John Adams

October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826

John Adams was a realistic president. Adams was viewed by his peers as one of the most significant statesmen of the revolutionary era, but his status among the distinguished faded. What made Adams a prominent figure at first, later led to his demise as the second president. Above all John Adams was honest, he also had a sharp way with words. The two most important qualities that helped him through his four years were his caliber as a political thinker, and his pragmatic perspective on American foreign policy. However, first, John Adams had to surpass a few obstacles after taking office in 1797.

As the second president of the newly founded country, John Adams found these obstacles from the beginning. He inherited many burdens from Washington's presidency. Such burdens included; a raging naval conflict with the French in the Caribbean named the "Quasi war"; and the impractical task of succeeding the greatest hero of the revolutionary era, of course, Washington.

The Quasi War carried throughout the Adams presidency. He had to make the decision as to whether or not to engage in war with France. Finally, with bold reluctance, he made the decision to partake in the war. This act incensed the Hamiltonians. While the Jeffersionians were willing to give it one last try with France. Adams attempted to steer a middle course between these partisan sides, which left him vulnerable to political attacks from both sides. If Adams had requested a declaration of war in 1798, he would have enjoyed widespread popularity and a virtually certain reelection two years later. Instead, John Adams acted with characteristic independence by sending yet another, and this time successful, peace delegation to France against the advice of his cabinet and his Federalist supporters. The move ruined him politically but avoided a costly war that the young American republic was ill prepared to fight. John Adams did not fair so well in passing the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The two acts were passed within less than a month. Neither act was accepted with open arms. Part of the reason it was not readily accepted was because it took away the rights of Americans and immigrants and gave the power to the government. The government seemed to be scared. If there was not a threat then the Alien Act would not had been passed. So there must had been a reason that it was so necessary that the Act was passed. The other act passed a week before was the Naturalization Act. This too was doomed to survive. More people were traveling to the New World, yet there rights were being diminished. These acts proved to be John Adam's major domestic failure.

John Adams handled the office practically. He made unpopular, but safe decisions for the young, vulnerable country. These decisions were necessary for America to establish itself without engaging in another war. Another war could have simply destroyed the ambitious country. By simply protecting the United States, John Adams basically signed away his chance to win a second term in office. Though not seen at that point in history, the self-less act reiterated John Adam's image of honesty and his outstanding knowledge of Foreign policy.

"I have heard of one Mr. Adams, but who is the other?"
    - King George III of England

John Adams

by David McCullough
Simon & Schuster, 752 pages
ISBN: 0743223136

Synopsis

This book chronicles the life, love, and service of John Adams. He is alternately remembered as founding father, foreign diplomat, vice-president, president, peacemaker, father, husband, monarchist, censor, and warmonger.

The sheer quantity of his surviving correspondence was greater than any other statesman of his time. This allows for a uniquely personal interpretation of the life of the second President of the United States as well as a thoughtful, if opinionated, look at the times in which he lived. In addition to the historical record, one can examine the thoughts of the man himself and his reasoning, his motives, and his worldview. This is not an exaggeration either, as John Adams was a man who often wrote with his heart rather than with his head, so a good deal of his passionate personality is imprinted on his various letters and thereby preserved for the ages.

This volume draws heavily on those letters and those of his equally passionate wife, Abigail, as well as building upon previous biographical works.

Review

Let me start by saying this was among the best biographies I have read, within the categories of historical content and quality of writing. Sadly, though, a small but highly visible current of bias trickles through an otherwise outstanding book.

Be warned: This book starts with a chaotic non-linear chapter on the American Revolution and John and Abigail Adams which--to one who is not a great expert on either the Adamses or the American Revolution--was difficult to follow. There are places for unorthodox writing styles or odd usage and sentence structure, but those places do not include non-fiction works whose primary aim is to communicate information in a clear way. I almost gave up there, but I stoically trudged through the first difficult pages and then, suddenly, the work changed gears and became a well-written biographical work. My hope is that the chaos of the first chapter was supposed to be a kind of metaphor for the chaos of the subject matter: The American Revolution. Even so, it was distracting.

Following this, the work is linear and chatty. I say "chatty" because much of it is told in the voice of the participants via the letters mentioned in the synopsis. It is a rarity that so much of a modern work can draw from the raw personality of a man who lived 200 years ago.

The major problem with this volume is the bias. It is possible that in drawing so much from personal correspondence, the author, either intentionally (as a creative idea) or otherwise pushed the opinions of Mr. Adams as his own. The author paints Benjamin Franklin as little more than an aging malicious philandering dandy who had no idea what was going on around him. While parts of this are undoubtedly true, this is the entirety of the picture drawn of the famous statesman. Thomas Jefferson, Adams' protege and sometimes friend, is also treated unkindly, focusing very strongly on his reclusive behavior and personal problems.

The worst bias, though, was regarding John Adams himself. The enormous political errors in France were essentially other people's problems (including the errors committed by Adams himself). The Alien and Sedition Acts were covered inadequately, and explained away as a product of the times. In fact, in almost every case where an unfavorable opinion of Adams might take even the most tenuous hold, the author tries to explain it away and in several instances comes very close to apologizing.

In closing, I feel that this is an important book. It covers the life and career of one of the least remembered Presidents in a well-paced and well-written if sometimes tilted fashion. Read this book, but read it critically.

Awards and Honors

• Pulitzer Prize - Biography or Autobiography (2002)
• American Academy of Diplomacy - Douglas Dillon Award for Distinguished Writing on American Diplomacy (2001)
• Christopher Award - Books for Adults (2002)
• Revolutionary War Roundtable Prize
• Time Magazine - Best nonfiction book of the year (2001)
• New York Times Book Review - Editors' Choice (2001)

Resources:
John Adams - David McCullough
http://www.pulitzer.org/
http://www.academyofdiplomacy.org/
http://www.christophers.org/awinners/02awinners.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E6D7153AF931A35751C1A9679C8B63
http://www.time.com/time/bestworst2001/books.html