Obituary of John Adams October 30, 1735-July 4, 1826 John Adams, 91 years of age, died on Tuesday, July 4, 1826, from heart failure at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts Bay, British America to the late John Adams Sr and Susanna Boylston. Adams was the first child of three children brother to the late Elihu Adams and Peter Adams. John Adam senior was a descendant of Henry Adam, English emigrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638. His farmer was a farmer, town councilman, and the deacon of the congressional church. His mother, Susanna Boylston Adams, was a descendant of a prominent loyal family of Boylston of Brookline in colonial Massachusetts. At the age of 16, John Adams earned a scholarship to study law at Harvard University. As an enthusiast scholar, John keenly studied the work of prominent scholars such as Plato, Cicero, Thucydides, and Tacitus. Despite his father's desire for John to enter Ministry, John studied law in the office of James Putnam, a prominent city lawyer. John earned his master's degree in 1758 and became admitted to the bar at the age of 23. After completing his studies at Harvard University, John began the habit of writing about events and impressions of statemen like James Otis Jr (1761). John Adams married the late Abigail Smith on October 25, 1764. Together they had six children, namely Abigail (1765), John Quincy (1767), Susanna (1768), Charles (1770), Thomas Boylston (1772), and Elizabeth (1777). Political interest regularly separated Adams from his family. Drawing inspiration from Otis, Adams chanted his cause of the American colonies. In 1965, John Adams identified himself with patriot cause from official opposition of the 1965 Stamp Act. Adams expository “Canon and Feudal,” a response to the act by British Parliament, was published in Boston Gazette. John alluded that, “Stamp Act taxed people without consent and subjected them to be tried by a jury of peers.” Following heated debates after two months, John denounced Stamp Act publicly in a speech delivered to the council and governor of Massachusetts. Aware of the political quagmire, John refused to be drawn to mob actions and public demonstration by Samuel Adams. Adams moved to Boston in April 1768 to enhance his political career. In 1770, Adams presented British soldiers in a lawsuit for killing five civilians (Boston Massacre). Moved by the defense for people right, Adam argued that in a fair trial, every person deserves attorney representation. During the trial, Adams blamed the rowdy mob. The jury found two of the eight soldiers guilty and convicted them for manslaughter, while six were acquitted. His defense prowess enhanced his reputation as a generous, courageous, and fair man. In 1774, Adams was elected to the Massachusetts Assembly and was among the five representatives of the colony in Continental Congress ...

1. Obituary of John Adams
October 30, 1735-July 4, 1826
John Adams, 91 years of age, died on Tuesday, July 4,
1826, from heart failure at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts,
United States.
John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in
Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts Bay, British America to
the late John Adams Sr and Susanna Boylston. Adams was the
first child of three children brother to the late Elihu Adams and
Peter Adams. John Adam senior was a descendant of Henry
Adam, English emigrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in
1638. His farmer was a farmer, town councilman, and the
deacon of the congressional church. His mother, Susanna
Boylston Adams, was a descendant of a prominent loyal family
of Boylston of Brookline in colonial Massachusetts.
At the age of 16, John Adams earned a scholarship to study
law at Harvard University. As an enthusiast scholar, John
keenly studied the work of prominent scholars such as Plato,
Cicero, Thucydides, and Tacitus. Despite his father's desire for
John to enter Ministry, John studied law in the office of James
Putnam, a prominent city lawyer. John earned his master's
degree in 1758 and became admitted to the bar at the age of 23.
After completing his studies at Harvard University, John began
the habit of writing about events and impressions of statemen
like James Otis Jr (1761).
John Adams married the late Abigail Smith on October 25,
1764. Together they had six children, namely Abigail (1765),
John Quincy (1767), Susanna (1768), Charles (1770), Thomas
Boylston (1772), and Elizabeth (1777). Political interest
regularly separated Adams from his family. Drawing inspiration
from Otis, Adams chanted his cause of the American colonies.
In 1965, John Adams identified himself with patriot cause from
official opposition of the 1965 Stamp Act. Adams expository
“Canon and Feudal,” a response to the act by British

2. Parliament, was published in Boston Gazette. John alluded that,
“Stamp Act taxed people without consent and subjected them to
be tried by a jury of peers.” Following heated debates after two
months, John denounced Stamp Act publicly in a speech
delivered to the council and governor of Massachusetts. Aware
of the political quagmire, John refused to be drawn to mob
actions and public demonstration by Samuel Adams.
Adams moved to Boston in April 1768 to enhance his
political career. In 1770, Adams presented British soldiers in a
lawsuit for killing five civilians (Boston Massacre). Moved by
the defense for people right, Adam argued that in a fair trial,
every person deserves attorney representation. During the trial,
Adams blamed the rowdy mob. The jury found two of the eight
soldiers guilty and convicted them for manslaughter, while six
were acquitted. His defense prowess enhanced his reputation as
a generous, courageous, and fair man. In 1774, Adams was
elected to the Massachusetts Assembly and was among the five
representatives of the colony in Continental Congress.
After the election of George Washington as president in
1789, Adam became the designated vice president a position he
didn’t cherish due to limited sway on Washington on legal and
political issues. In 1796, Adam became a Federalist nominee for
president. Adam won the election to become the second
president of the United States by a narrow margin. His greatest
achievement is diplomatic intervention on war ranging between
British and French. When negotiation failed, the nation broke
out in favor of war. However, Adam didn’t declare war, a move
that caused his political career.
After losing his re-election bid in 1800, Adam lived
quietly with his wife Abigail on the family farm in Quincy.
Adams enjoyed his life to the fullest until July 4, 1826, when he
died at his home in Quincy for heart failure. The funeral service
took place on July 7, 1826, at United First Parish Church, where
family buried Adam's remain at Adams's family vault.

3. Chapter 13
In 1860 there are 15 slave states plus the District of Columbia.
Cotton, rice and sugar could only be grown in the south.
In Latin America, slave revolts were frequent, involving
thousands of
slaves.
The most successful slave revolt was in rance’s colony, Saint
Domingue
and it was under the leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture.
There free
blacks who had fought in the American Revolution because of
France’s
alliance with the United State’s brought back the idea of
freedom and
equality.
The rebellion led to the establishment of Haiti in 1804 - the 2nd
independent republic in the Western Hemisphere.
Revolts happened in Jamaica too.
Brazil had the largest number of slaves outside of the U.S. In
Brazil the
government took 50 years to suppress a revolt with a military
force of
20,000 slaves.

4. In contrast slave revolts were rare in the United States. Unlike
in Latin
America, in the Old South whites outnumbered blacks and the
government
was much more powerful.
The most famous slave revolt in the U.S. was led by a literate
slave
preacher named Nat Turner. Turner and a group of 70 killed 57
white men,
women and children. He was executed.
After Nat Turner’s rebellion laws increased restrictions on free
African
Americans.
- They couldn’t enter a new state
- Couldn’t vote
- Could not testify in court against white people
- Had a curfew
- Had to carry their free papers
4 million African Americans lived in the south only 7 percent of
them were
free.
Chapter 12

5. Racial tensions led to the formation of black Methodist and
Baptist
churches in the north and south.
The most important was the African Methodist Episcopal
(AME) church.
- It was organized in Philadelphia in 1816
- Richard Allen a former slave who bought his freedom became
their
first bishop
Fears in the south caused southern white communities especially
in the
deep south to stop independent black churches. Black churches
continued
to grow in the north.
By 1856, the AME church had 20,000 members
On January 1, 1831 the first issue of The Liberator appeared
and
abolitionism was born
William Lloyd Garrison - He insisted slavery end at once. He
published an
anti-slavery journal. He organized in 1832 the New England
Anti Slave
Organization. Abolitionists thought slavery was a moral not
economic
question. They thought the institution was a contradiction of
the principle of
the American Revolution that all human beings had been created

6. with
natural rights. Most of all they denounced slavery as contrary
to Christian
teachings.
Garrison joined with other abolitionists and formed a national
organization -
the American Anti-Slavery Society. In the years before the
Civil War
200,000 people in the north were members of the organization.
In the 1840’s the Methodist and Baptist church each split into
northern and
southern organizations over the issues.
Underground Railroad - hid fugitives and transported them
north. One of
its most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman an escaped
slave who
brought more than 200 slaves to freedom.
An anti-abolitionist mob burned downed the headquarters of the
American
Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia.
Harriet Beecher - Stowe - wrote the most successful piece of
anti-slavery
literature in the nation’s history- Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The Women’s Rights Movement
Elizabeth Cady Stanton- organized the Seneca Falls Convention.
It called
for educational and professional opportunities for women.

7. Chapter 10
By 1840 the South produced more than 60 percent of the
world’s supply of
cotton.
Chapter 11
Trail of Tears - The Cherokees were told they had to leave their
lands no
later than 1838. Most refused to go. President Martin Van
Buren had the
U.S. Army force them to march west. 15,000 traveled the Trail
of Tears.
One quarter died along the way of exposure, disease and
exhaustion. The
land the survivors were given was smaller and inferior
compared to the
land that was taken from them.
- The racist attitudes of the day were reflected in popular
culture
- Minstrel shows were the most popular form of entertainment
- The shows featured white actors performing in black face

8. - Its basic message was that African Americans could not cope
with
freedom and therefore did not belong in the north.
- Enslaved African Americans were portrayed as happy and
content.
In South Carolina blacks outnumbered whites
Denmark Vesey was an educated free black carpenter. Whites
accused
him of planning to burn down the city. He denied the charges.
Authorities
hanged Vesey and 34 other black men.
Chapter 9
Read pg 211 at Start of class
George Washington was the only President in history
unanimously elected
by the Electoral College. John Adams was his Vice President.
1st Political Parties
Federalists
Republicans
2nd President was John Adams
3rd President was Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the first President to be inaugurated in
the new

9. capital, Washington, D.C.
Louisiana was purchased from the French for 15 million dollars
and this
doubled the size of the country. Map on pg 226
Native Americans and White Expansion
- Growing violence among tribe members
- Alcoholism
2nd War with Great Britain
- Small British force captured Washington
- Burned the capitol and the President’s home
- To cover the damage the Executive Mansion was painted with
white
wash and became known as the White House.
- Major Andrew Jackson’s victory in New Orleans made him a
hero.
Chapter 14
Manifest Destiny
(Spanish America)
The heart of Spain’s American empire was Mexico City.
The University of Mexico is the oldest university in north

10. America. It had
been accepting students since 1553, a full 85 years earlier than
Harvard.
Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821.
Texas
In 1821 Moses Austin, an American received a grant from the
Spanish
government to establish a colony. After his death his son,
Stephen F.
Austin took over.
They settled families in Texas with permission from Mexican
authorities.
90 percent of the arrivals came from the south. Many wanted to
grow
cotton and brought slaves.
There was tension between the Mexicans and Americans. In
1829 Mexico
abolished slavery, but looked the other way when Texas slave
owners
broke the law.
The Mexican governor eventually started banning Americans
from moving
to Texas, but the Americans came anyway.
The President of Mexico was Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana. He
had a
Mexican army march into Texas to show his authority. A Texas
army
captured the Mexican army and this started a rebellion.

11. Texas’ independence was declared on March 2, 1836. The
Texas
constitution was similar to the U.S. Constitution.
Sam Houston was the Commander of the Texas forces.
In October 1836, Houston became President of Texas and
wanted to bring
Texas into the American Union.
In 1845 Congress admitted Texas as a slave state.
Chapter 15
The Union Broken
1850-1861
Southern Complaints
With British and northern factories buying cotton in
unprecedented quantities, southern planters prospered in the
1850s. Their operations, like those of northern commercial
farmers, became more highly capitalized to keep up with the
demand. But instead of machinery, white southerners invested
in slaves. During the 1850s the price of prime field hands
reached record levels.
Kansas
Free or slave state
The Dred Scott Decision
The owner of a Missouri slave named Dred Scott had taken him
to live for several years in Illinois, a free state, and in the
Wisconsin Territory, in what is now Minnesota, where slavery

12. had been banned by the Missouri Compromise. Scott had
returned to Missouri with his owner, only to sue eventually for
his freedom on the grounds that his residence in a free state and
a free territory had made him free. His case ultimately went to
the Supreme Court. The Court ruled 7 to 2 that Scott remain a
slave.
The Chief Justice ruled that African Americans could not be and
never had been citizens of the United States. Instead he insisted
at the time the Constitution was adopted they were regarded as
beings of an inferior order.
Congress it declared had no power to ban slavery from any
territory of the United States.
White southerners rejoiced at the outcome. Republicans
denounced the Court. The Republicans platform declared that
Congress should prohibit slavery in all territories.
Before being elected President, when accepting his party’s
nomination for senator from Illinois in 1958, Abraham Lincoln
was quoted a proverb from the Bible:
A house divided against itself, cannot stand.
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half
slave and half free. I do not expect theUnion to be dissolved —
I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease
to be divided.
It will become all one thing or all the other.
Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of
it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that
it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will
push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States, old

13. as well as new — North as well as South.
Lincoln opposed allowing blacks to vote or hold political office.
But he concluded there is no reason in the world why the negro
is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the
Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. … The negro is not my equal in many
respects… certainly not in moral or intellectual endowment.
But in the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody
else, which his own hand earns…
Lincoln lost the senate race in Illinois but Republicans believed
his performance during a series of debates marked his as a
presidential contender for 1860.
Northerners feared that the Slave Power was conspiring to
extend slavery into the free states.
As the price of slaves rose sharply, the proportion of
southerners who owned slaves had dropped almost a third since
1830. There were declining opportunities for ordinary white
southerners.
By the 1850s slavery had been abolished in most of the
Americas and in the United States the South’s political power
was steadily shrinking. Only the expansion of slavery held out
any promise of new slave states needed to preserve the South’s
political power and protect its way of life.
The Road to War
John Brown’s Raid
John Brown an abolitionist gathered 21 followers, including 5
free blacks in hopes of forming a slave insurrection.
On October 16, 1859 the group seized the unguarded federal
armory at Harpers Ferry in Virginia. Colonel Robert E. Lee

14. captured Brown and his followers.
On December 2, 1859 the state of Virginia hanged Brown for
treason.
Quote pg 393 last paragraph
When Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United
States it was the first time the nation elected a president who
was committed to stopping the expansion of slavery.
Southern Fears
Lincoln’s election struck many southerners as a blow. Lincoln
was elected into office on the strength of the free states alone.
Secession seemed the only alternative left to protect southern
equality and liberty.
Confederate States of America
South Carolina was determined to force the other southern
states to act. On December 20, 1860 a popular convention
unanimously passed a resolution seceding from the Union. The
rest of the Deep South followed.
On February 7, 1861 the states stretching from South Carolina
to Texas organized the Confederate States of America and
elected Jefferson Davis as president.

15. Final
Breaking News Assignment
Obituary
You are a writer for the obituary section of the newspaper.
You will write an obituary about the life and death of one of the
prolific figures discussed
in Chapters 9-15:
● Major Andrew Jackson
● Denmark Vesey
● Richard Allen
● Nat Turner
● Sam Houston
● Dred Scott
● John Brown
The obituary must be at least 500 words in length.
Examples of obituaries can be found in practically any
newspaper. The New York
Times, is renowned for the thoroughness and timeliness of its
obituaries.

16. You will be required to include the following information in
your obituary:
● Full Name
● Date of birth and Date of death
● Age at the time of death
● Cause of death
● Education
● Occupation
● Major accomplishments/achievements
● Place of residence
● Place of funeral/burial
● Integrate at least two quotations from the historical figure you
select into your
obituary article