John Adams - wikipedia John Adams This article is about the second president of the United States. For his son, the 6th president, see John Quincy Adams. For other uses, see John Adams ( disambiguation ). 2nd President of the United States John Adams 2nd President of the United States In office March 4, 1797 -- March 4, 1801 Vice President Thomas Jefferson Preceded by George Washington Succeeded by Thomas Jefferson 1st Vice President of the United States In office April 21, 1789 -- March 4, 1797 President George Washington Preceded by Inaugural holder Succeeded by Thomas Jefferson United States Ambassador to the Court of St James 's In office April 1, 1785 -- March 30, 1788 Appointed by Congress of the Confederation Preceded by Inaugural holder Succeeded by Thomas Pinckney United States Minister to the Netherlands In office April 19, 1782 -- March 30, 1788 Appointed by Congress of the Confederation Preceded by Inaugural holder Succeeded by Charles W.F. Dumas ( acting ) United States Envoy to France In office April 1, 1778 -- June 17, 1779 Serving with Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee Appointed by Second Continental Congress Preceded by Silas Deane Succeeded by Benjamin Franklin ( alone ) Delegate to the Second Continental Congress from Massachusetts In office May 10, 1775 -- June 27, 1778 Preceded by Inaugural holder Succeeded by Samuel Holten Delegate to the First Continental Congress from Massachusetts Bay In office September 5, 1774 -- October 26, 1774 Preceded by Inaugural holder Succeeded by Position abolished Personal details ( 1735 - 10 - 30 ) October 30, 1735 Braintree ( now Quincy ), Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America July 4, 1826 ( 1826 - 07 - 04 ) ( aged 90 ) Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S. Cause of death Congestive heart failure Resting place United First Parish Church Quincy, Massachusetts Political party Pro-Administration ( before 1795 ) Federalist ( 1795 -- 1826 ) Spouse ( s ) Abigail Smith ( m. 1764 ; d. 1818 ) Children Abigail, John Quincy, Susanna, Charles, Thomas, and Elizabeth ( stillborn ) Parents John Adams Sr. Susanna Boylston Alma mater Harvard College Signature John Adams ( October 30 ( O.S. October 19 ) 1735 -- July 4, 1826 ) was an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the first Vice President ( 1789 -- 97 ) and second President of the United States ( 1797 -- 1801 ). He was a lawyer, diplomat, political theorist, and a leader of the movement for American independence from Great Britain. He was also a dedicated diarist and correspondent, particularly with his wife and closest advisor, Abigail. Adams collaborated with his cousin, revolutionary leader Samuel Adams, but established his own prominence prior to the American Revolution. Driven by his devotion to the right to counsel and the presumption of innocence, he provided a successful, if unpopular, legal defense of the accused British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, despite severe local anti-British sentiment. Adams was sent as a delegate from colonial Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, where he played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence. He assisted in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and was its foremost advocate in the Congress. As a diplomat in Europe, he helped negotiate the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and acquired vital governmental loans from Amsterdam bankers. Adams was the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780. This influenced the development of America 's own constitution, as did his earlier Thoughts on Government ( 1776 ). Adams 's credentials as a revolutionary secured for him two terms as George Washington 's vice president ( 1789 to 1797 ) and also his own election in 1796 as the second president. In his single term as president, he encountered fierce criticism from the Jeffersonian Republicans, as well as the dominant faction in his own Federalist Party, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the army and navy in the face of an undeclared naval `` Quasi-War '' with France. The major accomplishment of his presidency was a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the face of Hamilton 's opposition. Due to his strong posture on defense, Adams is often called the father of the American Navy. He was the first U.S. president to reside in the executive mansion, now known as the White House. While he never owned slaves and expressed strong moral opposition, politically he was a moderate on the issue. In 1800, Adams lost re-election to Thomas Jefferson and retired to Massachusetts. He eventually resumed his friendship with Jefferson by initiating a correspondence which lasted 14 years. He and his wife established a family of politicians, diplomats, and historians now referred to as the Adams political family, most notably, their son John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States. John Adams died on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, and the same day as Jefferson. Modern historians in the aggregate have favorably ranked his administration. Contents 1 Early life and education 1.1 Childhood 1.2 College education and adulthood 1.3 Law practice and marriage 2 Career before the Revolution 2.1 Opponent of Stamp Act 1765 2.2 Counsel for the British : Boston Massacre 2.3 Objections to British Parliament 's authority 3 Continental Congress 3.1 Member of Continental Congress 3.2 Thoughts on Government 3.3 Declaration of Independence 3.4 Government during revolution 4 Diplomat in Europe 4.1 Commissioner to France and Massachusetts Constitution 4.2 Ambassador to the Dutch Republic and Treaty of Paris 4.3 Ambassador to Great Britain 4.4 Conceptions of constitutional government 5 Vice Presidency, 1789 -- 97 5.1 Election 5.2 President of the Senate 5.3 Other activities 5.4 Presidential election of 1796 6 Presidency, 1797 -- 1801 6.1 Inauguration 6.2 Failed peace commission and XYZ affair 6.3 Alien and Sedition Acts 6.4 Quasi War 6.5 Federalist divisions and peace 6.6 Fries 's Rebellion 6.7 Move to Washington 6.8 Election of 1800 6.9 Cabinet 6.10 Judicial appointments 7 Retirement 7.1 Initial years 7.2 Correspondence with Jefferson 7.3 Last years and death 8 Political philosophy and views 8.1 Slavery 8.2 Accusations of monarchism 8.3 Religious views 9 Legacy 9.1 Historical reputation 9.2 In memoriam 10 See also 11 References 12 Bibliography 12.1 Biographies 12.2 Specialized studies 12.3 Primary sources 13 Further reading 14 External links Early life and education Childhood Adams 's birthplace in Quincy, Massachusetts John Adams was born on October 30, 1735 ( October 19, 1735 Old Style, Julian calendar ) to John Adams Sr. ( 1691 -- 1761 ) and Susanna Boylston ( 1708 -- 1797 ). He had two younger brothers, Peter and Elihu. Adams 's birthplace was in Braintree, Massachusetts ( now Quincy, Massachusetts ). Adams 's mother was from a leading medical family of present - day Brookline, Massachusetts. His father was a deacon in the Congregational Church, a farmer, a cordwainer, and a lieutenant in the militia. His great - grandfather, Henry Adams, emigrated to Massachusetts from Braintree, Essex, England around 1638. John Sr. also served as a selectman ( town councilman ) and supervised the building of schools and roads. Adams often praised his father and recalled their close relationship. Though raised in modest surroundings, Adams felt an acute responsibility to live up to his family 's heritage of reverence. He was a direct descendant of Puritans who came to the American wilderness in the 1630s, established a colonial presence in America, and profoundly affected the culture, laws, and traditions of their region. Journalist Richard Brookhiser wrote that Adams 's Puritan ancestors `` 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 moderated with time, but Adams `` considered them bearers of freedom, a cause that still had a holy urgency. '' It was a value system which he believed in and wished to live up to. Adams emphatically recalled that his parents `` held every Species of Libertinage in... Contempt and horror, '' and portrayed `` pictures of disgrace, or baseness and of Ruin '' from any debauchery. Adams, as the eldest child, was under a mandate from his parents to obtain a formal education. This began at age six at a Dame school for boys and girls, which was conducted at a teacher 's home and centered upon The New England Primer. Shortly thereafter, Adams attended Braintree Latin School under Joseph Cleverly, where studies included Latin, rhetoric, logic, and arithmetic. Adams 's reflections on early education were in the negative mostly, including incidents of truancy, a dislike for his master, and a desire to become a farmer. All questions on the matter ended when his father commanded that he remain in school saying, `` You shall comply with my desires. '' Deacon Adams also retained a new school master named Joseph Marsh, and his son responded positively. College education and adulthood At age sixteen, Adams entered Harvard College in 1751, studying under Joseph Mayhew. He did not share his father 's expectation that he become a minister. After graduating in 1755 with an A.B. degree, he taught school for a few years in Worcester, Massachusetts while pondering his permanent vocation. In the next four years, he discerned a passion for prestige, saying that he craved `` Honour or Reputation '' and `` more defference from ( his ) fellows '' and, at age twenty - one, he was determined to become `` a great Man. '' He decided to become a lawyer to further those ends, writing his father that he found among lawyers `` noble and gallant achievements '' but, among the clergy, the `` pretended sanctity of some absolute dunces. '' Doctrinally, he later became a Unitarian, and dropped belief in predestination, eternal damnation, the divinity of Christ, and most other Calvinist beliefs of his Puritan ancestors. Nevertheless, his remnant Puritanism frequently prompted reservations about his hunger for fame, which he once referred to as mere `` trumpery, '' and he questioned his not properly attending to the `` happiness of ( his ) fellow men. '' The French and Indian War began in 1754 and Adams began to struggle with the issue of a young man 's responsibility in the conflict ; contemporaries of his social position were largely spectators, while those who were less solvent joined the battle as a means to make some money. Adams later said, `` I longed more ardently to be a Soldier than I ever did to be a Lawyer. '' He was acutely aware that he was the first in his family that `` degenerated from the virtues of the house so far as not to have been an officer in the militia. '' Law practice and marriage Mrs. Abigail Smith Adams -- 1766 Portrait by Benjamin Blythe Adams followed the usual course of reading the law in order to obtain his license to practice. In 1756, he became an apprentice in the office of John Putnam, a leading lawyer in Worcester. In 1758, he earned an A.M. from Harvard, and the following year was admitted to the Massachusetts bar, having completed his studies under Putnam. From an early age, he developed the habit of writing descriptions of events and impressions of men which are scattered through his diary, which included his report of the 1761 argument of James Otis Jr. in the Massachusetts Superior Court as to the legality of Writs of Assistance. Otis 's argument inspired Adams to the cause of the American colonies. In 1763, he had published seven essays in Boston newspapers, treatises that represented his forging into the convoluted realm of political theory. The essays were offered anonymously, with Adams using the nom de plume `` Humphrey Ploughjogger ; '' this author reappeared in the Boston Gazette in 1765 to oppose the Stamp Act. Adams was initially not as well known as his cousin Samuel, but his influence emerged through his work as a constitutional lawyer and his in - depth analysis of historical examples, together with his dedication to the principles of republicanism. Even so, Adams often found his inborn contentiousness to be a constraint in his political career. Adams married his third cousin Abigail Smith ( 1744 -- 1818 ) on October 25, 1764. Her parents were Elizabeth Quincy and Rev. William Smith, a Congregational minister at Weymouth, Massachusetts. John and Abigail had six children : Abigail `` Nabby '' in 1765, future president John Quincy Adams in 1767, Susanna in 1768, Charles in 1770, Thomas in 1772, and Elizabeth in 1777. Susanna died after about a year, while Elizabeth was stillborn. The fate of his three sons is curious. All three became lawyers. Charles and Thomas were both unsuccessful in their law professions and eventually became alcoholics, never living to old age, while John Quincy excelled and launched a career in politics. Adams never divulged in writing his feelings on this fact. Career before the Revolution Opponent of Stamp Act 1765 John Adams -- 1766 Portrait by Benjamin Blyth Adams first rose to prominence leading widespread opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765, imposed by the British Parliament without consulting the American legislatures, and requiring payment of a direct tax by the colonies for various stamped documents. The Act, intended to pay for the costs incurred by the late war, was despised, not only because of the costs it would incur on the colonies, but because it was implemented without their consent. It was met a shocking degree of violent resistance which prevented its enforcement. Adams authored the `` Braintree Instructions '' in 1765, a letter sent to the representatives of Braintree in the Massachusetts legislature which served as a model for other towns ' instructions. In the piece, he explained that the Stamp Act should be opposed since it denied two fundamental rights guaranteed to all Englishmen, and which all free men deserved : rights to be taxed only by consent and to be tried only by a jury of one 's peers. The instructions were a succinct and forthright defense of colonial rights and liberties. In August 1765, he reprised his pen name `` Humphrey Ploughjogger '' and contributed four articles to the Boston Gazette ( republished in The London Chronicle in 1768 as True Sentiments of America, also known as A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law ). He delivered a speech in December before the governor and council in which he pronounced the Stamp Act invalid on the ground that Massachusetts had not given its assent to it, being without representation in Parliament. He later observed that many protests were sparked by an oft - reprinted sermon of Boston minister Jonathan Mayhew, invoking Romans 13 to justify insurrection. In 1766, a town meeting of Braintree elected John Adams as a selectman. Adams strongly supported the right of all Americans to jury trials. Adams protested the 1765 passage of the Stamp Act, which gave jurisdiction to British Vice Admiralty Courts, rather than common law courts. Many colonists, including Adams, believed these courts, which operated without a jury, were corrupt and unfair. Adams moved the family to Boston in April 1768, renting a clapboard house on Brattle Street that was known locally as the `` White House. '' He and Abigail and the children lived there for a year, then moved to Cold Lane ; still later, they moved again to a larger house in Brattle Square in the center of the city. Counsel for the British : Boston Massacre On March 5, 1770, a street confrontation resulted in British soldiers killing five civilians in what came to be known as the Boston Massacre. The accused soldiers were arrested on criminal charges and had trouble finding legal representation. Adams ultimately agreed to defend them, though he feared that it would hurt his reputation. In arguing their case, Adams made his legendary statement regarding jury decisions : `` Facts are stubborn things ; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they can not alter the state of facts and evidence. '' He also expounded upon Blackstone 's Ratio : `` It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they can not all be punished. But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, ' whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection, ' and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizen that would be the end of security whatsoever. '' Adams won an acquittal for six of the soldiers. Two of them who had fired directly into the crowd were charged with murder but were convicted only of manslaughter. Adams was paid a small sum by his clients. Biographer John E. Ferling suggests that Adams made the most of juror selection during the jury selection stage of the trial, saying that Adams `` expertly exercised his right to challenge individual jurors and contrived what amounted to a packed jury. Not only were several jurors closely tied through business arrangements to the British army, but five ultimately became Loyalist exiles. '' While benefitting from prosecutorial mismanagement, Adams `` performed brilliantly. '' Hiller B. Zobel is a scholar who has closely studied the trial, and he concluded, `` we can be fairly sure that before a single witness had been sworn, the outcome of the trial was certain. '' Ferling also surmises that Adams may have been encouraged to take the case in exchange for political office ; one of Boston 's seats opened three months later in the Massachusetts legislature, and Adams was the town 's first choice to fill the vacancy. His law practice increased greatly from this exposure, as did the demands on his time. In 1771, he moved Abigail and the children to Braintree, but he kept his office in Boston, saying, `` I shall spend more Time in my Office than ever I did. '' He also noted on the day of the family 's move, `` Now my family is away, I feel no Inclination at all, no Temptation, to be any where but at my Office. I am in it by 6 in the Morning -- I am in it at 9 at night... In the Evening, I can be alone at my Office, and no where else. I never could in my family. '' Nevertheless, after some time in the capital, he became disenchanted with the rural and `` vulgar '' Braintree as a home for his family. In August 1772, therefore, Adams moved his family back to Boston. He purchased a large brick house on Queen Street, not far from his office. In 1774, Adams and Abigail returned the family to the farm due to the increasingly unstable situation in Boston, and Braintree remained their permanent Massachusetts home. Objections to British Parliament 's authority Adams, among the more conservative of the Founders, held long to the belief that British actions against the colonies had been wrong and misguided, but did not warrant open insurrection. Peaceful petition was a better alternative. Around 1772, his ideas began to change. Governor Thomas Hutchinson and his judges until 1772 received their salaries from the Massachusetts legislature. The Coercive Acts and the Tea Act were then passed by Parliament, and the British Crown assumed payment of those wages, drawn from customs revenues imposed upon that colony. According to Ferling, the British government thus singled out Massachusetts for reprisals of previous rebellion and hoped in the process to force the other colonies into line. Boston radicals protested and asked John Adams to proclaim their objections. In `` Two Replies of the Massachusetts House of Representatives to Governor Hutchinson '' Adams argued that the colonists had never been under the sovereignty of Parliament. Their original charter, as well as their allegiance, was exclusively with the King. If a workable line could not be drawn between parliamentary sovereignty and the total independence of the colonies, he continued, the colonies would have no other choice but independence from England. In 1775, in response to a set of essays by Daniel Leonard ( writing under the pen name `` Massachusettensis '' ) defending Hutchinson 's arguments for the absolute authority of Parliament over the colonies, Adams ( writing as `` Novanglus '' ) composed a series of essays addressed to the people living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In them, he gave a point - by - point refutation of Leonard 's essays, and then provided one of the most extensive and learned arguments made by the colonists against British imperial policy. It was a systematic attempt by Adams to describe the origins, nature, and jurisdiction of ( unwritten ) British concepts of constitutionality. Adams used his wide knowledge of English and colonial legal history to argue that the provincial legislatures were fully sovereign over their own internal affairs, and that the colonies were connected to Great Britain only through the king. The Boston Tea Party, a historic demonstration against the tea monopoly enjoyed the British East India Company over American merchants, took place on December 16, 1773. The British schooner Dartmouth, loaded with tea to be traded subject to the new tea tax, had previously dropped anchor. By 9 : 00 PM, the work of the protesters was done -- they had demolished 342 chests of tea worth about ten thousand pounds -- today 's equivalent of about $1 million. Adams was briefly retained by the Dartmouth owners regarding the question of their liability for the destroyed shipment. Adams applauded the destruction of the tea. There had been no choice, he thought, and he called the defiant boarding of the vessels and the quick obliteration of the dutied beverage the `` grandest Event '' in the history of the colonial protest movement. He wrote the following day in his diary that the destruction of the dutied tea by the protesters had been an `` absolutely and indispensably '' necessary action. Continental Congress Member of Continental Congress Trumbull 's Declaration of Independence -- committee presents draft to Congress. Adams stands at center with his hand on his hip. Massachusetts sent Adams to the first and second Continental Congresses in 1774 and from 1775 to 1777 respectively. The Massachusetts delegation resolved to assume a largely passive role in the first Congress. But Adams felt strongly that the conservatives of 1774, men like Joseph Galloway and James Duane, were no different than Hutchinson and Peter Oliver, and he denigrated such men, telling Abigail that `` Spiders, Toads, Snakes, are their only proper Emblems. '' Yet at that point his views were similar to those of conservative John Dickinson. He sought repeal of objectionable policies, but at the early stage he continued to see positive benefits for America remaining part of the British empire. In 1774, the First Continental Congress was convened in response to the passage of the Intolerable Acts. Adams agreed to attend, despite an emotional plea from his friend Jonathan Sewall to do otherwise. At the Congress, Adams renewed his push for the right to a jury trial, stating `` Representative government and trial by jury are the heart and lungs of liberty. Without them, we have no other fortification against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and clothed like swines and hounds. '' Adams did not generally like the other delegates to the Congress. He complained of what he considered to be their pretentiousness, writing to Abigail, `` I believe if it was moved and seconded that We should come to a Resolution that Three and two make five We should be entertained with Logick and Rhetorick, Law, History, Politicks and Mathematicks, concerning the Subject for two whole Days, and then We should pass the Resolution unanimously in the Affirmative. '' The Congress disbanded in October after sending a letter of grievances to King George III and endorsing the Suffolk Resolves. The absence of Adams from home was hard on Abigail, who was left alone to care for the family. But she encouraged her husband in his task, writing : `` You can not be, I know, nor do I wish to see you an inactive Spectator, but if the Sword be drawn I bid adieu to all domestick felicity, and look forward to that Country where there is neither wars nor rumors of War in a firm belief that thro the mercy of its King we shall both rejoice there together. '' A month after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Adams returned to Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress as the leader of the Massachusetts delegation. He moved cautiously at first, observing that Congress was divided between Loyalists, those hesitant to take any position, and those favoring independence. He became convinced that Congress was moving in the proper direction -- away from its relationship with Great Britain. Publicly, Adams supported `` reconciliation if practicable, '' but privately agreed with Benjamin Franklin 's confidential observation that independence was inevitable. He opposed various attempts, including the Olive Branch Petition, aimed at trying to find peace between the colonies and Great Britain. Invoking the already - long list of British actions against the colonies, he wrote, `` In my opinion Powder and Artillery are the most efficacious, Sure, and infallibly conciliatory Measures We can adopt. '' In June 1775, with a view of promoting union among the colonies, he nominated George Washington of Virginia as commander - in - chief of the army then assembled around Boston. Ferling writes, `` By the fall of 1775 no one in Congress labored more ardently than Adams to hasten the day when America would be separate from Great Britain. '' In October 1775, Adams was appointed the chief judge of the Massachusetts Superior Court, but he never served, and resigned in February 1777. Thoughts on government A number of delegates sought Adams 's advice about forming new governments. While recognizing its importance, Adams had privately criticized Thomas Paine 's 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, saying that the author had `` a better hand at pulling down than building. '' Yet, some delegates found his views so convincing they urged him to commit them to paper. He did so in separate letters to these colleagues, each missive a bit longer and more thoughtful. So impressed was Richard Henry Lee that, with Adams 's consent, he had the most comprehensive letter printed. Published anonymously just after mid-April 1776, it was titled simply Thoughts on Government and styled as `` a Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend. '' Many historians agree that none of Adams 's other compositions rivaled the enduring influence of this pamphlet. Adams advised that the form of government should be chosen to attain the desired ends -- the happiness and virtue of the greatest number of people. He wrote that, `` There is no good government but what is republican. That the only valuable part of the British constitution is so because the very definition of a republic is an empire of laws, and not of men. '' The treatise also defended bicameralism, for `` a single assembly is liable to all the vices, follies and frailties of an individual. '' He also suggested that there should be a separation of powers between the executive, the judicial and the legislative branches, and further recommended that if a continental government were to be formed then it `` should sacredly be confined '' to certain enumerated powers. Thoughts on Government was referenced as an authority in every state - constitution writing hall. Adams also used the letter to attack opponents of independence. He claimed that John Dickinson 's fear of republicanism was responsible for his refusal to support independence, and he wrote that the refusal of some Southern planters to support the Revolution was from a fear that their aristocratic slaveholding status would be endangered by it. Declaration of independence Throughout the spring of 1776, Adams began to grown increasingly impatient with what he perceived to be the slow pace of declaring independence. He drafted the preamble to the Lee resolution of colleague Richard Henry Lee ( Virginia ), which called on the colonies to adopt new independent governments. On June 7, 1776 he seconded the resolution, which stated, `` These colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states. '' Adams also championed the measure until it was adopted by Congress on July 2. Once the resolution passed, independence became inevitable, though it still had to be declared formally. The commitment was, as Adams put it, `` independence itself. '' Prior to independence being declared, a Committee of Five was charged with drafting the Declaration, and included Adams, along with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman. The Committee, after discussing the general outline that the document should follow, decided that Jefferson would write the first draft. Jefferson particularly thought Adams should write the document ; but Adams persuaded the Committee to choose Jefferson while agreeing to consult with Jefferson personally. Adams recorded his exchange with Jefferson on the question : Jefferson asked, `` Why will you not ? You ought to do it. '' To which Adams responded, `` I will not -- reasons enough. '' Jefferson replied, `` What can be your reasons ? '' And Adams responded, `` Reason first, you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you can write ten times better than I can. '' `` Well, '' said Jefferson, `` if you are decided, I will do as well as I can. '' Adams concluded, `` Very well. When you have drawn it up, we will have a meeting. '' The Committee left no minutes, and the drafting process itself is uncertain. Accounts written many years later by Jefferson and Adams, although frequently cited, are often contradictory. Although the first draft was written primarily by Jefferson, Adams assumed a major role in its completion. After editing the document further, Congress approved it on July 4. Many years later Jefferson hailed Adams as `` the pillar of ( the Declaration 's ) support on the floor of Congress, ( its ) ablest advocate and defender against the multifarious assaults it encountered. '' Government during Revolution Adams ( left ) -- Staten Island Conference by Chappel After defeating the Continental Army at the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, British Admiral Richard Howe mistakenly assumed a strategic advantage to be at hand, and requested the Second Continental Congress send representatives in an attempt to negotiate peace. A delegation, including Adams and Benjamin Franklin, met with Howe at the Staten Island Peace Conference on September 11. Howe 's authority was premised on the Colonists ' submission, so no common ground was to be found. When Lord Howe unhappily stated he could view the American delegates only as British subjects, Adams replied, `` Your lordship may consider me in what light you please,... except that of a British subject. '' Adams learned many years later that his name was on a list of people specifically excluded from Howe 's pardon - granting authority. Being quite unimpressed with General Howe, and also after payments to colonial volunteers were increased, Adams in September 1776 said about the war, `` We shall do well enough. '' Indeed, if Washington got his men, the British would be `` ruined. '' In 1775, Adams began serving as the head of the Board of War and Ordnance. He was charged with keeping accurate record of the officers in the army and their rank, the disposition of troops throughout the colonies, and ammunition. He sat on no less than ninety committees, chairing twenty - five. No other congressman approached the assumption of such a work load. As Benjamin Rush reported, he was acknowledged `` to be the first man in the House. '' He was also referred to as a `` one man war department, '' working up to eighteen - hour days and mastering the details of raising, equipping and fielding an army under civilian control. He also authored the `` Plan of Treaties, '' laying out the Congress 's requirements for the crucial treaty with France. Diplomat in Europe Commissioner to France and Massachusetts Constitution In the spring of 1776 Adams advocated in Congress that independence was necessary in order to establish trade, and conversely trade was essential for the attainment of independence ; he specifically urged negotiation of a commercial treaty with France. He was then appointed, along with Franklin, Dickinson, Benjamin Harrison V of Virginia and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, `` to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed to foreign powers. '' While Jefferson was laboring over the Declaration of Independence, Adams worked on the Model Treaty. The Model Treaty authorized a commercial agreement with France but contained no provisions for formal recognition or military assistance. There were provisions for what constituted French territory. The treaty adhered to the provision that `` free ships make free goods, '' allowing neutral nations to trade reciprocally while exempting an agreed upon list of contraband. By late 1777, America 's finances were in tatters, and that September a British army had defeated General Washington and captured Philadelphia. A growing number of Americans came to determine that mere commercial ties between the U.S. and France would not be enough, and that military assistance would be needed in order to defeat Great Britain and bring about an end to the war. The defeat of a British army at Saratoga was expected to help induce France to agree to an alliance. On November 27, 1777 Adams was named as commissioner to France, replacing Silas Deane. He accepted at once. He was to join Franklin and Arthur Lee in Paris to negotiate an alliance with the French, who were debating whether or not to recognize and aid the United States. Abigail was left in Massachusetts to manage their home. It was agreed that 10 - year - old John Quincy would go, for the experience was `` of inestimable value '' to his maturation. On February 17, Adams set sail aboard the frigate Boston, commanded by Captain Samuel Tucker. The stormy trip was treacherous, with lightning injuring 19 sailors and killing one. Adams 's ship was later pursued by several British frigates in the mid-Atlantic, but evaded them. Near the coast of Spain, Adams himself took up arms to help capture a heavily armed British merchantman ship, the Martha. Later, a cannon malfunction killed one and injured five more of the crew. On April 1, the men arrived in Spain, where Adams learned that France had already agreed to an alliance with the United States on February 6. Shortly after, they arrived in France. Adams was annoyed by the other two commissioners : Lee, whom he thought paranoid and cynical, and the popular and influential Franklin, whom he found irritating, lethargic, and overly deferential and accommodating to the French. He took a disliking to Dr. Edward Bancroft, Franklin 's aid, who, unbeknownst to him, was a British spy. Adams did not speak French, the international language of diplomacy at the time. He therefore assumed a less visible role, but emerged as the commission 's chief administrator, imposing order and methods lacking in his delegation 's finances and record - keeping affairs. He was frustrated by the lack of commitment on the part of the French to helping the United States. In December, Adams wrote a letter to French foreign minister, the comte de Vergennes arguing for French naval support in North America. Franklin toned down the letter, but Vergennes ignored it. Adams frequently clashed with Benjamin Franklin over how to manage French relations. In September 1778, Congress increased Franklin 's powers by naming him minister plenipotentiary to France while Lee was sent to serve in Spain. Adams received no instructions on where to go or what to do next. Disgusted by the apparent slight, he departed France with John Quincy on March 8, 1779. On August 2, they arrived back in Braintree. Adams was elected to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention with the purpose of establishing a new constitution for Massachusetts. He served on a committee of three, also including Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin, to draft the constitution. The task of writing it fell primarily to John Adams. The resulting Constitution of Massachusetts was approved in 1780. It was the first constitution written by a special committee, then ratified by the people ; and was also the first to feature a bicameral legislature. Included were a distinct executive -- though restrained by an executive council -- with a partial ( two - thirds ) veto, and a separate judicial branch. Adams became one of the founders and charter members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1780. In the fall of 1779 Adams was appointed sole minister charged with negotiating peace and a postwar commercial treaty with Britain. Following the conclusion of the Massachusetts constitutional convention, he departed for Europe in November aboard the French frigate Sensible -- accompanied by John Quincy and 9 - year - old son Charles. In France, constant disagreement between Lee and Franklin eventually resulted in Adams assuming the role of tie - breaker in almost all votes on commission business ; Adams also increased his usefulness by mastering the French language. Lee was eventually recalled. He closely supervised his sons ' education and wrote to Abigail relatively infrequently, only about once every ten days. Compared to Franklin, Adams held a distinctly pessimistic view of the Franco - American alliance. The French, he believed, were involved only for their own self - interest, and he grew frustrated by what he perceived to be lethargy in providing substantial aid to the Revolution. `` It is interest alone which does it, '' he said, `` and it is interest alone which can be trusted. '' The French, Adams wrote, mean to keep their hands `` above our chin to prevent us from drowning, but not to lift our heads out of water. '' His straightforward manner eventually led to a collision with Vergennes. In March 1780, Congress, trying to curb inflation, voted to devalue the dollar. In June, Vergennes summoned Adams for a meeting. In a letter sent that same month, he insisted that any fluctuation of the dollar value without an exception for French merchants was unacceptable and requested that Adams write to Congress asking it to `` retrace its steps. '' Adams wrote back in defense of the decision, claiming that the French merchants were doing better than Vergennes implied. Adams did not stop there, deciding to use the letter to sound off on some of his grievances with the French. The alliance had been made over two years before. During that time, an army under the comte de Rochambeau had been sent to assist Washington. America was expecting French warships. These were needed, Adams wrote, to contain the British armies in the port cities and contend with the powerful British Navy. However, the French Navy had been sent not to the United States but to the West Indies in order to protect French interests there. Vergennes responded that he would deal only with Franklin, who sent a letter back to Congress critical of Adams. According to Franklin, Adams : having nothing else wherewith to employ himself, he seems to have endeavored to supply what he may suppose my negotiations defective in. He thinks, as he tells himself, that America has been to free in her expressions of gratitude to France ; for that she is more obliged to us than we to her and that we should show spirit in our applications. I apprehend that he mistakes his ground, and that this court is to be treated with decency and delicacy. Before a response could be sent, Adams left France on his own. Ambassador to the Dutch Republic and treaty of Paris Medallion given to John Adams in 1782 by Johann Georg Holtzhey to mark United States as an independent nation by the Netherlands In July 1780, Adams replaced Laurens as the ambassador to the Dutch Republic, one of the few other republics then existing in the world. With the aid of the Dutch Patriot leader Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, Adams secured the recognition of the United States as an independent state on April 19, 1782 by the States General of the Netherlands in The Hague. ( In February 1782 the States of Friesland had been the first Dutch provincial government to recognize the United States, while France had been the first European country to grant diplomatic recognition in 1778 ). He also negotiated a loan of five million guilders financed by Nicolaas van Staphorst and Wilhelm Willink. By 1794 a total of eleven loans were granted in Amsterdam to the United States with a value of 29 million guilders. In October 1782, he negotiated with the Dutch a treaty of amity and commerce, the first such treaty between the United States and a foreign power following the 1778 treaty with France. The house that Adams bought during this stay in the Netherlands became the first American - owned embassy on foreign soil. After negotiating the loan with the Dutch, Adams was appointed as one of the American commissioners to negotiate the Treaty of Paris to end the war. The comte de Vergennes still disapproved of Adams, so Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and Henry Laurens were appointed to collaborate with Adams ; nevertheless, Jefferson did not go to Europe and Laurens was posted to the Dutch Republic. Jay, Adams, and Franklin played the major part in the final negotiations. One of the most important goals for the Americans, and one which became surprisingly difficult and which Adams played an important role in resolving, was the securing of fishing rights off Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island. The British ministers proposed strict limitations on how close American fishermen could be to the Canadian shore. Adams insisted that not only could American fishermen be allowed to travel as close to the shore as they wished, but that they should be allowed to cure their ships on the shores off Newfoundland. Referring to this and others, Vergennes, through an emissary, secretly informed the British that France did not feel compelled to `` sustain ( these ) pretentious ambitions. '' Overruling Franklin and distrustful of Vergennes, Jay and Adams decided not to consult with France ; instead, they dealt directly with the British commissioners. During the negotiations in November 1782, Adams mentioned that the fishing terms proposed to England were more generous than those proposed by France in 1778, which would create good will towards Britain in the United States and put pressure on France. Britain agreed to this and the two sides worked out a number of other provisions. Vergennes angrily expressed his disappointment when he learned from Franklin of the American duplicity but did not demand renegotiation. Supposedly, he was surprised at how much the American ministers had been able to extract from the British. The independent negotiations also allowed France to plead innocence to its Spanish allies, who were angry that Britain still held Gibraltar and worried that it might attempt to retake Florida. These demands might have caused significant problems in the negotiations. On September 3, 1783, the treaty was signed and American independence was recognized. In 1784 and 1785, Adams was one of the architects of extensive trade relations between the United States and Prussia. The Prussian ambassador in The Hague, Friedrich Wilhelm von Thulemeyer, was involved, as were Jefferson and Franklin, who were in Paris. Ambassador to Great Britain Adams was appointed in 1785 the first American minister to the Court of St James 's ( ambassador to Great Britain ), and he prepared to travel from Paris to London to begin his new assignment. When a counterpart seemed to assume that Adams had some family members in England, Adams replied, `` Neither my father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, great grandfather or great grandmother, nor any other relation that I know of, or care a farthing for, has been in England these one hundred and fifty years ; so that you see I have not one drop of blood in my veins but what is American. '' Adams had his first audience with King George III on June 1, and recorded the event as he saw it in great detail in a letter to Foreign Minister Jay on June 2. Adams approached the King, telling him that he felt greatly honored by his appointment, and promised to do all that he could to restore friendship and cordiality `` between People who, tho Seperated ( sic ) by an Ocean and under different Governments have the Same Language, a Similar Religion and kindred Blood. '' After hearing this, King George, promised to `` receive with Pleasure, the Assurances of the friendly Dispositions of the United States. '' He added that `` while he had been the last to consent '' to American independence, he wished Adams to know that he had always done what he thought right and proper. Towards the end of the interview, the King said, which to Adams appeared very sudden, `` There is an Opinion, among Some People, that you are not the most attached of all Your Countrymen, to the manners of France. '' Adams replied, `` That Opinion sir, is not mistaken, I must avow to your Majesty, I have no Attachments but to my own Country. '' To this King George responded, `` An honest Man will never have any other. '' During her visit to Washington, D.C., to mark the bicentennial of American independence in 1976, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom gave historical perspective to Adams 's service : `` John Adams, America 's first ambassador, said to my ancestor, King George III, that it was his desire to help with the restoration of ' the old good nature and the old good humour between our peoples. ' That restoration has long been made, and the links of language, tradition, and personal contact have maintained it. '' Adams was joined by his wife while in London ; suffering the hostility of the King 's courtiers, they chose to escape when they could by seeking out Richard Price, minister of Newington Green Unitarian Church and instigator of the Revolution Controversy. During his time in London, Adams briefly met his old friend Jonathan Sewall. The two discovered that they had grown too far apart to renew their friendship. Adams considered Sewall one of the war 's casualties. Sewall in turn offered a critique of Adams as an ambassador : His abilities are undoubtedly equal to the mechanical parts of his business as ambassador ; but this is not enough. He can not dance, drink, game, flatter, promise, dress, swear with the gentlemen, and small talk and flirt with the ladies ; in short, he has none of those essential arts or ornaments which constitute a courtier. There are thousands who, with a tenth of his understanding and without a spark of his honesty, would distance him infinitely in any court in Europe. Adams 's tenure in Britain was complicated by the failure of both countries to follow their treaty obligations. The states had been delinquent in paying debts owed to British merchants. As security for these payments, the British refused to evacuate forts in the northwest as prescribed the Treaty of Paris. Adams 's attempts to resolve this dispute failed, and he was often frustrated by a lack of news from home. He corresponded with his sons John Quincy and Charles, both of whom were at Harvard, cautioning the former against the `` smell of the midnight lamp '' while admonishing the latter to devote sufficient time to study. In 1788, Adams took his leave of George III, who engaged Adams in polite and formal conversation, promising to uphold his end of the treaty once America did the same. He then went to the Hague to take formal leave of his ambassadorship there and to secure refinancing, allowing the United States to meet obligations on earlier Dutch loans. Conceptions of constitutional government Adams -- 1785 Mather Brown Portrait Adams 's preoccupation with political and governmental affairs -- which caused considerable separation from his wife and children -- ironically had a distinct familial context, which he articulated in 1780 : `` I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have the liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry, and Porcelaine. '' While in London, Adams learned a convention being planned to amend the Articles of Confederation. In January 1787, he published a work entitled A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States ( 1787 ). In it he repudiated the views of Turgot and other European writers as to the viciousness of state government frameworks. In the book, Adams suggested that `` the rich, the well - born and the able '' should be set apart from other men in a senate -- that would prevent them from dominating the lower house. Adams 's Defence is described as an articulation of the classical republican theory of mixed government. Adams contended that social classes exist in every political society, and that a good government must accept that reality. For centuries, dating back to Aristotle, a mixed regime balancing monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy -- that is, the king, the nobles, and the people -- was required to preserve order and liberty. Wood ( 2006 ) has maintained that Adams 's political philosophy had become irrelevant by the time the Federal Constitution was ratified. By then, American political thought, transformed by more than a decade of vigorous debate as well as formative experiential pressures, had abandoned the classical perception of politics as a mirror of social estates. Americans ' new understanding of popular sovereignty was that the citizenry were the sole possessors of power in the nation. Representatives in the government enjoyed mere portions of the people 's power and only for a limited time. Adams was thought to have overlooked this evolution and revealed his continued attachment to the older version of politics. Yet Wood was accused of ignoring Adams 's peculiar definition of the term `` republic, '' and his support for a constitution ratified by the people. On separation of powers, Adams wrote that, `` Power must be opposed to power, and interest to interest. '' This sentiment was later echoed by James Madison 's famous statement that, `` ( a ) mbition must be made to counteract ambition '', in The Federalist No. 51, explaining the separation of powers established under the new Constitution. On the government 's role in education Adams offered unambiguously that, `` The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves. '' Adams first saw the new United States Constitution in the fall of 1787. To Jefferson, he wrote that he read it `` with great satisfaction. '' Adams did however express regret that the president would be unable to make appointments without Senate approval and over the absence of a Bill of Rights. `` Should not such a thing have preceded the model ? '' he asked. Vice presidency, 1789 -- 97 Election John Adams by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1815, oil on canvas -- National Gallery of Art, Washington DC Each state 's presidential electors gathered in their state 's capital on February 4, 1789 to cast their votes for the president. As originally prescribed by Article II of the Constitution, each state chose a number of electors equal to its representation in Congress. Each elector then cast two votes for president, though the electors were not allowed to cast both votes for the same person, and were prohibited from casting both their ballots for persons from their own state. The individual who won the most electoral votes would become president while the individual with the second-most electoral votes would become vice president. Each state 's votes were sealed and delivered to Congress to be counted. Adams received 34 electoral college votes in the presidential election of 1789, finishing in second place behind George Washington, who garnered 69 votes. As a result, Washington became the nation 's first president, and Adams became the its first vice president. Adams finished well ahead of all the vote getters other than Washington, but he was still offended by the fact that Washington received more than twice as many votes. To Benjamin Rush, he wrote, `` Is not my election to this office, in the dark and scurvy manner in which it was done, a curse rather than a blessing ? '' Unbeknownst to Adams, Hamilton, under the pretext of not embarrassing Washington and in an abundance of caution in order to ensure that Adams did not tie or surpass Washington in total vote count, had convinced several electors not to vote for Adams. The first presidential term and the first vice presidential term both officially started on March 4, 1789, the date set by the Congress of the Confederation for the beginning of operations of the federal government under the new U.S. Constitution. However, due to a delay in the counting and certification of the electoral votes, which was not done until April 6 ( because although the Senate of the 1st Congress initially convened on March 4, it did not achieve a quorum until April 6, and so could not conduct business ), they commenced several weeks late. Adams first presided over the Senate on April 21. Washington was inaugurated into office on April 30. President of the Senate The vice presidency was primarily established to provide a successor in the event of the death, disability, or resignation of the president ; the sole constitutionally prescribed responsibility of the vice president is to preside over the U.S. Senate. The vice president also has the authority ( ex officio, for he is not an elected member of the Senate ) to cast a tie - breaking vote. Adams played an active role in the Senate 's deliberations, particularly during his first term. On at least one occasion, he persuaded senators to vote against legislation he opposed, and at the start of his time in office he frequently lectured the body on procedural and policy matters. Adams by John Trumbull, 1793 At the start of Washington 's presidency, Adams became deeply involved in a lengthy Senate controversy over the official titles for the president and executive officers of the new government. Although the House of Representatives agreed in short order that the president should be addressed simply as `` George Washington, President of the United States, '' the Senate debated the issue at some length. Adams favored the adoption of the style of Highness ( as well as the title of Protector of Their ( the United States ' ) Liberties ) for the president. Some members of Congress favored a variant of Highness or the lesser Excellency. '' Anti-federalists in the Senate objected to the monarchical sound of them all ; Jefferson described them as `` superlatively ridiculous. '' The Senate emphasized simplicity and republicanism, and many argued that these `` distinctions, '' as Adams called them, violated the Constitution 's prohibition on titles of nobility. Adams remained stubborn. He argued that the distinctions were necessary because the highest office of the United States must be marked with `` dignity and splendor '' in order to command respect. Adams was almost universally derided for his combative nature and stubbornness, especially as he actively debated and lectured the senators. `` For forty minutes he harangued us from the chair, '' wrote Senator William Maclay of Pennsylvania. Maclay became Adams 's fiercest opponent and repeatedly expressed personal contempt for him in both public and private. He likened Adams to `` a monkey just put into breeches. '' Ralph Izard suggested that Adams be referred to by the title `` His Rotundity, '' a joke which soon became popular. On May 14, the Senate decided that the title of `` Mr. President '' would be used. Privately, Adams conceded that his vice presidency had begun poorly, and that perhaps he had been out of the country too long to know the sentiment of the people. Washington quietly expressed his displeasure with the fuss over the title controversy. This is thought by some to be one of the reasons for why Adams held so little influence with the President. Washington did eventually begin consulting Adams more often, but not until near the end of his administration, by which point Hamilton, Jefferson, and Edmund Randolph had all resigned. As vice president, Adams supported Washington 's policies by casting 29 tie - breaking votes. In one instance, he voted against a bill sponsored by Maclay that would have required Senate consent for the removal of executive branch officials who had been confirmed by the Senate. Adams never questioned Washington 's courage or patriotism. However, Washington did join Franklin and others as the object of Adams 's ire or envy. `` The History of our Revolution will be one continued lie, '' Adams declared. ``... The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin 's electrical Rod smote the Earth and out sprung General Washington. That Franklin electrified him with his Rod -- and henceforth these two conducted all the Policy, Negotiations, Legislatures and War. '' Adams 's political views and his attempt to assume a more active role in the Senate made him a natural target for critics of the Washington administration. Toward the end of his first term, as a result of a threatened resolution that would have silenced him except for procedural and policy matters, he began to exercise more restraint. When the nation 's first two opposing political parties formed, he joined the Federalist Party, though he was consistently in opposition to its dominant leader Alexander Hamilton. Other activities Beyond his role in the Senate, Adams played a minor role in the politics of the early 1790s. During his two vice-presidential terms, Adams attended few cabinet meetings, and the president sought his counsel only infrequently. Nonetheless, the two men, according to Ferling, `` jointly executed many more of the executive branch 's ceremonial undertakings than would be likely for a contemporary president and vice-president. '' Overall, while Adams brought energy and dedication to the office, by the summer of 1789 he had already found the task `` not quite adapted to my character... too inactive, and mechanical. '' He often lamented what he viewed as the `` complete insignificance '' of his situation. To Abigail he once wrote, `` My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man... or his imagination contrived or his imagination conceived ; and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by others and met the common fate. '' On July 14, 1789, the French Revolution began. Republicans were jubilant. Adams at first expressed cautious optimism, but soon began denouncing the revolutionaries as barbarous and tyrannical. Presidential election of 1796 Main article : United States presidential election, 1796 1796 electoral vote totals Name Party Votes John Adams 07 ! Federalist 71 Thomas Jefferson 01 ! Democratic - Republican 68 Thomas Pinckney 08 ! Federalist 59 Aaron Burr 02 ! Democratic - Republican 30 Samuel Adams 03 ! Democratic - Republican 15 Oliver Ellsworth 04 ! Democratic - Republican 11 George Clinton 05 ! Democratic - Republican 7 John Jay 09 ! Federalist 5 James Iredell 10 ! Federalist John Henry 06 ! Democratic - Republican Samuel Johnston 11 ! Federalist George Washington 13 ! None C.C. Pinckney 12 ! Federalist The election of 1796 was the first contested American presidential election. Twice, George Washington had been elected to office unanimously ; however, during his presidency, deep philosophical differences between the two leading figures in the administration -- Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson -- regarding domestic economic policy and U.S. foreign policy caused a rift between them, and led to the founding of the Federalist Party and the Democratic - Republican Party. Thus, when Washington announced that he would not be a candidate for a third term, an intense partisan struggle for control of Congress and the presidency began. Like the previous two presidential elections, no candidates were put forward for voters to choose between in 1796. The Constitution provided for the selection of electors who would then elect a president. In seven states voters chose the presidential electors. In the remaining nine states, they were chosen by the state 's legislature. The clear favorite of Democratic - Republicans was Jefferson, although he was very reluctant to run. There was little doubt that Adams would be the choice of a great majority of the Federalists. The Democratic - Republicans in Congress held a nominating caucus and named Jefferson and Aaron Burr as their presidential choices. Jefferson at first declined the nomination, but he finally agreed to run a few weeks later. Federalist members of Congress held an informal nominating caucus and named Adams and Thomas Pinckney as their candidates for president. The campaign, was, for the most part, unorganized and sporadic, confined to newspaper attacks, pamphlets and political rallies ; of the four contenders, only Burr actively campaigned. The practice of not campaigning for office would remain for many decades. Adams specifically stated that he wanted to stay out of what he called the `` silly and wicked game '' of campaigning for office. As the campaign progressed, fears grew among Hamilton and his supporters that Adams was too vain, opinionated, unpredictable and stubborn to follow their directions once elected. Their opinions were somewhat validated, as Adams felt largely left out of Washington 's administration and did not consider himself a strong member of the Federalist Party. He had remarked that Hamilton 's economic program, centered around banks, would `` swindle '' the poor and unleash the `` gangrene of avarice. '' Desiring `` a more pliant president than Adams, '' Hamilton maneuvered to tip the election to Pinckney. He coerced South Carolina Federalist electors, pledged to vote for `` favorite son '' Pinckney, to scatter their second votes among candidates other than Adams. Hamilton 's scheme was undone, however, when several New England state electors heard of it, conferred, and agreed not to vote for Pinckney. Adams was nonetheless angered, writing shortly after the election that Hamilton was a `` proud Spirited, conceited, aspiring Mortal always pretending to Morality, with as debauched Morals as old Franklin who is more his Model than any one I know. '' Throughout his life, Adams made a number of highly critical statements about Hamilton. He made a number of derogatory references to his womanizing and slurred him as the `` Creole bastard. '' In the end, Adams won the presidency by a narrow margin, receiving 71 electoral votes to 68 for Jefferson, who became the vice president ; Pinckney finished in third with 59 votes, and Burr came in fourth with 30. The balance of the Electoral College votes were dispersed among nine other candidates. This is the only election to date in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets. Presidency, 1797 -- 1801 Main article : Presidency of John Adams President 's House, Philadelphia. Adams occupied this Philadelphia mansion from March 1797 to May 1800. Inauguration Adams was sworn into office as the nation 's second president on March 4, 1797, by Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth. As president, he followed Washington 's lead in using the presidency to exemplify republican values and civic virtue, and his service was free of scandal. He continued to strengthen the central government by expanding the Navy and Army. In July 1798 Adams signed into law the Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen, which authorized the establishment of a government - operated marine hospital service. Historians debate his decision to retain en masse the members of Washington 's cabinet. Many felt he was oblivious to the political danger of such a decision, in light of the cabinet 's loyalty to Hamilton. The `` Hamiltonians who surround him, '' Jefferson soon remarked, `` are only a little less hostile to him than to me. '' Although aware of the Hamilton factor, Adams was convinced their retention ensured a smoother succession. Adams 's economic programs maintained those of Hamilton, who indeed had regularly consulted with key cabinet members, especially the powerful Secretary of the Treasury, Oliver Wolcott Jr. Adams was in other respects quite independent of his cabinet, often making decisions despite strong opposition from it. Such self - reliance enabled him to avoid war with France, despite a strong desire among his cabinet secretaries for the conflict. Hamilton had grown accustomed to being heavily consulted by Washington. Shortly after Adams was inaugurated, Hamilton sent him a detailed letter filled with policy suggestions for the new administration. Adams dismissively ignored it. As president, Adams spent much of his term at home in Massachusetts, ignoring the details of political patronage nursed by other office holders. Failed peace commission and XYZ Affair Main article : XYZ Affair The president 's term was heavily marked by attempts to expanding conflict in Europe, where Britain and France were at war as a result of the French Revolution. Hamilton and the Federalists favored the British monarchy against what they perceived to be the radicalism of the French Revolution, while Jefferson and the Democratic - Republicans strongly supported France. The French had supported Jefferson for president and became even more belligerent at his loss. When Adams entered office, he decided to continue Washington 's policy of staying out of the European war. The intense battle over the Jay Treaty with Great Britain in 1795 had previously polarized politics throughout the nation. The treaty, signed by Washington, was perceived by the Republicans as a humiliation for America and a betrayal of their French republican allies. The French saw America as Britain 's junior partner and began seizing American merchant ships that were trading with the British. Nevertheless, most Americans were initially pro-French due to France 's assistance during the Revolution and because of their desire to support a republic against the British monarchy, and would not have sufficiently rallied behind anyone to stop France. On May 16, Adams gave a speech to the House and Senate in which he called for increasing defense capabilities in case of war with France. Adams announced that he would send a peace commission to France but simultaneously called for a military buildup to counter any potential French threat. The speech was well received by the Federalists. Adams was depicted as an eagle holding an olive branch in one talon and the `` emblems of defense '' in the other. The Republicans were outraged, for Adams had not only failed to express support for the cause of the French Republic but appeared to be calling for war against it. A political cartoon depicts the XYZ Affair -- America is a female being plundered by Frenchmen. ( 1798 ) Sentiments changed with the XYZ Affair. Adams, as expressed in his May 16 speech, had appointed a three - member commission to represent the United States to negotiate with France. The commission consisted of John Marshall, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Elbridge Gerry. Jefferson met four times with Joseph Letombe, the French consul in Philadelphia. Letombe wrote to Paris stating that Jefferson had told him that it was in France 's best interest to treat the American ministers civilly but `` then drag out the negotiations at length '' in order to arrive at most favorable solution. According to Letombe, Jefferson called Adams `` vain, suspicious, and stubborn. '' When the envoys arrived in October 1797, they were kept waiting for several days, and then granted only a 15 - minute meeting with French Foreign Minister Talleyrand. After this, the diplomats were met by three of Talleyrand 's agents. The French emissaries ( later code - named, X, Y, and Z ) refused to conduct diplomatic negotiations unless the United States paid enormous bribes, one to Talleyrand personally, and another to the Republic of France. Supposedly this was to make up for offenses given to France by Adams in his speech. The Americans refused to negotiate on such terms. Marshall and Pinckney returned home, while Gerry remained. News of the disastrous peace mission arrived in the form of a memorandum from Marshall on March 4, 1798. Adams, not wanting to incite violent impulses among the populace, announced simply that the mission had failed without providing details. He also sent a message to Congress asking for a renewal of the nation 's defenses. The Republicans reacted by frustrating the President 's defense measures. Suspecting that he might be hiding material favorable to France, the House, with the support of Federalists who had heard rumors of what was contained in the messages, voted overwhelmingly to demand that Adams release the papers. Once they were released, the Republicans, according to Abigail, were `` struck dumb. '' Benjamin Franklin Bache, editor of the Republican Philadelphia Aurora, blamed Adams 's aggression as the cause for the disaster. Among the general public, the effects were very different. The affair substantially weakened popular American support of France. Adams reached the height of his popularity as many in the country called for full - scale war against the French. Alien and Sedition Acts Main article : Alien and Sedition Acts BEP engraved portrait of Adams as President Despite the discredit of the XYZ Affair, the Democratic - Republicans ' opposition persisted. Federalists accused the French and their associated immigrants of provoking civil unrest. In an attempt to quell the uprising, the Federalists introduced, and the Congress passed, a series of laws collectively referred to as the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were signed by Adams in 1798. Congress specifically passed four measures -- the Naturalization Act, the Alien Friends Act, the Alien Enemies Act and the Sedition Act. All came within a period of two weeks, in what Jefferson called an `` unguarded passion. '' These statutes were designed to mitigate the threat of secessionists by disallowing their most extreme firebrands. The Naturalization Act increased to 14 years the period of residence required for an immigrant to attain American citizenship ( naturalized citizens tended to vote for the Democratic - Republicans ). The Alien Friends Act and the Alien Enemies Act allowed the president to deport any foreigner ( from friendly and hostile nations, respectively ) whom he considered dangerous to the country. The Sedition Act made it a crime to publish `` false, scandalous, and malicious writing '' against the government or its officials. Punishments included 2 -- 5 years in prison and fines of up to $5,000. Adams had not promoted any of these acts, but was urged to sign them by his wife and cabinet. He eventually agreed and signed the bills into law. The acts became controversial from prosecution thereunder of a Congressman and a number of newspaper editors. Indeed, the Federalist administration initiated fourteen or more indictments under the Sedition Act, as well as suits against five of the six most prominent Democratic - Republican newspapers. The majority of the legal actions began in 1798 and 1799, and went to trial on the eve of the 1800 presidential election -- timing that hardly appeared coincidental, according to Ferling. Other historians have cited evidence that the Alien and Sedition Acts were rarely enforced, namely : 1 ) only 10 convictions under the Sedition Act have been identified ; 2 ) Adams never signed a deportation order ; and 3 ) the sources of expressed furor over the acts were Democratic - Republicans. The Acts as well allowed for prosecution of many who opposed the Federalists, even on the floor of Congress. Such was the case for Matthew Lyon of Vermont, who was sentenced for four months in jail for criticizing the President. Adams resisted Pickering 's attempts to deport aliens. Vast numbers left on their own, largely in response to the hostile environment. Quasi war In May 1798, a French privateer captured a merchant vessel off of the New York Harbor. An increase in attacks on sea marked the beginning of the undeclared naval war known as the Quasi War. The president knew that America would be unable to win a conflict, as France at the time was dominating the fight in most of Europe. Adams therefore pursued a strategy whereby American ships harassed French ships in an effort sufficient to stem the French assaults on American interests. In May, shortly after the attack in New York, Congress created a separate Navy Department. The prospect of a French invasion of the U.S. mainland led for calls to build up the army. Hamilton and other `` High Federalists '' were particularly adamant that a large army should be called up, in spite of the common fear, particularly among Republicans, that large standing armies were subsersive to liberty. In May, a `` provisional '' army of 10,000 soldiers was authorized by Congress. In July, Congress created twelve infantry regiments and provided for six cavalry companies. These numbers exceeded Adams 's requests but fell short of Hamilton 's. Adams found himself pressured by Federalists to appoint Hamilton, who had served as Washington 's aide - de-camp during the Revolution, to command the army. Distrustful of Hamilton and fearing a plot to subvert his administration, Adams appointed Washington to command the army without consulting him. Washington was surprised by this sudden move, and as a condition of his acceptance demanded that he be permitted to appoint his own subordinates. He wished to have Henry Knox as second - in command, followed by Hamilton, and then Charles Pinckney. On June 2, Hamilton wrote to Washington stating that he would not serve unless given the position of Inspector General and second - in - command. Washington conceded that Hamilton, despite holding a rank lower than that of Knox and Pinckney, had, by serving on his staff, more opportunity to comprehend the whole military scene, and should therefore outrank them. Adams sent Secretary of War McHenry to Mount Vernon in order to convince Washington to accept the post. McHenry put forth his opinion that Washington would not serve unless permitted to choose his own officers. Adams had intended to appoint Aaron Burr and Frederick Muhlenberg, both Republicans, in order to make the army appear bipartisan. Washington 's list consisted entirely of Federalists. Adams relented, and it was agreed to submit to the Senate the names of Hamilton, Pinckney, and Knox, in that order, although final decisions of rank would be reserved to Adams. Knox subsequently refused to serve under these conditions. Adams firmly intended to give to Hamilton the lowest possible rank, while Washington and many other Federalists wrongly insisted that the order in which the names had been submitted to the Senate must determine seniority. On September 21, Adams received a letter from McHenry in which he relayed a statement from Washington threatening to resign if Hamilton were not made second - in - command. Adams knew of the backlash that he would receive from his fellow Federalists over the issue, and he was forced to capitulate. The severe illness of Abigail during this time, whom Adams was feared was near death, exacerbated his suffering and frustration. It quickly became apparent that due to Washington 's advanced age, Hamilton was the army 's de facto commander. He exerted effective control over the War Department, taking over supplies for the army. Meanwhile, Adams built up the Navy, adding six fast, powerful frigates, most notably the USS Constitution. The Quasi War continued, but there was a noticeable decline in war fever beginning in the fall once news arrived of the French defeat at the Battle of the Nile, which significantly lessened their strength and, it was hoped, would make them more disposed to negotiate. In October, Adams heard from Gerry, who was still in Paris, that the French wanted to make peace and would properly receive an American delegation. That December in his address to Congress, Adams relayed these statements while also expressing the need to maintain adequate defenses. The speech angered both Federalists, including Hamilton, many of whom had wanted a request for a declaration of war, and Republicans. Hamilton secretly promoted a plan, already rejected by Adams, in which American and British troops would combine to seize Spanish Florida and Louisiana, ostensibly to deter a possible French invasion. Hamilton 's critics, including Abigail, saw in his military buildups the signs of an aspiring military dictator. In February 1799, Adams surprised many by nominating diplomat William Vans Murray on a peace mission to France. The decision was made without consulting his cabinet or even Abigail, who nonetheless upon hearing of it described it as a `` master stroke. '' To placate Republicans, he nominated Patrick Henry and Oliver Ellsworth to go with Murray and the Senate immediately approved them. Hamilton strongly criticized the decision, as did Adams 's cabinet members, who maintained frequent communication with him. Adams again questioned the loyalty of those men but did not remove them. To the annoyance of many, Adams spent a full seven months - March to September - of 1799 in Peacefield, finally returning to Trenton, where the government had set up emergency quarters due to the yellow fever epidemic, after a letter arrived from Talleyrand confirming Gerry 's statement that American ministers would be received. Adams then decided to send the commissioners to France. Hamilton, in a breach of military protocol, arrived uninvited at Trenton to speak with the President, urging him not to send the peace commissioners but instead to ally with Britain, which he viewed to be the stronger party, to restore the Bourbons to France. `` I heard him with perfect good humor, though never in my life did I hear a man talk more like a fool, '' Adams said. He regarded his idea as chimerical and far - fetched. On November 15, the commissioners set sail for Paris. Federalist divisions and peace On May 5, Adams 's frustrations with the Hamilton wing of the party exploded during a meeting with McHenry, a Hamilton loyalist who was widely regarded even by Washington and Hamilton as an inept Secretary of War. Adams accused him of subservience to Hamilton and declared that he would rather serve as Jefferson 's vice president or minister at The Hague than be beholden to Hamilton for the presidency. McHenry offered to resign at once, and Adams accepted. On May 10, he asked Pickering to resign. Pickering refused and was summarily dismissed. Adams named John Marshall as Secretary of State and Samuel Dexter as Secretary of War. In 1799, Napoleon took over as head of the French government in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and declared the French Revolution over. This increased Adams 's desire to disband the provisional army, which, with Washington now dead, was commanded only by Hamilton. Congress voted to do just that in the summer of 1800. Napoleon, realizing that the conflict was pointless, signaled his readiness for friendly relations. At the Convention of 1800, the two sides agreed to return any captured ships and to allow for the peaceful transfer of non-military goods to an enemy of the nation. On January 23, the Senate voted 16 - 14 in favor of the treaty, four votes short of the necessary two thirds. Some Federalists, including Hamilton, urged that the Senate vote in favor of the treaty with reservations. A list of reservations was then drawn up demanding that the Treaty of Alliance of 1778 be superseded and that France pay for its damages to American property. On February 3, the treaty passed 22 - 9 and was signed by Adams. Jefferson, after entering office, would approve through negotiation an end to the 1778 alliance, freeing the United States of foreign entanglements, while excusing France from paying indemnities. Adams proudly avoided war, but deeply split his party in the process. Historian Ron Chernow writes that `` the threat of Jacobinism '' was the one thing which united the Federalist Party, and that Adams 's elimination of it unwittingly contributed to the party 's demise. News of the peace treaty did not arrive in the United States until after the election, too late to sway the results. Fries 's rebellion Main article : Fries 's Rebellion To pay for the military buildup of the Quasi-War, Adams and his Federalist allies enacted the Direct Tax of 1798. Direct taxation by the federal government was widely unpopular, and the government 's revenue under Washington had mostly come from excise taxes and tariffs. Though Washington had maintained a balanced budget with the help of a growing economy, increased military expenditures threatened to cause major budget deficits, and Hamilton, Wolcott, and Adams developed a taxation plan to meet the need for increased government revenue. The Direct Tax of 1798 instituted a progressive land value tax of up to 1 % of the value of a property. Taxpayers in eastern Pennsylvania resisted federal tax collectors, and in March 1799 the bloodless Fries 's Rebellion broke out. Led by Revolutionary War veteran John Fries, rural German - speaking farmers protested what they saw as a threat to their republican liberties and to their churches. They intimidated tax collectors, who often found themselves unable to go about their business. The disturbance was quickly ended with Hamilton leading the army to restore peace. Fries and two other leaders were arrested, found guilty of treason, and sentenced to hang. They appealed to Adams requesting a pardon. The cabinet unanimously advised Adams to refuse, but he instead granted the pardon, using as justification the argument that the men had instigated a mere riot as opposed to a rebellion. In his pamphlet attacking Adams before the election, Hamilton wrote that `` it was impossible to commit a greater error. '' Move to Washington Adams made his first official visit to the nation 's new seat of government in early June 1800. Amid the `` raw and unfinished '' cityscape, the president found the public buildings `` in a much greater forwardness of completion than expected. '' He moved into the nearly completed President 's Mansion ( later known as the White House ) on November 1. Abigail arrived a few weeks later. Upon arriving, Adams wrote to her, `` Before I end my letter, I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof. '' The Senate of the Sixth Congress met for the first time in the new Congress House ( later known as the Capitol building ) on November 17, 1800. Several days later, on November 22, Adams delivered his fourth State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress in the Senate chamber. This would be the last annual message any president would personally deliver to Congress for the next 113 years. Election of 1800 Main article : United States presidential election, 1800 With the Federalist Party deeply split over his negotiations with France, and the opposition Democratic - Republicans enraged over the Alien and Sedition Acts and the expansion of the military, Adams faced a daunting reelection campaign in 1800. The Federalist members of Congress caucused in the spring of 1800 and nominated Adams and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. The Democratic - Republicans meanwhile nominated Jefferson and Burr, their candidates in the previous election. The campaign was bitter and characterized by malicious personal attacks by partisan presses on both sides. Federalists claimed that the Democratic - Republicans were radicals who would ruin the country through revolution. Republicans were the enemies of `` all who love order, peace, virtue, and religion. '' They were said to be libertines and dangerous radicals who favored states ' rights over the Union and instigate anarchy and civil war. Jefferson 's rumored affairs with slaves were used against him. Republicans in turn accused Federalists of subverting republican principles through punitive federal laws, and of favoring Britain and the other coalition countries in their war with France in order to promote aristocratic, anti-republican values. Jefferson was portrayed as an apostle of liberty and man of the people, while Adams was labelled a monarchist. He was accused of insanity and marital infidelity. Opposition from the Federalist Party was at times equally intense. Some, including Pickering, accused Adams of colluding with Jefferson to secure that he would end up either president or vice president. It was the attacks from Hamilton which eventually sealed Adams 's fate. Hamilton was hard at work, attempting to sabotage the president 's reelection. Planning for a public indictment of Adams 's character, he requested and received private documents from both the ousted cabinet secretaries and Wolcott. The letter was initially intended for only a few Federalist electors. Upon seeing a draft, Wolcott urged him not to publish it, stating that `` the poor old man '' could do himself in without their help. Hamilton did not heed their advice. On October 24, he published a pamphlet strongly attacking Adams on a number of points. Hamilton denounced many of Adams 's policy decisions, including the `` precipitate nomination '' of Murray, the pardoning of Fries, and the firing of Pickering. He also included a fair share of personal insults, vilifying the President 's `` disgusting egotism '' and `` ungovernable temper. '' Adams, he concluded, was `` emotionally unstable, given to impulsive and irrational decisions, unable to coexist with his closest advisers, and generally unfit to be president. '' Strangely, it ended by saying that the electors should support Adams and Pinckney equally. Republicans rejoiced. For many years, there has been speculation on why Hamilton chose to publish the pamphlet. In the end, it destroyed the Federalist Party and helped end the political careers of both Adams and Hamilton. 1800 electoral vote totals Name Party Votes Thomas Jefferson 01 ! Democratic - Republican 73 Aaron Burr 02 ! Democratic - Republican 73 John Adams 03 ! Federalist 65 C.C. Pinckney 04 ! Federalist 64 John Jay 05 ! Federalist When the electoral votes were counted, Adams finished in third place with 65 votes, and Pinckney came in fourth with 64 votes ( one New England Federalist elector voted for John Jay instead ). Jefferson and Burr tied for first place with 73 votes each. Because of the tie, the election devolved upon the House of Representatives. As specified by the Constitution, each state 's delegation voted en bloc, with each state having a single vote ; an absolute majority ( nine, as there were 16 states at the time ) was required for victory. On February 17, 1801 -- on the 36th ballot -- Jefferson was elected by a vote of 10 to 4 ( two states abstained ). It is noteworthy that Hamilton 's scheme, although it made the Federalists appear more divided and therefore helped Jefferson win, failed in its overall attempt to woo Federalist electors away from Adams. Ferling attributes Adams 's defeat to five factors : the stronger organization of the Democratic - Republicans ; Federalist disunity ; the controversy surrounding the Alien and Sedition Acts ; the popularity of Jefferson in the South ; and the effective politicking of Aaron Burr in New York, where the State Legislature shifted from Federalist to Democratic - Republican on the basis of a few wards in New York City controlled by Burr 's political machine. Analyzing the causes of the party 's trouncing, Adams wrote, `` No party that ever existed knew itself so little or so vainly overrated its own influence and popularity as ours. None ever understood so ill the causes of its own power, or so wantonly destroyed them. '' Stephen G. Kurtz argues that Hamilton and his supporters were primarily responsible for the destruction of the Federalist Party. They viewed the party as a personal tool and played straight into the hands of the Jeffersonians by building up a large standing army and creating a feud with Adams. Chernow writes that Hamilton believed that by eliminating Adams, he could eventually pick up the pieces of the ruined Federalist Party and lead it back to dominance. `` Better to purge Adams and let Jefferson govern for a while than to water down the party 's ideological purity with compromises, '' Chernow says. To compound the agony of his defeat, Adams 's son Charles, a long - time alcoholic, died in late November. Anxious to rejoin Abigail, who had already left for Massachusetts, Adams departed the White House in the predawn hours of March 4, 1801, and did not attend Jefferson 's inauguration. Since him, only three out - going presidents ( having served a full term ) have not attended their successor 's inauguration. Adams wrote that he had left the next president a nation `` with its coffers full '' and `` fair prospects of peace. '' The complications arising out of the 1796 and 1800 elections prompted Congress and the states to refine the process whereby the Electoral College elects a president and a vice president. The new procedure was enacted through the 12th Amendment, which became a part of the Constitution in June 1804, and was first followed in that year 's presidential election. Cabinet The Adams Cabinet Office Name Term President John Adams 1797 -- 1801 Vice President Thomas Jefferson 1797 -- 1801 Secretary of State Timothy Pickering 1797 -- 1800 John Marshall 1800 -- 1801 Secretary of Treasury Oliver Wolcott Jr. 1797 -- 1801 Samuel Dexter 1801 Secretary of War James McHenry 1797 -- 1800 Samuel Dexter 1800 -- 1801 Attorney General Charles Lee 1797 -- 1801 Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert 1798 -- 1801 Judicial appointments Main article : List of federal judges appointed by John Adams John Marshall, 4th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Supreme Court Appointments by President Adams Position Name Term Chief Justice John Marshall 1801 -- 1835 Associate Justice Bushrod Washington 1799 -- 1829 Alfred Moore 1800 -- 1804 Adams appointed two U.S. Supreme Court associate justices during his term in office : Bushrod Washington, the nephew of American founding father and President George Washington, to succeed James Wilson ; and Alfred Moore, who succeeded James Iredell. After the retirement of Oliver Ellsworth due to ill health in 1800, it fell to Adams to appoint the Court 's fourth Chief Justice. At the time, it was not yet certain whether Jefferson or Burr would win the election. Regardless, Adams believed that the choice should be someone `` in the full vigor of middle age '' who could counter what might be a long line of successive Republican presidents. Adams chose his Secretary of State John Marshall. Marshall, along with Stoddert, was one of Adams 's few trusted cabinet members, and was among the first to greet him when he arrived at the White House. Adams signed his commission on January 31 and the Senate approved it immediately. Marshall 's long tenure represents the most lasting influence of the Federalists, as he infused the Constitution with a judicious and carefully reasoned nationalistic interpretation and established the Judicial Branch as the equal of the Executive and Legislative branches. After the Federalists lost control of both houses of Congress along with the White House in the election of 1800, the lame - duck session of the 6th Congress in February 1801 approved a judiciary act, commonly known as the Midnight Judges Act, which created a set of federal appeals courts between the district courts and the Supreme Court. Adams filled the vacancies created in this statute by appointing a series of judges, whom his opponents called the `` Midnight Judges '' the appointments were issued just days before his presidential term expired. Most of these judges lost their posts when the 7th Congress, with a solid Democratic - Republican majority, approved the Judiciary Act of 1802, abolishing the newly created courts. Retirement Initial years Adams resumed farming at his home Peacefield in the town of Quincy. Initially, he began work on an autobiography. The work was left with many gaps and was eventually abandoned. It was left unedited and with significant gaps. During the first four years of retirement, he made little effort to contact others, but eventually resumed contact with old acquaintances such as Benjamin Waterhouse and Benjamin Rush. Aside from this, Adams generally stayed quiet. 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. '' He did privately criticize the President over his Embargo Act, despite the fact that it was voted for by his son, John Quincy, a U.S. senator. The only major political incident involving Adams during the Jefferson years was a dispute with Mercy Otis Warren in 1806. Warren, an old friend, had attacked Adams in a pamphlet for his `` partiality for monarchy '' and `` pride of talents and much ambition. '' A tempestuous correspondence ensued. In time, their friendship healed. After Jefferson 's retirement from public life 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. '' Though Hamilton had died in 1804 in a duel with Aaron Burr, Adams felt the need to vindicate his character against the New Yorker 's vehement charges. With his son having broken from the Federalist Party, he felt he could do so without provoking High Federalist anger towards him. He supported the War of 1812. Having worried over the rise of sectionalism, he celebrated the growth of a `` national character '' that accompanied with it. The years of retirement in the Adams 's household were not without some temporary financial adversity. His frugal lifestyle left him with a considerable fortune by 1801. However, in 1803 the bank holding his cash reserves of about $13,000 collapsed. John Quincy came to the rescue by purchasing from him his properties in Weymouth and Quincy, including Peacefield, for the sum of $12,800. Daughter Abigail ( `` Nabby '' ) was married to Representative William Stephens Smith, but she returned to her parents ' home after the failure of the marriage ; she died of breast cancer in 1813. His wife Abigail died of typhoid on October 28, 1818. Correspondence with Jefferson In early 1801, Adams sent Thomas Jefferson a brief note after returning to Quincy wishing him a happy and prosperous presidency. Jefferson failed to respond, and the two men did not speak again for nearly 12 years. In 1804, Abigail wrote to Jefferson to express her condolences upon the death of his daughter Polly, who had stayed with the Adamses in London in 1787. This initiated a brief correspondence between Jefferson and Mrs. Adams which quickly descended into political rancor. Jefferson terminated it by not replying to Abigail 's fourth letter. Aside from that, by 1812 there had been no communication between Peacefield and Monticello since Adams left office. John Adams, c. 1816, by Samuel Morse ( Brooklyn Museum ) In early 1812, Adams reconciled with Jefferson. The previous year had been tragic for Adams ; his brother - in - law and friend Richard Cranch had died along with his widow Mary, and Nabby had been diagnosed with breast cancer. These events mellowed Adams and caused him to soften his outlook. Their mutual friend Benjamin Rush, a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence who had been corresponding with both, encouraged them to reach out to each other. On New Year 's Day, Adams sent a brief, friendly note to Jefferson to accompany the delivery of `` two pieces of homespun, '' a two - volume collection of lectures on rhetoric by John Quincy Adams. Jefferson replied immediately with a cordial letter, and the two men revived their friendship, which they sustained by mail. The correspondence that they resumed in 1812 lasted the rest of their lives, and has been hailed as among their great legacies of American literature. Their letters represent an insight into both the period and the minds of the two revolutionary leaders and presidents. The missives lasted fourteen years, and consisted of 158 letters -- 109 from Adams and 49 from Jefferson. Early on, Adams repeatedly tried to turn the correspondence to a discussion of their actions in the political arena. Jefferson refused to oblige him, saying that `` nothing new can be added by you or me to what has been said by others and will be said in every age. '' Adams made one more attempt, writing that `` You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other. '' Still, Jefferson declined to engage Adams in this sort of discussion. Adams accepted this, and the correspondence turned to other matters. The two men discussed `` natural aristocracy. '' Jefferson said, `` The natural aristocracy I consider as the most precious gift of nature for the instruction, the trusts, and government of society. And indeed it would have been inconsistent in creation to have formed man for the social state, and not to have provided virtue and wisdom enough to manage the concerns of society. May we not even say that the form of government is best which provides most effectually for a pure selection of these natural ( aristocrats ) into the offices of government ? '' Adams wondered if it ever would be so clear who these people were, `` Your distinction between natural and artificial aristocracy does not appear to me well founded. Birth and wealth are conferred on some men as imperiously by nature, as genius, strength, or beauty... When aristocracies are established by human laws and honour, wealth, and power are made hereditary by municipal laws and political institutions, then I acknowledge artificial aristocracy to commence. '' It would always be true, Adams argued, that fate would bestow influence on some men for reasons other than true wisdom and virtue. That being the way of nature, he thought such `` talents '' were natural. A good government, therefore, had to account for that reality. As the two grew older, the letters became fewer and farther between. There was also a great deal that they kept to themselves. Jefferson said nothing about his construction of a new house, domestic turmoil, slave ownership, or poor financial situation, while Adams did not mention the troublesome behavior of his son Thomas, who had failed as a lawyer and become an alcoholic, resorting afterwards to living primarily as a caretaker at Peacefield. Last years and death Tombs of John and Abigail Adams ( far ) and John Quincy Adams ( near ), in family crypt at United First Parish Church Less than a month before his death, Adams issued a statement about the destiny of the United States, which historians such as Joy Hakim have characterized as a `` warning '' for his fellow citizens : `` My best wishes, in the joys, and festivities, and the solemn services of that day on which will be completed the fiftieth year from its birth, of the independence of the United States : a memorable epoch in the annals of the human race, destined in future history to form the brightest or the blackest page, according to the use or the abuse of those political institutions by which they shall, in time to come, be shaped by the human mind. '' On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Adams died at his home in Quincy, at approximately 6 : 20 PM. At 90 years, 247 days, Adams was the longest - lived US president until Ronald Reagan surpassed that age in 2001. Adams 's crypt lies at United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, with his wife Abigail and son John Quincy Adams. At the time of his death, Quincy Adams was serving as U.S. President. When Adams died, his last words included an acknowledgement of his longtime friend and rival : `` Thomas Jefferson survives. '' Adams was unaware that Jefferson had died several hours before. Political philosophy and views Slavery Adams never bought a slave and declined on principle to utilize slave labor, saying, `` I have, through my whole life, held the practice of slavery in such abhorrence, that I have never owned a negro or any other slave, though I have lived for many years in times, when the practice was not disgraceful, when the best men in my vicinity thought it not inconsistent with their character, and when it has cost me thousands of dollars for the labor and subsistence of free men, which I might have saved by the purchase of negroes at times when they were very cheap. '' Before the war, he occasionally represented slaves in suits for their freedom. Adams generally tried to keep the issue out of national politics, because of the anticipated southern response during a time when unity was needed to achieve independence. He spoke out in 1777 against a bill to emancipate slaves in Massachusetts, saying that the issue was presently too divisive, and so the legislation should `` sleep for a time. '' He also was against use of black soldiers in the Revolution, due to opposition from southerners. Slavery was abolished in Massachusetts about 1780, when it was forbidden by implication in the Declaration of Rights that John Adams wrote into the Massachusetts Constitution. Abigail Adams vocally opposed slavery. Accusations of monarchism Throughout his lifetime Adams expressed controversial and shifting views regarding the virtues of monarchical and hereditary political institutions. At times he conveyed substantial support for these approaches, suggesting for example that `` hereditary monarchy or aristocracy '' are the `` only institutions that can possibly preserve the laws and liberties of the people. '' Yet at other times he distanced himself from such ideas, calling himself `` a mortal and irreconcilable enemy to Monarchy '' and `` no friend to hereditary limited monarchy in America. '' Such denials did not assuage his critics, and Adams was often accused of being a monarchist. John Adams by Gilbert Stuart ( 1823 ). This portrait was the last ever made of Adams, done at the request of John Quincy. Many of these attacks are considered to have been scurrilous, including suggestions that he was planning to `` crown himself king '' and `` grooming John Quincy as heir to the throne. '' However, Peter Shaw has argued that : `` ( T ) he inevitable attacks on Adams, crude as they were, stumbled on a truth that he did not admit to himself. He was leaning toward monarchy and aristocracy ( as distinct from kings and aristocrats ) at the time he wrote ' Davila, ' though he did not directly reveal this in its essays. Decidedly, sometime after he became vice-president, Adams concluded that the United States would have to adopt a hereditary legislature and a monarch... and he outlined a plan by which state conventions would appoint hereditary senators while a national one appointed a president for life. '' In contradiction to such notions, Adams asserted in a letter to Thomas Jefferson : If you suppose that I have ever had a design or desire of attempting to introduce a government of King, Lords and Commons, or in other words an hereditary Executive, or an hereditary Senate, either into the government of the United States, or that of any individual state, in this country, you are wholly mistaken. There is not such a thought expressed or intimated in any public writing or private letter of mine, and I may safely challenge all of mankind to produce such a passage and quote the chapter and verse. Religious views Adams was raised a Congregationalist, since his ancestors were Puritans. According to biographer David McCullough, `` as his family and friends knew, Adams was both a devout Christian, and an independent thinker. '' In a letter to Benjamin Rush, Adams credited religion with the success of his ancestors since their migration to the New World in the 1630s. He also believed that regular church service was beneficial to man 's moral sense. Everett ( 1966 ) concludes that `` Adams strove for a religion based on a common sense sort of reasonableness '' and maintained that religion must change and evolve toward perfection. Fielding ( 1940 ) argues that Adams 's beliefs synthesized Puritan, deist, and humanist concepts. Adams at one point said that Christianity had originally been revelatory, but was being misinterpreted and misused in the service of superstition, fraud, and unscrupulous power. Frazer ( 2004 ) notes that while he shared many perspectives with deists and often used deistic terminology, `` Adams clearly was not a deist. Deism rejected any and all supernatural activity and intervention by God ; consequently, deists did not believe in miracles or God 's providence... Adams, however, did believe in miracles, providence, and, to a certain extent, the Bible as revelation. '' Frazer further argues that Adams 's `` theistic rationalism, like that of the other Founders, was a sort of middle ground between Protestantism and deism. '' By contrast, David L. Holmes has argued that Adams, beginning as a Congregationalist, ended his days as a Christian Unitarian, accepting central tenets of the Unitarian creed, but also accepting Jesus as the redeemer of humanity and the biblical account of his miracles as true. In 1796, Adams denounced political opponent Thomas Paine 's deistic criticisms of Christianity in The Age of Reason, saying, `` The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity, let the Blackguard Paine say what he will. '' In his retirement years, Adams moved away from some of the Puritan sentiments of his youth. While he continued to be an active Christian, he blamed institutional Christianity as the cause of much suffering but maintained that religion was necessary for society. He became a Unitarian, rejecting the divinity of Jesus. Legacy Historical reputation See also : Bibliography of John Adams Adams has left behind a mixed legacy. Most historians applaud him for avoiding an all - out war with France during his presidency. His signing of the Alien and Sedition Acts is almost always condemned. Adams left a mixed impression among contemporaries. He eventually came to be seen as someone with a long, distinguished, and spotless career in public service, and a man of great patriotism and integrity, but whose vanity, stubbornness, and cantankerousness often got him into unnecessary trouble. Benjamin Franklin summed up what many thought of Adams when he said, `` He means well for his country, is always an honest man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely out of his senses. '' Adams had an ever - present idea that he would be forgotten and underappreciated by history. These feelings often manifested themselves through envy and verbal attacks on other Founders. Historian George Herring argues that Adams was the most independent - minded of the Founders. Though he formally aligned with the Federalists, he was somewhat a party unto himself, disagreeing with the Federalists as much as he did the Democratic - Republicans. He was often described as `` prickly, '' but his tenacity was fed by good decisions made in the face of universal opposition. Adams was often combative, which diminished presidential decorum, as Adams himself admitted in his old age : `` ( As president ) I refused to suffer in silence. I sighed, sobbed, and groaned, and sometimes screeched and screamed. And I must confess to my shame and sorrow that I sometimes swore. '' Adams 's resolve to advance peace with France, rather than to continue hostilities, especially reduced his popularity and contributed to his defeat for reelection. Adams is generally less well known than many of America 's other founding fathers. McCullough argued that `` ( t ) he problem with Adams is that most Americans know nothing about him. '' Todd Leopold of CNN added in 2001 that Adams is `` remembered as that guy who served a single term as president between Washington and Jefferson, and as a short, vain, somewhat rotund man whose stature seems to have been dwarfed by his lanky colleagues. '' He has always been seen, Ferling says, as `` honest and dedicated, '' but despite his lengthy career in public service, is still overshadowed by the dramatic military and political achievements and strong personalities of his contemporaries. Gilbert Chinard, in his 1933 biography of Adams, described the man as `` staunch, honest stubborn and somewhat narrow. '' In his 1962 biography, Page Smith lauds Adams for his fight against radicals such as Thomas Paine, whose promised reforms portended anarchy and misery. In 1995, Peter Shaw published The Character of John Adams. Ferling says that the man who emerges is one `` perpetually at war with himself, '' whose desire for fame and recognition leads to changes of vanity. Ferling, in his 1992 biography, writes that `` Adams was his own worst enemy. '' He criticizes Adams for his `` pettiness... jealousy, and vanity, '' and finds fault with him for his frequent separations from his wife and children. However, he praises Adams for his willingness to acknowledge his deficiencies and for striving to overcome them. In 2001, David McCullough published a biography of the president entitled John Adams. McCullough lauds Adams for consistency and honesty, `` plays down or explains away '' his more controversial actions, such as the dispute over presidential titles and the predawn flight from the White House, and criticizes his friend and rival, Jefferson. The book was very favorably received and, along with the Ferling biography, contributed to a rapid resurgence in Adams 's reputation. In 2008, a miniseries was released based on the McCullough biography, featuring Paul Giamatti as Adams. In memoriam Main article : List of memorials to John Adams Adams is commemorated as the namesake of various counties, buildings, and other items. Unlike many other American founders, Adams does not have a monument dedicated to himself in Washington D.C. This has been the cause of some discontent. According to McCullough, `` Popular symbolism has not been very generous toward Adams. There is no memorial, no statue... in his honor in our nation 's capital, and to me that is absolutely inexcusable. It 's long past time when we should recognize what he did, and who he was. '' See also Book : Presidents of the United States ( 1789 -- 1860 ) John Adams Building of the Library of Congress Suffolk County Courthouse, also known as the `` John Adams Courthouse '' References Jump up ^ `` John Adams I ( Frigate ) 1799 -- 1867 ''. USA.gov. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015. ^ Jump up to : Ferling 1992, p. 11. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, p. 317. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, pp. 29 -- 30. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, pp. 11 - 14. Jump up ^ Brookhiser 2002, p. 13. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, pp. 12 -- 14. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 35. ^ Jump up to : Ferling 1992, p. 16. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, pp. 17 -- 18. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, p. 21. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, p. 19. Jump up ^ `` Obama joins list of seven presidents with Harvard degrees ''. Harvard.edu. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2011. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 44. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, p. 46. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, pp. 36 -- 39. Jump up ^ Kathryn Cullen - DuPont. `` Encyclopedia of Women 's History in America ''. Infobase Publishing. pp. 3 -- 4. ISBN 978 - 0816041008. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2011. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 58. ^ Jump up to : Ferling 1992, p. 57. ^ Jump up to : Ferling 1992, p. 71. ^ Jump up to : McCullough 2001, pp. 171 -- 72. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, pp. 634 -- 35. 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Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, p. 437. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, p. 431. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, pp. 431 - 432. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 607. Jump up ^ Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, June 27, 1813. Cappon p. 338. Jump up ^ John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, July 15, 1813. Cappon p. 358. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 608. Jump up ^ Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, October 28, 1813. Cappon, p. 388. Jump up ^ John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, November 15, 1813. Cappon, p. 400. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 634. Jump up ^ Hakim 2003, p. 97. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 622. Jump up ^ `` Reagan Resting Comfortably After Hip Surgery ''. CNN. January 13, 2001. Retrieved December 28, 2007. Jump up ^ `` History ''. United First Parish Church. Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2015. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 646. Jump up ^ Ellis 2003, p. 248. Jump up ^ Adams, John ( June 8, 1819 ). `` Letter to Robert J. Evans ''. Liberty Fund Inc. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, p. 77. ^ Jump up to : Wiencek, Henry ( 2004 ). `` An Imperfect God : George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America ''. Macmillan. p. 215. ISBN 0374529515. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Jump up ^ Moore 1866, pp. 200 - 203. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 26. Jump up ^ Hatfield, Mark O. ( 1997 ). `` Vice Presidents of the United States '' ( PDF ). U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 3 -- 11. Archived ( PDF ) from the original on December 19, 2012. ^ Jump up to : Biddle, Alexander, ed. ( 1892 ). Old Family Letters. Press of J.B. Lippincott Company. pp. 38ff. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. ^ Jump up to : `` John & Abigail Adams ''. PBS online. Archived from the original on July 30, 2013. Retrieved July 17, 2013. Jump up ^ Shaw 1975, pp. 230 -- 37. Jump up ^ Diggins, John Patrick, ed. ( 2004 ). The Portable John Adams. Penguin Books. pp. 466ff. ISBN 978 - 0142437780. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 18. Jump up ^ McCullough 2001, p. 22. Jump up ^ Everett, Robert B. ( 1966 ). `` The Mature Religious Thought of John Adams '' ( PDF ). Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association : 49 -- 57. ISSN 0361 - 6207. Retrieved March 23, 2017. Jump up ^ Fielding, Howard ( 1940 ). `` John Adams : Puritan, Deist, Humanist ''. Journal of Religion. 20 ( 1 ) : 33 -- 46. doi : 10.1086 / 482479. JSTOR 1198647. Jump up ^ Frazer, Gregg L. ( 2004 ). The Political Theology of the American Founding. PhD dissertation. Claremont Graduate University. p. 46. Jump up ^ Frazer, Gregg L. ( 2004 ). The Political Theology of the American Founding. PhD dissertation. Claremont Graduate University. p. 50. Jump up ^ Holmes 2006, pp. 73 -- 78. Jump up ^ Adams, Vol. III, p. 421, diary entry for July 26, 1796. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, pp. 433 - 434. Jump up ^ Taylor, C. James. `` John Adams : Impact and Legacy ''. The Miller Center. Retrieved October 30, 2016. Jump up ^ Chernow 2004, p. 518. Jump up ^ Chernow 2004, p. 520. ^ Jump up to : Herring 2008, p. 89. Jump up ^ Chernow 2004, p. 647. Jump up ^ Ellis 1993, p. 57. Jump up ^ Herring 2008, pp. 90 - 91. Jump up ^ Leopold, Todd ( June 7, 2006 ). `` David McCullough brings ' John Adams ' to life ''. CNN. Retrieved October 30, 2016. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, pp. 2 -- 3. Jump up ^ Chinard 1933, p. vi. Jump up ^ Ferling 1992, pp. 3 -- 4. Jump up ^ Maier, Pauline ( May 27, 2001 ). `` Plain Speaking : In David McCullough 's telling, the second president is reminiscent of the 33rd ( Harry Truman ) ''. The New York Times. Retrieved November 7, 2017. Jump up ^ Lieberman, Paul ( April 13, 2008 ). `` Paul Giamatti is so imperfect for the role ''. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 10, 2018. Jump up ^ Heffner, Alexander. `` Why does n't John Adams have a memorial in Washington ? ''. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 7, 2017. Jump up ^ Cunningham, Lillian ( January 17, 2016 ). `` The case of the missing John Adams monument ''. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 7, 2017. Bibliography Biographies Chinard, Gilbert ( 1933 ). Honest John Adams. Boston, MA : Little, Brown, and Company. Diggins, John P. ( 2003 ). Schlesinger Jr., Arthur M., ed. John Adams. The American Presidents. New York, NY : Time Books. ISBN 0 - 8050 - 6937 - 2. Ellis, Joseph J. ( 1993 ). Passionate Sage : The Character and Legacy of John Adams. New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393311333. Ferling, John E. ( 1992 ). John Adams : A Life. Knoxville, TN : University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 0870497308. McCullough, David ( 2001 ). John Adams. New York, NY : Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978 - 1416575887. Shaw, Peter ( 1975 ). The Character of John Adams. New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393008568. Smith, Page ( 1962a ). John Adams. Volume I, 1735 -- 1784. New York, NY : Doubleday & Company, Inc. Smith, Page ( 1962b ). John Adams. Volume II, 1784 -- 1826. New York, NY : Doubleday & Company, Inc. Specialized studies Boyd, Julian Parks ; Gawalt, Gerard W. ( 1999 ). The Declaration of Independence : the evolution of the text. Library of Congress in association with the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. ISBN 978 - 08444 - 0980 - 1. Brookhiser, Richard ( 2002 ). America 's First Dynasty : The Adamses, 1735 - 1918. New York, NY : Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978 - 07432 - 4209 - 7. Chernow, Ron ( 2004 ). Alexander Hamilton. London, UK : Penguin Books. ISBN 978 - 110120085 - 8. Elkins, Stanley M. ; McKitrick, Eric ( 1993 ). The Age of Federalism. Oxford, NY : Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195068904. Ellis, Joseph J. ( 2003 ). Founding Brothers : The Revolutionary Generation. New York, NY : Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978 - 1400077687. Ferling, John ( 2009 ). The Ascent of George Washington : The Hidden Political Genius of an American Icon. New York, NY : Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 1596914653. Flexner, James Thomas ( 1974 ). Washington : The Indispensable Man. Boston, MA : Little, Brown. ISBN 0 - 316 - 28605 - 2. Hakim, Joy ( 2003 ). The New Nation. Oxford, NY : Oxford University Press. ISBN 019515326X. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Herring, George C. ( 2008 ). From colony to superpower : U.S. foreign relations since 1776. Oxford, NY : Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199743770. Hoadley, John F. ( 1986 ). Origins of American Political Parties : 1789 -- 1803. Lexington, Kentucky : University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978 - 0813153209. Holmes, David L. ( 2006 ). The Faiths of the Founding Fathers. Oxford, UK : Oxford University Press. ISBN 978 - 0195300925. Hutson, James H. ( 1968 ). `` John Adams ' Title Campaign ( March 1968 ) ''. The New England Quarterly. 41 ( 1 ). doi : 10.2307 / 363331. JSTOR 363331. Kurtz, Stephen G. ( 1957 ). The Presidency of John Adams : The Collapse of Federalism, 1795 -- 1800. Philadelphia, PA : University of Pennsylvania Press. Knott, Stephen F. ( 2002 ). Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth. Lawrence, KS : University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0700611576. Maier, Pauline ( 1998 ). American Scripture : Making the Declaration of Independence. New York, NY : Vintage Books. ISBN 978 - 0679779087. Maier, Pauline ( 2010 ). Ratification : The People Debate the Constitution, 1787 -- 1788. New York, NY : Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978 - 06848 - 6854 - 7. McDonald, Forrest ( 1974 ). The Presidency of George Washington. American Presidency. University Press of Kansas : University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978 - 07006 - 0359 - 6. Miller, John C. ( 1960 ). The Federalist Era : 1789 -- 1801. ISBN 978 - 0061330278. Moore, George ( 1866 ). Notes on the history of slavery in Massachusetts. New York, NY : D. Appleton & Co. Thompson, C. Bradley ( 1998 ). John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty. Lawrence, KS : University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0700611819. Vinton, John Adams ( 1858 ). The Vinton Memorial. S.K. Whipple. Wood, Gordon S. ( 2006 ). Revolutionary Characters : What Made the Founders Different. London, UK : Penguin Books. ISBN 1594200939. Primary sources Adams, John ; Adams, Charles Francis ( 1851 ). The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States : Autobiography, continued. Diary. Essays and controversial papers of the Revolution. The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States. 3. Little, Brown. Butterfield, L.H. et al., eds., The Adams Papers ( 1961 -- ). Multivolume letterpress edition of all letters to and from major members of the Adams family, plus their diaries ; still incomplete. `` The Adams Family Papers Editorial Project ''. Masshist.org. Retrieved March 2, 2010. `` Founders Online '' searchable edition Butterfield, L.H., ed. Adams Family Correspondence. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Cappon, Lester J., ed. ( 1959 ). The Adams - Jefferson Letters : The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. Chapel Hill, NC : The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807842303. Carey, George W., ed. The Political Writings of John Adams. ( 2001 ) John A. Schutz and Douglass Adair, eds. Spur of Fame, The Dialogues of John Adams and Benjamin Rush, 1805 -- 1813 ( 1966 ) ISBN 978 - 0865972872 C. Bradley Thompson, ed. Revolutionary Writings of John Adams, ( 2001 ) ISBN 978 - 0865972858 Adams, John, ( 1774 ) Novanglus ; or, A History of the Dispute with America. Hogan, Margaret and C. James Taylor, eds. My Dearest Friend : Letters of Abigail and John Adams. Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 2007. Richardson, James D. ed. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents ( 1897 ), reprints his major messages and reports. Taylor, Robert J. et al., eds. Papers of John Adams. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Wroth, L. Kinvin and Hiller B. Zobel, eds. The Legal Papers of John Adams. Cambridge : Harvard University Press Further reading Main article : Bibliography of John Adams External links White House biography United States Congress. `` John Adams ( id : A000039 ) ''. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. William Everdell, From State to Free - State : The Meaning of the Word Republic from Jean Bodin to John Adams By William R. Everdell John Adams : A Resource Guide at the Library of Congress Letter from John Quincy Adams describing his father John Adams 's decline toward the end of the latter 's life -- Shapell Manuscript Foundation The John Adams Library at the Boston Public Library Adams Family Papers : An Electronic Archive at the Massachusetts Historical Society The Adams Papers, subset of Founders Online from the National Archives American President : John Adams ( 1735 -- 1826 ) at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia John Adams Papers at the Avalon Project Works by John Adams at Project Gutenberg Works by or about John Adams at Internet Archive Works by John Adams at LibriVox ( public domain audiobooks ) `` Thoughts on Government '' Adams, April 1776 at the Constitution Society John Adams at The American Revolution website `` Life Portrait of John Adams '', from C - SPAN 's American Presidents : Life Portraits, March 22, 1999 Adams 's Argument for the Defense at the trial of the soldiers at the Boston Massacre, at Founders Online website. ( Retrieved 10 December 2017. ) John Adams 2nd President of the United States, 1797 -- 1801 1st Vice President of the United States, 1789 -- 1797 U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 1785 -- 1788 U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, 1782 -- 1788 Delegate, Second Continental Congress, 1775 -- 1778 Delegate, First Continental Congress, 1774 Founding of the United States Braintree Instructions ( 1765 ) Boston Massacre defense Continental Association Novanglus ; A History of the Dispute with America, From Its Origin in 1754 to the Present Time ( 1775 ) Thoughts on Government ( 1776 ) Declaration of Independence May 15 preamble Committee of Five Model Treaty Treaty of Amity and Commerce Treaty of Alliance Board of War Chairman of the Marine Committee, 1775 - 1779 Continental Navy Staten Island Peace Conference Conference House Constitution of Massachusetts ( 1780 ) Treaty of Paris, 1783 Presidency Inauguration Quasi War with France XYZ Affair Commerce Protection Act United States Marine Corps Convention of 1800 Alien and Sedition Acts Naturalization Act of 1798 Navy Department Library Treaty of Tellico Treaty of Tripoli Midnight Judges Act Marbury v. Madison State of the Union Address ( 1797 1798 1799 1800 ) Cabinet Federal judiciary appointments Other writings Massachusetts Historical Society holdings Adams Papers Editorial Project Life and homes Early life and education Adams National Historical Park John Adams Birthplace Family home and John Quincy Adams birthplace Peacefield Presidential Library Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University Presidents House, Philadelphia Co-founder and second president, American Academy of Arts and Sciences United First Parish Church and gravesite Elections United States presidential election 1788 -- 1789 1792 1796 1800 Legacy Adams House at Harvard University John Adams Building U.S. Postage stamps Adams Memorial Popular culture Profiles in Courage ( 1964 series ) American Primitive ( 1969 play ) 1776 ( 1969 musical 1972 film ) The Adams Chronicles ( 1976 miniseries ) Liberty ! ( 1997 documentary series ) Liberty 's Kids ( 2002 animated series ) John Adams ( 2001 book 2008 miniseries ) Sons of Liberty ( 2015 miniseries ) Related `` Adams and Liberty '' campaign song Adams ' personal library American Enlightenment Congress Hall Federalist Party Federalist Era First Party System republicanism American Philosophical Society Gazette of the United States The American Museum American Revolution patriots Family Abigail Adams wife Quincy family Abigail Adams Smith ( daughter ) John Quincy Adams son presidency Charles Adams ( son ) Thomas Boylston Adams ( son ) George W. Adams ( grandson ) Charles Adams Sr. ( grandson ) John Adams II ( grandson ) John Q. Adams ( great - grandson ) Henry Adams ( great - grandson ) Brooks Adams ( great - grandson ) John Adams Sr. ( father ) Susanna Boylston ( mother ) Elihu Adams ( brother ) Samuel Adams ( second cousin ) Louisa Adams daughter - in - law First Lady ← George Washington Thomas Jefferson → Category Offices and distinctions Diplomatic posts New office United States Minister to Great Britain 1785 -- 1788 Succeeded by Thomas Pinckney United States Minister to the Netherlands 1782 -- 1788 Succeeded by Charles W.F. Dumas Acting Political offices New office Vice President of the United States 1789 -- 1797 Succeeded by Thomas Jefferson Preceded by George Washington President of the United States 1797 -- 1801 Party political offices New political party Federalist nominee for Vice President of the United States 1792 12 Succeeded by Thomas Pinckney 2 Federalist nominee for President of the United States 1796, 1800 Succeeded by Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Honorary titles Preceded by George Washington Oldest living President of the United States 1799 -- 1826 Succeeded by James Madison Notes and references 1. While Adams won the vice presidency in 1789 as well, he was not the candidate of the Federalist Party, which had not yet formed. 2. Technically, Adams was a presidential candidate in 1792 and Pinckney was a presidential candidate in 1796. Prior to the passage of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804, each presidential elector could cast two ballots ; the highest vote - getter would become president and the runner - up would become vice president. Thus, in 1792, with George Washington as the prohibitive favorite for president, the Federalist party fielded Adams as a presidential candidate, with the intention that he be elected to the vice presidency. Similarly, in 1796 and 1800, the Federalist party fielded two candidates, Adams and Thomas Pinckney, in 1796 and Adams and Charles Pinckney in 1800, with the intention that Adams be elected president and Pinckney be elected vice president. Articles related to John Adams Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence Physical history of the Declaration of Independence, Memorial J. Adams S. Adams Bartlett Braxton Carroll Chase Clark Clymer Ellery Floyd Franklin Gerry Gwinnett Hall Hancock Harrison Hart Hewes Heyward Hooper Hopkins Hopkinson Huntington Jefferson F. Lee R. Lee Lewis Livingston Lynch McKean Middleton L. Morris R. Morris Morton Nelson Paca Paine Penn Read Rodney Ross Rush Rutledge Sherman Smith Stockton Stone Taylor Thornton Walton Whipple Williams Wilson Witherspoon Wolcott Wythe Presidents of the United States ( list ) George Washington ( 1789 -- 1797 ) John Adams ( 1797 -- 1801 ) Thomas Jefferson ( 1801 -- 1809 ) James Madison ( 1809 -- 1817 ) James Monroe ( 1817 -- 1825 ) John Quincy Adams ( 1825 -- 1829 ) Andrew Jackson ( 1829 -- 1837 ) Martin Van Buren ( 1837 -- 1841 ) William Henry Harrison ( 1841 ) John Tyler ( 1841 -- 1845 ) James K. Polk ( 1845 -- 1849 ) Zachary Taylor ( 1849 -- 1850 ) Millard Fillmore ( 1850 -- 1853 ) Franklin Pierce ( 1853 -- 1857 ) James Buchanan ( 1857 -- 1861 ) Abraham Lincoln ( 1861 -- 1865 ) Andrew Johnson ( 1865 -- 1869 ) Ulysses S. Grant ( 1869 -- 1877 ) Rutherford B. Hayes ( 1877 -- 1881 ) James A. Garfield ( 1881 ) Chester A. Arthur ( 1881 -- 1885 ) Grover Cleveland ( 1885 -- 1889 ) Benjamin Harrison ( 1889 -- 1893 ) Grover Cleveland ( 1893 -- 1897 ) William McKinley ( 1897 -- 1901 ) Theodore Roosevelt ( 1901 -- 1909 ) William H. Taft ( 1909 -- 1913 ) Woodrow Wilson ( 1913 -- 1921 ) Warren G. Harding ( 1921 -- 1923 ) Calvin Coolidge ( 1923 -- 1929 ) Herbert Hoover ( 1929 -- 1933 ) Franklin D. Roosevelt ( 1933 -- 1945 ) Harry S. Truman ( 1945 -- 1953 ) Dwight D. Eisenhower ( 1953 -- 1961 ) John F. Kennedy ( 1961 -- 1963 ) Lyndon B. Johnson ( 1963 -- 1969 ) Richard Nixon ( 1969 -- 1974 ) Gerald Ford ( 1974 -- 1977 ) Jimmy Carter ( 1977 -- 1981 ) Ronald Reagan ( 1981 -- 1989 ) George H.W. Bush ( 1989 -- 1993 ) Bill Clinton ( 1993 -- 2001 ) George W. Bush ( 2001 -- 2009 ) Barack Obama ( 2009 -- 2017 ) Donald Trump ( 2017 -- present ) Presidency timelines Wilson Harding Coolidge Hoover F.D. Roosevelt Truman Eisenhower Kennedy L.B. Johnson Nixon Ford Carter Reagan G.H.W. Bush Clinton G.W. Bush Obama Trump Book Category Vice Presidents of the United States ( list ) John Adams ( 1789 -- 1797 ) Thomas Jefferson ( 1797 -- 1801 ) Aaron Burr ( 1801 -- 1805 ) George Clinton ( 1805 -- 1812 ) Elbridge Gerry ( 1813 -- 1814 ) Daniel D. Tompkins ( 1817 -- 1825 ) John C. Calhoun ( 1825 -- 1832 ) Martin Van Buren ( 1833 -- 1837 ) Richard M. Johnson ( 1837 -- 1841 ) John Tyler ( 1841 ) George M. Dallas ( 1845 -- 1849 ) Millard Fillmore ( 1849 -- 1850 ) William R. King ( 1853 ) John C. Breckinridge ( 1857 -- 1861 ) Hannibal Hamlin ( 1861 -- 1865 ) Andrew Johnson ( 1865 ) Schuyler Colfax ( 1869 -- 1873 ) Henry Wilson ( 1873 -- 1875 ) William A. Wheeler ( 1877 -- 1881 ) Chester A. Arthur ( 1881 ) Thomas A. Hendricks ( 1885 ) Levi P. Morton ( 1889 -- 1893 ) Adlai Stevenson ( 1893 -- 1897 ) Garret Hobart ( 1897 -- 1899 ) Theodore Roosevelt ( 1901 ) Charles W. Fairbanks ( 1905 -- 1909 ) James S. Sherman ( 1909 -- 1912 ) Thomas R. Marshall ( 1913 -- 1921 ) Calvin Coolidge ( 1921 -- 1923 ) Charles G. Dawes ( 1925 -- 1929 ) Charles Curtis ( 1929 -- 1933 ) John Nance Garner ( 1933 -- 1941 ) Henry A. Wallace ( 1941 -- 1945 ) Harry S. Truman ( 1945 ) Alben W. Barkley ( 1949 -- 1953 ) Richard Nixon ( 1953 -- 1961 ) Lyndon B. Johnson ( 1961 -- 1963 ) Hubert Humphrey ( 1965 -- 1969 ) Spiro Agnew ( 1969 -- 1973 ) Gerald Ford ( 1973 -- 1974 ) Nelson Rockefeller ( 1974 -- 1977 ) Walter Mondale ( 1977 -- 1981 ) George H.W. Bush ( 1981 -- 1989 ) Dan Quayle ( 1989 -- 1993 ) Al Gore ( 1993 -- 2001 ) Dick Cheney ( 2001 -- 2009 ) Joe Biden ( 2009 -- 2017 ) Mike Pence ( 2017 -- present ) List Category The Age of Enlightenment Topics Atheism Capitalism Civil liberties Counter-Enlightenment Critical thinking Deism Democracy Empiricism Encyclopédistes Enlightened absolutism Free markets Haskalah Humanism Human rights Liberalism Liberté, égalité, fraternité Methodological skepticism Nationalism Natural philosophy Objectivity Rationality Rationalism Reason Reductionism Sapere aude Science Scientific method Socialism Universality Weimar Classicism Thinkers France Jean le Rond d'Alembert Étienne Bonnot de Condillac Marquis de Condorcet Denis Diderot Claude Adrien Helvétius Baron d'Holbach Georges - Louis Leclerc Montesquieu François Quesnay Jean - Jacques Rousseau Marquis de Sade Voltaire Germany Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Georg Hamann Johann Gottfried von Herder Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi Immanuel Kant Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Moses Mendelssohn Friedrich Schiller Thomas Wizenmann Greece Neophytos Doukas Theoklitos Farmakidis Rigas Feraios Theophilos Kairis Adamantios Korais Ireland Robert Boyle Edmund Burke Italy Cesare Beccaria Gaetano Filangieri Antonio Genovesi Pietro Verri The Netherlands Spinoza Hugo Grotius Balthasar Bekker Bernard Nieuwentyt Frederik van Leenhof Christiaan Huygens Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Jan Swammerdam Poland Tadeusz Czacki Hugo Kołłątaj Stanisław Konarski Ignacy Krasicki Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz Stanisław August Poniatowski Jędrzej Śniadecki Stanisław Staszic Józef Wybicki Andrzej Stanisław Załuski Józef Andrzej Załuski Portugal Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo Russia Catherine II Spain Charles III Benito Jerónimo Feijóo y Montenegro United Kingdom ( Scotland ) Francis Bacon Jeremy Bentham Joseph Black James Boswell Adam Ferguson Edward Gibbon Robert Hooke David Hume Francis Hutcheson Samuel Johnson John Locke Isaac Newton Thomas Reid Adam Smith Mary Wollstonecraft United States Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson James Madison George Mason Thomas Paine Ambassadors of the United States of America to the Court of St. James 's Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James 's 1785 -- 1811 John Adams ( 1785 -- 1788 ) Thomas Pinckney ( 1792 -- 1796 ) Rufus King ( 1796 -- 1803 ) James Monroe ( 1803 -- 1807 ) William Pinkney ( 1808 -- 1811 ) Jonathan Russell ( chargé d'affaires ) ( 1811 -- 1812 ) Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James 's 1815 -- 1893 John Quincy Adams ( 1815 -- 1817 ) Richard Rush ( 1818 -- 1825 ) Rufus King ( 1825 -- 1826 ) Albert Gallatin ( 1826 -- 1827 ) James Barbour ( 1828 -- 1829 ) Louis McLane ( 1829 -- 1831 ) Martin Van Buren ( 1831 -- 1832 ) Aaron Vail ( chargé d'affaires ) ( 1832 -- 1836 ) Andrew Stevenson ( 1836 -- 1841 ) Edward Everett ( 1841 -- 1845 ) Louis McLane ( 1845 -- 1846 ) George Bancroft ( 1846 -- 1849 ) Abbott Lawrence ( 1849 -- 1852 ) Joseph R. Ingersoll ( 1852 -- 1853 ) James Buchanan ( 1853 -- 1856 ) George M. Dallas ( 1856 -- 1861 ) Charles Adams Sr. ( 1861 -- 1868 ) Reverdy Johnson ( 1868 -- 1869 ) John Lothrop Motley ( 1869 -- 1870 ) Robert C. Schenck ( 1871 -- 1876 ) Edwards Pierrepont ( 1876 -- 1877 ) John Welsh ( 1877 -- 1879 ) James Russell Lowell ( 1880 -- 1885 ) Edward J. Phelps ( 1885 -- 1889 ) Robert Todd Lincoln ( 1889 -- 1893 ) Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James 's 1893 -- present Thomas F. Bayard Sr. ( 1893 -- 1897 ) John Hay ( 1897 -- 1898 ) Joseph Choate ( 1899 -- 1905 ) Whitelaw Reid ( 1905 -- 1912 ) Walter Page ( 1913 - 1918 ) John W. Davis ( 1918 -- 1921 ) George Harvey ( 1921 -- 1923 ) Frank B. Kellogg ( 1924 -- 1925 ) Alanson B. Houghton ( 1925 -- 1929 ) Charles G. Dawes ( 1929 -- 1931 ) Andrew W. Mellon ( 1932 -- 1933 ) Robert Bingham ( 1933 -- 1937 ) Joseph P. Kennedy ( 1938 -- 1940 ) John G. Winant ( 1941 -- 1946 ) W. Averell Harriman ( 1946 ) Lewis W. Douglas ( 1947 -- 1950 ) Walter S. Gifford ( 1950 -- 1953 ) Winthrop W. Aldrich ( 1953 -- 1957 ) John Hay Whitney ( 1957 -- 1961 ) David K.E. Bruce ( 1961 -- 1969 ) Walter H. Annenberg ( 1969 -- 1974 ) Elliot L. Richardson ( 1975 -- 1976 ) Anne Armstrong ( 1976 -- 1977 ) Kingman Brewster Jr. ( 1977 -- 1981 ) John J. Louis Jr. ( 1981 -- 1983 ) Charles H. Price II ( 1983 -- 1989 ) Henry E. Catto Jr. ( 1989 -- 1991 ) Raymond G.H. Seitz ( 1991 -- 1994 ) William J. Crowe ( 1994 -- 1997 ) Philip Lader ( 1997 -- 2001 ) William Stamps Farish III ( 2001 -- 2004 ) Robert H. Tuttle ( 2005 -- 2009 ) Louis Susman ( 2009 -- 2013 ) Matthew Barzun ( 2013 -- 2017 ) Woody Johnson ( 2017 -- ) Cabinet of President John Adams ( 1797 -- 1801 ) Secretary of State Timothy Pickering ( 1797 -- 1800 ) John Marshall ( 1800 -- 01 ) Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott Jr. ( 1797 -- 1801 ) Samuel Dexter ( 1801 ) Secretary of War James McHenry ( 1796 -- 1800 ) Samuel Dexter ( 1800 -- 01 ) Attorney General Charles Lee ( 1797 -- 1801 ) Postmaster General Joseph Habersham ( 1797 -- 1801 ) Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert ( 1798 -- 1801 ) John Quincy Adams United States House of Representatives, 1831 -- 1848 6th President of the United States, 1825 -- 1829 8th U.S. Secretary of State, 1817 -- 1825 U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, 1814 -- 1817 1st U.S. Minister to Russia, 1809 -- 1814 Massachusetts State Senate, 1803 -- 1808 U.S. Minister to Prussia, 1797 -- 1801 U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, 1794 -- 1797 Presidency Inauguration American System Internal improvements Tariff of 1828 First Treaty of Prairie du Chien Treaty of Fond du Lac Treaty of Limits United States Naval Observatory Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori State of the Union Address, 1825 1827 1828 Federal judiciary appointments Other events Monroe Doctrine, author Treaty of Ghent Adams -- Onís Treaty Treaty of 1818 Smithsonian Institution United States v. The Amistad Mendi Bible President, American Academy of Arts and Sciences President, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences Writings Lifelong diary Massachusetts Historical Society holdings Adams Papers Editorial Project Life and homes Early life Abigail Adams Cairn John Quincy Adams and abolitionism Adams National Historical Park Birthplace and family home Peacefield Presidential Library United First Parish Church and gravesite Elections United States presidential election, 1824 Corrupt Bargain United States presidential election, 1828 Legacy Adams Memorial Adams House at Harvard University U.S. Postage stamps Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar Popular culture Profiles in Courage ( 1957 book 1965 television series ) The Adams Chronicles ( 1976 miniseries ) Mutiny on the Amistad ( 1987 book ) Amistad ( 1997 film ) John Adams ( 2001 book 2008 miniseries ) Adams family Quincy family Louisa Adams ( wife ) George W. Adams ( son ) Charles Adams Sr. ( son ) John Adams II ( son ) Henry Adams ( grandson ) Brooks Adams ( grandson ) John Quincy Adams II ( grandson ) John Adams father presidency Abigail Adams mother First Lady Quincy family Abigail Adams Smith ( sister ) Charles Adams ( brother ) Thomas Boylston Adams ( brother ) John Adams Sr. ( paternal grandfather ) Susanna Boylston ( paternal grandmother ) Elihu Adams ( paternal uncle ) John Quincy ( great - grandfather ) Related National Republican Party Republicanism Quincy Patriot ← James Monroe Andrew Jackson → Category Hall of Fame for Great Americans John Adams John Quincy Adams Jane Addams Louis Agassiz Susan B. Anthony John James Audubon George Bancroft Clara Barton Henry Ward Beecher Alexander Graham Bell Daniel Boone Edwin Booth Louis Brandeis Phillips Brooks William Cullen Bryant Luther Burbank Andrew Carnegie George Washington Carver William Ellery Channing Rufus Choate Henry Clay Grover Cleveland James Fenimore Cooper Peter Cooper Charlotte Cushman James Buchanan Eads Thomas Alva Edison Jonathan Edwards Ralph Waldo Emerson David Farragut Stephen Foster Benjamin Franklin Robert Fulton Josiah W. Gibbs William C. Gorgas Ulysses S. Grant Asa Gray Alexander Hamilton Nathaniel Hawthorne Joseph Henry Patrick Henry Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Mark Hopkins Elias Howe Washington Irving Andrew Jackson Thomas J. Jackson Thomas Jefferson John Paul Jones James Kent Sidney Lanier Robert E. Lee Abraham Lincoln Henry Wadsworth Longfellow James Russell Lowell Mary Lyon Edward MacDowell James Madison Horace Mann John Marshall Matthew Fontaine Maury Albert A. Michelson Maria Mitchell James Monroe Samuel F.B. Morse William T.G. Morton John Lothrop Motley Simon Newcomb Thomas Paine Alice Freeman Palmer Francis Parkman George Peabody William Penn Edgar Allan Poe Walter Reed Franklin D. Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Augustus Saint - Gaudens William Tecumseh Sherman John Philip Sousa Joseph Story Harriet Beecher Stowe Gilbert Stuart Sylvanus Thayer Henry David Thoreau Mark Twain Lillian Wald Booker T. Washington George Washington Daniel Webster George Westinghouse James McNeill Whistler Walt Whitman Eli Whitney John Greenleaf Whittier Emma Willard Frances E. Willard Roger Williams Woodrow Wilson Orville Wright Wilbur Wright Biography portal American Revolutionary War portal Government of the United States portal Massachusetts portal Politics portal Law portal United States portal BIBSYS : 90845244 BNE : XX1699071 BNF : cb12186797v ( data ) GND : 118500597 ISNI : 0000 0001 2144 2412 LCCN : n79105675 NARA : 10580812 NDL : 01133474 NKC : jn20000720003 NLA : 35001112 RLS : 000025438 SNAC : w6m43jsv SUDOC : 02737470X ULAN : 500353261 US Congress : A000039 VIAF : 95296943 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Adams&oldid=846605060 '' Categories : 1735 births 1826 deaths 18th - century American politicians 18th - century American writers 18th - century Congregationalists 18th - century Unitarians 19th - century American politicians 19th - century Unitarians Adams political family Ambassadors of the United States to Great Britain Ambassadors of the United States to the Netherlands American Congregationalists American people of English descent American people of Welsh descent American tax resisters American Unitarians Burials in Massachusetts Continental Congressmen from Massachusetts Fathers of Presidents of the United States Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame for Great Americans inductees Harvard University alumni History of the United States ( 1789 -- 1849 ) John Adams Massachusetts Federalists Massachusetts lawyers Members of the American Antiquarian Society Members of the American Philosophical Society Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives People of Massachusetts in the American Revolution People of the Quasi-War Politicians from Braintree, Massachusetts Politicians from Quincy, Massachusetts Presidents of the United States Signers of the United States Declaration of Independence United States presidential candidates, 1789 United States presidential candidates, 1792 United States presidential candidates, 1796 United States presidential candidates, 1800 Vice Presidents of the United States Washington administration cabinet members American expatriates in the Dutch Republic American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links CS1 : Julian -- Gregorian uncertainty Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages Wikipedia indefinitely move - protected pages Good articles Use mdy dates from April 2011 Articles with short description Pages using infobox officeholder with ambassador from or minister from Pages using infobox officeholder with an atypical party value Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Articles with LibriVox links Articles containing French - language text Articles containing Hebrew - language text Articles containing Latin - language text AC with 16 elements Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNE identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NARA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with RLS identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with ULAN identifiers Wikipedia articles with USCongress identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Read View source Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Wikisource Afrikaans አማርኛ Ænglisc Aragonés Asturianu Aymar aru Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه বাংলা Bân - lâm - gú Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Bikol Central Bislama Български Bosanski Brezhoneg Català Чӑвашла Cebuano Čeština Corsu Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch ދިވެހިބަސް Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Frysk Gaeilge Gaelg Gàidhlig Galego 客家 語 / Hak - kâ - ngî 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hornjoserbsce Hrvatski Ido Ilokano Bahasa Indonesia Interlingua Íslenska Italiano עברית Basa Jawa ಕನ್ನಡ Kapampangan ქართული Қазақша Kernowek Kinyarwanda Kiswahili Kreyòl ayisyen Kurdî Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Ligure Lumbaart Magyar मैथिली Македонски Malagasy മലയാളം मराठी მარგალური مصرى مازِرونی Bahasa Melayu Mìng - dĕ̤ng - ngṳ̄ မြန်မာဘာသာ Nāhuatl Dorerin Naoero Nederlands नेपाली 日本 語 Nordfriisk Norsk Norsk nynorsk Occitan Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابی Piemontèis Plattdüütsch Polski Português Ripoarisch Română Runa Simi Русский Scots Shqip Sicilianu සිංහල Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina کوردی Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் తెలుగు ไทย Тоҷикӣ ᏣᎳᎩ Türkçe Türkmençe Українська اردو Tiếng Việt Winaray 吴语 ייִדיש Yorùbá 粵語 中文 Lingua Franca Nova 121 more Edit links This page was last edited on 19 June 2018, at 20 : 01 ( UTC ). 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Question: ok google who was the second president of the united states
Answer: John Adams