WEBVTT - Episode 864: Founding Fathers – John Adams 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:07.960 On this episode of This World. The lives of these 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:11.320 men are essential to understand the American form of government 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:14.920 and our ideals of liberty. The Founding Fathers all played 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.799 key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain and 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:20.880 in the creation of the government of the United States 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:33.280 of America. And now the life of John Adams, we're 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:37.320 going to talk about probably the most misunderstood of the 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:41.440 Founding Fathers, John Adams. Adams is a little bit of 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:45.400 an odd duck, partly because he's from New England, which 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.360 at that time was just very different from either New 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:53.800 York or Virginia. Partly because Adams himself was really really smart, 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.360 but he was very argumentative and he was very blunt. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:04.240 He also had enormous courage. Adams had really developed over 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:10.120 time a view of British as a tyranny. He didn't 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.000 arrive at it immediately. He was also, of all of 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.120 the Founding Fathers, probably the one who believed the most 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.640 deeply in the rule of law, and in fact, one 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.280 of the most creative and courageous parts of his life 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:25.000 was his willingness to defend the British soldiers who were 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.400 charged with murder during the Boston Massacre. It was very 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:31.160 unpopular in Boston because there was sort of a lynch 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.840 mob desire to just you know, hang them, and Adams said, no, 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.120 I mean, this whole thing is about the rule of law. 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:41.880 He ultimately wrote the Massachusetts Constitution, which served as a 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:46.000 model for the US Constitution, and he worked very, very 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:50.000 hard to knit together the country. He understood that Virginia, 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.320 as the biggest colony and then biggest state in population 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.080 and wealth, had to be at the center. But at 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:58.840 the same time he also realized that bringing all of 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.920 New England and really really mattered. And it's important to 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.640 remember that in this period, the idea of America is 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:09.840 a really sort of vague idea to most people. Most 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.320 people think themselves in terms of their colony, or later 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:16.200 on in terms of their state. On Adam's case, he 0:02:16.320 --> 0:02:19.760 was born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. So it's again 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.079 hard for us to look back and realize, but his 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.040 early life, starting in seventeen thirty five, he was born, 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:28.280 you know, he was English. He thought himself purely as 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:30.920 a colonist. He didn't think it was a nationalist. He 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.840 was educated at Harvard, the first university created the United States, 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:38.880 and gradually came to believe that the British were behaving 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:41.519 in the manner of a dictatorship. And the real fight 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.480 here is overpower. It's not over money. The stamp tax 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.480 and other kinds of things are points they fight over, 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:50.880 but what they're really fighting over is the core question, 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:56.080 can the British Parliament sitting in London pass laws that 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:01.080 affect directly people in the colonies. The colonies had become 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:06.560 increasingly independent and they were increasingly wealthy. By seventeen ninety 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.800 they would have about three million people where Britain had 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.840 about five million, so they were really pretty big already, 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.040 and of course, given their geographic size, they were rapidly 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:19.120 going to pass Britain in size and ultimately in power. 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.840 So they're looking around thinking, wait a second, why is 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.400 this parliament sitting in London telling me what to do? 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.079 And why are they taking money out of my pocket? 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.840 And why are they rigging the trade laws to favor 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.040 the British and to hurt the Americans. So all these 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.640 things began to build a momentum of criticism in a 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:41.800 place like Boston, which had a very very busy port 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.320 and which had a trade which included the West Indies. 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:50.320 The fact is that they were subject to British regulation 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:56.000 in ways that very much disadvantaged the Boston sailors and 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.240 advantaged the British sailors. And so there was a resentment 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:02.800 both about regulations that was resemblent about Texes. But most 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.680 of all there was resembment about power, but where the 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.440 center of power ought to be. Adams is one of 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.640 those who comes to believe that in the end the 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:15.480 colonies have to become independent, and they recognize that to 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.239 become independent they need all the colonies on the same side. 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:22.919 Massachusetts by itself isn't big enough, isn't strong enough to 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:26.159 take on the British. So I think it's important to 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:30.320 recognize that Adams and his cousin Samuel Adams, who is 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:34.760 more radical than John Adams, more of a populist, rabel rouser, 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:36.800 the kind of guy who would dress up like an 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.200 Indian and pro tea in the harbor, very very different. 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.279 John Adams is a scholar, he's an intellectual. He's a 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:47.159 man who operates in a law court. He doesn't operate 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:50.440 out in the street for arousing people. The other thing, 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:54.640 by the way, is that Adams's wife Abigail Adams is 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:59.320 the most famous, certainly the most literate, of the founding mothers, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.960 and her letters to John are just amazing, and it's 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:06.080 very clear that she is sort of the archetype of 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.440 a modern woman. She operates independently. He is gone for 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.560 a long time, She's running the family farm. She is 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:16.799 sending him advice on everything. She's very well educated. She's 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:21.720 just such a remarkable woman. Adams himself, born in Massachusetts 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.200 October thirtieth, seventeen thirty five, was the oldest son to 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:29.160 John Adams Senior and Susannah Boylston. His father was a 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.960 deacon in the Congregational Church and earned a living as 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:36.119 both a farmer and shoemaker in Braintree, Massachusetts. John wanted 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.159 to become a farmer, but his father said no, he 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.040 had to get an education and hoped he'd become a minister, 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:44.520 which in that period was a very very prestigious position. 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.640 But Adams at fifteen, and it's useful to remember, by 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.360 the way, that back then people went to college at 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:53.839 a much younger age. They also went to work at 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.839 a much younger age. In Adam's case, at fifteen. He's 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.960 off to college now from Braintree to Cambridge's own twelve miles, 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:04.520 but it's a very big twelve miles from rural farming 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.440 to the center of learning in America. At that time, 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.560 Adams was so anxiety written he almost went home, and 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.839 his diary he wrote quote, I at first resolved to 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.640 return home, but foreseeing the grief of my father and 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.599 apprehending he would not only be offended with me, but 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.640 my master, to whom I sincerely loved, I aroused myself 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.080 and collected resolution enough to proceed. Also gives you sort 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.159 of a flavor. This guy's a little bit pompous. He 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:36.359 thinks about himself, he thinks about life. He is perfectly 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:40.000 at home. Once he gets used to Harvard, he excels academically, 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.040 graduates in seventeen fifty five at the age of twenty. 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.400 But he doesn't want to be a clergyman, so he 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.640 decides instead to teach in a Latin school term tuition 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.239 fees to study the law. Now, back then, you usually 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:54.880 studied the law by working with a lawyer. When they 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:57.360 talked about reading the law, that's what they literally meant. 0:06:57.839 --> 0:06:59.800 You were in a law office and you were reading 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.000 all these law books. You were learning about the process 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.520 and Adams becomes a lawyer. Now, he's not a very 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:08.960 good lawyer. He only had one client in his first year, 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.840 didn't win his first case until three years after he 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:14.960 opened his practice. And part of it is being a 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.840 lawyer in a small town requires a pleasing personality. Well, 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.720 Adams wasn't very big on pleasing anybody, including himself. These 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:27.280 represented sort of that curmudgeonly New England kind of religiosity 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:29.840 and as long as God was happy with him, what 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.520 does he care about the rest of us. But he 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.440 ins to had drawn into the politics of the time. 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.760 He spoke very much against the Stamp Act of seventeen 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.560 sixty five, which was the first effort by Parliament to 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:44.960 get money out of the Americans. I mean, here's what 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:48.520 had happened with the help of the Americans, the British 0:07:48.560 --> 0:07:50.920 one what they called the Seven Years War, what we 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.400 called the French Indian War. Now, the upside and downside 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:56.800 of that was they drove the French out of Canada. 0:07:57.520 --> 0:07:59.920 It was an upside obviously because in Britain was dumb 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:02.720 it in all of North America. It was a downside 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.320 because it meant the Americans no longer looked to Great 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.400 Britain to protect him because there was no overt threat 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.760 from France, and so the Americans kind of relaxed and thought, 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:16.440 you know, everything's peaceful, Why are you bothering us. The British, however, 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:18.840 had run up a huge debt and they were trying 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:20.400 to figure out a way to pay off their debt, 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:22.920 and they're thinking was, wait a second. You know, we 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.120 saved you from the French and the Indians. You owe us. 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.600 And the Americans are going, no, we don't. We volunteered, 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:31.280 we fought in the war. It's not our fault. You 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.160 guys are stupid, and it took longer than it should 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.400 have because of you. And the result was that the 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:39.920 Americans were unhappy to pay it and the British were 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.080 unhappy not to get paid. Well, that's sort of like 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.720 a bad marriage. By seventeen sixty five, Adams is writing 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:51.040 an anonymous essay in the Boston Dezette entitled A Dissertation 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.559 on Cannon and Feudal Law. And this is what he wrote. 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.400 It seems very manifest from the Stamp Act itself that 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.320 a design is formed top us in a great measure 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.960 of the means of knowledge by loading the press, the colleges, 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:09.080 and even an almanac in a newspaper with restraints and duties, 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.240 and to introduce the inequalities and dependencies of the feudal 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.719 system by taking from the poorer sort of people all 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:21.040 their little subsistence and conferring on a set of stamp officers, distributors, 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.480 and their deputies. This is, by the way, the attitude 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.320 Americans will take to the Internal Revenue Service, and the 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:29.760 general attitude of Americans have had ever since, which is 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.800 why has the government bothered me? I made the money. 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:34.520 I want to keep the money. Why are you putting 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:37.360 your hand in my pocket? Now? Adams went on to 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:41.160 write the brain Tree Instructions, which were in opposition to 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.200 the Stamp Act. He presented it on September twenty fourth, 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.640 seventeen sixty five, at the brain Tree Town Meeting, which 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.120 unanimously approved it. And this is a key thing, he says, 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.600 I notice this is about power. The tax itself is 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.520 just what they're fighting over. But the underlying core question 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.320 is where does power lie? This is what Adams wrote. 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.240 This is seventeen sixty five, now more than a decade 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.800 before we would declare independence quote, and we have always 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:10.520 understood it to be a grand and fundamental principle of 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:14.320 the British Constitution that no freeman should be subjected to 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.319 any tax to which he has not given his own consent, 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.280 in person or by proxy. The paper was published in 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:25.360 Draper's papers and in newspapers across Massachusetts. More than forty 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:29.920 towns endorsed and adopted it. Then, in October seventeen sixty five, 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:33.240 representatives from Massachusetts and eight other colonies met in New 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:36.839 York for what was called the Stamp Act Congress. Using 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:41.079 Adam's brain tree instructions and other resolutions across the colonies, 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:45.920 Pennsylvania lawyer John Dickinson drafted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.520 which was sent to George the Third. Now this again 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.280 is eleven years before we will declare our independence. In in 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:56.040 December eighteenth, seventeen sixty five diary entry, Adams called the 0:10:56.040 --> 0:10:59.800 Stamp Act quote an enormous engine fabricated by the British 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:03.480 Parliament for battering down all the rights and liberties of America. 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:08.199 Notice again, this is not about money. It is I 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:12.079 want to repeat this, an enormous engine for battering down 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.400 all the rights and liberties of America. This is an 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.880 attitude about our rights and liberties which continues up to today. 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.280 It's why the Second Amendment fight is so deep. It's 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.160 why the whole fight over the rule of law is 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.480 so deep. It's why the intrusion of government spying on 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:30.640 us aroused of such rage. The fact is Americans have 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:34.240 now for three hundred years, had this deep sense that 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:38.200 we are a free people and we deeply distrust any government. 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.240 The British passage of the towns in Acts in seventeen 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.960 sixty seven led to mob violence throughout the comments. On 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.240 March fifth, seventeen seventy, a group of British soldiers were 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.640 struck with snowballs, ice and stones. In the chaos, they 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:55.720 opened fire and shot five civilians. A few days later, 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.720 Adams received a note from Captain Preston, who was in 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.160 jail and on trial for murder of several Boston citizens 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.280 during the massacre. Preston asked Adams if he would defend 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.200 him in court since no one else would agree to him. 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:10.360 He says, not let me go to Adams because he's 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:12.600 the best lawyer around. He's let me go to Adams 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:16.920 because he's the only lawyer. Dumb enough to defend the British. Adams, 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.120 believing in the rule of law and the right to trial, 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.240 agreed to defend not only Captain Preston, but the eight 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:24.840 other British soldiers charged with murder. Now think about this. 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:27.680 You're the guy who's not a very successful lawyer anyway, 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.680 but he's a great political writer. He's already having an 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:35.160 impact all the way across America with his writing. And now, 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.520 even though he's a patriot, even though he's been very, 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.640 very opposed to what the British are doing, he does 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:47.200 something which confuses the average person, he agrees that he 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:52.079 will defend these soldiers. During the week long trial, Adams 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.439 argued that it was impossible to prove that Captain Preston 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.440 had ordered his soldiers to fire. He brought in over 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:03.000 twenty two witnesses. Adams during the trial said quote, facts 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:07.520 are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.480 or our dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.160 state of facts and evidence. It's a very powerful moment 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:18.920 because in the rule of law, the jury's job is 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:23.320 to determine the facts, not to determine the emotions. Adams 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.320 later around to say, quote, it is more important that 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.680 innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished. 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:32.520 For guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.080 that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.920 has brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.120 then the citizen will say whether I do good or 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.800 whether I do evil as immaterial, for innocence itself is 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:49.800 no protection close quote. There's seldom bit of better explanation 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.360 of why the rule of law matters. It is the 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:56.000 law which protects us from ourselves. It is the law 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:58.720 which protects us from the mob. It is the law 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:02.640 which protects us from a sudden wave of emotion. During 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.080 the trial of the a British soldiers, Adams argued that 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:08.600 they acted in self defense. Adams argued that since it 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.160 was unclear as to which soldier fired, quote, it's of 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:16.000 more importance to community that innocence should be protected than 0:14:16.040 --> 0:14:19.280 it is that guilt should be punished. The jury acquitted 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.960 six of the eight soldiers, while two who fired directly 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:26.600 into the crowd were convicted of manslaughter. This is not 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.600 an outcome anyone could have predicted at the beginning. What 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.800 Adams took on the trial on the third anniversary of 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:37.000 the Boston massacre March fifth, seventeen seventy three. Adams wrote 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:40.720 in his diary, quote, judgment of death against those soldiers 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.000 would have been as foul as stain upon this country 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:46.720 as the execution of the Quakers or witches. This, however, 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.440 is no reason why the town should not call the 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.280 action of that neither massacre, nor is it any argument 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.880 in favor of the governor or a minister. Now notice 0:14:56.080 --> 0:15:00.120 his reference back to executing quakers and witches. Remembered that 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.320 Massachusetts had been the scene of the Salem Witchcraft trials, 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.680 a period of people allowing emotions to run amok, to 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:12.200 create threats that did not really exist, to prosecute people 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.120 who clearly, in retrospect were innocent. There was a deep 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:20.920 feeling that controlling passion and doing what the law required 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.960 in a calm and reasonable way was essential to avoid 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:28.840 the kind of injustice that the sale of witchcraft trials 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:49.240 had led to. Adams himself, hardly a shrinking Violet, later 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.200 called his defending of the British soldiers quote one of 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:56.280 the most gallant, generous, manly, and disinterested actions of my 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:58.920 whole life and one of the best pieces of service 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.280 I ever rendered my country. As you can tell, Adams 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.880 is not a man of modesty or what we might 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.640 have called somebody who was hiding his talents. He was, 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.880 in fact quite cheerful about telling you how great he was. 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.920 He lost about half of his Boston law practice by 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.160 defending the British soldiers, but I think he looked back 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:22.200 and thought that was exactly right. Now. This did not 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:24.840 mean he was pro British, and then he was pro 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:28.760 the rule of law. And you can tell that because 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:32.600 shortly after this period he ends up in April seventeen 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:36.320 seventy six writing Thoughts on Government in response to a 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:40.480 resolution of the North Carolina Provincial Congress. In it, he 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.960 outlined why he believed three branches of government was necessary. Quote. 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.760 Representation of the people in one assembly being obtained. A 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:53.600 question arises whether all the powers of government, legislative, executive, 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.720 and judicial shall be left in this body. I think 0:16:56.760 --> 0:17:00.840 a people cannot be long free, nor ever have whose 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.240 government is in one assembly. Close quote. It's important remember 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:08.960 that the founding fathers were very skeptical of the rule 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:11.720 of the mob. They thought that the lesson of Athens 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.960 had been that when you have a pure democracy, that 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.080 passion influences it, that no one is safe, and then 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.000 the moment of passion, anyone can be killed, or anyone 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:24.680 can have their property taken away. And as a result, 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:27.080 there had been a constant effort to try to find 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.399 a structure to think themselves sort of as architects of 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.280 self government. And they had taken a great deal from 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.480 Montesquieu the French. Theatician's Spirit of the Laws and the 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:41.159 Spirit of the Laws Monusque outlines the idea of dividing 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:45.159 power into three separate agencies, an agency for the judicial, 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:48.760 an agency for the executive, and an agency for legislation, 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:52.560 with the thought that by dividing power into three, they 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:55.240 will balance each other and it will be much harder 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.639 to threaten the freedom of people, because there will be 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.240 no way to gather all that pass from all three 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:05.240 at the same time. Now, Adams, taking that model, became 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:09.000 the primary author of the Massachusetts Constitution in seventeen eighty, 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.800 which is four years after the declation independence, but right 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:17.080 in the middle of the Revolutionary War. The Massachusetts Constitution 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:21.159 included many of the themes of the US Constitution. It says, 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:25.120 partly drawn from the Declaration of Independence, quote, all men 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:29.080 are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:32.800 and unalienable rights, among which we reckoned the right of 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:37.400 enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, that of acquiring, possessing, 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:41.320 and protecting property, and find that of seeking and obtaining 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.280 their safety and happiness. Every subject has a right to 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:49.560 be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.919 his houses, his papers, and all his possessions. The people 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:56.240 have a right to keep and bear arms for the 0:18:56.320 --> 0:19:01.560 common defense. Original purpose of the Second Amendment, growing straight 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.560 out of this line in the Massachusetts Constitution, is simple. 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.640 The people have a right to keep and to bear 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.520 arms for the common defense. And what did that mean? 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:16.560 It meant both defense against foreigners and defense against their 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:21.040 own government. And they got to this because in seventeen 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:24.960 seventy five, in April, when the British army marched to 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:29.640 Concord and Lexington to seize the American weapons, if they 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:32.680 had not had a militia, if they had not been 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:35.480 prepared to fight, if they had not been able to 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:39.720 bear arms, the British would have won instantly. The Revolution 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:42.560 would have been over, and it was the fact that 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:47.600 the Massachusetts farmers did have weapons, did know how to 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:51.560 use them, were training as a militia that enabled them 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:56.000 to drive the British back into Boston, suffering substantial casualties. 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.760 Every one of the founding fathers understood that every one 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:02.320 of the Founding fathers believe that you had to have 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:04.960 the right to bear arms remain free, and that if 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:07.879 you gave up the right to bear arms, sooner or later, 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.480 you'd be faced with a dictatorship that would take away 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.440 all of your rights. And Adams in that sense is 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:18.760 an explicit direct statement of that. He goes on to 0:20:18.800 --> 0:20:23.280 say in the Massachusetts Constitution, quote, the people have a right, 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:27.040 in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble, to consult 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.359 upon the common good, to give instructions to their representatives, 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:33.360 and to request of the legislative body, by the way 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:38.160 of addresses, petitions, or remonstrances, redress of the wrongs done 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:43.760 them and of the grievances they suffer. No subsidy, charge, tax, imposts, 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:47.320 or duties ought to be established, fixed, laid, or levied 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:51.520 under any pretext whatsoever without the consent of the people 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:56.879 or their representatives. In the legislature. Now, if you listen 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:02.560 carefully in the Massachusetts Constitution in seventeen eighty, you see 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.159 the forerunner of the Bill of Rights. And while Jefferson 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.560 has given credit and Madison actually offered it in the Congress, 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:12.879 it's clear that their concept of the Bill of Rights 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:17.240 was deeply shaped by John Adams, who gets almost no 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:20.680 credit for it. And it's one of Adams's great problems 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.960 that he was, in fact a remarkably important person. He 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:29.120 was extremely thoughtful, but at the same time, he didn't 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:31.880 have a very good publicity machine. He wasn't a very 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:35.800 attractive personality. He was always in Washington's shadow. And then, 0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:39.320 as you'll see, he's also in Hamilton's shadow. And so 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:43.960 Jefferson gets great press as a great propagandist, and he 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:46.960 and Madison get the credit for things that in fact 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:51.399 John Adams did. Now, after the war and after the 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:56.399 Constitution is adopted, Adams comes in second to Washington. Washington 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.159 has elected unanimously. They had not thought this through, and 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.960 so you actually voted for the president vice president at 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:05.399 the same time, and whoever came in first got to 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:08.040 be president, whoever came in second got to be vice president, 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:11.200 and so you cast both ballots. This would really lead 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:15.160 to a mess with Jefferson because Jefferson and Aaron Burr tie, 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:18.360 and so they have a huge fight because everybody understood 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:20.760 Jefferson was supposed to be president, but Aaron Burr, who's 0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:24.520 a total snake, tries to steal the presidency, something which 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:28.040 of course permanently estranged him from Jefferson. Well, and the 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:31.480 very first election we ever had with people voting twice, 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:36.879 Washington is elected president unanimously, and in the second ballot, 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:39.760 Adams comes in second, but he only gets thirty four 0:22:39.880 --> 0:22:43.600 votes to washington sixty nine. Now Adams is kind of 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:47.600 humiliated because even though Washington clearly was the giant who 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:50.399 had won the Revolutionary War and the man who had 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:53.480 presided over the continent Congress, adams ego is such that 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:55.920 he thought he should be the first and just go home. 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:58.480 But he then decided that he would accept it and 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:02.240 become vice president. His job was to preside over the Senate. 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:04.560 He was not allowed to debate, which he had done 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:06.680 in the content of Congress, and so in a sense 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.960 he has this job that is symbolic, which is not 0:23:10.080 --> 0:23:15.360 exactly what Adams wanted. And Adams doesn't quite get populism. 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:18.800 When they're debating over what's the title for the president, 0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:22.720 Adams suggests his Highness the President the United States of 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:26.400 America and Protector of the rights of the same. This 0:23:26.440 --> 0:23:29.240 is not a country which says his Highness very easily. 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:32.959 And it just gives you a flavor that Adams is 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:36.359 never quite the common man and never quite has the 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:39.480 common touch. And part of Jefferson's genius was that while 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:42.159 he was an intellectual and had no more interest in 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:46.000 commoners than Adams did, he nonetheless was able to pretend 0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:49.560 with great skill, and Adams just couldn't it. It wasn't worth 0:23:49.560 --> 0:23:53.720 the effort to him. He had a reasonable relationship to Washington, 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:56.720