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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:

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TO T. JEFFERSON.

London, 1 March, 1787.

Dear Sir,—

I am much obliged to you for your favors of February 20th and 23rd, by Mr. Carnes, and the curious pamphlets.

Opening a direct communication between Paris and America will facilitate the trade of the two countries very much, and the new treaty between France and England will promote it still more. John Bull does not see it, and if he does not see a thing at first, you know it is a rule with him ever afterwards to swear that it does not exist, even when he does both see it and feel it.

I have this moment written to Messrs. Willink and Van Staphorst to remit to you, or Mr. Grand, in your absence, what remains to be received to make up the thousand guineas for the swords and medals, you having before drawn for 6,500 livres tournois as part of them.

My resolution of quitting Europe has been taken upon mature deliberation; but really upon motives of necessity, as much, at least, as choice. Congress cannot, consistently with their own honor and dignity, renew my commission to this Court; and I assure you, I should hold it so inconsistent with my own honor and dignity, little as that may be, that, if it were possible for congress to forget theirs, I would not forget mine, but send their commission back to them, unless a minister were sent from his Britannic Majesty to congress. As to a residence in Holland, that climate is so destructive to my health, that I could never bear it; and I am sure it would be fatal to her, on whom depends all the satisfaction that I have in life. No consideration would tempt me to think of removing to that country with my family. For a man who has been for thirty years rolling like a stone, never three years in the same place, it is no very pleasant speculation to cross the seas, with a family, in a state of uncertainty what is to be his fate, what reception he shall meet at home, whether he shall settle down in private life to his plough, or push into the turbulent scenes of sedition and tumult; whether he be sent to congress, or a convention, or God knows what. If it lay in my power, I would take a vow to retire to my little turnip-yard, and never again quit it. I feel very often a violent disposition to take some resolution, and swear to it; but upon the whole, it is best to preserve my liberty to do as I please, according to circumstances.

The approbation you express in general of my poor volume, is a vast consolation to me. It is a hazardous enterprise, and will be an unpopular work in America for a long time. When I am dead, it may be regretted that such advice was not taken in the season of it. But as I have made it, early in life and all along, a rule to conceal nothing from the people which appeared to me material for their happiness and prosperity, however unpopular it might be at the time, or with particular parties, I am determined not now to begin to flatter popular prejudices and party passions, however they may be countenanced by great authorities. The opinion you object to, page 362, that “congress is not a legislative, but a diplomatic assembly,” I should wish to have considered as a problem rather for consideration, than as an opinion; and as a problem, too, relative to the confederation as it now stands, rather than to any other plan that may be in contemplation of the states. It is a most difficult topic, and no man at a distance can judge of it so well as those in America. If the book should be translated into French, I wish you to insert this in a note. You have laid me under great obligation, by taking the trouble to secure a good translator; if the thing is worth translating at all, it will not surely bear to lose any thing by the translation. But will not the government prohibit it? If I should get well home, and spend a few years in retirement, I shall pursue this subject somewhat further; but I hope never to be left again to publish so hasty a production as this.

A work upon the subject you mention, nobility in general, which I once hinted to you a wish to see handled at large, would be too extensive and splendid for my means and forces. It would require many books which I have not, and a more critical knowledge, both of ancient and modern languages, than at my age a man can aspire to. There are but two circumstances which will be regretted by me when I leave Europe; one is, the opportunity of searching any questions of this kind in any books that may be wanted; and the other will be, the interruption of that immediate correspondence with you, which is one of the most agreeable events in my life. There are four or five persons here, with whom I hold a friendly intercourse, and shall leave with some degree of pain; but I am not at home in this country.

With every affectionate and friendly sentiment, I am,

John Adams.