geeky
Charles Francis Adams was born in Boston on August 18, 1807, the third son and third child of John Quincy Adams and his wife Louisa Catherine Adams. His older brothers were George and John. (Wouldn't it have been strange if he had been named Paul, or Ringo?) He attended Boston Latin School and Harvard College, graduating in 1825. He studied law with Daniel Webster, and practiced law in Boston. He wrote studious articles and reviews of history books for the North American Review.
In an incident that sounds like it belongs in a sitcom, Charles Adams and his brothers John and George were all romantically interested in the same woman, their cousin Mary Catherine Hellen. She lived with the John Quincy Adams family after the death of her parents. In 1828 she ended up marrying John at a ceremony which took place at the White House. Both Charles and George refused to attend the ceremony.
Charles Francis Adams first ran for office in 1841 when he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He later served in the Massachusetts state senate from 1844 to 1845. The following year he purchased the journal Boston Whig and served as its editor. Two years later he was nominated as the candidate for Vice-President for the Free Soil Party. His running mate was former President Martin Van Buren.
Adams earned a reputation as one of the best historical editors of his time. His father had began writing a life of his father, John Adams, but only wrote a few chapters before returning to politics in 1830 with his election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Charles Francis Adams had edited and published an edition of the letters of his grandmother, Abigail Adams. He took over the project that his father had left uncompleted. Between 1850 and 1856 he completed a two volume biography of John Adams. He also edited an eight volume edition of John Adams's Diary, as well as a selection of letters and speeches. This edition was entitled The Works of John Adams, Esq., Second President of the United States. It was the only edition of John Adams' writing available to historians until the family donated Adams' papers to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1954. Charles Francis Adams published a revised edition of the biography in 1871. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1857.
Adams was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican in 1858. He chaired the Committee on Manufactures, but resigned when Abraham Lincoln appointed him to the post of U.S. minister (ambassador) to the Court of St. James (Great Britain) from 1861 to 1868. Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner had wanted the position, and resented Adams for losing the post. In the post, Adams was instrumental in maintaining British neutrality and preventing British diplomatic recognition of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Adams and his son, Henry Adams, who acted as his private secretary, also were kept busy in London monitoring Confederate diplomatic efforts and the construction of rebel commerce raiders by British shipyards.
After his term as minister was over, Adams returned to Boston. He was offered the presidency of Harvard University, but declined the post. Instead he became one of its overseers in 1869. In 1870 he built the first presidential library in the United States, to honor his father John Quincy Adams. The Stone Library included over 14,000 books written in twelve languages. The library is located on the property of the "Old House" (also known as "Peacefield") at Adams National Historical Park in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Adams became involved in the 1876 electoral college controversy. He broke against party interest and sided with Democrat Samuel J. Tilden over Republican Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency.
Charles Francis Adams died in Boston on November 21, 1886 at the age of 79. He is interred in Mount Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy. He was survived by his wife Abigail Brown Brooks and five of their seven children.