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

TO T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE. - 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 T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE.

Quincy, 20 October, 1798.

Dear Sir,—

There are many things which deserve to be maturely considered before the meeting of Congress. I shall mention two or three at present, concerning which I pray you to take as early measures as possible to obtain the advice of the heads of departments. One of them is, whether it will be expedient for the President to recommend to the consideration of Congress a declaration of war against France. This question supposes that France shall not have declared war against the United States. Otherwise, I suppose there will be no room for a question.

Another inquiry is, whether any further proposals of negotiation can be made with safety; and whether there will be any use or advantage, in Europe or America, by uniting minds more in our favor, by any such measure. In a message to both Houses of Congress, on the 21st day of June last, the President expressed his opinion of the impropriety of sending any ministers to France, without assurances that they shall be received. In this opinion he perseveres. But the question is, whether, in the speech, the President may not say, that in order to keep open the channels of negotiation, it is his intention to nominate a minister to the French republic, who may be ready to embark for France, as soon as he, or the President, shall receive from the Directory satisfactory assurances that he shall be received and entitled to all the prerogatives and privileges of the general law of nations, and that a minister of equal rank and powers shall be appointed and commissioned to treat with him. If any measure of this kind should be thought admissible, who shall be the man? Patrick Henry? Judge Patterson? Mr. Senator Ross? Mr. Senator Stockton? I mention these, because, while they are staunch Americans, they have not been marked or obnoxious to the French. No public speeches have been printed of theirs, which have been pointed against the French. Or shall we fix upon a man without regard to this, as Bayard, of Delaware, Harper, Sitgreaves, &c., or shall we fix upon one in Europe, as King, Smith, or Murray?1

Another thing I wish to be considered is, whether it will not be necessary to lay before Congress all the papers sent from Mr. Gerry by Mr. Humphreys; and, if it will, I pray you to have copies of them made for both Houses.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

[1 ]This letter is of great importance, as showing not only the state of Mr. Adams’s mind at this time, upon the most disputed question during his administration, but the early knowledge of it on the part of his cabinet officers, who yet complained of his sudden determination in the nomination of Mr. Murray, four months later. It now seems to explain the cause of the measures of counteraction to which they resorted. Instead of sending any answer, or entering into a discussion of the questions involved, a consultation was had, denominated by Mr. Jefferson “a military conclave,” from the presence of some of the general officers then assembled at Philadelphia, and especially of Mr. Hamilton, at which a draught of a message was prepared, obviously designed to preclude the President’s action upon the suggestions herein contained. This draught was probably made by Mr. Wolcott under the dictation of Mr. Hamilton, and it is conceded by Mr. Gibbs to have been intended to “leave no loophole for retreat.” Yet Mr. Hamilton must at the time have had in his hands Rufus King’s private letter to him, from London, assuring him “that there would be no war,” and that France would propose to renew negotiations. The failure of this attempt to coerce the President, his substitution of a sentiment directly the opposite of the one submitted to him for adoption, and the subsequent appeal to the federal members of Congress to force the party into a declaration of war, which likewise failed, are treated more at large in another part of this work. Randolph’s Jefferson, vol. iii. p. 186. Gibbs’s Federal Administrations, vol. ii. p. 186-7. Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. p. 359. The reader must contrast the original passage in Mr. Wolcott’s draught, as it is found printed in italics in Mr. Gibbs’s work, vol. ii. p. 171, with the substituted paragraph, and also with the paragraph in the above letter on the same subject, in order fully to perceive the purpose of its framers.