The jubilee of the Constitution; a discourse delivered at the request of the New York Historical Society, in the city of New York, on Tuesday, the ... anniversary of the inauguaration of George

by John Quincy Adams

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1848 edition. ... of Mr. George Hammond, who had been the secretary to David Hartley, in the negotiation of the definitive treaty of peace in 1783. Mr. Hammond however had only powers to negotiate, but not to conclude--to complain, but not to adjust--to receive propositions, but not to accept them. With him a full discussion was had of all the causes of complaint subsisting between the parties. In the meantime a change had come over the whole political system of Europe. The principles proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence, as at the foundation of all lawful government, had been sapping the foundatioris of all the governments founded on the unlimited sovereignty of force--the absolute monarchy of France was crumbling into ruin; a wild and ferocious anarchy, under the banners of unbridled Democracy was taking its place, and between the furies of this frantic multitude, and the agonies of immemorial despotism, a war of desolation and destruction was sweeping over the whole continent of Europe. In this war all the sympathies of the American people were on the side of France and of freedom, but the freedom of France was not of the genuine breed. A phantom of more than gigantic form had assumed the mask and the garb of freedom, and substituted for the principles of the Declaration of Independence, anarchy within and conquest without. The revolution of the whole world was her war-cry, and the overthow of all established governments her avowed purpose. Under the impulses of this fiend, France had plunged into war with all Europe, and murdered her king, his queen, his sister, and numberless of his subjects and partisans, with or without the forms of law, by.the butchery of mock tribunals, or the daggers of a bloodthirsty rabble. In this death-struggle between...

44 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Quincy^^Adams

John Quincy Adams as secretary of state from 1817 to 1825 helped to formulate the Monroe Doctrine of James Monroe; he served as the sixth president of the United States from 1825 to 1829 and after his presidency from 1831 to 1848 in the House of Representatives advocated anti-slavery measures.

This diplomat and politician affiliated with Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Abigail Smith Adams bore John Quincy Adams was the son of John Adams, later the second president of United States. Many international negotiations most famously involved him as a diplomat.

He proposed a grand program of modernization and educational advancement but lacked ability to get it through Congress. Late in life as a congressman, he led opponents of the slave power and argued that if a civil war ever broke, then war powers of the president ably abolished slavery; Abraham Lincoln followed this policy in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863.

To date, only this president of the United States subsequently served as a congressman.

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. Adams is adept at articulating his doctrine, with glowing words propounding the virtues and moral nobility of the founders, but...he can't quite mask his humanistic presuppositions. Oh, they've been scrubbed and scoured to make them all shiny and attractive, but at the end of the day, it's still human exaltation. Not quite as far as Locke and Jefferson and other contemporaries, but a deceptive bridge to lead the masses from Biblical morality to humanistic ethical foundations (very shifty, those foundations).

Worthwhile Excerpts:
"A wiser and more useful philosophy, however, directs us to consider man according to the nature in which he was formed; subject to infirmities, which no wisdom can remedy; to weaknesses, which no institution can strengthen; to vices, which no legislation can correct. Hence it becomes obvious that separate property is the natural and indisputable right of separate exertion; that community of goods without community of toil is oppressive and unjust; that it counteracts the laws of nature, which prescribe that only he who sows the seed shall reap the harvest; that it discourages all energy, by destroying its rewards; and makes the most virtuous and active members of society the slaves and drudges of the worst."

"To found principles of government upon too advantageous an estimate of the human character is an error of inexperience, the source of which is so amiable that it is impossible to censure it with severity."