John Quincy Adams
1825 - 1829
Sixth President
John Quincy Adams was the 6th President of the United States.
John was 5' 7" tall.
John Quincy Adams referred to himself as JQA. He thought that helped separate his name from that of his father. He was the first president with a middle name.
He was born in Massachusetts before the US became a country.
He enjoyed dancing, parties, wine and playing pool. He also wrote poetry.
JQA suffered from depression and worried he was wasting time.
John attended Harvard.
John Quincy Adams was not a good dresser. His mother complained about his clothes. He wore the same hat for ten years. Others also took note of his dress.
John and his mother watched the Battle of Bunker Hill from a hill near his house.
He was secretary to the Minister to Russia when he was only fourteen.
Both John Quincy Adams and his father served as ambassador to Great Britain. This was the top post for American diplomats. John Quincy also served as an ambassador to The Netherlands, Prussia, and Russia.
When he was in the House of Representatives a lot of his fellow representatives disliked him because he would point out minor errors in bills and delay the proceedings.
John Quincy Adams met Louisa Johnson in 1795 in London. They were married in London on July 26, 1797. She was 22. John was 30.
JQA served as Secretary of State for President Monroe. As Secretary of State, he developed the principals behind the Monroe Doctrine. He wrote most if not all of the document.
He was the first president to have his picture taking before becoming president.
In his election as President, Andrew Jackson had more popular votes and more electoral votes, but John Quincy Adams was elected by the House of Representatives because no one had a majority. President Adams was the first President to be elected without receiving a majority of the popular or electoral votes.
President John Quincy Adams was the first President to wear trousers at his inauguration.
In 1826, the Marquis de Lafayette gave John Quincy Adams an alligator. The alligator lived in the White House for several months.
Adams wife raised silkworms. She had the silk used in her gowns.
President John Quincy Adams dug the first spade of dirt near Little Falls to begin construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal on July 4, 1828.
Adams would often go to three different church services on Sunday.
President John Quincy Adams was locked out to the White House. He returned from church one evening to find the doors to the White House locked. He had to get help to get into his house.
J.Q. Adams was one of 15 Presidents who were elected without winning the popular vote. When John Quincy Adams took the oath of office he did not want to involve the bible in politics so he was sworn in with hand on a book of law and the Constitution. He did not use the Bible.
He and Theodore Roosevelt were the two presidents who didn't lay their hand on the Bible to take the oath of office.
Adams did not belong to a political party.
John Quincy Adams was the son of a former president.
John Quincy Adams's Vice President was John C. Calhoun (1825-1829).
President Adams spoke in a high, shrill voice. He suffered from depression throughout his life.
John Quincy Adams was not very interested in clothes. It is rumored that he wore the same hat for 10 years.
He had three sons. He was the first and only President to have a son named George Washington.
He worked as a lawyer.
Adams customarily took a nude early morning swim in the Potomac River. Anne Royall, the first U.S. professional journalist, knew of his 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.
JQA was a good swimmer. He would swim for 50 minutes without touching the bottom. Then he keep increasing the time he same until he could swim for 80 minutes at one time. He decided not to try to go longer than the 80 minutes.
He was the first president to have his photo taken (April 13, 1843).
He is one of only three Presidents who did not attend the inauguration of their successor. John Adams didn't attend Jefferson's. Jackson did not attend Van Buren's inauguration.
John Quincy Adams defended the slaves who revolted on a slave ship, the Amistad. He ones one to the lawyers to argue and win the case in the Supreme Court. The slaves on the Amistad were freed.
President John Quincy Adams was the first President to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after he served as President.
While in the House of Representatives, he hotly debated the slavery issue. Some Southern representatives referred to John Quincy Adams as "the Madman of Massachusetts."
John Quincy Adams died of a stroke on February 23, 1848. He was 80 years and 227 days old when he died.
Adams had a heart attack at his desk in the House chamber and died in the speaker's office. As a member of Congress, he worked for years to overturn the rule that Congress would not accept petitions against slavery. He is the only President who died in the Capitol Building.
Representative and later president Abraham Lincoln served as a pallbearer at his funeral.
Quotes:
"A confederation is not a country." Eulogy on James Madison.
"The public history of all countries and all ages, is but a mask, richly coloured. The interior working of the machinery must be foul. (Coloured is the spelling of the times.)
"To believe all men honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse." |
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