Boston – October 30, 2010
“We can’t go to all houses. Houses are boring. Do you really want to go to 43 houses?” Cathy said as we flew to Boston to learn about president number two, John Adams.We were debating where to go to learn the most about John Adams. The John Adams Peacefield estate in nearby Quincy would certainly yield good information. But Cathy was right; did we really want to visit nothing but homes? We decided that walking the streets of Adams’ beloved Boston also could tell us much about him. So we decided to visit the Freedom Trail, a two-mile walk through historical Boston that stops at all of the major Boston Revolutionary War sites.
Travel note: We landed at Logan Airport on a crisp autumn day. We took the above ground T bus (silver line) to downtown Boston then switched to the underground rail. We later learned that it is quicker and easier to take the shuttle bus to the Airport T station (blue line), then zip into town. All rides on the T cost $2, no matter where you’re going.
Freedom Trail
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| Boston Masacre / Crispus Attucks Monument |
On the Commons is a monument to the five colonists killed in the Boston Massacre. We’ll say more about that later, but it is worth noting that the monument contains an inscription from John Adams that reads “On that night the foundation of American Independence was laid.”
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| Dachshund in Full Gear |
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| Granary Burial Ground |
Boston is full of old graveyards, perfect for a Halloween weekend. The Granary Burial Ground, a major cemetery, houses the graves of three Revolutionary War patriots — John’s cousin, Samuel Adams; John Hancock; and Paul Revere. (John Adams is buried in nearby Quincy, his birthplace and retirement home, with wife Abigail.) Also buried here are the remains of the five colonists killed during the Boston Massacre and Robert Treat Paine, one of the prosecuting attorneys against the British soldiers accused of murder during the massacre. Again, more on this later.
Although well maintained, the old gravestones are discolored and many are sinking into the earth. Many of the gravestones had been moved over time and they don’t necessarily reside over the grave referenced.
The Old State House and the Boston MassacreWe decided to the tour the Old State House for two reasons. First, it is a major historical site. Second, it was warm. (We had layered up, but found the 50-degree temperatures and the wind a cold combination).
This brings us to another travel aside: There are plenty of Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts lining the Freedom Trail, so staying warm with coffee or hot chocolate is not a problem.
For a $6 entrance fee, we had two guided tours — an indoor tour and an outdoor lecture on the Boston Massacre.
It was here in 1761 that James Otis railed against the Writs of Assistance — the British Army’s “illegal” searches of homes and businesses without cause and without warrant. John Adams attended the speech and it inspired him.
A bit of background is in order. Prior to the mid 1700s, the colonies had enjoyed 150 years of relative freedom from extensive British interference. In the mid-1700s the British Empire was in debt from the Seven Years’ War and needed additional revenue from the colonies. They imposed taxes on the colonists, the most notorious being the so-called Stamp Act. The colonists naturally were not eager to see their taxes increased, and resisted — the Massachusetts Bay Colony being one of the most resistant. The British sent over 4,000 troops to quell the 16,000 Bostonians, an astounding ratio of four to one.
Now, during our outdoor lecture about the Boston Massacre, we learned that basically what you were taught about the incident in third grade was propaganda for the colonists. The famous engraving of the incident that Paul Revere made and was distributed to the other colonies — showing British soldiers firing on unarmed, rich colonists — was also propaganda.
Instead, a large, angry mob surrounded a small band of British soldiers at the Customs House, across from the Old State House on March 5,1770. The mob was taunting the troops and throwing snow and ice at them. The soldiers could not fire on the citizens because the citizens had not been read the provisions of the Riot Act. This gives the citizens fair warning to disburse before possibly violent action is taken. (This also apparently led to the phrase, “Read them the riot act.”) The soldiers eventually opened fire on the unarmed citizens and killed five people. The governor, standing on the balcony of the Old State House, was successful in getting the crowd to disperse and had several soldiers arrested.
This is where John Adams comes in. The governor asked Mr. Adams — a well-respected lawyer at the time — to defend the soldiers, after nobody else would take the case. Adams agreed because he wanted to show the British that the Americans could follow due process of law and give the soldiers a proper trial instead of just hanging them in the public square. He also knew that proper representation of the soldiers would be important if the colonies wanted to run their own government.
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| Our guide makes a point. |
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| Spooky! |
(Note: The following also has nothing to do with John Adams. As Halloween Eve fell, we considered going to Salem, home of the notorious witch trials. But it would have been difficult to get there and back in a reasonable time, not to mention it would be packed. Instead we opted for the Ghosts and Graveyards tour. For a rather steep admission cost of $38, we were taken on a bus/trolley to the haunted sites of Boston. Led by Constance, the undead bride, we toured the King’s Chapel Burial Ground, the Boston Commons and the Granary Burial Ground. Various actors, who all sported proper British accents, told us tales of haunted Boston. There was more laughter and joking than actual dread, but we were well entertained.)
Quincy, MA – October 31, 2010
After a long day of walking the Freedom Trail, we still didn’t have a good sense of John Adams; he is just not mentioned that much in Boston. The two major Boston colonial figures are his older cousin, Samuel (who actually was a brewer as well as a patriot), and John Hancock. We decided to break from our vow to avoid homes and hopped on the T (25 minutes on the Red Line from downtown) to make the short trip to John’s birthplace and long-time residence.
National Park Visitor CenterNote: Before visiting the Adams houses, you have to go to the visitor center run by the National Park Service, at most a five-minute walk from the Quincy Center T stop. The visitor center sells tour tickets, books, and souvenirs. It also shows a short film covering some of the basics of his life.
John Adams’ 275th birthday was Oct. 30, so his birthplace and estate were both reportedly swamped with visitors the day before. (So this worked out well for us, as it turns out.) A large wreath sent by President Obama was displayed in the window of the visitor center.
We signed up for the $5 trolley tour that would take us to three buildings: John Adams’ birth home, his early residence, and the Old House at Peacefield. And because everybody else had showed up the day before, we had our own personal tour of all three houses.
John Adams Birth Home and Early Residence
We had a personal tour of both buildings, a stone’s throw from each other. His birth house is a restored building still resting on the original 1680s-era foundation. Adams was born to Deacon John Adams and Susanna Boyleston on the afore mentioned October 30, 1735. He moved into in his first residence upon marrying Abigail Smith (who was also a distant cousin.)
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| John Adams Birth House |
· Board Meeting and Chairman of the Board – the wooden slab or board over which people such as Adams’ father, Deacon Adams, presided was known as the “board” and meetings were thus called, “board meetings.” A single chair was reserved for the Deacon making him the “chairman of the board.”
· Grid Iron – A rectangular cooking iron with parallel bars. This was later used to describe the lines markings on a football field.
· Hot Toddy – Adams and other colonists used a metal stick called a “toddy” that was laid over hot coals and then immersed in a cup of liquids to heat it up.
· Hitting the Sack or Hitting the Hay – Colonists beat their straw-filled mattresses every night to remove insects.
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| Peacefield |
The house where John and Abigail Adams spent most of their life together is a far cry from the simple abode that John Adams’ father built. The large Colonial house has the look of a current McMansion, with an addition, plenty of guest rooms, a formal dining room, studies both for John and Abigail, wall paper, sculptures and shelves of china.
John and Abigail Adams moved into this long-time residence after completing an ambassadorship in England in 1788. Except for stays in Philadelphia and Washington, this was their final home. During our tour we viewed the extensive collection of china. Although Abigail had asked her relatives to warn her if she were “putting on airs,” she still had a weakness for the good life. She had the house expanded by a third and collected gold-plated china.
It was in this house that Abigail died in 1818 promoting Adams to move permanently out of the bedroom into his study. It was also here that John Adams died. Some attributed to divine intervention the fact that both Adams and Thomas Jefferson—two of the five writers of the Declaration of Independence--died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the document.
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| Final Resting Place |
A block from the Visitor’s Center is the First Baptist Church. The tour guides kindly let us skip the tour and go directly down to the crypt where we viewed the tombs of John and Abigail Adams. John Adams’ tomb was covered by an American flag as well as by another birthday wreath from the president.
Major Accomplishments
So what were Adams’ major accomplishments?
· He was one of the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s representatives to the Continental Congresses during 1774 to 1776.
· Adams was one of the Committee of Five (with Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson) who drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
· Adams served as vice president during Washington’s two terms. (Back then, the runner-up in the electoral voting became vice president.)
· In 1796 he was elected president as a Federalist. (The Federalist party believed in a strong central government.)
· As president, he helped build up the Navy, which included the famous USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) which is still in Boston Harbor.
· His legacy is tainted by his support and signature on the Alien and Sedition Acts, a set of four acts that made it illegal to criticize the president and allowed the expulsion of foreign-born U.S. citizens for seditious acts.
· Adams appointed fellow Federalist John Marshall to the Supreme Court.
Adams served only one term. He lost the 1800 election to Thomas Jefferson, his one-time collaborator on the Declaration of Independence as well as his vice president. Adams felt that he had lost the election because he had bucked the popular sentiment to go to war against one-time ally France. By this point, the United States favored Britain in its war with France. Adams sent a peace emissary to France that was successful. However, word of peace did not make it back to the States until after the election, and Adams was swept from power.
Adams’ Federalist party was replaced by Jefferson’s Republican party, the first transfer of power between political parties in the newly formed Republic. (The major distinction being that the Federalists believed in a strong central government and the Republicans believed in strong states’ rights.)
Adams spent many years getting over his loss to Jefferson. Adams also believed that his major role in the Continental Congresses was not recognized. Eventually he reached out to Jefferson in a letter. Thus began a long and eventually warm correspondence between the men. His friendship with Jefferson grew to be so deep that his last words were reportedly: “Thomas Jefferson survives.” He never knew that Jefferson’s death had preceded his own by only hours, on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after they signed the Declaration of Independence.
Writings
To his wife Abigail he wrote of the Declaration of Independent on July 3, 1776:
“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable event in the history of America. I am apt to believe 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 shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.”
(Note the Declaration had been approved by Congress with the text still being debated.)
Abigail Adams wrote back to him on July 13, 1776:
“I cannot but feel sorry that some of the most manly sentiments in the Declaration are expunged from the printed copy. Perhaps wise reasons induced it.” (Note: The writers apparently deleted passages about the evils of slavery in an earlier version.)
John and Abigail’s love was legendary. On May 6, 1777, Abigail wrote:
“Tis ten days, I believe, since I wrote you a line, yet not ten minutes pass without thinking of you. Tis four months wanting three days since we parted. Every day of the time I have mourned the absence of my friend, and felt a vacancy in my heart which nothing, nothing can supply. In vain the spring blooms or the birds sing. Their music has not its former melody, nor the spring its usual pleasures. I look around with a melancholy delight and sigh for my absent partner.”
References
Shuffelton, F. (ed). 2004. The Letters of John and Abigail Adams. Penguin Books. New York, New York.
McCullough, D. 2001. John Adams. Simon & Schuster. New York, New York.
McDougall, W.A. 2004. Freedom Just Around the Corner. Harper Collins. New York, New York.
Current, N., T. H. Williams, F. Freidel. 1975. American History: A Survey. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, New York.
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