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John Adams: United States
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John Adams is one of the most popular of contemporary composers, but this should hardly come as a surprise, as his work is vibrant, propulsive, exuberant and muscular. Unlike his Minimalist forebears -- Terry Riley, La Monte Young, Steve Reich -- Adams is loathe to work only within the confines of a system marked by its static nature, relying as it does upon repetition. The composer is a self-described "post-Minimalist," as much of his work utilizes the hypnotic, circular and (of course) repetitive rhythms found in the genre. However, it ... displays ample variety in terms of sweeping dynamic shifts, changes in tonality and a willingness to indulge in decidedly dramatic developments. This is evident in his wonderful 1985 work Harmonielehre, in which the opening chords crash upon the listener with all the impact of an 18-wheeler being driven through a wall, leaving you with the same breathless feeling a Beethoven symphony can produce. The rush provided by the first movement is contrasted with the more subdued, lush and almost neo-Romantic second movement.
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John Adams (October 30, 1735-July 4, 1826), first vice-president and second president of the United States, was a leader of the American Revolution, diplomat, and political theorist who did much to shape, explain and defend the United States Constitution. John and Abigail Adams, in their old age were called "grandparents of their country." Adams was long overshadowed by Washington, Jefferson and Franklin. Scholars now recognize his vital role in the American Revolution and the creation of the new republic.
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In the colonial period and the early time of the republic, New England leaders like John Hancock, John Adams, and Samuel Adams joined those in Philadelphia and Virginia to direct the country. At the time of the American Civil War, New England, the mid-Atlantic, and the Midwest combined against slavery, eventually ending the practice in the United States. Henry David Thoreau, one of New England's most iconic thinkers, made the case for civil disobedience, libertarianism, and even had some anarchist tendencies; this spirit is still alive in the Free State Project and occasional discussions of secession. New England led the rest of the country in abolishing the death penalty for crimes like robbery and burglary in the 19th century. In the 20th century, the region remained a source of political thought and intellectual ferment in the nation, eventually becoming the forefront of the civil rights issue of same sex marriage, with Vermont being the first state to allow civil unions between same sex couples, and Massachusetts being the first state to allow marriage between same sex couples. In 2005, Connecticut ... began to allow civil unions.
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Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, then serving as American ambassadors to France and Britain, respectively, met in 1786 in London with the Tripolitan Ambassador to Britain, Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja. These future American presidents were attempting to negotiate a peace treaty which would spare the United States the ravages of jihad piracy—murder, enslavement (with ransoming for redemption), and expropriation of valuable commercial assets—emanating from the Barbary states (modern Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, known collectively in Arabic as the Maghrib). During their discussions, they questioned Ambassador Adja as to the source of the unprovoked animus directed at the nascent United States republic. Jefferson and Adams, in their subsequent report to the Continental Congress, recorded the Tripolitan Ambassador’s justification:
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John Adams, who became the second president of the United States, has been accused by some historians of being the closest thing America ever had to a dictator or monarch (Onuf, 1993). Such strong accusations should be examined in the context of the era in which Mr. Adams lived and served. A closer examination of the historical events occurring during his vice presidency and his term as president, strongly suggests that Adams was not, in fact, a dictator. Indeed, except for his lack of charisma and political charm, Adams had a very successful political career before joining the new national government. He was... highly sought after as a public servant during the early formation of the new federal power (Ferling, 1992).
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In 1785 John Adams was appointed the first American minister to the court of St. James's. When he was presented to his former sovereign, George III, the King intimated that he was aware of Adams's lack of confidence in the French government. Adams admitted this, stating: "I must avow to your Majesty that I have no attachment but to my own country.� While in London, Adams published a work entitled A Defence of the Constitution of Government of the United States (1787), in which he repudiated the views of Turgot and other European writers as to the viciousness of the framework of state governments. In this work, he made the controversial statement that "the rich, the well-born and the able" should be set apart from other men in a senate.
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