In 1774, he was elected a member of the Council of Massachusetts, but the political opinions which he had already expressed openly and energetically on numerous occasions, caused him to be rejected by governor Gage. A few months afterwards, he was sent to the Continental Congress, where he proved one of the most ardent and skilful defenders of liberty.
In 1776, he was appointed, together with Jefferson, each to draw up a Declaration of Independence. Jefferson’s address was preferred by Congress, as is known, but Adams’s, on account of his eloquence and patriotism, was not the less regarded as the soul and fire of that immortal assembly. Shortly after he was sent with Dr. Franklin and Edward Rutlege, to treat with Lord Howe for the pacification of the colonies.
In 1777, he was appointed commissioner to the court of France, in place of Silas Deane. In April 1779, Congress having censured all the other European commissioners, made an honourable exception of John Adams. On his return from Europe, the same year, he was elected a member of the Convention assembled to revise the Constitution of Massachusetts. In the month of August of the same year, he was sent to Europe with power to treat for a general peace.
In December, 1780, Congress voted him public thanks for the services he had rendered in Europe. In 1781, he concluded with the provinces of Holland a treaty very advantageous to his country.
In 1785, he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to England. It was during this honourable mission, that he published, in 1787, at London, his learned summary of all the ancient and modern constitutions, under the title of Defence of the American Constitutions. This profoundly erudite work, in which the author in several passages appeared to indicate his predilections for English constitutions, drew forth vigorous attacks from a large number of patriotic writers, and particularly from Philip Livingston, then governor of New Jersey, who opposed him in an excellent work, which he published under the title of Examination of the English Constitution.
Recalled from England at his own request, he was received with the thanks of his fellow-citizens and of Congress. In 1789, after the adoption of the new constitution, John Adams was elected Vice-President of the United States, and remained in this honourable situation during the eight years of the presidency of Washington, whose confidence in his talents and patriotism was unbounded.
In 1797, he was himself elected to the Chief Magistracy of the republic, to succeed Washington, who refused a third election. Circumstances were then very difficult. The French revolution, which at first received the general approbation of the United States, had at that time become, through the intrigues of royalists and foreigners, an object of horror, even to its warmest partizans. The French question agitated all minds, and had become the subject of vivid discussion, and sometimes of violent attacks, between the two parties called Federal and Democrat. The ill-managed attempts of our diplomatic agents in the United States, to profit by these divisions, alarmed President Adams, and induced him to propose to Congress, as a measure of security, the suppression of the act of habeas corpus. This proposition was too directly opposed to the sentiments of liberty, entertained by the American people, not to be rejected with force, and I may say even with indignation. The House of Representatives would not even discuss the bill, and the popularity of John Adams received at that time such a shock, that at the expiration of the fourth year of his administration, he was not re-elected.
In 1801, he retired to his dwelling at Quincy; his fellow-citizens soon forgot the cause of his retreat, and only remembered the great and numerous services he rendered to his country during his long career. The governorship of Massachusetts was offered him, and some time afterwards he was invited to preside over the committee appointed to revise the constitution of the state. But he began to feel the necessity of repose; he thanked them, and concluded by praying the theologians, philosophers, and politicians, to let him die in peace. Notwithstanding this refusal, he had not become insensible to the great interests of the country, and when she was menaced in 1811 by the odious vexations of England, his patriotic voice was heard from the bosom of his retreat, declaring that the national honour could only be maintained by war. His eloquence was re-animated in a letter which he wrote to rally to this sentiment, those whom party spirit had most widely separated. In short, he so generously sacrificed his private opinions to the dangers of the moment, that his most ardent adversaries could not withhold the expression of their admiration and gratitude.
At the moment of our visit, although he could not go out of his chamber, could scarcely raise himself from his chair, and his hands were unable to convey the food to his mouth without the pious assistance of his children or grand-children, his heart and head felt not less ardour for every thing good. The affairs of his country afforded him the most pleasant occupation. He frequently repeated the greatness of the joy which he derived from the gratitude of his fellow-citizens towards Lafayette. We left him, filled with admiration at the courage with which he supported the pains and infirmities which the lapse of nearly a century had necessarily accumulated upon him.
A grand review had been ordered and prepared for the 30th, in the morning the troops from the environs of Boston arrived under command of general Appleton, those of the city had pitched their tents upon the common, in front of the capitol on the preceding evening, and on rising we were struck with the appearance of this extemporaneous camp. At noon, about 8,000 men were drawn up in line of battle, on this vast parade: a great concourse of ladies adorned all the windows which overlooked the ground, or filled the surrounding walks. A few moments after general Lafayette presented himself, accompanied by the governor and his staff, before the line, where he was received by the acclamations of the troops, to which martial music and the shouts of the spectators responded. After passing in front of the ranks of these young soldier-citizens, whose equipments and appearance might charm even eyes accustomed to the regularity of hired European troops, the general was conducted to the most elevated point of the parade, to behold the military movements which were to follow. We did not discover in the handling of their arms, that minute precision to which European officers attach so ridiculous an importance, and which is only acquired by reducing a soldier to the sad condition of a puppet, for, at least, four hours a day; but we were forced to admire the promptitude of the charges, and the union and vivacity of the firing. Beyond doubt, the movements of the line were somewhat defective as to calmness and precision; but it was impossible, I believe, to execute with greater rapidity and intelligence all the movements of light troops. This sort of service appears to be very consonant to the American character; it is also well suited to troops more particularly called to the defence of situations where all the resources are known to them, and which are particularly favourable to a war of detail. This sort of sham battle, which was performed before our eyes, lasted nearly three hours, and interested us exceedingly; when it was ended we went under an immense tent, where the principal citizens to the number of 1200, were collected at table to receive the adieus of Lafayette, who was to quit the city on the next morning. In the centre of the table, and in front of the places we were to occupy, stood a large silver basin, filled with fragments of arms or projectiles, military buttons, &c. collected on Bunker’s Hill a long time after the battle of the 17th June. The governor had the goodness to offer us some of these fragments; for my part, I gratefully accepted a button, upon which, notwithstanding the rust that covered it, could readily be distinguished the number, 42; it is known that this number is one of those which suffered most severely in attacking the American entrenchments. The care with which the Americans preserve and revere all the monuments of the revolution is very remarkable; every thing which recalls this glorious epoch, is to them a precious relic, which they regard almost with religious reverence. This sort of devotion is praiseworthy, since it contributes to feed the sacred fire of love of liberty, by which they are animated. It is worth quite as much, I believe, as that profound veneration which we have in Europe for the ribbands conferred by power.