The Presidential Diarists: John Quincy Adams
By now you're probably sick of hearing about John Quincy Adams, between my review of Fred Kaplan's recent biography of Adams, and my post about Adams' poetry. Reading about how devoted a diarist JQA was spawned an interest in looking at the presidents who were diarists, and naturally I can't leave out the president who was probably the most prolific keeper of a diary.
If you're curious to thumb through the pages of the diaries of the 6th President, the Massachusetts Historical Society makes that possible from the comfort of your keyboard. All you have to do is go to this link and follow the simple instructions on the "getting started" link.
Adams began keeping his diary at the age of twelve, and it was an activity he continued throughout his life. He wrote his first diary entry in November 1779 at the start of a second voyage to Europe with his father, John Adams, who had been appointed commissioner to France during the American Revolution. In his first entry written on November 12, 1779, a Friday, he writes:
This morning at around 11 o'clock I took leave of my Mama and Sister and Brother and went to Boston in order to go on board the Frigate the Sensible of 28 twelve pounders. We arrived in Boston at about 1 o'clock, dined at my Uncle Smith's. We expected to go on board in the afternoon, but we could not conveniently till tomorrow.
He continued the diary throughout the journey, and indeed throughout his life's journey. While still a teenager, John Quincy Adams served in Europe as secretary to Francis Dana, the American envoy in Russia and later he served his father in the Netherlands. Adams would later serve as minister to the Netherlands, Prussia, and Russia, and as a peace commissioner for the negotiation of the Treaty of Ghent. His career path took him to the position of secretary of state, where he is credited as being the author of the Monroe Doctrine. He succeeded James Monroe as President and in one of the most controversial elections in American history. Following his defeat in 1828, he later served in the U. S. House of Representatives, where he was known as "Old Man Eloquent" and it was during this time that he argued before the Supreme Court in the Amistad case. The abolition of slavery became a passion that he embraced until his death in 1848. Throughout this long and remarkable career, Adams kept a detailed diary of his own activities and all that he observed.
The John Quincy Adams diary dates from 1779 to 1848, a period of more than sixty-eight years, including an unbroken daily record for more than twenty-five years. The diary comprises fifty-one manuscript volumes, 14,921 manuscript pages with diary entries, 16,930 pages in all including published almanac pages and blank pages. It is a treasure trove of information on early nineteenth-century America.
It is remarkable to think about all that Adams did and saw in his lifetime. As a boy, he dined with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in Paris. He knew every President from Washington through Polk. In Europe he met Czar Alexander I and King George III. He met Ralph Waldo Emerson, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Charles Dickens. Adams taught at Harvard University, attempted to rationalize the American system of weights and measures, and was a key figure in the founding of the Smithsonian Institution. He recorded these and other interesting events of his lifetime, as as was mentioned in an earlier post, he also recorded the wonderful poetry that he wrote.
He believed that keeping a diary or a journal strengthened one's character and conscience, and made a person of stronger moral temperament. In a letter to his son George, he wrote (as quoted in Kaplan's book at page 412):
"A diary is the time piece of life and will never fail of keeping time, or of getting out of order with it. A diary, if honestly kept, is one of the best preservatives of morals. A man who commits to paper from day to day the employment of his time, the places he frequents, the persons with whom he converses, the actions with which he is occupied, will have a perpetual guard over himself. His record is a second conscience, of steady exertion and of composure in disappointment."
His final entry, written in February of 1848 in a shaky script, was another poem, which appears unfinished. As near as I can decipher, he wrote:
In days of yore, the poet's pen
From wing of bird was standard
Perchance of goose, but now and then
From our own eagle gandered
But now metallic pens sirs close...
But the poem would go unfinished, as John Quincy Adams died in the Speaker's office of the House of Representatives in Washington of February 23, 1848, after collapsing on the floor of the House two days earlier. He was voting against a motion to honor veterans of the Mexican War, a war he always viewed as unjust.
If you're curious to thumb through the pages of the diaries of the 6th President, the Massachusetts Historical Society makes that possible from the comfort of your keyboard. All you have to do is go to this link and follow the simple instructions on the "getting started" link.
Adams began keeping his diary at the age of twelve, and it was an activity he continued throughout his life. He wrote his first diary entry in November 1779 at the start of a second voyage to Europe with his father, John Adams, who had been appointed commissioner to France during the American Revolution. In his first entry written on November 12, 1779, a Friday, he writes:
This morning at around 11 o'clock I took leave of my Mama and Sister and Brother and went to Boston in order to go on board the Frigate the Sensible of 28 twelve pounders. We arrived in Boston at about 1 o'clock, dined at my Uncle Smith's. We expected to go on board in the afternoon, but we could not conveniently till tomorrow.
He continued the diary throughout the journey, and indeed throughout his life's journey. While still a teenager, John Quincy Adams served in Europe as secretary to Francis Dana, the American envoy in Russia and later he served his father in the Netherlands. Adams would later serve as minister to the Netherlands, Prussia, and Russia, and as a peace commissioner for the negotiation of the Treaty of Ghent. His career path took him to the position of secretary of state, where he is credited as being the author of the Monroe Doctrine. He succeeded James Monroe as President and in one of the most controversial elections in American history. Following his defeat in 1828, he later served in the U. S. House of Representatives, where he was known as "Old Man Eloquent" and it was during this time that he argued before the Supreme Court in the Amistad case. The abolition of slavery became a passion that he embraced until his death in 1848. Throughout this long and remarkable career, Adams kept a detailed diary of his own activities and all that he observed.
The John Quincy Adams diary dates from 1779 to 1848, a period of more than sixty-eight years, including an unbroken daily record for more than twenty-five years. The diary comprises fifty-one manuscript volumes, 14,921 manuscript pages with diary entries, 16,930 pages in all including published almanac pages and blank pages. It is a treasure trove of information on early nineteenth-century America.
It is remarkable to think about all that Adams did and saw in his lifetime. As a boy, he dined with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in Paris. He knew every President from Washington through Polk. In Europe he met Czar Alexander I and King George III. He met Ralph Waldo Emerson, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Charles Dickens. Adams taught at Harvard University, attempted to rationalize the American system of weights and measures, and was a key figure in the founding of the Smithsonian Institution. He recorded these and other interesting events of his lifetime, as as was mentioned in an earlier post, he also recorded the wonderful poetry that he wrote.
He believed that keeping a diary or a journal strengthened one's character and conscience, and made a person of stronger moral temperament. In a letter to his son George, he wrote (as quoted in Kaplan's book at page 412):
"A diary is the time piece of life and will never fail of keeping time, or of getting out of order with it. A diary, if honestly kept, is one of the best preservatives of morals. A man who commits to paper from day to day the employment of his time, the places he frequents, the persons with whom he converses, the actions with which he is occupied, will have a perpetual guard over himself. His record is a second conscience, of steady exertion and of composure in disappointment."
His final entry, written in February of 1848 in a shaky script, was another poem, which appears unfinished. As near as I can decipher, he wrote:
In days of yore, the poet's pen
From wing of bird was standard
Perchance of goose, but now and then
From our own eagle gandered
But now metallic pens sirs close...
But the poem would go unfinished, as John Quincy Adams died in the Speaker's office of the House of Representatives in Washington of February 23, 1848, after collapsing on the floor of the House two days earlier. He was voting against a motion to honor veterans of the Mexican War, a war he always viewed as unjust.