TY - BOOK ID - 78340102 TI - Heir to the fathers PY - 2004 SN - 1417503300 9781417503308 0739106015 9780739106013 PB - Lanham, Md. Lexington Books DB - UniCat KW - Constitutional history KW - Slave insurrections KW - Presidents KW - United States - General KW - Regions & Countries - Americas KW - History & Archaeology KW - Slavery KW - Constitutional history, Modern KW - Constitutional law KW - Constitutions KW - History KW - Insurrections, etc. KW - Adams, John Quincy, KW - J. Q. A. KW - A., J. Q. KW - Political and social views. KW - Amistad (Schooner) KW - United States KW - Politics and government KW - Slave rebellions UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:78340102 AB - "In Heir to the Fathers, author Gary V. Wood examines the ideas that guided John Quincy Adams throughout his political career. For Wood, it is Adams's understanding of the Constitution of the United States that foregrounds a crucial link between the principles laid forth in the Declaration of Independence and the original intent of the Framers of the Constitution. Heir to the Fathers traces this link through an examination of Adams's celebrated essay, Jubilee of the Constitution, and most significantly, through his defense of a group of Africans who mutinied aboard the slave ship the Amistad. The contradictory relationship between what is stated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the treatment of African slaves has been a persistent problem in any attempt to understand the legacy of freedom in the United States. Adams's argument before the Supreme Court, based on his interpretation of constitutional law, is an example of how this unique political mind comes to terms with this contradiction without abandoning the spirit of America's founding principles. Wood's discussion of Adams's political and intellectual life invites readers to reexamine the principles upon which the United States of America was founded. Heir to the Fathers is a salient addition to the study of constitutional law, history, and American political thought."--Jacket. ER -