Charles Francis ADAMS, Congress, MA (1807-1886)

ADAMS, Charles Francis, (son of John Quincy Adams and grandson of John Adams), a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Boston, Mass., August 18, 1807; spent several years with his parents in St. Petersburg, Russia; attended the Boston Latin School, and was graduated from Harvard University in 1825; studied law; was admitted to the bar on January 6, 1829, and commenced practice in Boston; member of the Massachusetts house of representatives 1841-1843; member of the Massachusetts state senate 1844-1845; founded the newspaper Boston Whig in 1846; unsuccessful candidate of the Free-Soil Party for Vice President of the United States in 1848; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh Congresses and served from March 4, 1859, to May 1, 1861, when he resigned to accept a diplomatic position; chairman, Committee on Manufactures (Thirty-sixth Congress); appointed by President Lincoln as Minister to England and served from March 20, 1861, to May 13, 1868; declined the presidency of Harvard University but became one of its overseers in 1869; died in Boston, Mass., November 21, 1886; interment in Mount Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy, Norfolk County, Mass.

Bibliography

Adams, Charles Francis. Diary of Charles Francis Adams. 1964. Reprint, edited by Aïda DiPace Donald and David Donald. 8 vols. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986; Duberman, Martin B. Charles Francis Adams, 1807-1886. 1960. Reprint, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, [1968].

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present