The Diary of John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams kept a meticulous diary all of his adult life. It is an exceptionally rich source: for each day, he filled precisely one large page with his close, crabbed handwriting. He recorded in detail what he did, whom he saw, what he was reading, what political developments interested or involved him -- even, on Sundays, what sermon he had heard.
The manuscript diary is held as part of the Adams Family Papers, in the Massachusetts Historical Society, in Boston, Massachusetts. (A microfilm edition is available in many larger research libraries.) Excerpts from the diary were published as the Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, edited by Charles Francis Adams.
The Exploring Amistad Library includes both transcriptions and images of a string of diary entries in which Adams worked or commented in some way on the Amistad case. Not every day is included, but on those days the library does include, the entire diary entry is presented.
Some key diary entries:
November 17, 1840: After meeting with Baldwin to discuss trial tactics, Adams visits the
Amistad Africans in jail. (This meeting with Cinque and the others is quite different
than the scene written for the Spielberg movie.)
December 12, 1840: Adams worries over what tone he should strike in making his argument before the Supreme Court.
February 23, 1841: As the trial begins, Adams continues to prepare.
February 24, 1841: Adams begins his arguments.
March 1, 1841: Adams concludes his arguments.
March 9, 1841: Adams reports (somewhat laconically) on the Amistad verdict.
