|preceded=(none)
|former=y
|succeeded=[[Thomas Jefferson]]
}}
{{Officeholder/ambassador
}}
}}
'''John Adams''' (1735-1826) was an American [[America]]n Founding Father, diplomat, and the second [[President of the United States]] from 1797-18011797–1801. Adams was a prominent figure of the [[American Revolution]]. His numerous accomplishments include involvement in the drafting of the [[Declaration of Independence]], writing the constitution for the state of Massachusetts, serving as a diplomat to [[England]], [[France]], and the [[Netherlands]], negotiating the Treaty of Paris, and serving as the first Vice President of the United States under President [[George Washington]]. Adams changed the spelling of Jefferson's elegant "inalienable" rights to a disfavored "unalienable" rights, leaving that clumsy spelling in the most famous sentence in the English language.<ref>https://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/unalienable.html</ref>
In the [[United States presidential election, 1796|presidential election Adams was a big supporter of 1796]]law and order, Adams, on to the ticket point of even defending the [[Federalist Party]], defeated British soldiers who shot protesters at the Democratic-Republican nominee [[Thomas JeffersonBoston Massacre]] and became the second President of the United States. He broke with Hamilton Adams signed legislation against aliens and the ultra-Federalists, leaving him in a weak position critics of himself known as president. He lost to Jefferson in a bitter rematch in known 1800. His presidency was marked by the [[Quasi-War]] between the United States and France, the [[XYZ Affair]], the founding of the [[U.S. Navy]], the passage of [[Alien and Sedition Acts]], building a new national army, and an unexpected peace with France; as he left office he appointed numerous judges,which is considered one of the most notably [[John Marshall]] as Chief Justiceunconstitutional bills ever enacted.
In the [[United States presidential election, 1796|presidential election of 1796]], Adams, on the ticket of the [[Federalist Party]], defeated the Democratic-Republican nominee [[Thomas Jefferson]] and became the second President of the United States. He broke with Hamilton and the ultra-Federalists, leaving him in a weak position as president. Adams lost to Jefferson by a wide margin of 61-39% in a bitter rematch in 1800 (the [[Electoral College]] vote was a closer 73-65), and Adams was a sore loser for a long time. Adams' presidency was marked by the [[Quasi-War]] between the United States and France, the [[XYZ Affair]], the founding of the [[U.S. Navy]], the passage of [[Alien and Sedition Acts]], building a new national army, and an unexpected peace with France; as he left office he appointed numerous judges, most notably [[John Marshall]] as Chief Justice. Adams founded one of the great families in American history, with numerous politicians, diplomats and historians. Adams reputation was long in the doldrums, since Franklin quipped in 1783: "He means well for his Country, and is always an honest Man, often a Wise One, but sometimes and in some things, absolutely out of his senses." Historians Much much admire his independence, patriotism and realism, but his self-righteousness and vanity represented a critical weakness.
==Early life and political career==
Adams attended [[Harvard]] and, after a stint as a schoolmaster in Worchester, Massachusetts, took up the practice of law in [[Boston]]. In 1765, Adams wrote tracts such as the Braintree Instructions, which argued against the [[British Stamp Act]]. His cousin, [[Samuel Adams]], attracted far more notice during the [[Stamp Act]] crisis, leading demonstrations and using far more colorful language (there would later be some confusion regarding John and Samuel. When John was sent to [[France]] by the [[Continental Congress]] on a [[diplomatic mission]], the French initially thought he was the "famous Adams," that is, Samuel Adams).
In the wake of the [[Boston Massacre]] in 1770, Boston's leaders prevailed on Adams to represent the British troops. He did so, arguing that all Englishmen deserved a vigorous defense. He pleaded self -defense, and won the case. He argued that Boston would be better served if many guilty persons escaped unpunished than if one innocent one suffered. It was, he maintained, of more importance to the community “that innocence should be protected, than...that guilt should be punished.”
In 1774, after the crisis brought on by the [[Boston Tea Party]] and the resulting [[Coercive Acts]], Adams became an advocate for American independence. Adams was one of Massachusetts’s Massachusetts's representatives to the Continental Congress. He attracted the notice of other delegates at the [[Second Continental Congress]] as one of the first to argue for independence.
==Declaring Independence==
Adams served a Massachusetts delegate in both the First and the Second Continental Congresses. He was a leading advocate of declaring independence and in June 1776 was assigned, along with [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[Benjamin Franklin]], to draft a [[Declaration of Independence]]. Adams realized that Jefferson was a much more gifted writer, and recognized the importance that the document was should be composed mostly by the a Virginian. However, Adams did have some input, looking over drafts of the document. While Jefferson worked on the Declaration, Adams worked on the [[Model Treaty]]. Jefferson later remarked that Adams was the Declaration of Independence's "pillar of support on the floor of Congress, its ablest advocate and defender." Though Adams in principle opposed the practice of [[slavery]], he remained silent when Jefferson was pressured to strike out a provision in the Declaration that condemned slavery. Indeed, he never took a major role in opposing slavery, unlike most Federalists. After Independence was declared, Adams served as the head of the [[Board of War and Ordinance]].
==Diplomat==
[[Image:Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West 1783.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[Treaty of Paris]], Painting by Benjamin West (never completed). The painting depicts from left to right, [[John Jay]], John Adams, [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Henry Laurens]], and [[William Temple Franklin]].]]
Adams served the Continental Congress as a diplomat, remaining abroad for a decade, from 1778 to 1788. Originally posted to France, he served in Paris with [[Benjamin Franklin]]. Franklin felt that Adams' blunt style and lack of understanding of European diplomatic process harmed the American effort. After France, Adams was posted to the Netherlands, where he secured a large war loan to help the patriot cause. Adams chaired the American delegation that drew up the [[Treaty of Paris]] in 1783, which formally ended the [[American Revolution]].
Adam's faced the challenge of having to succeed George Washington. He retained all of Washington's original cabinet members. Although some historians consider it a mistake, he believed that government officials should not be removed except for cause. Adams spent much of his term in Massachusetts, ignoring the details of patronage and communication that are essential to build a political base.
===Foreign Affairs===
Adams continued the Washington's policy of neutrality in the on going ongoing war between Britain and France, selling supplies to both sides. Federalists were pushing for a war against France and closer ties to BritianBritain. Adams wanted peace, but was caught up in the storm of events.
The French were openly seizing American ships, leading to an undeclared war known as the [[Quasi-War]] of 1798-991798–99. Adams sent diplomats to meet with the [[French Directory]], only to be refused an audience and commercial relations were suspended. In 1798, the French demanded American diplomats pay huge bribes in order to see the French Foreign Minister [[Talleyrand]], which the diplomats rejected. The Jeffersonian Republicans, suspicious of Adams, demanded the documentation, which Adams released using X, Y and Z as codes for the names of the French diplomats. A wave of nationalist sentiment overwhelmed the U.S. Congress approved Adams' plan to organize the navy. Adams reluctantly signed the Alien and Sedition Act as a wartime measure.
The Federalists made major gains in the 1798 election, and Congress passed a law for a much-enlarged army. Nominally it was under the control of Washington; in reality Hamilton controlled the new army, and Adams was left a byestander.
===Running for reelection===
Jefferson spent much of his time as vice-president attacking Adams, even hiring journalists to write scurrilous editorials about the Presidentpresident. Federalists fought back by passing the [[Alien and Sedition Acts]]. The Alien Act was designed to prevent immigrants, who supported Jefferson, from gaining citizenship, and the right to vote; the Sedition Act was designed to stifle critics of Adams. However, the attempts backfired; when Congressman [[Matthew Lyons]] was prosecuted under the Sedition Act, he and the Republicans became national heroes. In the [[United States presidential election, 1800|election of 1800]], Jefferson overwhelmingly beat Adams.
While a [[lame duck]] Presidentpresident, Adams tried to stack the courts with [[Federalist]] judges so that his party could maintain some control of the government. One such appointment led to the landmark [[Supreme Court]] case of [[Marbury v. Madison]].
The Adamses were the first residents of the [[White House]]. They moved there in the month of November, 1800. At the White House, President John Adams was said to be the first to display [[fireworks]] there.
After Jefferson left office in 1809 he and Adams resumed their cordial friendship, and exchanged a series of highly insightful letters.
He died July 4, 1826 at the age of 90 in Quincy, Massachusetts only a few hours after the death of Jefferson. The day marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Only one signer signatory of the Declaration ([[Charles Carroll of Carrollton]]) outlived him.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/people/pa/John_Adams.html</ref>
== Legacy ==
In a an October 2000 survey of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science, President John Adams was grouped in the "Above Average" group, ranked 13th, with a mean score of 3.36 out of 5.00.<ref>Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House (New York, Wall Street Journal Book, 2004)</ref>
It was John Adams whose quote has been inscribed upon the mantle in the White House dining room:<blockquote>
'''"I Pray Heaven to Bestow the Best Blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. Let none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."''' <ref>[[God and the Oval Office]], by John C. McCollister, W Publishing Group, 2005.</ref></blockquote>
Adams views of Islam have become a more noted topic of debate since 9/11, considering his view of Mohammed as a "military fanatic" along the lines of Napoleon. Adams believed that [[Muhammad|Mahomet]] was a usurper, lawless, and arrogated everything to himself by the force of arms.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BWdGUN6KPCcC&pg=PA509 The Portable John Adams]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DY-iAYvcTW8C&pg=PA141 Ye Will Say I Am No Christian: The Thomas Jefferson/John Adams Correspondence on Religion, Morals, and Values]</ref> John Adams, like [[Thomas Jefferson]], owned a copy of the [[Koran#Founding Fathers|Koran]]. Adams' Koran still exists,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/korancommonlycal00john The Koran : commonly called the Alcoran of Mahomet]</ref> and is part of the John Adams collection at the Boston Public Library.<ref>[http://www.johnadamslibrary.org/ The John Adams Library at the BPL]</ref>
==Notable Quotes==
*"Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war." <ref>Quoted in ''Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789-1989'' by Michael Beschloss</ref>'''
*"Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist." - Discourses on Davila
*"Will Mr. Taylor profess himself a downright leveller? Will he vote for a community of property? or an equal division of property? and a community of wives and women? He must introduce and establish both, before he can reduce all men to an equality of influence. It is, indeed, questionable, whether such laws would not produce greater inequalities than ever were seen in the world. These are not new projects, Mr. Taylor. They are not original inventions, or discoveries of philosophers of the eighteenth century." - John Adams to John Taylor, April 15, 1814<ref>[http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/adams-the-works-of-john-adams-vol-6#lf1431-06_head_025 The Works of John Adams, vol. 6]</ref>
*"Power always thinks... that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws."
*"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. "
*"The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty" <ref>[httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=E9TOxypjZY4C&pg=PA70&dq=The+only+maxim+of+a+free+government+ought+to+be+to+trust+no+man+living+with+power+to+endanger+the+public+liberty&ei=1AMFSq7hLZ3AzASr9dWUAw John Adams - Page 70]</ref>
*"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” -1826
* "You have [[unalienable rights|rights]] antecedent to all earthly [[government]]s; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the [[God|Great Legislator of the Universe]]."
* "Napoleon is a military fanatic like Achilles, Alexander, Caesar, Mahomet, Zengis, Kouli, Charles XII. The maxim and principle of all of them was the same.<blockquote>''"Jura negat sibi nata, nihil non arrogat armis."''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GDHqCQAAQBAJ&pg=NotesPA436 The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nxJLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA207 Horace: Satires, Epistles, and Ars Poetica]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eX_A2Fk3-GwC&pg=PA481 The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series, Volume 7: 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814]</ref> (''"He denies that laws were made for him; he arrogates everything to himself by force of arms"'')<ref>The latin phrase "Jura negat sibi nata, nihil non arrogat armis." comes from [[Horace]] ''Ars Poetica'', and generally translates to "''He denies that laws were made for him; he arrogates everything to himself by force of arms''."</ref></blockquote> * "Although I have never sought popularity by any animated speeches or inflammatory publications against the slavery of the blacks, my opinion against it has always been known, and my practice has been so conformable to my sentiments that I have always employed freemen, both as domestics and laborers, and never in my life did I own a slave. The abolition of slavery must be gradual, and accomplished with much caution and circumspection. Violent means and measures would produce greater violations of justice and humanity than the continuance of the practice."<referencesref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=-Wh3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA92 The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, Volume 9], To George Churchman and Jacob Lindley, January 24th, 1801</ref> * "If we fear God and repent of our sins" - Conversation with [[Benjamin Rush]] about the conflict with Great Britain. ==See also==* [[Federalist Party]]* [[Abigail Adams]]* [[John Adams (miniseries)]]
==References==
* Diggins, John Patrick. ''John Adams: The American Presidents Series''(2003) [httphttps://www.amazon.com/John-Adams-Presidents-Patrick-Diggins/dp/0805069372/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208831547&sr=1-6 excerpt and text search] * Ellis, Joseph J. ''Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams'' (2001) [httphttps://www.amazon.com/Passionate-Sage-Character-Legacy-Adams/dp/0393311333/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208831547&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search] * Ferling, John. ''John Adams: A Life'' (1996) [httphttps://www.amazon.com/John-Adams-Life-Ferling/dp/0805045767/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208831547&sr=1-11 excerpt and text search]
* Paul Finkelman, Paul, ed. ''Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, 1754–1829'' (2005), 1600 pp.
* Larson, Edward J. ''A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign.'' (2007). 333 pp. on 1800 [http://www.common-place.org/vol-08/no-03/reviews/opal.shtml online review]
* McCullough, David. ''John Adams'' (2001), 768pp; popular best seller and base of the 2008 TV miniseries [httphttps://www.amazon.com/John-Adams-David-McCullough/dp/141657588X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208831385&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
==Bibliography==
* Brown, Ralph A. ''The Presidency of John Adams.'' (1988). Political narrative.
* Chinard, Gilbert. ''Honest John Adams.'' (1933). short life
* Diggins, John Patrick. ''John Adams'' (2003) short interpretation by leading scholar [httphttps://www.amazon.com/John-Adams-Presidents-Patrick-Diggins/dp/0805069372/ref=sr_1_5/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193064176&sr=8-5 excerpt and text search]
* Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick, ''The Age of Federalism''. (1993), most advanced political history of 1790s [http://www.questia.com/read/59152800 online edition]
* Ellis, Joseph J. ''Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams'' (1993), interpretative essay by Pulitzer prize winning scholar. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=100942304 online edition]
* Knollenberg, Bernard. ''Growth of the American Revolution: 1766-1775,''(2003). [http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/Book.php?recordID=0485 Online edition.]
* Kurtz, Stephen G. ''The Presidency of John Adams: The Collapse of Federalism, 1795-1800'' (1957). Detailed political narrative. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=14355519 online edition]
* McCullough, David. ''John Adams.'' (2002). Best-selling popular biography, stressing Adams's character and his marriage with Abigail over his ideas and constitutional thoughts. Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. [httphttps://www.amazon.com/John-Adams-David-McCullough/dp/0743223136/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193064176&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Miller, John C. ''The Federalist Era: 1789-1801.'' (1960). Thorough survey of politics in decade.
* Ryerson, Richard Alan, ed. ''John Adams and the Founding of the Republic'' (2001). Essays by scholars: "John Adams and the Massachusetts Provincial Elite," by William Pencak; "Before Fame: Young John Adams and Thomas Jefferson," by John Ferling; "John Adams and the 'Bolder Plan,'" by Gregg L. Lint; "In the Shadow of Washington: John Adams as Vice President," by Jack D. Warren; "The Presidential Election of 1796," by Joanne B. Freeman; "The Disenchantment of a Radical Whig: John Adams Reckons with Free Speech," by Richard D. Brown; "'Splendid Misery': Abigail Adams as First Lady," by Edith B. Gelles; "John Adams and the Science of Politics," by C. Bradley Thompson; and "Presidents as Historians: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson," by Herbert Sloan.
* Abigail Adams and John Adams. ''My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams'' edited by Joseph J. Ellis, and Margaret A. Hogan (2007)
==See alsoNotes==* [[Federalist Party]]{{reflist|2}} ==External links==* [[Abigail https://librivox.org/author/356 Works by John Adams- text and free audio]]* - [[John Adams (miniseries)LibriVox]]
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