Early in the life of John Quincy Adams, he was born on July 11, 1767 in the town of Braintree (now called Quincy), Massachusetts, and was the second child and first son of John and Abigail Adams . As a young boy, John Quincy witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill. When he was ten years old, he left with his father on a diplomatic mission to France. He later studied at several European universities and is fluent in seven languages. Adams returned to Massachusetts in 1785 and entered Harvard College, graduating two years later. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1790, after which he established a law practice in Boston.Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essay As a young lawyer, Adams wrote articles protecting the neutrality policy of George Washington's presidential administration and speaking of the war between France and Great Britain in 1793. In 1794, Washington appointed him American minister to the Netherlands. After his father John Adams was elected president in 1796, he appointed his son minister to Prussia (now Germany). Before going to Berlin, Adams married Louisa Catherine Johnson, whom he met in London (she was the daughter of the American ambassador there). Sadly, the couple would lose three children – an infant daughter and two adult sons. Some sources have reported that it was a largely unhappy marriage. After John Adams lost the presidency to Thomas Jefferson in 1800, he recalled John Quincy from; When young Adams returned to Boston in 1801, he reopened his law office. The following year he was accepted into the Massachusetts State Senate, and in 1903 the state legislature selected him to serve in the United States Senate. Although Adams, like his father, was considered a member of the Federalist Party, he voted on one occasion against the Federalist Party line on several issues, including the ill-fated Jefferson Embargo Act of 1807, which threatened greatly benefited the interests of New England merchants. He quickly alienated the Federalists – then led by Alexander Hamilton, a political opponent of his father – and came to hate party politics. Adams abandoned his Senate post in June 1808 and returned to Harvard, where he obtained a professorship. In 1809, President James Madison called Adams back to diplomatic service, appointing him ambassador to the Russian court of Tsar Alexander I. In St. Petersburg, Adams witnessed Napoleon's invasion of Russia and later the withdrawal of the French army after this great attack. Meanwhile, war had broken out between the United States and Great Britain (now known as the War of 1812), and in 1814 James Madison called Adams to Belgium to conclude the Treaty of Ghent, which ended in the War of 1812. John Quincy Adams then began serving (following in his father's footsteps) as an American minister to Great Britain; his son, Charles Francis Adams, would hold the same position during the Civil War. In 1817, President Monroe hired Adams as Secretary of State, as part of his attempts to build a cabinet with balanced sections. Adams achieved many diplomatic achievements in this position, including discussing the joint occupation of Oregon with England and obtaining Florida from Spain. He also held another position as the chief architect of what is now known as the Monroe Doctrine (1823), which aimed to prevent further European attacks or invasions in Latin America by declaring American defense over the set of. 80.