Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
In your Letter of the 9th
you Say, that you will not Say you disagree with Manlius, in his opinion
“that the downfall of the federal Cause is to be attributed to the
Mission to France.”— In this opinion I fully believe that both of you
are mistaken: and I am confident I could convince you of this, if I had
an opportunity of recalling to your recollection the Passages of the
times before and after the nomination of Mr Murray. It would require
more time than I have at my command to devellope the particulars. But if
the Papers which I have Seen and even those I have in Possession had
been published as they would have been and the President had refused to
institute a negotiation, with the Alien Law the sedition Law and the
direct Tax in full force and operation, with the Army on foot, Eight Per
Cent Loans proceeding, and the other Sources of Revenue yet untouched,
explored and fresh Taxes laid on, in my Opinion the President would
Scarcely have had twenty Votes at the late Election the new Senators
would have been all Jacobins and the new Representatives too, very
generally even in New England.— Without the Negotiation with France
There would have been a compleat Revolution of Sentiment in America and
Such decided Majorities of Jacobins brought in, as would have carried
the Government into a direct War with Great Britain, after making a
Treaty with France infinitely more disadvantageous than the Convention
is. The Convention is perfectly consistent with our faith our honor, and
excepting the relinquishment of a Compensation for Spoliations, which
had become desperate, highly promotive of our Interests.
Tell me whether I am nearly right.
Yr affectionate
The fœderal cause has been So imprudently managed as well as so discordantly composed that the overthrow of the Party is no 530 Wonder. The fœderal Cause had no head. Washington was head.— Hamilton was head. Pickering was head—and Wolcott was head. if there was any Subordination among those four, it was to Hamilton.1
RC (private owner, 2004); internal
address: “T. B Adams Esq”; endorsed: “The President of the U.S. / 16th: January 1801. / 22d Recd: / Do. Answd.” FC (Adams Papers).
The postscript was written vertically in the left margin.
I received yours of the 9th
and thank you for the excellent matter which it contained.1 Mr Shaw has not sent you any
papers from hence, because the papers have not been worth transmitting, a
torpor appears to have seized every person and the query what can be done?
what will be done? what ought to be done? seems to be the questions, amongst
the three parties, into which not only the Legislature but the Country is
divided. Some are for Jefferson, some for Burr, others for making no choice,
if the latter should be the case, the President will immediately refuse
being considered as a candidate, the spirit of party has arisen to such a
height, that it cannot be appeased by the wisest and best measures, which
might however for a time have arrested the progress of it, but the devision
of the federal party amongst themselves, produced the change in the
administration. And from being united in support of the Government & the
constitution, they became a faction in support of an individual, whom they
have failed in carrying. Division has caused all the mischiefs which
threaten us. Conscious that no part of this blame can justly be attached to
the President, who has conducted the affairs of the nation without
partiality, and without hopocricy, he retires, or rather is pushed off by a
combination of circumstances as little honorary to the Country, he has so
faithfully and successfully served, as I fear it will prove to their peace
tranquility or happiness. For myself I have but a few more short years to
remain, should my life be protracted to even three score years and ten, I
cannot therefore for myself regret the change, but instead of calmness, and
serenity in retirement I foresee strife and contention for my Country.
Should ever that unfortunate period arrise, the President will have the
satisfaction of knowing and feeling, that he did not
leave his Country, for surely no obligation remains upon him to be
again the 531 mark for calumny (intrigue), and
falshood, for the rage of party vengeance to shoot at, the Country and not
he, must be responsible for all that is to follow. The more genious,
industry, and spirit are employed to destroy, the harder the task of saving
the Country becomes; those who go about to destroy, are animated from the
first by ambition and avarice, the Love of power and of money, Fear often
makes them desperate at last they must be opposed by a spirit able to cope
with ambition, avarice and despair itself, where is this manly and
disinterested spirit to arise. is the service of our Country rendered either
honorable or pleasurable, is it rewarded by gratitude or respect? let the
present annals declare.
I learn that General Hamilton is opposed to the election of Burr & has written several letters to that effect, he is also opposed to the ratification of the convention, and as he is assuredly dictator over a certain part both of house and Senate, his influence will pervade both.2 He may however find himself out Generaled as it respects the convention. he thinks if Jefferson is elected, he may more easily be hunted down than Burr, at least I conceive that is his motive, united to feelings that revolt at the idea of Burrs exaltation over him, thus does ambition often over shoot the mark. I readily believe that all the candid Demos, would readily compound to have things as they were. I have heard that said here. I do not chuse to express an opinion with respect to either candidate. I hope they are not sent in wrath to rule over us.
I inclose you a Boston News Boy, in return for your N. York, tell the Coln that I received last week his letter by General Armstrong.3 General Gunn has been sick ever since his return from Philadelphia, so that nothing has been done though I trust all is safe.
I shall let you know when I leave this place and I shall get on as far as New York, where I will rest a few days. Susanna has got the hooping cough, she has had it near a month, it pulls her down, but she will not I hope, have it very bad, my love to Caroline.
Be assured my dear daughter that I am ever / Your affectionate Mother.
Tr in ABA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “To Mrs W. S. Smith”; APM Reel 327.
Not found.
Once the tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr
became accepted knowledge, Alexander Hamilton implored a handful of
Federalists to support Jefferson rather than Burr. On 16 Dec. 1800 he
wrote to Oliver Wolcott Jr., describing Burr as “bankrupt beyond
redemption,” adding, “His public principles have no other spring or aim
than his own aggrandisement.” Over the weeks that followed he wrote
similar letters to Theodore Sedgwick, Harrison Gray Otis, and 532 Gouverneur Morris, among others.
Hamilton was a pragmatic supporter of the Convention of 1800, arguing
that “the least evil is to ratify” it rather than to leave it to the
Jefferson administration to renegotiate (Hamilton, Papers
, 25:257–259, 271–273).
The enclosed news carriers’ address, not found,
appeared in the Boston Commercial Gazette,
1 Jan. 1801, and offered comment on JA: “In vain, a life,
with patriot labors worn; / A people sav’d, a federate nation born; / In
vain, pre-eminence mid Fame’s Compeers; / Or WISDOM, silver’d with illustrious
years; / Have claim’d affection from a realm deprav’d, / To Faction’s
’one or twenty gods’ enslav’d; / And
PATRIOT ADAMS, to a thankless state, / Resigns that power, which made
his country great! / Illustrious Sage! whose firm, capacious mind, /
Just to thy country, bland to human kind, / Could now from Faction’s
storm, its lightning draw, / Now wield its thunders in the cause of law;
/ Lo! in the evening of thy glorious day, / Thy life’s horizon shows its
brightest ray.” The poem also “forbid ‘Bad
News’ to stir, / Or in suspense bang Jefferson and Burr.” AA sent the article
in return for one sent to her by WSS, which has not been
found but was probably from the New-York
Gazette, 1 Jan., and reflected with concern on the approaching
presidential transition. “No lover of his country can look forward
without anxiety” to Thomas Jefferson or Aaron Burr as president, the
article claimed, and while JA’s loss was “deeply regretted
by all Federal Republicans, they will steadily maintain the
Constitution.” WSS’s letter with the enclosed article was
likely carried by Senator John Armstrong Jr. (1758–1843) of New York
(
Biog. Dir. Cong.
).