John Quincy Adams

choi

Robert K Landers, To the White House Born; Adams proposed paying for his agenda by selling public land, urging lawmakers not to be ‘palsied by the will of our constituents.’ Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2014
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304178104579537873284536970
(book review on Fred Kaplan, John Quincy Adams; American visionary. Harper, 2014)

Note:
(a) John Quincy Adams
(1767-1949; named for his mother's maternal grandfather, Colonel John Quincy; president 1825-1829; House of Representatives 1831-1848)  Wikipedia

The English (of Norman origin) surname Quincy came “from any of several places in France deriving their names from the Gallo-Roman personal name Quintus, meaning ‘fifth(-born)’ + the locative suffix -acum.”

(b) The title is a wordplay on the phrase “to the manor born” (this is the way you see in US), which actually came from Shakespear’s “to the manner born.”
(i) The nouns “manner” and “Manor”ar homophones. Compare homonym
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homonym
(ii) to the manner/manor born. The Word Detective, Oct 23, 2011
www.word-detective.com/2011/10/to-the-manner-manor-born/
(“the original phrase was definitely “to the manner born.” It was coined, as many of our best idioms were, by William Shakespeare, in this case in Hamlet, Act I, Scene iv * * * In the mid-19th century, however, a variant of 'to the manner born' appeared. 'To the manor born,' meaning 'born into, or naturally suited to, upper-class life'")
(iii) To the manner born. The Phrase Finder, undated
www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/to-the-manner-born.html
(“Hamlet was written in or around 1600 and published in 1603. The 'manor' version comes much later. The earliest reference I've found so far is in The Times, July 1859, in a story about the Emperor of France's visit to Austria: 'Before Solferino, Austria was only an intruder in Italy; now she is as one "to the manor born"'")

(c) "’The failure, if that is the word,’ historian Robert V Remini remarked in his brief 2002 biography, ‘was really brought on by his own inadequacies as a leader and politician.’ Adams's stiff personality—’I am a man of reserved, cold austere and forbidding manners,’ he admitted—worked against him, but it was not just that. The sixth president, a privileged son of the second, failed to adapt himself to ‘the democratic ferment of the 1820s,’ as the historian Sean Wilentz has written. ‘He appeared as if he wanted to impose his benevolent will on the people, instead of heeding the people's will.’”
(i) Robert V Remini, John Quincy Adams. Times Books, 2002 (part of The American Presidents Series).
(ii) austere (adj): "stern and cold in appearance or manner"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/austere
(iii) Sean Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy; Jefferson to Lincoln. The Nation, 2005.

(d) “He [John Quincy Adams] also called for a national university, a naval academy, a Pacific exploratory expedition and even an astronomical observatory.”
(i) US has not established a national university, but there is a private one with that name:
National University (California)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_University_(California)
(San Diego)
(ii) United States Naval Academy (in Annapolis, Maryland, Established 1845)

(e) “Critics of the Iraq war who invoked Adams's assertion, in a July 4 speech in 1821, that America 'goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy" certainly thought that his outlook remained pertinent. When Adams delivered that speech, he was secretary of state."

He wa secretary of state (1817-1825), under president James Monroe (who served in the same period).

choi

(continued)

(f) “In 1778, at age 10, he left Braintree, Mass, to accompany his father on his diplomatic mission to Paris. At the top of the boy's reading list: Thucydides and Hobbes. * * * President George Washington in 1794 named him US minister at The Hague. President John Adams three years later appointed him minister plenipotentiary to Berlin. From 1803 to 1808, he served as a US senator from Massachusetts. In 1809, President James Madison nominated him to be US minister plenipotentiary to Russia—and six years later, to Great Britain [1814-1817], where he helped end the War of 1812 [1812-1815; Treaty of Ghent was signed on Dec 24, 1814 but combatants did not know until later].”
(i) John Quincy Adams
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams
(was born in a part of Braintree, Massachusetts that is now Quincy;
(A) Braintree, Massachusetts
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braintree,_Massachusetts
(Although officially known as a town, Braintree adopted a municipal charter, effective 2008, with a mayor-council form of government and is considered a city under Massachusetts law; incorporated in 1640 and named after the English town of Braintree [whose origin of the name is obscure: Wikipedia])
(B) Quincy, Massachusetts
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy,_Massachusetts
(is the birthplace of former US Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams; was North Precinct of Braintree; Quincy was officially incorporated as a separate town named for Col John Quincy in 1792, and was made a city in 1888)
(ii) Thucydides
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides
(c 460-c 395 BC; Athenian)
(iii) Thomas Hobbes
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes
(1588-1679 (age 91); English)
(iv) United States Ambassador to the Netherlands
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Ambassador_to_the_Netherlands
(The United States diplomatic mission to the Netherlands consists of the embassy located in The Hague and a consular office located in Amsterdam; In 1782, John Adams was appointed America's first Minister Plenipotentiary [MP] to Holland; section 1 Ambassadors: John Quincy Adams (type: MP; 1794-1797))
(A) For minister plenipotentiary (or simply minister), see envoy (title)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envoy_(title)
(B) Netherlands
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands
(The capital city of the Netherlands, mandated by the constitution, is Amsterdam; however, the seat of government is located in The Hague)
(v) United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Ambassador_to_the_United_Kingdom
(section 1 Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of St James's, 1785–1811; section 2 Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's, 1815–1893)

American Revolutionary War (Apr 19, 1775-Apr 11, 1783) ended with the signing of Peace of Paris on Sept 3, 1783 whereby UK recognized US.


(g) "Adams was a great secretary of state * * * In an 1819 treaty with Spain, the US formally gave up its claim to Texas, but Spain gave up its claims to the Pacific Northwest, and the US gained Florida for $5,000. Adams also was responsible for the drafting of the Monroe Doctrine (1823), warning European powers to stay out of the Americas."

Adams–Onís Treaty
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams–Onís_Treaty
(1819; The treaty was negotiated by John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State under U.S. President James Monroe, and the Spanish foreign minister Luis de Onís, during the reign of King Ferdinand VII; US relinquish[ed its] claims on parts of Spanish Texas west of the Sabine River; section 1.1 Spain's colonies: Florida)