“Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.”

— John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

About John Adams

1735 – 1826

Second President of the United States and a leading figure of the American Revolution.

“There is, in the human breast, a social affection, which extends to our whole species.”

“Education makes a greater difference between man and man, than nature has made between man and brute.”

“A pen is certainly an excellent instrument to fix a man's attention and to inflame his ambition.”

“From a Child I was fond of Reading, and all the little Money that came into my Hands was ever laid out in Books.”

“The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children to speak it.”

“The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents.”

“It is time to take action so it becomes the last time that we see a child deprived of education.”

“I am here to speak for the right of education for every child.”

“My father says that education is neither Eastern or Western.”