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A Historiographical Essay On

Various Works Regarding the Life and Presidency of John Adams

Albert Whittenberg HIS 501

University of Illinois - Springfield November 20, 2003

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John Adams 2John Adams once predicted "mausoleums, statues, monuments will never be

" " ~ : : ; . , " erected to me."} Until recently, Adams' prediction would setmct:ue. Historians have"periodically turned to the second president but the vast number of books dedicated to,..,Y t ~ ~ ~ ?Washington or Jefferson easily eclipses them. The past decade has seen a revival .t wert" \cos. '-celebrating the "Father ofAmerican Independence.,,2 Two Pulitzer Prize winning books,Founding Brothers and John Adams, stand as testimonies to this renewed interest. Whydid it take so long? Why are Americans looking towards John Adams with renewedinterest? How did historians view Adams before as compared to now?

The first biography I ever read on John Adams is probably one that several startedwith. Catherine D. Bowen's John Adams and the American Revolution is a traditionalbiography that chronicles his life from birth to the signing of the Declaration ofIndependence. It is a colorful account detailing his boyhood on the farm, his education atHarvard, his experience as a school teacher, his training and first steps as a lawyer and hiscourtship ofAbigail Smith. Bowen uses a lively style that makes one think more of awork of fiction than a historical work. Book reviewer L. H. Butterfield remarks that this"violates the first principle ofhistorical biography" which states "invention shall not bemingled with facts.,,3 Bowen defends her writing style by calling it a "portrait of JohnAdams.,,4 This is a book more concerned with the setting than the subject. It is a work ofa master storyteller trying to get the reader to see what a young John Adams saw.

It is also interesting to point out that this book was published in 1949, and Bowenonly referenced 14 written biographies of John Adams (from 1827 to 1940). One ofthesewas the biography b e g ~ by John Quincy Adams and finally finished by Charles Francis

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Adams in 1871. Another was a volume that tried to detennine the true religious leaningsof John Adams. None were focused on his presidency.

A few made mention of i ~ l i k e Gilbert Chinard's Honest John Adams. Twochapters out of twelve cover the presidency (almost as many pages are dedicated to histenn as vice-president). The first speaks to the XYZ Affair, the Alien and Sedition Actsand Adams)attempts to keep the new United States out ofwar with France. A favoritetarget of historians, the Alien and Sedition Acts, gets a great deal of attentioI) including

0," "'f-\ c, lr(.0""Adams' justification. &inard calls it "a very weak defense of his attitude on the matterAof the most detested legislation ever passed by American Congress."s ThePresident blamed everything on Hamilton and the rising possibilities of war.

6" A c:1..Q.A04. 5 I 1'-e.a..Q i l.. 0...+,'The final chapter on the presidency focuses ~ o r e on him realizing)te is going tolose the next election. He had been given "unequivocal indications that the time hadcome for him to retire.,,6 It ends with his retirement to Quincy. Between these twobooks, a theme seems to be developing about John Adams. He was a man successfulbefore and during the Revolution but a failure in many ways after he was e 1 e c t e d ~ -president and president. It is perhaps far easier to focus on his early life than after.

Chinard also seems to begin another tradition as well. Before writing his work onJohn Adams in 1933, he had already published a work called Thomas Jefferson: TheApostle ofAmericanism. These two friends (and sometimes foes) seem to be forever

linked together. Several other historians would follow and continue to compare these twotime and time again.

In Peter Shaw's book, The Character ofJohn Adams, he talks !:lbout the history ofbiography on Adams. He reduces the work on Adams in the 1800s to his grandson'S

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biography ofhim, The Works ofJohn Adams. Shaw criticizes this work by stating "thejudicious Mr. Adams of this edition resembled the obscure Charles Francis rather than hisembarrassingly hotheaded ancestor.,,7 He mentions Bowen and Chinard, but also warnsthat writers from the 1920s to the 1940s largely ignored Adams and focused on Hamiltonor Jefferson. The 1950s would bring about a change since "for the first time the greatcache ofAdams Family Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, containingunexpurgated texts of John Adam's diary, autobiography, and personal letters, wasopened unconditionally to researchers."g Suddenly there was more primary sourcematerial about John Adams available than all the other founding fathers (the papers takeup 608 reels ofmicrofilm, which is "more than five miles ofmicrofilm.,,)9 Suddenly newworks start appearing that study Adams "as a diarist, political writer, diplomat, president,and as a letter writer and sage in his letters to Jefferson during retirement.,,10 ~ a c h decade brings new works which help lead to his version of John Adams in 1976) _ ~ : ; o . . . e .

Shaw's work is a study of the man himself. What makes him tick? He shows howJohn Adams struggled with his ambition, his v a n i ~ s desire for self-improvement andthe price he paid for all of it. John Adams' life was a series of the same process repeatingitself. He "began with a desire accompanied by a scruple over the purity of his motive,and this delayed his decision. " I I Gregg L. Lint called it a "recurring cycle" where "firstcame effort and sacrifice in pursuit of an objective" which was "followed bydisappointment over the recognition that the effort and sacrifice had been received.,,12John Adams wanted fame, but it always seems to float to everyone else.

Considering Adams' presidency, Shaw felt it was largely failure after failure. Hefelt John Adams looked at the job as an independent office. A good president was a

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John Adams 5

"man of integrity who stood above contending factions in the Senate and House ofRepresentatives, and above parties as well.,,13 Shaw warned how Adams made too manymistakes such as keeping Washington's cabinet and not seeing for two years how theywere working against him. Shaw mentions how Adams felt trapped in the position whilehis family was not well (Abigail had diabetes, his son Charles was in financial ruin anddrinking himself to death and John himself was painfully losing his teeth). This is not astory ofwhat happened during the presidency but how the presidency affected the man.

Also during this decade, a new biography came out on John Adams that attemptedto use his many writings to tell the whole story. It was a series by Newsweek thatfocused a volume on each of the Founding Fathers: Benjamin Franklin, GeorgeWashington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and, of course,John Adams. James Bishop Peabody, Secretary of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston,was the editor/author. Peabody chronicles Adams' life using actual letters related to thetopic at hand. An example would be Peabody briefly states that Congress passed theAlien and Sedition Acts and then uses a letter from Adams to Jefferson to tell how thepresident really felt about the legislation. Adams justifies it by writing "French spiesthen swarmed in our cities and in the country" and "was there ever a government whichhad not authority to defend itself against spies in its own bosom?,,14 Peabody gives veryfew opinions himself but lets the volumes of letters speak for themselves. He shows how'7..;e;'v'I.Adams pulls no p u n c h e ~ as when he was referring to Hamilton as "a man devoid of every. ) ~ Vle..ve...r lo...be..ts Ad..c:...vn.:' 'f'Y'e..'- :cL.hc....r a..rmoral principle, a bastard.,,15 The presidency ofAdams is never mentioned as being

l"'tQ.clo\.good or bad. The reader is supposed to make his or her own o p i n i o n ~ on this "Foundingho..d ? ~ " " -J.'1 cAe c:l ; cc:d-e sFather". As biographers before him, the vast majority of the book is dedicated to the" "

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years leading up to the Revolutionary War. Another weakness is most of the letters arefocused more on Adams' personal life than his career.

Another Adams biography, which appeared in the 1970s, was written by formerColumbia and Kansas State professor Robert A. East. This short biography comes almost

i... t ~ ( 'o\o.,\(a.(I '-"t(j.entirely from the Adams Papers and(other works oefote)(Hke Chinard and Bowen). Eastspends only seven pages talking about the Adams Presidency (with three of those pagesdetailing how his family suffered during this time). The XYZ Affair is given less than aparagraph. The greatest highlight ofhis presidenc\> ~ e p i n g the country from war withFranc:,is reduced to Adams complaining about not getting credit for it in MercyWarren's History of the American Revolution. It ends with his statement of "I think you-ought to give me credit for it instead of charging me ofpride.,,16 East justifies his shorttake on this period due to "that there is almost nothing in John Adam's diary or in hisautobiographical recollection about his presidency.,,17

Like many before it, the East book is a character study. He calls John Adams a"bundle ofcontradictions" and "one who could rejoice in the size of his manure pile andenjoy a tankard of hard cider each morning before breakfast.,,18 It focuses on how he

ft !M.a..., ole..S'u-v e. S ' ~ e let\.... c-rCL-hO'w"') :viewed himself and\how he would change from one opinion to anotherJEast alsomentions how impossible it is for us to truly understand John Adams since "a personshould be judged by the standards ofhis or her own time.,,19 It is shame that he did not

try to incorporate this logic in looking at the XYZ Affair or the Alien and Sedition Acts.John Adams has also popped up in a number ofworks that focus on a group of

"Founding Fathers" or the Presidents in general. Since these are comparison pieces, it is .. 7'\ y. . I ti6"""lalso worthwhile to glance at them to see how authors rank ev Adams to his"

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contemporaries. One early work i s ( a u l Wilstach's 1927 book Patriots OfJTheirPedestals. The author wishes to show eight Founding Fathers "not merely aloft ongranite bases, buttoned-up, head rigidly tilted as ifin a photographer's clamp, hand inbosom or brandishing a sword, frozen in pose, mute effigies without heart or blood but ashuman beings in the actualities oflife.,,2o When talking about Adams, Wilstach refers tohis strengths and weaknesses alike as "positive, turbulent, energetic and fearless.',2l Heshows a man dedicated to writing (over forty-one years ofwriting in a journal and diary)and other means of self-expression (mainly his mouth). His love of reading is discussed

(J.'y,D\A,as well as the volume of knowledge he accumulated over law, government, religion and a

' l s l - ~ variety of other t o p i c s . ~ ~ e speaks of his jealousy of Washington and Franklin and thegreat love affair between him and Abigail. For someone trying to show an actual humanbeing behind the statue, Wilstach paints a picture ofmany positives with few failings.Even his jealousy is explained as being logical considering how he helped Washingtonget his post and Franklin with diplomatic work.

Another author set out to do the same task as Wilstach. Kenneth Umbreit wroteFounding Fathers: Men Who Shaped Our Tradition in 1941 with the intent of looking at"a few of these men, to take them apart, to try to find out what made them tick. ,,22Umbreit focuses far more on Adams .lactual political career than his personality traits. Hecredits Adams as the first President to believe in a "strong, individual executive, and theAmerican Presidency is the direct result of his influence.,,23 The author focuses onAdams' determination to not become a party leader (that the President should be abovesuch things) and how a better cabinet would have turned Adams' presidency around.

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"rlJ} John Adams 8(Whatever the c a s e ~ d a m s could be proud of two accomplishments: keeping America outof a war with France and keeping Hamilton from gaining more power.

A final compilation work that studies the character of John Adams as well as hispresidency is James M. McPherson's To the Best ofMy Ability: The AmericanPresidents. He begins by stating that "no man was less suited by temperament to bepresident when he occupied the office than the abrasive John Adams ofMassachusetts.Yet no man's character better suited the nation's particular needs at the time. Such is thegreat paradox ofAdam's presidency.,,24 Adams wanted America free from Europe andwanted to prevent any political parties from getting too strong (including his own). Thisis one of the few works to show that Adams helped create "a separate Department of theNavy, put the army on a surer footing, and left a solvent treasury.,,25 It also mentions oneofhis greatest accomplishments was appointing of John Marshall to the position of chiefjustice of the Supreme Court. The author is also quick to point out that it is not easy to be.\11\"the man who followed Washington's footsteps.

,. \. \ .S+r' -e '" -tt........:.. Ij....... t" ""f"T"I. Y1 J\ 0"' C1'V'"'lBefore we jump into the present,)it is interesting to note how everyone so far haslooked at John Adams and his time in the highest office in the land. Catherine Bowencreated an almost historical fiction type account ofwhat this man might have been like inhis early career up to July 4, 1776. Gilbert Chinard shows Adams as a good and honestman who ultimately fails due to the people around him. Peter Shaw describes a manstuck in a never ending cycle of sacrifice, success and failure. The cost John Adams paidfor success was always too much. James B. Peabody does not try to form his ownopinion on Adams but lets the second president's writings tell the story. Robert Eastbarely mentions the man as president due to the lack ofprimary sources. Umbreit,

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Wilstach and McPherson give us a brief glimpse ofAdams as compared to otherrevolutionaries or presidents. Even though this does not represent all the work done onAdams in the twentieth century, it does show that there are some holes in researching thetime John Adams spent as the President of the United States. It is no/wonder that thenineties and beyond saw some work finally appear that told more of the story.

Like Chinard, Mount Holyoke College professor Joseph Ellis wrote a best selling"1Y biography ofThomas Jefferson but discovered an interest in John A d a m t b ~ his research.This led to the creation ofPassionate Sage: The Character andLegacy ofJohn Adams.Ellis pulled no punches as he stated his hope that his work (and the work of his fellowresearchers on Adams) would 19d to some great memorial perhaps in Washington, D.C.JHis book actually began with the presidency and continued on through Adami retirementand famous correspondence with Jefferson. Continental Congresses, Paris and Sons ofLiberty are rarely mentioned. Ellis seems to recognize that this is a well worn path and.,",

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military). Ellis succeeds in showing both John Adams' personal side as well as his publiccareer.

Where does one go after creating a best selling biography ofThomas Jeffersonwt'Je."t!!.d hisand then following it with one about John Adams? Ellis turned his focus wider and wrote

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. The "founding brothers" are GeorgeWashington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison,Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr (and one "founding sister" in Abigail Adams). Thefinal chapters focus on Adams and Jefferson. The first tells how they worked against oneanother while the last focuses on the friendship in their retired years. The final chapterwas perhaps a rehash of what Ellis did before in his biography of Adams but the other(called appropriately the "Collaborators") deals mainly with the rocky relationshipbetween Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison. Hamilton has his own personalagenda while Jefferson and Madison worked together (all against Adams to somedegree). Ellis even mentioned that "Jefferson and Madison even managed to persuadethemselves that Adams had concocted the entire XYZ Affair to mobilize popular supportfor a declaration ofwar.',27 Ellis also showed how Adams turned more from his regularcabinet to his one woman cabinet ofAbigail. Time and time again, her advice provedright. She called the competition between Adams and Jefferson as "the oak versus thewillow.,,28 a . ~ e . . . ' j ~ a . ~ s ". co...uS" aThese series of books on the Founding Fathers by Ellis were very successful!2. anumber of new works started appearing on shelves. One of the more interesting ones(and perhaps more negative works) was Richard Brookhiser's America's First Dynasty:The Adamses, 1735-1918. Brookhiser did not look at just John Adams but John Quincy

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Adams, Charles Francis Adams and Henry Adams. Each one of these men had touched~ ; s k ~ S history in their own way, and each had fallen into the same traps as tlieir father.

It is interesting to compare Brookhiser's book with the ones ofEllis. They arealmost complete opposites in dealing with John Adams' presidency. He "stirred up war

..... efever that he decided later must be broken.,,29 He did so to build up his popularity, it was ~ > ( \ noted that "Adams' lifelong insecurity about never having bourne arms fed his rhetoricnow.,,30 Abigail was not even spaqid as Brookhiser called her advice "noxious" and asbuilding on Adams' own prejudices. In making peace with France and avoiding a costlywar, Brookhiser said Adams "did the right thing in the worst possible way" and becamethe "first loser in American presidential history.,,31

In an interview with Brookhiser for the National Review Online, you get an evenmore complete picture of his feelings. When asked who his favorite Adams was, hereplied "none of the Adamses are likeable. They are proud, envious, selfpitying andgenerally unfunny.,,32 As a president, he considers John Adams a "bust" and "overrated".Both John Adams and John Quincy Adams are viewed writers. Thefour Adamses covered struggled with vanity, alcohol, political careers and being goodfathers/sons.

0 /Another author wotld see potential from Ellis' work. David McCullough, whohad already written successful biographies ofTheodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman,was inspired by Passionate Sage to write his own book on John Adams. The result was anational best seller and a Pulitzer Prize for a book titled simply John Adams. In effect,McCullough's work was almost returning full circle back to Bowen. Like her, he wrotein a very lively style but carried his subject from childhood to death instead of stopping

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with July 4th. Like Peabody, he would often let Adams' writings speak for itself. Hewould attempt to focus on what made Adams tick like Gilbert and Shaw, and he would

oV\agree with more ofEllis' conclusions ofAdams' presidency than Brookhiser.After all the other authors mentioned, McCullough seems to be the only one

determined to spend a great deal of time with Adams 'work as a diplomat and a president.!-lie;(H9 is the only one of the books mentioned that tries to explain the setting as well as the~ . M c ~ i subject (to fully understand the decisions that John Adams made). Much criticism is

made over the Alien and Sedition Acts, but McCullough also states that "there wasrampant fear of the enemy within. French emigres in America, according to the Frenchconsul in Philadelphia, by now numbered 25,000 or more. Many were aristocrats whohad fled the Terror; but the majority were refugees from the slave uprisings on theCaribbean island of San Domingo.,,33 He explains that there were "French booksellers,French schools, French boardinghouses, and French restaurants. The French, it seemed,were everywhere, and who was to measure the threat they posed in the event ofwar withFrance?" 34 (Mccullough, 505) McCullough is not saying the Acts were right (they weresurely unconstitutional) but trying to show the mood of the times.

Ifany complaint might be made about McCullough's work, it is that h e ~ l ine.rl4\o'W

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the other texts mentioned before. Each decade has seen someone else taking a differentlook at the complicated individual of John Adams. It started with the man himself sincehe wroteft::: everything"'ili-;;;er happened e o ~ His writings are huge and are noweasily available. His grandson tried to write the story in the 1800s, and that version hasbeen referenced in every work on John Adams since (even though several like Shaw havefound it flawed). The twentieth century has seen new people come forward almost everydecade to produce a work on Adams. The books might focus on his early life, his workas a revolutionary, his beliefs, his character, his work as a political scientist, or therelationship with his wife (Abigail has become a frequent subject of biographersthrough the years ~ l ) . These twelve books represent/progress towards knowingevery side of John Adams. Some may focus on the failures wQ.ile others focus on eachsuccess, but the result is perhaps an almost complete story. In my opinion, McCullough'swork is the closest we have come to knowing John Adams the man and president, but Ialso know he could not have produced such a work without the other titles before him.

What do we think about John Adams now? If I was to go to any bookstore orbrowse a store like Amazon online, I would find hundreds of titles on John Adams.Some of these would be the ones already mentioned, but there would be a number ofnewworks as well. Would some of them be a rehash ofwhat has gone on before? Of course,

'-fu.'1there would be. Would some of them offer new insight? ,There is certainly a chance.Presidents and so-called Founding Fathers have always been popular topics for historiansand biographers. John Adams is both and a true individual. It is almost a guarantee thatmore will be written on him. :J' < > ~ -riVe> ; . . . ~ .J

o - - ~ ~ ~ ~ - r ~ _ ~ 'Y ( v q ~

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EndnoteslRichard D. Brown, "The Apotheosis of John Adams," The William andMary

Quarterly 59 (Jarmary 2002): 308.2Catherine D. Bowen, John Adams and the American Revolution, (Boston: Little,Brown & Company, 1949),675.3L. H. Butterfield, "John Adams and the American Revolution," The William andMary Quarterly 7 (October 1950): 609.4Ibid., 610.50ilbert Chinard,. Honest John Adams, (Boston: Little, Brown & Company,1933),275.6Ib id., 294.7Peter Shaw, The Character ofJohn Adams, (The University ofNorth CarolinaPress, 1976), 7.8Ibid.9David McCullough, John Adams, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 653.IOPeter Shaw, The Character ofJohn Adams, (The University ofNorth Carolina

Press, 1976), 8.I I Ibid., 17.120regg L. Lint, "The Character of John Adams," The New England Quarterly 49

(September 1976): 479.13Peter Shaw, The Character ofJohn Adams, (The University ofNorth CarolinaPress, 1976),247.14James Bishop Peabody,. John Adams: A Biography in His Own Words, (New

York: Newsweek, 1973),363.15Ibid., 364.16Robert A. East, John Adams, (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1979), 80.17Ibid., 119.18Ibid., 11.

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John Adams 1519Ibid.20Paul Wilstach, Patriots OffTheir Pedestals, (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1927),

13.21Ibid., 118.22Keneth Umbreit, Founding Fathers: Men Who Shaped Our Tradition, (NewYork: Kennikat Press, 1941), 7.23Ibid., 149.24James M. McPherson, To the Best ofMy Ability: The American Presidents,(New York: DK Publishing, 2001), 22.25Ibid., 26.26Joseph J. Ellis, Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy ofJohn Adams,(New York: Random, 1993),27.27Jospeh J. Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, (New York:

First Vintage Books, 2000), 196.28Ibid., 202.2 ~ c h a r d Brookhiser, America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918, (NewYork: The Free Press, 2002), 50.30Ibid.31Ibid.,51.32 Kathryn Jean Lopez, (February 2002), National Review Online: The AdamsFamily, Retrived November 17,2003, fromhttp://www.nationalreview.comlweekendlbookslbooks-brookhiser021602.shtml.33David McCullough, John Adams, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 505.34Ibid.

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Howen, Cathenne U. Jonn Aaams ana l ne Amenc :un l \t:VUtUHUfI. J J U " ~ U H . J...dUH . , .v'un. . . . . . . Company, 1949.Brookhiser, Richard. America's First Dynasty: The Adamses, 1735-1918. New York: TheFree Press, 2002.Butterfield, L. H. "John Adams and the American Revolution." The William and MaryQuarterly 7 (October 1950): 609-612.Chinard, Gilbert. Honest John Adams. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1933.East, Robert A. John Adams. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1979.Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. New York: FirstVintage Books, 2000.Ellis, Joseph J. Passionate Sage: The Character andLegacy ofJohn Adams. New York:Random, 1993.Lint, Gregg L. "The Character of John Adams." The New England Quarterly 49

(September 1976): 479-480.Lopez, Kathryn Jean. (February 2002). National Review Online: The Adams Family.Retrived November 17,2003, fromhttp://www.nationalreview.comlweekend/books/books-brookhiser021602.shtml.McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.McPherson, James M. To the Best ofMy Ability: The American Presidents. New York:

DK Publishing, 2001.

Peabody, James Bishop. John Adams: A Biography in His Own Words. New York:Newsweek,1973.Shaw, Peter. The Character ofJohn Adams. The University of North Carolina Press,1976.Umbreit, Kenneth. Founding Fathers: Men Who Shaped Our Tradition. New York:Kennikat Press, 1941.Wilstach, Paul. Patriots Of/Their Pedestals. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1927.

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