seized this dubious chance to put in writing
remarks which a prudent statesman would not
have uttered in conversation without sealing
every keyhole. To General Warren he began :
"I am determined to write freely to you this
time," and thoroughly did he fulfill this determi
nation. The other letter to his wife was a little
less distinctly outspoken ; but between the two
the doings and the plans of Adams and his ad
vanced friends in Congress were boldly sketched,
and some very harsh remarks were indulged in
concerning delegates who were not fully in har
mony with him. In Rhode Island the British
intercepted the bearer and captured the letters,
which were at once published and widely dis
tributed on both sides of the water. They
were construed as plainly showing that some
at least among the Americans were aiming at
independence ; and they made a great turmoil,
stimulating resentment in the mother country,
alarming the moderates in the provinces, and
corroborating the extreme charges of the Tories.
It was afterward insisted that they did more
good than harm, because they caused lines to
be drawn sharply and hastened the final issue.
Adams himself sought consolation in this view
of the matter in his autobiography. But if
THE SECOND SESSION OF CONGRESS 101
this effect was really produced, yet it could
not have been foreseen, and it therefore con
stituted no excuse for Mr. Adams s reckless
ness, which had been almost incredible.
Neither did this dimly visible result act as
an immediate shelter against the flight of evils
from this Pandora s box. To Warren, Adams
had said: "A certain great fortune and pid
dling genius, whose fame has been trumpeted
so loudly, has given a silly cast to our whole
doings." He closed the letter to his wife with
this unfinished sentence : " The fidgets, the
whims, the caprice, the vanity, the superstition,
the irritability of some of us are enough to ; "
words failed him for the expression of his dis
gust. "No mortal tale can equal it," as he
had already said. The " piddling genius " was
easily recognized as Mr. Dickinson, and the un
fortunate victims of the fidgets, etc., were of
course the conciliationists. Widespread wrath
naturally ensued ; and Mr. Adams was made
for a while extremely uncomfortable. Dickin
son cut him ; many more treated him little
better ; he walked the streets a marked and
unpopular man, shunned, distrusted, and dis
liked by many. He put the best face he could
upon it, and said that the letters did not amount
to so very much, after all the talk about them ;
but it is plain enough that he would have been
102 JOHN ADAMS
glad to recall them. If they were nothing
worse, at least they were crying evidence of his
incorrigible and besetting weakness. He lived
to be an old man and had his full share of
severe lessons, but neither years nor mortifica
tions could ever teach him to curb his hasty,
ungovernable tongue. The little member was
too much for him to the end, great, wise, and
strong-willed as he was.
CHAPTER V
INDEPENDENCE
CONGRESS adjourned for the summer vaca
tion of 1775, which enabled Mr. Adams to
spend August at home. But during nearly all
this brief recess he was busy with the provincial
executive council, and got little rest. On the
last day of the month he set out again for
Philadelphia, where he arrived in the middle
of September. In addition to public cares, he
was for many weeks harassed with ill news
from home. Dysentery became epidemic in
the neighborhood of Boston during this sum
mer and autumn. His brother had died of it
before he left home ; his wife s mother died in
September ; his wife herself and three of his
four children were in turn stricken with the
disease. Besides these troubles, the complex
ion of Congress gave him much disquietude.
During the recess a reaction had set in, or at
best the momentum acquired prior to the ad
journment had been wholly lost. From the
first secret committee Massachusetts was con
spicuously omitted. Dickinson, Deane, and Jay,
104 JOHN ADAMS
conciliationists all, seemed to lead a majority,
and to give color to the actions of the whole
body. Those unfortunate letters of Mr. Adams
had been efficiently used by the moderates to
alarm the many who dreaded political convul
sion, prolonged war, and schemes for independ
ence. Even old friends and coadjutors of the
detected correspondent now looked coldly on
him, since intimacy with him had become more
than ever compromising. Yet he stood stoutly
to his purposes.
" I assure you," he wrote to his wife, " the letters
had no such bad effects as the Tories intended and as
some of our short-sighted Whigs apprehended ; so far
otherwise that I see and hear every day fresh proofs
that everybody is coming fast into every political
sentiment contained in them. I assure you I could
mention compliments passed upon them, and if a seri
ous decision could be had upon them, the public voice
would be found in their favor."
More and more zealously he was giving his
whole heart and soul, his life and prospects, to
the great cause. Almost every day he was
engaged in debate; almost every day he had
something to say about instituting state govern
ments, about the folly of petitions to the king
and of conciliatory measures. A paragraph
from one of his letters to his wife, October 7,
1775, though long, is worth quoting, to show the
INDEPENDENCE 105
intense and lofty spirit which animated him in
these critical days :
" The situation of things is so alarming that it is
our duty to prepare our minds and hearts for every
event, even the worst. From my earliest entrance
into life I have been engaged in the public cause of
America; and from first to last I have had upon
my mind a strong impression that things would be
wrought up to their present crisis. I saw from the
beginning that the controversy was of such a nature
that it never would be settled, and every day con
vinces me more and more. This has been the source
of all the disquietude of my life. It has lain down
and risen up with me these twelve years. The
thought that we might be driven to the sad necessity
of breaking our connection with Great Britain, ex
clusive of the carnage and destruction which it was
easy to see must attend the separation, always gave
me a great deal of grief. And even now I would
gladly retire from public life forever, renounce all
chance for profits or honors from the public, nay,
I would cheerfully contribute my little property, to
obtain peace and liberty. But all these must go and
my life too before I can surrender the right of my
country to a free Constitution. I dare not consent
to it. I should be the most miserable of mortals ever
after, whatever honors or emoluments might surround
me."
Solemn words of faith and self-devotion ! Yet
the man who spoke them was still a subject
106 JOHN ADAMS
of Great Britain, a rebel. No wonder that he
chafed at the names, and longed rather to be
called a free citizen and a patriot.
In spite of the hostility which he had excited,
he was acquiring great influence. His energy
and capacity for business compelled recogni
tion at a time when there was more work to be
done than hands to do it. The days of feast
ing and of comfortable discussion at the tables
of Philadelphia magnates belonged to the past.
Hard labor had succeeded to those banquetings.
Adams thus sketches his daily round in the
autumn of 1775 : " I am really engaged in con
stant business from seven to ten in the morning
in committee, from ten to four in Congress, and
from six to ten again in committee." The
incessant toiling injured by degrees his consti
tution, and within a few months he began to
fear that he should break down before his two
great objects, independence and a confederation,
could be attained, at the present creeping pace,
as it seemed to him.
This lukewarmness, so prevalent this autumn,
struck him the more painfully because he had
just come from a neighborhood where the
aroused people were waging real war, and had
set their hot hands to the plow with a dogged
determination to drive it to the end of the fur
row. The change to the tepid patriotism of the
INDEPENDENCE 107
Quaker City embittered him. To his diary he
confided some very abusive fleers at the man
ners and appearance of many of his co-delegates.
" There appears to me," he says, " a remarkable
want of judgment in some of our members."
Chase he describes as violent, boisterous, tedious
upon frivolous points. So, too, is E. Rutledge,
who is likewise an uncouth, ungraceful speaker,
with offensive habits of shrugging his shoulders,
distorting his body, wriggling his head, rolling
his eyes, and speaking through his nose. John
Rutledge also " dodges his head " disagreeably ;
and both " spout out their language in a rough
and rapid torrent, but without much force or
effect." Dyer, though with some good qualities,
is long-winded, roundabout, obscure, cloudy, very
talkative, and very tedious. Sherman s air is
the " reverse of grace " when he keeps his hands
still, but when he gesticulates "it is stiffness
and awkwardness itself, rigid as starched linen
or buckram, awkward as a junior bachelor or
sophomore," so that Hogarth s genius could
have invented nothing worse. Bad as Sherman
is, Dickinson s " air, gait, and action are not
much more elegant." Thus wrote the father
of that bitter-tongued son, who, it is clear, took
his ruthless sarcasm and censoriousness as an
honest inheritance. But the words were only an
impetuous outburst of irritation due to a pass-
108 JOHN ADAMS
ing discontent, which disappeared altogether
soon afterward, when the business of Congress
began to run more to the writer s taste. There
had to be some private safety-vent, when he
must so repress himself in public. " Zeal and
fire and activity and enterprise," he acknow
ledged, "strike my imagination too much. I
am obliged to be constantly on my guard, yet
the heat within will burst forth at times." Very
soon, however, the stern logic of facts, the irre
sistible pressure of events, controlled the action
of this session of Congress not less conclusively
than the preceding. Men might prattle of olive-
branches and the restoration of harmony, but
scarcely concealed behind the thin fog raised by
such language stood the solid substance of a
veritable rebellion. An American army was
besieging a British army ; governments, not
rooted in royal or parliamentary authority, were
established in several provinces. The Congress
which had adopted that army, given it a com
mander, and provided for its maintenance, which
also had promoted the organization of those
governments, was a congregation of rebels, if
ever there were rebels in the world. Dickinson
and Deane were as liable to be hanged as were
the Adamses and the Lees; and Washington
himself was in scarcely more danger than any
of these civilians. In this condition of affairs
INDEPENDENCE 109
advance was inevitable. All history shows that
the unresting pressure of a body of able men,
resolutely striving for a definite end, furnishes
a motive power which no inertia of a reluctant
mass can permanently resist. Progression gains
point after point till the conclusion is so assured
that resistance ceases. A fresh indication of
this truth was now seen in the movement to
establish a fleet at the continental charge.
" This naked proposition," Mr. C. F. Adams
tells us, " was at once met with a storm of ridi
cule," in which some delegates joined who might
have been looked for on the other side. But
the tempest spent itself in a few days, and then
a committee was appointed, charged to procure
vessels, to be placed under the control of Wash
ington. Within less than two months a real
navy was in course of active preparation. Mr.
Adams was a member of the committee and set
zealously about the work ; he sought information
on all sides and exhaustively ; and besides the
practical equipment and manning of the vessels,
he was soon ready with a maritime code.
About the same time an application from
New Hampshire for advice concerning its inter
nal policy was answered by a recommendation
for calling a "full and free representation of
the people ; " and with advice that " the repre
sentatives, if they think it necessary, establish
110 JOHN ADAMS
such a form of government as in their judgment
will best produce the happiness of the people
during the continuance of the present dispute."
The ease with which this resolution passed, al
most unchallenged by the Dickinson party, was
very encouraging. During this autumn also was
made the first effort to organize foreign embas
sies. Mr. Adams described this endeavor as
follows :
" In consequence of many conversations between
Mr. Chase and me he made a motion . . . for send
ing ambassadors to France. I seconded the motion.
You know the state of the nerves of Congress at that
time. . . . Whether the effect of the motion resem
bled the shock of electricity, of mesmerism, or of gal
vanism the most exactly, I leave you philosophers to
determine, but the grimaces, the agitations and con
vulsions were very great."
Vehement debates ensued, of his own share
in which Mr. Adams says : " I was remarkably
cool and, for me, unusually eloquent. On no
occasion, before or after, did I ever make a
greater impression on Congress." " Attention
and approbation were marked on every counte
nance." Many gentlemen came to pay him their
compliments, and even Dickinson praised him.
Nevertheless his oratory failed to secure the
practical reward of success ; the step was too far
in advance of the present position of a majority
INDEPENDENCE 111
of members. There were "many motions" and
much " tedious discussion," but " after all our
argumentation the whole terminated in a com
mittee of secret correspondence." So Mr.
Adams was again relegated to the odious duty
of waiting patiently. But he and his abettors
had insured ultimate success ; indeed, it was only
a question how far the colonies would soon go
in this direction. It even appeared that there
were some persons who desired to push foreign
connections to a point much beyond that at
which Mr. Adams would have rested. Thus,
Patrick Henry was in favor of alliances, even
if they must be bought by concessions of terri
tory ; whereas Adams desired only treaties of
commerce, advising that "we should separate
ourselves as far as possible and as long as possi
ble from all European politics and wars." He
anticipated the " Monroe Doctrine."
On December 9, 1775, Mr. Adams set out on
a short visit to Massachusetts. He was anxious
to learn accurately the present temper of the
people. While there, besides advising Wash
ington upon an important question concerning
the extent of his military jurisdiction, he also
arranged a personal matter. He had lately been
appointed chief justice of the province, appar
ently not with the expectation of securing his
actual presence on the bench, but for the sake
112 JOHN ADAMS
of the strength and prestige which his name
would give to the newly-constituted tribunal of
justice. He now accepted the office upon the
clear understanding that he should not take his
seat unless upon some pressing occasion.
On January 24, 1776, having found both the
leaders and the people in full accord with his
own sentiments, he set out in company with
Elbridge Gerry on his return to Philadelphia.
The two carried with them some important in
structions to the Massachusetts delegates, possi
bly the fruit of Mr. Adams s visit, or at least
matured and ripened beneath the heat of his
presence. These gentlemen were bidden to urge
Congress " to concert, direct, and order such
further measures as shall to them appear best
calculated for the establishment of right and
liberty to the American colonies, upon a basis
permanent and secure against the power and
art of the British administration, and guarded
against any future encroachments of their ene
mies."
But again the change from the patriotic at
mosphere of Massachusetts to the tamer climate
of Philadelphia dispirited Adams seriously. He
wrote home, February 11, to his wife : " There
is a deep anxiety, a kind of thoughtful melan
choly, and in some a lowness of spirits approach
ing to despondency, prevailing through the
INDEPENDENCE 113
southern colonies at present." But he had at last
learned to value these intermissions correctly;
he had seen them before, even in Massachusetts,
and he recognized them as transitory. " In
this or a similar condition we shall remain, I
think, until late in the spring, when some critical
event will take place ; perhaps sooner. But the
arbiter of events . . . only knows which way
the torrent will be turned. Judging by experi
ence, by probabilities and by all appearances, I
conclude it will roll on to dominion and glory,
though the circumstances and consequences may
be bloody." This was correct forecasting ; late
in the spring of 1776 a very " critical event " did
happen, entailing " bloody consequences," " do
minion," and " glory." " In such great changes
and commotions," he says, " individuals are but
atoms. It is scarcely worth while to consider
what the consequences will be to us." The
"effects upon the present and future millions,
and millions of millions," engage his thoughts.
The frequent recurrence of such expressions in
dicates a peculiar sense of awe on his part. He
felt, to a degree that few others did at this time,
that he was in the presence of momentous events.
The prescience of a shadowy but grand future
was always with him, and impressed him like
a great religious mystery. This feeling lent a
solemn earnestness to his conduct, the wonderful
114 JOHN ADAMS
force of which is plainly perceptible, even to this
day, in the meagre fragmentary records which
have come down to us.
As the winter of 1776 advanced it could no
longer be doubted that the American provinces
were rapidly nearing an avowed independence.
The middle states might be reluctant, and
their representatives in Congress might set
their backs towards the point which they were
approaching ; but they approached it neverthe
less. They were like men on a raft, carried by
an irresistible current in one direction, while ob
stinately steering in the other. Adams listened
to their talk with contempt ; he had no sym
pathy with their unwillingness to assert an un
deniable fact. " I cannot but despise," he said,
" the understanding which sincerely expects an
honorable peace, for its credulity, and detest
the hypocritical heart, which pretends to expect
it when in truth it does not." He spoke with
bitter irony of the timid ones who could not
bring themselves to use a dreaded phrase, who
were appalled by a word. " If a post or two
more should bring you unlimited latitude of
trade to all nations, and a polite invitation to
all nations to trade with you, take care that you
do not call it or think it independency ; no such
matter ; independency is a hobgoblin of such
frightful mien that it would throw a delicate
INDEPENDENCE 115
person into fits to look it in the face." But
by degrees he was able plainly to see the fea
tures of this alarming monster drawing nearer
and nearer. He beheld an unquestionable and
great advance by the other provinces towards
the faith long since familiar to New England
minds. " The newspapers here are full of free
speculations, the tendency of which you will
easily discover. The writers reason from topics
which have been long in contemplation and
fully understood by the people at large in New
England, but have been attended to in the
southern colonies only by gentlemen of free
spirits and liberal minds, who are very few."
The " barons of the south " and the proprie
tary interests of the middle states had long
been his betes noires. " All our misfortunes,"
he said, " arise from a single source, the reluc
tance of the southern colonies to a republican
government." But these obstacles were begin
ning to yield. With the influence of Virginia
in favor of independence, it was a question of
no very long time for the rest of the southern
provinces to fall into line, even at the sacrifice
of strong prejudices. Still the conciliationists,
not giving up the struggle, spread reports that
commissioners were coming from the king on
an errand of peace and harmony. Their talk
bred vexatious delay and aroused Mr. Adams s
116 JOHN ADAMS
ire. " A more egregious bubble," he said, " was
never blown up, yet it has gained credit like a
charm, not only with, but against, the clearest
evidence." " This story of commissioners is as
arrant an illusion as ever was hatched in the
brain of an enthusiast, a politician, or a maniac.
I have laughed at it, scolded at it, grieved at
it, and I don t know but I may at an unguarded
moment have rip d at it. But it is vain to
reason against such delusions."
Still, among these obstructions the great
motive power worked ceaselessly and carried
steadily forward the ship of state, or rather
the fleet of thirteen ships which had lashed
themselves together just sufficiently securely to
render uniform movement a necessity. Fastened
between New England and Virginia, the middle
states had to drift forward with these flanking
vessels. Chief engineer Adams fed the fires
and let not the machinery rest. A personal
attack upon him made at this time was really
a hopeful symptom of the desperation to which
his opponents were fast being reduced. Mary
land instructed her delegates to move a self-
denying ordinance, of which the implication was
that Mr. Adams was urging forward independ
ence because he was chief justice of Massachu
setts, and so had a personal gain to achieve by
making the office permanent. But not much
INDEPENDENCE 117
could be gained by this sort of strategy. By the
spring he was very sanguine. " As to declara
tions of independency," he said to his wife, " be
patient. Read our privateering laws and our
commercial laws. What signifies a word?" Yet
the word did signify a great deal, and he was
resolved that it should be spoken bluntly and
with authority.
He saw that it would be so spoken very soon.
On May 29, 1776, he wrote cheerfully : " Mary
land has passed a few eccentric resolves, but
these are only flashes which will soon expire.
The proprietary governments are not only in-
cumbered with a large body of Quakers, but are
embarrassed by a proprietary interest; both
together clog their operations a little, but these
clogs are falling off, as you will soon see."
The middle colonies had " never tasted the bit
ter cup," " never smarted," and were " therefore
a little cooler ; but you will see that the colonies
are united indissolubly." Of this union he was
assured : " Those few persons," he said, " who
have attended closely to the proceedings of the
several colonies for a number of years past, and
reflected deeply upon the causes of this mighty
contest, have foreseen that such an unanimity
would take place as soon as a separation should
become necessary." One immense relief he
was now enjoying, which probably contributed
118 JOHN ADAMS
not a little to raise his spirits. The odious
season of reticence was over ; he was at last
able to work in the cause openly and inces
santly, in Congress and out of it, in debate, on
committees, and in conversation. His influ
ence was becoming very great ; his hand was
felt everywhere; during the autumn of 1775,
the winter and spring of 1776, he says that
he unquestionably did more business than any
other member of the body. He had broad ideas ;
he practiced a deep and far-reaching strategy.
Long since he had conceived and formulated a
complete scheme of independence, and he laid
his plans to carry this through piece by piece,
with the idea that when every item which went
to the construction of the composite fact should
be accomplished, so that the fact undeniably
existed, then at last its declaration, even if
postponed so late, could no longer be withstood.
The three chief articles in his scheme, still
remaining to be accomplished, were, " a govern
ment in every colony, a confederation among
them all, and treaties with foreign nations to
acknowledge us a sovereign state." In fact, " a
government in every colony " really covered
the whole ground, and was independence. A
league between these free governments, and
connections with foreign states, were logically
only natural and desirable corollaries, not inte-
INDEPENDENCE 119
gral parts of the proposition; but practically
they were very useful links to maintain it.