Presidential Fathers and Sons
2003 Boaz Rauchwerger
His father had been the President of the United States. He also became President. The State of Florida was prominent in his life as a politician. He won the Presidency by an unusual decision.
Did you think I was talking about President George W. Bush? I could have been. However, I was actually talking about John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. It's amazing how history can repeat itself.
The same thing can occur in all of our lives. History can repeat itself. The important point is to learn from our mistakes, make course corrections and benefit from past experiences.
Born in Braintree (later Quincy) Massachusetts in 1767, John Quincy Adams was the son of John Adams, the second President of the United States. Public service was the family business. As a child, he traveled on his father's diplomatic missions. When he was just 14 years old, he became the private secretary to the American envoy at St. Petersburg.
At the age of 20, Adams graduated from Harvard and was admitted to the bar. From that point, in 1790, until he was 33, he served the United States as the ambassador to the Netherlands, England, Portugal and Berlin. In 1803, he was elected to the US Senate. Having lost his Senate seat in 1808, he became ambassador to Russia the next year.
It was in 1814 that he became a member of a commission that negotiated peace with Great Britain. He was the ambassador to that country form 1815 to 1817.
James Monroe became the fifth President of the United States in 1817 and served until 1825. He picked John Quincy Adams as his Secretary of State. Adams proved to be a brilliant choice for the position and was credited with writing much of the "Monroe Doctrine." Now here comes the Florida connection with George W. Bush. Adams, as Secretary of State, negotiated with Spain the treaty for the acquisition of Florida.
In another correlation with George W. Bush, Adams was elected President of the United States in 1824, following the footsteps of his father. John Quincy Adams, and his father John Adams, were the first father and son Presidents of the United States.
That presidential election of 1824 had other similarities to the presidential election of 2000. It was close and difficult to resolve. The top two contenders were John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Adams received fewer popular votes and fewer electoral votes than Jackson. However, no candidate earned the 131 electoral votes required for victory.
The decision, according to the twelfth amendment to the constitution, was then placed in the hands of the United States House of Representatives. In 2000, the decision about the presidential vote in the deciding state of Florida was placed in the hands of the Supreme Court.
After a vote was taken there in early 1825, the House of Representatives was divided on the issue. Except for one final vote. That vote was to come from Stephen Van Rensselaer, the senior representative from the state of New York. It was on February 9, 1825 that the attention of the entire House was on Rensselaer. His vote would determine who would become the next President of the United States.
Van Rensselaer came from a prominent New York family. He had served in the New York state legislature, in that state's senate and had been elected lieutenant governor. He was among the earliest advocates of the Erie Canal and is best known as the namesake and co-founder of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
So, the pressure was on Rensselaer on that February day in 1825 in the US House of Representatives. During an earlier phase of the discussion about the issue, Rensselaer had leaned toward one candidate. However, on this day, he had lost his initial confidence.
With all eyes on him, Rensselaer bowed his head on the desk in front of him to ask for divine guidance. When he opened his eyes he saw a trampled ballot on the floor. The ballot had been filled out with the name of one of the presidential candidates. Feeling that the sight of that ballot was destined, Rensselaer decided to vote according to that ballot. The name on the ballot was that of John Quincy Adams, who thus became the sixth President of the United States.
As you can see, there were a number of similarities between John Quincy Adams and George W. Bush. History can indeed repeat itself. Take a look at your history. If you're repeating certain steps that are not beneficial, it's time to change.
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