Joseph Cowley

A clear, concise, brief recounting of the life of our second President, the American Revolution, and the founding of this country.

John Adams could be, and was on occasion, cantankerous, stubborn, tactless, even rude. He was also prone to vanity and self-pity, and sensitive to what he perceived as slights, or attacks on his reputation or character. He also had a lust for fame, as did many involved in the founding of this nation. But if fame was the spur, it was the driving force behind Adams' enormous energy, energy guided by a strong sense of honor and duty that was built into his character and stayed with him his whole life. Victory in the long struggle for freedom was certainly not assured. In this very readable biography, you'll find the best and brightest people the colonies had to offer. These were the people who tendered their lives, property, and sacred honor as collateral in the struggle for the freedom we enjoy today.

A LOOK INSIDE:

Chapter One
The Early Years (1735-1758)

“Mighty states and kingdoms change,” wrote the young man. “A few people came over to this new world for conscience’ sake; this apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire to America. Our people will, in another century, become more numerous than in England itself. The united force of Europe will not be able to subdue us.” The young man who wrote those words was a twenty-year old school teacher in Worcester, Massachusetts named John Adams. The year was 1755, and at that time America was a group of thirteen relatively unimportant colonies that was part of a great empire ruled by England. To most Europeans it was a wilderness for which England, France, and Spain were still contending. At the end of the century John Adams spoke of, America had a population more than double that of England and was a free and independent nation. Adams himself had helped forge that nation, had been an architect of its laws and constitutions, both federal and states, and after the long struggle for independence became the new nation’s second president. Two centuries later the United States of America was the most powerful nation on earth, a bulwark of freedom and democracy.

John Adams, born in Braintree (the name was changed to Quincy in 1792), Massachusetts on October 19, 1735, was the fifth generation of Adams in this country. His great-great grandfather,Henry Adams, had emigrated to Boston from England in 1636 and settled in Braintree, ten miles south of Boston, in 1640. He, and all his progeny, had been farmers, with the exception of John’s uncle, Joseph Adams, who was a minister in New Hampshire. It was traditional to send the eldest son to college, and John’s father, a deacon in the Braintree First Congregational Church and a selectman in the town, had determined that John, his eldest son, was to be a minister. The ministry, it was felt, was the highest calling to which a young man could aspire. Ministers were not only spiritual leaders of their communities, but frequently temporal leaders as well. For the pulpit provided a powerful platform for the spread of ideas as well as gospel, and the sermon was considered the most important part of the service. John, however, had other ideas...