1827 John Quincy Adams - Panama Congress Disaster

In 1825, newly elected President John Quincy Adams saw the Panama Congress as a way to solidify the Monroe Doctrine and lock down the independence of South America from European intervention, and accepted an invitation from Simón Bolívar to attend the Congress.  Despite, concerns of some Southern Congressman who objected because many of the South American countries were looking to outlaw slavery. Congress voted to appropriate funds for the delegates.   It was a victory for Adams and a celebration the cause of freedom in the Americas, but, as fate would have the victory was short lived, and the celebration shattered.  Adams victory was cut short when one of the delegates to the Congress died en route, ad the other arrived too late.  Celebration of the Panama was shattered due to what Adams described as "intestine divisions in some of the Republics of the south". 

In his 1827 State of the Union Address, President Adams gave a status update on the Panama Congress and shared the bad news, or perhaps the lack of any good news from the region.  The battles for independence were ending, and there were few shouts of victory coming out of the Southern hemisphere.  The glory was over, and without some grand treaty of union coming out of South America, one might get the impression that things weren't going so well. In fact, the Congress of Panama which proposed creating a league of America republics had not yet been ratified, and the follow-up meetings were delayed.  But Adams chose to begin with some good news, so he began with the words "In the American hemisphere the cause of freedom and independence has continued to prevail".  Adams explained, that despite the glory of triumphant battles and shouts of victory, the reality was that the enemy (European imperialists) had been expelled.  The Southern hemisphere was moving on to a new stage of independence.  The battles were over, and they were now securing for themselves the blessings and rewards of liberty. 

"In the American hemisphere the cause of freedom and independence has continued to prevail, and if signalized by none of those splendid triumphs which had crowned with glory some of the preceding years it has only been from the banishment of all external force against which the struggle had been maintained. The shout of victory has been superseded by the expulsion of the enemy over whom it could have been achieved. 

Our friendly wishes and cordial good will, which have constantly followed the southern nations of America in all the vicissitudes of their war of independence, are succeeded by a solicitude equally ardent and cordial that by the wisdom and purity of their institutions they may secure to themselves the choicest blessings of social order and the best rewards of virtuous liberty. Disclaiming alike all right and all intention of interfering in those concerns which it is the prerogative of their independence to regulate as to them shall seem fit, we hail with joy every indication of their prosperity, of their harmony, of their persevering and inflexible homage to those principles of freedom and of equal rights which are alone suited to the genius and temper of the American nations."

note:  That last line of Adam's deserves a closer look, for it cuts at two levels.  On one level, it is a jab at the European nations.  Adams seems to be saying that there is something special about the spirit and temperament of the American nations, that predisposes them to liberty, something that perhaps Adams felt European nations would never know.   And on the second level, there is no escaping the fact that in the United States equal rights was not yet guaranteed to enslaved blacks, and while the abolitionist movement was taking hold in the countries of South America. 

Now that Adams put Congress in the right frame of mind, he returned to the news at hand.  The panama Congress had opened on June 22, 1826 and was attended by the ministers of Guatemala, Mexico, Gran Columbia, Peru and observers from the British and Dutch governments.  From the onset of the meetings, there were disagreements over whether or not the nations should be free independent states or form a federation.  Peru and Columbia were already independent states and thus were very strongly anti federalist, while Simón Bolívar the Venezuelan military leader and "Liberator" of South America  wanted to have strong standing army under the control of a federated government. Adams shared that there was now concerns that due to these internal  internal divisions among some of the Republics of the South that the treaties concluded at the Panama Congress were not ratified, and that the meeting of the follow-up congress in 1827 at Tacubaya had been indefinitely postponed. To make matters worse, as these obstacles were delaying the next Congress, one of the 2 ministers commissioned on the part of the United States had passed away. 

"It has been, therefore, with some concern that we have observed indications of intestine divisions in some of the Republics of the south, and appearances of less union with one another than we believe to be the interest of all. Among the results of this state of things has been that the treaties concluded at Panama do not appear to have been ratified by the contracting parties, and that the meeting of the congress at Tacubaya has been indefinitely postponed. In accepting the invitations to be represented at this congress, while a manifestation was intended on the part of the United States of the most friendly disposition toward the southern Republics by whom it had been proposed, it was hoped that it would furnish an opportunity for bringing all the nations of this hemisphere to the common acknowledgment and adoption of the principles in the regulation of their internal relations which would have secured a lasting peace and harmony between them and have promoted the cause of mutual benevolence throughout the globe. But as obstacles appear to have arisen to the reassembling of the congress, one of the 2 ministers commissioned on the part of the United States has returned to the bosom of his country, while the minister charged with the ordinary mission to Mexico remains authorized to attend the conferences of the congress when ever they may be resumed."

In the end the members of Peru and Columbia pushed their views so strongly that when the "Treaty of Perpetual Union, League and Confederation" was completed, it made it very explicit that each and every republic would remain a sovereign state.   Article 28 of the treaty stated that the treaty "will never interrupt in any way the exercising of sovereignty on the part of each of the republics”.  In addition, Simón Bolívar's idea of having a permanent army supported by the confederation was  killed, and in article 4 of the treaty, text was added to ensure that any military contingents would be subject to the governing nation they were providing assistance too. Because of these differences and others, none of the Latin American countries outside of Gran Columbia ever ratified the Treaty that was drawn up in Panama.  In the end, the Panama Congress proved to be a disaster.  Over the next 10 years, the disagreements led to the disintegration of the existing federations of Gran Columbia and Guatemala, and the emergence of more than twenty independent and sovereign states and battles over borders.

References

Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2018). John Quincy Adams: Third Annual Message. [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29469 [Accessed 9 May 2018].

Thefederalist.eu. (2018). The Panama Congress. A Failed Attempt at Latin American Union. [online] Available at: http://www.thefederalist.eu/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=548&lang=en [Accessed 15 May 2018].

Wagner, D. (2018). 1825 John Quincy Adams - Panama Congress. [online] Stateoftheunionhistory.com. Available at: http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2015/07/1827-john-quincy-adams-panama-congress.html [Accessed 15 May 2018].  (part 1)

Encyclopedia.com. (2018). Panama Congress - Dictionary definition of Panama Congress | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary. [online] Available at: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/panama-congress [Accessed 15 May 2018].