|
Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 25 general entries.
|
 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Adams, John Quincy
| Adams' first political appointment was by President Washington as Minister to what country? | John Quincy Adams
|
The Netherlands. He was appointed at age 26. He had been overseas with his father as a child, and was well-prepared for the post.
| In what capacity did Adams serve in the administration of his father, John Adams? | John Quincy Adams
|
| In 1809, President Madison appointed Adams Minister to what country? | John Quincy Adams
|
| In 1814, Adams was part of the delegation which negotiated the Treaty ending the War of 1812. Which treaty was this? | John Quincy Adams
|
Treaty of Ghent. Negotiated over a period of four months, the Treaty was signed at Ghent, Belgium, on Dec. 24, 1814, and ratified by the U.S. Senate in February, 1815. It was considered a diplomatic victory for the U.S., since under the Treaty Great Britain gave up its demand for control of the Great Lakes.
| As was customary during that era, Secretary of State Adams ran for President in 1824. Where did he finish in the popular vote? | John Quincy Adams
|
second. But since none of the 4 candidates with electoral votes received a majority, the election was then decided in the House of Representatives.
Henry Clay. A bitter Andrew Jackson charged that Adams had entered into a 'corrupt bargain' with Clay, promising him the Secretary of State job in exchange for his support in the House of Representative run-off voting. There is no way to substantiate this, however.
Andrew Jackson. This time Jackson won in the Electoral College, and no House of Representatives run-off was needed.
| In 1830 Adams' home Congressional Distict in Massachusetts elected him to Congress. How many years did he serve in Congress? | John Quincy Adams
|
18. Adams served until dying on the House floor at the age of 80.
| In 1841, Adams argued what well-known case before the United States Supreme Court? | John Quincy Adams
|
the Amistad case. He talked for more than 8 hours in support of the African prisoners whose fate was in the hands of the U.S. Courts. The Antelope was another slave ship case from 20 years earlier which Adams had to distinguish from the Amistad case in order to win. Anthony Hopkins was amazing in his wonderful portrayal of Adams in Steven Spielberg's film 'Amistad'.
| What Congressional Rule did Adams regularly violate and fight against? | John Quincy Adams
|
the gag rule prohibiting petitions regarding slavery. He repeatedly flouted the gag rule by presenting petitions to outlaw slavery in the District of Columbia. He had the satisfaction of living long enough to see the gag rule repealed.
| Adams suffered a stroke in 1848 when he rose on the House floor to speak on what issue? | John Quincy Adams
|
the Mexican War. All were issues Adams was interested in, but it was the Mexican War which Adams objected to and a measure relating to the war was being debated. He died 2 days later in the Speaker's Room of the House.
| Adams is sometimes said to be the father of what Institution, established in 1846? | John Quincy Adams
|
Smithsonian. While President Adams had pushed without success for Federal Government support for scientific pursuits, and he was a strong supporter of the Smithsonian when it later came before Congress while he was still serving as a representative from Massachusets.
| Adams kept a diary throughout his adult life. At what age did he begin writing in his diary? | John Quincy Adams
|
11. He began writing the diary when he went with his father to France at age 11.
| The voluminous diaries of John Quincy Adams were kept under lock and key until when? | John Quincy Adams
|
1951. Although Adams' grandson, Charles Francis Adams, had earlier published an edited version, the complete diary was not released until 1951, after a vigorous debate among Adams' great-grandsons who were considering whether to burn them.
The only foreign-born "First Lady" who raised silkworms in the White House.. Louisa Catherine Adams was born in London on February 12 1775 and died in Washington DC on May 15 1852. She married John Quincy Adams on July 26 1797 in London.
John Quincy Adams Diary Entry June 23 1828 “Mrs. Adams is winding silk from several hundred silkworms she has been rearing….”
Of her years in the White House, she wrote: “There is something in this great unsocial house which depresses my spirits beyond expression and makes it impossible for me to feel at home or to fancy that I have a home any where.”
Andrew Jackson. Because none of the 4 candidates (Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and William Crawford) received an electoral vote majority, by virtue of the Twelfth Amendment the election was thrown into the House of Representatives from among the three highest recipients of electoral votes (Jackson, Adams and Crawford) - leaving Henry Clay completely outside the election.
Given his rivalry with Andrew Jackson and due to the illness of Crawford, Henry Clay saw the "American System" positions of Adams as most resembling his own. He threw his support in the House of Representatives to Adams.
When Adams named Clay as his Secretary of State (from which position the previous 3 presidents had been elected), the Jacksonian opposition accused Adams and Clay of a "corrupt bargain" and effectively began the presidential campaign of 1828 and the effort to remove Adams as president in the succeeding election.
The US Constitution. A deeply religious man, Adams thought the bible should be used only for religious purposes and refused to employ it as the instrument upon which to take a political oath.
Swimming naked in the Potomac River.. Adams followed a rigorous physical regimen throughout his life. He reportedly awoke daily at 5:00AM (4:15 in the summer) to begin his routine.
His diary entry of June 13 1825 records an almost accidental drowning during one of his daily swims:
“The reasons upon which I justify to myself my daily swimming in the river do not apply to this adventure [the near-drowning incident earlier that day]. Among my motives for swimming, that of showing what I can do must be discarded as spurious, and I must strictly confine myself to the purposes of health, exercise, and salutary labor.”
| On March 26 1825 President John Quincy Adams appointed which former US Representative from South Carolina as the nation’s first diplomatic minister to Mexico? While the appointment was a political disaster, it resulted in an enduring Christmas tradition.
| President John Quincy Adams and His Times
|
Joel R. Poinsett. Because of his ability to speak Spanish, Poinsett was assigned diplomatic missions in Latin America as early as 1810. His tenure in Mexico was marked by unauthorized and disastrous interference in York and Scottish Rite Masonic rivalries as well as internal Mexican politics. He later served as Secretary of War in the Van Buren administration (1837-1841).
As an amateur botanist, he discovered the “Euphorbia pulcherrima” growing wild in the southern states of Mexico. He sent samples of the plant back to the United States where the Christmas display of the “Poinsettia” has grown into a seasonal tradition.
| Which gift did the kidnapped African passengers of the Spanish ship "Amistad" give to John Quincy Adams after he helped win their case before the United States Supreme Court in 1841? | President John Quincy Adams and His Times
|
The Mendi Bible.. The "Mendi Bible" was given to Adams along with a letter of thanks on November 6 1841:
“To the Honorable John Quincy Adams: Most Respected Sir, The Mendi people give you thanks for all your kindness to them. They will never forget your defense of their rights before the great Court at Washington. They feel that they owe to you, in a large measure, their deliverance from the Spaniards, and from slavery or death. They will pray for you as long as you live, Mr. Adams. May God bless and reward you! We are about to go home to Africa. We go to Sierra Leone first, and then we reach Mendi very quick. When we get to Mendi we will tell the people of your great kindness. Good missionary will go with us. We shall take the Bible with us. It has been a precious book in prison, and we love to read it now we are free! Mr. Adams, we want to make you a present of a beautiful Bible! Will you please to accept it, and when you look at it or read it, remember your poor and grateful clients?... For the Mendi people. Cinque, Kinna, Kale."
The first African-American governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, used the Mendi Bible to take his oath of office on January 4, 2007.
Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln served one term in the House of Representatives (December 6 1847 to March 4 1849).
The House Committee of Arrangements for the funeral of John Quincy Adams on March 24 1848 announced that the procession would comprise a Representative from each state or territory, including freshman Congressman Abraham Lincoln.
Adams also served with Andrew Johnson during the same Congress.
In the Speakers Room of the House of Representatives.. On February 21 1848, Adams collapsed from a stroke on the floor of the House of Representatives Chamber. He was carried to the Speaker's Room where he died two days later on February 23 1848.
| President John Quincy Adams had only one civilian job in his 80 years of life – the 1st Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University from 1806-1809. According to Harvard legend, to which unique right is the Boylston Professor entitled? | President John Quincy Adams and His Times
|
The right to tether and graze a cow in Harvard Yard.. The legend that the Boylston Professor has the right to tether and graze a cow in Harvard Yard is shaky at best. Nonetheless a figure no less "authoritative" than George Plimpton records the legend in his iconic sports essay “Medora Goes To The Game.”
|
Fun Trivia | 
Quizzes | 
Games
| 
People | 
Services | 
Help | 
Me
