Adams The Works of John Adams Vol. 9

Letters and State Papers 1799 - 1811 (Annotated)
1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-3-8496-4825-1
Verlag: Jazzybee Verlag
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 567 Seiten

John Adams was the second President of the United States, ruling the country from 1797 to 1801, and one of the Founding Fathers. He was also a major leader of American independence from Great Britain. This is volume nine out of ten of his works, this book containing letters and state papers from 1799 through 1811. The text is annotated with more than 300 endnotes.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Adams, John

Leseproben

Sir,—

I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, dated last Saturday, stating that, “as you perceive a necessity of introducing a change in the administration of the office of State, you think it proper to make this communication of it to the present Secretary of State, that he may have an opportunity of resigning, if he chooses;” and that “you would wish the day on which his resignation is to take place to be named by himself.”

Several matters of importance in the office, in which my agency will be useful, will require my diligent attention until about the close of the present quarter. I had, indeed, contemplated a continuance in office until the 4th of March next; when, if Mr. Jefferson were elected President, (an event which, in your conversation with me last week, you considered as certain,) I expected to go out, of course. An apprehension of that event first led me to determine not to remove my family this year to the city of Washington; because to establish them there would oblige me to incur an extraordinary expense which I had not the means of defraying; whereas, by separating myself from my family, and living there eight or nine months with strict economy, I hoped to save enough to meet that expense, should the occasion occur. Or, if I then went out of office, that saving  would enable me to subsist my family a few months longer, and perhaps aid me in transporting them into the woods, where I had land, though all wild and unproductive, and where, like my first ancestor in New England, I expected to commence a settlement on bare creation. I am happy that I now have this resource, and that those most dear to me have fortitude enough to look at the scene without dismay, and even without regret. Nevertheless, after deliberately reflecting on the overture you have been pleased to make to me, I do not feel it to be my duty to resign.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Timothy Pickering.

TO TIMOTHY PICKERING.

Philadelphia, 12 May, 1800

Sir,—

Divers causes and considerations, essential to the administration of the government, in my judgment, requiring a change in the department of State, you are hereby discharged from any further service as Secretary of State. Endnote 050

John Adams,
President of the United States.

TO J. McHENRY, SECRETARY OF WAR.

Philadelphia, 15 May, 1800

Sir,—

I request you to transmit copies of the law for reducing the twelve regiments, which passed yesterday, to Major-Generals Hamilton and Pinckney, and also to the commandants of brigades, with orders to the major-generals to make immediate arrangements for reducing those regiments on the fourteenth day of June.

I pray you, also, in concert with the Secretary of the Treasury, to make seasonable preparation for punctual compliance with the other provision of the law, by advancing the three months’ pay to the officers and men.

TO THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL, AND THE DISTRICT-ATTORNEY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Philadelphia, 16 May, 1800

I transmit you a copy of the resolution of the Senate of the United States, passed in Congress on the 14th of this month, by which I am requested to instruct the proper law officers to commence and carry on a prosecution against William Duane, editor of a newspaper called the Aurora, for certain false, defamatory, scandalous, and malicious publications in the said newspaper of the 19th of February last past, tending to defame the Senate of the United States, and to bring them into contempt and disrepute, and to excite against them the hatred of the good people of the United States. In compliance with this request, I now instruct you, gentlemen, to commence and carry on the prosecution accordingly.

With great esteem, &c.

John Adams.

TO O. WOLCOTT, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.

Philadelphia, 17 May, 1800

Sir,—

I thank you for your report of the 16th of this month, and for your early attention to the important subject of the loan. I have subscribed, and send you herewith, an authorization to borrow to the amount of the law; but if the public exigencies can be satisfied with a part of it, your own public spirit of economy will induce you to confine yourself to such part.

The rate of interest is a subject of great anxiety to me. When I recollect that I borrowed for this country near a million sterling, at a rate of interest at from four and a half to six per cent., or thereabout, more than fifteen years ago, when this nation had not two thirds of its present population, when it had a very feeble government, no revenue, no taxes, by barely pledging the faith of the people, which faith has been most punctually and religiously kept, I cannot but suspect that some advantage is taken of this government by demanding exorbitant interest. As Great Britain, with her immense burdens, after so long and wasting a war, is able to borrow at a more moderate interest, I entertain a hope that we may at last abate somewhat of a former interest.

As I know your zeal for the interest of your country to be equal to my own, I have entire confidence in your exertions, that we may take up as little as possible of the sum, and at as low an interest as can be obtained.

TO THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENT.

Philadelphia, 20 May, 1800

1. Among the three criminals under sentence of death, is there any discrimination in the essential circumstances of their cases, which would justify a determination to pardon or reprieve one or two, and execute the other?

2. Is the execution of one or more so indispensably demanded by public justice and by the security of the public peace, that mercy cannot be extended to all three, or any two, or one?

3. Will the national Constitution acquire more confidence in the minds of the American people by the execution than by the pardon of one or more of the offenders?

4. Is it clear beyond all reasonable doubt that the crime of which they stand convicted, amounts to a levying of war against the United States, or, in other words, to treason?

5. Is there any evidence of a secret correspondence or combination with other anti-federalists of any denomination in other States in the Union, or in other parts of this State, to rise in force against the execution of the law for taxing houses, &c., or for opposing the commissioners in general in the execution of their offices?

6. Quo animo was this insurrection? Was it a design of general resistance to all law, or any particular law? Or was it particular to the place and persons?

7. Was it any thing more than a riot, high-handed, aggravated, daring, and dangerous indeed, for the purpose of a rescue? This is a high crime, but can it strictly amount to treason?

8. Is there not great danger in establishing such a construction of treason, as may be applied to every sudden, ignorant, inconsiderate heat, among a part of the people, wrought up by political disputes, and personal or party animosities?

9. Will not a career of capital executions for treason, once opened, without actual bloodshed or hostility against any military force of government, inflict a deep wound in the minds of the people, inflame their animosities, and make them more desperate in sudden heats, and thoughtless riots in elections, and on other occasions where political disputes run high, and introduce a more sanguinary disposition among them?

10. Is not the tranquillity in the western counties, since the insurrection there, and the subsequent submission to law, a precedent in favor of clemency?

11. Is there any probability that a capital execution will have any tendency to change the political sentiments of the people?

12. Will not clemency have a greater tendency to correct their errors?

13. Are not the fines and imprisonments, imposed and suffered, a sufficient discouragement, for the present, of such crimes?

John Adams.

May not the long imprisonment of Fries, the two solemn, awful trials, his acknowledgment of the justice of his sentence, his professions of deep repentance, and promises of obedience, be accepted, and turned more to the advantage of government and the public peace, than his execution?

THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENT TO THE PRESIDENT.

Philadelphia, 20 May, 1800

Having considered the questions proposed by the President for our consideration, we respectfully submit the following opinions.

That...