America's Jubilee: How in 1826 a Generation Remembered Fifty Years of Independence

Since we have just celebrated the 225th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it seems only appropriate to read an account of how our nation celebrated it's 50th anniversary of the same. This is a well-written book that takes us through that exciting year, and along the way gives us a lot of history about John Quincy Adams and the contested election of 1824. We get mini biographies of many famous people, such as Adams, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and the like, but also people who may have been fairly well-known at that time, but now are not even remotely familiar to us. It was these "unknowns" that impressed me the most, and whom I found fascinating. It's always good to read a historical work that tells me something that I did not know before, and this work delivers that aspect very well. It rounds off my recent reading of the life of John Adams, and tells me how his son fared as President and beyond. This is a book well worth the time to read, and I recommend it.

In 1826 Americans remembered and celebrated fifty years of independence with parades and speeches. America's Jubilee uses private diaries, letters, newspapers and publications to reveal the personal lives behind the pageantry and celebrations, and the survivors of the War of Independence. Chapters provide the words and experiences of ordinary citizens.