John Adams

John Adams was the first vice president of the United States (from 1789 to 1797) and the second president of the United States (from 1797 to 1801). During the American Revolution (1775–83), he served as one of the leading politicians in the first and second Continental Congresses. (See Continental Congress, First and Continental Congress, Second .) He was well regarded by his fellow politicians as a man of strong intellect.

Early life

Adams was born in Braintree (later called Quincy), Massachusetts , on October 30, 1735. His father, also named John Adams, was a farmer and leather goods maker who also served as a church deacon, town selectman, and lieutenant in the local militia. The elder Adams and his wife, Suzanne Boyleston, also had two other sons, Peter and Elihu.

Adams spent much of his youth outdoors in rural Braintree and planned to be a farmer when he grew up. Adams was educated by two private tutors and attended a public school called Dame School. In 1751, Adams's parents sent him to Harvard College to study to be a clergyman.

Among the twenty-eight initial students in his class, Adams eventually ranked in the top three.

After graduating from Harvard in 1755, the nineteen-year-old Adams moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, thirty miles west of Boston. There he started to teach grammar school. He lived in the house of James Putnam, a Harvard graduate and lawyer. Adams studied law under Putnam and in 1758 returned to his parents’ home in Boston to practice law.

In 1764 Adams married Abigail Smith, the daughter of a clergyman. She too was intelligent, and their marriage was marked by loyalty and friendship. Together they had five children: Abby, John Quincy, Susanna, Charles, and Thomas. Susanna died when she was just one.

Law and activism

In the 1760s, Adams continued to study law and slowly built his law practice. He also became involved in revolutionary politics. When the French and Indian War ended in 1763, victorious Great Britain had amassed great debts. To pay them, the British Parliament enacted a series of tax laws that became known in America as the Intolerable Acts. Many Americans began to feel it was unfair for Parliament, in which America had no elected representatives, to tax Americans.

After Parliament enacted the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Stamp Act of 1765, John Adams's cousin, statesman Samuel Adams (1722–1803), organized protests in Boston. John Adams attended meetings and emerged as an effective spokesman against Britain's imperial policies. In August 1765, he published the first in a series of four essays in the Boston Gazette newspaper. The essays, later published in Britain, described how colonists had emigrated to America to establish civil governments based on liberty and freedom.

In his law practice, Adams worked on a variety of cases, including divorce, wills, rape, and trespass. Adams defended John Hancock (1737–1793), who would be the first signer of the Declaration of Independence , against smuggling charges brought by British customs officials. In 1770, Adams defended Captain Thomas Preston, the British officer in charge at the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770. That event happened when British soldiers fired upon a crowd of colonists, killing five of them. Adams received much criticism for defending Preston. Adams, however, believed every man deserved a fair trial, and Adams won the case.

American Revolution politics and diplomacy

In 1774, the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to seek solutions to America's problems with Great Britain. Adams was chosen to attend as a representative from Massachusetts. Not yet in favor of independence, Adams recommended a system of equal parliaments in America and Britain with common allegiance to the crown.

In April 1775, the Revolutionary War began with the Battle of Lexington and Concord . Adams served that May in the Second Continental Congress, where he supported future president George Washington (1732–1799; served 1789–97) to lead the Continental Army. By then, Adams believed independence was necessary. In February 1776, he gave Congress a pamphlet called “Thoughts on Government,” in which he proposed a system of governments for the colonies. Later that year, Adams seconded the motion in Congress that led to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Adams served America during the war as a commissioner in France, seeking foreign aid for the American cause. Returning to Boston in 1779, Adams attended the state convention that prepared the Massachusetts state constitution, which Adams drafted. Along with Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) and John Jay (1745–1829), Adams served as commissioner to negotiate peace with Great Britain and eventually signed the Treaty of Paris to end the war in 1783. From 1785 to 1788, Adams served as America's first minister to Great Britain, missing the action as America drafted a Constitution to form a new plan of government.

In the federal government

Adams returned to America in 1788 and was chosen to be the nation's first vice president. He served under President Washington throughout both of Washington's two terms, from 1789 to 1797. Writing to his wife, Abigail, Adams called the office of vice president insignificant.

Washington's decision to retire after two terms gave Adams a chance to seek the presidency. Adams was a member of the Federalist Party , which generally favored a strong federal government. Adams's chief opponent for the presidency was the leader of the Democratic-Republican Party , Thomas Jefferson . The Democratic-Republican Party, whose members also became known as Jeffersonian Republicans, generally favored a smaller role for the federal government but strong state governments.

Adams defeated Jefferson and took office as president in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , on March 4, 1797. Jefferson became vice president because he received the second most electoral votes; this system eventually was changed by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution in 1804.

One of Adams's first decisions as president was one he eventually called one of his greatest mistakes: keeping Washington's cabinet instead of creating his own. The cabinet is the group of people who lead the major departments in the executive branch of government. In 1797, those positions included the attorney general, the secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, and the secretary of war. Keeping Washington's cabinet was an error because they were very loyal to former attorney general Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804), the leader of the Federalist Party, with whom Adams had many problems throughout his presidency.

Foreign affairs

When Adams became president, America was being drawn into a naval war between Great Britain and France. The two European countries had been fighting since 1793 over issues related to commerce and imperial power. Amidst that conflict, Great Britain began capturing American merchant vessels and forcing the ships’ sailors into naval service for Great Britain.

America tried to end its problems with Great Britain by signing a treaty in 1795. France considered this to be a violation of France's own treaties with America. So France began to capture American merchant vessels carrying goods to Great Britain and to force American sailors into service for France.

Adams wanted to avoid war as much as possible. Many members of the Federalist Party, however, wanted America to align with Great Britain and fight France. Hamilton was among that group, and his desire for war with France contributed to his problems with Adams. Democratic-Republicans, including Vice President Jefferson, tended to favor France and to prefer that America stay out of the conflict if possible.

Early in March 1797, Adams proposed to send a Democratic-Republican, future president James Madison (1751–1836; served 1809–17), to negotiate the problems with France. Opposed to Madison, Adams's cabinet threatened to resign, so Adams dropped the idea. He instead sent a bipartisan commission to Paris, France, in July 1797. The commission consisted of South Carolina governor Charles Pinckney (1757–1824), Virginia politician John Marshall (1755–1835), and former U.S. representative Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814) of Massachusetts.

Anonymous French agents told the commission that negotiations could not begin without a monetary bribe from the Americans to help France in its war with Great Britain. The scandal led to a louder cry for war with France. Adams allowed American merchant vessels to arm themselves. Congress passed laws breaking all treaties with France and authorizing the seizure of French ships that endangered U.S. commerce. It also created the Department of the Navy in April 1798 and added the U.S. Marine Corps in July.

Domestic affairs

The conflict with France led to the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. These were four laws that increased the time for foreigners to become U.S. citizens, empowered the president to deport foreigners under certain conditions, and made it a crime to publish “false, scandalous, and malicious” things about the government. One newspaper at the time wrote, “It is Patriotism to write in favor of our government—it is sedition to write against it.”

Adams did not actively enforce the Alien Acts. His administration, however, used the Sedition Act to file criminal charges against many newspapers editors who favored the Democratic-Republican Party. Hamilton did not think Adams was doing enough to enforce these laws, which added to the problems between the two men.

The federal budget nearly doubled during Adams's administration. To raise money, Congress passed a tax law called the Window Tax in July 1798. When three Pennsylvanians were jailed in early 1799 for refusing to pay the tax, John Fries (1764–1825) led a rebellion to force federal marshals to release the prisoners. Adams ordered the rebellion to cease and sent federal troops to crush it. Fries and his supporters were sentenced to death for treason, but Adams pardoned them for their crimes. This increased his unpopularity with the Federalists.

A number of government offices were formed during the Adams administration, including the U.S. Public Health Service in 1798 and the Library of Congress in 1800. The Mississippi and Indiana territories were created in 1798 and 1800. Also in 1800, Adams became the first president to reside in the White House after the federal government relocated to Washington, D.C.

Peace with France and the campaign of 1800

Adams arranged his final diplomatic mission to France in February 1799. He sent Ambassador to the Netherlands William Murray (1760–1803), Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth (1745–1807), and North Carolina governor William Davie (1756–1920) to negotiate for peace. In October 1800, they signed the Treaty of Mortefontaine, finally reaching peace with France.

News of the peace failed to reach America in time to help Adams win the presidential election of 1800. Division in the Federalist Party allowed Jefferson, the Democratic-Republican candidate, to emerge the victor. The Democratic-Republican Party also won control of Congress in the election.

In the wake of defeat, the Federalist-controlled Congress passed a judiciary act before the end of the term. It empowered Adams in his last months in office to appoint new judges—aligned with the Federalist Party—to federal courts.

Retirement

At the age of 65 in March 1801, John Adams returned to his home and farm in Quincy, Massachusetts, where he spent the rest of his life. He wrote often to family and friends, and from 1802 to 1806 he worked on his autobiography. His wife, Abigail, died in 1818, which was a profound loss to Adams. In 1824, Adams had the paternal honor of seeing his son, John Quincy Adams (1767–1848; served 1825–29), elected as the sixth president of the United States.

Around 1811, Adams resumed his friendship with Thomas Jefferson. The two spent the remainder of their lives corresponding about politics, philosophy, theology, and personal matters. By historic coincidence, they both died on July 4, 1826, fifty years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.