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Federalist Editor Criticizes President John Adams for Peace Overtures to France
Federalist Editor Criticizes President John Adams for Peace Overtures to France
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Description:

John Adams
New York, NY, ca. 1800
Federalist Editor Criticizes President John Adams for Peace Overtures to France
Pamphlet/Booklet
[JOHN ADAMS]. John W. Fenno, Desultory Reflections on the New Political Aspects of Public Affairs in the United States of America, Since the Commencement of the Year 1799. Printed Pamphlet. New York: G. and R. Waite, 1800. 64 pp., 5" x 8". Disbound; moderate foxing; some toning and staining.

In this pamphlet, Federalist John Ward Fenno, who succeeded his father as editor of the Gazette of the United States in 1798, criticized the administration of President John Adams and especially its Franco-American peace negotiations. Fenno advocated for the election of Federalist Charles C. Pinckney over Adams in 1800. Fenno favored suppression of the opposition, war with France and its allies, and a permanent alliance with the British.

Excerpts
"when in any country, principles, under which the nation soared towards the temple of glory, with an eagle's flight, are totally abandoned, exploded, and reversed, it becomes an object of ten-fold importance to cast our eyes, in deep contemplation around us, and to explore amidst the secret recesses of narrow jealousy and private views, the motives and the grounds, on which it hath been presumed to urge us towards a condition in which misery and ruin stare us in the face; it behoves us, under such circumstances, to examine well the position we have abandoned and that to which we are so rapidly advancing." (p6)

"The measure which most pressingly demands adoption, is, an immediate declaration of war against France, and her dependencies, Spain and Holland." (p55)

"The conquest of the remaining possessions of France, Spain and Holland in the West Indies, might be effected by this country, with very little expense or inconvenience. The naval force already extant is fully adequate, and the regular troops lately embodied, though its intervention would have atchieved the conquest without difficulty. This country possesses such advantages for carrying on expeditions against the West India Islands, as must render her cooperation in the cause very acceptable. In short, the contingent we could bring into the coalition would be such as to entitle us to assume the rank of a first rate power, and to make stipulations, the fulfillment of which could not fail to fix us in a state of prosperity and to extend to our empire and renown. To instance, for our quota of 25,000 troops (which should act separately and independently) and a stipulated quantum of military stores, etc. Great Britain should guarantee to us the island of Cuba, or which would be more convenient to our commerce, that of Porto Rico. Either of these possessions would amply remunerate us for the most expensive exertions that the conquest of them could require. In the East, we might establish ourselves in the possession of Batavia or the Mauritius, and thus secure a footing in the Indian Ocean, highly essential to us, but now depending on the most precarious tenure." (p55-56)

"It is in vain to attempt to disguise the truth that America is essentially and naturally a commercial nation; and that from her location on the map of the world she must ever remain so. It ought therefore to be the undeviating care of the Government, whether it be Federal or Jacobinical, or true Columbian, to secure on the most advantageous footing possible, our commercial intercourse with foreign nations. To procure admission to our flag, in ports whence it is now excluded; to obtain it by right where it now rests on the ground of sufferance; and to establish it on a regular and permanent footing; in those cases where it is at present precarious and temporary; is not merely the province of the Government, but a duty, and obligation which its subjects have a right to hold it to.
"We have a right to expect and the Government ought to exact it from Spain, the opening of those of her ports in South America the most convenient for refitting our whalers on that coast. For the want of this privilege, our people are subjected to needless privations and hardships, during voyages of two years' duration." (p57-58)

John Ward Fenno (1778-1802) was born in Boston to John Fenno (1751-1798), a printer and newspaper editor of the Gazette of the United States beginning in 1789. He was educated at an academy in New York and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1794. He planned to be a lawyer, but when his parents both died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1798, he took over the family printing business. He continued to edit and publish the Federalist Gazette of the United States until selling it in 1800. Thoroughly frustrated by the Federalist defeats in 1800, he retired from journalism and opened bookstores in Philadelphia and New York.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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    Dimensions:
  • 5" x 8"
    • Artist Name:
  • John Adams
    • Medium:
  • Pamphlet/Booklet

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