2. JOHN ADAMS (Don't slander me)
Born: October 30, 1735, Braintree, Massachusetts
Died: July 4, 1826, Braintree, Massachusetts
Term: March 4, 1797- March 4, 1801
Political Party: Federalist
Vice President: Thomas Jefferson
First Lady: Abagail Smith Adams
Before the Presidency: John Adams grew up comfortably in rural Massachusetts. His father insisted on his education in hopes that he would join the ministry but Adams, who would become well educated, had other ideas. He taught for a time before entering law school. Launching his legal career in 1758, he gradually built up a reputable law practice in Boston and would be called upon to defend the British soldiers accused of killing Crispus Attucks in the Boston Massacre of 1770. This, of course, did not go well with his more radical cousin, Samuel Adams.
Adams was a reluctant participant in the events leading to the American Revolution. He didn’t believe the British meant any malice with their tax laws. Still, he assisted the popular movement and, in time, began to side with the radicals on the independence issue.
Adams was chosen as one of four delegates from Massachusetts to attend the Continental Congress in 1774. It would be Adams who nominated George Washington to be Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. Adams was also one of a group called on to create what would be known as the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Very active in his work, he was sent to France in 1778 to procure help in their quest for independence. He returned for a brief period in 1779 to help draft the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780.
After the war, he remained in Europe where he was busy creating trade treaties with various nations.
A prolific writer, Adams was a believer in the separation of powers and wrote essays based on that premise.
Adams returned to the US in 1788 in hopes he could be elected as Washington’s Vice President. He was elected and would serve two terms in that capacity. As such, he would be considered the heir apparent to Washington once the latter retired.
Summary of offices held:
1774-1778: Member of the Continental Congress
1778-1785: American Diplomat to France and Europe in general
1785-1788: American minister to England
1789-1797: First Vice President of the United States
What was going on: The XYZ affair, The Alien and Sedition acts, the French quasi-war.
Scandals within the administration: The XYZ affair
Why he was a good President: Like Washington before him, Adams was a man of impeccable character. He was known for his blunt candor and, despite the crises that would fall before him, he led the country with a steady hand.
Why he was a bad President: It basically comes down to the Alien and Sedition Acts. By 1798 there was enough anti-French hysteria going on that Adams, in his infinite reasoning, decided to fight the wages of tyranny by becoming a tyrant himself. It was against the law to criticize the President as a result of these laws, and it would certainly lead to Adams’ own downfall in the 1800 election.
What could have saved his Presidency: A less radical approach to the French situation and perhaps an olive branch to the opposition Democrat- Republicans couldn’t have hurt either.
What could have destroyed his Presidency: Well, it wasn’t exactly destroyed but a loss in the French Quasi-War certainly would have been disastrous. Enforcing the Sedition Acts more than he did would not have been a wise move either (As if the acts themselves were wise to begin with).
Election of 1796: With Washington retiring, Adams all but considered himself the heir apparent. Of course, the Democrat-Republicans had other ideas. They weren’t going to be giving Adams a free pass like they had Washington. Instead, they nominated Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr to run against Adams and Thomas Pinckney. Again, they weren’t running mates as of yet. The winner got the Presidency; second place got the Vice Presidency and that was that. 1796 may also be the first instance of actual mudslinging. No one dared to throw dirt on Washington but with Adams and Jefferson, it was fair game. Jefferson was accused of being a Francophile at a time when that wasn’t cool as well as being accused of being an atheist (a ploy that is still used to this day). With Adams, it was divide and conquer season as ally Alexander Hamilton was accused of playing Machiavellian politics in support of Pinckney. In the end, Adams won in a squeaker over Jefferson, who would become Vice President.
First term: The Adams term was dominated by the troubles with Franco-American relations. It was at the point where Adams had to form a militia in case the Americans went to war with France, which they would unofficially do in 1798. Things really exploded in the fall of 1797 when the XYZ affair was brought to Adams’s attention. He had sent three diplomats to try to mend fences with Foreign Minister Talleyrand in Paris only to be told they had to pay bribes to see him. This, needless to say, didn’t go well with Adams. The Department of the Navy was formed in the Spring of 1798, again, in preparations for war with France. He also pushed through the controversial Alien and Sedition acts which did several things, notably barring the French from entering America, making permanent citizenship harder, and making it a crime to publicly criticize the President. This would, of course, be Adams’ death knell, and even some military successes against France in what would be known as the Quasi War couldn’t save his Presidency.
Election of 1800: It goes without saying that President Adams was in heap of trouble upon this election. His policy against France was not popular though some was hoping the war would continue for their own political reasons. The Quasi War would ultimately end in a stalemate.
Meanwhile, the parties began to show real differences. The Jefferson led Republicans were now emphasizing less government, sort of a libertarian bent really. The Federalists, of course, more than overplayed their hands with the Alien and Sedition acts and the Republicans strongly emphasized their opposition to that as tyranny not unlike what the British had done a generation earlier. Indeed, the Federalists were splintering over the French issue themselves with Hamilton all but turning against Adams. The rumors that Hamilton was out to stop Adams was all but true in this election and he publicly spoke against the President (somehow, he avoided prosecution). Hamilton tried to convince the Federalists to vote for the Vice Presidential candidate, Charles Pinckney, but that scheme backfired. Neither Adams nor Pinckney would see the White House, now in Washington, come next year. It would be up to the House to determine the next President of the United States, but we’ll cover that later. What was true was that John Adams goes down as the first incumbent to lose a re-election bid.
Post Presidency: Now out of the White House, Adams settled for a quiet family life in Braintree with his wife and children. He continued to write and would reconcile with his former friend, former nemesis, Thomas Jefferson, also now retired from public life. The late friendship of two former Presidents was something of a rarity in American History ( I can only think of Ford and Carter for a comparable example). Indeed, both would barely make it to the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams dying that evening. Allegedly, his last words were, “Thomas Jefferson lives.” Adams couldn’t have possibly known Jefferson himself had died just hours before.
Odd notes: According to a biography by David McCollough, Adams was known as a bad dancer
Final Summary: With France and the domestic impact at home taking up most of his time, Adams could not have been the happiest President in history. He did a reasonably decent job as Commander in Chief given that he never actually served in a military capacity. As mentioned, he did manage to fight France to a stalemate. Of course, what really sunk him was the very undemocratic Alien and Sedition Acts (for comparison, check out Woodrow Wilson’s Sedition and Espionage Acts and, to a lesser extent, Bush’s Patriot Act). Otherwise, domestically speaking, he didn’t do anything all that terrible.
But he didn’t exactly set the world on fire either, then again, maybe if he had nuclear weapons…
Overall rating: C-
https://millercenter.org/president/adams