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AMERICAN   STATESMEN 


JOHN  T.   MOKSE,  JR. 

IN  THIRTY-TWO  VOLUMES 
VOL.  VI. 


THE  CONSTRUCTIVE  PERIOD 
JOHN  ADAMS 


c/p-fa^t 


B  LIBHARY'EElTIOlf 


HOUGHT01T,  MIFFL.IN  &  C  O. 


American 


JOHN   ADAMS 


BY 


JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 


BOSTON   AND   NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY 
Gibe  fiitoersibe  press, 


Copyright,  i884  and  1898, 
BY  JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 

Copyright,  1898, 
BY  HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &  CO. 

All  rights  reserved. 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

FOLLOWING  the  Revolutionary  Period  of  our 
history  came  what  may  be  designated  as  the 
Constructive  Period.  The  second  group  of  bio 
graphies  in  the  present  series  deals  with  that 
epoch,  and  includes  John  Adams,  Alexander 
Hamilton,  Gouverneur  Morris,  John  Jay,  and 
John  Marshall. 

On  the  19th  day  of  October,  1781,  Lord 
Cornwallis  surrendered.  As  a  consequence, 
Great  Britain,  after  fifteen  months  of  delay 
and  much  unworthy  caviling,  brought  herself 
to  admit  explicitly  in  a  treaty  of  peace  the  in 
dependence  of  her  ex-colonies.  Yet  though 
warfare  was  over,  this  was  by  no  means  the 
reaching  of  an  end  on  the  part  of  the  eman 
cipated  States ;  on  the  contrary,  they  had  not 
even  made  a  beginning ;  they  had  rendered  it 
possible,  but  as  yet  this  was  all.  It  was  on 
September  3,  1783,  that  our  commissioners  set 
their  signatures  to  the  definitive  treaty.  It  was 
not  until  the  autumn  of  1788  that  the  Constitu- 


205830 


vi  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

tion,  which  really  created  the  national  unit,  the 
United  States,  was  adopted.  It  was  not  until 
the  end  of  March,  1789,  that  Washington  took 
the  oath  of  office,  and  it  was  already  April  when 
enough  delegates  had  at  last  come  together  to 
admit  the  organization  of  Congress.  The  inter 
vening  years,  filled  with  anxious  and  bitter  expe 
riences,  have  never  formed  an  attractive  subject 
of  study.  No  great  name  is  connected  with  them, 
and  they  are  always  hastily  passed  over  in  order 
to  come  to  the  Constitutional  Convention.  That 
the  Constitution  was  framed  and  accepted  is 
among  the  wonders  of  the  world's  history.  The 
convention  adopted,  but  never  agreed;  and 
when  the  instrument  was  referred  to  the  several 
States,  many  delegates  in  the  state  conventions 
gave  yea  votes  without  faith.  One  would  fancy 
a  Destiny  at  work  to  bring  such  a  result  out  of 
such  conditions.  Able  men  were  in  the  ranks 
of  the  opponents  of  ratification,  but  the  end  of 
the  business  left  them  with  the  character  of  ob 
structionists.  Therefore  with  them  this  series 
has  no  concern,  save  only  so  far  as  Patrick 
Henry  had  previously  earned  his  place  in  our 
list.  That  patriot  seems  unfortunately,  in  these 
days  of  a  new  crisis,  to  have  lost  the  clear  fore 
sight,  the  prophetic  instinct  of  his  earlier  years, 
and  he  led  the  fight  in  Virginia  against  ratifi- 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION  vii 

cation   with  a  vehement   ardor  that  was  very 
dangerous. 

The  men  who  first  devised  the  Constitution 
and  then  made  it  operative,  —  who  invented  our 
governmental  machine,  and  who  then  set  it  at 
work  and  ran  it  successfully  until  it  ceased  to 
be  regarded  as  a  dubious  experiment,  —  these 
are  the  subjects  of  the  second  group  of  biogra 
phies  in  this  series.  Washington  was  chosen 
to  preside  over  the  convention.  He  had  lately 
proved,  though  the  fact  is  only  of  late  becoming 
fully  appreciated,  that  he  was  a  great  military 
genius.  He  was  now  about  to  show  a  not  less 
distinguished  ability  in  civil  government.  It 
has  been  a  serious  misfortune  for  Washington 
that  he  possessed  so  high  a  character,  that  he 
was  endowed  with  such  various  capacities,  and 
that  he  had  such  a  power  to  succeed,  and 
always  honorably.  Much  namby-pamby  moral 
izing,  much  pompous  laudation,  have  tempted 
cheap  wit,  in  reaction,  to  hack  clumsily  on  his 
memory.  Twaddle  and  jesting  concerning  him 
are  offenses  which  certain  classes  of  persons  can 
never  be  prevented  from  committing.  But  his 
reputation  cannot  be  seriously  affected  by  either 
of  these  forms  of  misfortune,  and  he  is  sure  to 
take  permanent  rank  among  the  grandest  and 
noblest  of  the  heroes  of  all  mankind.  In  the 


viii  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

position  of  president  of  the  convention  he  joined 
little  in  debate,  but  he  exerted  a  great  influence 
towards  agreement.  Franklin  also  brought  to 
the  discussions  the  wisdom  of  his  many  years ; 
and  it  is  singular  that  the  aged  man  espoused 
the  most  advanced  theories  of  government ;  he 
was  so  much  a  believer  in  a  decentralized  gov 
ernment  and  in  control  by  the  mass  of  the 
people,  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  little 
later  on  he  would  have  stood  among  the  Jeffer- 
sonians.  Hamilton  is  commonly  supposed  to 
have  exerted  a  powerful  influence  on  the  other 
side.  But  his  scheme,  which  would  have  created 
a  strong  centralized  government,  was  rejected. 
Gouverneur  Morris  was  the  chief  spokesman  of 
this  school,  constantly  on  his  feet,  and  arguing 
in  a  very  forcible  style.  Madison,  however, 
always  has  been,  and  probably  always  will  be, 
regarded  as  coming  nearer  than  any  other  mem 
ber  to  the  position  of  leader  and  creator.  It  is 
noteworthy  that  John  Adams,  who  had  made  a 
thorough  study  of  theories  of  government,  and 
Jefferson,  who  had  a  natural  taste  and  capacity 
for  such  speculation,  were  both  in  Europe  at 
this  time.  Neither  was  Jay  a  member  of  the 
convention,  though  afterward  he  aided  Ham 
ilton  and  Madison  in  writing  those  famous 
papers  of  "  The  Federalist,"  which  undoubtedly 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION  ix 

induced  the  acceptance  of   the   great  national 
charter. 

Washington,  of  course,  was  the  first  Presi 
dent,  hardly  less  essential  now  than  he  had  been 
in  the  Revolution.  He  had  the  advantage,  never 
afterward  possible,  of  being  not  only  the  choice 
of  the  people,  but  properly  the  chief  magistrate 
of  the  nation  as  a  political  unit.  No  parties 
were  yet  formed  ;  for  the  opponents  of  the  Con 
stitution  were  no  longer  a  party  after  the  Consti 
tution  had  been  adopted.  The  first  President, 
therefore,  had  an  opportunity  such  as  could 
never  come  to  any  successor,  in  that  he  was  free 
to  form  a  cabinet  of  men  who  differed  widely  in 
their  intellectual  tendencies  and  their  political 
faiths.  The  hope  was  that  such  a  body  might 
tend  to  harmonize  and  unite  the  leaders  of  op 
posing  schools  of  political  thought ;  but  when 
the  opposition  was  based  on  the  fundamental 
moral  and  mental  make-up  of  the  men,  it  was 
idle  to  expect  such  a  result,  and  the  failure  was 
soon  apparent.  It  seems  droll,  not  to  say  ab 
surd,  now  to  think  of  Hamilton  and  Jefferson 
as  coadjutors.  None  the  less  the  experiment 
was  entered  upon  with  much  sincerity  of  hope 
in  its  success.  Of  course  it  never  had  the  slight 
est  chance ;  the  two  men  never  collaborated 
heartily,  never  liked  or  trusted  each  other,  and 


x  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

could  not  long  work  in  an  even  ostensible  har 
mony.  It  was  very  simple-minded,  or,  we  may 
say,  politically  unsophisticated  ever  to  have  an 
ticipated  a  different  result,  for  the  practical 
questions  of  government  inevitably  evoked  op 
posing  opinions  from  men  who  differed  by  their 
implanted  natures.  Thus  it  came  about  at  last 
that  Washington,  much  to  his  disappointment, 
was  obliged  to  give  up  his  effort  to  hold  together 
men  who  were  preordained  to  disagree  and  in 
common  honesty  were  obliged  to  quarrel.  In 
the  clashing  which  ensued,  and  which  of  course 
soon  created  partisanship,  Washington  would 
never  admit  that  he  was  a  party  man.  Yet 
it  is  clear  that  he  became  so  in  fact,  though 
refusing  the  name.  The  Federalist  measures 
generally  seemed  to  him  right;  the  broad  Fed 
eralist  policy  he  undoubtedly  esteemed  sound ; 
the  Federalist  statesmen  had  his  sympathetic 
confidence. 

Of  these  Federalist  statesmen,  Hamilton  was 
always  the  chief.  An  unusually  large  propor 
tion  of  the  men  prominent  in  this  party  pos 
sessed  great  capacity  for  public  affairs,  yet  they 
all  deferred  to  him ;  they  submitted  to  his  con 
trol  and  accepted  his  policy  without  a  serious 
question  or  a  murmur  loud  enough  to  be  audible. 
The  impress  of  strength  which  he  left  upon  the 


EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION  xi 

government  has  ever  since  remained.  Indeed,  if 
it  had  not  remained,  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
the  government  itself  could  have  survived.  As 
secretary  of  the  treasury  he  showed  extraor 
dinary  ability  in  rehabilitating  the  embarrassed 
nation,  and  no  list  of  the  great  financiers  of  the 
world  can  be  made  so  short  that  his  name  does 
not  stand  in  it,  and  in  a  high  place  too.  But 
there  was  more  than  financial  purpose  in  his 
arrangement  of  the  national  debt  and  the  state 
debts  and  in  his  general  organization  of  the 
national  revenue  and  money  matters.  There 
was  the  policy  so  to  construe  the  new  Constitu 
tion,  as  yet  unconstrued,  that  upon  it  there 
could  be  based  a  powerful  centralized  govern 
ment.  Jefferson  saw,  appreciated,  and  opposed ; 
but  in  vain.  For  Washington  leaned  towards 
Hamiltonian  views,  and  that  turned  the  scale 
for  eight  years.  After  that  time  it  was  too  late 
to  go  back  to  the  starting  point  for  the  purpose 
of  moving  along  another  road. 

Hamilton  was  to  the  Federalist  party  what 
the  brain  is  to  the  body.  But  he  was  absolutely 
unavailable  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
It  is  odd  to  see  how  generally,  though  tacitly, 
this  fact  was  acknowledged.  With  him  out  of 
the  competition,  it  was  natural  that  John  Adams 
should  succeed  Washington.  If  Adams's  char- 


xii  EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 

acter  had  been  as  well  understood  by  contempo 
raries  as  it  is  by  later  generations,  it  would  also 
have  been  seen  to  be  certain  that  no  Federalist 
would  succeed  him.  He  had  a  genius  for  em 
broilment.  All  his  life  long,  wherever  he  was, 
there  were  anger  and  fighting  and  personal 
enmities.  Accordingly  it  came  to  pass  that,  as 
president,  he  soon  had  the  Federalist  party  by 
the  ears,  and  at  the  end  of  his  four  years  he  left 
it  a  disintegrated  aggregation  of  discordant  indi 
viduals,  utterly  incapable  of  political  cohesion 
or  personal  loyalty.  I  have  said,  in  my  Life  of 
him,  that  in  my  opinion  he  was  right  in  the 
most  important  act  of  his  administration,  and 
in  that  which  wrecked  his  party.  But  if  so, 
he  was,  at  least  for  his  party  and  for  himself 
with  it,  fatally  right.  One  of  his  last  acts, 
however,  made  up  for  the  earlier  blows  which  he 
had  dealt  to  Federalism,  and  turned  out  to  be  of 
far-reaching  importance.  This  was  the  appoint 
ment  of  John  Marshall  to  be  chief  justice  of 
the  United  States.  Presidents  and  cabinet  min 
isters  might  inaugurate  policies,  congressional 
leaders  might  carry  bills  to  enactment,  but  ulti 
mately  the  Supreme  Court  gave  or  refused  the 
seal  of  constitutionality.  The  commanding  in 
fluence  of  Marshall  meant  that  Federalist  theo 
ries  were  to  be  the  accepted  basis  of  judicial 


EDITOR'S   INTRODUCTION  xiii 

decisions.  This  appointment  therefore  insured 
the  permanence  of  the  Federalist  work.  Twelve 
years  had  seen  the  task  of  national  construction 
very  thoroughly  accomplished ;  Marshall  was 
now  left  in  charge  of  it,  to  see  that  it  should 
take  no  detriment  from  those  who  had  regarded 
it  with  jealous  disfavor,  and  who  were  now  about 

to  come  into  power. 

JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 

September,  1898. 


PREFACE 

THE  liberality  with  which  the  Adams  family 
has  emptied  for  the  public  use  its  abundant 
stores  of  manuscripts  would  make  it  unreason 
able  to  hope  that  they  have  yet  more  to  give 
out  concerning  John  Adams.  Indeed,  the  latest 
ransackings  in  many  private  hoards  throughout 
the  country  have  probably  been  nearly  or  quite 
exhaustive  of  all  contemporary  documents  of 
substantial  value  relating  to  the  Revolution  and 
the  three  first  presidencies.  If  this  is  the  case, 
biographical  writing  for  that  period  must  in 
future  consist  simply  of  new  portraits  of  the 
several  personages ;  and  the  memoirist  will  no 
longer  be  able  to  promise  to  unfold  facts  which 
have  lain  unknown  until  he  has  the  privilege  of 
disclosing  them.  The  usefulness  and  the  in 
terest  of  his  work  will  therefore  consist  in  the 
faithfulness  and  skill  with  which  he  reproduces 
the  traits  of  his  hero. 

Such  was  already  the  condition  of  things  when 
this  Life  of  Adams  was  written.  Nothing  has 
since  found  its  way  into  print  which  adds  to  the 


xvi  PREFACE 

facts  which  were  then  known,  or  which  places 
those  facts  in  a  fresh  light,  or  makes  them  links 
in  any  new  chain  of  historical  or  political  ar 
gument.  In  re-reading  my  presentation  of  Mr. 
Adams's  character,  I  see  no  change  which  I 
wish  to  make  therein.  I  think  of  him  now  as 
I  thought  of  him  then.  But  there  is  one  chap 
ter  some  parts  of  which,  not  directly  relating  to 
Mr.  Adams,  no  longer  seem  to  me  altogether 
satisfactory.  The  strictures  which  I  have  made 
upon  Franklin  during  the  period  of  his  stay  in 
France,  especially  while  Mr.  Adams  was  with 
him,  are  unjust  in  their  severity,  and  give  a 
false  idea  of  the  true  usefulness  of  that  able 
diplomatist  at  that  time.  I  have  become  con 
vinced  of  this  error  upon  my  part  by  subsequent 
much  more  careful  and  thorough  study  than  I 
had  made,  at  the  time  of  writing  this  volume, 
concerning  the  facts  of  Franklin's  mission.  At 
first,  in  making  this  revision,  my  impulse  was  to 
correct  the  defect  by  alterations ;  but  I  soon 
found  that  nothing  short  of  a  complete  re-writ 
ing  would  suffice,  and  to  this  course  there  were 
objections.  It  was  not  my  business  to  introduce 
a  new  book  into  the  series.  Moreover,  there  is 
sound  reason  for  letting  the  matter  stand  as  it 
was  first  written,  though  I  no  longer  wholly 
approve  of  it;  for  it  is  a  fair  presentation  of 


PREFACE  xvii 

the  view  held  by  John  Adams  himself,  and 
which  was  often  and  vigorously  expressed  by 
him.  The  only  fault  that  he  would  find  with  it 
would  be  that  it  is  altogether  too  mild  in  its 
fault-finding.  Adams  was  a  contemporary  and 
competent  witness,  and  the  trouble  about  his 
testimony  lies  not  in  his  lack  of  knowledge,  but 
in  his  own  temperament.  This,  indeed,  made 
his  deposition  very  untrustworthy.  Yet  in  a 
Life  of  him  his  opinions  and  beliefs  ought  to 
find  expression  ;  there  is  a  possibility,  however 
remote,  that  they  were  well  founded.  He  would 
rebel,  in  his  grave,  if  his  biographer  should  dare 
to  vindicate  Franklin's  career  in  France ;  and 
really  it  would  hardly  be  fair  to  use  this  volume 
for  that  purpose.  So  I  am  content  only  to  file 
this  caveat,  the  more  so,  because  the  antidote 
for  the  errors  is  close  at  hand,  in  the  Life  of 
Franklin,  in  this  series. 

JOHN  T.  MORSE,  JR. 
January,  1898. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

1.  YOUTH 1 

II.  AT  THE  BAB 16 

III.  THE  FIRST  CONGRESS 49 

IV.  THE  SECOND  SESSION  OF  CONGRESS       .        .  81 
V.   INDEPENDENCE 103 

VI.  AFTER  INDEPENDENCE 128 

VII.  FIRST  FOREIGN  MISSION 145 

VIII.  SECOND   FOREIGN  MISSION:    IN    FRANCE  AND 

HOLLAND 154 

IX.   THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  :  THE  ENGLISH  MISSION  195 

X.  THK  VICE-PRESIDENCY 237 

XI.   THK  PRESIDENCY 261 

XII.   THE  BREAKING  UP 306 

INDEX 327 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

JOHN  ADAMS Frontispieet 

From  the  painting  by  Trurabull,  in  Memorial  Hall, 
Harvard  University. 

Autograph  from  a  group  of  manuscript  signatures 
of  the  judges  and  counsel  in  trial  of  Captain  Preston 
and  his  men,  in  the  collection  of  Hon.  Mellen  Cham 
berlain. 

The  vignette  of  Mr.  Adams's  home  in  Quincy  is 
from  a  photograph.  Page 

JAMES  OTIS facing    46 

From  a  painting  by  Blackburn,  owned  by  Mrs. 
Henry  D.  Rogers,  Boston. 

Autograph  from  "  Memorial  History  of  Boston." 
TIMOTHY  PICKERING facing  132 

From  a  painting  by  Stuart,  owned  by  Robert  M. 
Pratt,  Boston. 

Autograph  from  Winsor's  "  America." 
THE  AMERICAN  PEACE  COMMISSIONERS    .     .     .    facing  218 

After  an  unfinished  painting  by  Benjamin  West 
in  possession  of  Lord  Belper  ;  from  a  photograph 
bequeathed  by  Charles  Sumner  to  the  Museum  of 
Fine  Arts,  Boston. 

The  figures  from  the  left  of  the  picture  to  the 
right  are  Jay,  Adams,  Franklin,  Laurens,  and  Frank 
lin's  grandson,  William  Temple  Franklin.  Richard 
Oswald,  who  died  in  1784,  was  to  have  been  included 
in  the  group. 


xxii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

ABIGAIL  ADAMS fac™9  264 

From  a  painting  by  Gilbert  Stuart,  in  the  collection 

of  Charles  Francis  Adams,  Lincoln,  Mass. 

Autograph  from  a  letter  in  possession  of  Winslow 

Warren,  written  from  Quincy,  July  16,  1773,  to  Mrs. 

Mercy  Warren  of  Plymouth. 


JOHN  ADAMS 


CHAPTER  I 
YOUTH 

IN  the  first  charter  of  the  colony  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay,  granted  by  Charles  I.  and  dated 
March  4,  1629,  the  name  of  Thomas  Adams 
appears  as  one  of  the  grantees.  But  he  never 
crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  Henry  Adams,  pos 
sibly  though  not  certainly  his  younger  brother, 
first  bore  the  name  on  this  side  of  the  water. 
In  1636  this  Henry  was  one  of  the  grantees  of 
sundry  parcels  of  land  at  Mount  Wollaston, 
soon  afterward  made  the  town  of  Braintree,  in 
which  neighborhood  descendants  from  him  have 
continued  to  have  dwellings  and  to  own  exten 
sive  tracts  of  land  to  the  present  day.  The 
John  Adams  with  whom  we  have  to  do  was 
of  the  fourth  generation  in  descent  from  Henry, 
and  was  born* at  Braintree,  October  19,  1735. 
His  father  was  also  named  John  Adams  ;  his 
mother  was  Susanna  Boylston,  daughter  of  Peter 
Boylston,  of  the  neighboring  town  of  Brookline. 


2  JOHN   ADAMS 

The  founder  of  the  American  family  appar 
ently  could  do  little  better  for  himself  than 
simply  to  hold  his  own  in  the  desperate  strug 
gle  for  existence  amid  sterile  hills  and  hostile 
Indians.  At  his  death  he  left,  as  his  whole 
estate,  a  small  bit  of  land,  of  which  there  was 
no  dearth  on  the  new  continent,  a  house  of 
three  rooms,  and  a  barn :  in  the  house  there 
were  three  beds,  some  kitchen  utensils,  a  silver 
spoon,  and  a  few  old  books ;  in  the  barn  were 
a  cow  and  calf,  pigs,  and  a  little  fodder.  The 
whole  property  was  valued  at  .£75  13s.  Little 
by  little,  however,  the  sturdy  workers  in  succes 
sive  years  wrenched  increased  belongings  from 
the  reluctant  soil ;  so  that  the  inventory  of  the 
estate  of  our  John  Adams's  father,  who  died  in 
1760,  shows  £1,330  9s.  Sd. 

A  man  so  well-to-do  as  this  could  afford  to 
give  one  son  a  good  education,  and  John  Ad 
ams,  being  the  eldest,  had  the  advantage  of 
going  through  Harvard  College.  Such  was  the 
privilege,  the  only  privilege,  with  which  primo 
geniture  was  invested  by  the  custom  of  the  fam 
ily.  Indeed,  our  John  Adams's  grandfather, 
who  also  had  educated  his  eldest  son  at  college, 
afterward  divided  his  property  among  his  other 
children,  thinking  that  thus  he  made  matters 
as  nearly  equal  and  fair  between  them  all  as 
was  possible.  John  Adams  was  graduated  in 


YOUTH  3 

the  class  of  1755,  which,  as  his  son  tells  us, 
"  in  proportion  to  its  numbers  contained  as 
many  men  afterwards  eminent  in  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  departments  as  any  class  that  ever 
was  graduated  at  that  institution."  He  was 
reputed  to  be  a  very  good  scholar,  but  can 
not  be  accurately  compared  with  his  comrades, 
since  rank  was  not  then  given  for  scholarship. 
The  students  took  precedence  according  to  the 
social  standing  of  their  parents,  and  upon  such 
a  scale  the  Adams  family  were  a  trifle  nearer 
to  the  bottom  than  to  the  top.  In  a  class  of 
twenty-four  members  John  was  fourteenth,  and 
even  for  this  modest  station  "  he  was  probably 
indebted  rather  to  the  standing  of  his  mater 
nal  family  than  to  that  of  his  father."  John 
Quincy  Adams  very  frankly  says  that  in  those 
days  "the  effect  of  a  college  education  was  to 
introduce  a  youth  of  the  condition  of  John 
Adams  into  a  different  class  of  familiar  ac 
quaintance  from  that  of  his  father."  Later  in 
life  John  Adams  became  noted  as  an  aristocrat, 
and  incurred  not  a  little  ridicule  and  animosity 
through  his  proclivities  and  personal  preten 
sions  of  this  kind.  In  fact,  he  was  that  pecul 
iar  production  of  American  domestic  manufac 
ture  which  may  perhaps  be  properly  described 
as  a  self-made  aristocrat,  —  a  character  familiar 
enough  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  but  which 


4  JOHN   ADAMS 

Lord  Thurlow  almost  alone  could  bring  within 
the  comprehension  of  Englishmen.  Fortu 
nately,  in  Adams's  individual  case,  his  ability 
to  maintain  the  position  prevented  his  passion 
from  appearing  so  comical  as  the  like  feeling  so 
often  does  with  inferior  men.  Nor  indeed  was 
he  always  and  altogether  devoid  of  sound  sense 
in  this  respect;  he  wrote  in  1791  that,  if  he 
could  ever  suppose  family  pride  to  be  any  way 
excusable,  he  should  "  think  a  descent  from 
a  line  of  virtuous,  independent  New  England 
farmers  for  a  hundred  and  sixty  years  was  a 
better  foundation  for  it  than  a  descent  from 
regal  or  noble  scoundrels  ever  since  the  flood." 
The  truth  is  that  a  proper  pride  in  one's  own 
descent,  if  it  can  be  sustained,  is  neither  an  un- 
amiable  nor  a  mischief-working  trait;  Adams 
had  it  in  the  true  American  shape,  and  was 
influenced  by  it  only  in  the  direction  of  good. 
He  was  at  once  gratified  and  satisfied  with  hav 
ing  a  lineage  simply  respectable. 

The  boyhood  and  youth  of  John  Adams  are 
incumbered  with  none  of  those  tedious  apoc 
rypha  which  constitute  a  prophetic  atmosphere 
in  the  initial  chapter  of  most  biographies.  No 
one  ever  dreamed  that  he  was  to  be  a  great 
man  until  he  was  well  advanced  in  middle  age, 
and  even  then,  in  the  estimation  of  all  persons 
save  himself,  he  had  many  peers  and  perhaps  a 


YOUTH  5 

very  few  superiors.  As  "  the  fourth  Harry,  our 
King "  philosophically  remarked,  upon  hearing 
of  "  Lord  Perse's  "  death  at  Otterburn, 

•'  I  have  a  hondrith  captains  in  Inglande,  he  sayd, 
As  good  as  ever  was  hee  ;  " 

though,  probably  enough,  Percy's  valuation  of 
himself  was  different.  Pretty  much  the  first 
authentic  knowledge  which  we  get  of  John 
Adams  comes  from  his  own  pen.  On  November 
15,  1755,  just  after  his  twentieth  birthday,  he 
began  a  diary.  Intermittently,  suffering  many 
serious  breaks  provokingly  to  diminish  its  just 
value,  he  continued  it  until  November  21,  1777. 
Only  a  few  years  more  elapsed  before  the 
famous  diary  of  his  son,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
was  begun,  which  ran  through  its  remarkable 
course  until  1848 ;  and  it  is  said  that  a  similar 
work  has  been  done  in  the  third  generation. 
If  this  be  so,  much  more  than  one  hundred 
years  of  American  annals  will  be  illuminated 
by  the  memorials  of  this  one  family  in  a  man 
ner  unprecedented  in  history  and  equally  useful 
and  agreeable.  So  portentous  a  habit  of  diary- 
writing  is  an  odd  form  for  the  development  of 
heredity.  But  at  least  it  enables  historical  stu 
dents  to  observe  the  descent  of  traits  of  mind 
and  character  more  naturally  transmissible  than 
such  a  taste.  The  Adams  blood  was  strong 
blood,  —  too  strong  to  be  seriously  modified  by 


6  JOHX  ADAMS 

alien  strains  introduced  by  marriage.  It  was 
not  a  picturesque  stream,  but  it  was  vigorous,  it 
cut  its  way  without  much  loitering  or  meander 
ing,  and  when  strange  rivulets  united  with  it 
they  had  to  take  its  color  as  well  as  its  course. 
John  Quincy  Adams,  whose  story  has  been  told 
before  that  of  his  father  in  this  series,  was  a 
veritable  chip  from  the  old  block,  a  sturdy, 
close-fibred  old  block,  well  adapted  for  making 
just  such  solid,  slightly  cross-grained  chips.  Only 
the  son  was  more  civilized,  or  rather  more  self- 
restrained  and  conventional,  than  the  father; 
the  rugged  ness  of  the  earlier  fighter  and  self- 
made  man  was  rubbed  smoother  in  the  offspring, 
inheriting  greatness  and  growing  up  amid  more 
polishing  forces. 

In  youth  John  Adams  was  an  admirable 
specimen  of  the  New  England  Puritan  of  his 
generation,  not  excessively  strait-laced  in  mat 
ters  of  doctrine,  but  religious  by  habit  and  by 
instinct,  rigid  in  every  point  of  morals,  con 
scientious,  upright,  pure-minded,  industrious. 
The  real  truth  about  that  singular  community 
is  that  they  mingled  theology  with  loose  morals 
in  a  proportion  not  correctly  appreciated  by 
their  descendants ;  for  historians  have  dwelt 
upon  the  one  ingredient  of  this  mixture,  and 
have  ignored  the  other,  so  that  the  truth  has 
become  obscured.  Certain  it  is  that  long  ser- 


YOUTH  7 

mons  and  much  polemical  controversy  were  off 
set  by  a  great  deal  of  hard  drinking  and  not  a 
little  indulgence  in  carnal  sins.  John  Adams, 
like  the  better  men  of  the  day,  reversed  the  pro 
portions,  and  instead  of  subordinating  morality 
to  religion,  he  gave  to  morals  a  decided  prepon 
derance.  In  his  diary  he  grumbles  not  only  at 
others,  but  also  very  freely  at  himself,  partly 
because  it  was  then  his  nature  always  to  grum 
ble  a  good  deal  about  everything  and  every 
body,  partly  to  fulfill  the  acknowledged  Chris 
tian  duty  of  self-abasement.  He  had  an  early 
tendency  to  censoriousness,  not  to  be  compared 
in  degree  to  that  development  of  this  failing 
which  disfigured  his  son,  but  furnishing  a  strong 
germ  for  the  later  growth.  While  passing 
through  periods  of  discontent,  which  occasion 
ally  beset  his  opening  manhood,  his  deprecia 
tory  habit  was  too  strong  to  be  checked  even 
in  his  own  case,  and  he  constantly  falls  his 
own  victim,  beneath  his  passion  for  uncharita 
ble  criticism.  Also  like  his  son,  though  more 
intermittently  and  in  a  less  degree,  he  is  pos 
sessed  of  the  devil  of  suspiciousness,  constantly 
conceiving  himself  to  be  the  object  of  limitless 
envy,  malice,  hostility,  and  of  the  most  ignoble 
undermining  processes.  As  a  young  man  he 
often  imagined  that  his  neighbors  and  acquaint 
ances  were  resolved  that  he  should  not  get  on 


8  JOHN  ADAMS 

in  the  world,  though  it  does  not  appear  that  he 
encountered  any  peculiar  or  exceptional  obsta 
cles  of  this  kind.  But  to  his  credit  it  may  be 
noted  that  in  his  early  years  he  had  a  know 
ledge  of  these  weaknesses  of  his  disposition.  He 
wishes  that  he  could  conquer  his  "  natural  pride 
and  self-conceit ;  expect  no  more  deference  from 
iny  fellows  than  I  deserve ;  acquire  meekness 
and  humility,"  etc.  He  acknowledges  having 
been  too  ready  with  "  ill-natured  remarks  upon 
the  intellectuals,  manners,  practice,  etc.,  of  other 
people."  He  wisely  resolves,  "for  the  future, 
never  to  say  an  ill-natured  thing  concerning 
ministers  or  the  ministerial  profession;  never 
to  say  an  envious  thing  concerning  governors, 
judges,  clerks,  sheriffs,  lawyers,  or  any  other 
honorable  or  lucrative  offices  or  officers ;  never 
to  show  my  own  importance  or  superiority  by 
remarking  the  foibles,  vices,  or  inferiority  of 
others.  But  I  now  resolve,  as  far  as  lies  in  me, 
to  take  notice  chiefly  of  the  amiable  qualities 
of  other  people;  to  put  the  most  favorable 
construction  upon  the  weaknesses,  bigotry,  and 
errors  of  others,  etc. ;  and  to  labor  more  for  an 
inoffensive  and  amiable  than  for  a  shining  and 
invidious  character,"  —  most  wise  communings, 
showing  an  admirable  introspection,  yet  resolves 
which  could  not  at  present  be  consistently  car 
ried  out  by  their  maker.  Adams's  nature,  both 


YOUTH  9 

in  its  good  and  in  its  ill  traits,  was  far  too 
strong  to  be  greatly  re-shaped  by  any  efforts 
which  he  could  make.  The  elements  of  his 
powerful  character  were  immutable,  and  under 
went  no  substantial  and  permanent  modifications 
either  through  voluntary  effort  or  by  the  pres 
sure  of  circumstances ;  in  all  important  points 
he  was  the  same  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
with  perhaps  a  brief  exception  during  the  ear 
lier  period  of  his  service  in  the  Revolutionary 
Congress,  when  we  shall  see  him  rising  superior 
to  all  his  foibles,  and  presenting  a  wonderfully 
noble  appearance.  The  overweening  vanity, 
which  became  a  ridiculous  disfigurement  after 
he  had  climbed  high  upon  the  ladder  of  distinc 
tion,  was  not  yet  excessive  while  he  still  lingered 
upon  the  first  rounds.  Indeed,  he  is  shrewd 
enough  to  say :  "  Vanity,  I  am  sensible,  is  my 
cardinal  vice  and  cardinal  folly  ;  "  and  he  even 
has  occasional  fits  of  genuine  diffidence  of  his 
own  powers,  and  distrust  as  to  his  prospects 
of  moderate  success.  Only  when  that  success 
actually  came  did  all  chance  of  curing  himself 
of  the  fault  disappear.  As  a  young  man  he 
cherished  no  lofty  ambition,  or  at  least  he  kept 
it  modestly  in  the  background.  He  does  not  at 
all  resemble  his  rival  of  later  years,  Alexander 
Hamilton;  he  is  conscious  of  no  extraordinary 
ability,  and  longs  for  no  remarkable  career,  nor 


10  JOHN  ADAMS 

asserts  any  fitness  for  it.  His  anticipations,  even 
his  hopes,  seem  limited  to  achieving  that  mea 
sure  of  prosperity,  good  repute,  and  influence 
which  attend  upon  the  more  prominent  men 
of  any  neighborhood.  A  circuit  of  forty  miles 
around  Boston  is  a  large  enough  sphere,  beyond 
which  his  dreams  of  the  future  do  not  wander. 

A  youth  who  had  received  a  collegiate  educa 
tion,  at  a  cost  of  not  inconsiderable  sacrifice  on 
the  part  of  his  parents,  lay  in  those  days  under 
a  sort  of  moral  obligation  to  adopt  a  profession. 
Between  law,  divinity,  and  medicine,  therefore, 
Adams  had  to  make  his  choice.  Further,  while 
contemplating  the  subject  and  preparing  himself 
for  one  of  these  pursuits  he  ought  to  support 
himself.  To  this  end  he  obtained  the  position 
of  master  of  the  grammar  school  at  Worcester, 
whither  he  repaired  in  the  summer  of  1755. 
His  first  tendency  was  to  become  a  clergyman, 
not  so  much,  apparently,  by  reason  of  any  strong 
fancy  for  the  clerical  calling  as  because  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  sort  of  understanding  011 
the  part  of  his  family  and  friends  that  he  should 
make  this  selection,  and  he  was  willing  enough 
to  gratify  them.  It  was  not  altogether  so  sin 
gular  and  foolish  a  notion  as  at  first  it  strikes  us. 
The  New  England  clergy  still  retained  much 
of  the  prestige  and  influence  which  they  had 
enjoyed  in  the  earlier  colonial  days,  when  they 


YOUTH  11 

had  exercised  a  civil  authority  often  overshadow 
ing  that  of  the  nominal  officers  of  government. 
Men  of  great  ability  and  strong  character  still 
found  room  for  their  aspirations  in  the  ministry. 
They  were  a  set  to  be  respected,  obeyed,  even 
to  some  extent  to  be  feared,  but  hardly  to  be 
loved,  and  vastly  unlike  the  Christian  minister 
of  the  present  day.  They  were  not  required 
to  be  sweet-tempered,  nor  addicted  to  loving- 
kindness,  nor  to  be  charitably  disposed  towards 
one  another,  or  indeed  towards  anybody.  On 
the  contrary,  they  were  a  dictatorial,  militant, 
polemical,  not  to  say  a  quarrelsome  and  harsh- 
tongued  race.  They  were  permitted,  and  even 
encouraged,  to  display  much  vigor  in  speech 
and  action.  Nevertheless  the  figure  of  impetu 
ous,  dogmatic,  combative,  opinionated,  energetic, 
practical,  and  withal  liberal  John  Adams  in  a 
pulpit  is  exceedingly  droll.  He  was  much  too 
big,  too  enterprising,  too  masterful,  for  such  a 
cage.  He  would  have  resembled  the  wolf  of  the 
story,  who  could  never  keep  himself  wholly  cov 
ered  by  the  old  dame's  cloak.  His  irrepressibly 
secular  nature  would  have  been  constantly  pro 
truding  at  one  point  or  another  from  beneath 
the  clerical  raiment.  It  would  have  been  inevi 
table  that  sooner  or  later  he  should  escape  alto 
gether  from  the  uncongenial  thralldom,  at  the 
cost  of  a  more  or  less  serious  waste  of  time  and 


12  JOHN  ADAMS 

somewhat  ridiculous  process  of  change.  Fortu 
nately  his  good  sense  or  sound  instinct  saved 
him  from  a  too  costly  blunder.  Yet  for  many 
months  his  diary  is  sprinkled  with  remarks  con 
cerning  the  flinty  theology  and  the  intense, 
though  very  unchristian,  Christianity  of  those 
days.  Nevertheless  the  truth  constantly  peeps 
out ;  disputatious  enough,  and  severe  upon  back- 
slidings,  he  appears  not  sufficiently  narrow  in 
intellect  and  merciless  in  disposition  ;  he  could 
not  squeeze  himself  within  the  rigid  confines 
which  hemmed  in  the  local  divine.  It  is  to  no 
purpose  that  he  resolves  "  to  rise  with  the  sun 
and  to  study  the  Scriptures  on  Thursday, 
Friday,  Saturday,  and  Sunday  mornings,"  and 
that  occasionally  he  writes  "  Scripture  poetry 
industriously  "  of  a  morning.  The  effort  is  too 
obvious.  Yet  he  was  religiously  inclined.  The 
great  Lisbon  earthquake  of  1755,  which  filled 
Europe  with  infidels,  inspired  him  with  a  sense 
of  religious  awe.  "  God  Almighty,"  he  says, 
"  has  exerted  the  strength  of  his  tremendous 
arm,  and  shook  one  of  the  finest,  richest,  and 
most  populous  cities  in  Europe  into  ruin  and 
destruction  by  an  earthquake.  The  greatest  part 
of  Europe  and  the  greatest  part  of  America 
have  been  in  violent  convulsions,  and  admonished 
the  inhabitants  of  both  that  neither  riches  nor 
honors  nor  the  solid  globe  itself  is  a  proper 


YOUTH  13 

basis  on  which  to  build  our  hopes  of  security." 
The  Byronic  period  of  his  youth  even  takes  a 
religious  form.  He  gloomily  reflects  that :  — 

"  One  third  of  our  time  is  consumed  in  sleep,  and 
three  sevenths  of  the  remainder  is  spent  in  procuring 
a  mere  animal  sustenance  ;  and  if  we  live  to  the  age 
of  threescore  and  ten,  and  then  sit  down  to  make  an 
estimate  in  our  minds  of  the  happiness  we  have  en 
joyed  and  the  misery  we  have  suffered,  we  shall  find, 
I  am  apt  to  think,  that  the  overbalance  of  happiness 
is  quite  inconsiderable.  We  shall  find  that  we  have 
been,  through  the  greater  part  of  our  lives,  pursuing 
shadows,  and  empty  but  glittering  phantoms,  rather 
than  substances.  We  shall  find  that  we  have  applied 
our  whole  vigor,  all  our  faculties,  in  the  pursuit  of 
honor  or  wealth  or  learning,  or  some  other  such  delu 
sive  trifle,  instead  of  the  real  and  everlasting  excel 
lences  of  piety  and  virtue.  Habits  of  contemplating 
the  Deity  and  his  transcendent  excellences,  and  cor 
respondent  habits  of  complacency  in  and  dependence 
upon  Him  ;  habits  of  reverence  and  gratitude  to  God, 
and  habits  of  love  and  compassion  to  our  fellow-men, 
and  habits  of  temperance,  recollection,  and  self-govern 
ment,  will  afford  us  a  real  and  substantial  pleasure. 
We  may  then  exult  in  a  consciousness  of  the  favor  of 
God  and  the  prospect  of  everlasting  felicity." 

A  young  man  of  twenty  who,  in  our  day, 
should  write  in  this  strain  would  be  thought  fit 
for  nothing  better  than  the  church  ;  but  Adams 
was  really  at  war  with  the  prevalent  church 


14  JOHN  ADAMS 

spirit  of  New  England.  Thus  one  evening  in 
a  conversation  with  Major  Greene  "  about  the 
divinity  and  satisfaction  of  Jesus  Christ,"  the 
major  advanced  the  argument  that  "a  mere 
creature  or  finite  being  could  not  make  satisfac 
tion  to  infinite  justice  for  any  crimes,"  and  sug 
gested  that  "  these  things  are  very  mysterious." 
Adams's  crisp  commentary  was :  "  Thus  mys 
tery  is  made  a  convenient  cover  for  absurdity." 
Again  he  asks :  "  Where  do  we  find  a  precept 
in  the  gospel  requiring  ecclesiastical  synods  ? 
convocations  ?  councils  ?  decrees  ?  creeds  ?  con 
fessions  ?  oaths  ?  subscriptions  ?  and  whole  cart 
loads  of  other  trumpery  that  we  find  religion 
incumbered  with  in  these  days?"  Independ 
ence  in  thought  and  expression  soon  caused  him 
to  be  charged  with  the  heinous  unsoundness  of 
Arminianism,  an  accusation  which  he  endeavored 
neither  to  palliate  nor  deny,  but  quite  cheerfully 
admitted.  A  few  such  comments,  more  com 
merce  even  with  the  tiny  colonial  world  around 
him,  a  little  thinking  and  discussion  upon  doc 
trinal  points,  sufficed  for  his  shrewd  common 
sense,  and  satisfied  him  that  he  was  not  fitted 
to  labor  in  the  ministerial  vineyard  as  he  saw 
it  platted  and  walled  in.  Accordingly,  upon 
August  21,  1756,  he  definitely  renounced  the 
scheme.  On  the  following  day  he  writes  gravely 
in  his  diary  :  — 


YOUTH  15 

"  Yesterday  I  completed  a  contract  with  Mr.  Put 
nam  to  study  law  under  his  inspection  for  two  years. 
.  .  .  Necessity  drove  me  to  this  determination,  but 
my  inclination,  I  think,  was  to  preach ;  however,  that 
would  not  do.  But  I  set  out  with  firm  resolutions,  I 
think,  never  to  commit  any  meanness  or  injustice  in 
the  practice  of  law.  The  study  and  practice  of  law, 
I  am  sure,  does  not  dissolve  the  obligations  of  mo 
rality  or  of  religion ;  and,  although  the  reason  of  my 
quitting  divinity  was  my  opinion  concerning  some  dis 
puted  points,  I  hope  I  shall  not  give  reason  of  offense 
to  any  in  that  profession  by  imprudent  warmth." 

Thus  fortunately  for  himself  and  for  the  peo 
ple  of  the  colonies,  Adams  escaped  the  first 
peril  which  threatened  the  abridgment  of  his 
great  usefulness.  Yet  the  choice  was  not  made 
without  opposition  from  "  uncles  and  other  rela 
tions,  full  of  the  most  illiberal  prejudices  against 
the  law."  Adams  says  that  he  had  "  a  proper 
veneration  and  affection "  for  these  relatives, 
but  that,  being  "  under  no  obligation  of  grati 
tude  "  to  them,  he  "  thought  little  of  their 
opinions."  Young  men  nowadays  are  little  apt 
to  be  controlled  by  uncles  or  even  aunts  in  such 
matters,  but  John  Adams's  independence  was 
more  characteristic  of  himself  than  of  those 
times. 


CHAPTER  II 

AT  THE   BAR 

ON  August  23,  1756,  Adams  says  that  he 
"  came  to  Mr.  Putnam's  and  began  law,  and 
studied  not  very  closely  this  week."  But  he 
was  no  sluggard  in  any  respect  save  that  he 
was  fond  of  lying  abed  late  of  mornings.  Jus 
tinian's  Institutes  with  Vinnius's  Notes,  the 
works  of  Bracton,  Britton,  Fleta,  Glanville, 
and  all  the  other  ponderous  Latin  tomes  be 
hind  which  the  law  of  that  day  lay  intrenched, 
yielded  up  their  wisdom  to  his  persistency.  He 
had  his  hours  of  relaxation,  in  which  he  smoked 
his  pipe,  chatted  with  Dr.  Savil's  wife,  and  read 
her  Ovid's  "  Art  of  Love,"  a  singular  volume, 
truly,  for  a  young  Puritan  to  read  aloud  with 
a  lady !  Yet  in  the  main  he  was  a  hard  stu 
dent  ;  so  that  by  October,  1758,  he  was  ready  to 
begin  business,  and  came  to  Boston  to  consult 
with  Jeremiah  Gridley,  the  leader  and  "  father  " 
of  that  bar,  as  to  the  necessary  steps  "  for  an 
introduction  to  the  practice  of  law  in  this  coun 
try."  Gridley  was  very  kind  with  the  young 
man,  who  seems  to  have  shown  upon  this  occa- 


AT  THE   BAR  17 

sion  a  real  and  becoming  bashfulness.  Among 
other  pieces  of  advice,  the  shrewd  old  lawyer 
gave  to  the  youngster  these  two :  first,  "  to  pur 
sue  the  study  of  the  law  rather  than  the  gain  of 
it ;  pursue  the  gain  of  it  enough  to  keep  out  of 
the  briars,  but  give  your  main  attention  to  the 
study  of  it ;  "  second,  "  not  to  marry  early,  for 
an  early  marriage  will  obstruct  your  improve 
ment,  and  in  the  next  place  it  will  involve  you 
in  expense."  On  Monday,  November  6,  the 
same  distinguished  friend,  with  a  few  words  of 
kindly  presentation,  recommended  Adams  to 
the  court  for  the  oath.  This  formality  being 
satisfactorily  concluded,  says  Adams,  "  I  shook 
hands  with  the  bar,  and  received  their  congrat 
ulations,  and  invited  them  over  to  Stone's  to 
drink  some  punch,  where  the  most  of  us  resorted 
and  had  a  very  cheerful  chat."  Through  this 
alcoholic  christening  the  neophyte  was  introduced 
into  the  full  communion  of  the  brethren,  and 
thereafter  it  only  remained  for  him  to  secure 
clients.  He  had  not  to  wait  quite  so  long  for 
these  trailing-footed  gentry  as  is  often  the  wea 
risome  lot  of  young  lawyers ;  for  the  colonists 
were  a  singularly  litigious  race,  suing  out  writs 
upon  provocations  which  in  these  good-natured 
days  would  hardly  be  thought  to  justify  hard 
words,  unconsciously  training  that  contradictory 
and  law-loving  temper  which  really  went  far  to 


18  JOHN   ADAMS 

bring  about  the  quarrels  with  Parliament,  so 
soon  to  occur.  Fees  were  small,  mercifully 
adapted  not  to  discourage  the  poorest  client, 
so  that  the  man  who  could  not  afford  "  to  take 
the  law"  might  as  well  at  once  seek  the  tran 
quil  shelter  of  the  "  town  farm."  Accordingly, 
though  Adams  was  anxious  and  occasionally 
dispirited,  he  seems  to  have  done  very  well. 

He  had  many  admirable  qualifications  for 
success,  of  which  by  no  means  the  least  was  his 
firm  resolution  to  succeed ;  for  throughout  his 
life  any  resolution  which  he  seriously  made  was 
pretty  sure  to  be  carried  through.  He  was,  of 
course,  honest,  trustworthy,  and  industrious ;  he 
exacted  of  himself  the  highest  degree  of  care 
and  skill ;  he  cultivated  as  well  as  he  could 
the  slender  stock  of  tact  with  which  nature  had 
scantily  endowed  him;  more  useful  traits,  not 
needing  cultivation,  were  a  stubbornness  and 
combativeness  which  made  him  a  hard  man  to 
beat  at  the  bar  as  afterwards  in  political  life. 
In  a  word,  he  was  sure  to  get  clients,  and  soon 
did  so.  He  followed  the  first  part  of  Gridley's 
advice  to  such  good  purpose  that  he  afterwards 
said  :  "  I  believe  no  lawyer  in  America  ever  did 
so  much  business  as  I  did  afterwards,  in  the 
seventeen  years  that  I  passed  in  the  practice 
at  the  bar,  for  so  little  profit."  Yet  this 
"little  profit"  was  enough  to  enable  him  to 


AT  THE  BAR  19 

treat  more  lightly  Gridley's  second  item,  for 
on  October  25,  1764,  he  took  to  himself  a  wife. 
The  lady  was  Abigail  Smith,  daughter  of  Wil 
liam  Smith,  a  clergyman  in  the  neighboring 
town  of  Weymouth,  and  of  his  wife,  Elizabeth 
(Quincy)  Smith.  But  the  matrimonial  ven 
ture  was  far  from  proving  an  "obstruction  to 
improvement ; "  for  "  by  this  marriage  John 
Adams  became  allied  with  a  numerous  connec 
tion  of  families,  among  the  most  respectable  for 
their  weight  and  influence  in  the  province,  and 
it  was  immediately  perceptible  in  the  consider 
able  increase  of  his  professional  practice."  In 
other  respects,  also,  it  was  a  singularly  happy 
union.  Mrs.  Adams  was  a  woman  of  unusu 
ally  fine  mind  and  noble  character,  and  proved 
herself  a  most  able  helpmate  and  congenial 
comrade  for  her  husband  throughout  the  many 
severe  trials  as  well  as  in  the  brilliant  triumphs 
of  his  long  career.  Not  often  does  fate  allot  to 
a  great  man  a  domestic  partner  so  fit  to  counsel 
and  sustain  as  was  Abigail  Adams,  whose  mem 
ory  deserves  to  be,  as  indeed  it  still  is,  held  in 
high  esteem  and  admiration. 

History  depicts  no  race  less  fitted  by  charac 
ter,  habits,  and  traditions  to  endure  oppression 
than  the  colonists  of  New  England.  Numeri 
cally  the  chief  proportion  of  them,  and  in  point 


20  JOHN   ADAMS 

of  influence  nearly  all  who  were  worthy  of  con 
sideration,  were  allied  with  the  men  who  had 
successfully  defied  and  overthrown  the  British 
monarchy.  The  surroundings  and  mode  of  life 
of  settlers  in  a  new  country  had  permitted 
no  deterioration  in  the  physical  courage  and 
hardihood  of  that  class  which,  in  Cromwell's 
army,  had  constituted  as  fine  a  body  of  troops 
as  the  world  has  seen  to  the  present  day.  It 
was  simply  impossible  to  affect  New  Englanders 
through  the  sense  of  fear.  Far  removed  from 
the  sight  of  monarchical  power,  and  from  con 
tact  with  the  offensive  display  of  aristocracy, 
they  had  ceased  to  hate  this  form  of  govern 
ment,  and  even  entertained  feelings  of  loyalty 
and  attachment  towards  it.  But  these  senti 
ments  throve  only  upon  the  condition  of  good 
treatment ;  and  on  the  instant  when  harshness 
destroyed  the  sense  of  reciprocity,  the  good 
will  of  the  dependent  body  disappeared.  Even 
while  the  rebellious  temper  slumbered,  the  inde 
pendent  spirit  had  been  nourished  by  all  the 
conditions  of  social,  intellectual,  even  of  civil 
life.  The  chief  officers  of  government  had 
been  sent  over  from  England,  and  some  legisla 
tion  had  taken  place  in  Parliament;  but  the 
smaller  laws  and  regulations,  which,  with  the 
ministers  thereof,  touched  the  daily  lives  and 
affairs  of  the  people,  had  been  largely  estab- 


AT  THE   BAR  21 

lished  by  the  colonists  themselves.  They  were 
a  thinking  race,  intelligent,  disputatious,  and 
combative.  The  religion  which  absorbed  much 
of  their  mental  activity  had  cherished  these 
qualities ;  and  though  their  creed  was  narrow, 
rigid,  and  severe,  yet  they  did  not  accept  it, 
like  slaves  of  a  hierarchy,  without  thought  and 
criticism.  On  the  contrary,  their  theology  was 
notably  polemical,  and  discussion  and  dispute 
on  matters  of  doctrine  were  the  very  essence  of 
their  Christianity.  Their  faith  constituted  a 
sort  of  gymnasium  or  arena  for  the  constant 
matching  of  strength  and  skill.  They  were 
ready  at  every  sort  of  intellectual  combat.  The 
very  sternness  of  their  beliefs  was  the  exponent 
of  their  uncompromising  spirit,  the  outgrowth 
of  a  certain  fierceness  of  disposition,  and  by  no 
means  a  weight  or  pall  which  had  settled  down 
upon  their  faculties  of  free  thought.  Men  with 
such  bodies,  minds,  and  morals,  not  slow  to  take 
offense,  quick  to  find  arguments  upon  their  own 
side,  utterly  fearless,  and  of  most  stubborn  met 
tle,  furnished  poor  material  for  the  construction 
of  a  subservient  class.  Moreover,  they  were 
shrewd,  practical  men  of  business,  with  the  ap 
titude  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  for  affairs,  and  with 
his  taste  for  money-getting,  his  proneness  for 
enterprise,  his  passion  for  worldly  success ;  hence 
they  were  very  sensitive  to  any  obstacle  cast 


22  JOHN  ADAMS 

in  the  way  of  their  steady  progress  towards 
material  prosperity.  The  king  and  the  ruling 
classes  of  Great  Britain  had  no  comprehension 
whatsoever  of  all  these  distinguishing  traits  of 
the  singular  race  with  whom  they  undertook  to 
deal  upon  a  system  fundamentally  wrong,  and 
of  which  every  development  and  detail  was  a 
blunder. 

In  nearly  every  respect  John  Adams  was  a 
typical  New  Englander  of  the  times ;  at  least  it 
may  be  said  that  in  no  one  individual  did  the 
colonial  character  find  a  more  respectable  or  a 
more  comprehensible  development  than  in  him, 
so  that  to  understand  and  appreciate  him  is  to 
understand  and  appreciate  the  New  England 
of  his  day ;  and  to  draw  him  is  to  draw  the  col 
onists  in  their  best  form.  It  was  inevitable 
from  the  outset  that  he  should  be  a  patriot ; 
if  men  of  his  mind  and  temper  could  hesitate, 
there  could  be  no  material  out  of  which  to  con 
struct  a  "  liberty  party  "  in  the  province.  At 
first,  of  course,  older  and  better  known  men 
took  the  lead,  and  he,  still  a  parvus  lulus,  was 
fain  to  follow  with  unequal  steps  the  vigorous 
strides  of  the  fiery  Otis,  and  of  that  earliest  of 
genuine  democrats,  Samuel  Adams.  But  the 
career  of  Otis  was  like  the  electric  flash  which 
so  appropriately  slew  him,  brief,  brilliant,  start 
ling,  sinking  into  melancholy  darkness ;  and 


AT  THE  BAR  23 

John  Adams  pressed  steadily  forward,  first  to 
the  side  of  his  distinguished  cousin,  and  erelong 
in  advance  of  him. 

It  was  in  1761  that  Otis  delivered  his  dar 
ing  and  famous  argument  against  the  writs  of 
assistance.  This  was  the  first  log  of  the  pile 
which  afterward  made  the  great  blaze  of  the 
Revolution.  John  Adams  had  the  good  fortune 
to  hear  that  bold  and  stirring  speech,  and  came 
away  from  the  impressive  scene  all  aglow  with 
patriotic  ardor.  The  influence  of  such  free  and 
noble  eloquence  upon  the  young  man  was  tre 
mendous.  As  his  son  classically  puts  it :  "  It 
was  to  Mr.  Adams  like  the  oath  of  Hamilcar 
administered  to  Hannibal."  He  took  some 
slight  notes  of  the  argument  at  the  time,  and  in 
his  old  age  he  proved  the  indelible  impression 
which  it  had  made  upon  him  by  writing  out  the 
vivid  story.  His  memoranda,  though  involving 
some  natural  inaccuracies,  constitute  the  best 
among  the  meagre  records  of  this  important 
event.  He  said  afterward  that  at  this  scene  he 
had  witnessed  the  birth  of  American  Independ 
ence.  "  American  Independence  was  then  and 
there  born.  The  seeds  of  patriots  and  heroes, 
to  defend  the  non  sine  diis  animosus  infans,  to 
defend  the  vigorous  youth,  were  then  and  there 
sown.  Every  man  of  an  immense,  crowded 
audience  appeared  to  me  to  go  away,  as  I  did, 


24  JOHN  ADAMS 

ready  to  take  arms  against  writs  of  assistance. 
Then  and  there  was  the  first  scene  of  the  first 
act  of  opposition  to  the  arbitrary  claims  of 
Great  Britain.  Then  and  there  the  child  In 
dependence  was  born.  In  fifteen  years,  i.  e.  in 
1776,  he  grew  up  to  manhood  and  declared  him 
self  free."  Such  impassioned  language,  written 
in  the  tranquillity  of  extreme  age,  nearly  three 
score  years  after  the  occurrence,  shows  what 
feelings  were  aroused  at  the  time.  The  seed 
which  Otis  flung  into  the  mind  of  this  youth 
fell  upon  a  sufficiently  warm  and  fertile  soil. 

In  this  initial  struggle  of  the  writs  of  assist 
ance  the  royal  government  obtained  a  nominal 
victory  in  the  affirmation  of  the  technical  legal 
ity  of  the  process ;  but  the  colonists  enjoyed  the 
substance  of  success,  since  the  attempt  to  issue 
the  obnoxious  writ  was  not  repeated.  The  trou 
bled  waters,  not  being  soon  again  disturbed, 
recovered  their  usual  placidity  of  surface,  but 
the  strong  under-current  of  popular  thought  and 
temper  had  been  stimulated  not  in  the  direction 
of  loyalty.  From  the  day  of  Otis's  argument 
Adams,  for  his  part,  remained  a  patriot  through 
his  very  marrow.  Yet  he  continued  to  give 
close  attention  to  his  own  professional  business, 
which  he  steadily  increased.  Gradually  he 
gained  that  repute  and  standing  among  his 
fellow  citizens  which  careful  study,  sound  sense, 


AT  THE  BAR  25 

and  a  strong  character  are  sure  in  time  to  secure. 
He  held  from  time  to  time  some  of  the  smaller 
local  offices  which  indicate  that  a  young  man  is 
well  thought  of  by  his  neighbors.  Such  was  his 
position  when  in  1765  the  Stamp  Act  set  the 
province  in  a  flame  and  launched  him,  altogether 
unexpectedly,  upon  that  public  career  which  was 
to  endure  to  the  end  of  his  active  years.  This 
momentous  piece  of  legislation  was  passed  in 
Parliament  innocently  and  thoughtlessly  enough 
by  a  vote  of  294  to  49,  in  March,  1765.  It  was 
to  take  effect  on  November  1  of  the  same  year. 
But  the  simple-minded  indifference  of  the  Eng 
lish  legislators  was  abundantly  offset  by  the 
rage  of  the  provincials.  The  tale  of  the  revolt  is 
too  familiar  to  be  repeated ;  every  child  knows 
how  the  effigy  of  stamp-distributor  Oliver  was 
first  hanged  and  then  burned ;  how  he  himself 
was  compelled  by  the  zealous  "  Sons  of  Liberty  " 
to  resign  his  office ;  how  his  place  of  business 
was  demolished ;  how  his  house  and  the  houses 
of  Hutchinson  and  of  other  officials  were  sacked 
by  the  mob.  These  extravagant  doings  dis 
gusted  Adams,  whose  notions  of  resistance  were 
widely  different.  In  his  own  town  of  Braintree 
he  took  the  lead  of  the  malcontents;  he  drew 
up  and  circulated  for  signatures  a  petition  to 
the  selectmen  asking  for  a  town  meeting,  at 
which  he  presented  a  draft  of  instructions  to 


26  JOHN   ADAMS 

the  representative  of  the  town  in  the  colonial 
General  Court.  These,  being  carried  unani 
mously,  were  "published  in  Draper's  paper, 
and  .  .  .  adopted  by  forty  other  towns  of  the 
province  as  instructions  to  their  respective  re 
presentatives."  Adams  became  a  man  of  pro 
minence. 

When  the  time  came  for  putting  the  new 
statute  in  operation,  divers  expedients  for  evad 
ing  it  were  resorted  to.  But  Chief  Justice 
Hutchinson  in  the  county  of  Suffolk  prevented 
the  opening  of  the  courts  there  and  the  trans 
action  of  business  without  stamps.  On  Decem 
ber  18  Adams  wrote  gloomily :  — 

"  The  probate  office  is  shut,  the  custom  house  is 
shut,  the  courts  of  justice  are  shut,  and  all  business 
seems  at  a  stand.  ...  I  have  not  drawn  a  writ  since 
the  first  of  November.  .  .  .  This  long  interval  of  in 
dolence  and  idleness  will  make  a  large  chasm  in  my 
affairs,  if  it  should  not  reduce  me  to  distress  and  in 
capacitate  me  to  answer  the  demands  upon  me.  .  .  . 
I  was  but  just  getting  into  my  gears,  just  getting 
under  sail,  and  an  embargo  is  laid  upon  the  ship. 
Thirty  years  of  my  life  are  passed  in  preparation  for 
business.  ...  I  have  groped  in  dark  obscurity  till 
of  late,  and  had  but  just  become  known  and  gained 
a  small  degree  of  reputation  when  this  execrable  pro 
ject  was  set  on  foot  for  my  ruin  as  well  as  that  of 
America  in  general,  and  of  Great  Britain." 


AT  THE  BAR  27 

Adams  was  not  alone  in  feeling  the  stress  of 
this  enforced  cessation  of  all  business.  On  the 
very  day  when  he  was  writing  these  grievous 
forebodings  a  town  meeting  was  holding  in  Bos 
ton,  at  which  a  memorial  was  adopted,  pray 
ing  the  governor  and  council  to  remove  the 
fatal  obstruction  out  of  the  way  of  the  daily 
occupations  of  the  people.  The  next  day  news 
came  to  Mr.  Adams  at  Braintree  that  he  had 
been  associated  with  the  venerable  Jeremiah 
Gridley  and  James  Otis  as  counsel  for  the  town 
to  support  this  memorial.  This  politico-pro 
fessional  honor,  which  was  the  greater  since  he 
was  not  a  citizen  of  Boston,  surprised  him  and 
caused  him  no  little  perturbation.  He  saw  in 
it  some  personal  peril,  and,  what  he  dreaded 
much  more,  a  sure  opposition  to  his  profes 
sional  advancement  on  the  part  of  the  govern 
ment  and  the  numerous  body  of  loyalists. 
Moreover,  he  distrusted  his  capacity  for  so  mo 
mentous  and  responsible  a  task.  But  there  is 
no  instance  in  Adams's  life  when  either  fear  of 
consequences  or  modesty  seriously  affected  his 
action.  Upon  this  occasion  he  did  not  hesitate 
an  instant.  "  I  am  now,"  he  at  once  declared, 
"under  all  obligations  of  interest  and  ambi 
tion,  as  well  as  honor,  gratitude,  and  duty,  to 
exert  the  utmost  of  my  abilities  in  this  impor 
tant  cause."  On  the  evening  of  the  very  next 


28  JOHN   ADAMS 

day,  with  no  possibility  for  preparation,  with 
few  hours  even  for  thought  or  consultation,  the 
three  lawyers  were  obliged  to  make  their  argu 
ments  before  the  governor  and  council.  Mr. 
Adams  had  to  speak  first.  "  Then  it  fell  upon 
me,"  he  said,  "  without  one  moment's  oppor 
tunity  to  consult  any  authorities,  to  open  an 
argument  upon  a  question  that  was  never  made 
before,  and  I  wish  I  could  hope  it  never  would 
be  made  again,  that  is,  whether  the  courts  of 
law  should  be  open  or  not." 

John  Quincy  Adams  alleges,  not  without 
justice,  that  his  father  placed  the  demands  of 
the  colonists  upon  a  stronger,  as  well  as  upon 
a  more  daring  basis  than  did  either  of  his  col 
leagues.  "  Mr.  Otis  reasoned  with  great  learn 
ing  and  zeal  on  the  judges'  oaths,  etc.,  Mr. 
Gridley  on  the  great  inconveniences  that  would 
ensue  the  interruption  of  justice."  Mr.  Adams, 
though  advancing  also  points  of  expediency, 
"grounded  his  argument  on  the  invalidity  of 
the  Stamp  Act,  it  not  being  in  any  sense  our 
Act,  having  never  consented  to  it."  This  was 
recognized  as  the  one  sufficient  and  unanswer 
able  statement  of  the  colonial  position  from 
this  time  forth  to  the  day  of  Independence,  — 
the  injustice  and  unlawfulness  of  legislation, 
especially  for  taxation,  over  persons  not  repre 
sented  in  the  legislature.  But  in  British  ears 


AT  THE  BAR  29 

such  language  was  rebellious,  even  revolution 
ary. 

No  historian  has  conceived  or  described  the 
condition  of  affairs,  of  society,  of  temper  and 
feeling,  at  least  in  the  southern  part  of  this 
country,  at  the  time  of  the  Stamp  Act,  with 
anything  like  the  accuracy  and  vividness  which 
illuminate  the  closing  pages  of  "  The  Virgin 
ians."  With  a  moderation  happily  combined 
with  force,  and  with  a  frank  recognition  of  the 
way  he  would  have  been  struck  by  his  own  ar 
guments  had  he  listened  to  them  from  the 
other  side,  Thackeray  puts  into  the  mouth  of 
George  Warrington  the  English  justification  of 
English  policy.  It  may  be  admitted  that,  if 
Parliament  could  not  tax  the  colonists,  then 
there  was  the  case  of  a  government  which 
could  exact  no  revenue  from  its  subjects,  and 
which,  therefore,  could  only  take  with  thanks 
their  voluntary  contributions.  In  any  theory 
of  government  such  a  proposition  is  an  absurd 
ity.  It  may  further  be  admitted  that  English 
men  "  at  home "  were  a  much  more  heavily 
taxed  community  than  there  was  any  endeavor 
to  make  the  expatriated  colonial  Englishmen. 
It  is  also  true  that  Great  Britain  acknowledged 
and  performed  reasonably  well  the  duties  which 
are  part  of  the  function  of  government.  Against 
these  weighty  arguments  there  was  but  one 


30  JOHN   ADAMS 

which  could  prevail,  and  that  was  the  broad  and 
fundamental  one  advanced  by  Mr.  Adams:  it 
reached  deeper  than  any  of  the  English  argu 
ments  ;  it  came  before  them  and  settled  the  con 
troversy  before  one  could  get  to  them.  Great 
Britain  said :  A  government  without  a  power  of 
taxation  is  an  impossible  absurdity.  The  colo 
nies  replied  with  a  still  earlier  fact :  But  taxation 
cannot  be  exercised  without  representation.  The 
truth  at  the  very  bottom  was  fortunately  the 
American  truth,  and  this  Mr.  Adams  saw  clearly 
and  said  boldly,  so  that  the  "  liberty  party " 
never  forgot  the  exposition.  There  was  a  ques 
tion  which  he  did  not  shirk,  though  he  contem 
plated  it  with  something  like  a  shudder.  If 
there  could  be  no  government  without  taxation, 
and  no  taxation  without  representation,  and 
there  was  no  chance  that  representation  would 
be  conceded,  —  what  then  ?  Only  independence. 
Such  a  chain  of  logic  was  enough  to  make  so 
thoughtful  a  man  as  Adams  very  serious,  and 
one  is  not  surprised  to  find  these  brief,  pregnant 
entries  in  his  diary  :  — 

"  Sunday.     At  home  with  my  family,  thinking." 
"  Christmas.     At  home,  thinking,  reading,  search 
ing,  concerning  taxation  without  consent." 

But  he  never  had  any  doubt  of  the  soundness 
of  his  position.     He  reiterated  it  afterwards  in 


AT  THE  BAR  31 

court  in  behalf  of  John  Hancock,  who  was  sued 
for  duties  on  a  cargo  of  madeira  wine,  which 
had  been  landed  at  night,  smuggler  -  fashion. 
Adams,  as  counsel  for  the  defendant,  impugned 
the  statute  because  "  it  was  made  without  our 
consent.  My  client,  Mr.  Hancock,  never  con 
sented  to  it ;  he  never  voted  for  it  himself,  and 
he  never  voted  for  any  man  to  make  such  a  law 
for  him."  This  cause,  by  the  way,  gave  Adams 
plenty  of  business  for  one  winter,  since  the  gov 
ernment  lawyers  seemed  "  determined  to  examine 
the  whole  town  as  witnesses."  It  was  finally 
disposed  of  in  a  manner  less  formal,  though  not 
less  effective,  than  the  usual  docket  entry,  "  by 
the  battle  of  Lexington." 

By  the  share  which  he  took  in  this  business 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  Adams  conclusively  cast  in 
his  lot  with  the  patriot  party,  and  thereafter 
stood  second  only  to  such  older  leaders  as  Otis, 
Samuel  Adams,  and  Hancock.  He  continued, 
however,  to  devote  himself  sedulously  to  his  law 
business,  accepting  only  the  not  very  onerous 
public  office  of  selectman  in  the  spring  of  1766. 
He  was  advised  to  apply  to  the  governor  for  the 
position  of  justice  of  the  peace,  then  a  post  of 
substantial  honor  and  value.  But  he  refused  to 
do  so,  because  he  feared  that  a  "  great  fermen 
tation  of  the  country  "  was  at  hand,  and  he  had 
no  fancy  for  hampering  himself  with  any  "  obli 
gations  of  gratitude." 


32  JOHN  ADAMS 

Early  in  1768,  through  the  persuasion  of 
friends,  he  removed  to  Boston,  and  occupied  the 
"  White  House,"  so  called,  in  Brattle  Square, 
taking  the  step,  however,  not  without  misgivings 
on  the  score  of  his  health,  which  at  this  time 
was  not  good  and  gave  him  no  little  concern 
ment.  He  had  not  been  long  in  his  new  quar 
ters  when  his  friend,  Jonathan  Sewall,  attorney- 
general  of  the  province,  called  upon  him,  and, 
with  many  flattering  words  as  to  his  character 
and  standing  at  the  bar,  offered  him  the  post  of 
advocate-general  in  the  court  of  admiralty.  It 
was  a  lucrative  office,  "  a  sure  introduction  to 
the  most  profitable  business  in  the  province,  .  .  . 
a  first  step  in  the  ladder  of  royal  favor  and  pro 
motion."  Unquestionably  the  proposal  was  in 
sidious,  since  the  policy  of  such  indirect  bribes 
was  systematically  pursued  at  this  juncture  by 
Bernard  and  Hutchinson.  But  Sewall  endeav 
ored,  of  course,  to  gloss  over  the  purport  of  his 
errand  by  stating  that  he  was  specially  instructed 
by  the  governor  to  say  that  there  was  no  design 
to  interfere  with  Adams's  well-known  political 
sympathies.  Words,  however,  could  not  conceal 
the  too  obvious  trap.  Adams  was  prompt  and 
positive  in  his  refusal.  Sewall  declined  to  take 
No  for  an  answer,  and  returned  again  to  the 
charge  a  few  weeks  later.  But  he  gathered 
nothing  by  his  persistence.  It  was  time  lost  to 


AT  THE   BAR  33 

endeavor  to  mould  a  man  whose  distinguishing 
trait  was  a  supreme  stubbornness,  which  became 
preeminently  invincible  upon  any  question  of 
personal  independence. 

In  October,  1768,  the  two  regiments  which 
Hutchinson  had  advised  the  king's  ministers  to 
send  over  debarked  and  marched  through  Bos 
ton  town  "  with  muskets  charged,  bayonets  fixed, 
drums  beating,  fifes  playing,"  and  all  the  cir 
cumstance  of  war  !  Overflowing  their  barracks, 
these  unwelcome  guests  took  possession  of  the 
town-house  and  other  public  buildings,  and  by 
their  cannon  commanded  the  state-house  and 
court-house.  The  officers  certainly  endeavored 
to  maintain  a  conciliatory  bearing,  and  kept 
the  troops  creditably  quiet  and  orderly.  But  it 
was  impossible  to  give  an  amiable  complexion 
to  a  military  occupation.  The  townspeople  ob 
stinately  regarded  the  redcoats  as  triumphant 
invaders,  and  hated,  and,  it  must  be  confessed, 
taunted  them  continually  as  such.  The  odious- 
ness  of  the  situation  was  especially  forced  upon 
Adams  by  the  daily  drill  of  a  regiment  in  the 
great  square  before  his  house.  But  in  the  even 
ing  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty  "  pointedly  sought  to 
cleanse  his  ears  from  the  offense  of  the  British 
military  music  by  serenading  beneath  his  win 
dows.  Long  afterwards,  writing  of  this  time, 
recalling  the  confidence  placed  in  him  by  the 


34  JOHN  ADAMS 

patriots  and  his  resolve  not  to  disappoint  them, 
Adams  said :  "  My  daily  reflections  for  two 
years  at  the  sight  of  those  soldiers  before  my 
door  were  serious  enough.  .  .  .  The  danger  I 
was  in  appeared  in  full  view  before  me  ;  and 
I  very  deliberately  and  indeed  very  solemnly 
determined  at  all  events  to  adhere  to  my  prin 
ciples  in  favor  of  my  native  country,  which, 
indeed,  was  all  the  country  I  knew,  or  which 
had  been  known  by  my  father,  grandfather,  or 
great-grandfather."  Yet  he  held  himself  in 
prudent  restraint,  and  declined  to  attend  or 
speak  at  the  town  meetings.  "  That  way  mad 
ness  lies,"  he  used  to  say,  with  a  reference  to 
the  sad  condition  of  Otis.  Yet  he  was  destined 
to  perform  a  singularly  trying  task  in  connec 
tion  with  these  same  redcoats,  in  spite  of  his 
desire  to  stand  aloof  from  any  public  appear 
ance. 

It  was  a  mere  question  of  time  when  a  seri 
ous  collision  with  the  troops  should  take  place. 
It  came  at  last,  as  every  one  knows,  upon  the 
memorable  evening  of  March  5,  1770,  in  the 
shape  of  the  famous  "  Boston  Massacre."  On 
that  fatal  day  a  crowd  of  the  disorderly  loaf 
ers  and  boys  of  the  town,  with  their  natural 
weapons  of  sticks  and  stones,  so  threatened  and 
abused  the  solitary  sentry  pacing  upon  King 
Street  that  he  called  for  aid.  To  his  summons 


AT   THE   BAR  35 

speedily  responded  Captain  Preston,  bringing 
six  more  soldiers.  The  force  of  the  civilian 
tormentors  also  received  large  accessions.  The 
mob,  pressing  angrily  upon  the  officer  and  his 
little  force,  so  far  alarmed  them  that  they  fired  a 
volley.  Each  musket  was  loaded  with  two  balls, 
and  each  ball  found  its  human  mark.  Five 
men  were  slain  outright ;  others  were  wounded. 
Forthwith  the  whole  regiment  turned  out  and 
formed  in  defensive  array  across  the  street  upon 
the  northerly  side  of  the  town-house.  Before 
it  a  great  and  unterrified  crowd  swelled  and 
raged.  An  awful  conflict  was  impending.  For 
tunately  Hutchinson  appeared  upon  the  scene, 
and  by  wise  words  checked  the  tumult  at  its 
present  stage.  He  promised  that  the  officer 
and  the  men  should  at  once  be  placed  under 
arrest  and  tried  for  murder.  The  people,  with 
the  native  respect  of  their  race  for  law,  were 
satisfied,  and  further  bloodshed  was  averted. 
During  the  night  Preston  and  the  soldiers  were 
arrested. 

The  very  next  morning,  the  heat  of  the  tur 
moil  still  seething,  there  came  into  Mr.  Adams's 
office  one  Forrest,  pleasantly  nicknamed  the 
"  Irish  infant."  This  emissary  was  charged  to 
induce  Adams  to  act  as  counsel  for  the  accused, 
and  he  evidently  expected  to  find  his  task  diffi 
cult  of  accomplishment ;  but  Adams  acceded  to 


86  JOHN  ADAMS 

the  request  as  soon  as  it  was  preferred,  making 
some  remarks  to  the  point  of  professional  duty, 
trite  and  commonplace  in  their  ethical  aspect, 
but  honorably  distinguished  in  that  they  were 
backed  by  instant  action  at  a  moment  of  grave 
trial.  With  him  acted  Josiah  Quincy,  junior, 
then  a  young  man  lately  called  to  the  bar.  It 
was  no  welcome  duty  which  professional  obliga 
tion  and  perhaps  still  higher  sentiments  thus 
thrust  upon  these  two  lawyers.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  the  choice  of  Mr.  Adams,  espe 
cially,  was  due  to  the  astute  cowardice  of  Hutch- 
inson,  who  wished  first  to  handicap  a  strong 
patriot  by  rendering  him  an  object  of  suspicion 
among  the  less  reasonable  malcontents,  and  next, 
in  case  of  being  ultimately  compelled  to  pardon 
the  accused  men,  to  interpose  between  himself 
and  an  angry  people  the  character  and  influence 
of  the  most  highly  considered  lawyer  on  the 
popular  side.  It  may  well  be  supposed,  how 
ever,  that  Captain  Preston,  on  trial  for  his  life 
amid  strange  and  hostile  surroundings,  selected 
his  counsel  with  a  single  eye  to  his  own  interest. 
Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  regards  this  engagement  in 
this  cause  as  constituting  one  of  the  four  great 
moral  trials  and  triumphs  marking  his  grand 
father's  career.  Undoubtedly  it  was  so.  It 
was  not  only  that,  so  far  as  his  own  feelings 
were  concerned,  the  position  was  odious,  but  he 


AT  THE   BAR  37 

was  called  upon  to  risk  losing  the  well-earned 
confidence  of  those  of  his  fellow  townsmen  with 
whom  he  was  in  profound  sympathy  in  matters 
of  momentous  importance ;  to  imperil  a  repu 
tation  and  popularity  won  by  twelve  long  years 
of  honest  labor,  and  necessary  to  his  success 
and  even  to  his  livelihood.  It  is  difficult  to 
admire  too  highly  the  spirit  which  saw  no  cause 
even  for  an  hour's  hesitation  in  the  sudden 
demand  for  such  sacrifices.  That  he  was  un 
questionably  right  is  now  so  evident  that  it  is 
hard  to  appreciate  that  he  could  have  incurred 
great  censure  and  peril  at  the  time.  Yet  this 
was  the  case.  The  cooler  and  more  intelligent 
patriots  could  be  counted  upon  to  appreciate 
the  case  justly,  and  in  time  also  a  large  propor 
tion  of  the  party  would  follow.  But  at  first 
there  was  a  great  clamor  of  rebuke  and  wrath. 
Even  Josiah  Quincy,  senior,  a  man  from  whom, 
if  from  any  one,  better  judgment  might  have 
been  anticipated,  wrote  to  his  son  a  letter  min 
gled  of  incredulity,  indignation,  and  remon 
strance.  It  seems  ridiculous  to  find  that  long 
years  afterwards,  after  the  Revolution,  after 
Adams  had  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence,  had  been  insulted  at  the  English  court, 
and  had  served  as  Vice-President  with  Wash 
ington,  this  legal  service  of  his  was  dragged  out 
by  his  opponents  as  evidence  of  his  subjection 


38  JOHN   ADAMS 

to   British   influence;   yet   such   folly   actually 
occurred. 

The  trial  of  Preston  began  October  24,  and 
closed  October  30.  It  resulted  in  an  acquittal, 
since  it  was  of  course  impossible  to  adduce  sat 
isfactory  evidence  that  he  had  given  the  com 
mand  to  fire.  The  trial  of  the  soldiers  followed, 
which  a  shorthand  writer  endeavored  to  report ; 
but  he  failed  lamentably  in  catching  the  tenor 
of  the  counsel's  arguments.  Of  these  defend 
ants  all  were  acquitted  save  two,  who  were 
found  guilty  of  manslaughter.  They  claimed 
their  privilege  of  clergy,  and  so  saved  their 
lives,  but  were  branded  on  the  hand  with  a  hot 
iron,  a  disgrace  which  they  keenly  felt  to  be 
undeserved,  and  which  won  for  them  the  honest 
sympathy  of  Mr.  Adams.  It  may  be  remarked 
that  Adams  was  much  annoyed  at  a  story,  to 
which  a  sort  of  corroboration  was  afterward 
given  by  some  unfair  language  of  Hutchinson 
in  his  history,  that  his  motive  in  engaging  for 
the  prisoners  came  in  the  shape  of  a  large  fee. 
In  fact,  his  entire  remuneration  for  all  services 
rendered  to  all  his  eight  clients  was  only  nine 
teen  guineas,  which  were  not  accompanied  or 
followed  by  so  much  as  even  a  courteous  word 
of  thanks  from  Preston;  But  he  had  the  com 
fort  of  appreciating  the  character  of  his  own 
conduct  at  least  as  well  as  if  he  were  judging 


AT  THE  BAR  39 

the  behavior  of  another  person.  He  said  of  it 
two  or  three  years  later:  "It  was  one  of  the 
most  gallant,  manly,  and  disinterested  actions 
of  my  whole  life,  and  one  of  the  best  pieces  of 
service  I  ever  rendered  my  country."  So  fairly 
could  he  at  times  estimate  himself  and  his 
doings ! 

One  gratification,  however,  was  his  besides 
the  mens  conscia  recti  and  the  paltry  guineas. 
After  his  acceptance  of  the  position  of  defend 
ant's  counsel  had  become  known,  and  before 
the  trial,  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  represen 
tation  of  the  town  of  Boston  in  the  General 
Court.  Upon  June  3  Adams  was  elected  to 
fill  this  place  by  the  handsome  vote  of  418  out 
of  a  total  of  536,  good  evidence  that  the  people 
had  come  to  their  senses  concerning  the  true 
character  of  his  action.  But  gratifying  as  such 
a  testimonial  of  popularity  was  at  the  moment, 
when  he  had  staked  his  good  repute  upon  a 
question  of  principle,  yet  in  other  respects  the 
honor  was  less  welcome.  Heretofore  he  had 
carefully  abstained  from  entanglement  in  public 
affairs,  contenting  himself  with  a  bold  profes 
sion  of  patriotic  sentiment,  and  shunning  sedu 
lously  that  active  share  which  he  was  often  and 
inevitably  urged  and  tempted  to  assume.  He 
had  devoted  himself  with  steady  and  almost 
exclusive  persistence  to  the  practice  of  his  pro- 


40  JOHN  ADAMS 

fession,  recognizing  no  object  superior  to  that. 
Success  in  this  he  was  already  grasping.  Twelve 
years  he  had  been  in  practice,  and  now  "had 
more  business  at  the  bar  than  any  man  in  the 
province."  He  felt  that  an  entry  upon  a  public 
career  would  rob  him  of  the  ripening  harvest  of 
his  years  of  toil;  that  it  would  expose  him  to 
anxiety,  complications,  and  personal  danger, 
and  his  family  perhaps  to  poverty.  His  later 
reminiscence  of  his  feelings  upon  accepting  this 
office  is  impressively  pathetic  :  — 

"  My  health  was  feeble.  I  was  throwing  away  as 
bright  prospects  as  any  man  ever  had  before  him, 
and  I  had  devoted  myself  to  endless  labor  and  anx 
iety,  if  not  to  infamy  and  to  death,  and  that  for  no 
thing,  except  what  indeed  was  and  ought  to  be  in  all 
a  sense  of  duty.  In  the  evening  I  expressed  to  Mrs. 
Adams  all  my  apprehensions.  That  excellent  lady, 
who  has  always  encouraged  me,  burst  into  a  flood  of 
tears,  and  said  she  was  very  sensible  of  all  the  dan 
ger  to  her  and  to  our  children,  as  well  as  to  me,  but 
she  thought  I  had  done  as  I  ought ;  she  was  very 
willing  to  share  in  all  that  was  to  come,  and  to  place 
her  trust  in  Providence." 

Thus  solemnly,  with  a  sense  of  costly  self- 
sacrifice  to  duty,  and  with  dark  presagings, 
Adams  consented  to  enter  upon  that  public 
career  which  in  the  inscrutable  future  proved  to 
be  laden  with  such  rich  rewards  for  his  noble 


AT  THE   BAR  41 

courage,  and  such   brilliant  confutation  of  his 
melancholy  forebodings. 

This  first  incursion  into  the  domain  of  public 
life,  undertaken  in  so  grave  a  temper,  was  not 
of  long  duration.  Considering  the  hale  and 
prolonged  old  age  which  Mr.  Adams  came  to 
enjoy,  his  health  in  what  should  have  been  vig 
orous  years  seems  to  have  given  him  a  surpris 
ing  amount  of  solicitude.  So  now,  within  a 
few  months  after  his  election,  he  fell  into  such 
a  condition  with  "  a  pain  in  his  breast,  and  a 
complaint  in  his  lungs,  which  seriously  threat 
ened  his  life,"  that  he  felt  sure  that  city  life 
was  disagreeing  with  him.  Accordingly  in  the 
spring  of  1771,  just  three  years  after  coming 
to  town,  he  removed  his  household  back  to 
Braintree,  and  of  course  at  the  end  of  his  year 
of  service  he  could  not  again  be  returned  as  a 
member  from  Boston.  He  was  very  despond 
ent  at  this  time.  He  held  the  inhabitants  of 
Boston  in  "  the  most  pleasing  and  grateful  re 
membrance."  He  said  :  "  I  wish  to  God  it  was 
in  my  power  to  serve  them,  as  much  as  it  is 
in  my  inclination.  But  it  is  not ;  my  wishes 
are  impotent,  my  endeavors  fruitless  and  inef 
fectual  to  them,  and  ruinous  to  myself."  He 
fell  occasionally  into  moods  of  melancholy  like 
this,  doubtless  by  reason  of  ill-health.  Prob 
ably,  also,  after  having  tasted  the  singular  fas- 


42  JOHN  ADAMS 

cination  of  active  concernment  in  public  affairs, 
he  was  not  able  altogether  without  regret  to 
contemplate  his  apparent  future,  with  "  no 
journeys  to  Cambridge,  no  General  Court  to 
attend,"  nothing  but  "  law  and  husbandry." 
He  had  come  to  be  a  man  of  some  note,  which 
is  always  pleasant,  whatever  disingenuous  pro 
fessions  prominent  men  may  sometimes  make. 
Already,  many  months  before,  when  stopping 
at  a  tavern  on  his  way  to  Plymouth,  he  was 
surprised  by  having  a  fellow-traveler,  unknown 
to  him,  go  out  to  saddle  and  bridle  his  horse 
and  hold  the  stirrup  for  him,  saying,  "  Mr. 
Adams,  as  a  man  of  liberty,  I  respect  you ; 
God  bless  you  !  I  '11  stand  by  you  while  I  live, 
and  from  hence  to  Cape  Cod  you  won't  find  ten 
men  amiss."  Now,  too,  upon  coming  to  Brain- 
tree,  the  representative  from  that  town,  who 
once  had  been  pleased  to  call  Mr.  Adams  "a 
petty  lawyer,"  complimented  him  as  the  "  first 
lawyer  in  the  province,"  and  offered  to  stand 
aside  if  Mr.  Adams  would  be  willing  to  repre 
sent  Braintree  in  the  General  Court.  One 
could  not  lightly  throw  away  such  prestige. 

From  the  farm  at  Braintree  he  rode  habit 
ually  to  his  office  in  Boston,  and  by  this  whole 
some  life  regained  his  good  health,  and  fortu 
nately  suffered  no  material  loss  in  the  popular 
estimation.  His  interest  in  colonial  affairs 


AT  THE  BAR  43 

continued  unabated.  He  set  down,  for  the 
instruction  of  his  family,  "if  this  wretched 
journal  should  ever  be  read  "  by  them,  that  he 
was  the  unwavering  enemy  of  Hutchinson  and 
of  Hutchinson's  system,  and  he  predicted  that 
the  governor  had  inaugurated  a  contention, 
which  would  "  never  be  fully  terminated  but  by 
wars  and  confusions  and  carnage."  "  With 
great  anxiety  and  hazard,  with  continual  appli 
cation  to  business,  with  loss  of  health,  reputa 
tion,  profit,  and  as  fair  prospects  and  opportuni 
ties  of  advancement  as  others,  who  have  greedily 
embraced  them,  I  have  for  ten  years  together 
invariably  opposed  this  system  and  its  fautors." 
So  Pym  or  Hampden  might  have  spoken  con 
cerning  Strafford.  But  now  there  came  one  of 
those  lulls  in  the  political  storm  when  sanguine 
people  sometimes  think  that  it  has  spent  its 
force  and  is  to  give  way  to  fairer  days.  Adams 
beheld  this  with  some  bewilderment  and  regret, 
but  with  constancy  of  spirit.  "  The  melodious 
harmony,  the  perfect  concords,  the  entire  confi 
dence  and  affection  that  seem  to  be  restored, 
greatly  surprise  me.  Will  it  be  lasting?  I 
believe  there  is  no  man  in  so  curious  a  situa 
tion  as  I  am ;  I  am,  for  what  I  can  see,  quite 
left  alone  in  the  world."  He  had  not,  however, 
to  wait  long  before  the  tranquillity  passed,  the 
gales  were  blowing  anew  more  fiercely  than 


44  JOHN   ADAMS 

ever,  and  the  old  comrades  were  all  in  company 
again. 

In  truth,  it  was  ridiculous  for  Mr.  Adams  to 
fancy  that  he  could  remain  permanently  a  vil 
lager  of  Braintree,  a  long  hour's  journey  from 
Boston.  That  redoubtable  young  town,  though 
for  a  while  it  was  making  such  a  commotion  in 
the  world,  had  only  about  16,000  inhabitants, 
and  it  could  not  have  been  sufficiently  metro 
politan  to  justify  Mr.  Adams  in  fleeing  from 
its  crowds  into  the  wholesome  solitudes  of  the 
country.  It  was  a  morbid  notion  on  his  part. 
By  the  autumn  of  1772  he  came  to  this  con 
clusion,  and  found  his  health  so  reestablished 
that  he  not  only  moved  back  to  town,  but  ac 
tually  bought  a  house  in  Queen  Street,  near 
the  court-house.  He,  however,  registered  a 
pledge  to  himself  "  to  meddle  not  with  public 
affairs  of  town  or  province.  I  am  determined 
my  own  life  and  the  welfare  of  my  whole  fam 
ily,  which  is  much  dearer  to  me,  are  too  great 
sacrifices  for  me  to  make.  I  have  served  my 
country  and  her  professed  friends,  at  an  im 
mense  expense  to  me  of  time,  peace,  health, 
money,  and  preferment,  both  of  which  last  have 
courted  my  acceptance  and  been  inexorably  re 
fused,  lest  I  should  be  laid  under  a  temptation 
to  forsake  the  sentiments  of  the  friends  of  this 
country.  ...  I  will  devote  myself  wholly  to 


AT  THE  BAR  45 

my  private  business,  my  office,  and  my  farm, 
and  I  hope  to  lay  a  foundation  for  better  for 
tune  to  my  children  and  a  happier  life  than 
has  fallen  to  my  share."  Yet  these  sentiments, 
which  he  seems  not  to  have  kept  to  himself, 
brought  upon  him  some  harsh  criticism.  James 
Otis,  the  fiery  zealot,  one  day  sneeringly  said 
to  him,  with  a  bluntness  which  sounds  some 
what  startling  in  our  more  cautious  day,  that 
he  would  never  learn  military  exercises  because 
he  had  not  the  heart.  "  How  do  you  know?" 
replied  Adams.  "You  never  searched  my 
heart."  "  Yes,  I  have,"  retorted  Otis  ;  "  tired 
with  one  year's  service,  dancing  from  Boston  to 
Braintree  and  from  Braintree  to  Boston ;  mop 
ing  about  the  streets  of  this  town  as  hypped  as 
Father  Flynt  at  ninety,  and  seemingly  regard 
less  of  everything  but  to  get  money  enough  to 
carry  you  smoothly  through  this  world."  This 
was  the  other  side  of  the  shield  from  that  upon 
which  Mr.  Adams  was  wont  to  look,  and  which 
has  been  shown  in  the  sundry  communings 
cited  from  his  diary  concerning  his  sacrifices. 
Otis  was  impetuous  and  extravagant  of  tongue, 
and  probably  his  picture  was  the  less  fair  of 
the  two.  Yet  truly  Mr.  Adams  appears  a  little 
absurd  in  putting  on  the  airs  and  claiming  the 
privileges  of  "  an  infirm  man,"  as  he  calls  him 
self,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven.  But  at  times 


46  JOHN   ADAMS 

he  could  give  way  to  patriotic  outbursts  such 
as  would  not  have  misbecome  even  the  pungent 
and  reckless  Otis  himself.  One  evening  at  Mr. 
Cranch's  "  I  said  there  was  no  more  justice 
left  in  Britain  than  there  was  in  hell ;  that  I 
wished  for  war,  and  that  the  whole  Bourbon 
family  was  upon  the  back  of  Great  Britain  ; 
avowed  a  thorough  disaffection  to  that  country ; 
wished  that  anything  might  happen  to  them, 
and,  as  the  clergy  prayed  of  our  enemies  in 
time  of  war,  that  they  might  be  brought  to 
reason  or  to  ruin."  Yet  he  was  afterward  pen 
itent  for  this  language,  and  took  himself  to 
task  "with  severity,  for  these  rash,  inexperi 
enced,  boyish,  raw,  and  awkward  expressions. 
A  man  who  has  no  better  government  of  his 
tongue,  no  more  command  of  his  temper,  is  unfit 
for  anything  but  children's  play  and  the  com 
pany  of  boys,"  etc.,  etc. 

In  justice  to  Mr.  Adams  it  should  be  said 
that,  so  far  as  any  records  show,  he  had  not 
often  to  blame  himself  in  this  manner ;  habit 
ually  he  was  not  less  moderate  than  firm  and 
courageous.  One  is  greatly  struck  with  the 
change  of  tone  which  insensibly  steals  over  the 
diary  as  the  young  man,  at  first  having  only 
himself  to  care  for,  develops  into  the  man  of  ma 
ture  years  with  the  weighty  and  difficult  inter 
ests  of  the  province  at  heart.  The  tendency  to 


AT  THE   BAR  47 

selfishness  and  narrow  egotism,  the  heartburn 
ings,  jealousies,  suspicions,  carpings,  and  harsh 
criticisms,  which  do  not  give  a  very  amiable  im 
pression  of  the  youth,  all  disappear  as  the  times 
change.  A  loftier  elevation  and  finer  atmos 
phere  are  insensibly  reached.  A  grave,  reso 
lute,  anxious  air  pervades  the  pages;  a  trust 
and  sense  of  comradeship  towards  fellow  pa 
triots  ;  almost  as  much  of  regret  as  of  rancor 
towards  many  of  those  who  should  be  standing 
by  the  province  but  are  not ;  hostility,  of  course, 
but  a  singular  absence  of  personal  abuse  and 
acrimony,  even  towards  such  men  as  Hutchin- 
son.  No  unmeasured  rage,  no  flames  of  anger 
and  ill-considered  words,  but  an  immutable 
conviction  and  a  stubborn  determination  are 
characteristics  which  he  shares  with  the  great 
bulk  of  the  "liberty  party."  There  is  no 
excitement  exhausting  itself  with  the  efferves 
cence  of  its  own  passion,  there  are  no  protesta 
tions  too  extravagant  to  be  fulfilled ;  the  exte 
rior  is  all  coolness  and  persistence  ;  the  heat 
glows  fiercely  far  inside.  Thus  one  clearly 
reads  in  Mr.  Adams's  diary  the  temper  of  his 
coadjutors  and  of  the  times  ;  and  if  the  same 
perusal  could  have  been  had  in  England,  it  is 
barely  possible  that  events  might  have  been 
different.  Cromwell  and  the  Puritans  were  not 
in  so  remote  a  past  that  the  royal  government 


48  JOHN  ADAMS 

could  be  justified  in  an  utter  failure  to  appre 
ciate  the  moral  and  mental  traits  of  the  people 
of  New  England,  if  only  those  traits  could  once 
be  got  beneath  the  eyes  of  the  king  and  cabinet. 
But  Adams's  diary  was  for  himself  alone. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   FIRST   CONGRESS 

IT  has  been  seen  that  nearly  three  years 
before  the  time  at  which  we  have  now  arrived 
Mr.  Adams  had  experienced  no  small  solicitude 
and  misgivings  when  summoned  to  take  a  part 
in  public  life.  He  had  soon  escaped  from  func 
tions  which  were  really  distasteful  to  him,  and 
had  gladly  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession 
and  that  care  for  his  private  interests  which 
naturally  lay  close  to  the  heart  of  a  shrewd  and 
prudent  man,  bred  in  the  practical  and  business 
like  atmosphere  of  the  New  England  of  those 
days,  and  having  a  wife  and  children  to  support. 
Hitherto  he  has  been  seen  holding  aloof  so  far 
as  possible  from  any  prominent  and  active  share 
in  the  disturbed  and  exciting,  but  certainly  also 
the  perilous  politics  of  the  times.  Even  within 
a  few  weeks  of  the  event  which  was  to  make 
his  career  permanently  and  irrevocably  that  of 
the  public  man,  he  writes  to  a  friend  that  he 
can  send  no  interesting  news,  because  "  I  have 
very  little  connection  with  public  affairs,  and  I 
hope  to  have  less."  Nevertheless  it  is  perfectly 


50  JOHN  ADAMS 

obvious  that  if  the  services  of  men  having  his 
qualities  of  mind  and  character  could  not  be 
commanded  by  the  patriots,  then  the  sooner 
submission  was  made  to  Great  Britain  the  bet 
ter.  At  the  ripe  age  of  thirty-eight,  well  read 
in  private  and  in  public  law,  of  a  temperament 
happily  combining  prudence  and  boldness,  nota 
bly  trustworthy,  active,  and  energetic,  standing 
already  in  the  front  rank  of  his  profession  if 
not  actually  at  its  head  in  the  province,  it 
was  inevitable  that  he  should  be  compelled  to 
assume  important  and  responsible  duties  in  the 
momentous  contest  so  rapidly  developing.  His 
reluctance  was  not  of  the  mouth  only,  not  the 
pretended  holding  back  of  a  man  who  neverthe 
less  desired  to  be  driven  forward ;  he  was  sin 
cere  in  his  shrinking  from  a  prominent  position, 
yet  he  could  surely  be  counted  upon  ultimately 
to  take  it,  because  refusal  would  have  been  con 
trary  to  his  nature. 

It  was  apparently  in  March,  1774,  that  Mr. 
Adams  was  contemplating  a  project  somewhat 
amusing  in  view  of  the  near  future.  "  Have  I 
patience  and  industry  enough,"  he  says,  "  to 
write  a  history  of  the  contest  between  Britain 
and  America?  It  would  be  proper  to  begin," 
etc.  Comical  enough  was  this  proposition  for 
writing  an  historical  narrative  before  the  mate 
rial  even  for  the  introductory  chapter  had  been 
completed. 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  51 

A  few  days  later  he  gives  to  James  Warren 
his  opinion  :  "  that  there  is  not  spirit  enough 
on  either  side  to  bring  the  question  to  a  com 
plete  decision,  and  that  we  shall  oscillate  like 
a  pendulum,  and  fluctuate  like  the  ocean,  for 
many  years  to  come,  and  never  obtain  a  com 
plete  redress  of  American  grievances,  nor  sub 
mit  to  an  absolute  establishment  of  parliament 
ary  authority,  but  be  trimming  between  both,  as 
we  have  been  for  ten  years  past,  for  more  years 
to  come  than  you  and  I  shall  live.  Our  chil 
dren  may  see  revolutions,"  etc.,  etc.  Evidently 
he  was  not  well  pleased  at  these  predictions, 
which  his  despondent  judgment  forced  from 
him.  But  the  "revolutions,"  so  much  more  to 
his  taste  than  the  "  trimming,"  were  already  at 
hand.  Less  than  three  months  later,  on  June 
17,  the  provincial  assembly  was  sitting  with 
closed  doors ;  the  secretary  of  the  governor, 
with  a  message  for  their  dissolution  in  his 
hand,  was  knocking  in  vain  for  admittance, 
while  the  members  were  hastily  choosing  five 
persons  to  represent  Massachusetts  at  a  meet 
ing  of  committees  from  the  several  colonies  to 
be  held  at  Philadelphia  on  September  1.  One 
hundred  and  seventeen  members  voted  "aye," 
twelve  voted  "  no ;  "  the  doors  were  opened,  and 
the  "last  provincial  assembly  that  ever  acted 
under  the  royal  authority  in  Massachusetts " 


52  JOHN  ADAMS 

was  at  an  end.  The  five  representatives  to  the 
first  Congress  of  North  America  were:  James 
Bowdoin,  Thomas  Gushing,  Samuel  Adams, 
John  Adams,  and  Robert  Treat  Paine.  It  so 
happened  that  at  the  very  hour  when  this  nom 
ination  was  making,  John  Adams  was  presid 
ing  at  Faneuil  Hall  over  a  meeting  of  citizens 
engaged  in  considering  what  measures  should  be 
taken  concerning  the  recent  acts  of  Parliament 
for  the  destruction  of  the  commerce  of  the  town. 
The  first  glimpse  of  Mr.  Adams's  feeling  at 
this  juncture  comes  in  a  few  hurried,  disjointed 
sentences,  written  in  his  diary  three  days  later ; 
he  is  "  in  Danvers,  bound  to  Ipswich,"  still  at 
tending  closely  to  his  law  business,  starting  on 
the  eastern  circuit.  He  says  :  — 

"  There  is  a  new  and  grand  scene  open  before  me  : 
a  Congress.  This  will  be  an  assembly  of  the  wisest 
men  upon  the  continent,  who  are  Americans  in  prin 
ciple,  that  is,  against  the  taxation  of  Americans  by 
authority  of  Parliament.  I  feel  myself  unequal  to 
this  business.  A  more  extensive  knowledge  of  the 
realm,  the  colonies,  and  of  commerce,  as  well  as  of 
law  and  policy,  is  necessary,  than  I  am  master  of. 
What  can  be  done  ?  Will  it  be  expedient  to  pro 
pose  an  annual  Congress  of  Committees  ?  to  petition  ? 
Will  it  do  to  petition  at  all  ?  —  to  the  King  ?  to  the 
Lords  ?  to  the  Commons  ?  What  will  such  consulta 
tions  avail  ?  Deliberations  alone  will  not  do.  We 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  53 

must  petition,  or  recommend  to  the  Assemblies  to 
petition,  or  —  " 

The  alternative  to  be  introduced  by  this  "  or  " 
gives  him  pause ;  it  is  too  terrible,  doubtless 
also  as  yet  too  little  considered  in  all  its  vague, 
vast,  and  multiform  possibilities,  to  be  definitely 
shaped  in  words,  even  on  these  secret  pages. 
He  will  not  be  run  away  with  by  a  hasty  pen, 
though  his  only  reader  is  himself.  Five  days 
later  he  comes  back  from  "  a  long  walk  through 
.  .  .  corn,  rye,  grass,"  and  writes  :  — 

"  I  wander  alone  and  ponder.  I  muse,  I  mope,  I 
ruminate.  I  am  often  in  reveries  and  brown  studies. 
The  objects  before  me  are  too  grand  and  multifarious 
for  my  comprehension.  We  have  not  men  fit  for  the 
times.  We  are  deficient  in  genius,  in  education,  in 
travel,  in  fortune,  in  everything.  I  feel  unutterable 
anxiety.  God  grant  us  wisdom  and  fortitude  !  Should 
the  opposition  be  suppressed,  should  this  country  sub 
mit,  what  infamy  and  ruin  !  God  forbid  !  Death  in 
any  form  is  less  terrible." 

On  June  25  he  writes  to  his  friend  Warren, 
who  had  been  instrumental  in  appointing  him 
to  Congress  :  — 

"  I  suppose  you  sent  me  there  to  school.  I  thank 
you  for  thinking  me  an  apt  scholar,  or  capable  of 
learning.  For  my  own  part  I  am  at  a  loss,  totally 
at  a  loss,  what  to  do  when  we  get  there  ;  but  I  hope 
to  be  there  taught.  It  is  to  be  a  school  of  political 


54  JOHN  ADAMS 

prophets,  I  suppose,  a  nursery  of  American  states 
men." 

Mr.  Adams  estimated  with  much  candor  and 
fairness  the  deficiencies  which  he  recognized  as 
likely  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  usefulness  and 
success  in  Congress.  But  in  speaking  of  his 
qualifications  he  did  not  mention,  and  doubtless 
did  not  at  all  appreciate,  one  fact  which  told 
largely  in  his  favor.  In  our  day  men  habitually 
go  to  Congress  with  only  such  crude  training  in 
the  oral  discussion  of  public  questions  as  they 
have  gained  in  the  juvenile  debating  societies  of 
school  or  college,  or  possibly  through  an  occa 
sional  appearance  "  on  the  stump."  But  Adams 
had  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  a  peculiar  and 
singularly  admirable  schooling,  and  it  was  only 
because  this  had  been  a  matter  of  course  in  his 
life  ever  since  he  had  come  of  age  that  he  failed 
now  to  set  it  down  at  its  true  value.  He  had 
been  accustomed  always  to  take  an  active  part 
in  the  town  meetings,  that  old  institution  of  New 
England,  than  which  nothing  finer  as  a  prepar 
atory  school  of  debate  has  ever  existed  in  the 
world.  In  these  assemblages,  at  which  nearly 
all  the  voters  of  the  town  were  present,  every 
public  question  was  discussed  with  that  ardor 
which  the  near  personal  interest  of  the  speakers 
can  alone  supply.  There  was  no  indifference. 
Every  one  made  it  a  point  to  be  present,  and  the 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  55 

concourse  was  a  more  striking  one  than  many 
more  pretentious  and  dignified  gatherings.  The 
colonists  were  a  disputatious,  shrewd,  and  hard- 
headed  race.  When  they  met  to  arrange  all 
those  matters  of  domestic  polity,  which  by  virtue 
of  their  nearness  seemed  much  more  important 
than  grander  but  more  distant  and  abstract 
questions,  there  was  no  lack  of  earnestness  or  of 
keen  ability  in  their  debates.  Men  learned  the 
essential  elements  of  vigorous  and  able  discus 
sion.  They  did  not  perhaps  learn  all  the  in 
tricacies  of  parliamentary  tactics,  but  they  did 
acquire  a  good  deal  of  skill  in  the  way  of  obser 
vation  and  of  management.  It  was  a  democratic 
political  body,1  wherein  perfect  equality  pre 
vailed  so  far  as  privilege  and  the  distinction  of 
the  individual  were  concerned,  but  where  the 
inequality  arising  from  difference  in  natural 
ability  counted  for  all  that  it  was  worth.  In 
such  conflicts  every  man  learned  to  strike  with 
all  the  skill  and  strength  that  he  could  master, 
and  learned  also  to  take  as  good  and  often  better 
than  he  could  give  back.  Behind  it  all  lay  the 

1  Gordon,  in  his  History  of  Independence,  says:  "Every 
town  is  an  incorporated  republic  ;  "  and  Mr.  Hosmer,  in  an  ad 
mirable  pamphlet  lately  published  upon  this  subject,  calls  the 
town  meeting  the  "  proper  primordial  cell  of  a  republican 
body  politic,"  and  says  that  it  existed  "in  well  developed 
form  only  in  New  England." 


66  JOHN   ADAMS 

fundamental  Anglo-Saxon  feeling  of  respect  for 
law  and  order,  for  common  sense  and  the  sounder 
reason.  It  was  generally  the  stronger  argument 
which  prevailed.  It  was  to  the  judgment,  not 
to  the  emotions,  that  appeal  had  to  be  made  in 
bodies  composed  of  such  material.  A  throng 
of  Yankee  farmers  or  merchants  listening  to  a 
speaker  for  the  purpose  of  detecting  the  weak 
points  in  his  speech  compelled  the  ablest  and 
the  coolest  man  to  do  his  best.  No  one  could 
afford  to  lose  either  his  temper  or  his  head. 
Service  in  such  tournaments,  though  the  con 
tests  were  not  of  national  moment,  very  soon 
made  veterans  of  the  active  participants.  Cour 
age,  independence,  self-control,  thoroughness, 
readiness,  were  soon  acquired  amid  the  rough 
but  strong  and  honest  handling  of  such  encoun 
ters.  From  these  fields  Adams  came  to  one 
more  conspicuous,  with  his  mental  sinews  more 
toughened  and  more  active  than  could  have  been 
expected  by  any  one  who  had  not  witnessed  the 
scenes  of  the  rude  arena.  He  had  learned  how 
to  prepare  himself  for  an  argument  and  to  study 
a  question  which  was  to  be  discussed,  how  to 
put  his  points  with  clearness,  force,  and  brevity ; 
he  was  at  home  in  addressing  a  body  of  hearers  ; 
he  was  not  discomposed  by  attacks,  however 
vigorous  ;  he  could  hold  his  position  or  assail 
the  position  of  an  opponent  with  perfect  cool- 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  57 

ness  and  dangerous  tenacity;  he  had  learned 
self-confidence  and  to  fear  no  man,  though  by 
the  fortunes  of  war  he  must  sometimes  be  de 
feated.  Altogether,  he  was  much  better  fitted 
for  parliamentary  labors  than  he  himself  sus 
pected. 

From  this  period  of  his  life  for  nearly  thirty 
years  Mr.  Adams  continued  to  expand  in  popu 
lar  estimation,  unfortunately  also  in  his  own 
estimation,  through  constantly  enlarging  mea 
sures  of  greatness.  But  at  no  time  does  he  ap 
pear  to  the  student  of  his  character  so  noble, 
so  admirable,  or  so  attractive  as  during  two  or 
three  years  about  this  time.  The  entries  in 
the  diary  are  brief,  and  often  made  at  provok- 
ingly  long  intervals ;  nor  do  very  many  letters 
remain.  Yet  there  are  dashes  of  strong  color 
sufficient  to  give  a  singularly  vivid  picture  of 
his  state  of  mind  and  feeling.  There  is  a  pro 
found  consciousness  of  being  in  the  presence 
of  great  events,  of  living  in  momentous  and 
pregnant  times.  This  develops  him  grandly. 
Before  the  immensity  of  the  crisis  all  thoughts 
of  self,  all  personal  rivalries,  even  political  en 
mities,  disappear.  There  is  perceptible  scarcely 
any  trace  of  that  unfortunate  vanity  and  ego 
tism  which  so  marred  his  aspect  when  time  had 
taught  him  that  he  was  really  a  great  man.  At 
present  he  does  not  know  that  he  is  great;  he 


58  JOHN   ADAMS 

is  simply  one  meaning  to  do  his  best,  and  har 
assed  with  a  genuine,  modest  doubt  how  good 
that  best  will  be.  Amid  the  surroundings  his 
new  duties  impress  him  with  a  sense  of  awe. 
Who  is  he  to  take  counsel  for  his  fellow  citizens, 
—  he  who  has  only  studied  the  few  books  which 
he  has  been  able  to  afford  to  import  from 
England ;  who  has  never  seen  a  town  with  more 
than  sixteen  thousand  inhabitants,  nor  ever  had 
any  experience  whatsoever  of  statecraft;  who 
gathers  only  by  hearsay  his  ideas  concerning  the 
power  and  resources  of  England,  the  temper  of 
her  rulers  and  her  people ;  and  who  really  has 
scarcely  more  knowledge  of  any  province  south 
of  Massachusetts?  How  can  he  weigh,  and 
compare,  and  judge  wisely?  Yet  he  has  at  least 
the  wisdom  to  measure  his  own  exceeding  igno 
rance,  and  obviously  he  will  commit  no  such  rash 
blunders  as  those  into  which  he  will  by  and  by 
be  led  by  the  overweening  self-confidence  of 
later  years.  Now  he  will  ponder  and  reflect,  and 
will  act  prudently  and  moderately ;  for  he  feels 
most  gravely  his  immense  responsibility.  But 
though  he  feels  this,  it  does  not  make  a  coward 
of  him ;  the  courage  and  the  spirit  of  John 
Adams  were  the  same  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave.  There  is  not  a  shadow  of  timidity ;  mod 
esty  and  self-distrust  do  not  take  that  shape,  nor 
betray  him  into  irresolution.  In  every  line  that 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  59 

he  writes  the  firm  and  manly  temper  is  distinctly 
seen.  If  he  will  be  anxious,  so  also  he  will  be 
bold  and  will  fear  no  consequences  either  for 
his  country  or  for  himself.  His  nerve  is  good ; 
he  is  profoundly  thoughtful,  but  not  in  the  least 
agitated.  His  own  affairs  must  give  him  some 
thought,  but  not  for  himself,  only  for  his  family. 
He  does  not  say  this ;  if  he  did,  the  fact  might 
be  less  sure ;  but  his  letters,  clear,  brief,  blunt, 
straightforward,  written  often  in  haste  and  al 
ways  with  unquestionable  simplicity  and  frank 
ness,  leave  no  doubt  concerning  his  generous 
courage  in  all  matters  of  his  private  interests. 
The  only  direct  recognition  of  his  personal  risk 
is  in  a  passage  of  a  letter  to  James  Warren  :  — 

"There  is  one  ugly  reflection.  Brutus  and  Cas- 
sius  were  conquered  and  slain,  Hampden  died  in  the 
field,  Sidney  on  the  scaffold,  Harrington  in  jail,  etc. 
This  is  cold  comfort.  Politics  are  an  ordeal  path 
among  red-hot  ploughshares.  Who,  then,  would  be 
a  politician  for  the  pleasure  of  running  about  barefoot 
among  them  ?  Yet  somebody  must." 

After  he  had  been  a  short  while  in  Congress 
he  writes  reassuringly  to  his  wife :  — 

"  Be  not  under  any  concern  for  me.  There  is  lit 
tle  danger  from  anything  we  shall  do  at  the  Congress. 
There  is  such  a  spirit  through  the  colonies,  and  the 
members  of  Congress  are  such  characters,  that  no 
danger  can  happen  to  us  which  will  not  involve  the 


60  JOHN  ADAMS 

whole  continent  in  universal  desolation  ;  and  in  that 
case,  who  would  wish  to  live  ?  " 

He  was  willing  to  take  his  turn  and  to  do  his 
share ;  but  he  insisted  that  after  he  had  contrib 
uted  his  fair  proportion  of  toil  and  sacrifice,  and 
had  assumed  his  just  measure  of  peril,  others 
should  come  forward  to  succeed  him  and  play 
their  parts  also.  In  truth,  at  this  crisis  a  promi 
nent  public  position  did  not  hold  out  those  lures 
to  ambition  which  exist  in  established  govern 
ments;  there  were  no  apparent  prizes  of  glory, 
power,  or  prosperity ;  there  were  alarming  visible 
chances  of  utter  destruction.  The  self-seeking 
and  aspiring  class  saw  meagre  temptations.  So 
Adams  may  be  rigidly  believed  when  he  writes : 

"  To  say  the  truth,  I  was  much  averse  to  being 
chosen,  and  shall  continue  so ;  for  I  am  determined, 
if  things  are  settled,  to  avoid  public  life.  ...  At 
such  a  time  as  this  there  are  many  dangerous  things 
to  be  done,  which  nobody  else  will  do,  and  therefore 
I  cannot  help  attempting  them ;  but  in  peaceful  times 
there  are  always  hands  enough  ready." 

The  letters  of  Adams  to  his  wife  from  the 
time  of  his  appointment  to  Congress  are  de 
lightful  reading.  Not  because  they  communi 
cate  interesting  historical  facts,  which  indeed  it 
was  not  safe  to  set  down  in  correspondence,  but 
rather  because  in  a  thousand  little  ways  they 
cast  such  a  vivid  light  upon  the  very  striking 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  61 

character  of  the  man  himself,  and  give  us  his 
personal  surroundings,  also  that  atmosphere  of 
the  times  which  was  intense  to  a  degree  which 
we  hardly  picture  to  ourselves  as  we  read  cold 
sketches  of  them.  We  see  his  anxiety  some 
times  transiently  darkening  into  despondency ; 
for  his  energetic,  impatient  temperament  chafes 
occasionally  at  the  delays  of  more  timid  souls. 
But  anon  his  high  spirit  gives  him  gleams  of 
bright  hope ;  no  one  who  has  a  cause  so  near 
at  heart  as  Adams  had  the  cause  of  America 
ever  despairs  more  than  temporarily  in  hours  of 
fatigue.  Generally  Adams's  courage  is  of  the 
stubborn  and  determined  sort ;  he  feels  with 
something  of  bitterness  the  sacrifices  which  he 
seems  to  be  making  at  the  cost  of  his  family, 
and  meets  them  as  might  be  expected  of  such 
a  typical  descendant  of  the  New  England  Puri 
tans. 

"  We  live,  my  dear  soul,  in  an  age  of  trial.  What 
will  be  the  consequence,  I  know  not.  The  town  of 
Boston,  for  aught  I  can  see,  must  suffer  martyrdom. 
It  must  expire." 

"  I  go  mourning  in  my  heart  all  the  day  long, 
though  I  say  nothing.  I  am  melancholy  for  the 
public  and  anxious  for  my  family.  As  for  myself,  a 
frock  and  trousers,  a  hoe  and  a  spade,  would  do  for 
my  remaining  days.  For  God's  sake  make  your  chil 
dren  hardy,  active,  and  industrious ;  for  strength, 


62  JOHN  ADAMS 

activity,  and  industry  will  be  their  only  resource  and 
dependence." 

This  he  reiterates :  — 

"  The  education  of  our  children  is  never  out  of  my 
mind.  Train  them  to  virtue.  Habituate  them  to 
industry,  activity,  and  spirit.  Make  them  consider 
every  vice  as  shameful  and  unmanly.  Fire  them  with 
ambition  to  be  useful." 

On  August  10,  1774,  Mr.  Adams  set  forth 
upon  a  journey  which  was  to  give  him  his  first 
opportunity  to  see  other  places  than  the  small 
town  of  Boston  and  the  eastern  villages,  to  meet 
persons  whose  habits  of  thought  and  ways  of 
life  differed  from  those  prevalent  among  the 
descendants  of  the  Pilgrims.  With  three  of  his 
fellow  delegates 1  he  started  in  a  coach,  "  and 
rode  to  Coolidge's,"  whither  a  "  large  number 
of  gentlemen  "  had  gone  before  and  had  "  pre 
pared  an  entertainment  for  them."  The  part 
ing  after  dinner  "was  truly  affecting,  beyond 
all  description  affecting."  The  following  days 
proved  most  interesting  and  agreeable.  At 
every  place  of  any  consequence  the  travelers 
were  received  with  flattering  attentions.  The 
people  turned  out  in  crowds  ;  bells  were  rung, 
even  cannon  were  fired ;  the  feasting  was  fre- 

1  Bowdoin  declined ;  Sam  Adams,  Gushing,  Paine,  and 
John  Adams  went. 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  63 

quent  and  plentiful ;  every  person  of  any  note 
called  on  them  ;  and  they  had  ample  opportuni 
ties  to  learn  the  opinions  and  to  judge  the  feel 
ings  of  the  influential  citizens  all  along  the 
route.  Adams  was  naturally  much  pleased ; 
he  began  to  have  that  sense  of  self-importance 
which  expanded  so  rapidly  during  many  years 
to  come.  "  No  governor  of  a  province  or  gen 
eral  of  an  army,"  he  complacently  remarks, 
"  was  ever  treated  with  so  much  ceremony  and 
assiduity."  But  he  modestly  translates  the  "  ex 
pressions  of  respect  to  us  "  into  "  demonstrations 
of  the  sympathy  of  this  people  with  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Bay  and  its  capital."  He  told  his 
wife :  — 

"  I  have  not  time  nor  language  to  express  the  hos 
pitality  and  the  studied  and  expensive  respect  with 
which  we  have  been  treated  in  every  stage  of  our 
progress.  If  Camden,  Chatham,  Richmond,  and  St. 
Asaph  had  traveled  through  the  country,  they  could 
not  have  been  entertained  with  greater  demonstra 
tions  of  respect  than  Gushing,  Paine,  and  the  brace 
of  Adamses  have  been.  ...  I  confess  the  kindness, 
the  affection,  the  applause  which  have  been  given  to 
me,  and  especially  to  our  province,  have  many  a  time 
filled  my  bosom  and  streamed  from  my  eyes." 

It  was  the  period  when  gentlemen,  dining 
and  shaking  hands,  were  full  of  noble  patriot 
ism  and  a  generous  sense  of  brotherhood,  before 


64  JOHN   ADAMS 

the  problems  and  hardships  of  a  tedious  and 
painful  conflict  had  bred  weariness  and  doubt, 
before  the  rivalries  of  office  and  authority  had 
given  rise  to  jealousy  and  division. 

But  amid  the  courtesies  the  Massachusetts 
men  had  not  been  without  instructive  hints  as 
to  what  difference  of  opinion  they  must  expect 
to  encounter,  and  how  it  would  be  prudent  for 
them  to  bear  themselves.  Forthwith  after  his 
appointment  Adams  had  written  to  the  shrewd 
old  lawyer,  the  Nestor  of  the  Massachusetts 
patriots,  Joseph  Hawley,  and  in  reply  had 
received  a  singularly  wise  as  well  as  kindly 
letter  of  advice.  Having  disposed  of  Adams's 
expressions  of  diffidence  with  some  friendly 
words  of  encouragement,  this  sagacious  coun 
selor  said :  — 

"You  cannot,  sir,  but  be  fully  apprised,  that  a 
good  issue  of  the  Congress  depends  a  good  deal  on 
the  harmony,  good  understanding,  and  I  had  almost 
said  brotherly  love  of  its  members.  .  .  .  Now  there 
is  an  opinion  which  does  in  some  degree  obtain  in 
the  other  colonies,  that  the  Massachusetts  gentlemen, 
and  especially  of  the  town  of  Boston,  do  affect  to 
dictate  and  take  the  lead  in  continental  measures ; 
that  we  are  apt,  from  an  inward  vanity  and  self-con 
ceit,  to  assume  big  and  haughty  airs.  Whether  this 
opinion  has  any  foundation  in  fact  I  am  not  certain. 
.  .  .  Now  I  pray  that  everything  in  the  conduct  and 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  65 

behavior  of  our  gentlemen,  which  might  tend  to 
beget  or  strengthen  such  an  opinion,  might  be  most 
carefully  avoided.  It  is  highly  probable,  in  my  opin 
ion,  that  you  will  meet  gentlemen  from  several  of 
the  other  colonies  fully  equal  to  yourselves,  or  any  of 
you,  in  their  knowledge  of  Great  Britain,  the  colo 
nies,  law,  history,  government,  commerce,  etc.  .  .  . 
And  by  what  we  from  time  to  time  see  in  the  public 
papers,  and  what  our  assembly  and  committees  have 
received  from  the  assemblies  and  committees  of  the 
more  southern  colonies,  we  must  be  satisfied  that 
they  have  men  of  as  much  sense  and  literature  as  any 
we  can  or  ever  could  boast  of." 

Do  these  cautious  words  indicate  that  this 
keen  reader  of  men  had  already  seen  in  John 
Adams  the  presumptuous  and  headstrong  tem 
perament  which  was  to  make  life  so  hard  for 
him  in  the  years  to  come?  But  the  sound 
admonition,  well  meant  and  well  taken,  was 
corroborated  by  occurrences  on  the  journey.  In 
New  York,  McDougall,  an  eminent  patriot, 
advised  the  Massachusetts  men  "  to  avoid  every 
expression  here  which  looked  like  an  allusion 
to  the  last  appeal."  A  party  in  that  province, 
he  said,  were  "  intimidated,  lest  the  leveling 
spirit  of  the  New  England  colonies  should  pro 
pagate  itself  into  New  York.  Another  party 
are  prompted  by  Episcopalian  prejudices  against 
New  England."  At  an  entertainment  in  the 


66  JOHN  ADAMS 

city  Mr.  Philip  Livingston,  "  a  great,  rough, 
rapid  mortal,"  with  whom  "  there  is  no  holding 
any  conversation,"  seemed  "to  dread  New  Eng 
land,  the  leveling  spirit,"  etc.,  threw  out  dis 
tasteful  hints  "of  the  Goths  and  Vandals," 
and  made  unpleasant  allusions  to  "  our  hanging 
the  Quakers,"  etc.  Perhaps  it  is  to  the  self- 
restraint  which  Mr.  Adams  had  to  impose  on 
his  resentful  tongue  at  these  interviews  that  we 
must  attribute  his  harsh  criticism  of  the  city  and 
its  people :  — 

"  We  have  been  treated,"  he  admitted,  "  with  an 
assiduous  respect ;  but  I  have  not  seen  one  real  gen 
tleman,  one  well-bred  man,  since  I  came  to  town. 
At  their  entertainments  there  is  no  conversation  that 
is  agreeable;  there  is  no  modesty,  no  attention  to 
one  another.  They  talk  very  loud,  very  fast,  and  all 
together.  If  they  ask  you  a  question,  before  you  can 
utter  three  words  of  your  answer  they  will  break  out 
upon  you  again,  and  talk  away." 

But  if  Mr.  Adams  was  a  little  pettish  at  not 
being  listened  to  with  a  gentlemanlike  deference 
by  the  New  Yorkers,  he  had  worse  to  endure 
before  he  set  foot  in  Philadelphia.  A  party  of 
Philadelphian  "  Sons  of  Liberty "  came  out  to 
meet  the  Massachusetts  travelers,  and  warned 
them  they  had  been  represented  as  "  four  de 
sperate  adventurers,"  John  Adams  and  Paine 


THE   FIRST  CONGRESS  67 

being  young  lawyers  of  "  no  great  talents, 
reputation,  or  weight,"  who  were  seeking  to 
raise  themselves  into  consequence  by  "  courting 
popularity."  Moreover,  they  were  "suspected 
of  having  independence  in  view ; "  but  if  they 
should  utter  the  word  they  would  be  "  undone," 
for  independence  was  as  "  unpopular  in  Penn 
sylvania  and  in  all  the  middle  and  southern 
states  as  the  Stamp  Act  itself." 

All  this  could  hardly  have  been  gratifying, 
even  if  it  were  wholesome.  But  the  quartette 
took  it  wonderfully  well,  and  shrewdly  acted 
upon  it.  They  were  even  so  far  reticent  and 
moderate  in  the  debates  as  to  be  outstripped 
by  many  in  rebellious  expressions ;  and  though 
really  more  sternly  in  earnest  and  more  ad 
vanced  in  their  views  than  any  others,  they 
skillfully  so  managed  it  that  for  a  long  while 
they  were  not  recognized  as  constituting  a  van 
guard,  or  as  being  either  leaders  or  drivers 
of  the  rest.  Indeed,  their  visible  moderation 
provoked  some  uncomplimentary  utterances 
of  surprise.  While  they  measured  their  words 
rather  within  than  beyond  the  limits  of  what 
their  colony  was  anxious  to  make  good,  the  im 
petuous  southerners  vented  more  reckless  lan 
guage,  and  soon  found  themselves  committed  to 
the  forward  movement  by  this  hasty  and  unin 
tentional  assumption  of  a  position  at  the  head  of 


68  JOHN   ADAMS 

the  column.  "  The  gentlemen  from  Virginia  " 
pleased  Mr.  Adams  much.  They  "  appear  to  be 
the  most  spirited  and  consistent  of  any,"  he  said. 
"  Young  Rutledge,"  who  "  was  high  enough," 
apparently  astonished  and  perhaps  not  a  little 
amused  Mr.  Adams,  heretofore  without  experi 
ence  of  a  temperament  so  unlike  the  restrained 
but  stubborn  spirit  of  the  old-fashioned  New 
Englander.  Sometimes  tongues  moved  freely 
under  artificial  stimulus ;  thus  one  day  "  we 
went  with  Mr.  William  Barrell  to  his  store,  and 
drank  punch,  and  ate  dried  smoked  sprats  with 
him ; "  in  the  evening,  at  Mr.  Mifflin's,  there  was 
"an  elegant  supper,  and  we  drank  sentiments 
till  eleven  o'clock.  Lee  and  Harrison  were 
very  high.  Lee  had  dined  with  Mr.  Dickinson, 
and  drank  burgundy  the  whole  afternoon." 
There  were  enough  treasonable  toasts  that  festal 
night  to  have  seriously  troubled  the  patriotic 
revelers,  had  the  royal  authorities  found  it  more 
convenient  to  punish  such  vinous  disaffection. 

Not  much  real  work  could  be  done  by  this 
first  Congress.  In  fact  it  was  simply  a  conclave 
of  selected  citizens  convened  to  talk  over  the 
imminent  crisis.  The  people  had  invested  them 
with  no  authority,  and  could  expect  only  wise 
counsel.  Thus  the  sole  definite  result  of  their 
deliberations  was  a  recommendation  of  a  non- 
exportation  and  non-importation  league  of  all 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  69 

the  provinces.  It  was  a  poor  medicine,  but  it 
was  according  to  the  knowledge  of  the  times ; 
heroic  but  mistaken  surgery,  reminding  one 
of  the  blood-letting  which  used  to  be  practiced 
in  those  same  days  at  the  very  times  when  all 
the  vigor  of  the  system  seemed  likely  to  be 
taxed  to  the  uttermost.  On  the  verge  of  a  war 
with  Great  Britain,  the  colonists  were  bidden 
by  their  wise  men  to  impoverish  themselves  as 
much  as  possible,  and  to  cut  off  the  supply  of 
all  the  numerous  articles  of  common  necessity 
and  daily  use,  which  they  would  only  be  able  to 
replenish  after  the  war  should  be  over.  It  is 
true  that  they  hoped  to  avoid  war  by  this  com 
mercial  pressure  upon  England,  and  there  is  so 
much  plausibility  in  the  argument  that,  had  not 
the  folly  of  the  policy  been  demonstrated  by  its 
palpable  failure  before  the  war  of  the  Revolution, 
and  again,  a  generation  later,  before  the  war  of 
1812,  it  might  possibly  still  be  believed  in  to  this 
day.  It  is  now  known  that  commercial  pressure 
has  often  hastened  peace,  but  never  averted  war. 
But  when  the  first  Congress  met,  experiments 
had  not  yet  manifested  this  truth.  Mr.  Adams 
apparently  had  some  glimmering  appreciation  of 
the  case,  for  he  only  favored  half  of  the  measure, 
approving  of  non- exportation,  but  not  of  non 
importation.  This  was  foolish,  being  a  plan  for 
putting  out  money  without  taking  it  back. 


70  JOHN  ADAMS 

Upon  another  question  which  arose  also,  Mr. 
Adams  was  very  imperfectly  satisfied  with  the 
result  of  the  deliberations.  A  great  committee 
was  formed,  upon  which  each  colony  was  repre 
sented  by  two  of  its  members,  and  which  was 
charged  with  the  duty  of  drafting  a  declaration 
of  rights.  A  second  committee,  of  half  the 
size,  was  also  deputed  to  specify  wherein  the 
enumerated  rights  had  been  infringed.  The 
report  of  the  second  committee,  when  rendered, 
was  referred  to  the  first  committee,  which  was 
at  the  same  time  increased  in  numbers.  Mr. 
Adams  was  an  original  member  of  the  first 
committee,  which  afterward  for  a  time  became 
of  such  importance  as  to  supersede  the  regular 
sittings  of  the  full  Congress,  and  at  last  suffered 
very  naturally  from  the  jealousy  of  those  who 
were  not  included  in  it.  Adams  was  also  one  of 
the  sub-committee  appointed  to  draft  the  report, 
and  he  struggled  hard  to  have  embodied  in  the 
declaration  an  assertion  of  "natural  rights," 
as  a  general  basis.  "I  was,"  he  said,  "very 
strenuous  for  retaining  and  insisting  on  it,  as  a 
resource  to  which  we  might  be  driven  by  Parlia 
ment  much  sooner  than  we  were  aware."  But 
after  long  and  earnest  discussion  he  was  defeated, 
as  has  been  supposed,  through  the  "influence 
of  the  conservative  Virginia  members."  1 
1  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams,  in  his  Life  of  John  Adams. 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  71 

The  really  important  function,  which  this 
Congress  fulfilled  efficiently  and  with  the  best 
results,  was  the  establishment  of  a  sense  of 
unity  among  the  colonies.  Not  only  were  their 
representative  men  enabled  to  know  each  other, 
but,  through  the  reports  which  they  carried 
home  and  spread  abroad  among  their  neigh 
bors,  the  people  of  each  province  could  form 
some  fair  estimate  of  the  prevalent  temper  and 
the  quality  of  sentiment  in  every  other  pro 
vince.  The  temperature  of  each  colony  could 
be  marked  with  fair  accuracy  on  the  patriotic 
thermometer.  The  wishes  and  the  fears  of  the 
several  communities,  based  on  their  distinct  in 
terests,  were  appreciated  with  a  near  approach 
to  accuracy.  The  leaders  in  the  movement 
could  discern  the  obstacles  which  they  had  to 
encounter.  The  characters  and  opinions  of  in 
fluential  men  were  learned ;  it  was  known  how 
far  each  could  be  relied  upon,  and  at  what 
point  of  advance  one  or  another  might  be  ex 
pected  to  take  fright.  On  the  whole,  the  out 
come  of  all  this  comparison  and  observation 
was  satisfactory.  There  was  a  substantial  con 
cordance,  which  left  room  indeed  for  much 
variety  in  schemes  of  policy,  in  anticipations  of 
results,  in  doctrines  concerning  rights,  and  in 
theories  as  to  the  relationship  of  the  colonies 
to  that  step-dame  called  the  mother  country. 


72  JOHN  ADAMS 

But  in  the  main  there  was  a  fundamental  con 
sent  that  England  was  exercising  an  intolerable 
tyranny,  and  that  resistance  must  be  made  to 
whatever  point  might  prove  necessary.  Also 
there  was  a  manifest  loyalty  towards  each  other, 
and  a  determination  to  stand  together  and  to 
make  the  cause  of  one  the  cause  of  all.  To 
the  delegation  from  Massachusetts  this  feeling 
was  all-important  and  most  reassuring.  Adams 
seized  eagerly  upon  every  indication  of  it.  By 
nature  he  was  a  man  of  action  rather  than  of 
observation  ;  and  upon  the  present  errand  he  had 
to  do  violence  to  his  native  qualities  in  many 
ways.  It  is  droll  to  see  this  impetuous  and 
imperious  creature  seeking  to  curb  himself,  this 
most  self-asserting  of  men  actually  keeping  him 
self  in  the  background  by  an  exertion  of  will 
nothing  less  than  tremendous.  His  painful 
consciousness  of  the  necessities  of  the  situation, 
impressed  upon  him  by  others  and  confirmed 
by  his  own  common  sense,  is  constantly  appar 
ent.  For  two  months  the  rash  and  outspoken 
man  is  politic  and  reticent,  the  headstrong  leader 
assumes  moderation  in  the  middle  rank.  In 
September  he  wrote :  "  We  have  had  number 
less  prejudices  to  remove  here.  We  have  been 
obliged  to  act  with  great  delicacy  and  caution. 
We  have  been  obliged  to  keep  ourselves  out 
of  sight,  and  to  feel  pulses,  and  to  sound  the 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  73 

depths ;  to  insinuate  our  sentiments,  designs, 
and  desires  by  means  of  other  persons,  some 
times  of  one  province,  sometimes  of  another." 

No  reports  of  the  debates  remain  which  can 
give  us  any  just  knowledge  of  the  part  he 
played  or  the  influence  he  exercised.  It  was 
not  prudent  for  semi-rebels  to  keep  such  re 
cords.  But  his  diary  and  his  letters,  especially 
those  to  his  wife,  from  which  most  of  the  fore 
going  quotations  have  been  made,  reflect  with 
picturesque  and  delightful  naturalness  his  strug 
gles  with  himself,  his  opinions  of  others,  his  anx 
iety,  his  irritations,  his  alternate  hopes  and 
fears,  and  intermittent  turns  of  despondency 
and  reassurance.  The  reader  of  these  memori 
als,  which  Adams  has  left  behind  him,  will  be 
struck  to  see  how  very  emotional  he  was ;  vary 
ing  moods  succeed  each  other,  as  shadow  and 
sunshine  chase  one  another  over  the  face  of  the 
fields  in  springtime.  Excitement,  hopefulness, 
kindliness,  weariness,  dislikings,  mistrust,  doubt, 
pleasure,  ennui,  moralizings,  checker  in  lively 
succession  records  only  too  brief  for  so  varied  a 
display.  Beyond  this  personal  element  they  also 
give  much  of  the  atmosphere  of  Congress.  At 
first  he  burst  forth  in  enthusiastic  admiration 
of  that  body  :  "  There  is  in  the  Congress  a  col 
lection  of  the  greatest  men  upon  this  continent 
in  point  of  abilities,  virtues,  and  fortunes.  The 


74  JOHN  ADAMS 

magnanimity  and  public  spirit  which  I  see  here 
make  me  blush  for  the  sordid,  venal  herd  which 
I  have  seen  in  my  own  province."  Again  he 
wrote  to  Warren :  "  Here  are  fortunes,  abilities, 
learning,  eloquence,  acuteness,  equal  to  any  I 
ever  met  with  in  my  life.  .  .  .  Every  question 
is  discussed  with  a  moderation,  an  acuteness, 
and  a  minuteness  equal  to  that  of  Queen  Eliza 
beth's  privy  council."  But  the  moderation  and 
minuteness,  admirable  qualities  as  they  were, 
involved  vexation  in  the  shape  of  "  infinite  de 
lays."  So  occasionally  Adams  finds  his  pulse 
beating  somewhat  faster  than  that  of  others, 
and  says  with  less  satisfaction :  "  But  then, 
when  you  ask  the  question,  i  What  is  to  be 
done  ? '  they  answer :  4  Stand  still.  Bear  with 
patience.  If  you  come  to  a  rupture  with  the 
troops  all  is  lost ! '  Resuming  the  first  charter, 
absolute  independency,  etc.,  are  ideas  which 
startle  people  here."  "They  shudder  at  the 
prospect  of  blood,"  he  says,  yet  are  "unani 
mously  and  unalterably  against  submission  "  by 
Massachusetts  to  any  of  the  acts  of  Parlia 
ment.  Adams  felt  very  keenly  the  inconsist 
ency  between  these  sentiments.  He  knew  that 
the  choice  lay  between  submission  and  blood, 
and  he  was  irritated  at  seeing  Congress  guilty 
of  what  seemed  to  him  the  weakness,  unques 
tionably  wholly  alien  from  his  own  character, 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  75 

of  recoiling  from  the  consequences  of  that 
which  they  acknowledged  to  be  the  proper 
course.  He  noted  with  disgust  the  "general 
opinion  here,  that  it  is  practicable  for  us  in  the 
Massachusetts  to  live  wholly  without  a  legisla 
ture  and  courts  of  justice  as  long  as  will  be 
necessary  to  obtain  relief."  "  A  more  adequate 
support  and  relief  to  the  Massachusetts  should 
be  adopted,"  he  said,  than  "figurative  pane 
gyrics  upon  our  wisdom,  fortitude,  and  temper 
ance,"  coupled  with  "  most  fervent  exhortations 
to  perseverance."  "Patience,  forbearance,  long- 
suffering  are  the  lessons  taught  here  for  our 
province," -  — lessons  which  oftentimes  severely 
taxed  his  "  art  and  address,"  though  he  did  his 
best  to  receive  them  with  a  serene  countenance. 
But  anon  these  expressions  of  impatience  and 
discontent  were  varied  by  outbursts  of  enthusi 
astic  joyousness.  A  rumor  came  of  a  bombard 
ment  of  Boston,  and  he  writes  :  "  War  !  War  ! 
War  !  was  the  cry,  and  it  was  pronounced  in  a 
tone  which  would  have  done  honor  to  the  ora 
tory  of  a  Briton  or  a  Roman.  If  it  had  proved 
true,1  you  would  have  heard  the  thunder  of  an 
American  Congress."  When  the  spirited  reso 
lutions  from  Suffolk  County,  Massachusetts, 
were  presented  to  Congress,  and  received  in  a 
warm,  kindred  temper,  he  exclaims  in  joyous 

1  The  rumor  was  quickly  contradicted. 


76  JOHN  ADAMS 

triumph  :  "  This  day  convinced  me  that  America 
will  support  the  Massachusetts,  or  perish  with 
her."  He  was  profoundly  affected  by  manifes 
tations  of  sympathy  for  his  province.  The  in 
tensity  of  such  times  is  brought  home  to  us  as 
we  read  his  words  :  "  The  esteem,  the  affection, 
the  admiration  for  the  people  of  Boston  and  the 
Massachusetts,  which  were  expressed  yesterday, 
and  the  fixed  determination  that  they  should  be 
supported,  were  enough  to  melt  a  heart  of  stone. 
I  saw  the  tears  gush  into  the  eyes  of  the  old, 
grave,  pacific  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania." 

All  the  while,  through  these  trying  alterna 
tions,  he  more  and  more  accustomed  himself  to 
think,  though  never  openly  to  speak,  of  the  end 
towards  which  events  were  surely  tending,  an 
end  which  he  anticipated  more  confidently,  and 
contemplated  more  resolutely,  than  probably  any 
of  his  comrades.  Let  our  people,  he  advised, 
drill  and  lay  in  military  stores,  but  "  let  them 
avoid  war,  if  possible,  —  if  possible,  I  say." 
Many  little  indications  show  how  slender,  in  his 
inmost  thought,  he  conceived  this  possibility  to 
be.  On  September  20,  1774,  he  was  in  a  very 
ardent  frame  of  mind.  "  Frugality,  my  dear," 
he  wrote  to  a  wife  who  needed  no  such  admoni 
tions,  "  frugality,  economy,  parsimony  must  be 
our  refuge.  I  hope  the  ladies  are  every  day 
diminishing  their  ornaments,  and  the  gentlemen 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  77 

too.  Let  us  eat  potatoes  and  drink  water.  Let 
us  wear  canvas  and  undressed  sheepskins,  rather 
than  submit  to  the  unrighteous  and  ignominious 
domination  that  is  prepared  for  us."  These  in 
junctions  to  abstemiousness  were  perhaps  merely 
reactionary  after  some  of  the  "  incessant  feast 
ing"  which  was  trying  the  digestion  of  the 
writer.  For  these  patriots  at  this  early  stage  of 
the  troubles  were  not  without  alleviations  amid 
their  cares  and  toils.  From  nine  in  the  morn 
ing  till  three  in  the  afternoon  they  attended  to 
business,  "  then  we  adjourn  and  go  to  dine  with 
some  of  the  nobles  of  Pennsylvania  at  four 
o'clock,  and  feast  upon  ten  thousand  delicacies, 
and  sit  drinking  madeira,  claret,  and  burgundy 
till  six  or  seven,  and  then  go  home  fatigued  to 
death  with  business,  company,  and  care."  Sim 
ilar  allusions  to  "  a  mighty  feast,"  "  an  elegant 
feast,"  to  turtle,  rich  dishes,  and  glorious  wines 
abound.  It  was  probably  when  the  gastric  re 
sources  had  been  too  sorely  taxed  by  these  fiery 
hospitalities  that  he  became  irritated  and  impa 
tient,  so  that  he  said  to  his  wife  :  "  Tedious  in 
deed  is  our  business,  —  slow  as  snails."  "  I  am 
wearied  to  death  with  the  life  I  lead." 

As  the  October  days  glided  by  and  the  end 
of  the  session  did  not  seem  to  be  at  hand,  his 
natural  impatience  frequently  broke  out,  ex 
pressed  with  that  sarcastic  acerbity  which  he  so 
often  displayed. 


78  JOHN  ADAMS 

"  The  deliberations  of  Congress  are  spun  out  to  an 
immeasurable  length.  There  is  so  much  wit,  sense, 
learning,  acuteness,  subtlety,  eloquence,  etc.,  among 
fifty  gentlemen,  .  .  .  that  an  immensity  of  time  is 
spent  unnecessarily." 

"  This  assembly  is  like  no  other  that  ever  existed. 
Every  man  in  it  is  a  great  man,  an  orator,  a  critic,  a 
statesman  ;  and  therefore  every  man  upon  every  ques 
tion  must  show  his  oratory,  his  criticism,  and  his 
political  abilities.  The  consequence  of  this  is,  that 
business  is  drawn  and  spun  out  to  an  immeasurable 
length.  I  believe,  if  it  was  moved  and  seconded  that 
we  should  come  to  a  resolution  that  three  and  two 
make  five,  we  should  be  entertained  with  logic  and 
rhetoric,  law,  history,  politics,  and  mathematics  ;  and 
then  —  we  should  pass  the  resolution,  unanimously, 
in  the  affirmative." 

"  These  great  wits,  these  subtle  critics,  these  refined 
geniuses,  these  learned  lawyers,  these  wise  statesmen, 
are  so  fond  of  showing  their  parts  and  powers,  as  to 
make  their  consultations  very  tedious.  Young  Ned 
Rutledge  is  a  perfect  bob-o-lincoln,  —  a  swallow,  a 
sparrow,  a  peacock ;  excessively  vain,  excessively 
weak,  and  excessively  variable  and  unsteady  ;  jejune, 
inane,  and  puerile." 

The  Adams  censoriousness  was  bubbling  to 
the  surface.  Even  the  "perpetual  round  of 
feasting"  began  to  pall  upon  his  simple  New 
England  stomach,  and  he  grumbles  that  "  Phil 
adelphia,  with  all  its  trade  and  wealth  and  reg- 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS  79 

ularity,  is  not  Boston.  The  morals  of  our  peo 
ple  are  much  better;  their  manners  are  more 
polite  and  agreeable ;  they  are  purer  English ; 
our  language  is  better  ;  our  taste  is  better ;  our 
persons  are  handsomer ;  our  spirit  is  greater ; 
our  laws  are  wiser  ;  our  religion  is  superior  ; 
our  education  is  better."  But  by  November  28, 
when  he  was  able  at  last  to  start  for  home,  he 
recovered  his  good-nature,  and  though  he  had 
to  depart  in  "  a  very  great  rain,"  yet  he  could 
speak  of  "  the  happy,  the  peaceful,  the  elegant, 
the  hospitable  and  polite  city  of  Philadelphia," 
and  declared  his  expectation  "  ever  to  retain  a 
most  grateful,  pleasing  sense  of  the  many  civil 
ities  "  he  had  received  there. 

In  truth  there  were  sound  reasons  to  accoun' 
for  Mr.  Adams's  irritability  and  critical  out 
bursts.  Though  he  had  sense  enough  not  to 
say  so,  yet  evidently  he  was  dissatisfied  with 
the  practical  achievements  of  the  Congress.  In 
a  momentous  crisis,  with  events  pressing  and 
anxious  throngs  hanging  expectant  upon  the 
counsels  of  the  sages  in  debate,  those  sages  had 
broken  up  their  deliberations,  and  were  carry 
ing  home  to  their  constituents  only  a  recom 
mendation  of  commercial  non-intercourse.  One 
half  of  this  scheme  Adams  plainly  saw  to  be 
foolish ;  the  mischief  of  the  other  half  he  did 
not  comprehend ;  yet  he  was  shrewd  enough  to 


80  JOHN  ADAMS 

give  it  small  credit  for  efficiency.  Of  an  active, 
impatient  temperament,  he  was  sorely  discour 
aged  at  this  outcome  of  a  gathering  to  which 
he  had  gone  with  high  hopes.  He  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  appreciate  that  a  greater  rate 
of  speed  would  probably  have  resulted  in  a 
check  and  reaction.  By  doing  too  much  Con 
gress  would  have  stimulated  a  revulsion  of  pop 
ular  feeling ;  by  doing  too  little  it  tempted 
the  people  to  demand  more.  The  really  serious 
misfortune  was,  that  the  little  which  was  done 
was  unpopular.  On  his  way  home  Mr.  Adams 
learned  that  non-intercourse  was  so  ill-received 
in  New  York  that  the  Tories  were  jubilant,  and 
expected  to  obtain  conclusive  possession  of  the 
province. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  SECOND  SESSION  OF  CONGRESS 

ME.  ADAMS  came  home  only  to  change  the 
scene  of  his  public  labor.  The  provincial  assem 
bly  at  once  summoned  him  for  consultation,  and 
directly  afterward  he  was  chosen  a  member  of 
that  body  as  a  delegate  from  Braintree.  No 
sooner  had  it  adjourned,  in  December,  than  he 
found  himself  involved  in  a  new  undertaking. 
The  lively  newspaper  discussions,  conducted 
after  the  fashion  of  the  times  by  essays  and 
arguments  in  the  form  of  letters,  constituted 
an  important  means  of  influencing  popular  sen 
timent.  The  Tory  "  Massachusettensis  "  1  was 
doing  very  effective  work  on  the  king's  side, 
and  was  accomplishing  a  perceptible  defection 
from  the  patriot  ranks.  Adams  took  up  his 
pen,  as  "Novanglus,"  in  the  Boston  Gazette, 
and  maintained  the  controversy  with  absorbing 
ardor  and  gratifying  success  until  the  bloodshed 
at  Lexington  put  an  end  to  merely  inky  warfare. 
The  last  of  his  papers,  actually  in  type  at  the 
time  of  the  fray,  was  never  published. 

1  Judge  Leonard. 


82  JOHN  ADAMS 

Shortly  after  that  conflict  Mr.  Adams  rode 
over  the  scene  of  action  and  pursuit,  carefully 
gathering  information.  On  his  return  he  was 
taken  seriously  ill  with  a  fever,  and  before  he 
was  fairly  recovered  he  was  obliged  to  set  forth 
on  his  way  to  Philadelphia,  where  Congress 
was  to  meet  again  on  May  5,  1775.  He  trav 
eled  in  a  "  sulky,"  with  a  servant  on  horseback, 
and  arrived  on  May  10.  It  was  no  light  mat 
ter  in  those  troubled  times,  within  a  few  days 
after  bloody  collisions  between  British  troops 
and  Yankee  farmers,  to  leave  his  wife  and 
small  children  alone  in  a  farmhouse  not  many 
miles  from  the  waters  on  which  rode  his  ma 
jesty's  ships  of  war.  He  wrote  to  Mrs.  Adams : 
"  Many  fears  and  jealousies  and  imaginary  dan 
gers  will  be  suggested  to  you,  but  I  hope  you 
will  not  be  impressed  by  them.  In  case  of  real 
danger,  of  which  you  cannot  fail  to  have  previous 
intimations,  fly  to  the  woods  with  our  children." 
But  he  was  happy  in  being  well  mated  for  the 
exigencies  of  such  days.  His  admirable  wife 
would  perhaps  have  not  been  less  distinguished 
than  himself  had  she  not  been  handicapped  by 
the  misfortune  of  sex.  She  was  a  woman  of  rare 
mind,  high  courage,  and  of  a  patriotism  not  less 
intense  and  devoted  than  that  of  any  hero  of  the 
Revolution.  Mr.  Adams  found  infinite  support 
and  comfort  in  her  and  gratefully  acknowledged 


THE  SECOND  SESSION  OF  CONGRESS    83 

it.  His  account  of  Dickinson,  by  way  of  com 
parison  with  his  own  case,  is  at  once  comical 
and  pathetic.  That  gentleman's  mother  and 
wife,  he  says  "  were  continually  distressing  him 
with  their  remonstrances.  His  mother  said  to 
him :  '  Johnny,  you  will  be  hanged  ;  your  estate 
will  be  forfeited  and  confiscated  ;  you  will  leave 
your  excellent  wife  a  widow,  and  your  charm 
ing  children  orphans,  beggars  and  infamous.' 
From  my  soul  I  pitied  Mr.  Dickinson.  ...  If 
my  mother  and  my  wife  had  expressed  such 
sentiments  to  me,  I  was  certain  that,  if  they  did 
not  wholly  unman  me  and  make  me  an  apostate, 
they  would  make  me  the  most  miserable  man 
alive."  But  he  was  "  very  happy  "  in  that  his 
mother  and  wife,  and  indeed  all  his  own  and 
his  wife's  families,  had  been  uniformly  of  the 
same  mind  as  himself,  "  so  that  I  always  enjoyed 
perfect  peace  at  home."  Thus  free  from  any 
dread  of  a  fusillade  in  the  rear,  he  could  push 
forward  faster  than  many  others. 

Everywhere  along  his  route  towards  Phila 
delphia  he  beheld  cheering  signs  of  the  spirit 
which  he  longed  to  see  universal  among  the 
people.  In  New  York  the  Tories  "  durst  not 
show  their  heads ; "  the  patriots  had  "  shut  up 
the  port,  seized  the  custom-house,  arms,  ammu 
nition,  etc.,  called  a  provincial  Congress,"  and 
agreed  "  to  stand  by  whatever  shall  be  ordered 


84  JOHN  ADAMS 

by  the  continental  and  their  provincial  Con 
gress."  The  great  Tory,  Dr.  Cooper,  had  fled 
on  board  a  man-of-war.  "The  Jerseys  are 
aroused  and  greatly  assist  the  friends  of  lib 
erty  in  New  York.  North  Carolina  has  done 
bravely."  In  Connecticut  "  everything  is  doing 
.  .  .  that  can  be  done  by  men,  both  for  New 
York  and  Boston."  In  Philadelphia  he  saw  a 
"  wonderful  phenomenon,  ...  a  field-day,  on 
which  three  battalions  of  soldiers  were  reviewed, 
making  full  two  thousand  men "  of  all  arms. 
Colonel  Washington  was  showing  his  opinion 
of  the  situation  by  appearing  in  Congress  in 
his  uniform.  On  all  sides  were  the  tokens  of 
warlike  preparation.  Adams  was  overjoyed. 
"  We  shall  see  better  times  yet ! "  he  cheerily 
exclaimed.  "  The  military  spirit  which  runs 
through  the  continent  is  truly  amazing."  He 
himself  caught  some  whiff  of  the  enthusiasm 
for  actual  gunpowder.  "  I  have  bought,"  he 
said,  "  some  military  books,  and  intend  to  buy 
more."  "  Oh  that  I  were  a  soldier  !  I  will  be. 
I  am  reading  military  books.  Every  one  must, 
and  will,  and  shall  be  a  soldier."  But  in  cooler 
moments  he  concluded  that  his  age  and  health 
rendered  it  foolish  for  him  to  think  of  under 
taking  camp  life.  He  was  right,  of  course ;  his 
proper  place  was  among  the  civilians.  Yet  he 
accepted  it  not  without  some  grumbling.  A 


THE  SECOND  SESSION  OF  CONGRESS    85 

little  later,  when  he  rode  out  with  a  great  caval 
cade  to  honor  Washington  and  others  on  their 
departure  for  the  leaguer  around  Boston,  he 
wrote  home,  describing  the  "  pride  and  pomp  " 
of  the  occasion :  "I,  poor  creature,  worn  out 
with  scribbling  for  my  bread  and  my  liberty, 
low  in  spirits  and  weak  in  health,  must  leave 
others  to  wear  the  laurels  which  I  have  sown." 
He  seemed  at  times  to  have  an  unpleasant  jeal 
ousy  that  the  military  heroes  appeared  to  be 
encountering  greater  dangers  than  the  civilians, 
and  he  argued  to  show  that,  in  one  way  and 
another,  his  risk  was  not  less  than  that  of  an 
officer  in  the  army.  He  says  that  sometimes 
he  feels  "  an  ambition  to  be  engaged  in  the  more 
active,  gay,  and  dangerous  scenes ;  dangerous,  I 
say,  but  I  recall  the  word,  for  there  is  no  course 
more  dangerous  than  that  which  I  am  in."  But 
he  had  no  need  to  defend  either  his  courage  or 
his  capacity  for  self-devotion ;  neither  could  be 
arraigned,  even  by  malicious  opponents. 

Naturally  the  display  of  activity  and  zeal  on 
the  part  of  the  disaffected  disturbed  those  who, 
without  being  Tories,  were  yet  of  a  less  deter 
mined  temper,  less  hopeless  of  reconciliation, 
more  reluctant  to  go  fast,  and  dreading  no 
thing  so  much  as  an  inevitable  step  towards 
separation.  Independence  was  still  spoken  of 
deprecatingly,  with  awe  and  bated  breath,  and 


86  JOHN  ADAMS 

its  friends  were  compelled  to  recognize  the 
continuing  necessity  of  suppressing  their  views 
and  maintaining  for  the  present  only  a  sort 
of  secret  brotherhood.  Yet  it  was  inevitable 
that  their  sentiments  should  be  divined  by  the 
keen  observers  who  thought  differently.  The 
moderatist  or  reconciliationist  party  not  only 
understood  the  temper  prevalent,  though  not 
universal,  in  the  New  England  section,  but  they 
read  Mr.  Adams  with  perfect  accuracy,  —  a 
perusal  never,  it  must  be  confessed,  very  diffi 
cult  to  be  made  by  any  clever  man.  It  was 
not  without  disappointment  after  his  encourag 
ing  journey  that  he  "  found  this  Congress  like 
the  last;  ...  a  strong  jealousy  of  us  from 
New  England,  and  the  Massachusetts  in  par 
ticular  ;  suspicions  entertained  of  designs  of  in 
dependency,  an  American  republic,  presbyte- 
rian  principles,  and  twenty  other  things."  He 
had  to  admit  that  his  "sentiments  were  heard 
in  Congress  with  great  caution,  and  seemed  to 
make  but  little  impression."  The  reticence 
and  self-restraint  practiced  by  him  in  the  early 
weeks  of  the  preceding  summer  session  had  not 
long  retarded  a  just  estimate  both  of  his  opin 
ions  and  his  abilities.  This  is  proved  by  the 
fact  that  the  moderates  now  singled  him  out  as 
their  chief  and  most  dangerous  antagonist.  It 
was  this  respect  and  hostility  manifested  pre- 


THE  SECOND   SESSION  OF  CONGRESS    87 

eminently  towards  him  by  the  opponents  of 
separation  which,  combined  with  his  own  stren 
uous  force,  placed  him  during  this  winter  at 
the  head  of  the  party  of  independence. 

In  strong  contrast  with  him,  upon  the  other 
side,  was  Dickinson,  leader  of  the  conciliationists, 
rich,  courteous,  popular,  cultivated,  plausible, 
amiable,  moderate  by  nature,  and  handicapped 
by  the  ladies  at  home.  This  tardy,  though 
really  sincere  patriot,  now  insisted  that  a  sec 
ond  petition,  another  "  olive-branch,"  should  be 
sent  to  the  king.  Adams  wrought  earnestly 
against  "  this  measure  of  imbecility,"  the  success 
of  which  he  afterward  said  "  embarrassed  every 
exertion  of  Congress."  Dickinson  prevailed, 
though  only  narrowly  and  imperfectly ;  and  Ad 
ams  was  extremely  disgusted.  His  views  were 
well  established  ;  he  had  a  permanent  faith  that 
"  powder  and  artillery  are  the  most  efficacious, 
sure,  and  infallible  conciliatory  measures  we 
can  adopt."  During  the  debate  he  left  the 
hall,  and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Dickinson,  who 
overtook  him  in  the  yard,  and  berated  him  with 
severe  language  in  an  outburst  of  temper  quite 
unusual  with  the  civil  Pennsylvanian.  Mr. 
Adams  retorted,  according  to  his  own  account, 
"  very  coolly."  But  from  this  time  forth  there 
was  a  breach  between  these  two,  and  though  in 
debate  they  were  able  to  preserve  the  ameni' 


88  JOHN  ADAMS 

ties,   they   spoke   no   more  with  each  other  in 
private. 

But  there  were  more  horses  harnessed  to  the 
congressional  coach  than  Mr.  Dickinson  could 
drive.  Many  necessities  were  pressing  upon 
that  body,  and  many  problems  were  imminent, 
which  could  not  readily  be  solved  in  consistence 
with  loyalist  or  even  with  moderatist  princi 
ples.  Adams,  hampered  by  no  such  principles, 
would  have  had  little  difficulty  in  establishing 
a  policy  of  great  energy  —  possibly  of  too  great 
energy  —  had  he  been  allowed  to  dictate  to  the 
assembly.  Many  years  afterwards,  in  writing 
his  autobiography,  he  gave  a  very  graphic  and 
comprehensive  sketch  of  his  views  at  this  time. 
It  is  true  that  he  was  looking  back  through  a 
long  vista  of  years,  and  his  memory  was  not 
always  accurate,  so  that  we  may  doubt  whether 
at  the  actual  moment  his  scheme  was  quite  so 
bold  and  broad,  so  rounded  and  complete,  as 
he  recalled  it.  But  unquestionably  his  feelings 
are  substantially  well  shown. 

"  I  thought,"  he  says, "  the  first  step  ought  to  be  to 
recommend  to  the  people  of  every  state  in  the  Union 
to  seize  on  all  the  crown  officers  and  hold  them,  with 
civility,  humanity,  and  generosity,  as  hostages  for  the 
security  of  the  people  of  Boston,  and  to  be  exchanged 
for  them  as  soon  as  the  British  army  would  release 
them  ;  that  we  ought  to  recommend  to  the  people  of 


THE  SECOND   SESSION  OF  CONGRESS    89 

all  the  states  to  institute  governments  for  themselves, 
under  their  own  authority,  and  that  without  loss  of 
time  ;  that  we  ought  to  declare  the  colonies  free,  sov 
ereign,  and  independent  states,  and  then  to  inform 
Great  Britain  that  we  were  willing  to  enter  into  ne 
gotiations  with  them  for  the  redress  of  all  grievances 
and  a  restoration  of  harmony  between  the  two  coun 
tries  upon  permanent  principles.  All  this  I  thought 
might  be  done  before  we  entered  into  any  connection, 
alliances,  or  negotiations  with  foreign  powers.  I 
was  also  for  informing  Great  Britain,  very  frankly, 
that  hitherto  we  were  free ;  but,  if  the  war  should  be 
continued,  we  were  determined  to  seek  alliances  with 
France,  Spain,  and  any  other  power  of  Europe  that 
would  contract  with  us.  That  we  ought  immediately 
to  adopt  the  army  in  Cambridge  as  a  continental 
army,  to  appoint  a  general  and  all  other  officers,  take 
upon  ourselves  the  pay,  subsistence,  clothing,  arm 
ing,  and  munitions  of  the  troops.  This  is  a  concise 
sketch  of  the  plan  which  I  thought  the  only  reason 
able  one ;  and  from  conversation  with  the  members 
of  Congress  I  was  then  convinced,  and  have  been 
ever  since  convinced,  that  it  was  the  general  sense  of 
a  considerable  majority  of  that  body.  This  system 
of  measures  I  publicly  and  privately  avowed  without 


It  is  evident  from  some  contemporary  state 
ments  that,  at  least  in  the  early  days  of  the 
session,  these  avowals  were  not  quite  so  open 
and  unreserved  as  Mr.  Adams  afterward  remem- 


90  JOHN  ADAMS 

bered  them  to  have  been.  Though  it  is  true  that 
the  chief  parts  of  this  plan  were  soon  adopted, 
and  though  it  is  altogether  credible  that  the 
feeling  which  led  to  that  adoption  was  already 
very  perceptible  to  Mr.  Adams  in  his  private 
interviews  with  individual  delegates,  yet  it  is 
tolerably  certain  that,  had  he  exploded  such  a 
box  of  startling  fireworks  in  the  face  of  Con 
gress  during  the  first  days  of  its  sitting,  the  out 
cry  and  scattering  would  have  stricken  him  with 
sore  dismay.  Fortunately,  though  burning  with 
impatience,  he  was  more  politic  than  he  after 
wards  described  himself,  and  he  had  sufficient 
good  sense  to  wait  a  little  until  events  brought 
the  delegates  face  to  face  with  issues  which  the 
moderatists  could  rationally  and  consistently 
decide  only  in  one  way.  He  did  not  like  the 
waiting,  he  chafed  and  growled,  but  he  wisely  en 
dured,  nevertheless,  until  his  hour  came.  When 
and  how  that  hour  advanced  is  now  to  be  seen. 

Mr.  Dickinson  had  not  carried  his  motion  for 
a  second  memorial  to  King  George  without  pay 
ing  a  price  for  it ;  Congress  simultaneously  de 
clared  that,  by  reason  of  grave  doubt  as  to  the 
success  of  that  measure,  it  was  expedient  to  put 
the  colonies  chiefly  threatened,  especially  New 
York,  into  a  condition  for  defense.  This  was  a 
practical  measure,  bringing  some  comfort  to  the 
party  of  action.  Soon  also  there  came  from  the 


THE  SECOND  SESSION   OF  CONGRESS    91 

Massachusetts  Assembly  a  letter,  setting  forth 
the  condition  of  that  province  now  so  long  with 
out  any  real  government,  and  asking  "  explicit 
advice  respecting  the  taking  up  and  exercising 
the  powers  of  civil  government."  This  missive 
presented  a  problem  which  many  gentlemen 
would  gladly  have  shunned,  or  at  least  post 
poned,  but  which  could  be  shunned  and  post 
poned  no  longer ;  a  large  and  busy  population 
could  not  exist  for  an  indefinite  period  without 
civil  authorities  of  some  sort ;  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  had  already  been  in  this 
anomalous  condition  for  a  long  while,  and 
though  they  had  done  wonderfully  well,  yet  the 
strain  was  not  much  longer  to  be  endured.  If 
Congress,  thus  supplicated,  refused  to  take  some 
action  in  the  premises,  it  would  be  open  to  the 
charge  of  abdicating  its  function  of  adviser  to 
the  colonies,  and  so  would  lose  a  large  part  of 
its  raison  d'etre.  The  letter  was  referred  to  a 
committee,  and  upon  their  report  a  long  debate 
ensued.  The  Massachusetts  delegates  were  much 
consulted,  and  at  last,  on  June  9,  Congress 
replied  that,  "no  obedience  being  due  to  the 
act  of  Parliament  for  altering  their  charter,  nor 
to  any  officers  who  endeavor  to  subvert  that 
charter,  letters  should  be  written  to  the  people 
in  the  several  towns  requesting  them  to  elect 
representatives  to  an  assembly,  who  should  in 


92  JOHN  ADAMS 

their  turn  elect  a  council,  and  these  two  bodies 
should  exercise  the  powers  of  government  for 
the  time." 

This  was  very  good,  but  a  much  more  im 
portant  matter  was  still  to  be  disposed  of.  From 
the  beginning  of  the  session  it  had  been  a  main 
object  with  Mr.  Adams  to  induce  the  Congress 
to  adopt,  so  to  speak,  the  army  which  was  en 
gaged  in  besieging  the  British  forces  in  Boston. 
At  present  this  extraordinary  martial  assem 
blage  was  in  the  most  singular  condition  ever 
presented  by  such  a  body.  It  could  not  be 
said  that  the  officers  commanded  by  any  law 
ful  title  or  authority,  or  that  the  rank  and  file 
obeyed  otherwise  than  by  virtue  of  their  own 
willingness  to  do  so.  The  whole  existing  con 
dition  of  military  as  well  as  of  civil  affairs  was 
based  upon  little  more  than  general  understand 
ing  and  mutual  acquiescence.  Mr.  Adams  was 
profoundly  resolved  that  the  army  should  be 
come  the  army  of  Congress,  for  nondescript  as 
that  body  still  was,  yet  at  least  the  army,  when 
adopted  by  it,  would  become  more  the  army  of 
all  the  provinces  and  less  that  of  Massachusetts 
alone  than  it  might  now  be  described.  He  was 
overwhelmed  with  letters,  both  from  influential 
civilians  of  Massachusetts  and  from  the  princi 
pal  military  officers,  imploring  him  in  urgent 
terms  to  carry  through  this  measure.  It  was  no 


THE  SECOND  SESSION  OF  CONGRESS    93 

easy  matter ;  for,  besides  the  inevitable  opposi 
tion  of  the  moderates  and  conciliationists,  he 
had  to  encounter  many  personal  jealousies  and 
ambitions.  The  adoption  of  the  army  involved 
the  nomination  of  a  commander-in-chief,  and 
of  subordinate  generals,  and  there  were  many 
who  either  wished  these  positions,  or  had  friends 
and  favorite  aspirants  whose  possible  pretensions 
they  espoused.  Mr.  Adams  found  that  he  could 
make  little  progress  towards  unanimity  by  pri 
vate  interviews,  arguments,  and  appeals.  Ac 
cordingly,  at  last,  he  came  to  a  very  character 
istic  decision.  More  than  once  in  his  life  he 
showed  his  taste  and  capacity  for  a  coup  d  'etat 
in  politics.  When  he  dealt  such  a  blow,  he  did 
it  in  the  most  effectual  way,  vigorously,  and 
without  warning  ;  thus  he  confounded  his  oppo 
nents  and  carried  his  point.  We  shall  see  more 
than  one  other  striking  instance  of  this  sudden 
strategy  and  impetuous  courage,  in  his  future 
career.  Now,  finding  not  only  that  he  could  not 
control  the  delegation  from  his  own  State,  but 
that  even  the  gentlemen  from  Virginia  would 
not  agree  to  unite  upon  their  own  fellow  citizen, 
"  full  of  anxieties  concerning  these  confusions, 
and  apprehending  daily  "  the  receipt  of  distress 
ing  news  from  Boston,  despairing  of  effecting 
an  agreement  by  personal  persuasion,  but  recog 
nizing  that  here  again  was  a  case  where  the 


94  JOHN  ADAMS 

issue,  if  forced,  could  have  but  one  conclusion, 
he  one  morning,  just  before  going  into  the  hall, 
announced  to  Samuel  Adams  that  he  had  re 
solved  to  take  a  step  which  would  compel  his 
colleagues  from  Massachusetts  and  all  the  other 
delegates  "  to  declare  themselves  for  or  against 
something.  I  am  determined  this  morning  to 
make  a  direct  motion  that  Congress  should  adopt 
the  army  before  Boston,  and  appoint  Colonel 
Washington  commander  of  it.  Mr.  Adams 
seemed  to  think  very  seriously  of  it,  but  said 
nothing." 

The  move  was  made  with  the  same  decisive 
promptitude  which  marked  this  divulging  of  the 
intention.  Upon  the  opening  of  that  day's 
session  Mr.  Adams  obtained  the  floor,  and  made 
the  motion  for  the  adoption.  He  then  pro 
ceeded  briefly  to  sketch  the  imperative  necessi 
ties  of  the  time,  and  closed  with  a  eulogy  upon 
a  certain  gentleman  from  Virginia,  "  who  could 
unite  the  cordial  exertions  of  all  the  colonies 
better  than  any  other  person."  There  was  no 
doubt  who  was  signified ;  even  the  modest  gen 
tleman  himself  could  not  pretend  to  be  igno 
rant,  and  hastily  sought  refuge  in  the  library. 
Washington  was  not  the  only  person  who  was 
startled  out  of  his  composure  by  this  sudden 
thrusting  forward  of  a  proposal  which  hereto 
fore  had  only  been  a  subject  of  private  and  by 


THE  SECOND   SESSION  OF  CONGRESS    95 

no  means  harmonious  discussion.  Mr.  Han 
cock,  in  the  president's  chair,  could  not  conceal 
his  mortification,  for  he  had  his  own  aspira 
tions  in  this  same  direction.  Many  gentlemen 
expressed  doubts  as  to  the  propriety  of  placing 
this  southerner  at  the  head  of  an  army  in  New 
England,  chiefly  composed  of  New  England 
troops,  and  now  commanded  by  New  England 
officers  apparently  equal  to  their  functions. 
Mr.  Pendleton,  though  himself  from  Virginia, 
was  especially  prominent  in  this  presentation  of 
the  case  ;  so  was  Mr.  Sherman  of  Connecticut ; 
and  even  Mr.  Adams's  own  colleague,  Mr. 
Gushing,  allowed  it  to  be  understood  that  he 
was  of  the  same  opinion.  But  Mr.  Adams  had 
dealt  a  master-stroke.  There  must  be  some 
wriggling  of  individuals,  who  might  thereafter 
remain  his  enemies ;  but  of  enemies  he  was 
never  afraid.  It  was  inevitable  that  he  should 
carry  his  point,  that  Congress  should  accept  his 
measure ;  so  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
the  delegates,  one  by  one,  many  pleased,  some 
doubtful,  a  few  sorely  grumbling,  fall  into  line 
behind  the  standard  which  he  had  so  auda 
ciously  planted.  A  little  work  was  shrewdly 
done  outside  the  hall,  a  few  days  were  prudently 
suffered  to  elapse  for  effervescence ;  the  reluc 
tant  ones  were  given  sufficient  opportunity  to 
see  that  they  were  helpless,  and  then,  upon  the 


96  JOHN  ADAMS 

formal  motion  of  Thomas  Johnson  of  Maryland, 
George  Washington  was  unanimously  chosen 
commander-in-chief  of  the  united  forces  of  the 
colonies.  On  June  17,  the  day  of  the  gallant 
battle  of  Bunker's  Hill,  Adams  wrote  in  joyous 
triumph  to  his  wife:  "I  can  now  inform  you 
that  the  Congress  have  made  choice  of  the 
modest  and  virtuous,  the  amiable,  generous, 
and  brave  George  Washington,  esquire,  to  be 
general  of  the  American  army.  This  appoint 
ment  will  have  a  great  effect  in  cementing  and 
securing  the  union  of  these  colonies."  With 
some  natural  anxiety  to  have  his  action  justified 
by  the  good  acceptance  of  his  fellow  citizens 
of  Massachusetts,  he  adds :  "  I  hope  the  peo 
ple  of  our  province  will  treat  the  general  with 
all  that  confidence  and  affection,  that  polite 
ness  and  respect,  which  is  due  to  one  of  the 
most  important  characters  in  the  world.  The 
liberties  of  America  depend  upon  him  in  a 
great  degree."  The  next  day  he  wrote,  still  in 
the  highest  spirits :  "  This  Congress  are  all  as 
deep  as  the  delegates  from  the  Massachusetts, 
and  the  whole  continent  as  forward  as  Boston. 
We  shall  have  a  redress  of  grievances,  or  an 
assumption  of  all  the  powers  of  government, 
legislative,  executive,  and  judicial,  throughout 
the  whole  continent,  very  soon."  He  had  been 
conducting  an  arduous  struggle,  he  had  gained 


THE  SECOND  SESSION  OF  CONGRESS    97 

two  points,  deserving  to  be  regarded  not  only  as 
essential  but  as  finally  decisive  of  the  success  of 
his  policy.  He  chiefly  had  induced  Congress  to 
recommend  Massachusetts  to  establish  a  rebel 
lious  government;  he  had  compelled  Congress  to 
adopt  an  army  conducting  open  war  against 
King  George.  Thus,  as  he  said,  he  had  got  all 
the  other  provinces  as  deep  in  rebellion  as  his 
own  Massachusetts,  and  the  two  acts  logically 
involved  independence. 

Concerning  this  nomination  of  Washington, 
Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  says:  "In  the  life  of  Mr. 
Adams,  more  than  in  that  of  most  men,  occur 
instances  of  this  calm  but  decided  assumption 
of  a  fearful  responsibility  in  critical  moments. 
But  what  is  still  more  remarkable  is  that  they 
were  attended  with  a  uniformly  favorable  re 
sult."  Without  now  discussing  the  other  in 
stances,  it  may  be  admitted  that  the  present 
one  deserves  even  this  somewhat  magniloquent 
laudation.  The  measure  brought  the  possibility 
of  a  hearty  union  of  the  colonies  in  real  war 
to  a  sharp,  immediate,  practical  test.  It  was 
the  extreme  of  audacity  for  this  one  man  to 
stand  forth  alone,  having  secured  no  support 
ers,  apparently  not  having  even  felt  the  pulse 
of  New  England,  to  propose  that  there  should 
be  set  over  an  army  of  New  England  troops, 
led  by  New  England  officers,  encamped  on 


98  JOHN  ADAMS 

New  England  soil,  supported  by  New  England 
resources,  fighting  in  what  was  thus  far  chiefly 
if  not  solely  a  New  England  quarrel,  and  which 
had  met  with  no  reverses,  a  commander  from 
a  distant  and,  in  a  proper  sense,  even  a  foreign 
state.  Had  the  New  Englanders  received  this 
slightly  known  southerner  with  dissatisfaction, 
a  more  unfortunate  and  fatal  move  could  not 
have  been  made.  In  truth  the  responsibility 
assumed  was  sufficiently  great !  But  the  stake 
to  be  won  was  the  union  of  the  thirteen  pro 
vinces,  and  the  irrevocable  assurance  that  the 
quarrel  to  its  end  was  to  be  not  that  of  one  but 
that  of  all.  Unless  this  stake  could  be  won, 
all  must  be  lost.  But  to  determine  when  and 
how  to  play  the  test  card  in  so  momentous  a 
game  called  for  the  highest  nerve.  Adams 
acted  upon  an  implicit  faith  in  the  liberal  intel 
ligence  of  the  people  of  his  region.  The  result 
proved  his  thorough  comprehension  of  them, 
and  set  the  seal  of  wisdom  upon  his  fearless 
assumption  of  one  of  the  greatest  political  risks 
recorded  in  the  world's  history.  It  was  to  this 
sufficiency  on  his  part  for  an  emergency,  in 
stinctively  felt  rather  than  plainly  formulated, 
that  Adams  owed  in  his  lifetime,  and  has  owed 
since  his  death  a  great  respect  and  admiration 
among  the  people,  as  being  a  strong,  virile  man, 
who  could  be  trusted  at  the  crucial  moment  in 


THE  SECOND   SESSION  OF  CONGRESS    99 

spite  of  all  sorts  of  somewhat  ignoble  foibles 
and  very  inexcusable  blunders. 

As  if  to  encourage  men  of  moderate  capacity 
by  showing  that  no  one  is  always  and  evenly 
wise,  we  have  now  to  see  in  a  small  matter  the 
reverse  of  that  sagacious  judgment  just  dis 
played  in  a  great  matter.  Throughout  life 
Mr.  Adams  startled  his  friends  by  his  petty 
mistakes  not  less  constantly  than  he  astounded 
his  enemies  by  his  grand  actions.  Repeatedly 
he  got  into  trouble  through  an  uncontrollable 
propensity  to  act  without  forethought,  upon 
sudden  impulse.  This  was  a  poor  development 
of  the  same  trait  which,  in  happier  moments, 
led  to  such  prompt,  daring,  and  fortunate  move 
ments  as  the  nomination  of  Washington.  A 
few  weeks  after  that  event  it  happened  that  a 
young  man,  whose  patriotism  had  been  under 
a  cloud,  was  about  to  leave  Philadelphia  for 
the  neighborhood  of  Boston.  Opportunities  for 
sending  letters  by  safe  hands  being  then  gladly 
availed  of,  this  person  begged  to  be  allowed  to 
carry  home  some  letters  for  Mr.  Adams.  But 
Adams  had  none  written  and  declined  the  offer. 
Then  the  youth  became  importunate,  urging  that 
to  carry  only  a  few  lines  from  Mr.  Adams  would 
set  right  his  injured  reputation.  Foolishly  Mr. 
Adams  yielded,  or  rather  the  folly  lay  in  what 
he  wrote.  By  persons  in  whom  he  could  place 


100  JOHN   ADAMS 

perfect  confidence  he  had  for  months  been  send 
ing  the  most  guarded  communications ;  now  he 
seized  this  dubious  chance  to  put  in  writing 
remarks  which  a  prudent  statesman  would  not 
have  uttered  in  conversation  without  sealing 
every  keyhole.  To  General  Warren  he  began : 
"I  am  determined  to  write  freely  to  you  this 
time,"  and  thoroughly  did  he  fulfill  this  determi 
nation.  The  other  letter  to  his  wife  was  a  little 
less  distinctly  outspoken ;  but  between  the  two 
the  doings  and  the  plans  of  Adams  and  his  ad 
vanced  friends  in  Congress  were  boldly  sketched, 
and  some  very  harsh  remarks  were  indulged  in 
concerning  delegates  who  were  not  fully  in  har 
mony  with  him.  In  Rhode  Island  the  British 
intercepted  the  bearer  and  captured  the  letters, 
which  were  at  once  published  and  widely  dis 
tributed  on  both  sides  of  the  water.  They 
were  construed  as  plainly  showing  that  some 
at  least  among  the  Americans  were  aiming  at 
independence ;  and  they  made  a  great  turmoil, 
stimulating  resentment  in  the  mother  country, 
alarming  the  moderates  in  the  provinces,  and 
corroborating  the  extreme  charges  of  the  Tories. 
It  was  afterward  insisted  that  they  did  more 
good  than  harm,  because  they  caused  lines  to 
be  drawn  sharply  and  hastened  the  final  issue. 
Adams  himself  sought  consolation  in  this  view 
of  the  matter  in  his  autobiography.  But  if 


THE  SECOND  SESSION  OF  CONGRESS    101 

this  effect  was  really  produced,  yet  it  could 
not  have  been  foreseen,  and  it  therefore  con 
stituted  no  excuse  for  Mr.  Adams's  reckless 
ness,  which  had  been  almost  incredible. 

Neither  did  this  dimly  visible  result  act  as 
an  immediate  shelter  against  the  flight  of  evils 
from  this  Pandora's  box.  To  Warren,  Adams 
had  said:  "A  certain  great  fortune  and  pid 
dling  genius,  whose  fame  has  been  trumpeted 
so  loudly,  has  given  a  silly  cast  to  our  whole 
doings."  He  closed  the  letter  to  his  wife  with 
this  unfinished  sentence :  "  The  fidgets,  the 
whims,  the  caprice,  the  vanity,  the  superstition, 
the  irritability  of  some  of  us  are  enough  to  — ;  " 
words  failed  him  for  the  expression  of  his  dis 
gust.  "No  mortal  tale  can  equal  it,"  as  he 
had  already  said.  The  "  piddling  genius  "  was 
easily  recognized  as  Mr.  Dickinson,  and  the  un 
fortunate  victims  of  the  fidgets,  etc.,  were  of 
course  the  conciliationists.  Widespread  wrath 
naturally  ensued ;  and  Mr.  Adams  was  made 
for  a  while  extremely  uncomfortable.  Dickin 
son  cut  him ;  many  more  treated  him  little 
better ;  he  walked  the  streets  a  marked  and 
unpopular  man,  shunned,  distrusted,  and  dis 
liked  by  many.  He  put  the  best  face  he  could 
upon  it,  and  said  that  the  letters  did  not  amount 
to  so  very  much,  after  all  the  talk  about  them ; 
but  it  is  plain  enough  that  he  would  have  been 


102  JOHN   ADAMS 

glad  to  recall  them.  If  they  were  nothing 
worse,  at  least  they  were  crying  evidence  of  his 
incorrigible  and  besetting  weakness.  He  lived 
to  be  an  old  man  and  had  his  full  share  of 
severe  lessons,  but  neither  years  nor  mortifica 
tions  could  ever  teach  him  to  curb  his  hasty, 
ungovernable  tongue.  The  little  member  was 
too  much  for  him  to  the  end,  great,  wise,  and 
strong-willed  as  he  was. 


CHAPTER  V 

INDEPENDENCE 

CONGRESS  adjourned  for  the  summer  vaca 
tion  of  1775,  which  enabled  Mr.  Adams  to 
spend  August  at  home.  But  during  nearly  all 
this  brief  recess  he  was  busy  with  the  provincial 
executive  council,  and  got  little  rest.  On  the 
last  day  of  the  month  he  set  out  again  for 
Philadelphia,  where  he  arrived  in  the  middle 
of  September.  In  addition  to  public  cares,  he 
was  for  many  weeks  harassed  with  ill  news 
from  home.  Dysentery  became  epidemic  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Boston  during  this  sum 
mer  and  autumn.  His  brother  had  died  of  it 
before  he  left  home ;  his  wife's  mother  died  in 
September ;  his  wife  herself  and  three  of  his 
four  children  were  in  turn  stricken  with  the 
disease.  Besides  these  troubles,  the  complex 
ion  of  Congress  gave  him  much  disquietude. 
During  the  recess  a  reaction  had  set  in,  or  at 
best  the  momentum  acquired  prior  to  the  ad 
journment  had  been  wholly  lost.  From  the 
first  secret  committee  Massachusetts  was  con 
spicuously  omitted.  Dickinson,  Deane,  and  Jay, 


104  JOHN  ADAMS 

conciliationists  all,  seemed  to  lead  a  majority, 
and  to  give  color  to  the  actions  of  the  whole 
body.  Those  unfortunate  letters  of  Mr.  Adams 
had  been  efficiently  used  by  the  moderates  to 
alarm  the  many  who  dreaded  political  convul 
sion,  prolonged  war,  and  schemes  for  independ 
ence.  Even  old  friends  and  coadjutors  of  the 
detected  correspondent  now  looked  coldly  on 
him,  since  intimacy  with  him  had  become  more 
than  ever  compromising.  Yet  he  stood  stoutly 
to  his  purposes. 

"  I  assure  you,"  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  the  letters 
had  no  such  bad  effects  as  the  Tories  intended  and  as 
some  of  our  short-sighted  Whigs  apprehended ;  so  far 
otherwise  that  I  see  and  hear  every  day  fresh  proofs 
that  everybody  is  coming  fast  into  every  political 
sentiment  contained  in  them.  I  assure  you  I  could 
mention  compliments  passed  upon  them,  and  if  a  seri 
ous  decision  could  be  had  upon  them,  the  public  voice 
would  be  found  in  their  favor." 

More  and  more  zealously  he  was  giving  his 
whole  heart  and  soul,  his  life  and  prospects,  to 
the  great  cause.  Almost  every  day  he  was 
engaged  in  debate;  almost  every  day  he  had 
something  to  say  about  instituting  state  govern 
ments,  about  the  folly  of  petitions  to  the  king 
and  of  conciliatory  measures.  A  paragraph 
from  one  of  his  letters  to  his  wife,  October  7, 
1775,  though  long,  is  worth  quoting,  to  show  the 


INDEPENDENCE  105 

intense  and  lofty  spirit  which  animated  him  in 
these  critical  days :  — 

"  The  situation  of  things  is  so  alarming  that  it  is 
our  duty  to  prepare  our  minds  and  hearts  for  every 
event,  even  the  worst.  From  my  earliest  entrance 
into  life  I  have  been  engaged  in  the  public  cause  of 
America;  and  from  first  to  last  I  have  had  upon 
my  mind  a  strong  impression  that  things  would  be 
wrought  up  to  their  present  crisis.  I  saw  from  the 
beginning  that  the  controversy  was  of  such  a  nature 
that  it  never  would  be  settled,  and  every  day  con 
vinces  me  more  and  more.  This  has  been  the  source 
of  all  the  disquietude  of  my  life.  It  has  lain  down 
and  risen  up  with  me  these  twelve  years.  The 
thought  that  we  might  be  driven  to  the  sad  necessity 
of  breaking  our  connection  with  Great  Britain,  ex 
clusive  of  the  carnage  and  destruction  which  it  was 
easy  to  see  must  attend  the  separation,  always  gave 
me  a  great  deal  of  grief.  And  even  now  I  would 
gladly  retire  from  public  life  forever,  renounce  all 
chance  for  profits  or  honors  from  the  public,  nay, 
I  would  cheerfully  contribute  my  little  property,  to 
obtain  peace  and  liberty.  But  all  these  must  go  and 
my  life  too  before  I  can  surrender  the  right  of  my 
country  to  a  free  Constitution.  I  dare  not  consent 
to  it.  I  should  be  the  most  miserable  of  mortals  ever 
after,  whatever  honors  or  emoluments  might  surround 
me." 

Solemn  words  of  faith  and  self-devotion !  Yet 
the  man  who  spoke  them  was  still  a  subject 


106  JOHN  ADAMS 

of  Great  Britain,  a  rebel.  No  wonder  that  he 
chafed  at  the  names,  and  longed  rather  to  be 
called  a  free  citizen  and  a  patriot. 

In  spite  of  the  hostility  which  he  had  excited, 
he  was  acquiring  great  influence.  His  energy 
and  capacity  for  business  compelled  recogni 
tion  at  a  time  when  there  was  more  work  to  be 
done  than  hands  to  do  it.  The  days  of  feast 
ing  and  of  comfortable  discussion  at  the  tables 
of  Philadelphia  magnates  belonged  to  the  past. 
Hard  labor  had  succeeded  to  those  banquetings. 
Adams  thus  sketches  his  daily  round  in  the 
autumn  of  1775  :  "  I  am  really  engaged  in  con 
stant  business  from  seven  to  ten  in  the  morning 
in  committee,  from  ten  to  four  in  Congress,  and 
from  six  to  ten  again  in  committee."  The 
incessant  toiling  injured  by  degrees  his  consti 
tution,  and  within  a  few  months  he  began  to 
fear  that  he  should  break  down  before  his  two 
great  objects,  independence  and  a  confederation, 
could  be  attained,  at  the  present  creeping  pace, 
as  it  seemed  to  him. 

This  lukewarmness,  so  prevalent  this  autumn, 
struck  him  the  more  painfully  because  he  had 
just  come  from  a  neighborhood  where  the 
aroused  people  were  waging  real  war,  and  had 
set  their  hot  hands  to  the  plow  with  a  dogged 
determination  to  drive  it  to  the  end  of  the  fur 
row.  The  change  to  the  tepid  patriotism  of  the 


INDEPENDENCE  107 

Quaker  City  embittered  him.  To  his  diary  he 
confided  some  very  abusive  fleers  at  the  man 
ners  and  appearance  of  many  of  his  co-delegates. 
"  There  appears  to  me,"  he  says,  "  a  remarkable 
want  of  judgment  in  some  of  our  members." 
Chase  he  describes  as  violent,  boisterous,  tedious 
upon  frivolous  points.  So,  too,  is  E.  Rutledge, 
who  is  likewise  an  uncouth,  ungraceful  speaker, 
with  offensive  habits  of  shrugging  his  shoulders, 
distorting  his  body,  wriggling  his  head,  rolling 
his  eyes,  and  speaking  through  his  nose.  John 
Rutledge  also  "  dodges  his  head  "  disagreeably ; 
and  both  "  spout  out  their  language  in  a  rough 
and  rapid  torrent,  but  without  much  force  or 
effect."  Dyer,  though  with  some  good  qualities, 
is  long-winded,  roundabout,  obscure,  cloudy,  very 
talkative,  and  very  tedious.  Sherman's  air  is 
the  "  reverse  of  grace  "  when  he  keeps  his  hands 
still,  but  when  he  gesticulates  "it  is  stiffness 
and  awkwardness  itself,  rigid  as  starched  linen 
or  buckram,  awkward  as  a  junior  bachelor  or 
sophomore,"  so  that  Hogarth's  genius  could 
have  invented  nothing  worse.  Bad  as  Sherman 
is,  Dickinson's  "  air,  gait,  and  action  are  not 
much  more  elegant."  Thus  wrote  the  father 
of  that  bitter-tongued  son,  who,  it  is  clear,  took 
his  ruthless  sarcasm  and  censoriousness  as  an 
honest  inheritance.  But  the  words  were  only  an 
impetuous  outburst  of  irritation  due  to  a  pass- 


108  JOHN  ADAMS 

ing  discontent,  which  disappeared  altogether 
soon  afterward,  when  the  business  of  Congress 
began  to  run  more  to  the  writer's  taste.  There 
had  to  be  some  private  safety-vent,  when  he 
must  so  repress  himself  in  public.  "  Zeal  and 
fire  and  activity  and  enterprise,"  he  acknow 
ledged,  "strike  my  imagination  too  much.  I 
am  obliged  to  be  constantly  on  my  guard,  yet 
the  heat  within  will  burst  forth  at  times."  Very 
soon,  however,  the  stern  logic  of  facts,  the  irre 
sistible  pressure  of  events,  controlled  the  action 
of  this  session  of  Congress  not  less  conclusively 
than  the  preceding.  Men  might  prattle  of  olive- 
branches  and  the  restoration  of  harmony,  but 
scarcely  concealed  behind  the  thin  fog  raised  by 
such  language  stood  the  solid  substance  of  a 
veritable  rebellion.  An  American  army  was 
besieging  a  British  army ;  governments,  not 
rooted  in  royal  or  parliamentary  authority,  were 
established  in  several  provinces.  The  Congress 
which  had  adopted  that  army,  given  it  a  com 
mander,  and  provided  for  its  maintenance,  which 
also  had  promoted  the  organization  of  those 
governments,  was  a  congregation  of  rebels,  if 
ever  there  were  rebels  in  the  world.  Dickinson 
and  Deane  were  as  liable  to  be  hanged  as  were 
the  Adamses  and  the  Lees;  and  Washington 
himself  was  in  scarcely  more  danger  than  any 
of  these  civilians.  In  this  condition  of  affairs 


INDEPENDENCE  109 

advance  was  inevitable.  All  history  shows  that 
the  unresting  pressure  of  a  body  of  able  men, 
resolutely  striving  for  a  definite  end,  furnishes 
a  motive  power  which  no  inertia  of  a  reluctant 
mass  can  permanently  resist.  Progression  gains 
point  after  point  till  the  conclusion  is  so  assured 
that  resistance  ceases.  A  fresh  indication  of 
this  truth  was  now  seen  in  the  movement  to 
establish  a  fleet  at  the  continental  charge. 
"  This  naked  proposition,"  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams 
tells  us,  "  was  at  once  met  with  a  storm  of  ridi 
cule,"  in  which  some  delegates  joined  who  might 
have  been  looked  for  on  the  other  side.  But 
the  tempest  spent  itself  in  a  few  days,  and  then 
a  committee  was  appointed,  charged  to  procure 
vessels,  to  be  placed  under  the  control  of  Wash 
ington.  Within  less  than  two  months  a  real 
navy  was  in  course  of  active  preparation.  Mr. 
Adams  was  a  member  of  the  committee  and  set 
zealously  about  the  work ;  he  sought  information 
on  all  sides  and  exhaustively ;  and  besides  the 
practical  equipment  and  manning  of  the  vessels, 
he  was  soon  ready  with  a  maritime  code. 

About  the  same  time  an  application  from 
New  Hampshire  for  advice  concerning  its  inter 
nal  policy  was  answered  by  a  recommendation 
for  calling  a  "full  and  free  representation  of 
the  people  ;  "  and  with  advice  that  "  the  repre 
sentatives,  if  they  think  it  necessary,  establish 


110  JOHN  ADAMS 

such  a  form  of  government  as  in  their  judgment 
will  best  produce  the  happiness  of  the  people 
during  the  continuance  of  the  present  dispute." 
The  ease  with  which  this  resolution  passed,  al 
most  unchallenged  by  the  Dickinson  party,  was 
very  encouraging.  During  this  autumn  also  was 
made  the  first  effort  to  organize  foreign  embas 
sies.  Mr.  Adams  described  this  endeavor  as 
follows  :  — 

"  In  consequence  of  many  conversations  between 
Mr.  Chase  and  me  he  made  a  motion  .  .  .  for  send 
ing  ambassadors  to  France.  I  seconded  the  motion. 
You  know  the  state  of  the  nerves  of  Congress  at  that 
time.  .  .  .  Whether  the  effect  of  the  motion  resem 
bled  the  shock  of  electricity,  of  mesmerism,  or  of  gal 
vanism  the  most  exactly,  I  leave  you  philosophers  to 
determine,  but  the  grimaces,  the  agitations  and  con 
vulsions  were  very  great." 

Vehement  debates  ensued,  of  his  own  share 
in  which  Mr.  Adams  says  :  "  I  was  remarkably 
cool  and,  for  me,  unusually  eloquent.  On  no 
occasion,  before  or  after,  did  I  ever  make  a 
greater  impression  on  Congress."  "  Attention 
and  approbation  were  marked  on  every  counte 
nance."  Many  gentlemen  came  to  pay  him  their 
compliments,  and  even  Dickinson  praised  him. 
Nevertheless  his  oratory  failed  to  secure  the 
practical  reward  of  success  ;  the  step  was  too  far 
in  advance  of  the  present  position  of  a  majority 


INDEPENDENCE  111 

of  members.  There  were  "many  motions"  and 
much  "  tedious  discussion,"  but  "  after  all  our 
argumentation  the  whole  terminated  in  a  com 
mittee  of  secret  correspondence."  So  Mr. 
Adams  was  again  relegated  to  the  odious  duty 
of  waiting  patiently.  But  he  and  his  abettors 
had  insured  ultimate  success  ;  indeed,  it  was  only 
a  question  how  far  the  colonies  would  soon  go 
in  this  direction.  It  even  appeared  that  there 
were  some  persons  who  desired  to  push  foreign 
connections  to  a  point  much  beyond  that  at 
which  Mr.  Adams  would  have  rested.  Thus, 
Patrick  Henry  was  in  favor  of  alliances,  even 
if  they  must  be  bought  by  concessions  of  terri 
tory  ;  whereas  Adams  desired  only  treaties  of 
commerce,  advising  that  "we  should  separate 
ourselves  as  far  as  possible  and  as  long  as  possi 
ble  from  all  European  politics  and  wars."  He 
anticipated  the  "  Monroe  Doctrine." 

On  December  9,  1775,  Mr.  Adams  set  out  on 
a  short  visit  to  Massachusetts.  He  was  anxious 
to  learn  accurately  the  present  temper  of  the 
people.  While  there,  besides  advising  Wash 
ington  upon  an  important  question  concerning 
the  extent  of  his  military  jurisdiction,  he  also 
arranged  a  personal  matter.  He  had  lately  been 
appointed  chief  justice  of  the  province,  appar 
ently  not  with  the  expectation  of  securing  his 
actual  presence  on  the  bench,  but  for  the  sake 


112  JOHN  ADAMS 

of  the  strength  and  prestige  which  his  name 
would  give  to  the  newly-constituted  tribunal  of 
justice.  He  now  accepted  the  office  upon  the 
clear  understanding  that  he  should  not  take  his 
seat  unless  upon  some  pressing  occasion. 

On  January  24,  1776,  having  found  both  the 
leaders  and  the  people  in  full  accord  with  his 
own  sentiments,  he  set  out  in  company  with 
Elbridge  Gerry  on  his  return  to  Philadelphia. 
The  two  carried  with  them  some  important  in 
structions  to  the  Massachusetts  delegates,  possi 
bly  the  fruit  of  Mr.  Adams's  visit,  or  at  least 
matured  and  ripened  beneath  the  heat  of  his 
presence.  These  gentlemen  were  bidden  to  urge 
Congress  "  to  concert,  direct,  and  order  such 
further  measures  as  shall  to  them  appear  best 
calculated  for  the  establishment  of  right  and 
liberty  to  the  American  colonies,  upon  a  basis 
permanent  and  secure  against  the  power  and 
art  of  the  British  administration,  and  guarded 
against  any  future  encroachments  of  their  ene 
mies." 

But  again  the  change  from  the  patriotic  at 
mosphere  of  Massachusetts  to  the  tamer  climate 
of  Philadelphia  dispirited  Adams  seriously.  He 
wrote  home,  February  11,  to  his  wife  :  "  There 
is  a  deep  anxiety,  a  kind  of  thoughtful  melan 
choly,  and  in  some  a  lowness  of  spirits  approach 
ing  to  despondency,  prevailing  through  the 


INDEPENDENCE  113 

southern  colonies  at  present."  But  he  had  at  last 
learned  to  value  these  intermissions  correctly; 
he  had  seen  them  before,  even  in  Massachusetts, 
and  he  recognized  them  as  transitory.  "  In 
this  or  a  similar  condition  we  shall  remain,  I 
think,  until  late  in  the  spring,  when  some  critical 
event  will  take  place ;  perhaps  sooner.  But  the 
arbiter  of  events  .  .  .  only  knows  which  way 
the  torrent  will  be  turned.  Judging  by  experi 
ence,  by  probabilities  and  by  all  appearances,  I 
conclude  it  will  roll  on  to  dominion  and  glory, 
though  the  circumstances  and  consequences  may 
be  bloody."  This  was  correct  forecasting  ;  late 
in  the  spring  of  1776  a  very  "  critical  event "  did 
happen,  entailing  "  bloody  consequences,"  "  do 
minion,"  and  "  glory."  "  In  such  great  changes 
and  commotions,"  he  says,  "  individuals  are  but 
atoms.  It  is  scarcely  worth  while  to  consider 
what  the  consequences  will  be  to  us."  The 
"effects  upon  the  present  and  future  millions, 
and  millions  of  millions,"  engage  his  thoughts. 
The  frequent  recurrence  of  such  expressions  in 
dicates  a  peculiar  sense  of  awe  on  his  part.  He 
felt,  to  a  degree  that  few  others  did  at  this  time, 
that  he  was  in  the  presence  of  momentous  events. 
The  prescience  of  a  shadowy  but  grand  future 
was  always  with  him,  and  impressed  him  like 
a  great  religious  mystery.  This  feeling  lent  a 
solemn  earnestness  to  his  conduct,  the  wonderful 


114  JOHN   ADAMS 

force  of  which  is  plainly  perceptible,  even  to  this 
day,  in  the  meagre  fragmentary  records  which 
have  come  down  to  us. 

As  the  winter  of  1776  advanced  it  could  no 
longer  be  doubted  that  the  American  provinces 
were  rapidly  nearing  an  avowed  independence. 
The  middle  states  might  be  reluctant,  and 
their  representatives  in  Congress  might  set 
their  backs  towards  the  point  which  they  were 
approaching ;  but  they  approached  it  neverthe 
less.  They  were  like  men  on  a  raft,  carried  by 
an  irresistible  current  in  one  direction,  while  ob 
stinately  steering  in  the  other.  Adams  listened 
to  their  talk  with  contempt ;  he  had  no  sym 
pathy  with  their  unwillingness  to  assert  an  un 
deniable  fact.  "  I  cannot  but  despise,"  he  said, 
"  the  understanding  which  sincerely  expects  an 
honorable  peace,  for  its  credulity,  and  detest 
the  hypocritical  heart,  which  pretends  to  expect 
it  when  in  truth  it  does  not."  He  spoke  with 
bitter  irony  of  the  timid  ones  who  could  not 
bring  themselves  to  use  a  dreaded  phrase,  who 
were  appalled  by  a  word.  "  If  a  post  or  two 
more  should  bring  you  unlimited  latitude  of 
trade  to  all  nations,  and  a  polite  invitation  to 
all  nations  to  trade  with  you,  take  care  that  you 
do  not  call  it  or  think  it  independency ;  no  such 
matter ;  independency  is  a  hobgoblin  of  such 
frightful  mien  that  it  would  throw  a  delicate 


INDEPENDENCE  115 

person  into  fits  to  look  it  in  the  face."  But 
by  degrees  he  was  able  plainly  to  see  the  fea 
tures  of  this  alarming  monster  drawing  nearer 
and  nearer.  He  beheld  an  unquestionable  and 
great  advance  by  the  other  provinces  towards 
the  faith  long  since  familiar  to  New  England 
minds.  "  The  newspapers  here  are  full  of  free 
speculations,  the  tendency  of  which  you  will 
easily  discover.  The  writers  reason  from  topics 
which  have  been  long  in  contemplation  and 
fully  understood  by  the  people  at  large  in  New 
England,  but  have  been  attended  to  in  the 
southern  colonies  only  by  gentlemen  of  free 
spirits  and  liberal  minds,  who  are  very  few." 

The  "  barons  of  the  south  "  and  the  proprie 
tary  interests  of  the  middle  states  had  long 
been  his  betes  noires.  "  All  our  misfortunes," 
he  said,  "  arise  from  a  single  source,  the  reluc 
tance  of  the  southern  colonies  to  a  republican 
government."  But  these  obstacles  were  begin 
ning  to  yield.  With  the  influence  of  Virginia 
in  favor  of  independence,  it  was  a  question  of 
no  very  long  time  for  the  rest  of  the  southern 
provinces  to  fall  into  line,  even  at  the  sacrifice 
of  strong  prejudices.  Still  the  conciliationists, 
not  giving  up  the  struggle,  spread  reports  that 
commissioners  were  coming  from  the  king  on 
an  errand  of  peace  and  harmony.  Their  talk 
bred  vexatious  delay  and  aroused  Mr.  Adams's 


116  JOHN   ADAMS 

ire.  "  A  more  egregious  bubble,"  he  said,  "  was 
never  blown  up,  yet  it  has  gained  credit  like  a 
charm,  not  only  with,  but  against,  the  clearest 
evidence."  "  This  story  of  commissioners  is  as 
arrant  an  illusion  as  ever  was  hatched  in  the 
brain  of  an  enthusiast,  a  politician,  or  a  maniac. 
I  have  laughed  at  it,  scolded  at  it,  grieved  at 
it,  and  I  don't  know  but  I  may  at  an  unguarded 
moment  have  rip'd  at  it.  But  it  is  vain  to 
reason  against  such  delusions." 

Still,  among  these  obstructions  the  great 
motive  power  worked  ceaselessly  and  carried 
steadily  forward  the  ship  of  state,  or  rather 
the  fleet  of  thirteen  ships  which  had  lashed 
themselves  together  just  sufficiently  securely  to 
render  uniform  movement  a  necessity.  Fastened 
between  New  England  and  Virginia,  the  middle 
states  had  to  drift  forward  with  these  flanking 
vessels.  Chief  engineer  Adams  fed  the  fires 
and  let  not  the  machinery  rest.  A  personal 
attack  upon  him  made  at  this  time  was  really 
a  hopeful  symptom  of  the  desperation  to  which 
his  opponents  were  fast  being  reduced.  Mary 
land  instructed  her  delegates  to  move  a  self- 
denying  ordinance,  of  which  the  implication  was 
that  Mr.  Adams  was  urging  forward  independ 
ence  because  he  was  chief  justice  of  Massachu 
setts,  and  so  had  a  personal  gain  to  achieve  by 
making  the  office  permanent.  But  not  much 


INDEPENDENCE  117 

could  be  gained  by  this  sort  of  strategy.  By  the 
spring  he  was  very  sanguine.  "  As  to  declara 
tions  of  independency,"  he  said  to  his  wife,  "  be 
patient.  Read  our  privateering  laws  and  our 
commercial  laws.  What  signifies  a  word?"  Yet 
the  word  did  signify  a  great  deal,  and  he  was 
resolved  that  it  should  be  spoken  bluntly  and 
with  authority. 

He  saw  that  it  would  be  so  spoken  very  soon. 
On  May  29,  1776,  he  wrote  cheerfully :  "  Mary 
land  has  passed  a  few  eccentric  resolves,  but 
these  are  only  flashes  which  will  soon  expire. 
The  proprietary  governments  are  not  only  in- 
cumbered  with  a  large  body  of  Quakers,  but  are 
embarrassed  by  a  proprietary  interest;  both 
together  clog  their  operations  a  little,  but  these 
clogs  are  falling  off,  as  you  will  soon  see." 
The  middle  colonies  had  "  never  tasted  the  bit 
ter  cup,"  "  never  smarted,"  and  were  "  therefore 
a  little  cooler ;  but  you  will  see  that  the  colonies 
are  united  indissolubly."  Of  this  union  he  was 
assured :  "  Those  few  persons,"  he  said,  "  who 
have  attended  closely  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
several  colonies  for  a  number  of  years  past,  and 
reflected  deeply  upon  the  causes  of  this  mighty 
contest,  have  foreseen  that  such  an  unanimity 
would  take  place  as  soon  as  a  separation  should 
become  necessary."  One  immense  relief  he 
was  now  enjoying,  which  probably  contributed 


118  JOHN  ADAMS 

not  a  little  to  raise  his  spirits.  The  odious 
season  of  reticence  was  over  ;  he  was  at  last 
able  to  work  in  the  cause  openly  and  inces 
santly,  in  Congress  and  out  of  it,  in  debate,  on 
committees,  and  in  conversation.  His  influ 
ence  was  becoming  very  great ;  his  hand  was 
felt  everywhere;  during  the  autumn  of  1775, 
the  winter  and  spring  of  1776,  he  says  that 
he  unquestionably  did  more  business  than  any 
other  member  of  the  body.  He  had  broad  ideas  ; 
he  practiced  a  deep  and  far-reaching  strategy. 
Long  since  he  had  conceived  and  formulated  a 
complete  scheme  of  independence,  and  he  laid 
his  plans  to  carry  this  through  piece  by  piece, 
with  the  idea  that  when  every  item  which  went 
to  the  construction  of  the  composite  fact  should 
be  accomplished,  so  that  the  fact  undeniably 
existed,  then  at  last  its  declaration,  even  if 
postponed  so  late,  could  no  longer  be  withstood. 
The  three  chief  articles  in  his  scheme,  still 
remaining  to  be  accomplished,  were,  "  a  govern 
ment  in  every  colony,  a  confederation  among 
them  all,  and  treaties  with  foreign  nations  to 
acknowledge  us  a  sovereign  state."  In  fact,  "  a 
government  in  every  colony "  really  covered 
the  whole  ground,  and  was  independence.  A 
league  between  these  free  governments,  and 
connections  with  foreign  states,  were  logically 
only  natural  and  desirable  corollaries,  not  inte- 


INDEPENDENCE  119 

gral   parts  of   the  proposition;    but  practically 
they  were  very  useful  links  to  maintain  it. 

By  the  month  of  May  the  stage  had  been 
reached  at  which  the  general  organization  of 
free  governments  among  the  states,  many  of 
which  had  not  yet  gone  through  the  form,  seemed 
possible.  On  May  6  Mr.  Adams  brought  for 
ward  a  resolution,  which,  after  being  debated 
three  days,  was  passed  upon  May  9.  It  recom 
mended  to  those  several  colonies,  wherein  no 
government "  sufficient  to  the  exigencies  of  their 
affairs  "  had  yet  been  established,  to  adopt  such 
a  government  as  should  "best  conduce  to  the 
happiness  and  safety "  of  themselves  and  of 
America.  Good  so  far  as  it  went,  this  resolve 
was  yet  felt  to  be  somewhat  vague  and  easy  of 
evasion.  To  cure  these  defects  Mr.  Adams, 
Mr.  Rutledge,  and  Mr.  Lee  were  directed  to 
prepare  a  preamble.  They  reported,  on  May 
15,  a  paragraph  which  covered  the  whole  ground 
of  separation  from  Great  Britain  and  independ 
ence  of  the  colonies.  This  skillful  composition 
recited  that  his  Britannic  Majesty,  in  conjunc 
tion  with  the  Lords  and  Commons,  had  "  ex 
cluded  the  inhabitants  of  these  United  Colonies 
from  the  protection  of  his  crown  ;  that  the  whole 
force  of  his  kingdom,  aided  by  foreign  merce 
naries,  was  being  exerted  for  the  destruction  of 
the  good  people  of  these  colonies  ;  that  it  was 


120  JOHN  ADAMS 

irreconcilable  to  reason  and  good  conscience  for 
the  colonists  now  to  take  oaths  and  affirmations 
for  the  support  of  any  government  under  the 
crown  of  Great  Britain  ;  that  it  was  necessary 
that  every  kind  of  authority  under  that  crown 
should  be  totally  suppressed,  and  that  all  the 
powers  of  government  should  be  exerted  under 
the  authority  of  the  people  of  the  colonies,"  etc. 

This  was  plain  speaking,  which  no  one  could 
pretend  to  misunderstand.  It  involved  inde 
pendence,  though  it  was  not  a  formal  and 
explicit  declaration  ;  but  it  was  the  substance, 
the  thing  itself  ;  only  verbal  recognition  of  the 
fact  remained  to  be  made,  and  was  of  course 
inevitable.  This  was  sufficiently  well  appre 
ciated  ;  Mr.  Duane  said  that  this  was  a  "  piece 
of  mechanism  to  work  out  independence."  The 
moderatists  fought  hard  and  not  without  bit 
terness,  though  they  recognized  that  they  were 
foredoomed  to  defeat.  Finally  the  preamble  was 
adopted.  Mr.  Adams  was  profoundly  happy  in 
his  triumph,  but  he  was  too  deeply  impressed 
with  the  grandeur  of  the  occasion,  too  much 
overawed  by  a  consciousness  of  his  own  leading 
part  and  chief  responsibility,  to  be  jubilant  or 
elated  as  over  a  less  momentous  victory.  He 
writes  almost  solemnly  to  his  wife :  — 

"  Is  it  not  a  saying  of  Moses  :  '  Who  am  I,  that 
I  should  go  in  and  out  before  this  great  people  ?  ' 


INDEPENDENCE  121 

When  I  consider  the  great  events  which  are  passed 
and  those  greater  which  are  rapidly  advancing,  and 
that  I  may  have  been  instrumental  in  touching  some 
springs  and  turning  some  small  wheels,  which  have 
had  and  will  have  such  effects,  I  feel  an  awe  upon 
my  mind  which  is  not  easily  described.  Great  Brit 
ain  has  at  last  driven  America  to  the  last  step,  a 
complete  separation  from  her,  a  total,  absolute  inde 
pendence,  not  only  of  her  parliament  but  of  her 
crown.  For  such  is  the  amount  of  the  resolve  of  the 
15th.  Confederation  among  ourselves  or  alliances 
with  foreign  nations  are  not  necessary  to  a  perfect 
separation  from  Great  Britain.  .  .  .  Confederation 
will  be  necessary  for  our  internal  concord,  and  alli 
ances  may  be  so  for  our  external  defense." 

Mr.  Adams  was  of  opinion  that  this  step 
could  have  been  wisely  taken  at  a  much  earlier 
date,  had  it  not  been  for  the  foolish  delays 
interposed  by  delegates  who  "  must  petition  and 
negotiate,"  notably  the  Pennsylvanians,  aided 
by  a  few  New  Yorkers  and  some  others  from 
the  lukewarm  middle  states.  He  believed  that 
twelve  months  before  "  the  people  were  as  ripe 
as  they  are  now."  But  this  must  be  doubted. 
Looking  back  upon  the  progress,  it  seems  to 
have  been  sufficiently  rapid  for  safety  and  per 
manence. 

The  thorough  approbation  entertained  for  this 
action  of  Congress  was  at  once  made  manifest 
in  the  alacrity  with  which  the  several  colonies 


122  JOHN  ADAMS 

prepared  to  assume  the  functions  of  independ 
ence.  Even  Pennsylvania  recognized  that  the 
gift  of  freedom  was  proffered  to  her  accom 
panied  by  such  a  pressure  of  circumstances  that 
she  could  not  reject  it.  Her  effete  assembly  of 
conciliationists  was  dying  of  inanition.  A  body 
of  representatives  was  chosen  by  the  people,  and 
voted  "  that  the  government  of  this  province  is 
not  competent  for  the  exigencies  of  our  affairs." 
But  it  was  desirable  that  a  fact  of  such  su 
preme  importance  as  the  birth  of  thirteen  new 
nations  should  not  remain  merely  a  matter  of 
logical  inference.  It  must  be  embodied  in  a 
declaration  incapable  of  misinterpretation,  not 
open  to  be  explained  away  by  ingenious  con 
structions  or  canceled  by  technical  arguments. 
Independence  could  not  be  left  to  be  gathered 
among  the  recitals  of  a  preamble.  Readers  will 
probably  forgive  me  for  narrating  in  the  brief 
est  manner  the  familiar  story  of  the  passage  of 
the  great  Declaration.  On  June  7  Richard 
Henry  Lee  of  Virginia  moved  "  certain  resolu 
tions  respecting  independency."  John  Adams 
seconded  the  motion.  Its  consideration  was  re 
ferred  to  the  next  morning  at  ten  o'clock,  when 
members  were  "  enjoined  to  attend  punctually." 
A  debate  of  three  days  ensued.  It  appeared 
that  four  New  England  colonies  and  three 
southern  colonies  were  prepared  to  vote  at  once 


INDEPENDENCE  123 

in  the  affirmative ;  but  unanimity  was  desirable 
and  could  probabty  be  obtained  by  a  little  de 
lay.  So  a  postponement  was  voted  until  July  1. 
There  was  abundance  of  work  to  be  done  in  the 
mean  time,  not  only  in  the  provinces,  but  in 
Congress  also,  where  the  machinery  for  the  new 
order  of  things  was  all  to  be  constructed  and 
set  in  order,  ready  for  immediate  use  so  soon  as 
the  creative  vote  could  be  taken.  Three  com 
mittees  were  appointed ;  one  was  charged  with 
drafting  the  document  itself,  so  that  it  should 
be  ready  for  adoption  on  July  1.  The  members 
of  this  committee,  in  order  of  precedence,  were 
Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Franklin,  Sherman,  and 
R.  R.  Livingston.  A  second  committee  was 
deputed  to  devise  a  scheme  for  a  confederation 
between  the  colonies ;  a  third  had  the  duty 
of  arranging  a  plan  for  treaties  with  foreign 
powers.  Upon  this  last  committee  also  Adams 
was  placed,  though  in  company  with  colleagues 
by  no  means  of  his  way  of  thinking.  On  the 
following  day  he  was  further  put  at  the  head 
of  a  "  board  of  war  and  ordnance,"  consisting 
of  five  members  of  Congress  and  charged  with 
a  multiplicity  of  laborious  duties.  Evidently 
these  were  busy  days  for  him.  But  they  were 
days  of  triumph  in  which  work  was  a  pleasure. 
All  those  matters  which  had  been  promoted  by 
him  more  zealously  than  by  any  other  delegate 


124  JOHN  ADAMS 

seemed  now  on  the  eve  of  accomplishment ;  and 
then,  he  said,  "  I  shall  think  that  I  have 
answered  the  end  of  my  creation,  and  sing  my 
nunc  dimittis,  return  to  my  farm,  ride  circuits, 
plead  law,  or  judge  causes."  So  confident  was 
he  of  the  sure  and  speedy  achievement  of  his 
purpose  that  he  actually  began  now  to  preach 
patience  to  others. 

When  it  came  to  the  matter  of  writing  the 
Declaration,  some  civilities  were  exchanged  be 
tween  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  each  po 
litely  requesting  the  other  to  undertake  it.  But 
as  it  had  been  probably  generally  expected,  if 
not  tacitly  understood,  that  Jefferson  should  do 
the  composition,  he  readily  engaged  to  try  his 
hand.  In  old  age  Jefferson  and  Adams  made 
statements  slightly  differing  from  each  other 
concerning  this  transaction.  Jefferson  said  that 
he  submitted  his  paper  to  Franklin  and  Adams 
separately,  that  each  interlined  in  his  own  hand 
writing  such  corrections  as  occurred  to  him,  but 
that  these  were  "  two  or  three  only  and  merely 
verbal ;  "  that  the  instrument  was  then  reported 
by  the  committee.  Adams  said  that  after  the 
paper  was  written  he  and  Jefferson  conned  it 
over  together,  that  he  was  delighted  with  its 
"high  tone  and  flights  of  oratory,"  and  that, 
according  to  his  recollection,  he  neither  made 
nor  suggested  any  alteration,  though  he  felt  sure 


INDEPENDENCE  125 

that  the  passage  concerning  slavery  would  be 
rejected  by  the  southern  delegates,  and  though 
there  were  some  expressions  which  he  did  not 
wholly  approve,  especially  that  which  stigma 
tized  George  III.  as  a  tyrant.  The  paper,  he 
says,  was  then  read  before  the  whole  committee 
of  five,  and  he  could  not  recall  that  it  was  criti 
cised  at  all.  The  variance  between  these  two 
accounts  is  insignificant,  and,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  they  were  made  nearly  half  a  century  after 
the  events  took  place,  it  is  only  surprising  that 
they  were  not  more  discordant.  The  contro 
versy  excited  some  interest  at  the  time  and  after 
wards  ;  though,  as  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  truly  says, 
the  question  "  does  not  rise  beyond  the  character 
of  a  curiosity  of  literature."  Yet  he  himself 
cares  enough  about  it  to  endeavor  to  show  that 
his  grandfather's  statement  has  not  been  discred 
ited  by  the  evidence.  But  the  contrary  seems  to 
be  the  more  correct  conclusion.  The  only  evi 
dence  of  any  real  value  which  exists  in  the  case 
is  the  original  draft  of  the  Declaration  in  Jeffer 
son's  handwriting,  bearing  two  or  three  trifling 
alterations  interlined  in  the  handwritings  of 
Adams  and  Franklin.  It  should  be  noted,  too, 
that  Jefferson  assumes  to  speak  positively,  while 
Adams  carefully  limits  his  statement  by  saying 
that  it  is  according  to  his  present  memory.  His 
memory  was  not  a  perfectly  trustworthy  one. 


126  JOHN  ADAMS 

On  July  1  debate  was  resumed  in  committee 
of  the  whole  on  the  original  resolution  of  Mr. 
Lee,  which  was  reported  to  Congress  and  carried 
by  that  body  on  the  next  day.  The  Declaration 
was  then  at  once  reported  and  discussed  until 
late  on  July  4.  There  was  no  doubt  that  it 
would  be  carried,  but  Dickinson  and  others  who 
remained  strongly  opposed  to  it  were  determined, 
as  a  sort  of  solemn  though  hopeless  duty,  to 
speak  out  their  minds  against  it.  Jefferson, 
utterly  helpless  in  debate,  sat  silent  and  very 
uncomfortable  while  the  hot  battle  raged.  John 
Adams,  in  this  supreme  hour,  bore  the  whole 
burden  of  supporting  a  measure  which  he  re 
garded  as  the  consummation  of  all  the  labor 
expended  by  him  since  he  came  into  public  life, 
—  substantially  as  "  the  end  of  his  creation,"  as 
he  had  said.  His  intense  earnestness,  his  famil 
iarity  with  every  possible  argument,  compelled 
him  to  be  magnificently  eloquent.  He  himself 
did  not  know  what  a  grand  effort  he  was  mak 
ing,  but  his  hearers  have  borne  their  testimony 
to  his  power  and  impressiveness  in  many  tributes 
of  ardent  praise.  Jefferson  uttered  words  of 
warmest  admiration  and  gratitude.  Adams,  he 
said,  was  the  "  Colossus  of  that  debate."  Stock 
ton  called  him  the  "Atlas  of  independence." 
His  praise  was  in  every  mouth. 

On  July  3  Adams  wrote  two  letters  to  his 


INDEPENDENCE  127 

wife.  In  one  he  said  :  "  Yesterday  the  greatest 
question  was  decided  which  ever  was  debated  in 
America,  and  a  greater  perhaps  never  was  nor 
will  be  decided  among  men."  In  the  other : 
"  The  second  day  of  July,  1776,  will  be  the  most 
memorable  epoch  in  the  history  of  America.  I 
am  apt  to  believe  that  it  will  be  celebrated  by 
succeeding  generations  as  the  great  Anniversary 
Festival.  It  ought  to  be  commemorated  as  the 
day  of  deliverance,  by  solemn  acts  of  devotion 
to  God  Almighty.  It  ought  to  be  solemnized 
with  pomp,  and  parade,  with  shows,  games, 
sports,  bells,  bonfires,  and  illuminations,  from 
one  end  of  this  continent  to  the  other,  from  this 
time  forward  for  evermore.  You  will  think  me 
transported  with  enthusiasm,  but  I  am  not.  I 
am  well  aware  of  the  toil  and  blood  and  treasure 
that  it  will  cost  us  to  maintain  this  Declara 
tion,  and  support  and  defend  these  states.  Yet 
through  all  the  gloom  I  can  see  the  rays  of 
ravishing  light  and  glory.  I  can  see  that  the 
end  is  more  than  worth  all  the  means  ;  and  that 
posterity  will  triumph  in  that  day's  transaction, 
even  though  we  should  rue  it,  which  I  trust  in 
God  we  shall  not."  Posterity  has  selected  for 
its  anniversary  July  4,  instead  of  July  2,  though 
the  question  was  really  settled  on  the  earlier 
day. 


CHAPTER  VI 

AFTER   INDEPENDENCE 

AMID  the  exultation  and  excitement  attend 
ant  upon  these  closing  hours  of  American  colo 
nialism,  Adams  gave  striking  evidence  of  the 
cool  judgment  and  statesmanlike  comprehension 
which  constituted  a  solid  stratum  beneath  his  im 
petuous  temper.  He  wrote  to  Samuel  Chase :  — 

"  If  you  imagine  that  I  expect  this  Declaration 
will  ward  off  calamities  from  this  country,  you  are 
much  mistaken.  A  bloody  conflict  we  are  destined 
to  endure.  This  has  been  my  opinion  from  the  be 
ginning.  .  .  .  Every  political  event  since  the  nine 
teenth  of  April,  1775,  has  confirmed  me  in  this 
opinion.  If  you  imagine  that  I  flatter  myself  with 
happiness  and  halcyon  days  after  a  separation  from 
Great  Britain,  you  are  mistaken  again.  I  do  not 
expect  that  our  new  government  will  be  so  quiet  as  I 
could  wish,  nor  that  happy  harmony,  confidence,  and 
affection  between  the  colonies,  that  every  good  Amer 
ican  ought  to  study  and  pray  for,  for  a  long  time. 
But  freedom  is  a  counterbalance  for  poverty,  discord, 
and  war,  and  more.  It  is  your  hard  lot  and  mine  to 
be  called  into  life  at  such  a  time.  Yet  even  these 
times  have  their  pleasures." 


AFTER  INDEPENDENCE  129 

In  such  words  there  spoke  a  cool  statesman 
as  well  as  a  warm  patriot,  accurately  measuring 
a  great  victory  even  in  the  flush  of  it,  appreciat 
ing  justly  the  struggles  yet  to  come. 

The,  enthusiastic  gentleman,  who  called  Mr. 
Adams  the  Atlas  of  American  independence, 
confused  the  fact  of  independence  with  the  de 
claration  of  it.  The  only  Atlas  of  American 
independence  was  the  great  leader  who  won 
the  war  of  the  Revolution.  He  established  the 
fact ;  Mr.  Adams  induced  Congress  to  declare 
it.  To  Mr.  Adams  belongs,  accurately  speaking, 
the  chief  credit  for  having  not  only  defended 
the  Declaration  triumphantly  in  debate,  but  for 
having  brought  his  fellow  delegates  to  the  point 
of  passing  votes  which,  prior  to  the  formal  de 
claration,  involved  it  as  a  logical  conclusion. 
His  earnestness  in  this  cause  appears  to  have 
been  greater  than  that  of  any  other  member ;  he 
pressed  upon  his  object  as  a  beleaguering  army 
presses  upon  a  city ;  he  captured  one  outwork 
after  another ;  week  by  week  he  made  the  ulti 
mate  result  more  and  more  inevitable  by  indu 
cing  Congress  to  take  one  step  after  another  in 
the  desired  direction;  his  intensity  of  purpose 
affected  others,  as  it  always  will;  his  tenacity 
was  untiring;  his  eloquence  was  never  silent; 
so  thoroughly  did  he  study  the  subject  that  no 
individual  could  cope  with  the  force,  variety, 


130  JOHN  ADAMS 

readiness,  and  breadth  of  his  arguments ;  so 
keen  did  his  perceptions  become  beneath  the 
influence  of  his  deep  resolve  that  he  was  able  so 
far  to  subdue  his  own  nature  as  to  become  diplo 
matic,  ingenious,  and  patient  in  his  methods. 
The  same  result  would  without  doubt  have  been 
reached  had  John  Adams  never  existed,  so  that, 
in  a  certain  sense  of  the  words,  the  declaration 
was  not  due  to  him ;  but  as  that  phrase  is  ordi 
narily  used,  to  signify  that  his  efforts  were  the 
most  conspicuous  visible  impulse,  it  is  proper  to 
say  that  the  achievement  was  his  work. 

Foolish  as  it  generally  is  to  speculate  upon 
what  would  have  been  if  historical  events  had 
not  occurred  as  they  did,  yet  occasionally  a  sup 
position  seems  sure  enough  to  be  of  interest  and 
value  in  enabling  us  to  appreciate  the  impor 
tance  of  an  individual,  and  the  relationship  of 
some  prominent  man  to  the  public  affairs  in 
which  he  is  concerned.  No  one  doubts  that  the 
American  colonies  would  at  some  time  or  other 
have  become  independent  states,  though  George 
Washington  had  never  lived.  But  no  one  who 
has  carefully  studied  that  period  can  doubt  that 
independence  would  not  have  been  achieved  in 
the  especial  struggle  of  1776  without  George 
Washington.  His  existence  was  essential  to 
American  success  in  that  war.  With  him  the 
colonies  were  on  the  verge  of  failure ;  without 


AFTER  INDEPENDENCE  131 

him  they  would  inevitably  have  passed  over  that 
verge,  and  would  have  had  to  wait  during  an 
uncertain  period  for  a  better  opportunity.  The 
combination  of  his  moral  and  mental  qualities 
was  so  singular  that  he  is  an  absolutely  unique 
character  in  history.  Other  men  belong  to  types 
and  classes,  and  individual  members  of  any 
type  or  class  may  be  compared  with  each  other. 
Washington  is  the  only  man  of  his  type  or 
class.  Thus  it  happens  that  no  one  has  yet 
succeeded  in  describing  his  character.  All 
efforts  have  been  at  best  suggestive  or  contrib 
utory.  There  have  been  men  as  honest,  as 
just,  as  patriotic,  as  devoted,  as  persistent,  as 
noble-minded,  as  dignified,  as  much  above  suspi 
cion,  men  as  capable  of  inspiring  that  confidence 
which  leads  to  willing  obedience,  men  infinitely 
more  magnetic,  and  able  to  excite  much  warmer 
personal  allegiance,  men  of  larger  brains,  of 
greater  strategic  abilities  natural  and  acquired, 
of  wider  aptitude  for  statesmanship.  Yet  still 
Washington  stands  by  himself,  a  man  not  sus 
ceptible  of  comparison  with  any  other,  whether 
for  praise  or  disparagement ;  a  man  who  never 
did  a  single  act  indicative  of  genius,  yet  who, 
amid  problems  as  novel  and  perplexing  as  ever 
tortured  the  toiler  in  public  affairs,  never  made 
a  serious  mistake.  One  writer  will  tell  us  that 
it  was  the  grand  morality  of  his  nature  which 


132  JOHN   ADAMS 

brought  him  success ;  another  prefers  to  say  that 
it  was  his  judgment ;  but  neither  of  these  mere 
suggestions  of  leading  traits  accomplishes  the 
explanation,  or  guides  us  to  the  heart  of  the 
undiscoverable  secret.  This  lurks  as  hidden 
from  the  historian  as  does  the  principle  of  life 
from  the  anatomist. 

John  Adams's  character,  on  the  other  hand, 
can  puzzle  no  one ;  his  broad,  earnest,  powerful, 
impetuous,  yet  simple  humanity  is  perfectly  in 
telligible,  equally  in  its  moral  and  in  its  mental 
developments.  In  his  department  he  promoted 
independence  more  efficiently  than  any  one  else, 
he  would  have  been  a  greater  loss  than  any 
other  one  man  in  Congress  to  that  cause ;  but 
independence  would  not  have  been  lost  in  his 
loss,  —  would  probably  not  even  have  been  seri 
ously  postponed.  Popular  sentiment  would  have 
demanded  it,  and  Congress  would  have  reflected 
that  sentiment  almost  as  soon,  though  the  tongue 
of  Mr.  Adams  had  never  moved.  Adams,  how 
ever,  could  never  fully  realize  this  essential  dif 
ference  between  the  value  of  his  own  personality 
and  the  value  of  that  of  Washington.  Through 
out  life  he  felt  that,  in  the  preeminence  univer 
sally  given  to  Washington,  he  was  robbed  of 
insignia  properly  appurtenant  to  his  glory.  In 
1822,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Pickering,  he  recalled 
the  jealousy  and  distrust  towards  New  England 


AFTER  INDEPENDENCE  133 

in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  struggle,  and  the 
resulting  necessity  upon  him  of  keeping  some 
what  in  the  rear  in  order  to  give  an  apparent 
leadership  to  Virginia.  The  whole  policy  of 
the  United  States,  he  said,  had  been  subse 
quently  colored  and  affected  by  this  same  state 
of  feeling,  and  this  consequent  according  of 
precedence  to  southerners.  "Without  it  Mr. 
Washington  would  never  have  commanded  our 
armies ;  nor  Mr.  Jefferson  have  been  the  author 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  nor  Mr. 
Richard  Henry  Lee  the  mover  of  it ;  nor  Mr. 
Chase  the  mover  of  foreign  connections  ;  .  .  . 
nor  had  Mr.  Johnson  ever  been  the  nominator 
of  Washington  for  general."  There  was  some 
justice  in  Mr.  Adams's  feeling;  the  suspicion  en 
tertained  towards  Massachusetts  had  compelled 
him  to  yield  to  others  a  conspicuousness  really 
belonging  to  himself.  Jefferson,  Lee,  Chase, 
and  Johnson  together  were  far  from  constituting 
an  equivalent  for  him.  But  his  unconquerable 
blunder,  originating  in  1776-77,  before  he  left 
Congress,  and  acquiring  much  greater  propor 
tions  afterwards,  lay  in  his  utter  incapacity  to 
see  that  there  could  be  no  comparison  between 
Washington  and  himself,  that  not  even  any 
common  measure  could  exist  for  them,  since  it  is 
impossible  to  establish  a  proportion  between  the 
absolutely  essential  and  the  highly  important. 


134  JOHN  ADAMS 

Before  Mr.  Adams  left  Congress  in  the  spring 
of  1777  he  was  obliged  to  witness  such  a  train 
of  disasters  as  made  every  one  despondent,— 
the  defeat  on  Long  Island,  the  evacuation  of 
New  York,  the  retreat  through  the  Jerseys,  the 
abandonment  of  Philadelphia.  Deep  discour 
agement  prevailed,  certainly  not  without  reason. 
The  times  were  critical,  and  the  colonies  were 
terribly  near  ruin.  General  Greene  reiterated 
to  Mr.  Adams  that  the  business  was  hopeless. 
Such  a  series  of  events  naturally  produced  some 
feeling  of  doubt  concerning  the  capacity  of 
Washington  ;  personal  and  less  honorable  mo 
tives  also  exercised  a  like  influence  in  some 
quarters.  There  was  an  effort  to  set  up  Gates 
as  a  rival,  after  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne. 
Adams  was  fortunately  no  longer  a  member  of 
Congress  when  these  designs  had  come  near  ma 
turity.  It  is  probable  that  he  thus  fortunately 
escaped  any  share  in  them  ;  but  his  affiliations 
had  been  so  largely  with  those  who  became  anti- 
Washingtonians,  and  his  predilections  were  al 
ready  so  far  known,  that  he  was  regarded  as 
of  that  connection  and  sympathy.  Mr.  C.  F. 
Adams  endeavors  to  clear  his  grandfather  from 
the  obloquy  attendant  upon  such  sentiments, 
but  he  is  obviously  uncomfortable  beneath  the 
necessity  and  performs  his  task  unsatisfactorily. 
Really  his  best  sentences  are  those  in  which  he 


AFTER  INDEPENDENCE  135 

shapes  not  so  much  a  denial  as  a  palliation,  — 
"  Neither  is  it  any  cause  of  wonder  or  censure 
that  the  patriots  in  Congress,  who  had  not  yet 
any  decisive  experience  of  his  [Washington's] 
true  qualities,  should  have  viewed  with  much 
uneasiness  the  power  which  circumstances  were 
accumulating  in  his  hands.  History  had  no 
lesson  to  prompt  confidence  in  him,  and  on  the 
other  hand  it  was  full  of  warnings.  In  this 
light  the  attempt,  whilst  organizing  another 
army  in  the  north,  to  raise  up  a  second  chief 
as  a  resource  in  case  of  failure  with  the  first, 
must  be  viewed  as  a  measure  not  without  much 
precautionary  wisdom."  This  "  attempt,"  he 
acknowledges,  was  "  actively  promoted  "  by  John 
Adams.  In  spite  of  the  plausible  skill  with 
which  this  argument  is  put,  it  remains  an  excuse 
rather  than  a  vindication.  It  was  John  Adams's 
business  to  form  a  correct  judgment  of  men  and 
measures ;  so  far  as  he  failed  to  do  so  he  failed 
to  show  the  ability  demanded  by  his  position  : 
if  his  error  was  wholly  of  the  head,  it  affects 
only  our  opinion  of  the  soundness  of  his  judg 
ment  in  military  matters  and  in  reading  men ; 
if  any  personal  motive,  though  unrecognized  by 
himself,  likewise  interfered,  this  fact  may  lower 
a  little  our  opinion  of  his  character. 

Mr.  Adams  had   spoken  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  as  the  "  end  of  his  creation." 


136  JOHN  ADAMS 

The  arduous  and  exhausting  efforts  which  he 
made  to  achieve  it  told  so  severely  upon  his 
health  that  his  words  threatened  to  be  fulfilled 
in  a  sense  quite  different  from  that  in  which 
he  had  uttered  them.  But,  worn  out  as  he  was, 
the  consummation  brought  him  no  rest.  The 
Declaration  at  once  proved  to  be  a  beginning  of 
more  than  it  had  brought  to  an  end.  The  thir 
teen  embryotic  nations,  created  by  it,  were  to 
be  united  into  a  single  nationality,  or  federation, 
of  a  character  so  peculiar  that  no  historical  pre 
cedent  afforded  any  real  aid  in  the  task.  In 
this  direction  Mr.  Adams  was  able  to  render 
very  important  services.  From  the  beginning 
he  had  given  much  thought  to  the  subject  of 
government.  "  Would  that  we  were  good  archi 
tects  !  "  had  been  his  anxious  cry  long  before  the 
conciliationists  had  been  worsted,  or  permanent 
separation  had  appeared  other  than  a  remote 
possibility.  His  services  in  promoting  inde 
pendence  have  naturally  monopolized  attention 
almost  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  his  other  labors. 
But  in  fact,  though  more  showy,  they  were  not 
so  greatly  more  valuable  than  other  matters 
which  he  was  caring  for  at  this  time,  and  which 
have  been  very  little  heard  of.  They  were  in 
their  nature  destructive  ;  it  was  at  the  anni 
hilation  of  royal  domination  that  they  were 
aimed,  from  which  independence  was  the  inevi- 


AFTER  INDEPENDENCE  137 

table  result.  But  destruction  seldom  demands 
the  highest  order  of  intellectual  effort ;  a  de 
stroyer  is  not  a  statesman  ;  and  if  John  Adams 
had  only  been  the  chief  mover  in  substituting 
independence  for  dependence,  it  would  be  more 
complimentary  than  accurate  to  say  that  he  was 
the  statesman  of  the  Revolution.  There  were 
enough  other  destroyers  in  those  days,  and  that 
work  was  sure  to  be  thoroughly  done.  But 
Adams  had  the  higher,  constructive  faculty. 
Many  remarks  and  sentences,  scattered  through 
his  contemporaneous  writings  during  the  revolu 
tionary  period,  show  his  quick  natural  eye  for 
governmental  matters  ;  he  seems  to  be  in  a  cease 
less  condition  of  observation  and  thought  con 
cerning  them.  The  influence  which  he  exerted 
was  so  indefinite  that  it  can  be  estimated  hardly 
with  a  valuable  approximation  to  accuracy ;  but 
it  must  have  been  very  great. 

He  was  constantly  engaged  in  studying  the 
forms  of  government  in  the  middle  and  in  the 
southern  sections,  each  differing  widely  from 
those  of  New  England  as  well  as  from  each 
other.  He  used  to  speculate  upon  the  varying 
influences  of  these  forms,  and  to  consider  what 
changes  must  be  effected  in  order  to  accomplish 
unanimity  of  feeling  and  of  action.  From  an 
early  day  his  eye  had  ranged  forward  to  the 
time  when  the  existing  systems  must  be  sue- 


138  JOHN  ADAMS 

ceeded  by  different  ones,  and  he  busied  himself 
much  with  thinking  what  new  principles  should 
be  incorporated  in  the  new  machinery.  He 
watched  with  anxiety  all  indications  of  opinion 
in  this  direction,  and  lost  no  opportunity  to 
inculcate  his  own  ideas,  which  were  clear  and 
decided.  Many  months  prior  to  the  time  at 
which  we  are  now  arrived,  Tom  Paine  published 
"  Common  Sense."  Adams,  to  whom  this  anon 
ymous  but  famous  publication  was  by  many  at 
tributed,  was  in  fact  greatly  disgusted  at  the 
lack  of  the  architectural  element  in  it,  and  was 
soon  stirred  to  write  and  publish  another  pam 
phlet,  also  anonymous,  which  was  designed  to 
supply  the  serious  deficiency  of  Paine's.  This 
paper  profoundly  discussed  plans  and  forms  of 
government  in  a  practical  way,  for  the  purpose 
of  meeting  the  near  wants  of  the  colonies.  Its 
authorship  being  shrewdly  surmised,  it  was 
widely  circulated  and  read  with  great  interest, 
especially  by  those  men  in  the  several  provinces 
who  were  soon  to  be  chiefly  concerned  in  fram 
ing  the  new  constitutions.  Adams  modestly 
said  of  it,  that  it  had  at  least  "  contributed  to 
set  people  thinking  on  the  subject,"  so  that  the 
"  manufacture  of  governments  "  became  for  the 
time  "as  much  talked  of  as  that  of  saltpetre 
was  before."  Of  course  it  is  impossible  to  say 
what  effect  this  pamphlet  had ;  yet  that  it  had 
very  much  is  more  than  probable. 


AFTER  INDEPENDENCE  139 

With  his  habit  of  noticing  such  matters, 
Adams  had  early  remarked  upon  the  difference 
between  the  theories  of  state  polity  at  the 
North  and  at  the  South,  a  difference  much 
wider  apparently  in  the  spirit  of  administration 
than  in  the  description  of  the  apparatus.  He 
himself  was  saturated,  so  to  speak,  with  the 
doctrines  and  practice  of  New  England,  and 
whether  in  writing  or  in  talk  he  was  never 
backward  to  enforce  his  faith  with  the  extreme 
earnestness  of  deep  conviction.  By  correspond 
ence  and  conversation  with  leading  men  in 
every  quarter,  he  efficiently  backed  his  pam 
phlet.  When,  therefore,  the  innovation  of  a 
more  popular  and  democratic  spirit  is  observ 
able  in  one  and  another  of  the  new  constitu 
tions,  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  Adams  had 
done  much  to  bring  about  the  change.  In  a 
letter  to  Patrick  Henry,  accompanying  his  pam 
phlet,  Adams  said :  "  The  dons,  the  bashaws, 
the  grandees,  the  patricians,  the  sachems,  the 
nabobs,  call  them  by  what  name  you  please,1 
sigh,  groan,  and  fret,  and  sometimes  stamp 
and  foam  and  curse  ;  but  all  in  vain.  The 
decree  is  gone  forth  and  it  cannot  be  recalled, 
that  a  more  equal  liberty  than  has  prevailed  in 
other  parts  of  the  earth  must  be  established  in 

1  Elsewhere  he  called  them,  by  a  better  nomenclature,  "  the 
barons  of  the  south." 


140  JOHN  ADAMS 

America.  That  exuberance  of  pride,  which  has 
produced  an  insolent  domination  in  a  few,  a 
very  few,  opulent,  monopolizing  families,  will  be 
brought  down  nearer  to  the  confines  of  reason 
and  moderation  than  they  have  been  used  to." 
To  Mr.  Hughes  of  New  York  he  writes,  depre 
cating  any  scheme  "  for  making  your  governor 
and  counselors  for  life  or  during  good  behavior. 
I  should  dread  such  a  constitution  in  these 
perilous  times.  .  .  .  The  people  ought  to  have 
frequently  the  opportunity,  especially  in  these 
dangerous  times,  of  considering  the  conduct  of 
their  leaders,  and  of  approving  or  disapproving. 
You  will  have  no  safety  without  it."  He  says 
that  Pennsylvania  is  "  in  a  good  way.  .  .  .  The 
large  body  of  the  people  will  be  possessed  of 
more  power  and  importance,  and  a  proud  junto 
of  less."  In  a  letter  to  Richard  Henry  Lee 
he  rejoices  because  there  will  be  "much  more 
uniformity  in  the  governments  than  could  have 
been  expected  a  few  months  ago,"  a  result 
presumably  due  in  large  part  to  his  own  unre 
mitting  exertions.  His  "  Thoughts  on  Govern 
ment"  had  done  good  work  in  Virginia,  far 
beyond  his  expectations,  and  generally  he  was 
"amazed  to  find  an  inclination  so  prevalent 
throughout  all  the  southern  colonies  to  adopt 
plans  so  nearly  resembling  that "  which  he  had 
enforced  in  his  political  sermons. 


AFTER  INDEPENDENCE  141 

Immediately  following  independence  came 
also  a  necessity  for  the  formation  of  a  federa 
tion.  Some  sort  of  a  bond,  a  league,  must  be 
devised  for  tying  the  thirteen  nations  together 
for  a  few  purposes.  Nevertheless,  the  alliance 
was  not  to  have  the  effect  of  creating  a  single 
nationality,  was  not  to  deprive  each  ally  of  its 
character  of  absolute  sovereignty  as  an  individ 
ual  state.  Mr.  Adams  recognized  that  this 
could  not  be  done  at  once  in  any  perfect  or 
permanent  form.  Whatever  should  be  arranged 
now  would  necessarily  be  an  experiment,  a  tem 
porary  expedient,  out  of  which,  by  a  study  of 
its  defects  as  they  should  develop,  there  might 
in  time  be  evolved  a  satisfactory  system.  But 
none-  the  less  zealously  did  he  enter  upon  the 
task  of  making  the  federation  as  efficient  as 
possible  under  the  circumstances,  and  he  did 
much  hard  and  important  work  in  this  depart 
ment.  No  sketch  of  it  can  well  be  given  in  this 
limited  space,  nor  perhaps  would  such  a  sketch 
be  very  valuable  except  to  a  student  of  consti 
tutional  history.  Therefore,  after  July  4, 1776, 
the  remainder  of  Adams's  congressional  career, 
though  laborious  to  the  point  of  exhaustion, 
gives  no  salient  points  for  description.  It  was 
in  the  routine  of  business  that  his  time  was  now 
consumed,  and  very  largely  in  work  upon  the 
committees.  It  would  seem  that  there  could 


142  JOHN  ADAMS 

not  have  been  many  of  these  upon  which  he  had 
not  a  place ;  for  he  was  a  member  of  upwards 
of  ninety  which  were  recorded,  and  of  a  great 
many  others  which  were  unrecorded.  He  says 
that  he  was  kept  incessantly  at  work  from  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  until  ten  o'clock  at  night. 
Besides  the  arduous  business  of  forming  the 
federation,  he  was  also  obliged  to  devote  him 
self  to  that  subject,  with  which  his  previous 
efforts  had  already  allied  him  in  the  minds  of 
members,  the  establishment  of  connections  with 
European  powers.  Independence  would  not  per 
mit  this  important  matter  to  be  longer  post 
poned  ;  and  a  committee,  of  which  Adams  was 
an  important  working  member,  was  charged  to 
consider  and  report  a  system  of  foreign  policy 
for  the  thirteen  colonies,  and  to  suggest  forms 
of  commercial  treaties. 

But  labors  more  difficult,  more  vexatious, 
more  omnivorous  of  time,  were  entailed  upon 
Mr.  Adams  by  his  position  at  the  head  of  the 
War  Department.  The  task  of  organization  was 
enormous ;  the  knowledge  and  arrangement  of 
details  were  appalling.  Nor  was  this  all.  The 
power  of  Congress,  if  any  real  power  it  had,  over 
the  army,  was  so  undefined  even  in  theory,  so 
vague  in  its  practical  bearing  upon  the  officers, 
so  difficult  of  enforcement,  that  the  relationship 
of  the  congressional  committee,  which  really 


AFTER  INDEPENDENCE  143 

constituted  the  War  Department,  with  that  body 
was  excessively  delicate.  Adams's  jealous  and 
hasty  temperament  was  subjected  to  some  severe 
trials.  Aggrieved  officers  would  sometimes  be 
come  not  only  disrespectful  but  insubordinate. 
But  in  such  crises  he  acquitted  himself  well. 
A  sense  of  weakness  in  the  last  resort  perhaps 
prevented  his  giving  loose  to  any  outburst  of 
anger,  while  his  high  spirit  and  profound  ear 
nestness  lent  to  his  language  an  impressive 
force  and  an  appearance  of  firmness  almost 
imperious.  His  deep  sincerity  inspired  all  his 
communications,  and  gave  them  a  tone  which 
procured  respect  and  turned  aside  resentment. 
He  breathed  into  others  an  honesty  of  purpose, 
a  vigor,  a  devotedness  akin  to  his  own.  Being 
also  a  man  of  much  business  ability  and  un 
tiring  industry,  he  made  substantially  a  war 
minister  admirably  adapted  to  the  peculiar  and 
exacting  requirements  of  that  anomalous  period. 
But  it  was  impossible  that  a  man  not  enjoy 
ing  a  rugged  physique  could  endure  for  an  in 
definite  time  labors  so  engrossing  and  anxieties 
so  great,  away  from  the  comforts  of  home,  and 
in  a  climate  which,  during  many  months  of  the 
year,  appeared  to  him  extremely  hot.  His 
desire  for  relief,  more  and  more  earnestly  ex 
pressed,  at  last  took  a  definite  and  resolute 
shape.  He  wanted  to  have  the  Massachusetts 


144  JOHN  ADAMS 

delegation  so  increased  in  numbers  that  the 
members  could  take  turns  in  attending  Con 
gress  and  in  staying  at  home.  If  this  could  not 
be  done,  he  tendered  his  resignation.  The  reply 
came  in  the  shape  of  a  permission  to  take  a 
long  vacation,  which  he  did  in  the  winter  of 
1776-77.  Then  he  returned  to  spend  the  spring, 
summer,  and  autumn  of  1777  in  a  continuance 
of  the  same  labors  which  have  just  been  de 
scribed.  At  last  the  limit  of  specific  duties 
which  he  had  long  ago  set  for  himself  having 
been  achieved  and  even  overpast,  he  definitively 
carried  out  his  design  of  retirement. 


CHAPTER  VII 
FIRST  FOREIGN  MISSION 

IT  was  on  November  11,  1777,  that  John 
Adams,  accompanied  by  his  kinsman,  Samuel 
Adams,  set  forth  from  Philadelphia  on  his 
homeward  journey.  He  was  at  last  a  private 
citizen,  rejoiced  to  be  able  again  to  attend  to  his 
own  affairs,  and  to  resume  the  important  task  of 
money-gathering  at  his  old  calling.  Yet  he  was 
hardly  allowed  even  to  get  on  his  professional 
harness.  He  was  arguing  an  admiralty  cause  in 
Portsmouth  when  a  letter  reached  him,  dated 
December  3, 1777,  from  Richard  Henry  Lee  and 
James  Lovell,  announcing  his  appointment  as 
commissioner  at  the  court  of  France,  wishing 
him  a  quick  and  pleasant  voyage,  and  cheerfully 
suggesting  that  he  should  have  his  dispatch-bags 
sufficiently  weighted  to  be  able  to  sink  them 
instantly  in  case  of  capture.  The  day  after  he 
received  this  letter  he  accepted  the  trust,  though 
the  duty  imposed  by  it  was  far  from  attractive. 
Besides  the  ordinary  discomforts  and  perils  of 
a  winter  passage  in  a  sailing  vessel,  he  had  to 
consider  the  chances  of  seizure  by  British  ships, 


146  JOHN  ADAMS 

which  covered  the  ocean  and  were  taking  multi 
tudes  of  prizes.  If  captured,  he  would  be  but  a 
traitor,  having  in  prospect  certainly  the  Tower 
of  London  and  possibly  all  the  penalties  of  the 
English  statutes  against  high  treason.  If  he 
should  arrive  safely,  he  would  be  only  one  of 
three  commissioners  at  the  French  court;  and 
France,  though  kindly  rendering  courteous  ser 
vices,  had  not  yet  become  the  ally  of  the  states, 
and  was  still  in  nominal  friendship  with  Great 
Britain.  Moreover,  he  was  to  step  into  an  unin 
viting  scene  of  dissension  and  suspicion.  The 
states  were  represented  by  Franklin,  Arthur  Lee, 
and  Silas  Deane ;  Adams  was  to  supersede  Deane, 
who  had  been  embarrassing  Congress  by  reck 
less  engagements  with  French  military  officers, 
and  who  in  many  other  ways  had  shown  himself, 
to  say  the  best  of  it,  eminently  unfit  for  diplo 
matic  functions.  There  was  much  ill-feeling,  of 
which  the  new  ambassador  could  not  expect  to 
escape  a  share.  Altogether,  it  was  greatly  to  his 
credit  that  he  promptly  agreed  to  fill  the  post. 

On  February  13,  1778,  he  set  sail  in  the 
frigate  Boston,  accompanied  by  his  young  son, 
John  Quincy  Adams.  On  the  20th  an  English 
ship  of  war  gave  them  chase.  Adams  urged  the 
officers  and  crew  to  fig^ht  desperately,  deeming 
it  "  more  eligible  "  for  himself  "  to  be  killed  on 
board  the  Boston  or  sunk  to  the  bottom  in  her, 


FIRST  FOREIGN  MISSION  147 

than  to  be  taken  prisoner."  But  a  favoring 
breeze  saved  him  from  the  choice  between  such 
melancholy  alternatives,  and  on  March  31  he 
found  himself  riding  safely  at  anchor  in  the 
river  at  Bordeaux. 

At  the  French  court  he  was  pleasantly  re 
ceived.  People,  he  says,  at  first  supposed  that  he 
was  "  the  famous  Adams  ;  "  but  when  somebody 
asked  him  if  this  were  so,  he  modestly  explained 
that  he  was  only  a  cousin  of  that  distinguished 
person.  Thereafter  he  received  less  attention. 
It  was  unfortunate,  too,  that  he  knew  nothing  of 
the  language;  but  he  got  along,  sometimes  by 
the  aid  of  an  interpreter,  sometimes  by  "  gibber 
ing  something  like  French."  This  deficiency, 
however,  rather  diminished  his  pleasure  than 
his  usefulness ;  for  he  soon  found  that  his  chief 
labors  were  to  be  with  his  own  countrymen  and 
colleagues.  The  affairs  of  the  mission  he  found 
much  worse  than  he  had  anticipated.  The 
jealousies  and  hostilities  among  the  American 
representatives  there  were  very  great.  He  wrote 
in  his  diary :  "  It  is  with  much  grief  and  con 
cern  that  I  have  learned,  from  my  first  landing 
in  France,  the  disputes  between  the  Americans 
in  this  kingdom ;  the  animosities  between  Mr. 
Deane  and  Mr.  Lee ;  between  Dr.  Franklin  and 
Mr.  Lee ;  between  Mr.  Izard  and  Dr.  Franklin ; 
between  Dr.  Bancroft  and  Mr.  Lee;  between 


148  JOHN   ADAMS 

Mr.  Carmichael  and  all.  It  is  a  rope  of  sand. 
I  am  at  present  wholly  untainted  with  these 
prejudices,  and  will  endeavor  to  keep  myself  so." 
He  heard  that  Deane  and  Bancroft  had  made 
fortunes  by  "dabbling  in  the  English  funds, 
and  in  trade,  and  in  fitting  out  privateers ;  "  also 
that  "  the  Lees  were  selfish."  "  I  am  sorry  for 
these  things ;  but  it  is  no  part  of  my  business  to 
quarrel  with  anybody  without  cause."  All  the 
business  and  affairs  of  the  commission  had  been 
conducted  in  the  most  lax  manner;  no  minute- 
book,  letter-book,  or  account-book  had  been  kept, 
expenditure  had  been  lavish,  "prodigious,"  as 
he  said,  but  there  was  no  way  to  learn  how  the 
money  had  gone,  or  how  much  was  still  owing. 
Utterly  inexperienced  as  he  was  in  such  affairs, 
he  yet  showed  good  sense  and  energy.  He 
endeavored  to  avoid  allying  himself  with  any 
faction,  siding  now  with  Franklin  and  again 
with  Lee,  according  to  his  views  of  the  merits  of 
each  specific  discussion,  and  seeking  at  the  same 
time  not  to  lose  the  confidence  of  the  Count 
de  Vergennes,  the  French  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  who  was  very  partial  to  Franklin  and 
inimical  to  Lee.  Further,  he  set  himself  zeal 
ously  to  bring  the  business  department  of  the 
mission  into  a  proper  condition.  The  commis 
sioners  had  complete  control  over  the  fiscal 
affairs  of  the  states  abroad,  and  had  heretofore 


FIRST  FOREIGN  MISSION  149 

managed  them  in  a  manner  inconceivably  loose 
and  careless.  As  Mr.  Adams  wrote  home  to  the 
commercial  committee  of  Congress  :  "  Agents  of 
various  sorts  are  drawing  bills  upon  us,  and  the 
commanders  of  vessels  of  war  are  drawing  on 
us  for  expenses  and  supplies  which  we  never 
ordered.  .  .  .  We  find  it  so  difficult  to  obtain 
accounts  from  agents  of  the  expenditure  of 
moneys  and  of  the  goods  and  merchandises 
shipped  by  them  that  we  can  never  know  the 
true  state  of  our  finances."  All  this  shocked 
Mr.  Adams,  who  had  the  notions  and  habits  of 
a  man  of  business,  and  he  at  once  endeavored 
to  arrange  a  system  of  rigorous  accuracy  and 
accountability  in  spite  of  the  indifference,  and 
occasionally  the  reluctance,  of  his  colleagues. 
Henceforth  records  were  kept,  letters  were 
copied,  accounts  were  accurately  set  down. 

But  the  reforms  in  matters  of  detail  which  he 
could  accomplish  were  by  no  means  sufficient 
to  counteract  the  clumsy  and  inefficient  way  in 
which  the  business  of  the  states  was  conducted, 
and  to  which  he  had  no  mind  to  be  even  a  silent 
party.  An  entire  reorganization  was  evidently 
needed,  and  on  May  21,  1778,  he  wrote  a  plain 
and  bold  letter,  which  he  addressed  to  Samuel 
Adams,  since,  apart  from  his  colleagues,  he 
could  not  properly  communicate  with  Congress. 
He  urged  the  gross  impropriety  of  leaving  the 


150  JOHN  ADAMS 

salaries  of  the  ministers  entirely  uncertain,  so 
that  they  spent  what  they  chose  and  then  sent 
their  accounts  (such  as  they  were)  to  be  allowed 
by  Congress ;  the  error  of  blending  the  business 
of  a  public  minister  with  that  of  a  commercial 
agent ;  and,  most  important  of  all,  the  folly  of 
maintaining  three  commissioners  where  a  single 
envoy  would  be  vastly  more  serviceable.  By 
such  advice  he  knowingly  advised  himself  out  of 
office ;  for  Dr.  Franklin  was  sure  to  be  retained 
at  the  French  court,  Lee  already  had  a  letter  of 
credence  to  Madrid,  and  no  niche  was  left  for 
him.  But  he  was  too  honest  a  public  servant 
to  consider  this,  and  he  repined  not  at  all  when 
precisely  this  result  came  about.  Congress  lost 
no  time  in  following  his  suggestions,  leaving 
Franklin  in  Paris,  and  ordering  Lee  to  Madrid, 
at  the  same  time  in  a  strange  perplexity  over 
looking  Mr.  Adams  so  entirely  as  not  even  to 
order  him  to  return  home.  He  was  greatly 
vexed  and  puzzled  at  this  anomalous  condition. 
Dr.  Franklin,  who  was  finding  life  near  the 
French  court  very  pleasant,  advised  him  tran 
quilly  to  await  instructions.  But  this  counsel 
did  not  accord  with  his  active  temperament  or 
his  New  England  sense  of  duty.  He  wrote  to 
his  wife  :  "  I  cannot  eat  pensions  and  sinecures  ; 
they  would  stick  in  my  throat."  Rather  than 
do  so,  he  said  that  he  would  again  run  the 


FIRST  FOREIGN  MISSION  151 

gauntlet  of  the  British  cruisers  and  the  storms 
of  the  Atlantic.  It  was  no  easy  matter,  how 
ever,  to  get  a  passage  in  those  days,  and  his  best 
endeavors  did  not  bring  him  back  to  Boston 
until  August  2,  1779,  after  an  absence  of  nearly 
a  year  and  a  half.  In  a  certain  sense  his  mis 
sion  had  been  needless  and  useless.  He  had 
been  away  a  long  while,  had  undergone  great 
dangers,  and  had  cost  the  country  money  which 
could  ill  be  spared ;  and  for  all  that  he  had 
accomplished  strictly  in  the  way  of  diplomacy 
he  might  as  well  have  spent  the  eighteen  months 
at  Braintree.  But  he  had  aided  to  break  up  an 
execrable  condition  of  affairs  at  Paris,  and  he 
had  proved  his  entire  and  unselfish  devotion  to 
the  public  interest.  These  were  two  important 
facts,  worth  in  their  fruits  all  they  had  cost  to 
the  nation  and  to  himself. 

He  had,  moreover,  gathered  some  ideas  con 
cerning  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Holland. 
These  ideas  were  not  wholly  correct,  being  col 
ored  by  the  atmosphere  of  the  passing  day  and 
stimulated  too  much  by  his  own  wishes ;  but 
they  promoted  the  temporary  advantages  of  the 
states  very  well.  For  example,  he  came  back 
with  a  theory  of  the  decadence  of  Great  Britain. 
"  This  power,"  he  said,  "  loses  every  day  her 
consideration,  and  runs  towards  her  ruin.  Her 
riches,  in  which  her  power  consisted,  she  has 


152  JOHN  ADAMS 

lost  with  us  and  never  can  regain.  .  .  .  She 
resembles  the  melancholy  spectacle  of  a  great, 
wide-spreading  tree  that  has  been  girdled  at  the 
root."  There  was  no  grain  of  truth  in  this  sort 
of  talk,  but  it  was  nourishment  to  the  American 
Congress.  Towards  France  his  feelings  were 
of  course  most  friendly.  "The  longer  I  live 
in  Europe,  and  the  more  I  consider  our  affairs, 
the  more  important  our  alliance  with  France 
appears  to  me.  It  is  a  rock  upon  which  we  may 
safely  build.  Narrow  and  illiberal  prejudices, 
peculiar  to  John  Bull,  with  which  I  might  per 
haps  have  been  in  some  degree  infected  when  I 
was  John  Bull,  have  now  no  influence  over  me. 
I  never  was,  however,  much  of  John  Bull,  I  was 
John  Yankee,  and  such  I  shall  live  and  die." 
A  very  single-minded  John  Yankee  he  certainly 
was,  for  amid  all  his  yearning  for  a  French 
alliance,  which  he  valued  for  its  practical  useful 
ness,  he  was  jealous  of  too  great  a  subservience 
to  that  power. 

"It  is  a  delicate  and  dangerous  connection.  .  .  . 
There  may  be  danger  that  too  much  will  be  demanded 
of  us.  There  is  danger  that  the  people  and  their 
representatives  may  have  too  much  timidity  in  their 
conduct  towards  this  power,  and  that  your  ministers 
here  may  have  too  much  diffidence  of  themselves 
and  too  much  complaisance  for  the  court.  There 
is  danger  that  French  councils  and  emissaries  and 


FIRST  FOREIGN   MISSION  153 

correspondents  may  have  too  much  influence  in  our 
deliberations.  I  hope  that  this  court  may  not  inter 
fere  by  attaching  themselves  to  persons,  parties,  or 
measures  in  America." 

Again  he  wrote  that  it  would  be  desirable  to 
link  the  two  countries  very  closely  together,  "pro 
vided  always,  that  we  preserve  prudence  and 
resolution  enough  to  receive  implicitly  no  advice 
whatever,  but  to  judge  always  for  ourselves,'* 
etc.,  etc.  Within  a  few  months  the  need  of  this 
watchful  independence  was  abundantly  proved  ; 
and  the  early  years  of  the  history  of  the  United 
States  fully  justified  Adams's  cautious  dread  of 
an  undue  warmth  of  sentiment  towards  France. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

SECOND     FOREIGN    MISSION:     IN     FRANCE     AND 
HOLLAND 

SCARCELY  was  Mr.  Adams  given  time  to 
make  his  greetings  to  his  friends,  after  his  re 
turn  through  the  gauntlet  of  storms  and  British 
cruisers,  ere  he  was  again  set  at  work.  A  con 
vention  was  summoned  to  prepare  a  constitution 
for  Massachusetts,  and  he  was  chosen  a  dele 
gate.  It  was  a  congenial  task,  and  he  was  early 
assuming  an  active  and  influential  part  in  the 
proceedings  when,  more  to  his  surprise  than  to 
his  gratification,  he  was  interrupted  by  receiving 
a  second  time  the  honor  of  a  foreign  mission. 
The  history  of  the  establishment  of  diplomatic 
relations  between  the  new  states  of  North  Amer 
ica  and  the  old  countries  of  Europe,  the  narra 
tive  of  the  reluctant  and  clumsy  approaches  by 
England  towards  a  negotiation  for  peace,  and 
especially  the  intricate  tale  of  the  subtle  manoeu 
vres  of  the  French  foreign  office  in  connection 
with  its  trans-Atlantic  allies  and  supposed  dear 
friends,  together  form  a  remarkably  interesting 
chapter  in  American  history.  All  the  complex- 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  155 

ities  of  this  web,  involved  beyond  the  average  of 
diplomatic  labyrinths,  have  been  unraveled  with 
admirable  clearness  by  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  in  his 
life  of  John  Adams.  A  writer  more  competent 
to  the  difficult  task  could  not  have  been  desired, 
and  he  has  so  performed  it  that  no  successor  can 
do  more  than  follow  his  lucid  and  generally  fair 
and  dispassionate  recital.  His  account  of  his 
grandfather  is  naturally  tinged  with  the  senti 
ment  of  the  plus  ^Eneas  ;  neither,  on  the  other 
hajid,  can  he  condone  the  French  minister's  self 
ishness  and  duplicity,  though  really  not  exces 
sive  according  to  the  technical  code  of  morals 
in  European  foreign  offices  of  that  day.  But 
otherwise  his  account  of  these  events  is  keen, 
just,  vivid,  and  exhaustive. 

During  the  period  with  which  we  have  now 
to  deal,  the  Count  de  Vergennes  managed  the 
foreign  affairs  of  France.  He  was  a  diplomate 
of  that  school  with  which  picturesque  writers  of 
historical  romance  have  made  us  so  familiar,  a 
character  as  classic  as  the  crusty  father  of  the 
British  stage ;  of  great  ability,  wily,  far-sighted, 
inscrutable,  with  no  liking  for  any  country  save 
France,  and  no  hatred  for  any  country  except 
England,  firm  in  the  old-fashioned  faith  that 
honesty  had  no  place  in  politics,  especially  in 
diplomacy  ;  apt  and  graceful  in  the  distinguished 
art  of  professional  lying,  overbearing  and  impe- 


156  JOHN   ADAMS 

rious  as  became  the  vindicator  and  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  power  of  the  French  monarchy. 
Such  was  this  famous  minister,  a  dangerous  and 
difficult  man  with  whom  to  have  dealings.  From 
the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  close  connection 
with  American  affairs  he  played  the  game  wholly 
for  his  own  hand,  with  some  animosity  towards 
his  opponent,  but  with  not  the  slightest  idea  of 
committing  the  folly  of  the  pettiest  self-sacrifice 
for  the  assistance  of  his  nominal  partners.  They 
were  really  to  help  him  ;  he  was  apparently  to 
help  them.  It  is  now  substantially  proved  that 
the  unmixed  motive  of  the  French  cabinet  in 
secretly  encouraging  and  aiding  the  revolted  col 
onies,  before  open  war  had  broken  out  between 
France  and  England,  had  been  only  to  weaken 
the  power  and  to  sap  the  permanent  resources 
of  the  natural  and  apparently  the  eternal  enemy 
of  France.  After  that  war  had  been  declared, 
the  same  purpose  constituted  the  sole  induce 
ment  to  the  alliance  with  the  American  rebels. 
To  the  government  of  France,  therefore,  thus 
actuated,  no  gratitude  was  due  from  the  colo 
nists  at  any  time,  and  in  de  Yergennes,  as  the 
embodiment  of  the  foreign  policy  of  that  gov 
ernment,  no  confidence  could  be  safely  reposed. 
Yet  the  kindly  feeling  of  gratitude  and  the  sense 
of  obligation  cherished  for  a  generation  in  Amer 
ica  towards  France  were  not  wholly  erroneous  or 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  157 

misplaced ;  for  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
French  people  were  warmly  and  generously  inter 
ested  in  the  success  of  the  Revolution,  and  many 
individuals  gave  it  not  only  sincere  good-will 
but  substantial  aid.  Yet,  though  it  is  fair  to 
mention  and  to  remember  this  latter  fact,  we 
shall  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  it  in  this 
narrative. 

Mr.  Adams  had  to  deal  with  the  governors, 
not  with  the  governed.  But  when  he  first  came 
to  the  country  he  no  more  understood  than  did 
the  rest  of  his  countrymen  the  real  difference 
involved  in  this  distinction.  France  was  but 
an  integral  idea  for  him,  and  he  approached  her 
people  and  her  government  alike  with  an  undis- 
criminating  though  somewhat  cautious  feeling  of 
trust.  It  is  important  to  note  this  fact,  evidence 
of  which  may  be  found  in  some  of  his  language 
quoted  at  the  close  of  the  last  chapter,  because 
it  indicates  that  his  subsequent  suspicions  of  de 
Vergennes  were  the  outgrowth  of  observation 
and  not  of  any  original  disliking.  Neither  were 
these  suspicions,  which,  it  must  be  acknowledged, 
were  soon  awakened,  stimulated  by  Mr.  Adams's 
natural  temperament ;  for  though  he  had  a 
strong  element  of  suspicion  in  him,  it  was  sel 
dom  set  in  action  by  any  other  spur  than  jeal 
ousy.  The  feeling  towards  the  Frenchman  was 
the  keen  instinct  of  a  man  at  once  shrewd  and 


158  JOHN  ADAMS 

honest,  which  had  satisfied  him  of  the  true  con 
dition  of  affairs  even  during  his  first  visit  to 
France.  Alniost  alone  among  his  countrymen, 
he  even  then  saw  that  it  was  unwise  for  the 
colonies  to  give  themselves  blindfold  to  the 
guidance  of  the  great  French  minister.  For  a 
long  while  he  was,  if  not  entirely  solitary,  yet  at 
least  with  few  co-believers  in  this  faith,  and  at 
times  he  occupied  an  invidious  and  dangerous 
position  by  reason  of  it.  But  by  good  fortune 
he  persisted  in  it,  and  in  all  his  action  was  con 
trolled  by  it ;  and  if  he  can  hardly  be  said 
thereby  to  have  been  led  to  save  his  country  in 
spite  of  herself,  yet  at  least  it  is  undeniable 
that  through  this  he  accomplished  for  her  very 
much  which  would  never  have  been  accomplished 
by  any  person  holding  a  different  opinion  in  so 
vital  a  matter. 

Through  the  medium  of  M.  Gerard,  the 
French  minister,  or  emissary  to  Congress,  ad 
vices  came  in  the  autumn  of  1779  that  England 
might  not  improbably  soon  be  ready  to  nego 
tiate  for  peace.  In  order  to  lose  no  time  when 
this  happy  moment  should  be  at  hand,  it  was 
thought  best  to  have  an  American  envoy,  pre 
pared  to  treat,  stationed  in  Europe  to  avail  of 
the  first  opportunity  which  should  occur.  For 
this  purpose,  as  has  been  said,  Mr.  Adams  was 
selected;  on  November  3,  1779,  he  received 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  159 

notice  of  his  appointment,  and  on  the  next  day 
he  accepted  it,  with  some  expressions  of  reluc 
tance  and  diffidence,  which  were  probably  sin 
cere,  since  the  mission  was  attended  with  both 
physical  danger  and  the  gravest  possible  respon 
sibility.  On  November  13  he  put  to  sea  in  the 
frigate  Le  Sensible.  She  proved  to  be  so  un- 
seaworthy  that  she  could  barely  be  brought  into 
the  port  of  Ferrol  in  safety ;  and  the  passengers 
were  compelled  to  make  a  long,  tedious  journey 
by  land  to  Paris,  amid  hardships  so  severe  that 
they  seem  incredible  as  occurring  in  a  civilized 
country  of  Europe  less  than  a  century  ago. 

Before  Mr.  Adams's  instructions  had  been 
drafted,  the  noxious  and  perfidious  influence  of 
de  Vergennes  —  noxious  and  perfidious,  that  is 
to  say,  from  an  American  point  of  view  —  had 
had  its  first  effects.  For  a  while  that  minister's 
desire  had  been  that  the  war  should  draw  along 
a  weary  and  endless  length,  in  order  the  more 
thoroughly  to  drain  the  vitality  of  England. 
How  severely  the  vitality  of  the  colonies  might 
also  be  drained  was  matter  of  indifference,  so 
long  as  they  retained  strength  enough  to  con 
tinue  fighting.  To  keep  them  up  to  their  work 
his  plan  had  been  to  give  them  tonics,  in  the 
shape  of  money,  arms,  and  encouragement,  se 
cretly  administered  in  such  quantities  as  should 
be  necessary  in  order  to  prevent  their  succumb- 


160  JOHN   ADAMS 

ing ;  but  he  had  not  cared  to  give  them  enough 
assistance,  though  it  might  be  possible  to  do  so, 
to  enable  them  quite  to  conclude  the  struggle. 
Even  the  open  outbreak  of  hostility  between 
France  and  England  had  modified  his  designs 
only  a  little,  and  had  affected  the  details  rather 
than  changed  the  fundamental  theory  of  his 
action.  Now,  however,  affairs  having  drifted 
to  that  point  that  the  war  seemed  to  be  almost 
fought  out,  and  peace  looming  apparently  not 
very  far  away,  he  recognized  only  a  sole  object 
as  necessary  so  far  as  the  revolted  states  were 
concerned.  He  must  see  them  independent ;  so 
mighty  a  limb  must  be  lopped  forever  from  the 
parent  trunk.  Beyond  this  he  cared  for  nothing 
else ;  as  for  all  the  points  which  were  of  highest 
moment  and  dearest  interest  to  those  states,  his 
dear  and  confiding  allies,  points  of  boundaries, 
fisheries,  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  and  such 
like,  he  cared  not  in  the  least  for  any  of  these. 
The  earliest  indication  of  the  feeling  in  Con 
gress  had  been  that  stipulations  concerning  these 
three  matters  should  be  inserted  in  the  instruc 
tions  to  the  American  negotiator  as  ultimata. 
But  this  by  no  means  consorted  with  the  views 
of  de  Vergennes,  who  saw  that  such  ultimata 
might  operate  to  obstruct  a  pacification  desir 
able  for  France,  if  England  should  resolutely 
refuse  them ;  whereas,  if  they  were  urgent  de- 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  161 

mands  only  and  not  ultimata,  the  sacrifice  of 
them  might  indirectly  effect  some  gain  for 
France.  They  might  be  used  as  a  price  to 
Great  Britain,  and  the  thing  bought  with  them 
might  inure  to  France.  Accordingly  the  strenu 
ous  efforts  of  M.  Gerard  were  put  forth,  and 
finally  with  success,  to  pare  down  the  congres 
sional  instructions  to  the  modest  form  desired 
by  de  Vergennes.  It  was  voted  that  the  envoy 
in  treating  for  peace  should  have  as  his  only 
ultimatum  the  recognition  by  Great  Britain  of 
the  independence  of  the  ex-colonies.  But,  in 
order  not  to  abandon  altogether  these  other  im 
portant  matters,  he  received  also  another  and 
distinct  commission  for  entering  into  a  commer 
cial  treaty,  and  in  this  he  was  directed  to  secure 
the  "  right "  to  the  fisheries. 

Massachusetts  watched  all  this  with  extreme 
anxiety.  The  fisheries  were  to  her  matter  of 
profound  concern,  far  surpassing  any  question 
of  boundary,  and  of  vastly  deeper  interest  than 
the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  She  was  in 
exorably  resolved  that  this  great  industry  of  her 
people  should  never  be  annihilated.  To  this 
resolution  of  so  influential  a  state  the  appoint 
ment  of  Mr.  Adams  was  largely  due.  The 
matter  of  the  foreign  representation  of  the  col 
onies  at  this  time  was  complicated  by  many 
intrigues  and  quarrels,  local  jealousies,  and  per- 


162  JOHN   ADAMS 

sonal  animosities.  Thus  it  happened  that  New 
York  and  other  states  were  willing  to  send  Mr. 
Adams  to  Spain,  but  wished  Mr.  Jay  to  be  the 
negotiator  for  peace.  This  arrangement  would 
have  sufficiently  pleased  de  Vergennes  also, 
whose  keen  perception  and  accurate  advices  had 
already  marked  Mr.  Adams  as  a  man  likely  to 
be  obstructive  to  purely  French  interests.  But 
the  New  Englanders  clung  with  unflinching 
stubbornness  to  their  countryman.  They  are 
said  to  have  felt  that,  ultimatum  or  no  ultima 
tum,  he  would  save  their  fisheries  if  it  were 
a  human  possibility  to  do  so.  They  prevailed. 
Jay  was  appointed  to  Madrid,  and  Adams  got 
the  contingent  commissions  to  England,  for  both 
peace  and  commerce.  In  the  end  Adams  was 
chiefly  instrumental  in  saving  the  fisheries,  and 
if  the  choice  of  him  was  stimulated  by  this  hope, 
the  instinct  or  judgment  appeared  to  have  been 
correct.  Yet  it  is  perhaps  worth  noticing  that 
his  sentiments  on  this  subject  at  this  time  were 
hardly  identical  with  his  subsequent  expressions 
at  Paris.  "  Necessity,"  he  said,  "  has  taught  us 
to  dig  in  the  ground  instead  of  fishing  in  the 
sea  for  our  bread,  and  we  have  found  that  the 
resource  did  not  fail  us.  The  fishing  was  a 
source  of  luxury  and  vanity  that  did  us  much 
injury."  Part  of  the  fish  had  been  exchanged 
in  the  West  Indies  "  for  rum,  and  molasses  to 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  163 

be  distilled  into  rum,  which  injured  our  health 
and  our  morals ; "  the  rest  came  back  from 
Europe  in  the  shape  of  lace  and  ribbons.  To 
be  compelled  to  substitute  the  culture  of  flax 
and  wool  for  fishing  would  conduce  to  an  "  ac 
quisition  of  morals  and  of  wisdom  which  would 
perhaps  make  us  gainers  in  the  end."  Yet  when 
it  came  actually  to  negotiating,  Mr.  Adams  for 
got  all  this  horror  of  rum  and  frippery,  all  this 
desire  for  flax,  wool,  and  morals,  and  made  a 
fight  for  salt  fish  which  won  for  him  even  more 
closely  than  before  the  heart  of  New  England. 

Mr.  Adams  was  a  singular  man  to  be  selected 
for  a  difficult  errand  in  diplomacy,  especially 
under  circumstances  demanding  wariness  and 
adroitness,  if  not  even  craft  and  dissimulation. 
He  might  have  been  expected  to  prove  but  an 
indifferent  player  in  the  most  intricate  and  arti 
ficial  of  invented  games.  He  seemed  to  possess 
nearly  every  quality  which  a  diplomatist  ought 
not  to  have,  and  almost  no  quality  which  a  diplo 
matist  needed.  That  he  was  utterly  devoid  of 
experience  was  the  least  objection,  for  so  were 
all  his  countrymen,  and  it  was  hoped  that  the 
friendly  aid  of  de  Vergennes  might  make  up  for 
this  defect.  But,  further  than  this,  he  was  of  a 
restless,  eager  temperament,  hot  to  urge  forward 
whatever  business  he  had  in  hand,  chafing  under 
any  necessity  for  patience,  disliking  to  bide  his 


164  JOHN  ADAMS 

time,  frank  and  outspoken  in  spite  of  his  best 
efforts  at  self-control,  and  hopelessly  incapable 
of  prolonged  concealment  of  his  opinions,  mo 
tives,  and  purposes  in  action,  his  likings  and 
dislikings  towards  persons.  It  has  been  seen, 
for  example,  how  cautiously  he  tried  to  conceal 
his  wish  for  the  declaration  of  independence,  yet 
every  one  in  Congress  soon  knew  him  as  the 
chief  promoter  of  that  doctrine;  and  already, 
in  his  brief  and  unimportant  sojourn  in  France, 
de  Vergennes  had  got  far  in  reading  his  mind. 
Yet  it  so  happened  that,  with  every  such  prog 
nostic  against  him,  he  was  precisely  the  man  for 
the  place  and  the  duty.  With  the  shrewdness 
of  his  race  he  had  considerable  insight  into 
character ;  a  strong  element  of  suspicion  led  him 
not  quite  to  assume,  as  he  might  have  done,  that 
all  diplomatists  were  dishonest,  but  induced  him 
to  watch  them  with  a  wise  doubt  and  keenness  ; 
he  had  devoted  all  the  powers  of  a  strong  mind 
to  the  study  of  the  situation,  so  that  he  was 
thoroughly  master  of  all  the  various  interests 
and  probabilities  which  it  was  necessary  for  him 
to  take  into  account;  he  was  a  patriot  to  the 
very  centre  of  his  marrow,  and  so  fearless  and 
stubborn  that  he  both  made  and  persisted  in  the 
boldest  demands  on  behalf  of  his  country ;  he 
was  high-spirited,  too,  and  presented  such  a 
front  that  he  seemed  to  represent  one  of  the 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  165 

greatest  powers  in  the  civilized  world,  so  that, 
in  spite  of  the  well-known  fact  that  he  had  only 
some  revolted  and  more  than  half  exhausted 
colonies  at  his  back,  yet  his  manly  bearing  had 
great  moral  effect;  if  it  was  true  that  quick- 
sighted  statesmen  easily  saw  what  he  wanted,  it 
was  also  true  that  he  impressed  them  with  a 
sense  that  he  would  make  a  hard  fight  to  get  it ; 
they  could  never  expect  to  bully  him,  and  not 
easily  to  circumvent  him ;  if  he  made  enemies, 
as  he  did,  powerful,  dangerous,  and  insidious 
ones,  he  at  least  showed  admirable  sturdiness 
and  courage  in  facing  them;  he  was  eloquent 
and  forcible  in  discussion,  making  a  deep  im 
pression  by  an  air  of  earnest  straightforward 
ness  ;  all  these  proved  valuable  qualifications 
upon  the  peculiar  mission  on  which  he  was  now 
dispatched.  Had  the  business  of  the  colonies 
been  conducted  by  a  diplomatist  of  the  Euro 
pean  school,  burrowing  subterraneously  in  secret 
mines  and  countermines,  endeavoring  to  meet 
art  with  wiles,  and  diplomatic  lies  with  profes 
sional  falsehood,  valuable  time  would  surely 
have  been  lost,  and  smaller  advantages  would 
probably  have  been  gained ;  but  Adams  strode 
along  stoutly,  in  broad  daylight,  breaking  the 
snares  which  were  set  for  his  feet,  shouldering 
aside  those  who  sought  to  crowd  him  from  his 
path,  unceremonious,  making  direct  for  his  goal, 


166  JOHN   ADAMS 

with  his  eyes  wide  open  and  his  tongue  not 
silent  to  speak  the  plain  truth.  Certainly  this 
trans-Atlantic  negotiator  excited  surprise  by  his 
anomalous  and  untraditional  conduct  among  the 
ministers  and  envoys  of  the  European  cabinets ; 
but  in  the  end  he  proved  too  much  for  them  all ; 
their  peculiar  skill  was  of  no  avail  against  his 
novel  and  original  tactics ;  their  covert  indirec 
tion  could  not  stand  before  his  blunt  directness. 
So  he  carried  his  points  with  brilliant  success. 

Yet  it  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this  record 
of  achievements  that  Mr.  Adams  was  a  good 
diplomatist,  or  that  in  a  career  devoted  to  diplo 
macy  he  could  have  won  reputation  or  repeated 
such  triumphs  as  are  about  to  be  narrated.  The 
contrary  is  probable.  His  heat,  quickness,  pug 
nacity,  wantt  of  tact,  and  nai've  egotism  could  not 
have  been  compatible  with  permanent  success  in 
this  calling.  V  It  only  so  happened  that  at  this 
special  juncture,  peculiar  and  exceptional  needs 
existed  which  his  qualifications  fortunately  met. 
Dr.  Franklin,  who  was  our  minister  at  Versailles 
at  this  time,  and  with  whom,  by  the  way,  Mr. 
Adams  did  not  get  along  very  well,  had  much 
more  general  fitness  for  diplomacy  according  to 
the  usual  requirements  of  the  profession  ;  cool 
and  dispassionate,  keen,  astute,  and  far-sighted, 
by  no  means  incapable  of  discovering  craft  and 
of  meeting  it  by  still  craftier  craft,  no  nation  in 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  167 

most  emergencies  could  have  wished  its  affairs 
in  better  hands  than  those  of  the  distinguished 
philosopher,  as  he  was  commonly  called,  though 
in  fact  he  was  the  only  living  American  of  note 
in  1780  who  was  a  real  man  of  the  world.  Yet 
just  now  Franklin  was  almost  useless.  Leading 
the  most  charming  life,  caressed  by  the  French 
women,  flattered  by  the  French  men,  the  com 
panion  of  the  noblest,  the  wittiest,  and  the  most 
dissipated  in  the  realm,  visiting,  dining,  feasting, 
he  comfortably  agreed  with  de  Vergennes,  and 
quite  contentedly  fell  in  with  that  minister's 
policy.  It  was  fortunate  for  the  colonies  that 
for  a  time,  just  at  this  crisis,  the  easy-going  sage 
was  forced  into  unwelcome  coupling  with  the 
energetic  man  of  business. 

Directly  after  his  arrival  in  Paris  Mr.  Adams 
wrote  to  de  Vergennes.  "  I  am  persuaded,"  he 
says,  "  it  is  the  intention  of  my  constituents  and 
of  all  America,  and  I  am  sure  it  is  my  own  de 
termination,  to  take  no  steps  of  consequence  in 
pursuance  of  my  commissions  without  consulting 
his  majesty's  ministers."  Accordingly  he  asks 
the  count's  advice  as  to  whether  he  shall  make 
his  twofold  errand  known  either  to  the  public  or 
to  the  court  of  London.  This  was  abundantly 
civil,  and,  under  all  the  circumstances,  not  quite 
servile.  The  response  of  the  Frenchman  was 
extraordinary.  He  stated  that  he  preferred  to 


168  JOHN  ADAMS 

give  no  definite  reply  until  after  the  return  from 
the  states  of  his  emissary,  Monsieur  Gerard, 
"  because  he  is  probably  the  bearer  of  your  in 
structions,  and  will  certainly  be  able  to  make 
me  better  acquainted  with  the  nature  and  extent 
of  your  commission.  But  in  the  mean  time  I 
am  of  opinion  that  it  will  be  prudent  to  conceal 
your  eventual  character,  and,  above  all,  to  take 
the  necessary  precautions  that  the  object  of  your 
commission  may  remain  unknown  at  the  court 
of  London."  Mr.  Adams  heard  with  an  indig 
nation  which  he  could  not  venture  to  express 
this  audacious  intimation  of  a  design,  assumed 
to  have  been  successfully  carried  out,  to  "  pene 
trate  into  the  secrets  of  Congress,"  and  obtain 
"  copies  of  the  most  confidential  communica 
tions"  between  that  body  and  its  ministers. 
Neither  did  the  advice  at  all  accord  with  his 
own  notions.  He  saw  no  sound  reason  for  keep 
ing  the  object  of  his  mission  a  secret ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  would  decidedly  have  preferred  at 
once  to  divulge  it,  and  even  formally  to  commu 
nicate  it  to  the  British  cabinet.  Probably  he 
did  not  yet  suspect  what  his  grandson  tells  us 
was  the  true  state  of  the  case,  viz.,  that  de 
Vergennes  dreaded  the  possible  result  of  the 
commercial  portion  of  his  commission,  and  im 
mediately  upon  learning  it  set  agents  at  work  in 
Philadelphia  to  procure  its  cancellation.  Never- 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  169 

theless  he  answered  courteously  and  submis 
sively,  engaging  to  maintain  the  desired  con 
cealment  so  far  as  depended  upon  himself.  He 
could  not  do  otherwise ;  it  was  intended  that  he 
should  subordinate  his  own  judgment  to  that  of 
his  French  friend.  But  he  wrote  to  the  presi 
dent  of  Congress  to  say  that  the  story  of  his 
mission  and  its  purpose  had  not  been,  as  of 
course  it  could  not  have  been,  kept  a  close  se 
cret,  but  on  the  contrary,  having  been  "  heard 
of  in  all  companies,"  had  been  used  by  the 
English  ministerial  writers  "as  evidence  of  a 
drooping  spirit  in  America."  This,  however, 
concerned  only  his  authority  to  treat  for  peace. 
A  few  days  later,  Monsieur  Gerard  having  ar 
rived,  de  Vergennes  did  Mr.  Adams  the  honor 
to  say  that  he  found  that  Mr.  Adams  had  given 
him  a  truthful  statement  of  his  instructions.  He 
was  willing  now  to  have  Mr.  Adams's  "  eventual 
character,"  but  meaning  thereby  only  as  an  emis 
sary  for  peace,  made  public  very  soon.  He  still 
persisted  in  demanding  secrecy  as  to  "  the  full 
powers  which  authorize  you  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
of  commerce  with  the  court  of  London.  I  think 
it  will  be  prudent  not  to  communicate  them  to 
anybody  whatever,  and  to  take  every  necessary 
precaution  that  the  British  ministry  may  not 
have  a  premature  knowledge  of  them.  You  will 
no  doubt  easily  feel  the  motives  which  induce 


170  JOHN  ADAMS 

me  to  advise  you  to  take  this  precaution,  and  it 
would  be  needless  to  explain."  Mr.  Adams  did 
indeed  soon  begin  to  comprehend  these  "mo 
tives  "  with  sufficient  accuracy  to  make  explana 
tions  almost  "  needless  ;  "  yet  for  the  present  he 
held  his  tongue  with  such  patience  as  he  could 
command. 

This  correspondence  took  place  in  February, 
1780  ;  but  it  was  not  till  the  end  of  March,  and 
after  further  stimulation  of  de  Versfennes's  care- 

& 

less  memory,  that  Mr.  Adams  carried  his  point 
of  procuring  publication  even  of  the  "  principal 
object  "  of  his  mission.  "  I  ought  to  confess  to 
Congress,"  he  said,  with  a  slight  irony  in  the 
choice  of  phrases  not  unworthy  of  the  count 
himself,  "  that  the  delicacy  of  the  Count  de 
Vergennes  about  communicating  my  powers  is 
not  perfectly  consonant  to  my  manner  of  think 
ing  ;  and  if  I  had  followed  my  own  judgment, 
I  should  have  pursued  a  bolder  plan,  by  com 
municating,  immediately  after  my  arrival,  to 
Lord  George  Germain  my  full  powers  to  treat 
both  of  peace  and  commerce."  Yet  he  modestly 
hopes  that  Congress  will  approve  his  deference 
to  the  French  minister.  There  was  little  danger 
that  they  would  not ;  it  was  only  Mr.  Adams's 
boldness  and  independence,  never  his  submis- 
siveness,  which  imperiled  his  good  standing 
with  that  now  spiritless  body. 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  171 

Mr.  Adams  said  of  himself  with  perfect  truth 
that  he  could  not  eat  the  bread  of  idleness.  His 
restless  energy  always  demanded  some  outlet, 
whereas  now  he  found  himself  likely  to  remain 
for  an  indefinite  time  without  a  duty  or  a  task. 
He  was  free  to  enjoy  with  a  clear  conscience  all 
the  novel  fascinations  of  the  gayest  city  in  the 
world,  having  the  public  purse  open  to  his  hand 
and  perfect  idleness  as  his  only  official  func 
tion  for  the  passing  time.  Such  an  opportunity 
would  not  have  been  thrown  away  by  most  men ; 
but  for  him  the  pursuit  of  ease  and  pleasure, 
even  as  a  temporary  recess  and  with  ample  ex 
cuse,  meant  wretchedness.  Without  delay  he 
set  himself  to  discover  some  occupation,  to  find 
some  toil,  to  devise  some  opening  for  activity. 
This  he  soon  saw  in  the  utter  ignorance  of  the 
people  about  him  concerning  American  affairs, 
and  he  entered  upon  the  work  of  enlightening 
them  by  a  series  of  articles,  which  he  prepared 
and  caused  to  be  translated  and  published  in 
a  prominent  newspaper,  edited  by  M.  Genet,  a 
chief  secretary  in  the  foreign  office,  father  of 
Edmond  Genet,  the  famous  French  minister  to 
the  United  States  in  Washington's  time.  This 
well-meant  and  doubtless  useful  enterprise,  how 
ever,  ultimately  brought  him  into  trouble,  as 
his  zeal  was  constantly  doing  throughout  his 
life  in  ways  that  always  seemed  to  him  grossly 


172  JOHN  ADAMS 

undeserved  and  the  hardest  of  luck.  For  at  the 
request  of  de  Vergennes,  whose  attention  was 
attracted  by  these  publications,  he  now  began 
to  furnish  often  to  that  gentleman  a  variety  of 
interesting  items  of  information  from  the  states, 
of  which  more  will  soon  be  heard.  He  further 
kept  up  an  active  volunteer  correspondence  with 
Congress,  sending  them  all  sorts  of  news,  facts 
which  he  observed  and  heard,  conjectures  and 
suggestions  from  his  own  brain,  which  he  con 
ceived  might  be  of  use  or  interest  to  them.  In 
a  word,  he  did  vigorously  many  things  which 
might  naturally  have  been  expected  from  Frank 
lin,  but  which  that  tranquil  philosopher  had  not 
permitted  to  disturb  his  daily  ease. 

For  a  time  all  went  well ;  Franklin,  secure  in 
his  great  prestige,  contemplated  with  indiffer 
ence  the  busy  intrusion  of  Adams  ;  de  Vergennes 
was  glad  to  get  all  he  could  from  so  effusive  a 
source,  and  Congress  seemed  sufficiently  pleased 
with  the  one-sided  correspondence.  Yet  a  cau 
tious  man,  worldly-wise  and  selfish,  would  never 
have  done  as  Adams  was  doing,  and  in  due 
time,  without  any  consciousness  at  all  that  he 
deserved  such  retribution,  he  found  himself  in 
trouble.  Early  in  1780,  Congress  issued  a  re 
commendation  to  the  several  states  to  arrange 
for  the  redemption  in  silver  of  the  continental 
paper  money  at  the  rate  of  forty  dollars  for  one. 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  173 

The  adoption  of  this  advice  by  Massachusetts, 
and  the  laying  of  a  tax  by  that  State  to  provide 
the  money  for  her  share,  were  announced  to  Mr. 
Adams  in  a  letter  of  June  16,  1780,  from  his 
brother-in-law,  Richard  Cranch.  A  copy  of  this 
letter  he  promptly  sent  to  de  Vergennes.  Imme 
diately  afterwards  he  received  further  news  of 
a  resolution  of  Congress  to  pay  the  continental 
loan  certificates  according  to  their  value  in  real 
money  at  the  time  of  their  issue.  A  copy  of 
this  letter,  also,  he  forwarded  to  M.  de  Ver 
gennes,  with  a  letter  of  his  own,  explaining,  says 
Mr.  C.  F.  Adams,  the  "  distinction  between  the 
action  of  Congress  on  the  paper  money  and  on 
the  loan  certificates,  which  that  body  had  neg 
lected  to  make  clear."  l  The  letter  is  brief,  and 
seems  fully  as  much  deprecatory  as  explanatory. 
But  whatever  was  its  character,  it  was  a  mistake. 
Mr.  Adams  would  have  done  better  to  allow 
such  disagreeable  intelligence  to  reach  the  count 
through  the  regular  channels  of  communication. 
He  was  under  no  sort  of  obligation  to  send  the 
news,  nor  to  explain  it,  nor  to  enter  on  any 
defense ;  indeed,  had  he  held  his  tongue,  it  was 
not  supposable  that  the  count  would  ever  have 
known  when  or  how  fully  he  had  got  his  infor 
mation.  Moreover,  it  was  in  his  discretion  to 
make  such  communications  to  the  count  as  he 
1  V.  Dipl  Corr.  of  the  Amer.  Rev.  207. 


174  JOHN  ADAMS 

saw  fit ;  if  it  was  not  meddlesome  in  him  to 
make  any,  at  least  it  was  indiscreet  in  him  to 
make  these  especial  ones.  His  punishment  was 
swift.  De  Vergennes  at  once  took  fire  on  be 
half  of  his  countrymen,  who  were  numerously 
and  largely  creditors  of  the  colonies.  He  wrote 
to  Mr.  Adams  a  letter  far  from  pleasant  in  tone. 
"  Such  financial  measures,"  he  said,  "  might  be 
necessary,  but  their  burden  should  fall  on  the 
Americans  alone,  and  an  exception  ought  to  be 
made  in  favor  of  strangers." 

"  In  order  to  make  you  sensible  of  the  truth  of  this 
observation,  I  will  only  remark,  sir,  that  the  Amer 
icans  alone  ought  to  support  the  expense  which  is 
occasioned  by  the  defense  of  their  liberty,  and  that 
they  ought  to  consider  the  depreciation  of  their  paper 
money  only  as  an  impost  which  ought  to  fall  upon 
themselves,  as  the  paper  money  was  at  first  estab 
lished  only  to  relieve  them  from  the  necessity  of  pay 
ing  taxes.  I  will  only  add  that  the  French,  if  they 
are  obliged  to  submit  to  the  reduction  proposed  by 
Congress,  will  find  themselves  victims  of  their  zeal, 
and  I  may  say  of  the  rashness  with  which  they  ex 
posed  themselves  in  furnishing  the  Americans  with 
arms,  ammunition,  and  clothing,  and  in  a  word  with 
all  things  of  the  first  necessity,  of  which  the  Amer 
icans  at  the  time  stood  in  need." 

Having  delivered  this  severe  and  offensive 
criticism,  the  writer  expressed  his  confidence 


SECOND   FOREIGN  MISSION  175 

that  Mr.  Adams  would  use  all  his  endeavors  to 
engage  Congress  to  do  justice  to  the  subjects  of 
the  king,  and  further  stated  that  the  Chevalier 
de  la  Luzerne,  French  minister  at  Philadelphia, 
had  "  orders  to  make  the  strongest  representa 
tions  on  this  subject." 

Mr.  Adams,  thus  rudely  smitten,  began  imper 
fectly  to  appreciate  the  position  into  which  his 
nai've  and  unreflecting  simplicity  had  brought 
him.  He  instantly  replied,  hoping  that  the 
orders  to  de  la  Luzerne  might  be  held  back 
until  Dr.  Franklin  could  communicate  with  the 
French  government.  It  was  rather  late  to  re 
member  that  the  whole  business  lay  properly  in 
Franklin's  department,  and  unfortunately  the 
tardy  gleam  of  prudence  was  only  a  passing  illu 
mination.  Actually  under  date  of  the  same  day 
on  which  this  reply  was  sent,  the  Diplomatic 
Correspondence  contains  a  very  long  and  elabo 
rate  argument,  addressed  by  Mr.  Adams  to  de 
Vergennes,  wherein  the  ever-ready  diplomate 
gratuitously  endeavored  to  vindicate  the  action 
of  Congress.  It  was  a  difficult  task  which  he  so 
readily  assumed ;  for  though,  if  it  is  ever  honest 
for  a  government  to  force  creditors  to  take  less 
than  it  has  promised  to  them,  it  was  justifiable 
for  the  colonial  Congress  and  the  several  states 
to  do  so  at  this  time,  yet  it  is  by  no  means 
clear  that  such  a  transaction  is  ever  excusable. 


176  JOHN  ADAMS 

Moreover,  apart  from  this  doubt,  Mr.  Adams 
was  addressing  an  argument  to  a  man  sure 
to  be  incensed  by  it,  not  open  to  conviction, 
and  in  the  first  flush  of  anger.  Adams  after 
wards  said  that  he  might  easily  have  shunned 
this  argument,  as  Franklin  did,  by  sending  the 
French  minister's  letter  to  Congress,  and  ex 
pressing  no  opinion  of  his  own  to  de  Yergennes. 
But  this  course  he  condemned  as  "duplicity,'* 
and  declared :  "  I  thought  it  my  indispensable 
duty  to  my  country  and  to  Congress,  to  France 
and  the  count  himself,  to  be  explicit."  Mr. 
C.  F.  Adams  also  tries  to  show  that  his  ancestor 
could  not  have  shunned  this  effort  without  com 
promising  himself  or  his  countrymen.  But  it  is 
not  possible  to  take  these  views.  At  the  outset 
Mr.  Adams  was  at  perfect  liberty  to  keep  silence, 
and  would  have  been  wise  to  do  so.  The  trouble 
was  that  keeping  silence  was  something  he  could 
never  do.  On  the  same  day  he  wrote  to  Dr. 
Franklin  a  sort  of  admonitory  letter,  phrased  in 
courteous  language  certainly,  but  conveying  to 
him  information  which  the  doctor  might  well 
feel  piqued  at  receiving  from  such  a  source,  and 
intimating  that  he  would  do  well  to  bestir  him 
self  and  to  mend  matters  without  more  delay. 
Shortly  after  he  had  thus  prodded  the  minister 
of  the  states,  he  wrote  two  letters  to  Congress, 
containing  a  sufficiently  fair  narrative  of  the 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  177 

facts,  but  between  the  lines  of  which  one  sees, 
or  easily  fancies  that  he  sees,  a  nascent  uneasi 
ness,  a  dawning  sense  of  having  been  imprudent. 
The  same  is  visible  in  another  letter  to  Franklin 
dated  seven  days  later,  in  which  the  now  anxious 
and  for  a  moment  self-distrustf ul  writer  begs  the 
doctor,  if  he  is  materially  wrong  in  any  part  of 
his  argument  to  de  Vergennes,  to  point  out  the 
error,  since  he  is  "  open  to  conviction,"  and  the 
subject  is  one  "much  out  of  the  way  of  [his] 
particular  pursuits,"  so  that  he  naturally  may 
be  "  inaccurate  in  some  things."  The  next  day 
brought  a  curt  letter  from  de  Vergennes,  em 
bodying  a  sharp  snub.  Still  a  few  days  more 
brought  a  letter  from  Franklin  to  de  Vergennes, 
in  which  the  American  said  that,  though  he  did 
not  yet  fully  understand  the  whole  business,  he 
could  at  least  see  that  foreigners  and  especially 
Frenchmen  should  not  be  permitted  to  suffer, 
He  added  that  the  sentiments  of  the  colonists  in 
general,  so  far  as  he  had  been  able  to  learn  them 
from  private  and  public  sources,  "  differ  widely 
from  those  that  seem  to  be  expressed  by  Mr. 
Adams  in  his  letter  to  your  excellency."  Frank 
lin  was  wrong  in  these  assertions,  but  he  was  at 
least  politic ;  he  was  turning  aside  wrath,  gain 
ing  time,  making  the  blow  fall  by  slow  degrees. 
So  the  result  of  Mr.  Adams's  well-meant  blun 
ders  was  that  he  had  not  affected  the  opinions 


178  JOHN   ADAMS 

of  the  French  minister  in  the  least,  but  that  he 
had  secured  for  himself  the  ill-will  both  of  that 
powerful  diplomatist  and  of  Dr.  Franklin.  They 
both  snubbed  him,  and  of  course  quickly  allowed 
it  to  be  understood  by  members  of  Congress 
that  Mr.  Adams  was  an  unwelcome  busybody. 
This  was  in  a  large  degree  unjust  and  unde 
served,  but  it  was  unfortunately  plausible.  Mr. 
Adams  could  explain  in  self-defense  that  he  had 
been  requested  by  de  Vergennes  himself  to  con 
vey  information  to  that  gentleman  directly  from 
time  to  time  on  American  affairs ;  and  the  ex 
planation  might  serve  as  an  excuse  for,  if  not 
a  full  justification  of,  his  encroachment  on  the 
proper  functions  of  Dr.  Franklin.  But  a  pub 
lic  man  is  unfortunately  situated  when  he  is  so 
placed  that  he  is  obliged  to  explain.  It  seemed 
in  derogation  of  Mr.  Adams's  usefulness  abroad 
that,  whether  with  or  without  fault  on  his  own 
part,  he  had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  de  Ver 
gennes  and  the  jealousy  of  Franklin.  Congress 
indeed  stood  manfully  by  him ;  yet  it  was  im 
possible  that  his  prestige  should  not  be  rather 
weakened  than  strengthened  by  what  had  oc 
curred.  Altogether,  his  ill-considered  readiness 
had  done  him  a  serious  temporary  hurt  on  this 
occasion,  as  on  so  many  others,  in  his  outspoken, 
not  to  say  loquacious  career. 

The  ill  feeling   between  Adams  and  Frank- 


SECOND   FOREIGN  MISSION  179 

lin  reached  a  point  which  it  is  painful  now  to 
contemplate,  as  existing  between  two  men  who 
should  have  been  such  hearty  co-laborers  in  the 
common  cause.  That  they  did  not  openly  quar 
rel  was  probably  due  only  to  their  sense  of  pro 
priety  and  dignity,  and  to  the  age  and  position 
of  Dr.  Franklin.  In  fact  they  were  utterly  in 
compatible,  both  mentally  and  morally.  From 
finding  that  they  could  not  work  in  unison,  the 
step  to  extreme  personal  dislike  was  not  a  long 
one.  In  1811  Mr.  Adams  put  his  sentiments 
not  only  in  writing  but  in  print  with  his  usual 
straightforward  and  unsparing  directness.  He 
charged  that  Franklin  had  "  concerted  "  with  de 
Vergennes  "  to  crush  Mr.  Adams  and  get  pos 
session  of  his  commission  for  peace ; "  and  he 
stigmatized  the  conspiracy,  not  unjustly  if  his 
suspicions  were  correct,  as  a  "  vulgar  and  low 
intrigue,"  a  "  base  trick."  He  said  that  when 
de  Vergennes  wished  to  send  complaints  of  him 
to  Congress,  Franklin,  who  was  not  officially 
bound  to  interfere  in  the  business,  became  a 
"willing  auxiliary  ...  at  the  expense  of  his 
duty  and  his  character."  He  said  that  he  had 
never  believed  Dr.  Franklin's  expressions  of 
"  reluctance,"  and  that  the  majority  of  Congress 
had  "always  seen  that  it  was  Dr.  F.'s  heart's 
desire  to  avail  himself  of  these  means  and  this 
opportunity  to  strike  Mr.  Adams  out  of  exist- 


•\ 

Of    THE 

UNIVERSITY 

or  J 


180  JOHN  ADAMS 

ence  as  a  public  minister,  and  get  himself  into 
his  place."  He  denied  that  he  ever  intermed 
dled  in  Franklin's  province,  and  explained  his 
neglect  to  consult  with  the  doctor  on  the  ground 
that  he  knew  the  "  extreme  indolence  and  dissi 
pation  "  of  that  great  man.  He  did  not  confine 
himself  to  accusing  Franklin  of  an  ungenerous 
enmity  to  himself,  but  directly  assailed  his  mor 
als  and  the  purity  of  his  patriotism.  These 
bitter  pages  are  not  pleasant  reading,  however 
much  truth  there  may  be  in  them.  In  such  a 
misunderstanding,  as  in  a  family  quarrel,  it 
would  have  been  better  had  each  party  rigor 
ously  held  his  peace.  Yet  since  this  was  not 
done,  and  the  feud  has  been  published  to  the 
world,  it  may  be  fairly  said  that,  except  in  points 
of  discretion  at  the  time,  and  good  taste  after 
ward,  it  is  difficult  not  to  sympathize  with  Mr, 
Adams.  He  had  nine  tenths  of  the  substance  of 
right  on  his  side. 

For  a  while  just  now  Mr.  Adams  resembles 
a  ship  blundering  through  a  fog  bank.  Ap 
parently  he  had  taken  leave  of  all  discretion. 
Incredible  as  it  seems,  he  actually  seized  this 
moment  of  Count  de  Vergennes's  extreme  irri 
tation,  an  irritation  of  which  he  himself  had 
been  made  the  unfortunate  scape-goat,  to  write 
to  that  minister  a  letter  urging  a  vigorous  and 
expensive  naval  enterprise  by  the  French  in 


SECOND   FOREIGN   MISSION  181 

American  waters,  and  suggesting  that  besides  its 
strictly  strategic  advantages  it  would  have  the 
very  great  moral  use  of  proving  the  sincerity  of 
the  French  in  the  alliance !  Not  that  he  him 
self,  as  he  graciously  said,  doubted  that  sincer 
ity,  but  others  were  questioning  it.  Nothing 
could  have  been  more  inopportune  or  more  un- 
conciliatory  than  this  proposal,  made  at  the  pre 
cise  moment  when  conciliation  would  have  been 
the  chief  point  of  a  sound  policy.  The  French 
treasury  was  beginning  to  feel  severely  the  cost 
of  the  war,  and  however  imperfect  may  have 
been  the  sincerity  of  the  government  at  other 
times  and  in  other  respects,  they  were  now  at 
least  doing  all  they  could  afford  to  do  in  the 
way  of  substantial  military  assistance.  De  Ver- 
gennes  replied  with  chilling  civility.  A  few 
days  afterward  Mr.  Adams  touched  another 
sensitive  spot,  renewing  his  old  suggestion  that 
it  would  be  well  for  him  to  communicate  to  the 
British  court  the  full  character  of  his  commis 
sions.  In  this  he  was  probably  quite  right; 
but  in  urging  it  upon  the  minister  just  at  this 
moment  he  was  again  imprudent,  if  not  actually 
wrong.  He  knew  perfectly  well  that  de  Ver- 
gennes  did  not  wish  this  communication  to  be 
made  ;  it  is  true  also  that  he  more  than  half 
suspected  the  concealed  motives  of  the  minis 
ter's  reluctance,  though  he  did  not  fully  know 


182  JOHN  ADAMS 

precisely  in  what  shape  the  ministerial  policy 
was  being  developed.  Still,  being  aware  of  the 
unwelcome  character  of  his  proposal,  he  ought  to 
have  refrained  from  urging  it  for  a  little  while, 
until  the  offense  which  he  had  so  lately  given 
could  drop  a  little  farther  into  the  past.  In 
those  days  of  tardy  communication  diplomatic 
matters  moved  so  slowly  that  a  month  more  or 
less  would  not  have  counted  for  very  much,  and 
certainly  he  would  have  been  likely  to  lose  less 
by  pausing  than  he  could  hope  to  gain  by  push 
ing  forward  just  at  this  moment.  Upon  the 
receipt  of  the  reiterated  and  unwelcome  request, 
the  patience  and  politeness  of  de  Vergennes  at 
last  fairly  broke  down.  His  response  was  curt, 
and  in  substance,  though  not  in  language,  almost 
insolent.  He  sent  Mr.  Adams  a  paper  setting 
forth  categorically  his  reasons  for  thinking  that 
the  time  had  not  come  for  informing  the  Eng 
lish  government  concerning  the  congressional 
commissions.  He  hoped  that  Mr.  Adams  would 
see  the  force  of  these  arguments,  but  otherwise, 
he  said,  "I  pray  you,  and  in  the  name  of  the 
king  request  you,  to  communicate  your  letter 
and  my  answer  to  the  United  States,  and  to  sus 
pend,  until  you  shall  receive  orders  from  them, 
all  measures  with  regard  to  the  English  minis 
try."  For  his  own  part,  he  acknowledged  that 
he  intended  with  all  expedition  to  appeal  to 


SECOND   FOREIGN  MISSION  183 

Congress  to  check  the  intended  communication. 
This  was  not  pleasant ;  but  the  reading  of  the  in 
closed  statement  of  reasons  must  have  been  still 
less  so.  They  were,  said  the  writer,  "  so  plain 
that  they  must  appear  at  first  view."  After  this 
doubtful  compliment  to  the  sagacity  of  Mr.  Ad 
ams,  who  had  failed  to  discern  considerations  so 
remarkably  obvious,  a  number  of  snubs  followed. 
Mr.  Adams  was  told  that  "  it  required  no  effort 
of  genius "  to  comprehend  that  he  could  not 
fulfill  all  his  commissions  at  once ;  that  the  Eng 
lish  ministry  would  regard  his  communication, 
so  far  as  related  to  the  treaty  of  commerce,  as 
"  ridiculous,"  and  would  return  either  "  no  an 
swer  "  or  "  an  insolent  one  ; "  that  Mr.  Adams's 
purpose  could  never  be  achieved  by  the  means 
he  suggested,  with  the  too  plain  innuendo  that 
his  suggestion  was  a  foolish  one.  Finally,  but 
not  until  the  eighth  paragraph  had  been  reached 
in  the  discussion  and  disposition  of  Mr.  Adams's 
several  points,  the  Frenchman  said,  as  if  relieved 
at  last  to  find  a  break  in  the  chain  of  ignorance 
and  folly,  "  This  is  a  sensible  reflection."  There 
was  a  sharper  satire  in  this  praise  than  in  the 
blame  which  had  preceded  it;  and  the  subtle 
minister  then  continued  to  show  that  the  "  reflec 
tion"  was  "sensible"  only  because  it  showed 
that  even  Mr.  Adams  himself  could  appreciate 
and  admit  that  under  some  circumstances  he 


184  JOHN  ADAMS 

would  do  well  to  withhold  the  communication  of 
his  powers. 

As  a  real  confutation  of  Mr.  Adams's  argu 
ments,  this  document  was  very  imperfectly  sat 
isfactory.  As  a  manifestation  of  ill-temper  it 
was  more  efficient ;  for  it  was  cutting  and  sar 
castic  enough  to  have  irritated  a  man  of  a 
milder  disposition  than  Mr.  Adams  enjoyed. 
On  July  26,  however,  he  replied  to  it  in  tolera 
bly  submissive  form,  though  not  concealing  that 
he  was  rather  silenced  by  the  authority  than 
convinced  by  the  arguments  of  his  opponent, 
since  an  opponent  de  Vergennes  had  by  this 
time  substantially  become.  But  on  July  27, 
Mr.  Adams  was  moved  to  write  a  second  and  a 
less  wise  letter.  He  had  overlooked,  he  said, 
the  count's  statement  that  in  the  beginning  the 
French  "  king,  without  having  been  solicited  by 
the  Congress,  had  taken  measures  the  most  effi 
cacious  to  sustain  the  American  cause."  He 
sought  now  to  prove,  and  did  prove,  that  this 
was  an  erroneous  assertion,  inasmuch  as  the 
colonists  had  solicited  aid  before  it  had  been 
tendered  to  them.  He  would  have  done  better 
had  he  continued  to  overlook  the  error,  rather 
than  be  so  zealous  to  prove  his  countrymen  beg 
gars  of  aid,  instead  of  recipients  of  it  unsought. 
But  if  this  was  a  trifling  matter,  on  a  following 
page  he  committed  a  gross  and  unpardonable 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  185 

folly.  "  I  am  so  convinced,"  he  said,  "  by 
experience  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  more 
consultations  and  communications  between  his 
majesty's  ministers  and  the  ministers  of  Con 
gress,  that  I  am  determined  to  omit  no  opportu 
nity  of  communicating  my  sentiments  to  your 
excellency,  upon  everything  that  appears  to  me 
of  importance  to  the  common  cause,  in  which  I 
can  do  it  with  propriety."  In  other  words,  Dr. 
Franklin  was  so  outrageously  neglecting  his 
duties  that  Mr.  Adams  must  volunteer  to  per 
form  them ;  and  though  he  was  even  now  in 
trouble  by  reason  of  news  given  to  de  Vergennes 
at  that  gentleman's  own  request,  he  actually 
declares  his  resolution,  untaught  by  experience, 
to  thrust  further  unasked  communications  before 
that  minister.  Some  very  unfriendly  demon 
must  have  prompted  this  extraordinary  episto 
lary  effort!  Two  days  afterward  he  received 
from  de  Vergennes  a  sharp  and  well-merited 
rebuke.  To  avoid  the  receipt  of  more  letters 
like  Mr.  Adams's  last,  the  minister  now  wrote : 
"I  think  it  my  duty  to  inform  you  that,  Mr. 
Franklin  being  the  sole  person  who  has  letters 
of  credence  to  the  king  from  the  United  States, 
it  is  with  him  only  that  I  ought  and  can  treat  of 
matters  which  concern  them,  and  particularly  of 
that  which  is  the  subject  of  your  observations." 
Then  the  minister  mischievously  sent  the  whole 


186  JOHN  ADAMS 

correspondence  to  Dr.  Franklin,  expressing  the 
malicious  hope  that  he  would  forward  it  all  to 
Congress,  so  "  that  they  may  know  the  line  of 
conduct  which  Mr.  Adams  pursues  with  regard 
to  us,  and  that  they  may  judge  whether  he  is 
endowed,  as  Congress  no  doubt  desires,  with 
that  conciliatory  spirit  which  is  necessary  for 
the  important  and  delicate  business  with  which 
he  is  intrusted."  In  a  word,  de  Vergennes  had 
come  to  hate  Adams,  and  wished  to  destroy  him. 
Franklin  did  in  fact  write  to  Congress  a  letter 
in  a  tone  which  could  not  have  been  unsatisfac 
tory  to  Vergennes,  and  the  result  came  back  in 
the  shape  of  some  mild  fault-finding  for  Mr. 
Adams  in  an  official  letter  from  the  President 
of  Congress,  a  censure  much  more  gentle  than 
he  might  well  have  anticipated  in  view  of  the 
powerful  influences  which  he  had  managed  to 
set  in  motion  against  himself.  Fortunately,  too, 
such  sting  as  there  was  in  this  was  amply  cured 
by  a  vote  of  December  12, 1780,  passed  concern 
ing  the  correspondence  relating  to  the  redemp 
tion  of  debts,  by  which  Congress  instructed  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  "  to  inform  Mr. 
Adams  of  the  satisfaction  which  they  receive 
from  his  industrious  attention  to  the  interests 
and  honor  of  these  United  States  abroad,  espe 
cially  in  the  transactions  communicated  to  them 
by  his  letter." 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  187 

During  these  two  months  of  June  and  July, 
1780,  Mr.  Adams  had  certainly  succeeded  in 
stirring  up  a  very  considerable  embroilment, 
and  in  making  Paris  a  rather  uncomfortable 
place  of  residence  for  himself  for  the  time  being. 
It  was  well  for  him  to  seek  some  new  and  more 
tranquil  pastures,  at  least  temporarily.  Fortu 
nately  he  was  able  to  do  so  with  a  good  grace. 
So  early  as  in  February  preceding  he  had  seen 
that  a  minister  in  Holland  might  do  good  ser 
vice,  especially  in  opening  the  way  for  loans  of 
money.  He  had  lately  been  contemplating  a 
volunteer  and  tentative  trip  thither,  and  had 
asked  for  passports  from  the  Count  de  Ver- 
gennes ;  these  he  now  received,  with  an  intima 
tion,  not  precisely  that  his  absence  was  better 
than  his  company,  but  at  least  that  for  a  few 
weeks  he  might  rest  assured  that  no  negotiations 
would  arise  to  demand  his  attention.  So  on 
July  27  he  set  out  for  Amsterdam.  This  visit, 
intended  to  be  brief  and  of  exploration  only, 
finally  ran  on  through  a  full  year,  and  covered 
the  initiation  of  some  important  transactions. 
Mr.  Adams's  chief  motive  was  to  try  the  finan 
cial  prospects,  to  see  what  chance  there  was  for 
the  colonies  to  delve  into  the  treasure-chests  and 
deep  pockets  of  the  rich  bankers  and  money 
lenders  of  the  Low  Countries.  He  found  only 
a  black  ignorance  prevalent  concerning  the  con- 


188  JOHN  ADAMS 

dition  and  resources  of  his  country,  and  that  it 
was  of  no  use  to  talk  of  loans  until  he  could 
substitute  for  this  lack  of  knowledge  abundant 
and  favorable  information.  To  this  end  he  at 
once  bent  himself  by  industriously  employing 
the  press,  and  by  seeking  to  extend  his  personal 
acquaintance  and  influence  as  far  as  possible  in 
useful  directions.  At  first  this  was  another  of 
his  purely  voluntary  undertakings,  from  which 
he  had  not  yet  been  turned  aside  ;  but  while  he 
was  prosecuting  it,  direct  authority  for  engaging 
a  loan  reached  him  from  Congress.  As  ill  luck 
would  have  it,  however,  just  at  this  same  crisis 
the  English  captured  some  papers  disagreeably 
compromising  the  relations  of  the  Dutch  with 
Great  Britain.  At  once  the  English  ministry 
became  very  menacing ;  the  Dutch  cowered  in 
alarm ;  and  for  the  time  all  chance  of  borrow 
ing  money  disappeared.  "Not  a  merchant  or 
banker  in  the  place,  of  any  influence,"  says  Mr. 
C.  F.  Adams,  "  would  venture  at  such  a  moment 
even  to  appear  to  know  that  a  person  suspected 
of  being  an  American  agent  was  at  hand."  But 
after  a  while  the  cloud  showed  symptoms  of 
passing  over ;  even  a  reaction  against  the  spirit 
of  timid  submission  to  England  began  to  set  in. 
Mr.  Adams  patiently  stayed  by,  watching  the 
turn  of  affairs,  and  while  thus  engaged  received 
from  Congress  two  new  commissions.  The  one 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  189 

authorized  him  to  give  in  the  adhesion  of  the 
United  States  to  the  armed  neutrality  ;  the  other 
appointed  him  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the 
United  Provinces,  and  instructed  him  to  nego 
tiate  a  treaty  of  alliance  as  soon  as  possible. 
Thus  he  obtained  not  only  new  incentives  but 
fresh  points  of  departure,  of  which  it  may  be 
conceived  that  he  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself. 
He  at  once  announced  to  the  ministers  of  vari 
ous  European  nations  at  the  Hague  his  power 
in  relation  to  the  armed  neutrality ;  and  soon 
afterward  presented  to  the  States  General  a 
memorial  requesting  to  be  recognized  as  minis 
ter  from  the  United  States.  But  this  recog 
nition,  involving  of  course  the  recognition  of 
the  nation  also,  was  not  easily  to  be  obtained. 
Against  it  worked  the  fear  of  Great  Britain  and 
all  the  influence  of  that  court,  which,  though  at 
last  on  the  wane,  had  long  been  overshadowing 
in  Holland,  and  was  now  strenuously  pushed  to 
the  utmost  point  in  this  matter.  Further,  the 
influence  of  France  was  unquestionably,  though 
covertly  and  indirectly,  arrayed  upon  the  same 
side.  No  more  conclusive  evidence  could  have 
been  desired  as  to  the  precise  limits  of  the  good 
will  of  de  Vergennes  to  the  American  states. 
Had  he  had  their  interests  nearly  at  heart,  he 
would  have  had  every  reason  to  advance  this 
alliance ;  but  having  no  other  interests  save 


190  JOHN  ADAMS 

those  of  France  at  heart,  he  pursued  the  con 
trary  course ;  for  it  best  suited  a  purely  French 
policy  to  have  the  colonies  feel  exclusively  de 
pendent  upon  France,  and  remain  otherwise 
solitary,  unfriended,  unsupported.  It  is  not  fair 
to  blame  de  Vergennes  for  this ;  his  primary, 
perhaps  his  sole,  duties  were  to  his  own  country. 
But  the  fact  undeniably  indicates  that  he  was 
not  the  disinterested  friend  of  the  colonies  which 
he  professed  to  be,  and  that  he  could  not  wisely 
be  trusted  in  that  implicit  manner  in  which  he 
demanded  to  be  trusted  by  them.  He  was  dis 
honest,  but  not  to  a  degree  or  in  a  way  which 
the  diplomatic  morality  of  that  day  severely  con 
demned.  He  only  pretended  to  be  influenced 
by  sentiments  which  he  did  not  really  feel,  and 
called  for  a  confidence  which  he  had  no  right  to. 
Mr.  Adams,  however,  could  not  fail  to  suspect 
him,  almost  to  understand  him,  and  to  become 
more  than  ever  persuaded  of  the  true  relationship 
of  the  French  government  to  the  United  States. 
He  wrote  to  Jonathan  Jackson,  that  the  French 
minister,  the  Duke  de  la  Vauguyon,  doubtless 
acting  upon  instructions  from  de  Vergennes, 
"did  everything  in  his  power"  to  obstruct  the 
negotiation  ;  and  that  it  was  only  upon  the  blunt 
statement  made  to  him  by  Mr.  Adams,  that  "  no 
advice  of  his  or  of  the  Comte  de  Vergennes,  nor 
even  a  requisition  from  the  king,  should  restrain 


SECOND  FOREIGN   MISSION  191 

me,"  that  he  desisted  from  his  perfidious  opposi 
tion  and  "  fell  in  with  me,  in  order  to  give  the 
air  of  French  influence  "  to  the  measures. 

Amid  these  labors  in  Holland  Mr.  Adams 
was  interrupted  by  a  summons  to  Paris.  There 
were  some  prospects  of  a  negotiation,  which, 
however,  speedily  vanished  and  permitted  him 
to  return.  Besides  his  own  endeavors,  events 
were  working  for  him  very  effectually.  For  the 
time  England  was  like  a  man  with  a  fighting 
mania ;  wildly  excited,  she  turned  a  belligerent 
front  to  any  nation  upon  the  slightest,  even  im 
aginary,  provocation.  Utterly  reckless  as  to  the 
number  of  her  foes,  she  now  added  Holland  to 
the  array,  making  a  short  and  hasty  stride  from 
threats  to  a  declaration  of  war.  Mr.  Adams 
could  have  suggested  nothing  better  for  his  own 
purposes,  had  he  been  allowed  to  dictate  British 
policy.  Still  the  game  was  not  won;  things 
moved  slowly  in  Holland,  where  the  govern 
mental  machine  was  of  very  cumbrous  construc 
tion,  and  any  party  possessed  immense  facilities 
in  the  way  of  obstruction.  The  stadtholder  and 
his  allies,  conservatively  minded,  and  heretofore 
well-disposed  towards  England,  still  remained 
hostile  to  Mr.  Adams's  projects ;  but  a  feeling 
friendly  to  him  and  to  the  colonies  had  rapidly 
made  way  among  the  merchants  and  popular 
party  in  politics.  This  was  attributable  in  part 


192  JOHN  ADAMS 

to  indignation  against  Great  Britain,  in  part  to 
the  news  of  the  American  success  in  the  capture 
of  Cornwallis's  army,  and  in  part  to  Adams's 
personal  exertions,  especially  in  disseminating  a 
knowledge  concerning  his  country,  and  sketch 
ing  probable  openings  for  trade  and  financial 
dealings.  At  last  he  became  convinced  that 
these  sentiments  of  good-will  had  acquired  such 
strength  and  extension  that  a  bold  measure 
upon  his  part  would  be  crowned  with  immediate 
success. 

With  characteristic  audacity,  therefore,  he 
now  preferred  a  formal  demand  for  a  categor 
ical  answer  to  his  petition,  presented  several 
months  before,  asking  that  he  should  be  recog 
nized  by  the  States  General  as  the  minister  of 
an  independent  nation.  In  furtherance  of  this 
move  he  made  a  series  of  personal  visits  to  the 
representatives  of  the  several  cities.  It  was  a 
step,  if  not  altogether  unconventional,  yet  at 
least  requiring  no  small  amount  of  nerve  and  of 
willingness  for  personal  self-sacrifice ;  since,  had 
it  failed,  Adams  would  inevitably  and  perhaps 
properly  have  been  condemned  for  ill-judgment 
and  recklessness.  This,  coming  in  immediate 
corroboration  of  the  unfriendly  criticisms  of  de 
Yergennes  and  Franklin,  would  probably  have 
been  a  greater  burden  than  his  reputation  could 
have  sustained.  But  as  usual  his  courage  was 


SECOND  FOREIGN  MISSION  193 

ample.  The  deputies,  one  and  all,  replied  to 
him  that  they  had  as  yet  no  authority  to  act 
in  the  premises ;  but  they  would  apply  to  their 
constituents  for  instructions.  They  promptly 
did  so,  and  the  condition  of  feeling  which  Mr. 
Adams  had  anticipated,  and  which  he  had  been 
largely  instrumental  in  producing,  was  mani 
fested  in  the  responses.  The  constituencies,  in 
rapid  succession,  declared  for  the  recognition, 
and  on  April  19,  1782,  a  year  after  the  presen 
tation  of  the  first  memorial,  it  took  place.  Mr. 
Adams  was  then  formally  installed  at  the  Hague 
as  the  minister  of  the  new  people.  The  French 
minister,  the  Duke  de  la  Vauguyon,  having  cov 
ertly  retarded  the  result  so  far  as  he  well  could, 
but  now  becoming  all  courtesy  and  congratula 
tion,  gave  a  grand  entertainment  in  honor  of 
the  achievement,  and  presented  Mr.  Adams  to 
the  ministers  of  the  European  powers  as  the 
latest  member  of  their  distinguished  body.  It 
was  a  great  triumph  won  over  grave  difficulties. 
Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  says  concerning  it :  "  This 
may  be  justly  regarded,  not  simply  as  the  third 
moral  trial,  but  what  Mr.  Adams  himself  always 
regarded  it,  as  the  greatest  success  of  his  life ; " 
and  this  is  hardly  exaggeration.  Practical  ad 
vantages  immediately  followed.  The  Dutch 
bankers  came  forward  with  offers  to  lend  money, 
and  some  sorely  needed  and  very  helpful  loans 


194  JOHN  ADAMS 

were  consummated.  Further,  on  October  7, 
Mr.  Adams  had  the  pleasure  of  setting  his  hand 
to  a  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce,  the  second 
which  was  ratified  with  his  country  as  a  free 
nation.  Concerning  this  Dutch  achievement  he 
wrote :  "  Nobody  knows  that  I  do  anything ;  or 
have  anything  to  do.  One  thing,  thank  God !  is 
certain.  I  have  planted  the  American  standard 
at  the  Hague.  There  let  it  wave  and  fly  in  tri 
umph  over  Sir  Joseph  Yorke  and  British  pride. 
I  shall  look  down  upon  the  flagstaff  with  plea 
sure  from  the  other  world."  The  Declaration  of 
Independence,  the  Massachusetts  Constitution, 
the  French  alliance  had  not  given  him  "more 
satisfaction  or  more  pleasing  prospects  for  our 
country  "  than  this  "  pledge  against  friends  and 
enemies,"  this  "  barrier  against  all  dangers  from 
the  house  of  Bourbon,"  and  "present  security 
against  England." 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  TREATY   OF  PEACE:   THE  ENGLISH 
MISSION 

THE  Revolutionary  war  was  protracted  by  the 
English  in  a  manner  altogether  needless  and 
wicked.  Long  after  its  result  was  known  by 
every  one  to  be  inevitable,  that  result  was  still 
postponed  at  the  expense  of  blood,  suffering, 
and  money,  for  no  better  motives  than  the  self 
ish  pride  of  the  British  ministry  and  the  dull 
obstinacy  of  the  English  king.  Even  the  rules 
of  war  condemn  a  general  who  sacrifices  life 
to  prolong  a  battle  when  the  prolongation  can 
bring  no  possible  advantage ;  but  no  court- 
martial  had  jurisdiction  over  Lord  North,  and 
impeachment  has  never  been  used  to  punish 
mere  barbarity  on  the  part  of  a  cabinet  minis 
ter.  Mr.  Adams  appreciated  these  facts  at  the 
time  as  accurately  as  if  he  had  been  removed 
from  the  picture  by  the  distance  of  two  or  three 
generations.  It  caused  him  extreme  and  per 
fectly  just  wrath  and  indignation.  Bitter  expla 
nations  of  the  truth  are  sprinkled  through  his 
letters,  official  and  personal,  from  the  time  of 


196  JOHN  ADAMS 

his  second  arrival  in  Europe.  The  hope  of 
coming  peace  had  a  dangerous  influence  in  re 
laxing  the  efforts  and  lowering  the  morale  of 
the  people  in  the  states.  He  steadily  endeav 
ored  to  counteract  this  mischief,  and  repeated 
to  them  with  emphasis,  often  passing  into  anger, 
his  conviction  that  the  end  was  not  near  at  hand. 
He  encouraged  them,  indeed,  with  occasional 
descriptions  of  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Eng 
land,  which  are  a  little  amusing  to  read  now. 
His  animosity  to  the  government  party  was  in 
tense,  and  many  of  his  anticipations  were  the 
offspring  of  his  wishes  rather  than  of  his  judg 
ment.  The  nation  seemed  to  him  on  the  brink 
of  civil  war,  and  to  be  saved  for  the  time  from 
that  disaster  solely  because  of  the  utter  dearth 
of  leaders  sufficiently  trustworthy  to  gain  the 
confidence  of  the  discontented  people.  Thus  he 
declared,  "  it  may  truly  be  said,  that  the  British 
empire  is  crumbling  to  pieces  like  a  rope  of 
sand,"  so  that,  if  the  war  should  continue,  "  it 
would  not  be  surprising  to  see  Scotland  become 
discontented  with  the  Union,  Asia  cast  off  the 
yoke  of  dependence,  and  even  the  West  India 
islands  divorce  themselves  and  seek  the  protec 
tion  of  France,  of  Spain,  or  even  of  the  United 
States."  In  a  word,  throughout  England,  "  the 
stubble  is  so  dry,  that  the  smallest  spark  thrown 
into  it  may  set  the  whole  field  in  a  blaze."  "His 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  197 

lordship  talks  about  the  misery  of  the  people  in 
America.  Let  him  look  at  home,  and  then  say 
where  is  misery !  where  the  hideous  prospect  of 
an  internal  civil  war  is  added  to  a  war  with  all 
the  world ! " 

But  all  this  did  not  blind  him  in  the  least  to 
the  dogged  resolve  of  king  and  cabinet  to  fight 
for  a  long  while  yet.  The  English,  he  says, 
"  have  ever  made  it  a  part  of  their  political  sys 
tem  to  hold  out  to  America  some  false  hopes  of 
reconciliation  and  peace,  in  order  to  slacken  our 
nerves  and  retard  our  preparations.  .  .  .  But 
serious  thoughts  of  peace  upon  any  terms  that 
we  can  agree  to,  I  am  persuaded  they  never 
had."  He  said  that  he  would  think  himself  to 
be  wanting  in  his  duty  to  his  countrymen,  if  he 
"  did  not  warn  them  against  any  relaxation  of 
their  exertions  by  sea  or  land,  from  a  fond 
expectation  of  peace.  They  will  deceive  them 
selves  if  they  depend  upon  it.  Never,  never 
will  the  English  make  peace  while  they  have  an 
army  in  North  America."  "There  is  nothing 
farther  from  the  thoughts  of  the  king  of  Eng 
land,  his  ministers,  parliament,  or  nation  (for 
they  are  now  all  Ais),  than  peace  upon  any 
terms  that  America  can  agree  to.  ...  I  think 
I  see  very  clearly  that  America  must  grow  up 
in  war.  It  is  a  painful  prospect,  to  be  sure." 
But  he  goes  on  at  some  length  to  show  that  it 


198  JOHN   ADAMS 

must  and  can  be  encountered  successfully.  "  I 
am  so  fully  convinced  that  peace  is  a  great  way 
off,"  he  again  reiterates, "  and  that  we  have  more 
cruelty  to  encounter  than  ever,  that  I  ought  to 
be  explicit  to  Congress."  Thus  earnestly  and 
unceasingly  did  he  endeavor  to  make  the  Amer 
icans  look  the  worst  possibilities  of  the  future 
fairly  in  the  face,  appreciate  all  they  had  to 
expect,  and  escape  the  snare  of  too  sanguine 
anticipation,  with  its  fatal  consequence  of  lan 
guor  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  France  and 
Spain,  he  said,  cannot  desert  the  states ;  self- 
interest  binds  the  trio  together  in  an  indissolu 
ble  alliance  for  the  purposes  of  this  struggle. 
But  even  should  these  nations  abandon  America, 
should  his  country  "  be  deserted  by  all  the  world, 
she  ought  seriously  to  maintain  her  resolution  to 
be  free.  She  has  the  means  within  herself.  Her 
greatest  misfortune  has  been  that  she  has  never 
yet  felt  her  full  strength,  nor  considered  the 
extent  of  her  resources."  It  was  the  resolute 
temper  of  such  patriots  as  Mr.  Adams  that  was 
bringing  forward  the  end  more  rapidly  than  the 
prudent  ones  among  them  ventured  to  believe. 

If  the  postponement  of  that  end  was  wicked 
on  the  part  of  the  English  government,  their 
ungracious  and  shambling  approaches  to  it  were 
contemptible  and  almost  ridiculous,  their  ma 
noeuvres  were  very  clumsy,  their  efforts  to  save 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  199 

appearances  in  abandoning  substantiate  were  ex 
tremely  comical  and  pitiful.  There  were  secret 
embassies,  private  and  informal  overtures  made 
through  unknown  men,  proposals  so  impossible 
as  to  be  altogether  absurd,  ludicrous  efforts  to 
throw  dust  in  the  eyes  of  French,  Spanish,  and 
American  negotiators,  endeavors  to  wean  the 
allies  from  each  other,  to  induce  France  to  de 
sert  the  states,  even  to  bribe  the  states  to  turn 
about  and  join  England  in  a  war  against  France. 
There  was  nothing  so  preposterous  or  so  hope 
less  that  the  poor  old  king  in  his  desperation, 
and  the  king's  friends  in  their  servility,  would 
not  try  for  it,  nothing  so  base  and  contemptible 
that  they  would  not  stoop  to  it,  and  seek  to 
make  others  also  stoop.  There  was  endless 
shillyshallying ;  there  was  much  traveling  of 
emissaries  under  assumed  names  ;  infinite  skir 
mishing  about  the  central  fact  of  American  in 
dependence.  It  was  no  fact,  the  English  cabinet 
said,  and  it  could  not  be  a  fact  until  they  should 
admit  it;  for  the  present  they  stoutly  alleged 
that  it  was  only  a  foolish  mirage ;  yet  all  the 
while  they  knew  perfectly  well  that  it  was  as 
irrevocably  established  as  if  an  American  minis 
ter  had  been  already  received  by  George  III. 
Though  they  might  criminally  waste  a  little  time 
in  such  nonsense,  all  the  world  saw  that  they 
could  not  hold  out  much  longer. 


200  JOHN   ADAMS 

Amid  his  transactions  in  Holland  Mr.  Adams 
had  been  interrupted  by  a  summons  from  de 
Vergennes  to  come  at  once  to  Paris,  and  advise 
concerning  some  pending  suggestions.  It  was 
about  the  time  of  Mr.  Cumberland's  futile 
expedition  to  Madrid.  Immediately  after  the 
failure  of  this  originally  hopeless  attempt,  Rus 
sia  and  Austria  endeavored  to  intervene,  with  so 
far  a  temporary  appearance  of  success  that  some 
articles  were  actually  proposed.  De  Vergennes 
had  intended  from  the  outset  to  be  master  in  the 
negotiations  whenever  they  should  take  place, 
and  to  this  end  he  had  conceived  it  wise  to  pre 
vent  either  Spain  or  the  United  States  from 
making  demands  inconvenient  to  him,  or  incom 
patible  with  his  purely  French  purposes.  Spain 
he  must  manage  and  cajole  as  best  he  could; 
but  the  states  he  expected  to  handle  more  cava 
lierly  and  imperiously.  He  had  no  notion  of 
letting  this  crude  people,  this  embryotic  nation 
ality,  impede  the  motions  or  interfere  with  the 
interests  of  the  great  kingdom  of  France.  So 
hitherto  he  had  quietly  attended  to  all  the  pre 
liminary  and  tentative  business  which  had  been 
going  forward,  without  communicating  anything 
of  it  to  Mr.  Adams.  Accordingly  now,  when 
affairs  had  come  to  a  point  at  which  that  gen 
tleman  could  no  longer  be  utterly  ignored,  he 
suddenly  found  himself  called  upon  to  speak 


THE  TREATY   OF  PEACE  201 

and  act  in  the  middle  of  transactions  of  which 
he  did  not  know  the  earlier  stages.  It  was 
much  as  if  a  player  should  be  ordered  to  go 
upon  the  stage  and  take  a  chief  part  in  the  sec 
ond  act  of  a  play,  of  which  he  had  not  been 
allowed  to  see  or  read  the  first  act. 

On  July  6,  1781,  Mr.  Adams  appeared  in 
Paris  and  was  allowed  to  know  that  the  basis 
of  negotiation  covered  three  points  of  interest 
to  him :  1.  A  negotiation  for  peace  between  the 
states  and  Great  Britain  without  any  interven 
tion  of  France,  or  of  those  mediators  who  were 
to  act  in  arranging  the  demands  of  the  Euro 
pean  belligerents.  2.  No  treaty,  however,  was 
to  be  signed,  until  the  quarrels  of  these  Euro 
pean  belligerents  should  also  have  been  success 
fully  composed.  3.  A  truce  was  to  be  arranged 
for  one  or  two  years,  during  which  period 
everything  should  remain  in  statu  quo,  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  ample  time  for  negotiation. 
This  was  divulged  to  him,  but  he  was  not  told 
of  a  fourth  article,  though  not  less  interesting 
to  him  than  these.  This  was,  that  when  this 
basis  should  have  been  acceded  to  by  all  the 
parties,  the  mediation  should  go  forward.  The 
difficulty  in  this  apparently  simple  proposition, 
a  difficulty  sufficiently  great  to  induce  de  Ver- 
gennes  to  indulge  in  the  gross  ill  faith  of  con 
cealing  it,  lay  in  the  stipulation  concerning  "  all 


202  JOHN  ADAMS 

the  parties."  Were  the  states  a  party  or  were 
they  not?  Were  they  a  nation,  independent 
like  the  rest,  or  were  they  colonies  in  a  condi 
tion  of  revolt  ?  If  they  constituted  a  "  party  " 
they  were  entitled  to  be  treated  like  the  other 
parties,  and  to  accede  to  and  share  in  the  medi 
ation,  appearing  before  the  world  in  all  respects 
precisely  like  their  comrade  nations.  To  this  it 
was  foreseen  that  England  would  object,  and 
that  she  would  not  consent  thus  at  once  to  set 
herself  upon  terms  of  equality  with  those  whom 
she  still  regarded  as  rebellious  subjects.  Also 
the  states,  being  present  at  the  mediation,  might 
urge  in  their  own  behalf  matters  which  would 
cause  new  snarls  in  a  business  already  unduly 
complicated,  whence  might  arise  some  interfer 
ence  with  the  clever  ways  and  strictly  national 
purpose  of  the  count.  These  were  the  reasons 
why  de  Vergennes  refrained  from  mentioning 
this  fourth  point  to  Mr.  Adams. 

But  if  that  astute  diplomatist  fancied  that 
the  concealment  of  this  article  would  carry  with 
it  the  concealment  of  the  vital  point  which  it 
involved,  he  was  in  error.  Though  unversed  in 
intrigue,  Mr.  Adams  had  not  the  less  a  shrewd 
and  comprehensive  head,  and  from  the  first 
article  he  gathered  the  necessary  suggestion. 
Why  should  his  country  be  separated  from  the 
rest  and  bidden  to  treat  with  Great  Britain  in 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  203 

a  side  closet,  as  it  were,  apart  from  the  public 
room  in  which  the  European  dignitaries  were 
conducting  their  part  of  the  same  business? 
Proud,  independent,  and  long  ago  suspicious  of 
the  French  minister,  Mr.  Adams  not  only  at 
once  saw  this  question,  but  surmised  the  answer 
to  it.  Yet  since  his  belief  could  after  all  be 
nothing  more  than  a  surmise,  which  he  had  to 
grope  for  in  the  dark,  unaided  by  knowledge 
which  he  ought  to  have  received,  he  framed  a 
cautious  reply.  With  professions  of  modesty, 
he  said  that  it  seemed  to  him  that  an  obvious 
inference  from  the  isolation  of  the  states  was, 
that  their  independence  was  a  matter  to  be  set 
tled  between  themselves  and  Great  Britain;  and 
he  could  not  but  fear  that  before  the  mediation 
some  other  power,  seeking  its  own  ends,  might 
come  to  such  an  understanding  with  Great  Brit 
ain  as  would  jeopardize  American  nationality. 
Therefore  he  said  fairly  that  he  did  not  like  the 
plan.  The  point  was  put  by  him  clearly  and 
strenuously ;  subsequently,  as  will  be  seen,  it 
proved  to  be  pregnant  with  grave  difficulties. 
But  for  the  moment  he  was  saved  the  necessity 
of  pushing  it  to  a  conclusion  by  reason  of  the 
failure  of  the  whole  scheme  of  pacification.  In 
deed,  he  was  detained  in  Paris  but  a  very  short 
time  on  this  occasion,  and  quickly  returned  to 
his  Dutch  negotiations.  He  had,  however,  cor- 


204  JOHN  ADAMS 

roborated  the  notion  of  Count  de  Vergennes, 
that  he  would  be  an  uncomfortable  person  for 
that  selfish  diplomatist  to  get  along  with  in  the 
coming  discussions. 

Perfectly  convinced  of  this  incompatibility, 
de  Vergennes  was  using  all  his  arts  and  his 
influence  with  Congress  to  relieve  himself  of  the 
anticipated  embarrassment.  His  envoy  to  the 
states  now  prosecuted  a  serious  crusade  against 
the  contumacious  New  Englander,  and  met  with 
a  success  which  cannot  be  narrated  without 
shame.  To-day  it  is  so  easy  to  see  how  pertina 
ciously  the  French  cabinet  sought  to  lower  the 
tone  of  the  American  Congress,  that  it  seems 
surprising  that  so  many  members  could  at  the 
time  have  remained  blind  to  endeavors  appar 
ently  perfectly  obvious.  Even  so  far  back  as 
in  1779,  the  ultimata  being  then  under  dis 
cussion  in  Congress,  and  among  them  being  a 
distinct  recognition  by  Great  Britain  of  the 
independence  of  the  states,  M.  Gerard,  the 
French  minister  at  Philadelphia,  had  actually 
suggested,  in  view  of  a  probable  refusal  by 
England  of  this  demand,  that  Geneva  and  the, 
Swiss  Cantons  had  never  yet  obtained  any  such 
formal  acknowledgment,  and  still  enjoyed  "  their 
sovereignty  and  independence  only  under  the 
guarantee  of  France ! "  The  suspicion  which 
such  language  ought  to  have  awakened  might 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  205 

have  found  corroboration  in  the  hostility  to  Mr. 
Adams,  the  true  cause  of  which  was  often  hinted 
at.  Yet  so  far  were  the  Americans  from  being 
put  upon  their  guard  by  the  conduct  of  de  Ver- 
gennes's  emissaries,  and  so  far  were  they  from 
appreciating  the  true  meaning  of  this  dislike  to 
Mr.  Adams,  that  they  made  one  concession  after 
another  before  the  steady  and  subtle  pressure 
applied  by  their  dangerous  ally.  In  March, 
1781,  de  la  Luzerne,  M.  Gerard's  successor,  be 
gan  a  series  of  efforts  to  bring  about  the  recall 
of  Mr.  Adams.  In  this  he  was  fortunately  un 
successful;  he  was  going  too  far.  Yet  his  arts 
and  persistence  were  not  without  other  fruits. 
In  July,  1781,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 
revocation  of  the  powers  which  had  been  given 
to  Mr.  Adams  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce 
with  England  so  soon  as  peace  should  be  estab 
lished,  powers  which,  as  we  have  seen,  were  so 
obnoxious  to  de  Vergennes  that  he  had  obsti 
nately  insisted  that  they  should  be  kept  a  close 
secret.  Further,  though  Congress  persisted  in 
retaining  Mr.  Adams,  they  were  induced  to  join 
with  him  four  coadjutors,  the  five  to  act  as  a 
joint  commission  in  treating  for  peace.  These 
four  were  Dr.  Franklin,  minister  to  France, 
John  Jay,  minister  at  Madrid,  Laurens,  then  a 
prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  London,  and  who  was 
released  in  exchange  for  Lord  Cornwallis  just 


206  JOHN  ADAMS 

in  time  to  be  present  at  the  closing  of  the  nego 
tiation,  and  Jefferson,  who  did  not  succeed  in 
getting  away  from  the  United  States. 

There  was  no  objection  to  this  arrangement, 
considered  in  itself,  and  without  regard  to  the 
influence  by  which  it  had  been  brought  about. 
Indeed,  in  view  of  Adams's  relations  with  the 
French  court,  it  was  perhaps  an  act  of  prudence. 
It  might  possibly  be  construed  as  a  slur  on  him ; 
but  it  had  not  necessarily  that  aspect,  and  he 
himself  received  it  in  a  very  manly  and  generous 
spirit,  refusing  to  see  in  it  "  any  trial  at  all  of 
spirit  and  fortitude,"  but  preferring  to  regard 
it  as  "  a  comfort."  "  The  measure  is  right,"  he 
wrote ;  "  it  is  more  respectful  to  the  powers  of 
Europe  concerned,  and  more  likely  to  give  satis 
faction  in  America."  Unfortunately,  however, 
worse  remained  behind.  Not  content  with  re 
moving  all  ultimata  except  the  fundamental 
one  of  the  recognition  of  American  independ 
ence, —  a  recession,  of  which  the  foolish  and 
gratuitous  pusillanimity  was  made  painfully  ap 
parent  by  the  subsequent  progress  and  result  of 
the  negotiations,  —  Congress  now  actually  trans 
muted  its  five  independent  representatives,  the 
commissioners,  into  mere  puppets  of  M.  de  Ver- 
gennes.  That  effete  body,  at  the  express  request 
and  almost  accepting  the  very  verbal  dictation 
of  de  la  Luzerne,  now  instructed  their  peace 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  207 

commissioners  "to  make  the  most  candid  and 
confidential  communications  upon  all  subjects  to 
the  ministers  of  our  generous  ally,  the  King  of 
France ;  to  undertake  nothing  in  the  negotia 
tions  for  peace  or  truce  without  their  knowledge 
or  concurrence,"  and  "  ultimately  to  govern 
themselves  by  their  advice  and  opinion."  At  last 
bottom  was  indeed  reached ;  no  lower  depth  of 
humiliation  existed  below  this,  where  the  shrewd 
and  resolute  diplomacy  of  de  Vergennes  had 
succeeded  in  placing  the  dear  allies  of  his  coun 
try,  the  proteges,  now  properly  so  called,  of  the 
kind  French  monarch. 

The  American  commissioners  abroad  took 
these  instructions  in  different  and  characteristic 
ways.  Dr.  Franklin  received  them  in  his  usual 
bland  and  easy  fashion ;  he  was  on  the  best  of 
terms  with  de  Vergennes ;  he  certainly  had  not 
pride  among  his  failings,  and  he  gave  no  sign  of 
displeasure.  Mr.  Adams's  hot  and  proud  tem 
per  blazed  up  amid  his  absorbing  occupations  in 
Holland,  and  he  was  for  a  moment  impelled  to 
throw  up  his  position  at  once ;  but  he  soon  fell 
back  beneath  the  control  of  his  better  reason, 
his  patriotism,  and  that  admirable  independent 
self-confidence,  his  peculiar  trait,  which  led  him 
so  often  to  undertake  and  accomplish  very  diffi 
cult  tasks  on  his  own  responsibility.  He  wisely 
and  honorably  concluded  to  stand  by  his  post 


208  JOHN  ADAMS 

and  do  his  best  for  his  country,  without  too 
much  respect  for  her  demands.  Mr.  Jay  was 
hurt,  and  felt  himself  subjected  to  an  unworthy 
indignity,  altogether  against  his  nice  sense  of 
right.  He  had  already  seen  that  France  was 
covertly  leagued  with  Spain  to  prevent  the  grant 
ing  of  the  American  request  for  the  privilege  of 
navigating  the  Mississippi  through  Spanish  ter 
ritory.  He  understood  the  dangerous  character 
of  the  new  American  position,  and  saw  that  he 
was  so  hampered  that  he  could  not  do  his  coun 
trymen  justice.  He  would  play  no  part  in  such 
a  game ;  and  wrote  home,  not  resigning,  but 
requesting  that  a  successor  might  be  appointed. 
Events,  however,  marched  at  last  with  such 
speed  that  this  request  never  was  or  well  could 
be  granted. 

At  last  peace  was  really  at  hand.  The  un 
mistakable  harbingers  were  to  be  seen  in  every 
quarter.  The  French  cabinet,  having  gained  a 
controlling  influence  over  the  American  nego 
tiation,  now  thought  it  time  to  undertake  the 
further  task  of  bringing  these  confiding  friends 
into  a  yielding  and  convenient  mood,  fore 
warning  them  that  they  must  not  expect  much. 
They  were  told  that  the  French  king  took 
their  submission  graciously,  and  would  do  his 
best  for  them,  of  course ;  but  if  he  should  "  not 
obtain  for  every  state  all  they  wished,  they  must 


THE  TREATY   OF   PEACE  209 

attribute  the  sacrifice  he  might  be  compelled  to 
make  of  his  inclinations  to  the  tyrannic  rule  of 
necessity."  Then  came  references  to  "  the  other 
powers  at  war,"  reminding  one  of  the  way  in 
which  Mr.  Spenlow  kept  Mr.  Jorkins  darkly 
suspended  over  David  Copperfield's  head ;  nor, 
indeed,  could  one  deny,  as  an  abstract  proposi 
tion,  that,  "  if  France  should  continue  hostilities 
merely  on  account  of  America,  after  reasonable 
terms  were  offered,  it  was  impossible  to  say  what 
the  event  might  be."  The  true  meaning  of  such 
paragraphs  had  to  be  sought  between  the  lines. 
The  American  negotiators  had  peculiar  perils 
before  them,  and  more  to  dread  from  their  allies 
than  from  their  foes. 

England  meanwhile  was  also  in  her  bungling 
fashion  really  getting  ready  for  peace.  With 
grimaces  and  writhings,  indicating  her  reluc 
tance,  her  suffering,  and  her  humiliation,  and 
so  not  altogether  ungrateful  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Americans,  who  were  in  some  measure  compen 
sated  for  her  backwardness  by  beholding  its 
cause,  the  mother  country  at  last  prepared  to  let 
the  colonies  go.  The  year  1782  opened  with 
the  ministry  of  Lord  North  tottering  to  its  fall. 
General  Conway  moved  an  address  to  the  king, 
praying  for  peace.  The  majority  against  this 
motion  was  of  one  vote  only.  Lord  North  re 
signed  ;  the  Whigs,  under  the  Marquis  of  Rock- 


210  JOHN  ADAMS 

ingham,  came  in.  Even  while  the  cabinet  was 
in  a  transition  state,  the  first  serious  move  was 
made.  Mr.  Digges,  an  emissary  without  official 
character,  was  dispatched  to  ask  whether  the 
American  commissioner  had  power  to  conclude 
as  well  as  to  negotiate.  His  errand  was  to  Mr. 
Adams,  and  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  conceives  that  his 
real  object  was  to  discover  whether  the  Amer 
icans  would  not  make  a  separate  peace  or  truce 
without  regard  to  France.  Nothing  came  of 
this.  But  when  the  new  ministry  was  fairly 
installed,  with  Fox  at  the  head  of  the  depart 
ment  of  foreign  affairs  and  Lord  Shelburne  in 
charge  of  the  colonies,  Dr.  Franklin  wrote  pri 
vately  to  Shelburne,  expressing  a  hope  that  a 
peace  might  now  be  arranged.  In  reply  Shel 
burne  sent  Mr.  Richard  Oswald,  "  a  pacifical 
man,"  to  Paris  to  sound  the  doctor.  But  Os 
wald,  though  coming  from  the  colonial  depart 
ment,  was  so  thoughtless  as  to  talk  with  de 
Vergennes  concerning  a  general  negotiation. 
Fox,  finding  his  province  thus  invaded,  sent 
over  his  own  agent,  Thomas  Grenville,  to  de 
Vergennes.  A  graver  question  than  one  of  eti 
quette,  or  even  of  official  jealousy,  underlay  this 
misunderstanding,  —  the  question  whether  the 
states  were  to  be  treated  with  as  colonies  or  as 
an  independent  power,  the  same  about  which 
Adams  had  already  expressed  his  views  to  de 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  211 

Vergennes.  Fox  and  Shelburne  quarreled  over 
it  in  the  first  instance  in  the  cabinet.  Fox  was 
outvoted,  and  announced  that  he  would  retire 
with  his  followers  At  the  same  critical  moment 
Lord  Rockingham  died ;  and  then  Fox  and  Shel 
burne  further  disputed  as  to  who  should  fill  his 
place.  Shelburne  carried  the  day,  unfortunately, 
as  it  seemed,  for  the  peace  party.  For  Shelburne 
was  resolved  to  regard  the  states  as  still  colo 
nies,  who  might  indeed  acquire  independence 
by  and  through  the  treaty,  but  who  did  not  yet 
possess  that  distinction.  He  at  once  recalled 
Grenville,  and  gave  Mr.  Oswald  a  commission 
to  treat.  But  this  commission  was  carefully  so 
worded  as  not  to  recognize,  even  by  implication, 
the  independence  or  the  nationality  of  the  states. 
It  authorized  Oswald  only  to  treat  with  "any 
commissioner  or  commissioners,  named  or  to  be 
named  by  the  thirteen  colonies  or  plantations  in 
North  America,  and  any  body  or  bodies,  corpo 
rate  or  politic,  or  any  assembly  or  assemblies, 
or  description  qf  men,  or  any  person  or  persons 
whatsoever,  a  peace  or  truce  with  the  said  colo 
nies  or  plantations,  or  any  part  thereof."  In 
such  a  petty  temper  did  the  noble  lord  approach 
this  negotiation,  and  by  this  silly  and  unusual 
farrago  of  words  endeavor  to  save  a  dignity 
which,  wounded  by  facts,  could  hardly  be  plas 
tered  over  by  phrases. 


212  JOHN   ADAMS 

But  if  for  the  English  this  was  mere  matter 
of  pride  in  a  point  of  detail,  it  wore  a  different 
aspect  to  an  American.  Mr.  Jay  had  no  notion 
of  accepting  for  his  country  the  character  of 
revolted  colonies,  whose  independence  was  to  be 
granted  by  an  article  in  a  treaty  with  Great 
Britain,  and  was  therefore  contingent  for  the 
present,  and  non-existent  until  the  grant  should 
take  place.  Suppose,  indeed,  that  after  such  an 
admission  the  treaty  should  never  be  consum 
mated  ;  in  what  a  position  would  the  states  be 
left  ?  They  were,  and  long  had  been  and  had 
asserted  themselves  to  be,  a  free  nation,  hav 
ing  a  government  which  had  sent  and  received 
foreign  ministers.  This  character  was  to  be 
acknowledged  on  all  sides  at  the  outset,  and 
they  would  transact  business  on  no  other  basis. 
Independence  and  nationality  could  not  come  to 
them  as  a  concession  or  gift  from  Great  Britain, 
having  been  long  since  taken  and  held  by  their 
own  strength  in  her  despite.  Assurances  were 
offered  that  the  independence  should  of  course 
be  recognized  by  an  article  of  the  treaty ;  but 
neither  would  this  do.  In  this  position  Jay 
found  no  support  where  he  had  a  right  to  ex 
pect  it.  Dr.  Franklin,  with  more  of  worldly 
wisdom  than  of  sensitive  spirit,  took  little  in 
terest  in  this  point;  declaring  that,  provided 
independence  became  an  admitted  fact,  he  cared 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  213 

not  for  the  manner  of  its  becoming  so.  De 
Vergennes  said  that  the  commission  was  am 
ply  sufficient,  and  even  covertly  intimated  this 
opinion  to  the  British  ministry.  But  from  Mr. 
Adams,  in  Holland,  Mr.  Jay  received  encour 
aging  letters,  thoroughly  corroborating  his  opin 
ions,  and  sustaining  him  fully  and  cheerfully. 
Only  Mr.  Adams  suggested  that  a  commission 
to  treat  with  the  United  States  of  America,  in 
the  same  form  in  which  such  documents  ran  as 
towards  any  other  country,  would  seem  to  him 
satisfactory.  A  formal  statement  from  the  Brit 
ish  could  be  waived.  The  admission  might  come 
more  easily  than  an  explicit  declaration.  This 
suggestion  gave  Lord  Shelburne  a  chance  to 
recede,  of  which  he  availed  himself.  Mr.  Oswald 
was  authorized  to  treat  with  the  commissioners 
of  the  United  States  of  America ;  and  the  point 
was  at  last  reached  at  which  the  task  of  negotia 
tion  could  be  fairly  entered  upon. 

The  Americans  at  once  put  forward  their 
claims  in  brief  and  simple  fashion ;  these  in 
volved  questions  of  boundary,  the  navigation  of 
the  Mississippi,  so  far  as  England  could  deal 
with  it,  and  the  enjoyment  of  the  northeastern 
fisheries.  The  English  court  began,  of  course, 
by  refusal  and  objection,  and  de  Vergennes  was 
really  upon  their  side  in  the  controversy.  The 
territory  demanded  by  the  United  States  seemed 


214  JOHN   ADAMS 

to  him  unreasonably  extensive ;  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi  nearly  concerned  Spain,  who 
did  not  wish  the  states  to  establish  any  claim  to 
it ;  and  he  was  anxious  for  his  own  purposes  to 
do  Spain  a  good  turn  in  this  particular ;  while 
as  for  the  fisheries,  he  intended  that  they  should 
be  shared  between  England  and  France.  Fur 
ther  than  this,  the  English  demanded  that  the 
states  should  reimburse  all  Tories  and  loyalists 
in  America  for  their  losses  in  the  war ;  and  de 
Vergennes  said  that  this  requirement,  which  the 
American  commissioners  scouted,  was  no  more 
than  a  proper  concession  to  England.  Matters 
standing  thus,  Franklin  and  Jay  had  to  fight 
their  diplomatic  battle  as  best  they  could,  cer 
tainly  without  that  valuable  aid  and  potent,  gen 
erous  assistance  from  the  French  court  of  which 
Congress  had  been  so  sanguine.  Fortunately 
Mr.  Oswald,  the  "  pacifical  man,"  was  heartily 
anxious  to  bring  about  a  successful  conclusion. 
But  he  had  not  full  powers  to  grant  all  that  the 
Americans  desired,  and  in  his  frequent  commu 
nications  to  the  cabinet  his  good-nature  became 
so  apparent  that  it  was  deemed  best  to  dispatch 
a  coadjutor  of  a  different  temper.  Accordingly 
Mr.  Strachey  appeared  in  Paris  as  the  exponent 
of  English  arrogance,  insolence,  and  general 
offensiveness. 

This  new  move  boded  ill ;  but  as  good  luck 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  215 

would  have  it,  just  at  this  juncture  Mr.  Jay  also 
received  a  no  less  effective  reinforcement.  Mr. 
Adams,  having  got  through  with  his  business  in 
Holland,  arrived  in  Paris  on  October  26.  He 
at  once  had  a  long  interview  with  Mr.  Jay,  re 
ceived  full  information  of  all  that  had  passed, 
and  declared  himself  in  perfect  accord  with  all 
the  positions  assumed  by  that  gentleman.  The 
two  fell  immediately  into  entire  harmony,  and 
with  the  happiest  results.  For  a  vital  question 
was  impending.  Matters  had  just  reached  the 
stage  at  which  the  final  terms  of  the  treaty  were 
to  be  discussed  with  a  view  to  an  actual  conclu 
sion.  The  instructions  of  the  commissioners,  it 
will  be  remembered,  compelled  them  to  keep  in 
close  and  candid  communication  with  de  Ver- 
gennes,  and  to  be  guided  and  governed  by  his 
good  counsel.  Yet  two  of  the  three  commis 
sioners  present  thoroughly  distrusted  him,1  and 

1  About  this  time  Mr.  Adams  gave  to  Jonathan  Jackson 
this  true  and  pungent  summary  of  the  French  policy:  "In 
substance  it  has  been  this :  in  assistance  afforded  us  in  naval 
force  and  in  money  to  keep  us  from  succumbing,  and  nothing 
more  ;  to  prevent  us  from  ridding  ourselves  wholly  of  our 
enemies ;  to  prevent  us  from  growing  powerful  or  rich ;  to 
prevent  us  from  obtaining  acknowledgments  of  our  independ 
ence  by  other  foreign  powers,  and  to  prevent  us  from  obtain 
ing  consideration  in  Europe,  or  any  advantage  in  the  peace  but 
what  is  expressly  stipulated  in  the  treaty  ;  to  deprive  us  of  the 
grand  fishery,  the  Mississippi  River,  the  western  lands,  and  to 
saddle  us  with  the  Tories." 


216  JOHN  ADAMS 

were  assured  that  obedience  to  these  instructions 
would  cost  their  country  a  very  high  price. 
Should  they,  then,  disobey  ?  Franklin  had  said 
no.  Jay  had  said  yes.  Adams,  now  coming 
into  the  business,  promptly  gave  the  casting  vote 
on  Jay's  side.  Thereupon  Franklin  yielded.  It 
was  a  bold  step.  An  immense  responsibility  was 
assumed ;  a  great  risk,  at  once  national  and  per 
sonal,  was  ventured.  Men  have  been  impeached 
and  condemned  upon  less  weighty  matters  and 
more  venial  charges.  But  the  commissioners 
had  the  moral  courage  which  is  so  often  born 
out  of  the  grandeur  of  momentous  events. 
Henceforth  they  went  on  in  the  negotiation 
without  once  asking  advice  or  countenance  from 
de  Vergennes  ;  without  even  officially  informing 
him  of  their  progress,  though  Mr.  Adams  gave 
him  private  news  very  regularly.  If  he  offered 
them  no  aid  under  the  circumstances,  he  can 
hardly  be  blamed ;  but  such  few  criticisms  or 
hints  as  he  did  throw  out  were  by  no  means  upon 
their  side  in  the  discussions. 

Considering  that  the  recognition  of  independ 
ence  was  the  only  ultimatum  which  the  Ameri 
cans  were  ordered  to  insist  upon,  they  certainly 
made  a  wonderfully  good  bargain.  They  did 
very  well  in  the  way  of  boundaries ;  they  got  all 
that  the  English  could  grant  concerning  navi 
gation  of  the  Mississippi ;  the  English  claim  to 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  217 

compensation  for  loyalists  they  cut  down  to  a 
stipulation,  which  they  frankly  said  would  be  of 
no  value,  that  Congress  should  use  its  influence 
with  the  states  to  prevent  any  legal  impediment 
being  placed  in  the  way  of  the  collection  of 
debts.  This  was  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Adams. 
But  the  question  of  the  fisheries  caused  their 
chief  difficulty ;  it  seemed  as  though  the  Ameri 
cans  must  make  a  concession  here,  or  else  break 
off  the  negotiation  altogether.  Mr.  Strachey 
went  to  London  to  see  precisely  what  the  cabi 
net  would  do,  but  at  the  same  time  left  behind 
him  the  distinct  intimation  that  he  had  no  idea 
that  the  ministry  would  meet  the  American 
demands.  Mr.  Vaughan,  distrusting  the  influ 
ence  which  Strachey  might  exert,  set  off  imme 
diately  after  him  in  order  to  counteract  his 
contumacy.  The  ministry  had,  however,  already 
decided,  and  directed  its  envoys  to  insist  to  the 
last  point,  but  ultimately  to  yield  rather  than 
jeopardize  the  pacification.  Thus  instructed, 
they  came  to  a  final  session.  The  question  of 
the  fisheries  came  up  at  once;  the  Americans 
appeared  resolute,  and  for  a  while  matters  did 
not  promise  well;  but  soon  the  Englishmen 
began  to  weaken ;  they  said  that  at  least  they 
would  like  to  substitute  the  word  "  liberty  "  in 
place  of  the  less  agreeable  word  "  right."  But 
Mr.  Adams  thereupon  arose  and  with  much 


218  JOHN  ADAMS 

warmth  and  ardor  delivered  himself  of  an  elo 
quent  exposition  of  his  views.  A  "right"  it 
was,  he  said,  and  a  "  right "  it  should  be  called. 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  concilia 
tion  hung  upon  the  point  which  he  urged.  The 
fervor  of  his  manner,  which  in  moments  of  ex 
citement  was  always  impressive,  lending  an  air 
of  earnest  and  intense  conviction  to  his  words, 
satisfied  the  Englishmen  that  they  must  avail 
themselves  of  all  the  latitude  of  concession 
which  had  been  allowed  to  them.  They  yielded ; 
and  a  "  right "  in  the  fisheries  became  and  has 
ever  since  remained  a  part  of  the  national  pro 
perty.  They  had  to  yield  once  more,  as  has 
been  stated,  on  the  question  of  compensation  to 
Tories,  and  then  the  bargain  was  finally  struck, 
substantially  upon  the  American  basis. 

The  agreement  was  signed,  and  the  conclusion 
was  reported  to  de  Vergenres.  At  first  he  took 
the  announcement  tranquilly  enough;  he  had 
been  pushing  forward  his  own  negotiations  with 
England  for  some  time  very  smoothly,  and  had 
been  satisfied  to  have  the  Americans  take  care 
of  themselves  and  keep  out  of  his  way.  But  in 
the  course  of  a  fortnight  after  the  American 
conclusion  the  aspect  of  affairs  changed ;  obsta 
cles  appeared  in  the  way;  he  became  alarmed 
lest  England  should  do,  what  it  seems  that  the 
king  and  some  of  his  advisers  probably  would 


American  Peace  Commissioners 


,, 


THE   TREATY  OF  PEACE  219 

have  liked  very  well  to  do,  viz.,  not  only  patch 
up  a  conciliation  with  the  states,  but  persuade 
them  into  a  union  with  Great  Britain  against 
France.  Thereupon  he  began  to  inveigh  loudly 
against  the  bad  faith  of  the  Americans,  and  to 
employ  his  usual  tactics  at  Philadelphia  to  have 
them  discredited,  and  their  acts  repudiated  by 
Congress.  The  states,  as  he  truly  said,  had 
bound  themselves  to  make  no  separate  treaty  or 
peace  with  England  until  France  and  England 
should  also  come  to  terms  of  final  agreement ; 
and  now  they  had  broken  this  compact.  But 
the  commissioners  defended  themselves  upon  the 
facts  altogether  satisfactorily.  They  had  made 
no  treaty  at  all;  they  had  only  agreed  that, 
whenever  the  treaty  between  France  and  Eng 
land  should  be  signed,  then  a  treaty  between 
the  United  States  and  England  should  also  be 
signed,  and  the  exact  tenor  of  this  latter  treaty 
had  been  agreed  upon.  This  had  been  done 
formally  in  writing,  over  signatures,  only  be 
cause  the  English  ministry  had  agreed  to  stand 
by  such  a  bargain  as  Mr.  Oswald  should  sign, 
and  any  less  formal  arrangement  might  be  re 
pudiated  without  actual  bad  faith.  They  had 
taken  care  at  the  outset  expressly  to  provide 
that  the  whole  business  was  strictly  preparatory 
and  could  become  definitive  only  when  England 
and  France  should  ratify  their  treaty.  It  is  in- 


220  JOHN  ADAMS 

struct! ve  to  see  that  neither  the  French  nor  the 
English  ministers  felt  at  all  sure  that  the  Amer 
icans  were  honest  in  this  stipulation.  From  the 
English  side  they  were  approached  with  hints 
reaching  at  least  to  a  conclusive  pacification  and 
treaty,  if  not  even  to  an  alliance  with  Great 
Britain ;  on  the  French  side  they  were  assailed, 
because  it  was  supposed  that  they  might  very 
probably  cherish  precisely  these  designs.  But 
these  American  gentlemen,  self-made  men  repre 
senting  a  self-made  nation,  and  uneducated  in 
the  aristocratic  morals  of  diplomacy,  astonished 
the  high-bred  scions  of  nobility  with  whom  they 
were  dealing  by  behaving  with  strict  integrity,  by 
actually  telling  the  truth  and  standing  to  their 
word.  When  de  Vergennes  and  Shelburne  had 
mastered  this  novel  idea  of  honesty,  they  went 
on  with  their  negotiations,  and  brought  them  to 
a  successful  issue.  Preliminaries  were  signed 
by  the  contending  European  powers  on  January 
21,  1783;  but  it  was  not  until  September  3 
that  the  definitive  treaties  were  all  in  shape  for 
simultaneous  execution;  on  that  day  the  Ameri 
can  commissioners  had  the  pleasure  of  setting 
their  hands  to  the  most  important  treaty  that 
the  United  States  ever  has  made  or  is  likely 
ever  to  make. 

The  pride  and  pleasure  which  Mr.  Jay,  Mr. 
Adams,  and,  chiefly  by  procuration,  it  must  be 


THE   TREATY   OF  PEACE  221 

said,  Dr.  Franklin  also,  were  entitled  to  feel  at 
this  consummation  had  been  slightly  dashed  by 
the  receipt  of  a  letter  embodying  something 
very  like  a  rebuke  from  Robert  R.  Livingston, 
who  was  now  in  charge  of  the  foreign  affairs 
of  the  United  States.  Alarmed  by  the  expres 
sions  of  indignation  which  came  to  him  from 
the  Count  de  Vergennes,  that  gentleman  wrote 
to  the  envoys,  not  so  much  praising  them  for 
having  done  better  than  they  had  been  bidden, 
as  blaming  them  for  having  done  so  well  with 
out  French  assistance.  The  past  could  not  be 
undone,  most  fortunately  ;  but  Mr.  Livingston 
now  wished  to  apologize,  and  to  propitiate  de 
Vergennes  by  informing  him  of  a  secret  arti 
cle  whereby  the  southern  boundary  was  made 
contingent  upon  the  result  of  the  European  ne 
gotiations.  The  commissioners  were  naturally 
incensed  at  this  treatment  so  precisely  opposite 
to  what  they  had  handsomely  merited,  and  an 
elaborate  reply  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Jay,  and 
inserted  in  their  letter-book.  But  it  was  never 
sent ;  it  was  superfluous.  As  between  Congress 
and  the  commissioners,  it  was  the  former  body 
that  was  placed  upon  the  defensive,  and  a  very 
difficult  defensive  too.  The  less  said  about  the 
instructions  and  the  deviations  from  them  the 
better  it  was  for  the  members  of  that  over-timid 
and  blundering  legislature.  All  the  honor, 


222  JOHN  ADAMS 

praise,  and  gratitude  which  the  American  people 
had  to  bestow  belonged  solely  to  the  commis 
sioners,  and  few  persons  were  long  so  dull  or  so 
prejudiced  as  not  to  acknowledge  this  truth,  and 
to  give  the  honor  where  the  honor  was  due.  Yet 
it  was  a  long  while  before  Mr.  Adams's  sense  of 
indignation  wore  away ;  he  said,  with  excusable 
acerbity,  "that  an  attack  had  been  made  on  him 
by  the  Count  de  Vergennes,  and  Congress  had 
been  induced  to  disgrace  him ;  that  he  would 
not  bear  this  disgrace  if  he  could  help  it,"  etc. 
A  few  days  later  he  wrote :  — 

"I  am  weary,  disgusted,  affronted,  and  disap 
pointed.  ...  I  have  been  injured,  and  my  country 
has  joined  in  the  injury  ;  it  has  basely  prostituted  its 
own  honor  by  sacrificing  mine.  But  the  sacrifice  of 
me  was  not  so  servile  and  intolerable  as  putting  us 
all  under  guardianship.  Congress  surrendered  their 
own  sovereignty  into  the  hands  of  a  French  minis 
ter.  Blush !  blush  !  ye  guilty  records !  blush  and 
perish!  It  is  glory  to  have  broken  such  infamous 
orders.  Infamous,  I  say,  for  so  they  will  be  to  all 
posterity.  How  can  such  a  stain  be  washed  out? 
Can  we  cast  a  veil  over  it  and  forget  it  ?  " 

Severe  words  these,  painful  and  humiliating 
to  read;  but  perfectly  true.  Congress,  which 
well  merited  tjie  lash  of  bitter  rebuke,  laid  it 
cruelly  upon  Adams  and  Jay,  who  deserved  it 
not  at  all.  But  Mr.  Adams,  even  amid  the 


THE  TREATY    OF  PEACE  223 

utterances  of  his  bitter  resentment,  manfully 
said  :  "  This  state  of  mind  I  must  alter,  and 
work  while  the  day  lasts."  Of  such  sound 
quality  did  the  substratum  of  his  character 
always  prove  to  be,  whenever  events  forced 
their  way  down  to  it  through  the  thin  upper 
crusts  of  egotism  and  rashness. 

The  negotiations  at  the  Hague  and  in  Paris, 
though  they  take  a  short  time  in  the  telling, 
had  been  protracted  and  tedious ;  long  before 
they  were  completed  the  novelty  of  European 
life  had  worn  off,  and  Mr.  Adams  was  thor 
oughly,  even  pitifully  homesick.  So  soon  as 
an  agreement  had  been  reached  and  the  execu 
tion  of  a  definitive  treaty  substantially  assured, 
on  December  4,  1782,  he  sent  in  his  resignation 
of  all  his  foreign  employments,  and  wrote  to 
his  wife  with  much  positiveness  and  a  sort  of 
joyful  triumph,  that  he  should  now  soon  be  on 
the  way  home,  "  in  the  spring  or  beginning  of 
summer."  If  the  acceptance  of  his  resignation 
should  not  "  arrive  in  a  reasonable  time,"  he 
declared  that  he  would  "  come  home  without 
it."  But  by  May,  1783,  he  had  to  say  that  he 
could  not  see  "a  possibility  of  embarking  be 
fore  September  or  October  ;  "  and  most  heartily 
he  added  that  he  was  in  the  "  most  disgusting 
and  provoking  situation  imaginable ;  "  he  was 
so  sincerely  anxious  to  get  back  that  he  would 


224  JOHN  ADAMS 

rather  be  "  carting  street  dust  and  marsh  mud  " 
than  be  waiting  as  he  was.  These  reiterations 
of  his  longing,  his  resolve  to  return,  his  expres 
sions  of  pleasure  in  the  anticipation,  of  vexa 
tion  at  the  repeated  delays,  are  really  pathetic. 
Events,  however,  were  too  strong  for  him  ;  the 
business  already  in  hand  moved  in  crab-like 
fashion  ;  in  June  he  began  to  talk  about  the 
following  spring ;  then  new  duties  came  in  sight 
faster  than  old  ones  could  be  dispatched.  For 
in  September,  1783,  he  had  the  mingled  honor 
and  disappointment  of  being  commissioned,  in 
conjunction  with  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Jay,  to 
negotiate  a  treaty  of  commerce  with  Great  Brit 
ain.  Such  a  commercial  alliance  was  a  matter 
which  he  had  long  had  near  at  heart,  as  being 
of  the  first  importance  to  the  states ;  the  revoca 
tion  of  his  previous  commission  had  profoundly 
annoyed  him  at  the  time,  and  had  never  since 
ceased  to  rankle  in  his  memory ;  he  had  opinions 
and  hopes  as  to  the  future  relationship  of  the 
two  countries,  to  be  carried  out  through  the 
ways  of  commerce,  which  he  had  thought  out 
with  infinite  care  and  which  he  felt  that  he 
could  do  much  to  promote.  In  a  word,  the 
opportunity  was  a  duty,  and  he  must  stay  abroad 
for  it.  Reluctantly  he  reached  the  conclusion, 
which  was,  however,  obviously  inevitable.  But 
he  made  the  best  possible  compromise ;  he  wrote 


THE  TREATY   OF  PEACE  225 

to  Ms  wife  urging  her  to  come  out  with  their 
daughter  to  join  him,  indeed  scarcely  leaving  her 
the  option  to  say  no,  had  she  been  so  minded. 

By  the  autumn,  instead  of  being  on  the  ocean, 
as  he  had  hoped,  he  was  on  a  sick-bed.  His 
constitution  seems  to  have  been  a  peculiar  mix 
ture  of  strength  and  weakness.  He  lived  an 
active,  hard-working  life,  and  survived  to  a 
goodly  old  age ;  the  likenesses  of  him  show  us  a 
sturdy  and  ruddy  man,  too  stout  for  symmetry, 
but  looking  as  though  the  rotund  habit  were  the 
result  of  a  superabundant  vigor  of  physique; 
he  went  through  a  great  amount  of  open  air 
exposure  and  even  hardship,  such  for  example 
as  his  horseback  trips  between  Boston  and 
Philadelphia,  his  stormy  passages  across  the 
Atlantic,  his  long,  hard  journey  from  Ferrol 
to  Paris,  and  many  lesser  expeditions.  These 
broke  at  intervals  the  unwholesome  indoor  life 
of  the  civilian,  and,  since  he  bore  them  well, 
ought  to  have  added  to  his  robustness.  Yet  he 
constantly  complains  of  his  health,  and  at  times 
becomes  quite  low-spirited  about  it.  That  he 
was  not  hypochondriacal  is  sufficiently  proved 
by  the  attacks  of  grave  illness  which  he  had  in 
the  prime  of  life.  Two  years  before  the  present 
time  he  had  suffered  from  a  fever  in  Holland. 
Now  again,  in  this  autumn  of  1783,  he  was 
prostrated  by  another  fever  of  great  severity, 


226  JOHN  ADAMS 

He  was  cared  for  in  Paris  by  Sir  James  Jay, 
who  brought  him  through  it;  but  he  was  left 
much  debilitated,  and  had  to  endure  the  tedium 
of  a  long  convalescence.  Most  of  this  period 
he  passed  in  London,  seeing  as  much  as  he  well 
could  of  the  capital  city  of  that  "  mother  coun 
try  "  whose  galling  yoke  he  had  done  so  much 
to  break.  He  had  the  rare  fortune  during  this 
visit,  says  his  grandson,  "  to  witness  the  confes 
sion,  made  to  his  Parliament  and  people  by 
George  the  Third  himself,  that  he  had  made  a 
treaty  of  peace  with  the  colonies  no  longer,  but 
now  the  independent  states  of  North  America." 
He  was  far  from  fully  restored  to  vigorous 
health  when  he  received  an  unwelcome  sum 
mons  to  Amsterdam,  to  arrange  for  meeting 
"  the  immense  flock  of  new  bills,"  which  the 
states  were  drawing  on  the  Dutch  bankers  with 
happy  prodigality  and  a  perfect  recklessness  as 
to  the  chance  or  means  of  payment.  A  stormy 
winter  voyage,  involving  extraordinary  and  pro 
longed  exposure,  was  endured  more  successfully 
than  could  have  been  hoped  by  the  invalid.  Not 
less  trying,  in  a  different  way,  was  the  task 
which  he  had  to  perform  upon  his  arrival,  of 
borrowing  more  money  upon  the  hard  terms 
made  by  unwilling  lenders  with  a  borrower 
bearing,  to  speak  plainly,  a  very  disreputable 
character  in  the  financial  world.  But  he  achieved 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  227 

a  success  beyond  explanation,  except  upon  the 
principle  that  the  banking  houses  were  already 
so  deeply  engaged  for  America  that  they  could 
not  permit  her  to  become  insolvent. 

Meantime  Congress  sent  out  a  commission 
empowering  Mr.  Adams,  Dr.  Franklin,  and  Mr. 
Jefferson  to  negotiate  treaties  of  commerce  with 
any  foreign  powers  which  should  be  willing  to 
form  such  connections.  The  Prussian  cabinet 
had  already  been  in  communication  with  Adams 
on  the  subject,  and  a  new  field  of  labor  was 
thus  opened  before  him.  Fortunately,  about 
this  time,  in  the  summer  of  1784,  his  wife  and 
daughter  arrived;  he  began  housekeeping  at 
Auteuil,  close  by  Paris ;  and  the  reestablishment 
of  a  domestic  circle,  with  occupation  sufficiently 
useful  and  not  too  laborious,  reconciled  him  to 
a  longer  exile.  He  had  several  months  of  a 
kind  of  comfort  and  happiness  to  which  he  had 
long  been  a  stranger,  yet  upon  which  he  placed 
a  very  high  value,  for  he  was  a  man  naturally 
of  domestic  tastes  and  strong  family  affections. 

But  Congress  prepared  another  interruption 
for  him,  by  appointing  him,  February  24,  1785, 
minister  to  Great  Britain.  The  position  could 
be  looked  at  from  more  than  one  point  of  view. 
In  the  picturesque  aspect,  it  was  striking  and 
impressive  to  appear  as  the  first  accredited 
envoy  in  the  court  of  that  venerable  and  noble 


228  JOHN   ADAMS 

nation  of  which  his  newly  created  country  had 
so  lately  been  only  a  subject  part.  As  the  Count 
de  Vergennes  said  to  him,  "  It  is  a  mark."  It 
was  indeed  a  "  mark,"  and  a  very  proud  one, 
and  the  responsibility  imposed  upon  the  man 
appointed  to  set  that  mark  before  the  world  was 
very  grave.  Mr.  Adams  was  so  constituted  as 
to  feel  this  burden  fully;  but  he  was  also  so 
constituted  as  to  bear  it  well.  There  was  about 
him  very  much  of  the  grandeur  of  simplicity,  a 
grandeur  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  scarcely 
survived  the  eighteenth  century,  and  has  be 
longed  only  to  the  earliest  generation  of  our 
statesmen.  He  had  natural  dignity,  self-respect, 
and  independence,  and  he  copied  no  forms  of 
social  development  alien  to  the  training  of  his 
youth.  That  youth  had  been  provincial,  but  by 
no  means  of  that  semi-barbarous  and  backwoods 
character  that  was  afterwards  prevalent  in  the 
country.  Colonial  Boston  was  a  civilized  com 
munity,  wherein  a  liberal  education  was  to  be 
had,  some  broad  views  to  be  acquired,  and  hon 
orable  ambitions  nourished.  One  could  learn 
there,  if  not  much  of  the  technical  polish  of  aris 
tocratic  society,  at  least  a  gentlemanly  bearing 
and  plain  good  manners.  John  Adams  had  the 
good  sense  not  to  seek  to  exchange  these  quali 
ties  for  that  peculiar  finish  of  high  European 
society,  which  certainly  he  could  never  have 


THE   TREATY   OF   PEACE  229 

acquired.  Thus  in  the  mere  matter  of  "  making 
an  appearance  "  he  was  a  well-selected  represent 
ative  of  the  states.  Nor  was  this  so  petty  a 
point  of  view  as  it  might  seem.  Much  of  real 
importance  could  be  effected  by  the  demeanor 
and  personal  impression  made  by  the  American 
minister.  "  You  will  be  stared  at  a  great  deal," 
said  the  Duke  of  Dorset,  preparing  Mr.  Adams 
for  that  peculiar  insolence  which  Englishmen 
have  carried  to  a  point  unknown  in  any  other 
age  or  among  any  other  people.  "  I  fear  they 
will  gaze  with  evil  eyes,"  said  Mr.  Adams ;  the 
duke  assured  him,  with  more  of  civility  than 
prophecy,  that  he  believed  they  would  not.  Mrs. 
Adams  perhaps  felt  this  much  more  keenly  than 
her  husband.  She  was  made  very  anxious  by 
the  thought  that  she  had  the  social  repute  of  her 
countrywomen  to  answer  for. 

Fortunately  the  presentation  of  Mr.  Adams 
to  the  king  was  private.  The  American  after 
ward  frankly  acknowledged  that  he  felt  and 
displayed  some  nervousness  in  his  address.  He 
would  have  been  utterly  devoid  of  imagination 
and  emotion,  almost,  one  might  say,  of  intelli 
gence,  had  he  not  done  so,  and  his  manifestation 
of  excitement  is  more  than  pardonable.  He  had 
the  good  fortune,  however,  to  make  a  remark 
which  has  taken  its  place  among  the  famous  say 
ings  of  history.  The  monarch  intimated  that  he 


230  JOHN   ADAMS 

was  not  unaware  of  Mr.  Adams's  feelings  of  im 
perfect  confidence,  at  least  towards  the  French 
ministry,  and  so  expressed  this  as  to  put  Mr. 
Adams  in  a  position  of  some  delicacy  and  possi 
ble  embarrassment.  The  reply  had  the  happy 
readiness  of  an  inspiration.  The  ambassador 
said  a  few  words,  "  apparently,"  says  Mr.  C.  F. 
Adams,  "  falling  in  with  the  sense  of  the  king's 
language ;  "  but  he  closed  with  the  sentence :  "  I 
must  avow  to  your  majesty  that  I  have  no  at 
tachment  but  to  my  own  country."  George  III. 
had  the  good  sense  and  sound  feeling  to  be  per 
fectly  pleased  with  a  statement  so  manly  and 
independent,  in  spite  of  certain  disagreeable  re 
flections  which  might  easily  have  been  aroused 
by  it,  and  though  it  was  something  nearer  to  a 
correction  than  is  often  administered  to  a  royal 
personage. 

But  if  at  this  interview  George  III.  behaved 
like  a  gentleman  of  liberal  mind,  he  was  not 
equal  to  the  stress  of  long  continuing  such  be 
havior.  He  afterward  habitually  treated  Mr. 
Adams  with  marked  coldness,  he  publicly  turned 
his  back  upon  that  gentleman  and  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,  and  he  thus  set  an  example  which  was 
promptly  and  heartily  followed  by  the  whole 
court  circle,  with  only  a  few  individual  excep 
tions.  This,  of  course,  made  Mr.  Adams's  stay 
in  London  far  from  comfortable.  Occupying  a 


THE  TREATY   OF  PEACE  231 

position  necessarily  stimulating  all  the  sensitive 
ness  of  his  proud  nature,  living  in  a  strange 
land  lately  hostile  and  still  unfriendly,  rebuffed 
in  nearly  every  society  by  frigid  insolence,  he 
maintained  as  much  retirement  as  was  possible. 
Yet  he  found  some  little  consolation  and  moral 
aid  in  noting  "  an  awkward  timidity  in  general." 
"This  people,"  he  remarked,  "  cannot  look  me  in 
the  face ;  there  is  conscious  guilt  and  shame  in 
their  countenances  when  they  look  at  me.  They 
feel  that  they  have  behaved  ill,  and  that  I  am 
sensible  of  it."  Moreover  his  salary,  which  had 
lately  been  very  inopportunely  reduced,  was  too 
narrow  to  enable  him  to  keep  up  a  style  of  liv 
ing  like  that  of  other  foreign  ministers,  and  it 
would  have  been  folly  to  pretend  that,  under  the 
peculiar  circumstances,  this  was  not  a  little  hu 
miliating.  "  Some  years  hence,"  said  his  wife, 
"  it  may  be  a  pleasure  to  reside  here  in  the  char 
acter  of  American  minister,  but  with  the  present 
salary  and  the  present  temper  of  the  English  no 
one  need  envy  the  embassy."  No  amount  of 
sound  sense  or  just  and  spirited  reasoning  could 
argue  down  a  sense  of  irritation  at  being  obliged 
to  make  a  poverty-stricken  showing  before  the 
critical,  malicious,  and  hostile  eyes  of  persons 
of  real  ability  and  distinction,  yet  who,  having 
been  bred  amid  pomp  and  circumstance,  gravely 
regarded  these  as  matters  of  profoundest  sub- 


232  JOHN   ADAMS 

stance.  But  all  this  might  have  been  tranquilly 
endured,  had  not  vastly  greater  mortifications 
been  chargeable  to  his  own  country.  He  was  in 
duty  bound  to  press  for  a  f ufillment  of  the  terms 
of  the  treaty  of  peace  on  the  part  of  Great  Brit 
ain  ;  but  so  soon  as  the  first  words  dropped  from 
his  mouth,  he  was  met  with  the  query,  why  his 
own  country  did  not  perform  her  part  in  this 
reciprocal  contract.  The  only  reply  was  that  she 
could  not ;  that  the  government  was  too  feeble  ; 
that  it  was  hardly  a  government  at  all.  Then 
the  Englishmen  retorted  with  insolent  truth 
that  in  dealing  with  such  a  flickering  existence 
they  must  keep  hold  of  some  security.  In  a 
word,  Adams  represented  a  congress  of  states,  in 
no  proper  sense  of  the  word  a  nation,  divided 
among  themselves,  almost  insolvent,  unable  to 
perform  their  agreements,  irresponsible,  appar 
ently  falling  asunder  into  political  chaos  and 
financial  ruin.  On  every  side  the  finger  of  scorn 
and  contempt  was  pointed  at  these  feeble  crea 
tures,  who  had  tried  to  join  in  the  stately  march 
of  the  nations  before  they  could  so  much  as 
stand  up  for  ever  so  short  a  time  on  their  own 
legs.  To  all  the  reproaches  and  insults,  bred  of 
this  pitiable  display,  there  could  be  no  reply 
save  in  the  unsatisfactory  way  of  prophecies. 
Altogether,  there  was  no  denying  the  truth  that 
this  English  residence  was  very  disagreeable. 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  233 

Mr.  Adams's  courage  and  independence  were 
never  put  to  a  severer  test ;  and  though  he  pre 
sented  a  very  fine  spectacle,  admirable  before 
sensible  men  then,  and  before  posterity  after 
ward,  yet  he  himself  could  get  scant  comfort. 

Neither  had  he  the  compensating  pleasure  of 
feeling  that  he  was  accomplishing  any  service 
of  real  value  for  his  country.  Even  before 
peace  had  been  actually  concluded  he  had  tried 
to  impress  upon  such  Englishmen  as  he  had 
fallen  in  with  the  points  of  what  he  regarded 
as  a  wise  policy  to  be  pursued  by  Great  Britain 
towards  the  states.  He  had  given  deep  and 
careful  reflection  to  the  future  relationship  of 
the  two  countries,  which  he  felt  to  be  of  mo 
mentous  concern  to  both.  He  had  reached  firm 
convictions  upon  the  subject,  which  he  urged 
with  extreme  warmth  and  earnestness  whenever 
opportunity  offered,  sometimes  indeed  in  his 
eager  way  making  opportunities  which  more 
diplomatically  minded  men  would  have  thought 
it  best  not  to  seize.  His  views  were  never 
brought  to  the  test  of  trial,  and  of  course  never 
received  the  seal  of  success.  Yet  it  seems  cred 
ible  that  they  did  not  less  honor  to  his  head 
than  they  certainly  did  to  his  heart.  He  hoped 
to  see  England  accept  the  new  situation  in  a 
frank  and  not  unkindly  spirit.  Friendship  be 
tween  the  two  countries  seemed  to  him  not 


234  JOHN  ADAMS 

only  possible  but  natural ;  more  especially  since 
friendship  appeared  likely  to  promote  the  mate 
rial  prosperity  of  each.  As  mercantile  commu 
nities  they  might  be  expected  to  see  and  to  value 
the  probable  results  of  a  good  understanding. 
Each  might  forget  the  past,  England  condoning 
a  successful  rebellion,  the  states  forgiving  years 
of  oppression  and  the  vast  price  of  freedom. 
As  friends  and  allies,  commercially  at  least,  the 
two  might  go  on  to  prosperity  and  greatness  far 
beyond  what  would  have  been  possible  beneath 
the  previous  conditions.  Together  they  might 
gather  and  divide  the  wealth  of  the  world.1  Per 
haps  there  was  a  little  of  romance  in  this  horo 
scope  ;  yet  it  may  have  been  both  shrewd  and 
practicable  in  a  purely  business  point  of  view, 
so  to  speak.  But  in  desiring  to  carry  it  out  Mr. 
Adams  drew  great  drafts  upon  a  very  scanty 
reserve  of  magnanimity.  America's  capacity  to 
forgive  and  forget  was  never  tried ;  whether  it 
would  have  been  so  great  as  he  required,  cannot 
be  known.  For  England,  who  held  the  key  to 
the  future  by  having  first  to  declare  her  com 
mercial  policy,  did  at  once,  decisively,  and  with 
manifestations  of  rancorous  ungraciousness,  es 
tablish  a  scheme  of  hostile  repression.  Her 
plans  were  careful,  thorough,  merciless.  The 

1  See,  for  example,  the  conversation  with  Mr.  Oswald,  De 
cember  9,  1782,  reported  in  the  diary,  Works,  iii.  344  et  seg. 


THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE  235 

states  were  to  be  crushed  in  and  driven  back 
upon  themselves  at  every  point,  to  be  hampered 
by  every  tax,  burden,  and  restriction  that  ingen 
ious  hatred  could  devise,  to  be  shut  out  from 
every  port  and  from  every  trade  that  British 
power  could  close  against  them,  in  a  word,  to  be 
hopelessly  curtailed,  impoverished,  and  ruined,  if 
the  great  commercial  nation  of  the  world  could 
by  any  means  effect  this  object.  Military  efforts 
having  failed,  civil  measures  were  to  be  resorted 
to  with  no  diminution  of  obstinate  and  bitter 
animosity.  It  was  only  the  field  of  hostilities 
which  was  changed. 

Mr.  Adams  beheld  these  developments  with 
dismay  and  cruel  disappointment.  His  gener 
ous  forecastings,  his  broad  schemes  and  bril 
liant  hopes,  were  all  brought  to  nought ;  his 
worst  dread  must  be  substituted  for  these  fond 
anticipations.  He  was  not  discouraged  for  his 
country,  nor  had  he  any  idea  at  all  that  she 
should  give  up  the  game,  or  that  she  must  in 
the  long  run  surely  be  beaten.  He  only  re 
gretted  the  severe  struggle,  the  needless  waste, 
which  were  imposed  upon  her  by  what  he  re 
garded  as  narrow  and  revengeful  conduct.  But 
he  could  not  help  it.  He  did  all  in  his  power ; 
but  to  no  purpose.  When  at  last  he  became 
finally  convinced  of  this,  when  he  saw  that 
nothing  could  be  accomplished  at  London  for 


236  JOHN  ADAMS 

the  states,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  it  was  not 
worth  while  for  him  to  do  violence  to  his  in 
clinations  by  remaining  there  longer. 

Accordingly  he  sent  in  his  resignation,  and 
on  April  20,  1788,  set  sail  for  home,  bringing 
with  him  some  very  correct  notions  as  to  Eng 
lish  policy  and  sentiment  towards  the  states, 
and  yet  feeling  much  less  animosity  towards 
that  country  than  might  have  been  looked  for 
even  in  a  man  of  a  less  hot  disposition  than  his. 
A  report  commendatory  of  his  services  in  Great 
Britain,  drawn  by  Jay,  was  laid  before  Congress, 
September  24,  1787.  But  there  was  a  disposi 
tion  among  some  members  to  think  that  he  had 
not  managed  matters  with  the  best  skill  and 
discretion,  and  the  report  was  rejected.  A  little 
reflection,  however,  made  evident  the  unjust 
severity  of  this  indirect  censure,  and  a  few  days 
later  the  resolutions  were  easily  carried,  as  they 
ought  to  have  been  in  the  first  instance. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   VICE-PRESIDENCY 

THE  homeward  voyage  from  Europe  breaks 
the  life  of  John  Adams  into  two  parts,  —  very 
dissimilar  in  their  characteristics.  Thus  far 
he  has  appeared  a  great  and  successful  man. 
He  has  owed  little  or  nothing  to  good  fortune. 
His  achievements  have  been  only  the  fair  re 
sults  of  his  hard  toil  and  his  personal  risk ;  his 
distinction  has  been  won  by  his  ability  and  his 
self-devotion.  His  fair  deserts  at  the  hands  of 
his  countrymen  are  second  only  to  those  of 
Washington,  and  are  far  beyond  those  of  any 
other  public  servant  of  the  time.  He  has 
appeared  honest,  able,  patriotic,  laborious,  dis 
interested,  altogether  a  noble  and  admirable 
character;  generally  his  faults  have  been  in 
abeyance ;  his  virtues  have  stood  out  in  bold 
relief.  Had  his  career  ended  at  this  point  he 
would  have  been  less  distinguished  than  he  is  in 
the  knowledge  and  estimation  of  the  multitude 
of  after  generations,  but  he  would  have  appeared 
a  greater  man  than  he  does  to  all  persons  suffi 
ciently  familiar  with  the  early  history  of  the 


238  JOHN  ADAMS 

United  States  to  make  their  opinion  and  their 
esteem  really  valuable.  Though  he  is  to  reach 
higher  official  positions  in  the  future  than  in 
the  past,  yet  it  is  undeniable  that  the  past  em 
bodies  far  the  brighter  part  of  his  public  life. 
Heretofore  the  service  and  advantage  of  his 
country  have  been  pursued  by  him  with  a  single 
eye ;  his  foolish  jealousy  towards  Washington 
has  been  the  only  important  blemish  which  any 
fair-minded  opponent  can  urge  against  his  char 
acter  ;  and  though  he  has  committed  slight 
errors  in  discretion,  yet  upon  all  substantial 
points,  at  least,  his  judgment  has  been  sound. 
But  henceforth,  though  his  patriotism  will  not 
to  his  own  consciousness  become  less  pure  or  a 
less  controlling  motive,  yet  the  observer  will 
see  that  it  becomes  adulterated  with  a  concern 
for  himself,  unintentional  indeed  and  unsus 
pected  by  him,  but  nevertheless  unquestionably 
lowering  him  perceptibly.  His  vanity  is  to 
make  him  sometimes  ridiculous ;  his  egotism 
is  occasionally  to  destroy  the  accuracy  of  his 
vision,  so  that  he  is  to  misjudge  his  own  just 
proportion  in  comparison  with  other  men,  with 
the  great  party  of  which  he  becomes  a  mem 
ber,  even  with  the  country  which  he  fancies  that 
he  is  serving  with  entire  singleness  of  purpose. 
Anger  will  at  times  destroy  his  dignity ;  disap 
pointment  will  lead  him  to  do  what  self-respect 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  239 

would  condemn.  He  will  be  led  into  more  than 
one  unfortunate  personal  feud,  in  which,  though 
more  wronged  than  wronging,  he  will  not  appear 
altogether  free  from  blame.  In  a  word,  the  per 
sonal  element  is  henceforth  to  play  much  too 
large  a  part  in  the  composition,  and  the  poli 
tician  is  to  mar  the  aspect  of  the  statesman. 
Yet  this  criticism  must  not  be  construed  too 
severely ;  to  the  end  he  remains,  so  far  as  he  is 
able  to  read  his  own  heart  and  to  know  himself, 
a  thoroughly  honest-minded  and  devoted  servant 
of  his  country. 

Adams  came  home  to  find  that  new  and 
weighty  subjects  of  popular  concernment  were 
absorbing  the  attention  of  all  persons.  Inde 
pendence  had  become  an  historical  fact,  belong 
ing  to  the  past,  a  truth  established  and  done 
with;  foreign  relationships,  treaties,  alliances, 
were  for  the  time  being  little  thought  of.  These 
matters  had  been  his  department  of  labor. 
With  the  novel  and  all-engrossing  topic  which 
had  crowded  them  out  of  the  people's  thought 
he  had  no  connection ;  and  he  stood  silently  by 
while  men,  whose  names  until  lately  had  been 
less  famous  than  his  own,  were  filling  the  gen 
eral  ear  with  ardent  discussions  concerning  that 
new  constitution  which  they  had  lately  framed 
and  sent  out  to  the  people  for  acceptance  or 
rejection  as  the  case  might  be.  In  the  consti- 


240  JOHN  ADAMS 

tutional  convention  Adams  would  have  been 
peculiarly  well  fitted  to  play  a  prominent  and 
influential  part,  had  he  been  in  the  country 
during  its  sessions.  His  studies  and  reflections 
had  been  largely  in  that  direction  for  many 
years,  and  his  observations  and  practical  expe 
rience  abroad  gave  him  advantages  over  all  the 
members  of  that  body.  But  the  tardy  commu 
nication  with  Europe  had  prevented  his  keeping 
abreast  with  these  matters;  and  of  course  he 
could  take  no  active  part ;  indeed,  many  of  the 
state  conventions  were  in  final  session  while  he 
was  crossing  the  ocean,  and  Massachusetts  rati 
fied  before  his  arrival.  On  the  whole  he  was 
well  pleased  with  the  document,  not  regarding 
it  as  perfect,  as  indeed  no  one  among  its  friends 
did ;  but  in  the  main  believing  it  to  embody 
much  good,  and  to  involve  such  possibilities  as 
to  make  it  an  experiment  well  worth  trying. 
Certainly  he  was  not  among  those  who  dreaded 
that  it  created  too  strong,  too  centralized,  too 
imperial  a  system  of  government.  He,  however, 
confined  himself  to  watching  with  sympathy  the 
labors  of  those  engaged  in  promoting  its  success, 
and  rejoiced  with  them  in  a  triumph  won  with 
out  his  assistance. 

Possibly  the  fact  that  Adams  had  been  allied 
with  neither  party  in  this  struggle  was  in  sub 
stantial  aid  of  his  just  deserts  from  other  causes, 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  241 

when  it  became  necessary  to  select  a  candidate 
for  the  vice-presidency.  If  past  services  only 
were  to  be  rewarded,  it  is  as  certain  that  he 
deserved  the  second  place  as  that  Washington 
deserved  the  first.  He  received  it,  but  not  in 
such  a  handsome  way  as  he  had  a  right  to  an 
ticipate.  That  first  election,  as  compared  with 
subsequent  ones,  was  a  very  crude  and  clumsy 
piece  of  business  from  the  politician's  point  of 
view.  The  Federalists,  that  is  to  say,  the  friends 
of  the  new  Constitution,  ought  to  have  united 
upon  Adams  ;  but  they  had  not  time  for  crystal 
lization.  Their  opponents,  the  enemies  of  the 
Constitution,  were  even  less  able  to  consolidate. 
Accordingly  the  votes  for  vice-president  were 
disorganized  and  scattering  to  a  degree  which 
now  seems  singularly,  even  ludicrously  bungling. 
Personal  and  local  predilections  and  enmities 
were  expressed  with  a  freedom  never  afterwards 
possible.  The  result  was  that  out  of  sixty-nine 
votes  Adams  had  only  thirty-four,  a  trifle  less 
than  a  majority,  but  enough  to  elect  him.  He 
had  not  been  voted  for  specifically  as  vice-presi 
dent,  of  course,  such  not  being  the  then  constitu 
tional  regulation  ;  but  this  had  not  the  less  been 
the  unquestioned  meaning  of  the  voting,  since 
Washington's  election  was  tacitly  a  unanimous 
understanding.  Yet  if  it  could  have  been  ex 
plicitly  stipulated  that  the  second  vote  of  each 


242  JOHN  ADAMS 

elector  was  given  for  a  vice-president  there  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  a  larger  total  for  Ad 
ams.  For  several  votes  which  in  such  case  would 
have  been  cast  for  him  were  now  turned  from 
him,  in  order,  as  it  was  plausibly  said,  to  avoid 
the  danger  of  a  unanimous  and  therefore  equal 
vote  for  him  and  Washington.  But  this  argu 
ment  was  disingenuous.  There  never  was  the 
slightest  chance  of  a  unanimous  vote  for  Adams, 
and  the  withholding  of  votes  from  him  was  really 
designed  only  to  curtail  his  personal  prestige  by 
keeping  him  conspicuously  in  a  secondary  posi 
tion.  It  was  the  mind  and  hand  of  Alexander 
Hamilton  which  chiefly  arranged  and  carried  out 
this  scheme,  not  wisely  or  generously,  it  must  be 
confessed.  It  was  done  not  with  any  hope  or 
even  wish  to  prevent  Mr.  Adams  from  alighting 
on  the  vice-presidential  perch,  but  only  to  clip 
his  wings  as  a  precaution  against  too  free  subse 
quent  flights.  This  was  the  first  occasion  upon 
which  these  two  men  had  been  brought  into  any 
relationship  with  each  other,  and  certainly  it  did 
not  augur  well  for  their  future  harmony.  Un 
fortunately  the  worst  auspices  which  could  be 
seen  in  it  were  fulfilled.  A  personal  prejudice, 
improperly  called  distrust,  on  the  part  of  Ham 
ilton  toward  Adams,  from  this  time  forth  led  to 
doings  which  Adams,  being  human,  could  not 
but  resent ;  mutual  dislike  grew  into  strong  ani- 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  243 

mosity,  which  in  time  ripened  into  bitter  vindic- 
tiveness.  The  quarrel  had  such  vitality  that  it 
survived  to  subsequent  generations,  so  that  later 
historians  in  each  family  have  kept  the  warfare 
immortal.  The  Adams  writers  represent  Ham 
ilton  as  clandestine,  underhanded,  substantially 
dishonorable.  The  Hamilton  writers  represent 
Mr.  Adams  as  an  obstinate,  wrong-headed  old 
blunderer,  whom  their  distinguished  progenitor 
in  vain  strove  to  keep  from  working  perpetual 
serious  mischief.  In  fact,  Hamilton,  though 
constantly  carried  by  his  antipathy  beyond  the 
limits  of  good  judgment,  did  nothing  morally 
reprehensible ;  Adams,  though  committing  very 
provoking  errors  as  a  politician  and  party  leader, 
never  went  far  wrong  as  a  statesman  and  pa 
triot.  In  the  present  transaction  of  this  first 
election,  Hamilton  unquestionably  overdid  mat 
ters.  Even  if  it  be  admitted  that  his  avowed 
basis  of  action  was  sound,  yet  he  diverted  votes 
from  Adams  beyond  the  need  of  his  purpose, 
and  exposed  himself  to  imputations  which  he 
would  have  done  better  to  avoid.  But  his  exer 
tion  of  influence  through  letters  to  his  friends 
was  not  blameworthy  upon  any  other  ground 
than  this  of  indiscretion ;  he  had  a  perfect  right 
to  use  his  authority  with  individuals  as  he  did. 
Adams  came  into  office,  not  so  much  gratified 
at  having  gained  it  as  embittered  at  having 


244  JOHN  ADAMS 

been  deprived  of  a  free  and  fair  working  of  his 
chances,  as  he  expressed  it.  It  was  an  unfortu 
nate  frame  of  mind  in  which  to  start  upon  a  new 
career. 

On  April  20  Mr.  Adams  was  introduced  to- 
the  chair  of  the  Senate,  and  delivered  a  brief 
inaugural  address.  With  an  admirably  happy 
choice  of  language,  not  without  a  touch  of  satire,, 
he  spoke  of  his  office  as  "  a  respectable  situa 
tion."  It  was  not  a  position  in  which  either  by 
nature  or  by  past  experience  he  was  fitted  to. 
shine ;  as  he  correctly  said,  he  had  been  more 
accustomed  to  share  in  debates  than  to  preside 
over  them.  He  was  always  full  of  interest  in 
whatever  was  going  forward,  hot  and  combative, 
and  ready  of  speech,  so  that  in  many  a  fray  hi& 
tongue  must  have  quivered  behind  his  teeth,, 
fiercely  impatient  to  break  loose.  But  he  had 
some  unexpected  compensation  for  mere  silent 
"  respectability  "  in  an  unusual  number  of  oppor 
tunities  to  exercise  personal  power  in  important 
matters.  Certainly  no  other  vice-president  has. 
ever  had  the  like,  and  probably  no  officer  of  the 
United  States  has  ever  been  able  to  do  so  much 
by  positive  acts  of  individual  authority.  This 
was  due  to  the  equal  division  of  parties  in  the 
Senate,  and  his  right  to  give  the  casting  vote. 

The  chief  measures  introduced  in  those  early 
days  were  constructive,  giving  permanent  form 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  245 

and  character  to  the  government.  It  is  true,  as 
has  been  so  often  said,  that  there  were  at  first 
no  parties,  strictly  so  called,  that  is  to  say,  no 
political  organizations  having  avowed  leaders 
and  defined  principles.  But  there  was  the  raw 
material,  in  the  shape  of  two  bodies  of  men 
holding  fundamentally  different  opinions  as  to 
the  Constitution,  and  as  to  the  government  to 
be  set  up  and  conducted  under  it.  The  Feder 
alists,  as  they  already  began  to  be  called,  had 
the  advantage  of  immediate  and  clearly  defined 
purposes  and  of  able  leaders.  There  were  cer 
tain  things  which  they  wished  to  have  done,  a 
series  of  acts  which  they  sought  to  have  passed 
by  Congress.  Hamilton,  an  ideal  leader  for 
precisely  such  a  campaign,  devised  the  general 
scheme,  got  ready  the  specific  measures,  fur 
nished  the  arguments,  controlled  senators  and 
representatives.  But  not  infrequently  it  hap 
pened  that  important  Federalist  measures  hung 
doubtful  in  an  evenly  divided  Senate,  waiting  to 
receive  the  breath  of  life  from  the  casting  vote 
of  the  Vice-President.  They  always  got  it  from 
him.  He  was  not  in  the  modern  sense  of  the 
phrase  by  any  means  a  party  man ;  he  acted 
beneath  no  sense  of  allegiance,  in  obedience  to  no 
bond  of  political  fellowship.  He  had  not  been 
nominated  or  elected  by  any  party;  certainly 
he  had  not  the  hearty  or  undivided  support  of 


246  JOHN  ADAMS 

any  party.  Consequently  he  was  perfectly  free 
to  vote,  and  he  did  vote  upon  every  measure 
solely  with  reference  to  his  own  opinion  of  its 
merits  and  its  effect.  He  could  not  be  charged 
by  any  one  with  disloyalty  or  ingratitude,  how 
ever  he  might  at  any  time  choose  to  vote.  Nev 
ertheless,  no  less  than  twenty  times  during  the 
life  of  the  first  Congress  he  voted  for  the  Feder 
alists. 

In  fact,  Adams  was  by  his  moral  and  mental 
nature  a  Federalist.  Practical,  energetic,  self- 
willed,  he  believed  in  authority,  which  indeed 
he  was  resolved  for  his  own  part  always  to  have 
and  to  exercise.  The  helplessness  of  the  old 
so-called  government  of  the  states,  and  their 
consequent  poor  standing  abroad,  had  corrobo 
rated  these  instinctive  conclusions.  High  in 
office,  with  a  chance  of  rising  still  higher,  even 
to  the  pinnacle,  he  intended  that  the  government 
of  which  he  was  a  part  should  be  powerful  and 
respected.  When  the  question  was  raised  as 
to  the  President's  power  to  remove  his  cabinet 
officers  without  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  Adams  carried  the  measure  by  his  cast 
ing  vote  in  favor  of  that  authority,  and  malicious 
people  said  that  he  was  dignifying  the  office 
because  he  expected  in  due  time  to  fill  it.  But 
he  was  no  more  a  democrat  than  he  was  an  aris 
tocrat  ;  he  believed  in  the  masses,  not  as  goverj 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  247 

ors,  but  at  best  only  as  electors  of  governors. 
His  theory  of  equality  between  men  was  limited 
to  an  equality  of  rights  before  the  law.1  In 
point  of  fitness  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the 
nation,  he  well  knew  that,  as  matter  of  fact, 
there  was  the  greatest  inequality ;  he  would  have 
laughed  to  scorn  the  notion  that  there  were  many 
men  who  could  be  set  in  competition  with  him 
self  in  such  functions.  He  believed  that  there 
was  a  governing  class,  and  that  in  it  he  occu 
pied  no  insignificant  position ;  he  was  resolved 
to  keep  that  class  where  it  belonged,  at  the  top 
of  society.  But  he  did  not  believe  that  the  right 
to  be  in  that  class  was  heritable,  like  houses  and 
lands ;  it  was  appurtenant  only  to  mental  and 
moral  fitness.  He  was  sometimes  accused,  like 
other  Federalists,  of  an  undue  partiality  for  the 
British  form  of  government.  But  he  scouted 
with  curt  contempt  the  charge  that  he  had  any 
"  design  or  desire  "  to  introduce  a  "  king,  lords, 
and  commons,  or  in  other  words  an  hereditary 
executive  or  an  hereditary  senate,  either  into  the 
government  of  the  United  States  or  that  of  any 
individual  state."  He  was  therefore  no  aristo 
crat  in  the  common  sense  of  the  phrase.  The 
charge  of  a  predilection  for  kings  and  lords  was 
rank  absurdity  in  his  case,  as  in  the  cases  of 

1  See,  for  example,  his  remarks  on  equality  in  a  letter  of 
February  4, 1794 ;  C.  F.  Adamfc's  Life  of  Adams,  oct.  ed.,  p.  462. 


248  JOHN  ADAMS 

most  of  the  other  Americans  against  whom  it 
was  brought ;  but  it  was  so  serviceable  and  pop 
ular  a  shape  of  abuse  that  it  was  liberally  em 
ployed  by  the  anti-Federalists  for  many  years, 
and  Adams  suffered  from  it  as  much  or  more 
than  any  other  public  man  of  the  times.  There 
was,  however,  that  certain  semblance  or  very 
slight  foundation  of  truth  in  this  allegation  of 
aristocratic  tendencies  which  is  usually  to  be 
found  in  those  general  beliefs  which  neverthe 
less  are  substantially  false.  In  1770,  in  the 
simple  provincial  days,  when  he  was  only  thirty- 
four  years  old,  he  said :  "  Formalities  and  cere 
monies  are  an  abomination  in  my  sight,  —  I  hate 
them  in  religion,  government,  science,  life."  But 
there  was  in  him  an  instinct  which  he  little  sus 
pected  when  he  wrote  these  words  in  the  days 
of  youthful  ardor  and  simplicity.  As  he  grew 
older,  saw  more  of  the  world,  and  found  himself 
among  the  men  happily  entitled  to  receive  the 
trappings  of  authority,  he  grew  fond  of  such 
ornamentation.  He  conceived  that  high  office 
should  have  appropriate  surroundings ;  undoubt 
edly  he  carried  this  notion  to  excess  upon  some 
occasions.  But  it  was  the  office  and  not  the 
man  which  he  wished  to  exalt.  The  trouble  was 
that  people  could  not  draw  the  distinction,  which 
seemed  fine  but  was  essential.  Nor  could  he 
assist  them  to  do  so  by  discretion  in  his  own 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  249 

conduct.  For  example,  his  behavior  provoked 
criticism  along  a  considerable  portion  of  his  route 
from  home  upon  his  journey  to  be  inaugurated 
as  vice-president,  upon  which  occasion  he  rode 
amid  what  his  detractors  chose  to  call  an  "  escort 
of  horse."  The  question  of  titles  coming  up  im 
mediately  after  the  Organization  of  Congress,  he 
was  well  understood,  in  spite  of  his  disclaimers, 
to  favor  some  fine  phraseology  of  this  kind.  His 
advice  to  Washington  concerning  the  proper  eti 
quette  to  be  established  by  the  President  savored 
largely  of  the  same  feeling.  He  talked  of  dress 
and  undress,  of  attendants,  gen  tlemen-in- waiting, 
chamberlains,  etc.,  as  if  he  were  arranging  the 
household  of  a  European  monarch.  But  he  had 
seen  much  of  this  sort  of  thing,  and  had  ob 
served  that  it  exerted  a  real  power,  whether  it 
ought  to  or  not.  The  office  of  president,  he  said, 
"  has  no  equal  in  the  world,  excepting  those  only 
which  are  held  by  crowned  heads ;  nor  is  the 
royal  authority  in  all  cases  to  be  compared  with 
it.  ...  If  the  state  and  pomp  essential  to  this 
great  department  are  not,  in  a  good  degree,  pre 
served,  it  will  be  in  vain  for  America  to  hope  for 
consideration  with  foreign  powers." 

Such  a  matter  as  this  seems  of  small  conse 
quence,  but  it  meant  very  much  in  those  days. 
Moreover,  the  opposition  wanted  some  one  to 
abuse,  a  fact  which  Adams  would  have  done 


250  JOHN  ADAMS 

well  to  make  food  for  reflection,  but  did  not. 
For  a  long  while  they  had  to  hold  Washington 
sacred ;  they  stood  in  some  awe  of  Hamilton, 
whose  political  principles  they  could  impugn, 
but  whom  they  could  not  and  indeed  dared  not 
try  to  make  ridiculous ;  Adams  alone  served 
their  turn  as  a  target  for  personal  vituperation. 
He  had  not  the  art  of  conciliation ;  he  was 
growing  extravagantly  vain ;  he  was  dogmatic  ; 
without  being  quarrelsome,  yet  he  had  no  skill 
in  avoiding  quarrels.  He  was  a  prominent 
man,  yet  had  no  personal  following,  no  prseto- 
rian  guard  of  devoted  personal  admirers  to  fight 
defensive  battles  in  his  behalf.  Neither  was 
he  popular  with  the  principal  men  of  his  own 
party,  who  cared  little  how  vehemently  or  even 
how  unjustly  he  was  assaulted  by  his  opponents. 
He  was  therefore  constantly  pricked  by  many 
small  arrows  of  malice,  none  carrying  mortal 
wounds,  but  all  keeping  up  a  constant  irritation 
of  the  moral  system.  All  this  was  very  hard 
to  bear ;  yet  it  did  not  really  mean  very  much. 
This  was  apparent  when  it  came  to  the  time  of 
the  second  presidential  election,  when  Adams 
had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  the  full  and  fair 
support  of  his  party.  He  owed  this,  however, 
more  than  he  was  pleased  to  acknowledge,  to  the 
aid  of  one  whom  he  did  not  love.  Hamilton, 
propitiated  by  the  uniform  and  very  valuable 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  251 

support  accorded  by  him,  as  vice-president,  to 
the  Federal  measures,  now  favored  his  reelec 
tion,  and  the  word  of  Hamilton  was  law.  But, 
besides  this,  parties  had  at  last  become  well- 
defined.  The  anti-Federalists  were  agreed  upon 
George  Clinton  as  their  candidate,  and  the  Fed 
eralists  were  compelled  to  unite  in  good  earnest. 
The  electoral  votes  stood,  for  Adams,  77 ;  for 
Clinton,  50.  He  had  reason  to  be  pleased ;  yet 
he  could  not  be  wholly  pleased,  since  he  had 
to  see  that  Washington  was  the  choice  of  the 
nation,  while  he  was  only  the  choice  of  a  party. 
Moreover,  in  the  French  Revolution  and  the 
excitement  which  it  was  creating  in  the  United 
States  he  scented  coming  scenes  of  trouble. 
The  restlessness  of  the  times  was  upon  him ;  he 
longed  to  take  an  active  part.  "  My  country," 
he  said  with  impatient  vexation,  "has  in  its  wis 
dom  contrived  for  me  the  most  insignificant 
office  that  ever  the  invention  of  man  contrived 
or  his  imagination  conceived.  And  as  I  can  do 
neither  good  nor  evil,  I  must  be  borne  away 
by  others,  and  meet  the  common  fate."  To  be 
borne  away  by  others  never  much  comported 
with  the  character  of  John  Adams. 

During  the  troubled  years  of  his  second  term 
little  is  heard  of  Adams.  The  Federalists  had 
gained  such  a  preponderance  in  the  Senate  that 
he  had  fewer  opportunities  than  before  to  cast 


252  JOHN  ADAMS 

a  deciding  vote.  Public  attention  was  absorbed 
for  the  time  by  the  men  who  could  influence 
the  course  of  the  United  States  towards  France 
and  England  in  that  epoch  of  hate  and  fury. 
Adams,  in  his  "insignificant  office,"  enjoying 
comparative  shelter,  saw  with  honest  admira 
tion  the  steadfastness  of  Washington's  character 
amid  extreme  trial,  and  witnessed  with  profound 
sympathy  the  suffering  so  cruelly  inflicted  upon 
the  President  by  the  base  calumnies  of  those 
enemies  who  now  at  last  dared  to  indulge  aloud 
in  low  detraction.  For  a  time  he  felt  a  gener 
ous  appreciation  of  that  sublime  greatness,  and 
forgot  to  make  envious  comparisons. 

Monsieur  Genet,  as  every  one  knows,  came 
to  the  United  States  with  the  definite  purpose 
of  uniting  them  with  France  in  the  struggle 
against  England.  The  one  step  essential  to 
this  end  was  to  make  the  Democratic  party 
dominant  in  the  national  councils,  and  nothing 
seemed  to  be  needed  to  accomplish  this  save  a 
little  discretion  on  the  part  of  the  French  gov 
ernment,  a  little  tact  on  the  part  of  the  minister. 
Fortunately,  however,  for  the  young  country, 
discretion  and  tact  were  never  more  conspicu 
ously  absent.  The  consequence  was  that  to 
France  and  Monsieur  Genet  Mr.  Adams  owed  a 
gratitude,  which  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
he  never  showed,  for  the  continued  ascendency 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  253 

of  his  party  and  his  own  accession  to  the  presi 
dency.  But  the  measure  of  thanks  which  he 
might  be  inclined  to  return  is  not  to  be  esti 
mated  with  confidence.  For  the  distinction 
came  to  him  in  such  shape  that  it  brought  at 
best  as  much  irritation  as  pleasure ;  and  again 
it  was  the  hand  of  Hamilton  which  poured  the 
bitter  ingredients  into  the  cup. 

When  it  became  necessary  for  the  people  a 
third  time  to  choose  a  president  and  vice-presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  it  seemed  moderately 
certain  that  the  Federalists  would  control  the 
election ;  but  they  had  no  such  reserve  of  su 
perfluous  votes  that  they  could  afford  to  run  any 
risks  or  to  make  any  blunders.  The  first  mat 
ter  to  be  determined  was  the  selection  of  candi 
dates.  Hamilton  was  the. leader  of  the  party, 
inasmuch  as  he  led  the  men  to  whom  the  bulk 
of  the  party  looked  for  guidance.  In  its  upper 
stratum  he  was  obeyed  with  the  loyalty  of  hero- 
worship  ;  but  he  was  not  popular  enough  with 
the  mass  of  voters  to  be  an  eligible  nominee. 
Eliminating  him,  there  was  no  one  else  to  com 
pete  with  Adams,  whose  public  services  had 
been  of  the  first  order  both  in  quantity  and 
quality,  who  seemed  officially  to  stand  next  in 
the  order  of  succession,  and  who  was  not  more 
unpopular  than  all  the  prominent  Federalists, 
none  of  whom  had  the  art  of  winning  the  affec- 


254  JOHN  ADAMS 

tion  of  the  multitude.  Adams  accordingly  was 
agreed  upon  as  one  candidate,  and  then  geo 
graphical  wisdom  indicated  that  the  other 
should  be  a  Southerner.  The  choice  fell  upon 
Thomas  Pinckney,  an  excellent  gentleman,  of 
the  best  character,  of  high  ability,  and  suffi 
ciently  distinguished  in  the  public  service.  In 
no  department  of  fitness,  however,  could  any 
comparison  be  drawn  between  Adams  and 
Pinckney  which  would  not  show  Adams  to  be 
unquestionably  entitled  to  the  higher  position. 
The  matter  was  not  open  to  a  doubt ;  it  was 
generally  understood  that  Adams  was  the  Fed 
eralist  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  that 
Pinckney  was  candidate  for  the  vice-presidency. 
But,  as  the  Constitution  yet  stood,  the  electors 
could  not  thus  designate  them  in  voting;  and 
whoever  should  get  the  highest  number  of  votes 
would  be  President. 

Hamilton  saw  in  this  the  opportunity,  through 
his  personal  influence,  to  give  effect  to  his  per 
sonal  predilection.  He  had  a  deep,  instinctive 
dislike  for  Mr.  Adams ;  it  was  very  well  for 
him  to  assert  in  self  -  justification  that  the 
grounds  of  his  prejudice  lay  in  doubts  as  to 
Mr.  Adams's  fitness  for  high  official  position. 
Possibly  he  tried  really  to  believe  this ;  yet  he 
certainly  did  not  oppose  Mr.  Adams  with  that 
openness  or  by  those  methods  which  would 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  255 

have  naturally  resulted  from  a  sense  of  pos 
sessing  strong  and  sound  objections  to  him. 
The  plain  truth  was,  that  as  matter  of  fact  it 
was  sheer  nonsense  to  deny  Adams's  fitness. 
His  disqualification  was  solely  his  unsubmis 
sive  temperament.  There  was  no  question  that 
Hamilton  was  leader  of  the  party ;  and  if  it 
could  be  fairly  agreed  that  his  leadership  in 
volved  of  necessity  his  right  to  dictate  the  gen 
eral  policy,  then  Adams  was  not  the  man  for 
the  presidency.  But  such  logic  could  not  be 
openly  proclaimed.  Hamilton,  if  he  had  worked 
openly,  must  have  impugned  Adams's  fitness 
on  some  other  ground  than  that  he  would  not 
fall  prone  beneath  Hamiltonian  influence.  Such 
other  grounds  were  not  easily  discoverable; 
hence  Hamilton  had  to  work  in  covert  personal 
ways.  By  private  advice  and  letters  he  urged 
strenuously  upon  the  Federalist  electors,  espe 
cially  those  of  New  England,  to  cast  all  their 
votes  for  Adams  and  Pinckney.  There  was 
much  danger,  he  said,  that  the  deflection  of 
a  very  few  Federalist  votes  from  either  one, 
caused  by  some  local  or  personal  predilection, 
might  give  the  victory  to  the  Democrats,  who 
were  a  perfectly  united  body.  Every  Federal 
ist  must  vote  for  Adams  and  Pinckney,  and 
not  a  vote  must  be  thrown  away.  The  perfect 
carrying  out  of  this  scheme  would  give  the 


256  JOHN  ADAMS 

same  number  of  votes  to  both  these  candidates, 
and  practically  would  only  throw  into  a  Feder 
alist  Congress  the  question  of  ranking  them. 
This  was  plausible  arguing,  and  the  figures  of 
the  subsequent  election  seemed  to  corrobo 
rate  it.  When  the  counting  showed  that  Mr. 
Adams  had  only  one  more  vote  than  was  neces 
sary  to  an  election,  and  only  three  more  votes 
than  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  actually  secured  the 
vice-presidency  to  the  exclusion  of  Pinckney, 
it  seemed  that  Hamilton  had  been  very  wise 
in  his  monitions. 

But  the  whole  story  was  not  apparent  in 
these  simple  facts.  From  the  beginning  it  had 
been  almost  certain  that  some  Southern  Feder 
alists  would  not  vote  for  Mr.  Adams,  in  order 
that  thus  they  might  give  the  presidency  to 
Pinckney,  provided  they  could  trust  the  New 
Englanders  to  vote  equally  for  both  candidates. 
It  was  well  understood  that  Hamilton's  influ 
ence  would  not  be  seriously  used  against  a  de 
sign  with  which  he  was  more  than  suspected 
of  sympathizing ;  and  it  was  apparent  that  his 
advice  to  the  New  Englanders  was  not  alto 
gether  so  ingenuous  as  it  seemed.  Hence  the 
Federalists  went  into  the  colleges  in  the  worst 
possible  condition  of  mutual  suspicion  and  dis 
trust,  with  divided  purposes,  and  much  too 
deeply  interested  in  secondary  objects.  This  led 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  257 

to  the  throwing  away  of  votes.  Some  South 
erners,  who  voted  for  Mr.  Pinckney,  voted  also 
for  Mr.  Jefferson  instead  of  Mr.  Adams,  and 
eighteen  New  Englanders  voted  for  Mr.  Adams 
and  not  for  Mr.  Pinckney.  It  was  highly  im 
probable  that  the  voting  would  have  gone  thus 
had  it  not  been  known  that  Hamilton  was  con 
cerning  himself  in  the  election,  and  that  he 
preferred  Pinckney  to  Adams.  Abstractly  con 
sidered,  his  advice  was  sound,  but  he  well  knew 
that,  if  those  whom  alone  he  could  hope  to  con 
trol  should  follow  it,  then  others  less  subject  to 
him  would  neglect  it,  and  would  bring  about 
a  result  which  may  fairly  be  called  wrong.  He 
had  in  fact,  though  not  in  form,  done  what  he 
could  to  make  Mr.  Adams  a  third  time  Vice- 
President,  when  the  Federalist  party  intended 
to  make  him  President.  Mr.  Adams  did  not 
at  first  understand  all  this.  He  said  that  Ham 
ilton  and  "  his  connections  did  not,  I  believe, 
meditate  by  surprise  to  bring  in  Pinckney.  I 
believe  they  honestly  meant  to  bring  in  me; 
but  they  were  frightened  into  a  belief  that  I 
should  fail,  and  they  in  their  agony  thought  it 
better  to  bring  in  Pinckney  than  Jefferson.  .  .  . 
I  believe  there  were  no  very  dishonest  intrigues 
in  this  business.  The  zeal  of  some  was  not 
very  ardent  for  me,  but  I  believe  none  opposed 
me."  But  not  many  days  had  elapsed  after 


258  JOHN   ADAMS 

these  words  were  written  before  the  whole 
truth  was  set  before  Mr.  Adams.  Thereupon 
his  feelings  underwent  a  sudden  and  violent 
change,  and  from  that  time  forth  he  cherished 
towards  Hamilton  a  resentment  and  distrust 
which  under  all  the  circumstances  were  entirely 
natural  and  pardonable.  He  was  a  good  enemy, 
whole-souled  and  hearty  in  his  hatreds.  Upon 
the  other  side  Hamilton,  generally  not  so  bit 
ter  and  unforgiving,  indulged  an  exceptional 
vindictiveness  in  this  quarrel;  so  that  this 
animosity  speedily  attained  such  intensity  as 
to  become  a  potent,  almost  an  omnipotent  in 
fluence  with  each  of  these  powerful  men,  and 
through  them  bore  powerfully  upon  the  course 
of  national  events  for  many  years  to  come. 

It  was  perhaps  a  little  amusing  to  see  how 
incensed  Mr.  Adams  was,  when  he  discovered 
that  there  had  really  been  a  design  to  deprive 
him  of  a  place  which  he  seems  to  have  looked 
upon  much  as  if  it  were  substantially  his  own 
property.  There  is  such  an  opportunity  to  learn 
some  of  his  traits  from  a  nai've  passage  in  a 
letter  written  by  him  on  March  30,  1797,  to 
Henry  Knox,  that,  though  not  otherwise  valu 
able,  it  must  be  quoted.  He  says  :  "  But  to  see 
such  a  character  as  Jefferson,  and  much  more 
such  an  unknown  being  as  Pinckney,  brought 
over  my  head,  and  trampling  on  the  bellies  of 


THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  259 

hundreds  of  other  men  infinitely  his  superiors  in 
talents,  services,  and  reputation,  filled  me  with 
apprehensions  for  the  safety  of  us  all.  It  de 
monstrated  to  me  that,  if  the  project  succeeded, 
our  Constitution  could  not  have  lasted  four 
years.  We  should  have  been  set  afloat  and 
landed  the  Lord  knows  where.  That  must  be 
a  sordid  people  indeed  —  a  people  destitute  of  a 
sense  of  honor,  equity,  and  character,  that  could 
submit  to  be  governed,  and  see  hundreds  of  its 
most  meritorious  public  men  governed,  by  a 
Pinckney,  under  an  elective  government.  .  .  . 
I  mean  by  this  no  disrespect  to  Mr.  Pinckney. 
I  believe  him  to  be  a  worthy  man.  I  speak 
only  in  comparison  with  others."  Volumes  of 
comment  could  not  tell  more  than  these  sen 
tences.  The  vehemence  and  extravagance  of 
expression,  the  notion  that  his  defeat  would 
have  destroyed  the  national  existence,  the  gross 
depreciation  of  Pinckney  so  soon  as  he  became 
a  rival,  the  vanity  involved  in  the  tranquil  as 
sumption  that  in  his  own  hands  at  least  the 
great  republic  is  perfectly  and  unquestionably 
safe,  show  Mr.  Adams's  weaknesses  in  strong 
relief.  His  own  utter  unconsciousness,  too,  is 
delightful ;  he  thinks  that  he  is  perfectly  lib 
eral  and  just  when  he  frankly  says  that  Pinck 
ney  is  a  "  worthy  man."  In  fact  Pinckney  was 
very  much  more,  and  the  interests  of  the  people 


260  JOHN   ADAMS 

have  more  than  once  since  that  day  been  in 
trusted  to  presidents  much  his  inferiors  in  char 
acter  and  ability,  and  have  come  safely  through 
the  jeopardy. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  PRESIDENCY 

ADAMS'S  victory  was  none  the  less  a  victory 
because  it  was  narrow.  Though  he  had  only 
seventy-one  votes  against  Jefferson's  sixty-eight, 
he  was  President  of  the  United  States.  Vexed 
as  he  was,  hurt  in  his  vanity,  incensed  with 
Hamilton,  yet  his  heart  swelled  with  a  not  ig 
noble  triumph.  If  the  recognition  of  his  long 
public  service  had  not  come  in  precisely  the 
shape  it  should  have  come,  at  least  he  could  say 
to  himself  that  this  imperfection  was  due  to 
the  jealous  antipathy  of  an  individual.  It  was 
Hamilton,  rather  than  his  countrymen,  who 
had  attenuated  his  triumph.  But  the  inaugu 
ral  ceremonies  further  disturbed  his  self-satis 
faction.  Certainly  every  President  may  fairly 
expect  to  be  the  grand  central  point  of  obser 
vation  and  interest  during  the  hours  of  his  own 
inauguration.  It  was  exceptionally  hard  luck 
for  Adams  that  he  undeniably  was  not  so. 
Washington  was  present,  of  course,  and  toward 
him  all  faces  seemed  to  be  turned ;  all  were 
silent,  and  numbers  wept  as  they  gazed  at  the 


262  JOHN  ADAMS 

great  national  hero  now  leaving  the  public  ser 
vice  ;  when  he  left  the  hall  the  spectators,  ab 
sorbed  only  in  him,  rushed  after  him  in  throngs. 
A  man  less  sensitive  and  egotistical  than  Adams 
might  have  felt  that  he  was  unfortunately  situ 
ated  under  the  peculiar  circumstances.  He  felt 
it  keenly.  He  was  reminded  of  the  "  represen 
tation  of  a  tragedy ; "  he  said  that  he  was  the 
"unbeloved  one;"  he  was  surprised,  actually 
bewildered,  at  the  distance  which  he  saw  that 
the  people  had  established  between  himself  and 
Washington.  No  one  would  furnish  him  any 
other  solution  of  the  "  enigma  "  of  the  "  stream 
ing  eyes,"  he  said,  and  so  he  had  perforce  to 
suppose  that  it  was  "all  grief  for  the  loss  of 
their  beloved."  If  all  this  had  been  designed 
by  a  thoughtful  Providence  as  moral  discipline 
for  an  excessively  vain  man,  it  could  be  objected 
to  solely  on  the  ground  that  the  victim  was  no 
longer  young  enough  to  be  susceptible  of  im 
provement  ;  so  the  only  effect  on  Mr.  Adams 
was  to  exasperate  and  embitter  him. 

In  this  condition  of  things  the  Democrats 
made  an  effort  to  capture  Mr.  Adams.  They 
took  good  care  to  let  him  know  all  that  had 
been  done  against  him.  Pickering,  they  said, 
in  his  official  reports  had  maliciously  kept  in 
the  background  his  services  in  connection  with 
the  treaty  of  1783 ;  Hamilton  and  Jay  had 


THE  PRESIDENCY  263 

meant  to  keep  him  only  a  vice-president,  be 
cause,  fortunately,  he  was  not  the  man  to  ap 
pear  only  as  the  head  of  a  party,  and  to  be  led 
by  Hamilton.  Jefferson  wrote  a  letter  to  him, 
rejoicing  that  he  had  not  been  "  cheated  out  of 
his  succession  by  a  trick  worthy  the  subtlety 
of  his  arch-friend  of  New  York,  who  had  been 
able  to  make  of  his  real  friends  tools  for  defeat 
ing  their  and  his  just  wishes."  This  letter  was 
indeed  never  delivered  to  Mr.  Adams  ;  for  Jef 
ferson  sent  it  open  to  Madison  with  instructions 
to  deliver  it  or  not,  as  he  should  see  fit,  and, 
for  some  reasons  not  known,  Madison  did  not 
see  fit.  But  it  explained  Jefferson's  plans.  In 
the  letter  to  Madison  he  said  :  "  If  Mr.  Adams 
could  be  induced  to  administer  the  government 
on  its  true  principles,  quitting  his  bias  for  an 
English  constitution,  it  would  be  worthy  of  con 
sideration  whether  it  would  not  be  for  the  public 
good  to  come  to  a  good  understanding  with  him 
as  to  his  future  elections."  In  pursuance  of  the 
same  policy  the  Yice-President,  on  arriving  in 
Philadelphia,  promptly  called  upon  Adams,  and 
also  paid  him  a  handsome  compliment  upon 
taking  the  chair  of  the  Senate,  and  was  cor 
dially  zealous  to  establish  a  friendly  relation 
ship.  Mrs.  Adams,  triumphing  in  the  defeat  of 
Hamilton's  "  Machiavelian  policy,"  expressed 
pleasure  at  Jefferson's  success,  between  whom 


264  JOHN  ADAMS 

and  her  husband,  she  said,  there  had  never  been 
41  any  public  or  private  animosity."  Hamilton 
had  made  a  mistake,  great  enough  in  its  real 
outcome,  but  which  might  have  borne  such  fruits 
as  would  have  seemed  to  him  nothing  less  than 
fatal,  had  they  occurred.  With  many  men  the 
anticipations  of  Jefferson  and  the  Democrats 
would  have  proved  well-founded.  But  it  was 
not  so  with  Adams ;  no  one  by  any  subtlety  or 
under  any  cover  could  introduce  a  policy  into 
his  brain.  He  had  his  own  ideas,  and  did  his 
own  thinking.  Neither  through  his  wounded 
self-love,  nor  his  hot  resentment,  could  he  be 
beguiled  by  Jefferson  into  the  ranks  of  Demo 
cracy.  For  good  or  for  ill  he  had  no  master, 
open  or  unsuspected,  either  in  Hamilton  or  in 
Jefferson.  No  writer  has  ever  denied  that  he 
was  at  least  an  independent  President. 

To  sketch  the  administration  of  John  Adams 
with  correct  lines  and  in  truthful  colors  is  a 
task  of  extreme  difficulty.  The  general  effect 
of  an  accurate  picture  must  be  singularly  pain 
ful  and  depressing ;  it  must  show  us  great  men 
appearing  small,  true  patriots  forgetting  their 
country  in  anxiety  for  their  party,  honest  men 
made  purblind  by  prejudice,  and  straying  peril 
ously  near  the  line  of  dishonor.  The  story  of 
these  four  years,  though  in  them  the  national 
emergency  was  of  the  gravest,  is  largely  a  tale 


<7/V\ 


THE  PRESIDENCY  265 

of  the  most  bitter  feud  in  American  history. 
Even  the  one  great  act  of  patriotism  which 
Mr.  Adams  performed  stands  like  a  lighthouse 
bedimmed  in  a  dense  distorting  fog  of  odious 
personal  considerations.  The  quarrel  between 
him  and  Hamilton  constitutes  a  chapter  which 
one  who  admires  either  of  them  would  like  to 
omit.  Each  has  to  stand  on  the  defensive,  and 
the  defense  is  not  easy  to  be  made.  It  was  a 
wretched  affair  in  which  heroes  became  petty, 
and  noble  men  ceased  to  inspire  respect.  The 
student  finds  the  political  literature  of  the  period 
to  be  a  mass  of  crimination  and  recrimination  ; 
amid  such  acrimony  it  is  not  easy  for  him  to 
hold  himself  uncontaminated  by  the  temper  of 
the  combatants ;  nor  can  he  think  it  pleasant 
to  have  as  his  chief  duty  the  allotment  of 
censure  among  men  at  all  other  times  praise 
worthy.  We  have  to  show  Adams  pursuing 
a  course  substantially  of  sound  statesmanship, 
but,  through  hot-headedness,  pugnacity,  an  ego 
tism  almost  criminal  in  a  republic,  and  a  lack 
of  tact  great  enough  to  be  accounted  a  sin, 
stumbling  perpetually  and  hurting  himself  sorely 
upon  many  obstacles  which  he  ought  to  have 
avoided,  until  finally  he  emerges  from  his  stony 
path  doing  the  smallest  and  most  foolish  act 
into  which  a  magnanimous  man  was  ever  be 
trayed;  we  have  to  show  Hamilton  following 


266  JOHN  ADAMS 

an  object  of  personal  ambition  by  unworthy 
machinations,  allowing  his  former  prejudice 
against  Mr.  Adams  to  become  degraded  into  a 
fierce  personal  resentment,  and  in  pursuance 
thereof  losing  sight  of  patriotism  in  the  effort 
to  destroy  his  enemy  by  methods  so  mean  and 
so  unwise  that  we  cannot  read  of  them  without 
a  sense  of  humiliation,  which  he  unfortunately 
never  felt.  Neither  is  it  pleasant  to  see  the 
lesser  reputation  of  Pickering,  that  brave,  faith 
ful,  and  upright  Puritan,  and  the  good  name 
of  Wolcott,  who  always  meant  to  be  an  honest 
man,  smirched  with  the  blemish  of  unfairness. 
Such  animosities  live  forever,  even  sometimes 
gaining  increased  bitterness  from  the  loyalty  of 
the  descendants  of  the  original  combatants. 
Thus  it  has  been  with  these  quarrels  ;  the  story 
has  been  told  many  times,  never  with  an  ap 
proach  towards  impartiality,  till  it  requires  no 
small  courage  to  tread  again  upon  the  "  dark 
and  bloody  ground." 

The  wars  between  England  and  France,  be 
tween  monarchism  and  democracy  or  Jacobin 
ism,  or  whatever  the  political  principle  of  the 
French  revolutionists  is  to  be  called,  were  fought 
over  again  in  the  United  States,  with  less  of 
bloodshed  indeed,  but  not  with  less  of  rancor 
than  distinguished  the  real  contest.  Each  party 
in  the  country  averred  that  it  wished  to  keep 


THE  PRESIDENCY  267 

out  of  the  fight,  and  that  its  opponents  wished 
to  plunge  into  it.  England  and  France,  alike 
devoid  of  fear  or  respect  for  the  United  States, 
were  equally  resolved,  in  default  of  securing  her 
as  an  ally,  at  least  to  get  the  utmost  plunder  out 
of  her.  England  smote  her  upon  one  cheek 
with  Orders  in  Council;  France  buffeted  her 
upon  the  other  with  decrees  launched  from 
Berlin  and  Milan,  the  conquered  capitals  of 
prostrate  Europe.  England  impressed  her  sea 
men,  France  shut  up  her  ships  and  confiscated 
her  merchandise.  Jefferson  berated  England, 
Hamilton  reviled  France.  There  were  abundant 
reasons  for  the  United  States  to  declare  war 
against  each  of  them ;  but  there  was  also  a  con 
trolling  reason  against  any  war  at  all,  a  reason 
which  none  expressed,  but  to  which  all  sub 
mitted  ;  so  that  the  wrath  was  pretty  sure  to 
vent  itself  only  in  words,  unless  the  angry  parti 
sans  should  lose  command  of  themselves,  and 
get  carried  farther  than  they  intended.  In  a 
most  uncomfortable  position  between  the  two 
factions  stood  Mr.  Adams,  on  the  whole  the 
safest  statesman  in  the  country  to  hold  the  helm 
in  this  crisis.  His  temperament  was  that  of  the 
English  race  from  which  he  was  descended,  and 
which  can  never  sincerely  and  permanently  ap 
preciate  or  sympathize  with  the  French  temper 
ament  ;  moreover,  he  had  long  since  made  up 


268  JOHN  ADAMS 

his  mind  that  the  theory  of  the  states  owing  any 
gratitude  to  France  was  little  better  than  sheer 
nonsense.  But  when  the  Federalists  counted 
upon  these  influences  to  keep  him  in  the  so- 
called  Anglican  wing  of  their  party,  they  forgot 
that  hostility  to  England  had  struck  deep  root 
in  his  mind  through  youth  and  middle  age ;  they 
forgot  that  he  had  been  neglected  and  insulted 
for  three  years  in  London,  and  that  he  had  there 
acquired  full  knowledge  of  the  deliberate  design 
of  England  to  crush  and  ruin  her  ex-colonies. 
So,  with  about  equal  prejudices  against  each 
combatant,  Mr.  Adams  was  undoubtedly  the 
most  even-minded  man  then  in  public  life  in 
the  states.  His  eye  was  single  in  fact  not  less 
than  in  intention ;  he  not  only  fancied  himself, 
as  all  the  rest  fancied  themselves,  but  he  really 
was,  which  the  rest  were  not,  unbiased,  devoid  of 
friendship  and  trust  towards  each  country  alike. 
Caring  exclusively  for  the  United  States,  as  he 
had  so  boldly  stated  to  King  George,  he  had 
not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  best  policy  for 
them  was  to  keep  out  of  the  war.  From  the 
first  days  of  the  Revolutionary  Congress  he  had 
always  dreaded  European  alliances ;  he  saw  no 
reason  now  for  changing  the  settled  opinion 
which  he  had  held  for  upwards  of  twenty  years. 
War  with  either  meant,  of  course,  alliance  with 
the  other,  and  general  entanglement  in  the  for- 


THE   PRESIDENCY  269 

eign  snarl.  The  resolution  to  keep  the  peace,  if 
possible,  is  the  key  to  his  policy  throughout  his 
four  years.  Even  Jefferson  said  of  him :  "  I  do 
not  believe  Mr.  Adams  wishes  war  with  France, 
nor  do  I  believe  he  will  truckle  to  England  as 
servilely  as  has  been  done."  Mr.  Hildreth,  also, 
who  loves  him  not,  says  that  his  "  opinions  and 
feelings  were  precisely  such  as  to  free  him  from 
all  possibility  of  foreign  influence,  and  to  fit  him 
for  carrying  out  with  energy  and  impartiality 
the  system  of  exact  neutrality  which  Washing 
ton  had  adopted."  These  estimates  of  his  char 
acter  and  sentiments,  from  unfriendly  quarters, 
were  perfectly  correct. 

But  the  grave  and  very  doubtful  question 
was,  whether  it  would  be  possible  to  keep  the 
peace.  Just  at  the  time  of  Adams's  accession 
France  seemed  to  be  reaching  the  point  of  out 
rage  at  which  the  most  helpless  or  the  most 
pusillanimous  nation  must  strike  back.  Her 
villainous  stealings  had  been  supplemented  by 
even  more  exasperating  insults.  The  relation 
ship  of  the  two  countries  was  briefly  this:  Gou- 
verneur  Morris,  while  minister  at  Paris,  had 
manifested  so  active  an  antipathy  to  the  revolu 
tion,  that  the  success  of  that  movement  made  it 
necessary  to  recall  him.  To  cure  the  feelings 
which  he  had  wounded,  Mr.  Monroe,  of  quite 
an  opposite  way  of  thinking,  was  sent  to  super- 


270  JOHN  ADAMS 

sede  him.  But  Monroe  was  carried  away  by  tho 
Jacobinical  excitement  into  behavior  so  extrava 
gantly  foolish  as  seriously  to  compromise  the 
national  interests.  He  was  called  home,  and 
General  C.  C.  Pinckney,  a  moderate  Federalist, 
was  sent  as  his  successor.  Thus  matters  stood, 
so  far  as  was  known  in  the  states,  when  Adams 
came  to  the  presidency.  But  embarrassing  news 
soon  arrived.  The  French  Directory,  at  parting 
with  Monroe,  had  given  him  a  grand  ovation, 
which,  under  the  circumstances,  was  an  intoler 
able  insult  to  the  United  States;  and  further 
more  the  same  reckless  body  had  refused  to 
receive  Mr.  Pinckney  or  to  permit  him  to  re 
main  in  France,  even  threatening  him  with 
police  interference.  A  difficult  problem  was 
already  before  the  new  President. 

Mr.  Adams's  natural  advisers  were  the  mem 
bers  of  his  cabinet.  His  relations  with  this 
body,  soon  to  become  so  peculiar  and  unfortu 
nate,  were  at  first  nearly  normal  and  amicable. 
He  had  retained  Washington's  secretaries,  Pick 
ering  in  the  State  Department,  Wolcott  in  the 
Treasury,  and  McHenry  in  the  War  Depart 
ment.  The  first  two  were  of  sufficient  ability 
for  their  positions ;  McHenry  was  of  a  lower 
grade ;  but  it  was  then  so  rare  to  find  men  at 
once  fit  for  high  public  positions  and  willing  to 
fill  them,  and  Washington  had  encountered  so 


THE   PRESIDENCY  271 

much  difficulty  in  reconstructing  his  cabinet, 
that  Adams  very  justly  conceived  it  imprudent 
to  make  changes.  Nor  indeed  was  it  through 
lack  of  ability  that  his  ministers  gave  him 
trouble,  but  through  lack  of  sympathy  with  him 
self  and  his  policy,  and  later  through  want  of 
openness  and  frankness  in  dealing  with  him. 
Under  Washington's  administration  these  gen 
tlemen  had  felt  themselves  on  a  different  plane 
from  that  of  the  President,  who  stood  far  above 
any  personal  competition  or  jealousy.  Hamilton 
had  been  Washington's  most  trusted  adviser, 
and  had  —  properly  enough  under  the  peculiar 
circumstances  —  constantly  communicated  with 
and  influenced  Washington's  cabinet.  Thus 
there  had  grown  up  a  little  oligarchy,  or  clique, 
consisting  of  one  statesman  and  three  politi 
cians,  his  subordinates,  who  had  arranged  and 
controlled  the  policy  of  the  Federal  party  suc 
cessfully  and  agreeably  enough  beneath  the 
shelter  of  Washington's  prestige,  and  subject 
always  in  the  last  resort  to  his  sound  and  su 
preme  judgment.  Adams  had  never  been  one 
of  this  clique ;  he  had  not  even  been  regarded 
with  any  cordiality  by  its  chief.  The  pleasant- 
est  phase  of  the  relationship  between  Hamilton 
and  himself,  up  to  this  time,  had  been  little 
better  than  negative,  when  at  the  time  of  his 
second  candidacy  for  the  vice-presidency  Ham- 


272  JOHN  ADAMS 

ilton  had  accepted  him  as  the  least  ineligible 
among  possibilities,  and  had  spoken  moderately 
in  his  praise.  But  now  that  he  was  President, 
it  was  a  serious  question  whether  the  previous 
comfortable  arrangement  could  be  continued. 
Would  he  make  one  of  the  little  governing 
brotherhood?  There  was  a  fundamental  con 
dition  precedent :  he  could  come  into  it  only  as 
practically  subordinate  to  Hamilton,  though  he 
might  be  spared  the  humiliation  of  an  avowal 
or  direct  recognition  of  this  fact.  An  instinct 
told  all  concerned  that  he  was  not  the  man  for 
this  position.  But  the  fatal  scission  opened 
slowly.  At  the  outset  the  ministers  were  only 
curious  and  anxious,  not  devoid  of  hope  that  a 
little  dexterous  management  might  make  all  go 
according  to  their  wishes,  while  Mr.  Adams 
had  no  idea,  or  at  least  no  knowledge,  that  his 
relationship  with  them  was  marked  by  any  ex 
ceptional  character,  or  any  secret  peculiarities 
unknown  to  himself.  Shortly  before  his  inau 
guration  he  had  written  to  Gerry  :  "  Pickering 
and  all  his  colleagues  are  as  much  attached  to 
me  as  I  desire.  I  have  no  jealousies  from  that 
quarter."  It  was  very  slowly  that  he  at  last 
acquired  a  different  opinion. 

At  the  time  of  Adams's  inauguration  rumors 
had  come  that  Pinckney  had  not  been  received. 
The  idea  of  a  new  and  more  impressive  mission 


THE   PRESIDENCY  273 

at  once  occurred  to  many  persons.  On  March  3 
Adams  himself  called  on  Jefferson  and  broached 
the  topic.  He  would  have  liked  to  nominate  the 
Vice-President ;  but  both  had  to  agree  that  it 
would  not  do  for  that  officer  to  accept  such  a 
post.  Nor  could  Jefferson  willingly  abandon  the 
direction  of  his  party  at  this  juncture.  Then 
Mr.  Adams  asked  whether  Madison  would  go 
in  conjunction  with  some  prominent  Federalist. 
Jefferson  thought  that  he  would  not,  but  said 
that  he  would  ask  his  friend.  Two  days  later 
Fisher  Ames,  a  thoroughgoing  Hamiltonian, 
called  on  the  President,  advised  a  new  mission, 
and  even  suggested  names.  Soon  the  rumors 
concerning  Pinckney  were  corroborated.  There 
upon  Adams  at  once  summoned  an  extra  session 
of  Congress  for  May  15.  He  heard  from  Jeffer 
son  that  Madison  would  not  go  to  France,  but 
he  did  not  therefore  abandon  his  original  plan 
of  a  composite  mission.  He  opened  the  scheme 
to  Wolcott,  but  got  no  assistance  from  him. 
Wolcott,  an  extreme  "  Anglicist,"  only  fell  in 
with  the  notion  slowly  and  reluctantly,  and 
under  the  influence  subsequently  exerted  by 
Hamilton.  Perhaps  it  was  fortunate  for  the 
success  of  the  President's  plan  that  for  once  he 
and  Hamilton  took  the  same  view  of  the  neces 
sities  of  the  situation. 

So  soon  as  the  news  of  the  election  of  Adams 


274  JOHN  ADAMS 

reached  Paris,  the  Directory,  greatly  incensed 
that  Jefferson  had  not  been  chosen,  issued  a 
decree  more  oppressive  than  any  which  had  pre 
ceded  against  the  American  commercial  marine. 
This  was  heard  of  in  the  United  States  before 
Congress  assembled,  and  aggravated  the  indig 
nation  of  the  Federalists.  The  speech  of  Mr. 
Adams  at  the  opening  of  the  extra  session,  in 
the  composition  of  which  he  had  been  aided  by 
his  secretaries,  was  admirable ;  it  was  dignified, 
spirited,  and  temperate.  "  The  refusal  on  the 
part  of  France  to  receive  our  minister,"  he  said, 
"  is  the  denial  of  a  right ;  but  their  refusal  to 
receive  him  until  we  have  acceded  to  their  de 
mands  without  discussion  and  without  investi 
gation  is  to  treat  us  neither  as  allies,  nor  as 
friends,  nor  as  a  sovereign  state."  The  "  studi 
ous  indignity  "  at  the  leave-taking  of  Monroe  he 
adverted  to  in  language  of  natural  resentment. 
Yet,  he  said,  having  the  sincere  desire  to  pre 
serve  peace  with  all  nations,  "and  believing 
that  neither  the  honor  nor  the  interest  of  the 
United  States  absolutely  forbids  the  repetition 
of  advances  for  securing  these  desirable  objects 
with  France,  I  shall  institute  a  fresh  attempt  at 
negotiation."  Nevertheless  "  the  depredations 
on  our  commerce,  the  personal  injuries  to  our 
citizens,  and  the  general  complexion  of  affairs 
render  it  my  indispensable  duty  to  recommend 


THE   PRESIDENCY  275 

to  your  consideration  effectual  measures  of  de 
fense."  He  suggested  an  increase  of  the  regular 
artillery  and  cavalry,  possibly  also  "  arrange 
ments  for  forming  a  provisional  army."  Above 
all  he  dwelt  with  especial  emphasis  upon  the 
need  of  a  navy  sufficiently  powerful  to  protect 
the  coast  thoroughly.  This  was  a  favorite  mea 
sure  with  him,  which  he  constantly  urged.  He 
believed  that  the  United  States  easily  could  be, 
and  certainly  ought  to  be,  a  great  naval  power ; 
unquestionably  he  thought  that  they  should 
have  ample  means  of  naval  defense.  He  had 
wrought  earnestly  in  the  same  matter  in  the 
Kevolutionary  war.  He  now  reiterated  this 
advice  with  all  the  zeal  and  persistency  in  his 
power,  and  actually  did  as  much  as  his  author 
ity  permitted.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  James 
Lloyd,  in  1815,  he  said  that  during  the  four 
years  of  his  presidency  he  "  hesitated  at  no  ex 
pense  to  purchase  navy  yards,  to  collect  tim 
ber,  to  build  ships,  and  spared  no  pains  to  select 
officers."  But  his  only  reward  was  extreme 
unpopularity,  even  in  the  seaport  towns  of  New 
England,  with  a  renewal  of  the  old  talk  about  his 
desire  "  to  introduce  monarchy  and  aristocracy." 
He  at  least  cannot  be  blamed  that  the  American 
navy  never  was  developed  as  it  should  have  been, 
and  was  left  to  win  its  triumphs  many  years  later 
in  spite  of  utter  neglect  and  discouragement. 


27G  JOHN  ADAMS 

The  new  mission  was  determined  upon,  but  its 
composition  was  not  easy  to  arrange.  If  Mad 
ison  would  have  served,  Mr.  Adams  would  have 
nominated  Hamilton  as  his  colleague ;  at  least 
he  afterwards  said  that  this  was  his  purpose. 
Apparently  he  was  desirous  of  clinging  to  the 
policy,  which  Washington  had  tried  with  im 
perfect  success,  of  using  the  best  men  in  both 
parties.  But  when  Madison  would  not  go,  all 
thought  of  Hamilton  vanished.  Mr.  Adams  then 
suggested  General  Pinckney,  John  Marshall,  and 
Elbridge  Gerry.  Pinckney  and  Marshall  were 
Federalists ;  Gerry  had  generally  been  allied  with 
the  opposite  party ;  he  had  opposed  the  federal 
Constitution,  and  had  ever  since  been  regarded 
as  an  anti-Federalist ;  lately,  indeed,  as  a  presi 
dential  elector,  he  had  voted  for  John  Adams, 
but  he  had  been  influenced  by  an  old  friendship, 
and  had  written  to  Jefferson  a  letter  of  expla 
nation  and  apology.  Adams  had  a  strong  per 
sonal  regard  for  him,  and  doubtless  now  sought 
to  do  him  a  kind  turn,  though  in  the  end  the 
favor  proved  rather  to  be  laden  with  misfortune. 
The  selection  now  aroused  warm  opposition  on 
the  part  of  secretaries  Pickering  and  Wolcott. 
These  gentlemen,  equally  unlike  the  President, 
whom  they  disliked,  and  Hamilton,  whom  they 
revered,  were  not  statesmen ;  that  is  to  say,  they 
could  not  upon  occasion  subordinate  the  washes 


THE  PRESIDENCY  277 

and  prejudices,  the  likings  and  dislikings,  which 
were  items  in  the  creed  of  their  party,  to  a  wise 
and  broad  view  of  national  policy.  They  could 
not  now  see  that  the  President's  "  piebald  com 
mission  "  was  a  sound  measure.  After  they  had 
yielded  with  reluctance  to  Hamilton's  approval 
of  any  commission  at  all,  they  fell  back  upon 
the  position  that  at  least  it  should  be  composed 
wholly  of  Federalists.  They  were  submissive  to 
their  private  leader,  but  not  to  their  President. 
Therefore  they  strenuously  objected  to  Gerry. 
Adams  deferred  to  them  with  unusual  amiabil 
ity,  gave  up  his  own  choice,  and  named  Fran 
cis  Dana,  chief  justice  of  Massachusetts.  But 
Dana  declined,  and  then  the  President  returned 
decisively  to  Gerry.  The  Senate  confirmed  the 
nominations,  and  in  midsummer,  1797,  the  two 
envoys,  Marshall  and  Gerry,  sailed  in  different 
vessels  to  join  Mr.  Pinckney. 

The  three  met  in  Paris  early  in  October  of 
the  same  year  and  notified  M.  Talleyrand,  then 
foreign  minister,  of  their  readiness  to  deliver 
their  credentials.  What  ensued  is  notorious 
and  may  be  told  briefly.  A  few  days  of  civil 
ity  were  succeeded  by  sudden  coldness  and  a 
complete  check  in  the  advancement  of  busi 
ness.  Then  came  the  famous  and  infamous 
proposal,  that  the  envoys  should  agree  to  pay 
large  bribes  to  Talleyrand  and  to  certain  mem- 


278  JOHN  ADAMS 

bers  of  the  Directory.  They  rejected  this  propo 
sal  with  disdain.  Thereupon,  in  January,  1798, 
a  new  decree  was  issued  against  American  com 
merce.  The  envoys  drew  up  a  very  spirited 
remonstrance  against  it,  which,  however,  Gerry 
was  not  willing  to  sign.  Finally,  after  some 
delay,  Marshall  got  his  passports  on  April  16, 
and  Pinckney,  after  experiencing  much  discour 
tesy,  was  permitted  to  stay  for  a  time  in  the 
south  of  France  with  his  daughter,  who  was 
very  ill.  Gerry  was  persuaded  by  Talleyrand 
to  remain.  He  was  expected  to  prove  more 
compliant  than  the  others,  and  might  yet  be 
made  use  of  as  a  conduit  to  introduce  French 
schemes  into  American  minds. 

In  October,  1797,  Adams  expressed  his  fear 
that  little  immediate  advantage  could  be  ex 
pected  from  this  embassy,  unless  it  should  be 
"  quickened  by  an  embargo."  On  January  24, 
1798,  he  propounded  sundry  queries  to  the 
heads  of  departments.  He  had  already  fore 
seen  as  among  the  possibilities  precisely  what 
occurred,  viz. :  the  failure  of  the  mission,  and 
the  departure  from  Paris  of  two  envoys  while 
the  third  remained  abroad.  In  this  case,  he 
asked,  what  new  recommendation  should  be 
made  ?  Should  a  declaration  of  war  be  advised 
or  suggested?  Should  an  embargo  be  recom 
mended?  The  reply  of  McHenry  is  supposed 


THE  PRESIDENCY  279 

by  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams,  with  probable  correct 
ness,  to  embody  the  views  of  Hamilton,  Picker 
ing,  and  Wolcott.  It  proposed  that  merchant 
vessels  should  be  allowed  to  arm  themselves, 
that  the  treaties  with  France  should  be  sus 
pended,  that  the  navy  should  be  increased,  that 
16,000  men  should  be  raised  for  the  army,  with 
a  contingent  increase  of  20,000  more.  In  his 
questions  the  President  had  asked  what  should 
be  done  as  regarded  England ;  "  will  it  not," 
he  said,  showing  by  the  form  of  his  query  his 
own  opinion,  "  be  best  to  remain  silent,  to  await 
overtures  from  her,  to  avoid  a  connection  with 
her,  which  might  subsequently  become  embar 
rassing  ?  "  Pickering  would  have  preferred  a 
close  alliance  with  her,  but  failed  in  his  attempt 
to  secure  Hamilton's  approval  of  the  plan,  and 
therefore  abandoned  it. 

Early  in  March  the  news  came  which  Mr. 
Adams  had  feared,  and  to  some  extent  had  pre 
pared  for.  On  March  5  the  President  commu 
nicated  to  Congress  a  dispatch  announcing  the 
failure  of  the  mission  ;  and  a  few  days  later, 
having  deciphered  the  accompanying  dispatches, 
he  sent  a  supplementary  message,  saying  that 
all  hope  of  accommodation  was  for  the  present 
at  an  end.  He  therefore  advised  continuance 
in  the  preparations  for  a  war  which,  though 
he  did  not  advise  declaring  it,  must  yet  be 


280  JOHN  ADAMS 

regarded  as  not  unlikely  to  ensue.  Many  luke 
warm  Democrats,  disappointed  and  irritated  by 
the  persistent  insolence  of  the  Directory,  now 
abandoned  their  political  allegiance;  but  the 
main  body  of  the  party,  reposing  a  wise  and 
perfect  trust  in  Jefferson,  that  most  shrewd, 
patient,  politic,  and  constant  of  leaders,  re 
mained  unshaken  in  their  sentiments.  Whether 
the  price  of  friendship  with  France  were  greater 
or  less,  they  thought  that  it  should  be  paid  and 
the  inestimable  purchase  completed.  One  of 
their  number  introduced  into  the  House  of  */ 
Representatives  a  resolution  that  it  was  inex 
pedient  to  resort  to  war  with  France.  The 
Federalists  of  all  shades  of  opinion  united  in 
opposition  to  this.  A  fierce  and  prolonged^ 
debate  ensued,  of  "which  the  issue  was  very 
doubtful,  when  it  was  suddenly  cut  short  by  a 
motion  from  the  Federalist  side,  made,  as  it  was 
understood,  at  the  instigation  of  Hamilton,  call 
ing  on  the  President  for  full  copies  of  all  the 
dispatches.  This  was  carried,  of  course  ;  and 
the  President,  well  pleased  with  the  demand,  at 
once  sent  in  the  documents,  complete  in  every 
respect  save  that  he  had  substituted  the  letters 
W.  X.  Y.  and  Z.  for  the  names  of  the  emissa 
ries  engaged  in  the  attempt  to  arrange  the  bribes 
for  Talleyrand  and  the  Directory.  Otherwise 
the  whole  story  of  that  infamy  was  spread  out 


THE  PRESIDENCY  281 

before  Congress  and  the  country,  without  color 
ing  or  curtailment. 

Amazement  and  wrath  burst  forth  on  every 
side.  A  great  wave  of  indignation  against  the 
venal  government,  which  had  offered  itself  for 
sale  like  a  drove  of  bullocks,  swept  over  the 
land,  submerging  all  but  the  most  strong-limbed 
Democrats.  These  sturdy  partisans,  struggling 
in  the  swirl,  confused,  enraged,  cried  out  half 
in  anger,  half  in  despair,  for  time,  only  a 'little 
time  to  breathe,  to  rally,  to  reflect.  If  for  a 
brief  while  the  country  could  be  held  back  from 
actually  committing  itself  to  hostilities,  Jefferson 
foresaw  that  the  storm  would  subside.  Then 
multitudes  of  his  scared  followers  would  drift 
back  again  and  would  adopt  his  theory,  con 
demning  Talleyrand  personally,  but  thinking  no 
ill  of  the  great  French  nation.  The  respite, 
however,  was  uncertain  ;  the  times  were  critical. 
In  opposition  to  the  tricolor  Federalists  wore 
in  the  streets  a  black  cockade,  provocative  of 
fights,  even  of  mobs.  Crowds  sang  lustily  the 
new  patriotic  ditty  of  "  Hail  Columbia."  Wher 
ever  two  or  three  persons  were  gathered  together 
under  any  name  or  for  any  purpose,  from  state 
legislatures  down  to  boys  in  college,  they  drew 
up  an  address,  full  of  patriotism  and  encourage 
ment,  and  sent  it  to  Mr.  Adams.  Never  was  a 
President  so  deafened  with  declarations  of  loy<- 


282  JOHN  ADAMS 

alty  and  support.  He  composed  answers  to 
them  all,  and  was  doubtless  glad  to  get  them, 
though  sometimes  tempted  to  think  that  the 
pens  of  his  well-wishers  were  a  trifle  over-nu 
merous.  Fortunately,  amid  all  the  turmoil  and 
excitement  he  kept  his  power  of  cool  reflection 
fairly  well.  He  recognized  the  facts  not  only- 
that  war  would  be  a  national  misfortune,  but 
that  in  the  present  stage  of  the  quarrel  there 
was  no  sufficiently  powerful  war  party  to  justify 
declaring  it,  the  body  of  persons  who  really 
wished  for  a  war  and  who  could  be  counted 
upon  long  to  remain  of  that  mind  being,  in 
spite  of  appearances,  not  large.  He  said  this 
many  years  afterwards,  and  undoubtedly  he 
judged  correctly.  He  made  only  one  mistake, 
and  that  ultimately  embarrassed  only  himself. 

In  the  middle  of  June,  1798,  Marshall  arrived 
at  home,  bringing  with  him  the  latest  news  and 
many  details.  The  President  at  once  recalled 
poor  Gerry,  now  overwhelmed  with  abuse  and 
unpopularity,  and  sent  a  message  to  Congress 
communicating  that  fact,  together  with  all  that 
Marshall  had  brought  to  his  knowledge.  He 
concluded  with  the  famous  and  unfortunate 
sentence:  "I  will  never  send  another  minister 
to  France  without  assurances  that  he  will  be 
received,  respected,  and  honored,  as  the  repre 
sentative  of  a  great,  free,  independent,  and 


THE  PRESIDENCY  283 

powerful  nation."  This  bit  of  foolish  and  super 
fluous  rodomontade,  characteristically  escaping 
from  the  too  ready  lips  of  Mr.  Adams,  afterward 
caused  him  some  annoyance.  It  can  only  be 
said  that  he  was  not  singular  in  overleaping 
the  limits  of  strict  discretion  in  those  wild  days, 
when  indeed  there  was  no  man  concerned  in 
public  affairs  who  did  not  give  his  detractors 
some  fair  opportunity  for  severe  criticism,  if  he 
were  judged  according  to  the  cold  standard  of 
perfect  wisdom. 

The  two  grand  blunders  of  the  Federal  party 
were  committed  in  these  same  moments  of  heat 
and  blindness ;  these  were  the  famous  Alien 
and  Sedition  Acts.  No  one  has  ever  been  able 
heartily  or  successfully  to  defend  these  foolish 
outbursts  of  ill-considered  legislation,  which 
have  to  be  abandoned,  by  tacit  general  consent, 
to  condemnation.  Every  biographer  has  en 
deavored  to  clear  the  fame  of  his  own  hero  from 
any  complicity  in  the  sorry  business,  until  it  has 
come  to  pass  that,  if  all  the  evidence  that  has 
been  adduced  can  be  believed,  these  statutes 
were  foundlings,  veritable  filii  nullius,  for  whom 
no  man  was  responsible.  But  Mr.  Adams,  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  did  not  strangle  these 
children  of  folly  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  set  his 
signature  upon  them ;  a  little  later  he  even 
expressed  a  "  fear "  that  the  Alien  Act  would 


284  JOHN   ADAMS 

not  "  upon  trial  be  found  adequate  to  the  object 
intended ;  "  and  many  years  afterward,  by  which 
time  certainly  he  ought  to  have  been  wiser,  he 
declared,  without  repentance,  that  he  had  be 
lieved  them  to  be  "  constitutional  and  salutary, 
if  not  necessary." 

But  this  summer  and  autumn  of  1798  were 
signalized  by  a  matter  much  more  unfortunate 
in  its  consequences  for  Adams  personally  than 
the  rash  utterance  of  an  intention  which  was 
in  itself  perfectly  proper,  or  than  the  signature 
of  some  ill-advised  enactments.  He  was  obliged 
to  nominate  officers  for  the  provisional  army, 
and  in  doing  this  he  unintentionally  and  with 
no  fault  on  his  own  part  stirred  up  much  ill 
feeling  and  resentment.  Washington,  as  lieu 
tenant-general,  was  of  course  to  be  commaiider- 
in-chief.  Of  this  no  one  questioned  the  pro 
priety;  neither  could  fault  be  found  with  the 
concessions  by  which  his  acceptance  was  obtained, 
to  wit :  that  he  should  not  be  called  into  active 
service  until  the  need  should  be  imperative,  and 
that  he  should  be  permitted  to  select  the  general 
officers  who  were  to  serve  in  the  next  grade 
below  him.  He  promptly  named  Hamilton,  C. 
C.  Pinckney,  and  Knox.  Adams  accepted  the 
names  without  demur,  and  nominated  them  to 
the  Senate  together,  in  this  order.  Upon  the 
same  day  and  in  the  same  order  the  nomina- 


THE  PRESIDENCY  285 

tions  were  ratified.  But  forthwith  there  arose 
a  perplexing  question  :  what  was  the  precedence 
between  these  three  major  -  generals  ?  The 
friends  of  Hamilton  said  that  it  was  established 
by  the  order  of  nomination  and  of  ratification. 
Others  said  that  it  was  determined  by  the  rela 
tive  rank  of  the  three  in  their  former  service, 
that  is  to  say,  in  the  Revolutionary  army.  The 
latter  rule  seemed  to  be  sustained  by  precedent ; 
but,  if  adopted,  it  would  make  the  essential 
change  of  putting  Knox  first  and  Hamilton 
third.  Hamilton,  however,  had  made  up  his 
inind  to  stand  next  to  Washington,  and  his 
powerful  following  were  resolved  upon  the  same 
arrangement.  There  is  not  room  to  give  the 
details  of  a  competition  which  evolved  infinite 
bitterness,  and  left  behind  it  malignant  jealous 
ies  and  inextinguishable  feuds.  Adams  was  de 
cidedly  inclined  against  the  pretensions  of  Ham 
ilton  ;  he  professed  respect  for  the  precedents  ; 
he  said  that  he  did  not  wish  to  hurt  the  feelings 
of  Knox ;  he  did  not  say,  though  doubtless  he 
could  have  said  with  truth,  that  he  did  not  care 
to  confer  on  Hamilton  a  marked  distinction  of 
very  doubtful  propriety.  But  he  soon  found 
that,  whether  he  was  willing  or  unwilling,  he 
must  perforce  do  this  especial  favor.  Washing 
ton  expressed  his  desire  to  have  Hamilton 
second  to  himself,  and  his  wish  was  conclusive 


286  JOHN  ADAMS 

in  the  premises.  Adams  finally  was  compelled 
to  yield,  though  with  no  good  grace,  to  a  pres 
sure  which  he  could  not  resist.  He  never  fully 
understood  what  machinery  had  been  devised 
to  create  that  pressure ;  but  the  whole  story 
has  since  been  told.  Admirers  of  Hamilton 
and  friends  of  Adams  still  wrangle  about  it. 
The  former  say  that  Hamilton's  preeminent 
ability  gave  him  a  substantial  right  to  the 
place,  and  that  Washington  needed  not  to  be 
prompted  by  any  one  to  express  emphatically 
his  genuine  preference.  The  latter  say  that 
Washington  was  worked  upon  by  Hamilton 
himself,  by  Pickering  and  by  Wolcott,  secretly 
and  artfully,  in  a  manner  at  least  unbecoming 
in  the  principal,  and  little  short  of  dishonorable 
in  the  two  office-holding  assistants.  As  usual  in 
bitter  personal  quarrels,  the  truth  lies  between 
the  two  sides.  Washington  undoubtedly  had 
an  independent  preference  for  Hamilton ;  he 
was  also  probably  led  to  put  it  in  the  shape  of 
a  positive  ultimatum  by  representations  which 
ought  not  to  have  come  privately  from  the  mem 
bers  of  the  President's  cabinet.  As  matters 
turned  out,  the  affair  was  unfortunate  for  all 
concerned.  The  rank  did  Hamilton  no  sub 
stantial  good,  since  the  army  never  even  got 
into  camp ;  but  the  burning  dislike  between  him 
and  Adams  was  blown  into  a  fiercer  flame,  in 


THE  PRESIDENCY  287 

which  the  good  name  of  each  was  badly  singed. 
Neither  did  it  bode  any  good  for  the  Federal 
party  that  its  chief  men  were  largely  concerned 
with  quarrels  among  themselves,  while  so  watch 
ful,  autocratic,  and  masterly  a  politician  as  Jef 
ferson  was  disciplining  the  united  forces  of  the 
Democrats  in  the  opposite  camp. 

The  French  government,  at  this  time  per 
fectly  unprincipled,  and  conducting  affairs  with 
reckless,  hectoring  insolence,  would  gladly  have 
cajoled  or  terrified  the  United  States  into  an 
alliance ;  failing  in  this,  they  intended  to  give 
Frenchmen  chances  to  get  as  much  as  possible 
in  the  way  of  pickings  and  stealings  from 
American  merchants.  But  fortunately  the  Di 
rectory  had  no  desire  for  actual  war  with  a 
remote  people,  quite  out  of  the  line  of  European 
ambition  and  politics.  Thus  Talleyrand,  had 
held  Gerry  in  Paris  as  a  sort  of  door  for  retreat 
when  he  should  find  that  he  had  gone  danger 
ously  far.  Matters  standing  thus,  the  great 
French  minister  was  astounded  and  not  a  little 
mortified  at  the  publication  of  his  disgrace  in 
the  X  Y  Z  dispatches.  Of  course  he  denied 
that  he  had  known  anything  about  the  propo 
sals  for  bribery,  but  of  course  also  he  knew 
that  no  one  really  believed  a  word  of  his  pro 
testations.  In  his  irritation  at  his  humiliating 
position,  feeling  himself  an  object  of  ridicule 


288  JOHN  ADAMS 

as  he  stood  exposed  in  his  vulgar  and  disap 
pointed  rascality,  he  berated  poor  Gerry  in  a 
most  outrageous  manner.  But  Gerry  had 
spirit  and  honesty,  and  retorted.  Talleyrand, 
thus  checked,  quickly  recovered  his  wonted 
audacious  self-possession,  appreciated  the  exi 
gencies  of  the  situation,  and  saw  the  best  way 
out  of  it.  There  had  been  a  great  mistake,  he 
said,  a  farrago  of  lies,  an  astonishing  misun 
derstanding  ;  the  Americans  ought  not  to  be 
so  angry  ;  they  were  under  a  singular  delusion  ; 
France  felt  very  kindly  towards  the  United 
States,  only  wanted  peace  and  friendship,  would 
receive  ministers  with  pleasure,  and  in  a  word 
was  in  the  very  most  amiable  of  humors.  He 
wished  to  use  Gerry  as  a  means  of  conveying 
these  views  to  the  American  government;  but 
Gerry,  unpopular  and  suspected,  was  likely  to 
be  altogether  inadequate  to  this  purpose.  An 
other  channel,  therefore,  was  found  in  Monsieur 
Pichon,  French  minister  at  the  Hague,  who 
was  instructed  to  make  advances  to  Vans  Mur 
ray,  the  American  minister.  These  commu 
nications  Murray  at  once  repeated  in  private 
letters  to  Mr.  Adams.  At  the  beginning  of 
October,  1798,  Gerry  was  back  in  Boston,  and 
told  Mr.  Adams,  who  by  the  way  had  not  lost 
confidence  in  him,  what  Talleyrand  had  said 
to  him.  A  few  days  later  Vans  Murray's  first 


THE  PRESIDENCY  289 

letter,  mentioning   the   approaches   of   Pichon, 
came  to  hand. 

Beneath  these  influences,  on  October  20,  the 
President  wrote  to  Pickering  concerning  cer 
tain  "  things  which  deserve  to  be  maturely  con 
sidered  before  the  meeting  of  Congress,"  and 
upon  which  Mr.  Adams  wished  "  to  obtain  the 
advice  of  the  heads  of  departments."  His  first 
query  was :  Should  he  recommend  a  declara 
tion  of  war?  The  next:  "Whether  in  the 
speech  the  President  may  not  say  that,  in  order 
to  keep  open  the  channels  of  negotiation,  it  ia 
his  intention  to  nominate  a  minister  to  the 
French  republic,  who  may  be  ready  to  embark 
for  France  as  soon  as  he  or  the  President  shall 
receive  from  the  Directory  satisfactory  assur 
ances  that  he  shall  be  received  and  entitled  to 
all  the  prerogatives  and  privileges  of  the  gen 
eral  law  of  nations,  and  that  a  minister  of  equal 
rank  and  powers  shall  be  appointed  and  com 
missioned  to  treat  with  him?"  Upon  receipt 
of  this  very  unwelcome  suggestion,  the  cabi 
net  ministers,  according  to  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams, 
"  called  together  a  council  of  their  leading 
friends,  including  the  military  generals  hap 
pening  to  be  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  Wash 
ington,1  Hamilton,  and  Pinckney,  where  they 

1  Mr.  Adams  says :  "  There  is  no  evidence  yet  before  the 
world  that  General  Washington  actually  took  part  in  the 
consultation." 


290  JOHN    ADAMS 

matured  the  language  of  a  draft  intended  for 
the  use  of  Mr.  Adams  in  his  opening  speech." 
Upon  the  President's  arrival  at  the  end  of  No 
vember  this  paper  was  presented  to  him,  as 
embodying  the  views  of  his  cabinet  in  response 
to  his  interrogatories.  It  pleased  him  so  well 
that  he  adopted  it  with  the  exception  of  a  single 
clause ;  but  it  so  happened  that  in  that  clause 
the  marrow  and  chief  importance  of  the  whole 
document  lay.  For  it  contained  these  words: 
"But  the  sending  another  minister  to  make 
a  new  attempt  at  negotiation  would,  in  my 
opinion,1  be  an  act  of  humiliation  to  which 
the  United  States  ought  not  to  submit  without 
extreme  necessity.  No  such  necessity  exists. 
...  If  France  shall  send  a  minister  to  nego 
tiate,  he  will  be  received  with  honor  and  treated 
with  candor."  Now  it  so  happened  that  "  my 
opinion,"  thus  offered  ready-made  to  Mr.  Ad 
ams,  was  far  from  being  held  by  him.  On  the 
contrary,  he  thought  that,  under  certain  circum 
stances,  another  minister  might  be  sent  without 
humiliation  ;  should  those  circumstances  come  to 
pass  he  intended  to  send  a  minister ;  and  he  was 
not  ready  to  say  that  reconciliation  could  only 

1  See  this  quotation  in  C.  F.  Adams's  Life  of  John  Adams, 
octavo  ed.  p.  536  ;  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  says  that  Gibbs  gives  it 
wrongly,  by  omitting  the  words  "  in  my  opinion."  See  Gibbs's 
Administrations  of  Washington  and  Adams,  ii.  171. 


THE   PRESIDENCY  291 

be  effected  if  France  would  take  the  initiative 
and  herself  dispatch  the  next  envoy.  So  he 
struck  out  this  passage,  which  set  forth  the 
views  of  his  secretaries,  and  inserted  in  its  place 
a  long  exposition  of  his  own  very  different 
notions.  His  clauses  are  so  framed  as  not  only 
to  express  but  to  explain  and  vindicate  his  pol 
icy  ;  and,  long  as  they  are,  they  are  so  impor 
tant  that  they  must  be  quoted  in  full.  He 
said :  — 

"  But  in  demonstrating  by  our  conduct  that  we  do 
not  fear  war  in  the  necessary  protection  of  our  rights 
and  honor,  we  shall  give  no  room  to  infer  that  we 
abandon  the  desire  of  peace.  An  efficient  preparation 
for  war  can  alone  insure  peace.  It  is  peace  that  we 
have  uniformly  and  perseveringly  cultivated ;  and  har 
mony  between  us  and  France  may  be  restored  at  her 
option.  But  to  send  another  minister  without  more 
determined  assurances  that  he  would  be  received, 
would  be  an  act  of  humiliation  to  which  the  United 
States  ought  not  to  submit.  It  must  therefore  be  left 
to  France,  if  she  is  indeed  desirous  of  accommodation, 
to  take  the  requisite  steps. 

"  The  United  States  will  steadily  observe  the  max 
ims  by  which  they  have  hitherto  been  governed . 
They  will  respect  the  sacred  rights  of  embassy.  And 
with  a  sincere  disposition  on  the  part  of  France  to 
desist  from  hostility,  to  make  reparation  for  the  in 
juries  heretofore  inflicted  upon  our  commerce,  and  to 
do  justice  in  the  future,  there  will  be  no  obstacle  to 


292  JOHN  ADAMS 

the  restoration  of  a  friendly  intercourse.  In  making 
to  you  this  declaration,  I  give  a  pledge  to  France  and 
to  the  world  that  the  executive  authority  of  this  coun 
try  still  adheres  to  the  humane  and  pacific  policy 
which  has  invariably  governed  its  proceedings,  in  con 
formity  with  the  wishes  of  the  other  branches  of  the 
government,  and  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
But  considering  the  late  manifestations  of  her  policy 
towards  foreign  nations,  I  deem  it  a  duty  deliberately 
and  solemnly  to  declare  my  opinion,  that,  whether  we 
negotiate  with  her  or  not,  vigorous  preparations  for 
war  will  be  alike  indispensable.  These  alone  will 
give  us  an  equal  treaty  and  insure  its  observance." 

These  were  the  outlines  of  an  excellent  policy. 
For  any  one  who  knew  the  President  knew  well 
that  he  meant  all  that  he  said,  that  he  would 
get  ready  for  war  thoroughly,  and  that  he  would 
make  it  in  earnest,  when  it  should  become  neces 
sary.  There  was  enough  spirit,  resentment,  and 
vigor  in  the  message  to  satisfy  any  man  who 
could  subordinate  his  temper  to  his  good  sense. 
There  was  much  more  of  real  dignity  in  this 
self-control,  evidently  not  growing  out  of  pusil 
lanimity,  than  there  would  have  been  in  flying 
into  a  counter-rage  against  France.  In  the 
comparison  between  the  two  governments,  the 
American  certainly  appeared  entitled  to  much 
more  respect  for  good  sense,  and  to  not  less  for 
courage.  Mr.  Adams  showed  the  happy  mixture 


THE  PRESIDENCY  293 

of  moderation  and  resolution  which  indicates  the 
highest  stage  of  civilization  to  which  mankind 
has  yet  come  in  international  relationship.  But 
these  traits  did  not  commend  themselves  at 
the  time  to  the  Hamiltonian  Federalists.  They 
wanted  what  in  the  present  day  is  called  a 
"  strong  policy,"  so  "  strong "  that  it  would 
almost  surely  have  ended  in  a  war,  in  which  the 
country  would  have  been  overwhelmed  with  dis 
aster,  in  attempting  to  preserve  that  crude  kind 
of  honor  cherished  by  knights-errant,  duelists, 
and  pugilists.  Having  substantially  this  aim 
in  view,  though  it  must  be  confessed  that  they 
would  not  have  accepted  precisely  this  formula 
tion  of  it,  they  were  made  very  angry  by  Mr. 
Adams's  message,  and  by  his  rejection  of  the 
words  which  they  had  so  conveniently  and  con 
siderately  got  ready  for  him.  They  even  fell 
into  such  a  frame  of  mind  as  to  fancy  that  he 
had  no  political  right  to  do  as  he  had  done. 
They  conceived  that  in  their  conference  they 
had  established  the  policy  of  the  party,  and  they 
did  not  think  that  Mr.  Adams,  simply  because 
he  was  President,  had  a  right  through  his  own 
sole  and  individual  action  to  make  a  fundamen 
tal  change  in  that  policy.  But  Mr.  Adams 
utterly  ignored  party  discipline.  His  own  con 
victions  were  the  sole  and  immutable  law  of  his 
own  actions. 


294  JOHN  ADAMS 

During  the  winter  of  1798-99  Mr.  Adams 
received  more  letters  from  Vans  Murray,  which, 
with  some  corroborating  information,  strength 
ened  his  faith  in  the  willingness  of  France  to 
meet  any  advance  on  his  part  towards  a  renewal 
of  negotiations.  At  length,  apparently  early  in 
February,  1799,  he  received  a  letter  from  Mur 
ray,  inclosing  an  official  dispatch  from  Tal 
leyrand  to  Pichon,  in  which  occurred  these 
words :  "  D'apres  ces  bases,  vous  avez  eu  raison 
d'avancer  que  tout  plenipotentiaire  que  le  gou- 
vernement  des  Etats  Unis  enverra  en  France, 
pour  terminer  les  diiferends  qui  subsistent  entre 
les  deux  pays,  serait  incontestablement  recu 
avec  les  egards  dus  au  representant  d'une  na 
tion  libre,  independente  et  puissante." 

This  gave  Mr.  Adams  a  sufficient  basis  for 
action.  More  than  this,  as  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams 
puts  the  case  not  unfairly,  it  imposed  upon  him 
a  serious  responsibility ;  for  it  was  a  semi-offi 
cial  notification  to  him  that  France,  falling  at 
last  into  a  penitent  humor,  desired  to  be  ad 
dressed  again  in  the  way  of  negotiation.  If  he, 
in  a  distant  and  haughty  temper,  should  hold 
aloof  before  this  advance,  and  if  then  war 
should  ultimately  ensue,  he  might  well  feel 
that  he  had  precipitated  a  terrible  evil  from  no 
better  motive  than  an  over-strained  sense  of 
pride.  Moreover,  when  the  facts  should  become 


THE   PRESIDENCY  295 

known,  as  they  inevitably  must,  the  Democratic 
party,  even  now  powerful,  would  be  greatly 
strengthened  by  being  able  to  say  that  French 
overtures  had  been  rejected.  The  moderate 
men  who  had  lately  oscillated  from  Democracy 
to  Federalism  would  oscillate  back  again  from 
Federalism  to  Democracy.  What  chance  would 
there  then  be  of  conducting  successfully  a  war 
with  France,  when  a  large  party  would  be  bit 
terly  opposed  to  it,  and  another  large  body,  the 
two  together  making  more  than  half  of  the  na 
tion,  would  be  at  best  lukewarm?  Mr.  Adams 
felt  no  need  of  aid  in  order  to  determine  upon 
his  course.  With  a  cool  independence,  unusual 
then  or  since  upon  the  part  of  a  president,  and 
not  perfectly  in  accord  with  the  sentiment  of 
the  American  system  of  government,  though 
strictly  lawful  under  the  Constitution,  he  dis 
pensed  with  the  form  of  consulting  his  cabinet, 
whose  advice  he  had  good  reason  to  feel  assured 
would  not  accord  with  his  own,  and  therefore 
would  not  be  followed.  On  February  18,  1799, 
he  sent  in  to  the  Senate  the  nomination  of  Vans 
Murray  to  be  minister  to  France,  premising,  how 
ever,  that  Murray  should  not  present  himself  in 
Paris  until  the  French  government  should  give 
a  public  and  official  assurance  that  they  would 
receive  the  envoy  in  character,  and  would  appoint 
a  minister  of  equal  rank  to  treat  with  him. 


296  JOHN  ADAMS 

The  message  fell  like  lightning  from  a  clear 
sky  among  the  Federalists.  Pickering  hastened 
to  send  the  news  to  Hamilton.  "We  have  all 
been  shocked  and  grieved  at  the  nomination  of 
a  minister  to  negotiate  with  France.  ...  I  beg 
you  to  be  assured  that  it  is  wholly  his  [the 
President's]  own  act,  without  any  participation 
or  communication  with  any  of  us.  ...  The 
foundation  of  this  fatal  nomination  of  Mr.  Mur 
ray  was  laid  in  the  President's  speech  at  the 
opening  of  Congress.  He  peremptorily  deter 
mined  (against  our  unanimous  opinions)  to 
leave  open  the  door  for  the  degrading  and  mis 
chievous  measure  of  sending  another  minister 
to  France,  even  without  waiting  for  direct  over 
tures  from  her." 

"  I  have  neither  time  nor  inclination,"  Sedg- 
wick  wrote  to  Hamilton  concerning  the  mes 
sage,  "  to  detail  all  the  false  and  insidious  de 
clarations  it  contains.  .  .  .  Had  the  foulest  heart 
and  the  ablest  head  in  the  world  been  permitted 
to  select  the  most  embarrassing  and  ruinous 
measure,  perhaps  it  would  have  been  precisely 
the  one  which  has  been  adopted.  In  the  di 
lemma  to  which  we  are  reduced,  whether  we 
approve  or  reject  the  nomination,  evils  only, 
certain,  great,  but  in  extent  incalculable,  pre 
sent  themselves."  Angry  and  astonished,  the 
Hamiltonian  wing  of  the  party  knew  not  at  first 


THE   PRESIDENCY  297 

what  to  do,  and  then  in  their  confusion  did  a 
very  strange  thing.  The  committee  to  whom  the 
nomination  was  referred,  consisting  of  five  Fed 
eralists,  called  on  the  President  to  demand  rea 
sons  and  insist  on  alterations.  Sedgwick,  the 
chairman,  a  thoroughgoing  partisan  of  Ham 
ilton,  admitted  that  this  proceeding  was  an 
"  infraction  of  correct  principles ;  "  Mr.  Adams 
declared  that  it  was  unconstitutional,  a  word 
perhaps  somewhat  too  powerful  for  the  occasion. 
It  was  finally  agreed  that  the  interview  should 
be  strictly  unofficial,  and  then  the  gentlemen 
talked  the  business  over  together.  Mr.  Adams 
said,  according  to  Sedgwick's  statement,  "that 
to  defend  the  Executive  from  oligarchic  influ 
ence  it  was  indispensable  that  he  should  insist 
on  a  decision  on  the  nomination;"  that  he  would 
"  neither  withdraw  nor  modify  the  nomination  ;  " 
but,  if  it  should  be  negatived,  he  "  would  pro 
pose  a  commission,  two  of  the  members  of  which 
should  be  gentlemen  within  the  United  States." 
The  visitors  retired  in  a  bad  temper.  A  meet 
ing  of  Federalist  senators  was  held ;  and  it  was 
agreed  that,  whatever  they  might  ultimately  be 
compelled  to  do,  they  would  at  least,  in  the  first 
instance,  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  rejecting  Vans 
Murray.  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  acknowledges  that 
there  were  objections  against  him,  "  such  as  sen 
ators  might  legitimately  entertain,  and  as  were 


298  JOHN  ADAMS 

not  without  intrinsic  weight."  But  the  Presi 
dent  stole  a  second  march  upon  the  irritated 
enemies  who  were  preparing  obstacles  for  his 
path.  At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Senate  Sedg- 
wick  was  asked  to  hold  back  his  report  because 
the  President  had  another  message  ready.  This 
was  at  once  delivered ;  it  nominated  three  per 
sons:  Chief  Justice  Oliver  Ellsworth,  Patrick 
Henry,  and  Vans  Murray  to  be  joint  commis 
sioners  to  France.  Hamilton,  meanwhile,  in 
reply  to  the  news  of  Vans  Murray's  nomina 
tion,  had  written  to  Sedgwick  that  "  the  measure 
must  go  into  effect  with  the  additional  idea  of  a 
commission  of  three.  The  mode  must  be  ac 
commodated  with  the  President."  Unwittingly 
Mr.  Adams  had  come  within  the  advantage  of 
Mr.  Hamilton's  dictum;  and  the  discontented 
Federalists,  who  would  readily  have  encountered 
the  President,  yielded  at  once  to  their  real  chief. 
Sedgwick  replied :  "  This  is  everything  which, 
under  the  circumstances,  could  be  done."  The 
nominations  were  confirmed,  and,  oddly  enough, 
the  confirmation  of  Murray  alone  was  by  a  unan 
imous  vote.  Henry  declined  on  the  score  of  age 
and  infirmity,  and  Governor  Davie,  of  North 
Carolina,  was  appointed  in  his  stead. 

The  sole  chance  now  left  to  the  "  Anglicist  " 
Federalists  was  in  the  possible  fruits  of  delay. 
The  President,  feeling  that  reaction  which  fol- 


THE  PRESIDENCY  299 

lows  extreme  tension,  tarried  in  Philadelphia 
only  long  enough  to  determine  the  brief  and 
simple  ultimata  of  the  instructions  for  the  com 
missioners.  Then  he  went  home  for  rest  and 
vacation  at  Quincy.  On  March  6  Pickering 
wrote  to  Vans  Murray,  stating  what  had  been 
done,  and  that  Ellsworth  and  Davie  would  em 
bark  immediately  upon  receipt  of  the  official 
promise  that  they  should  be  properly  received 
and  admitted  to  negotiations.  Early  in  May 
Murray  received  the  dispatch,  and  communi 
cated  its  substance  to  Talleyrand.  That  min 
ister  at  once  gave  the  required  assurance  for 
mally  and  officially  ;  but,  unable  altogether  to 
restrain  his  irritation,  he  delivered  himself  also 
of  some  insulting  criticism  to  the  general  pur 
port  that  the  conduct  of  the  Americans  had 
been  disingenuous  and  captious.  On  July  30 
these  papers  reached  Pickering,  and  he  imme 
diately  transmitted  them  to  Mr.  Adams  at 
Quincy,  calling  especial  attention  to  the  injuri 
ous  language.  But  Adams,  looking  to  the  sub 
stance  and  not  permitting  himself  to  be  too 
greatly  incensed  by  mere  impertinence,  directed 
that  the  instructions  should  be  got  ready.  Ap 
parently  it  was  nearly  five  weeks  before  this 
order  was  fulfilled ;  and  when  at  last  the  draft 
reached  Mr.  Adams,  it  came  inclosed  in  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Pickering  intimating  that  in  view  of 


300  JOHN  ADAMS 

recent  political  changes  in  France,  including 
resignation  of  Talleyrand,  the  cabinet  sug 
gested  delay.  Mr.  Adams  replied  that  he  was 
quite  willing  to  assent  to  a  postponement  until 
the  middle  or  end  of  October.  By  October  10 
he  was  at  Trenton,  the  temporary  seat  of  govern 
ment. 

Matters  there  were  not  pleasant.  He  was  ill 
and  in  poor  condition  for  an  encounter,  yet  he 
found  the  opponents  of  his  policy  gathered  to 
resist  it.  There  were  assembled  his  three  sec 
retaries,  all  stubbornly  hostile  to  the  mission ; 
Hamilton  soon  arrived,  and  at  their  invitation 
Ellsworth  also  appeared  upon  the  scene,  giving 
his  influence  with  much  caution  and  reserve, 
but,  such  as  it  was,  giving  it  to  the  opposition. 
There  came  news,  too,  just  at  this  juncture,  of 
disasters  to  the  French  arms.  The  Hamiltoni- 
ans  triumphantly  foretold  that  a  few  days  would 
bring  the  glad  intelligence  that  the  French  king 
was  enjoying  his  own  again  in  the  royal  palaces 
of  Paris.  Mr.  Adams  listened  in  an  unusually 
silent  and  tranquil  temper.  On  October  15,  in 
the  evening,  he  summoned  a  cabinet  meeting, 
at  which  he  brought  up  for  discussion  two  or 
three  points  in  the  instructions,  which  were 
easily  settled.  He  gave  no  more  indication 
that  he  was  about  to  take  a  decisive  step  than 
he  had  given  before  sending  in  Vans  Murray's 


THE   PRESIDENCY  301 

nomination.  Nevertheless,  two  of  the  secre 
taries  "  received  before  breakfast "  on  the  follow 
ing  morning  orders  that  the  instructions  should 
be  at  once  put  in  final  shape,  and  that  a  frigate 
should  be  got  in  readiness  to  take  the  commis 
sioners  on  board  not  later  than  November  1. 
They  actually  set  sail  on  November  5. 

This  French  mission  was  the  death-blow  of 

U_,_ji  . 

the  Federalist  party.  The  political  body  was 
rent  in  twain  ;  the  two  parts  remained  belted 
together  by  their  common  name,  but  no  longer 
instinct  with  a  common  vitality.  It  had  been 
a  very  grand  party,  an  organization  full  of 
brains  and  vigor,  a  brotherhood  embracing  a 
remarkable  number  of  able  and  honest  men  ;  it 
had  achieved  deeds  so  great  as  to  outstrip  exag 
geration  ;  it  had  given  form  and  coherence  to 
the  political  system,  strength  and  the  power  of 
living  to  the  infant  nation.  A  sad  spectacle  was 
indeed  presented  when  a  party  so  nobly  distin 
guished  lapsed  into  disintegration  and  the  hope 
less  ruin  of  intestine  feuds.  No  wonder  that 
vindictive  rage  possessed  those  men  who  had 
created  it,  who  had  lived  in  it  and  for  it,  who 
had  honestly  and  zealously  served  it,  and  wholly 
identified  themselves  with  it.  Less  than  half 
of  the  party  in  numbers,  but  much  more  than 
half  in  influence,  ability,  and  prominence, 
pointed  to  Mr.  Adams  as  the  parricide  who 


302  JOHN  ADAMS 

had  done  this  cruel  slaying.  This  assertion, 
reiterated  with  furious  clamor  at  the  time,  has 
since  been  adopted  as  an  established  fact  in 
American  history ;  every  one  thinks  that  he 
knows  that  Mr,  Adams  destroyed  the  Federal 
party  by  acting  counter  to  its  policy.  But  who 
had  the  right  to  establish  the  policy  of  the 
party?  Hamilton  had  tacitly  arrogated  it  to 
himself.  When  in  office,  he  had  created  the 
party,  established  its  principles,  formulated  its 
measures,  trained  and  led  its  forces,  and  made 
its  victories  possible ;  since  retiring  to  private 
life,  he  had  counseled  and  controlled  its  leaders. 
A  large  proportion  of  the  most  influential  Fed 
eralists,  in  and  out  of  office,  including  three 
members  of  the  cabinet  and  many  of  the  best 
speakers  of  the  party  in  Congress,  conceived 
that  revolt  against  his  supremacy  was  defection 
from  the  party.  Nevertheless,  in  no  caucus  of 
Federalist  members  of  Congress  could  these 
Hamiltonians  ever  muster  a  majority  against 
Mr.  Adams.  Neither  does  there  seem  any 
doubt  that  upon  a  simple  vote  of  all  the  Feder 
alists  in  the  country,  taken  at  any  time  during 
his  administration,  much  more  than  half  would 
have  sustained  him.  War  with  France  never 
had  been,  never  could  be,  avowed  by  the  Ham- 
iltonian  section  as  a  principle  of  the  party.  On 
the  contrary,  they  professed  to  desire  peace. 


THE   PRESIDENCY  303 

Mr.  Adams  secured  peace  by  a  step  against 
which  they  could  urge  no  graver  objection  than 
that  it  was  not  sufficiently  high-spirited  to  com 
port  with  the  national  dignity.  Then  the  party 
divided,  and  they  said  that  Adams  was  to  blame. 
Their  conclusion  does  not  seem  to  be  fully  sup 
ported  by  the  facts. 

But  the  allotment  of  responsibility  between 
Adams  and  Hamilton  and  the  dispute  as  to 
which  of  them  was  better  entitled  to  establish 
the  party  policy  are  matters  of  vastly  less  im 
portance  than  the  question  upon  which  side 
right  and  wisdom  lay.  This  seems  to  require 
no  discussion  beyond  the  briefest  statement  of 
the  great  facts.  War  was  avoided,  by  means 
which  no  one  now  thinks  of  stigmatizing  as 
degrading.  The  method  was  devised  by  Mr. 
Adams,  and  the  result  was  won  by  his  persist 
ent  adherence  to  that  method.  One  is  inclined 
to  say  that,  if  in  all  this  he  ran  counter  to  the 
policy  of  his  party,  it  was  very  discreditable  to 
the  party  to  have  such  a  policy.  In  fact,  pretty 
much  all  writers  now  agree  that  Adams  behaved 
with  courage,  patriotism,  and  sound  judgment, 
and  that  he  placed  the  country  under  a  great 
debt  of  gratitude  ;  a  debt  which  was  never  paid 
in  his  lifetime,  and  only  since  his  death  has 
been  very  tardily  and  ungraciously  acknow 
ledged. 


304  JOHN  ADAMS 

Whether  or  not  Mr.  Adams  was  a  parricide 
as  towards  his  party,  he  was  certainly  a  suicide 
as  towards  himself.  The  act  of  Curtius  in  leap 
ing  into  the  gulf  to  save  Rome  was  a  more  pic 
turesque  but  not  a  more  unquestionable  deed  of 
patriotic  self-immolation.  From  that  fifth  day 
of  November,  1799,  Mr.  Adams  was  a  doomed 
man.  No  effort  could  now  restore  harmony 
among  the  discordant  ranks  of  the  Federalists. 
For  the  future  all  the  earnest  fighting  on  their 
part  was  done  inside  their  own  camp  and  against 
each  other.  It  is  a  melancholy  and  unprofitable 
story  of  personal  animosities,  which  may  be 
briefly  told. 

That  Mr.  Adams  anticipated  the  results  which 
followed  his  action  is  not  probable.  There  is 
nothing  to  indicate  that  he  had  any  idea  that 
he  was  disrupting  and  destroying  the  Federal 
party.  But  to  his  credit  it  should  also  be  said 
that  there  is  no  indication  that  he  considered 
this  matter  at  all.  Every  particle  of  evidence 
—  at  least  all  which  has  been  published  —  goes 
to  show  that  his  mind  was  wholly  occupied  with 
the  interests  of  the  nation,  to  the  utter  exclusion 
of  any  thought  of  his  party  or  of  himself.  After 
the  irretrievable  ruin  which  overtook  him,  amid 
the  execrations  of  the  Federalists,  who  attrib 
uted  their  utter  destruction  wholly  to  him,  he 
never  gave  a  symptom  of  regret,  never  said  a 


THE  PRESIDENCY  305 

word  except  in  strenuous  support  of  his  action. 
Beyond  question  he  was  too  profoundly  con 
vinced  that  he  was  right  to  be  moved  from  his 
opinion  by  any  consequences  whatsoever.  His 
unchangeable  sentiments  were  those  expressed 
by  him  in  1815,  in  one  of  his  letters  to  James 
Lloyd :  "  I  wish  not  to  fatigue  you  with  too  long 
a  letter  at  once,  but,  sir,  I  will  defend  my  mis 
sions  to  France  as  long  as  I  have  an  eye  to 
direct  my  hand  or  a  finger  to  hold  my  pen. 
They  were  the  most  disinterested  and  meritori 
ous  actions  of  my  life.  I  reflect  upon  them 
with  so  much  satisfaction,  that  I  desire  no  other 
inscription  over  my  gravestone  than :  '  Here  lies 
John  Adams,  who  took  upon  himself  the  respon 
sibility  of  the  peace  with  France  in  the  year 
1800.'  "  Substantially  this  has  been  also  the 
verdict  of  posterity,  and  a  transaction  which  at 
the  time  of  its  occurrence  found  hardly  any 
defender,  now  finds  hardly  any  assailant.  Mod 
ern  writers  of  all  shades  of  opinion  agree  that 
Adams  acted  boldly,  honestly,  wisely,  and  for 
the  best  welfare  of  the  country,  in  a  very  criti 
cal  peril. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  BREAKING  UP 

Semel  insanivimus  omnesf  In  this  chapter 
the  behavior  of  many  wise  and  illustrious  men 
is  to  bear  evidence  to  the  truth  of  this  adage. 
For  madness  certainly  ruled  the  closing  months 
of  Adams's  administration. 

The  foregoing  pages  have  given  glimpses 
rather  than  a  complete  picture  of  the  unhappy 
relationship  existing  between  the  President  and 
three  of  his  secretaries.  Nothing  more  unfor 
tunate  befell  any  one  of  them  throughout  his 
career.  In  the  prosecution  of  the  quarrel  each 
appears  at  his  worst;  Mr.  Adams's  foibles  of 
hot-headedness  and  of  a  vanity  almost  incredible 
in  its  extravagance  stand  out  in  painful  relief. 
Pickering,  Wolcott,  and  McHenry,  honest  men 
all,  do  the  only  ignoble  acts  of  their  lives.  All 
four  seem  crazed  by  prejudice  and  rage.  They 
are  so  bereft  of  all  fair  intelligence  as  utterly 
to  ignore  not  only  the  character  but  the  effect 
of  their  own  acts,  which  run  counter  to  sound 
judgment  even  more  than  to  right  feeling.  By 
the  time  to  which  our  narrative  has  come  the 


THE  BREAKING   UP  307 

secretaries  absolutely  hated  the  President ;  they 
were  in  such  a  state  of  mind  that,  without 
appreciating  it,  they  treated  him  with  thor 
oughly  bad  faith  ;  they  betrayed  all  official  dis 
cussions  to  Hamilton ;  they  sought  and  followed 
Hamilton's  advice.  They  did  this  for  the  pur 
pose  of  gaining  Hamilton's  invaluable  aid  in 
their  opposition  to  their  proper  chief,  and  they 
deceived  themselves  into  a  belief  that  in  thus 
conducting  themselves  they  were  doing  strictly 
right.  Their  vindication  was  that  Adams's 
policy  was  destructive  of  their  party,  and  was 
intrinsically  wrong ;  that  therefore  it  was  their 
duty  to  counteract  it  by  all  the  means  which 
even  their  office  as  his  confidential  advisers  put 
in  their  power.  Their  ethics  were  singular  and 
have  not  generally  been  accepted  as  sound. 
According  to  received  principles,  fair  dealing  to 
Mr.  Adams,  even  justice  to  themselves,  would 
have  led  them  to  resign,  when  they  so  utterly 
differed  from  him  that  their  sole  aim  was  to 
thwart  him.  But  however  this  may  have  been, 
certain  it  is  that  any  decent  sense  of  propriety, 
nay,  for  the  word  must  be  used,  of  honor,  would 
have  led  them  to  refrain  from  communicating 
cabinet  secrets  for  use  against  the  President  by 
his  avowed  enemy.  Mr.  Adams  did  not  know 
what  was  going  on  ;  he  even  went  down  to  his 
grave  ignorant  of  much  of  this  mechanism  by 


308  JOHN  ADAMS 

which  he  had  suffered  so  severely.  But  without 
fully  knowing  the  cause  he  could  dimly  per 
ceive  where  it  lay.  He  wisely  concluded  that 
some  changes  in  the  cabinet  could  be  advan 
tageously  made. 

McHenry  was  the  first  to  go.  He  had  been 
laborious  and  was  in  the  main  a  well-meaning 
and  amiable  man,  but  he  was  notoriously  incom 
petent  for  his  position.  His  wonderfully  ill- 
written  sketch  of  his  parting  interview  with  Mr. 
Adams,  the  only  existing  account  of  a  strange 
scene,  is  worth  repeating  in  full.  On  May  5, 
1800,  the  President  sent  for  him. 

"  The  business  appeared  to  relate  to  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  purveyor.  .  .  .  This  settled,  he  took  up 
other  subjects ;  became  indecorous  and  at  times  out 
rageous.  General  Washington  had  saddled  him  with 
three  secretaries,  Wolcott,  Pickering,  and  myself.  I 
had  not  appointed  a  gentleman  in  North  Carolina,  the 
only  elector  who  had  given  him  a  vote  in  that  state, 
a  captain  in  the  army,  and  afterwards  had  him  ap 
pointed  a  lieutenant,  which  he  refused.  I  had  biased 
General  Washington  to  place  Hamilton  in  his  list  of 
major-generals  before  Knox.  I  had  eulogized  Gen 
eral  Washington  in  my  report  to  Congress,  and  had 
attempted  in  the  same  report  to  praise  Hamilton.  In 
short,  there  was  no  bounds  to  his  jealousy.  I  had 
done  nothing  right.  I  had  advised  a  suspension  of 
the  mission.  Everybody  blamed  me  for  my  official 
conduct,  and  I  must  resign." 


THE  BREAKING   UP  309 

Before  such  a  storm  of  abuse  Me  Henry  went 
down  at  once.  He  "resigned  the  next  morn 
ing."  This  lively  picture  certainly  shows  Mr. 
Adams  in  one  of  his  worst  moods,  mingled  of 
anger,  egotism,  and  that  one  great  foolish  jeal 
ousy  of  his  life,  which  consumed  his  heart  when 
ever  he  heard  the  praises  of  Washington.  His 
grandson  admits,  with  nepotal  gentleness  of 
phrase,  that  he  was  not  upon  this  occasion  either 
considerate  or  dignified ;  but  says  that  he  ap 
peared  to  much  more  advantage  soon  afterward 
in  ridding  himself  of  Pickering.  So  he  did. 
Pickering  richly  deserved  unceremonious  expul 
sion  ;  but  Mr.  Adams  courteously  offered  him 
the  opportunity  to  resign.  It  may  be  admitted 
that  he  probably  would  have  been  much  less 
considerate  had  his  knowledge  of  Pickering's 
behavior  been  less  imperfect.  The  stiff-backed 
and  opinionated  old  Puritan,  full  of  fight  and 
immutable  in  the  conviction  of  his  own  right 
eousness,  refused  to  appear  to  go  voluntarily, 
and  was  thereupon  dismissed.  On  the  whole,  it 
was  probably  fortunate  that  Mr.  Adams  did  not 
know  how  badly  these  gentlemen  had  been  be 
having  towards  him,  or  scenes  of  awful  wrath 
and  appalling  violence  would  have  enlivened  the 
biographic  page. 

The  vacancies  thus  made  were  filled  more 
easily  than  might  have  been  expected.  Mar- 


310  JOHN   ADAMS 

shall,  having  declined  the  position  of  secretary 
of  war,  accepted  that  of  secretary  of  state,  and 
Samuel  Dexter  took  the  war  department.  Wol- 
cott,  who  deserved  to  go  quite  as  much  as  either 
of  the  others,  remained ;  but  he  only  remained 
to  do  further  injury  to  his  own  good  name,  and 
to  enact  a  very  ungenerous  part.  He  had  habit 
ually  spoken  the  President  so  fair  that  he  was 
regarded  by  Mr.  Adams  as  a  friendly  adviser, 
though  very  far  from  really  being  so.  He  now 
continued  for  some  months  longer  to  combine 
external  civility  and  deference  to  the  President 
with  the  function  of  cabinet  -  reporter,  so  to 
speak,  —  and  to  avoid  the  word  spy,  —  for  Mr. 
Hamilton.  In  the  following  November,  amid 
all  the  vexations  which  that  ill-starred  season 
brought  to  Mr.  Adams,  he  sent  in  his  resigna 
tion  to  take  effect  at  the  end  of  the  year,  thus 
leaving  the  President  to  look  for  an  incumbent 
who  would  be  willing  to  hold  the  office  for  two 
months  with  the  certainty,  of  course,  of  being 
superseded  immediately  upon  Jefferson's  acces 
sion.  Yet,  strange  to  say,  Adams  always  felt 
kindly  towards  Wolcott,  and  among  the  last  acts 
of  his  administration  made  him  a  judge.  Never 
to  his  dying  day  did  he  learn  how  false  Wolcott 
had  played  him. 

The  story  went,  at  the  time,  that  Mr.  Adams 
had  turned  out  Pickering  in  order  to  conciliate 


THE   BREAKING  UP  311 

Samuel  and  Robert  Smith  of  Baltimore,  and  to 
gain  their  votes  and  influence  in  the  electoral 
college.  The  malicious  calumny  was  afterward 
abundantly  disproved.  Another  piece  of  hostile 
electioneering  gossip  was  called  forth  by  the 
pardon  of  Fries.  This  man  had  led  the  riots, 
or,  as  some  preferred  to  say,  the  rebellion,  in 
eastern  Pennsylvania,  in  1799.  Twice  he  was 
convicted  of  treason  and  was  sentenced  to  death, 
which  certainly  he  abundantly  deserved.  Mr. 
Adams  pardoned  him,  and  was  at  once  reviled 
as  having  done  so  only  because  it  was  "  a  popu 
lar  act  in  Pennsylvania."  But  such  attacks  as 
these  were  the  most  commonplace  features  of 
this  presidential  campaign  of  1800.  Never  did 
a  political  party  enter  into  such  a  contest  in 
so  sorry  a  condition  as  that  of  the  Federalists. 
Harassing  as  Mr.  Adams  had  found  the  presi 
dency,  he  burned  with  ambition  to  obtain  it 
again.  Before  his  election,  discussing  the  com 
parative  prospects  of  Jefferson,  Jay,  and  him 
self,  he  had  said :  "If  Jefferson  and  Jay  are 
President  and  Vice-President,  as  is  not  improb 
able,  the  other  retires  without  noise,  or  cries,  or 
tears  to  his  farm."  But  circumstances  were  dif 
ferent  now.  He  had  been  pitted  against  bitter 
opponents  in  a  fierce  controversy  of  great  mo 
ment,  which  had  divided  the  country.  It  was 
not  unnatural  that  he  should  desire  a  popular 


312  JOHN  ADAMS 

ratification  of  his  policy.  The  Hamiltonian  sec 
tion,  filled  with  implacable  rage  towards  him, 
contemplated  the  possibility  of  his  success  with 
utter  sickness  at  the  heart.  Could  nothing  be 
done  to  prevent  it?  Could  no  means  be  devised 
for  setting  him  aside  ?  Their  first  plan  reflected 
no  credit  upon  themselves.  It  was  to  induce 
Washington  to  come  out  from  his  retirement 
and  stand  as  their  candidate.  It  is  improbable 
that  any  force  of  personal  influence  would  have 
sufficed  to  give  success  to  so  unworthy,  so  cruel 
a  scheme  for  making  a  selfish  and  partisan  use 
of  this  noble  patriot  in  the  days  of  his  old  age. 
If  any  such  danger  to  him  existed,  it  was  indeed 
an  opportune  death  which  rescued  him  from  it. 
He  escaped  even  the  injury  of  the  proposition. 
After  this  chance  was,  it  may  almost  be  said  for 
tunately,  eliminated,  Hamilton  traveled  through 
New  England  to  feel  the  pulse  of  the  party.  He 
was  compelled  sadly  to  report,  that  though  "  the 
leaders  of  the  first  class  "  were  all  right,  "  the 
leaders  of  the  second  class  "  were  all  wrong ;  he 
saw  plainly  that,  when  it  came  to  scoring  votes, 
Adams  was  the  only  Federalist  who  could  bring 
out  the  party  strength  in  this  section  of  the 
country.  This  fact  was  undeniable  and  conclu 
sive  ;  Adams  must  be  the  candidate.  The  old 
scheme  indeed  might  be  resorted  to  ;  equal  vot 
ing  for  Adams  and  Pinckney  might  be  urged 


THE  BREAKING  UP  313 

upon  the  New  England  electors,  with  the  secret 
hope  that  some  faithless  Southerner  might  throw 
out  Mr.  Adams  and  make  Mr.  Pinckney  Presi 
dent  ;  or  that  in  case  of  real  good  faith  Congress 
might  accomplish  the  same  result.  But  this 
poor  and  exploded  device  had  no  virtue  in  it. 
Then  there  was  some  talk  of  setting  up  Pinck 
ney  openly  to  supersede  Adams ;  but  this  also 
was  mere  folly  and  desperation.  The  truth  had 
to  be  faced.  Hamilton  mournfully  told  his 
friends,  who  could  not  contradict  him,  that  the 
fight  lay  between  Adams  and  Jefferson,  and  that 
in  such  a  dilemma  they  were  bound  to  support 
Mr.  Adams.  With  wry  faces  they  came  up  to 
swallow  the  nauseous  dose. 

The  Hamiltonian  Federalists  had  for  some 
time  past  been  fond  of  extending  to  Mr.  Adams 
such  unkind  charity  as  lies  in  the  excuse  of 
madness.  He  must  be  insane,  they  said ;  and 
sometimes  they  seemed  more  than  half  in  .ear 
nest  in  the  remark.  But  with  all  his  anger, 
bitterness,  and  mortification,  it  soon  appeared 
that  there  were  crazier  men  than  he  at  work 
in  these  acrimonious  days.  Chief  among  them 
was  Hamilton  himself,  who,  however,  was  not 
without  assistants  well  worthy  of  the  same  un 
pleasant  description.  Made  more  vindictive 
than  ever  by  the  necessity  of  actually  aiding 
the  cause  of  the  man  whom  he  hated,  Hamil- 


314  JOHN   ADAMS 

ton  now  determined  on  the  extraordinary  step 
of  writing  a  public  letter  containing  an  arraign 
ment  of  Mr.  Adams  in  his  administration.  He 
professed  that  he  did  not  intend  to  do  this  by 
way  of  opposition  to  Adams's  reelection ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  said  that  he  should  close,  and  finally 
he  actually  did  close,  this  singular  document 
with  the  advice  that  this  unfit  man  should  be 
again  charged  with  those  duties  which  he  had 
just  been  shown  to  be  so  incapable  of  perform 
ing  wisely,  safely,  or  honestly.  For  material  for 
the  criminatory  portion  of  this  startling  com 
pilation,  Hamilton  relied  in  part  upon  Picker 
ing  and  McHenry,  now  out  of  office  and  most 
willing  and  vengeful  coadjutors ;  but  chiefly  he 
depended  upon  Wolcott,  who  was  still  secretary 
of  the  treasury  and  could  give  the  latest  and  by 
far  the  most  valuable  information.  It  is  painful 
to  know  that  Hamilton  applied  to  him,  and  that 
he  promised  to  give  and  did  give  the  disgrace 
ful  aid  which  was  demanded.  Nay,  he  did  it 
readily  and  with  actual  pleasure. 

This  project  of  Hamilton  spread  profound 
alarm  among  those  of  his  political  friends  who 
had  not  been  personally  engaged  in  the  conflict 
with  the  President,  and  who  therefore  retained 
their  self-possession  and  coolness  of  judgment. 
They  remonstrated  against  the  publication  with 
as  much  earnestness  as  they  ever  dared  to  show 


THE  BREAKING  UP  315 

in  differing  from  their  autocratic  commander. 
But  they  had  scant  influence  over  him.  The 
volcano  was  full  to  bursting,  and  the  pent-up 
fury  must  find  vent.  Hamilton  was  doubtful 
only  on  the  point  of  form.  He  would  have 
liked  to  seem  to  write  in  self-defense.  In  order 
to  obtain  a  plausible  basis,  he  addressed  a  letter 
to  Adams  asking  an  explanation  concerning 
charges  of  belonging  to  a  British  faction,  which 
charges  he  was  pleased  to  say  that  the  President 
had  preferred  against  him.  This  artifice  failed; 
but  it  was  mere  matter  of  detail.  Hamilton 
was,  as  he  admitted,  "  in  a  very  belligerent 
humor,"  and  was  bent  on  writing  the  letter, 
with  an  excuse  or  without  it,  as  might  be.  He 
would  only  promise  his  alarmed  and  protesting 
friends  that  it  should  be  privately  and  discreetly 
distributed,  in  such  a  prudent  manner  that  it 
should  not  affect  the  electoral  votes.  His  friends, 
unconvinced,  were  still  laboring  with  him,  when 
all  choice  and  discretion  in  the  matter  were 
suddenly  taken  both  from  him  and  from  them. 
The  document  had  already  been  put  in  print; 
no  copies  had  been  sent  out,  but  by  some  cov 
ert  means  Aaron  Burr  had  obtained  one.  By 
this  accident  all  possibility  of  secrecy  came  to 
an  end.  The  paper  was  spread  far  and  wide 
through  the  country  as  the  best  campaign  docu 
ment  of  the  Democrats,  and  then  at  last  even 
Hamilton  could  no  longer  deny  his  blunder. 


316  JOHN  ADAMS 

If  before  there  had  been  any  hope  for  a  Fed 
eralist  success,  this  wretched  transaction  utterly 
destroyed  it.  The  party  went  into  the  elec 
tions  divided,  dispirited,  full  of  internal  dis 
trust.  New  York  had  already  been  lost;  and  the 
causa  causans  of  the  loss,  as  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams 
explains,  had  been  the  machinations  of  Hamil 
ton  intended  to  bring  in  Pinckney  in  place  of 
Adams.  It  required  no  gift  of  prophecy  now 
to  see  that  defeat  was  inevitable.  It  came ;  but 
Jefferson  and  Burr,  coming  in  evenly  with  only 
seventy-three  votes  apiece,  against  sixty-five  for 
Adams  and  sixty-four  for  Pinckney,1  showed 
that  a  contest,  which  under  such  circumstances 
was  so  close,  might  have  had  an  opposite  con 
clusion  had  it  been  more  wisely  and  happily 
waged  by  the  Federalists.  It  was  a  fair  con 
clusion  that  Mr.  Adams  would  have  been  re- 
elected  had  it  not  been  for  the  hostility  of  Mr. 
Hamilton  and  his  clique. 

If  Mr.  Adams  as  President  had  served  his 
country  better  than  he  had  served  his  party,  at 
least  one  of  the  latest  acts  of  his  administration 
was  an  equal  service  to  both.  Having  offered 
the  chief  justiceship  of  the  United  States  to 
Jay,  who  declined  it,  he  then  nominated  John 
Marshall.  The  Parthian  shot  went  home.  Half 

1  An  elector  from  Rhode  Island  voted  for  Adams  and  Jay, 
instead  of  for  Adams  and  Pinckney. 


THE  BREAKING  UP  317 

of  what  the  Democrats  seemed  to  have  done  by 
the  election  of  Jefferson  was  undone  by  the 
appointment  of  Marshall.  By  it  the  Federalists 
got  control  of  the  national  judiciary,  and  inter 
preted  the  Constitution  in  the  courts  long  after 
they  had  shrunk  to  utter  insignificance  as  a 
political  party. 

Adams  sat  signing  appointments  to  office 
and  attending  to  business  till  near  the  close  of 
the  last  hour  of  his  term.  Then,  before  the 
people  were  astir  on  the  morning  which  ushered 
in  the  day  of  Jefferson's  inauguration,  he  drove 
out  of  Washington.  He  would  not  wait  to  see 
the  triumph  of  his  successor.  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams 
seeks  to  throw  a  cloak  of  fine  language  over  this 
act  of  childish  spite  and  folly,  but  to  no  purpose. 
It  was  the  worst  possible  manifestation  of  all 
those  petty  faults  which  formed  such  vexatious 
blemishes  in  Adams's  singularly  compounded 
character. 

But  it  is  needlessly  cruel  in  this  hour  of  his  bit 
ter  mortification  to  sneer  at  his  silly  egotism,  to 
laugh  at  his  ungoverned  rage.  He  was  crushed 
beneath  an  intense  disappointment  which  he  did 
not  deserve,  he  was  humiliated  by  an  unpopu 
larity  which  he  did  not  merit.  For  he  had  done 
right  in  great  national  matters,  and  had  blun 
dered  only  in  little  personal  ones.  Yet  he  felt 
and  declared  himself  a  "  disgraced  "  man.  The 


318  JOHN   ADAMS 

word  was  too  strong ;  yet  certainly  he  was  an 
unfriended,  hated,  and  reviled  man.  He  was 
retiring  full  of  years  but  not  full  of  honors. 
He  had  been  as  faithful,  as  constant,  as  labori 
ous  a  patriot  as  Washington;  and,  taking  his 
whole  career  from  the  beginning,  his  usefulness 
to  the  country  had  been  second  only  to  that  of 
Washington.  He  had  lately  done  an  immense 
service  to  his  country  in  saving  it  from  war. 
Had  he  not  a  right  to  repine  and  to  feel  bitter 
at  the  reward  allotted  to  him?  Certainly  he 
had  had  very  hard  luck ;  everything  might  have 
gone  so  differently  had  it  not  been  for  the 
antipathy  of  a  single  individual  towards  him. 
Had  it  not  been  for  this  he  might  have  had  real 
coadjutors  in  the  members  of  his  cabinet ;  he 
might  have  acted  with  coolness  and  dignity, 
having  his  temper  relieved  from  the  multitudi 
nous  harassments  which  he  had  felt  though  he 
could  not  explain  them.  He  might  with  a  clear 
mind  have  moulded  and  carried  out  a  strong, 
consistent  policy,  in  an  even-handed  and  digni 
fied  manner,  which  would  have  made  it  impossi 
ble  for  the  Democrats  to  defeat  him.  All  this 
would  have  been  probable  enough,  if  the  disturb 
ing  influence  of  Hamilton  had  been  withdrawn. 
To  that  one  man  it  seemed  due,  and  perhaps 
it  really  was  due,  that  Adams  was  ending  his 
public  life  in  humiliation  and  unhappiness. 


THE   BREAKING   UP  319 

This  volume  has  grown  to  such  length  that  a 
few  lines  only  can  be  given  to  Mr.  Adams's 
remaining  years.  He  passed  them  in  his  plea 
sant  homestead  near  the  roadside  in  Quincy, 
among  his  family  and  friends.  They  were  tran 
quil  and  uneventful  to  a  degree  which  must 
often  have  seemed  tedious  to  one  who  had  led 
so  stirring  a  life  in  busy  capitals  amid  great 
events.  Yet  he  seems  in  the  main  to  have  been 
cheerful  and  contented.  The  town  was  full  of 
his  kindred  and  his  friends,  and  he  was  always 
met  with  gratifying  kindliness  and  respect. 
His  wife  survived  until  the  autumn  of  1818, 
when  she  died  of  typhus  fever  on  October  28. 
He  was  then  eighty-three  years  old.  His  son, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  could  be  little  at  home ; 
but  the  cause  of  his  absence,  in  his  steady 
ascent  through  positions  of  public  trust  and 
honor,  must  have  gone  far  to  prevent  regret. 
The  father  had  the  pride  and  pleasure  of  wit 
nessing  his  elevation  to  the  presidency  in  1825, 
and  fortunately  did  not  survive  to  know  of  the 
failure  and  disappointment  four  years  later. 

But  Adams  was  too  active  and  too  irrita 
ble  to  feel  no  regret  at  decadence ;  at  times 
the  gloominess  so  often  accompanying  old  age 
seemed  to  get  the  better  of  his  courage.  It  was 
in  such  a  temper  that  he  wrote  to  Rufus  Kino-, 
in  1814  :  "I  am  left  alone.  .  .  .  Can  there  be 


320  JOHN   ADAMS 

any  deeper  damnation  in  this  universe  than  to 
be  condemned  to  a  long  life  in  danger,  toil, 
and  anxiety ;  to  be  rewarded  only  with  abuse, 
insult,  and  slander ;  and  to  die  at  seventy,  leav 
ing  to  an  amiable  wife  and  nine  amiable  chil 
dren  nothing  for  an  inheritance  but  the  con 
tempt,  hatred,  and  malice  of  the  world  ?  How 
much  prettier  a  thing  it  is  to  be  a  disinterested 
patriot  like  Washington  and  Franklin,  live  and 
die  among  the  hosannas  of  the  multitude,  and 
leave  half  a  million  to  one  child  or  to  no  child ! " 
Such  moods  of  repining  at  their  lots,  and  of 
dissatisfaction  with  the  rewards  meted  out  for 
their  services,  were  of  frequent  occurrence  both 
with  John  Adams  and  with  his  son,  John 
Quincy  Adams.  The  same  habit  is  noticeable, 
however,  as  prevailing,  though  in  a  less  degree, 
among  many  of  their  contemporaries;  it  was 
the  fashion  of  the  day,  and  may  be  considered 
as  the  New  England  form  of  development  of 
the  famous  habit  of  grumbling  and  fault-find 
ing  notoriously  belonging  to  John  Bull.  At 
least  Mr.  Adams's  high  appreciation  of  his  own 
preeminent  merits  and  distinguished  services 
remained  with  him  to  comfort  and  console  him 
to  the  end.  His  vanity  and  supreme  self-sat 
isfaction  passed  away  only  with  his  passing 
breath. 

He  read  a  great  deal  during  his  old  age,  even 


THE  BREAKING   UP  321 

then  constantly  extending  his  knowledge  and 
preserving  his  native  thirst  for  information  still 
unquenched.  His  interest  in  affairs  was  as 
great  as  ever,  and  he  kept  his  mind  in  activity 
and  vigor.  At  times  he  fought  the  old  battles 
o'er  again  with  not  less  spirit  than  in  younger 
days.  His  first  purpose  after  his  retirement 
was  to  write  a  vindicatory  reply  to  Hamilton's 
tirade  against  him ;  but  his  zeal  cooled  during 
the  work  so  that  he  never  finished  it.  Then 
he  began  an  autobiography,  but  this  too  he  left 
in  the  shape  of  a  mere  fragment.  When  John 
Quincy  Adams,  unable  to  stomach  the  increas 
ing  British  aggressions  at  the  time  of  the  at 
tack  by  the  Leopard  upon  the  Chesapeake, 
severed  his  connection  with  the  feeble  remnant 
of  the  Federal  party,  John  Adams  was  in  full 
sympathy  with  him.  Pickering  published  a 
pamphlet  arraigning  the  administration,  and 
Adams  replied  to  it,  actually  appearing  as  the 
supporter  of  President  Jefferson's  policy.  This 
tergiversation,  as  his  enemies  chose  to  regard 
it,  greatly  incensed  the  old  Hamiltonians,  who 
now  hastened  to  revamp  the  charges  contained 
in  Hamilton's  letter.  The  spirit  of  the  old 
fighter  was  aroused,  and  he  recurred  to  his  de 
sign  of  an  elaborate  defense.  He  entered  upon 
it  with  little  appreciation  of  the  extent  to  which 
his  labors  would  extend.  For  after  he  had 


3'22  JOHN  ADAMS 

once  got  fairly  at  the  interesting  work  he  could 
not  easily  check  himself,  and  his  letters  to  the 
"  Boston  Patriot "  were  continued  through  a 
period  of  nearly  three  years,  and  a  portion  of 
them,  published  in  book  form,  constituted  an 
octavo  volume  of  goodly  proportions.  These 
letters  are  not  reproduced  in  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams's 
edition  of  the  works  of  John  Adams ;  indeed, 
the  grandson  appears  inclined  to  regret  that 
they  ever  saw  the  light,  at  least  in  the  manner 
and  shape  in  which  they  did,  "  scattered  through 
the  pages  of  a  newspaper  of  very  limited  circu 
lation,  during  three  years,  without  order  in  the 
arrangement,  and  with  most  unfortunate  typo 
graphy."  It  is  not  surprising  to  hear  that  they 
were  marked  with  "  too  much  asperity  towards 
Mr.  Hamilton." 

But  a  much  more  unfortunate  composition 
was  the  famous  Cunningham  correspondence, 
which  also  Mr.  C.  F.  Adams  declines  to  repub- 
lish,  and  very  properly  under  the  peculiar  cir 
cumstances,  which  he  states.  These  were  writ 
ten  by  the  ex-President  to  one  of  his  relatives 
soon  after  his  return  to  Quincy.  They  were 
"  under  the  seal  of  the  strictest  confidence,"  and 
contained  "  the  most  unreserved  expression  of 
his  sentiments  respecting  the  chief  actors  and 
events  in  the  later  portion  of  his  public  life." 
In  other  words,  they  were  vehement,  rancorous, 


THE  BREAKING  UP  323 

abusive,  and  unjust,  as  was  perfectly  natural 
when  it  is  remembered  under  what  fresh  provo 
cation  of  real  wrongs  their  writer  was  smarting 
at  the  time.  His  vanity  and  his  rage  naturally 
found  free  expression  as  he  strove  in  close  con 
fidence  to  tell  to  a  friend  the  story  of  the  unfair 
treatment  of  which  he  had  been  the  victim.  Mr. 
C.  F.  Adams  says  that  an  heir  of  the  person 
to  whom  these  letters  were  written  gave  them 
to  the  opponents  of  John  Quincy  Adams  to  be 
used  against  him  when  he  was  a  candidate  in 
the  presidential  campaign ;  and  that  this  igno 
minious  transaction  was  rewarded  with  a  post 
in  the  Boston  custom-house.  It  was  of  course 
a  great  mistake  upon  Adams's  part  that  he 
wrote  them,  and  it  was  a  grave  misfortune  for 
him  that  they  were,  even  though  dishonorably 
and  many  years  afterwards,  sent  out  before  the 
world.  It  was  the  last  and  nearly  the  worst 
exhibition  of  that  blind  imprudence  which  at 
one  time  and  another  in  his  career  had  cost  him 
so  dear.  But  he  could  not  eliminate  or  control 
the  trait ;  in  fact,  he  never  fairly  appreciated  its 
existence  ;  throughout  his  life  he  was  invariably 
convinced  that  all  his  own  actions  were  per 
fectly  right  and  wise ;  he  was  always  a  strenu 
ous  and  undoubting  partisan  of  himself,  so  to 
speak. 

In  his  declining  years  he  had  some  flattering 


324  JOHN   ADAMS 

public  honors  done  him  by  his  fellow  citizens,  of 
a  kind  to  bring  more  of  pleasure  than  of  labor. 
He  was  appointed  a  presidential  elector,  and 
cast  his  vote  for  James  Monroe  at  the  second 
election  of  that  gentleman  to  the  presidency. 
He  was  also,  at  the  age  of  eighty-five,  chosen 
the  delegate  from  Braintree  to  the  constitu 
tional  convention  of  Massachusetts,  at  the  time 
when,  Maine  being  set  off,  it  was  deemed  advis 
able  to  frame  a  new  constitution.  The  body 
paid  him  the  compliment  of  choosing  him  to 
preside  over  its  deliberations ;  but  he  wisely 
declined  a  labor  beyond  his  strength.  He  took 
no  active  part  in  the  debates  ;  but  it  should  be 
remembered  to  his  honor  that  he  endeavored  to 
procure  such  a  modification  of  the  third  article 
of  the  bill  of  rights  "as  would  do  away  with 
the  recognition  of  distinct  modes  of  religious 
faith  by  the  state."  It  is  to  the  discredit  of  his 
fellow  delegates  that  in  this  good  purpose  he 
was  unsuccessful.  The  aged  man  could  only 
put  himself  upon  record  as  more  liberal,  more 
advanced  in  wisdom  and  in  a  broad  humanity, 
than  the  men  of  the  younger  generation  around 
him. 

Before  he  died  nearly  all  his  old  animosities 
had  entirely  disappeared,  or  had  lost  their  vir 
ulence.  Hamilton  and  Pickering  he  could 
never  forgive  ;  such  magnanimity,  it  must  be 


THE  BREAKING   UP  325 

admitted,  would  have  been  beyond  human  na 
ture.  But  he  became  very  friendly  with  Jef 
ferson.  Some  advances  towards  reconciliation, 
made  by  his  old  enemy  through  Mrs.  Adams,  he 
rejected.  But  later  Dr.  Rush  was  successful  in 
bringing  the  two  together,  so  that  a  friendly 
correspondence  was  carried  on  between  them 
during  their  closing  years. 

His  mind  remained  clear  almost  to  his  last 
hours.  He  died  at  sunset  on  the  fourth  day 
of  July,  1826,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  Amer 
ican  independence.  The  familiar  story  goes 
that  his  last  words  were,  "  Thomas  Jefferson 
still  survives."  But  Jefferson  too  had  passed 
away  a  few  hours  earlier  on  that  day. 


INDEX 


ADAMS,  ABIGAIL,  marriage  to  John 
Adams,  her  character,  19 ;  urges 
husband  to  accept  office,  40  ;  value 
of  her  support,  82,  83 ;   joins  her 
husband   at  Auteuil,  227  ;   dread 
of  English  mission,  229  ;    rejoices  j 
at  defeat  of  Hamilton's  schemes,  : 
263 ;  death,  319. 

Adams  ancestry,   1-3  ;  Thomas  Ad 
ams,  one   of  grantees  of  Massa-  ] 
chusetts  Bay  Charter,  1 ;  Henry 
Adams,  the  colonist,  1,  2 ;  John  ! 
Adams,  fourth  in  descent,  1,  2;  | 
their  property,  2  ;   modest  social 
standing,  3  ;  habit  of  sending  the 
eldest  son  to  Harvard,  2. 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  opinions 
relative  to  John  Adams,  36,  97, 
109,  125,  134,  155,  173,  176,  188, 
193,  210,  230,  289,  294,  297,  316, 
317,  322,  323. 

Adams,  John.  Early  life.  Ancestry, 
1,  2 ;  education  at  Harvard,  2,  3  ; 
social  standing,  4  ;  begins  his  di 
ary,  5  ;  teaches  school  at  Worces 
ter,  10  ;  intends  to  enter  the  min 
istry,  10-13  ;  finding  his  views  j 
heterodox,  enters  law,  15-17  ;  suc 
cess  at  the  bar,  17,  18,  24,  40 ; 
marriage,  19  ;  influenced  against 
England  by  James  Otis,  23  ;  dis 
approves  of  mobs,  but  opposes 
the  Stamp  Act,  25  ;  his  resolutions  j 
adopted  by  forty  town  meetings,  i 
26 ;  counsel  for  Boston,  27  ;  argues 
the  invalidity  of  the  Stamp  Act, 
28,  30,  31  ;  removes  from  Brain- 
tree  to  Boston,  32  ;  declines  a  royal 
office,  32  ;  cautious  attitude  amid 
popular  excitement,  34  ;  under 
takes  defense  of  British  soldiers 
involved  in  Boston  Massacre,  36, 
38  ;  popular  outcry,  37  ;  coura- 
geousness  of  this  action,  36,  37  ; 
absence  of  remuneration,  38; 
elected  to  represent  Boston  in 
the  General  Court,  39 ;  enters 
public  career  with  hesitation,  40  ; 


retires  to  Braintree  on  account  of 
ill  -  health,  41  ;  his  popularity 
and  reputation,  42 ;  returns  to 
Boston,  44;  continues  to  oppose 
British  policy,  46,  47 ;  honest 
aversion  to  public  life,  49-50,  60  ; 
contemplates  writing  a  history 
of  the  contest  between  Britain 
and  America,  50 ;  doubts  that  a 
collision  will  come  in  his  gener 
ation,  51. 

Member  of  Congress.  Elected  to 
represent  Massachusetts  Assem 
bly  in  the  first  Continental  Con 
gress,  51  ;  presides  over  public 
meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  52  ;  re 
flections  in  his  diary  regarding  a 
proper  policy,  52,  53  ;  on  his  own 
fitness,  53  ;  preparation  through 
New  England  town  meeting,  56 ; 
these  years  in  Congress  the  most 
attractive  portion  of  his  career, 
57,  58,  60  ;  cool  judgment  of  the 
situation,  58-61  ;  journey  to  Phil 
adelphia,  62-67  ;  popular  enthu 
siasm  for  him,  62,  63  ;  criticises 
New  York  manners,  66  ;  his  cau 
tious  attitude  at  the  Congress,  67, 
68  ;  comments  on  Southern  men, 
68  ;  disapproves  of  non  -  inter 
course  resolution,  69 ;  wishes  a 
declaration  of  natural  rights,  70  ; 
keeps  in  the  background,  72,  73  ; 
comments  on  the  ability  of  the 
Congress,  73,  74  ;  irritation  at 
mildness  of  action,  74;  rejoices 
at  rumor  of  war,  75  ;  believes  it 
inevitable,  76  ;  criticises  slowness 
of  Congress,  78 ;  considers  Phila 
delphia  inferior  to  Boston,  79; 
returns  to  Boston,  81 ;  maintains 
newspaper  controversy  as  "No- 
vanglus  "  until  outbreak  of  war, 
81  ;  goes  again  to  Congress  in 
1775.  82  ;  supported  by  his  wife, 
82,  83  ;  cheered  by  signs  of  revolt 
on  his  journey,  83,  84  ;  has  mili 
tary  ambitious,  but  abandons 


328 


INDEX 


them  reluctantly,  84  ;  recognized 
leader  of  party  of  independence, 
86,  87  ;  opposes  petitioning  the 
king  again,  87  ;  quarrels  with 
Dickinson,  87  ;  later  statement 
of  his  views  at  the  time,  88, 
89  ;  he  does  not,  however,  actu 
ally  express  his  desire  for  inde 
pendence,  90  ;  urges  Congress  to 
adopt  the  Massachusetts  army, 
92  ;  failing  to  secure  this  by  pri 
vate  argument,  he  decides  to  com 
pel  consideration  of  the  question, 
93 ;  makes  direct  motion  to  adopt 
the  army  and  name  Washington 
the  commander,  94  ;  rejoices  ovev 
his  success,  96  ;  hopes  Massachu 
setts  will  support  Washington,  96 ; 
audacity  of  his  action,  97  ;  mag 
nitude  of  object  gained,  98  ;  writes 
foolishly  frank  letters  home,  99  ; 
they  are  captured  by  British  and 
stir  up  resentment,  100  ;  his  criti 
cisms  in  them  alienate  fellow  pa 
triots,  101,  104  ;  returns  home  in 
summer  of  1775,  103 ;  returns  to 
Philadelphia  to  find  moderate 
party  in  control,  103  ;  asserts  that 
popular  feeling  justifies  his  let 
ters,  104;  feels  that  a  crisis  is 
approaching,  105  ;  certain  that 
independence  will  result,  105 ; 
feels  his  position  an  anomaly,  106  ; 
extreme  activity  in  committee 
work,  106  ;  sharp  criticisms  in  his 
diary  on  the  moderate  leaders, 
107 ;  endeavors  to  restrain  his 
impatience,  108  ;  active  on  com 
mittee  to  equip  a  navy,  109  ;  leads 
an  attempt  to  send  an  ambassa 
dor  to  France,  110  ;  successful 
oratory,  110  ;  contemplates  trea 
ties  of  commerce,  not  foreign  al 
liances,  111  ;  appointed  chief  jus 
tice  of  Massachusetts,  111  ;  but 
not  expected  to  do  more  than  lend 
his  name,  112;  visits  home  to 
learn  temper  of  the  people,  111, 
112  ;  carries  back  to  Congress  vig- 
orous  instructions  to  delegates, 
112 ;  but  finds  the  temper  of 
Congress  very  dispirited,  112; 
forecasts  decisive  events  in  the 
spring  of  1776,  113 ;  deep  sense 
of  the  importance  of  these  events 
on  future  generations,  113;  ex 
presses  contempt  for  delegates 
from  the  middle  states,  114; 
thinks  that  independence  is  hin 
dered  by  southern  states,  1 15  ; 


annoyed  by  reports  of  royal  con 
ciliation,  115  ;  attacked  by  Mary 
land  delegates,  116 ;  increasing 
hopes  that  independence  will  soon 
be  declared,  117  :  analyzes  the 
motives  of  the  middle  and  south 
ern  colonies,  117  ;  now  rejoices  in 
ability  to  speak  openly,  118;  great 
activity  and  influence,  118  ;  plans 
to  bring  about  sovereignty  and 
practical  independence,  118;  mem 
ber  of  committee  to  prepare  pre 
amble  justifying  formation  of 
state  governments,  119  ;  rejoices 
in  its  adoption,  120  ;  his  sense  of 
the  importance  of  the  step,  121 ; 
believes  it  ought  to  have  been  done 
a  year  earlier,  121 ;  seconds  the 
motion  of  Lee  to  declare  inde 
pendence,  122 ;  member  of  com 
mittee  to  draft  the  Declaration, 
123  ;  grows  more  patient  with  the 
nearness  of  definite  action,  124; 
question  as  to  his  precise  share 
in  the  Declaration,  124,  125  ;  sure 
that  southern  delegates  will  re 
ject  slavery  passage,  125 ;  his 
great  influence  in  the  debate,  126  ; 
eloquence  and  impressiveness, 
126  ;  his  rejoicing  at  the  adoption 
of  the  resolution,  suggests  July  2 
as  a  national  holiday,  127  ;  fore 
sees  war,  but  hopes  success,  127  ; 
foresees  that  union  between  colo 
nies  is  yet  to  be  achieved,  128  ; 
plays  leading  part  in  bringing 
about  the  declaration,  129;  but 
if  he  had  not  done  it  some  one 
else  would,  130 ;  Adams  not 
an  indispensable  character  like 
Washington,  132  ;  his  inability  to 
recognize  this  fact,  132,  133  ;  his 
jealousy  of  southern  leaders, 
especially  Washington,  133;  his 
doubts  of  Washington's  military 
capacity,  134;  connection  with 
Washington's  enemies,  134,  135  ; 
labors  to  create  a  government,  136 ; 
publishes  a  pamphlet  to  supple 
ment  Paine's  "Common  Sense," 
138  ;  its  influence  considerable, 
138,  140  ;  labors  to  render  union 
of  colonies  efficient,  141 ;  member 
of  nearly  all  executive  commit 
tees,  142  ;  member  of  committee 
on  federation,  142  ;  of  committee 
on  foreign  policy,  142 ;  head  of 
war  department,  142  ;  difficulties 
in  managing  army,  143 ;  success 
ful  through  energy,  earnestness, 


INDEX 


honesty,   143 ;    owing  to  exhaus 
tion  takes  a  vacation  and  eventu 
ally  resigns  in  1777,  143,  144. 
Foreign    Minister.      Appointed 
minister  to    France,    1777,    145; 
danger  of  the  mission,  145,  146  ; 
certainty    of    trial  for  treason  if 
captured,  146;  vagueness  of  pow 
ers,  145,  147  ;  dissatisfaction  with 
the   quarrels    of    his    colleagues, 
147,  148 ;  and  with  their  lack  of 
business  methods,  148  ;    tries  to 
avoid  taking  sides,  148 ;  reforms  | 
the  records   and    accounts,    149; 
writes  to  Samuel   Adams  urging  j 
a  reorganization,    149 ;    his  sug-  | 
gestion    adopted,    150 ;     himself  I 
dropped,  150;    rather  than    wait' 
instructions  returns    home,  151  ;  I 
uselessness  of    his  mission,  151  ;  | 
gets  an  idea  that  England  is  about  | 
to  fall,  151  ;  urges  the  importance  [ 
of  the  French  alliance,  152  ;  but 
warns  against  too  great  subservi-  ! 
cnce  to  French  influence,  152,  153, 

157,  158 ;    is  chosen  member    of 
Massachusetts  Constitutional  Con 
vention  in  1779,  154  ;  named  again  ! 
for  a  foreign  mission,  154  ;  second  j 
voyage,  159 ;   his  powers  limited 
by   French   influence  to  making 
peace   and  a  commercial  treaty, 

158,  1G1 ;  appointment  due  partly 
to  desire  of  Massachusetts  to  save 
the   fisheries,  161,  lf>2  ;  theoreti 
cally  disapproves  of  fisheries,  162  ;  ' 
his  diplomatic  qualifications,  163- 
166 ;  his  courage  necessary  under 
the  circumstances,  166  ;  asks  Ver- 
gennes'  advice  whether  to  make 
his  errand  public,  167  ;  indignant  j 
at  Vergennes'  reply,  but  follows  j 
his  advice,  168  ;    writes  to   Con-  j 
gress    his    disapproval    of    Ver-  I 
gennes'   actions,  170 ;   writes  ar 
ticles     describing    America     for  | 
French   readers,    171  ;     furnishes  j 
Vergennes  with  miscellaneous  in-  j 
formation,  172  ;  corresponds  with  ! 
Congress,  172  ;  informs  Vergennes  | 
of    measures     to     redeem    paper 
money,  172,   173  ;  indiscretion  of  j 
this  action,  173 ;    requests    Ver-  , 
gennes     to     communicate     with  i 
Franklin,    175  ;     sends    him    de-  i 
fense  of  action  of  Congress,  175  ;  j 
urges  Franklin  to  take  action,  176, 
177 ;    is  snubbed    by   both    Ver-  j 
gennes  and   Franklin,   177,   178 ;  j 
unwisdom    of     Ids    action,    178; 


makes  a  bitter  attack  on  Frank 
lin's  motives,  sincerity,  morals, 
and  patriotism,  176,  180 ;  accuses 
him  of  conspiring  witli  Vergennes 
to  ruin  him,  179, 180  ;  urges  Ver 
gennes  to  prove  French  sincerity 
by  a  naval  demonstration,  181  ; 
suggests  that  the  time  has  come 
to  make  public  his  powers,  181  ; 
unwisdom  of  this  action  at  this 
time,  182  ;  replies  mildly  to  Ver 
gennes'  savage  protest,  184;  an 
nounces  his  purpose  of  communi 
cating  more  frequently  with  him 
when  he  sees  fit,  185  ;  snubbed  by 
Vergennes,  186  ;  rebuked  and  sup 
ported  by  Congress,  186  ;  visit  to 
Holland,  187-194;  undertakes  to 
place  loans,  187,  188 ;  hindered 
by  Dutch  ignorance  about  Amer 
ica,  188  ;  by  influence  of  English, 
188 ;  commissioned  by  Congress 
as  minister  to  United  Provinces, 
to  give  adhesion  of  the  United 
States  to  Armed  Neutrality,  189  ; 
opposed  by  French  influence,  189  ; 
suspects  the  true  attitude  of 
France,  190  ;  brief  visit  to  Paris, 

191  ;    gains  confidence  of   people 
in    Netherlands,    191,    192;     de 
mands   recognition    as    minister, 

192  ;  secures  deputies  by  personal 
visits,  192 ;  dangers  of  this  step, 
192  ;    its  success,  193 ;   the  third 
great    triumph   of    Adams's  life, 
193;  secures  treaty  of  commerce, 
194  ;  his  satisfaction  with  Dutch 
alliance,   194 ;    anger    at   English 
obstinacy,  195  ;  believes   England 
on  point  of  disruption,  1%  ;  urges 
America  to  expect  a  long  contin 
uance  of  the   struggle,  197,  198 ; 
visits  Paris  in  1781  to  advise  con 
cerning  negotiations,  200  ;  disap 
proves  of  proposed  separate  nego 
tiations  of  colonies,  202  ;  suspects 
Vergennes'    motives,  203 ;     anger 
at    instructions    from    Congress, 
207  ;  concludes  to  retain  position, 
208 ;  sustains  Jay  in  insisting  on 
the     Enclish    treating    with   the 
United  States  not  as  colonies,  213; 
agrees   with    Jay    in    distrusting 
Vergennes,  215  ;  and  in  disregard 
ing  instructions,  210  ;  gives  Ver 
gennes  private  information,  216 ; 
argues  for  the  "  right  "  of  fisher 
ies,   218  ;  censured    by  Congress 
through  Livingston,  221  ;  his  in 
dignant   comments,  222 ;    wishes 


330 


INDEX 


to  return  home,  223,  224;  com 
missioned  to  make  treaty  of  com 
merce  with  England,  224  ;  urges 
his  wife  and  daughter  to  join  him, 
225 ;  illness  in  Paris  and  London, 
225.  226  ;  goes  to  Holland  to  make 
terms  with  Dutch  creditors,  226  ; 
rests  with  his  wife  and  daughter 
in  Paris,  227  ;  appointed  first  min 
ister  to  Great  Britain,  1785,  227  ; 
an  honor  and  responsibility,  228  ; 
his  qualifications,  228;  impor 
tance  of  personal  dignity,  229; 
presentation  to  the  king,  229 ; 
happy  reply  to  the  king,  230 ; 
later  snubbed  by  court,  230  ;  irk- 
someness  of  his  position,  231  ; 
remains  in  retirement,  231  ;  sal 
ary  reduced,  231  ;  mortification 
caused  by  weakness  of  Congress, 
232  ;  tries  to  suggest  conciliatory 
policy  to  England,  233,234;  sees 
English  hostility  with  regret,  235; 
resigns,  236 ;  returns  home,  1788, 
236. 

Vice- President.  Different  nature 
of  later  career  after  return  to 
America,  237 ;  increased  vanity 
and  diminishing  self-control,  238  ; 
lack  of  public  interest  in  his  work, 
239  ;  not  involved  in  struggle  over 
the  Constitution,  239>  240  ;  hence 
a  good  candidate  for  vice-presi 
dent,  241  ;  his  real  deserts,  241  ;  | 
receives  a  plurality  only,  owing  j 
to  Hamilton,  241-244;  indignation  ' 
at  this  action,  243  ;  assumes  pre 
sidency  of  Senate,  244 ;  a  "re 
spectable  situation,"  244;  irk- 
someness  of  enforced  silence,  244  ; 
unique  opportunities  for  influ 
ence,  244 ;  supports  Federalist 
measures  in  the  first  Congress, 
245 ;  gives  casting  vote  twenty 
times,  246  ;  favors  strong  central 
government,  246 ;  but  is  not  aris 
tocratic,  247  ;  accused  of  fondness 
for  display,  248  ;  wishes  to  dignify 
federal  offices,  249  ;  serves  as 
scapegoa,t  for  anti-Federal  criti 
cisms,  250 :  reelection  favored  by 
Hamilton,  250,  251  ;  receives  full 
Federal  support,  251  ;  restless  in 
his  "  insignificant  office,"  251  ; 
admires  Washington's  bearing  in 
Genet  episode,  252  ;  only  eligible 
candidate  for  presidency  after 
Washington,  253  ;  nominated  with 
Pinckney,  254 ;  disliked  by  Ham 
ilton,  254,  255 ;  intrigued  against 


by  him,  255 ;  elected  by  a  close 
vote,  256 ;  discord  in  Federal 
ranks,  256,  257  ;  at  first  does  not 
suspect  Hamilton,  257 ;  later 
learns  the  truth,  258  ;  his  enemy 
henceforward,  258  ;  feels  insulted 
by  idea  of  Pinckney's  choice,  258  ; 
thinks  it  would  have  ruined  the 
Constitution,  259 ;  extravagance 
of  his  views,  259. 
President.  His  inauguration, 
261  ;  subordinate  figure  to  Wash 
ington,  261,  262  ;  his  surprise  and 
irritation,  262  ;  receives  overtures 
from  Democrats,  262,  263 ;  dis 
agreeable  features  of  adminis 
tration,  264;  prevalence  of  per 
sonal  and  party  feud,  265 ;  his 
mistakes,  265 ;  holds  middle 
ground  between  French  and  Eng 
lish  factions,  267-269  ;  English  in 
temperament,  267  ;  anti-English 
prejudices,  268  ;  resolves  to  keep 
out  of  European  troubles,  268 ; 
tributes  to  his  sincerity  from  op 
ponents,  269 ;  retains  Washing 
ton's  cabinet,  270;  lack  of  sym 
pathy  with  members,  271  ;  Ham 
ilton  their  real  leader,  271,  272  ; 
does  not  realize  this  fact,  272  ; 
proposes  to  send  Jefferson  as  min 
ister  to  France,  273  ;  consults  him, 
273 ;  abandons  plan,  273  ;  wishes 
commission  of  both  parties,  273  ; 
learns  that  France  has  refused  to 
receive  Pinckney,  273  ;  summons 
special  session  of  Congress,  273 ; 
temperate  speech  at  opening,  274  ; 
proposes  a  new  mission  to  France, 
274  ;  urges  measures  of  defense, 
275 ;  especially  favors  navy,  275  ; 
wishes  to  send  Hamilton  and 
Madison  to  Paris,  276;  Madison 
refuses,  276;  suggests  Pinckney, 
Marshall,  and  Gerry,  276  ;  favors 
Gerry,  a  Democrat,  on  personal 
grounds,  276 ;  withdraws  Gerry 
at  demand  of  secretaries,  277  ; 
names  Dana,  277  ;  when  latter 
declines,  names  Gerry,  277  ;  sug 
gests  an  embargo,  278 ;  asks  ad 
vice  in  case  of  failure  of  mission, 
278  ;  favors  waiting  for  England 
to  make  advances,  279  ;  on  receipt 
of  news,  urges  further  prepara 
tion  for  war,  279 ;  sends  X  Y  Z 
correspondence  to  Congress,  280  ; 
receives  outbursts  of  loyalty,  281 ; 
answers  all  addresses  himself, 
2S2 ;  but  does  not  wish  war,  282; 


INDEX 


331 


recalls  Gerry,  282  ;  receives  com 
plete  news  from  Marshall,  282; 
communicates  it  to  Congress,  282  ; 
characterizes  the  United  States 
in  message  as  a  "great,  free,  in 
dependent,  and  powerful  nation," 
283 ;  favors  Alien  and  Sedition 
Acts,  283,  284;  names  officers 
for  provisional  army,  284 ;  takes 
names  suggested  by  Washington 
for  generals,  284  ;  opposes  giving 
Hamilton  the  highest  rank,  285  ; 
yields  to  Washington's  wish,  286  ; 
ill  feeling  with  Hamilton  in 
creased,  286 ;  receives  French 
overtures  for  friendship,  288  ;  asks 
cabinet  whether  to  recommend 
war  or  a  new  mission  on  satisfac 
tory  conditions,  289  ;  refuses  to 
accept  their  statement  that  under 
no  circumstances  should  a  minis 
ter  be  sent  first,  290  ;  is  willing  to 
accept  an  assurance  from  France, 
291,  292;  urges  continued  war 
preparations,  202 ;  soundness  of 
his  policy,  293 ;  ignores  Federalist 
party  council,  293 ;  receives  indi 
rect  assurances  from  Talleyrand, 
294 ;  feels  occasion  has  arrived 
for  a  new  mission,  295  ;  without 
consulting  cabinet,  studs  nomina 
tion  of  Vans  Murray  to  Senate, 
295  ;  stirs  up  anger  of  Hamilton's 
friends,  296 ;  receives  yrotesting 
committee  of  Federalists,  297 ; 
refuses  to  modify  or  withdraw  the 
nomination,  297  ;  willing  to  name 
a  commission,  297  ;  forestalls  Fed 
eralist  objections  to  Murray  by 
naming  a  commission  of  three, 

298  ;  nominations  confirmed,  2S8  ; 
takes  vacation,  299  ;  receives  pub 
lic    assurance    from    Talleyrand, 

299  ;  not  troubled  by  Talleyrand's 
manners,  299  ;  orders  instructions 
prepared,  agrees  to  postponement 
of  mission,  300  ;  hears  objections 
of    Federalists  to    mission,  300; 
disregards  them,  orders  commis 
sioners  to  sail,  301  ;  causes  a  split 
in  the    party,  301  ;     accused    of 
killing  the  party,  302 ;  not  alone 
to  blame,  302,  303  ;  true  wisdom 
of  his    position,   303 ;    politically 
ruined  by   it,   304  ;    no   personal 
motives  in  his  action,  304  ;  never 
regrets  it,   305  ;    willing    to  rest 
his  reputation  on  the  wisdom  of 
the  peace,  305  ;  bitterness  of  re 
lations  with  secretaries,  30G ;  ig 


norant  of  their  treachery,  307  ;  at 
tacks  McHenry,  308  ;  his  rage  and 
jealousy  of  Washington's  praises, 
309;  dismisses  Pickering,  309; 
appoints  Marshall  and  Dexter, 
310 ;  remains  ignorant  of  Wol- 
cott's  treachery,  310  ;  said  to  have 
dismissed  Pickering  in  order  to 
please  Samuel  and  Robert  Smith, 
311  ;  this  disproved,  311  ;  par 
dons  Fries,  Pennsylvania  rioter, 
311 ;  alleged  attempt  to  gain  pop 
ularity,  311 ;  desires  to  retain 
presidency,  311  ;  wishes  popular 
ratification,  311  ;  hated  by  Ham- 
iltonian  faction,  312  ;  only  avail 
able  candidate,  312 ;  called  in 
sane  by  enemies,  312  ;  attacked 
by  Hamilton  in  a  private  letter, 
314  ;  whioh  is  published  by  Aaron 
Burr,  315;  defeated  in  election, 
316 ;  his  chance  of  winning  but 
for  Hamilton's  enmity,  316  ;  nom 
inates  Marshall  for  chief  justice, 
316 ;  his  midnight  appointments, 
317 ;  leaves  Washington  to  avoid 
Jefferson's  inauguration,  317  ;  his 
rage  and  humiliation,  317 ;  his 
unpopularity,  318  ;  his  real  mer 
its,  318 ;  his  fall  and  failures  due 
to  Hamilton,  318. 

Later  years.  Lives  at  Quincy  in 
quiet  retirement,  319  ;  pleasure  in 
the  prominence  of  John  Quincy 
Adams,  319  ;  dissatisfaction  and 
melancholy,  319,  320  ;  self-satis 
faction,  320  ;  intellectual  activity, 
321  ;  begins  autobiography,  321  ; 
defends  Jefferson's  policy  in  Leo 
pard  case,  321 ;  renewed  contro 
versy  with  Hamiltonians,  321  ; 
publishes  letters  in  "  Boston  Pa 
triot,"  322  ;  "  Cunningham  let 
ters,"  322 ;  written  soon  after 
retirement,  bitter  and  imprudent, 
323 ;  later  published  by  an  enemy, 
323 ;  presidential  elector  in  1820, 
324  ;  member  of  Massachusetts 
Constitutional  Convention,  324  ; 
urges  complete  religious  equality, 
324  ;  has  a  late  friendship  with 
Jefferson,  325;  death,  325. 

Characteristics.  A  typical  New 
Kuglander,  22,  56,  61  ;  self-reve 
lation  in  diary,  5,  6,  47,  57  ;  esti 
mates  of  self,  39,  40,  44,  46,  53, 
110,  133,  305;  Puritan  traits,  7, 
61;  unohangeableness,  9,  58; 
transparency,  81,  164  ;  increasing 
sobriety  during  first  half  of  life, 


332 


INDEX 


46,  47,  52-54,  57-59  ;  modest  early 
ambitions,  9,  10,  44  ;  courage,  27, 
36,  59,  60,  61, 75, 85,  98,  114  ;  stub 
bornness,  18,  33  ;  pugnacity,  18, 
250,  265,  321  ;  rashness,  34,  61,  72, 
90,  99,  100,  163,  265  ;  energy,  80, 
171 ;  honesty,  14,  36,  37,  318 ; 
aristocratic  preferences,  3,  4,  249  ; 
disinclination  toward  public  life, 
49,  50,  60  ;  parliamentary  ability, 
56,  57,  93,  110,  295,  300  ;  vanity, 
7-9,  63,  78,  132,  250,  255, 308,  317  ; 
ceusoriousness,  7,  9,  46,  101,  102, 
107,  178,  320,  322  ;  self -deprecia 
tion,  8,  9,  27,  40,  52,  53,  58. 
Political  opinions.  "Thoughts 
on  Government,"  138  ;  construc 
tive  statesmanship,  136  ;  on  parlia 
mentary  supremacy,  24,  28,  31 ; 
on  natural  rights,  28,  70,  247  ;  on 
independence  of  colonies,  52,  88, 
89,  105,  117-126  ;  on  democracy, 
139,  247  ;  on  southern  aristo 
cracy,  115,  137, 139;  on  aristocracy 
and  monarchy,  247,  248 ;  opposes 
life  tenure  of  office,  140 ;  on  fed 
eral  Constitution,  240;  believes 
in  strong  government,  246 ;  on 
United  States  foreign  policy,  291 ; 
on  Monroe  doctrine,  111,  266. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  5, 7, 23, 28, 146, 
321 ;  resemblance  to  his  lather,  6, 
107,  320. 

Adams,  Samuel,  mentioned,  22,  23, 
31,  52,  63  ;  aids  Adams  in  leading 
Congress  to  adopt  Massachusetts 
army,  94  ;  letter  to,  149. 

Alien  and  Sedition  Acts,  283. 

Ames,  Fisher,  advises  Adams  con 
cerning  French  mission,  273. 

BOSTON  MASSACRE,  arrival  of  troops, 

33  ;  conflict  with  the  mob,  34,  35  ; 

trial  of  the  soldiers,  36-38. 
Bowdoin,  James,  chosen  delegate  to 

first  Continental  Congress,  52,  62. 
Boylston,  Susanna,  mother  of  John 

Adams,  1 ;    superior    socially    to 

Adams  family,  3. 
Burr,  Aaron,  publishes  Hamilton'.* 

letter  against  Adams,  315. 

CHASE,  SAMUEL,  criticised  by  Admins, 
107  ;  cooperates  with  Adaus  in 
Continental  Congress  to  sejure  a 
French  mission,  110 ;  letter  of 
Adams  to,  128. 

Clergy,  in  New  England,  prestige 
and  influence  in  eighteenth  cen 
tury,  10,  11,  21. 


Clinton,  George,  defeated  by  Ad 
ams  for  vice-presidency,  251. 

Continental  Congress,  its  convivial 
character,  68,  77 ;  recommends 
commercial  non-intercourse,  69; 
adopts  a  declaration  of  rights,  70  ; 
brings  men  of  different  colonies 
together,  71  ;  difficulties  of  accom 
modation,  72  ;  slowness  of  its  ac 
tion,  78  ;  too  great  loquaciousness, 
78  ;  unpopularity  of  non-inter 
course,  80  ;  struggle  in  it  between 
moderate  and  extreme  parties,  85  ; 
adopts  Dickinson's  policy  of  peti 
tioning  the  king,  87  ;  resolves  to 
put  New  York  in  state  of  defense, 
90  ;  advises  Massachusetts  to  form 
a  civil  government,  91 ;  struggle 
over  adoption  of  the  Massachu 
setts  military  forces,  92-97  ;  mo 
tion  made  by  John  Adams,  94 ; 
objections  by  New  England  men 
to  Washington  as  commander,  95 ; 
collapse  of  opposition  and  final 
adoption  of  motion,  96;  signifi 
cance  of  its  success  in  binding 
colonies  together  in  resistance, 
97,  98 ;  conciliatory  party  in  power 
after  recess,  103,  104 ;  great  busi 
ness  activity,  106;  no  more  con 
viviality,  106 ;  military  events 
force  Congress  to  act,  108  ;  Con 
gress  really  in  rebellion,  108; 
successful  action  of  a  few  deter 
mined  men,  109 ;  after  show  of 
reluctance  decides  to  raise  a  navy, 
109 ;  advises  New  Hampshire  to 
adopt  a  form  of  government,  110  ; 
violent  debate  over  sending  an 
ambassador  to  France,  110;  pro 
ject  defeated,  111 ;  increasing 
tendency  toward  independence, 
115;  conciliationists  spread  reports 
of  royal  commissioners,  115 ;  Vir 
ginia  joins  party  of  independence, 
116  ;  considers  necessity  of  a  gen 
eral  recommendation  for  colonies 
to  form  governments,  118  ;  adopts 
preamble  asserting  the  necessity 
for  the  suppression  of  crown  gov 
ernment,  and  for  popular  sover 
eignty,  120  ;  action  delayed  only 
by  middle  states,  121 ;  colonies  all 
follow  advice,  122  ;  necessity  felt 
for  a  formal  declaration,  122 ; 
motion  made  by  Lee  and  Adams, 
122  ;  declaration  prepared  by  com 
mittees,  123-126;  debate  over 
the  resolution  and  the  declaration, 
126 ;  apparent  leadership  deter- 


INDEX 


333 


mined  by  policy  of  keeping  New 
England  in  the  background,  133; 
work  of  Congress  in  forming  Fed 
eration,  141,  142;  war  department, 
142  ;  regulates  foreign  missions  at 
Adams's  suggestion,  150 ;  submis 
sive  attitude  toward  France,  170, 
204,  205 ;  names  a  special  commis 
sion  to  make  peace,  205  ;  instructs 
it  to  undertake  nothing  without 
France,  206;  censures  members 
for  disobeying,  221,  222  ;  fails  to 
carry  out  treaty,  232  ;  scorned  and 
despised  by  English,  232  ;  rejects 
a  report  commending  Adams's 
services  as  minister,  but  later 
adopts  it,  236. 

Conway,  General,  moves  address 
against  Lord  North,  209. 

Gushing,  Thomas,  chosen  delegate 
to  first  Continental  Congress, 
52,  62  ;  opposes  Washington  for 
commander  of  New  England 
troops,  95. 

DAXA,  FRANCIS,  nominated  commis 
sioner  to  France,  declines,  277. 

Davie,  Governor,  nominated  envoy 
to  France,  298  ;  his  departure,  301. 

Deane,  Silas,  a  conciliationist  in 
Congress,  103,  108 ;  his  failure  at 
French  court,  146,  148. 

Democratic  party,  251,  252;  at 
tempts  to  win  over  Adams,  262, 
263,  264. 

Dexter,  Samuel,  secretary  of  war, 
310. 

Dickinson,  John,  107,  110 ;  hen 
pecked  by  Tory  wife,  83 ;  leader 
of  conciliatory  party  in  Conti 
nental  Congress,  87,  103 ;  criti 
cised  by  Adams,  101,  107 ;  op 
poses  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence,  125. 

Digges, ,  on  secret   mission  to 

American  commissioners,  210. 

Diplomacy  of    the  United   States, 
movement    toward    foreign    alli 
ances,  110,  111 ;  mission  to  France,  i 
146-151 ;  quarrels  among  delega 
tion,  147,  148  ;  relationswith  Ver-  | 
gennes,   154-194;  French   policy, 
155,   136,  159-161 ;  action  of  Ad 
ams,    162-236  ;  controversy   with  | 
France    over    rights   of    French 
creditors,    173-177  ;    quarrel    be 
tween  Adams  and  Franklin,  178- 
180  ;  friction  between  Adams  and  '• 
Vergennes,  180-186  ;    mission    of  ' 
Adams  to  Holland,  187-194  ;  se 


cures  recognition  of  United  States, 
193  ;  treaty  of  commerce,  194  ; 
negotiations  with  England  over 
the  treaty  of  peace,  195-220 ;  at 
tempted  mediation  by  Russia  and 
Austria,  200-203 ;  endeavors  of 
France  to  lessen  American  de 
mands,  204,  208  ;  subserviency  of 
Congress,  206,  207;  English  ad 
vances,  210-214 ;  question  as  to 
status  of  colonies  in  negotiation, 
whether  free  or  not,  210-213; 
Adams  and  Jay  insist  on  acting 
for  an  independent  government, 
212,213;  the  treaty  of  peace,  213- 
218  ;  American  and  English  claims, 
213, 214;  French  discourage  Amer 
icans,  214,  215;  United  States 
commissioners  ignore  France,  216; 
secure  right  to  fisheries,  217,  218  ; 
conclusion  of  treaty,  218 ;  con 
troversy  with  Vergennes,  219 ; 
justification  of  American  action, 
219-222 ;  criticisms  of  Congress, 
221,  222  ;  financial  relations  with 
Holland,  226 ;  mission  to  Great 
Britain,  227-236;  dealings  with 
France,  269,  270,  274,  277-301; 
X  Y  Z  episode,  277-281 ;  French 
attempts  at  reconciliation,  287, 
288,  294, 299  ;  the  French  mission, 
301. 

Dorset,  Earl  of,  warns  Adams  be 
fore  his  mission  to  England  of 
English  insolence,  229. 

Duane,  James,  a  moderate  in  Con 
gress,  120. 

Dyer,  Eliphalet,  criticised  by  Ad 
ams,  107. 

ELLSWORTH,  OLIVER,  nominated  an 
envoy  to  France,  298 ;  his  de 
parture,  301. 

England,  fails  to  understand  New 
Englanders,  22,  25 ;  its  ruin  fore 
told  by  Adams,  151,  196  ;  its  re 
luctant  advances  toward  treaty 
of  peace,  198  ;  adopts  unfriendly 
commercial  policy  toward  United 
States,  235. 

FEDERALIST  PARTY,  formation  in  the 
first  Congress,  245 ;  its  organizing 
work,  245;  aid  rendered  by  Ad 
ams  as  vice-president,  246 ;  wishes 
war  with  France,  293  ;  objects  to 
Adams's  proposed  mission,  293, 
296,  302  ;  the  Hamiltonian  wing 
tries  to  coerce  Adams,  296  ;  is 
obliged  to  confirm  his  nominees, 


334 


INDEX 


298 ;  tries  to  delay  sending  the 
mission,  298-301  ;  party  split  in 
two  by  this  dispute,  301  ;  not  en 
tirely  controlled  by  Hamilton, 
302;  hatred  of  Hamiltonian  sec 
tion  for  Adams,  312  ;  they  accuse 
him  of  insanity,  313  ;  party  ruined 
by  faction,  315;  defeated,  316; 
continues  to  pursue  Adams,  321. 

Fox,  Charles  J.,  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  210 ;  opens  negotiations 
with  France,  210;  quarrels  with 
Shelburne,  211. 

France,  its  motives  in  aiding  the 
colonies,  156,  159 ;  regarded  with 
gratitude  in  America,  15C,  157 ; 
policy  of  the  Directory  toward  the 
United  States,  269,  274. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  connection  with 
Declaration  of  Independence,  123, 
124  ;  minister  to  France,  147, 166; 
quarrels  with  colleagues,  147  ;  his 
diplomatic  ability,  166;  ineffi 
ciency  as  minister  to  France,  167  ; 
indolence,  172 ;  deprecates  Ver- 
gennes'  irritation  at  threatened 
scaling  of  colonial  debt,  177  ;  dis 
claims  Adams's  position,  177 ; 
jealous  of  Adams,  178 ;  attacked 
by  Adams,  179,  180 ;  at  Ver- 
gennes'  suggestion,  asks  for  Ad 
ams's  recall,  186  ;  disagrees  with 
Jay  on  point  of  demanding  pre 
liminary  recognition  of  American 
independence,  212  ;  wishes  to  fol 
low  French  advice,  216  ;  yields  to 
Jay  and  Adams,  216 ;  commis 
sioned  to  make  commercial  treaty, 
224. 

French  Revolution,  dreaded  as  a 
cause  of  disturbance  by  Adams, 
251. 

Fries,  John,  pardon  of  by  Adams, 
311. 

GENET,  EDMOND,  stirs  up  reaction  in 
favor  of  Federalists,  252. 

George  III.,  his  remark  to  Adams 
on  presentation,  229  :  subsequent 
coldness,  230. 

Gerard,  Conrad  Alexandre,  French 
minister,  suggests  readiness  of 
England  to  negotiate,  158 ;  se 
cures  reduction  of  commissioners' 
instructions  to  mere  independ 
ence,  161  ;  reports  to  Vergennes, 
169 ;  suggests  possible  French 
protectorate  over  United  States, 
204. 

Gerry,  Elbridge,  sent  to  Continental 


Congress,  112 ;  letter  to,  272 ;  nom 
ination  on  French  mission  opposed 
by  Federalists,  276;  later  con 
firmed,  277  ;  refuses  to  sign  pro 
test  against  French  commercial 
decree,  278  ;  persuaded  by  Talley 
rand  to  remain,  278 ;  recalled, 
282  ;  controversy  with  Talleyrand, 

Greene,  Gen.  Nathaniel,  tells  John 
Adams  the  cause  is  hopeless  in 
1777,  134. 

Grenville,  Thomas,  sent  by  Fox  to 
treat  with  Vergennes.  210 ;  re 
called,  211. 

Gridley,  Jeremiah,  advises  Adams  as 
to  his  legal  career,  17  ;  opposes 
Stamp  Act,  28. 

HAMILTON,  ALEXANDER,  compared 
with  Adams,  9  ;  prevents  a  large 
vote  for  Adams  in  presidential 
election,  1788,  242  ;  his  antipathy 
to  Adams,  243  ;  justified  by  later 
writers,  243 ;  attacked  by  Adams 
family,  243;  disagreeable  aspect 
of  his  action,  243  ;  leader  of  Fed 
eralist  party,  245,  253  ;  favors  Ad 
ams's  reelection,  251  ;  tries  by 
intrigue  to  get  Pinckney  elected 
president  over  Adams,  254-258  ; 
disingenuous  advice  to  New  Eng- 
landers,  256 ;  evil  result  upon  Fed 
eralists,  257  ;  hatred  of  Adams, 
258,  261,  265,  266 ;  real  leader  of 
Adams's  cabinet,  271,  272  ;  favors 
Adams's  plan  for  a  bi-partisan 
embassy,  273,  279 ;  secures  pub 
lication  of  X  Y  Z  dispatches, 
280  ;  name  suggested  as  general 
by  Washington,  284;  demands 
first  place,  285;  secures  it,  286, 
289 ;  suggests  a  commission  of 
three  for  French  mission,  298  ; 
receives  cabinet  secrets  from  Pick 
ering  and  Wolcott,  307, 310  ;  finds 
Adams  only  possible  Federalist 
candidate  in  1800,  312;  writes 
letter  assailing  Adams,  314  ;  tries 
to  draw  an  attack  from  Adams, 
315 ;  tries  again  to  bring  in  Pinck 
ney  over  Adams,  316;  ruins  Ad 
ams's  chances,  318 ;  never  for- 
given  by  Adams,  324. 

Hancock,  John,  defended  by  John 
Adams  on  charge  of  smuggling, 
31  ;  mortified  at  Washington's 
nomination  for  commander,  95. 

Harvard  College,  studies  of  Adams 
at,  2  ;  class  of  students  in,  3. 


INDEX 


335 


Hawley,  Joseph,  counsels  Adams 
against  arrogance  in  dealing  with 
men  from  other  colonies,  64. 

Henry,  Patrick,  in  favor  of  foreign 
alliances,  111  ;  letter  of  Adams 
to,  139 ;  nominated  on  mission  to 
France,  298. 

Hildreth,  Richard,  on  Adams,  2G9. 

Holland,  visited  by  Adams,  187-194 ; 
ignorance  in  concerning  America, 
188 ;  subservience  to  England, 
188,  189  ;  turned  to  French  and 
American  alliance  by  English  im 
prudence,  191  ;  popular  party  fa 
vors  America,  192 ;  cities  vote  to 
recognize  United  States,  193  ;  as 
sistance  of  Dutch  bankers,  193  ; 
part  played  by  Adams,  193,  194; 
visited  again  by  Adams  to  regulate 
American  debt,  226,  227. 

Hutchinson,  Governor,  enforces  the 
Stamp  Act,  26;  tries  to  bribe 
Adams  by  an  office,  32  ;  quiets 
excitement  at  time  of  Boston 
Massacre,  35. 

INDEPENDENCE,  slowness  of  Ameri 
cans  to  desire,  67,  85,  114;  early 
desire  of  John  Adams  for,  76,  86, 
89,  105,  118. 

JACKSON,  JONATHAN,  letters  of  Ad 
ams  to,  190,  215. 

Jay,  Sir  James,  takes  care  of  Adams 
during  illness  in  Paris,  226. 

Jay,  John,  desired  as  peace  commis 
sioner  by  New  York,  162;  sent 
to  Madrid,  162  ;  named  011  com 
mission  with  Adams  and  others, 
205  ;  angry  at  congressional  peace 
instructions,  208  ;  requests  that  a 
successor  be  appointed,  208  ;  in 
sists  that  English  commissioners 
treat  with  the  "  United  States," 
not  merely  with  colonies,  212; 
wishes  to  disregard  instructions, 
216  ;  prepares  reply  to  Congres 
sional  censure,  221 ;  commissioned 
to  make  commercial  treaty,  224  ; 
charged  with  bad  faith  toward 
Adams,  262 ;  considered  as  candi 
date  for  vice-presidency,  311  ;  de 
clines  chief  justiceship,  316. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  on  committee  to 
draw   up    Declaration     of     Inde 
pendence,  123  ;  his  statement  re 
garding  his  authorship,  124,  125 
helpless  in  debate,   126 ;   his  ad 
miration  of  Adams,  126  ;    placed 
ou  peace  commission,  206  ;    com 


missioner  for  treaties  of  com 
merce,  227  ;  snubbed  by  George 
III.,  230;  elected  vice-president, 
256  ;  Adams's  dislike  of  him,  258  ; 
he  attempts  to  win  over  Ad 
ams,  263,  264  ;  testifies  to  Adams's 
impartiality  in  foreign  affairs, 
269;  consulted  by  Adams  about 
French  mission,  273 ;  his  control 
over  Democrats,  280 ;  elected 
president,  316 ;  sustained  by  Ad 
ams  in  Leopard  affair,  321;  recon 
ciled  with  Adams,  325  ;  death,  325. 
Johnson,  Thomas,  makes  formal 
nomination  of  Washington  for 
commander-in-chief,  96. 

KINO,  RUFUS,  letter  to,  319. 

Knox,  Henry,  letter  of  Adams  to, 
258;  nominated  as  general  in 
provisional  army,  284 ;  difficulty 
as  to  his  rank,  285. 

LEE,  AKTHUK,  commissioner  at 
French  court,  146  ;  quarrels  with 
colleagues,  147,  148 ;  sent  to  Ma 
drid,  150. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  prepares  pre 
amble  suppressing  royal  author 
ity  in  colonies,  119  ;  moves  reso 
lutions  of  independence,  122; 
letter  to  Adams  from,  145. 

Leonard,  Daniel,  writes  for  Tories 
under  name  of  "  Massachusett- 
ensis,"  81. 

Litigiousness  of  New  Englanders,  17. 

Livingston,  Philip,  of  New  York, 
dreads  the  New  England  leveling 
spirit,  66. 

Livingston,  R.  R.,  member  of  com 
mittee  to  draft  Declaration  of 
Independence,  123 ;  rebukes  com 
missioners  for  treating  for  peace 
separately,  221. 

Lovell,  James,  writes  letter  to  Ad 
ams,  145. 

Luzerne,  Chevalier  de  la,  ordered  to 
protest  against  damage  to  French 
debtors,  175  ;  tries  to  secure  re 
call  of  Adams,  205 ;  dictates 
peace  instructions  of  Congress  to 
commissioners,  206. 

MADISON,  JAMES,  holds  back  letter 
from  Jefferson  to  Adams,  263  ;  de 
clines  mission  to  France,  273. 

Marshall,  John,  276  ;  named  minis 
ter  to  France,  277  ;  returns  home, 
278,  282 ;  secretary  of  state,  310  ; 
chief  justice,  316. 


336 


INDEX 


Massachusetts,  elects  delegates  to 
Continental  Congress,  51 ;  re 
ceives  sympathy  of  other  colo 
nies,  75,  76  ;  asks  advice  in  set 
ting  up  a  government,  91  ;  holds 
a  constitutional  convention,  154  ; 
interest  in  fisheries,  161 ;  insists 
on  including  these  in  any  treaty  of 
peace,  162 ;  succeeds  in  having 
Adams  named  minister,  1G3;  holds 
constitutional  convention,  324. 

McHenry,  James,  secretary  of  war, 
270;  his  relations  with  Wash 
ington,  Hamilton,  Adams,  278 ; 
speaks  sentiments  of  Federalists 
in  reply  to  Adams's  question  re 
garding  French  mission,  278 ;  his 
hatred  of  Adams,  306  ;  forced  by 
Adajns  to  resign,  308 ;  aids  Ham 
ilton  in  attacking  Adams,  314. 

Middle  states,  dislike  New  Eng 
land,  65,  67,  86;  dread  independ 
ence,  87,  114,  115,  116,  117,  121. 

Midnight  appointments,  317. 

Monroe  Doctrine,  anticipated  in 
principle  by  John  Adams  in  1775, 
111,  268. 

Monroe,  James,  minister  to  France, 
269 ;  his  indiscretions  cause  his 
recall,  270  ;  his  manner  of  depar 
ture  resented  by  Adams,  274; 
voted  for  as  presidential  elector 
by  John  Adams,  324. 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  his  dislike  of 
French  Revolution  causes  his  re 
call  from  French  embassy,  269. 

Murray,  William  Vans,  communi 
cates  French  advances  after  X  Y 
Z  affair,  288  ;  nominated  minister 
to  France,  295  ;  violent  objections 
of  Hamiltonians,  297,  298  ;  con 
firmed,  298. 

NAVY,  begun  in  Continental  Con 
gress,  109 ;  favored  by  Adams, 
275. 

New  England,  disliked  by  middle 
states,  65-67,  86,  132,  133. 

OLIVE  BRANCH  PETITION,  87,  90. 

Oswald,  Richard,  sent  by  Shelburne 
to  negotiate  about  peace,  210  ;  his 
commission  unsatisfactory,  211 ; 
receives  a  better  one,  213  ;  looked 
upon  by  British  cabinet  as  too 
yielding,  214. 

Otis,  James,  22,  34;  argument 
against  writs  of  assistance,  and  its 
effect  on  John  Adair>s,  23,  24  ; 
argument  against  the  Stamp  Act,  j 


28  ;    criticises  Adams  for  leaving 
public  life,  45. 

PAINE,  ROBERT  TREAT,  representa 
tive  to  first  Continental  Con 
gress,  52,  62. 

Paine,  Thomas,  publishes  "  Com 
mon  Sense,"  138 ;  criticised  by 
Adams,  138. 

Pendleton,  Edmund,  objects  to  ap 
pointment  of  Washington  as  com- 
mander-in-chief,  95. 

Pennsylvania,  conservative  feeling 
in  1774,  67. 

Pichon,  M.,  French  minister  at 
Hague,  makes  advances  for  re 
conciliation  after  X  Y  Z  affair, 
288,  294. 

Pickering,  Timothy,  letter  of  Ad 
ams  to,  132 ;  charged  with  mali 
cious  conduct  toward  Adams,  262 ; 
retained  as  Adams's  secretary  of 
state,  270;  his  relation  to  Ham 
ilton  and  Adams,  271  ;  objects  to 
Gerry  for  French  mission,  276; 
urges  alliance  with  England,  279  ; 
condemns  Adams's  nomination  of 
Murray,  296 ;  wishes  postpone 
ment  of  mission,  299,  300  ;  dis 
missed  b>  Adams,  309  ;  aids  Ham 
ilton  to  attack  him,  314  ;  resumes 
attack  upon  him,  321. 

Pinckney,  C.  C.,  sent  to  France 
to  replace  Monroe,  270  ;  not  re 
ceived,  272,  273;  renominated, 
276,  277  ;  remains  in  France  after 
X  Y  Z  affair,  278;  named  gen 
eral  in  provisional  army,  284 ;  con 
sults  with  Federalists  concerning  a 
new  mission,  289;  plan  to  make 
him  president  in  place  of  Adams, 
313. 

Pinckney,  Thomas,  nominated  by 
Federalists  for  vice-president, 
254 ;  plan  to  elect  him  president 
by  a  trick,  255-257 ;  Adams's 
contempt  for,  258,  259. 

Presidential  election,  of  1788,  241- 
243 ;  lack  of  party  organization, 
241;  of  1792,  251 :  definite  group 
ing  of  parties,  251  ;  of  1796,  253  ; 
of  1800,  312-316.  See  Adams, 
Hamilton. 

Puritan  traits  in  New  England,  6, 19, 
20,  21 ;  in  John  Adams,  6,  7,  22, 61. 

Putnam,  James,  Adams's  law  tutor, 
15, 16. 

QUINCT,  JOSIAH,  condemns  his  son 
for  defending  British  soldiers,  37. 


INDEX 


337 


Quincy,  Josiah,  Jr. ,  defends  soldiers 
in  the  "  Boston  Massacre,"  36. 

ROCKINGHAM,  MARQUIS  OF,  prime 
minister,  209  ;  death,  211. 

Rutledge,  Edward,  criticised  by 
Adams,  78,  107. 

Rutledge,  John,  criticised  by  Adams, 
107. 

SEDOWICK,  THEODORE,  condemns  Ad 
ams's  nomination  of  Murray,  29(5, 
298. 

Sewall,  Jonathan,  offers  Adams  post 
of  advocate-general  in  courts  of 
admiralty,  32. 

Shelburne,  Lord,  colonial  secretary, 
210;  sends  Oswald  to  negotiate 
treaty  of  peace,  210 ;  quarrels 
with  Fox,  211 ;  gains  full  control 
of  peace  negotiations,  211  ;  quib 
bles  over  form  of  commission  for 
Oswald,  211-213  ;  yields,  213  ; 
slow  to  believe  sincerity  of  Amer 
icans,  220. 

Sherman,  Roper,  objects  to  appoint 
ment  of  Washington  as  com 
mander  of  New  England  troops, 
95 ;  criticised  by  Adams.  107  ;  on 
committee  to  draft  Declaration  of 
Independence,  123. 

Smith,  Robert,  311. 

Smith,  Samuel,  311. 

Stamp  Act,  passed,  25;  its  effect 
described  by  Adams,  26 ;  agitation 
against  it,  25,  27-30. 

Strachey,  Henry,  aids  Oswald  in 
peace  negotiations,  214  ;  journeys 
to  London  to  get  instructions  con 
cerning  fisheries,  217. 

TALLEYRAND,  277  ;  in  X  Y  Z  affair, 
277  ;  humiliated  at  exposure,  287, 
288;  makes  advances  to  United 
States,  288,  294  ;  gives  official  as 
surance  that  the  commissioners 
shall  be  received,  299 

Town  meeting,  value  in  training  New 
England  Revolutionary  states 
men,  54-56. 

Treaty  of  peace.  English  obstinacy 
in  prolonging  war,  195  ;  reluctance 
to  admit  independence  of  colo 
nies,  198  ;  efforts  to  save  appear 
ances,  199,  209;  early  unofficial 
emissaries,  210,  211;  Whig  min 
istry  of  Fox  and  Shelburne  pre 
pare*  to  treat,  210;  debate  whether 
colonies  are  to  be  treated  as  free 
or  not,  210  ;  quarrel  between  Fox 


and  Shelburne,  211  ;  retirement 
of  Fox,  211  ;  Shelburne  refuses  to 
treat  with  "  United  States,"  211 ; 
finally  yields,  213;  English  ob 
jections  to  American  boundary, 
Mississippi  navigation,  and  fisher 
ies  claims,  213  ;  English  demand 
that  America  reimburse  Tories, 
214  ;  French  influence  exerted  on 
English  side,  213  ;  Americans  dis 
regard  it,  216;  agreement  reached 
as  to  boundaries,  Mississippi  nav 
igation,  and  Tory  claims,  216,  217; 
difficulty  over  fisheries,  217  ;  Eng 
lish  yield,  217  ;  "  right "  not  "  lib- 
erty,"  218;  results  reported  to 
Vergennes,  218  ;  French  dissatis 
faction,  218,  219  ;  the  treaty  only 
preliminary,  219  ;  doubts  of  both 
French  and  English  as  to  Ameri 
can  sincerity,  220 ;  final  settle 
ment,  220. 

VAUGUYON,  DUKE  DE  LA,  tries  to 
hinder  Adams's  negotiations  in 
Holland,  190  ;  gives  an  entertain 
ment  in  his  honor,  193. 

Vergennes,  Count  de,  diplomat  of 
the  old  school,  155 ;  his  unscru- 
pulousness  and  selfishness,  156  ; 
motives  in  aiding  America,  156; 
policy  of  prolonging  the  war  to 
ruin  England,  159;  to  make  the 
colonies  independent,  160 ;  ob 
jects  to  American  boundary,  fish 
eries,  or  Mississippi  navigation 
claims  in  ultimatum,  160  ;  prefers 
to  use  these  demands  as  diplo 
matic  weapons  for  France,  161 ; 
hence  Adams's  instructions  lim 
ited  to  treating  for  peace  and 
making  commercial  treaty,  161  ; 
wishes  Adams  to  keep  his  pur 
pose  secret  until  he  can  hear  from 
Congress  directly,  168  ;  reluctant 
to  allow  Adams  to  make  known 
his  powers,  168-170;  insists  that 
the  colonies  shall  not  reduce 
French  debts,  174;  urges  Adams 
to  make  Congress  do  justice,  175 ; 
loses  temper  at  Adams's  renewed 
proposal  to  make  known  his  pow 
ers,  182;  sends  Adams  a  cutting 
and  insolent  letter,  182,  183  ;  re 
fuses  to  receive  further  informa 
tion  from  Adams,  185  ;  sends  cor 
respondence  to  Franklin,  186 ; 
suggests  that  Congress  recall  Ad 
ams,  188;  tries  to  hinder  recog 
nition  of  United  States  by  Hot 


338 


INDEX 


land,  190-193 ;  intends  to  make 
the  colonies  follow  France  in 
peace  negotiations,  200  ;  conceals 
from  Adams  the  grounds  of  pro 
posed  mediation  by  Russia  and 
Austria,  201  -,  wishes  to  let  the 
colonies  settle  for  themselves  with 
England,  but  conclude  nothing 
until  the  others  are  ready,  202  ; 
intrigues  to  get  Adams  recalled, 
204;  fails,  205;  succeeds  in  get 
ting  Adams's  commission  to  make 
a,  commercial  treaty  annulled, 
205  ;  induces  Congress  to  instruct 
commissioners  to  follow  France, 
•207  ;  tells  American  ministers  not 
to  expect  too  much,  209;  sides 
•with  English  against  American 
claims  in  negotiation,  213,  214; 
satisfied  at  first  with  conclusion  of 
American  treaty,  218;  later  dreads 
alliance  of  United  States  with 
England,  219  ;  tries  to  get  acts  of 
commissioners  repudiated,  219 ; 
his  remark  to  Adams  on  his  mis 
sion  to  England,  228. 
Virginia  delegates  at  the  Conti 
nental  Congress,  68 ;  prevent 
adoption  of  assertion  of  "  nat 
ural  rights,"  70. 

WAR    DEPARTMENT,    organized    by 

Adams,  142. 
Warren,  James,  letters  of  Adams  to, 

51,  53,  59,  74, 100, 101. 
Washington,  George,  wears  his  uni 


form  in  Congress,  84;  inspires 
jealousy  in  Adams,  65,  132,  262, 
308,  309  ;  appointed  commander 
of  army,  94-97;  advised  by  Ad 
ams  on  military  jurisdiction,  111 ; 
his  indispensability  for  success  of 
Revolution,  130-132  ;  his  superi 
ority  to  Adams,  133,  318  ;  his  abil 
ity  doubted  by  Adams,  134  ;  the 
Gates  cabal,  134,  135;  bitterly 
attacked,  252;  overshadows  Ad- 
ams  at  his  inauguration,  261,  262 ; 
his  relations  with  his  cabinet,  271  ; 
commander  of  provisional  army, 
284  ;  his  part  in  quarrel  concern 
ing  rank  of  generals,  285,  286 ; 
may  have  been  present  at  confer 
ence  of  Federalists  to  advise  Ad 
ams,  289 ;  plan  to  make  him  again 
a  candidate  for  presidency,  212. 

Wolcott,  Oliver,  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  270 ;  relations  with 
Hamilton,  271 ;  an  extreme  An 
glophile,  273  ;  objects  to  a  new 
French  mission,  276,  279  ;  his  part 
in  the  quarrel  over  rank  of  gen 
erals  in  provisional  army,  286 ; 
his  hatred  of  Adams,  306;  con 
tinues  on  outwardly  friendly 
terms,  310 ;  acts  as  Hamilton's 
agent,  310-314. 

Writs  of  assistance,  Otis's  argu 
ment  against,  23. 

X  Y  Z  AFFAIR,  277-299;  popular 
excitement  over,  281,  282. 


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