On July 1 after a long speech by the conservative John Dickinson,
John Adams gave an extemporaneous speech on independence for two hours.
He argued that independence would bring about peace and prosperity.
John Adams advocated independence from the British so well that
Richard Stockton of New Jersey called him the “Atlas of American Independence.”
Three delegates arrived from New Jersey who were for
creating state governments that were independent.
That made nine states for independence from Britain.
Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted no,
and New York and Delaware were undecided.
That night Caesar Rodney of Delaware arrived from his sick bed
to make Delaware 2-1 for independence.
When they finally voted on July 2, twelve states voted for independence,
and New York still abstained.
On July 3 John Adams wrote two letters to his wife Abigail,
and in the first one he wrote:
Yesterday the greatest Question was decided,
which ever was debated in America, and a greater perhaps,
never was or will be decided among Men.
A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony
“that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be
free and independent States, and as such, they have,
and of Right ought to have full Power to make War,
conclude Peace, establish Commerce, and to do all the other
Acts and Things, which other States may rightfully do.”
You will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the
Causes, which have impelled Us to this mighty Revolution,
and the Reasons which will justify it,
in the Sight of God and Man.
A Plan of Confederation will be taken up in a few days.
When I look back to the Year 1761, and recollect
the Argument concerning Writs of Assistance,
in the Superior Court, which I have hitherto considered
as the Commencement of the Controversy,
between Great Britain and America, and run through
the whole Period from that Time to this,
and recollect the series of political Events,
the Chain of Causes and Effects,
I am surprised at the Suddenness,
as well as Greatness of this Revolution.
Britain has been filled with Folly, and America with Wisdom,
at least this is my Judgment.—
Time must determine.
It is the Will of Heaven,
that the two Countries should be sundered forever.
It may be the Will of Heaven that America
shall suffer Calamities still more wasting
and Distresses yet more dreadful.
If this is to be the Case, it will have this good Effect,
at least: it will inspire Us with many Virtues, which
We have not, and correct many Errors, Follies, and Vices,
which threaten to disturb, dishonor, and destroy Us.—
The Furnace of Affliction produces Refinement,
in States as well as Individuals.
And the new Governments we are assuming, in every Part,
will require a Purification from our Vices, and
an Augmentation of our Virtues or they will be no Blessings.
The People will have unbounded Power.
And the People are extremely addicted to Corruption
and Venality, as well as the Great.—
I am not without Apprehensions from this Quarter.
But I must submit all my Hopes and Fears,
to an overruling Providence, in which,
unfashionable as the Faith may be, I firmly believe.1
In the second letter he wrote:
Had a Declaration of Independency been made
seven Months ago, it would have been attended
with many great and glorious Effects….
We might before this Hour,
have formed Alliances with foreign States.—
We should have mastered Quebec
and been in Possession of Canada….
You will perhaps wonder, how such a Declaration
would have influenced our Affairs, in Canada,
but if I could write with Freedom I could easily convince
you, that it would, and explain to you the manner how.—
Many Gentlemen in high Stations and of great Influence
have been duped, by the ministerial
Bubble of Commissioners to treat….
And in real, sincere Expectation of this Event, which
they so fondly wished, they have been slow and languid,
in promoting Measures for the Reduction of that Province.
Others there are in the Colonies who really wished that
our Enterprise in Canada would be defeated,
that the Colonies might be brought into Danger and Distress
between two Fires, and be thus induced to submit.
Others really wished to defeat the Expedition to Canada,
lest the Conquest of it, should elevate the Minds
of the People too much to hearken to those Terms
of Reconciliation which they believed would be offered Us.
These jarring Views, Wishes and Designs, occasioned
an opposition to many salutary Measures,
which were proposed for the Support of that Expedition,
and caused Obstructions, Embarrassments and
studied Delays, which have finally, lost Us the Province.
All these Causes however in Conjunction would not have
disappointed Us, if it had not been for a Misfortune,
which could not be foreseen, and perhaps could not
have been prevented, I mean the Prevalence
of the small Pox among our Troops….
This fatal Pestilence completed our Destruction.—
It is a Frown of Providence upon Us,
which We ought to lay to heart.
But on the other Hand, the Delay of this Declaration
to this Time, has many great Advantages attending it.—
The Hopes of Reconciliation, which were fondly entertained
by Multitudes of honest and well-meaning though weak
and mistaken People, have been gradually
and at last totally extinguished.—
Time has been given for the whole People, maturely
to consider the great Question of Independence
and to ripen their Judgments, dissipate their Fears,
and allure their Hopes, by discussing it in News Papers
and Pamphlets, by debating it, in Assemblies, Conventions,
Committees of Safety and Inspection, in Town and
County Meetings, as well as in private Conversations,
so that the whole People in every Colony of the 13,
have now adopted it, as their own Act.—
This will cement the Union, and avoid those Heats and
perhaps Convulsions which might have been occasioned,
by such a Declaration Six Months ago.
But the Day is past.
The Second Day of July 1776, will be
the most memorable Epoch, in the History of America.—
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding
Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.
It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance
by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.
It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade,
with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires
and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other
from this Time forward forever more.
You will think me transported with Enthusiasm,
but I am not.—
I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure,
that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration,
and support and defend these States.—
Yet through all the Gloom I can see
the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory.
I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means.
And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction,
even although We should rue it,
which I trust in God We shall not.2
This is the historic Declaration of Independence:
The unanimous Declaration
of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected them with another,
and to assume among the powers of the earth,
the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature
and of Nature’s God entitle them,
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that
they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.—
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—
That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed,—
That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government,
laying its foundation on such principles
and organizing its powers in such form,
as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should not be changed
for light and transient causes;
and accordingly all experience hath shewn,
that mankind are more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves
by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same Object evinces
a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism,
it is their right, it is their duty,
to throw off such Government,
and to provide new Guards for their future security.—
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies;
and such is now the necessity which constrains them
to alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of Great Britain
is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,
all having in direct object the establishment
of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.—
He has refused his Assent to Laws,
the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.—
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws
of immediate and pressing importance,
unless suspended in their operation
till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended,
he has utterly neglected to attend to them.—
He has refused to pass other Laws
for the accommodation of large districts of people,
unless those people would relinquish
the right of Representation in the Legislature,
a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.—
He has called together legislative bodies
at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant
from the depository of their public Records,
for the sole purpose of fatiguing them
into compliance with his measures.—
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly,
for opposing with manly firmness
his invasions on the rights of the people.—
He has refused for a long time,
after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected;
whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation,
have returned to the People at large for their exercise;
the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the
dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.—
He has endeavored to prevent
the population of these States; for that purpose
obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners;
refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither,
and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.—
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice,
by refusing his Assent to Laws
for establishing Judiciary powers.—
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone,
for the tenure of their offices,
and the amount and payment of their salaries.—
He has erected a multitude of New Offices,
and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people,
and eat out their substance.—
He has kept among us, in times of peace,
Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.—
He has affected to render the Military
independent of and superior to the Civil power.—
He has combined with others to subject us
to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,
and unacknowledged by our laws;
giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:—
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial,
from punishment for any Murders which
they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:—
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:—
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:—
For depriving us in many cases,
of the benefits of Trial by Jury:—
For transporting us beyond Seas
to be tried for pretended offences;—
For abolishing the free System of English Laws
in a neighboring Province, establishing therein
an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries
so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument
for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:—
For taking away our Charters,
abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering
fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:—
For suspending our own Legislatures,
and declaring themselves invested with power
to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.—
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us
out of his Protection and waging War against us.—
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts,
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.—
He is at this time transporting large Armies
of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death,
desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances
of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled
in the most barbarous ages,
and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.—
He has constrained our fellow Citizens
taken Captive on the high Seas
to bear Arms against their Country,
to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren,
or to fall themselves by their Hands.—
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us,
and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants
of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages,
whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished
destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions
We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:
Our repeated Petitions have been answered
only by repeated injury.
A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which
may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting
in attentions to our British brethren.
We have warned them from time to time
of attempts by their legislature
to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the circumstances
of our emigration and settlement here.
We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity,
and we have conjured them by the ties
of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations,
which, would inevitably interrupt
our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf
to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity,
which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold
the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.—
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States
of America, in General Congress, Assembled,
appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world
for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name,
and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies,
solemnly publish and declare,
That these United Colonies are,
and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;
that they are Absolved from all Allegiance
to the British Crown,
and that all political connection between them
and the State of Great Britain,
is and ought to be totally dissolved;
and that as Free and Independent States,
they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace,
contract Alliances, establish Commerce,
and to do all other Acts and Things
which Independent States may of right do.—
And for the support of this Declaration,
with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,
we mutually pledge to each other
our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.3
On July 18 a committee for planning treaties with foreign countries
that was mostly influenced by John Adams presented their report,
and the Congress voted to lay it on the table.
Adams opposed including “articles of entangling alliances.”
Congress took up the issue at the end of August, and John Adams presented
a draft that focused on a treaty with France that could be beneficial to both nations.
They discussed this for a week, and it later became the basis for negotiations
between the United States and France which
would lead to the American victory over Britain.
On July 30 Thomas Jefferson wrote in his Remarks
in Congress on the Article of Confederation,
John Adams advocated the voting
in proportion to numbers.
He said that we stand here
as the representatives of the people.
That in some states the people are many,
in others they are few; that therefore their vote here
should be proportioned to the numbers from whom it comes.
Reason, justice, & equity never had weight enough
on the face of the earth to govern the councils of men.
It is interest alone which does it,
and it is interest alone which can be trusted.
That therefore the interests within doors should be the
mathematical representatives of the interests without doors.
That the individuality of the colonies is a mere sound.
Does the individuality of a colony
increase its wealth or numbers?
If it does, pay equally.
If it does not add weight in the scale of the confederacy,
it cannot add to their rights, nor weight in argument.
A has £50. B £500. C £1000 in partnership.
Is it just they should equally dispose
of the monies of the partnership?
It has been said we are independent individuals
making a bargain together.
The question is not what we are now,
but what we ought to be when our bargain shall be made.
The confederacy is to make us one individual only;
it is to form us, like separate parcels of metal,
into one common mass. we shall no longer retain
our separate individuality, but become a single individual
as to all questions submitted to the Confederacy.
Therefore all those reasons which prove the justice
& expediency of equal representation in other assemblies,
hold good here.
It has been objected that a proportional vote
will endanger the smaller states.
We answer that an equal vote will endanger the larger.
Virginia, Pennsylvania, & Massachusetts
the three greater colonies.
Consider their distance, their difference of produce,
of interests, & of manners, & it is apparent
they can never have an interest or inclination
to combine for the oppression of the smaller.
That the smaller will naturally divide
on all questions with the larger.
Rhode Island will from it’s relation, similarity & intercourse
will generally pursue the same objects with Massachusetts,
Jersey, Delaware & Maryland with Pennsylvania.
Mr. John Adams observed that the numbers of people
were taken by this article as an index of the wealth
of the state & not as subjects of taxation.
That as to this matter it was of no consequence
by what name you called your people,
whether by that of freemen or of slaves.
That in some countries the laboring poor
were called freemen, in others they were called slaves;
but that the difference as to the state was imaginary only.
What matters it whether a landlord employing ten laborers
in his farm, gives them annually as much money
as will buy them the necessaries of life,
or gives them those necessaries at short hand.
The ten laborers add as much wealth annually to the state,
increase its exports as much in the one case as the other.
Certainly 500 freemen produce no more profits,
no greater surplus for the payment of taxes than 500 slaves.
Therefore the state in which are the laborers
called freemen should be taxed no more
than that in which are those called slaves.
Suppose by any extraordinary operation of nature or of law
one half the laborers of a state could in the course
of one night be transformed into slaves: would the state
be made the poorer or the less able to pay taxes?
That the condition of the laboring poor in most countries,
that of the fishermen particularly of the Northern states
is as abject as that of slaves.
It is the number of laborers which produce the surplus
for taxation, and numbers therefore indiscriminately
are the fair index of wealth.
That it is the use of the word “property” here,
& it’s application to some of the people of the state,
which produces the fallacy.
How does the Southern farmer procure slaves?
Either by importation or by purchase from his neighbor.
If he imports a slave, he adds one to the number
of laborers in his country, and proportionably
to its profits & abilities to pay taxes.
If he buys from his neighbor, it is only a transfer of a laborer
from one farm to another, which does not change the annual
produce of the state, & therefore should not change its tax.
That if a Northern farmer works ten laborers on his farm,
he can, it is true, invest the surplus of ten men’s labor in
cattle: but so may the Southern farmer working ten slaves.
That a state of 100,000 freemen can maintain
no more cattle than one of 100,000 slaves.
Therefore they have no more of that kind of property.
That a slave may indeed from the custom of speech
be more properly called the wealth of his master,
than the free laborer might be called the wealth of his employer:
but as to the state both were equally its wealth,
and should therefore equally add to the quota of its tax.4
On August 2 the delegates signed the Declaration of Independence,
and those absent would sign later.
About this time Benjamin Franklin may have remarked,
“We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall hang separately.”5
Also on August 2 John Adams said to his brother-in-law Richard Cranch,
Is not change we have seen astonishing?
Would any man, two years ago, have believed it possible
to accomplish such an alteration in the prejudices, passions,
sentiments and principles of these thirteen little states
as to make every one of them completely republican,
and to make them own it?
Idolatry to monarchs, and servility to aristocratical pride,
was never so totally eradicated from so many minds
in so short a time?6
On August 25 John Adams in a letter to Joseph Hawley wrote,
We have been apt to flatter ourselves, with gay Prospects
of Happiness to the People Prosperity to the State,
and Glory to our Arms from those free Kinds
of Governments which are to be erected in America.
And it is very true that no People ever had a finer
opportunity to settle Things upon the best Foundations.
But yet I fear that human Nature will be found to be
the Same in America as it has been in Europe, and that the
true Principles of Liberty will not be Sufficiently attended to.
Knowledge is among the most essential
Foundations of Liberty.
But is there not a Jealousy or an Envy taking Place among
the Multitude of Men of Learning, and, a Wish to exclude
them from the public Councils and from military Command?
I could mention many Phenomena, in various Parts
of these States, which indicate such a growing Disposition.
To what Cause Shall I attribute the Surprising Conduct
of the Massachusetts Bay?
How has it happened that such an illiterate Group
of General and Field Officers, have been thrust into public
view, by that Commonwealth which as it has an indisputable
Superiority of Power to every other, in America as well as
of Experience and Skill in War, ought to have set an Example
to her sisters, by sending into the Field her best Men?
Men of the most Genius Learning, Reflection, and Address.
Instead of this, every Man you send into the Army
as a General or a Colonel exhibits a Character,
which nobody ever heard of before,
or an awkward, illiterate, ill-bred Man.
Who is General Fellows? and who is General Brickett?
Who is Coll. Holman, Cary, Smith?
This Conduct is Sinking the Character of the Province,
into the lowest Contempt,
and is injuring the service beyond description.
Able Officers are the Soul of an Army.
Good Officers will make good Soldiers, if you give them
human Nature as a Material to work upon.
But ignorant, unambitious, unfeeling unprincipled Officers,
will make bad soldiers of the best Men in the World.
I am ashamed and grieved to my inmost Soul,
for the disgrace brought upon the Massachusetts,
in not having half its Proportion of General Officers.
But there is not a Single Man among all our Colonels
that I dare to recommend for a General Officer,
except Knox and Porter, and these are So low down
in the List, that it is dangerous promoting them
over the Heads of so many.
If this is the Effect of popular Elections,
it is but a poor Panegyric, upon such Elections.
I fear We shall find that popular Elections are not oftener
determined, upon pure Principles of Merit, Virtue,
and public Spirit, than the Nominations of a Court,
if We don’t take Care.
I fear there is an infinity of Corruption
in our Elections already crept in.
All Kinds of Favor, Intrigue and Partiality in Elections
are as real, Corruption in my Mind, as Treats and Bribes.
A popular Government is the worse Curse, to which human
Nature can be devoted when it is thoroughly corrupted.
Despotism is better.
A Sober, conscientious Habit, of electing for the public good
alone must be introduced, and every Appearance
of Interest, Favor, and Partiality, reprobated,
or you will very soon make wise and honest Men
wish for Monarchy again,
nay you will make them introduce it into America.
There is another Particular, in which it is manifest that
the Principles of Liberty have not sufficient Weight
in Men’s Minds, or are not well understood.
Equality of Representation in the Legislature,
is a first Principle of Liberty, and the Moment,
the least departure from such Equality takes Place,
that Moment an Inroad is made upon Liberty.
Yet this essential Principle is disregarded,
in many Places, in several of these Republics.
Every County is to have an equal Voice
although some Counties are six times more numerous,
and twelve times more wealthy.
The Same Iniquity will be established in Congress.
R.I. will have an equal Weight with the Mass.
The Delaware Government with Pennsylvania
and Georgia with Virginia.
Thus We are sowing the Seeds of Ignorance, Corruption,
and Injustice, in the fairest Field of Liberty,
that ever appeared upon Earth,
even in the first Attempts to cultivate it.
You and I have very little to hope or expect for ourselves.
But it is a poor Consolation, under the Cares of a whole Life
Spent in the Vindication of the Principles of Liberty,
to See them violated, in the first formation of Governments,
erected by the People themselves on their own Authority,
without the poisonous Interposition of Kings or Priests.7
On August 26 in the largest battle during the War for Independence
Washington’s Army of 10,000 was badly beaten
by twice as many British at Brooklyn, New York.
The British Army led by William Howe supported by their Navy
took over the New York City area.
Washington led his army in to New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
After several days of debate the Continental Congress on September 9
sent Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge as deputies to meet
with the British Admiral Richard Howe and his brother General William Howe.
The next day British forces moved from Long Island
to Montresor’s Island in the Harlem River.
While the three were meeting with Howe, on the 11th General Washington
read the joint statement that Greene and six officers had signed.
The three American deputies learned that the Howes were the
peace commissioners that were desired by the reconciliationists.
The Howes admitted that they did not have the power to
repeal the Prohibitory Act or the right to tax Americans.
John Adams and the Board of War on September 16
persuaded the Congress to approve $20 and 100 acres of land
to men who enlisted for the duration of the war.
On September 20 the Articles of War with more severe punishments were approved.
Knox and John Adams were for forming a military academy,
though that was not on the agenda.
After they learned that the Americans were fleeing and retreating
while the British were moving into New York, John Adams and Jefferson
offered a revision of the articles of war to make discipline more strict that
included increasing the maximum number of lashes from 39 to 100
and capital offenses for more crimes.
Congress approved.
About forty American soldiers would be executed, though no officers were.
In the autumn the Continental Congress approved 88 battalions
with 75,000 men who could choose between being enlisted
for three years or for the duration of the war.
After a defeat on Long Island the American forces
led by Washington had to retreat from New York City
which was taken over by the British for the winter.
The British had captured General John Sullivan, and they let him
go to Congress
with a message proposing an informal meeting to discuss ending the war.
Congress debated the issue for four days and then unanimously appointed
John Adams and Benjamin Franklin along with Edward Rutledge
to meet with General Howe at his headquarters on Staten Island.
In a way this recognized their independence and provided a respite,
though he made it clear he believed they were only “private gentlemen.”
They soon learned that he could only grant pardons and that Howe
was hoping the colonies would renew their allegiance.
Franklin assured Howe that the Americans would
never again be under British domination.
Adams said they would only negotiate as independent states
because they had been transformed by a revolution.
On December 14 General Howe took his British troops
into New York City for the winter.
On December 26 Washington led his small army across the Delaware,
and they captured over 800 Hessian mercenaries.
Adams and the Board of War became aware of the atrocities
committed by the Hessians in New Jersey.
John Adams worked on a commercial treaty with the committee.
He proposed a Model Treaty on 18 July 1776, and the
Congress approved this “Plan of Treaties” on September 17:
There shall be a firm inviolable and universal peace
and a true and sincere friendship between the most serene
and mighty Prince Lewis sixteenth the most Christian King
his heirs and successors and the United States of America;
and the subjects of the most Christian King and
of the said states; and between the countries, islands, cities
and towns situated under the jurisdiction of the most
Christian King and of the said United States and
the people and inhabitants thereof of every degree;
without exception of persons or places; and the terms herein
mentioned shall be perpetual between the most Christian
King, his heirs and successors and the United States.Article 1. The Subjects of the most Christian King shall
pay no other Duties or Imposts in the Ports, Havens, Roads,
Countries, Islands, Cities, or Towns of the said united States
or any of them, than the Natives thereof, or any Commercial
Companies established by them or any of them, shall pay,
but shall enjoy all other the Rights, Liberties, Privileges,
Immunities, and Exemptions in Trade, Navigation and
Commerce in passing from one Part thereof to another,
and in going to and from the same, from and to any Part
of the World, which the said Natives, or Companies enjoy.
Article 2. The Subjects, People and Inhabitants of the said
United States, and every of them, shall pay no other Duties,
or Imposts in the Ports, Havens, Roads, Countries, Islands,
Cities, or Towns of the most Christian King, than the Natives
of such Countries, Islands, Cities, or Towns of France,
or any commercial Companies established by the most
Christian King shall pay, but shall enjoy all other the Rights,
Liberties, Privileges, Immunities and Exemptions in Trade,
Navigation and Commerce, in passing from one port
thereof to another, and in going to and from the same,
from and to any Part of the World,
which the said Natives, or Companies enjoy.
Article 3. His most Christian Majesty shall retain the same
Rights of Fishery on the Banks of Newfoundland,
and all other Rights relating to any of the said Islands,
which he is entitled to by virtue of the Treaty of Paris.
Article 4. The most Christian King shall endeavor,
by all the Means in his Power to protect and defend
all Vessels, and the Effects belonging to the Subjects,
People, or Inhabitants of the said United States,
or any of them, being in his Ports, Havens, or Roads,
or on the Seas, near to his Countries, Islands, Cities, or
Towns, and to recover and to restore, to the right owners,
their Agents or Attorneys, all such Vessels, and Effects,
which shall be taken, within his Jurisdiction;
and his Ships of War, or any Convoys sailing
under his Authority, shall upon all occasions,
take under their Protection all Vessels belonging to the
Subjects, People or Inhabitants of the said United States,
or any of them, and holding the same Course,
or going the same Way, and shall defend such Vessels
as long as they hold the same Course, or go the same Way,
against all Attacks, Force, and Violence, in the same
manner, as they ought to protect and defend Vessels
belonging to the Subjects of the most Christian King.
Article 5. In like manner the said United States,
and their Ships of War and Convoys sailing under their
Authority shall protect and defend all Vessels and Effects
belonging to the Subjects of the most Christian King,
and endeavor to recover and restore them, if taken within
the Jurisdiction of the said United States, or any of them.
Article 6. The most Christian King and the said
United States shall not receive, nor suffer to be received
into any of their Ports, Havens, Roads, Countries, Islands,
Cities or Towns, any Pirates, or Sea Robbers, or afford,
or suffer any Entertainment, Assistance, or Provisions to be
afforded to them, but shall endeavor by all Means,
that all Pirates, and Sea Robbers, and their Partners,
Sharers, and Abettors be found out, apprehended,
and suffer endign Punishment; and all the Vessels and
Effects piratically taken, and brought into the Ports or
leavens of the most Christian King, or the said United States,
which can be found, although they be Sold, shall be
restored, or Satisfaction given therefor to the right owners,
their Agents or Attorneys demanding the same,
and making the right of Property to appear by due Proof.
Article 7. The most Christian King shall protect, defend
and secure, as far as in his power, the subjects, and
inhabitants of the said United States and every of them
and their vessels and effect of every Kind, against all
attacks, assaults, violence, injuries, depredation or
plundering by or from the king or emperor of Morocco,
or Fez and the States of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli,
and any of them, and every other prince, state and power,
on the coast of Barbary in Africa and the subjects of the
said kings, emperors, states and powers and of every
of them in the same manner and as effectually and fully,
and as much to the benefit advantage, ease and safety
of the Said United States and every of them,
and of the subjects, people, and inhabitants thereof,
to all intents and purposes as the King and Kingdom
of Great Britain before the commencement of the present
war protected, defended and secured the people
and inhabitants of the said United States, then called
British Colonies in North America, their vessels
and effects against all such attacks, assaults,
violence, injuries, depredation and plundering.
Article 8. If, in consequence of this treaty,
the King of Great Britain, should declare war against
the most Christian King, the said United States
shall not assist Great Britain in such war with men, money,
ships, or any of the articles in this treaty
denominated contraband goods.
Article 9. The most Christian King, shall never invade,
nor under any presence attempt to possess himself
of Labrador, New Britain, Nova Scotia, Acadia, Canada,
Florida nor any of the countries, cities, or towns,
on the Continent of North America nor of the islands
of Newfoundland, Cape Breton, St. Johns, Anticosti
nor of any other island lying near to the said continent
in the seas or in any gulf, bay, or river, it being the true
intent and meaning of this treaty, that the said United States
shall have the sole exclusive, undivided and perpetual
possession of the countries, cities and towns,
on the said continent and of all islands near to it,
which now are or lately were under the jurisdiction
of or subject to the king or crown of Great Britain,
whenever they shall be united or confederated
with the said United States.
Article 10. The subjects, inhabitants, merchants,
commanders of ships, masters and mariners of the states,
provinces and dominions of each party respectively
shall abstain and forbear to fish in all places possessed
or which shall be possessed by the other party.
The most Christian King’s subjects shall not fish in the
havens, bays, creeks, roads, coasts or places
which the said United States hold, or shall hereafter hold.
And in like manner, the subjects, people and inhabitants
of the said United States shall not fish in the havens, bays,
creeks, roads, coasts or places which the most
Christian king possesses, or shall hereafter possess.
And if any ship or vessel shall be found fishing contrary
to the tenor of this treaty, the said ship or vessel with its
lading, proof being made thereof, shall be confiscated.
Article 11. If in any war the most Christian King shall
conquer, or get possession of the islands in the West Indies
now under the jurisdiction of the king or crown of
Great Britain or any of them, or any dominions of the said
king or crown in any other parts of the world, the subjects,
people and inhabitants of the said United States,
and every of them shall enjoy the same rights, liberties,
privileges, immunities and exemptions in trade, commerce
and navigation to and from the said islands and dominions
that are mentioned in the second article of this treaty.
Article 12. It is the true intent and meaning of this treaty
that no higher or other duties shall be imposed
on the exportation of any thing of the growth, production
or manufacture of the islands in the West Indies
now belonging or which may hereafter belong to
the most Christian King, to the said United States
or any of them than the lowest that are or shall be imposed
on the Exportation thereof to France
or to any other part of the world.
Article 13. It is agreed by and between the said parties
that no duties whatever shall ever hereafter be imposed
on the exportation of molasses, from any of the islands
and dominions of the most Christian king in the West Indies,
to any of these United States.
Article 14. The subjects, people and inhabitants of the
United States or any of them being merchants and residing
in France and their property and effects of every kind,
shall be exempt from the Droit d’Aubaine.
Article 15. The merchant ship of either of the parties,
which shall be making into a port belonging to the enemy
of the other ally and concerning whose voyage
and the species of goods on board her there shall be just
grounds of suspicion, shall be obliged to exhibit as well
upon the high seas as in the ports and havens not only her
passports but likewise certificates, expressly showing that
her goods are not of the number of those
which have been prohibited as contraband.
Article 16. If by the exhibiting of the above certificates
the other party discover there are any of those sorts
of goods, which are prohibited and declared contraband
and consigned for a port under the obedience
of his enemies, it shall not be lawful to break up the hatches
of such ship or to open any chest, coffers, packs, casks
or any other vessels found therein or to remove
the smallest parcels of her goods, whether such ship belong
to the subjects of France or the inhabitants of the
said United States unless the lading be brought on shore
in the presence of the Officers of the court of admiralty
and an inventory thereof made; but there shall be no
allowance to sell, exchange or alienate the same
in any manner, until after that due and lawful process
shall have been had against such prohibited goods,
and the courts of admiralty shall by a sentence pronounced
have confiscated the same, saving always as well the ship
itself as any other Goods found therein, which by this treaty
are to be esteemed free; neither may they be detained
on pretense of their being as it were infected by the
prohibited goods, much less shall they be confiscated
as lawful prize; but if not the whole cargo, but only part
thereof shall consist of prohibited or contraband goods
and the commander of the ship shall be ready and willing
to deliver them to the captor who has discovered them,
in such case the captor having received those goods
shall forthwith discharge the ship, and not hinder her
by any means freely to prosecute the voyage
on which she was bound.
Article 17. On the contrary, it is agreed, that whatever
shall be found to be laden by the Subjects and inhabitants
of either party on any ship belonging to the enemy
of the other or to his subjects although it be not of the sort
of prohibited goods may be confiscated in the same manner
as if it belonged to the enemy himself; except such goods
and merchandise as were put on board such ship
before the declaration of war or even after such declaration,
if so be it were done without the knowledge
of such declaration.
So that the goods of the subjects or people of either party,
whether they be of the nature of such as are prohibited
or otherwise, which as is afore said, were put on board
any ship belonging to an enemy before the war or
after the declaration of it without the Knowledge of it,
shall no wise be liable to confiscation but shall well and truly
be restored without delay to the proprietors demanding
the same; but so as that if the said merchandises be
contraband, it shall not be any ways lawful to carry them
afterwards to any ports belonging to the enemy.
Article 18. And that more effectual care may be taken
for the security of the subjects and inhabitants
of both parties, that they suffer no injury by the men of war
or privateers of the other party, all the commanders
of the ships of the most Christian King and of the said
United States and all their subjects and inhabitants shall be
forbid doing any injury, or damage to the other side,
and if they act to the contrary, they shall be punished
and shall moreover be bound to make satisfaction for all
matter of damage, and the interest thereof, by reparation
under the penalty and obligation of their persons and goods.
Article 19. All ships, and merchandises of what nature
soever, which shall be rescued out of the hands
of any pirates or robbers on the high seas shall be brought
into some port of either state and shall be delivered
to the custody of the Officers of that port, in order to be
restored entire to the true proprietor as soon as due
and sufficient proof shall be made
concerning the property thereof.
Article 20. It shall be lawful for the ships of war
of either party and privateers freely to carry whithersoever
they please the ships and goods taken from their enemies,
without being obliged to pay any duty to the Officers
of the admiralty or any other judges, nor shall such prizes
be arrested or seized when they come to enter the ports
of either party; nor shall the searchers or other Officers
of those places search the same or make examination
concerning the lawfulness of such prizes, but they may
hoist sail at any time and depart and carry their prizes
to the place expressed in their commissions, which the
commanders of such ships of war shall be obliged to show.
On the contrary no shelter or refuge shall be given
in their ports to such as shall have made prize
of the subjects, people, or property of either of the parties;
but if such should come in, being forced by stress
of weather or the danger of the sea, all proper means
shall be vigorously used that they go out
and retire from thence as soon as possible.
Article 21. If any ships belonging to either of the parties,
their subjects or people shall within the coasts or Dominions
of the other stick upon the sands or be wrecked or suffer
any other damage all friendly assistance and relief shall
be given to the persons shipwrecked or such as shall
be in danger thereof, and letters of safe conduct shall
likewise be given to them for their free and quiet passage
from thence and the return of every one to his own country.
Article 22. In case the subjects and people of either party,
with their shipping, whether public and of war or private
and of merchants be forced through stress of weather,
pursuit of pirates or enemies or any other urgent necessity
for seeking of shelter and harbor to retreat and enter into
any of the rivers, creeks, bays, havens, roads, ports,
or shores belonging to the other party, they shall be
received and treated with all humanity and kindness
and enjoy all friendly protection and help; and they shall be
permitted to refresh and provide themselves at reasonable
rates with victuals and all things needful for the sustenance
of their persons or reparation of their ships and convenience
of their voyage; and they shall no ways be detained
or hindered from returning out of the said ports or roads,
but may remove and depart when and whither
they please without any let or hindrance.
Article 23. For the better promoting of commerce on
both sides, it is agreed that if a war shall break out between
the said two nations, six months after the proclamation
of war shall be allowed to the merchants in the cities
and towns where they live for settling and transporting
their goods and merchandises; and if any thing be taken
from them, or any injury be done them within that term
by either party or the people or subjects of either,
full satisfaction shall be made for the same.
Article 24. No subjects of the most Christian king shall
apply for or take any commission or letters of marque
for arming any ship or ships to act as privateers against the
said United States or any of them or against the subjects,
people or inhabitants of the said United States or any
of them or against the property of any of the inhabitants
of any of them from any prince or state with which
the said United States shall be at war.
Nor shall any citizen, subject or inhabitant of the said
United States or any of them apply for or take any
commission or letters of marque for arming any ship
or ships to act as privateers against the subjects of the
most Christian King or any of them or the property of any
of them from any prince or state, with which the said King
shall be at War; and if any person of either nation shall take
such commissions or letters of marque,
he shall be punished as a pirate.
Article 25. It shall not be lawful for any foreign privateers
not belonging to subjects of the most Christian King
nor citizens of the said United States, who have
commissions from any other prince or state in enmity
with either nation to fit their ships in the ports of either
the one or the other of the aforesaid parties to sell what
they have taken or in any other manner whatsoever
to exchange either ships, merchandizes or any other lading;
neither shall they be allowed even to purchase victuals
except such as shall be necessary for their going
to the next port of that prince or state
from which they have commissions.
Article 26. It shall be lawful for all and singular the
subjects of the most Christian King, and the citizens, people,
and inhabitants of the said states to sail with their ships with
all manner of liberty and security, no distinction being made,
who are the proprietors of the merchandises laden thereon
from any port to the places of those who now are or
hereafter shall be at enmity with
the most Christian King or the United States.
It shall likewise be lawful for the subjects and inhabitants
aforesaid to sail with the ships and merchandizes
aforementioned, and to trade with the same liberty,
and security from the places, ports, and havens of those
who are enemies of both or either party without any
opposition or disturbance whatsoever not only directly from
the places of the enemy aforementioned to neutral places,
but also from one place belonging to an enemy to another
place belonging to an enemy, whether they be under
the jurisdiction of the same prince or under several.
And it is hereby stipulated that free ships shall also give
a freedom to goods, and that every thing shall be deemed
to be free and exempt, which shall be found on board
the ships belonging to the subjects of either of the
confederates, although the whole lading or any part thereof
should appertain to the enemies of either,
Contraband goods being always excepted.
It is also agreed in like manner that the same liberty,
be extended to persons who are on board a free ship
with this effect that although they be enemies to both
or either party, they are not to be taken out of
that free ship, unless they are Soldiers,
and in actual service of the enemies.
Article 27. This liberty of navigation and commerce shall
extend to all Kinds of Merchandizes, excepting those only
which are distinguished by the name of Contraband:
and under this name of Contraband or prohibited goods shall
be comprehended Arms, great guns, bombs with their fuses,
and other things belonging to them, fire balls, gunpowder,
match, cannon ball, pikes, swords, lances, spears, halberds,
mortars, petards, granados, saltpeter, muskets,
musket balls, helmets, head-pieces, breastplates,
coats of mail, and the like kind of arms proper for arming
Soldiers, musket rests, belts, horses with their furniture
and all other warlike instruments whatever.
These merchandizes which follow shall not be reckoned
among contraband or prohibited goods; that is to say,
all sorts of cloths, and all other manufactures woven of any
wool, flax, silk, cotton, or any other materials whatever;
all kinds of wearing apparel together with the species
whereof they are used to be made, gold and silver as well
coined as uncoined, tin, iron, lead, copper, brass, coals;
as also wheat and barley and any other kind of corn and
pulse, tobacco and likewise all manner of spices, salted and
smoked flesh, salted fish, cheese and butter, beer, oils,
wines, sugars and all sorts of salt, and in general,
all provisions which serve for the nourishment of mankind,
and the sustenance of life.
Furthermore all kinds of cotton, hemp, flax, tar, pitch, ropes,
cables, sails, sail cloth, anchors, and any parts of anchors;
also ships’ masts, planks, boards, and beams,
of what trees soever; and all other things proper either
for building or repairing ships and all other goods whatever,
which have not been worked into the form of any instrument
or thing prepared for war, by land or by sea,
shall not be reputed contraband, much less such as
have been already wrought and made up for any other use,
all which shall wholly be reckoned among free goods;
as likewise all other merchandizes and things which
are not comprehended and particularly mentioned
in the foregoing enumeration of contraband goods;
so that they may be transported and carried in,
the freest manner by the subjects of both confederates
even to places belonging to an enemy, such towns and
places being only excepted as are at that time
besieged, blocked up or invested.
Article 28. To the end that all manner of dissentions
and quarrels may be avoided and prevented on one side
and the other, it is agreed that in case either of the parties
hereto should be engaged in a war, the ships and vessels
belonging to the subjects or people of the other ally must be
furnished with sea letters or passports expressing the name,
property and bulk of the ship as also the name and place
of habitation of the blaster or commander of the said ship,
that it may appear thereby that the ship really and truly
belongs to the subjects of one of the parties,
which passports shall be made out and granted
according to the form annexed to this treaty.
They shall likewise be recalled every year, that is, if the
ship happens to return home within the space of a year.
It is likewise agreed, that such ships being laden, are to be
provided, not only with passports as abovementioned,
but also with certificates, containing the several particulars
of the cargo, the place whence the ship sailed and
whither she is bound, that so it may be known whether
any forbidden or contraband goods, be on board the same,
which certificates shall be made out by the officers of
the place, whence the ship set sail, in the accustomed form;
and if any one shall think it fit or advisable to express
in the said certificates the persons to whom the goods
on board belong, he may freely do so.
Article 29. The ships of the subjects and inhabitants
of either of the parties, coming upon any coast belonging
to either of the said allies, but not willing to enter into port,
or being entered into port, and not willing to unload their
cargoes, or break bulk, shall not be obliged to give
an account of their lading, unless they should be suspected,
upon some manifest tokens, of carrying to the enemy
of the other ally any prohibited goods called Contraband.
And in case of such manifest suspicion, the parties shall be
obliged to exhibit in the ports their passports
and certificates in the manner before specified.
Article 30. If the ships of the said subjects, people
or inhabitants of either of the parties shall be met with,
either sailing along the coast, or on the high seas
by any ship of war of the other, or by any privateers,
the said ships of war or privateers for the avoiding
of any disorder shall remain out of cannon shot
and may send their boats on board the merchant ship
which they shall so meet with and may enter her
to the number of two or three men only to whom
the master or commander of such ship or vessel shall exhibit
his passport concerning the property of the ship, made out
according to the form inserted in this present treaty,
and the ship when she shall have showed such passport
shall be free and at liberty to pursue her voyage so as
it shall not be lawful to molest or search her in any manner
or to give her chase or force her to quit her intended course.
It is also agreed that all goods when once put on board
the ship or vessels of either parties shall be subject
to no farther visitation; but all visitation or search shall be
made before hand, and all prohibited goods shall be
stops on the spot, before the same be put on board
the ships or vessels of the respective State.
Nor shall either the person or goods of the subjects
of His most Christian Majesty or the United States
be put under any arrest or molested by any other kind
of embargo for that cause, and only the subject of that state
by whom the said goods have or shall be prohibited
and shall presume to sell or alienate such sort of goods,
shall be duly punished for the Offense.The Form of the Sea letters and passports, to be given
to ships and vessels according to the 28 ArticleTo all who shall see these presents Greeting.
It is hereby made known that leave and permission
has been given to ______ master and commander
of the ship called ______of the town of ______ burden
______ tons or thereabouts, lying at present in the port
and haven of _______ and bound for ______ and laden
with ______after that his ship has been visited,
and before sailing, he shall make oath before the Officers
who have the jurisdiction of maritime affairs,
that the said ship belongs to one or more of the subjects
of _______ the act whereof shall be put at the end
of these presents; as likewise that he will keep and cause
to be kept by his crew, on board, the marine Ordinances
and regulations, and enter in the proper office a list signed
and witnessed of the crew of his ship, and of all who shall
embark on board her, whom he shall not take on board
without the knowledge and permission of the Officers
of the marine and in every port and Haven where he shall
enter with his ship, he shall show this present leave
to the Officers and judges of the marine and shall give
a faithful account to them of what passed and was done
during his voyage, and he shall carry the colors, arms,
and ensigns of ______ during his voyage.8
On September 26 the Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin
and Thomas Jefferson to be commissioners in France.
Jefferson was serving in the Virginia House of Delegates and declined.
They appointed Arthur Lee, and he and Franklin were to join Silas Deane
who had been made a secret envoy on March 2.
On 3 January 1777 Washington’s army of 4,500 men defeated
1,200 British at Princeton, New Jersey and captured over 200 soldiers.
Washington’s army camped in Morristown in January for the winter.
John Adams was president of the Board of War, and he fled with the
Continental Congress to Baltimore as British forces occupied Philadelphia.
On February 3 Adams in a letter to James Warren wrote,
It may not be misspent Time to make a few Observations
upon the Situation of Some of the States at this Time.
That Part of New York which is yet in our Possession
is pretty well united, and pretty firm.
The Jerseys have recovered from their Surprise,
and are lending as much Assistance
as can well be expected from them.
Their Assembly is now Sitting, and
are Said to be well disposed to do what they can.
The Assembly of Pennsylvania, is also Sitting.
They have abolished the oath which gave so much
Discontent to the People, and are gradually acquiring the
Confidence of the People, and opposition has Subsided.
The Delaware Government, have formed their Constitution,
and the Assembly is now Sitting.
Maryland has formed its Constitution, and their Assembly
now sitting in Consequence of it, are filling it up.
There is a Difficulty in two of the Counties,
but this will last but a little while.
In Virginia Governor Henry has recovered his Health
and returned to Williamsburg, and is proceeding
in his Government with great Industry.
N. Carolina have completed their Government,
and Mr. Caswell is Governor.
In Virginia and North Carolina, they have made an Effort,
for the Destruction of Bigotry which is very remarkable.
They have abolished their Establishments of Episcopacy
so far as to give complete Liberty of Conscience to
Dissenters, an Acquisition in favor of the Rights of Mankind,
which is worth all the Blood and Treasure,
which has been and will be Spent in this War.
S. Carolina and Georgia completed
their Governments a long time ago.
Thus I think there are but three States remaining
which have not erected their Governments,
Massachusetts, N. York and New Hampshire.
These are good Steps towards Government in the States
which must be introduced and established
before We can expect Discipline in our Armies,
the Unum necessarium to our Salvation.
I will be instant and incessant, in season
and out of Season, in inculcating these important Truths,
that nothing can Save Us but Government in the State
and Discipline in the Army.
There are So many Persons among my worthy Constituents
who love Liberty, better than they understand it
that I expect to become unpopular by my Preaching.
But Woe is me if I preach it not.
Woe will be to them, if they do not hear.
I am terrified with the Prospect of Expense, to our State,
which I find no Possibility of avoiding.
I cannot get a Horse kept in this Town
under a Guinea a Week.
One hundred and four Guineas a Year for the Keeping
of two Horses, is intolerable, but cannot be avoided.
Simple Board is fifty shillings a Week here,
and Seven Dollars generally.
I cannot get boarded, under forty shillings,
i.e. five dollars and a third a Week for myself
and fifteen for my servant—besides finding for myself
all my Wood Candles, Liquors and Washing.
I would send home my servant and Horses,
but Congress is now a moveable Body,
and it is impossible to travel and carry great Loads
of Baggage without a servant and Horses,
besides the Meanness of it, in the Eyes of the World.9
John Adams in February urged the Congress to raise interest rates
on loan certificates to 6% because that is what that money is worth.
He noted that 4% interest was not getting loans.
With money becoming harder to get, they may have to raise the interest to 8%.
He complained that voting by states was not working well and was not fair
because 9 delegates who represented 800,000 people were
outvoting 18 delegates representing 1,500,000 citizens.
In February he resigned as the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court.
On February 25 John Adams in Baltimore wrote in a letter to William Tudor:
I shall very soon become as clamorous an Advocate
for Order, Subordination, Government, and Discipline,
as ever Philanthrop was, indeed I am already.
I am extremely mortified that those worthy Men,
who Stayed for Six Weeks, from the 1st of January,
were obliged to go home unpaid.
If I could explain to those honest Men the true Causes
of this, they would acquiesce; but I cannot.
But they will be paid.
Am glad to hear, that the Army in Brunswick,
are in a good Way.
I hope We shall demolish them.
We must. We will.
Twenty thousand Men, are not necessary for this.
But I hope nevertheless, you will have that number
and more by the Time you mention.
I wish I could learn what Forces you have, at Morristown,
Chatham, Elizabeth Town, Princeton &c. &c. &c.
What has Heath done?
How many Men has he? What has Spencer done?
I hope there will be inquiries, Sometime or other, into
the Conduct of our Armies from Long Island to this Moment.
I hope We shall e’er long renounce some of our
Monarchical Corruptions, and become Republicans
in Principle in Sentiment, in feeling and in Practice,
and among other Republican Institutions
I hope We shall annually elect all our General officers.
This would purge the Stream of Some Impurities.
At least I hope so.
In Republican Governments the Majesty is all in the Laws.
They only are to be adored.
They must be obeyed.
But at present We are not sensible of this.
Citizens must be made to feel, the force of civil Laws,
and soldiers those of military ones.10
On April 20 the state of New York approved a constitution.
On May 16 Thomas Jefferson wrote his first letter to John Adams
about the Articles of Confederation because he was concerned that the
smaller states would not give up their opinions for the sake of the Union.
Jefferson wrote,
The speedy and frequent communication of intelligence
is really of great consequence.
So many falsehoods have been propagated that nothing
now is believed unless coming from Congress or camp.
Our people merely for want of intelligence which
they may rely on are become lethargic
and insensible of the state they are in.11
On August 24 John Adams in a letter to his wife Abigail wrote,
I am convinced I should be the most decisive
Disciplinarian in the Army.
I am convinced there is no other effectual Way
of indulging Benevolence, Humanity,
and the tender Social Passions, in an Army.
There is no other Way of preserving
the Health and Spirits of the Men.
There is no other Way of making them active,
and skillful, in War—no other Method of guarding an Army
against Destruction by surprises, and no other Method
of giving them Confidence in one another, or making them
stand by one another, in the Hour of Battle.
Discipline in an Army, is like the Laws, in civil Society.
There can be no Liberty, in a Commonwealth, where
the Laws are not revered, and most sacredly observed,
nor can there be Happiness or Safety in an Army,
for a single Hour, where the Discipline is not observed.12
On September 1 John Adams in a letter to Abigail wrote,
The Question now is, whether
there will be a general Engagement?
In the first Place I think, after all that has passed,
it is not good Policy for Us to attack them
unless We can get a favorable Advantage of them,
in the Situation of the Ground, or an Opportunity to attack
a Detachment of their Army, with superior Numbers.
It would be prudent, perhaps for Us,
with our whole Force to attack them with all theirs.
But another Question arises, whether Mr. Howe
will not be able to compel Us to a General Engagement?—
Perhaps he may: but I make a Question of it.
Washington will maneuver it with him,
a good deal to avoid it.
A General Engagement, in which Howe
should be defeated, would be ruin to him.
If We should be defeated, his Army would be crippled,
and perhaps, We might suddenly reinforce our Army
which he could not.
However all that he could gain by a Victory would be
the Possession of this Town which would be the worst
Situation he could be in, because it would employ
his whole Force by Sea and Land to keep it,
and the Command of the River.
Their principal Dependence is not upon their Arms,
I believe so much, as upon the Failure of our Revenue.
They think, they have taken such Measures,
by circulating Counterfeit Bills, to depreciate the Currency,
that it cannot hold its Credit longer than this Campaign.
But they are mistaken.
We however must disappoint them,
by renouncing all Luxuries, and by a severe economy.
General Washington sets a fine Example.
He has banished Wine from his Table and
Entertains his Friends with Rum and Water.
This is much to the Honor of his Wisdom, his Policy,
and his Patriotism, and the Example must be followed,
by banishing sugar, and all imported Articles,
from all our Families.
If Necessity should reduce Us to a Simplicity of Dress,
and Diet, becoming Republicans, it would be
a happy and a glorious Necessity.13
On September 11 the British Army of 15,500 men led by generals
William Howe and Charles Cornwallis left New York City and defeated
14,600 Americans under General George Washington, French Lafayette,
Nathanael Greene, Captain Alexander Hamilton, John Sullivan, Adam Stephen,
and Anthony Wayne by Brandywine Creek a few miles from Philadelphia.
The less experienced Americans had about
600 wounded, 250 killed, and some 400 captured.
The British had only 93 killed, 488 wounded, and 6 missing.
The members of the Continental Congress left Philadelphia,
and John Adams was in York by October.
Long after the war was over, Adams admitted that he and the Congress
protected Washington from having his errors exposed to the public.
On September 19 young Alexander Hamilton persuaded members of Congress
to leave Philadelphia, and Howe’s troops occupied the capital on the 26th.
The British army of about 14,000 men had been victorious
in the north in Saratoga County, New York on September 19.
Then on October 17 they surrendered to a growing American Army
led by General Horatio Gates as 6,222 men were captured.
After many months away from his family, John Adams in October
was granted a leave of absence from Congress.
The Continental Congress had a committee that
was working on Articles of Confederation.
Adams was busy as the leader of the Board of War
while his “Thoughts on Government” were influential.
In November he and Samuel Adams went home to Boston,
and on the 17th the Congress approved the Articles.
John and Abigail learned that he was offered a diplomatic role in France
to replace Silas Deane who without approval by Congress was recruiting
French officers and spending excessive money for his own benefit.
Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox told Washington they would resign
because of the new French officers that outranked them.
On November 27 John Adams and Benjamin Franklin were appointed
commissioners to replace Deane and join Arthur Lee in Paris.
Washington’s army faced a hard winter at Valley Forge west of Philadelphia.
On December 6 John Adams in a letter to Elbridge Gerry
wrote about the need for taxes:
Every Man’s Property is equally dear both to himself,
and to the Public.
Every Man’s Property therefore ought to be taxed
for the Defense of the Public,
in Proportion to the Quantity of it.
These are fundamental Maxims of sound Policy.
But instead of this, every Man, who had Money due to him
at the Commencement of this War has been already taxed
three-fourth Parts of that Money, besides his Tax
on his Poll and Estate in Proportion to other People.
And every Man who owed Money, at the beginning
of the War, has put ¾ of it in his Pocket as clear gain.
The War therefore is immoderately gainful to some,
and ruinous to others.14
John Adams was defending his last client as a lawyer in Portsmouth,
New Hampshire and was notified by mail of the appointment.
He returned to Braintree on December 22.
Abigail wanted to go with her husband, and he persuaded her
not to risk the dangerous voyage during the war.
He allowed his oldest son John Quincy Adams to go with him.
On December 24 John Adams in a letter to James Lovell wrote,
I should have wanted no Motives nor Arguments
to induce me to accept of this momentous Trust,
if I could be sure that the Public would be benefited by it.
But when I see, my Brothers at the Bar, here,
so easily making Fortunes for themselves and their Families,
and when I recollect that for four years I have abandoned
myself and mine, and when I see my own Children
growing up, in something very like real Want,
because I have taken no Care of them,
it requires as much Philosophy as I am Master of,
to determine to persevere in public Life, and to engage
in a new scene, for which I fear I am, very ill qualified.
However, by the Innuendoes in your Letter,
if I cannot do much Good in this new Department,
I may possibly do less Harm, than some others.
The Want of a Language for Conversation and Business,
is however all the Objection that lies with much Weight
upon my Mind: although I have been not ignorant
of the Grammar and Construction of the French Tongue
from my Youth, yet I have never aimed at maintaining
or even understanding Conversation in it:
and this Talent I suppose I am too old to acquire,
in any Degree of Perfection.
However, I will try and do my best.
I will take Books,
and my whole Time shall be devoted to it.15
Notes
1. John Adams Revolutionary Writings 1775-1783, p. 90-91.
2. Ibid., p. 91-93.
3. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908
Volume 1 ed. James D. Richardson, p. 3-6.
4. John Adams Revolutionary Writings 1775-1783, p. 101-103.
5. John Adams by David McCullough, p. 138.
6. John Adams Volume 1 by Page Smith, p. 271-272.
7. John Adams Revolutionary Writings 1775-1783, p. 110-112.
8. Ibid., p. 113-124.
9. John Adams Revolutionary Writings 1775-1783 ed. Gordon Wood, p. 125-126.
10. Ibid., p. 131-132.
11. Thomas Jefferson Writings, p. 759.
12. John Adams Revolutionary Writings 1775-1783, p. 289.
13. Ibid., p. 143-144.
13. Ibid., p. 149.
15. Ibid., p. 150.
This work has not yet been published as a book, and all the chapters are free in this website.