In his re-election bid for president, John Quincy Adams lost in a landslide vote to his old rival, Andrew Jackson. Adams returned to Massachusetts a defeated man. But two years after leaving the presidency, John Quincy was elected, by a write-in vote, to serve his Massachusetts district in the House of Representatives. He didn't seek out the opportunity, but Adams became the only American president to serve in the House after his presidency. As a member of the House for 18 more years, John Quincy attacked slavery on moral grounds. This he believed was one of his greatest accomplishments. Like his father, he was quick to assert his own abhorrence to slavery.
