Browsing: The Young Lawyer

On November 6, 1758 John Adams and his friend Samuel Quincy rode into Boston to appear before the court to be sworn in as lawyers. Jeremiah Gridley recommended Adams to the bar of the Suffolk Inferior Court. Adams was ready to practice law in Suffolk County. John enthusiastically returned to Braintree where he opened his own law office. Unfortunately his very first case was a failure. His client was Joseph Field, a farmer who had lost some of his crops when a horse that belonged to his neighbor, Luke Lambert, crossed the property line and trampled his crop as it…

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As a young lawyer with a thriving practice John was ready to settle down. In 1762 he proposed Abigail Smith but because of her young age, she was seventeen, they agreed upon a two year engagement before the weeding. In October 25th, 1764 they finally married, John was twenty eight and Abigail nineteen. During this period JA experimented with politics, getting a taste and increasing his popularity as an aspiring politician by writing articles about constitutional law. James Otis’ influence in young John Adams The year John married Abigail the political situation in America was changing. Britain had fought…

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Teaching – 1755 During the graduation ceremony John impressed the public with his eloquence and public speaking skills. Impressed by John’s commencement speech, Reverent Thaddeus Mccarty, who directed the Central School of Worcester, hired John on the spot. Upon graduation he moved to Worcester, about 50 miles from Cambridge. He found teaching uninspiring and boring, most of the time he felt miserable and missed the intellectual challenge of being a student at Harvard. He spent one year making up his mind as to what his future career would be. He debated between becoming a lawyer and continue the path his…

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