John Quincy Adams
1824: The election of 1824 produced an outcome where none of the four candidates achieved a majority of electoral endorsements. Jackson received 99; Adams 84; Crawford 41; and Clay 37. Because no one attained the required constitutional majority, the election was remanded to the House. In what Jackson proponents denounced as the “corrupt bargain”, Speaker Henry Clay resolved to throw his votes behind Adams, presumably, to secure the helm of the State Department for himself.
1825: The Erie Canal is completed, linking the Atlantic and trans-Atlantic marketplace with growing agricultural production in the Northwest states.
1824: A central feature of the Adams administration was the opening and expansion of trade relationships with South America and the Caribbean colonies, which were formalized between the US and several European powers in the General Reciprocity Act of 1824.
1825: In October, the Tennessee legislature nominated Andrew Jackson as their presidential challenger for the 1828 election.
1825: Treaty between the US and the Federation of Central America solidified Most Favored Nation arrangements and
1825: Adams and Clay arranged settlement of numerous claims stemming from incidents with Russia, the primary territorial competitor in the Pacific Northwest.
1825: In August, Capt. David Porter, a perennial thorn in the side of the US Navy, was court-martialed after landing troops at Fajardo, Puerto Rico in November 1824, to demand an apology from the port’s captain for detention of two errant US officers. The American public, however, proved largely sympathetic to Porter’s insubordination.
1826: Under the mediation of Czar Nicholas I, Adams finalized a settlement with the British in November over restitution from damages incurred during the War of 1812, left unresolved by the Treaty of Ghent.
1826: Military standardization and integration of Union and state militias was a foremost concern during the Adams administration. In response to a proposal by the Secretary of War to revamp military organization and seniority systems, a joint House and Senate resolution in May called for the production and dispersal of training manuals.
1826: A number of newspapers, including the Republican and Commercial Advertiser, the Times and Advertiser, the Morning Courier and the New Jersey Patriot threw their editorial support to Jackson in 1826 and 1827 (Mary W.M. Hargreaves p257).
1827: In April 1826, and again in Dec 1827 further European states were incorporated into the MFN trade system, the pre-conditions of commercial growth being ‘neutral rights’.
1827: Manifesting the growing concerns over Indian policy and cohabitation, representatives from several frontier and Southern states sought authority over Indian reservations within their states and called for the relocation of all Indian tribes then residing East of the Mississippi river to westward areas. The outcry cultivated mounting pressures brought on by increased settlement and laid the groundwork for more aggressive Jacksonian policies.
1827: In March, President Adams proclaimed all American ports closed to trade with British colonies, suspending disagreements from an era of protracted contention with the British over Tariffs, navigation, and duties. The Adams declaration embodied his response to a rising Continental cartel of exclusive trading relationships.
1828: In January, Nicholas Biddle of the Bank of the US implemented the sale of government securities to curtail the outward flow of specie, resulting in propositions by Congress for the public sale of US Bank stock.
1828: In February Antonio José Cañaz, Guatemalan minister to the US proposed the construction of a canal adjoining the Pacific and Atlantic through Nicaragua. The US was receptive, precipitating a flurry of US and international bids for surveying, building and operation contracts. Although local instability derailed the experiment, the effort was an important demonstration of the supremacy of US influence in Central America.
1828: Adams approves passage of the Tariff of Abominations in April, a protectionist measure that reduced profits for low-quality finished wool products, while increasing the costs of raw wool and molasses, thereby protecting livestock farmers and distillers.
1828: Joel Poinsett acceded to a Mexican boundary settlement on behalf of the US in January, culminating a slew of unsuccessful efforts by Adams to negotiate more favorable borders than the existing Sabine river.