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

REPLY TO THE ANSWER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811) [1854]

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. 9.

Part of: The Works of John Adams, 10 vols.

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REPLY TO THE ANSWER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Mr. Speaker, and
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

My sincere acknowledgments are due to the House of Representatives of the United States for this excellent address, so consonant to the character of representatives of a great and free people. The judgment and feelings of a nation, I believe, were never more truly expressed by their representatives, than those of our constituents by your decided declaration, that, with our means of defence, our interest and honor command us to repel a predatory warfare against the unquestionable rights of neutral commerce; that it becomes the United States to be as determined in resistance as they have been patient in suffering and condescending in negotiation; that while those who direct the affairs of France persist in the enforcement of decrees so hostile to our essential rights, their conduct forbids us to confide in any of their professions of amity; that an adequate naval force must be considered as an important object of national policy; and that whether negotiations with France are resumed or not, vigorous preparations for war will be alike indispensable.

The generous disdain you so coolly and deliberately express of a reliance on foreign protection, wanting no foreign guaranty of our liberties, resolving to maintain our national independence against every attempt to despoil us of this inestimable treasure, will meet the full approbation of every sound understanding, and exulting applauses from the heart of every faithful American.

I thank you, gentlemen, for your candid approbation of my sentiments on the subject of negotiation, and for the declaration of your opinion, that the policy of extending and invigorating our measures of defence, and the adoption, with prudent foresight, of such systematical measures as may be expedient for calling forth the energies of our country wherever the national exigencies may require, whether on the ocean, or on our own territory, will demand your sedulous attention.

At the same time I take the liberty to assure you, it shall be my vigilant endeavor that no illusory professions shall seduce me into any abandonment of the rights which belong to the United States as a free and independent nation.

John Adams.

SPEECH TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS,

3 December, 1799.

Gentlemen of the Senate, and
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

It is with peculiar satisfaction that I meet the sixth Congress of the United States of America. Coming from all parts of the Union, at this critical and interesting period, the members must be fully possessed of the sentiments and wishes of our constituents.

The flattering prospects of abundance, from the labors of the people by land and by sea; the prosperity of our extended commerce, notwithstanding interruptions occasioned by the belligerent state of a great part of the world; the return of health, industry, and trade, to those cities which have lately been afflicted with disease; and the various and inestimable advantages, civil and religious, which, secured under our happy frame of government, are continued to us unimpaired, demand of the whole American people sincere thanks to a benevolent Deity for the merciful dispensations of his providence.

But, while these numerous blessings are recollected, it is a painful duty to advert to the ungrateful return which has been made for them by some of the people in certain counties of Pennsylvania, where, seduced by the arts and misrepresentations of designing men, they have openly resisted the law directing the valuation of houses and lands. Such defiance was given to the civil authority as rendered hopeless all further attempts by judicial process to enforce the execution of the law; and it became necessary to direct a military force to be employed, consisting of some companies of regular troops, volunteers, and militia, by whose zeal and activity, in coöperation with the judicial power, order and submission were restored, and many of the offenders arrested. Of these, some have been convicted of misdemeanors, and others, charged with various crimes, remain to be tried.

To give due effect to the civil administration of government, and to insure a just execution of the laws, a revision and amendment of the judiciary system is indispensably necessary. In this extensive country it cannot but happen that numerous questions respecting the interpretation of the laws, and the rights and duties of officers and citizens, must arise. On the one hand, the laws should be executed; on the other, individuals should be guarded from oppression. Neither of these objects is sufficiently assured under the present organization of the judicial department. I therefore earnestly recommend the subject to your serious consideration.

Persevering in the pacific and humane policy, which had been invariably professed and sincerely pursued by the executive authority of the United States, when indications were made, on the part of the French republic, of a disposition to accommodate the existing differences between the two countries, I felt it to be my duty to prepare for meeting their advances by a nomination of ministers upon certain conditions, which the honor of our country dictated, and which its moderation had given it a right to prescribe. The assurances which were required of the French government, previous to the departure of our envoys, have been given through their minister of foreign relations; and I have directed them to proceed on their mission to Paris. They have full power to conclude a treaty, subject to the constitutional advice and consent of the Senate. The characters of these gentlemen are sure pledges to their country that nothing incompatible with its honor or interest, nothing inconsistent with our obligations of good faith or friendship to any other nation, will be stipulated.

It appearing probable, from the information I received, that our commercial intercourse with some ports in the island of St. Domingo might safely be renewed, I took such steps as seemed to me expedient to ascertain that point. The result being satisfactory, I then, in conformity with the act of Congress on the subject, directed the restraints and prohibitions of that intercourse to be discontinued, on terms which were made known by proclamation. Since the renewal of this intercourse, our citizens trading to those ports, with their property, have been duly respected, and privateering from those ports has ceased.

In examining the claims of British subjects by the commissioners at Philadelphia, acting under the sixth article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation with Great Britain, a difference of opinion, on points deemed essential in the interpretation of that article, has arisen between the commissioners appointed by the United States, and the other members of that board; from which the former have thought it their duty to withdraw. It is sincerely to be regretted, that the execution of an article produced by a mutual spirit of amity and justice, should have been thus unavoidably interrupted. It is, however, confidently expected that the same spirit of amity and the same sense of justice, in which it originated, will lead to satisfactory explanations. In consequence of the obstacles to the progress of the commission in Philadelphia, his Britannic Majesty has directed the commissioners appointed by him under the seventh article of the treaty, relating to British captures of American vessels, to withdraw from the board sitting in London; but with the express declaration of his determination to fulfil with punctuality and good faith the engagements which his majesty has contracted by his treaty with the United States; and that they will be instructed to resume their functions, whenever the obstacles, which impede the progress of the commission at Philadelphia, shall be removed. It being in like manner my sincere determination, so far as the same depends on me, that, with equal punctuality and good faith, the engagements contracted by the United States, in their treaties with his Britannic majesty, shall be fulfilled, I shall immediately instruct our minister at London to endeavor to obtain the explanations necessary to a just performance of those engagements on the part of the United States. With such dispositions on both sides, I cannot entertain a doubt that all difficulties will soon be removed, and that the two boards will then proceed, and bring the business committed to them, respectively, to a satisfactory conclusion.

The act of Congress, relative to the seat of the government of the United States, requiring that on the first Monday of December next, it should be transferred from Philadelphia to the district chosen for its permanent seat, it is proper for me to inform you, that the commissioners appointed to provide suitable buildings for the accommodation of Congress, and of the President, and of the public offices of the government, have made a report of the state of the buildings designed for those purposes in the city of Washington; from which they conclude that the removal of the seat of government to that place, at the time required, will be practicable, and the accommodation satisfactory. Their report will be laid before you.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

I shall direct the estimates of the appropriations necessary for the service of the ensuing year, together with an account of the revenue and expenditure, to be laid before you. During a period, in which a great portion of the civilized world has been involved in a war unusually calamitous and destructive, it was not to be expected that the United States could be exempted from extraordinary burdens. Although the period is not arrived when the measures adopted to secure our country against foreign attacks can be renounced, yet it is alike necessary for the honor of the government and the satisfaction of the community, that an exact economy should be maintained. I invite you, gentlemen, to investigate the different branches of the public expenditure. The examination will lead to beneficial retrenchments, or produce a conviction of the wisdom of the measures to which the expenditure relates.

Gentlemen of the Senate, and
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

At a period like the present, when momentous changes are occurring, and every hour is preparing new and great events in the political world, when a spirit of war is prevalent in almost every nation, with whose affairs the interests of the United States have any connection, unsafe and precarious would be our situation, were we to neglect the means of maintaining our just rights. The result of the mission to France is uncertain; but however it may terminate, a steady perseverance in a system of national defence, commensurate with our resources and the situation of our country, is an obvious dictate of wisdom. For, remotely as we are placed from the belligerent nations, and desirous as we are, by doing justice to all, to avoid offence to any, nothing short of the power of repelling aggressions will secure to our country a rational prospect of escaping the calamities of war or national degradation. As to myself, it is my anxious desire so to execute the trust reposed in me, as to render the people of the United States prosperous and happy. I rely, with entire confidence, on your coöperation in objects equally your care; and that our mutual labors will serve to increase and confirm union among our fellow-citizens, and an unshaken attachment to our government.

John Adams.