Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams [Paperback]

Joseph J. Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2001

“Passionate Sage is [Ellis’s] best book.”—Judith Shulevitz, The New York Times Book Review 

A fresh look at this astute, likably quirky statesman, by the author of the Pulitzer Award-winning Founding Brothers and the National Book Award winning American Sphinx. "The most lovable and most laughable, the warmest and possibly the wisest of the founding fathers, John Adams knew himself as few men do and preserved his knowledge in a voluminous correspondence that still resonates. Ellis has used it with great skill and perception not only to bring us the man, warts and all, but more importantly to reveal his extraordinary insights into the problems confronting the founders that resonate today in the republic they created."—Edmund S. Morgan, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus, Yale University.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Decreeing our second president the "most misconstrued and underappreciated 'great man' in American history," Ellis, a history professor at Mount Holyoke College, sets out to recover the Adams legacy obscured by the "triumph of liberalism." His notable study focuses on Adams (1735-1826) in retirement in Quincy, Mass., starting in 1801. Drawing on Adams's correspondence, his journalism and his marginalia in the books he read, Ellis shows the one-term president during his first 12 years of private life fulminating over the country's direction, then mellowing. But Adams would remain oppositional and tart: "Was there ever a Coup de Theatre that had so great an effect as Jefferson's penmanship of the Declaration of Independence?" Ellis argues that Adams, incapable of political self-protection and with an insufferable personal integrity, internalized what he viewed as the nation's failings--ambition, lust for distinction, etc.--and struggled to keep a check on such qualities within himself. He and Jefferson differed fundamentally on the meaning of the American Revolution; their disagreement, according to Ellis, was not about means but about ends: Jefferson made "a religion of the people," Adams proposed that democratization should be evolutionary. Photos.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Of all the brilliant cast of characters who brought the United States into being, none is more noteworthy or more controversial than John Adams. In this biography, Ellis (history, Mount Holyoke) focuses on the last part of Adams's life in an attempt to dissect and illuminate the contradictory nature of this great man. In this detailed yet readable account, the reader is told that "Adams did not just read books. He battled them." One of his favorite authors was Bolingbroke, but he considered Voltaire a "liar." A man like Adams is heard loudly through the centuries; collections of his letters will always be invaluable, but Ellis's work is an appropriate and well-researched adjunct to the original sources. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.
- Katherine Gillen, Mesa P.L., Ariz.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (February 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393311333
• ISBN-13: 978-0393311334
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( A ) > Adams, John

More About the Author

Joseph J. Ellis is Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke and author of the National Book Award-winning American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Founding Brothers, and The Passionate Sage (Norton).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Delayed Posterity October 13, 2000

By UPS student

Format:Hardcover

John Adams, following his death in 1826, has been essentially a non-entity in the eyes of the general American public. While nearly any school child can tell you about George Washington and his cherry tree, and any middle-schooler can tell you about Jefferson and his contention in the Declaration of Independence that ALL men are created equal, Adams remains obscure. In fact most Americans know him as the Founder who by some "twist of cosmic fate" died on the same day as Thomas Jefferson, exactly fifty years following the Declaration of Independence. Beyond that however, if they know anything, it was that he was a wild and eccentric man, prone to irrational behavior. In writing and language that is equally accessible to the historian and the casual reader, Joseph Ellis reexamines the life of Adams primarily after his retirement to his family home in Quincy, Massachusetts. In doing so, Ellis brings a fresh perspective in understanding the legacy of one of the most misunderstood men of American history; a perspective that can help reform not only the historian's view, but the public's perception as well. Ellis dedicates merely the first chapter to the years that preceded Adams's retirement to Quincy. It is the essential background that one needs to know and understand in order to realize the full extent of the torment and bitterness experienced by Adams in the early years of retirement. During his years as President he suffered bitter attacks from both the High Federalists and the Jeffersonians for his attempts to "carve out a centrist political position from which he might better implement policies that served the long-term national interest" (Ellis 30). Unfortunately, most of his career as President was characterized by criticisms, just and unjust, of his temperament. It was these attacks, in particular Hamilton's Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United State, in addition to what Ellis deems to be "an intense mixture of political commitment, palpable ambition, and painful insecurity" (Ellis 38) that lead to his bitterness following his failed bid for reelection. In truth, the bitterness following his retirement is what Ellis uses to demonstrate Adams growth through the years, from the impetuousness of character the blighted his political career, to the sagacity of over twenty years of self-analysis and retrospect. During the initial years of his retirement Adams spent time attacking those he felt had done him injury or had treated him unjustly. Through his friendship with Benjamin Rush, Adams was able to reestablish a relationship with Thomas Jefferson, the man who had beat him during his reelection bid. This is the starting point for the rest of what Ellis wants to communicate. He uses the Jefferson-Adams correspondence to establish many of the points he wants to communicate about Adams, and his unique view of the world. Ellis characterizes Adams as, "the supreme political realist of the revolutionary generation" (Ellis 173). He was a man who, amidst unbridled optimism and hope for the future, was willing to point out the potential pitfalls of society. Ellis states, "Even without the benefit of hindsight, Adams had warned Jefferson that individual freedom and social equality were incompatible ideas, that ignoring the conflict only assured the triumph of the privileged, as in fact happened" (Ellis 221). The brilliance of Adams was his ability to understand the problems facing fledgling America. According to Ellis his initiatives in foreign policy set the tone for America for the next hundred years (Ellis 42). He saw the precarious situation of the young country, predicted the coming of the War of 1812, the necessity of a strong navy, and a conflict over slavery that would tear the nation asunder. Adams's legacy was denied for many years simply because of its pessimistic nature was a stark contrast to the unbridled idealism of Jefferson and other Founding Fathers. Ellis demonstrates to the historian and the casual reader the greatness of a man who's contribution to American history is more often than not summed up in a few sentences, or one small paragraph. He takes a long look Adams, his beliefs, and his temperament, and elevates it, warts and all, to a level on which he can finally be understood. Ellis is establishing the posterity that has so long been denied to perhaps the greatest mind of the Revolutionary period.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Character Study December 31, 2000

By Dana Keish

Format:Paperback

Of all the Founding Fathers, Adams is perhaps the least respected. Washington and Jefferson are safely memorialized on Mount Rushmore and Franklin is regarded by all as the quintessential American. Yet even a cursory reading of a history of the founding of America shows time and again of the importance of Adams. Very early in the debates regarding the future of the colonies, Adams knew reconciliation would be impossible. He worked on over 30 committees of the Continental Congress, was a foreign minister to France and then later served as our second president. Yet popular history has not served him well, something Adams was quite aware of even in his own lifetime.

Author Ellis does an admirable job of portaying Adams as probably the most human of the Founding Fathers. Unable to control his temper or hide his true feelings, Adams always seemed to do the right thing yet in such a way that he received no credit for his actions. Ellis points out how Adams seemed to divine the future better than his contemporaries but his personality was such that few could admit he was right.

The book is not a biography but a thought provoking character study. The only quibble I have with the book is that the relationship between Adams and his nemesis, Alexander Hamilton is never fully developed. Adams only truly despised one person and even after the death of Hamilton was unable to write about him in any kind of conciliatory manner. I wished this relationship would have been explored further. Otherwise, I gained a great deal of respect for Adams and even began to like him. It is easy to identify with Adams, a work horse who said what he thought, no matter how unpopular. Studies like this will hopefully resurrect his reputation and restore him to his proper place in the history of the United States.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating June 23, 2001

By R. Albin TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

The felicitously written book has done a great deal to raise John Adams' reputation among the general public. Ellis concentrates on Adams' retirement years with chapters on his political writings, his correspondence with Jefferson, his other friendships, and his family life. While Ellis' goal is to explore Adams' character, this book necessarily covers Adams' remarkable achievements and explains clearly Adams' contributions as a political thinker. Adams was a complex figure; warm-hearted, sometimes vituperative, an unsystematic thinker and writer and thinker with remarkable insights. Adams refusal to accept the somewhat facile conventions of Jeffersonian liberalism made him an anachronism but his skepticism about American exceptionalism proved prescient. Adams was also remarkably accurate in major policy decisions. Over and over again, he made the right choice, even when his choices were unpopular. His pursuit of neutrality during his Presidency, for example, left him politically isolated but was undoubtedly the correct policy. As Ellis points out, Adams' reputation among scholars has risen steadily over the last fifty years. Today, he stands second only to Washington in the Pantheon of the Founders. Ellis's book and the just published biography by David McCullough are boosting awareness of Adams' achievements among the general public. An interesting corollary of this phenomenon is a corresponding fall in the reputation of Adams' political rival, intellectual antagonist, and friend; Thomas Jefferson. To scholars, Jefferson's achievements seem less than they did a generation ago. Pauline Maier summarized this clearly when she described Jefferson not as the author of the Declaration of Independence but rather as its draftsman; emphasizing the collective production of that great document. In the aftermath of the Civil Rights and Womens Movements, a man like Adams, who was able to treat intelligent women with relative equality, is more attractive than a probable sexual exploiter of his slaves like Jefferson. True to his Puritan heritage, Adams felt that reputation and adulation were snares and fatal to true virtue. His conduct towards his contemporaries tended to degrade his reputation. It is clear also that Adams hoped, perhaps expected, that posterity would rate him highly. As with other predictions, Adams appears correct.