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People of the Revolutionary War | Patriots of the American Revolution | John Adams
John Adams (1735-1826)
Vice President John Adams by
John Singleton Copley,
April 29, 1789
(Courtesy of the
Harvard University Collection)
> John Adams Quest for Abolition
of Slavery
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.
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