John Quincy Adams and the Politics of Slavery

Selections from the Diary

David Waldstreicher and Matthew Mason

Highlights John Quincy Adams's views on slavery within his extraordinary diary, revealing of both the man and his times
Follows the eminent statesman's evolving perspectives across nearly the entire early republic period (late 1780's-mid 1840's)
Provides a rare opportunity for students to bring together the political narrative of Federalists and Jeffersonians, Whigs and Democrats, with the story of slavery

John Quincy Adams and the Politics of Slavery

Selections from the Diary

David Waldstreicher and Matthew Mason

Description

In the final years of his political career, President John Quincy Adams was well known for his objections to slavery, with rival Henry Wise going so far as to label him "the acutest, the astutest, the archest enemy of southern slavery that ever existed." As a young statesman, however, he supported slavery. How did the man who in 1795 told a British cabinet officer not to speak to him of "the Virginians, the Southern people, the democrats," whom he considered "in no other light than as Americans," come to foretell "a grand struggle between slavery and freedom"? How could a committed expansionist, who would rather abandon his party and lose his U.S. Senate seat than attack Jeffersonian slave power, later come to declare the Mexican War the "apoplexy of the Constitution," a hijacking of the republic by slaveholders? What changed? Entries from Adams's personal diary, more extensive than that of any American statesman, reveal a highly dynamic and accomplished politician in engagement with one of his generation's most challenging national dilemmas.

Expertly edited by David Waldstreicher and Matthew Mason, John Quincy Adams and the Politics of Slavery offers an unusual perspective on the dramatic and shifting politics of slavery in the early republic, as it moved from the margins to the center of public life and from the shadows to the substance of Adams's politics. The editors provide a lucid introduction to the collection as a whole and frame the individual documents with brief and engaging insights, rendering both Adams's life and the controversies over slavery into a mutually illuminating narrative. By juxtaposing Adams's personal reflections on slavery with what he said-and did not say-publicly on the issue, the editors offer a nuanced portrait of how he interacted with prevailing ideologies during his consequential career and life. John Quincy Adams and the Politics of Slavery is an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the complicated politics of slavery that set the groundwork for the Civil War.

John Quincy Adams and the Politics of Slavery

Selections from the Diary

David Waldstreicher and Matthew Mason

Introduction

Chapter 1: Rising Son of the Young Republic (1767-1808)
Chapter 2: American Diplomat (1809-1817)
Chapter 3: Secretary of State (1817-1824)
Chapter 4: The Making and Unmaking of a President (1824-1829)
Chapter 5: The Making of an Antislavery Congressman (1829-1836)
Chapter 6: Antislavery Whig Congressman (1836-1848)

Bibliography
Index

John Quincy Adams and the Politics of Slavery

Selections from the Diary

David Waldstreicher and Matthew Mason

Author Information

David Waldstreicher is Distinguished Professor of History at the City University of New York's Graduate Center whose work spans political history, cultural history, slavery and antislavery, and print culture in the early republic of the United States. His books include Slavery's Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification and Runaway America: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery and the American Revolution, and he is the editor of A Companion to John Adams and John Quincy Adams, A Companion to Benjamin Franklin and The Struggle Against Slavery: A History in Documents.

Matthew E. Mason is an Associate Professor of History at Brigham Young University. He has written and co-edited several books, including Slavery and Politics in the Early American Republic, The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Anderson; and Contesting Slavery: The Politics of Bondage and Freedom in the New American Nation.

John Quincy Adams and the Politics of Slavery

Selections from the Diary

David Waldstreicher and Matthew Mason

Reviews and Awards

The diary should help [readers] understand [Adams's] conflicting commitment to the nation his father helped create and its Constitution, in which slavery was embedded....Adams's argument is often visible in the illuminating diary entries [the authors] provide."--Wall Street Journal

"This meticulously annotated selection from the diaries of our sixth president reads like the banner headlines of today's news reports of political intrigue, raw ambitions and the same existential crisis that divides our nation today....The diary entries have a dramatic climax to them that would be worthy of a serious film treatment by someone. In the meantime this book is a great read and an informative reality check on issues that vex us even now."--Washington Times

"The editors have shown discerning judgment in the material they have chosen for their pages. In a thoughtful and judicious introduction, they have spelled out the historiographical odyssey of the diary as well as the motivation governing Adams's own relations with slavery and the South. On the latter point they deserve special commendation in a time when many tout John Quincy as an antislavery hero with little thought to the complex road he took to reach that place."--Civil War Book Review

"Provides important insight into John Quincy Adams's views on the most divisive issue of his generation. Waldstreicher's and Mason's work should command an impressive place on the growing shelf of works exploring the life of the sixth president."--Civil War Monitor

"This book will no doubt prove to be a valuable resource for researchers in numerous academic disciplines on questions related to Adams, slavery in the United States, and 19th-century US foreign policy."--CHOICE