 | John Adams was the unappreciated genius of the American revolution. Today, perhaps as a result of being dumbed own by public schooling, we confute the "revolution" with the "war for independence." The fact is the revolution took place in the minds of the people, from 1765 if not earlier. That distinction first was made by John Adams. Historian David McCullough wrote a "biography" of the Brooklyn Bridge (The Great Bridge) in 1972 among half a dozen other works before he earned a Pulitzer Prize for Truman twenty years later. McCullough had intended to write about the long correspondence between Jefferson and Adams after both had served their terms as president. However, he quickly discovered the depth and breadth of Adams.
An unwavering patriot and an early advocate of independence Adams defended the British soldiers of the so-called "Boston Massacre" because he believed in rule of law. The phrase "a government of laws not of men" originated with Adams. Adams wrote the longest living constitution in the history of the world, the one for the state of Massachusetts. Adams created three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judiciary. We accept that today, but in his time, the three branches of government (from Locke) were legislative, executive, and foreign affairs. That Adams did not consider "foreign affairs" a separate branch of government is telling because he was America's ambassador to France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Adams believed in a strong judiciary and as president, he greatly expanded and strengthened the nearly non-existent federal courts. Wary of a standing army, Adams argued for and won the American navy, completing the United States, the Constellation, and the Constitution.
Adams's success as an ambassador is eclipsed in our memories by musical comedies about Franklin and Jefferson in Paris. In point of fact, Adams alone had the Yankee backbone to win respect for America in Europe. That he was pushed to the edges of public affairs -- while Franklin and Jefferson were toasted -- belies the success of his independent actions. The king of France had no interest in democracy -- as history would prove -- however, the bankers of Amsterdam were the source of hard money desperately needed by the United States. To win them, he had to gain the respect of "the high mightinesses" (their own title) of the legislature of the Republic of the Netherlands.
Like literature in translation, even the best biography is only an interpretation. (About translations of Divina Commedia, the Italians say: "tradure e tradirre" -- to translate is to betra, literally "to carry over is to deliver.") John and Abigail Adams exchanged over 1000 letters. The letters between Jefferson and the Adamses run 690 pages today. Adams kept his own diaries, of course, and wrote thousands of letters. All of these illuminate the man whom most of us know only as Washington's vice president. John Trumbull's painting, The Signing of the Declaration of Independence, places John Adams front and center -- and with good reason.
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John Adams by David McCullough
