(Brief Biography)

John Adams was born and raised in what would become the state of Massachusetts. He was a Harvard-educated lawyer. As a lawyer, prior to the Revolutionary War, which allowed for the creation of the United States, he successfully defended a group of British soldiers in their trial, when they were charged with the murder of unarmed colonists in the Boston Massacre. Essentially, he was defending British soldiers (A.K.A., the enemy of American Independence). He chose to do this out of his obligation as an honest lawyer, to try and defend the rights of his clients.


Adams was elected to both the First and Second Continental Congresses as a Delegate. There, he advocated for American Independence from Great Britain. He also served as a Diplomat (an official representing a country abroad) in France and Holland during the Revolutionary War, seeking financial (money) support from countries who were enemies of Great Britain, hoping their support would help the Colonial Armies successfully fight against the British.


Adams, along with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, was a principal writer of the Declaration of Independence.

John Adams ran against George Washington in the first Presidential Election held in the newly-established United States of America. Washington won the election with a unanimous Electoral College vote, and Adams came in second in the voting. Adams served as George Washington’s Vice President, because at the time, the Constitution called for the runner-up in the Presidential Election to be Vice President.


During his two terms as Vice President under Washington, he complained to his wife, Abigail Adams, that as Vice President, he didn’t have much to do, because the role of Vice President, under the Constitution, gave him so little to do. This is a feeling that many other subsequent (later) Vice Presidents have felt. Many who have served in this office thought that the position was only a ceremonial one, and didn’t really have any political power.

This is, for the most part, true, except in the case when there is an equal number of Democratic and Republican votes in the Senate on a legislative (law) item. In this case, when a vote is tied, the Vice President gets to cast the deciding vote, and would, as one would expect nowadays, vote in the way the President prefers the vote to go. When Congress is in session, the Vice President presides over the Senate to make sure rules of order are followed. This means that the Vice President uses a gavel (like a wooden hammer) to call the Senate to order, and has a microphone to recognize (call on) Senators to speak one at a time, taking turns between political parties. Additionally, the Vice President becomes President if the President should die, or becomes incapacitated (unable to do the job). This has happened several times in U.S. History. In other words, many U.S. Vice Presidents have gone on to become President, for these reasons, or because they had served as a Vice President for a President whose terms had ended. (15 V.P.’s in total have become President, as of 2020)


After George Washington declined to run for a third term as President, John Adams became the next, and second person to be elected to the highest office in the U.S. Government. He served just one four-year term. He was defeated in the next Presidential Election by Thomas Jefferson, who had served as Adams’ Vice President. A quote attributed to John Adams was, “People and nations are forged in the fires of adversity.”

Sources:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-in-the-presidents-neighborhood-faq
https://www.biography.com/us-president
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents

-Compiled by Henry Anker-