John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, on July 11, 1767. His father, John Adams, was a stalwart of the Revolutionary movement and the second president of the United States. Both his father and his mother, Abigail Smith Adams, instilled in John Quincy a commitment to moral perfectionism and public service. That service began when he accompanied his father on a diplomatic mission to Europe at ten years of age, and it was made official when he became secretary to the American minister designate to Russia four years later. He graduated from Harvard College in 1787 and began the practice of law.