Conservatives Should Rediscover John Quincy Adams

Photo by Southworth & Hawes, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Kevin McCarthy failed to secure his renomination as Speaker of the House 14 times — the most since before the Civil War —before finally being confirmed on the morning of January 7th. This failure of basic government operations should come as no surprise given the actors leading our political parties.

Childish players like Paul Gosar, who has gleefully paraded around with Holocaust deniers and Nazi sympathizers, Lauren Boebert, who asked Jewish visitors to the U.S. Capitol if they were “doing reconnaissance,” and Matt Gaetz, who, at best, is more of an immature frat boy than he is a congressman, hamper basic government functions and threaten our government’s seriousness. Moreover, McCarthy is no saint himself. His judgment is perhaps compromised by his lengthy business ties and poor handling of the George Santos scandal.

It seems the objective of conservative statesmanship is no longer to lead and govern, but to gain through lucrative media, business, or podcast gigs.

While the Grifter Consortium has rendered the GOP largely useless, the centuries-long history of American conservatism — grounded in principled statesmanship — is only mostly dead>. However, in order to prevent statesmanship from becoming all dead, Republicans must look to history to see how past generations dealt with similarly divisive affairs — particularly to John Quincy Adams, who frequently chose his country over his personal interests.

Quincy considered his 17 year stint in the House of Representatives to be a relaxing retirement — and perhaps it was, after decades of public service, including stints as a diplomat, a senator, president, and secretary of state. Regardless, Quincy used this opportunity to fight for causes that he believed in but had previously felt powerless to champion. Most important among these causes was abolition.

As early as 1820, Quincy wrote in his diary that “it is among the evils of slavery that it taints the very sources of moral principle. It establishes false estimates of virtue and vice: for what can be more false and heartless than this doctrine which makes the first and holiest rights of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin?” By the time he made it to the House of Representatives in 1831, he had become a vicious opponent of the idea that “color operates as a forfeiture of the rights of human nature.”

In spite of his principles, due to the various structural and economic calamities of the end of the Era of Good Feelings, John Quincy Adams had been unable to devote his energy towards the fight for abolition. That changed with the imposition of a gag rule in 1836, which prohibited any discussion of slavery within the House of Representatives. Immediately, the elderly Quincy rose up from his seat and shouted, “Am I gagged or am I not?”

It would have been easy for Quincy, as a somewhat misguided Stoic, to dismiss his initial reaction as a moment of fleeting passion, accept the status quo, and go quietly about the rest of his tenure. But that would not do. Instead, Quincy spent nearly a decade rallying support against the gag rule. He filed hundreds of petitions challenging the measure, took on an immense emotional burden that flared his chronic depression, and received several death threats for his trouble.

However, he persevered, and these efforts came to fruition in 1844 when the gag rule was repealed by a vote of 108-80. When combined with his defense of the 35 survivors of the Amistad slave ship, the picture painted of Quincy is one of a passionate statesman who recognized that politics is innately tied with self-interest, but, especially in his old age, did not allow it to prevent him from doing what is right. His efforts were central to the abolitionist movement that would eventually culminate in the 13th Amendment.

Contemporary conservatives can learn from Quincy’s example. While doing the right thing may not always get you a Fox News job or lucrative consulting positions, it can earn the respect of both your countrymen and your fellow legislators — and if there is any interest in governance at all, that respect is far more valuable than any number of social media likes.

Furthermore, John Quincy Adams exemplifies political action that is above merely pitting ambition against ambition. Though he acknowledged that the human heart is “deceitful” and “wicked,” Quincy maintained, as my friend J. Tyler Syck wrote in The Constitutionalist, “that every human has an obligation to work to rise above our selfish instincts, and in pursuing this impossible quest we will find goodness.”

In other words, it is difficult for a republic like the United States to survive unless there is some interest in virtue. But virtue must be chosen. And even in Washington D.C., which is, in the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a “wretched hive of scum and villainy,” one person’s decision to pursue virtue can inspire others to do the same — even subconsciously.

Although I do not expect Republicans to take this message seriously — the temptations of rent-seeking and personal fame will be too strong for most — nevertheless, statesmanship need not die this way. By looking to the past, conservatives can push forward.