A. Biographical Summary
B. Massachusetts Constitution
     1. Introduction
     2. John Adams and the Rule of Law
          a. Writs of Assistance
          b. Boston Massacre
     3. Thoughts on Government
     4. Adams's Resolution Authorizes Colonies to Establish Legitimate, Independent Governments
     5. Massachusetts Invents Constitutional Convention
     6. John Adams Drafts Massachusetts Constitution
     7. Massachusetts Constitution
C. Abigail Adams
D. Resources

John Adams and the Massachusetts Constitution

A. JOHN ADAMS: BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY

Birth: October 30, 1735, in Braintree, Massachusetts.
Death: July 4, 1826, in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Education: Harvard College (graduated in 1755).

Family: Married to Abigail Smith Adams in 1764.

Children:

Abigail (Nabby) Amelia Adams Smith (1765-1813)

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) (Sixth President of the United States, 1825-1829)

Susanna Adams (1768-1770)

Charles Adams (1770-1800)

Thomas Boylston Adams (1772-1832)
Legal Career:

Admitted to Massachusetts Bar (1758)
Appointed to defend British captain and soldiers indicted for murder following the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770
Founder and First Secretary, Suffolk County Bar Association (1770)
Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, the predecessor to the Supreme Judicial Court (1775-1778), but obligations in Philadelphia prevented his ever presiding over the Court.

Political Career:

Elected to Massachusetts Assembly (1770)
Selected as delegate to First and Second Continental Congresses (1774-1776)
Proposed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental armies (1775)
Member of Committee assigned to draft the Declaration of Independence (1776)
Signed Declaration of Independence (1776)
Commissioner to France (1777-1779)
Delegate to Massachusetts Constitutional Convention and principal author of the Massachusetts Constitution (1779)
Minister plenipotentiary to negotiate treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain (1780)
Diplomat to Holland and France (1781-1784)
United States Ambassador to Great Britain (1785-1788)
Elected first Vice President of the United States (1789-1797)
Elected second President of the United States (1797-1801). Presidential Acts included nomination of John Marshall to be Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1801)
Delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1820

Political Philosopher and Author:

Adams was a prolific author. In addition to his famous diaries and letters, major works include:

A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law (1765)
Novanglus Letters (1774-1775)
Thoughts on Government (1776)
A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States (1786-1787)
Discourses on Davila (1791)

Other
Charter member and founder of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1780)