Greatness of Taft

                    I have a difficult time thinking of William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 - March 8, 1930) as "great" because the Sixteenth Amendment (income tax) was passed during his administration; however, he qualifies as being great because he served both as President of the United States and as the Chief Justice of the United States, the only person to have served in both offices.

                    Taft was appointed to serve on the Ohio Superior Court in 1887, as Solicitor General of the United States in 1890, and as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in 1891.  President William McKinley appointed him as Governor-General of the Philippines in 1900.  President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to be Secretary of War in 1904.  Roosevelt handpicked Taft to succeed him as President and appointed him to this office in order to better "groom" him.  "Taft assumed a prominent role in problem solving, assuming on some occasions the role of acting Secretary of State, while declining repeated offers from Roosevelt to serve on the Supreme Court."

                    Taft easily won his bid for the presidency in 1908 largely by riding the popularity of President Theodore Roosevelt, a fellow Republican.  Domestically, Taft "emphasized trust-busting, civil service reform, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, and improving the performance of the postal service" - in addition to passing the income tax law.  His foreign policy included furthering "the economic development of nations in Latin America and Asia through `Dollar Diplomacy'" and "showed masterful decisiveness and restraint in response to revolution in Mexico." 

                    President Taft was very task-oriented; he was "oblivious to the political ramifications of his decisions [and] often alienated his own key constituencies.  He lost his second bid for the presidency in 1912 in a landslide.  After leaving the White House, Taft worked in academia, arbitration, and searching for world peace.  After World War I (1921), President Warren G. Harding appointed Taft as Chief Justice of the United States; he served in this office until just prior to his death in 1930.

                    I found a lot of conservative quotes by President Taft, which can be found at this site.   

                    "A government is for the benefit of all the people."

                    "A system in which we may have an enforced rest from legislation for two years is not bad."

                    "Anti-Semitism is a noxious weed that should be cut out.  It has no place in America."

                    "As the Republican platform says, the welfare of the farmer is vital to that of the whole country."

                    "Don't write so that you can be understood, write so that you can't be misunderstood."

                    "Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment."

                    "Failure to accord credit to anyone for what he may have done is a great weakness in any man."

                    "I am in favor of helping the prosperity of all countries because, when we are all prosperous, the trade with each becomes more valuable to the other."

                    "I do not know much about politics, but I am trying to do the best I can with this administration until the time shall come for me to turn it over to somebody else."

                    "I love judges, and I love courts.  They are my ideals, that typify on earth what we shall meet hereafter in heaven under a just God."

                    "No tendency is quite so strong in human nature as the desire to lay down rules of conduct for other people."

                    "Politics makes me sick."

                    "Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever."

                    "Socialism proposes no adequate substitute for the motive of enlightened selfishness that today is at the basis of all human labor and effort, enterprise and new activity."

                    "Substantial progress toward better things can rarely be taken without developing new evils requiring new remedies."

                    "We are all imperfect.  We cannot expect perfect government."

                    "We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement."

                   

Greatness of Herbert Hoover

                    Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 - October 20, 1964) is ranked poorly among United States Presidents by historians.  This ranking apparently comes from his "failure to end the downward economic spiral" of the Great Depression.  I however believe that he belongs in the great category - certainly higher on the list than Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, or Lyndon B. Johnson.

                    Hoover was a professional mining engineer and author who served as United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under President Warren Harding and President Calvin Coolidge.  In this position "he promoted partnerships between government and business under the rubric `economic modernization.'  He easily won the Republican nomination in presidential election of 1928 even though he had no previous experience in an elected office.  He won a landslide victory over Democrat Al Smith, probably due to the fact that the nation was "prosperous and optimistic at the time."

                    Due to his engineering training, Hoover believed in the "Efficiency Movement."  This theory "held that the government and the economy were riddled with inefficiency and waste, and could be improved by experts who could identify the problems and solve them.  He also believed in the importance of volunteerism and the role of individuals in playing a role in American society and the economy."

                    President Hoover was the first of only two Presidents who chose to "redistribute their salary."  (President John F. Kennedy donated all his paychecks to charity.)  Hoover had made money in mining and apparently didn't need the salary as President. 

                    The Wall Street Crash of 1929 took place less than eight months after Hoover took office, and Hoover tried to hold off the Great Depression with "volunteer efforts, public works projects such as the Hoover Dam, tariffs such as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, an increase in the top tax bracket from 25% to 63%, and increases in corporate taxes."  The Hoover initiatives didn't do much to bring economic recovery, but they did lay the groundwork for several policies in the New Deal of FDR. 

                    After Hoover left office he became a leading conservative voice in opposing many of the policies, both domestic and foreign, of FDR's New Deal.  President Harry S. Truman brought Hoover back into government service in 1947 in an effort to make the federal government more efficient through the Hoover Commission.

                    Some quotes by President Hoover follow.  Other Hoover quotes can be found at this site.

                    "About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends."

                    "America - a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose."

                    "Children are our most valuable natural resource."

                    "Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt."

                    "Competition is not only the basis of protection to the consumer, but is the incentive to progress."

                    "Economic depression cannot be cured by legislative action or executive pronouncement.  Economic wounds must be healed by the action of the cells of the economic body - the producers and consumers themselves."

                    "Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity."

                    "Honor is not the exclusive property of any political party."

                    "If the law is upheld only by government officials, then all law is at an end."

                    "It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech.  Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own."

                    "It is just as important that business keep out of government as that government keep out of business."

                    "New discoveries in science will continue to create a thousand new frontiers for those who still would adventure."

                    "No greater nor more affectionate honor can be conferred on an American than to have a public school named after him."

                    "No public man can be just a little crooked."

                    "Older men declare war.  But it is the youth that must fight and die."

                    "Once upon a time my political opponents honored me as possessing the fabulous intellectual and economic power by which I created a worldwide depression all by myself."

                    "Peace is not made at the council table or by treaties, but in the hearts of men."

                    "Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury."

                    "The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul."

                    "When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned."

                    "When we are sick, we want an uncommon doctor; when we have a construction job to do, we want an uncommon engineer, and when we are at war, we want an uncommon general.  It is only when we get into politics that we are satisfied with the common man."

                    "With impressive proof on all sides of magnificent progress, no one can rightly deny the fundamental correctness of our economic system."

                   

Greatness of Ulysses S. Grant

                    The man known as Ulysses S. Grant was born as Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1885, in Point Pleasant, Ohio, to Jesse Hannah Simpson and Jesse Root Grant.  Some time during his younger years, he dropped his first name of Hiram.  When Ulysses was 17 he was nominated for a position at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York.  Congressman Thomas L. Hamer mistakenly wrote the nominee's name as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio" with the intention of the "S" representing his mother's maiden name (Simpson); Ulysses adopted the new identification and said that the "S" did not "stand for anything."  His colleagues at West Point nicknamed him "Sam" since the initials "U.S." stood for "Uncle Sam."

                    After Grant graduated from West Point, he served in the Mexican-American War.  The Civil War began in 1861, and Grant was assigned to train Union volunteer regiments in Illinois.  He was a general in 1862 and fought a series of battles.  He was promoted to major general after he forced a large Confederate army to surrender and gained control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee.  He earned a reputation for being an aggressive commander after he "led Union forces to victory after initial setbacks in the Battle of Shiloh.  Grant's forces "defeated five uncoordinated Confederate armies (capturing one of them) and seized Vicksburg in July 1863.  this famous victory gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River, split off the western Confederacy, and opened the way for more Union triumphs."

                    President Abraham Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general after the Union forces won the Battle of Chattanooga in late 1863.  As lieutenant general Grant commanded all the Union Armies.  He "confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of very bloody battles in 1864 known as the Overland Campaign that ended bottling up Lee at Petersburg, outside the Confederate capital of Richmond.  While holding Lee in Petersburg, Grant "coordinated a series of devastating campaigns launched by William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Thomas."  The Union Army  finally broke through the Confederate trenches and captured Richmond in April 1865.  Lee surrendered his forces to Grant at Appomattox, causing the Confederacy to collapse.  In the 1870's, allies of Lee called Grant a "ruthless butcher who won by brute force," but most historians call him a military genius.

                    Grant's dominant role in the second half of the Civil War led to his election as President of the United States (1869-1877).  As President he advanced Reconstruction "by enforcing civil rights laws and fighting the violence brought by the Ku Klux Klan.  Under his leadership Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave constitutional protection to African American voting rights.  He built the Republican Party in the South by using the army, black voters, Northern newcomers known as "Carpetbaggers," and native white supporters called "Scalawags."  Following these efforts, for the first time in the history of our nation, African Americans were represented in the U.S. Congress.

                    In spite of victories in both foreign and domestic affairs, the Grant Administration was smeared by corruption by his personal secretary and his Secretary of State.  Historians gave Grant the "worst rankings" until recently when his reputation improved greatly due to his "enforcement of African American voting and citizenship rights during Reconstruction."

                    Grant's quotes tend to show him as a humble Conservative with compassion (as opposed to Compassionate Conservatives):  

                    "Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace."

                    "Hold fast to the Bible.  To the influence of this book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future."

                    "I appreciate the fact, and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended more for our country than for me personally."

                    "I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution."

                    "I know only two tunes:  one of them is "Yankee Doodle," and the other isn't."

                    Grant was a man who knew where to plant his flag and when to fight as shown by these two quotes.  "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."  "If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, they will fail."

                    "In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins."

                    "The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most.  I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity."

                    "There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword."

Greatness of FDR

                    I am not a fan of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (also known as FDR), but I have to admit that he was a great leader.  FDR served as the 32nd President of the United States (1933-1945) and became the only President to serve more than two terms.  He presided over our nation during the worldwide Great Depression and World War II and was at the center of many great events.

                    The main reason why I dislike FDR is because he instituted the New Deal - "a variety of programs designed to produce relief (government jobs for the unemployed), recovery (economic growth), and reform (through regulation of Wall Street, banks and transportation)."  Even though conservatives were able to abolish many of the relief programs instituted by FDR, he "dominated the American political scene, not only during the twelve years of his presidency, but for decades afterward.  He orchestrated the realignment of voters that created the Fifth Party System.  FDR's New Deal Coalition united labor unions, big city machines, white ethnics, African Americans and rural white Southerners. Roosevelt's diplomatic impact also resonated on the world stage long after his death, with the United Nations … as [one example] of his administration's wide-ranging impact.  Roosevelt is consistently rated by scholars as one of the top three U.S. Presidents."   

                    Roosevelt was a liberal Democrat who "defined his ideological position as `a little left of center' and also called his cabinet `slightly to the left of center.'"  Liberals and progressives tout Roosevelt's greatness because he moved our nation to the left.  Since America is a center-right nation, conservatives are justified in disliking FDR policies.  Even though he was brazen enough to be the first President to serve more than two terms, actions were taken soon after his death to insure that no future President would serve more than two terms in office.

                    FDR is best known for his Day of Infamy speech on December 8, 1941, the day after Japanese airplanes and ships attacked Pearl Harbor.  "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan….  Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us, No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory…."

                    Other quotes show just how far left FDR was.  

                  "A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward."  (He was a progressive who wanted to move away from traditional American values.  He even tried to "stack" the Supreme Court with more justices in order to get his progressive policies past the Court.)

                    "I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm."

                    "If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world of peace."

                    "If I went to work in a factory, the first thing I'd do is join a union."

                    "If you treat people right, they will treat you right … ninety percent of the time."

                    "In our personal ambitions we are individualists.  But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people." 

                    "In politics, nothing happens by accident.  If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."

                    "Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us.  The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country."

                    "Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men."

                    "One thing is sure.  We have to do something.  We have to do the best we know how at the moment….  If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along."  (Is this the idea behind Obamacare?

                    "Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged."  (Leftists operate on feelings!)

                    "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little."

                    "The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written."  (This idea stretched into the idea that the Constitution is a "living and breathing" document that changes according to what people think it means.)

                    "There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still."

                    "There is a mysterious cycle in human events.  To some generations much is given.  Of other generations much is expected.  This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."

Greatness of Andrew Jackson

                    I have not yet decided whether we should consider Andrew Jackson to be a "great" President.  He was very polarizing, he treated the Native Americans very badly, and his enthusiastic followers created the modern Democrat Party.  What could be considered "great" about any of those facts?  The era of the Jacksonian democracy covered the period of time between 1830 and 1850. 

Jackson came from frontier Tennessee, and he was both a politician and an army general.  As a politician he reached the highest office in our nation as the seventh President of the United States.  As a general he defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814) and the British at the Battle of New Orleans (1815).   

In my estimation, the best thing Jackson did as President was to destroy the national bank.  He was strongly against the national bank and caused its collapse by vetoing the renewal of its charter.  I consider his relocation of most of the Indian tribes from the southeast portion of the United States to west of the Mississippi River to be his worst accomplishment.  His "aggressive enforcement of the Indian Removal Act" was opposed by Whigs and moralists because it forced the relocation of thousands of Native Americans to Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma) along the Trail of Tears.

                    Jackson was tough and aggressive and earned the nickname of "Old Hickory."   He fought in duels, some of which ended with the death of his opponents.  He was also a rich slaveholder.

                    Andrew Jackson appealed to the common men of the United States and politically opposed what he considered to be "a closed, undemocratic aristocracy."  He is known for his protection of popular democracy and individual liberty as well as his support for states rights and a small and limited federal government.

                    You can decide for yourself if you consider him to be great.  Some Jackson quotes are as follow.  

                    "All the rights secured to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary."

                    "Americans are not a perfect people, but we are called to a perfect mission."

                    "Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error."

                    "As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending."

                    "Democracy shows not only its power in reforming governments, but in regenerating a race of men and this is the greatest blessing of free governments."

                    "Every good citizen makes his country's honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious but as sacred.  He is willing to risk his life in its defense and is conscious that he gains protection while he gives it."

                    "Fear not, the people may be deluded for a moment, but cannot be corrupted."

                    "Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there."

                    "In England the judges should have independence to protect the people against the crown.  Here the judges should not be independent of the people, but be appointed for not more than seven years.  The people would always re-elect the good judges."

                    "I feel in the depths of my soul that it is the highest, most sacred, and most irreversible part of my obligation to preserve the union of these states, although it may cost me my life."

                    "I weep for the liberty of my country when I see at this early day of its successful experiment that corruption has been imputed to many members of the House of Representatives, and the rights of the people have been bartered for promises of office."

                    "Every diminution of the public burdens arising from taxation gives to individual enterprise increased power and furnishes to all the members of our happy confederacy new motives for patriotic affection and support."

Greatness of George H. W. Bush

                    George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, to Senator Prescott Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush.  He is currently the oldest surviving former President of the United States.  Before serving in the highest office of our nation, he served as Vice President under President Ronald Reagan (1981-89), US Congressman, ambassador, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

                    Bush was 18 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; he postponed going to college to enlist where he became the youngest aviator at the time in the Navy.  He flew for the Navy until the end of World War II and then entered Yale University.  After he graduated in 1948, he and Barbara moved their family to West Texas where he became a millionaire by the age of 40 in the oil business.

                    Soon after Bush founded his own oil company, he entered politics and was elected as a member of the House of Representatives.  He ran an unsuccessful campaign for President of the United States in 1980 but was chosen by Ronald Reagan to run as his vice presidential nominee.  After the Reagan/Bush team were elected, Bush was represented the administration on regulation and fighting drug abuse.

                    Bush ran a successful campaign in 1988 to be Reagan's successor as President in which he defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis.  Foreign policy was at the top of the Bush agenda.  World conditions made military operations in Panama and the Persian Gulf necessary.  The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union came apart two years later.  Americans supported the very short war to drive Saddam out of Kuwait and showed their patriotism.

                    President Bush promised during his campaign that he would not raise taxes, but he signed an increase in taxes after a big struggle with Congress.  Historians say that he lost the 1992 presidential election partly because he went back on his promise and partly because of economic concerns.  I believe that he lost simply because Bill Clinton was so handsome and so charismatic that unthinking women voted for him in masses!

                    Bush 41 is the father of Bush 43 - George Walker Bush - and Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida.  He is the latest President to have served in World War II.  Until 2000 when his son George was elected as President of the United States, Bush was known as "George Bush;" after the 2000 election, the father became known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush 41", "Bush the Elder", and "George Bush, Sr."  President Bush stayed active in both politics and life, parachute jumping at age 80.

                    I thought that President Bush was a good President and deserved to serve a second term. Some of his quotes are very funny to me. 

                  "America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle.  We as a people have such a purpose today.  It is to make kinder the face of the nation and gentler the face of the world."

                    "But let me tell you, this gender thing is history.  You're looking at a guy who sat down with Margaret Thatcher across the table and talked about serious issues."

                    "Gulf Lesson One is the value of airpower."

                    "I can tell you this:  If I'm ever in a position to call the shots, I'm not going to rush to send somebody else's kids into a war."

                    "I do not like broccoli.  And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it.  And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli."

                    "I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them."

                              "I'll be glad to reply to or dodge your questions, depending on what I think will help our election most."

                    "I'm conservative, but I'm not a nut about it."

                    "It's a very good question, very direct, and I'm not going to answer it."

                    "It's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or another."

                    "Please don't ask me to do that which I've just said I'm not going to do, because you're burning up time.  The meter is running through the sand on you, and I am now filibustering."

                    "Read my lips:  no new taxes."

                    "We are a nation of communities… a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.

                    "We are not the sum of our possessions."

                    "We don't want an America that is closed to the world.  What we want is a world that is open to America."

                    "What's wrong with being a boring kind of guy?

                    "You cannot be President of the United States if you don't have faith.  Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial in the Civil War and all that stuff."

                   

                   

Greatness of John Quincy Adams

                    John Quincy Adams was born July 11, 1767, in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay - now Quincy, Massachusetts - John Adams and Abigail Smith Adams.  He graduated from Harvard University and became a lawyer.  He married Louisa Catherine Johnson, and the couple became parents of four children:  Louisa, George, John, and Charles.

                    John Quincy served as an American diplomat, Senator, Congressional representative, and Secretary of State.  While he was a diplomat, he "played an important role in negotiating many international treaties, most notably the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812.  While he was Secretary of State, "he negotiated with the United Kingdom over America's northern border with Canada, negotiated with Spain the annexation of Florida, and authored the Monroe Doctrine.  Historians agree he was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history."  He "shaped America's foreign policy" using his own "commitment to America's republican values.

                    While John Quincy was President of the United States, "he sought to modernize the American economy and promoted education."  As part of his agenda as President, he "paid off much of the national debt" even though Congress was "controlled by his enemies."  He was defeated in his bid for a second term by Andrew Jackson in 1828 and joined his father as being a one-term President.

                    "During Adams' lifetime, technological innovations and new means of communication spread messages of religious revival, social reform, and party politics.  Goods, money and people traveled more rapidly and efficiently than ever before."

                    After John Quincy left the Oval Office, the people of Massachusetts elected him to be a U.S. Representative - the only President to ever do so - and he served in that office for the last 17 years of his life.  He was much more successful in Congress than he was as President, and he became a major opponent of slavery.  "He predicted that if a civil war were to break out, the president could abolish slavery by using his war powers.  Adams also predicted the Union's dissolution over the slavery issue, but said that if the South became independent there would be a series of bloody slave revolts."

                    The quotes of John Quincy Adams show his greatness and his adherence to republican principles.  A few of his quote are as follow.

                    "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

                    "Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."

                    "Duty is ours; results are God's."

                    "Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost."

                    "America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy."

                    "Posterity:  you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom.  I hope you will make good use of it."

                    "Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order."

                    "All men profess honesty as long as they can.  To believe all men honest would be folly.  To believe none so is something worse."

Abigail Adams

                    Abigail Adams was born on November 22, 1744, in the North Parish Congregational Church in Weymouth, Massachusetts, to Reverend William Smith and Elizabeth Quincy Smith.  She was their second born and had one brother and two sisters:  Mary Smith Cranch (1739/1741-1811), William Smith (1746-1787), Elizabeth (Betsy) Smith Shaw Peabody (1750-1815).

The Reverend William Smith (born January 29, 1706, Charlestown, Massachusetts; died September 2783, Weymouth, Massachusetts) was a liberal Congregationalist minister and a leader in society as was his forebears.  He emphasized the importance of reason and morality instead of teaching predestination, original sin, or the full divinity of Christ.  He was a supporter of the American Revolution and was known as the father of Abigail Adams, the father-in-law of John Adams, and the grandfather of John Quincy Adams.

Elizabeth Quincy (born 1721, Braintree, Massachusetts; died 1775, Weymouth, Massachusetts; married in 1740) was the daughter of John Quincy, a member of the colonial Governor's council and colonel of the militia.  Mr. Quincy was also Speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly for 40 years, ending at his death at age 77.  His interest in politics and his public service had a great influence on Abigail.  Through her mother, Abigail was a cousin of Dorothy Quincy, the wife of John Hancock.  She was also a great-granddaughter of the Rev. John Norton, founding pastor of Old Ship Church in Hingham, Massachusetts - the only remaining 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in Massachusetts.

                    Abigail's ancestors were English and Welsh.  Her paternal great-grandfather, Thomas Smith, was born May 10, 1645, and left Dartmouth, England, to immigrate to Charleston, Massachusetts.  One of Abigail's great-great-great grandmothers came from a Welsh family.  Abigail's genealogy has been well-researched and her known roots preceded her birth by six centuries.  She descended from royal lines in France, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Holland, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Switzerland.

Abigail Smith was too sickly to receive formal schooling, but she and her sisters were taught to read, write, and cipher by

their mother.  The large libraries belonging to their father, uncle, and maternal grandfather enabled the girls to study English and French literature.  Abigail took special interest in philosophy, theology, Shakespeare, the classics, ancient history, government and law. 

Even though Abigail had no formal education, she was later known for advocating public education for girls equal to that given to boys.  Abigail was "an intellectually open-minded woman for her day" and had some distinct ideas on women's rights and government.  Her ideas eventually had a major but indirect effect on the founding of the United States.  She was "one of the most erudite women ever to serve as First Lady."

                    Abigail was described as being five feet 1 inch tall with brown hair and brown eyes.  There is no documentation showing that she worked in the parsonage activities with her father.  She was often in poor health and spent her time reading and writing letters.  She did not play cards, sing, or dance.

                    John and Abigail were third cousins and knew each other as children.  John's friend, Richard Cranch, was engaged to Abigail's older sister, Mary, when the two gentlemen visited the Smith home in 1762.  Abigail was 17 years old and perpetually reading, but John was quickly attracted to her.  He was surprised when he found out that Abigail was so well versed in poetry, philosophy, and politics because very few women were in that time period.

                    Abigail was 19 years old and John was almost 29 years old when they married on October 25, 1764, in the home of the bride's parents in Weymouth, Massachusetts.  The Reverend Smith approved of the married and performed the ceremony.  The mother of the bride was "appalled that her daughter would marry a country lawyer whose manners still reeked of the farm, but eventually she gave in."  The bride "wore a square-necked gown of white challis," and the groom wore "a dark blue coat, contrasting light breeches and white stockings, a gold-embroidered satin waistcoat his mother had made for the occasion, and buckle shoes." 

                    According to one source the newlyweds left "in a horse and carriage to a cottage that stood beside the one where John Adams had been born and raised.  This became their first home.  They moved to Boston in a series of rented homes before buying a large farm, `Peacefield,' in 1787, while John was Minister to Great Britain."

                    The other source said that "the couple mounted a single horse and rode off to their new home, the small cottage and farm that John had inherited from his father in Braintree, Massachusetts, before moving to Boston, where his law practice expanded."

                    Six children were born to the couple in the next ten years:  Abigail Amelia Adams Smith ("Nabby" - 1765-1813), John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), Susanna Boylston Adams (1768-1770), Charles Adams (1770-1800), Thomas Boylston Adams (1772-1832), and Elizabeth Adams (stillborn in 1777).

                    John and Abigail shared the management of the household finances and the farming of their property for sustenance while he practiced law in Boston.  While John was away on his long trips, Abigail was responsible for both family and farm.

                    When John Adams went to Philadelphia in 1774 as a delegate to the First Continental Congress, Abigail stayed at home.  It was during this separation that Abigail and John began their lifelong correspondence.  John sought advice from his wife frequently and on many matters; "their letters are filled with intellectual discussions on government and politics" and "serve as eyewitness accounts of the American Revolutionary War home front."  Their correspondence forms both a "rich archive that reflected the evolution of a marriage of the Revolutionary and Federal eras" as well as "a chronology of the public issues debated and confronted by the new nation's leaders."  

                    Abigail became the first Second Lady when John became the Vice President; when he was later elected as President, she became the second First Lady.  She was the wife of the second President and the mother of the sixth President, John Quincy Adams.  She was active in promoting the rights of married women and considered slavery to be "evil."

                    After John was defeated in his quest for a second term as President, the couple retired to Quincy in 1800.  "Lady Adams" died on October 28, 1818, of typhoid fever.  She was 73 years old but would have been 74 two weeks later.  She is buried beside her husband in a crypt located in the United First Parish Church (also known as the Church of the Presidents) in Quincy, Massachusetts.  She was Congregationalist but was buried in the Unitarian faith of her husband.  Her last words were, "Do not grieve, my friend, my dearest friend.  I am ready to go.  And John, it will not be long."  (John passed away on July 4, 1826.)

Greatness of John Adams

                    John Adams was a great man in many different ways and for a long period of time.  He was a lawyer, statesman, diplomat, and politician.  In the early days of the American Revolution he became one of the most prominent of our Founding Fathers and a leading champion of independence. 

Adams was a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress and played a main role in persuading Congress to declare independence.  He assisted Thomas Jefferson in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.  He was a diplomat in Europe and was a major negotiator of the peace treaty with Great Britain.  He was also mainly responsible for obtaining loans for the Colonists from Amsterdam bankers. 

                    John was the main writer of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which ended slavery in Massachusetts; however, he was in Europe when the US Constitution was drafted.  He was a good judge of character: in 1775 he nominated George Washington to be the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces and nominated John Marshall to be Chief Justice of the United States 25 years later.

                    Adams served as Vice President while George Washington served two terms as President; he served one term as President and was defeated in his second election by Thomas Jefferson.   Adams built up the army and navy as a result of the Quasi-War (undeclared war) with France, 1798-1800. 

                    President Adams and his wife Abigail retired to Massachusetts and founded an accomplished family of politicians, diplomats and historians.  He resumed his friendship with Jefferson, and they both passed away on July 4, 1826.  The following Adams quotes show the kind of man he was. 

                   "A desire to be observed, considered, esteemed, praised, beloved, and admired by his fellows is one of the earliest as well as the keenest dispositions discovered in the heart of man."

                    "A government of laws, and not of men."

                    "Abuse of words has been the great instrument of sophistry and chicanery, of party, faction, and division of society."

                    "All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation."

                    "As much as I converse with sages and heroes, they have very little of my love and admiration.  I long for rural and domestic scene, for the warbling of birds and the prattling of my children."

                    "Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases."

                    "Democracy … while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy.  Remember, democracy never lasts long.  It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.  There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide."

                    "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

                    "I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."

                    "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."

                    "Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people."

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