John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767–February 23, 1848) was an American diplomat and politician who served as the sixth President of the United States from March 4, 1825 to March 4, 1829. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties.
Easton Press John Quincy Adams books
President John Quincy Adams biography
John Quincy Adams was a career diplomat, U.S. senator, and Secretary of State before becoming the sixth President of the United States. He was the son of the second president and Founding Father, John Adams. John Quincy Adams is considered one of the best-prepared people to become president in U.S. history. He started his political career as a child.
John Quincy Adams was born on July 11, 1767, in Braintree. At age 10, he accompanied his father to France to help secure aid for the American Revolutionary War. By age 14, he accompanied Francis Dana, an American diplomat, to Russia and acted not only as his assistant but also as his interpreter. At just 14 years old, John Quincy Adams could speak Italian, French, Russian, English, Latin, and German.
In 1783, he traveled to France with his father and served as a secretary and translator while negotiating the Treaty of Paris. In 1785, John Quincy returned to Boston and entered Harvard College, where he earned a master’s degree before going on to practice law in 1790.
Political career
John Quincy Adams developed foreign policy expertise through several ministerial positions. He served as minister to Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain. He also served in the U.S. Senate and as Secretary of State under President James Monroe.
Adams negotiated the purchase of Florida from Spain and wrote the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. The Monroe Doctrine was a diplomatic game changer for the United States. It announced that the United States would resist intervention by European powers in the Western Hemisphere and helped protect Latin American independence.
In the 1824 presidential election, when neither Andrew Jackson nor John Quincy Adams won a majority of the electoral votes, the issue was decided by the House of Representatives in favor of Adams.
As president, John Quincy Adams did not win either the popular vote or the electoral vote; Andrew Jackson did. Consequently, many members of Congress who supported Jackson worked to obstruct Adams’s agenda. They were successful, and Adams lost his bid for a second presidential term.
However, Adams did not retire from politics. He did something no president before or since has ever done: he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives and won. From 1830 until 1848, John Quincy Adams was an active voice for change and abolitionist causes in the House of Representatives.
John Quincy Adams is also famous for his involvement in the Amistad case, in which a group of enslaved men sued for their freedom. Adams successfully argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Death
John Quincy Adams died on February 23, 1848, two days
after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while speaking on the House floor. Two days later, on February 23, he died with his wife and son at his side in the Speaker's Room inside the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. His last words were reported to have been, "This is the last of Earth. I am content."
His interment was in the family burial ground at Quincy. After his wife's death, his son had him reinterred with his wife in a family crypt in the United First Parish Church across the street. His parents are also interred there and both tombs can be viewed.
He would probably want to be remembered for two major accomplishments
in his life: helping found the Smithsonian Institution and his
opposition to slavery.
John Quincy Adams quotes
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader."
"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
"Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air."
"To furnish the means of acquiring knowledge is... the greatest benefit that can be conferred upon mankind. It prolongs life itself and enlarges the sphere of existence."
"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."
"In charity to all mankind, bearing no malice or ill will to any human being, and even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing what they do."
"I am a man of reserved, cold, austere, and forbidding manners."
"In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity."
"The moment my children were born, I was reborn. I'd die for them, easily."
"Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."