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
John Quincy Adams
Washington D.C., 1835
 
First edition, thick paper issue in presentation binding of full red morocco. Covers ruled in gilt, spine tooled and lettered in gilt, blue-green endpapers. Scattered sootiness and darkening, a well-done rebacking with original spine laid down, pages largely clean, withal a sound Very Good copy. Ex-libris Tennessee businessman, Rogers Clark Caldwell(1890-1968).

Inscribed by President Adams to Ohio Congressman John Thomson(1780-1852) on a presentation leaf tipped-in before the title page.
 
The 6th president gave these remarks as a member of the House of Representatives, one of only two former presidents to serve in Congress after their presidential term(Andrew Johnson served briefly in the Senate). The French aristocrat and military officer Lafayette played an important role as a general in the Revolutionary War, and won the love and esteem of the pantheon of American leaders from that era, becoming a hero to the nation whose creation he helped make possible.