24751Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
In the spring of 1774, when Adams was kept busy helping to draft the impeachment articles against Peter Oliver and reviewing the historical basis for Massachusetts land claims against New York, the Town of Boston found uses for him as well, particularly as passions mounted over the Port Act and, later, the Massachusetts Government and Administration of Justice Acts. The precise contribution...
24752Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
John Adams approached his participation in the Continental Congress with trepidation. As he explained to correspondents, he did not feel that he had the knowledge of other colonies and their trade or of the British Empire as a whole to help determine wisely what course of action should be taken. He had never traveled outside New England and knew few of the other delegates even by reputation....
24753Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
On 26 October 1774 the Continental Congress adjourned, and its members returned home. John Adams left Philadelphia on the 28th, arriving in Braintree probably on 9 November ( Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 2:157–160 ). In his passage through Massachusetts, he was informed of the actions of the...
24754Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The Continental Association and the Bill of Rights of the First Continental Congress turned American against American as never before. Extreme whigs professed that their only goal was to win increased auton omy for the colonies within the British Empire—a return to the status quo before George Grenville—but they were not always believed by the moderates. Among the latter, some suspected that...
24755Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
While John Adams was writing his Novanglus letters, the town of Braintree met, on 6 March 1775, for its annual meeting to elect town officials and to dispose of other business enumerated in the five-point warrant ( Braintree Town Records Samuel A. Bates, ed., Records of the Town of Braintree, 1640 to 1793, Randolph, Mass., 1886. , p. 454–455). Strictly speaking, some of the other business was...
24756John Adams’ Service in the Continental Congress (Adams Papers)
The first session of the Second Continental Congress began on 10 May 1775 and ended officially on 1 August. What went on at the congress, apart from the actions recorded in the printed journal, remains a matter for some conjecture. For the First Congress, one of the best sources is Adams’ Diary, but from April to September 1775 the burden of business apparently kept Adams from getting down his...
24757Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
After the official adjournment of the Second Continental Congress on 1 August, another meeting was held on the morning of the next day. Adams may not have left Philadelphia, then, until 3 August ( JCC Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the Continental Congress , 1774–1789, Washington, 1904–1937; 34 vols. , 2:239; Burnett, ed., Letters of Members Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters...
24758Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
In the fall of 1775 Adams worked in the congress to the point of exhaustion; by December he asked permission to leave to restore his energies. He served on thirteen committees, and judging from the fragmentary evidence that has been found, he gave full measure. He was not exaggerating when he told Mercy Warren he was “engaged in constant Business. . . . Every Body is engaged all Day in...
24759Editorial Note
(Adams Papers)
Adams returned to Braintree from Philadelphia on 21 December 1775 and departed from Watertown for the Continental Congress five weeks later on 25 January 1776 ( JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 2: 226 , 227 ). Relatively little is known about his activities and thinking in this period, for he wrote...
24760Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
Returning home to Braintree in December 1775, exhausted by his labors in the congress, John Adams “vacationed” by serving on the Massachusetts Council until 24 January 1776. He arrived back in Philadelphia on 8 February and the next day plunged into work during the busiest and most significant period the congress had yet known. In old age Adams recalled, probably without much exaggeration,...
24761Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
One of the most influential of Adams’ Revolutionary writings was the pamphlet Thoughts on Government, Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies. In a Letter from a Gentleman to His Friend , Philadelphia, 1776 ( T. R. Adams, American Independence Thomas R. Adams, American Independence: The Growth of an Idea. A Bibliographical Study of the American Political Pamphlets Printed...
24762Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
On 12 June 1776, almost five months after a committee had been named to consider the establishment of a war office, the Continental Congress resolved to create “a Board of War and Ordnance” and on the following day appointed John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Harrison, James Wilson, and Edward Rutledge as its first members ( JCC Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the...
24763Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The Plan of Treaties of 1776 had its origin in a resolution of the Continental Congress on 11 June. Coming on the day following the resolution to appoint a committee to prepare a declaration of independence, it stated that a committee should be named “to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed to foreign powers.” The next day John Dickinson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Benjamin Harrison,...
24764Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
No member of the congress played a greater role in 1775 and 1776 in bringing about a separation of the American colonies from Great Britain than John Adams, even if we make allowances for his tendency in old age to push back into time the moment when he became unequivocally committed to independence. His influence was exerted right up through the adoption of the formal resolution itself, but...
24765Enclosure: Draft of an Article (Adams Papers)
At this Time of general Danger, when every one is anxiously considering by what Means our Liberties may be preserved, I hope to be at least forgiven, if I attempt to suggest a Hint which, perhaps, by wiser Heads, may be improved to publick Advantage. The Calling out our Militia in such Numbers for the Defence of our Country is attended with this Difficulty among others, that the Slaves left at...
24766John Adams’ Service in the Continental Congress (Adams Papers)
JA increasingly felt the weight of committee work during the six weeks that remained before he could take a much-needed rest. He un burdened himself about his need for relief in almost petulant tones to James Warren in more than one letter; yet for this period there is no significant documentary evidence of JA ’s contribution to committee reports. The editors are reduced simply to listing...
24767John Adams’ Service in the Continental Congress (Adams Papers)
In his final months of service in the congress, JA served on 26 committees, acting as chairman for 8 of them, and for most of the period he continued to act as president of the Board of War and as a member of the Committee on Appeals. From all this committee work, only two reports in JA ’s hand have been found; they are printed below in their appropriate chronological order. Here, as with...
24768Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The Commissioners’ letter or memorial to Vergennes of early January 1779 is highly significant. Despite its long dissertation on the evils of the Carlisle Commission’s manifesto of 3 October 1778 and its appeal for a French declaration to counter the manifesto’s effects, the principal object of the letter was the dispatch of naval reinforcements to America. John Adams later wrote to Elbridge...
24769Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
Of the eleven states that adopted constitutions during the Revolutionary period, Massachusetts, ratifying its document in 1780, was the last. (Connecticut and Rhode Island, both with corporate charters that granted broad autonomous powers, did not revise their organic law until the nineteenth century.) The General Court had drafted a constitution which it presented to the towns in 1778, but...
24770Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
John Adams’ letter of 19 April 1780 to the president of Congress (No. I, below), constitutes his redaction of Thomas Pownall’s pamphlet entitled A Memorial, Most Humbly Addressed to the Sovereigns of Europe, on the Present State of Affairs, Between the Old and New World , London, 1780. In July, Adams used his Letterbook copy to produce a manuscript ( No. II , below) that, considerably revised...
24771Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The dispute between John Adams and the Comte de Vergennes over Congress’ revaluation of its currency provides a revealing glimpse of the dynamics of the Franco-American Alliance. It makes clear the inherent conflict between Adams’ view of the United States as an equal partner with France and Vergennes’ confident assumption that France would dominate the relationship. But why did a dispute over...
24772Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The eight letters exchanged by John Adams and the Comte de Vergennes between 13 and 29 July provide a resounding climax to Adams’ diplomatic efforts at Paris in 1780. Together they constitute one of the most controversial episodes in John Adams’ diplomatic career and reveal much about his views of both the Franco-American alliance and negotiations with Great Britain. The controversy played out...
24773Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
On 22 July, John Adams sent Edmund Jenings the final portion of his reply to Joseph Galloway’s Cool Thoughts (London, 1780 [i.e. 1779]). Specifically, his reply was to the three sections of that pamphlet setting down Galloway’s views “On the Consequences to Great Britain of American Independence”; “On the Expence of Great Britain in the Settlement and Defence of the American Colonies”; and “On...
24774Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
On 28 August 1780, John Adams dined with “A Lawyer, Mr. Calcoon” ( JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 2:446–447 ). This was a significant event in the chronicle of John Adams’ diplomatic mission to the Netherlands, for “Mr. Calcoon” was Hendrik Calkoen, whom Adams described many years later as “the...
24775Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
Congress adopted three documents 15 June that represented a major victory for French diplomacy and demonstrated the Chevalier de La Luzerne’s domination of Congress. In 1779 it had taken Congress several months to devise its peace ultimata and appoint a minister plenipotentiary to carry them out. In 1781 a congressional committee met with La Luzerne on 28 May and within eighteen days Congress...
24776Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
Disturbed by errors in the Abbé Raynal’s Révolution de l’Amérique , London, 1781, and encouraged by the abbé himself, John Adams set about composing a point by point rebuttal of Raynal’s work (to Raynal, 5 Jan. ; from Raynal, 18 Jan. , both above). Adams clearly intended to publish the following series of letters in Le politique hollandais . The fourth installment ( No. IV , below), however,...
24777Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
On 14 May 1782, two days after John Adams moved into the new American legation, John Thaxter inventoried the household furnishings. On 16 Oct., the day before Adams left The Hague for Paris and the peace negotiations, Thaxter likely reviewed his inventory, focusing on the glass- and dinnerware, to determine what had been added since 14 May or was missing or broken (see No. I, note 1 , below)....
24778Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
On 19 April the States General recognized the United States as independent and John Adams as its minister at The Hague. Four days later, to cement the relationship between the United States and a nation he hoped and expected would become an important trading partner, Adams presented a draft treaty of amity and commerce to their High Mightinesses. By 26 April the draft was translated into...
24779Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
Two separate documents are presented here. The first is derived from the printed Dutch translation of John Adams’ English draft of a treaty of amity and commerce, accompanied by “Remarques en nadere Propositie” (Remarks and Further Propositions), that was officially presented to Adams on 22 August. The Dutch translation of the draft appears in the left column. In the right column are the...
24780III. John Adams’ Replies to the Dutch Remarks on and Suggested Changes to His Draft Treaty of Amity and Commerce: [ante … (Adams Papers)
John Adams wrote two point-by-point responses to the Dutch proposals for changes to his draft treaty of amity and commerce. The first appears in the left column below and probably was done sometime between 21 May and mid-June. On 21 May the States General printed a document for the consideration of the provinces and other interested parties containing a Dutch translation of Adams’ draft in the...
24781Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
John Adams had long contemplated the manner in which the history of the American Revolution, and his role in it, should be presented to his own and succeeding generations. Adams’ care in preserving his papers and keeping Letterbooks attests to his concern that an accurate record be preserved for future historians. Since his return to Europe in late 1779, Adams frequently acted at least as a...
24782Editorial Note: The American Peace Commissioners to Robert R. Livingston (Adams Papers)
The drafting and dispatch of the commissioners’ 18 July letter to Robert R. Livingston has a curious history. What transpired and the consequences thereof reveal much about the relations between the commissioners, particularly John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. On 2 July, Capt. Joshua Barney delivered to Passy letters from Robert R. Livingston, most notably those of 25 March and 21 April (to...
24783Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
On 9 April 1784 John Adams drafted two letters to Samuel Osgood. They were replies to Osgood’s of 7 December 1783 and 14 January 1784 (vol. 15:398–414 , 452–455 ). Neither version was sent. Adams tried again on 30 June , below, but again did not send the letter. It was only on 13 December, after Adams had “burnt five or Six Answers,” that he finally replied to Osgood’s “excellent Letters.”...
24784Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The draft Prussian-American commercial treaty that the Baron von Thulemeier submitted to John Adams with his letter of 9 April was the product of their meeting on 19 February, which Adams describes in his letter of the following day to Benjamin Franklin and John Jay , both above. Based on the Swedish-American treaty of 3 April 1783, the draft is interesting as the first effort by the two...
24785Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce was concluded on 10 September 1785. But negotiations began on 10 November 1784 when the American commissioners submitted a draft treaty to the Baron von Thulemeier, Prussian minister at The Hague, and were, for all intents and purposes, completed on 14 March 1785 when the commissioners sent their response to Prussian proposals for alterations...
24786Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Adams Papers)
The Hague, 10 September 1785. MS ( PCC , No. 135, I, f. 286–320). PRINTED : Miller, Treaties Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America , ed. Hunter Miller, Washington, D.C., 1931–1948; 8 vols. , 2:162–184. LbC ( Adams Papers ); APM Reel 111. The undated LbC was done by Charles Storer in early August from the copies brought to London by William Short on 3 Aug. for...
24787Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
In 1784 and 1785 the absence of any treaties between the United States and the Barbary States produced a crisis when Morocco and Algiers seized American ships. Congress’ decision in March 1785 to resolve that problem, at the behest of the commissioners and the emperor of Morocco, opened a new chapter in the nation’s diplomacy. The documents presented here indicate the basis upon which the...
24788Volume 1 of John Adams’ A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America: Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
In early September 1786, John Adams returned to No. 8 Grosvenor Square from a whirlwind summer trip to the Netherlands with wife Abigail ( John Adams Visits the Netherlands, 3 Aug. – 6 Sept. , above). Mulling over his political conversations with old friends in the Dutch Patriot Party, which seemed on the verge of victory over the pro-stadholder Orangist Party, Adams plunged into researching...
24789Volumes 2 and 3 of John Adams’ A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (Adams Papers)
[ ca. 25 August 1787 – ca. 23 January 1788 ] Wrapping up a decade of diplomatic service, John Adams spent his last summer in Europe traveling and drafting the second volume of his landmark work, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America , which upheld a tripartite federal government for the new nation. Initially, Adams had not envisioned a sequel. As the...
24790Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
Congress reconvened for its second session on 4 January. Deadlocked over two entwined issues—the federal assumption of state debts and the site of the American capital—John Adams and his Senate colleagues passed waves of legislation defining naturalization, patents, and copyrights, and establishing national entities like the U.S. Coast Guard. Members of the House labored to craft an economic...
24791Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
Following the favorable reception of his 1787–1788 work, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America , Vice President John Adams ventured deeper into the lessons of Europe’s republican past. Encouraged by Thomas Jefferson and others to pursue the subject of hereditary aristocracy as “a proper sequel,” Adams mulled the skills needed for such a task, namely,...