American President

John Quincy Adams (1767?1848)

Facts at a Glance

Term: 6th President of the United States (1825?1829)

Born: July 11, 1767, Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts

Nickname: “Old Man Eloquent”

Education: Harvard College (graduated 1787)

Religion: Unitarian

Marriage: July 26, 1797, to Louisa Catherine Johnson (1775?1852)

Children: George Washington (1801?1829), John (1803?1834), Charles Francis (1807?1886), Louisa Catherine (1811?1812)

Career: Lawyer, Senator, Diplomat

Political Party: Federalist, Democratic-Republican, Whig

Writings: Memoirs (12 vols., 1874?1877); Writings of John Quincy Adams (7 vols., 1913?1917)

Died: February 23, 1848, Washington, D.C.

Buried: First Unitarian Church, Quincy, Massachusetts

A Life in Brief: Reared for public service, John Quincy Adams became one of the nation’s preeminent secretaries of state, but he proved to be the wrong man for the presidency. Aloof, stiff-necked, and ferociously independent, he failed to develop the support he needed in Washington, even among his own party. More »

Essays on John Quincy Adams and His Administration

John Quincy Adams: A Life in Brief; Life Before the Presidency; Campaigns and Elections; Domestic Affairs; Foreign Affairs; Life After the Presidency; Family Life; The American Franchise; Impact and Legacy; Key Events
First Lady: Louisa Adams
Vice President: John C. Calhoun (1825-1829)
Secretary of State: Henry Clay (1825?1829)
Secretary of War: James Barbour (1825?1828); Peter B. Porter (1828?1829)
Postmaster General: John McLean (1825?1829)
Secretary of the Treasury: Richard Rush (1825?1829)
Attorney General: William Wirt (1825?1829)
Secretary of the Navy: Samuel L. Southard (1825?1829)

Consulting Editor: Mary Hargreaves

The late Professor Hargreaves was a professor emeritus in the University of Kentucky’s Department of History. Her writings include:

The Presidency of John Quincy Adams (University Press of Kansas, 1985)

Dry Farming in the Northern Great Plains: Years of Readjustment, 1920?1990 (University Press of Kansas, 1993)

Papers of Henry Clay (Co-editor with James F. Hopkins, University Press of Kentucky, multi-volume collection)

Presidential Speeches

Below are selections from the Miller Center’s John Quincy Adams speech collection.

July 4, 1821?Speech to the U.S. House of Representatives on Foreign Policy

March 4, 1825?Inaugural Address

Scholarship and Speakers

The Miller Center of Public Affairs is a national nonpartisan center to research, reflect, and report on American government, with special attention to the central role and history of the presidency. Below is a selection of Miller Center resources on John Quincy Adams.

Listen to Hunter Duptee’s 1989 presentation at the Miller Center, “ Science Advising during the presidency of John Quincy Adams. ”

Learn more about the Center’s National Commission on Federal Election Reform and its relationship to Adams.

Scripps Library Reference Resources

Below are links to reference resources prepared by the Miller Center’s Scripps Library, designed to help students and scholars conduct their research quickly.

Information on John Quincy Adams’s Private and Public Papers

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