Sunday, March 23, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862), nicknamed Old Kinderhook, was the eighth President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. Before his presidency, he served as the eighth Vice President (1833-1837) and the 10th Secretary of State under Andrew Jackson. He was a key organizer of the Democratic Party, a dominant figure in the Second Party System, and the first president who was not of English, Irish, Welsh, or Scottish descent. Van Buren was the first President who did not experience the American Revolution firsthand. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as a first language, having grown up speaking Dutch.
Van Buren was the first of a series of eight presidents between Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln who served one term or less. He also was one of the central figures in developing modern political organizations. As Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State and then Vice President, he was a key figure in building the organizational structure for Jacksonian democracy, particularly in New York State. However, as a President, his administration was largely characterized by the economic hardship of his time, the Panic of 1837. Between the bloodless Aroostook War and the Caroline Affair, relations with Britain and its colonies in Canada also proved to be strained. Whether or not these are directly his fault, Van Buren was voted out of office after four years, with a close popular vote but a rout in the electoral vote. In 1848 he ran for president on a third party ticket, the Free Soil Party.
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[edit] Biography
Martin Van Buren was born in the village of Kinderhook, New York, approximately 25 miles south of Albany, the state capital, as the third of five children. He was the first president born in the United States, as all previous ones were born before the American Revolution. His great-great-great-great-grandfather Cornelis had come to the New World in 1631 from the Netherlands. His father was Abraham Van Buren (February 17, 1737–April 8, 1817), a farmer and popular tavern-master. His mother was Maria Hoes Van Allen (February 27, 1743–February 16, 1817), a widow who had three sons from a previous relationship.
Van Buren was educated at the common schools and at Kinderhook Academy. In 1796, he began the study of law, completing his preparation in 1802 in New York City, where he studied under William Peter van Ness. In 1803, he was admitted to the bar and continued an active and successful practice for 26 years.
On February 21, 1807, he married Hannah Hoes, a maternal cousin. Hannah died in 1819, before her husband became President (and, therefore, never became First Lady of the United States).
His practice made him wealthy and paved the way for his entrance into politics. He allied himself with the Clintonian faction of the Democratic-Republican Party, and was surrogate of Columbia County from 1808 until 1813, when he was removed. In 1812, he became a member of the New York State Senate. In 1817, Martin Van Buren created the first political machine encompassing all of New York, the Bucktails, whose leaders later became known as the Albany Regency, and he was the prime architect of the first nationwide political party: the Jacksonian Democrats. In Van Buren's own words: "Without strong national political organizations, there would be nothing to moderate the prejudices between free and slaveholding states"("Martin Van Buren" 103-114).
[edit] Early political career
[edit] New York State Politics
As a member of the state Senate, he supported the War of 1812 and drew up a classification act for the enrollment of volunteers. He broke with DeWitt Clinton in 1813 and tried to find a way to oppose Clinton's plan for the Erie Canal in 1817. Van Buren supported a bill that raised money for the canal through state bonds, and the bill quickly passed through the legislature with the help of his Tammany Hall compatriots.
Van Buren's attitude towards slavery at the moment was shown by his vote, in January 1820, for a resolution opposing the admission of Missouri as a slave state (though he himself was a slave owner). In the same year, he was chosen a presidential elector. It is at this point that Van Buren's connection began with so-called "machine politics". He was the leading figure in the "Albany Regency," a group of politicians who for more than a generation dominated much of the politics of New York and powerfully influenced those of the nation. The group, together with the political clubs such as Tammany Hall that were developing at the same time, played a major role in the development of the "spoils system" a recognized procedure in national, state and local affairs. The Bucktails became a loyal faction with a large amount of party loyalty, and through their actions they were able to capture and control many patronage posts throughout New York. Van Buren did not originate the system but gained the nickname of "Little Wizard" for the skill with which he exploited it. He served also as a member of the state constitutional convention, where he opposed the grant of universal suffrage and tried to keep property requirements.
[edit] U.S. Senate and national politics
In February 1821, Martin Van Buren was elected to the United States Senate. Martin Van Buren at first favored internal improvements, such as road repairs and canal creation, therefore proposing a constitutional amendment in 1824 to authorize such undertakings. The next year, however, he took ground against them. He voted for the tariff of 1824 then gradually abandoned the protectionist position, coming out for "tariffs for revenue only."
In the presidential election of 1824, Martin Van Buren supported William H. Crawford and received the electoral vote of Georgia for vice-president, but he shrewdly kept out of the acrimonious controversy which followed the choice of John Quincy Adams as President. Martin Van Buren had originally hoped to block Adams' victory by denying him the state of New York (the state was divided between Martin Van Buren supporters who would vote for William H. Crawford and Adams' men). However, Representative Stephen Van Rensselaer swung New York to Adams and thereby the 1824 Presidency. He recognized early the potential of Andrew Jackson as a presidential candidate.
After the election, Martin Van Buren sought to bring the Crawford and Jackson followers together and strengthened his control as a leader in the Senate. Always notably courteous in his treatment of opponents, he showed no bitterness toward either John Quincy Adams or Henry Clay, and he voted for Clay's confirmation as Secretary of State, notwithstanding Jackson's "corrupt bargain" charge. At the same time, he opposed the Adams-Clay plans for internal improvements and declined to support the proposal for a Panama Congress. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he brought forward a number of measures for the improvement of judicial procedure and, in May 1826, joined with Senator Thomas Hart Benton in presenting a report on executive patronage. In the debate on the "tariff of abominations" in 1828, he took no part but voted for the measure in obedience to instructions from the New York legislature—an action which was cited against him as late as the presidential campaign of 1844.
Martin Van Buren was not an orator, but his more important speeches show careful preparation and his opinions carried weight; the oft-repeated charge that he refrained from declaring himself on crucial questions is hardly borne out by an examination of his senatorial career. In February 1827, he was re-elected to the Senate by a large majority. He became one of the recognized managers of the Jackson campaign, and his tour of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia in the spring of 1827 won support for Jackson from Crawford. Martin Van Buren sought to reorganize and unify "the old Republican party" behind Jackson.[1] Van Buren helped create a grassroots style of politicking that is often seen today. At the state level, Jackson's committee chairmen would split up the responsibilities around the state and organize volunteers at the local level. "Hurra Boys" would plant hickory trees (in honor of Jackson's nickname, "Old Hickory") or hand out hickory sticks at rallies. Martin Van Buren even had a New York journalist write a campaign piece portraying Jackson as a humble, pious man. "Organization is the secret of victory," an editor in the Adams camp wrote. He once said to a group of lobbyists the famous quote and "By the want of it we have been overthrown." In 1828, Martin Van Buren was elected governor of New York for the term beginning on January 1, 1829, and resigned his seat in the Senate.
Martin Van Buren's tenure as New York governor is the second shortest on record, and nothing of note took place except for a large increase in the number of non land owning men enroling for the right to vote.
[edit] The Jackson Cabinet
On March 5, he was appointed by President Jackson as Secretary of State, an office which probably had been assured to him before the election, and he resigned the governorship. He was succeeded in the governorship by his Lieutenant Governor, Enos T. Throop, a member of the regency. As Secretary of State, Van Buren took care to keep on good terms with the "kitchen cabinet," the group of politicians who acted as Jackson's advisers. He won the lasting regard of Jackson by his courtesies to Mrs. John H. Eaton (Peggy Eaton), wife of the Secretary of War, with whom the wives of the cabinet officers had refused to associate. He did not oppose Jackson in the matter of removals from office but was not himself an active "spoilsman". He skillfully avoided entanglement in the Jackson-Calhoun imbroglio.
No diplomatic questions of the first magnitude arose during Van Buren's service as secretary, but the settlement of long-standing claims against France was prepared and trade with the British West Indies colonies was opened. In the controversy with the Bank of the United States, he sided with Jackson. After the breach between Jackson and Calhoun, Van Buren was clearly the most prominent candidate for the vice-presidency.
[edit] Vice-Presidency
In December 1829, Jackson had already made known his own wish that Van Buren should receive the nomination. In April 1831, Van Buren resigned from his secretary of state position, as a result of the Petticoat Affair- though he did not leave office until June. However, Van Buren still played a part in the Kitchen Cabinet.[2] In August, he was appointed minister to the Court of St. James (United Kingdom), and he arrived in London in September. He was cordially received, but in February, he learned that his nomination had been rejected by the Senate on January 25. The rejection, ostensibly attributed in large part to Van Buren's instructions to Louis McLane, the American minister to the United Kingdom, regarding the opening of the West Indies trade, in which reference had been made to the results of the election of 1828, was in fact the work of Calhoun, the vice-president. And when the vote was taken, enough of the majority refrained from voting to produce a tie and give Calhoun his longed-for "vengeance." No greater impetus than this could have been given to Van Buren's candidacy for the vice-presidency.
After a brief tour on through Europe, Van Buren reached New York on July 5, 1832. The 1832 Democratic National Convention (the party's first), held in May of that year, had nominated him for vice-president on the Jackson ticket, despite the strong opposition to him which existed in many states. Van Buren's platform included supporting the expansion of the naval system. His declarations during the campaign were vague regarding the tariff and unfavorable to the United States Bank and to nullification, but he had already somewhat placated the South by denying the right of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia without the consent of the slave states.
[edit] Election of 1836
It took Van Buren and his partisan friends a decade and a half to form the Democratic Party; many elements, such as the national convention, were borrowed from other parties. [3] In the election of 1832, the Jackson-Van Buren ticket won by a landslide. When the election of 1836 came up, Jackson was determined to make Van Buren, his personal choice, president in order to continue his legacy. Martin Van Buren's only competitors in the 1836 election were the Whigs, who were badly split into several regional candidates. William Henry Harrison hoped to receive the support of the Western voters, Daniel Webster had strength in New England, and Hugh Lawson White had support in the South. Van Buren was unanimously nominated by the 1835 Democratic National Convention at Baltimore. He expressed himself plainly on the questions of slavery and the bank at the same time voting, perhaps with a touch of bravado, for a bill offered in 1836 to subject abolition literature in the mails to the laws of the several states. Van Buren's presidential victory represented a broader victory for Jackson and the party. Van Buren entered the White House as a fifty-five year old widower with four sons.
[edit] Presidency 1837-1841
[edit] Policies
Martin Van Buren announced his intention "to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor," and retained all but one of Jackson's cabinet. Van Buren had few economic tools to deal with the economic crisis of 1837. Van Buren advocated lower tariffs and free trade, and by doing so maintained support of the south for the Democratic party. He succeeded in setting up a system of bonds for the national debt. His party was so split that his 1837 proposal for an "Independent Treasury" system did not pass until 1840. It gave the Treasury control of all federal funds and had a legal tender clause that required (by 1843) all payments to be made in legal tender rather than in state bank notes. But the act was repealed in 1841 and never had much impact. Foreign affairs were complicated when several states defaulted on their state bonds, London complained, and Washington explained it had no responsibility for those bonds. British authors such as Charles Dickens then denounced the American failure to pay royalties, leading to a negative press in Britain regarding the financial honesty of America. The Caroline Affair involved Canadian rebels using New York bases to attack the government in Canada. On December 29, 1837, Canadian government forces crossed the frontier into the US and burned the Caroline, which the rebels had been using. One American was killed, and an outburst of anti-British sentiment swept through the U.S. Van Buren sent the army to the frontier and closed the rebel bases. Van Buren tried to vigorously enforce the neutrality laws, but American public opinion favored the rebels. Boundary disputes in May brought Canadian and American lumberjacks into conflict. There was no bloodshed in this Aroostook War, but it further inflamed public opinion on both sides.
In a bold step, Van Buren reversed Andrew Jackson's policies and sought for peace at home, as well as abroad. Instead of settling a financial dispute between American citizens and the Mexican government by force, Van Buren wanted to seek a diplomatic solution. Also, in August of 1837, Van Buren denied Texas's formal request to join the United States. "Van Buren gave a higher priority to sectional harmony than to territorial expansion" ("Martin Van Buren" 103-114). In the Amistad Case Van Buren sided with the Spanish Government to return the kidnapped slaves. Also, he oversaw the "Trail of Tears", which involved the expulsion of the Cherokee tribe in 1838 from Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina to the Oklahoma territory. Van Buren was determined to avoid war.
- "Van Buren entered the presidency not only as the heir to Jackson's policies, Jefferson's ideology of limited government, and Smith's principles of political economy, but also an accomplished politician with a statesmanlike vision of the dangers facing the nation. This complex heritage would shape the new president's response to the multiple challenges of 1837."("Martin Van Buren" 103-114)[citation needed]
In 1839, Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement visited Van Buren to plead for the U.S. to help roughly 40,000 Mormon settlers of Independence, Missouri, who were forced from the state in the Mormon War there. The Governor of Missouri, Lilburn Boggs, had issued an executive order on 27 October 1838, known as the "Extermination Order". It authorized troops to use force against Mormons to "exterminate or drive [them] from the state".[4][5] In 1839, after moving to Illinois, Smith and his party appealed to congressman and to President Van Buren to intercede for the Mormons. According to Smith's grand-nephew, Van Buren said to Smith, "Your cause is just, but I can do nothing for you; if I take up for you I shall lose the vote of Missouri."[6][citation needed]
Van Buren took the blame for hard times, as Whigs ridiculed him as Martin Van Ruin. Van Buren's rather elegant personal style was also an easy target for Whig attacks, such as the Gold Spoon Oration. State elections of 1837 and 1838 were disastrous for the Democrats, and the partial economic recovery in 1839 was offset by a second commercial crisis in that year. Nevertheless, Van Buren controlled his party and was unanimously renominated by the Democrats in 1840. The revolt against Democratic rule led to the election of William Henry Harrison, the Whig candidate.
[edit] Administration and Cabinet
| The Van Buren Cabinet | ||
|---|---|---|
| OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
| President | Martin Van Buren | 1837 – 1841 |
| Vice President | Richard M. Johnson | 1837 – 1841 |
| Secretary of State | John Forsyth | 1837 – 1841 |
| Secretary of Treasury | Levi Woodbury | 1837 – 1841 |
| Secretary of War | Joel R. Poinsett | 1837 – 1841 |
| Attorney General | Benjamin F. Butler | 1837 – 1838 |
| Felix Grundy | 1838 – 1840 | |
| Henry D. Gilpin | 1840 – 1841 | |
| Postmaster General | Amos Kendall | 1837 – 1840 |
| John M. Niles | 1840 – 1841 | |
| Secretary of the Navy | Mahlon Dickerson | 1837 – 1838 |
| James K. Paulding | 1838 – 1841 | |
[edit] Supreme Court appointments
Van Buren appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
- John McKinley - 1838
- Peter Vivian Daniel - 1842
[edit] Later life
On the expiration of his term, Van Buren retired to his estate, Lindenwald in Kinderhook, where he planned out his return to the White House. He seemed to have the advantage for the nomination in 1844; his famous letter of April 27, 1844, in which he frankly opposed the immediate annexation of Texas, though doubtless contributing greatly to his defeat, was not made public until he felt practically sure of the nomination. In the Democratic convention, though he had a majority of the votes, he did not have the two-thirds which the convention required, and after eight ballots his name was withdrawn. James K. Polk received the nomination instead.
In 1848, he was nominated by two minor parties, first by the "Barnburner" faction of the Democrats, then by the Free Soilers, with whom the "Barnburners" coalesced. He won no electoral votes, but took enough votes in New York to give the state — and perhaps the election — to Zachary Taylor. In the election of 1860, he voted for the fusion ticket in New York which was opposed to Abraham Lincoln, but he could not approve of President Buchanan's course in dealing with secession and eventually supported Lincoln.
Martin Van Buren then retired to his home in Kinderhook. After being bedridden with a case of pneumonia during the fall of 1861, Martin Van Buren died of bronchial asthma and heart failure at his Lindenwald estate in Kinderhook at 2:00 a.m. on July 24, 1862. He is buried in the Kinderhook Cemetery.[7]
[edit] Trivia
 | Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In an episode of The Monkees entitled "Dance, Monkee, Dance", Martin Van Buren is the answer to a trivia question entitling callers to a free dance lesson. Later in the episode, Van Buren himself shows up for the lesson.
- In 1842, Van Buren was campaigning in Indiana. In the town of Plainfield, the former President was ejected from his carriage by the roots of an elm tree into a large puddle of mud. Sources say that the townsfolk did this on purpose to protest a bill Van Buren vetoed. The elm tree became known as the Van Buren elm, and a nearby elementary school now bears Van Buren's name.[2]
- Van Buren was given epithets by his enemies including Martin Van Ruin, and The Little Magician. He was also known as "The Red Fox of Kinderhook" because of his bright red hair and slyness.
- During Van Buren's presidential campaign of 1840 supporters popularized his nickname "Old Kinderhook," which was abbreviated as "OK." "OK Clubs" were set up. It is possible that this helped popularize "OK" .
- In Gore Vidal's novel Burr, Van Buren is secretly the illegitimate son of Aaron Burr.
- In a popular episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Van Buren Boys," Kramer and George are threatened by a street gang called the Van Buren Boys with the secret sign of the number 8 because Van Buren was the 8th president. They apparently picked that name because Van Buren was the man they most admired. The gang is apparently "every bit as mean as he was".
- Along with the traditional vampire motiff, Martin Van Buren's look was also part of the inspiration for the appearance of the "Grandpa" character on the TV show, The Munsters
- In the 2000 PBS documentary series The American President, Van Buren's voice was provided by Mario Cuomo. ([3]). In the 1997 film Amistad, he was played, more conventionally, by Nigel Hawthorne.
- The popular webtoon Homestar Runner has a bust of Martin Van Buren as a recurring joke.
- Three famous descendants of his are singer Nelson Eddy, actor Glenn Ford, and author Wolcott Gibbs.[8]
- Van Buren was the first president to grant an exclusive interview to a reporter, James Gordon Bennett, Sr., of the New York Herald in 1839.[9]
[edit] See also
- Second Party System
- American election campaigns in the 19th century
- U.S. presidential election, 1832
- U.S. presidential election, 1836
- U.S. presidential election, 1840
- U.S. presidential election, 1848
- Divorce bill
[edit] References
[edit] Secondary sources
- Cole, Donald B. Martin Van Buren And The American Political System (2004) ISBN 1-59091-029-X
- Curtis, James C. The Fox at Bay: Martin Van Buren and the Presidency, 1837-1841 (1970) ISBN 0-8131-1214-1
- Gammon, Samuel Rhea Gammon. The Presidential Campaign of 1832 (PDF) (1922) ISBN 0-8371-4827-8
- Henretta, James A.. "Martin Van Buren."The American Presidency . 1st. 2004. ISBN 0-618-38273-9
- Holt, Michael. The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War (2003) online edition
- Niven, John. Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics (2000) ISBN 0-945707-25-8
- Remini, Robert V. Martin Van Buren and the Making of the Democratic Party (1959) ISBN 0-231-02288-3 online edition
- Schouler, James. History of the United States of America: Under the Constitution vol. 4. 1831-1847. Democrats and Whigs. (1917) online edition
- Silbey, Joel. Martin Van Buren and the Emergence of American Popular Politics (2002) ISBN 0-7425-2244-X
- Wilson, Major L. The Presidency of Martin Van Buren (1984) ISBN 0-7006-0238-0
- "Election of 1836." U.S History. 2005. Online Highways. 4 Apr. 2006.
[edit] Primary sources
- Van Buren, Martin. Autobiography (1918) ISBN 0-678-00531-1. The text of the autobiography is contained within the Annual Report Of The American Historical Association For The Year 1918, Volume II, John C. Fitzpatrick, ed.
- Van Buren, Martin. Van Buren, Abraham, Van Buren, John, ed. Inquiry Into the Origin and Course of Political Parties in the United States (1867) ISBN 1-4181-2924-0.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Martin Van Buren to Thomas Ritchie, January 13, 1827.
- ^ Kitchen Cabinet Columbia Encyclopedia
- ^ Holt (2003) 998
- ^ Extermination Order. LDS FAQ. Retrieved on August 22, 2005.
- ^ Boggs, Extermination Order
- ^ Smith, Joseph Fielding (1946-1949). "Church History and Modern Revelation" 4: 167–173. Deseret.
- ^ Lamb, Brian & the C-SPAN staff (2000). Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb?: A Tour of Presidential Gravesites. Washington, DC: NationaL Cable Satellite Corporation. ISBN 1-881846-07-5.
- ^ Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts". Further research has shown that Martin Van Buren is neither the ancestor of nor even related to Nelson Eddy. Nelson Eddy is instead descended through his maternal grandmother from the immigrant ancestor Dr. Jacobus Van Beuren.
- ^ Paletta, Lu Ann and Worth, Fred L. (1988). "The World Almanac of Presidential Facts".
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Wikisource has original works written by or about:
- Extensive essay on Martin Van Buren and shorter essays on each member of his cabinet and First Lady from the Miller Center of Public Affairs
- Martin Van Buren Biography and Fact File, via American-presidents.com
- Martin Van Buren at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Biography, via White House
- Biography by Appleton's and Stanley L. Klos
- Van Buren biography, from Kinderhook Connection
- Inaugural Address, via yale.edu
- The van Buren Family, since the 17th century, via rootsweb.com
- State of the Union Addresses:
- First State of the Union Address of Martin Van Buren, via usa-presidents.info
- Second State of the Union Address of Martin Van Buren, via usa-presidents.info
- Third State of the Union Address of Martin Van Buren, via usa-presidents.info
- Fourth State of the Union Address of Martin Van Buren, via usa-presidents.info
- Martin Van Buren National Historic Site (Lindenwald)
- Medical and Health history of Martin van Buren, via doctorzebra.com
- Martin Van Buren: The Greatest American President, via independent.org
- Martin Van Buren: What Greatness Really Means Audio lecture. Great presidents keep America out of war.
- Works by Martin Van Buren at Project Gutenberg
- Martin Van Buren and the Nullification Crisis
- Profile of Martin van Buren at Find A Grave
- Van Buren SkitsA website ARG for skits about a fictional version of Martin Van Buren.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
John Adams
Adams, John
Adams, John (1735-1826), 2nd president of the United States. He devoted his life to politics, participating with distinction first in the revolutionary activities of Boston and Philadelphia and later in the founding of the republic. He served as a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress, as a diplomat in the struggle to win European recognition of American independence, and as vice president and president of the United States during its critical, formative years.
Adams's diaries, letters, and books provide invaluable information about the politics of his time. His writings reveal the mind of an astute observer and philosopher—a very human one whose warmth, wit, and playfulness captivate the reader. His reputation as an intelligent and courageous statesman endures; but his name has been overshadowed by others—perhaps because he was not uniquely connected with any single great event.
Boyhood and Education. Adams was born in the village of Braintree (Quincy), Mass., on Oct. 30 (Old Style, Oct. 19), 1735. His parents and ancestors had been honored members of the community since its founding. His father, John Adams, was influential in town business, serving as selectman and officer of the militia; his mother, Susanna Boylston Adams, was known for her devotion to family and church. The Adams clan had arrived from England about 1640 and settled on land that their descendants were still tilling in John's boyhood.
Besides receiving the informal instruction of village life, Adams attended dame and Latin school. In spite of his inclination to be a farmer, his schooling prepared him for college and a career in the ministry. With some special tutoring in Latin from Joseph Marsh, a local scholar, John passed his entrance examinations for Harvard College in 1751 and began four absorbing years of study that excited his imagination. "I was a mighty metaphysician, at least I thought myself such"; he was a mighty scientist, debater, and orator, too. As he examined career possibilities, the ministry soon appeared less interesting to him than law, medicine, and public service. At graduation in 1755 he was still undecided, and he accepted a teaching position in Worcester while he contemplated the future.
Early Public Career. The career of a schoolmaster was most unsatisfying for Adams. His pupils were "little runtlings" who barely knew their ABC's, and his students noted that he was preoccupied with other matters. His position, however, enabled him to meet the intellectuals of Worcester, including James Putnam, its most distinguished lawyer. Adams finally decided to make a career of the law and apprenticed himself to Putnam. Since the intense young man was not interested in being a country lawyer, he returned as soon as possible (in 1758) to Braintree, where family connections could win him introductions to the Boston bar.
Lawyer Adams began his career in Braintree writing wills and deeds and taking an interest in town affairs. Although local matters were important to him, his law practice began to take him farther and farther from Braintree. On his way to and from Plymouth he would stop at Weymouth to visit Abigail, the young daughter of the Reverend Mr. William Smith. John and Abigail were married on Oct. 25, 1764, and he loved her deeply throughout their long marriage.
Adams's legal practice often took him to Boston, where he became well acquainted with James Otis, Jr., and his distant cousin Samuel Adams. With them he attended the clubs of tradesmen and joined the "Sodalitas" an a founding member. This group of Boston lawyers mixed scholarly discussions of law with debates on the legality of the Stamp Act of 1765. Out of these meetings came Adams' anonymous articles for the Boston Gazette, later reprinted as A Dissertation on Canon and Feudal Law. In these he traced the origin and rise of freedom. The rights of Englishmen, he wrote, were derived from God, not from king or Parliament, and would be secured by the study of history, law, and tradition.
Adams expressed these views in political form when he drew up for Braintree a protest against the Stamp Act that became a model for similar remonstrations elsewhere in New England. He assailed the stamp tax as an unnecessary burden upon the people and an unconstitutional levy—"no free man can be separated from his property but by his own act or fault." These ideas gave him much prominence in Massachusetts. Braintree recognized him now as a leading townsman by electing him a selectman, but legal work kept him in Boston, so he gave up his post as selectman and moved there in 1768.
Though Adams was always ready to speak out for liberty, he maintained his political independence and offered his talents to anyone in trouble. His most dramatic case occurred in 1770 when he and Josiah Quincy defended the British soldiers accused of murder in the Boston Massacre. It was an incident of justice versus unlawful authority, but the culprit this time was the Boston mob that provoked the incident. For taking the case Adams was sharply rebuked in the patriot newspapers, yet he was privately congratulated on winning this case for liberty.
Since May 1770, Adams had been a Boston representative in the legislature (General Court). Associating daily with men deeply concerned about liberty, he was troubled by the issues confronting the colonies. These preyed upon his mind, and he decided in 1771 to leave public life. After 16 months of semiretirement, partly taken up in travel and bathing in the mineral springs of Stafford, Conn., and partly in farming, he returned to Boston.
Rise to Leadership. The radicals were happy to have Adams available for consultation and as a writer for the newspapers. They elected him to the Governor's Council in May 1773, only to have him ejected by the governor for his partisanism. He was, indeed, involved in patriotic maneuvers, and he rejoiced when Bostonians dumped the hated tea into the harbor in the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Britain's retaliation drew him into full partnership with the radicals, and he became a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774.
During the next three years in Philadelphia, Adams pushed Congress into decisive action that was to separate the colonies from Britain. He urged successfully the appointment of George Washington as commander in chief of colonial forces and the creation of a naval force to challenge Britain's supremacy of the seas. In committee and on the floor of Congress, he laid down principles of foreign policy, helped write the resolutions of May 10, 1776, that declared America independent, and defended the Declaration of Independence during debate in Congress.
As chairman of the Board of War and Ordnance for nearly a year (1776–1777), Adams attempted to equip the army. Important to the revolutionary cause also were his extensive correspondence and his published writings. His Novanglus papers (1774–75) and his Thoughts on Government (1776) outlined principles of liberty and order for the Americans.
In Diplomatic Service. In 1778, Adams was sent to replace Silas Deane, one of the American diplomatic agents in Paris negotiating a commercial and military alliance with France. Before he arrived, however, the American commissioners there had successfully concluded the negotiations. Adams returned to Braintree in time to be chosen a member of the Massachusetts constitutional convention; he composed most of the articles of the state constitution accepted by the convention in 1780.
Adams's work on the state charter was barely completed when he was appointed a minister plenipotentiary in anticipation of peace negotiations with Britain. In Paris, while awaiting the start of negotiations, he was expected to be patient and inconspicuous—a role unsuited to his nervous, passionate temperament. With blunt advice for all parties, Adams irritated the French officials by meddling in policy matters, and he angered Benjamin Franklin by comments on his behavior. Finally giving way to their hostility, he withdrew to the Netherlands where he secured recognition of American independence and negotiated a loan and treaty of amity and commerce.
Returning to Paris in October 1782, Adams joined John Jay and Franklin in the peace discussions. In these proceedings Adams particularly, and successfully, insisted on the rights of the United States to fish off the Canadian coast, and he also was interested in extending American territory as far west as possible. The Treaty of Paris, ending the War of Independence, was concluded on Sept. 3, 1783.
While the peace treaty was being ratified by Congress, Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, toured England. In 1783–1784, Adams negotiated loans for the United States in the Netherlands and commercial treaties in France. In 1785 he was appointed first U.S. minister to Britain. His three years in London were fruitless in winning trade concessions or putting Anglo-American relations on a friendly basis. Adams used his time to good purpose, however, by getting well acquainted with Thomas Jefferson, U.S. minister to France, and writing A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States (3 vols., 1787). Like Adams's other writings, this work was unpolished and somewhat polemical, but it contained a wealth of information on constitutional theory and was often cited in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Adams strongly approved of balanced government and praised the British parliamentary system as the "most stupendous fabric of human invention."
While Adams favored states' rights and reform of the Articles of Confederation, he had worried about the continuing weakness of the national government. In 1788 he welcomed the proposed Constitution as "admirably calculated to preserve the Union." As his thoughts turned homeward, he resigned his unproductive London post and returned to Braintree to study, write, and garden. Within the year, in the first election held under the Constitution, he was chosen vice president of the United States, confirming his national position as second only to President Washington.
The First Vice President. As in all of his positions, Adams, who was reelected in 1792, accepted the responsibilities of the vice presidency with energy and seriousness. He presided over the U.S. Senate and cast the deciding vote frequently, often for measures that would increase generally the powers of the national government or specifically those of the presidency. Always ready to offer opinions, Adams lectured the Senate on its duties. He also published a series of essays, Discourses on Davila (1791), which commented broadly on civil disorders, with special reference to the French Revolution.
As Washington's "heir apparent," Adams discovered that even the presidency was being reduced to the level of human passions and party objectives. According to his philosophy, the position should seek the man, and knowledge as well as virtue should qualify the man, without regard to partisanship. Unlike Washington, Adams had rivals for the presidency, and he should have been more flexible. Instead, he permitted Alexander Hamilton to assume leadership of the Federalist party, while he tried to remove himself from partisan politics by associating even with his party's critics.
Hamilton was angry over this conduct and sought another candidate to represent the Federalist party. But the party was embroiled with the Jeffersonian Republicans in fierce contests over the direction of foreign affairs. This division centered on the war between England and France, with the Federalists favoring the English, and the Republicans, the French. The climax came during the ratification of Jay's Treaty with Britain in 1794 (see Jay's Treaty). Its pro-English character offended both the French government and the pro-French Republicans who carried on a scurrilous newspaper campaign against Jay and the administration. The bitterness, however, brought a reaction in favor of the moderates and many leaders, wishing to avoid excess, rallied to Adams, who had managed to stay out of the dispute.
Hamilton, who had greatly influenced the treaty negotiations, was helpless but not reconciled to the choice of Adams as Federalist candidate for president. During the presidential campaign of 1796 he secretly tried to substitute Thomas Pinckney for Adams and thus divided the party. As a result, the election was extremely close: Adams won the presidency by three electoral votes (71-68) over the Republican Jefferson, who, under the electoral system then in use, became the vice president.
The Presidency. Adams entered office on March 4, 1797. Fully aware of his slender victory, he sought political harmony. His inaugural address, tracing the progress of the nation, declared his faith in republicanism and called upon the people to end partisan politics. He tried to reach an accord with Jefferson, conciliate the Hamiltonians, and steer a peaceful course through the controversy with France over Jay's Treaty. But he encountered supreme difficulties.
As the first president to succeed another, Adams had no guidelines to follow on cabinet appointments, patronage, and policy enunciations. He decided to keep Washington's mediocre cabinet, partly because he wanted to reconcile the Federalists and partly because he knew how difficult is was to get good men to serve. The cabinet was Federalist—and more, Hamiltonian—in loyalty. Adams did not fully realize the inherent dangers of this situation until 1799, when the cabinet violated its trust by working against his policies.
With Federalists about him, Adams found partisan politics impossible to avoid, though he favored Republicans Benjamin Rush and Elbridge Gerry with appointments. As relations with France worsened, he had to recommend preparations for defensive warfare while negotiations for peace continued. These measures irritated the Republicans, but Adams was not deterred. He held to his policy of peace and preparedness even after the French Directory insulted American envoys (see XYZ Correspondence) and began detaining American vessels. In January 1798 he proposed the creation of a navy department and asked for funds to put the military on a war footing.
Four bills to control subversion, the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, were also passed. One of the acts imposed severe penalties on those who criticized the government. These harsh measures, formulated in a time of fright, were approved by Adams. Although a score of journalists were punished for their attacks on the administration, the laws were not ruthlessly applied. The opposition, however, made them appear cruel and turned them into symbols of Federalism.
Adams's reprisals against French seizures of American shipping were popular for a time, and the Federalists won the 1798 congressional elections. Though Congress did not declare war, Adams pushed ahead with military preparations, selecting Washington, Henry Knox, Charles C. Pinckney, and Hamilton, in that order, to be the ranking generals of the army. But while Adams was visiting in Quincy (which had been set off from Braintree in 1792), the cabinet secured Washington's backing to move Hamilton ahead of his colleagues and make him second in command (actually, commander since Washington was not expected to take the field). Adams grasped the significance of this maneuver. He saw lawful control of the army shifted to Hamilton and, more, the naked specter of militarism. Hamilton and the cabinet wanted to prolong the crisis with France and use the opportunity to consolidate the Federalist party and spread the war into Spanish America.
By the time Adams fully realized what was happening, he had advice from Europe that France would resume negotiations. In February 1799 he abruptly nominated William Vans Murray as a special envoy, to the amazement of the Hamiltonians. Debate over the action was bitter, and Adams compromised by agreeing to name a commission instead of a single delegate, but he withstood the pressure of Hamilton, the British minister, and some members of his cabinet. The commission finally concluded a treaty with France on Sept. 30, 1800. Thus Adams succeeded in preventing a war with France and preserving his country's neutrality.
The treaty negotiations had split the party, and the Federalists now openly considered the effect of this division on the 1800 election. When two cabinet members, Secretary of State Pickering and Secretary of War McHenry, revealed their disloyalty to Adams, he forced their resignations without any political finesse. His abrasive action infuriated the Hamiltonians, who vented their feelings in public, matching the president's undiplomatic conduct. The Republicans, led by Jefferson and Aaron Burr, enjoyed the Federalist predicament. Adams was temperamentally unable to assume the responsibilities of a party boss or to dramatize the achievements of his administration. The election results reflected this weakness. The Federalists lost the presidency to Jefferson and the Republicans by eight electoral votes (73 to 65) and also lost Congress.
Later Years. Adams left the presidency in 1801 for private life in Quincy. He remained bitter toward Hamilton and the Federalists, yet he regained his sense of humor and served his country in a different way, becoming president of the Massachusetts Society of Arts and Sciences, the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, and other societies. He also wrote articles for the Boston Patriot reviewing events of his administration, and he corresponded with many people in the spirit of Cicero's Letters. His correspondence on politics, history, national affairs, religion, and philosophy was designed to guide posterity in maintaining the principles of 1776. His letters to Jefferson and Benjamin Rush are monuments of erudition, revealing a charming personality that could be crusty, petty, and lovable within the space of dozen lively lines.
Adams died in Quincy, Mass., on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson died the same day.
See also Adams (family); United States--The Founding of the Nation, 1763–1815.
John A. Schultz
University of Southern California
Bibliography
Adams's writings are included in The Adams Papers, ed. by Lyman H. Butterfield et al. (Belknap Press/Harvard Univ. Press 1961– ), a projected 100-vol. edition in several series of Adams family documents—diaries, correspondence, and state papers—in the custody of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Series include The Papers of John Adams, ed. by Robert J. Taylor et al., 12 vols. through 2004 (1977– ); The Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. by Lyman H. Butterfield, 4 vols. (1961), and its supplement, The Earliest Diary of John Adams, ed. by Lyman H. Butterfield et al. (1966); and The Legal Papers of John Adams, 3 vols., ed. by L. Kinvin Wroth and H. B. Zobel (1966). The Adams Papers is supplanting the 10-vol. Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, ed. by Charles Francis Adams (1850–1856 ed. reprinted by AMS Press 1971). Volumes of selections include Political Writings of John Adams, ed. by George W. Carey (Regnery Pub. 2000), and Revolutionary Writings of John Adams, ed. by C. Bradley Thompson (Liberty Fund 2000). Adams's correspondence has been gathered in several editions, notably The Adams-Jefferson Letters, ed. in 2 vols. by Lester J. Cappon (1959; reprint, Inst. of Early Am. Hist. and Culture/Univ. of N.C. Press 1988), and The Book of Abigail and John; Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762–1784, ed. by Lyman H. Butterfield et al. (Harvard Univ. Press 1975).
Adams, James Truslow, The Adams Family (1930; reprint, Greenwood Press 1974).
Brookhiser, Richard, America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735–1918 (Free Press 2002).
Brown, Ralph A., The Presidency of John Adams (Univ. Press of Kans. 1975).
Brown, Walt, John Adams and the American Press: Politics and Journalism at the Birth of the Republic (McFarland & Co. 1995).
Ellis, Joseph J., Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams (Norton 1993).
Ferling, John E., John Adams: A Life (1992; reprint, H. Holt 1996).
Ferling, John E., John Adams: A Bibliography (Greenwood Press 1994).
Grant, James, John Adams: Party of One (Farrar, Straus 2005).
Handler, Edward, America and Europe in the Political Thought of John Adams (Harvard Univ. Press 1964).
Haraszti, Zoltan, John Adams and the Prophets of Progress (Harvard Univ. Press 1952).
Howe, John R., Jr., The Changing Political Thought of John Adams (Princeton Univ. Press 1966).
Hutson, James H., John Adams and the Diplomacy of the American Revolution (Univ. Press of Ky. 1980).
McCullough, David G., John Adams (Simon & Schuster 2001).
Nagel, Paul C., Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family (Oxford 1983).
Peterson, Merrill D., Adams and Jefferson: A Revolutionary Dialogue (1976; reprint, Oxford 1978).
Ryerson, Richard A., ed., John Adams and the Founding of the Republic (Mass. Hist. Soc. 2001).
Shaw, Peter, The Character of John Adams (Norton 1977).
Smith, Page, John Adams, 2 vols. (1962, 1963; reprint, Greenwood Press 1969).
Thompson, C. Bradley, John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty (Univ. Press of Kans. 1998).
Weisberger, Bernard A., America Afire: Jefferson, Adams, and the Revolutionary Election of 1800 (Morrow 2000).
Appended Material
Presidential Highlights: John Adams
2d President of the United States (1797–1801)
| Born | Oct. 30, 1735, in Braintree (Quincy), Mass. |
| Higher Education | Harvard College (B.A., 1755). |
| Religious Affiliation | Unitarian. |
| Occupation | Lawyer. |
| Marriage | Oct. 25, 1764, to Abigail Smith (1744–1818). |
| Children | Abigail Amelia (1765–1813); John Quincy (1767–1848); Susanna (1768–1770); Charles (1770–1800); Thomas Boylston (1772–1832). |
| Military Service | None. |
| Party Affiliation | Federalist. |
| Legal Residence When Elected | Massachusetts. |
| Position before Taking Office | Vice President of the United States. |
| Principal Writings | The Life and Works of John Adams, 10 vols., ed. by Charles F. Adams (1856); The Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 4 vols., ed. by Lyman H. Butterfield et al. (1961). |
| Died | July 4, 1826, in Quincy, Mass., at age 90. |
| Burial Place | First Unitarian Church, Quincy, Mass. |
Cabinet Members and Other Officials: Adams Administration
| Office | Name | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Vice President | Thomas Jefferson | 1797–1801 |
| Secretary of State | Thomas Pickering | 1797–1800 |
| John Marshall | 1800–1801 | |
| Secretary of the Treasury | Oliver Wolcott, Jr. | 1797–1800 |
| Samuel Dexter | 1800 | |
| Secretary of War | James McHenry | 1797–1800 |
| Samuel Dexter | 1801 | |
| Attorney General | Charles Lee | 1797–1801 |
| Postmaster General | Joseph Habersham | 1797–1801 |
| Secretary of the Navy | Benjamin Stoddert | 1798–1801 |
Related articles:
Adams, John Quincy (1767-1848)
Washington, George (1732-1799)
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