1997/01/01 by Catherine Allgor · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #American Constitutional Law and Politics
paper · doi:10.1111/1467-7709.00049
openalex publication_date 1997/01/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
On 12 November 1809, Louisa Catherine Adams, wife and political partner of John Quincy Adams, recently arrived plenipotentiary from America to the Russian court, was presented to their Majesties. After the main ceremony, which went well despite her “fluttering pulse,” Louisa then met the empress mother in a less formal ritual. Assuming her to be an American provincial, the empress mother asked Louisa many questions about her impressions of St. Petersburg, home of the Russian court for over a century. While Louisa diplomatically extolled the capital's charms, she mentioned that she had also seen “London Paris Berlin and Dresden.” According to Louisa's memory of the event, the empress mother exclaimed, “ ‘A mon dieu vous avez tout vue!!’ and she [the empress mother] appeared to regret it very much – the Savage had been expected!!”1 Louisa Catherine Adams had perhaps not “seen it all,” but she was undoubtedly one of the most well traveled and sophisticated women of her time. Her mere presence in St. Petersburg in the early years of the nineteenth century should have intrigued many historians interested in American-Russian relations, but it has not.