Why did John Adams sign the Declaration of Independence?

Answer 1

Because he believed what it said and thought America should be independent. Michael Montagne

Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence because he belived what it said and thought America should be independent.Benjamin wanted the best for our country!

Answer 2

Answer

Mostly because he served on the Continental Congress, which guaranteed him a spot to sign the declaration of independence.

More about John Adams: Adams began his education in a common school in Braintree. He secured a scholarship to Harvard and graduated at the age of 20.

He apprenticed to a Mr. Putnam of Worchester, who provided access to the library of the Attorney General of Massachusetts, and was admitted to the Bar in 1761. He participated in an outcry against Writs of Assistance. Adams became a prominent public figure in his activities against the Stamp Act, in response to which he wrote and published a popular article, Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law. He married in 1766 and moved to Boston, assuming a prominent position in the patriot movement. He was elected to the Massachusetts Assembly in 1770, and was chosen one of five to represent the colony at the First Continental Congress in 1774.
Again in the Continental Congress, in 1775, he nominated Washington to be commander-in-chief on the colonial armies. Adams was a very active member of congress, he was engaged by as many as ninety committees and chaired twenty-five during the second Continental Congress. In May of 1776, he offered a resolution that amounted to a declaration of independence from Gr. Britain. He was shortly thereafter a fierce advocate for the Declaration drafted by Thos. Jefferson. Congress then appointed him ambassador to France, to replace Silas Dean at the French court. He returned from those duties in 1779 and participated in the framing of a state constitution for Massachusetts, where he was further appointed Minister plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace, and form a commercial treaty, with Gr. Britain. In 1781 he participated with Franklin, Jay and Laurens, in development of the Treaty of Peace with Gr. Britain and was a signer of that treaty, which ended the Revolutionary War, in 1783. He was elected Vice President of the United States under Geo. Washington in 1789, and was elected President in 1796. Adams was a Federalist and this made him an arch-rival of Thos. Jefferson and his Republican party. The discord between Adams and Jefferson surfaced many times during Adams' (and, later, Jefferson's) presidency. This was not a mere party contest. The struggle was over the nature of the office and on the limits of Federal power over the state governments and individual citizens. Adams retired from office at the end of his term in 1801. He was elected President of a convention to reform the constitution of Massachusetts in 1824, but declined the honor due to failing health.
He died on July 4, 1826 (incidentally, within hours of the death of Thos. Jefferson.) His final toast to the Fourth of July was "Independence Forever!" Late in the afternoon of the Fourth of July, just hours after Jefferson died at Monticello, Adams, unaware of that fact, is reported to have said, "Thomas Jefferson survives."

Answer 3

The Declaration of Independence was signed to make the U.S.A. independent from Britain.
They signed the Declaration of Independence knowing fully that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Answer 4

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)-At the same time that Franklin was attending the Constitutional Convention, he was also the president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery (1787). Harvard, Yale, St. Andrews, William and Mary, and Oxford all granted him honorary degrees. He died in 1790 at the age of eighty-four.

As far as "why" Benjamin Franklin signed the constitution, only Ben Franklin himself may answer that. He was however, a highly respected individual within the group of delegates, and, carried much influence. Many looked to him for guidance. He was well known in Europe, so, for him to sign the Constitution would have, if nothing more, added validity to the document itself

On September 17, 1787, members of the Constitutional Convention signed the final draft of the Constitution.

Ben Franklin had several thoughts on the day the document was signed, and, it should be noted that because of his poor health, Benjamin Franklin needed help to sign the Constitution. As he did so, tears streamed down his face. He was 81 when he signed the document - making him the oldest person to sign it.

The following excerpts are courtesy of the Library of Congress, from Max Farrand's The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787:

"I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others."

*

"I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an Assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best."

*

"On the whole, Sir, I cannot help expressing a wish that every member of the Convention who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility -- and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument."

Answer 5

Because he believed what it said and thought America should be independent. Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence because he belived what it said and thought America should be independent.Benjamin wanted the best for our country!

Answer 6

The great Benjamin Franklin signed the constitution because he thought that it would be really good to unite up, instead of spoiling good times by wars. i thin this because i acted as Benjamin Franklin in a school presentation and everyone loved my paragraph.

Answer 7

He was a member of the Congress that passed it.

Answer 8

Benjamin Franklin believed in what was right and what was not. He also had full believe that signing the constitution would do something good.