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Excerpt from John Adams, the Statesman of the American Revolution: Address Before the Webster Historical Society, at Its Annual Meeting in Boston, Jan, 18, 1884 Of the Congress of 1774, Edward Rutledge and John Jay were younger than John Adams; but the greater part of the delegates were of an age which brings disequalifications for parliamentary leadership. John Adams was thirty-nine years old, and in the prime of his great powers. Peculiarities of temper, which in later years impaired his influence, at this time were a help rather than a hindrance. It must also be counted as his good fortune that he came from Massachusetts Bay; for though that colony was regarded with distrust and dislike by the middle and southern colonies, there were facts in her history, as well as something in the character of her people, which gave potency to her voice in the national councils, and weight to John Adams as her leading representative. Under such circumstances John Adams entered Congress, which he attended through the sessions of four years. During this period of revolution, which was also the period of necessary constitutional reconstruction, he rendered services such as no other statesman rendered, and more widely, more profoundly, and-unless present indications prove fallacious-more permanently impressed the political institutions of the country than an other man who has ever lived in it; and by reason of these services he became entitled to rank as the pre-eminent statesman of the Revolution. My object in this paper is to show by what endowments, by what acquisitions, and by what use of his powers, can be justly claimed for John Adams the first place among such statesmen as Samuel Adams, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, and even Benjamin Franklin. There were no congressional reporters in those days. The members were pledged to secrecy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.