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George Washington Key Dates 1783: Adams helped negotiate the treaty to end the American Revolution.
1789: Adams became Washington's vice president and served two terms.
1797: Adams won a close election for President over Thomas Jefferson.
1799: President Adams sent troops to Pennsylvania to force farmers to pay a federal land tax.
1800: John Adams and his family moved into the unfinished White House.
1826: John Adams died.
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John Adams
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John was one of the people who helped draft the Declaration of Independence.
President Adams was the first President to have a Supreme Court Justice administer the oath of office to him. The justice who swore him into office was Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth.
John Adams's Vice President was Thomas Jefferson.
Neither Adams or his opponent Charles Pinckney campaigned for the presidency. The party officials did all the campaigning.
John and Abigail Adams were the first presidential couple to move into the White House (1800). He was the first president to live in Washington D.C. The White House was only partly finished at the time. One source said the paint was still wet when they moved into the White House.
During the move to the White House, they got lost in the woods north of the city. The roads were just paths through the woods at that time.
The Adams' had four children: Abigail "Nabby" Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Adams and Thomas Adams.
John walked almost every day for exercise. He sometimes would walk up to five miles.
John Adams' prayer; "I pray to heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and all that hereafter inhabit it...May none but the honest and wise men ever rule under this roof." The prayer was later carved in the State Dining Room.
He had no military experience and there was not a war during his term.
He was a lawyer.
Susanna Adams, John Adams' granddaughter, lived in the White House during the last 4 months of his term.
He served as Vice President to George Washington.
Adams is sometimes called the "Father of the Navy." John Adams was the first Vice President of the United States serving under Washington from 1789 to 1797.
Two naval ships were named after him.
His son, John Quincy Adam's later became President.
He defeated Thomas Jefferson in the election. He had 71 electoral votes to Jefferson's 68.
John Adams was a Federalist. His Vice President Thomas Jefferson was a Democratic Republican.
He left Washington DC early on the day of Thomas Jefferson's inauguration. H did not attend Jefferson's inauguration.
Most of Adams' teeth had fallen out. He refused to wear dentures, and thus, talked with a lisp.
He was defeated when he ran for a second term by his Vice President, Thomas Jefferson. President Adams was therefore the first president to not win re-election.
He did not attend Jefferson's inauguration. He is one of only two Presidents who did not attend the inauguration of their successor. John Quincy Adams didn't attend Jackson's.
He died July 4, 1826, in Braintree, now Quincy, Mass. Thomas Jefferson also died that day, a few hours before Adams. Two signers of the Declaration of Independence that became president died on the 50th anniversary of that great document.
He was 90 years and 247 days old when he died. He was the longest living President until Reagan. After that Gerald Ford lived longer moving Adams to third longest living president. He is one of four presidents to reach the age of 90.
He didn't like Thomas Jefferson. Adams' last words were: "Jefferson lives." He didn't know that Jefferson had died a few hours earlier.
Quote:
In referring to the position of Vice President of the United States, he said: "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived."
"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."
Topics
Assassinations and Assassination Attempts
Vice Presidents who became Presidents
The Presidents of the United States. 22 September 2004: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/
Davis, Gibbs and Ilus. David A. Johnson. Wackiest White House Pets. New York: Scholastic Press, October 2004
James, Barber and Amy Pastan. Smithsonian Presidents and First Ladies. New York: DK Publishing, 2002
Kane, Joseph Natan. Facts about the Presidents from Washington to Johnson. New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1964.
McCullough, Noah, The Essential Book of Presidential Trivia. Random House, USA, 2006
Pine, Joslyn, Presidential Wit and Wisdom: Memorable Quotes from George Washington to Barack Obama . Dover Publications, Mineola, New York, 2009
Huffington Post web site.
Lang, Stephen, The Complete Book of Presidential Trivia, Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, 2011
O'Reilly, Bill, and Dugard, Martin, Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever, Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2011
St. George, Judith In the Line of Fire: Presidents' Lives at Stake , Scholastic Inc. New York, 2001
In addition to these books, I have also read and have used information from those listed on my Books About Presidents page.
My favorite book about John Adams is:
This page was last updated on Tuesday, March 26, 2019
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