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

TO J. McHENRY, SECRETARY OF WAR. - 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.

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TO J. McHENRY, SECRETARY OF WAR.

Quincy, 29 August, 1798.

Sir,—

I have received your letter of August 20th, I believe, though the 0 is obscure. General Knox is gone to the eastward, as I understand, to return in ten or fifteen days. But if he were in Boston, I could not send him either your official or private letter, as neither contains sentiments that I can approve.1 My opinion is and has always been clear, that as the law now stands, the order of nomination or of recording has no weight or effect, but that officers appointed on the same day, in whatever order, have a right to rank according to antecedent services. I made the nomination according to the list presented to me by you, from General Washington, in hopes that rank might be settled among them by agreement or acquiescence, believing at the time, and expressing to you that belief, that the nomination and appointment would give Hamilton no command at all, nor any rank before any Major-General. This is my opinion still. I am willing to settle all decisively at present (and have no fear of the consequences), by dating the commissions, Knox on the first day, Pinckney on the second, and Hamilton on the third. If this course is not taken, and the commissions are all made out on the same day, I tell you my opinion is clear that Hamilton will legally rank after Hand, and, I fear, even after Lee.

You speak to me of the expediency of attempting an alteration in the rank of the gentlemen in question. You know, Sir, that no rank has ever been settled by me. You know my opinion has always been, as it is now, that the order of names in the nomination and record was of no consequence.

General Washington has, through the whole, conducted with perfect honor and consistency. I said, and I say now, if I could resign to him the office of President, I would do it instantly, and with the highest pleasure; but I never said I would hold the office, and be responsible for its exercise, while he should execute it. Nor has he ever intimated a desire of the kind. He has always in all his letters said, that these points must ultimately depend on the President.

The power and authority are in the President. I am willing to exert this authority at this moment, and to be responsible for the exercise of it. All difficulties will in this way be avoided. But if it is to be referred to General Washington, or to mutual and amicable accommodation among the gentlemen themselves, I foresee it will come to me at last after much altercation and exasperation of passions, and I shall then determine it exactly as I should now,—Knox, Pinckney, and Hamilton.

There has been too much intrigue in this business with General Washington and me;1 if I shall ultimately be the dupe of it, I am much mistaken in myself.

I can sympathize with you in your ill health, and the sickness of your family. My dear Mrs. Adams has been at the point of death, and, although a little recovered, is still extremely weak and low.

I am, &c.

John Adams.

[1 ]Mr. McHenry, in writing these two letters, was merely following the dictation of Mr. Hamilton, who furnished the draft of one, and suggested the matter for the other. See his letter to Mr. McHenry 19th August, and the draft inclosed. Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. p. 338, 339.

[1 ]Mr. McHenry took offence at this, as aimed at himself. He sought and obtained a disclaimer. But though not probably meant for him, the facts, as now disclosed, do not entirely acquit him of participation in the censure.

The purpose of this note will be to show that the remark itself was entirely just; and to a much greater extent than Mr. Adams himself had any conception of. The proof to sustain each of the following propositions is furnished from the testimony of the parties themselves.

Mr. Wolcott, who seems to have had no share in the matter, though by no means partial to Mr. Adams, admits in two successive letters that the difficulty grew out of mismanagement. See the letters in Gibbs’s Federal Administrations, vol. ii. pp. 99, 101.

The facts appear to be these:

1. That on the 7th of July Mr. Adams addressed to General Washington a letter, informing him of his appointment to the chief command. See page 575.

2. That he charged Mr. McHenry, Secretary of War, with the care of this letter, and with instructions which were drawn up and dated on the 6th July. See page 573.

3. That Mr. Pickering, the Secretary of State, knowing what was done on the 6th, and that Mr. McHenry was not to go till the 8th, anticipated the mission, by sending a letter, on that very day, the 6th, by the post, to General Washington, urging upon him the selection of Mr. Hamilton as second in command, and invoking him to “intimate his opinion” to the President, in such a way as to force the appointment. See Sparks’s Washington, vol. xi. Appendix, p. 530.

4. Mr. Pickering’s low estimate of General Washington’s military capacity is well understood, and, if doubted, can be established beyond question. In making this movement, he avowed his purpose to be that Mr. Hamilton should be the virtual Commander-in-chief. Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. p. 344.

5. Mr. Hamilton came to Philadelphia on the 7th of July, before Mr. McHenry had left for Mount Vernon. He was then informed by Mr. Pickering of what had been done, and he saw a copy of the secret letter. Hamilton’s Works, Pickering to Hamilton, vol. vi. p. 325. Also Pickering to Jay, p. 330.

6. Mr. Hamilton, instead of expressing any displeasure at this clandestine attempt to control the President, in his favor, wrote a letter on the 8th of July, fortifying the argument of Mr. Pickering, and disparaging the judgment of the President, and sent it by the hands of the President’s own messenger, Mr. McHenry, who certainly was cognisant of its purpose. This was, to direct all the appointments to be made by the President. Sparks’s Washington, vol. xi. Appendix, p. 533.

7. General Washington, although anxious to secure the services of Mr. Hamilton, and to give him the post he had himself selected in a preceding letter of the 2d of June, that of Inspector-General, did not contemplate making him the second in command. His design had been to make Mr. Pinckney second, and Mr. Hamilton third in rank, and this for reasons which he explained directly to Mr. Pickering, and as delicately as possible to Mr. Hamilton himself. With this last letter Mr. Adams was made acquainted. Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. p. 294. Sparks’s Washington, vol. xi. pp. 257-260, 263-266.

8. Mr. Pickering, on first receiving a report of General Washington’s state of mind, from Mr. McHenry, was disposed to claim for his letter of the 6th the merit of turning the scale for Mr. Hamilton; but apparently discouraged for the moment by the contents of General Washington’s reply to him, dated the 11th, he communicated the substance of it to Mr. Hamilton on the 16th, and sounded his disposition to give way. Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. p. 325, p. 330.

9. Mr. Hamilton replied on the 17th, expressing a reluctant assent to the possible priority of Knox, but objecting to the precedence of Pinckney, and concluding with a proposition that the relative rank might be left open for future settlement. This letter, though received by Mr. Pickering in season to meet the wishes both of the President and of General Washington, was by him suppressed until after the list of officers, as originally arranged by General Washington, had been sent to the Senate. In that list Mr. Hamilton’s name had been placed first, although it is now clear that General Washington did not mean to settle his rank by the act. Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. pp. 326, 343.

The Senate did not, however, know this, when they ratified the nominations. There is reason to believe they were left with the impression that he did intend it.

10. General Washington was prevailed upon to overcome his “fears of the consequences” of placing Hamilton first in his list, by the representations made to him through the channel of Mr. McHenry, that such was “the declared will of the federal characters of Congress.” This he expressly states in his letters to General Knox. Sparks’s Washington, vol. xi. pp. 268, 282. Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. p. 330.

11. General Knox wrote a warm remonstrance. In it, among other things, he says: “I have understood, that when the list was presented to the Senate, some members, from a mere sense of justice, were desirous that the seniority I held the last war should be considered; but they were silenced by the observation, that the list was yours, and therefore it could not be altered. To you, it was declared to be the public estimation.” Sparks’s Washington, vol. xi. Appendix, p. 535.

12. General Washington, on the 9th of August, sent this letter to Mr. Hamilton, with a letter of his own, delicately intimating a disposition favorable to Knox. This hint had the effect of procuring a reluctant acquiescence of Mr. Hamilton “in any arrangement which Washington might deem for the general good.” Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. pp. 336-8, 342.

13. The President did not consider the order of nominations to the Senate as in itself deciding the priority of the officers named. And so doubtful was Mr. Pickering of the issue, that it led to a renewal of efforts to rouse General Washington to interfere, as he was looked to finally to control the President. To this end Mr. Pickering wrote, on the 21st of August, to stimulate Mr. Hamilton “to take such steps with the General, as he might think proper, to fix him in the station which the essential interests of the country require.” Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. p. 346. On the other hand Mr. Hamilton, on the 29th, wrote to stimulate Mr. Pickering to make the General “well understand that New England would rather see high command in his hands than in those of General Knox.” Vol. vi. p. 355.

14. It is to be noted that Mr. Hamilton, in addressing General Knox many months after the decision, endeavored to throw off the responsibility of it from himself upon others. “Be persuaded, also,” he says, “that the views of others, not my own, have given shape to what has taken place, and that there has been a serious struggle between my respect and attachment for you and the impression of duty.” Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. p. 403.

15. It likewise appears that Mr. Pickering in a letter of the same date as that last cited, covered the confidential letter of Miranda to Mr. Hamilton of the 6th of April, announcing the successful progress of his enterprise in England; and the reply of the latter to Miranda, dated the 22d of August, besides describing a plan of coöperation, announces that “we are raising an army of about twelve thousand men,” and that he is “appointed second in command.” Miranda’s application to the President had been received by him on the 25th of August. He knew the fact that Mr. Hamilton had received a letter, but nothing more. Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. pp. 343, 348.

The curious reader is left carefully to compare these propositions with the letters quoted to verify them, and then form his own opinion, whether Mr. Adams was right or wrong in saying, “there has been too much intrigue in this business with General Washington and me.” He is, also, to judge how far the project of Miranda contributed to stimulate the desire of Mr. Hamilton and his friends to secure for him the virtual command of the army.