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Adams won the presidency in 1824 in one of the most controversial elections in history. He finished second in both popular vote and electoral vote to General Andrew Jackson, but since none of the four major candidates for president finished with a majority in the electoral college, the election was to be decided by the House of Representatives. With the support of Henry Clay, the House chose Adams, and from then on, Andrew Jackson was convinced that he had lost the election of 1824 as the result of a "corrupt bargain" by which Clay threw his support behind Adams in return for the position of Secretary of State, then seen as a stepping stone to the Presidency.
On March 4, 1825, a Friday (Donald Trump is also scheduled to become President on a Friday), Adams was sworn in by John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States. Adams wore a black "homespun" suit with trousers instead of the old-style breeches that any of his predecessors had worn. The oath of office was administered inside the Hall of House Representatives. The weather that day was described as 'rainy' with a total rainfall of 0.79 inches, and a noon temperature of 47°F. Adams took his oath on a law book and not on a Bible. It was a book on the subject of Constitutional Law.
Adams was the first son of a former President to be elected to the Nation's highest office. He gave an inaugural address that was 2,911 words long. He began his remarks by promising "faithful performance of the duties allotted to me in the station to which I have been called" and set out the principles that he said would govern his performance of those duties. Foremost would be adherence to the Constitution. Adams said:
"That revered instrument enumerates the powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive Magistrate, and in its first words declares the purposes to which these and the whole action of the Government instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly devoted—to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of this Union in their successive generations. Since the adoption of this social compact one of these generations has passed away. It is the work of our forefathers. Administered by some of the most eminent men who contributed to its formation, through a most eventful period in the annals of the world, and through all the vicissitudes of peace and war incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors of their age and nation. It has promoted the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all; it has to an extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity secured the freedom and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left us and by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits of their labors to transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding generation."
Adams went on to comment on how the judiciary was "a co-ordinate" branch of government, not subordinate, and how the courts had the duty to interpret the nation's laws, "settling in harmonious coincidence with the legislative will numerous weighty questions of construction which the imperfection of human language had rendered unavoidable." He went on to speak about how the nation had expanded, once more returning to the theme of the Constitution and how the nation had grown not by conquest, but by peaceful means, aided by the rule of law. He said:
"Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the purposes of human association have been accomplished as effectively as under any other government on the globe, and at a cost little exceeding in a whole generation the expenditure of other nations in a single year. Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a Constitution founded upon the republican principle of equal rights."
Adams went on to acknowledge that the new nation would not be exempted from dissent and from other trials and tribulations. But he expressed hope for the future because the nation had learned lessons from its past. He contrasted the American experience with what had occurred in Europe and said that America's "political creed" was "that the will of the people is the source and the happiness of the people" and "the best security for the beneficence and the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections". He also set out these principles:
"[T]he firmest security of peace is the preparation during peace of the defenses of war; that a rigorous economy and accountability of public expenditures should guard against the aggravation and alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the military should be kept in strict subordination to the civil power; that the freedom of the press and of religious opinion should be inviolate; that the policy of our country is peace and the ark of our salvation union are articles of faith upon which we are all now agreed."
Adams noted that a decade of peace since the war of 1812 had given the nation faith in the importance of democracy, but warned that there was still one sacrifice to be asked of the people: "It is that of discarding every remnant of rancor against each other, of embracing as countrymen and friends, and of yielding to talents and virtue alone that confidence which in times of contention for principle was bestowed only upon those who bore the badge of party communion." He called for Americans to unite regardless of where they lived or what their local interests were. He also spoke of how the interests of the Federal and State governments were compatible, and that Washington was a place for creating unity among disparate regional interests:
"To respect the rights of the State governments is the inviolable duty of that of the Union; the government of every State will feel its own obligation to respect and preserve the rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the jealousies of jarring interests are allayed by the composition and functions of the great national councils annually assembled from all quarters of the Union at this place. Here the distinguished men from every section of our country, while meeting to deliberate upon the great interests of those by whom they are deputed, learn to estimate the talents and do justice to the virtues of each other. The harmony of the nation is promoted and the whole Union is knit together by the sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social intercourse, and the ties of personal friendship formed between the representatives of its several parts in the performance of their service at this metropolis."
Adams went on to list specific goals, including the promise "to cherish peace while preparing for defensive war; to yield exact justice to other nations and maintain the rights of our own; to cherish the principles of freedom and of equal rights wherever they were proclaimed; to discharge with all possible promptitude the national debt; to reduce within the narrowest limits of efficiency the military force; to improve the organization and discipline of the Army; to provide and sustain a school of military science; to extend equal protection to all the great interests of the nation; to promote the civilization of the Indian tribes, and to proceed in the great system of internal improvements within the limits of the constitutional power of the Union."
Adams also praised some of the accomplishments of the outgoing Monroe administration, which he said too place "under the pledge of these promises, made by that eminent citizen at the time of his first induction to this office, in his career of eight years." He went on to list those accomplishments:
"[T]he internal taxes have been repealed; sixty millions of the public debt have been discharged; provision has been made for the comfort and relief of the aged and indigent among the surviving warriors of the Revolution; the regular armed force has been reduced and its constitution revised and perfected; the accountability for the expenditure of public moneys has been made more effective; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific Ocean; the independence of the southern nations of this hemisphere has been recognized, and recommended by example and by counsel to the potentates of Europe; progress has been made in the defense of the country by fortifications and the increase of the Navy, toward the effectual suppression of the African traffic in slaves; in alluring the aboriginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of the soil and of the mind, in exploring the interior regions of the Union, and in preparing by scientific researches and surveys for the further application of our national resources to the internal improvement of our country. In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my immediate predecessor the line of duty for his successor is clearly delineated."
Adams went on to promise the continued pursuance of these goals. He also spoke about internal improvements, before concluding with these words, which addressed the controversial election that had put him in the oval office:
"Fellow-citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar circumstances of the recent election, which have resulted in affording me the opportunity of addressing you at this time. You have heard the exposition of the principles which will direct me in the fulfillment of the high and solemn trust imposed upon me in this station. Less possessed of your confidence in advance than any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need of your indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare of our country, and the unceasing application of all the faculties allotted to me to her service are all the pledges that I can give for the faithful performance of the arduous duties I am to undertake. To the guidance of the legislative councils, to the assistance of the executive and subordinate departments, to the friendly cooperation of the respective State governments, to the candid and liberal support of the people so far as it may be deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for whatever success may attend my public service; and knowing that 'except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain,' with fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future destinies of my country."
The biblical quotation from the last sentence is from Psalm 127:1.