John Tyler – Sherwood Forest November 17, 2012

 John Tyler, the 10th president, was born in 1790 and served from 1841-1845.

Three of his grandsons fought in the Civil War, one of whom was killed in action.

Astonishingly two of his grandsons are still alive. And one resides at Tyler's Sherwood Forest plantation, the only presidential house where descendants still live.

In fact, we met his wife.

Sherwood Forest

Strange as it may seem, the math works. John Tyler, who fathered 15 total children, had child number 13, Lyon Tyler, at age 63 (1853). Lyon, true to his father, sired his son, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, when he was 75 years old (1928). It was Harrison Ruffian Tyler’s wife, Payne, whom we met.

Actually, Cathy met her as she ambled from the parking area to the plantation house. Mrs. Frances Payne Bouknight Tyler, now 80, was driving up to the house with a friend and stopped to ask Cathy if she could help her. Cathy said we had driven down for a tour we had scheduled with Tim, a friend of the family. With that news, the suspicion vanished from Payne's voice and she thanked Cathy several times for visiting. Then Tim and Tom appeared, Tim chatted with Payne for a bit while petting two dogs in the car, and they were off.

Sherwood Forest, located in Charles City, VA, is about a three hour drive from Washington, DC. The price of the tour is $35 per person but you need to make an appointment in advance. You can also walk the grounds on your own self-guided tour for $10 per person. It’s collected as an honor fee but according to Tim only one in ten people pay.

Who was John Tyler?

John Tyler was steeped in politics all his life; he was Virginia governor as well as a U.S. Congressman and Senator. He began life as a Democrat, advocating state’s rights and a generally limited Federal government. He came to support President Andrew Jackson mainly because Jackson opposed the use of Federal funds for projects that benefited a single state. Tyler was especially supportive in Jackson’s fight against the rechartering of the Second Bank.

However, he broke with President Jackson over the South Carolina nullification issue. He thought that Jackson was violating state’s rights by coming down so hard against South Carolina. He was the only Senator to vote against Jackson’ Force Bill (a bill allowing the use of force to bring South Carolina into line); others who supported nullification vacated the chamber and did not vote.

He was so disenchanted with Jackson, that he ditched the Democratic Party and joined Henry Clay’s new Whig Party.

This might be a good time to get a handle on who exactly the Whigs were. It depended on who you asked. According to May (2008), the Whigs were comprised of several groups. Tyler belonged to a faction consisting of South Carolina slave holders and nullifiers who opposed Jackson and Van Buren.

Another group was a conglomeration of Northern and Northeast merchants, industrialists, and shippers, who supported infrastructure projects, a national bank, and protective tariffs. The leaders of this faction—who also opposed slavery—were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and our friend, John Q. Adams.

And then there were former Democrats of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio who opposed slavery and state’s rights.

Yet another group consisted of Anti-Masons who thought secret societies had taken over government.

And finally there were the Jeffersonian States Rights Southerners.

In other words a total mélange of views and interests.

Sherwood Forest Plantation

John Tyler purchased Walnut Grove plantation in 1842 while serving as President. He renamed it Sherwood Forest in honor of his self-described reputation as a political outlaw. (If he were running for office in 2008, he might have called himself a “maverick.”)

The Sherwood Forest plantation home, at 300 feet, is the longest frame house in America. It was constructed section by section beginning in 1640. The home is comprised of a main structure joined by long hallways to two dependencies at each end.

Whistler's Walk

One of the dependencies was used as a kitchen and laundry. The long hallway connecting it to the house is known as “Whistlers’ Walk.” When enslaved servants—Harrison owned about 90—carried food to the house, they were required to whistle as they carried the food so they would not have an opportunity to sample it. This dependency is now occasionally occupied by Tyler’s great grandson—as his “man cave.”

At the other end of the structure is the “garçonnière,” a bunkhouse for single male visitors. It is joined to the main house by a long hallway that was specifically built for Tyler’s young wife, Julia, for parties and dances. The long room was ideally suited for the Virginia Reel, the hot dance of the time.

John Tyler, the Accidental President

As we learned during our last presidential visit, John Tyler, was included on William Henry Harrison’s ticket as Vice President, but did not necessarily own views consistent with the Whig Party. So when Harrison was unlucky enough to die in office, the Whigs had on their hands “a situation.”

The Whigs thought that Tyler would be a weak caretaker President and expected the government to be run by the Cabinet. But he had other ideas. The Constitution was not clear on whether the Vice President assumed the duties of the president or actually became President. Tyler decided that he had no interest in being a caretaker President and took the oath of office. Congress agreed and passed resolutions declaring him the President. This set the precedent for all future Presidential successions of which there were to be many. (This process was not included in the Constitution until 1967 as the 25th Amendment.)

Once Tyler shut the front door of the White House behind him he didn’t feel an obligation to toe the line behind Henry Clay’s Whigs. That didn’t go over well and Tyler was derisively called “His Accidency.”

When President Tyler twice vetoed a Whig sponsored national bank bill, he was expelled from the Whig party—the first (and only) President to be expelled from his own party. His entire cabinet, save Secretary of State Daniel Webster, resigned en mass.

When he and Congress locked horns over a tariff bill, the Congress rose up against him and initiated impeachment proceedings—for the first time in history. Ultimately, there were not enough Congressional votes to impeach him but his presidency was damaged.

However, President Tyler did accomplish some things. His foreign policy accomplishments included signing the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842 which resolved a long simmering border dispute with England over the location of the Canadian border.

He is also known for annexing the Republic of Texas into the United States. Remember the Alamo? That blowup happened in 1836 when Andrew Jackson was President. The Texans eventually won independence from Mexico that year and offered themselves to the United States. However, since the Republic of Texas allowed slavery, Jackson was hesitant to accept them—it would cause additional friction between the slave states and free states. The most he could do was recognize their independence. President Van Buren also did not move forward on Texas. However, President Tyler eagerly approved annexation to bring Texas into the United States, which he did three days before he left office.

John Tyler, Superdad

John Tyler had 15 children. With his first wife Letitia—who died at the White House in 1842 from complications from a stroke she suffered years earlier—he had the first eight.

Later that year he became smitten with the young daughter of an Eastern aristocrat, Julia Gardiner. A mere 22 years old, she had just returned to the United States from a European tour. She must have been extremely attractive, because she was courted by many men of all ages. Fifty three year-old John Tyler could not resist her charms either and pursued her immediately. Because of the large age difference their romance was not welcomed overwhelmingly by her family.

In 1844, the Gardiner family was invited aboard the USS Princeton as a guest of the President on a Potomac River cruise. The Princeton’s monstrous 12-inch guns roared occasionally as a demonstration to the guests. On the last firing—a tribute to George Washington directly across from Mt. Vernon—one of the behemothic guns exploded, killing 8-10 people including Julia Gardiner’s father. As our guide, Tim, related it, President Tyler swept Julia up in his arms as she collapsed into a faint. His tender manner convinced Julia that Tyler truly cared for her and she assented soon thereafter to marry.

Julia had to adapt to Tyler’s eight children, three of whom were older than her. But she did adapt and their marriage was by all accounts a contented one. They had seven children together, of which the afore mentioned Harrison R. Tyler is one of the grandchildren.

Since Julie came from money, she had expensive taste. She also desired the prestige that came with the Office of the President. She asked that she be called Mrs. President. According to Tim, she also insisted that the band play Hail to the Chief whenever President Tyler entered a room.

Back to the House

On the Front Porch

It was Payne Tyler whom we met earlier who restored Sherwood Forest when she married into the family. She paid college students to comb through 47,000 family letters to discover clues that would lend authenticity to the restoration plans. (She paid them $1 per letter.)

Tim took us on an almost two hour tour of the house and nearby ground. The house is overflowing with captivating and curious items such as a Chippendale chest (1790), a Fordham Queen Anne grandfather clock (1730), a silver tea gift set from Meriwether Lewis, the President’s original violin, all nine volumes of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne (1759-1767), two of Thomas Jefferson’s stools (Tyler’s father was a friend of Thomas Jefferson), as well as an entire closet filled with Tyler’s White House china (1840).

Atop one of the fireplaces rested two “face shields.” These were employed by women to protect the beeswax makeup on their faces from melting as they relaxed around the fireplace. Thus came the phrase to “mind your beeswax.”

We also learned that there is another—mostly unwelcome—resident of Sherwood Forest, the ghost of the Gray Lady, seen in the vicinity of the Gray Room. It has been spotted several times dating back possibly to before John Tyler’s time. The Gray Lady ghost is thought to be a governess who once cared for a small child that died in her care. Tim himself has seen flashing lights, heard bells ringing, and heard a rocking chair move. Finally Payne had a talk with the ghost to convince her that they all had a right to co-exist in the house. That seemed to quiet things down.

John Tyler, Confederate

According to Tim, Tyler enslaved more than 90 people. As a Virginian, slavery was an institution that Tyler supported unabashedly. In later life, John Tyler became the only President to renounce his allegiance to the United States and join the Confederacy. He was elected to the Confederate Congress but died before serving.

The house is full of evidence of the Tyler family’s Southern sympathies including an original confederate seal as well as a picture of Payne Tyler with her godfather, Strom Thurmond.

There is also an 1865 contract offering the formerly enslaved black Americans a job if they wanted to stay at the plantation. They were offered food, lodging, and medicine in return for wages. (Nobody pointed out to the Tylers that it was these very people who had been providing food to the Tylers.) They signed with an ‘X’ because they were never taught to read and write.

Tyler is buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. Tim offered: “If you consider Jefferson Davis a president,” there are either two or three presidents buried at Hollywood Cemetery” in Richmond. We’d like to think there are only two there: Tyler and Monroe.

References

May, G. 20008. John Tyler. Henry Holt and Company. New York, New York.

William Henry Harrison – Grouseland June 23, 2012



The ninth U.S. president, William Henry Harrison didn't have time to achieve much of anything before dying of pneumonia a month after his inauguration. Harrison was president for a mere 31 days, so his accomplishments were complete before he moved to the White House.

It's very possible that his greatest — and we use the word "greatest" loosely — contribution to U.S. history is that he was first candidate to actively campaign for president. Up to that time, candidates let others do their campaigning. Harrison handed out campaign knick knacks and liberally used campaign slogans.

Remember “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”? That was Harrison. He handed out campaign buttons with that slogan. He passed out replica tomahawks made of blue glass. Supporters rolled around giant paper balls covered with campaign slogans (which is where the expression “Keep the ball rolling” comes from).

He also is one-half of the only grandfather/grandson team to be U.S. president: the 23rd president, Benjamin Henry Harrison is his offspring. (Historical tidbit: His father, Benjamin, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.)

And he had an immense family—he and his wife, Anna, had ten children, nine of whom survived to adulthood.

His Early Life

While still in his 20s, William Henry Harrison was appointed secretary of the Northwest Territory and soon was appointed the territory’s delegate to Congress. While in Congress, he introduced the Harrison Land Act, which made land in the territory easier and cheaper to purchase by divvying up the land into small, affordable tracts -- contributing greatly to the westward migration. Part of the Land Act provided for breaking off the western part of the Northwest Territory and creating the Indiana Territory (now Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota).

As it happened, President John Adams appointed Harrison governor of the Indiana Territory. It was during his tenure as Indiana Territory governor, that he built his huge family home, Grouseland—named for all of the grouse in the area—in Vincennes, Indiana, the new capital of the Indiana Territory.

Harrison’s Land Act made him none-too-popular with the Native Americans who lived on the land. In fact, Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnee tribe, tried to create an Indian confederation to attack the settlers, but his plan didn't work. In negotiations, Tecumseh came to Harrison's house but refused to enter. Instead, he met with Harrison under a walnut tree just outside of the house.


Wood Carving of Tecumseh near Grouseland

Harrison rose to national prominence for leading U.S. troops against the Shawnee at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, where he picked up his famous “Tippecanoe" nickname.

During the War of 1812, Harrison’s forces killed Tecumseh who had aligned with the British.

Views on Slavery

Harrison was generally opposed to the concept of slavery but he did enslave people himself. He seems for the most part to have limited their service and freed them after twelve or more years of services. He publically opposed slavery but aligned himself with the southerners on many slavery votes.

Harrison, the First Modern Candidate

Harrison was the first candidate of the Whigs, a party created by Henry Clay primarily to oppose Jacksonian principles. The Whigs were a diverse lot but mostly supported a strong central government that built national infrastructure, maintained a national bank, and built public schools. Having said that, the Whigs were extremely diverse and consisted of both slave owners and abolitionists as well as both pro and anti-national bank advocates (Collins, 2012).

Surprisingly, John Tyler, Harrison’s vice presidential running mate, held views inconsistent with Harrison’s. Tyler was a slavery advocate who was against a strong government role in building public works. The only thing he had in common with the Whigs was opposition to President Martin Van Buren.

This was the first presidential campaign where it became necessary to emphasize the candidates’ humble beginnings. Harrison became the “Log Cabin Candidate” even though he was brought up on a Virginia plantation. His opponent, Van Buren, who was actually brought up in the back of a tavern, was labeled an elitist and dandy. (Even today presidential candidates emphasize their humble roots: First lady Michelle Obama recounts how a young Barack Obama used to pick her up in a car with rust holes clear through the door.)

Drinking also became an important symbol for the rugged outdoorsman president, and Harrison was touted for his ability to drink “hard cider.” In fact, distiller E.G. Booz came up with an election year gimmick by bottling whiskey in bottles shaped like log cabins.

Campaign slogans were spun and songs were sung, the most famous being, “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!” where they sang: “For Tippecanoe and Tyler too. For Tippecanoe and Tyler too. And with them we'll beat little Van, Van, Van…Van is a used up man.”

And of course, the aforementioned “keep the ball rolling” where huge (often 12 ft. diameter) campaign balls were rolled throughout the country. The balls were mostly made of paper campaign slogans but some were made of tin and cowhide (Collins, 2012).

In another first, Harrison gave his own campaign speeches which heretofore had been given by the candidate’s supporters.

The excitement around this election was so huge that more than 80% of the eligible voters cast ballots (Collins, 2012). (That compares to the 50-60 percent averages of our recent U.S. elections.)

And Harrison won the election, only to come down with pneumonia. It was cold and rainy on Inauguration Day, March 4, and he gave a record two-hour speech – a record that still stands. (Note from us long-time Washington dwellers: Inauguration Day is always the coldest day of the year.)

Grouseland

Visiting Grouseland was a last-minute surprise. We were preparing for a visit to Indianapolis when we learned that Grouseland was only a couple-hour drive from the state capital. A quick change of our flights, and we were off.

There, we found another surprise -- we are not unique in our quest to visit all the presidents. A docent at Grouseland, who had been on the job for two months, said we were the third set of people she had met on a presidential pilgrimage. On a positive note, we may be the only ones doing it in order.

Grouseland was the first brick house in the Indiana Territory. It had 400,000 bricks and was built like a fortress, since it was in the middle of the wilderness and was subject to attack by the Native Americans.


Occupants Could See in Many Directions


The walls were extremely thick on the outside and even between inside rooms. Beams were twice as big as necessary, and the house had a well in the basement in case of attack. The house also features survey walls so occupants could see out in several directions, small semi-circular windows in the bedrooms, as well as a trap door in the roof.

The shutters are able to cover the windows from both inside and out as protection from attack. Good thing.

There is a bullet hole in one of them. Apparently, the Harrisons were shot at when William Henry and his infant son were in the room, but the shutter blocked it. If the son — Benjamin Harrison — had been hit, history would have been different, since he was the father of the 23rd president, Benjamin Henry Harrison.

But outside of that incident, the house was never attacked.

Vincennes

Don't expect much in the town of Vincennes. It's pretty run down, and Grouseland isn't in a historic area nor is it on a sweeping estate, like many of the presidents’ houses we've seen. The house itself is beautiful, although the grounds are lacking.
 

The Monster


As a side note, in another part of Vincennes we found a massive monument to Revolutionary War hero, George Rogers Clark.  Built in the early 1930s with funding under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), this monster appears to be as large as the Jefferson Memorial.

References

Collins, G. 2012. William Henry Harrison. Henry Holt and Company. New York, New York.

Martin Van Buren – Lindenwald June 2, 2012

Miniature Lindenwald

The first time we saw Martin Van Buren’s house, it was no bigger than a shoebox and made entirely of plants.

This was at the “Season’s Greenings” exhibition at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., in December 2011, which featured reproductions of famous structures including several presidents’ houses. So there was Martin Van Buren’s little house encircled by a train track on which ran a tiny train carrying coal and fuel.

The next time we saw Lindenwald, it was for real, just outside Van Buren’s birthplace, the Village of Kinderhook near the Hudson River/ in the Hudson River Valley in New York.

Our first stop was the unimpressive visitor’s center—essentially a trailer with some books, a timeline on the wall, and a short video, “The Red Fox of Kinderhook.”



The Real Lindenwald

Dennis Andreas, the ranger who greeted us, got off to a rocky start by asking Tom if he qualified for the senior citizen’s discount. When Tom asked him how old one needed to be to get the discount, Mr. Andreas replied, “65.” “I’m 54; do I look that bad?” Then Mr. Andreas announced that he was brand new on the job – three weeks – and he going to be our tour guide. We were a bit concerned … but the tour turned out to be great. Mr. Andreas knew his stuff inside and out, both the history and the furnishings. He even hunted us down on the grounds of the estate after the tour was over to correct a minor mistake he had made.

 To reach Lindenwald, take Interstate 90 East Highway 9 to Highway 9H. Note that the house is only open from mid-May to October 31, so plan accordingly. The entrance fee, including a tour, is $5, individual and $12, family.

His Life
Van Buren’s long life (1782 – 1862) spanned the Revolutionary War to the Civil War. His political career of 40 years enabled him to meet almost every president from Adams to Lincoln. (He traded stories one night with a young Abraham Lincoln.).

Although he only served a single term, he is an important historical figure because he founded the modern Democratic Party. The Democratic Party he established consisted of an amalgamation of merchants and manufacturers in the Northeast and planters in the South. The party stood on the principles of states’ rights and strict interpretation of the Constitution. At the same time, as represented by Andrew Jackson, the Democratic Party was steadfastly committed to the preservation of the Union.

The founding of the party was a gradual process. In 1824, then Senator Martin Van Buren was organizing for the election of William H. Crawford of Georgia, who was running for president. Crawford’s opponent that year was John Quincy Adams, and we know how that turned out. But the campaign gave Van Buren valuable lessons on how to bring like-minded people together for a common purpose.

His talents were noticed by those who wished to see Jackson elected as the next president, and Van Buren was recruited to help. Van Buren was instrumental in helping to elect Jackson as the first Democrat. But following the win, he returned to New York for a successful run for governor.




Martin Van Buren

 
Once Jackson reached the White House, he recruited Van Buren as secretary of State. The vice president’s post was already taken by John Calhoun, who had also served as vice president for John Quincy Adams. However, Calhoun took the wrong side on many issues, including nullification—the concept that states could ignore laws that they considered unconstitutional. So his days in the White House were numbered. During Jackson’s second term, Martin Van Buren was named vice president and was well on his way to being president.

With Jackson’s support, Van Buren won the 1836 presidential election. Unfortunately for him, he began serving just in time for the Panic of 1837. According to author Ted Widmer (2005), the Panic was fueled by an “orgy of growth and speculation, beginning on Wall Street but fanning out to the four corners of North American and hardly stopping there.” It would soon spread to the financial institutions in Europe. (This was not the first United States panic but it was the worst in America to that point.) The Panic was a result of mass consumerism, land speculation, easy credit, and overinvestment in canals and railroads. Some of the easy money came from the first federal budget surplus, which was distributed to the states for investment in infrastructure. Once the economy began to contract, credit became scarce, unemployment rose, and bankruptcies became rampant. The resulting depression would last five years. (Sound familiar?)

Van Buren worked with Congress to pass legislation allowing lawsuits against banks to be suspended so that the banks could continue to operate. He also put more money into circulation and eventually authorized an independent Treasury. But — even though the Panic was not of his making — the damage to his presidency was severe and he had little hope of winning another term.

Some other highlights of Van Buren’s presidency:
• He continued Jackson’s policy of removing eastern Indian tribes to the West. This included the infamous “Trail of Tears," which happened on his watch.
• Van Buren issued an executive order to reduce the workday to 10 hours for federal employees.

Van Buren, deeply wounded by the deep financial recession, had little hope of winning reelection. During the campaign of 1840, both he and his opponent, William Henry Harrison, openly campaigned for the job — the first modern campaign in America. Van Buren lost and returned to Lindenwald.

Maybe the most interesting legacy of Van Buren is the use of the word O.K. In 1839, O.K. was used as an abbreviation for a new expression, ‘oll korrect.’ Van Buren’s supporters expropriated the abbreviation for “Olde Kinderhook” and used it as Van Buren’s political signature. He even used O.K. when he signed his name. Today, the average American uses that expression seven times a day, every day (Widmer, 2005).

Lindenwald
Lindenwald, named for the many linden trees planted by Van Buren, sits on a farm that was once 220 acres. Van Buren bought it in 1839 while still president, but he did not live there until after his presidency.


Martin's Tower

The house is an elegant but odd mixture of Georgian, Gothic Revival, Victorian and Italianate features. Widmer (2005) calls it a “McMonument… that fits squarely in the long continuum joining Monticello and Graceland.” Most of the mixing of features happened when he expanded the house in 1841 to accommodate is growing extened family as well as extra servants. Richard Upjohn, a well-known architect, included a 4-1/2 -story Italianate tower that is uncharacteristic of the period. From his tower, Van Buren could look down the Old Post Road—the road from Albany to Manhattan—to see if anyone was coming to visit him.

Wedgwood Toilet

Van Buren was constantly making improvements to the house and wanted all the latest innovations. He installed indoor plumbing including flush toilets — one of them even had a porcelain bowl (Wedgwood, no less) — and sinks with sink traps. (A servant had to pump water up to a 100-gallon tank located on the second floor.)

The rooms were huge, especially compared with those of most of his predecessors.


Landscape of the Hunt Wallpaper



The main entrance hall features expensive French wallpaper, “Landscape of the Hunt,” that shows colorful scenes of fox, rabbit, grouse and deer hunts. In the middle of the entrance hall is a huge table that could seat 20 people. Amazingly, the table can be folded accordion-style into a mere 26 inches and moved into a corner. In the entrance hall are hanging lamps that once burned whale blubber.



 The formal parlor was used to sit and talk politics. Van Buren planned his unsuccessful second and third runs for president in this room. In 1844, he competed for the Democratic nomination but took an unpopular opposing position on the annexation of the Republic of Texas—which would have been admitted as a slave state. He lost the nomination on the ninth ballot to James K. Polk. In 1848, he became the nominee for the Free Soil Party, an anti-slavery third party. Of course he lost, but his candidacy was the first serious third party candidacy in history.

The breakfast room contains an original plate warmer that was used to keep Van Buren’s breakfast warm when he was late returning from his 10-15 mile morning rides on his favorite horse, Duroc. The breakfast room also features a vacuum drive/drip coffee pot.

Sleep Tight!

Six Irish servant girls lived downstairs. They slept on American rope beds that were kept taught with a rope tightener. (The term “sleep tight” dates from that time, when the ropes were periodically tightened to create a firmer support.) The servants were summoned by bells, each with a unique sound, that hung on the wall. (The Irish girls were likely some of the one million emigrants forced out of Ireland by the Irish Potato Famine, 1845-1852. When we were in Boston on our John Adams sojourn, we saw the statue commemorating the Famine.)

Bust of MVB

The library, containing a Hyriam Howers bust of Van Buren, was where Van Buren wrote his letter against the annexation of Texas saying it was not the right time. That act cost him the 1844 Democratic nomination.

Upstairs are five bedrooms connecting to a main room. One of the bedrooms, belonging to his son, John Van Buren, contains a portrait of Queen Victoria who was coroneted the same year as Van Buren won the presidency--Van Buren would serve four years, while Queen Victoria would sit on the throne for more than 60! According to our guide, John, who had met her, said she was attractive until she opened her mouth. 


Other rooms belonged to his son Abraham and wife, Angelica. Angelica, who was Dolly Madison’s cousin, served as Van Buren’s first lady. (Van Buren’s wife, Hannah, died of tuberculosis at age 36, well before Van Buren entered the White House.) Another room belonged to his son Martin Van Buren, Jr., who died in Paris at age 41, also of TB.



Handle with Care

The largest room is Martin Van Buren’s bedroom. This is where he died on July 24, 1862, surrounded by his children. Van Buren’s last thoughts were of the Union’s progress in the Civil War.



The Gift from Andrew Jackson



On his bed rests a wooden cane — a gift from Andrew Jackson. Dennis donned white gloves to pick up the cane and show us the inscription: “Martin Van Buren For the Next President.” On the cane are 13 knots each covered by a silver cap inscribed by one of the 13 letters that form Jackson’s name.

Van Buren and Slavery

Van Buren was ambivalent about slavery early in his political career and nobody was quite sure where he stood on the issue. His father willed him an enslaved person, Tom, who ran away after only three days; Van Buren did not pursue him.

During the Amistad incident, Van Buren issued an executive order to return the revolters to their Spanish “owners.” However, this order was never carried out and the case made its way to the Supreme Court, where Congressman John Quincy Adams argued on their behalf. The imprisoned revolters were eventually freed.

Later, Van Buren became staunchly anti-slavery culminating in his 1848 run for the presidency as the candidate for the anti-slavery Free Soil party.

Kinderhook
Later that day we visited the nearby Village of Kinderhook which was holding a festival. On the day we were there, they were advertising the O.K. 5K running race.

The Red Fox of Kinderhook

It is in Kinderhook that Martin Van Buren was born and is now buried. His birthplace was the family tavern on Hudson Street. Van Buren’s life size bronze statue, designed by Edward Hlavka, sits on a bench in the center of Kinderhook. Tom did his best to make him flinch, but nothing seemed to work.

His grave is in Kinderhook Dutch Reformed Cemetery, a 15-minute walk from the center of the village. A monument with a red, white, and blue wreath at its base marked the spot of his grave. He lies there with his young wife, Hannah, and other members of his family.

References

Widmer, T. 2005. Martin Van Buren. Henry Holt and Company. New York, New York. Current, R., T.H. Williams, and F. Freidel. American History, A Survey. Volume I: To 1877. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, New York.

Andrew Jackson – The Hermitage
November 12, 2011


General Jackson

 The ghost of Andrew Jackson wanders the fields of the Hermitage, calling for his beloved Rachel. But Rachel is no more. She lies under the garden gazebo patiently awaiting her husband. This is one of the many stories we heard during out visit to Andrew Jackson’s plantation outside Nashville, Tennessee.

We flew to Nashville early in the morning, rented a car and zipped over to the Hermitage plantation in 15 minutes. To reach the Hermitage, go east on I-40, take exit 221, drive for five more minutes and you’re there. The admission was $18 for adults with a $2 discount for AAA. For an additional $10 you can take a wagon ride (we did).
At the visitor center, we watched a 15-minute introductory movie on the life of Andrew Jackson, described by the narrator as a "Democratic autocrat." We have learned, as we continue our quest to visit every president's house, that the introductory films are not to be missed if you want to learn about a president, his family and his life.

Jackson served in the American Revolution as a teenager, running messages for the Americans. He was ideal for this role because he knew the Carolina woods. Sadly, the war was cruel to him. In addition to Jackson being captured and imprisoned, he lost his mother and both brothers. His father died before he was born.

Jackson became a lawyer at age 20 and in 1788 moved “West” to Nashville where he practiced law and speculated in land. In 1796, he was elected to Congress as a representative for Tennessee. But he found himself restless and resigned after a year.
He joined the Tennessee Militia as an officer. During the War of 1812 he commanded an army that included pirates (such as Jean Lafitte), freed slaves, and Native Americans to defend New Orleans from the British. Unlike many American troops, Jackson did not flee when attacked, but held his ground and decisively beat the British. His troops called him “Old Hickory” because of his toughness. And his fame grew.

In 1824 General Jackson — he liked to be called General — found himself a candidate for president. As we noted before, Jackson won the most popular and electoral votes but did not have the majority needed. The election was moved to the House of Representatives, which selected John Quincy Adams. Jackson was elected in his own right in 1828. In 1832, he won re-election under the newly formed Democratic Party.

Following the movie, we received a complimentary audio guide that contained 1.5 hours of information keyed to numbers on signs placed throughout the grounds. Always get the audio guides (especially when they're free!): Although they make conversations tough, they are quite informative and interesting.


Andrew and Rachel

The museum features life-size statues of General Jackson and his wife. They made a curious pair; he was lean and tall (6’ 1” and 140 lbs.) while his wife, Rachel, was short and chubby. Their love story is unique. Jackson met Rachel while he was boarding in her mother's house. Rachel was married to another man at the time. However, her marriage was troubled -- speculation was spousal abuse -- and Rachel came back to live at her mother’s house. Jackson and Rachel fell in love and married, thinking that her first husband had filed for divorce — but he had not. It was years before they discovered this, filed the necessary paperwork and remarried. This “bigamy” would come to haunt both of them later, when Jackson was running for president. Jackson and Rachel were unable to have children and adopted Andrew Jackson Jr., one of two twins born to a relative.


Hermitage

 The Mansion
After the introduction, we walked out the back door of the museum and followed a winding path to the mansion. It is the same path that the many visitors to the Hermitage took 170 years ago.
As we approached the mansion, Doug Stephenson, a large bearded man in period garb, greeted us. When we asked how he was doing, he said, “For an old fat man, I’m doing all right.”

The tour was similar to that of the Mount Vernon mansion in that there are different guides for each part of the house. Mr. Stephenson handed us off to Kim Choudhury in the main entrance. She was dressed in period garb. She confided that things were a bit out of the ordinary--one of the other guides was being buried that day. He had died suddenly following gall bladder surgery.

An interesting aspect of presidents' lives that we're discovering is the importance of the house, specifically the size of the house. Things haven't changed much. The Hermitage is a perfect example of the "bigger is better" mentality of America. Jackson and his wife, Rachel, lived in a small, two-room log cabin on the property when they were first married. But then they upgraded -- to the gigantic mansion visitors see today.

In an effort to make himself look wealthier than he was, Jackson did some creative things with the house. For example, the columns supporting the house and the fireplace mantels in the rooms are painted to look like they're marble, but they are actually wood.

Like John Adams before him, Jackson built himself a house with big rooms — in Jackson's case, rooms that could fit several from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello or James Madison's Montpelier in each one. The house and its rooms are by far the largest we have seen so far on our presidential journey.

Jackson's bedroom is particularly enormous and is shown to tourists complete with volumes of newspapers bound into volumes so he - an avid newspaper reader -- could read them and save them. He died in the bedroom in 1845, at the age of 78. He had many problems throughout his life: dysentery, malaria, and small pox as a child. He also had a bullet in chest near his heart that was constantly hemorrhaging. (More on that later.)

Despite the vast size of the rooms — or maybe because of it — guests had to sleep with each other. The Jacksons would get 20-25 visitors a night, who would have to smush into two guest bedrooms on the top floor. “That means you’re going to sleep with someone you don’t know,” Stephenson said.

Those who didn't fit in the beds slept on the floor. And many visitors, including Madison, Jefferson, James K. Polk, Martin Van Buren, the Marquis de Lafayette and Sam Houston, during the summer slept on the second-story porch where it was much cooler, with a breeze, than cooped up at the top of the house. Remember, heat rises.


Telemachus Wallpaper

 The best feature of the mansion was the wallpaper, which is basically a mural showing the story of Telemachus by Fenelon. It is resplendent with bright blues, browns and oranges. Following a fire in 1834, Jackson insisted on replacing the wall paper as it had been—he called it “Rachel’s wallpaper.”



The Wagon Ride

 Wagon Ride
After the mansion tour, we were given an option to ride a wagon pulled by two black Percherons, Molly and Rachel. The ride costs $10 and tickets may be purchased at the entrance or directly from the driver. Our driver, Carl, had a honey southern accent that we later learned was a mix of South Dakota and Tennessee.

The horses pulled us through fields and into the Field Quarter, the housing area of the “enslaved people” of the Hermitage. When I asked Carl why he -- and all the signage at the Hermitage -- used the word “enslaved people” rather than “slaves,” he replied that “the word slave is a cuss word” to him. The term “enslaved people” acknowledges the humanity of the people chained to the Hermitage. (It makes perfect sense and we will use that term from now on. “Slave” is a noun, and “enslaved” is an adjective. These people were not property (noun) but rather people subjected to an inhumane condition (adjective)).

Jackson treated the enslaved fairly well; not out of love or respect but rather to maximize their work. He believed that “willing hands work better.” In 1929 he advised one of his overseers to “…treat my negroes with humanity, & attention when sick; & not work them too hard, when well — that you feed and clothe them well…” Jackson considered the enslaved his “black family.” It is not known how the enslaved felt about Jackson.

As we mentioned, the original Hermitage consisted of wooden cabins. These were used from 1804 to 1821. When the mansion was built, the cabins were turned over to the enslaved people of the Hermitage. The enslaved population grew from nine in 1804, to 60-80 in 1821, to 150 in 1845.

Jackson kept families together, mostly to keep individuals from running away. The cabins were better than many of those in the surrounding plantations because they were constructed of brick and had wooden floors and fireplaces. The enslaved were allowed to hunt and fish (proved by archaeological digs that yielded many animal bones). They were also given one day off per week.

There has been much recent excavation in the area, some of which has been covered over by gravel. Atop the gravel are the outlines of the foundations of some of the cabins. The cabins were duplexes, each holding a family. Each living space consisted of a door, a window, and a fireplace. Because each family had between five and eight children -- Maria and Steve Baker actually had 19 — most of the living took place outside.

Under the floor, enslaved families often dug clay pits or root cellars – also known as “hidey ’holes” because they hid things there including slate and pencils (they were not allowed to read and write), coins, beads, etc.

Carl next took us to the former industrial area, which consists of a blacksmith shop, leather shop, spinning and weaving building, distillery, and other trades necessary to run daily life on a plantation. All of these building are gone now; only a grassy field remains.
The overseer’s cabin was just outside the enslaved area. The overseers were looked down upon by the owners (who would not socialize with them) and the enslaved (who would undermine them as best they could.)

Carl told us the story of Betty who would not give up her recipe for maple syrup. Carl said that was an example of someone trying to maintain her job security. Everyone laughed. After the ride, Carl told us the whole story. When the General, who was out of town, found out about her insubordination, he wrote his family a letter recommending that she be publicly whipped. So much for his “black family.”

Even so, Carl has a fondness for the General. He says that he can “still feel his aura.” Knowing about Jackson “makes me want to be a better employee.” The General had a way of instilling hard work and discipline.

When Carl goes out in the field and calls Rachel his horse, he images General Jackson, despondent over the loss of his Rachel, doing the same thing. Carl’s Rachel shows up, unlike the General’s.

The General was convinced that Rachel’s fatal heart attack on Dec. 22, 1828, was caused by the vitriol of the election of 1828. As we learned during out research, John Q. Adams’ close supporters called Andrew Jackson’s wife a bigamist. According to Carl, the General summed up his feelings by saying, “Although I know Rachel has forgiven them, God knows, I never will.” When he was president, Jackson said, “I find myself a solitary mourner, deprived of all hope of happiness this side of the grave, and often wish myself at the Hermitage there to spend the remnant of my days, & daily drop a tear on the tomb of my beloved wife.”

Carl is convinced that the ghost of Andrew Jackson haunts the Hermitage. One night, Carl’s boss saw three white lights floating in the field. When he approached, the lights disappeared. Later he saw the same three white lights but now accompanied by an additional blue light. Carl imagines that the white lights were Rachel, Andrew Donelson (Jackson’s beloved nephew), and Emily Donelson (Andrew Donelson’s wife and de facto first lady at the White House), and that the blue light was General Jackson, showing up to protect his cherished ones.

Walking the Grounds
After the ride, we walked around the grounds. Although the plantation is no longer at its peak acreage of 1,200, it is still quite large and we wandered for a couple of hours. In one building — the Cabin by the Spring —we happily found refuge on a cold, windy day and refreshments and stood next to a crackling fire, sipping hot chocolate and cider.


The Gazebo


We eventually ended up in the Garden and headed to the General’s tomb. He and Rachel lie next to each other under a Greek Revival stone gazebo. Also buried in the garden is Alfred, Betty’s son and a third-generation enslaved person. He became close to the Jackson family and did not leave the Hermitage after the Civil War. He eventually became a tour guide. Before he died at age 98, he asked the Ladies’ Hermitage Association that he be buried close to the General and Rachel Jackson. (However, he had to bribe the Ladies with a mirror to have his wish fulfilled.)

Jackson's Presidency
Jackson’s presidency was one of the most important of the first half of the 19th century. His era was called the Jacksonian Age and would influence the next four presidents. As Meacham (2008) writes,

“King Andrew the First,” as his foes styled him, was the most powerful president in the forty-year history of the office, but his power was marshaled not for personal gain — he was always in financial straits — but, as Jackson saw it, for what he believed was in the best interests of the ordinary, the unconnected, the uneducated. He could be brutal in his application of power, but he was not a brute. He could be unwavering, but he was not closed-minded. He was, rather, the great politician of his time, if success in politics is measured by the affirmation of a majority of the people in real time and by the shadow one casts after leaving office.”

He was an activist president and vetoed 12 bills during his two presidencies—more than all of his predecessors combined.

Jackson was also the first president of the modern Democratic Party. The party started as the Democratic Republicans of which Thomas Jefferson was the first. The party stood strongly against the Federalists and advocated states’ rights and strict interpretation of the Constitution.

One of the defining issues of his presidency was nullification. This was the concept that states could declare laws that they considered unconstitutional, null and void. In particular, South Carolina was opposed to a continuation of the so called 1928 “Tariff of Abominations” established during the presidency of John Quincy Adams and a follow-on 1932 tariff bill. The bills were established to protect Northern industries from low-cost imports. However, it hurt the South by raising their cost of imports and by reducing the sale of cotton to the British—who saw their American markets more challenging because of the tariff. South Carolina threatened to ignore the tariff. Jackson’s position on this was initially a mystery —particularly since he had Southern sympathies. But at an 1830 presidential dinner, he offered a toast: “Our Federal union, it must be preserved.” He would not support nullification.

The nullification issue lingered for several years and South Carolina began to arm itself to fight any Federal troops that might arrive to enforce the tariff. Jackson showed his political adroitness by having Congress pass a bill authorizing him to use force against South Carolina—the so called “Force Bill”—and another bill that reduced tariffs to an acceptable level. (It is interesting that three decades later, South Carolina would be the first state to secede from the United States.) (It is also noteworthy that the only Senator to vote against the Force Bill was future President, John Tyler; the other opponents of the bill abstained.)

Another Jackson legacy was his treatment of Native Americans. In his first inaugural speech he said, “It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our peopleIt was a lie. In 1830 Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act to move all the Indians in the East to west of the Mississippi River. Although treaties had been signed with the tribes, the growing population of whites, ever expanding westward— wanted the land for themselves. The Indians were granted land in the West, but there were no provisions made to transport them — they had to ride their horses (or walk if they had none). Thousands of Indians from many tribes died under horrific conditions. The Indians came to call Jackson “the Devil.” When the Cherokee trekked the “Trail of Tears" following Jackson’s presidency, 4,000 out of 16,000 died en route. It is one of Jackson’s most brutal and unconscionable legacies and a stain on our moral standing.

Jackson was also defined by his stand on the Second Bank of the United States. After the War of 1812, President James Madison established the Second Bank to help the United States finance the war, among other reasons. (Tom visited the Bank during his trip to Philadelphia. It is a stately Greek Revival building with Doric columns and now houses a wonderful portrait gallery.) The Bank received a 20-year charter that was set to end during Jackson’s term. Jackson was not a supporter of the bank because of what he viewed as elitist corruption. He simply wanted to pay off the national debt — which he did during his presidency, the only president to do so even to the present day. In his first inauguration he stated that “the unnecessary duration of [the national debt]… .is incompatible with real independence.” He withdrew all government deposits in the Bank and redeposited them in state chartered banks. He ended the Second Bank by executive order in 1833, although it continued to operate independently under a state charter. Congress retaliated by censuring him — the only president to be censured. Just before leaving office in 1836, his allies in Congress were successful in having the censure expunged from the record.

Old Hickory
There can be no doubt about Jackson’s courage. In addition to fighting in the Revolutionary War, the First Seminole War, and the Battle of New Orleans, he welcomed opportunities for violence. In 1806 he fought a duel to avenge a series of insults to Rachel and himself. The two men stood face to face at about 24 feet. Jackson allowed the other man to shoot first and received a bullet to his ribs. He did not falter, but slowly aimed his pistol and shot the other man dead. The bullet would remain in Jackson’s body throughout his life. In 1813 he was involved in a shoot-out with Thomas Hart Benton and members of Benton’s family and took a bullet in his arm. He carried that bullet for decades before it was removed. (Benton would go on to become a senator and an ally to Jackson.)

Later when he was president, the General was attacked twice, the second time by a would-be assassin — the first in presidential history — who shot two loaded pistols at him. Both misfired and Jackson charged the assailant with his cane.

Final Words
The final words for our narrative come from Meacham (2008) who wrote of the attributes of Andrew Jackson which “included a belief in a generally limited federal government, a debt-free nation, and a country in which the people, acting through the states more fully and frequently than through Washington, made a larger number of important decisions about public affairs. Experience had taught him, however, that there was virtue in the Union and in custom, even if he himself flouted custom when it suited him.”

References
Lee, S.P. and P. Passell. 1979. A New Economic View of American History. W. W. Norton & Company. New York, New York.

May, G. 2008. John Tyler. Henry Holt and Company. New York, NY.

McDougall, W.A. 2004. Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History, 1585-1828. Harper Collins Publishers. New York, NY.

Meacham, J. 2008. American Lion: Andrews Jackson in the White House. Random House. New York, New York.

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams – Washington, D.C.
October 22 & 29, 2011

First, let us say that John Quincy Adams is one of Tom’s favorite presidents to date. He was an abolitionist, a champion of higher education and scientific research, and a master of languages. The only strike against him is that he didn’t seem to care much for his mother, the esteemed Abigail Adams.

Since we had already visited Boston to learn about John Quincy Adams’s dad, we sought another significant location to learn about JQA. It turns out that he is more closely associated with Washington, D.C., than most of his predecessors. He served as Secretary of State in the Monroe administration, as president for one term, followed by 16 years in the House of Representatives. In fact, he died in the U.S. Capitol after collapsing while giving a speech.

We spread our acquaintance JQA over two weekends. The first weekend, on Oct. 22, we were downtown to participate in an “Urban Dare.” (This is basically an Amazing Race-like treasure hunt to locate clues throughout downtown D.C. Competing against 90 other teams, we were given a list of 13 clues and given six hours to find the answers and take photographs proving we had reached the correct site. Most of the destinations were statues of historic figures and easy challenges like jump rope, three legged runs, and making balloon swords. OK, we could not make a balloon sword, but still….)

George Washington University Campus
Following our successful completion of the Urban Dare – we placed 37th -- we visited the John Quincy Adams House on the nearby George Washington University Campus. It turns out that JQA was a key contributor to the founding of the university in 1821 when it was called Columbian College. Starting during his tenure as Secretary of State, he helped establish and operate the College. As an advocate of higher education and scientific research, he was involved with the college for 30 years. At his funeral, the school’s professors and students marched in the funeral procession. (The 1998 plaque in front of the building interestingly reads, “To date this is the only time in U.S. history that a former President’s son has become president.” Little did they know that two years later, George W. Bush would become president and create the second father-son team.)

Smithsonian Castle
We next visited the site of another JQA accomplishment, the Smithsonian Castle on the National Mall. The Castle, designed by James Renwick Jr. in 1846, is the original building of the Smithsonian Institution. Unbeknownst to us, if it had not been for JQA, the Smithsonian would not have been established. The story is told in Nina Burleigh’s fine book, The Stranger and the Statesman (2003). The Stranger is John Smithson, a wealthy British scientist who died in 1828 and left a $500,000 fortune (the equivalent of tens of millions now) to the United States to be used for the “establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men.” The Statesman was JQA, who fought for eight years to convince Congress to apply the money as intended.

This is a remarkable story in that Smithson actually left all his money to his nephew with the stipulation that “In the case of the death of my said Nephew without leaving a child or children, or the death of the child or children he may have had under the age of twenty-one years or intestate, I then bequeath the whole of my property…. to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men.” It was a seemingly random act since Smithson had never visited the United States nor shown sympathy for Republicanism. Smithson also could not have known that his nephew would die young six years later without any heirs.

When the money reached the U.S., Congress applied the money to other uses including the purchase of worthless state bonds. JQA, who had long advocated for federally funded scientific research, fought hard to have the money replaced and was finally successful in 1846.

U.S. Capitol
The following weekend, we visited the U.S. Capitol. October 29 turned out to be the earliest snowfall in Washington in 40 years. A cold, raw rain fell for most of the day, but the afternoon was punctuated by big, sloppy snowflakes that covered Cathy’s umbrella. (Yes, we seem to choose rainy or cold days to visit presidents.)

To tour the Capitol, you need to sign up beforehand for the free tickets. You can do this online at www.visitthecapitol.gov. Be sure to leave enough time to get through security and do not bring any food or water with you. Cathy’s bottle -- even after she drained it -- was sadly banished to the recycle bin.

The tour begins with a 12-minute movie about Congress and the Capitol. The theme is “finding common ground” among 300 million or so U.S. citizens to move the country forward. The movie ends with the Latin phrase “E Pluribus Unum,” which means Out of Many, One.

It is worth noting that although many of us think that the current Congress is completely dysfunctional, it has almost always been like this. There have been battles in the halls of Congress going back 200 years. In fact, in 1798 two members of the House of Representatives got into a physical battle that involved the use of tongs from one of the fireplaces! Another ruckus erupted in 1877 that caused the Speaker of the House to cancel the session. The only time Congress has been completely unified was during national emergencies such as the World Wars and following 9/11.

Following the movie, we were given headsets so that we could hear our tour guide. We began our tour in the Crypt, which is the base of the Capitol. It consists of 40 sandstone columns supporting the enormous weight of the upper building and the dome. It’s called the Crypt because it was supposed to have been the resting place of George Washington. But since Washington’s will expressly stated his desire to stay put in Mount Vernon, his body was never moved. So nobody is buried there. The Crypt does contain 13 statues, one for each of the original 13 colonies.

We next visited the Capitol Rotunda, which is the open area beneath the dome. The ceiling is painted with the “Apotheosis of George Washington,” a biblical-feeling work that shows a seated George Washington, wearing his blue uniform, his legs covered by a red blanket. It feels a lot like the Sistine Chapel, which we visited several years ago. There is also a frieze around the base of the dome representing 411 years of American history, beginning with Columbus and ending with the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk.

Many famous people have laid in state in the Rotunda starting with Henry Clay in 1852 and most recently President Gerald Ford in 2007. Rosa Parks is the only woman and second African American to lay in state, in 2005. We tried paying our respects to her back then, but the line snaked at least a mile long outside the Capitol.

The final room was the one we had come to see--Statuary Hall, formerly the Old Hall of the House.

The election of 1824 was decided in this Chamber. Since none of the candidates had won a majority of the Electoral College votes, the vote was thrown to the House of Representatives. John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson – who had won the popular vote -- and William Crawford were the top three vote getters. Backroom political maneuvering gave JQA the endorsement of the fourth candidate, Henry Clay. Implied in this endorsement was a possible major role for Clay in a JQA administration. In a secret ballot, the House voted for JQA. (The subsequent appointment of Clay as Secretary of State caused a political uproar and led to JQA’s defeat to Andrew Jackson in the next election.)

JQA was inaugurated in this room on March 4, 1825. His inauguration speech, flowery to our ears, noted the success of the United States since its founding 36 years before: “a population of four million has multiplied to twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from sea to sea.” He noted the passing of the (as yet unnamed Founding Fathers) by saying, “Since the adoption of this social compact one of these generations has passed away. It is the work of our forefathers.”

JQA was defeated in the 1828 election. However, in 1830 he was elected to the House of Representatives representing Massachusetts. The House met here from 1807 to 1857. The location of his desk is marked by a plaque in the floor.

The current dome was installed in 1902 and produces a whisper effect in some places. Our tour guide gathered us around the location of JQA’s desk and walked 50 meters away. We could clearly hear her talking from that location. As she moved closer, she was no longer audible. The myth that JQA would sit at his desk and overhear the conversations of other representatives is not true since the current dome postdates him.

Like his father’s, JQA’s death was dramatic. He suffered a severe stroke in this room while giving a speech on February 21, 1848. He was taken into the Speaker’s Chamber just off the Hall where he lingered for two days before dying.

The Hall is now used to display statues of prominent Americans. Each state is allowed two statues made of bronze or marble. Thirty-eight of these statutes are in the Hall.

JQ Adams, the Man
John Adams was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on July 11, 1767. He was brought up under the lofty expectations of his father, John Adams, who was a lawyer at the time of his birth, and his mother, Abigail, who insisted throughout his life that he overcome his “slovenly” ways and consistently strive to improve himself. She basically browbeat JQA at every opportunity either in words or in her many letters. When he was 8 years old, his mother took him to an overlook so he could witness the Battle of Bunker Hill.

JQA accompanied his father to Europe and became fluent in French and Russian. By age 14 his Russian was so good that his father assigned him to accompany the U.S. ambassador to Russian for several years.

He returned to the United States to enter Harvard and became a lawyer in 1790. He was appointed by President George Washington to be the Minister to the Netherlands. When his father because president, he was assigned to be the minister to Prussia.

In 1802, he was elected to the Senate and served until 1808. In 1809, President James Madison appointed him as minister to Russia. He was also the leader of the peace commission that negotiated the end to the War of 1812.

When James Monroe was elected president in 1816, he did not have to think hard about who to appoint as Secretary of State. With his vast diplomatic experience, JQA was the obvious choice. Remini (2002) calls JQA “the greatest Secretary of State to serve that office.”

While Secretary of State, JQA negotiated Monroe’s Florida Treaty, which expanded the United States by purchasing Florida as well as a large area that extended from the Louisiana border to the Pacific Northwest. (General Andrew Jackson figured prominently in the Florida portion, but we’ll cover that later.)

He was also the main architect of the Monroe Doctrine. As we learned before, the Monroe Doctrine was three paragraphs that James Monroe gave in a congressional speech in 1823, the so-called “Principles of 1823.” The Doctrine stated that the European powers were no longer permitted to colonize or otherwise interfere in North or South America below Canada. At the same time the United States declared its intention to stay out of internal European affairs.

JQA PresidencyJQA was a disaster as president. Although he had served as a diplomat for most of his life, he was unskilled at partisan politics; and those early 1800s politics were as bad as anything we see today. He was plagued throughout his presidency by an embittered Andrew Jackson and his allies (including future presidents Martin Van Buren and John Tyler).

Part way through his presidency, JQA became a strong advocate for a strong federal government role in improving the lives of citizens. It was almost as though he had become a Federalist again. He advocated a massive infrastructure program that included roads, canals and bridges. He also advocated the founding of a national university, an observatory, and a naval academy. In his 1925 inauguration speech he announced his intention to undertake federally financed public works: “…nearly twenty years have passed since the construction of the first national road was commenced. The authority for its construction was then unquestioned. To how many thousands of our countrymen has it proved a benefit? To what single individual has it ever proved an injury?” Similar debates about the role of government in creating the nation’s infrastructure still rage today.

In 1828 Congress passed the so-called Tariff of Abominations. These were protective tariffs that were applied unevenly — favoring the Southern (Democratic leaning) states at the expense of the New England states (Adams supporters). JQA signed it in 1828.

The election of 1828 was purportedly the dirtiest to date. JQA was labeled a pimp, Andrew Jackson’s wife a bigamist, and Jackson’s mother a prostitute. In addition, Adams and his wife Louisa were excoriated for allegedly having had premarital sex. Notice that the common theme here is sex, which has brought down more than one presidential candidate even now. The other hot-button issue was religion. Accusations of Unitarianism and Catholicism dogged Adams while accusations of Free Masonry haunted Jackson.

Adams was decisively defeated by Andrew Jackson. Like his father, he was so embittered over his loss that he did not attend the inauguration of his successor.

His Next CareerBut JQA’s career was nowhere near over. A year later, he was recruited by his home state of Massachusetts to represent it in Congress. He easily won the election and served 17 brilliant years.

He slowly became an abolitionist, particularly after the 1836 House vote that prohibited any anti-slavery debate. This prohibition became known as the Gag Rule. For eight years he fought hard against it, alienating many of his colleagues. The rule was finally overturned in 1844.

In 1841, Adams went to the Supreme Court to defend 39 slaves who had taken over the Spanish ship, the Amistad. These slaves took control of the ship as it made its way to from Cuba to Puerto Rico. The Amistad then sailed north to New York, where the ship was taken by the United States. Spain petitioned to have the slaves returned as property. Adams’ arguments were successful and the former slaves were free to return to Africa.

JQA was nicknamed “Old Man Eloquent” following a speech he gave castigating Daniel Webster for advocating too much power to the presidency. Even his enemies, the Democrats, loved this speech. Some of his writings regarding slavery were so inspiring, that Abraham Lincoln was said to have borrowed his ideas 30 years later.

Personal Life
JQA was harassed by his mother, Abigail, throughout her life. She constantly harangued him about improving his appearance and his slothful ways. Even when he was overseas with his father, she sent him letters of admonition. Nobody knows how this affected him, but when his mother lay on her deathbed in Quincy, JQA, now Secretary of State in Washington, did not go to her. He did not attend her funeral, either.

JQA was married to Louisa Catherine Johnson. She does not receive the historical attention of Martha Washington, Abigail Adams or Dolly Madison. However, she was a solid presence in his life and raised three sons.

He was plagued by depression throughout his life. The loss of two of his three sons -- one by suicide and the other by alcoholism — certainly didn’t help.

Was JQA the first (and maybe only) president with Asperger’s Syndrome? He was unquestionably one of the most brilliant of the presidents. He mastered anywhere from five to nine languages (accounts vary) including French, Dutch, Russian, Spanish, Italian, German, Greek, Latin, and of course English. Burleigh (2003) describes journalist Anne Royall’s first meeting with JQA. In Royall’s own words she writes: “He neither smiled nor frowned but regarded me with a calmness peculiar to him, awaited my business. He never smiled while I was in his company, it is a question with me whether he ever laughed in his life…”

ReferencesBurleigh, N. 2003. The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America’s Greatest Museum: The Smithsonian. RB Large Print. Prince Frederick, MD.

Nagel, P. 1997. John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, NY.

Remini, R.V. 2002. John Quincy Adams. Henry Holt and Company. New York, NY.