John Quincy Adams and American Global EmpireThis is the story of a man, a treaty, and a nation. The man was John Quincy Adams, regarded by most historians as America's greatest secretary of state. The treaty was the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, of which Adams was the architect. It acquired Florida for the young United States, secured a western boundary extending to the Pacific, and bolstered the nation's position internationally. As William Weeks persuasively argues, the document also represented the first determined step in the creation of an American global empire. Weeks follows the course of the often labyrinthine negotiations by which Adams wrested the treaty from a recalcitrant Spain. The task required all of Adams's skill in diplomacy, for he faced a tangled skein of domestic and international controversies when he became secretary of state in 1817. The final document provided the United States commercial access to the Orient--a major objective of the Monroe administration that paved the way for the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Adams, the son of a president and later himself president, saw himself as destined to play a crucial role in the growth and development of the United States. In this he succeeded. Yet his legendary statecraft proved bittersweet. Adams came to repudiate the slave society whose interests he had served by acquiring Florida, he was disgusted by the rapacity of the Jacksonians, and he experienced profound guilt over his own moral transgressions while secretary of state. In the end, Adams understood that great virtue cannot coexist with great power. Weeks's book, drawn in part from articles that won the Stuart Bernath Prize, makes a lasting contribution to our understanding of American foreign policy andadds significantly to our picture of one of the nation's most important statesmen. |
Contents
ONE Destiny | 6 |
TWO Developing a Strategy | 37 |
FOUR The South American Question | 85 |
Copyright | |
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Abigail Abigail Adams actions Adams Family Adams Family Papers Adams's administration AHN-Estado Amelia Island Amer American foreign Andrew Jackson Arbuthnot ASPFR Astor Astoria Bemis Britain British cabinet Calhoun camarilla Castlereagh chap claim Clay Clay's colonial commercial Congress congressional defend destiny diplomacy diplomatic dispute documents empire executive favor feared force foreign policy Hyde de Neuville Ibid ican Indians insurgent governments interests invasion of Florida James Monroe January Jefferson John Quincy Adams JQA diary July knew Louisiana Purchase Madison Madrid Memoirs ment military minister Mississippi Missouri Monroe and Adams Monroe's moral nation negotiations Negro Fort North northwest coast Onís Onís's Pacific patriot Pazos Pensacola Pizarro political president Quoted recognition Remini republic republican resolution Richard Rush River role Russia secretary Seminole War Seminoles slave slavery South American independence Spain Spanish Empire Spanish government struggle territory Texas tion transcontinental boundary Transcontinental Treaty United Washington West Florida western boundary