General Correspondence and Other Papers of the Adams Statesmen: Papers of John Adams, Volume 6: August 1776 – July 1778 (Adams Papers) (Volumes 5 and 6) - Hardcover

Adams, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674654439 ISBN 13: 9780674654433

Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 1986

Synopsis

These volumes document John Adams’s thinking and actions during the final years of his congressional service and take him through his first five months as a Commissioner in France in association with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee.

While Adams was still in Philadelphia, military matters continued to he his major concern. Most demanding was his presidency of the Board of War, which took up his “whole Time, every Morning and Evening.” In general, though, the documents and reports of his conduct reveal a commitment to a national outlook. Congress should be a national legislature, and personal, state, and regional rivalries should give way to concern for the greater good―these were his deeply held convictions.

When chosen a Commissioner to France, Adams was reluctant to go. But duty and the honor of the position, along with the encouragement of an understanding and self-sacrificing wife, persuaded him to accept. With son John Quincy for a companion, he crossed the Atlantic to a new career. His initiation into the complexities of diplomacy brought a growing awareness of European affairs and the problems facing the new nation in the diplomatic arena. Letters deal with such varied topics as the supervision of American commercial agents in French ports, regulation of privateers, settlement of disputes between crews and officers, negotiation of loans, and help for American prisoners in England. Personal letters run the gamut from Adams’s views on the proper conduct of American diplomacy to strangers’ pleas for aid in locating relatives in America. Contrary to the usual impression of Adams as little more than a clerk for the Commission, evidence shows that he was its chief administrator.

Acclimation to living abroad among diplomats did not stifle Adams’s yearning for the simplicities of private life in the midst of his family. Yet as the important and interesting documents of this volume show, the groundwork was being laid for his even more significant role in diplomacy.

About this title

From the Back Cover

'Robert J. Taylor ...has produced two volumes of Adam's general papers in a style that does justice to the masters of the craft. The governing principle is that every document passes through the mind of the editor, requiring detailed placing and identification and often calling for small but significant essays in interpretation.

About the Author

Gregg L. Lint is Series Editor of the Papers of John Adams at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Edition details

• Publisher: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0674654439
• ISBN 13: 9780674654433
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 936
• Editor: Lint Gregg L., Taylor Robert J., Walker Celeste