John Quincy Adams | John Quincy Adams

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Author: Paul C. Nagel
First Published: 1997
Type of Work: Biography
Time of Work: 1767-1848
Setting: Boston, Cambridge, Braintree, and Quincy, Massachusetts; Berlin; St. Petersburg; London; and Washington, D.C.
Principal Characters: John Adams, Abigail Smith Adams, John Quincy Adams, Louisa Catherine Adams, Thomas Boylston Adams, Henry Clay, James Monroe
Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
Subjects: Civil rights, Politics, Abolitionists, Nineteenth century, Slavery or slaves, American Revolution, Eighteenth century, Politicians, Presidents
Locales: Boston, MA, Washington, D.C., London, England, Berlin, Germany, Cambridge, MA, St. Petersburg, Russia, Quincy, MA, Braintree, MA

An anecdote that Paul C. Nagel recounts from John Quincy Adams’s unsuccessful presidential term exemplifies a number of the conflicts in Adams’s complex and frequently perverse personality. At a groundbreaking ceremony for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Adams, unable at first to wedge his shovel into the ground, removed his coat and then accomplished his ceremonial feat to an outburst of cheers from the crowd. He realized that the simple act of shedding his coat registered more powerfully with Americana than did the rhetorical flourishes of his carefully prepared speeches or, for...

John Quincy Adams | John Quincy Adams

At a glance:

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