Speaker 1: On this episode of This World. The lives of these
Speaker 1: men are essential to understand the American form of government
Speaker 1: and our ideals of liberty. The Founding Fathers all played
Speaker 1: key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and
Speaker 1: in the creation of the government of the United States
Speaker 1: of America. And now the life of John Adams, we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about probably the most misunderstood of the
Speaker 1: Founding Fathers, John Adams. Adams is a little bit of
Speaker 1: an odd duck, partly because he's from New England, which
Speaker 1: at that time was just very different from either New
Speaker 1: York or Virginia. Partly because Adams himself was really really smart,
Speaker 1: but he was very argumentative and he was very blunt.
Speaker 1: He also had enormous courage. Adams had really developed over
Speaker 1: time a view of British as a tyranny. He didn't
Speaker 1: arrive at it immediately. He was also, of all of
Speaker 1: the Founding Fathers, probably the one who believed the most
Speaker 1: deeply in the rule of law, and in fact, one
Speaker 1: of the most creative and courageous parts of his life
Speaker 1: was his willingness to defend the British soldiers who were
Speaker 1: charged with murder during the Boston Massacre. It was very
Speaker 1: unpopular in Boston because there was sort of a lynch
Speaker 1: mob desire to just you know, hang them, and Adams said, no,
Speaker 1: I mean, this whole thing is about the rule of law.
Speaker 1: He ultimately wrote the Massachusetts Constitution, which served as a
Speaker 1: model for the US Constitution, and he worked very, very
Speaker 1: hard to knit together the country. He understood that Virginia,
Speaker 1: as the biggest colony and then biggest state in population
Speaker 1: and wealth, had to be at the center. But at
Speaker 1: the same time he also realized that bringing all of
Speaker 1: New England and really really mattered. And it's important to
Speaker 1: remember that in this period, the idea of America is
Speaker 1: a really sort of vague idea to most people. Most
Speaker 1: people think themselves in terms of their colony, or later
Speaker 1: on in terms of their state. On Adam's case, he
Speaker 1: was born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. So it's again
Speaker 1: hard for us to look back and realize, but his
Speaker 1: early life, starting in seventeen thirty five, he was born,
Speaker 1: you know, he was English. He thought himself purely as
Speaker 1: a colonist. He didn't think it was a nationalist. He
Speaker 1: was educated at Harvard, the first university created the United States,
Speaker 1: and gradually came to believe that the British were behaving
Speaker 1: in the manner of a dictatorship. And the real fight
Speaker 1: here is overpower. It's not over money. The stamp tax
Speaker 1: and other kinds of things are points they fight over,
Speaker 1: but what they're really fighting over is the core question,
Speaker 1: can the British Parliament sitting in London pass laws that
Speaker 1: affect directly people in the colonies. The colonies had become
Speaker 1: increasingly independent and they were increasingly wealthy. By seventeen ninety
Speaker 1: they would have about three million people where Britain had
Speaker 1: about five million, so they were really pretty big already,
Speaker 1: and of course, given their geographic size, they were rapidly
Speaker 1: going to pass Britain in size and ultimately in power.
Speaker 1: So they're looking around thinking, wait a second, why is
Speaker 1: this parliament sitting in London telling me what to do?
Speaker 1: And why are they taking money out of my pocket?
Speaker 1: And why are they rigging the trade laws to favor
Speaker 1: the British and to hurt the Americans. So all these
Speaker 1: things began to build a momentum of criticism in a
Speaker 1: place like Boston, which had a very very busy port
Speaker 1: and which had a trade which included the West Indies.
Speaker 1: The fact is that they were subject to British regulation
Speaker 1: in ways that very much disadvantaged the Boston sailors and
Speaker 1: advantaged the British sailors. And so there was a resentment
Speaker 1: both about regulations that was resemblent about Texes. But most
Speaker 1: of all there was resembment about power, but where the
Speaker 1: center of power ought to be. Adams is one of
Speaker 1: those who comes to believe that in the end the
Speaker 1: colonies have to become independent, and they recognize that to
Speaker 1: become independent they need all the colonies on the same side.
Speaker 1: Massachusetts by itself isn't big enough, isn't strong enough to
Speaker 1: take on the British. So I think it's important to
Speaker 1: recognize that Adams and his cousin Samuel Adams, who is
Speaker 1: more radical than John Adams, more of a populist, rabel rouser,
Speaker 1: the kind of guy who would dress up like an
Speaker 1: Indian and pro tea in the harbor, very very different.
Speaker 1: John Adams is a scholar, he's an intellectual. He's a
Speaker 1: man who operates in a law court. He doesn't operate
Speaker 1: out in the street for arousing people. The other thing,
Speaker 1: by the way, is that Adams's wife Abigail Adams is
Speaker 1: the most famous, certainly the most literate, of the founding mothers,
Speaker 1: and her letters to John are just amazing, and it's
Speaker 1: very clear that she is sort of the archetype of
Speaker 1: a modern woman. She operates independently. He is gone for
Speaker 1: a long time, She's running the family farm. She is
Speaker 1: sending him advice on everything. She's very well educated. She's
Speaker 1: just such a remarkable woman. Adams himself, born in Massachusetts
Speaker 1: October thirtieth, seventeen thirty five, was the oldest son to
Speaker 1: John Adams Senior and Susannah Boylston. His father was a
Speaker 1: deacon in the Congregational Church and earned a living as
Speaker 1: both a farmer and shoemaker in Braintree, Massachusetts. John wanted
Speaker 1: to become a farmer, but his father said no, he
Speaker 1: had to get an education and hoped he'd become a minister,
Speaker 1: which in that period was a very very prestigious position.
Speaker 1: But Adams at fifteen, and it's useful to remember, by
Speaker 1: the way, that back then people went to college at
Speaker 1: a much younger age. They also went to work at
Speaker 1: a much younger age. In Adam's case, at fifteen. He's
Speaker 1: off to college now from Braintree to Cambridge's own twelve miles,
Speaker 1: but it's a very big twelve miles from rural farming
Speaker 1: to the center of learning in America. At that time,
Speaker 1: Adams was so anxiety written he almost went home, and
Speaker 1: his diary he wrote quote, I at first resolved to
Speaker 1: return home, but foreseeing the grief of my father and
Speaker 1: apprehending he would not only be offended with me, but
Speaker 1: my master, to whom I sincerely loved, I aroused myself
Speaker 1: and collected resolution enough to proceed. Also gives you sort
Speaker 1: of a flavor. This guy's a little bit pompous. He
Speaker 1: thinks about himself, he thinks about life. He is perfectly
Speaker 1: at home. Once he gets used to Harvard, he excels academically,
Speaker 1: graduates in seventeen fifty five at the age of twenty.
Speaker 1: But he doesn't want to be a clergyman, so he
Speaker 1: decides instead to teach in a Latin school term tuition
Speaker 1: fees to study the law. Now, back then, you usually
Speaker 1: studied the law by working with a lawyer. When they
Speaker 1: talked about reading the law, that's what they literally meant.
Speaker 1: You were in a law office and you were reading
Speaker 1: all these law books. You were learning about the process
Speaker 1: and Adams becomes a lawyer. Now, he's not a very
Speaker 1: good lawyer. He only had one client in his first year,
Speaker 1: didn't win his first case until three years after he
Speaker 1: opened his practice. And part of it is being a
Speaker 1: lawyer in a small town requires a pleasing personality. Well,
Speaker 1: Adams wasn't very big on pleasing anybody, including himself. These
Speaker 1: represented sort of that curmudgeonly New England kind of religiosity
Speaker 1: and as long as God was happy with him, what
Speaker 1: does he care about the rest of us. But he
Speaker 1: ins to had drawn into the politics of the time.
Speaker 1: He spoke very much against the Stamp Act of seventeen
Speaker 1: sixty five, which was the first effort by Parliament to
Speaker 1: get money out of the Americans. I mean, here's what
Speaker 1: had happened with the help of the Americans, the British
Speaker 1: one what they called the Seven Years War, what we
Speaker 1: called the French Indian War. Now, the upside and downside
Speaker 1: of that was they drove the French out of Canada.
Speaker 1: It was an upside obviously because in Britain was dumb
Speaker 1: it in all of North America. It was a downside
Speaker 1: because it meant the Americans no longer looked to Great
Speaker 1: Britain to protect him because there was no overt threat
Speaker 1: from France, and so the Americans kind of relaxed and thought,
Speaker 1: you know, everything's peaceful, Why are you bothering us. The British, however,
Speaker 1: had run up a huge debt and they were trying
Speaker 1: to figure out a way to pay off their debt,
Speaker 1: and they're thinking was, wait a second. You know, we
Speaker 1: saved you from the French and the Indians. You owe us.
Speaker 1: And the Americans are going, no, we don't. We volunteered,
Speaker 1: we fought in the war. It's not our fault. You
Speaker 1: guys are stupid, and it took longer than it should
Speaker 1: have because of you. And the result was that the
Speaker 1: Americans were unhappy to pay it and the British were
Speaker 1: unhappy not to get paid. Well, that's sort of like
Speaker 1: a bad marriage. By seventeen sixty five, Adams is writing
Speaker 1: an anonymous essay in the Boston Dezette entitled A Dissertation
Speaker 1: on Cannon and Feudal Law. And this is what he wrote.
Speaker 1: It seems very manifest from the Stamp Act itself that
Speaker 1: a design is formed top us in a great measure
Speaker 1: of the means of knowledge by loading the press, the colleges,
Speaker 1: and even an almanac in a newspaper with restraints and duties,
Speaker 1: and to introduce the inequalities and dependencies of the feudal
Speaker 1: system by taking from the poorer sort of people all
Speaker 1: their little subsistence and conferring on a set of stamp officers, distributors,
Speaker 1: and their deputies. This is, by the way, the attitude
Speaker 1: Americans will take to the Internal Revenue Service, and the
Speaker 1: general attitude of Americans have had ever since, which is
Speaker 1: why has the government bothered me? I made the money.
Speaker 1: I want to keep the money. Why are you putting
Speaker 1: your hand in my pocket? Now? Adams went on to
Speaker 1: write the brain Tree Instructions, which were in opposition to
Speaker 1: the Stamp Act. He presented it on September twenty fourth,
Speaker 1: seventeen sixty five, at the brain Tree Town Meeting, which
Speaker 1: unanimously approved it. And this is a key thing, he says,
Speaker 1: I notice this is about power. The tax itself is
Speaker 1: just what they're fighting over. But the underlying core question
Speaker 1: is where does power lie? This is what Adams wrote.
Speaker 1: This is seventeen sixty five, now more than a decade
Speaker 1: before we would declare independence quote, and we have always
Speaker 1: understood it to be a grand and fundamental principle of
Speaker 1: the British Constitution that no freeman should be subjected to
Speaker 1: any tax to which he has not given his own consent,
Speaker 1: in person or by proxy. The paper was published in
Speaker 1: Draper's papers and in newspapers across Massachusetts. More than forty
Speaker 1: towns endorsed and adopted it. Then, in October seventeen sixty five,
Speaker 1: representatives from Massachusetts and eight other colonies met in New
Speaker 1: York for what was called the Stamp Act Congress. Using
Speaker 1: Adam's brain tree instructions and other resolutions across the colonies,
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania lawyer John Dickinson drafted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances,
Speaker 1: which was sent to George the Third. Now this again
Speaker 1: is eleven years before we will declare our independence. In in
Speaker 1: December eighteenth, seventeen sixty five diary entry, Adams called the
Speaker 1: Stamp Act quote an enormous engine fabricated by the British
Speaker 1: Parliament for battering down all the rights and liberties of America.
Speaker 1: Notice again, this is not about money. It is I
Speaker 1: want to repeat this, an enormous engine for battering down
Speaker 1: all the rights and liberties of America. This is an
Speaker 1: attitude about our rights and liberties which continues up to today.
Speaker 1: It's why the Second Amendment fight is so deep. It's
Speaker 1: why the whole fight over the rule of law is
Speaker 1: so deep. It's why the intrusion of government spying on
Speaker 1: us aroused of such rage. The fact is Americans have
Speaker 1: now for three hundred years, had this deep sense that
Speaker 1: we are a free people and we deeply distrust any government.
Speaker 1: The British passage of the towns in Acts in seventeen
Speaker 1: sixty seven led to mob violence throughout the comments. On
Speaker 1: March fifth, seventeen seventy, a group of British soldiers were
Speaker 1: struck with snowballs, ice and stones. In the chaos, they
Speaker 1: opened fire and shot five civilians. A few days later,
Speaker 1: Adams received a note from Captain Preston, who was in
Speaker 1: jail and on trial for murder of several Boston citizens
Speaker 1: during the massacre. Preston asked Adams if he would defend
Speaker 1: him in court since no one else would agree to him.
Speaker 1: He says, not let me go to Adams because he's
Speaker 1: the best lawyer around. He's let me go to Adams
Speaker 1: because he's the only lawyer. Dumb enough to defend the British. Adams,
Speaker 1: believing in the rule of law and the right to trial,
Speaker 1: agreed to defend not only Captain Preston, but the eight
Speaker 1: other British soldiers charged with murder. Now think about this.
Speaker 1: You're the guy who's not a very successful lawyer anyway,
Speaker 1: but he's a great political writer. He's already having an
Speaker 1: impact all the way across America with his writing. And now,
Speaker 1: even though he's a patriot, even though he's been very,
Speaker 1: very opposed to what the British are doing, he does
Speaker 1: something which confuses the average person, he agrees that he
Speaker 1: will defend these soldiers. During the week long trial, Adams
Speaker 1: argued that it was impossible to prove that Captain Preston
Speaker 1: had ordered his soldiers to fire. He brought in over
Speaker 1: twenty two witnesses. Adams during the trial said quote, facts
Speaker 1: are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations,
Speaker 1: or our dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the
Speaker 1: state of facts and evidence. It's a very powerful moment
Speaker 1: because in the rule of law, the jury's job is
Speaker 1: to determine the facts, not to determine the emotions. Adams
Speaker 1: later around to say, quote, it is more important that
Speaker 1: innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished.
Speaker 1: For guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world
Speaker 1: that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself
Speaker 1: has brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die,
Speaker 1: then the citizen will say whether I do good or
Speaker 1: whether I do evil as immaterial, for innocence itself is
Speaker 1: no protection close quote. There's seldom bit of better explanation
Speaker 1: of why the rule of law matters. It is the
Speaker 1: law which protects us from ourselves. It is the law
Speaker 1: which protects us from the mob. It is the law
Speaker 1: which protects us from a sudden wave of emotion. During
Speaker 1: the trial of the a British soldiers, Adams argued that
Speaker 1: they acted in self defense. Adams argued that since it
Speaker 1: was unclear as to which soldier fired, quote, it's of
Speaker 1: more importance to community that innocence should be protected than
Speaker 1: it is that guilt should be punished. The jury acquitted
Speaker 1: six of the eight soldiers, while two who fired directly
Speaker 1: into the crowd were convicted of manslaughter. This is not
Speaker 1: an outcome anyone could have predicted at the beginning. What
Speaker 1: Adams took on the trial on the third anniversary of
Speaker 1: the Boston massacre March fifth, seventeen seventy three. Adams wrote
Speaker 1: in his diary, quote, judgment of death against those soldiers
Speaker 1: would have been as foul as stain upon this country
Speaker 1: as the execution of the Quakers or witches. This, however,
Speaker 1: is no reason why the town should not call the
Speaker 1: action of that neither massacre, nor is it any argument
Speaker 1: in favor of the governor or a minister. Now notice
Speaker 1: his reference back to executing quakers and witches. Remembered that
Speaker 1: Massachusetts had been the scene of the Salem Witchcraft trials,
Speaker 1: a period of people allowing emotions to run amok, to
Speaker 1: create threats that did not really exist, to prosecute people
Speaker 1: who clearly, in retrospect were innocent. There was a deep
Speaker 1: feeling that controlling passion and doing what the law required
Speaker 1: in a calm and reasonable way was essential to avoid
Speaker 1: the kind of injustice that the sale of witchcraft trials
Speaker 1: had led to. Adams himself, hardly a shrinking Violet, later
Speaker 1: called his defending of the British soldiers quote one of
Speaker 1: the most gallant, generous, manly, and disinterested actions of my
Speaker 1: whole life and one of the best pieces of service
Speaker 1: I ever rendered my country. As you can tell, Adams
Speaker 1: is not a man of modesty or what we might
Speaker 1: have called somebody who was hiding his talents. He was,
Speaker 1: in fact quite cheerful about telling you how great he was.
Speaker 1: He lost about half of his Boston law practice by
Speaker 1: defending the British soldiers, but I think he looked back
Speaker 1: and thought that was exactly right. Now. This did not
Speaker 1: mean he was pro British, and then he was pro
Speaker 1: the rule of law. And you can tell that because
Speaker 1: shortly after this period he ends up in April seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy six writing Thoughts on Government in response to a
Speaker 1: resolution of the North Carolina Provincial Congress. In it, he
Speaker 1: outlined why he believed three branches of government was necessary. Quote.
Speaker 1: Representation of the people in one assembly being obtained. A
Speaker 1: question arises whether all the powers of government, legislative, executive,
Speaker 1: and judicial shall be left in this body. I think
Speaker 1: a people cannot be long free, nor ever have whose
Speaker 1: government is in one assembly. Close quote. It's important remember
Speaker 1: that the founding fathers were very skeptical of the rule
Speaker 1: of the mob. They thought that the lesson of Athens
Speaker 1: had been that when you have a pure democracy, that
Speaker 1: passion influences it, that no one is safe, and then
Speaker 1: the moment of passion, anyone can be killed, or anyone
Speaker 1: can have their property taken away. And as a result,
Speaker 1: there had been a constant effort to try to find
Speaker 1: a structure to think themselves sort of as architects of
Speaker 1: self government. And they had taken a great deal from
Speaker 1: Montesquieu the French. Theatician's Spirit of the Laws and the
Speaker 1: Spirit of the Laws Monusque outlines the idea of dividing
Speaker 1: power into three separate agencies, an agency for the judicial,
Speaker 1: an agency for the executive, and an agency for legislation,
Speaker 1: with the thought that by dividing power into three, they
Speaker 1: will balance each other and it will be much harder
Speaker 1: to threaten the freedom of people, because there will be
Speaker 1: no way to gather all that pass from all three
Speaker 1: at the same time. Now, Adams, taking that model, became
Speaker 1: the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in seventeen eighty,
Speaker 1: which is four years after the declation independence, but right
Speaker 1: in the middle of the Revolutionary War. The Massachusetts Constitution
Speaker 1: included many of the themes of the US Constitution. It says,
Speaker 1: partly drawn from the Declaration of Independence, quote, all men
Speaker 1: are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential,
Speaker 1: and unalienable rights, among which we reckoned the right of
Speaker 1: enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, that of acquiring, possessing,
Speaker 1: and protecting property, and find that of seeking and obtaining
Speaker 1: their safety and happiness. Every subject has a right to
Speaker 1: be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person,
Speaker 1: his houses, his papers, and all his possessions. The people
Speaker 1: have a right to keep and bear arms for the
Speaker 1: common defense. Original purpose of the Second Amendment, growing straight
Speaker 1: out of this line in the Massachusetts Constitution, is simple.
Speaker 1: The people have a right to keep and to bear
Speaker 1: arms for the common defense. And what did that mean?
Speaker 1: It meant both defense against foreigners and defense against their
Speaker 1: own government. And they got to this because in seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy five, in April, when the British army marched to
Speaker 1: Concord and Lexington to seize the American weapons, if they
Speaker 1: had not had a militia, if they had not been
Speaker 1: prepared to fight, if they had not been able to
Speaker 1: bear arms, the British would have won instantly. The Revolution
Speaker 1: would have been over, and it was the fact that
Speaker 1: the Massachusetts farmers did have weapons, did know how to
Speaker 1: use them, were training as a militia that enabled them
Speaker 1: to drive the British back into Boston, suffering substantial casualties.
Speaker 1: Every one of the founding fathers understood that every one
Speaker 1: of the Founding fathers believe that you had to have
Speaker 1: the right to bear arms remain free, and that if
Speaker 1: you gave up the right to bear arms, sooner or later,
Speaker 1: you'd be faced with a dictatorship that would take away
Speaker 1: all of your rights. And Adams in that sense is
Speaker 1: an explicit direct statement of that. He goes on to
Speaker 1: say in the Massachusetts Constitution, quote, the people have a right,
Speaker 1: in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble, to consult
Speaker 1: upon the common good, to give instructions to their representatives,
Speaker 1: and to request of the legislative body, by the way
Speaker 1: of addresses, petitions, or remonstrances, redress of the wrongs done
Speaker 1: them and of the grievances they suffer. No subsidy, charge, tax, imposts,
Speaker 1: or duties ought to be established, fixed, laid, or levied
Speaker 1: under any pretext whatsoever without the consent of the people
Speaker 1: or their representatives. In the legislature. Now, if you listen
Speaker 1: carefully in the Massachusetts Constitution in seventeen eighty, you see
Speaker 1: the forerunner of the Bill of Rights. And while Jefferson
Speaker 1: has given credit and Madison actually offered it in the Congress,
Speaker 1: it's clear that their concept of the Bill of Rights
Speaker 1: was deeply shaped by John Adams, who gets almost no
Speaker 1: credit for it. And it's one of Adams's great problems
Speaker 1: that he was, in fact a remarkably important person. He
Speaker 1: was extremely thoughtful, but at the same time, he didn't
Speaker 1: have a very good publicity machine. He wasn't a very
Speaker 1: attractive personality. He was always in Washington's shadow. And then,
Speaker 1: as you'll see, he's also in Hamilton's shadow. And so
Speaker 1: Jefferson gets great press as a great propagandist, and he
Speaker 1: and Madison get the credit for things that in fact
Speaker 1: John Adams did. Now, after the war and after the
Speaker 1: Constitution is adopted, Adams comes in second to Washington. Washington
Speaker 1: has elected unanimously. They had not thought this through, and
Speaker 1: so you actually voted for the president vice president at
Speaker 1: the same time, and whoever came in first got to
Speaker 1: be president, whoever came in second got to be vice president,
Speaker 1: and so you cast both ballots. This would really lead
Speaker 1: to a mess with Jefferson because Jefferson and Aaron Burr tie,
Speaker 1: and so they have a huge fight because everybody understood
Speaker 1: Jefferson was supposed to be president, but Aaron Burr, who's
Speaker 1: a total snake, tries to steal the presidency, something which
Speaker 1: of course permanently estranged him from Jefferson. Well, and the
Speaker 1: very first election we ever had with people voting twice,
Speaker 1: Washington is elected president unanimously, and in the second ballot,
Speaker 1: Adams comes in second, but he only gets thirty four
Speaker 1: votes to washington sixty nine. Now Adams is kind of
Speaker 1: humiliated because even though Washington clearly was the giant who
Speaker 1: had won the Revolutionary War and the man who had
Speaker 1: presided over the continent Congress, adams ego is such that
Speaker 1: he thought he should be the first and just go home.
Speaker 1: But he then decided that he would accept it and
Speaker 1: become vice president. His job was to preside over the Senate.
Speaker 1: He was not allowed to debate, which he had done
Speaker 1: in the content of Congress, and so in a sense
Speaker 1: he has this job that is symbolic, which is not
Speaker 1: exactly what Adams wanted. And Adams doesn't quite get populism.
Speaker 1: When they're debating over what's the title for the president,
Speaker 1: Adams suggests his Highness the President the United States of
Speaker 1: America and Protector of the rights of the same. This
Speaker 1: is not a country which says his Highness very easily.
Speaker 1: And it just gives you a flavor that Adams is
Speaker 1: never quite the common man and never quite has the
Speaker 1: common touch. And part of Jefferson's genius was that while
Speaker 1: he was an intellectual and had no more interest in
Speaker 1: commoners than Adams did, he nonetheless was able to pretend
Speaker 1: with great skill, and Adams just couldn't it. It wasn't worth
Speaker 1: the effort to him. He had a reasonable relationship to Washington,
Speaker 1: but he was never a close advisor. He didn't help
Speaker 1: shape policies. So for eight years he's just sitting around
Speaker 1: and has a very similar attitude towards the vice presidency
Speaker 1: that a number of other vice presidents will get. He
Speaker 1: writes Abagail at one point, quote my country has, in
Speaker 1: its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that
Speaker 1: ever the invention of man contrived, or his imagination conceived.
Speaker 1: He considered seriously resigning, but he stayed on for eight years. Now.
Speaker 1: The fact is a vice president's basic job was to
Speaker 1: wait around and see if the president died, and so
Speaker 1: Adams was deeply, deeply frustrated. However, his patients worked out
Speaker 1: and a four way race between Adams and Thomas Pinkney
Speaker 1: on the Federalist ticket and Jefferson and Aaron Burr on
Speaker 1: the Republican Adams received seventy one electoral votes and Jefferson
Speaker 1: sixty eight, and therefore, as Vice President, Adams, as President
Speaker 1: of Senate, opened and read his own election results, proclaiming
Speaker 1: himself president. In seventeen ninety six, Alexander Hamilton urged Federalist
Speaker 1: leaders to support Thomas Pinkney as president to ensure Jefferson's defeat,
Speaker 1: but Hamilton made no secret of his preference for Pinckney
Speaker 1: over Adams. In a January seventeen ninety seven letter to
Speaker 1: his wife, Abigail Adams said of Hamilton, quote, Hamilton I
Speaker 1: know to be proud, spirited, conceited, aspiring mortal, always pretending
Speaker 1: to morality with as debauched morals as old Franklin, who
Speaker 1: was more his model than anyone I know, as great
Speaker 1: a hypocrite as any in the US is intrigues in
Speaker 1: the election. I despise that he has talents, I admit,
Speaker 1: but I dread none of them. I shall take no
Speaker 1: notice of his puppyhood, but retained the same opinion of
Speaker 1: him I always had, and maintained the same conduct towards
Speaker 1: him I always did. That is, keep him at a
Speaker 1: distance close. By the mid seventeen nineties, two political parties
Speaker 1: existed the United States, the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans.
Speaker 1: By the time Adams became president, the nation was facing
Speaker 1: worsening relations with France. France, who thought the United States
Speaker 1: should honor the French American alliance during the American Revolution,
Speaker 1: was angered that the US signed the Jay Treaty with
Speaker 1: Great Britain. French privateers started seizing hundreds of US merchant
Speaker 1: ships in the Caribbean beginning in mid seventeen ninety seven.
Speaker 1: Adams wanted to resolve the issue diplomatically. However, the Federalist
Speaker 1: Party demanded war. Adams, going against what his party wanted,
Speaker 1: established a committee of three American diplomats to meet with
Speaker 1: France's Minister of fort Affairs. When the committee arrived, the
Speaker 1: French demanded large bribes before any negotiations, the diplomats disagreed
Speaker 1: on whether to pay the bribe, and they eventually left
Speaker 1: without meeting anyone. Fearing that this would push the United
Speaker 1: States into war, Adams initially refused to turn over any
Speaker 1: notes from the diplomats to Congress. When he finally did,
Speaker 1: Adams redacted the names of the French officials that tried
Speaker 1: to bribe them, calling them X, Y, and Z instead.
Speaker 1: The Democratic Republican Party were angered with France over the bribery,
Speaker 1: but were against going to war with France. The Federalists, however,
Speaker 1: were ready to go to war. Adams asking Congress to
Speaker 1: appropriate funds to create a navy, improve their coastal defenses,
Speaker 1: and for authority to summon militia men to active duty.
Speaker 1: Of needing, the Navy Commission privately owned American ships and
Speaker 1: gave captains permission to seize French ships. Between seventeen ninety
Speaker 1: eight and eighteen hundred, the private ships captured about eighty
Speaker 1: French ships, but war had never been officially declared. Adams
Speaker 1: again tried a diplomatic solution, sending diplomats in early eighteen hundred.
Speaker 1: The Democratic Republicans, more moderate Federalist and most of the
Speaker 1: country agreed with this move, but Hamilton and other Federalists
Speaker 1: were opposed, wanting to go to war instead. By the
Speaker 1: time the diplomats arrived in France, Napoleon had seized control
Speaker 1: of the French government. Napoleon signed the Treaty of Mortefontaine,
Speaker 1: which released the United States from its Revolutionary War alliance
Speaker 1: with France and brought an end to this quasi war
Speaker 1: with France. Adams viewed this pea Street of France as
Speaker 1: his greatest accomplishment as president, later writing to James Lloyd
Speaker 1: in January eighteen eighteen that he quote desire there are
Speaker 1: no other inscription over my gravestone. Then here lies John Adams,
Speaker 1: who took upon himself the responsibility of the peace with
Speaker 1: France in the year eighteen hundred. However, Hamilton and many
Speaker 1: Federalists were deeply upset over Adams negotiating with France. As president,
Speaker 1: Adams decided that he would keep Washington's cabinet rather than
Speaker 1: appointing his own. Hamilton, who was not a part of
Speaker 1: adams administration, influenced several members of Adams's cabinet. In the
Speaker 1: spring of eighteen hundred, Adams requested the resignation of two
Speaker 1: cabinet members, Timothy Pickering, the Secretary of State and James McHenry,
Speaker 1: the Secretary of War, for listening to Hamilton instead of himself.
Speaker 1: Pickering opposed adams nomination of William S. Smith and Henry
Speaker 1: Knox as Adjutant General and second in command of the Army.
Speaker 1: Pickering also conspired against Adams reporting to Hamilton and other
Speaker 1: Federalists what went on in cabinet meetings with President Adams.
Speaker 1: On May tenth, eighteen hundred, Adams wrote a letter to
Speaker 1: Timothy Pickering requesting his resignation. Quote, as I perceive a
Speaker 1: necessity of introducing a change in the administration of the
Speaker 1: Office of State, I think it proper to make this
Speaker 1: communication of it to the present Secretary of State that
Speaker 1: he may have an opportunity of resigning if he chooses.
Speaker 1: I should wish to day on which his resignations take
Speaker 1: place to be named by himself. Pickering, on May twelfth,
Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, responded in a letter refusing to resign. Quote, Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: after deliberately reflecting on the overture you have been pleased
Speaker 1: to make to me, I do not feel to be
Speaker 1: my duty to resign Adams responded by discharging Pickering, quote,
Speaker 1: diverse causes and considerations essential to the administration of the government,
Speaker 1: in my judgment, require a change in the Department of State.
Speaker 1: You are hereby discharge from any further service as Secretary
Speaker 1: of State. On May sixth, eighteen hundred, James McHenry on
Speaker 1: Ke Pickering wrote his letter of resignation immediately after Adams
Speaker 1: requested his resignation. In preparation for the eighteen hundred election,
Speaker 1: Adams separated himself from Hamilton and the Federalists opposed to him.
Speaker 1: The Federalist Party, however, chose Adams as their presidential candidate
Speaker 1: and Pinckney as their second choice. Democratic Republicans decided to
Speaker 1: stay with their seventeen ninety six choices, with Thomas Jefferson
Speaker 1: as their presidential candidate and Aaron Burr as their second choice.
Speaker 1: Eighteen hundred was the last presidential election where the runner
Speaker 1: up of the election would become the vice president, so
Speaker 1: each party had two candidates, hoping to get their most
Speaker 1: popular candidate as president and their second most popular as
Speaker 1: vice president, with the possibility the one candidate from each
Speaker 1: party could become president and vice president, which, remember is
Speaker 1: what had happened in seventeen ninety six, when Adams became
Speaker 1: president but his rival Thomas Jefferson became vice president. Was
Speaker 1: a flaw in the original design of the constitution. From
Speaker 1: the beginning, Adams had two major issues against him. The
Speaker 1: first was the deep divide within his party on Adams
Speaker 1: deciding not to wage war with France. On October twenty fourth,
Speaker 1: eighteen hundred, Hamilton wrote a very long pamphlet It was
Speaker 1: called Concerning the Public Conduct of John Adams, on why
Speaker 1: he believed Adams should not be re elected as president.
Speaker 1: Hamilton stated that Adams quote does not possess the talents
Speaker 1: adapted to the administration of government, and that there are
Speaker 1: great and intrinsic defects in his character which unfit him.
Speaker 1: For the chief Magistrate has certain fixed points of character
Speaker 1: which tend naturally to the detriment of any cause of
Speaker 1: which he is the chief, of any administration of which
Speaker 1: he is the head. It is a fact that he
Speaker 1: is often liable to paroxysms of anger, which deprive him
Speaker 1: of self command and produce very outrageous behavior to those
Speaker 1: who approach him. Most, if not all, his ministers, and
Speaker 1: several distinguished members the two Houses of Congress have been
Speaker 1: humiliated by the effects of these gusts of passion. Close.
Speaker 1: In addition to the really deep, bitter hostility between Hamilton
Speaker 1: and Adams, there was an unpopularity of the alien and
Speaker 1: sedition laws. These laws basically were an effort to censor
Speaker 1: the American people. They said, if you said certain things,
Speaker 1: you could be charged. It was just short of treason.
Speaker 1: People hated the idea that the government could try them
Speaker 1: for saying the wrong things. In the election, Jefferson and Burr,
Speaker 1: both the Democratic Republican candidates, tied with seventy three electoral votes.
Speaker 1: Adams won sixty five votes, Paintney one sixty four, and
Speaker 1: John Jay received one vote. Remember that Jay had been
Speaker 1: the co author of the Federalist papers. Interestingly, you now
Speaker 1: end up with Jefferson and Burr clearly in violation of
Speaker 1: their agreement. Burr, who was a snake who will later
Speaker 1: on shoot Alexander Hamilton and then after that engage in
Speaker 1: treasonous acts trying to steal parts of the West from
Speaker 1: the United States. Burr would not concede the Jefferson. The
Speaker 1: tie went to the House representatives. Everybody understood Jefferson was
Speaker 1: the candidate for president. Burr was the candidate for vice president,
Speaker 1: but Burr's ego and ambition led him to try to
Speaker 1: somehow usurp Jefferson, who was really the founding genius behind
Speaker 1: the rise of the Democratic Republican Party, which is today
Speaker 1: the longest existing political party in the world. The Democratic
Speaker 1: Republican Party evolved into just being called the Democratic Party,
Speaker 1: and it is literally the longest serving political institution in
Speaker 1: the world today, a tribute both to Jefferson and to
Speaker 1: whatever patterns he developed in that party. Adams became the
Speaker 1: last federalist president. This was really an amazing moment in history.
Speaker 1: There was no real experience of an opposition party peacefully
Speaker 1: taking over. Normally it involved a military coup de ETAs
Speaker 1: sometimes it involved a revolution. But here you had a
Speaker 1: moment where Washington, who had set the stage by voluntarily
Speaker 1: giving up power when he surrendered his sword after the
Speaker 1: American Revolution and then once again giving up power by
Speaker 1: leaving after eight years in presidency, had really set a
Speaker 1: tone that people operated within the constitution, and Adams within
Speaker 1: the constitution had lost and so you had literally the
Speaker 1: rise of an opposition party which then became the govern
Speaker 1: learning party and in some ways. Adam's willingness to follow
Speaker 1: the Constitution, to be a part of a larger system,
Speaker 1: and to subordinate his ego to his patriotism is one
Speaker 1: of the key moments in American history. Months after losing
Speaker 1: the eighteen hundred election, Adams threw himself into writing. For
Speaker 1: the rest of his life, Adams wrote his autobiography. He
Speaker 1: wrote letters to the other Founding fathers. In eighteen twelve,
Speaker 1: a mutual friend brought Jefferson Adams together again, and they
Speaker 1: exchanged hundreds of letters until their death fourteen years later. Interestingly,
Speaker 1: both Adams and Jefferson died on the same day, July fourth,
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty six, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of
Speaker 1: the Declaration Independence. Jefferson died at twelve fifty pm. A
Speaker 1: few hours after Jefferson's death, Adams woke from sleep and said,
Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson survives. These were his last words as he
Speaker 1: fell into a coma. Shortly afterwards, at about six pm,
Speaker 1: Adams died. He was ninety one years old, one of
Speaker 1: the remarkable Founding fathers and a man whose dedication to
Speaker 1: the rule of law, dedication to the concept of a constitution,
Speaker 1: dedication to a belief in ideas and that legitimate argument mattered,
Speaker 1: and dedication to subordinating himself to the greater cause of
Speaker 1: American independence in American self government make him one I
Speaker 1: think of most honorable and most respected of the Founding Fathers.
Speaker 1: And John Adams can be always approached with an idea
Speaker 1: that you're going to learn a little bit more by
Speaker 1: reading what he said. It's even more true if you
Speaker 1: will also read what his wife, Abigail wrote. She was
Speaker 1: clearly the most literary of all of the Founding Father's wives,
Speaker 1: and she had a tremendous impact on John by the
Speaker 1: letters she wrote and by her committed went to public life.
Speaker 1: So I look back on Adams and think how lucky
Speaker 1: we were as a country to have citizens like this
Speaker 1: willing to dedicate themselves to the development of freedom. Thank
Speaker 1: you for listening to Founding Fathers Week on Newtsworld. You
Speaker 1: can learn more about John Adams on our show page
Speaker 1: at newtsworld dot com. Newsworld is produced by Gainish three
Speaker 1: sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Sloan and
Speaker 1: our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show
Speaker 1: was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks the team at
Speaker 1: Gingrish three sixty. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope
Speaker 1: you'll go to Apple Podcast and both rate us with
Speaker 1: five stars and give us a review so others can
Speaker 1: learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners of Newtsworld
Speaker 1: consign up for my three free weekly columns at ginrishtree
Speaker 1: sixty dot com. Slash newsleak I'm the Land which this
Speaker 1: is neutral