성적향상Adams felt the need to vindicate his character against his charges. With his son having broken 강동구from the Federalist Party and joined the Republicans, he felt he could safely do so without threatening 영어his political career.[282] Adams supported the War of 1812. Having worried over the rise of sectionalism, he celebrated the growth of a "national character" that 수학accompanied it.[283] Adams supported James Madison for reelection to the presidency in 1812.[284] Daughter Abigail ("Nabby") was married to Representative William Stephens Smith, 천호동but she returned to her parents' home after the failure of the marriage; she died of breast cancer in 1813.[285] Correspondence with Jefferson In early 1801, 초등Adams sent Thomas Jefferson a brief note after returning to Quincy wishing him a happy and 중등prosperous presidency. Jefferson failed to respond, and they did not speak again for nearly 12 고등years. In 1804, Abigail, unbeknownst to her husband, wrote to Jefferson to express her condolences upon the death of his daughter Polly, 성적향상who had stayed with the Adamses in London in 1787. This initiated a brief correspondence 강동구between the two which quickly descended into political rancor. Jefferson terminated it by not 영어replying to Abigail's fourth letter. Aside from that, by 1812 there had been no communication between Peacefield and Monticello since Adams left office.[286] An 수학 unsmiling elderly man sits in a red chair, slightly pointing left. John Adams, c. 1816, by Samuel Morse (Brooklyn Museum) In early 1812, Adams reconciled with Jefferson. The 천호동previous year had been tragic for Adams; his brother-in-law and friend Richard Cranch had died along with his widow Mary, and Nabby had been diagnosed with 초등breast cancer. These events mellowed Adams and caused him to soften his outlook.[282] Their 중등mutual friend Benjamin Rush, a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence who had been 고등corresponding with both, encouraged them to reach out to each other. On New Year's Day, Adams sent a brief, friendly note to Jefferson to accompany a two-volume 성적향상collection of lectures on rhetoric by John Quincy Adams. Jefferson replied immediately 강동구with a cordial letter, and the two men revived their friendship, which they sustained by mail. 영어The correspondence that they resumed in 1812 lasted the rest of their lives, and has been hailed as among their great legacies of American literature. Their letters 수학 represent an insight into both the period and the minds of the two revolutionary leaders and presidents. The missives lasted fourteen years, and consisted of 158 천호동letters – 109 from Adams and 49 from Jefferson.[287] Early on, Adams repeatedly tried to turn the correspondence to a discussion of their actions in the political 초등arena.[288] Jefferson refused to oblige him, saying that "nothing new can be added by you or 중등me to what has been said by others and will be said in every age."[289] Adams made one고등 more attempt, writing that "You and I ought not to die before we have explained ourselves to each other."[290] Still, Jefferson declined to engage Adams in this sort of 성적향상discussion. Adams accepted this, and the correspondence turned to other matters, 강동구particularly philosophy and their daily habits.[291][e] As the two men became older, the 영어letters grew fewer and farther between. There was also important information that each man kept to himself. Jefferson said nothing about his construction of a new 수학house, domestic turmoil, slave ownership, or poor financial situation, while Adams did not mention the troublesome behavior of his son Thomas, who had failed as 천호동a lawyer and become an alcoholic, resorting afterwards to living primarily as a caretaker at Peacefield.[294] Last years and death Abigail died of typhoid on 초등October 28, 1818, at their Quincy home, Peacefield.[295] The year 1824 was filled with excitement 중등in America, featuring a four-way presidential contest which included John Quincy. The 고등Marquis de Lafayette toured the country and met with Adams, who greatly enjoyed Lafayette's visit to Peacefield.[296] Adams was delighted by the election of John Quincy to the presidency. 성적향상The results became official in February 1825 after a deadlock was decided in 강동구 the House of Representatives. He remarked, "No man who ever held the office of President 영어would congratulate a friend on obtaining it."[297] 3 marble sarcophagi, one in the foreground, 2 in the background are seen. 2 are seen with flags of the 수학 United States at the top. Tombs of John and Abigail Adams (far) and John Quincy and Louisa Adams (near), in family crypt at United First Parish Church Less than천호동 a month before his death, Adams issued a statement about the destiny of the United States, which historian Joy Hakim characterized as a warning for his fellow 초등citizens: "My best wishes, in the joys, and festivities, and the solemn services of that day on중등 which will be completed the fiftieth year from its birth, of the independence of 고등the United States: a memorable epoch in the annals of the human race, destined in future history to form the brightest or the blackest page, according to the use or the abuse of those political institutions성적향상 by which they shall, in time to come, be shaped by the human mind."[298] 강동구 On July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, 영어Adams died at Peacefield at approximately 6:20 PM.[299] His last words included an acknowledgement of his longtime friend and rival: "Thomas 수학Jefferson survives." Adams was unaware that Jefferson had died several hours before.[300][301] At 90, Adams became the longest-lived US president until Ronald 천호동Reagan surpassed him in 2001.[302] John and Abigail Adams's crypt at United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, also contains the bodies of John 초등Quincy and Louisa Adams.[303] At the time of John Adams's death, John Quincy Adams was 중등serving as U.S. president. Political writings Thoughts on Government title page of 고등Adam's pamphlet Thoughts on Government (1776) During the First Continental Congress, Adams was sometimes solicited for his views on government. While recognizing its importance, Adams had privately criticized Thomas Paine's 1776성적향상 pamphlet Common Sense, which attacked all forms of monarchy, even c강동구onstitutional monarchy of the sort advocated by John Locke. It supported a unicameral 영어legislature and a weak executive elected by the legislature. According to Adams, the author had "a better hand at pulling down than building."[304] 수학He believed that the views expressed in the pamphlet were "so democratical, without any restraint or even an attempt at any equilibrium or counter poise, 천호동that it must produce confusion and every evil work."[305] What Paine advocated was a radical democracy with the views of the majority neither checked 초등nor counterbalanced. This was incompatible with the system of checks and balances that 중등conservatives like Adams would implement.[306] Some delegates urged Adams to 고등commit his views to paper. He did so in separate letters to these colleagues. So impressed was Richard Henry Lee that, with Adams's consent, he had the most comprehensive letter printed. Published anonymously in April 1776, it was titled Thoughts 성적향상on Government and styled as "a Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend." Many 강동구 historians agree that none of Adams's other compositions rivaled the enduring영어 influence of this pamphlet.[79] Adams advised that the form of government should be chosen to attain the desired ends – the happiness and virtue 수학of the greatest number of people. He wrote that, "There is no good government but what is republican. That the only valuable part of the British 천호동constitution is so because the very definition of a republic is an empire of laws, and not of men." The treatise defended bicameralism, for "a single assembly 초등is liable to all the vices, follies and frailties of an individual."[307] Adams suggested that there should be a separation of powers between the executive, the judicial and the 고등legislative branches, and further recommended that if a continental government were to be formed then it "should sacredly be confined" to certain enumerated powers. Thoughts on Government was referenced in every state-constitution writing hall. 성적향상Adams used the letter to attack opponents of independence. He claimed that John Dickinson's fear of republicanism was responsible for his refusal to support independence, and wrote that opposition from Southern planters was rooted in fear that their aristocratic slaveholding status would be endangered by it.[79] Massachusetts Constitution After returning from his first mission to France in 1779, Adams was elected to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention with the purpose of establishing a new constitution for Massachusetts. He served on a committee of three, also including Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin, to draft the constitution. The task of writing it fell primarily to John Adams. The resulting Constitution of Massachusetts was approved in 1780. It was the first constitution written by a special committee, then ratified by the people; and was the first to feature a bicameral legislature. Included were a distinct executive – though restrained by an executive council – with a qualified (two-thirds) 성적향상veto, and an independent judicial branch.
