Because power corrupts, society's demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.

In February 1799 he stunned the country by sending diplomat William Vans Murray on a peace mission to France. Judicial appointments


Supreme court

One of Adams' greatest legacies was his naming of John Marshall as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States to succeed Oliver Ellsworth who had retired due to ill health. The first modern biography was Honest John Adams a 1933 biography by the noted French specialist in American history Gilbert Chinard who came to Adams after writing his acclaimed 1929 biography of Thomas Jefferson.

Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts and built up the army and navy especially in the face of an undeclared naval war (called the "Quasi-War") with France 1798–1800. Well educated he was an Enlightenment political theorist who promoted republicanism and wrote prolifically about his often seminal ideas both in publiJohn Adamsd works and in letters to his wife and key adviser Abigail as well as to other Founding Fathers. John Adams (October 30 1735 (O.