John Adams was born on 19 October 1735 in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts, the son of a farmer

c.1801: John Adams, the 2nd President of the United States of America

From the mid-1760's, Adams increasingly began to oppose British legislation in its American colony, beginning with the Stamp Act. Despite his hostility to the British government, in 1770 he defended the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre. This made him unpopular but marked him out as a man of high principles

In 1778 Adams was sent Paris on a diplomatic mission. He returned there in 1780 and, in 1783, was one of the three Americans to sign the Treaty of Paris, ending the American War of Independence. Between 1785 and 1788, Adams served as the first American Ambassador to Britain

In the presidential campaign of 1796, which was the first to be contested by political parties, Adams sided with the Federalist Party and was elected President

During his presidency, Washington became the American capital