March 4, 1825, 200 years ago: John Quincy Adams, son of John
Adams, the 2nd President of the United States, is Inaugurated as the
6th President of the United States, in the House of Representatives
Chamber of the U.S. Capitol Building.
John C. Calhoun, the outgoing U.S. Secretary of War, is sworn in as Vice President.
Certainly, Adams was qualified for the office. He had been a U.S Senator from Massachusetts; U.S. Minister to the Netherlands, Prussia (Germany), Russia and Britain; and Secretary of State under the previous President, James Monroe.
But he becomes President under controversial circumstances, having not won the popular vote or the initial Electoral Vote, and having been elected by the U.S. House of Representatives thanks to a competitor, Speaker of the House Henry Clay, throwing Adams his support, in what appears to have been a quid pro quo, as Adams appointed Clay to be Secretary of State -- at the time, tantamount to being named heir presumptive as President -- allowing him to win over the man who led in both the popular and the Electoral Vote, General Andrew Jackson.
Sworn in by Chief Justice John Marshall, he is the only President to swear the Oath of Office with his hand on a book other than a Bible, using a book of laws. And, as the 1st President who could not be counted among the "Founding Fathers," he changed the fashion of the ceremony: Instead of long hair tied in a queue, he had his hair cut short; and instead of the traditional knee breeches, he wore long trousers.
As Thomas Jefferson had, following the previous most contentious election, he tried a conciliatory tone in his Inaugural Address, saying, "The collisions of party spirit which originate in speculative opinions or in different views of administrative policy are in their nature transitory." He noted his status as the 1st minority-vote President by saying, "I am deeply conscious of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need of your indulgence."
His Presidency was a failure. The Democratic Party wanted nothing to do with him, and what had become the National Republican Party discovered that the natural contentious personality common to the Adams men was rather strong in him. He got very little done, and when his rematch with Andrew Jackson came in 1828, he was soundly defeated.
In 1830, he became the 1st former President to be elected to the House of Representatives. He served a District outside Boston, becoming the House's leading advocate for the abolition of slavery, until his death in 1848.
