[178] Adams was nearly elected to the Senate in 1835 by a coalition of Anti-Masons and National Republicans, but his support for Jackson in a minor foreign policy matter annoyed National Republican leaders enough that they dropped their support for his candidacy.[179] After 1835, Adams never again sought higher office, focusing instead on his service in the House of Representatives.[180]

Van Buren, Harrison and Tyler administrations, 1837–1843
Portrait of Quincy Adams by William Hudson, 1844
In the mid-1830s, the Anti-Masonic Party, the National Republicans, and other groups opposed to Jackson coalesced into the Whig Party.[181] In the 1836 presidential election Democrats put forward Martin Van Buren, while the Whigs fielded multiple presidential candidates. Because he disdained all the major party contenders for president, Adams did not take part in the campaign; Van Buren won the election.[182] Nonetheless, Adams became aligned with the Whig Party in Congress.[183] Adams generally opposed the initiatives of President Van Buren, long a political adversary, though they maintained a cordial public relationship.[184]
The Republic of Texas won its independence from Mexico in the Texas Revolution of 1835–1836. 