Its Hard To Live Up To Number One

The second president of the United States was a man of short stature, who came from the New England state of Massachusetts.  John Adams was the son of John and Susanna Boylston Adams.  He married his wife Abigail Smith in 1764 and they had four children:  Abigail "Nabby" Adams, John Quincy Adams (who went on to become our sixth president), Charles Adams, and Thomas Boylston Adams. 

John Adams was educated at Joseph Cleverly's Latin School.  He went on to study at Harvard College.  And after graduation he studied law under James Putnam.  As a lawyer, he defended the British during the trial for the Boston Massacre.  Although some felt that he was a traitor, he did what he felt was right and was able to get most of the British soldiers off and the ones who ended up being found guilty were only found guilty of manslaughter. 

In 1770, he was in the Massachusetts legislature.  By 1774, he was a member of the Continental Congress.  He served as a diplomat to France, the Netherlands, and Great Britain.  He was Vice President under our first President, George Washington.

As a presidential nominee, he ran against our third president, Thomas Jefferson.  It was a tedious election, but it was determined that Adams had won.  His cabinet consisted of:  Secretary of State (1) Timothy Pickering (2) John Marshall; Secretary of the Treasury (1) Oliver Wolcott (2) Samuel Dexter; Secretary of War (1) James McHenry (2) Samuel Dexter; Attorney General Charles Lee; and Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddard.

During his service as President, his administration had to deal with the XYZ Affair, the Logan Act, the Alien and Sedition Acts, Fries Rebellion, and his midnight appointments.

With a twist of fate, John Adams passed away on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1826.  But he wasn't alone on that date, Thomas Jefferson also passed away that day.

John Adams was a very good president and probably would be rated much higher than he gets rated, but he stood in the shadows of our first president.  No one believed that he was anywhere near as good as Washington and because of that, he lost his bid for a second term.  But if we stop and look at what Adams did during his administration, away from Washington, one would see a very determined man, who took his job seriously and wanted nothing more than to improve this nation.