THE JUBILEE OF THE CONSTITUTION. A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, ON TUESDAY, THE 30TH OF APRIL 1839; BEING THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INAUGURATION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ON THURSDAY, THE 30TH OF APRIL, 1789

New York: Samuel Colman, 1839. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine in a handsome binding. Bound in recent full forest green morocco leather without the original wraps and endpapers; 136 pages. Illustrated with a frontispiece depicting the Inauguration of Washington at the Old City Hall. INSCRIBED and SIGNED on the half-title page in ink: "Hon. Richard Fletcher/from/John Quincy Adams." Books inscribed by Adams are scarce. Typically one sees Adams's Oration on Lafayette signed on a separate slip pasted into the book. The first child of a president to become a president, the first president to be a published poet, and the first president to be photographed, Adams was certainly one of our most intelligent presidents and one of the greatest humanitarians to hold that office. He is perhaps best known for two accomplishments outside his term: the authorship as Secretary of State of the Monroe Doctrine and his heroic, successful argument before the Supreme Court to free the Amistad slaves.

Richard Fletcher was a fellow member of the 25th Congress from Massachusetts with Adams. In his diary Adams recounts how Fletcher came under fire for criticizing the Ways and Means Committee for being under the control of the White House. Fletcher was widely quoted about his disdain for the committee, and Adams defended his colleague's views, coming under fire himself. Fletcher's outspokenness would eventually lead him out of Congress, and he later became a Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice.