John Adams: life, ideas and books
Massachusetts lawyer, first vice president and second president, who argued for independence and wrote the framework for republican constitutions.
Life
| Born | October 30, 1735, Braintree, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Died | July 4, 1826, Quincy, Massachusetts |
| Occupation | Lawyer, diplomat and second President of the United States |
Life
John Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1735 and graduated from Harvard. He became a leading lawyer in Boston and, though he opposed the Stamp Act, famously defended the British soldiers charged after the Boston Massacre, in defence of the right to counsel and the presumption of innocence.
He served in the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1777, pressed the case for independence and then went to Europe as a diplomat, helping to negotiate the Treaty of Paris in 1783 and securing Dutch recognition and loans. He was the first U.S. minister to Great Britain, the first vice president under George Washington and the second president, serving from 1797 to 1801. He lost the 1800 election to Thomas Jefferson and died on July 4, 1826, the same day as Jefferson, at Peacefield in Quincy.
Ideas
Adams was a republican who feared concentrated power, whether held by a monarch, an aristocracy or a majority. In Thoughts on Government (1776) he proposed a framework with separate legislative, executive and judicial functions, and in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 he was the principal author of a charter built on a balanced government, which remains among the oldest written constitutions still in use. His Defence of the Constitutions argued that a mixed government with a strong executive and a bicameral legislature best protects liberty.
As president he built up the army and navy during the Quasi-War with France and signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, a controversial choice historians continue to debate.
Major works
- Thoughts on Government (1776).
- The Massachusetts Constitution (1780).
- A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (1787-88).
Why conservatives read him
Adams links the American founding to the older tradition of mixed government and distrust of pure majority rule. His writings stress that republics need virtue, law and balanced institutions, and that liberty rests on moral character as well as on rules. His warnings about faction, ambition and the limits of human reason suit conservatives who prefer ordered liberty to sweeping democratic enthusiasm.
Sources
Profile last reviewed November 8, 2026