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Southworth & Hawes
John Quincy Adams
1850 (ca)
Daguerreotype
12.0 x 9.0 cm (4 3/4 x 3 9/16 ins)
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Gift of I. N. Phelps Stokes, Edward S. Hawes, Alice Mary Hawes, and Marion Augusta Hawes, 1937, Accession Number: 37.14.34
LL/64384
Curatorial description (Accessed: 17 January 2016)
This is apparently a copy by Southworth & Hawes of a lost original daguerreotype by Phillip Haas (active 1839-57), ca. 1843. Oliver (1970a) discusses the Metropolitan Museum dagurreotype as by Southworth & Hawes and two related prints that clearly attribute it to Haas. Marder and Pierce (1995) correct the attribution of the Metropolitan's piece to Haas and describe it as a copy. Newhall (1977) describes a related plate signed by Haas, which Newhall donated to the Metropolitan Musem.
Biography: Son of President John Adams and Abigal Smith, John Quincy Adams (1776-1848) was born into a life of public service. In 1802, the Massachusetts legislature appointed him to the U.S. Senate. As secretary of state (1817-25) under James Monroe, he played a major role in formulating the Monroe Doctrine. In his bid for the presidency in 1824, he lost both the popular and electoral vote; however, as no candidate managed to secure a majority, the outcome was decided by the House of Representatives, which elected Adams. Opposed by the Democrats throughout his term, in 1828 he was defeated by Andrew Jackson in one of the most vicious presidential campaigns in American history. Adams rebounded in 1830, winning a seat in Congress on the anti-Masonic Party ticket. In 1841, he argued successfully before the Supreme court to win freedom for fifty-three slave mutineers aboard the Spainish ship Amistad. He served nine consecutive terms as a congressman, until his death in 1848, earning the nickname "Old Man Eloquent" for his magnificent antislavery speeches.
Beaumont Newhall, 1977, "A Daguerreotype of John Quincy Adams by Philip Haas", Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 12
William Marder, Estelle Marder with Sally Pierce, 1995, "Philip Haas: Lithographer, Print Publisher, and Daguerreotypist", The Daguerreian Annual 1995, (Pittsburgh, PA: The Daguerreian Society), pp. 21-22
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