John Adams

[Dante]

my notes: August 2, 1776 John Adams Declaration of Independence

On this day, the Declaration of Independence is officially signed | Constitution Center

August 2, 1776 is one of the most important but least celebrated days in American history, when 56 members of the Second Continental Congress started signing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

constitutioncenter.org

conversation:

CONAN: And toward the end of his life, Adams is asked about what he considers the Christian vision of the afterlife, and he says, well, obviously this is unknowable, but if it's ever proved that it does not exist, he had a suggestion.

Mr. ELLIS: The suggestion was, if it can ever be shown conclusively that there is no hereafter, my advice to every man, woman and child on the planet is to take opium.



The context of that quote can be found.

 

[Dante]

quote
They were human beings: mortal, full of failings, frailties, contradictions, flaws, vulnerabilities. Let’s never forget that the very first lines of our immortal Declaration of Independence begin with “When in the course of human events.” Human events. They were quite imperfect, each and every one.

David McCullough on 9/11

www.neh.gov

 

[Lastamender]

Doesn't hurt that John Adams is a distant relation. LOL A Mayflower madam married into my family line (1600s in North America) 3 generations ago. When this came to my attention during genealogical search, it hit up with my colonial research. And Adams had been one of my favorites of that era. Boom! Two interests came together as one. It was a joy.

The American story is my family story.

 

[Dante]

Virtue.

Virtue was big on the lists back in the day. "Virtue" has occupied my mind. What is it they meant? How was it understood at the time?


On some notes regarding virtue, I found this:


I believe a truly good elected representative, does what he/she believes in is the best interests of their constituents, voting their own conscience as opposed to taking a poll and covering ones arse. Recent examples of a really great elected representative can be shown in Maine, where an elected person votes their conscience, and gets re-elected even though the constituents may have wished otherwise.

From the founding generation forward, the USA has had some great elected people -- profiles-in-courage, who voted their consciences on tough/controversial issues. They valued Virtue, among all other things. Virtue, a term not quite understood today -- not in the way it was understood long ago. The example carried on throughout the history of the USA.

Populism would mean to me, just making laws and arguments based on polls and ballot initiatives. What the people, the mob demanded in times of passion and hysteria. Populism as I've described would be a recipe for revolution, as people would not have elected leaders arguing with reason, they would have only information put forth by the hidden interests who have no allegiance and are not up for re-election -- the people who would manipulate the people false arguments, using ballot initiatives and polls.

---

At the time I made some notes, I may have been reading something with a recent quote here in this thread.

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other."
-- John Adams

Adams was not arguing for religion here. Adams was a deeply devout religious man. He had inserted religion into the original Massachusetts Constitution (later amended). He was warning about what he understood to be human nature, and how the vices of men together with power would destroy the nation.

Of course his ideas on morality can apply today, but his ideas on his faith being part of government were flawed and rejected at the time, and now. The people kept religion out of government. But in context his arguments weren't so strange. At the time nations were held together by cultural norms and religious faith. Most nations had religion as a part of the government.

gotta run ... rambling...

 

[Dante]

Direct male line in North America stretching back to 1600s.

Trollboi, that's actually a quote more than a few people came up with after learning my family history in North America. Your ignorance and terrible habit of seeking attention spamming threads is...

go away

 

[BackAgain]

The life of Founding Father John Adams is relatively easy to document because of the correspondence between him and his wife Abigail. The John Adams T.V. series is is a classic.

That one on HBO some years back?

Agreed. Terrific series, informative and well acted.

 

[Lastamender]

Direct male line in North America stretching back to 1600s.

Trollboi, that's actually a quote more than a few people came up with after learning my family history in North America. Your ignorance and terrible habit of seeking attention spamming threads is...

go away

Prove it, big mouth. I'll wait.

 

[Dante]

Dutch-American Stories: Johnny goes Dutch

When John Adams arrived in the Dutch Republic as the American envoy, he was accompanied by his two sons. They were both expected to attend school so as to further their education, but finding the right place turned out to be a bit of a problem.

www.nationaalarchief.nl

Dutch-American Stories: Johnny goes Dutch​

 

[DudleySmith]

How do you feel about this John Adams quote?

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.

John Adams

John Adams would be reviled as an 'evul Christian nationalist' by Democrats today.

John Quincy Adams: Christian Nationalist? - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

In the February of 1824, politically active Calvinists across the northern United States finally got their wish for a godly devout president who made the American republic a more explicitly Christian and righteous nation. The House of Representatives chose John […]

mereorthodoxy.com

John Adams on the Christian Origin of America

The attack against the Christian origin of America began in earnest in the late 1940s in the Supreme Court decision of Everson VS Board of Education (1947). In the late nineteenth century, liberalizing influences driven by Darwinian philosophy jettisoned historic American legal studies in law...

christianheritagefellowship.com

 

[Dante]

You would be a fan of Adams who embraced the power of the federal government and also the Alien and Sedition Acts that made it illegal to speak out against the federal government. Luckily, however, Jefferson kicked his arse in an election and overturned most of it.

What was left was used by FDR, another favorite of yours, to lock up innocent Japanese Americans.

Just imagine not being able to speak out against a President Trump. Your little head would explode.

"Morality and virtue are the foundation of our republic and necessary for a society to be free. Virtue is an inner commitment and voluntary outward obedience to principles of truth and moral law. Private virtue is the character to govern oneself according to moral law at all times. Public virtue is the character to voluntarily sacrifice or subjugate personal wants for the greater good of other individuals or the community. Specific moral virtues include charity, justice, courage, temperance, reverence, prudence, and honesty. These virtues are the moral fiber and moving force to act in accordance with wisdom. Our scholars embrace these virtues and seek to incorporate them in the John Adams Academy community through which these virtues are cultivated and practiced." - JA

 

[Dante]

John Adams would be reviled as an 'evul Christian nationalist' by Democrats today.

John Quincy Adams: Christian Nationalist? - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

In the February of 1824, politically active Calvinists across the northern United States finally got their wish for a godly devout president who made the American republic a more explicitly Christian and righteous nation. The House of Representatives chose John […]

mereorthodoxy.com

John Adams on the Christian Origin of America

The attack against the Christian origin of America began in earnest in the late 1940s in the Supreme Court decision of Everson VS Board of Education (1947). In the late nineteenth century, liberalizing influences driven by Darwinian philosophy jettisoned historic American legal studies in law...

christianheritagefellowship.com

I suspect Adams and others would see the world differently of they were born a few hundred years later. That's the problem with people like you who try and look back.

Even in dreams, when a dreamer is looking back at an old acquaintance, the dreamer does not go back in age. Some things are just beyond your grasp. Try and stay out of public debates.

 

[Dante]

Prove it, big mouth. I'll wait.

Direct male line in North America stretching back to 1600s.

 

[Dante]

That one on HBO some years back?

Agreed. Terrific series, informative and well acted.

I'm with these folks:

Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times had mixed feelings. She said the miniseries has "a Masterpiece Theatre gravity and takes a more somber, detailed and sepia-tinted look at the dawn of American democracy. It gives viewers a vivid sense of the isolation and physical hardships of the period, as well as the mores, but it does not offer significantly different or deeper insights into the personalities of the men — and at least one woman — who worked so hard for liberty ... [It] is certainly worthy and beautifully made, and it has many masterly touches at the edges, especially Laura Linney as Abigail. But Paul Giamatti is the wrong choice for the hero ... And that leaves the mini-series with a gaping hole at its center. What should be an exhilarating, absorbing ride across history alongside one of the least understood and most intriguing leaders of the American Revolution is instead a struggle."[14]

Among those unimpressed with the miniseries were Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times[15] and Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle.[16] Both cited poor casting and the favoring of style over storytelling.

 

[Lastamender]

Direct male line in North America stretching back to 1600s.

You people live everywhere except in reality.

 

[hondo 50]

Did he party with Bennie?