Adams, John, second President

Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), 2 1/3 pages (9 x 7 1/4 in.; 229 x 184 mm), Quincy, 5 January 1811, to Henry Guest; 2 small stains and one short fore-edge tear touching the word "of" on line 12, page 1, 2 small holes at folds on second leaf.

By descent through the family of Reverend Reynolds

Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), 2 1/3 pages (9 x 7 1/4 in.; 229 x 184 mm), Quincy, 5 January 1811, to Henry Guest; 2 small stains and one short fore-edge tear touching the word "of" on line 12, page 1, 2 small holes at folds on second leaf.
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Adams on the Napoleonic Wars and American neutrality.  Adams writes to Henry Guest, a New Brunswick, New Jersey, tanner and patriot, "My heart sympathizes with the Patriots in Spain: but who are these Patriots? Are they the Priests and their implicit followers who are fighting to defend the Inquisition, and the most bigotted and despotic system of religious Intollerance? Even with these as far as they are Sincere and real Patriots I Sympathize.

"Are they Partizans of England attracted by British intrigue or seduced by British Pensions, Subsidies, or Largess? As far as they can be Sincere Patriots, I sympathize with them, but as far as they are corrupted by Sinister natures, I have no more Sympathy with them, than I have with their Neighbours who are in the interest of France."

Adams is referring to the Peninsular War which Napoleon instigated in Portugal in 1807 and in Spain in 1808; the war lasted until 1814 when the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon. In spite of their continued intolerance for the practice of faiths outside of Catholicism, Adams calls the Spanish "Patriots" insofar as the war against Napoleon's occupation brought about the first Spanish constitution and the idea of national sovereignty for the first time in that country.

"Upon honour! And in Conscience! Which Nation is the greatest Destroyer of Mankind, the French, or the British? .... I presume it was not 'Fear' of the Tyrant, Gallic or British, which weighed our Government to suspend the Recognition of Don Onis but Prudence." Don Luis de Onis was appointed envoy of Spain to the United States by the supreme junta of Cadiz but President Madison refused recognition because Napoleon had appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain (1808–1813). Onis, however, remained in the United States; after the return of Ferdinand VII to Spain, Onis applied once more for recognition by the United States which was granted in December 1815. As Foreign Minister of Spain, Onis and Adams's son John Quincy, then Secretary of States, crafted the Transcontinental Treaty by which Spain sold Florida to the United States for five million dollars.

"That Prudence," continues Adams, "which prevailed with General Washington, General Adams and General Jefferson, to adhere steadfastly to the Principle of Neutrality, and avoid as long as possible any interference with unprincipled Wars of Europe, has I supposed been respected and continued by General Madison."  Here Adams alludes to Madison's difficult position in maintaining neutrality while preserving American maritime commerce on the open seas. Embattled with France, Britain could not allow the Americans to help its enemy, regardless of their lawful, neutral rights to do so. Restricting trade was a British strategy that had long been used to destroy an enemy's commerce. If possible, England desired to avoid war with America but not to the extent of allowing her to hinder the British war effort against France. Orders in Council issued 16 May 1806 blockaded the coast of Europe from the Elbe in Germany to Brest in France, a distance of almost 800 miles. In retaliation, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree (21 November 1806) which declared the British isles in a state of blockade, forbidding trade with England and declaring all items of English manufacture contraband. The subsequent Order in Council of November 1806 banned neutrals from trading in ports from which British ships were prohibited. Only by going through a British port and by paying duties and obtaining a license could a neutral trade with an open European port.

"I hope however, that this System will not be pursued till we lose all National Sense of Honour." Between 1807 and 1812 France, Britain, and their allies had seized more than 900 American ships, forcing the Jefferson administration to enact the controversial Embargo Act of 1807, which was repealed during Jefferson's second term. "Whatever the United States did, both belligerents were likely to persist in their illegal and oppressive edicts. In that case, Madison faced the grim alternatives of a disgraceful withdrawal of American commerce from the high seas or measures of self-defense almost certain to mean war ..." (Ketcham, James Madison, p. 492). In 1809 the Nonintercourse Act was instituted, designating Great Britain and France as countries with which the United States would hold no commercial relations, but was willing to restore relations with whichever of these nations first withdrew its hostile decrees. But the Nonintercourse Act had not induced either belligerent to rescind its decrees and had a profoundly negative effect on American commerce and finance. "Bermuda, Halifax, and Amelia Island ... became transshipment ports for goods prohibited direct entry into the United States. Since this illegal trade paid no duty and raised the cost of goods, both the Treasury and the consumer suffered. For the first time since 1801 the Treasury, denied tariff income, threatened to show and operating deficit" (Ketcham, p. 498).

National honor preserved at the price of war. The Nonintercourse Act was replaced by Macon's Bill No. 2 on 1 May 1810 for the main purpose of compelling both belligerents to desist from their illegal seizures of American commercial shipping. If France removed its restrictions by 3 March 1811, and Great Britain failed to do likewise within three months, the President should continue to trade with the former and prohibit that with the latter and vice versa. In November 1811, President Madison invoked the nonintercourse provision of the bill on the basis of the Cadore letter from France announcing the revocation of the Berlin decree for American shipping. The Cadore letter was conditional on the British repeal of its Orders in Council which Madison used unsuccessfully as a lever to impel the British to rescind their orders. France's subsequent St. Cloud decree gave Britain a justification to revoke its Orders in Council, which it did in June 1812, but it was too late to prevent war. The United States, unaware of the revocation, declared war on Britain just two days after the repeal of the Orders in Council.

Little is known about Henry Guest but according to one of his descendants and biographer, the Reverend Reynolds, Guest was born presumably in New York, 9 June 1727 (whence Adams's references to old age).  How Adams kindled a friendship with Guest is largely unknown, but it seems likely that Adams would have visited the Guest House (still extant) when he came to New Brunswick with Benjamin Franklin and Edward Rutledge in 1776; and again in 1797 with Mrs. Adams during his term of office as President of the United States.