John Quincy Adams

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John Quincy Adams was born on July 11, 1767 in Braintree, Massachusetts. He was the son of John Adams who was the second president of Unites States and served in the Continental Congress to help plan the Declaration of Independence. His mother was Abigail Adams, the first lady. John Quincy Adams was the eldest son of President John Adams and the sixth president of the United States. In his pre-presidential years, Adams was one of America's greatest diplomats. As a child, John Quincy Adams observed firsthand the birth of the nation. He watched the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 with his mother from the family farm. When John Quincy was ten, his father was posted to Europe as a special emissary of the revolutionary American government, and John Quincy escorted him.
He was a student at the University of Leiden for about a year because of his excellence in French. He accompanied diplomat Francis Dana to Russia, serving as his secretary and translator in 1781. John Quincy returned to Paris in 1783 to serve as a secretary to his father through the compromise of the Paris Peace Treaty ending the American Revolutionary War. In 1785, he returned home to complete his education at Harvard College. He graduated two years later. “During this period, John Quincy began keeping a diary, and he maintained it from 1779 until 1848, shortly before he died.” Book
When he was admitted to the bar in 1790, Adams practiced law in Boston. As tensions escalated between Britain and France, he supported President George Washington's neutrality policy of 1793. George Washington’s neutrality policy was designed to keep America out of further wars. President Washington appreciated young Adams's support so much that he appointed him as his minister to Holland, w...

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...ohn Quincy Adams had one of the most politically active post-presidencies of any U.S. President. Two years after his defeat, Adams ran for Congress from his home district in Massachusetts. “He accepted the nomination on two conditions: that he would never solicit their votes and that he would follow his conscience at all times.” He served nine consecutive terms in the House of Representatives, earning the nickname "Old Man Eloquent" because of his extraordinary speeches in opposition to slavery. He was instrumental in ending the "gag rule" that prohibited debate on slavery in the House of Representatives and also continued to champion internal improvements for the country. Historically, Adams has won more acclaim for this long congressional career than for his presidency. He suffered a stroke on the floor of the House on February 21, 1848, and died two days later.

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