DURING THE RATIFICATION OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION, JOHN ADAMS WRITES TO AMERICA’S SECRET AGENT IN EUROPE

Historically important letter from John Adams to Charles Dumas written in Adams’ capacity as America’s first Ambassador to England after the Revolution.

Charles William Frédéric Dumas (1721–1796) was a man of letters living in the Dutch Republic who served as an American diplomat during the American Revolution. He was born in German Ansbach to French parents, apparently lived in Switzerland for a time, and moved to the Netherlands around 1750. He befriended Benjamin Franklin when the latter was in Holland at the beginning of the American Revolution, and when Franklin chaired the Committee of Correspondence, they employed Dumas as a secret agent to aid American interests in Europe. When John Adams became minister plenipotentiary to Holland, Dumas acted as his secretary and translator. When Adams went to Paris, Dumas acted as chargé d’affaires ad interim from the United States. In 1775, Dumas devised the first diplomatic cipher used by the Continental Congress and Benjamin Franklin for secret correspondence with agents in Europe. Dumas planted stories favorable to the United States in the Gazette de Leyde (Leiden, Netherlands) with the goal of gaining a good credit rating for the United States in financial markets. In 1776, Dumas contacted officials in Holland, Spain and France seeking trade in badly needed materials for the United States. This led to beneficial trade during the Revolution. After the war, Dumas assisted the new American government in establishing financial relationships in Europe, among other efforts. Charles William Frederick Dumas was the American agent at The Hague and a tireless advocate of the American cause.

Apparently , Dumas had reached out to Adams seeking payment from the nascent American government for his salary. Adams responded that the Congress had not authorized any such payment, but that it is clearly due, as confirmed by Thomas Jefferson. He therefore authorizes payment through a back door method utilizing his Dutch contacts. In full Adams’ letters reads as follows:

Grosvenor Square Sept. 5. 1787

Dear Sir

I am very much concerned that an absence in the Country should have so long delayed my answer to your letter of the tenth of July. There is no Act of Congress which authorises me simply to order the payment of your salary: But the Representation in your letter, supported by the extract from that of Mr. Jefferson to you of the 14th of June last, show such an absolute necessity of it that I have inclosed to you a letter to Mssrs, Willniks and Van Haphorsh authorizing them to pay your Salary once in six months, till further ordered from Congress, the Board of Treasury or…

Sir, your most obedient and most humble Servant

John Adams

A wonderful letter associating Adams, Jefferson and Dumas during the ratification of the United Stares Constitution.