John Adams

1735–1826 · Lawyer, revolutionary, 2nd U.S. President

John Adams was a Massachusetts lawyer, delegate to the Continental Congress and the second President of the United States. He wrote often and bluntly against crowd violence. In a 1774 letter to his wife Abigail he called “Tarrings and Featherings” and house-breaking by “rude and insolent Rabbles” things no good citizen could excuse. The tidy modern line “even if it’s on your side” is not his, but the distrust of mobs behind it is.

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Famous lines widely pinned on John Adams that we’ve traced to someone else.

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