John Adams – You know him as a Founding Fathers of the United States, but did you know he also has an important connection to Trenton, NJ?
A brief history of our second President
A Brief Biography of John Adams
Born in 1735 in the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, he was the first child of a church deacon and his wife Susanna Boylston. Named after his father, John had two younger brothers, Peter and Elihu.
John attended Harvard College and began his professional life as a teacher in the 1750s, but he quickly became interested in politics and began to study law. After completing his law studies in 1758 he became an attorney in Massachusetts. In 1764 he married Abagail Smith. Adams practiced law in the courts of New England and in 1768 he moved with his family to Boston.
In the late 1760s, the British imposed new taxes on the trade of goods in the American colonies. This infuriated many of the colonists. Some colonists boycotted British imports. Later, violent protests broke out in Boston. The British sent additional troops in 1768 to stop the violence, but their presence only increased hostilities. During this period John became privately sympathetic to the growing resistance movement against the British. He believed that the British would eventually give in to the protesters demands against the taxes. Tensions between British officials and their colonial subjects culminated on March 5th 1770 when British troops in Boston shot and killed some protesters. Known as the Boston Massacre, some of those British soldiers were tried for the killings.
John Adams agreed to represent them, since he believed that they deserved a fair trial. Most of the soldiers were found not guilty, while two were found guilty of manslaughter.
Surprisingly, few people protested the results of the trial, and peace seemed to be restored to the colonies for some time. The calm didn’t last for very long. Hostility over British rule and taxes continued to grow. On December 16th 1773, a group of colonists boarded ships in Boston’s harbor destroying 342 containers of tea in protest.
This is famously known as the Boston Tea Party. Adams approved of their actions. Soon after, he was appointed as a member of the Continental Congress for Massachusetts.
As a member of the Continental Congress, Adams went to Philadelphia in August of 1774 and was appointed to a committee charged with creating a statement articulating the colonists’ rights and their complaints to the British.
During that committee work, Adams met George Washington. They both agreed that fighting for independence may be necessary to secure American rights.
John Adams in the Newly Formed United States
By the end of 1775, Adams was working diligently for American independence from Britain. King George III declared the colonies to be in open rebellion after rejecting offers of peace from British officials. Adams, who was named Commissioner to France, led delegations to France securing an alliance with the French government. That support proved critical to the American colonies winning their independence. During the Revolutionary War, Adams held diplomatic posts throughout Europe and represented the interests of the newly founded United States of America. After America achieved its independence, Adams was named the first Vice-President under George Washington. In 1797 he succeeded Washington as the Second President of the United States.
Exactly Fifty Years After…
John Adams lived a long and productive life after his presidency. He died on July 4, 1826, the exact same day that Thomas Jefferson passed away and 50 years following the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
A Little Known Connection to New Jersey
Did you know that John Adams briefly made Trenton, New Jersey the Capital City of the United States? Adams frequently passed through Trenton in his travels between Philadelphia and New England. When Philadelphia was hit by an outbreak of yellow fever in the late summer of 1799, he decided to make Trenton the temporary capital for the new country. In fact, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering moved the Department of State to Trenton in the Summer of 1797 and kept it there until November 1799 due to repeated outbreaks of yellow fever in Philadelphia. Pickering repeatedly requested Adams to travel to Trenton to discuss foreign affairs, but Adams consistently refused, saying in September 1799:
“You [Pickering] urge me to join you and the other public officers at Trenton, before our ministers depart for France…But if I could see any public necessity or utility in my presence at Trenton, I would undertake the journey, however inconvenient to myself or my family. I would not, indeed, hesitate, if it were only to give any reasonable satisfaction to the “best disposed and best informed men.” But you must be sensible that for me to spend two or three months at Trenton with unknown accommodations, cannot be very agreeable. Alone, and in private, I can put up with any thing; but in my public station, you know I cannot.” 1
— John Adams to Timothy Pickering, Quincy Massachusetts, September 4, 1799
However, as tensions with France continued to rise and a new contingent of ministers were to set to depart for France, Adams felt the need to convene his cabinet in Trenton:
“I pray you to write me no letters to reach Quincy or Boston after the 29th. On next Monday, sen’night, I shall set out for Trenton, and reach it at latest by the 15th of October. I also request that you would write to the Attorney-General and the American commissioners to meet us all at Trenton at as early a day, after the 15th, as you shall judge proper. I also desire that all this may be kept as secret as possible, that my journey may meet as little interruption as possible. I shall come alone. Mrs. Adams will follow me soon enough to go with me to Philadelphia.” 2
— John Adams to Heads of Department, Quincy Massachusetts, September 21, 1799
He arrived in the city on October 10,1799 and held meetings with his cabinet about the relationship of the United States with France.
Trenton was the capital for only a few weeks. Once the threat of yellow fever subsided in late October, Adams and his cabinet returned to Philadelphia in November.
Questions for Discussion
- Why do you think Trenton was chosen to be the seat of the Federal Government?
- If you have to move the federal government to a new location, where would it be?
- What do you know about John Adams that was not covered here?
Share your thoughts with us on New Jersey history.
Continue your journey, below, into New Jersey state history
Footnotes
- Adam, Charles Francis. “The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with A Life of the Author, Notes, and Hobbies, Vol. IX.” Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854. Pg. 19. Available https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011251355&seq=51. ↩︎
- Ibid, pg. 34. Available https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011251355&seq=66. ↩︎