Roy+W.+-+JQA+-+FA10



John Quincy Adams Born: July 11, 1767 in Braintree Massachusetts  Death: February 23, 1848 in the US Capitol building, Washington D.C.  Term of Presidency: 1825-1829  Vice President: John C. Calhoun  Political Party: Federalist John Quincy Adams was a decent president but his ideals and actions went against the ideals of the average American citizen. He strongly believed in nationalism and federally regulated internal improvements where many of the citizens of the time were leaning especially toward states rights and the power of the people. Because of this, he did not have a lot of popularity among the citizens of the United States which is crucial for a president to have. Another item that initially hurt the popularity of Adams of a president was the evidence of a corrupt bargain struck between John Quincy and Henry Clay. It was rumored that Clay helped Adams become president and Adams returned the favor by appointing Clay as his Secretary of State. Lastly Adams was disliked especially by southerners in his Tariff of 1828, also known as the Tariff of Abominations. Although Adams had many good ideas for the young nation, he was not passionately liked by the people and made decisions that hurt them economically. Because he was an average president, I give Adams a C+.

The goals of the new president, John Quincy Adams, were extremely nationalistic in nature. They included much support for federally regulated internal improvements. He wanted the different sections of the country to be brought together better. To do this, he wanted to create a network of highways and canals to unite the country. Another goal that Adams had was to promote education and especially arts and sciences. One way he wanted to do this was through a national university. The last goal of Adams was to create a better relationship with France.

During the presidency of John Quincy Adams, Congress was filled with many supporters of his rival Andrew Jackson. Even though Adams did have a chance to remove some of these members and insert his own supporters into these positions he didn’t because he wanted to gain popularity. Because many of the people in Congress at the time didn’t like Adams, Congress generally turned him a “deaf ear.” Many of the programs that Adams proposed were for nationalistic measures, mainly for more federally regulated internal improvements. Although many of these ideas of Adams could have been positive for the nation, Congress shot many of them down. John Quincy Adams presented many ideas that furthered Clay’s American system and helped the expansion of roads and canals to help the westward movement. Even though he did win a few important gains in the passing of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the Cumberland road and a few other similar improvements, Congress did not generally approve of the propositions Adams made. He did not veto anything from Congress, but that didn’t matter to them and there was a relatively bad relationship between Adams and Congress.

During the administration of John Quincy Adams there wasn’t too much that happened because Congress turned down many of the possible programs. The promotion of Internal Improvements was the most positive outcome during Adams’ administration because it promoted westward growth and expansion and essentially brought some unification of the different sections of the United States. By encouraging these important canals and roads like the Cumberland Road and the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Adams brought together all of the different sections of the country by making it easier to get from one place to another. Unfortunately, these internal improvements eventually led to the most negative outcome of his presidency, the Tariff of 1828. The creation of these new roads and canals cost money from the government. To pay for this, and to protect northern manufacturers Adams passed the Tariff of 1828 which was a high tariff on the import of manufactured goods. Although this Tariff may have helped the northern manufacturers, it was ruinous to the southerners who had to import all of their manufactured goods and was quickly dubbed the Tariff of Abominations by them. This Tariff was so hated by these southern states that South Carolina took the authority to nullify it in their state and threatened to secede from the union. This was a disastrous result and easily qualified as the most negative outcome during Adams presidency.

Adams internal improvements impacted future generations because it made it easier to move around the country especially westward. This allowed for more westward development. Also, by creating better roads and canals, it was easier to move to different states which helped both interstate commerce and probably led to a diffusion of people between different states. Lastly, this more easily allowed southerners to move north to possibly work in factories. Or it allowed northerners to move south or west if they so desired.

The United States was neither better nor worse at the end of Adams presidency. This was because Adams created better roads and canals during his presidency but also hurt the southern economy through the Tariff of Abominations. Adams could’ve done a better job as president by replacing members of Congress with his supporters because then he might’ve been able to pass more ideas through Congress and bettered the country. Because of this mediocracy during his presidency and the lack of public support Adams deserves the slightly lower than average grade of a C+.

Bibliography:


 * Degregorio, William A.. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, Seventh Edition (Complete Book of Us Presidents)//. 7 ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2009. Print.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">"John Quincy Adams." //answers.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2007. <www.answers.com/topic/john-quincy-adams>.
 * <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">"John Quincy Adams Biography - Biography.com." //Biography.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2010. <http://www.biography.com/articles/John-Quincy-Adams-9175983?part=4>.
 * <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">"John Quincy Adams | The White House." //The White House//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Oct. 2010. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnquincyadams/>.