The path along which culture evolves tends to split and then recombine, as certain ideas are favoured while other are gradually rejected. I just read a bit about John Quincy Adams, the president who wanted to fund Captain Symmes expedition to the polar hole, and was fascinated by how he contrasts to Andrew Jackson that was his competitor in the 1824 presidential election, the two have a very interesting protagonist/antagonist relation. Andrew Jackson was a slave owner, held more than 300 slaves throughout his life time and was among the planter elite, John Quincy Adams worked with the abolitionists from 1830 until his death in 1848.

John Quincy Adams was the son of the second president of the USA, John Adams. George Washington appointed him as minister to the Netherlands in 1794, and he became president in 1824. He died in 1848 from a cerebral haemorrhage while speaking at the House of Representatives.