John Adams Under Fire

On March 5, 1770, several Boston residents taunted a British soldier. The Bostonians grew to a crowd of several hundred people. Eight musket-wielding British soldiers joined their besieged comrade. The mob surged. The soldiers fired their muskets. Five colonists died.

The incident is known as the Boston Massacre.

John Adams, a young Boston attorney, a colonist himself, took the thankless job of defending the British soldiers. Even his cousin, Samuel Adams, referred to the incident as “bloody butchery.” Pamphlets described the incident as the murder of innocents. 

Though an unpopular position, John Adams felt compelled to defend the British soldiers. His reason: No man in a free country should be denied a fair trial.

Adams vigorously defended the soldiers. The captain was acquitted of ordering the men to shoot. Six British soldiers were acquitted. Two received a manslaughter conviction. 

Still, Adams became known as the “Atlas” of the American Revolution. He presented George Washington to be commander of the American forces. He encouraged Thomas Jefferson to pen the Declaration of Independence. Adams gave the speech calling for American independence.

He served as the first American vice president under Washington. Adams was the second President. He set the precedent of peacefully handing over the reins of power when he lost his presidential re-election bid to political rival Thomas Jefferson.

Still, for all of the things he accomplished in his life, for all of the service he gave his country, John Adams would say as an old man, defending the British soldiers in the Boston Massacre was “one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country.”

Dan Abrams and David Fisher chronicle this service in their wonderful new book, “John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father’s Fight for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial.”

The volume is the third published in a book series about American presidents involved in trials. The first two were “Lincoln’s Last Trial” and “Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense.”

The Lincoln book was riveting. The Roosevelt book teetered toward the tedious. The Adams book is compelling, even knowing the story. Abrams and Fisher mine details about court proceedings from the era as well as incidents enflaming the raucous, rebellious mood in Boston.

We meet John Adams, a young, relatively unknown attorney in Boston – a patriot for the American cause but not a firebrand like his second cousin Sam Adams. 

Abrams knows the court system well. His is a familiar face. He is the chief legal affairs correspondent for ABC News. Fisher is the author of more than 25 books.

They definitely waste no time penning this series of books. The Lincoln book was released late summer 2018; the Roosevelt book late spring of last year. 

“John Adams Under Fire” restores the promise of the series.