John Quincy Adams

by Harlow Giles Unger, Johnny Heller (Narrator)

He fought for Washington, served with Lincoln, witnessed Bunker Hill, and sounded the clarion against slavery on the eve of the Civil War. He negotiated an end to the War of 1812, engineered the annexation of Florida, and won the Supreme Court decision that freed the African captives of La Amistad. He served his nation as minister to six countries, secretary of state, senator, congressman, and president.

John Quincy Adams was all of these things and more. In this masterful biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals Adams as a towering figure in the nation's formative years and one of the most courageous figures in American history - which is why he ranked first in John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize-winning Profiles in Courage.

A magisterial biography and a sweeping panorama of American history from the Washington to Lincoln eras, Unger's John Quincy Adams follows one of America's most important yet least known figures.

Harlow Giles Unger, a former distinguished visiting fellow in American history at George Washington's Mount Vernon, is a veteran journalist, broadcaster, educator, and historian. He is the author of 20 books, including several biographies of America's Founding Fathers. He has also authored histories of the early Republic as well as numerous books on American education. He lives in New York.

©2012 Harlow Giles Unger; (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Genres: Biography, History, Presidents, Nonfiction, American History, Audiobook, Us Presidents

384 pages, Audible Audio

First published September 4, 2012

About the author

Harlow Giles Unger is an American author, historian, journalist, broadcaster, and educator known for his extensive work on American history and education. Educated at the Taft School, Yale College, and California State University, Unger began his career as a journalist for the New York Herald Tribune Overseas News Service in Paris. He later wrote for newspapers and magazines across Britain, Canada, and other countries, while also working in radio broadcasting and teaching English and journalism at New York-area colleges.
Unger has written over twenty-seven books, including ten biographies of America's Founding Fathers and a notable biography of Henry Clay. His historical works include Noah Webster: The Life and Times of an American Patriot, The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness, and First Founding Father: Richard Henry Lee and the Call to Independence. He is also the author of the Encyclopedia of American Education, a three-volume reference work.
A former Distinguished Visiting Fellow in American History at Mount Vernon, Unger has lived in Paris and currently resides in New York City. An avid skier and horseman, he has spent time in Chamonix, France, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He has one son, Richard C. Unger.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harlow Giles Unger’s new biography of John Quincy Adams is well-written and superbly researched. The book is fast paced and supremely readable while not missing any aspect of JQA’s life. Unger seamlessly weaves the words of Adams into his narrative and Unger’s always solid research augments the story that it seems like JQA helps tell. John Quincy Adams wrote in a diary daily from age 10 to death, this along with the massive correspondence between JQA and his parents John and Abigail Adams, together with the massive amount of reports JQA submitted during his career, Unger put it all together into a fascinating biography. There is so much information in this book it is hard to even highlight the information.

John and Abigail Adams saw to the education of their first born son and by the time he was ten years old he was fluent in Latin and Greek. He was already well read in Shakespeare and other leading literature of his day. He accompanied his father to Europe when he was 12 years old and spent his teenage years in Europe meeting all the key political, military, authors, philosophers’ people of the day. He became fluent in Greek, Latin, English, French, Dutch, Russian, German, Spanish, and Italian and learned some Swedish. JQA attended Leiden University in the Netherlands and when he returned to Boston he went to Harvard. He “read the law” with a prominent Boston attorney and was admitted to the Bar. JQA was American Ambassador to six European countries, negotiated the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812. Served eight years as Secretary of State, engineered the annexation of Florida, and wrote the core provision of the Monroe Doctrine warning European’s never again to try to colonize the Western World. He also wrote the Constitution of Massachusetts. John Quincy Adams is considered by scholars to be the best diplomat this country has had to date.

As an attorney JQA defended the African prisoners of the Spanish slave ship Amistad. JQA argued they had been kidnapped and had a legal right to defend themselves and attempt to escape from their kidnappers. Adams successfully defended the case before the Supreme Court. The only unsuccessful period in the long history of JAQ was his presidency. I had learned in school it was because he was unable to relate to the people because he was too educated. Unger points out that JQA angered Andrew Jackson because he though Adams cheated him out of the presidency. Jackson created a new political party called Democrats or Jacksonian Democrats. Unger shows how they deliberately shut the government down so Adams was unable to have bills passed or appointments made. The only major accomplishment was he almost cleared the federal debt.

JQA is the only former President that went on to serve in Congress. JQA belonged to no political party. He served 16 years as the Senator from Massachusetts. When in Congress JQA defended Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase in his impeachment trial. Chase was accused of sedition and treason (high crimes and misdemeanors). Adams argued that the charges brought against Chase were indictable criminal acts—not political statements. He said “This is a party prosecution”. Adams defense of Chase proved the earliest significant defense of the first amendment. John Quincy obtained an acquittal of Chase and prevented an American President (Jefferson) from criminalizing political dissent. JQA ensured the founding of the Smithsonian Institution, from an endowment from a British Lord. He protected the principal and the institution can use the interest. He spurred the construction of a net work of astronomical observatories across the nation. Adams risked death by championing abolition and emancipation as a congressman.

John Quince Adams married Louisa Catherine Johnson, the daughter of an American diplomat/merchant and an English mother. She was born in London. They were married at the church of “All Hallows by the tower” in London. Louisa is the only first lady not to be born in the United States. In 1878 John Quincy Adam’s youngest son, Charles Frances Adams built the first memorial presidential library in the U.S. to honor his father. The library is located in Quincy Ma.

On the personal side I noted JQA suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life. Louisa had many miscarriages and suffered from migraine headaches. I noted she had bouts of depression starting when they lived in the White House. Apparently alcoholism ran in the family from Abigail’s side of the family. JQA brother’s died of it as did one of his sons. One son “read the law” with Daniel Webster. One of the things I observed in the book was both John Q and Louisa were prodigious readers and preferred to stay home and read. I noticed Unger pointed out that reading was considered a method of education in those days. I found this to be a most enjoyable book I learned so much from it about Adams, his family and general history of the time. Unger is a noted historian and an excellent writer. Johnny Heller did a good job narrating the book.

[Jay Schutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I fear I have done little good in the world and my life will end in disappointment of the good I would have done had I been permitted." This quote by John Quincy Adams about sums up his one-term presidency, but not his whole lifelong career.

Born into diplomacy as the oldest son of our second president, John Adams, John Quincy Adams would travel Europe extensively with his father while the elder Adams was serving the colonies as minister to many countries during the American Revolution. John Quincy would use this experience to become the American authority on European affairs and use his knowledge to become a very important international diplomat under presidents Madison and Monroe.

Adams' administration as the sixth president of the U.S. was hampered by the popularity of Gen. Andrew Jackson and his formation of the new Democratic party. Although the most qualified to become president, Adams was out of touch with the American people. His thoughts on American policy were ahead of his time and he accomplished very little as president. He did go on to spend 18 years in the House of Representatives and committed his life to bettering his country. He died on the House floor.

When I read books of this type I like to gain new bits of knowledge every time and learned of the workings of international and national governments from this book. It was extensively researched drawing from the many, many letters written by the Adams family members and also John Quincy's diary of 48 years. Very well done.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked that this biography wasn’t very long (384 pages, about 9 hours audio). It made for crisp reading, since Adams led an eventful life.

What a life. As a youth, he had a front row seat to the revolution and founding of the country. In his 70’s, as a Congressman and one of the fiercest anti-slavery voices out there, he saw the nation draw close to civil war.

When he was a young man, his father sent him this note:

You come into Life with Advantages which will disgrace you, if your success is mediocre.— And if you do not rise to the head not only of your Profession but of your Country it will be owing to your own Laziness Slovenliness and Obstinacy.

That is pretty harsh! But Adams met his family’s high expectations, steadily building accomplishments that would lead him to the Presidency. He led the negotiations to end the War of 1812, and more generally he was a consistent advocate for peace with the nations of Europe, even when it required him to take unpopular stands within his party.

His presidential term is one of the least interesting parts of his life. Nobody liked him and he was a crappy politician, so nothing happened those four years. Just kidding. Partly. I’m over simplifying, but that’s what it seemed like. In Unger’s own words “… although the best prepared Chief Executive in American history at the time, he was the least effective and the least popular, and he did not understand why…”

But then things got interesting again, as Adams decided to be a Congressman after his presidential term ended. He found his voice as a relentless foe of slavery. The most entertaining parts of the book were some of the stories of his scraps with southerners during his stint in Congress. His principled arguments against going to war with Mexico are also a highlight.

One more tidbit about Adams: he successfully argued 2 important cases against the Supreme Court, one case in 1809, and then in the Amistad case in 1841 where he defended the African slaves. He was actually offered a Supreme Court position in 1811 but declined.

The contrast between the intellectual Adams and his vulgar presidential successor Andrew Jackson is interesting. Adams hated Jackson, and one funny quote I’ll end with is what he said when he found out his alma matter Harvard was giving Jackson an honorary degree: “I would not be present to witness her disgrace in conferring her highest literary honors upon a barbarian who could not write a sentence of grammar and hardly could spell his own name.”

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harlow Giles Unger’s 2012 biography of John Quincy Adams sheds light on our sixth president in this well written, insightful history.

Unger describes the son of John Adams as a precocious and gifted young man who became acquainted with men of power and influence yet was able to hold his own as diplomat and scholar.

Adams is revealed as a fiercely independent, staunchly patriotic champion of the union who transcended partisan politics. In the 1824 election, that he won, he stubbornly (and somewhat naively) refused to actively campaign and was later soundly defeated by popular president Andrew Jackson. This loss was later rectified by his acceptance of his congressional district’s election to the House of Representatives and of his fiery oration against slavery in the House.

A very good biography and American history.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an extraordinary life!

A child prodigy, JQA was a classical scholar, prolific diarist, linguist, diplomat, world traveler, frustrated poet, patriot. From childhood, he was groomed by both illustrious parents for a high place in society.
"He was an aristocrat of an earlier generation, raised in an age of deference who spoke a rich language that ordinary people could seldom fathom, but in the end, they sensed that he spoke for their greater good and to protect their rights and freedoms."

This is such an eye-opening book about an largely obscure President who has become in most instances a footnote in history books. HG Unger has written a very approachable portrait of a man who was ahead of his time in some instances but did not fully understand his time. Unger paints a picture of a man of contradictions, eccentricities and foibles. He was a man of high principles who did not have the common in touch in a society that expected both from its leaders. John Quincy aspired to the Presidency but did not feel it was right to campaign for the position. Having attained the Presidency, he did not reach out to forge the relationships he needed to advance his agenda in Congress. After his defeat, after his tenure in that highest office, JQA finally found his unapologetic public voice when he became the gadfly of the House of Representatives, esp. on the issue of slavery.

There is so much I did not know about this amazing family!

[robin friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Further Look At John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams (1767 -- 1848), the sixth president, has been receiving increased attention in recent years through histories and biographies. I read Harlow Giles Unger's biography, "John Quncy Adams" as a result of a book-reading trade with a Goodreads friend. I had reviewed Fred Kaplan's 2015 biography, "John Quincy Adams: American Visionary" while my friend Jean had read Unger's book. We each agreed to read the other's book. Jean was first in fulfilling her part of the bargain. Kaplan's book, which Jean read, is lengthy and detailed while Unger's book moves along quickly. Unger has written many books on early American history geared to a broad audience.

The strength of Unger's book lies in its writing. His biography is lively and accessible with a good deal of particular detail and storytelling that helps the reader appreciate a frequently curmudgeonly figure and his place in his times. Unger offers a flowing account of JQA and the people in his life including his illustrious parents, John and Abigail Adams, his wife Louisa, his family, and the many political, international, and educational figures that were important in Adam's life and career.

JQA may have been the most intellectually gifted and highly educated person to hold the presidency. As Unger shows, he was driven by his parents to succeed from his earliest years; and, at a large emotional cost, he did. From a young age, Adams was a scholar of languages and literature and also had a great interest in scientific advancement. He was a companion of the intellectual and political elite from his teens. Spending much of his youth in Europe, JQA developed a flair for diplomacy. He spent many years as United States minister to Russia, for example, and was the lead American negotiator with Britain in ending the War of 1812. He served for eight years as Secretary of State under James Monroe and was instrumental in the development of the Monroe Doctrine before his highly-contested election to the presidency. By virtually all accounts, his presidency was unsuccessful. JQA remained in public life as a Congressman from Massachusetts and pursued an independent course. He attained renown for his opposition to the "gag" rule and to slavery.

Unger stresses JQA's autonomy and integrity which, together with his emotional temperament and stubbornness, made it difficult for him to function in the pragmatic world of party politics. In addition, Unger emphasizes that JQA's lifelong work with intellectual and cultural elites in diplomacy and education had given him little understanding of how to relate to ordinary Americans of his day. JQA's America was made of struggling farmers and tradespeople who had little use for Latin authors or for JQA's fascination with astronomy and the telescope. The qualities which made JQA a superb diplomat at the highest levels and a scholar were not the qualities that stood him in good stead as a popular leader. JQA remains an extraordinary person and as Kaplan's book emphasizes a "visionary" American leader who was both behind and ahead of his times. Americans still have much to learn from JQA and his wisdom, love of country, and rejection of faction.

It is valuable to study important figures that one admires from a variety of perspectives. Thus I enjoyed revisiting JQA with Unger just as I had learned from Kaplan and other students of JQA. It was rewarding for Jean and me to share our admiration for JQA by broadening our approaches and sharing books.

Robin Friedman

[***Dave Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

For most American political figures, the Presidency is the pinnacle of their career, the moment when ambition and power and opportunity rise to a great crescendo.

For John Quincy Adams, it was the low point, and nearly the end.

He was a child prodigy, and started off from a ridiculously early age hobnobbing (via his father) with some of the great names in Europe, and became a key member of America's nascent diplomatic corps throughout most of his younger adulthood, becoming Secretary of State (then a far more powerful position) under a president of a different party. He negotiated the Treaty of Ghent with the Brits, the annexation of Florida with Spain, and essentially crafted the "Monroe" Doctrine.

As President -- then the logical next step after Secretary of State -- JQA was something of a bust. He did not believe in campaigning for himself, his speeches were overly intellectual, and his election vs. Andrew Jackson was so close it had to go to the House of Representatives -- where an apparent deal with Henry Clay led to his victory -- and accusations of a political payoff that crippled his effectiveness, especially with Jacksonians gaining in power over his single administration.

His crushing defeat by Jackson should have been the end of his career -- but he ended up being tapped by his neighbors to run for Congress as a Representative ... and ended up winning, serving for the next 17 years until his death. And in the House he found his voice, becoming a lion on the issue of slavery, fighting vigorously against the "gag rule" that prevented the subject from being even raised in Congress, and defending the escaped slaves of the Amistad before the Supreme Court.

And, today, he's just remembered as a footnote, which is, given his career, hardly fair.

Unger definitely loves Adams, and portrays him as one of the greatest men in American history; even his failings are treated with care and defensiveness, far beyond what a figure like JQA needs. That said, he also gives a fine, thorough history of Adams' illustrious career, and if he's a rabid JQA partisan, he makes it an infectious affliction.

Johnny Heller's narration is dutiful, but uneven in tone. He does convey Unger's enthusiasm effectively, however.

A fine book about an underappreciated figure in American history, who spanned the years from watching the Battle of Bunker Hill at 7, to serving in Congress with (and counting as an ally) a young Abraham Lincoln. He deserves better than to be forgotten.

[Grumpus · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you liked John Adams, you'll love this one.

I cannot imagine the pressure he experienced in childhood of having to live up to the high expectations of his father. Surviving that to become a fast rising political star, to the US political zenith as president only to be viewed as inept & impotent due to an ugly election. Finally, peaking in his political career at the end of his life as an effective and ultimately revered and respected member of the House of Representatives made for an amazing biography with outstanding narration.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Thirty of my Presidential Challenge.

I really enjoyed Unger's book about James Monroe so I kept the party going with this one. Definitely not as good as that one, but still strong. I'm always a big fan of every President who was on the right side of slavery.

Quincy was basically the opposite of James Madison. Madison was super impressive before he was President, and then kind of a let down as President. Quincy was kind of a let down as President, and then very impressive after he left office.

Quincy was a one-termer who was devoted to making internal improvements like roads and a national bank and was obsessed with Astronomy. I always got the impression that he was a little too smart for the room. He never really understood why people would disagree with him when he was right. Remind you of anybody? (coughObamacough)

After getting ousted from office by Presidential Piece of Shit Andrew Jackson, Quincy was elected to the House of Representatives. He went on to vigorously oppose slavery (most famously in the Amistad trial), established the Smithsonian Institute and helped bring an end to the Nullification Crisis following the Tariff of 1828.

Quincy was a good guy who governed like an adult who doesn't get enough credit today. Being responsible is rarely popular at the time but hopefully future generations will look to him as a model of how to do so.

[Colleen Browne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first biography I have read of John Quincy Adams and I must admit I was very disappointed by it. It is a narrative, lacking in any critical examination of Adams life. Most of the major events in Adams life are skimmed over leaving the reader with little more than a very brief acquaintance with the varied aspects of the life of this important and mostly forgotten man. Unger passes judgment on the man but doesn't explain the basis upon which the judgment was made. I will be looking for a better bio of Adams. This book was very easy reading but almost read like it was written for a junior high audience.

[Aaron Million · Rating 2 out of 5]

John Quincy Adams had an incredible life. The son of a Founding Father, he grew up steeped in the Revolution and was present, from a young age, at many important points in history. A distinguished diplomat, well-traveled and well-read, elected to both houses of Congress, and of course President for a single term. Unfortunately, this isn't the book to bring him to life. Marred by numerous inaccuracies and lack of context, Harlow Giles Unger's effort is not very good.

After reading his disastrous biography of James Monroe, I thought I would give Unger another chance (that, and I had already bought this book prior to reading the Monroe biography). While not nearly as biased as the Monroe book, Unger still displays a startling lack of getting the facts straight and of explaining context behind Adams' actions and the places/times/events which surrounded him.

I will start with what Unger does a serviceable job of. He admires Adams but is not fawning. He frequently mentions how he was often a "grouch" and how insensitive he sometimes was to his wife Louisa Catherine. He dragged her all over Europe, and then up and down the U.S. East coast between Boston and Washington D.C. Unger notes how she felt estranged from him and tried to remove some of his dourness but to no avail. Unger is good here in showing Louisa's efforts and suffering.

Also, late in the book, Unger actually takes the time to chronicle Adams' involvement in the Amistad case where he argued on behalf of Africans who were forced into slavery and then killed the captain of the slave ship they had been put on. Adams worked the case pro bono and spent several hours over the course of two days arguing before the Supreme Court, one dominated by Southerners. Yet he won the case with the force and logic of his arguments. Unger spends several pages on this, and it comes out well. I am not sure why he didn't do that with most of the rest of Adams' life.

Littered throughout the book are factual errors. Also there are times where Unger does get a fact correct, but says it in such a way without providing context that the manner in which he writes leaves a misleading impression. On page 80, he writes that Thomas Jefferson resigned as Secretary of State from George Washington's Cabinet. This is true, Jefferson did resign. But Unger makes it seem as if Washington wanted Jefferson to leave. That is not correct - Washington tried to get Jefferson to stay on.

Sometimes Unger got peoples' positions incorrect. On page 82, he calls John Jay the "former Chief Justice". But at this point in the timeline, summer 1794, Jay was still the Chief Justice. He had not yet resigned. On page 95, Unger mentions "John Randolph" being replaced as Secretary of State. Well, Edmund Randolph was replaced, but John Randolph never held that position (he was a Senator from Virginia). On page 172, there is a picture of Monroe with a caption underneath it: "Secretary of State James Monroe named John Quincy Adams minister to Russia...". No, that was President James Madison, not Monroe.

I found many dates that were incorrect as well. On page 86, Adams is twenty-seven when first named Minister to Holland. But four pages later, with no time elapsing, he is suddenly twenty-nine. On page 146, Unger writes "On March 4, 1808, three days after James Madison had taken his oath as fourth President of the United States...". A few things wrong with this one. First, Madison was not inaugurated until March 4, 1809. Second, this would imply that he became President on March 1, which was not possible then as presidential terms began on March 4.

There were a few other inaccuracies late in the book. On page 305, Unger says that President John Tyler "declined to run for a second term...". Wrong. Tyler tried to get the nomination of both the Whigs and the Democrats but failed as he had alienated both parties by that point. He didn't so much decline as he was forced to accept that he was a President without a party. Finally, on the next page he writes about Abraham Lincoln being in Congress in February 1847 when Adams returns to the House after a stroke. One problem: Lincoln's term did not begin until December 1847 given how the Congressional sessions worked in those days.

I do not understand how Unger managed to get so many facts incorrect. I'm not looking for perfection - none of us have that and no book has that. But these are lazy and needless errors. It makes me think that Unger did not fact-check items before putting them into his work. And if you cannot trust what the author writes to be accurate, then why read the book to begin with?

[Alan Tomkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unger writes some of the most enjoyable and edifying biographies and histories I've had the pleasure to read. After reading this particular biography, I believe I have found my political ideal in JQA. Grossly under appreciated by most Americans, he was truly the people's representative in government and public service. Highly educated, he possessed a first rate intellect and an incomparable devotion to public service inculcated by his parents, John and Abigail Adams. His life was rich, full, and fascinating. Though he did not possess the common touch that populists exploit so adroitly, he was the rare politician who lacked guile and toiled unceasingly in the interests of his country, which he loved with all his heart. After losing his presidential re-election bid to the vulgar, hot headed Andrew Jackson, JQA went on to serve in the House of Representatives for the next eighteen years, loudly and defiantly demanding abolition of slavery and universal suffrage for African Americans and women. He was generations ahead of his time. Eventually he died on the floor of the House. This book is a great and uplifting read. I highly recommend it.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Quincy Adams was the amazingly gifted son of John and Abigail Adams. From the time Quincy was very young his parents directed his education, insisting, for example, that, at age seven, he read Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War in the original Greek. When John Adams was appointed by Congress as a commissioner to France, he took Quincy – now ten years old - with him. By age thirteen, Quincy was attending a university in Europe and consorting with lawyers, professors, diplomats, and scholars. At age fourteen, he was invited as translator to accompany Francis Dana, the new Russian minister, to the court of Empress Catherine II. Dana spoke no French, but Quincy was proficient in it, among other languages. While the two waited in St. Petersburg to be granted access to Russian officials, Quincy spent his time reading history, economics, poetry, and taught himself to read and write German. Later he became something of an honorary son of Thomas Jefferson.

This was a boy who grew up in rarified company to become a brilliant, eloquent, forward-looking man who was, therefore, as America’s sixth President, unfortunately out of touch with the rest of the American nation. Quincy tried to promote civic improvement, but the Americans pushing out the frontiers of the young country were more interested in bettering their own lots. His pleas for expenditures to upgrade infrastructure and improve commerce and manufacturing fell on deaf ears. His advocacy of programs to promote “the advancement of literature, and the progress of the sciences” elicited contempt.

Quincy was particularly ridiculed by his dumb-and-proud-of-it political rival Andrew Jackson, who quite successfully wore his lack of education as a point of pride. (This is only one of many parallels in this book to the contemporary political scene.) As Unger writes:

…the majority of Americans… developed a deep resentment for the Harvard scholar who suggested he knew better than they what they needed to know and what they needed to do. They wanted less government, not more. They would read and learn what they liked – or not.”

Andrew Jackson took every opportunity to stoke political dissatisfaction with Quincy. He was furious with him for – as he saw it – having stolen the election from him. The Presidential race in 1824 initially had no clear victor: the votes were split among Jackson, Quincy, Henry Clay of Virginia, and William Crawford of Georgia.

It happened that Quincy and Henry Clay were friends, and shared political ideals. The two met up, and they decided that Clay would toss his delegates’ votes in for Quincy. Upon winning, Quincy then announced that Clay would be Secretary of State. According to the author, there is no evidence it was a direct trade, and in fact, much evidence that it was rather a natural selection by Quincy, but Jackson and his party never forgave Quincy for "buying" the office that should have gone to Jackson. Moreover, they resolved to obstruct him in the Congress at every step of the way in his presidency. (…yet more echoes of contemporary events.) Unger writes:

Calling themselves Democrats, the new party [of Jackson followers] set out from the first to cripple John Quincy’s administration and ensure his departure after one term. John Quincy tried to forestall the inevitable by offering Jackson a cabinet post as secretary of war, but Jackson all but laughed in his face and refused even to consider serving an administration he was determined to bring down.”

After Quincy’s inevitable defeat to Jackson in 1828, he was prepared to live a life of semi-retirement, but got elected to Congress. He dove into the work whole-heartedly, and soon became a staunch advocate of the abolitionist cause. This too, was an uphill battle ahead of its time. The 24th Congress(1835 – 1837) responded to Quincy’s efforts by instituting the infamous “Gag Rule” in 1836 that resolved:

All petitions, memorials, propositions, or papers, relating in any way, or to any extent whatsoever, to the subject of slavery or the abolition of slavery shall, without being either printed or referred, be laid on the table, and that no further action whatever shall be had thereon.”

Quincy went on the road to defend himself and freedom of speech to the American people, a step he never took while President. He appealed to church leaders to aid him with the abolitionist cause, calling slavery “a sin before the sight of God.” They responded by inundating Congress with petitions:

During the 1837-1838 session alone, the American Antislavery Society sent the House 130,200 petitions, with untold thousands of names, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; 32,000 petitions to abolish the Gag Rule; 21,200 to forbid slavery in U.S. territories; 22,160 against admitting any new slave states; and 23,160 to abolish the slave trade between states.”

In 1840, Quincy, aged 73, took time out to appear pro bono before the Supreme Court for the defense of the thirty-six Amistad Africans who had been abducted into slavery. The slaves broke their chains, killed the captain and three crewmen, and overpowered the rest of the crew, ordering them to sail for Africa. Unfortunately for the captives, the crew sailed for America instead. The Africans were imprisoned for piracy and murder, and their case was brought to court by abolitionists.

In the Supreme Court, Quincy’s argument delivered on the 24th of February and 1st of March, 1841 had spectators in tears. On March 9, 1841, the Court declared, with only one dissent, “There does not seem to us to be any ground for doubt that these Negroes ought to go free.”

John Quincy continued to serve in Congress, finally collapsing while at his desk and dying two days later on February 23, 1848.

Discussion: One cannot help but admire this brilliant and misunderstood man; this profound patriot, who preferred to face the slings and arrows of his detractors rather than take a position in violation of his principles solely because it would align him with a popular party or faction. [Would that Thomas Jefferson have displayed the same thick skin and intellectual honesty!] He did not demur from making his opinion of slavery known, and from trying to get legislation passed to ensure that “the first and holiest rights of humanity [will not] depend upon the color of the skin”:

It perverts human reason … to maintain that slavery is sanctioned by the Christian religion, that slaves are happy and contented in their condition, that between master and slave there are ties of mutual attachment and affection, that the virtues of the master are refined and exalted by the degradation of the slave; while at the same time they vent execrations upon the slave trade, curse Britain for having given them slaves, burn at the stake Negroes convicted of crimes for the terror of the example, and writhe in agonies of fear at the very mention of human rights as applicable to men of color. …[T]he bargain between freedom and slavery contained in the Constitution of the United States is morally and politically vicious, inconsistent with the principles upon which alone our Revolution can be justified….”

Evaluation: John Quincy Adams is remarkably unfamiliar to modern Americans considering his brilliance, courage, and contributions to early American government and diplomacy. Unger does an excellent job, as usual, in making this biography readable and consistently interesting. This is the author's twentieth book and sixth biography of a major Founding Father and I have yet to be disappointed in any book I have read by him. He is not only a former Distinguished Visiting Fellow in American History at Mount Vernon, but also a journalist and broadcaster, which I think gives him a good feel for how to present history in an entertaining way.

[Andy Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book that gives details about a President we have heard of but know little about. The excitement of Adams' early life contrasts greatly with our present day dour picture of him. During the Revolutionary War, he crossed the Atlantic with his father where they were almost captured by the British. He then spent years in Europe, many on his own including an extended stay in Sweden where he spent much time with the girls in the Sweden court's social life--refusing to leave until his dad finally fetched him away. When he returned he was rejected by Harvard for arbitrary reasons and had to study for a year before finally gaining admission.

Adams' contrarian nature is shown in the chapters on his service as United States senator from Massachusetts where he crossed his fellow Federalist Senators from New England to routinely support Thomas Jefferson.

The author, Harlow Unger, describes Adams' later work in Europe including a turn as Ambassador to Russia and his work with Henry Clay among others in negotiating the treaty that ended the War of 1812. The book also describes his work as Secretary of State and his participation in the development and writing of the Monroe Doctrine.

If I had a disappointment in the book it would be the rather cavalier treatment of Adams' election as President and his term in office. While his Presidency can not be described as a success and Unger presents an interesting thesis that it was due to Democrats in Congress under Andrew Jackson deliberately trying to make him fail -the book largely ignores Adams' use of the federal government to make internal improvements such as canal and avoids the National Bank issue during his term

But the book comes alive again when Adams' life turns to its highlight, his leadership in the fight against slavery. There is a great section on his efforts in front of the United States Supreme Court and even more compelling was his years long fight against the gag rule which prohibited Congressional discussion of slavery and his opposition to the annexation of Texas due to slavery. The book describes not only his skill in these efforts but also his courage against political ostracism and physical danger

This is a great read about a fascinating American President that we know too little about

[Caroline]

I already admired John Quincy Adams on the basis of Howe’s What Hath God Wrought; now I have an even higher opinion of him. As well as despair at a fatal character flaw that doomed his one-term presidency and contributed to the election of a president at least tied for the worst ever: Andrew Jackson. Although Clay has to bear at least part of the burden; they both should have known what Clay’s support of Adams in the contested election and Adams appointment of Clay as Secretary of State would lead to.

Still, the man was amazing. He started his diplomatic career as a teenager and never stopped as a public servant until he dropped dead on the floor of Congress over 50 years later. He was a deft negotiator, a scholar, a linguist, a fine constitutional lawyer, a supporter of the sciences, a proponent of a strong government role in expanding transportation routes and education, and in his final years a passionate opponent of slavery and a wily Congressional debater. He was just too much of an idealist early in his career in elective politics to be effective. (In fact, it is really hard to believe that after decades in the courts of Europe he could be so naive, even if willfully.) This is the man who successfully defended the Amistad slaves before the Supreme Court, decided the course of the Smithsonian Institution, exceeded all other Americans in his knowledge of European politics, and generally equalled if not exceeded the other politicians of his age, even if his presidency was a failure.

The Library of America is issuing a special new edition of his diaries next year, and it is tops of my ‘to-buy’ list. The man saw everything and knew everybody. He saw the Battle of Bunker Hill as a boy, he was Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia when Napoleon marched on the city, he dined with Jefferson, Lafayette, etc etc etc. He kept the diary from the time he was about 12 to only days before his death. It will be a treat.

Also coming up, a novel about his wife set during her journey on her own in dead winter from Moscow to join him in Paris, just as Napoleon is marching north after landing from Elba. She put up with a lot. Their life was spectacular, but also a never-ending sequence of tragedies for their own children and their relatives.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not know much about John Quincy Adams except for the fact that he was president of the United States, and that he argued the Amistad case before the Supreme Court, winning the kidnapped African's their freedom. What I discovered was that he was a true genius, a man who saw far beyond his time and paid the price for it. Adams was fluent in several European languages including Dutch, French, and Russian. Due to this fact and other aspects of his intelligence, he first served his country in diplomacy securing international recognition for the new American nations and favorable trade relations for its industries.

His presidency was unsuccessful due to the fact that he was a true minority president, receiving fewer popular and electoral votes than his main rival and successor Andrew Jackson. However, due to the fact that no candidate for the presidency got a majority of the electoral votes, the election was thrown into the House of Representatives, where a deal was reached with Henry Clay to give Adams the office. However, while president, he was never respected. Jackson used the accusation that Adams had made a dishonorable deal to gain the White House to discredit and thwart Adams.

After losing to Jackson in 1828, Adams was elected to the House of Representatives from Massachusetts practically without opposition where he immediately threw himself into the growing slave controversy much to the outrage of the Southern congressmen who tried, unsuccessfully to censure and dismiss him from the House.

Adams' success in the Amistad trial was in many ways the first battle of the Civil War and the precursor to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. (Lincoln in his only term in the House served with Adams in his final term.) Adams literally died on the House floor fighting the Amistad case when he opposed the claims Spain made against the United States in regards to their lost "property" (the freed Africans).

Harlow Unger's book is very accessible. He acquainted me not only with the man but the times in which he lived. I now have a respect for John Quincy Adams that I did not have before.

[Barbara Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite my lifelong love of American history and politics, I knew very little about John Quincy Adams. Oh of course I knew that he was the first son of a president to become president himself and I knew that he died serving in the House of Representatives. That last bit should have alerted me to the fact that this was a most unusual man; can you imagine any of the presidents in recent memory to serve afterward in the House? Anyway, that little tidbit somehow just passed right over me.

Now I know that his real service to this country came before and after his undistinguished presidency. He had a long career in the foreign service, learning as he traveled with his father throughout Europe on diplomatic missions. His mother and father were very hard on him, making him study a classical education seriously and then restudy to enter Harvard. He became a scholar and excellent diplomat, but wasn't able to reach down to the level of the common man. Washington habitues thought of him as a snob and they weren't wrong.

I hadn't realized that alcoholism ran in his mother (Abigail's) family so many of the Adams sons were lost to that disease and were a constant thorn in the side of John Quincy. He supported them and tried all his life to help them.

Ironically, after his presidency he discovered that he actually liked campaigning and realized his true love of politics. To his wife's despair, he threw himself into his work for the House and to the despair of his colleagues, he became passionate about bringing an end to slavery.

As a child, John Quincy sat with his mother on a hill near their home and witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill. He died in 1860 shortly before the Civil War. Imagine all that this one man who was so deeply involved with our government witnessed and took part in during his long life. That and the highly readable prose of the author make this one fascinating look at our history and a man who led a life one can only dream about. I won't overlook him again.

Source: gift from a friend
Highly recommended reading

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

'You must have one great purpose of existence... to make your talents and your knowledge most beneficial to your country and most useful to mankind.'

- John Quincy Adams, 'To my children'

One of the most accomplished diplomats in the history of the world, JQA not only witnessed a number of landmark events in American history, he actively participated in a lot of them. With a mastery of several foreign languages, 50+ years of civil service in a variety of governmental functions including the US presidency, a poet, a champion of human rights and scientific progress, we can only hope to witness such a man grace our era.

As for the argument that he was a bad president, one must consider the opposition he was facing in Congress & the Senate, and how they did their best to gum up the works for him.

When compared with some of the other biographies I've read recently, this 313-page book is relatively short, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The author keeps things moving without sacrificing any of John Quincy Adams' civil service career and many accomplishments, as well as his integrity and devotion to his family, making this book a quite fascinating read, without getting bogged down in the tedious minutiae that most readers can do without. If someone really wants to learn more about any part of JQA's life & accomplishments, there are enough books out there for that. Personally, this book for ideal for me - although I will be checking out Mr. Adams's Last Crusade: The Extraordinary Post-presidential Life of John Quincy Adams.

This biography is a fascinating, compulsive read, and highly recommended!

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

He left the presidency to excel in the House of Representatives

I did not know very much about John Quincy Adams before listening to this audible book. But now having heard of his life I am most impressed with his accomplishments. At a time when political parties were just beginning to dominate the American scene, he maintained his independence regardless of its consequences. He became president by wresting the office from Andrew Jackson which led to a very inconsequential one term presidential career. However he reached the height of his career when he was elected following his presidency to the house of representatives as a progress person from his hometown of Quincy Massachusetts. He began immediately to be A most consequential figure in promoting science and education and anti-slavery. He was notorious in asserting his rights of free speech in the House of Representatives fighting the imposition of the Gag Rule in the house for years. Evidently his presidency was a failure because he failed to connect with the people when the populism of Andrew Jackson was preeminent but his success as a congressperson was a result of his becoming a voice of the people. My giving five stars do this book is as much because of my appreciation for the protagonist as for the quality of the writing.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Quincy Adams is a fascinating look at the life of the 6th President of the United States. And, the impression I get from the book is that, of a political career that lasted basically two thirds of a century, the Presidency was his least successful job. At age 14, Adams was named secretary to Francis Dana on a diplomatic mission to Russia (ca. 1782), and, after the Presidency, he served as a much loved and much hated member of the House of Representatives for 17 years, until his death in 1848.

JQA bridged the Revolutionary (personally viewing the Battle of Bunker/Breed's Hill), Early (having been appointed Minister to the Netherlands by George Washington) and Pre-Civil War (being a vocal voice for Abolition and serving in Congress with Abraham Lincoln) eras in United States history.

Perhaps the book was a little high on the "Praise to Criticism" scale, but Adams was an important and unique individual.

[Sean O · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pretty impressed about this readable overview of John Quincy Adams. He saw the Battle of Bunker Hill, became a secretary to the US Minister to Russia at age 14, and continued his public service to his dying day. He knew George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and most of the presidents in between.

The story was very readable, I have no idea how scholarly it is, but I enjoyed it. I’ll probably read Unger’s other books, especially if it’s as pleasantly written.

[Dkovlak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very good. It was a very detailed and an accurate depiction of a great man. I never realized how many good things he did while he was alive. Unfortunately, he is known for his presidency which was not one filled with accomplishment.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a gooood book. Eye opening for me.

[MBJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Quincy Adams's presidency seems barely a footnote in history, yet his legacy as a statesman, negotiator, congressman and abolitionist place him high in the pantheon of American giants. In this fast-paced and well-written biography, Harlow Giles Unger focuses on the greatness of the man, but does not neglect to underscore the reasons for the failure of his presidency.

Yes, John Quincy Adams was impotent as president, but his ineffectiveness was certainly not for want of qualification. Before becoming president, he served with distinction as a diplomat to several countries, negotiated the end to the War of 1812, served as a U.S. Senator, and later as Secretary of State to President Monroe, not to mention the time he spent in the tutelage of his father, John Adams, the second President of the United States. John Quincy Adams was a great admirer of George Washington, and as a child, was privy to many discussions between his father and the Nation's first president.

In fact, the presidency of John Quincy Adams placed him squarely between the generation of the Founding Fathers and the new era of Jacksonian democrats. Adams was worldly, highly educated, and well traveled, yet as President he was completely out of touch with the American electorate. He remained oblivious to the new reality that Andrew Jackson would seize upon; namely, that partisan politics were here to stay.

In the election of 1824, Jackson won the popular vote but was short of the necessary votes to win in the electoral college. Henry Clay, who had come in fourth place in the race, threw his support to Adams, giving Adams the victory. Adams subsequently named Clay Secretary of State, an office at the time viewed as a logical path to the presidency. It was an appointment that Jackson greatly coveted, and to which, as the winner of the popular vote, he felt somewhat entitled.

Jackson immediately seized upon the appointment as proof that Adams and Clay had colluded to deny Jackson the presidency, calling it a "corrupt bargain". Today such horse-trading in politics is commonplace. But in 1824, this "corrupt bargain" would come back to haunt Adams, as Jackson continued to excoriate Adams for unethically ascending to the highest office in the land. Jackson went on to forge the Democratic Party and toppled Adams from the presidency in 1828.

The irony in this turn of events is that, any bargain aside, Clay was Adams' most logical choice for Secretary of State. In the 1824 election, both men were strong proponents of federal funding for expansion of infrastructure, public roads and canals. Jackson, on the other hand, was completely at odds with this policy, maintaining that such powers were reserved to the states. Adams thought Jackson uncouth and uneducated, and it was unlikely that Adams would ever have chosen Jackson to handle foreign affairs in his administration. Nonetheless, Adams was never able during his presidency to shake off the taint of the "corrupt bargain" accusation.

Drawing from Adam's voluminous diaries, Unger captures the despondency of Adams during his presidency. Adams sensed his ineffectiveness and ultimately " . . .refused to lead or fight". Thus his presidency languished for four years. Living instead an almost pastoral existence, Adams withdrew into a routine of reading, writing poetry, and frequently going for swims in the Potomac.

As Unger demonstrates, some of the ideas Adams proffered as President were ahead of his time. During the 1828 election, for example, Jackson ridiculed Adams for suggesting that the federal government should fund research institutions and create observatories. As the Jacksonians scoffed, Adams aspired to put "lighthouses in the sky". But years later in the U.S. House of Representatives, Adams would chair a committee that spearheaded the establishment of one of the most enduring science and research facilities in the U.S. – the Smithsonian Institute.

By the end of his presidency, Adams deemed his career all but over; but, to the contrary, he only grew in stature once he left office. Returning to his private law practice, Adams took on pro bono and prevailed in one of the most famous cases ever argued in the U.S. Supreme Court. United States v. The Amistad involved the fate of kidnapped Africans who mutinied on a Spanish slave ship, killing the captain and some of the crew. They were subsequently tried in an American court. The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling that the confinement of these individuals was illegal and that in procuring their freedom they had acted in self-defense.

Adams went on to serve as a congressman from Massachusetts for 17 years, gaining much greater acclaim than he ever did as president. Taking up the cause of abolition with great passion, he was, " . . .unstoppable - a meteor spiraling out of control in the political firmament". His colleagues remained far more interested in enforcing a gag order against any discussion of slavery than they were in listening to his arguments or the petitions he read on behalf of abolitionists. Adams correctly predicted that the failure to resolve the conflict of slavery would lead to the dissolution of the nation and eventually to war.

Adams life spanned 11 presidencies, from George Washington to James Polk. He served in the Washington administration as a diplomat, and almost half a century later, he served in the House of Representatives along with Abraham Lincoln, a great admirer of Adams. Nearly a century later, he would again be admired by a future president: John Kennedy dedicated his first essay of Profiles in Courage to John Quincy Adams in his role as U.S. senator.

Unger's book draws heavily from Adams' prodigious and eloquently written dairies. In so doing, we learn of many intimate moments and thoughts of the sixth president. We also benefit from rare glimpses into the personalities and private lives of other luminaries of his time, including his distinguished parents, President John Adams and First Lady Abigail Adams.

Indefatigable, Adams carried on in the service of his country until the age of 80, when he collapsed on the floor of the House Chamber after rising to speak. Two days later, he died in the Capitol Building. By then, the public's faith in him had long been restored, and, in Unger's words, he ". . .emerged as one of the most revered luminaries of the Western world."

As a president, John Quincy Adams has appropriately been relegated to the ranks of the obscure. But it would be unfair to his legacy to let him founder there. Unger's fine biography appropriately elevates and pays tribute to the service and courage of this remarkable figure.

[Chip Lichtenwalner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before this reading (listening technically) to this book, I would not have been able to tell a single thing about John Quincy Adams, even that he had been president. Unger paints a striking portrait of the man and has made certain that I won't forget Adams and will remember him along with the likes of Jefferson, Lincoln, and Washington. The son of one of the founding fathers, John Adams, John Quincy was instructed by his parents and impressed upon him the hopes for greatness. With much time spent abroad, both when he was younger and his career as a diplomat for the still new United States, John Quincy was exposed to life around the world all over Europe and was fluent in several languages. The book left the impression that J.Q. Adams was a brilliant person, as well as a accomplished diplomat, easily forging personal ties with world leaders, such as the Russians and heightening the view of the United States in the eyes of other nations. Throughout his time as diplomat and president, there were constant upheavals worldwide, with nearly continuous fighting between the France and the United Kingdom. These conflicts hit the shores in the United States, as Francophiles and Anglophiles fought to push America to support one power over the other, while Adams followed the precedent of Washington to maintain America as a neutral country. It is a little amusing to read that there were movements for the North to secede.

Throughout his life, John Quincy Adams refused to align himself with any political party, resulting in him often coming under fire from both parties. Although his presidency was marred by this inability to accomplish much of anything, it was after his one-term that his true career in government began as a member in the House of Representatives where he courageously turned his attention to slavery, refusing to be censored by the House, which had a majority of Southern (And Slave-owner) states. The house moved to limit his influence, by limiting what committees he served on, placing him in ones where he would be unlikely to have influence, such as Manufacturing, rather than on foreign affairs, which is what he spent most of his life on. It is amazing to think that for a time, the legislative branch would not even allow slavery to be brought up in session. Adams, undeterred, found whatever loopholes he could to resist the rules. Which tells just how vicious politics has always been, and there are always groups willing to defend something that is indefensible. Also, something I wasn't aware of was how slave-owing states could use the number of slaves to count towards their population, thus allowing more representation in congress. Seems totally legit, right? Hearing some of the arguments put forth by southern representatives regarding Quincy Adams and slavery puts me further disturbed by modern "Southern pride" with the confederate flag and the idea that it was all about states rights and the war of northern aggression.

The book gives a balanced view of his personal life as well, with periods of distance and depression that hurt his relationship with his wife, as well as spur of the moment decisions, such as his decision to reenter public life in congress. John Quincy was committed to his country and of doing what he felt was ultimately right, regardless of who agreed or disagreed with him. This life also led to him experience years of distance from his children, which both he and his wife found troubling at times. He also had to recover from the death of some of his children, the most heartbreaking being the death of his infant daughter, when the Adams', as his writing attests to, had been so excited and joyed at the birth of a girl after multiple boys.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to think of another statesman who could rival John Quincy Adams in American history, for the breadth and length of his political career if nothing else. The fact that his term as President was perhaps the least significant and eventful period in his life tells you something about the remarkable times he lived in and the part he played in them. From his beginnings serving under Washington to his end alongside Lincoln, there is surely no man other than the Founding Fathers who best epitomises America in its early years.

John Quincy Adams saw it all - living through the Revolution as a child, watching the battle at Bunker Hill with his mother; serving as his father's secretary during Adams Senior's time as American ambassador in Paris; beginning his career in the diplomatic service under Charles Dana in St Petersburg; his own career as ambassador in Holland, Germany, Russia and Britain; chief negotiator in ending the War of 1812; his time in the Senate and later most notably as a congressman, speaking out courageously for free speech and against slavery; and oh yes, President of the United States as well. Any one of those would have been to his lasting credit but to combine all in the body of one man is quite extraordinary - it is almost beyond comprehension why his life and career seems to have been so neglected by history and posterity.

With such a subject it would be hard to write a biography that was anything less than utterly engrossing, and my one criticism of this one is that I wished it was longer. A mere 400 pages hardly does this man justice, and some sections feel rushed, almost incomplete. I think this book would more than adequately serve as an introduction to John Quincy Adam's life and career, but being so condensed I can hardly consider it a definitive account.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive and easy to read biography of one of the most accomplished public servants in American history. Adams's many accomplishments are many times overlooked as a result of his failed presidency. His successes as a diplomat are unmatched. He negotiated the Treay oif Ghent ending the War of 1812 on favorable terms. As Secretary of State secured the acquistion of Florida from Spain, and was a principal author of the Monroe Doctrine. He greatest accomplishment may have been as Congressman after his presidency. He fought persisently against he Gag Rule in the House of Representives against detemined opposition and personal threats and finally won. He promoted the abolitionists' cause speaking elequently in the cause of freedom. Before his death he enjoyed wide spread popularity and respect arevered His fellow citizens turned out by the thousands to mourn his death. This excellant biography should give us a better apprecaiton of a most remarkable and courageous man.

[Brian Cajes · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I am under no apprehension about his proficiency in learning. With his capacities and and opportunities he can not fail to acquire knowledge. But let him know that the sentiments of his heart are more important than the furniture of his head. Let him be sure that he possesses the great virtue of temperance, justice, magnanimity, honor, and generosity, and with these added to his parts, he cannot fail to become a wise and great man.” - John Adams about his son John Quincy Adams. Arguably the most intelligent president in U.S. history, John Quincy Adams often failed to connect with the people, often putting knowledge above other virtues during his presidency. It was only after a lot of hard lessons and after his presidency that an older and wiser John Quincy Adams was acclaimed for his fight against slavery. It is interesting to see how his life progressed, and how prophetic his father was in his concern that his son would put intellect and knowledge over virtues of the heart.

[Dee Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audible.com 9 hours 45 min. Narrated by Johnny Heller (A)
A fascinating account of a most remarkably accomplished man who gave his compete ilfe in the belief the United States was the greatest republic, indesovable and the hope of freedom for all its citizens. After being defeated for a second term as President, John Quincy Adams agreed to return to Washington and the Capitol as a Representative with the burning desire to finish the job his father John Adams had tasked him with as boy. I'm surprised that JQA'S record as arepresentative supporting the abolition of slavery and his foreknowledge that issue of slavery would indeed divide the country and end in a great war is not given more attention. Adams is yet another great leader whose devotion to duty cost him most of his famiy. This is another biography I will be buying for my grandsons.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography, by Harlow Giles Unger, was on the short side, and it's unabashedly laudatory. John Quincy comes off as a man who's hard not to admire unambiguously; you will have to scrutinize Unger's biography carefully to find any flaws in the man. (His most glaring flaw seems to have been that he was too principled for the presidency.) It took a while for me to warm up to Unger's writing, which for the first half of the book is thorough but neither deep nor particularly opinionated, and read like an extended Wikipedia-level information dump. However, as Unger becomes increasingly admiring, I got caught up in his praise for John Quincy, especially in the final act, where the ex-president returned to Congress (the only former president ever to do so) and gleefully became a gadfly and anti-slavery crusader against the growing power of the South.

John Quincy Adams was the eldest son of second president John Adams, who lived to see John Quincy occupy the White House himself. At the age of 9, he rode as a courier from his home in Braintree, Massachusetts to carry messages to the American revolutionary army. At the age of 10, he was studying Greek and Latin. At the age of 11, he sailed with his father to Europe. While the elder Adams never saw battle, John Quincy saw his father arming himself and preparing to fight to the death as their vessel was nearly intercepted by British warships, who would have hung John senior and impressed John Quincy.

While in London and France, John Quincy spent a lot of time at the home of Thomas Jefferson, and the two of them remained friends even while Jefferson and the senior Adams spent years estranged.

Having spent years in Europe with his father, John Quincy returned to Boston at the age of 17, where he tested for admittance to Harvard.

Even in 1785, Harvard had a tradition of legacy admissions. It turns it out it also already had a tradition of self-important academics who sometimes reveled in the petty power they exercised. John Quincy's suave, European manners and his expectation that admission to Harvard for the son of a VIP alumnus was merely a formality rubbed the president of the college the wrong way, and he summarily declared that the young man was not qualified. Adams was forced to spend a year hitting the books and being tutored some more. When he was examined again, this time before a committee, the president grudgingly admitted him.

If you're looking for flaws in the younger Adams, you can see one of them manifesting here. He just assumed that being educated, highly qualified, and knowing what he was talking about would be recognized and appreciated and earn him his just due. It did not occur to him that some people don't like hoity-toity know-it-alls. This would not be the first time he would make this mistake.

After graduating Harvard, Adams initially avoided politics and opened a law practice. But President Washington asked him to go to the Netherlands as U.S. ambassador. John and Abigail Adams, who were always pushing their son to live up to their considerable expectations for him, talked him into accepting.

They were less pleased when while spending a winter in London, John Quincy spent time with a wealthy American merchant named Joshua Johnson, who had seven daughters he was anxious to marry off. They expected JQ to hook up with the eldest, but instead he proposed to the second daughter, Louisa.

Abigail Adams, upon hearing that her son was engaged, said:

"I would hope, for the love I bear my country, that the siren is at least half blood."

Louisa was born in London and had grown up in England and France, which made her British as far as the Adamses were concerned.

(Louisa would become the first, and until Melania Trump, the only First Lady not to have been born in the United States.)

Abigail's comment probably sounds harsher than was intended, since Abigail, like her husband, had a wry wit that I think often did not come across very well. But reading between the lines (and from what I have gleaned in other biographies), the Adams family might have been warm and personable once you got to know them, but they struck outsiders as humorless Puritan scolds with a stick up their asses, and Louisa definitely started out as an outsider. She had a better relationship with her mother-in-law later in life, but she definitely did not feel as if the family embraced her at first.

It didn't help that immediately after their wedding, John Quincy and Louisa returned home to find angry creditors waiting for them. It turned out that Louisa's father, deeply in debt, had fled the country, leaving his creditors demanding payment from his new son-in-law. Since Adams didn't get his promised dowry, he could have legally annulled the marriage. He didn't, but Louisa felt the humiliation of this incident for the rest of her life.

Then President Washington sent word that John Quincy was to become the new U.S. ambassador to Portugal. No sooner had they packed and shipped off most of their household goods to Lisbon than the newly-elected President Adams sent him to Prussia instead. This was a much more prestigious post, and John Adams almost didn't send his son, because he was strongly against nepotism. However, John Quincy really had been an extremely capable overseas ambassador, both in his negotiations with foreign powers and at his more important job: collecting intelligence which he sent back to America. So George Washington persuaded the senior Adams not to let appearances prevent him from giving his son a job he was very good at.

The result of this was that John Quincy lost a small fortune (getting all your stuff that's been sent to Portugal when you're in Prussia was a little bit trickier in the 18th century) and John Adams senior got smeared in the press for nepotism.

After John Adams lost reelection to Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy returned home. Initially he restarted a law practice, but then he was elected to the Massachesetts senate. Here, he began crusading against corruption and being a general pain in the ass. His fellow Massholes decided the best way to get rid of him was to send him to the U.S. Senate instead. This seemed like a good idea because the Senate at the time was mostly useless. They would end up regretting this.

John Quincy Adams, throughout his life, would be honest to a fault and refuse to put loyalty to party or even pragmatism over his principles. In other words, he was a humorless Puritan scold with a stick up his ass. (He did find a "principled" way to read a Constitutional justification for Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase: by changing one line to make it "with the consent and agreement of France," it became a treaty which the President had the authority to sign, rather than a land purchase which he did not.)

Despite being a Northern Federalist, he voted in favor of a British embargo which Southerners supported and Northerners opposed. This was the last straw for his fellow Federalists, who elected his successor before his term was even up. Having been knifed in the back by his own party, Adams resigned from the Senate and returned to Boston where, despite being shunned professionally and socially by Federalists, he became quite successful, and even argued some landmark cases before the Supreme Court.

This would happen again.

In 1809, President James Madison asked Adams to go back to Europe, this time as Minister to Russia. He accepted without consulting with his wife first. Louisa was not happy.

In fact, Louisa's life and marriage seems to have been kind of unhappy in general. She spent most of her married life pregnant, and had multiple miscarriages. In St. Petersburg, she gave birth to a little girl, who died at the age of two. John and Louisa had five sons who survived to adulthood, three of whom they would see succumb to alcoholism.

John Quincy and Louisa didn't exactly have a bad marriage, but from letters they both left behind, it's apparent that she frequently felt frustrated, neglected, and taken for granted. She suffered from depression, and her in-laws were, well, humorless Puritan scolds with sticks up their asses.

They did, however, genuinely love each other, and there were some amusing episodes when John Quincy, separated from his wife, sent her erotic poetry. She threatened to publish it. This echoes the flirtatious, teasing love letters John and Abigail Adams used to send each other.

But she helped him become president

Adams was next sent to England, to help negotiate an end to the War of 1812. For months, there was little progress, as both sides would amend their demands depending on how the war was going. Eventually, however, John Quincy helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent.

James Madison also nominated John Quincy Adams to the Supreme Court. He pushed the nomination through, and Adams turned it down. (His parents were not pleased.)

When he returned to the U.S., President Monroe appointed him Secretary of State. John Quincy once again excelled in his role. After Andrew Jackson ran amok in Florida and almost triggered wars with both England and Spain, Adams defended him and negotiated a treaty that essentially expanded the United States almost to its present borders. The Monroe Doctrine was largely penned by Adams.

By now, it was well established that Secretary of State was the usual stepping stone to becoming President. Here, John Quincy frustrated everyone from his party to his wife and his father. He wanted to be president. He thought he deserved to be president. He was sure he'd be a good president. But he refused to run for president.

Adams, taking one of his principled stands that seems charmingly oblivious now and was naive even then, believed that it was unbecoming to seek office. The people were supposed to want you to take office and, essentially, do any necessary campaigning for you. This had also been Washington's stand, more or less, but no one else but John Quincy Adams ever tried that, at least not and became president.

Louisa, realizing that her husband was refusing to do the necessary, took it upon herself to learn the political ropes. A few years earlier, First Lady Dolly Madison had explained a bit about how Washington politics worked to Louisa, when she was having a hard time adjusting. Now, Louisa started throwing parties, inviting other Washington wives over, and doing the behind-the-scenes schmoozing that her husband wouldn't.

This didn't get John Quincy into the White House by itself, but it finally mobilized enough political support that in the election of 1824… well, Adams actually lost both the popular and the electoral vote. Andrew Jackson, to whom Adams had offered the vice presidency, won a plurality, but not enough votes to win outright in a five-way race between Adams, Jackson, William H. Crawford, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun. Before the run-off election, Adams met with Clay to talk over their issues and come to an agreement.

Whatever the actual terms of their agreement, it had the appearance of a shady deal when Clay threw his support behind Adams, Adams ended up winning the run-off, and then appointed Clay as Secretary of State. (John Calhoun would become his vice president.)

Andrew Jackson called this a "Corrupt Bargain," and pretty much from the moment Adams took office was working to undermine him.

It is ironic that one of the shortest sections of Unger's book is about John Quincy's presidency. To hear Unger tell it, the second President Adams basically accomplished almost nothing, being sabotaged and sandbagged by hostile Southerners under the command of Andrew Jackson, and spent much of his time moping. He does, however, point out that much of the damage was self-inflicted. Appointing Henry Clay as Secretary of State (and thus as presumptive heir to the presidency) angered both Andrew Jackson and Vice President Calhoun. Adams' inaugural address, which was full of lofty rhetoric about ambitious public works, was tone deaf and alienating. He would repeatedly throughout his presidency come off as a high-falutin' fancy-speaking aristocrat when talking to ordinary people, which made his grand schemes for the improvement of the country seem more like imperial ambitions than national interest.

John Quincy Adams was far from the worst president in U.S. history, but his administration had little to show for itself when he was soundly beaten by Andrew Jackson in 1828. He limped out of Washington without attending the inauguration.

Most ex-presidents retire, hit the speaking circuit, write memoirs, play gold, sit on boards.

John Quincy ran for Congress in 1830, and would hold the office for 8 terms, until his death. As U.S. Representative from Massachusetts, he continued to reject the idea of party loyalty. Instead he turned his sights on slavery.

Unger's descriptions of Adams in Congress over the next 16 years are both entertaining and inspiring. The Southerners had created a "gag rule" which basically forbade the issue of slavery to even be put on the table. Adams defied the gag rule repeatedly, so the Southerners kept amending it until they were pretty much adding provisions to the gag rule specifically to shut Adams up. He would get in yelling matches with the Speaker of the House while all the Southern delegates were hissing and booing at him. At one point, after Congress had forbidden the word "slavery" to even be spoken in chamber, Adams stood up to read " A prayer from a women's religious society among my constituents…."

(Yeah, okay, whatever, think the Southerners)

"... for the abolishment of slavery--"

(outrage and pandemonium ensues)

I loved this part. John Quincy Adams all but put on a mask and a cape, becoming a villain as far the South was concerned (at one point, they almost gathered enough support to expel him from Congress), but a hero to abolitionists throughout the country, who realizing that Adams would stand for them no matter what state they were in, deluged Congress with tens of thousands of petitions. Adams would eventually succeed in getting the gag rule abolished, as the increasing restrictions that were put on him made more congressmen realize that, gosh, those restrictions could be applied to them too.

Besides his relentless opposition to slavery, in which Adams would fight against the Jackson, Van Buren, Tyler, and Polk administrations, he is also pretty much responsible for the Smithsonian as it exists today. A wealthy British scientist left a fortune to the U.S. government for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Naturally Andrew Jackson and his cronies saw this as a windfall for them to plunder. But Adams, who despite being hated on the slavery issue, had also earned respect as a principled and nonpartisan politician on other issues, managed to wrangle the money out of various spoils schemes and created the non-partisan trust that established the Smithsonian Institution.

In 1839, a Spanish ship, La Amistad, was carrying a "cargo" of captured Africans off the coast of Cuba when the Africans escaped, killed the captain, and demanded that the surviving crew take them home. The navigators obeyed during the day, but at night, pointed the ship north. It eventually wound up in U.S. waters, and when the Africans were taken prisoner, the Spanish demanded their return, claiming they were "escaped property." In the U.S., they were charged with mutiny and murder. Abolitionists took up their case and claimed that the Africans had been illegally kidnapped, and thus they were exercising their legal right of self defense.

A New York district court ruled in the Africans' favor, but President Van Buren, who was having political troubles with Southerners, demanded the case be appealed. Running out of money, the abolitionists asked John Quincy Adams for help. He argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Unger's book, this moment is like the climax of a novel, and his description of Adams' march into the Supreme Court, where he faced a majority of Southern Justices who were hostile to him, to deliver a closing argument that left tears in their eyes, was, well, worthy of a Spielberg movie. (I have not seen the movie, by the way.)

As hated as he was by Southerners, John Quincy Adams was a noble enemy they couldn't help respecting. When he returned to Congress after a stroke, everyone applauded him.

In 1848, he fell on the floor of the House, while in the middle of protesting yet another bill. He never left the Capitol Building, and died two days later.

Besides gaining an appreciation for the unfortunate man who, like his father, failed in office and became a one-term president, I learned a lot more about how many states threatened secession and civil war before we had a real secession and civil war, how quickly national fortunes can change (America went from the dog everyone kicked to the mighty ruler of the Western hemisphere everyone wanted to placate and trade with in the space of a few decades), and how corrupt and venal party politics have always been. All these things were already taking shape starting with Washington's administration, but having read presidential biographies in order, you can really trace the evolution until we get to John Quincy Adams, where battle lines between North and South were now becoming entrenched, and like the growing threat on the horizon in an epic fantasy series, you can hear the rumblings of war from decades in the future. It couldn't have been plotted or foreshadowed better by a novelist: one of John Quincy's admirers in his later years, as he becomes an anti-slavery firebrand, is a young freshman congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln.


Obviously, I came away quite liking John Quincy Adams. More than I liked his father, in fact. But how was this as a biography? Well, I think Unger's writing was okay. At times -- when he brings us into the House and describes Representative Adams railing against slavery -- it was compelling and brought his subject to life. At other times, it was just a narrative description of events in his life. A few touches of insight into Louisa's feelings, John Quincy's relations with his famous parents, the political machinations of other actors, were welcome but sparse.

There are a number of much larger biographies of John Quincy Adams available, so perhaps this was as complete as it could have been for its length. Unger seems to be a prolific biographer of politicians from this era, so I may read a few more.