John Adams was a Zionist

American Thinker ^ | 04/27/2023 | Bob Ryan

[SeekAndFind]

John Adams was not just one of America’s founders (and for me one of the most important), he had one of the most brilliant legal minds of his day; this was the reason he was appointed to handle the negotiations between America and England that led to England acknowledging America as a separate nation.

There is a great deal known about John Adams’s role in the founding of this nation, but not so much about his being a supporter of Judaism and a Zionist.

What is not as widely known as it should be about Adams is that he was a devout Christian who highly respected Judaism and Jewish history. He was a strong defender against anti-Jewish attacks in and out of America, and one of the first Zionists in modern history.

Adams corresponded with a great number of people in his day, including a well-known Dutch radical turned American, Francis Adrian Van der Kemp. In 1808, Van der Kemp wrote to Adams to enquire about his health and wrote of the genius of Machiavelli.

On December 31, 1808, Adams responded:

‘What a wonderful Genius was Machiavel’? you exclaim. Wonderful indeed. What a wonderful Genius was Hobbs? Priestley? Bonaparte? Voltaire? all very Strange Genius’s however. I have read this last fall half a dozen Volumes of this last wonderful Genius’s Ribaldry against the Bible. How is it possible this old Fellow Should represent the Hebrews in Such a contemptible Light? They are the most glorious Nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their Empire were but a Bauble in comparison of the Jews.

Another of his regular correspondents was with one of the most influential Jews of his day, Mordecai Manuel Noah.

[SeekAndFind]

Mordecai Noah sent Adams a copy of a recently published work about his travels, Travels in England, France, Spain and the Barbary States. By 1818, John Adams had poor vision, but excellent hearing; he would have an aid read to him.

On March 15, 1819, Adams responded:

I have been so pleased with it that I wish you had continued your travels into Syria Judea & Jerusalem… I could find it in my heart to wish that you had been at the head of a hundred thousand Israelites indeed as well disciplin’d as a French army—& marching with them into Judea & making a conquest of that country & restoring your nation to the dominion of it—For I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation.

[Larry Lucido]

I hear he even converted, for the jokes. But it's rumored that he hated dentists.

[Dalberg-Acton]

Zionism
Among the Jews, a theory, plan, or movement for colonizing their own race in Palestine, the land of Zion, or, if that is impracticable, elsewhere, either for religious or nationalizing purposes; — called also Zion movement.
(from the 1913 Websters.)
The term doesn’t appear in the 1828 edition.

[gitmo]

Bookmark for later. It looks inspiring.

[DSH]

Founding Father John Adams may well have been a Zionist, but he was in no measure a "devout Christian." Adams ended his life as a Unitarian who rejected the divinity of Jesus.

At best, Adams was a proponent of the social benefits of "religion," but he apparently placed no value in Christ as his, or anyone else's, Savior.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

He sure hated Catholicism. But so do what, free will. Someone can be brilliant and good and stupid at the same time. Good on John Adams for all he did for our country.

We can live and work together, sinners all.

[Right Brother]

I don’t care much for mouth mechanics either.

[DSH]

He sure hated Catholicism. But so do what, free will. Someone can be brilliant and good and stupid at the same time. Good on John Adams for all he did for our country.

We can live and work together, sinners all.

You'll get no argument from me there. I've no problem with Adams in that regard, nor do I dismiss how important he was to cause of American independence.

But Adams, like Jefferson, Madison, Washington, and most (not all, but most) of the other Founding Fathers was a man of the Enlightenment. These men were assuredly not "devout Christians," as the writer of this article false asserted with respect to Adams. It causes one to question whether the writer of the article knows what a "Christian" is. If he does, and still writes such a thing, then shame on him.

I reject those who distort history to advance some other agenda. And with respect to the claim that the "Founders were really Christians," there are some who have made a cottage industry out of advancing that particular lie.

[cowboyusa]

Yes, but is amazing how the LIRD created a Biblical Nation with men who rejected him.