July 2021
路易莎·凯瑟琳·亚当斯描述了她丈夫7月4日的讲话, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, in a letter to their son, John Adams, dated Washington, 5 July 1821. Louisa Catherine addresses her letter to “John Adams, Jr.", then a college student at Harvard, to distinguish him from his illustrious grandfather, the former president. She writes:
Your father yesterday performed his part to admiration and their [sic在一个有如此多巨大的兴趣和强烈的激情共同作用的地方，人们表达了尽可能多的普遍满意.
当约翰·昆西·亚当斯的演讲成名时——他拥护政治权利，认为这是良好政府的源泉，但同时也告诫人们即使出于人道主义目的也要反对外国干预——路易莎·凯瑟琳·亚当斯的评论几乎完全被她丈夫的表现所取代. 她指出，许多听众感到惊讶，“他们想当然地认为，他性格上的冷漠必然会使他的演讲平淡无奇。.” While President Monroe was only at the beginning of his second term, 潜在的候选人已经在1824年的总统竞选中为职位做准备, and Mrs. Adams was about to become, in effect, her husband’s “campaign manager."
路易莎·凯瑟琳·亚当斯非凡的一生常常被她更有名的岳母所掩盖, Abigail Adams, but Louisa Catherine’s influence on the public career of her husband, although very different, was as important as Abigail’s on the career of John Adams.
Born in 1775 in London, 她是马里兰州商人约书亚·约翰逊和凯瑟琳·诺斯·约翰逊的女儿, a young Englishwoman whose life and family background remain obscure, Louisa Catherine grew up in England and France. In 1795 she met John Quincy Adams, a young American diplomat who was visiting London, 他们复杂的求爱——在超过50年的时间里，他们之间几乎所有的事情都是“复杂的”——导致他们在1797年结婚.
Until 1821, 他们的婚姻生活被分配到驻外使领馆, including five years in St. Petersburg, 以及在昆西和华盛顿的“家”度过的时间(尽管路易莎·凯瑟琳在1801年才第一次来到美国). 在他的海外任务之间的几年里，约翰·昆西在美国国务院任职.S. Senate and taught rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University. By 1821, they had three sons old enough to be away at Harvard, 尽管路易莎·凯瑟琳经历了多次不成功的怀孕, and they had lost an infant daughter while they lived in Russia.
As secretary of state, John Quincy Adams was seen to be “next in line” for the presidency, although, as Louisa Catherine noted, his reputation for a cold, austere manner made him an unlikely candidate. Earlier in 1821, she had written that as a leading figure in Washington society, “The eye of the public is already upon me.她的抱负是让这只“眼睛”影响到她的丈夫，并“管理”他获得总统提名的道路.
In 1821, 约翰·昆西·亚当斯被要求在美国国会大厦发表每年7月4日的演讲. A former Harvard professor of rhetoric, 亚当斯穿着学士服，表明他是以一个普通公民的身份发言的. While he celebrated the overthrow of all governments based upon conquest, 他接着强烈主张不干涉外国冲突:“她(美国)到国外去不是为了寻找怪物来消灭. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator of only her own.”
During the course of his speech, Adams paused to read the Declaration, 他使用了大陆会议于1776年7月19日授权的羊皮纸上的正式“精读”副本作为他的文本, the copy now on display at the National Archives.
路易莎·凯瑟琳·亚当斯来信的收信人，她的中间(也是最喜欢的)?) son, John Adams, had been born on 4 July 1803, so as she notes:
这是你18岁生日的纪念日，由此激起的公私利益交织的感情，将给你的记忆烙上比以往更多的敬意. 我骄傲地希望我的儿子能活着看到它庆祝许多许多年，而在你的帮助下，增加了它的节日和喜悦.
It was not to be. John was dismissed from college for riotous behavior in 1823. He served as presidential secretary during his father’s term in office, 在此期间，他是国会大厦圆形大厅臭名昭著的袭击事件的受害者. He struggled with alcoholism, illness, and business failures, and died in 1834, leaving John Quincy and Louisa Catherine Adams, who already had lost their eldest son, George, overwhelmed by grief, but also responsible for John’s young widow and her children.
Louisa Catherine Adams mourned John’s death in memorial poetry. 她活了下来，在1848年埋葬了她的丈夫，并给孙子留下了难忘的印象, the historian Henry Adams. When she died in Washington in 1852, 国会参众两院议员休会，参加她的葬礼.
Adams, John Quincy. An Address Delivered at the Request of a Committee of the Citizens of Washington; on the Occasion of Reading the Declaration of Independence, on the Fourth of July, 1821. Washington: Printed by Davis and Force, 1821.
John Quincy Adams circulated copies of his Address within a few days of delivering it. It was widely reprinted in newspapers and in other pamphlet editions.
________. Oration. 4 July 1821. 16 pp.
约翰·昆西·亚当斯7月4日演讲的修正稿. 原稿和发表的讲话稿有很大的不同, 尤其是结尾处那句著名的台词:“但她出国并不是为了消灭怪物,” which originally read, “But she has no political Quixoticsim in her composition.”
亚当斯论文微缩电影“约翰·昆西·亚当斯——演讲和演讲”，卷轴452.
Adams, Louisa Catherine. Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2013. Ed. by Judith S. Graham, et al. 2 vols.
1821年3月28日至7月19日期间，路易莎·凯瑟琳·亚当斯的日记中有一段中断, but her published writings contain many references to her son John, their close emotional bond, and the memorial poetry she wrote after his death in 1834.
Allgor, Catherine. 客厅政治:华盛顿的女士们帮助建立一个城市和一个政府. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000.
While Parlor Politics 描述了华盛顿女性在建国初期的政治角色, Chapter 4, “Louisa Catherine Adams Campaigns for the Presidency,为她描述丈夫7月4日的演讲提供了背景.
Bemis, Samuel Flagg. John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965.
________. 《圆形大厅的混战:约翰·昆西·亚当斯总统任期的注脚和决斗的历史,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. 71 (October 1953-May 1957), pp. 156-166.
Heffron, Margery M. Louisa Catherine: The Other Mrs. Adams. Ed. by David Michelmore. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.
Thomas, Louisa. Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams. New York: Penguin, 2016.
托马斯探索并记录了路易莎·凯瑟琳·亚当斯与她的儿子约翰的亲密关系以及他死亡的痛苦情况.
Traub, James. John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit. New York: Basic Books, 2016.
特劳布称约翰·昆西·亚当斯7月4日的演讲是他说过的“最著名的话”. 他描述了路易莎·凯瑟琳·亚当斯在她丈夫的政治生涯中扮演的重要角色.
Whitaker, Arthur P. The United States and the Independence of Latin America, 1800-1830. New York: Norton, 1964. First published by the Johns Hopkins Press in 1941.
作者专门用了一章(第12章:“对列克星敦和爱丁堡的答复”，第391页). 1821年7月4日约翰·昆西·亚当斯的演讲，并提供了该演讲的当代印刷参考, Adams’s correspondence following its publication, and the widespread public reaction, both positive and negative, to it.
Family of John Quincy Adams [MHS Collections Online]
这个剪影是在1829年约翰·昆西·亚当斯卸任总统后创作的, about eight years after the speech, 用约翰·昆西·亚当斯的剪影来描绘故事中的关键人物, Louisa Catherine Adams, their son, John Adams (1803-1834) and his wife and daughter, along with a family friend and an Adams niece.
