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

Author: Joseph Wheelan Year: 2008 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History, Biographies, Non Fiction, Politics Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780786720125 9781586486891 0786720123

Following his single term as President of the United States (1825-1829), John Quincy Adams, embittered by his loss to Andrew Jackson, boycotted his successor's inauguration, just as his father John Adams had done (the only two presidents ever to do so). Rather than retire, the sixty-two-year-old former president, U.S. senator, secretary of state, and Harvard professor was elected by his Massachusetts friends and neighbors to the House of Representatives to throw off the "incubus of Jacksonianism." It was the opening chapter in what was arguably the most remarkable post-presidency in American history. In this engaging biography, historian Joseph Wheelan describes Adams's battles against the House Gag Rule that banished abolition petitions; the removal of Eastern Indian tribes; and the annexation of slave-holding Texas, while recounting his efforts to establish the Smithsonian Institution. As a "man of the whole country," Adams was not bound by political party, yet was reelected to the House eight times before collapsing at his "post of duty" on February 21, 1848, and then dying in the House Speaker's office. His funeral evoked the greatest public outpouring since Benjamin Franklin's death. Mr. Adams's Last Crusade will enlighten and delight anyone interested in American history. Similar books: Franklin Pierce by Michael F. Holt American Caesars by Nigel Hamilton All the Presidents' Children by Doug Wead John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger First Mothers by Bonnie Angelo In the Days of McKinley by Margaret Leech John Tyler by Gary May Martin Van Buren by Ted Widmer Grover Cleveland by Henry F. Graff James Monroe by Gary Hart The Age of Eisenhower by William I. Hitchcock The President Is a Sick Man by Matthew Algeo Benjamin Harrison by Charles W. Calhoun Taking Charge by Michael Beschloss First Ladies by Betty Boyd Caroli America the Beautiful by Ben Carson Fear by Bob Woodward Crisis of Character by Gary J. Byrne Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer The Amateur by Edward Klein