Adams National Historical Park

John Adams was born in this "salt box" house in 1735.

The birthplaces of John Adams and John Quincy Adams are the oldest presidential birthplaces in the United States.

John Quincy Adams was born in this house, located 75 feet south of the birthplace of his father John Adams.

John Adams' law office was in the house. Along with Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin, he wrote the Massachusetts Constitution here.

This 1793 portrait of John Adams by John Trumbull hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC.

“In 1789, after performing invaluable service o his country both during and after the Revolution, Adams became George Washington's vice president and the first to discover how insignificant that office could be. The position, however, yielded one important compensation: it became the springboard for his election to the presidency in 1796.

Chief among Adams's presidential successes was the avoidance of hostilities over France's infringement on American neutrality in the war between France and Great Britain. Unfortunately, Adams pleased no one in doing so, and he left the White House in 1801 largely discredited on all sides. Recalling his administration years later, he noted, ‘No man who ever held the office of president would ever congratulate a friend on obtaining it.’

This portrait was derived from sittings that occurred during Adams's vice presidency. By then, John Trumbull had painted two other likenesses of Adams, including one that was eventually incorporated into Trumbull's picture depicting the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which now resides in the U.S. Capitol rotunda.” — National Portrait Gallery

This 1850 portrait of John Quincy Adams by George Caleb Bingham (after an 1844 original) hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

“John Quincy Adams's tenure as James Monroe's secretary of state ranks among the most productive In the history of that office. But Adams's often tactless ways were ill-suited for the presidency, and when his vision for such items as a comprehensive national transportation system met with hostility in Congress, he would not compromise. As a result, his administration's accomplishments were meager. But Adams was not through with political life. Elected to the House of Representatives in 1830, he served there until his death. In his prolonged and successful struggle defending the antislavery movement's right to petition Congress, ‘Old Man Eloquent‘ had gained a circle of admirers that extended well beyond his Massachusetts constituency.

When Adams sat for this portrait, he doubted that artist George Caleb Bingham could produce ‘a strong likeness.’ But Bingham did just that, and the portrait's vitality seems to echo Ralph Waldo Emerson's comment that the aging Adams was ‘like one of those old cardinals, who as quick as he is chosen Pope, throws away his crutches and his crookedness, and is as straight as a boy.’” — National Portrait Gallery