View source for John Quincy Adams

{{Short description|President of the United States from 1825 to 1829}}
{{Redirect|JQA|other uses|John Quincy Adams (disambiguation)|and|JQA (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = John Quincy Adams
| image               = JQA Photo Crop (cropped).jpg <!-- NOTE: Image is per current WP:CONSENSUS at Talk:John_Quincy_Adams/Archive_2#subject_lede_photo_discussion_AGAIN Photos preferred to paintings -->
| caption             = Daguerreotype, {{circa|1843–1848}}
| order               = 6th
| office              = President of the United States
| vicepresident       = [[John C. Calhoun]]
| term_start          = March 4, 1825
| term_end            = March 4, 1829
| predecessor         = [[James Monroe]]
| successor           = [[Andrew Jackson]]
| order1              = 8th
| office1             = United States Secretary of State
| president1          = James Monroe
| term_start1         = September 22, 1817
| term_end1           = March 3, 1825
| predecessor1        = James Monroe
| successor1          = [[Henry Clay]]
| order2              = 14th
| office2             = Dean of the United States House of Representatives
| term_start2         = April 22, 1844
| term_end2           = February 23, 1848
| predecessor2        = [[Dixon Hall Lewis]]
| successor2          = [[James Iver McKay]]
| state3              = [[Massachusetts]]
| term_start3         = March 4, 1831
| term_end3           = February 23, 1848
| predecessor3        = [[Joseph Richardson (American politician)|Joseph Richardson]]
| successor3          = [[Horace Mann]]
| constituency3       = {{plainlist|
* {{ushr|MA|11|11th district}} (1831–1833)
* {{ushr|MA|12|12th district}} (1833–1843)
* {{ushr|MA|8|8th district}} (1843–1848)
}}
| jr/sr5              = United States Senator
| state5              = [[Massachusetts]]
| term_start5         = March 4, 1803
| term_end5           = June 8, 1808
| predecessor5        = [[Jonathan Mason (politician)|Jonathan Mason]]
| successor5          = [[James Lloyd (Massachusetts politician)|James Lloyd]]
| office6             = Member of the [[Massachusetts Senate]]
| term_start6         = April 20, 1802
| term_end6           = March 4, 1803
{{Collapsed infobox section begin|Ambassador positions|titlestyle=border: 1px dashed lightgrey;}}
{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| order7              = 7th
| minister_from7      = United States
| country7            = United Kingdom
| nominator7          = [[James Madison]]
| term_start7         = June 8, 1815
| term_end7           = May 14, 1817
| predecessor7        = [[Jonathan Russell]] (1812)
| successor7          = [[Richard Rush]]
| order8              = 1st
| minister_from8      = United States
| country8            = Russia
| nominator8          = James Madison
| term_start8         = November 5, 1809
| term_end8           = April 28, 1814
| predecessor8        = Office established
| successor8          = [[James A. Bayard (politician, born 1767)|James A. Bayard]]
| order9              = 1st
| minister_from9      = United States
| country9            = Prussia
| nominator9          = [[John Adams]]
| term_start9         = December 5, 1797
| term_end9           = May 5, 1801
| predecessor9        = Office established
| successor9          = [[Henry Wheaton]] (1835)
| order10             = 3rd
| minister_from10     = United States
| country10           = Netherlands
| nominator10         = [[George Washington]]
| term_start10        = November 6, 1794
| term_end10          = June 20, 1797
| predecessor10       = [[William Short (American ambassador)|William Short]]
| successor10         = [[William Vans Murray]]
}}
{{Collapsed infobox section end}}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1767|7|11}}
| birth_place         = [[Braintree, Massachusetts|Braintree]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], British America
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1848|2|23|1767|7|11}}
| death_place         = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| resting_place       = [[United First Parish Church]]
| party               = {{plainlist|
* [[Federalist Party|Federalist]] (1792–1808)
* [[Democratic-Republican Party|Democratic-Republican]] (1809–1828)
* [[National Republican Party|National Republican]] (1828–1830)
* [[Anti-Masonic Party|Anti-Masonic]] (1830–1834)
* [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]] (1834–1848)<ref name=bioguide1/>
}}
| parents             = {{plainlist|
* [[John Adams]]
* [[Abigail Adams|Abigail Smith]]
}}
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Louisa Adams|Louisa Johnson]]|July 26, 1797|<!-- Death date intentionally omitted as redundant per instructions on Template:Marriage -->}}
| children            = 4, including [[George Washington Adams|George]], [[John Adams II|John II]] and [[Charles Francis Adams Sr.|Charles]]
| relatives           = {{plainlist|
* [[Adams political family]]
* [[Quincy political family]]
}}
| occupation          = {{hlist|Politician|lawyer}}
| education           = {{plainlist|
* [[Leiden University]]
* [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]], [[Master of Arts|AM]])
}}
| signature           = John Quincy Adams Signature.svg
| signature_alt       = Cursive signature in ink
}}
{{John Quincy Adams series}}
'''John Quincy Adams''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=En-John Quincy Adams.oga|ˈ|k|w|ɪ|n|z|i}};{{efn|The Quincy family name was pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|w|ɪ|n|z|i}}, as in the name of [[Quincy, Massachusetts]] (then called Braintree), where Adams was born. All of the other Quincy place names are locally {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|w|ɪ|n|s|i}}. Though not accurate, this pronunciation is also commonly used for Adams's middle name.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wead|first=Doug|title=The Raising of a President|publisher=Atria Books|location=New York|year=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/raisingofpreside00wead/page/59 59]|isbn=978-0-7434-9726-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/raisingofpreside00wead/page/59}}</ref>}} July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was the sixth [[president of the United States]], serving from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth [[United States secretary of state]] from 1817 to 1825. During his long diplomatic and political career, Adams served as an ambassador and also as a member of the [[United States Congress]] representing [[Massachusetts]] in both chambers. He was the eldest son of [[John Adams]], the second president, and [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] [[Abigail Adams]]. Initially a [[Federalist Party|Federalist]] like his father, he won election to the presidency as a member of the [[Democratic-Republican Party]], and later, in the mid-1830s, became affiliated with the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]].

Born in [[Braintree, Massachusetts]], Adams spent much of his youth in Europe, where his father served as a diplomat. After returning to the United States, Adams established a successful legal practice in [[Boston]]. In 1794, President [[George Washington]] appointed Adams as the U.S. ambassador to the [[Dutch Republic|Netherlands]], and Adams would serve in high-ranking diplomatic posts until 1801, when [[Thomas Jefferson]] took office as president. Federalist leaders in Massachusetts arranged for Adams's election to the United States Senate in 1802, but Adams broke with the Federalist Party over foreign policy and was denied re-election. In 1809, President [[James Madison]], a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, appointed Adams as the U.S. ambassador to [[Russian Empire|Russia]]. [[List of multilingual presidents of the United States|Multilingual]], Adams held diplomatic posts for the duration of Madison's presidency, and he served as part of the American delegation that negotiated an end to the [[War of 1812]]. In 1817, President [[James Monroe]] selected Adams as his secretary of state. In that role, Adams negotiated the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]] in 1819, which transferred [[Spanish Florida|Florida]] to the United States, delineated the Sabine–Red–Arkansas–42nd parallel boundary, and formalized the U.S. renunciation of claims to [[Spanish Texas|Texas]]. He also helped formulate the [[Monroe Doctrine]], which became a key tenet of [[U.S. foreign policy]]. In 1818, Adams was elected a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in Philadelphia.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1818&year-max=1818&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=April 5, 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

Adams, [[Andrew Jackson]], [[William H. Crawford]], and [[Henry Clay]]—all members of the Democratic-Republican Party—competed in the [[1824 United States presidential election|1824 presidential election]]. Because no candidate won a majority of [[Electoral College (United States)|electoral votes]], the House of Representatives held a [[1824 United States presidential election#1825 contingent election|contingent election]], which Adams won with the support of [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] Henry Clay, whom Adams would controversially appoint as his secretary of state. As president, Adams called for an ambitious agenda that included [[Internal improvements|federally funded infrastructure projects]], the establishment of a national university, and engagement with the countries of Latin America, but Congress refused to pass many of his initiatives. During [[Presidency of John Quincy Adams|Adams's presidency]], the Democratic-Republican Party split into two major camps: the [[National Republican Party]], which supported Adams, and Andrew Jackson's [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]. The Democrats proved to be more effective political organizers than Adams and his National Republican supporters, and Jackson soundly defeated him in the [[1828 United States presidential election|1828 presidential election]]. This made Adams the second president to fail to win re-election (his father being the first).

Rather than retiring from public service, Adams won election to the House of Representatives, where he would serve from 1831 until his death in 1848. He remains the only former president to be elected to the chamber. After narrowly losing his bids for [[Governor of Massachusetts]] and Senate re-election, Adams joined the [[Anti-Masonic Party]] in the early 1830s before joining the Whig Party, which united those opposed to President Jackson. During his time in Congress, Adams became increasingly critical of [[slavery in the United States|slavery]] and of the Southern leaders whom he believed controlled the Democratic Party. He was particularly opposed to the [[Texas annexation|annexation of Texas]] and the [[Mexican–American War]], which he saw as a war to extend slavery and [[Slave Power|its political grip on Congress]]. He also led the repeal of the "[[Gag rule (United States)|gag rule]]", which had prevented the House of Representatives from debating petitions to [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolish slavery]]. While historians [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|typically rank]] Adams as an average president who had an ambitious agenda but could not get it passed by Congress, they concur that Adams was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history. Historians also credit him with a vehement stance against slavery, and his fight for the rights of women and Native Americans during his post-presidency.

== Early life, education, and early career ==

John Quincy Adams was born on July 11, 1767, to [[John Adams|John]] and [[Abigail Adams|Abigail Adams (née Smith)]] in a part of [[Braintree, Massachusetts]], that is now [[Quincy, Massachusetts|Quincy]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Rettig|first=Polly M.|title=John Quincy Adams Birthplace|url={{NHLS url|id=66000128}}|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|access-date=November 1, 2011|date=April 3, 1978}}</ref> He was named after his mother's maternal grandfather, Colonel [[John Quincy]], after whom Quincy, Massachusetts, is also named. Colonel Quincy died two days after his great-grandson's birth.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Herring|first1=James|last2=Longacre|first2=James Barton|title=The National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans|publisher=D. Rice & A.N. Hart|year=1853|page=1|isbn=978-0-405-02500-6}}</ref> Young Adams was educated by tutors – his cousin James Thaxter and his father's law clerk, Nathan Rice.<ref>{{harvnb|Remini|2002|p=4}}</ref> He soon exhibited literary skills, and in 1779 he started a diary that he kept until just before he died in 1848.<ref name="Masshist.org">{{cite web|title=The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection|url=http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/|publisher=Massachusetts Historical Society|access-date=October 30, 2011|archive-date=February 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218231526/http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Until the age of ten, Adams grew up on the family farm in Braintree, largely in the care of his mother. Though frequently absent because of his participation in the [[American Revolution]], John Adams maintained a correspondence with his son, encouraging him to read works by authors such as [[Thucydides]] and [[Hugo Grotius]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=5–8}}.</ref> With his father's encouragement, Adams would also translate [[Classical antiquity|classical]] authors such as [[Virgil]], [[Horace]], [[Plutarch]], and [[Aristotle]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Richard|first=Carl|title=The Golden Age of the Classics in America: Greece Rome and the Antebellum United States |url=https://archive.org/details/goldenageclassic00rich|url-access=limited|year=2009|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0-674-03264-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/goldenageclassic00rich/page/n37 23]}}</ref>

In 1778, Adams and his father departed for Europe, where John Adams would serve as part of American diplomatic missions in [[Kingdom of France|France]] and the [[Dutch Republic|Netherlands]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=8–9, 16}}.</ref> During this period, Adams studied [[law]], [[French language|French]], [[Greek language|Greek]], and [[Latin language|Latin]], and attended several schools, including [[Leiden University]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017 |pages=9, 14–16}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=January 11, 2017|title=American presidents and their special relationship with Leiden|url=https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2017/01/american-presidents-and-their-special-relationship-with-leiden|access-date=October 4, 2020|website=universiteitleiden.nl}}</ref> In 1781, Adams traveled to Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he served as the secretary to the American diplomat, [[Francis Dana]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=17–18}}.</ref> He returned to the Netherlands in 1783 and accompanied his father to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] in 1784.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=21–22}}</ref> Though Adams enjoyed Europe, he and his family decided he needed to return to the United States to complete his education and eventually launch a political career.<ref>{{harvnb|Edel|2014|pages=36–37}}</ref>

Adams returned to the United States in 1785 and earned admission as a member of the [[Junior (education year)|junior]] class of [[Harvard College]] the following year. He joined [[Phi Beta Kappa]] and excelled academically, graduating second in his class in 1787.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=24–27}}</ref> After graduating from Harvard, he [[reading law|studied law]] with [[Theophilus Parsons]] in [[Newburyport, Massachusetts]], from 1787 to 1789.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Musto|first=David F.|date=April 20, 1968|title=The Youth of John Quincy Adams|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=113|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|publisher=American Philosophical Society|page=273|pmid=11615552}}</ref> Adams initially opposed the ratification of the [[United States Constitution]], but he ultimately came to accept the document, and in [[1789 United States presidential election|1789]] his father was elected as the first [[vice president of the United States]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=29–30}}</ref> In 1790, Adams opened his own legal practice in [[Boston]]. Despite some early struggles, he was successful as an attorney and established financial independence from his parents.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=32–33}}</ref>

== Early political career (1793–1817) ==
{{main|Electoral history of John Quincy Adams}}

=== Early diplomatic career and marriage ===

{{multiple image
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| width =
| footer =
| width1 = 169
| image1 = John Quincy Adams, by John Singleton Copley.jpg
| caption1 = John Quincy Adams, age 29 by [[John Singleton Copley]]
| alt1 = Man in dark suit
| width2 = 169
| image2 = Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams by Gilbert Stuart, 1821-26.jpg
| caption2 = [[Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams]] by [[Gilbert Stuart]], 1821-26
| alt2 = Woman in brown clothing
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Adams initially avoided becoming involved in politics, instead focusing on building his legal career. In 1791, he wrote a series of pseudonymously published essays arguing that Britain provided a better governmental model than France. Two years later, he published another series of essays attacking [[Edmond-Charles Genêt]], a French diplomat who sought to undermine President [[George Washington]]'s policy of neutrality in the [[French Revolutionary Wars]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=35–36}}</ref> In 1794, Washington appointed Adams as the [[United States Ambassador to the Netherlands|U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands]]. Adams considered declining the role, but ultimately took the position on the advice of his father.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|page=38}}</ref> While abroad, Adams continued to urge neutrality, arguing that the United States would benefit economically by staying out of the ongoing French Revolutionary Wars.<ref>{{harvnb|Edel|2014|pages=83–86}}</ref> His chief duty as the ambassador to the Netherlands was to secure and maintain loans essential to U.S. finances. On his way to the Netherlands, he met with [[John Jay]], who was then negotiating the [[Jay Treaty]] with Great Britain. Adams supported the Jay Treaty, but it proved unpopular with many in the United States, contributing to a growing partisan split between the [[Federalist Party]] of [[Alexander Hamilton]] and the [[Democratic-Republican Party]] of [[Thomas Jefferson]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=34, 40–41}}</ref> In 1794 he supported [[John Skey Eustace]] who wanted to return to the United States via the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.masshist.org/adams-resources/slipfile/search.php?addP[]=eustace-john&addPT[]=either&addPD[]=John%20Skey%20%20Eustace&form=sbya |title=Online Adams Catalogue |website=Massachusetts Historical Society}}</ref>

Adams spent the winter of 1795–1796 in [[London]], where he met [[Louisa Adams|Louisa Catherine Johnson]], the second daughter of American merchant Joshua Johnson. In April 1796, Louisa accepted Adams's proposal of marriage. Adams's parents disapproved of his decision to marry a woman who had grown up in England, but he informed his parents that he would not reconsider his decision.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper |2017 |pages=45–48}}</ref> Adams initially wanted to delay his wedding to Louisa until he returned to the United States, but they married in [[All Hallows-by-the-Tower]] on July 26, 1797.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017 |pages=48–53}}</ref>{{efn|When Adams took office as president in 1825, Louisa became the first [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] born outside of the United States. In 2017, [[Melania Trump]] became the second First Lady born outside of the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/about-the-white-house/first-families/louisa-catherine-johnson-adams/|title=The First Ladies of the United States of America|publisher=The White House Historical Assoc. |first=Allida|last=Black|year=2009}}</ref>}} Shortly after the wedding, Joshua Johnson fled England to escape his creditors, and Adams did not receive the dowry that Johnson had promised him, much to the embarrassment of Louisa. Adams noted in his own diary that he had no regrets about his decision to marry Louisa.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=54–55}}</ref>

In 1796, Washington appointed Adams as the [[United States Ambassador to Portugal|U.S. ambassador to Portugal]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=48–49}}</ref> Later that year, John Adams defeated Jefferson in the [[1796 United States presidential election|1796 presidential election]]. When the elder Adams became president, he appointed his son as the [[United States Ambassador to Germany|U.S. ambassador to Prussia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Edel|2014|page=83}}</ref> Though concerned that his appointment would be criticized as [[nepotism|nepotistic]], Adams accepted the position and traveled to the Prussian capital of Berlin with his wife and his younger brother, [[Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)|Thomas Boylston Adams]]. The State Department tasked Adams with developing commercial relations with Prussia and Sweden, but President Adams also asked his son to write to him frequently about affairs in Europe.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=53–56}}</ref> His advice that he regularly gave to his father based on his experiences on the ground in Europe proved particularly valuable during the [[Quasi-War]] with France, although President Adams also relied heavily on his official staff for such advice and not primarily on his son.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Perl-Rosenthal |first=Nathan |date=Summer 2011 |title=Private Letters and Public Diplomacy: The Adams Network and the Quasi-War, 1797-1798 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/428428 |journal=[[Journal of the Early Republic]] |language=en |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=283–311 |doi=10.1353/jer.2011.0027 |issn=1553-0620 |access-date=June 30, 2024 |via=Project MUSE|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1799, Adams negotiated a [[Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Prussia–United States)|new trade agreement between the United States and Prussia]], though he could never complete an agreement with Sweden.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=59–60}}</ref> He frequently wrote to family members in the United States, and in 1801 his letters about the Prussian region of [[Silesia]] were published in a book titled ''Letters on Silesia''.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=60–61}}</ref> During his time in Prussia, Adams befriended the German diplomat and writer [[Friedrich von Gentz]], whose work, ''The Origins and Principles of the American Revolution, Compared with the Origins and Principles of the French Revolution,'' Adams would translate into English in 1800. In the [[1800 United States presidential election|1800 presidential election]], Jefferson defeated John Adams, and both Adams and his son left office in early 1801.<ref>{{harvnb|Edel|2014|page=89}}</ref>

=== U.S. senator from Massachusetts ===
On his return to the United States, Adams re-established a legal practice in [[Boston]], and in April 1802 he was elected to the [[Massachusetts Senate]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=64–66}}</ref> In November of that year, he ran unsuccessfully for the [[United States House of Representatives]].<ref>{{harvnb|McCullough|2001|pages=575–76}}</ref> In February 1803, the Massachusetts legislature elected Adams to the [[United States Senate]]. Though somewhat reluctant to affiliate with any political party, Adams joined the Federalist minority in Congress.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=67–68}}</ref> Like his Federalist colleagues, he opposed [[Impeachment of Samuel Chase|the impeachment]] of Associate Justice [[Samuel Chase]], an outspoken supporter of the Federalist Party.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=70–71}}</ref>

Adams had strongly opposed Jefferson's 1800 presidential candidacy, but he gradually became alienated from the Federalist Party. His disaffection was driven by the party's declining popularity, disagreements over foreign policy, and Adams's hostility to [[Timothy Pickering]], a Federalist Party leader whom Adams viewed as overly favorable to Britain. Unlike other New England Federalists, Adams supported the Jefferson administration's [[Louisiana Purchase]] and expansionist policies.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-02-08/john-quincy-adams-isn-t-who-you-think-he-is |title=John Quincy Adams Isn't Who You Think He Is |first=Hal |last=Brands |author-link=Hal Brands |date=February 8, 2020 |work=Bloomberg.com |access-date=March 14, 2020}}</ref> Adams was the lone Federalist in Congress to vote for the [[Non-importation Act]] of 1806, which attempted to coerce Britain into ceasing its interference with American shipping as part of the ongoing [[Napoleonic Wars]]. Adams became increasingly frustrated with the unwillingness of other Federalists to criticize British actions, including [[impressment]], and he moved closer to the Jefferson administration. After Adams supported the [[Embargo Act of 1807]], the Federalist-controlled Massachusetts legislature elected Adams's successor several months before the end of his term, and Adams resigned from the Senate shortly thereafter.<ref>{{harvnb|Thompson|1991|pages=165–181}}</ref>

While a member of the Senate, Adams served as a professor of logic at [[Brown University]]<ref>{{harvnb|McCullough|2001|page=587}}</ref> and as the [[Boylston Professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory|Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory]] at [[Harvard University]]. Adams's devotion to classical rhetoric shaped his response to public issues, and he would remain inspired by those rhetorical ideals long after the neo-classicalism and deferential politics of the founding generation were eclipsed by the commercial ethos and mass democracy of the [[Jacksonian democracy|Jacksonian Era]]. Many of Adams's idiosyncratic positions were rooted in his abiding devotion to the [[Cicero]]nian ideal of the citizen-orator "speaking well" to promote the welfare of the polis.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Lyon|last=Rathbun|title=The Ciceronian Rhetoric of John Quincy Adams|journal=Rhetorica|year=2000|volume=18|issue=2|pages=175–215|doi=10.1525/rh.2000.18.2.175|s2cid=144055057 |url=https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1061&context=wls_fac |issn=0734-8584 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> He was also influenced by the classical republican ideal of civic eloquence espoused by Scottish philosopher [[David Hume]].<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Hume|title=Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects|publisher=T. Cadell|location=London|year=1742|pages=99–110}}</ref> Adams adapted these classical republican ideals of public oratory to the American debate, viewing its multilevel political structure as ripe for "the renaissance of Demosthenic eloquence". His ''Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory'' (1810) looks at the fate of ancient oratory, the necessity of liberty for it to flourish, and its importance as a unifying element for a new nation of diverse cultures and beliefs. Just as civic eloquence failed to gain popularity in Britain, in the United States interest faded in the second decade of the 19th century, as the "public spheres of heated oratory" disappeared in favor of the private sphere.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Adam S.|last=Potkay|title=Theorizing Civic Eloquence in the Early Republic: the Road from David Hume to John Quincy Adams|journal=Early American Literature|year=1999 |volume=34|issue=2|pages=147–70}}</ref>

=== Minister to Russia ===
[[File:1815 US passport - LONDON.jpg|left|thumb|upright=.8|1815 US passport issued by John Quincy Adams at London]]

After resigning from the Senate, Adams was ostracized by Massachusetts Federalist leaders, but he declined Democratic-Republican entreaties to seek office.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|page=85}}</ref> In 1809, he argued before the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in ''[[Fletcher v. Peck]]'', and the Supreme Court ultimately agreed with Adams's argument that the Constitution's [[Contract Clause]] prevented the state of Georgia from invalidating a land sale to out-of-state companies.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=87–88}}</ref> Later that year, President [[James Madison]] appointed Adams as the first [[United States Ambassador to Russia|United States Minister to Russia]] in 1809. Though Adams had only recently broken with the Federalist Party, his support of Jefferson's foreign policy had earned him goodwill with the Madison Administration.<ref>{{harvnb|Edel|2014|pages=96–97}}</ref> Adams was well-qualified for the role after his experiences in Europe generally and Russia specifically.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper |2017|pages=88–89}}</ref>

After a difficult passage through the [[Baltic Sea]], Adams arrived in the Russian capital of St. Petersburg in October 1809. He quickly established a productive working relationship with Russian official [[Nikolay Rumyantsev]] and eventually befriended Tsar [[Alexander I of Russia]]. Adams continued to favor American neutrality between France and Britain during the Napoleonic Wars.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=91–92}}</ref> Louisa was initially distraught at the prospect of living in Russia, but she became a popular figure at the Russian court.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=90, 94–95}}</ref> From his diplomatic post, Adams observed the French Emperor [[Napoleon]]'s [[French invasion of Russia|invasion of Russia]], which ended in defeat for the French.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=92–93}}</ref> In February 1811, President Madison nominated Adams as an [[Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=McMillion|first1=Barry J.|last2=Rutkus|first2=Denis Steven|date=July 6, 2018|title=Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2017: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33225.pdf|publisher=Congressional Research Service|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=August 26, 2018}}</ref> [[John Quincy Adams Supreme Court nomination|The nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Senate]], but Adams declined the seat, preferring a career in politics and diplomacy, so [[Joseph Story]] took the seat instead.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=106–107}}</ref>

{{Clear}}

=== Treaty of Ghent and ambassador to Britain ===
[[File:Amédée Forestier - Signing of Treaty of Ghent (1814).jpg|thumb|Adams (center) during the signing of the Treaty of Ghent]]

Adams had long feared that the United States would enter a war it could not win against Britain, and by early 1812, he saw such a war as inevitable due to the continued British interference with American shipping, which included impressing alleged [[Royal Navy]] deserters from US merchantmen. In mid-1812, the United States declared war against Britain, beginning the [[War of 1812]]. Tsar Alexander attempted to mediate the conflict between Britain and the United States, and President Madison appointed Adams, Secretary of the Treasury [[Albert Gallatin]], and Federalist Senator [[James A. Bayard (politician, born 1767)|James A. Bayard]] to a delegation charged with negotiating an end to the war. Gallatin and Bayard arrived in St. Petersburg in July 1813, but the British declined Tsar Alexander's offer of mediation. Hoping to start negotiations at another venue, Adams left Russia in April 1814.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=109–110}}</ref> Negotiations finally began in mid-1814 in [[Ghent]], where Adams, Gallatin, and Bayard were joined by two additional American delegates, [[Jonathan Russell]] and former [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] [[Henry Clay]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=112–113}}</ref> Adams, the nominal head of the delegation, got along well with Gallatin, Bayard, and Russell, but he occasionally clashed with Clay.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=112, 114–115, 119}}</ref>

During the initial stages of negotiation, the British delegation pushed for the creation of an [[Indian barrier state]] near the [[Great Lakes]]. As this was designed to prevent the westward expansion of US colonizers, the American delegation unanimously rejected this offer, and their negotiating position was bolstered by the US victory at the [[Battle of Plattsburgh]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=116–118}}</ref> By November 1814, the [[Liverpool ministry]] decided to seek an end to hostilities with the U.S. on the basis of ''[[status quo ante bellum]]''. Even though this meant the issue of impressment would not be resolved, Adams and his fellow commissioners had hoped for similar terms. The treaty was signed on December 24, 1814. The United States did not gain any concessions from the treaty but could boast that it had survived a war against the strongest power in the world. Following the signing of the treaty, Adams traveled to Paris, where he witnessed first-hand the [[Hundred Days]] of Napoleon's restoration.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=289–302}}</ref>

In May 1815, Adams learned that President Madison had appointed him as the [[United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom|U.S. ambassador to Britain]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=127–128}}</ref> With the aid of Clay and Gallatin, Adams negotiated a limited trade agreement with Britain. Following the conclusion of the trade agreement, much of Adams's time as ambassador was spent helping stranded American sailors and prisoners of war.<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=307–11, 318–20">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=307–11, 318–20}}</ref> In pursuit of national unity, newly elected president [[James Monroe]] decided a Northerner would be optimal for the position of [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]], and he chose the respected and experienced Adams for the role.<ref>{{harvnb|Edel|2014|pages=116–17}}</ref> Having spent several years in Europe, Adams returned to the United States in August 1817.<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=307–11, 318–20"/>

== Secretary of State (1817–1825) ==
{{see also|Presidency of James Monroe}}

Adams served as Secretary of State during Monroe's eight-year presidency, from 1817 to 1825. Many of his successes as secretary, such as the convention of 1818 with the United Kingdom, the Transcontinental Treaty with Spain, and the Monroe Doctrine, were not preplanned strategies but responses to unexpected events. Adams wanted to delay American recognition of the newly independent republics of Latin America to avoid the risk of war with Spain and its European allies. However, Andrew Jackson's military campaign in Florida and Henry Clay's threats in Congress forced Spain to cut a deal, which Adams negotiated successfully. Biographer James Lewis says, "He managed to play the cards that he had been dealt – cards that he very clearly had not wanted – in ways that forced the Spanish cabinet to recognize the weakness of its own hand".<ref>James E. Lewis Jr, ''John Quincy Adams: Policymaker for the Union'' (2001) p. 56</ref> Apart from the Monroe doctrine, his last four years as Secretary of State were less successful because he was preoccupied with his presidential campaign and refused to make compromises with other countries that might have weakened his candidacy; the result was a small-scale trade war but a successful election to the White House.

[[File:John quincy adams - thomas sully.png|thumb|upright=1|left|Painting of John Quincy Adams by [[Thomas Sully]], 1824]]

Taking office in the aftermath of the War of 1812, Adams thought that the country had been fortunate in avoiding territorial losses, and he prioritized avoiding another war with a European power, particularly Britain.<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=321–22">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=321–22}}</ref> He also sought to avoid exacerbating sectional tensions, which had been a major issue for the country during the War of 1812.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=143–145}}</ref>{{efn|Adams had been especially concerned by the [[Hartford Convention]], which had been called by anti-war Federalists to discuss their grievances against the Madison administration.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=145–146}}</ref>}} One of the major challenges confronting Adams was how to respond to the power vacuum in Latin America that arose from Spain's weakness following the [[Peninsular War]].<ref>{{harvnb|Edel|2014|pages=107–09}}.</ref> In addition to his foreign policy role, Adams held several domestic duties, including overseeing the [[1820 United States census]] and writing an extensive report on [[weights and measures]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=147–148}}</ref> The weights and measures report, a particular passion of Adams', provided an extensive historical perspective on the topic and advocated for adoption of the [[metric system]].<ref>{{cite book|first=James|last=Traub|title=John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit|isbn=978-0-465-02827-6|year=2016|publisher=Basic Books|place=New York|pages=169–170, 253–255}}</ref>

Monroe and Adams agreed on most major foreign policy issues: both favored neutrality in [[Spanish American wars of independence|Latin American independence wars]], peace with the United Kingdom, rejection of a trade agreement with the French, and peaceful expansion into the [[Spanish Empire]]'s North American territories.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=327–28}}</ref> The president and his secretary of state developed a strong working relationship, and while Adams often influenced Monroe's policies, he respected that Monroe made the final decisions on major issues.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=151–152}}</ref> Monroe met regularly with his five-person [[Cabinet of the United States|cabinet]], which initially consisted of Adams, Secretary of the Treasury [[William H. Crawford]], Secretary of War [[John C. Calhoun]], Secretary of the Navy [[Benjamin Williams Crowninshield|Benjamin Crowninshield]], and Attorney General [[William Wirt (Attorney General)|William Wirt]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=153–154}}</ref> Adams developed a strong respect for Calhoun but believed that Crawford was unduly focused on succeeding Monroe in 1824.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=154–155}}</ref>

During his time as ambassador to Britain, Adams had begun negotiations over several contentious issues that had not been solved by the War of 1812 or the Treaty of Ghent. In 1817, the two countries agreed to the [[Rush–Bagot Treaty]], which limited naval armaments on the [[Great Lakes]]. Negotiations between the two powers continued, resulting in the [[Treaty of 1818]], which defined the [[Canada–United States border]] west of the Great Lakes. The boundary was set at the [[49th parallel north|49th parallel]] to the [[Rocky Mountains]], while the territory to the west of the mountains, known as [[Oregon Country]], would be jointly occupied. The agreement marked a watershed moment in [[United Kingdom–United States relations|United Kingdom–United States]] relations, as the United States focused on its southern and western borders and British concerns about American expansionism subsided.<ref>{{harvnb|Remini|2002|pages=48, 51–53}}</ref>

=== Adams–Onís Treaty ===
[[File:Adams onis map.png|thumb|upright=1.5|In the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]], the United States acquired Florida and set the western border of the 1803 [[Louisiana Purchase]].]]

When Adams took office, Spanish possessions bordered the United States to the south and west. To the south, Spain retained control of [[Spanish Florida|Florida]], which the U.S. had long sought to purchase. Spain struggled to control the Indian tribes active in Florida, and some of those tribes raided United States territory. To the west, [[New Spain]] bordered the territory acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase, but no clear boundary had been established between United States and Spanish territory.<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=321–22"/> After taking office, Adams began negotiations with [[Luis de Onís]], the Spanish minister to the United States, for the purchase of Florida and the settlement of a border between the United States and New Spain. The negotiations were interrupted by an escalation of the [[Seminole Wars|Seminole War]], and in December 1818, Monroe ordered General [[Andrew Jackson]] to enter Florida and retaliate against [[Seminole]]s that had raided Georgia. Exceeding his orders, Jackson captured the Spanish outposts of [[St. Marks, Florida|St. Marks]] and [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]] and [[Arbuthnot and Ambrister incident|executed two British subjects]]. While Jackson's actions outraged the rest of the cabinet, Adams defended them as necessary to the country's self-defense, and he eventually convinced Monroe and most of the cabinet to support Jackson.<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=333–337, 348">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=333–37, 348}}</ref> Adams informed Spain that its failure to police its own territory had compelled Jackson to act, and he advised Spain to either secure the region or sell it to the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=163–164}}</ref> The British, meanwhile, declined to risk their recent rapprochement with the United States, and did not make a major diplomatic issue out of Jackson's execution of the two men.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|page=106}}</ref>

Negotiations between Spain and the United States continued, and Spain agreed to cede Florida. The determination of the western boundary of the United States proved more difficult. American expansionists favored setting the border at the [[Rio Grande]], but Spain, intent on protecting its colony of [[New Spain|Mexico]] from American encroachment, insisted on setting the boundary at the [[Sabine River (Texas–Louisiana)|Sabine River]]. At Monroe's direction, Adams agreed to the [[Sabine River (Texas–Louisiana)|Sabine River]] boundary, but he insisted that Spain cede its claims on Oregon Country.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017 |pages=164–166}}</ref> Adams was deeply interested in establishing American control over the Oregon Country, partly because he believed that control of that region would spur trade with Asia. The acquisition of Spanish claims to the Pacific Northwest also allowed the Monroe administration to pair the acquisition of Florida, which was chiefly sought by Southerners, with territorial gains favored primarily by those in the North.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=108–109}}</ref> After extended negotiations, Spain and the United States agreed to the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]], which was ratified in February 1821.<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=333–337, 348"/> Adams was deeply proud of the treaty, though he privately was concerned by the potential expansion of slavery into the newly acquired territories.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper |2017|pages=167–168}}.</ref> In 1824, the Monroe administration would strengthen US claims to Oregon by ratifying the [[Russo-American Treaty of 1824]], which established [[Russian America|Russian Alaska]]'s southern border at 54°40′ north.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=112–115}}</ref>

=== Monroe Doctrine ===
{{main|Monroe Doctrine}}

As the Spanish Empire continued to fracture during Monroe's second term, Adams, Monroe and Clay became increasingly concerned that the "[[Holy Alliance]]" of [[Prussia]], Austria, and Russia would seek to bring Spain's erstwhile colonies under their control, to the point of even contemplating a Holy Alliance of their own to defend democracy. In his 1821 Fourth of July address, Adams addressed this issue, noting a shared "chain of sympathy" between the U.S. and Latin America, but arguing for neutrality rather than a Holy Alliance.<ref>Traub, 256-258</ref> In 1822, following the conclusion of the Adams–Onís Treaty, the Monroe administration recognized the independence of several Latin American countries, including [[Argentina]] and Mexico. In 1823, British Foreign Secretary [[George Canning]] suggested that the United States and Britain should work together to preserve the independence of these fledgling republics. The cabinet debated whether to accept the offer, but Adams opposed it. Instead, Adams urged Monroe to publicly declare the United States' opposition to any European attempt to colonize or re-take control of territory in the Americas, while also committing the United States to neutrality in European affairs. In his December 1823 [[State of the Union|annual message to Congress]], Monroe laid out the Monroe Doctrine, which was largely built upon Adams's ideas.<ref name="kaplan380385">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=380–385}}</ref> In issuing the Monroe Doctrine, the United States displayed a new level of assertiveness in international relations, as the doctrine represented the country's first claim to a [[sphere of influence]]. It also marked the country's shift in psychological orientation away from Europe and towards the Americas. Debates over foreign policy would no longer center on relations with Britain and France, but instead focus on western expansion and relations with Native Americans.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe |2007|pp=115–116}}</ref> The doctrine became one of the foundational principles of [[History of U.S. foreign policy|U.S. foreign policy]].<ref name="kaplan380385"/>

== 1824 presidential election ==
{{main|1824 United States presidential election}}

[[File:ElectoralCollege1824.svg|thumb|upright=1|1824 presidential election results]]

Immediately upon becoming Secretary of State, Adams emerged as one of Monroe's most likely successors, as the last three presidents had all served in the role before taking office. As the [[1824 United States presidential election|1824 election]] approached, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun (who later dropped out of the race), and William H. Crawford appeared to be Adams's primary competition to succeed Monroe.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=364–367}}</ref> Crawford favored state sovereignty and a [[strict constructionist]] view of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]], while Clay, Calhoun, and Adams embraced federally funded [[internal improvements]], high [[tariffs in United States history|tariffs]], and the [[Second Bank of the United States]], which was also known as the national bank.<ref name="Howe 2007 203–204">{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=203–204}}</ref> Because the Federalist Party had all but collapsed after the War of 1812, all the major presidential candidates were members of the Democratic-Republican Party.<ref name="parsons7072"/> Adams felt that his own election as president would vindicate his father, while also allowing him to pursue an ambitious domestic policy. Though he lacked the charisma of his competitors, Adams was widely respected and benefited from the lack of other prominent Northern political leaders.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|page=24}}</ref>

Adams's top choice for the role of vice president was General Andrew Jackson; Adams noted that "the Vice-Presidency was a station in which [Jackson] could hang no one, and in which he would need to quarrel with no one".<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=208–209}}</ref> However, as the 1824 election approached, Jackson jumped into the race for president, and Calhoun ended up receiving the Vice-presidential support of Adams supporters.<ref name="parsons7072">{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=70–72}}</ref> While the other candidates based their candidacies on their long tenure as congressmen, ambassadors, or members of the cabinet, Jackson's appeal rested on his military service, especially in the [[Battle of New Orleans]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=20–21}}</ref> The [[congressional nominating caucus]] had decided upon previous Democratic-Republican presidential nominees, but it had become largely discredited by 1824. Candidates were instead nominated by state legislatures or nominating conventions, and Adams received the endorsement of the New England legislatures.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=79–86}}</ref> The regional strength of each candidate played an important role in the election; Adams was popular in [[New England]], Clay and Jackson were strong in the West, and Jackson and Crawford competed for the South.<ref name="kaplan386389"/>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0 0 1em 1em; float:right;"
! colspan=3 | 1825 contingent presidential election vote distribution
|-
! {{Party shading/National Republican}} | States for Adams
! {{Party shading/Jacksonian}} | States for Jackson
! {{Party shading/Independent}} | States for Crawford
|-style="vertical-align:top;"
|
* Connecticut
* Illinois
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Maine
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Missouri
* New Hampshire
* New York
* Ohio
* Rhode Island
* Vermont
|
* Alabama
* Indiana
* Mississippi
* New Jersey
* Pennsylvania
* South Carolina
* Tennessee
|
* Delaware
* Georgia
* North Carolina
* Virginia
|-
|{{Party shading/National Republican}} |'''Total: 13 (54%)'''
|{{Party shading/Jacksonian}} |'''Total: 7 (29%)'''
|{{Party shading/Independent}} |'''Total: 4 (17%)'''
|}

In the 1824 presidential election, Jackson won a plurality in the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]], taking 99 of the 261 electoral votes, while Adams won 84, Crawford won 41, and Clay took 37. Calhoun, meanwhile, won a majority of the electoral votes for vice president.<ref name="kaplan386389"/> Adams nearly swept the electoral votes of New England and won a majority of the electoral votes in [[New York (state)|New York]], but he won just six electoral votes from the slave states. Most of Jackson's support came from slave-holding states, but he also won [[New Jersey]], [[Pennsylvania]], and some electoral votes from the Northwest.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|page=213}}</ref> As no candidate won a majority of the electoral votes, the House was required to hold a contingent election under the terms of the [[Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twelfth Amendment]]. The House would decide among the top three electoral vote winners, with each state's delegation having one vote; thus, unlike his three rivals, Clay was not eligible to be elected by the House.<ref name="kaplan386389">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=386–389}}</ref>

Adams knew that his own victory in the contingent election would require the support of Clay, who wielded immense influence in the House of Representatives.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://millercenter.org/president/jqadams/campaigns-and-elections|title=John Quincy Adams: Campaigns and Elections|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia|access-date=March 28, 2017|date=October 4, 2016}}</ref> Though they were quite different in temperament and had clashed in the past, Adams and Clay shared similar views on national issues. By contrast, Clay viewed Jackson as a dangerous [[demagogue]], and he was unwilling to support Crawford due to the latter's health issues.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=33–34, 36–38}}</ref> Adams and Clay met before the contingent election, and Clay agreed to support Adams in the election.<ref name="kap391393"/> Adams also met with Federalists such as [[Daniel Webster]], promising that he would not deny governmental positions to members of their party.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|page=217}}</ref> On February 9, 1825, Adams won the contingent election on the first ballot, taking 13 of the 24 state delegations. Adams won the House delegations of all the states in which he or Clay had won a majority of the electoral votes, as well as the delegations of [[Illinois]], [[Louisiana]], and [[Maryland]].<ref name="kap391393"/> Adams's victory made him the first child of a president to serve as president himself.{{efn|In 2001, [[George W. Bush]] would become the second child of a president to serve as president.}} After the election, many of Jackson's supporters claimed that Adams and Clay had reached a "[[Corrupt bargain]]" whereby Adams promised Clay the position of Secretary of State in return for Clay's support.<ref name="kap391393">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=391–393, 398}}</ref>

== Presidency (1825–1829) ==
{{Main|Presidency of John Quincy Adams}}

=== Inauguration ===
Adams was [[Inauguration of John Quincy Adams|inaugurated]] on March 4, 1825, becoming the first son of a former United States president to himself become president, a feat only repeated 176 years later by [[George W. Bush]], son of [[George H. W. Bush]]. As Adams took the [[Oath of office of the president of the United States#Use of Bibles|oath of office]], he departed from tradition by placing his hand on a book of [[constitutional law]] instead of on a [[Bible]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/john-quincy-adams-takes-the-oath-of-office-wearing-pants|title=John Quincy Adams Takes the Oath of Office – Wearing Pants|publisher=New England Historical Society|access-date=March 9, 2017|date=March 4, 2015}}</ref> In his inaugural address, he adopted a post-partisan tone, promising to avoid party-building and politically motivated appointments. He also proposed an elaborate program of "internal improvements": roads, ports, and canals. Though some were worried about the constitutionality of such federal projects, Adams argued that the [[Taxing and Spending Clause|General Welfare Clause]] provided for broad constitutional authority. He promised that he would ask Congress to authorize many such projects.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=394–396}}</ref>

=== Administration ===
{{Infobox U.S. Cabinet
|align=right
|Name                 = Adams
|President            = John Quincy Adams
|President start      = 1825
|President end        = 1829
|Vice President       = [[John C. Calhoun]]
|Vice President start = 1825
|Vice President end   = 1829
|State                = [[Henry Clay]]
|State start          = 1825
|State end            = 1829
|Treasury             = [[Richard Rush]]
|Treasury start       = 1825
|Treasury end         = 1829
|War                  = [[James Barbour]]
|War start            = 1825
|War end              = 1828
|War 2                = [[Peter Buell Porter]]
|War start 2          = 1828
|War end 2            = 1829
|Justice              = [[William Wirt (Attorney General)|William Wirt]]
|Justice start        = 1825
|Justice end          = 1829
|Navy                 = [[Samuel L. Southard]]
|Navy start           = 1825
|Navy end             = 1829
}}

Adams presided over a harmonious and productive cabinet that he met with on a weekly basis.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|page=62–64}}</ref> Like Monroe, Adams sought a geographically balanced cabinet that would represent the various party factions, and he asked the members of the Monroe cabinet to remain in place for his own administration.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=47–48}}</ref> [[Samuel L. Southard]] of [[New Jersey]] stayed on as [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]], [[William Wirt (Attorney General)|William Wirt]] kept his post of [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]],<ref>{{harvnb |Hargreaves|1985|pages=49–50}}</ref> and [[John McLean]] of [[Ohio]] continued to serve as the [[United States Postmaster General|Postmaster General]], an important position that was not part of the cabinet at that time.<ref name="Parsons 2009 pages=106–107">{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=106–107}}</ref> Adams's first choices for [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] and [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] were Andrew Jackson and William Crawford, but each declined to serve in the administration. Adams instead selected [[James Barbour]] of [[Virginia]], a prominent supporter of Crawford, to lead the [[United States Department of War|War Department]]. Leadership of the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department]] went to [[Richard Rush]] of [[Pennsylvania]], who would become a prominent advocate of internal improvements and protective tariffs within the administration.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=48–49}}</ref> Adams chose [[Henry Clay]] as [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]], angering those who believed Clay had offered Adams his support in the 1824 election in exchange for the most prestigious position in the cabinet.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=396–397}}</ref> Clay would later regret accepting the job since it reinforced the "Corrupt Bargain" accusation. However, Clay's strength in the West and interest in foreign policy made him a natural choice for the position.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=247–248}}</ref>

=== Domestic affairs ===
==== Ambitious agenda ====
[[File:Medal of John Quincy Adams MET LC-83 2 429-001.jpg|thumb|Medal of John Quincy Adams]]
In his 1825 annual message to Congress,<ref>[https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/206789 ''First Annual Message'']; John Quincy Adams; speech transcript; (1825); via Peters, Gerhard and Woolley, John T.; The American Presidency Project online; University of California Santa Barbara; accessed January 2020</ref> Adams presented a comprehensive and ambitious agenda. He called for major investments in internal improvements as well as the creation of a national university, a naval academy, and a national astronomical observatory. Noting the healthy status of the treasury and the possibility for more revenue via land sales, Adams argued for the completion of several projects that were in various stages of construction or planning, including a road from [[Washington, D.C.]] to [[New Orleans]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014 |pages=402–403}}</ref> He also proposed the establishment of a Department of the Interior as a new cabinet-level department that would preside over these internal improvements.<ref>{{harvnb|Remini|2002 |pages=80–81}}</ref> Adams hoped to fund these measures primarily through Western land sales, rather than increased taxes or public debt.<ref name="Howe 2007 203–204"/> The domestic agenda of Adams and Clay, which would come to be known as the [[American System (economic plan)|American System]], was designed to unite disparate regional interests in the promotion of a thriving national economy.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=311–314}}</ref>

Adams's programs faced opposition from various quarters. Many disagreed with his broad interpretation of the constitution and preferred that power be concentrated in state governments rather than the federal government. Others disliked interference from any level of government and were opposed to central planning.<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=404–405">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=404–405}}</ref> Some in the South feared that Adams was secretly an [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] and that he sought to subordinate the states to the federal government.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=397–398}}</ref> Most of the president's proposals were defeated in Congress. Adams's ideas for a national university, a national observatory, and the establishment of a uniform system of weights and measures never received congressional votes.<ref name="remini8486">{{harvnb|Remini|2002|pages=84–86}}</ref> His proposal for the creation of a naval academy won the approval of the Senate but was defeated in the House; opponents objected to the naval academy's cost and worried that the establishment of such an institution would "produce degeneracy and corruption of the public morality".<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|page=167}}</ref> Adams's proposal to establish a [[History of bankruptcy law in the United States|national bankruptcy law]] was also defeated.<ref name="remini8486"/>

Unlike other aspects of his domestic agenda, Adams won congressional approval for several ambitious infrastructure projects.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|page=173}}</ref> Between 1824 and 1828, the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] conducted surveys for a bevy of potential roads, canals, railroads, and improvements in river navigation. Adams presided over major repairs and further construction on the National Road, and shortly after he left office the National Road extended from [[Cumberland, Maryland]], to [[Zanesville, Ohio]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=173–174}}</ref> The Adams administration also saw the beginning of the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Canal]]; the construction of the [[Chesapeake & Delaware Canal]] and the [[Louisville and Portland Canal]] around the [[Falls of the Ohio]]; the connection of the [[Great Lakes]] to the [[Ohio River|Ohio River system]] in [[Ohio]] and [[Indiana]]; and the enlargement and rebuilding of the [[Dismal Swamp Canal]] in [[North Carolina]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985 |pages=176–177}}</ref> Additionally, the first passenger railroad in the United States, the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]], was constructed during Adams's presidency. Though many of these projects were undertaken by private actors, the government often provided money or land to aid the completion of such projects.<ref>{{harvnb|Remini|2002|pages=85–86}}</ref>

=== Formation of political parties ===
{{see also|First Party System|Second Party System}}
[[File:Andrew Jackson.jpg|left|thumb|upright=.8|General [[Andrew Jackson]], Adams's opponent in the [[1824 United States presidential election|1824]] and [[1828 United States presidential election]]s]]

In the immediate aftermath of the 1825 contingent election, Jackson was gracious to Adams.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=105–106}}</ref> Nevertheless, Adams's appointment of Clay rankled Jackson, who received a flood of letters encouraging him to run. In 1825, Jackson accepted the presidential nomination of the [[Tennessee]] legislature for the 1828 election.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=110–111}}</ref> Though he had been close to Adams during Monroe's presidency, Vice President Calhoun was also politically alienated from the president by the appointment of Clay, since that appointment established Clay as the natural heir to Adams.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=249–250}}</ref> Adams's ambitious December 1825 annual message to Congress further galvanized the opposition, with important figures such as [[Francis Preston Blair]] of [[Kentucky]] and [[Thomas Hart Benton (politician)|Thomas Hart Benton]] of [[Missouri]] breaking with the Adams administration.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=114–115}}</ref> By the end of the first session of the [[19th United States Congress]], an anti-Adams congressional coalition consisting of Jacksonians (led by Benton and [[Hugh Lawson White]]), Crawfordites (led by [[Martin Van Buren]] and [[Nathaniel Macon]]), and Calhounites (led by [[Robert Y. Hayne]] and [[George McDuffie]]) had emerged.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=119–120}}</ref> Aside from Clay, Adams lacked strong supporters outside of the North, and [[Edward Everett]], [[John W. Taylor (politician)|John Taylor]], and [[Daniel Webster]] served as his strongest advocates in Congress.<ref name="Parsons 2009 pages=138–139">{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=138–139}}</ref> Supporters of Adams began calling themselves [[National Republicans]], while supporters of Jackson began calling themselves [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]].<ref>{{harvnb|Remini|2002 |pages=84–85}}</ref> In the press, they were often described as "Adams Men" and "Jackson Men".<ref name="Howe 2007 251">{{harvnb|Howe|2007|p=251}}</ref>

In the [[United States elections, 1826|1826 elections]], Adams's opponents picked up seats throughout the country, as allies of Adams failed to coordinate among themselves.<ref name="Parsons 2009 pages=125–126">{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=125–126}}.</ref> [[Andrew Stevenson]], a Jackson supporter, replaced John Taylor, an Adams supporter, as Speaker of the House.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=146–147}}</ref> As Adams himself noted, the United States had never seen a Congress that was firmly under the control of political opponents of the president.<ref>{{harvnb|Remini|2002|pages=110–111}}</ref> After the elections, Van Buren and Calhoun agreed to throw their support behind Jackson in 1828, with Van Buren bringing along many of Crawford's supporters.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=127–128}}</ref> Though Jackson did not articulate a detailed political platform in the same way that Adams did, his coalition united in opposition to Adams's reliance on government planning.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=279–280}}</ref> Adams, meanwhile, clung to the hope of a non-partisan nation, and he refused to make full use of the power of patronage to build up his own party structure.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=141–142}}</ref>

==== Tariff of 1828 ====
[[File:John Quincy Adams by Charles Osgood.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Painting of Quincy Adams by Charles Osgood, 1828]]

During the first half of his administration, Adams avoided taking a strong stand on tariffs, partly because he wanted to avoid alienating his allies in the South and New England.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985 |pages=189–191}}</ref> After Jacksonians took power in 1827, they devised a tariff bill designed to appeal to Western states while instituting high rates on imported materials important to the economy of New England. It is unclear whether Van Buren, who shepherded the bill through Congress, meant for the bill to pass, or if he had deliberately designed it to force Adams and his allies to oppose it.<ref name="abominations1">{{cite journal|last1=Remini|first1=Robert V.|title=Martin Van Buren and the Tariff of Abominations|issue=4|date=July 1958|journal=The American Historical Review|volume=63|pages=903–917 |jstor=1848947|doi=10.2307/1848947}}</ref> Regardless, Adams signed the [[Tariff of 1828]], which became known as the "Tariff of Abominations" by opponents. Adams was denounced in the South, and he received little credit for the tariff in the North.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=157–158}}</ref>

==== Indian policy ====
{{see also|Federal Indian Policy}}

Adams sought the gradual assimilation of [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] via consensual agreements, a priority shared by few whites in the 1820s. Yet Adams was also deeply committed to the westward expansion of the United States. Settlers on the frontier, constantly seeking to move westward, cried for a more expansionist policy that disregarded the concerns of Native Americans. Early in his term, Adams suspended the [[Treaty of Indian Springs (1825)|Treaty of Indian Springs]] after learning that the Governor of Georgia, [[George Troup]], had forced the treaty on the [[Muscogee]].<ref>{{harvnb|Edel|2014|pages=225–226}}</ref> Adams signed a new treaty with the Muscogee in January 1826 that allowed the Muscogee to stay but ceded most of their land to Georgia. Troup refused to accept its terms and authorized all Georgian citizens to evict the Muscogee.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=398–400}}</ref> A showdown between Georgia and the federal government was only averted after the Muscogee agreed to a third treaty.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|page=256}}</ref> Though many saw Troup as unreasonable in his dealings with the federal government and the Native Americans, the administration's handling of the incident alienated those in the [[Deep South]] who favored immediate [[Indian removal]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=101–101}}</ref>

=== Foreign affairs ===
Adams famously said, "America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy".{{sfn|Edel|2014|p=300}}

==== Trade and claims ====
[[File:Henry Clay.JPG|left|thumb|upright=.8|Quincy Adams appointed [[Henry Clay]] as Secretary of State.]]

One of the major foreign policy goals of the Adams administration was the expansion of American trade.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=67–68}}</ref> His administration reached [[Reciprocity (international relations)|reciprocity]] treaties with a number of nations, including Denmark, [[Prussia]], and the [[Federal Republic of Central America]]. The administration also reached commercial agreements with the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]] and the [[Kingdom of Tahiti]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=76–85}}</ref> Agreements with Denmark and Sweden opened their colonies to American trade, but Adams was especially focused on opening trade with the [[British West Indies]]. The United States had reached a commercial agreement with Britain in 1815, but that agreement excluded British possessions in the Western Hemisphere. In response to United States pressure, the British had begun to allow a limited amount of American imports to the West Indies in 1823, but United States leaders continued to seek an end to Britain's protective [[Imperial Preference]] system.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=91–95}}</ref> In 1825, Britain banned United States trade with the [[British West Indies]], dealing a blow to Adams's prestige.<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=400–401">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=400–401}}</ref> The Adams administration negotiated extensively with the British to lift this ban, but the two sides could not reach an agreement.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=102–107}}</ref> Despite the loss of trade with the British West Indies, the other commercial agreements secured by Adams helped expand the overall volume of United States exports.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=110–112}}</ref>

==== Latin America ====
Aside from an unsuccessful attempt to purchase [[Mexican Texas|Texas]] from Mexico, President Adams did not seek to expand into [[Latin America]] or North America.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=240–241}}</ref> Adams and Clay instead sought engagement with Latin America to prevent it from falling under the British Empire's economic influence.<ref name="Howe 2007 257">{{harvnb|Howe|2007|page=257}}</ref> As part of this goal, the administration favored sending a United States delegation to the [[Congress of Panama]], an 1826 conference of New World republics organized by [[Simón Bolívar]].<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=401–402">{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=401–402}}</ref> Clay and Adams hoped that the conference would inaugurate a "[[Good Neighbor policy|Good Neighborhood Policy]]" among the independent states of the Americas.<ref name="Remini 2002 pages=82–83">{{harvnb|Remini|2002|pages=82–83}}</ref> However, the funding for a delegation and the confirmation of delegation nominees became entangled in a political battle over Adams's domestic policies, with opponents such as Van Buren impeding the confirmation of a delegation.<ref name="Kaplan 2014 pages=404–405"/> While Van Buren saw the Panama Congress as an unwelcome deviation from the more [[United States non-interventionism|isolationist]] foreign policy established by President Washington,<ref name="Remini 2002 pages=82–83"/> many Southerners opposed involvement with any conference attended by delegates from [[Haiti]], a republic that had been established through a [[Haitian Revolution|slave revolt]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|page=229}}</ref> Though the United States delegation finally won confirmation from the Senate, it never reached the Congress of Panama due to the Senate's delay.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=408–410}}</ref>

=== 1828 presidential election ===
{{Main|1828 United States presidential election}}

[[File:ElectoralCollege1828.svg|thumb|upright=1|1828 presidential election results]]

The Jacksonians formed an effective party apparatus that adopted many modern campaign techniques. Rather than focusing on issues, they emphasized Jackson's popularity and the supposed corruption of Adams and the federal government. Jackson himself described the campaign as a "struggle between the virtue of the people and executive patronage".<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=275–277}}</ref> Adams, meanwhile, refused to adapt to the new reality of political campaigns, and he avoided public functions and refused to invest in pro-administration tools such as newspapers.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=152–154}}</ref> In early 1827, Jackson was publicly accused of having encouraged his wife, [[Rachel Jackson|Rachel]], to desert her first husband.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=142–143}}</ref> In response, followers of Jackson attacked Adams's personal life, and the campaign turned increasingly nasty.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=143–144}}</ref> The Jacksonian press portrayed Adams as an out-of-touch elitist,<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons |2009|pages=166–167}}</ref> while pro-Adams newspapers attacked Jackson's past involvement in various duels and scuffles, portraying him as too emotional and impetuous for the presidency. Though Adams and Clay had hoped that the campaign would focus on the American System, it was instead dominated by the personalities of Jackson and Adams.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pages=278–279}}</ref>

Vice President Calhoun joined Jackson's ticket, while Adams turned to Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush as his running mate.<ref>{{harvnb|Hargreaves|1985|pages=283–284}}</ref> The 1828 election thus marked the first time in United States history that a presidential ticket composed of two Northerners faced off against a presidential ticket composed of two Southerners.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=171–172}}</ref> In the election, Jackson won 178 of the 261 electoral votes and just under 56% of the popular vote.<ref name="parsons181183"/> Jackson won 50.3% of the popular vote in the free states, but 72.6% of the vote in the slave states.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=281–283}}</ref> No future presidential candidate would match Jackson's proportion of the popular vote until [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s 1904 campaign, while Adams's loss made him the second one-term president, after his own father.<ref name="parsons181183">{{harvnb|Parsons|2009|pages=181–183}}</ref> By 1828, only two states did not hold a popular vote for president, and the number of votes in the 1828 election was triple that in the 1824 election. This increase in votes was due not only to the recent wave of democratization, but also because of increased interest in elections and the growing ability of the parties to mobilize voters.<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=276, 280–281}}</ref> Adams did not attend Jackson's inauguration, making him one of only four presidents who finished their terms but skipped the event.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Balcerski|first=Opinion by Thomas|title=Opinion: A history lesson on presidents who snub their successors' inaugurations|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/11/opinions/presidents-history-skipping-inauguration-day-balcerski/index.html|access-date=November 12, 2020|website=CNN|date=November 11, 2020 }}</ref>

== Later congressional career (1830–1848) ==
=== Jackson administration, 1830–1836 ===
[[File:John Quincy Adams - copy of 1843 Philip Haas Daguerreotype.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Daguerreotype of Quincy Adams by Philip Haas, 1843|alt=Wrinkled, elderly man with spectacles]]

Adams considered permanently retiring from public life after his 1828 defeat, and he was deeply hurt by the suicide of his son, [[George Washington Adams]], in 1829.<ref>{{harvnb|Edel|2014|pages=254–56}}</ref> He was appalled by many of the Jackson administration's actions, including its embrace of the [[spoils system]]<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=445–446}}</ref> and the prosecution of his close friend, Treasury Auditor [[Tobias Watkins]], for embezzlement.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cain |first=Marvin R. |date=Spring 1984 |title=Claims, Contracts, and Customs: Public Accountability and a Department of Law, 1789-1849 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3122853 |journal=Journal of the Early Republic |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=27–45 |doi=10.2307/3122853 |jstor=3122853 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Though they had once maintained a cordial relationship, Adams and Jackson each came to loathe the other in the decades after the 1828 election.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=288–289, 345–346}}</ref> Adams grew bored with his retirement and still felt that his career was unfinished, so he ran for and won a seat in the [[United States House of Representatives]] in the [[United States House of Representatives elections, 1830|1830 elections]].<ref>{{harvnb|Edel |2014|pages=258–59}}</ref> His election went against the generally held opinion, shared by his own wife and youngest son, that former presidents should not run for public office.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014 |pages=450–52}}</ref> Nonetheless, he would win election to nine terms, serving from 1831 until his death in 1848.<ref name=bioguide1>{{citation-attribution|1={{cite web|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=A000041|title=John Quincy Adams; Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress|publisher=Bioguide.congress.gov|access-date=March 15, 2017}} }}</ref> Adams and [[Andrew Johnson]] are the only [[President of the United States#Activities|former presidents to serve in Congress]].<ref name="millerleg"/> After winning election, Adams became affiliated with the [[Anti-Masonic Party]], partly because the National Republican Party's leadership in Massachusetts included many of the former Federalists that Adams had clashed with earlier in his career. The Anti-Masonic Party originated as a movement against [[Freemasonry]], but it developed into the country's first [[Third party (United States)|third party]] and embraced a general program of anti-elitism.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=280–283}}</ref>

Adams expected a light workload when he returned to Washington at 64 years old, but Speaker [[Andrew Stevenson]] selected Adams chair of the [[United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce|Committee on Commerce and Manufactures]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=454, 458–59}}</ref> Though he identified as a member of the Anti-Masonic Party, Congress was broadly polarized into allies of Jackson and opponents of Jackson, and Adams generally aligned with the latter camp.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=286–287}}</ref> Stevenson, an ally of Jackson, expected that the committee chairmanship would keep Adams busy defending the tariff even while the Jacksonian majority on the committee would prevent Adams from accruing any real power.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=458–64}}</ref> As chair of the committee charged with writing tariff laws, Adams became an important player in the [[nullification crisis]], which stemmed largely from Southern objections to the high rates imposed by the [[Tariff of Abominations|Tariff of 1828]]. [[South Carolina]] leaders argued that states could [[Nullification (U.S. Constitution)|nullify federal laws]], and they announced that they would bar the federal government from enforcing the tariff in their state.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=298–299}}</ref> Adams helped pass the [[Tariff of 1832]], which lowered rates, but not enough to mollify the South Carolina nullifiers. The crisis ended when Clay and Calhoun agreed to another tariff bill, the [[Tariff of 1833]], that furthered lower tariff rates. Adams was appalled by the Nullification Crisis's outcome, as he felt that the Southern states had unfairly benefited from challenging federal law.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=300–303}}</ref> After the crisis, Adams was convinced that Southerners exercised undue influence over the federal government through their control of Jackson's Democratic Party.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=309, 401}}</ref>

In the [[1833 Massachusetts gubernatorial election]], the Anti-Masonic Party nominated Adams in a four-way race between Adams, the National Republican candidate, the Democratic candidate, and a candidate of the Working Men's Party. The National Republican candidate, [[John Davis (Massachusetts governor)|John Davis]], won 40% of the vote, while Adams finished in second place with 29%. Because no candidate won a majority of the vote, the state legislature decided the election. Rather than seek election by the legislature, Adams withdrew his name from contention, and the legislature selected Davis.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=284–285}}</ref> Adams was nearly elected to the Senate in 1835 by a coalition of Anti-Masons and National Republicans, but his support for Jackson in a minor foreign policy matter annoyed National Republican leaders enough that they dropped their support for his candidacy.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=311–312}}</ref> After 1835, Adams never again sought higher office, focusing instead on his service in the House of Representatives.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|page=315}}</ref>

=== Van Buren, Harrison and Tyler administrations, 1837–1843 ===
[[File:William Hudson, Jr. - Portrait of John Quincy Adams (1844) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Quincy Adams by William Hudson, 1844]]

In the mid-1830s, the Anti-Masonic Party, the National Republicans, and other groups opposed to Jackson coalesced into the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=309–310}}</ref> In the [[1836 United States presidential election|1836 presidential election]] Democrats put forward [[Martin Van Buren]], while the Whigs fielded multiple presidential candidates. Because he disdained all the major party contenders for president, Adams did not take part in the campaign; Van Buren won the election.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|page=316}}</ref> Nonetheless, Adams became aligned with the Whig Party in Congress.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|page=330}}</ref> Adams generally opposed the initiatives of President Van Buren, long a political adversary, though they maintained a cordial public relationship.<ref>{{harvnb |Cooper|2017|pages=345–346}}</ref>

The [[Republic of Texas]] won its independence from Mexico in the [[Texas Revolution]] of 1835–1836. Texas had largely been settled by Americans from the Southern United States, and many of those settlers owned slaves despite an 1829 Mexican law that abolished slavery. Many in the United States and Texas thus favored the admission of Texas into the union as a [[Slave states and free states|slave state]]. Adams considered the issue of Texas to be "a question of far deeper root and more overshadowing branches than any or all others that agitate the country", and he emerged as one of the leading congressional opponents of annexation.  When he served as secretary of state, Adams had sought to acquire Texas, but he argued that, because Mexico had abolished slavery, the acquisition of Texas would transform the region from a free territory into a slave state. He also feared that the annexation of Texas would encourage Southern expansionists to pursue other potential slave states, including [[Cuba]]. Adams's firm stance may have played a role in discouraging Van Buren from pushing for the annexation of Texas during his presidency.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=371–375}}</ref>

Whig nominee [[William Henry Harrison]] defeated Van Buren in the [[1840 United States presidential election|1840 presidential election]], and the Whigs gained control of both houses of Congress for the first time. Despite his low regard for Harrison as a person, Adams was enthusiastic about the new Whig administration and the end of the long-standing Democratic dominance of the federal government.<ref>{{harvnb |Cooper|2017|pages=377–379}}</ref> However, Harrison died in April 1841 and was succeeded by Vice President [[John Tyler]], a Southerner who, unlike Adams, Henry Clay, and many other prominent Whigs, did not embrace the American System. Adams saw Tyler as an agent of "the slave-driving, Virginia, Jeffersonian school, principled against all improvement". After Tyler vetoed a bill to restore the national bank, Whig congressmen expelled Tyler from the party. Adams was appointed chairman of a special committee that explored impeaching Tyler, and Adams presented a scathing report of Tyler that argued that his actions warranted impeachment. The impeachment process did not move forward, though, because the Whigs did not believe that the Senate would vote to remove Tyler from office.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017 |pages=379–381}}</ref>

=== Opposition to the Mexican-American War, 1844–1848 ===
[[File:John Quincy Adams daguerreotype c1840s.jpg|thumb|John Quincy Adams, {{circa|1840s}}, unknown author]]

Tyler made the annexation of Texas the main foreign policy priority of the later stages of his administration.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=401–403}}</ref> He attempted to win ratification of an annexation treaty in 1844, but, to Adams's surprise and relief, the Senate rejected the treaty.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=404–405}}</ref> The annexation of Texas became the central issue of the [[1844 United States presidential election|1844 presidential election]], and Southerners blocked the nomination of Van Buren at the [[1844 Democratic National Convention]] due to the latter's opposition to annexation; the party instead nominated [[James K. Polk]], an acolyte of Andrew Jackson.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=405–406}}</ref> Though he once again did not take part in the campaigning, Adams was deeply disappointed that Polk defeated his old ally, Henry Clay, in the 1844 election. He attributed the outcome of the election partly to the [[Liberty Party (United States, 1840)|Liberty Party]], a small, [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] third party that may have siphoned votes from Clay in the crucial state of New York.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=407–408}}</ref> After the election, Tyler, whose term would end in March 1845, once again submitted an annexation treaty to Congress.{{efn|Tyler had initially sent the treaty to the Senate; the Constitution provides that a two-thirds vote of the Senate is required to ratify any treaty. After the 1844 election, Tyler asked Congress to approve the treaty via [[joint resolution]], which would require a simple majority vote in both houses of Congress.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017 |page=410}}</ref>}} Adams strongly attacked the treaty, arguing that the annexation of Texas would involve the United States in "a war for slavery". Despite Adams's opposition, both houses of Congress approved the treaty, with most Democrats voting for annexation and most Whigs voting against it. Texas thus joined the United States as a slave state in 1845.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=410–413}}</ref>

Adams had served with James K. Polk in the House of Representatives, and Adams loathed the new president, seeing him as another expansionist, pro-slavery Southern Democrat.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|page=414}}</ref> Adams favored the annexation of the entirety of [[Oregon Country]], a [[Oregon boundary dispute|disputed region]] occupied by both the United States and Britain, and was disappointed when President Polk signed the [[Oregon Treaty]], which divided the land between the two claimants at the 49th parallel.<ref>{{harvnb|Kaplan|2014|pages=555–556}}</ref> Polk's expansionist aims centered instead on the Mexican province of [[Alta California]], and he attempted to buy the province from Mexico. The Mexican government refused to sell California or recognize the independence and subsequent American annexation of Texas. Polk deployed a military detachment led by General [[Zachary Taylor]] to back up his assertion that the [[Rio Grande]] constituted the Southern border of both Texas and the United States. After Taylor's forces clashed with Mexican soldiers north of the Rio Grande, Polk asked for a declaration of war in early 1846, asserting that Mexico had invaded American territory. Though some Whigs questioned whether Mexico had started an aggressive war, both houses of Congress declared war, with the House voting 174-to-14 to approve the declaration. One of the 14 dissenting votes was Adams, who believed that Polk was seeking to wage an offensive to expand slavery.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=421–423}}</ref> After the start of the war, he supported the [[Wilmot Proviso]], an unsuccessful legislative proposal that would have banned slavery in any territory ceded by Mexico.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=424–425}}</ref> After 1846, ill health increasingly affected Adams, but he continued to oppose the Mexican–American War until his death in 1848.<ref name="Cooper 2017 pages=430–431">{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=430–431}}</ref>

=== Anti-slavery movement ===
{{Main|John Quincy Adams and abolitionism}}

[[File:ADAMS, John Q-President (BEP engraved portrait).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bureau of Engraving and Printing|BEP]] engraved portrait of Adams as president]]

In the 1830s, slavery emerged as an increasingly polarizing issue in the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=323–324}}</ref> A longtime opponent of slavery, Adams used his new role in Congress to fight it, and he became the most prominent national leader opposing slavery.<ref>{{harvnb|Parsons|1998|page=224}}</ref> After one of his reelection victories, he said that he must "bring about a day prophesied when slavery and war shall be banished from the face of the Earth". He wrote in his private journal in 1820:<ref>{{harvnb|Miller|1996|page=189}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The discussion of this [[Missouri Compromise|Missouri question]] has betrayed the secret of their souls. In the abstract they admit that slavery is an evil, they disclaim it, and cast it all upon the shoulder of Great Britain. But when probed to the quick upon it, they show at the bottom of their souls pride and vainglory in their condition of masterdom. They look down upon the simplicity of a Yankee's manners, because he has no habits of overbearing like theirs and cannot treat negroes like dogs. It is among the evils of slavery that it taints the very sources of moral principle. It establishes false estimates of virtue and vice: for what can be more false and heartless than this doctrine which makes the first and holiest rights of humanity to depend upon the color of the skin?}}

In 1836, partially in response to Adams's consistent presentation of citizen petitions requesting the abolition of slavery in the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]], the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] imposed a [[Gag rule (United States)|gag rule]] that immediately [[Table (parliamentary procedure)|tabled]] any petitions about slavery. Democrats and Southern Whigs favored the rule, but Northern Whigs, like Adams, opposed it.<ref>{{harvnb |Cooper|2017|pages=331–332}}</ref> In late 1836, Adams began a campaign to ridicule slave owners and the gag rule. He frequently attempted to present anti-slavery petitions, often in ways that provoked strong reactions from Southern representatives.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=337–338}}</ref> Though the gag rule remained in place,<ref name="Miller">{{harvnb|Miller|1996|page=270}}</ref> the discussion ignited by his actions and the attempts of others to quiet him raised questions of the right to petition, the right to legislative debate, and the morality of slavery. Adams fought actively against the gag rule for another seven years, eventually moving the resolution that led to its repeal in 1844.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=354–356, 409}}</ref>

In 1841, at the request of [[Lewis Tappan]] and [[Ellis Gray Loring]], Adams joined the case of ''[[United States v. The Amistad]]''. Adams went before the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] on behalf of African slaves who had revolted and seized the Spanish ship ''Amistad''. Adams appeared on February 24, 1841, and spoke for four hours. His argument succeeded: the Court ruled that the Africans were free and they returned to their homes.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Rodriguez|editor-first=Junius|title=Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World|publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=2007 |pages=9–11}}</ref>

=== Smithsonian Institution ===
[[File:George Caleb Bingham - John Quincy Adams - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Adams's portrait at the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|U.S. National Portrait Gallery]] by [[George Caleb Bingham|George Bingham]] c. 1850 copy of an 1844 original]]

Adams also became a leading force for the promotion of science. In 1829, British scientist [[James Smithson]] died, and he left his fortune for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge". In Smithson's will, he stated that should his nephew, Henry James Hungerford, die without heirs, the Smithson estate would go to the government of the United States to create an "Establishment for the increase and diffusion of Knowledge among men". After the nephew died without heirs in 1835, President Andrew Jackson informed [[United States Congress|Congress]] of the bequest, which amounted to about US$500,000 (equivalent to US${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|500000|1835|r=-6}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). Adams realized that this might allow the United States to realize his dream of building a national institution of science and learning. Adams thus became Congress's primary supporter of the future [[Smithsonian Institution]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Teed|first1=Paul E.|title=John Quincy Adams : Yankee nationalist|date=2006|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|location=New York |isbn=978-1-59454-797-3|pages=159–160}}</ref>

The money was invested in shaky state [[Bond (finance)|bonds]], which quickly defaulted. After heated debate in Congress, Adams successfully argued to restore the lost funds with interest.<ref>"Smithsonian Information Brochure", Smithsonian Visitor Information and Associates' Reception Center, May 2009</ref> Though Congress wanted to use the money for other purposes, Adams successfully persuaded Congress to preserve the money for an institution of science and learning. Congress also debated whether the federal government had the authority to accept the gift, though with Adams leading the initiative, Congress accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1, 1836.<ref>{{cite web|title=James Smithson: Biographical Information |url=http://newsdesk.si.edu/sites/default/files/James_Smithson_biographical_info.pdf|website=newsdesk.si.edu|access-date=February 21, 2016|date=January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304202946/http://newsdesk.si.edu/sites/default/files/James_Smithson_biographical_info.pdf|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Partly due to Adams's efforts, Congress voted to establish the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in 1846. A nonpolitical board of regents was established to lead the institution, which included a museum, art gallery, library, and laboratory.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=350–351}}</ref>

=== Death ===
[[File:JQAdams QRc CC.JPG|left|thumb|upright=.8|Adams's [[cenotaph]] at the Congressional Cemetery]]

In 1846, the 78-year-old former president suffered a [[stroke]] that left him partially paralyzed. After a few months of rest, he made a full recovery and resumed his duties in Congress. When Adams entered the House chamber on February 13, 1847, everyone "stood up and applauded".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g06.htm|title=President John Q. Adams : Health and Medical History |publisher=doctorzebra.com|access-date=February 8, 2014}}</ref>

[[File:John Quincy Adams drawing2.jpg|thumb|John Quincy Adams during his final hours of life after his collapse in the Capitol. Drawing in pencil by Arthur Joseph Stansbury.]]

On February 21, 1848, the House of Representatives was discussing the matter of honoring [[United States Army]] officers who served in the Mexican–American War. Adams had been a vehement critic of the war, and as Congressmen rose up to say, "Aye!" in favor of the measure, he instead yelled, "No!"<ref name="parker-1848">{{cite book|last=Parker|first=Theodore|title=A discourse occasioned by the death of John Quincy Adams|publisher=Published by [[Bela Marsh]], 25 Cornhill|location=Boston|year=1848|page=[https://archive.org/details/discourseoccasio00park/page/26 26]|oclc=6354870 |url=https://archive.org/details/discourseoccasio00park|access-date=August 2, 2009}}</ref> He rose to answer a question put forth by Speaker of the House [[Robert Charles Winthrop]].<ref name="donaldson">{{cite book|first=Norman and Betty|last=Donaldson|title=How Did They Die?|year=1980|publisher=Greenwich House|isbn=978-0-517-40302-0}}</ref> Immediately thereafter, Adams collapsed, having suffered a massive [[cerebral hemorrhage]].<ref name="widmer-2008">{{cite book|last=Widmer|first=Edward L.|title=Ark of the liberties: America and the world|publisher=Hill and Wang|location=New York|year=2008|page=[https://archive.org/details/arkoflibertiesam00widm/page/n149 120]|isbn=978-0-8090-2735-4|oclc=191882004|url=https://archive.org/details/arkoflibertiesam00widm|url-access=registration|access-date=August 2, 2009}}</ref> Two days later, on February 23, he died at 7:20&nbsp;p.m. with his wife at his side in the Speaker's Room inside the [[United States Capitol|Capitol Building]] in Washington, D.C.; his only living child, Charles Francis, did not arrive in time to see his father alive. His last words were "This is the last of Earth. I am content".<ref name="donaldson"/> Among those present for his death was future president [[Abraham Lincoln]], then a freshman representative from Illinois.<ref>Traub, p. 446</ref>

[[File:JQ Adams Vault, Hancock Cemetery.jpg|thumb|upright=1|John Quincy Adams's original tomb at [[Hancock Cemetery]], across the street from [[United First Parish Church]]]]

His original interment was temporary, in the public vault at the [[Congressional Cemetery]] in Washington, D.C. Later, he was interred in the family burial ground in [[Quincy, Massachusetts]], across from the ([[Unitarianism|Unitarian]]) [[United First Parish Church]], called [[Hancock Cemetery]]. After Louisa's death in 1852, his son had his parents re-interred in the expanded family crypt in the United First Parish Church across the street, next to John and Abigail. Both tombs are viewable by the public. Adams's original tomb at Hancock Cemetery is still there and marked simply "J.Q. Adams".<ref>{{cite web|title=Quincy's Historic Hancock Cemetery|url=https://quincyhistory.org/index.php/download_file/view/25/|publisher=Quincy Historical Society|date=2002|access-date=July 11, 2018|archive-date=July 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703003256/http://quincyhistory.org/index.php/download_file/view/25|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
{{See also|Adams political family}}

Adams and Louisa had three sons and a daughter. Their daughter, Louisa, was born in 1811, but died in 1812,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=6|title=Louisa Adams Biography: National First Ladies' Library|website=www.firstladies.org|access-date=January 18, 2018|archive-date=May 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509084559/http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=6|url-status=dead}}</ref> from unknown reasons. They named their first son [[George Washington Adams]] (1801–1829) after the first president. This decision upset Adams's mother, and, by her account, his father as well.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-0990|title=From Abigail Smith Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 12 July 1801|publisher=Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society|access-date=January 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224234657/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-0990|archive-date=December 24, 2019|url-status=deviated}}[This is an Early Access document from The Adams Papers. It is not an authoritative final version.]. Also available from Internet Archive as archived on December 24, 2019.</ref> Both George and their second son, [[John Adams II|John]] (1803–1834), led troubled lives and died in early adulthood.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmisc.net/BIOG-A.htm |title=Brief Biographies of Jackson Era Characters (A)|publisher=Jmisc.net|access-date=September 16, 2008}}</ref><ref>Shepherd, Jack, ''Cannibals of the Heart: A Personal Biography of Louisa Catherine and John Quincy Adams'', New York, McGraw-Hill 1980</ref> George, who had long suffered from [[alcoholism]], died in 1829 after going overboard on a steamboat; it is not clear whether he fell or purposely jumped from the boat.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=264–265}}</ref> John, who ran an unprofitable flour and grist mill owned by his father, died of an unknown illness in 1834.<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=313–314}}</ref> Adams's youngest son, [[Charles Francis Adams Sr.]], was an important leader of the "Conscience Whigs", a Northern, anti-slavery faction of the Whig Party.<ref name="Cooper 2017 pages=430–431"/> Charles served as the [[Free Soil Party]]'s vice presidential candidate in the [[1848 United States presidential election|1848 presidential election]] and later became a prominent member of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], serving as [[United States Minister to England]] during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|title=ADAMS, Charles Francis, (1807-1886)|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=A0000321859|website=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress|publisher=United States Congress|access-date=October 4, 2018}}</ref>

=== Personality ===
[[File:John Quincy Adams Presidential $1 Coin obverse.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Presidential Dollar]] of John Quincy Adams]]

Adams's personality and political beliefs were much like his father's.<ref name="Nagel 1999">{{harvnb|Nagel|1999}}{{page needed|date=January 2018}}</ref> He always preferred solitary reading to social engagements, and he was repeatedly persuaded to stay in public service by others. Historian Paul Nagel states that, like [[Abraham Lincoln]] after him, Adams often suffered from depression, for which he sought treatment in early years. Adams thought his depression was due to the high expectations demanded of him by his father and mother. Throughout his life, he felt inadequate and socially awkward because of his depression, and was constantly bothered by his physical appearance.<ref name="Nagel 1999"/> He was closer to his father, with whom he spent much of his early life while abroad, than he was to his mother. In his youth, while the American Revolution raged on, Adams heard from his mother about his father's work and the substantial risks he took to support it. As a result, he developed a deep respect for his father.<ref name="Nagel 1999"/> In contrast, Adams had a rocky relationship with his mother, due to her high expectations of him, and her fear that her children would follow in the footsteps of her brother, who died of alcoholism.<ref name="Nagel 1999"/> His biographer, Nagel, concludes that his mother's disapproval of Louisa Johnson motivated him to marry Johnson in 1797, despite Adams's reservations that Johnson, like his mother, had a forceful personality.<ref name="Nagel 1999"/>

Though Adams wore a [[wig#19th and 20th centuries|powdered wig tied in a queue]] in his youth, he abandoned this fashion while serving as the [[List of ambassadors of the United States to Russia|U.S. Minister to Russia]] (1809–1814)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-Dq-sFThFgC&pg=PA41|title=John Quincy Adams – Google Knihy|date=January 1, 2009|access-date=November 4, 2018|isbn=978-0-7910-7599-9|last1=Hewson|first1=Martha S.|last2=Cronkite|first2=Walter|publisher=Infobase }}</ref> and [[List of United States presidential firsts#John Quincy Adams (1825–1829)|became the first president]] [[1795–1820 in Western fashion#Men's hairstyles and headgear|to adopt a short haircut]] instead of long hair tied in a [[Queue (hairstyle)#Other queues|queue]] and to regularly wear long [[trousers]] instead of [[Culottes|knee breeches]] according to the [[1820s in Western fashion#Men's wear|fashion of the 19th century]].<ref>{{cite web|author1=Digital History|author2=Steven Mintz |url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=567|title=Digital History|publisher=Digitalhistory.uh.edu|access-date=April 20, 2010|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723065559/http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=567|archive-date=July 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/john-quincy-adams-takes-the-oath-of-office-wearing-pants/|title=John Quincy Adams Takes the Oath of Office – Wearing Pants|access-date=November 4, 2018|date=March 4, 2015}}</ref> It has been suggested that John Quincy Adams had the highest [[Intelligence quotient|I.Q.]] of any U.S. president.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/05/27/poindexter-in-chief-presidential-iqs-and-success-in-the-oval-office|title=Poindexter in Chief: Presidential IQs and Success in the Oval Office|work=U.S. News & World Report}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author-link=Dean Keith Simonton|jstor=3791125|title=Presidential Greatness: The Historical Consensus and Its Psychological Significance|journal=Political Psychology|volume=7|issue=2|pages=259–283 |last1=Simonton|first1=Dean Keith|year=1986|doi=10.2307/3791125}}</ref> [[Dean Simonton]], a professor of psychology at [[University of California, Davis|UC Davis]], estimated his I.Q. score at 165.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Simonton|first=Dean Keith|date=August 2006|title=Presidential IQ, Openness, Intellectual Brilliance, and Leadership: Estimates and Correlations for 42 U.S. Chief Executives |url=http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jcampbel/documents/SimontonPresIQ2006.pdf|journal=Political Psychology|volume=27|issue=4|pages=511–526|doi=10.1111/j.1467-9221.2006.00524.x}}</ref> He reportedly spoke eight foreign languages (Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin, Russian, and Spanish), more than any other U.S. president. He remains the only U.S. president who could converse in Russian.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter=Foreign Languages|url=https://www.potus.com/presidential-facts/foreign-languages/|first=Robert S.
| last=Summers
| authorlink=Robert S. Summers
|access-date=October 24, 2022|title=Presidents of the United States (POTUS)}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
=== Historical reputation ===
[[File:John Quincy Adams by GPA Healy, 1858.jpg|thumb|Official portrait of Adams by [[George Peter Alexander Healy]], {{circa|1858}}]]

Adams is widely regarded as one of the most effective diplomats and secretaries of state in American history,<ref name="cooperpref"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Herring|first=George|title=From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776|url=https://archive.org/details/fromcolonytosupe1776herr|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|year=2008|page=[https://archive.org/details/fromcolonytosupe1776herr/page/n147 129]|isbn=978-0-19-507822-0}}</ref> but [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|scholars generally rank]] him as an average president.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historians Survey Results: John Quincy Adams|work=Presidential Historians Survey 2017|url= https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2017/?personid=39789|date=2017|publisher=National Cable Satellite Corporation|access-date=March 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Rottinghaus|first1=Brandon|last2=Vaughn|first2=Justin S.|title=How Does Trump Stack Up Against the Best—and Worst—Presidents?|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/19/opinion/how-does-trump-stack-up-against-the-best-and-worst-presidents.html|access-date=May 14, 2018|newspaper=New York Times|date=February 19, 2018}}</ref> Adams is remembered as a man eminently qualified for the presidency, yet hopelessly weakened in his presidential leadership potential because of the 1824 election. Most importantly, Adams is remembered as a poor politician in an era when politics had begun to matter more. He spoke of trying to serve as a man above the "baneful weed of party strife" at the precise moment in history when the [[Second Party System]] was emerging with nearly revolutionary force.<ref name="millerleg">{{cite web|url=https://millercenter.org/president/jqadams/impact-and-legacy|title=John Quincy Adams: Impact and Legacy|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia|access-date=March 23, 2017|date=October 4, 2016}}</ref> Biographer and historian [[William J. Cooper Jr.]] comments that Adams "does not loom large in the American imagination", but that he has received more public attention since the late 20th century due to his anti-slavery stances. Cooper writes that Adams was the first "major public figure" to publicly question whether the United States could remain united so long as the institution of slavery persisted.<ref name="cooperpref">{{harvnb|Cooper|2017|pages=xiii–xiv}}</ref> Historian Daniel Walker Howe writes that Adams's "intellectual ability and courage were above reproach, and his wisdom in perceiving the national interest has stood the test of time".<ref>{{harvnb|Howe|2007|pp=244–245}}</ref> He has also been praised as a strong prose stylist, with James Parker describing him as one of the "three authentically muddy-eyed and pained-by-subjectivity ''writers''" that the White House has harbored, along with [[Abraham Lincoln]] and [[Barack Obama]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Parker|first=James|date=February 13, 2020|title=Three Authentic Writers Have Occupied the Oval Office|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/02/presidents-books-author-in-chief-craig-fehrman/606484/|access-date=September 5, 2020|magazine=The Atlantic|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Memorials ===
[[File:John Adams' Peacefield.jpg|alt=Peacefield – John Adams's Home|thumb|Peacefield – John Quincy Adams's Home]]
The [[John Quincy Adams Birthplace]] is now part of [[Adams National Historical Park]] and open to the public. [[Adams House (Harvard University)|Adams House]], one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University, is named for John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and other members of the Adams family associated with Harvard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://adamshouse.harvard.edu/house-history|title=House History: Adams House|date=2016|website=Harvard University|publisher=The President and Fellows of Harvard College|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts}}</ref> John Quincy Adams tower, located in the Southwest residential area of the [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]], is named for the president.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.umass.edu/living/residence/southwest/jqa|title=Residence Halls|website=University of Massachusetts Amherst}}</ref> In 1870, Charles Francis built the first [[Presidential library system|presidential library]] in the United States, to honor his father. The [[Adams National Historical Park#Stone Library|Stone Library]] includes over 14,000 books written in twelve languages. The library is located at [[Peacefield]] (the "Old House") at [[Adams National Historical Park]] in [[Quincy, Massachusetts]].

[[File:John Quincy Adams Resting Place.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The tomb of John Quincy Adams at [[United First Parish Church]].]]

An [[Adams Memorial]] has been proposed in Washington, D.C., honoring Adams and his wife, son, father, mother, and other members of their family. The [[Oyster-Adams Bilingual School|John Quincy Adams School]] in Washington, D.C., was named after him. It merged with the James F. Oyster School and now is called the [[Oyster-Adams Bilingual School]].

Adams's middle name of Quincy has been used by several locations in the United States, including the town of [[Quincy, Illinois]]. [[Adams County, Illinois]] and [[Adams County, Indiana]] are also named after Adams. [[Adams County, Iowa]], and [[Adams County, Wisconsin]], were each named for either John Adams or John Quincy Adams.

Some sources contend that in 1843 Adams sat for the earliest confirmed photograph of a United States president, although others maintain that [[William Henry Harrison]] had posed even earlier for his portrait, in 1841.<ref name="whha-16">{{cite web|url=http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_publications/publications_documents/whitehousehistory_16.pdf|title=Face the Lens, Mr. President: A Gallery of Photographic Portraits of 19th-Century U.S. Presidents|last=Krainik|first=Clifford|publisher=The White House Historical Association|access-date=September 4, 2009}}</ref> The original [[daguerreotype]] is in the collection of the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] of the [[Smithsonian Institution]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://npgportraits.si.edu/emuseumnpg/code/emuseum.asp?style=single&currentrecord=1&page=seealso&profile=People&searchdesc=Bishop%20&searchstring=constituentid/,/is/,/30789/,/false/,/true&newvalues=1&rawsearch=constituentid/,/is/,/30789/,/false/,/true&newstyle=text&newprofile=CAP&newsearchdesc=Related%20to%20Bishop%20&%20Gray%20Studio&newcurrentrecord=1&module=CAP&moduleid=1|title=John Quincy Adams 1843 daguerreotype|publisher=National Portrait Gallery|access-date=March 18, 2017|date=August 21, 2015}}</ref>

=== Film and television ===
Adams occasionally is featured in the [[mass media]]. In the [[PBS]] miniseries ''[[The Adams Chronicles]]'' (1976), he was portrayed by [[David Birney]], [[William Daniels]], Marcel Trenchard, Steven Grover and Mark Winkworth. He was also portrayed by [[Anthony Hopkins]] in the 1997 film ''[[Amistad (film)|Amistad]]'', and again by [[Ebon Moss-Bachrach]] and Steven Hinkle in the 2008 [[HBO]] television miniseries ''[[John Adams (TV miniseries)|John Adams]]''.

== See also ==
* [[Adams's method|Adams's method for apportionment]]
* [[List of abolitionists]]
* [[List of presidents of the United States]]
* [[List of presidents of the United States by previous experience]]
* [[List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1790–1899)]]
* [[List of United States political appointments across party lines]]
* [[Mendi Bible]]
* [[Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Works cited ===
{{refbegin|35em}}
* {{cite book|last1=Abraham|first1=Henry Julian|title=Justices, Presidents, and Senators: A History of the U.S. Supreme Court Appointments from Washington to Bush II|date=2008|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-5895-3}}
* {{cite journal|author-link=Catherine Allgor|last=Allgor|first=Catherine|year=1997|title='A Republican in a Monarchy': Louisa Catherine Adams in Russia|journal=Diplomatic History|volume=21|issue=1|pages=15–43 |issn=0145-2096|jstor=24913402|doi=10.1111/1467-7709.00049}}
* {{cite book|last=Bemis|first=Samuel Flagg|title=John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy|year=1981|orig-year=1949|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-22636-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Bemis|first=Samuel Flagg|title=John Quincy Adams and the Union|url=https://archive.org/details/johnquincyadamst00bemi|url-access=registration|publisher=Knopf|year=1956|isbn=978-0-394-41413-3}}
* {{cite book|last1=Cooper|first1=William J.|title=The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics|date=2017|publisher=Liveright Publishing|isbn=978-1-63149-389-8}}
* {{cite book|last= Edel|first=Charles N.|title=Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic|year=2014|publisher=Harvard Univ. Press}}
* Georgini, Sara. ''Household Gods: The Religious Lives of the Adams Family'' (Oxford University Press, 2019).
* {{cite book|first=Mary W.M.|last=Hargreaves|title=The Presidency of John Quincy Adams|url=https://archive.org/details/presidencyofjohn0000harg|url-access=registration|publisher=Univ. Press of Kansas |year=1985|isbn=978-0700602728}}
* {{cite book|last=Howe|first=Daniel Walker|title=What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848|url=https://archive.org/details/whathathgodwroug00howe|url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-19-974379-7}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kaplan|first1=Fred|title=John Quincy Adams: American Visionary|date=2014|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-219932-4}}
* Lewis Jr, James E. ''John Quincy Adams: Policymaker for the Union'' (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001).{{ISBN?}}
* {{cite journal|last=Mattie|first=Sean|year=2003|title=John Quincy Adams and American Conservatism|journal=Modern Age|volume=45|issue=4|pages=305–314|issn=0026-7457 |url=http://www.mmisi.org/ma/45_04/mattie.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727091206/http://www.mmisi.org/ma/45_04/mattie.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-27}}
* {{cite book|last=McCullough|first=David|date=2001|title=John Adams|url=https://archive.org/details/johnadams00mccu|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/johnadams00mccu/page/144 144] |location=New York|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-1-4165-7588-7|author-link=David McCullough}}
* {{cite book|last=Miller|first=William Lee|year=1996|title=Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=978-0-394-56922-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/arguingaboutslav00mill}}
* {{cite book|title=Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family|last=Nagel|first=Paul C.|year=1983|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|isbn=978-0-19-503172-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/descentfromglory00nage}}
* {{cite book|title=John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life|last=Nagel|first=Paul|year=1999|publisher=Harvard Univ. Press|isbn=978-0-674-47940-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Parsons|first= Lynn H.|title=The Birth of Modern Politics: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and the Election of 1828|url=https://archive.org/details/birthofmodernpol00lynn|url-access=registration|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-983754-0}} [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0195312872 excerpt and text search]
* {{cite book|last=Parsons|first=Lynn H.|title=John Quincy Adams|year=1998|publisher=Rowman and LittleField|isbn=978-1-4422-0288-7}}
* {{cite journal|last=Potkay|first=Adam S.|year=1999|title=Theorizing Civic Eloquence in the Early Republic: the Road from David Hume to John Quincy Adams|journal=Early American Literature |volume=34|issue=2|pages=147–170|issn=0012-8163}}
* {{cite journal|last=Rathbun|first=Lyon|year=2000|title=The Ciceronian Rhetoric of John Quincy Adams|journal=Rhetorica|volume=18|issue=2|pages=175–215|issn=0734-8584|doi=10.1525/rh.2000.18.2.175|s2cid=144055057 |url=https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1061&context=wls_fac|url-access=subscription}}
* {{cite book|title=John Quincy Adams|last=Remini|first=Robert V.|year=2002|publisher=Times Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8050-6939-6|url=https://archive.org/details/johnquincyadams00remi}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Thompson|first1=Robert R.|title=John Quincy Adams, Apostate: From "Outrageous Federalist" to "Republican Exile," 1801- 1809|journal=Journal of the Early Republic|date=1991 |volume=11|issue=2|pages=161–183|jstor=3123239|doi=10.2307/3123239}}
* {{cite book|last1=Traub|first1=James|title=John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit|date=2016|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-09879-8}}

{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Main|Bibliography of John Quincy Adams}}

=== Secondary sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Holt |first1=Michael F. |title=The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-977203-2}}
* {{cite journal |last=McMillan |first=Richard |year=2001 |title=Election of 1824: Corrupt Bargain or the Birth of Modern Politics? |journal=New England Journal of History |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=24–37}}
* Morgan, William G. "Henry Clay's Biographers and the 'Corrupt Bargain' Charge." ''Register of the Kentucky Historical Society'' 66#3 (1968), pp.&nbsp;242–58. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/23376844 online]
* Morgan, William G. "John Quincy Adams Versus Andrew Jackson: Their Biographers And The 'Corrupt Bargain' Charge." ''Tennessee Historical Quarterly'' 26#1 (1967), pp.&nbsp;43–58. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/42622916 online]
* {{cite book |title=Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family |last=Nagel |first=Paul C. |year=1983 |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-503172-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/descentfromglory00nage}}
* {{cite journal |last=Parsons |first=Lynn Hudson |year=2003 |title=In Which the Political Becomes Personal, and Vice Versa: the Last Ten Years of John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson |journal=Journal of the Early Republic |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=421–443 |issn=0275-1275 |doi=10.2307/3595046 |jstor=3595046}}
* [[Edward Pessen|Pessen, Edward]]. "John Quincy Adams" in Henry Graff, ed. ''The Presidents: A Reference History'' (3rd ed. 2002) [http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Washington-Johnson/Adams-John-Quincy.html online]
* {{cite book |last1=Unger |first1=Harlow Giles |title=John Quincy Adams |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306822650 |url-access=registration |date=2012 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-82130-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Waldstreicher |first1=David |title=A Companion to John Adams and John Quincy Adams |date=2013 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-52429-9}} [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470655585/ excerpt and text search]
* {{cite book |title=Heir to the Fathers: John Quincy Adams and the Spirit of Constitutional Government |last=Wood |first=Gary V. |year=2004 |publisher=Lexington |location=Ladham, Maryland |isbn=978-0-7391-0601-3}}

{{refend}}

=== Primary sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* Waldstreicher, David, ed. ''The Diaries of John Quincy Adams, 1779–1821'' (Library of America, 20170. xiv, 727 pp.)
* {{cite book |title=Memoirs of John Quincy Adams: Comprising Portions of His Diary from 1795 to 1848 |last=Adams |first=John Quincy |year=1874–1877 |editor1-last=Adams |editor1-first=Charles Francis |editor1-link=Charles Francis Adams Sr. |publisher=J.B. Lippincott & Co |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-0-8369-5021-2 |oclc=559230698 |series=12 v |url=https://archive.org/details/memofjohnqui01adam}}
* {{cite book |title=Writings of John Quincy Adams |last=Adams |first=John Quincy |year=1913–1917 |editor1-last=Ford |editor1-first=Worthington C |editor1-link=Worthington C. Ford |publisher=The Macmillan Company |location=New York |series=7 v |url=https://archive.org/details/fordsjohnadams01adamrich |oclc=564019879}}
* {{cite book |title=The Adams Papers |editor1=Butterfield, L. H. |editor2=Taylor, Robert J. |editor3=Ryerson, Richard A. |year=1961 |publisher=[[Belknap Press of Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, Mass |oclc=56354007}} [https://founders.archives.gov/about Founders Online, searchable edition]

{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-John Quincy Adams-article.ogg|date=March 13, 2019}}
* [https://millercenter.org/president/jqadams Scholarly coverage of Adams at Miller Center, U of Virginia]
{{CongBio|A000041}}
* [http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/ The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218231526/http://www.masshist.org/jqadiaries/ |date=February 18, 2012 }} at the [[Massachusetts Historical Society]]
* [http://www.c-span.org/video/?122555-1/life-portrait-john-quincy-adams "Life Portrait of John Quincy Adams"], from [[C-SPAN]]'s ''[[American Presidents: Life Portraits]]'', April 18, 1999
* {{Gutenberg author|id=460|name=John Quincy Adams}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=John Quincy Adams|sopt=t}}
* {{cite BDA1906 |wstitle= Adams, John Quincy (sixth President of the United States) |volume= 1 |pages= 47-51 |short=1}}
* {{Librivox author|id=1107}}

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