31John Adams to the president of Congress, 27 March 1784 (Adams Papers)
I have the Honour to inclose Copies of three Notes which I have receiv’d from the Prussian Minister, the Baron de Thulemeier, by which Congress will see, that the King has agreed to take our Treaty with Sweeden for a Model, reserving to each Party the right of suggesting such alterations as shall appear to him convenient— My Request to Congress is, that they would be pleased to send...
32John Adams to the president of Congress, 9 March 1784 (Adams Papers)
On the Eighteenth of February the Baron de Thulemeyer, Envoy Extraordinary to their High Mightinesses from the King of Prussia, did me the Honour of a Visit, but as he found I had Company, he soon took his Leave, and as I accompanied him to the Head of the Stairs, he told me, he had Something to propose to me from the King and desired to know, when he might call again. I offered to return his...
33John Adams to the president of Congress, 10 February 1784 (Adams Papers)
I had Scarcely finished my Dispatches, to go by M r Thaxter with the definitive Treaty, when I was taken down with a Fever at Paris, and reduced so low as to be totally unable to attend to any Business for a long time. When I grew so much better, as to be able to ride, I was advised to go to England.— As I had nothing to do at Paris, and an Attempt to reside in Holland, would probably have...
34From John Adams to the President of Congress, 14 December 1783 (Adams Papers)
Permit me to congratulate you, on your Election to the Chair, and to wish you and the Members of Congress in general much Satisfaction at Anapolis. on the Fifth of this Month, Cap tn Jones arrived at my Lodgings in Piccadilly, with Dispatches from the late President M r Boudinot.— The Letters addressed to “the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States” I opened, And found a Set of...
35From John Adams to the President of Congress, 13 November 1783 (Adams Papers)
If any one should ask me what is the System of the present administration? I should answer, “to keep their places”— Every Thing they say or do appears evidently calculated to that End, and no Ideas of public Good no national Object is suffered to interfere with it. In order to drive out Shelburne, they condemned his Peace which all the Whig Part of them, would have been very glad to have made,...
36From John Adams to the President of Congress, 9 November 1783 (Adams Papers)
About the fourteenth of September I was seized at Paris with a Fever, which proved to be a dangerous one, and brought me, very low, so that I was unable to attend to any business for some time.— on the twentieth of October, in Pursuance of the Advice of my Friends, I sett out from Auteuil a Village in the Neighbourhood of Passy for London, which City I reach’d by slow Journeys, the twenty...
37From John Adams to the President of Congress, 14 September 1783 (Adams Papers)
I beg Leave to introduce to your Civilities M r: Thaxter, who goes home with the definitive Treaty of Peace, and the original Treaty with Holland. M r: Thaxter will present you a Medal, a Present to Congress, from the Province of Friesland, he will also present another to your Excellency of which I beg your acceptance. These were sent as Presents to me and I have no more, otherwise I should...
38From John Adams to the President of Congress, 10 September 1783 (Adams Papers)
As I am to remain in Europe for sometime longer, I beg Leave to take a cursory view of what appears necessary or expedient to be further done in Europe, for I conceive it to be not only the Right but the Duty of a foreign Minister to advise his Sovereign according to his Lights and Judgment, although the more [extensive Information], and Superior Wisdom of the Sovereign may frequently [see]...
On the third Instant, Definitive Treaties were concluded, between all the late belligerent Powers, except the Dutch, who the Day before settled and signed Preliminary Articles of Peace with Britain. We most sincerely & cordially congratulate Congress and our Country in general, on this happy Event, and we hope that the same kind Providence which has led us thro’ a vigorous War, to an honorable...
40From John Adams to the President of Congress, 8 September 1783 (Adams Papers)
Yesterday morning, M r. Jay informed me, that D r. Franklin had recieved, & soon afterwards the D r. put into my hands the Resolution of Congress of the first of May, ordering Commission and Instructions to be prepared to those Gentlemen and myself, for making a Treaty of Commerce with Great Britain. This Resolution, with your Excellency’s Letter, arrived very seasonably, as M r. Hartley was...
41From John Adams to the President of Congress, 8 September 1783 (Adams Papers)
As the Resolution of Congress of the first of May, has determined it to be my Duty to remain in Europe at least another Winter I shall be obliged to say many things to your Excellency by Letter, which I hoped to have had the honour of saying upon the Floor of your house. Some of these Things may be Thought at first of little Consequence; but Time and Inquiry and Consideration will Shew them to...
42From John Adams to the President of Congress, 5 September 1783 (Adams Papers)
On Wednesday the third day of this Month, the American Ministers met the British Minister at his Lodgings at the Hôtel de York, and signed, sealed and delivered the Definitive Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the King of Great Britain. Altho’ it is but a Confirmation or Repetition of the Provisional Articles, I have the honor to congratulate Congress upon it, as it is a...
43From John Adams to the President of Congress, 1 September 1783 (Adams Papers)
Wednesday the third of this Month is appointed for the Signature of the Definitive Treaties of Peace. Unable to obtain, any addition or Explanation, We have been obliged to agree to sign the Provisional Articles over again with only a Preamble, making them a Definitive Treaty. No Regulation of Commerce is agreed upon, and indeed we have no Commission or Authority to make any.— We have thus...
44From John Adams to the President of Congress, 16 January 1782 (Adams Papers)
RC ( PCC , No. 84, III, f. 462–465). printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States , Washington, 1889; 6 vols. , 5:114–116. In this letter JA included English translations of two items that appeared in Dutch newspapers, including the Gazette de Leyde of 8 and 11 January. The first was the representation...
45From John Adams to the President of Congress, 15 January 1782 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, 15 January 1782. RC in John Thaxter’s hand ( PCC , No. 84, III, f. 458–459). printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States , Washington, 1889; 6 vols. , 5:111. In this letter, JA provided the English text of a note presented by the Russian minister, Prince Gallitzin, to Hendrik Fagel, secretary...
46From John Adams to the President of Congress, 14 January 1782 (Adams Papers)
Having recieved the Advice of several Gentlemen, Members of the States, and also the Opinion of the Duke de la Vauguyon and the Comte de Vergennes, I went to the Hague on Tuesday the 8th. day of this Month, and the next Morning at ten waited on the President of their High Mightinesses, Mr. Van den Sandheuvel of Dort, a City of Holland, to whom I made a verbal Requisition in the following...
47From John Adams to the President of Congress, 29 December 1781 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, 29 December 1781. RC in John Thaxter’s hand ( PCC , No. 84, III, f. 446–450). printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States , Washington, 1889; 6 vols. , 5:77–79. This letter consists of English translations of a brief note announcing Austria’s accession to the armed neutrality and the formal act...
48From John Adams to the President of Congress, 25 December 1781 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, 25 December 1781. RC in John Thaxter’s hand ( PCC , No. 84, III, f. 438–441). printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States , Washington, 1889; 6 vols. , 5:70–71). In this letter, which Congress received on 18 Sept. 1782, JA provided the text of Lord Stormont’s announcement of 8 Sept. to the...
49From John Adams to the President of Congress, 25 December 1781 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, 25 December 1781. RC in John Thaxter’s hand ( PCC , No. 84, III, f. 442–444). printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States , Washington, 1889; 6 vols. , 5:71–72. This letter consists of an English translation of Prussia’s declaration of 8 Dec., intended to remove any questions about the identity...
50From John Adams to the President of Congress, 18 December 1781 (Adams Papers)
Having recieved an Invitation to the Hague, in order to have some Conversation with some Gentlemen in the Government concerning the further Steps proper for me to take in the present Conjuncture, I had determined to have undertaken the Journey to day: but the Arrival in Town of the Duke de la Vauguyon, determined me to postpone it until tomorrow. At noon to day, his Excellency did me the honor...
51From John Adams to the President of Congress, 14 December 1781 (Adams Papers)
The first public Body, which has proposed a Connection with the United States, is the quarter of Oostergo, in the Province of Friesland. The Proposition is in these words: “Every impartial Patriot has a long time percieved, that in the direction of affairs relative to this War with England, there has been manifested an inconcievable Lukewarmness and Sloth: but they discover themselves still...
52From John Adams to the President of Congress, 13 December 1781 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam 13 December 1781. RC in John Thaxter’s hand ( PCC , No. 84, III, f. 426–429). printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States , Washington, 1889; 6 vols. , 5:43–44. This letter, read in Congress on 15 March 1782 and acted upon on 26 March ( JCC Worthington C. Ford and others, eds., Journals of the...
53From John Adams to the President of Congress, 4 December 1781 (Adams Papers)
I have recieved those Instructions, with which I was honoured by Congress on the sixteenth of August, and communicated them forthwith to the French Ambassador to their High Mightinesses, and to the American Ministers at Versailles and Madrid. The Duke de la Vauguyon was of opinion, that they were very well considered, and very well timed, to counteract another Trait of British Policy, in...
54From John Adams to the President of Congress, 1 November 1781 (Adams Papers)
It is still as problematical as ever, what is the political System of this Republick, and indeed whether it has any System at all. They talk much and deliberate long, but execute nothing. By the Violence with which they speak and write of each other, a Stranger would think them ripe for a civil War. In the Assembly of the States of Guelderland, held to consider of the Requisition of the King...
55From John Adams to the President of Congress, 25 October 1781 (Adams Papers)
I see in the London Courant, which arrived to day, an advertisement of a translation into English of the address to the People of the Netherlands: so that this work is likely to be translated into all Languages and read by all the World, notwithstanding the Placards against it. I have before sent that of Utrecht. That of Holland is as follows: “The States of Holland and of West Friesland, to...
56From John Adams to the President of Congress, 18 October 1781 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, 18 October 1781. RC in John Thaxter’s hand ( PCC, Misc. Papers , Reel No. 1, f. 427–433). printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States , Washington, 1889; 6 vols. , 4:787–790. In this letter, a duplicate, JA discussed the war’s effect on Dutch trade. He reported that fishermen from Vlaardingen...
57From John Adams to the President of Congress, 17 October 1781 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, 17 October 1781. RC in John Thaxter’s hand ( PCC, Misc. Papers , Reel No. 1, f. 423–426). printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States , Washington, 1889; 6 vols. , 4:782–783. Included in this letter, a duplicate, was an English translation of a placard issued at Utrecht on 3 Oct. against Aan...
58From John Adams to the President of Congress, 15 October 1781 (Adams Papers)
I am very sorry to learn that Congress had recieved no Letters from October to June. It is not that I wrote less than usual in that period, but that I was more unfortunate. Two Vessels, which sailed from hence for Boston, each of which had Dispatches from me for Congress, destroyed them, one upon being taken, and the other being chased. But the most of my Dispatches were Lost at St. Eustatia,...
59From John Adams to the President of Congress, 15 October 1781 (Adams Papers)
I wish, if it were possible, to communicate to Congress the present State of every Affair, which they have been pleased to confide in any measure to me. I have recieved the new Commission for Peace, and the Revocation of my Commission and Instructions of the 29th of September 1779. To both of these Measures of Congress, as to the Commands of my Sovereign, I shall pay the most exact Attention....
60From John Adams to the President of Congress, 22 August 1781 (Adams Papers)
The Constitution of this Country is such, that it is difficult to discover the general Sense. There have been all along Circumstances in which it might be discerned; but these were so feeble, and so susceptible of Contradiction and Disguise, that some extraordinary Exertions were necessary to strike out unquestionable proofs of the Temper and Opinion of the Nation. Last Spring, the Part of...