Who is John Adams

John Adams (October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826) was an American politician. He was elected second President of the United States (1797-1801) after serving as America's first Vice President (1789-1797) for two terms. He is regarded as one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States. Adams came to prominence in the early stages of the American Revolution. As a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, he played a leading role in persuading Congress to adopt the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776. As a representative of Congress in Europe, he was a major negotiator of the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and chiefly responsible for obtaining important loans from Amsterdam. Adams's revolutionary credentials secured him two terms as George Washington's vice president and his own election as the second president. During his one term as president, he was frustrated by battles inside his own Federalist party against a faction led by Alexander Hamilton, and he signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts. The major accomplishment of his presidency was his peaceful resolution of the Quasi-War crisis with France in 1798. After Adams was defeated for reelection by Thomas Jefferson, he retired to Massachusetts. He and his wife Abigail Adams founded an accomplished family line of politicians, diplomats, and historians now referred to as the Adams political family. His achievements have received greater recognition in modern times, though his contributions were not initially as celebrated as other Founders'.

Early Life
John Adams, Jr., the elder of two brothers, was born on October 30, 1735 (October 19, 1735 by the Old Style, Julian calendar), in Braintree, Massachusetts, to John and Susanna Boylston Adams. The location of Adams's birth, North Braintree, became the town of Quincy, Massachusetts in 1792 and is now part of Adams National Historical Park. His father, also named John (1690-1761), was a fourth-generation descendant of Henry Adams, who emigrated from Braintree, England to Massachusetts Bay Colony in about 1636. The town was named Braintree after the town from which they had emigrated. He is descended from a Welsh male line called Ap Adam. His father was a farmer, a Congregationalist (that is, Puritan) deacon, a lieutenant in the militia and a selectman, or town councilman, who supervised schools and roads. His mother, Susanna Boylston Adams, was a descendant of the Boylstons of Brookline. Adams was born to a modest family, but he felt acutely the responsibility of living up to his family heritage: the founding generation of Puritans, who came to the American wilderness in the 1630s and established colonial presence in America. The Puritans of the great migration "believed they lived in the Bible. England under the Stuarts was Egypt; they were Israel fleeing …to establish a refuge for godliness, a city upon a hill." By the time of John Adams's birth in 1735, Puritan tenets such as predestination were no longer as widely accepted, and many of their stricter practices had mellowed with time, but John Adams "considered them bearers of freedom, a cause that still had a holy urgency." It was a value system he believed in, and a heroic model he wished to live up to.

Young Adams went to Harvard College at age sixteen (in 1751). His father expected him to become a minister, but Adams had doubts. After graduating in 1755, he taught school for a few years in Worcester, allowing himself time to think about his career choice. After much reflection, he decided to become a lawyer and studied law in the office of James Putnam, a prominent lawyer in Worcester. In 1758, Adams was admitted to the bar. From an early age, he developed the habit of writing descriptions of events and impressions of men which are scattered through his diary. He put the skill to good use as a lawyer, often recording cases he observed so that he could study and reflect upon them. His report of the 1761 argument of James Otis in the superior court of Massachusetts as to the legality of Writs of Assistance is a good example. Otis's argument inspired Adams with zeal for the cause of the American colonies. In 1764, Adams married Abigail Smith (1744-1818), the daughter of a Congregational minister, Rev. William Smith, at Weymouth, Massachusetts. Their children were Abigail (1765-1813), future president John Quincy (1767-1848), Susanna (1768-1770); Charles (1770-1800), Thomas Boylston (1772-1832), and the stillborn Elizabeth (1775). Adams was not a popular leader like his second cousin, Samuel Adams. Instead, his influence emerged through his work as a constitutional lawyer and his intense analysis of historical examples, together with his thorough knowledge of the law and his dedication to the principles of republicanism. Adams often found his inborn contentiousness to be a constraint in his political career. [article source]

• Official NPS website: Adams National Historical Park
• John Adams Biography as well as quotes, gallery and speeches
• John Adams and the Massachusetts Constitution - Mass.gov
• John Adams @ the Jewish Encyclopedia
• John Adams
• White House biography
• State of the Union Addresses: 1797, 1798, 1799, 1800
• Inaugural Address,
• John Adams Quotes at Liberty-Tree.ca
• "Thoughts on Government" Adams, April 1776
• The Papers of John Adams from the Avalon Project (includes Inaugural Address, State of the Union Addresses, and other materials)
• Adams Family Papers: An electronic archive Captured December 16, 2004.
• Works by John Adams at Project Gutenberg
• Medical and Health History of John Adams
• Quotes on the preservation of freedom: [2]
• The John Adams Library, housed at the Boston Public Library, contains Adams's personal collection of more than 3,500 volumes in eight languages, many of which are extensively annotated by Adams.
• Extensive essay on John Adams and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
• Quotes from John Adams on the proper role, and divine purpose of government at Our Republic
• Works by or about John Adams in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• John Adams: A Resource Guide from the Library of Congress
• John Adams letters to Abigail Adams, Vol. 1
• John Adams at Find A Grave

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