Hi friends. The essay this month is going to be a little shorter than usual. My book is due to my editor in two weeks and all my words are going there. Thanks for your understanding and I’ll be back next month in full form.
Every July 4, I like to read speeches and addresses delivered in years past for the holiday. It’s so interesting to see what was on their minds, how they interpreted the Declaration of Independence, what they took from the legacy of the Revolution, and what language they used.
This year, I was particularly struck by a passage Secretary of State John Quincy Adams delivered to the House of Representatives in his July 4, 1821 address.
“Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions, and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.”
JQA was referring to the recent rebellions in Latin America and the possibility of European involvement. He was both expressing support for the revolutions and independence, as well as declaring a reluctance to formally interfere in both affairs southward and eastward in Europe.
Around this same time, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were exchanging letters as part of their renewed friendship. They chatted about the revolutions and the possibility that Latin American revolutionaries would win independence. Jefferson wrote:
“They will succeed against Spain. but the dangerous enemy is within their own breasts.”
Two years later, President James Monroe delivered his annual address to Congress and articulated the Monroe Doctrine, which declared the western hemisphere closed to European interference (and promised Europe that the United States would stay out of their affairs). Though, to be clear, the Monroe Doctrine was really a combination of the address and JQA’s correspondence with Britain, and was the brain child of the brilliant secretary of state.
JQA’s speech two years earlier was remarkable for many reasons. First, the phrase “monsters to destroy,” has become a famous one. Second, JQA was articulating these ideas long before they were declared by the president.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, I found Jefferson’s letter and JQA’s words a powerful combination for our current moment. It’s not that we can’t or won’t go in search of monsters to destroy, but rather there are no monsters abroad that are truly a danger to our nation. Instead, the biggest monsters are within our own breasts.
Anyway, this theme has been on my mind as I wrap up drafting this book, and I’m certain I will return to it in more depth in the coming months. I hope you all had a wonderful July 4 and a lovely summer.
Books:
Currently Reading: First Family by Cassandra Good. I’ll be moderating a conversation with Cassie for the National Archives in July, so I’ll be reading this before then!
Up Next: Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America by Steve Inskeep, out October 3, 2023.
Coming Soon (ish): Mason-Dixon: Crucible of the Nation by Edward Gray (October 2023)
On the Horizon: Democracy in Darkness by Katlyn Marie Carie (October 31, 2023)
If you are new to my newsletter, thank you! If you’d like to read more, please consider The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution and Mourning the Presidents.
Available for purchase on Amazon, Bookshop, or wherever you like to buy books.
Podcasts/Radio:
Ben Franklin’s World, July 13, 2023, #361: Fourth of July in 2026
Listening to America, June 20, 2023, #1552: Ten Things: If George Washington Could Drop the Mic
You Might Be Right, June 20, 2023, Are Term Limits a Good Idea?- with Lindsay Chervinsky, Lee Drutman and Jerry Seib
Press:
“Hurdles Facing American Democracy,” The Hill, July 5, 2023.
“The Future of Democracy in America,” The Hill, July 5, 2023.
“Analysis: Should age matter when picking a president?” Spectrum News NY1, July 13, 2023.
“The fascinating and storied history of drugs and other substances found at the White House,” MSNBC, July 7, 2023.
“When the President Dies: How Calvin Coolidge and Others Guided America Through Mourning,” Forbes Library, June 23, 2023.
“Trump’s promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions,” AP News, June 16, 2023.
Events:
September 7: Virginia Museum of History and Culture
September 14: Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge, Leadership Forge
November 2 to November 4: George Washington’s Mount Vernon, 2023 George Washington Symposium- The Great Experiment: Democracy from the Founding to the Future
I’ve been taking a closer look at JQA ever since I heard you and Clay doing a 10 things about him, on the Jefferson Hour. The show, by your own admission was inadequate to do justice to JQA. I admit I’ve been more focused on Jackson and his relationship to JQA, but have coming around to having the same feeling about Jackson as I felt about Reagan. That is to be somewhat scared and a little frightened by what they might do. But after hearing the podcast I’m now fascinated by JQA. He truly did and was a part of amazing things. I hope I’m not mistaken that your next book or books might be about JQA. JQA does need a fresh look at his amazing life and rest a sured I’ll purchase the first copy of any forthcoming book by you.
P.S. I recently rewatched the movie Amistad. It would been a great movie except for Matthew McConaughey playing a central historical figure with a youthful Texas accent in place of the likely Boston accent that, a no doubt, Roger Sherman’s middle age self would have used.
John Quincy Adams had such a remarkable life, right up to the end as a crusading abolitionist member of the US House of Representatives. He has been called the last Founding Father, although perhaps it’s more accurate to call him a Founding Son. 🙂
Nonetheless, I can only imagine how Americans reacted to his death in 1848. In light of the increasingly bitter (and ultimately, incredibly violent and nation-splitting) divides over slavery and westward expansion--inextricably intertwined issues, of course--it might have seemed to many people a dreadful bit of symbolism that there were no elder statesmen from the founding generation left to turn too. Then again, maybe few Americans saw it that way at the time, and I’m projecting my own view of history onto the past a bit. 😛 Still, there was obviously a lot of fear about the fate of the republic at the time of JQA’s death, and justifiably so!
Always appreciate your writings, Lindsay! Thanks!!