Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. - The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799)

Return to Title Page for The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799) [1853]

Edition used:

The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by his Grandson Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1856). 10 volumes. Vol. 8.

Part of: The Works of John Adams, 10 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

The Hague, 27 July, 1784.

Sir,—

I embrace the opportunity by Mr. Bingham, to inclose to your Excellency a copy of a letter from Mr. Jefferson, by which it appears that we are joined in some affairs which will give me the occasion to visit Paris once more, and reside there for some little time at least.

As Mr. Jefferson will not probably arrive before the latter end of August, and nothing can be done before he comes, I shall wait at the Hague for my wife and daughter, who are happily arrived in London, and endeavor to go with them in time to meet your Excellency and Mr. Jefferson upon his arrival at Paris.

The philosophers are speculating upon our constitutions, and, I hope, will throw out hints which will be of use to our countrymen. The science of government, as it is founded upon the genuine principles of society, is many centuries behind that of most other sciences, that of the fine arts, as well as that of trades and manufactures. As it is the first in importance, it is to be hoped it may overtake the rest, and that mankind may find their account in it. The Berlin academician1 has set an example, which, if liberally followed, may produce great effects; for I do not believe that many will find with him, upon examination, that despotism, or even monarchy, is the best possible form of government.

They have sent me from Amsterdam copies of a translation of the Abbé de Mably’s Letters, made by an English Episcopal clergyman at Amsterdam, whom I do not know. I inclose one to your Excellency; and have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

[1 ]The Baron Hertzberg, whose dissertation had been read at Berlin on the 29th of January of this year. See an account of it in volume iv. p. 558, note.