Thomas Jefferson
Search results
Nov 21, 2023 · Learn about John Adams' childhood, education, and family. Read about Adams' siblings, his cousin Samuel Adams, and his time at Harvard. Updated: 11/21/2023
- What kind of education did John Adams have?John Adams received a formal education, as most firstborn sons did during this time period. He first attended a dame school followed by Latin prepa...
- How many years of education did John Adams have?From six to fifteen, John Adams attended a dame school, where he was taught reading and writing, and a Latin preparatory school. At fifteen, he was...
- What was John Adams life like when he was young?John Adams grew up on his family's farm. He enjoyed the open space and dreamed of eventually becoming a farmer. He also grew up in a religious hous...
- What was John Adams before he was president?Prior to becoming President, John Adams held a few different jobs. He was a schoolteacher and a lawyer. Following the colonies' victory in the Revo...
- Overview
- Early life
John Adams was an advocate of American independence from Britain, a major figure in the Continental Congress (1774–77), the author of the Massachusetts constitution (1780), a signer of the Treaty of Paris (1783), ambassador to the Court of St. James (1785–88), and the first vice president (1789–97) and second president (1797–1801) of the United States.
When did John Adams become president?
Having finished second to George Washington in the first U.S. presidential election in 1789 and serving as Washington’s vice president (1789–97), Adams won a narrow victory over Thomas Jefferson to be elected as the second president of the United States in 1796. He then lost to Jefferson in the 1800 presidential election.
What was John Adams’s family like?
John Adams’s family could trace its lineage to the first generation of Puritan settlers in New England and made major contributions to U.S. political and intellectual life for more than 150 years. His cousin Samuel Adams was, like John Adams, a lynchpin of the American Revolution. John Quincy Adams, like his father, John Adams, served as U.S. president.
What was John Adams’s early life like?
Adams was the eldest of the three sons of Deacon John Adams and Susanna Boylston of Braintree, Massachusetts. His father was only a farmer and shoemaker, but the Adams family could trace its lineage back to the first generation of Puritan settlers in New England. A local selectman and a leader in the community, Deacon Adams encouraged his eldest son to aspire toward a career in the ministry. In keeping with that goal, Adams graduated from Harvard College in 1755. For the next three years, he taught grammar school in Worcester, Massachusetts, while contemplating his future. He eventually chose law rather than the ministry and in 1758 moved back to Braintree, then soon began practicing law in nearby Boston.
In 1764 Adams married Abigail Smith, a minister’s daughter from neighbouring Weymouth. Intelligent, well-read, vivacious, and just as fiercely independent as her new husband, Abigail Adams became a confidante and political partner who helped to stabilize and sustain the ever-irascible and highly volatile Adams throughout his long career. The letters between them afford an extended glimpse into their deepest thoughts and emotions and provide modern readers with the most revealing record of personal intimacy between husband and wife in the revolutionary era. Typical of their epistolary exchange was Abigail’s lament regarding John’s prolonged absence in her letter to him of November 27, 1775:
Colonel Warren returned last week to Plymouth, so that I shall not hear anything from you until he goes back again, which will not be till the last of this month. He damped my spirits greatly by telling me that the court had prolonged your stay another month. I was pleasing myself with the thought that you would soon be upon your return. It is in vain to repine. I hope the public will reap what I sacrifice.
Their first child, Abigail Amelia, was born in 1765. Their first son, John Quincy, arrived two years later. Two other sons, Thomas Boylston and Charles, followed shortly thereafter. (Another child, Susanna, did not survive infancy.)
Britannica Quiz
American History and Politics Quiz
People also ask
What education did John Adams have?
What did John Adams do before he became president?
What did John Adams do in 1774?
How did John Adams grow up?
Politician. lawyer. Signature. John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain.
- George Washington
- George Washington
- Thomas Jefferson
- Thomas Jefferson
- Randal Rust
- Early Years and Family Life of John Adams. John Adams, Jr. was born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1735 in the town of Braintree (today known as Quincy).
- The Boston Massacre Trials. In 1770, Adams was hired by the British soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre to defend them in court. The trial was to be held in Suffolk County court, but there were no lawyers in the Boston area that would take their case.
- The First and Second Continental Congress. Adams represented Massachusetts in both the First Continental Congress (1774) and the Second Continental Congress (1775).
- First Trip to Europe. In 1777, Adams was asked to go to Europe to represent American interests. 10-year-old John Quincy accompanied him on the journey. They sailed on the frigate Boston on February 15, 1778.
Feb 29, 2012 · As John graduated in 1755 he had not made a decision as to his future career. Learning Law – 1756 to 1758. Upon graduation John took on a job as a teacher at the Central School of Worcester mainly to earn money to pay for his law education. It took a year for Adams to decide law was what he wanted and to overcome the moral dilemma of the ...
Apr 3, 2014 · On October 25, 1764, five days before his 29th birthday, Adams married Abigail Smith, his third cousin. They had six children, Abigail (1765), John Quincy (1767), Susanna (1768), Charles (1770 ...
Nov 5, 2019 · John and Abigail Adams had four children, one of whom, John Quincy Adams, became president, serving one term in the 1820s. Education: Adams was educated at Harvard College. He was an excellent student, and following his graduation he studied law with a tutor and began a legal career.
