Lessons from Adams's Career and Political Realities

Full disclosure, John Quincy Adams is my favorite early president. Not for anything he did as president - he was a total failure there. But because of what he did after the presidency, when he returned to D.C. as a humble Congressman and became the loudest voice against slavery in Congress. John Quincy will roar so loud, the South will pass a series of unconstitutional gag rules to try and shut him up. They won't succeed.

From his first diplomatic mission at the age of 14, to the Napoleonic Wars, to negotiating an end to the War of 1812 and the acquisition of Florida, to the controversial election of 1824, the White House, and his post-presidential career as a voice against slavery in Congress, we'll follow John Quincy as strives to live up to his father's legacy as a man who always stands up for what is right, no matter the cost.

Bibliography
1. John Quincy Adams – Harlow G Unger
2. The Last Founding Father, James Monroe and A Nation’s Call to Greatness – Harlow G Unger
3. Heirs of the Founders – H.W. Brands
4. John Adams – David McCullough
5. The Life of Andrew Jackson – Robert V. Remin
6. Martin Van Buren and the American Political System – Donald B. Cole
7. John Tyler – Gary May
8. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America – Walter R. Borneman
9. Zachary Taylor – John D. Eisenhower

Support the show