Who Is John Quincy Adams Dbq

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John Quincy Adams was the second American president, following George Washington. President Adams was born in modern day Quincy, Massachusetts on October 30, 1735. He graduated Graduating from Harvard College in 1755, overtime he became a successful attorney in Boston. He married Abigail Smith in 1764, he was 9 years her elder. They had 6 children together. Mr. Adams has many different opinions in connection with who he really was, a puritan that believed in aristocracy. He denounced slavery, which at that time said a lot about his character, but some say he was arrogant. Reviewing his life, my goal is to find the truth in all of this and set the record straight about his life to the best of my ability. According to thefreedictionary.com puritans …show more content…

He did not contradict himself as his colleagues did, that is something to admire him for. Though he wanted an aristocracy form of government, he still cared some what about the lower class. Enslaving another human being to the benefit yourself, is disgusting. The people who created our laws were the same people enslaving others, which is selfish. Though owning slaves, would have given Mr. Adams substantially more money, but he did not want it. Through his arrogance and egotistical ways John has a heart. Early in his presidency, the French and the British had been causing a great deal of tension for the United States. When the French rejected an American envoy, President Adams sent over three American commissioners but the French refused to negotiate with them unless they accepted a bribe. Outraged, President Adams reports to congress what had been going on. Stirred up in an uproar the citizens of the United States were prepared for war. Admirably, President Adams doesn’t declare war on France. Instead, he and the French Prime Minister discuss the issue at hand. After long consideration and many battles at sea the French did not want war with the United States, and everything quietly …show more content…

President Adams once said “Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.” Avoiding war and unnecessary deaths of innocent people was his main purpose. From slavery, to avoiding war, it is hard to say that President Adams was selfish. He cared about the greater good of the American people. Puritans are a group of people who believe in accordance with Protestant precepts, especially one who regards pleasure or luxury as sinful. Being an aristocrat is completely opposite of puritanism. Due to his wealth and vey noble status some believe that President Adams would’ve been killed by the puritans for being untrue to the church. Maybe it was the way that he lived, or the way that he ran the country, no matter what way you put it, someone would have wanted to kill him. Puritans for them were very much similar to the Amish to us. Imagine how they go through everyday life, up until electricity was invented. I can understand why John Adams didn’t want to live that way. I cannot blame him either. He is was the President of the United States, why would he live poorly if he didn’t have to. If he could have people churn butter and weld weapons for him that were not slaves. I don’t see anything wrong with the way he lived

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