New Hampshire Statesman And Concord Register

JOHN ADAMS.

I observed on the front page of the Courier of yesterday, a just tribute to the late President John Adams, for his judicious selection of Chief Justice Marshall to the important office he now holds—the duties of which he has so long discharged, to the advantage and honor of our country. But this was but one of his judicious selections.
In 1775, John Adams rose on the floor of Congress, and nominated Geo. Washington to be appointed "Commander in Chief of all the forces raised, or to be raised in defence of American liberty"—& what made this nomination the more meritorious, was, that it was entirely unexpected by Washington and his friends.
The same John Adams, in 1776, took the diffident, but high talented and patriotic Jefferson by the hand and led him to the temple of fame. By his activity and influence with the members of Congress, he procured the appointment of Mr. Jefferson as a member of the Committee chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence, and giving him his own vote, in addition to those he procured for him, caused him to be chairman of that Committee. The opportunity thus procured for Mr Jefferson, opened the road to his future fame—his draft of the Declaration of Independence is known to all—but his diffidence as a speaker, prevented him from supporting it on the floor of Congress: It was, however, sustained by his friend John Adams, in one of the most powerful speeches ever made to a deliberate body. Congress had been nearly paralyzed by the ingenious objections of the eloquent Dickerson—but the powerful eloquence of John Adams, from its almost dying embers, rekindled a blaze of liberty, which illumined our country, and is spreading its influence throughout the world.—Charleston Courier.