Past, Present, and Future

The American History curriculum that I teach to nine and ten year olds is basically the same course of study students receive in high school. The state assessments include questions that would give most adults a run for their money.

Dealing with students who begin the year thinking Robin Hood fought the American Revolution with help from SpongeBob and Gary the Snail and a belief that woodland creatures often broke into song with Pocohontas because "Disney says so" also makes my job daunting since "the test” is how I’m judged regarding my teaching capabilities.

That being said it is certainly an understatement to say that I love teaching history. History is one subject where small bits of knowledge can be used to review content as well as extend content in order to meet up with future content.

Confused?

Let’s take John Quincy Adams and one little day in his life as an example. Let’s say we are discussing the presidency of John Quincy Adams and I want to get students to connect with him on the eve of his inauguration. Perhaps I’m attempting to get kids to write a journal entry from the point of view of Adams regarding his thoughts upon taking the nation’s highest office. We’ve talked about the hard fought election of 1824, so students have this as a base of knowledge to formulate their journal entry, but I’d like to take it one step further since past events shape our lives as much as current ones do.

I pull up an image on the classroom screen for student to view. Hands go up. That’s a good sign since they haven’t seen the image for several weeks. Students are able to tell me that the painting they see is John Trumbull’s Battle of Bunker Hill which depicts the death of Dr. Warren. I wrote about it some time ago here. We discuss the importance of the battle and then I bring up the image you see above with this post.

Is it just a big old pile of rocks?

No, it isn’t. The image is the Abigail Adams Cairn. A cairn is a heap of stones set up for a monument, landmark, or tombstone of some kind. With this knowledge students usually decide from the name that Abigail Adams is buried there.

No, she isn’t, but it does mark a particular spot.

It was from that spot where Abigail Adams and a seven year old John Quincy Adams witnessed the burning of Charlestown during the Battle of Bunker Hill. It would seem that even in a seven year old mind John Quincy would understand the importance of what he witnessed that day especially knowing that his father was away at the time serving with the Second Continental Congress.

To help students connect even further to the events John Quincy Adams witnessed that day I add in the fact that Abigail Adams was keeping Dr. Warren’s children on that fateful day he lost his life. Later in the day after receiving word of Dr. Warren’s death, Abigail Adams along with John Quincy and Nabby, Dr. Warren’s oldest child, went up on the hill to view the battle.

Can you imagine their thoughts?

This sentence from from the National Parks Service website for the Adams Family homeplace says, John Quincy Adams was literally a child of the American Revolution. He absorbed in his earliest memories the sense of destiny his parents shared about the United States and dedicated his life to the republic's consolidation and expansion.

It’s only after this point that I bring students forward to the eve of the inauguration of John Quincy Adams and remind them that they are to write a journal entry regarding his feelings upon taking an office held by his father for a country birthed by his father and many other Patriots including Dr. Warren.

If you were writing the entry what would you say?

Inaugural Absences

The polite way for a President to leave the White House is to go to his successor’s inauguration. But there have been several presidents who have refused to attend their successor’s inaugurations.

The first President to avoid his successor was John Adams, after the rather nasty election of 1800:
The night before the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson, the lights burned late in the White House. President Adams’ belongings were packed into several wagons, and at four in the morning, President and Mrs. Adams boarded their coach and left the city. President Adams, taking his defeat personally, could not bring himself to attend the festivities attached to his defeat.

The next President was John Quincy Adams, after another bitter election loss, this time to Andrew Jackson:
During the days before the inauguration of Andrew Jackson, wagons were constantly shuttling between the White House and the mansion on Meridian Hill that Adams had rented after he and his wife decided to remain in Washington. During his lame-duck period (between the election and the inauguration of his successor), President Adams and his wife remained in the White House, trying not to notice the continuous celebrations being held to honor Jackson’s victory, and Adams’ defeat. After moving to his rented house on March 3rd, the day before the inauguration, they remained in their mansion. He did not attend or participate in any of the inaugural festivities.

The last one was Andrew Johnson, who was feuding with his successor, Ulysses Grant.

U.S. Mint offers sneak peek of 2008 dollar coins

Is it me or does President Van Buren look like a goofy professor?

From USA Today:

On Thursday, the U.S. Mint offers the first glimpse of four presidential $1 coins it plans to issue in 2008. The coins bear the images of the fifth through the eighth U.S. presidents.

Beginning Feb. 14, the Mint will issue a new dollar every three months. James Monroe will be first, followed by John Quincy Adams on May 15, Andrew Jackson on Aug. 14 and Martin Van Buren on Nov. 13.

Life after the White House

In honor of this week's opinion poll, I found a series of articles on Presidents after the White House (as a note, there are six parts to this series..I linked to the first one and you can access the rest from the sidebar menu).

For the sake of fairness, I decided to pull what this series had to say on each of our choices for this week and then one "extra" of my choosing. I linked each excerpt the part it came from.

Thomas Jefferson (Part I)
Thomas Jefferson accomplished more after retiring than most people do in their entire career. In addition to his renewed correspondence with John Adams and many others, he founded the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia and served as its first rector, or president. Jefferson wanted to create a university “ based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind to explore and to expose every subject susceptible of its contemplation.” He designed the building, supervised the construction, hired the faculty and determined the curriculum. He also instituted the system of academic electives. The University of Virginia, called Mr. Jefferson’s University by the students and faculty, continues today as one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the country.

Ulysses Grant (Part III)
Ulysses S. Grant, hero of the Civil War, was elected President in the first post-war election. After serving two terms, he retired and spent two years touring the world, being received by enthusiastic crowds and heads of state all over the world. He settled in New York City and invested all his savings in the firm of Grant & Ward, in which his son was a partner. Ward proved to be a crook, and Grant lost all his money, leaving him almost penniless. To make a living, he wrote magazine articles that were so well received that he decided to write his memoirs. With the help of his publisher, Mark Twain, his memoirs were published and brought his wife a fortune. Unfortunately, Grant did not live to see his final success. He knew he was dying of throat cancer as he wrote the book, and finished just days before he died.

Herbert Hoover (Part V)
Herbert Hoover was elected by a landslide in 1928, and defeated for re-election by a landslide in 1932, due to the Great Depression, which began shortly after he took office. After attending the inauguration of his successor, he retired to his home in Palo Alto, California. Hoover was an “ex-President” longer than any other person in our history. In his later years, he lived mostly at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. He was a vocal critic of the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt, calling most of its programs “fascistic.” He was especially critical of Roosevelt’s decisions to go off the gold standard, recognize the Soviet Union, and his attempt to “pack” the Supreme Court. He campaigned for Alf Landon, the Republican candidate opposing Roosevelt in 1936. In 1938, Hoover toured Europe and met with Adolf Hitler. He found Hitler “partly insane” but intelligent and well informed. Hoover opposed U.S. entry into World War II until the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war, he served as chairman of the relief organizations for Poland, Finland, and Belgium, and opposed dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. After the war ended, President Truman appointed Hoover coordinator of the Food Supply for World Famine, a position he filled in 1946-1947. His most prominent service during his retirement was as chairman of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, popularly called the Hoover Commission, in 1947-1949, and of the Commission on Government Operations, called the second Hoover Commission, 1953-1955. The first commission made 273 recommendations for streamlining the government, roughly three-fourths of which were adopted. The second commission made 314 recommendations, about three-fourths of which were adopted. The most significant of these recommendations resulted in the combination of functions into new cabinet level Department of Defense and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Hoover opposed U.S. participation in the Korean War. Shortly before his death on October 20, 1964, he endorsed Barry Goldwater, the conservative Republican candidate for President. Among the books Hoover wrote during his retirement years were “The Challenge to Liberty” in 1934, “The Problems of Lasting Peace” in 1943, his “Memoirs” in 1952, “The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson” in 1958, and the three-volume “An American Epic” in 1961.

Jimmy Carter (Part VI)
Jimmy Carter is considered by many to be the best ex-President we have ever had. Jimmy Carter became President after narrowly defeating Gerald Ford in the election of 1976. In 1980, Jimmy Carter was soundly defeated for re-election by Ronald Reagan. Carter retired to his home in Plains, Georgia, to find the family peanut farm deep in debt as a result of its handling in a blind trust during his Presidency. He put the family business back in order and taught political science at Emory University, founding the Carter Center of Emory University in 1982. In 1986, The Carter Presidential Center was completed in Atlanta. It included the Carter Center of Emory University and the Jimmy Carter Library.

Carter is best known for his humanitarian work with Habitat for Humanity. Carter personally helped to build houses in New York City and around the country. The sight of Carter in work clothes and tool belt became a familiar one to many Americans. Carter engaged in many other humanitarian efforts. In 1991, he founded the Atlanta Project to coordinate government and private efforts to solve social problems that affect poor families.

Carter also participated actively in international affairs. Since the 1980’s, he has helped monitor elections in a number of nations. In 1991, Carter created the International Negotiation Network Council. The council is made up of former heads of state and other prominent people willing to conduct peace negotiations or monitor elections. In 1991, the military leaders of Haiti overthrew the elected President of Haiti and seized control of the government. In 1994, Carter went to Haiti and led the negotiations that convinced the military leaders to allow the elected President to return to the country and finish his term in office. Also in 1994, Carter traveled to North Korea on a trip that reduced tensions between that country and the United States over North Korea’s suspected nuclear arms program.

Carter has written several books since leaving the White House, including “Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a President (1982) and “Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life” (1987) which he wrote with his wife, Rosalynn. He regularly makes speaking appearances on behalf of humanitarian issues.

John Quincy Adams (my "extra" choice - Part I)
Probably the greatest ex-President of all times was John Quincy Adams. After his resounding defeat for re-election to the White House, he returned to his home in Quincy, Massachusetts. The next year, the people of Quincy asked him to run for the U.S. House of Representatives. Adams agreed to run on two conditions: 1) that he never be expected to promote himself as a candidate and ask for votes and 2) that it be understood he would pursue a course in Congress independent of any party and the people who elected him. Under those terms, he was elected and held his seat in the House until he died in 1848, on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. After his first election to the House, he wrote in his diary, “I am a member-elect of the Twenty-Second Congress. No election or appointment conferred upon me ever gave me so much pleasure. My election as President of the United States was not half so gratifying to my inmost soul.” Having been during his long career a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican and National Republican parties, he was elected to the House as an Anti-Mason and later as a Whig.

As a member of the House of Representatives, John Quincy Adams often found himself in the minority on major issues. He supported the continuation of the Bank of the United States, opposed the annexation of Texas, and voted against the declaration of war with Mexico in 1846. His greatest victory was his successful struggle against the Gag Rule. In 1836, the House had voted to automatically table without debate any petition critical of slavery. Adams felt this violated the constitutional right of petition and fought against the rule for eight years. Finally, in 1844, the House voted to repeal the Gag Rule. During his long tenure in the House, Adams earned the nickname of Old Man Eloquent. He suffered a serious stroke in 1848, and was carried to the Speakers chambers, where he died several days later. John Quincy Adams remains the only President to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives after his term in the White House.

Amistad Case

We did a post on John Quincy Adams' presentation of the Amistad Africans awhile back. To add to this, I found Adams' diary entry on the subject and a complete transcript of Adams' arguments.

Am I gagged or am I not?

John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives after leaving the Presidency - the only President to ever do this. There "Old Man Eloquent" continued to fight for what he believed was right. One of these fights was against the "gag" rule. He actually tried to motion against it even as it was being passed in 1836.

The National Archives has an online exhibit that explains the history of this controversary:
The Constitution guarantees citizens the right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Nineteenth-century Americans exercised this right vigorously. Each session, Congress received petitions "respectfully," but "earnestly praying" for action. In 1834 the American Anti-Slavery Society began an antislavery petition drive. Over the next few years the number of petitions sent to Congress increased sharply. In 1837—38, for example, abolitionists sent more than 130,000 petitions to Congress asking for the abolition of slavery in Washington, DC. As antislavery opponents became more insistent, Southern members of Congress were increasingly adamant in their defense of slavery.

In May of 1836 the House passed a resolution that automatically "tabled," or postponed action on all petitions relating to slavery without hearing them. Stricter versions of this gag rule passed in succeeding Congresses. At first, only a small group of congressmen, led by Representative John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, opposed the rule. Adams used a variety of parliamentary tactics to try to read slavery petitions on the floor of the House, but each time he fell victim to the rule. Gradually, as antislavery sentiment in the North grew, more Northern congressmen supported Adams’s argument that, whatever one’s view on slavery, stifling the right to petition was wrong. In 1844 the House rescinded the gag rule on a motion made by John Quincy Adams.

The online exhibit includes the handwritten gag rule, J.Q. Adams handwritten objection to it as well as a slavery petition.

You can see Adams' efforts against this rule in these House transcripts that Dr. Margaret Zulick has posted online:
Question of Non-Reception

Petition Purporting to Come from Slaves

The Diaries of John Quincy Adams

The Massachusetts Historical Society has the diaries of John Quincy Adams available online. You can browse them by volume, search by date, or pick from the timeline. The MHS also has pages of interest pre-marked by subject so you can find the well known sections quickly.

The letters have been digitized, not transcribed, which means you get the fun experience of reading JQA's handwriting - which is much better than his mother's, if nothing else!

Here are some highlights:

• Elected to the US Senate
• Marriage to Louisa Johnson
• Meets with Czar Alexander I
• Neogotation with the British over the Treaty of Ghent
• Elected to the House after his Presidency

A Tale of Four Favorite Sons

The Election of 1824 gives students a tremendous opportunity to analyze the problems sectionalism caused. Four men ran for president. Amazingly all four were Republicans and all were favorite sons of their region. That’s where the similarities end.

Candidate number one, John Quincy Adams, hailed from Massachusetts and was the son of our second president, John Adams. It would be extremely safe to say that John Quincy was an extremely intelligent man. He was one of those poor souls who had a hard time relating to others because he was so intelligent. It was said that Adams was as “hard as a piece of granite and cold as a lump of ice.” He was not likable and did not bargain well. He had served as President Monroe’s Secretary of State and was pushing for internal improvements to the American infrastructure.

Henry Clay was candidate number two. He was from Kentucky which was then considered the “west”. Clay was the Speaker of the House and favored the American System which included the national bank, a protective tariff, and nationwide internal improvements.

Andrew Jackson of Tennessee was candidate number three and competed with Clay for western votes. He danced around issues and focused on his war hero status at the Battle of New Orleans when campaigning.

The fourth and final candidate was William Crawford, a firm supporter of states’ rights, was from Georgia by way of Virginia, and was a favorite son of the South. He constantly spoke out for large planters against the rights of yeoman farmers. He was a strict interpreter of the Constitution. He had served in the Senate, been minister to France, and had served as Monroe’s Secretary of the Treasury. It was said that he was a great storyteller and was a real people person. He received the endorsement of Martin Van Buren as well as Jefferson and Madison though they did not make a public endorsement. Crawford was one of the first politicians to understand the importance of a “political machine”. He began this in 1820 with the passage of a bill that limited the terms of minor federal appointees to four years. He realized that a handful of properly distributed petty offices could win thousands of votes. Unfortunately he was unable to campaign much because he had suffered from paralytic strokes.

People in the west wanted cheap land. The north feared cheap land in the west would drain off surplus labor and force wages up. The South feared competition if the southwestern lands were developed for large scale farming. Though these were real concerns to the American citizens the four candidates did not make the issues the real focus. No candidate took a position either way on any issue. They were too scared they would alienate the other regions. Instead the election of 1824 was waged on a personal level rather than real issues, and only one quarter of the registered voters showed up at the polls.

Jackson won the popular vote, but no candidate won the majority of the electoral college. Therefore the election would be decided by the House of Representatives. They would choose from the top three. Clay was eliminated, but amazingly was still involved since he was Speaker of the House.

Clay and Jackson disliked each other, so Clay threw his support behind Adams. Adams ended up winning the election with 13 votes, Jackson received 7, and Crawford received 4 votes.

The election of 1828, started almost immediately as Adams appointed Clay as his Secretary of State. Jackson’s supporters called this action the “Corrupt Bargain” and accused Clay of arranging a deal where votes would be exchanged for cabinet positions. No proof of this was ever given, however, the Adams’ presidency was off to a rocky start.

Jackson and his supporters were outraged. They broke from the party and called their new faction the Democratic Republicans. Eventually they shortened their name to simply “Democrats”. Adam’s supporters and their faction of the party would be known as National Republicans.

Adams’ presidency was tainted from the beginning because of the Clay appointment. He never got the support from Congress that he needed.

During his time in office Adams called for government money to be spent on scientific research, a national university, and astronomical observatories. As he attempted to garner support for his road building program John Quincy cited the rulers of Europe. These high reaching goals resulted in fears that Adams was returning to his father’s Federalists policies. Critics compared Adams to a Royalist. People protested that his proposals would be wasting the taxpayers’ money. He did eventually receive money for a national road, but that’s about it.

Looking back on it now many of Adams’ goals were very progressive and worthwhile, however, he remained out of step with common Americans at the time. For example, when he wanted to gain wide support for a Federal bankruptcy law, rather than process his support in language most Americans could understand, John Quincy called for the “amelioration” of the “often oppressive codes relating to insolvency”. Most Americans said, “Huh?”

Even students as young as ten and eleven can review these events and see the waste. The brilliance of John Quincy Adams was misused, four intelligent and powerful men misused the issues in their attempt to become president, and the American people were still too immature in their liberty to demand more from their politicians and ultimately from themselves.

In the end I fear we are still too immature in our liberty.

Adams Defends the Mutineers

Adams Defends the Mutineers. John Quincy Adams was 74 years old when he appeared before the Supreme Court on behalf of the Amistad Africans. This short biography tells of the role he played in that battle.

From the site:

After fifty-three African captives aboard the Spanish schooner Amistad mutinied off the coast of Cuba in 1839, killing the captain and cook, they tried to sail the vessel back to Africa. Captured off Long Island, their return was demanded by the Spanish government. Former president John Quincy Adams argued their case before the Supreme Court in 1841, and largely through his efforts, the captives were freed and permitted to return to Africa. Adams's legal brief, "extraordinary for its power" in the words of Justice Joseph Story, was widely circulated in print and became a milestone in the abolitionist cause.

Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams

Inaugural Address of John Quincy Adams. This is the text of this speech delivered by President John Quincy Adams on March 4th, 1825.

From the site:

In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our Federal Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fellow-citizens, in your presence and in that of Heaven to bind myself by the solemnities of religious obligation to the faithful performance of the duties allotted to me in the station to which I have been called.

In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be governed in the fulfillment of those duties my first resort will be to that Constitution which I shall swear to the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive Magistrate, and in its first words declares the purposes to which these and the whole action of the Government instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly devoted--to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of this Union in their successive generations. Since the adoption of this social compact one of these generations has passed away. It is the work of our forefathers.

Administered by some of the most eminent men who contributed to its formation, through a most eventful period in the annals of the world, and through all the vicissitudes of peace and war incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors of their age and nation. It has promoted the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all; it has to an extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity secured the freedom and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left us and by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits of their labors to transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding generation.

Selected Works

Selected Works - Poems by the sixth U. S. President John Quincy Adams, from his book Poems of Religion and Society (1848).

From the site:

To The Sun-Dial

UNDER the Window of the Hall of the Houseof Representatives of the United States

Thou silent herald of Time's silent flight!
Say, could'st thou speak, what warning voice were thine?
Shade, who canst only show how others shine!
Dark, sullen witness of resplendent light
In day's broad glare, and when the noontide bright
Of laughing fortune sheds the ray divine,
Thy ready favors cheer us--but decline
The clouds of morning and the gloom of night.
Yet are thy counsels faithful, just, and wise;
They bid us seize the moments as they pass--
Snatch the retrieveless sunbeam as it flies,
Nor lose one sand of life's revolving glass--
Aspiring still, with energy sublime,
By virtuous deeds to give eternity to Time.

John Quincy Adams

The Amistad Case

The Amistad Case. Transcript of argument John Quincy Adams made to the Supreme Court in landmark case of United States vs. Cinque and others, Africans, captured in the schooner Amistad. This is what they based that movie on several years back.

From the site:

In rising to address this Court as one of its attorneys and counselors, regularly admitted at a great distance of time, I feel that an apology might well be expected where I shall perhaps be more likely to exhibit at once the infinities of age and the inexperience of youth, than to render those services to the individuals whose lives and liberties aren't the disposal of this Court which I would most earnestly desire to render. But as I am unwilling to employ one moment of the time of the Court in anything that regards my own personal situation, I shall reserve what few observations I may think necessary to offer as an apology till the close of my argument on the merits of the question.

I therefore proceed immediately to say that, in a consideration of this case, I derive, in the distress I feel both for myself and my clients, consolation from two sources—first, that the rights of my clients to their lives and liberties have already been defended by my learned friend and colleague in so able and complete a manner as leaves me scarcely anything to say, and I feel that such full justice has been done to their interests, that any fault or imperfection of mine will merely be attributed to its true cause; and secondly, I derive consolation from the thought that this Court is a Court of JUSTICE. And in saying so very trivial a thing I should not on any other occasion, perhaps, be warranted in asking the Court to consider what justice is. Justice, as defined in the Institutes of Justinian, nearly 2000 years ago, and as it felt and understood by all who understand human relations and human rights, is—

"Constans et perpetua voluntas, jus suum cuique tribuendi."

"The constant and perpetual will to secure to every one HIS OWN right."

And in a Court of Justice, where there are two parties present, justice demands that the rights of each party should be allowed to himself, as well as that each party has a right, to be secured and protected by the Court. This observation is important, because I appear here on the behalf of thirty-six individuals, the life and liberty of every one of whom depend on the decision of this Court. The Court, therefore, I trust, in deciding this case, will form no lumping judgment on these thirty-six individuals, but will act on the consideration that the life and the liberty of every one of them must be determined by its decision for himself alone.

The Education of John Quincy Adams

The Education of John Quincy Adams Brief overview of the education of America's sixth president. Includes a letter written by a 10-year-old Adams to his father.

From the site:

This issue of The Mandate examines the importance of the family in shaping the destiny of a nation. The article on pages 10-11 shows that God the Creator has given parents the great responsibility of overseeing the education and character development of their children. Christian character, which can never be adequately taught in a public school setting, is essential to sustain a free nation.

Modern Americans have ceased, for the most part, to fulfill this obligation. They have turned away from the God who made America great and have produced a generation that is lazy, incapable of shouldering responsibility, dishonest, and forever blame-shifting. Many Chinese students observe these modern Americans and the enormous prosperity they have inherited and conclude that freedom and prosperity must have very little to do with personal character.

But that is not true. We must look deeper to find the truth. The personal history of most early Americans reveals quite a distinct contrast in character to their modern counterparts. A close examination of historic accounts leads to one conclusion: America rose to greatness because of character - and she shall fall, if current trends prevail, for lack of it.

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, is an excellent example of this character instilled in early Americans. Born in 1767, John Quincy came from a New England farm family that played a significant role in shaping the course of the United States.

Adams National Historical Park (National Park Service)

Adams National Historical Park (National Park Service) Overview of birthplace of John Adams, second U.S. president, and his son, John Quincy Adams, 6th U.S. president. Information on activities, facilities, and how to reach the park located in Quincy, Massachusetts.

From the site:

Adams National Historical Park is located in the City of Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, approximately ten miles south of Boston. The Park comprises 11 historic structures and a cultural landscape totaling almost 14 acres.
The story encompasses five generations of the Adams family (from 1720 to 1927) including two Presidents and First Ladies, three U.S.Ministers, historians, writers and family members who supported and contributed to the success of these public figures. The site's main historic features include: John Adams Birthplace, where 2nd U.S. President John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, and less than 75 yards away the John Quincy Adams Birthplace, where his son, John Quincy Adams, 6th U.S. President was born on July 11, 1767; the "Old House," home to four generations of the Adams family; the Stone Library contains more than 14,000 historic volumes and includes the book collection of John Quincy Adams; no tour is complete without a visit to the United First Parish Church, where both Presidents and the First Ladies are entombed in the Adams family crypt. There is an off-site visitor center located within one mile of the historic structures.

Regularly scheduled tours of the historic homes, are offered in season (April 19th - November 10th). The park provides a trolley bus that offers transportation between sites. You must be on a guided tour to enter the historic homes. Please be advised that tours are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis.

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams This is a nice biography of President John Quincy Adams. It is from USA Presidents.

From the site:

John Quincy Adams ( July 11 , 1767 - February 23 , 1848 ) was the sixth ( 1825 - 1829 ) President of the United States . He was the son of President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams . He is the first President whose father was also President. The second one is George W. Bush .

John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts , (in a part of town which is now Quincy, Massachusetts ), and acquired his early education in Europe at the University of Leiden . He graduated from Harvard University in 1787 . He studied law, then was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Boston, Massachusetts . He was appointed Minister to the Netherlands in 1794 , Minister to Portugal in 1796 and Minister to Prussia in 1797 . He was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate in 1802 , and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the same year. He was elected as a Federalist to the United States Senate and served from March 4 , 1803 , until June 8 , 1808 , when he resigned, a successor having been elected six months early after Adams broke with the Federalist party. He was Minister to Russia from 1809 to 1814 , a member of the commission which negotiated the Treaty of Ghent in 1814 , and Minister to England from 1815 to 1817 . He was Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President James Monroe from 1817 to 1825 .

The decision in the Presidential Election of 1824 fell, according to the U.S. Constitution , upon the House of Representatives, as none of the candidates had secured a majority of the electors chosen by the States. Adams, who stood second to Andrew Jackson in the electoral vote, was chosen and served from March 4 , 1825 , to March 4 , 1829 .