John Adams: Deacon's son

John Adams
1766 Portrait by Blyth

John Adams, second president of the United States, was born on October 30, 1735 in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts.  His father was a direct descendant of the founding Puritans and honored this ancestry by serving as a Congregationalist deacon.

Puritan influence, although already waning, was still somewhat strong. The Calvinist idea of predestined salvation and damnation was alive and kicking.  Being referred to as an Arminian (one who "upheld the role of free will in heeding the call to salvation") could be tantamount to a societal curse.

Wikipedia explains that this type of ideological restrictiveness did not appeal to the young John Adams.  Although his father had "expected him to become a minister," the president-to-be ultimately chose law, seeking greater freedom of belief and expression.

Uua.org reports that Adams later "always preferred Unitarian worship services."  As part of his famous correspondence with Thomas Jefferson (they died within hours of one another on July 4, 1826), Adams wrote these words: I believe there is no individual totally depraved.  The most abandoned scoundrel that ever existed, never yet Wholly extinguished his Conscience, and while Conscience remains there is some religion.

Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams

http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/johnadams.html