In June 1770, Adams was elected to the General Court, the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature. Among the first duties Adams attended to was to serve on a committee charged with stating the Assembly's objections to doing business in Cambridge instead of its home of Boston. The petition was rejected by the Lieutenant Governor. The General Court then recessed for the spring circuit. Adams' law business increased little, however, the quality of his clients improved. John once again began to take up his diary, a habit which he dropped during the hectic Boston Massacre trial. It was another sign that his law business was not as busy as he hoped.
Portrait of John Adams
The General Court reconvened in July, the first order of business was the request to move to Boston. It was refused. The same events happened again in September. Adams was on the committee to draft both the request and the replies to Lt. Governor Hutchinson's answers. The General Court realized that they had no choice but to accept Hutchinson's decision and get down to business. In the earlier months of 1771, John complained of ill health. The preceding year was a busy and stressful time for John. In 1770 John served in the General Court, served as clerk of the Suffolk County Bar Association, continued his growing law practice and of course participated in the Boston Massacre trial. In February, John went through a night of unexplained pain, "great Anxiety and distress...God grant, I may never see such another Night." At this time John was also worried over Abigail's health.
Out of Boston
In April, with Abigail's blessing, John uprooted the family and moved out of Boston and back to Braintree. With his return to his native land, John soon regained his strength. John wrote in his diary, "I...shall divide my time...between law and husbandry. Farewell politicks."John basically became one of the first suburban commuters in US history, traveling to Boston in the morning and returning to Braintree in the evening. John spent his free time in Braintree with his family in his crowded house and taking time to walk up Penn's Hill in the morning. He also took to time to inspect the Common Lands of the town, the lands presented John with "the rushing torrent, the purling stream, the gurgling rivulet, the dark thicket," the beloved memories of his childhood. John's self esteem was raised by the new respect shown to him by the other residents of town. He was Braintree's local boy who made good in Boston. John showed signs of a renewed constitution.
John's pledge of avowing politics was soon broken. His cousin Sam Adams was running for the office of Registrar of Deeds for Suffolk County. John campaigned for Sam Adams in the town of Braintree. Sam Adams was easily defeated and John took the loss badly. John felt that both he and Sam Adams deserved more gratitude from the voters. John noted about the citizen's reaction to his campaigning in his diary, "nothing but insult, ridicule, and contempt for it." For a man who had chosen a career in politics and was quick to criticized others, Adams possessed a very thin skin. John realized that Sam Adams' loss was just one of the signs that the patriot cause was beginning to wan.
Swayed back to the Governor's side
The Crown's men took advantaged of this lull to strengthen their hold on the colony. John met many of his former allies that were swayed back to the Governor's side along with many of the citizens supporting Hutchinson's promotion to Governor. All these events helped lead Adams into a state of depression. Adams complained of feeling ill and had trouble reading, thinking or writing various writs.At the time, it was fashionable for persons to travel to Stafford, Connecticut to spend several days taking in the mineral waters. It was said that the mineral waters possessed medicinal qualities. John and Abigail decided that John should partake of the mineral waters to restore his health.
John was away from his farm for several weeks and came back from his trip with his health restored, again. However, it was not the waters that restored his health, it was the lively discussion John partook with everyone he met along his way. John even got a chance to visit his old friends in Worcester, while he secured his job as a teacher.In the middle of 1772, Abigail gave birth their third child, Thomas Bolyston. In September, John decided to move his family back to the town of Boston. For a second time, John vowed to avoid, "politics, political clubs, town meetings, General Court, etc., etc., etc." Soon, John broke that pledge for a second time.
Back into the Fray
Grave of John Adams
In March 1773, while still practicing law, John was approached to speak at the observance of the Boston Massacre. Sam Adams and The Sons of Liberty were trying to make the day of the Massacre into a yearly memorial day. John thought it was an unusual request, as he was the one who defended the British soldiers. However, John refused the invitation because of, "the feeble State of My Health." The next day Sam Adams pressed him to speak at the occasion, still John refused, stating that he was "too old to make Declamations." John was just thirty-seven years old!
Earlier in 1772, at the time of his thirty-seventh birthday, Adams declared, "The remainder of my days I shall rather decline in sense, spirit, and activity. My season for acquiring knowledge is past." John was lamenting that he lived halfway through his life, as he calculated it, and little or nothing to show for it. As usual, John could not foresee what the future had in store for him. The event that brought John back into the political life was the decision that the Crown would pay the salary of the Superior Court Justices of the Colony. Before this pronouncement, the provincial legislature paid the salary of the Justices. Surprisingly, it aroused little interest from the public and John himself did not mention it at first.
Publishing an essay
It was only when Major General William Brattle, the moderator the Cambridge Town Meeting published a defense of the Crown's decision did John leap back into politics. John published a seven part essay in which he disagreed with Battle's and the Crown position. John stated that the Justices will be dependent on the moods of the Crown and would lose their independence. In January 1773, Adams published seven essays criticizing the British ministry's decision. The essays were written in a tedious, legalistic manner, as even Adams admitted. His arguments aroused little interest from the public.
It was a second event at the same time that grabbed the attention of the public and began to increase the patriotic feelings in Boston. The Royal Governor, Thomas Hutchinson, declared that Parliament's sovereignty over the colonies was absolute. With the declaration, the Governor unwittingly opened himself to a constitutional debate with the General Court. The House asked for John Adams to assist in their reply to the Governor. Adams' reply was that the Colonial Charters granted the colonists sovereign legislative powers. Poplar opinion sided with Adams. Hutchinson's prestige was wounded in this exchange, even the Ministry in London frowned upon Hutchinson's position.
Elected to the Assembly again
With the Governor's stature weaken, patriot leaders decided that it was the ideal time to release a packet of letters written by Hutchinson and Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver to officials in England. The letters were obtained by Benjamin Franklin and were sent to Sam Adams. The correspondence contained no new revelations about the growing unrest or political statements from Hutchinson. However, the letters seemed to indicate a scheme to subvert the colonists' liberty.
In a superb political move, Sam Adams waited for the ideal time to release the contents of the letters. Sam Adams revealed the 'discovery' to a closed session of the assembly. Soon a series of newspaper essays appeared declaring that the Governor was trying subvert the Constitution. The essays aroused public passions and amidst much demand, the letters were published. Of course, Sam Adams ensured that the letters were heavily edited to suit his cause.
Amidst the public storm over the Hutchinson letters, and with patriotic feelings rising, John was again elected to the Assembly. The Assembly then elected John to be a member of the Governor's Council (the upper body). Adams' election to the Council was vetoed by Governor Hutchinson because of John siding with the opposition, still John was a member of the Assembly. Again John was a public servant, the career he would occupy for the next twenty-eight years.