The Biography of John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, which is now known as Quincy, on July 11, 1767. He is the son of John and Abigail Adams. His father was the second president of the United States, and he served in office from 1797-1801. Adams admired his father very much. In fact, much of his youth was spent accompanying his father overseas. He followed his father on diplomatic missions to France and the Netherlands. Adams earned his education at Leiden University. When Adams was only fourteen years old, he went on a mission with Francis Dana to Saint Petersburg, Russia to understand more about the new United States. He spent time in many places overseas such as Finland, Sweden, and Denmark in 1804. Throughout his travel, John became a fluent speaker in French and Dutch and learned a little German and other European languages. Although Adams was loving Europe, his parents made him come back to the United States to finish his education and start his career in politics. He enrolled in Harvard College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He also acquired a Master of Arts degree in 1790. In 1791, he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar and started practicing law in Boston.

John Quincy Adams was an American politician who served as a diplomat and treaty negotiator. In 1802, Adams was elected as a member of the Massachusetts State Senate. After only serving a year, Adams was elected as a representative of the United States Senate. In 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected the sixth president of the United States after a close and questionable four-way contest. He wanted to better the American economy and improve education, and he even paid off much of the national debt. Adams followed in his father’s footsteps by being a member of the Federalists, but he eventually switched to the Jeffersonian-Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and the Anti-Masonic and Whig parties once they were organized. Adams did many wonderful things as president; however, he lost his bid for re-election in 1828 to Andrew Jackson. Adams was elected back as a U.S. Representative in 1830 and served the rest of his life.

Many people admired John Quincy Adams. Samuel Flagg Bemis would argue that Adams was able to “gather together, formulate, and practice the fundamentals of American foreign-policy-- self-determination, independence, noncolonization, nonintervention, nonentanglement in European politics, Freedom of the Seas, and freedom of the commerce.” Historians would even brag about him by ranking him as an above-average president. When Adams was 78 years old, he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. During a meeting at the House of Representatives, he was asked to rise and answer a question. When he rose, he collapsed and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He died two days later on February 23, 1848.