Beschreibung:

ADAMS, JOHN, President . Autograph letter signed ("John Adams") TO ELBRIDGE GERRY, Braintree [Massachusetts], 4 November 1779. 3 pages, 4to, 227 x 186 mm. (8 15/16 x 7 5/16 in.) , verso with a six-line autograph docket by Gerry. In very fine condition. ADAMS, ABOUT TO LEAVE FOR FRANCE TO NEGOTIATE THE PEACE TREATY WITH ENGLAND, SPELLS OUT HIS PLAN FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS CONSTITUTION. A letter of very considerable interest. Adams confirms to Gerry, in Congress, that he has accepted Congress's appointment as U.S. commissioner in Paris, to assist in negotiating an eventual peace treaty with Great Britain (the Treaty of Paris, 1783). Adams had been the almost unanimous choice of Congress and was notfied of his appointment by Gerry in a letter of 29 September (see Burnett, 2, no.562); he had also received letters from Henry Laurens and others strongly urging him to accept the mission ( ibid ., nos.575, 597). "My Friend,...I am happy to learn that my account and vouchers, arrived safe... Mr. Dana [named to be Adams's secretary in Paris] will accept and Sail with me, in a few Days. Adams, because of his influence in Congress, his letters and a pamphlet, Thoughts on Government (1776), had exerted considerable influence upon the structure of government embodied in a number of the state constitutions drafted since 1776. In September 1779, a state Constitutional Convention met in Cambridge and appointed a drafting committee, which named a subcommittee of John Adams Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin to draft a constitution. John Adams was assigned to write it, and in the words of one authority: "rose to the occasion," producing a constitution which "embodied a full, coherent system of ideas about government, the people, and the individual citizen....It created a popularly elected, bicameral General Court containing a Senate and House of Representatives, an independant Governor...and a Council...to advise the Governor..." (Bernstein, Are We To Be A Nation? The Making of the Constitution , p.60). It manifested in classic form the principle of separation of powers. Here, Adams reports to Gerry on his committee's work and his own unshakeable principles: "I am clear for three Branches, in the Legislature, and the Committee have reported as much, tho awkwardly expressed. I have considered this question in every Light, in which my understanding is capable of placing it, and my opinion is decided, in favour of three Branches, and being very unexpectedly called upon to give my advice to my Countrymen, concerning a Form of Government, I could not answer it, to them or Posterity, if I concealed, or disguised my real Sentiments. They have been received with Candor, but perhaps will not be adopted. In such a state as this however, I am persuaded, We shall never have any Stability, Dignity, Decision, or Liberty, without it. We have so many Men of Wealth, of ambitious Spirits, of Intrigue, of Luxury and Corruption that incessant Factions, will disturb our Peace, without it, and indeed there is too much Reason to fear, with it. The Executive, which ought to be the Reservoir of Wisdom, as the Legislature is of Liberty, without this Weapon of Defence, will be run down, like a Hare before the Hunters...." (Due to his departure for France, Adams could only attend the first session of the constitutional convention, from 28 October to 17 November; his plan for the Constitution, though, was adopted in June 1780.) Returning to a consideration of his new post in Europe, Adams writes: "I am more Solicitous about the Means of procuring the Salary [as commissioner in Europe] you mention than the Sum of it. I can make it do, with Frugality, if I can get it. But I wish I had Power to borrow Money, and also Power to draw upon Dr. [Benjamin] Franklin, or the American Banker, in Cases of Necessity. I should get it in that way. Mr. [John] Jay [minister to Spain] will have no Difficulty, for Spain, will undoubtedly, furnish him as they did Mr. [Arthur] Lee... You think my