John Adams

Bay Stater to Virginian: Suck it, good sir

adamg — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:22:39 +0000

The Bay Stater was John Adams and the Virginian was a guy who wrote a book that seemed to claim Virginia was more important to the Revolution than Massachusetts. J.L. Bell discusses and posts a copy of Adams's remonstrance, which focused on James Otis, at the center of the writs-of-assistance case in the 1760s:

I envy none of the well merited glories of Virginia, or any of her sages or heroes. But, sir, I am jealous, very jealous, of the honour of Massachusetts.

The resistance to the British system, for subjugating the colonies, began in 1760, and in the month of February, 1761, James Otis electrified the town of Boston, the province of Massachusetts bay, and the whole continent, more than Patrick Henry ever did in the whole course of his life. If we must have panegyrics and hyperboles, I must say, that if Mr. Henry was Demosthenes, and Mr. Richard Henry Lee, Cicero, James Otis was Isaiah and Ezekiel United.

Did Thanksgiving do in John Adams?

adamg — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:26:00 +0000

Adams apparently was convinced the reason he couldn't get re-elected was becaue he declared a national day of thanksgiving on behalf of, gasp, Presbyterians. J.L. Bell recounts the whole story.

If Joe Kennedy can run for Senate, why not John Adams?

adamg — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:09:04 +0000

And not from beyond the grave, either, at least, that we know. But just as JOE-4-OIL has a doppelnamer, so does the dead guy from the City of Presidents:

Volunteers are needed to help us with our campaign for the open Senate seat.

The candidate is John Adams, a doctor from the Foxboro area.

We will be meeting on Monday Oct. 12 between 9am-noon at 113 Washington St. Foxboro, MA (Next to Seasonal) ...

The Attleboro Sun-Chronicle reports he's running as an independent. His state physician profile shows he's an internist, has no malpractice payments or disciplinary actions listed and he accepts several types of insurance.

John Adams is mad as hell and can't take it anymore

adamg — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:24:36 +0000

He's had quite enough:

I decided to start blogging from the grave due to the preponderance of mistruths and inaccuracies that have spread across the people by virtue of biographical books and television series. It appears that a host of lecherous pundits and writers have jumped on the John Adams bandwagon. Even in the grave, these hangers-on are annoying and aggravating. So, good people, I have decided to enter the Blogesphere, as i believe it is called, not to correct the inaccuracies of what has been written about me, but to comment on what is happening now. ...

His phone call with Giamatti. However, he seems strangely fascinated by the dealings of high-tech companies. You would think that would be more Franklin's bailiwick.

Via Bijan.

While John was away ...

adamg — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:01:32 +0000

J.L. Bell fills us in on the goings on in the Adams household whilst John was off in Europe.

There, there, neither do we

adamg — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:34:00 +0000

Like sci-fi fans who delight in finding continuity errors in Star Trek episodes, history buffs are enjoying themselves tremendously picking apart HBO's John Adams mini-series, including a sequence involving smallpox, which forced J.L. Bell to admit:

I must confess that I don't know my pus that well.

Sticking up for the good name of John Hancock

adamg — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:01:31 +0000

J.L. Bell reports that while the upcoming HBO mini-series on our own John Adams might be riveting, possibly the most riveting scene of all never happened: A royal customs agent was not tarred and feathered here by a mob acting on the orders of John Hancock (although there was an actual tarring and feathering a year later; Adams represented a defendant in that case, which involved a ship that had been seized from Hancock).

Why we should really be celebrating today

adamg — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 13:32:11 +0000

J.L. Bell quotes from the correspondence of John Adams to prove that the Declaration of Independence was actually signed July 2.