Adams Family Correspondence, volume 11
I recd, Yesterday by the Post, the inclosed Letter, which excites a hope of more by the Same Ship.1
There is a curious Mass of matter in fermentation at this Time. The French and Spaniards are as injurious as ever the English have been. Washington retires and his Sucessor will have but a majority of three Votes at most. and as if, it were to irritate every feeling nerve a Land Tax must be discussed, at this moment and the Debtor States must be called on for their ballances.2 The People of America, must awake out of their golden dreams, consider where they are, and what they are about. The foolish Idolatry of France and Paine which Russells Paper, has encouraged as much as any other, has brought Us into Snares and dangers which We might have avoided. We must assume more Decorum than to run after foreign Ministers as if We were their Slaves or Subjects. The Ignorance in which our People will keep themselves of the true Character of the french Nation in general and of their present Government as well as all their former Governments Since the Revolution, is astonishing.
I must wade through all these Difficulties or be overpowered by them. And if the Case should happen that I should get Safely or even tryumphantly through, it will be forgotten in one month that I had any hand in it—judging of the future by the past.—
Oh no! it will not be forgotten. My Friends will remember it— Ay and my Ennemies too. They remember too well, for their comfort tho they deny.
Mr Jay, if I mistake not, will be a glorious Being in this Country before very long.
Mr Volney talks a bolder and freer Language about French affairs than I Should expect. He Says the Directory will be changed for one Director and be chosen for ten Years, which he considers, as for perpetuity. He Says all the Members of the Constituant Assembly in 1789 will be elected into the Legislature at the next Election. &c &c—3 This I have from Mr Burr, who wonders at it. What would I give to Spend / the Evening at your fireside
RC and enclosure (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.”; endorsed: “Janry 18 1797.” For the enclosure, see note 4, below.
For JQA’s 25 Nov. 1796 letter to JA, see JQA to AA, 14 Nov., note 7, above.
On 5 Dec. 1793 the Commissioners of Accounts issued a report to Congress
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declaring that six states—New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina—owed a combined total of $3,517,584 to the federal government. Three years later, on 20 Dec. 1796, Joshua Coit, a representative from Connecticut, presented a resolution to the House of Representatives directing the Committee of Ways and Means to investigate the debts. On 26 Dec. William Smith presented to the House the report of the committee showing that the total due to the U.S. government from the six debtor states (including interest) on 1 Jan. 1797 would amount to $4,502,507.52. Smith also submitted two resolutions: one requesting the president to inform the debtor states of the amounts they currently owed, and the second asking the president to accept payments from the states in the same form as the creditor states had been previously paid. On 5 Jan. the House agreed to the resolutions; however, Congress was unwilling to pressure the debtor states to pay, and only New York, which had the largest debt, paid off a small amount of the money it owed, via the construction of state fortifications (
Amer. State Papers, Miscellaneous, 1:69;
Annals of Congress, 4th Cong., 2d sess. p. 1691, 1805–1806, 1810;
Amer. State Papers, Finance, 1:479; Richard Hildreth, The History of the United States of America: From the Adoption of the Federal Constitution to the End of the Sixteenth Congress, 1788–1821, rev. edn., vol. 1, Administration of Washington, 1789–1797, N.Y., 1871, p. 494). For the land tax, see
AA to JA, 6 Feb., and note 2, below.
Constantin François Volney’s predictions were not accurate. In the spring 1797 elections for the French legislature only 11 of the approximately 200 former members up for reelection were chosen, and 228 of the new members had no previous political experience. The policy of having five directors remained in place until Napoleon’s Nov. 1799 coup (
Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:506, 678, 679; William Doyle, The Oxford History of the French Revolution, Oxford, 1989, p. 329).
JA enclosed an article from the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 21 Dec. 1796, which stated that George Washington had resigned because he knew he would not be reelected and that he feared the Democratic-Republicans would vote for JA as president and make Washington assume the lowly position of vice president. JA wrote horizontally along the left side of the article: “of all the Devilism in Bache’s Paper this is the most diabolical.” The following day JA again wrote to AA, enclosing Ruth Hooper Dalton’s 14 Jan. 1797 letter to her, above, and noting he had received a letter from Col. Samuel Griffin congratulating JA on his election and seeking a place for a relative as JA’s private secretary. JA also commented on French affairs, the consequences of which he believed “will come up after the 4 of March, and stare at me” (Adams Papers).
th:1797—
I Received yesterday your kind Letter of the 13th and Return you and yours the Compliments of the Season and Thanks of your Congratulations on the Probability of a Cartain Election1 the felicities or infelicities of what Events however are Hidden from our Vew by that impenetrable Veil which Covers Futurity the Prospect at Present is not very bright a Country Impotent at Sea tho Powerful at Land indignantly Sees itself Injured with Circumstances of Contempt and Insolence by more Then one foreign Nation and will hardly be Persuaded to bleive That it is not more or less the fault of thair Government Tho that Should be administered with all the zeal Diligence Fidelity and Skill that its administraters Profess if I am in, I Cannot retreat and indeed I would not if I Could for I May as will mount a breach as another and if it falls to my Lot it will not be my
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fault and I will rely on the Spirit and Resources of my Country—and the Blesing of Providence I have alredey as Good a Coach as I wish and as I must have a Chareat I have ingaged a Good one here in Case I Should want it I want two Pair of Bay Horses and have written to Mr Abraham Hunt of Trinton and mr Drake of Brunswick Mr Hunt whose answer I have Received Cannot at Present Supply me from mr Drake I have no answer2 if you Hear of one or more Pairs I Should be Glad you would inform me of them and thair Prices
I am not able to Say that Little Suzen is the Greatest beauty I Ever See But I know I have two Charming Little Grand Daughters both of wich appear beautiful in my Eyes they are both “fine Crosses” your kind wishes for my Success and Prosperity are Very Obliging and are Returned by mine for yours the Socratic3 Philosophy, the Roman Empire the Christian Religion all great things Have begun by being Despised our Nation began in Contempt and altho it Punished that offence in one Nation it is not yet Sufficiently Respected
I hope we Shall not have to make another Nation Repent of her insolence at So great an Expence of Blood Treasure Labour— I am Sir affectionate yours
LbC in Samuel Bayard Malcom’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Col. Smith.”; APM Reel 117. This is the first letter in Lb/JA/29 and the first transcribed by Samuel Bayard Malcom, who began serving as JA’s private secretary in mid-February. Beginning at that time, he copied JA’s public letters from this one forward. For Malcom, see AA to JA, 30 Jan., note 6, below.
Not found.
No correspondence has been found between JA and Abraham Hunt (1740–1821), a prominent merchant of Trenton, N.J., who had facilitated horse purchases for George Washington. JA’s original letter to James Drake, not found, was sent by mistake to Quincy, where AA forwarded it to the post office. In a 23 Feb. letter to Drake, JA offered Drake $600 for a pair of horses and then enclosed payment in a letter of 18 April. Drake was likely the proprietor of the Indian Queen Tavern in New Brunswick, N.J. (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 3:245, 12:280;
AA to JA, 30 Jan., below; Parke-Bernet Galleries, Sale No. 40, 11 May 1938, item 40; LbC, APM Reel 117; William H. Benedict, “Early Taverns in New Brunswick,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, new series, 3:138–139 [1918]).
This word is in JA’s hand.