John Adams could never have replaced Washington in the hearts and minds of the American public. All he wanted was a little respect. Unfortunately for him, his overall disposition was anything but gracious and usually just rubbed people the wrong way. Jefferson said of Adams, "He is distrustful, obstinate, excessively vain, and takes no counsel from anyone." He was a man who knew he was right, all the time, and knew you were wrong, all the time. It is no wonder he was so maligned as president and was not be re-elected in 1800.
As historians have looked back on his presidency, however, Adams has begun to gain the respect he so doggedly pursued. The Alien & Sedition Acts will forever mar his legacy, but his work on avoiding war with France has become more notable. Adams was so proud of his neutrality stance that he wanted his epitaph to only mention that accomplishment. His suggestion: "Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility of peace with France in the year 1800."
What do you think of Adams? Should his annoying personality be the measuring stick for which he is judged by history? In your post this week reflect on the personality of Adams as compared to his lifetime of accomplishments (Declaration signer, 1st VP/2nd P, Ambassador to Britain, Accomplished Lawyer etc.). Conclude your post by writing your own epitaph for Adams' life.
Today we think of Adam as a bit of a snob and seemed as if he thought was the best there ever could be. Thomas Jeffferson did say in his quote what Adams acted like to around him. They were at the time, though, bitter enemies. Perhaps this is why he came across that way, and we shouldn’t use that quote to judge someone so quickly. Adams did do some remarkable things, but I don’t think he was cut out for President. When you are a leader, you have to be prepared to face criticism. He could not because of his pride. Altogether, I don’t think he was a very good President. He may have signed the Decleration and was an ambassador to Britain, but he didn’t do that as President, the other things he did as President, he really didn’t use his head. “Here Lies John Adams, whose potential was wasted.” (152 words)
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ReplyDeleteI don’t like John Adams he seems very selfish. He reminds me of celebrities in the 21st century. Most celebrities are great and talented people but the fame gets to your head and it changes you. John Adams sort of let it go to his head and it made him a snobby, self-centered, annoying person. He became too obsessed with what people thought of him. When he became obsessed, it made him make a law that went against the first amendment. To me that seems like something a king in England would do. I think his accomplishments before he was President and Vice President were very memorable but that still does not change his actions as President and that is why he is remembered like that. Here is a man who had great opportunities to be great but wasted them. (141 words)
ReplyDeleteJohn Adams was a great man. He did a lot of good stuff for this country. He was a very intelligent man and was better than George Washington in knowing how to run a country. But he was a bit to soft emotionally. He thought people were making fun of him. So he made the Alien and Sedation Acts. That act said that no one basically can talk bad about the president. Nobody liked that at all. It went against the first amendment. That amendment was the freedom of speech. He was a very selfish man to. He WASTED the power of the president. He used it for his own good. He thought people would like for keeping a truce with France. He thought keeping neutrality was a good idea. It was but not to the people they wanted to go to war with France. He thought it was to early for his country. And he was right. " Here is a man that knew what he was doing, but wasted it all with his emotions." (170)
ReplyDeleteI think John Adams may have been kind of arrogant or self-centered. I can see why some people really didn’t like him that much. I don’t think his personality should be how he is judged by history because he made some really good choices that really made a difference and the decisions he made is what makes him notable today. Even though he had mental issues he accomplished a lot of things as a grown man working in the government. If I wrote an epitaph for John Adams then it would probably say that even though he was an arrogant man with many mental problems, he still was a great and intelligent man who made great choices in life and accomplished a lot of things in his lifetime. (128)
ReplyDeleteJohn Adams was, and is still, considered very emotional and self-centered. This is true, but hidden in it is some very good accomplishments,but people don't give him credit because he was self-centered, and they thought no one could be as good as George Washington. The Alien and Sedition Acts just made it a lot worse, because in the minds of the Americans, He can't run the country, and he won't take any criticism. This shows again that he wasn't qualified, emotionally, to run a country. And in the midst of all of this, he remained neutral withs France, which everyone overlooks, simply because they already had a negative view toward him.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph: "Here lies a man who new how to run a country, but wasted it because he couldn't take criticism" ............Not a good way to be remembered...........
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John Adams was actually not that bad of a president. He did have lots of roles and accomplishments in our country's beginning stages. It was very stressful for him, trying to compare to Washington because EVERYONE loved him. Wereas more people probably hated Adams than liked him. Unfortunately, people mostly overlooked his accomplishments such as keeping neutrality with France.
ReplyDeleteI think that John Adams's rather.....peculiar behavior is not all to be blamed on him. Some people believe that he was bipolar. I think that there is evidence that this was the case because of his odd dimeanor and decision making. It is also reported of him having random mood swings, leaving him very emotionally unstable.
Epitaph:"Here lies an angry man....but in the midst of his anger, until his ascent to the Holy One, he found peace knowing that he was responsible for maintaining our nation's peaceful relations with France"
(149 words)
John Adams had some good things and more obvisous some bad things happen during his presidency. He was obviously a popular man in order to become the 1st Vice President as well as the 2nd president. Media was no where near as advanced as it is nowadays. So Americans that did not live near where he gave speeches or things like that people had no idea what he was like emotionally other than what the press told them. This means that we just had to see what they would do in debates and other things where the canidates spoke or they could just trust what they hear by word of mouth which wasn’t the best thing to do. So I am guessing it was kind of a shocker when America really saw what kind of emotional reck he really was. But, I got to give him credit he did have some pretty impressive roles that he played during his lifetime. We cannot just dog him because he did things that most of us will NEVER do. The Alien and Sedition Acts that he passed were just insane; those laws went against everything we believed in as Americans. Epitaph: “Here lies a man that was emotioally unpredictable, but held many important roles that helped shape our nation”. R.I.P. John Adams. (219)
ReplyDeleteAs we look back a John Adams presidency I think that most people would se it as a waste. But you have to remember that the president just might be the hardest job in the country, especially since America was a very young county at the time. Now Adams emotional issues don’t change the fact that he played a very important role in history. He was the first vice president and the second president. He also signed the Declaration of Independence. So he had lots of accomplishments in his lifetime. He also had a lot of negative events happen in his life. Without John Adams I think America would be a different country
ReplyDeleteEpitaph: In this hole lies John Adams. Who kept peace with France and was always right.
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DeleteJohn Adams had the opportunity to become a great leader when he was elected president. However, as we all know, he was not a great leader. John Adams' main concern was himself. When he passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, I think he thought that if he controlled what people said about him, he would change their views about him. Although unstable, I do not think that everything he did should be measured by his odd personality. He did keep peace with France which was a good thing. If he had been more concerned with what was right and good for the country, his nasty personality may have been a little more overlooked. Epitaph: "Here lies a man whose reputation meant everything to him, but little to our country." (129)
ReplyDeleteI do not think it is right to judge John Adams. We can't understand what it would have been like to be our nation's 2nd president and have everyone compare you to George Washington. In his presidency he had to live up to Washington's reputation. Adams had a short temper and a huge ego. This did affect the way people looked at him. This is a shame because he accomplished a lot. He would have been a great president if he hadn't let his emotions get in the way. If he had set aside his pride I believe he would have been a great president. A man is judged mostly on his character-and a little on his accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph: "Here lies a man who God put in office for a reason, but Adams let his pride ruin it."
138 words! :)
John Adams personality was not a personality that you would want to be around all the time. From watching and listening to what people have said about him he sounds self centered. I think he cared too much about what people thought about him. He did make many great accomplishments during his life as well as during his time in office. He was one of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence; you were pretty important if you signed that. Because I never met him I do not want to judge him or anything that he did during his life time. If I wrote an epitaph for John Adams it would go something like this “I’m always right and you’re always wrong.” (124)
ReplyDeleteJohn Adams, in my opinion, was an accomplished man but I would not want to be around him. He should not be judged by his personality alone. He should be judged by both his personality and his actions. His personality strikes me as I’m Mr. Perfect and you’re wrong. However his accomplishments were great and his dedication to doing what he thought was right was unmovable. He also tried his best to follow the precedents set by Washington. But his personality had a tendency to mess some of these things up. “Here lies John Adams a great man who was somewhat of a jerk” (104)
ReplyDeleteI think that John Adam's personality was selfish and mean. I don't think he is the kind of person people would want to be around at all. Even though his personality wasn't the greatest he still had a lot of great accomplishments. Some of his accomplishments were he signed the Declaration of Independence, he was also the 1st vice president and the 2nd President. He is sometimes compared to George Washington. I don't think it's fair to judge him based on Washington's Presidency. Because George Washington was probably the best President its makes John Adams look even worse. I think his epitah should have said: " Here lies a man who cared too much about what other people thought, but also made some good accomplishments as the 2nd President." (129)
ReplyDeleteI do not think we should judge Adams so quickly. I mean we don't even know the guy personal. He did a lot of great things for our country like keeping us in neutrality with France. He also had his fair share of bad decisions like the alien and seduction acts but he should not be remembered as making all bad decisions, no ones perfect. He was human of course he was gonna make mistakes everyone does. His main problem was that he cared to much about what people thought about him. It would have been hard to live up to the standard of George Washington but they are two different people and should be remembered as a completely different individual. He was not going to be better than Washington but he would be his own person and and would make mistakes just like everyone else.I think he would have done better job as president if he had remembered that.
ReplyDeleteEpitaph: “a man who was great but not perfect” (171 words)