What You Should Know About the U.S. Presidents

What You Should Know About the U.S. Presidents — page 3
250 ANNIVERSARY John Adams 2nd President of the U S Federalist Party Served 1797-1801 Elected 1796 State of birth Massachusetts Courtesy National Gallery of Art Washington D C Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund 1979 4 1 SIGNIFICANCE John Adams was the first vice president and second president of the United States He was an early advocate of American independence the author of Massachusetts’s constitution and an ambassador to France and England He used his skills in foreign policy to secure diplomacy with Great Britain after the American Revolution and to avoid a war with France during his presidency He was noted for his bluntness and honesty He and his influential wife Abigail whose letters vividly captured what it meant to live in the United States during its early years gave rise to one of the most prominent families in American history DID YOU KNOW Declaration of Independence of negotiation John Adams is one of only two presidents whose signature appears on the Adams correctly foresaw that the French Revolution would lead to the Reign of Benjamin Franklin considered Adams deranged because of his confrontational style As vice president Adams called the office the most insignificant office that ever Terror and the rise of a military dictator Napoleon the Invention of man contrived or his Imagination conceived FORMER OFFICE vice president VICE PRESIDENT Thomas Jefferson FIRST LADY Abigail Adams