Description
Book SynopsisJohn Quincy Adams''s remarkable diary is an unusually accessible window into the thinking of a president long before, during, and well after his own administration. It is enormous in scope--examining all subjects that came to Adams''s interest and stretching from the late 1780s to his death in 1848. David Waldstreicher and Matthew Mason produce an edition of the diary that is not only of accessible length but also focused on one issue: the politics of slavery. Adams''s long journey from nationalist diplomacy to culture war with the southern plantocracy is not well understood. How did the man who in 1795 told a British cabinet officer not to speak to him of the Virginians, the Southern people, the democrats, whom he considered in no other light than as Americans, come to predict a grand struggle between slavery and freedom? How could an expansionist who had left his party and lost his U.S. Senate seat rather than attack the Jeffersonian slave power, later come to declare the Mexican War
Trade ReviewThe diary should help [readers] understand [Adams's] conflicting commitment to the nation his father helped create and its Constitution, in which slavery was embedded....Adams's argument is often visible in the illuminating diary entries [the authors] provide."--Wall Street Journal "This meticulously annotated selection from the diaries of our sixth president reads like the banner headlines of today's news reports of political intrigue, raw ambitions and the same existential crisis that divides our nation today....The diary entries have a dramatic climax to them that would be worthy of a serious film treatment by someone. In the meantime this book is a great read and an informative reality check on issues that vex us even now."--Washington Times "The editors have shown discerning judgment in the material they have chosen for their pages. In a thoughtful and judicious introduction, they have spelled out the historiographical odyssey of the diary as well as the motivation governing Adams's own relations with slavery and the South. On the latter point they deserve special commendation in a time when many tout John Quincy as an antislavery hero with little thought to the complex road he took to reach that place."--Civil War Book Review "Provides important insight into John Quincy Adams's views on the most divisive issue of his generation. Waldstreicher's and Mason's work should command an impressive place on the growing shelf of works exploring the life of the sixth president."--Civil War Monitor "This book will no doubt prove to be a valuable resource for researchers in numerous academic disciplines on questions related to Adams, slavery in the United States, and 19th-century US foreign policy."--CHOICE
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Rising Son of the Young Republic (1767-1808) Chapter 2: American Diplomat (1809-1817) Chapter 3: Secretary of State (1817-1824) Chapter 4: The Making and Unmaking of a President (1824-1829) Chapter 5: The Making of an Antislavery Congressman (1829-1836) Chapter 6: Antislavery Whig Congressman (1836-1848) Bibliography Index
