Biography

John Quincy Adams was the son of John Adams, and the first President who was the son of another President. He was born in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1767. He was secretary to his father in Europe and while there became a skilled linguist and diligent diarist.  He graduated from Harvard College in 1787 and became a lawyer. He was then appointed Minister to the Netherlands at 26 and later promoted to the Berlin Legation. Eight years later, in 1802, he was elected to the Senate. He later served under President Monroe as Minister to Russia and Secretary of State. As Secretary of State he arranged the joint occupation of the Oregon county with England, obtained the Floridas from Spain, and helped formulate the Monroe Doctrine. Although according to political tradition Adams should have been the political heir to the presidency, by 1824 the Republican party, the only party, was starting to fracture and each section of the party supported its own candidate. He defeated Andrew Jackson, who called corruption, and became President in 1824. He was defeated by the Jacksonians in 1828, who used a campaign of public slander against him, charging him with corruption and "public plunder." He returned to Massachusetts, expecting to remain retired, but was elected to the House of Representatives in 1830 where he served as a strong leader for the rest of his life. One of his big accomplishments was fighting the "gag rule" passed in 1836 by a southern Congressmen, that forced the House to automatically table petitions against slavery. He was able to get it repealed in 1844. In 1848 he had a stroke while in the house and died two days later in the Speaker's Room.