Adams Family Correspondence, volume 13
th.1798 Fryday Evening
Not a single letter have we received from you since Monday. Uncle
sighs and says, I wish Aunt would write oftener and I sigh and say, Ah! if she knew
half the happiness her letters gave to you us, I
am sure she would write every day in the week.
Congress debates have been warm and interesting for two days past
on Mr. Griswolds motion respecting punishing interferences in the government &c.
but it is decided in our favor sixty five to twenty three. Gallatin was very lengthy
but I could not understand scarcely a word he said—this mortified me not a little.1 What! exclaimed I, am I here present
before the Legislature of my Country and shall there be an individual, who speaks in
such a broken language, that I can not understand him? Don’t you think, Aunt,
Gallatin, when he began in life adopted the resolution of King Richard.— “Since I am
not shaped for sportive tricks, nor made to court an amorous looking glass—I that am
rudely stamped &c. &c am determined to prove a villain—have sworn to be subtle false and treachorous.”2
Yesterday we had a second great dinner & twenty eight gentlemen to dine. We had no levy tuesday, christmas. In one of your letters to me, you ask how I succeed in these publick days? You should have asked the president and not me, for you may be certain I never will say any thing against myself.
I feel woried about my mother. I have not had a letter from her since I arrived here, & I begin to be afraid that she is sick. We have had a great thaw and the snow is almost gone. I dont remember a severer winter at the Eastward, than we have had here this season.
Please to remember me affectionately to all and believe me to be / your &c
I send you with this letter, a large bundle, but not of newspapers.
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “W S shaw 28 / December 1798.”
On 26 Dec., in response to Dr. George Logan’s unauthorized
mission to France, Connecticut representative Roger Griswold called for a committee to
consider amending the Sedition Act to include the “interference” of private citizens
in U.S. diplomatic affairs. The resolution, as well as the larger implications of
Logan’s actions, were debated on 27 and 28 December. Robert Goodloe Harper led
Federalist support, arguing that the resolution would prevent domestic factions,
acting in their own interest, from harming national foreign policy. He also argued
that Logan’s mission was motivated by the views and goals of the Democratic-Republican
Party rather than simply a zeal for peace. Albert Gallatin and John Nicholas led the
response, arguing that the language of the resolution was too vague and opposing the
expansion of executive power. They also voiced the belief that uncritical support of
the government was more to be feared than devotion to France. The vote described by
Shaw approved Griswold’s resolution, and a resulting bill was taken up on 9 Jan. 1799.
It was passed in a 58 to 36 vote by the House on 17 Jan., and an 18 to 2 vote by the
Senate on 25 January. On 30 Jan. JA signed into law what became known as
the Logan Act, making it a crime for a U.S. citizen to “commence, or carry on, any
verbal or written correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government, or any
officer or agent thereof” without authorization (
Annals of Congress
,
5th Cong., 3d sess., p. 2205–2206, 2488–2489, 2493–2546, 2583–2648, 2677–2682,
2686–2721;
U.S. Statutes at Large
, 1:613).
Shakespeare, King Richard III, Act
I, scene i, lines 14–16, 30, 37.