John Adams had an important role in the events that preceded the American Revolution, as a constitutional lawyer. His knowledge of law makes him a key figure in the revolt. He wrote several essays, memoirs and legal resolutions against taxation and the UK regulators.
In August 1765, he contributed anonymously to several articles which appeared in the Boston Gazette and develops the idea that opposition to the Stamp Act (1765) is directly linked to Protestantism brought by the Puritan’s to New England in the seventeenth century. Adams says that the new fees should be waived with the consent of the people, he also asserts the right to be judged by his peers. He wrote the Braintree Instructions in which he defends the rights and freedoms of settlers. In December 1765, he delivered a speech to the governor and council of the colony in which he said the Stamp Act is invalid due to lack of representation of American colonists to the British Parliament.
In 1768, he moved to Boston and two years later, on 5 March 1770, he showed moral courage in defending an officer and seven British soldiers accused of the death of five settlers during the “Boston Massacre”. His courageous and patriotic conduct allows him to be elected member of Massachusetts delegation at the meeting of the colony’s.
He is a member of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1778. In 1775, he supported the union of settlements and approved the appointment of George Washington as chief of the Continental Army. His influence in Congress is important and, almost from the outset, he supports the separation of the colonies and Great Britain. In 1775 Congress created the first of a series of naval affairs committees. Adams is an ardent supporter of the U.S. Navy, which he is often regarded as the father.
In 1776 he published a pamphlet entitled Thoughts on Government, which inspired the constitutions of several states. The same year he endorsed the famous resolution introduced by Richard Henry Lee on the right of the colonies to be free and independent and he was appointed June 11, along with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Livingston and Sherman to the Drafting Committee of the American Declaration of Independence. In reality, it was Thomas Jefferson who wrote most of the text, although John Adams occupied an important position in the debate on its adoption.
In 1777, John Adams is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace treaty and trade with Britain. Contrary to his instructions he deals directly with the British without reference to the French government ally. Adams seeks in particular to obtain fishing rights on the coasts of Anglo America. Given the political climate he gets interesting conditions. Adams is sent to the Netherlands where he received recognition from the United States as an independent government and negotiates the peace treaty and trade following the one signed in 1778 with France.
In 1785, he was appointed ambassador to Britain. Adams is presented to King George III who understood his distrust of the French Government and replies “I have to say to your majesty that my only loyalty is to my own country,” a phrase that has been particularly irritating to the sovereign. He published a book on the Constitution of the United States where he attacked the ideas of those who defend the central government. However he is not particularly appreciated by his countrymen because of his ideas on “the rich, the well-born and capable”, which must receive a special place in national assemblies. This is probably why he does not receive a portion of the votes of the electors at the first presidential election in 1788, where he was elected Vice-President (George Washington is elected president) and he takes his office on 21 April 1789. Both men were re-elected to the same office in 1792.
George Washington refused to stand for a third term, and on 3 November 1796, Adams was elected president to face Thomas Jefferson, who became his vice president.
Works Cited:
Brown, Ralph A. The Presidency of John Adams. (1988).
