John Adams

John Adams was a very important man in our history. He was from a small town called Braintree Massachusettes. Braintree is now called Quincy Massachusetts. This intelligant man was born October 30th 1735. His birthday is actually coming up. The very sad day that he died was July 4th 1826. On the very same day that Thomas Jefferson died. They both died on independence day. Mr. Adams last words were "Thomas Jefferson still survives." But little did he know at the time that Thomas had died just hours before.

John had grown up in Braintree Massachusetts. He had lived on a lot of farm land that his grandfather had left for his family. John attended a dame school. A dame school is a private elementary school often taught by women and usually taught in the home of the teacher. He also attended a Latin and preparatory school. A preparatory school is a school that basically gets you ready for college. When john got older he went to Harvard.

Unitarianism is the religion that he studied. Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement named for its understanding that god is one person. John Adams Sr. was a deacon. Very much often did business and politics seperate Mr. Adams from his family. When Adams was a young lawyer, his travel to distant villages on the court circuit often kept him away. His wife Abigail felt lonely and miserable, especially when he wasn't there for the birth of his children.

The Stamp Act of 1765, was a law stating that all colonial residents had to pay a stamp tax on virtually every printed paper. In the result of this John wrote a response to the imposition of the act by British Parliament titled "Essay on the Canon and Feudal law", which was soon published in the Boston Gazette. In this essay Adams wrote that the Stamp Act deprived American colonists of the basic rights to be taxed by consent and to be tried by a jury of peers.