John Adams Research Paper

John Adams: Revolutionary Delegate The Revolutionary Era
Dr. Paul Grady
Eric G. Shuping
April 23, 2015

John Adams: Revolutionary Delegate John Adams most fundamental political message that he used throughout his career was, “no simple Form of Government can possibly secure Men against the Violences of Power. Only a mixed government that combined the voices of the many with those of the few; that contained checks and balances within its various branches; and that clearly separated powers among those branches could ensure the freedom of the public and the liberty of the individual.” Adams was a fiery stout delegate who became an influential Founding Father to help fight and win support during the American Revolutionary …show more content…
Adams was chosen as one of the five to represent Massachusetts at the First Continental Congress to join twelve of the other thirteen colonies to meet in Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia. During the first few meetings, Adams strongly argued against the petition written to King George III against the Coercive Acts, because it did not declare independence for America, which Adams believed in and the King would ignore them. Towards the end of the First Continental Congress in late October of 1774, Adams returned home to Braintree. During that time Adams began reading some very powerful essays in the Massachusetts Gazette that defended the principles and polices of the British. During this time Adams began writing his Novanglus essays that would rebut the argument of these principles and policies, but also show that the Patriot Cause against the British was very important in the cause to fight for independence. “The Parliament of Great Britain has a right and a duty to take care to provide for the defence of the American colonies; especially as such colonies are unable to defend themselves.” Adams argues if Parliament controls us we are not free people, but we are slaves to England for that matter. Adams argument is to establish …show more content…
During the Second Continental Congress, Adams again argued against the “Olive Branch Petition” that claimed the colonies were not fighting for independence, but negotiate the tax and trade policy. Before the petition was able to reach King George III, Adams had written a letter stating his discontent against the petition and there was no way to avoid war. This led to the King rejecting the petition because of Adams letter. With the American Revolutionary War just beginning, the Congress had just raised enough money to secure the creation of the Massachusetts militia. From the aftermath of Lexington and Concord, it was John Adams who argued the glaring need to put George Washington from Virginia in control of the army as general. Adams argues to his delegates, “I rose in my place and in as short a Speech as the Subject would admit, represented the State of the Colonies, the Uncertainty in the Minds of the People, their great Expectations and Anxiety, the distresses of the Army, the danger of its dissolution, the difficulty of collecting another, and the probability that the British Army would take Advantage of our delays, march out of Boston, and spread desolation as far as they could go. I concluded with a Motion… that Congress would Adopt the Army at Cambridge and appoint a General [and] that though this was not the proper

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