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John Adams

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Submitted By jackiehardy1
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To say that John Adams was an influential founding father is an understatement. John Adams is usually only known for helping with the declaration of independence but he did so much more than just writing the declaration of independence. He was a very prominent lawyer for his time. He was born in Braintree, Massachusetts on October 30, 1735 oldest to john and Susanna Boylston. His father was a farmer and shoemaker who served as a Congregationalist deacon and an official in local government. John was a teacher for several years until he decided to further his education at Harvard law in 1758 then decided to practice law under James Putnam. In 1764 he married Abigail smith a minister’s daughter. They had 6 children together. In the mist of all that was going on in the colonies Adams began challenging Great Britain’s authority. “He came to view the British imposition of high taxes and tariffs as a tool of oppression, and he no longer believed that the government in England had the colonists’ best interests in mind” (network, 2014) Adams was one of few that spoke out against the stamp act and Townshend acts. He didn’t believe that the British were not thinking about the people he was just caring about the profit. Both of these acts against the colonies taxed all legal documents, newspapers and playing cards, glass and tea. All these were imported to America, these acts angered the colonists.

Even though he was a prominent leader in revolutionary time he still believed that everyone deserved a fair and equal trial. This was the reason he was the lawyer to represent the British soldiers in the trial in March of 1770. The soldiers were accused of firing shots into an unruly crowd of civilians in Boston which ended up killing five people. Adams was also one of few people that attended the first continental congress in Philadelphia as a Massachusetts delegate. One year

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