John Adams doesn’t get the honor and acclaim he deserves! Even in his lifetime he saw this coming. He said:

“The History of our Revolution will be one continued Lye from one end to the other. . . . The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin’s electrical Rod, smote the Earth and out sprung General Washington. . . .That Franklin electrified him with his rod—and thence forward these two conducted all the Policy, Negotiations, Legislatures and War . . . . Mausoleums, Statues, Monuments will never be erected for me, . . . .nor flattering orations spoken to transmit me to Posterity in brilliant Colours.”

If we but list an important few of John’s accomplishments, we may want to take up a collection to erect some of those Mausoleums, Statues, and Monuments.

Adams represented the British soldiers in the trial of those accused in the Boston Massacre. John wrote the pamphlet that led Patrick Henry to give is immortal “Give Me Liberty” speech at Richmond, Virginia. John was on the Committee appointed by Congress to write a Declaration of Independence and was the one who was named “The Colossus” for his impassioned defense of the document written by Thomas Jefferson.

John was then sent by Congress to join with Benjamin Franklin in France to try to obtain a loan from the King to support the Revolutionary War. With nothing happening, Adams left France for a trip to Amsterdam where he procured a loan from Netherland bankers, just in time to save Washington.

Adams made one trip back to the Colonies and authored the Constitution for the new State of Massachusetts.

Adams helped Franklin secure the Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War. He was then sent to Britain to be the official representative of Congress to create a treaty of commerce with our most recent enemy (can you imagine that?)!

Congress wouldn’t allow John to come home to attend the Constitutional Convention. So instead, he wrote a 2 volume work which he entitled “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America”. This book was available for reading prior to the Constitutional Convention, and the records show it was referred to by the attendees as much, or more, than any other reference.

Upon his return home, Adams was selected by the voters as the first Vice President of the United States, where he served under General Washington. When Washington declined to run for a third term, Adams was elected as the second President of the United States. He was defeated for a second term by his erstwhile friend, Thomas Jefferson.

Later Jefferson and Adams carried on a wonderful written correspondence for more than 14 years. Adams lived to see his son, John Quincy Adams, become the sixth President of the United States.

And this is just a synopsis! His love story with Abigail is a whole ‘nother story. What a great man. Perhaps we should reconsider that statue, mausoleum, or monument!