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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,

Compelled by the habits of a long life as well as by all the principles of society and government which I could ever understand and believe, to consider the great body of the people as the source of all legitimate authority, no less than of all efficient power, it is impossible for me to receive this address from the immediate representatives of the American people, at this time and in this place, without emotions which it would be improper to express, if any language could convey them.

May the spirit which animated the great founder of this city, descend to future generations; and may the wisdom, magnanimity, and steadiness, which marked the events of his public life, be imitated in all succeeding ages!

I thank you, gentlemen, for your assurance that the judiciary system shall receive your deliberate attention.

With you, gentlemen, I sincerely hope, that the final result of the negotiations now pending with France, may prove as fortunate to our country as they have been commenced with sincerity, and prosecuted with deliberation and caution. With you I cordially agree, that so long as predatory war is carried on against our commerce, we should sacrifice the interests and disappoint the expectations of our constituents, should we for a moment relax that system of maritime defence, which has resulted in such beneficial effects. With you I confidently believe, that few persons can be found within the United States, who do not admit that a navy, well organized, must constitute the natural and efficient defence of this country against all foreign hostility.

Those who recollect the distress and danger to this country in former periods from the want of arms, must exult in the assurance from their representatives, that we shall soon rival foreign countries, not only in the number, but in the quality of arms, completed from our own manufactories.

With you, gentlemen, I fully agree that the great increase of revenue is a proof that the measures of maritime defence were founded in wisdom. This policy has raised us in the esteem of foreign nations. That national spirit and those latent energies which had not been and are not yet fully known to any, were not entirely forgotten by those who have lived long enough to see in former times their operation and some of their effects. Our fellow-citizens were undoubtedly prepared to meet every event which national honor or national security could render necessary. These it is to be hoped are secured at the cheapest and easiest rate. If not, they will be secured at more expense.

I thank you, gentlemen, for your assurance that the various subjects recommended to your consideration shall receive your deliberate attention. No further evidence is wanting to convince me of the zeal and sincerity with which the House of Representatives regard the public good.

I pray you, gentlemen, to accept of my best wishes for your health and happiness.

John Adams.

MESSAGES TO CONGRESS.

MESSAGE TO THE SENATE;

NOMINATING ENVOYS TO FRANCE.

31 May, 1797.

Gentlemen of the Senate,

I nominate General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina, Francis Dana, Chief Justice of the State of Massachusetts, and General John Marshall, of Virginia, to be jointly and severally envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the French republic.

After mature deliberation on the critical situation of our relations with France, which have long engaged my serious attention, I have determined on these nominations of persons to negotiate with the French republic, to dissipate umbrages, to remove prejudices, to rectify errors, and adjust all differences by a treaty between the two powers.

It is, in the present critical and singular circumstances, of great importance to engage the confidence of the great portions of the Union, in the characters employed, and the measures which may be adopted. I have therefore thought it expedient to nominate persons of talents and integrity, long known and intrusted in the three great divisions of the Union; and, at the same time, to provide against the cases of death, absence, indisposition, or other impediment, to invest any one or more of them with full powers.

John Adams.