Research Paper on John Quincy Adams As President

Introduction

John Quincy Adams was the son of the second United States president, John Adams and his wife, Abigail. He was born in Massachusetts 11th July 11, 1767. During childhood years Quincy Adams received his education mostly by the instruction from his mother and father. At the age of ten, he attended several diplomatic missions in Europe in the company of his father. He learned how to speak fluent French in Paris where he attended a private school and later went on to further his studies at the University of Leiden. George Washington appointed John Adams as Netherlands Minister and later promoted to the Berlin Legation. In 1802, Following his success, he was elected to the United States Senate. Quincy Adams became the sixth president of United States after defeating his three opponents who were Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and Crawford. The election was very close because Andrew Jackson won the popular votes but did not get the majority votes. The election was finally decided by the House of Representatives, following the 12th Amendment of the United States which gives it the power to decide the outcome of a presidential race in which no candidate received a majority of electoral votes (Belohlavek, 491). John Quincy Adams' presidency was associated with several failures and success. He was able to accomplish what is now called the modern systems. However, many feel that John Quincy Adams presidency was a disappointment and judged a failure because of the dishonor, connected to his election, the triviality of his political rivals, and his strong character. The major failure of Adam's presidency was his incapability to work with Congress and enthrall the public. The purpose of this paper is to describe John Quincy Adam's as President.

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During presidency, Adams launched several programs that were aimed to improve social lives and modernize the economy United States. One of these programs is the American System which included trade promotion, domestic products promotion and the overall reduction of the national debt. Adams concentrated on funding for infrastructure development and managed to construct roads to transport products for sale. This was a way of promoting trade since manufacturers would easily take their products to the market. To reduce importation, Adams imposed a tariff on all imports so as to protect the domestic market. This was the time when industrial revolution had gained momentum and Adam wanted to support domestic industry to grow. He imposed a tariff to protect the domestic manufacturing industry, support for a national bank and currency, and a sharp reduction in the national debt, from $16 to $5 million (Mcginnis, 5).

Quincy Adams presidency is not considered to be successful. This is because most of his projects were rejected by the Congress. The opposition was very tough because they felt that Quincy Adam did not win the election and therefore he was not supposed to be clear the winner. Most members of the Congress supported Andrew Jackson and Adam initiatives were rejected. Adams had many projects for modernizing the U.S. through educational and infrastructural improvements. Although the Congress rejected most of these projects, he managed to complete several canals and roads projects. Major foreign policy accomplishment during his presidency were agreements of mutuality with a number of countries, including Prussia, Denmark, the Hanseatic League, Austria, Mexico, and the Scandinavian countries (Belohlavek, 493).

John Quincy Adams got into the tenure with several incapacitating political liabilities, including himself. He possessed his father's temperament. He was ferocious, stubborn aloof and independent in his opinions. As president, one of the biggest failures of John Quincy is the inability to develop the political relationships between him and the Congress. He could not even relate well to members of his own party. This made his tenure very difficult because he lacked the supported needed to implement his visions and programs. His political opponents made sure to reject every development initiatives he proposed.

Adams proposed numerous far-sighted projects during his first year in office which he thought would improve trade and science. Adams proposed several far-sighted programs that he felt would promote science. He was also trying to encourage a spirit of invention and enterprise in America. These programs included the construction of a network of canals and highways to connect the various sections of the country. He proposed that the federal government would set aside public lands for conservation, surveying the whole United States coast and construction of astronomical observatories. According to Adams, there was an urgent need for practical solutions to worldwide problems, he, therefore, called for the development of uniform systems of measures and weight and improvement of the patent system (Mcginnis, 3).

Adams made few accomplishments while in the White House perhaps due to the steadfast hostility he faced from the Jacksonians in Congress. He proposed for a construction of university because he valued education. The construction of the Smithsonian Institution is another accomplishment he achieved as a president. He was the primary supporter and made a spectacular contribution to promoting science and the diffusion of knowledge. The institution was established in to carry out research and also act as a museum. He created a foundation called the United States Naval Observatory (USNO) in 1825 (Kaplan, 67). This is one of the oldest research and scientific agency in United State. His programs received critics, mainly Jackson's supporters who argued that such Adam's projects violated the constitution as they exceeded federal authority. However while in office, completed the construction of the Erie and achieved his goal of connecting the Great Lakes to East Coast. This promoted trade because it enabled the flow of products such as whiskey, farm produce, and grains to Eastern markets. Adams also wanted to provide Native Americans with land in the West but failed due to lack of Congress support.

It is said that the presidency of Quincy Adams was a disappointment and perhaps because he had many failures. First, he was unable to seek support from the Congress which made him fail as a president. Although he had great visions on how to improve the economy by promoting trade most of his initiatives did not o through due to lack of Congress support. He was not elected by the majority and his main opponent, Andrew Jackson had won the majority of votes and therefore he could not do anything to expand his coalition. Quincy' personality was another problem that hindered him from adapting to the new with conditions of factional politics. A good example is how he dealt with foreign nations since he never misunderstood that he was in the realm of rationality rather than pure principle. He was experienced since all his life he served as a diplomat for almost his entire life for example at the age of 14 he was a beginning as secretary to the Russia delegation (Mcginnis, 2). He was therefore experienced in trade agreements and understood the give-and-take bargaining.

Adams passed a bill on protective tariffs to protect domestic industries but this brought division in his administration. Although this was supported by Henry Clay, it received opposition from prominent people such as the Vice president who felt that he was denying them a chance to trade with other nations. The tariff was passed by the Congress in 1828 when Adam had lost total control over it. The Tariff of Abominations was to protect industry in the northern United States. All imported goods were taxed 38 percent and this reduced the low-priced imports that had threatened the industries in the Northern U.S. Leaders from the Southern did not produce all the products and relied on imports. They were paying high prices on these imports which brought the nullification crisis. British were importing cotton from Southern US and when the tariff was imposed they could not continue buying at a higher price and had to call off the agreement. The Southern felt that the tariff was benefiting the people from the North at their expense (Kaplan, 123).

When he got into office, Adams did a mistake by not replace administration members who supported Jackson. He was a strong man with a clear heart and believed that one should only lose his job to incompetence. This brought him a lot of political difficulties because most of these members worked to bring him down so that Jackson can be elected the next president. They made sure that all his proposes are rejected and made his era very hard for him to rule. For example, John McLean was Adam's Postmaster General who continued serving despite the fact that he was using his position to patronage with Jackson supporters.

Another setback to Adam's presidency was his generous policies towards the Native American. He was a generous man and believed that all races should be treated equally. There was a cry for a more expansionist policy from the Westerners who were continuously looking forward to a chance to move forward. When the central government tried to declare power on behalf of the Cherokees, the Georgian governor rejected and signed another policy of nullification that prefigured the significant separation of southern states during the Civil War. John Quincy Adam's was an intelligent man some years back when he was a secretary. However, as a president, he did not succeed in convincing the public to support his programs for modern systems. He wanted to make America an industrial country which would be exporting products to other countries at a high price and earn revenues. He also had the vision to improve infrastructure by building roads and canals which would connect the whole countries and even to its neighbors. Adams wanted to promote science and innovation by setting up a university when people would advance their knowledge (Kaplan, 178). He was hated by the west and south because they believed that he was corrupt because he bribed Henry Clay and others members to declare him the winner during the election.

Conclusion

All in all, despite the fact that he was stubborn and arrogant, internally, Adams was a moralist. He strongly believed that America should portray principles of liberty and togetherness that were not subject to compromise. He fought for equality regardless of one's nationality and fought against slavery at all cost despite the hostility from his opponents. I believe the reason why Adams terribly as the president was because he had a habit of demonizing his opponents instead of looking for a common solution. In 1828, Adams lost to Jackson after he was accused of corruption and unpopular domestic projects. He was a man who would have brought significant changes to the United States by failed to seek Congress support. His accomplishment will always remain in American heats because he wanted the best for his nation.

Works Cited

Mcginnis John: The Successes and Failure of John Quincy Adams. (2014) web http://www.libertylawsite.org/2014/09/18/the-successes-and-failure-of-john-quincy-adams/

Belohlavek, John M. "Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic by Charles N. Edel." Journal of the Early Republic 35.3 (2015): 491-494.

Kaplan, Fred. John Quincy Adams: American Visionary. Harper Collins, 2014.