John Quincy Adams and the Amistad

John Quincy Adams was the first person to be elected president, having been the son of a previous president. (George W. Bush was the second and only other so far.) His election in 1824 was controversial because Andrew Jackson had won more electoral college votes, but failed to win a majority. He was selected by a majority of congress, and it was suggested that Adams had struck a political deal with Henry Clay to achieve this.

Jackson defeated John Quincy Adams in the election of 1828. Despite losing, Adams did not retire after leaving office. Instead he ran for and was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1830 elections as a National Republican. He was the first president to serve in Congress after his term of office, and one of only two former presidents to do so. (Andrew Johnson later served in the Senate.)

J. Q. Adams was elected to eight terms, serving as a Representative for 17 years, from 1831 until his death. He became a Whig in 1834. He became an important antislavery voice in the Congress. Adams presented many petitions to congress for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. Congress had passed a Gag rule preventing discussion of slavery from 1836 to 1844, but Adams frequently managed to evade it by parliamentary skill.




In 1841, he representing the defendants in United States v. The Amistad Africans in the Supreme Court of the United States (the historical basis for the movie Amistad where Adams is portrayed by Anthony Hopkins.) Adams successfully argued that the Africans, who had seized control of a Spanish ship on which they were being transported illegally as slaves, should not be extradited or deported to Cuba (still under Spanish control) but should be considered free. The United States Department of Justice argued the Africans should be deported for having mutinied and killed officers on the ship. Adams won their freedom, with the chance to stay in the United States or return to Africa. Adams made the argument because the U.S. had prohibited the international slave trade, although it allowed internal slavery. He never billed for his services in the Amistad case.



Although there is no indication that the two were close, Adams met Abraham Lincoln during the latter's sole term as a member of the House of Representatives, from 1847 until Adams' death. Thus, it has been suggested that Adams is the only major figure in American history who knew both the Founding Fathers and Abraham Lincoln.