51From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 25 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:253–254 . Replying to Vergennes’ letter of the 24th (calendared above), John Adams expressed his appreciation for his upcoming presentation at the French court. He also agreed to avoid publicizing his peace commission before its announcement in the...
52From John Adams to Henry Marchant, 10 September 1779 (Adams Papers)
A few Days before I Sailed from America, I had the Pleasure of a Letter from you, on the subject of a Law for Confiscations, but my Engagements in a new Scaene of Adventures, made it impossible to attend to the subject, or answer the Letter. And Since, my Peregrination, not having received any Letters from you, and being occupied in a manner you may well imagine, I have not I confess done my...
53From John Adams to Benjamin Franklin, 13 April 1779 (Adams Papers)
I had Yesterday the Honour of yours of the third of this Month. C. Landais had So much diffidence in some of his Crew, that he could not think of carrying home any of the most culpable of the Conspirators, especially as he was so weak handed. The naval Code of the united States, has great Occasion for Amendments in many Particulars, without which there will be little Discipline subordination,...
54From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 12 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
Paris, 12 February 1780. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:243–245 With this letter John Adams formally notified Vergennes of his mission. Stating that he had been appointed to negotiate treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain, he explained, so far as he knew it, the origins of...
55From John Adams to Bidé de Chavagnes, 5 November 1779 (Adams Papers)
I have received all my Dispatches from Congress, and shall be ready to embark, and sail with you in Eight days, at farthest. The Persons who will go with me, will be, Mr. Dana, who is Secretary to my Commission, and Charge D’Affaires, Mr. Thaxter, my private secretary, My two sons John and Charles, and one servant for me and another for Mr. Dana, in all seven Persons. Mr. Dana, is a Gentleman...
56From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 10 September 1779 (Adams Papers)
I am indebted to you, for more Letters than I can repay at present. But declaring myself a Bankrupt, You must except of a few shillings in the Pound. Indeed I suspect the Debt is greater than I know of. I saw in the Courier de L’Europe, Part of a Letter from you to Dr. Dubourg, which was intercepted, in which you refer him to me for a long Letter you wrote me upon our military affairs &c. But...
57From John Adams to Arthur Lee, 9 June 1779 (Adams Papers)
Your Favours of June 2d and 5th are now before me: that of 29 March, I have answered if I ever received it, for I have answered every one received from you, but not having my Papers at Hand cannot be particular. Thank you for the Manuscript and the Pamphlet. Am happy to hear from you and from all others, so agreable a Character of the Chevalier de la Luzerne, and M. de Marbois the last of whom...
58From John Adams to Edmé Jacques Genet, 26 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have just now recieved the Letter, which You did me the Honor to write me yesterday , and I thank You, Sir, for the Loan of the English Paper s, which I shall carefully return, and beg the Loan of the oth ers, as y ou can spare them, until those shall arrive, which you have ordered for me: for the Trouble you have taken in ordering those Papers; for your kind Enquiries after my Son, who has...
59From John Adams to Edmund Jenings, 13 April 1779 (Adams Papers)
I am ashamed to acknowledge that I received your kind Letter, in due time, and have not answered it before: My apology is that I was on the Point of Setting out for Brest when I received it and have been travelling ever since. I am much obliged to you for the Letter and very happy to find that one Gentleman is to be found in France whose sentiments will give some Countenance to my own. I have...
60From John Adams to Samuel Cooper, 14 November 1779 (Adams Papers)
This Moment I recieved your kind favor of this day’s date. Coll. Johonnot and my young Friend, Sammy Cooper, are well on Board. This young Gentleman, Sir, shall have the best Care taken of him, in my power, and the same with my own. Your kind Assurances that you will inform Me of what passes, give me great pleasure, and will be of great use to Me. I shall write You as often as possible. My...
61From John Adams to James Warren, 11 September 1779 (Adams Papers)
I was told in Boston that Mr. Avery and Mr. Wendell had been proposed for Judges of the Inferior Court for the County of Suffolk, in the Room of my Friend Pemberton. I said not a Word, but since I have been at home, I have reflected upon this and altho these Gentlemen have amiable Characters I cannot think them So well qualified for this Place as Mr. Cranch, whose great Natural Abilities, and...
62From John Adams to Edmund Jenings, 12 June 1779 (Adams Papers)
This Moment I received yours of the 16 as it is dated, but I suppose was the 10. You cannot imagine how much I am obliged to you for this Letter and the other of the second, and the Parliamentary Remembrancer. I have read the 12 Letters and am charmed with their Spirit—hope the Author will continue, for his Abilities and Temper must be of great service to our Country. Ld. N. is probably, at...
No. 10. There are so many Gentleman of Rank going out to America, that there can be no doubt Congress will be fully informed of the State of public Affairs. Mr. Lee, Mr. Izard, the Marquiss de la Fayette, Mr. Wharton, and many others, are going by different Vessels. Besides these Monsieur de L’Etombe, who is appointed Consul General of France for the Northern District of America, as Mr. Holker...
64From John Adams to James Warren, 28 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have written so fully to Congress and to particular Friends before, and have so little Time now, that I have little more to do than make up a Letter, for the Bearer to deliver You. The Marquiss de la Fayette is going to Boston in a Frigate, and surely he wants no Recommendation of mine—his own Merit and his Fame are enough. He has been the same Friend to Us here that he was in America. He...
65From John Adams to Jonathan Williams, 15 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
Paris, 15 February 1780. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:248–249 . John Adams thanked Williams for his letter of 1 Feb. (above) and briefly commented on events in America and the settlement of Williams’ accounts. He applauded Williams’ stated determination to eschew any party spirit,...
66From John Adams to Edmé Jacques Genet, 18 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
Whether it is that the Art of political Lying is better understood in England than in any other Country, or whether it is more practised there than elsewhere, or whether it is accidental that they have more Success in making their Fictions gain Credit in the World, I know not. But it is certain that every Winter, since the Commencement of the present War with America, and indeed for some Years...
El Ferrol, Spain, 11 December 1779. Dupl in John Thaxter’s hand PCC , No. 84, 1, f. 227; docketed: “No. 1 J Adams Esqr original by Capt. Trask from Corunna to Newbury Port, Mass. Bay. Duplicate of Decemb 11th 1779 Original receivd. Recd. May 15. 1780 orig read March 27.” The “original” has not been found. LbC Adams Papers . LbC in JA ’s and in Thaxter’s hand Adams Papers ; notations: “Recd in...
68From John Adams to the Massachusetts Council, 13 September 1779 (Adams Papers)
While I resided at Paris, I had an opportunity of procuring from London, exact Information, concerning the British Whale Fishery on the Coast of Brazil, which I beg Leave to communicate to your Honours, that if any Advantage can be made of it, the Opportunity may not be lost. The English, the last Year and the Year before, carried on, this Fishery to very great Advantage, off of the River...
69From John Adams to Samuel Cooper, 28 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
This will be delived you by the Marquis your Friend. Your Grandson is well and very contented. He has seen the World, to be sure,—such a Part of it, that none of the rest can ever be superlatively disagreable to him hereafter. Spain is a fine Country—or as my Parson Bryant said of Hezekias, he would be the best Man in the World if he had no Religion, so I can say that Spain would be one of the...
70From John Adams to the President of the Congress, 1 March 1779 (Adams Papers)
My last Letter to Congress, was on the Twenty seventh of last Month Since which an Account of the new Loan is received from London, and as this may perhaps afford to Congress the clearest Proof, of the Weakness of their Ennemies, it is of importance that it should be transmitted to them. Some Accounts Say the Loan is to be seven Millions, others Eight. The Conditions of the Loan are in...
71From John Adams to François Barbé-Marbois, 17 October 1779 (Adams Papers)
Braintree, 17 October 1779. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:176–177 . John Adams, after thanking Barbé-Marbois for his letter of 29 Sept. (calendared above) congratulating him on his new appointment, said that John Quincy Adams probably would not be accompanying him on his new mission to...
72The Report of a Constitution or Form of Government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 28 – 31 October 1779 (Adams Papers)
Agreed upon by the Committee—to be laid before the Convention of delegates , assembled at cambridge , on the First Day of September , A. D. 1779; and continued by Adjournment to the Twenty-eighth Day of October following. TO the Honorable the Convention of Delegates from the several Towns in the State of M assachusetts , appointed for the forming a new Constitution of Government for the said...
Inclosed are Copies of former Letters to Congress, and I shall continue to transmit Copies until I learn that some have arrived; for which Reason I must request the Favour that his Excellency the President, or some Committee, may be desired to acknowledge the Receipt of Letters, so that I may know as soon as may be what Letters have arrived and which have been less fortunate. The Art of making...
74From John Adams to Benjamin Franklin, 8 December 1779 (Adams Papers)
I have the Honour to inform your Excellency, that Congress having judged it proper to appoint me to a new Mission in Europe I embarked on the thirteenth of November, at the Instance of The Chevalier de La Luzerne and Mr. Gerard, on Board the same Frigate that carried me to America. Soon after We got to sea a formidable Leake in the ship discovered itself so as to oblige Us to keep two Pumps,...
75From John Adams to James Lovell, 16 December 1779 (Adams Papers)
Providence has favoured me, with a very unexpected Visit to Spain. It is somewhat of a Contretems, to be sure, that the Minister for Spain should be at this Time in France, where I hope he is, altho’ We have no Account of his Arrival: and the Minister of Peace, who ought to be in Paris, in the remotest part of Spain. But so it is—The Captain of the Sensible, finding the Leak in the Ship...
76From John Adams to Henry Knox, 19 September 1779 (Adams Papers)
I have had the Honour of your Letter of the 4th of this Month, and I thank you for your obliging Congratulations on my Return, which gives me Happiness, whatever Passions or Reasonings produced it. You have Cause to thank Heaven, that the state of Europe is so favourable. It is Scarcely possible it should be more so. France is already elevated to the highest Degree of Reputation and England...
77From John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, 20 September 1779 (Adams Papers)
I have transmitted my Account to the Board of Treasury, according to their Directions together with my Vouchers, and have desired that these last may be delivered to you after the Board should have done with them. I must beg the favour of you to receive them and transmit them to me by a safe Hand. I see that Congress have allowed to their Commissioners, one half of what they voted in the...
78From John Adams to James Lovell, 29 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
I cannot let the Marquis go off, without a Line to you. He took leave of the King a few days ago, in the Uniform of an American Major General, and attracted the Eyes of the whole Court more than ever. He had on no doubt his American Sword which is indeed a Beauty, and which he shews with great Pleasure, upon proper Occasions. The workmanship is exquisite, and there are Emblems on it,...
79From John Adams to Elbridge Gerry, 17 October 1779 (Adams Papers)
As to the Boundaries of Mass. I have asked Mr. A. about them but he did not recollect them. The Council appointed a Committee, within a few days after my Arrival, to ascertain them and did me the Honour to put me upon it, altho not a Member of Either House, with Mr. Bowdoin and Mr. S. A. but we have never met, and now it would be improper. They will appoint a new one I suppose. As to the Claim...
80From John Adams to Edward and Charles Dilly, 20 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
You may possibly remember a Correspondent of yours, who had six or seven Years ago the Pleasure of Writing to you sometimes and of receiving Letters from you. He has occasion for the Monthly and critical Reviews: the Remembrancers and annual Registers as they come out: and the Parliamentary Registers, and any other political Pamphlets of any Character that may be published in London. He...