Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO T. JEFFERSON. - 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 T. JEFFERSON. - 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 T. JEFFERSON.

London, 31 July, 1786.

Dear Sir,—

I have received the ratification of the Prussian treaty, and next Thursday shall set off for the Hague, in order to exchange it with the Baron de Thulemeier.

Your favor of the 11th instant I have received. There are great and weighty considerations urged in it in favor of arming against the Algerines, and, I confess, if our States could be brought to agree in the measure, I should be very willing to resolve upon external war with vigor, and protect our trade and people. The resolution to fight them would raise the spirits and courage of our countrymen immediately, and we might obtain the glory of finally breaking up these nests of banditti. But congress will never, or at least not for years, take any such resolution, and in the mean time our trade and honor suffers beyond calculation. We ought not to fight them at all, unless we determine to fight them forever.

This thought, I fear, is too rugged for our people to bear. To fight them at the expense of millions, and make peace, after all, by giving more money and larger presents than would now procure perpetual peace, seems not to be economical. Did Monsieur de Massac carry his point without making the presents? Has not France made presents ever since? Did any nation ever make peace with any one Barbary state without making the presents? Is there an example of it? I believe not, and fancy you will find that even Massac himself made the presents.

I agree in opinion of the wisdom and necessity of a navy for other uses, but am apprehensive it will make bad worse with the Algerines. I will go all lengths with you in promoting a navy, whether to be applied to the Algerines or not. But I think, at the same time, we should treat. Your letter, however, has made me easier upon this point. Nevertheless, to humble the Algerines, I think you have undercalculated the force necessary. They have now fifty gun-boats, which, being small objects against great ships, are very formidable.1 None of these existed in the time of Monsieur Massac. The harbor of Algiers, too, is fortified all round, which it was not in M. Massac’s time, which renders it more difficult and dangerous to attempt a blockade. I know not what dependence is to be put upon Portugal and Naples, in case of a war with the barbarians; perhaps they might assist us in some degree. Blocking Algiers would not obtain peace with Morocco; so that our commerce would still be exposed.

After all, though I am glad we have exchanged a letter on the subject, I perceive that neither force nor money will be applied. Our States are so backward, that they will do nothing for some years. If they get money enough to discharge the demands upon them in Europe already incurred, I shall be agreeably disappointed. A disposition seems rather to prevail among our citizens to give up all ideas of navigation and naval power, and lay themselves consequently at the mercy of foreigners, even for the prices of their produce. It is their concern, and we must submit; for your plan of fighting will no more be adopted, than mine of treating. This is more humiliating to me than giving the presents would be. I have a letter from Mr. Jay of 7th July, by packet, containing nothing but an acknowledgment of our letter of 25th April. New Hampshire and Rhode Island have suspended their navigation acts, and Massachusetts, now left alone, will suspend theirs. So that all will be left to the convention, whose system, if they form one, will not be completed, adopted, and begin to operate, under several years. Congress have received the answer, which you saw, to my memorial of 30th November; and Mr. Ramsay writes me he is not distressed at it, because it will produce a repeal of all the laws against recovering private debts.

I am, &c.

John Adams.

[1 ]Mr. Tucker, in his Life of Jefferson, has sufficiently contrasted the opinions expressed in this letter, and in that to which it is in answer, with the positions respectively taken by the parties at a later period. But he does not show that the argument of Mr. Adams is one of expediency, drawn solely from the condition of the country at the moment, and in no way militates with his later action. Mr. Jefferson’s letter is one of the best he ever wrote. It is printed in Mr. Randolph’s collection of his writings.