John Adams: A Life

635 Pages·2010·4.1 MB·English

by  John Ferling

John Adams

John Adams
A LIFE
John Ferling
Copyright © 1992 by The University of Tennessee Press / Knoxville.
All Rights Reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America.
First Edition.
Frontispiece: John Adams in 1783, aged forty-eight. Oil on canvas by John
Singleton Copley. Courtesy: Harvard University Portrait Collection. Bequest of
Ward Nicholas Boylston, 1828.
The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials.
The binding materials have been chosen for strength
and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ferling, John E.
John Adams : a life / John Ferling.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87049-730-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Adams, John, 1735-1826. 2.
Presidents—United States— Biography. I. Title.
F322.F47 1992
973.4’4’092—dc20
[B] 91-14036 cip
Contents
Preface
Introduction
PART ONE
Love of Fame
1 Vanity Is My Cardinal Vice
2 Shall I Creep or Fly?
3 To Thine Own Self Be True
4 The Scene of Action
PART TWO
An Epocha in History
5 Tea That Bainfull Weed
6 Until Our Rights Are Fully Restored
7 We Shall Do Something in Time
8 Oh That I Was a Soldier!
9 A Total Absolute Independence
10 To Leave This Station with Honour

PART THREE
Safe and Glorious in the Harbour of Peace
11 A Man of No Consequence
12 My Business Is Peace
13 Thus Drops the Curtain
14 High against America
PART FOUR
One Man of Inflexible Integrity
15 Much to Be Grateful For
16 An Office of Hard Labor and Severe Duty
17 War Is Inexpedient
18 Thunderstruck
19 The Seeds of Discontent and Division
PART FIVE
I Still Live and Enjoy Life
20 A Retired Hermetical Life
21 A Heavy Burden to Carry

Afterword
Abbreviations
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
Illustrations
John Adams in 1783
John Adams’s Birthplace and Residence
John Adams in 1766
Abigail Adams in 1766
Preliminary Peace Negotiations
The Adams Residence in France
John Adams in 1785
Abigail Adams in 1785
Abigail Adams Smith in 1785
Peacefield, or The Old House
John Adams in 1793
John Adams by Charles Willson Peale
John Quincy Adams in 1796
Thomas Boylston Adams, c. 1795
Charles Adams, c. 1797
The Executive Mansion in Philadelphia
John Adams by Gilbert Stuart, c. 1801
Abigail Adams in 1800
John Adams in 1823
Bust of John Adams, 1825