#ThisDayInHistory John Adams Appointed to Negotiate Peace With British
On this day in 1779, the Continental Congress appoints John Adams to travel to France as minister plenipotentiary in charge of negotiating treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain during the Revolutionary War.
In the spring of 1776, Adams advocated on the floor of the Second Continental Congress that independence was necessary to establish trade and that trade was essential for the attainment of independence. He specifically urged the negotiation of a commercial treaty with France.
He was then appointed, along with Franklin, Dickinson, Benjamin Harrison V of Virginia, and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania, "to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed to foreign powers.”
While Jefferson was laboring over the Declaration of Independence, Adams worked on the Model Treaty, which authorized a commercial agreement with France but contained no provisions for formal recognition or military assistance. There were provisions for what constituted French territory.
In early September 1776, after the British victory at the Battle of Long Island, Admiral Lord Howe, having been appointed Acting Peace Commissioner, met with Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Edward Rutledge, to hold peace discussions. The Americans insisted that any negotiations required British recognition of their independence.
In October 1777, the Americans captured the British invasion army at Saratoga in upstate New York, and France was ready to recognize the US and to join the war.
On November 27, 1777, Adams was named as commissioner to France and replaced Silas Deane. He accepted at once. He was to join Franklin and Arthur Lee in Paris to negotiate an alliance with the French, who were debating whether or not they would recognize and aid the United States.
On April 1, he arrived in Spain, where Adams learned that France had already agreed to an alliance with the United States on February 6.
While in Paris, Adams wrote to Congress almost daily (sometimes several letters a day) sharing news about British politics, British and French naval activities and his general perspective on European affairs.
In the summer of 1780, Adams decided to go to the Dutch Republic. Since it was one of the few other republics in the world, Adams thought that the Dutch might be sympathetic to the American cause.
With the aid of the Dutch Patriot leader Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol, Adams negotiated a loan of five million guilders, financed by Nicolaas van Staphorst and Wilhelm Willink, on June 11. In October 1782, he negotiated with the Dutch a treaty of amity and commerce. The house that Adams bought during his stay became the first American-owned embassy on foreign soil.
After negotiating the loan with the Dutch, Adams was appointed as one of the American commissioners to negotiate the Treaty of Paris to end the war.
On November 30, 1782, the American commissioners signed a preliminary peace treaty with Britain, but it was not to go into effect until France had made peace as well.
On September 3, 1783, the treaty was signed with French approval, and the British recognized the US as an independent nation.
#ThisDayInHistory
September 27, 1779