John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams
Portrait c. 1843–1848
6th President of the United States
In office
March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829
Vice PresidentJohn C. Calhoun
Preceded byJames Monroe
Succeeded byAndrew Jackson
8th United States Secretary of State
In office
September 22, 1817 – March 3, 1825
PresidentJames Monroe
Preceded byJames Monroe
Succeeded byHenry Clay
14th Dean of the United States House of Representatives
In office
April 22, 1844 – February 23, 1848
Preceded byDixon Hall Lewis
Succeeded byJames Iver McKay
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts
In office
March 4, 1831 – February 23, 1848
Preceded byJoseph Richardson
Succeeded byHorace Mann
Constituency
United States Senator
from Massachusetts
In office
March 4, 1803 – June 8, 1808
Preceded byJonathan Mason
Succeeded byJames Lloyd
Member of the Massachusetts Senate
In office
April 20, 1802 – March 4, 1803
Diplomatic positions
7th United States Minister to the United Kingdom
In office
June 8, 1815 – May 14, 1817
Nominated byJames Madison
Preceded byJonathan Russell (1812)
Succeeded byRichard Rush
1st United States Minister to Russia
In office
November 5, 1809 – April 28, 1814
Nominated byJames Madison
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJames A. Bayard
1st United States Minister to Prussia
In office
December 5, 1797 – May 5, 1801
Nominated byJohn Adams
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byHenry Wheaton (1835)
3rd United States Minister to the Netherlands
In office
November 6, 1794 – June 20, 1797
Nominated byGeorge Washington
Preceded byWilliam Short
Succeeded byWilliam Vans Murray
Personal details
Born(1767-07-11)July 11, 1767
Braintree, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America
DiedFebruary 23, 1848(1848-02-23) (aged 80)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeUnited First Parish Church
Political party
Spouse
(m. 1797)
Children4, including George, John II and Charles
Parents
Relatives
Education
Occupation
  • Politician
  • lawyer
SignatureCursive signature in ink

John Quincy Adams (/ˈkwɪnzi/ ;[a] July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States, serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States secretary of state from 1817 to 1825. During his long diplomatic and political career, Adams served as an ambassador and also as a member of the United States Congress representing Massachusetts in both chambers. He was the eldest son of John Adams, who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801, and First Lady Abigail Adams. Initially a Federalist like his father, he won election to the presidency as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, and later, in the mid-1830s, became affiliated with the Whig Party.

Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, Adams spent much of his youth in Europe, where his father served as a diplomat. After returning to the United States, Adams established a successful legal practice in Boston. In 1794, President George Washington appointed Adams as the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, and Adams would serve in high-ranking diplomatic posts until 1801, when Thomas Jefferson took office as president. Federalist leaders in Massachusetts arranged for Adams's election to the United States Senate in 1802, but Adams broke with the Federalist Party over foreign policy and was denied re-election. In 1809, President James Madison, a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, appointed Adams as the U.S. ambassador to Russia. Multilingual, Adams held diplomatic posts for the duration of Madison's presidency, and he served as part of the American delegation that negotiated an end to the War of 1812. In 1817, President James Monroe selected Adams as his secretary of state. In that role, Adams negotiated the Adams–Onís Treaty, which provided for the American acquisition of Florida. He also helped formulate the Monroe Doctrine, which became a key tenet of U.S. foreign policy. In 1818, Adams was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.[3]

Adams, Andrew Jackson, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay—all members of the Democratic-Republican Party—competed in the 1824 presidential election. Because no candidate won a majority of electoral votes, the House of Representatives held a contingent election, which Adams won with the support of Speaker of the House Henry Clay, whom Adams would controversially appoint as his secretary of state. As president, Adams called for an ambitious agenda that included federally funded infrastructure projects, the establishment of a national university, and engagement with the countries of Latin America, but Congress refused to pass many of his initiatives. During Adams's presidency, the Democratic-Republican Party split into two major camps: the National Republican Party, which supported Adams, and Andrew Jackson's Democratic Party. The Democrats proved to be more effective political organizers than Adams and his National Republican supporters, and Jackson soundly defeated Adams in the 1828 presidential election, making Adams the second president to fail to win re-election (his father being the first).

Rather than retiring from public service, Adams won election to the House of Representatives, where he would serve from 1831 until his death in 1848. He remains the only former president to be elected to the chamber. After narrowly losing his bids for Governor of Massachusetts and Senate re-election, Adams joined the Anti-Masonic Party in the early 1830s before joining the Whig Party, which united those opposed to President Jackson. During his time in Congress, Adams became increasingly critical of slavery and of the Southern leaders whom he believed controlled the Democratic Party. He was particularly opposed to the annexation of Texas and the Mexican–American War, which he saw as a war to extend slavery and its political grip on Congress. He also led the repeal of the "gag rule", which had prevented the House of Representatives from debating petitions to abolish slavery. Historians concur that Adams was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history; they typically rank him as an average president, as he had an ambitious agenda but could not get it passed by Congress. By contrast, historians also view Adams in a more positive light during his post-presidency because of his vehement stance against slavery, as well as his fight for the rights of women and Native Americans.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference bioguide1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Wead, Doug (2005). The Raising of a President. New York: Atria Books. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-7434-9726-8.
  3. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved April 5, 2021.


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