John Adams

John Adams

         John Adams was a very interesting character, born in 1735 on Braintree, Massachussets, he eventually became the second president of the United States.  He graduated from Harvard,  taught school for a year but didn't like it. Later he studied law and became a lawyer. He was a man of straight morals, and thought that every man should have a fair trial. He bravely defended the British soldiers who were accused of murdering Crispus Attucks at the Boston Massacre.  3 of the 5 soldiers were acquitted, and the other 2 were charged the the lower charge of manslaughter.

      John adams wrote speeches for independence from England on the Second continental Congress. The Congress voted for independence, which meant they were going to war. John thought they would need help from the South and George Washington was chosen to be the general of the continental army. John Adams was one of the five people asked to write the Declaration of Independence, even though most of it was written by Thomas Jefferson. John was one of the 56 men who signed it.  He participated in the framing of a constitution for Massachusetts. In 1781 he worked along Benjamin Franklin in the development of the Treaty of Peace, and signed the treaty that ended the revolutionary War of 1783.

     John had an interesting ongoing dispute with another important character of the revolution, Thomas Jefferson. Adams was a federalist, automatically making him Jefferson's rival. This rivalry surfaced many times, interestingly enough, when they were both presidents. On his later life he was elected President of a convention to reform the constitution of Massachusetts, but declined, because his health we declining. His death was something curious. Both Jefferson and Adams dies on the same day (July 4, 1826) His final toast to the 4th of July : "Independence forever!'. Some of his last words? "Thomas Jefferson survives" unaware the his rival had died just hours earlier.