It's been awhile sine we celebrated one of our early presidents, but today we finally got around to the number 2 guy, John Adams! Admittedly, before I started this project, I knew very little about him, beyond his frienemy status with TJ, and I just kind of assumed he was George Washington's right hand man, and that the two would prove to be pretty similar personality wise. But, spoiler alert, I was wrong. And after learning about him JQA suddenly makes a whole lot of sense.
Before we even got started on our timeline today, we got started on one of our activities today. (We have two small ones!) We are trying our hand at making our own Apple Cider, since John Adams fancied himself hard cider.... EVERY. SINGLE.MORNING.
It's all in the slow cooker, so we will see how it goes.
In the meantime, we got down to our toy timeline. John Adams Jr. was one of those old school presidents, who have two different birthdays (depending on which calendar you go by.)
Old school birthday: October 19, 1735
New school birthday: October 30, 1735
His father, John Adams, Sr. was a cobbler (the boys didn't know what that was!), a farmer and a deacon at his church. His mom, Susana is one of the least known Adam's. There's no letters from her or anything, so people think she was probably illiterate. I mean, the Adam's are a famous bunch, um, Sam Adams (Johns 2nd cousin)! He has a beer and everything. Anyway, we do know she had quite the temper on her from what her son had to say about her. It's something he inherited from her for sure.
The couple had three boys, John Jr, Peter, and Elihu.
John Jr. was a direct descendant of Puritans, you know, the guys who profoundly affected the culture, laws, and tradition of the region. Because of this, he felt a responsibility to live up to his family's heritage. (And it may be responsible for his 'I'm better than everyone' attitude, so stay tuned for that.
Growing up, John too advantage of the freedom given to him by his parents. They pretty much had one rule: Go to school (and excel at it!) But, John hated school and would rather spend his time outside hunting. Eventually, he started taking his gun to school so he could hunt on the way home.
John's parents were worried he was wasting his gifted intellect. When John was ten he decided he wanted to be a farmer, and told his father as much. The next day, his father took him to the fields and worked him as hard as any adult, hoping to sway his son. At the end of the day, his father asked him how he liked being a farmer. John replied with "I like it very much, sir." This was the first case of John's stubbornness, which he possessed the rest of his life. By his own admission he was "puffy, vain, and conceited."
By the time John was 15, he put his school troubles behind him, and focused more on his studies, and he headed off to Harvard.
John Adam's isn't one of our toughest presidents. (see: TR), but he did have one of the greatest minds. He was extremely intelligent, he knew it, and he flaunted it. His father wanted him to become a deacon, but he thought deacons were "dunces" (his words, not mine!)
At Harvard, he started drinking a "tankard" of hard cider EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. It was a habit he kept the rest of his life. He called it "the best part of waking up". (Translation: John Adams was pretty much a functioning alcoholic.)
After graduation, John started teaching. But, he said he wanted a profession of "Honor or Reputation", and decided to go to law school. He said he was determined to become "a great man".
Fun side notes, things in quotes are real John Adam's quotes. This guy, he was a little full of himself.
Being the brainiac he was, he obviously did well at law school, and passed the bar. John wasn't just a good lawyer, he was a great lawyer. His stubbornness and arrogance were an asset. Sadly, his father would only get to see the beginning of his law career. (He died of the flue in 1761)
Many people described John as "cold, reserved and aloof", an assessment he didn't disagree with. But, with his family he was friendly and warm, which might be why he ended up with his third cousin, Abigail Smith. They'd known each other since they were kids. Although, I'm not entirely sure what Abigail saw in him. Before they were married he sent her a list of her "faults, imperfections, and defects." HER DEFECTS! And she still married him!
Abigail's life is one of the most documented of the first ladies, thanks in part in more than 1,100 letters John sent to her. Although he was gone a lot, you know, making a new country and everything, she held the fort down and took care of the kids. She often reminded John to remember the woman, when he was making decisions regarding a new country, suggesting a feminists vibe for our second first lady. And, after that. letter about her defects, John wrote some pretty nice love letters to Abigail. He wrote about how he couldn't sleep without her, and called her his best, dearest, worthiest, wisest friend in the world. I'd be so sweet if he wasn't such an ass.
With all their time apart, the two ended up wtih six kids, but only four lived to adulthood: John Quincy, Charles, Thomas, and Nabby.
As John practiced law in Boston, he started to have strong feelings about British rule. He felt the colonies were not being fairly treated, and they should become independent from Britain.
As one of the greatest mins of any president, John preffered to use that mind to accomplish seemingly unaccomplishable tasks. He dedicated his mind to finding and fighting the most uphill battles he could find, and in 1770, he found one of the steepest battles of all time, when the British amry had shot and killed five civilians (which became know as the Boston Massacre.)
The soldiers were destined to face trial, nd no lawyer wanted to represent them in court because everyone know whoever defended the horrible British would a)probably lose, and b) certainly be vilified by the rest of the British hating Bostonians.
Cue, John Adams, a man who didn't care about being vilified. Like any good reality show villain, John didn't come here to make friends.
John loved humanity, but he didn't care for people, and never quite figured out how to relate or interact with them. He cared about his legacy and getting proper credit for his accomplishments, but he didn't care about fame or popularity.
Having principals and sticking to them was all that interested John (that a scoodilypooping with Abigail... he REALLY loved her, I've read some things). Being righteous (as far as his convictions and beliefs were concerned) wasn't just more important than being friendly or considerate, to John ,it was everything.
That's why he took the Boston Massacre case. You see, Boston in the 1700's was the heart of the anti-British sentiment. It would convenient to believe the British were needlessly cruel and evil, heartlessly firing shorts at the poor, innocent Bostonians. But the less than flattering truth is in the instance, the "innocent" civilians provoked the attack (that's how much the people of Boston hated the British, they begged to be shot just to have an excuse to demand independence!)
The British soldiers were facing a trial full with a jury full of Bostonian, and if that wasn't enough, witnesses were being tampered with! But, John Adams got 5 of the 7 acquitted (the other 2 got their thumb branded and avoided prison sentences). That's how good he was. That's how smart he was. He convinced an entire courtroom of Boston residents that the soldiers who shot and killed five civilians were in the right. (John knew what a feat that was, he wrote it was "one of the most gallant, generous, and manly actions of my whole life".)
People started to talk about John, and people started listenng with he and the Sons of Liberty opposed the Stamp Act (You know, taxation without representation!... thats a Schoolhouse Rock link for you guys!)
John became a member of the Massachusetts state legislature, where he became the author of the oldest written constitution still in use in the world: the Massachusetts Constitution. (It's structure of chapters, sections, and articles was a model for the U.S. Constitution).
He also argued for the separation of powers within the government-- and we got the three branches of government---executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
John continued fighting the hard battles at the Continental Congress, where he faced an uphill battle of convincing every other representative of the 13 colonies that a revolution was necessary. Almost everyone (except John and George Washington) thought they could negotiate peacefully with the British.
John carried the cause of a revolution on his back, and earned the nickname "Atlas of American Revolution". He gave such heartfelt and convincing (though loud and argumentative) speeches that he convinced the strongest anti-war sentiment delegate to quit his job, pick up a gun, and join the PA militia. He was some sort of manipulative genius, this one.
And so a revolution was born (another Schoolhouse Rock!) John was never a soldier (although he was totally jealous GW got to go fight on the front lines and he didn't- he even wrote Abigail about it!), but he didn't need to be. He could do more with his brain than his non-existant brawn. (Physically there was nothing too impressive about him. He was an overweight smoker who had lost all of his teeth).
Instead he spent most of his time during the Revolutionary War heping to write the Declartion of Independece (Although he told TJ he should be the one to write it (in a very much, oh no, you write it... no you write it... kind of argument).
They had a love hate kind of relationship, those two.
....He also proposed the idea for the first military academy (although West Point came AFTER the war). Sam Grant and Ike can thank our #2 for their alma mater!
..he did refuse to work on the Sabbath though, even during the war.
And fun story, once while traveling, there was only one bed left at the tavern, and him and Ben Franklin had to share.
Mostly he served overseas in France and the Netherlands in various diplomatic roles (to gain funding for the war, and secure alliances).
Oh, and he and Ben Franklin worked on the Treaty of Paris to put an end to the Revolutionary War!
Sadly, his brother Elihu died while serving. (But not of something cool like getting shot in battle, no he died of dysentery. (This happened during the timeline Peyton: "what's dysentery". Asa: "he crapped himself to death" Peyton: "No, really... mom?")
Two years after the war ended, John Adams was serving as the very first American minister to Great Britain. Now if that's not a tough job, I don't know what is. Like TJ, he was in Europe missing that whole little writing of the Constitution by James Madison.
He returned back to the brand new country, because it as expected he would play an important rold in the new government.
On April 21, 1789, John Adams was sworn in as our very first Vice President.
But, his two terms as Veep were frustrating for a guy of his intellect....
.....and vanity. He basically said it was the most insignificant office ever. Washington never really consulted him, and their views didn't exactly line up.
He cast a record number of tie breaking votes in the Senate, but he still felt like he wasn't doing anything. He and Congress had a love hate relationship too. (He still didn't come here to make friends!)
Once he accidentally left his diary in with some papers to be read, and it was read out loud in Congress-- which resulted in everyone making fun of how vain he was-- even in his diary.
They started calling him "his Rotundity" because of his round shape.
But the biggest argument he had with Congress, was over the title of the presidency. He thought the title of mere "president" wasn't grandiose enough. (TJ called the argument "superlatively ridiculous", a phrase I now plan to use whenever I get the chance).
When the golden boy, war hero decided to step down, things got a little more complicated than the first election, where Washington was elected unanimously.
We now how two parties.. John Adam's (and Alexander Hamilton's!) Federalists, who wanted a strong central government run mostly by rich guys.
...vs Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican's who were all about state's rights.
In the end, Adams won by three electoral votes. And in one of the worst moves ever, the runner up got to be Vice-President (how did Congress think that was a good idea?) It was only time in history the President and Vice-President were from two different parties. On March 4, 1797, John Adams was inaugurated as our second president. (It was relatively lonely, nobody from his family attended).
John was almost set up to fail, by virtue of his personality. Following the personable, model patriot, celebrated revolutionary macho, flawless in America's eyes, George Washington? Not good for a feisty, sometimes hostile, more often than not drunk following him up.
I mean, he might have been a Federalist, but he didn't even get along with them that well. John Adams: Party of One
Oh, and Abigail was a popular first lady. Everyone called her "Mrs. President", and she was much more influential on her husbands policies than Martha Washington had been.
Oh, and the president, well, he lived in the presidents house in Philidelphia, because D.C. was still being built. He complained about the wild parties George Washington's servants had in the place, and told Abigail the place was trashed.
Remaining stubborn even in his presidency, he also refused protection for the first year of his presidency. He eventually agreed to one guard outside his house when there was some gang violence in Philly.
His biggest presidential issues aren't all that exciting. We have the XYZ affair and the Quasi War. You can google it. But basically it was a war between France and Great Britain that we very nearly got involved in, but John managed to stay out of.
Tensions were so high, he didn't want to be unprepared, so he established the naval department.
He also established the Library of Congress (John & Abigail both LOVED books!) Oh, and he signed the act to create the oldest military band- the United States Marine Band.
Out of the first five presidents, John was the only not to own slaves. He was opposed to it, but he did not support the abolitionist movement. He thought it was dangerous and potentially destabilizing (and he wasn't exactly wrong on that one).
But don't mistake that for compassion. John Adam's actually signed some of the nastiest bits of American legislation ever with the Alien and Sedition Acts, in an effort to weaken the Democratic-Republican Party. Nobody was deported under the Alien act, but people were charged for expressing critical views of the president. Yikes. That is not at all cool, JA. Not at all.
The election of 1800 was a nasty one. Modern-day mudslinging had nothing on the John Adams, Thomas Jefferson rematch. (You guys, it was for real terrible. Campaign propaganda paid for by TJ said John was a "hideous hermaphroditic character" who smuggled prostitutes into the country from England.) Abigail said the campaign produced enough venom to "ruin and corrupt the minds and morals of the best people in the world". And these two used to be friends.
John Adams wasn't going to stop a little thing like a nasty election from moving into the brand new Executive Mansion in Washington D.C. Never mind if it was in the middle of a woods and he got lost trying to find it, or the fact that it wasn't even finished.
Fun fact: Abigail and John hung their laundry to dry in the East Room!
John lost the election, and that was bad news for him. But, his drunkard, alcoholic son, Charles also died. He was only 30.
In the last few hours of his presidency, John Adams appointed several Federalist judges (in an attempt to undermined new president, Thomas Jefferson, gasp!). They were called the "Midnight Judges".
John Adams is one of only three presidents not to attend his successors inaguration (If you don't count Richard Nixon not being at Gerald Ford's... then there are four). Does anyone know who they are? Well, it must run in the family, because JQA didn't go to Andrew Jackson's, either. Andrew Johnson also bailed on Sam Grant's, but you won't get to hear that story until the very last presidential birthday!
He went back to Braintree, Massachusetts (it's Quincy now) where he wrote an unfinished biography.
And in 1812, thanks to a fellow Declaration of Independence signer convincing them to make up, him and TJ settled their differences.
John lived to the ripe old age of 90. (He actually was the oldest president until Ronald Reagan surpassed him... then Ford... and still living guys Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush)
On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John whispered his last words: "Thomas Jefferson survives", thinking TJ was the only remaining writer/signer. What John didn't know: TJ had died at Monticello a few hours earlier.
John may have the distinction of being our first Veep, but like he said, that's pretty insignificant. If we're talking firsts, he's also the first one not to win re-election. He ranks somewhere around 15, though it really varies by survey. And I mean, he is the only one of the first three without a monument in Washington D.C.
We did our president in 60 second video, and our owl mail....
Added our quote...
...presidential issues..
...and fun facts. (Missing here: he had a dog named Satan!)
One more down.
We made our birthday cards..
And did our historical hashtag: 140 characters isn't enough for my brain power #Ididn'tcomeheretomakefriends
For dinner we had his favorite, salmon. He was also big on apples and kale, so we added those to our dinner as well.
We tried our cider.. Asa and I were fans (he was especially a fan when he added some of his teqila from Mexico).... but the boys didn't like it as much...
And while he liked Apple Dowdy, we decided to take a little help from the store and just go with apple pie for tonight. It's cooling now, but I'm sure it'll be good.
We had to wait for our activity until it got dark. Since it was John Adam's idea to celebrate the fourth with the likes of parades and fireworks, we did sparklers!
That's it from here. October presidents are all done! The board has never been so full!
Only EIGHT presidents left, we're getting there!
Up Next: Halloween, obviously!
