The national leaders who followed in the footsteps of the founding generation were by many measures lesser men than the giants who had gone before. Many sought the presidency, but those elected to the nation's highest office were not always the best men for the job. Nevertheless, this second generation kept American democracy moving forward. They were still not able, however, to solve the nation's biggest problem, slavery.
Here are brief sketches of some of the leaders of the early 19th century.
John Quincy Adams: Nationalist
As President James Monroe's secretary of state, John Quincy Adams, was the North's best known political leader in the 1820s. Originally a Federalist like his father, Adams converted to the Republican party after 1800. Adams was capable, ambitious, and intelligent, but he was inept in personal relationships and was a demanding perfectionist. He was a committed nationalist, open-minded toward tariff policy, and supportive of the bank and internal improvements. He is by consensus one of America's most brilliant diplomats and co-author with James Monroe of the Monroe Doctrine. He negotiated a number of treaties favorable to the United States.
Adams served 18 years in the House of Representatives after being president, the only former president ever to do so. During his years in Congress he struggled mightily against the institution of slavery, which he abhorred. He argued for the freeing of slaves in the United States Supreme Court in the case of the slave ship, La Amistad, whose story is now well known from the Stephen Spielberg film Amistad. John Quincy Adams collapsed on the floor of the House in February, 1848, and died in the United States Capitol two days later.
World History
