John Adams, second President of the United States, was not a man of
the strong emotional temperament which so often characterizes the
great orator. He was fitted by nature for a student and scholar
rather than to lead men by the direct appeal the orator makes to
their emotions, their passions, or their judgment His inclinations
were towards the Church; but after graduating from Harvard College,
which he entered at the age of sixteen, he had a brief experience as
a school-teacher and found it so distasteful to him that he adopted
the law as a relief, without waiting to consult his inclinations
further. "Necessity drove me to this determination," he writes, "but
my inclination was to preach." He began the practice of law in his
native village of Braintree, Massachusetts, and took no prominent
part in public affairs until 1765, when he appeared as counsel for
the town of Boston in proceedings growing out of the Stamp Act
difficulties.

From this time on, his name is constantly associated with the great
events of the Revolution. That be never allowed his prejudices as a
patriot to blind him to his duties as a lawyer, he showed by
appearing as counsel for the British soldiers who killed Crispus
Attucks, Samuel Gray, and others, in the Boston riot of 1770. He was
associated in this case with Josiah Quincy, and the two
distinguished patriots conducted the case with such ability that the
soldiers were acquitted--as no doubt they should have been.

Elected a member of the Continental Congress, Mr. Adams did work in
it which identified him in an enduring way with the formative period
of republican institutions in America. This must be remembered in
passing upon his acts when as President, succeeding Washington, he
is brought into strong contrast with the extreme republicans of the