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The Education of John Adams All articles are subject to modification prior to official publication in the full issue of the Connecticut Bar Journal. In the event of discrepancies between the electronic version of an article and the final version of an issue, the latest full issue version is to be considered authoritative. 2021] BOOK REVIEW The Education of John Adams –R.B. Bernstein, Oxford University Press, New York, 2020. 349 pages. R.B. Bernstein, author of several well-received books on American Revolutionary War figures, now turns his atten- tion to John Adams. Adapting his book’s title from his great- grandson’s, The Education of Henry Adams, Bernstein states that he chose The Education of John Adams to emphasize Adams’s position as the most studious and introspective of the nation’s founders. However, Bernstein could have titled this biography The Tragedy of John Adams.1 Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts on October 30, 1735. He spent his happiest hours at his home there and remained a proud New Englander until the day he died. His father was a financially struggling deacon of the local Con- gregational Church, as well as a farmer. Yet he managed to send John, his eldest son, to Harvard College. At Harvard, Adams immersed himself in his studies; his favorite teacher was a professor of mathematics and natural history, John Winthrop, a descendant of the first governor of Connecticut, John Winthrop, Jr. After graduation, Adams taught school in Worcester, Massachusetts. At the same time, he contracted with an at- torney to study for the bar. The attorney proved worthless as an instructor, causing Adams to lose his temper, as he often did, and to study on his own. As was usual for a law student in those days, this involved reading Coke, Grotius, and Jus- tinian, as well as collecting briefs of cases, which was known as “common-placing.” Adams then moved to Boston, where an accomplished lawyer Jeremiah Gridley, gave him formal training, and in 1758, supported his admission to the Massachusetts bar. Ad- ams traveled throughout Massachusetts and became a suc- 1 Cf. Eric F. Goldman’s book, The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson (1968). CONNECTICUT BAR JOURNAL [Vol. 92.2 cessful trial attorney. He married Abigail Smith in 1764, and their marriage lasted 54 years. Until 1774, Adams was not a revolutionary. Although he differed with the government of England and wrote essays in newspapers attacking the sugar tax and the stamp tax, as well as other aspects of Britain’s treatment of the Mas- sachusetts colony, he considered himself a British subject. He did not call for the colonies to separate from England, but argued against the British interpretation of the unwritten English Constitution. Indeed, considering himself British, one of Adams’s most famous cases was his defense of a Brit- ish captain and soldiers accused of murder in the so-called “Boston Massacre.” The case demonstrated Adams’s commit- ment to the ethical principle that every accused was entitled to a defense. Using his courtroom skills at the Boston Massacre trial in October 1770, Adams employed tactics that included reject- ing jurors from Boston itself and stressing that the British soldiers had opposed an angry, uncontrolled mob. He sup- pressed testimony that showed that the presence of British troops in Boston had encouraged bad feelings between the citizens and the soldiers. Adams achieved an acquittal of the captain and all but two of the British soldiers. Two soldiers were convicted of manslaughter and were punished by hav- ing their thumbs branded with the letter M. By 1774, with the British occupying Boston and Parlia- ment passing what Boston’s citizenry called the “intoler- able acts,” Adams traveled as a Massachusetts delegate to Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress. It was in response to the Intolerable Acts that he found himself unable to pay deference to Britain. This was a gathering of all 13 British colonies, intending to unite in opposition to British domination. To this point, the colonies had led separate exis- tences. Adams had now decided that separation from Britain was necessary. Six months later, at the Second Continental Congress, Adams joined several other delegates in approving a resolu- 2021] BOOK REVIEW tion calling for independence. He was a member of the com- mittee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Adams was instrumental in recommending that Thomas Jefferson draft the document because of Jefferson’s reputation as a writer who could skillfully sell the American position. While the struggle raged in the colonies, Adams spent much of Revolutionary War in France and the Netherlands, gaining French support and loans from Amsterdam bank- ers. In France, he and Benjamin Franklin sparred. Franklin had a worldwide reputation as the colonies’ most impres- sive diplomat. To Adams, however, Franklin was lazy and too interested in fine European life. Adams, again losing his temper, sent anti-Franklin reports to Congress. Franklin in turn wrote that Adams was a good man, but at times was “absolutely out of his senses.” Franklin’s comment was used over the years by Adams’ opponents. During this time, as most of the newly minted states wrote constitutions to replace the organic documents of British rule, Adams came to their assistance with his pam- phlet, Thoughts on Government. Although Connecticut did not write a new constitution until 1818,2 Oliver Wolcott, Jr., then Connecticut’s governor and previously Adams’s Secre- tary of the Treasury, made use of Adams’ writings. The 1818 constitution, with its separation of powers clause and its es- tablishment of the Yale charter,3 exhibits Adams’s influence. After the war, Adams became the first United States am- bassador to Great Britain. Then, after the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789, Adams’s political ambitions and his desire for recognition for his role in winning independence prompted him to seek the vice presidency, which he held un- der George Washington from 1789 to 1797, and the presi- dency, which he held from 1797 to 1801. George Washington told Adams that his role as vice presi- 2 See J. Blue and H. Cohn, “The 1818 Constitution, Oliver Wolcott’s Draft,” VIII Connecticut Supreme Court History 1 (2015). 3 Adams, in drafting Massachusetts’ constitution of 1780, used similar language with regard to Harvard. CONNECTICUT BAR JOURNAL [Vol. 92.2 dent did not include shaping Senate policy; a sentiment that John Kennedy later conveyed to his vice president, Lyndon Johnson. Further, Adams worsened his standing early on by suggesting that President Washington be given a royal-type title. Adams was viewed as pressuring Washington to put in place an aristocratic executive branch, and he was mocked by Congress as “His Rotundity.” Over the years, there have been several snappy descrip- tions by vice presidents of their role. Adams gave one classic expression that survives to today: “I am Vice President. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything.” On hearing that Washington would not seek a third term, Adams became a candidate for president in 1796. He won the election and became the first occupant of the White House; as such he wrote in a letter his hope that “none but wise and honest Men ever rule under this roof.” Whereas the Electoral College chose Washington unan- imously, Adams won by only three votes. His term was marked by his enforcement of the harsh Sedition Acts, lead- ing to the jailing of some of his opponents. Jefferson reacted with resolutions condemning Adams’s actions. Adams’s view of former President Washington was conflicted. He felt that he was constantly judged in comparison with the regard in which his predecessor was held. Again, Adams worsened matters for himself by choosing to leave Washington’s entire cabinet in place, including his nemesis, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, according to Ber- nstein, sought to control Adams’s cabinet when Adams left periodically for extended rest in Braintree. Bernstein describes two achievements of Adams’s presi- dency. The first was a diplomatic resolution of disputes with France, known as the “quasi-war.” Adams was so proud of himself for settling the quasi-war that he renamed his home in Braintree “Peacefield.” Adams’ second achievement was his naming of John Mar- shall as chief justice. Marshall had been a loyal assistant to 2021] BOOK REVIEW Adams and was serving as Secretary of State when nomi- nated. In 1800, Adams lost to Jefferson (in part due to Alexander Hamilton’s efforts) and was denied a second term as presi- dent. He left Washington, exhausted, on the morning of Jef- ferson’s inauguration, returning to his beloved Massachu- setts and retirement. There Adams wrote his autobiography and, after a period of estrangement, engaged in an extended correspondence with Jefferson. They debated the meaning of “revolution.” Were uprisings such as Shay’s rebellion good for democracy (Jefferson) or harmful (Adams)? Amazingly, both Adams and Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50th an- niversary of the founding of the United States. Jefferson was 83; Adams was 90. During the past decade, Adams’s reputation among his- torians has improved, whereas Jefferson’s has diminished, but Bernstein has taken a moderate approach to this debate. Each man had his strengths and weaknesses. Bernstein, who previously wrote a book on Jefferson, notes the appeal of Jefferson’s dashing physical appearance (Adams was short and portly), his wide range of interests outside of politics, his brilliant ability to compose and synthesize memoranda and documents, and his commitment to world freedom. Yet Jefferson lacked Adams’s eagerness for self-improvement and the ability to criticize himself, as Adams did in his diary and his autobiography.
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