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Summary:
In a display of barely controlled fury, John Adams nurses political wounds almost a decade old. The former president defends the record of his one-term administration, assails the “treachery” and “Intrigues” of Hamilton and “my pretended federal Friends” and scathingly remarks that “The Press has not been free.” Regarding the ongoing crisis with England and France, he notes that both have given “just Cause of war. But neither has yet made it necessary.” As president, John Adams had incurred the wrath of fellow Federalists by averting war with France; passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts had further infuriated his Republican opponents. In retirement, he began to rehabilitate his sullied public reputation. With Hamilton dead (killed by Aaron Burr in the legendary 1804 duel), his Republican nemesis Thomas Jefferson out of office, and his son John Quincy Adams split from the Federalist Party, Adams at last felt free to publicly voice his long-festering anger. In a series of letters to the Boston Patriot, he vehemently rebutted Hamilton’s slanders and presented his side of the story regarding the “quasi-war” with France (1798-1800) and the divisive presidential election of 1800, in which Hamilton had plotted to replace Adams with another candidate. The United States had found itself on the brink of war again, in 1804, when Britain had decided to block the neutral trade with its enemies by enforcing an extensive blockade of West Indian and European ports. In retaliation, Napoleon banned all trade with Britain. American merchant ships that ignored these edicts were subject to capture by both the British and French. The issue was not resolved until the aftermath of the War of 1812. Republicans of his day would find Adams’ comment ironic, considering his role in passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. Many considered the Acts’ restriction of freedom of speech and of the press to be unconstitutional.
For the man who had put his life on the line in the cause of independence, and sacrificed his political future to avoid unnecessary war, this letter sums up his creed: “I have departed from no Principle. My invariable Principle for five and thirty years has been to promote preserve and secure the Integrity of the Union and the Independence of the Nation…” John Adams. Autograph Letter Signed: to Joseph Lyman. Quincy, April 20, 1809. 3 pp. Inventory# 11795 $160,000 Complete Transcript: Quincy April 20th 1809
Sir I have received your respectful Letter of the 21. March. It is not now necessary for me to say any thing concerning many of the Topics. To explain myself fully and inter into the Histories of past occurrences alluded to would require a volume. I have forsaken the Persons and Interests of none of my Friends. The Leaders to whom the Federal Party has now blindly abandoned itself were never my Friends. I have departed from no Principle. My invariable Principle for five and thirty years has been to promote preserve and secure the Integrity of the Union and the Independence of the Nation, against the Policy of England as well as France. When France attempted to degrade us I exerted all my Industry to arrouse inspire and animate my Fellow Citizens to Resistance, and with so much success that the then French government were compelled to retreat. If, for this service I had no thanks from the Republicans, I had nothing but Insolence and Scurrility from the Federalists. Look back and read the Federal Newspapers in Boston, New York and Philadelphia, of that Period. You will there see how I was treated. If your Namesake of Springfield, who was then a Representative in Congress, one of the most amiable of Men, were now alive he could inform you as he did me, with the kindest expressions of attachment to me, and Indignation against the treachery of my pretended federal Friends. He assured me that the Federalists in New York with Hamilton at their head had in Secret Caucus agreed to sacrifice Adams. I had other Information from other Quarters, that at the Meeting of the Cincinati at New York when they chose Hamilton their President General it was agreed and the Reverend Doctors of Divinity and there were several of those present commenced in the pious project and the pious Language to sacrifice Adams and bring in Pinckney. The Intrigues they practised to accomplish this were very extensive and very Jesuitical. But to develop them would lead me too far. I will only add that the Boston, and the Pensilvania, if not the South Carolina Federal Leaders were in the same Plott. – They were assisted too by the Publications in England particularly the Antijacobin then under the direction of Mr. Canning. I know that French Influence drove me into banishment: but it would not have had the Power if it had not been essentially assisted by the Pharisaical Jesuitical Machiavilian Intrigues and Influence of the leading Federalists. I assure you Sir, “A War with England will not meet my “hearty Reprobation” if England makes it necessary. England and France have both given us just Cause of war. But neither has yet made it necessary. The first of the two that shall render war necessary shall have my vote for it. I am surprised that you should think there is no pretext or excuse for a war with England. [T]hat you should talk of their bearing so much with the Waywardness of our Government, and that [“]she has done nothing to injure us but from a Principle of necessary Self defense and a Retaliation of Injuries from their Adversaries, which We had not the Dignity to resent and repel.” You say Mr Adams would not have done thus. I assure you Mr Adams would have resented and repelled, to the utmost of his Power the British Proclamation of Blockade of Eleven hundred Miles of Sea coast from the Elbe to Brest which was the first act of the Diabolical Warfare of Blockades, Decrees and orders of Council. The Berlin decree [by Napoleon] is expressly grounded on a Principle of Retaliation for this Blockade. The wickedness of this first Blockade cannot be set in a true light without detailing the History of Antwerp, the Scheld[t], Ostend, Ni[eu]wport & the objects of all the Flanders wars for centuries. In plain English, Great Britain is the first Sinner, and the original Guilt of our present Calamities lies at her door: though France in point of actual Transgression is not much behind her. The Federal Papers for the last year or two assisted by English Hirelings have been employed in varnishing over the Conduct of Great Britain, and in calumniating every impartial and disinterested Man till they appear to have obtained a temporary Majority in New England. I greatly respect the public opinion of New England when it is truly informed. In the present Instance, with infinite grief I fear it is not. The Press has not been free. I am not able to see how the Federalists of New England are to get along with their new Friends the Old English. If they Succeed I shall wish them Joy: but I cannot expect to live to enjoy that felicity. I am very respectfully, Sir your Friend and humble Servant
John Adams
Joseph Lyman Esqr / Hatfield. Historical Background:
By April 1809, former president John Adams had begun to rehabilitate his sullied public reputation by writing numerous letters as well as articles for publication. In a three-year series of letters to the Boston Patriot newspaper, Adams vehemently rebutted Alexander Hamilton’s slanders and presented his side of the story regarding the “quasi-war” with France in 1799-1800 and the divisive presidential election of 1800, in which Hamilton had secretly plotted to replace Adams with another candidate. Especially rankling to Adams was the 1806 publication of a history of the American Revolution, written by former friend Mercy Otis Warren, which accused him of abandoning the ideals of the Revolution. In this letter to Joseph Lyman he writes a stinging rebuttal to the accusations that he had betrayed his Federalist principles. Adams stoutly defends his one-term administration—recalling with anger the “Machiavilian Intrigues” of Alexander Hamilton and his colleagues during the 1800 election. Adams’s success in avoiding a declared war with France during his term in office, he adds, was met with “no thanks from the Republicans” and “nothing but Insolence and Scurrility from the Federalists.” Adams had sent a special commission to France to negotiate a treaty of commerce and friendship. The three envoys were met with a demand for bribes. Adams considered that insult to be just cause for war and, despite opposition from the Republicans, began preparations for hostilities. Congress demanded to see the correspondence of the commission about the matter, but Adams claimed executive privilege and refused, citing the doctrine that the activities of the executive branch need not be released to Congress. Finally he was convinced by his Federalist supporters to release the documents, but he withheld the names of the Frenchmen involved—leading to its designation as “the XYZ Affair.” After a series of naval defeats, France agreed to negotiations and war was averted. Following the publication of the XYZ correspondence and the “undeclared war,” in 1798 the Federalists pushed through Congress four new laws directed against subversive activities of foreigners in the United States and imposing far-reaching restrictions on freedom of speech and of the press. The Republicans considered the Alien and Sedition Acts to be unconstitutional, but the laws were never put to the test before the Supreme Court before their expiration or repeal in the Jeffersonian administration. Adams assails “the Pharisaical Jesuitical Machiavilian Intrigues” of the Federalists, led by Hamilton, for scheming to deny him the presidency in the 1800 election. In the earliest years of the Republic, election ballots were conducted jointly rather than separately, with the candidate with the most votes becoming president and the runner-up, vice president. The Founding Fathers had not anticipated the rise of opposing political parties. Obviously, this led to the potential for behind-the-scenes manipulation of elections. The passage of the Twelfth Amendment in 1804 specified separate ballots for each office. As Adams wrote this letter, the United States found itself on the brink of war once again. In 1804, Britain had decided to put an end to neutral trade with its enemies by enforcing an extensive blockade of West Indian and European ports. In retaliation, Napoleon issued the “Berlin Decree,” banning all trade with Britain. American merchant ships that ignored these edicts were subject to capture; their crews risked impressments. Jefferson’s response in 1807 was an embargo on American shipping. Federalists strenuously opposed the embargo and connived to bring America into a war against France on the side of England. With mounting anger, Adams refutes Lyman’s assumption that he agrees with the Federalist position: “England and France have both given us just cause of war. But neither has yet made it necessary.” Rev. Dr. Joseph Lyman (b. 1749) of Hatfield was a Congregational clergyman and author of A Sermon Preached before the Convention of the Clergy in Massachusetts in Boston, May 29, 1806 (Boston: David Carlisle, 1806). He was a founding member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, a Congregationalist organization chartered in Massachusetts in 1812. Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814), playwright and poet, was the sister of James Otis, the wife of James Warren, and a close friend of Abigail and John Adams until the 1805 publication of her History of the American Revolution, containing somewhat outspoken personal criticism of John Adams, damaged their relationship.
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