Papers of John Adams, volume 3

To James Warren, 10 July 1775 JA Warren, James To James Warren, 10 July 1775 Adams, John Warren, James

To James Warren

Philadelphia July 10th. 1775 Dr Sir

I have just Time to inclose You, a Declaration and an Address. How you will like them I know not.1

A Petition was Sent Yesterday, by Mr. Richard Penn in one ship and a Duplicate goes in another Ship, this day.2 In exchange for these Petitions, Declarations and Addresses, I Suppose We shall receive 71Bills of Attainder and other such like Expressions of Esteem and Kindness.

This Forenoon has been Spent in an Examination of a Mr. Kirtland a worthy Missionary among the Oneida Indians.3 He was very usefull last Winter among all the Six Nations, by interpreting and explaining the Proceedings of the Continental Congress, and by representing the Union and Power of the Colonies, as well as the Nature of the Dispute.

The Congress inclines to wait for Dispatches from General Washington before they make any Alteration, in the Rank of the Generals, least they should make Some other Mistake. But every Body is well inclined to place General Thomas in the Stead of Pomroy.

You must not communicate, without great Discretion what I write about our Proceedings, for all that I hint to you is not yet public. I am &c.,

RC (MHi:Warren-Adams Coll.); docketed: “July 1775.”

The Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms and the Address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain. The first was passed on 6 July, the other on 8 July ( JCC , 2:127–157, 162–171).

The Olive Branch Petition, or second petition to the King, was carried to England by Richard Penn (1735–1811), the grandson of William Penn and lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, 1771–1773. Although he did not support the American cause, he performed his mission, answering questions about conditions in America while the petition was being considered in the House of Lords ( DAB ). The King, however, refused to give any answer to the colonists' petition.

Rev. Samuel Kirkland (1741–1808), a missionary to the Oneida Indians, was instrumental in 1774 and 1775 in preventing the outbreak of a general Indian war that might have complicated the Revolution or even produced the need for British aid. In 1775 he persuaded the Oneidas to declare their neutrality and obtained a general declaration of neutrality from the Six Nations that was, however, not kept. Kirkland did manage to keep the Oneidas and Tuscaroras loyal to America, and during the war he directed Oneida scouts, who gained valuable information on the movement of British troops ( DAB ). On 18 July the congress resolved to pay Kirkland $300 for his expenses and recommended that he be employed among the Six Nations to secure their friendship and neutrality ( JCC , 2:187).

To James Warren, 11 July 1775 JA Warren, James To James Warren, 11 July 1775 Adams, John Warren, James

To James Warren

Philadelphia July 11th: 1775 Hond & Dr Sir

I have the Pleasure of inclosing you, a Declaration. Some call it a Manifesto. And We might easily have occasioned a Debate of half a Day, whether, it Should be called a Declaration or a Manifesto.1

Our Address to the People of Great Britain, will find many Admirers among the Ladies, and fine Gentlemen: but it is not to my 72Taste. Prettynesses Juvenilities, much less Puerilities, become not a great Assembly like this the Representative of a great People.

July 23

We have voted twenty two thousand Men for your Army. If this is not enough to encounter every officer and Soldier in the british Army, if they were to send them all from Great Britain and Ireland I am mistaken.

What will N. England do with such Floods of Paper Money? We shall get the Continent nobly in our Debt. We are Striking off our Paper Bills in Nine different sorts. Some of twenty Dollars, some of Eight, 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. We shall be obliged to strike off four Milliens of Dollars I fear.2

Secret as usual. Our Fast has been kept more Strictly and devoutly than any Sunday was ever observed in this City. The Congress heard Duche in the Morning and Dr Allisen in the Evening.3 Good sermons.

By the way do let our Friend Adams's son be provided for as a surgeon.4

RC (MHi:Warren-Adams Coll.); docketed: “Mr. J A Lettr July 1775.”

See Julian Boyd's penetrating analysis of the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms, in which he demonstrates that, contrary to the usual assumption, the Dickinson draft strengthened the language of Jefferson's draft and made the Declaration more “inflammatory” in some of its points (Jefferson, Papers , 1:187–192). JA thought that the Declaration might well be the basis for bills of attainder against members of the congress (JA to William Tudor, 6 July, above).

The congress had authorized two million paper dollars in June and an additional million was ordered struck off in July. By the end of 1775, six million were issued (E. James Ferguson, The Power of the Purse, Chapel Hill, 1961, p. 26).

For the resolution for a fast day, see JA's Service in the Congress, 10 May – 1 Aug. (above). On 15 July the congress voted to ask Rev. Jacob Duché to preach in the morning and Rev. Francis Allison to preach in the afternoon ( JCC , 2:185). For an interesting analysis of the implications of the fast resolution, see Perry Miller, “From the Covenant to the Revival,” in The Shaping of American Religion, ed. James Ward Smith and A. Leland Jamison, Princeton, 1961, p. 322–330.

Samuel Adams Jr. (1751–1788) was made a surgeon in the army on or about 4 Aug. (Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates , 17:334–336).