ExclusiveJohn Adams: Second Place President

Welcome to American Legends. I'm Tiffany Brannan. Each culture has its legends, and that could be myths or different stories, but here in America, our greatest legends are the wonderful heroes who are right from our history pages. Now, some of these heroes are very famous and some are obscure, but each person deserves to be discovered because each man or woman stands as a great example of how we can be better Americans Our legacy is one which is very different than other countries because it's a legacy of the fight for freedom. The best way to understand what this represents is to know more about the great people who shaped our country, and we do that through learning about their remarkable stories. Today, we'll talk about a very important man in the early history of America who stands small in the shadows of the great men who surrounded him, John Adams. It's one thing to be the first person to do something. You're a trendsetter, a trailblazer. No one can compare you to anyone else, really, because you're the first person to do something. That was the situation with George Washington. Nobody disagreed that he should be the first president of the United States. After all, he was such a great general helping to win the Revolutionary War, and no one could deny that he had remarkable leadership qualities. But after he decided not to run for president again, having served two terms, who was to fill his place? That role fell to John Adams, who had been his vice president. Now, back then, the process of election was very different. Rather than two people running as president and vice president against another candidate who had a vice president, each person would run for president, and then all the members of the electoral college would vote, and the first prize winner would get to be president, and second place would be his vice president. Now, that is what happened with George Washington and John Adams, and it worked out very well because they had a lot in common. They both believed a lot in what was then considered federalist ideas. Now, today we have two definite political parties, Democrat and Republican. In the early days of the country, those weren't the two parties. The two parties were Federalist and Democratic-Republican, sometimes shortened to Republican. Washington was the only president who did not affiliate himself with any political party, but it was pretty obvious even to people of his own day that he leaned much closer to the Federalist ideas, as did John Adams. Now, John Adams started his life as a Massachusetts farmer, but he was the first one in his family to go to school, college, and become a lawyer. As a Massachusetts lawyer, he worked his way up in the early political system of the United States before it was even the United States, and early on he became one of the strong voices to declare that there was unfair taxation from England, but more importantly, taxation without representation, which he thought was not fair. He wrote many great things throughout his life, both as an early politician and lawyer, then as president, and afterwards as well. His personal correspondence also is full of remarkable wisdom. When it came time to craft the Declaration of Independence, John Adams was one of the men who was very much involved with that. In fact, he and Thomas Jefferson were two of the most important members of this group, as well as Benjamin Franklin. Now, when it came down to who would write the actual document, John Adams modestly declared, oh, you should do it, to Thomas Jefferson, because he said, you know how to write well, and you have a good personality. People don't like me, and I don't have a good personality. This may seem like a degree of strange modesty from this man, but it reflects what people said about his nature. He was a very private, introverted man. He didn't like to talk to people. As a matter of fact, he didn't really like people, and he talked about this in his writings. He loved humanity. He was a very kind, generous, compassionate person who loved his fellow man, but had difficulty getting along with other people on a daily basis. But to those who knew him well, such as his family and closest friends, he was very beloved as a kind and gentle soul. As many sensitive, quiet people are, he wasn't very comfortable opening himself up. And I think that's one reason why perhaps his political career wasn't as brilliant as some of his fellows. He managed to win the second presidential election, which is considered the first one to be really contested. It was unanimous, both times that George Washington won. But when it came around to who would be president in 1796, John Adams narrowly beat his closest competitor, who was Thomas Jefferson. Thus, Thomas Jefferson became his vice president. John Adams stands out as being the only president in history to have a vice president of an opposing political party, because John Adams was very much a Federalist, whereas Thomas Jefferson was one of the most outspoken Democratic Republicans. Now, what's the difference? Well, Federalists believed in a centralized government, more formality, and they tended to be much more friendly toward England and some kind of reconciliation with the country from which we had declared our independence. In contrast, Democratic Republicans believed in the power going to the states, a very small centralized government, if any, and they were much more friendly to France, which was then embroiled in its own revolution, overthrowing a monarch. One person who was a close confidant and his most trusted advisor, though, was his wife, Abigail Adams. She was a very strong woman, and he loved her very dearly. As they were wed for almost 50 years, they have one of the longest marriages of any president and first lady. He also was an important ambassador. First, he served as an ambassador to France, where his wife joined him for a time, and then he was an ambassador to England, and this was, again, in the early days of American freedom, after the Declaration of Independence had been declared during the Revolutionary War and before then returning to the United States to be vice president and eventually president. One of the most difficult things which was happening during his time was stirrings of war. We had just gotten out of one war, yet the French and the English were very interested in what was happening with this new rebel nation. Because of France declaring its independence, they wanted our support, as they had helped us with General Lafayette to a degree during our revolution. But John Adams believed very strongly, as did George Washington, that the United States was in no position to get involved in a war. We had just finished a very costly and deadly war of our own to win our freedom. The last thing we needed was to get embroiled in the completely alienate one country or the other. But the French didn't like this neutral position, seeing it as siding with the English. As a result, they started attacking some of the American harbors and ships. There was only one thing to do. John Adams formed the United States Navy and Marine Corps. That stands out as one of his most lasting and important contributions as a U.S. president. This military conflict was called the quasi-war because there really wasn't a war. But he established these three strong American naval ships and the beginning of the American Navy, making us a strong presence which the French and the English knew they had to respect. And he drew on the time he had spent in Europe as a diplomat, as an ambassador, seeing the customs of Europe, and he kept that degree of formality as he was then president. One thing which made him very unpopular was a certain incident known as the XYZ affair. This had to do with, again, the French. In order to agree to normalizing relations with the United States, they wanted some kind of bribes. And there was this long list of demands. Well, these demands were released in the American press, most notably the Democratic-Republican press. And it was very critical against the current administration, Adams. As a result, John Adams was feeling pressured and was also counseled by his wife to pass the Alien and Sedition Acts, which was extremely unpopular because many people saw that as un-American. Basically, it allowed for the imprisonment and deportation of either press or immigrants who were seen as not being supportive of the United States. And many people said this went against the basic American principle of freedom of speech and the idea of welcoming immigrants, because so many of the founding fathers and others were immigrants. So he lost a lot of popularity because of this incident. And as a result, he did not win re-election in what was the fourth presidential election. He was beat significantly by Thomas Jefferson. In fact, he was beat so significantly that he didn't even come in second. He came in third. So Aaron Burr became vice president and he returned to his farm rather depressed. But there is one other thing which John Adams did during his time as president that was very important. He was the first president to live in the White House. Now, it wasn't known as the White House then. It was called the President's House. Upon christening the White House or the President's House, John Adams said, I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof. And this wise quote was later inscribed on the mantelpiece. Adams lived quite a long time after leaving office in 1801. As a matter of fact, he lived until 1826, a long time for someone of his generation. During that time, he continued to write a lot and enjoy being with his family. And quite heartwarmingly, he made friends with his old political rival, Thomas Jefferson, in the year 1812. And they enjoyed a very lively correspondence in the remaining years of their lives. Remarkably, both dying on the same day, July 4th, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of their Declaration of Independence. John Adams is a great example to us all to challenge ourselves beyond perhaps what's comfortable to do great things. As a very introverted, shy man, it wasn't easy for him to be in those political circles. And like most of the early presidents, he voiced his reticence at being that much in the public eye, disliking how he was constantly criticized by his political opponents and the press. Yet he didn't let that stop him from making a very important contribution to the history of what would be the greatest nation with such a strong government. He helped to found and form what that government would be. Thank you for spending this time with me talking about a great founding father of the United States. I encourage you to keep learning more about the great American legends. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.