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The Adams Papers

C. JAMES TAYLOR, EDITOR IN CHIEF
SERIES III
GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE AND OTHER PAPERS OF THE ADAMS STATESMEN
Papers of John Adams
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Papers of John Adams

GREGG L. LINT, JAMES TAYLOR, MARGARET A. HOGAN, JESSIE MAY RODRIQUE, MARY T. CLAFFEY, HOBSON WOODWARD
EDITORS
Volume 13 • May – October 1782
THE BELKNAP PRESS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHSUETTS AND LONDON, ENGLAND
2006
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Copyright © 2006 by the Massachusetts Historical Society • All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Funds for editing The Adams Papers were originally furnished by Time, Inc., on behalf of Life, to the Massachusetts Historical Society, under whose supervision the editorial work is being done. Further funds were provided by a grant from the Ford Foundation to the National Archives Trust Fund Board in support of this and four other major documentary publications. In common with these and many other enterprises like them, The Adams Papers has continued to benefit from the guidance and cooperation of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, which is chaired by the Archivist of the United States, and which from 1975 to the present has provided this enterprise with major financial support. Important additional funds were supplied from 1980 to 1993 by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust, and The Charles E. Culpeper Foundation through the Founding Fathers Papers, Inc. Since 1993, The Adams Papers has received major support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, with matching support from The Packard Humanities Institute, through the Founding Fathers Papers, Inc., and from The Charles Francis Adams Charitable Trust, The Florence J. Gould Foundation, The Lyn and Norman Lear Fund, and an anonymous donor. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
∞ This volume meets all ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 standards for permanence.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data (Revised for vols. 9–13)
Adams, John, 1735–1826.
Papers of John Adams.
(The Adams papers: Series III, General correspondence and other papers of the Adams statesmen)
Vols. 1–6 edited by R. J. Taylor, G. L. Lint, and C. Walker.
Vols. 7–13 edited by G. L. Lint . . . [et al.]
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. United States—Politics and government—Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775—Sources. 2. Massachusetts—Politics and government—Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775—Sources. 3. United States—Politics and government—Revolution, 1775–1783—Sources. 4. United States—Politics and government—1783–1809—Sources. 5. Presidents—United States—Correspondence. 6. Adams, John, 1735–1826. I. Taylor, Robert Joseph, 1917– II. Lint, Gregg L. III. Title. IV. Series: Adams papers: Series III, General correspondence and other papers of the Adams statesmen.
E302.A26 1977 973.4'4'08 77–4707
ISBN 0–674–65441–2 (v. 1–2)
ISBN 0–674–65442–0 (v. 3–4)
ISBN 0–674–65443–9 (v. 5–6)
ISBN 0–674–65444–7 (v. 7–8)
ISBN 0–674–65445–5 (v. 9–10)
ISBN 0–674–01136–8 (v. 11)
ISBN 0–674–01281–X (v. 12)
ISBN 0–674–01812–5 (v. 13)
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This edition of The Adams Papers
is sponsored by the massachusetts historical society
to which the adams manuscript trust
by a deed of gift dated 4 April 1956
gave ultimate custody of the personal and public papers
written, accumulated, and preserved over a span of three centuries
by the Adams family of Massachusetts
illustration
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The Adams Papers

ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE

  • John Adams
  • Margery Adams
  • Levin H. Campbell
  • W. Dean Eastman
  • Joseph J. Ellis
  • Lilian Handlin
  • Edward C. Johnson 3d
  • Henry Lee
  • Pauline Maier
  • Zick Rubin
  • Hiller B. Zobel

EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE

  • Joyce O. Appleby
  • Bernard Bailyn
  • David Herbert Donald
  • Linda K. Kerber
  • Thomas K. McCraw
  • Gordon S. Wood
The acorn and oakleaf device on the preceding page is redrawn from a seal cut for John Quincy Adams after 1830. The motto is from Caecilius Statius as quoted by Cicero in the First Tusculan Disputation: Serit arbores quae alteri seculo prosint (“He plants trees for the benefit of later generations”).
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Contents

  • Descriptive List of Illustrations ix
  • Introduction xvii
    • 1. The Business of Diplomacy xvii
    • 2. John Adams and His Letterbooks xxii
    • 3. Notes on Editorial Method xxiii
  • Acknowledgments xxv
  • Guide to Editorial Apparatus xxvii
    • 1. Textual Devices xxvii
    • 2. Adams Family Code Names xxvii
    • 3. Descriptive Symbols xxviii
    • 4. Location Symbols xxi v x
    • 5. Other Abbreviations and Conventional Terms xxi v x
    • 6. Short Titles of Works Frequently Cited xxx
  • Papers of John Adams, May – October 1782 1
  • Appendix: List of Omitted Documents 555
  • Index 561
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Descriptive List of Illustrations

 

C. W. F. Dumas, American Agent at The Hague, by Isaak Schmidt, ca. 1783 17

Charles William Frederic Dumas (1721–1796) was a confidant of American statesmen from the time he first corresponded with Benjamin Franklin in 1768 until his death. A German native of French ancestry who resided for most of his life in Switzerland and the Netherlands, Dumas served the United States in many unheralded roles during three tumultuous decades. A correspondence and friendship between Dumas and John Adams endured from 1780 to 1796, during which time Dumas served as advisor, secretary, translator, and negotiator to Adams, and as tutor to John Quincy Adams (Franklin, Papers , 15:178; JA, D&A , 3:8–10; JQA, Diary , 1:174–175).
Dumas was especially helpful during Adams' 1782 residency in the Netherlands. Adams was on such good terms with Dumas that he invited him and his family to share the Hôtel des Etats-Unis after Dumas arranged for the purchase of the building on Adams' behalf (to C. W. F. Dumas, 2 May, below). While in residency there, Dumas' wife, Marie, served as housekeeper and wrote a pair of household inventories which provide insight into the day-to-day material culture of eighteenth-century Europe (see Household Inventories of the U.S. Legation at The Hague, Nos. II and III, 14 May, below).
Amsterdam artist Isaak Schmidt (1740–1818) created this pastel of Dumas, probably in the summer of 1783 at the same time that he did the earliest surviving portrait of John Quincy Adams (see AFC , 5:215). Schmidt, a native of Amsterdam and a founder of the city's drawing academy, soon abandoned portraiture in favor of landscape painting (Andrew Oliver, Portraits of John Quincy Adams and His Wife, Cambridge, 1970, p. 17–19).
Courtesy Iconografisch Bureau, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague.
 

John Adamsn Willink, Amsterdam Banker, by Pieter Frederik de la Croix, 1773 111

A youthful Jan Willink (1751–1826) sat for this pastel by Pieter Frederik de la Croix a decade before his firm joined the consortium of Dutch bankers negotiating American loans with John Adams. Jan and his brother Wilhem (1750–1841) headed the family firm, which joined with two others in negotiating the American loan.
The Willinks were members of a Mennonite family that had resided in Amsterdam for more than a century. Merchant William {p. R10} Short said of the Willinks: “Avaricious and indefatigable to an extreme, they value money more and labour less than perhaps any other house here of equal wealth.” Gouverneur Morris offered a similar opinion: “They will make a tight bargain and take care of themselves.” The Willink firm abstained from the political activism practiced by other firms in the consortium. Their lack of identification with foreign powers, a rarity in the industry, allowed them to tap a wider array of investors than other houses involved in the American negotiations. While they were not universally liked in Amsterdam banking circles (perhaps because they had a habit of depressing the money markets by offering loans at lower rates than those favored by less powerful houses), they possessed a sterling reputation. When they joined the consortium arranging loans to the United States, they brought the prestige of an established house to the enterprise (Hamilton, Papers , 7:185; Winter, American Finance and Dutch Investment , 1:86–88, 121).
Courtesy Iconografisch Bureau, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague.
 

John Adamscob van Staphorst, Amsterdam Banker, by Edme Quenedey, 1790 115

Banker Jacob van Staphorst (d. 1812) is said never to have walked to the Amersterdam Stock Exchange without throwing coins to children in the street. Jacob and his brother Nicolaas were sons of a bookkeeper and the founders of one of the city's leading banking houses. The firm of Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst prospered from 1772 until the early years of the nineteenth century, during which time the brothers were said to be “ruthlessly ambitious” and to possess a “successful grasp of American business.” In that vein, the Van Staphorsts were early and lifelong supporters of American independence. As an older Nicolaas would tell Alexander Hamilton: “That sacred flame of Liberty, is still glowing in my bosom” (Winter, American Finance and Dutch Investment , 1:88–89, 2:771; Hamilton, Papers , 17:304).
When the Van Staphorsts joined other Amsterdam firms in lending the United States five million guilders in June 1782 (see Contract for a Loan with Wilhem & Jan Willink, Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst, and De la Lande & Fynje, [11 June 1782] , below), it was not their first foray into American finance. They had already given loans to South Carolina to outfit a warship, and they would in later years become involved in the development of lands in upstate New York and western Pennsylvania (Winter, American Finance and Dutch Investment , 1:91, 37; Hamilton, Papers , 16:368–369).
An inscription on the portrait reveals that it was made with a physiognotrace, a projection device invented by Frenchman Gilles Louis Chrétien in 1786 and offered in the Paris studio of Edme Quenedey beginning in 1788. Van Staphorst sat for this portrait in 1790 after he had fled the Netherlands for Paris to avoid persecution for his support of the Patriot cause during the 1787 revolution against Stadtholder William V. The firm's business was continued {p. R11} by Nicolaas in his brother's absence. After Nicolaas' death in 1801, Jacob retired, having “lost the habit of doing business” (Jefferson, Papers , 12:429, 14:xlii; Hamilton, Papers , 7:185, 17:303; Winter, American Finance and Dutch Investment , 2:910).
Courtesy Iconografisch Bureau, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague.
 

Charles James Fox, British Foreign Secretary, by Thomas Day, 1787 181

John Adams encountered only “cold formalities” during an initial 1783 meeting with Charles James Fox (1749–1806). The description runs counter to Fox's reputation as a cheerful, convivial, and quick-witted politician. A child of wealth and privilege, Fox entered Parliament in 1768 at the age of nineteen and over a 38-year career rose to the leadership of the Whigs. The eloquent Fox was a strident opponent of British policy toward America during the Revolution and a bitter adversary of George III, who called Fox “as contemptible as he is odious” (JA, D&A , 3:150).
Fox was named foreign secretary under the Marquis of Rockingham on 25 February 1782, and soon agitated for the unconditional recognition of the independence of the United States. When the cabinet favored the more moderate stance of Lord Shelburne and the king refused to give the Whigs a role in the selection of a successor to Rockingham upon his death on 1 July, Fox resigned his post. “Mr Fox has Shewn himself, an able Man,” John Adams wrote to Edmund Jenings on 17 July. “He has at last taken a decided Part, and if he adheres to it, with Fortitude and Constancy, he will carry his Point, make himself Prime Minister and give Peace to his Country and to Europe, upon the best Terms that are attainable by G. Britain. His opinion, against receiving again the Dependence of America, if offered is perfectly just” (below). Although Fox never became prime minister as Adams predicted, he continued as a powerful political force in several capacities until his death ( DNB ).
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
 

William Petty, 2d Earl of Shelburne, British Prime Minister, after Sir Joshua Reynolds, ca. 1764 183

When John Adams first met Lord Shelburne (1737–1805) face-to-face at a French ambassador's ball in March 1786, he sensed a deep-seated tension: “This People cannot look me in the Face,” Adams wrote in his diary. “There is conscious Guilt and Shame in their Countenances, when they look at me. They feel that they have behaved ill, and that I am sensible of it.” The comments likely allude to Shelburne's 1782 stand that he “never would consent under any possible given circumstances to acknowledge the independency of America.” Adams' response is also recorded in his diary: “My Lord Shelburne, in complyance with the Will of his Master, refuses to do what all the World sees to be necessary” (JA, D&A , 3:184, 6; DNB ).
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Shelburne served as prime minister after the death of the Marquis of Rockingham in July 1782, resulting in a power struggle with Charles James Fox. “Lord Shelburnes System is equivocal,” John Adams wrote to Abigail Adams in August. “Fox has seized the right Idea. But the former will run down the latter for sometime. Yet the Plan of the latter must finally prevail. It is deeply laid and well digested. If he has Perseverance he will be the Man to make Peace” ( AFC , 4:360).
Despite Adams' gloom about Shelburne's hard line, a preliminary peace with Britain was signed on 30 November 1782. Shelburne would be out of government when a permanent treaty was signed in September 1783. In February of that year he gave way to a coalition headed by Fox and Lord North. Increasingly unpopular with all parties after his resignation, Shelburne retired to the country and did not hold public office again. This oil by an unknown artist is a 1764 copy of an earlier portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds (JA, D&A , 3:82, 142; DNB ).
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
 

Dedication of Verzameling van de Constitutien to John Adams, 1782 237

“As to the Compliment You propose to me, I am obliged to You for it, and shall consent to it,” John Adams wrote to Herman van Bracht on 3 May, accepting Van Bracht's proposal that the second volume of his Verzameling van de Constitutien . . . van Amerika be dedicated to Adams. Van Bracht was returning a favor to Adams, who had lent him a copy of the Continental Congress' 1781 publication The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America to be translated into Dutch and published as Verzameling van de Constitutien . . . van Amerika (Dordrecht, 2 vols., 1781–1782). The first volume had been dedicated to Engelbert François van Berckel (to Van Bracht, 3 May, and from Van Bracht, 12 Aug., both below).
The publication of the translation, Van Bracht had written Adams on 26 January 1782, would ensure that “all Netherlanders would be able to know on what a beautiful and pure basis the aforementioned government and liberty of America has been established.” Adams himself had in 1780 convinced Congress to publish the compilation of American constitutions, writing that “this Work would be read by every Body in Europe, who reads English, and could obtain it, and Some would even learn English for the sake of reading it. It would be translated into every Language of Europe, and would fix the Opinion of our Unconquerability, more than any Thing could, except driving the Ennemy wholly from the united States” (vols. 12:219; 10:176).
Courtesy of the Boston Public Library.
 

Gerard Brantsen, Dutch Envoy, by Benjamin Wolff, 1803 245

“The States General have chosen Mr Brantzen Minister to negotiate for Peace,” John Adams wrote to John Jay on 17 August 1782. {p. R13} “Yesterday he did me the honour to dine with me. He is represented to me to be a good Man and well fixed in the true System.” A day later, Adams communicated the same news to Henry Laurens, adding of Brantsen: “Blessed are the Peace makers. Dont you wish yourself one?” (both below).
The good reports Adams had heard about Gerard Brantsen (1735–1809) were borne out during the negotiations. “I have the Honour to be more particularly acquainted with Mr. Brantzen, who is certainly a very able Man, and universally acknowledged to be So by all who know him,” Adams wrote to C. W. F. Dumas five months later. “The Arguments which I know he has used with the British Minister, are such as can never be answered, both upon the Liberty of Navigation and the Compensation for Damages. He is an entire Master of his Subject, and has urged it with a Degree of Perspicuity and Eloquence that I know has much struck his Antagonists” (1 Jan. 1783, LbC, Adams Papers).
Brantsen was burgomaster of Arnhem in 1760 and had represented Gelderland in the States General before his 1782 peace mission to France. This oil portrait by Benjamin Wolff (1758–1825) is now owned by the Brantsen van de Zyp Foundation and hangs in the Brantsen ancestral home, the House Zypendaal in Arnhem, a museum administered by the Gelderland Trust ( Nieuw Ned. Biog. Woordenboek ; Johan Carel Bierens de Haan, Gelderse Gezichten: Drie Eeuwen Portretkunst in Gelderland, 1550–1850, Zwolle, 2002, p. 165–168).
Courtesy of the Brantsen van de Zyp Foundation, in loan to the Gelderland Trust, House Zypendaal, Arnhem; and the Iconografisch Bureau, Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie, The Hague.
 

Final Text of the Dutch-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, [ante 6 September 1782] 347

After signing the Dutch-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce on the afternoon of 8 October 1782, John Adams reflected on the effect of the alliance in a letter to Robert Livingston. “Upon the whole, I think the Treaty is conformable to the Principles of perfect Reciprocity, and contains nothing that can possibly be hurtfull to America, or offensive to our Allies, or to any other Nation, except Great-Britain, to whom it is indeed, without a speedy peace, a mortal blow” (The Negotiation of the Dutch-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 22 Aug.–8 Oct. 1782, Nos. VIII and XI, below).
John Thaxter reported to Abigail Adams that the treaty had been signed, adding that “It has been a long, tedious and troublesome Negotiation, and fortunately for our Country in very good Hands.” John Adams followed with a letter to Abigail on 12 October. In it he lamented that he barely had time to savor the accomplishment before heading to Paris for peace negotiations with Great Britain. “I dont know whether in future Job should be reckoned 'The patient Man.' It Seems to me, that I have had rather more Tryals that {p. R14} [than] he, and have got thro them. I am now going to Paris, to another Furnace of Affliction. Yet I am very gay, more so than usual. I fear nothing. Why should I. I had like to have Said nothing worse can happen. But this is too much. Heaven has hitherto preserved my Country and my Family” ( AFC , 5:8, 15).
From the original in the Adams Papers.
 

Truce Chamber, The Hague, by Jan Caspar Philips, before 1774 391

John Adams signed the Dutch-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce in a hall that had been used for such occasions for almost a century. In his diary entry for 8 October 1782, Adams wrote that “At twelve went to the State House, was received as usual, at the head of the Stairs by Mr. De Santheuvel, and Mr. De Linden, Deputies from Holland and Zealand, and conducted into the Truce Chamber where We signed and sealed the Treaty of Commerce and the Convention concerning Recaptures” (JA, D&A , 3:16).
The Truce Chamber, or Trêveszaal, is located in the Binnenhof, a count's castle that dates in part to the thirteenth-century founding of The Hague. The room is named for negotiations at the castle that led to the Twelve Years' Truce of 1609 to 1621, a temporary break during eighty years of hostilities between Spain and the Netherlands. Ornamentation in the chamber dates to 1697, when the States General hired French architect Daniel Marot to decorate the hall for diplomatic events. On the walls are portraits of Stadholders of the House of Orange-Nassau who served prior to 1650. The ceiling was painted by Theodoor van der Schuer and depicts seven female figures representing the seven provinces of the Netherlands. A figure in the center holds a banner with an inscription that translates to “Strength through unity” (www.minaz.nl, 5 July 2005).
Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
 

Medal Commemorating Dutch Recognition of the United States, by Jean George Holtzhey, 1782 538

“Your nation's independence has inspired me to immortalize this great and noteworthy event in a medal commemorating its liberty,” Amsterdam medalist Jean George Holtzhey (1729–1808) wrote to John Adams on 20 October 1782. Adams was pleased with the 28.9-gram silver medallion, which Holtzhey had struck upon the Netherlands' 19 April recognition of the United States. “The Influence of this Event upon many Nations, upon France, Spain Great Britain, America and all the Neutral Powers, has already been so great, and in the future Vicissitudes of things will be so much greater, that I confess every Essay of the fine Arts to commemorate and celebrate it, gives me pleasure,” Adams wrote to Holtzhey on 2 November (from Holtzhey, 20 Oct., below; to Holtzhey, 2 Nov. 1782, LbC, Adams Papers; Leonard Forrer, Biographical Dictionary of Medallists, 8 vols., London, 1904–1930, 2:536).
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The face of the medal declares “Libera Soror,” or “A Free Sister,” and depicts Holland on the left as an armed woman and the United States on the right as a Native American woman. Holland uses a staff to place a Phrygian Cap upon America's head, while America holds a shield bearing thirteen stars and rests a foot upon the head of a chained lion. The reverse (which is also shown in this composite illustration) features the unicorn of the arms of England, prostrate with its horn broken against a rock cliff. The inscription reads, “Tyrannis virtute repulsa / sub Galliae auspiciis,” which translates to “Tyranny repelled by valor / under the auspices of France” (Charles Wyllys Betts, American Colonial History Illustrated by Contemporary Medals, New York, 1894, p. 290–291).
Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
 

Cipher, Francis Dana, 18 October [29 October N.S.] 1782 549

After a wintertime journey of six months from St. Petersburg to The Hague, sixteen-year-old John Quincy Adams arrived on 21 April 1783 carrying a packet of sensitive papers. The packet included a letter to John Adams from U.S. Minister to Russia Francis Dana dated 15 October [26 October N.S.] 1782, and it probably also included this cipher, which is dated three days later. John Quincy reported to his father that Dana attached great importance to the papers, “which he enjoined me to deliver into your hands myself” (JQA, Diary , 1:153–175; AFC , 5:130).
John Adams found the use of ciphers to be cumbersome and frustrating. A year earlier he had lamented to Dana that he had been unable to read a coded letter from James Lovell. “I have Letters from the President and from Lovell—the last unintelligible—in Cyphers—but inexplicable by his own Cypher—some dismal Ditty about my Letters of 26th. July—I know not what” (vol. 11:195–196).
The cipher Dana offered in October 1782 was relatively easy to use, yet difficult to crack because it assigned three revolving numerical stand-ins to each letter of the alphabet, as well as to each of eighty key names and terms. Most words were rendered as a series of numbers from 1 to 27, which the reader would match to individual letters and the ampersand. When any number higher than 27 appeared, however, the reader was to decode the whole word it represented and then shift to the next set of revolving numerical stand-ins. In that way, Dana's cipher made use of the best features of codes of the era (Ralph E. Weber, United States Diplomatic Codes and Ciphers 1775–1938, Chicago, 1979, p. 31, 36, 560–563).
From the original in the Adams Papers.
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Introduction

Docno: PJA13d001

The Business of Diplomacy

John Adams declared Dutch recognition of the United States, which occurred on 19 April 1782, to be a “signal Triumph” for the new nation.1 And so it was. But Adams had little time to reflect on what was also a great personal victory. The documents appearing in volume 13 chronicle a six-month period during which Adams, the now-recognized American minister at The Hague, successfully obtained a loan from a consortium of Dutch bankers and negotiated a commercial treaty with the States General. But they also chart Adams' reaction to events in London and Paris as Anglo-American peace negotiations slowly gained momentum.
The precarious financial position of the United States made a loan more immediately important than a commercial treaty, which could have but limited effect in wartime. Prior to 19 April few bankers sought the American business, and those that did—Horneca, Fizeaux & Co. in 1778 and Jean de Neufville & Fils in 1781—failed to raise any significant amount of money, partly because of the firms' lack of standing in the banking community, but more importantly because of the reluctance to lend money to a country that, in so far as the Dutch government was concerned, did not exist.2 But Dutch perceptions of the new nation's creditworthiness were drastically altered by recognition, and more substantial and respected banking firms were soon competing for Adams' favor. He became “a Man in the midst of the Ocean negotiating for his Life among a School of Sharks.”3 Adams finally decided on a consortium of three Amsterdam firms with strong ties to the pro-American Patriot Party, and on 11 June he signed a contract for a five-million-guilder loan at 5 percent, a rate higher than the one paid by Britain but lower than the one paid by France.4 The effect of recognition on Dutch perceptions {p. R18} of the United States as an investment opportunity is evident from the fact that by mid-October, when Adams left the Netherlands, over two million guilders had been raised, far surpassing anyone's expectations. A unique window into the arcane world of eighteenth-century finance is provided by the extensive correspondence on the loan and other financial matters between Adams and his bankers, Wilhem & Jan Willink, Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst, and De la Lande & Fynje, as well as Jean de Neufville & Fils, Robert Morris, and Robert R. Livingston.
In terms of John Adams' diplomacy in the Netherlands, recognition was never an end in itself but was intended to pave the way for the negotiation of a Dutch-American treaty of amity and commerce. The access to the American market that such a treaty would provide had been a key argument in Adams' 19 April 1781 memorial to the States General and was seen as an important objective in many of the petitions from merchants and others demanding recognition. Thus four days after the Dutch recognized the United States, Adams submitted a draft commercial treaty to their High Mightinesses.5 Adams' correspondence with Livingston, Pieter van Blieswyck, Engelbert François van Berckel, and Adriaan van Zeeburgh, among others, documents the slow but steady progress of the treaty from the States General's initial deliberations through its consideration by the admiralties, towns, and provinces of the Netherlands. For Adams the slowness of this preliminary process was frustrating, but when formal negotiations began on 22 August, they went more rapidly than he expected, being completed by mid-September, with the final treaty and a convention on recaptures signed on 8 October. The smoothness of the negotiations was owing to the general lack of controversy over the provisions proposed by Adams or the revisions suggested by the Dutch. Indeed, the only real controversy involved Articles 22 and 23 of Adams' draft, which referred directly to the Franco-American treaties of 1778. The first article prohibited any conflict between the Dutch-American Treaty and those signed with France, and the second article ensured that nothing in the treaty would deter Spain from acceding to the Franco-American treaties. The Dutch believed that neither article was necessary and proposed their deletion. In the end a compromise was reached, with the Dutch agreeing to a provision that they considered meaningless, to satisfy Adams, who had been instructed to include such a provision {p. R19} in any treaty he negotiated. The negotiations are dealt with in a group document that includes the texts of the draft and final treaty, as well as comments by the Dutch and John Adams on changes made in the course of the negotiations.6 A major problem faced by the editors is the absence of any extant English-language version of Adams' draft, which has led them to reconstruct the draft from the sources that Adams is known to have used. For a detailed explanation of why and how this was done, see the editorial notes to the group document and the draft treaty.
Adams' correspondence with Robert R. Livingston, the secretary for foreign affairs, remained contentious on both sides. Livingston's letters, all of which he showed to the Chevalier de La Luzerne, the French minister at Philadelphia, reflected his determination to be an active participant in the formulation and execution of foreign policy.7 The secretary criticized Adams for moving too quickly, providing insufficient information on his activities, and failing to consult with the French ambassador at The Hague and be guided by his advice. Adams was frustrated and irritated by Livingston's comments, which he believed displayed little understanding of diplomacy as practiced in the Netherlands or of the operation of the Dutch government, and which were often written before the outcome of events was apparent. Adams' exasperation with Livingston is evident in his replies where he vigorously defended his actions, but he also complied with Livingston's demands for more information. A letter written on 4 September stands out for its very detailed account of the political and diplomatic personages with whom Adams dealt in his efforts to promote American interests.8 Supplementing the annotation of the letters to Livingston are Adams' comments that he later published in the Boston Patriot between April and July 1811, there attributing much of the tone and content of the foreign minister's letters to French influence.9
John Adams continued an extensive private correspondence on public matters. Edmund Jenings in Brussels remained a source for intelligence and a sounding board for Adams' opinions on a variety of subjects, including the progress of his diplomacy in the Netherlands, the political situation in England, the prospects for Anglo• {p. R20} American peace negotiations, and his opinions of Benjamin Franklin and the French government. Francis Dana at St. Petersburg continued to provide valuable information and advice on events in Russia, Adams' diplomatic activities in the Netherlands, and the impending peace negotiations. Dana also was John Quincy Adams' guardian in St. Petersburg, and his letters reported on the impending departure of the younger Adams from Russia on his return journey to the Netherlands. A new correspondent was the English-born merchant Matthew Ridley, who was in Europe charged with raising a loan for Maryland. His letters from Paris contain information on the progress of peace negotiations, but even more important are his diary entries recording very candid conversations with John Adams at The Hague, which have been used extensively in the annotation.10 Arthur Lee wrote from Congress to inform Adams of events there and, in particular, his distaste for the influence of the French minister, La Luzerne, on its deliberations. It was from Lee that Adams first learned of the instructions, which he had been unable to decipher, to the joint peace commission requiring its members to consult with the French government and follow its advice.11 James and Mercy Warren resumed their correspondence, providing Adams with information on events in Massachusetts and the progress of the war. Their accounts were supplemented by letters from other Massachusetts friends such as Tristram Dalton, William Gordon, Elbridge Gerry, Samuel Cooper, and James Sullivan. Since both Adams and C. W. F. Dumas were at The Hague, the number of letters exchanged by the two men diminished significantly, but Dumas continued to act as Adams' advisor and translator and was of particular assistance during the treaty negotiations.
John Adams, in his capacity as one of the peace commissioners, followed events in Paris concerning the impending peace negotiations as closely as possible. To a degree at least, Adams was frustrated at having to remain at The Hague to complete his work in the Netherlands, while at Paris the parameters for negotiations were being set and substantive discussions were taking place. Benjamin Franklin kept Adams up to date on developments there, even sending Adams copies of his correspondence with the British politicians Lord Shelburne and David Hartley. Adams and Franklin exchanged fewer letters than in the past, partly because of Franklin's health, but also because of the likelihood that letters passing between Paris {p. R21} and The Hague would be read by French or Dutch authorities. That concern also inhibited Adams' correspondence with John Jay, whom the prospect of formal negotiations had brought to Paris from Madrid. In his letters Jay pressed Adams to come to Paris as soon as possible, in part, although it is nowhere stated explicitly, to be a counterweight to Franklin. Henry Laurens, the fourth peace negotiator present in Europe, also corresponded with Adams regarding the negotiations, although he indicated his reluctance to become involved.
Other more mundane matters occupied Adams' attention as the American minister at The Hague. Early in May he moved into the new legation at The Hague, the “Hôtel des Etats Unis,” the first diplomatic building owned by the United States. Of particular interest in this regard are detailed inventories of the legation's furnishings compiled between May 1782 and June 1784.12 These inventories provide important information on the contents of an eighteenth-century house, in this case a diplomatic establishment, and the way in which the people occupying it carried on their lives. Adams continued to receive appeals from Americans who had been imprisoned or found themselves in desperate straits and did what he could to alleviate their situations. Others sought his assistance regarding ships that allegedly had been wrongfully seized or immigration to and employment in America. One particularly interesting letter requested his assistance in establishing a glasshouse near Albany, New York.13
Adams continued his efforts to convince Europeans of the justness of the American cause and the need to support the new nation. In July he wrote an essay entitled “A Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe,” which argued that the nations forming the League of Armed Neutrality should take a more active role in promoting an Anglo-American peace.14 It was published in several Dutch newspapers and in Boston. At about the same time he published A Collection of State-Papers, which contained the principal documents relating to the States General's recognition of the United States and himself as its minister at The Hague. Published first in the Netherlands, it later appeared in an expanded form in England. Of particular interest to Adams was the long-delayed publication of his “Letters from a Distinguished American.” The letters were first written {p. R22} in mid-1780, and Edmund Jenings finally arranged for their publication in Parker's General Advertiser and Morning Intelligencer, with the first letter appearing on 23 August and the final letter, the tenth, on 26 December.15 In 1780, Adams sought to convince the British that an immediate peace with the United States was in their vital interest, but in 1782 the letters' purpose was to convince the new Shelburne ministry that there could be no peace without unconditional independence.
The signing of the Dutch-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce on 8 October meant that Adams' work in the Netherlands was done. Nine days later he set off for Paris and the peace negotiations, and, although he retained his commission as minister at The Hague until 1788, he would never again reside there for an extended period of time. The two years that John Adams spent in the Netherlands is a study in contrasts. Faced with virtually no prospect of succeeding in his mission to obtain Dutch recognition or raise a loan, he ultimately decided that extraordinary circumstances demanded extraordinary measures. In April 1781 he drafted and sent a memorial in which he demanded that the States General recognize the United States or face the consequences. He was warned by the French ambassador against taking such action and was criticized harshly by Robert R. Livingston for an initiative that seemed to invite only rejection.16 In the end he succeeded far better than either he or anyone else could have hoped. The Dutch became the second nation to recognize the United States and signed a commercial treaty with the new nation. A loan was successfully raised that ensured the financial well-being of the United States. When he set off on the road to Paris and the challenge of negotiating an Anglo-American peace treaty, John Adams could be proud of his accomplishments. He had been victorious in his undertaking against great odds, and he would, for the remainder of his life, see his time in the Netherlands as the high point of his diplomatic career.

John Adams and His Letterbooks

During the six months covered by this volume, John Adams used two letterbooks numbered 18 and 19, which appear respectively on {p. R23} Reels 106 and 107 of the Adams Papers Microfilms edition. For a detailed description of the nature and contents of Letterbook 18, see the introduction to volume 12.17
Letterbook 19 is entitled “Holland France England 1782. 3. 4. 5.” It includes copies of 367 letters, beginning with Adams' 28 April 1782 letter to Edmund Jenings and ending with Comte Reventlaw's 22 August 1785 letter to John Adams (p. 5–449). Some are in John Adams' hand, but others are by various secretaries, including John Thaxter, Charles Storer, John Quincy Adams, and Abigail Adams 2d. Included on pages 1–4 and 456–457 is an index, while pages 461–462 and 470–471 contain accounts for the years 1784 and 1785, and pages 466–469 record visits exchanged by Adams at The Hague in April 1782 following Dutch recognition of the United States. Pages 450–455, 458–460, and 463–465 are blank.

Notes on Editorial Method

The editors of this volume of the Papers of John Adams have followed the editorial principles set down in the Notes on Editorial Method in previous volumes, especially volumes 1 (p. xxxi–xxxv), 9 (xx–xxiii), and 11 (xx–xxi). For the most recent exposition of that policy, from which there has been no deviation in volume 13, see volume 12 (p. xix–xx) and references there.
One facet of the editorial method followed in this and previous volumes of the Adams Papers is the policy regarding translations. A foreign language document is collated and presented like any other in the volume, with punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, and contractions retained as in the original. Translations done by the Adams Papers appear in smaller type immediately following the original document and are presented in modern, standard English, with all abbreviations and contractions expanded, and all misspellings of proper names and geographical expressions corrected. However, when a contemporary translation is available, its use is indicated in the caption, and it is treated as a document in its own right: the original punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, and contractions are retained, and it appears in the size type used for all original documents. Footnote numbers are duplicated in both the foreign language document and the translation, but only the translation is indexed.
{p. R24}
Volume 13 of the Papers of John Adams chronicles May through October 1782, an enormously productive period in John Adams' diplomatic career. He and a consortium of Amsterdam bankers agreed to terms for a vital loan, and he negotiated the Dutch-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce. But additional documentation for the period is provided in other published volumes of the Adams Papers. The 272 letters and documents printed in and the 74 items omitted from this volume should be considered together with the 58 documents for the same period printed in the Adams Family Correspondence (4:319–390; 5:1–28). Those letters describe life in war-time America and provided much needed intelligence to support Adams' activities in the Netherlands, while giving him an unofficial conduit by which he could inform those closest to him of the situation in Europe. Abigail Adams was John Adams' most important correspondent, but the letters he exchanged with John Quincy Adams, John Thaxter, Richard Cranch, and Cotton Tufts are also important in any effort to fully understand Adams the diplomat. John Adams' Diary and Autobiography (3:5–37) and John Quincy Adams' Diary (1:124–153) also contain important information. The first describes September and October 1782 as John Adams waited for the Dutch to finally approve the treaty so that he could depart for Paris and the peace negotiations, while the latter chronicles the younger Adams' life in St. Petersburg from May through late October 1782, when he began his circuitous journey back to the Netherlands.
 
1. To Robert R. Livingston, 16 May, below.
 
2. For the unsuccessful efforts of these firms to raise an American loan in the Netherlands, see the indexes to vols. 6, 8, 11, and 12.
 
3. To Robert R. Livingston, 16 May, below.
 
4. Contract for a Loan with Wilhelm & Jan Willink, Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst, and De la Land & Fynje, [11 June] , below.
 
5. To Robert R. Livingston, 23 April (vol. 12:450–451).
 
6. The Negotiation of the Dutch-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 22 Aug. – 8 Oct., below.
 
7. For notations indicating that copies were sent to La Luzerne, see Livingston's letters to JA in PCC, No. 118.
 
8. Below, but see also JA's letters to Livingston of 6 and 17 Sept. (2), all below.
 
9. To Livingston, 4 Sept., note 20, below.
 
10. See, in particular, JA's letter of 21 May to the Marquis de Lafayette, note 1, below.
 
11. See Lee's letter of 7 Aug. and JA's reply of 10 Oct., both below.
 
12. Household Inventories of the U.S. Legation at The Hague, 14 May 1782 – 24 June 1784, below.
 
13. From Jan Heefke, 7 June, below.
 
14. [ca. 5–8] July, below.
 
15. “Letters from a Distinguished American,” [ante 14-22 July] 1780, vol. 9:531-588; to Jenings, 17 July, and note 4; from Jenings, 11 Aug., and note 6, both below.
 
16. Memorial to the States General, 19 April 1781, but see also JA's letter to the Duc de La Vauguyon, 17 April 1781, and note 1 (vol. 11:272-282, 263-265).
 
17. John Adams and His Letterbooks, vol. 12:xviii–xix.
{p. R25}

Acknowledgments

Docno: PJA13d002
The publication of a volume of the Papers of John Adams requires the assistance of many more people than can be listed on the title page. In our office Paul Fótis Tsimahides transcribed documents for this and future volumes and, with Founding Fathers Papers Fellow Karen Northrop Barzilay, assisted in the final, crucial tasks necessary before a volume can be published. Former editorial assistant Jennifer Shea helped with the collation and the preparation of the documents for editing. The efforts of former assistant editor Joanna M. Revelas, who again provided translations of French documents, are also greatly appreciated. Lastly, Ann-Marie Imbornoni copyedited the entire volume and added immensely to its accuracy and style.
Over time, a project such as the Adams Papers builds a store of old and new friends whose assistance is vital to the editorial process. Once again Inez Hollander Lake of Orinda, California, transcribed and translated Dutch letters and documents and provided answers to our many questions about them, especially regarding the text of the Dutch-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce. Margarete Ritzkowsky of Tutzing, Germany, performed the same tasks for German documents, all of them posing special problems for the transcriber and translator. Prof. Ward W. Briggs of the University of South Carolina continued to provide translations of Latin passages. Ellen R. Cohn, Jonathan R. Dull, and Kate M. Ohno of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin were always willing and able to answer our questions. Our research efforts were made much easier than might otherwise have been the case through the assistance of Edward B. Doctoroff, Head of the Administrative Services Division at Harvard's Widener Library, and the staff of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department at the Boston Public Library. Finally, we would like to thank our new friends: Prof. John J. McCusker of Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, who shared with us his vast knowledge of the arcane world of eighteenth-century finance; and Emma Butterfield, Picture Librarian, National Portrait Gallery, London, who expedited the always difficult task of procuring illustrations.
{p. R26}
The Harvard University Press has continued its unstinting support for the publication of the Adams Papers volumes, for which we are greatly appreciative. We want to thank particularly Assistant Director for Design and Production John Walsh, who could not have been more supportive. The same can be said for Lisa Roberts, Paperback Manager; and Kathleen McDermott, Editor, History and Social Sciences, for their help in the production and marketing of this book. This volume of the Papers of John Adams posed some difficult typographical problems, and the patience and assistance of Kevin Krugh and his staff at Technologies 'N Typography was crucial to our efforts.
No Adams Papers volume would be possible without access to the unparalleled collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the assistance of the Society's skilled, professional, and knowledgeable staff. We would particularly like to thank William M. Fowler Jr., Director; Peter Drummey, Stephen T. Riley Librarian; Brenda M. Lawson, Associate Librarian and Curator of Manuscripts; Mary E. Fabiszewski, Senior Cataloger; Kimberly Nusco, Reference Librarian; Nancy Heywood, Digital Projects Coordinator; Jennifer Smith, Photographic Services; and Thomas Blake, Digital Projects Production Specialist. Finally, we are very appreciative of the contributions to the success of this project made by the members of the Adams Papers Administrative Committee.
{p. R27}

Guide to Editorial Apparatus

The first three sections (1–3) of this guide list, respectively, the arbitrary devices used for clarifying the text, the code names for designating prominent members of the Adams family, and the symbols describing the various kinds of manuscript originals used or referred to, which are employed throughout The Adams Papers in all its series and parts. The final three sections (4–6) list, respectively, only those symbols designating institutions holding original materials, the various abbreviations and conventional terms, and the short titles of books and other works that occur in volume 13 of the Papers of John Adams.

Textual Devices

The following devices will be used throughout The Adams Papers to clarify the presentation of the text.
[. . .]   One word missing or illegible.  
[. . . .]   Two words missing or illegible.  
[. . . .]   More than two words missing or illegible; subjoined footnote estimates amount of missing matter.  
[ ]   Number or part of a number missing or illegible. Amount of blank space inside brackets approximates the number of missing or illegible digits.  
[roman]   Conjectural reading for missing or illegible matter. A question mark is inserted before the closing bracket if the conjectural reading is seriously doubtful.  
<italic>   Canceled matter.  
[italic]   Editorial insertion.  
||roman||   Text editorially decoded.  

Adams Family Code Names

First Generation    
JA   John Adams (1735–1826)  
AA   Abigail Adams (1744–1818), m. JA 1764  
Second Generation    
AA2   Abigail Adams (1765–1813), daughter of JA and AA, m. WSS 1786  
WSS   William Stephens Smith (1755–1816), brother of SSA  
JQA   John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), son of JA and AA  
LCA   Louisa Catherine Johnson (1775–1852), m. JQA 1797  
CA   Charles Adams (1770–1800), son of JA and AA  
SSA   Sarah Smith (1769–1828), sister of WSS, m. CA 1795  
TBA   Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832), son of JA and AA  
AHA   Ann Harrod (1774?–1845), m. TBA 1805  
{p. R28}
Third Generation    
GWA   George Washington Adams (1801–1829), son of JQA and LCA  
JA2   John Adams (1803–1834), son of JQA and LCA  
MCHA   Mary Catherine Hellen (1806?–1870), m. JA2 1828  
CFA   Charles Francis Adams (1807–1886), son of JQA and LCA  
ABA   Abigail Brown Brooks (1808–1889), m. CFA 1829  
ECA   Elizabeth Coombs Adams (1808–1903), daughter of TBA and AHA  
Fourth Generation    
LCA2   Louisa Catherine Adams (1831–1870), daughter of CFA and ABA, m. Charles Kuhn 1854  
JQA2   John Quincy Adams (1833–1894), son of CFA and ABA  
CFA2   Charles Francis Adams (1835–1915), son of CFA and ABA  
HA   Henry Adams (1838–1918), son of CFA and ABA  
MHA   Marian Hooper (1842–1885), m. HA 1872  
MA   Mary Adams (1845–1928), daughter of CFA and ABA, m. Henry Parker Quincy 1877  
BA   Brooks Adams (1848–1927), son of CFA and ABA  
Fifth Generation    
CFA3   Charles Francis Adams (1866–1954), son of JQA2  
HA2   Henry Adams (1875–1951), son of CFA2  
JA3   John Adams (1875–1964), son of CFA2  

Descriptive Symbols

The following symbols will be employed throughout The Adams Papers to describe or identify in brief form the various kinds of manuscript originals.
D   Diary (Used only to designate a diary written by a member of the Adams family and always in combination with the short form of the writer's name and a serial number, as follows: D/JA/23, i.e. the twenty-third fascicle or volume of John Adams' manuscript Diary.)  
Dft   draft  
Dupl   duplicate  
FC   file copy (Ordinarily a copy of a letter retained by a correspondent other than an Adams, for example, Jefferson's press copies and polygraph copies, since all three of the Adams statesmen systematically entered copies of their outgoing letters in letterbooks.)  
Lb   Letterbook (Used only to designate Adams letterbooks and always in combination with the short form of the writer's name and a serial number, as follows: Lb/JQA/29, i.e. the twenty-ninth volume of John Quincy Adams' Letterbooks.)  
LbC   letterbook copy (Letterbook copies are normally unsigned, but any such copy is assumed to be in the hand of the person responsible for the text unless it is otherwise described.)  
{p. R29}
M   Miscellany (Used only to designate materials in the section of the Adams Papers known as the “Miscellany” and always in combination with the short form of the writer's name and a serial number, as follows: M/CFA/32, i.e. the thirty-second volume of the Charles Francis Adams Miscellany—a ledger volume mainly containing transcripts made by CFA in 1833 of selections from the family papers.)  
MS, MSS   manuscript, manuscripts  
RC   recipient's copy (A recipient's copy is assumed to be in the hand of the signer unless it is otherwise described.)  
Tr   transcript (A copy, handwritten or typewritten, made substantially later than the original or later than other copies—such as duplicates, file copies, letterbook copies—that were made contemporaneously.)  
Tripl   triplicate  

Location Symbols

DNA   National Archives and Records Administration  
DSI   Smithsonian Institution Libraries  
ICN   Newberry Library, Chicago  
MB   Boston Public Library  
MH-H   Houghton Library, Harvard University  
MHi   Massachusetts Historical Society  
NN   New York Public Library  
NNC   Columbia University Library  
ScL (ScU)   South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina  

Other Abbreviations and Conventional Terms


  • Adams Papers
  • Manuscripts and other materials, 1639–1889, in the Adams Manuscript Trust collection given to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1956 and enlarged by a few additions of family papers since then. Citations in the present edition are simply by date of the original document if the original is in the main chronological series of the Papers and therefore readily found in the microfilm edition of the Adams Papers (see below).

  • Adams Papers Editorial Files
  • Other materials in the Adams Papers editorial office, Massachusetts Historical Society. These include photoduplicated documents (normally cited by the location of the originals), photographs, correspondence, and bibliographical and other aids compiled and accumulated by the editorial staff.

  • Adams Papers, Adams Office Files
  • The portion of the Adams manuscripts given to the Massachusetts Historical Society by Thomas Boylston Adams in 1973.

  • Adams Papers, Microfilms
  • The corpus of the Adams Papers, 1639–1889, as published on microfilm by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1954–1959, in 608 reels. Cited in the present work, when necessary, by reel number. Available in research libraries throughout the United States and in a few libraries in Canada, Europe, and New Zealand.

  • The Adams Papers
  • The present edition in letterpress, published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. References to earlier volumes of any given unit take this form: vol. 2:146. Since there will be no overall volume numbering for the edition, references from one series, or unit of a series, to another will be by title, volume, and page; for example, JA, D&A, 4:205.

  • Koninklijk Huisarchief
  • Koninklijk Huisarchief, The Hague.

  • Nationaal Archief
  • Nationaal Archief, The Hague.

  • PCC
  • Papers of the Continental Congress. Originals in the National Archives: Record Group 360. Microfilm edition in 204 reels. Usually cited in the present work from the microfilms, but according to the original series and volume numbering devised in the State Department in the early nineteenth century; for example, (PCC, No. 93, III, i.e., the third volume of series 93.

  • PCC, Misc. Papers
  • Miscellaneous Papers of the Continental Congress. Originals in the National Archives: Record Group 360. Microfilm edition in 9 reels. Cited in the present work from the microfilms by reel and folio number.

Short Titles of Works Frequently Cited


  • AFC
  • Adams Family Correspondence, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Richard Alan Ryerson, Margaret A. Hogan, and others, Cambridge, 1963– .

  • Boston, [vol. no.] Reports
  • City of Boston, Annual Reports of the Record Commissioner of Boston [title varies], Boston, 1876–1909; 39 vols.

  • Cambridge Modern Hist.
  • The Cambridge Modern History, Cambridge, Eng., 1902–1911; repr. New York, 1969; 13 vols.

  • Catalogue of JA's Library
  • Catalogue of the John Adams Library in the Public Library of the City of Boston, Boston, 1917.

  • CFA, Diary
  • Diary of Charles Francis Adams, ed. Aïda DiPace Donald, David Donald, Marc Friedlaender, L. H. Butterfield, and others, Cambridge, 1964– .

  • DAB
  • Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928–1936; repr. New York, 1964; 10 vols. plus index and supplements.

  • De Madariaga, Armed Neutrality of 1780
  • Isabel de Madariaga, Britain, Russia, and the Armed Neutrality of 1780: Sir James Harris's Mission to St. Petersburg during the American Revolution, New Haven, Conn., 1962.

  • DNB
  • Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, repr. edn., New York and London, 1959–1960; 22 vols.

  • Dull, French Navy and Amer. Independence
  • Jonathan R. Dull, The French Navy and American Independence: A Study of Arms and Diplomacy, 1774–1787, Princeton, N.J., 1975.

  • Franklin, Papers
  • The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard W. Labaree, William B. Willcox, Claude A. Lopez, Barbara B. Oberg, Ellen R. Cohn, and others, New Haven, Conn., 1959– .

  • Hamilton, Papers
  • Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Harold C. Syrett, Jacob E. Cooke, and others, New York, 1961–1987; 27 vols.

  • Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale
  • Jean Chrétien Ferdinand Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, Paris, 1852–1866; 46 vols.

  • JA, A Collection of State-Papers
  • John Adams, comp., A Collection of State-Papers, Relative to the First Acknowledgment of the Sovereignity of the United States of America, and the Reception of Their Minister Plenipotentiary, by Their High-Mightinesses the States-General of the United Netherlands, The Hague, 1782.

  • JA, D&A
  • Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols.

  • JA, Earliest Diary
  • The Earliest Diary of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966.

  • JA, Legal Papers
  • Legal Papers of John Adams, ed. L. Kinvin Wroth and Hiller B. Zobel, Cambridge, 1965; 3 vols.

  • JA, Papers
  • Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert J. Taylor, Gregg L. Lint, and others, Cambridge, 1977– .

  • JA, Works
  • The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, ed. Charles Francis Adams, Boston, 1850–1856; 10 vols.

  • JCC
  • Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, ed. Worthington C. Ford and others, Washington, D.C., 1904–1937; 34 vols.

  • Jefferson, Papers
  • The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, Princeton, N.J., 1950– .

  • JQA, Diary
  • Diary of John Quincy Adams, ed. David Grayson Allen, Robert J. Taylor, and others, Cambridge, 1981– .

  • Laurens, Papers
  • The Papers of Henry Laurens, ed. Philip M. Hamer, George C. Rogers Jr., David R. Chesnutt, C. James Taylor, and others, Columbia, S.C., 1968–2003; 16 vols.

  • Mackesy, War for America
  • Piers Mackesy, The War for America, 1775–1783, Cambridge, 1964.

  • Mass., Acts and Laws
  • Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts [1780–1805], Boston, 1890–1898; 13 vols.

  • Miller, Treaties
  • Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America, ed. Hunter Miller, Washington, D.C., 1931–1948; 8 vols.

  • Morris, Papers
  • The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781–1784, ed. E. James Ferguson, John Catanzariti, Elizabeth M. Nuxoll, and Mary A. Y. Gallagher, Pittsburgh, 1973–1999; 9 vols.

  • Morris, Peacemakers
  • Richard B. Morris, The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence, New York, 1965.

  • Murphy, Vergennes
  • Orville T. Murphy, Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes: French Diplomacy in the Age of Revolution, 1719–1787, Albany, N.Y., 1982.

  • Nieuw Ned. Biog. Woordenboek
  • P. C. Molhuysen and others, eds., Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, Leyden, 1911–1937; 10 vols.

  • OED
  • The Oxford English Dictionary, 2d edn., Oxford, 1989; 20 vols.

  • Parliamentary Hist.
  • The Parliamentary History of England, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803, London, 1806–1820; 36 vols.

  • Repertorium
  • Repertorium der diplomatischen Vertreter aller Länder seit dem Westfälischen Frieden (1648), ed. Ludwig Bittner and others, Oldenburg, &c., 1936–1965; 3 vols.

  • Rush, Letters
  • Letters of Benjamin Rush, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Princeton, N.J., 1951; 2 vols.

  • Scott, Armed Neutralities of 1780 and 1800
  • The Armed Neutralities of 1780 and 1800: A Collection of Official Documents Preceded by the Views of Representative Publicists, ed. James Brown Scott, New York, 1918.

  • Scott, British Foreign Policy
  • H. M. Scott, British Foreign Policy in the Age of the American Revolution, Oxford, 1990.

  • Sibley's Harvard Graduates
  • John Langdon Sibley, Clifford K. Shipton, Conrad Edick Wright, Edward W. Hanson, and others, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts [title varies], Cambridge and Boston, 1873– .

  • Smith, Letters of Delegates
  • Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789, ed. Paul H. Smith and others, Washington, D.C., 1976–2000; 26 vols.

  • Warren-Adams
  • Letters Warren-Adams Letters: Being Chiefly a Correspondence among John Adams, Samuel Adams, and James Warren (Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, vols. 72–73), Boston, 1917–1925; 2 vols.

  • Washington, Papers, Presidential Series
  • The Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, ed. Dorothy Twohig, Mark A. Mastromarino, Jack D. Warren Jr., Robert F. Haggard, Christine S. Patrick, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1987– .

  • Wharton, Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev.
  • The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, ed. Francis Wharton, Washington, D.C., 1889; 6 vols.

  • Winter, American Finance and Dutch Investment
  • Pieter J. van Winter and James C. Riley, American Finance and Dutch Investment 1780–1805, New York, 1977; 2 vols.
{p. R34} {p. R35}

volume 13

Papers

May – October 1782

{p. R36}
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007.
http://www.masshist.org/ff/