Literature and history. I keep a low profile, hidden away in maine as i read and write. I dont have the opportunity to be engaged in current political and military things. But i have written biographies about Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens and henry james and mark twain. Somehow i got directed more towards some history and the interconnection between literature and politics in recent years. The figure that brought me there was our wonderful 16th president , Abraham Lincoln. My most recent book prior to John Quincy Adams american visionary was lincoln, the biography of a writer. It appeared to me that lincoln was not only an extra ordinary politician and a deeply humane and beautiful man, he also was a great writer in his own way and contributed very importantly to american literature. That book focused on the development of literary genius. Lincoln brought me to John Quincy Adams because on various levels, items kept coming to my adams kept coming to my mind in terms of lincoln as a political philosopher, lincoln as a man reacting to contemporary issues, and lincoln as a writer. Suddenly it occurred to me, what am i going to do next . Should i do a biography of John Quincy Adams . Only a madman will do this. It took me six years, but it also provided me with the pleasure of being here tonight with this distinguished moderator. Thank you, fred. Talking about quincy adams and lincoln, one of the Amazing Things about John Quincy Adams is he knew George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. This biography gives us a full orchard of the public and private John Quincy Adams. I want to read something that John Quincy Adams wrote. He said, we are sent into this world for some end. It is our duty to discover what this end is and when we once discover it, to pursue it with unconquerable perseverance. You would think that John Quincy Adams said that at the end of his life. He wrote that when he was 11 years old. What kind of a child are we talking about here . When i was 11 years old i was writing other kinds of sayings. I deeply identify with that expression of dedication of John Quincy Adams. I gradually over a lifetime became just obsessed with accomplishing something. I really have the sense that at 11 years of age, John Quincy Adams is the heir to a certain kind of modern new england puritanism with a mission that was inseparable from society, family, place he lived, community, etc. I have this strong sense that he was someone i could identify with. He came from a political and literary background. I come from a very different world, jewish world, secondgeneration immigrants. These were people of the book. Adams is very much from the start, as was his entire family, his father john adams and his mother abigail they were also people of the book. Writing was an obsession in the adams family. They were just they could just as much and well write as breathe. There were many ups and downs in his career. But he inherited from his parents a sense of his potential. He embraced it. He went through many difficulties, both professional and personal, or and in the end, when the presence of Abraham Lincoln, the one Term Congress the one Term Congressman from illinois on february 18 48, he collapsed on the floor of the house of representatives and died at the age of 80. He was a man who this is the last of earth. I am content. One of the great advantages of this new england england family was the richness of sources. His diary, which he kept from around the age of 13 to the very end of his life. One of the stunning moments here is towards the ends of his life, he writes an entry that he labels, posthumously more. Memoir. As a literary scholar, you make a lot of that diary not just as a record, but the importance of it for adams trying to come to terms with his own identity in some ways. What is it about that diary and what is the larger argument here about the role that diary keeping cap keeping meant for adams life . He kept that diary most days of his life, with certain interruptions, but they were not lengthy. As he came into his adulthood and his maturity, the diary which he defined as a record of his times and as a statement that i too am here, and as an intimate companion for his feelings, his thoughts, his ideas, his intellectual musings, his religious concerns, the ups and downs of his daily life and so on, all that was for John Quincy Adams probably the most continuous daily immersed months of his life, his selfexpression, and selfexploration. He was a very good writer. Not a great writer. A very good writer. As an immensely educated man, i would argue that he was the most educated of all our president s, even more so than Thomas Jefferson. Lets say for those of us who are jeffersonians, he was a close second. It became a living, organic, ongoing expression of everything that was important to him. It was also what he called when he advocated to his sons that they also keep diaries. It was also a way of holding himself up to an ethical guideline of standard so that he could say i have behaved well today or i have not behaved well. Im feeling good about what i did. Im not feeling good, and why. It is an extraordinary document, among other reasons for historians especially, is because here is a man who is actively engaged in the diplomatic and Political Activities of almost a 60 to 70 year period. In early adulthood, George Washington appoints him minister, same as ambassador, to the netherlands. Then he gets appointed to other ministerial posts, but he starts with George Washington writing to his father, john adams, do not think that i am appointing your son to this office because of some favoritism. No, on the contrary, i have the strong belief that he will turn out historically to be an ornament to american diplomacy. At the end of john quincys life, with Abraham Lincoln there and being appointed an honorary pallbearer for his funeral. One could probably argue that he invents american diplomacy, that he is the greatest american diplomat of all time. Just to read some of his appointments with which people may not be familiar, he was minister to berlin, and mr. To prussia, the first United States minister to russia, and of course, secretary of state. Some people would argue that the munro doctrine should probably be called the adams doctrine. If we were to assess his importance in American History just for his to romantic Service Diplomatic service, what judgment would you render about what ways he contributed to ideas of american diplomacy . My judgment is the greatest american secretary of state, but im partial. In the early years of the republic, he represented the United States in europe and then from 1817 to march 1825. Some of the major negotiations and advances of american president s as this fledgling nation went from its negligible position in World Affairs to become, by the 1830s, a major power. Not the power it was to be after the civil war, but a major power. One of the great accomplishments as secretary of state, the greatest accomplishment is the adams onus treaty, which brought us florida and which extended the western boundary of the United States, which was hazy and undefined after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Nobody knew where the purchase ended. Different powers have different positions. John quincy adams and the adams onus treaty, 1819 to 1821, obtained more territory for the United States than anyone other than Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase here it a diplomatic achievement of John Quincy Adams was most proud of and said was his crowning achievement was the ghent peace treaty of december 1814, which ended the unnecessary and almost fruitless war of 1812, even though we in the United States did not learn about the war being over until january 1815, after the battle of new orleans, fought after the peace treaty had been signed, had been fought. The british said, the war is over. Even the fastest ship we have cannot get to new orleans in time to stop our British Forces from badly beating these americans. The battle was fought. If that battle had not been fought, who would have heard of venture jackson . Andrew jackson . For all of his Great Success as a diplomat, the general assessment is his presidency was hampered from the start. Here is a biography of one of our president s, and i think you can go about 40 pages through his presidency. What is it about his presidency, what hampers it, and do you have any kind of an assessment over whether some accomplishments during his presidency [indiscernible] to the first part of your question, the presidency was hampered by the fact that he was the second president to be elected by the house of representatives. Each state gets only one vote, not five. The first president to be elected by the house of representatives was Thomas Jefferson. However, there were special circumstances there. He was clearly the victim of ehrenberg. And John Quincy Adams case, in 1825, having obtained the majority of votes in the house of representatives, Andrew Jackson had obtained more popular votes and more Electoral College votes. In that circumstance, the jackson people were furious. They were particularly furious at henry clay as well as at adams, because henry clay had turned over his house of representatives affiliates, if you will, three states that would do whatever henry clay wanted. Henry clay hated jackson. Like adams, like jefferson was on the record on this, all three of those men thought Andrew Jackson was totally unqualified to be president of the United States by temperament and by experience. So, [indiscernible] thereafter the jackson forces decided they would do Everything Possible to make sure the John Quincy Adams accomplished nothing as president. That can happen. [laughter] however, there were some accomplishments. But there are a lot of interesting things that happened too. One of those things is John Quincy Adams as president , appointing a delegation to a south americancentral american conference to be held in panama, at which the black republic of haiti was to be represented. This produced an extraordinary series of conflicts between the slave forces of the south and the house of representatives in the senate, and all those in another camp, if you will. John quincy adams was looking forward to this panamerican unity. Because of haiti being a black republic, that conference was undermined if not destroyed. My emphasis is is John Quincy Adams presidency is not what on he accomplished, but what he expressed in his inaugural address and annual messages to congress, and in terms of the way in which he was able to articulate a view of americas huger that from my point of view and i think for many of us today was the right direction for america and the direction in which we eventually came. The subtitle of your biography is american visionary. What is that vision . The elements of that vision are an america which is a country unified by a federal government which has solidarity and power to bring out the best in all the states in the country under federal leadership that will bind the nation together in which there will be a progressive balance between the powers of the state and the powers of the federal government, pointing towards a nation that is unified by public projects, by infrastructure, by roads and highways, by canals that are dredged, in h in a nation unified by a common currency, but especially by a Banking Structure that would be national and modern, that would divide credit for businesses, that would allow a way in which the country could finance its self that would be constructive and move towards the future. In addition, he put tremendous emphasis on technology and science. He wanted federal funds to be used for that. He put tremendous emphasis on technology. He himself was an amateur astronomer test, but when John Quincy Adams was an amateur or anything, he knew that subject inside and out. Two years before he died, he actually traveled to cincinnati, ohio when he was ill to provide the inaugural address at the opening of the cincinnati astronomical observatory. This is a man with a vision for the future. He was also a man who said, looking back at jefferson and jackson and particularly at southern restrictionists, that the constitution of the United States is a living, growing, organic documents. We must remain true to it when it is explicit about what it tells us, but there is broad room for interpretation to make it suitable for the modern world. It is a classic vision of American Society and growth that will morph into the republican vision that lincoln and others will pick up. Here is a man, greatest diplomat of his age, was also a senator, president of the United States. He is 64 years old. Time to pack it in for most people. Instead what we get is perhaps the greatest last act in public life. Why does he agree to go to congress in the first place . Then we will talk about what he accomplishes in congress. Diplomat president and then congressman, notorious congressman, the bestknown congressman in the country. Why does he do it . His whole family is against it very his sons are against it. His wife, the wonderful and talented Louisa Catherine a wonderful marriage, tortured and difficult, happy and wonderful, long, but the entire family against this. Accepting the invitation by his local constituency in the massachusetts state restrict district [indiscernible] that he would become their candidate on what was emerging as the whig ticket. We will leave that out of it and just say we would like you to represent us. John quincy adams lived all his life by the maxim that i will never ask to be nominated for anything. I will never ask for anybodys vote. I am not a soundbite man. I will serve if asked. I will never say no if asked, and i think i can do the job. He said yes, so he represented the massachusetts district from 1831, 80 through 1842 until his death in 1848. Gradually he became the most notorious, the most caustic, the most volatile, the most eloquent exponent. The focus was on the gag rule. The country was ruled by the slave of percy slaveocracy, as it began to be called. They got more electoral votes and so forth. They dominated the house and senate. The institute is something called the gag rule. You can talk about anything you want. Everyone has a right to present a petition to congress. Except on one subject, slavery. Amoco this is a moment where antislavery agitation in particular in the north is rising and peeking from 1831 on. Hes in his position at the perfect moment, and he becomes radicalized. They have always worried privately that slavery will be the rock on which the union will founder. There was worry. They are not publicly outspoken about it. And then there are other issues. In 1819, 18 20, 1821, in the missouri compromise, will they be slave states, will they be free states John Quincy Adams becomes more occupied, preoccupied, but still mostly privately with the slavery question, and begins to really express himself strongly about it in his diary and privately to people. It is not until he gets into congress that he becomes publicly vocal about it. Initially being very concerned that he will never get reelected to congress if he makes such a stink about all of this. They felipe south alone if we possibly can. He begins to get into big fights in congress. He has other support. The abolitionist forces in the country become very powerful and dominant. Frederick douglass and so many others become major voices. There is John Quincy Adams, really aging and wizened and tired. He could always get up the energy. Old man, sinking in his seat in the house. When they call on him, he jumps. When they dont call on him, he jumps up and says are you trying to gag me . It wasnt until 1844 that finally as certain kinds of Political Forces changed in the country and some of the battles between north and south changed the John Quincy Adams and his colleagues were successful, triumphant, and the gag rule which had become a continuing rule was finally withdrawn forever. It had been on a continuing resolution, so they did not have o vote on it. You tell wonderful stories of adams. The idea that the right to petition should be denied, and the things that he did if im not mistaken, they try to censor him spurs him for speaking out of turn. He held the floor for five consecutive days. They gave him the platform they hoped to prevent them from having in the first place. He was a magnificent tactician. He was a magnificent tactician. He was very clever. He was a great public performer. He put on lots of performances, the point of which was to antagonize the southern members of the house so that they would lose their temper, and they were not magnificent tacticians. They gave him two opportunities because they try to censor him twice. It was very painful to him, even though he [indiscernible] it. He could get the floor of the house and keep it as long as he could stand. And of course, get a but a publicist he getting a lot of publicity for his position. Kind of extraordinary combination of human qualities, remarkable and admirable. This is a man who loves solitude. This is a man who loves to read. He studies languages. He knows greek, latin, french, german, italian. He studies spanish. He learns some russian. He learned some russian when he is in russia. He studies astronomy. He becomes a horticulturist. My heart goes out to him, all the dead plants that failed on him. And then at the same time, there he is in public with this tremendous passion for expressing himself. It is so fascinating. To go back into the diaries, he writes in the diary that he suffers from a wanted genius. And this is the guy want of genius. And this is the guy that you described. He himself writes about language injection, the ability of lots of illnesses which we would probably consider psychosomatic lets try and connect a little bit more of this private person who at times was tortured. You mentioned the marriage. Louisa suffered lots of illnesses and also kept diaries. They had a difficult time with the children. The pregnancies were incredible. Yet this amazing public trajectory. It is one of the great goats towards achievement, the feeling of insufficiency, having to live up to a standard that you will never be able to fulfill. Keep in mind that his standard home of the two great man of the revolutionary period, George Washington, and his own father, john adams, and john adams especially was a looming presence in his life and a good residence, not an overbearing paternal presence, but a presence that he felt ennobled him. He was a man who felt inadequate as a public speaker, never fully successful as a writer, but you had the sense that it was his absolute duty of selfdefinition, of respect for washington and his father, and of patriotism, commitment to his country, to never stop trying, to do his best, and to always keep the Balance Sheet of what i have done and what i havent done. And always touched by the death couch. The words that he says, this is the last earth, i am content. If those were the words he actually uttered i give the sources credit. If those are the words he actually uttered, the words that sort of bring tears to my eyes when you think about the struggle of his life, the achievements, once and who commits suicide, another son who dies about holism of alcoholism, his own bouts of depression off and on, his brother he has one brother who dies of alcoholism, another brother who become somewhat alcoholic and has no career at all in the shadow of his brother. It brings tears to my eyes when he says this is the end of earth, i am content. It is something that i think we all hope for, some stoic moment in which we can say this is the end, i am content. He had perhaps his greatest moment towards the very end when he defends the [indiscernible] captives before the Supreme Court. Among other things, he was a lawyer. For nine hours over two days could he talk about the am instead case . I think it is spielbergs best film. It doesnt matter what i think. I am prejudiced tried there is a wonderful actor playing this little old man. It was the default practice of profession. The Addams Family was not one into wealth. Even though john adams was fifth generation new england, not a lot of the Addams Family had any distinction in any area of life before john adams. But john adams earned his living as a lawyer. He graduated from harvard. You either became the clergymen or a lawyer, unless you had a boston magnet businessman who made a lot of money and you could go into the business. He hated being a lawyer and he had to fall back on it early on. He served a term in congress as a senator, elected by the massachusetts house legislature, and he got into a lot of trouble with the federalists who put them there because he supported some of Thomas Jeffersons policies, which he thought were bad policies but the best ones available for the country at the time. He came back twice to once after being washingtons ambassador to the netherlands and after serving as senator to practice law, and he really dislike dr. Singh law. Disliked practicing law. He was saved from the law when James Madison appointed him minister, to a diplomatic post. Things got a little confused and im a little confused. We will correct that. That is where we want to get to. Before we do that, in a few minutes we will be taking questions from the audience. If you would like to ask a question, please approach one of the two standing mikes in the aisles and please before asking your question, tell us your name and out of respect for the other people waiting their turn, please ask one question, and kindly keep it brief. How many of you have seen the spielberg film on the amistad . A lot of you. Let me tell you very quickly that he was asked to be one of the attorneys representing the black africans who had taken over a slave ship, killed a number of the crew of the slave ship and wanted to head back to africa. They were on the way to cuba. They were illegal, it turned out. They had been stolen from africa. The laws in various places at that time were against it. We are in 1839. He is asked to defend these he with great trepidation agrees to do so. He has not practiced law for like 35, 40 years or so. The goes before the Supreme Court, and along with other attorneys who are also defending the amistad prisoners, he is the headline attorney who speaks for nine hours over two days and gets the Supreme Court against the wishes of the u. S. State department and against the wishes of a great deal of the u. S. Judicial system otherwise and against the wishes of all of the Southern Forces to decide that these people deserve to be free, they have been illegally taken on the high seas to cuba, they are not slaves, they are free men, and they are not to be tried in a court of the United States. Is an amazing moment, and one of the great hypotheticals or counterfactual is. John quincy adams turned down an appointment to the Supreme Court. The person who was appointed was associate Justice Joseph story, who was one of the justices on the Supreme Court when he amistad decision came through, and he was delegated the job by the head of the Supreme Court to write the decision. The job the John Quincy Adams turned down because he did not think he was really sitting on the bench was too much like being a lawyer. He wanted to be in the political world and diplomatic world. He argued before joseph story and the rest of the court. He also argued before judge roger, the chief justice appointed by jackson, and it was judge roger who was the writer of the dred scott decision in 1857. It was judge roger tornier who officiated and presented the bible to Abraham Lincoln in march 1861, when this dred scott decision chief justice had to swear in the 16th president of the United States. We have done a tremendous loop here covering the era from washington to lincoln, which John Quincy Adams is at the center of it all. Should we take some questions . [applause] my name is steven tyler. Im from pittsburgh. I read somewhere that John Quincy Adams was most likely our most innately intelligent president , and he had an iq of possibly over 170 estimated. What would you say about that . Secondly, i also saw a biography about him that mentioned a relationship he had when he was much younger with a much younger girl, and his dad disapproved of, and basically told them to cut that off and he did so, and it was very psychologically damaging. Could you comment on what kind of impact that had on his life . Thank you. John quincy adams was a hell of a smart man, but we dont have parameters we can apply. What do these measurement parameters matter anyway . What does it matter . We know when people are smart and we know when they are not smart grid smart. I understand where youre coming from. There are certain people who sparkle with intelligence, and sometimes there are people who just by personality dont sparkle. Some people sparkle because they are performers, they have a sense of how to sparkle in conversation. John quincy adams, when he was a law student, which was an apprenticeship in massachusetts and John Quincy Adams was about 20, 21 years of age, he met a 16yearold young newberry port lady with blond hair and so on. They hope to marry. His family had no money to give him. We are in a very paternalistic world, which is not quite accurate to say, because Abigail Adams was just as much against john quincy marrying this woman as was john adams, his father. There was this strong sense that it was ruinous for a young man who had not yet established himself with a career in the world to marry and take on the responsibilities, financial especially, of wife and children. So the relationship was broken up and so one. The story has more touching and poignant aspects to it, which you can read about. [laughter] excellent. Yes . You painted a great picture which we all appreciated of John Quincy Adams is both a Great American patriot and his opposition to slavery in america. Did he ever write or speak about foreseeing the conflict between the two that came out in the discussion in the civil war, and how did he reconcile this . Its a very appropriate question. It is one i am very prepared to answer. That is something i have given a great deal of thought to, particularly about adams and lincoln. Adams, fairly early on, very dramatic diary entries, anticipated what in his view was the inevitable war. He saw no hope of reconciling the rock autumn differences between the north and the south and the slavery. He feared that bloody day, but he also wished for that bloody day. When people from the African American colonization came to him in the 1830s and said we have a great plan, lets send all the free blacks we can possibly persuade to go to a new country, we will call it library i in africa wont they be happy liberia in africa, wont they be happy. They have been here for generations, but sure, they will go. Maybe the federal government allocating money to purchase slaves in 1830s, over 3 million of them, they figure there are 4 million slaves. Purchase those, we will give them a knapsack and sandwiches im joking, of course. Adams said, youre crazy. This is utter nonsense. It is not practically possible. It wont happen. It is inconceivable, stupid, impossible. My question is, why did adams early on reject this and say it is a fantasy . There were a lot of different people involved in the colonization of society with different motives are pushing it. Why is it a fantasy for adams, and why is it a plausible reality for lincoln right up to 1862, september 1862 . This gentleman knows a lot more than i do, because he has written a book about the emancipation proclamation. Lincoln commits himself and argues strongly all through his public career that he is deeply antislavery but colonization is possible. That colonization is possible. Right up until military necessity, some people suggest forced upon him the decision to win this war, we need black soldiers. Whatever his reasoning, thats another subject. Lets try and get some more questions in. It is worth noting that adams was a pacifist. He did anticipate for coming, but was a lifelong pacifist. Im going to stay here and come back to this side, if you dont mind. My name is jim. If my recollection is correct that he was canvassed to be president of harvard, what were the circumstances around that that resulted in him deciding not to become president of harvard . He had a Long Association with harvard and he felt grateful to harvard that it had been the forge upon which his americanness was deeply realized when he came back from all those years in europe as a young man. He also had an upanddown relationship with harvard. It gets a little bit complicated. It has to do with who is in control of the harvard administration. And what appointments they are making, who is being appointed to professor this or professor that. There are some religious issues involved. Harvard is becoming increasingly unitarian, which is somewhat liberal, and john quincy is sort of hanging back a little bit. He will go to any church and worship and learn. Hes not sick. , at least. Sectarian, at least. He gets offered the position of president of harvard informally, and decides the job is not right for him. He doesnt want to get involved in what he thinks are necessary but difficult reforms. They have to be instituted to make harvard a more modern place, and particularly create a better atmosphere for study and learning. The student riot at harvard between 1810s, 1820s, into the 1830s, tremendous amount of drunkenness and gambling and so on all of his sons get kicked out . Exactly. That ways weighs on him. Both his sons have difficult experiences at harvard and one is actually kicked out. Yes, sir. My name is jeremy larson. Question about any backroom deal with henry clay, because henry clay became secretary of state. Im so glad you asked that. There is a certain sense of that people take this seriously baffles me. That phrase back room deal in politics, there are always deals. In terms of distribution of power, who is going to do what and so on and so forth. Henry clay was the most qualified man in the United States in march 1825 to be the secretary of state. He was a qualified man. He and john adams agreed on almost everything in terms of the role of the United States in the world. What happened, of course, there is a movement going on that is antiintellectual, that is democratic and favors a popular man, but at the same time is moving us towards our soundbite culture. What happens . It takes in six months or a year. The haiti thing explodes, and the southerners are furious because the black republic of haiti is their friend, and ambassador to washington . We will have to sit down at the table with a black man . No. It takes a little while, and then they explode into the corrupt deal. It really unless you are caught up in partisan politics, people tend to not pay any attention to this. Yet, if you are caught up in partisan politics and you are doing talk radio and blah blah blah blah blah, these kinds of slogans become very powerful. Yes, sir. My name is [indiscernible] i have read that one of the two man who adams admired most in the country was marquita lafayette. Marquis de lafayette. Can you tell us the basis of the background for that relationship . John quincy adams got to know lafayette when adams was a young man, really a boy. He got to know him through his father, john adams. As a young boy, twice, and for long periods of time, John Quincy Adams was taken by his father to europe for his education, joined the revolutionary war, and thereafter. Lafayette was a famous young man at the time. Eager to have relationships with his american friends. John quincy adams over the years in europe had many opportunities to be an intimate of the lafayette circle, the lafayette family, and stayed at the lafayette estate outside of paris. Also, as a scholar, John Quincy Adams studied the french revolution closely and published his analysis of certain aspects of it. Lafayette was always a part of that. This lafayette grew and grew and grew in the United States. When lafayette finally returned to america, the country celebrated up and down the east coast this great figure in connection to the founding fathers. Because of who John Quincy Adams was, he was asked by the Jackson Administration to deliver a eulogy for lafayette. A very lengthy eulogy that i dont think is among John Quincy Adams best writing. I hope the library of america will do an anthology of John Quincy Adams writing. Very quickly, question and answer so we can get this in. Good evening. Adam rodriguez. I am wondering if there are interesting direct interactions with adams and lincoln when theyre in congress. Yes. Between early december 1847 and late february 1848, for three months they overlapped in congress. We know the lincoln had to be very aware of John Quincy Adams. We dont know to what extent adams was aware of lincoln. We know a great deal, though most of it through indirect sources about lincolns having been aware of John Quincy Adams and looked up to him from the mid1820s until John Quincy Adams death. During the three monthly overlapped in congress, they voted the same way on every major issue, and there were three major issues. The two of them voted against the mexican war, which they both detested. They voted against slavery, which was in favor of abolishing slavery in the district of columbia. He and lincoln voted the same way. They also voted to allocate federal funds for Infrastructure Projects for improvements. They were along the same wavelength. They shared the same policies. Very last question, and this has to be very quick. This is sort of similar to the previous question. Towards the end of his presidency, he was pretty much exiled by his party. Were those particular policies and sympathies with jeffersonian policies that alienated him from his party, or is there anything in particular but cause that rift that caused that rift . He begins as a federalist. He is renounced by the federalists. He then becomes a tentative republican. He hates Political Parties all his life. He wishes we did not have them. He eventually sees the necessity. He becomes affiliated with the whigs. He is identified as a whig mostly when hes not happy with any Political Party identification. He really likes to be an individual, independent voice. He thinks Political Parties are and will be destructive to american, to the virtuous. He looks back to the founding fathers, to the virtuous american republic. Before dale closes the program, i want to say one thing that i picked up from this biography that is appropriate for this evening, this occasion, in march of 1839, John Quincy Adams came to the New York Historical society and delivered a twohour lecture honoring the golden anniversary of the constitution and George Washingtons presidency. 175 years later, i want to say thank you to fred kaplan for bring a John Quincy Adams back. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] you are watching American History tv, 48 hours of programming on American History every weekend on cspan 3. Cspan us on twitter history for information historians and law professors recently gathered at the university of baltimore law mr. Civildiscuss rights. Thurgood marshall and the naacp. They explored his early law career and work in the south to expand Voting Rights for africanamericans. You will hear about his arguments before the u. S. Supreme court and how he became the first africanamerican appointed to the highest court in the land. P