1 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: On this episode of This World. The lives of these 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,320 Speaker 1: men are essential to understand the American form of government 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: and our ideals of liberty. The Founding Fathers all played 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,799 Speaker 1: key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and 5 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: in the creation of the government of the United States 6 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: of America. And now the life of John Adams, we're 7 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: going to talk about probably the most misunderstood of the 8 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: Founding Fathers, John Adams. Adams is a little bit of 9 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: an odd duck, partly because he's from New England, which 10 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: at that time was just very different from either New 11 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: York or Virginia. Partly because Adams himself was really really smart, 12 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: but he was very argumentative and he was very blunt. 13 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: He also had enormous courage. Adams had really developed over 14 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: time a view of British as a tyranny. He didn't 15 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: arrive at it immediately. He was also, of all of 16 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: the Founding Fathers, probably the one who believed the most 17 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: deeply in the rule of law, and in fact, one 18 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: of the most creative and courageous parts of his life 19 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: was his willingness to defend the British soldiers who were 20 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 1: charged with murder during the Boston Massacre. It was very 21 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: unpopular in Boston because there was sort of a lynch 22 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: mob desire to just you know, hang them, and Adams said, no, 23 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,120 Speaker 1: I mean, this whole thing is about the rule of law. 24 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: He ultimately wrote the Massachusetts Constitution, which served as a 25 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 1: model for the US Constitution, and he worked very, very 26 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: hard to knit together the country. He understood that Virginia, 27 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: as the biggest colony and then biggest state in population 28 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: and wealth, had to be at the center. But at 29 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: the same time he also realized that bringing all of 30 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: New England and really really mattered. And it's important to 31 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: remember that in this period, the idea of America is 32 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: a really sort of vague idea to most people. Most 33 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: people think themselves in terms of their colony, or later 34 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: on in terms of their state. On Adam's case, he 35 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: was born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. So it's again 36 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,079 Speaker 1: hard for us to look back and realize, but his 37 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: early life, starting in seventeen thirty five, he was born, 38 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: you know, he was English. He thought himself purely as 39 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: a colonist. He didn't think it was a nationalist. He 40 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: was educated at Harvard, the first university created the United States, 41 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: and gradually came to believe that the British were behaving 42 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,519 Speaker 1: in the manner of a dictatorship. And the real fight 43 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 1: here is overpower. It's not over money. The stamp tax 44 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: and other kinds of things are points they fight over, 45 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: but what they're really fighting over is the core question, 46 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 1: can the British Parliament sitting in London pass laws that 47 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:01,080 Speaker 1: affect directly people in the colonies. The colonies had become 48 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: increasingly independent and they were increasingly wealthy. By seventeen ninety 49 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,800 Speaker 1: they would have about three million people where Britain had 50 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 1: about five million, so they were really pretty big already, 51 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: and of course, given their geographic size, they were rapidly 52 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: going to pass Britain in size and ultimately in power. 53 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: So they're looking around thinking, wait a second, why is 54 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: this parliament sitting in London telling me what to do? 55 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: And why are they taking money out of my pocket? 56 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: And why are they rigging the trade laws to favor 57 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: the British and to hurt the Americans. So all these 58 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: things began to build a momentum of criticism in a 59 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: place like Boston, which had a very very busy port 60 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: and which had a trade which included the West Indies. 61 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: The fact is that they were subject to British regulation 62 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: in ways that very much disadvantaged the Boston sailors and 63 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: advantaged the British sailors. And so there was a resentment 64 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: both about regulations that was resemblent about Texes. But most 65 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: of all there was resembment about power, but where the 66 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: center of power ought to be. Adams is one of 67 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: those who comes to believe that in the end the 68 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: colonies have to become independent, and they recognize that to 69 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,239 Speaker 1: become independent they need all the colonies on the same side. 70 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,919 Speaker 1: Massachusetts by itself isn't big enough, isn't strong enough to 71 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:26,159 Speaker 1: take on the British. So I think it's important to 72 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: recognize that Adams and his cousin Samuel Adams, who is 73 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: more radical than John Adams, more of a populist, rabel rouser, 74 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: the kind of guy who would dress up like an 75 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: Indian and pro tea in the harbor, very very different. 76 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: John Adams is a scholar, he's an intellectual. He's a 77 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: man who operates in a law court. He doesn't operate 78 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 1: out in the street for arousing people. The other thing, 79 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: by the way, is that Adams's wife Abigail Adams is 80 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: the most famous, certainly the most literate, of the founding mothers, 81 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 1: and her letters to John are just amazing, and it's 82 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: very clear that she is sort of the archetype of 83 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: a modern woman. She operates independently. He is gone for 84 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: a long time, She's running the family farm. She is 85 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,799 Speaker 1: sending him advice on everything. She's very well educated. She's 86 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 1: just such a remarkable woman. Adams himself, born in Massachusetts 87 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: October thirtieth, seventeen thirty five, was the oldest son to 88 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:29,160 Speaker 1: John Adams Senior and Susannah Boylston. His father was a 89 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 1: deacon in the Congregational Church and earned a living as 90 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:36,119 Speaker 1: both a farmer and shoemaker in Braintree, Massachusetts. John wanted 91 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 1: to become a farmer, but his father said no, he 92 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,040 Speaker 1: had to get an education and hoped he'd become a minister, 93 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: which in that period was a very very prestigious position. 94 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: But Adams at fifteen, and it's useful to remember, by 95 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:51,360 Speaker 1: the way, that back then people went to college at 96 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:53,839 Speaker 1: a much younger age. They also went to work at 97 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:56,839 Speaker 1: a much younger age. In Adam's case, at fifteen. He's 98 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: off to college now from Braintree to Cambridge's own twelve miles, 99 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: but it's a very big twelve miles from rural farming 100 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: to the center of learning in America. At that time, 101 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 1: Adams was so anxiety written he almost went home, and 102 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 1: his diary he wrote quote, I at first resolved to 103 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: return home, but foreseeing the grief of my father and 104 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,599 Speaker 1: apprehending he would not only be offended with me, but 105 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: my master, to whom I sincerely loved, I aroused myself 106 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: and collected resolution enough to proceed. Also gives you sort 107 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,159 Speaker 1: of a flavor. This guy's a little bit pompous. He 108 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:36,359 Speaker 1: thinks about himself, he thinks about life. He is perfectly 109 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: at home. Once he gets used to Harvard, he excels academically, 110 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:43,040 Speaker 1: graduates in seventeen fifty five at the age of twenty. 111 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: But he doesn't want to be a clergyman, so he 112 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 1: decides instead to teach in a Latin school term tuition 113 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,239 Speaker 1: fees to study the law. Now, back then, you usually 114 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: studied the law by working with a lawyer. When they 115 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: talked about reading the law, that's what they literally meant. 116 00:06:57,839 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: You were in a law office and you were reading 117 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: all these law books. You were learning about the process 118 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:06,520 Speaker 1: and Adams becomes a lawyer. Now, he's not a very 119 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: good lawyer. He only had one client in his first year, 120 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: didn't win his first case until three years after he 121 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: opened his practice. And part of it is being a 122 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: lawyer in a small town requires a pleasing personality. Well, 123 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: Adams wasn't very big on pleasing anybody, including himself. These 124 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: represented sort of that curmudgeonly New England kind of religiosity 125 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: and as long as God was happy with him, what 126 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: does he care about the rest of us. But he 127 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: ins to had drawn into the politics of the time. 128 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: He spoke very much against the Stamp Act of seventeen 129 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: sixty five, which was the first effort by Parliament to 130 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: get money out of the Americans. I mean, here's what 131 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: had happened with the help of the Americans, the British 132 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:50,920 Speaker 1: one what they called the Seven Years War, what we 133 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: called the French Indian War. Now, the upside and downside 134 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: of that was they drove the French out of Canada. 135 00:07:57,520 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 1: It was an upside obviously because in Britain was dumb 136 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: it in all of North America. It was a downside 137 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: because it meant the Americans no longer looked to Great 138 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,400 Speaker 1: Britain to protect him because there was no overt threat 139 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: from France, and so the Americans kind of relaxed and thought, 140 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: you know, everything's peaceful, Why are you bothering us. The British, however, 141 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: had run up a huge debt and they were trying 142 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: to figure out a way to pay off their debt, 143 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: and they're thinking was, wait a second. You know, we 144 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: saved you from the French and the Indians. You owe us. 145 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: And the Americans are going, no, we don't. We volunteered, 146 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: we fought in the war. It's not our fault. You 147 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: guys are stupid, and it took longer than it should 148 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 1: have because of you. And the result was that the 149 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 1: Americans were unhappy to pay it and the British were 150 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: unhappy not to get paid. Well, that's sort of like 151 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 1: a bad marriage. By seventeen sixty five, Adams is writing 152 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: an anonymous essay in the Boston Dezette entitled A Dissertation 153 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,559 Speaker 1: on Cannon and Feudal Law. And this is what he wrote. 154 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,400 Speaker 1: It seems very manifest from the Stamp Act itself that 155 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: a design is formed top us in a great measure 156 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 1: of the means of knowledge by loading the press, the colleges, 157 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: and even an almanac in a newspaper with restraints and duties, 158 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 1: and to introduce the inequalities and dependencies of the feudal 159 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:15,719 Speaker 1: system by taking from the poorer sort of people all 160 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: their little subsistence and conferring on a set of stamp officers, distributors, 161 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: and their deputies. This is, by the way, the attitude 162 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 1: Americans will take to the Internal Revenue Service, and the 163 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: general attitude of Americans have had ever since, which is 164 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:32,800 Speaker 1: why has the government bothered me? I made the money. 165 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:34,520 Speaker 1: I want to keep the money. Why are you putting 166 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: your hand in my pocket? Now? Adams went on to 167 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: write the brain Tree Instructions, which were in opposition to 168 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: the Stamp Act. He presented it on September twenty fourth, 169 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty five, at the brain Tree Town Meeting, which 170 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: unanimously approved it. And this is a key thing, he says, 171 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 1: I notice this is about power. The tax itself is 172 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 1: just what they're fighting over. But the underlying core question 173 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 1: is where does power lie? This is what Adams wrote. 174 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 1: This is seventeen sixty five, now more than a decade 175 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: before we would declare independence quote, and we have always 176 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 1: understood it to be a grand and fundamental principle of 177 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: the British Constitution that no freeman should be subjected to 178 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:17,319 Speaker 1: any tax to which he has not given his own consent, 179 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: in person or by proxy. The paper was published in 180 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:25,360 Speaker 1: Draper's papers and in newspapers across Massachusetts. More than forty 181 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: towns endorsed and adopted it. Then, in October seventeen sixty five, 182 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: representatives from Massachusetts and eight other colonies met in New 183 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:36,839 Speaker 1: York for what was called the Stamp Act Congress. Using 184 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:41,079 Speaker 1: Adam's brain tree instructions and other resolutions across the colonies, 185 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania lawyer John Dickinson drafted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, 186 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: which was sent to George the Third. Now this again 187 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: is eleven years before we will declare our independence. In in 188 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 1: December eighteenth, seventeen sixty five diary entry, Adams called the 189 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: Stamp Act quote an enormous engine fabricated by the British 190 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: Parliament for battering down all the rights and liberties of America. 191 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:08,199 Speaker 1: Notice again, this is not about money. It is I 192 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:12,079 Speaker 1: want to repeat this, an enormous engine for battering down 193 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: all the rights and liberties of America. This is an 194 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: attitude about our rights and liberties which continues up to today. 195 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: It's why the Second Amendment fight is so deep. It's 196 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:23,160 Speaker 1: why the whole fight over the rule of law is 197 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: so deep. It's why the intrusion of government spying on 198 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 1: us aroused of such rage. The fact is Americans have 199 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: now for three hundred years, had this deep sense that 200 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 1: we are a free people and we deeply distrust any government. 201 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: The British passage of the towns in Acts in seventeen 202 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: sixty seven led to mob violence throughout the comments. On 203 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: March fifth, seventeen seventy, a group of British soldiers were 204 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: struck with snowballs, ice and stones. In the chaos, they 205 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 1: opened fire and shot five civilians. A few days later, 206 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,720 Speaker 1: Adams received a note from Captain Preston, who was in 207 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: jail and on trial for murder of several Boston citizens 208 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,280 Speaker 1: during the massacre. Preston asked Adams if he would defend 209 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,200 Speaker 1: him in court since no one else would agree to him. 210 00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 1: He says, not let me go to Adams because he's 211 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 1: the best lawyer around. He's let me go to Adams 212 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: because he's the only lawyer. Dumb enough to defend the British. Adams, 213 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: believing in the rule of law and the right to trial, 214 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 1: agreed to defend not only Captain Preston, but the eight 215 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:24,840 Speaker 1: other British soldiers charged with murder. Now think about this. 216 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:27,680 Speaker 1: You're the guy who's not a very successful lawyer anyway, 217 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,680 Speaker 1: but he's a great political writer. He's already having an 218 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: impact all the way across America with his writing. And now, 219 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: even though he's a patriot, even though he's been very, 220 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: very opposed to what the British are doing, he does 221 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:47,200 Speaker 1: something which confuses the average person, he agrees that he 222 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:52,079 Speaker 1: will defend these soldiers. During the week long trial, Adams 223 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,439 Speaker 1: argued that it was impossible to prove that Captain Preston 224 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:58,440 Speaker 1: had ordered his soldiers to fire. He brought in over 225 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: twenty two witnesses. Adams during the trial said quote, facts 226 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, 227 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: or our dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the 228 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: state of facts and evidence. It's a very powerful moment 229 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: because in the rule of law, the jury's job is 230 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: to determine the facts, not to determine the emotions. Adams 231 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: later around to say, quote, it is more important that 232 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,680 Speaker 1: innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished. 233 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 1: For guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world 234 00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:36,080 Speaker 1: that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself 235 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 1: has brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, 236 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 1: then the citizen will say whether I do good or 237 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: whether I do evil as immaterial, for innocence itself is 238 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: no protection close quote. There's seldom bit of better explanation 239 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: of why the rule of law matters. It is the 240 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: law which protects us from ourselves. It is the law 241 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 1: which protects us from the mob. It is the law 242 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: which protects us from a sudden wave of emotion. During 243 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,080 Speaker 1: the trial of the a British soldiers, Adams argued that 244 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,600 Speaker 1: they acted in self defense. Adams argued that since it 245 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 1: was unclear as to which soldier fired, quote, it's of 246 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 1: more importance to community that innocence should be protected than 247 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: it is that guilt should be punished. The jury acquitted 248 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: six of the eight soldiers, while two who fired directly 249 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 1: into the crowd were convicted of manslaughter. This is not 250 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:29,600 Speaker 1: an outcome anyone could have predicted at the beginning. What 251 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 1: Adams took on the trial on the third anniversary of 252 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: the Boston massacre March fifth, seventeen seventy three. Adams wrote 253 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 1: in his diary, quote, judgment of death against those soldiers 254 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,000 Speaker 1: would have been as foul as stain upon this country 255 00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: as the execution of the Quakers or witches. This, however, 256 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: is no reason why the town should not call the 257 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: action of that neither massacre, nor is it any argument 258 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,880 Speaker 1: in favor of the governor or a minister. Now notice 259 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:00,120 Speaker 1: his reference back to executing quakers and witches. Remembered that 260 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 1: Massachusetts had been the scene of the Salem Witchcraft trials, 261 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 1: a period of people allowing emotions to run amok, to 262 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,200 Speaker 1: create threats that did not really exist, to prosecute people 263 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: who clearly, in retrospect were innocent. There was a deep 264 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: feeling that controlling passion and doing what the law required 265 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,960 Speaker 1: in a calm and reasonable way was essential to avoid 266 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: the kind of injustice that the sale of witchcraft trials 267 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 1: had led to. Adams himself, hardly a shrinking Violet, later 268 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: called his defending of the British soldiers quote one of 269 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: the most gallant, generous, manly, and disinterested actions of my 270 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: whole life and one of the best pieces of service 271 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: I ever rendered my country. As you can tell, Adams 272 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,880 Speaker 1: is not a man of modesty or what we might 273 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: have called somebody who was hiding his talents. He was, 274 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: in fact quite cheerful about telling you how great he was. 275 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,920 Speaker 1: He lost about half of his Boston law practice by 276 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: defending the British soldiers, but I think he looked back 277 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,200 Speaker 1: and thought that was exactly right. Now. This did not 278 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: mean he was pro British, and then he was pro 279 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:28,760 Speaker 1: the rule of law. And you can tell that because 280 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: shortly after this period he ends up in April seventeen 281 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: seventy six writing Thoughts on Government in response to a 282 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: resolution of the North Carolina Provincial Congress. In it, he 283 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: outlined why he believed three branches of government was necessary. Quote. 284 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: Representation of the people in one assembly being obtained. A 285 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: question arises whether all the powers of government, legislative, executive, 286 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: and judicial shall be left in this body. I think 287 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 1: a people cannot be long free, nor ever have whose 288 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: government is in one assembly. Close quote. It's important remember 289 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 1: that the founding fathers were very skeptical of the rule 290 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 1: of the mob. They thought that the lesson of Athens 291 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: had been that when you have a pure democracy, that 292 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: passion influences it, that no one is safe, and then 293 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: the moment of passion, anyone can be killed, or anyone 294 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:24,680 Speaker 1: can have their property taken away. And as a result, 295 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: there had been a constant effort to try to find 296 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:30,399 Speaker 1: a structure to think themselves sort of as architects of 297 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: self government. And they had taken a great deal from 298 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: Montesquieu the French. Theatician's Spirit of the Laws and the 299 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,159 Speaker 1: Spirit of the Laws Monusque outlines the idea of dividing 300 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:45,159 Speaker 1: power into three separate agencies, an agency for the judicial, 301 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,760 Speaker 1: an agency for the executive, and an agency for legislation, 302 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: with the thought that by dividing power into three, they 303 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: will balance each other and it will be much harder 304 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,639 Speaker 1: to threaten the freedom of people, because there will be 305 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 1: no way to gather all that pass from all three 306 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: at the same time. Now, Adams, taking that model, became 307 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in seventeen eighty, 308 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,800 Speaker 1: which is four years after the declation independence, but right 309 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: in the middle of the Revolutionary War. The Massachusetts Constitution 310 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:21,159 Speaker 1: included many of the themes of the US Constitution. It says, 311 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:25,120 Speaker 1: partly drawn from the Declaration of Independence, quote, all men 312 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, 313 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:32,800 Speaker 1: and unalienable rights, among which we reckoned the right of 314 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:37,400 Speaker 1: enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, that of acquiring, possessing, 315 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: and protecting property, and find that of seeking and obtaining 316 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:45,280 Speaker 1: their safety and happiness. Every subject has a right to 317 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 1: be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, 318 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: his houses, his papers, and all his possessions. The people 319 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 1: have a right to keep and bear arms for the 320 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: common defense. Original purpose of the Second Amendment, growing straight 321 00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 1: out of this line in the Massachusetts Constitution, is simple. 322 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,640 Speaker 1: The people have a right to keep and to bear 323 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,520 Speaker 1: arms for the common defense. And what did that mean? 324 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: It meant both defense against foreigners and defense against their 325 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 1: own government. And they got to this because in seventeen 326 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,960 Speaker 1: seventy five, in April, when the British army marched to 327 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:29,640 Speaker 1: Concord and Lexington to seize the American weapons, if they 328 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,680 Speaker 1: had not had a militia, if they had not been 329 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,480 Speaker 1: prepared to fight, if they had not been able to 330 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,720 Speaker 1: bear arms, the British would have won instantly. The Revolution 331 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:42,560 Speaker 1: would have been over, and it was the fact that 332 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:47,600 Speaker 1: the Massachusetts farmers did have weapons, did know how to 333 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: use them, were training as a militia that enabled them 334 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: to drive the British back into Boston, suffering substantial casualties. 335 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,760 Speaker 1: Every one of the founding fathers understood that every one 336 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: of the Founding fathers believe that you had to have 337 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: the right to bear arms remain free, and that if 338 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:07,879 Speaker 1: you gave up the right to bear arms, sooner or later, 339 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,480 Speaker 1: you'd be faced with a dictatorship that would take away 340 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: all of your rights. And Adams in that sense is 341 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 1: an explicit direct statement of that. He goes on to 342 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: say in the Massachusetts Constitution, quote, the people have a right, 343 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble, to consult 344 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 1: upon the common good, to give instructions to their representatives, 345 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,360 Speaker 1: and to request of the legislative body, by the way 346 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:38,160 Speaker 1: of addresses, petitions, or remonstrances, redress of the wrongs done 347 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 1: them and of the grievances they suffer. No subsidy, charge, tax, imposts, 348 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: or duties ought to be established, fixed, laid, or levied 349 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:51,520 Speaker 1: under any pretext whatsoever without the consent of the people 350 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,879 Speaker 1: or their representatives. In the legislature. Now, if you listen 351 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: carefully in the Massachusetts Constitution in seventeen eighty, you see 352 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:06,159 Speaker 1: the forerunner of the Bill of Rights. And while Jefferson 353 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: has given credit and Madison actually offered it in the Congress, 354 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 1: it's clear that their concept of the Bill of Rights 355 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: was deeply shaped by John Adams, who gets almost no 356 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:20,680 Speaker 1: credit for it. And it's one of Adams's great problems 357 00:21:20,680 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 1: that he was, in fact a remarkably important person. He 358 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:29,120 Speaker 1: was extremely thoughtful, but at the same time, he didn't 359 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:31,880 Speaker 1: have a very good publicity machine. He wasn't a very 360 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: attractive personality. He was always in Washington's shadow. And then, 361 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:39,320 Speaker 1: as you'll see, he's also in Hamilton's shadow. And so 362 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,960 Speaker 1: Jefferson gets great press as a great propagandist, and he 363 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,960 Speaker 1: and Madison get the credit for things that in fact 364 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 1: John Adams did. Now, after the war and after the 365 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:56,399 Speaker 1: Constitution is adopted, Adams comes in second to Washington. Washington 366 00:21:56,440 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: has elected unanimously. They had not thought this through, and 367 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: so you actually voted for the president vice president at 368 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 1: the same time, and whoever came in first got to 369 00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: be president, whoever came in second got to be vice president, 370 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: and so you cast both ballots. This would really lead 371 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:15,160 Speaker 1: to a mess with Jefferson because Jefferson and Aaron Burr tie, 372 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:18,360 Speaker 1: and so they have a huge fight because everybody understood 373 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: Jefferson was supposed to be president, but Aaron Burr, who's 374 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: a total snake, tries to steal the presidency, something which 375 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: of course permanently estranged him from Jefferson. Well, and the 376 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:31,480 Speaker 1: very first election we ever had with people voting twice, 377 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,879 Speaker 1: Washington is elected president unanimously, and in the second ballot, 378 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 1: Adams comes in second, but he only gets thirty four 379 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:43,600 Speaker 1: votes to washington sixty nine. Now Adams is kind of 380 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,600 Speaker 1: humiliated because even though Washington clearly was the giant who 381 00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:50,399 Speaker 1: had won the Revolutionary War and the man who had 382 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: presided over the continent Congress, adams ego is such that 383 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:55,920 Speaker 1: he thought he should be the first and just go home. 384 00:22:56,359 --> 00:22:58,480 Speaker 1: But he then decided that he would accept it and 385 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: become vice president. His job was to preside over the Senate. 386 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: He was not allowed to debate, which he had done 387 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:06,680 Speaker 1: in the content of Congress, and so in a sense 388 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,960 Speaker 1: he has this job that is symbolic, which is not 389 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:15,360 Speaker 1: exactly what Adams wanted. And Adams doesn't quite get populism. 390 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,800 Speaker 1: When they're debating over what's the title for the president, 391 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 1: Adams suggests his Highness the President the United States of 392 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,400 Speaker 1: America and Protector of the rights of the same. This 393 00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: is not a country which says his Highness very easily. 394 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:32,959 Speaker 1: And it just gives you a flavor that Adams is 395 00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:36,359 Speaker 1: never quite the common man and never quite has the 396 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: common touch. And part of Jefferson's genius was that while 397 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,159 Speaker 1: he was an intellectual and had no more interest in 398 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: commoners than Adams did, he nonetheless was able to pretend 399 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: with great skill, and Adams just couldn't it. It wasn't worth 400 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: the effort to him. He had a reasonable relationship to Washington, 401 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: but he was never a close advisor. He didn't help 402 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: shape policies. So for eight years he's just sitting around 403 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:05,000 Speaker 1: and has a very similar attitude towards the vice presidency 404 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,919 Speaker 1: that a number of other vice presidents will get. He 405 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: writes Abagail at one point, quote my country has, in 406 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that 407 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:18,760 Speaker 1: ever the invention of man contrived, or his imagination conceived. 408 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:23,120 Speaker 1: He considered seriously resigning, but he stayed on for eight years. Now. 409 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 1: The fact is a vice president's basic job was to 410 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,679 Speaker 1: wait around and see if the president died, and so 411 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 1: Adams was deeply, deeply frustrated. However, his patients worked out 412 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: and a four way race between Adams and Thomas Pinkney 413 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,439 Speaker 1: on the Federalist ticket and Jefferson and Aaron Burr on 414 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:45,080 Speaker 1: the Republican Adams received seventy one electoral votes and Jefferson 415 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:49,199 Speaker 1: sixty eight, and therefore, as Vice President, Adams, as President 416 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,639 Speaker 1: of Senate, opened and read his own election results, proclaiming 417 00:24:52,720 --> 00:25:16,160 Speaker 1: himself president. In seventeen ninety six, Alexander Hamilton urged Federalist 418 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 1: leaders to support Thomas Pinkney as president to ensure Jefferson's defeat, 419 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:26,119 Speaker 1: but Hamilton made no secret of his preference for Pinckney 420 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:30,679 Speaker 1: over Adams. In a January seventeen ninety seven letter to 421 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:35,040 Speaker 1: his wife, Abigail Adams said of Hamilton, quote, Hamilton I 422 00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: know to be proud, spirited, conceited, aspiring mortal, always pretending 423 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:46,240 Speaker 1: to morality with as debauched morals as old Franklin, who 424 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:49,560 Speaker 1: was more his model than anyone I know, as great 425 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:53,159 Speaker 1: a hypocrite as any in the US is intrigues in 426 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: the election. I despise that he has talents, I admit, 427 00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:59,679 Speaker 1: but I dread none of them. I shall take no 428 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: notice of his puppyhood, but retained the same opinion of 429 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: him I always had, and maintained the same conduct towards 430 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,159 Speaker 1: him I always did. That is, keep him at a 431 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:14,920 Speaker 1: distance close. By the mid seventeen nineties, two political parties 432 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:19,400 Speaker 1: existed the United States, the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. 433 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: By the time Adams became president, the nation was facing 434 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: worsening relations with France. France, who thought the United States 435 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: should honor the French American alliance during the American Revolution, 436 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: was angered that the US signed the Jay Treaty with 437 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:39,919 Speaker 1: Great Britain. French privateers started seizing hundreds of US merchant 438 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:43,879 Speaker 1: ships in the Caribbean beginning in mid seventeen ninety seven. 439 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: Adams wanted to resolve the issue diplomatically. However, the Federalist 440 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:54,479 Speaker 1: Party demanded war. Adams, going against what his party wanted, 441 00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,600 Speaker 1: established a committee of three American diplomats to meet with 442 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:03,399 Speaker 1: France's Minister of fort Affairs. When the committee arrived, the 443 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 1: French demanded large bribes before any negotiations, the diplomats disagreed 444 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,919 Speaker 1: on whether to pay the bribe, and they eventually left 445 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: without meeting anyone. Fearing that this would push the United 446 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: States into war, Adams initially refused to turn over any 447 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 1: notes from the diplomats to Congress. When he finally did, 448 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: Adams redacted the names of the French officials that tried 449 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,440 Speaker 1: to bribe them, calling them X, Y, and Z instead. 450 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 1: The Democratic Republican Party were angered with France over the bribery, 451 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 1: but were against going to war with France. The Federalists, however, 452 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,359 Speaker 1: were ready to go to war. Adams asking Congress to 453 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,640 Speaker 1: appropriate funds to create a navy, improve their coastal defenses, 454 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:53,400 Speaker 1: and for authority to summon militia men to active duty. 455 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,919 Speaker 1: Of needing, the Navy Commission privately owned American ships and 456 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:03,200 Speaker 1: gave captains permission to seize French ships. Between seventeen ninety 457 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,159 Speaker 1: eight and eighteen hundred, the private ships captured about eighty 458 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:12,440 Speaker 1: French ships, but war had never been officially declared. Adams 459 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: again tried a diplomatic solution, sending diplomats in early eighteen hundred. 460 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: The Democratic Republicans, more moderate Federalist and most of the 461 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: country agreed with this move, but Hamilton and other Federalists 462 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:30,760 Speaker 1: were opposed, wanting to go to war instead. By the 463 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: time the diplomats arrived in France, Napoleon had seized control 464 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: of the French government. Napoleon signed the Treaty of Mortefontaine, 465 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 1: which released the United States from its Revolutionary War alliance 466 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: with France and brought an end to this quasi war 467 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: with France. Adams viewed this pea Street of France as 468 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: his greatest accomplishment as president, later writing to James Lloyd 469 00:28:56,400 --> 00:29:00,239 Speaker 1: in January eighteen eighteen that he quote desire there are 470 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: no other inscription over my gravestone. Then here lies John Adams, 471 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,800 Speaker 1: who took upon himself the responsibility of the peace with 472 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 1: France in the year eighteen hundred. However, Hamilton and many 473 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:19,920 Speaker 1: Federalists were deeply upset over Adams negotiating with France. As president, 474 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: Adams decided that he would keep Washington's cabinet rather than 475 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: appointing his own. Hamilton, who was not a part of 476 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: adams administration, influenced several members of Adams's cabinet. In the 477 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 1: spring of eighteen hundred, Adams requested the resignation of two 478 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: cabinet members, Timothy Pickering, the Secretary of State and James McHenry, 479 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: the Secretary of War, for listening to Hamilton instead of himself. 480 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,520 Speaker 1: Pickering opposed adams nomination of William S. Smith and Henry 481 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: Knox as Adjutant General and second in command of the Army. 482 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 1: Pickering also conspired against Adams reporting to Hamilton and other 483 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: Federalists what went on in cabinet meetings with President Adams. 484 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,840 Speaker 1: On May tenth, eighteen hundred, Adams wrote a letter to 485 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:10,080 Speaker 1: Timothy Pickering requesting his resignation. Quote, as I perceive a 486 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 1: necessity of introducing a change in the administration of the 487 00:30:13,600 --> 00:30:16,239 Speaker 1: Office of State, I think it proper to make this 488 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: communication of it to the present Secretary of State that 489 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,480 Speaker 1: he may have an opportunity of resigning if he chooses. 490 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: I should wish to day on which his resignations take 491 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:30,280 Speaker 1: place to be named by himself. Pickering, on May twelfth, 492 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, responded in a letter refusing to resign. Quote, Nevertheless, 493 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 1: after deliberately reflecting on the overture you have been pleased 494 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,440 Speaker 1: to make to me, I do not feel to be 495 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:48,080 Speaker 1: my duty to resign Adams responded by discharging Pickering, quote, 496 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:53,479 Speaker 1: diverse causes and considerations essential to the administration of the government, 497 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:57,160 Speaker 1: in my judgment, require a change in the Department of State. 498 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:02,400 Speaker 1: You are hereby discharge from any further service as Secretary 499 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:07,360 Speaker 1: of State. On May sixth, eighteen hundred, James McHenry on 500 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: Ke Pickering wrote his letter of resignation immediately after Adams 501 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:17,400 Speaker 1: requested his resignation. In preparation for the eighteen hundred election, 502 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:22,480 Speaker 1: Adams separated himself from Hamilton and the Federalists opposed to him. 503 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,840 Speaker 1: The Federalist Party, however, chose Adams as their presidential candidate 504 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: and Pinckney as their second choice. Democratic Republicans decided to 505 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:36,160 Speaker 1: stay with their seventeen ninety six choices, with Thomas Jefferson 506 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:41,200 Speaker 1: as their presidential candidate and Aaron Burr as their second choice. 507 00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:45,120 Speaker 1: Eighteen hundred was the last presidential election where the runner 508 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: up of the election would become the vice president, so 509 00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 1: each party had two candidates, hoping to get their most 510 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:54,959 Speaker 1: popular candidate as president and their second most popular as 511 00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:58,760 Speaker 1: vice president, with the possibility the one candidate from each 512 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 1: party could become president and vice president, which, remember is 513 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:07,000 Speaker 1: what had happened in seventeen ninety six, when Adams became 514 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:12,040 Speaker 1: president but his rival Thomas Jefferson became vice president. Was 515 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,920 Speaker 1: a flaw in the original design of the constitution. From 516 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:19,600 Speaker 1: the beginning, Adams had two major issues against him. The 517 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 1: first was the deep divide within his party on Adams 518 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 1: deciding not to wage war with France. On October twenty fourth, 519 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:31,920 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, Hamilton wrote a very long pamphlet It was 520 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: called Concerning the Public Conduct of John Adams, on why 521 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:39,600 Speaker 1: he believed Adams should not be re elected as president. 522 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: Hamilton stated that Adams quote does not possess the talents 523 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,360 Speaker 1: adapted to the administration of government, and that there are 524 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:52,200 Speaker 1: great and intrinsic defects in his character which unfit him. 525 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 1: For the chief Magistrate has certain fixed points of character 526 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:59,160 Speaker 1: which tend naturally to the detriment of any cause of 527 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 1: which he is the chief, of any administration of which 528 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,960 Speaker 1: he is the head. It is a fact that he 529 00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,680 Speaker 1: is often liable to paroxysms of anger, which deprive him 530 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:13,200 Speaker 1: of self command and produce very outrageous behavior to those 531 00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 1: who approach him. Most, if not all, his ministers, and 532 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,800 Speaker 1: several distinguished members the two Houses of Congress have been 533 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 1: humiliated by the effects of these gusts of passion. Close. 534 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:32,000 Speaker 1: In addition to the really deep, bitter hostility between Hamilton 535 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 1: and Adams, there was an unpopularity of the alien and 536 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: sedition laws. These laws basically were an effort to censor 537 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,480 Speaker 1: the American people. They said, if you said certain things, 538 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: you could be charged. It was just short of treason. 539 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: People hated the idea that the government could try them 540 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:56,080 Speaker 1: for saying the wrong things. In the election, Jefferson and Burr, 541 00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:02,120 Speaker 1: both the Democratic Republican candidates, tied with seventy three electoral votes. 542 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: Adams won sixty five votes, Paintney one sixty four, and 543 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,719 Speaker 1: John Jay received one vote. Remember that Jay had been 544 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:16,200 Speaker 1: the co author of the Federalist papers. Interestingly, you now 545 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:21,120 Speaker 1: end up with Jefferson and Burr clearly in violation of 546 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:24,319 Speaker 1: their agreement. Burr, who was a snake who will later 547 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:28,319 Speaker 1: on shoot Alexander Hamilton and then after that engage in 548 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,400 Speaker 1: treasonous acts trying to steal parts of the West from 549 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:35,160 Speaker 1: the United States. Burr would not concede the Jefferson. The 550 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:39,319 Speaker 1: tie went to the House representatives. Everybody understood Jefferson was 551 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:42,480 Speaker 1: the candidate for president. Burr was the candidate for vice president, 552 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 1: but Burr's ego and ambition led him to try to 553 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:52,760 Speaker 1: somehow usurp Jefferson, who was really the founding genius behind 554 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:56,800 Speaker 1: the rise of the Democratic Republican Party, which is today 555 00:34:57,320 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 1: the longest existing political party in the world. The Democratic 556 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:04,360 Speaker 1: Republican Party evolved into just being called the Democratic Party, 557 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:09,120 Speaker 1: and it is literally the longest serving political institution in 558 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:12,719 Speaker 1: the world today, a tribute both to Jefferson and to 559 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:17,040 Speaker 1: whatever patterns he developed in that party. Adams became the 560 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 1: last federalist president. This was really an amazing moment in history. 561 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:25,759 Speaker 1: There was no real experience of an opposition party peacefully 562 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,880 Speaker 1: taking over. Normally it involved a military coup de ETAs 563 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,200 Speaker 1: sometimes it involved a revolution. But here you had a 564 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:36,640 Speaker 1: moment where Washington, who had set the stage by voluntarily 565 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:39,680 Speaker 1: giving up power when he surrendered his sword after the 566 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:43,359 Speaker 1: American Revolution and then once again giving up power by 567 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,839 Speaker 1: leaving after eight years in presidency, had really set a 568 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:53,080 Speaker 1: tone that people operated within the constitution, and Adams within 569 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 1: the constitution had lost and so you had literally the 570 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,959 Speaker 1: rise of an opposition party which then became the govern 571 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:04,960 Speaker 1: learning party and in some ways. Adam's willingness to follow 572 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: the Constitution, to be a part of a larger system, 573 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:12,080 Speaker 1: and to subordinate his ego to his patriotism is one 574 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:16,120 Speaker 1: of the key moments in American history. Months after losing 575 00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:19,520 Speaker 1: the eighteen hundred election, Adams threw himself into writing. For 576 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,759 Speaker 1: the rest of his life, Adams wrote his autobiography. He 577 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:26,280 Speaker 1: wrote letters to the other Founding fathers. In eighteen twelve, 578 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:29,880 Speaker 1: a mutual friend brought Jefferson Adams together again, and they 579 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:35,640 Speaker 1: exchanged hundreds of letters until their death fourteen years later. Interestingly, 580 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:41,600 Speaker 1: both Adams and Jefferson died on the same day, July fourth, 581 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:46,800 Speaker 1: eighteen twenty six, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of 582 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:51,880 Speaker 1: the Declaration Independence. Jefferson died at twelve fifty pm. A 583 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:56,240 Speaker 1: few hours after Jefferson's death, Adams woke from sleep and said, 584 00:36:56,719 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson survives. These were his last words as he 585 00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:04,520 Speaker 1: fell into a coma. Shortly afterwards, at about six pm, 586 00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: Adams died. He was ninety one years old, one of 587 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:13,120 Speaker 1: the remarkable Founding fathers and a man whose dedication to 588 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:16,960 Speaker 1: the rule of law, dedication to the concept of a constitution, 589 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 1: dedication to a belief in ideas and that legitimate argument mattered, 590 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 1: and dedication to subordinating himself to the greater cause of 591 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:32,799 Speaker 1: American independence in American self government make him one I 592 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:36,920 Speaker 1: think of most honorable and most respected of the Founding Fathers. 593 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:40,760 Speaker 1: And John Adams can be always approached with an idea 594 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:43,239 Speaker 1: that you're going to learn a little bit more by 595 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:46,279 Speaker 1: reading what he said. It's even more true if you 596 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:49,080 Speaker 1: will also read what his wife, Abigail wrote. She was 597 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:53,520 Speaker 1: clearly the most literary of all of the Founding Father's wives, 598 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,279 Speaker 1: and she had a tremendous impact on John by the 599 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:01,320 Speaker 1: letters she wrote and by her committed went to public life. 600 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:04,840 Speaker 1: So I look back on Adams and think how lucky 601 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:07,680 Speaker 1: we were as a country to have citizens like this 602 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:18,200 Speaker 1: willing to dedicate themselves to the development of freedom. Thank 603 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,239 Speaker 1: you for listening to Founding Fathers Week on Newtsworld. You 604 00:38:21,239 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: can learn more about John Adams on our show page 605 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,120 Speaker 1: at newtsworld dot com. Newsworld is produced by Gainish three 606 00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan and 607 00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:36,120 Speaker 1: our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show 608 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 1: was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks the team at 609 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:44,359 Speaker 1: Gingrish three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope 610 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:46,960 Speaker 1: you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with 611 00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:50,400 Speaker 1: five stars and give us a review so others can 612 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,880 Speaker 1: learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of Newtsworld 613 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:57,880 Speaker 1: consign up for my three free weekly columns at ginrishtree 614 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:02,120 Speaker 1: sixty dot com. Slash newsleak I'm the Land which this 615 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:03,000 Speaker 1: is neutral