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

MESSAGE TO THE SENATE; ON THE CONVENTION WITH FRANCE. - 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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MESSAGE TO THE SENATE;

ON THE CONVENTION WITH FRANCE.

2 March, 1801.

Gentlemen of the Senate,

I have considered the advice and consent of the Senate to the ratification of the convention with France, under certain conditions. Although it would have been more conformable to my own judgment and inclination to have agreed to that instrument unconditionally, yet, as in this point I found I had the misfortune to differ in opinion from so high a constitutional authority as the Senate, I judged it more consistent with the honor and interest of the United States to ratify it under the conditions prescribed, than not at all. I accordingly nominated Mr. Bayard, minister plenipotentiary to the French republic, that he might proceed without delay to Paris to negotiate the exchange of ratifications; but as that gentleman has declined his appointment for reasons equally applicable to every other person suitable for the service, I shall take no further measures relative to this business, and leave the convention with all the documents in the office of State, that my successor may proceed with them according to his wisdom.

John Adams.

PROCLAMATIONS.

PROCLAMATION1

FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF CONGRESS.

25 March, 1797.

Whereas the Constitution of the United States of America provides that the President may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses of Congress; and whereas an extraordinary occasion exists for convening Congress, and divers great and weighty matters claim their consideration, I have therefore thought it necessary to convene, and I do by these presents convene the Congress of the United States of America, at the city of Philadelphia, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on Monday, the fifteenth day of May next, hereby requiring the senators and representatives in the Congress of the United States of America, and every of them, that, laying aside all other matters and cares, they then and there meet and assemble in Congress, in order to consult and determine on such measures as in their wisdom shall be deemed meet for the safety and welfare of the said United States.

In testimony whereof, &c.

John Adams.

PROCLAMATION

FOR A NATIONAL FAST.

23 March, 1798.

As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God; and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty, which the people owe to him, but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety, without which social happiness cannot exist, nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed; and as this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of difficulty and of danger, when existing or threatening calamities, the just judgments of God against prevalent iniquity, are a loud call to repentance and reformation; and as the United States of America are at present placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation, by the unfriendly disposition, conduct, and demands of a foreign power, evinced by repeated refusals to receive our messengers of reconciliation and peace, by depredations on our commerce, and the infliction of injuries on very many of our fellow-citizens, while engaged in their lawful business on the seas;—under these considerations, it has appeared to me that the duty of imploring the mercy and benediction of Heaven on our country, demands at this time a special attention from its inhabitants.

I have therefore thought fit to recommend, and I do hereby recommend, that Wednesday, the 9th day of May next, be observed throughout the United States, as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer; that the citizens of these States, abstaining on that day from their customary worldly occupations, offer their devout addresses to the Father of mercies, agreeably to those forms or methods which they have severally adopted as the most suitable and becoming; that all religious congregations do, with the deepest humility, acknowledge before God the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation; beseeching him at the same time, of his infinite grace, through the Redeemer of the world, freely to remit all our offences, and to incline us, by his Holy Spirit, to that sincere repentance and reformation which may afford us reason to hope for his inestimable favor and heavenly benediction; that it be made the subject of particular and earnest supplication, that our country may be protected from all the dangers which threaten it, that our civil and religious privileges may be preserved inviolate, and perpetuated to the latest generations, that our public councils and magistrates may be especially enlightened and directed at this critical period, that the American people may be united in those bonds of amity and mutual confidence, and inspired with that vigor and fortitude by which they have in times past been so highly distinguished, and by which they have obtained such invaluable advantages, that the health of the inhabitants of our land may be preserved, and their agriculture, commerce, fisheries, arts, and manufactures, be blessed and prospered, that the principles of genuine piety and sound morality may influence the minds and govern the lives of every description of our citizens, and that the blessings of peace, freedom, and pure religion, may be speedily extended to all the nations of the earth.

And finally I recommend, that on the said day, the duties of humiliation and prayer be accompanied by fervent thanksgiving to the bestower of every good gift, not only for having hitherto protected and preserved the people of these United States in the independent enjoyment of their religious and civil freedom, but also for having prospered them in a wonderful progress of population, and for conferring on them many and great favors conducive to the happiness and prosperity of a nation.

Given, &c.

John Adams.

[1 ]Such of the proclamations have been selected as are connected with the extraordinary measures of this administration. With regard to the mode of arranging this portion of the work, nothing can be added to the rules laid down in Sparks’s Washington; Introduction to the fifth part. vol. xii. p. vii.