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July 4, 2019

2.25 – Adams Post-Presidency

2.25 – Adams Post-Presidency

Year(s) Discussed: 1801-1826

After leaving the presidency, John Adams searched for a path ahead. In the process, he dealt with emotions that had been building for years, rebuilt some bridges that had been burned in political battles, suffered numerous personal heartaches, and bore witness to a quarter century more of the nation’s history.

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Season 2 02 - John Adams

Special thanks to Alex for providing the intro quote for this episode!

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  • Adams, Abigail. “To Thomas Jefferson, 20 May 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-1268. [Last Accessed: 16 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, Abigail. “To Thomas Jefferson, 25 October 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-0540. [Last Accessed: 16 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, Abigail. “To James Madison, 1 August 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-1838. [Last Accessed: 22 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, John. “To Cotton Tufts, 26 December 1800,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-0827. [Last Accessed: 9 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, John. “To Benjamin Stoddert, 31 March 1801,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-4900. [Last Accessed: 8 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, John. “To Thomas Jefferson, 24 March 1801,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-33-02-0365. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 33, 17 February–30 April 1801, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006, p. 426.] [Last Accessed: 9 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, John. “To William Cranch, 23 May 1801,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-0969. [Last Accessed: 23 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, John. “To Benjamin Rush, 6 February 1805,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-5067. [Last Accessed: 20 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, John. “To Mercy Otis Warren, 11 July 1807,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-5193. [Last Accessed: 20 Jun 2019]
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  • Adams, John. “To Benjamin Rush, 13 October 1811,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-5695. [Last Accessed: 22 Jun 2019]
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  • Adams, John. “To Thomas Jefferson, 16 August 1813,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-6132. [Last Accessed: 22 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, John. “To John Quincy Adams, 18 March 1815,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-2809. [Last Accessed: 22 Jun 2019]
  • Adams, John. “To Thomas Jefferson, 20 October 1818,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-7017. [Last Accessed: 22 Jun 2019]
  • Cappon, Lester J, ed. The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. Chapel Hill, NC and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1987 [1959].
  • Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin Press, 2004.
  • Ellis, Joseph J. Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. New York and London: W W Norton & Co, 2001 [1993].
  • Ferling, John. John Adams: A Life. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010 [1992].
  • Holton, Woody. Abigail Adams. New York and London: Free Press, 2009.
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To John Adams, 8 March 1801,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-33-02-0171. Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 33, 17 February–30 April 1801, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006, p. 213.] [Last Accessed: 9 Jun 2019]
  • Jefferson, Thomas. “To Abigail Smith Adams, 13 June 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-03-02-1280. [Last Accessed: 16 Jun 2019]
  • Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2018-2019. http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
  • Madison, James. “To John Quincy Adams, 16 October 1810,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-02-02-0735. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Presidential Series, vol. 2, 1 October 1809–2 November 1810, ed. J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Susan Holbrook Perdue. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992, pp. 582–583.] [Last Accessed: 22 Jun 2019]
  • Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the President First Term, 1801-1805: Jefferson and His Time Volume Four. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1970.
  • McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001.
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  • Smith, Page. John Adams, Volume II 1784-1826. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co, 1962.
  • Warren, Mercy Otis. “To John Adams, 28 July 1807,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-5198. [Last Accessed: 20 Jun 2019]
  • Withey, Lynne. Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams. New York & London: Simon & Schuster, 2002 [1981].

Featured Image: “Portrait of John Adams” by Samuel Morse [c. 1816], courtesy of Wikipedia