Today is the 249th anniversary of the birth of the sixth President of the United States (1825-1829), John Quincy Adams. Adams’s father was John Adams, who played key roles in the creation of the Declaration of Independence and establishment of the United States after adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
Quincy Adams is famous for returning to Congress as a member of the House of Representatives after his presidency, for his advocacy for freedom for slaves on a slave ship, and for being probably the first president ever to sit for a photographic portrait — though the sitting wasn’t until 1843, 14 years after he left the presidency.
John Quincy Adams, in Washington, D.C., 1843. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art web site, this image is a copy of a lost daguerreotype of Adams taken by Philip Haas ca. 1843. Some historians believe it may have been taken as late as 1847. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=522048
He looked like a cranky old man, which does an injustice to him. He was quite sharp to the end. His fatal stroke probably occurred during a brief recess, while he sat at his desk on the floor of the House, manifesting when he tried to stand up to vote shortly thereafter. He died in the Capitol, the only president to do that, I believe.
I often wonder what it took to “look presidential” in that era. Indoor plumbing was mostly non-existent (it existed in the White House and, to some degree, in the Capitol building); most streets were unpaved. Laundry must have been a massive problem, and I’ll wager even relatively well-to-do like Quincy Adams had only one or two suits . . .
Does he look presidential? It’s a miracle if he does.
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He looked quite presidential, didn’t he?
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