The Life of John Adams - Research Paper Example

His father was a man of simple origins, but his mother Susanna Boylston Adams hailed from a very prestigious and elite family. As a bright and hardworking boy, he managed to enter Harvard in 1755. He started his career as school teacher and switched to study law under James Putnam. He served as successful lawyer in Boston for a decade. John Adams married Abigail Smith (1744-1818) and fathered four, the eldest of whom is John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States of America. The couple shared a unique intellectual companionship and the letters exchanged between them are preserved till date as a strong proof for lovable camaraderie.

Contribution to the American Revolution John Adam plunged into politics angered by the oppressive acts of the British government like many other young men of his time. The Stamp Act of 1765, which ordered every legal document used in America should use only a stamped paper, produced in London, triggered wide spread agitations. A three member team including John Adams petitioned against the act and made it repealed in 1766. Adams rose in popularity when he defended Captain Thomas Preston in the Boston Massacre case.

Adams influence grew with time and he became an important delegate of Continental Congress. At 1776, he became the chairman of the Continental Board of War and Ordnance. He travelled to Paris in 1778 where he aided Benjamin Franklin in pursuing France to help America fighting against Britain. He came back in 1779 and started writing the Boston state constitution very famous for its Bill of Rights. Adam travelled to Netherland and stayed there for nearly two years. He managed to raise a loan of one millions four hundred thousand dollars to support the revolution back home.

This funding played a prominent role in the success of the revolution. He acted as the main instrumental diplomat in faming the Treaty of Paris (1783) which officially ended the American Revolution. Adams made sure the United States held the rights for North Atlantic fishing during the treaty negotiations. He was influential in raising a huge amount of Dutch loan which helped the country face its first elections. He also framed various trade treaties with European countries other than British to maintain steady economy in the new nation.

John Adams Presidency John Adams returned back to the new nation of his dreams the Independent United States of America nearly after ten years of staying abroad. He was made the Vice President of the country in honour of his service. He published several works during this period including Thoughts on Government, Discourses on Davila and many other newspaper articles2. After George Washington served two terms as President John Adams succeeded him as the second President of America. The White House was in its initial stage of construction then.

John Adams became the first President to reside there with his family. John Adams term of Presidency posed enormous challenges. The French Revolution was viewed upon as a great progressive step in the history of mankind by the Republicans and Thomas Jefferson. But, John Adams just viewed it as "a mob rule, violence and terror and eventually the establishment of a despotic government ruled by a single person".3 As a result John Adams sent two commissions to France to work out a treaty with the French known as the XYZ affair, causing great displease among his colleagues.

The Alien and Sedition