Contents TREATY COMMISSIONER AND MINISTER TO THE NETHERLANDS AND TO GREAT BRITAIN, 1784–1788 To Joseph Reed, February 11, 1784 Washington’s Character ....................... 3 To Charles Spener, March 24, 1784 “Three grand Objects” ........................ 4 To the Marquis de Lafayette, March 28, 1784 Chivalric Orders ............................ 5 To Samuel Adams, May 4, 1784 “Justice may not be done me” ................... 6 To John Quincy Adams, June 1784 “The Art of writing Letters”................... 8 From the Diary: June 22–July 10, 1784 ............. 9 To Abigail Adams, July 26, 1784 “The happiest Man upon Earth”................ 10 To Abigail Adams 2nd, July 27, 1784 Keeping a Journal .......................... 12 To James Warren, August 27, 1784 Diplomatic Salaries ......................... 13 To Benjamin Waterhouse, April 23, 1785 John Quincy’s Education ..................... 15 To Elbridge Gerry, May 2, 1785 “Kinds of Vanity” .......................... 16 From the Diary: May 3, 1785 ..................... 23 To John Jay, June 2, 1785 Meeting George III ......................... 24 To Samuel Adams, August 15, 1785 “The contagion of luxury” .................... 28 xi 9781598534665_Adams_Writings_791165.indb 11 12/10/15 8:38 AM xii CONteNtS To John Jebb, August 21, 1785 Salaries for Public Officers .................... 29 To John Jebb, September 10, 1785 “The first Step of Corruption”.................. 33 To Thomas Jefferson, February 17, 1786 The Ambassador from Tripoli .................. 38 To William White, February 28, 1786 Religious Liberty ........................... 41 To Matthew Robinson-Morris, March 4–20, 1786 Liberty and Commerce....................... 42 To Granville Sharp, March 8, 1786 The Slave Trade............................ 45 To Matthew Robinson-Morris, March 23, 1786 American Debt ............................ 46 From the Diary: March 30, 1786 .................. 49 Notes on a Tour of England with Thomas Jefferson, April 1786 ................................ 49 From the Diary: April 19, 1786 ................... 52 To Charles Adams, June 2, 1786 “A schollar is always made alone” ............... 52 From the Diary: July 1, 1786 ..................... 53 To Richard Cranch, July 4, 1786 Nabby’s Marriage .......................... 54 From the Diary: July 21, 1786 .................... 55 To Rufus King, November 29, 1786 Tumult in New England ..................... 56 To James Warren, January 9, 1787 “Popularity was never my Mistress”.............. 57 To Thomas Boylston Adams, January 15, 1787 “We are not born for ourselves alone” ............ 59 To Cotton Tufts, August 27, 1787 Buying Land in Braintree .................... 60 9781598534665_Adams_Writings_791165.indb 12 12/10/15 8:38 AM CONteNtS xiii To Thomas Jefferson, October 9, 1787 Keeping Resolutions ......................... 61 To Thomas Jefferson, December 6, 1787 The New Constitution ....................... 63 FROM A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Vol. I, 1787....... 64 FROM A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Vol. III, 1788 ..... 110 To John Quincy Adams, January 23, 1788 Oratory .................................. 161 To Cotton Tufts, January 23, 1788 “Trying the Experiment” ..................... 162 To Cotton Tufts, February 12, 1788 Amending the Constitution ................... 163 To Thomas Brand Hollis, April 5, 1788 “A balance of three branches” .................. 164 To Thomas Brand Hollis, December 3, 1788 Balancing Vanity and Comfort ................ 166 VICE PRESIDENT, 1789–1797 To Elbridge Gerry, March 20, 1789 The Presidential Election ..................... 171 Inaugural Address as Vice President, April 21, 1789 .... 172 From the Diary of William Maclay: April 25–May 8, 1789........................ 174 To Benjamin Lincoln, May 8, 1789 Monarchy and Aristocracy .................... 188 From the Diary of William Maclay: May 9–14, 1789 . 190 To George Washington, May 17, 1789 Presidential Protocol ........................ 201 To Nathaniel Peaslee Sargeant, May 22, 1789 “We are in great danger” .................... 203 To Abigail Adams, May 24, 1789 A House in New York ....................... 206 9781598534665_Adams_Writings_791165.indb 13 12/10/15 8:38 AM xiv CONteNtS From the Diary of William Maclay: May 26–28, 1789 .. 208 To William Tudor Sr., May 28, 1789 Official Titles .............................. 215 To Jeremy Belknap, June 5, 1789 “Human passions are insatiable” ............... 217 To Richard Peters, June 5, 1789 “The avarice of Liberty” ...................... 217 To Benjamin Rush, June 9, 1789 “Fatal Divisions” ........................... 219 To Benjamin Rush, June 19, 1789 Republican Governments . 221 To William Tudor Sr., June 28, 1789 National and State Sovereignty ................ 222 To Benjamin Rush, July 5, 1789 “The Constitution of human nature” ............ 224 To Roger Sherman, July 17, 1789 Species of Governments ....................... 226 To Roger Sherman, July 18, 1789 “A monarchical Republic” .................... 228 To Roger Sherman, July 20, 1789 Appointments and the Senate .................. 231 To John Trumbull, January 13, 1790 “You read yourself to death” ................... 235 To John Trumbull, March 12, 1790 Ancestry and Principles ...................... 236 To Benjamin Rush, April 4, 1790 Franklin and Washington .................... 242 To Thomas Brand Hollis, June 11, 1790 The Few and the Many ...................... 245 To George Washington, August 29, 1790 Preserving Neutrality ....................... 247 To John Quincy Adams, October 4, 1790 “Nil Admirari Nil contemni” ................. 250 9781598534665_Adams_Writings_791165.indb 14 12/10/15 8:38 AM CONteNtS xv To Samuel Adams, October 18, 1790 Republics and Nobility ...................... 251 FROM Discourses on Davila, 1790–1791 . 258 To Charles Storer, March 16, 1791 The Boston Massacre ........................ 290 To Thomas Jefferson, July 29, 1791 “A direct and open personal attack” ............. 291 To Abigail Adams, December 28, 1792 “Four years more” .......................... 294 To Abigail Adams, January 9, 1793 “This miserable Scramble” .................... 295 To Abigail Adams, February 3, 1793 The Trial of Louis XVI ...................... 297 To Charles Adams, December 23, 1793 “Flowers of Jacobinical Rhetorick” .............. 298 To Charles Adams, January 9–10, 1794 “The modern Doctrine of Equality” ............. 300 To Charles Adams, February 24, 1794 “A moral Equality only” ..................... 301 To Charles Adams, May 11, 1794 Chimerical Systems ......................... 303 To Charles Adams, May 17, 1794 Uncontrolled Power and Passions ............... 305 To Charles Adams, December 24, 1794 “The Follies of the Times” ..................... 307 To Winthrop Sargent, January 24, 1795 “The dirty Torrent of dissolving Europe” .......... 308 To John Trumbull, February 13, 1795 “One of my remarkable Cures”................. 309 To Charles Adams, February 14, 1795 Popularity and Party Spirit . 310 To Jeremy Belknap, March 21, 1795 Slavery in Massachusetts ..................... 313 9781598534665_Adams_Writings_791165.indb 15 12/10/15 8:38 AM xvi CONteNtS To Jeremy Belknap, October 22, 1795 “Justice to the Negroes” ...................... 314 To Abigail Adams, March 11, 1796 “The Ennui of Life” ......................... 315 From the Diary: July 12–September 8, 1796 ......... 316 To Abigail Adams, January 9, 1797 Hamilton’s Hypocrisy ........................ 322 To Abigail Adams, February 4, 1797 Financial Difficulties ........................ 323 Farewell Address to the Senate, February 15, 1797 ..... 324 PRESIDENT, 1797–1801 Inaugural Address, March 4, 1797................. 329 To Abigail Adams, March 5, 1797 The Inaugural Ceremony ..................... 335 To Henry Knox, March 30, 1797 “The late Election” ......................... 336 To Oliver Wolcott Jr., April 14, 1797 Crisis with France ............................ 338 Address to Congress in Special Session, May 16, 1797.............................. 340 To Elbridge Gerry, May 30, 1797 “A Strong Antigallican Party” ................ 348 To the Citizens Committee of Boston and Vicinity, August 7, 1797 “Calumnies and Contempts” .................. 350 To William Walter, October 1797 Writing the “Defence” ....................... 351 First Annual Message to Congress, November 23, 1797 . ........................ 353 To Timothy Pickering, January 24, 1798 Contemplating War with France ............... 359 Message to Congress on Relations with France, March 19, 1798 ............................ 361 9781598534665_Adams_Writings_791165.indb 16 12/10/15 8:38 AM CONteNtS xvii Proclamation of a Fast Day, March 23, 1798 ......... 363 To the Mayor and Citizens of Philadelphia, April 23, 1798 “The prospect of Unanimity” .................. 365 To the Grand Jury for Plymouth County, Massachusetts, May 28, 1798 “Plundered, by professed Friends” ............... 366 To the Second Battalion of Militia of Prince George County, Virginia, June 6, 1798 French “Ambition and Avarice” ................ 367 To the Citizens of Richmond, Virginia, June 10, 1798 Dangers of Foreign Influence . 368 To the Citizens of Concord, Massachusetts, June 25, 1798 Forgetting British Injuries .................... 369 To George Washington, July 7, 1798 “The urgent necessity” ....................... 370 To the Citizens of Harrison County, Virginia, August 13, 1798 “A Union of sentiment” ...................... 371 To the Greens & Whites Cavalry Troop