In his First Annual Message to Congress, delivered on December 6, 1825, John Quincy Adams, the newly elected president of the United States, outlined his ambitious, nationalistic ideals. Adams’s career had three major phases—diplomat, president, and congressman. As president, he sought through his public messages to persuade a factionalized Congress to pursue an ambitious national program of development. His premier Annual Message captures this presidential philosophy while also providing insight into issues of the 1820s as the nation, coming off a second war with Great Britain, was expanding and trying to establish a national identity.