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

TO JAMES 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 JAMES McHENRY, SECRETARY OF WAR.

Quincy, 22 October, 1798.

Sir,—

I received, on Saturday, your favor of the 15th. When I dated the commissions of the Major-Generals on the same day, I had made up my mind, that if an acquiescence, by amicable agreement, in the opinion of General Washington should not take place, I would confirm his judgment, whatever it might be.

If I could have been at Philadelphia to receive him, I should have invited General Washington to that city long ago. I cannot go to that city, nor to Trenton, very soon.1 Mrs. Adams’s health is so low, and her life so precarious, that it will be impossible for me to force myself away from her till the last moment. The last has been the most gloomy summer of my life, and the prospect of the winter is more dismal still; for if I should not have a more melancholy separation to endure before I set out for the southward, I must then leave my family here, and pass a dreary winter alone at the seat of government. At all events, however, I must be at the opening of Congress, or give up. Nothing shall wait for me, that you send me here. If you and the Generals judge it necessary to appoint the officers of battalions before we can have an opportunity to nominate them to the Senate, you may fill up the commissions with the blanks you have, or, if you have not enough, send new ones by the post, as is every day done from the offices of State, Treasury, and of the Navy, and I will sign them without loss of time.

As to recruiting service, I wonder whether there has been any enthusiasm which would induce men of common sense to enlist for five dollars a month, who could have fifteen, when they pleased, by sea, or for common work at land.

I have no attachment to one, more than another, of the candidates for appointments. The general officers are so well acquainted with the characters, that I shall have no hesitation to appoint such as you and they recommend. It may be well, however, to let the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Navy, and the Attorney-General, if convenient, see the list, that, if they have any objection, they may mention it, or if any idea to suggest, they may propose it.

There has been no national plan, that I have seen, as yet formed for the maintenance of the army. One thing I know, that regiments are costly articles everywhere, and more so in this country than any other under the sun. If this nation sees a great army to maintain, without an enemy to fight, there may arise an enthusiasm that seems to be little foreseen. At present there is no more prospect of seeing a French army here, than there is in Heaven.1

I am, &c.

John Adams.

[1 ]Mr. McHenry in his letter had urged the President to come to the seat of government for the purpose of facilitating the organization of the new military forces.

[1 ]At this day, it seems to be matter of astonishment that the truth of this proposition should not have been universally recognized. It is difficult to resist the belief that an organization was by some contemplated, as Mr. Adams described it, “to appoint a General over the President.” Sedgwick to Hamilton, Hamilton’s Works, vol. vi. p. 394.