JOHN ADAMS by Jan Adkins

Author:Jan Adkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ALADDIN PAPERBACKS
Published: 2002-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

In 1757, there was a war going on at the frontiers of the colonies. The British ruled the colonies of the seacoast—from Massachusetts (which then included Maine) in the north to Georgia in the south. The French held the great Mississippi River Valley and large parts of what would become Canada. Britain and France had been in and out of war with one another for more than a hundred years, but in this dispute over colonial expansion and borders the French enlisted the aid of the fierce, merciless Iroquois tribes: It was called the French and Indian War.

Four thousand British soldiers under Lord Jeffrey Amherst passed through Worcester on their way to Lake George. John Adams found them a delightful distraction. He wrote about them in his diary: “The officers were very social. They spent their evenings and took their suppers with some of the Worcester families. They entertained us with their music and their dances. Many of them were Scotsmen in their plaids. Their music was delightful, and even the bagpipe was not disagreeable.”

John believed in order and tradition. He was proud to see the disciplined ranks of British soldiers defending them against the savage Iroquois. “I rejoiced that I was an Englishman, and gloried in the name of Britain,”

Between 1756 and 1758, John Adams learned some law from books. Putnam was a lazy fellow in his own work, though, and didn’t teach John a great deal about practical law. John was well liked in Worcester, so when his two-year apprenticeship was over, some wanted him to stay in town as a lawyer and as the Register of Deeds. But John couldn’t find two essential things in Worcester: He needed to compete with the very best, and the best lawyers in the colony were in Boston; he also needed “the sea breeze and the pure zephyrs from the rocky mountains of my native town.” He returned to live with his parents in the marshes of Braintree.

A new lawyer must be admitted to the association of local lawyers—their “bar.” James Putnam, out of jealousy or simple laziness, didn’t write letters of recommendation to the Boston Bar for Adams. Unfazed and characteristically cocky, John set out for Boston to approach its four most famous lawyers.

Old Jeremiah Gridley patriarch of the Bar, was impressed by Adams. He offered to lend him his precious law books, suggested a course of study, and treated him like a grandfather. “I have a few pieces of advice to give you, Mr. Adams. One is to pursue the study of the law, not the gain you may make from it. Pursue the gain enough to keep out of the briar bushes, but give your main attention to the study of it. The next is not to marry early, for an early marriage will obstruct your improvement and cause you expense.”

Oxenbridge Thacher had studied with Gridley. Both Gridley and Thacher, like Adams, had entered Harvard to prepare for the ministry, but turned to the law. He was a plain, welcoming man who was kind to John.

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