geeky
President James Madison appointed future President John Quincy Adams served as Minister to Russia from 1809 to 1814 following the establishment of formal diplomatic ties. Adams arrived in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg in October 1809 and established a productive working relationship with the Russian government. He befriended Tsar Alexander I of Russia and his wife Louisa was popular at the Russian court.
From an early age, John Quincy Adams learned the craft of diplomacy (which is ironic, since he became quite curmudgeonly in his later years.) Much of his youth was spent accompanying his father on trips overseas. John Adams served as an American envoy to France from 1778 to 1779 and to the Netherlands from 1780 to 1782. Young John Quincy joined his father on these diplomatic missions. For nearly three years, at the age of 14, he accompanied Francis Dana as a secretary on a mission to Saint Petersburg, Russia. Its purpose was to obtain Russian recognition of the new United States. He also spent time in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark and, in 1804 he published a travel report of Silesia. During his time overseas, Adams became fluent in French and Dutch and became familiar with German and other European languages.
In 1793, Adams became a diplomat in his own rite when President George Washington appointed him as minister to the Netherlands at the age of 26. On his way to the Netherlands, he was tasked with delivery of documents to John Jay, who was negotiating the Jay Treaty. After spending some time with Jay, Adams wrote home to his father, in support of the treaty, stating that he thought America should stay out of European affairs.
While going back and forth between The Hague and London, John Quincy Adams met and proposed to his future wife, Louisa Catherine. He wanted to return to private life at the end of his appointment, but George Washington appointed Adams minister to Portugal in 1796. He was soon promoted to the Berlin Legation. Washington said, in correspondence, that he considered Adams "the most valuable of America's officials abroad."
When John Adams became president, he appointed his son as Minister to Prussia in 1797, with George Washington's approval. While in Prussia, John Quincy Adams signed the renewal of the Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce. He served at that post until 1801. While serving abroad, Adams married Louisa Catherine Johnson, the daughter of an American merchant, in a ceremony at the church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower, London. Adams was the only president to have a First Lady born outside of the United States until 2017.
Adams returned to the United States, and stayed out of the diplomatic service for the next 8 years, in part due to the animosity between his father and new President Thomas Jefferson. But in 1809 President James Madison appointed Adams as the first ever United States Minister to Russia. The voyage experienced many delays, and Adams and his family did not arrive in St. Petersburg until October 23, 1809.
Adams and his wife Louisa sailed for Russia aboard a merchant ship that left Boston on Aug. 5, 1809. Their youngest son accompanied them on their long voyage to St. Petersburg. The trip was temporarily interrupted outside the southern coast of Norway because of what was known as the Gunboat War. Their ship was boarded by a British officer who examined their papers and then, later on the same day, by a Norwegian officer who ordered the ship to Christiansand. In Christiansand, Adams discovered thirty-eight U.S. vessels had been detained by the Norwegians. He worked to gain the release of the ships and their crew as soon as possible. The voyage to St. Petersburg resumed but was once again stopped by a British squadron. Adams showed his commission to Admiral Albermarle Bertie, the commander of the Squadron who recognized Adams as an ambassador. Because of all of these delays, Adams did not arrive in St. Petersburg until October 23, 1809.
Adams was formally received by Count Nikolay Rumyantsev, Chancellor of the empire. His presentation to the Tsar was postponed. However Rumyantsev invited Adams to a diplomatic dinner which included the French ambassador, Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza, numerous foreign ministers then at the Russian Court, and many of the nobility. Adams had dined at this location before in 1781, when he was secretary of Francis Dana.
Tsar Alexander I later received Adams alone in a private meeting. Adams told Alexander that "the president of the United States had desired him to express the hope that his mission would be considered as a proof of respect for the person and character of his majesty, as an acknowledgment of the many testimonies of good-will he had already given to the United States, and of a desire to strengthen commercial relations between them and his provinces." Alexander replied, "in everything depending on him, he should be happy to contribute to the increase of their friendly relations; that it was his wish to establish a just system of maritime rights, and that he should adhere invariably to those he had declared." After these official diplomatic greetings were exchanged, Alexander and Adams discussed several other issues pertaining to European politics such as the policies of the different European powers, trade and commerce, and other mutually beneficial prospects. He made the case that Russia and U.S. could be very useful to each other.
Adams urged Rumyantsev to ask for Tsar Alexander's intervention on behalf of the United States in securing the release of the American sailors and ships being held by the Danish. The Tsar ordered the Chancellor to request the release of the American property as soon as possible, and the Danish government complied with the request. Adams spent a great deal of time securing the release of American vessels and sailors.
This was a time of constant change in Russian politics. In European policy, Alexander I changed Russia's international role back and forth between 1804–1812 from neutral peacemaker to anti-Napoleon to an ally of Napoleon, winding up in 1812 as Napoleon's enemy once again. In 1805, he had joined Britain in the War of the Third Coalition against Napoleon, but after the massive defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz he switched and formed an alliance with Napoleon by the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 and joined Napoleon's Continental System. He fought a small-scale naval war against Britain from 1807 to 12. Alexander and Napoleon could never agree on the fate of Poland, and their alliance collapsed by 1810.
Russia's economy had been hurt by Napoleon's Continental System, which had cut off Russian trade with Britain. Poland was the root cause of Alexander's conflict with Napoleon, but Russia also refused to support the Continental System because of the adverse affect it had on the Russian economy.
Louisa Adams did not enjoy her life in St. Petersburg. But she soon became a personal favorite of the royal family, particularly the Tsar, who frequently requested her as his dancing partner. The Adams did not have the financial wealth to maintain the lifestyle expected of them at court and this was a source of unhappiness for them. Louisa found the winters painful with the bitter cold and long, dark days. Abigail Adams agreed that the move had been a bad one and even wrote to President Madison, urging him to bring her son home. Madison let John Quincy decide for himself and he chose to remain.
In 1811, Louisa gave birth to her fourth child, the daughter she had longed to have. The first American citizen born in Russia, the child was named after her mother. Tragically, a year later she died, leaving her parents deeply bereaved. Adams petitioned for a return home to America, to have his family reunited, but he was assigned to help negotiate a peace treaty at Ghent, Belgium to bring an end to America's naval war with England.
Louisa remained in St. Petersburg, and when it came time for her to close up their home and meet him in Paris, she began one of the most extraordinary adventures of her life. With her son Charles and sister Kitty, Louisa Adams made a six-week excursion through Russia, Poland and Germany towards France in the middle of winter and with a war on. She travelled in a carriage on a sleigh bottom. Despite warnings from Germans she met along the way and the fields littered with the dead soldiers of war that she passed through, Louisa Adams continued on her journey. Nearing Paris, her Russian vehicle was surrounded by hostile Napoleonic troops who assumed she was Russian. Louisa Adams came up with a clever plan to remove herself from this crisis. She had her servants whisper that she was Napoleon's sister traveling incognito, and in perfect French stepped out of the carriage to rally the troops with salutes to Napoleon.
John Quincy Adams had got along very well with Tsar Alexander I. He was frequently given private audiences with the Tsar and with the empress, who also received Louisa Adams. Adams requested Tsar Alexander to act on behalf of the United States in securing the release of the American sailors and ships being held by the Danish. The Tsar ordered his Chancellor to request the release of the American property as soon as possible, which the Danish government complied with. Adams spent a great deal of time securing the release of American vessels and seamen from various seizures.
In 1811, Adams received a commission from the Secretary of State as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, which he declined. In 1812, Adams reported the news of Napoleon's invasion of Russia and Napoleon's disastrous retreat. That same year, Tsar Alexander offered to mediate hostilities between the United States and Great Britain. The U.S. accepted the offer and in July 1813, Albert Gallatin and James A. Bayard arrived in St. Petersburg to begin negotiations under mediation by Alexander. But the British declined the offer of mediation, ending President Madison's hope that Alexander could end a war that he himself had declared.
While in Russia, Adams would often take walks with Alexander. The Tsar asked Adams if he would be taking a house in the country over the summer. Adams was asked it financial considerations prevented him from doing so and Adams admitted that this was the reason.
In 1814, Adams was recalled from Russia. He was appointed to serve as chief negotiator of the U.S. commission for the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812 between the United States and United Kingdom. The United Kingdom's first peace offer in 1814 was seen as unacceptable to the American delegation. It included unfavorable terms such as the creation of an Indian barrier state out of parts of the northwestern United States. By November 1814, the government of Lord Liverpool decided to seek an end to the war with the U.S. on the basis of a return to the status quo before the war. Adams and his fellow commissioners had hoped for similar terms, although a return to the status quo would mean the continuation of British practice of impressment, which had been a major cause of the war. Nevertheless, the treaty was signed on December 24, 1814. The United States did not gain any concessions from the treaty, but nor did they lose anything. Following the signing of the treaty, Adams traveled to Paris, where he witnessed first-hand the Hundred Days of Napoleon's restoration. During this period, Adams learned that President Madison had appointed him as the minister to the Court of St. James's (Britain).
News of the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, did not reach the United States until after the Americans defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans.
Adams was sent to be minister to the Court of St. James's in London from 1815 until 1817, a post that was first held by his father. He left that post to serve as Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President James Monroe from 1817 until 1825. As Secretary of State, he negotiated the Adams–Onís Treaty (which acquired Florida for the United States), the Treaty of 1818, and he is also credited with authorship of the Monroe Doctrine. Many historians regard him as one of the greatest Secretaries of State in American history. It was a period of amicable relations between the United States and Russia, a period that would not last.