J.Q. Adams Speech to Congress Evoking "Christian Hope" While Fighting for Amistad Slaves
John Quincy Adams
Washington, DC, ca. 1842
J.Q. Adams Speech to Congress Evoking "Christian Hope" While Fighting for Amistad Slaves
Manuscript
A remarkable four-page John Quincy Adams handwritten speech from 1842, composed during one of the most consequential periods of the former president's extraordinary post-presidential career. Written entirely in Adams's hand on two adjoining sheets, each adjoining sheet measuring approximately 6.75" x 8.5". Accompanied by a full Letter of Authenticity from Beckett Authentication Services. Expected folds, scattered toning, and minor handling wear are present, with the manuscript remaining well preserved and the writing strong and highly legible.
Just sixteen months after Adams stood before the United States Supreme Court and delivered his celebrated argument on behalf of the captive Africans of the Amistad, this deeply personal congressional speech memorializes his longtime political colleague, cabinet member, and friend, Samuel L. Southard who Adams states had "The confidence of his countrymen." By this point, Adams was 74 years old and serving in the House of Representatives, where his later career had become closely associated with antislavery petitions and opposition to the congressional "gag rule." In February and March 1841, he had returned to the Supreme Court to argue for the freedom of the Amistad captives, declaring that the "life and liberty" of the Africans depended upon the Court's decision; the Court ultimately ruled in their favor. Now, in June 1842, the same aging statesman and formidable orator turned his pen to a different subject, mourning a man with whom he had shared some of the highest responsibilities of government.
In part:
"Mr Speaker. Words cannot express the feelings with which I am called to respond to the eloquent and pathetic appeal from the gentleman who has just taken seat, and the peculiar relations which have existed between the deceased and myself, call on me to ask the indulgence of this house to add a few words of testimonial to the transcendent worth of Mr Southard.
My acquaintance with him commenced upon his entrance into the Senate of this Union in 1821... His clear discernment - the cool and impartial judgment, the calm and dispassionate temper, and the firmness and integrity of the man had already pointed him out to the notice of his fellow citizens of the State as eminently qualified...
From the time of his entrance into the Senate my personal acquaintance with Mr Southard, and the means of observing his public services and his private virtues... scarcely a day has passed without calling another leaf to the chaplet of honors which at the hour of his decease encircled his dying head...
During the period of six years while we were united as colleagues and fellow servants in the Executive department of the Government, my personal relations with Mr Southard necessarily became of daily occurrence, intimate and in the highest degree confidential - and they opened to my attentive observation of his character a mine of intellectual and moral worth richer than diamonds or rubies. The firmness of his judgment, the soundness of his views and the candour of his disposition, the honesty of his purposes and the firmness of his adherence to his own sense of right, were to me as a colleague and a confidential assistant and adviser a treasure beyond all price - The fidelity of his nature applicable to all the duties of life gave to his friendship a stability firm as the foundations of the earth...
He is gone! Full not of years, but of honors, had the undiscerning shaft of death pierced another bosom instead of his own it would have elevated him to the summit of power in this union and made him at this moment, the Chief ruler of the land. Earthly honors and earthly powers for him are deposited in that Tomb, to which we are about to follow his earthly remains...
To his bereaved and disconsolate widow, to his mourning and afflict
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John Quincy Adams
Washington, DC, ca. 1842
J.Q. Adams Speech to Congress Evoking "Christian Hope" While Fighting for Amistad Slaves
Manuscript
A remarkable four-page John Quincy Adams handwritten speech from 1842, composed during one of the most consequential periods of the former president's extraordinary post-presidential career. Written entirely in Adams's hand on two adjoining sheets, each adjoining sheet measuring approximately 6.75" x 8.5". Accompanied by a full Letter of Authenticity from Beckett Authentication Services. Expected folds, scattered toning, and minor handling wear are present, with the manuscript remaining well preserved and the writing strong and highly legible.
Just sixteen months after Adams stood before the United States Supreme Court and delivered his celebrated argument on behalf of the captive Africans of the Amistad, this deeply personal congressional speech memorializes his longtime political colleague, cabinet member, and friend, Samuel L. Southard who Adams states had "The confidence of his countrymen." By this point, Adams was 74 years old and serving in the House of Representatives, where his later career had become closely associated with antislavery petitions and opposition to the congressional "gag rule." In February and March 1841, he had returned to the Supreme Court to argue for the freedom of the Amistad captives, declaring that the "life and liberty" of the Africans depended upon the Court's decision; the Court ultimately ruled in their favor. Now, in June 1842, the same aging statesman and formidable orator turned his pen to a different subject, mourning a man with whom he had shared some of the highest responsibilities of government.
In part:
"Mr Speaker. Words cannot express the feelings with which I am called to respond to the eloquent and pathetic appeal from the gentleman who has just taken seat, and the peculiar relations which have existed between the deceased and myself, call on me to ask the indulgence of this house to add a few words of testimonial to the transcendent worth of Mr Southard.
My acquaintance with him commenced upon his entrance into the Senate of this Union in 1821... His clear discernment - the cool and impartial judgment, the calm and dispassionate temper, and the firmness and integrity of the man had already pointed him out to the notice of his fellow citizens of the State as eminently qualified...
From the time of his entrance into the Senate my personal acquaintance with Mr Southard, and the means of observing his public services and his private virtues... scarcely a day has passed without calling another leaf to the chaplet of honors which at the hour of his decease encircled his dying head...
During the period of six years while we were united as colleagues and fellow servants in the Executive department of the Government, my personal relations with Mr Southard necessarily became of daily occurrence, intimate and in the highest degree confidential - and they opened to my attentive observation of his character a mine of intellectual and moral worth richer than diamonds or rubies. The firmness of his judgment, the soundness of his views and the candour of his disposition, the honesty of his purposes and the firmness of his adherence to his own sense of right, were to me as a colleague and a confidential assistant and adviser a treasure beyond all price - The fidelity of his nature applicable to all the duties of life gave to his friendship a stability firm as the foundations of the earth...
He is gone! Full not of years, but of honors, had the undiscerning shaft of death pierced another bosom instead of his own it would have elevated him to the summit of power in this union and made him at this moment, the Chief ruler of the land. Earthly honors and earthly powers for him are deposited in that Tomb, to which we are about to follow his earthly remains...
To his bereaved and disconsolate widow, to his mourning and afflict
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