John Quincy Adams: Speeches & Writings (Loa #390) - (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

21 essential works trace a great statesman's lifelong engagement with the promise of America and the legacy of the Founding Fathers

"Few presidents ever thought about words as carefully as John Quincy Adams. Thankfully, we can now hear his words again, in this instantly essential volume."--Ted Widmer, historian and former presidential speechwriter

John Quincy Adams was one of the most accomplished American statesmen of his or any era. He brought all his eloquence, erudition, and fierce energy to bear on the politics of the nation over the course of a remarkable career that spanned from the founding era to the sectional crisis that preceded the Civil War.

Despite a persistent interest in this pivotal figure, there has never been a single-volume collection of Adams's essential political writings, until now. Here, for the first time in an edition for general readers and students alike, are the profound insights of a far-seeing political leader who was also a consummate American stylist.

From his prophetic college commencement address in 1787 to his vigorous denunciation of slavery in 1843, this Library of America volume offers a compact and compelling record of America's fractious evolution as a democratic republic, presenting some of the most important political writings in our history.

These writings are more urgently needed than ever. In the words of biographer Fred Kaplan: "His values, his definition of leadership, and his vision for the nation's future--particularly the difficulty of transforming vision into reality in a country that often appears ungovernable--are as much about twenty-first century America as about Adams' life and times."

Review Quotes

"An excellent introduction to the thought of our sixth president. . . . One only hopes that this collection can inspire in a new generation of statesmen the same sense of public spirit that burned bright in John Quincy Adams." --Michael Luchesse, Law & Liberty

"A sturdily valuable thing. . . . Easily the most wonderful element of this volume . . . is Waldstreicher's editorial attention to detail." --Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review

About the Author

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) was one of the most experienced and well-traveled American statesmen of his era. Before becoming the sixth president of the United States in 1825, he had served as a diplomat in the Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, and England, and had led the American commission that negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. After the last of his European posts he served as Secretary of State under James Monroe, and was the principal architect of the Monroe Doctrine. After his presidency, Adams was elected to represent southeastern Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving for the remainder of his life, until his fatal collapse at his Congressional desk.

David Waldstreicher is Distinguished Professor of History at the CUNY Graduate Center and the author of The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journey Through American Slavery and Independence, Slavery's Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification, and Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution. He is the editor of A Companion to John Adams and John Quincy Adams and, for Library of America, of The Diaries of John Quincy Adams in two volumes.