Adams, John (1735–1826)
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John Adams (1735–1826)
John Adams thought for himself and said what he thought out loud. This often made him unpopular. Then how did John Adams become president of the United States?
Here’s how. When Adams was a young man in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, there was no United States. There were 13 colonies. A colony is a place that is ruled by another country. The king of England ruled the 13colonies. When the king needed money to pay for a war, he taxed the people in the colonies. Adams thought that this was wrong, and he said so. Adams didn’t like a king and queen ruling his land from so far away. He thought people should choose their leaders. He said the 13 colonies should become an independent country. The king thought Adams was a traitor, someone who was against him.
As tensions between England and the colonies grew, Adams was chosen to go to two meetings in Philadelphia. They were the First and the Second Continental Congresses. Some of the men at these meetings wanted to find a way to avoid fighting with the king. Adams did not. He argued for independence, and he was very good at arguing. He argued for a militia, an army made up of citizens, to be organized. It was. He argued for George Washington to be appointed commander of the army. He was. Adams argued for a declaration of independence. He won that argument, too.
Later, when the Patriots won their independence from England, the United States was formed. Adams argued for the new country to be a democracy, in which the people would elect representatives to control actions by their government. He won that fight, too.
Adams never stopped working to make the country great. He served as the first vice president of the United States. And he served as the country’s second president. The people elected him because he always argued for democracy.
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