John Adams (1735–1826)
John Adams (1735–1826), first Vice President and second President of the United States, was one of the principal proponents of the independence of the United States and played an integral role in the settling of what would become Lake County, Ohio. As a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence, John Adams was a close associate of Roger Sherman, also a member and from Connecticut. It was Adams that supported the Settlement of the Connecticut Western Reserve as payment for veterans and later, when title disputes arose, signed the Quieting Act to clear title and pave a way for the State of Connecticut to cede its interest to the federal government and to sell its acreage to the Connecticut Land Company for $1.2 million dollars (The money still supports the Public education system in Connecticut). Adams was a prominent spokesperson for the rights of the colonies, the Father of the U.S. Navy, a tireless diplomat, and the political theorist who invented American constitutionalism.
