John Adams 1797 - 1801

Born: 1735, Quincy, MA
Died: 1826

John Adams, a staunch New Englander, seems a bit of an anomaly surrounded by the "Virginia planter" Presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. Reserved and dour, Adams embodied the Puritan ethic. He studied law at Harvard College, and argued eloquently against the British Stamp Act and taxation without Parliamentary representation. Always pressing for the colonies to unite against Britain, "honest John" served as a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses, and in 1776 helped Thomas Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence. He furthered the cause as a diplomat in Europe during the Revolutionary War, and later helped negotiate the peace treaty with Britain.

A two-term Vice-President under George Washington, Adams presided over the tumultuous birth of a two-party system. Alexander Hamilton's Federalists believed in a strong central government drawing power from the commercial wealth of the North. Thomas Jefferson's Republicans favored agricultural interests and states' rights. Adams narrowly defeated Jefferson in the Presidential race of 1796, but his rival became Vice President and the two forged an effective if volatile partnership, completing the Franco-American Convention of 1800.

Second President
Federalist