John Adams

 "This tax was set on foot for my ruin as well as that of Americans in general." 1765 - John Adams, writing about the Stamp Act.

Born 1735 in Massachusetts 

WHO HE WAS: In addition to being the second president of the United States and its first vice president, he played a big role in the events that led up to the Revolutionary War.  He was a lawyer who lived in Boston.  In 1765, the British Parliament passed the "Stamp Act," which taxed lots of items like newspapers and legal documents. The "Stamp Act" tax was very expensive for lawyers like Adams and he started to argue that the tax was illegal because the colonists hadn't voted for it. 

Other colonists were speaking out about the law as well and it was repealed the following year. The tax on tea was yet another tax that the colonists had not voted for so he believed that this tax was not legal as well. When a group of colonists threw tea into Boston Harbor during the event that is now called the "Boston Tea Party," he called this the "most magnificent movement of all." 

WHAT HE SAID: "This tax was set on foot for my ruin as well as that of Americans in general." -- 1765 -- John Adams, writing about the Stamp Act. 

"There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest, Honour, Power, and Glory, established in the Minds of the People, or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real Liberty." -- April 16, 1776. John Adams writing to Mercy Otis Warren is saying that for the new government to succeed, the people have to work towards the good of others, they can't be selfish.