Who was the greater founding father--Adams or Jefferson?

[WI_DEM]

Poll question: Who was the greater founding father--Adams or Jefferson?

Just curious as to the sentiment on DU.

[Neil Lisst]

1. Jefferson, and it's not close. n/t

[acmejack]

3. Agreed

Think sedition act

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. Different Ideas, different goals, but both brought out some great

growth in our democracy.

They agreed on the need for a bill of rights, they agreed on other important issues, and disagreed on even more.
I prefer Adams' view on religion, compared to Jefferson, and I prefer Jefferson's views on other issues compared to Adams.

[genie_weenie]

4. Adams

For Adams his stance as an Aboltionist.

I exculde Adams Presidency because he suffered from political attacks and had little to no support from Jefferson, whom he always thought he could count on.

Although Jefferson was the more naturally brilliant, Adams hard to take the hardwork to genius approach. It's akin to Mozart v. Beethoven.

Both are the product of the enlightment.

[kentuck]

5. Adams was like Bob Dole.....Jefferson was like Bill Clinton.

Take your choice. :)

[bostonbabs]

6. I'm an Adam's fan

Adams was a man of simple tastes and no lust for money or prestige and above all he was HONEST .
Jefferson was a flawed man who had lust for power and prestige. He was somewhat of a "Dandy" had an insatiable desire for "things"...was in debt most of the time.
The most telling "incident" I think, was Jefferson's secretly hiring a man named John Callender(?sp) to write a damning pamphlet about Adams ...all lies ..Callender was eventually jailed....Mr. and Mrs. Adams did not speak to Jefferson for 12 years after this "character assassination".Abigail was disgusted by it as she thought that the families were "friends".
Adams was an honorable man. I do not think that Jefferson was..he wanted to appear to be, badly.

[myrna minx]

7. I believe that they both died on the same day...

July 4th 1826. 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I'm more of a Jeffersonian mind, but I support Adams' abolitionist stance.

[genie_weenie]

13. The famous line (perhaps apocryphal)

is Adams died first and his final words were, "Jefferson yet lives." Jefferson may or may not have actually died first.

[Neil Lisst]

8. Adams was the first Nixon, the first McCarthy, the first Dubya!!

He's the father of making your American opposition criminals, traitors.

Oh, hell no!!

[IrateCitizen]

9. The more I've learned, the more I have come to appreciate Adams...

... and the less I have come to appreciate Jefferson.

Jefferson was not only a slaveowner, but a virulent racist. He was also hopelessly idealistic, wanting to pin the future of the nation on an agricultural yeomanry (even as he had slaves to do all of his work for him).

Adams was one of the most forward-thinking minds of his generation. He warned American leaders immediately after Lexington and Concord that war with the British was unavoidable -- even as most others were still trying to straddle the fence. His reputation for having a "royalist" streak are wildly exaggerated, and usually the result of taking things he said completely out of context.

Where Adams failed, and Jefferson succeeded, was that Adams did not have the temperment for elected political office. He was brilliant to be sure, but a curmudgeon to boot. When he criticized the ideas of others (which was often) he almost always came across in a caustic and unflattering manner -- even if he did not mean to do so. Much like Jimmy Carter, he was too principled to be a successful president, with his downfall being that he pissed off both the Jeffersonians and the Federalists. By the end of his term, even Alexander Hamilton had turned against him.

I have found much of the adoration of Jefferson to be hero-worship based upon his romantic idealism rather than an honest appraisal of what he actually did. That's not to say that he didn't do a considerable amount, because he certainly did. But, ultimately, he was a terribly flawed individual who lived a life of luxury based upon his ownership of slaves, whom he did not even have the courtesy to free in his will.

Then again, he WAS an 18th century Virginian, so all of that is pretty much par for the course.... ;)

ON EDIT: Adams was also one of the most forward-thinking men of his time WRT women's rights, much of which had to do with the fact that he had an absolutely BRILLIANT wife whom he completely adored. Jefferson, OTOH, had a typical Virginian attitude toward women (they referred to them as "breeders") and casually carried on relationships with his slaves. The most famous of which, Sally Hemmings, was actually a half-sister to his wife!

[Jim Warren]

10. If you asked Daniel Shays

While Adams sent the feds after him, Jefferson responded with the "rebellion is a good thing" comment.

[existentialist]

11. If we are Democrats at all

doesn't the answer have to be Jefferson?

OK, Jefferson had flaws, particularly on slavery and policy toward Native Americans.

He remains the principle author of the Declaration of Independence, and a strong opponent of the Alien and Sedition Acts that John Adams supported and attempted to rely on.

[chelsea0011]

12. I do claim much ignorance to early American history, but

wasn't it Sam Adams who fired up the crowd to breaking with England. You have the John Adams and Jefferson working the elite route and Sam Adams sneaking off to dump tea in the Hahba.