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Certification of C. W. F. Dumas’ Oath of Allegiance to the United States, 16 December 1780

Certification of C. W. F. Dumas’ Oath of Allegiance to the United States

Amsterdam December 16. 1780

Charles William Frederick Dumas, personally appeared before Us and took the Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America, upon the holy Evangelists of Almighty God.1

John Adams Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States

James Searle Member of Congress for the Commonwealth of Pensylvania

MS (DLC: Dumas Papers); endorsed by Dumas: “Amst. 16e. Dec. 1780. Acte de mon serment de fidélité, aux EtatsUnis. d’Amérique, prêté personnellement entre les mains de leur Min. plénipe. Jn. Adams, à Amsterdam. NB. NB. J’avois dejà prêté Serment de fidélité dans ma premiere Lettre au Congrès en acceptant leur Agence accréditée par leur committé, datée du 9–12 Décembre 1775. V. la Lettre du Dr. Franklin. Cwf Dumas.” No letter of 9–12 Dec. 1775 from Dumas to Congress has been found, but the letter to Franklin may be that of 14 Dec. 1780 in which Dumas informed Franklin of his decision to take the oath of allegiance, a copy of the certificate for which he sent to Franklin on 21 Dec. (Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S. description begins I. Minis Hays, comp., Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1908; 5 vols. description ends , 2:323, 325).

1. The oath taken by Dumas was as follows: “I do acknowledge the Thirteen united States of north america to be Free Sovereign and Independant States, and I do hereby Declare and acknowledge myself a Subject of the Said States only, and that I will do nothing prejudicial to the Freedom, Sovereignty and independence of the Said States but will promote the Same by all lawfull means” (PCC, No. 101, f. 132).

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    Adams Papers
    Title
    Certification of C. W. F. Dumas’ Oath of Allegiance to the United States, 16 December 1780
    Authors
    Adams, John
    Searle, James
    Date
    16 December 1780

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    Cite as
    “Certification of C. W. F. Dumas’ Oath of Allegiance to the United States, 16 December 1780,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-10-02-0237. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 10, July 1780 – December 1780, ed. Gregg L. Lint and Richard Alan Ryerson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996, pp. 415–416.]