Stephen McDowell hosts America's Providential History podcast
>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History. in recent times, we've been looking at the faith of the presidents covered. George Washington, Jon Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison. We began to look at Jon Quincy Adams, last week, and we saw that this was an astoundingly productive individual serving in many capacities of civil government and doing so many other things in his life. And we asked the question, well, what type of education could produce a man like Jon Quincy Adams? And it was his mother, Abigail Adams, and his father, Jon Adams, who were his primary educators. Certainly for the first dozen years of his life, they were his primary educators.
Abigail Adams was the wife of our second president, John Adams
and so I want to just talk a little bit about Abigail Adams and her role, not only as the mother of Jon Quincy Adams, the educator of Jon Quincy Adams, but she was also the wife of our second president, Jon Adams. she was one of the most inspirational and influential women in history. She was the first woman to be both the wife and mother of an American president, which was an honor she held solely until Barbara Bush, the wife of former President George H.W. bush, saw her son, George W. Bush, sworn in as president. Abigail Adams married Jon Adams at the age of 20, and they had five children. Her letters and memoirs are considered major historical documents revealing life during the Revolutionary era. And the letters of Jon and Abigail are fabulous to read. I'd encourage you to. There's different versions of these letters, some excerpts, some complete versions of the letters of Jon and Abigail Adams. One of my favorite things to read. It gives great insight into their lives, to their relationship, and to the events that were going on in the history of the United States as well, because certainly they played a significant role in the birth in the early part of America. And so I encourage you to get those letters and read them. It said of Abigail that as a wife and inspiration to Jon Adams, she strengthened his courage, fired his nobler feelings, and nerved his higher purposes. She was the source of his strength and the inspiration that gave him the power to rise above all his own weaknesses as often as he did. An excerpt of a letter that she wrote to her husband on the day he became president reveals much of her character. She wrote this, of course, he was, elected second president of the United States. And, on that day, she gave him this advice. In a letter, he says, you have this day to declare yourself head of a nation. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant ruler over the people. Give unto him an understanding heart that he may know how to go out and come in before this great people, and that he may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this thy so great a. people. Now, she is quoting scripture here. So she quotes this scripture and goes on to say these were the words of a royal sovereign and not less applicable to him who is invested with the chief magistracy of a nation, though he wear not a crown nor the robes of royalty. My thoughts and my meditations are with you, though personally absent. And my petitions to heaven are that the things that make for peace may not be hidden from your eyes. My feelings are not those of pride or ostentation upon the occasion. They are solemnized by a sense of the obligations, the important trusts and numerous duties connected with it that you may be enabled to discharge them with honor to yourself, with justice and partiality to your country and with satisfaction to this great people shall be the daily prayer of your AA.
Abigail Adams was John Quincy Adams' primary educator until age 11
So here it was, we see one reason why Jon Adams and Jon Quincy Adams could do what they could do. Just the humble, confident character of this wise and mother. Now Abigail's influence was not only instrumental to her husband's achievement, but also to those of her son, Jon Quincy Adams. She was responsible for his education, especially in his early years. And it was training that produced a great statesman. So Abigail was Jon Quincy's primary educator until age 10 or 11. As a 10 year old, Jon Quincy knew French and Latin. He read the writings of Charles Rollings, which by the way is very difficult. you read it today. As an adult he wrote various histories. Charles Rowland's ancient history of the world. As a 10 year old, Jon Quincy was reading that and other difficult works. Jon Quincy helped manage the farm with his mother while his father was away serving the nation. Letters from Jon Quincy to his father at this time revealed the level of literacy and the reasoning skills his parents had already imparted to him. In one letter, Jon Quincy wrote to his father, I wish sir, you will give me some instructions with regard to my time and advise me how to proportion my studies and in my play and writing and I will keep them by me and endeavor to follow them. So look, here he is a 10 year old writing, with such insight. Writing with such maturity for a young man recognizing. Look, I want to use my time wisely to prepare myself with ideas that will make Me useful to others, useful to my country. And he was asking, give me instructions and I will attempt with all that I can to abide by them. In a letter to his father on June 2, 1777, at age 10, Jon Quincy wrote, sir, if you will be so good as to favor me with a blank book, I will transcribe the most remarkable occurrences I meet with in my reading, which will serve to fix them upon my mind. Now what, astounding, insight and ability to communicate for a 10 year old. When I was 10 I was certainly doing nothing like this and doubt today that I could communicate with such understanding as Jon Quincy Adams. But he had learned the notebook method of education. I think we talked about this before and we mentioned the principal approach in podcasts of times past. But he understood, like our founding fathers, I want to be self taught. I want to labor over my work. I want to produce my own, writings and learn how to reason. This is going to help prepare my mind to be useful. Now when Jon Quincy was 11 years old, he traveled with his father to France. Even so, Abigail continued the education she had begun through letters that she had written from her home in Braintree, Massachusetts. In June of 1778, she wrote, she's writing to Jon Quincy, her son, going with her father. His father, served as ambassador and representative from the United States to France. Said, you are in possession of a naturally good understanding and of spirits unbroken by adversity and untamed with care. Improve your understanding by acquiring useful knowledge and virtue such as will render you an ornament to society, an honor to your country, and a blessing to your parents. Great learning and superior abilities, should you ever possess them, will be of little value in small estimation unless virtue, honor, truth and integrity are added to them. Adhere to those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled into your mind and remember that you are accountable to your maker for all your words and actions. What astounding communication. I can't imagine parents today giving such instruction to their 11 year old children, as Abigail was giving to Jon Quincy Adams. That we recognize that the level of literacy of our founding era was far above where we are today. We may think, oh, we're smarter today than they were back then and we certainly may have accumulated more facts today. But your average person, has no ability to reason, to think, to understand communication like this, not only in the grammar and language and rhetoric, but the content of the importance of these ideas. Great learning, superior ability, should you ever possess them. And I would say he possessed them much better than most everybody today in America. They will be of little value in small estimation unless virtue, honor, truth and integrity are added to them. Abigail recognized that Christian character is essential to properly apply any skills and knowledge and understanding that you have. And then she said, adhere to those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled into your mind. It's so important to instill truth and godliness and the Bible and biblical truth and knowledge of God and his ways and of Christ and his work at an early age. Still them in their minds because still them in understanding. You are accountable to your maker for all your words and actions. In the same letter, Abigail encouraged Jon Quincy to pay attention to the development of his conduct by heeding the instruction of his parents. And then she said this quote for Dear as you are to me, I would much rather you should have found your grave in the ocean you have crossed than see you an immoral, profligate or graceless child. Wow, what impact this must have had on the young Jon Quincy Adams. She's saying, look, I love you dear as you are to me. I would rather you die and be sunken in the ocean, find your grave in the ocean you've crossed than to see you an immoral, profligate or graceless child. She didn't say, and see you become a murderer, a kidnapper or something like this. But an immoral, profligate or graceless child. No wonder Jon Quincy Adams, received an education that enabled him to live such a productive, fruitful, life. See it was this home centered morality based education that taught biblical methods of reasoning. This is what enabled Jon Quincy to go on to such a remarkable career. Remember as I said last week, when he was 14 years old, he received a United States congressional diplomatic appointment as secretary to the ambassador of the court of Catherine the Great in Russia. He later would serve as foreign ambassador to England, to France, to Holland, to Prussia, to Russia. He was United States senator, Secretary of State, the sixth President of the United States, after which he served 18 years in the United States House of Representatives, during which time he was a leader in the anti slavery movement. So it was biblical education provided by his parents and Abigail was so instrumental, it produced this man who served his country and the cause of liberty. And as was typical of the founders of America, as we said last week, Jon Quincy had a providential view of history and that oration he delivered on July 4th, 1837. he spoke of America being a link in the progress of the gospel throughout history. And he recognized the founding this nation was upon Christian principles. Jon Quincy Adams understood the vital role his mother played. And he once wrote of her, my mother was an angel upon earth. She was a minister of blessing to all human beings within her sphere of action. She has been to me more than a mother. She, she has been a spirit from above, watching over me for good and contributing by my mere consciousness of her existence to the comfort of my life. There is not a virtue that can abide in the female heart, but it was the ornament of hers. Wow. What a marvelous testimony of a son to his mother, and a son who had a great impact upon early America. And, this is why Abigail Adams is one of the most significant women, in history, certainly in the history of America, for the great role she played with her husband Jon and with her son, Jon Quincy Adams.
John Quincy Adams wrote nine letters to his son on the Bible
And so we can then understand how Jon Quincy Adams was the man of faith that he was, that we explored last week in the podcast, and you can go and listen to that to remind yourself of the things he did and said that reflect his Christian faith. One thing I mentioned last week and told you I'd read a few excerpts from it, is that while Jon Quincy Adams was out of the country in service to his country, he wrote a, ah, number of letters, nine letters to his son. And these letters were then later compiled together and published in a little book entitled Letters of Jon Quincy Adams to his Son on, the Bible and its teachings. This is another just indication of the faith of Jon Quincy Adams. And so you can get copies of this. The old original printed copies underwent many printings and publications. I believe it's been reprinted as well. Read through there and you can see the knowledge of the Bible Jon Quincy Adams Adams had and the desire he had to impart that, to his son as well. And let me just read just a couple of excerpts from letters of Jon Quincy Adams to his son on the Bible and his teachings. In there he writes, so great is my veneration for the Bible and so strong my belief that when duly read and meditated on it, is of all, all books in the world, that which contributes most to make men good, wise and happy. He obviously had a understanding of the Bible that we need to have today, that Christians have today. This is the source of truth. It's the source of making us not only personally but corporately or nationally, good, wise and happy men. He also writes to his son, I advise you, my son, in whatever you read, and most of all in reading the Bible, to remember that it is for the purpose of making you wiser and more virtuous. I have myself for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year. And so he said, you're going to read the Bible because it's going to equip you to be useful, to make you wiser, more virtuous, to put you on a place where you can fulfill your purpose that God has for you and be a blessing to your fellow man. And that's why Jon Quincy Adams said, look, I make it my habit to read through the Bible once every year. And then, in these letters, he explains more of what he does. Writing. My custom is to read four or five chapters every morning immediately after rising from my bed. It employs about an hour of my time and seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day. What wonderful advice Jon Quincy was giving to his son. This is advice each of us need to take to heart. We should read the Bible every day, four or five chapters. Get through the Bible in a year. If you do that, within a year, and encourage our children, our grandchildren, to do the very same thing. Jon Quincy Adams also writes in the letters to his son, it is essential, my son, in order that you may go through life with comfort to yourself and usefulness to your fellow creatures, that you should form and adopt certain rules or principles for the government of your own conduct and temper. So this advice telling him, you need to pay attention to how you live your life, to the moral standards of how you live. And the Bible is the source of those. Jon Quincy writes to his son, again, he said, it is in the Bible, you must learn them and from the Bible how to practice them. Speaking of these conducts for his government and temper. And he writes, those duties are to God, to your fellow creatures, and to yourself. Thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, with all thy mind and all thy strength and thy neighbor as thyself. They are all to be learned in equal perfection by our searching the scriptures. And then one final piece of advice that he gave. He gives a whole lot. You can read all the letters. I've just given you a few excerpts. But he writes, let us then search the scriptures. The Bible contains the revelation of the will of God. It contains the history of the creation of the world and of mankind. Jon Quincy Adams was so concerned with, what his son was learning, he wrote a series of letters, to give him this advice, to write it down. These are great advice for us today. And that's why I would encourage you to search out and find a copy of letters of Jon Quincy Adams to his son on the Bible and its teachings in one of our books, America's Providential History, a documentary source book. Now this is a companion book to our best selling America's Providential History. A lot of people who teach this as a class in their Sunday school or school or wherever it may be. You can take the America's Providential History. Then take this documentary source book because it contains excerpts from a couple of dozen ah, primary source documents from sermons and Washington's farewell address, Columbus's journal, excerpts from his log of his first voyage, and also have excerpts of Jon Quincy Adams on the Bible, in there that you can read. Not all the letters, but I give one or a couple of those letters in there as well as recount Jon Quincy Adams faith. So you can get a copy of that for from our online [email protected] get a copy of America's Providential History, a documentary source book if you want to read some more of the letters of Jon Quincy Adams to his son. And so what we're exploring is Jon Quincy Adams education primarily from his mother and father. Certainly early on that shaped his character and his thinking that prepared him to accomplish such a fruitful life, a lot of that life in public service, in many different capacities. Now I mentioned that after his presidency Jon Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives and he served there for eight years, 18 years after he was president, and he certainly took up the cause of liberating all men, the anti slavery clause. And he spoke about it so much, in fact every day he would go and introduce legislation, let's end slavery. And the other delegates got so frustrated with hearing him time and din and again and again bringing it up that they passed a provision that said Jon Quincy Adams cannot speak or cannot introduce legislation anti slavery legislation. That's the only time that's happened in the history of the Congress. But it was during this time while he was serving as a member of Congress during those last 18 years that he took up a argument as a lawyer, a famous case, the Amistad case. And the Supreme Court heard this case while Joseph Story was a justice. It was depicted in a movie, Amistad and it involved ah, slaves seizing control of a Spanish slave trading ship, la Amistad. In 1841, Jon Quincy Adams successfully argued the case for the freedom of the slaves before the Supreme Court, appealing to the principles in the Declaration of Independence and he closed his last words to the court. I can only offer a, ah, fervent prayer to heaven that every member of this court may go to his final account with as little of earthly frailty to answer for as possible. And that you may be received at the portals of heaven with the approving sentence. Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.
John Quincy Adams served his country for nearly his entire life
Jon Quincy Adams served his country for nearly his entire life. As I've mentioned, at age 11, he served as secretary for his father, who is ambassador to Britain. At age 14, he was appointed as secretary to America's Ambassador to Russia. He served as the United States Ambassador under Presidents Washington and Adams. He was a US Senator, Secretary of State and President. After his presidency, he was elected to the house at age 62. And as I, said, he was the only president to serve in the House after being president. And he served there until his death in 1848. His speeches and actions reveal his strong Christian faith. He read through the entire Bible once every year. He wrote a book for his son on how to study the Bible and underwent many printings. And he spoke out strongly against slavery in the house. While on the floor of the house, Adams was stricken with an affliction on February 21, 1848. And then they carried in a sofa there in the house chamber. This would be the old house chamber. What is today the, what is today, where they keep all the statues, statuary hall, if you visit the U.S. capitol, you can see that. So they, when he had this affliction, ah, stroke or something, they carried in a sofa, they laid in upon, upon it. Later he was carried on this couch right outside of the House chamber to the chamber of the speaker of the House. Today it's the Lindy Boggs reading room. And he's laid there on that couch in that room. And he died on February 23rd. And the couch on which he died is there today. And he faced death as a Christian, he had written earlier, I live in the faith and hope of the progressive advancement of Christian liberty and expect to abide by the same in death. And so here this man, Jon Quincy Adams, lived a productive life, faithful to fulfill what God had called him to do. But of course, it wasn't just Jon Quincy Adams who was, part of his accomplishments. It was his education, his upbringing, his parents, helped shape and prepare him in character and worldview to accomplish, his, mission. So what a wonderful story that demonstrates the importance of biblical Christian education and so many other things we can learn from Abigail Adams, Jon Adams and Jon Quincy Adams. Well, I'm, glad you joined us this week. next week we're going to pick up and look at some more stories of some of the presidents. In particular we're going to be highlighting the their Christian faith. As I said, we won't cover all the presidents but I am going to look at a few more in this series of podcasts that we have been conducting. So if you want to learn more, I encourage you to Visit our website, providencefoundation.com Pick up some books, read lots of articles and look at videos as well. and by the way, if any of you have any suggestions of things that you would like us to address on this podcast, please send me an [email protected] we'll be glad to put that on the list of things that we might cover in these podcasts. Well, God bless you. I hope to see you next week.
