He was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with important contemporaries, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams and his friend and political rival Thomas Jefferson.

[13] When the French and Indian War began in 1754, Adams, aged nineteen, felt guilty he was the first in his family not to be a militia officer; he said "I longed more ardently to be a Soldier than I ever did to be a Lawyer".

[47] Adams, who had been among the more conservative of the Founding Fathers, persistently held that while British actions against the colonies had been wrong, open insurrection was unwarranted and peaceful petition with the view of remaining part of Great Britain was preferable.

Adams applauded the destruction of the tea, calling it the "grandest Event" in the history of the colonial protest movement,[50] and writing in his diary that it was an "absolutely and indispensably" necessary action.

[51] In 1774, at the instigation of Samuel Adams, the First Continental Congress was convened in response to the Intolerable Acts, a series of deeply unpopular measures intended to punish Massachusetts, centralize authority in Britain, and prevent rebellion in other colonies.

Four delegates were chosen by the Massachusetts legislature, including John Adams, who agreed to attend,[52] despite an emotional plea from his friend, Attorney General Jonathan Sewall, not to.

[58] The Congress disbanded in October after sending the petition to the King and showing its displeasure with the Intolerable Acts by endorsing the Suffolk Resolves, which called for a boycott of British goods.

[90] After defeating the Continental Army at the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, British Admiral Richard Howe determined that a strategic advantage was at hand, and requested that Congress send representatives to negotiate peace.

While Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence, Adams worked on the Model Treaty, which authorized a commercial agreement with France but contained no provisions for formal recognition or military assistance.

[97] In November 1777, Adams learned that he was to be named commissioner to France, replacing Silas Deane and joining Franklin and Arthur Lee in Paris to negotiate an alliance with the French.

In a letter sent in June, he insisted that fluctuation of the dollar value without an exception for French merchants was unacceptable and requested that Adams write to Congress asking it to "retrace its steps."

[119] On June 11, with the aid of the Dutch Patriotten leader Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, Adams negotiated a loan of five million guilders.

[127] After arriving in London from Paris, Adams had his first audience with King George III on June 1, which he meticulously recorded in a letter to Foreign Minister Jay the next day.

The pair's exchange was respectful; Adams promised to do all that he could to restore friendship and cordiality "between People who, tho Seperated [sic] by an Ocean and under different Governments have the Same Language, a Similar Religion and kindred Blood," and the King agreed to "receive with Pleasure, the Assurances of the friendly Dispositions of the United States."

Suffering the hostility of the King's courtiers, they escaped when they could by seeking out Richard Price, minister of Newington Green Unitarian Church and instigator of the debate over the Revolution within Britain.

[129] Adams corresponded with his sons John Quincy and Charles, both of whom were at Harvard, cautioning the former against the "smell of the midnight lamp" while admonishing the latter to devote sufficient time to study.

He cannot dance, drink, game, flatter, promise, dress, swear with the gentlemen, and small talk and flirt with the ladies; in short, he has none of those essential arts or ornaments which constitute a courtier.

[136] Adams then went to The Hague to take formal leave of his ambassadorship there and to secure refinancing from the Dutch, allowing the United States to meet obligations on earlier loans.

[188] Historian Joseph Ellis writes that "[t]he Adams presidency was destined to be dominated by a single question of American policy to an extent seldom if ever encountered by any succeeding occupant of the office."

Letombe wrote to Paris stating that Jefferson had told him that it was in France's best interest to treat the American ministers civilly but "then drag out the negotiations at length" to arrive at most favorable solution.

Suspecting that he might be hiding material favorable to France, Republicans in the House, with the support of Federalists who had heard rumors of what was contained in the messages, voted overwhelmingly to demand that Adams release the papers.

Adams intended to give to Hamilton the lowest possible rank, while Washington and many other Federalists insisted that the order in which the names had been submitted to the Senate must determine seniority.

[222] The Quasi-War continued, but there was a decline in war fever beginning in the fall once news arrived of the French defeat at the Battle of the Nile, which many Americans hoped would make them more disposed to negotiate.

[224] Hamilton secretly promoted a plan, already rejected by Adams, in which American and British troops would jointly seize Spanish Florida and Louisiana, ostensibly to deter a possible French invasion.

[225] On February 18, 1799, Adams nominated diplomat William Vans Murray for a peace mission to France without consulting either his cabinet or Abigail, who nonetheless upon hearing of it described it as a "master stroke."

He returned to Trenton, where the government had set up temporary quarters due to the yellow fever epidemic, after a letter arrived from Talleyrand confirming that American ministers would be received.

[228] Shortly after, Hamilton, in a breach of military protocol, arrived uninvited at the city to speak with the President, urging him not to send the peace commissioners but instead to ally with Britain to restore the Bourbons.

After the Federalists denounced John Quincy as no longer being of their party, Adams wrote to him that he himself had long since "abdicated and disclaimed the name and character and attributes of that sect.

[284] Adams's daughter Abigail ("Nabby") was married to William Stephens Smith, but she returned to her parents' home after the failure of the marriage; she died of breast cancer in 1813.

Jefferson said nothing about his construction of a new house, domestic turmoil, slave ownership, or poor financial situation, while Adams did not mention the troublesome behavior of his son Thomas, who had failed as a lawyer and become an alcoholic, resorting afterwards to living primarily as a caretaker at Peacefield.