Got a question? Ask our Ask a Question librarians!
(Use our Contact Us form for questions/suggestions about our site.)
POTUS: Presidents of the United States

Links immediately following the image of the American Flag (tiny U.S. flag ) are links to other POTUS sites. All other links lead to sites elsewhere on the Web.


tiny U.S. flag Jump to: Presidential Election Results | Cabinet Members | Notable Events | Internet Biographies | Historical Documents | Other Internet Resources | Points of Interest

Portrait, John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams

6th President of the United States
(March 4, 1825 to March 3, 1829)

Nickname: "Old Man Eloquent"
(Derogatory nicknames for presidents are not listed.)

Born: July 11, 1767, in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts
Died: February 23, 1848, in Washington, D.C.

Father: tiny U.S. flag John Adams
Mother: Abigail Smith Adams
Married: Louisa Catherine Johnson (1775-1852), on July 26, 1797
Children: George Washington Adams (1801-29); John Adams (1803-34); Charles Francis Adams (1807-86); Louisa Catherine Adams (1811-12)

Religion: Unitarian
Education: Graduated from Harvard College (1787)
Occupation: Lawyer
Political Party: Democratic-Republican
Other Government Positions:

  • Secretary to U.S. Minister to Russia, 1781
  • Minister to the Netherlands, 1794
  • Minister to Prussia, 1797-1801
  • United States Senator, 1803-08
  • Minister to Russia, 1809-11
  • Peace Commissioner at Treaty of Ghent, 1814
  • Secretary of State, 1817-25 (under tiny U.S. flag Monroe)
  • Member of U.S. House of Representatives, 1831-48

Presidential Salary: $25,000/year

Presidential Election Results:
Year Popular Votes Electoral Votes
1820 tiny U.S. flagJames Monroe 231
John Q. Adams 1
(Votes Not Cast) 3
1824 John Q. Adams 108,740 84
tiny U.S. flag Andrew Jackson 153,544 99
Henry Clay 47,136 37
William H. Crawford 46,618 41
1828 tiny U.S. flag Andrew Jackson 647,286 178
John Q. Adams 508,064 83

Vice President: John C. Calhoun (1825-29)

Cabinet:

Secretary of State
Henry Clay (1825-1829)
Secretary of the Treasury
Richard Rush (1825-29)
Secretary of War
James Barbour (1825-28)
Peter B. Porter (1828)
Attorney General
William Wirt (1825-29)
Secretary of the Navy
Samuel L. Southard (1825-29)

Notable Events:

  • 1825
    The appointment of Henry Clay as secretary of state, led to charges that the Clay and Adams made a bargain in the election of 1824.
  • Erie Canal completed.
  • 1828
    Baltimore & Ohio railroad, the first designed for passengers and freight.
  • tiny U.S. flagAndrew Jackson defeated Adams.

Internet Biographies:

John Quincy Adams -- from The Presidents of the United States of America
Compiled by the White House.
John Quincy Adams -- from The American Presidency
Grolier Online has created this resource from its collection of print articles in Encyclopedia Americana. Contains a full biography, written by John A. Schultz at the University of Southern California, along with suggestions for further reading.
John Quincy Adams -- from The American President
From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, in addition to information on the Presidents themselves, they have first lady and cabinet member biographies, listings of presidential staff and advisers, and timelines detailing significant events in the lives of each administration.
America's Christian Rulers: John Quincy Adams -- from Forerunner International
Biography of Adams from a Christian viewpoint. Choices made by Adams during his presidency were defended using the Bible. Quotations by Adams are included.

Historical Documents:

Inaugural Address (1825)
The Jubilee of the Constitution (1839)
Argument in the Amistad trial (1841)

Other Internet Resources:

Adams National Historical Site
The birthplace of John Quincy Adams and other notable Americans. From the National Park Service.

Points of Interest:

  • President Adams regularly swam nude in the Potomac River. Anne Royall, the first American professional journalist, knew of Adams' 5 A.M. swims. After being refused interviews with the president time after time, she went to the river, gathered his clothes and sat on them until she had her interview. Before this, no female had interviewed a president.
  • Adams was the first to be elected president without receiving either the most popular votes or the most votes of the electoral college.
  • He was the first president married abroad.
  • Adams was the first president to be photographed.
  • Adams is the only president to be elected to the House after his presidency.
  • One of his sons, George Washington Adams, died at the age of 28, an apparent suicide.

Previous President: tiny U.S. flag James Monroe | Next President: tiny U.S. flag Andrew Jackson


©1996-2007. Robert S. Summers. All rights reserved.

Updated on 15 Apr 2008
 
School of Information University of MichiganThe iSchool at DrexelFlorida State University College of Information
 
© 1995-2008 The Regents of the University of Michigan. All rights reserved.
© 2008, Drexel University, All Rights Reserved