{{PresidentOfficeholder|name=John Adams
|image=John_adams.gif
|seq=2|term_start=March 4, 1797|term_end=March 4, 1801<ref>http://americanhistory.about.com/od/johnadams/a/ff_john_adams.htm</ref>|party=[[Federalist|vp=Thomas Jefferson|vp_dates=|previous=George Washington|next=Thomas Jefferson|office2=vice|seq2=1|term_start2=April 21, 1789|term_end2=March 4, 1797|party2=Federalist|pres2=George Washington|next2=Thomas Jefferson|birth_date=October 30, 1735|birth_place=Quincy, Massachusetts|death_date=July 4, 1826|death_place=Quincy, Massachusetts]]
|spouse=[[Abigail Adams|Abigail Smith Adams]]
|spouse2=
|religion=[[Unitarian]]
|offices=
{{Officeholder/president
|country=the United States
|number=2nd
|terms=March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
|vp=[[Thomas Jefferson]]
|preceded=[[George Washington]]
|former=y
|succeeded=[[Thomas Jefferson]]
}}
{{Officeholder/vice president
|country=the United States
|number=1st
|terms=April 21, 1789 – March 4, 1797
|president=[[George Washington]]
|preceded=(none)
|former=y
|succeeded=[[Thomas Jefferson]]
}}
{{Officeholder/ambassador
|for=United States
|to=the Netherlands
|president=(none)
|terms=April 19, 1782 – March 30, 1788
|former=y
|succeeded=Charles Dumas
}}
}}
'''John Adams''' (1735-1826) was an American Founding Father, diplomat, and the second [[President of the United States]] from 1797-1801. Adams was a prominent figure of the [[American Revolution]]. His numerous accomplishments include involvement in the drafting of the [[Declaration of Independence]], writing the constitution for the state of Massachusetts, serving as a diplomat to [[England]], [[France]], and the [[Netherlands]], negotiating the [[Treaty of Paris]], and serving as the first Vice President of the United States under President [[George Washington]].
In the [[United_States_presidential_election,_1796|presidential election of 1796]], Adams, on the ticket of the [[Federalist Party]], defeated the Democratic-Republican nominee [[Thomas Jefferson]] and became the second President of the United States. He broke with Hamilton and the ultra-Federalists, leaving him in a weak position as president. He lost to Jefferson in a bitter rematch in known 1800. His presidency was marked by the [[Quasi-War]] between the United States and France, the [[XYZ Affair]], the founding of the [[U.S. Navy]], the passage of [[Alien and Sedition Acts]], building a new national army, and an unexpected peace with France; as he left office he appointed numerous judges,most notably [[John Marshall]] as Chief Justice.
==Early life and political career==
John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in Braintree (now Quincy), [[Massachusetts]]. His father was also named John, his mother was Susanna Adams and one of his son sons was [[John Quincy Adams]], a later President president in his own right.
Adams attended [[Harvard]] and, after a stint as a schoolmaster in Worchester, Massachusetts, took up the practice of law in [[Boston]]. In 1765, Adams wrote tracts such as the Braintree Instructions, which argued against the [[British Stamp Act]]. His cousin, [[Samuel Adams]], attracted far more notice during the [[Stamp Act ]] crisis, leading demonstrations and using far more colorful language (there would later be some confusion regarding John and Samuel. When John was sent to [[France]] by the [[Continental Congress]] on a [[diplomatic mission]], the French initially thought he was the "famous Adams," that is, Samuel Adams).
In the wake of the [[Boston Massacre]] in 1770, Boston's leaders prevailed on Adams to represent the British troops. He did so, arguing that all Englishmen deserved a vigorous defense. He pleading pleaded self defense, and won the case. He argued that Boston would be better served if many guilty persons escaped unpunished than if one innocent one suffered. It was, he maintained, of more importance to the community “that innocence should be protected, than...that guilt should be punished.”
In 1774, after the crisis brought on by the [[Boston Tea Party]] and the resulting [[Coercive Acts]], Adams became an advocate for American independence. Adams was one of Massachusetts’s representatives to the Continental Congress. He attracted the notice of other delegates at the [[Second Continental Congress]] as one of the first to argue for independence.
After Jefferson left office in 1809 he and Adams resumed their cordial friendship, and exchanged a series of highly insightful letters.
He died July 4, 1826 at the age of 90 in Quincy, Massachusetts only a few hours after the death of Jefferson. The day marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Only one signer of the Declaration ([[Charles Carrollof Carrollton]]) outlived him.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/people/pa/John_Adams.html</ref>.
== Legacy ==
In a October 2000 survey of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science, President John Adams was grouped in the "Above Average" group, ranked 13th, with a mean score of 3.36 out of 5.00. <ref>Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House (New York, Wall Street Journal Book, 2004)</ref>
It was John Adams whose quote has been inscribed upon the mantle in the White House
dinning dining room:<blockquote>'''"I Pray Heaven to Bestow the Best Blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. Let none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."''' <ref>[[God and the Oval Office]], by John C. McCollister, W Publishing Group, 2005.</ref></blockquote>
==Notable Quotes==
*'''“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.”'''
*John Adams also said another time "Ask me not whether I am Protestant, Calvinistic or Armenian, as far as they are Christians, I wish to be a fellow disciple with them all." <ref> [[''[[God and the Oval Office'']] '' by John C. McCollister, W Publishing Group, 2005. </ref>
*"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."<ref>John Adams, ''Argument in Defense of the Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials,'' December 1770 [http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/3235.html The Quotations Page] </ref>
*"The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty" <ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=E9TOxypjZY4C&pg=PA70&dq=The+only+maxim+of+a+free+government+ought+to+be+to+trust+no+man+living+with+power+to+endanger+the+public+liberty&ei=1AMFSq7hLZ3AzASr9dWUAw John Adams - Page 70]</ref>
*"[The Declaration of Independence] That it laid There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianitysword." <ref>[http://booksThe other is by debt.google.com/books?id=tkv9CjTLqhsC&pg=PA6&dq=human+government+upon+the+first+precepts+of+Christianity&ei=zpb1S4jiMIncNdmLyZwJ&cd=4#v=onepage&q=human%20government%20upon%20the%20first%20precepts%20of%20Christianity&f=false Rediscovering God in America ” - Page 6, Newt Gingrich]</ref>1826
==see also==* "You have [[Federalist Partyunalienable rights|rights]]* antecedent to all earthly [[government]]s; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the [[Abigail AdamsGod|Great Legislator of the Universe]]."
==Further readingNotes==*see the detailed Bibliography below<references/> ==References==
* Diggins, John Patrick. ''John Adams: The American Presidents Series''(2003) [http://www.amazon.com/John-Adams-Presidents-Patrick-Diggins/dp/0805069372/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208831547&sr=1-6 excerpt and text search]
* Ellis, Joseph J. ''Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams'' (2001) [http://www.amazon.com/Passionate-Sage-Character-Legacy-Adams/dp/0393311333/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208831547&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
* Paul Finkelman, Paul, ed. ''Encyclopedia of the New American Nation, 1754–1829'' (2005), 1600 pp.
* Larson, Edward J. ''A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign.'' (2007). 333 pp. on 1800 [http://www.common-place.org/vol-08/no-03/reviews/opal.shtml online review]
* McCullough, David. ''John Adams'' (2001), 768pp; popular best seller and base of the 2008 PBS series TV miniseries [http://www.amazon.com/John-Adams-David-McCullough/dp/141657588X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208831385&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
==Bibliography==
* Aldridge, A. Owen. "John Adams: Pioneer American Conservative," ''Modern Age'' Volume 44, Number 3; Summer 2002 [http://www.mmisi.org/ma/44_03/aldridge.pdf online edition]
==ReferencesSee also==<small><references/></small>* [[Federalist Party]]* [[Abigail Adams]]
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{{USVicePresidents}}
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