Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Adams, John Quincy

ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, sixth President of the United States, and one of the greatest of American orators, diplomatists, and statesmen, was the eldest son of John Adams, second President of the United States, and was born at Braintree, Mass., July 11, 1767. In 1794 he proceeded to Holland as Minister, and in 1797 to Berlin, where he negotiated a treaty with the Prussian Government. In 1803 he was elected United States Senator, and in 1805 appointed Professor of Rhetoric at Harvard. In 1809 he was appointed Minister to Russia. In 1815 he went to London as United States Minister, where he remained till 1817, when he was appointed Secretary of State under Monroe. He was elected President of the United States by the House of Representatives in 1825, there having been no election by the people the previous year. He was defeated for re-election in 1828. In 1831 he was returned to Congress, where he remained until his death, Feb. 23, 1848.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS