What Political Party Did John Quincy Adams Belong To?

John Quincy Adams was the son of John Adams, the second President of the United States. Quincy Adams held a distrust of political parties and attempted to avoid joining them. Nevertheless, a look at the factions that supported Quincy Adams and his public policies demonstrates affiliations with the Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, National Republicans and Whigs.

Quincy Adams began his political career in 1804 as a senator in his father’s political organization, the Federalists. That group had recently lost the presidency in the 1800 election to Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican. In 1809, President James Madison, the successor to Thomas Jefferson, appointed Quincy Adams an ambassador to Russia. As such, Quincy Adams began a political relationship with the Democratic-Republicans, who had successfully rendered the Federalists virtually irrelevant. From 1817 to 1825, he continued this association, serving as the Secretary of State under Democratic-Republican President James Monroe.

Quincy Adams ran for President in the 1824 election. To distinguish himself from other challengers in the Democratic-Republican ranks, Quincy Adams referred to himself as a National Republican. He supported a strong central government. Quincy Adams won the election narrowly but in 1828 lost to the first Democratic Party President, Andrew Jackson. In 1830, Quincy Adams returned to politics, serving in Congress as an anti-slavery Whig from Massachusetts. He died in 1848.