In mid-March 1781 John Adams received his commission and
instructions as minister to the Netherlands and embarked on the
boldest initiative of his diplomatic career. Disappointed by the
lack of interest shown by Dutch investors in his efforts to raise a
loan for the United States, Adams changed his tactics, and in a
memorial made a forthright appeal to the States General of the
Netherlands for immediate recognition of the United States.
Published in Dutch, English, and French, it offered all of Europe a
radical vision of the ordinary citizen's role in determining
political events. In this volume, for the first time, the
circumstances and reasoning behind Adams's bold moves in the spring
of 1781 are presented in full.
In July the French court summoned Adams, the only American in
Europe empowered to negotiate an Anglo-American peace, to Paris for
consultations regarding an offer made by Austria and Russia to
mediate the Anglo-French war. In his correspondence with France's
foreign minister, the Comte de Vergennes, Adams passionately
insisted that the United States was fully and unambiguously
independent and sovereign and must be recognized as such by Great
Britain before any negotiations took place. This volume shows John
Adams to be a determined and resourceful diplomat, unafraid to go
beyond the bounds of traditional diplomacy to implement his vision
of American foreign policy.
General
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