John Adams Accomplishments

John Adams

Everybody knows who the first president of the United States was, but what about the second? John Adams was many important things, such as the first vice president of the United States, a Founding Father, and the second president of the United States. He also went on many missions to Europe. John Adams is still important to our nation today, though he is often overlooked. His early life led him to accomplish many things and become the second president of the United States.
John Adams graduated from Harvard school of law in 1755 when he was 20 years old. Afterward, he decided to teach school for several years before going back to school to study law, and started his career in law in 1758. He soon went on to become a very successful

In 1778, John Adams was sent to Paris to secure aid for the colonists’ cause. Returning the next year, he started working to outline the Massachusetts Constitution. John Adams was sent back to Europe in the 1780s to serve a in a diplomatic capacity and in 1783, he helped facilitate the Treaty of Paris. After the American Revolution, John Adams stayed in Europe and became the United States’ first ambassador to Britain from 1785 to 1788. Adams returned to America and participated in the Constitutional Convention where George Washington was elected to be the first president of the United States and during which, Adams became the vice president. Even though Adams was vice president, he was not happy with his situation; he felt like the vice president was not getting enough things to do. He once said, “My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived” (HISTORY.com). He spent the next eight years frustrated. When Washington finished his second term and stepped down Adams ran for president and won against Thomas Jefferson, who became the vice

As soon as Adams took office, he was quickly immersed in foreign affairs that Washington had already been dealing with during his presidency. As one of his first acts as President, Adams sent a delegation to France to try to negotiate a treaty, but the French refused to meet them. Instead the French demanded a large bribe but Adams refused. This turned into the XYZ Affair, which immensely boosted Adam’s popularity. An undeclared war broke out over seas between the United States and France, which lasted two years when a peace treaty was signed. Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, thinking it was best for the nation, even though it lost a large amount of his popularity and cost him the election of 1800. The Democratic - Republicans criticized these acts declaring them unconstitutional. Due to the loss of the election of 1800, Adams retired and spent his final twenty five years writing books, letters, columns, and correspondence to Thomas Jefferson. At the time, Jefferson and Adams were the only living signers of the Declaration of Independence. John Adams saw his son, John Quincy Adams take office as the 6th president of the United States in 1824. John Adams died on July 4, 1826 at 90 years old. Adam’s last words were “Thomas Jefferson still survives” (WhiteHouseGov.com). But what he didn’t know was that Thomas Jefferson died hours