Let’s begin with a trivia question: How many father-son connections are there in our White House history? That’s right!

• John Adams, second president, and his son, John Quincy Adams, sixth president; and
• George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st president, and his son, George Walker Bush, 43rd president.

They are not the only “family” connections in the presidential lineage, but I’ll leave you to ponder the other relationships.

So, let’s consider the John Quincy Adams administration (1825-1829). What were his major accomplishments as president?

With his diplomatic experiences guiding his priorities, Adams focused on relationships with other nations, especially the United States’s southern neighbors already protected by the Monroe Doctrine. He wanted to improve their economic positions — and our own — by increasing trade in the Western Hemisphere, but the Andrew Jackson supporters in Congress were determined to block any action. When the former Spanish colonial territories, now independent nations in Central and South America, organized a congress of western nations to meet in Panama, a special invitation was issued to the author of the Monroe Doctrine to send delegates. Adams understood the importance of accepting the invitation, as attendance helped affirm the United States’s position as the diplomatic leader of the West. However, his Southern opponents in Congress refused to fund the travel expenses.

Why?

As much as those well-informed Southern members of the U.S. Congress understood the importance of a (somewhat) unified West, they were angered that the new Latin American nations had outlawed slavery. What if the meeting in Panama introduced a resolution calling for the end of slavery in all the Western Hemisphere? Other members also disliked the idea that the congress would seat white, black, and mixed-raced delegates together. Jacksonian supporters from other regions joined the Southerners and withheld funding.

Adams was more successful in negotiating reciprocal trading rights via commercial treaties with the Central American federation and Brazil, plus a number of European nations (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Austria). Having negotiated as secretary of state the disarmament of the Great Lakes and an acceptable “fishing rights” agreement along the U.S. and Canadian boundary with Great Britain, the Adams administration added to those accomplishments by finalizing the remaining questions regarding properties damaged or seized during the War of 1812. Yes, the War of 1812 — diplomacy creaks along slowly on some issues. Interestingly, after years of international intrigue and potential conflict (if not outright armed engagement!), the Adams presidency had few foreign policy highs or lows.

But, domestic issues, often related to sectional differences or Jackson’s seething resentment over a “stolen election,” kept the 1820s exciting. Here’s betting that the term “Tariff of Abominations” rings a memory bell! Cue the fireworks and sparks, and the North and South face off — legislatively — once again.

Kentuckian Henry Clay, now secretary of state after having served as speaker of the House, was well-known for supporting a protective tariff, and those in favor of an even stronger tariff wondered if the new president would agree with Clay’s stance. After all, Adams was a New Englander, and New England had historically struggled with its position on tariffs. Free trade potentially supported New England’s businesses and industries, but at the same time, some restrictions safeguarded the domestic market. Where would Adams stand? Equally important, where would Congress stand now that the administration’s supporters were in the minority in Congress?

New York Senator Martin Van Buren (remember that name for our next chapter) led the campaign to set high tariffs in an attempt to protect mid-Atlantic and western interests. Adams wanted a more moderate tariff, but without congressional approval for his plan, he was forced to face reality. It was a strict tariff, or it was no tariff at all. And the resulting tariff created a firestorm!

How could a strong tariff fuel sectional differences? Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina led the opposition, and Southern legislatures and citizens agreed. What was the South’s most lucrative export crop? Exactly — cotton. And who was purchasing that cotton? Right again — Great Britain. A tariff that damaged the marketing of British goods damaged the Southern economy, and the South would not remain quiet. Virginia’s legislature gifted the Adams administration with the term “Tariff of Abominations” while South Carolina — Calhoun as author — issued the South Carolina Exposition, asserting that a state could nullify a federal law when it was harmful to state interests.

Sound a bit like the Virginia and Kentucky Resolves? Yes.

And, once again, the sides were lining up…