John Quincy Adams Frontpage

American President Frontpage

For a man who ranks among the most accomplished of America's diplomats, John Quincy Adams achieved little of consequence in foreign affairs as President. Part of the explanation for this poor record lies with the determined opposition of Adams's rivals in Congress to deny him any mark of success that might help him in the election of 1828. For example, when the new Latin American republics, which had formerly been Spanish colonies, convened a congress in Panama to promote cooperation in the Western Hemisphere, it was logical for them to ask for delegates from the American President who had authored the Monroe Doctrine. When Adams requested funding to send two delegates, southern congressmen strongly objected. The new Latin American nations had outlawed slavery, and southerners feared that the conference might call for a united stand in favor of emancipation everywhere in the hemisphere. Others did not like the idea of American ministers meeting with black and mixed-race foreigners on equal terms. Jacksonian supporters in Congress eagerly joined with southerners to withhold funding for the delegation until the convention had ended.

On the other hand, the very success of Adams as Monroe's secretary of state had resolved many of the issues in foreign affairs that might have engaged Adams as President. Disarmament of the Great Lakes had been established, fishing rights off of Canada had been restored, the U.S.-Canadian boundary had been defined, Florida was safely procured, and the U.S.-Spanish border west of the Mississippi was resolved in ways that gave America strong claim to the Pacific Coast in the Northwest. These were all issues that previously had brought the nation into open conflict with England. In essence, not much was left for the State Department to tackle in the mid-1820s, other than routine damage claims for wartime depredations and commercial treaties with Scandinavian countries and the new Latin American nations -- most of which were accomplished by Secretary of State Clay.