John Adams

John Adams Biography

Born on October 30, 1735, Adams was the first Vice President of the United States and the second President of the United States. His son, John Quincy Adams , was the sixth President of the United States.

Early Life

Adams was born in the town of Quincy, Massachusetts, to John Henry Adams and Susanna Boylston Adams. He graduated from Harvard College in 1755, taught at Worcester and studied law with Rufus Putnam, to be admitted to the bar in 1758.

A writer at heart, Adams often wrote about various events and happenings in his world. In his early years his writings included a report of the argument of James Otis in the superior court of Massachusetts, and in his later years he wrote several memoirs, recollections and arguments based on his earlier writings.

Politics

Adams was practically the opposite of George Washington in terms of personality. Where Washington was outgoing and community minded, Adams was known to be impetuous, intense and often vehement.

Adams political career began when he was became the leader of the Massachusetts Whigs, during which time he drafted what would become the instructions from towns to their state representatives. In 1765, he penned a series of controversial articles in which he argued that the opposition of the colonies to the Stamp Act was part of the never ending struggle between individualism and corporate authority.

In 1768, Adams moved to Boston and in 1770 he helped defend several British soldiers who were arrested after the Boston Massacre. His outstanding defense of the soldiers – which resulted in their acquittal – was a key to his being elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

John Adams was a member of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778. In June, 1775, with a view to promoting the union of the colonies, he seconded the nomination of Washingtonas commander-in-chief of the army. His influence in congress was great, and almost from the beginning he was impatient for a separation of the colonies from Great Britain.

Furthering his colonial ambitions, Adams seconded a resolution that these colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent states. As a direct result he was appointed the next day – on June 8, 1776, to a committee with Jefferson, Franklin, Livingston and Sherman to draft the Declaration of Independence. In fact, Adams became the most vocal member of the committee and pushed the hardest for its adoption.

In 1778 John Adams sailed for France to supersede Silas Deane in the American commission there. But just as he embarked that commission concluded the desired treaty of alliance, and soon after his arrival he advised that the number of commissioners be reduced to one. His advice was followed and he returned home in time to be elected a member of the convention which framed the Massachusetts constitution of 1780, still the organic law of that commonwealth. With James Bowdoin and Samuel Adams, he formed a sub-committee which drew up the first draft of that instrument, and most of it probably came from John Adams’s pen.

Adams next became heavily involved in the negotiations of peace with Great Britain, working alongside Franklin, Jefferson, Jay and Henry Laurens. Circumstances were such that ultimately the only two negotiators, of the 5, that were present were Adams and the pliant John Jay. As a result, Adams’ belief that the United States should receive certain favorable allowances, such as rights to the fisheries along the British-American coast, was well received. In fact, the negotiations went so well that the treaty was signed well ahead of schedule, on November 30, 1782.

While in Europe, Adams argued convincingly for the rights of the state governments. In the process, he offended many of his countrymen back home with sentences such as ‘the rich, the well-born and the able’ should be set apart from other men in a senate. As a result, while Washingtonreceived every electoral vote, Adams received only 34 out of 69 – thus making him the second most popular candidate and therefore the Vice President.

Presidency

In 1796, after Washington refused to seek another term, Adams was elected president, defeating Thomas Jefferson – who became the Vice President by virtue of having the second most electoral college votes. Adams’s four years as president (1797-1801) were marked by a succession of intrigues which embittered all his later life. The passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts eventually brought discredit on the Federalist party. Moreover, factional strife broke out within the party itself; Adams and Hamilton became alienated, and members of Adams’s own cabinet virtually looked to Hamilton rather than to the president as their political chief.

In 1800, Adams was again the Federalist candidate for the presidency, but the distrust of him in his own party, the popular disapproval of the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the popularity of his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, combined to cause his defeat. He then retired into private life.

Later Life and Legacy

Adams was, at his core, an author, communicator and defender – often arguing unpopular opinions merely to see if he could bend his mind to the task in such a way as to unnerve his opponents and ultimately win the day.

While these traits served him well in his state roles and his representation of the United States during the British peace treaties they were ultimately his downfall as a President.

On July 4, 1826, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, he died at Quincy, after uttering the famous last words “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” (Unbeknownst to Adams, Thomas Jefferson had died a few hours earlier).

John Adams Facts

• John Adams’ President No.: 2nd
• John Adams Served: 4th March 1797 to 4th March 1801
• Age when he became president: 61
• John Adams’ Party: Federalist
• John Adams was from: Massachussets
• John Adams Married: Abigail Adams (1744-1818), they married in 1764
• Maiden Name of Abigail Adams: Abigail Smith
• John Adams’ Children: Abigail Amelia Adams (1765-1813), John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), Susanna Adams (1768-1770), Charles Adams (1770-1800), Thomas Boylston Adams (1772-1832)
• John Adams was born on: October 30 1735
• John Adams was born at: Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts
• John Adams Died on: July 4, 1826
• John Adams Died at: Quincy, Massachusetts
• John Adams Burial Site: First Unitarian Church, Quincy, Massachusetts
• John Adams’s Religion: Unitarian
• John Adams’ Education: Harvard University B.A. in 1755.
• John Adams’ Jobs Before President: Farmer, Teacher, Lawyer
• John Adams’ Political Career: represented Massachusetts in the Continental Congress, Ambassador to the Netherlands, France and Great Britain, Vice President
• John Adams’ Height: 5 feet, 7 inches
• Population at time John Adams was president: 5,308,483
• John Adams’ Pets: Horse named Cleopatra
• John Adams’ Transportation: Horse and carriage
• John Adams’s Communication Methods: Letter

Videos

John Adams Timeline

Date	Event
03/04/1797	John Adams becomes President
03/04/1801	John Adams term as President ends.
07/04/1826	John Adams passes away in Braintree, Massachusetts
07/17/1790	Washington D.C. Becomes the capital city.
10/25/1764	Marries Abigail Smith, who becomes Abigail Adams. They will eventually have 5 children including President John Quincy Adams.
10/30/1735	John Adams born in Quincy, Massachusetts

• 1735: Born in Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts on October 30th
• 1755: Begins work as a Grammer school teacher
• 1756: Starts studying law
• 1758: Ends his teaching career
• 1758: Becomes a lawyer by being admitted to the Massachusetts Bar
• 1773: Serves in Massachusetts’ State Legislature
• 1774: Delegate to the First Continental Congress
• 1775: Delegate to the Second Continental Congress
• 1779: Elected to the Constitutional Congress of Massachusetts where he writes the state constitution
• 1780-85: Envoy to France and the Netherlands where he negotiates the Treaty of Paris, 1783, which ends the War of Independence
• 1785-88: Minister to Britain
• 1796-1801: U.S. President
• 1826: Passes away.

Books

TV and Movies about John Adams

Speeches

John Adams Inaugural Address

• 1797 Inaugural Address

John Adams State of the Union Addresses

• 1797 State of the Union Address
• 1798 State of the Union Address
• 1799 State of the Union Address
• 1800 State of the Union Address

Other John Adams Speeches

• XYZ Affair Speech

Quotes

Below is our list of verified John Adams quotations.

Now to what higher object, to what greater character, can any mortal aspire than to be possessed of all this knowledge, well digested and ready at command, to assist the feeble and friendless, to discountenance the haughty and lawless, to procure redress of wrongs, the advancement of right, to assert and maintain liberty and vertue, to discourage and abolish tyranny and vice?

October 1759. Letter to Jonathan Sewall.

A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man’s attention and to inflame his ambition.

14 November, 1760. Diary.

I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.

1765. Notes  for “A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law”.

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right … and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied king of knowledge. I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers.

1765. A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law.

Let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set a-flowing.

1765. A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law.

The jaws of power are always opened to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.

1765. A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law.

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

3rd December 1770. Argument in Defense of the British Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials.

The law, in all vicissitudes of government, fluctuations of the passions, or flights of enthusiasm, will preserve a steady undeviating course; it will not bend to the uncertain wishes, imaginations, and wanton tempers of men. . . . On the one hand it is inexorable to the cries and lamentations of the prisoners; on the other it is deaf, deaf as an adder to the clamors of the populace.

4th December 1770. Argument in Defense of the British Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials.

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

Spring 1772. Notes for an Oration at Braintree, Massachusetts.

This is the most magnificent movement of all! There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire. The people should never rise without doing something to be remembered – something notable and striking. This destruction of the tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must have so important consequences, and so lasting, that I can’t but consider it as an epocha in history!

17 December, 1773. Diary entry on the Boston Tea Party.

A government of laws, and not of men.

1774. “Novanglus” papers in Boston Gazette No. 7. Also 1780 Massachusetts Constitution.

Meta-physicians and politicians may dispute forever, but they will never find any other moral principle or foundation of rule or obedience, that the consent of governors and governed.

1774. “Novanglus” papers in Boston Gazette No. 7.

I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all.

23 March, 1776. Letter to Horatio Gates.

You bid me burn your letters. But I must forget you first.

28 April, 1776. Letter to Abigail Adams.

Yesterday, the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America, and a great perhaps never was nor will be decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, “that these United Colonies are, and of right out to be, free and independent States.”

July 3, 1776. Letter to Abigail Adams.

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festibal. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

3 July, 1776. Second letter to Abigail Adams.

The happiness of society is the end of government.

1776. Thoughts on Government.

The judicial power ought to be distinct from both legislative and executive, and independent upon both that so it may be a check upon both, as both should be checks upon that.

1776. Thoughts on Government.

Virtue is not always amiable.

9 February, 1779. Diary.

By my physical constitution I am but an ordinary man.The Times alone have destined me to Fame—and even these have not been able to give me, much … Yet some great events, some cutting expressions, some mean hypocrises, have at times thrown this assemblage of sloth, sleep, and littleness into rage like a lion.

26 April, 1779. Diary.

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to stady mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their childred a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.

May 12, 1780. Letter to Abigail Adams.

Amidst your Ardor for Greek and Latin I hope you will not forget your mother Tongue. Read Somewhat in the English Poets every day. . . . You will never be alone, with a Poet in your Poket. You will never have an idle Hour.

14 May, 1781. Letter to John Quincy Adams.

You are afraid of the one—I, of the few.We agree perfectly that the many should have a full fair and perfect Representation.—You are Apprehensive of Monarchy; I, of Aristocracy. I would therefore have given more Power to the President and less to the Senate.

6 December 1787. Letter to Thomas Jefferson.

My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office [the vice-presidency] that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived; and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by others and meet my common fate.

19 December, 1793. Letter to Abigail Adams.

A boy of fifteen who is not a democrat is good for nothing, and he is no better who is a democrat at twenty.

January, 1799. Quoted in Thomas Jefferson’s Journal.

I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.

2 November, 1800. Letter to Abigail Adams.

I had heard my father say that he never knew a piece of land to run away or break.

Autobiography (1802-8)

You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.

15 July, 1813. Letter to Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas – Jefferson – still surv-

4 July, 1826. Last words.

The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the hearts and minds of the people …. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.

13th February, 1818. Letter to Hezekiah Niles.

[Baltimore:] The direst place in the world.

8th February, 1777. Diary

They [New Yorkers] talk very loud, very fast, and all together.

23rd July, 1774. Diary.

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

15th April, 1814. Letter to John Tyler.

All the perplexities, confusions, and distresses in America arise … from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.

25th August, 1787. Letter to Thomas Jefferson.

I have no confidence in any man who is not exact in his morals.

5th November, 1775. Letter to Abigail Adams.

I consider the true history of the American Revolution, and the establishment of our present Constitution, as lost forever; and nothing but misrepresentations, or partial accounts of it, will ever be recovered.

Quoted by Lt. Francis Hall in Travels in Canada in the United States in 1816 and 1817 [1818]

It is of more importance to the community that innocence should be protected than it is that guilt should be punished; for guilt and crimes are so frequent in the world that all of them cannot be punished; and many times they happen in such a manner that it is not of much consequence to the public whether they are punished or not.

3rd December, 1770. Closing statement for the defense in the Second Boston Massacre Trial.

Power always follows property.

26th May, 1776. Letter to James Sullivan.

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak, and that it is doing God’s service, when it is violating all His laws.

2nd February, 1816. Letter to Thomas Jefferson.

No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it. He will make one man ungrateful, and a hundred men his enemies, for every office he can bestow.

To John Quincy Adams who was elected president in 1824.

The liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state.

Free-Press Clause of the Massachusetts Constitution, 1780.

Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty.

1787. A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America.

Such is the frailty of the human heart that very few men who have no property have any judgment of their own. They talk and vote as they are directed by some man of property who  has attached their minds to his interest.

26th May, 1776. Letter to James Sullivan.

The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratic council, an oligarchical junto, and a single emperor.

13th November, 1815. Letter to Thomas Jefferson.

Grief drives men into habits of serious reflection, sharpens the understanding, and softens the heart.

6th May, 1816. Letter to Thomas Jefferson.

When People talk of the Freedom of Writing, Speaking or thinking, I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists: but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.

15th July, 1817. Letter to Thomas Jefferson

The happiness of man as well as his dignity consists in virtue.

1776. Thoughts on Government.

The happiness of society is the end of government.

1776. Thoughts on Government.

Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish with my country.

1774. Statement made to Jonathan Sewall. Quoted in Preface to Novanglus and Massachusetts

Thomas Jefferson survives.

Final Words. Quoted in Susan Boylston Adams Clark, Letter to Abigail Louisa Smith Adams Johnson, 9 July 1826