tour America as a âguest of the nationâ to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the victory at Yorktown. President John Quincy Adams invited Lafayette to stay at the White House during his last weeks in America. (FROM AN ENGRAVING IN THE CHÃTEAU DE VERSAILLES, RÃUNION DES MUSÃES NATIONAUX)
You are ours by more than the patriotic self-devotion with which you flew to the aid of our fathers at the crisis of our fate; ours by that unshaken gratitude for your services which is a precious portion of our inheritance; ours by that tie . . . which has linked your name for endless ages of time with the name of Washington. . . . Speaking in the name of the whole people of the United States . . . I bid you a reluctant and affectionate farewell. 16
âGod bless you, sir,â Lafayette sobbed. âGod bless the American people.â He embraced John Quincy and, with tears streaming down his face, rushed back into the White House to collect himself before leaving American shores for the last time.
Lafayetteâs departure ended the few weeks of civil behavior that the French heroâs arrival had provoked among Washington political leaders. Even Vice President Calhoun now turned on John Quincy in a political tidal wave of outrage over what Americans perceived as âthe theft of governmentâ and disregard of the popular will. In designating Clay his secretary of state, John Quincy inadvertently provoked the founding of a new political party, with a broad popular base spanning the West and South.
Calling themselves Democrats, the new party set out from the first to cripple John Quincyâs administration and ensure his departure after one term. John Quincy tried to forestall the inevitable by offering Jackson a cabinet post as secretary of war, but Jackson all but laughed in his face and refused even to consider serving an administration he was determined to bring down.
While Jackson was building a political party to support his own presidential ambitions, John Quincy held stubbornly to his naive dismissal of political parties as antithetical to union. Even more naively, he refused to take advantage of patronage to put men in office who would support him and his policies. The result was a cabinet and government bureaucracy that, for the most part, worked to undermine both his policies and his chances of winning a second term.
As Jackson and his supporters filled the press with charges headlined âCorrupt Bargain,â John Quincy reacted scornfully, calling the Democratic Party a âconspiracyâ against national unity. Henry Clay grew so angry at Virginia senator John Randolphâs constant references to a âcorrupt bargainâ that he challenged Randolph to a duel. Although both men emerged unhurt, Clay managed to send a bullet through Randolphâs sleeve.
The threat of duels notwithstanding, Jacksonians in Congress stepped up their obstructionist tactics. When a group of newly independent Latin American nations invited the United States to send representatives to a
conference in Panama to form a pan-American union, Jacksonian congressmen purposely debated the qualifications of John Quincyâs appointees until the conference had ended, leaving the American delegates with no conference to attend.
In addition to his political humiliations in Congress, John Quincy faced unexpected personal humiliation when he and his valet tried rowing across the Potomac River one afternoon, with John Quincy intending to swim back. âBefore we got half across,â he explained,
the boat had leaked itself half full and . . . there was nothing on board to scoop up the water. . . . I jumped overboard . . . and lost hold of the boat, which filled with water and drifted away. . . . Antoine, who was naked, had little difficulty. I had much more . . . struggling for life and gasping for breath. . . . The loose sleeves of my shirt . . . filled with water and hung like two fifty-six-pound
You are ours by more than the patriotic self-devotion with which you flew to the aid of our fathers at the crisis of our fate; ours by that unshaken gratitude for your services which is a precious portion of our inheritance; ours by that tie . . . which has linked your name for endless ages of time with the name of Washington. . . . Speaking in the name of the whole people of the United States . . . I bid you a reluctant and affectionate farewell. 16
âGod bless you, sir,â Lafayette sobbed. âGod bless the American people.â He embraced John Quincy and, with tears streaming down his face, rushed back into the White House to collect himself before leaving American shores for the last time.
Lafayetteâs departure ended the few weeks of civil behavior that the French heroâs arrival had provoked among Washington political leaders. Even Vice President Calhoun now turned on John Quincy in a political tidal wave of outrage over what Americans perceived as âthe theft of governmentâ and disregard of the popular will. In designating Clay his secretary of state, John Quincy inadvertently provoked the founding of a new political party, with a broad popular base spanning the West and South.
Calling themselves Democrats, the new party set out from the first to cripple John Quincyâs administration and ensure his departure after one term. John Quincy tried to forestall the inevitable by offering Jackson a cabinet post as secretary of war, but Jackson all but laughed in his face and refused even to consider serving an administration he was determined to bring down.
While Jackson was building a political party to support his own presidential ambitions, John Quincy held stubbornly to his naive dismissal of political parties as antithetical to union. Even more naively, he refused to take advantage of patronage to put men in office who would support him and his policies. The result was a cabinet and government bureaucracy that, for the most part, worked to undermine both his policies and his chances of winning a second term.
As Jackson and his supporters filled the press with charges headlined âCorrupt Bargain,â John Quincy reacted scornfully, calling the Democratic Party a âconspiracyâ against national unity. Henry Clay grew so angry at Virginia senator John Randolphâs constant references to a âcorrupt bargainâ that he challenged Randolph to a duel. Although both men emerged unhurt, Clay managed to send a bullet through Randolphâs sleeve.
The threat of duels notwithstanding, Jacksonians in Congress stepped up their obstructionist tactics. When a group of newly independent Latin American nations invited the United States to send representatives to a
conference in Panama to form a pan-American union, Jacksonian congressmen purposely debated the qualifications of John Quincyâs appointees until the conference had ended, leaving the American delegates with no conference to attend.
In addition to his political humiliations in Congress, John Quincy faced unexpected personal humiliation when he and his valet tried rowing across the Potomac River one afternoon, with John Quincy intending to swim back. âBefore we got half across,â he explained,
the boat had leaked itself half full and . . . there was nothing on board to scoop up the water. . . . I jumped overboard . . . and lost hold of the boat, which filled with water and drifted away. . . . Antoine, who was naked, had little difficulty. I had much more . . . struggling for life and gasping for breath. . . . The loose sleeves of my shirt . . . filled with water and hung like two fifty-six-pound
Similar Books
