John Quincy Adams and Foreign Affairs BRI and In Pursuit Lesson

Resources

• Video: In Pursuit of Moderation, President James Madison
• John Quincy Adams Portrait Images | Student Resource
• John Quincy Adams, “Monsters to Destroy” Speech | Primary Source

Teacher/Facilitation Background:

This video and lesson were developed in connection with the In Pursuit project https://www.inpursuit.org/lessons. The essay for John Quincy Adams was written by historian Lindsay Chervinsky. It can be read for additional teacher background on this topic, and it might be well-suited to classroom use for higher-level readers. The full essay is available here: https://www.inpursuit.org/lessons.

The essay provides an overview of Adams’s long and varied career in public service, including roles in government at home and abroad. The central lesson that the essay imparts is: “Presidents can provide vision and wisdom for the future, even if the American people are not willing to embrace it in that moment.”

This is one perspective on the life and work of John Quincy Adams. The video highlights another aspect of his legacy: focusing in particular on his role in the development of the Monroe Doctrine. While the video highlights integrity, the lesson focuses on how John Quincy Adams practiced prudence and moderation, carefully weighing consequences, exercising restraint, and making decisions shaped by long-term judgment rather than impulse. The Bill of Rights Institute defines these virtues in the following way:

• Integrity: To tell the truth, expose truths, and keep one’s promises.
• Prudence: Practical wisdom that applies reason and other virtues to discern right courses of action in specific situations.
• Moderation: The avoidance of excess or extremes.

Encourage your students to critically engage with the material in the video, the primary source, and other context you may be providing to come to their own conclusion and assessment.

Anticipate: Spark curiosity activity

• Distribute copies of John Quincy Adams’s portraits or project them onto the board. Ask students to consider the following:
  • What details did the artist include beyond the figure of Adams himself?
  • What do those details indicate about what we should know or think about Adams?
  • Think of these details like clues in a mystery. What do these visual clues suggest about the responsibilities, decisions, or foreign-policy challenges Adams might have faced?
• Encourage students to think creatively in their responses. If they need some prompting, consider suggesting the globe or the books and documents that are present around Adams in the images.
• As each student answers, be sure that they are linking an idea that they have to a specific detail in the paintings (providing evidence).

Engage:

• Before viewing:
  • You’ll notice how the video title names one civic virtue, but as we watch, we may see others come into play. Our job is to notice which virtues are actually shaping this leader’s decisions.
• Active viewing:
  • Ask to students to take notes by making a list of:
• The different countries that John Quincy Adams visited
• The offices that he held throughout his career
• After the video, students share out their lists when the video has finished and consider:
• What did Adams learn about war, diplomacy, empire, and international conflict during his travels?
• How did Adams use the virtues of prudence and moderation to apply these lessons to American foreign policy later in his career?

Teacher note: projecting a world map might be useful in this activity to help students visualize the significance of Adams living in so many places that are so far from the United States throughout his life.

• Engage students in a discussion about the Monroe Doctrine, starting with: “The video highlights one of John Quincy Adams’s biggest accomplishments that took place during the presidency of James Monroe. Adams’s experiences in so many different countries helped build his thinking about what the United States should do on the world stage.”
• Then, ask for student answers to the following questions:
  • What are the three key pieces to the Monroe Doctrine as outlined in the video?

From the video, here are those three items:

1. First, the United States warned that the Western hemisphere was “henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power.”
2. Second, the United States would consider any European intervention in the Western hemisphere to be “dangerous to our peace and safety” and they would respond accordingly depending on the circumstances.
3. Third, the United States in turn promised not to interfere in European affairs.
   • How do the civic virtues of prudence and moderation connect to each of the three big ideas in the Monroe Doctrine?
   • How might John Quincy Adams’s experiences around the world have helped him to practice the virtues that were essential to his foreign policy success?

Teacher Note: If needed as they are thinking about this question, remind students of the definitions of prudence and moderation. The primary source in the next section will help students to hear about the connections between virtues and foreign policy in Adams’s own words.

• • Which virtue helped Adams decide when not to act, and why was that restraint important?
  • If John Quincy Adams had only practiced this virtue, what might have gone wrong?

Explore

• Distribute the primary source document to students. If desired, read the “Building Context” section with the class before students read the excerpts. Assign students to read the excerpts alone, with a partner, or as a class.
• Answer the comprehension and analysis questions following the source text.
  • Option 1: Students answer these questions in writing and submit them to the teacher for assessment.
  • Option 2: Students answer these questions in writing, then share their answers with the class more broadly while the educator facilitates a discussion about any differences in student answers.

Assess/Reflect

• Say to students, “You have now encountered three different perspectives on John Quincy Adams: artistic portraits, a video about his career and role in developing the Monroe Doctrine, and a speech in his own words about the role of the United States in the global community. Answer the following questions to combine and compare the ideas from each of these sources.”
  • Based on all three sources, why were the civic virtues of prudence, moderation, and integrity so important in his career?
  • What evidence supports your interpretation?
  • If you could have just one more source (a document, letter, diary entry, painting, etc.) about John Quincy Adams to answer some of the questions that you still have about him, what would that source be? How might it be able to solve any mysteries about him for you?

Extend

• Each of John Quincy Adams’s diplomatic and political offices could have been an entire career in itself. Invite students to consider the role of a diplomat, a member of Congress, a secretary of state, and a president and pick one to focus on. Then ask:
  • How did Adams’s experiences at home and around the world contribute to his role?
  • In what different ways are the civic virtues of prudence and moderation necessary in each of those different roles?