John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an
American diplomat and politician who served as the sixth President
of the United States from March 4, 1825 to March 4, 1829. He was
born in Quincy (then Braintree), Mass. to John and Abigail Adams.
He accompanied his father on missions to Europe, gaining broad
knowledge from study and travel—he even accompanied (1781–83)
Francis Dana to Russia—before returning home to graduate (1787)
from Harvard and study law. Washington appointed (1794) him
minister to the Netherlands, and in his father's administration he
was minister to Prussia (1797–1801).
In 1803 he became a U.S. senator as a Federalist, but his
independence led him to approve Jeffersonian policies in the
Louisiana Purchase and in the Embargo Act of 1807; the Federalists
were outraged, and he resigned (1808). Sent as minister to Russia
in 1809, he was well received, but the Napoleonic wars eclipsed
Russian-American relations. He then helped to draw up the Treaty of
Ghent (1814), and served as minister to Great Britain. As secretary
of state (1817–25) under James Monroe, Adams gained enduring fame.
He negotiated a major treaty with Spain, which secured for the
United States a great expanse of land that stretched to the
Pacific. Perhaps most notably, Adams was also the architect of the
somewhat misleadingly named Monroe Doctrine (1823).
In 1824 Adams was a candidate for the U.S. presidency. Neither
he, nor Andrew Jackson, nor Henry Clay received a majority in the
electoral college, and the election was decided in the House of
Representatives. There Clay supported Adams, making him president.
Adams appointed Clay secretary of state, over the Jacksonians' cry
that the appointment fulfilled a corrupt bargain. With little
popular support and without a party, Adams had an unhappy,
ineffective administration, despite his attempts to institute a
broad program of internal improvements.
After Jackson won the 1828 election, Adams retired to Quincy,
but returned to new renown as a U.S. representative (1831–48). His
eloquence, persistence, and moral forcefulness brought an end
(1844) to the House gag rule on debate about slavery, and he
attacked all other measures that would extend that institution, as
well as Jackson's forced removal of southeastern tribes (1837) and
the 1846 invasion of Mexico.
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The Cache
During the 1824 election, Adams ran against four other candidates:
Speaker of the House Henry Clay of Kentucky (who came in fourth and
was cut from contention), Secretary of the Treasury William H.
Crawford of Georgia (who suffered a stroke and became ineligible),
U.S. Senator Andrew Jackson of Tennessee, and Secretary of War John
C. Calhoun of South Carolina. Neither of the remaining candidates
(Jackson, Adams, or Calhoun) received a majority vote of either the
popular vote or by the electoral college. As such, the decision was
passed to the House of Representatives. Clay, who was Speaker of
the House at the time, was not fond of Jackson and held similar
ideals to those of Adams. As a result, Clay placed his support
behind Adams. On February 9, 1825 Adams clenched the Presidential
election in the House of Representatives and became the sixth
president of the United States.
As recognition of Henry Clay's role in the election of John
Quincy Adams, as well as the fact that Adams was our sixth
president, this cache is located at the intersection of Clay Rd.
and Highway 6.
This cache placed by a
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