John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams
File:John Quincy Adams Presidential Portrait.jpg
Order	6th President of the United States
In office	March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829
Vice President	John C. Calhoun
Preceded by	James Monroe
Succeeded by	Andrew Jackson
Born	July 11, 1767 Braintree, Massachusetts (now Quincy), United States
Political Party	Democratic-Republican (to 1825); National Republican (1825–1829)
Spouse	Louisa Catherine Adams (m. 1797–1848)
Children	George Washington, John II, Charles Francis, Louisa (died in childhood)
Profession	Diplomat, lawyer, professor, statesman
Alma mater	Harvard University
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John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the **6th president of the United States** (1825–1829), a distinguished diplomat, and later a powerful **member of the U.S. House of Representatives**. The son of President John Adams, he helped shape early American foreign policy, authored the **Monroe Doctrine**’s core principles as secretary of state, and spent his later years fighting the spread of slavery.

Early Life and Education

Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, Adams grew up amid the American Revolution and accompanied his father on diplomatic missions to Europe. Fluent in several languages, he studied at Leiden and Paris, graduated from **Harvard College** (1787), and read law in Newburyport.

Diplomat and Public Service

Adams served successively as U.S. minister to the Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain, and as **U.S. senator from Massachusetts** (1803–1808). As **Secretary of State under James Monroe** (1817–1825), he negotiated:

• The **Adams–Onís Treaty** (1819), acquiring Florida and setting a transcontinental boundary with Spain.
• The **Rush–Bagot Agreement** and the **Convention of 1818** with Britain, easing tensions and fixing borders.

He was a chief architect of the **Monroe Doctrine** (1823), asserting U.S. opposition to European colonialism in the Americas.

Election of 1824 and the “Corrupt Bargain”

In the four-way 1824 race, no candidate won an Electoral College majority. The House of Representatives chose Adams over Andrew Jackson. When Henry Clay became secretary of state, Jackson’s supporters decried a “corrupt bargain,” undermining Adams’s political support from the start.

Presidency (1825–1829)

Adams envisioned a robust national program—internal improvements, a national university, scientific initiatives, and support for the arts—within an energetic federal framework sometimes associated with the American System. He faced relentless opposition from Jacksonians and limited congressional backing, so much of his ambitious agenda stalled. He lost re-election to Jackson in 1828.

Post-Presidency in the House

Adams made history by returning to public office as a U.S. representative (1831–1848), where he became a leading anti-slavery voice. He battled the pro-slavery gag rule, successfully working toward its repeal in 1844, and argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of the enslaved Africans in the Amistad case (1841), securing their freedom.

Death

Adams collapsed at his House desk on February 21, 1848, and died two days later in the Capitol. He is interred at United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, alongside his parents.

Legacy

Widely respected for intellect and integrity, Adams is remembered as one of America’s greatest secretaries of state and as a principled congressman who defended civil liberties and opposed slavery’s expansion. His presidency, constrained by partisanship, is today reassessed in light of his broader, lifelong contributions to the Republic.

See also

• Presidency of John Quincy Adams
• Adams–Onís Treaty
• Monroe Doctrine
• Amistad case
• Gag Rule
• Adams political family