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John Adams and the pursuit of happiness
USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 2007 by David McCullough
Adams once said, "I am but an ordinary man. The times alone have destined me to fame." Do not believe that for a minute. Certainly they were the most interesting times imaginable, but he was an extraordinary man. His faith in God and the hereafter remained unshaken. He was as devout a Christian as ever served in our highest office. His fundamental creed he had reduced to a single sentence: "He who loves the Workman and his work and does what he can to preserve and improve it, shall be accepted of Him."
His confidence in the future of his country was, in the final years of his life, greater than ever. Human nature had not changed, however, for all the improvements his generation had brought about. Nor would it, he was sure. Nor did he love life any less for its pain and uncertainties. Once, in a letter to his old friend Francis van der Kemp in the Netherlands, he had written: "Griefs upon griefs! Disappointments upon disappointments. What then? This is a gay, merry old world, notwithstanding." It could have been his epitaph.
David McCullough is a historian who twice has received the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. This article is adapted from a public lecture given at Hillsdale (Mich.) College during his one-week residency there to teach the class, "Leadership and the History You Don't Know"; transcript provided by Imprimis.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Society for the Advancement of Education
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