2) John Adams - Father of the Navy

Following George Washington’s biography it is striking how different the second president of the United States was from the first. Washington was a farmer from Virginia, Adams a lawyer from outside Boston. Washington was a remarkably profligate consumer while Adams was prudent in the management of his personal finances. Washington was reserved, Adams was outspoken. Washington left the United States only very briefly as a young man while Adams spent much of his political career representing his country in Europe. Washington spent almost the entirety of his public life revered, while Adams often felt unappreciated by his contemporaries.

Abigail and John, often pictured in their later years, are
depicted here aged 22 and 31, respectively.

The beginning of Adams’ career is surprising to the uninitiated. While British resentment was simmering in Massachusetts, John Adams defended the Redcoat perpetrators in court much to the chagrin of his cousin, Samuel Adams. Ironically, Adam’s successful defense of the British soldiers made him an attractive choice to counteract the perception of Massachusetts’s delegation as a bunch of radicals. Once in Philadelphia, it was Adams that arguably led the divided Congress toward acceptance of independence.

After the Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence, on which Adams worked closely with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Adam’s public duties took him to Europe where he served as an American diplomat in France, the Netherlands, and England. While in France he clashed with Benjamin Franklin whom Adams felt wasn’t a strong enough advocate for the American cause.

Common (American) knowledge says that John and Abigail’s marriage was extremely close and loving. While their numerous correspondences do show that they loved each other deeply and that Abigail made many thoughtful and insightful contributions to John’s political thinking, John Ferling paints a picture of John Adams as a largely absent father and husband. John’s many years spent in Philadelphia and Europe caused him to miss the childhood of his children and signs of the strain this put on his marriage are evident in some of the letters written by Abigail and by the amount of time that passed between letters Adams was alone in France (Abigail later joined him).

The election of George Washington as the first president of the United States was never in doubt, yet Adam’s felt the office of Vice Presidency was beneath him. He served nonetheless, and probably never truly considered rejecting the post. After Washington’s two terms, Adams was elected and served one term in what is often considered a flawed presidency. Despite some signs of Adams’s lack of political acumen, such as his retention of Washington’s cabinet which was more loyal to Alexander Hamilton than himself, the action that likely cost Adams a second term was his most important action as president. During the Quasi War with France, Adams resisted political pressure to declare war on France and was able to prevent American involvement in a largely European conflict that surely would have been grueling for the young republic. Adams was bitter about the effect this had on his popularity and his ability to secure reelection in 1800, but to his credit he did not second guess his decision to avoid war with France which is evident in his request for his gravestone to read 'Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility of peace with France in the year 1800.'

I think that John Adams’ defeat in the 1800 election is sufficiently explained in my prior post ‘A Saturday Interview.’ Following that defeat Adams' largely withdrew from public life despite living for another quarter century. The letters that resulted from the rekindling of his friendship with Thomas Jefferson are the most enduring part of John’s legacy to come from this period of his life.

In addition to an outline of Adams’s life, Ferling’s biography presented some interesting information on life in America in the late 18^th century. For example, at the time that Adams went to Harvard only ½ of 1% of American men and no women attended college. Ferling also explained the solitary and dangerous method by which people were inoculated against small pox wherein the patient was exposed to a small amount of small pox via an incision. The illness was then allowed to run its course as the patient was quarantined sometimes with others who were inoculated. 

Ferling also helped the reader to better understand Adams, teaching us about Adams’s belief that an under-and-over class and subsequent class warfare was unavoidable in a society and that a governing legislature should be designed in such a way as to represent both classes and alleviate tensions. Readers also learned about the guilt Adams felt at having never served in the military, going so far as to appear in military uniform during public appearances during the Quasi War with France.

While historians seem to agree that Adams is not one of America’s great presidents, his greatness is evident in his respect for the rule of law, his work at the Continental Congress, and his fierce independence and thus avoidance of full-scale military conflict with France during the Quasi War. After reading Ferling’s biography, I would argue that Adams was instrumental in Congress’s acceptance of separation from England and the structure of the subsequent American government. So if it is decided that Adams was not a great president, I’d say that Adams was still a crucially important founder and a great American.