John Adams
Founding Father, U.S. president from 1797 to 1801 (1735-1826) · United States · Politicians · Died at 90
John Adams is read about 5,303 times a day, in 153 languages.
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Something wrong?He defended the British soldiers who fired on colonists at the Boston Massacre, then helped write the document that severed America from Britain. That contradiction - lawyer for the accused redcoats, architect of independence - is the spine of his entire career.
A life in dates
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Adams's birthplace in present-day Quincy, Massachusetts
Boston Massacre of 1770, an 1878 portrait by Alonzo Chappel depicting the Boston Massacre
John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence depicting the Committee of Five presenting its draft of the Declaration to the Congress in Philadelphia; Adams appears in the center with his hand on his hip.
The Assembly Room at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence
Adams frequently clashed with Benjamin Franklin over how to manage relations with France.In their own words 10
, A native of America who cannot read and write is as rare an appearance as a Jacobite or a Roman Catholic, that is, as rare as a comet or an earthquake.
The preservation of the means of knowledge among the lowest ranks is of more importance to the public than all the property of all the rich men in the country.
The poor people, it is true, have been much less successful than the great.
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Adams was a Massachusetts lawyer who staked his reputation on the right to counsel, even when it meant representing the enemy. He joined the Continental Congress, became a driver of the Revolution, and spent 1776 pushing Jefferson's Declaration through a reluctant room. The war sent him to Europe as a diplomat: he secured Dutch loans, helped negotiate peace with Britain, and became the first U.S. ambassador to London. He wrote the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, then served eight years as Washington's vice president before winning the presidency in 1796. His single term unraveled over France - his refusal to pick a side in their wars drew fire from all directions, and the Alien and Sedition Acts made him look tyrannical. He lost reelection in 1800 to Jefferson, retreated to Massachusetts, and years later the two old rivals resumed writing each other. Both died on July 4, 1826, fifty years to the day after the Declaration.
Politicians from the United States 6
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