John Quincy Adams

[[File:JQA.jpg|165px|thumb|right|John Quincy Adams]]
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'''John Quincy Adams''' {{lived|July 11, 1767|February 23, 1848}} was the sixth President of the United States, serving from 1825 until 1829.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Quincy-Adams John Quincy Adams]</ref> He is also one of two Presidents to be the son of another President (the other being [[George W. Bush]]),{{efn|Though Benjamin Harrison was the ''grand''son of [[William Henry Harrison]]}} with his father being [[John Adams]], the second President of the United States.<ref>[https://periodicpresidents.com/2014/06/30/which-presidents-are-related/ WHICH PRESIDENTS ARE RELATED?]</ref> When inaugurated, he swore on a law book rather than a [[Bible]], and he was also the first president to wear trousers instead of knee breaches to his inauguration.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090130032421/https://www.inaugural.senate.gov/history/chronology/jqadams1825.cfm President John Quincy Adams, 1825], ''senate.gov'' Archived 30 January 2009</ref>

Adams had quite a long career in politics before his time in the White House, although he is most known for his influence in creating the [[Monroe Doctrine]]. Originally, Monroe both wanted to release a joint statement along with the [[United Kingdom]] and have the declaration not take a stance on any European affairs.<ref name=doctrine>[https://www.britannica.com/event/Monroe-Doctrine Monroe Doctrine] Britannica</ref>

==1824 Presidential Election and the "corrupt bargain"==
[[File:1824.png|165px|thumb|right|1824 Presidential Election results ]]
Adams became President after the 1824 Presidential Election, where four major candidates were all running for the position: Adams, [[Andrew Jackson]], William H. Crawford, and [[Henry Clay]] all ran for President as members of the [[Democratic-Republican Party]].<ref name=win>[https://www.270towin.com/1824_Election/ 1824 Presidential Election]</ref>

Jackson won the popular vote (153,544 votes to Adams's 108,740) and even took more electoral votes than Adams (99 to 84); however, the Constitution requires a majority of Electoral Votes to win the Presidency, and Jackson fell short. As such, the election had to go to the House of Representatives,<ref name=win/> where each state gets one vote and the three candidates with the most Electoral Votes are allowed to qualify.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/faq#no270 Frequently Asked Questions]</ref>

This is where Henry Clay came in. Clay was Speaker of the House at the time and as such held a large amount of political influence over who they would pick to be President.<ref>[https://www.thoughtco.com/the-election-of-1824-1773860 The Election of 1824 Was Decided in the House of Representatives]</ref> Clay was also well aware this election was almost certainly going to go to the House due to the large number of candidates.<ref>[https://teachdemocracy.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-8-4-a-the-election-of-1824-25-when-the-house-chose-the-president The Election of 1824-25: When the House Chose the President]</ref> Given Clay was running for President, it was obvious what exactly he was hoping would occur: Nobody gets the majority, he gets in the top three, and he uses his power in the House to become President. However, David Stephen Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler noted in his biography on Clay:

{{quotebox|The 7 votes Clay should have received from [[New York]] with the 5 from [[Louisiana]] would have pushed Crawford to a relatively distant fourth, and Clay could have worked his magic in the House, the plan he had long envisioned as the only way to become president in the 1824 election.<ref>''Henry Clay: The Essential American'' by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler</ref>{{rp|176}}}}

Clay lobbied the House to vote for Adams, although exactly why is up for debate. Jackson claimed that Clay offered to lobby for him on the condition he was made Secretary of State, as Adams later did. Clay denied these charges, and instead said that he merely did not feel Jackson was qualified enough for the position of President, albeit primarily because Adams more closely aligned with his ideology as opposed to anything objective. Jackson and his supporters, who felt that Clay had overturned the will of the electorate and instead handed the White House to one of his political buddies, began to call this deal the "corrupt bargain" and campaigned heavily on it in 1828.<ref>[https://millercenter.org/contested-presidential-elections/corrupt-bargain ‘CORRUPT BARGAIN’]</ref>

==An Abomination==
Hands down, the most nonsense thing Adams did while in office was sign a piece of legislation called the Tariff of 1828, known as the Tariff of Abominations by its critics primarily due to its high rates.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tariff-of-1828 Tariff of 1828] Britannica</ref> To call the legislation controversial would be an understatement: [[John C. Calhoun]], then the Vice President, wrote a document called ''South Carolina Exposition'' where he argued the legislation was unconstitutional and, because of that, South Carolina had the right to nullify it if it so choose.<ref>[https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/rough-draft-of-what-is-called-the-south-carolina-exposition/ Rough Draft of What is Called the South Carolina Exposition] Teaching American History</ref>

This, along with the federal government barely reforming the tariff in 1832, led directly to the Nullification Crisis of 1832 and 1833, where South Carolina attempted to nullify the tariff using the aforementioned arguments about constitutionality. [[Andrew Jackson]] ultimately had to step in and declare states had no right to nullify the laws of the federal government.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nullification-Crisis Nullification Crisis] Britannica</ref> 

Either way, given how this one piece of legislation marked "the first time that friction between state and federal authority began to create enough tension that it almost led to a civil war,"<ref>[https://thehermitage.com/andrew-jackson-the-nullification-crisis Andrew Jackson & the Nullification Crisis] Andrew Jackson's Hermitage</ref> signing it could easily be seen as at least a reckless move on the part of the President.

==Post-presidency==
Like his father, Adams failed to win reelection, with bad feelings over the previous election and the unpopularity of the Tariff of 1828 being major factors that led to him being obliterated by Andrew Jackson in the {{wpl|1828 United States presidential election||.}} He would join the {{wpl|Anti-Masonic Party||,}} a [[conspiracy theory|conspiracist]] party which alleged that [[Freemason]]s were secretly controlling everything in the U.S. and would unite mainly as a political vehicle to attack Jackson, who was a Freemason.<ref>[https://www.northstarmonthly.com/features/a-time-of-political-chaos-and-conspiracy-theories/article_d3126f18-8218-11ec-85ad-b78ee125adf2.html A time of political chaos and conspiracy theories], Sylvia C. Dodge, ''North Star Monthly'' 30 January 2022</ref> After a failed run for governor of [[Massachusetts]], Adams would become the first and so far only former president to be elected to the House of Representatives.<ref>[https://capitolhistory.org/explore/historical-articles/john-quincy-adams-congressional-career/ John Quincy Adams’ Congressional Career], Casey Olson, ''United States Capitol Historical Society''</ref> Having been only the second president after his father to not own any slaves (though, as with any figure from the time, there were still times when he could be said to have benefited from slave labor),<ref>[https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-enslaved-household-of-john-quincy-adams The Enslaved Household of President John Quincy Adams], Lindsay M. Chervinsky and Callie Hopkins, ''The White House Historical Association''</ref> he became known for being an opponent of slavery, opposing the infamous "gag rule" that prevented any antislavery petitions from being heard by Congress.<ref>[https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/treasures_of_congress/text/page10_text.html Struggles over Slavery: The “Gag” rule] ''National Archives''</ref> Adams argued in the defense for {{wpl|Mende people|Mende}} captives who revolted and took control of the [[Spain|Spanish]] ship {{wpl|La Amistad}} in order to avoid being sold into slavery. The [[SCOTUS|Supreme Court]] decision, ''{{wpl|United States v. The Amistad||'',}} ruled that the captives were free and to be returned to their home in [[Africa]], and it's considered a landmark case in both international law and [[civil rights]] law.<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/articles/amistad-legal-battle.htm Amistad: Legal Battle], ''National Park Service''</ref>

==Notes==
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==References==
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Categories: Defeated incumbent Presidents of the United States, Former U.S. Cabinet Members, Former United States Representatives, Former United States Senators, Founding Fathers, Lawyers, Presidents of the United States, United States politicians