Mark Souder: “why build a memorial to John Adams along with Abigail and John Quincy? That immediately leads to the question why one…”

“why build a memorial to John Adams along with Abigail and John Quincy? That immediately leads to the question why one, has not one been built before? John Adams was not a dramatic leader like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, or even Ronald Reagan, but John Adams was a man who rose from humble roots in Braintree, Massachusetts to the challenges of his time. He was elected our first Vice President and the second President because he was the leader of the new New England branch of the government. The Virginians loomed large and were brilliant, but they did not stand alone. From the beginning, John Adams prodded the Virginians as well as the others to independence. He had watched the British in Boston. He saw the inevitable before others in the Continental Congress did. The anchor reason for this memorial is John Adams' leadership in creating our Nation, which has been ignored for far too long. But it is also about his wife, Abigail, an extraordinary writer and political advisor. Without Abigail, it is not clear that John Adams would have been, ever been as successful as he was. The Adams, up until the Bush family, were our Nation's only father and son Presidents. John Quincy Adams, like his father, was independent. He was not establishment enough for his Federalist base nor populist enough for the Jeffersonians. Charles Francis Adams, Henry Adams and their wives complete possibly the most extraordinary family in our history.…”