John Adams

John Adams (1735–1826) was an American lawyer, diplomat and statesman, the second President of the United States. Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard, he became a leading voice for independence in the Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence. He served as a diplomat in France and the Netherlands, helped negotiate the peace with Britain and was the first American minister to London. After two terms as vice president under Washington, he was president from 1797 to 1801. His long correspondence with his wife Abigail, and later with Thomas Jefferson, is a major record of the age.