John Adams

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John Adams

John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was the first (1789–1797) Vice President of the United States, and the second (1797–1801) President of the United States; husband of Abigail Adams, father of John Quincy Adams.

1 Sourced
- 1.1 Thoughts on Government (April, 1776)
2 Attributed
3 External links

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Sourced

Now to what higher object, to what greater character, can any mortal aspire than to be possessed of all this knowledge, well digested and ready at command, to assist the feeble and friendless, to discountenance the haught and lawless, to procure redress of wrongs, the advancement of right, to assert and maintain liberty and virtue, to discourage and abolish tyranny and vice?
- Letter to Jonathan Sewall (October 1759)

A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.
- Diary (November 14, 1760)

I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slaish part of mankind all over the earth.
- Notes for A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law (1765)

Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right... and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers.
- A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law (1765)

Let us...cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write...Let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set a-flowing.
- A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law (1765)

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
- Argument in Defense of the British Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials (December 4, 1770)

The law...will not bend to the uncertain wishes, imaginations and wanton tempers of men...On the one hand it is inexorable to the cries and lamentations of the prisoners; on the other it is deaf, deaf as an adder, to the clamors of the populace.
- Argument in Defense of the British Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials (December 4, 1770)

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.
- Notes for an Oration at Braintree (Spring 1772)

This is the most magnificent movement of all! There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the patriots that I greatly admire. The people should never rise without doing something to be remembered — something notable and striking. This destruction of the tea is so bold, so daring, so firm, intrepid and inflexible, and it must have so important consequences, and so lasting, that I can't but consider it as an epocha in history!
- Diary [on the Boston Tea Party] (December 17, 1773)

A government of laws, and not of men.
- "Novanglus" papers, Boston Gazette, No. 7 (1774)
- Incorporated into the Massachusetts Costitution, 1780

Metaphysicians and politicians may dispute forever, but they will never find any other moral principle or foundation of rule or obedience, than the consent of governors and governed.
- "Novanglus" papers, Boston Gazette, No. 7 (1774)

A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.
- Letter to Abigail Adams (July 17, 1775)

I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all.
- Letter to Horatio Gates (March 23, 1776)

You bid me burn your letters. But I must forget you first.
- Letter to Abigail Adams (April 28, 1776)

There is something very unnatural and odious in a government a thousand leagues off. A whole government of our own choice, managed by persons whom we love, revere, and can confide in, has charms in it for which men will fight.
- Letter to Abigail Adams (May 17, 1776)

Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America; and a greater perhaps never was, nor will be, decided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States."
- Letter to Abigail Adams (July 3, 1776)

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I 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 and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.
- Second Letter to Abigail Adams (July 3, 1776)

Virtue is not always amiable.
- Diary (February 9, 1779)

By my physical constitution I am but an ordinary man...Yet some great events, some cutting expressions, some mean hypocracies, have at times thrown this assemblage of sloth, sleep, and littleness into rage like a lion.
- Diary (April 26, 1779)

The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts. I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.
- Letter to Abigail Adams (May 12, 1780)

You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.
- Letter to John Quincy Adams (May 14, 1781)

My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office [the vice-presidency] that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived; and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be borne away by others and meet the common fate.
- Letter to Abigail Adams (December 19, 1793)

I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house [the White House] and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.
- Letter to Abigail Adams (November 2, 1800)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt had this inscribed on the mantlepiece of the State Dining Room

I had heard my father say that he never knew a piece of land [to] run away or break.
- Autobiography (1802-1807)

Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.
- Letter to Benjamin Rush (April 18, 1808)

You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other.
- Letter to Thomas Jefferson, his political rival for much of his career. (July 13, 1813)

As long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Property and Influence will accumulate in Families.
- Letter to Thomas Jefferson (July 16, 1814)

The fundamental article of my political creed is that depotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratical council, an ogliarchical junto, and a single emperor.
- Letter to Thomas Jefferson (November 13, 1815)

We have now, it Seems a National Bible Society, to propagate King James's Bible, through all Nations. Would it not be better to apply these pious SubScriptions, to purify Christendom from the Corruptions of Christianity; than to propagate those Corruptions in Europe Asia, Africa and America!
- Letter to Thomas Jefferson (November 4, 1816) *

Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!!!" But in this exclamation I would have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean Hell.
- Letter to Thomas Jefferson (April 19, 1817) (The italicized section within this statement has often been quoted out of context.) Original manuscript at The Library of Congress

What do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations...This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.
- Letter to H. Niles (February 13, 1818)

Thomas — Jefferson — still surv—
- Alleged last words (July 4, 1826) as indicated by some; often rendered as a full statement, "Thomas Jefferson still survives." by others. Thomas Jefferson died a few hours earlier on the same day, the 50th anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence.

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Thoughts on Government (April, 1776)

The happiness of society is the end of government.

Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it.

When annual elections end, there slavery begins.

Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially of the lower class of people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant.

The judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, as both should be checks upon that.

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Attributed

A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man.

Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society.

As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration. I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children.

Be not intimidated... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.

Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.

Examine the struggle to not only establish a free republic, but to give it the economic strength and governmental structure that would allow it to prosper.

Genius is sorrow's child.

I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.

If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.

Let them revere nothing but religion, morality and liberty.

Liberty, according to my metaphysics is a self-determining power in an intellectual agent. It implies thought and choice and power.

Men are never good but through necessity.

My country has contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.
- On the Vice-Presidency

Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.

No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak.

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty.

The blackest billingsgate, the most ungentlemanly insolence, the most yahooish brutality, is patiently endured, countenanced, propagated, and applauded. But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and you will find you have disturbed a nest, and the hornets will swarm about your eyes and hand, and fly into your face and eyes.

The purpose of government is the greatest quantity of human happiness.

The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a theatrical show. Jefferson ran away with all the stage effect of that... and all the glory of it.

The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole carloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity.

The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.

The happiness of society is the end of government.

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations.

The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.

The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

The proposition that the people are the best keepers of their own liberties is not true. They are the worst conceivable, they are no keepers at all; they can neither judge, act, think, or will, as a political body.

The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.

There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties... This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.

There never was yet a people who must not have somebody or something to represent the dignity of the state.

Think of your forefathers! Think of your posterity.

This compelling series traces the events leading up to the war and America's fight for freedom.

This nation of ours was not founded on Christian principles.

We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.

When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking, or thinking, I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.

While all other sciences have advanced, that of government is at a standstill — little better understood, little better practiced now than three or four thousand years ago.

You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments: rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the universe.

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