The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics

Overshadowed by both his brilliant father and the brash and bold Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams has long been dismissed as hyper-intellectual. Viciously assailed by Jackson and his populist mobs for being both slippery and effete, Adams nevertheless recovered from the malodorous 1828 presidential election to lead the nation as a lonely Massachusetts congressman in the fight against slavery. Now, William J. Cooper insightfully demonstrates that Adams should be considered a lost Founding Father, his moral and political vision the final link to the great visionaries who created the American nation. This game-changing biography reveals Adams to be one of the most battered but courageous and inspirational politicians in American history.