President, Senator, Congressman and diplomat, John Quincy Adams’s illustrious career of public service secures his place in history. Yet he aspired also to literary success and reputation. During his lifetime he produced volumes of epic poetry, travel, political controversy and history which now obtain little more than passing mention in American literary annals. Instead, he retains a place there through the diary which he kept continuously for over fifty years and which has not only consistently furnished historians of the era with many pertinent illustrative quotations, but provides a much deeper record of the mentality of the man and his times.
Quincy Adams, the second child of second President of the United States John Adams and his formidable wife Abigail, was born July 11, 1767.
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Citation: Pollard, Alistair Finn. "John Quincy Adams". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 May 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=29, accessed 23 November 2024.]
