John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain. During the latter part of the Revolutionary War and in the early years of the new nation, he served the U.S. government as a senior diplomat in Europe. Adams was the first person to hold the office of vice president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with important contemporaries, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams and his friend and political rival Thomas Jefferson.
This article is about the second president of the United States. For his son, the sixth president, see John Quincy Adams. For other uses, see John Adams (disambiguation).
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington
Office established
Thomas Jefferson
Congress of the Confederation
Charles W. F. Dumas (acting)
Office established
Francis Lewis (Continental Board of Admiralty)
Office established
October 30, 1735 [O.S. October 19, 1735]
Braintree, Massachusetts Bay, British America (now Quincy)
July 4, 1826 (aged 90)
Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Pro-Administration (before 1795)
- Federalist (1795–c. 1808)
- Democratic-Republican (from c. 1808)[4]
6, including Abigail, John Quincy, Charles, and Thomas
Harvard College (AB, AM)
- Politician
- lawyer
A lawyer and political activist prior to the Revolution, Adams was devoted to the right to counsel and presumption of innocence. He defied anti-British sentiment and successfully defended British soldiers against murder charges arising from the Boston Massacre. Adams was a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress and became a leader of the revolution. He assisted Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and was its primary advocate in Congress. As a diplomat he helped negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain and secured vital governmental loans. Adams was the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which influenced the United States Constitution, as did his essay Thoughts on Government.
Adams was elected to two terms as vice president under President George Washington and was elected as the United States' second president in 1796. He was the only president elected under the banner of the Federalist Party. Adams's term was dominated by the issue of the French Revolutionary Wars, and his insistence on American neutrality led to fierce criticism from both the Jeffersonian Republicans and from some in his own party, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the Army and Navy in the undeclared naval war with France. He was the first president to reside in the White House.
In his bid in 1800 for reelection to the presidency, opposition from Federalists and accusations of despotism from Jeffersonians led to Adams losing to his vice president and former friend Jefferson, and he retired to Massachusetts. He eventually resumed his friendship with Jefferson by initiating a continuing correspondence. He and Abigail generated the Adams political family, including their son John Quincy Adams, the sixth president. John Adams died on July 4, 1826 – the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Adams and his son are the only presidents of the first twelve who never owned slaves. Historians and scholars have favorably ranked his administration.
Post-presidency (1801–1826)
Initial years
Adams resumed farming at Peacefield in Quincy, Massachusetts, and also began work on an autobiography. The work had numerous gaps and was eventually abandoned and left unedited.[271] Most of Adams's attention was focused on farm work,[272] although he mostly left manual labor to hired hands.[273] His frugal lifestyle and presidential salary gave him a considerable fortune by 1801. In 1803, Bird, Savage & Bird, the bank holding his cash reserves of about $13,000, collapsed.[274] John Quincy resolved the crisis by buying his properties in Weymouth and Quincy, including Peacefield, for $12,800.[272] During his first four years of retirement, Adams made little effort to contact others, but eventually resumed contact with old acquaintances such as Benjamin Waterhouse and Benjamin Rush.[275]
Adams generally stayed quiet on public matters. He did not publicly denounce Jefferson's actions as president, believing that "instead of opposing Systematically any Administration, running down their Characters and opposing all their Measures right or wrong, We ought to Support every Administration as far as We can in Justice."[276][277] When a disgruntled James Callender, angry at not being appointed to an office, turned on the President by revealing the Sally Hemings affair, Adams said nothing.[278] John Quincy was elected to the Senate in 1803. Shortly thereafter, both he and his father crossed party lines to support Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase.[279] The only major political incident involving the elder Adams during the Jefferson years was a dispute with Mercy Otis Warren in 1806. Warren, an old friend, had written a history of the American Revolution attacking Adams for his "partiality for monarchy" and "pride of talents and much ambition." A tempestuous correspondence ensued between her and Adams. In time, their friendship healed.[280] Adams did privately criticize the President over his Embargo Act,[277] although John Quincy voted for it.[281] John Quincy resigned from the Senate in 1808 after the Federalist-controlled Massachusetts Senate refused to nominate him for a second term. After the Federalists denounced John Quincy as no longer being of their party, Adams wrote to him that he himself had long since "abdicated and disclaimed the name and character and attributes of that sect."[4]
After Jefferson's retirement in 1809, Adams became more vocal. He published a three-year marathon of letters in the Boston Patriot newspaper, refuting line-by-line Hamilton's 1800 pamphlet. The initial piece was written shortly after his return from Peacefield and "had gathered dust for eight years." Adams had decided to shelve it over fears that it could negatively impact John Quincy should he ever seek office. Although Hamilton had died in 1804 in a duel with Aaron Burr, Adams felt the need to vindicate his character against his charges. With his son having broken from the Federalist Party and joined the Republicans, he felt that he could safely do so without threatening John Quincy's political career.[282] Adams supported the War of 1812. Having worried over the rise of sectionalism, he celebrated the growth of a "national character" that accompanied it.[283] Adams supported James Madison for reelection to the presidency in 1812.[284]
Adams's daughter Abigail ("Nabby") was married to William Stephens Smith, but she returned to her parents' home after the failure of the marriage; she died of breast cancer in 1813.[285]
Political philosophy and views
Slavery
Adams never owned a slave and declined on principle to use slave labor, saying,
