John adams how many kids

John Quincy enjoyed his time in Europe at the age of 14, but his brother Charles, at age 11, was too sensitive for handling the distance from his mother and the cultural differences of his surroundings. John and Abigail Adams' children were not all blessed with the same fortune of health and intelligence as their parents.

It certainly did not help that their parents were often gone, Abigail left them with relatives and joined John in Europe for seven years, nor that they inspired their children to fear all vices and be extremely self-critical.

Adams was famous for the letters he wrote to Abigail and other Founding Fathers, but the letters he wrote to his children were often demeaning and demanding beyond measure. He expected each of them to reach the highest ranks of political power; fortunately the eldest son did, but his other two sons both died of alcoholism. John Adams, and his father before him, graduated from Harvard with a degree in law.

Although he had been told many times by relatives who were raising Charles that the boy was not suited for it, he sent him anyway and soon found that his son was a party boy who was caught streaking through Harvard Yard. Two months later, Adams also publicly denounced the act as invalid in a speech delivered to the Massachusetts governor and his council.

In , Adams agreed to represent the British soldiers on trial for killing five civilians in what became known as the Boston Massacre.

He justified defending the soldiers on the grounds that the facts of a case were more important to him than the passionate inclinations of the people. He believed that every person deserved a defense, and he took the case without hesitation. During the trial, Adams presented evidence that suggested blame also lay with the mob that had gathered, and that the first soldier who fired upon the crowd was simply responding the way anyone would when faced with a similar life-threatening situation.

The jury acquitted six of the eight soldiers, while two were convicted of manslaughter. Reaction to Adams's defense of the soldiers was hostile, and his law practice suffered greatly. However, his actions later enhanced his reputation as a courageous, generous and fair man. That same year, Adams was elected to the Massachusetts Assembly and was one of five to represent the colony at the First Continental Congress in In May , Congress approved Adams's resolution proposing that the colonies each adopt independent governments.

He wrote the preamble to this resolution, which was approved on May 15, setting the stage for the formal passage of the Declaration of Independence. On June 7, , Adams seconded Richard Henry Lee's resolution of independence and backed it passionately until it was adopted by Congress on July 2, Livingston and Roger Sherman, to draft the declaration.

Jefferson would write the first draft, which was approved on July 4. Adams was soon serving on as many as 90 committees in the fledgling government, more than any other Congressman, and in , he became head of the Board of War and Ordnance, which oversaw the Continental army. In , Adams was one of the American diplomats sent to negotiate the Treaty of Paris, which brought an end to the Revolutionary War.

After the war, Adams remained in Europe, and from to he arranged treaties of commerce with several European nations. In , he became the first U. In , Adams returned home after nearly 10 years in Europe. In , he was placed on the ballot for America's first presidential election. As expected, George Washington received the highest number of electoral votes and was elected president. In accordance with the Constitutional provision set for presidential elections at that time, Adams was designated Vice President.

Abigail had long viewed her son as "not [being] at peace with himself. Charles soon fell into a speedy decline. Like his brother-in-law, William Smith, Charles speculated in shady financial schemes, at one point losing thousands of dollars belonging to John Quincy. His problems with alcohol escalated.

By 30 Charles had abandoned his law practice and his family. Sally and their daughters, Susanna and Abbe, moved in first with Nabby and then with Abigail. During their travels together, Adams had written to Abigail of his middle son: "He is a delightful little fellow.

I love him too much. Thomas Boylston The youngest son of Abigail and John Adams, Thomas Boylston upheld the family tradition of going to Harvard and then into law, albeit reluctantly. In he was admitted to the Philadelphia bar, but left for Europe instead to serve as secretary to his older brother John Quincy, who had been appointed minister to the Netherlands by President George Washington. Upon his return, Thomas tried his hand at law in Philadelphia but failed.

By he relented to parental pressure to return to Quincy as Braintree was now called and open a practice there. John and Abigail reasoned that the family name might help, but it didn't.

Thomas was often resentful and melancholy. On May 16, , he married Ann "Nancy" Harrod. That same year, Thomas was elected to the Massachusetts legislature, in which his father also had served, but resigned a year later for unknown reasons.

His departure may have been related to alcoholism; it had taken his brother Charles' life and had begun to affect his. In he had a stint as chief justice of the circuit court of common pleas for Massachusetts' southern circuit.