In a meditative and discursive essay (mostly about its subject's
long retirement), Ellis (History/Mount Holyoke; After the
Revolution, 1979) ponders the distinctive personality and
achievements of America's endearingly cantankerous second
President. While generally accorded a distinguished place in the
pantheon of the nation's founders, John Adams has never been
credited with the intellect of a Jefferson or the heroism of a
Washington, and his presidency usually has been deemed an honorable
failure. Ellis views this as unjust but points out a possible
reason: Adams's pragmatic and pessimistic philosophy (emphasizing
the limitations of America and the importance of tempering freedom
with responsibility) was less moving than the idealistic,
celebratory outlook of Jefferson and less appropriate to a young
nation about to conquer a continent. Adams's rhetoric, moreover -
at best plain and uninspired and at worst vituperatively
argumentative - suffers in comparison with Jefferson's majestic
prose. Ellis nonetheless makes clear that Adams has much to teach
modern America, which has discovered limits to its power and is
beginning to doubt the myths of American exceptionalism. The
author's vivid sketch of the famous Adams-Jefferson correspondence
shows his subject's delightful personality, intellect, warmth, and
capacity for friendship, as well as his devotion to the Union and
to the Federalist cause (which came to an end with the New England
Federalists' support for secession during the War of 1812). Ellis
comments ruefully on what he views as Adams's unfair relegation to
second place in America's memory of its founders (a ranking that
Adams himself anticipated), and he proposes that a statue of Adams
be erected near the Jefferson Memorial so that, "depending on the
time of clay and angle of the sun, he and Jefferson might take
turns casting shadows across each other's facades." By focusing on
Adams's retirement, Ellis doesn't achieve the sweep of a full
biography - but he's able to capture the man's appealing spirit,
providing new perspective on an unfairly neglected Founding Father.
(Kirkus Reviews)
A fresh look at this astute, likably quirky statesman, by the
author of the Pulitzer Award-winning Founding Brothers and the
National Book Award winning American Sphinx. "The most lovable and
most laughable, the warmest and possibly the wisest of the founding
fathers, John Adams knew himself as few men do and preserved his
knowledge in a voluminous correspondence that still resonates.
Ellis has used it with great skill and perception not only to bring
us the man, warts and all, but more importantly to reveal his
extraordinary insights into the problems confronting the founders
that resonate today in the republic they created." Edmund S.
Morgan, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University."
General
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