Steven Voorhees's Reviews > John Adams

A friend of mine loaned me DVD of the HBO miniseries "John Adams," based on David McCullough's well received biography of Adams. In order to properly watch it, I read up on this founding father/philosopher president. I brushed/cut my Adamsian teeth on The AMERICAN PRESIDENTS entry on John Adams by John Patrick Diggins. His Adams is a principled patriot who, despite turbulent seas that roiled the infant republic right after independence, helped it grow philosophical/governmental sea legs. Adams served as George Washington's vice president; was elected himself president in 1796 and served a single term. But his vice-presidency and presidency were dominated by debates/disagreements with both Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. The former favored a government more in tune with regional sensitivities. The latter espoused one that protected itself against foreign interlopers, namely France. Tensions with Jeffferson led them to become frenemies. In addition to his full and insightful illustration of John Adams, Diggins astutely gives an equally compete snapshot of the world at the turn of the 19th century. It's this photo that shows a young America inspired (not always positively) by the French Revolution. Diggins details how that seminal conflagration affected the American ideal while it was still malleable and impressionable. Specifically, Adams battled the appearance of being a closet monarchist and an advocate of American returning to Britain's yoke. Diggins successfully refutes these insinuations. The HBO John Adams' narrative follows Adams from before independence to his death in 1826. I can't think of a better initial primer on the Duke of Braintree than Diggins' pithy yet powerful portrait.