How much do you know about John Quincy Adams?
Take the following quiz to find out!

(Answers at the bottom.)

1. How old was John Quincy Adams when he accompanied his father John Adams (who had been appointed as ambassador) to France, where he became his secretary?

2. Who told John Quincy Adams “[I] would much rather you should have found your grave in the ocean you have crossed, or that any untimely death crop you in your infant years, than see you an immoral, profligate, or graceless child…”?

3. True or False: John Quincy Adams was 18 years old when he received a congressional appointment as secretary to Francis Dana, the American ambassador to Russia.

4. True or False: John Quincy Adams was one of three individuals who served in the U.S. House of Representatives after being President of the United States.

5. True or False: The House of Representatives passed a gag rule to keep John Quincy Adams from introducing petitions calling for the abolition of slavery.

6. What famous Supreme Court case did Adams argue on behalf of a group of captured Africans who had revolted and regained their freedom while on board a ship transporting them into slavery?

Evacuation Day

March 17 is annually celebrated in Boston as “Evacuation Day,” commemorating the departure of the British from the city after an eleven month occupation at the start of the American Revolution.¹ April 19, 1775 through March 17, 1776 was the Siege of Boston. This time encompasses some of the early events of the American Revolution, including the Battles of Lexington and Concord,² the Battle of Bunker Hill,³ and George Washington taking command of the American army.⁴

John Quincy Adams, whose family lived near Boston, personally watched the Battle of Bunker Hill at the age of 8.⁵ Just a few months before, he had performed military drills with the local militia and Minutemen — an event that John Quincy remembered in detail over 50 years later!⁶

John Quincy Adams spent 68 years of his life in public service for America. Today, on Evacuation Day, his is truly a life worth honoring.

How did you do?

1. He was 10 years old. John Adams went to France in February, 1778 (in his diary, he even talks about a battle his vessel had in early March during the ocean crossing⁷). John Quincy Adams, born on July 11, 1767, would have been several months shy of his 11th birthday when he accompanied his father.

2. Abigail Adams. See the complete letter from Abigail to John Quincy.⁸

3. False. John Quincy Adams was 14 years old when he was appointed as Francis Dana’s secretary and translator.⁹

4. False. Nineteen Presidents have served in the House of Representatives,¹⁰ but John Quincy Adams is the only one who was elected to Congress after being president.¹¹

5. True. The “gag rule” was passed by each Congress from 1836-1844, and John Quincy Adams was the leader in the effort that eventually repealed this rule.¹²

6. United States v. The Amistad, decided in 1841. John Quincy Adams was 73 years old at the time.¹³ This event is depicted in the famous Hollywood movie Amistad.

Endnotes

¹ “The Siege of Boston,” Massachusetts Historical Society, accessed December 8, 2023.
² “Lexington and Concord,” ushistory.org, accessed December 8, 2023.
³ Bernard Bailyn, “The Battle of Bunker Hill,” Massachusetts Historical Society, accessed December 8, 2023.
⁴ “Washington takes command of Continental Army in 1775,” April 15, 2016, US Army.
⁵ “Letter (draft) from John Quincy Adams to Joseph Sturge, March 1846,” Massachusetts Historical Society.
⁶ John Quincy Adams, entry for August 20, 1827, Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1875), VII:325.
⁷ John Adams, entry for March 14, 1778, The Works of John Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), III:108.
⁸ Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, June 1778, Letters of Mrs. Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1840), I:122-125.
⁹ Office of the Historian, “Biographies of the Secretaries of State: John Quincy Adams (1767–1848),” Department of State, accessed December 8, 2023.
¹⁰ “House Members Who Served as President,” United States House of Representatives, accessed December 8, 2023.
¹¹ “The Election of John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts,” United States House of Representatives, accessed December 8, 2023.
¹² “The House “Gag Rule”,” United States House of Representatives, accessed December 8, 2023.
¹³ “The Amistad Case,” National Archives, accessed December 8, 2023.