John Adams 
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6/6/2021
America's First Peaceful (Just Barely!) Transfer of Power
by Akhil Reed Amar
While the selection of Thomas Jefferson as the third president in 1801 (after an electoral college deadlock) is touted as a crucial peaceful transfer of presidential power from one party to another, the transition was far more fraught with peril than most realize.
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SOURCE: Smithsonian
12/7/2020
How John Adams Managed a Peaceful Transition of Presidential Power
by Sara Georgini
John Adams handed over power to Thomas Jefferson in 1801, but his actions demonstrated that power truly remained in the hands of the people.
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SOURCE: Perspectives on History
9/29/2020
On the Peaceful Transfer of Power: Lessons from 1800
by Sara Georgini
Adams lost the presidency amid violent factionalism, a seething press, rampant electioneering, and the eruption of party politics, yet became a champion for the peaceful transfer of power.
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8/23/2020
John Adams Knew When to Go Home
by R.B. Bernstein
One thing that John Adams never did was to voice a word of regret about leaving the presidency at his term’s end. None of his successors has ever violated or dishonored the precedent he established. And, if we are fortunate, none ever will.
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SOURCE: The Washington Post
9-8-18
The thin-skinned president who made it illegal to criticize his office
Though Adams was a Founding Father of the United States’ democracy, he couldn’t abide personal scorn.
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5/6/18
The Founders Worried too, About Foreign Meddling in Our Elections
by Jeanne Abrams
John Adams went so far as to advocate the holding of fewer elections on the grounds that would give foreigners less opportunity to interfere.
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3/4/18
Worried About Political Partisanship?
by Gordon S. Wood
Adams and Jefferson showed that even the harshest partisans can enjoy a warm friendship. (It helped that they had a common enemy.)
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7-2-17
We celebrate Independence Day on the wrong date for the right reasons
by Joseph J. Ellis
John Adams’s choice, July 2, makes more sense. That was the day independence was officially decided. But we are right to celebrate the fourth since that's the date Americans always have.
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SOURCE: Huffington Post
3-3-17
The Press Was the Enemy of the People in John Adams’s Era
by Jeff Biggers
Federalists even passed a law allowing the authorities to jail journalists.
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3-3-17
Why It’s Important to Remember the Way We’ve Remembered the Boston Massacre
by Eric Hinderaker
The people who turned Crispus Attucks into a hero of the Revolution.
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11-20-16
5 Steps Obama Can Take to Thwart Trump and Advance the Liberal Agenda
by Donald Johnson
Obama may be on his way out, but like John Adams, there’s a lot a president can do in his final days in office.
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11-16-14
Why Naming John Marshall Chief Justice Was John Adams’s “Greatest Gift” to the Nation
by Harlow Giles Unger
“I had never before heard myself named for the office and had not even thought of it. I was pleased as well as surprised and bowed in silence. Next day I was nominated.”
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