John Adams

So after 6 months of slow progress, I've finally finished reading the biography of John Adams, our Second U.S. President! The slow progress had nothing to do with the interest level of the book, I was caught up working late (as usual) and especially cuaght up studying for tests. I bought the book mid-June in the Orlando airport and didn't finish until a couple days ago. Quite a journey indeed.

Did you know that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day, which happened to be July 4, 1826, our nation's 50th anniversary? Crazy, whether coincidence or not. Basically the book noted that they were both determined to stick it out that far.

John Adams lived a pretty amazing life and it makes me want to read more biographies of Presidents. He was a Harvard-educated lawyer, yet he was never super wealthy. He defended the British troops who killed the men in the Boston Massacre, he lived all over Europe as a U.S. Ambassador during the revolution, and he lived a very simple life comparatively speaking. The author made many comparisons between Adams and Jefferson; the most interesting to me was how simple and debt-free life Adams lived and how lavish and debt-ridden life Jefferson lived. Adams died with a net worth of $100k, and Jefferson died with debt of over $100k and the sale of his entire his estate did not make up the debt. I found that very interesting when contrasting the two lifestyles throughout the book. If Jefferson was the "pen" of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Adams was the "voice". So very interesting to learn about these things that I hadn't even thought of before. Adams is also the "father" of the US Navy. David McCullough did an excellent job; I would highly recommend this book to anybody interested in a very important person in US History.

I think another interesting thing to me is to see what experiences a lifetime can bring to a person. Adams was not a war hero or anything like that. Besides becoming the President of the United States, he seemingly led a life that a normal person could lead; yet looking back so many experiences add up to make him an incredible person. That probably applies to many people all over. Adding up a lifetime of experiences can lead to a pretty impressive story for just about anybody.

When I think about historical figures, for some reason I just think about that person, alone, and their context. This book reminded me that Adams, Washington, Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, etc. all lived and dealt with each other. I'm sure they didn't know at the time what type of historical figures they would become, but it's amazing now to think that so many great minds with such foresight for our country came together at the same time.