John Adams

2nd President of the United States

### Political party

Pro-Administration (before 1795); Federalist (1795 – c. 1808); Democratic-Republican (c. 1808 – 1826)

### Children

Abigail Adams Smith (daughter), John Quincy Adams (son), Susanna Adams (daughter), Charles Adams (son), Thomas Adams (son), Elizabeth Adams (daughter)

### Parents

John Adams Sr. (father)Susanna Boylston (mother)

### Siblings

Peter Adams (brother)Elihu Adams (brother)

### Hair color

Light brown

**John Adams**, a remarkable political philosopher, served as the second President of the United States (1797-1801), after serving as the first Vice President under President George Washington.

*The Presidency of John Adams spanned the period in United States history that encompasses the events of the New Nation. President John Adams represented the Federalist political party which influenced the domestic and foreign policies of his presidency.*

## **Biography**

Learned and thoughtful, John Adams was more remarkable as a political philosopher than as a politician. “People and nations are forged in the fires of adversity,” he said, doubtless thinking of his own as well as the American experience.

Adams was born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1735. A Harvard-educated lawyer, he early became identified with the patriot cause; a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses, he led in the movement for independence.

During the Revolutionary War he served in France and Holland in diplomatic roles, and helped negotiate the treaty of peace. From 1785 to 1788 he was minister to the Court of St. James’s, returning to be elected Vice President under George Washington.

Adams’ two terms as Vice President were frustrating experiences for a man of his vigor, intellect, and vanity. He complained to his wife Abigail, “My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.”

When Adams became President, the war between the French and British was causing great difficulties for the United States on the high seas and intense partisanship among contending factions within the Nation.

His administration focused on France, where the Directory, the ruling group, had refused to receive the American envoy and had suspended commercial relations.

Adams sent three commissioners to France, but in the spring of 1798 word arrived that the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand and the Directory had refused to negotiate with them unless they would first pay a substantial bribe. Adams reported the insult to Congress, and the Senate printed the correspondence, in which the Frenchmen were referred to only as “X, Y, and Z.”

The Nation broke out into what Jefferson called “the X. Y. Z. fever,” increased in intensity by Adams’s exhortations. The populace cheered itself hoarse wherever the President appeared. Never had the Federalists been so popular.

Congress appropriated money to complete three new frigates and to build additional ships, and authorized the raising of a provisional army. It also passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, intended to frighten foreign agents out of the country and to stifle the attacks of Republican editors.

President Adams did not call for a declaration of war, but hostilities began at sea. At first, American shipping was almost defenseless against French privateers, but by 1800 armed merchantmen and U.S. warships were clearing the sea-lanes.

Despite several brilliant naval victories, war fever subsided. Word came to Adams that France also had no stomach for war and would receive an envoy with respect. Long negotiations ended the quasi war.

Sending a peace mission to France brought the full fury of the Hamiltonians against Adams. In the campaign of 1800 the Republicans were united and effective, the Federalists badly divided. Nevertheless, Adams polled only a few less electoral votes than Jefferson, who became President.

On November 1, 1800, just before the election, Adams arrived in the new Capital City to take up his residence in the White House. On his second evening in its damp, unfinished rooms, he wrote his wife, “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.”

Adams retired to his farm in Quincy. Here he penned his elaborate letters to Thomas Jefferson. Here on July 4, 1826, he whispered his last words: “Thomas Jefferson survives.” But Jefferson had died at Monticello a few hours earlier.

## Personality

The character traits of President John Adams can be described as ambitious, determined, scholarly and volatile. It has been speculated that the Myers-Briggs personality type for John Adams is an ENTP (extroversion, intuition, thinking, perception). An outgoing character with a strong desire to improve the world they live in. John Adams Personality type: Loyal, innovative, flexible, rational and resourceful.

## Nicknames

* "The Colossus of Independence"
* "Old Sink or Swim"
* "His Rotundity"
* "The Duke of Braintree"

*Meaning: The nickname of President John Adams provides an insight into how the man was viewed by the American public during his presidency. The meaning of the nickname Colossus of Independence refers to his important role in gaining the freedom and independence of America. Another well known nickname of John Adams is "Old Sink or Swim", that illustrates the character of the man,  taken from a speech he made saying, "Sink or swim, survive or perish with my country, is my unalterable determination". His stocky build led to another less flattering nickname " His Rotundity" or the more kindly Bonny Johnny.*

## Inauguration

The **inauguration of John Adams** as the second president of the United States was held on Saturday, March 4, 1797, in the House of Representatives Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The inauguration marked the commencement of the only four-year term of John Adams as president and of Thomas Jefferson as vice president. The presidential oath of office was administered to John Adams by Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth. Adams was the first president to receive the oath of office from a Chief Justice of the United States, and the first head of state to peacefully and legally succeed to office from a living predecessor since Louis I of Spain in 1724.

## Accomplishments and major events

*The major accomplishments and the famous, main events that occurred during the time that John Adams was president included the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), the XYZ Affair (1797), Judiciary Act of 1801 (Midnight Judges) and the Quasi War. John Adams was a firm supporter of the French Revolution (1789-1799). The Second Great Awakening also occurred during his presidency, a Christian revivalist movement that sparked social reform groups.*

**The XYZ Affair**

Summary: The XYZ Affair involved a scandal surrounding French diplomats Hottinguer (X), Bellamy (Y), and Hauteval (Z) who attempted to bribe US government.

**The Quasi War**

Summary: The Quasi War  (July 7, 1798-September 30, 1800) was fought entirely at sea between the United States and the French. It was an unofficial, undeclared war and did not include military forces on land.

**The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798**

Summary: The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 a series of laws relating to the rights of immigrants and  free speech.

**The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions**

Summary: The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions involved the issue of States Rights and the resolutions were the first attempts to cancel actions taken by the central government.

**The Judiciary Act of 1801: Midnight Judges**

Summary: The Judiciary Act of 1801: Midnight Judges gave President Adams the power to appoint new judges, allowing him to appoint his Federalist supporters to the new offices in order to protect Federalist legislation from the rising Democratic-Republicans.

**The Second Great Awakening**

Summary: The Second Great Awakening was a Christian revivalist movement that sparked social reform groups such as Women's suffrage, the Temperance Movement and the Anti-Slavery Abolitionist Movement.

**Buying Freedom from Slavery**

Summary: Slavery was re-invigorated during the presidency of John Adams following the invention of the Eli Whitney Cotton Gin and the Samuel Slater Cotton Mill and more slaves became intent on looking for ways of Buying Freedom from Slavery.

## Post Presidency

### Initial years

Adams resumed farming at Peacefield in Quincy, Massachusetts, and also began work on an autobiography. The work had numerous gaps and was eventually abandoned and left unedited. Most of Adams's attention was focused on farm work, although he mostly left manual labor to hired hands. His frugal lifestyle and presidential salary gave him a considerable fortune by 1801. In 1803, Bird, Savage & Bird, the bank holding his cash reserves of about $13,000, collapsed. John Quincy resolved the crisis by buying his properties in Weymouth and Quincy, including Peacefield, for $12,800. During his first four years of retirement, Adams made little effort to contact others, but eventually resumed contact with old acquaintances such as Benjamin Waterhouse and Benjamin Rush.

Adams generally stayed quiet on public matters. He did not publicly denounce Jefferson's actions as president, believing that "instead of opposing Systematically any Administration, running down their Characters and opposing all their Measures right or wrong, We ought to Support every Administration as far as We can in Justice." When a disgruntled James Callender, angry at not being appointed to an office, turned on the President by revealing the Sally Hemings affair, Adams said nothing. John Quincy was elected to the Senate in 1803. Shortly thereafter, both he and his father crossed party lines to support Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. The only major political incident involving the elder Adams during the Jefferson years was a dispute with Mercy Otis Warren in 1806. Warren, an old friend, had written a history of the American Revolution attacking Adams for his "partiality for monarchy" and "pride of talents and much ambition." A tempestuous correspondence ensued between her and Adams. In time, their friendship healed. Adams did privately criticize the President over his Embargo Act, although John Quincy voted for it. John Quincy resigned from the Senate in 1808 after the Federalist-controlled Massachusetts Senate refused to nominate him for a second term. After the Federalists denounced John Quincy as no longer being of their party, Adams wrote to him that he himself had long since "abdicated and disclaimed the name and character and attributes of that sect."

After Jefferson's retirement in 1809, Adams became more vocal. He published a three-year marathon of letters in the *Boston Patriot* newspaper, refuting line-by-line Hamilton's 1800 pamphlet. The initial piece was written shortly after his return from Peacefield and "had gathered dust for eight years." Adams had decided to shelve it over fears that it could negatively impact John Quincy should he ever seek office. Although Hamilton had died in 1804 in a duel with Aaron Burr, Adams felt the need to vindicate his character against his charges. With his son having broken from the Federalist Party and joined the Republicans, he felt that he could safely do so without threatening John Quincy's political career. Adams supported the War of 1812. Having worried over the rise of sectionalism, he celebrated the growth of a "national character" that accompanied it. Adams supported James Madison for reelection to the presidency in 1812.

Adams's daughter Abigail ("Nabby") was married to William Stephens Smith, but she returned to her parents' home after the failure of the marriage; she died of breast cancer in 1813.

### Correspondence with Jefferson

In early 1801, Adams sent Thomas Jefferson a brief note wishing him a happy and prosperous presidency. Jefferson failed to respond, and they did not speak again for nearly 12 years. In 1804, Abigail, unbeknownst to her husband, 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 the two 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 Monticello, the home of Jefferson, and Peacefield since Adams left office.

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, 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 a two-volume collection of lectures on rhetoric by John Quincy Adams. Jefferson replied immediately with a cordial letter, and the two revived their friendship, which they sustained by mail. Their correspondence 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, particularly philosophy and their daily habits.

As the two grew older, the letters grew fewer and farther between. There was also important information that each man kept to himself. 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.

## Death

Abigail died of typhoid on October 28, 1818, at Peacefield. 1824 was filled with excitement in America, featuring a four-way presidential contest that included John Quincy. The Marquis de Lafayette toured the country and met with Adams, who greatly enjoyed Lafayette's visit to Peacefield. Adams was delighted by the election of John Quincy to the presidency. The results became official in February 1825 after a deadlock was decided in the House of Representatives. He remarked, "No man who ever held the office of President would congratulate a friend on obtaining it."

On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Adams died of a heart attack at Peacefield at approximately 6:20 pm. 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. At 90, Adams was the longest-lived US president until Ronald Reagan surpassed him in 2001.

## Facts and trivia

* John Adams was one of the Nation's first Constitutional Lawyers.
* The First President with a national political party (The Federalist)
* Adams was born on the family farm in Braintree, Massachusetts. His mother, Susanna, was from a leading medical family of present-day Brookline, Massachusetts. His father, John Sr., was a deacon in the Congregational Church, a farmer, a cordwainer, and a lieutenant in the militia.
* Adams often praised his father and recalled their close relationship.
* Adams's great-great-grandfather Henry Adams immigrated to Massachusetts from Braintree, Essex, England, around 1638.
* Adams had two younger brothers: Peter (1738–1823) and Elihu (1741–1775).
* Adams was raised a Congregationalist, since his ancestors were Puritans.
* Adams, as the eldest child, was compelled to obtain a formal education. This began at age six at a dame school for boys and girls, conducted at a teacher's home, and was 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 early education included incidents of truancy, a dislike for his master, and a desire to become a farmer.
* Though raised in modest surroundings, Adams felt pressured to live up to his heritage. His family was descended from Puritans, whose strict religious doctrines had profoundly shaped New England's culture, laws, and traditions.
* At age sixteen, Adams entered Harvard College in 1751, studying under Joseph Mayhew. As an adult, Adams was a keen scholar, studying the works of ancient writers such as Thucydides, Plato, Cicero, and Tacitus in their original languages.
* Though his father expected him to be a minister, after his 1755 graduation with an A.B. degree, he taught school temporarily in Worcester, while pondering his permanent vocation.
* As the French and Indian War began in 1754, Adams, aged nineteen, began to struggle with his responsibility in the conflict as many of his contemporaries joined the war for money. Adams later said, "I longed more ardently to be a Soldier than I ever did to be a Lawyer", recognizing that he was the first of his family to "[degenerate] from the virtues of the house so far as not to have been an officer in the militia".
* In 1756, Adams began reading law under James Putnam, a leading lawyer in Worcester. In 1758, he earned an A.M. from Harvard, and in 1759 was admitted to the bar. He developed an early habit of writing about events and impressions of men in his diary; this included James Otis Jr.'s 1761 legal argument challenging the legality of British writs of assistance, allowing the British to search a home without notice or reason. Otis's argument inspired Adams to the cause of the American colonies.
* In 1763, Adams explored various aspects of political theory in seven essays written for Boston newspapers. He offered them anonymously, under the nom de plume "Humphrey Ploughjogger", and in them ridiculed the selfish thirst for power he perceived among the Massachusetts colonial elite.
* Adams was initially less well known than his older cousin Samuel Adams, but his influence emerged from his work as a constitutional lawyer, his analysis of history, and his dedication to republicanism. Adams often found his own irascible nature a constraint in his political career.
* In the late 1750s, Adams fell in love with Hannah Quincy; while they were alone, he was poised to propose but was interrupted by friends, and the moment was lost. In 1759, he met 15-year-old Abigail Smith, his third cousin, through his friend Richard Cranch, who was courting Abigail's older sister. Adams initially was not impressed with Abigail and her two sisters, writing that they were not "fond, nor frank, nor candid". In time, he grew close to Abigail and they were married on October 25, 1764, despite the opposition of Abigail's haughty mother.
* Adams and his wife shared a love of books and kindred personalities that proved honest in their praise and criticism of each other.
* After his father's death in 1761, Adams had inherited a 9+1⁄2-acre (3.8 ha) farm and a house where he and Abigail lived until 1783. 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 when she was one year old, while Elizabeth was stillborn.
* Adams and his wife generated a family of politicians, diplomats, and historians now referred to as the Adams political family, which includes their son John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States.
* All three of Adams's sons became lawyers. Charles and Thomas were unsuccessful, became alcoholics, and died before old age, while John Quincy excelled and launched a career in politics. Adams's writings are devoid of his feelings about his sons' fates.
* A lawyer and political activist prior to the American Revolution, Adams was devoted to the right to counsel and presumption of innocence. He defied anti-British sentiment and successfully defended British soldiers against murder charges arising from the Boston Massacre.
* Adams wrote the Constitution for the State of Massachusetts .
* Adams, along with Benjamin Franklin, helped draft the Declaration of Independence with Thomas Jefferson.
* As a diplomat in Europe, Adams helped negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain and secured vital governmental loans. Adams was the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which influenced the United States constitution, as did his essay *Thoughts on Government*.
* 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."
* In the 1789 Presidential Election, Adams received 34 electoral college votes in the election, second place behind George Washington, who was a unanimous choice with 69 votes. As a result, Washington became the nation's first president, and Adams became its first vice president. Adams finished well ahead of all others except Washington, but was still offended by Washington receiving more than twice as many votes.
* In an effort to ensure that Adams did not accidentally become president and that Washington would have an overwhelming victory, Alexander Hamilton convinced at least 7 of the 69 electors not to cast their vote for Adams. After finding out about the manipulation but not Hamilton's role in it, Adams wrote to Benjamin Rush asking whether "Is not my election to this office, in the dark and scurvy manner in which it was done, a curse rather than a blessing?"
* Although his term started on March 4, 1789, Adams did not begin serving as Vice President of the United States until April 21, because he did not arrive in New York in time.
* Adams was elected to two terms as vice president under President George Washington, in a prestigious role with little power.
* Early in his term, 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 agreed 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.
* Adams narrowly defeated Thomas Jefferson in the 1796 U.S. Presidential Election, receiving 71 electoral votes to 68 for Jefferson, who became the vice president. This is the only election to date in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets.
* Adams was the only president elected under the banner of the Federalist Party.
* 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.
* None of President Adams's family members were present for his inauguration. According to David McCullough’s Pulitzer-winning biography, the 2nd President of the United States had a relatively lonely inauguration.
* Adams and his son are the only presidents of the first twelve that did not own slaves in their lives.
* Alexander Hamilton had grown accustomed to being regularly 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.
* During his single term, Adams encountered fierce criticism from the Jeffersonian Republicans and from some 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 undeclared naval war (called the "Quasi-War") with France.
* Adams was the first American president to reside in the White House.
* In his bid for reelection, opposition from Federalists and accusations of despotism from Jeffersonians led to Adams losing to his vice president and former friend Jefferson, and he retired to his farm Massachusetts. He eventually resumed his friendship with Jefferson by initiating a correspondence that lasted fourteen years.
* In his retirement years, Adams moved away from some of the Puritan sentiments of his youth and closer to more mainstream Enlightenment religious ideals. He blamed institutional Christianity for causing much suffering but continued to be an active Christian while maintaining that religion was necessary for society. He became a Unitarian, rejecting the divinity of Jesus.
* Adams died on July 4, 1826 – the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence – hours after Thomas Jefferson's death. His last words were "Thomas Jefferson survives", unaware that Jefferson had died hours before him.
* John and Abigail Adams's crypt at United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, also contains the bodies of John Quincy and Louisa Adams.
* Adams is commemorated as the namesake of various counties, buildings, and other items. One example is the John Adams Building of the Library of Congress, an institution whose existence Adams had signed into law.
* While Adams is honored on the Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence in Washington D.C., he does not have an individual monument dedicated to him in the city.
* Surveys of historians and scholars have favorably ranked his administration.

## References

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John\_Adams
* https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-adams/
* https://www.american-historama.org/presidents-united-states/john-adams.htm
* https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Adams-10