… We doubt not, it will be highly gratifying to the members of the Twelfth District, and to the whole community to know, that Mr. Adams still considers it his duty to serve his country as long as his strength allows. He is admitted by all parties to be the greatest business man in our country, or, perhaps, in the world. WHo so able as he? Who so well versed in international law? Who so punctual and constant in his seat, in the discharge of every duty devolving upon him, as JOHN QUINCY ADAMS? In a word, who does not wish him to be a public man as long as he shall live? When he shall cease to represent our Distrcit, or when he shall fall by the all-conquering scythe of time, there will have fallen a great man in our American Israel.”
~The Quincy Patriot, as reprinted in the The Liberator (Boston, MA), 3 Dec 1841
Okay, I’m not going to get into the wealth of interesting stuff here, but rather will confine myself to two observations:
1st.
Sycophant much? Way to get into your local congressman’s good graces, small-town newspaper in the town named after his great-grandfather. Jeesh.
Future tip: don’t mention his impending demise.
2nd.
Interesting use of the term “business man,” eh? I’m not sure when the term lost its connotation of “public servant,” and began to only reference the vague occupational category firmly rooted in the private economic sphere. Probably about this time, I’d expect.
Bonus:Wikipedia tells me that Quincy, in addition to hosting various Adams’s, was also the home of other (to outsiders, equally noxious) New England institutions: Dunkin’ Donuts, HoJo’s, and the Dropkick Murphy’s.
Dael A. Norwood 