this autograph, by john quincy adams, where he signed as the secretary of state and it's routine, departmental business from january 16th of 1818. john quincy adams, who's one of america ew's great secretaries of state, arranging with england for the joint occupation of the oregon territory and obtaining from spain, the cessation of the floridas which included eastern louisiana. he also formulated the doctrine with president monroe on the monroe doctrine. and he was sixth president of the united states in 1825. the oldest document we have in the collection is this full letter that was written by vol vol tair. he was a french philosopher and flown as "the father of ten lightenment." this letter was written in 1732 and the letter is thanking the author for his criticism or review of his book of history. the history of charles xii. as father of enlightenment, this is the basis of the american revolution. and i think that's probably why the collector included these documents as well as this book as sort of the basis for his collection. and also, in the french connection, we have a letter from the

a library where you could come in and look at the letters, the real letters, of john and abigail adams or of john quincy adams or of jeso adams on display and these exhibits would change from time to time and you could go out and be in the garden, you want to sit on a nice bench, and it would be a garden of the kind that abigail had with fruit trees and flowers and herbs and so forth, and it would be sort of an oasis in the m midst of washington. and there would be other exhibits as well from time to time. and the library of congress and the massachusetts historical society, which are the great repositories of adams family papers, have thus far said that they would be very happy to have some of their treasures on loan at the library. and i think it would be in keeping with part of their great contribution to american life. it isn't just -- in my view it isn't just that john and abigail adams did what they did as patriots, as believers in the cause of america and the independence and equality, but that they wrote what they did. they recorded what was happening. they describe the people. described the fee

in 1830 john quincy adams did the unthinkable. he had been president of the united states and yet he was driven by a god-placed feeling, a need to stop slavery in america. so after having been president, he lowered himself to run for the house of representatives and was elected in 1830, sworn in 1831 and served until 1848 just down the hall in what we now call statuary hall. he was driven -- he was a driven man. he believed god had called him, as he did, to bring an end to slavery. wilberforce in the british aisles, united kingdom, and adams in america. he was concerned appropriately that it would be difficult to expect god to keep blessing america if we were putting brothers and sisters in chains and bondage. he gave powerful speeches over and over down the hall in trying to convince the other members of the house to pass bills that would end slavery, that would free slaves and he never got it done. in fact, at one point he had so alienated the rules committee that they passed a rule, he couldn't even bring those types of bills a

this autograph by john quincy adams where he signed as the secretary of state and it's routine departmental business from january 16th of 1818. john quincy adams is one of america's great secretaries of state, arranging with england for the joint occupation of the oregon territory and obtaining from spain the cessation of the floridas which included eastern louisiana. he also formulated the doctrine with president monroe on the monroe doctrine. and then he was sectionth president of the united states in 1825. the oldest document in the collection is this full letter written by voltier. he's known as the father of the enlightenment. this letter was written in 1732 and the let ser thankiter is th author for his criticism or review of the book, the high schooler to of charles the 12th. the enlightenment movement is really sort of the basis of the american revolution.12th. the enlightenment movement is really sort of the basis of the american revolution.to of charl. the enlightenment movement is really sort of the basis of the american revolution.of charles . the enlightenment movement is reall

john quincy adams. jimmy carter. george w. bush in my view was a sankt moanous man. maybe i can debate that. woodrow wilson. at that level of politics it tends to be a trait that causes problems. polk was probably the most success ofl of the sankt moanous presidents. people can argue about joe wilson. i believe he injected world war i that led to world war ii. that's a debate for another show. >> you talked about two people there, the john quincy adams approach to -- he was a president. had been the sixth president of the united states and went on 17 years in the house of representatives. what did he do when james polk was inaugurated president? >> he had a chance to be in the inaugural procession, which he had no intention of doing because he was jr. sup set about polk's election. he despised andrew jackson but he was a giant of his time. now he had his protege and polk was elected. it was a rain "day planner" that day. it rained all day during the inauguration. quincy adams kind of watched from a distance and then put rye comments of many of them quite pointed in h

will have inspired so many who will pick up that banner and potential ly as was the ways with john quincy adams. he did great service to himself, his family and his nation. it's my prayer that his greatest contribution to this, the greatest nation with the greatest freedoms in the history of the world will not be those specific but amazing accomplishments he achieved, but that his greatest accomplishment will be the inspiration he was and is to so many who saw his devotion, saw his commitment, saw his goals and will just as did john quincy adams and accomplish more through those he inspired than those he could ever have accomplished individually. at a time like this, there's sometimes a temptation to blame god and ask why did god take such an individual so soon? i direct comments to our creator should instead be thank you, dear god, for the gift of andrew. we wish we could have kept him longer. but thank you for this marvelous gift. >> the comments of congressman gohmert on the house floor earlier today paying tribute to andrew who died suddenly today. ted mack is following the story for politi

will have inspired so many who will pick up that banner and potentially as was the case with john quincy adams and abraham lincoln do far more than adams himself could have done. >> he over and over again compared john quincy adams' fight against slavey with what breitbart has done. >> it's a disgrace. andrew breitbart's name should not be uttered in the same sentences as with those two men. you see what's going on here. on the right it doesn't matter what the truth is. it doesn't matter. they have decided to demonize the acorn organization, and they practically say don't bother me with the facts. my mind is made up. here in america out in the public square of ideas at least you can disagree. you don't have to be disagreeable, but make your case with the facts and stop, stop demonizing folks based on lies. it's a disgrace what andrew did. he never apologized for putting out these false tapes. but again this is the new realm that we have to fight in, and that's why folks who fought through these wars and the members of acorn are still fighting and we are going to continue to fight every lie eve

it has all the adams papers, all the john adams papers and the john quincy adams papers and a great part of the jefferson papers. >> i wanted to ask you about boards because you pop up a lot on that, everybody wants you on the historical boards. how many do you serve on now? >> at the moment i'm on no boards. but i'm as active as i can stay in working for mt. vernon and for the library of congress and the massachusetts historical society, the national trust for historic preservation. the new york historical society, monticello. and libraries in general. public libraries in general. i do a lot -- as much as i can to support, help make known the opportunities presented by public libraries, but also the responsibility communities have to support them. i'm an honorary member for a big drive now for the pittsburgh carnegie library which was the first public library that i ever went to. i owe so much to libraries. i owe so much to the library of congress that i will do what i can to help the library of congress for as long as i can. >> you've probably given henry knox more publicity than he's

and is to so many who saw his devotion, saw his commitment, saw his goals and will just as did john quincy adams and accomplished more through those he inspired than those he could ever have accomplished individually. at a time like this, there there is sometimes a temptation to blame god and ask why did god take such an individual so soon? i directed comments to our creator should instead be thank you, dear god, for the gift of andrew breitbart. we wish we could he have kept him longer. but thank you for this marvelous gift. >> the comments of congressman gohmert of texas on the floor of the house of representatives. the l.a. times writing about the death of breitbart describing him as a polarizing website publisher who once helped edit the drudge report, found his way to tea party in recent years, exposed the story of the sext e sextulely explicit tweets of anthony weiner, suddenly collapsing near his home earlier today. he was 43 years old. this is washington today on c-span radio. >> and some other news today on wall street, the dow was up 28, closing at 12,980. nasdaq was up 22 and s&p was

. >> we have and your checks and in new orleans and then john quincy adams standing in a short jacket. the treaty could be summed up in the phrase of status quote antebellum. away it was before the war. very little changes. except in some ways it was something of a watershed and like to make the case it was very important to shape the american character in more contemporary terms, we were being bullied and we stood up for ourselves. david and goliath although we did not knock our opponent to the ground but hours of conscience -- confidence was altered as a result. it may be useful to explain to mr. and mrs. madison is a function of chronology. madison was president but the declaration that began and in doing gland it would interfere with trade and the politicians were mostly merchants. they quickly called the conflict mr. madison's war. although no warrior who a. >> they did not like it then. we do not like it no. fourth, alleged the british were stirring up the indians. and then the declaration of war referring to the warfare of the northwest territory. he blamed the english for caus

the treaty again, that's john quincy adams by the way standing at center in the short jacket. the treaty can be summed up in the latin phrase that quincy adams used which is status quo. that is the way things were before war. no territory change, very little change in fact really. except that in some ways, psychologically, and publicly, the war was something of a watershed. and while this may not have proved a memorable war, i'd like to make the case that was nonetheless a very important work in shaping the american character. to put in more contemporary terms, we were being bullied and we set up for ourselves. it was david and goliath i suppose, and although we didn't knock our opponent to the ground, the world's expectations and our own self-confidence as a nation were altered as a result of the war. i think it might be useful to explain this to mrs. madison the title. partly it's a function of chronology. madison was president when the war began and was his declaration that began it. so he got the blame, it eventually, whatever credit, the loss. in new england as there was

as including a sort of not isolationist is the right term but he had this notion of a sort of john quincy adams, we should not go off in search of -- to deploy. >> guest: at georges not fit categories for he will so you're right that term was a touchstone. i think in many ways he was unrealistic and i read about this in the book. doesn't fit the categories of liberal and conservative. many liberals in the cold war regarded him as one of their own because of his opposition with the government particularly in vietnam and his opposition to the nuclear arms race. if you look into george tenant he is a liberal who is roundly conservative. he is almost reactionary. in many ways he is personally. so i think about for simply has to do knowledge that it's too simple and the whole point of a biography is to break it down into categories and say that people are distinctive and categories are a little too convenient for us sometimes. >> host: he probably would have been very frustrated with the effort to appropriate him as part of the intellectual legacy in one camp or another. certainly some of the critic

well as a sort of not isolationism isn't the right string, but he had this notion of a sort of john quincy adams we should not go off in search of monsters abroad to destroy. >> guest: george doesn't fit the categories very well so while you are right to term realism doesn't touch and i think in many ways he was on realistic and i write about this in the book, doesn't quite fit the categories of liberal and conservative either because many liberals in the cold war regarded him as one of their own because of his opposition and the government particularly in vietnam and the opposition to the nuclear arms race. but if you look down deeply into george kennan he is profoundly conservative, almost reactionary, and then he goes personally. so, i think the biographer simply has to acknowledge the categories are too simple and maybe the point of the biography is to break out of the categories and to say that people are distinctive and the categories are too convenient for us sometimes. >> host: he probably would have been very frustrated with the effort to appropriate him as the intellectual in one camp

great amestead trial, based upon the mutiny in 1839 of a slave ship, so brilliantly defended by john quincy adams, whose portrait hangs 10 feet from the entrance to the house of representatives, and in working with congressman payne's brother, bill payne, in the new jersey legislature i got to know the payne family and certainly through his brother, bill, i got to know the congressman and what a great honor for me to have served here in the congress with don payne. mr. speaker, finally, several days before martin luther king was assassinated in memphis, he was in newark and he was in newark at the request of leaders there including donald payne and william payne. and among the most prized possessions of the payne family are photographs of martin luther king taken days before his assassination as the paynes were attempting to bring about justice in the city of newark and certainly no member of the house of representatives was more committed to justice, not only here in this country and within this country in the city of newark, in the state ofnew jers, but justice across the world so that children

great amestead trial, based upon the mutiny in 1839 of a slave ship, so brilliantly defended by john quincy adams, whose portrait hangs 10 feet from the entrance to the house of representatives, and in working with congressman payne's brother, bill payne, in the new jersey legislature i got to know the payne family and certainly through his brother, bill, i got to know the congressman and what a great honor for me to have served here in the congress with don payne. mr. speaker, finally, several days before martin luther king was assassinated in memphis, he was in newark and he was in newark at the request of leaders there including donald payne and william payne. and among the most prized possessions of the payne family are photographs of martin luther king taken days before his assassination as the paynes were attempting to bring about justice in the city of newark and certainly no member of the house of representatives was more committed to justice, not only here in this country and within this country in the city of newark, in the state of new jersey, but justice across the world so that child