PREFACE. HE name of Adams is found among the most THE illustrious on the pages of American history. After half a century or more of partisan turmoil, when most of the great barriers to fair and comprehensive judgment have crumbled in the face of the grand spectacle of national progress, at least one member of the Adams family stands so identified with the birth and establishment of this Government as to merit for him the undivided esteem of his countrymen in all ages. The learning and virtue of John Adams, one of the founders of the Republic, shedding luster on his own times, have become a part of the perpetual heritage of a great and exemplary people. Although Mr. Adams left a monument to himself and his age in his voluminous published and unpublished writings, as well as in his public and official services, yet his name has never been suggested as a fruitful theme for biographers; and hence the task of placing his life and character in a suitable form before the world fell to a worthy descendant, who executed the delicate work with great candor, justness, and wisdom. To that work, from the pen of Charles Francis Adams, and the numerous volumes of the writings of Mr. Adams, edited by the same able hand, I have frequently been compelled to refer. While I have sought information from all other possible sources, I feel under no obligations to mention them here. In all cases, in the body of the work, credit has been given where it was due. And at all times I have kept in view the predetermination to make the mere man subservient to historic events, worthy theories and principles, and virtues deserving of admiration and eternal perpetuation. The numerous quotations throughout this volume, or in any other part of this work, the reader is requested not to look upon as excrescences, nor, indeed, as springing from an attempt to ornament the text. While they prop and supplement that they are to be regarded as an essential part of the plan on which the entire work was projected. The leading object has been to embody in the books the greatest possible amount of information on the subject in hand without sacrificing their popular tone or making too great a demand upon the reader. The quotations have been selected with great care as bearing directly on the character or the event, and while they thus at every step form an important feature in the development of the general scheme, it is hoped that no apology will be needed for a course which compels the man to portray his own character or that of his times. CONTENTS. EARLY HISTORY OF THE ADAMSES-JOHN ADAMS- GRAD- UATES AT HARVARD-BECOMES A SCHOOL-TEACHER- MR. ADAMS AS A LAWYER-APPEARS FOR THE BRITISH SOL- DIERS IN THE CASE OF THE "BOSTON MASSACRE" MR. ADAMS IN THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS-APPOINTED CHIEF JUSTICE OF MASSACHUSETTS-HIS GREAT EXER- |