Adams Papers Digital Edition

Papers of John Adams, volume 21

To François d’Ivernois

From C. W. F. Dumas
Address from the Senate to George Washington, 11 December 1795 United States Senate Adams, John Washington, George
Address from the Senate to George Washington
Sir, In Senate, December 11th: 1795

It is with peculiar satisfaction that we are informed by your Speech to the two Houses of Congress, that the long, and expensive war in which we have been engaged with the Indians North west of the Ohio, is in a situation to be finally terminated; and though we view with concern the danger of an interruption of the peace so recently confirmed with the Creeks, we indulge the hope, that the measures you have adopted to prevent the same, if followed by those Legislative provisions that justice and humanity equally demand, will succeed in laying the foundation of a lasting peace with the Indian tribes on the Southern as well as on the Western frontiers.1

The confirmation of our treaty with Morocco, and the adjustment of a treaty of peace with Algiers, in consequence of which our fellow Citizens shall be delivered from slavery, are events that will prove no less interesting to the public humanity, than they will be important in extending and securing the navigation and commerce of our country.2

As a just and equitable conclusion of our depending negotiation with Spain, will essentially advance the interest of both nations, and thereby cherish and confirm the good understanding and friendship, which we have at all times desired to maintain, it will afford us a real pleasure to receive an early confirmation of our expectations on this subject3

429

The interesting prospect of our affairs with regard to the foreign powers, between whom and the United States controversies have subsisted, is not more satisfactory, than the review of our internal situation: if from the former we derive an expectation of the extinguishment of all the causes of discord, that have heretofore endangered our tranquility, and on terms consistent with our national honor and safety, in the latter we discover those numerous, and wide spread tokens of prosperity, which in so peculiar a manner distinguish our happy country.

Circumstances thus every way auspicious demand our gratitude, and sincere acknowledgements to Almighty God, and require that we should unite our efforts, in imitation of your enlightened, firm and persevering example, to establish and preserve, the peace, freedom, and prosperity of our country.

The objects which you have recommended to the notice of the Legislature will in the course of the Session receive our careful attention, and with a pure zeal for the public welfare, we shall cheerfully cooperate in every measure that shall appear to us best calculated to promote the same.

John Adams Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate

FC (DLC:Washington Papers).

 1.

In his 8 Dec. address to Congress, Washington emphasized the “durable tranquillity,” and trumpeted the growing economic prosperity, of the United States. He pointed to the Jay Treaty, Mawlay Sulayman ibn Mohammad’s confirmation of the Moroccan-American Treaty of Peace and Friendship, and progress on agreements with Algiers and Spain as signs of success. Washington asked Congress to evaluate U.S. military and naval forces, to address Creek and Cherokee grievances, and to regulate the U.S. Mint. James Madison was the main author of the House of Representatives’ reply, which highlighted the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion, observing “that the late scene of disorder & insurrection has been compleatly restored to the enjoyment of order & repose. Such a triumph of reason & of law is worthy of the free Govt. under which it happened, & was justly to be hoped from the enlightened & patriotic spirit which pervades & actuates the people of the U. States.” New Jersey representative Jonathan Dayton, in his capacity as Speaker of the House, presented the address on 17 Dec. (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series , 19:221–227; Madison, Papers, Congressional Series , 16:164–167; Biog. Dir. Cong. ).

 2.

Joseph Donaldson Jr., the U.S. consul at Tripoli and Tunis, and Ali Hassan Bashaw, the Algerian dey, signed the Treaty of Peace and Amity on 5 September. The United States agreed to pay nearly $600,000 to Algiers, and an annual tribute of $21,000, in exchange for the free passage of American ships in the Mediterranean Sea, and the return of sailors who were seized and enslaved in 1785. Once the treaty reached New York on 7 Feb. 1796, CA carried it to Philadelphia. Washington submitted the treaty to the Senate on 15 Feb., and the Senate consented to it on 2 March, ratifying it five days later. JA, who had struggled with the other American commissioners to liberate the American captives, observed that “the Algerine Treaty is horridly Costly. It is worse than the British: but will not be so fiercely opposed.” A Jewish brokerage firm in Algiers, the house of Bacry, loaned the United States $180,000 to secure the prisoners’ release. On 8 Feb. 1797 the sailors arrived in 430 Philadelphia (vols. 17:index; 18:390, 406; 19:index; 20:463–464; Miller, Treaties , 2:275–317; Washington, Papers, Presidential Series , 18:220; AFC , 11:185–186, 553–554).

 3.

The successful negotiation of the Jay Treaty improved relations between Spain and the United States. Aware that the United States had signed a treaty with Great Britain, but unaware of its exact contents, Spanish foreign minister Don Manuel de Godoy agreed to free U.S. navigation of the Mississippi River, a new boundary between Georgia and Spanish Florida, a mutual end to support for Native raids in the southwest, and recognition of American neutrality. Carlos IV of Spain and Thomas Pinckney signed the Treaty of San Lorenzo El Real on 27 Oct. 1795. A copy of the treaty arrived in Boston on 15 Feb. 1796, and the Senate consented to it on 3 March (Samuel Flagg Bemis, Pinckney's Treaty, Baltimore, 1926, p. 249–250, 333; AFC , 11:185).