quality:corruption, structural:expansion, structural:reformatting
Historical reputation

Benjamin Franklin summarized what many thought of Adams, saying "He means well for his country, is always an honest man, often a wise one, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely out of his senses." Adams strongly felt that he would be forgotten and underappreciated by history. These feelings often manifested themselves through envy and verbal attacks on other Founders. Edmund Morgan argues, "Adams was ridiculously vain, absurdly jealous, embarrassingly hungry for compliments. But no man ever served his country more selflessly."

Historian George C. Herring argued that Adams was the most independent minded of the Founders. Though he formally aligned with the Federalists, he was somewhat a party unto himself, at times disagreeing with the Federalists as much as he did the Republicans. He was often described as prickly, but his tenacity was fed by decisions made in the face of universal opposition. Adams was often combative, as he admitted: " I refused to suffer in silence. I sighed, sobbed, and groaned, and sometimes screeched and screamed. And I must confess to my shame and sorrow that I sometimes swore." Stubbornness was seen as one of his defining traits, a fact for which Adams made no apology. "Thanks to God that he gave me stubbornness when I know I am right," he wrote. His resolve to advance peace with France while maintaining a posture of defense reduced his popularity and contributed to his defeat for reelection. Most historians applaud him for avoiding an all-out war with France during his presidency. His signing of the Alien and Sedition Acts is almost always condemned.

According to Ferling, Adams's political philosophy fell "out of step" with national trends. The country tended further away from Adams's emphasis on order and the rule of law and towards the Jeffersonian vision of liberty and weak central government. In the years following his retirement, as first Jeffersonianism and then Jacksonian democracy grew to dominate American politics, Adams was largely forgotten. In the 1840 presidential election, Whig candidate William Henry Harrison was attacked by Democrats on the false allegation that he had been a supporter of John Adams. Adams was eventually subject to criticism from states' rights advocates. Edward A. Pollard, a strong supporter of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, singled out Adams, writing:

The first President from the North, John Adams, asserted and essayed to put into practice the supremacy of the "National" power over the states and the citizens thereof. He was sustained in his attempted usurpations by all the New England states and by a powerful public sentiment in each of the Middle States. The " strict constructionists " of the Constitution were not slow in raising the standard of opposition against a pernicious error.

In the 21st century, Adams remains less well known than many of the Founders, in accordance with his predictions. McCullough argued that "he problem with Adams is that most Americans know nothing about him." Todd Leopold of CNN wrote in 2001 that Adams is "remembered as that guy who served a single term as president between Washington and Jefferson." He has always been seen, Ferling says, as "honest and dedicated", but despite his lengthy career in public service, is still overshadowed. Gilbert Chinard, in his 1933 biography of Adams, described him as "staunch, honest, stubborn and somewhat narrow." In his 1962 biography, Page Smith lauds Adams for his fight against radicals whose promised reforms portended anarchy and misery. Ferling, in his 1992 biography, writes that "Adams was his own worst enemy." He criticizes him for his "pettiness... jealousy, and vanity", and faults his frequent separations from his family. He praises Adams for his willingness to acknowledge his deficiencies and for striving to overcome them.

In 2001, McCullough published the biography John Adams, in which he lauds Adams for consistency and honesty, "plays down or explains away" his more controversial actions, and criticizes Jefferson. The book sold very well and was very favorably received and, along with the Ferling biography, contributed to a rapid resurgence in Adams's reputation. In 2008, a miniseries was released based on the McCullough biography, featuring Paul Giamatti as Adams.