"John Adams" by David McCullough 2001
It is no secret that John Adams got screwed by history- no
monuments to him, no picture on money, no universities named after him. So far
the best tribute to him is an HBO miniseries starring Paul Giamatti based on
this biography. And it was so good all I could envision as I read was Paul
Giamatti's face throughout the whole book, even in spite of all the Adams pics
included in the book. BUT, one HBO
miniseries is not nearly enough to honor this man- hard working, loyal,
intelligent, persistent (some might say stubborn), and probably the biggest
driver of the Declaration of Independence.
Adams was from a poor farming family in Massachusetts. The family could only send one kid to college and pinned all their hopes on him. He then became a "circuit" trial lawyer and also took over the farm after his dad died. He was constantly working and trying to make ends meets. Maybe his poor background made him feel like he had to work twice as hard to prove himself. It seemed like Adams believed that wealthy people who were his "betters" would always be good, honest people. However this was totally not true in his life (i.e. Thomas Jefferson) but it explained why he always seemed to be surprised and hurt when people screwed him over in politics.
Abigail Adams was the
best thing to ever happen to him.
While he went all over the world as various ambassadors, peace
negotiator, etc, she literally ran the farm and raised the kids all by herself. They were very much in love and wrote such
great letters constantly. She was also
very intelligent and well read and offered opinions on all political
points. She was also a fierce defender
of his... as can be seen in her letters to Jefferson. If she was around today,
people would call her "Hillary".
In Adams time they commented that she had more backbone than he did.
After pushing Congress to publish the Declaration of Independence
and nominating Washington for General, Adams
spent a large chunk of the revolutionary war in Europe- trying to get the
French to actually help us in the war.
The Frenchies were mainly all talk and Adams was not getting much help
from his colleague Ben Franklin, who
talked about him behind his back a lot.
Franklin was very popular with the French, mainly because he told funny
stories and did not actually try to get them to do anything. Adams pushed more and so the French got irritated. So he went to the Netherlands where he had
more success getting some financial help for the revolution. He finished his
foreign service as Ambassador to England right after the war-- an impossibly
difficult job since we had just kicked
their asses. It did not go well- no
fault of his, but he sort of felt like a failure when he was recalled home.
His relationship with
Jefferson was complicated- mainly because Jefferson kept screwing Adams
over behind his back. Jefferson was a
HUGE fan of France, having taken over as French ambassador after Adams. Jefferson thought Adams was too close to Britain.
They were such opposites- Jefferson was a slave owner, Adams hated slavery,
Jefferson was big spender, Adams was very economical. Jefferson was a
republican who believed in limited central government, states' rights, a small army and a close relationship with France. Adams was a Federalist who believed in a
strong federal govt, a standing army (he founded our navy) and that improved
relations with Britain would help our economy and avoid another war with
them. The big difference is that Adams stood proudly for his ideas and got
crucified. Jefferson was constantly
undercutting Adams behind the scenes.
When Adams became vice
president with George Washington, he was ignored for 8 years. However, that was because he kind of screwed
himself this time. Before Washington
took office, Adams kept pushing for all this ceremony, honors, titles and fuss
for himself and Washington, wanting to be called "your highness"
. This was a stupid move in a country
that had just gotten rid of one king. It
made people believe Jefferson's lies that Adams was too close to Britain.
He served one term as president, during which there was constant tension with France (which was in a chaotic revolution by this time) and Britain (still mad at us and wanting us back). Adams was constantly being fought by his own cabinet members (most of them were Washington leftovers)... namely Alexander Hamilton, his treacherous VP Jefferson and a dude named Thomas Pickering. But he still built up our defenses which forced France to sign a treaty with us.
He retired to his farms and spent a lot of time advising his
son, John Quincy Adams, on his career. It
must have been good advice, since JQ ends up as the sixth president and a great
abolitionist. Adams lived a long life
and eventually started writing to Jefferson again in their old age.
No matter the piles of
criticism, ( which stung Adams deeply), he held to his beliefs and was
always honest, hardworking and tireless in his pursuit of independence. He
sacrificed most of his life, going wherever and whenever his country sent him. He never stooped to underhanded, anonymous
tactics or stupid arguments in the press.
I wish our current politicians would let a love of liberty guide them as
much as John Adams did.
FYI- this is by far the best written biography I have read
so far. Five star rating.
