John Adams (1735–1826), who served every bit the first vice president of the U.s. and then equally its second President, besides influenced the development of constitutional government through his political writings and thought. He was supportive of many Start Amendment principles although he did believe in established churches. (Epitome via the Naval Historical Eye, painted by Asher Brown Durand, public domain)

John Adams (1735–1826), who served equally the first vice president of the United states of america and so as its second President, too influenced the development of constitutional regime through his political writings and idea.

Adams was a leading lawyer and abet for independence

Born in Massachusetts Bay Colony, Adams received his instruction from Harvard and became a leading lawyer in Massachusetts during the colonial era. In his about famous case, he defended British soldiers who stood trial after the Boston Massacre in 1770. The leading advocate for independence at the 2d Continental Congress and a member of the commission that drafted the Declaration of Independence, Adams served the U.s.a. during the Revolutionary War as an ambassador to the Court of Louis Sixteen in Paris and equally ambassador to the Netherlands.

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Because John Adams was serving equally an ambassador in London during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he did non take a direct impact on the drafting of the Constitution. Adams, notwithstanding, had become a prominent advocate of separation of powers and of checks and balances to protect confronting the ability of absolute government. (Image via Massachusetts Historical Lodge, created by Benjamin Blyth circa 1766, public domain)

Adams advocated separation of powers and checks and balances

Adams was serving equally an administrator in London during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, so he did not have a straight bear on on the drafting of the Constitution. Adams, nevertheless, had become a prominent advocate of separation of powers and of checks and balances to protect against the power of accented government. His political writings, including Thoughts on Authorities (1776) and A Defense of the Constitutions of the United States of America (1778), developed the principles of ramble government that James Madison and other delegates applied at the 1787 convention. Adams strongly supported the new constitution.

Adams sponsored the Conflicting and Sedition Acts

After U.S. independence, Adams returned to his role equally a diplomat at the Courtroom of St. James'south in London, from 1785 to 1788, before being elected vice president in 1788 and president in 1796.

His presidency (1797–1801) was a tragic episode. As a leader among the Federalists, Adams became the subject of scurrilous attacks in Republican newspapers and pamphlets, which portrayed him as a monarchist and an enemy of republican authorities. They also ridiculed him equally being effeminate or a hermaphrodite because of his pinnacle and high-pitched voice.

Meanwhile, the United states came nether pressure from France and Great Uk to take sides in the wars following the French Revolution of 1789. Republicans favored republican France, while the Federalists sympathized with Cracking United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. Adams labored to keep the United States out of the slap-up power conflict.

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During his presidency, John Adams and the Federalist majority in Congress sponsored four laws that came to be known as the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. These statutes represent the first instance of an American president placing national security bug and personal reputation before the principles of liberty of speech and of the printing. (Image via Harvard University Portrait Collection [bequest of Ward Nicholas Boylston to Harvard College, 1828], painted by John Singleton Copley in 1783, public domain)

After the XYZ Affair of 1797–1798 caused resentment toward France, Adams and the Federalist majority in Congress sponsored four laws that came to be known as the Conflicting and Sedition Acts of 1798. These statutes — the Naturalization Deed, Alien Human activity, Alien Enemies Act, and Sedition Act — represent the first example of an American president placing national security issues and personal reputation earlier the principles of liberty of speech and of the press.

The laws met with immediate resistance in Republican strongholds and triggered the Virginia Resolution (1798) and the Kentucky Resolution (1799). Authored past James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, the resolutions questioned the constitutional validity of the legislation. The unpopularity of the measures almost certainly contributed to Adams's defeat by Jefferson in the presidential elections of 1800.

Adams supported Outset Subpoena principles

Though a leading Federalist, Adams makes clear in messages to Jefferson that he would have preferred that the Constitution be prefaced by a "declaration of rights," as was the Massachusetts constitution (1780), for which Adams served every bit main writer. Adams was serving equally vice president when the beginning Congress proposed and adopted the Nib of Rights. Adams'southward political writings and correspondence with Jefferson, Benjamin Rush, and other leading figures of the American founding illustrate his support of the principles of religious liberty and republicanism embodied in the First Amendment.

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John Adams backed an established church and believed that religious establishment need non be subversive of religious liberty. However, he later came to believe that people acted based on the principle of "might makes right" because ability always sees itself as being in the correct. Governmental checks and balances consequently might exist the just defense force against religiously motivated tyranny. (Image via the Brooklyn Museum, painted by Samuel Morse circa 1816, public domain)

Adams backed an established church

The one exception is Adams's backing of an established church building and his belief that religious institution need non exist subversive of religious freedom. Later in life, his views on religion and politics moved closer to those of Jefferson. Both men espoused Enlightenment attitudes and Unitarian doctrine, merely unlike Jefferson, however, Adams was never sanguine that man enlightenment would atomic number 82 to the end of religious intolerance and oppression. He believed that people acted based on the principle of "might makes right" because power always sees itself equally being in the right. Governmental checks and balances consequently might be the only defence force against religiously motivated tyranny.

Adams and Jefferson died on the aforementioned day, July four, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the Announcement of Independence, to which both men had contributed.

This article was originally published in 2009. Paul J. Cornish is Acquaintance Professor of Political Science at Thousand Valley Land University. He has published manufactures on the political thought of John Adams, and on the concepts of natural rights, toleration, and constitutional authorities in the Catholic natural police tradition

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