Mr. Adams's Last Crusade: John Quincy Adams's Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life in Congress

By Joseph Wheelan

Book Overview

When John Quincy Adams--the sixty-three-year-old former president, U.S. senator, secretary of state, and diplomat--was elected to the House of Representatives by his Massachusetts neighbors, he embarked on a spectacular late-life career.

He became Congress's most acerbic and influential critic of slavery as well as a tireless proponent for human freedoms and First Amendment rights. This remarkable congressional career utterly transformed him, the public's perception of him, and his legacy--in many ways redeeming his failed presidency. Mr. Adams's Last Crusade renders an insightful portrait of a man who placed his country above politics.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586486896
• ISBN13: 9781586486891
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Country First.

For the most part, historians treat John Quincy Adams very poorly. Having left behind a quite complete, daily diary which is the delight of various academic wordsmiths, spin doctors and second guessers, he is always treated as some form of dysfunctional slacker by those who have written his biographies. My view of him has never changed. I always thought of him as independent in the true American sense, grumpy to be sure, but a remarkably brilliant man who chose his country and what was right over party affiliation. Until Joseph Wheelan's Mr. Adams Last Crusade, I felt sorry for this remarkably honest, gifted man. The academic deck just seemed too stacked against Adams by supposedly intelligent men for Adams to ever be recognized for his extraordinary contributions to his country. But thanks to Joseph Wheelan, no more! After a lifetime in public service which included ambassadorships to the Netherlands, Spain, England and Germany, 8 years as Secretary of State under Monroe and his own term as President, he retires disgruntled, a self described failure. However, he returns to public life on December 5, 1831 at age 64, the only past president to do so, recalled by his 12th Congressional District constituency as a freshman congressman in the US House of Representatives. For 17 more years he would serve Massachusetts and the Nation in a strident defense of human rights. He became known as "Old Man Eloquent" for his stands for women's suffrage and against slavery, Texas Annexation, and the Indian Removal Act. Derided by the nation as he left his one term Presidency, he would go on to become the soul of the House of Representatives. He eschewed political parties and politics. As a result, his positions were complex, little understood by friend and foe alike. A strong abolitionist, he refused to join abolitionist organizations, believing the abolitionists, while right, were out to destroy the Union! His sword was words, always rapier like, sharp, pointed, sarcastic and cutting. His position on women's suffrage was undeniably succinct,"I hope no member of the House of Representatives will ever again be found to treat with disrespect the sex of his Mother." On slavery,"If the Union must be dissolved, slavery is precisely the issue upon which it ought to break." On Georgia's illegal assertion of authority over the Cherokees,"You have sanctioned all those outrages upon justice, law and humanity, by succumbing to the power and the policy of Georgia." When Southerners passed the Gag Rule, suspending freedom of speech within Congress by making it illegal to even discuss slavery in the House, he would spend the next eight years flogging Southern Representatives with their own rule. He would ensure the monies left to the United States by Englishman James Smithson would be used for their intended purpose. As custodian, he pledged to guard the monies from "the canker of almost all charitable foundations - jobbing for parasites, and sops for hungry incapacity." A

Wonderful, much-needed reappraisal

I don't have much to add to other reviews, but I wanted to add another 5-star review for this wonderful book. No other book really focuses on JQA's post-presidential career as this book does, so this is a much-needed reappraisal. I found it quite inspirational (and relevant) to read about a principled man struggling against an overwhelmingly boorish and evil political system. Readers unfamiliar with this period in American history and its issues may want to read "What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848" by Daniel Walker Howe before starting this book. That book is a very thorough and readable introduction to the period, and Howe makes a point of featuring JQA as one of the pivotal historical figures of the era. After reading that book, I was very eager to get more details, and was very happy when I stumbled onto this book.

The "Extraordinary" in the Title is No Exaggeration

This is a highly readable book about an Extraordinary man that most of us know next to nothing about! It is the fascinating story of the post-presidential life of John Quincy Adams. This is a man who fought with all his moral fiber in Congress to abolish slavery, well into old age. He was a lone voice in a large hall. Yet, while living a life doing great deeds for others, he consistently sees himself as a failure. This book is inspirational for anyone needing a perfect example of the power of persistence. Having always been glossed over in history classes, I had no idea that this gem of a man was sitting in our American past. Our children should be learning more about John Quincy Adams in school as a genuine example of Great Character.

An excellent overview of Adams's post-Presidential life

John Quincy Adams is one of only 2 former Presidents of the United States to have held public elective office subsequent to being President (Andrew Johnson served in the Senate after his term as President). In fact, Adams served for 17 years in the US House of Representatives, from 1831 to 1848, representing his home district in Massachusetts. Instead of quietly fading from public life after being ousted after only one term as President by Andrew Jackson, Adams became increasingly popular and polarizing as a champion of the people's right to petition congress and a number of other causes; most related, however tangentially, to the issue of slavery. Wheelan concentrates mainly on Adams's support of the abolitionist cause, although he shows how Adams came slowly to this position and it was not until very late in his life that he considered himself "officially" one of their number. Wheelan's book gives an overview of Adams's life before Congress in the initial few chapters. These serve mainly to set the stage for the descriptions of Adams's post-Presidential career. Overall the tone is very respectful and supportive of Adams, whom Wheelan obviously regards very highly for his principles. More than once Adams is referred to as a "man of the whole country," a title he personally used to describe himself and a succinct summarization of his political philosophy. Adams's career spanned the decades where the old, 18th century gentlemanly politics gave way to the new, rough-and-tumble "politics of party" that Adams despised. While he was always a member of one political party or another, he frequently took positions that violated his party's official "platform" and often earned the enmity of erstwhile allies. Wheelan makes extensive use of Adams's personal diary, a journal he kept almost his entire life from the time he was twelve. There were few periods in his life where diary entries were absent or spotty. The picture drawn is of a man who struggled to always do what he felt was right, who honored God and his country, and was all too well aware of his weaknesses and failings. Adams comes across in a very sympathetic light throughout the work. Wheelan clearly admires Adams for opposing party politics, although he makes no bones about Adams's failure to change with the times that led to Jackson's landslide victory and Adams's ouster as President after only one term. The book gives a very interesting window into a time when "negative campaigning" was vicious and prevalent, something we tend to forget about in our day, thinking negative campaigning is a recent invention. This book shows it's certainly not. Wheelan also casts the slaveholding states in a very unflattering light. He interprets their politics as nothing but a cynical defense of their "peculiar institution" and shows how they attempted, in his opinion, to trample on the people's constitutional right to petition congress by suppressing open debate in the House on the issue, and

A Remarkable Life

Wheelan has written an excellent book on the post-presidential career of John Quincy Adams. Some attention is given to Adams as our nation's sixth president, if merely to conform to other historians' assessments of the Adams presidency, who have mainly considered it a failure. The one problem with books like these is the obvious effort to throw the most favorable light on the author's subject. That being said, I found much to admire in John Quincy Adams and the author makes a good effort in bringing those qualities to light. As would be shown later in this book, John Quincy Adams would come to represent one of the last vestiges of the founding generation. His father's career needs no mention from me. Any student of the American Revolutionary War period and the early republic will (hopefully) know about John Adams for his influential role. His son became a well-traveled and educated young man who would serve later administrations, perhaps most notably as James Monroe's Secretary of State. I found it interesting how John Quincy Adams played with political parties; he didn't really follow any party line completely. He was a principled man who seemed to be moved more by his conscience than partisan politics. His ambivalence towards political parties, as the author mentioned, was one of the factors that inhibited his presidency. Adams, as the author mentioned, just could not adapt to the changing political realities. His ascendency to the presidency was certainly controversial enough, being he did not win a plurality of the popular vote and his electoral victory was decided by the Congress. His post-presidential career was marked by 16 (roughly) years in the House of Representatives. In this capacity he fought for the right to petition, attacked slavery, gave vocal support to women and Native Americans, and opposed the annexation of Texas as a slave state and the resulting events leading to the Mexican-American War. Adams displayed a fearlessness in confronting his opponents in the House with often very little support. He fought a censure motion and won, and he eventually helped overturn the Gag rule, which had limited the right to bring petitions to the House. He became hated by many, seen as a champion by others, but usually won the respect of his colleagues through his forceful intellect and character. It was during this period that Adams assisted the defense team for the black crewmen of the Amistad, who were trying to regain their freedom after being taken from their homeland illegally to be sold into slavery by Spanish authorities. Eventually, the U.S. courts decided for releasing these Africans and allowing them to return to their homeland. It wasn't hard after reading this book to come to have a sympathetic view of this man. It is indeed a remarkable story of a remarkable life. Even if this book is overly praiseworthy of its subject, I think John Quincy Adams probably deserves some favorable press. A really good read.