| Show the fh ILS countr C by ELMO SCOTT WATSON V 5 knows that george wash ILI ington was the father fathe r r of his country F but how many know that a man three years younger than washington was waa tho the grandfather of ills hla country paradoxical though such a statement may bo be yet there la Is some justification ju stifle atlon for giving that title as a recent biographer of john adams does to the man who was born la in mass hass on october 80 30 1735 ju just A years ago this blog apher calls adams the grandfather of hla his 0 country Jou because he was the man who was waa primarily marili responsible for making washington ln calef of the continental army hereby thereby starting the virginian on the road which led ed to his becoming the father although the actual nomination of washington va for or that position was wag made in ID the continental congress on gress by thomas johnson of maryland yet it t was adams who developed the sentiment d which velch caused the nomination to be ratified when ife i fe 0 44 cengr esi urged thereto by adams adopted the e fl d new few england troops around boston as a co centt lero 0 er cental army and began looking around for a c am m ander ln in chief adams realized that the selection of any of the new england office officers rs for the post past would be certain to result in an outbreak of inter colonval jealousies so he proposed that an outsider be brought in and suggested the name of the man who as a major in the virginia colonial forces had distinguished himself during the ill fated braddock addock Dr expedition 20 years earlier not only would this accomplish its purpose of preventing ill III feeling among the new englanders but as a compliment to virginia it would also guarantee more enthuse enthusiastic support of the revolutionary movement by the southern brethren the history of the revolution Is ample proof of the wisdom of john adams and what a master stroke of diplomacy his suggestion turned out to be but his part in malting making washington commander ln in calef was not the only factor in justifying his bis right to the title of grandfather ot of his country another his historian has summed up the other factors as follows ills his public services extended over a period of 25 years and in that crowded quarter of a century he contributed as much to the creation and development of his country as any man of his time he was the statesman who formulated the political theories to blast parliamentary prerogatives he was the courageous patriot who forced a reluctant congress along the road to revolution and defended the declaration of independence he was the uncompromising diplomat who brought military and financial aid to the american cause wrested miraculously favorable terms from great britain and stubbornly protected american interests from the supposed machinations of wily european diplomats he was the solon who wrote the model constitution for massachusetts he was the president who heroically herol herb cally leally those chose peace instead of war with france and broke the power of the pernicious clique to this might be added these other facts he was among the first to recognize clearly that in dependence of the colonies was inevitable and union essential although thomas jefferson did the actual writing of the declaration of independence pen dence it contained many of the very principles which adams had been expounding day after day for two years he played an important part in establishing the american navy lie he was one of the most vigorous defenders of the constitution after it was adopted he had a hand in giving to the nation the greatest interpreter of that constitution for he as president made john marshall chief justice of the supreme court he was a prophet in forecasting the economic development of the united states and in wishing to adapt the frame of government in the future to that basis and the general principles of a government for which he stood have survived to this day and are still showing a great degree of influence it has become almost axiomatic that genius rarely it if ever transmits itself and that great fathers seldom beget great sons but john adams comes as near perhaps as any other american to being the except exception lon which proves the rule for his son john quincy adams kept up the standard set by his father and even advanced it and succeeding generations of the adams line have continued to advance it years ago some one made the statement that american history Is all cluttered up with adamsey Ad amses and a recent historian has amplified this diate statement by declaring in america there Is one family and only one that generation after generation has consistently and without interruption made contributions of the highest order to our history and civilization so it Is further proof of the aptness of the grandfather title that john adams started those contributions the adams family was established in america about 1636 when a certain henry adams probably because of a combination of religious and economic reasons decided to leave england and try his luck in the new world by chance he be settled at a place called Brain braintree tree in massachusetts lie he married and had bad children who in turn married and handed banded down the family name this went on for four our generations without producing any man of distinction until we come to john adams a farmer and shoemaker in Brain braintree tree who married susanna boylston daughter of a family prominent in the medical history of the colony then on october 30 1735 there was born to john adams and susanna boylston bolston adams a son to whom was given his rathers fathers name with the fifth generation in the person of john adams adami historian publicist diplomat president of the united states the family not only suddenly achieves n national and int international ernat lonal position but maintains it in successive generations for two 06 centuries so writes james truslow adams adamca a virginia adams by the way and not noi related to the massachusetts clan in his book the adums adams family published by bi little brown and company of boston a few years ago was lt it due to i some mysterious result from the combi combination n of adams and Boyla boylston toti blood far boyone the ken of science even today or to some unfathomable synchronism between the 06 peculiar qualities of the adamsey and the whole social of the next few generations a subtle interplay of 0 unknown foi faires ji or to pere mire chance chafic e lu in f a universe in w 1110 li a items tams rush and collide chao chaotically I 1 fas fali V po al x amr 4 X f 95 signing ot the declaration J Y t ke firszt fidure at the left Z Q TN PH J me white houze house in I 1 B 01 cina tIng as ts Is the problem afis it Is insoluble all we shall see Is that without warning like a fault to la the geologic record there Is a sudden and immense rise recorded in the psychical energy of the family As a matter of fact there was not much in the early history of john adams to indicate the preeminence pre eminence that was to be his he eie was graduated from harvard college in 1755 and for a time was principal of a grammar school at worcester three years later he be began practicing law in suffolk county and first became outstanding among his fellow citizens when at a town meeting he was the author and mover of the notable stamp act resolutions moving to boston in 1768 he was chosen a representative to the general court two years later idler and in 1774 he was made one of the delegates from massachusetts to the first continental congress upon his return be was made a member from Brain braintree tree to the provincial congress then in session and in 1775 he became a member of the historic second continental congress within a year adams who was the most outspoken of 0 the advocates of independence from the mother country became a leader in bringing that about with the same political sagacity which he had shown in having a virginian selected na as head of the continental army he influenced another virginian richard henry lee to introduce to in june 1776 the resolution for the separation and he be seconded that Introduction when the resolution came up dp for debate lee was absent and adams was its chief defender for there were a number of delegates who still were in favor of patching up the colonies differences feren ces with england having promoted the idea of independence it was only natural that adams should be named on the committee of 15 five ve to draw up tip such a declaration thomas jefferson of virginia was chosen chairman of the corn com was composed of adams benjamin franklin of pennsylvania roger sherman of connecticut and robert R livingston of new york according to adams autobiography he and jefferson were appointed by the committee to prepare a rough draft of the document and when jefferson proposed that adams write this draft he declined for the following reasons as he be gives them 1 I 1 that he was a virginian and 1 I a 2 that he was waa a southern man and I 1 was a northern one 3 that I 1 had been so obnoxious for my early and constant zeal in promoting the the measure that every draft of mine would undergo a more severe scrutiny and criticism in congress than of his composition 4 and lastly and that would be reason enough if there were no other I 1 had a great opinion of the elegance or of his pen and none at nil all of my own I 1 therefore insisted that no hesitation should be made on his part tie ile accordingly took the i minutes and in a day or two produced to io me lils his draft so john adams passed up his chance t to 0 be the author of the declaration of independence 1 and that honor fell to thomas jefferson among the other distinctions that belong to john adams la Is the rather dubious one that he was the fetherof Fath Fathe crof the he noisy Fo fourth inith for after the continental congress congre ss had adopted the beclar De clar atlon of independence on july 2 1773 1770 ada adams ma wrote to his wife the day will be the most memorable epoch la in the history of america I 1 am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival it ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to god almighty it ought to be solemnized with pomp nod and parades with shows games sports guns bells bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more adams part in bringing about the declaration of independence would have beau enough to guarantee his immortality if he be had never done anything more but it was destined to be only the beginning of his service to the nation which he be had helped establish in the same year he was made chief justice of his state but resigned the the next year to become chairman of the board of war and ordnance in 1778 he was appointed commissioner to france to secure aid in the struggle for liberty and the next year he be was appointed minister to negotiate a treaty with england in 1780 he was sent to holland to negotiate a loan from that country and in the same year was made minister to holland with a special commission to sign the articles of armed neutrality recalled to paris in 1781 the following year he negotiated a loan of two millions in holland and concluded it a treaty of commerce and aad aal amity ty with the dutch next he acted as one ofie of the commissioners in concluding the treaty of peace which ended the revolution and he became our first minister to the court of bf st james elected to the continental congress in 1788 he was chosen the tha first vice president in our history in 1789 and was wag reelected elected re when washington was reelected president finally in 1790 1700 came cama the ell max of ills his career when he became president of the united states after that his career was something of an anticlimax anti climax for he proved to be a very unpopular president and was denied a second term after the adopt adoption loh of the constitution and during his bla terms as vice president and president he and his friend thomas jefferson colleagues in the great work of writing the declaration of independence 1 pen en dence slowly drifted apart adams the federalist er alist was an advocate of a strong centralized government jefferson the republican strong in his faith in the wisdom of the people championed the cause of democracy and states rights embittered by his defeat by jefferson during the campaign of 1800 when he was a candidate for reelection election re adams clattered out of washington on that cold gray morning of march 4 1801 and returned to private life to his bis farm and hla his friends and his books seated in an old armchair in hla his well stocked library he took up again his hs study of philosophy and history renewed hla his interrupted but never broken fr friendship lend with jefferson watched the dissolution of the federalist party with a certain grim satisfaction and thought much on religion and on death death came for him on an historic day july 4 1820 it was the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the declaration of and a gala day throughout the land the people had bad wanted adams and jefferson to take part in weir their festivities but the tired old man he ha was ninety one in Brain braintree tree mass could not leave lila his home at 4 in the afternoon he be died ills his last words were thomas jefferson still lives lie he did not know that down in virginia ginia another tired old man of eighty three had already slipped quietly into an endless sleep after asking doctor Is it the fourth yet it was vas then just an hour after rii anAit 0 western ne uin union |
