by MARIANNE HOLDZKOM | October 29, 2024
Two hundred and eighty-nine years ago, on Oct. 30, 1735, one of the most important yet least appreciated Founding Fathers was born in a place we now know as Quincy, Massachusetts. The birthday of John Adams provides an opportunity to reflect upon this great patriot’s contributions to the creation of our nation. This moment also highlights the need to establish a national memorial to him and to his family.
On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote his wife, Abigail. He was in the mood to celebrate. The previous day, after months of debate, the Continental Congress had adopted a resolution on independence from Great Britain. “The Second Day of July 1776,” he predicted, “will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.” We continue that tradition, even though we prefer to honor the date written on the Declaration of Independence rather than the one that Adams thought significant.
Yet Adams was a realist who was profoundly aware of the sacrifices that would soon be made by the revolutionary generation: “You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States.” He also understood, better than any of his contemporaries, the awesome responsibility that he had bequeathed to us. “Posterity!” he wrote. “You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.” He wrote these words in April of 1777, during one of the darkest periods of the Revolutionary War, as the British army was beginning its spring offensive against George Washington’s beleaguered Continental forces.