John Quincy Adams

US President

1767 – 1848

 Credit ยป
62

Who was John Quincy Adams?

John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States. He served as 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 the United States' 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.

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. 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.

Famous Quotes:

  • The harmony of the nation is promoted and the whole Union is knit together by the sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social intercourse, and the ties of personal friendship formed between the representatives of its several parts in the performance of their service at this metropolis.
  • Of the two great political parties which have divided the opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will now admit that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity, ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices to the formation and administration of this Government, and that both have required a liberal indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error.
  • It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me to observe that the great result of this experiment upon the theory of human rights has at the close of that generation by which it was formed been crowned with success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its founders.

We need you!

Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!

Born
Jul 11, 1767
Braintree
Parents
Siblings
Spouses
Children
Religion
  • Christian Unitarianism
Ethnicity
  • Caucasian race
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Education
  • Harvard University
  • Leiden University
  • Bachelor of Arts, Harvard College
    ( - 1787)
  • Harvard Law School
Lived in
  • Boston
  • Braintree
Died
Feb 28, 1848
Washington, D.C.
Resting place
United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"John Quincy Adams." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/john_quincy_adams>.

Discuss this John Quincy Adams biography with the community:

0 Comments

    Browse Biographies.net