John Quincy Adams by Robert V. Remini

Author:Robert V. Remini
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466871861
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

7

Indian Removal

When John Quincy and Louisa with their two younger sons, John II and Charles Francis, finally settled into the White House—the mansion was left in such dreadful condition by the Monroes that they could not take up residence in the building until April 5—they rattled around in an enormous building devoid of running water or plumbing and maintained by a small group of servants, including JQA’s personal valet, Antoine Giusta. Congress provided money for household expenses, and Adams purchased a silver service from the Russian minister, Baron von Tuyll, and additional silver plate from William H. Crawford. To provide relaxation he also bought a set of chessmen and a billiard table, cues, and balls. He liked nothing better than a game of billiards in the evening, but afterward he would upbraid himself for wasting his time when there was important work to be done.

The Democrats would later use these purchases to charge him with recklessly spending public money on “royal extravagances.” A report of White House expenditures was submitted to a Congressional Committee on Retrenchment in which it said that public funds had been used to outfit the East Room with gambling equipment. Although Adams later corrected this report to show that he had purchased these items out of his own pocket, the Democrats continued to berate him for having such equipment in the executive mansion. An article entitled “The East Room,” written anonymously by Senator Benton and published in the Richmond Enquirer, attacked the president for spending $25,000 on “gambling furniture” and other unseemly paraphernalia.

General Lafayette visited the family and stayed in the White House during July and August 1825 before returning home after a long nationwide tour. And George Washington Adams, the eldest son, frequently visited. He had completed his education at Harvard and training in the law and had won election to the Massachusetts legislature. A brilliant but erratic and possibly disturbed young man, he made a mess of his father’s personal affairs in Boston, which had been entrusted to him, and caused his parents considerable grief. John II tried to assist his father as private secretary but he too gave the president and Louisa many anxious moments on account of his drinking problem. Only the youngest son, Charles Francis, showed signs that he fit the accepted Adams mold. He graduated Harvard at the age of eighteen, studied law with his father for two years, and returned to Boston where he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1829.

The president had great hopes for his three sons. He wanted them to follow careers of public service, just as he and their grandfather had done. So he wrote them every week, directed their work and study habits, and reminded them constantly of what was expected of them. Of the three only Charles Francis responded satisfactorily to his demands, and in time they came to appreciate each other’s intellectual strengths. Together they engaged in a regular and rewarding correspondence that gave the old man much pleasure.

For a vacation

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