In the meantime…

Nothing’s been posted in quite a while… and apologies for that. I’ll be back shortly… For now, here’s a guy you usually don’t think of, who had a major role in Mexican history. Today’s birthday boy, John Quincey Adams.

John Quincey Adams… what did he have to do with Mexico?

He was the Adams in the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, which (besides sticking the US with Florida) defined the borders between “New Spain” and the new United States.

The “Monroe Doctrine” (1823) wasn’t known by that name until at least the 1850s, having been drawn up by Adams (as Secretary of State), something that certainly (especially after some fancy re-interpretation by Teddy Roosevelt to the effect nobody… BUT the US… could interfere in Latin American affairs. Adam’s original intent was only to give the US an edge when it came to exports, and… more importantly… to prevent the then-superpowers of attempting to regain control of American resources.

And.. at the end of his life, after one term as President (after a controversial election in which, as the third place finisher, he was selected by Congress to serve as President), as a representative from Massachusetts, along with NY representative (and future president, Millard Fillmore… later joined by Illinois representative, Abraham Lincoln), he led opposition to the US was against Mexico.

So… a happy 255th to one of the more forgotten foreign “influencers” of Mexican-US relations.