If an individual is remembered throughout history, it is usually for one specific action or deed. Even though the person, of course, lived a whole life separate from that one distinguishing factor. Lincoln is remembered for freeing the slaves, Washington for being the first president, Alexander the Great for conquering the known world, Julius Caesar for taking Rome, and John Adams… the Alien and Sedition Acts. I am convinced, however, that in these divisive times when it feels as though we’re all sitting on a powder keg waiting for it to explode, there is another thing we should remember this remarkable man for, something that could guide us in these troubled days.
On March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts, a large crowd gathered around a British soldier on sentry duty by the Custom House out of frustration with an action that had occurred there earlier in the day. As the crowd grew, more British soldiers were brought to the scene, bringing their total number to eight.
Some time after help had arrived, an object was thrown from the crowd, striking one of the soldiers, who was knocked to the ground. After recovering, he fired into the mass of people, causing the rest of the soldiers to fire upon them as well. Five Americans were killed, including a freed slave named Crispus Attucks.
This event would later become known as the “Boston Massacre.”
The soldiers were almost instantly indicted for murder. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts government was concerned with ensuring a fair trial to avoid any punishment of their colony by the English government. But this would be no easy feat. The soldiers couldn’t hire a loyalist to represent them in court, and a patriot wouldn’t be caught dead doing such a thing. But there was one man.
John Adams was born in 1735. He was the son of John Adams Sr., who was a farmer, cobbler, and minister. John Jr. would attend college to become a lawyer. By the time of his death in 1826, he had accrued a number of accolades, including second President of the United States, first Vice President of the United States under George Washington, United States Diplomat to France and England, and “The Colossus of Independence” according to his friend Thomas Jefferson referring to his work during the Continental Congress. Adams is quoted as having said, “Swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country, was my unalterable determination.”
But this man who gave his whole life for his country would serve as the lawyer for these British soldiers because he believed it was the right thing to do. On the third anniversary of the massacre, this is what he had to say:
The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently. As the Evidence was, the Verdict of the Jury was exactly right. This however is no Reason why the Town should not call the Action of that Night a Massacre, nor is it any Argument in favour of the Governor or Minister, who caused them to be sent here. But it is the strongest Proofs of the Danger of Standing Armies.
John Adams
In his efforts as their lawyer, Adams was able to bring forth the facts of the case, namely, that the crowd was, in fact, an unruly mob that had attacked the men, thereby causing the incident. Thanks to Adam’s work, six of the soldiers were acquitted, while the other two received reduced sentences and brands on their hands.
We should look to Adams in our own times of political strife. While there are many on the left doing reprehensible things and eroding the American system that has taken more than two hundred years to build, we must not fall victim to the same behavior. Let us do what is right because it is right. For if we do what is wrong in the name of what is right, how can we rightly claim to believe in what is right in the first place?