John Adams (October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826) was the second President of the United States (1797 - 1801), after serving eight years as the nation's first vice president under George Washington. A Massachusetts lawyer and one of the most forceful voices for independence in the Continental Congress, Adams helped draft the Declaration of Independence, negotiated the Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War, and served as the first American minister to Great Britain.
Early life and the Revolution
Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, Adams graduated from Harvard College in 1755 and built a successful law practice. He first came to public attention opposing the Stamp Act of 1765, and famously defended the British soldiers charged in the Boston Massacre, insisting that even unpopular defendants deserved counsel. In the Continental Congress he argued relentlessly for separation from Britain, seconded the nomination of George Washington to command the Continental Army, and served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence.
During and after the war Adams represented the United States in France, the Netherlands, and Britain. He secured Dutch loans for the young republic and, with Benjamin Franklin and John Jay, negotiated the Treaty of Paris of 1783.
Vice presidency and election of 1796
Adams spent two terms as Washington's vice president, a job he described to his wife Abigail as "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived." In 1796 he won the presidency as a Federalist, narrowly defeating Thomas Jefferson, who under the rules of the time became his vice president. It remains the only administration in which the president and vice president came from opposing parties by operation of the electoral system.
The Adams presidency
Foreign policy dominated his single term. When French warships began seizing American merchant vessels, Adams sent envoys to Paris; French agents demanded bribes before talks could begin, a scandal known as the XYZ Affair. The countries fell into an undeclared naval conflict, the Quasi-War of 1798 - 1800. Adams built up the navy, founded the Department of the Navy and the Marine Corps, and then, against the wishes of his own party, made peace with Napoleon's France in the Convention of 1800.
The low point of his presidency was the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, which restricted immigrants and criminalized criticism of the government. The laws were widely seen as aimed at Jeffersonian newspapers and remain a standing lesson in the fragility of press freedom.
In November 1800 Adams became the first president to occupy the new President's House in Washington, D.C., writing to Abigail: "May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."
Defeat and long retirement
Adams lost the bitter election of 1800 to Jefferson and retired to his farm in Quincy. In later years he and Jefferson repaired their friendship in one of the great correspondences in American letters. Both men died on July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Adams's last words are traditionally reported as "Thomas Jefferson survives"; Jefferson had in fact died a few hours earlier.
His son John Quincy Adams became the sixth president in 1825, making the Adamses the first father and son to hold the office.
Highlights of the Adams presidency
- The XYZ Affair (1797 - 1798) and the Quasi-War with France.
- Birth of the U.S. Navy. The Department of the Navy was created in 1798 and warships like the USS Constitution first put to sea in force.
- Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), the most controversial laws of the Federalist era.
- Peace with France (1800), which split his party but averted a full war.
- First resident of the White House and the first president succeeded by a political opponent in a peaceful transfer of power.
Read his words on this site: Inaugural Address (1797).