Adams, John Quincy (1767–1848)

US statesman and 6th president of the USA, John Quincy Adams. In 1823, as Secretary of State, he helped to formulate the Monroe Doctrine: that any interference in the politics of the USA was potentially a hostile act against the country. After leaving presidential office he was elected to the House of Representatives and was a prominent campaigner against slavery.

6th president of the USA 1825–29, eldest son of President John Adams. He negotiated the Treaty of Ghent (1814) to end the War of 1812 (fought with Britain) on generous terms for the USA. In 1817 he became President James Monroe's secretary of state, formulating the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. As president, Adams was a Federalist (an advocate of strong federal government), but was ultimately unable to accomplish many of his policies because of power struggles within his own Democratic-Republican party.

Jackson's ambitious federal programmes met Congressional resistance throughout his term. He supported an ‘American System’, linking the North and South, including plans for a substantial network of highways and canals and a national university. Although construction began for the 296-km/185-mi Chesapeake and Ohio (C & O) Canal in 1828, most of his programmes were not achieved. He met further resistance to the ‘abominable tariffs’ imposed during his presidency, levies on foreign imports of raw materials that protected US agricultural interests but raised the prices of US manufactured goods. In 1831 Adams was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until his death. He was especially known after 1835 for his abolitionist views, his vigorous speeches against slavery earning him the nickname ‘Old Man Eloquent’.

Adams was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, and learned the practice of diplomacy as a teenager, when he accompanied his father, then a US diplomat, to Europe. He graduated from Harvard College in 1788, and practised law 1790–94. He served as US minister to the Netherlands 1794–96, and to Germany 1796–1801. In 1797 he married Louisa Catherine Johnson, the daughter of a US merchant living in the Netherlands. After serving as a US senator 1803–08, he was US minister to Russia 1809–11 and to Great Britain 1815–17. In the 1824 presidential election, Adams received fewer votes than his rival Andrew Jackson, but as there was no majority the election was decided in Adam's favour by the House of Representatives.

Like his father before him, Adams only served one term as president; Jackson and his supporters campaigned against Adams from the onset of his presidency, and Jackson defeated him in 1828. He returned to his home district in 1829 and in 1831 returned to Congress as a member of the House of Representatives. As an outspoken abolitionist, he campaigned against an 1836 gag rule forbidding the House of Representatives to discuss petitions against slavery, and secured its repeal in 1844.