PETER S. CANELLOS | NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

John Adams's legacy is worthy of modern praise

By Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff | March 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Washington premier of the new HBO miniseries "John Adams" would have been catnip for congressmen even without the appearances by producer Tom Hanks, writer David McCullough, and lead actor Paul Giamatti.

For the event, held in an ornate chamber of a House office building, HBO not only reproduced John Trumbull's painting of the "Declaration of Independence," which hangs in the Capitol rotunda, but it also made a copy of its ornate gold frame, to rim the screen on which one of the episodes was shown.

Representative William D. Delahunt, whose district includes the Adamses' hometown of Quincy (then Braintree), was happy to declare himself - with tongue only partly in cheek - as a descendant of Adams's tradition of public service. And the other members of Congress in the audience were there to appreciate what Hanks and McCullough clearly intended to be a celebration of civic virtues.

Hanks spoke of how public schools don't teach the fact that Adams, as a young trial lawyer, chose to represent the British guard commander responsible for the Boston Massacre, in a show of commitment to the rule of law over the mob rule. McCullough spoke of the importance of showing the human frailties of his subjects, but in a way that serves to point out the times when they rise above petty concerns and accomplished great deeds.

The series episode covering the Declaration of Independence vividly justified McCullough's approach, highlighting a moment of political courage that transcends anything the current Congress has achieved or even contemplated. But if current members felt chastened, they might consider some other benchmarks in Adams's political career that might feel more familiar.

To be sure, Adams's role in helping to write the Declaration of Independence, along with his many diplomatic accomplishments before and during his presidency, put him in the first rank of Founding Fathers. Within that group, he was the only one to have a family life worthy of modern praise, with a wife who was his intellectual equal and a brilliant son who served a term in the White House himself.

But he also played a significant role in establishing other traditions of American politics - less storied, but perhaps more enduring as a framework for today's Congress and White House:

He helped invent the two-party system. While his predecessor as president, George Washington, strived to be a national magistrate rising above all political machinations, Adams participated in two hotly contested presidential races. In the first, he prevailed over Thomas Jefferson; in the second, he lost to Jefferson. America was probably destined to have a two-party system, but Adams's ornery personality, which polarized voters, helped hasten its arrival.

He was accused of the most audacious act of political patronage in history. In between his loss to Jefferson and the start of the new administration, along with a Congress dominated by Jefferson's fellow Republicans, Adams and his fellow Federalists tried to install 82 judges, enough to control the national judicial system for decades. Some historians believe he was acting in a far-sighted way to build a durable system of federal courts; others, noting that one of the judges was his 31-year-old nephew who had gone bankrupt in a failed land speculation, saw a different motive.

He practiced a bitter form of partisanship. When Adams was inaugurated as president, Washington, in a powerful symbolic gesture, stayed for the swearing in and then walked behind the new chief. With his magnanimity, Washington established the tradition of peaceful transfers of power. Four years later, a bitter Adams hightailed out of town on the morning of Jefferson's inauguration without attending.

He established the tradition of former presidents fighting for their place in posterity. Convinced that Jefferson would be remembered as a more important figure, because of his primary authorship of the Declaration of Independence and his more successful presidency, Adams spent almost a quarter-century trying to call attention to his own accomplishments. In the process, he sought to knock down many of his contemporaries. Jefferson was also sensitive to his reputation, but was more successful at maintaining an aura of high purpose - just as Adams had feared.

Where Adams went, many Clevelands, Hoovers, Nixons, and Clintons followed, seeking to buttress their images. So if the Founding Father who "united the states of America" - as the blurb of the HBO series promises - seems a little out of reach for today's politicians, they can always seek inspiration from the other Adams - the distressingly human Adams - who might be at home in today's Washington.

Peter S. Canellos is the Globe's Washington bureau chief. National Perspective is his weekly analysis of events in the capital and beyond.

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