John Quincy Adams

Heavy were the burdens of John Quincy Adams's upbringing. Son of the forbidding John Adams and the domineering Abigail, puritanical New Englanders both, he was driven from the earliest age to a life of faith, observance, and public distinction - a life that was considered to be his birthright and his obligation. While his natural tendencies were toward a contemplative life filled with art and literature, his path was predestined - the law and then public service. It is no wonder that later, as a grown man, accomplished and admired, he was spoken of as cold and austere, even misanthropic.