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The Road to Now

#268 John Quincy Adams: Founding Son

The Road to Now

Benjamin Sawyer

Society & Culture, History

4.8628 Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On Thursday, April 13th, the first episode of Bob's new audio documentary Founding Son: John Quincy's America premieres (on all podcast platforms), so Ben & Bob decided to celebrate the occasion by talking Adams' life, his place in American history, and inspiration behind Bob's decision to create the series.

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This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Coming to Curiosity Podcasts.

0:04.4

America loves its founding fathers, but that's a tough act to follow as a founding son.

0:11.3

If you do not rise to the head, not only of your profession but of your country,

0:16.1

it will be owing to your own laziness, slovenliness, and obstinacy.

0:21.0

John Quincy Adams never escaped the long shadow of his father, John Adams.

0:25.7

He failed as a one-term president, but became an extraordinary ex-president.

0:32.0

He could see the coming civil war, and was trying desperately to stop it.

0:36.8

I'm Bob Crawford. As the basis for the Ava brothers, I've spent a lot of time in tour buses

0:41.9

reading American history, and John Quincy Adams deserves a second look. Join me, Patrick

0:48.9

Warburton and Nick Offerman, as we bring the sixth president to life. We'll travel back to the start of this fledgling nation, torn between slave and free states, to a bitter presidential campaign against Andrew Jackson.

1:04.8

Was there ever witnessed such a bare-faced corruption in any country before?

1:09.2

Letter from Philadelphia threatening organized opposition and civil war if Jackson

1:14.8

has not chosen.

1:17.8

And we'll follow John Quincy Adams to the halls of Congress.

1:21.6

But he did want to reclaim his greatness after he had been knocked down after his presidency

1:26.5

actually had been something of a failure.

1:28.9

We'll learn about his reluctance to join the abolitionists, only to later champion liberty for

1:34.8

enslaved people by arguing a landmark case before the Supreme Court.

1:39.3

I yielded and told them that if by the blessing of God my health and strength should permit, I would argue the case.

1:48.8

We'll bring you inside the uprisings, legal battles, and political brinksmanship that threatened to

1:55.1

shatter the fragile union, and the toll Adams' ambition took on his family.

2:01.0

The grave of my lost child.

...

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