Papers of John Adams, volume 21
a
r16
th1796
After an agreeable journey we arrived here in the midst
of Election, and by lies abuse & bribery the disorganizers will carry
their tickets thro the State. This I supposed with the efforts of
Massachusetts Jacobins would have given Jefferson the vote. But old Samuels
defeat which I think but a prelude to his overthrow, has revived my hopes.
The No of Votes 138,70 makes a Majority—
| I count on N H. | 6 | up | 51 | ||
| Mass | 16 | N. Jersey | 7 | ||
| Vermont | 4 | Delaware | 3 | ||
| R Island | 4 | Virginia | 3 | some say 5 | |
| Connct | 9 | S Carolina | 4 | ||
| NY | 12 | Kentucky | 1 | ||
| 51 | N Carolina | 2 | |||
| Maryland | 5 | some say 6 | |||
| 76 |
This gives 6 votes to spare, and which tis not supposeable
Jefferson can obtain. I presume further that
these 76 contain 7/8ths the honesty &
property, & 4/5ths of the good sense of the
Nation—1
Ben. Beach informs us that the functions of the French
Minister cease from this time. This altho Beach says it may be true.2 Perhaps ’tis only a prelude
to a new appointment, or an attempt to bully us into a quarrell, or
preparatory to hostilities. Everything has been done by our patriots to embroil us with France, and they
can by no means be charged with remissness if they do not succeed. I hope
& pray however for the peace of our Jerusalem—
The President US is in Town with Mrs Washington. They made kind enquiries after you and Mrs Adams, & appear to contemplate retirement
with pleasure.3 After such a
scene of anxiety & labour and at their time of life I dont wonder at
it.
Your friends hope you will be here early in the Session as it will inevitably be a short one. The town is quite healthy, altho the weather is mild, & the drought sharp beyond anything known at any season of the year.
Mrs Otis & Miss Harriet
join in respects to yourself & lady.
I have the honor to be / Sir / Your most obedent / humble
Sert
RC (Adams Papers).
Electioneering and press coverage grew fiery
throughout the fall as JA and Thomas Jefferson separated
from the pack as the two lead contenders for the presidency. State
electors were instructed to cast their votes by 7 Dec., and early
results emerged in mid-December although the votes were not formally
opened and tallied until Feb. 1797. Longtime friends offered early
congratulations. “I hasten to send your Excellencÿ another Letter from
mÿ solitarÿ mansion—before the united American Electors have called
you—to occupy the chair of their President,” François Adriaan Van der
Kemp wrote to JA on 10 Nov. 1796 as the voting continued
(Adams Papers). In his
correspondence, JA remained cautious and circumspect,
confining his hopes and plans for the presidency to AA and
a few trusted family members. He remained in Quincy farming until late
fall. JA left Quincy for Philadelphia on 23 Nov. and
arrived on 2 Dec., three days before the opening of the 2d session of
the 4th Congress. JA knew that any candidate’s victory
would come with a small majority, and he prepared for the eventuality of
either Jefferson or Thomas Pinckney as vice president. “I look upon the
Event as the throw of a Die, a mere Chance, a miserable meagre Tryumph
to either Party,” JA wrote to JQA on 5
December. For the final results of the presidential election of 1796,
see JA’s 4 Jan. 1797 Certification of Receipt of Presidential
Votes from Kentucky, and note 2, below (
AFC
, 11:399–400, 597; JA, D&A
, 3:248–249).
In late 1796, Pierre Auguste Adet (1763–1834), a
Parisian politician who served as the French minister to the United
States, suspended his functions after several months of sharply
criticizing American foreign policy. Adet spurred a controversy,
sparring with Timothy Pickering in the press over the significance of
U.S. neutrality for French defense, especially as it related to the
terms of the 1778 Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, the
promises of the Jay Treaty, and the ongoing British attacks on U.S.
shipping (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale
;
AFC
, 10:444, 11:400).
The Washingtons left Philadelphia on 9 March 1797 and
arrived at Mount Vernon at four o’clock in the afternoon of 15 March,
after pausing for public feasts and honors at several towns along the
way. Assessing his retirement projects on the estate, the first U.S.
president observed: “I find myself in the situation, nearly, of a new
beginner; for although I have no houses to build (except one, which I
must erect for the accommodation & security of my Military, Civil
& private Papers . . .) yet I have not one or scarcely anything else
about me that does not require considerable repairs. In a word I am
already surrounded by Joiners, Masons, Painters & ca” (Washington, Diaries
, 6:236, 237–240).
6 December 1796
I have recd your favour
of the 10. of Nov. and thank you for the quotations from the Posthumous
Works of the late K. of Prussia. The Quotations from Condercet are
Proofs of Insincerity or Inconsistency but the latter may be easily
expected from a Person who writes upon a subject he knows nothing
of.2
I am able unfortunately to give you some Extracts of Letters concerning a Man of more Sense, more Learning better Principles and more benevolent dispositions than Condercet who is now under Difficulties I fear, I mean your Friend Luzac. My Son John Quincy Adams writes to his Mother “our Friend Luzac, who I am sorry to 516 Say is no longer Professor Luzac, is publishing a Collection consisting of the orations which he delivered on entering upon the Functions of his Professorship, and on the Expiration of his Administration as Rector magnificus, or Principal of the University of Leyden together with some curious and Scientific Dissertations. He had dedicated the whole to my Father in an elegant latin Epistle which is to appear at the head of the Work”
My Son Thomas Boylston Adams writes me “At the time
the National Assembly commenced its career, Several new periodical
publications appeared. Two of them were printed in the French Language,
and the Prospectus of each promised that the future Numbers Should
furnish regular details of the Proceedings in the national Council, and
even proclaimed themselves as the occasional vehicles of political
disquisitions, adapted to the temper of the times. Energetic appeals to
Patriotism for Patronage, which almost every number contained, Soon
discovered Symptoms of abortion, and Shortly after, the Undertakers of
these Publications were obliged to declare, in the bitterness and Pangs
of their labour that Such was the dearth of public Spirit, it would not
pay even the expences of the midwife. For your Amusement I send you the
first and last Words of one of these Papers; it commenced under the
auspices of the French Minister here and lived nearly Seven Weeks;
anoth[er] which bore the Title of ’Monteur Batave’ Survived but a short
time longer and it is remarkable that both, just before their death,
Snarled horrible at poor Luzac, because his Paper Still went on in the
old Style. This is a Slight Specimin of the public apathy and
Indifference about political Discussions. An Anecdote which proves
Something more is the Dismission of Mr J.
Luzac from his Professorship in the University and with a Prohibition
Subjoined against his Superintendance of the Leyden Gazette[”]3
Sir I had written the above to you: but was
interrupted and have left the Letter I was copying. I have within a few
days recd your favour of the 4 of March. and
I thank you for your kind Congratulations4
RC (PHi:John Adams’ Letters). Some loss of text due to wear at the edge.
The dating of this letter is based on Van der Kemp’s reply of 30 Dec. 1797 (Adams Papers).
Van der Kemp wrote to JA on 10 Nov. 1796
(Adams Papers) discussing
Frederick II’s political theories, as laid out in his Oeuvres posthumes de Fréderic II, roi de
Prusse, 15 vols., Berlin, 1788.
For the controversy that swept up Jean Luzac and led
to his dismissal from the 517
Leyden University faculty, see
AFC
, 11:351–352, 354,
365.
On 4 March 1797 Van der Kemp wrote to congratulate JA on his election to the presidency (Adams Papers).