American Aurora

Wednesday, April 1, 1778. Today, after a long journey from America, John Adams arrives at Bordeaux, France. He is too late to participate in treaty negotiations. The Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce of 1778 and the Franco-American Treaty of Alliance of 1778 are on their way to Philadelphia for ratification. John Adams writes:

When I arrived in France, the French nation had a great many questions to settle. The first was, Whether I was the famous Adams? Le fameux Adams? Ah, le fameux Adams. In order to speculate a little on this subject, the pamphlet entitled “Common Sense” had been printed in the “Affaires de Angleterre et de l’Amérique,” and expressly [and wrongly] ascribed to Mr. Adams, the celebrated member of Congress— le célèbre member du congres. It must be further known that, although the pamphlet, Common Sense, was received in France and in all Europe with rapture, yet there are certain parts of it that they did not choose to publish in France. The reasons of this any man may guess. Common Sense undertakes to prove that monarchy is unlawful by the Old Testament. They, therefore, gave the substance of it, as they said; and, paying many compliments to Mr. Adams, his sense and rich imagination, they were obliged to ascribe some parts to republican zeal. When I arrived at Bordeaux, all that I could say or do could not convince anybody but that I was the fameux Adams.¹⁰⁶⁷

Thursday, April 2, 1778. Tonight at dinner in Bordeaux, a French woman flirts with New Englander John Adams. John Adams writes in his diary:

One of the most elegant Ladies at Table, young and handsome, tho married to a Gentleman in the Company, was pleased to Address her discourse to me … “Mr. Adams, by your Name I conclude you are descended from the first Man and Woman, and probably in your family may be preserved the tradition which may resolve a difficulty which I could never explain. I never could understand how the first Couple found out the Art of lying together?” To me … this question was surprizing and shocking: but although I believe at first I blushed, I was determined not to be disconcerted … I answered her “Madame … I rather thought it was by Instinct … resembling the Power of Electricity …” When this Answer was explained to her, she replied “Well I know not how it was, but this I know it is a very happy shock.”… The decided Advances made by married Women, which I heard related, gave rise to many reflections in my mind … The first was if such a[re] the manners of Women of Rank, Fashion and Reputation [in] France, they can never support a Republican Government nor be reconciled with it. We must therefore take great care not to import them into America.¹⁰⁶⁸

Thursday, April 9, 1778. Having arrived in Paris last night from Bordeaux and having stayed overnight at a downtown hotel, today John Adams visits Benjamin Franklin at Franklin’s residence in the suburb of Passy. Adams writes in his diary:

Went in a Coach to Passy with … my son. [We visited] Dr. Franklin with whom I had served the best part of two Years in Congress … [H]e received me accordingly with great apparent Cordiality. Mr. Dean [whom I am replacing] was gone to Marseilles to embark with [the French fleet under Admiral] D’Estaing for America. Franklin undertook the care of Jesse Deane [Mr. Deane’s son] … [a]nd he was soon sent, with my son [John Quincy Adams] and Dr. Franklin’s Grandson Benjamin Franklin Bache … to the Pension [boarding school] of Mr. Le Coeur at Passy …

Dr. Franklin presented to me the Compliments of Mr. Turgot, the late [French] Controuler of the Finances and a very pressing Invitation to dine with him … I went with Dr. Franklin … and dined with this Ex-Minister … [T]wenty others of the Great People of France were there …

Dr. Franklin had shewn me the Apartements and Furniture left by Mr. Deane … I determined to put my Country to no further expence on my Account but to take my Lodgings under the same Roof with Dr. Franklin …¹⁰⁶⁹

When I arrived in Paris, I found a different style. I found great pains taken, much more than the question was worth, to settle the point that I was not the famous Adams. There was a dread of sensation … Nobody went so far in France … that I was the infamous Adams … I certainly joined both sides in this, in declaring that I was not the famous Adams, because this was the truth.

It being settled that he was not the famous Adams, the consequence was plain; he was some man that nobody had ever heard of before, and therefore a man of no consequence—a cipher … I was not the famous Adams.

Seeing this and saying nothing,—for what could a man say? … I behaved with as much prudence and civility and industry as I could; but still it was settled, absolutely and unalterably, that I was a man of whom nobody had ever heard before—a perfect cipher; a man who did not understand a word of French, awkward in his figure, awkward in his dress; no abilities, a perfect bigot and fanatic.¹⁰⁷⁰

Saturday, April 11, 1778. Today, at the Royal Court of France at Versailles, John Adams meets the French Foreign Minister, the Comte de Vergennes. John Adams:

Went to Versailles with Dr. Franklin … visited the Secretary of State for foreign Affairs, the Count de Vergennes and was politely received. He hoped I should stay long enough in France to acquire the French Language perfectly … Hoped the Treaty would be agreable, and the Alliance lasting. Although the Treaty had gone somewhat farther than the System I had always advocated in Congress and further than my Judgment could yet perfectly approve, it was now too late to make any Objections …

I was then shewn the Pallace …

Although my Ignorance of the Language was very inconvenient and humiliating to me, yet I thought the Attentions which had been shewn me … manifested … in what estimation the new Alliance with America was held.¹⁰⁷¹

It is the universal Opinion of the People here, of all Ranks, that a Friendship between France and America is the Interest of both Countries, and the late Alliance, so happily formed, is universally popular; so much so that I have been told by Persons of good Judgment that the Government here would have been under a Sort of Necessity of agreeing to it even if it had not been agreable to themselves.¹⁰⁷²

Franklin’s work is revealed: “[T]he Government here would have been under a Sort of Necessity of agreeing to it even if it had not been agreable to themselves.”

Monday, April 13, 1778. Today, acting in pursuance of the new Franco-American alliance, a French war fleet of twelve ships of the line and five frigates, under the command of French Admiral Comte d’Estaing, sets sail from Toulon, France for Philadelphia’s Delaware River. Their mission is to surprise the British army and fleet at Philadelphia. Traveling aboard the fleet’s flagship, the Languedoc, is France’s first Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, Conrad-Alexandre Gérard de Rayvenal, formerly first secretary to the Comte de Vergennes. Also aboard the Languedoc is one of the American commissioners at Paris, Silas Deane, who’s been recalled by Congress.¹⁰⁷³

J. Adams is arrived very disappointed to find everything concluded. [T]alks of returning.¹⁰⁷⁴

Doctor Franklin is reported to speak French very well, but I find, upon attending to him, that he does not speak it grammatically, and, indeed, upon enquiring, he confesses that he is wholly inattentive to the Grammar. His Pronunciation too upon which the French Gentlemen and Ladies compliment him, and which he seems to think is pretty well, I am sure is very far from being exact.¹⁰⁷⁵

Dr. Franklin, one of my Colleagues, is so generally known that I shall not attempt a Sketch of his Character at present. That He was a great Genius, a great Wit, a great Humourist, and a great Satyrist, and a great Politician is certain. That he was a great Phylosopher, a great Moralist, and a great Statesman is more questionable.¹⁰⁷⁶

Wednesday, April 22, 1778. Today, in America, American Commissary General of Prisoners Elias Boudinot meets with George Washington’s former second in command General Charles Lee, just released from captivity. Boudinot records:

When [Genl Lee] came out [from being a prisoner] … Genl Washington gave him command of the Right Wing of the Army, but before he took charge of it, he requested leave to go to Congress at York town; which was readily granted.

Before he went, I had an interview with him.— … He said he was going to Congress … That he found the Army in a worse situation than he expected and that General Washington was not fit to command a Sergeant’s Guard …

He went to Congress … He returned to the army and took command of the right wing—He immediately began to rebel ag[ains]t Genl Washington … He assured himself that Genl Washington was ruining the whole cause …¹⁰⁷⁷

Thursday, April 23, 1778. Word is out in Philadelphia that France has signed an alliance with the United States.¹⁰⁷⁸

Dined with the Marshall de Maillebois …

It is proper in this place to insert an Anecdote. Mr. Lee and I waited on the [French Foreign Minister] Count de Vergennes one day … [H]e said he would take a Walk with us … As We walked across the Court of the Castle of Versailles, We met the Marshall Maillebois. Mutual Bows were exchanged, as We passed, and Mr. Lee said to the Count de Vergennes, “That is a great general, sir.” “Ah!” said the Count de Vergennes, “I wish he had the Command with you!”…

My feelings, on this Occasion, were kept to myself, but my reflection was. “I will be buried in the Ocean, or in any other manner sacrificed, before I will voluntarily put on the Chains of France”…

After dinner We went to the [French] Academy of Sciences, and heard Mr. D’Alembert as Secretary perpetual, pronounce Eulogies on several of their Members lately deceased. Voltaire and Franklin were both present, and there presently arose a general Cry that Monsieur Voltaire and Monsieur Franklin should be introduced to each other. This was done and they bowed and spoke to each other. This was no Satisfaction. There must be something more. Neither of our Philosophers seemed to divine what was wished or expected. They however took each other by the hand … But this was not enough. The Clamour continued, untill the explanation came out “Il faut s’embrasser, a la françoise.” The two Aged-Actors upon this great Theatre of Philosophy and frivolity then embraced each other by hugging one another in their Arms and kissing each others cheeks, and then the tumult subsided. And the Cry immediately spread through the whole Kingdom and I suppose over all Europe Qu’il etoit charmant. Oh! il etoit enchantant, de voir Salon et Sophocle embrassans. How charming it was! Oh! it was enchanting to see Solon and Sophocles embracing!¹⁰⁷⁹

YORK-TOWN [Pennsylvania], May 4.

On Saturday last Simeon Dean, Esq. arrived at Congress, express from the American Plenipotentiaries at the Court of France, and delivered his Dispatches to his Honour, the President.— The Important Contents are, by a Correspondent, thus communicated …

[S]igned at Paris on the 6th of February, a Treaty of Alliance and Commerce between the Crown of France and the United States of America. almost in the very terms on which the American Plenipotentiaries had been instructed by Congress … [Terms set forth.] …

These important advices were brought over in Le Sensible, Mons. Marignie, Commander, a Royal Frigate of France, of all twelve-pounders and 300 men.

Sunday, May 3, 1778. Today, from Philadelphia, Virginia’s delegates to the Continental Congress write Virginia Governor Patrick Henry:

Having heard these Treaties [with France] read but once in Congress … we find that his most Christian Majesty has been governed by principles of Magnanimity and true generosity, taking no advantage of our circumstances, but acting as if we were in these plenitude of power and in the greatest security … We are shortly to receive considerable Stores from France … ¹⁰⁸⁰

Monday, May 4, 1778. This afternoon, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:

Congress resumed the consideration of the treaty of amity and commerce concluded at Paris on the 6th of February …

Resolved unanimously, That the same be and is hereby ratified.

Congress also took into consideration the treaty of Alliance, concluded at Paris on the 6th day of February …

Resolved unanimously, That the same be and is hereby ratified …

Resolved, That this Congress entertain the highest sense of the magnanimity and wisdom of his most Christian Majesty … and the commissioners, or any of them, representing these states at the court of France, are directed to present the grateful acknowledgment of this Congress to his most Christian Majesty for his truly magnanimous conduct … and to assure his Majesty, on the part of this Congress, it is sincerely wished that the friendship so happily commenced between France and these United States may be perpetual.¹⁰⁸¹

Tuesday, May 5, 1778. Today, George Washington orders a celebration of the French alliance:

It having pleased the Almighty Ruler of the Universe propitiously to defend the cause of the United American States, and finally by raising up a powerful friend among the princes of the Earth, to establish our Liberty and Independence upon a lasting foundation; it becomes us to set apart a day for gratefully acknowledging the Divine Goodness, and celebrating the event, which we owe to His benign interposition. The several Brigades are to be assembled at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning, when their Chaplains will communicate the intelligence contained in the Postscript of the [Pennsylvania] Gazette of 2nd inst … and offer up a thanksgiving, and deliver a discourse suitable to the occasion.¹⁰⁸²

Wednesday, May 6, 1778. Today, Washington’s troops celebrate the French alliance. One eyewitness account:

The wine circulated in the most genial manner—to the King of France—the friendly European powers—the American States—the Honorable Congress, and other toasts of a similar nature, descriptive of the spirit of freemen.

The general [Washington] himself wore a countenance of uncommon delight and complacence … The [army], in particular never looked so well, nor in such good order, since the beginning of the war.¹⁰⁸³

The capture of Burgoyne [at Saratoga] gave an éclat in Europe to the American arms, and facilitated the alliance with France. The éclat, however, was not kept up by anything on the part of General Washington. The same unfortunate languor that marked his entrance into the field, continued always. Discontent began to prevail strongly against him, and a party formed in Congress, while sitting at York Town, in Pennsylvania, for removing him from the command of the army. The hope, however, of better times, the news of the alliance with France, and the unwillingness of showing discontent dissipated the matter.¹⁰⁸⁴

Franklin’s negotiations and the French alliance may have saved George Washington his command!

Friday, May 8, 1778. Today, in Paris, John Adams meets the King of France, Louis XVI. John Adams:

Dr. Franklin … went with me to Versailles to attend my Presentation to the King. We visited the [French Foreign Minister] Count de Vergennes at his Office, and at the hour of eleven, the Count conducted Us into the Kings Bed Chamber where his Majesty was dressing. One Officer putting on his Coat, another his Sword &c. The Count went up to the King and informed him that Mr. Adams was present to be presented to his Majesty, the King turned round and looked upon me and smiled. “Is that Mr. Adams,” said his Majesty? Being answered in the affirmative by the Count, he began to talk to me, and with such rapidity that I could not distinguish one Syllable nor understand one Word … The Count de Vergennes observing his Majestys Zeal … said, Mr. Adams will not answer your Majesty, for he neither speaks nor understands our Language as yet … “Pas un mot” [not a word?] said the King … The Count de Vergennes then conducted me to the Door of another Room, and desired me to stand there, which I did untill the King passed. After the usual Compliments of the King to the Ambassadors, his Majesty was preparing to retire when the Count de Vergennes again repeated to the King that I did not take upon me to speak french and the King repeated his question, does he not speak it at all? and passing by all the others in the Row made a full Stop before me, and evidently intended to observe and remember my Countenance and Person …¹⁰⁸⁵

Saturday, May 16, 1778. Today, from the town of York, Pennsylvania (where the Continental Congress now meets), Tom Paine writes Ben Franklin:

I live in hopes of seeing and advising with you respecting the History of the American Revolution, as soon as a turn of affairs make it safe to take a passage for Europe … Mr. and Mrs. Bache are at Manheim near Lancaster; I heard they were well a few days ago … Miss Nancy Clifton … said the enemy had destroyed or sold a great part of your furniture …¹⁰⁸⁶

I must now, in order to explain and justify my own Conduct give an Account of that of my Colleague Dr. Franklin … I found that the Business of our Commission would never be done unless I did it. My two Colleagues would agree in nothing. The Life of Dr. Franklin was a Scene of continual discipation. I could never obtain the favour of his Company in a Morning before Breakfast which would have been the most convenient time to read over the Letters and papers, deliberate on their contents, and decide upon the Substance of the Answers. It was late when he breakfasted, and as soon as Breakfast was over, a crowd of Carriages came to his Levee or, if you like the term better, to his Lodgings, with all Sorts of People; some Phylosophers, Academicians and Economists; some of his small tribe of humble friends in the litterary Way whom he employed to translate some of his ancient Compositions, such as his Bonhomme Richard [Poor Richard] and for what I know his Polly Baker &c.; but by far the greater part were Women and Children, come to have the honour to see the great Franklin, and to have the pleasure of telling Stories about his Simplicity, his bald head and scattering strait hairs, among their Acquaintances. These visitors occupied all the time, commonly, till it was time to dress to go to Dinner. He was invited to dine abroad every day and never declined unless when we had invited Company to dine with Us. I was always invited with him, till I found it necessary to send Apologies, that I might have some time to study the french Language and do the Business of the mission … It was the Custom in France to dine between one and two O Clock: so that when the time came to dress, it was time for the Voiture [carriage] to be ready to carry him to dinner … [W]e could rarely obtain the Company of Dr. Franklin for a few minutes, and often when I had drawn the Papers and had them fairly copied for Signature … I was frequently obliged to wait several days, before I could procure the Signature of Dr. Franklin to them. He went according to his Invitation to his Dinner and after that went sometimes to the Play, sometimes to the Philosophers but most commonly to visit those Ladies who were complaisant enough to depart from the custom of France so far as to procure Setts of Tea Geer as it is called and make Tea for him … After Tea the Evening was spent, in hearing the Ladies sing and play upon their Piano Fortes and other instruments of Musick, and in various Games as Cards, Chess, Backgammon, &c. &c. Mr. Franklin I believe however never play’d at any Thing but Chess or Checquers. In these Agreable and important Occupations and Amusements, the Afternoon and Evening was spent, and he came home at all hours from Nine to twelve 0 Clock at night … I should have been happy to have done all the Business or rather all the Drudgery if I could have been favoured with a few moments in a day to receive his Advice concerning the manner in which it ought to be done. But this condescention was not attainable …¹⁰⁸⁷

The Disposition of the People of this Country for Amusements, and the Apparatus for them, was remarkable in this House, as indeed it was in every genteel House that I had seen in France. Every fashionable House had compleat Setts of Accommodations for Play, a Billiard Table, a Bacgammon Table, a Chesboard, a Chequer Board, Cards, and twenty other Sorts of Games, that I have forgotten. I often asked myself how this rage for Amusements of every kind, and this disinclination to serious Business, would answer in our republican Governments in America. It seemed to me that every Thing must run to ruin.¹⁰⁸⁸

Dr. Franklin, who had no Business to do or who at least would do none, and who had [a relative] … for his private Secretary without consulting his Colleagues and indeed without saying a Word to me who lived in the same house with him and had no private Secretary, though I had all the Business to do, thought fit to take into the Family a French private Secretary … For what reason or for what Purpose he was introduced I never knew. Whether it was to be a Spy upon me … I gave myself no trouble to enquire.¹⁰⁸⁹

On the Road from Paris and from Passi to Versailles … stood a pallace … [T]his pallace had been built [by King Louis XV] … for Madame Pompadour, [his mistress] whom he visited here almost every night for twenty Years, leaving a worthy Woman his virtuous Queen alone at Versailles, with whom he had sworn never to sleep again … Here were made Judges and Councillors, Magistrates of all Sorts …

What havock, said I to myself, would these manners make in America? Our Governors, our Judges, our Senators, our Representatives and even our Ministers would be appointed by Harlots for Money, and their Judgments, Decrees and decisions be sold to repay themselves or perhaps to procure the smiles (and Embraces) of profligate Females.

The foundations of national Morality must be laid in private Families.¹⁰⁹⁰

Thursday, June 18, 1778. Today, Virginia Governor Patrick Henry writes Virginia congressional delegate Richard Henry Lee:

Let not Congress rely on Virginia for soldiers. I tell you my opinion [that] they will not be got here until a different spirit prevails. I look at the past condition of America as at a dreadful precipice from which we have escaped by means of the generous French, to whom I will be everlastingly bound by most heartfelt gratitude … Surely, Congress will never recede from our French friends. Salvation depends upon our holding fast to our attachment to them …¹⁰⁹¹

Today, France liberates Philadelphia, as Britain withdraws its army to New York for fear of the coming French fleet. Just before noon, George Washington makes a report to the Continental Congress:

I have the pleasure to inform Congress that I was this minute advised … that the Enemy evacuated the City early this morning … [A]bout Three Thousand of the Troops embarked aboard Transports … I have put Six Brigades in motion, and the rest of the Army are preparing to follow with all possible dispatch. We shall proceed towards Jersey and govern ourselves according to circumstances …¹⁰⁹²

British Commander in Chief for North America Sir Henry Clinton reports to British Colonial Secretary Lord George Germain:

My Lord, I have the honor to inform your lordship that pursuant to His Majesty’s instructions I evacuated Philadelphia on the 18th of June at 3 o’clock in the morning …¹⁰⁹³

Sunday, June 28, 1778. As the British retreat from Philadelphia across New Jersey toward New York, George Washington attempts a pursuit, which he must abandon today following the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. George Washington:

[H]aving received intelligence that the Enemy were prosecuting their Rout towards Monmouth Court House [in New Jersey], I dispatched a thousand select men under Brigadier General [Anthony] Wayne and sent the Marquis de la Fayette to take command of the whole advanced Corps …

The Enemy … had changed their disposition and placed their best troops in the Rear … in consequence of which I detached Major General [Charles] Lee with two brigades to join the Marquis at English Town …

I determined to attack their Rear … and sent orders by one of my Aids to General [Charles] Lee to move on and attack them …

After marching about five Miles, to my great surprise and mortification, I met the whole advanced Corps retreating, and, as I was told, by General Lee’s orders, without having made any opposition, except one fire … I proceeded immediately to the Rear of the Corps … and gave directions …

[T]he Enemy had both their Flanks secured by thick Woods and Morasses, while their front could only be approached thro a narrow pass … [The Continental Troops advanced … b]ut the impediments in their way prevented their getting within reach before it was dark. They remained upon the Ground … during the Night … In the meantime the Enemy … about 12 OClock at Night marched away in such silence …

The peculiar Situation of General Lee at this time requires that I should say nothing of his Conduct. He is now in arrest.¹⁰⁹⁴

Tuesday, June 30, 1778. Today, in a letter to George Washington, General Charles Lee expresses outrage at the tongue-lashing Washington delivered during the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse:

[N]othing but misinformation of some very stupid, or misrepresentation of some very wicked, persons could have occasioned your making use of such very singular expressions as you did on my coming up to the ground where you had taken post: they imply’d that I was guilty of either disobedience of orders, of want of conduct, or want of courage …

I can boldly say that, had we remained on the first ground, or had we advanc’d, or had the retreat been conducted in a manner different from what it was, this whole army and the interest of America would have risk’d being sacrificed.¹⁰⁹⁵

FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS (UNTIL THE FRENCH COMPEL HIM TO FIGHT AT YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA), GEORGE WASHINGTON WILL REFUSE TO FIGHT ANOTHER BATTLE WITH THE BRITISH ARMY!

Wednesday, August 12, 1778. Today, in Paris, Benny Bache turns nine years old. During weekend visits with his grandfather, Benny shares the household with John Adams, who now has living quarters there. Benny Bache sees John Quincy Adams even more frequently, as John Adams has enrolled his son at Le Coeur’s pension, where Benny boards and studies weekdays.¹⁰⁹⁷

Monday, September 14, 1778. Now that France has fully recognized the independence of the United States of America, Congress decides to appoint a single Minister Plenipotentiary (ambassador) to France, thereby terminating the present arrangement of three commissioners. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:

Congress proceeded to the election of a minister plenipotentiary to the court of France, and the ballots being taken,

Dr. Benjamin Franklin was elected.

Resolved, that a committee of five be appointed to present a letter of credence to his Most Christian Majesty, notifying the appointment of Dr. Franklin, minister plenipotentiary of these States at the court of France.¹⁰⁹⁸

By deciding to have Ben Franklin as its sole minister to France, Congress deprives John Adams of all diplomatic credentials!

Wednesday, October 21, 1778. Today, the Continental Congress grants leave to Major General Marquis de Lafayette, who was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine Creek. The Journals report:

Resolved, That the Marquis de la Fayette, major-general in the service of the United States, have leave to go to France …

Resolved, That the President write a letter to the Marquis de la Fayette, returning him the thanks of Congress for that disinterested zeal which has led him to America, and for the services he hath rendered to the United States by the exertion of his courage and abilities on many signal occasions.

Resolved, That the minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America at the court of Versailles, be directed to cause an elegant sword, with proper devices, to be made and presented, in the name of the United States, to the Marquis de la Fayette.¹⁰⁹⁹

Saturday, December 4, 1778. Today, commissioners John Adams, Arthur Lee, and Benjamin Franklin discuss French aid. Arthur Lee records:

In a conference of the commissioners on the subject of a memorial to Count Vergennes, drawn up by Dr. Franklin, to obtain funds to enable them to pay interest of the [French] loan, Mr. Adams observed “that he thought we ought to state the interest France had in supporting us, how little the expense was in proportion to that interest, and not make it a matter of mere grace.” It was his opinion, he said, “that this court did not treat us with any confidence, nor give us any effectual assistance.” Dr. Franklin took it up with some warmth, and said “he did not see how they were defective; they had sent a fleet and given us money.” Mr. Adams replied, “that the monied assistance was pitiful, and that the fleet had done us no service.” Dr. Franklin answered, “that was not their fault, as they took the wisest method of making it useful.”¹¹⁰⁰

Saturday, December 5, 1778. Today, from Paris, John Adams writes his good friend James Warren of Massachusetts,

There is another thing which I am obliged to mention. There are so many private Families Ladies and Gentlemen that [Dr. Franklin] visits so often … and so much intercourse with Academicians that all these things together keep his mind in such a constant state of Dissipation that if he is left alone here, the Public Business will suffer in a degree beyond description …¹¹⁰¹

Friday, December 18, 1778. Today, John Adams writes the wife of a Massachusetts colleague,

What shall I say, Madam, to your Question whether I am as much in the good graces of the Ladies as my venerable Colleague [Dr. Franklin]. Ah No! Alas, Alas No!

The Ladies of this Country have an unaccountable passion for old Age, whereas our Country women you know, Madam, have rather a Complaisance for youth if I remember right. This is rather unlucky for me, for I have nothing to do but to wish myself back again to 25.

I will take the Liberty to mention an anecdote or two amongst a multitude to shew you how unfortunate I am in being so young. A Gentleman introduced me the other day to a Lady. Voila, Madame, says he, Monsieur Adams, notre Ami, Le Colleague de Monsieur Franklin! Embrassez le … [Kiss him.] … Ah No, Monsieur, says the Lady, il est trop jeune. [He is too young.]

So that you see. I must wait patiently, full 30 years longer before I can be so great a favorite.¹¹⁰²

Wednesday, January 6, 1779. Tonight, at a ball in Philadelphia to celebrate Ben Franklin’s birthday, George Washington pays special attention to Ben Franklin’s daughter (Benny’s mother!), Sarah Bache, who writes Ben Franklin:

I have lately been several times invited abroad with the General and Mrs. Washington. He always inquires after you in the most affectionate manner and speaks of you highly. We danced at Mrs. Powell’s your birthday or night …¹¹⁰³

Thursday, January 14, 1779. Today, in the Continental Congress, the Journals report:

Whereas it hath been represented to this House by the … minister plenipotentiary of France that “it is pretended the United States have preserved the liberty of treating with Great Britain separately from their ally …”

Resolved, unanimously, That as neither France or these United States may of right, so these United States will not, conclude either truce or peace with the common enemy without the formal consent of their ally first obtained, and that any matters or things which may be insinuated or asserted to the contrary thereof tend to the injury and dishonor of the said states …¹¹⁰⁴

Any Thing to divert Melancholly and to sooth an aching Heart. The Uncandor, the Prejudices, the Rage, among several Persons here, make me Sick as Death.

Virtue is not always amiable. Integrity is sometimes ruined by Prejudices and by Passions. There are two Men in the World who are Men of Honour and Integrity, I believe, but whose Prejudices and violent Tempers would raise Quarrells in the Elysian fields, if not in Heaven. On the other Hand, there is another [Franklin], whose Love of Ease and Dissipation will prevent any thorough Reformation of any Thing, and his Silence and Reserve render it very difficult to do any Thing with him …¹¹⁰⁵

The Marquis de la Fayette did me the Honour of a Visit, yesterday, and delivered me your favour of 25 of Oct …

How Congress will dispose of me, I don’t know. If it is intended that I shall return, that will be very agreable to me, and I think that this is the most probable opinion …

I confess I expected the most dismal consequences from [the possible removal of the commissioners] … But the arrival of Franklin’s commission [as sole commissioner] has relieved me from many of these Fears—This Court have Confidence in him alone …¹¹⁰⁶

Saturday, February 20, 1779. Today, from Paris, John Adams writes his complaints to Abigail:

A new commission has arrived by which the Dr. [Franklin] is sole minister … I am reduced to the condition of a private citizen. The Congress have not taken the least notice of me. On the 11th of September they resolved to have one minister only in France. On the 14th they chose the Dr. In October they made out his commission, the Alliance sailed on the 14th January, and in all that interval they never so much as bid me come home, bid me stay, or told me I had done well or done ill … I should not be at all surprised if I should see an accusation against me for something or other, I know not what, but I see that all things are possible …¹¹⁰⁷

I suppose I must write every day in order to keep or rather to restore good Humour, whether I have any thing to say or not.

The Scaffold is cutt away, and I am left kicking and sprawling in the Mire. It is hardly a state of Disgrace that I am in but rather of Neglect and Contempt … If I had deserved such Treatment, I should have deserved to be told so at least …

I have given Notice here and written to Congress of my Intentions to return …

If I ever had any Wit it is all evaporated—if I ever had any Imagination it is all quenched …

I believe I am grown more austere, severe, rigid, and miserable than ever I was.—I have seen more occasion perhaps.¹¹⁰⁸

His diplomatic credentials withdrawn, John Adams will now begin his return journey to the United States, setting off from Paris for the port city of Nantes.¹¹⁰⁹

Monday, March 8, 1779. Today, from Philadelphia, retiring French Minister Plenipotentiary Gérard de Rayvenal writes two dispatches to French Foreign Minister Vergennes in Paris:

[R]elative to the probable views of the Opposition Leaders … Their object is to add an alliance [with Britain] to any peace with Britain …

Congress has only some vague Lamentations of Mr. John Adams who guarantees that France will not aid the States with anything …¹¹¹⁰

Another idea of the [pro-British] Faction here … is to alter the requirements of making peace so as to negotiate it separately with England and to accept any kind of alliance with that Power, for which the credit will inure to the benefit of the faction …

It is probably in pursuit of this that Messrs. Adams and Lee are exerting all their efforts to render our actual negotiations impossible so that new English commissioners, whose confidence they feel sure to enjoy and with whom they flatter themselves they can negotiate, will have time to arrive.¹¹¹¹

Thursday, April 22, 1779. Today, Benjamin Franklin writes his sister, Jane Mecum:

I live about two Miles out of the City, in a great Garden, that has pleasant Walks in which I can take Exercise in a good Air … I have last Week sent Benny to Geneva where there are as good Schools as here, & where he will be educated a Republican …¹¹¹²

Monday, May 3, 1779. Today, from Paris, Ben Franklin writes his grandson, Benny Bache:

Dear Benny … [I]t gave me great Pleasure to hear of your safe Arrival at Geneva … You now have a fine Opportunity of learning those things that will be reputable and useful to you when you come to be a Man … You ought to be very respectful to Mr Cramer …

Love …

YOUR AFFECTIONATE GRANDFATHER¹¹¹³

Tuesday, May 4, 1779. Today, Ben Franklin informs the British that he will not negotiate a truce independently of the French:

[T]his Proposition of a Truce, if made at all, should be made to France at the same time it is made to America … America has no desire of being free from her engagements to France. The chief is … not making a separate Peace; and this is an obligation not in the power of America to dissolve, being an obligation of Gratitude and Justice towards a nation which is engaged in a War on her Account and for her protection; and Would be forever binding, whether Such an article existed or not in the Treaty; and tho’ it did not exist, an honest American would cut off his right hand rather than Sign an Agreement with England contrary to the spirit of it.¹¹¹⁴

Wednesday, May 12, 1779. During the two months since John Adams left Paris to return to the United States, he has been stalled in the French ports of Nantes, Brest, and St. Nazaire. Today, he writes in his diary:

Conjectures. Jealousies, Suspicions—I shall grow as jealous as any Body.

I am jealous [suspicious] that my Disappointment [in leaving for America] is owing to an Intrigue … that this Device was hit upon by Franklin … to prevent me from going home, lest I should tell some dangerous Truths …

Does the old Conjurer dread my Voice in Congress? He has some Reason for he has often heard it there, a Terror to evil doers.¹¹¹⁵

Sunday, May 30, 1779. Today, from Geneva, Benny Bache writes his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin:

Dear grand papa, I take the liberte to wright to you for to tell you that I am in good health. [My supervisor] M. Marignac Gives his compliments to you and says that I am a good boy. I will do all that can for to be the first of the class. M. Cramer is in good health … I have notings mor for to tell you for the presente.

I am your affectionaite Son

B. Franklin B.¹¹¹⁶

Wednesday, June 2, 1779. Today, Ben Franklin writes Benny Bache’s father, Richard Bache:

I have had a great deal of pleasure in Ben … ‘Tis a good honest lad, and will make, I think, a valuable man. He had made as much proficiency in his learning as the boarding school he was at could well afford him; and, after some consideration where to find a better for him, I at length fixed on sending him to Geneva. I had a good opportunity by a gentleman of that city who had a place for him in his chaise, and has a son of about the same age at the same school. He promised to take care of him … He went very cheerfully, and I understand is very happy. I miss his company on Sundays at dinner. But, if I live and I can find a little leisure, I shall make the journey next spring to see him and to see at the same time the old 13 United States of Switzerland …¹¹¹⁷

Thursday, June 3, 1779. Today, Ben Franklin writes his daughter, Sarah Bache (Benny’s mother):

The clay medallion of me you say you gave to Mr. Hopkinson was the first of the kind made in France. A variety of others have been made since of different sizes; some to be set in lids of snuffboxes, and some so small as to be worn in rings; and the numbers sold are incredible. These, with the pictures, busts, and prints (of which copies upon copies are spread every where) have made your father’s face as well known as that of the moon …

Ben, if I should live long enough to want it, is like to be another comfort to me. As I intend him … as a Republican [not a monarchist], I have sent him to finish his education at Geneva. He is much grown, in very good health, draws a little, as you will see by the inclosed, learns Latin, writing, arithmetic, and dancing, and speaks French better than English … He has not been long from me. I send the accounts I have of him, and I shall put him in mind of writing to you …¹¹¹⁸

Tuesday, June 8, 1779. Today, John Adams writes Edmund Jenings, an American friend living in Europe:

Dont misunderstand this. It was not Versailles, Paris, France—French Dress, Cookery, or Gallantry that made me unhappy … but my own Countrymen.¹¹¹⁹

Friday, June 18, 1779. Today, after an exasperating wait for more than three and a half months, John Adams sets sail for Boston aboard the French frigate Le Sensible. Traveling with him is the new French Minister to the United States, Anne-César de La Luzerne, and a secretary to the French legation, the Marquis de Barbé-Marbois. As La Luzerne departs, French Foreign Minister Vergennes writes him a warning:

We clearly perceive that an opposition party exists in Congress, which, if not sold to England, nevertheless favors the views of that power and which seeks to establish and to bring into credit principles diametrically opposed to those which form the basis and spirit of our treaties with the United States … [I]t is indubitable that, among them, may be counted Mr. John Adams who has been a Deputy to France and who has just returned to America. The party in question is principally engaged in effecting a reconciliation between the United States and England, in negotiating with and forming an alliance with the court of London. As you know the existing engagements between the King [of France] and the Americans, you can judge yourself that the system of … Adams is directly opposed to these engagements and that if Congress should adopt it, it would destroy the alliance it has contracted with His Majesty.¹¹²⁰

Wednesday, June 23, 1779. Today, on the open ocean of the North Atlantic en route to America, John Adams records in his diary:

This Forenoon, fell strangely, yet very easily into Conversation with [the secretary to the French legation] M. M.[arbois].

Is there not one Catholic [church in Philadelphia], said M.M.? … [S]aid I, There is a Roman catholic Church … consisting partly of Germans, partly of French, and partly of Irish.—All Religions are tolerated in America, said M.M … But Mr. Franklin never had any.—No said I, laughing, because Mr. F. had no—I was going to say what I did not say and will not say here. I stopped short and laughed.—No, said Mr. M., Mr. F. adores only great Nature, which has interested a great many People of both Sexes in his favour.—Yes, said I, laughing, all the Atheists, Deists, and Libertines, as well as the Philosophers and Ladies are in his Train—another Voltaire …—Yes, said, Mr. M., he is celebrated as the great Philosopher and the great Legislator of America.— He is, said I, a great Philosopher, but as a Legislator of America, he has done very little.

It is universally believed in France, England and all Europe, that [Dr. Franklin’s] Electric Wand has accomplished all this revolution but nothing is more groundless. He has [done] very little. It is believed that he made all the [state] Constitutions and their Confederation but he made neither … I am sure it cannot be my Duty, nor the Interest of my Country, that I should conceal any of my sentiments of this man … It would be worse than Folly to conceal my Opinion of his great Faults.¹¹²¹

Thursday, July 15, 1779. Tonight, Brigadier General Anthony Wayne seizes the incomplete British fortifications at Stony Point, New York. George Washington, who will make his headquarters at White Plains, reports this event to Congress:

I had the honor to inform Congress of a successful attack upon the enemy’s post at Stony Point … by Brigadier-General [Anthony] Wayne and the corps of light infantry under his command … He improved upon the plan recommended by me, and executed it in a manner that does signal honor to his judgment and to his bravery. In a critical moment of the assault, he received a fleshwound in the head with a musket-ball, but continued leading on his men with unshaken firmness …

The necessity of doing something to satisfy the expectations of the people, and reconcile them to the defensive plan we are obliged to pursue, and to the apparent inactivity which our situation imposes upon us … concurred to determine me to the undertaking …¹¹²²

Thursday, July 29, 1779. Today, George Washington complains to Joseph Reed, the president of Pennsylvania’s executive council, that a disparaging article in the Maryland Journal is unwarranted:

[W]hen it is well known that the command was in a manner forced upon me, that I accepted it with the utmost diffidence, from a consciousness that it required greater abilities and more experience than I possessed, to conduct a great Military machine … it is rather grating to pass over in silence charges which may impress the uninformed …¹¹²³

General Charles Lee, formerly George Washington’s second in command, wrote the disparaging remarks in the form of twenty-five queries, including,

Query 9th. “Whether it is salutary or dangerous … to inculcate and encourage in the people an idea that their welfare, safety and glory depend on one man?

10th. “Whether amongst the late warm or rather loyal addresses of this city [Philadelphia] to his Excellency General Washington, there was a single mortal … who could possibly be acquainted with his merits? …

“Whether the armies under Gates … and the detachment under Stark to the northward … gave the decisive turn to the fortune of war? …”¹¹²⁴

Monday, August 2, 1779. Today, after a forty-five-day crossing aboard the French frigate Le Sensible, John Adams arrives at Boston’s harbor.¹¹²⁵

Thursday, August 12, 1779. Today, in Geneva, Benny Bache turns ten years old. To obtain a republican education, Benny lives under the watchful eye of Philibert Cramer, who is the brother of Voltaire’s publisher and a friend of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Is there any question that Benny will be a child of the Enlightenment? Philibert’s wife, Catherine, has practically adopted Benny Bache, and the Cramers’ son, Gabriel, is Benny’s best friend.¹¹²⁶

Thursday, August 19, 1779. Today, from Paris, Ben Franklin writes Benny Bache in Geneva:

My Dear Child,

Do not think I have forgotten you, because I have been so long without writing to you. I think of you every day, and there is nothing I desire more than to see you furnish’d with good Learning, that I may return you to your Father and Mother so accomplish’d, with such Knowledge & Virtue as to give them Pleasure, and enable you to become an honourable Man in your own Country. I am therefore very willing you should have a Dictionary, and all such other Books as M. du Marignac or M. Cramer shall judge proper for you …

I continue very well, Thanks to God; and I shall always love you very much if you continue to be a good Boy; being ever

Your Affectionate Grandfather B. Franklin

Let me know what you are learning, & whether you begin to draw.¹¹²⁷

Wednesday, September 1, 1779. Today, in Boston, a constitutional convention begins work on a new Massachusetts state constitution.¹¹²⁸ John Adams, now back in Boston, is to be its principal author. Just as Pennsylvania’s constitution is seen to be Ben Franklin’s, the new Massachusetts constitution will be seen to be John Adams’. John Adams:

Upon my return from France in 1779, I found myself elected by my native town of Braintree a member of the convention for forming a constitution for the state of Massachusetts. Here I found a chaos of absurd sentiments concerning government … Lieutenant-Governor Cushing was avowedly for a single assembly like [Dr. Franklin’s constitution in] Pennsylvania. Samuel Adams was of the same mind In short, I had at first no support but from the [radically conservative] Essex Junto who had adopted my ideas in the “Letter to Mr. Wythe.” They supported me timorously and at last would not go with me to so high a mark as I aimed at, which was a complete negative [veto] in the governor upon all laws. They made me draw up the constitution, and it was finally adopted with some amendments very much for the worse … A foundation was here laid of much jealousy and unpopularity among the democratical people …¹¹²⁹

Sunday, September 19, 1779. Today, from his home in Braintree, John Adams writes his friend Benjamin Rush, who has resigned from the army to practice medicine in Philadelphia:

I have little to Say about the Time and manner of my being Superceeded [by Benjamin Franklin]. Let those reflect upon them selves who are disgraced by it, not I. Those who did it are alone disgraced by it. The Man who can shew a long Series of disinterested Services to his Country cannot be disgraced even by his Country.¹¹³⁰

Thursday, September 23, 1779. Tonight, the American naval operations in Europe, operating under the auspices of Benjamin Franklin, enjoy a heroic victory. Off Flamborough Head on the east coast of England, a small American vessel, named the Bon Homme Richard (“Poor Richard”) to honor Franklin, overcomes a much larger British vessel, the fifty-gun ship-of-war Serapis, in a fiery encounter. In the midst of the battle, as Bon Homme Richard fills with flames and water, Captain John Paul Jones boldly declares—in words that will live for centuries—“I have not yet begun to fight.”¹¹³¹

Monday, September 27, 1779. Today, the Continental Congress grants John Adams new diplomatic credentials. The Journals report:

Resolved, That Congress proceed to the election of a minister plenipotentiary for negotiating a treaty of peace and a treaty of commerce with Great Britain.

Congress accordingly proceeded, and the ballots being taken,

Mr. John Adams was elected.¹¹³²

Wednesday, September 29, 1779. Today, John Adams receives his commissions from Congress to negotiate treaties with Great Britain:

1. For peace.

The Delegates of the United States,

To all who see these Presents, send Greeting

It being probable that a Negotiation shall soon be commenced for putting an End to the Hostilities … Know Ye, therefore, that We … Have nominated and constituted … John Adams our Minister Plenipotentiary … to confer, treat, agree, and conclude with … his Britannic Majesty … the great Work of Pacification …

Samuel Huntington, President

2. The Commission for making a Treaty of Commerce with Great Britain …

The Delegates of the United States,

To all who see these Presents, send Greeting

It being the desire of the United States that the Peace which may be established between them and his Britannic Majesty may be permanent and accompanied with the mutual Benefits derived from commerce, Know Ye, therefore, that We … have nominated and constituted … John Adams our Minister Plenipotentiary … to sign, and thereupon make a Treaty of Commerce.

Samuel Huntington, President¹¹³³

The first insinuation of the Propriety, Expediency, and necessity of appointing a Minister Plenipotentiary to reside in Europe ready to negotiate a Peace … was made to Congress a year before this time … [I]t was the Expectation of the French Ministry that Dr. Franklin would be elected. In this respect Congress disappointed them …¹¹³⁴

Thursday, September 30, 1779. France has now liberated Rhode Island! The British have withdrawn their forces to New York as a precaution against the French fleet, under Admiral d’Estaing, which has returned from the West Indies and is reportedly off the coast of Georgia. Today, British Commander in Chief Sir Henry Clinton reports to London:

The Admiral … imagined he had every reason to believe that d’Estaing’s fleet was on the coast of Georgia and to suppose he might probably visit some part of this continent … In these opinions … the fleet assembled in New York …

I was induced by the Admiral’s suggestion to … evacuate Rhode island and to avail myself of the force left inactive there.

[F]resh advices concerning [the French fleet under] d’Estaing arrived … [T]he Admiral … could not spare a ship to protect Rhode Island. Such forcible arguments then appear for quitting [Rhode Island], as the rescuing the garrison, stores etc. from the most unprotected state and the giving full security to the harbour of New York.¹¹³⁵

Friday, October 8, 1779. Today, from Philadelphia, the new French Minister to the U.S., Anne-César de La Luzerne, reports to French Foreign Minister Vergennes that John Adams’ feelings toward Franklin may have prejudiced his view of France:

Nearly two months of living with Mr. Adams have let me get to know him …

[Mr. Adams said] “I have not been able to forget entirely where I was left in the nomination of M Franklin to be Minister Plenipotentiary to France; No one even deigned to tell me whether to remain in France or return, and I took the latter choice because I refused to debase myself or compel myself to play a meaningless role which I was condemned to do and which appeared undignified for a gentleman.” Furthermore, Mr. Adams did not enjoy watching the attention that Parisians heaped on Mr. Franklin, while hardly anyone recognized him. I could believe that this painful situation, painful for a man whose purpose is public admiration, has caused him some bias against France.¹¹³⁶

Saturday, October 9, 1779. Today, French Admiral Comte d’Estaing who has returned from the West Indies with an enlarged fleet of twenty-two ships of the line and eleven frigates, disembarks a French army of 3,600 for an assault on the British at Savannah, Georgia. Joining a much smaller American army of only six hundred men, under General Benjamin Lincoln, the French carry Savannah’s outposts, plant French and American flags on the ramparts, but are repulsed by British forces, who were forewarned of the attack. One hundred eighty-three French officers and soldiers are killed; 454 French soldiers are wounded. French Admiral d’Estaing himself receives two wounds.

Though the French do not, by today’s attack, liberate Savannah, their appearance off the coast of Georgia arrests the British campaign in the South and causes the British to withdraw their forces from Rhode Island to concentrate them in New York.¹¹³⁷ With winter ahead, d’Estaing will now return his fleet to France.

Thursday, October 28, 1779. Today, in New York, British Commander in Chief Sir Henry Clinton finishes a report to London:

My Lord, I inform your lordship that the troops from Rhode Island arrived here yesterday, the evacuation of the place having been completed …

The troops arrived here in perfect health. I hope from the attention the Admiral gives to procuring information of [French Admiral] D’Estaing’s movements that we shall soon have such accounts as will admit of my employing them to very useful purposes.¹¹³⁸

Today, in Boston, John Adams’ new constitution for the state of Massachusetts goes before the Massachusetts constitutional convention.¹¹³⁹ From John Adams’ draft:

In the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the legislative, executive, and judicial power shall be placed in separate departments, to the end that it might be a government of laws, and not of men.

CHAPTER II.

THE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT

Section I.

ART. I. THE department of legislation shall be formed by two branches, A SENATE and HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; each of which shall have a negative [veto] on the other …

And the first magistrate [the governor] shall have a negative [veto] upon all the laws [of the legislature] …

Section II. Senate

I. There shall be … forty persons [in a senate] … to be chosen … by the respective districts … by the proportion of the public taxes paid by the said districts … provided that the number of such districts shall be never more than sixteen …

II. The senate shall be the first branch of the legislature … [E]very male person … having a freehold estate within the commonwealth of three pounds, or other real or personal estate of the value of sixty pounds, shall have a right to give in his vote for the senators …

v… [N]o person shall be capable of being elected as a senator who is not of the Christian religion and seised in his own right of a freehold within this commonwealth of the value of three hundred pounds and who has not been an inhabitant … seven years …

Section III. House of Representatives

i. THERE shall be in the legislature of this commonwealth a representation of the people annually elected and founded in equality.

ii … [E]very corporate town, containing one hundred and fifty ratable polls [voters], may elect one representative …

iii … [N]o person shall be qualified or eligible to be a member of the said house, unless he be of the Christian religion, and for one year … an inhabitant of, and have been seised in his own right of a freehold in the value of one hundred pounds …

iv. Every male person … having a freehold estate … of the annual income of three pounds, or other estate real or personal or mixt of the value of sixty pounds, shall have a right to vote in the choice of a representative …

CHAPTER III. EXECUTIVE POWER.

SECTION I. Governor.

ART. I. THERE shall be a supreme executive magistrate, who shall be styled, THE GOVERNOR …

ART. II. The governor shall be chosen annually; and no person shall be eligible to this office unless … seised in his own right of a freehold … of the value of one thousand pounds; and unless he shall be of the Christian religion.

III. Those persons who shall be qualified to vote for senators and representatives … shall … give in their votes for a governor … ¹¹⁴⁰

The Massachusetts constitutional convention will adopt, with only minor changes, John Adams’ plan for government. It will submit the constitution to Massachusetts towns with an explanatory text, “ADDRESS OF THE CONVENTION … TO THEIR CONSTITUENTS,” including:

The House of Representatives is intended as the Representative of the Persons, and the Senate [as a Representative] of the property of the Commonwealth … each having a Negative [veto] upon the Acts of [the] other … Your Delegates considered that Persons who … have no Property are either those who live upon a part of a Paternal estate, expecting the fee [title] thereof, who are but just entering into business, or those whose idleness of Life and profligacy of manners will forever bar them from acquiring and possessing Property. And we will submit it to the former class, whether they would not think it safer … than … to have their Privileges liable to the control of Men, who will pay less regard to the Rights of Property because they have nothing to lose.

The Power of Revising, and stating objections to any Bill or Resolve that shall be passed by the two Houses, we were of opinion ought to be lodged in the hands of some one person … We have thought it safest to rest this Power in [the Governor’s] hands …¹¹⁴¹

As one historian will observe, “The Senate of Massachusetts was created in order to protect property against democracy.”¹¹⁴² John Adams:

Is it not … true that Men in general, in every Society, who are wholly destitute of property, are also too little acquainted with public Affairs to form a Right Judgment and too dependent on other Men to have a Will of their own? … Such is the Frailty of the human Heart that very few Men who have no Property have any Judgment of their own.¹¹⁴³

Ben Franklin, Tom Paine, and other supporters of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 will disapprove of John Adams’ new Massachusetts constitution. John Adams:

Paine’s wrath was excited because my plan of government was essentially different from the silly projects that he had published in his Common Sense. By this means I became suspected and unpopular with the leading demagogues and the whole Constitutional Party in Pennsylvania.¹¹⁴⁴

Tuesday, November 2, 1779. Today, in Philadelphia, the most democratic of all state institutions, the Pennsylvania Assembly, chooses Tom Paine to be its Clerk.¹¹⁴⁵

Saturday, November 13, 1779. Today, with his new congressional commissions to negotiate peace and commerce with Great Britain and with his draft of the new Massachusetts constitution in hand, John Adams begins his return to France:

On the Thirteenth day of November 1779, I had again the melancholly Tryal of taking Leave of my Family, with the Dangers of the Seas and the Terrors of British Men of War before my Eyes … We went to Boston and embarked on Board the Frigate [Sensible] …¹¹⁴⁶

Wednesday, December 15, 1779. Today, George Washington writes the Continental Congress:

I beg leave to add that, from a particular consultation of the Commissaries, I find our prospects are infinitely worse than they have been at any period of the War, and that unless some expedient can be instantly adopted, a dissolution of the Army for want of Subsistence is unavoidable. A part of it has been again several days without Bread … [T]his deficiency proceed[s] … from the absolute emptiness of our magazines every where and the total want of money or credit to replenish them. I look forward to the consequences with an anxiety not to be described.

The only temporary resource we seem to have left … is this—To solicit a loan of four or five thousand barrels [of gunpowder] out of the quantity provided for the use of the French fleet and army … I know the measure recommended is a disagreeable one, but motives of delicacy must often yield to those of necessity.¹¹⁴⁷

Wednesday, January 5, 1780. Today, from the army’s headquarters which he has reestablished at Morristown, New Jersey, George Washington writes the Continental Congress:

Many of the [men] have been four or five days without meat entirely and short of bread, and none but on very scanty supplies. Some for their preservation have been compelled to maraud and rob from the Inhabitants, and I have it not in my power to punish or to repress the practice. If our condition should not undergo a very speedy and considerable change for the better, it will be difficult to point out all the consequences that may ensue.¹¹⁴⁸

Wednesday, February 9, 1780. Today, John Adams arrives in Paris with his new commissions to negotiate peace and commerce treaties with Britain.¹¹⁴⁹ John Adams:

In 1780, when I arrived [back] in France, I carried a printed copy of the report of the Grand Committee of the Massachusetts Convention, which I had drawn up; and this became an object of speculation. Mr. Turgot, the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, and Mr. Condorcet, and others admired Mr. Franklin’s Constitution and reprobated mine.¹¹⁵⁰

Thursday, February 10, 1780. Today, John Adams visits the French court at Versailles. John Adams:

I never heard the French Ministry so frank, explicit, and decided … in their declarations to pursue the War with vigour and afford effectual Aid to the United States. I learned with great Satisfaction that they are sending, under Convoy, Cloathing and Arms for fifteen thousand Men to America; that seventeen Ships of the Line are already gone … and that five or six more at least are to follow in Addition to ten or twelve they have already there.¹¹⁵¹

This year, France will send more than thirty warships (plus a huge fleet of support ships) to fight America’s war!

Saturday, February 12, 1780. Today, in Paris, John Adams writes French Foreign Minister Vergennes:

I have now the honor to acquaint you that, on the twenty ninth day of September last, the Congress of the United States of America did me the honour to elect me their Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace with Great Britain and also to negotiate a Treaty of Commerce with that Kingdom …

I am persuaded it is the Intention of my Constituents, and of all America, and I am sure it is my own determination, to take no Steps of Consequence in pursuance of my commissions, without consulting his Majestys Ministers …

I beg the favor of your Excellency’s opinion …¹¹⁵²

Sunday, February 13, 1780. Today, the French Foreign Minister surprises John Adams with his response:

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 12th of this month … I am of the opinion that it will be prudent to conceal your eventual character and above all to take the necessary precautions that the object of your commission may remain unknown to the Court of London …¹¹⁵³

I have received the Letter which your Excellency did me the honour to write me … I have now the Honour to inclose, attested Copies of both [my commissions].

With regard to my Instructions … they contain nothing inconsistent with the Letter or Spirit of the Treaties between his Majesty and The United States …¹¹⁵⁴

Thursday, February 24, 1780. Today, the French Foreign Minister is insistent with John Adams:

As to the Full Power which authorizes you to negotiate a Treaty of Commerce with the Court of London, I think it will be prudent to make no comment of it to any Person whatsoever and to take all possible Precautions that the English Ministry may not have any Knowledge of it prematurely.¹¹⁵⁵

Friday, February 25, 1780. Today, John Adams gives in to the French Foreign Minister:

I … shall conform myself to your advice … I shall not think myself at liberty to make any publication of my Powers to treat of Peace … My other Powers shall be concealed, according to your advice …¹¹⁵⁷

Saturday, March 4, 1780. With the French government imposing demands of silence on him, John Adams can do nothing and suspects that Franklin is responsible. Today, he writes his friend, Massachusetts congressional delegate James Lovell:

My Situation here will naturally make all the Dr.’s Friends jealous of me, lest I should be Set up as his Successor—and this will make my Situation delicate and disagreeable.—I assure you … I have no Ambitions to be the Dr.’s Successor.—it is a Plan of too much Envy, and too much difficulty for any body to be happy in.

What the Congress will think proper to do with me, I know not.—To keep me here will cost them a great deal of Money …¹¹⁵⁸

Sunday, March 5, 1780. France has decided to send America a six-thousand-man army, under General Rochambeau, and a substantial fleet, under Admiral de Ternay. Today, French Foreign Minister Vergennes issues instructions to the Marquis de Lafayette, who is returning to the United States:

Monsieur the Marquis de La Fayette may return to America in eagerness to join General Washington, whom he will alert, on the condition of secrecy, that the King of France, wishing to give United States a new sign of his affection and his interest for their security, has decided to despatch, at the beginning of the spring, the relief of six ships of the line and of six thousand regular infantry troops.

The convoy is ordered, if there is no obstacle to confront, to Rhode island in order to be at closer range to assist the main American army and to join it if General Washington judges it necessary …¹¹⁵⁹

Today, Ben Franklin writes George Washington some words which should warm Washington’s welcome for arriving French officers:

Some day you will come to France. On this side of the water you would enjoy the great reputation that you have acquired. It would be free from the reproaches made by the jealousy and envy of fellow citizens, the contemporaries of a great man who strive to cast a slur upon him while he is living …¹¹⁶⁰

Saturday, March 18, 1780. To pay for the war, the Continental Congress has printed so much paper money that the Continental dollar has only one fortieth of its original face (nominal) value in the marketplace. Adjusting for this inflation, the Continental Congress today reduces its obligation to redeem paper dollars in gold or silver (specie), officially devaluing its currency so that a holder of Continental dollars must pay forty paper dollars to receive one milled silver or gold dollar. The Journals report:

[I]nsomuch that [Continental bills] are now passed, by common consent, in most parts of the United States, at least 39–40ths below their nominal value, and still remain in a state of depreciation …

Resolved, That … silver and gold be receivable [by holders of Continental bills] … at the rate of one Spanish milled dollar in lieu of 40 dollars of the bills now in circulation …¹¹⁶¹

Sunday, March 19, 1780. Today, Ben Franklin writes the president of Pennsylvania’s executive council, Joseph Reed:

I am glad to see that you continue to preside in our new State [of Pennsylvania] … The disputes about the [Pennsylvania state] Constitution seem to have subsided. It is much admired here and all over Europe and will draw many families of fortune to settle under it as soon as there is peace.¹¹⁶²

Wednesday, May 3, 1780. Today, in France, a French army of 5,500 soldiers, commanded by French General Comte de Rochambeau, departs the French port of Brest for the United States. Transporting and accompanying this army is a French fleet commanded by French Admiral Le Chevalier de Ternay, consisting of six French ships of the line, five frigates, thirty-two transports, and a hospital ship. The French force is destined for Newport, Rhode Island, which another French fleet, under Admiral Comte d’Estaing, liberated last October by threatening British forces along the coast.¹¹⁶³

Friday, May 12, 1780. Today, after three days of naval bombardment, Charleston, South Carolina falls to the British Southern Army, led by General Charles Cornwallis. American Major General Benjamin Lincoln surrenders his American army of two thousand Continentals, four hundred cannon, and three of the United States’ seven frigates. With South Carolina and Georgia now securely in British hands, only American General Horatio Gates’ army remains to challenge Charles Cornwallis in the south.¹¹⁶⁴

Tuesday, May 16, 1780. Today, George Washington writes the Marquis de Lafayette, who informed Washington less than a week ago¹¹⁶⁵ that France is sending him a large army and a fleet of several ships-of-the-line:

Since you left me I have more fully reflected on the plan which it will be proper for the French fleet and army to pursue on their arrival upon the Coast; and it appears to me, in the present situation of the enemy at New York, that it ought to be our first object to reduce that post … I would therefore advise you to write to the [General] Count De Rochembeau and [Admiral] Monsr. De Ternay …¹¹⁶⁶

Sunday, May 28, 1780. Today, George Washington writes the president of Pennsylvania’s Executive Council:

I assure you, every Idea you can form of our distresses, will fall short of the reality. There is such a combination of circumstances to exhaust the patience of the soldiery that it begins at length to be worn out, and we see in every line of the army, the most serious features of mutiny and sedition. All our departments, all our operations are at a stand, and unless a system very different … be immediately adopted throughout the states, our affairs must soon become desperate beyond the possibility of recovery … Indeed I have almost ceased to hope. The country in general is in such a state of insensibility and indifference to its interests, that I dare not flatter myself with any change for the better …

This is a decisive moment; one of the most—I will go further and say the most—important America has seen. The Court of France has made a glorious effort for our deliverance, and if we disappoint its intentions by our supineness, we must be contemptible in the eyes of all humankind …

We should consider what was done by France [in sending its fleet] as a violent and unnatural effort of the government, which for want of sufficient [financial] foundation, cannot continue … In modern wars, the longest purse must chiefly determine the event … France is in a very different position [from Britain] … [I]f the war continues another campaign, [the French Minister of Finance] will be obliged to have recourses to the taxes usual in time of war which are very heavy and which the people of France are not in a condition to endure for any duration. When this necessity commences, France makes war on ruinous terms [for its society] …

I mention these things to show that … we must make one great effort for this campaign …

The matter is reduced to a point. Either Pennsylvania must give us all the aid we ask of her, or we can undertake nothing. We must renounce every idea of cooperation, and must confess to our allies that we look wholly to them for our safety. This will be a state of humiliation and littleness … I have [not] the least doubt that you will employ all your influence to animate the legislature and the people at large. The fate of these states hangs upon it.¹¹⁶⁷

Friday, June 16, 1780. Today, French military supplier Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont (at whose residence Ben Franklin and John Adams are staying in Passy) makes a report to the French Foreign Ministry of a conversation he has had with John Adams:

I have had a conversation with Mr. Adams so interesting that I think His Excellency the Count de Vergennes should be informed of it … Mr. Adams … persists in thinking … that it is France which is under obligations to America. These principles, on becoming one of the Peace Congress, he will carry with him into it, and he is a man to publicly support them, which, in my opinion, would be very scandalous …

I called on M. Adams to give him news … adverse to the American Congress, because [Congress] had fixed the [convertible] value of paper [money] at forty per cent in specie [gold]. I observed to M. Adams that the commercial world had reason to complain, and especially French merchants … I added that many merchants would be unable to fulfill their obligations …

Mr. Adams replied that … the French had less reason to complain than anybody else, since France derived the greatest advantages, because, without America, to which France would not be under too great an obligation, England would be too powerful … that the merchants in danger of bankruptcy would be delighted to have the pretext of the fixed valuation (fixation) …¹¹⁶⁸

Tuesday, June 20, 1780. In America, the failure to enlist soldiers in George Washington’s army has created a crisis. Today, George Washington writes the Continental Congress:

The period is come when we have every reason to expect the [French] Fleet will arrive, and yet … it is impossible for me to form and fix on a system of cooperation. I have no basis to act upon and of course were this generous succour of our [French] Ally now to arrive, I should find myself in the most awkward, embarrassing, and painful situation. The General [Rochambeau] and the Admiral [de Ternay] … will require of me a plan of the measures to be persued … but circumstanced as I am, I cannot even give them conjectures …

[F]or want of knowing our prospects, I am altogether at a loss what to do. For fear of involving the Fleet and Army of our Allies in circumstances, which, if not seconded by us, would expose them to material inconvenience and hazard, I shall be compelled to suspend it …¹¹⁷⁰

Wednesday, June 21, 1780. The Continental Congress’ devaluation of America’s paper currency to demand forty paper dollars (rather than one paper dollar) for a milled silver or gold dollar (specie) has created a crisis for French suppliers who have accepted American paper dollars on their one-to-one promise of silver or gold. Today, in Paris, French Foreign Minister Vergennes writes John Adams:

[T]he assembly of Massachusetts has determined to adopt the resolution of Congress, fixing the value of the paper money at forty for one in specie …

I have no right to analyze or comment upon the internal arrangements which congress may consider just and useful … But … I am far from agreeing that it is just and agreeable … to extend the effects to strangers as well as to citizens of the United States … I shall content myself to remark to you that the French, if they should be obliged to submit … would find themselves victims of the zeal, and I may say the rashness, with which they have exposed themselves in furnishing the Americans with arms, ammunition, and clothing; in a word, with all the things of the first necessity of which the Americans stood in the most urgent need … [T]he subjects of the king … have counted on the thanks of congress … It was with this persuasion, and in a reliance on the public faith, that they received paper money … The unexpected reduction of this same paper overturns their calculations, at the same time as it ruins their fortunes …

I shall not conceal from you that [our Minister in the United States] the Chevalier de la Luzerne has already received orders to make the strongest representations on the subject in question …¹¹⁷¹

Thursday, June 22, 1780. Today, despite the fact that he no longer holds a commission to negotiate with France (his commission is now to negotiate with Britain), John Adams addresses French Foreign Minister Vergennes on the question of America’s currency devaluation, including:

No man is more ready than I am to acknowledge the obligations we are under to France; but the flourishing state of her marine and commerce and the decisive influence of her councils and negotiations in Europe, which all the world will allow be owing in great measure to the separation of America from her inveterate enemy and to her new connexions with the United States, show that the obligations are mutual. And no foreign merchant ought to be treated in America better than her native merchants …¹¹⁷²

At the same time, John Adams tries, by a separate letter, to prevent the French Foreign Minister from making an appeal to Congress:

When your Excellency says that his Majesty’s minister at Philadelphia has already received orders … I would submit it to your Excellency’s consideration whether those orders may not be stopped and delayed a little time, until his Excellency Mr. Franklin may have opportunity to make his representations to his Majesty’s Minister to the end that, if it should appear that those orders were issued in consequence of misinformation, they may be revoked …¹¹⁷³

Count de Vergennes … informs me that the Chevalier de la Luzerne has orders to make the strongest representations [to Congress on the devaluation question]. I am not sure whether his Excellency means that such orders were sent … I submit to your Excellency, whether it would not be expedient to request that those orders may be stopped until proper representations can be made at court …¹¹⁷⁴

Saturday, June 24, 1780. Today, in a letter to the Comte de Vergennes, Ben Franklin tries to prevent the French protest to Congress:

In consequence of the enclosed letter, which I have received from Mr. Adams, I beg leave to request of your excellency that the orders [to the French Minister at Philadelphia] therein mentioned, if not already sent, may be delayed till [Mr. Adams] has prepared the representations he proposed to lay before you on that subject, by which it will appear that these orders have been obtained by misinformation.¹¹⁷⁵

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 22d inst … I had … thought … to convince you that the French ought not to be confounded with the Americans and that there would be a manifest injustice in making them sustain the loss with which they are threatened.

The details into which you have thought proper to enter have not changed my sentiments; but I think all further discussion on this subject will be needless …

His Majesty is the more persuaded that Congress … will assuredly perceive that the French deserve a preference before other nations who have no treaty with America and who even have not, as yet, acknowledged her Independence.¹¹⁷⁶

You ask me, in accordance with Mr. Adams request, that the orders given to [our Minister Plenipotentiary to the U.S.] M. le Chevalier de Luzerne, in relation to the [devaluation] resolution of Congress … be revoked … because [Mr. Adams] is able to prove these orders to have been based on misinformation.

Mr. Adams, on the 22d instant, addressed to me a very long discussion on the matters in question; but his letter contains nothing but abstract arguments, hypotheses, and calculations which … are anything but analogous to those of the alliance which subsists between his Majesty and the United States …

The King is so persuaded, Monsieur, that your personal opinion … differs from that of Mr. Adams, that he does not apprehend giving you any embarrassment in soliciting you to support before Congress the representations which his minister is charged to lay before that body … The King expects that you will lay the whole before Congress, and His Majesty flatters himself that this senate, imbued with other principles than those developed by Mr. Adams, will satisfy His Majesty that it judges the French worthy of some consideration on its part, and that it knows how to appreciate the marks of interest which His Majesty does not cease to manifest towards the United States.¹¹⁷⁸

Saturday, July 1, 1780. Today, in another letter to the French Foreign Minister, John Adams stands firm:

I had this morning the honor of your letter of the 30th of June.

It is very certain that the representations from his Majesty … will be attended to by Congress … As in my letter of the 22d of last month, I urged such reasons as appeared to me incontestable …

I have the honor to agree with your Excellency in opinion that any further discussions of these questions is unnecessary.¹¹⁸⁰

Thursday, July 6, 1780. Today, from New Jersey, George Washington writes his brother-in-law, Fielding Lewis:

I may lament in the bitterness of my soul, that the fatal policy which has pervaded all our measures from the beginning of the War, and from which no experience however dear bought can change, should have reduced our army to … removing our Stores from place to place to keep them out of the way of the enemy instead of driving that enemy from our country—

It may be asked how these things have come to pass? the answer is plain-and may be ascribed to … a fatal jealousy [fear] (under our circumstances) of a Standing Army—by which means we neglected to obtain Soldiers for the War when zeal and patriotism run high, and men were eager to engage for a trifle or for nothing; the consequence of which has been that we have protracted the War—expended Millions and tens of Millions of pounds which might have been saved, and have a new Army to raise and discipline once or trice a year, and with which we can undertake nothing because we have nothing to build upon, as the men are slipping from us every day by means of their expiring enlistments. To these fundamental errors, may be added another which I expect will prove our ruin, and that is the relinquishment of Congressional powers to the States individually, all the business is now attempted, for it is not done, by a timid kind of recommendation from Congress to the States …

[W]e are attempting an impossibility and very soon shall become (if it is not already the case) a many headed Monster—a heterogenious mass—that never will or can steer to the same point. The contest among the different States now is not which shall do the most for the common cause—but which shall do least.¹¹⁸²

Whoever reads the correspondence of Mr. Washington will in truth find that, during a part of the war, his troops were commonly as his friends have intimated, “few and bad;” and they will equally find that the proximate causes of the fact which such as he describes, namely, the employment of a fluctuating militia instead of troops inlisted for suitable periods; the want of arms, the want of clothing; &c.—But Mr. Washington forgot to speak of the ulterior causes, most of which rested principally with himself. A man of spirit and address, for example, would have brought things to a short issue [to a head] … But Mr. Washington was too timid and frigid and too tenacious of his post. Perhaps he was afraid of hearing it retorted that his own bad generalship had caused the loss of many and various stores, and that an army was not likely to be kept steadily together which was dispirited by distress, defeat, and inactivity. A great man … like Hannibal … knows how to provide resources, even when neglected by his Legislature and his nation.¹¹⁸³

Monday, July 10, 1780. Today, Ben Franklin writes French Foreign Minister the Comte de Vergennes:

I received the letter your Excellency did me the honor of writing to me, dated June 30th, together with the papers accompanying it, containing the correspondence of Mr Adams … [I]n this I am clear, that if the operation [of the dollar devaluation] directed by Congress … occasions, from the necessity of the case, some inequality of justice, that inconvenience ought to fall wholly on the inhabitants of the United States who reap with it the advantages obtained by the measure; and that the greatest care should be taken that foreign merchants, particularly the French, who are our creditors, do not suffer by it. This I am so confident the Congress will do …¹¹⁸⁴

Today, the large French fleet under Admiral de Ternay (carrying the 5,500-man French army under General Rochambeau) arrives at Newport, Rhode Island.¹¹⁸⁵

It cannot be too much lamented that our preparations are still so greatly behind-hand. Not a thousand Men that I have heard of have yet joined the army …¹¹⁸⁶

Today, in Paris, unaware that France has sent a fleet of warships (which arrived in Newport on Monday), John Adams urges French Foreign Minister Vergennes to provide more naval assistance:

Most people in Europe have wondered at the inactivity of the American army for these two years past … The true cause of it is, the English have confined themselves to their strong holds in seaport towns, and have been sheltered from all attacks and insults by the guns of their men-of-war, and forever will be so, while they have superiority at sea …

The English, ever since the alliance, have been fearfully apprehensive of an attack upon their strong hold upon the coast by the French. This is what induced them to retreat from Philadelphia to New York …

I beg leave to entreat in the most earnest manner that a powerful fleet may be ordered to winter somewhere in North America …

[T]he state of things in North America has really become alarming, and this merely for the want of a few French men-of-war upon that coast.¹¹⁸⁷

Monday, July 17, 1780. Today, John Adams resumes discussion with the French Foreign Minister about his commissions to negotiate peace and commercial treaties with Britain:

In your Excellency’s letter to me of the 24th of February last, I was honored with your opinion … “With regard to the full powers which authorize you to negotiate a treaty of commerce with the Court of London, I think it will be prudent not to communicate them to … the British Ministry …”

I should have been very happy if your Excellency had hinted at the reasons, which were then in your mind, because … I am not able to collect any reasons …¹¹⁸⁸

Tuesday, July 18, 1780. Furious that Vergennes won’t allow him to deal with Britain, today John Adams writes his American confidant Edmund Jenings:

I had myself the honour to be the first who ventured to break the Tie in Congress on the subject of foreign alliances—and to contend against very great Men, whom I will not name at present, that it was the interest and Policy of France to Support our Independency … that we ought not to give France any exclusive Priviledges … That diminshing the Power of the natural Enemy of France … was quite enough to make it her interest to support us … and if my Life should be Spared I am determined Posterity shall know which was my Treaty and which was other Peoples Treaty.¹¹⁸⁹

Thursday, July 20, 1780. Today, in Paris, French Foreign Minister Vergennes informs John Adams that France has already sent to America the fleet Adams requested:

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 13th of this month … The [Admiral] Chevalier de Ternay and the [General] Count de Rochambeau are sent [to America] with the express design which is the subject of your letter. They will concert their operations with Congress and with General Washington …

You will perceive, Sir, by this detail that the King is far from abandoning the cause of America and that his Majesty, without having been solicited by Congress, has taken effectual measures to support the cause of America.¹¹⁹⁰

Saturday, July 22, 1780. Today, in the United States, George Washington writes the Continental Congress:

I have sent on definitive proposals of co-operation to the French General and Admiral … The die is cast, and it remains with the States either to fulfil their engagements, preserve their credit, and support their independence, or to involve us in disgrace and defeat.¹¹⁹¹

Tuesday, July 25, 1780. Today, in Paris, the French Foreign Minister answers John Adams’ letter of the 17th:

I have received the letter, which you have done me the honor to write on the 17th of this month. I have read it with the most serious attention … I persist in thinking that the time to communicate your Plenipotentiary power to [British Colonial Secretary] Lord [George] Germain is not yet come, and you will find [with this letter] the reasons on which I ground my opinion. I have no doubt you will feel the force of them, and that they will determine you to think with me. But if that should not be the case, I pray you, and even require you, in the name of the King, to communicate your letter and my answer to the United States and to suspend until you shall receive orders from them, all measures with regard to the English Ministry.¹¹⁹²

Wednesday, July 26, 1780. Today, John Adams writes a stiff reply to the Comte de Vergennes on the issue of Adams’ peace commission:

I have received the letter which your excellency did me the honour to write on the 25th of this month …

I shall transmit [my letter and your excellency’s answer] to Congress …

There is a great body of people in America as determined as any to support their independence and their alliances, who, notwithstanding, wish that no measure may be left unattempted by Congress or their servants to manifest their readiness for peace …

I can not … agree in the sentiment that proposing a treaty of peace and commerce [to Britain] is discovering a great deal of weakness …

Your excellency’s letter will convince [Congress] that my apprehensions were wrong, and your advice will undoubtedly be followed, as it ought to be; for they cannot promise themselves any advantages from the communication [with the British] equivalent to the inconveniency of taking a measure of this kind—which ought not to be done but in concert—against the opinion of the ministry of France.¹¹⁹³

Thursday, July 27, 1780. Today, John Adams responds unappreciatively to French Foreign Minister Vergennes’ disclosure that a fleet and army have been dispatched to America:

Since my letter of the 21st, and upon reading over again your Excellency’s letter to me of the 20th, I observed one expression, … “that the king, without having been solicited by the Congress, had taken measures …”

Upon this part of your letter, I must entreat your Excellency to recollect that Congress did as long ago as 1776, before Mr. Franklin was sent off to France, instruct him … to solicit the King for six ships of the line … But if it was only suspected by Congress that a direct application from them to the king was expected, I am assured that they would not hesitate a moment to make it …

I certainly will not disguise my sentiments from your Excellency …¹¹⁹⁴

Saturday, July 29, 1780. Today, obviously upset, the French Foreign Minister writes John Adams:

I have received the letter, which you did me the honor to write on the 27th of this month. When I took upon myself to give you a mark of my confidence by informing you of the destination of Messrs de Ternay and Rochambeau, I did not expect the animadversion which you have thought it your duty to make on a passage of my letter of the 20th of this month. To avoid any further discussions of that sort, I think it my duty to inform you that Mr. Franklin being the sole person who has letters of credence to the King from the United States, it is with him only that I ought and can treat of matters which concern them …¹¹⁹⁵

Monday, July 31, 1780. Today, French Foreign Minister Vergennes writes Ben Franklin:

The character with which you are invested … induce me to communicate to you a correspondence which I have had with Mr Adams.

You will find, I think, in the letters of that Plenipotentiary, opinions and a turn which do not correspond either with the manner in which I explained myself to him or with the intimate connexion which subsists between the King and the United States … I desire, that you will transmit them to Congress that they may know the line of conduct which Mr. Adams pursues with regard to us, and that they may judge whether he is endowed, as Congress no doubt desires, with that conciliating spirit which is necessary for the important and delicate business with which he is intrusted.¹¹⁹⁶

I know of no right that any government has to require of an ambassador from a foreign power to transmit to his constituents any complaints against his colleagues, much less to write libels against them … [Franklin] proved himself, however, a willing auxiliary, but it was at the expense of his duty and his character …

It seems that the Count was not perfectly satisfied that his first letter, of the 30th of June, and the Doctor’s representations to Congress in obedience to it, would be sufficient to accomplish all his purposes. This thunderbolt, flaming and deadly as it was, must be followed by another still more loud and terrible, to bellow throughout America, and consequently, over all the world. On the 31st of July, 1780, he writes another letter to Dr. Franklin, in which he more distinctly explains his design and desire to get Mr. Adams removed from his commission for peace …

The expressions “that congress may judge …” brought the matter home to the business and bosoms of congress. The design could no longer be concealed. I had no other business at that time confided to me but my commissions for peace and a treaty of commerce with Great Britain. The latter he intended to destroy, and in this he succeeded.¹¹⁹⁷

With the French government refusing to deal any longer with John Adams, Mr. Adams leaves France for the Netherlands, where he will spend two frustrating years (until the American Revolution is won!) before obtaining Dutch recognition and a commercial treaty.¹¹⁹⁸ Benjamin Franklin:

He is gone to Holland to try, as he told me, whether something might not be done to render us a little less dependent on France.¹¹⁹⁹

Monday, August 7, 1780. Today, French Foreign Minister Vergennes transmits his correspondence with John Adams to the new French minister, the Chevalier de La Luzerne, in the United States. He also instructs his new minister:

I give you these details, Monsieur, in order that you confer confidentially with the President [of Congress] and principal members of the Congress, and thus enable them to judge whether the character of Mr. Adams is such as to qualify him for the important task confided to him by Congress. As far as I am concerned, I foresee that this plenipotentiary will do nothing but raise difficulties and cause vexation on account of a stubbornness, a pedantry, a self-sufficiency and a self-conceit which render him incapable of handling political questions, and especially of treating with the representatives of the great powers who, assuredly, will not accommodate themselves either to the tone or logic of Mr. Adams. These reflections seem to me to deserve all the more attention because this plenipotentiary … seems to me to be only very feebly attached to the alliance; so that it would cost him nothing to take steps which would imply the ingratitude of the United States, whilst the opposite sentiment forms the basis of his instructions. Is such an agent suitable for us, can he be suitable for the United States?¹²⁰¹

Wednesday, August 9, 1780. Today, Ben Franklin writes the Continental Congress:

Mr. Adams has given offence to the Court here, by some sentiments and expressions contained in several of his letters written to the Count de Vergennes. I mention this with reluctance … I send them herewith. Mr. Adams did not show me his letters before he sent them … Mr. Adams … seems to have endeavored supplying what he may suppose my negotiations defective in. He thinks, as he tells me himself, that America has been too free in expressions of gratitude to France; for that she is more obliged to us than we to her; and that we should show spirit in our applications. I apprehend that he mistakes his ground, and that this Court is to be treated with decency and delicacy. The King, a young and virtuous Prince, has I am persuaded, a pleasure in reflecting on the generous benevolence of the action in assisting an oppressed people, and proposes it as part of the glory of his reign. I think it right to increase his pleasure by our thankful acknowledgments, and that such an expression of gratitude is not only our duty, but our interest … Mr. Adams, on the other hand … seems to think … a greater air of independence and boldness in our demands will procure us more ample assistance. It is for the Congress to judge and regulate their affairs accordingly.

M. de Vergennes, who appears very much offended, told me yesterday that he would enter into no further discussions with Mr. Adams, nor answer any more of his letters … [Mr. Adams] says the ideas of this Court and those of the people in America are so totally different that it is impossible for any Minister to please both … But … I cannot imagine that he mistakes the sentiments of a few for a general opinion …¹²⁰²

Dr. Franklin’s “reluctance” upon this occasion, I believe, was not implicitly believed by congress, if it was by any individual member of that sagacious body. Sure I am that I have never given the smallest credit to it. The majority … saw, as I have always seen, that it was Dr. Franklin’s heart’s desire to avail himself of these means and this opportunity to strike Mr. Adams out of existence as a public minister, and get himself into his place …

I now leave your readers to judge whether the Doctor had sufficient reason to complain to congress against me for officially intermeddling in his department and this from ennui and idleness … This affair of the currency was no more in his department than it was in mine … I had as good a right to answer [the Count] as the Doctor had. It is true I did not show my letters to the Doctor. I was not desired by the Count to consult with him. I had no doubt upon the subject. From a year’s residence with him, in 1778 and 1779, in the same family, I knew his extreme indolence and dissipation, and consequently, that I might call upon him half a dozen times and not find him at home; and if I found him, it might be a week before I could get his opinion, and perhaps never …

“He thinks that America has been too free in expressions of gratitude to France; for that she is more obliged to us than we to her.” I cannot, or at least will not deny this accusation, for it was my opinion at that time, has been ever since, and is so now …¹²⁰³

Saturday, August 12, 1780. Today, in Geneva, Switzerland, Benny Bache turns eleven years old. Living under the tutelage of Gabriel Louis Galissard de Marignac (a regent of the college and academy of Geneva), Benny attends school from half past seven in the morning to seven in the evening, six days a week. As a New Year’s greeting to his grandfather at the beginning of this year, Benny wrote,

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE DUKE OF BRAINTREE