John Quincy Adams (11 July 1767 – 23 February 1848) was President of the United States from 4 March 1825 to 4 March 1829, succeeding James Monroe and preceding Andrew Jackson. He previously served as a US Senator from Massachusetts from 4 March 1803 to 8 June 1808 (succeeding Jonathan Mason and preceding James Lloyd), Secretary of State from 22 September 1817 to 4 March 1825 (succeeding James Monroe and preceding Henry Clay), and a member of the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts' 11th district from 4 March 1831 to 3 March 1833 (succeeding Joseph Richardson and preceding John Reed, Jr.), from the 12th district from 4 March 1833 to 3 March 1843 (succeeding James L. Hodges), and from the 8th district from 4 March 1843 to 23 February 1848 (succeeding William B. Calhoun). The son of former President John Adams, he was affiliated with the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, Anti-Masonic, and Whig parties.
Biography[]
Early life[]
John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts on 11 July 1767, the son of John Adams and Abigail Smith. He was named for his mother's maternal grandfather, Colonel John Quincy, for whom the town of Quincy is named. Much of his youth was spent accompanying his father overseas, and he studied at Leiden University in Holland in 1781. At the age of 14, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Russia to obtain its recognition of the United States, and he spent time in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark. Adams became fluent in French and Dutch, while he became familiar with German and other languages. After returning to America, he graduated from Harvard in 1787 and became a lawyer in Boston in 1791.
Political beginnings[]
Adams in 1796
In 1793, President George Washington sent Adams as the American ambassador to Holland, and he became minister to Portugal in 1796. Washington saw Adams as the most valuable of America's officials abroad, and Adams came to terms with a future of public service. In 1797, he was appointed Minister to Prussia, and he served in that post until 1801, when Thomas Jefferson became president. In 1802, he joined the Massachusetts State Senate, and he was then elected to the US Senate in 1803, serving until 1808. Adams was initially a member of his father's Federalist Party, but his support for the Louisiana Purchase, American expansionism, an embargo against Britain, and a hardline stance against Britain led to him becoming a Democratic-Republican.
Cabinet member[]
Adams' support of Jefferson's foreign policy led to President James Madison appointing him as ambassador to Russia in 1809, serving until 1814. From 1815 to 1817, he served as ambassador to the United Kingdom, and he negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. His impressive performance led to President James Monroe naming him Secretary of State, and he served from 1817 to 1825. Adams negotiated the Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain, which allowed for the annexation of Florida, and he drafted the Monroe Doctrine, which declared American opposition to European interference in the newly-independent states of the Americas.
Presidency[]
In 1824, Adams was elected president in a close and controversial four-way contest. During the election, he won New England (except for one electoral vote in Maine, which went to Andrew Jackson), and none of the four candidates won a majority of the vote. This forced the US House of Representatives to elect the next President, and Henry Clay, who shared many of Adams' views, gave his support to Adams, who then won 13 states in the House to Jackson's 7 and William H. Crawford's 4. As President, Adams sought to modernize the economy and promote education, and he paid off much of the national debt. However, a hostile US Congress blocked him from passing muchof his promised legislation, and his lack of patronage networks led to his downfall.
Congressman[]
Adams in 1841
In the 1828 presidential election, Adams was defeated for re-election by Jackson, with Adams running as the National Republican candidate and Jackson representing the newly-formed Democratic Party. Adams made a political comeback in the House of Representatives, serving for the last seventeen years of his life with even greater popularity than when he was president. He became a leading opponent of slave power, and he predicted the union's dissolution over slavery and argued that a president could use his war powers to abolish slavery. During the last few years of his life, he criticized the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War, which he saw as an aggressive war for territory. He died on 23 February 1848, three weeks after the war's end.