The John Adams Experience

John Adams

John Adams was the second president of the United States. He was born on October 30th, 1735 in Braintree, which is now Quincy, Massachusetts. His father was John Adams Senior, and his mother was Susanna Boylston Adams.

Early in Adam's life, he studied at the local school in Braintree. His father was a moderator at the meetings in the town, which inspired Adams and showed him the importance of helping the community. Adams was at first resentful towards education and school. He admitted this to his father, and said that he wanted to farm. His father transferred him to Joseph Marsh's school, and Adams learning experience greatly improved. At a young age of fifteen, Adams passed Harvard's entrance examination, and went on to excel at Harvard.

Adams was a Unitarian, a type of Christianity believing in only one form of God. After graduating from Harvard, Adams became a teacher at the parish in Worcester.

A year later, Adams started to study law, because he could not stand the constant heated debates between the people of the parish. He studied with Israel Putnam an attorney at Worcester from 1756 to 1758. Then he left Worcester, and went home.

His father died in 1761, and Adams became an official citizen. In 1764, Adams got married to Abigail Smith. They had five children, Abigail Amelia Adams, John Quincy Adams, Susanna Adams, Charles Adams, and Thomas Boylston Adams.

His wife was as politically accepted as Adams himself. She was his most dedicated supporter throughout his long political career.

Adams began to garner more and more respect and fame throughout his political career. He publically opposed the increasing taxes and wrote a book Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law which argued against the stamp act.

Although Adams fervently stood against the Crown, he defended the eight British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre because of his great dislike of mobs and riots, and won the case.

Also, he was elected to be a member of the Massachusetts General Court in 1770, the same year as the Boston Massacre. Four years later, the Massachusetts General Court chose him to go to the First Continental Congress to represent Massachusetts.

In 1775, Adams went to the Second Continental Congress, which was preceded by the outbreak of war. Adams suggested for Washington to be the Continental Army general. Adams worked day and night to get enough equipment for Washington's Army and to organize a navy.

Adams was the one who contributed the idea that a Declaration of Independence should be written, and he nominated Jefferson as the writer. Although they both were opposed to the practice of slavery, they did not address the issue in the Declaration because they considered independence the more important of the two.

Adams also wrote the oldest constitution still in use today, the Commonwealth's constitution. This constitution was an important factor that contributed to the U.S. Constitution.

In 1779 Adams was sent to France by Congress to make peace with Britain. His tough negotiating earned him a bad reputation at first, but in the end he came through with a suiting agreement.

Adams stayed in England until 1788. Then he returned home to America, and moved to a small farm in Braintree. He originally wanted to stay out of the public service, but eventually he decided to accept a job as vice-president.

As vice-president, he was not one of the members of Washington's council, but he regularly supported Washington's political decisions. When Washington decided not to run another time, Adams won the next election over Thomas Jefferson, his old friend, and became the president.

As president, new issues arose with France. When Adams tried to negotiate, the French asked for bribes. Adams began to gather a navy, but he knew that a war would very likely lessen his popularity.

Soon, Adams passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. Although the acts were not Adams' idea, he signed them off as a necessary precaution against French espionage. The Alien Act increased the legal requirements of citizenship, and the Sedition Act contradicted the First Amendment because it denied the freedom of writing anything that was in opposition to the government.

Largely because of this, Adams lost the next election in 1800 to Jefferson, and retired at his house that he had sold to his son. Adams stayed as religiously active as he had been, if not more so, through his later years in life. He often wrote letters to Jefferson concerning religious topics.

Adams died on July 4th, 1826, which was only a few hours before Jefferson died. He was buried under United First Parish Church in Quincy. As famous at the time he died as he is today, John Adams was one of the most influential people to ever live in America, and one that nobody will ever forget.