'Tis Sixty Years Since: A GR Press Presidential Book

by Charles Francis Adams Jr.

Charles Francis Adams II was born May 27, 1835, the son of Charles Francis Adams (1807-86), and through him the grandson of President John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) and the great-grandson of President John Adams (1735-1826). After graduating from Harvard University in 1856 (the same school his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather graduated from), he served during the US Civil War. Initially a captain in a Massachusetts cavalry regiment, he saw combat in several battles, and retired as a brevet brigadier general. After the war, he served on the Massachusetts Railroad Commission, and then was president of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1884 to 1890. From 1893 to 1895, he was chairman of the Massachusetts Park Commission. As a railroad executive, he attempted to expose corrupt business practices, in the hope that businessmen would be shamed into mending their ways. But he also held true to a regulatory philosophy, viewing regulation as necessary to protect investors and businessmen. Adams was also a historian, and became president of the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1895 and the American Historical Association in 1901. He wrote extensively on the problems of railway management, his business philosophies, and on other historical subjects. In January 1913, at the Founders' Day Celebration at Harvard University, he gave this address, looking back on the sixty years since he'd first entered Harvard as a student. Charles Francis Adams II died a week before his 80th birthday, on May 20, 1915.

46 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles....

Reviews

[Sacha Valero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another quick read from my original Kindle. This was a curious read, written by Charles Francis Adams, the great-grandson of John Adams, second president of the US and son of John Quincy Adams, sixth US president. It's about the sixty years that past since his graduation from Harvard and his views on what's transpired in that time.

Written as a speech and delivered at the University of South Carolina it immediately goes into subject matter that's likely to put many people off in today's environment, that the newly freed blacks have not, and in his mind, were incapable of assimilation into being American.

He then goes on to address protectionism vs free trade (real free trade not the crony system that exists today), the rise of the working class (which he didn't seem to fond of) and becoming a force with the vote. He comments on other changes in the US during his lifetime and ends with his thoughts on democracy.

It's a quick little read, and interesting if you're into history.

[Lailatun Nadhirah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku yang agak janggal untuk dibaca. Tak tahu kenapa.

Asalnya adalah sepucuk surat yang sedang menjelaskan situasi sekeliling dia sepanjang 60 tahun dia tinggal di Havard sedari dia habis belajar di sana.

Kebanyakannya menjelaskan keadaan politik, pembelajaran, konflik sains-sastera, krisis bangsa dan permasalahan ekonomi.

Sesiapa yang sangat berminat tentang sejarah pastinya dapat menghayati setiap penulisan buku ini.

[Miles Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the more interesting speeches given by a prominent politician, and intellectual in the Gilded Age at a southern university.