John Quincy Adams Illustrates How He Served His Constituents in a Democratic Fashion, Giving Personal Access to All

After losing the 1828 election to Andrew Jackson, Adams retired to his home in Quincy, Massachusetts. But not for long. In November 1830, the 12th District of Massachusetts elected him to the U.S. House of Representatives, making him the only president to thereafter serve in Congress. His time in Congress may well have been the best phase of his outstanding public-service career, as his essential independence from any particular political party allowed him to boldly champion the anti-slavery movement. Adams said he felt “bonded” by the Constitution to work for universal emancipation. In 1836, Southern members of Congress got the House of Representatives to pass a “gag rule” that forbade discussion of slavery. This meant setting aside and ignoring the large number of anti-slavery petitions being sent to Congress. In his most famous leadership role as a Congressman, Adams fought tirelessly against the gag rule, maintaining that the right to petition was protected by the Constitution. In 1844 he finally succeeded in getting it abolished by a vote of 108 to 80. Adams served until his death in the Capitol on February 23, 1848, after suffering a stroke two days earlier in the House chamber.

Adams had a deep interest in astronomical science, and had tried unsuccessfully in 1825 to persuade Congress to found a National Observatory. Although 77 years old,  and not in the best of health, Adams travelled to Cincinnati in 1843 to lay the cornerstone for the Cincinnati Observatory, which was to be the first observatory with a very powerful telescope in the world. He did this because he felt that the founding of the observatory was such an important step to be taken if the U.S. was to become internationally recognized for its intellectual and scientific endeavors. It was at the dedication that Adams gave his last public speech.

Edmund Quincy, son of Harvard President and U.S. Representative Josiah Quincy, was a journalist and leader of the abolition movement. He was vice president of the American Anti-Slavery Society, editor of the “National Anti-Slavery Standard”, and for a time edited William L. Garrison’s “Liberator”. Quincy was a friend and cousin of John Quincy Adams, who was in fact named for his great-grandfather John Quincy.

Autograph letter signed, Quincy, Mass., October 14, 1843, to Edmund Quincy, who living in Dedham was one of his constitutients. In it, he illustrates how he served his constituents in a democratic fashion, and mentions his famous trip to Cincinnati to promote science. “The kind and friendly invitation of yourself and Mrs. Quincy to your house on the 24th instant was received with heartfelt gratitude, and would be accepted with equal cordiality, but for arrangements already agreed upon with a view to the pressure on my time. I am to be at a public hotel at Dedham at 9 o’clock in the morning to meet there any of my constituents who may wish to see and converse with me upon public or private business as they see fit. At 10 I am to address them in the largest meeting house, and immediately after I am to return here to prepare for my departure for Cincinnati early the next morning. I will steal a moment to call and pay my respects to Mrs. Quincy and you, but cannot hope to stay longer than to repeat my thanks and bid you farewell. Ever faithfully your friend, J.Q. Adams.”

This is the first letter we can ever recall seeing in which Adams lays out so plainly (and democratically) his dedication to his constituents, and his determination to give them access to him in person on any matter whatever.