John Adams

John Adams was the second President of the United States, the principal advocate of independence in the Continental Congress, and the first president to lose an election. Born in Braintree, Massachusetts in 1735 to a farmer and shoemaker, he graduated from Harvard and became a lawyer. In 1770 he defended the British soldiers charged over the Boston Massacre, securing acquittal for six of eight, because he believed that the right to counsel mattered more than his own popularity. He later called it one of the best pieces of service he ever rendered his country. He led the argument for independence in Congress, nominated George Washington to command the army — a political calculation to bind Virginia to a New England war — and put Thomas Jefferson on the drafting committee. Jefferson said Adams was the colossus of that debate. He spent most of the war in Europe, negotiating Dutch loans and, with Franklin and Jay, the Treaty of Paris in 1783, and served as the first minister to Britain. He wrote the Massachusetts constitution of 1780, the oldest still in force. He was vice-president for eight years, an office he called the most insignificant ever contrived, and president from 1797. His term was dominated by the Quasi-War with France, which he ended by negotiation against the wishes of his own Federalist party — a decision that cost him re-election and which he considered his greatest achievement. He also signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which criminalised criticism of the government and remain a stain on his record. He lost to Jefferson in 1800. The two later reconciled by letter and died within hours of each other on 4 July 1826.

• Lived: 1735 CE – 1826 CE
• Nationality: American
• Roles: statesman, diplomat, founding_father

Related

• The American Revolution
• Declaration of Independence
• Treaty of Paris
• Boston Massacre