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Early lifeAdams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts in a part of town which eventually became Quincy. The John Quincy Adams birthplace, now part of Adams National Historical Park, is open to the public, as is the nearby Abigail Adams Cairn that marks the site from which Adams witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill as a seven-year-old boy. He first learned of the Declaration of Independence from the letters his father wrote his mother from Philadelphia. Much of Adams' youth was spent overseas accompanying his father, who served as an American envoy to France from 1778 until 1779 and to the Netherlands in 1780. During this period, he acquired his early education at institutions such as the University of Leiden. For nearly two years, he accompanied Francis Dana on a mission to St. Petersburg, Russia, to gain recognition to the new republic. He also spent time in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. During these years overseas, Adams gained a mastery of French and Dutch and a familiarity with German and other European languages. After returning to America, he had become far more worldly and well-travelled than most of his countrymen even twice his age. He entered Harvard College and graduated in 1787. He was then admitted to the bar and began practicing law in Boston. Early political careerThe young lawyer came particularly to George Washington's attention because of articles he published in Boston newspapers defending the president's policy of neutrality against the diplomatic incursions of Citizen Genet, the new French Republic's minister to the United States. As a result Washington appointed Adams as U.S. minister to the Netherlands, where he served from 1794 to 1797. At The Hague, Adams found himself at the principal listening post of a great cycle of European revolutions and wars, which he continued to report faithfully to his government both from the Netherlands and from his later post as minister to Berlin in 1797-1801. While on a subsidiary mission to England, connected with the exchange of ratifications of Jay's Treaty, he married on July 26, 1797, Louisa Catherine Johnson, one of the seven daughters of Joshua Johnson of Maryland, U.S. consul at London.
At the court of Alexander I, Adams again was diplomatic reporter extraordinary of the great events of Europe, including Napoleon's invasion of Russia and his subsequent retreat and downfall. Meanwhile the War of 1812 had broken out between Britain and the United States. After Alexander's abortive attempts at mediation, Adams was called to the peace negotiations at Ghent, where he was technically chief of the American mission. He next served as minister of the United States to England from 1815 to 1817. As a diplomat John Quincy Adams had made very few mistakes, influenced many people, and made many friends for his country, including particularly Czar Alexander I. His vast European experience made him a vigorous supporter of Washington's policy of isolation from the ordinary vicissitudes and the ordinary combinations and wars of European politics. Secretary of StatePresident James Monroe recalled Adams from England to become Secretary of State in 1817. He held the office throughout Monroe's two administrations, until 1825. As secretary, Adams, under Monroe's direction and responsibility, pursued the policies and guiding principles that he had practiced in Europe. More than any other man he helped to crystallize and perfect the foundations of American foreign policy, including the Monroe Doctrine, which, however, appropriately bears the name of the president who assumed official responsibility for it and proclaimed it to the world. Adams' greatest diplomatic achievement as Secretary of State was undoubtedly the Transcontinental Treaty (also known as the Adams-Onís Treaty) with Spain, signed on February 22, 1819. By this treaty Spain acknowledged East Florida and West Florida to be a part of the United States and agreed to a frontier line running from the Gulf of Mexico to the Rocky Mountains and thence along the parallel of 42 degrees to the Pacific Ocean. In this negotiation, Adams took skillful advantage of Andrew Jackson's military incursions into Florida and of Spain's embarrassment in the revolutions of her American colonies. Over the opposition of Henry Clay, ambitious speaker of the House of Representatives, Adams deferred recognition of the independence of the new states of Spanish America until the Transcontinental Treaty was safely ratified. Immediately afterward President Monroe recognized Colombia, Mexico, Chile, the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, and later Brazil and the Confederation of Central America. Peru remained to be recognized by Adams as Monroe's successor. The idea of drawing the frontier line through to the other ocean in the Spanish treaty was Adams' own inspiration. It has been called "the greatest diplomatic victory ever won by a single individual in the history of the United States."(citation needed) At the same time Secretary Adams defended the northeastern frontier against proposed British "rectifications" and held the line of 49 degrees in the Oregon country. Except for an over contentious wrangle on commercial reciprocity with the British West Indies, his term as secretary of state, in the aftermath of Waterloo, was marked by unvarying successes, including the Treaty of 1824 with Russia. He was perhaps the greatest secretary of state in American history. Election of 1824Adams ran against four other candidates in the Presidential election of 1824. His opponents included Speaker of the House Henry Clay, Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford, Tennessee senator Andrew Jackson and John Calhoun. After Crawford suffered a stroke there was no clear favorite. After the elections no one had a majority of either the electoral votes or the popular votes, although Andrew Jackson was the winner of a plurality of both. The decision went to the House of Representatives. The candidate with the lowest votes, Henry Clay, was dropped from consideration, and Clay gave his support to Adams. Adams won on the first ballot and was named president. Adams then named Clay Secretary of State to the angry complaints of Andrew Jackson, who alleged a corrupt bargain and vowed to run again in 1828. Presidency 1825–1829Adams served as the sixth President of the United States from March 4, 1825, to March 4, 1829. Domestic policiesDuring his term, he worked on developing the American System, consisting of a high tariff to support internal improvements such as road-building, and a national bank to encourage productive enterprise and form a national currency. In his first annual message to Congress, Adams presented an ambitious program for modernization that included roads, canals, a national university, an astronomical observatory, and other initiatives. The support for his proposals was limited, even with his own supporters. His critics accused him of unseemly arrogance because of his narrow victory. Most of his initiatives were opposed in Congress by Jackson's supporters, who remained outraged over the 1824 election. Nevertheless, some of his proposals were adopted, specifically the extension of the Cumberland Road into Ohio with surveys for its continuation west to St. Louis; the beginning of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal' the construction of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal and the Portland to Louisville Canal around the falls of the Ohio; the connection of the Great Lakes to the Ohio River system in Ohio and Indiana; and the enlargement and rebuilding of the Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina. One of the issues which divided the administration was protective tariffs. Henry Clay was a supporter, but Adams's Vice President John C. Calhoun was an opponent. The position of Adams was unknown, because his constituency was divided. After Adams lost the control of Congress in 1827, the situation became more complicated. He also signed into law the highly unpopular Tariff of 1828 (also known as the Tariff of Abominations), thereby compromising his chances of getting anything else done during his presidency. He and Clay set up a new party, the National Republican Party, but it never took root in the states. In the elections of 1827 Adams and his supporters lost the control of Congress. New York Senator Martin Van Buren, a future president and follower of Jackson, became one of the leaders of the senate. Much of Adams' political difficulties were due to his refusal, on principle, to replace members of his administration who supported Jackson (on the grounds that no one should be removed from office except for incompetence.) For example, his Postmaster General, John McLean, continued in office through the Adams administration, despite the fact that he was using his powers of patronage to curry favor with Jacksonites. Adams defended his domestic agenda as simply continuing Monroe's policies. However, Adams did not address public works spending like Monroe did, and had a rationale for government intervention. What was most striking was that Adams addressed congress and asked them to ignore objections to parts of his program that provoked the most opposition of the constitution. Foreign policiesAdams is regarded as one of the greatest diplomats in American history and during his tenure as Secretary of State he was one of the designers of the Monroe Doctrine. But during his term as president, Adams achieved little of consequence in foreign affairs. A reason for this was the opposition he faced in Congress, where his rivals were determined to deny him any mark of success. Among the few diplomatic achievements of his administration were treaties of reciprocity (free trade) with a number of nations, including Denmark, Mexico, the Hanseatic League, the Scandinavian countries, Prussia and Austria. However, thanks to the successes of Adams' diplomacy during his previous eight years as Secretary of State, most of the foreign policy issues he would have faced had been resolved by the time he became President. Image:Ja6.gif Official White House portrait of John Quincy Adams Administration and Cabinet
Supreme Court appointmentsStates admitted to the UnionNone Election of 1828After the election of Adams in 1825 [1] [2], Jackson resigned from his senate seat. For four years he worked hard, with help from his supporters in Congress, to defeat Adams in the Presidential election of 1828. The campaign was very much a personal one. Although neither candidate personally campaigned, their political followers organized many campaign events. Both candidates were rhetorically attacked in the press. This reached a low point when Jackson's wife, Rachel, was accused of bigamy. She died a few weeks after the elections and Jackson never forgave Adams for this. Image:Adams Before Death.jpg A sketch of Adams hours before his death. In the end, Adams lost the elections in a landslide. He won exactly the same states that his father had won in the election of 1800: the New England states, New Jersey, and Delaware. Jackson won everything else except for New York, which gave 16 of its electoral votes to Adams. CongressmanAfter his defeat Adams didn't attend the inauguration of his successor Andrew Jackson, just as his father John Adams did 28 years earlier with Jefferson's in 1801. But rather than retire, he went on to win election as a National Republican and Whig to the House of Representatives, serving for seventeen years, from 1831 until his death. He was asked by his neighbors to run, and he agreed under two conditions: he would never solicit their votes and he would follow his conscience at all times. In Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Manufactures (for the 22nd through 26th, 28th and 29th Congresses), the Committee on Indian Affairs (for the 27th Congress) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (also for the 27th Congress). He was an important antislavery voice on congress.Image:Adams' Burial Site 002.jpg United First Parish Church In 1834 he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Massachusetts. In 1841, Adams represented the Amistad Africans in the Supreme Court of the United States and successfully argued that the Africans, who had seized control of a Spanish ship where they were being held as illegal slaves, should not be taken to Cuba but should be considered free and have the option to remain within the U.S. or return home as free people. Image:Graves of the Adams, Quincy, Massachusetts.JPG Tombs of Presidents John Adams (left) and John Quincy Adams (right) and their wives, in a family crypt beneath the United First Parish Church. While preparing to address the House of Representatives on February 21, 1848, Adams collapsed, having suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Two days later, on February 23, he died with his wife and children at his side in the Speaker's Room inside the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.. His last words were reported to have been, "This is the last of earth. I am content." His interment was in the family burial ground at Quincy, and he was subsequently reinterred after his wife's death in a family crypt in the United First Parish Church across the street. His tomb can be viewed today and his parents are also interred there. Adams's son Charles Francis Adams also pursued a career in diplomacy and politics. In 1870 Charles Francis built the first memorial presidential library in the United States, to honor his father John Quincy Adams. The Stone Library includes over 14,000 books written in twelve languages. The library is located in the "Old House" at Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Massachusetts. Trivia
Image:John Quincy Adams 1824.jpg Adams posed for this daguerreotype photograph shortly before his death in 1848--almost twenty years after leaving the White House--when he was serving as a congressman from Massachusetts. He is the earliest president of whom a photograph exists. (President Andrew Jackson was photographed in 1844-45; William Henry Harrison was the first president to have his picture taken while in office; James Buchanan was the first sitting president to be photographed by modern methods.)[2]
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