Sixth President: John Quincy Adams - 0 comments

Listen: the son of a former President runs for President himself. He's not very well liked, and he doesn't win a majority of the popular vote or the electoral college. But the election is close, and with a bit of political wheel-and-dealing, he wins the presidency anyway. Sound familiar?

Of course! It was John Quincy Adams. (Did his supporters just refer to him as "Q"?) But you knew that, of course. Son of John Adams (#2), he spent most of his political career outside the US, as ambassador to various countries. He returned to join James Monroe's cabinet, where he brokered treaties and actually wrote the Monroe Doctrine.

Neat facts about Q:

- After his presidency, Q served in the House of Representatives for nearly two more decades.
- Q came up with the idea of abolishing slavery in a time of civil war. Q argued that if the nation ever became so split as to go to war, the President should free the slaves and disrupt the South's economy & society.
- When Q was sworn in, he held his hand on a Book of Laws, instead of the Bible.