John Quincy Adams As Minister To
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Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1992 John Quincy Adams as Minister to Russia, 1809-1814: The deI als and Realities Confronting His Mission Mary Elizabeth Willwerth This research is a product of the graduate program in History at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Willwerth, Mary Elizabeth, "John Quincy Adams as Minister to Russia, 1809-1814: The deI als and Realities Confronting His Mission" (1992). Masters Theses. 2191. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/2191 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THESIS REPRODUCTION CERTIFICATE TO:. Graduate DegJ!'ee Candidates who have written formal theses. SUBJECT: Permission to reproduce theses. 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Date I respectfully request Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University not allow my thesis be rep;roduced because ~~~~~--~~-......--~--~- Pate Author m -~Ehn Quincy Adams as Minister to Russia, 1809-1814: The Ideals and Realities Confronting His Mission (TITLE) BY Mary Elizabeth Willwerth THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts in History IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY CHARLESTON, ILLINOIS 1992 YEAR I HEREBY RECOMMEND THIS THESIS BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE GRADUATE DEGREE CITED ABOVE DATE ABSTRACT To John Quincy Adams, the early nineteenth century proved itself to be not only a struggle for American independence from Europe, but a struggle for the eighteenth century ideal of the recently formed American philosophy of government. This unique philosophy inspired by key figures of the American Enlightenment, such as Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, incorporated the vision of America leading the way of enlightened world governments. Son of the proud American revolutionary, John Adams, John Quincy Adams continued to follow the basic axioms of his father's generation and implement their basic ideals within his own various careers in governmental service. Adams would continue to promote the American ideal of natural law, practical government by the people and citizen equality throughout his entire life and regardless of his distance from the United States. Adams' diplomatic mission to the Court of Tsar Alexander I in st. Petersburg from 1809-1814, provided the ultimate challenge to Adams' philosophy. While struggling to turn American ideals into realities, Adams confronted the rising wave of a counter movement which eventually overtook the Enlightenment. This movement was Romanticism, which elevated exactly what Adams attempted all his life to suppress; passionate instincts, intimate feeling, and inner reality. His years in st. Petersburg, played out against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Era, only led him further toward a rigid resolve against such irrational behaviors in favor of reason and order. While the nations of Europe and America succumbed to this new wave of understanding, Adams stood proudly, if fruitlessly, against the temperaments of a new age. Adams experience in Russia, his last public service outside of the United States, solidified his firm stance regarding America's place among world nations. After 1814, Adams embraced what he considered to be the true American cause for liberty and republicanism. Through his own implementations of isolationist policies as Secretary of State, Adams sought to preserve the American ideals from the Romantic Movement, so characteristic of Europe in the early nineteenth century. To Harry Joseph Willwerth Jr. who through his life inspired his neice to live out her dreams and love life. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . • . • . i Chapter 1. Introduction 1 2. "A Question of Character: The Mind of John Quincy Adams" . 7 3. "John Quincy Adams as Minister Plenipotentiary to St. Petersburg, 1809-1814: The Ideals and Realities Confronting His Diplomatic Mission" . 32 4. Conclusion • 59 5. Endnotes • • • 66 6. Sources Consulted 72 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincerest thanks to Dr. Anita Shelton whose patience, guidance and encouragement helped complete my efforts with sanity intact and a polished thesis in hand. I will always be grateful of her kindness to me and full of respect for her work. Thanks as well to Dr. Dan Hockman who encouraged me to maintain my original ideas and challenged me to prove the validity of my theories. Lastly, my gratitude goes out to Dr. Christopher Waldrep who never doubted my abilities despite the presence of my own insecurities. Their encouragement and enthusiasm for the achievement of my goal inspired me to complete the following thesis. i Introduction Though the Peace of Paris in 1783 had fortified the independence of the newly formed American nation, America would not succeed in freeing itself from European influences until its second victory over England in the War of 1812. This second decisive struggle for American independence and economic neutrality proved to many to be the key unlocking America's future growth. The United States victory and the subsequent Treaty of Ghent launched America's commercial expansion as the former British domination of trade was overridden in favor of United States neutrality. To John Quincy Adams, the young diplomat and architect of the treaty, the early nineteenth century proved itself to be not only a struggle for American independence from Europe, but a struggle for the ideal nature of the recently formed American philosophy of government. This unique philosophy, inspired by key figures of the American Enlightenment, such as Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, incorporated the vision of America leading the way of enlightened world republics. Son of the proud American revolutionary, John Adams, John Quincy Adams continued to follow the basic axioms of 1 2 his father's generation and implement their ideals within his own various careers in governmental service. These ideals of the Enlightenment focused upon the resurgence of philosophical thought and the questioning of authority. The movement grew to spread to all facets of man's existence, especially the sphere of politics, empirical analysis, and scientific inquiry. The founding fathers of the United States sought to fulfill the ideals of the age into the creation of a new nation. Adams was a direct product of this movement of the eighteenth century and manifested "in tremendous scope many of the intellectual trends and traditions of that century, both in his acceptance and in his rejection of those trends and traditions. 111 Raised by Puritanical parents and schooled at Harvard and throughout Europe in the eighteenth century traditions of the European Enlightenment, Adams felt it his supreme duty as an American citizen to maintain the permanence of the American ideal established by the generation of his father. Adams would continue to promote this republican ideal of natural law, practical government by the people and citizen equality throughout his entire life and regardless of his distance from the United States. In 1809, Adams' profound sense of national duty led him to the isolated ministry in st. Petersburg, Russia. Here, amidst the threatening and potentially violent European coalition put together by Napoleon, Adams struggled to keep 2 3 America free of all European entanglements which he believed poisoning to the newly created American nation. His every move, both diplomatically and personally had been to achieve the perseverance of the infant American nation, formed out of the minds of the Enlightenment. Because of this, Adams remained convinced of the validity and moral integrity of the American nation over all other nations of the world. Adams' experience away from his native country from 1809 to 1814, were years of importance to the development of United States' prosperity and growth. While Adams was in st. Petersburg, the growing number of aggressive Republican members in Congress, led by Henry Clay, began expressing the desire to set America upon a course Adams perceived to be contrary to the wishes of the founding fathers. In the passionate world of early nineteenth century Europe, American neutrality was completely disregarded by the aggressive European powers. In light of this fact, Clay and many of his contemporaries grew desirous of achieving American neutrality through force. This growing opinion within America and the general advancement of Romanticism in Europe led to the further disappearance of the enlightened ideal originally established for the American government. The Romantic movement was characterized by the reassertion of the imagination and an emphasis upon human sentiment. Begun within Europe, Romanticism spread to the young American republic and stood in direct contrast to the 4