George Washington
213
from
the
selection of
the proper objects (which
is always a choice ot
difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the
conduct of the Government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence
in the measures for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may
at any time dictate.
Observe good faith and justice toward
all
nations.
CuUivate peace
and harmony with all.
Religion and morality enjoin this conduct.
And
can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it?
It will be worthy
of a
free, enhghtened, and
at no distant period a great nation
to give
to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always
guided by an exalted
justice and benevolence.
Who can doubt that iu
the course of time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly repay
any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to
it ?
Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of
a nation with its virtue?
The experiment, at
least,
is recommended by
every sentiment which ennobles human nature.
Alas
!
is
it rendered
impossible by its vices ?
In the execution of such a plan nothing
is more essential than that
permanent, inveterate antipathies against pa^ ticular nations and passion-
ate attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place of them
just and amicable feelings toward
all should be cultivated.
The nation
which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fond-
ness is in some degree a slave.
It is a slave to its animosity or to its
affection, either of which is sufficient to lead
it astray from its duty and
its
interest.
Antipathy
in
one
nation against another
disposes
each
more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of shght causes of
umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling
occasions of dispute occur.
,
,
,
,
^
^
Hence frequent colhsions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests.
The'nation prompted by
ill will and resentment sometimes impels to war
the government contrary
to the best calculations of policy.
The gov-
ernment sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts
through passion what reason would reject.
At other times
it makes the
animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by
pride
ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives.
Ihe peace
often
sometimes perhaps the hberty, of nations has been the victim.
So
likewise, a passionate attachment
of one nation
for another pro-
duces a variety of
evils.
Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating
the
illusion of an imaginary common
interest
in cases where no
real
common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other,
betrays the former into a participation
in the quarrels and wars of the
latter without adequate inducement or justification.
It leads also to con-
cessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt
doubly
to
injure
the
nation making
the
concessions by unnessanly
parting with what ought to have l)een retained, and by exciting jealousy.
214
Messages ancf Papers of flie Presitleiits
ill will, and a disposition
to
retaliate
in the
parties
from whom equal
privileges are withheld; and
it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded
citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray
or sacrifice the interests of their own country without odium, sometimes
even with popularity, gilding with
the appearances of a vnrtuous sense
of
obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable
zeal for public good the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corrup-
tion, or infatuation.
As avenues to
foreign influence
in innumerable ways, such
attach-
ments are particularly alarming to the
truly enlightened and
indei)end-
ent
patriot.
How many
opportunities do they
afford
to tamper with
domestic
factions,
to practice the arts
of seduction,
to mislead
jJubHc^
opinion, to influence or awe the public councils!
Such an attachment of
a small or weak toward a great and powerful nation dooms the former
to be the
satellite
of the
latter.
Against the insidious wiles of foreign
influence
( I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a
free people ought to be
constayitly awake, since history and experience
prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican
government.
But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial, else
it
becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a
defense against it.
Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and exces-
sive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only
on one side, and ser\'e to veil and even second the arts of influence on the
other.
Real
patriots who may resist
the
intrigues of the favorite
are
liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp
the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests.
The great rule of conduct
for us
in regard
to foreign nations
is, ir
extending our commercial relations to have with them
as
little political
connection as possible.
So far as we have alread}^ formed engagements
let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith.
Here let us stop.
Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none or a very
remote relation.
Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies,
the causes of which
are
essentially foreign
to our
concerns.
Hence,
therefore,
it must be unwise in us to impUcate ourselves by artificial ties
in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations
and collisions of her friendships or enmities.
Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a
different course.
If we remain one people, under an efficient government,
the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external
annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neu-
trality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected;
when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions
upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may
choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.
Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit oiu"
George Washington
215
own to stand upon foreign ground?
Why, by interweaving our destiny
with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the
toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?
It
is our true policy to steer clear of permanent
alliances with any
portion
of the foreign world, so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to
do it;
for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to
existing engagements.
I hold the maxim no
less applicable to public
than to private affairs that honesty
is always the best policy.
I repeat,
therefore,
let those engagements be observed
in
their genuine
sense.
But in my opinion it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.
Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable estabhshments on a
respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances
for extraordinary emergencies.
Harmony, liberal
intercourse with
all
nations are recommended by
policy, humanity, and
interest.
But even our commercial policy should
hold an equal and impartial hand, neither seeking nor granting exclu-
sive favors or preferences
; consulting the natural course of things
;
dif-
fusing and
diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but
forcing nothing
;
establishing with powers so
disposed, in order to give
trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable
the Government to support them, conventional rules of
intercourse, the
best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but tem-
porary and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied as expe-
rience and circumstances shall dictate
; constantly keeping in view that it
is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another
;
that
it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept
X. ider that character;
that by such acceptance it may place itself
in the
condition
of having
given equivalents for nominal
favors, and
yet of
being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more.
There can be no
greater error than
to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation
to nation.
It is an
illusion which experience must
cure, which a just
pride ought to discard.
In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affec-
tionate friend I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impres-
sion I could wish—that they will control the usual current of the passions
or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked
the destiny of nations.
But
if
I may even flatter myself that they may
be productive of some
partial
benefit, some occasional good—that they
may now and then
recur
to moderate the fury of party
spirit, to warn
against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures
of pretended patriotism—this hope
will
be
a
full recompense
for the
solicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated.
How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by
the principles which have been delineated the public records and other
evidences of my conduct must witness to you and
to the world.
To
2i6
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
myself,
the
assurance
of my own conscience
is
that
have
at
leart
believed myself to be guided by them.
In relation
to the
still subsisting war in Europe m}' proclamation of
the 22d of April,
1793,
is the index
to my plan.
Sanctioned by your
approving voice and by that of your representatives
in both Houses of
Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, unin-
fluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from
it
After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights
I could
obtain,
I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances
of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to
take,
a
neutral
position.
Having
taken
it,
I
determined
as
far
as
should depend upon me
to maintain
it with moderation, perseverance,
and firmness.
The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct
it
is
not necessary on this occasion to detail.
I will only observe that, according
to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied
by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.
The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any-
thing more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on
every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the
relations of peace and amity toward other nations.
The inducements of interest
for observing that conduct will best be
referred
to your own reflections and experience.
With me a predomi-
nant motive has been to endeavor to gain time
to our country to settle
and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interrup-
tion
to that degree of strength and
consistency which
is necessary to
give
it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.
Though in reviewing the incidents of my Administration I am uncon-
scious of intentional error,
I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects
not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors.
What-
ever they may be,
I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate
the evils to which they may tend.
I shall also carry with me the hope
that my country will never cease
to view them with indulgence, and
that,
after
forty-five years of my
life dedicated to
its service with an
upright
zeal,
the
faults of
incompetent
abilities
will be
consigned
to
oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.
Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that
fer\^ent love toward it which is so natural to a man who views in
it the
native
soil
of
himself and
his
progenitors
for
several
generations,
I
anticipate with
pleasing expectation
that
retreat
in which
I promise
myself to realize without alloy the sweet enjoyment of partaking in the
midst of vay fellow-citizens the benign influence of good laws under a
free government—the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy
reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.
G9 WASHINGTON..
Jolin Adams
March 4, 1797, to March 4, 1801
SEE ENCYCLOPEDIC INDEX.
The Encyclopedic Index is not only an index to the other \oliimes, not only a key that
unlocks the treasures of the entire publication, but it is in itself an alphabetically arranged
brief history or story of the great controlling events constituting the History of the United
States.
Under
its proper alphabetical classification the story
is told of every great subject
referred to by any of the Presidents in their official Messages, and al the end of each article
the official utterances of the Presidents themselves are cited upon the subject, so that you
niav readily turn to the page in the body of the work itself for tliis original information.
Mext to the possession of knowledge
is the ability to turn al
will to where knowledge
is to be found.
HOME AT QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, OF
JOHN ADAMS
With
official
portrait engraved from copy
of
original
in
steel
John Adams
John Adams was born on October 19 (old style), 1735, near Boston,
Mass.
, iu the portion of the town of Braintree which has since been incor-
porated as Quincy.
He was fourth in descent from Henry Adams, who
fled from persecution in Devonshire, England, and settled in Massachu-
setts about 1630.
Another of his ancestors was John Adams, a founder of
the Plymouth Colony in
1620.
Entered Harvard College in
1751, and
graduated therefrom four years later.
Studied the law and taught school
at Worcester; was admitted to the bar of Suffolk County in 1758.
In 1768
removed to Boston, where he won distinction at the bar.
In 1764 mar-
ried Abigail Smith, whose father was Rev. William Smith and whose
grandfather was Colonel Quincy.
In 1770 was chosen a representative
from Boston in the legislature of Massachusetts.
In 1774 was a mem-
ber of the Continental Congress, and
in 1776 was the adviser and great
supporter of the Declaration
of Independence.
The same year was a
deputy to treat with Eord Howe for the pacification of the Colonies.
He
declined the offer of chief justice of Massachusetts.
In December, 1777,
was appointed a commissioner to France, and returned home in the sum-
mer of 1779.
He was then chosen a member of the Massachusetts con-
vention
for framing a State constitution.
On September 29, 1779, was
appointed by Congress minister plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace treaty
with Great
Britain.
In 1781 was a commissioner
to conclude
treaties
of peace with European powers.
In 1783 negotiated with others a com-
mercial, treaty with Great
Britain.
Was one of
the commissioners to
sign the provisional treaty of peace with that nation November 30, 1782,
and the
definite treaty September
3,
1783.
In
1784 remained in Hol-
land, and
in
1785 was by Congress appointed minister of
the United
States at the Court of Great Britain.
He returned to his home in June,
1788.
Was chosen Vice-President on the ticket with Washington, and
on the assembling of the Senate took his seat as President of that body,
at New York
in
April,
1789.
Was reelected Vice-President
in
1792.
On the retirement of Washington in 1796 he was elected President, and
was inaugurated March 4, 1797.
He retired March 4, 1801, to his home
at Quincy, Mass.
In
18 16 was chosen
to head the list of Presidential
electors
of
his party
in the
State.
Was
a member of the State con-
vention
to revise the constitution
of
Massachusetts; was unanimously
elected president of that convention, but declined
it on account of his
age.
His wife died in 1S18.
On July 4, 1820, he died, and was buried
at Quincy,
217
2i8
.\ffsso£es cmd Papers of the Presidents
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, PA
When
it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course
for
America remained between unHmiLed submission to a foreign legislature
and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less appre-
hensive of danger from the formidable power of
fleets and armies they
nmst determine to resist than from those contests and dissensions which
would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted
over the whole and over the parts of this extensive country.
Relying,
however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and
the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling Provi-
dence which had so signally protected
this country from the
first, the
representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half
its
l)resent number, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging
and the rod of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties
which had bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty.
The zeal and ardor of the people during the Revolutionary war, sup-
plying the place of government, commanded a degree of order sufficient
at least for the temporary preservation
of society.
The Confederation
which was early felt to be necessary was prepared from the models of the
Batavian and Helvetic
confederacies, the only examples which remain
with any detail and ^Jrecision in history, and certainly the only ones which
the people at large had ever considered.
But
reflecting on the striking
difference in
so many particulars between this country and those where
a courier may go from the seat of government to the frontier in a single
day,
it was then certainly foreseen by some who assisted in Congress
at
the formation of it that it could not be durable.
Negligence
of
its regulations, inattention to
its recommendations,
if
not disobedience to
its authority, not only in individuals but in States,
soon appeared with their melanchol}^ consequences—universal languor,
jealousies and
rivalries of States, decline of navigation and commerce,
discouragement of necessary manufactures, universal fall in the value of
lands and their produce, contempt of pubhc and private faith, loss of con-
sideration and credit with foreign nations, and at length in discontents,
animosities, combinations, partial conventions, and insurrection, threat-
ening some great national calamity.
In this dangerous crisis the people of America were not abandoned by
their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution, or integrity.
Meas-
ures were pursued to concert a plan to form a more perfect union, estab-
lish justice, insure domestic tranquillit>', provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.
The
John Adams
219
public disquisitions, discussious, and deliberations issued
in the present
happy Constitution of Government.
Employed in the service of my country abroad during the whole course
of these transactions, I
first saw the Constitution of the United States
in a foreign country.
Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by
no public debate, heated b}^ no party animosity, I read
it with great sat
isfaction, as the result of good heads prompted by good hearts, as an
experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation, and rela-
tions of this nation and country than any which had ever been proposed
or suggested.
In
its general principles and great outlines
it was con-
formable to such a system of govennneut as
I had ever most esteemed,
and in some States, my own native State in
particular, had contributed
to estabhsh.
Claiming a right of
suffrage, in common with my fellow-
citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution which was to rule
me and my posterity, as well as them and
theirs,
I did not hesitate to
express my approbation of
it on
all occasions, in pubhc and in private.
It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it in my mind that
the Executive and Senate were not more permanent.
Nor have I ever
entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it but such as the
people themselves, in the course of their experience, should see and feel
to be necessary or expedient, and by their representatives
in Congress
and the State legislatures, according to the Constitution itself, adopt and
ordain.
Returning to the bosom of m}^ country after a painful separation from
it for ten j^ears, I had the honor to be elected to a station under the new
order of things, and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious
obligations to support the Constitution.
The operation of it has equaled
the most sanguine expectations of its friends, and from an habitual atten-
tion to it, satisfaction in its administration, and delight in its effects upon
the peace, order, prosperity, and happiness of the nation
I have acquired
an habitual attachment to it and veneration for it.
What other form of government, indeed, can so well desen^e our esteem
and love?
There may be little solidity in an ancient idea that congregations of
men into cities and nations are the most pleasing objects in the sight of
superior intelligences, but this is very certain, that to a benevolent human
mind there can be no spectacle presented by any nation more pleasing,
more noble, majestic, or august, than an assembly like that which has so
often been seen
in this and the other Chamber of Congress, of a Gov-
ernment
in which the Executive authority, as well as that
of
all
the
branches of the Legislature, are exercised by citizens selected at regular
periods by their neighbors to make and execute laws for the general good.
Can anything
essential, anything more than mere ornament and
deco-
ration, be added to this by robes and diamonds?
Can authority be more
amiable and respectable when
it descends from accidents or institutions
220
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
established
in remote
antiquity than when
it
springs
fresh from the
hearts and judgments of an honest and enhghtened people?
For it is
the people only that are represented.
It is their power and majesty that
is
reflected, and only
for
their good,
in every legitimate government,
under whatever form
it may appear.
The existence of such a govern-
ment as ours for any length of time is a full proof of a general dissemi-
nation of knowledge and virtue throughout the whole body of the people.
And what object or consideration more pleasing than
this can be pre-
sented
to
the human mind?
If
national
pride
is
ever
justifiable
or
excusable
it
is when
it springs, not from power or
riches, grandeur or
glory, Iwt from conviction of national innocence, information, and ben^^.v-
oleuce.
In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves
if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything par-
tial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and
independent elections.
If an election is to be determined by a majority
of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or
corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends,
not of the nation for the national good.
If that solitary suffrage can be
obtained by foreign nations by flattery or menaces, by fraud or violence,
by terror, intrigue, or venality, the Government may not be the choice of
the American people, but of foreign nations.
It may be foreign nations
who govern us, and not we, the people, who govern ourselves; and can-
did men will acknowledge that
in such cases choice would have little
advantage to boast of over lot or chance.
Such is the amiable and interesting system of government (and such
are some of the abuses to which
it may be exposed) which the people of
America have exhibited to the admiration and anxiety of the wise and
virtuous of all nations for eight years under the administration of a citi-
zen who, by a long course of great actions, regulated by prudence, justice,
temperance, and fortitude, conducting a people inspired with the same
virtues and animated with the same ardent patriotism and love of liberty
to independence and peace, to increasing wealth and unexampled pros-
perity, has merited the gratitude of his fellow-citizens, commanded the
highest
praises
of
foreign
nations, and secured immortal glory with
posterity.
In that retirement which
is his voluntary chv^ice may he long live to
enjoy the delicious recollection of his services, the gratitude of mankind,
the happy
fruits
of them
to himself and the world, which
are
daily
increasing, and
that splendid prospect
of
the
future
fortunes
of
this
country which
is opening from year to year.
His name may be still a
rampart, and the knowledge that he lives a bulwark, against all open or
secret enemies of his country's peace.
This example has been recom
mended to the imitation of his successors by both Houses of Congress
and by the voice of the legislatures and the people throughout the nation.
John Adams
221
On this subject
it migbt become me better to be silent or to speak with
diffidence; but as soniethiug may be expected, the occasion,
I hope, will
be admitted as an apology if
I venture to say that
if a preference, upon
principle, of a free republican government, formed upon long and serious
reflection, after a diligent and impartial inquiry after truth;
if an attach-
ment to the Constitution of the United States, and a conscientious deter-
mination
to support
it
until
it
shall be altered by the judgments and
wishes of the people, expressed in the mode prescribed in it;
if a respect-
ful attention to the constitutions of the individual States and a constant
caution and
delicacy toward
the
State governments;
if an equal and
impartial regard to the rights, interest, honor, and happiness of all the
States in the Union, without preference or regard to a northern or south-
ern, an eastern or western, position, their various
political opinions on
unessential points or their personal attachments;
if a love of virtuous men
of all parties and denominations;
if a love of science and
letters and a
wish
to patronize every
rational
effort
to encourage
schools, colleges,
universities, academies, and every institution for propagating knowledge,
virtue, and
religion among all
classes of the people, not only for
their
benign influence on the happiness of
life in all its stages and classes, and
of society in all its forms, but as the only means of preserving our Con-
stitution from
its natural enemies, the
spirit of sophistr^^ the spirit of
party, the spirit of intrigue, the profligacy of corruption, and the pesti-
lence of foreign influence, which
is the angel of destruction to elective
governments;
if a
love of equal laws, of
justice, and humanity in the
interior
administration;
if an inclination
to improve agriculture, com-
merce, and manufactures for necessity,
convenience, and defense;
if a
spirit of equity and humanity toward the aboriginal nations of America,
and a disposition to meliorate their condition by inclining them to be more
friendly to us, and our citizens to be more friendly to them;
if an inflex-
ible determination to maintain peace and inviolable faith with all nations,
and that system
of neutrality and
impartiality among the
belligerent
powers of Europe which has been adopted by this Government and so
solemnly sanctioned by both Houses of Congress and applauded by the
legislatures of the States and the public opinion, until it shall be otherwise
ordained by Congress;
if a personal esteem for the French nation, formed
in a residence of seven years chiefl}' among them, and a sincere desire to
preserve the friendship which has been so much for the honor and interest
of both nations;
if, while the conscious honor and integrity of the people
of America and the internal sentiment of their own power and energies
must be preserved, an
earnest endeavor to investigate every just cause
and remove every colorable pretense
of complaint;
if an
intention
to
pursue by amicable negotiation a reparation
for the
injuries that have
been committed ou the commerce of our
fellow-citizens
l>y whateve
nation, and
if success can not be obtained, to lay the
facts before the
Legislature, that they may consider what further measures the honor and
222
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
interest of the Government and its consdtuents demand;
if a resolution
to do justice as far as may depend upon me, at all times and to all nations,
and maintain
peace, friendship, and benevolence with
all the world;
if
an unshaken confidence
in the honor,
spirit, and resources of the Amer-
ican
people, on which I have
so often hazarded my all and never been
deceived;
if elevated ideas of the high destinies of this country and of my
own duties toward it, founded on
a knowledge
of the moral
principles
and intellectual improvements of the people deeply engraven on my mind
in early life, and not obscured but exalted by experience and age;
and,
with humble reverence, I feel
it to be my duty to add, if a veneration for
the religion of a people who profess and call themselves Christians, and
a fixed resolution to consider a decent respect for Christianity among the
best recommendations for the public ser\ace, can enable me in any degree
to comply with your wishes,
it shall be my strenuous endeavor that this
sagacious injunction of the two Houses shall not be without effect.
With this great example before me, with the sense and spirit, the faith
and honor, the duty and interest, of the same American people pledged
to support the Constitution of the United States,
I entertain no doubt of
its continuance in all its energy, and my mind
is prepared without hesi-
tation
to lay myself under the most solemn obhgations to support
it to
the utmost of my power.
And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the
Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous
liberty, continue His blessing upon
this nation and its Government and
give it all possible success and duration
consistent with the ends of His
providence.
March
4,
1797-
PROCLAMATION.
[Prom Annals of Congress, Fifth Congress, Vol.
I, 49.]
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas the Constitution
of the United States of America provides
that the President may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses
of Congress; and
Whereas an extraordinary occasion exists for convening Congress, and
divers weighty matters claim their consideration:
I have therefore thought
il necessary to convene, and
1 do by these
presents convene, the Congress of the United States of America
at the
city of Philadelphia, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on Monday,
John Adams
223
the T5th day of May tiext, hereby requiring the vSeiiators and Represent-
atives in the Congress of the United States of America, and every of them,
that, laying aside all other matters and
cares, they then and there meet
and assemble
in Congress
in order
to consult and determine on such
measures as in
their wisdom
shall be deemed meet
for the safety and
welfare of the said United States.
In testimony whereof
I have caused the seal of the United States of
America
to be affixed
to these
presents, and signed the same
with my hand.
[sKAi,.]
Done
at the
city
of Philadelphia, the 25th day of March,
A. D.
1797, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the twenty-first.
JOHN ADAMS.
By the President:
Timothy Pickering,
Secretary of State,
SPECIAL SESSION MESSAGE.
United States, May
t6, 1797.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
The personal inconveniences to the members of the Senate and of the
House of Representatives in leaving their families and private affairs at
this season of the year are so ob\dous that
I the more regret the extra-
ordinary occasion which has rendered the convention of Congress indis-
pensable.
It would have afforded me the highest satisfaction to have been able
to congratulate you on a restoration of peace to the nations of Europe
whose animosities have endangered our tranquillity; but we have
still
abundant cause of gratitude to the Supreme Dispenser of National Bless-
ings for general health and promising seasons, for domestic and social hap-
piness, for the rapid progress and ample acquisitions of industry through
extensive territories, for civil, poUtical, and religious liberty.
While other
states are desolated with foreign war or convulsed with intestine divisions,
the United States present the pleasing prospect of a nation governed by
mild and equal laws, generally satisfied with the possession of their rights,
neither envying the advantages nor fearing the power of other nations,
solicitous only for the maintenance of order and justice and the preserva-
tion of liberty, increasing daily in their attachment to a system of gov-
ernment in proportion to their experience of its utility, yielding a ready
and general obedience to laws flowing from the reason and resting on the
only solid foundation—the affections of the people.
224
Messages and Papers of the Presidebits
It is with extreme regret that
I shall be obliged to turn your thoughts
to other circumstances, which admonish us that some of these felicities
may not be lasting.
But
if the tide of our prosperity is full and a reflux
commencing, a vigilant circumspection becomes us, that we may meet our
reverses with
fortitude and extricate ourselves from their consequences
with all the skill we possess and all the efforts in our power.
In giving to Congress information of the state of the Union and recom-
mending to their consideration such measures as appear to me to be nec-
essary or expedient, according to my constitutional duty, the causes and
the objects of the present extraordinary session will be explained.
After the President of the United States received information that the
French Government had expressed serious discontents
at some proceed-
ings of the Government of these
States said to
affect the
interests of
France, he thought
it expedient to send to that country a new minister,
fully instructed
to enter on such amicable discussions and to give such
candid explanations as might happily remove the discontents and suspi-
cions of the French Government and vindicate the conduct of the United
States.
For
this purpose he selected from among his fellow-citizens a
character whose integrity, talents, experience, and
services had placed
him in the rank of the most esteemed and respected in the nation.
The
direct object of his mission was expressed in his letter of credence to the
French Republic, being "to maintain that good
understanding which
from the commencement of the alliance had
subsisted between the two
nations, and
to
efface unfavorable
impressions, banish
suspicions, and
restore that cordiality which was at once the evidence and pledge
of a
friendly union."
And his instructions were to the same effect, "faith-
fully to represent the disposition of the Government and people of the
United States (their disposition being one), to remove jealousies and obvi-
ate complaints by shewing that they were groundless, to restore
that
mutual
confidence which had been
so
unfortunately and
injuriously
impaired, and to explain the relative interests of both countries and the
real sentiments of his own."
A minister thus specially commissioned
it was expected would have
proved the instrument of restoring mutual confidence between the two
Republics.
The first step of the French Government corresponded with
that
expectation.
A few days before his arrival
at
Paris the French
minister of foreign relations informed the American minister then resident
at Paris of the formalities to be observed by himself in taking leave, and
by his successor
preparatorj^ to
his reception.
These
formalities they
observ^ed, and on the 9th of December presented ofl&cially to the minister
of foreign relations, the one a copy of
his letters of
recall, the other a
copy of his letters of credence.
These were laid before the Executive Directory. Two days afterwards
the minister of foreign relations informed the recalled American minister
that the Kxecutive Directory had determined not to receive another min-
JoJni Adams
225
ister plenipotentiary from the United States until
after the redress of
grievances demanded of the American Government, and which the French
Republic had a right
to expect from
it.
The American minister imme-
diately endeavored
to
ascertain whether by
refusing to receive him
it
was intended that he should
retire from the
territories of the French
Republic, and verbal answers were given that such was the intention of
the Directory.
For his own
justification he desired a written answer,
but obtained none until toward
the
last of
January, when,
receiving
notice in writing to quit the territories of the Republic, he proceeded to
Amsterdam, where he proposed to wait
for instruction from this Gov-
ernment.
During his residence at Paris cards of hospitality were refused
him, and he was threatened with being subjected
to the jurisdiction of
the minister of
police;
but with becoming firmness he insisted on the
protection of the law of nations due to him as the known minister of a
foreign power.
You will derive further information from his dispatches,
which will be laid before you.
As it is often necessary that nations should treat for the mutual advan-
tage of their affairs, and especially to accommodate and terminate differ-
ences, and as they can
treat only by ministers, the right of embassy is
well known and established by the law and usage of nations.
The refusal
on the part of France to receive our minister
is, then, the denial of a
right;
but the
refusal
to
receive him
until we have acceded to
their
demands without
discussion and without
investigation
is
to
treat us
neither as allies nor as friends, nor as a sovereign state.
With this conduct of the French Government
it will be proper to take
into view the public audience giver
to the late minister of the United
States on his taking leave of the Executive Directory.
The speech of the
President discloses sentiments more alarming than the refusal of a min-
ister, because more dangerous to our independence and union, and at the
same time studiously marked with indignities toward the Government of
the United States.
It evinces a disposition to separate the people of the
United States from the Government, to persuade them that they have
different
affections, principles, and interests from those of their fellow-
citizens whom they themselves have chosen to manage their common
concerns, and
thus
to
produce
divisions
fatal
to
our
peace.
Such
attempts ought to be repelled with a decision which shall convince France
and the world that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a
colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable
instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national honor, chtu*-
acter, and interest.
I should have been happy to have thrown a veil over these transactions
if it had been possible to conceal them; but they have passed on the great
theater of the world, in the face of all Europe and America, and with
such circumstances of publicity and solemnity that they can not be dis-
guised and will not soon be forgotten.
They have inflicted a wound in
2 26
Messages n)id Pafyers of fJie Presidents
the American
breast.
It
is my sincere desire, however, that it may be
healed.
It is my sincere desire, and
in this
I presume
I concur with you and
with our constituents, to preserve peace and friendship with all nations;
and believing that neither the honor nor the interest of the United States
absolutely forbid the repetition of advances for securing these desirable
objects with France,
I shall institute a fresh attempt at negotiation, and
shall not fail to promote and accelerate an accommodation on terms com-
patible with the rights, duties, interests, and honor of the nation.
If we
have committed errors, and these can be demonstrated, we shall be willing
to correct them;
if we have done injuries, we shall be willing on conviction
to redress them; and equal measures of justice we have a right to expect
from France and every other nation.
The diplomatic intercourse between the United States and France being
at present suspended, the Government has no means of obtaining official
information from that country.
Nevertheless, there is reason to believe
that the Executive Directory passed a decree on the 2d of March last con-
travening in part the treaty of amity and commerce of 1778, injurious to
our lawful commerce and endangering the lives of our citizens.
A copy
of this decree will be laid before you.
While we are endeavoring to adjust all our differences with France by
amicable negotiation, the progress of the war in Europe, the depredations
on our commerce, the personal
injuries to our citizens, and the general
complexion of affairs render
it my indispensable duty to recommend to
your consideration effectual measures of defense.
The commerce of the United States has become an interesting object of
attention, whether we consider
it in
relation to the wealth and finances
or the strength and resources
of the nation.
With a seacoast
of near
2,000 miles in extent, opening a wide
field for
fisheries, navigation, and
commerce, a great portion of our citizens naturally apply their industry
and enterprise to these
objects.
Any serious and permanent injury to
commerce would not
fail to produce the most embarrassing disorders.
To prevent
it from being undermined and destroyed
it is essential that
it receive an adequate protection.
The naval establishment must occur to every man who considers the
injuries committed on our commerce, the insults offered to our citizens,
and the description of vessels by which these abuses have been practiced.
As the
sufferings of our mercantile and seafaring
citizens can not be
ascribed to the omission of duties demandable, considering the neutral
situation of our country, thej^ are to be attributed to the hope of impu-
nity arising from a supposed inability on our part to afford protection.
To resist the consequences of such impressions on the minds of foreign
nations and to guard against the degradation and servility which they
must finally stamp on the American character
is an important duty of
Government.
John Adams
2«7
A naval power, next to the militia, is the natural defense of the United
States.
The experience of the last war would be sufficient to shew that
a moderate naval force, such as would be easily within the present
c 'mH-
ties of the Union, would have been
sufficient
to have baffled many for-
midable transportations of troops from one State to another, which were
then practiced.
Our seacoasts, from their great extent, are more easily
annoyed and more
easily defended by a naval
force than any
other.
With all the materials our country abounds;
in skill our naval architects
and navigators are equal to any, and commanders and seamen will not be
wanting.
But although
the establishment
of
a
permanent
system
of
naval
defense appears to be
requisite,
I am sensible
it can not be formed so
speedily and extensively as the present crisis demands.
Hitherto I have
thought proper to prevent the sailing of armed vessels except on voy-
ages to the East Indies, where general usage and the danger from pirates
appeared to render the permission proper.
Yet the restriction has origi-
nated solely from a wish to prevent collisions with the powers at war,
contravening the act of Congress of June, 1794, and not from any doubt
entertained by me of the policy and propriety of permitting our vessels
to employ means of defense while engaged in a lawful foreign commerce.
It remains for Congress to prescribe such regulations as will enable our
seafaring citizens to defend themselves against violations of the law of
nations, and
at the same time
restrain them from committing acts of
hostility against the powers at war.
In addition to
this voluntary pro-
vision for defense by individual
citizens,
it appears to me necessary to
equip the
frigates, and provide other vessels of inferior force, to take
under convoy such merchant vessels as shall remain unarmed.
The greater part of the cruisers whose depredations have been most
injurious have been built and some of them partially equipped
in the
United States.
Although an
effectual remedy may be attended with
difficulty, yet I have thought
it my duty to present the subject gener-
ally to your consideration.
If a mode can be devised by the wisdom of
Congress to prevent the resources of the United States from being con-
verted into the means of annoying our trade, a great evil will be prevented.
With the same view,
I think
it proper to mention that some of our citi-
zens resident abroad have fitted out privateers, and others have volun-
tarily taken the connnand, or entered on board of them, and committed
spoliations on the commerce of the United States.
Such unnatural and
iniquitous practices can be restrained only by severe punishments.
But besides a protection of our commerce on the seas, I think it highly
necessary to protect
it at home, where
it is collected in our most impor-
tant
ports.
The distance of the United States from Europe and the
well-known promptitude, ardor, and courage of the people in defense of
their country happily diminish the probability of invasion.
Neverthe-
less, to guard against sudden and predatory incursions the situation of
2 28
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
some of our principal seaports demands your consideration.
And as our
country is vulnerable in other interests besides those of its commerce, you
will seriously deliberate whether the means of general defense ought not
tt) be increased by an addition to the regular artillery and cavalry, and
by arrangements for forming a provisional army.
With the same view, and as a measure which, even in a time of univer-
sal peace, ought not to be neglected, I recommend to your consideration
a revision of the laws for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia,
to render that natural and safe defense of the country efficacious.
Although it is very true that we ought not to involve ourselves in the
political system of Europe, but
to keep ourselves always
distinct and
separate from
it
if we can, yet
to effect this separation, early, punctual,
and continual
information
of
the current
chain of events and of
the
political projects in contemplation
is no less necessary than
if we were
directly concerned in them.
It is necessary, in order to the discovery of
the efforts made to draw us into the vortex, in season to make preparations
against them.
However we may consider ourselves, the maritime and
commercial powers
of
the world
will
consider
the
United
States
of
America as forming a weight in that balance of power in Europe which
never can be forgotten or neglected.
It would not only be against our
interest, but it would be doing wrong to one-half of Europe, at least, if we
should voluntarily throw ourselves
into
either
scale.
It
is a natural
policy for a nation that studies to be neutral to consult with other nations
engaged in the same studies and pursuits.
At the same time that measures
might be pursued with this view, our treaties with Prussia and Sweden,
one of which is expired and the other near expiring, might be renewed.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
It
is particularly your province to consider the
state of
the public
finances, and to adopt such measures respecting them as exigencies shall
be found to require.
The preservation of public credit, the regular extin-
guishment of the public debt, and a provision of funds to defray any
extraordinary expenses will of course
call
for your
serious attention.
Although the imposition of new burthens can not be in itself agreeable,
yet there
is no ground to doubt that the American people will expect
from you such measures as their actual engagements, their present secu-
rity, and future interests demand.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
The present situation of our country imposes an obhgation on all the
departments of Government to adopt an
explicit and
decided conduct.
In my situation an exposition of the principles by which my Administra-
tion will be governed ought not to be omitted.
It is impossible to conceal from ourselves or the world what has been
before observed, that endeavors have been employed to foster and estab-
John Adams
229
lish a division between the Government and people of the United States.
To investigate the causes which have encouraged this attempt is not neces-
sary; but to repel, by decided and united councils, insinuations so derog-
atory to the honor and aggressions so dangerous
to the Constitution,
union, and even independence of the nation is an indispensable duty.
It must not be permitted to be doubted whether the people of the
United States will support the Government established by their volun-
tary consent and appointed by their free choice, or whether, by surren-
dering themselves to the direction of foreign and domestic
factions, in
opposition to their own Government, they will forfeit the honorable sta-
tion they have hitherto maintained.
For myself, having never been indifferent to what concerned the inter-
ests of my country, devoted the best part of my Hfe to obtain and support
its independence, and constantly witnessed the patriotism, fidelity, and
perseverance of my fellow-citizens on the most trying occasions,
it is not
for me to hesitate or abandon a cause in which my heart has been so
long eng-'iged.
Convinced
that
the conduct
of
the Government has been
just and
impartial to foreign nations, that those internal regulations which have
been established by law for the preservation of peace are in their nature
proper, and that they have been
fairly executed, nothing will
e^^er be
done by me to impair the national engagements, to innovate upon prin-
ciples which have been so dehberately and uprightly established, or
to
surrender in any manner the rights of the Government.
To enable me
to maintain
this declaration
I
rely, under God, with entire confidence
on the firm and enlightened support of the
National
Legislature and
upon the virtue and patriotism of my fellow-citizens.
JOHN ADAMS.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES.
Sir: The Senate of the United States
request you to
accept
theii
acknowledgments for the comprehensive and interesting detail you have
given in your speech to both Houses of Congress on the existing state
of the Union.
While we regret the necessity of the present meeting of the Legisla-
trre, we wish to express our entire approbation of your conduct in con-
vening it on this momentous occasion.
The superintendence of our national faith, honor, and dignity being
in
a great measure
constitutionally deposited with the Executive, we
observe with singular
satisfaction the vigilance,
firmness, and prompti-
tude exhibited by you in this critical state of our public affairs, and from
thence derive an evidence and pledge of the rectitude and integrity of
your Administration.
And we are sensible
it
is an object of primary
230
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
importance that each branch of the Government should adopt a language
and system
of conduct which shall be cool, just, and dispassionate, but
firm, explicit, and decided.
We are equally desirous with you
to preserve
])eace and
friendship
with
all nations, and are happy to be informed that neither the honor
nor interests of the United States
forbid advances
for
securing
those
desirable
objects by amicable
negotiation with
the French
Republic.
This method of adjusting national diflferences is not only the most mild,
but the most rational and humane, and with governments disposed to be
just can seldom fail of success when fairly, candidly, and sincerely used.
If we have committed errors and can be made sensible of them, we agree
with you in opinion that we ought to correct them, and compensate the
injuries which may have been consequent
thereon;
and we
trust
the
French Republic will be actuated by the same just and benevolent j>rin-
ciples of national policy.
We do therefore most sincerely approve of your determination to pro-
mote and accelerate an accommodation of our existing differences with
that Republic b}^ negotiation, on terms compatible with the rights, duties,
interests, and honor of our nation.
And you may rest assured of our
most cordial cooperation so far as it may become necessary in this pursuit.
Peace and harmony with all nations is our .sincere wish; but such being
the
lot of humanity that nations will not always reciprocate peaceable
dispositions,
it is our firm belief that effectual measures of defense will
tend to inspire that national
self-respect and confidence
at home which
is the unfailing source of respectability abroad, to check aggression and
prevent war.
While we are endeavoring to adjust our differences with the French
Republic by amicable negotiation, the progress of the war in Europe,
the depredations on our commerce, the personal
injuries to our citizens,
and the general complexion of
affairs prove to us your vigilant care in
recommending to our attention effectual measures of defense.
Those which you recommend, whether they relate to external defense
by permitting our citizens to arm for the purpose of repelling aggressions
on
their commercial rights, and by providing sea convoys, or to inter-
nal defense by increasing the establishments of artillery and cavalry, by
forming a provisional army, by revising the militia laws, and fortifying
more completely our ports and harbors, will meet our consideration imder
the influence of the same just regard for the security, interest, and honor
of our country which dictated your recommendation.
Practices so unnatural and iniquitous as those you state, of our own
citizens converting their property and personal exertions into the means
of annoying our trade and injuring their fellow-citizens, deserve legal
severity commensvirate with their turpitude.
Although the Senate believe that the prosperity and happiness of our
country does not depend on general and extensive political connections
John Adams
231
with European nations, yet we can never lose sight
of the propriety as
well as necessity of enabling tlie Executive, by sufhcieut and lilieral sup-
plies, to maintain and even extend our foreign intercourse
as exigencies
may
require, reposing
full confidence
in
the Executive, in whom the
Constitution has placed the powers of negotiation.
We learn with sincere concern that attempts are in operation to alienate
the affections of our fellow-citizens from their Government.
Attempts
bo wicked, wherever they exist, can not fail
to excite our utmost abhor-
rence.
A government chosen by the people
for
their own safety and
happiness, and calculated to secure both, can not lose their affections so
long
as
its
administration
pursues the
principles upon which
it was
erected; and your resolution to observe a conduct
just and impartial
to
all nations, a sacred regard to our national engagements, and not to impair
the rights of our Government, contains principles which can not
fail to
secure to your Administration the support
of the National Legislature
to render abortive every attempt to excite dangerous
jealousies among
us, and to convince the world that our Government and your adminis-
tration of
it can not be separated from the affectionate support of every
good citizen.
And the Senate can not suffer the present occasion to pass
without thus publicly and solemnly expressing their attachment to the
Constitution and Government of their country; and as they hold them-
selves responsible to their constituents, their consciences, and their God,
it is their determination by all their exertions to repel every attempt to
alienate the affections of the people from the Government, so highly inju-
rious to the honor, safety, and independence of the United States.
We are happy, since our sentiments on the subject are in perfect unison
with yours, in this public manner to declare that we beheve the conduct
of the Government has been just and impartial to foreign nations, and
that those internal regulations which have been established for the preser-
vation, of peace are in their nature proper and have been fairly executed.
And we are equally happy in possessing an entire confidence in your
abilities and exertions in your station to maintain untarnished the honor,
preserve the peace, and support the independence of our country,
to
acquire and establish which, in connection with your fellow-citizens, has
been the virtuous effort of a principal part of your life.
To aid you in these arduous and honorable exertions, as it is our duty
so it shall be our faithful endeavor
; and we flatter ourselves,
sir, that
the proceedings of the present session of Congress will manifest to the
world that although the United States love peace, they will be independ-
ent;
that they are sincere in their declarations to be just to the French
and all other nations, and expect the same in return.
If a sense of justice, a love of moderation and peace, shall influence
their councils, which we sincerely hope we shall have just grounds to
expect, peace and amity between the United States and
all nations will
be preserved.
232
Messages and Papers 0/ the Presidents
But
if we are so unfortunate as to experience injuries from any for-
eign power, and the ordinary methods by which differences are amica-
bly adjusted Ijetween nations shall
l^e
rejected, the determination "not
to surrender in any manner
the
rights of the Government," being so
inseparably connected with the
dignity,
interest,
and independence
of
our country, shall by us be steadily and inviolably supported.
TH: JEFFERSON,
Vice-President of the United States and Preside?it of the Senate.
May 23,
1797.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Mr.
Vice-President and Gentlemen of the Senate:
It would be an affectation in me to dissemble the pleasure I feel on
receiving this kind address.
My long experience of the wisdom, fortitude, and patriotism of the Sen-
ate of the United States enhances
in my estimation the value of those
obliging expressions of
your approbation of my conduct, which are a
generous reward for the past and an affecting encouragement to constancy
and perseverance in future.
Our sentiments appear to be so entirely in unison that
I can not but
believe them to be the rational result of the understandings and the nat-
ural feelings of the hearts of Americans in general on contemplating the
present state of the nation.
While such principles and affections prevail they will form an indis-
soluble bond of union and a sure pledge that our country has no essen-
tial injury to apprehend from any portentous appearances abroad.
In a
humble reUance on Divine Providence we may rest assured that while
we reiterate with sincerity our endeavors to accommodate all our differ-
ences with France, the independence of our country can not be diminished,
its dignity degraded, or its glory tarnished by any nation or combination
of nations, whether friends or enemies,
JOHN ADAMS.
May 24, 1797.
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO JOHN ADAMS,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir
: The interesting details of those events which have rendered the
convention of Congress at this time indispensable (communicated in youi
speech to both Houses) has excited in us the strongest emotions.
Whilst
we regret the occasion, we can not omit to testify our approbation of the
measure, and pledge ourselves that no considerations of private inconven-
ience shall prevent on our part a faithful discharge of the duties to which
we are called.
John Adams
23.:;
We have constantly hoped that the nations of Europe, whilst desolated
by foreign wars or convulsed by intestine divisions, would have left the
United States to enjoy that peace and tranquillity to which the impartial
conduct of our Government has entitled us, and
it
is now with extreme
regret we find the measures of the French Republic tending to endanger
a situation so desirable and interesting to our country.
Upon this occasion we feel
it our duty to express in the most explicit
manner the sensations which the present crisis has excited, and to assure
you of our zealous cooperation in those measures which may appear nec-
essary for our security or peace.
Although it is the earnest wish of our hearts that peace may be main-
rained with the French Republic and with
all the world, yet we never
will surrender those rights which belong
to us as a nation; and whilst
we view with satisfaction the wisdom, dignity, and moderation which have
marked the measures of the Supreme Executive
of our country in his
attempt to remove by candid explanations the complaints and jealousies
of France, we feel the full force of that indignity which has been offered
our country in the rejection of
its minister.
No attempts to wound our
rights
as a sovereign State will escape the
notice of our constituents.
They will be felt with indignation and repelled with th<-t decision v/hich
shall convince the world that we are not a degraded pe,;p'e;
that we can
never submit to the demands of
a
foreign power witloxtt examination
and without discussion.
Knowing as we do the confidence reposed by the people of the United
States in their Government, we cannot hesitate in expressing our indig-
nation at any sentiments tending to derogate from that confidence.
Such
sentiments, wherever entertained, serve
to evince an imperfect knowl-
edge of the opinions
of our constituents.
An attempt to separate the
people of the United States from their Government
is an attempt to sep
arate them from
themselves;
and although
foreigners who know not
rhe genius of our country may have conceived the project, and foreign
emissaries may attempt the execution, yet the united efforts of our fellow-
citizens will convince the world of its impracticability.
Sensibly as we feel the wound which has been
inflicted by the trans-
actions disclosed in your communications, yet we think with you that
neither the honor nor the interest of the United States forbid the repeti-
tion of advances for
preserving peace; we
therefore receive with
the
utmost satisfaction your information that a fresh attempt at negotiation
will be instituted, and we cherish the hope that a mutual spirit of con-
ciliation, and
a disposition on the part of France to compensate for any
injuries which may h^ve been committed upon our neutral rights, and on
the part of the United States to place France on grounds similar to those
of other countries in their relation and connection with us (if any inequali-
ties shall be found to exist), will produce an accommodation compatible
with the engagements, rights, duties, and honor of the United States.
234
Messages and Paprrs oj
tlu- frcs/drfifs
Fully, however, impressed with the uncertainty
of the
result, we
shall
prepare to meet with fortitude any unfavorable events which may occur,
and
to extricate ourselves from their consequences with all the skill we
possess and
all the efforts in our power.
Believing with you that the
conduct of the Government has been just and nnpartial to foreign nations,
that the laws for the
preser^-ation of peace have been proper, and that
they have been fairly executed, the Representatives of the people do not
hesitate to declare that they will give their most cordial support to the
execution of principles so deliberately and uprightly estalilished.
The many interesting subjects which you have recommended to our
consideration, and which are so strongly enforced by
this momentous
occasion, will
receive every attention which their importance demands,
and we trust that, by the decided and explicit conduct which will govern
our deliberations, every insinuation will be repelled which
is derogatory
to the honor and independence of our country.
Permit us in offering
this address
to express our satisfaction at j'out
promotion to the first office in the Government and our entire confidence
that the preeminent
talents and
patriotism which have placed you
in
this distinguished situation will enable you to discharge its various duties
with satisfaction to yourself and advantage to our common country.
JUNB
2,
1797.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives-
I receive with great satisfaction your candid approbation of the con-
vention of Congress, and thank you for your assurances that the inter-
esting
subjects recommended
to your
consideration
shall
receive
the
attention which
their importance demands, and that your cooperation
may be expected in those measures which may appear necessary for our
security or peace.
The declarations of the Representatives of this nation of their satisfac-
tion at my promotion to the
first office in this Government and of their
confidence in my sincere endeavors to discharge the various duties of
it
with advantage to our common country have excited my most grateful
sensibility.
I pray you, gentlemen, to believe and to communicate such assurance
to our constituents that no event which I can foresee to be attainable by
any exertions in the discharge of my duties can afford me so much cor-
dial satisfaction as to conduct a negotiation with the French Republic to
a removal of prejudices, a correction of errors, a dissipation of umbrages,
an accommodation of all differences, and a restoration of harmony and
affection to the mutual satisfaction of both nations.
And whenever the
John Adams
235
legitimate organs of intercourse shall be restored and the real sentiments
uf the two Governments can be candidly communicated to each other,
although strongly impressed with the necessity
of collecting ourselves
into a manly posture of defense, I nevertheless entertain an encouraging
confidence that a mutual spirit of conciliation, a disposition to compensate
injuries and accommodate each other in all our relations and connections,
will produce an agreement to a treaty consistent with the engagements,
rights, duties, and honor of both nations.
JOHN ADAMS.
Junk 3,
1797,
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, May 26, 1797.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I lay before you, for your consideration and advice, a treaty of perpetual
peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Bey
and subjects of Tripoli, of Barbary, concluded at TripoH on the 4th day
of November, 1796.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, May 31, 1797-
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I nominate General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of South Carolina,
Francis Dana, chief
justice of
the State of
Massachusetts, and General
John' Marshall, of Virginia, to be jointly and severally envoys extraordi-
nary and ministers plenipotentiary to the French Republic.
After mature deliberation on the critical situation of our relations wath
France, which
have long engaged my most
serious
attention,
I
have
determined on these nominations of persons to negotiate with the French
Republic to
dissipate umbrages, to remove prejudices, to
rectify errors,
and adjust all differences by a treaty between the two powers.
It is in the present critical and singular circumstances of great impor-
tance to engage the confidence of the great portions of the Union in the
characters employed and the measures which may be adopted.
I have
therefore thought it expedient to nominate persons of talents and integ-
rity, long known and intrusted in the three great divisions of the Union,
and at the same time, to provide against the cases of death, absence, indis-
position, or other impediment, to invest any one or more of them with
full powers.
JOHN ADAMS.
236
Messages and Papers of tlie Presidents
ITniTRI) StatKvS, June
12, lygy.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I have received information from
tho commissioner
.-ippointed on
the
part of the United States, pursuant to the third article of our treaty with
Spain, that the running and marking of the boundary Hne between the
colonies of
liast and West Florida and the territor}^ of the United vStates
have been delayed by the officers of His Catholic Majesty, and that tliey
have declared their intention to maintain his jurisdiction, and to sus]>end
the withdrawing
his troops from the military posts they occu])y withhi
the territory of the United States until the two Governments shall, by
negotiation, have
settled the meaning of the second
article respecting
the withdrawing of the troops, garrisons, or settlements of either party
in the territory of the other—that
is, whether, when the Spanish garri-
sons withdraw, they
are
to
leave the works standing
or
to demolish
them—and until, by an additional article to the treaty, the real property
of
the inhabitants
shall
be secured,
and,
likewise,
until the
vSpanish
officers are sure the Indians will be pacific.
The two first questions,
if
to be determined by negotiation, might be made subjects of discussion
for years, and as no limitation of time can be
prescribed
to the other,
a certainty in the opinion of the Spanish officers
that the Indians will
be pacific, it will be impossible
to suffer
it
to remain an obstacle to the
fulfillment of the treaty on the part of Spain.
To remove the
first
difficulty,
I have determined to leave
it
to the
discretion of the
officers of His Catholic Majesty when they withdraw
his troops from the forts within the territory of the United States, either
to leave the works standing or to demolish them
; and to remove
the
second
I
shall cause an assurance to be published and to be particularly
communicated to the minister of His Catholic Majesty and to the gov-
ernor of Louisiana that the settlers or occupants of the lands in question
shall not be disturbed in their possessions by the troops of the United
States, but, on the contrary, that they shall be protected in all their lawful
claims; and to prevent or remove every doubt on this point it merits the
consideration of Congress whether it will not be expedient immediately
to pass a law giving positive assurances to those inhabitants who, by fair
and regular grants or by occupancy, have obtained legal titles or equi-
table claims to lands in that country prior to the final ratification of the
treaty between the United States and Spain on the 25th of April, 1796.
This country
is rendered peculiarly valuable by its inhabitants, who
are represented to amount to nearly 4,000, generally well affected and
much attached to the United States, and zealous for the establishment of
a government under their authority.
I therefore recommend to your consideration the expediency of erecting
a government in the district of the Natchez similar to that established
for the territory northwest of the river Ohio, but with certain modifica-
John Adams
237
tions relative to titles or claims of
land, whether of individuals or com-
panies, or to claims of jurisdiction of any individual State.
JOHN ADAMS.
Unitkd States, /«w<? 22, 1797-
Gentlemen of the Honse of Representatives:
Immediately after I had received your resolution of the loth of June,
requesting a report respecting the depredations committed on the com-
merce of the United States since the
ist of October, 1796, specifying the
name of the vessel taken, where bound to or from, species of lading, the
value (when it can h^ ascertained) of the vessel and cargo taken, and by
what power captured, particularizing those which have been
actually
condemned, together with the proper documents to ascertain the same, I
directed a collection to be made of all such information as should be found
in the possession of the Government;
in consequence of which the Sec-
retary of State has made the report and the collection of documents which
accompany this message, and are now laid before the House of Repre-
sentatives in compliance with their desire.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, /mw^ 23, 1797.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The Dey of Algiers has manifested a predilection for American-built
vessels, and in consequence has desired that two vessels might be con-
structed and equipped as cruisers according
to the choice and taste of
Captain O'Brien.
The cost of two such vessels built with live oak and
cedar, and coppered, with guns and
all other equipments complete,
is
estimated
at
$45,000.
The
expense
of
navigating them
to Algiers
may perhaps be compensated by the freight of the
stores with which
they may be loaded on account
of our
stipulations by treaty with the
A comphance with the Dey's request appears
to me
to be of serious
importance.
He will repay the whole expense of building and equipping
the two
vessels, and
as he has advanced the
price
of our peace with
Tripoli, and become pledged for that of Tunis, the United States seem to
be under peculiar obligations to provide this accommodation, and I trust
that Congress will authorize the advance of money necessary for that
purpose.
It also appears to be of importance to place at Algiers a person as
consul in whose integrity and ability much confidence ma>' be placed, to
whom a considerable latitude of discretion should be allowed,
for the
interest of the United States in relation to their commerce.
That country
238
Messages and Papers of tJie Presidents
is so remote as to render it impracticable for the consul to ask and receive
instructions in sudden emergencies.
He may sometimes Ihid
it necessary
to make instant engagements
for money
or
its
equivalent, to prevent
greater expenses or more serious e\'ils.
We can hardly hope to escape
occasions of discontent proceeding from the Regenc)'' or arising from the
misconduct or even the misfortunes of our commercial ^-essels navigat-
ing
in the Mediterranean Sea, and unless the causes of discontent are
speedily removed the resentment
of the Regency may Ije exerted
^vit^
precipitation on our
defenseless
citizens and
their property, and
thu.-
occasion a tenfold expense to the United States.
For these reasons it
appears to me to be expedient to vest the consul at Algiers with a degree
of discretionary power which can be requisite in no other situation; and
to encourage
a
person
desen'ing
the
public
confidence
to
accept
so
expensive and responsible
a
situation,
it appears indispensable to allow
him a handsome salary.
I should confer on such a consul a superin-
tending power over the consulates for the States of Tunis and Tripoli,
especially
in
respect
to pecuniary engagements, which
should not
be
made without his approbation.
While the present
salary
of $2,000
a
^-ear appears adequate to the
consiilates of Tunis and Tripoli, twice that sum probably will be requisite
for Algiers.
JOHN ADAMS.
TTnited States, Jtdy j, 1797.
Genflcmeji of the Seriate and Geyitlcmen of the House of Representatives:
The whole
of
the
intelligence which has
for some
time
past been
received from al)road, the correspondences between this Government and
the ministers of the belligerent powers residing here, and the advices
from the officers of the United States, civil and military, upon the frontiers
all conspire to shew in a very strong light the critical situation of our
countr3^
That Congress might be enabled to form a more perfect judg-
ment of
it and of the measures necessary to be taken,
I have directed
the proper officers to prepare such collections of extracts from the public
correspondences as might
afford the clearest information.
The reports
made to me from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War, with
a collection of documents from each of them, are now communicated to
both Houses of Congress.
I have desired that the message, reports, and
documents ma}- be considered as confidential merely that the members of
both Houses of Congress may be apprised of their contents before they
should be made
public.
As soon as the two Houses shall have heard
them,
I shall submit to their discretion the publication of the whole, or
any such parts of them as they shall judge necessary or expedient
for
the public good.
JOHN ADAMS.
John Adams
239
PROCLAMATION.
By John Adams, the President of the United States o9
America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas an act of the Congress of the United States was passed on
the
9th day
of
February,
1793,
entitled "An
act
regulating foreign
coins, and
for other purposes,"
in which
it was enacted "that foreign
gold and
silver
coins
shall
pass current
as money within
the United
States and be a legal tender for the payment of
all debts and demands
'
'
at
the
several and
respective
rates
therein
stated; and
that
"at
the
expiration
of three years next ensuing the time when
the coinage of
gold and
silver agreeably to the
act
intituled "An
act
establishing a
mint and regulating the coins of the United States
'
' shall commence at
the Mint
of the United
States (which time shall be announced by the
proclamation
of
the President
of
the United States),
all foreign gold
coins and all foreign silver c jins, except Spanish milled dollars and parts
of such dollars, shall cease to be a legal tender as aforesaid:
Now,
therefore,
I,
the
said' John Adams,
President
of
the United
States, hereby proclaim, announce, and give notice to
all whom
it may
concern
that, agreeably to the act last above mentioned, the coinage of
silver at the Mint of the United States commenced on the
15th day of
October,
1794, and the coinage
of gold on the 31st day of July,
1795;
and that consequently, in conformity to the act first above mentioned,
all foreign
silver coins, except Spanish milled dollars and parts of such
dollars, will cease to pass current as money within the United States and
to be a legal tender for the payment of any debts or demands after the
15th day of October next, and
all
foreign gold coins will cease
to pass
current
as money within the United States and to be a legal tender as
aforesaid for the payment of any debts or demands
after the 31st day of
July, which will be A. D.
1798.
In
testimony whereof
I have caused the
seal
of
the United
States
to be afiixed to these presents, and signed the same with my
hand.
[seal.]
Done at Philadelphia, the 22d day of July, A. D.
1797, and
of the Independence of the United States the twenty-second.
JOHN ADAMS.
By the President:
Timothy Pickering,
Secretary of State.
240
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
FIRST ANNUAL ADDRESS.
United StatEvS, November 22, 1797.
Gc7itlancn of the Senate and Gentlemeyi of the House of Represe7itatives:
I was for some time apprehensive that it would be necessary, on account
of the contagious sickness which afflicted the city of Philadelphia, to con-
vene the National Legislature at some other place.
This measure it was
desirable to avoid, because
it would occasion much public inconvenience
and a considerable public expense and add to the calamities of the inhab-
itants of this city, whose sufferings must have excited the sympathy of
all their
fellow-citizens.
Therefore, after taking measures to ascertain
the state and decline of the sickness,
I postponed my determination, hav-
ing hopes, now
happily'
realized,
that, without hazard to the
lives or
health of the members, Congress might assemble at this place, where
it was next by law
to meet.
I submit, however, to your consideration
whether a power to postpone the meeting of Congress, without passing
the time fixed by the Constitution upon such occasions, would not be
a useful amendment to the law of 1794.
Although I can not
yet congratulate you on the reestablishment
of
peace in Europe and the restoration of security to the persons and prop-
erties of our citizens from injustice and violence
at
sea, we have, never-
theless,
abundant cause of gratitude to the source of benevolence and
influence
for
interior
tranquillity and personal
security, for
propitious
seasons, prosperous agriculture, productive fisheries, and general improve-
ments, and, above
all, for a rational
spirit of
civil and religious liberty
and a calm but steady determination to support our sovereignty, as well
as our moral and our
religious
principles, against
all open and secret
attacks.
Our envoys
extraordinary
to
the French
Republic embarked—one
in July, the other early in August—to join their colleague in Holland.
I have received intelligence of the arrival of both of them in Holland,
from whence they all proceeded on their journeys to Paris within a few
days of the 19th of September.
Whatever may be the result of this mis-
sion, I trust that nothing will have been omitted on my part to conduct
the negotiation to a successful conclusion, on such equitable terms as may
be compatible with the safety, honor, and interest of the United States.
Nothing, in the meantime, will contribute so much to the preservation of
peace and the attainment of justice as a manifestation of that energy and
unanimity of which on many former occasions the people of the United
States have given such memorable
proofs, and the exertion of those
resources for national defense which a beneficent Providence has kindly
placed within their power.
It may be confidently asserted that nothing- has occurred since the
John Adams
2 U
adjournment of Congress which renders inexpedient those precautionary
measures reconnnended by me to the consideration of the two Houses at
the opening of your late extraordinary session.
If that system was then
l)rudent,
it
is more so now, as increasing depredations strengthen the
reasons for its adoption.
Indeed, whatever may be the issue of the negotiation with France, and
whether the war in Europe
is or
is not to continue,
I hold
it most cer-
tain that permanent
tranquillity and order
will not soon be obtained.
The state of society has so long been disturbed, the sense of moral and
religious obligations so much weakened, public faith and national honor
have been so impaired, respect to treaties has been so diminished, and
the law of nations has lost so much of
its force, while pride, ambition,
avarice, and violence have been so long unrestrained, there remains no
reasonable ground on which to raise an expectation
that
a commerce
without protection or defense will not be plundered.
The commerce of the United States
is essential,
if not to their exist-
ence, at least to their comfort, their growth, prosperity, and happiness.
The genius, character, and habits of the people are highly commercial.
Their cities have been formed and exist upon commerce.
Our agricul-
ture, fisheries, arts, and manufactures are connected with and depend upon
ii.
In short, commerce has made this country what
it is, and it can not
be destroyed or neglected without involving the people in poverty and
distress.
Great numbers are directly and solely supported by navigation.
The faith of society is pledged for the preservation of the rights of com-
mercial and seafaring no less than of the other citizens.
Under this view
of our affairs, I should hold myself guilty of a neglect of duty if I forbore
to recommend that we should make every exertion to protect our com-
merce and to place our country in a suitable posture of defense as the
only sure means of preserving both.
I have entertained an expectation that it would have been in my power
at the opening of this session to have communicated to you the agreeable
information of the due execution of our treaty with His Catholic Majesty
respecting
the withdrawing
of
his
troops from our
territory and the
demarcation of the hue
of
limits, but by the
latest
authentic
intelli-
gence Spanish garrisons were
still continued within our country, and
the running of the boundary line had not been commenced.
These cir-
cumstances are the more to be regretted as they can not fail to affect
the Indians in a manner injurious to the United States.
Still, however,
indulging the hope that the answers which have been given will remove
the objections offered by the Spanish officers to the immediate execution
of the treaty,
I have judged
it proper that we should continue in readi-
ness to receive the posts and to run the line of limits.
Further informa-
tion on this subject will be communicated in the course of the session.
In connection with
this unpleasant
state
of things on our western
frontier it is proper for me to mention the attempts of foreign agents to
2 42
Messajrrs and Papers of the Presidents
alienate the affections of the Indian nations and to excite them to actual
hostilities against the United States.
Great activity has
l)eeii exerted
h\ those i)ersons who have insinuated themselves among the Indian tribes
residing within the territory of the United States to influence them
to
transfer their affections and force to a foreign nation, to form them into
a confederacy, and prepare
them
for \yar
against
the United
States.
Although measures have Ijeen taken
to counteract these infractions of
our rights, to prevent Indian hostilities, and to preserve entire their attach-
ment to the United States,
it is my duty to observe that to give a better
effect to these measures and to obviate the consequences of a repetition
of such practices a law providing adequate punishment for such offenses
may
Ix: necessary.
The commissioners appointed under the
fifth
article of the treaty of
amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States and Great
Britain to ascertain the river which was truly intended under the name
of the river St. Croix mentioned in the treaty of peace, met at Passama-
quoddy Bay in October,
1796, and viewed the mouths of the rivers in
question and the adjacent shores and islands, and, Ijeing of opinion that
actual surveys of both rivers to their sources were necessary, gave to the
agents of the two nations instructions for that purpose, and adjourned to
meet at Boston in August.
They met, but the surveys requiring more
time than had been supposed, and not being then completed, the com-
missioners again adjourned, to meet at Providence, in the State of Rhode
Island, in June next, when we may expect
a
final
examination and
decision.
The commissioners appointed in pursuance of the sixth article of the
treaty met at Philadelphia in May last to examine the claims of British
subjects for debts contracted before the peace and still remaining due to
them from citizens or inhabitants of the United States.
Various causes
have hitherto
prevented
anj^ determinations, but the business
is now
resumed, and doubtless will be prosecuted without interruption.
Several decisions on the claims of citizens
of
the United States for
losses and damages sustained by reason of irregular and
illegal captures
or condemnations of their vessels or other property have been made by
the commissioners in London comformably to the seventh article of the
treaty.
The sums awarded by the commissioners have been paid by the
British Government.
A considerable number of other claims, where costs
and damages, and not captured property, were the only objects in question,
have been decided by arbitration, and the sums awarded to the citizens of
the United States have also been paid.
The commissioners appointed agreeably to the twenty-first
article of
our treaty with Spain met at Philadelphia in the summer past to exam-
ine and decide on the claims of our citizens for losses they h'&.ve sus-
tained in consequence of their vessels and cargoes having been taken
by the subjects of His Catholic Majesty during the
late war between
John Ada^ns
243
Spain and France.
Their sittings have been interrupted, but are now
resumed.
The United States being obhgated to make compensation for the losses
and damages sustained by British subjects, upon the award of the com-
missioners acting under the sixth article of the treaty with Great Britain,
and
for the
losses and damages sustained by British subjects by reason
of the capture of their vessels and merchandise taken within the limits
and jurisdiction of the United States and brought
into
their ports, or
taken by vessels originally armed in ports of the United States, upon
the awards of the commisvsioners acting under the seventh article of the
same treaty,
it
is necessary that provision be made for fulfilling these
obligations.
The numerous captures
of American
vessels by the
cruisers of
the
French Republic and of some by those of Spain have occasioned consid-
erable expenses
in making and supporting the claims
of our
citizens
before
their
tribunals.
The sums
required
for
this purpose have
in
divers instances been disbursed by the consuls of the United States.
By
means
of the same captures great numbers of our seamen have been
thrown ashore
in foreign countries,
destitute
of
all means of
subsist-
ence, and the sick in particular have been exposed to grievous sufferings.
The consuls have in these cases also advanced moneys for their relief.
For these advances they reasonably expect reimbursements from
the
United States.
The consular act relative to seamen requires revision and amendment.
The provisions for their support in foreign countries and for their return
are found to be inadequate and ineffectual.
Another provision seems nec-
essary to be added to the consular act.
Some foreign vessels have been
discovered sailing under the
flag of the United States and with forged
papers.
It seldom happens that the consuls can detect
this deception,
because they have no authority to demand an inspection of the registers
and sea letters.
Geyitlemen of the House of Representatives:
It is my duty to i-ecommend to your serious consideration those objects
which by the Constitution are placed particularly within your sphere—
the national debts and taxes.
Since the decay of the feudal system, by which the public defense was
provided for chiefly at the expense of individuals, the system of loans
has been introduced, and as no nation can raise within the year by taxes
sufficient sums for
its defense and
militar}^ operations in time of war,
the sums loaned and debts contracted have necessarily become the sub-
jects
of what
have
been
called
funding systems.
The consequences
arising from the continual accumulation of public debts in other countries
ought to admonish us to be careful to prevent their growth in our own.
The national defense must be provided
for as well
as the support of
244
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Government;
but
lx)th should be accomplished as much as possible by
imuiediate taxes, and as little as possible by loans.
The estimates for the ser\dce of the ensuing year will by mj^ direction
be laid
1 before you.
Gentlemen of the Seriate and Gentleme?! of the House of Representatives:
We are met together at a most
interesting period.
The situations of
the principal powers of Kurope are singular and portentous.
Connected
with some by
treaties and with
all by commerce, no important event
there can
be
indifferent
to
lis.
Such circumstances
call with peculiar
importunity not
less
for a disposition to unite
in
all those measures on
which the honor, safety, and prosperity of our country depend than for
all the exertions of wisdom and firmness.
In all such measures you may rely on my zealous and hearty concur-
rence.
JOHN ADAMS.
ADDRESvS OF THE SENATE TO JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES.
The President of the United States.
Sir: The communications you thought proper to make in your speech
to both Houses of Congress on the opening of their present session afford
additional
proofs of the attention,
integrity, and firmness which have
always marked 3^our official character.
We can not but approve
of the measures you had taken to ascertain
the
state and
decline
of
the contagious sickness which has so
lately
afflicted the city of Philadelphia, and the pleasing circumstance that Con-
gress is now assembled at that place without hazard
to the health of
its
members evinces the propriety of your having postponed a determination
to convene the
National Legislature at another place.
We shall take
into consideration the law of 1794 on this subject, and will readily concur
in anj^ amendment which may be deemed expedient.
It would have given us much pleasure to have received your congratu-
lations on the reestablishment of peace in Europe and the restoration of
security to the persons and property of our citizens from injustice and vio-
lence at sea; but though these events, so desirable to our country and the
world, have not taken place, yet we have abundant cause of gratitude to
the Great Disposer of Human Events for interior tranquillity and personal
security, for propitious seasons, prosperous agriculture, productive fish-
eries, and general improvement, and, above all,
for a rational
spirit of
civil and religious liberty and a calm but steady determination to support
our sovereignty against all open and secret attacks.
We learn with satisfaction that our envoys extraordinary to the French
John Adams
245
Republic had safely arrived iu Europe and were proceeding to the scene
of negotiation, and whatever may be the
result of the mission, we
arc
perfectly satisfied that nothing on your part has been omitted which ctjuld
in any way conduce
to a successful conclusion of the negotiation upon
terms compatible with the safety, honor, and interest of the United States;
and we are fully convinced that in the meantime a manifestation of that
unanimity and energy of which the people
of
the United States have
given such memorable proofs and a proper exertion
of those resources
of national defense which we possess will essentially contribute
to the
preservation of peace and the attainment of justice.
We think, sir, with you that the commerce of the United States is essen-
tial to the growth, comfort, and prosperity of our country, and that the
faith of society is pledged for the preservation of the rights of commercial
and seafaring no less than of other citizens.
And even
if our negotia-
tion with France should terminate favorably and the war in Europe cease,
yet the state of society which unhappily prevails in so great a portion of
the world and the experience of past times under better circumstances
unite in warning us that a commerce
vSo extensive and which holds out
so many temptations
to
lawless plunderers can never be safe without
protection; and we hold ourselves obliged by every tie
of duty which
binds us to our constituents to promote and concur in such measures of
marine defense as may convince our merchants and seamen that
their
rights are not sacrificed nor their injuries forgotten.
We
regret that, notwithstanding the
clear and explicit terms of the
treaty between the United States and His Catholic Majesty, the Spanish
garrisons are not yet withdrawn from our territory nor the running of
the boundary line commenced.
The United States have been faithful in
the performance of their obligations to Spain, and had reason to expect
a compliance equally prompt on the part of that power.
We still, how-
ever, indulge
the hope that the convincing answers which have been
given to
the objections stated by the Spanish officers to the immediate
execution of the treaty will have their proper effect, and that this treaty,
so mutually beneficial to the contracting parties, will be finally observed
with good faith.
We therefore entirely approve of your determination
to continue in readiness to receive the posts and to run the line of
parti-
tion between our territory and that of the King of Spain
Attempts to alienate the affections of the Indians, to form them into a
confederacy, and
to excite them
to actual
hostility against the United
States, whether made by foreign agents or by others, are .so injurious to
our interests at large and so inhuman with respect to our citizens inhab-
iting the adjacent territory as to deserve the most exemplary punishment,
and we will cheerfully afford our aid in framing a law which may pre-
scribe a punishment adequate to the commission of crimes so heinous.
The
several
objects you have pointed out
to the
attention
of the
Legislature, whether they regard our internal or external relations, shall
246
Messages and Papers 0/ the Presidents
receive from us that consideration which they merit, and we will readily
concur
in
all such measures as may Ixi necessary either to enable us
lo
fulfdl our engaj;ements
at home or
to cause ourselves
to be
respected
abroad; and at
tliis portentous period, when
tlie powers of Europe with
whom we are connected by treaty or commerce are in so critical a situa-
tion, and when the conduct of some of those powers toward the United
States
is so hostile and menacing, the
several branches of the Govern-
ment are, in our opinion, called upon with peculiar importunity to unite,
and by union not only to devise and carry into effect those measures on
which the safety and prosperity of our country depend, but also to unde-
ceive those nations who, regarding us as a weak and divided people, ha\'e
pursued systems of aggression inconsistent with a state of peace between
independent
nations.
And,
sir, we
beg
lea\'e
to
assure you
that we
derive a singular consolation from the reflection that at such a time the
executive part of our Government has been committed to your hands,
for
in your
integrity,
talents,
and
firmness we
place
the most entire
confidence.
JACOB READ,
President of the Senate pro tempore
.
NovKMBER
27,
1797.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
United States, November 28, 1797.
Gentleme7i of the Senate:
I
thank you for this address.
When,
after the most laborious investigation and serious
reflection,
without partial considerations or personal motives, measures have been
adopted or recommended,
I
can receive no. higher testimony
of
their
rectitude than the approbation of an assembly so independent, patriotic,
and enlightened as the Senate of the United States.
Nothing has afforded me more entire satisfaction than the coincidence
of your judgment with mine in the opinion of the essential importance
of our commerce and the absolute necessity of a maritime defense.
What
is it that has drawn to Europe the superfluous riches of the three other
quarters of the globe but a marine?
What
is
it that has drained the
wealth of Europe itself into the coffers of two or three of
its principal
commercial powers but a marine?
The world has furnished no example of a flourishing commerce with-
out a maritime protection, ana a moderate knowledge of man and his
history will
convince anyone that no such prodigy ever can
arise.
A
mercantile marine and a military marine must grow up together; one
can not long exist without the other.
JOHN ADAMS.
^
John Adafns
247
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO JOHN ADAMS,
TRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir: While our sympathy
is excited by the recent sufferings of the
citizens of Philadelphia, we participate in the satisfaction which you are
pleased to express that the duration of the late calamity was so limited
as to render unnecessary the expense and inconvenience that would have
been incident to the convention of Congress in another place; and we
shall readily attend to every useful amendment of the law which contem-
plates the event of contagious sickness at the seat of Government.
In lamenting the increase of the injuries offered to the persons and
property of our citizens at sea we gratefully acknowledge the contin-
uance of interior tranquillity and the attendant blessings of which you
remind us as alleviations of these fatal effects of injustice and violence.
Whatever may be the result of the mission to the French Republic,
your early and uniform attachment to the interest of our country, your
important services in the struggle for its independence, and your unceas-
ing exertions for
its welfare afford no room to doubt of the sincerity of
your efforts to conduct the negotiation to a successful conclusion on such
terms as may be compatible with the safety, honor, and
interest of the
United States. We have also a firm reliance upon the energy and una-
nimity of the people of these States in the assertion of their rights, and
on
their determination
to exert upon
all proper occasions their ample
resources in providing for the national defense.
The importance of commerce and its beneficial influence upon agricul-
ture, arts, and manufactures have been verified in the growth and pros-
perity of our country.
It
is essentially connected with the other great
interests of the community;
they must
flourish and dechne together;
and while the extension of our navigation and trade naturally excites
the jealousy and tempts the avarice of other natiom, we are firmly per-
suaded that the numerous and deserving
class of
citizens engaged
in
these pursuits and dependent on them for their subsistence has a strong
and indisputable claim to our support and protection.
The delay of the Spanish officers to fulfill the treaty existing with His
Catholic Majesty is a source of deep regret.
We
learn, however, with
satisfaction that you still indulge hopes of removing the objections which
have been made to its execution, and that you have continued in readi-
ness to receive the post:!.
Disposed to perform with fidelity our national
engagements, nothing shall be wanting on our part to obtain the same
justice from others which we exercise toward them.
Our abhorrence can not be too strongly expressed of the intrigues of
foreign agents to
alienate the
affections of
the Indians and to rouse
them to acts of hostility against the United
States.
No means in our
power should be omitted of providing
for the suppression of such cruel
practices and for the adequate punishment of their atrocious authors.
248
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Upon the other interesting subjects noticed
in your address we shall
bestow the
requisite attention.
To
preser\'e inviolable the public faith
by providing
for the due execution of our
treaties, to indemnify those
who may have
just claims
to
retribution upon
the United States
for
expenses incurred
in defending the property and
relieving the neces-
sities of our unfortunate fellow-citizens, to guard against evasions of the
laws intended to secure advantages to the navigation of our own vessels,
and especially to prevent by all possible means an unnecessary accumu-
lation of the public debt, are duties which we shall endeavor to keep in
view and discharge with assiduity.
We regard with great anxiety the singular and portentous situation of
the principal powers of Europe.
It were devoutly to be wished that the
United States, remote from this seat of war and discord, unambitious of
concjuests, respecting the rights of other nations, and desirous merely to
avail themselves of their natural resources, might be permitted to behold
the scenes which desolate that quarter of the globe with only those sym-
pathetic emotions which are natural to the lovers of peace and friends of
the human race.
But we are led by events to associate with these feel-
ings a sense of the dangers which menace our security and peace.
We
rely upon your assurances of a zealous and hearty concurrence in such
measures as may be necessary to avert these dangers, and nothing on our
part shall be wanting to repel them which the honor, safety, and pros-
perity of our country may require.
November
28,
1797.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
United States, November 29, 1797,
Gentlemen of the Hotcse of Representatives:
I receive this address from the House of Representatives of the United
States with peculiar pleasure.
Your approbation of the meeting of Congress in this city and of those
other measures of the Executive authority of Government communicated
in my address to both Houses at the opening of the session afford me
great satisfaction, as the strongest desire of my heart is to give satisfac-
tion to the people and their Representatives by a faithful discharge of my
duty.
The confidence you express in the sincerity of my endeavors and in
the unanimity of the people does me much honor and gives me great joy.
I rejoice in that harmony which appears in the sentiments of
all the
branches of the Government on the importance of our commerce and our
obligations to defend
it, as well as in all the other subjects recommended
to your consideration, and sincerely congratulate you and our fellow-
citizens at large on this appearance, so auspicious to the honor, interest,
and happiness of the nation.
Joh7t Adams
249
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, December
6, lygy.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Isaac Smith, esq,
, who was appointed, with the advice and consent of
the Senate, to hold a treaty with the Seneca Nation of Indians, to super-
intend the purchase of a parcel of their land under a right of preemption
derived from the State of Massachusetts, and situated within the State
of New York, having declined that service, Jeremiah Wadsworth, esq.,
was appointed during your recess to hold a treaty, which has terminated
in a deed of bargain and sale, herewith submitted to your consideration.
It being represented to me that the immediate investment in bank
stock of the moneys which are to be the consideration of this deed might
be attended with considerable loss to the Indians by raising the market
price of that
article,
it is suggested whether it would not be expedient
that the ratification should be made conclusive and binding on the par-
ties only after the President shall be satisfied that the investment of the
moneys has been made conformably to the intention of the treaty.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, December ij, 1797.
Gentlemen 0/ the Senate and Gentlemen 0/ the House of Represe7itatives:
I lay before you the copy of a letter from the judges of the Supreme
Court of the United States, representing the inconvenience arising from
altering the time of holding the circuit court for the State of Delaware
from April to June, and desiring that the existing law may be altered by
restoring the spring session of the circuit court in Delaware to the 27th
"^^P"^-
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, December jo, 1797.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
In compliance with the desire of the two Houses of Congress, expressed
in their resolution of the 2d of March, 1797, that some speedy and effectual
means might be adopted of obtaining information from the States of Con-
necticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Ten-
nessee, and South Carolina whether they have ratified the amendment
proposed by Congress to the
Constitu-tion concerning the
suability of
States, and if they have, to obtain proper evidences, measures have been
taken and information and evidences obtained the particulars of which
will appear in the report from the Secretary of State made by my direc-
tion on the 28th day of this month, and now presented to the two Houses
for their consideration.
JOHN ADAMS.
250
Messages and Papers 0/ t/ie Presidents
United SrKtvs, Ja?iuary
>;, 1798.
Gentlemen of the S^enaic and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives
:
The Secretary for the Department of War on the 30th day of Decem-
Itcr
last made a representation to
nie of the situation
of
affairs
in
his
office, which
I now transmit to the Senate and House of Representatives,
and recommend to their cousideratiou and decision.
JOHN ADAMS.
United Stkt-es,, January S, lygS.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The situation of
affairs l^etween some of the citizens of the United
States and the Cherokee Indians has evinced the propriety of holding a
treaty with that nation to extinguish by purchase their right to certain
parcels of laud and to adjust and settle other points relative to the safety
and conveniency of our citizens.
With this view I iioniiuate Fisher Ames,
of Dedham, in the State of Massachusetts; Bushrod Washington, of Rich-
mond, in the State of Virginia, and Alfred Moore, of North Carolina, to
be conmiissiouers of the United 'States with full powers to hold confer-
ences and conclude a treaty with the Cherokee Nation of Indians for the
purposes before mentioned.
JOHN ADAMS.
United Sta.tts,s, January 8, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I have now an opportunity of transmitting to Congress a report oi
lIic
Secretary of State, with a copy of an act of the legislature of the State
of Kentucky consenting to the ratification of the amendment of the Con-
stitution of the United States proposed by Congress in their resolution of
the 2d day of December,
1793, relative to the suability of vStates.
This
amendment, having been adopted by three-fourths of the several States,
may now be declared
to be a part of
the Constitution
of
the United
i^tates.
JOHN ADAMS.
United Stat-^, January
77, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentleme7i of the House of Representatives:
The situation of affairs between the United States and the Cherokee
Indians having evinced the expediency of a treaty with that nation for
the promotion of justice to them, as well as of the interests and conven-
ience of our citizens, I have nominated and, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate, appointed commissioners to hold conferences and
conclude a treaty as early as the season of the year and the convenience
of the parties will admit.
John Adams
251
As we know very well by experience such negotiations can not be car-
ried on without considerable expenses,
I recommend to your consider-
ation the propriety of making an appropriation at this time for defraying
such as may be necessary for holding and concluding a treaty.
That you may form your judgments with greater facility, I shall direct
the proper
officer
to lay before you an estimate
of such
articles and
expenses as may be thought indispensable.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, January
18, 1798.
Gentlemen oj the Senate and Gentlemeii oj the House oj Representatives:
A representation has been made to me by the judge of the Pennsylva-
nia district of the United States of certain inconveniences and disagreeable
circumstances which have occurred in the execution of the law passed
on the 28th day of May, 1796, entitled "An act for the relief of persons
imprisoned
for debt,"
as well
as
of
certain doubts which have
l^een
raised concerning
its construction.
This representation, together with
a report of the Attorney-General on the same subject, I now transmit to
Congress for their consideration, that if any amendments or explanations
of that law should be thought advisable they may be adopted.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, /«?2«ar)/ 23, 1798.
Gentlemen oJ the Senate and Gentlemejt oJ the Hotise oJ Representatives:
At the commencement
of this session of Congress
I proposed in the
course of it to communicate to both Houses further information concern-
ing the situation of our affairs in the territories of the United States situ-
ated on the Mississippi River and
in
its neighborhood; our intercourse
with the Indian nations; our relations with the Spanish Government, and
the conduct
-^ f their officers and agents.
This information will be found
in a report
of the Secretary of State and the documents attending
it,
which I now present to the Senate and House of Representatives.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, February 2, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I have received from our minister in London two acts of the Parliament
of Great Britain, one passed on the 4th of July,
1797, entitled "An act
for carrying into execution the treaty of amity, commerce, and naviga-
tion concluded between His Majesty and the United States of America,"
the other passed on the
igth day of July,
1797,
entitled "An act for
252
MfssHQcs and Papers 0/ t/ie Prrsidents
regulating the trade to be carried on with the British possessions in India
by the ships of nations in amity with His Majesty."
These acts have
such connections with the commercial and political interests of the United
States that
it
is proper they should be communicated to
Congress.
I
have accordingly transmitted copies of them with this message.
JOHN ADAMS.
Unitkd States, Februarys, ^79^-
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentleyneyi of the House of Representatives:
I have received a letter from His Excellency Charles Pinckney, esq.,
governor of the State of South Carolina, dated the 22A of October, 1797,
inclosing a number of depositions of witnesses to several captures and
outrages conunitted within and near the limits of the United States by a
French privateer belonging to Cape Francois, or Monte Christo, called
the Vertitude or Fortitude, and commanded by a person of the name of
Jordan
or Jourdain, and
particularly upon an English merchant
ship
named the Oracabissa, which he first plundered and then burned, with the
rest of her cargo, of great value, within the territorj^ of the United States,
in the harbor of Charleston, on the 17th day of October
last, copies of
which letter and depositions, and also of several other depositions relative
to the same subject, received from the collector of Charleston, are here-
with communicated.
Whenever the channels
of diplomatical communication between
the
United States and France shall be opened, I shall demand satisfaction
for the insult and reparation for the injury.
I have transmitted these papers to Congress not so much for the pur-
pose of communicating an account of so daring a violation of the territory
of the United States as to shew the propriety and necessity of enabling
the Executive authority of Government to take measures for protecting
the citizens of the United States and such foreigners as have a right to
enjoy their peace and the protection of their laws within their limits in
that as well as some other harbors which are equally exposed.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, February
12, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemeyi of the Hotise of Representatives:
In obedience to the law, I now present
to both Houses of Congress
my annual account of expenditures from the contingent fund during the
year 1797, by which it appears that on the ist day of January last there
remained in the Treasury a balance of $15,494.24 subject to future dis-
positions of Government.
JOHN ADAMS.
John Adams
253
United States , February
18, lygS.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
In the report of the Secretary of State and the documents herewith
transmitted
will be found such information as
is
in our
posse.ssion of
the losses recovered by the citizens of the United States under the treaty
made with Great Britain, which are now presented to the House of Rep-
resentatives in compliance with their request in
their resolution of the
ist of this month.
JOHN ADAMS.
UniTBd StaTEv^, February 20, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Getitlemett of the House of Representatives:
In obedience to the law of the United States of the 3d of March, 1797,
entitled "An act authorizing an expenditure and making an appropria-
tion for the prosecution of the claims
of certain
citizens
of the United
States
for property captured by the
belligerent powers,"
I submit to
Congress the account exhibited to me by the Secretary of State with his
report of the 17th of this month.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, February 21, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Having received
the
original
treaty concluded between
the United
States and the Government of Tunis, I lay it before the Senate of the
United States whether they advise and consent to its ratification,
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, February 23, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemeri of the House of Representatives:
The inclosed memorial from the commissioners appointed under an act
of the United States entitled "An act for establishing the temporary and
permanent seat of the Government of the United States,
'
' representing
the situation and circumstances of the city of Washington,
I take this
opportunity to present to both Houses of the Legislature and recommend
to
their consideration.
Alexander White, esq., one
of those commis-
sioners,
is now in this city, and will be able to give to Congress, or any
of their committees, any explanation or further information which the
subject may require.
•
jOHN ADAMS.
United States, March 5, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
The first dispatches from our envoys extraordinary since their arrival
at Paris were received at the Secretary of State's office at a late hour last
2 54
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
eveniug.
They are all
iti a character which will require some days to be
deciphered, except
the
last, which
is dated the 8th
of January,
1798.
The contents of this letter are of so much importance
t<j be immediately
made known to Congress and to the public, especially to the mercantile
part of our fellow-citizens, that
I have thought it my duty to connnuni-
cate them to both Houses without loss of time.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, March
12, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Insinuations having been repeatedly made in the name of the Court of
Sweden of an
inclination
to renew
the connection between the United
States and that power, I sent, in the recess of the Senate, to our minister
at Berlin a full power to negotiate that business, with such alterations as
might be agreeable to both parties; but as that commission, if not renewed
with the advice and consent of the Senate, will expire with the present
session of Congress,
I now nominate John Quincy Adams to be a com-
missioner with
full powers to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce
with His Majesty the Kiug of Sweden.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, March
ig, 1798.
Genilemen of the Senate and Gentletnen of the House of Represe?iiativcs:
The dispatches from the envoys extraordinary of the United States
to the French Republic, which were mentioned in my message to lx)th
Houses of Congress of the 5th instant, have been examined and maturely
considered.
While I feel a satisfaction in informing you that their exertions for the
adjustment of the differences between the two nations have been sincere
and unremitted, it is incumbent on me to declare that I perceive no ground
of expectation that the objects of
their mission can be accomplished on
terms compatible with the safety, the honor, or the essential interests of
the nation.
This result can not with justice be attributed to any want of moderation
on the part of this Government, or to any indisposition to forego second-
ary interests for the preservation of peace.
Knowing
it to be my duty,
and believing it to be your wish, as well as that of the great body of the
people, to avoid by all reasonable concessions any participation
in the
contentions of Europe, the powers vested
in our envoys were commen-
surate \\4tli a liberal and
pacific policy and that high confidence which
might justly be reposed in the
abilities, patriotism, and integrity of the
characters
to whom the negotiation was committed.
After a careful
review of the whole subject, with the aid of
all the information I have
received,
I can discern nothing which could have insured or contributed
to success that has Ijeen omitted on my part, and nothiu" further which
JoJui ^lda))is
255
can be attempted consistently with maxims for which our country has
contended at every- hazard, and which constitute the basis of our national
sovereignt5^
Under these circumstances I can not forbear
to
reiterate the recom-
mendations which ha\'e been formerly made, and to exhort you to adopt
with promptitude, decision, and unanimity such measures as the ample
resources of the country afford for the protection
of our seafaring and
commercial citizens, for the defense of any exposed portions of our terri-
tory, for replenishing our
arsenals, establishing foundries and military
manufactures, and to provide such efficient revenue as will be necessary
to defray extraordinary expenses and supply the deficiencies which may
be occasioned by depredations on our commerce.
The present
state of things
is
so
essentially different from
that in
which
instructions were given to the collectors to restrain vessels of the
United States from
sailing in an armed condition that the principle on
which those orders were issued has ceased to exist.
I therefore deem it
proper to inform Congress that I no longer conceive myself justifiable in
continuing them, unless in particular cases where there may be reason-
able ground of suspicion that such vessels are intended to be employed
contrary to law.
In all your proceedings it will be important
to manifest a zeal, vigor,
and concert
in defense of the national rights proportioned to the danger
with which they are threatened.
^^^^ ^^^^
United States, April j, ijps.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
In compliance with the request
of the House of Representatives ex-
pressed in their resolution of the 2d of
this month,
I transmit to both
Houses those instructions to and dispatches from the envoys extraordi-
nary^ of the United States to the French Republic which were mentioned
in my message of the 19th of March last, omitting only some names and
a few expressions descriptive of the persons.
I ret^uest that they may be considered in confidence until the members
of Congress
are
fully possessed
of
their contents and
shall have had
opportunity to deliberate on the consequences of their publication, after
which time I submit them to your wisdom.
t/^tt^t
a t^ a ,-ro
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, April 12, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Seriate:
A treaty with the Mohawk Nation of Indians has by accident lain long
neglected.
It was executed under the authority of the Honorable Isaac
Smith, a commissioner of
the United States.
I now submit
it
to the
Senate for their consideration.
JOHN ADAMS.
256
Messages and Papers of the Presidefits
Unitbd States, May j, 179S.
Gentle77jen t»f f/ir Sryjofr:
His Excellency John Jay, esq., governor of New York, has informed
me that the Oneida tril)e of Indians have proposed to sell a part of their
land to the said State, and that the legislature at their late session author-
ized the purchase, and to accomplish this object the governor has desired
that a commissioner may be appointed to hold a treaty with the Oneida
tribe of Indians, at which the agents of the State of New York may agree
with them on the terms of the purchase.
T therefore nominate Joseph
Hopkinson, esq.
, of Pennsylvania, to be the commissioner to hold a treaty
with the said Oueida tribe of Indians for the purpose above mentioned.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, /««<? 21, zyp8.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemeyi of the Hotise of Representatives:
While
I congratulate you on the arrival of General Marshall, one of
our late envoys extraordinary to the French Republic, at a place of safety,
where he is justly held in honor, I think it my duty to communicate to
you a letter received by him from Mr. Gerry, the only one of the three
who has not received his conge.
This letter, together with anothei from
the minister of foreign relations to him of the 3d of April, and his answer
of the 4th, will shew the situation in which he remains—his intentions
and prospects.
I presume that before this time he has received fresh instructions (a
copy of which accompanies this message) to consent to no
loans, and
therefore the negotiation may be considered at an end.
I will never send another minister to France without assurances that
he will be received, respected, and honored as
the
representative of a
great, free, powerful, and independent nation,
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, fune 27,
I'/gS.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives.
I have
received a letter from His Excellency Thomas
Mifflin, gov
ernor of Pennsylvania, inclosing some documents which I judge
it my
duty to lay before Congress without loss of time.
As my opinion coincides entirely with that of his excellency the gov-
ernor,
I recommend the subject to the consideration of both Houses of
Congress, whose authority alone appears to me adequate to the occasion.
JOHN ADAMS.
V
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JOHN ADAMS' COINAGE PROCLAMATION WITH SIGNATURE OF
TIMOTHY PICKERING.
John Adams
257
United States, July 2, 1798.
Geyitlemen of the Senate:
I nominate George Washington, of Mount Vernon, to be Lieutenant-
General and Commander in Chief of all the armies raised or to be raised
in the United States.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, July ij, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
A resolution of both Houses of Congress authorizing an adjournment
on Monday, the i6th of this month, has been laid before me.
Sensible of
the severity of the service in so long a session, it is with great reluctance
that I find myself obliged to offer any consideration which may operate
against the inclinations of the members;
but certain measures of Execu-
tive authority which will require the consideration of the Senate, and
which can not be matured,
in
all probability, before Monday or Tues-
day, oblige me to request of the Senate that they would continue their
session until Wednesday or Thursday.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, Jtdy ij, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Believing that the letter received this morning from General Washing-
ton will give high satisfaction to the Senate, I transmit them a copy of it,
and congratulate them and the public on this great event—the General's
acceptance of his appointment as Lieutenant-General and Commander in
Chief of the Army,
JOHN ADAMS.
Mount Vernon, July 13, 1708.
John Adams,
President 0/ the United States.
Dear Sir:
I had the honor, on the evening of the nth instant, to receive from
the hands of the Secretary of War your favor of the 7th, announcing that you had,
with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed me " I^ieutenant-General and
Commander in Chief of all the armies raised or to be raised for the service of the
United States."
I can not express how greatly affected I am at this new proof of public confidence
and the highly flattering manner in which you have been pleased to make the com-
munication.
At the same time I must not conceal from you my earnest wish that the
choice had fallen upon a man less declined in years and better qualified to encounter
the usual vicissitudes of war.
You know,
sir, what calculation
I had made relative to the probable course of
events on my retiring from office, and the determination I had consoled myself with
of closing the remnant of my days in my present peaceful abode.
You Tvill therefore
be at no loss to conceive and appreciate the sensations
I must have experienced to
bring my mind to any conclusion that would pledge me, at so late a period of
life,
to leave scenes I sincerely love to enter upon the boundless field of public action,
incessant trouble, and high responsibility.
258
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
It was not possible for me to remain ignorant of or indifferent to recent transac-
tions.
The conduct of the Directory of I'Vance toward our country, their insidious
hostility to its Government, their various practices to withdraw the affections of the
people from
it, the evident tendency of their acts and those of their agents to coun-
tenance and invigorate opposition, their disregard of solemn treaties and the laws of
nations, their war upon our defenseless commerce, their treatment of our ministers
of peace, and their demands amounting to tribute could not fail to excite in me cor-
responding sentiments Avith those my countrymen have so generally expressed in
their affectionate addresses to you.
Believe me,
sir, no one can more
cordially
approve of the wise ai^d prudent measures of your Administration.
They ought to
inspire universal confidence, and will no doubt, combined with the state of things,
call from Congress such laws and means as will enable you to meet the full force and
extent of the crisis.
Satisfied, therefore, that you have sincerely wished and endeavored to avert war,
and exhausted to the last drop the cup of reconciliation, we can with pure hearts
appeal to Heaven for the justice of our cause, and may confidently trust the final
result to that kind Providence who has heretofore and so often signally favored the
people of these United States.
Thinking in this manner, and feeling how incumbent
it
is upon every person, o\
every description, to contribute at all times to his
country's welfare, and especially
in a moment like the present, when everj-thing we hold dear and sacred is so seriously
threatened, I have finally determined to accept the commission of Commander in
Chief of the armies of the United States, with the reser\'e only that
I shall not be
called into the field until the Army
is in a situation to require my presence or
it
becomes indispensable by the urgency of circumstances.
In making this reservation
I beg
it to be understood that I do not mean to with
hold any assistance to arrange and organize the Army which you may think
I car
afford.
I take the liberty also to mention that I must decline having my acceptance
considered as drawing after it any immediate charge upon the public, or that I car
receive any emolmnents annexed to the appointment before entering into a situation
to incur expense.
The Secretary of War being anxious to return to the seat of Government, I have
detained him no longer than was necessary to a full communication upon the severa'
points he had in charge.
With very great respect and consideration, I have the honor to be, dear sir, yout
most obedient and himible servant,
GO WASHINGTON.
PROCLAMATIONS.
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
As the
safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially
depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the
national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty
which the people owe to Him, but a duty whose natural influence
is
favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety without which
social happiness can not exist nor the blessings of a free government be
John Adams
259
enjoyed; and as this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in sea-
Sons of
difficulty or of danger, when existing or threatening calamities,
the just judgments of God. against prevalent
iniquity, are a loud call to
repentance and reformation; and as the United States of America are at
present placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation by the unfriendly
disposition, conduct, and demands of a foreign power, evinced by repeated
refusals to receive our messengers of reconciliation and peace, by depre-
dations on our commerce, and the infliction of injuries on very many of
our fellow-citizens while engaged in their lawful business on the seas
under these considerations it has appeared to me that the duty of implor-
ing the mercy and benediction of Heaven on our country demands at
this time a special attention from its inhabitants.
I have therefore thought
fit to recommend, and I do hereby recom-
mend, that Wednesday, the 9th day of May next, be observed throughout
the United States as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer;
that the citizens of these States, abstaining on that da}^ from their cus-
tomary worldly occupations, offer their devout addresses to the Father of
Mercies agreeably to those forms or methods which they have severally
adopted as the most suitable and becoming; that all religious congrega-
tions do, with the deepest humility, acknowledge before God the manifold
sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individ-
uals and as a nation, beseeching Him at the same time, of His infinite
grace, through the Redeemer of the World, freely to remit all our offenses,
and to
incline us by His Holy Spirit to that
sincere repentance and
reformation which may afford
us reason
to hope
for his inestimable
favor and heavenly benediction; that it be made the subject of particular
and earnest supplication that our country may be protected from all the
dangers which threaten
it;
that our civil and religious privileges may
be preserved inviolate and perpetuated to the
latest generations;
that
our public councils and magistrates may be especially enlightened and
directed at this critical period;
that the American people may be united
in those bonds of amity and mutual confidence and inspired with that
vigor and fortitude by which they have in times past been so highly
distinguished and by which they have obtained such invaluable advan-
tages;
that the health of the inhabitants of our land may be preserved,
and their agriculture, commerce,
fisheries,
arts, and manufactures be
blessed and prospered;
that the principles of genuine piety and sound
morality may influence the minds and govern the
lives of every descrip-
tion of our citizens, and that the blessings of peace, freedom, and pure
religion may be speedily extended to all the nations of the earth.
And finally, I recommend that on the said day the duties of humili-
ation and prayer be accompanied by fervent thanksgiving to the Bestower
of Every Good Gift, not only for His having hitherto protected and pre-
served the people of these United States in the independent enjoyment
of their religious and civil freedom, but also for having prospered them
26o
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
in a wonderful progress of population, and for conferring on them many
and .q^reat favors conducive to the happiness and prosperity of a nation.
Given under my hand and the seal of the United States of America,
at Philadelphia, this 23d day of March, A.
I). 1798, and of the
'-
^-'
Independence of the said States the twenty-second.
JOHN ADAMS.
By the President:
Timothy Pickkring,
Secretary of Slate.
[l-'rom C.
I'. Adams's Works of John Adams. Vol. IX, p. 170.]
PROCLAMATION.
July 13,
1798.
The citizen Joseph Philippe Letombe havinjj heretofore produced to
the President of the United States his commission as consul-general of
the h>ench Republic within the United States of America, and another
commission as consul of the French Republic at Philadelphia; and, in
like manner, the citizen Rosier having produced his commission as vice-
consul of the French Republic at New York
; and the citizen Arcambal
having produced his commission as vice-consul of the French Republic
at Newport; and
citizen Theodore Charles Mozard having produced
his commission as consul of the French Republic within the States of
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island; and the President
of the United States having thereupon granted an exequatur to each of
the French citizens above named, recognizing them in their respective
consular ofl&ces above mentioned, and declaring them respectively free to
exercise and enjoy such functions, powers, and privileges as are allowed
to a consul-general, consuls, and vice-consuls of the French Republic by
their treaties, conventions, and laws in that case made and provided; and
the Congress of the United States, by
their act passed the yth day of
July,
1798, having declared "that the United States are of right freed
and exonerated from the stipulations of the treaties and of the consular
convention heretofore concluded between the United States and France,
and that the same shall not henceforth be regarded as legally obligatory
on the Government or citizens of the United States,
'
' and by a former
act, passed the 13th day of May, 1798, the Congress of the United States
having
"suspended
the
commercial
intercourse
between
the
United
States and France and
the
dependencies
thereof," which commercial
intercourse was the direct and chief object of the consular establishment;
and
Whereas actual
hostilities have long been practiced on the commerce
of the United States by the cruisers of the French Republic under the
orders
of
its Government, which orders that Government
refuses
to
revoke or relax
; and hence it has become improper any longer to allow
the consul-general,
consuls, and vice-consuls
of the French Republic
John Adams
261
above named, or any of its consular persons or agents heretofore admitted
in these United
States, any longer to exercise their consular functions:
These are therefore to declare that
I do no longer recognize the said
citizen Letombe as consul-general or consul, nor the said citizens Rosier
and Arcambal as vice-consuls, nor the said
citizen Mozard as consul
of
the French Republic
in any part
of
these United
States,
nor permit
them or any other consular persons or agents of the French Republic
heretofore admitted in the United States
to exercise their functions as
such; and I do hereby wholly revoke the exequaturs heretofore given to
them respectively, and do declare them absolutely null and void from
this day forward.
In testimony whereof, etc.
JOHN ADAMS.
SECOND ANNUAL ADDRESS.
Unitsd States, Decembers, 1798.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the Hozise of Representatives:
While with reverence and resignation we contemplate the dispensations
of Divine Providence in the alarming and destructive pestilence with which
several of our cities and towns have been visited, there is cause for grati-
tude and mutual congratulations that the malady has disappeared and
that we are again permitted to assemble in safety at the seat of Govern-
ment for the discharge of our important duties.
But when we reflect that
this fatal disorder has within a few years made repeated ravages in some
of our principal seaports, and with increased malignancy, and when we
consider the magnitude of the evils arising from the interruption of pub-
lic and private business, whereby the national interests are deeply affected,
I think it my duty to invite the Legislature of the Union to examine the
expediency of establishing suitable regulations in aid of the health laws
of the respective States;
for these being formed on the idea that con-
tagious sickness may be communicated through the channels of commerce,
there seems to be a necessity that Congress, who alone can regulate trade,
should frame a system which, while
it may tend to preserve the general
health, may be compatible with the interests of commerce and the safety
of the revenue.
While we think on this calamity and sympathize with the immediate
sufferers, we have abundant reason to present to the Supreme Being our
annual oblations of gratitude for a liberal participation in the ordinary
blessings of His providence.
To the usual subjects of gratitude I can not
omit to add one of the
first importance to our well-being and safety
;
I
mean that spirit which has arisen in our country against the menaces and
aggression of a foreign nation. A manly sense of national honor, dignity,
262
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
and independence has appeared which,
if encouraged and invigorated
by every branch of the Government, will enable us to view undismayed
the enterprises of any foreign power and become the sure foundation
of national prosperity and glory.
The course of the transactions in relation
to the United States and
France which have come to my knowledge during your recess will be made
the subject of a future communication.
That communication will con-
firm the ultimate failure of the measures which have been taken by the
Government of the United States toward an amicable adjustment of dif-
ferences with that power.
You will at the same time perceive that the
French Government appears solicitous to impress the opinion that it is
averse to a rupture with this country, and that it has in a qualified man-
ner declared
itself willing to receive a minister from the United States
for the purpose of restoring a good understanding.
It is unfortunate for
professions of this kind that they should be expressed in terms which
may countenance the inadmissible pretension of a right to prescribe the
qualifications which a minister from the United States should possess,
and that while France
is asserting the existence of a disposition on her
part to conciliate with sincerity the
differences which have arisen, the
sincerity of a like disposition on the part of the United States, of which
so many demonstrative proofs have been given, should even be indirectly
questioned.
It
is
also worthy
of observation
that
the
decree
of
the
Directory alleged to be intended to restrain the depredations of French
cruisers on oiu: commerce has not given, and can not give, any relief.
It
enjoins them to conform to all the laws of France relative to cruising and
prizes, while these laws are themselves the sources of the depredations of
which we have so long, so justly, and so fruitlessly complained.
The law of France enacted in January last, which subjects to capture
and condemnation neutral vessels and their cargoes if any portion of the
latter are of British fabric or produce, although the entire property belong
to neutrals, instead of being rescinded has
lately received a confirma-
tion by the failure of a proposition for its repeal.
While this law, which
is an unequivocal act of war on the commerce of the nations it attacks,
continues in force those nations can see in the French Government only
a power regardless of their essential rights, of their independence and
sovereignty; and
if they possess the means they can reconcile nothing
with their interest and honor but a firm resistance.
Hitherto, therefore, nothing is discoverable in the conduct of France
which ought to change or relax our measures of defense.
On the con-
trary
, to extend and invigorate them
is our true policy.
We have no
reason
to regret
that
these measures have been thus far adopted and
pursued, and in proportion as we enlarge our view of the portentous and
incalculable situation of Europe we shall discover new and cogent motives
for the full development of our energies and resources.
But in demonstrating by our conduct that we do not fear war in the
John Adams
263
necessary protection of our rights and honor we shall give no room to
infer that we abandon the desire of peace.
An efficient preparation for
war can alone insure peace.
It
is peace that we have uniformly and
perseveringly cultivated, and harmony between us and France may be
restored
at her
option.
But
to send another
minister without more
determinate assurances that he would be received would be an act of
humiliation to which the United States ought not to submit.
It must
therefore be left with France
(if she is indeed desirous of accommoda-
tion) to take the requisite steps.
The United States will steadily observe
the maxims by which they have hitherto been governed.
They will
respect the sacred rights of embassy; and with a sincere disposition on
the part of France to desist from
hostilit}^, to make reparation for the
injuries heretofore inflicted' on our commerce, and to do justice in future,
there will be no obstacle to the restoration of a friendly intercourse.
In
making to you this declaration I give a pledge to France and the world
that the Executive authority of this country still adheres to the humane
and
pacific
policy which
has
invariably governed
its
proceedings, in
conformity with the wishes
of the other branches of the Government
and of the people of the United States.
But considering the late mani-
festations of her policy toward foreign nations, I deem it a duty deliber-
ately and solemnly to declare my opinion that whether we negotiate with
her or not, vigorous preparations
for war will be
alike
indispensable.
These alone will give to us an equal treaty and insure its observance.
Among the measures of preparation which appear expedient, I take the
liberty to recall your attention to the naval establishment.
The beneficial
effects of the small naval armament provided under the acts
of the
last
session are known and acknowledged.
Perhaps no country ever expe-
rienced more sudden and remarkable advantages from any measure of
policy than we have derived from the arming for our maritime protection
and defense.
We ought without
loss of time to lay the foundation
for
an increase of our Navy to a size sufficient to guard our coast and protect
our trade.
Such a naval force as
it
is doubtless
in the power of the
United States to create and maintain would also afford to them the best
means of general defense by facilitating the safe transportation of troops
and stores to every part of our extensive coast.
To accomplish this impor-
tant object, a prudent foresight requires that systematical measures be
adopted for procuring at all times the requisite timber and other suppHes.
In what manner this shall be done I leave to your consideration.
I will now
advert, gentlemen, to some matters of
less moment, but
proper to be communicated to the National Legislature.
After the Spanish garrisons had evacuated the posts they occupied at
the Natchez and Walnut
Hills the commissioner of the United States
commenced his observations to ascertain the point near the
Mississippi
which terminated the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north
latitude.
From thence he proceeded to run the boundary line between
264
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
the United States and Spain.
He was afterwards joined by the Spanish
commissioner, when the work of the former was confirmed, and they pro-
ceeded together to the demarcation of the Hne,
Recent information ren-
ders
it probable that the Southern Indians, either instigated to oppose
the demarcation or jealous of the consequences of suffering white people to
run a line over lands to which the Indian title had not been extinguished,
have ere this time stopped the progress of the connnissioners; and con-
sidering the mischiefs which may result from continuing the demarcation
in opposition to the will of the Indian tribes, the great expense attending
it, and that the boundaries which the commissioners have actually estab-
lished probably extend at least as far as the Indian title has been extin-
guished,
it
will perhaps become
expedient and necessary
to suspend
further proceedings by recalling our commissioner.
The commissioners appointed in pursuance of the
fifth article of the
treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the
United States
and His Britannic Majesty to determine what river was truly intended
under the name of the river St. Croix mentioned in the treaty of peace,
and forming a part of the boundary therein described, have finally decided
that question.
On the 25th of October they made their declaration that
a river called Scoodiac, which falls into Passamaquoddy Bay at its north-
western quarter, was the true St. Croix intended in the treaty of peace,
as far as its great fork, where one of its streams comes from the westward
and the other from the northward, and that the latter stream is the con-
tinuation of the St. Croix to its source.
This decision, it
is understood,
will preclude all contention among individual claimants, as it seems that
i;he Scoodiac and
its northern branch bound the grants of land which
have been made by the respective adjoining Governments.
A subordi-
nate question, however, it has been suggested, still remains to be deter-
mined.
Between the mouth of the St. Croix as now settled and what is
usually called the Bay of Fundy lie a number of valuable islands.
The
commissioners have not continued the boundary line through any channel
of these islands, and unless the bay of Passamaquoddy be a part of the
Bay of Fundy this further adjustment
of boundary will be necessary.
But it is apprehended that this will not be a matter of any difficulty.
Such progress has been made in the examination and decision of cases
of captures and condemnations of American vessels which were the sub-
ject of the seventh article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and naviga-
tion between the United States and Great Britain that it is supposed the
commissioners will be able
to bring
their business to a conclusion in
August of the ensuing year.
The commissioners acting under the twenty-fifth article of the treaty
between the United States and Spain have adjusted most of the claims of
our citizens for losses sustained in consequence of their vessels and car-
goes having been taken by the subjects of His Catholic Majesty during
the late war between France and Spain,
John Adams
265
Various circumstances have concurred to delay the execution
of
the
law for augmenting the mihtary establishment, among these the desire
of obtaining the fullest information to direct the best selection of officers.
As this object will now be speedily accomplished,
it is expected that the
raising and organizing
of the troops will proceed without obstacle and
with effect.
Ge7ttlemeji of the House of Representatives.
•
I have directed an estimate of the appropriations which will be neces-
sary for the service of the ensuing year to be
laid before you, accom-
panied with a view of the public receipts and expenditures to a recent
period.
It will
afford you
satisfaction
to
infer
the
great extent and
r,olidity of the pul>lic resources from the prosperous state of the finances,
notwithstanding the unexampled embarrassments which have attended
commerce.
When you reflect on the conspicuous examples
of
patriot-
ism and liberahty which have been exhibited by our mercantile fellow-
citizens, and how great a proportion of the public resources depends on
their enterprise, you will naturally consider whether their convenience
can not be promoted and reconciled with the security of the revenue h s a
re\'ision of the system by which the collection is at present regulated.
During your recess measures have been steadily pursued for effecting
the -valuations and returns directed by the act of the last session, prelim-
inary
.o the assessment and collection of a direct tax.
No other delays
or
obsta::les have been experienced except such
as were expected
to
arise from the great extent of our country and the magnitude and novelty
of the operation, and enough has been accomphshed to assure a fulfill-
ment of the views of the Legislature.
Gentleme7i of the Senate and Gentle^nen of the House of Representatives:
I can not close this address without once more adverting to our polit-
ical situation and inculcating the essential importance of uniting in the
maintenance
of our dearest
interests; and
I
trust that by the temper
and wisdom
of your proceedings and by a harmony
of measures we
shall secure to our country thaf weight and respect
to which
it
is
so
justly entitled.
JOHN ADAMS.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES.
The President oe the United States.
Sir: The Senate of the United States join you in thanks to Almighty
God for the removal of the late afflicting dispensation,-:' of His providence
and for the patriotic spirit and general prosperity of our country.
Sympa-
thy for the sufferings of our fellow-citizens from disease and the impor-
tant interests of the Union demand of the National Legislature a ready
266
Message's and ]\ipt'rs of tJie Presidents
cooperation with the State governments in the nse of such means as seem
best calculated to prevent the return of this fatal calamity.
Although we have sincerely wished that an adjustment of our differ-
ences with the Republic of France might be effected on safe and honor-
able terms, 3'et the information you have given us of the ultimate failure
of the negotiation has not surprised us.
In the general conduct of that
Republic we have seen a design of universal influence incompatible with
the self-government and destructive of the independence of other States.
In its conduct toward these United States we have seen a plan of hostility
pursued with unremitted constancy, equally disregarding the obligations
of treaties and the rights of
individuals.
We have seen two embassies,
formed for the purpose of mutual explanations and clothed with the most
extensive and
liberal
powers, dismissed without recognition and even
without a hearing.
The Government of France has not only refused
to repeal but has recently enjoined the observance of
its former edict
respecting merchandise of British fabric or produce the property of neu-
trals, by which the interruption of our lawful commerce and the spolia-
tion of the property of our citizens have again received a public sanction.
These facts indicate no change of system or disposition; they speak a
more intelligible language than professions of solicitude to avoid a rup-
ture, however ardently made.
But if, after the repeated proofs we ha^'^
given of a sincere desire for peace, these professions should be accompa-
nied by insinuations implicating the integrity with which
it has
been
pursued;
if, neglecting and passing by the constitutional and autliorized
agents of the Government, they are made through the medium of indi-
viduals without public character or authorit)', and, above all, if they carry
with them a claim to prescribe the political qualifications of the minister
of the United States to be employed in the negotiation, they are not enti-
tled to attention or consideration, but ought to be regarded as designed
to separate the people from
their Government and to bring about by
intrigue that which open force could not effect.
We are of opinion with you,
sir, that there has nothmg yet been dis-
covered in the conduct of France which can justify a relaxation of the
means of defense adopted during the last session of Congress, the happy
result of which is so strongly and generally marked.
If the force by sea
and land which the existing laws authorize should be judged inadequate
to the public defense, we will perform the indispensable duty of bringing
forward such other acts as will effectually call forth the resources and
force of our country.
A steady adherence to this wise and manly policy, a proper direction
of the noble
spirit of patriotism which has arisen in our country, and
which ought to be cherished and invigorated by every branch of the
Government, will secure our liberty and independence against all open
and secret attacks.
We enter on the business of the present session with an anxious solici-
JoJul Adams
267
tude for the public good, and
shall bestow that consideration on the
several objects pointed out in your communication which they respec-
tively merit.
Your long and important services, your talents and firmness, so often
displayed in the most trying times and most critical situatiocs, afford a
sure pledge of a zealous cooperation in every measure necessary to secure
us justice and respect.
JOHN LAURANCE,
President of the Senate pro tempore.
December ii, 1798.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
December 12, 1798.
To the Senate of the United States.
Gentlemen:
I thank you
for this address,
so conformable
to the
spirit of our Constitution and the established character of the Senate of
the United States for wisdom, honor, and virtue.
I have seen no real evidence of any change of system or disposition in
the French Republic toward the United States.
Although the officious
interference of individuals without pubhc character or authority is not
entitled to any credit, yet it deserves to be considered whether that temer-
ity and impertinence of individuals affecting to interfere in public affairs
between France and the United States, whether by their
secret corre-
spondence or otherwise, and intended to impose upon the people and
separate them from their Government, ought not to be inquired into and
corrected.
I thank you, gentlemen, for your assurances that you will bestow that
consideration on the several objects pointed out
in my communication
which they respectively merit.
If I have participated in that understanding, sincerity, and constancy
which have been displayed by my fellow-citizens and countrymen in the
most trying times and critical situations, and fulfilled my duties to them,
I am happy.
The testimony of the Senate of the United States in my
favor is an high and honorable reward, which receives, as it merits, my
grateful acknowledgments.
My zealous cooperation in measures neces-
sary to secure us justice and consideration may be always depended on.
JOHN ADAMS.
ADDRESS OP THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO JOHN ADAMS,
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
John Adams,
President of the United States.
Sir: The House of Representatives unite with you in deploring the
effects of the desolating malady by which the seat of Government and
268
A/{'ssn(;rs ami Papers of llw Presidents
other parts of our country have recently been
visited.
In calhng our
attention to the fatahty of its repeated ravages and inviting us to consider
the expediency
of
exercising our
constitutional powers
in
aid
of
the
health laws of the respective States, your recommendation is sanctioned
by the dictates of humanity and liberal policy.
On this interesting sul:)-
ject we feel the necessity of adopting every wise expedient for preventing
a calamity so distressing to individual sufferers and so prejudicial to our
national commerce.
That our finances are
in a prosperous state notwithstanding the com-
mercial derangements resulting from
this calamity and from external
embarrassments is a satisfactory
maxiifestation
of the great extent and
solidity of the public
resources.
Connected with
this
situation
of our
fiscal
concerns,
the assurance
that
the
legal
provisions for obtaining
revenue by direct taxation will
fulfill the views
of
the
Legislature
is
peculiarly acceptable.
Desirous as we are that all causes of
hostility may be removed by the
amicable adjustment
of national
differences, we
learn with satisfaction
that
in pursuance of our
treaties with Spain and with
Great
Britain
advances have been made for definitively settling the controversies rela-
tive to the southern and northeastern limits of the United States.
With
similar sentiments have we received 3^our information
that the proceed-
ings under commissions authorized by the same treaties afford to a respect-
able portion of our citizens the prospect of a final decision on their claims
for maritime injuries committed by subjects of those powers.
It would be the theme of mutual felicitation were we assured of expe-
riencing similar moderation and justice from the French Republic, between
which and the United States differences have unhappily arisen; but this
is denied us by the ultimate failure of
the measures which have been
taken by this Government toward an amicable adjustment of those differ-
ences and by the various inadmissible pretensions on the part
of that
nation.
The continuing in force the decree of January last, to which you have
more
particularly pointed our attention, ought
of
itself
to be
consid-
ered as demonstrative of the real intentions of the French Government.
That decree proclaims
a predatory warfare against the unquestionable
rights
of neutral commerce which with our means of defense our inter-
est and our honor command us to repel.
It therefore now becomes the
United States to be as determined in resistance as they have been patient
in suffering and condescending in negotiation.
While those who direct the affairs of France persist in the enforcement
of decrees so hostile to our essential
rights, their conduct
forbids us to
confide in any of their professions of amity.
As, therefore, the conduct of France hitherto exhibits nothing which
ought to chan,<^e or relax our measures of defense, the policy of extending
and invigorating those measures demands our sedulous attention.
The
Jolui Adams
269
sudden and remarkable advantages which
this country has experienced
from a small naval armament
sufficiently prove the
utility of
its estab-
lishment.
As it respects the guarding of our coast, the protection of our
trade, and
the
facility
of safely transporting the means
of
territorial
defense to every part of our maritime
frontier, an adequate naval force
must be considered as an important object of national policy.
Nor do
we hesitate to adopt the opinion that, whether negotiations with France
are resumed or not, vigorous preparations for war will be alike indispen-
sable.
In this conjuncture of affairs, while with you we recognize our abun-
dant cause of gratitude to the Supreme Disposer of Events for the ordi-
nary blessings of Providence, we regard as of high national importance
the manifestation in our country of a magnanimous spirit of resistance to
foreign domination.
This spirit merits to be cherished and invigorated
by every branch of Government as the estimable pledge of national pros-
perity and glory.
Disdaining a reliance on foreign protection, wanting no foreign guar-
anty of our
liberties,
resolving to maintain our national independence
against every attempt to despoil us of this inestimable treasure, we con-
fide under Providence
in the patriotism and energies of
the people of
these United States for defeating the hostile enterprises of any foreign
power.
To adopt with prudent foresight such systematical measures as may
be expedient for calling forth those energies wherever the national exi-
gencies may require, whether on the ocean or on our own territory, and to
reconcile with the proper security of revenue the convenience of mercan-
tile enterprise, on which so great a proportion
of the public resources
depends,
are objects
of moment which
shall be duly regarded in the
course of our deliberations.
Fully as we accord with you
in
the
opinion that the United States
ought not
to submit to the humiliation
of sending another minister to
France without previous assurances sufficiently determinate that he will
be duly accredited, we have heard with cordial approbation the declara-
tion of your purpose steadily to observe those maxims of humane and
pacific policy by which the United States have hitherto been governed.
While it is left with France to take the requisite steps
for accommoda-
tion,
it is worthy the Chief Magistrate of a free people to make known to
the world that justice on the part of France will annihilate every obstacle
to
the
restoration
of
a
friendly
intercourse,
and
that
the Executive
authority of this country will respect the sacred rights of embassy.
At
the same time, the wisdom and decision which have characterized your
past Administration assure us
that no
illusory professions will seduce
you into any abandonment of the rights which belong to the United
States as a free and independent nation.
December 13, 1798.
270
Messages ami Papers of the Presidents
repiyy of the president.
December
14,
1798.
To the House of Represetitatives of the United States of America.
Gentlemen
: My sincere acknowledgments are due to the House of
Representatives of the United States tor this excellent address so conso-
nant to the character of representatives of a great and free people.
The
judgment and
feelings
of a
nation,
I
believe, were never more
truly
expressed by their representatives than those of our constituents by your
decided declaration that with our means of defense our interest and honor
command us
to
repel
a predatory warfare against the unquestionable
rights of neutral commerce;
that
it becomes the United States to be as
determined in resistance as they have been patient in suffering and con-
descending
in
negotiation;
that while those who direct the
affairs of
France persist in the enforcement of decrees so hostile to our essential
rights their conduct forbids us to confide in any of their professions of
amity;
that an adequate naval force must be considered as an important
object of national policy, and that, whether negotiations with France are
resumed or not, vigorous preparations for war will be alike indispensable.
The generous disdain you so coolly and deliberately express of a
reli-
ance on foreign protection, wanting no foreign guaranty of our liberties,
resolving to maintain our national independence against every attempt to
despoil us of
this inestimable
treasure, will meet the full approbation
of every sound understanding and exulting applauses from the heart of
every faithful American.
I thank you, gentlemen, for your candid approbation of my sentiments
on the subject of negotiation and for the declaration of your opinion that
the pohcy of extending and invigorating our measures of defense and the
adoption with prudent foresight
of such systematical measures as may
be expedient for calhng forth the energies of our country wherever the
national exigencies ma}^ require, whether on the ocean or on our own
territory, will demand your sedulous attention.
At the same time, I take the liberty to assure you it shall be my vigilant
endeavor that no illusory professions shall seduce me into any abandon-
ment of the rights which belong to the United States as a free and inde-
pendent nation.
^^^^ ADAMS.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
January
8,
1799.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives
:
In compliance with your desire expressed in your resolution of the
2d of this month,
I lay before you an extract of a letter from George C.
Moreton, acting consul of the United States at The Havannah, dated the
John Adams
271
13th of November, 1798, to the Secretary of State, with a copy of a letter
from him to
L,. Tresevant and WiUiam Timmons,
esquires, with their
answer.
Although your request extends no further than such information as
has been received,
3^et
it may be a satisfaction to you to know that as
soon as this intelUgence was communicated to me circular orders were
given by my direction to all the commanders of our vessels of war, a copy
of which is also herewith transmitted.
I also directed this intelligence
and these orders to be communicated to His Britannic Majesty's envoy
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United States and to
our minister plenipotentiary to the Court of Great Britain, with instruc-
tions to him to make the proper representation to that Government upon
this subject.
It
is but justice to say that this is the first instance of misbehavior of
any of the British officers toward our vessels of war that has come to my
knowledge.
According to all the representations that I have seen, the
flag of the United States and their officers and men have been treated
by the civil and military authority of the British nation in Nova Scotia,
the West India islands, and on the ocean with uniform civility, polite-
ness, and friendship.
I have no doubt that this first instance of miscon-
duct will be readily corrected.
JOHN ADAMS.
January
15,
1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I transmit to you the treaty between the United States and the Chero-
kee Indians, signed near Tellico on the 2d day of October, 1798, for j^our
consideration.
I have directed the Secretary of War to lay before you
the journal of the commissioners and a copy of their instructions.
JOHN ADAMS.
January 18,
1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate anJ Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
The communication relative to our affairs with France alluded to in
my address to both Houses at the opening of the session is contained in
the sheets which accompany this.
A report of the Secretary of State, con-
taining some observations on them, will be sent to Congress on Monday.
JOHN ADAMS.
January
28,
1799.
Gentleyncn of the Sc7iate ayid Gentlemen of the House of Representatives
:
An edict of the Executive Directory of the French Republic of the 29th
of October,
1798, inclosed in a letter from our minister plenipotentiary
272
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
in Ivondon of the i6th of November, is of so much importance that it can
not be too soon communicated to you and the public.
JOHN ADAMS.
February
6,
1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
In consequence of intimations from the Court of Russia to our min-
ister plenipotentiary at the Court of Great Britain of the desire of that
power to have a treaty of amity and commerce with the United States,
and
that
the
negotiation might
be conducted
in London, I nominate
Rufus King, our minister plenipotentiary at the Court of Great Britain,
to be a minister plenipotentiary for the special purpose of negotiating with
any minister of equal rank and powers a treaty of amity and commerce
between the United States and the Emperor of all the Russias.
JOHN ADAMS,
United States, February i^, 1799.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
In pursuance of the request in your resolve of yesterday, I lay before
you such information as
I have received touching a suspension of the
arret of the French Republic, communicated to your House by my mes-
sage of the 28th of January last.
But
if the execution of that arret be
suspended, or even if
it were repealed, it should be remembered that the
arret of the Executive Directory of the 2d of March,
1797, remains in
force,
the third article of which
subjects,
explicitly and
exclusively,
American seamen to be treated as pirates if found on board ships of the
enemies of France.
JOHN ADAMS.
February
18,
1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I transmit to you a document which seems to be intended to be a com-
pliance with a condition mentioned at the conclusion of my message to
Congress of the 21st of June last.
Always disposed and ready to embrace every plausible appearance of
probability
of preserving or restoring tranquillity,
I nominate William
Vans Murray, our minister resident at The Hague, to be minister pleni-
potentiary Oi the United States to the French Republic.
If the Senate &hall advise and consent to his appointment, effectual care
shall be taken in his instructions that he shall not go to France without
direct and unequivocal assurances from the French Government, signified
by their minister of foreign relations, that he shall be received in charac-
John Adams
273
ter, shall enjoy the privileges attached to his character by the law of
uatious, and
that a
minister
of
equal rank,
title, and powers shall be
appointed to
treat with him, to
discuss and conclude
all
controversies
between the two Repubhcs by a new treaty.
JOHN ADAMS.
[Translation.]
VARiSythejth Vendemiaire of the 7th Year
of the French Republic, One a7id Indivisible.
The Minister ofExterior Relations to Citizen Pichon, Secretary of Legation of the
French Republic near the Batavian Republic:
I have received successively, Citizen, your letters of the 226. and 27th Fructidor [8th
and 13th September].
They afford me more and more reason to be pleased with the
measure you have adopted, to detail to me yotur conversations with Mr. Murray.
These conversations, at first merely friendly, have acquired consistency by the sanc-
tion I have given to them by my letter of the nth Fructidor.
I do not regret that
you have trusted to Mr. Mturay's honor a copy of my letter.
It was intended for
you only, and contains nothing but what is conformable to the intentions of Govern-
ment.
I am thoroughly convinced that should explanations take place with confidence
between the two Cabinets, irritation would cease, a crowd of misunderstandings would
disappear, and the ties of friendship would be the more strongly united as each party
would discover the hand which sought to disunite them.
But I will not conceal from
you that your letters of the 2d and 3d Vendemiaire, just received, surprised me
much.
What Mr. Miuray is
still dubious of has been very explicitly declared, even
before the President's message to Congress of the 3d Messidor [21st June] last was
known in France.
I had written it to Mr. Gerry, namely, on the 24th Messidor and
4th Thermidor;
I did repeat it to him before he sat out.
A whole paragraph of my
letter to you of the nth Fructidor, of which Mr. Murray has a copy, is devoted to
develop still more the fixed determination of the French Government.
According
to these bases, you were right to assert that whatever plenipotentiary the Government
of the United States might send to France
to put an end to the existing differences
between the two
countries would be undoubtedly received with the respect due to
the representative of a free, independent, and powerful nation.
I can not persuade myself , Citizen, that the American Government need any further
declarations from us to induce them, in order to renew the negotiations, to adopt
such measures as would be suggested to them by their desire to bring the differences to
a peaceable end.
If misunderstandings on both sides have prevented former explana-
tions from reaching that end,
it is presumable that, those misunderstandings being
done away, nothing henceforth will bring obstacles to the reciprocal dispositions.
The President's instructions to his envoys at Paris, which I have only known by the
copy given you by Mr. Murray, and received by me the 21st Messidor [9th JulyJ,
announce, if they contain the whole of the American Government's intentions, dis-
positions which could only have added to those which the Directory has always
entertained; and, notwithstanding the posterior acts of that Government, notwith-
standing the irritating ai:d almost hostile measures they have adopted, the Directory
has manifested its perseverance in the sentiments which are deposited both in my
correspondence with Mr. Gerry and in my letter to you of the nth Fructidor, and
which I have hereinbefore repeated in the most explicit manner.
Carry, therefore,
Citizen, to Mr. Murray those positive expressions in order to convince him of our
sincerity, and prevail upon him to transmit them to his Government.
T presume, Citizen, that this letter will find yon at The Ilagiie;
if not,
I ask it may
be sent back to you at Pans.
Salute and fraternity.
C,\\: MAU: TAIJJiYRAND,
2 74
Messages and Papers of tlie Presidents
February
25,
1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The proposition of a fresh negotiation with France in consequence of
advances made by the French Government has excited so general an
attention and so much conversation as to have given occasion to many
manifestations of the pubHc opinion, from which
it appears to me that a
new modification of the embassy will give more general satisfaction to
the Legislature and to the nation, and perhaps better answer the purposes
we have in view.
It is upon this supposition and with this expectation that I now nomi-
nate Ohver Ellsworth, esq.. Chief Justice of the United States;
Patrick
Henry, esq.
, late governor of Virginia, and Wilham Vans Murray, esq.
,
our minister resident at The Hague, to be envoys extraordinary and min-
isters plenipotentiary to the French Republic, with full powers to discuss
and
settle by a treaty all controversies between the United States and
France.
It is not intended that the two former of these gentlemen shall embark
for Europe until they shall have received from the Executive Directory
assurances,
signified by their secretary of
foreign
relations, that
they
shall be received in character, that they shall enjoy all the prerogatives
attached to that character by the law of nations, and that a minister or
ministers of equal powers shall be appointed and commissioned to treat
with them.
JOHN ADAMS.
March 2,
1799.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
Judging it of importance to the public that the Legislature should be
informed of the gradual progress of their maritime resources, I transmit
to Congress a statement of the vessels, with their tonnage, warlike force,
and complement of men, to which commissions as private armed vessels
have been issued since the 9th day of July last.
JOHN ADAMS.
PROCLAMATIONS.
[From C. F. Adams's Works of John Adams, Vol. IX, p. 172.]
proclamation.
March
6,
1799.
As no truth is more clearly taught in the Volume of Inspiration, nor
any more fully demonstrated by the experience of all ages, than that a
deep sense and a due acknowledgment of the governing providence of a
Supreme Being and of the accountableness of men to Him as the searcher
John Adams
275
of hearts and righteous distributer of rewards and punishments are con-
ducive equally to the happiness and rectitude of individuals and to the
well-being of communities;
as
it
is also most reasonable in
itself that
men who are made capable of social acts and relations, who owe their
improvements to the social
state, and who derive their enjoyments from
it,' should, as a society, make their acknowledgments of dependence and
obligation to Him who hath endowed them with these capacities and
elevated them
in the
scale of existence by these
distinctions;
as
it
is
likewise a plain dictate of duty and a strong sentiment of nature that in
circumstances of great urgency and seasons of imminent danger earnest
and particular supplications should be made to Him who is able to defend
or to destroy;
as, moreover, the most precious interests of the people of
the United States are still held in jeopardy by the hostile designs and
insidious
acts
of
a
foreign
nation,
as well
as by
the
dissemination
among them
of those
principles, subversive
of the foundations of
all
religious, moral, and social obligations, that have produced incalculable
mischief and mise"ry in other countries; and as, in fine, the observance of
special seasons for public religious solemnities
is happily calculated to
avert the
evils which we ought
to deprecate and to excite
to the per-
formance of the duties which we ought to discharge by calling and
fix-
ing the attention of the people at large to the momentous truths already
recited, by affording opportunity to teach and inculcate them by animat-
ing devotion and giving to it the character of a national act:
For these reasons I have thought proper to recommend, and I do hereby
recommend accordingly, that Thursday, the 25th day of April next, be
observed throughout the United States of America as a day of solemn
humiliation, fasting, and prayer;
that the citizens on that day abstain as
far as may be from their secular occupations, devote the time
to the
sacred duties of religion in public and in private;
that they call to mind
our numerous offenses against the Most High God, confess them before
Him with the sincerest penitence, implore His pardoning mercy, through
the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our past transgressions, and that
through the grace of His Holy Spirit we may be disposed and enabled
to yield a more suitable obedience to His righteous requisitions in time
to come;
that He would interpose to arrest the progress of that impiety
and licentiousness in principle and practice so offensive to Himself and
so ruinous to mankind;
that He would make us deeply sensible that
"righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin
is a reproach to any people;"
that He would turn us from our transgressions and turn His displeasure
from us;
that He would withhold us from unreasonable discontent, from
disunion, faction, sedition, and insurrection;
that He would preserve our
country from the desolating sword;
that He would save our cities and
towns from a repetition of those awful pestilential visitations under which
they have lately suffered so severely, and that the health of our inhabit-
ants generally maybe precious in His sight; that He would favor us with
276
Messages ami Papers 0/ the Presidents
fruitful seasons and so bless the labors of the husbandman as that thert
may be food in abundance for man and beast; that He would prosper our
commerce, manufactures, and fisheries, and give success to the people in
all their lawful industry and enterprise;
that He would smile on our col-
leges, academies,
schools, and seminaries of
learning, and make them
nurseries of sound science, morals, and religion;
that He would bless all
magistrates, from the highest to the lowest, give them the true spirit of
their station, make them a terror to evil doers and a praise to them that
do well;
that He would preside over the councils of the nation at
this
critical period, enlighten them to a just discernment of the public inter-
est, and save them from mistake, division, and discord;
that He would
make succeed our preparations for defense and bless our armaments by
land and by sea; that He would put an end to the eifusion of human blood
and the accumulation of human misery among the contending nations of
the earth by disposing them to justice, to equity, to benevolence, and to
peace; and that he would extend
the blessings of knowledge, of
true
liberty, and of pure and undefiled religion throughout the world.
And
I do also recommend
that with these acts of humihation, peni-
tence, and prayer fervent thanksgiving to the Author of All Good be
united for the countless favors which He is still continuing to the people
of the United States, and which render their condition as a nation emi-
nently happy when compared with the lot of others.
Given, etc.
JOHN ADAMS.
By thk President of the United States op America.
A PROCIvAMATlON.
Whereas combinations to defeat the execution of the laws for the valu-
ation of lands and dwelling houses within the United States have existed
in the counties of Northampton, Montgomery, and Bucks, in the State
of Pennsylvania, and have proceeded in a manner subversive of the just
authority of the Government, by misrepresentations, to render the laws
odious, by deterring the public officers of the United States to forbear the
execution of their functions, and by openly threatening their lives; and
Whereas the endeavors of the well-affected
citizens, as well as of the
executive officers, to conciliate a compliance with those laws have failed
of
success, and certain persons in the county of Northampton aforesaid
have been hardy enough
to perpetrate certain acts which
I am advised
amount to treason, being overt acts of levying war against the United
States, the said persons, exceeding one hundred in number and armed
and arrayed in a warlike manner, having, on the 7th day of this pres-
ent month of March, proceeded to the house of Abraham Lovering, in
JoJdi Adams
277
the town of Bethlehem, and there compelled William
Nichols, marshal
of the United States
in and
for the
district
of Pennsylvania,
to desist
from the execution of certain legal process in his hands to be executed,
and having compelled him
to discharge and
set at liberty certain per-
sons whom he had arrested by virtue of criminal process duly issued for
offenses against the United States, and having impeded and prevented
the commissioner and the assessors, appointed in conformity with the
laws aforesaid, in the county of Northampton aforesaid, by threats and
personal injury, from executing the said laws, avowing as the motives
of these illegal and treasonable proceedings an intention to prevent by
force of arms the execution
of the said laws and
to withstand by open
violence the lawful authority of the Government of the United States;
and
Whereas by the Constitution and laws
of
the United
States
I am
authorized, whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed or
the execution thereof obstructed in any State by combinations too pow-
erful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or
by the powers vested in the marshals, to call forth military force to sup-
press such combinations and to cause the laws to be duly executed; and
Whereas it is in my judgment necessary to call forth mihtary force in
order to suppress the combinations aforesaid and to cause the laws afore-
said to be duly executed, and
I have accordingly determined so to do,
under the solemn conviction that the
essential
interests of the United
States demand it:
Wherefore
I, John Adams, President of the United
States, do hereby
command all persons being insurgents as aforesaid, and all others whom
it may concern, on or before Monday next, being the i8th day of
this
present month, to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes;
and I do moreover warn all persons whomsoever against aiding, abetting,
or comforting the perpetrators of the aforesaid treasonable
acts; and
I
do require all
officers and others, good and faithful
citizens, according
to their respective duties and the laws of the land, to exert their utmost
endeavors to prevent and suppress such dangerous and unlawful
pro-
ceedings.
In testimony whereof
I have caused the seal of the United States of
America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same
with my hand.
[sEAiv.]
Done
at the city of Philadelphia, the
12th day of March,
A. D. 1799, and of the Independence of the said United States
of America the twenty-third.
JOHN ADAMS.
By the President
:
Timothy Pickering,
Secretary of State.
278
Messages and Papers 0/ the Presidents
[From a broadside in the archives of the Department of State.]
By the PrEvSident of the United States of America.
A PROCIvAMATION.
Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States passed the
9th day of February last, entitled "An act further to suspend the com-
mercial
intercourse
between
the United
States and
France and
the
dependencies thereof,"
it is provided that at any time after the passing
of this act it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, if he
shall deem
it expedient and consistent with the interests of the United
States, by his order
to remit and discontinue for the time being the
restraints and prohibitions by the said act imposed, either with respect
to the French Republic or to any
island,
port,
or place belonging to
the said Republic with which a commercial intercourse may safely be
renewed, and also to revoke such order whenever, in his opinion, the
interest of the United States shall require; and he is authorized to make
proclamation thereof accordingly; and
Whereas the arrangements which have been made at St. Domingo for
the safety of the commerce of the United States and for the admission
of American vessels into certain ports of that island do, in my opinion,
render it expedient and for the interest of the United States to renew a
commercial intercourse with such ports:
Therefore
I, John Adams, President of the United States, by virtue
of the powers vested in me by the above-recited act, do hereby remit and
discontinue the restraints and prohibitions therein contained within the
limits and under the regulations here following, to wit:
1.
It shall be lawful for vessels which have departed or may depart
from the United States to enter the ports of Cape Francois and Port
Republicain, formerly called
Port-au-Prince,
in the said island of
St.
Domingo, on and after the ist day of August next.
2. No vessel shall be cleared for any other port in St. Domingo than
Cape Francois and Port Republicain,
3.
It shall be lawful for vessels which shall enter the said ports of
Cape Francois and Port Republicain after the 31st day of July next to
depart from thence to any other port in said island between Monte Christi
on the north and Petit Goave on the west; provided
it be done with the
consent of the Government of St. Domingo and pursuant to certificates
or passports expressing such consent, signed by the consul-general of the
United States or consul residing at the port of departure.
4.
All vessels sailing in contravention of these regulations will be out
of the protection of the United States and be, moreover, liable to capture,
seizure, and confiscation.
John Adams
279
Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Philadelphia,
the 26th day of June, A. D. 1799, and of the Independence of
[seal.]
^i^g g^-^ States the twenty-third.
JOHN ADAMS.
By the President:
Timothy Pickering,
Secretary of State.
THIRD ANNUAL ADDRESS.
United States, December ,3, ^799-
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
It
is with peculiar satisfaction that I meet the Sixth Congress of the
United States of America.
Coming from all parts of the Union at this
critical and interesting period, the members must be fully possessed of
the sentiments and wishes of our constituents.
The flattering prospects of abundance from the labors of the people by
land and by sea;
the prosperity of our extended commerce, notwithstand-
ing interruptions occasioned by the belligerent state of a great part of the
world; the return of health, industry, and trade to those
cities which
have lately been
afflicted with
disease, and the various and inestimable
advantages,
civil and religious, which, secured under our happy frame
of government, are continued to us unimpaired, demand of the whole
American people sincere thanks to a benevolent Deity for the merciful
dispensations of His providence.
But while these numerous blessings are recollected, it is a painful duty
to advert to the ungrateful return which has been made for them by some
of the people in certain counties of Pennsylvania, where, seduced by the
arts and misrepresentations of designing men, they have openly resisted
the law directing the valuation of houses and lands.
Such defiance was
given to the
civil authority as rendered hopeless
all
further attempts
by judicial process to enforce the execution of the law, and
it became
lecessary to direct a military force to be employed, consisting of some
companies of regular troops, volunteers, and militia, by whose zeal and
activity, in cooperation with the
judicial power, order and submission
were restored and many of the offenders arrested.
Of these, some have
been convicted of misdemeanors, and others, charged with various crimes,
remain to be tried.
To give due effect to the
civil administration of Government and to
insure a just execution of the laws, a revision and amendment of the
judiciary system is indispensably necessary.
In this extensive country it
can not but happen that numerous questions respecting the interpretation
280
Messages and Papers 0/ the Presidenh
of the laws and the rights and duties of officers and citizens must arise.
On the one hand, the laws should be executed; on the other, individ-
uals should be
guarded from
oppression.
Neither of these objects
is
sufficiently assured under the present organization of the judicial depart-
ment,
I therefore earnestly recommend the subject to 5'our serious cou'
sideration.
Persevering in the pacific and humane policy which had been inva-
riably professed and sincerely pursued by the Executive authority of the
United States, when indications were made on the part of the French
Republic of a disposition to accommodate the existing differences between
the two countries,
I
felt
it to be my duty to prepare for meeting their
advances by a nomination of ministers upon certain conditions which the
honor of our country dictated, and which its moderation had given
it a
right to prescribe.
The assurances which were required of the French
Government previous to the departure
of our envoys have been given
through their minister of foreign
relations, and
I have directed them to
proceed on their mission to Paris.
They have full power to conclude a
treaty, subject to the constitutional advice and consent
of the Senate.
The characters of these gentlemen are sure pledges to their country that
nothing incompatible with
its honor or
interest,
nothing
inconsistent
with our obligations of good faith or friendship to any other nation, will
be stipulated.
It appearing probable from the information
I received that our com-
mercial intercourse with some ports in the island of
St. Domingo might
safely be renewed, I took such steps as seemed to me expedient to ascer-
tain that point.
The result being satisfactory, I then, in conformity with
the act of Congress on the subject, directed the restraints and prohibi-
tions
of that intercourse to be discontinued on terms which were made
known by proclamation.
Since the renewal of this intercourse our citi-
zens trading to those ports, with their property, have been duly respected,
and privateering from those ports has ceased.
In examining the claims of British subjects by the commissioners at
Philadelphia, acting under the sixth article of the treaty of amity, com-
merce, and navigation with Great
Britain,
a difference of
opinion on
points deemed essential in the interpretation of that article has arisen
between the commissioners appointed by the United States and the other
members of that board, from which the former have thought it their duty
to withdraw.
It
is sincerely to be regretted that the execution
zi an
article produced by a mutual spirit of amity and justice should have been
thus unavoidably interrupted.
It is, however, confidently expected that
the same spirit of amity and the same sense of justice in which
it origi-
nated
will
lead
to
satisfactory explanations.
In consequence
of
the
obstacles to the progress of the commission in Philadelphia, His Britannic
Majesty has directed the commissioners appointed by him under the sev-
enth article of the treaty relating to the British captures of American ves-
John Adams
281
sels to withdraw from the board sitting in London, but with the express
declaration of his determination to fulfill with punctuality and good faith
the engagements which His Majesty has contracted by his treaty with
the United States, and that they will be instructed to resume their func-
tions whenever the obstacles which impede the progress of the commission
at Philadelphia shall be removed.
It being in
like manner my sincere
determination, so far as the same depends on me, that with equal punc-
tuality and good faith the engagements contracted by the United States
in
their treaties with His Britannic Majesty shall
be
fulfilled,
I shall
immediately instruct our minister at I^ondon to endeavor to obtain the
explanations necessary to a just performance of those engagements on the
part of the United States.
With such dispositions on both sides, I can
not entertain a doubt that all
difficulties will soon be removed and that
the two boards will then proceed and bring the business committed to
them respectively to a satisfactory conclusion.
The act
of Congress
relative to the seat
of
the Government
of
the
United States requiring that on the first Monday of December next
it
should be transferred from Philadelphia
to the
District chosen
for
its
permanent seat, it is proper for me to inform you that the commissioners
appointed to provide suitable buildings for the accommodation of Congress
and of the President and of the public offices of the Government have
made a report of the state of the buildings designed for those purposes
in the city of Washington, from which they conclude that the removal
of the seat of Government to that place at the time required will be prac-
ticable and the accommodation
satisfactory.
Their report will be laid
before you.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I
shall
direct the
estimates
of the appropriations
necessarj^ for the
service of the ensuing year, together with an account of the revenue and
expenditure, to be laid before you.
During a period in which a great
portion of the civilized world has been involved in a war unusually calam-
itous and destructive, it was not
to be expected that the United States
could be exempted from extraordinary burthens.
Although the period
is not arrived when the measures adopted to secure our country against
foreign attacks can be renounced, yet
it is alike necessary for the honor
of the Government and the satisfaction of the community that an exact
economy should be maintained.
I invite you, gentlemen, to investigate
the different branches of the public expenditure.
The examination will
lead to beneficial retrenchments or produce a conviction of the wisdom of
the measures to which the expenditure relates.
Ge7itlenien of the Senate and Ge7itleme7i of the House of Representatives:
At a period like the present, when momentous changes are occurring
and every hour is preparing new and great events in the political world,
282
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
when a spirit of war is prevalent in almost every nation with whose affairs
the interests of the United States have any connection, unsafe and preca-
rious would be our situation were we to neglect the means of maintaining
our just rights.
The result of the mission to France
is uncertain;
but
however it may terminate, a steady perseverance in a system of national
defense commensurate with our resources and the situation of our country
is an obvious dictate of wisdom;
for, remotely as we are placed from the
belligerent nations, and desirous as we
are, by doing justice to
all, to
avoid offense to any, nothing short of the power of repelling aggressions
will secure to our country a rational prospect of escaping the calamities
of war or national degradation.
As to myself, it is my anxious desire so
to execute the trust reposed in me as to render the people of the United
States prosperous and happy.
I
rely with entire confidence on your
cooperation in objects equally your care, and that our mutual labors will
serve to increase and confirm union among our fellow-citizens and an
unshaken attachment to our Government.
JOHN ADAMS.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES.
The President of the United States:
Accept,
sir,
the respectful acknowledgments
of
the
Senate
of the
United States for your speech deHvered to both Houses of Congress at
the opening of the present session.
While we devoutly join you in offering our thanks to Almighty God
for the return of health to our cities and for the general prosperity of the
country, we can not refrain from lamenting that the arts and calumnies
of factious, designing men have excited open rebelUon a second time in
Pennsylvania, and thereby compelled the employment of a miUtary force
to aid the civil authority in the execution of the laws.
We rejoice that
your vigilance, energy, and well-timed exertions have jrushed so daring
an opposition and prevented the spreading of such treasonable combina-
tions.
The promptitude and
zeal
displayed by
the troops
called
to
suppress this insurrection deserve our highest commendation and praise,
and afford a pleasing proof of the spirit and alacrity with which our
fellow-citizens are ready to maintain the authority of our excellent Gov-
ernment.
Knowing as we do that the United States are sincerely anxious for a
fair and liberal execution of the treaty of amity, commerce, and naviga-
tion entered into with Great Britain, we learn with regret that the prog-
ress of adjustment has been interrupted by a difference of opinion among
the commissioners.
We hope, however, that the
justice, the modera-
tion, and the obvious interests of both parties will lead to satisfactory
explanations, and that the business will then go forward to an amicable