On French interference with American neutrality - photo 1

On French interference with American neutrality

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Auction dateClassic
17.01.2024 11:00UTC -04:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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ID 1119123
Lot 121 | On French interference with American neutrality
On French interference with American neutrality

Abigail Adams, 28 November 1796

ADAMS, Abigail (1744 - 1818). Autograph letter signed ("A. Adams") to Elbridge Gerry, Quincy, 28 November 1796.



One page, 205 x 250mm. (a few tiny, central tears cleanly filled in with tissue on the verso).



An alarmed Abigail Adams warns of a French plot to "destroy our peace, and national prosperity and happiness". Abigail Adams forwards a copy of a letter from her son, John Quincy Adams, then serving as the U.S. Minister to the Netherlands, to Elbridge Gerry that detailed French threats to the United States: "I inclose to you a Coppy of a Letter received last Evening from my son at the Hague. The original I have sent on to his father [who had recently departed for Philadelphia] ...you will find in it a full disclosure of Adets present Conduct, as well as of the machinations and intrigues which are forming, to destroy our peace, and National prosperity and happiness. but the letter requires no comments, the system is daily unfolding itself. it may however be of some use to know at one view their whole plan, in order to avert the Dangers which surround us." The letter she enclosed was most likely her son's letter of 13 August 1796 warning his father of French threats to the U.S.* Specifically, he mentions the French minister to the U.S. Pierre Adet, and a pamphlet attack on President Washington which will likely also continue with the next president. In that letter, the younger Adams warns his father to expect "...all the art and intrigue of France, and all its weight and influence...against you...to all appearance they have seriously resumed the plan of revolutionizing the whole world..." (W.C. Ford, ed., The Writings of John Quincy Adams, Vol. 2, p. 17-28).



The French Revolution, and the resulting war in Europe, badly strained the relationship between the United States and France during this period. Washington's administration was upset in 1793, when the French ambassador to the U.S. Edmond Genet arranged for French privateers to raid British shipping off of the American coast, threatening Washington's declaration of neutrality. On the same token, France was outraged at the U.S. ratification of Jay's Treaty with England in 1795, considering it a breach of existing Franco-American treaties. This growing tension left a stark division between the Federalists, who tended to favor England and supported Adams's candidacy, and the Democratic-Republicans, who favored France and supported Jefferson's candidacy. Interestingly, although Elbridge Gerry would eventually align himself with the Jeffersonians, he cast his vote for Adams in the election of 1796. A superb political letter from the soon-to-be First Lady written in the midst of her husband's election as the second President of the United States.



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*See AA to JQA, 28 November 1796, referring to a letter from JQA "for your Father of 13th. he Sat out for Philadelphia on the 23 of this Month. I forwarded it to him this morning. it was the Duplicate which first came to hand, and tho it almost put out my Eyes to read it, I did, and made a coppy of it before I Sent it on. the contents appeard of so much importance that I thought it might safely be communicated to some persons in confidence for most assuredly your intelligence is well founded. the baneful influence of French principles has infected every part of the union in a greater or less degree." The Adams Papers Digital Edition, ed. Sara Martin. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, Rotunda, 2008–2023.

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