John Adams was born October 30, 1735 in Braintree Massachusetts to his father John
Adams and mother Susanna Boylston Adams. His father was a deacon, lieutenant in the militia,
and farmer. John looked up to his father, more than anyone. Recounting later in his life
that if he could go back in time he would become a farmer like his father. John was the eldest to
two younger brothers Peter and Elihu. He was also the second cousin to Samuel Adams who will
later convince him to join the revolution, and third cousin to his future wife Abigail Smith.
Growing up on a farm the young John Adams was opened to the world around him.
Having a natural love for the outdoors he occasionally skipped class, though he was intelligent
he hated school. His father wanting him to go to Harvard one day to become a minister, John
decides to work harder for his father. In 1751 John got accepted to Harvard College at age
sixteen. Not wanting to become a minister he graduated in 1755 with an A.B. John became a
school teacher in Worchester Massachusetts to earn money and allow him to study law. To his
father’s dismay that he was not pursuing a career as a minister John became a Unitarian, the
belief that God is one person, with the absence of the trinity as God is three people in one. From
1756 to 1758 he began his studying with lawyer James Putnam, the most respected lawyer in
Worchester at this time. In 1758 he received his A.M. from Harvard and was accepted to the bar.
On October 25, 1764, John Adams married Abigail Smith, in Weymouth, Massachusetts.
She was his best friend and greatest political advisor. They had six children, two, Susanna and
Elizabeth would die within two years of their birth. Their four other children would live till
maturity, Abigail their eldest daughter was born in 1765, John Quincy was next to be born in
1767, Charles their second son was born in 1770, and Thomas their youngest was born in 1772.
In 1770, Boston Massachusetts, a squad of British soldiers headed by Captain Thomas
Preston was stationed in the Statehouse square when they were confronted by a number of
citizens. The soldiers fired on the crowd killing five and injuring many more. The soldiers were
arrested on criminal charges and would be given a fair trial while Samuel Adams and his Sons of
Liberty group protest that these soldiers be hung for their killing of innocent protesters and the
withdraw of British soldiers from Boston. Captain Preston and his men seek the aid of a lawyer
who will try their case. Every lawyer, not wanting their reputations to be diminished, because
they would be siding with the British soldiers, they enlist the help of John Adams. Who is a stout
supporter for the law,...
