1 One day in late: LCA to CFA, April 20, 1825, AFP; William Seale, The President’s House, Volume I (Washington, DC: White House Historical Association, 2008), 156–59. The fable was apt: James Sterling Young, The Washington Community, 1800–1828 (New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1966), 216. Only now, her independence: LCA to Joseph Hopkinson, April 21, 25, and May 1, 1825, Hopkinson Family Papers (Collection 1978), the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Smith, The First Forty Years of Washington Society, 248; Mrs. Basil Hall, The Aristocratic Journey: Being the Outspoken Letters of Mrs. Basil Hall Written During a Fourteen Months’ Soujourn in America, 1827–1828 (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1931), 169. “I am utterly weary”: LCA to CFA, July 25, 1828, LCA to GWA, November 6, 1825, AFP. I have resisted pathologizing or diagnosing her psychological state using modern lenses. Others have not. For a short argument that she suffered “severely from mental disease, characterized as dysthymia, chronic depression, and even hysteria,” see Ludwig M. Deppisch, The Health of the First Ladies: Medical Histories from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2015). He had little goodwill: Young, Washington Community, 188–95; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 251–60; Kaplan, John Quincy Adams, 401–12; LCA to Thomas Hellen, June 19, 1825, AFP. The weather did: Howe, What Hath God Wrought. Though it focuses on an earlier period, for a study connecting the rise of nationalism in the early republic and celebrations, see David Waldstreicher, In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776–1820 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997). Lafayette was an old friend: LCA to GWA, September 11, 1825, AFP. 2 Louisa was fifty-one: “Record of a Life,” DLCA 1:2. In the past twenty-five years, academics have paid far closer attention to women and autobiography in the early republic, sometimes through different theoretical lenses. See Lepore, Book of Ages, 328–29n2. For an early survey, see Estelle C. Jelinek, The Tradition of Women’s Autobiography from Antiquity to the Present (Boston: Twayne, 1986), 57–88. Her history, her: “Record of a Life,” DLCA 1:21–23. Her marriage, as she saw it,: Ibid., 41, 51. It did not matter: Ibid., 8, 61. The Marquis de Lafayette: LCA to GWA, August 8, September 4, 1825, AFP. Meanwhile, there were: LCA to GWA, August 22, 1825, AFP; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 251–60. Louisa wanted comfort: LCA to GWA, May 1, 1825, AFP. A host of maladies: For a psychological connection with illness, particularly migraines, see Megan Marshall, The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism (New York: First Mariner Books, 2006), 190, 196, 220, 228, 261, 513, among others, and Oliver Sacks, Migraine: Understanding a Common Disorder, Expanded and Updated (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985), 178–80, 206–9. She wasn’t merely: “Diary,” DLCA 2:542. The neurologist and author Oliver Sacks has written about the “dramatic role in the emotional economy of the individual” that migraines can serve. While the symptoms are undeniably real, “rooted in physiological reactions,” Sacks wrote in Migraine, they can be “summoned to serve an endless variety of emotional needs.” Sacks, Migraine, 207. 3 On the morning: LCA to JQA, July 10, 1826, AFP; DJQA, July 8, 1826. His death was: LCA to GWA, July 14, 1826, AFP. To John Quincy: JQA to LCA, July 14, 1826, AFP; Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Union, 11–12. Louisa’s grief turned: LCA to JQA, July 18, 1826, AFP; DCFA 1: May 31, 1824. She knew too well: LCA to JQA, July 18, 1826, AFP. A few days after: DJQA to LCA, July 14, 1826; DCFA 2: July 25, 1826. There was something: Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 214; LCA to JQA, August 21, 1826, AFP; DCFA 2: August 9, 1826. Everyone was miserable: DCFA 2: August 14–23, 1826. “This morning my wife”: DJQA, August 28, 1826; JA to GWA, JA2, and CFA, April 4, 1815, AFP. “We have been”: JQA to LCA, August 26, 1826, AFP. 4 The health of George’s body: JQA to GWA, November 12, 1827, AFP; Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Union, 116. Louisa was more forgiving: LCA, “Metropolitan Kaleidoscope”; LCA to GWA, May 1, 1825, GWA to LCA, May 6, 1825, AFP. He was trying: LCA to JQA, August 11, 1826, AFP; DGWA, August 1 and 2, 1825, AFP. On December 31, 1825: DGWA, December 31, 1826, AFP. He could not hide: LCA to CFA, September 9, 1826, AFP; DCFA 1: September 6, 1824. When George fell: DJQA, September 20, 21, 27, 1826. By late October: LCA to GWA, October 29, 1826, AFP; DJQA, June 28 and 29, 1827; LCA to JA2, July 16, 1827,: AFP. A month later: JQA to LCA, July 24, 1827, AFP; DFCA 2: August 3, 1827. With her son John: LCA to Mary Hellen, August 19, 1827, LCA to JQA, September 22, 1827, AFP. 5 Back in the White House: Seale, The President’s House, 168–69; JQA to CFA, May 28, 1828, AFP;: Mona Rose McKindley, “With a Heart of Oak: John Quincy Adams, Scientific Farmer and Landscape Gardener” (Master’s Thesis, Harvard University, 2013), 26–50; Kaplan, John Quincy Adams, 415. What they did share: DJQA, October 7, 1826. Meanwhile, by the winter: Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy, 294; JQA to CFA, May 28, 1828, AFP. “Assassins” went too far: For the controversy with JA2, see Samuel Flagg Bemis, “The Scuffle in the Rotunda: A Footnote to the Presidency of John Quincy Adams and to the History of Dueling,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 71 (October 1953–May 1957): 156–66; “Concerning an Altercation with John Adams, 1828,” Russell Jarvis Papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University. For the attacks on JQA, see, for instance, editorial from the United States Telegraph, May 4, 1827, reprinted in Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Fred L. Israel, and William P. Hansen, eds., History of American Presidential Elections 1789–1968 (New York: Chelsea House, 1985), 449–51. In February 1827: “Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Adams,” Natchez, Mississippi, Ariel, April 13, 1827, reprinted from the Philadelphia Evening Post; United States Telegraph, June 16, 1827. It is a very strange: LCA to John Grahame, July 28, 1828, printed in Thomas John Chew Williams and Folger McKinsey, History of Frederick County, Maryland (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1797), 112–13; “Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Adams.” The tone of the document: United States Telegraph, June 16, 1826. Then Jackson’s supporters: United States Telegraph, June 18, 20, 1826; Heffron, Louisa Catherine, 338. Before the 1824 election: The Papers of Andrew Jackson: 1825–1828, ed. Harold D. Moser and J. Clint Clifft (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2002), 355. No doubt he was: LCA to JQA, July 10, 1828, CFA to Abigail Brooks, June 30, 1827, AFP; Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Union, 147. She wanted to fight: Fletcher Webster, ed., The Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1857), 1:469; Parsons, The Birth of Modern Politics, 116; Thurlow Weed, Life of Thurlow Weed Including his Autobiography and a Memoir (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, & Company, 1884), 1:181. He had trouble sleeping: DJQA, July 31, 1827. It was difficult: Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy, 262–63, 299–300; Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 250, 276–81. John Quincy was actually: Quoted in Freehling, Road to Disunion, 342, and Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Union, 151. Perhaps the subject: DJQA, January 10, 1832. I am grateful to James Traub for pointing out this line to me; 1830 U.S. Census, “Johnson Hellen,” Washington Ward 2, District of Columbia, accessed through Ancestry.com; DJQA, February 23 and 24, 1828 (Alison Weisgall Robertson helped with the translation); Mann, “Slavery Exacts an Impossible Price,” 131. John Quincy, though: Provine, Free Negro Registers, Vol. II, 92. He never mentioned: DJQA, February 25, 1828. Might Louisa have: “Record of a Life,” DLCA 1:25, 19; 1800 U.S. Census, “Joshua Johnson,” Washington, District of Columbia, accessed through Ancestry.com; 1820 and 1830 U.S. Census, “Nathaniel Frye,” Washington Ward 1, District of Columbia, accessed through Ancestry.com. 6 Even more than her husband: LCA to CFA, July 16, 1828, AFP; Louisa Catherine Adams, Collection of vocal music in MS, Adams-Clement Collection, Division of Political History, Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum; LCA to George Washington Adams, June 29, 1828, AFP. She was more social: LCA, “The Metropolitan Kaleidoscope / or / Winter Varieties,” AFP. Much went unobserved: William Seale and Adel
e Logan Alexander, “Upstairs and Downstairs,” American Visions (February 1995): 16; Seale, The President’s House, 194–95; quoted in Mann, “Slavery Exacts an Impossible Price,” 127. She had that blindness: LCA, “The Metropolitan Kaleidoscope,” AFP. As the 1828 campaign: CFA to Abigail Brooks, September 18, 1828, AFP; Wilentz, The Rise of American Democracy, 309. John Quincy was: DJQA, January 1, 1829; LCA to CFA, November 15, December 25, 1828, AFP. At one of their last: Smith, First Forty Years of Washington Society, 248–49. PART NINE: BEGINNING THE WORLD ANEW
1 Winter was stubborn: LCA to CFA, March 29, 1829, AFP; LCA to Elizabeth Hopkinson, June 15, 1823, Hopkinson Family Papers (Collection 1978), the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. At the beginning of March: Donald H. Mugridge, “The United States Sanitary Commission in Washington,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, DC 60/62 (1960/62), 136. She heard stories: Jon Meacham, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House (New York: Random House, 2008), 61–62. She kept all: LCA to CFA, March 19, May 3, 1829, AFP; Mona McKindley, e-mail to author, October 7, 2013. For the billiard table controversy, see editorial from the Steubenville, Pennsylvania, Ledger, May 17, 1827, reprinted in Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Fred L. Israel, and William P. Hansen, eds., History of American Presidential Elections 1789–1968 (New York: Chelsea House, 1985), 452. Since leaving the glare: LCA to CFA, January 18, February 1, April 16, April 3, 1829, LCA to GWA, April 8, 1829, AFP. A letter arrived: LCA to GWA, April 1, 1829, LCA to JA2, July 16, 1827, AFP. On April 8: LCA to GWA, April 8, 1829, LCA to CFA, April 16, 1829, AFP. She expected him: DJQA, May 2, 1829. Over the next few days: DJQA, May 3, 4, 1829. His corpse would: JQA to LCA, June 13, 1829, AFP; DJQA, May 3, 1829; LCA, undated statement after the death of GWA [1829], AFP. To Charles, she: LCA to CFA, May 7, 1829, AFP; DJQA, May 6, May 21, 1829. What story she constructed: LCA to Thomas Hellen, May 17, 1827, LCA to CFA, July 5, 1829, AFP. Louisa remained alone: LCA to CFA, May 19, 1829, LCA to JQA, June 22, 1829, AFP. Her focus turned: LCA to JQA, July 2, 17, 1829, AFP. She missed her husband: LCA to JQA, June 22, July 7, 1829, CFA to LCA, June 28, 1829, AFP. She had wanted to accompany: CFA to LCA, April 18, 1829, JQA to LCA, June 18, 1829, AFP. He probably also: DCFA 2: August 20, 1829. Whatever John Quincy: “Report of a Trial: Miles Farmer, versus Dr. David Humphreys Storer,” Court of Common Pleas (Suffolk County), Massachusetts, Supreme Judicial Court, Miscellaneous Pamphlet Collection, LC; DCFA 2: May 13, 28, July 16, June 18, 1829. He dreaded telling: DCFA 2: August 22, 23, 1829. Back in Washington: LCA to JQA, August 28, September 27, 1829, AFP. In May 1830: DJQA, May 2, 1830; DCFA 3: June 19, 1830. She had never taken: Ibid.; Karen Yourell at the Adams National Historical Park showed me and told me about the yellowwood tree. 2 She may have read: JQA to JA2, September 15, 1830, AFP; DJQA, September 18, 1830. She wanted nothing: LCA to JA2, September 27, 1830, JQA to JA2, October 27, 1830, AFP. The election took place: DJQA, November 7, 1830. His wife made: LCA to JA2, November 14, 1830, AFP. Her rage, though: LCA to JA2, August 29, November 14, 1832, AFP. She reached Washington: LCA to CFA, January 5, 1831, AFP. Her thoughts often: LCA to JQA, June 21, 1832, AFP; “Diary,” DLCA 2:693. Her mood, though: LCA to Abigail Brooks Adams, January 29, 1831, AFP; LCA to Anna Maria Thornton, July 23, 1844, William Thornton Papers, LC; Benjamin Waterhouse to LCA, January 14, 1833, AFP. Her sharp edge: “Diary,” DLCA 2:691. As usual, she disclaimed: LCA to CFA, February 6, 1835, January 3, 1833, LCA to JA2, August 22, 1832, AFP. She set herself up: LCA to JQA, May 18, 1832, LCA to CFA and Abigail Brooks Adams, January 26, 1848, LCA to CFA, February 21, 1831, AFP. But family was her: LCA to Abigail Brooks Adams, January 29, 1831, LCA to CFA, November 29, 1834, LCA to Abigail Brooks Adams, June 9, 1836, AFP. No one blinked: For the Second Great Awakening, see Gary Dorrien, The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion, 1805–1900 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 1–179. That atmosphere affected: LCA to JQA, August 21, 1826, AFP; “Diary,” DLCA 2:737; LCA to CFA, December 13, 1839, LCA to JQA, May 29, 1837, AFP; “Diary,” DLCA 2:738. She was sure: LCA to Mary Hellen Adams, July 14, 1841, AFP. She had watched: LCA to JQA, June 21, July 14, August 17, 1832, July 22, 1834, [April 21?, 1831], AFP. 3 She had outbursts: LCA to JQA, July 19, 1834, JQA to LCA, July 24, 1834, LCA to JQA, July 29, 1834, AFP. John was only twenty-nine: DCFA 5:143. Living with him: LCA to CFA, December 7, 1833, LCA to JQA, July 16, 1834, AFP. John Quincy listened: JQA to JA2, July 23, 26, 1834, AFP. Faced with few alternatives: LCA to JA2, July 31, 1834, LCA to Mary Hellen Adams, August 10, 1834, AFP. “Then came the”: DCFA 5:405. John Quincy left: DJQA, October 18–23, 1834; JQA to LCA, October 23, 1834, AFP. By the time: DCFA 5:409–10. A year later: “Diary,” DLCA 2:688–89, 692–93, 696, 694. The alternative translation to the epigram is proposed in the footnote on 689. It took something heroic: “Diary,” DLCA 2:705. It occurred to her: “Narrative of a Journey,” DLCA 1:375; William Lee Miller, Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress (New York: Knopf, 1996), 206–12. “Narrative of a Journey”: “Narrative of a Journey,” DLCA 1:375, 406. PART TEN: IN MY OWN NAME
Louisa Page 46