If you were asked what you know about John Quincy Adams, what would you say? Many would recall his parentage and his rise to the presidency. Even though he had already served as a diplomat in several European countries, few would link him to the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812.
At the end of 1814, the war was nearing its end and the British were losing. From Lake Erie to North Point, Americans flexed their seagoing muscles. And by January 1815, the Battle of New Orleans was completely engaged.
But over in Belgium, John Quincy Adams was with the British and Americans already negotiating the end of the War. He was joined by Henry Clay, Albert Gallatin, James A. Bayard and Jonathan Russell. The chief negotiator for the British was James Gambier. Others were Dr. William Adams and Henry Goulburn.
Adams was educated and sophisticated, a former U.S. senator, a one-time federalist who hated the politics of it all. He resigned the Senate and went back to teaching at Harvard until he was called by James Madison to serve as Ambassador to the Russian Court of Czar Alexander I until Madison sent him to Ghent to negotiate the treaty.
His counterpart, Henry Clay, was a great orator and a Federalist who became Speaker of the House in 1811. He was a part of “The War Hawks,” a group that advocated for the 1812 War. He was a contentious man.
The tension between Adams and Clay was palpable. At one point during the negotiations, Goulburn brought up the topic of British control of the Great Lakes. Clay retorted Goulburn’s statement and said he was “. . . a man of much irritation.” Adams, the diplomat, said “Irritability . . . is the word, Mr. Clay, irritability.” Then Adams stared at Clay and said . . . like somebody else that I know.” To which Clay laughed and came back with “Aye, that we do; all know him, and none better than yourself.”
Eventually, the treaty took shape and was signed on Christmas Eve, 1814, and the war ended March 23, 1815. Adams later went on to become President.
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