Fun(?) Fact: Slavery and Inoculation

This is a picture. It is of a book cover. The book is called John Adams.

Historically, more people have died in war to disease than to weapons; this has shifted in the last century. In the aftermath of COVID, it goes without saying that the world is still very much aware of the impact a disease can have—as well as the importance of using what medicine offers us, like vaccines, to address these issues.

An early precursor to vaccines was inoculation. Some older readers might remember things like "Chicken Pox Parties," which had fallen out of style by the time I came around. This carries the general principle of inoculation (and later scientifically refined into vaccines): exposure to a weaker form of the disease in order to allow the body to build up a resistance. At least, that's my understanding, I'm not a doctor.

Anyway, while reading David McCullough's (great) biography of John Adams, the smallpox afflicting the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War is mentioned, as is how it was addressed through use of inoculation. The idea was originally suggested decades prior to treat an earlier outbreak by one of Cotton Mather's slaves, called Onesimus (as the article points out, we do not know his birth name, unfortunately—one of the many dehumanizing injustices of slavery and the evils of he Transatlantic/Triangular Slave Trade) and was still viewed with skepticism.

While I've been aware of the use of inoculation in treating smallpox, this might be the first time it has been pointed out that the practice of inoculation in the colonies began thanks to a slave's brilliance. "One of the greatest Bostonians" of all time indeed; an army wiped out by smallpox would've have a helluva time fighting off Britain.

As an aside, since I'm finishing it up: gotta give high marks to McCullough's biography. It's a shame I've put off reading it so long—not because I've been dreading it, quite the opposite. It's up here with McCullough's biography of Truman, so finishing it comes with the bittersweet wish he wrote more.

Ah, well, you can't have everything. 

Like all of the Founders, I find it interesting to view Adams through a prism of life's changing perceptions, as if refracted through a diamond. For his part, I find Adams an overlooked figure who is too often characterized by his missteps or idiosyncrasies when he was a much more impressive man than often given credit for. Maybe I'm just projecting because I never thought much about him in school. 

The equal, happy marriage of John and Abigail Adams is the pinnacle of what you could hope for in your own and up there with Harry and Bess for a charming American story in its own way (as opposed to the effective cold war between FDR and Eleanor). In addition, both Adams were staunch abolitionists who viewed human dignity and equality as of the utmost importance. 

Like anyone, of course, he had his own failings. Adams would be the first to admit this and reflect on them. In his presidency, the easiest to point to are the Alien and Sedition Acts, which I certainly am not going to defend. These and some of his manners, perceived as pompous, led to him being portrayed as a monarchist. Now, while he was wrong on the Alien and Sedition Acts and his buffoonish suggestion for a magisterial title for the President is easy to laugh at, he had a point about more powers being apportioned to the Executive Branch of government (President) rather than the Legislative (Senate)—something which I would argue we have seen occur since the country's inception. Whether this was right or wrong, out of personal desire, or from an astute reading of history, Adams was a man with vision and he arguably perceived or predicted the course of future events.

Boiling it all down, in McCullough's biography, both of the Adams sparkle with the wit and intelligence of Jefferson (in my opinion an overrated Founder due to his moral failings undermining his public persona—there's an unpopular opinion) and the progressive idealism Nancy Isenberg attempted to portray Aaron Burr as carrying in Fallen Founder. Highly, highly recommended.