President John Adams Praises American Freedom and Scorns Kings and Dictators

He references “the inestimable value of those [American] laws and on the distinction as well as security, of the freedom which they confer exclusively upon us and the country of our ancestors…The present Rulers in France have indeed…a Contempt for our Government and national Character: But I cannot find that they have respected any People, but such as are governed by Kings or any Government but Monarchies and Military Dictatorships.”

In 1794, with war having broken out on the Continent, the U.S. dispatched John Jay to London to negotiate a treaty with the British. The Jay Treaty, signed in 1795, sought to settle issues unresolved after the Revolutionary War, among them rights of U.S. and other neutral vessels and impressment by the British. The French, at war with Britain, viewed this act with hostility, even though it proved largely ineffective in the end. In the meantime, the newly developing political party system was dividing America based on sympathies with nations in Europe, with some, among them Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists, who favored closer relations with Britain and others, among them Thomas Jefferson, siding with France.

In 1796, Charles Coteworth Pinckney succeeded James Monroe as minister to France. Monroe had been popular in France and Pinckney was a Federalist. The French government (then the Directory) refused to receive him, and he retired to the Netherlands. French attacks on American ships began happening regularly and stirred anti-French sentiments in the U.S., where many beat the drum for war. President John Adams called a special session of Congress, and on May 16, 1797, he sent a message to Congress supporting a military buildup. However, Adams also decided to send a delegation to France hoping to improve relations. Elbridge Gerry and John Marshall would meet Pinckney in Paris. They were instructed to treat with France but not to do anything detrimental to their treaty with Britain.

From the start, this mission was met with resistance. In 1797, a more conservative French government took power and it was even less inclined to deal with the Federalists than had been policy previously. The ministers from America were not formally recognized by the government and instead were forced to negotiate with secret French diplomats Jean-Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy, and Lucien Hauteval, who were labeled X, Y and Z, who worked for French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand. What made matters worse, the French government, through these informal discussions, demanded an apology and a large bribe from the Americans before even sitting down officially at the negotiating table. All three ministers rejected this outright. Marshall wrote a long dispatch to Secretary of State Pickering on November 8 and this would be leaked to the press in the U.S., enflaming public opinion.

The American political divisions were well-known in France. Pinckney and Marshall were Federalists and the French government treated them in a hostile manner, feeling they were acting with British interests in mind. Gerry, though a moderate, was considered somewhat in the French camp. Many times, Talleyrand agreed to meet with Gerry privately and even offered to negotiate only with him, a proposition that all three American rejected, as their credentials authorized them to treat with the French only as a group. In March of 1798, the Directory determined to issue passports for Marshall and Pinckney, sending them home to get them out of the way, while retaining Gerry.

The push for war with France was gaining steam. On March 19 1798, Adams asked Congress to arm American vessels, shore up our coastal defenses, and manufacture arms. Jefferson bitterly criticized Adams’ message, and in a letter to James Madison, hoped to stall events for as long as possible, stating “if we could but gain this season, we should be saved. The affairs of Europe would of themselves relieve us.” In response to Adams, Jeffersonian Republican congressmen introduced resolutions to support building up coastal and internal defenses, but not arming of ships. Also, they felt a declaration of war was inexpedient. But by keeping Gerry and releasing the rest, the French appeared to be intentionally dividing the Americans at home. Moreover, the actions of Citizen Genet, French minister in the U.S., seemed to support the contention that France was attempting to pit Americans against their own government. Then, on April 2, the entire content of the letters from Europe exposing the XYZ bribery scandal were made public by Adams, and caused an uproar, even among Jeffersonians.

President Adams stood firm, his popularity skyrocketed. He received a powerful note from his own home county of Norfolk, in which his residence in Quincy lay. On August 23, 1798, Nehemiah Fales and his cohort from Norfolk County wrote to Adams, praising his “purity, firmness and wisdom”, saying “our freedom and laws are invaded by the hostile aggressions…of France”, and “that it is better to support our Government and independence by the sword, than to maintain…a scandalous peace, by tribute. “The Grand Jury for the County of Norfolk cannot depart from the exercise of the duties assigned them by the laws of the land, without reflecting on the inestimable value of those laws and on the distinction as well as security, of the freedom which they confer exclusively upon us and the country of our ancestors. Reflections of this sort have been feelingly and deeply impressed upon us by the excellent charge of the Honorable Chief Justice, and we conceive are proper to be indulged at a time, when our freedom and laws are invaded by the hostile aggressions, and still more by the insidious arts of France, as they lead us coolly to confirm by our judgment, the prompt decision of our feelings, that it is better to support our Government and independence by the sword, than to maintain, (even if it could be so maintained) a scandalous peace, by tribute. This we believe is also the decision of the nation, as we exult to perceive it is of its Government, and had it been as well known two years ago by France, and that Americans did not really want the spirit, which they have been so tardy and so loth to display, we form for ourselves the belief, that our country would have escaped the disgrace, which the doubt of its spirit inflicted, as well as the war, which the unmerited contempt for our Government and national character has emboldened domestic faction to invite, and France to wage.

“We acknowledge with gratitude, that this mistake, and the outrages, to which it has led the Directory are not justly attributable to the executive Government of America. Indeed every true republican is greatly indebted, and ought to be grateful to you, Sir, and to your illustrious predecessor for administering our Government with such purity, firmness and wisdom, as have essentially contributed to its reputation, as well as success. This County, boasting the honor of your birth and residence and its inhabitants being acquainted with your private character, as a citizen, the Grand jury conceive themselves authorized to offer this tribute of their affection and respect to you, as Chief Magistrate. May your life be long, and may the remainder of it be no less useful to your Country, than the past!”

President Adams replied with passion and gratitude. Letter signed, as President, Quincy, Mass., August 28, 1798, to Fales and his fellow citizens of Norfolk, citing the “inestimable Value” of American laws and institutions, and of the “Freedom they confer”, and accusing France of only respecting countries governed by kings or dictators. “To the Grand Jury of the County of Norfolk, in the State of Massachusetts. Gentlemen: “I thank you for the obliging Address you agreed on at the Supreme Court in Dedham on the twenty third of this Month, and transmitted to me, through the Chief Justice of the State. It is not possible for a Grand Jury of honest and Sensible Men, to fullfill the Duties assigned them by the Laws of the Land, without reflecting on the inestimable Value of those Laws, and the distinction as well as Security of the Freedom they confer exclusively upon Us and the Country of our Ancestors. Reflections of this sort were becoming the Character and station of the great Magistrate who presided.

“I really question whether France ever doubted of the Spirit of Americans. She depended more on their Ignorance of the World and their Unsuspecting Innocence and Simplicity. The present Rulers in France have indeed discovered by Symptoms that cannot be misunderstood, a Contempt for our Government and national Character: But I cannot find that they have respected any People, but such as are governed by Kings or any Government but Monarchies and Military Dictatorships. I thank you for your Acknowledgment of me as a native of your County. Had the order of Providence permitted me to Select the Place of my Birth and Residence I would have chosen no other. Although my Life cannot be much longer, I wish it may be continued as long as you shall acknowledge it to be useful.”

This letter inspires, and that it was made to his own fellow citizens in his home county makes it all the better.