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Volumes Published
Series III: General Correspondence and Other Papers of the Adams Statesmen
Legal Papers of John Adams, 3 vols.
Like many another statesmen, John Adams entered the political arena
by way of the legal profession. Here, gathered together in three
volumes, is an inclusive presentation of the important legal cases
in which he was involved. Student notes and Commonplace Book, which
show the influences on the young law student in 1758 and 1759, are
followed by Adams' Pleadings Book, a collection of forms providing
a cross-section of the law in 18th-century Massachusetts and showing
his work as teacher as well as student.
The 64 cases documented are divided into 16 legal categories,
such as Torts, Property, Domestic Relations, Town Government, Conservation,
Religion, Slavery, and Admiralty. They are preceded by editorial
headnotes that discuss the background, significance, and importance
of each category and case. Careful and thorough footnotes explain
textual and legal problems; a register of John Adams' contemporaries
furnishes sketches of his colleagues on the bench and bar; and an
exhaustive chronology records his growing practice. But the bulk
of the material consists of Adams' own notes and minutes, supplemented
by court records, letters, depositions of witnesses, and the minutes
of other lawyers, as well as extracts from Adams' correspondence
and diary to make the record of each case as full as possible. Many
of the cases concern events, personalities, and legal struggles
directly related to the American Revolution.
The entire third volume of this imposing collection is devoted
to the so-called "Boston Massacre." Confronted by a fascinating
mass of conflicting evidence, charges and countercharges, and confused
and confusing witnesses, many Americans will be surprised to discover
that they must revise their notions about what actually happened
on that March evening in 1770, why it did, and what ensued.
Papers of John Adams, vols. 1–2
September 1755–April 1775
Volumes 1 and 2 of the Papers of John Adams include letters
to and from friends and colleagues, reports of committees on which
he served, his polemical writings, published and unpublished, and
state papers to which he made a contribution. All of Adams' newspaper
writings, including "A Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal
Law," are in these two volumes. In addition to being a condemnation
of the Stamp Act, the "Dissertation" is shown to be one of the building
blocks of the theory of a commonwealth of independent states under
the king, which reaches complete statement in the Novanglus letters.
For the first time, all 13 of these letters appear in full with
annotation.
The period September 1755–April 1775 covers Adams'
public service in Braintree and Boston town meetings, the Massachusetts
House of Representatives, the First Continental Congress, and the
First Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. During this time his
political future was being shaped by circumstances not always of
his choosing. He hesitated at first at the threshold of a public
career, political ambition in conflict with concern for his family's
well-being. But as the confrontation with Great Britain sharpened,
the crisis became acute; no choice remained. For Adams there was
no shirking the path of duty.
Papers of John Adams, vols. 3–4
May 1775–August 1776
As the American colonies grew more restive, and a break with the
mother country ceased to be unthinkable, John Adams was forced to
spend less and less time with his beloved family. Although burdened
by ever-expanding responsibilities in the Second Continental Congress,
he found time for an amazing amount of correspondence.
The majority of his letters were written to secure the facts that
would enable this duty-ridden man to decide and act effectively
on the issues being debated. Military affairs, a source of never-ending
concern, provide some of the most fascinating subjects, including
several accounts of the Battle of Bunker Hill, assessments of various
high-ranking officers, and complaints about the behavior of the
riflemen sent from three states to the southward to aid the Massachusetts
troops. The heated question of pay for soldiers and officers early
strained relations between New England and southern colonies. By
refusing to confront the issue of slavery when it was raised by
several correspondents, Adams sought to avoid exacerbating regional
sensitivities further.
When the question of independent governments for former colonies
arose, at the request of several colleagues Adams sketched a model:
Thoughts on Government, three versions of which are included
here. His optimistic republicanism, however, was balanced by fear
that a "Spirit of Commerce" would undermine the virtue requisite
for republican institutions.
Adams' important committee work included his draft in 1775 of
rules for regulation of the Continental Navy, which have remained
the basis for the governance of the United States Navy down into
our time, and his plan of treaties, which would guide American diplomatists
up to World War II. Both were derivative, but he skillfully adapted
his materials to American needs and circumstances.
These volumes reflect the spirit of those tumultuous years when
the leaders emerging in America confronted each other, and exciting
new ideas, as they tried to resolve the issues of a revolutionary
period.
Papers of John Adams, vols. 5–6
August 1776–August 1778
These volumes document John Adams' thinking and actions during the
final years of his congressional service and take him through his
first five months as a commissioner in France in association with
Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee.
While Adams was still in Philadelphia, military matters continued
to be his major concern. Most demanding was his presidency of the
Board of War, which took up his "whole Time, every Morning and Evening."
In general though, the documents and reports of his conduct reveal
a commitment to a national outlook. Congress should be a national
legislature, and personal, state, and regional rivalries should
give way to concern for the greater good—these were his deeply
held convictions.
When chosen a commissioner to France, Adams was reluctant to go.
But duty and the honor of the position, along with the encouragement
of an understanding and self-sacrificing wife, persuaded him to
accept. With son John Quincy for a companion, he crossed the Atlantic
to a new career. His initiation into the complexities of diplomacy
brought a growing awareness of European affairs and the problems
facing the new nation in the diplomatic arena. Letters deal with
such varied topics as the supervision of American commercial agents
in French ports, regulation of privateers, settlement of disputes
between crews and officers, negotiation of loans, and help for American
prisoners in England. Personal letters run the gamut from Adams'
views on the proper conduct of American diplomacy to strangers'
pleas for aid in locating relatives in America. Contrary to the
usual impression of Adams as little more than a clerk for the commission,
evidence shows that he was its chief administrator.
Acclimation to living abroad among diplomats did not stifle Adams'
yearning for the simplicities of private life in the midst of his
family. Yet as the important and interesting documents of this volume
show, the ground work was being laid for his even more significant
role in diplomacy.
Papers of John Adams, vols. 7–8
September 1778–February 1780
These volumes provide an unparalleled account of the conduct of
American diplomacy in the early years of the republic, while the
war with Britain continued and after the treaty of alliance with
France was signed. John Adams served for ten months as a commissioner
to France. Though he was the newest member of the three-man commission,
he was its chief administrator, handling most of its correspondence,
and his papers are the first full documentary record of the commission
ever published. They provide a wealth of detail on every aspect
of diplomacy, from negotiations with ministers of state to the arranging
of prisoner exchanges.
The documents throw new light on Adams' relations with his fellow
commissioners, Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee. Historians have
depicted Adams as hostile to Franklin and supportive of Lee, but
the record shows that he found himself increasingly in disagreement
with Lee, while working harmoniously with Franklin from the outset.
Moreover, after the commission was disbanded in February 1779 and
Franklin was appointed minister to France—a move Adams had
advocated—he undertook an important mission at Franklin's behest.
It is now clear that the rift that developed between the two statesmen
did not begin until after Adams' return to Paris in 1780.
Legal and constitutional scholars will find volume 8 of particular
interest. The Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, drafted by John
Adams in 1779, served as a crucial source for the Constitution of
the United States; today it is the oldest written constitution in
the world still in effect. The earliest surviving version of Adams'
text, the Report of a Constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
is here published with full annotation for the first time. It is
John Adams' most enduring constitutional work.
Papers of John Adams, vols. 9–10
March–December 1780
On the last day of December 1780, John Adams wrote that he had just
spent "the most anxious and mortifying Year of my whole Life." He
had resided first at Paris, then at Amsterdam, attempting without
success to open Anglo-American peace negotiations and to raise a
Dutch loan. In volumes 9 and 10 of the Papers of John Adams,
over 600 letters and documents that Adams sent to and received from
numerous correspondents in Europe and America provide an unparalleled
view of Adams' diplomacy and a wealth of detail on the world in
which he lived.
These volumes chronicle Adams' efforts to convince the British
people and their leaders that Britain's economic survival demanded
an immediate peace; his "snarling, growling" debate with the French
foreign minister, the Comte de Vergennes, over the proper Franco-American
relationship; and his struggle to obtain a loan in the Netherlands,
where policies were dictated by Mammon rather than republican virtue.
Adams' writings, diplomatic dispatches, and personal correspondence
all make clear the scope of his intelligence-gathering and his propaganda
efforts in the British, French, and Dutch press. The letters reflect
his interest in Bordeaux wines, the fate of Massachusetts' constitution,
which he had drafted in 1779, and political developments in Philadelphia,
Boston, London, and St. Petersburg. The volumes leave no doubt as
to John Adams' unwavering commitment to the American cause. Even
in this most difficult year, he believed the revolution in America
to be "the greatest that ever took Place among Men." He felt honored
to serve a new nation where "the Wisdom and not the Man is attended
to," whose citizens were fighting a "People's War" from which the
United States would inevitably emerge victorious to take its rightful
place on the world stage.
Papers of John Adams, vol. 11
January 1781 - September 1781
In mid-March 1781 John Adams received his commission and instructions as minister
to the Netherlands and embarked on the boldest initiative of his diplomatic career.
Disappointed by the lack of interest shown by Dutch investors in his efforts to raise
a loan for the United States, Adams changed his tactics. In a memorial dated 19 April
he proposed that the States General of the Netherlands immediately recognize the United
States. Determined to prevent the States General from tabling and ignoring his petition,
Adams published the memorial in Dutch, English, and French, thereby offering all of
Europe a radical vision of the ordinary citizen's role in determining political events. In
this volume, for the first time, all of the circumstances and reasoning behind Adams' bold
moves in the spring of 1781 are presented in full.
After six years of war, rumors of a negotiated peace circulated throughout Europe. In July
the French court summoned Adams, the only American in Europe empowered to negotiate an
Anglo-American peace, to Paris for consultations regarding an offer made by Austria and Russia
to mediate the Anglo-French war. In his correspondence with France's foreign minister, the Comte
de Vergennes, Adams passionately insisted that the United States was fully and unambiguously
independent and sovereign and must be recognized as such by Great Britain before any negotiations
took place. This volume shows John Adams to be a determined and resourceful diplomat, unafraid to
go beyond the bounds of traditional diplomacy to implement his vision of American foreign policy.
Papers of John Adams, vol. 12
October 1781 - April 1782
For John Adams, "the most Signal Epocha, in the History of a Century" occurred on
19 April 1782 when the Netherlands recognized the United States and admitted
Adams as its minister. Adams believed then and for the remainder of his life that
this event was the foremost achievement of his diplomatic career. Volume 12
chronicles his efforts, against great odds, to succeed in his objective. Adams
responded vigorously to criticism of his seemingly unorthodox methods by the French
foreign ministry and Congress' newly appointed secretary for foreign affairs, Robert
R. Livingston, who would have preferred that he pursue a different course. He informed
Livingston that while the diplomatic establishment might contemptuously view Adams and
his colleagues "as a kind of Militia, . . . wise Men know that Militia sometimes gain
Victories over regular Troops, even by departing from the Rules."
But obtaining Dutch recognition of the United States was not the only matter occupying Adams'
time and attention. The documents in Volume 12 illuminate his efforts to assist American
prisoners, raise a much-needed loan for the United States, and convince Europeans of the
justice and inevitable triumph of the American cause. Most important was the possibility,
after the American victory at Yorktown in October 1781 and the fall of the North ministry in
Great Britain in March 1782, that Adams might soon be involved in peace negotiations. To
prepare for the occasion John Adams and Benjamin Franklin discussed the matter in their
letters and agreed on the fundamentals. The North and Rockingham ministries sent emissaries to
discover Adams' views regarding peace and he made it clear that there would be no separate
peace or any negotiations without British recognition of the United States as independent and
sovereign. The volume ends with John Adams describing his reception by the Dutch States General
and his audiences with the Prince and Princess of Orange, at long last recognized as the U.S.
minister, a full-fledged member of the diplomatic corps.
Papers of John Adams, vol. 13
May–October 1782
A new chapter in John Adams' diplomatic career opened when the Dutch recognized the United States in April 1782. Operating from the recently purchased American legation at The Hague, Adams focused his energies on raising a much needed loan from Dutch bankers and negotiating a Dutch-American commercial treaty. Volume 13 chronicles John Adams' efforts to achieve these objectives, but it also provides an unparalleled view of eighteenth-century American diplomacy on the eve of a peace settlement ending the eight-year war of the American Revolution.
John Adams was a shrewd observer of the political and diplomatic world in which he functioned and his comments on events and personalities remain the most candid and revealing of any American in Europe. His correspondence traces the complex negotiations necessary to raise a Dutch loan and throws new light on his conclusion of a treaty of amity and commerce with the Netherlands, achievements of which he was most proud. Events in England and elsewhere in Europe also provided grist for his pen. Would the establishment in July of a new ministry under the Earl of Shelburne hinder or advance the cause of peace? That question bedeviled Adams and his correspondents for the fate of the new nation literally rode on its answer. The volume ends with John Adams' triumphal departure from The Hague to face new challenges at Paris as one of the American commissioners to negotiate an Anglo-American peace treaty.
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Online:
Adams Time Line
Adams Genealogy
Biographical Sketches
Quotations
Selected Manuscripts
Adams Electronic Archive
JQA: One President's Adolescence
Other Resources:
Related Web Sites
Books about the Adamses
Adams Family Papers manuscript collection
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