Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The case for John Quincy Adams as “our mostextraordinary ex-president.” Opening with Adams’ 1842 censure trial in the House of Representatives, Crawford, cohost of a history podcast calledThe Road to Now, chronicles the former president’s slow conversion to the abolitionist cause. The only president ever to serve in the House after the White House, Adams was 75 years old and serving his sixth term. His crime was presenting an anti-slavery petition from 46 Massachusetts citizens, one of the flood that prompted the House in 1836 to institute a gag rule that prohibited any discussion of slavery in Congress. Adams initially led the fight against the rule exclusively on First Amendment grounds; he was personally against slavery but did not believe the Constitution gave Congress the power to abolish it. His opinion changed over time, and Crawford launches his main narrative with Adams’ appointment as secretary of state under President Monroe, then traces the increasing tensions over slavery, exacerbated beginning in 1819 by the question of whether Missouri would be admitted as a slave state. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 did nothing permanent to assuage the rising radicalism of outraged abolitionists, who courted Adams for his support, and increasing intransigence of slaveowners. Deliberately aimed at general readers, complete with full-page line drawings of the principal players, the book is sprinkled with homely asides like, “Politics, am I right?” and jazzy descriptions of Adams as “the O.G. political maverick” or abolitionists Angelina Grimké and Theodore Weld as “the nineteenth century’s greatest power couple.” This strenuously folksy tone doesn’t entirely lighten an extremely detailed account of the intricate parliamentary maneuvers Adams employed to skirt the gag rule and force his opponents to debate the leading issue of the day. That said, this is a knowledgeable account leading to Adams’ triumph and the defeat of the gag rule. Solid history, though perhaps not quite as accessible as intended. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.