse of forty years, my own humble voice would be heard, in the
performance of this mournful office. Some who now hear me will recollect
the deep interest with which these lectures were listened to, not merely
by the youthful audience for which they were prepared, but by numerous
voluntary hearers from the neighborhood. They formed an era in the
University; and were, I believe, the first successful attempt, in this
country, at this form of instruction in any department of literature. They
were collected and published in two volumes, completing the theoretical
part of the subject. I think it may be fairly said, that they will bear a
favorable comparison with any treatise on the subject, at that time extant
in our language. The standard of excellence, in every branch of critical
learning, has greatly advanced in the last forty years, but these lectures
may still be read with pleasure and instruction. Considered as a
systematic and academical treatise upon a subject which constituted the
chief part of the intellectual education of the Greeks and Romans, these
lectures, rapidly composed as they were delivered, and not revised by the
author before publication, are not to be regarded in the light of a
standard performance. But let any statesman or jurist, even of the present
day, in America or Europe--whose life, like Mr. Adams's, has been actively
passed in professional and political engagements, at home and
abroad--attempt, in the leisure of two or three summers--his mind filled
with all the great political topics of the day--to prepare a full course
of lectures on any branch of literature, to be delivered to a difficult
and scrutinizing, though in part a youthful audience, and then trust them
to the ordeal of the press, and he will be prepared to estimate the task
which was performed by Mr. Adams." [Footnote: Edward Everett's Eulogy on
the Life and Character of John Quincy Adams.]
Mr. Adams's devotion to literary pursuits was destined to an early
termination. On the 4th of March, 1809, Mr. Madison was inducted into the
office of President of the United Slates. It was at that time far from
being an enviable position. At home the country was rent into contending
factions. Our foreign affairs were in a condition of the utmost
perplexity, and evidently approaching a dangerous crisis. The murky clouds
of war, which had for years overshadowed Europe, seemed rolling
hitherward, filling the most sanguine and hopeful minds with deep
apprehension. Russia, under its youthful Emperor Alexander, was rising to
a prominent and influential position among the nations of Europe. Mr.
Madison deemed it of great importance that the United States should be
represented at that court by some individual eminent alike for talents,
experience, and influence. John Quincy Adams was selected for the mission.
In March, 1809, he was appointed Minister to Russia, and the summer
following, sailed for St. Petersburgh.
In the meantime, our relations with Great Britain became every day more
dubious. While striving, in every honorable manner, to come to terms of
reconciliation, President Madison was making rapid preparations for war.
The people of the United States, deprived by the non-intercourse act of
the cheap productions of England, began to turn their attention and
capital to domestic manufactures. At length the American Government
demanded peremptorily, that the restrictions of Great Britain and France
on our commerce should be abrogated; war being the alternative of a
refusal. The French emperor gave satisfactory assurances that the Berlin
decree should be withdrawn. The English government hesitated, equivocated,
and showed evident disinclination to take any decided step.
"In this doubtful state of connexion between America and England, an
accidental collision took place between vessels of the respective
countries, tending much to inflame and widen the existing differences. An
English sloop-of-war, the Little Belt, commanded by Capt. Bingham,
descried a ship off the American coast, and made sail to come up with it;
but finding it a frigate, and dubious of its nation, he retired. The
other, which proved to be American, the President, under Capt. Rogers,
pursued in turn. Both captains hailed nearly together; and both, instead
of replying, hailed again; and from words, as it were, came to blows,
without explanation. Capt. Bingham lost upwards of thirty men, and his
ship suffered severely. A Court of Inquiry was ordered on the conduct of
Capt. Rogers, which decided that it had been satisfactorily proved to the
court, that Capt. Rogers hailed the Little Belt first, that his hail was
not satisfactorily answered, that the Little Belt fired the first gun, and
that it was without previous provocation or justifiable cause." [Footnote:
Lives of the Presidents.]
Several attempts were made after this, to preserve the peace of the two
countries, but in vain. England, it is true, withdrew her obnoxious Orders
in Council. It was, however, too late. Before intelligence of this repeal
reached the shores of the United States, war was declared by Congress, on
the 18th of June, 1812.
It was a popular war. Although strenuously opposed by portions of the
Eastern States, as destructive to their commerce, yet with the mass of the
people throughout the Union, it was deemed justifiable and indispensible.
A long series of insults and injuries on the part of Great Britain--the
seizure and confiscation of our ships and cargoes; the impressing of our
seamen, under circumstances of the most irritating description; and the
adoption of numerous measures to the injury of our interests--had fully
prepared the public mind in the United States, with the exception of a
small minority, to enter upon this war with zeal and enthusiasm.
With occasional reverses, general success attended our arms in every
direction. On land and on sea, the American eagle led to victory. The
combatants were worthy of each other. Of the same original stock--of the
same stern, unyielding material--their contests were bloody and
destructive in the extreme. But the younger nation, inspirited by a sense
of wrongs endured, and of the justness of its cause, bore away the palm,
and plucked from the brow of its more aged competitor many a laurel yet
green from the ensanguined fields of Europe. In scores of hotly-contested
battles, the British lion, unused as it was to cower before a foe, was
compelled to "lick the dust" in defeat. At York, at Chippewa, at Fort
Erie, at Lundy's Lane, at New Orleans, on Lake Champlain, on Lake Erie,
on the broad ocean, Great Britain and the world were taught lessons of
American valor, skill, and energy, which ages will not obliterate.
This war, though prosecuted at the expense of many valuable lives, and of
a vast public debt, was, unquestionably, highly beneficial to the United
States. It convinced all doubters that our government was abundantly able
to resent aggressions, and to maintain its rights against the assaults of
any nation on earth. This reputation has been of great service in
protecting our commerce, and commanding respect for our flag, throughout
the world. But the chief benefit of the war was the development of our
internal resources, which, after all, form the great fountain of the
wealth, strength, and permanence of a nation. Deprived by the embargo, the
non-intercourse act, and the ensuing hostilities, of all foreign
importation of goods, the American people were compelled to supply
themselves by their own industry and ingenuity, with those articles for
which they had always before been dependent on their transatlantic
neighbors. Thus was laid the foundation of that system of domestic
manufactures which is destined to make the United States the greatest
productive mart among men, and to bring into its lap the wealth of the
world.