{"id":17823,"date":"2024-06-20T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T16:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=17823"},"modified":"2024-09-03T18:01:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T22:01:11","slug":"6-adams-john-quincy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=17823","title":{"rendered":"#6. Adams, John Quincy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Linda Lou Burton posting from Little Rock, Arkansas <\/em>\u2013 John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 \u2013 February 23, 1848) was the sixth president of the United States (1825 to 1829) and the eldest son of John and Abigail Adams, two big names in American history. Which puts him in the same situation as being a \u201cpreacher\u2019s kid\u201d \u2013 you know, everybody expects<\/em> a certain behavior from you. No matter what you do, or want to do, the jello is already set. John Q certainly emulated his father in a number of ways \u2013 he \u00a0was a one-termer president, he loved<\/em> politics, and he WROTE EVERYTHING DOWN. He started keeping a daily diary when he was 12 and didn\u2019t stop until he died. Here is an example of an entry from July 1818, when he was 51 years old, and Secretary of State in James Monroe\u2019s cabinet: “I rise usually between four and five \u2014 walk two miles, bathe in Potowmack river, and walk home, which occupies two hours \u2014 read or write, or more frequently idly waste the time till eight or nine when we breakfast\u2014 read or write till twelve or one, when I go to the office; now usually in the carriage \u2014 at the office till five then home till dinner. After dinner read newspapers till dark; soon after which I retire to bed.” <\/em>Would you invite this man to your party? Would he come? Possibly, but only if it was a swim party, and everyone was okay with swimming nude. Because skinny dipping was the way people swam! You folded your clothes, laid them on the riverbank, and jumped in. The \u201cswimming nude in the Potomac\u201d presidential folktale is an actual truth; some of the others are not verifiable.<\/p>\n

For instance, the \u201cpet alligator in the White House\u201d simply hasn\u2019t been proven, any more than George Washington\u2019s Hatchett Attacks Cherry Tree <\/em>story. Maybe LaFayette did give him a baby alligator once \u2013 certainly White House occupants are gifted with many unusual objects. Maybe it was kept in the bathtub to surprise guests. But the joke doesn\u2019t really fit into the austere tone of his diary-speak, does it? Still, gift shops sell stuffed alligators as \u201cWhite House pets.\u201d Let\u2019s switch to serious stuff now. What was John Q\u2019s childhood like?<\/p>\n

The Boy<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>For starters, his stomach was a little unsettled when his father committed an act of TREASON by signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776. This was a crime punishable by death, and John Q was nine years old at the time. While Dad was off on his \u201crevolution\u201d cause, John Q was at home worrying about his mother Abigail \u2013 she was a sweetie \u2013 and his siblings; sister Amelia was 11, brothers Charles and Thomas were 6 and 4. As \u201cman of the house\u201d John Q worried for their safety. A war went on around his very ears; he actually witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill<\/em> with his mother, from the top of a nearby hill. As soldiers passed through town, he feared they might be taken hostage. That was his reality. How would you feel in the middle of all that?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Things got immensely better; an Incredible European Adventure began in 1778 when his father was posted as a special envoy; John Q went to school at the Passy Academy outside of Paris, where, get this \u2013 he studied fencing, dance, music, and art with the grandsons of Benjamin Franklin. But things were still a bit quirky; Dad went back to the US, and then back to Europe again as negotiations continued; their ship was leaky; they traveled overland by mule through Spain; some time in Paris but then to Amsterdam, where John Q and Charles briefly studied at the University of Leiden. Charles wanted to go back home, but John Q, at the age of 14, was invited to go to St Petersburg as \u201ctranslator and personal secretary\u201d to Francis Dana, the newly appointed emissary there. I\u2019d love to read all the diary entries for that period of John Q\u2019s life! Back to The Hague with his father for a while, and in 1785, at the age of 16, he entered Harvard College as an advanced student and completed his studies in two years.<\/p>\n

After college, John Q studied law; while preparing for the exam he mastered shorthand and read everything in sight; he passed the bar in 1790 and set up a practice in Boston. Business was slow; he wrote a lot during this time \u2013 articles supporting the Washington administration; political issues of the day. It paid off in an unexpected way \u2013 Washington, aware of John Q\u2019s support, and his fluency in French and Dutch, appointed him minister to the Netherlands. What a career followed!<\/p>\n

Adding Up His Government Positions<\/strong><\/p>\n