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John Adams is among the most principled figures in American history.

After the American Revolution, John Adams had personally brokered an independent peace with Great Britain, allowing for free trade between England and America, while upsetting certain French diplomats.  About a decade later, under President Washington, America declared neutrality regarding the French Revolution.

But during Adams’ tenure as President of the United States, the French navy seized and intimidated American merchant ships who dared to trade with British merchants.

Despite noble elements of their cause, the sad truth is that many unprincipled men were at the helm of the French Revolution.  Tens of thousands of dissenters met their fate at the guillotine without trial, and radical “leftists” like Robespierre attempted to forcibly replace Christianity with a Deistic cult of the state (sounds like a few people I know).

Not surprisingly, America’s neutrality to her former ally caused bad blood.  The American minister to Paris, Thomas Pinckney, was obstinately turned away.  Adams finally sent Pinckney along with future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall and future Vice President of the United States Elbridge Gerry as envoys to broker a peace deal with France.

The American envoys were entreated by three French agents—X, Y and Z—to bribe them with 50,000 pounds sterling, the foreign minister, Talleyrand, with $250,000 and to offer $10 million in loans to France.  In exchange for these bribes, the agents would continue the peace negotiations.

The envoys responded with the dignity and principle one should expect of this great generation of patriots:  “No, no, not a sixpence!”

This infamous response spread to the four corners of the new republic.  The nascent American polity, overwhelmed with both moral outrage and beaming (perhaps recklessly) with national spirit, rallied behind Adams.  Soon, the phrase was reshaped by popular imagination into a new rallying cry for the what was then gaining a reputation as the world’s most principled nation: “Millions for defense, sir, but not one cent for tribute.”

The XYZ Affair bolstered Adams’ longtime proposal for a permanent navy.  Adams earned his place as the Father of the U.S. Navy and author of the great paradigm of American foreign policy: by always preparing a defense, America shall keep herself at peace.

A cantankerous voice of liberty, Adams was truly popular for the first time in his brilliant career.  But Adams kept his head.  The potentiality for war with the French was pregnant with diplomatic and economic instability.  Adams averted a war that might have purchased his second term.  Still, he never bowed to the “French pest,” either.

The XYZ Affair reminds us of how politics can be a game of principle as well as power.  The wise leadership of Adams should be the gold standard of American politics and international diplomacy.

The patriot that shall forever burn in my heart revels in the great history he has inherited from men like Adams and Marshall.  But that patriotism is not without condition: without liberty, America’s moral position shall fade.  It is, thus, the modern day cynic occupying my mind who blogs ferociously of the present day “stewards” of our republic.  A John Adams in the White House, or a John Marshall later sitting on the bench, was a pearl of great price even in those days.  At this late day in our story, the republic thirsts for such principled figures, dedicated to the cause of liberty.

And so I am then, at length, comforted by the words of another great American Adams, and reminded of our task:  ”It does not take a majority to prevail. . . . but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”  (Samuel Adams).

In a word, I am your gatekeeper and your enabler, helping you to become irate along with me.

Shall we?

Robert C.

Editor, Notasixpence.com