John Adams

BORN - October 30, 1735, in the “Northern Precinct” of Braintree (now Quincy), MA.  Parents (English ancestry) – John Adams, Sr. (b1691-d1761) and Susanna Boylston Adams (b1708-d1797), Three Children – John Adams, Jr. (b1735-d1826, eldest), Peter Boylston Adams (b1738-d1823), Elihu Adams (b1741-d1776).

DIED – July 4, 1826 (age 90), at his home, Peacefield, in Quincy, MA, of pneumonia and heart failure.  John Adams and fellow signer, Thomas Jefferson were political adversaries, but became good friends and corresponded regularly in their later years.  Both died on the same day – July 4 (exactly 50 years after the approval of the Declaration).  On his deathbed at his home in Quincy, MA, Adams’ last words were – “Thomas Jefferson still survives.”  He was mistaken.  Jefferson had died five hours earlier at Monticello.  Religion – Congregationalist (Puritan) / Unitarian.  Buried – Family crypt in the basement of the United First Parish Church, Quincy, MA.  He was originally buried across the street from the church and later reburied in the basement of the church.

APPEARANCE – The picture above is the portrait of John Adams (age 56 to 58) painted by Charles Willson Peale between 1791 and 1794.  Adams was described by his nineteen year old grandson Charles Adams, as “ scarcely exceeding middle height, but of a stout, well-knit frame, denoting vigor and long life, yet as he grew old, inclining more and more to corpulence. His head was large and round, with a wide forehead and expanded brow.”  

FAMILY – Married – Abigail (Nabby) Smith (b1765-d1813) in 1764.  Five Children (three surviving to adulthood) – John Quincy Adams (b1767-d1848), Susanna (Sulky) Boylston Adams (b1768-d1770, age one), Charles Adams (b1770-d1800), Thomas Boylston Adams (b1772-d1832), Elizabeth Adams (b1777-d1777, stillborn).  John Quincy Adams was the 6th President of the U.S.  

OCCUPATION – LAWYER, LEGISLATOR, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT AND PRESIDENT.  Graduated from Harvard College (now Harvard University) in 1755.  Established law practice in Boston 1758.  Was the successful defense attorney at the trial of British soldiers after the Boston Massacre in 1770.  Beat the prosecuting attorney, fellow future signer Robert Treat Paine and the soldiers were set free.  Member of the Continental Congress representing Massachusetts from 1774 to 1778,  U.S. Ambassador to France (from 1778 to 1779), Netherlands (from 1782 to 1778) and Great Britain (from 1785 to 1788).  First Vice President of the U.S. from 1789 to 1797.  Second President of the U.S from 1798 to 1801.     

AT SIGNING – Age 40 at signing.  Member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration – John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson.  Adams deferred to Thomas Jefferson to write draft.  Adams made minor changes to draft and Congress condensed the final five paragraphs.

AFTER SIGNING – Attended the Staten Island Peace Conference with Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge and the British on September 11, 1776.  Continued to serve in Congress in Philadelphia until 1778.  Nominated George Washington to be Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Army which helped persuade the southern states to join the war effort.  One of the chief negotiators of the Treaty of Paris ending the war in 1783. 

HISTORIC SITES

Quincy Home – Peacefield (The Old House), Adams National Historical Park, Quincy, MA (1731).  Located at 135 Adams Street, Quincy, MA 02169, Phone 617-773-1177, Website www.nps.gov/adam.  Home of John Adams from 1787 to his death in 1826.    

Birthplace – John Adams House, Adams National Historical Park, Quincy, MA.  Located at 133 Franklin Street, Quincy, MA 02169-1749, Phone 617-773-1177, Website www.nps.gov/adam.   House where John Adams was born and later lived here until he married Abigail in 1764.  

Gravesite – Family crypt in the basement of the United First Parish Church, Quincy, MA (1827).  Located at 1306 Hancock Street, Quincy, MA 02169, Phone 617-773-1290, Website www.ufpc.org.

Wife Abigail – Abigail Smith Adams Birthplace, North Weymouth, MA (1685).  Located at 180 Norton Street, North Weymouth, MA 02191, Phone 781-277-1271, Website www.abigailadamsbirthplace.com. 

Other Homes – John Adams Homes

Town Home – Amsterdam, the Netherlands - 1781 to 1782.

Town Home – Leiden, the Netherlands.

Home – Auteuil (near Paris), France – 1784 to 1785.

Home – Grosvenor Square (U.S. Embassy, London, England - 1785 to 1788.

Home – Richmond Hill, NY – 1789, beginning of his first term as the U.S. Vice President.

Home – President’s House, Philadelphia, PA – 1797 to 1800, as the U.S. President.

Home – Executive Mansion (White House), Washington, DC – 1800 to 1801.   

White House – Executive Mansion, Washington, D.C. (1800).  Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC, NW, 20500, Phone 202-456-1111, Website www.whitehouse,com.  John Adams moved from Philadelphia to Washington, DC and was the first President to live in the newly completed White House from 1800 to 1801. 

Home of John Adams, Peacefield, Adams National Historical Park, Quincy, MA (1731). 

Located at 135 Adams Street, Quincy, MA 02169-1749, Phone 617-773-1177, Website www.nps.gov/adam.    

The Park preserves the home of Presidents of the United States John Adams and John Quincy Adams, of U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Charles Francis Adams, and of the writers and historians Henry Adams and Brooks Adams.  In addition to Peacefield (shown in the picture above), home to four generations of the Adams family, the park's other historic features include the John Adams Birthplace, the nearby John Quincy Adams Birthplace, and the Stone Library.  The library houses the books of John Quincy Adams and believed to be the first presidential library), containing more than 14,000 historic volumes in 12 languages.