John Adams

John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain. During the latter part of the Revolutionary War and in the early years of the new nation, he served the Continental Congress of the United States as a senior diplomat in Europe. Adams was the first person to hold the office of vice president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with important contemporaries, including his wife and advisor Abigail Adams and his friend and rival Thomas Jefferson.

A lawyer and political activist prior to the Revolution, Adams was devoted to the right to counsel and presumption of innocence. He defied anti-British sentiment and successfully defended British soldiers against murder charges arising from the Boston Massacre. Adams was a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress and became a leader of the revolution. He assisted Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and was its primary advocate in Congress. As a diplomat, he represented the United States in France and the Netherlands during the war. He helped negotiate the peace treaty with Great Britain, secured Dutch loans for the American government, and was the first United States ambassador to Great Britain. Adams was the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which, with his other political writings, influenced the United States Constitution.

Adams was elected to two terms as vice president under President George Washington and was elected as the United States' second president in 1796 under the banner of the Federalist Party. Adams's term was dominated by the issue of the French Revolutionary Wars, and his insistence on American neutrality led to fierce criticism from both the Jeffersonian Republicans and from some in his own party, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts and built up the Army and Navy in an undeclared naval war with France. He was the first president to reside in the White House.

In his 1800 bid for reelection to the presidency, opposition from Federalists and accusations of despotism from Jeffersonians led to Adams losing to his vice president and former friend, Thomas Jefferson. After his defeat, he retired to Massachusetts. He eventually resumed his friendship with Jefferson by initiating a continuing correspondence. John Adams died on July 4, 1826 – the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The Adams political family included his son John Quincy Adams, the sixth president. Adams and his son are the only presidents of the first twelve who never owned slaves. Most historians have favorably ranked his administration. Adams held Unitarian religious views and moved closer to Enlightenment ideals in his later years.