University of Virginia Library

85. ADAMS (John), Political Principles of.—

Mr Adams had originally been a republican. The glare of royalty and nobility,
during his mission to England, had made
him believe their fascination a necessary ingredient
in government; and Shays's rebellion,
not sufficiently understood where he then
was, seemed to prove that the absence of
want and oppression, was not a sufficient
guarantee of order. His book on the “ American
Constitutions” having made known his
political bias, he was taken up by monarchical
Federalists, in his absence, and on his return
to the United States, he was by them made to
believe that the general disposition of our
citizens was favorable to monarchy. He then
wrote his “Davila,” as a supplement to the
former work, and his election to the Presidency
confirmed him in his errors. Innumerable
addresses, too, artfully and industriously
poured in upon him, deceived him into a confidence
that he was on the pinnacle of popularity,
when a gulf was yawning at his feet,
which was to swallow up him and his deceivers.
For, when General Washington was
withdrawn, these energumeni of royalism.
kept in check hitherto by the dread of his

honesty, his firmness, his patriotism, and the
authority of his name, now mounted on the
car of state and free from control, like
Phäeton on that of the sun, drove headlong
and wild, looking neither to right nor left,
nor regarding anything but the objects they
were driving at; until, displaying these fully,
the eyes of the nation were opened, and a
general disbandment of them from the public
councils took place. Mr. Adams, I am sure,
has been long since convinced of the treacheries
with which he was surrounded during
his administration. He has since thoroughly
seen that his constituents were devoted to republican
government, and whether his judgment
is resettled on its ancient basis, or not,
he is conformed as a good citizen to the will
of the majority, and would now, I am persuaded,
maintain its republican structure with
the zeal and fidelity belonging to his character.
For even an enemy has said, “he is always
an honest man, and often a great one.”
But in the fervor of the fever and follies of
those who made him their stalking horse, no
man who did not witness it, can form an idea
of their unbridled madness, and the terrorism
with which they surrounded themselves.—
The Anas. Washington ed. ix, 97. Ford ed., i, 166.
(1818)