From John Adams to the President of Congress, 16 August 1781

To the President of Congress

Amsterdam, 16 August 1781. RC in John Thaxter’s hand PCC, No. 84, III, f. 370–373. printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. description begins Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, Washington, 1889; 6 vols. description ends , 4:640.

This letter, read in Congress on 12 Nov., contains an English translation of a “verbal insinuation” to the Dutch minister at St. Petersburg, proposing to settle the Anglo-Dutch war at a general peace conference at Vienna. For the text of the translation, see John Adams’ letter to Benjamin Franklin, 25 Aug., below. Adams did not believe that Russia, in making the offer, had shared the proposed articles for the negotiations with the Dutch minister. He concluded “I must confess, I like this Insinuation very much, because it may be in time an excellent Precedent for making such an Insinuation to the Minister of the United States of America.”

RC in John Thaxter’s hand (PCC, No. 84, III, f. 370–373.) printed: (Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. description begins Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, Washington, 1889; 6 vols. description ends , 4:640).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: From John Adams to the President of Congress, 16 August 1781
Author: Adams, John
Recipients: President of Congress
McKean, Thomas
Date: 16 August 1781

Reference

Cite as: “From John Adams to the President of Congress, 16 August 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-11-02-0337. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 11, January–September 1781, ed. Gregg L. Lint, Richard Alan Ryerson, Anne Decker Cecere, Celeste Walker, Jennifer Shea, and C. James Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003, p. 453.]