“Old Man Eloquent”

Presidential Basics

Full name: John Quincy Adams
Years in office: 1825–1829
Political party: Democratic-Republican
Vice president: John C. Calhoun
Age at inauguration: 57
Nicknames: “Old Man Eloquent,” “Accidental President”

Random Trivia

Congressman after president: John Quincy Adams is the only president to serve in the House of Representatives (1831-1848) after his presidency.
Amistad: As a lawyer appearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, Adams successfully defended the freedom of Africans aboard the Amistad slave ship.

Birth & Death

Birthday: July 11, 1767
Birthplace: Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts
Death date: February 23, 1848
Place of death: Washington, D.C.
Place of burial: First Unitarian Church in Quincy, Massachusetts

Family

Father: John Adams (1735–1826); Lawyer, Vice President, President
Mother: Abigail Smith Adams (1744 –1818)
Wife: Louisa Catherine Johnson (1775-1852)
Marriage: July 26, 1797 in London, England
Kids: Four
- George Washington (1801–1829)
- John (1803–1834)
- Charles Francis (1807–1886)
- Louisa Catherine (1811–1812)
Home: Peacefield in Quincy, Massachusetts

Other Facts

Height: 5’7”
Eye color: Dark brown
Ancestry: English
Religion: Unitarian
Born in a log cabin: No
Owned enslaved people: No
Freemason: No

Education

Early education: Studied in Paris, Amsterdam, Leyden, and the Hague
College degree: Yes
College: Harvard (graduated in 1787)

Career

Military service: No
Lawyer: Yes
Secretary to U.S. Minister to Russia (1781)
Lawyer (1791–)
Minister to Netherlands (1794)
Minister to Berlin (1797–1801)
U.S. Senator (1803–1808)
Minister to Russia (1809–1811)
Peace Commissioner at Ghent (1814)
Secretary of State: Monroe administration (1817–1825)
President (1825–1829)
House of Representatives (1831–1848)
Writer

Writings

Memoirs
Writings of John Quincy Adams

Election

John Quincy Adams won the 1824 election – the first election in which the popular vote was counted. All candidates were basically from the same political party, the Democratic-Republicans. No candidate received a majority of the electoral votes, so the House of Representatives decided the election. Adams won; Jackson called it a corrupt bargain.

Spotlight Artifact

1843 Daguerreotype of John Quincy Adams

As a member of the House of Representatives, John Quincy Adams sat for a photographer in New York in March 1843. According to the New York Times, this is the oldest known photograph (technically daguerreotype) of a president.