John Adams - Our Lost Founding Archives

John Quincy Adams on “Useful Citizens… and a Real Blessing”

On this day in 1767, John Quincy Adams is born. He was the sixth U.S. president, and the son of the second U.S. president, John Adams.

As a boy, he went with his father on diplomatic missions, then entered the legal profession after his schooling. As a young man, he served as minister to the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and England. John Quincy Adams became a Republican Senator, and helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. He also served as secretary of state until the tie-breaking vote in the House elected him president over Andrew Jackson.

“Pursue the Practice”

Definitely his father’s son, who believed “religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand,” John Quincy wrote this in a letter to his own “dear son”:

“for so great is my veneration for the Bible, and so strong my belief, that when duly read and meditated on, it is of all books in the world, that which contributes most to make men good, wise, and happy — that the earlier my children begin to read it, the more steadily they pursue the practice of reading it throughout their lives, the more lively and confident will be my hopes that they will prove useful citizens to their country, respectable members of society, and a real blessing to their parents.”

July 11, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, Founding Fathers, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

John Adams on “The Second Day of July…”

On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopts the resolution for independence from Great Britain. Of course, Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. Twelve of the thirteen colonial delegations vote unanimously, with New York abstaining.

Previously, in early June, Congress appointed a committee consisting of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson to draft that declaration of independence. Then, the committee presented it to Congress on June 28, 1776.

Our Lost Founding will ‘unfurl’ the Declaration in Our July 4th post.

Illuminations…

The eventual second president John Adams wrote this of July 2nd, to his beloved wife Abigail:

“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

He continues:

“You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. — I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. — Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.” (emphasis added)

July 2, 2021/2 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Founding Documents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Dream Team Drafts “Divine” Declaration

On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress selects Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to draft the Declaration of Independence. We know this remarkable group as the Committee of Five.

First, here is how the Declaration begins:
“When, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

Providence and Our Pledge

Finally, how it concludes:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Our Constitution is our ‘how’ document and this divinely inspired Declaration is our ‘why.’

June 11, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Revolution, Founding Documents, Founding Fathers, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Muhlenberg : First Speaker of the House, first a speaker in God’s house

On this day in 1789, Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg is elected as the first Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, from 1789-1791.

Two years later, he was also the third Speaker of the House (1793-1795). In total, he served in the House from 1789 to 1797.

Then, he was a member of the Continental Congress in 1779 and 1780. He followed that by serving in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1780 to 1783.

Later, he presided over the Pennsylvania ratifying convention of 1787 for the U.S. Constitution.

Finally, he was the first signer of the Bill of Rights. The second was John Adams.

Before all of that, Frederick Muhlenberg was a Lutheran pastor.

April 1, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Icons, American Revolution, Founding Mothers, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Abigail Adams : “Remember the Ladies… placed by Providence”

Abigail Adams and John Adams are renowned for their prolific correspondence. In fact, they wrote each other thousands of letters.

So, to write something along the lines of “On this day in 1776, Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams…” is almost a given.

However, in this particularly noteworthy letter, Abigail urges Mr. Adams and the Continental Congress to “Remember the Ladies” in the battle for independence:

“I long to hear that you have declared an independancy—and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

Beings

She goes on writing:

“Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem [sic] Being make use of that power only for our happiness.”

Abigail Adams is one of only two women to have been both wives and mothers of American presidents.

Can you name the other?

March 31, 2021/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Founding Fathers, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

“Bestow the Best of Blessings on this House”

On this day in 1800, John Adams finally moves in to the as-yet-unfinished President’s House — now known as the White House — in Washington, D.C. Construction had been ongoing since 1792.

It was the final year of his only term as president, so he and his wife Abigail lived there for only a few months. On February 17, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected president.

“This House…”

On November 2, the day after moving in, President Adams writes to his wife Abigail about their new home:

“I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof!”

In 1945, the final year of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had that blessing carved in to the stone fireplace of the State Dining Room, where it is seen today. Perhaps we all ought to pray it again, that it may also be felt.

November 1, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Founding Documents, George Washington, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding, War of 1812

USS Constitution and the U.S. Constitution

On this day in 1797, the USS Constitution, aka “Old Ironsides,” is launched from a Boston shipyard.

First, of course, it was President George Washington who signed the Naval Act of 1794 which authorized construction of the ship. Obviously, he named it after our founding document. Paul Revere provided its copper.

Naturally, President John Adams was on hand for the aforementioned launch ceremony in Boston.

The old frigate earned the nickname “Old Ironsides” during the War of 1812 for its amazing ability to avoid damage despite having defeated five British warships.

Then, its final engagement was the capture of a slave ship in 1853.

Providential Protection

In an interesting, perhaps providential parallel, the USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, while the U.S. constitution is the oldest single governing document in the world.

Certainly, George Washington and John Adams acknowledged the role divine providence plays in our nation:

At his Inaugural Address on April 30, 1789 George Washington said:
“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the People of the United States.”

We made a shirt from that quote, get yours in the Shop.

Also, at his inaugural address in Philadelphia in March the year the USS Constitution was launched, John Adams said:
“And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence.”

Clearly, Divine protection will be necessary to keep both Constitutions afloat.

Finally, here is the final stanza of the aptly-titled poem “Old Ironsides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. from 1830, which helped the ship stay commissioned:

Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!

October 21, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

The Declaration Committee John Adams Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Franklin United States

The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

United States. Resolved.

On this day in 1776, this new nation is renamed the “United States” of America, replacing “United Colonies.”

We find the formal declaration in an excerpt from a Continental Congress Journal entry, written by John Adams:

“Monday September 9, 1776.
Resolved, that in all Continental Commissions, and other Instruments where heretofore the Words, ‘United Colonies,’ have been used, the Stile be altered for the future to the United States.”

The debate about who exactly coined the name “United States of America” is unsettled. Still, the designation first formally appears twice in the Declaration of Independence. As such, the National Archives credits the name to Thomas Jefferson, the primary draftsman of the document.

Indeed, John Adams was one of the five statesmen on that ‘Declaration Comittee,’ pictured below. Benjamin Franklin was also on that outstanding committee.

Regardless, the exact origin of the name is irrelevant in comparison the overall intent of our founders.

Pulling Down Strongholds

The Declaration of Independence states:

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;”

Less than three months prior, Mr. Adams wrote this as part of letter to his cousin, Zabdiel:

“Statesmen my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. . . . The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a greater Measure, than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.—They will only exchange Tyrants and Tyrannies.—You cannot therefore be more pleasantly, or usefully employed than in the Way of your Profession, pulling down the Strong Holds of Satan.”

September 9, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Revolution, Founding Documents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

Providence and Paris : The Trinity and the Treaty

On this day in 1783, representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Spain and France sign the Treaty of Paris. Thus, officially ending the American Revolution.

Back in the previous September, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay, began the official peace negotiations with the British.

Here’s the opening of the Treaty:

“In the Name of the most Holy & undivided Trinity.

It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the Hearts of the most Serene and most Potent Prince George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunebourg, Arch- Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire etc.. and of the United States of America, to forget all past Misunderstandings and Differences that have unhappily interrupted the good Correspondence and Friendship which they mutually wish to restore;”

Nothing to add.

Well, perhaps, other than this:
Done at Paris, this third day of September in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.

September 3, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

Declaration of Independence, Founding Documents, Founding Fathers, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

The Declaration of Independence goes Intercontinental

On this day in 1776, news (finally) reaches London that the American Continental Congress had drafted the Declaration of Independence. It was indeed a bold justification for their rebellion to retain their God-given rights.

Suffice it to say, the news cycle was a little different back then.

So, it seems appropriate to repost Our July 4th post, which lists the references to Almighty God contained within the Declaration:
“Laws of Nature and Nature’s God,” “Creator,” “Supreme Judge of the world,” and “divine Providence.”

Declaration of Independence, July 4th, the Course, and the Creator

August 10, 2020/0 Comments/by Our Lost Founding

American Revolution, Founding Fathers, Presidents, The Common Thread of Our Lost Founding

John Adams and the President’s House : “On this house… under this roof”

On this day in 1800, President John Adams, the second president, becomes the first acting president to reside in Washington, D.C. However, President Adams lived at a temporary residence during construction on the President’s Mansion, also known as the President’s House. We now know that house as the White House.

Construction began in 1792, but it was not until November 1, 1800 that John Adams moved into the executive mansion. Then, the next day he wrote to his wife Abigail about their new home: