Presidential Biographies | John Q. Adams Administration - Foreign Issues

Foreign Issues

The United States was at peace during Adams's presidency. This gave Adams the chance to pursue foreign policies that dated back to Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson—maintaining U.S. independence by avoiding alliances with foreign nations, while securing recognition of the United States's freedom to use the seas unmolested by foreign privateers and navies. Indeed, these policies were at the heart of the doctrine of noninterference that Adams, as secretary of state under James Monroe, had molded into the Monroe Doctrine. Negotiation of commercial treaties was an important component of these policies, and the Adams administration signed nine in four years, more than in any other four-year period prior to the American Civil War (1861–65).