Things We Read Today (What Did They Know Back Then Anyway Edition)

From “John Quincy Adams,” a short biography by Robert V. Remini:

American neutrality was a cardinal doctrine to [then-Secretary of State] Adams, and to emphasize the point he used the occasion of a Fourth of July oration in 1821 to establish it as forcefully as he knew how… Staring intently at the crowd seated before him, he declared that the United States would always be “the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all” nations but tha tit must not go “abroad in search of monsters to destroy” …That, to him, would inaugurate America’s search for “dominion and power” in the world and would ultimately result in the loss of our own “freedom and independence.”

Yeah, Johnny, about that…

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One Response to “Things We Read Today (What Did They Know Back Then Anyway Edition)”

  1. Rob in CT Says:

    Nice find. We’re now addicted to the slaying of monsters.

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