I thought this was going to be a joke where Wilberforce says he never got past the first book on his list. Why does he need to remember what happened in it? Does your library/school only count the book if you can answer a short quiz on it?
I just finished a biography on President John Quincy Adams, my favorite president and he was such a man ahead of his time who saw the flaws and holes in our Constitution and wanted them fixed while everyone else in power just shrugged. He stood up for Native American, women, and slave rights at a time when doing that was definitely not popular. He worried for nearly 40 years about the country splitting up over slavery and bemoaned how the Constitution separated powers yet could not overcome party loyalty or presidents just doing what they want anyway. Arguing over admitting Texas into the Union, Adams wrote this in his diary.
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"The Constitution is a menstruous rag and the Union is sinking into a military monarchy to be |
