John Adams was born at Braintree, now Quincy, Massachusetts, October 19, 1735. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1755, studied law, and settled in Boston in 1768; he was a delegate to Congress, 1774-1778; serving on the Boards of Naval and of Foreign Affairs, and also on the Board of War; commissioner to France, 1778; to Holland, 1780; minister to Holland, 1782; to England, 1785-1788; vice-president of the United States, 1789-1793; President of the United States, 1797-1801. He retired to Quincy in 1801, and died there, July 4, 1826, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Independence of the United States, and on the same day with Thomas Jefferson.
February 2, 1800.
Patriæ. patres. filio. digno. Thomas Truxtun. ℞. United State frigate Constellation, of 38 guns, &c.
CAPTAIN THOMAS TRUXTUN.
[Action with the Vengeance.]
PATRIÆ. PATRES. FILIO. DIGNO. THOMAS TRUXTUN. (The fathers of the country to their worthy son, Thomas Truxtun.) Bust of Captain Truxtun, in uniform, facing the left.