CC Introduction

A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS.

BY JAMES D. RICHARDSON

ABIGAIL SMITH, of Weymouth,  mass . , at twenty became the wife of John Adams. Ill health during her early years retarded her education, but her strong mind overcame this difficulty. Her letters to her husband and to her son prove her mental powers and strong character, and many of them have been published on account of their literary and historical value. During her husband's term the Capital was removed to Washington, and, though the White House was not yet completed, and the city was only a straggling town, the ceremony of Washington's time was resumed there during her short reign of only half a year. In private life she was her husband's constant companion, until, at the age of seventy-four, eight years prior to her husband's death, she died, leaving the record of a unique life. She stands alone as the mother, as well as the wife, of a President, John Quincy Adams being the eldest of her three sons.

ADAMS
The proclamation of John Adams, as President, with reference to the coins of the United States is interesting, but in itself it initiated no policy. It was issued July 22, 1797, to carry out the provisions of the act of Congress, passed February 9, 1793, which allowed foreign gold and silver coins to pass current as legal tender for three years after the mint of the United States should commence coinage under the act "establishing a mint and regulating the coins of the United States." This proclamation gave notice that the mint commenced the coinage of silver on the I5th of October, 1794, and of gold on the 3ist of July, 1795, and that foreign coins would cease to be legal tender in three years from those respective dates. Exception was made in favor of Spanish milled dollars. Such a notice was simple compliance with the act cited, and marks the progress of the policy of Hamilton, approved by Congress under Washington.

Mr. Adams, according to his grandson, Charles Francis Adams, always regarded his mission to Holland and its results, "as the greatest success of his life." It is impossible to exaggerate the value of his services in that country in their bearing on the finances and the political standing of the young republic. He went to Holland with a commission to borrow not more than $10,000,000 on the credit of the United States. The bills of our infant government had been protested in France, and our poverty was well known in Holland. English emissaries were busy in arousing suspicion and extending distrust of our solvency. Even the French minister of foreign affairs devised obstructions to American plans. The treaty of peace with Great Britain was not to be made until September 3, 1783, and, therefore, the United States stood before Europe only as a congeries of rebellious colonies.

The task before Mr. Adams called for the exercise of all his powers, and they were well adapted for the emergency. The self-assertion, the confidence in himself, his haughty and aggressive bearing, not always helpful to the cause of which he was the champion, now were serviceable in the highest degree. The presentation of his memorial for recognition as minister plenipotentiary, prepared as it was with energy and persistence, marked the turning of the tide. First by Friesland, as a separate State, and then by the States General at the end of a year recognition was granted, and Mr. Adams rejoiced in a welcome among the representatives of the European powers at The Hague, as minister from the new power beyond the seas.

As a recognized nation engaged in negotiating a treaty of commerce with Holland, the position of the United States as borrower in the Dutch money markets became at once more favorable. On July 28, 1783, he was able to write to Secretary Livingston: "I have great pleasure in assuring you that there is not one foreign loan open in this republic, which is as good credit and goes as quick as mine," although Russia, Spain and France were borrowers. Mr. Adams resisted the bankers in the rate of charges on the loan, and entered on an arrangement with leading houses who for forty years continued as financial agents of the United States in Holland. The loan of 1782 was for $2,000,000, at 5 per cent, interest, with charges of 4^ per cent, and i per cent, for paying out the interest.

But halcyon days were not yet assured to Mr. Adams as a borrower. January 24, 1784, he wrote to Franklin from The Hague: "I am here only to be a witness that American credit in this republic is dead, never to rise again, at least until the United States shall all agree upon some plan of revenue, and make it certain that interest and principal will be paid." And yet before the year by a sort of lottery a loan for 2,000,000 guilders was consummated.

Although in the mean time the negotiations relating to the treaty of peace with Great Britain, with which he was in part charged, had called Mr. Adams from The Hague to Paris and London, Mr. Adams was an important factor in securing additional loans in Holland in 1787 and 1788. The loan of 1787 was for $10,000,000, at 5 per cent, interest, with 8 per cent, charges. That of 1788 was for only 1,000,000 guilders at 5 per cent. With subsequent loans in Holland Mr. Adams was not directly connected, but his efforts to establish the national credit abroad had set on foot influences which did not cease when he was called home to become at first Vice-President and in due course President of the United States.

In his later life, in 1815, Mr. Adams wrote: "I desire no other inscription over my gravestone than: 'Here lies John Adams who took upon himself the responsibility of the peace with France in the year 1800.'" High courage, strong purpose, noble patriotism were involved in that difficult service. But his labors and achievements in Holland for the young republic in securing moneys for its empty treasury and recognition before the world, do not suffer in comparison.

After all and above all, history will give him unique place, in spite of his vanity and his prejudices and his quarrels, as among the architects of the republic, the chief organizer of the movement for American independence.