Today, John Quincy Adams is perhaps most often remembered as, prior to the Presidency of George W. Bush, the only son of a former President to hold the office. Some also consider him to have been the most intelligent man to ever inhabit the White House. And yet, not many can recall the details of his time in office.
A Priveledged Beginning
As a child, John Quincy had been indoctrinated early into a life of politics, following his father to Europe (where the elder John Adams was envoy to France, and later Britain) and recieving much of his education at prestigious overseas universities.
At the age of only 14, John Quincy accompanied U.S. politician Francis Dana on a mission to St. Petersberg for two years. During this time in Europe and in Russia the young man was able to learn many languages and gain an understanding of the world vastly superior to most men at the time.
Back in America, Adams completed his education at Harvard, then began to practice law in Massachusettes (following, again, in the footsteps of his father).
Early Politics
As a result of his experience in living overseas, John Quincy Adams was a natural choice to be minister to the Netherlands under George Washington. Under the presidency of his own father, Adams was later appointed minister to Prussia.
At this point, Adams was a member, like his father, of the Federalist party. With the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800, however, this party began a steady decline, and by the time he returned to the United States in 1801, the party was beginning to founder.
Nevertheless, in 1802, Adams was elected to the Massachussettes state Senate as a Federalist (losing an election to the U.S. Congress that same year), where he served until 1808, which is when he finally followed the rest of American politics and split with the remaining Federalist, becoming a Democratic-Republican, instead.
Under the Presidency of James Madison, Adams was sent overseas yet again, being named minister to Russia from 1809-1814, during which time he became the principle negotiator on the treaty of Ghent, which successfully ended the War of 1812.
Secretary of State and the Election of 1824
Still a Democratic-Republican, Adams was named to the cabinet of James Monroe as Secretary of State. In this capacity he is perhaps best remembered for being one of the principle authors of the Monroe Doctrine which has in some sense defined American foreign policy to this day.
While Adams had recieved a single vote in the 1820 election (the sole vote preventing Monroe's unanimous reelection), in 1824 he was a natural choice to be a candidate for president.
He was not nominated by any particular party, as there really was only a single viable party in American politics at this time, so Adams found himself running against three other Democratic-Republicans. Chief among these opponents was Andrew Jackson.
The election of 1824 is one of the most controversial in American history. While Jackson recieved a plurality of both popular and electoral votes, he recieved a majority of neither (thanks to strong showings by the other three candidates, Henry Clay, William Crawford and John C. Calhoun). As per the Constitution, the vote then went to the House of Representatives.
Some say that Adams was elected President as the result of a "corrupt bargain," wherein the candidate with the third most votes, Henry Clay, dropped out, throwing his support to Adams, who then gained the victory. After this, Adams named Clay Secretary of State - a highly controversial move which scandalized his Presidency from the start.
The election of 1824 effectively ended the "political lull" which had characterized the two terms of James Monroe's Presidency, called "the era of good feelings," and ushered in a new political climate, out of which a second political party would once again rise up, making way for a two party political system which would last to this very day.
See Also:
The Presidency of John Quincy Adams
References:
"John Quincy Adams." American President: An Online Reference Resource.
"John Quincy Adams." The White House.
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