Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/135

JOHN ADAMS 103 home with a feeling that he had been disgraced by his failure to secure a re-election. Yet in estimat ing his character we must not forget that in his resolute insistence upon the French mission of 1799 he did not stop for a moment to weigh the probable effect of his action upon his chances for election. He acted as a true patriot, ready to sacrifice him self for the welfare of his country, never regretted the act, and always maintained that it was the most meritorious of his life. "I desire," he said, "no other inscription over my grave-stone than this: Here lies John Adams, who took upon himself the responsibility of the peace with France in the year 1800." He was entirely right, as all disinterested writers now agree. After so long and brilliant a career, he now passed a quarter of a century in his home at Quincy (as that part of Braintree was now called) in peaceful and happy seclusion, devoting himself to literary work relating to the history of his times. In 1820 the aged statesman was chosen delegate to the convention for revising the constitution of Massachusetts, and labored unsuccessfully to obtain an acknowledgment of the equal rights, political and religious, of others than so-called Christians. His friendship with Jefferson, which had been broken off by their political differences, was re sumed in his old age, and an interesting correspond ence was kept up between the two. As a writer of