John Adams Jr. was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801.

On March 5, 1770, British soldiers fired on a mob of colonists in Boston. This incident, known as the Boston Massacre, enraged American colonists. Yet John Adams, future president of the United States and cousin of Boston Patriot-leader Sam Adams, ended up defending a group of hated British soldiers at their trials.

The reasons for John's acceptance of the case are difficult to assume. While he strongly believed that all men were entitled to a fair trial and that they deserved equal justice, he knew of the dangers to his practice and of the violence that the mob was capable therefore endangering his wife and young children.

The Stamp Act of 1765 was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which for the first time imposed direct taxation of all colonial commercial and legal papers, newspapers, pamphlets etc. John Adams vehemently opposed it in speech and also wrote a series of four articles against it. The act was repealed in 1766. He was also a leading figure in the opposition of the Townshend Acts of 1767, which levied tariffs on imported goods such as paper, glass and tea.

Along with John Jay and Benjamin Franklin, Adams played a key role in negotiating the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the American Revolutionary War. The British recognized U.S. as a free, sovereign, and independent state; and the other terms of the treaty were also exceedingly in favor of America. Though it was Franklin who played the foremost role in the negotiations, Adams’ stubborn temperament was also important for achieving favorable terms.

When Adams became President, the war between the French and British was causing great difficulties for the United States on the high seas and intense partisanship among contending factions within the Nation.

Adams sent three commissioners to France, but in the spring of 1798 word arrived that the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand and the Directory had refused to negotiate with them unless they would first pay a substantial bribe. Adams reported the insult to Congress, and the Senate printed the correspondence, in which the Frenchmen were referred to only as “X, Y, and Z.”

Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he had served as the second vice president of the United States from 1797 to 1801.

The Declaration of Independence (1776) was a formal statement announcing that the United States was no longer a part of the British Empire. The Committee of Five established to create it voted to have Jefferson write the document. The Declaration proved to be an inspiration to numerous national declarations throughout the world. The second sentence of the declaration, in which Jefferson first used the famous phrase “All men are created equal”, has become a well-known statement on human rights and has been called “the most potent and consequential words in American history”.

One of the most significant achievements of Jefferson’s first administration was the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million in 1803. At more than 820,000 square miles, the acquisition (which included lands extending between the Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of Mexico to present-day Canada) effectively doubled the size of the United States.

On December 2, 1806, in his annual message to Congress, President Jefferson called for the criminalization of international slave trade on the first day it was possible. The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves was signed into law by Jefferson on March 2, 1807 by which no new slaves were permitted to be imported into the United States. It took effect on January 1, 1808, the earliest date permitted by the Constitution. The abolition of the slave trade was a major achievement of Jefferson’s presidency.

As president, Thomas Jefferson played an important role in establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. Later when most of the collection of the library was destroyed by the British in 1814 during the War of 1812, Jefferson offered his personal library as a replacement. In January 1815, Congress accepted Jefferson’s offer, appropriating $23,950 to purchase his 6,487 books. On June 13, 1980, the name of the main building of the Library of Congress was changed to Thomas Jefferson Building to honor his contribution.

John James Marshall was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 to 1835.

Marshall used Federalist approaches to build a strong federal government over the opposition of the Jeffersonian Republicans, who wanted stronger state governments. His influential rulings reshaped American government, making the Supreme Court the final arbiter of constitutional interpretation.

A dedicated patriot from the outset, Marshall saw action with the Culpepper Minutemen in 1775. As an officer in the Continental Line, he took part in several important battles and endured the hardships of Valley Forge. His experience, fortified by his association with George Washington and other nationalist leaders, left him with the passionate love of union and chronic distrust of state particularism that later became the twin pillars of his constitutional law.

Marshall took his seat on the Court on March 5, 1801, and from that time until his death was absorbed in judicial duties. He did find time, however, to write a five-volume biography of George Washington (1804-1807) and to serve in the Virginia constitutional convention (1829-1830).

James Madison Jr. was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and philosopher. A Founding Father, he served as the fourth President of the United States.

An advocate for a strong federal government, the Virginia-born Madison composed the first drafts of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and earned the nickname “Father of the Constitution.” ... When Jefferson became the third U.S. president, Madison served as his secretary of state

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. It established U.S. as an association of sovereign states with a weak central government. Also it gave the Congress effectively no power to enforce its requests to the states. Due to this, Madison, as well as several other founding fathers, feared national bankruptcy and disunion. The Philadelphia Convention was held in 1787 to amend the Articles of Confederation. Madison had earlier done extensive scholarly research on various forms of government. He wrote what became known as the Virginia Plan, an outline for a new constitution.