John Quincy Adams: Jubilee of the Constitution Address

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

John Quincy Adams was the only former president to serve in the House of Representatives. It would be too simplistic to categorize his service as an increasingly bitter attempt to redeem his presidential legacy or to exact revenge on his enemies. The speech he made on the fiftieth anniversary of George Washington's inauguration, April 30, 1839, is a reminder of the high-minded principles and goals Adams fervently held.

With Washington's accession to the presidency, the Constitution finally went into effect, an event that in Adams's view represented the fruition of the Declaration of Independence. Through the comprehension of the primacy of the Declaration, he asserts, the promise of America can be achieved. The people, through their representatives, had broken with the British nation. Individual states were not independent as separate states; rather, the former colonists formed one union composed of thirteen states. Throughout Adams's address the concept of state sovereignty is subordinated to the collective interests of the people. He argues that when the nation has deviated from that principle, it has faced disaster. The flawed Articles of Confederation were rooted in “the grossly immoral and dishonest doctrine of despotic state sovereignty.” In contrast, the Constitution was an act by representatives of the people, not the states. The people, not the states, ratified it. The new Constitution reaffirmed rights of the people proclaimed by the Declaration. At great length Adams argues that President Washington brilliantly established the executive branch and generally eliminated the state sovereignty concept, which had “brought the union itself to the verge of dissolution.”

Adams makes sure his listeners understand that recent state sovereignty arguments revolving around nullification and secession are illegitimate in light of the origins of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. He does not attack the South or discuss issues of the late 1830s or even of his presidency. Rather, Adams encourages his listeners to apply the lessons of history, as he defines them, to current events. Adams acknowledges that his perceptions of the nature of the Constitution are not shared by all. Indeed, his idiosyncratic political course made others hesitant to accept the full implication of his views. The ideals in this address, however, were precursors of those enunciated by later leaders, perhaps most notably by Abraham Lincoln in the late 1850s and particularly as president.