John Quincy Adams and His Opinion of Old Hickory

They say time can heal old wounds and turn enemies into friends. That certainly was the case with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The two bitter political rivals were able to set aside their animosity in their later years and rekindle a close friendship.

The ability to release a grudge was not passed along to Adams’ son, however. John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson were bitter rivals. Their dislike for one another went well beyond political disagreements and was deeply personal.

Originally, Adams hoped to make Jackson his running mate in the 1824 election. His choice of Jackson had little to do with admiration and was primarily designed to limit Jackson’s ability to cause trouble. Adams noted that “the Vice-Presidency was a station in which [Jackson] could hang no one, and in which he would need to quarrel with no one.” These plans were derailed, however, when Jackson jumped into the race for the top job.

“Jackson was a hero, a murderer, an adulterer, and a profoundly pious presbyterian, who in the last days of his life belied and slandered me before the world, and died in full confidence that his sins were pardoned by the atoning blood of the Saviour.”

— John Quincy Adams

Jackson won more electoral votes than Adams but failed to get an outright majority. Under the terms of the Twelfth Amendment, the election was decided in the House of Representatives. There, Adams was handed the presidency, prompting outraged accusations by Jackson and his supporters of a “corrupt bargain.”

Four years later, the nation was treated to a rematch as Jackson again sought the presidency. Despite the power of incumbency, Adams was defeated by Jackson’s superior political organization. The campaign was brutal, with plenty of name-calling and accusations on both sides.

Now let’s fast-forward nearly twenty years. Despite losing in his attempt at re-election to the presidency, Adams returned to politics as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Jackson, after serving two terms in the White House, retired to his home in Tennessee, where he died on June 8, 1845. News of his old rival’s death reached Adams a week and a half later. His journal entry from June 18, 1845, shows that his feelings toward Jackson had not softened:

Wednesday 18 June 1845

A sleepless and very painful Night. I was obliged to suspend my washing and horse-hair friction almost entirely, but had an easier day than yesterday….

A few weeks since Reuben M. Whitney—died at Washington of a Cancer in the throat—and this day the Newspapers from Boston, announce the death of Andrew Jackson, at his Hermitage in Tennessee on Sunday the 8th. of this month at 6 O’Clock in the Evening, of old age— They were two of the bitterest enemies I have had to encounter in this life— Whitney because I exposed him as a villain— Jackson because I saved him from disgrace, and infamy.— Whitney was a swindler of uncommon talents, and pandered to John Tyler’s hatred of me, till he gave him an office from which the Senate ejected him. Jackson was a hero, a murderer, an adulterer, and a profoundly pious presbyterian, who in the last days of his life belied and slandered me before the world, and died in full confidence that his sins were pardoned by the atoning blood of the Saviour— Whitney as a common place knave will be forgotten now he is dead, but the welkin rings with tolling bells, and minute guns, and funeral eulogies, and vociferous lamentations for the departed hero and Saint, worthy of being canonized by the side of George of Cappadocia.

Learn more at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage

And so, history reminds us that while some rivalries can transform into friendships, others remain steadfastly bitter until the very end. On a positive note, at least John Quincy Adams wasn’t present at Jackson’s funeral. If he had been, perhaps the General’s parrot wouldn’t have been the only one who had to be removed from the event.

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