>> next on the presidency, a conversation with author fred kaplan about his biography john quincy adams, american visionary. although he was not remembered r being a great president he argues john quincy adams was one of the the new york historical society hosted this hour-long event. we are just going to talk amongst ourselves for a while. it's great to be here. one detail that you want to correct. >> yes. ,y career has been very diverse but it's mostly focused on literature and history. i keep a low profile, hidden

away in maine as i read and write. i don't have the opportunity to political in current 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 was "lincoln, the biography of a writer."

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 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. , but itme six years also provided me with the pleasure of being here tonight

with this distinguished moderator. >> thank you, fred. adams andout quincy 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 when we oncend 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 heir to a certain kind of modern new england with a mission that was inseparable from society, family, place he lived, community, etc. that hehis strong sense

was someone i could identify with. he came from a political and literary background. i come from a very different world, jewish world, second-generation immigrants. these were people of the book. adams is very much from the family,s was his entire his father john adams and his mother abigail -- they were also people of the book. was an obsession in the adams family. couldere just -- they just as much and well write as breathe. there were many ups and downs in his career.

he inherited from his parents a sense of his potential. he embraced it. he went through many difficulties, both professional ,nd personal, or and in the end when the presence of abraham lincoln, the one term congress -- the one term congressman from 48, hes on february 18 collapsed on the floor of the house of representatives and of 80. the age 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. 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 diarys maturity, the which he defined as a record of and as a statement

and as an am here, 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 self-expression , and self-exploration. 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 presidents,

even more so than thomas jefferson. let's 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 so that hef standard could say i have behaved well today or i have not behaved well. i'm feeling good about what i did. i'm not feeling good, and why. document,xtraordinary

among other reasons for historians especially, is because here is a man who is actively engaged in the diplomatic and political a 60 to 70of almost year period. in early adulthood, george washington appoints him , toster, same as ambassador the netherlands. then he gets appointed to other but he startssts, with george washington writing , dois father, john adams not think that i am appointing because to this office 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 quincy's with abraham lincoln there and being appointed an honorary pallbearer for his funeral. thate could probably argue 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. that thele would argue munro doctrine should probably be called the adams doctrine. hise were to assess 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 i'm partial. in the early years of the republic, he represented the and thenates in europe from 1817 to march 1825. some of the major negotiations and advances of american presidents as this fledgling negligible from its position in world affairs to 1830's, a major power. be afterower it was to the civil war, but a major power.

one of the great accomplishments as secretary of state, the greatest accomplishment is the 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. 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

1814, whichcember and almostnnecessary 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 war is said, 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 presidents, and i think you can go about 40 pages through his presidency. presidency,bout his 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. in john quincy adams' case, obtained the majority of votes in the house of representatives, andrew jackson had obtained more popular votes and more electoral college votes. thehat circumstance, jackson people were furious. they were particularly furious at henry clay as well as at hads, because henry clay turned over his house of representatives affiliates, if you will, three states that would do whatever henry clay

wanted. henry clay hated jackson. jefferson waske on the record on this, all three andrewe men thought 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. things is john as president,

appointing a delegation to a south american-central american conference to be held in panama, at which the black republic of haiti was to be represented. an extraordinary series of conflicts between the slave forces of the south and the house of representatives in , and all those in another camp, if you will. john quincy adams was looking forward to this pan-american unity. because of haiti being a black republic, that conference was undermined if not destroyed. -- is john quincy adams' presidency is not what on he accomplished, but what he

expressed in his inaugural address and annual messages to theress, and in terms of way in which he was able to articulate a view of america's 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? visionelements of that an america which is a country unified by a federal solidaritywhich has and power to bring out the best in all the states in the country

under federal leadership that inl bind the nation together 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 ,nified 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. 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. died, he before 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. who said,o a man looking back at jefferson and jackson and particularly at , thatrn restrictionist's the constitution of the united

states is a living, growing, organic documents. whenst remain true to it 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 best-known

congressman in the country. why does he do it? his whole family is against it very his sons are against it. wife, the wonderful and talented louisa catherine -- a wonderful marriage, tortured and difficult, happy and wonderful, long, but -- the entire family against this. by hisng the invitation local constituency in the --sachusetts state restrict district [indiscernible] that he would become their candidate on what was emerging as the whig ticket. andill leave that out of it just say we would like you to represent us.

adams lived all his life by the maxim that i will never ask to be nominated for anything. i will never ask for anybody's vote. i am not a soundbite man. asked.serve if i will never say no if asked, and i think i can do the job. yes, so he represented the massachusetts district from 42 until through -- 18 his death in 1848. gradually he became the most notorious, the most caustic, the most volatile, the most eloquent exponent. rule.cus was on the gag

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. is a moment where anti-slavery agitation in particular in the north is rising and peeking from 1831 on. he's 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 , will theympromise 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. .e has other support the abolitionist forces in the country become very powerful and dominant. frederick douglass and so many others become major voices. ,here 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. him, hey don't call on jumps up and says are you trying to gag me?

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 to 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 i'm 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. 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 ,ombination of human qualities remarkable and admirable. this is a man who loves solitude. to read. man who loves 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. him, allgoes out to the dead plants that failed on him. thereen at the same time, he is in public with this tremendous passion for expressing himself. 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 -- let's 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. goatsis one of the great towards achievement, the feeling of insufficiency, having to live up to a standard that you will never be able to fulfill.

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 , but al presence presence that he felt ennobled him. was a man who felt inadequate as a public speaker, never fully , but youl as a writer had the sense that it was his absolute duty of self-definition , 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 haven't 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 the words thatd, sort of bring tears to my eyes when you think about the , thegle of his life achievements, once and who commits suicide, another son who dies about holism -- of alcoholism, his own bouts of hisession off and on,

brother -- he has one brother who dies of alcoholism, another brother who become somewhat career atand has no 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 momente for, some stoic 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. days -- hours over two could he talk about the am instead case? i think it is spielberg's

best film. it doesn't 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 , not aion new england 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 , 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 legislature, house and he got into a lot of trouble with the federalists who put them there because he supported some of thomas jefferson's 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 washington's 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 i'm a little confused. we will correct that. that is where we want to get to. , in a fewwe do that minutes we will be taking questions from the audience. if you would like to ask a question, please approach one of the two standing mike's 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. turnedre illegal, it 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 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 decidethern forces to that these people deserve to be free, they have been illegally to cuba,the high seas 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 , 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 inle to abraham lincoln march 1861, when this dred scott had ton chief justice 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. i'm from pittsburgh. i read somewhere that john 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 don't 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 you're coming from. there are certain people who sparkle with intelligence, and sometimes there are people who just by personality don't sparkle. some people sparkle because they are performers, they have a sense of how to sparkle in conversation. adams, when he was a law student, which was an

apprenticeship in massachusetts and john quincy adams was about he met aars of age, 16-year-old 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 againsts just as much john quincy marrying this woman as was john adams, his father. sense thathis strong manas ruinous for a young who had not yet established himself with a career in the to marry and take on the

responsibilities, financial especially, of wife and children. so the relationship was broken up and so one. andstory has more touching 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 in the that came out discussion in the civil war, and how did he reconcile this? >> it's 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 ,ramatic 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. feared that bloody day, but he also wished for that bloody day. when people from the african american colonization came to him in the 1830's and said we let's sendt plan, all the free blacks we can

possibly persuade to go to a new country, we will call it library i in africa -- won't they be happy -- liberia in africa, won't they be happy. they have been here for generations, but sure, they will go. maybe the federal government allocating money to purchase slaves in 1830's, over 3 million , they figure there are 4 million slaves. purchase those, we will give them a knapsack and sandwiches -- i'm joking, of course. adams said, you're crazy. this is utter nonsense. it is not practically possible. it won't 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. adams,it a fantasy for and why is it a plausible right up tolincoln 1862, september 1862? 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 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, that's another subject. let's try and get some more questions in. adamsworth noting that was a pacifist. he did anticipate for coming, but was a lifelong pacifist. i'm going to stay here and come back to this side, if you don't 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

realizedess was deeply when he came back from all those years in europe as a young man. he also had an up-and-down .elationship with harvard it gets a little bit complicated. it has to do with who is in control of the harvard administration. 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. he's 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. involvedt want to get in what he thinks are necessary but difficult reforms. toy have to be instituted make harvard a more modern place, and particularly create a better atmosphere for study and learning. the student riot at harvard between 1810s, 1820's, into the 1830's, 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. >> i'm so glad you asked that. a certain sense of -- that people take this seriously baffles me. that phrase act 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 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. course, there of is a movement going on that is that isellectual, 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. andhaiti thing explodes, 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. 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 b lah 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. can you tell us the basis of the background for that relationship? got to knowcy adams 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 for hiso europe 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 and publishedsely

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 he was asked by the jackson administration to deliver a lafayette. that ilengthy eulogy don't 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 they're 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 don't know to what extent adams was aware of lincoln. a great deal, though most of it through indirect sources about lincoln's having been aware of john quincy adams and looked up to him from the

mid-1820's 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. againstof them voted the mexican war, which they both detested. slavery,d against 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 he's not happy with any political party identification. likes to be an individual, independent voice.

he thinks political parties are to will be destructive 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 two-hour lecture honoring the golden anniversary of the constitution and george washington's 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] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> learn from leading historians

about presidents and first ladies, their policies and legacies. to watch any of the programs or check our tv schedule, visit www.c-span.org/history. you you are watching american history tv on c-span3. and law professors recently gathered at university of baltimore law school to pass the film "mr. civil rights." they explored his early law career as well as his work in the south to expand voting rights for african-americans. you'll also hear about his arguments before the supreme court and how he became the first african-american appointed to the highest court. in the land. thisprogram will -- program lasts about 50 minutes.