1. John Adams
By Frances Schendle

2. Background and achievements
• Persuaded the Continental Congress to declare
independence from England
- Nominated George Washington as General of the
Continental Army
- Proposed drafting a “Declaration of Independence”
- Secured unanimous support from all states
• Introduced ideas that shaped the U.S. Constitution
- Drafted the first Constitution (of Massachusetts;
published “Thoughts on Government”
• Served as a diplomat in Europe
- Secured financial support from the Dutch
- America’s first minister to Great Britain
• Elected the 2nd President of the United States
- Kept the US out of war with France 
• Married to Abigail Adams, with whom he had four
children, one of whom (John Quincy Adams) served
as the 6th President of the United States
BOS Total Leadership Biography - John Adams

3. John Adams Four Circles
Family Vs Community/Work
Family and Community/Work
Adams spends significant time
Adams engages Abigail,
away from Abigail as a delegate
drawing on her as a source of
in the Continental Congress
strength and even ideas.
and later, a diplomat in Europe Community
Family
Community and Work
A career as a politician
leverages his legal
Work
expertise to achieve his
vision for a new country
Self
Self vs. Community/Work
Long work days and public Self and Community/Work
speaking requirements Adams attends church
frequently threatened weekly and uses religion as
Adams’ physical health one source for his political
opinions
BOS Total Leadership Biography - John Adams

4. Dear Abigail…Dear John…
“Love sweetens Life, and Life sometimes destroys Love…I hope to be
happyer next Fall than I am at present, and this Hope makes me happyer now
than I should be without it…I am at Braintree but I wish I was at Weymouth.”
- John to Abigail on April 20, 1763
“And by the way in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for
you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more favorable to
them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of
husbands…If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are
determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any
laws in which we have no voice or representation.”
- Abigail to John on March 31, 1776
“Your Sentiments of the Duties We owe to our Country, are such as become the
best of Women, and the best of Men. Among all the Disappointments, and
Perplexities, which have fallen to my share in Life, nothing has
contributed so much to support my Mind, as the choice Blessing of a
Wife, whose Capacity enabled her to comprehend, and whose pure Virtue
obliged her to approve the Views of her Husband… I read, and read again
your charming Letters, and they serve me, in some faint degree as a
substitute for the Company and Conversation of the Writer.”
BOS Total Leadership Biography - John Adams

5. Key lessons
Core Values Family and Work
Stay mindful of my core values Engage my family in my work in order to gain
and use them as a guide through their support for my career goals and to set
challenging situations an example for my children
Community
Family
Integrate Community
and Work
Work Leverage my professional
skills to make an impact in
the community and to draw
Self upon my experiences in the
community to inform my
work in the health care
sector
BOS Total Leadership Biography - John Adams