7 of John Adams' greatest insults

A man whose wit was matched only by the looseness of his tongue, the combative John Adams quickly acquired a hefty reputation for articulate jabs and razor-sharp put-downs at the expense of his allies and (numerous) rivals alike, including some of the most celebrated figures in American history (Bob Dole once described him as "an eighteenth-century Don Rickles"). Here are some of his best zingers.

1. ON BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

"His whole life has been one continued insult to good manners and to decency."

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2. ON ALEXANDER HAMILTON

"That bastard brat of a Scottish peddler! His ambition, his restlessness and all his grandiose schemes come, I'm convinced, from a superabundance of secretions, which he couldn't find enough whores to absorb!"

(Hamilton certainly wasn't above returning the fire.)

3. ON THOMAS PAINE'S COMMON SENSE

"What a poor, ignorant, malicious, crapulous mass."

(For more on their relationship, head here.)

4. ON GEORGE WASHINGTON

"That Washington is not a scholar is certain. That he is too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station is equally beyond dispute."

5. ON THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA

"Phyladelphia [sic], with all its trade and wealth and regularity, is not Boston. The morals of our people are much better; their manners are more polite and agreeable... Our language is better, our taste is better, our persons are handsomer; our spirit is greater, our laws are wiser, our religion is better, our education is better. We exceed them in every thing, but in a market."

6. ON THOMAS JEFFERSON

"His soul is poisoned with ambition."

7. ON JOHN DICKINSON

While working as a member of the American revolution's Continental Congress, Adams referred to one of his less-radical colleagues as "a piddling genius" in one of his letters — an insult which caused a good deal of uproar when the British intercepted and published the candid document. For a fictionalized account of the pair's tense relationship, check out this clip from HBO's 2008 John Adams miniseries:

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