Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 2

3. In his Autobiography, clearly in accurate in details regarding committee formation, but probably not in substance on so important a subject as Article 4, JA states that the subcommittee on rights produced a list, apparently not extant, agreeing on all but one item (the fourth), for which he was asked by John Rutledge to frame a compromise. The point at issue was the authority of Parliament ( Diary and Autobiography , 3:309–310). Undoubtedly JA turned to proposals made by James Duane, in which the statement on the Navigation Acts appears in three drafts. The first part of Article 4, which defines the legislative competence of the colonial assemblies, parallels some of the language of Duane's Article VI, as does the second part that of Duane's Article II. But what is omitted from Article 4 is more important than the parallels. JA's compromise version makes no mention of any compact arising from past recognition of the Navigation Acts or from positive colonial laws that have adopted the acts; yet each of Duane's three drafts stresses the idea of compact as the basis for accepting the Navigation Acts (Burnett, ed., Letters of Members , 1:40–44). JA's omission was no oversight, for his diary entry for 13 Oct. makes it plain that Duane was determined that acceptance of the Navigation Acts should not rest merely upon consent. JA's compromise solution left consent as the only basis, a position he was to reiterate in Novanglus ( Diary and Autobiography , 2:151).