Many Americans have sought the office of president of the United States and have deliberately shaped their lives to that end. John Quincy Adams parents prepared him for the presidency from boyhood. But although Adams achieved his goal of of becoming president, his term in the White House was overshadowed by his two other political careers-as America’s greatest diplomat and as its greatest defender of human freedom in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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An Unusual Childhood:

John Quincy Adams was born on July 11, 1767, in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts. His father was John Adams, who would later become the second president of the United States. His mother, Abigail Smith Adams, was the most accomplished American woman of her time. Young Adams grew up as a child of the American Revolution, which began when he was 7 years old.

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John Quincy’s education began in the village school and continued under his mother’s guidance. His education was inspired by letters from his father, who had been serving in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia since 1774.

During the Revolutionary War, John Quincy accompanied his father on two diplomatic missions to Europe. In 1781, at the age of 14, he acted as French interpreter to his father on a mission to Russia. In 1783, John Quincy served as his father’s secretary when the elder Adams was minister to France. Young Adams was present at the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1738, which ended the Revolutionary War.

In Paris, John Quincy Adams began his famous diary. He was to continue it for over 60 years. On the title page of the first volume was the proverb that ruled his life: “Sweet is indolence {laziness} and cruel its come quences.” Adams never had a lazy day.

Young Adams returned to Massachusetts in 1785 to complete his education at Harvard College. He graduated in 1787 and then studied law.