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The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 12; Original Publisher: J.B. Lippincott ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Publisher: Boston : Little, BrownPublication date: 1903Subjects: Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848Newburyport (Mass.) -- Social life and customsNotes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

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Records of a great orator. ... Read more

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With A Review Of The Case Of The Antelope. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Records of a great orator. ... Read more

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In her illuminating and dramatic biography The Stranger and the Statesman, Nina Burleigh reveals a little-known slice of social and intellectual history in the life and times of the man responsible for the creation of the United States' principal cultural institution, the Smithsonian.

It was one of the nineteenth century's greatest philanthropic gifts -- and one of its most puzzling mysteries. In 1829, a wealthy English naturalist named James Smithson left his library, mineral collection, and entire fortune to the "United States of America, to found ... an establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men" -- even though he had never visited the United States or known any Americans. In this fascinating book, Burleigh pieces together the reclusive benefactor's life, beginning with his origins in the splendidly dissipated eighteenth-century aristocracy as the Paris-born bastard son of the first Duke of Northumberland and a wild adventuress who preserved for her son a fortune through gall and determination.

The book follows Smithson through his university years and his passionate study of minerals across the European continent during the chaos of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Detailed are his imprisonment -- simply for being an Englishman in the wrong place, his experiences in the gambling dens of France, and his lonely and painstaking scientific pursuits.

After Smithson's death, nineteenth-century American politicians were given the task of securing his half-million dollars -- the equivalent today of fifty million -- and then trying to determine how to increase and diffuse knowledge from the muddy, brawling new city of Washington. Burleigh discloses how Smithson's bequest was nearly lost due to fierce battles among many clashing Americans -- Southern slavers, state's rights advocates, nation-builders, corrupt frontiersmen, and Anglophobes who argued over whether a gift from an Englishman should even be accepted. She also reveals the efforts of the unsung heroes, mainly former president John Quincy Adams, whose tireless efforts finally saw Smithson's curious notion realized in 1846, with a castle housing the United States' first and greatest cultural and scientific establishment.

Customer Reviews (9)

Disappointing
People want to like this book. I definitely had it on a "to do" list for quite a while. Could there be anything more interesting than John Quincy Adams, James Smithson and the founding of America's greatest scientific institution, the Smithsonian?

James Smithson was a reclusive figure and to be fair little was known about him so the author did not have much to go on. But why fill this work with innocuous filler? The author should have concentrated this work on the embarrassing shenanigans surrounding Smithson's bequest once the money reached America and go on from there. There is plenty to fill a 267 page book once his money reached these shores. Instead the author focuses, as another reviewer has succinctly stated it, on the mating habits of Victorian England. Unfortunately, the story of who begat whom out of wedlock three generations removed from the Smithsonian's founding is simply not relevant. Smithson is not born until page 53, 20% of the way through the book, and sadly this work goes downhill from there.Over 200 pages, 75% of the book, pass before Smithson's bequest reaches American shores and the Smithsonian's story can begin.

When the reader finally meets John Quincy Adams the author pursues yet another series of events completely unrelated to the museum's founding. As the author explains in considerable detail, John Quincy Adams spent 15 or so years defeating the Congressional Gag Rule. This law forbid even the discussion of slavery and suspended a fundamental American liberty, the right to petition Congress. But it had nothing to do with John Quincy Adam's fight to protect James Smithson's bequest and the ultimate establishment of the Smithsonian. So why, one wonders, is time devoted to it? It simply has nothing to do with Adams' involvement with protecting Smithson's money from those who viewed the Smithson windfall as an opportunity for their individual political largess. The juicy parts surrounding the Smithsonian's founding, i.e., the theft of Smithson's legacy by Arkansas and Illinois, the subsequent loss of the money by the Treasury Department and JQA's fight to have Congress reinstate the money out of Federal funds, is only treated in passing.

The Smithsonian is America's first and greatest cultural and scientific establishment, one that has since funded thousands of scientific and exploratory projects around the world. It has given the nation's capital an enduring cultural foundation. It is an American icon physically present in the most unique architectural rendering on the National Mall and is a point of significant interest for every visitor to Washington, DC. It is simply too bad that this work fails to live up to the promise of the key portion of its title that actually sells this book, i.e., The Making of America's Greatest Museum: The Smithsonian.

Great story but poorly edited
Interesting read.But to get to the point, the editing job left much to be desired.It becomes a bit tedious to re-read descriptions of people that look to be a cut and paste job (ie. rather than just mentioning names of people who are well known by now in the book, we get a phrase of how they were described when their name was first mentioned, and this is repeated almost eachtime the person is mentioned).Also, certain phrases within sentences are repeated verbatim (just like the name issue mentioned above).Did anyone read this book before it went to print?

Well worth perusing
The first half of the book is a biography of James Smithson, the Smithsonian's benefactor, although little is really known of him. He was the illegitimate son of an English nobleman in the 18th century, and few records about him survive. It's a mystery why he left his fortune-half a million dollars in that day's currency, equivalent to about $50 million today-to the United States, and there was a lot of debate over whether it should be accepted! Then once it was accepted in theory, there was a significant challenge in physically procuring the money (eventually transported across the Atlantic in the form of gold). And finally, there was much disagreement about how the money should be used and a fair amount of graft and corruption that obliterated the principle. Quite an intriguing story. The book itself is a little too meandering for my tastes; the author tries too hard to fill in the blanks with conjecture and imagination. But well worth perusing.

In short, delightful.
A great short read about a wonderful institution. The perfect book to read while traveling.

Wonderful history behind our prestigious museum.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book about The Smithsonian and how it came about. Smithson was an eccentric...no doubt about it, and there is little for us to go on to guage why he made the U.S. his heir, especially when he spent his life trying to 'ratify' his own place among the elite of England. But we Americans do not refuse a 'gift horse.' Especially one that would enable us to contend with the British museums. Adams may have not had his father's sense of humor, but he was smart enough to accept this gift, and see that it was used the way that Smithson intended it to be used. A very outstanding historical story, and well-researched. Glad to know the background of the Smithsonian...

Karen Sadler,
Science Education,
University of Pittsburgh ... Read more

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a biography of the Country's sixth President. ... Read more

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Historians have not been generous in judging the presidency of John Quincy Adams. Those who have most conspicuously upheld Adams's fame have, at the same time, virtually ignored his service in the White House. Critics, on the other hand, have described his administration as a failure, founded upon "bargain and corruption" and marked by exclusion of the United States from the British West Indian trade, the ineffectiveness of its efforts to promote strong Pan-American relationships, and the enactment of the "tariff of abominations." Some analysts have even argued that it generated the sectionalism which terminated the "Era of Good Feelings."

Mary Hargreaves contends, instead, that the basic effort of Adams's presidency was to harmonize divergent sectional interests. To ignore the Adams administration's commitment to nationalism, she argues, is to overlook a fundamental stage in the establishment of the federal government as guardian of the general interest.

The volume contains new information on the development of United States commercial policy, the nation's early relationships with Latin America, and difficulties of local and regional adjustment to the growth of the national economy. It will be of keen interest to all students of the economic and political history of the early national period.

This book is part of the American Presidency Series. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Needed an editor badly...
I've read the five previous Kansas University explorations of presidencies. This is by far the worst. I don't want to denigrate the work the author put into the book, because it is very clear that she knows her stuff. But part of historical writing, even when your audience is made up of history geeks like me, is cogent and flowing writing. As the previous reviewer said, the author gets so bogged down into the details as to make some of this book unreadable, especially the first third of the book.

The last third of the book is more readable, but still ponderous. The conclusions that she makes are definitely well documented and analyzed, but the reading is so tedious that it doesn't matter. Plus, the author also assumes that readers know all of the allusions to history that she brings up without explaining some of them.

A much easier read on this presidency can be found in Robert Remini's John Quincy Adams bio. He covers almost all of the same points, but in a much more comprehensible way.

Too much detail clouds the main issues
There have been two instances of a father and son both achieving the presidency of the United States and there is a common characteristic. In each case one of the two had a distinguished history of public service that would indicate excellent preparation for the rigors of being president. However, both of those men served only one term, voted down amid lackluster support even among those who were their natural political allies.
George Bush senior was a combat aviator in world war two, served in congress, was head of the CIA and was vice president for eight years. And yet, his presidency is generally considered to have been more of a caretaker administration than anything else. He came dangerously close to coming in third in the election where he was defeated by Bill Clinton. John Quincy Adams served his nation well as an ambassador to Europe during some of the most troubling early years of the nation. A distinguished public figure in many other ways, it certainly appeared that he was well prepared for the presidency. However, his administration was also rather lackluster and it too has the appearance of a caretaker government.
Despite the relative lack of major events during the four years of the John Quincy Adams administration, Hargreaves manages to fill 323 pages. This attention to excruciating detail makes the book difficult to read and it is by far the least interesting of the eight books in the American presidency series that I have read. To put this into perspective, the eight years of the Andrew Jackson presidency are summarized in 277 pages and the four years of the Van Buren administration in 211. Detailed explanations of minor legislative debates and the personal relationships between the principles are presented to the point that they just become tedious.
All of this in unfortunate, because John Quincy Adams was a very interesting man who tried to uphold the principles of democracy as he saw them. The problem of course was that the nation was changing. He was the last president with roots to the old statesman/gentleman mold of men that created the nation and the constitution. Adams was constantly fighting the populist movement of Andrew Jackson, with the appeal to the masses that was so different from the presidential politics that had come before. This point is mentioned in the book, but unfortunately all the detail tends to bury it.
The presidency of John Quincy Adams marks a turning point in the history of the United States. After him, presidents were elected by political campaigns with mass appeal rather than the collective will of a relatively small number of people. Furthermore, they were no longer chosen from a group of aristocratic gentleman, as rough hewn self-made men were now viable candidates. This point is made in the book, but not as well as it should and certainly not as precisely as it could have been. ... Read more

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One of the most complete biographies ever written about an American president, this is a remarkable effort examining the life and career of the great Revolutionary leader and the second man to take the oath of office, John Adams.

Volume 2 of this two-volume work covers Adams's role in the negotiation and signing of the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain as well as his central task in the organization of the government of the newly emerging nation.

Also included are Adams's recollections of his election and service as first vice president to George Washington's administration and those of his term as second president of the United States. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Full title: Argument of John Quincy Adams Before the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of the United States, Appellants, vs. Cinque, and others, Africans, captured in the schooner Amistad, by Lieut. Gedney, Delivered on the 24th of February and 1st of March 1841. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Sloppy Publication
Adam's Amistad Argument is an eloquent work that deserves to be presented with care and in a manner that evidences that those who have assumed the task of publishing it have done so with respect for its form, content and meaning. This publication has so many typographical errors that it appears to have been carelessly slapped together and never to have been proof-read before being issued. The purchaser of this publication deserves better....John Quincy Adams deserves better too.

A Very Famous Legal Argument!
In a time when the slavery issue was tearing the country apart, John Q. Adams made an argument before the Supreme Court on Amistad that is described as follows by Fred Dalzell: "Adams threw himself into the Armistad case with characteristic vigor. During the period from November 1840-January 1841 he was everywhere, all over Washington, declaiming, networking, nosing around for new evidence, poring over the documents he dug out of the executive departments. He prepared and fretted over his legal arguments for the court. Above all, he seems to have relished the opportunity to attack and expose the Van Buren Administration, which he became convinced had conspired to influence the judicial outcome of the case. His arguments before the Supreme Court did little, in the end, to influence the ruling: Justice Story's decision took up the points made by Adams's colleague, Roger Baldwin. Still Adams's spirited defense made strong points, galvanized abolitionist sentiment, and helped to damage Van Buren's credibility."Was it really only politics after all?Interesting in its scope as a legal argument as well as the history it made.









... Read more