Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/107

 JOHN ADAMS 87 evince a zeal for decisive measures which made the writer an object of suspicion to the more conservative of his fellow members of con- gress, but his reference in one of them to " the whims, the caprice, the vanity, the superstition, the irritability " of some of his colleagues, and in particular to John Dickinson as " a certain great fortune but piddling genius," made him personal enemies who never forgave him. But though for the moment an object of distrust to some of his colleagues, this did not save him from hard work. " I am engaged in constant business," so he wrote about this time, " from seven to ten in the morning in committee, from ten to four in congress, and from six to ten again in committee. Our assembly is scarcely numer- ous enough for the business ; everybody is en- gaged all day in congress, and all the morning and evening in committees." The committee which chiefly engaged Mr. Adams's attention at this time was one on fitting out cruisers, and on naval affairs generally. This committee laid the first foundation of an American navy, a body of rules and regulations for which the basis of our existing naval code was drawn up by Adams. Governor "Wentworth having fled from New Hampshire, the people of that province applied to congress for advice as to the method of administration they should adopt. Adams seized the opportunity to urge the necessity of advising all the provinces to proceed at once to institute governments of their own. The news which soon arrived of the supercilious treatment of the petition of congress to the king added strength to his views, and the matter being referred to a com- mittee on which Adams was placed, a report in partial conformity to his ideas was made and adopted. Having been offered the post of chief justice of Massachusetts, Adams toward the end of the year returned home to consult on that and other important subjects. He took his seat in the council, of which he had been chosen a member immediately on his arrival, and was consulted by Washington both as to sending Gen. Lee to New York, and as to the expedition against Canada. It was finally ar- ranged that while Adams should accept the appointment of chief justice, he should still remain a delegate in congress, and till more quiet times should be excused from acting as judge. Under this arrangement he returned to Philadelphia early in 1776. He never took his seat as chief justice, but resigned that office the next year. Advice similar to that to New Hampshire, on the subject of assuming govern- ment, as it was called, had been shortly after given upon similar applications to congress from South Carolina and Virginia. Adams was much consulted by members of the southern delegation (as being better versed than them- selves in the subject of republicanism, both by study and experience, coming as he did from the most thoroughly republican section of the country) concerning the form of government which they should adopt. Of several letters which he wrote on this subject, one more elab- orate than the others was printed, under the title of " Thoughts on Government applicable to the Present State of the American Colo- nies." This pamphlet, largely circulated in Virginia, as a preliminary to the adoption of a form of government by that State, was to a certain extent a rejoinder to that part of Paine's famous pamphlet of " Common Sense" which advocated government by a single assembly. It was also intended to controvert the aristo- cratic views, somewhat prevalent in Virginia, of those who advocated a governor and senate for life. Adams's system of policy embraced the adoption of self-government by each of the colonies, a confederation, and treaties with foreign powers. This system he continued to urge with zeal and increasing success, till finally, on May 13, he carried a resolution through congress, by which so much of his plan was indorsed by that body as related to the as- sumption of self-government by the several colonies. The first step thus taken, the others soon followed. A resolution that the United States " are and ought to be free and indepen- dent," introduced by E. H. Lee, under instruc- tions from the Virginia convention, was very warmly supported by Adams, and carried, seven states to six. Three committees, one on a dec- laration of independence, another on confed- eration, and a third on foreign relations, were shortly after appointed. Of the first and third of these committees Adams was a member. The declaration of independence was drawn up by Jefferson, but on Adams devolved the task of battling it through congress in a three days' debate, during which it underwent some curtailment. The plan of a treaty reported by the third committee, and adopted by congress, was drawn up by Adams. His views did not extend beyond merely commercial treaties. He was opposed to seeking any political connection with France, or any military or even naval as- sistance from her or any foreign power. On June 12 congress had established a board of war and ordnance, to consist of five members, with a secretary, clerk, &c. in fact, a war de- partment. As originally constituted, the mem- bers of this board were taken from congress, and John Adams was made its chairman or president. This position, which was one of great labor and responsibility, as the chief bur- den of the duties fell upon him, he continued to hold for the next eighteen months, with the exception of a necessary absence at the close of the year 1776, to recruit his health. The busi- ness of preparing articles of war for the govern- ment of the army was deputed to a committee composed of Adams and Jefferson ; but Jeffer- son, according to Adams's account, threw upon him the whole burden, not only of drawing up the articles which he borrowed mostly from those of Great Britain but of arguing them through congress, which was no small task. Adams strongly opposed Lord Howe's invita- tion to a conference, sent to congress after the