recently, i was “ust so was john quincy adams. wasjust reflecting on _ so was john quincy adams. recently, i wasjust reflecting on a _ so was john quincy adams. recently, i wasjust reflecting on a moment - i was just reflecting on a moment that we saw when president clinton i believe at the time gave the presidential medal of freedom to president carter and to the first lady rosalyn carter commented at the time he said these words really struck me, no one, no one has done more for human rights than these two. just reflect a little on that. that is a remarkable statement, remarkable statement by someone who i think has its own track record with grappling with. they are not particularly flashy in the way that they sought to change the world, but they sought to change the world, but they used every avenue that was available to them, whether it was connections or their ability to fund raise or even what that would bring along with that knowing that the tv cameras and news coverage would typically follow, and they put that to extraordin

representatives and lafayette was present on the house in the househamber on february 9th, 1825, when john quincy adams was elected sixth president of the united states. that evening, president monroe hosted a reception at the white house where lafayette to john quincy adams and andrew jackson were all in attendance. lafayette was witness to the first public moment of the new president elect and the man he had defeated had had when jackson entered the reception, many guests had kind of been hanging around hearing that jackson was going to come and they kind of wanted to see what would happen. jackson had a little bit of a reputation, so they wanted to know how these two men would interact. and to the delight or maybe the chagrin of many jackson quickly made his way over to his opponent to clasp his hand. and and congratulations. and perhaps no one was more relieved than adams, who appeared profoundly moved by the gesture. lafayette's arrival seemed to be a magic balm for what newspapers were calling the electoral zeal that envelopes the nation. now, he didn't sway politics by personally, publicly endor

i drew from john quincy adams, a return to the house. to evade house rules that prohibited slavery, rules enforced by people's house, he read letter after letter about the evils of slavery and abdicating for its abolition. we need to be that strong and effective megaphone, you start to listen. i remember leading the opposition in my first year in the house. bill richardson a pro-nafta representative lamented the fact that members would go home during congressal recess. he said every time we if home, my side loses votes. so every friday, saturday, sunday, i'm in ohio, i crisscross the state from gallipolis to zanesville to port smith to toledo, holding round tables, walking picket lines, talking to workers in break rooms and behind checkout counters, on monday afternoons, i return to washington carrying a satchel of good ideas. i have represented the workers, to listen to them, to speak out for them, to fight for them. not to listen to wall street, not the drug companies, not the big railroads, but to fight for the people who make this co

i drew from john quincy adams, a return to the house. to evade house rules that prohibited slavery, rules enforced by people's house, he read letter after letter about the evils of slavery and abdicating for its abolition. we need to be that strong and effective megaphone, you start to listen. i remember leading the opposition in my first year in the house. bill richardson a pro-nafta representative lamented the fact that members would go home during congressal recess. he said every time we if home, my side loses votes. so every friday, saturday, sunday, i'm in ohio, i crisscross the state from gallipolis to zanesville to port smith to toledo, holding round tables, walking picket lines, talking to workers in break rooms and behind checkout counters, on monday afternoons, i return to washington carrying a satchel of good ideas. i have represented the workers, to listen to them, to speak out for them, to fight for them. not to listen to wall street, not the drug companies, not the big railroads, but to fight for the people who make this co

to fight into up toie in iraq, and where the history tells us was a colossal mistake pretty john quincy adams inspiration and returned to the house and his attack on slavery to evade house rules prohibited believing not debating slavery rules forced on the peoples houses by slavers by southern slavers in the red letter after letter about the evils of slavery and advocating for the abolition and that is now, our duty is to amplify the voices of people whom we serve to be that strong megaphone start by listening and remember when i believe the opposition my first year the house bill richardson approached immigrant from new mexico the fact that members would go home during recess and he said you know every time the members of congress a home, my side loses vote pretty well there's a reason for that, he was a must listen to our constituents and so almost every weekend every friday and saturday said they come i'm in ohio i crisscross the state from athens to the police and the enforcement springfield two men were to toledo and shall be in all of the state, holy roundtables and walking picket lines

he is published biographies of thomas carlyle, mark twain, henry james, charles dickens, john quincy adams, abraham lincoln gore vidal, and now thomas jefferson in his masterly pen. kaplan offers us a biography of thomas jefferson by giving an english professor's kind attention to jefferson's written words. jefferson only published one book in his lifetime notes on the state of virginia. but, of course, jefferson wrote consul treatises like a summary view of the rights of british north america legal briefs, memoranda the declaration of independence, and above all letters, thousands of them, which kaplan calls among his most powerful and revealing writings throughout his masterly pen, kaplan brings a skilled biographers attention to how jefferson reveals himself through his writing, often without without intending to, as kaplan says of notes on the state of virginia. it's a book about jefferson partly because jefferson did not want it to, a book about himself. the jefferson we meet here is not surprisingly learned and forceful. but kaplan also shows this jefferson as a writer who's often ev

i drew inspiration from president john quincy adams who would return to the house and his attack on slavery to evade house rules that prohibit it believes are not the prohibited the people's house by enslavers i southerner slavers he read letter after letter from his constituents about the evils of slavery and advocating for establishing dash abolition. our duty is tempered by the voices of people whom we serve, to bebe that strong megaphone yu start by listing. i remember when a help lead opposition my first yearn in the house. bill richardson a pro-nafta democrat from new mexico lamented the fact members would go home during recess that he said it of congress go home my side loses votes. there's a reason for that. we are supposed to listen to our constituents. so almost every week every friday, saturday, sunday i mean, crisscrossed the state, all over the state holding roundtables walking picket lines touring plants talking to workers in break rooms and the work sites can checkout counters. on monday afternoon everton washington carryingng a satchelf good ideas drawn from ohioans. my job

i drew inspiration from president john quincy adams, who had returned to the house in his attack on slavery to evade house rules that prohibited, believe it or not, that prohibited debating slavery, rules forced on the people's house by enslavers, by southern enslavers. he read letter after letter. from his constituents about the evils of slavery and advocating for its abolition. you then as now, our duty is to amplify the voices of the people whom we serve, to be that strong and effective megaphone, you start by listening. i remember when i helped lead the opposition in my first year in the house to nafta. bill richardson, a pro-nafta democrat from new mexico, lamented the fact that members would go home during congressional recess. he said, you know, every time members of congress go home, my side loses votes. well, there's a reason for that. we're supposed to listen to our constituents. so almost every week, every friday, saturday, sunday, i'm in ohio. i've crisscrossed this state from ashtabulah to athens to gallipoli to zanesville to portsmouth to springfield to van wert to toledo to s

but um, john quincy adams, anyone really ever confused of being a radical? he was an, um, uh, a presidential cabinet. monroe's in 1820 when the compromise of of 1820 was passed, the missouri compromise. and, uh, he wrote privately to himself that, um, he would rather that if the break has to come, he wasn't really thinking of a civil war. but, but a break in the union. let it, let it come now, because i'm tired of being attached to to the american south. that is an argument. your point is is an argument that that the contemporaries did bring up, um, at least as early as 1804, um, this was jefferson's reelection massively, this was the year after the louisiana purchase when northerners, new englanders were sure that any new state that came into the union from that massive territory was going to become slave territory for the jeffersonians. they were looking to pull out of the country then. so i an early chapter, i quote from um, one of george washington former cabinet members who was trying to round up support, you know, secession, leave the union. it's all t

not john quincy adams, by the way, but people in france.or how about this one from the famous george lefevre? lafayette was more a man of romantic illusions and somewhat juvenile vanity than a political skill or realistic sense. that is the critique of a dreamer who doesn't understand the real world. i want to just allude to the famous embrace of lafayette during world war one. this is general john pershing at lafayette's tomb in 1917, where his aide de camp, colonel stanton, said lafayette, we are here. i have to say that, because here we are. lafayette, we are here. a frenchman wrote a little pamphlet about lafayette. he the hero of 20, was really the son of the eternal of france, which on the battlefield roads of the world has always given her pure as blood without expecting reward. this was a frenchman who was a pastor whose son was killed in the war, and he said that he's the ancestor of the people of today. and here's the typical american view by an american historian named sedgwick. behold lafayette had feelings when he looked down f

here we have to look at which ones that did something after they left the white house, like john quincy adamsent to serve in congress for 16 years, fighting to the fighting for the abolition of slavery. or william howard taft went on to be a supreme court justice. carter wanted to make peace in the world, and he saw the opening being that the united nations can't buy jurisdiction, intervene in civil wars in countries. so if there's a civil war, say, in sudan. carter thought he can go there and try to serve as a mediating force. and this led to this concept of parachuting for peace. he would talk to anybody. he would talk to a dictator. and in bosnia herzegovina or a one in north korea, anything in the name of peace. and i was moved and privileged to look at his papers, his diaries and private papers that aren't open to the public. and many were written to to all sorts of unsavory characters around the world asking for the release of political prisoners, people that were fighting for democracy, that were arrested and jailed. carter would find out about it from helsinki. watch or amnesty intern

john quincy adams would wake up at the white house, read cicero, watch the sunrise, and write sonnets. his work really good. -- were really good. that's what the project involved. it was completely transformative. it both changed my understanding of the pursuit of happyness, helped me see connections between the founders understanding of personal self-government and political self-government. the most significant take away was rediscovering the liberating, radically empowering practice of deep reading. i had gotten out of the habit of reading outside of my job or my immediate deadline. just taking the time to dig in deep created wonders that i have forgotten and i'm so grateful to have rediscovered this practice. adam: you super -- survey a wide range of founding figures and the next generation of thinkers like lincoln and frederick douglass. they span the spectrum of backgrounds, upbringings, education. yet they all came around to this. how was it that they were all brought to this? given that they came from such different backgrounds, were educated in such different ways. jeff: must

i drew from john quincy adams, a return to the house.ple's house, he read letter after letter about the evils of slavery and abdicating for its abolition. we need to be that strong and effective megaphone, you start to listen. i remember leading the opposition in my first year in the house. bill richardson a pro-nafta representative lamented the fact that members would go home during congressal recess. he said every time we if home, my side loses votes. so every friday, saturday, sunday, i'm in ohio, i crisscross the state from gallipolis to zanesville to port smith to toledo, holding round tables, walking picket lines, talking to workers in break rooms and behind checkout counters, on monday afternoons, i return to washington carrying a satchel of good ideas. i have represented the workers, to listen to them, to speak out for them, to fight for them. not to listen to wall street, not the drug companies, not the big railroads, but to fight for the people who make this country work. over the last few weeks people have come up to me, since

rhode island into massachusetts bay of course meeting with your second president, major john adams, at his home in quincy. but friends, of course, last evening being the 6th of september, it my birthday. and in fact, i saw most of you at the party last evening, madame you did so well with the popular dances of the 1770s and eighties. if i am not, you danced three minuets to bagatelles a scottish reel and seven country dances before you had your first glass of wine. well done. oh, and you miss you. i you. last evening you dipped your cup into the punch bowl at least 15 times. but there were many toasts to be had. but you know, my friends, now that i have come here, this unrecorded visit to fairfield university, i am reminded of great sacrifices that were made. the war particularly in this area. indeed, all of the 13 new united states in 17 and 76 would embark this great crusade to find freedom. and many, of course, suffer as a result. i am fortunate today we are fortunate today that we have many veterans of the war that are with us and some of them are going to pose some questions to me about some of my e