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| John Quincy Adams |
John Quincy Adams 6th President of the United States (March 4, 1825 to March 3, 1829) Nickname: "Old Man Eloquent" “Accidental President” Born: July 11, 1767, in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts Died: February 23, 1848, in Washington, D.C. |
Father: 
John Adams
Mother: Abigail Smith Adams
Married: Louisa Catherine Johnson (1775-1852), on July 26, 1797
Children: George Washington Adams (1801-29); John Adams (1803-34); Charles Francis Adams (1807-86); Louisa Catherine Adams (1811-12)
John AdamsMother: Abigail Smith Adams
Married: Louisa Catherine Johnson (1775-1852), on July 26, 1797
Children: George Washington Adams (1801-29); John Adams (1803-34); Charles Francis Adams (1807-86); Louisa Catherine Adams (1811-12)
Religion: Unitarian
Education: Graduated from Harvard College (1787)
Occupation: Lawyer
Political Party: Democratic-Republican
Education: Graduated from Harvard College (1787)
Occupation: Lawyer
Political Party: Democratic-Republican
Life Overview
John Quincy Adams 
i/ˈkwɪnzi/ (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth President of the United States (1825–1829). He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former President John Adams and Abigail Adams. As a diplomat, Adams played an important role in negotiating many international treaties, most notably the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. As Secretary of State, he negotiated with the United Kingdom over America's northern border with Canada, negotiated with Spain the annexation of Florida, and authored the Monroe Doctrine. Historians agree he was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history.[2][3]
i/ˈkwɪnzi/ (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth President of the United States (1825–1829). He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former President John Adams and Abigail Adams. As a diplomat, Adams played an important role in negotiating many international treaties, most notably the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. As Secretary of State, he negotiated with the United Kingdom over America's northern border with Canada, negotiated with Spain the annexation of Florida, and authored the Monroe Doctrine. Historians agree he was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history.[2][3]As president, he sought to modernize the American economy and promoted education. Adams enacted a part of his agenda and paid off much of the national debt.[4] He was stymied by a Congress controlled by his enemies, and his lack of patronage networks helped politicians eager to undercut him. He lost his 1828 bid for re-election to Andrew Jackson. In doing so, he became the first President since his father to serve a single term.
Adams is best known as a diplomat who shaped America's foreign policy in line with his ardently nationalist commitment to America's republican values. More recently Howe (2007) portrayed Adams as the exemplar and moral leader in an era of modernization. During Adams' lifetime, technological innovations and new means of communication spread messages of religious revival, social reform, and party politics. Goods, money and people traveled more rapidly and efficiently than ever before.[5]
Adams was elected a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts after leaving office, the only president ever to be so, serving for the last 17 years of his life with far greater success than he had achieved in the presidency. Animated by his growing revulsion against slavery,[6] Adams became a leading opponent of the Slave Power. He correctly predicted that if a civil war were to break out, the president could abolish slavery by using his war powers; Abraham Lincoln did just that with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Adams also predicted the Union's dissolution over the slavery issue, but said that if the South became independent there would be a series of bloody slave revolts.[7]
Notable Events:
- 1825
- The appointment of Henry Clay as secretary of state, led to charges that the Clay and Adams made a bargain in the election of 1824.
- Erie Canal completed.
- 1828
- Baltimore & Ohio railroad, the first designed for passengers and freight.
- Andrew Jackson defeated Adams.
Points of Interest:
- President Adams regularly swam nude in the Potomac River. Anne Royall, the first American professional journalist, knew of Adams' 5 A.M. swims. After being refused interviews with the president time after time, she went to the river, gathered his clothes and sat on them until she had her interview. Before this, no female had interviewed a president.
- Adams was the first to be elected president without receiving either the most popular votes or the most votes of the electoral college.
- He was the first president married abroad.
- Adams was the first president to be photographed.
- Adams is the only president to be elected to the House after his presidency.
- One of his sons, George Washington Adams, died at the age of 28, an apparent suicide.
Notable Quotes:
"America, with the same voice, which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundation of government. Independence forever!"
"Our Constitution professedly rests upon the good sense and attachment of the people. This basis, weak as it may appear, has not yet been found to fail. "
"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."
"Duty is ours; results are God's."
"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."
"Individual liberty is individual power, and as the power of a community is a mass compounded of individual powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom must necessarily be in proportion to its numbers the most powerful nation. "
"The only temper that honors a nation is that which rises in proportion to the pressure upon it."
"Literature has been the charm of my life, and could I have carved out my own fortunes, to literature would be my whole life have been devoted."
"Independence forever!"
"The dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the purposes of human association have been accomplished as effectively as under any other government on the globe, and a cost little exceeding in a whole generation the expenditure of nations in a single year."
"The influence of each human being on others in this life is a kind of immortality."
"Internal improvements was at once my conscience and my treasure."
"Above all, let us never forget, in the most fervent heat of our party conflicts, that there is a cause, embracing and transcending all others . . . the cause of our country."
"All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse."
"This prosperity of the country, independent of all agency of the Government, is so great that the people have nothing to disturb them but their own waywardness and corruption."
"Why does it follow that women are fitted for nothing but the cares of domestic life, for bearing children and cooking the food for the family? I say women exhibit the most exalted virtue when they depart from the domestic circle and enter on the concerns of their country, of humanity, and of their God."
"Slavery is the great and foul stain upon the North American Union, and it is contemplation worthy of the most exalted soul whether its total abolition is or is not practicable. "
"Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air."
"If I cannot hope to give satisfaction to my country, I am at least determined to have the approbation of my own reflections."
Resources
Retrieved 11/19/2011 from http:/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams
1996-2008 Summers, Robert.( 1996-2008). John Adams. In ipl2: Information You Can Trust: POTUS. Retrieved 11/21/2011, from 2011 http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/jqadams.html Great Presidential Quotes. John Quincy Adams. Retrieved 11/21/2011, from http://www.greatpresidentialquotes.com/index.php?set=details&id=6&page=0
