John Adams Settles His Personal Accounts on the European Continent and Pays for His Wine for the New U.S. Embassy, On the Day He Leaves for London to Assume His Post As First U.S. Ambassador to Britain
An unpublished document on one of the most famous purchases of wine relating to America's Founding Fathers.
Also signed by Adrien Petit, chief butler and wine steward for both Adams and then Thomas Jefferson; Some of this wine he gifted to Jefferson
Since April of 1782, when he helped negotiate the first recognition of the United States by a European nation, John Adams had been Ambassador to the Netherlands....
Also signed by Adrien Petit, chief butler and wine steward for both Adams and then Thomas Jefferson; Some of this wine he gifted to Jefferson
Since April of 1782, when he helped negotiate the first recognition of the United States by a European nation, John Adams had been Ambassador to the Netherlands. In 1784 he moved to Paris where he, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson formed a commission to negotiate treaties of recognition and commerce with European nations. While in Paris, he had a home in the outskirts of the French capital, in Auteuil. His chief butler, the man who handled his personal finances and helped run his home, was Adrien Petit.
In 1785, Adams accepted an even more consequential assignment, that of the first U.S. Minister to the Court of St. James, thus serving as the first American Ambassador to its former foe. He was elated, but would sorely miss his home in Paris.
May 20, 1785, was an eventful day for Adams: the day he left Paris to assume his mission to Britain. That day he met with the French Foreign Minister de Vergennes at Versailles to discuss the hostilities with Northern African states, but also to bid farewell to the Court of the French King. That afternoon he returned to Auteuil to settle his affairs with Petit before departing for London.
Adams, like many before and after, recognized that his selection of wine for the Ambassadorial residence would be better in Paris than in London. He had a taste for French wine and ordered Petit to buy some and have it shipped to London. After accomplishing this final task for Adams, Petit would become the chief butler of the new U.S. Ambassador to France, Thomas Jefferson. On May 20, Adams paid Petit his final salary, and monies for whatever might arise, and he also compensated him for his purchase of the wine to follow him to London to his embassy there. In "Passions: The Wines and Travels of Thomas Jefferson," author James Gabler describes Adams' purchase in May 1785, of "500 bottles of French wine," which would join a selection from Bordeaux, Gaillac, Madeira, and other regions in France.
Autograph document signed, Auteuil, May 20, 1785, being Adams' receipt of payment to Petit to settle his accounts with him, his wine purchases, and other "demands." "Recd of John Adams Esqr two hundred and twenty three livres in full for Wages and Wine and all demands.." It is also signed by Adrien Petit.
This was not the end of the saga of Adams' wine, nor Petit's and Jefferson's involvement. On May 26, Adams arrived in London. He hastily wrote Jefferson the next day, making mention of his arrival but quickly turning to more pressing concerns. "Upon enquiry I find that I cannot be exempted from paying duties upon my Wines, because no foreign minister is." He asked Jefferson to halt his order of wine in a series of heated letters. "For mercy sake, stop all of my wine but the Bordeaux and Madeira and Frontenac. And stop my order to Rouen for 500 additional bottles. I shall be ruined…" Among the wine he had ordered was 215 bottles of red wine from Gaillac, probably Cahusac, Gabler notes. This he gifted to Jefferson, and it was accepted.
Adams' letters were too late to stop the boat from departing, and Petit did not succeed in stopping the shipment; it was, however, held up in Rouen. In any case, the new U.S. Ambassador did manage to get the duties lifted and the wine was shipped. So this wine did greet his visitors at the dinner table, both at Jefferson's residence in Paris and at the Adams dinner table in London. It is perhaps one of the most famous purchases of wine relating to America's Founding Fathers.
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