Adam

8 Pages 1900 Words

Learned and thoughtful, John Adams
was more remarkable as a political
philosopher than as a politician.
"People and nations are forged in the
fires of adversity," he said, doubtless
thinking of his own as well as the
American experience.

Adams was born in the Massachusetts
Bay Colony in 1735. A
Harvard-educated lawyer, he early
became identified with the patriot
cause; a delegate to the First and
Second Continental Congresses, he
led in the movement for
independence.

During the Revolutionary War he served in France and Holland in
diplomatic roles, and helped negotiate the treaty of peace. From
1785 to 1788 he was minister to the Court of St. James's, returning
to be elected Vice President under George Washington.

Adams' two terms as Vice President
were frustrating experiences for a man
of his vigor, intellect, and vanity. He
complained to his wife Abigail, "My
country has in its wisdom contrived for
me the most insignificant office that
ever the invention of man contrived or
his imagination conceived."

When Adams became President, the war between the French and
British was causing great difficulties for the United States on the
high seas and intense partisanship among contending factions within
the Nation.

His admini...