John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life by Paul C. Nagel

John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life
Paul C. Nagel
Copyright 1996
Harvard University Press
430 pages

Nagel's history of this historically controversial president is the most contemporary and best written biography of John Quincy Adams.

The Adams family has to be one of the easiest subjects about which to write a biography. They saved all of their correspondence and it provides a rich, detailed history of the family. All (including the women) were gifted writers and both the legendary Abigail and her daughter-in-law, Louisa, were also gifted with political and social insight.

JQA's childhood is well documented by his father's correspondence as well as his own early diaries. He craved knowledge from an early age and studied in some of the finest schools in Europe while his father served in various diplomatic posts in the early days of the Republic. He enrolled in Harvard and, shortly after graduation, emerged as one of its most distinguished and prolific alumni.

JQA kept a journal throughout his life and it reveals a young man tortured by two obvious personality problems. He was frightened and disdainful of women, and he was full of self-doubt and expressed a great deal of self-ridicule. He set impossibly high standards for himself.

Finding law tedious and time consuming, he entered government service near the top as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. He was a part of the tattered remnants of the Federalist party, but often broke with them on matters of conscience. This earned him many enemies in Boston where old guard Federalists still held sway. By alienating the old guard, Adams ended his senate career after just one term when he was defeated for re-election.

He would then embark on a diplomatic career that would send him to all corners of Europe, including France, England, Germany, and Russia. He was better received than most previous American diplomats, including Timothy Pickering who was a cantankerous, yet highly effective diplomat.

It's in his stint as Secretary of State that we really see JQA's strengths and glaring weaknesses emerge. He was the brains and the architect of the Monroe Doctrine which not only declared an end in European meddling in the Western Hemisphere, but retired the decades battle between the Federalist "Anglophiles" and Democratic "Francophiles".

But his emotional difficulties that would bedevil him for the rest of his life would also emerge during this time. He was not adept at playing political games in the cabinet. Eyeing the presidency, he knew he'd be in a pitched battle with Treasury Secretary William Crawford, who was much more adept at political infighting, and Henry Clay, who wielded great power as Speaker of the House. Adams had already alienated Clay by being named Secretary of State -- a position that Clay coveted to position himself for a presidential run.

His 1824 election to the presidency over Henry Clay was a matter of some controversy since, because of the divided nature of the Electoral college, the election was thrown to the House of Representatives. Political maneuvering by Adams' allies in New York carried the day for him.

Nagel only devotes one chapter to the Adams' presidency. He says this is because they were the most miserable years in the Adams' family life. JQA was mentally and emotionally ill-equipped to serve as chief executive. He was dogmatic, cantankerous, and politically unskilled. He faced a hostile Congress that thwarted every initiative he put forward.

Adams sought major federally-funded interior improvements == including roads and canals. Congress wasn't biting. He had a grander vision of scientific research and higher education being funded by the federal government. His ideas were scoffed at as "visionary" and ridiculous.

Adams suffered through horrible bouts of depression in his White House years. His two oldest sons were major disappointments, having fallen prey to the Adams' family's greatest adversary for generations -- alcohol. They caused him and Louisa great worry for years before they both met young deaths.

Adams was crushed by the Democratic wave of 1828, and was relieved to be released from his duties. His years off were full of grief as he lost his two sons, found himself near bankruptcy, and unable to focus in his idle time. He decided a re-entry into politics was just the solution for what ailed him and he ran and won an election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

While he served in the House, he enjoyed being a pain in the ass to his colleagues. He took up unpopular causes, made strident speeches, and made motions that irritated even his fellow Whigs. While not a particularly effective legislator, he was a gifted orator and a courageous (if not always correct) iconoclast.

Reading David McCullough's treatment of Adams followed by Nagel’s biography of his most famous son is reading the history of a political dynasty every bit as powerful and commanding in the 19th century as the Kennedys were of the 20th. Perhaps a better comparison is to the Bush family which dominated the last twenty years. JQA’s children would go on to hold important positions in government, but never rise to nearly the stature of their father or grandfather. Prescott Bush was a U.S. senator, father of a president, and grandfather of a president and the governor of a major state. While I seldom will write off an entire family’s future in politics, it would be a safe bet that the last Bush administration has damaged the Bush brand beyond repair much as the tribulations of Teddy Kennedy sullied that family and as much as the presidency of JQA ended his family’s dominance of the political landscape of America.

If you tour the U.S. Capitol today, the tour guide will take you to the old House chamber. On the floor is a mark where Adams' desk was placed. Approximately 40 feet away, is another mark on the floor where members of the Democrats would frequently gather to discuss legislative strategy during House sessions. If you stand at Adams desk, you can hear clearly the conversation going on some 40 feet away from you due to the strange acoustics of the chamber. Adams often feigned sleep at his desk whilst listening to his enemies plot against him. It was at that desk that Adams would be stricken by a stroke and die shortly thereafter.

Nagel's book is awfully thin on policy and politics. He is nearly as masterful as David McCullough in bringing to life this member of America's first political dynasty. Nagel draws heavily from JQA's journal to paint a portrait of this sensitive and temperamental statesman.

Also examined and intriguing is the relationship between JQA and his mother. Abigail was terribly domineering and JQA often avoided corresponding with her for fear of some sort of reprimand. The matronly Abigail did not care for Louisa when he brought his young bride back from Europe. However, time wore the edges off of the relationship and Abigail and Louisa eventually became close.

This is an entertaining and engaging book. However, I would recommend it with a companion book. John Quincy Adams by Robert V.Remini is dedicated almost exclusively to the JQA presidency. Nagel's examination of JQA's tenure in office is entirely lacking. Only with Remini as a companion does Nagel's book give you the complete picture of John Quincy Adams.

The Life of Andrew Jackson by Marquis James

The Life of Andrew Jackson
By Marquis James
copyright 1938
Pulitzer Prize Winner, 1938

I acquired a copy of this book on ebay for just $6.00 and despite the fact that it is a first edition that is 70 years old, the dust jacket is still intact!

Despite the fact that it is dated, it still remains one of the most (if not the most) scholarly examination of the life of the man who invented "retail politics" and the modern presidential campaign.

The book is an amalgamation of two volumes -- Andrew Jackson: Border Captain and Andrew Jackson: Portrait of a President. They won the Pulitzer when they were published as one volume in 1938.

The first volume details Jackson's childhood and early career as a lawyer. Like most politicians, Jackson's law practice suffered because of his obsession of politics. He was firm but fair and not averse to a fist fight after the case was resolved.

As a soldier, his career was spectacular. His victory at New Orleans, which was actually fought after the Treaty of Ghent was signed, was a classic example of soldiers, inspired by their leader, to rise up against adverse conditions to achieve a mission. Jackson and his troops spent their time in New Orleans in swamps and marshes, attacked by the British and their allies, the mosquitoes. It was at New Orleans that Jackson achieved his fame.

He started his military career at just 13 as a courier during the American Revolution. He was captured and held as a prisoner of war where a British officer slashed him with a sword, giving him an ugly scar along the right side of his face. That, and the privations of war visited upon his family during the war led him to a lifetime of hatred of the British.

He would earn some short term anger from the Washington political establishment by seizing Florida during the Seminole War. His charge from President James Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams was to prevent the escape of runaway slaves to Spanish Florida. Jackson's solution was to seize the entire territory by taking its capital, Pensacola. He executed to British subjects for spying and destroyed many Seminole villages. He justified his actions by producing evidence that the British were using Florida to encourage Seminole attacks on the United States. Adams used the victory to acquire Florida and achieve a major diplomatic victory.

A native of North Carolina, Jackson moved west as a young man and settled in Sumner County Tennessee where he had a great deal of success in planting. He was a slave owner. But, despite his support of the South's "Peculiar Institution", he was well loved by his slaves. We was also an avid horse breeder and racer. He would later fight a duel (one of several he would fight) over a debt owed on a race, although the honor of his wife was also at stake.

James chronicles in great detail, the relationship and controversial marriage to Rachel Donnelson Robards Jackson. Rachel had married her first husband when she was just 17. He was an insanely jealous man. Whilst she was separated, but not yet divorced from Captain Robards, she met Andrew Jackson. Having been informed that her husband had obtained the divorce, she married Jackson. It was later determined that the divorce had not yet been finalized. The controversy would haunt Jackson long after Rachel's death.

James provides a rich narrative of the early life of this influential statesman in his first volume. James belies the commonly held belief that Jackson was a hot head giving to shooting first and asking questions later. In fact, he was a calm, rational man who only drew sword or gun when his wife's honor was at stake. He encouraged subordinates to provide advice, brooked dissention and was willing to admit when he made mistakes. These personality traits explain his rise and success in national politics.

We also learn that Old Hickory was prone to respiratory infections his entire life. These infections (probably bronchitis) troubled him horribly during his presidency.

He served as solicitor general for the Tennessee territory and was elected the first U.S. Rep for the State of Tennessee. He served just one term. He also served a partial term in the U.S. Senate. It was his military prowess and the desire of the emerging Democratic Party to seize power from the Federalists as the "Era of Good Feelings" was coming to an end.

Jackson's nomination as the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1824 was hard fought. The Tennessee delegation nominated him. However, Secretary of the Treasury, William Crawford, who was an exceptionally popular national figure, but had been debilitated by a stroke. However, Jackson would prevail in the vote and was joined on the ticket by Pennsylvania senator, Albert Gallatin.

Tradition in the 18th and early 19th century was an automatic procession of the Secretary of State to the presidency and James Monroe was determined to see Adams -- the architect of the Monroe Doctrine -- ascend to the presidency. House Speaker, Henry Clay, also threw his hat into the ring. The result was a three way split of the vote. Clay and Jackson split the southern and western vote and John Quincy Adams secured the New England vote. Although Jackson had received a plurality of the vote, no one received the necessary Electoral College votes. With the election sent to the House, Adams prevailed.

The John Quincy Adams presidency was an unmitigated disaster and the Democrats were eager to seize upon his failures to take the presidency in 1828. Jackson easily won the Democratic nomination and selected John C. Calhoun as his running mate. The campaign between Jackson and Adams was brutal by even modern standards. Jackson's campaign attacked Adams as a dreamy visionary for his "Lighthouses of the Sky" proposal to construct observatories and make other federal investments in the intellectual infrastructure of the United States. The Adams camp called Jackson a "warmonger" and carried out vicious attacks on Jackson's marriage. Jackson and the Democrats ultimately prevailed and a whole new era of American politics was ushered in.

Just a month after the election, Rachel Jackson died. Jackson attributed her death to the stress of the campaign and the withering attacks of the Adams campaign. He never forgave Adams or his subordinates. She was buried on Christmas Eve in the inaugural gown she never got to wear.

Jackson's presidency is formative for a number of reasons. First, he exerted executive leadership like no president before him. While other presidents had moments of strong leadership, Jackson entered the office determined to lead the country with his principles. His first battle was over the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States.

His adversary in this battle was Nicholas Biddle, the Chairman of the Bank. In Biddle, Jackson had an adversary who was coarse, nasty, and politically inept. However, the stakes were high and Biddle's allies many. Jackson portrayed the bank as a tool of the wealthy who restricted economic growth by control of the money supply it lent to state banks. The battle went on for months and the Bank prevailed in Congress. However, Jackson's famous "pocket veto" killed the bank. Without a central banking authority, new banks sprang up overnight, land speculators in the west got rich with the flood of currency in the form of bank notes. Unfortunately, these notes were not backed by specie.

Jackson's second major battle was over the doctrine of nullification, introduced by vice president John Calhoun. Calhoun stated that, if a state did not agree with a federal law or regulation, it could nullify it by vote of the state legislature. Calhoun and other southerners were angry over new tariffs on imported goods they felt hurt southern farmers' efforts to export their wares while favoring the industrial northern states. Prior to the Civil War, this was the greatest constitutional crisis the country had ever experienced. Jackson threatened to send troops to South Carolina to enforce the tariff. With tensions running high, "The Great Compromiser" Henry Clay, was able to negotiate lower tariffs and head off the sectional crisis.

Jackson's personal life in the White House was miserable. He missed his wife terribly. Social events at the White House were often tense. This was due to the presence of Secretary of War, John Eaton and his wife, Margaret. Margaret Eaton was a DC socialite whose first husband had committed suicide. She was brash, flirtatious, and outspoken. She was shunned by other cabinet wives. The Eaton's relationship with other cabinet members actually grew into a crisis as Jackson began to interpret the cabinet's snub of the Eatons as a snub of himself. Dysfunction reigned in the Jackson cabinet through much of his presidency, primarily because of the unorthodox behavior of the wives of one of its less important members.

Jackson also suffered from debilitating illnesses while in the White House and, on occasion, appeared to be near death with various respiratory ailments. He survived two assassination attempts. While he led with great strength and character, he came to loath the presidency and longed to return to his Tennessee mansion.

Jackson was, by all measures, a successful president. James is quick to give much of the credit for Jackson's political success to Martin Van Buren. Van Buren served in the cabinet and later as vice president. "The Little Magician" was a masterful politician who had survived and won various political battles in the always tumultuous New York. Van Buren's loyalty and political acumen earned him Jackson's unwavering support for the Presidency in 1836.

Jackson was the architect of the modern Democratic Party. He was the first to appeal to the "common man" for his support. He was the first to speak directly to the electorate about issues that affected their lives. His policies were developed not with the business of America in mind, but the lives of common people. The merits of such an approach can be debated (the banking crisis of 1837 was the deepest depression this nation has ever faced, brought about by Jackson's monetary policy), but its success can not. Jackson was a successful president by any measure.

I would recommend James' book over the highly touted The Age of Jackson by the venerated presidential historian, Arthur Schlesinger. James' book is a detailed recounting of the entire life of this important American statesman.