The History of the Administration of John Adams, esq, late President of the United States

Chapter I

, Introductory Remarks. ...Biography of Mr. Adams... Reviezo of his Political Tenets. ...Causes of his Election. ± he United States of America enjoyed, under the administration of the illustrious Washington, all those advantages which result from the prudent policy of a virtuous magistrate. The peaceful sys tem which he pursued/repaired, in a great measure, the injuries sustained by a long and expensive civil war. His interests and passions were the same as those of the people, and a constant communica tion of good offices kept alive their attachments. During the first four years of the present confede racy, the second station of executive public em ployment, and all of the third grade, remained in A the same hands ; nor did any changes take place in the more subordinate, but from voluntary resigna tion and death.

The public debt decreased in a much greater proportion than ever was known to take place in the same period, in any nation of the world. ...the expences of government were also much less, in proportion to wealth and numbers, than those of any kingdom in Europe. Affairs remained in this prosperous state until the conclusion of Jay's Treaty, which the growing propensity for commerce and interest had effected. Then, for the first time, those generous maxims of liberty which had established our independence, were observed to suffer. ...our towns and villages were im mediately stocked with British agents, Nova-Sco tian tories, and Erench royalists. ...the epithet of royalist became a distinction more powerful than merit, and the name of republican the most odious of titles. The voluntary resignation of Washing ton, who, probably, perceived the disorders which were to follow, and the election of a monarchical President, gave a four years triumph to this Hydra of despotism.

Before I relate the tyranny and corruption which disfigured this period, it may not be improper to give a short account of the life of Air. Adams, his political tenets, and the in cidents attending his election. This will form the design ofthe present chapter. John Adams was born at Braintree, in Massa chusetts, the 19th of October, 1735. General report states his father to have been a shoemaker, CF JOHN ADAMS. and the descendant of a Scotch family who emi grated to Alassachusetts Bay about 1650. Young; Adams is also said to have prosecuted, for several years, the same business ; until, by the advice of his uncle, who was a village schoolmaster, he ap plied himself to the study of letters, and relinquish ed the occupation of Crispin. In the year 1755 he taught a school near Braintree, and continued in this sphere of life for several years.

At what pe riod he commenced the study of law is uncertain....we only know that on the 5th of Alarch, 1770, he advocated the cause of monarchy at Boston, in the case of Captain Preston, who barbarously put to death several citizens of that town. Dr. Morse, In a short biography which he has given of Mr. Adams, has the following particulars respecting this trial : " The cause of Captain Preston was most unpopular. The whole town had been in a state of irritation on account of the conduct of Governor Hutchinson, and the troops which were stationed in it.. ..their resentment now burst into a flame. ..but he felt the cause to be a just one ; and the danger of incurring the displeasure of his countrymen could not deter him from undertaking it. He con ducted the cause with great address, by keeping off the trial till the passions of the people had time to subside.

The trial at length commenced, and lasted several days, during which, he displayed the most extensive knowledge of the laws of his coun try, and of humanity ; and, at the conclusion, he had the satisfaction of proving to Great-Britain herself, that the citizens of Massachusetts would be just and humane to their enemies, amidst the grossest insults and provocations." Captain Pres ton was acquitted. Air. Adams was afterwards elected a member ofthe first Congress, in 1774, and certainly assist ed at bringing about the memorable resolution of the 4th of July, 1776, which declared the Ame rican Colonies free, sovereign, and independent States. Having been, for a considerable length of time, one of the commissioners of the War-department, and a principal suggestorof the terms to be offered to France, for forming a treaty of alliance and commerce, he was sent to the court of Versailles, along with Franklin and Lee, as Ministers Pleni potentiaries of the United States, to consummate that important business.

On his return from France, he was called upon by Massachusetts to assist in forming a plan of "government ; and this State is, without doubt, indebted to Mr. Adams, both for the excellencies as well as imperfections of its present constitution. When this business was completed, he return ed to Europe, vested with full powers from Con gress, to assist at any conference which might be opened for the establishment of peace; and he soon after received other powers to negociate a loan of money for the use of the United States ; and to represent them as their Alinister Plenipo tentiary, to their High Alightinesses the States General ofthe United Provinces. While in Europe, Air. Adams published his Defence ofthe Constitutions of Government ofthe United States of America. To ascertain the political creed of Air.

Adams, it is only necessary to con sider a few passages in the preface to this elabo rate compilation. According to Air. Adams, a monarchy, limited by an aristocratical and a democratical power in the constitution, is the most perfect government of any. " The English," he says, " by blending together the feudal institutions with those of Greece and Rome, have made that noble com position which avoids the inconveniencies and re tains the advantages of both; and that it would be the height of folly to go back to the institutions of Woden and Thor and of the ancient Germans, after knowing the History of England." Hume and Robertson, he asserts, have given such admirable accounts of the feudal institutions, and their consequences, that it would have been, perhaps, more dis creet in him to have referred to them, without say ing anything upon the subject.

As the principles of Air. Adams respecting government, are erected upon the feudal system, and as the theory which he has adopted con cerning that system, appears, by his own confession, to be drawn from Hume and Robertson, it is on ly necessary, in order to expose the fallacy of the political structure which Mr. Adams has raised, to •detect a few ofthe leading errors of these writers. Hume and Robertson, it is well known, were the slaves of a faction, and that they meanly prostituted their talents to vindicate tyranny, and de stroy the rights of their nation. ...they dwell on what they term the aristocratical genius of ancient times.. ..they take a pleasure in painting the power of the Saxon nobles, and in displaying the abjectness of the people of ancient Britain. From a view of paying a compliment to royalty, they af fect to consider the Norman invasion as the proper æra of the British constitution; and William the Robber, as the founder of English liberty.

Mr. Hume says "none ofthe feudal governments in Eu rope had such institutions as the county courts, which the great authority of the Conqueror still re tained from the Saxon customs.... all the freehold ers of the county, even the greatest barons, were obliged to attend the sheriffs in these courts, and to assist them in the administration of justice." In every feudal kingdom, however, notwithstanding this strong affirmation, the comes was known and the comitatus. The comitatus, or county, was the territory or estate of the comes j and the court he held, and in which he presided, was the county court, to which the freeholders and feudators were called, and acted as assessors or Judges." * Air. Hume says in another place, " that the great. authority of the Conqueror retained the county courts from the Saxon customs."

He thus in fers that these courts were favorable to the royal authority. The fact, however, is exactly the reverse. * Dr, Gilbert Stuart's View of Society in Europe. The greater jurisdiction there is in the nobles »nd the people, the more limited is the prerogative of princes. The county courts were eminent and for midable supports of the liberty of the subject ; and instead of giving them encouragement, it was the interest ofthe Conqueror to employ his great authority in their suppression. Mr. Hume, notwithstanding a variety of authorities which oppose his assertions, expresses himself to the following purpose. (Appendix 2d, to the History of England.) "The great similarity among all the feudal governments of Europe is well known to every man that has any acquaintance with an cient history ; and the antiquaries of all foreign countries, where the question was never embarrass ed by party disputes, have allowed, that the com mons were very late in being admitted to a share ia the legislative power."

The learned work of Archbishop Hincmarr, Ds Ordine Palatii, places this matter in a very differ ent light ; and the Abbe Mably, who copies and comments upon it, acknowledges the supreme power of the assemblies of the ancient Germans and Saxons, selects examples of it, and of the inter ference and consideration of the people. In fact, nothing of any moment or value, in peace or in war, could be done without their approbation. Their assemblies, however, were very different from the Etats Generaux of after times, when the rights of the people were insulted, and the legislative power came to reside in the sovereign. ...yet it is not uncorrmon to confound them ; and on the foundation of this error, improper conclusions have been inferred against the commons of England. While liberty and the deputies of the people made a figure, and while the prerogative of the sovereign was restrained and directed by national councils and assemblies, in trie other countries of Europe, it appears the height of wildness to conclude, as Hume has done in his History of England, and Robertson in his plausible introduction to the Historv of Charles V. that in Britain, the inhabitants were in a state of slavery ; and that the mandate ofthe Prince was law.

His condition, so far from being despotic, was every moment ex posed to danger and insult. He might be deposed fora slight offence. ...he was elected to his of fice....and his coronation oath expressed his sub jection to the community, and bound him to pro tect the rights of his subjects. The Anglo-Saxon laws are proofs, that instead of governing by his will or caprice, he was under the controul of the national assembly. In the pre ambles to them, we find that the zvites or sapientes, were a constituent branch of the government. The expression, seniores sapientes populi mei, is a part of the prologue to the ordinations of King Ina, anno 712. And these sapientes populi, or deputies of the people, appear in the laws of other princes ofthe Anglo-Saxons. By a curious testimony, it is even obvious that the word sapientes must have meant the commons.

In the supplication del County de Devonshire to Edward III. there are these expressions : " Que luy please par I'avys des prelats, countees, barons, et autres sages in cest present parliament ordeiner, &'c. The bishops, the earls, barons and other sages, in this present parliament, ordain." This supplication is printed in the 4 Inst. p. 232, in the reign of the third Edward : from the autres sages expressing the commons, it may surely be decisively infer red that sapientes had the same meaning in older times. In fact, the expressions that denote the Anglo- Saxon assemblies, allude to their nationality. " Com mune concilium, conventus omnium, concilium cleri et populi, omnium principium et omnium sapientum conventus, cXc. The common council, the general assembly, the assembly of the clergy and people, the convention of all the chiefs and all the wise men," are appellations which mark forcibly the interference and assistance of the commons.

Dr. Robertson has, with more art, although not with equal force of thought and reasoning, incul cated the same opinions as Mr. Hume. The for mer was better versed in Jesuitical intrigue, the latter deeper founded in metaphysical argument. They both employed themselves in the cause of monarchy, and their works, from beginning to conclusion, can only be regarded as plausible de fences of prerogative. Air. Adams, trusting to the undue weight of what are called great authorities, i; has put implicit confidence in their assertions, and in a theory which was framed by them, for the ex pre?"- purpose of complimenting royalty at the ex pence of their nation. From the same cause have sprung the Senates of the United States. In England, and every other country where the feudal system has been established, an order of men superior to the commons ne cessarily exist, and must remain until a total revolu tion in property as well as government takes place ; butin America, where the distinction of superiorand vassal is unknown, and where men hold their pro perty by an equal tenure, the erection ofa senate, or house of chieftains, is a direct violation of the rights of citizens, and can serve no other purpose than to clog the wheels of government, and add to the national expence.

Mr. Adams urges as an argument in favor of the establishment of a Senate, " that the rich, the well-born and the able, acquire an influence among the people that would soon be too much for simple honesty and plain sense in a House of Representa tives. The most illustrious of them should, there fore, be separated from the mass, and placed by themselves in a Senate; this is, to all hon est and useful intents, an ostracism. A member of a Senate of immense wealth, the most respected birth and transcendant abilities, has no influence in the nation, in comparison of what he would have in a single representative assembly. When a Senate exists, the most powerful man in the State may safely be admitted into the House of Repre sentatives, because the people have it in their pow er to remove him into the Senate as soon as his in fluence becomes dangerous."

A weaker argument, than this, could scarcely have been conceived ; since it is obvious, that if the people have it in their power to remove a member from the House of Representatives into the Senate, when his power becomes dangerous, that they have it also in their power to elect another representative ; which would answer a much better purpose ; for, if a man's principles are such as to be dangerous in one house, they will be equally so in another. " The Teutonic institutions described by Cæsar and Tacitus," says Mr. Adams, " are the most me morable experiment, merely political, ever yet made in human affairs.. ..they have spread all over Europe, and have lasted eighteen hundred years. Nothing, therefore, ought to have more weight with America, to determine her judgment against mixing the au thority ofthe one, the few and the many, assured ly in one assembly, than the wide spread miseries and final slavery of almost all mankind, in conse quence of such an ignorant policy in the ancient Germans."

Mr. Adams could not possibly have expressed sentiments more hostile to the pure prin ciples of republicanism than these. It is well known, that while the superior and the vassal, the chief and the retainer, were intimately connected, appeared in the same assembly, and were only distinguished by virtue and talents,, the feudal association, was a state of the greatest happiness. ...violence and corruption did not disfigure society, until the original manners which the Germans brought from their woods began to decay. The separation of the in terests of the lord and the vassal, by the two Housos of Assembly, first altered the condition of society. Sufferance soon succeeded to enjoyment, oppression to freedom, and contentions arose, which terminated in the destruction of the independence of the European nations.

Yet this latter state is that which Air. Adams labours to impose upon Americans ; and to divide their society, by erecting a house of noble Senators in the midst of republicans. These having been the acknowledged sentiments of Mr. Adams, it may appear strange how he became the President of a free people, and the successor of the virtuous AVashington. The ser vices which he performed towards the establishment of American independence, by means of his in trigues at the court of Versailles, and the profuse distribution of British gold in the United States, can only account for this extraordinary election. But notwithstanding, upon strict enquiry, he does not appear to have been the choice ofthe real ma jority. The following facts related by Mr. Callen der, though they may be denied by the friends of Air.

Adams, are certainly correct. ...the truth of them has been fully ascertained : In Pennsylvania Air. Adams gained a vote by the trick of a Post-master, who stopt the mail from Greene county, till the poll was closed at Philadelphia. In Maryland he gained a second, by the folly of one Plater, who balloted both for him and Mr. Jefferson, from an anxiety that Mr. Adams should be Vice-President. In Maryland he gained a third suffrage, in the Western district of that state, by a majority of four voices, owing to negligence on one side, and knavery on the other. The district consists of two counties, Alleghany and Washington. A se parate poll was held in each of them. AVashing ton is, of the two, by far the most populous. ...the census of 1790, gives it fifteen thousand eight hun dred and twenty-two inhabitants, and Alleghany no more than four thousand eight hundred and nine.

AVashington is full of republicans, and Alleghany of their opponents. ...the republicans put an end. to their poll as soon as they had a considerable supe riority of the whole number of genuine voters that they knew to reside in the two counties, which form the district. The six per cent, agitators of Alleghany did not stop their's.. ..they brought over a crowd from Pennsylvania and Virginia, and by this means made up a majority of four. Neither the constitution nor Congress itself had provided any check for the investigation of false votes, and the majority of four trampled on the rights of real citi zens. Putting these facts together, it will appear that Air. Jefferson and not Mr. Adams was the choice of America. The total number of electors was one hundred and thirty-eight. ...each of these voted either for Mr. Jefferson or Mr. Adams.

But Plater voted for both. Hence instead of one himdred and thirty-eight, the suffrages came to one more.. ..thus they mounted up to one hundred and thirty-nine. Of these, Mr. Adams had seventy-one and Mr. Jefferson sixty-eight. Laying aside the Maryland vote of Plater, Air. Adams will then have seventy and Mr. Jefferson sixty-seven.... returning to Mr. Jefferson the Green county vote in Penn sylvania, and striking out the spurious vote in the AVestern district of Maryland, will make an odds of two votes.. ..abstract these two from the majority of seventy, and then Air. Adams has only sixty-eight. Then add these two to the sixty-seven for Mr. Jef ferson, and he is President by a majority of one.

Chapter II

Speech of Mr. Adams. ...Speech of Mr. Jefferson.... Remarks. ...British Piracy. ...Mr. Monroe's Embassy. On Saturday the 6th of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, Mr. Adams, as President of the United States, attended in the chamber of the House of Representatives to take his oath of office, according to the direction ofthe constitution. On his entrance, as well as on the entrance of General AVashington and Mr. Jeffer son, loud and reiterated applause burst from the audience. Having taken his seat on the elevated chair of the Speaker of the House of Represent? tives, the Vice-President, General AVashington, and the Secretary of the Senate on his right, the Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representa tives on his left, and the Chief-Justice of the United States and Associate Judges, at a table in the centre, he proceeded to deliver the following speech : " AVhen it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained be tween unlimited submission to a foreign Legisla ture, and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger, from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist, than from those con tests and dissentions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole, and over the parts of this ex tensive country.

Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling Providence, which had so signally protected this country from the first, the represent atives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present numbers, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging, and the rod of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty. " The zeai and ardor of the people during the revolutionary war, supplying the place of government, commanded a degree of order, sufficient at least, for the temporary preservation of society. The confederation, which was early felt to be necessary, was prepared from the models of the Batavian and Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which remain, with any detail and precision, inp history ; and certainly the only ones which the people at large had ever considered.

But reflecting on the striking difference in so many particulars, between this country and those where a courier may go from the seat of government to the frontier in a single day, it was then certainly foreseen, by some who assisted in Congress at the formation of it, that it could not be durable. " Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its recommendations, if not disobedience to its autho rity, not only in individuals but in States, soon ap peared with their melancholy consequences....universal languor, jealousies and rivalries of States, de cline of navigation and commerce, discouragement of necessary manufactures, universal fall in the value of lands and their produce, contempt of public and private faith, loss of consideration and credit with foreign nations, and, at length, in dis contents, animosities, combinations, partial conven tions and insurrection, threatening some great na tional calamity.

" In this dangerous crisis, the people of America were not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution or integrity.... measures were pursued, to concert a plan to form a more persect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tran* quility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.. ..The public disquisitions, discussions and deliberations, issued in the present happy constitu tion of government. "Employed in the service of my country abroad, duringthe whole course of these transactions, I first saw the constitution of the United States in a foreign country. Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by Ho party animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as a result of good heads, prompted by good hearts ; as an experiment, better adapted to the genius, character, situation and relations of this nation and country, than any which had ever been proposed or suggested.

In its general principles and great out lines, it was conformable to such a system of government, as I had ever most esteemed. ...and in some States, my own State in particular, had contributed to establish. Claiming a right of suffrage, in com mon with my fellow citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution which was to rule me and my posterity, as well as them and theirs, I did not hesitate to express my approbation of it on all oc casions, in public and private. It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it in my mind, that the Executive and Senate were not more perma nent, nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it, but such as the people themselves, in the course of their experi- C ence, should -see' or feel to be necessary or expedient, and by their representatives in Congress and the State Legislatures, according to the constitu tion itself, adopt and ordain.

" Returning to the bosom of my country, after a painful separation from it for ten years, I had the honor to be elected to a station under the new order of things, and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the constitution. The operation of it has equalled the most sanguine expectations of its friends ; and from an habitual attention to it, satisfaction in its ad ministration, and delight in its effects, upon the peace, order, prosperity and happiness ofthe nation, I have acquired an habitual attachment to it, and veneration for it. ■" AVhat other form of government, indeed, can so well deserve our esteem and love ? " There may be little solidity in an ancient idea, that congregations of men into cities and nations are the most pleasing objecis in the sight of supe rior intelligencies... .But this is very certain, that to a benevolent human mind, there can be no specta cle presented by any nation, more pleasing, more noble, majestic or august, than an assembly, like that which has so often been seen in this and the other chamber of Congress. ...of a government, in which the Executive authority, as well as that of all the branches of the Legislature, are exercised by citizens, selected at regular periods by their neigh bours, to make and execute laws for the general good.

Can any thing essential, any thing more than mere ornament and decoration, be added to this, by robes or diamonds? Can authority,. be more amiable or respectable, when it descends from accident, or institutions established in remote an tiquity, than when it springs fresh from the hearts and judgments of an honest and enlightened peo ple ? for it is the people only that are represented : It is their power and majesty that is reflected; and only for their good, in every legitimate government, under whatever form it may appear. The existence of such a government as ours, for any length of time, is a full proof of a general dissemination of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body ofthe people. And what object or consideration, more pleasing than this, can be presented to the human mind ?

If national pride is ever justifiable or excusable, it is when it springs not from power or riches, grandeur or glory, but from conviction of national innocence, information and benevolence. " In the midst of these pleasing ideas, we should be unfaithful to ourselves, if we should ever lose sight ofthe danger to our liberties. ...if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity ot our free, fair, virtuous and independent elections. " If an election is to be determined by the ma jority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party, through artifice or corruption, the govern ment may be the choice of a party for its own ends ; not of the nation, for the national good. If that solitary suffrage can be obtained by foreign nations, by flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence, by terror, intrigue or venality, the government may not be the choice of American people, but of foreign nations.

It may be foreign nations who govern us, and not we, the people, who govern, ourselves : and candid men will acknowledge, that in such cases, choice would have little advantage to boast of over lot or chance. " Such is the amiable and interesting system ot government (and such are some of the abuses to which it may be exposed) which the people of America have exhibited to the admiration and anxiety ofthe wise and virtuous of all nations, for eight years, under the administration of a citizen, who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude, conducting a people inspired with the same virtues, and animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty, to independence and peace, to in creasing wealth and unexampled prosperity, has merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, com manded the highest praises of foreign nations, and secured immortal glory with posterity.

" In that retirement which is his voluntary choice, may he long live to enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the gratitude of mankind, the hap py fruits of them to himself and the world, which are daily increasing, and that splendid prospect of the future fortunes of his country, which is opening from year to year. His name may be still a rampart, and the knowledge that he lives, a bulwark against all open or secret enemies of his coun try's peace. " This example has been recommended to the imitation of his successors, by both houses of Con gress and by the voice of the Legislatures and the people throughout the nation. " On this subject it might become me better to be silent, or to speak-with diffidence.

But as some thing maybe expected, the occasion, I hope, will be admitted as an apology if I venture to say, that if a preference upon principles of a free, republican gov ernment, formed upon long and serious reflection, after a diligent and impartial enquiry after truth ; if an attachment to the constitution of the United States, and a conscientious determination to sup port it until it shall be altered by the judgment and wishes of the people, expressed in the mode prescribed in it ; if a respectful attention to the con stitutions of the individual states, and a constant caution and delicacy towards the State-governments ; if an equal and impartial regard to the rights, interests, honor and happiness of all the States in the union, without preference or regard to a northern or southern, an eastern or western position, their various political opinions on unes sential points, or rather their personal attachments; if a love of virtuous men of all parties and denomi nations ; isa love of science and letters, and a wish to patronize every rational effort to encourage schools, colleges, universities, academies, and every institution for propagating knowledge, virtue and religion among all classes of the people, not only sor their benign influence in the happiness of life in all its stages and classes, and of society in all its forms, but as the qnly means of preserving our constitution from its natural enemies, the spirit of sophistry, the spirit of party, the spirit of intrigue,. the profligacy of corruption and the pestilence of foreign influence, which is the angel of destruction to elective governments; if a love of equal laws, of justice and humanity in the interior administration ; if an inclination to improve agriculture, commerce and manufactures, for necessity, convenience and defence; isa spirit of equity, and humanity towards the aboriginal nations of America, and a disposition to meliorate their condition, by inclining them to be more friendly to us, and our citizens more friendly to them ; if an inflexible determination to maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations, and that system of neutrality and impartiality among the belligerent powers of Europe, which has been adopted by this government, and so solemnly sanctioned by both houses of Congress, and applauded by the legislatures of the States, and the public opinion, until it shall be otherwise ordained by Congress ; if a personal esteem for the French nation, formed in a residence of seven years, chiefly among them, and a sincere desire to preserve the friendship which has been so much for the honour and interest of both nations; if, while the conscious honour and integrity of the people of Ame rica, and the internal sentiment of their own power and energies must be preserved, an earnest endeavor to investigate every just cause, and remove every colourable pretence of complaint ; if an intention to pursue, by amicable negociation, a reparation for the injuries that have