Adams considered permanently retiring from public life after his 1828 defeat, and he was deeply hurt by the suicide of his son, George Washington Adams, in 1829.[83] He was appalled by many of the Jackson administration's actions, including its embrace of the spoils system.[84] Adams grew bored of his retirement and still felt that his career was unfinished, so he ran for and won a seat in the United States House of Representatives in the 1830 elections.[85]
His election went against the generally held opinion, shared by his own
wife and youngest son, that former presidents should not run for public
office.[86] He was the first president to serve in Congress after his term of office, and one of only two former presidents to do so (Andrew Johnson later served in the Senate). He was elected to nine terms, serving as a Representative for 17 years, from 1831 until his death.[87]
Returning to Washington at the age of sixty-four, Adams expected a light workload, but Speaker Andrew Stevenson selected Adams chairman of the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures.[88] During his time in Congress he also served as chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Affairs.[87]
Stevenson, an ally of Jackson, expected that the chairmanship would
keep Adams busy defending the tariff, but that the presence of a
Jacksonian majority on the committee would prevent Adams from accruing
any real power.[89]
Adams ran for Governor of Massachusetts in 1833 on the Anti-Masonic ticket. Incumbent National Republican Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr. was retiring so Adams faced that party's John Davis, Democrat Marcus Morton and Samuel L. Allen of the Working Men's Party.
Davis won a plurality with 40%; Adams took 29%, with Morton taking 25%
and Allen 6%. Because no candidate had won a majority, the election was
decided by the state legislature. Adams withdrew and endorsed Davis,
preferring him over Morton, and Davis was chosen in January 1834.[90]
When James Smithson
died and left his estate to the U.S. government to build an institution
of learning, many in Congress wanted to use the money for other
purposes. Adams played a key role ensuring that the money was instead
used to build the Smithsonian Institution.[5] In 1839, he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society.[91]
Adams opposed the annexation of Texas,
viewing as unconstitutional the imposition of U.S. citizenship on
foreign nationals when those nationals did not hold a referendum.[92] Adams called for the annexation of the entirety of Oregon Country, a disputed region occupied by both the United States and Britain, and was disappointed when President James K. Polk signed the Oregon Treaty, which divided the land between the two claimants at the 49th parallel.[93] Adams became a strong critic of the Mexican-American War, which he saw as a war of aggression against Mexico that was designed to take Mexican territory.[94] Although the war was popular at first, many Whigs eventually opposed it.[95]
Although there is no indication that the two were close, Adams met Abraham Lincoln during the latter's sole term as a member of the House of Representatives, from 1847 until Adams' death.[96] Thus, it has been suggested that Adams is the only major figure in American history who knew both the Founding Fathers and Abraham Lincoln; however, this is not so, as Martin Van Buren met Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, knew Founder Aaron Burr (Van Buren's mentor), and met the young Lincoln while on a campaign trip through Illinois.[97]
No comments:
Post a Comment