Excerpt from A Discourse on the Character, Public Services, and Death, of John Quincy Adams These cultivated and well-directed powers, I repeat, may exist in different degrees and various proportions, in different men; but in whatever degree or proportion they are possessed by any one, and in whatever relation or Office he may be placed, if truly a great man, he will be found always prepared to meet the calls of duty with promptitude and decision, and to pursue the path of duty with untiring assiduity and never-yielding perseverance. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Faith and Politics in America explores the period from 1607 to the American Civil War. This book addresses the role of religion in the political process in early America, the extent to which religion influenced eighteenth century politicians and decision-makers, and how the founding fathers used religion in laying the foundations for a fair and just constitution. It also explores the meaning of the separation of church and state in the mind of many of the great political actors and thinkers in America in the early and late federal period and their views on traditional Christianity. The book traces how religion contributed to the success of subsequent political leaders, such as the founders of the Whig and Democratic parties, who claimed to be religious or to be adherents of a certain faith and who used religion as a guide to execute policies; and the role of religious faith in arguments over the institution of slavery before and during the Civil War. While exploring these topics from the time of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, the essays included in Faith and Politics in America afford unique assessments of the American Revolution; the thought of Thomas Jefferson; the religious philosophy of James Madison; the life and thought of John Quincy Adams; the operation of the second party system; and religious debates over the acceptability of slavery immediately prior to the Civil War.