John Adams (1735–1826), who served as the offset vice president of the United States and then as its second President, also influenced the development of constitutional government through his political writings and idea. He was supportive of many First Amendment principles although he did believe in established churches. (Image via the Naval Historical Center, painted by Asher Brownish Durand, public domain)

John Adams (1735–1826), who served as the first vice president of the United States and then as its second President, besides influenced the development of constitutional government through his political writings and thought.

Adams was a leading lawyer and advocate for independence

Born in Massachusetts Bay Colony, Adams received his education from Harvard and became a leading lawyer in Massachusetts during the colonial era. In his nigh famous case, he defended British soldiers who stood trial afterward the Boston Massacre in 1770. The leading advocate for independence at the Second Continental Congress and a fellow member of the committee that drafted the Proclamation of Independence, Adams served the United States during the Revolutionary War every bit an ambassador to the Court of Louis 16 in Paris and as administrator to the Netherlands.

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Because John Adams was serving equally an ambassador in London during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he did not have a directly impact on the drafting of the Constitution. Adams, however, had become a prominent advocate of separation of powers and of checks and balances to protect confronting the ability of absolute regime. (Image via Massachusetts Historical Club, created by Benjamin Blyth circa 1766, public domain)

Adams advocated separation of powers and checks and balances

Adams was serving equally an administrator in London during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, so he did not have a direct impact on the drafting of the Constitution. Adams, however, had become a prominent advocate of separation of powers and of checks and balances to protect against the power of absolute authorities. His political writings, including Thoughts on Authorities (1776) and A Defense of the Constitutions of the U.s.a. of America (1778), adult the principles of constitutional government that James Madison and other delegates applied at the 1787 convention. Adams strongly supported the new constitution.

Adams sponsored the Alien and Sedition Acts

After U.S. independence, Adams returned to his part equally a diplomat at the Court of St. James'southward in London, from 1785 to 1788, earlier being elected vice president in 1788 and president in 1796.

His presidency (1797–1801) was a tragic episode. Equally a leader among the Federalists, Adams became the subject of scurrilous attacks in Republican newspapers and pamphlets, which portrayed him as a monarchist and an enemy of republican government. They likewise ridiculed him as beingness effeminate or a hermaphrodite considering of his height and high-pitched vocalism.

Meanwhile, the United States came under pressure from French republic and Uk to take sides in the wars following the French Revolution of 1789. Republicans favored republican France, while the Federalists sympathized with U.k.. Adams labored to keep the Usa out of the keen power conflict.

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During his presidency, John Adams and the Federalist majority in Congress sponsored four laws that came to be known as the Conflicting and Sedition Acts of 1798. These statutes stand for the offset example of an American president placing national security issues and personal reputation before the principles of freedom of speech and of the printing. (Image via Harvard University Portrait Collection [bequest of Ward Nicholas Boylston to Harvard College, 1828], painted by John Singleton Copley in 1783, public domain)

After the XYZ Affair of 1797–1798 caused resentment toward France, Adams and the Federalist majority in Congress sponsored four laws that came to be known as the Conflicting and Sedition Acts of 1798. These statutes — the Naturalization Deed, Alien Human action, Alien Enemies Act, and Sedition Act — stand for the first instance of an American president placing national security issues and personal reputation earlier the principles of liberty of speech communication and of the press.

The laws met with immediate resistance in Republican strongholds and triggered the Virginia Resolution (1798) and the Kentucky Resolution (1799). Authored by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, the resolutions questioned the constitutional validity of the legislation. The unpopularity of the measures almost certainly contributed to Adams's defeat by Jefferson in the presidential elections of 1800.

Adams supported First Amendment principles

Though a leading Federalist, Adams makes clear in letters to Jefferson that he would accept preferred that the Constitution be prefaced past a "declaration of rights," as was the Massachusetts constitution (1780), for which Adams served equally primary author. Adams was serving as vice president when the first Congress proposed and adopted the Bill of Rights. Adams's political writings and correspondence with Jefferson, Benjamin Rush, and other leading figures of the American founding illustrate his support of the principles of religious liberty and republicanism embodied in the Start Amendment.

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John Adams backed an established church and believed that religious establishment demand not exist subversive of religious freedom. Nevertheless, he later came to believe that people acted based on the principle of "might makes right" because power always sees itself every bit being in the right. Governmental checks and balances consequently might be the only defense force against religiously motivated tyranny. (Image via the Brooklyn Museum, painted by Samuel Morse circa 1816, public domain)

Adams backed an established church

The one exception is Adams's backing of an established church and his belief that religious establishment demand not be subversive of religious freedom. Later in life, his views on organized religion and politics moved closer to those of Jefferson. Both men consort Enlightenment attitudes and Unitarian doctrine, but dissimilar Jefferson, however, Adams was never sanguine that man enlightenment would lead to the end of religious intolerance and oppression. He believed that people acted based on the principle of "might makes right" because power ever sees itself every bit being in the correct. Governmental checks and balances consequently might exist the but defense against religiously motivated tyranny.

Adams and Jefferson died on the aforementioned day, July four, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, to which both men had contributed.

This article was originally published in 2009. Paul J. Cornish is Associate Professor of Political Scientific discipline at K Valley Land University. He has published articles on the political thought of John Adams, and on the concepts of natural rights, toleration, and ramble regime in the Catholic natural police tradition

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