Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/48

ADAMS.ADAMS. This is the only case on record where so young a person was entrusted with so responsible a government position. Leaving St. Petersburg he made an extended tour through Norway, Sweden, northern Germany, and Holland to France, where he joined his father, who had returned to Paris after successfully accomplishing the business which had taken him to Holland. Acting as his father's secretary, he assisted in preparing the document which later "dispersed all possible doubt of the independence of his country," and he was present on the occasion of the signing of that document. During the next two years he continued to act as his father's secretary, accompanying him on his various public missions. In 1785, upon his father's acceptance of the appointment of minister to England, John Quincy returned to the United States, and after some preparatory study entered the junior class of Harvard college in March, 1786, and was graduated from that institution in 1787. Entering the office of Theophilus Parsons of Newburyport he applied himself to the study of the law, and upon admission to the bar in 1790 commenced practice in Boston. He at this time contributed articles on timely topics to the newspapers under the pen names, "Publicola," "Marcellus," and "Columbus." "Union at home and independence of all foreign combinations abroad," the two principles on which his future statesmanship was to rest, are clearly set forth in these articles, and when their authorship, — generally accredited to his father — was discovered, he was hailed as a worthy son of his illustrious sire. Washington appointed him minister to the Netherlands in 1794, and to Portugal in 1796, though his father's election to the presidency at this juncture interfered with his acceptance of the latter office. On July 26, 1797, he was married to Louisa Catherine, daughter of Joshua Johnson of Maryland, consular agent of the United States at London, and in the same year he was appointed minister to the court of Berlin. This appointment was made by his father after consultation with Washington, who strongly advised the promotion. During his residence at Berlin he succeeded in effecting a treaty of amity and commerce with the king of Sweden, and at this period he also translated into English Wieland's "Oberon," and wrote a series of entertaining letters describing a journey through Silesia, which were afterward published in Philadelphia and London, and translated into several European languages. On the termination of his father's administration he was recalled at his own request, and returned to his native land, where he resumed the practice of his profession. In 1802 he was elected to the Massachusetts senate, and later in the same year to the United States senate. He took his seat March 3, 1803, a most unpropitious moment for the son of his father, and his life as a senator was not agreeable. The party had fallen into factions during the administration of John Adams, and his political enemies, not satisfied with his downfall, now seized with avidity every opportunity of venting their malice on his son. He was subjected to insults, which he bore, for the most part with imperturable equanimity. "His very presence in Congress was ignored and his desires and acts were held in utter contempt. "He was treated with studied neglect and discourtesy. Nor was this altogether on his father's account. He, himself, was wilfully misjudged. His independent course of speech and action was misconstrued. His purpose in every act, was for the interest of the nation. As he wrote in his diary: "I feel strong temptation and have great provocation to plunge into political controversy. But I hope to preserve myself from it by the considerations which have led me to the resolution of renouncing. A politician in this country must be the man of a party. I would fain be the man of my whole country." While he favored the acquisition of Louisiana, which Mr. Jefferson desired, he denied the justice and constitutionality of the methods proposed. The resolutions he offered were rejected. In the trial of Samuel Chase of the United States supreme court, and of John Pickering, district judge of New Hampshire, he was stanchly for acquittal, and held that Mr. Jefferson's course was subversive of the honor and power of one of the three important branches of the government. In 1805 he made an effort to have a tax levied on every slave brought into the country. In 1806 he introduced a resolution condemning the British practice of searching ships, and demanded the restitution of American property seized by Great Britain. In 1808 Timothy Pickering, his associate in the senate, wrote a letter to the governor of Massachusetts, in which he vehemently opposed the embargo act and all that accompanied it. Mr. Adams replied defending President Jefferson and declaring the embargo dignified, patriotic and necessary. This letter excited great political opposition. The Federalists declared he had betrayed their cause without good reason, and to mark their reprobation they caused an election to be held, although Mr.