author
John Quincy Adams
1767–1848
Raised in a family at the center of the American Revolution, he grew into one of the young republic’s most accomplished diplomats before becoming the sixth president of the United States. His public life did not end with the presidency: in Congress, he became a forceful voice against slavery and for civil liberties.
3 Audiobooks
State of the Union Addresses of John Quincy Adams
by John Quincy Adams
About the author
Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, on July 11, 1767, he was the son of John and Abigail Adams and spent part of his youth in Europe while his father served the new nation abroad. Those early years gave him an unusually international education and helped shape a long career in diplomacy and public service.
Before reaching the presidency, he served in major diplomatic posts in the Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, and Britain, then as a U.S. senator and secretary of state. Historians often credit him as one of the country’s strongest diplomats, with a key role in major foreign policy decisions of the early republic.
As president from 1825 to 1829, he pushed for an ambitious national program of internal improvements, science, and education, though he struggled to win broad political support. After leaving the White House, he returned to public life in the House of Representatives, where he became widely known for his determined opposition to the expansion of slavery and for defending the Africans of the Amistad before the Supreme Court.