John Adams
1735 – 1826 at the age of 90.
John Adams was the oldest of three sons. Adam’s father was a farmer and shoemaker but their family tree could be traced back to the time of the Pilgrims.
Adams graduated from Harvard and for the next three years he taught grammar school. Adams did not wish to be a minister, as his father had wished, but he decided instead to become a lawyer.
He married Abigail Smith in 1764. She became a stabilizing force in his personal and political life. They had five children, one of whom never made it to adulthood.
He questioned Parliaments rights to tax the colonist through his various writings.
After the Boston Massacre he did defend the British soldiers who had fired on the protesters. He was outspoken and felt that he should do the right thing even though it was unpopular in the colonies.
He attended both the first and second Continental Congresses. During these congressional meetings he was noted for several things: first he nominated George Washington for Commander of the Continental Army, he selected Thomas Jefferson to write the first draft of the Declaration of Independence and he also wrote other documents that promoted other states to write their own state Constitutions.
In 1777 he and Ben Franklin went to France to assist in writing the alliance between France and the colonist. He then returned to the colonies to continue working as a lawyer and on the behalf of the Continental Congress.
In 1863 he returned to France to assist in the writing in the peace treaty ending the Revolutionary War. The next year, Thomas Jefferson replaced Franklin in France and a life-long friendship between Adams and Jefferson was begun.
In 1789 Adams returned to the United States from England and soon became the first Vice President under George Washington. After Washington refused to serve a third term in office, John Adams was the most likely person to run and succeed him.
John Adams stepped into a very difficult job as the second President of the United States. He first had to follow Washington, who by that time was an iconic figure and then his Vice President, Thomas Jefferson, was from another party even though Adams and Jefferson were best of friends.
During his time as president of a new country Adams worked to keep the United States out of war with France. Adams served under the Federalist Party. At the end of his presidency of only one four-year term, Adams selected John Marshall as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. This selection by Adams was often called the “Midnight Judges” because they were chosen at the very end of his term in office.
Adams was the first president to live in what is today called the White House. This residency looked different from the White House we are used to seeing today.
For many years Adams and Jefferson were at odds and did not communicate. In 1812 they put aside their differences and again began a correspondence, which would last until their deaths on July 4, 1826. They died on the fiftieth anniversary of the adopting of the Declaration of Independence.
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