John Quincy Adams Frontpage
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Louisa Adams
If John Quincy Adams was a candidate for President of the United States in 1824, his wife was, without a doubt, his unofficial campaign manager. She helped dispel her husband's occasional doubts about a future in politics, reminding him that public service was his destiny. She discussed current affairs with congressmen and journalists, lobbying them for their support in advancing Adams's presidential aspirations. She also encouraged her husband to hit the presidential campaign trail in 1824, suggesting that he show himself "if only for a week." "Do for once gratify me," she implored, noting that "if harm comes of it I will promise never to advise you again."
While Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams impressed congressmen and government figures with her political acumen, she made frequent social calls on their wives and entertained Washington society at elaborate dinners and open-house receptions. These events took on greater importance during the Monroe administration because of Elizabeth Monroe's aloofness and her limited social calendar. As the wife of the secretary of state, Louisa emerged as one of the leading ladies of Washington society, using her social power to advance her husband's political interests. In 1824, for example, she held a lavish ball celebrating the anniversary of General Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans. One thousand people attended what was then called the event of the season. While Louisa Adams threw the ball to impress congressmen, dignitaries, and the cream of Washington society, she also used it to solicit General Jackson's support for her husband's presidential bid. Jackson, who also was a presidential candidate in the election of 1824, did not accede to his hostess's wishes, but Adams's victory over the general can be attributed, at least in part, to the efforts of his wife.
Given the importance of Louisa's social accomplishments and her political value to her husband, it seems as though a formidable Adams partnership was in the making. But it was not to be. Once John Quincy won the close and disputed presidential election, his need for his wife's counsel came to an end. In fact, the cold and demanding John Quincy Adams simply ignored his wife once he became President, except for when he needed her to hostess official receptions. Louisa was not unaware of the change, noting that, "I am decried an incumberance unless I am required for any special purpose for a show or some political maneuver and if I wish for a trifle of any kind, any favor is required at my hands, a deaf ear is turned to my request."
While Louisa Adams had embraced the role of "campaign manager," she resented her role as the President's wife and called her new home "a prison." She became increasingly despondent during her White House years. She had experienced twelve pregnancies and seven miscarriages and now, in wretched health, she suffered serious discomfort in menopause. As a result, the once affable and gregarious Louisa withdrew into herself and became a recluse. She rarely entertained, spending her time eating chocolate, composing music, playing the harp, writing poems, and penning satirical plays which parodied her husband's rigidity and her own spoiled upbringing. She also began her autobiography; its title, Adventures of a Nobody, reflects her sense of self during her tenure in the White House.
Through her writing and out of her own experience, Louisa began to consider the challenges wives faced as financial, political, and social dependents of their husbands. She found that despite the sacrifices wives made as cooks, housekeepers, and lovers, their reward was a life of drudgery, subject to the whims of their husbands. Still, much as she decried the plight of married women, Louisa Adams was not a feminist according to modern standards. She asked only that marriage be viewed as a partnership in domestic life.
As the election of 1828 neared, Louisa overcame her own misery and grief and rallied to support her husband's bid for reelection. She emerged from her seclusion to campaign actively for him. She again urged him to become directly involved, even suggesting a potential campaign trip from Washington, D.C., to Boston. But this time, Louisa had to divert some of her energies from supporting her husband to defending herself, as her foreign birth became a campaign issue. Born in England, she was viewed by some as un-American -- a claim she vigorously denied -- declaring publicly that she was "the daughter of an American Republican Merchant."
With Louisa's impressive social skills and her familiarity with protocol and etiquette -- having lived in England, Prussia, Russia, and France -- it seems that she would have been particularly well-suited to the position of presidential spouse. Yet Louisa Adams did not fulfill such expectations. Depressed and emotionally withdrawn, she minimized her duties in her husband's administration just as her husband had minimized her importance in his life. Although interested in women's rights, abolition, and later, the welfare of Native Americans, she had little impact on how future First Ladies managed their affairs.
Louisa deplored her husband's return to Washington as a congressman. The years immediately following Adams's defeat for reelection to the presidency were particularly difficult. Depression for both John Quincy and Louisa was compounded by the apparent suicide of their eldest son, George, in April 1829, as he was lost from shipboard en route to Washington in response to his father's mandate after the youth's sexual involvement with an employee in his boardinghouse. In 1834, the Adams's second son, John, died of acute alcoholism. For Louisa, the double tragedy brought self-reproach that she had yielded to her husband's arrangement, without consulting her, when the two boys at ages eight and six had been left with their grandparents while Louisa accompanied John Quincy in his diplomatic service abroad.
In shared grief, however, the parents drew closer together. Louisa gave much attention to John's widow and their two daughters, as well as to the family of the Adams's third son, Charles. As John Quincy waged his battle against the "gag" resolution, which denied the reading of petitions to Congress critical of slavery, Louisa helped summarize and arrange the numerous documents he received. The couple developed friendships with abolitionist leaders such as the Grimke sisters, and Adams became somewhat more appreciative of public activity by women. With the election of the Whig President William Henry Harrison in 1840, John Quincy enjoyed renewed acclaim, and Louisa resumed her lavish entertaining. As late as 1844, she gave parties for over two-hundred guests at events that lasted into morning hours. The last years were for the Adamses the most satisfying in their relationship. Louisa died in 1852.
While Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams impressed congressmen and government figures with her political acumen, she made frequent social calls on their wives and entertained Washington society at elaborate dinners and open-house receptions. These events took on greater importance during the Monroe administration because of Elizabeth Monroe's aloofness and her limited social calendar. As the wife of the secretary of state, Louisa emerged as one of the leading ladies of Washington society, using her social power to advance her husband's political interests. In 1824, for example, she held a lavish ball celebrating the anniversary of General Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans. One thousand people attended what was then called the event of the season. While Louisa Adams threw the ball to impress congressmen, dignitaries, and the cream of Washington society, she also used it to solicit General Jackson's support for her husband's presidential bid. Jackson, who also was a presidential candidate in the election of 1824, did not accede to his hostess's wishes, but Adams's victory over the general can be attributed, at least in part, to the efforts of his wife.
Given the importance of Louisa's social accomplishments and her political value to her husband, it seems as though a formidable Adams partnership was in the making. But it was not to be. Once John Quincy won the close and disputed presidential election, his need for his wife's counsel came to an end. In fact, the cold and demanding John Quincy Adams simply ignored his wife once he became President, except for when he needed her to hostess official receptions. Louisa was not unaware of the change, noting that, "I am decried an incumberance unless I am required for any special purpose for a show or some political maneuver and if I wish for a trifle of any kind, any favor is required at my hands, a deaf ear is turned to my request."
While Louisa Adams had embraced the role of "campaign manager," she resented her role as the President's wife and called her new home "a prison." She became increasingly despondent during her White House years. She had experienced twelve pregnancies and seven miscarriages and now, in wretched health, she suffered serious discomfort in menopause. As a result, the once affable and gregarious Louisa withdrew into herself and became a recluse. She rarely entertained, spending her time eating chocolate, composing music, playing the harp, writing poems, and penning satirical plays which parodied her husband's rigidity and her own spoiled upbringing. She also began her autobiography; its title, Adventures of a Nobody, reflects her sense of self during her tenure in the White House.
Through her writing and out of her own experience, Louisa began to consider the challenges wives faced as financial, political, and social dependents of their husbands. She found that despite the sacrifices wives made as cooks, housekeepers, and lovers, their reward was a life of drudgery, subject to the whims of their husbands. Still, much as she decried the plight of married women, Louisa Adams was not a feminist according to modern standards. She asked only that marriage be viewed as a partnership in domestic life.
As the election of 1828 neared, Louisa overcame her own misery and grief and rallied to support her husband's bid for reelection. She emerged from her seclusion to campaign actively for him. She again urged him to become directly involved, even suggesting a potential campaign trip from Washington, D.C., to Boston. But this time, Louisa had to divert some of her energies from supporting her husband to defending herself, as her foreign birth became a campaign issue. Born in England, she was viewed by some as un-American -- a claim she vigorously denied -- declaring publicly that she was "the daughter of an American Republican Merchant."
With Louisa's impressive social skills and her familiarity with protocol and etiquette -- having lived in England, Prussia, Russia, and France -- it seems that she would have been particularly well-suited to the position of presidential spouse. Yet Louisa Adams did not fulfill such expectations. Depressed and emotionally withdrawn, she minimized her duties in her husband's administration just as her husband had minimized her importance in his life. Although interested in women's rights, abolition, and later, the welfare of Native Americans, she had little impact on how future First Ladies managed their affairs.
Louisa deplored her husband's return to Washington as a congressman. The years immediately following Adams's defeat for reelection to the presidency were particularly difficult. Depression for both John Quincy and Louisa was compounded by the apparent suicide of their eldest son, George, in April 1829, as he was lost from shipboard en route to Washington in response to his father's mandate after the youth's sexual involvement with an employee in his boardinghouse. In 1834, the Adams's second son, John, died of acute alcoholism. For Louisa, the double tragedy brought self-reproach that she had yielded to her husband's arrangement, without consulting her, when the two boys at ages eight and six had been left with their grandparents while Louisa accompanied John Quincy in his diplomatic service abroad.
In shared grief, however, the parents drew closer together. Louisa gave much attention to John's widow and their two daughters, as well as to the family of the Adams's third son, Charles. As John Quincy waged his battle against the "gag" resolution, which denied the reading of petitions to Congress critical of slavery, Louisa helped summarize and arrange the numerous documents he received. The couple developed friendships with abolitionist leaders such as the Grimke sisters, and Adams became somewhat more appreciative of public activity by women. With the election of the Whig President William Henry Harrison in 1840, John Quincy enjoyed renewed acclaim, and Louisa resumed her lavish entertaining. As late as 1844, she gave parties for over two-hundred guests at events that lasted into morning hours. The last years were for the Adamses the most satisfying in their relationship. Louisa died in 1852.