OCR Text |
Show John Adams The second President of the United States, and the man who proposed George Washington as the commanding command-ing officer of American forces in the Revolution, was John Adams-born in Braintree, Massachusetts, October 19, 1735 (old style). ADAMS attended Harvard College (graduated in 1755) and began teaching, with thoughts of entering the ministry. But he doubted some Calvinist concepts and instead became a lawyer. He was distinguished in this field by 1774 when he was elected one of the delegates to the First Continental Congress, where he assisted in drafting the Declaration of Rights. HE WAS a member of the committee which then drafted the Declaration of Independence Indepen-dence and on his motion Washington was chosen to head the new country's army. He was sent to both France and England on diplomatic assignments, then elected Vice President, when Washington became President. He wrote his wife that the job was "the most insignificant office that ever man contrived." Interestingly, Adams died only a few hours after the death of Jefferson, on July 4,-1 4,-1 826--with whom he had in later years carried on a long correspondence. His son, John Quincy, was to become the sixth President. |