Of all the Founding Fathers I have studied, John Adams has never been one to stand out in my mind. Certainly, I know he was an important player in the events, but I have never really paid him much heed. He did not lead the armies, like General George Washington. He did not author a monumental document, as did Thomas Jefferson. He was not clever and inventive, as was Benjamin Franklin. He did not even lead exciting revolts, as did his cousin Samuel Adams when he led the Boston Tea Party. However, I have come to find that Mr. Adams was just as important a figure as any of these gentlemen, if not more.
As a lawyer from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Adams did many of the “behind-the-scenes” jobs that we don’t pay attention to, and yet are often the most important. Specifically, I will discuss his role in helping the Colonies to transform into free and independent states.
It was Mr. Adams who headed the Massachusetts delegation to the Continental Congress and was one of the most active voices in that chamber. It was Mr. Adams who called incessantly for support of the Massachusetts militia, who were the first, and for a long time only, militia fighting back against the British forces near Boston. It was also Mr. Adams who proposed that they select a Commander-in-Chief to lead these armed forces, and then suggested Colonel George Washington from the Virginia delegation to fill the position. Mr. Adams was Washington’s most ardent voice in Congress when the armies needed money or supplies.
Mr. Adams was also the foremost supporter of independence. He was one of the first congressmen to even put forth the idea. It was he, along with Benjamin Franklin, who asked Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence. When Independence was finally to come to a vote, John Dickinson, the foremost opponent of the proposal, stood and spoke with great eloquence and genuine concern about the consequences of such a Declaration. When he finished, no one dared respond until John Adams at last took the floor. What followed was a speech that many said was the finest Adams ever gave. Thomas Jefferson later said of the speech that Adams was “not graceful nor elegant, nor remarkable fluent,” but spoke “with a power of thought and expression that moved us from our seats (McCullough 127).” It was the turning point of the debate. Richard Stockton, a delegate from New Jersey said that Adams was “the man to whom the country is most indebted for the great measure of independency. . . . He it was who sustained the debate, and by the force of his reasoning demonstrated not only the justice, but the expediency of the measure (McCullough 127).” Once the vote took place and motion for independence had passed, Adams continued on to be the zealous protector of the Declaration and every phrase and concept that Jefferson had written therein.
As Richard Stockton said, we are indeed indebted to John Adams, among other men, for the independency and founding of our country. He fought in the chamber of congress with the zeal and energy one would expect to find on the battlefield. He believed so much in the necessity of a free and independent country, that he said, “we should always remember that a free constitution of civil government cannot be purchased at too dear a rate, as there is nothing on this side of Jerusalem of equal importance to mankind (McCullough 125).”
John Adams was a vital player in the events of our American Revolution. I am so grateful to have had this man to fight for the cause of independence and to lead our country as the second President of the United States.
Works Cited
McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. Print.
