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BASIC BIOHRAPHY

• Born in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1767
• He graduated from Harvard college and became a lawyer
• His mother was Abigail Adams and his father was John Adams (the 2nd president of the United States)
• He had 5 siblings
• He married Louisa Catherine Johnson
• The house in the background was his birth place

PRIOR OFFICES HELD

• At age 26 he was appointed minister to the Netherlands, then promoted to the British legation
• In 1802 he was elected to the United States senate
• 1808, President Madison appointed him minister to Russia
• He served as a minister to Prussia while his father John Adams was in Office

CAMPAIGN ISSUES

• He lacked the political skills and personal warmth
• Adam's strong federal government ideas angered slavery defenders and states' rights advocates
• The decision to repudiate, and renegotiate a fraudulent treaty that stripped the Georgia Creek Indians of their land outraged land-hungry southerners and westerners

CAMPAIGN PROMISES

• A strong central government promoting economic growth
• Federal support for scientific and economic development that included a national university, astronomical observatories, federal fundings for roads and canals, and exploration of the country's territory
• He wanted to move Native Americans from the south to an area west of the Mississippi.
• High tariff to promote improvements like expanding markets for western grain and southern cotton.

POST OFFICE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Served nine post-presidential terms in congress from 1830 to his death in 1848
• For 8 years he tried to end the "gag rule", this rule prevented and got rid of any petition critical of slavery
• He got the house to repeal the rule in 1844
• Because of his work fighting slavery he was nicknamed the "old man eloquent"
• He created the smithsonian institution with the help of $500,000 of James Smithson's money

HIGHLIGHTS OF PRESIDENCY

• Proposed a progressive national program with funding for roads and canals and the creation of a national university
• The Erie Canal was completed while he was in office, linking the great lakes to the East coast and enabling a flow of products such as grain, whisky, and produce to Eastern markets
• Note: he did not get much done because Jackson was always against him and he faced steadfast hostility from him

FUN/WEIRD FACTS

• John Quincy Adams had a stroke while giving a speech in congress and died two days later. His final words were "This is the end of Earth, but I am content."
• He had a 8,500-volume library
• He and his wife almost never talked
• He would write in his diary every day
• Wake up at 5 A.M, make a fire, read his bible, and take a swim or a walk. He was one of the most physically fit Presidemts

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