John Quincy Adams (1767 -1848) was one of the most experienced and well-traveled American statesmen of his era. Before becoming the sixth president of the United States in 1825, he had served as a diplomat in the Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, and England, led the American commission that negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, and served two terms as secretary of state. After his presidency, Adams was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving for the remainder of his life, until his fatal collapse at his Congressional desk.

David Waldstreicher is Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the author of Slavery's Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification (2009); Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery and the American Revolution (2004); and In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776-1820 (1997). As editor, his books include A Companion to John Adams and John Quincy Adams (2013).