My Admiration for John Adams Grows

Continuing my listening to the audio book on John Adams....

A few interesting facts about John Adams that I never knew... and which only add to my admiration and respect for the man.

• During the Continental Congress, he served as the chairman of the “war” committee and as such had to get Congress to authorize commissions for officers, payroll, building of ships for a navy, etc.
• He was sent to Paris to join Benjamin Franklin in Paris to help get France to provide military support for the Revolution.

Something I didn’t know:

• To go to France, he had to cross the North Atlantic in the dead of winter, which was dangerous enough
• He risked the very real possibility of capture should the ship be captured by the British
• He took his son, John Quincy Adams, with him though he was only age 10 or 11. My reaction was “Wow! What an opportunity for such a youngster. How many boys of that era got to be part of history like that?”

My admiration of his wife Abigail increased as well as I heard how she encouraged John Quincy to accompany his father and talked about what an opportunity this was for him. It was as if they were grooming him for the service of his country even at that young age.