Oration on the Life and Character of Gilbert Motier de Lafayette. Delivered at the Request of Both Houses of the Congress of the United States, Before Them, In the House of Representatives at Washington on the 31st December, 1834.

ADAMS, John Quincy.

Item Number: 11929

Washington: Printed by Gales and Seaton, 1835.

First edition of John Quincy Adams’ biography of military hero Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. Octavo, bound in full contemporary straight grain morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, gilt ruling to the panels. Association copy, inscribed by John Quincy Adams on the presentation leaf, “Edward Everett from John Quincy Adams.” The recipient, Massachusetts politician Edward Everett served as the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, the 16th President of Harvard University and the 20th United States Secretary of State, among other positions throughout his political career. Early in his career as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts’s 4th district, he became one of John Quincy Adams’ strongest supporters in the formation of the National Republican party and 1824 presidential election. With Everett’s bookplate to the pastedown. In very good condition.

Often referred to as "The Hero of Two Worlds", French aristocrat and military officer Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette was a key figure in both the American and French Revolutions. Commissioned an officer at age thirteen, he became convinced that the American revolutionary cause was noble, traveled to America, and was made a major general at age nineteen, soon commanding American troops in several battles including the Siege of Yorktown. He later returned to France where he was appointed commander-in-chief of France's National Guard and played a major role in the composition of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen with Thomas Jefferson's assistance.