John Quincy Adams’ Handwritten Notes From His First Case Before the U.S. Supreme Court, Argued in Front of Chief Justice John Marshall

Long in possession of Supreme Court Reporter William Cranch, who received them directly from the future President

Adams graduated from Harvard in 1787 at age 20 and, like his father, chose law as his career. After three years of studies, he began to practice law in Boston in 1790. He was, however, diverted from the path of his legal career when President Washington appointed him ambassador to the Netherlands in 1794, following which his father sent him to head the embassy in Berlin. When Jefferson was inaugurated president in 1801, Adams returned to Boston and his law practice. He was soon elected as to the U.S. Senate and served from 1803-1808. At that time, it was not considered a conflict for members of Congress to handle outside law cases and Adams occasionally did so. In 1804, for example, he argued his first case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Then from 1809-1829, Adams again put his legal practice aside, as he held the positions of minister to Russia and Great Britain, Secretary of State, and finally President. He picked up his legal practice after leaving the presidency and continued it into his final career as a member of the House of Representatives. His last argument before the Supreme Court occurred in 1841, and it essentially ended his legal practice, which had lasted for 51 years.

The Massachusetts firm of Head and Amory was the owner of merchandise aboard the Spanish-flag brig Nueva Empressa that was captured by a British cruiser in 1800 during the Napoleonic War. The merchandise was covered by an insurance policy issued by Providence Insurance Co. The British sent brig into St. John’s, Newfoundland, where both ship and cargo were condemned as prize. Head and Amory suffered a total loss, and after Providence denied liability, sued the insurer under the policy. The jury was charged by the court that the policy had been effectively cancelled by subsequent correspondence between the parties before the loss, and it found for the defendants, the underwriters. An appeal was filed by the plaintiffs, their legal argument being that the evidence of a subsequent agreement was invalid and, moreover, contravened the corporation’s charter. Mssrs. Head and Amory had known the Adams family for years and retained John Quincy to represent them in the argument on appeal, which was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court at the February Term, 1804. Adams had never previously practiced before the High Court.

Adams prepared with great care for the argument, making thorough notes detailing his facts and legal theories, discussing the evidence, and reviewing the relevant correspondence to ascertain its validity and meaning. He also extensively cited recognized authorities on the common law, such as Viner, Powell and Blackstone. On February 7, 1804, Adams made his historic first appearance before the Court. The case is cited as Head & Amory v. Providence Insurance Co., 6 U.S. 127, 2 Cranch 127. These are Adams’ original notes for the argument, used by him as he faced the justices that day. They are clear, effectively conceived, and surprisingly modern-sounding. Any lawyer today could readily follow Adams’ reasoning and conclusions, as well as his presentation format, and could still use this outline to argue points of law. Here are some brief excerpts; a full transcription is available.

“The evidence was inadmissible.

State of the cause at the time –  The Plaintiffs had fully established their claim.

    1. It was evidence of a supposed parole [oral] agreement. 1 Powell 280

    Bill of Exceptions – Court thought it written.

        1. But a written agreement is one paper with all the meaning of parties.

        2. This agreement, if one, has none of the character of a written agreement

            1. No deliberation, 2. No certainty, 3. No signature, 4. No solemnity

2. The notes of the Corporation were not signed.

        1. The agreement, if any, consisted of mutual promises.

        2. A Corporation can contract only by instrument under seal, or by charter.

            1 Blackstone 475   6 Viner 286, 287-288

Court should have directed that no contract was proved.

1. Intent of the parties was either to act or to contract.  2 Powell 79

        1. Because such was the nature of the transaction.

        2. The letters were but a necessary substitute for personal communications.

        3. The parties never fixed a time for the agreement to commence.

Recapitulation – No contract proved.

    1. From the nature of the transaction which was to cancel, and not agree to cancel.

    2. From the intent of the parties, as apparent in their letters or notes.

    3. From the law, by which no such agreement could be made in that form.

    4. From the change in the state of things before the business was completed.

    5. And because the failure of the completion was owing to the Company themselves.”

Despite Adams’ own doubts about his prospects, his arguments prevailed and he won his first case before the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall, writing the opinion, held: “The communications which have been cited, do not import a contract [to cancel the policy]. They were negotiations preparatory to an agreement, but not an agreement itself…It is a general rule that a corporation can only act in the manner prescribed by law….The act of incorporation is to them an enabling act; it gives them all the power they possess; it enables them to contract, and when it prescribes to them a mode of contracting, they must observe that mode, or the instrument no more creates a contract than if the body had never been incorporated…” This ruling was a landmark in corporation law and this case has been often cited for the proposition that a corporation derives its power from its charter.

The opinion was authored by Chief Justice John Marshall.

The provenance on these notes is fascinating, as they were given by Adams to U.S. Supreme Court reporter William Cranch. The nephew of Abigail Adams and a classmate of Adams at Harvard, in 1800 Cranch was appointed judge of the District of Columbia circuit court, where he served until his death 54 years later. He became the reporter of  Supreme Court decisions in 1801, and was the first to do so on a regular basis without the addition of extraneous materials. Cranch remained Reporter of Decisions until 1815, so he reported this decision in the 1804 volume. On the back of these notes is a statement in Cranch’s hand “Mr. J.Q. Adams’ notes for argument. See 2 Cranch 127. The written notes are in the handwriting of the Hon. J.Q. Adams – in the year 1804 -and were given to me by him. W. Cranch, April 27, 1840.”

In 1841, the aged Adams represented Africans trying to avoid slavery in the famed Amistad case. It was his final Supreme Court case, and there he made his final argument before the High Bench. In his brilliant and moving summation, composing almost an epitaph for himself as he addressed the justices, he nostalgically looked back to that first case even as he faced eternity. Here are his words. “May it please your Honors: On the 7th of February, 1804, now more than thirty-seven years past, my name was entered, and yet stands recorded, on both the rolls, as one of the Attorneys and Counsellors of this Court…I stand before the same Court, but not before the same judges…As I cast my eyes along those seats of honor and of public trust, now occupied by you, they seek in vain for one of those honored and honorable persons whose indulgence listened then to my voice. Marshall–Cushing–Chase–Washington–Johnson–Livingston–Todd–Where are they?…Where is the marshal–where are the criers of the Court?…Where are they all? Gone! Gone! All gone!–Gone from the services which, in their day and generation, they faithfully rendered to their country…[I am] taking, then, my final leave of this Bar, and of this Honorable Court…”