John T. Morse

John Torrey Morse (1840-1937) was an American historian and biographer. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on Jan. 9, 1840, and lived in that city as a lawyer. Morse was the editor of the 'American Statesmen Series, ' and published biographies of Alexander Hamilton in two volumes, considered his most significant work, He also wrote biographies on John and J. Q. Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, Franklin, and Dr. Holmes. Morse also authored Banks and Banking, Arbitration and Award and Famous Trials....... Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 O.S. January 6, 1705] - April 17, 1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a renowned polymath and a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions.He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia's fire department and The University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution. Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, initially as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation.Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, "In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat."To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become." Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at the age of 23.He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richard's Almanack, which he authored under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders". After 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the British policies. He pioneered and was first president of the The Academy and College of Philadelphia which opened in 1751 and later became the University of Pennsylvania. He organised and was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society and was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a national hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the Parliament of Great Britain repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing shipments of crucial munitions from France. He was promoted to deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies in 1753, having been Philadelphia postmaster for many years, and this enabled him to set up the first national communications network. After the Revolution, he became the first US Postmaster General. He was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs. From 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. He initially owned and dealt in slaves but, by the 1750s, he argued against slavery from an economic perspective and became one of the most prominent abolitionists....

John Quincy Adams is a classic US president biography by John. T. Morse. John Quincy Adams (July 11, 1767 - February 23, 1848) was an American statesman who served as a diplomat, minister and ambassador to foreign nations, and treaty negotiator, United States Senator, U.S. Representative (Congressman) from Massachusetts, and the sixth president of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He was the son of second president John Adams (1735-1826, served 1797-1801) and his wife, Abigail Adams. He was a member of the Federalists, like his father, but later switched to the Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later the Anti-Masonic and Whig parties when they were organized. Adams shaped early American foreign policy using his ardently nationalist commitment to U.S. republican values. As a diplomat, Adams played an important role in negotiating key treaties, most notably the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812 (1812-1815). As Secretary of State, he negotiated with Great Britain over the United States' northern border with Canada from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains in 1818, negotiated with Spain the Adams-On s Treaty, which allowed for the annexation and purchase of Florida from the Spanish, and drafted the "Monroe Doctrine", under fifth president James Monroe. Historians generally concur that he was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history. In his biography, Samuel Flagg Bemis argues that Adams was able to "gather together, formulate, and practice the fundamentals of American foreign-policy - self-determination, independence, noncolonization, nonintervention, nonentanglement in European politics, Freedom of the Seas, and] freedom of commerce." Adams was elected president in a close and controversial four-way contest in 1824. As president he sought to modernize the American economy and promote education. Adams enacted a part of his agenda and paid off much of the national debt. 5] However, he was stymied time and again by a Congress controlled by opponents, and his lack of patronage networks helped politicians sabotage him. He lost his 1828 bid for re-election to Andrew Jackson. He has been portrayed by recent historians as an exemplar and moral leader during an era of modernization, when new modes of communication spread messages of religious revival, social reform, and party politics, and improved transportation moved goods, money, and people more rapidly. 6] Historians have generally ranked him as an above-average president. After leaving office, he was elected as U.S. Representative from Massachusetts in 1830, serving for the last 17 years of his life with greater acclaim than he had achieved as president. Animated by his growing revulsion against slavery, Adams became a leading opponent of the Slave Power. Adams predicted the Union's dissolution over slavery, and in such a case, felt the president could abolish slavery by using his war powers. 7] Adams also became a critic of the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War, which he saw as an aggressive war for territory