[Notes on Relations with France, March—April 1776.]
[from the Diary of John Adams]

[Notes on Relations with France, March—April 1776.1]

Is any Assistance attainable from F.?

What Connection may We safely form with her?

1 st. No Political Connection. Submit to none of her Authority—receive no Governors, or officers from her.

2d. No military Connection. Receive no Troops from her.

3d. Only a Commercial Connection, i.e. make a Treaty, to receive her Ships into our Ports. Let her engage to receive our Ships into her Ports—furnish Us with Arms, Cannon, Salt Petre, Powder, Duck, Steel.

1. These notes, very likely prepared for a speech in Congress or in committee of the whole, follow the entry of 4 March after a short interval of space in the MS. The subject of overtures to France was recurrently debated throughout March and April.

Index Entries

You Are Looking At

Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: [Notes on Relations with France, March—April 1776.]
Author: Adams, John
Date: March–April 1776

Reference

Cite as: “[Notes on Relations with France, March—April 1776.] ,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-02-02-0006-0005-0001. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 2, 1771–1781, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961, p. 236.]