Presidential Spotlight: John Quincy Adams
From America’s Library:
Born: July 11, 1767
Died: Feb. 23, 1848John Quincy Adams was the sixth president of the United States and the first son of a former president who himself became president. (George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are the only other father-son presidents.)
John Quincy Adams was well known for his diplomatic success and most of all for his role as secretary of state under James Monroe. Adams had previously served as an ambassador to several European countries and as a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. He is the only president in history to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after leaving the presidency. Adams’s fierce sense of independent judgment meant that he never completely fit the mold of any political party, and he was surely the only president to have a pet alligator in the White House!
More John Quincy Adams stories from America’s Library
John Quincy Adams presidential inauguration primary source set
John Quincy Adams residence image set
Funeral march, in memory of John Quincy Adams (sheet music)
John Quincy Adams correspondence (1777-1826)
John Quincy Adams’s argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Amistad case in 1841
Books & other texts related to John Quincy Adams 1824-1913
Newspaper biographical clipping about John Quincy Adams 1815
John Quincy Adams historical newspaper coverage 1789-1849
Magazine articles by and about John Quincy Adams
- “An Eulogy of the Life and Character of James Madison” by John Quincy Adams The New-England Magazine Volume 1, Issue 4, October 1831
- “Dermot Mac Morrogh, or the Conquest of Ireland; an Historical Tale of the Twelfth Century” by John Quincy Adams The New-England Magazine Volume 3, Issue 6, Dec 1832
- “Society and Civilization” by John Quincy Adams The American Whig Review Volume 2, Issue 1, July 1845
- “Life of John Adams” by John Quincy Adams and Charles Francis Adams The North American Review Volume 113, Issue 232, July 1871
Magazine articles about John Quincy Adams
- “John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the United States” The American Whig Review Volume 1, Issue 5, May 1845
- “Life of John Quincy Adams” The American Whig Review Volume 11, Issue 30, June 1850
- “Quincy’s Life of John Quincy Adams” North American Review Volume 87, Issue 181, October 1858
- “Quincy. The Life of John Quincy Adams” New Englander and Yale Review Volume 18, Issue 72, November 1860
- “Memoirs of John Quincy Adams” New Englander and Yale Review Volume 33, Issue 128, July 1874
- “Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, comprising portions of his Diary from 1795 to 1848” Edited by Charles Francis Adams New Englander and Yale Review Volume 34, Issue 132, July 1875
- “John Quincy Adams” The Atlantic Monthly Volume 36, Issue 214, August 1876
- “Memoirs of John Quincy Adams” New Englander and Yale Review Volume 36, Issue 141, October 1877
- “Historic Moments. X. The Death Of John Quincy Adams In The Capitol” Scribner’s Magazine Volume 13, Issue 3, March, 1893
John Quincy Adams National Historical Park
Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams Center for the Book video recording