John Quincy Adams
| Cause of Death | Age | Burial Location | President Grave # |
| Stroke | 80 | Quincy, Massachusetts | 2nd in my collection |
Quincy Adams' body was kept
temporarily in this vault. He was
later removed to the United First
Parish Church, seen in the
background.
to the church in 2003, but did take one
along when I returned the following year.
in 1927.
commander-in-chief, a wreath is laid at
*** Interesting Facts ***
* Adams spent the majority of his life involved in foreign affairs. He spent much of his youth traveling with his father to such places as France and the Netherlands, where the elder Adams was sent as an envoy and an ambassador respectively. When he was just fourteen years of age, John Quincy Adams served as a secretary for statesman Francis Dana, who he accompanied to Russia. There, Dana was to get recognition for the United States as a country independent from Britain. He then spent five months traveling through other several European countries, where he learned about the arts and studied many languages. By the time he came of age, he was able to speak Latin, Dutch, Greek, and French fluently. He spent fourteen years between 1794 and 1817 as ambassador to the Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, and Great Britain.
* In 1817, the well-educated and qualified Adams was appointed secretary of state by President Monroe. This move was very significant, as it still has effects on the world today. That is because it was Adams who wrote the Monroe Doctrine, which is basically the United States' foreign policy. The Monroe Doctrine, introduced by the president in 1823, forbade European countries from creating any more colonies in North and South America.
* To keep in shape during his presidency, Adams frequently walked to and from the White House and the Capitol. Another of his methods for exercising was swimming nude in the Potomac River. The president did this activity on a regular basis, and, on at least one occasion, it caused him some trouble. A woman named Anne Royall, touted by some as America's first professional female journalist, had requested an interview with the president, and had been turned down multiple times. One day, while the president was in the midst of his routine, the journalist sat on his clothes, refusing to return them until she was granted an interview.
* John Quincy Adams was fortunate enough to inherit his father's thirst for knowledge, as well as his writing skills and adeptness. Unfortunately, according to some, he also acquired his pompousness and arrogance. Contemporaries said that he was haughty, self-absorbed, and unnecessarily confrontational. He often snubbed those who he thought were beneath him or he thought had done him wrong. Flabbergasted that he had lost in his re-election campaign, Adams left the city of Washington the night before his successor, Andrew Jackson, was sworn in.
* Unlike his predecessors, John Quincy Adams did not retire from public life after his presidency. He was a member of the House of Representatives almost seventeen years, even serving with Abraham Lincoln as a member of the 30th United States Congress. Adams' long political career came to an end in February of 1848, during his ninth term in the House. Having just voted against decorating generals who had served in the Mexican-American War, the congressman collapsed into the arms of David Fisher, one of his fellow representatives. He had just suffered a stroke. After being carried into the Speaker's Room, Adams uttered his last words and fell into a coma. He died two days later.
First Lady: Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
- Spouse: Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams (m. 1797-1848)
Political Party: Federalist Party
Democratic-Republican Party
National Republican Party
Anti-Masonic Party
Whig Party
Vice President: John Caldwell Calhoun
Last Words: "This is the last of Earth. I am content."
