6. John Quincy Adams became a congressman
Like his father before him, John Quincy Adams was a one-term president. He refused to use a bible to take his oath of office, substituting a book on the subject of constitutional law. Throughout his term in office, he argued that the president had broad powers of action which were granted him by the general welfare clause in the constitution. His administration was controversial; he supported many infrastructure projects which his opponents argued were outside the power of the federal government. When he was defeated for re-election, he left Washington without attending the inauguration of his successor, Andrew Jackson, and returned to Quincy. In 1830 he was elected to the House of Representatives.
John Quincy was the first former president to serve in Congress; as of 2018 only one other former president – Andrew Johnson, who served in the Senate – has so done. He was an active and hard-working representative, serving as the Chairman of several committees. During the Nullification Crisis, which threatened to divide the country over the issue of tariffs, it was Adams who introduced the compromise which resolved the issue. He opposed the annexation of Texas and the Mexican War which followed, as well as Polk’s resolution of the Oregon dispute. John Quincy Adams remained in congress until his death in 1848; after suffering a stroke on the floor of the House he died in the Speaker’s Room in the Capitol.