America’s Founding Son by Bob Crawford is a must read presidential biography about John Quincy Adams.
America’s Founding Son by Bob Crawford is a 2026 biography of John Quincy Adams.
America’s Founding Son is a book about John Quincy Adams, son of John and Abigail Adams, and the sixth president of the United States.
After reading the historical fiction book A Founding Mother, which is about Abigail Adams, I wanted to learn more about John and Abigail Adams and their son, John Quincy Adams.
I started searching my shelves for books about them and realized I didn’t have anything on John Quincy Adams. After doing some internet searching, I found great reviews on the recent release, America’s Founding Son by Bob Crawford.
I decided to buy it, knowing others in my family would be interested, since both my daughters have a goal of reading a book about every U.S. President.
Bob Crawford covers so much about John Quincy Adams’s life that I didn’t know. John Quincy Adams isn’t one of the presidents we tend to learn a lot about. He was a kid during the American Revolution, but lived almost until the Civil War.
He was the son of John Adams, president and a founding father, which is a lot to live up to, and yet John Quincy Adams was up for the challenge because he believed in America and the foundation of the country his father’s generation fought for.
John Quincy Adams was involved in government long before becoming president of the United States. He was a diplomat, a senator, a lawyer who argued before the Supreme Court, and a Harvard professor. In many ways, people expected him to become president.
I think one reason we don’t learn much about John Quincy Adams is that he was a one-term president. In many people’s eyes, he didn’t accomplish much.
The reality is that John Quincy Adams accomplished a lot, but he made his biggest mark after he left office.
After serving as president of the United States, John Quincy Adams knew he still had work to do for the American people. So, he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives. He held that seat for seventeen years. And those seventeen years were when he did his most important fighting for America.
John Quincy Adams spent his post-presidential years fighting for the end of slavery. That is the part of his life many people did not realize, including me. I had no idea how much work John Quincy Adams did in the fight to end slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War.
I learned so much about John Quincy Adams by reading this book, but I also learned so much about the government in the years leading up to the Civil War.
And if you think politics are nasty now, you should read this book. Politics have been nasty before. This book reminded me that a lot has changed in the last two hundred years, but in so many ways, a lot also hasn’t.
I am thankful I read this book because I learned so much about John Quincy Adams and the years leading up to the Civil War. But I am also very glad I read this book because it reminded me that politics has always been nasty. At times, really nasty. In reality, modern-day politicians don’t look that much different than they did in the 1800s.
What has changed is the 24hr news cycle and social media.
In the 1800s, it took days, if not weeks, for news to spread. There also weren’t cameras, microphones, reporters, and cell phones taking videos everywhere politicians went.
We live in a different time, with different problems, but at heart, not much has changed.
If you enjoy presidential biographies, you should pick this one up.
If you want a presidential biography that isn’t overwhelming or dry, pick this one up. It is just over three hundred pages, and although the first fifty pages are a bit slow as the author gives a lot of detail about the political climate, the story picks up, and I had a hard time putting it down.
I also think this book is great for anyone who needs a reminder that politics has always been messy and challenging, but even amid the chaos, people still fight for the country they believe in.