The results of the election were announced on 8 February 1797.
In the popular vote John Adams received 35,726 to 31,115 for Thomas Jefferson,
and that gave Adams a 71-68 win over Jefferson in the Electoral College.
That made Adams the President and Jefferson the Vice President.
Others receiving electoral votes were Thomas Pinckney 59, Aaron Burr 30,
Samuel Adams 15, Oliver Ellsworth 11, George Clinton 7, and John Jay 5.
Republicans dominated the South, and the Federalists governed in most of the rest
except for Pennsylvania where Jefferson got 14 of their 15 electoral votes.
John Adams on February 13 wrote this letter to Elbridge Gerry
who was a presidential elector from Massachusetts:
You are apprehensive “that France will view the
discussion of gratitude in its full extent,
as trespassing the line of defense.”
But Adet had laid his demands of gratitude so high,
and all his partisans were in the habit of deafening
our people with such rude, extravagant, and arrogant
pretensions to it, that it seems to have become
necessary to be explicit upon the subject.
I may say to a friend of your dissention, what I believe
you will agree in, that there is quite as modest a demand
of gratitude due from them to us, as from us to them.
I think I can demonstrate that the French nation
derived more advantage from the connection than we did.
That she owes her independence
as much to us as we do ours to her.
Whether she has thrown away her advantages
by her revolution or not, is for her to consider.
We had nothing to do with that by treaty or in practice.
We have imprudently gone too far in our approbation of it,
and adopted, by sympathy too much of her enthusiasm in it;
for we were, and still are, incapable of judging whether
it was wise or not, useful or not, destructive or not.
Our treaty obliged us to no approbation of it,
or concern in it, and our weak ideas and sensations
of gratitude have led us into the fundamental error
of taking too large a share of interest and sympathy in it.
The people of this country must not lose their
conscious integrity, their sense of honor, nor their sentiment
of their own power and force, so far as to be upbraided
in the most opprobrious and contumelious language,
and be wholly silent and passive under it,
and that in the face of all mankind.
The profound silence, with respect to my conduct,
which surprises you, was all right.
It was good judgment and sound policy to leave me
wholly out of the question, because the consequences
of that letter of Mr. Pickering’s were to be expected
altogether, good or bad, under my administration.
As it is, no irritation against me can arise from this Letter.
Mr. Pickering took his documents from records or files
in his own office, the dispatches of Mr. Jay;
and he comes not down so late as my arrival in Paris.
I was detained at the Hague by the negotiation
of the treaty with Holland.
It is true I had asserted all Mr. Jay’s principles
two years before, in a correspondence with the
Count de Vergennes upon the occasion of the interposition
of the two imperial courts with an offer of mediation
and proposal of a congress at Vienna.
I had also written to Mr. Jay in my private letters,
declaring that I never would treat until a commission
arrived in Paris expressly to treat with the ministers
plenipotentiary of the United States of America,
and urged, exhorted, and animated Mr. Jay
to stand firm in the same resolution.
Whether my letters to him first suggested to him
this system, or whether his reasonings and mine
concurred exactly in the same point, is immaterial to me.
I believe it probable we thought alike.
But the miserable gloriole of settling this point is no object
with me, comparable to the importance of keeping me
wholly out of sight in my present situation.
This was not done without consulting me,
nor without my advice.
I hope the controversy will never be pushed so far
as to necessitate the publication of my dispatches
upon that occasion.
Pickering and all his colleagues are
as much attached to me as I desire.
I have no Jealousies from that quarter.
You are mistaken in your conjectures about
a northern and southern ex-secretary.
Neither had anything to do in this business.
Pickering himself was the engineer, and Wolcott,
McHenry and Lee, with Washington superintending all,
corrected softened, and amended.
Indeed, any one that I have mentioned is equal to the task.
Phocion, the ex-secretary, and their connections did not,
I believe, meditate, by surprise to bring in Pinckney.
I believe they honestly meant to bring in me;
but they were frightened into a belief that I should fail,
and they, in their agony, thought it better to bring in
Pinckney than Jefferson, and some, I believe,
preferred bringing in Pinckney President
rather than Jefferson should be Vice-President.
I believe there were no very
dishonest intrigues in this business.
The zeal of some was not very ardent for me,
but I believe none opposed me.
They found the people more attached to me than they were,
or than they expected to find them.
In Pennsylvania, partly folly and partly wickedness effected
a purpose not confirmable to the real wishes of the state,
as I am assured, and unless my self-love and vanity
deceive me, have good reason to believe.
I need not hint to you the necessity
of keeping me out of sight.
Who is to be Governor?
I should be at no loss, if I were at Quincy
and could vote, but perhaps could do nothing.
I love to see 1765 & 1775 men in honor.
I regret infinitely that so many of them are fickle,
variable, and weak, if not too feebly principled.1
In early February 1797 Secretary of State Timothy Pickering compiled a report
that listed much marauding and plunder by the French of American property,
and seamen of the United States had been injured or tortured.
Some politicians advised President-elect Adams to send a special envoy to Paris.
Adams believed that expanding commerce was essential to American progress
to support manufacturing, and he was determined to avoid a war.
On February 15 Vice President John Adams
gave this Farewell Address to the Senate:
If, in general apprehension of an intention to retire in that
most eminent citizen, to whom all eyes had been directed,
and all hearts attracted, as the center of our union,
for so long a period, the public opinion had exhibited
any clear indication of another, in whom our fellow citizens
could have generally united, as soon as I read that
excellent address, which announced the necessity
of deliberation in the choice of a President,
I should have imitated the example of a character
with which I have co-operated, though in less conspicuous
and important stations, and maintained
an uninterrupted friendship, for two and twenty years.
But, as a number of characters appeared to stand
in the general estimation so nearly on a level,
as to render it difficult to conjecture on which
the majority would fall; considering the relation in which
I stood to the people of America, I thought it
most respectful to them, and most conducive to the
tranquility of the public mind, to resign myself, with others,
a silent spectator of the general deliberation,
and a passive subject of public discussions.
Deeply penetrated with gratitude to my countrymen
in general, for their long continued kindness to me,
and for that steady and affecting confidence,
with which those who have most intimately known me,
from early life, have, on so many great occasions,
entrusted to me the care of their dearest interests;
since a majority of their electors, though a very small one,
have declared in my favor, and since,
in a republican government, the majority, though
ever so small, must of necessity decide, I have determined,
at every hazard of a high but just responsibility,
though with much anxiety and diffidence,
once more to engage in their service.
Their confidence, which has been the chief consolation
of my life, is too precious and sacred a deposit
ever to be considered lightly—as it has been founded
only on the qualities of the heart, it never has been,
it never can be, deceived, betrayed, or forfeited by me.
It is with reluctance, and with all those emotions
of gratitude and affection, which a long experience
of your goodness ought to inspire, that I now retire
from my seat in this House,
and take my leave of the members of the Senate.
I ought not to declare, for the last time,
your adjournment, before I have presented to every
Senator present, and to every citizen who has ever been
a Senator of the United States, my thanks,
for the candor and favor invariably received from them all.
It is a recollection of which nothing can ever deprive me,
and it will be a source of comfort to me,
through the remainder of my life, that, as, on the one hand,
in a government constituted like ours,
I have for eight years held the second situation
under the constitution of the United States,
in perfect and uninterrupted harmony with the first,
without envy in one, or jealousy in the other:
so, on the other hand, I have never had the smallest
misunderstanding with any member of the Senate.
In all the abstruse questions, difficult conjectures,
dangerous emergencies, and animated debates,
upon the great interests of our country,
which have so often and so deeply impressed all our minds,
and interested the strongest feelings of the heart,
I have experienced a uniform politeness
and respect from every quarter of the House.
When questions of no less importance than difficulty
have produced a difference of sentiment, (and difference
of opinion will always be found in free assemblies of men,
and probably the greatest diversities upon the greatest
questions,) when the Senators have been equally divided,
and my opinion has been demanded according
to the constitution, I have constantly found, in that moiety
of the Senators from whose judgment I have been obliged
to dissent, a disposition to allow me the same freedom
of deliberation, and independence of judgment,
which they asserted for themselves.
Within these walls, for a course of years, I have been
an admiring witness of a succession of information,
eloquence, patriotism, and independence, which,
as they would have done honor to any Senate in any age,
afford a consolatory hope, (if the legislatures of the state
are equally careful in their future selections,
which there is no reason to distrust,) that no council
more permanent than this, as a branch of the legislature,
will be necessary, to defend the rights, liberties,
and properties of the people, and to protect
the constitution of the United States, as well as
the constitutions and rights of the individual states,
against errors of judgment, irregularities of the passions,
or other encroachments of human infirmity,
or more reprehensible enterprise,
in the Executive on the one hand, or the more immediate
representatives of the people on the other.
These considerations will all conspire to animate me
in my future course, with a confident reliance, that,
as far as my conduct shall be uniformly measured
by the constitution of the United States,
and faithfully directed to the public good,
I shall be supported by the Senate, as well as
by the House of Representatives, and the people at large;
and on no other conditions ought any support at all
be expected or desired.
With cordial wishes for your honor, health, and happiness,
and fervent prayers for a continuation of the virtues,
liberties, prosperity, and peace, of our beloved country,
I avail myself of your leave of absence
for the remainder of the session.3
On 20 February 1797 President Washington wrote in a letter to John Adams,
I thank you for giving me the perusal of the enclosed.
The sentiments do honor to the head and heart
of the writer;—and if my wishes would be of any avail,
they should go to you in a strong hope,
that you will not withhold merited promotion
from Mr. John Adams because he is your son.
For without intending to compliment the father
or the mother, or to censure any others, I give it
as my decided opinion that Mr. Adams is the most valuable
public character we have abroad, and that there remains
no doubt in my mind that he will prove himself
to be the ablest of all our diplomatic corps.
If he was now to be brought into that line,
or into any other public walk, I could not, upon the principle
which has regulated my own conduct,
disapprove of the caution which is hinted at in the letter.
But he is already entered; the public more and more,
as he is known, are appreciating his talents and worth;
and his country would sustain a loss,
if these were to be checked by over delicacy on your part.2
President-elect Adams supported Washington’s neutrality which kept
the peace with Britain, and he planned to do the same with France.
He considered nominating a plenipotentiary to France, and on March 2
he asked Thomas Jefferson, who had supported the revolution in France.
Jefferson declined that position as inappropriate for the Vice President.
Adams suggested Congressman James Madison, and on March 5
Jefferson informed President Adams that Madison also declined that job.
On March 4, Inauguration Day, Adams spoke to Treasury Secretary
Oliver Wolcott about the diplomatic mission, and he threatened to organize
cabinet resignations if Adams chose anyone but a Federalist as an envoy.
The new Vice President Thomas Jefferson had not seen Adams for three years;
he called on Adams a few days before the inauguration,
and they discussed negotiations with Paris.
Washington had replaced James Monroe in France with the Federalist
General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Adams wanted to send
Elbridge Gerry and James Madison to join him.
While talking after a farewell dinner given by Washington, Jefferson told Adams
that Madison had retired from Congress and declined to go to France.
Adams informed his rival that objections had been raised to choosing Madison anyway.
Jefferson felt the break, and later he wrote that
Adams never consulted him on any government policy after that.
John Adams was inaugurated as President of the United States on 4 March 1797,
and in his address he briefly reviewed the struggle for independence,
the confederation’s “temporary preservation of society” that failed to solve
so many problems, and the better adapted Constitution that
the “good sense” of the American people produced.
The second US President praised the Washington administration
and warned against sophistry, factional parties, and foreign influence.
He promised he would treat American Indians with equity
and humanity to help them improve their situations.
He expressed his determination to remain at peace with all nations
including with France where he had lived for nearly seven years as a diplomat.
Adams described his experience and ideas of good government,
and this is the entire speech:
When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle
course for America remained between unlimited submission
to a foreign legislature and a total independence
of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive
of danger from the formidable power of fleets and armies
they must determine to resist than from those contests
and dissensions which would certainly arise concerning
the forms of government to be instituted over the whole
and over the parts of this extensive country.
Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions,
the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence
of the people, under an overruling Providence which
had so signally protected this country from the first,
the representatives of this nation, then consisting of
little more than half its present number,
not only broke to pieces the chains which
were forging and the rod of iron that was lifted up,
but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them,
and launched into an ocean of uncertainty.
The zeal and ardor of the people during the Revolutionary
war, supplying the place of government,
commanded a degree of order sufficient at least
for the temporary preservation of society.
The Confederation which was early felt to be necessary
was prepared from the models of the Batavian and
Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which remain
with any detail and precision in history, and certainly the
only ones which the people at large had ever considered.
But reflecting on the striking difference in so many
particulars between this country and those where a courier
may go from the seat of government to the frontier
in a single day, it was then certainly foreseen by some
who assisted in Congress at the formation of it
that it could not be durable.
Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its
recommendations, if not disobedience to its authority,
not only in individuals but in States, soon appeared
with their melancholy consequences—universal languor,
jealousies and rivalries of States, decline of navigation and
commerce, discouragement of necessary manufactures,
universal fall in the value of lands and their produce,
contempt of public and private faith, loss of consideration
and credit with foreign nations, and at length in discontents,
animosities, combinations, partial conventions, and
insurrection, threatening some great national calamity.
In this dangerous crisis the people of America
were not abandoned by their usual good sense,
presence of mind, resolution, or integrity.
Measures were pursued to concert a plan to form a more
perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty.
The public disquisitions, discussions, and deliberations
issued in the present happy Constitution of Government.
Employed in the service of my country abroad during
the whole course of these transactions, I first saw the
Constitution of the United States in a foreign country.
Irritated by no literary altercation, animated
by no public debate, heated by no party animosity,
I read it with great satisfaction, as the result of good heads
prompted by good hearts, as an experiment better adapted
to the genius, character, situation, and relations
of this nation and country than any
which had ever been proposed or suggested.
In its general principles and great outlines
it was conformable to such a system of government
as I had ever most esteemed, and in some States,
my own native State in particular,
had contributed to establish.
Claiming a right of suffrage, in common with my
fellow-citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution
which was to rule me and my posterity, as well as them
and theirs, I did not hesitate to express my approbation
of it on all occasions, in public and in private.
It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it
in my mind that the Executive and Senate
were not more permanent.
Nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting
any alteration in it but such as the people themselves,
in the course of their experience, should see and feel
to be necessary or expedient, and by their representatives
in Congress and the State legislatures,
according to the Constitution itself, adopt and ordain.
Returning to the bosom of my country after a painful
separation from it for ten years, I had the honor to be
elected to a station under the new order of things,
and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious
obligations to support the Constitution.
The operation of it has equaled the most sanguine
expectations of its friends, and from a habitual attention
to it, satisfaction in its administration,
and delight in its effects upon the peace, order, prosperity,
and happiness of the nation I have acquired
a habitual attachment to it and veneration for it.
What other form of government, indeed,
can so well deserve our esteem and love?
There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that
congregations of men into cities and nations are the most
pleasing objects in the sight of superior intelligences,
but this is very certain, that to a benevolent human mind
there can be no spectacle presented by any nation
more pleasing, more noble, majestic, or august,
than an assembly like that which has so often been seen
in this and the other Chamber of Congress, of a Government
in which the Executive authority, as well as that of all
the branches of the Legislature, are exercised by citizens
selected at regular periods by their neighbors
to make and execute laws for the general good.
Can anything essential, anything more than mere ornament
and decoration, be added to this by robes and diamonds?
Can authority be more amiable and respectable
when it descends from accidents or institutions established
in remote antiquity than when it springs fresh from the
hearts and judgments of an honest and enlightened people?
For it is the people only that are represented.
It is their power and majesty that is reflected,
and only for their good, in every legitimate government,
under whatever form it may appear.
The existence of such a government as ours
for any length of time is a full proof of a general
dissemination of knowledge and virtue
throughout the whole body of the people.
And what object or consideration more pleasing than this
can be presented to the human mind?
If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable it is
when it springs, not from power or riches, grandeur
or glory, but from conviction of national innocence,
information, and benevolence.
In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be
unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight
of the danger to our liberties if anything partial
or extraneous should infect the purity of our free,
fair, virtuous, and independent elections.
If an election is to be determined by a majority
of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party
through artifice or corruption, the Government may be
the choice of a party for its own ends,
not of the nation for the national good.
If that solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations
by flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror,
intrigue, or venality, the Government may not be
the choice of the American people, but of foreign nations.
It may be foreign nations who govern us,
and not we, the people, who govern ourselves;
and candid men will acknowledge that in such cases choice
would have little advantage to boast of over lot or chance.
Such is the amiable and interesting system of government
(and such are some of the abuses to which it may be
exposed) which the people of America have exhibited
to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and virtuous
of all nations for eight years under the administration
of a citizen who, by a long course of great actions,
regulated by prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude,
conducting a people inspired with the same virtues and
animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty
to independence and peace, to increasing wealth and
unexampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his
fellow-citizens, commanded the highest praises of
foreign nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity.
In that retirement which is his voluntary choice may he
long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services,
the gratitude of mankind, the happy fruits of them to himself
and the world, which are daily increasing, and that
splendid prospect of the future fortunes of this country
which is opening from year to year.
His name may be still a rampart, and the knowledge
that he lives a bulwark, against all open
or secret enemies of his country’s peace.
This example has been recommended to the imitation of his
successors by both Houses of Congress and by the voice
of the legislatures and the people throughout the nation.
On this subject it might become me better to be silent
or to speak with diffidence; but as something may be
expected, the occasion, I hope, will be admitted
as an apology if I venture to say that if a preference,
upon principle, of a free republican government,
formed upon long and serious reflection,
after a diligent and impartial inquiry after truth;
if an attachment to the Constitution of the United States,
and a conscientious determination to support it until it shall
be altered by the judgments and wishes of the people,
expressed in the mode prescribed in it;
if a respectful attention to the constitutions
of the individual States and a constant caution
and delicacy toward the State governments;
if an equal and impartial regard to the rights, interest,
honor, and happiness of all the States in the Union,
without preference or regard to a northern or southern,
an eastern or western, position,
their various political opinions on unessential points
or their personal attachments;
if a love of virtuous men of all parties and denominations;
if a love of science and letters and a wish to patronize
every rational effort to encourage schools, colleges,
universities, academies, and every institution
for propagating knowledge, virtue, and religion
among all classes of the people,
not only for their benign influence on the happiness of life
in all its stages and classes, and of society in all its forms,
but as the only means of preserving our Constitution
from its natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry,
the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy
of corruption, and the pestilence of foreign influence,
which is the angel of destruction to elective governments;
if a love of equal laws, of justice, and humanity
in the interior administration; if an inclination to improve
agriculture, commerce, and manufacturers for necessity,
convenience, and defense; if a spirit of equity and humanity
toward the aboriginal nations of America,
and a disposition to meliorate their condition
by inclining them to be more friendly to us,
and our citizens to be more friendly to them;
if an inflexible determination to maintain peace
and inviolable faith with all nations,
and that system of neutrality and impartiality
among the belligerent powers of Europe which has been
adopted by this Government and so solemnly sanctioned
by both Houses of Congress and applauded
by the legislatures of the States and the public opinion,
until it shall be otherwise ordained by Congress;
if a personal esteem for the French nation,
formed in a residence of seven years chiefly among them,
and a sincere desire to preserve the friendship which has
been so much for the honor and interest of both nations;
if, while the conscious honor and integrity of the people
of America and the internal sentiment of their own power
and energies must be preserved,
an earnest endeavor to investigate every just cause
and remove every colorable pretense of complaint;
if an intention to pursue by amicable negotiation
a reparation for the injuries that have been committed
on the commerce of our fellow-citizens by whatever nation,
and if success can not be obtained, to lay the facts
before the Legislature, that they may consider what
further measures the honor and interest of the Government
and its constituents demand;
if a resolution to do justice as far as may depend upon me,
at all times and to all nations, and maintain peace,
friendship, and benevolence with all the world;
if an unshaken confidence in the honor, spirit, and resources
of the American people, on which
I have so often hazarded my all and never been deceived;
if elevated ideas of the high destinies of this country
and of my own duties toward it, founded on a knowledge
of the moral principles and intellectual improvements
of the people deeply engraved on my mind in early life,
and not obscured but exalted by experience and age;
and, with humble reverence, I feel it to be my duty to add,
if a veneration for the religion of a people
who profess and call themselves Christians,
and a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect
for Christianity among the best recommendations
for the public service, can enable me in any degree
to comply with your wishes, it shall be
my strenuous endeavor that this sagacious injunction
of the two Houses shall not be without effect.
With this great example before me, with the sense
and spirit, the faith and honor, the duty and interest,
of the same American people pledged to support
the Constitution of the United States, I entertain no doubt
of its continuance in all its energy, and my mind is prepared
without hesitation to lay myself under the most solemn
obligations to support it to the utmost of my power.
And may that Being who is supreme over all,
the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the
Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty,
continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government
and give it all possible success and duration
consistent with the ends of His providence.4
Federalists such as Noah Webster criticized the speech for being too favorable
to France while his usual adversary Benjamin Franklin Bache’s Aurora
called Adams a “patriot” for his wisdom and moderation.
Adams had supported Washington loyally when he was Vice President.
As President he accepted the Federalists that
Washington had chosen as heads of the departments.
They were Secretary of State Timothy Pickering of Massachusetts,
Treasury Secretary Oliver Wolcott Jr. of Connecticut,
Secretary of War James McHenry of Maryland,
and Attorney General Charles Lee of Virginia.
Wolcott, McHenry, and Pickering followed the advice of Alexander Hamilton.
The President’s salary was $25,000 a year,
and Congress had added $14,000 for furniture.
His wife Abigail would join Adams in the house
where Washington had lived in Philadelphia.
At first Adams had to deal with persons applying for jobs.
On March 13 news arrived that the French had refused to accept
the new ambassador Charles Cotesworth Pinckney who was forced to leave Paris.
He went to Amsterdam and asked for instructions.
Also the French were seizing American ships in the Caribbean as their
Directory had proclaimed an undeclared war on American shipping on March 2.
Adams called together the cabinet that served Washington
after he had replaced all of his original choices.
They met on 14 March 1797, and he said he was for sending emissaries to Paris.
He assured them he was not afraid to go to war in case of “iniquity or disgrace.”
Adams said he would summon the Congress for a special session
that would begin on May 15, and on March 25 he did that.
George and Martha Washington had vacated the President’s House
in Philadelphia on March 21 to return to Mount Vernon.
Adams found his new home lacking in furniture and in disorder from drinking servants.
His rent for the house was $2,700 per year,
and $2,500 was needed for carriages and horses.
His wife Abigail did not join him there until May 10.
Then she endeavored to put the place in order.
In this letter on April 14 to Oliver Wolcott and the other
department heads Adams asked for their counsel and advice.
The President of the United States, requests the Secretary
of the Treasury to take into his consideration the following
Questions, and make report of his opinion in writing. Viz.
1st. Whether the refusal to receive Mr. Pinckney and
the rude orders to quit Paris, and the Territory of the
Republic with Such circumstances of Indignity, Insult,
and Hostility as we have been informed of
are Bars to all further measures of Negotiation?
Or in other words will a fresh Mission to Paris be too great
a Humiliation of the American People in their own Sense,
and that of the world?
2d. If another Mission be admissible, can any part
and what parts or articles of the Treaty of amity
and Commerce with Great Britain be offered to France
or ultimately conceded to that Power
in Case of necessity if demanded by her?
3d. What Articles of the Treaty of Alliance and
of the Treaty of Commerce with France
should be proposed to be abolished?
4th. Whether it will be prudent to say any thing
concerning the Consular Convention with that Power,
and if it will, what Alterations in it Should be proposed.
5th. Whether any new articles such as are not Contained
in Either of our Treaties with France or England
shall be proposed or Can be agreed to
if proposed to the French Government?
6th. What Documents shall be prepared to send to France
as Evidence of Insults, and Injuries committed against
the Commerce of the United States by French Ships of War,
or privateers or by French Commissioners,
Agents, Officers or Citizens?
7th. In what Terms shall remonstrances against
spoliations of property Capture of Vessels, Imprisonment
of Masters and Mariners, Cruelties, Insults and Abuses
of Every Kind to our Citizens, be Made?
8th. In what Terms Shall restitution, Reparation,
Compensation and Satisfaction be demanded
for such Insults, and Injuries.
9. Shall demand be Made of payment to our Citizens
for property, purchased by the French Government
in Europe, or in the East or West Indies?
10th. Shall demand be Made of the French Government
of payment for Vessels and Cargoes Captured
and Seized whether by Ships of War or private Ships?
11th. Shall any Commissions of Inquiry and Examination
like that with England be agreed to?
12. What Articles in the British Treaty can be offered
to France, without Compensation,
and what with Compensation,
and what Compensation shall be demanded?
13. Shall a Project of a New Treaty abolishing the Old
Treaties and Consular Convention be proposed to France?
14. Shall Such a Project with a Project of Instructions
to the Minister be proposed and laid before the Senate for
their Advice and Consent before they be sent to Europe?5
They consulted with Alexander Hamilton who recommended avoiding war.
Treasury Secretary Wolcott was surprised that Hamilton suggested sending
Jefferson or Madison, and he explained that in case
of failure the Republicans would bear responsibility.
A faction of reactionary Federalists in New England that would be called
the “Essex Junto” was advocating war.
Adams predicted they would not gain many supporters.
He asked Secretary of State Timothy Pickering to
prepare instructions for the diplomats going to France.
In an undeclared war the French had captured over 300 merchant ships,
and some American sailors were wounded.
To counter Republican Bache’s Aurora newspaper,
William Cobbett was writing as “Peter Porcupine” in Porcupine’s Gazette.
Headlines in that paper warned that war with France was “inevitable”
and that the United States should form an alliance with Britain,
an idea hated by the Jeffersonian Republicans.
Part of Jefferson’s letter to Philip Mazzei in April 1796
criticizing George Washington was published in English on
2 May 1797 after having been translated from Italian and French.
President Adams told the Congress on May 16 that he was
determined to maintain Washington’s policy of neutrality,
but he would not submit to indignities against American honor.
He recommended they take effective measures of defense.
President Adams also met with France’s minister Pierre Adet
and persuaded him that he desired peace.
Secretary of State Pickering and War Secretary McHenry brought
more advice from Hamilton to Adams suggesting they negotiate
a new treaty with France that would give the same commercial rights
that the Jay Treaty conferred upon the British.
The United States would maintain a neutral policy.
They would not give aid or loans to France so that
they would not be pulled into the war.
Congress passed a bill to increase the navy.
Republicans kept that moderate, and they also blocked
a Federalist bill to expand the army to 15,000 men.
On 16 May 1797 President Adams delivered this address
to the Special Session of the Congress:
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House
of Representatives:
The personal inconveniences to the members of the
Senate and of the House of Representatives in leaving their
families and private affairs at this season of the year are
so obvious that I the more regret the extraordinary occasion
which has rendered the convention
of Congress indispensable.
It would have afforded me the highest satisfaction to have
been able to congratulate you on a restoration of peace
to the nations of Europe whose animosities have
endangered our tranquility; but we have still abundant cause
of gratitude to the Supreme Dispenser of National Blessings
for general health and promising seasons, for domestic
and social happiness, for the rapid progress and ample
acquisitions of industry through extensive territories,
for civil, political, and religious liberty.
While other states are desolated with foreign war or
convulsed with intestine divisions, the United States
present the pleasing prospect of a nation governed by mild
and equal laws, generally satisfied with the possession
of their rights, neither envying the advantages nor
fearing the power of other nations, solicitous only for
the maintenance of order and justice and the preservation
of liberty, increasing daily in their attachment to a system
of government in proportion to their experience of its utility,
yielding a ready and general obedience to laws flowing
from the reason and resting on the only solid foundation—
the affections of the people
It is with extreme regret that I shall be obliged to turn
your thoughts to other circumstances, which admonish us
that some of these felicities may not be lasting.
But if the tide of our prosperity is full and a reflux
commencing, a vigilant circumspection becomes us,
that we may meet our reverses with fortitude
and extricate ourselves from their consequences with
all the skill we possess and all the efforts in our power.
In giving to Congress information of the state of the Union
and recommending to their consideration such measures
as appear to me to be necessary or expedient, according to
my constitutional duty, the causes and the objects
of the present extraordinary session will be explained.
After the President of the United States received
information that the French Government had expressed
serious discontents at some proceedings of the Government
of these States said to affect the interests of France,
he thought it expedient to send to that country
a new minister, fully instructed to enter on such amicable
discussions and to give such candid explanations as might
happily remove the discontents and suspicions of the French
Government and vindicate the conduct of the United States.
For this purpose he selected from among his fellow-citizens
a character whose integrity, talents, experience, and
services had placed him in the rank
of the most esteemed and respected in the nation.
The direct object of his mission was expressed in his letter
of credence to the French Republic, being “to maintain that
good understanding which from the commencement of the
alliance had subsisted between the two nations,
and to efface unfavorable impressions, banish suspicions,
and restore that cordiality which was at once
the evidence and pledge of a friendly union.”
And his instructions were to the same effect, “faithfully
to represent the disposition of the Government and people
of the United States (their disposition being one),
to remove jealousies and obviate complaints by showing
that they were groundless, to restore that mutual confidence
which had been so unfortunately and injuriously impaired,
and to explain the relative interests of both countries
and the real sentiments of his own.”
A minister thus specially commissioned it was expected
would have proved the instrument of restoring mutual
confidence between the two Republics.
The first step of the French Government corresponded
with that expectation.
A few days before his arrival at Paris the French minister
of foreign relations informed the American minister
then resident at Paris of the formalities to be observed
by himself in taking leave,
and by his successor preparatory to his reception.
These formalities they observed, and on the
9th of December presented officially to the minister of
foreign relations, the one a copy of his letters of recall,
the other a copy of his letters of credence.
These were laid before the Executive Directory.
Two days afterwards the minister of foreign relations
informed the recalled American minister that the Executive
Directory had determined not to receive another minister
plenipotentiary from the United States until after the redress
of grievances demanded of the American Government,
and which the French Republic had a right to expect from it.
The American minister immediately endeavored to ascertain
whether by refusing to receive him it was intended that
he should retire from the territories of the French Republic,
and verbal answers were given that
such was the intention of the Directory.
For his own justification he desired a written answer,
but obtained none until toward the last of January, when,
receiving notice in writing to quit the territories of the
Republic, he proceeded to Amsterdam, where
he proposed to wait for instruction from this Government.
During his residence at Paris cards of hospitality
were refused him, and he was threatened with being
subjected to the jurisdiction of the minister of police;
but with becoming firmness he insisted on the protection
of the law of nations due to him
as the known minister of a foreign power.
You will derive further information from his dispatches,
which will be laid before you.
As it is often necessary that nations should treat for the
mutual advantage of their affairs, and especially to
accommodate and terminate differences, and as they can
treat only by ministers, the right of embassy is well known
and established by the law and usage of nations.
The refusal on the part of France to receive our minister is,
then, the denial of a right; but the refusal to receive him
until we have acceded to their demands without discussion
and without investigation is to treat us neither as allies
nor as friends, nor as a sovereign state.
With this conduct of the French Government it will be
proper to take into view the public audience given to
the late minister of the United States
on his taking leave of the Executive Directory.
The speech of the President discloses sentiments more
alarming than the refusal of a minister, because more
dangerous to our independence and union, and
at the same time studiously marked with indignities
toward the Government of the United States.
It evinces a disposition to separate the people
of the United States from the Government,
to persuade them that they have different affections,
principles, and interests from those of their fellow-citizens
whom they themselves have chosen to manage
their common concerns, and thus
to produce divisions fatal to our peace.
Such attempts ought to be repelled with a decision which
shall convince France and the world that we are not
a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear
and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable
instruments of foreign influence, and
regardless of national honor, character, and interest.
I should have been happy to have thrown a veil over
these transactions if it had been possible to conceal them;
but they have passed on the great theater of the world,
in the face of all Europe and America, and with such
circumstances of publicity and solemnity that
they can not be disguised and will not soon be forgotten.
They have inflicted a wound in the American breast.
It is my sincere desire, however, that it may be healed.
It is my sincere desire, and in this I presume I concur
with you and with our constituents, to preserve peace
and friendship with all nations; and believing that
neither the honor nor the interest of the United States
absolutely forbid the repetition of advances for securing
these desirable objects with France, I shall institute a fresh
attempt at negotiation, and shall not fail to promote
and accelerate an accommodation on terms compatible
with the rights, duties, interests, and honor of the nation.
If we have committed errors, and these can be
demonstrated, we shall be willing to correct them;
if we have done injuries, we shall be willing on conviction
to redress them; and equal measures of justice we have
a right to expect from France and every other nation.
The diplomatic intercourse between the United States and
France being at present suspended, the Government has
no means of obtaining official information from that country.
Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that
the Executive Directory passed a decree on the 2d of March
last contravening in part the treaty of amity and commerce
of 1778, injurious to our lawful commerce
and endangering the lives of our citizens.
A copy of this decree will be laid before you.
While we are endeavoring to adjust all our differences
with France by amicable negotiation, the progress of
the war in Europe, the depredations on our commerce,
the personal injuries to our citizens, and the general
complexion of affairs render it my indispensable duty
to recommend to your consideration
effectual measures of defense.
The commerce of the United States has become an
interesting object of attention, whether we consider it
in relation to the wealth and finances
or the strength and resources of the nation.
With a seacoast of near 2,000 miles in extent,
opening a wide field for fisheries, navigation, and
commerce, a great portion of our citizens naturally
apply their industry and enterprise to these objects.
Any serious and permanent injury to commerce would
not fail to produce the most embarrassing disorders.
To prevent it from being undermined and destroyed
it is essential that it receive an adequate protection.
The naval establishment must occur to every man
who considers the injuries committed on our commerce,
the insults offered to our citizens, and the description
of vessels by which these abuses have been practiced.
As the sufferings of our mercantile and seafaring citizens
can not be ascribed to the omission of duties demandable,
considering the neutral situation of our country,
they are to be attributed to the hope of impunity arising
from a supposed inability on our part to afford protection.
To resist the consequences of such impressions
on the minds of foreign nations and to guard against
the degradation and servility which they must
finally stamp on the American character
is an important duty of Government.
A naval power, next to the militia,
is the natural defense of the United States.
The experience of the last war would be sufficient to show
that a moderate naval force, such as would be easily within
the present abilities of the Union, would have been sufficient
to have baffled many formidable transportations of troops
from one State to another, which were then practiced.
Our seacoasts, from their great extent,
Are more easily annoyed and more easily
defended by a naval force than any other.
With all the materials our country abounds;
in skill our naval architects and navigators are equal to any,
and commanders and seamen will not be wanting.
But although the establishment of a permanent system
of naval defense appears to be requisite,
I am sensible it can not be formed so speedily
and extensively as the present crisis demands.
Hitherto I have thought proper to prevent the sailing
of armed vessels except on voyages to the East Indies,
where general usage and the danger from pirates
appeared to render the permission proper.
Yet the restriction has originated solely from a wish
to prevent collisions with the powers at war,
contravening the act of Congress of June, 1794,
and not from any doubt entertained by me of the policy
and propriety of permitting our vessels to employ means
of defense while engaged in a lawful foreign commerce.
It remains for Congress to prescribe such regulations
as will enable our seafaring citizens to defend themselves
against violations of the law of nations,
and at the same time restrain them from
committing acts of hostility against the powers at war.
In addition to this voluntary provision for defense
by individual citizens, it appears to me necessary to equip
the frigates, and provide other vessels of inferior force,
to take under convoy such merchant vessels
as shall remain unarmed.
The greater part of the cruisers whose depredations
have been most injurious have been built
and some of them partially equipped in the United States.
Although an effectual remedy may be attended
with difficulty, yet I have thought it my duty
to present the subject generally to your consideration.
If a mode can be devised by the wisdom of Congress
to prevent the resources of the United States from being
converted into the means of annoying our trade,
a great evil will be prevented.
With the same view, I think it proper to mention that
some of our citizens resident abroad have fitted out
privateers, and others have voluntarily taken the command,
or entered on board of them, and committed
spoliations on the commerce of the United States.
Such unnatural and iniquitous practices
can be restrained only by severe punishments.
But besides a protection of our commerce on the seas,
I think it highly necessary to protect it at home,
where it is collected in our most important ports.
The distance of the United States from Europe
and the well-known promptitude, ardor, and courage
of the people in defense of their country
happily diminish the probability of invasion.
Nevertheless, to guard against sudden and
predatory incursions the situation of some
of our principal seaports demands your consideration.
And as our country is vulnerable in other interests
besides those of its commerce, you will seriously deliberate
whether the means of general defense ought not to be
increased by an addition to the regular artillery and cavalry,
and by arrangements for forming a provisional army.
With the same view, and as a measure which,
even in a time of universal peace, ought not to be neglected,
I recommend to your consideration a revision of the laws
for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, to render
that natural and safe defense of the country efficacious.
Although it is very true that we ought not to involve
ourselves in the political system of Europe,
but to keep ourselves always distinct and separate from it
if we can, yet to effect this separation, early, punctual,
and continual information of the current chain of events
and of the political projects in contemplation is no less
necessary than if we were directly concerned in them.
It is necessary, in order to the discovery
of the efforts made to draw us into the vortex,
in season to make preparations against them.
However we may consider ourselves, the maritime
And commercial powers of the world will consider
the United States of America as forming a weight
in that balance of power in Europe which
never can be forgotten or neglected.
It would not only be against our interest,
but it would be doing wrong to one-half of Europe, at least,
if we should voluntarily throw ourselves into either scale.
It is a natural policy for a nation that studies
to be neutral to consult with other nations
engaged in the same studies and pursuits.
At the same time that measures might be pursued
with this view, our treaties with Prussia and Sweden,
one of which is expired and the other near expiring,
might be renewed.Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
It is particularly your province to consider the state
of the public finances, and to adopt such measures
respecting them as exigencies shall be found to require.
The preservation of public credit, the regular extinguishment
of the public debt, and a provision of funds
to defray any extraordinary expenses
will of course call for your serious attention.
Although the imposition of new burthens can not be
in itself agreeable, yet there is no ground to doubt that
the American people will expect from you such measures
as their actual engagements, their present security,
and future interests demand.Gentlemen of the Senate and
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
The present situation of our country imposes an obligation
on all the departments of Government
to adopt an explicit and decided conduct.
In my situation an exposition of the principles by which
my Administration will be governed ought not to be omitted.
It is impossible to conceal from ourselves or the world
what has been before observed, that endeavors have been
employed to foster and establish a division between
the Government and people of the United States.
To investigate the causes which have encouraged
this attempt is not necessary; but to repel, by decided and
united councils, insinuations so derogatory to the honor and
aggressions so dangerous to the Constitution, union, and
even independence of the nation is an indispensable duty.
It must not be permitted to be doubted whether
the people of the United States will support the Government
established by their voluntary consent and appointed
by their free choice, or whether, by surrendering
themselves to the direction of foreign and domestic factions,
in opposition to their own Government, they will forfeit
the honorable station they have hitherto maintained.
For myself, having never been indifferent to what
concerned the interests of my country, devoted the best part
of my life to obtain and support its independence,
and constantly witnessed the patriotism, fidelity,
and perseverance of my fellow-citizens on the most trying
occasions, it is not for me to hesitate or abandon a cause
in which my heart has been so long engaged.
Convinced that the conduct of the Government has been
just and impartial to foreign nations, that those internal
regulations which have been established by law for the
preservation of peace are in their nature proper, and that
they have been fairly executed, nothing will ever be done
by me to impair the national engagements,
to innovate upon principles which have been
so deliberately and uprightly established, or
to surrender in any manner the rights of the Government.
To enable me to maintain this declaration I rely, under God,
with entire confidence on the firm and enlightened support
of the National Legislature and upon the virtue
and patriotism of my fellow-citizens.6
President Adams on 30 May 1797 wrote this in a letter to Elbridge Gerry:
I had no share in the Recall of Monroe,
and therefore am not responsible for the Reasons of it.
But I have heard such reports of his own Language
in France at his own Table, and the Language of those
whom he entertained and countenanced,
and of his correspondence with Bache Beckley &c
and his Communication through the Aurora,
that I wonder not at his recall.
His speech at his Audience of Leave
is a base, false and Servile Thing.
Indeed, it was Randolph who appointed him.
He was in Senate as dull, heavy and Stupid a fellow
as he could be consistently with
Malignity and Inveteracy perpetual.
A more unfit Piece of Wood to make a Mercury,
could not have been culled from the whole Forest.
It is improper for me to delineate the System of Speculation
and the Persons concerned in it.
Members of Congress—Collectors of Customs, Consuls,
Secretaries & Ministers &c &c &c are suspected
of such a Mystery of it, as I shudder to think of.
How far Monroe was directly or indirectly concerned in it,
I know not.
But he was the Friend and Idol
and apparently the Center of the whole Group.
How is it, that Hitchbourne has become so rich?
How is it, that so many others, have rolled in wealth
in Philadelphia & New York—without any visible means?
These were confidential Correspondents
and intimate acquaintances of Monroe.
I know not that he is entitled to any hearing,
as there is no Accusation.
But I doubt extremely his Inclinations
to ask for Hearings or Inquiries.
He will have Hearings enough of his Friends and Certificates
enough of French Politicians and American Speculators
I doubt not—as many as Silas Deane had.
The Want of Principle, in so many of our Citizens, which
you mention is awfully ominous to our elective Government.
Want of Principle, seems to be a
recommendation to popularity and Influence.
The Avarice and Ambition which you and I have witnessed
for these thirty years, is too deeply rooted in the hearts and
Education and Examples of our People ever to be eradicated,
and it will make of all our Elections only a species
of lucrative Speculation, and consequently Scenes
of Turbulence, Corruption and Confusion of which
foreign nations will avail themselves
in the future as the French did in the last.
That there is a strong Antigallican Party so far
as to oppose an undue Influence of France, I know.
There are Some, who are Antigallican because they think
the French, a false, deceitful, treacherous People.
There are others Antigallican because
they hate Atheism, Deism, and Debauchery.
There are others Antigallican, because at present
so many of the French profess to be Democrats,
Sansculottes and Disorganizers.
As to Antigallicans because the French are Republicans,
I don’t know any Such; indeed I don’t know any
Antigallicans who believe the French to be Republicans
or capable of a Republican Government
any more than a Snowball can exist
a whole Week in the streets of Philadelphia
under a burning sun of August, or September.
There are many who believe the French Republican System
cannot endure, and I am one of these.
There are many who believe that our Republican system
cannot last long, for the very Reason you mention,
the Want of Principle.
I am not one of these—though our Cities are corrupt;
our Country is not, and I believe
our Republican Plan may last a good while.
But it will not, if French Influence
as well as English is not resisted.
That there are Persons principled against Republicanism,
I Suppose is true.
But they are altogether among the Class of old Tories
as far as I know and are very few in Number,
and of no Influence at all in the State.
There may be others beside my Parson Wibirt,
who think a hereditary King and House of Lords
with a good House of Commons the best form
of Government—but he is the only old Whig
that I know of who professes this faith.
I doubt not old C. J. Chew may be of the same opinion—
and am told Dr. Nesbit of Dickinson College is also—
and these are all I have heard of.
Indeed, some of the Quakers may be of this Sect.
But there is nothing to fear
from these Numbers or Characters.
The real Danger is in the Universal Avarice & ambition
of the People: which may make all the best Men sick
and weary of the perpetual Anxiety,
which electioneering Projects and Exertions occasion.7
On May 31 Adams appointed John Marshall, a Federalist from Virginia,
and Francis Dana, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court,
to join Thomas Pinckney in Paris.
Adams stayed in the capital to meet with John Marshall before he sailed for France.
On June 2 President Adams wrote this letter to his son John Quincy Adams:
My dear Son, I know not whether I may not have
incommoded you, and disappointed your plans,
by the alteration I have made in your destination.
The mission to Portugal appeared to me to be less important
to the United States than a mission to Prussia.
The north of Europe, at present, is more interesting to us
than the south; the neutral powers of Denmark, Sweden,
and Prussia, seem to be naturally more allied,
by sympathy, at least, with us neutrals than others,
and I thought your talents, sagacity, and industry might be
more profitably exerted in collecting and transmitting
intelligence of the views and designs of those courts
and nations, than they could be in Lisbon, where there will
be little to do, that I can foresee, besides sleeping siestas.
The treaty with Prussia is to be renewed, and after you
shall have completed that, you will inform me whether you
choose to remain in Berlin, or go to Sweden or Denmark.
I would not advise you to make any permanent
establishment at Berlin, but keep yourself in a posture
to remove to some other court,
when you shall have renewed the treaty.
I hope your new commission will reach you before
you leave Holland or England; but if, unfortunately, you
shall be at Lisbon, there is no remedy, and you
must submit to the trouble of removing again to Prussia.
The part which the King of Prussia means to take,
either during the war, or at and after the peace,
and what his relations are to be in future towards
France and England, will be important for us to know.
The Emperor of all the Russias, too, and
the Emperor of Germany, are important luminaries
for the political telescope to observe.
In short, what is to be the future system of Europe,
and how we best can preserve friendship with them all,
and be most useful to them all, are speculations
and inquiries worthy of your head and heart.
You have wisely taken all Europe for your theatre,
and I hope will continue to do as you have done.
Send us all the information you can collect.
I wish you to continue your practice of writing freely to me,
and cautiously to the office of State.
My love to your brother.8
A few weeks later Francis Dana declined because of bad health,
and he was replaced by the moderate Republican
Elbridge Gerry from the same state.
That spring the French captured 300 American ships, and
they even tortured a captain to make him say he had British cargo.
Washington had urged Adams to appoint his talented son,
John Quincy Adams, and he was made minister to Prussia.
The Aurora criticized the choice and noted
that Washington had never chosen relatives.
Jefferson’s rooms at the Francis Hotel became headquarters
for the Republican leaders and their opposition to the Federalists.
On 20 June 1797 John Adams wrote this letter to Elbridge Gerry:
My dear friend,—I have this moment written
a message to the Senate, nominating you to be
an envoy extraordinary to the French Republic.
Knowing, as I did Mr. Dana’s aversion to the sea;
and his continual dread of his mother’s fate,
I was always apprehensive he would decline,
and should have nominated you at first,
if I had not been overruled by the opinions
of many gentlemen, that Mr. Dana’s experience
in this line, and especially his title of chief justice,
would be great advantages in France,
as well as among our people in America.
I know you must make a sacrifice,
but I sincerely hope you will not disappoint me.
I should be very happy to see you here, before you embark.
Mr. Marshall accepts, and will be here
in a week from this day.
The voyage, I am confident, will be for your health.
My compliments to Mrs. Gerry.
Tell her she must not object.
If she cannot accompany you, she must sacrifice a little,
as Mrs. Adams did before for six years.
I pray you to let me hear from you
as soon and as often as possible.9
On June 22 Massachusetts passed a state-wide health
program to prevent epidemics by using quarantines.
Spanish officers in Louisiana were interfering with the
southern border of the United States in violation of the 1795 treaty.
On July 3 Adams sent documents to Congress that included an intercepted letter
from Senator William Blount to an Indian interpreter indicating that the British
would support him in an expedition against Spaniards in Louisiana and the Floridas.
Blount, who had been elected by the new state of Tennessee, was impeached on July 7,
and the next day the Senate expelled him by a vote of 25-1 for treason;
but the trial that began in December 1798 was dismissed two months later.
Congress funded the frigates the Constitution, the United States,
and the Constellation before adjourning on July 10.
On 19 May 1794 Adams had written to Abigail,
“Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.”10
On the 19th Adams left for his home in Quincy, Massachusetts.
Yellow fever broke out in Philadelphia again that summer,
and two-thirds of the residents left the city.
President Washington had spent a few weeks at Mount Vernon each year,
and Adams would stay away a little longer.
Matthew Lyon had come to America from Ireland as an indentured
servant in 1764, but he worked hard, bought land in Vermont, and
founded the town of Fair Haven, building mills, an iron foundry, and a tavern.
He served in Vermont’s assembly and in 1793 started the Farmer’s Library
newspaper to oppose Hamilton’s financial policies.
He was elected to Congress in 1797, and the Federalist William Cobbett
in Porcupine’s Gazette reported that he had been convicted of cowardice
during
the Revolutionary War and was made to wear a wooden sword as a punishment.
On 15 September 1797 Seneca chiefs in the Big Tree Treaty sold all their
territory to the Holland Land Company except for about 200,000 acres in
eleven small reservations in western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania.
The Iroquois nations had been conquered and divided.
John and Abigail Adams returned to Philadelphia in October.
President Adams on October 31 wrote this letter to Secretary of State T. Pickering:
I received your favor of the 28th.
Enclosed are some papers I received
from the city of Washington.
They are duplicates of such
as I received several weeks ago.
I have delayed an answer, because
I was not satisfied, and wished to take advice.
After you have examined them, I wish for your Opinion,
first, whether I ought to sign the
warrant of attorney without limitation of time;
second, whether the power ought not to be
to Scott, Thornton, and White, and their successors
in the office of commissioners.
The papers you will please to return
to me with your advice.
I thank you for another abridgment
of the public dispatches.
Are you not misinformed concerning La Forest?
I have understood that he is in Philadelphia, and that
he arrived there this last summer in the questionable
shape of an unaccredited chargé des affaires.
Talleyrand, I should suppose, could not be for war
with this country: nor can I apprehend that even
the Triumvirate, as they begin to be called in France,
will be for a measure so decided.
A continued appearance of umbrage, and continued
depredations on a weak defenseless commerce,
will be much more convenient for their views.
By all the public papers I received from abroad,
it appears that the state of things at present in France
is exactly as I have many times
written to particular friends in Europe.
The executive directory is divided
into a party of three, and a party of two.
The two are the most popular, coincide best
with the public opinion, and agree with
a majority in both houses of the legislature.
This drives the three to the necessity
of courting the army and the populace.
And the question between the three
and the two can be decided only by a civil war.
The worst evil that can happen in any government
is a divided executive; and, as a plural executive must,
from the nature of men, be forever divided;
this is a demonstration that a plural executive
is a great evil, and incompatible with Liberty.
That emulation in the human heart, which produces
rivalries of men, cities, and nations, which produces almost
all the good in human life, produces also almost all the evil.
This is my philosophy of government.
The great art lies in managing this emulation.
It is the only defense against its own excesses.
The emulation of the legislative and executive powers
should be made to control each other.
The emulation between the rich and the poor
among the people, should be made to check itself
by balancing the two houses in the legislature which
represent these two classes of society,
so invidious at all times against each other.
But, instead of three lines which I intended
to write to you, I have slid into a pedantic lecture
upon government for which I beg your pardon.11
In 1797 Congressman Andrew Jackson investigated massive land fraud
in Nashville and Raleigh that implicated Governor Sevier,
Jackson’s brother-in-law Stockley Donelson, and
North Carolina’s Secretary of State James Glasgow.
President John Adams emphasized the need for naval power
to protect their commerce when on 23 November 1797 he
delivered this First Annual Message to Congress:
Gentlemen of the Senate and
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I was for some time apprehensive that it would be
necessary, on account of the contagious sickness
which afflicted the city of Philadelphia, to convene
the National Legislature at some other place.
This measure it was desirable to avoid, because
it would occasion much public inconvenience and
a considerable public expense and add to the calamities
of the inhabitants of this city, whose sufferings must
have excited the sympathy of all their fellow citizens.
Therefore, after taking measures to ascertain the state
and decline of the sickness, I postponed my determination,
having hopes, now happily realized, that, without hazard
to the lives or health of the members, Congress might
assemble at this place, where it was next by law to meet.
I submit, however, to your consideration whether a power
to postpone the meeting of Congress, without passing
the time fixed by the Constitution upon such occasions,
would not be a useful amendment to the law of 1794.
Although I can not yet congratulate you on
the reestablishment of peace in Europe and the restoration
of security to the persons and properties of our citizens
from injustice and violence at sea, we have, nevertheless,
abundant cause of gratitude to the source of benevolence
and influence for interior tranquility and personal security,
for propitious seasons, prosperous agriculture,
productive fisheries, and general improvements, and,
above all, for a rational spirit of civil and religious liberty and
a calm but steady determination to support our sovereignty,
as well as our moral and our religious principles,
against all open and secret attacks.
Our envoys extraordinary to the French Republic
embarked—one in July, the other in August—
to join their colleague in Holland.
I have received intelligence of the arrival of both of them
in Holland, from whence they all proceeded
on their journeys to Paris within a few days
of the 19th of September.
Whatever may be the result of this mission, I trust that
nothing will have been omitted on my part to conduct
the negotiation to a successful conclusion, on such
equitable terms as may be compatible with the safety,
honor and interest of the United States.
Nothing, in the meantime, will contribute so much
to the preservation of peace and the attainment of justice
as manifestation of that energy and unanimity of which
on many former occasions the people of the United States
have given such memorable proofs, and the exertion
of those resources for national defense which a beneficent
Providence has kindly placed within their power.
It may be confidently asserted that nothing has occurred
since the adjournment of Congress which renders
inexpedient those precautionary measures recommended
by me to the consideration of the two Houses
at the opening of your late extraordinary session.
If that system was then prudent, it is more so now,
as increasing depredations strengthen
the reasons for its adoption.
Indeed, whatever may be the issue of the negotiation
with France, and whether the war in Europe is or is not
to continue, I hold it most certain that permanent tranquility
and order will not soon be obtained.
The state of society has so long been disturbed,
the sense of moral and religious obligations
so much weakened, public faith and national honor
have been so impaired, respect to treaties has been
so diminished, and the law of nations has lost so much
of its force, while pride, ambition, avarice and violence
have been so long unrestrained, there remains
no reasonable ground on which to raise an expectation
that a commerce without protection or defense
will not be plundered.
The commerce of the United States is essential,
if not to their existence, at least to their comfort,
their growth, prosperity, and happiness.
The genius, character, and habits of the people
are highly commercial.
Their cities have been formed and exist upon commerce.
Our agriculture, fisheries, arts, and manufactures
are connected with and depend upon it.
In short, commerce has made this country what it is,
and it can not be destroyed or neglected
without involving the people in poverty and distress.
Great numbers are directly and solely
supported by navigation.
The faith of society is pledged for the preservation
of the rights of commercial and sea faring
no less than of the other citizens.
Under this view of our affairs, I should hold myself guilty
of a neglect of duty if I forbore to recommend that
we should make every exertion to protect our commerce
and to place our country in a suitable posture of defense
as the only sure means of preserving both.
I have entertained an expectation that it would have been
in my power at the opening of this session to have
communicated to you the agreeable information of the due
execution of our treaty with His Catholic Majesty
respecting the withdrawing of his troops from our territory
and the demarcation of the line of limits,
but by the latest authentic intelligence Spanish garrisons
were still continued within our country, and the running
of the boundary line had not been commenced.
These circumstances are the more to be regretted
as they can not fail to affect the Indians
in a manner injurious to the United States.
Still, however, indulging the hope that the answers which
have been given will remove the objections offered by the
Spanish officers to the immediate execution of the treaty,
I have judged it proper that we should continue in readiness
to receive the posts and to run the line of limits.
Further information on this subject will be
communicated in the course of the session.
In connection with this unpleasant state of things
on our western frontier it is proper for me to mention
the attempts of foreign agents to alienate the affections
of the Indian nations and to excite them to
actual hostilities against the United States.
Great activity has been exerted by those persons who
have insinuated themselves among the Indian tribes
residing within the territory of the United States
to influence them to transfer their affections and force
to a foreign nation, to form them into a confederacy,
and prepare them for war against the United States.
Although measures have been taken to counteract
these infractions of our rights, to prevent Indian hostilities,
and to preserve entire their attachment to the United States,
it is my duty to observe that to give a better effect to these
measures and to obviate the consequences of a repetition
of such practices a law providing adequate punishment
for such offenses may be necessary.
The commissioners appointed under the 5th article
of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between
the United States and Great Britain to ascertain the river
which was truly intended under the name of the river
St. Croix mentioned in the treaty of peace,
met at Passamaquoddy Bay in 1796 October, and viewed
the mouths of the rivers in question and the adjacent shores
and islands, and, being of opinion that actual surveys of
both rivers to their sources were necessary,
gave to the agents of the two nations instructions for that
purpose, and adjourned to meet at Boston in August.
They met, but the surveys requiring more time
than had been supposed, and not being then completed,
the commissioners again adjourned, to meet at Providence,
in the State of Rhode Island, in June next,
when we may expect a final examination and decision.
The commissioners appointed in pursuance of
the 6th article of the treaty met at Philadelphia in May last
to examine the claims of British subjects for debts
contracted before the peace and still remaining due to them
from citizens or inhabitants of the United States.
Various causes have hitherto prevented any determinations,
but the business is now resumed, and
doubtless will be prosecuted without interruption.
Several decisions on the claims of citizens of the
United States for losses and damages sustained by reason
of irregular and illegal captures or condemnations
of their vessels or other property have been made
by the commissioners in London conformably
to the 7th article of the treaty.
The sums awarded by the commissioners
have been paid by the British Government.
A considerable number of other claims, where costs
and damages, and not captured property,
were the only objects in question, have been decided
by arbitration, and the sums awarded to the citizens
of the United States have also been paid.
The commissioners appointed agreeably to the 21st article
of our treaty with Spain met at Philadelphia
in the summer past to examine and decide on the claims
of our citizens for losses they have sustained
in consequence of their vessels and cargoes having been
taken by the subjects of His Catholic Majesty
during the late war between Spain and France.
Their sittings have been interrupted, but are now resumed.
The United States being obligated to make compensation
for the losses and damages sustained by British subjects,
upon the award of the commissioners acting
under the 6th article of the treaty with Great Britain,
and for the losses and damages sustained by British
subjects by reason of the capture of their vessels and
merchandise taken within the limits and jurisdiction
of the United States and brought into their ports, or taken
by vessels originally armed in ports of the United States,
upon the awards of the commissioners acting
under the 7th article of the same treaty, it is necessary
that provision be made for fulfilling these obligations.
The numerous captures of American vessels by the
cruisers of the French Republic and of some by those
of Spain have occasioned considerable expenses
in making and supporting the claims
of our citizens before their tribunals.
The sums required for this purpose have in divers instances
been disbursed by the consuls of the United States.
By means of the same captures great numbers of our
sea men have been thrown ashore in foreign countries,
destitute of all means of subsistence, and the sick
in particular have been exposed to grievous sufferings.
The consuls have in these cases also
advanced moneys for their relief.
For these advances they reasonably expect
reimbursements from the United States.
The consular act relative to sea men
requires revision and amendment.
The provisions for their support in foreign countries and
for their return are found to be inadequate and ineffectual.
Another provision seems necessary
to be added to the consular act.
Some foreign vessels have been discovered sailing
under the flag of the United States and with forged papers.
It seldom happens that the consuls can detect
this deception, because they have no authority
to demand an inspection of the registers and sea letters.Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
It is my duty to recommend to your serious consideration
those objects which by the Constitution are placed
particularly within your sphere—
the national debts and taxes.
Since the decay of the feudal system, by which
the public defense was provided for chiefly at the expense
of individuals, the system of loans has been introduced,
and as no nation can raise within the year by taxes
sufficient sums for its defense and military operations
in time of war the sums loaned and debts contracted
have necessarily become the subjects
of what have been called funding systems.
The consequences arising from the continual accumulation
of public debts in other countries ought to admonish us
to be careful to prevent their growth in our own.
The national defense must be provided for as well as
the support of Government; but both should be
accomplished as much as possible by immediate taxes,
and as little as possible by loans.
The estimates for the service of the ensuing year
will by my direction be laid before you.Gentlemen of the Senate and
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
We are met together at a most interesting period.
The situation of the principal powers of Europe
are singular and portentous.
Connected with some by treaties and with all by commerce,
no important event there can be indifferent to us.
Such circumstances call with peculiar importunity
not less for a disposition to unite in all those measures
on which the honor, safety, and prosperity of our country
depend than for all the exertions of wisdom and firmness.
In all such measures you may rely on
my zealous and hearty concurrence.12
Notes
1. The Works of John Adams: Second President of the United States, Volume 8
by Charles Francis Adams, p. 522-525.
2. Ibid., p. 529-530.
3. John Adams Writings from the New Nation 1784-1826, p. 324-326.
4. Ibid., p. 329-334.
5. Ibid., p. 338-339.
6. Ibid., p. 340-347.
7. Ibid., p. 348-349.
8. The Works of John Adams: Second President of the United States, Volume 8
by Charles Francis Adams, p. 545.
9. Ibid., p. 546.
10. John Adams by David McCullough, p. 474.
11. The Works of John Adams: Second President of the United States, Volume 8,
p. 559-560.
12. John Adams Writings from the New Nation 1784-1826, p. 353-358.
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