![]() President Adams was committed to using the federal government to promote national economic development. The “American System” and the “Tariff of Abominations” His attempts to acquire Texas from Mexico through peaceful means failed, as did his efforts to persuade Britain to permit more American trade with the British West Indies. Adams’s decision to repudiate and renegotiate a fraudulent treaty that stripped the Georgia Creek Indians of their land outraged land-hungry Southerners and Westerners.Įven in the realm of foreign policy, his strong suit prior to the presidency, Adams encountered difficulties. Although he, like his predecessor Monroe, wanted to remove Native Americans in the South to an area west of the Mississippi River, he believed that the state and federal governments had a duty to abide by Indian treaties and to purchase, not merely annex, Indian lands. ![]() He justified his actions by saying that he did not want to make “government a perpetual and unremitting scramble for office.”Īdams’s Indian policies also cost him supporters. During his entire term in office he removed just 12 incumbents, and these only for gross incompetence. ![]() Adams made no effort to use his patronage powers to build support for his proposals and refused to fire federal officeholders who openly opposed his policies. Thomas Jefferson himself condemned Adams’s proposals, declaring in a stinging statement that they would undermine the states and create a national elite-“an aristocracy.riding and ruling over the plundered ploughman and beggared yeomanry.”Īdams met with further frustration because he was unwilling to adapt to the practical demands of politics. ![]() They feared that any expansion of federal authority might set a precedent for interference with slavery. Acutely aware of the fact that “two-thirds of the whole people averse” to his election as president, Adams promised in his inaugural address to make up for this with “intentions upright and pure a heart devoted to the welfare of our country.” A staunch Nationalist, Adams proposed an extraordinary program of federal support for scientific and economic development that included a national university, astronomical observatories (“lighthouses of the skies”), federal funding of roads and canals, and exploration of the country’s territory-all to be financed by a high tariff.Īdams’s advocacy of a strong federal government and a high tariff enraged defenders of slavery and states’ rights advocates who clung to traditional Jeffersonian principles of limited government and strict construction of the Constitution. Jackson and his supporters accused the new president of “corruptions and intrigues” to gain Henry Clay’s support. Adams and his supporters, known as National Republicans, favored a vigorous role for the central government in promoting national economic growth, while the Jacksonian Democrats demanded a limited government and strict adherence to laissez-faire principles.Īs the only president to lose both the popular vote and the electoral vote, Adams faced hostility from the start. The Republican Party had split into two distinct camps. His misfortune was to serve as president at a time of growing partisan divisions. His adversaries mockingly described him as a “chip off the old iceberg.”Īdams’s problems as president did not arise exclusively from his temperament. Like his father, Adams lacked personal warmth. During his remarkable career as a diplomat and secretary of state, he negotiated the treaty that ended the War of 1812, acquired Florida, and conceived the Monroe Doctrine.īut Adams lacked the political skills and personality necessary to create support for his program. He was fluent in seven foreign languages, including Greek and Latin. A deeply religious, intensely scholarly man, he read Biblical passages at least three times a day-once in English, once in German, and once in French. John Quincy Adams was one of the most brilliant and well-qualified men ever to occupy the White House. Digital History Printable Version The Presidency of John Quincy Adams
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