The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams

A legacy more valuable than gold or silver -- A great deal of room for me to grow better -- Some compensation for me not being with my friends at Braintree -- A journal -- Almost at the world's end -- Promise to produce a worthy character -- A son who is the greatest traveller of his age -- And of a sister who fulfills my most sanguine expectations -- To have a degree at Harvard -- Your ever affectionate brother -- Your ever affectionate brother -- Study is my mistress -- While a student in the office of Theophilus Parsons Newburyport -- Exposed to the perils of sentiment -- I am on the bridge between wisdom and folly -- And I, too, am a scribbler -- The times change and we change with them -- The magnitude of the trust and my own incompetency -- The usual mixture between sweet and bitter -- The age of innocence and thoughtlessness -- Prudence is a sorry matchmaker -- Oh my Louisa! -- For the friend of your life -- Wise and in the best interests of the country -- To turn weariness itself into pleasure -- A painful retrospective -- With no small difficulty -- Another feather against a whirlwind -- Like a fish out of water -- Apostasy -- In honorable diplomatic exile.;A patriot by birth, John Quincy Adams's destiny was foreordained. He was not only "The Greatest Traveler of His Age, "but his country's most gifted linguist and most experienced diplomat. John Quincy's world encompassed the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the early and late Napoleonic Age. As his diplomat father's adolescent clerk and secretary, he met everyone who was anyone in Europe, including America's own luminaries and founding fathers,Franklin and Jefferson. All this made coming back to America a great challenge. But though he was determined to make his own career he was soon embarked, at Washington's appointment, on his phenomenal work aboard, as well as on a deeply troubled though loving and enduring marriage. But through all the emotional turmoil, he dedicated his life to serving his country. At 50, he returned to America to serve as Secretary of State to President Monroe. He was inaugurated President in 1824, after which he served as a stirring defender of the slaves of the Amistad rebellion and as a member of the House of Representatives from 1831 until his death in 1848. In The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams