Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt
you in due time.
Before the ex-President left Quincy, Massachusetts, and
went back to Congress in the District of Columbia, people said
guardedly what they would say today, 'It is just not done. One
does not become the President of the United States and then go
back to the lower hall of Congress. What will other people
think?'
But Adams had some dreams for America and he kept working
for those dreams even if it meant humbling himself in order to do
it. He was the one who introduced resolutions which proposed that
after the fourth of July on a certain year every child born in
the United States would be a free person. Those were days, of
course, when the slave trade was prospering. The gag rule of the
House was introduced solely to stop Adams, and for years he was
hounded, vilified, and voted down, as well as betrayed. It took
years turning his cheek to such treatment, but eventually, he
secured open debate about racial justice and helped further the
cause of freedom of the slaves. The abolition of slavery would
doubtless have been a much slower process if John Quincy Adams
had not been willing to humble himself and forget the prestige of
the White House and devote his last days as a working, though
usually unappreciated, congressman.
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due
time."
(1 Peter 5.6
NRSV)
Two years after he had completed his term of office as
the sixth President of the United States, John Quincy Adams took
his seat in the House of Representatives. This was an unusual
step even in those primitive days of our republic--to go from
being President to being a mere congressman. But to historians,
John Quincy Adams is remembered not so much for having been the
President and the son of the distinguished second President of
the republic, not for his eminent career as a diplomat in France
and Russia, but for his devoted service as a working member of
the House of Representatives from 1831 until he died in that
building in 1848 (17 years later).
Dear God, help me to always be humble before you and your people. Amen.
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