By the Maui Curmudgeon (2nd  in a 43-part series)

How do the U.S. Presidents stack up? I thought I’d find ou by reading biographies of all 43 presidents, in the order of their administrations. Here are briefly the pros and cons of my discoveries, the interesting bits, and how I’d rank him. For comparison, I give you the 1982 Murrary-Blessing ranking, a survey of hundreds of leading historians who ranked each president by number. This survey is the gold standard of presidential rankings and is most cited when this kind of thing needs bringing up in the media.

JOHN ADAMS: 1797-1801
~ 2nd U.S. President

From an early age he was somewhat dumpy looking, short, with a doughy middle, but there was no one either for or against him in his lifetime that did not respect John Adam’s intelligence and fortitude, and perhaps not until the recent HBO mini-series did modern America understand what a pivotal role he played in the nation’s early history.

Many historians believe that he, along with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were the “big three” of the American Revolution (though interestingly neither Adams nor Jefferson had any hand in designing the Constitution).

Adam’s intelligence was not only of his time, but of all time, in at least one critical factor - he abhorred slavery. It is John Adam’s very existence which makes superfluous the reason that people like James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, among many others, were merely men of their times and so can be excused as slave masters. In this regard, as in others, Adams was the greater man.

THE BAD
In the worst action of his life, Adams signs the Alien & Sedition Act, which violated the Constitution and people’s right to freedom of speech. He did so while threat of war loomed, a war that would surely have destroyed the young nation, so he traded liberty for “security”, an act he would later regret.

THE GOOD
Adams married a beautiful woman - Abigail - who was his equal if not better in intelligence, and this proved to be one of his smartest decisions. She kept him on the right paths, whether it be the law or politics or diplomacy. To read some of her letters to him is to read a woman highly astute in the ways of the world and a woman chaffing mightily at the male-dominated box in which her life passed.

Though it cost him the election of 1800, Adams kept the country from going to war with France, and this delicate and hazardous long-term accomplishment showed his fortitude and stubbornness at its finest. Many historians believe he saved the country with this act alone.

As mentioned, he never owned slaves, railed against such ownership and in several letters said that slavery was the great divider of the nation - that sooner or later we would clash with ourselves over the practice, and it would be an ugly sight.

Murray-Blessing Rating: #9

My ranking: 85%

Recommended reading:

• John Adams by David McCullough
• A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America’s First Presidential Campaign by Edward Larson
• My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams, ed. by Joseph Ellis and Margaret Hogan