Adams’ domestic-investment agenda offers a modern alternative to militarism.

Evidence

It is not too late for the country to heed Adams’s words. And beyond words, the country would do well to note the agenda Adams laid out as president. In contrast to the expansionist visions of Presidents James Monroe and Andrew Jackson, who preceded and followed him, Adams proposed broad improvements to the nation’s infrastructure of roads and canals; investments to support science, invention, and enterprise; and global efforts toward “the common improvement of the species.” He also refused to sign a treaty that would have dispossessed the Creek nation of its lands in Georgia. Unfortunately, Adams’s political instincts never matched his ideas and his ideals, and much of his agenda was never implemented. But we still have a chance today to make the investments in transportation, science, education, entrepreneurship, energy, and housing that have been neglected while trillions of dollars have been poured into unnecessary wars and military bases abroad. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 1054

Categorization

Category: Inspiration and Speculation

• SEED: Strong essay angle: a contrast between John Quincy Adams’ infrastructural vision and the militarized present — what a modern ‘common improvement of the species’ agenda would require.