American History Assignment

John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts Bay, British America to the late John Adams Sr and Susanna Boylston. Adams was the first child of three children brother to the late Elihu Adams and Peter Adams. John Adam senior was a descendant of Henry Adam, English emigrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638. His farmer was a farmer, town councilman, and the deacon of the congressional church. His mother, Susanna Boylston Adams, was a descendant of a prominent loyal family of Boylston of Brookline in colonial Massachusetts.

At the age of 16, John Adams earned a scholarship to study law at Harvard University. As an enthusiast scholar, John keenly studied the work of prominent scholars such as Plato, Cicero, Thucydides, and Tacitus. Despite his father's desire for John to enter Ministry, John studied law in the office of James Putnam, a prominent city lawyer. John earned his master's degree in 1758 and became admitted to the bar at the age of 23. After completing his studies at Harvard University, John began the habit of writing about events and impressions of statemen like James Otis Jr (1761).

John Adams married the late Abigail Smith on October 25, 1764. Together they had six children, namely Abigail (1765), John Quincy (1767), Susanna (1768), Charles (1770), Thomas Boylston (1772), and Elizabeth (1777). Political interest regularly separated Adams from his family. Drawing inspiration from Otis, Adams chanted his cause of the American colonies. In 1965, John Adams identified himself with patriot cause from official opposition of the 1965 Stamp Act. Adams expository “Canon and Feudal,” a response to the act by British Parliament, was published in Boston Gazette. John alluded that, “Stamp Act taxed people without consent and subjected them to be tried by a jury of peers.” Following heated debates after two months, John denounced Stamp Act publicly in a speech delivered to the council and governor of Massachusetts. Aware of the political quagmire, John refused to be drawn to mob actions and public demonstration by Samuel Adams.

Adams moved to Boston in April 1768 to enhance his political career. In 1770, Adams presented British soldiers in a lawsuit for killing five civilians (Boston Massacre). Moved by the defense for people right, Adam argued that in a fair trial, every person deserves attorney representation. During the trial, Adams blamed the rowdy mob. The jury found two of the eight soldiers guilty and convicted them for manslaughter, while six were acquitted. His defense prowess enhanced his reputation as a generous, courageous, and fair man. In 1774, Adams was elected to the Massachusetts Assembly and was among the five representatives of the colony in Continental Congress.

After the election of George Washington as president in 1789, Adam became the designated vice president a position he didn’t cherish due to limited sway on Washington on legal and political issues. In 1796, Adam became a Federalist nominee for president. Adam won the election to become the second president of the United States by a narrow margin. His greatest achievement is diplomatic intervention on war ranging between British and French. When negotiation failed, the nation broke out in favor of war. However, Adam didn’t declare war, a move that caused his political career.

After losing his re-election bid in 1800, Adam lived quietly with his wife Abigail on the family farm in Quincy. Adams enjoyed his life to the fullest until July 4, 1826, when he died at his home in Quincy for heart failure. The funeral service took place on July 7, 1826, at United First Parish Church, where family buried Adam's remain at Adams's family vault.