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MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LIFE, CHARACTER, AND WRITINGS 
 
 or 
 READ, MARCH 16, 1827, 
 
 IN TUG 
 
 CAPITOL, IN THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, 
 
 AT THE REaUEST OF 
 
 AND PLBLISHED BY THEIR ORDER. 
 
 BY WILLIAM CRANCH. 
 
 "^^of 
 
 <^(ts of Sisaasljdtiiton: 
 
 S. A. ELLIOT, PRINTER, ELEVENTH STREET, 
 NEAR r)EW5STLVA?IIA AVEHirE, 
 
 I/) 1827^ 
 
 A 
 
 '!^'s| lL> 
 
- OSS 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 THE LIFE, CHARACTER, AND WRITINGS 
 
 30HK aDa^vi^. 
 
 Mr. President, and 
 
 Gentlemen of the Columbian Institute : 
 
 Individual character is formed more by example than 
 precept. 
 
 Our Creator has graciously given us the faculty of 
 judging between moral right and wrong; and has dis- 
 posed us to approve the one, and disapprove the other. 
 
 We perceive that a majority of our fellow-men form 
 the same judgment upon the same actions, and give their 
 confidence to him who does well, and refuse it to him 
 who does ill. That confidence is, to him who enjoys it, 
 the source of influence, power, prosperity, and happiness ; 
 and we are naturally led to inquire by what means he 
 acquired it, that we also, if possible, may, by the like 
 means, obtain the same happiness. 
 
 Hence arises the interest we take in the biography of 
 illustrious men. Hence, also, the benefit of their example. 
 
 In an Institution, whose object is the promotion of the 
 arts and sciences, it is peculiarly proper that some notice 
 should be preserved of the life, character, and writings, 
 of those philosophers and patriots who have largely con- 
 tributed to the same object. 
 
 Into the science of government, into the foundations of 
 political society, and of the rights of man, whether in his 
 
natural or social state, no man searched deeper than the 
 late venerable JOHN ADAMS, of Quincy, one of the 
 honorary members of this Institute. 
 
 To appreciate, justly, the patriotic labors of our Revo- 
 lutionary characters, it is necessary to take a rapid retro- 
 spect of the state of the country at the time they com- 
 menced their career of toil and glory j and to ascertain, if 
 we can, how far their predecessors had advanced in assert- 
 ing those principles which led to the ultimate Independ- 
 ence of the American Colonies. 
 
 Before our ancestors first visited America, the English 
 barons had, in some measure, circumscribed the royal 
 prerogative, and had, for themselves and for the people, 
 extorted, from successive monarchs, reluctant acknow- 
 ledgments, in the form of grants, of rights essential to 
 the enjoyment of personal and civil liberty. 
 
 They found it necessary, for their own security, to 
 suffer the people to participate in the sovereign power ; 
 especially in regard to the levying of money. For, if the 
 king could raise money from the people, at his will, he 
 could, at any time, subdue the barons ; and, for the same 
 reason, they also found it necessary to retain, in their 
 own hands, a negative upon the power of the commons 
 to grant subsidies to the king. 
 
 The king also found it necessary for his own protec- 
 tion to retain a veto upon both lords and commons. 
 
 It was thus that their mutual fears formed a practical 
 constitution, which it became their mutual interest to sup- 
 port. 
 
 By means of the fears of the nobility, and the wants 
 of the crown, the commons had been continually acquir- 
 ing power; and, as they acquired power, they became 
 proud of their liberty. 
 
 And well might the Englishman, even of that day, 
 when he looked round upon his neighbors, boast of his 
 freedom. 
 
 The nation, too, had thrown off from its breast that 
 incubus, the papal hierarchy, and had begun to breathe 
 more freely. 
 
 It is true, that the individuals of the nation had only 
 exchanged one hierarchy for another ; but national inde- 
 
pendence was one step gained towards individual eraan- 
 cipation. 
 
 The refurnialion was founded upon the principle, that 
 the hvrnan mind is free; and tliat principle once esta- 
 blished, no hierarchy could be supported without the aid 
 of the civil magistrate. The reformation not only allowed 
 men to think, but obliged them to think ; and to reason 
 too, in support of the ground they had taken. 
 
 When once an honest mind is seriously engaged in the 
 pursuit of truth, it will not voluntarily stop short of its 
 object ; and if the object be religious truth, and it find its 
 path obstructed by a political barrier, it will examine the 
 foundation of that barrier with as much boldness as it 
 does that of the religious dogma. 
 
 The principle of the reformation is continually under- 
 mining the foundations of the English hierarchy, and 
 will ultimately prevail. Truth is constantly gaining, and 
 keeps what it gains. Error never recovers what it has 
 once lost. 
 
 With the reformation came also the art of printing ; as 
 if sent from Heaven to dispel the cloud of superstition 
 which had darkened the human mind. A flood of light 
 burst upon the world. The mitre, when examined in 
 broad day, lost its sanctity ; and the chain its terror. The 
 principles of civil and religious freedom began to be un- 
 derstood, although little practised. 
 
 Men could see what was abstractly right, while their 
 conduct was practically wrong. 
 
 The church and the government, bound by mutual in- 
 terest to support each other, influenced a vast majority of 
 the people ; and notwithstanding the principle of the refor- 
 mation was universal toleration, the spirit of the age was 
 religious bigotry. 
 
 Our forefathers of New-England were non-conformists, 
 and fled from the fury of ecclesiastical tyranny. Their 
 opposition to the English hierarchy commenced almost 
 with the reformation itself. They had not only fought 
 the battles of protestantism, but had commenced a new 
 warfare against episcopacy. 
 
 To use the language of a late writer, " It was not the 
 wearing of the surplice, or the kneeling at the altar, that 
 they objected to, so much as the authority that would 
 
impose them, and the danger of the precedent, should 
 they once submit to the imposition. It was the bold and 
 vigorous stand that they made against arbitrary power; 
 their determination to live and to die by the principle, 
 that the scriptures are the only authority to be acknow- 
 ledged in religious matters, reserving to themselves the 
 right of judging what scripture is, and what scripture 
 means ; it was their determined and prompt resistance to 
 all usurpations over the mind and conscience, in whatever 
 shape they might come, and however trivial in their first 
 demands; which stamped the character of the men, and 
 I may add, the character of the race. It was not their pe- 
 culiar opinions, nor their peculiar practices, which they 
 transmitted to their descendants ; but what they valued 
 more than either, their peculiar spirit." * 
 
 The principle of Independence was interwoven with 
 their forms of church government. They held that eve- 
 ry congregation of Christians possessed, within itself, all 
 ecclesiastical powers and faculties, to be exercised and ap- 
 plied according to the will of the majority. They ac- 
 knowledged no external or superintending authority, and 
 they watched, with searching jealousy, every motion in 
 church or state, that threatened the infringement of that 
 independence. Upon the question of church government 
 and discipline, they were extremely tenacious. Upon 
 this point they had grown up in a state of continual war- 
 fare ; and had acquired an acuteness of argument, and a 
 pertinacity of purpose, which they brought with them to 
 this country, and communicated to their descendants. 
 They had lived in a country where almost every man's 
 hand was against them ; and where they gloried in being 
 victims to the cause of truth and liberty. Many of them 
 were deeply read in the civil as well as ecclesiastical polem- 
 ics of the times, and were equally ardent in both ; and when 
 they fled to this country, they sought political, not less 
 than religious liberty. They souglit Independence not 
 only of church, but of state. It was for this they left 
 their native land ; their dearest connexions ; the tombs of 
 their fathers ; the graves of their children ; the mild cli- 
 mate and the verdant lawns of England, and plunged into 
 
 • " Causes of the ProgresB of Liberal Christianitr in New-England,"— 
 Boston, lb26. 
 
the stormy main — " the world before them" — "Provi- 
 dence their guide." 
 
 Compared with mental slavery, the sea had no terrors 
 for them ; — they heard not the howling of the storm, or 
 the roaring of the surf; the cry of the wild beast, or the 
 yell of the savage. 
 
 Would such men as these, after escaping from such 
 tyranny ; after encountering such dangers ; after enduring 
 such sufferings ; have consented to be dependent upon the 
 parliament of Great Britain for their laws ? Would they 
 have agreed that the parliament should legislate for them 
 in all cases whatsoever? Pass new acts of uniformity for 
 them? Establish over them another hierarchy ? Tax them 
 to any amount, without (.heir consent ? 
 
 No! — Having encountered every thing but death — 
 death, or successful resistance, would have been their 
 next resort. 
 
 Independence was brought in the first vessel that 
 touched the shore of New England. It was planted in 
 the soil. It grew and flourished ; and not a leaf was suf- 
 fered to wither. 
 
 The first colony which landed in New England con- 
 sisted of a part of the Rev. John Robinson's congrega- 
 tion of puritans, who had before been driven, by the 
 ecclesiastical tyranny of England, to seek refuge in Hol- 
 land. 
 
 On the 11th of November, 1620, before they landed, 
 they entered into a written agreement for the government 
 of the colony. This was an act of complete independence. 
 They were not within the territorial bounds of their pa- 
 tent, and had no authority from the crown, or from the 
 Plymouth company, to form such an agreement. It was 
 the first written constitution which ever spontaneously 
 emanated, in America, perhaps in the world, from the 
 original source of power — the people. 
 
 Under this government they enjoyed real independence, 
 until the vear 1692, when Plymouth was united with 
 Massachusetts, under the charter of William and Mary. 
 
 Indeed, so much of self-government, was enjoyed by 
 all the colonies, whether under royal charters, or royal 
 governments, that they were, in fact, almost independent 
 
8 
 
 even of the crown, and were, of right, independent of 
 parliament. 
 
 It was to the king, and not to parHament, that domi- 
 nion accrued in right of discovery, or in right of con- 
 quest. Parliament could legislate only for its constituents; 
 it could not, upon any constitutional, or common law 
 principle, legislate for the king's foreign dominions. To 
 the king, and not to parliament, they applied for charters, 
 and constitutions of government. The emigrants were 
 born under his allegiance, and by birth, as well as by 
 compact, were entitled to all the rights, liberties, and pri- 
 vileges, of native subjects. 
 
 The king could not, consistently with those rights and 
 privileges, legislate for them ; bu-t he could grant them 
 the power to legislate for themselves. Their allegiance 
 was due to the person of the king, not to his political 
 character, as chief magistrate of England or of Great Bri- 
 tain. They owed no allegiance to parliament, nor could 
 an act of parliament, upon any principle of the constitu- 
 tion, or of the common law, operate, as such, out of the 
 realm. 
 
 The duty, correlative to allegiance, is protection. That 
 duty did not devolve on parliament, but on the king. 
 
 Hence we find no applications made to parliament for 
 assistance, support, or protection. No petitions to parlia- 
 ment for acts of legislation. No interference of parliament 
 between the king and his colonies. No negative reserved 
 to parliament, to the acts of the colonial legislatures. No 
 appeal from the colonial tribunals of justice to the house 
 of lotds. 
 
 The ])ower of annulling their laws, of revising their 
 judicial decisions, and of redressing their grievances, was 
 reserved to the king in council. 
 
 Among the dearest and most essential rights, privileges 
 and liberties, of native Englishmen, and to which the 
 colonists were entitled, both by birth and by charter, 
 v/as that of being bound by no laws, and of paying no 
 taxes, to which they had not assented by their represent- 
 atives. The colonists could not, according to the English 
 constitution, be represented in parliament ; and the only 
 way, in which they could enjoy that privilege, was 
 through the medium of a colonial legislature. 
 
9 
 
 Hence, all the colonies were, either by their charters, 
 or by the commissions of their governors, or by tacit ac- 
 quiescence, permitted to elect one branch, at least, of 
 their local legislatures, and these legislatures had power, 
 subject to the royal negative, to pass all laws necessary 
 for the government of the respective colonies (not repug- 
 nant to the laws of England;) to lay and collect taxes for 
 the support of their governments ; to raise troops for their 
 defence; to make war and peace with the natives; to 
 erect tribunals of justice; and to coin money. 
 
 These almost sovereign powers were exercised, for 
 many years, with little or no interruption by parliament. 
 It was admitted by the colonies that parliament had 
 the right of regulating the trade of the kingdom. 
 
 From the nature of the case, the laws upon that sub- 
 ject could not fail to affect the colonies ; and, from the 
 necessity of the case, they acquiesced in such laws, but 
 generally took care to express their assent by their own 
 acts of legislation. 
 
 In the year 1651, during the Commonwealth, and agaia 
 in 1660, after the restoration, parliament passed the cele- 
 brated Navigation act, and subsequently, other acts of 
 trade, by which, among other things, the carrying trade 
 of the colonies was intended to be limited to British ships, 
 and the whole colonial trade monopolized by Great Bri- 
 tain. 
 
 These laws, however, were not rigidly enforced in the 
 colonies, and so long as they were confined to the neces- 
 sary regulation of trade, were not opposed. Their binding 
 effect, however, was supposed to be rather the consequence 
 of the assent of the colonies either express or implied, 
 than of any obligatory force which they possessed in them- 
 selves. 
 
 Parliament, indeed, seems never to have doubted its 
 power to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever;* but 
 to this extent it was never acknowledged by any of the 
 colonies. All denied the right to tax them for the pur- 
 pose of raising a revenue ; but upon the question of the 
 general power of parliament over the colonies, there was 
 much diversity of sentiment; an<l for many years the 
 
 • See Note 1, at the end. 
 
10 
 
 public opinion was unsettled. Indeed, the true principles 
 upon which the question ought to be decided, were not 
 clearly developed and generally understood, until the 
 very eve of the Revolution. It was not until the parlia- 
 ment had manifested a disposition to raise a revenue from 
 the colonies, without their consent, that they began to 
 question its general authority. 
 
 They who first broke ground upon this point found 
 themselves embarrassed by the tacit acquiescence of the 
 colonies in many acts of parliament respecting their af- 
 fairs, and by unguarded admissions made by some of the 
 colonial legislatures. These, however, were opposed by 
 muck more frequent denials of the right of taxation; 
 to the exercise of which right the opposition was, for a 
 long time, confuied.* 
 
 The war with France was terminated by the treaty of 
 Paris, in 1763. During that war, although Great Britain 
 had entertained the idea of raising a revenue in America, 
 she thought it prudent to refrain from every thing that 
 might irritate the colonies. But, from the moment of 
 peace, finding herself almost overwhelmed with the na- 
 tional debt, she resumed her project. 
 
 To this she had been stimulated by men, high in office 
 in the colonies, who hoped to have the distribution of that 
 revenue among themselves and their friends. 
 
 But the colonies themselves were also deeply in debt, 
 in consequence of their great exertions in the common 
 cause ; and contended that they had contributed their full 
 share of the expenses and of the burden of the war. 
 
 Their attachment, however, to their parent state, was 
 never stronger than at that moment: and, if ever the 
 ministry could hope to succeed in their plans, it was in 
 the midst of that enthusiastic attachment, and while the 
 colonies were exulting in the glory of Great Britain, in 
 which they themselves had so largely participated. 
 
 We have thus taken a glance at the situation of the 
 et)lonies at the time Mr. Adams commenced his public 
 life ; and have seen that the right of parliament to legis- 
 late for the colonies, in any case, had not been expressly 
 admitted by any of them ; that the right to tax them for 
 
 • See Note % at tlie cud. 
 
11 
 
 tlie purpose of raising a revenue, had been expressly and 
 uniformly denied by all; and that they had strenuously 
 and pertinaciously asserted their rights, while they disa- 
 vowed all views of independence, and acknowledged 
 unqualified allegiance to the king. 
 
 Although they thus denied all claim to independence, 
 yet having so long enjoyed its substantial benefits, their 
 claim to the rights which they had so enjoyed, was little 
 short of absolute independence. It was, in truth, a claim 
 to be independent of parliament, but not of the king. 
 
 Their allegiance to their common king wms the only 
 cord which bound them to their parent state. Through 
 that organ alone, had they received the little- nutriment 
 which had been afforded them in the early stages of their 
 existence ; and when they should be fitted to breathe the 
 air of independence, it would be only necessary to sever 
 that tie. 
 
 The period we are now contemplating, is the peace 
 which followed the treaty of Paris, in 1763. 
 
 John Adams was then in his 28th year. He was born 
 on the 19th of October, (old style,) in the year 1735, in 
 that part of the ancient town of Braintree, in the then 
 province of Massachusetts Bay, which has since been 
 erected into a separate township, by the name of Quincy, 
 and which lies about ten miles south of Boston, on the 
 shore of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 His father, whose name was also John, was the son of 
 Joseph, the son of Joseph the son of Henry, who fled 
 from Devonshire, in England, with other puritans, about 
 the year 1 630. He, (Henry Adams,) was one of the original 
 proprietors of the town of Braintree, incorporated in the 
 year 1639. Mr. Adams's mother was named Susanna 
 Boylston, and was a relative of Doctor Zabdiel Boylston, 
 who first introduced into America, and, indeed, into the 
 British dominions, the practice of inoculating for the 
 small-pox. 
 
 The ancestors of Mr. Adams were substantial yeomen, 
 owning the fee simple of their lands, and maintaining 
 i;hemselves and their families, in a frugal style, by their 
 own labour. 
 
 The subject of this sketch, having, when a boy, dis- 
 cbYered a fondness for his books, and a retentive memory, 
 
his father deternjined to give him a collegiate education; 
 and, to prepare him for entrance into Harvard College, 
 he was placed under the tuition of Mr. Marsh, a very 
 lespectable gentleman, who was also, afterwards, the 
 instructor of Mr. Josiah Quincy, who bore so conspicu- 
 ous a part in the early contests of the colonies with the 
 parent state. 
 
 Mr. Adams received his degree of bachelor of arts 
 from the college, in 1755, and of master of arts, in 175S. 
 It was the custom in those aristocratic times, instead of 
 ])lacing the names of the students alphabetical!}^, in their 
 class, to place them successively in the order of the sup- 
 posed rank or dignity of their parents. The nome of John 
 Adams stands in the middle of his class. 
 
 Jt is said that, while at college, he was distinguished 
 by great assiduity in his studies, a retentive memory, 
 acutenessof reasoning, originality and boldness of thought, 
 strength of language, and an openness and honesty of 
 character, which could neither assume, nor tolerate dis- 
 guise. 
 
 Immediately upon fmishing his collegiate course, he 
 began to read law at Worcester, in the office of Colonel 
 James Putnam, who is stated, by Mr. Adams himself, 
 to have been a gentleman of great acuteness of mind, an 
 able lawyer, and having a very extensive and successful 
 practice. 
 
 Mr, Adams's spirit of independence would not suffer 
 him to be any longer a burden to his father, and, in order 
 to pay his expenses while reading law, he kept a school, 
 in which he taught the Latin and Greek languages. Here 
 commenced an intimate friendship between Mr. Adams 
 and ]Vfr. Jonathan Sewall, who was about seven years 
 his senior, and who afterwards took the opposite side in 
 politics, and became attorney-general of the province, in 
 1766. 
 
 .That his thoughts were early turned towards the poli- 
 tical state of his country, and her future destiny, we have 
 the strongest evidence, in a familiar letter, written by him 
 soon after he left college, and just as he was beginning 
 the study of the law at Worcester, and v.'hich has for- 
 tunately been preserved. 
 
13 
 
 This letter discovers that keen glance into the future; 
 that comprehensive view of the past; that rapidity of 
 combination ; that knowledge of the statistics of his coun- 
 try ; that originality of thought, and that boldness of 
 conception, for which he was remarkable through life. 
 
 No one can fail to discover in it the future statesman. 
 It was written a little more than a year after the 4th of 
 July, 1754; on which day Washington was captured by 
 the French in fort ^' Necessii^ ,'" and Franklin signed the 
 plan for a confederation of the stales at Albany ; about 
 three' months after the defeat of General Braddock ; and 
 during the war with France. The writer was not quite 
 twenty years of age. It ia dated at Worcester, on the 
 12th of October, 1755. The foUovving is an extract: 
 
 " Soon after the Keformation, a few people came over 
 into this new world for conscience' sake. Perhaps this 
 apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of 
 empire into America ; it looks likely to me ; for, if we 
 can remove the turbulent Gallicks, our people, according 
 to the exactest computations, will, in another century, 
 become more numerous than England herself. Should 
 this be the case, since we have, I may say, all the naval 
 stores of the nation in our hands, it will be easy to obtain 
 the mastery of the seas ; and then the united force of all 
 Europe will not be able to subdue us. 
 
 " The only way to keep us from setting up for our- 
 selves, is, to disunite us. Divide et irapera. Keep" us in 
 distinct colonies ; and then some great men in each colo- 
 ny, desiring the monarchy of the whole, they will destroy 
 each other's influence, and keep the country in equilibrio. 
 Be not surprised that I am turned politician ; the whole 
 town is immersed in politics. The interests of nations, 
 and all the dira of war, make the subject of every con- 
 versation. I sit and hear, and, after having been led 
 through a maze of sage observations, I sometimes retire, 
 and, by laying things together, form some reflections 
 pleasing to myself. The produce of one of these reveries 
 you have read above."* 
 
 Let us now see what those pleasing reflections were. 
 That America would become more populous than Eng- 
 
 *Sce Note 3, at the cud. 
 
land herself. That, as we have all the naval stores of the* 
 nation, it would be easy to obtain the mastery of the 
 seas, and then the united force of all Europe would not 
 be able to subdue us. That we should set up for our- 
 selves; and that the great seat of empire would be trans- 
 ferred to America. 
 
 What a brilliant view was this, bursting through the 
 gloom which then overhung the country ! 
 
 Washington had been captured ; Braddock completely 
 defeated ; and the plan of confederation had failed through 
 the policy of England, which was to divide and govern. 
 Here may be seen the source oi that ardor in the cause 
 of America; that inflexible pertinacity of purpose, which 
 distinguished him through the whole contest, and enabled 
 liim to cheer, encourage, and support, his sometimes al- 
 most desponding countrymen in the arduous struggle. 
 
 In 1758, he was introduced by Col. Putnam to Jere- 
 miah Gridley, then attorney -general of the province, and 
 at the head of the bar. Mr. Gridley, perceiving the 
 strength of his mind, admitted him at once to his confi- 
 >/ dence, and proposed him to the bar of Suffolk, as a can- 
 didate for practice. 
 
 It is said that Mr. Gridley, as a great secret, informed 
 Mr. Adams, that his own reputation, as a lawyer, was prin- 
 cipally founded upon his acquaintance with the writers 
 upon the civil law, recommended them to his attention, 
 and offered him the use of his library. Mr. Adams eagerly 
 seized the opportunity, and made himself well acquainted 
 with all the important principles of that celebrated code. 
 
 He also became a favorite of James Otis, who was af- 
 terwards the leading patriot of Massachusetts.* 
 
 Mr. Adams began the practice of the law in the year 
 1758, in that part of his native town, now called Quincy. 
 / It is said that he first brought himself into notice, at the 
 bar, in the county of Plymouth, by his defence of a pri- 
 soner ; and, from that time, he was never in want of pro- 
 fitable employment. 
 
 In 1761, he was admitted to the degree of barrister at 
 law, and upon the death of his father, came into posses- 
 sion of a small landed estate. It was in this year that 
 
 •'fsee Note % at the did. 
 
16 
 
 ilie opposition to parliamentary taxation began to assume 
 a more serious aspect, and to be reduced to principle. 
 
 " Of the determination of the British cabinet to assert 
 and maintain the sovereign authority of parliament over 
 the colonies, in all cases of taxation and internal policy, 
 the first demonstration which arrived in America, was an 
 order in council to the officers of the customs in Massa- 
 chusetts Bay, to carry into execution the acts of trade, 
 and to apply to the supreme judicature of the province 
 for writs of assistance, to authorize them to break and 
 enter all houses, stores, &c. to search for and seize goods, 
 on which the taxes, imposed by those acts, had not been 
 paid."* Application was made to the court, at Salem, for 
 such a writ, but the court, doubting its constitutionality, 
 ordered the question to be argued by counsel, at the Feb- 
 ruary term, 1761, in Boston. 
 
 The community was greatly alarmed. The merchants 
 qf Salem and Boston applied to Mr. Otis to defend them 
 against that formidable instrument of arbitrary power. H6 
 engaged in their cause ; but, considering it the cause of 
 his country, he not only refused their fees, but resigned 
 the lucrative office of advocate-general in the court of 
 admiralty, that he might argue the cause with perfect 
 freedom. 
 
 Those acts of trade had remained a half century, and 
 some of them a whole century, unexecuted ; " and there 
 never was a time," says Mr. Adams, in a letter to Mr* 
 Tudor, " when they would have been, or could have been 
 obeyed." 
 
 No one can read Mr. Adams's account of Mr. Otis's 
 argument, without believing with him, " that it breathed 
 into this nation the breath of life ;" and, "that American 
 Independence was then and there born."t 
 
 Mr. Adams needed no one to breathe into him the 
 breath of life. The spirit which had moved over the wa- 
 ters, had come to him. Like Columbus, he had seen id 
 vision, the future glory of his country ; the flame of in- 
 dependence had been lighted in his soul, and the speecli 
 
 * Mr. Adams' letter, I4th January, 1819, in Niles' Register. 
 
 + See his letters to Mr. Tudor, published in 1819, with the paippWets,' 
 
 ■J^ovang-lus and JH(i^mchn$etterms, p. 231, and 24&. 
 
16 
 
 Qf Mr. Otis could only add new fuel to the fire which 
 was already so ardent in his own hosom. 
 
 From the year 1761 to 1765, Mr. Adams was engaged 
 with his professional pursuits, although it is probable that, 
 during that period, he occasionally contributed to the 
 newspaper essays in favor of the rights of the colonies, 
 with which the press, at that time, abounded. 
 
 In 1764, he married Abigail Smith, the second 
 daughter of the Rev. William Smith, of Weymouth, (the 
 town next south of Braintree) and grand-daughter of Col. 
 Quincy, of Mount Wollaston, in remembrance of whom 
 the town of Quincy was named. 
 
 Mrs. Adams derived from her ancestors, who were 
 among the most learned of their age, a taste for polite lite- 
 rature, and had received a mental education, far superior 
 to the female instruction then common in New England ; 
 and she possessed a soul as elevated and ardent in the 
 cause of her country, as that of her husband. She had 
 also a coolness of judgment, a self-command, and a sua- 
 vity of manner, which often imperceptibly guided and 
 tempered the workings of his mighty mind. During his 
 absence, which, with a very short interval in 1779, was 
 from 1777 to 1785, she conducted his affairs with great 
 prudence and judgment ; and, during that period, main- 
 tained a very extensive correspondence, which, if it should 
 ever see the light, will do no less honor to her intelligence 
 than to her patriotism. 
 
 In 1765, Mr. Adams published, in the Boston Gazette, 
 some pieces under the title of " Jin Essay on Canon 
 and Feudal Law.'''' They were re-printed in London, in 
 1768, by Mmon, with the title of ".^ Dissertation on 
 the Canon and Feudal Laiv,^^ and were then attributed 
 to Mr. Gridley, the attorney-general of the province of 
 Massachusetts Bay ; and were said, by the friends of the 
 colonies, to be among " the very finest productions ever 
 seen from North America."* 
 
 The object of the writer was not to elucidate the prin- 
 ciples of the canon or the feudal law, but to hold them 
 up to Americans as objects of abhorrence ; to show the 
 conspiracy between church and state, to oppress the peo- 
 
 * See Note 5, at flie end. 
 
17 
 
 pie ; and hence to take occasion to inculcate the genuine 
 principles of freedom ; to prove that the only legitimate 
 foundation of all government is the will and happiness of 
 the people ; to rouse America to the assertion of her 
 rights, and to prepare her for maintaining them by force, 
 if force should be necessary* 
 
 Speaking of the rights of the people, he uses this bold and 
 energetic language,-^" I say rights ; for such they have, 
 undoubtedly, antecedent to all earthly government; — 
 rights, that cannot be repealed or restrained by human 
 laws ; — rights, derived from th« great Legislator of the 
 Universe." Alluding to the p-^fuggle by the people against 
 the confederacy of temporal and spiritual power in the 
 times of the Stuarts, he says — " It was this great struggle 
 that peopled America. It was not religion alone, as has 
 been generally supposed ; but it was a love of universal 
 liberty, and an hatred, a dread, an horror of the infernal 
 confederacy before described, that projected, conducted 
 and accomplished, the settlement of America. It was a 
 resolution formed by a sensible people, I mean the puri- 
 tans, almost in despair." 
 
 " The leading men among them were men of sense and 
 learning. To many of them, the historians, orators, 
 poets, and philosophers of Greece and Rome were quite 
 familiar." — " Religious to some degree of enthusiasm, it 
 may be admittf^^ they were ; but this can be no peculiar 
 derog-acion f/om their character, because it was, at that 
 time, almost the universal character not only of Eng- 
 land, but of Christendom." 
 
 " Tyranny in every form, shape, and appearance, was 
 their disdain and abhorrence. 
 
 " No fear of punishment, — not even death itself ^V^ ex- 
 quisite tortures, had been sufficient to conquer that stea- 
 dy, manly, pertinaceous spirit, with which they had op- 
 posed the tyrants of those days in church and state." 
 
 " They saw clearly that popular powers must be placed 
 as a guard, a controul, a balance, to the powers of the 
 monarch and the priest, in every government, or it would 
 soon become a great and detestible system of fraud, vio- 
 lence and usurpation." 
 
 " They knew that government was a plain, simple, 
 iotelligen-t thing, founded in nature, and reason, and quite 
 
IS 
 
 comprehensible by common sense." "Rulers arc no 
 more than attorneys, agents and trustees for the people ; 
 and if the cause, the interest, the trust are insidiously be- 
 trayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right 
 to revoke the authority that they themselves have deputed 
 and to constitute better and abler agents, attorneys and 
 trustees." 
 
 Alluding to the British ministry, and to the indignities 
 which the colonies had suffered, he says : 
 
 " Believe me, my countrymen, they have imbibed an 
 opinion on the ohter side of the water, that we are an ig- 
 norant, a timid, and a stupid people ; nay, their tools on 
 this side, have often the impudence to dispute your 
 bravery. But I hope in God the time is near at hand, 
 when they will be fully convinced of your understandings, 
 integrity and courage.' ' 
 
 These few passages have Wn selected rather on ac- 
 count of the sentiments they contain, than as samples of 
 the spirit of the essay. 
 
 He goes on to rouse his countrymen to opposition to 
 the arbitrary acts of parliament, in a strain of fervid elo- 
 quence, excited, if not kindled by thai " flame of fire," 
 which lighted up the soul of his Hend Otis in the argu- 
 ment against writs of assistance. 
 
 It is impossible to read this essay without admiring the 
 boldness, the strength, and the energy, wiib which it was 
 written, and without perceiving that the writer was 
 far in advance of his countrymen in the pursuit of Inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 On the 18th of December, 1765, a memorial from the 
 tovra of Boston was presented to the governor, praying 
 that the courts, which had been shut in consequence of 
 this opposition to tlie stamp-act, might be again opened ; 
 and Mr. Adams, was employed as counsel, with Mr. 
 Oridley and Mr. Otis, to support the memorial before the 
 governor and council. The courts were, soon after, 
 opened. 
 
 In 1765, Mr. Adams removed to Boston, where he 
 could attend more conveniently to his then extensive 
 practice, and mingle more intimately with his co-patriots, 
 Gridley, Thacher, Otis, Samuel Adams, Gushing, Han- 
 cock, Quincy, Mayhew, Cooper, Chauncey, the War- 
 
19 
 
 rens, Lovell, Paine, Worthlngton, Hawley ; and a host of 
 others not less ardent in the cause of freedom. 
 
 The crown officers of the province were in hopes that 
 the patriotism of Mr Adams had its price ; and in 176S, 
 offered him, through liis friend Sewall, the office of advo- 
 cate-general, in the court of admiralty, then the most 
 profitable place in the gift of the governor, and that which 
 led most directly to the highest provincial honors in the 
 gift of the crown. This office, Mr. Adams, in his preface 
 to the late edition of Novanglus, in 1819, says, he "de- 
 cidedly and peremptorily, though respectfully, refused." 
 
 In 1769, he was chairman of the committee of the town 
 of Boston, who reported the instructions to their repre- 
 sentatives to resist the arbitrary measures of the British 
 government. When those instructions were drawn up, an 
 armament by sea and land invested tliat metropolis ; and 
 a military guard surrounded the state-house, with cannon 
 pointed at the very door. Both houses of parliament, by 
 very large majorities, had approved the conduct of the 
 king; assured him of effectual support; and had prayed 
 him to cause prosecution? to be instituted, within the 
 realm, against all who had committed treason, in Massa- 
 chusetts, since the year 1767, agreeably to the act of par- 
 liament of the 35th of Henry VIII. 
 
 The instructions from the town of Boston, no doubt, 
 assisted in giving pungency and force to the strong reso- 
 lutions subsequently adopted by the legislature of Massa- 
 chusetts, which, together with those instructions, were 
 the immediate occasion of the order to the governor to 
 withdraw the provincial garrison from the castle, and to 
 replace it with regular troops, in the pay of the crown. 
 Those instructions also constituted one of the specific 
 charges against the colony reported by the committee of 
 the lords of council for the plantation affairs, to the lords 
 of council on the 6th of July, 1770. 
 
 In that year, (1770,) a circumstance occurred, calculated 
 to test the firmness of Mr. Adams. He had, hitherto, 
 exerted all his talents to rouse the people to a just sense 
 of their rights, and to stimulate them to their de- 
 fence, at all hazards. He had assisted in exciting a spirit 
 which he was now called upon to control, and to allay 
 passions which he had assisted to kindle. He was now to 
 
20 
 
 breast the storm, which he had, not designedly, contribu- 
 ted to raise. 
 
 The irritations between the soldiery and the people had 
 at length proceeded to insult and violence, which resulted 
 in the death of several of the citizens who were tired 
 upon by a party of soldiers under the command of Capt. 
 Preston, on the 5th of March, 1770. 
 
 The offending soldiers were given up to the civil au- 
 thority for trial, and Mr. Adams was called upon, by 
 Captain Preston, to undertake their defence, assisted by 
 Mr. Josiah Quincy, and Mr. Sampson S. Blowers. The 
 people were exasperated, almost to a state of madness. 
 He had been accustomed to stand before the " vultus in- 
 stantis tyrannif^ he was now called upon to oppose the 
 ^' civium ardor prava jubentium." Firm, and tenacious 
 of his purpose, his mind was not shaken by the popular 
 clamor. 
 
 He saw that the honor of his country was at stake, and 
 he rejoiced in the opportunity- of showing to the worlds 
 that the cause of America did not depend upon a tempo- 
 rary excitement, which could stifle the voice of justice f 
 but upon the sober, steady, persevering, determination of 
 the people to support their rights. He and his friend 
 Quincy were then among the nost popular members of 
 the bar ; and the opinion entertained of their integrity 
 by the opposite party, could not have been more clearly 
 evinced, than by thus selecting them as counsel for the 
 supposed victims of popular indignation. The counsel 
 managed the cause with great ability, and satisfied a 
 jury, taken from amidst the exasperated multitude, that 
 it was a case of jjstifiable homicide.* 
 
 Nothing aided the American cause more than this re- 
 markable triumph of law and justice over the passions of 
 the moment ; and the counsel for the prisoners lost noth- 
 ing of their popularity by thus vindicating the justice of 
 their country. On tlie contrary, Mr. Adams was, at the 
 next election, in May, 1770, for the first time, chosen 
 one of the representatives of the town of Boston, in the 
 
 * Captain Preston was acquitted on the 29tU of October. The eight sol- 
 diers were tried on the 8th of December. Six of them were acquitted, anrl 
 two found guilty of manslaughter, only. Those two were sligUUy braj\de(J 
 and discharged. ' . *"* 
 
21 
 
 general assembly. Here he supported that stern repub- 
 lican, the elder Adams, in all those high toned measures 
 of opposition which, excluded the latter from the general 
 pardon afterwards offered by the British governinent. 
 He was on the committee who reported the message from 
 the House of Representatives to the lieutenant governor, 
 on the 31st of May, 1770, remonstrating against the re- 
 moval of the general court from Boston to Cambridge ; 
 and on other committees who were afterwards appointed 
 upon tlie same subject ; and when after a long contest be- 
 tween the lieutenant governor and the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, the House determined, under protest, to pro- 
 ceed to business, Mr. Adams voted in the negative. He 
 was also on many other committees who reported some 
 of the most important state papers of the time. 
 
 In 1773, the ministerial regulation, for paying the sala- 
 ry of the judges, which rendered them wholly dependent 
 on the crown, was the occasion of an able discussion in 
 the pubHc papers between Mr. Adams and Mr. William 
 Brattle, a member of the council. Mr. Adams's essays 
 were written with great learning and strength of argu- 
 ment, and tended much to enlighten the public mind on a 
 question of great importance. They were published un- 
 der his proper signature, in the Boston Gazette, in Febru- 
 ary, 1773, and subjected him to the displeasure of govern- 
 or Hutchinson, who, when Mr. Adams was elected into 
 the council in the following month of May, put his ne- 
 gative upon the choice. 
 
 In 1774, he was again rejected by governor Gage. He 
 was one of the committee of the town of Boston, who drew 
 up the celebrated resolutions, on the Boston-port-bill, which 
 demonstrated to the world that the more the people of 
 that devoted town were pressed the more elastic they be- 
 came ; and that their spirit could not be broken. It was 
 in times like those that his value was felt and acknowl- 
 edged. Through all the gloom he could still see the light 
 by which to steer his course. The vision of his youth- 
 was still before his eyes. 
 
 On the 17th of June, 1774, governor Gage dissolved 
 the last general assembly which was holden under the 
 charter. While the door of the House of Representatives 
 was locked, to exclude the governor's secretary, who was 
 
m 
 
 waiting to dissolve the assembly, they passed a resolution 
 to appoint a committee to meet other committees from 
 other colonies, to consult upon their common interests ; 
 and Mr. Thomas Gushing, Mr. Samuel Adams, Mr. .lohn 
 Adams, and Mr. Robert Treat Paine were elected, to 
 meet at Philadelphia on the 4th of the following Septem- 
 ber. Other colonies pursued the same course, and these 
 committees formed the first continental Congress of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 It was in this year, and after Mr. Adams had been 
 elected to that congress, that a final separation took place 
 between him and his former friend, Mr. Jonathan Sewall. 
 Although they had professedly taken opposite sides of the 
 contest, their friendship and confidential intercourse had 
 continued up to that time, when they both attended the 
 superior court at Falmouth, now Portland. In the course 
 of a morning walk, which Mr. Sewall had invited, he be- 
 gan to remonstrate with Mr. Adams against his going to 
 congress. He said, that Great Britain was determined on 
 her system : that her power was irresistable, and would cer- 
 tainly be destructive to him, and all who should persevere 
 in opposition to her designs. The reply of Mr. Adams 
 was, " I know that Great Britain has determined on her 
 system ; and that very determination, determines me on 
 mine. You know that I have been const^int and uniform 
 in opposition to all her measures. The die is now cast; 
 I have passed the Rubicon ; swim or sink — live or die — 
 survive or perish, with my country, is my unalterable 
 determination." 
 
 The conversation was terminated by Mr. Adams say- 
 ing to his friend, " I see we must part ; and with a bleed- 
 ing heart I say, I fear forever. But you may depend up- 
 on it, this adieu is the sharpest thorn on which I ever sat 
 my foot." 
 
 This anecdote shows what manner of man he was. His 
 heart was his friend's, but his whole soul was his coun- 
 try's. 
 
 On the 5th of Sept. 1774, the first congress met at 
 Philadelphia. Mr. Adams was found in his place, and 
 was appointed upon several of the most important com- 
 mittees, particularly that which stated the rights of the 
 colonies, and that which prepared the address to the king. 
 
53 
 
 The acts of that congress have long since pronounced its 
 eulogy. — On his return to Massachusetts he found that his 
 friend Sewall had sought protection under cover of the 
 British army, and was publishing a series of essays, un- 
 der the signature " Massachusettensis,'" written with 
 great address, and which the governmental party consid- 
 ered as a triumphant vindication of their cause. Mr. 
 Adams immediately entered the lists with him, under the 
 name " Novanglus,'' and published his first number on 
 the 23d of January, 1775, in the Boston Gazette. 
 
 This controversy, between the two champions of their 
 respective parties, gives a complete idea of all the causes 
 of dispute between Great Britain and the colonies ; and 
 the argument of Mr. Adams, although prematurely closed 
 by the battle of Lexington, on the 19th of April; and al- 
 though several numbers which had been prepared for the 
 press were lost or destroyed in the confusion consequent 
 upon that event, contains the clearest and most complete 
 vindication of the American cause which had then been 
 published.* 
 
 In 1775, it became necessary to appoint a commander in 
 chief of the continental army. General Ward, of Massa- 
 chusetts, was then at the head of the troops before Boston ; 
 and in conference among the members of the Massachu- 
 setts delegation in congress it is said they were all, except 
 Mr. John Adams, of opinion that he ought to be elected. 
 Mr. Adams, however, was strongly in favor of Colonel 
 George Washington, then a delegate in Congress from 
 Virginia ; and, when the conference ended, declared that 
 Col. Washington should be nominated. Accordingly, on 
 the next day, he was, at the request of Mr. Adams, nomi- 
 nated by Mr. Johnson, of Maryland ; and on the 15th of 
 June unanimously elected. How far that event contribu- 
 ted to the accomplishment of the great object of the 
 struggle, is known to all the world. 
 
 Mr. Adams was on the committee to prepare the com- 
 mission and instructions for the commander in chief, 
 which, in the then circumstances of the colonies, still ac- 
 knowledging allegiance to the king, was a matter of much 
 eonsideration and delicacy. 
 
 * See Note 6, at Qie end. 
 
M 
 
 In 1776, he was appointed chief justice of the Slate of 
 Massachusetts ; ' but believing that he could be of more 
 service to the cause of his country, by remaining in con- 
 gress, he declined the office. 
 
 On the 6th of May, in the same year, he moved, in 
 congress, the resolution, which was a virtual declaration 
 of independence, recommending to all the colonies, which 
 had not already established governments, suited to the 
 exigency of their affairs, to adopt such government as 
 would in the opinion of the representatives of the people, 
 best conduce to the happiness and safety of their con- 
 stituents in particular, and America in general. This 
 resolution was passed on the 1 5th of May ; and on the 
 7th of June, Mr. Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, who 
 had been selected for that purpose by the friends of the 
 measure, moved, and Mr. Adams seconded, that solemn 
 resolution, whose boldness astonished the world, "That 
 these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free 
 and independent States; that they are absolved from all 
 allegiance to the British Crown ; and that all political 
 connexion between them and the State of Great Britain, 
 is, and of right ought to be, totally dissolved." This re- 
 solution was debated from the 7th to the 10th of June, 
 and its further consideration postponed to the 1st of July. 
 
 On the 11th of June, a committee was appointed to 
 draw up a provisional declaration, or manifesto, to accom- 
 pany the resolution and to announce to the world the step 
 which they had thus determined to take, and the reasons 
 for ih-t determination. That commmittee was elected by 
 ballot, and consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, 
 Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Liv- 
 ingston. Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams were appointed 
 a sub-committee to draft the instrument. Mr, Adams, 
 knowing Mr. Jefferson's fine talent for writing, insisted 
 upon his doing it, and he finally consented. The origin- 
 al draft, in Mr. Jefferson's hand writing, with some tri- 
 fling interlineations in the hand writing of Mr. Adams 
 and of Doctor Franklin, has been preserved. The small 
 alterations which were afterwards made in congress, tend- 
 ed to soften some of its features, and to accommodate it to 
 the views of some portion of the states ; but they were not, 
 m the opinion of Mr. Adains; amendments. He thought 
 
as 
 
 it better in the form in which it came frqsh from the hand 
 of Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 Mr. Lee's resolution, having been again debated on 
 the 1st and 2d of July, was, on the latter day, adopted. 
 The Act of Congress, containing: the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, was debated on the 2d, 3d, and 4th of July, on 
 xvhich last day it was passed. On the IGth it was order- 
 ed to be engrossed and signed by every member of con- 
 gress, which was done on the 2d of August by those who 
 were then present, and afterwards by such as were then 
 absent ; or were elected and took their seats in the course 
 of that year. 
 
 It is believed that in debate upon the subject of Inde- 
 pendence, Mr Adams had no equal. That opinion was 
 uniformly expressed by the illustrious author of the de- 
 claration. " John Adams," said he, " was our Colossus 
 on the floor. Not graceful, not elegant, not always fluent! 
 in his public addresses, he yet came out with a power both 
 of thought and expression, which moved us from out 
 seats."* 
 
 He was master of every topic connected with the sub* 
 ject. Nothing in history, or the law of nature, or of 
 nations, escaped him. He understood human nature, and 
 penetrated the motives of human action, lie knew the 
 resources and spirit of his country, and tne policy and 
 temper of foreign governments. He broKght all these to 
 bear upon the subject, and beat down ev^ry obstacle. 
 
 Nor had he lost sight of the deligli.'lul vision of his 
 youth. On the 3d of July, the day afler the adoption of 
 Mr. Lee's resolution, with what exultation did he writo 
 to her who participated in every feeling of his soul; — 
 " Yesterday, the greatest question was cedded, that was' 
 ever decided among men. A resolutioi was passed una- 
 nimously, " Thai these United States are, and of right 
 ought to he, free and independent states.'^ " The day 
 is past. The 2d of July, 1776, will be a memorable 
 epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it 
 will be celebrated by succeeding gererations as the great 
 ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL. It ought to be commemo* 
 rated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devo- 
 
 * Mr. Webster's discourse in coirnnemorntion of the lives and sei-vior-sol" 
 !!()hn Adams and Thomas J<;fl'cr30D, — A'i,qi!«t 2, ISSfi'j 
 4 
 
i>6 
 
 tion to the Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized 
 with pomps, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, 
 and illuminations— from one end of the continent to the 
 other — from this time forever. 
 
 *' You will think me transported with enthusiasm ; but 
 I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and 
 treasure it will cost to maintain this declaration, and sup- 
 port and defend these states. Yef, through all the gloom, 
 I can see a ray of light and glory. I can see that the 
 end is worth more than all the means ; and that posterity 
 will triumph, although you and I may rue; which I hope 
 we shall not." 
 
 Such a letter, so free from the suspicion of having been 
 written ybr effect, could only have been written by one 
 whose whole soul was engaged in the cause. 
 
 Although not " transported," yet he had certainly 
 pursued the object " ivith enthusiasm ;^^ and, as he him- 
 self had said, ten years before, " no great enterprise for 
 the honor and happiness of mankind was ever achieved 
 without a large mixture of that noble infirmity."* But 
 it is not so remarkable for its enthusiastic exultation, as 
 for its prophetic spirit. Through all the gloom he saw 
 that ray tf light, which cheered and animated him through 
 the whole ",ontest. His hopes were fixed upon a solid 
 base ; and, a\ihough the waves of revolution were rolling 
 round him, " Eternal sunshine settled on his head " 
 
 On the 13th cf June, 1776, Mr. Adams was appointed 
 Chairman of the Board of War, and continued in that im- 
 portant and laborious office until he was appointed a com- 
 missioner to France, in November, 1777. In the mean 
 time, however, he was on many other important commit- 
 tees; particularly on that which prepared the plan of 
 treaties, to be proposed to foreign powers; on that which 
 prepared letters ftf credence and of instruction to the 
 commissioners wh\) should be authorized to negociate 
 those treaties ; and on that which was sent to meet lord 
 Howe, on Staten Isl&nd.t 
 
 Mr. Silas Deane, \Vho was a commissioner, with Doct. 
 Franklin and Mr. Arthur Lee, at the Court of Versailles, 
 
 * Essa}' on Canon and Feudal LaAV. 
 t See Note 7, at Uiceivl. 
 
27 
 
 having been recalled, Mr. Adams was, on the 28th of 
 November, 1777, appointed in his place. In February, 
 1778, he embarked on board the Boston frigate, from 
 the shore of his native town, near the foot of Mount 
 Wollaston. The treaties of commerce and of alliance 
 with France were signed before Mr. Adams arrived. In 
 October, 1778, Doct. Franklin was appointed Minister 
 Plenipotentiary to that Court, whereby the powers of the 
 commissioners were superseded, and Mr. Adams return- 
 ed to the United States, in July or August, 1779.* Up- 
 on his return, he was immediately elected a member of 
 the convention to form a constitution of government for 
 his native state ; and was appointed by the sub-commit- 
 tee to make a draft of a project for a constitution, to be 
 laid before the convention. The general construction of 
 the constitution, particularly the division and distribution 
 of power, and the clause respecting the duty of govern- 
 ment to protect literature and the arts and sciences, were 
 his. Before the constitution was completed, and within 
 three months after his return from France, he received 
 from Congress, on the 4th of November, two commis- 
 sions ; one appointing him sole Minister Plenipotentiary 
 to treat for peace ; the other to form a commercial treaty 
 with Great Britain. On the 17th of November, he cm- 
 barked on board the French frigate Sensible. After a 
 perilous voyage, he was obliged to land at Corunna, in 
 Spain, on the shore of the Bay of Biscay, and travel over 
 the mountains to Paris, where he arrived in February, 
 1780. 
 
 He found the French court quite jealous of his com- 
 mission to form a treaty of commerce with Great Britain ; 
 and the count de Vergennes advised him to keep it se- 
 cret; with a view, no doubt, to attempt to prevail on 
 congress to revoke it. Mr. Adams refused to communi- 
 cate to the count his instructions on that subject. He per- 
 ceived that the French court wished to keep the United 
 States as dependent as possible upon France; and was 
 jealous of every attempt on our part to obtain assistance 
 from other powers. A pretty sharp altercation took place 
 between Mr. Adams and the count, in respect to a claim 
 
 » Sec Note 8, at tlic end. 
 
28 
 
 Set up by France, that, when congress called in the old 
 continental paper money at forty for one, a discrimination 
 ought to liave been made in favor of the French holders 
 of that paper. The count complained to congress, and 
 transmitted copies of JNIr. Adams's letters. The French 
 minister in the United States endeavored to obtain his 
 recall, but without success. Congress, on the 12th of De- 
 cember, 1780, passed a vote of approbation ;* and, on the 
 f)th of June, 1781, refused to join any person with Mr. 
 Adams in the negotiation. But, after the Frencli minis- 
 ter had held a conference with a committee of congress, 
 they reconsidered their vote of the 9th of June, and on 
 the 13th added Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jay, Mr. Laurens, and 
 Mr. Jefferson, to the commission to treat for peace ; and 
 so altered their instructions as to bind them hand and 
 foot to the will of France. 
 
 While these intrigues were going on in the United 
 States, Mr. Adams, thinking he could serve his country 
 better in Holland than in France, went to Amsterdam in 
 August, 1780, and soon afterwards received a commission 
 to negotiate a loan. The Dutch people are at all times 
 slow, and hard to be moved ; and it must have seemed 
 an almost desperate project to borrow money for the use 
 of revolted colonies, at open war with the most powerful 
 maritime nation in the world ; without credit ; without 
 revenue ; and without even the nominal power of raising 
 a revenue by their own authorit3\ Mr. Adams was a 
 Stranger, ignorant of the language of the country, and 
 opposed by the whole influence of the British government, 
 at that time represented by Sir Joseph York, who had 
 resided there twenty-seven years, and who must have 
 known the means by which that influence could be brought 
 lo bear most powerfully upon the nation, and its govern- 
 ment. He had to contend also with the power and influ- 
 ence of ihe Prince of Orange ; and, what may seem more 
 strange, with the influence and intrigues of France herself, 
 
 •"Tuesday, December 12, 17^0, Cocsrrcss took into consideration tlie 
 report of tlie' i-onimittee on the letter of June 2Gth, from the Hon. .Tohn 
 Adams, whereupon, Ordered, That the said letter be j-eftrred to tlic coiu- 
 miti.ec of foreign affairs; and that tliey be instructed to inform Mr. Adams 
 of the satisfaction which con^-ess receive from liis industrious attention lo 
 the inteints and honor of diese United States, abroad, especially in the ttans- 
 aetious comjnuniQated to them by t|iat leltLT." 
 
29 
 
 the professed friend and acknowledged ally of the United 
 States. She knew that the more friends we made, the 
 less dependent we should be upon her, and the lesb would, 
 be her influence in the American councils. 
 
 He found the people of all classes in Holland, perfectly- 
 ignorant of the aifairs of the United States, and set him- 
 self to work, at once, to enlighten them upon that subject. 
 He sought, and found, menof liberal sentiments, friends 
 of freedom and of the rights of man, whose minds kin- 
 kled with the view which Mr. Adams presented to them 
 of the wrongs of America ; of her struggle for inde- 
 pendence; of her present resources; and of her future 
 greatness. But he was obliged to proceed with great cir- 
 cumspection; to feel his way along in the dai'k ; and to 
 learn the interests, characters, and connexions of the lead- 
 ing men. He had scarcely acquired this information when 
 the conduct of the British ministry enabled him to work 
 more boldly. The contempt, insolence, and violence, 
 with which the whole Belgic nation was treated, in con- 
 sequence of their accession to the armed neutrality, and 
 the discovery of a secret agreement which had been en- 
 tered into between Mr. William Lee, the American com- 
 missioner at Berlin, and the regency of Amsterdam, for a 
 plan of a treaty of commerce and amity, gave Mr. Adams 
 great advantages over Sir Joseph York, and he availed 
 himself of his rival's rashness and impetuosity with great 
 coolness and effect. 
 
 Mr. Adams had read some historical writings of Mr. 
 Cerisier, with which he was pleased, and which indicated 
 him to be a man of the character he was seeking. He 
 made a journey into the country to see him, and was not 
 disappointed. Mr, Adams spent several days with him, 
 and they became quite intimate. Mr. Cerisier set up a 
 political gazette, called " Le Politique Ilollandois,'* de- 
 cidedly favorable to the American cause; and of which, 
 as well as of the Lpyden Gazette, edited by Mr. Luzac, 
 Mr. Adams availed himself, to throw before the people 
 of Holland the information he wished to convey. 
 
 Mr. Adams happened to dine in company with Mr. 
 Kalkoen, an eminent jurist of Amsterdam. Mr. Kal- 
 koen appeared to be quite ignorant of thfe affairs of 
 America, but put some shrewd questions to Mr. Adams,. 
 
30 
 
 which he answered as Avell as his imperfect know- 
 ledge of the language, in which they conversed, would 
 permit. Mr. Kalkoen was much gratified, and before 
 they parted, it was agreed that he should send Mr. Adams 
 a set of queries, which he would answer in writing. 
 
 This produced a series of twenty-six letters from Mr. 
 Adams to Mr. Kalkoen, in October, 17S0, containing an 
 account of the rise and progress of the dispute with great 
 Britain ; and of the resources, spirit, and prospects of the 
 United States. 
 
 These were published ; and Mr. Kalkoen himself pub- 
 lished some essays, drawing a comparison between the 
 etfort then making by the United States, and that, former- 
 ly made by the seven United Provinces, which enventu- 
 ated in their Independence : and contended, that as it 
 was a miracle that the latter succeeded, it would be a still 
 greater miracle if the former should not. 
 
 These writings had a wonderful effect upon the people 
 of Holland ; and the American cause soon became 
 popular. The accession of Holland to the armed neu- 
 trality on the 27th of November, 1780, and the discovery 
 of the negociation between Mr. Lee and Mr. Van Berckel 
 the pensionary of Amsterdam, for a treaty of amity and 
 commerce, (which was nobly avowed by Mr. Van Berckel 
 and justified by the city of Amsterdam, although disavowed 
 by the states general) produced a rupture between En- 
 gland and Holland, on the 21st of December, 1780. 
 
 Mr, Adams was indefatigable in collecting and diffus- 
 ing correct information ; in counteracting the intrigues of 
 the British and French courts ; in communicating impor- 
 tant information to Congress ; and in encouraging and sti- 
 mulating his countrymen to persevere in the glorious 
 cause. He saw, with regret, a disposition in America 
 to lean too much upon France ; and, in every movement 
 of France, a desire to increase that dependence. His en- 
 deavors to render his country less dependent on that 
 power, drew upon him the displeasure of the French 
 court, and increased their disposition to render his mis- 
 sion abortive, that he might become unpopular at home. 
 
 In all his correspondence, he urged upon his country- 
 men the necessity of relying more on their own rescource's 
 
31 
 
 and strength, and less upon foreign aid, tliat they might 
 become independent in fact, as well as in name. 
 
 In a letter to Dr. Franklin, of the 17th of August, 
 17S0, he says : " It is to be hoped, that our countrymen, 
 instead of amusing themselves any longer with pleasing 
 dreams, will bend the whole force of their minds to aug- 
 ment a navy ; to find out their own strength and resources, 
 and to depend on themselvesP 
 
 On the 23d, in a letter to congress, he says : " If she 
 (America) were to be deserted by all the world, she 
 ought seriously to maintain her resolution to be free. 
 She has the means ivithin herself. Her greatest mis- 
 fortune is, that she has never yet felt her full strength, 
 nor considered the extent of her resources.'' 
 
 In a letter to Dr. Franklin, on the 14th of October, 
 1780, he says: " We may, and ive shall, wade through, 
 even if we cannot obtain a loan." " The genuine system of 
 American policy is — peace and commerce with all na- 
 tions — alliances with none." 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Jennings, of the 27th of October, 
 1780, he says : " Reconciliation and peace are but dreams 
 of philanthropy. Let us think of them no more ; but 
 prepare to grow up in the midst of war.'' 
 
 And, in a letter to Mr. Cerisier, of 17th November, 
 1780, he says: "The final Independence of America is 
 as certain as a decree of the destinies." 
 
 It was thus that he scattered round him the consola- 
 tions of his stout heart, and supported the genuine Inde- 
 pendence of his country. 
 
 His opinion, even at that early period, was most de- 
 cidedly in favor of a navy. In a letter to Dr. Rush, of 
 20th September, 1780, speaking ol privateering, he says: 
 *' This and trade are the only way to lay the foundation 
 of a navy ; which alone can afford a solid protection to 
 every part of our country. If I could have my willj 
 there should not be the least obstruction to navigation, 
 commerce, or privateering ; because I firmly believe, 
 that o/ie sailor will do us more good than two soldiers. 
 
 And, in a letter to congress, on the 14th of October, 
 1780, he says: ^'■Jinavy is our natur a I and only defence." 
 
 Late in February, 1781, he received commissions to 
 
32 
 
 form a treaty of amity and coinmcrcc with the states ge- 
 neral ; and to accede to the armed neutrality. 
 
 In July, of the same year, he was summoned to Paris, 
 to consult upon the ofi'er of mediation made by the courts 
 of Russia and Austria. He was treated with great cold- 
 ness by the Count de Vergennes ; but the answer which 
 Mr. Adams suggested, was adopted by the French court, 
 and put an end to the negotiation upon that subject ; the 
 mediating powers not being willing to acknowledge the 
 Independence of the United States without the consent of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Upon his return to Holland, he was advised by the 
 French minister there, not to display his mission to the 
 states general, or to the stadtholdcr, as he would not be 
 received. 
 
 Contrary to this advice, however, and upon his own re- 
 sponsibility, he communicated to the states general his 
 letters of credence, on the 19th of October, 1781, ac- 
 companied by a memorial dated the 19th of April, in 
 which he justified the American Declaration of Independ- 
 ence ; asserted the unalterable determination of the Uni- 
 ted States to maintain it ; demonstrated the interest which 
 all Europe, and particularly the states general had in sup- 
 porting it ; and pointed out the political and natural 
 grounds of a commercial connexion between the two re- 
 publics. The result proved that Mr. Adams's determi- 
 nation was correct. He succeeded beyond his expecta- 
 tions. The memorial was taken by the states general 
 ad reftrendum ; the people thought and reasoned upon 
 the matter, and at length demanded an immediate con- 
 nexion with the United States, as an indemnification for 
 the losses resulting, or apprehended, from the hostilities 
 of Great Britain, and the rivalship of neighbouring na- 
 tions. Mr. Adams availed himself of this disposition of 
 the people, and, on the 9th of January, 1782, presented 
 his ulterior address referring to that of the 19th of April, 
 1781, and demanding a categorical answer. The several 
 provinces took the matter into immediate consideration, 
 and instructed their respective deputies in the states gen- 
 eral to concur in the admission of Mr. Adams as minister 
 plenipotentiary. This was done by a resolution of the 
 19th of April, 1783, and on the 22d, he was received in 
 
33 
 
 due form. This event was one of the most important 
 which occurred during the Revolutionary war, ar.d mainly 
 contributed to the acceleration of peace. During his re- 
 sidence in Holland, Mr. Adams obtained several very im- 
 portant loans, which assisted most materially to relieve 
 the United States from their embarrassments, and, (which 
 was quite as important) tended to diminish their depend- 
 ence upon France. 
 
 On the 8th of October, 1782, he concluded and signed 
 a treaty of amity and commerce with the States General. 
 
 On the 16th of August, 1781, a commission was issued 
 to Mr. Adams to negotiate a treaty of alliance with Hol- 
 land ; but he was so averse to alliances, and the hopes of 
 peace having brightened, he thought it most prudent not 
 to open the negotiation upon that subject. 
 
 He remained in Holland, and refused to go to Paris to 
 enter upon the negotiation for peace until he should be 
 well assured that Great Britain would explicitly acknowl- 
 edge the Independence of the United States. That as- 
 surance was given ; and he repaired to Paris in October, 
 1782, where he met Dr. Franklin, and Mr. Jay, and Mr. 
 Laurens also, who had been liberated from the tower of 
 London, that he might be present at the negotiation. 
 
 By their instructions of the 15th of June, 1781, they 
 were required '•' to accede to no treaty of peace which 
 should not, tirst, effectually secure the independence and 
 sovereignt}? of the thirteen states, according to the form 
 and effect of the treaties subsisting between the said states 
 and his most christian majesty ; and second, in which the 
 said treaties should not be left in their full force and va- 
 lidity." 
 
 They were ^' to make the most candid and confidential 
 communications, upon all subjects, to the ministers of our 
 generous ally, the king of France; and to undertake 
 nothing, in the negotiations for peace, without their know- 
 ledge and concurrence ; AND ULTIMATELY TO GOVERN 
 THEMSELVES BY THEIR ADVICE AND OPINION." 
 
 Every thing, but our Independence of Great Britain, 
 was thus surrendered to France, who had power to barter 
 away all our other claims and rights to promote her own 
 interests in the negotiation. 
 5 
 
34 
 
 Thus shackled and embarrassed by their instructions, 
 our ministers liad a most difficult and delicate part to per- 
 form, in order to counteract the intrigues of the other 
 belligerents. It will be for the future biographers of those 
 ministers to explain the particular course which was pur- 
 sued by each; but the result was, that they boldly, upon 
 their own responsibility, and relying upon the proud and 
 independent spirit of their countrymen, resolved to throw 
 off their shackles, and, in violation of their instructions, 
 to act for themselves, and for their country. From the 
 whole course of Mr. Adams's life, nothing less could have 
 been expected from him ; and there can be no doubt that 
 the same ardent spirit of patriotism which, in July, 1776, 
 contributed so much to the unanimous Declaration of the 
 Independence of the United States, burst forth again to 
 sustain their honor. 
 
 By the instructions first given to Mr. Adams, when 
 he was appointed sole minister plenipotentiary to nego- 
 tiate for peace, in 1779, Congress say to him, " In all 
 other matters, not abovementioned, you are to govern 
 yourself by the alliance between his most Christian ma- 
 jesty and these states ; by the advice of our allies ; by 
 your knowledge of our interests; and by your own 
 DISCRETION, in ivhich ive repose the fullest confidence.'''^ 
 
 Comparing their present instructions with those of 
 1779, and probably having received information that, on 
 the Sth of June, 1781, congress had agreed to fresh in- 
 structions to Mr. Adams, in contemjjlation of the offered 
 mediation of Russia and Austria, in which they say, " you 
 will therefore use your own judgment and prudence in 
 securing the interest of the United States in such manner 
 as circumstances may direct, and the state of the bellige- 
 rent, and the disposition of the mediating powers, may 
 require." That, on the 9th of June, they refused, by a 
 vote of six states to four, to join any persons with Mr. 
 Adams in the negotiation; that, on the 10th, those fresh 
 instructions were communicated confidentially to the 
 French minister at Philadelphia; that, on the 11th, the 
 committee who had conferred with that minister, reported 
 such amendments as resulted in the complete transfer of 
 all discretion from the American minister who was to 
 negotiate for peace, to the French minister ; that, on the 
 
35 
 
 same day, the vote refusing to join any persons with Mr. 
 Adams, was reconsidered, and a resolution passed that 
 two persons be joined with him in the nesjotiation ; that, 
 on the 13th, Mr. Jay was elected as one of those two per- 
 sons, and the election of the other postponed to the next 
 day — when, it being understood that Mr. Adams and Mr. 
 Jay were not great favorites at the court of France, con- 
 gress resolved to add two more to tlie commission, mak- 
 ing five in all, so as to take the chance of obtaining a 
 majority who would overrule Mr. Jay and Mr. Adams; 
 whereupon, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Laurens, and Mr. Jeffer- 
 son were elected ; that congress, on the 29th, refused to 
 instruct Mr. Adams, who still remained sole minister for 
 negotiating a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, that 
 he should insist on the fisheries, and the other objects 
 included in their ulthnatum as it stood before the late 
 instructions of the 15th of June; and that, on the 12tlTof 
 July, the commission and instructions to Mr. Adams for 
 negotiating a treaty of commerce with Great Britain were 
 revoked. — Combining all these circumstances, our minis- 
 ters could not help concluding, that the French minister 
 at Philadelphia had acquired a degree of influence over 
 congress inconsistent with the interests and honor of the 
 United States ; and that their instructions did not truly 
 represent the feelings and the spirit of the people. They 
 feared that the French ministers were disposed to make an 
 improper use of the confidence thus placed in them by 
 congress; and that, in respect to the questions of the 
 boundaries, the fisheries, and the Mississippi, they could 
 not safely rel}^ upon the good faith of France. They de- 
 termined, therefore, to take those subjects into their own 
 hands, and make their own terms with Great Britain, 
 without consulting the ministers of a supposed treache- 
 rous ally. And for no act of their eventful lives, do they 
 deserve higher honor from their country. 
 
 It is to their firmness alone that the United States are 
 indebted for the extent to which those objects were se- 
 cured by the treaty. 
 
 The count de Vergennes complained pretty sharply to 
 Dr. Franklin of this finesse, but the consciousness that 
 his own views had been discovered, prubably, prevented 
 
36 
 
 llic count from malving it the ground of any serious com- 
 plaint to our government. 
 
 The preliminary articles of peace were signed on the 
 30th of November, 1782, and ratified by congress on the 
 15th of April, 1783. The definitive treaty was signed 
 on the 3d of September, 1783, and finally ratified on the 
 14th of Januar}^, 1784. 
 
 On the first of May, 1783, Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, 
 and Mr. Jay, v^'ere appointed ministers plenipotentiary to 
 negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with Great 
 Britain ; but as she was not then disposed to treat on that 
 subject, no treaty was ever made under this commis- 
 sion. 
 
 On the 7th of May, 17S4, a commission was ordered 
 to Mr. Adams, Dr. Franklin, and Mr, Jefierson, to nego- 
 tiate treaties of commerce with foreign powers. Instruc- 
 tions had been previously drawn up by a committee, of 
 whom Mr. Jefierson was chairman, which were remark- 
 able for their liberality and for their tendenc)^ to mitigate, 
 as much as possible, the evils of war to the individuals of 
 belligerent nations, as well as to protect the rights of neu- 
 isah. Under this commission, which was limited to two 
 years, our first treaty with Prussia was concluded, in 
 the year 1785, in which, for the first time, perhaps, in 
 the annals of diplomacy, an article was introduced, by 
 which they agree not to authorize privateering against 
 each other, in case a war should arise between them, and 
 that private property, and private persons, whose occupa- 
 tions are for the common subsistence and benefit of man- 
 kind, should not be molested. 
 
 On the 24th of February, 1785, Mr. Adams was ap- 
 pointed resident minister plenipotentiary to the court of 
 Great Britain. The subjects of negotiation between that 
 court and the United States, were the mutual infractions 
 of the treaty of peace, by the non-delivery of the ports 
 occupied by the British ; and by the legal impediments 
 in the United States to the recovery of British debts. As 
 congress had no power to coerce the individual states to 
 remove those impediments, the negotiation was protract- 
 ed, and the sources of irritation continued until the treaty 
 of 1794. 
 
37 
 
 By a regulation of congress of the ISth of February, 
 1785, the commissions of ministers plenipotentiary were 
 limited to three years, so that Mr. Adams's would expire 
 on the 24th of February, 17SS. 
 
 On the 24th of January, 1787, Mr. Adams requested 
 leave to return after the expiration of the term limited in 
 his commission ; which leave was granted on the 5th of 
 October, in the same year; and, on that occasion, congress 
 passed the followins; resolution : 
 
 ^^ Resolved, That congress entertain a high sense of the 
 services which Mr. Adams has rendered to the United 
 States, in the execution of the various important trusts 
 which they have from time to time committed to him ; 
 and that the thanks of congress be presented to him for 
 the patriotism, perseverance, and integrity, with which 
 he has ably and laithfuUy served his country." 
 
 His letters of recall were ordered by congress on the 
 12th of February, 1788, 
 
 On his return to his country, he was immediately cho- 
 sen the first vice-president of the United States under the 
 new Constitution ; and by virtue of tliat office, became 
 president of the Senate, over whose deliberations he pre- 
 sided with dignity and impartiality. 
 
 Having been elected again in 1793, he continued in 
 that office until the 4th of March, 1797, when, upon gen- 
 eral Washington's declining a re-election, he was chosen 
 to the office of President of the United States. 
 
 During the whole of general Washington's administra- 
 tion, Mr. Adams enjoyed Ins entire confidence, and was 
 as often consulted by him upon the most important ques- 
 tions, as any member of the cabinet. General Washing- 
 ton's administration had his most cordial support. 
 
 In the year 1794, Mr. Madison introduced into the 
 House of Representatives of the United States, his cele- 
 brated comm.ercial regulations, pointed at Great Britain, 
 and calculated to coerce her to comply with the unexecu- 
 ted articles of the treaty of peace ; to open to us her co- 
 lonial trade, and to respect our neutral rights. During 
 the irritating discussion of these resolutions, information 
 was received that captures of American vessels, by Bri- 
 tish cruisers, were made to an unprecedented extent ; and 
 that, on the 6th of November, 1793, additional instruc- 
 
38 
 
 tlons had been issued, requiring them to bring in I'or le- 
 gal adjudication, in the British courts of admiralty, all 
 vessels laden with the produce of, or carrying provisions 
 or other supplies to a French colony. This information 
 produced a general expectation of war, and preparations 
 were made to meet it. An embargo was laid ; and reso- 
 lutions were introduced for selecting a body of 80,000 
 militia ; for raising a provisional army ; for fortifying the 
 military posts and harbours, and for raising a corps of en- 
 gineers. 
 
 Before these steps had been taken, it was ascertained 
 that there was a majority in the House of Representatives, 
 in favour of Mr. Madison's resolutions. Mr. Dayton 
 now moved for a sequestration of British debts ; and Mr. 
 Clarke introduced a resolution to prohibit all intercourse 
 with Great Britain. Before any decision on those propo- 
 sitions, despatches were received from Mr. Pinckney the 
 American minister at London, indicating a more concilia- 
 tory disposition on the part of the British government, 
 who had revoked the instructions of the 6th of November, 
 and substituted others of the 8th of January, of a less of- 
 fensive character, and had intimated that even those were 
 temporary and calculated only to meet a particular emer- 
 gency. 
 
 Believing, from this information, that w^ar was not in- 
 evitable, and that it was not inconsistent with the honor 
 of the United States to make one more effort to maintain 
 their neutrality, the president, on the 16th of April, 1794, 
 nominated Mr. Jay, as envoy extraordinary to the court 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 In this state of things, Mr. Clarke's resolution, prohib- 
 iting all intercourse with that country was adopted by the 
 House of Representatives on the 18th of April; and a 
 bill founded thereon was sent to the Senate. Upon this 
 bill the senators were equally divided. 
 
 Ml". Adams felt the full weight of the responsi- 
 bility thus thrown upon him. In the early stages of the 
 Revolution he had witnessed the total inefficacy of such 
 measures to control the political policy of Great Britain. 
 He had concurred m adopting them at that time, rather 
 with a view to unite the people, and to evince their pa- 
 triotic spirit, than with the hope that they would compel 
 
39 
 
 Great Britain to recede from the ground she had taken. 
 He had, then, no faith in them ; but had agreed with his 
 friends Hawley of Massachusetts, and Henry of Virginia, 
 that, " after all tve must fight. ^^ He thought that the 
 present bill would have no good effect on the policy of 
 Great Britain ; that it would injure us as much as her ; 
 that it would embarrass the proposed negotiation ; and 
 would probably lead directly to war. 
 
 This bill was rejected by his casting vote ; and the 
 country, for that time, saved from plunging into a war; 
 which, in the then state of parties, would probably have 
 thrown us aaain into the arms of France — of Revolutiona- 
 ry France. 
 
 The two parties in the Senate were nearly balanced ; 
 and Mr. Adams was often obliged to decide questions of 
 the highest importance, and upon which party feeling 
 had been deeply excited. 
 
 Such was the question upon the bill, " in addition to 
 the act for punishing certain crimes against the United 
 States ;" — a bill intended to restrain the inhabitants of 
 the United States from acts inconsistent with the duties 
 of neutrality. This bill was passed by the casting vote 
 of the Vice-President. 
 
 It having been ascertained, inofficially, that Mr. Adams 
 had received the votes of a majority of the electors for the 
 office of President of the United States, as the successor 
 of the illustrious Washington, who had declined a re- 
 election, he retired from the Senate on the 15th of Febru- 
 ary, 1797 ; and, upon that occasion observed : " It is a « 
 recollection of which nothing can ever deprive me, and 
 it will be a source of comfort to me through the remain- 
 der of my life, that as, on the one hand, in a government 
 constituted like ours, I have, for eight years, held the 
 second situation under the Constitution of the United States 
 in perfect and uninterrupted harmony with the first, with- 
 out envy in the one, or jealousy in the other ; so, on the 
 other hand, I have never had the smallest misunderstand- 
 ing with any member of the Senate." 
 
 The respectful answer of the Senate, on the 22d, bears 
 testimony to his abilities and undeviating impartiality. 
 
 The events of Mr. Adams's administration are, perhaps, 
 yet too recent to permit us to trust to our own judgment 
 
40 
 
 upon iheni : and they are too fresh In our recollection to 
 need recapitulation. 
 
 Considering the exasperated state of parties at that 
 time, it may be some praise to say, that it was not wholly 
 satisfactory to the leaders of either. Mr. Adams has 
 himself said that he was never the favorite of the leaders 
 of that which brought him into olTice. 
 
 He was not a man to be led or driven. He was as in- 
 dependent as he wished his country to be. He never would 
 go the whole length with the party ; yet all their sins 
 have been laid upon his head. 
 
 The most important events in his administration were 
 those connected with our relations to France ; and with 
 the foundation of a navy. 
 
 Fiom the time of the proclamation of neutrality, France 
 had been using her utmost eiforts to force the governjnent 
 from its neutral ground, and to drive the nation into a 
 war with England : and she had almost succeeded when 
 her hopes were nearly blasted by the treaty of 1794. — 
 Fretted by this disappointment, she authorized almost 
 unlimited depredations on our commerce. 
 
 General Pinkney had been, by President Washington, 
 appointed successor to Col. Munroe, as minister pleni- 
 potentiary to France ; but the executive directory re- 
 fused to receive him — treated him with indignity — and 
 ordered him to quit the territory of the Republic — an- 
 nouncing their determination not to receive another 
 minister froni the United States until after the redress of 
 grievances demanded of the American government. — 
 Upon giving Mr. Monroe his audience of leave, the pre- 
 sident of the directory addressed to him a speech, " in 
 •which terms of outrage to the government of the United 
 States were mingled with expressions of affection for the 
 people ;"* and in which he intimated an expectation that 
 the directory could rule the former by their influence 
 over the latter. 
 
 This state of things, together with the increased depre- 
 dations on our commerce, induced Mr. Adams to call a 
 meeting of congress, on the 15th of May, 1797. 
 
 * Marshall's WashingtOH. 
 
41 
 
 In his speech, alhidins; to the attempt of France to sepa- 
 rate the people of the United States from their govern- 
 ment, he says : " Such attempts ought to be repelled with 
 a decision that shall convince France, and all the world, 
 that we are not a degraded people ; humiliated under a 
 colonial spirit of fear, and sense of inferiority, fitted to be 
 the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and re- 
 gardless of national honor, character, and interest." 
 
 Believing, however, that neither the honor nor the 
 interest of the United States absolutely forbade the repe- 
 tition of advances for the preservation of peace, he deter- 
 mined to institute a fresh attempt at negotiation. 
 
 " It is impossible,'^ said he, at the close of his speech, 
 " to conceal from ourselves, or the world, what has been 
 before observed, that endeavors have been employed to 
 foster and establish a division between the government 
 and people of the United States. To investigate the 
 causes which have encouraged the attempt, is not neces- 
 sary. But to repel, by decided and united counsels in- 
 sinuations so derogatory to the honor, and aggressions so 
 dangerous to the constitution, union, and even indepen- 
 dence of the nation, is an indispensible duty. 
 
 " It must not be permitted to be doubted, whether the 
 people of the United States will support the government 
 established by their voluntary consent, and appointed by 
 their free choice ; or, whether, by surrendering them- 
 selves to the direction of foreign and domestic factions, 
 in opposition to their own government, they will forfeit 
 the honorable station they have hitherto maintained. 
 
 *' For myself, having never been indifferent to what 
 concerned the interests of my country ; devoted the best 
 part of my life to obtain and support its Independence; 
 and constantly witnessed the pntriotism, fidelity, and per- 
 severance of my fellow-citizens on the most trying occa- 
 sions ; it is not for me to hesitate, or to abandon a cause 
 in which my heart has been so long engaged." 
 
 The independent spirit which animated this speech, 
 found sympathetic spirits in every part of the Union ; and 
 energetic measures of defence were adopted. 
 
 In compliance with the intimation given in his speech, 
 the president appointed general Pinkney, of South-Caro- 
 lina, general Marshall, of Virginia, (now the venerable 
 6 
 
42 
 
 chief justice of the United States,) and JNlr. Geny, of 
 Massachusetts, envoys extraordinary to the court of 
 France. 
 
 In the spring of 1798, despatches were received, which 
 announced the total failure of the mission, and described 
 the accumulated indignities which were endured by our 
 ministers with a patience and forbearance which could 
 only be justified by their sincere desire to effect the ob- 
 ject of their mission, and to unite their countrymen in a 
 manly and patriotic support of their own government. 
 
 France demanded money as the price of negotiation. 
 
 These despatches, which were laid before congress, and 
 ordered to be published, excited a warm and extensive 
 indignation ; and in every part of the country the senti- 
 ment was re-echoed — " millions for defence ; but 
 
 NOT A CENT FOR TRIBUTE." 
 
 " Addresses to the executive from every part of the 
 United States, attested the high spirit of the nation ; and 
 the answers of the president were well calculated to give 
 it solidity and duration."* 
 
 Vigorous measures, not only of defence, but of retalia- 
 tion, were adopted by congress ; and general Washing- 
 ton condescended to accept the office of lieutenant gene- 
 ral of the armies of the United States. 
 
 Six frigates, eighteen sloops of war, and ten gallies 
 were authorized to be built or purchased ; and the de- 
 partment of the navy was established. Acts were passed 
 for augi:;enting the regular army ; for raising a provi- 
 sional army ; for suspending the commercial intercourse 
 with France ; for seizing French armed vessels ; and for 
 declaring; the treaties with France no longer obligatory. 
 These measures were followed by actual hostilities at sea j 
 and the capture of several French armed vessels. 
 
 In his speech, at the opening of the congress, in Decem- 
 ber, 1798, the president said: " To the usual subjects of 
 gratitude, I cannot omit to add one, of the first import- 
 ance to our well-being and safety : I mean that spirit 
 which has arisen in our country against tiie menaces and 
 aggressions of a foreign nation. A manly sense of na- 
 tional honor, dignity and independence, has appeared, 
 
 * Marshall's Washuigton. 
 
4S 
 
 which, if encouraged and invigorated by every branch of 
 the government, will enable us to view, undismayed, the 
 enterprizes of any foreign power, and become the sure 
 foundation of national prosperity and glory." 
 
 "But, in demonstrating, by our conduct, that we do not 
 fear war, in the necessary protection of our rights and 
 honor, we shall give no room to infer that we shall aban-» 
 don the desire of peace. An efficient preparation for war 
 can alone ensure peace. It is peace that we have uniformly 
 and perseveringly cultivated ; and harmony, between us 
 and France, may be restored at her option. But to send 
 another minister, without more determined assurances that 
 he would be received, would be an act of humiliation, to 
 which the United States ought not to submit. It must, 
 therefore, be left to France, if she is, indeed, desirous of 
 accommodation, to take the requisite steps." 
 
 1 hose " more determined assurances" were received 
 from the French minister of foreign relations through 
 Mr. Murray, the minister of the United States at the 
 Hague ; and the president, anxious to seize upon any 
 honorable means of restoring harmony with our ancient 
 ally, again sent three envoys extraordinary to the French 
 republic ; who were received, and happily effected an 
 amicable adjustment of the differences between the two 
 countries. 
 
 The spirit and prudence with which this quarrel was 
 managed, were not less honorable to the citizens of the 
 United States than to the administration. 
 
 Mr. Adams has, with justice, been called the founder 
 of the navy of the United States. 
 
 That the capacity of this country to become a great 
 naval power, was a subject of his 5'outhful contempla- 
 tions, is evident, in his letter from Worcester, in Octo- 
 ber, 1755 ; and that he deemed it to be the natural and 
 surest defence against foreign power, appears in all his 
 correspondence with his friends, and with congress, 
 through the whole course of the Revolution ; and by his 
 speeches and messages to congress during his administra- 
 tion. 
 
 At the commencement of the present government, the 
 United States had not a single ship of war 5 — not a gan 
 afloat that could protect our commerce. 
 
44 
 
 Although our merchant vessels were found in every sea, 
 and exposed to continual vexation and plunder, 3-et, so 
 unpopular was the idea of a navy, in certain parts of the 
 coui»try, that it was not until December, 1796, that pre- 
 sident Washington ventured, expressly, to name the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 A small naval armament had been authorized by the act 
 of the 27th of March, 17.94, for the protection of our 
 trade against Algcrine corsairs. It was to consist of not 
 more than six frigates ; and, if peace with Algiers should 
 take place, no further proceeding was to be had under 
 that act. 
 
 The building of three of the frigates was commenced, 
 but before they were finished, peace was made with Al- 
 giers. 
 
 ■By the act of 20th of April, 1796, the three frigates 
 were ordered to be completed, but at the commencement 
 of JNIr. Adams's administration, we were still without a 
 ship of war in commission. 
 
 In his first speech to congress, at the special session in 
 May, 1797, the president recommended, in strong terms, 
 the protection of commerce by a naval force. 
 
 In pursuance of this recommendation, the president 
 was authorized by the act of 1st July, 1797, to cause the 
 three frigates, " The United Slates," " The Constitu- 
 tion,^' and " The Constellation^'' to be manned and em- 
 ployed, and the strength of the revenue cutters to be 
 increased. 
 
 But the jealousy of even th.is small naval force was so 
 great, that the period of service of the seamen and ma- 
 rines, was limited to one year; and the president was 
 authorized to discbarge Ihem sooner, if, in his judgment, 
 their services might sooner be dispensed with ; and ihe 
 act itself was to continue one year, and to the end of the 
 next session thereafter, and no longer. 
 
 At the opening of the next session of congress, in De- 
 cember, 1797, the president again recommended the pro- 
 tection of commerce in general terms. The event of the 
 mission to the French republic, was not then known ; the 
 envoys having but just arrived in Europe. Before the 
 close of the session, however, information of its total fiil- 
 urc was received ; and, by various acts, a naval armament 
 
45 
 
 was authorized, consisting of twenty-four ships of war, of 
 which six were to be frigates, to rate not less than thirty- 
 two guns each ; twelve, not less than twenty, nor more than 
 twenty-four guns each; and six, not exceeding eighteen 
 guns each. At this session, also, the department of the 
 navy, and the marine corps, were established and organ- 
 ized. 
 
 Tliis was a great effort for a single session, and proba- 
 bly would not have been made but for the peculiar excite- 
 ment of the moment produced by the conduct of France. 
 It, however, afforded the nation an opportunity of wit- 
 nessing an experiment upon a point of national policy, in 
 regard to which there existed a vast difference of opinion. 
 
 At the opening of the next session, (Dec. 1798,) the 
 president said : " The beneficial effects of the small naval 
 armanent provided under the acts of the last session, are 
 known and acknowledged. Perhaps no country ever ex- 
 perienced more sudden and remarkable advantages from 
 any measure of policy than we have derived from the 
 arming for our maritime protection and defence." 
 
 On the 25th of February, 1799, an act was passed for 
 the augmentation of the navy by an additional force of 
 six 74's, and six 18 gun sloops of war. Other acts were 
 passed for the construction of docks and for the purchase 
 of timber, and the appropriations of this session, for na- 
 val purposes, exceeded three millions of dollars. 
 
 In his speech, at the opening of congress, in November, 
 1800, the president again presented the navy to their con- 
 sideration, and observed, that, " The present navy of the 
 United States, called suddenly into existence, by a great 
 national emergency, has raised us in our own esteem ; 
 and by the protection afforded to our commerce, has ef- 
 fected, to the extent of our expectations, the objects for 
 which it was created." 
 
 And the House of Representatives in their answer say : 
 " At this period it is confidently believed that few per- 
 sons can be found within the United States, who do not 
 admit, that a navy, well organized, must constitute the na- 
 tural and efficient defence of this country against all for- 
 eign hostility. The mind must, in our opinion, be insen- 
 sible to the plainest truths, which cannot discern the ele- 
 vated ground on which this policy has placed our country. 
 
46 
 
 ^' The national spirit which alone could vindicate our 
 common rights, has been roused, and those latent energies, 
 which had not been fully known, were unfolded and 
 brought into view, and our fellow-citizens were prepared 
 to meet every event which national honour or national se- 
 curity could render necessary. Nor have its effects been 
 less important in other respects. Whilst many of the na- 
 tions of the earth have been impoverished and depopula- 
 ted by internal commotions, and national contests, our 
 internal peace has not been materially impaired ; our 
 commerce has extended, under the protection of our in- 
 fant navy, to every part of the globe; wealth has flowed, 
 without intermission, into our seaports ; and the labors 
 of the husbandman have been rewarded by a ready mark- 
 et for the productions of the soil." 
 
 On the 3d of March, 1801 , the controversy with France 
 liaving been amicably settled, the president was author- 
 ized to cause to be sold all the ships belonging to the na- 
 vy, excepting thirteen frigates ; seven of which were to 
 be laid up, and six kept in constant service. This was the 
 last act of Mr. Adams's administration in regard to the 
 navy. 
 
 He had taught his country the important truth, that she 
 could create and maintain a respectable naval force ; that 
 she was able to protect her commerce : and that the in- 
 crease of revenue, arising from the protected commerce, 
 would more than pay for its protection ; besides enabling 
 the nation to respect itself and to cause itself to be re- 
 spected. 
 
 As the close of Mr. Adams's term of office approached, 
 it was natural that the attention of the public should be 
 turned with anxiety towards the new election. 
 
 His administration, as has been before observed, had not 
 satisfied the leaders of either of the two parties into which 
 the nation was divided. For the republicans, his meas- 
 ures were too strong ; for the federalists, too weak. It 
 has been before stated, that he never was a favorite of the 
 leaders of the federal party, but as they could not find 
 another who could unite so many federal votes in his fa- 
 vor, they determined to push him again as their candidate 
 for the new election. This want of cordiality pervaded 
 even the cabinet; and, with so deservedly popular an op- 
 
47 
 
 ponent as Mr. Jeflerson, it is not wonderful that JUr. 
 Adams was not re-elected. 
 
 But we have nothing now to do with the intrigues of 
 party. The question for posterity will be, what was the 
 character of the man, and of his measures ? 
 
 Considering him as not being the leader of the federal 
 party, it does not seem just to charge him with acts which 
 he did not recommend. For, although he had a qualified 
 negative, which he might have applied to such acts, yet, 
 unless he should deem them to be unconstitutional, or 
 clearly and decidedly inexpedient, it could hardly be ex- 
 pected that he would so apply it. This might, possibly, 
 have been the case with the acts commonly called " the 
 alien and sedition laws." They were passed in 1799, dur- 
 ' ing a season of strong excitement, while a serious insur- 
 rection existed in Pennsylvania, in opposition to the go- 
 vernment; while the country was filled with aliens, who 
 were impudently endeavoring to drive the nation from its 
 neutral ground, and when it was supposed that the coun- 
 try was upon the eve of a war with France, These acts 
 being limited to two years, were suffered to expire ; 
 and, however unpopular, impolitic, or exceptionable 
 they might have been, they will not, in the eye of an 
 impartial statesman, materially affect the general charac- 
 ter of Mr. Adams's administration ; and cannot deprive 
 it of the credit of having firmly maintained the course of 
 policy marked out by Washington ; — of having placed the 
 country in a dignified attitude of defence ; — of having suc- 
 cessfully counteracted the insidious policy of Fi'ance ; — 
 of having enabled the United States justly to estimate 
 their own resources ; — to feel their own strength ; — to 
 demonstrate the proposition, that the cheapest, the safest^ 
 and the most effectual, defence of this country is a navy; 
 and of having elevated the character of the nation in its 
 own esteem, and in that of the world. 
 
 That this was the true policy of the nation, is demon- 
 strated by the fact, that successive administrations, after 
 making the unavailing experiment of commercial restric- 
 tions and non-intercourse, and continued embargoes, and 
 all the other measures of the hybernating system , in which 
 the nation reposed in a state of torpor, chilling all its ener=- 
 gies, and stopping the circulation of its vital fluid ; were, 
 
48 
 
 at last, obliged to resort to war, with a ruined revenue, 
 and an empty treasury ; and that the most brilliant feats 
 of that war were achieved by that navy, the foundation 
 of which was so ardently opposed during the administra- 
 tion of Mr. Adams. 
 
 Upon the whole, then, we may say of that administra- 
 tion, that its most important and leading measures, have 
 been unequivocally approved by the voice of the nation ; 
 and that he maintained, with vigor, its best interests, and 
 its honor. 
 
 In regard to Mr. Adams's opinions respecting the best 
 form of government, or, in other words, the best politi- 
 cal constitution of a state, different judgments have been 
 formed. 
 
 It has been contended, that, in an elective government, 
 if the elections be free and frequent, checks and balances 
 are unnecessary clogs upon the popular will, and that 
 popular elections are a sufficient remedy for every evil. 
 
 When the people of the colonies resolved on Independ- 
 ence, the wisest among them were more anxious in regard 
 to the political condition of the country after that object 
 should be obtained, than to the issue of the sharp conflict 
 by which it was to be achieved. 
 
 The origin, foundation, and principles, of government, 
 attracted the attention of Mr. Adams in very early life, 
 as is evident in the extracts which have already been 
 given from his Essay on Canon and Feudal Law, pub- 
 lished in 1765, before he was thirty years of age.* 
 
 Mr. Adams early adopted the idea, that it was necessa- 
 ry, for the stability of a popular government, that the three 
 great powers, the executive, the legislative, and the Jiidi' 
 cial, should be separated from each other, and that each 
 should be independent of the other two ; that the legisla- 
 ture should be divided into two houses, each having a ne- 
 gative upon the other; and that the executive should have 
 a protecting veto against both. This he deemed to be the 
 theory and spirit of the English Constitution, and he 
 thought he saw in it all that was necessary to the perfec- 
 tion of government. He did not, however, deem it es- 
 sential that the executive, or either branch of the legisla- 
 
 * See '^Qii 10, at the enrt. 
 
49 
 
 ture should be hereditary. He was always of opinion 
 that the government which was most popular, consistent- 
 ly with its stability, was the best. 
 
 The earliest evidence we have of his idea of a consti- 
 tution of government, for one of these states, is contained 
 in a letter written by him to JVIr. Richard Henry Lee, 
 and at his request, in consequence of a conversation be- 
 tween them, on the preceding evening, at Philadelphia. 
 It is dated on the 15th of November, 1775. In this letter, 
 he says: "a legislative, an executive, and a judicial pow- 
 er, comprehend the whole of what is meant and under- 
 stood by government. It is by balancing each of these 
 powers against the other two, that the effort of human na- 
 ture towards tyranny can alone be checked and restrained, 
 and any degree of freedom preserved in the Constitution.'* 
 
 He then proposes that the people should elect a house 
 of commons, who should choose a governor and council 
 annually, triennially, or septennially ; — or, if it should be 
 preferred, they might be chosen by the people. 
 
 That the governor, council, and house, should be each 
 a distinct and independent branch of the legislature, with 
 a negative upon all laws : 
 
 That the lieutenant governor, secretary, treasurer, com-. 
 missary, attorney general, and solicitor general, should be 
 chosen annually by joint ballot of both houses: 
 
 That the other officers and magistrates, civil and milita- 
 ry, should be nominated and appointed by the governor, 
 with the advice and consent of the council : 
 
 That the governor should have the command of the 
 army, militia, &c. 
 
 That the judges, at least of the supreme court, should 
 Iiold their offices during good behaviour; have salaries as- 
 certained and established by law; and should be incapa- 
 ble of holding any share of the legislative or executive 
 power. 
 
 " In adopting a plan, in some respects similar to this," 
 he says, '• human nature would appear in its proper glory, 
 asserting its own real dignity, pulling down tyrannies 
 at a single exertion, and erecting such new fabrics as it 
 thinks best calculated to promote its happiness.*" 
 
 * See Xote 9, at the end. 
 
50 
 
 Early in the year 1776, when Virginia was about to 
 form a constitution, Mr. Adams, it is said, communicated 
 ■^lis thoughts, more fully, upon the subject of government, 
 in a letter to iNir. Wythe, of Virginia, and gave his rea- 
 sons more at large for advising a division of the legisla- 
 ture into two houses, each having a negative upon the 
 other. That letter was supposed to have had considera- 
 ble efi'ect upon the formation of the constitution of Vir- 
 ginia ; and a copy of it is also said to have been procured 
 by Mr. Jay and used with considerable effect in the con- 
 -slruction of that of New York.* 
 
 It is probable that those letters contributed largely to- 
 wards the introduction, into the several constitutions of 
 the other states, of the principle of the division of the 
 legislative power into two independent branches ; a prin- 
 ciple which has always been unpopular with a considera- 
 ble part of the community ; but which has been found by 
 experience to be absolutely necessary to the permanency 
 of a popular government. 
 
 Often as the experiment has been tried, no single demo- 
 cratic assembly has ever been able to maintain its exist- 
 ence, and preserve the liberties of the people for any length 
 of time. Pennsylvania tried it — Georgia tried it — Eng- 
 land tried it — France tried it — Spain tried it — some of the 
 Spanish American states have tried it — many other states 
 have tried it, and, in every instance, the experiment has 
 failed. 
 
 A principle that would enable mankind to reduce to 
 practice the theory of a republican government, was want- 
 ing. Mr Adams, if he did not discover it, taught the 
 friends of freedom how to apply it ; and demonstrated, in 
 the most philosophical manner, by the history of experi- 
 ments actually made, that liberty can only be preserved, 
 by a balanced legislature, and by the separation and inde- 
 pendence of the three great powers of government. 
 
 If Mr. Adams had done nothing more than this, he 
 would have conferred a benefit upon the world for which 
 millions might bless his name. 
 
 Next to the Independence of his country, the object 
 most dear to his heart was the successful establishment of 
 permanent republican governments, raised upon the only 
 
 * See Note 11, at die end. 
 
51 
 
 solid and legitimate basis, the will and happiness of tlie 
 people. To accomplish this object, he deemed it neces- 
 sary to establish his principle by the history of actual 
 experiments. He found that, although it was inserted in 
 most, if not all, of the American constitutions, yet its 
 necessity was not universally acknowledged. Many doubt- 
 ed its propriety and its use ; and the philosophers and po- 
 liticians of Europe had asserted, that it had been adopted 
 in America, merely because the legislative pov/er hap- 
 pened to be so divided in England. Mr. Turgot had slated, 
 that, by most of the Americ:m states, " The customs of 
 England had been imitated without any particular motive. 
 That, instead of collecting all authority into one centre, 
 that of the nation, they had established different bodies — 
 a house of representatives, a council, and a governor, 
 because there is, in England, a house of commons, a liouse 
 of lords, and a king. That they endeavored to balance 
 these different powers, as if this equilibrium, which, in 
 England, may be necessary to check the enormous influ- 
 ence of royalty, could be of any use in republics founded 
 upon the equality of all the citizens; and, as if establish- 
 ing different orders of men was not a source of divisions 
 and disputes." 
 
 There had also been, from the beginning of the Revo- 
 lution, a party, in every state, who had entertained simi- 
 lar opinions. In Massachusetts, immediately preceding 
 the insurrection of Shays, in 1786, county committees 
 had been chosen, and other conventions proposed, with 
 the express purpose of deposing the governor and senate, 
 as useless and expensive branches of the constitution. 
 
 As Mr. Adams had been mainly instrumental in caus- 
 ing those checks and balances to be introduced into the 
 state governments of America, he deemed it incumbent 
 on him to satisfy the world, and particularly his own 
 countrymen, that they were not so introduced, without a 
 sufficient motive, nor merely in blind imitation of the 
 English constitution; but that the principle was founded 
 on the nature of man. He knew it was easy for a man of 
 strong imagination, to form a beautiful and captivating 
 theory of government, and to support it with very plau- 
 sible arguments, a pritri ; and that it might be fiifficult, 
 'if not impossible, to demonstrate its fallacy, but by actual 
 
52 
 
 experiment. He determined, therefore, that his own should 
 be founded upon the only sure ground of useful know- 
 ledge, experience. 
 
 As he could not, like a chemist, sit in his laboratory, 
 and make experiments upon nations, which it would take 
 ages to perform ; he was obliged to resort to the history 
 of experiments already made. He was then residing in 
 London, as minister from the United States, and had ac- 
 cess to historical writers little read or known in America. 
 He engaged with ardor in the work. The occasion was 
 urgent. The constitution of his native state was formi- 
 dably attacked. The confederation of the states, being a 
 revolutionary instrument, had scarcely the powers or 
 form of a government, and was almost functus officio. 
 To be useful, it behoved him to be expeditious. He 
 therefore took a rapid view of the forms of government 
 and revolutions of the principal republics which have ex- 
 isted in the world ; and with great force of argument de- 
 monstrated that whatever of liberty and permanency they 
 enjoyed depended upon the balance of their powers. This 
 was done in a series of letters, published as rapidly as 
 they were written, under the title of " Jl defence of the 
 constitutions of government of the United States of 
 America against the attack of M. Turgot in his letter 
 to Dr. Price, dated the 22d of March, 1778," with the 
 appropriate motto, " All nature's difference keeps all na- 
 ture's peace.^^ They are contained in three volumes, and 
 were written and published within the fifteen months 
 next preceding the 3d of December, 1787. 
 
 In these volumes he not only examined the constitu- 
 tions and political revolutions of the principal republics 
 which have existed, but reviewed the writings and opin- 
 ions of the most celebrated historians, philosophers, and 
 statesmen, both ancient and modern. 
 
 The whole of his doctrine upon the subject of govern- 
 ment, seems to be embodied in the following extract from 
 his conclusion of the first volume : 
 
 " By the authorities and examples, already cited, you 
 will be convinced that three branches of power have an 
 unalterable foundation in nature ; that they exist in every 
 society, natural and artificial ; and that if all of them arc 
 not acknowledged in any constitution of government, it 
 
will be found to lie imperfect, unstable, and soon enslaved: 
 that the legislative and executive authorities are naturally 
 distinct; and that liberty and the laws depend entirely 
 upon a separation of them in the frame of government : 
 that the legislative power is naturally and necessarily 
 sovereign and supreme over the executive ; and therefore 
 that the latter must be made an essential branch of the 
 former, even with a negative, or it will not be able to de- 
 fend itself, but will soon be invaded, undermined, attack- 
 ed, or in some other way, totally ruined and annihilated 
 by the former." 
 
 " All nations, under all governments, must have parties. 
 The great secret is to control them. There are but two 
 ways : either by a monarchy and a standing army, or by 
 a balance in the constitution. Where the people have 
 a voice and there is no balance, there will be everlasting 
 fluctuations, revolutions and horrors, until a standing 
 army, with a general at its head, commands the peace, or 
 the necessity of an equilibrium is made to appear to all, 
 and is adopted by all." 
 
 These letters, although thus hastily written, contain 
 such a mass of political information brought to bear upon 
 the principle which it was adduced to support, as has sel- 
 dom been collected : and it will be a difficult task indeed 
 to refute the argument which has been drawn from it. 
 He has assembled together the opinions and reasonings of 
 philosophers, politicians, and historians, who have taken 
 the most extensive views of men and societies ; whose 
 characters are deservedly revered ; and whose writino-s 
 were in the contemplation of those w^ho framed the 
 American constitutions. This work, in the rage of that 
 party spirit, which sought to snatch political power from 
 the hands of its author, suffered in the conflict. It was, 
 with a political view, attacked with every sort of weapon, 
 and for a time, at least, it became unpopular. Indeed, 
 the principle which it inculcated, as has been before ob- 
 served, never was universally popular. We could not 
 bear to be told that we were not, in all forms of govern- 
 ment, the best keepers of our own liberty : that its pre- 
 servation depended more upon checks and balances, than 
 upon our own virtue. 
 
54 
 
 But the time will come when it will be resorted to as 
 a reservoir of political wisdom; and posterity will revere 
 the author for the profoundness of his researches ; for the 
 Ijoldness with which he proclaimed the truth ; and for the 
 perseverance Avith which he maintained it. 
 
 Mr. Adams's opinion of the constitution of tlie United 
 States, is thus expressed, in his inaugural address, in 1797: 
 
 "I ftrst saw the constitution of the United States in a 
 foreign country. Irritated by no altercation, animated by 
 no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it 
 with great satisfaction, as a result of good he.^ds, prompt- 
 ed by good hearts ; and as an experiment, better adapted 
 to the genius, character, situation, and relation of this na- 
 tion and country, than any which had ever been projjosed 
 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 
 native state in particular, had contributed to establish." 
 
 '•' It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it, 
 in my mind, that the executive and senate were not more 
 permanent ; nor have I ever entertained a thought of pro- 
 moting an alteration in it, but such as the people them- 
 selves, in the course of their experience, should see and 
 feel to be necessary or expedient, and by their represen- 
 tatives in congress and the legislatures, according to the 
 constitution itself, adopt and ordain." 
 
 In the year 1790, while Mr. Adams was vice-president, 
 and in an early stage of the French revolution, while all 
 power was centred in a single national assembly ; while 
 all eyes were turned towards that great experiment, and 
 some extravagant notions wefe gaining ground in this 
 country, he deemed it a proper moment to recall the at- 
 tention of the public to his great principle of govern- 
 ment, the balance of power. 
 
 As a subject that might attract the notice of French- 
 men, he chose, as the text of his commentary, Davila's 
 Idstory of the civil wars in France in the 1 Gth century; 
 and published a number of papers in the Gazette of the 
 United States, in June and July, 1790, under the title of 
 " Discourses on Davila." 
 
 In these papers he pursued the same course of reason- 
 ing from facts, which he had adopted in his defence of 
 
55 
 
 the constitutions; and, in one of them, ( No. 14. July 17,- 
 1790,) with great accuracy, predicted the fate of the ex- 
 periment then making in France.* 
 
 In 1801, Mr. Adams, for the first time in thirty years, 
 found himself a private citizen, and retired to his farm in 
 Quincy, where he occupied himself with agricultural 
 pursuits, and amused himself with the literature and the 
 politics of the day. The welfare of his country was 
 still near his heart ; and he did not, as some may have 
 supposed, condemn, with indiscriminate censure, the 
 measures of succeeding administrations. What he could 
 not approve, witli characteristic honesty, he candidly con- 
 demned ; what he thought right, he, as freely, approved 
 and supported. He was not a friend to commercial re- 
 strictions as the means of coercion, although he com- 
 mended the spirit of resistance with which they were 
 adopted. He thought It better that commerce should be 
 protected than abandoned. But the moment it became a 
 question whether the honor of his country should be sup- 
 ported, he boldly threw his weight into the scale of his 
 country's cause. In comparison with the honor of his 
 country, the petty bickerings of party became, in his 
 eyes, not only contemptible, but wicked. His whole life 
 had been devoted to that cause, and it was not for him, to 
 hesitate between a local, temporary, popularit3^ and the 
 great interests of the nation. Nor can it, for a moment, 
 be believed, that he, who, in his most ambitious days, 
 never made a single sacrifice to popularity, should now, 
 for the first time, surrender his opinion, in the pitiful 
 hope of gaining favor for himself, or for any of his fami- 
 ly, with the prevailing party. It was not for him, when 
 the ship was in danger, to sit coldly in the cabin, and say 
 he was only a passenger. 
 
 His letters in 1809, published in the Boston Patriot, 
 upon the wrongs committed upon our commerce and our 
 seamen, show that the spirit of 1776 was not extinguish- 
 ed ; and those upon impressment contain an unanswerable 
 argument upon that subject. His communications to the 
 Boston Patriot, and to some other gazettes, were contin- 
 ued, occasionally, for several years, and elucidated many 
 
 * Ste Note 12, jit fhc enA. 
 
56 
 
 important points in the history of the times to which they 
 relate. 
 
 In 1817, he was chosen a member of the electoral col- 
 lege which voted for Mr. Monroe as president of the 
 United States. 
 
 In 1818, he was called upon to endure the greatest 
 affliction of his long and eventful life — the loss of the 
 bosom friend of his youth — the partner of his joys and 
 sorrows — his confidant and counsellor. 
 
 Words cannot do justice to her worth, or express his 
 feelings. Their most intimate friends, who knew how 
 much they leaned on each other, were afraid that Mr. 
 Adams would sink under this heavy affliction. But his 
 heroic spirit sustained the shock with the fortitude of a 
 philosopher, and with the resignation of a Christian. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson was one of the first to pour the balm of 
 consolation upon his wounded spirit. In a letter to Mr. 
 Adams, dated Monticello, Nov. 13, 1818, he says: 
 
 " The public papers, my dear friend, announce the 
 fatal event, of which your letter, of October 20th, had 
 given me ominous foreboding. Tried myself, in the school 
 of affliction, by the loss of every form of connexion which 
 can rive the human heart, I know well, and feel, what 
 you have lost — what you are suffering — and have yet to 
 endure. The same trials have taught me, that for ills so 
 immeasurable, time and silence are the only medicines. I 
 will not, therefore, by useless condolences, open afresh 
 the sluices of your grief; nor, although mingling, sin- 
 cerely, my tears with yours, will I say a word more, 
 where words are vain ; but that it is some comfort to us 
 both, that the term is not very distant, at which we are 
 to deposit, in the same cerement, our sorrows and suffer- 
 ing bodies; and to ascend, in essence, to an ecstatic meet- 
 ings with the friends we have loved and lost; and whom 
 we shall still love, and never lose again. God bless you, 
 and support you under your heavy affliction. 
 
 « THOMAS JEFFERSON." 
 
 What a lesson does this teach to the political opponents 
 of the present day ! What a brilliance does it throw upon 
 the characters of those two illustrious patriots ! 
 
57 
 
 In 1820, Mr. Adams was chosen a member of the con- 
 vention to revise that constitution of his native state, 
 which he had, forty years before, so largely contributed 
 to estabhsh ; and was, almost unanimously, elected its 
 president. Upon that occasion, the convention, upon the 
 motion of chief justice Parker, passed a resolution, in 
 which, after reciting, in a neat preamble, the principal 
 instances in which his services had been most useful to 
 his country, they expressed their gratitude for those ser- 
 vices, and appointed a committee of twelve to inform 
 him of his election to the office of president of the con- 
 vention.* 
 
 This honor he felt himself obliged to decline, on ac- 
 count of his great age and bodily infirmities. He, how- 
 ever, attended the convention, and discharged his duty 
 as a member. He was then eighty-five years old. This 
 was the last of his public services. 
 
 Mr. Adams was always remarkable for the punctuality 
 of his correspondence. And, although he had nearly lost 
 his sight, and was unable to use his pen, he continued 
 that punctuality, by dictating to an amanuensis, until a 
 few days before his death. His answer, of the 22d of June, 
 to the invitation from the citizens of Washington, to join 
 with them in celebrating the national jubilee, shows that 
 his mental faculties were still unimpaired. When he de- 
 livered his written answer to the committee of his native 
 town, who had given him a similar invitation, he said to 
 them, " I shall not be present in body ; but in spirit I 
 shall be with you." On the morning of the jubilee, he 
 awoke at the ringing of the bells, and the firing of can- 
 non. The servant who watched with him, asked him if he 
 knew what day it was? " yes," he replied, "it is the 
 glorious 4th of July — God bless it — God bless you all." 
 
 In the forenoon, the orator of the day, Mr. Whitney, 
 called to see him, and found him seated in a large arm- 
 chair. In the course of the interview, Mr. Whitney asked 
 him for a sentiment, to be delivered at the table. He 
 replied, " I will give you, " independence forever." 
 After a few moments had elapsed, a lady present askecJL 
 
 * S"^!? No<p 13. at thn OX]'], 
 
 S 
 
68 
 
 ]ilm if he wished to add any thing to the toast ? and he 
 said, " Not a syllable." \ 
 
 This passed an hour or two only before his dissolution. 
 In the course of the day he said, " It is a great and good 
 day," And that his thoughts were dwelling on the scenes 
 of 1776, is evident, from the last words he uttered, which 
 were, " Jefferson survives." But, alas ! at that very mo- 
 ment, the spirit of Jefferson had already flown. 
 
 Towards evening, Mr. Adams's strength failed ; he 
 gradually sunk away, and his spirit departed before the 
 setting sun, on the 4th of July, 1826, in the 91st year of 
 bis age. 
 
 There had been a thunder-storm ; and the artillery of 
 heaven added sublimity to the scene. At the moment 
 when the spirit of Adams began to ascend, a most splen- 
 did and perfect rainbow over-arched his dwelling. It 
 was like the gate or Heaven. One who beheld the scene, 
 says, " It seemed as if all nature gave witness, that no 
 common spirit was travelling the fields of air to its high 
 abode. It rose upon the aspirations of the multitude — 
 shouting, " Independence forever.''^ 
 
 Mr. Adams's political character is best pourtrayed by 
 a simple recital of his public life. 
 
 That he was ambitious of public honors, must be ad- 
 mitted ; for, in a republican government, public honors 
 are the evidence of public approbation. Ambition is crim- 
 inal only when it seeks the honors without deserving 
 them. No public man ever sacrificed less to popularity 
 than Mr. Adams. No man ever pursued more steadily 
 what he believed to be the best interests of his country. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson often said, " There is not, upon earth, a 
 more perfectly honest man than John Adams. Conceal- 
 ment is no part of his character; of that he is utterly in- 
 capable; it is not in his nature to meditate any thing that 
 he would not publish to the world. I know him loell, and 
 I repeat it, that a man more perfectly honest never is- 
 sued from the hands of his Creator."* 
 
 Mr. Adams's private character was unimpeachable and 
 exemplary. In all the domestic relations, he was kind, 
 affectionate, and cheerful. In his friendships he was sin- 
 
 * Mr. Wii-t's discourse, p. 51. 
 
59 
 
 cere and ardent. In his intercourse with the world, no 
 desire of wealth ever mingled with his motives. Without 
 being rich, he was always independent. His domestic 
 concerns were entirely under the control of Mrs. Adams, 
 whose prudence relieved him altogether from cares of that 
 description, and permitted him to devote his whole time 
 to the service of his country, and to the pursuits of lite- 
 rature. 
 
 Mr. Adams was one of the most learned statesmen of 
 his age. There was scarce a subject in polite literature, 
 of which he was not master ; and to all literary societies 
 he was -a friend and benefactor. 
 
 In his religious sentiments, as well as in all others, he 
 was liberal ; and in his religious duties, exemplary. 
 
 Such was the man, who was an honor to his country; 
 and whose memory his country will delight to honor. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 {See Page Q.) 
 
 NoTK 1. — In 1650, the house of commons, having deposed the king and 
 established its power over England, passed an ordinance, declaring that the 
 colonies " are, and ought to be, dependent on that nation, and subject to 
 such laws and regulations as are, or shall be, made by parliament." MaV' 
 shair.i History of tfie Colonies, p. 65. 
 
 In 1696, by the stat. of 7 &, 8 fV. 3. c. 22, § 9, it is enacted, "That all laws, 
 by-laws, usages, or customs at this time, or which hereafter shall be, in 
 practice, or endeavoi-ed, or mtended to be, in force, or practice, in any of 
 the said plantations, which are, in any-wise, repugnant to the beforementioned 
 laws, or any of them, so far as they do relate to the said plantatioiis , or any 
 of them, or which are, m anyways, repugnant to this jpresent act, or to any 
 other law hereafter to be made in this kingdom, so far forth as such law shall 
 relate to and mention the said plantations, are illegal, null, and void, to all 
 intents and purposes whatsoever." 
 
 ( See rage 10.) 
 Note 2. — AWiough, in 1650, the general court of Massachusetts, in a 
 petition against the autliority given to the council of state, during the com- 
 monwealth, to displace the colonial governors and to appoint others, style 
 the parliament, " tbe supreme authoritt ;" yet, as that parliament had 
 usurped the whole authority of the king, it might be considered as, de facto, 
 the mipreme ponuer over the colonies, by vu-tue of its assumption of the 
 rights of the crown. And, therefore, such acknowledgment, under such 
 circumstances, cannot be considered as an acknowledgment of the i-ight of 
 parliament to legislate for the colonies in the ordinary exercise of its con- 
 stitutional powers. Whatever right that parliament had to legislate for the 
 colonies, could only be claimed under the usurped rights of the king. 
 
 Again: altliough, in 17 J4, the legislature of Massachusetts, in answer to 
 the governor, and referring to a late act of parliament, for granting certaitt 
 duties in the colonies, say: " We acknowledge it to be our duty to yield obe- 
 dience to it while it continues unrepealed," and only argue against the expe- 
 diency of the measure, yet, in a letter fi-om the same legislature, addressed 
 to cheir agent in England, tliey say: "We have endeavored to avoid giving 
 offence, and have touched upon our rights in such a manner as that no infer- 
 ence can be drawn that ive nave given them tip, on the one hand, nor that we 
 set up in opposition to the parliament, nor deny that we are bound to the ob- 
 servance of acts of parliament, on the other." 
 
 Governor Bernard complimented the legislature upon the dutiful manner 
 in which tiieir representations to parliament had been formed ; but that duti- 
 ful manriiir did not prevent the passing of the stamp-act at the next session of 
 parliament, by a majority of four to one. 
 
 And the right of taxation had been frequently denied by the colonies long 
 before that time. 
 
 In 1524, after James the first had sent commissioners to Virginia, to inquire 
 into tlie state of the colony, and after a quo -warranto had issued to vacate the 
 charter of the company, the colonial assembly passed a number of acts, one of 
 •which was equivalent to a bill of rights, and declared, " that the governor 
 should not impose any taxes on the colony, otherwise than by the authority of 
 the genei^al assembly." Marshall's History of the Colonies, p. 62, 139. 1 
 Jfolmes's Annals, 232. 
 
 As early as 1634, tlie general court of Massachusetts passed several reso- 
 lutions, asserting among" other things, " that none but the general court has 
 
6Q 
 
 power to make and establish laws, to elect and appoint officers, as governor, 
 deputy governor, assistants, treasurer, secretary, captains, lieutenants, en- 
 signs, or any of like moment ; or to remove such upon misueiutanor ; also, 
 to presci-ibe their duties and powers; to raise money and taxes i and to dis- 
 pose of lands." 1 Holmes, 27s. 
 
 In tlie following year, (1635,) when it was apprehended that a general go- 
 vernor would be sent out from England, under tlie special cominission to the 
 archbishop of Canterbury, and ten other persons for governing tlie colonies, 
 the clergymen of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, who were, at that t.me, 
 considered as the fatliers of the commonwealth, were convened at Boston, 
 and consulted by the civil magistrates. 
 
 With tlie same spirit whicli lias always been manifested by the clergy of 
 that state, in favor of civil liberty, and which contributed so largel) to the. 
 establishment of the Independence of the colonies, tliey ujianimousl) agreed 
 that if such a governor were sent, the colony ought not to accept him ; but to 
 defend their Hgliis, if able ; "■ otherwise to avoid or protract.'" 1 JJolinet, 
 ■279. And see the commission to the archbisliop of Canterbui-y, ficc. 1 Hutch- 
 inso7i's Hist. jMass. 440. Appendix, jYo i. 
 
 And again, in ItJSS, when the king (Car. 1.) required them to surrender 
 their patent, among other reasons why tliey beg to be excused, they say, itt 
 their petition to the lords commissioners for foreign plantations, that " It our 
 patent be taken from us, the common people here will conceive that his ma- 
 jesty hath cast them off. and tkat iiidcoy tnej arp ffpfd t'l-nni tb.-ii- iillegiance 
 and subjection, and thereripon will confederate themselves into a new govern' 
 onent, for their necessary safety and subsistence, mhich will be of da?igeroua 
 example to other plaiitations, and perilous to ourselves of incurring his ma- 
 jesty's displeasure, which we would by all means avoid." 1 Hutchinson, 
 142. Appendix, j\'o. 5. Mr. Hutchinson, in his historj^, vol. 1, p. 87, suppo- 
 ses from what he knew of " their notions of civil subjection,'''' tliat if tliey 
 had, at that time, been deprived of theii- patent, " They would have sought 
 some vacuum domicilium in some part of the globe where they would, ac- 
 cording to their own apprehensions, have been free from the control of ang 
 Etiropean power. ' ' 
 
 These facts show that Independence was in their thoughts, even at that 
 early day. 
 
 In January, 1638-9, the inhabitants of three towns on Connecticut river, 
 Windsor, Hartford, and Weathersfield, finding themselves out of the limits 
 of the Massachusetts' patent, formed tliemselves, by a voluntai-y compact, in- 
 to a distinct commonwealth, and adopted a constitution of government, form- 
 ed upon the solid foundation of tlie sole autliority of the people. 
 
 This was independence in fact, although they acknowledged their allegi- 
 ance to the king of England. This constitution and form of goverimient 
 continued, with very little alteration, nearly to the present time. The first 
 act of that government was a declaration of rights. 
 
 In 1641, during the English commonwealth, some friends of the colony in 
 England, advised an application to the parliament, soliciting favors which 
 they thought would be granted ; " but," says governor Winthrop, " after 
 consulting about it we declined the motion, for this consideration, that if we 
 should put ourselves under the protection of parliament, we must then be sub' 
 ject to all such laws as they should make, or at least, such as they might im- 
 pose upon lis ; in which course, though tliey should intend our good yet it 
 might prove very prejudicial to us." 
 
 As an incident leading to independence we ought not to forget the union, 
 in 1643, of the four colonies, Massachusetts, Plymoutli, Connecticut, and 
 New Haven, under the title of " The United Colonies of JV<sw England." 
 This was a league for their own defence, and managed by commissioners, 
 who had power to declare war and make peace, and to regulate the genei-al 
 concerns of tlie Union. 
 
 All die colonies, before tlie reign of Charles II. except Maryland, settled 
 a raociel of government for themselves. 1 Hiitchiitson, 92, note. The re- 
 
43 
 
 f resentative brancti in most, if not in all of them, depended, for its aullioritv, 
 upon the assiu'ances, contained in their charters, that they should enjoy all 
 the rights, liberties, and privileges, of natural born subjects in England. This 
 was the case also in Barbadoes, and the leeward islands. 1 Hutch. 92, 93, 
 tiote. 
 
 After the restoration, there is no instance of a colony settled without a re- 
 presentation of the people ; nor any attempt to deprive the colonies of that 
 privilege, except in the arbitrary reign of James II. I Hutch. 93. And the 
 king, by his proclamation of 1763, offered the same terms to those who 
 should settle in the countries then recently acquired. 
 
 So much attached were the people to this democratic feature in their go- 
 vernments, that although lord Say and Seale tempted the principal men of 
 Massachusetts with tlie offer of making them and their heii*s nobles, and ab- 
 solute governors of a new colony, not one could be found to follow him. 
 1 Hutch. 92. 
 
 That feature, however, would have had no value in their eyes, if parlia^- 
 raent had possessed the right to legislate for them in all cases whatsoever. 
 
 In the year 1561, the legislature of the colony of Massachusetts, made a 
 declaration of their rights by charter, in which they say, " The governor, 
 deputy governor, assistants, and select representatives, or deputies, hsyefull 
 power and authority, both legislative and executive, for the government of all 
 die people hei-e, whether inhabitants or strangers, both concerning ecclesias- 
 tical and civil, without appeals; excepting laws repugnant to the laws of 
 England." 1 Hutch. 455, Appendix, J\'o. 13. 
 
 In their address to king Charles the second, in 1664, on the subject of the 
 commission to colonel Nichols and others, they say, " And if the taking of 
 this course should drive the people out of the country, (for to a coalition 
 therein they will never come,) it will be hard to find anotlier people that will 
 stay long, or stand imder any consideral)le burden in it." It is a great unhap- 
 piness to be reduced to so hard a case as to have no other testimony of our 
 subjection and loyalty offered us, but this, viz. to destroy our own being, 
 which natm-e teacheth us to preserve, or to yield up our liberties, which are 
 far dearer to us than our lives, and which, had we had any fears of being de- 
 prived of, we had never wandered from om* fathers' houses, into these ends 
 of die earth." 1 Hutch. 461, Appendix, J^o. 16. 
 
 In 1670, and 1672, new acts of trade were passed by parliament, and cer- 
 tain duties laid upon articles shipped from die colonies to other countries^' 
 than England, which were to be collected by custom-house officers, appoint- 
 ed by the commissioners of the customs in England. [See Stat. 22, and 23,. 
 Car. 2. c. 26. and 25. Car. 2. c. 7.] But as the governors were still elected and 
 paid by the people, and as tlie right of parliament, to pass those acts, was 
 questioned, they were not rigorously enforced. The legislature of Massa- 
 chusetts, in a letter to tlieir agent in England, declared them to be " an inva- 
 sion of the rights, liberty, and propertj of the subjects of his majesty in the 
 colony, they not being represented in parliament." But as his majesty had 
 signified ids plcasm-e that they should be conformed to, " They had made 
 provision by a law of the colony that they should be strictly attended to from 
 time to time, although it greatly discouraged trade, and was a great damage' 
 to his majesty's plantations." 
 
 In the contest between Charles the second and the colony, respecting their 
 charter, the latter maintained a steady, and, perhaps, we may say, a surly 
 opposition to the views of the crown ; and, when die question was taken, in 
 the general court, whether they should surrender their charter, or suffer the 
 quo toarratito to issue, they decided, in concurrence M'ith the common senti- 
 ment of the people, that " it -was better to die by other hands than theii 
 own." 
 
 This resolution was advised by the clergy, who, at that time, were consult- 
 ed by the people in all their difficidties. The agents of the colony, in Eng- 
 land, were instructed to make no concessions of any of the priyilege.s con- 
 ferred upon the colony by its chartn-. 
 
64 
 
 The conseqence was, that the writ of gwo warranto w as issued, and their 
 patent cancelled. 
 
 The new government, established for the colonies, tinder sii- Edmond An- 
 dross, and otliers, was subverted by a revolution in Massachusetts, in 1689, 
 before any certain account had arrived of the revolution in England. The old 
 colonial government was i-einstated, and continued by the royal assent, until 
 a, new charter was granted by William and Maiy, in 1692. 
 
 This new charter introduced some changes, whicli affected, radically, the 
 independence that had been so long practically enjoyed by die colony. 
 
 The governor and other officers were no longer to be elected by the people, 
 but to be appointed by the king. The governor was enabled to call, adjourn, 
 prorogue, and dissolve the legislature, at pleasui-e. He had the appointment, 
 solely, of all military officers; and, with the consent of the council, of all 
 officers belonging to courts of justice. Other civil officers were elected by 
 the two houses, but he had a negative ; and no act of government was valid 
 without his consent. 
 
 As early as 1692, the first colonial legislature, assembled under this new 
 charter, passed an act, in the style of magna charta, in which, among other 
 privih^ges, they declared, that " no aid, tax," &c. " should be laid," but by 
 the consent of the governor, council, and representatives, of the people, 
 assembled in general court." 
 
 Although tliere is no evidence of a design, on the part of the mmistry, so 
 eai-ly as 1696, of raising a revenue from the colonies, by taxation, yet, about 
 that time., a pamphlet was published, recommending the laying of a pai-lia- 
 mcntary tax upon one of them. This pamphlet was answered by two others, 
 which totally denied tlie power of taxing the colonies, because they had no rep- 
 resentation in parliament to give consent. And lord Camden, in his speech, in 
 April, 1760, said, " The pamphlets against tax.ation were much read, and no 
 answer was given to them; nor were men startled at the doctrine, as either 
 new, or illegal, or derogatory to the rights of parliament." 1 Holmes, p. 33. 
 In 1711, it was resolved by the assembly of New York, " That the impos- 
 ing and levying any moneys upon her majesty's subjects in this colony, under 
 any pretence or color, whatsoever, without their consent m general assembly, 
 is a grievance and a violation, of the people's projierty." This resolution, 
 however, although general in its terms, was, probaljly, directed only against 
 the assumption of that power by the governor. JMarshaWs History of the 
 Colonies, 207. 
 
 In 1754, in consequence of the approaching French war, the British go- 
 vernment recommended an union of the colonies for mutual defence. Dele- 
 gates appointed by seven of tlie colonial governments, viz. Massachusetts, 
 New Hampshire, Rliode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and 
 Maryland, met in Albany ; and, on the fourth of July, agreed upon a plan 
 of general government for the colonies, drawn up by Doctor Franklin. 2 
 Holmes, 201. 
 
 This government was to consist of a council to be chosen by the colonial 
 assemblies, and a pi-esident to be appointed by the king ; and its powers 
 were neai'ly as extensive as tliose of the present government of tlie United 
 States. 
 
 This plan, however, was i-ejected by tlie colonies, because it gave too much 
 power to the president ; and it was not approved by the king, because it 
 gave too much power to tlie people. 
 
 Instead of this plan, the Britisli minister proposed a tax upon tlie colonies, 
 to be paid into the British treasui-y, and to be drawn out and expended by 
 the governors of the colonies, who viere to assemble widi one or tw o mem- 
 hers of the respective provincial councils, and who were to meet, consult, 
 and resolve upon the measures necessary for the common defence. 
 
 This proposition, being entirely opposed to the prevailing opinions in the 
 colonies, was not, at that time, furdier jji-essed. Jilm-dliall, 284. 
 
 How far this convention and plan of government suggested the idea of tlie 
 subsequent congress of 1774, or the conlederation of 1781, it is aot impor- 
 
65 
 
 tant to enquire ; l>ut there is little doubt that the joint efforts of die colonies, 
 and tlie success of their arms in the war of 1755, by bringing them to a bet- 
 ter acquaintance witli each other, by developing their resources, and by in- 
 spiring a martial spirit, and mutual confidence, led tlie way to their indepen- 
 dence in 1776. 
 
 In the same year, (1754) governor Shii'ley informed Dr. Franklin, who 
 was then in Boston, of the profound secret, the great design of taxing the 
 colonies by act of parliament. Dr. Franklin gave the governor a written an- 
 swer, in which, among other arguments against it, he says: " It would be 
 ti-eating them as conquered enemies, and not as free Britons, who hold it 
 for tlieir undoubted right, not to be taxed but by their own consent given 
 through their representatives." Political Disqiusitions, vol. 2. p. 276, 7, S, 
 y, cited in JVovanglus, edition of 1810, p. 16. 
 
 Whether the ministiy were discouraged or not, by Dr. Fi-anklin's remarks, 
 the project was at tliat time, laid aside. 
 
 {See Page IS,.) 
 Note 3. — The whole letter was published in the Monthly Anthology, of 
 May, 1807, p. 256, and is as follows: 
 
 WORCESTEB, Oct. 12, 1755. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 All that part .of creation which lies within our observation, is liable to 
 change. Even mighty states and kingdoms are not exempted. If we look into 
 histoiy, v/e shall find some nations rising from contemptible beginnings, and 
 spreading tlieir influence, till tlie whole globe is subjected to tlieir sway. 
 When tliey have reached the summit of grandeur, some minute and unsus- 
 pected cause commonly effects their ruin, and the empire of the world is 
 transferred to some other place. Immortal Rome was, at first, but an insig- 
 nificant village, inhabited only by a few abandoned ruffians ; but, by degrees 
 it rose to a stupendous height, and excelled, in arts and arms, all the nations 
 that preceded it. 
 
 But the demolition of Carthage (what one should think would have estab- 
 lished it in supreme dominion) by removing all danger, suffered it to suik into 
 debauchery, and made it, at length, an easy prey to barbarians. England, 
 immediately upon this, began to increase (the particular and minute causes of 
 which I am not historian enough to trace) in power and magnificence ; and is 
 now the greatest nation upon the globe. Soon after the Reformation, a few 
 people came over into this new world, for conscience' sake. Perhaps this 
 apparently trivial incident may transfer the gi'eat seat of empire into America. 
 It looks likely to me; for, if we can remove the turbulent Gallicks, our 
 people, according to the exactest calculations, will, iu another century, be- 
 come more numerous tlian England itself. Should this be the case, since 
 we have, I may say, all tlie naval stores of the nation in our hands, it will be 
 easy to obtain the mastery of the seas ; and then the united force of all Em-ope 
 will not be able to snbdue us. The only way to keep us from setting up tor 
 ourselves, is to disunite us. Divide et impera — Keep us in distinct colonics ; 
 and then, some great men in each colony, desiring the monarchy of the whole, 
 tliey will dertroy each other's influence, and keep the country in equilibrio. 
 
 Be not surprised tiiat I am turned politician. The whole town is niimersed in 
 politics. Tiie interests of nations, and all the dira of war, make the subject of 
 evpi'v conversation. I sit aud hear ; and, after having been led through a maze 
 of sage ol)servations, I sometimes retire, and, by laying things together, form 
 some refietitions Bleasing to myself. The produce of one of these reveries, you 
 have ivad f.bove. Different employments and different objects may have drawn 
 your thoughts other ways. I shall think wiyself happy if, in your turn, you 
 communicate your lucubrations to me. I wrote you, some time since, and 
 have waited, with impatience, for an answer, but have been disappointed. I 
 hope that tlie lady, at B;i.rnstable, has not made you forget yom* friends. 
 Frieadsiup, I take it, is one of the distinguishing glories of man ; and the 
 creature that is insensible of its charms, though he may wear the sluine of 
 
66 
 
 man, is unw ortliy of tlic character, lu this, perhaps, we bear a nearer re- 
 semblance to uiiembodied inlelligencies, than in any thing else. From this I 
 fxpcct to receive the chief happiness of my future life ; and am sorry that 
 i'ortnne has thrown rue at such a distance from those of my friends who have 
 the highest place in my aft'ections. 15ut thus it is ; and I must submit. But, I 
 hope, ere lone, to return, and live in that happy familiarity that has, from 
 earliest infancy, subsisted between yoiu'self and affectionate friend, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 
 Addressed to Mr. Natuan Wibb, at Braintree. 
 
 (See Page 14.) 
 N oxr 4. — Mr, Adams, in his preface to JVovanghia, (edition of 1819,) speak- 
 ing of his friend Sewall, s.-tys: " To James Otis, who took a kind notice of us 
 both, we constantly applied for advice, in any difficulty, and he would attend 
 to us, advise us, and look into books for us, and point out authorities to us as 
 'kindly as if we had been his pupils, or his sons." 
 
 [See Page l^.) 
 
 .Vote 5. — Mr. Eveiett, in a note to his "Address in Commemoration of 
 John Adams and Thomas Jefferson" August 1, 1826, says: "The copy I 
 have of this work, was printed by Almon, at London, in 1768, as a seque! 
 10 some other political pieces, with the following title, and prcliminarj- 
 note:" 
 
 " The following dissertition, which was written at Boston, in New Eng- 
 land, in the year 17G5, and then printed there in the Gazette, being very 
 curious, and having connexion with this publication, it is thought proper to 
 leprint it. The author is ssiid to have been Jeremy Gridley, Esq. attorney gen- 
 .cral of the province of Massachusetts Bay, member of the general court, 
 <:olonel of the first regiment of militia, president of the marine society, and 
 ;^randmasler of the freemasons. He died at Boston, Sept. 7, 1767. 
 "A Uissertation 07i the Canon and Feudal Laio." 
 
 This copy formerly belonged to Dr. Andrew Eliot, to whom it was pre- 
 sented by Thomas Hollis. Directly above the title is written, apparently ii» 
 Dr. A. Eliot's hand-writing, " The autiior of this dissertation is John Adams, 
 l'>sq.;" and, at the foot of the page is the following note, in the same hand- 
 writing, but mai'ked v ilh inverted commas, as a quotation, and signed T. H. 
 
 " The dissertation on the canon and feudal law, is one of the very finest pro- 
 iluetions ever seen from North America. By a letter from Boston, in New 
 England, signed sui juris, inserted in that valuable newspaper, the Londou 
 Chronicle, Jul}' 19, it should seem the writer of it happily yet lives. T. H." 
 
 An edition of it was afterwards published in Philadelphia, by Robert Bell, 
 in 17.S3, in a pamphlet, with lord Sheffield's observations on tlie commerce of 
 the American Slates, and with the title of " An essay 07i canon and feudal 
 laxt), by John Adams, Esq." 8cc. 
 
 {See Page 2i.) 
 
 Note f). — These essays were republished in Boston, in 1819, with a pre- 
 face by Mr. Adams, and with his letters to Mr. Tudor and others. It is but 
 justice to the late judge James Wilson, of Pennsylvania, to acknowledge that 
 many of the arguments against the general authority of parliament to legis- 
 late for the colonies, contained in Novanglus, had been published by him in a 
 pamphlet, in August, 1774. That, however, is only one of tlie points discuss- 
 ed in " JVovanglns." 
 
 In addition to the many coincidencies which have been noticed in (he lives 
 of Mr. Adams and Mv. .lefferson, it may be observed, that while Mr. Jeffer- 
 son was writing, in \^irginia, his " Summary of tlie rights of British America," 
 Mr. Adams was vindicating those rights in the most masterly manner, in Mas- 
 sachusetts ; and while Mr. Jefferson, in America, was exalting the character 
 of liis couiitry, by his notes on Virginia, written in answer to queries propound- 
 
67 
 
 ed by La Fayette, Mr. Adams, in Holland, m as effecting the same object, by 
 his letters in answer to the queries of Mr. Kalkoeu. 
 
 (See Paffe IC).) 
 
 Note 7. — This committee was apj)ointed by congress, to ascertain whether 
 lord Howe had any and what authority to treat with any persons authorized 
 by congress for that purpose ; and to jicar his propositions. Lord Huwe had 
 setit an officer as a Iiostage, but tliey mapumimously took him with t'nem. 
 They were received with an imposing display of military force ; were treated 
 politely, but not acknowledged in any other cliaracter than that of JsriUsh 
 Kuhjects; a character which tliey, of course, did not admit. It is unnecessary 
 therefore, to add, that nothing restdted from the conference. 
 
 It is said by Mr. Spraguc, in a note to liis eulogy ou Adams and Jefferson, 
 that during the time that Mr. Adams was in congress, he served on ninety com- 
 mittees, being twice as many as any other member, except Kicliard Heniy 
 Lee, and Samuel Adams ; and although it was the policy to put \'irgiiiiu 
 generally at the head, he was chairman of twenty-five committees. 
 
 (See Page ^7.) 
 Note 8.— In a letter to Mr. R. H. Lee, dated " Passy, Feb. 13, irrO,'^ Mr. 
 Adams says, " Congress have done wisely, in my poor opinion, in confiding 
 their political affairs, at this court, to one ; but tiien I tliink it will be neces- 
 saiy to appoint consuls, or other per.sons, to manage mai-itime .ind commer- 
 cial affairs, which I pi-esume they moan to do. The care of these things is 
 inconsistent with your minister's character, and tlie l)urden of them is too 
 mighty for his forces." "In the sincerity of my heart, I assm-c you tiiut no 
 intelligence I ever heard, relieved my mind from a greater burden, than that 
 which informed me I was a private citizen." 
 
 {See Page iS).) 
 
 [Note 9.] Philadelpuia, JSTov. 15, 1775. 
 
 Dkar Sin ; 
 
 The course of events natarally turns the thouglits of gentlemen to the sub- 
 jects of legislation and jurisprudence ; and it is a curious problem, w hat fornx 
 of government is most readily and easily adopted by a colony upon a sudden 
 emergency. Nature and experience have already pointed out the solution of 
 this problem in the choice of conventions and committees of safety. Notliing 
 is wanting, in addition to these, to make a complete government, but the 
 appointment of mfigistrates for tl»e due administration of justice. 
 
 Taking natiu-e and experience for my guide, I have made the following 
 sketch, which may be varied in any one particular an infinite number of ways, 
 so as to accommodate it to tlie different genius, temper, principles, auil even 
 prejudices, of different people. 
 
 A legislative, an executive, and a judicial power, comprehend the whole 
 of what is meant and understood by government. It is by the balancing each 
 of these powers against tlie other two, that the effort in human nature towards 
 tyranny, can alone be checked and restrained, and any degree of freedom 
 ■preserved in the constitution. 
 
 Let a full and free I'epresentation of the people be chosen for an house of 
 commons. 
 
 Let the house choose by ballot, twelve, sixteen, twenty-four, or twenty- 
 eight persons, either members of the house, or from the people at large, as 
 die electors please, for a council. 
 
 Let the house and council, by joint ballot, choose a governor annually, 
 triennially, or septenniallv, as you will. 
 
 Let the governor, council, and house, he each a distinct and independent 
 branch of the legislature, and have a negative on all laws. 
 
 Let the lieutenant governor, secretary, treasurer, commissary, attorney- 
 general, and solicitor-general, be chosen aiuiually, by joint ballot of both 
 houses. 
 
GS 
 
 l-pt the "ovenior, witli seven counciljors, he a quorum. 
 
 Let all ofRcei-s and magistrates, civil and military, be nominated and ap- 
 pointed by the sjfovernor, by and with the advice and consent of his council. 
 
 Let no oflicer l)e appointed but at a general council, and let notice be given 
 to all the councillors, seven days, at least, before a general council. 
 
 Let the judges, at least of the supreme court, be incapacitated, by law, 
 from holding any share of the legislative power; let their commissions be 
 diu'hig good behaviour, and their salaries ascertained and established bylaw. 
 
 Let the governor have the command of the army, the militia, forts, &c. 
 
 Let the colony have a seal, and affix it to all commissions. 
 
 In this way, a single month is sufficient, without the least convulsion, or 
 even animosity, to accomplish a total revolution in the government of a co- 
 lony._ 
 
 If it is thought more beneficial, a law may be made by this new legislature, 
 leaving to the people, at large, the privilege of choosing their governor and 
 councillors annually, as soon as affairs get into a more quiet com'se. 
 
 In adopting a plan in some respects similar to this, human nature would 
 appear in its proper glory, asserting its own real dignity, pulling down tyran- 
 nies at a single exertion, and erecting such new fabrics, as it thinks best cal- 
 culated to promote its happiness. 
 
 As you was last evening polite enough to ask me for this model, if such a 
 trifle will be of any service to you, or any gratification of curiosity, hex-c you 
 have it, from, sir, your friend and humble servant, 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. 
 Richard Henry Lee, Esq. 
 Present. 
 
 {See Page i^.) 
 Note 10. — In the same woi'k, (essay on canon and feudal law,) he tlius el- 
 oquently calls upon his countrymen to tin-n their thoughts to the oi-igin of 
 government: " IjCt us dare to read, think, speak, and write. Let every 
 order and degree among the people rouse their attention and animate their 
 resolution. Let them all become attentive to the grounds and prhicifiks of 
 ■^■ovemment, ecclesiastical and civil. Let us study the law of nature ; search 
 into the sl>irit of the British constitution; read the histories of ancient ages; 
 "■ontemplate the gi-eat examples of Greece and Rome; set before us the 
 conduct of our British ancestors, who have defended, for us, the inher- 
 ent rights of mankind against foreign and domestic tyrants and usurpers ; 
 against arbitrary kings and cruel priests ; in short, against the gates of earth 
 and hell. Let us read and recollect, and impress upon our souls, the views 
 and ends of our own immediate forefathers, in exchanging their native conn- 
 try for a di'cary, inhospitable wilderness. Let us examine into the nature of 
 that power, and the cruelty of that oppression, which drove them from their 
 homes. Recollect their amazing fortitude, their hitler sufferings." "Re- 
 collect the civil and religious principles, and hopes, and exjiectations, which 
 < onstantly supported and carried them through all hardships with patience 
 and resignation. Let us recollect it was Ubei'tii ; the hope of liberty for them- 
 selves, and us, and ours, which conquered all discouragements, dangers and 
 trials. In such researches as these, let us all, in our several departments, 
 cheerfully engage ; but especially the proper patrons and supporters of law, 
 learning, and religion.^'' 
 
 After calling upon the piilfnt, in strong and appropriate language, to aid 
 in the great work, he thus addresses tlie bar : 
 
 " Let the bar proclaim " the laws, the rights, the generous jilan of power,'''' 
 delivered down from remote antiquity ; inform the world of ttie mighty strug- 
 gles and numberless sacrifices, made by oi\r ancestors, in tht; defence of free- 
 dom. Let it b(» known that Jiritish liberties arc not the grants of princes, or 
 j>arliaments ; hut original rights, conditions of original contracts, co-equal 
 ■Loilh prerogative, and co-eval with go^ienuuenl. That many of our riglits 
 
69 
 
 are inherent and essential, agreed on as maxims, and established as prelimina- 
 ries, even before a parliament existed. Let them search for the foundation 
 of tlie British laws and government in the frame ofhumaji nature, in the con- 
 stitution of the intellectual and moral world. There let us see that truth, 
 liberty, ju.^tice, and benevolence are its everlasting basis." 
 
 After calling upon the colleges in tlie same animated style, he proceeds ; 
 
 " In a word, let every sluice of linowledge be opened and set a flowing. 
 The encroachments upon liberty in the reigns of the first James, and the first 
 Charles, by turning the general attention of learned men to government, are 
 said to have produced the greatest number of consummate statesmen which 
 has ever been seen in any age or nation. The Brookes, Hamdens, Falk- 
 lands, Vanes, Miltons, Nedhams, Harringtons, Nevilles, Sydneys, Lockes, 
 are all said to have owed their eminence, in political knowledge, to the 
 tyrannies of those reigns. The prospect now before us, in America, ought 
 in the same manner to engage the attention of every man of learning to mai- 
 lers of power and right, that we may be neither led nor driven, blindfolded, 
 to ii-retrievable destruction." 
 
 This little tract is now so rare, and so well worthy of preservation, that 
 any printer who would republish it would confer a benefit upon the country. 
 It would make a pamphlet of about 40 pages. 
 
 {See Page 5(i.) 
 
 Note 11. — ^I have not been able to find this letter. It is, probably, that 
 which Mr. Adams alludes to in his letter to Mr. Perley, published in the 
 Boston Patriot, of 13th of May, 1809, when he says: " In January, 1776, I 
 printed my opinion of a proper form of government under the title of 
 " Thoughts on Government, in a letter from a gentleman to his friend." 
 
 It was published by Mr. R. H. Lee, and printed by Dunlap, in Philadel- 
 phia, in January, or February, 1770. It was also published by Thomas, in 
 his Massachusetts Spy, and there attributed to Mr. Jefferson, Being applied 
 to, many years afterwards, by a printer, Mr. Adams gave permission to re- 
 print it, with Awname, who wrote it, and that of Mr. Wythe, to whom it was 
 written. JYlr, Adams'' s letter to Cunningham, JVov. 28, 1803. 
 
 {See Page 55.) 
 
 Note 12. — ^" The men of letters in France," Mr. Adams said, " are wisely 
 i-eforming one feudal system ; but may they not wvwisely lay the foundation 
 (tf another? A legislature in one assembly can have no other termination than 
 in civil dissention, feudal anarchy, or simple monarchy. The best apology 
 that can be made for their fresh attempt of sovereignty, in one assembly , (an 
 idea, at least as ancient in France as Stephen Boetius) is, that it is only intend- 
 ed to be momentary. If a senate had been proposed, it must have been formed, 
 most probably, of princes of tlie blood, cardinals, archbishops, dukes, and 
 marquisses ; and, all these together, would have obstructed the progress of 
 the reformation in religion and government, and procured an abortion of the 
 regeneration of France. 
 
 Pennsylvania established lier single assembly in 1776, upon the same prin- 
 ciple. An apprehension that the proprietary and quaker interests would pre- 
 vail to the election of characters disaffected to the American cause, finally^ 
 preponderated against two legislative councils. Pennsylvania, and Georgia, 
 who followed her example, liave found, by experience, the necessity of a 
 change ; and France, l)y the same infallible progress of reasoning, will dis- 
 discover the same necessity — Happy, indeed, if the experiment shall not cost 
 her more dear .'" 
 
 The " Discourses on Davila" contain a profound analysis of human pas- 
 sions and motives, well wortliy of the deep attention of the ^^tftesman. They 
 were collected and republislied in a pamphlet, but are now out of print. 
 
70 
 
 (See Page 57.) 
 [Note 13.] In Convevtiok, J^'ov. 15, 18^0. 
 
 Whereas, the honorable John Adams, a member of this convention, and 
 elected the president thereof, has, for more than half a century, devoted the 
 great powers of his mind, and his profound wisdom and learning, to the ser- 
 vice of his country, and of mankind : 
 
 In fearlessly vindicating the rights of the North American provinces against 
 the usurpations and encroachments of the superintendent govei-nment : 
 
 In difmsing a knowledge of the principles of civil liberty among his fel- 
 low subjects, and exciting them to a firm and resolute defence of the privi- 
 leges of freemen : 
 
 In early conceiving, asserting, and maintaining, the justice and practica- 
 bility of establishing the Independence of the United States of America : 
 
 In giving the powerful aid of his political knowledge in the formation of the 
 constitution of this his native state ; which constitution became, in a great 
 measure, the model of those which were subsequently formed : 
 
 In conciliating the favor of foreign powers, and obtaining their countenance 
 and support in the arduous struggle for Independence : 
 
 In negotiating the treaty of peace, which secured forever the sovereignty 
 of the United States, and in defeating all attempts to prevent it ; and espe- 
 cially, in preserving, in that treaty, the vital interest of the New England 
 states : 
 
 In demonstrating to the world, in his defence of the constitutions of the 
 several Unit d States, the contested principle, since admitted as an axiom, 
 that checks and balances in legislative power, are essential to true liberty : 
 
 In devoting his time and talents to the service of the nation, in the high and 
 important trusts of vice-president, and president of the United States : and 
 lastly, in passing an honorable old age, in dignified retirement, in the prac- 
 tice of all the domestic virtues ; thus exhibiting to his countrymen, and to 
 posterity, an example of true greatness of mind, and of genuine pati-iotisra : 
 
 Therefore Resolved, That the members of this convention, representing 
 £he people of Massachusetts, do joyftJly avail themselves of this opportuni- 
 ty to testify their respect and gratitude to this eminent patriot and statesman, 
 for the great services rendered by him to his countiy ; and theii- high gratifi- 
 cation uiat, at this late period of life, he is permitted by Divine Proi-idence, 
 to assist them with his counsel in revising the constitution which, forty years 
 ago, his wisdom and prudence assisted to form. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of twelve be appomted by the chair to com- 
 municate this proceeding to the Hon. Johs Adams, to inform him of his 
 election to preside in this body, and to introduee him to the chair of this 
 Coav«ntioB. 
 
The foUomng neat epitaph was hastily written by a 
 triend, who has kindly permitted it to adorn this sketch. 
 
 SUB HOC MARMORE 
 COtmiTM SUNT HELiaOT^, PATRIJB FATRfS, 
 
 JOHANNIS ADAMS; 
 
 imperii iniqui hostis, libertatis amici. 
 
 Inter inclytos jurum gentium assertores, 
 
 celeberrimus floruit. 
 
 Oratioue facundus, 
 
 ingenio maximus, doctrina instructus, 
 
 tenebras ignorantise, cum scriptis tiim verbis, 
 
 dissipavit ; 
 
 prxsidia, salutis publicse, 
 
 prseceptis suis, instituit ; et libertatem, 
 
 qme, virtute eorum et sang^ne patrabatiir, 
 
 eandem, in perpetuum, sustentare, 
 
 civjs suos, erudivit 
 
 Ex privato natus, cum ingenti audacia, 
 
 Dominationem Britannicam, fortiter ac strenue, propulsaril': 
 
 et consiliis et gestis, multum prsevaluit, 
 
 ex servitio, patriam eximere. 
 
 Gives, beneficiorum memores, 
 
 amplissimis honoribus eum auxerunt ; 
 
 multis magistratibus transitis, 
 
 ad splendidissima fastigia imperii, pervenit. 
 
 Prseses reipub. Araer. delectus fuit 
 
 rv non. Mar. mdcclxxxxtii. 
 
 Dignitas, valde nobilior, diademate regum. 
 
 quia, nee genere, nee armis, 
 
 nee auro, nee blanditiis, 
 
 adepta, 
 
 sea, ex merita gratia civium liherorum. 
 
 Nee minus fuiv vita utilis, 
 
 quim mors portentosa ; 
 
 obiit IV non. Jul. mdcccxxvi, 
 
 (jE. txxxxr.) 
 
 Hie natali libertatis nostras, et eodem die decessus^ soclT sui, 
 
 JEFFERSONI illustris; 
 
 quo die, 
 
 quinquaginta annis exactis, 
 
 ipse, et socius prseclarus, in Senatu Americano, 
 
 jjretiocissimaro chartam, emancipationis nostrse, ex jugo Britanaico, 
 
 ( hie, auctor consultus, ille, particeps, et audax adjutor scripturse,) 
 
 sustinuerunt, et vindicaverunt. 
 
 Sic socii in vita, 
 
 socii in morte. 
 
 Concursus mirabilis ! Nisi divinitiis esset, 
 
 pro signo, omnibus terrarum gentibus, 
 
 libertatem mortalium, 
 
 charam esse 
 
 DEO. 
 
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