John Adams Quotes
Foreigners, when they come to trade with a nations, make themselves temporary citizens, and tacitly consent to be bound by the same laws.
In the particular case, the issue was whether the businessmen of our French allies should suffer from a devaluation of American currency that was then contemplated. American merchants would pay for goods in devalued currency and pay back loans with the same. Americans, and most other trading nations, have been on both sides of this issue ever since as a function of the specifics of the issues and the times.
John Adams, 1735-1826, 2nd President of the United States (Federalist, MA), Communication to Congress, 1780
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He was advocating a relationship with the American Revolutionaries and some skeptics were concerned about what would maintain the relationship over time.
As absurd as it seems to us today, traders were not very high in the English social order. Business itself was not well respected. English governing councils were devoid of anyone who had trade of business experience. Holland, in contrast, perhaps went to the other extreme in that traders and business men dominated to political structure. The Dutch were much more successful in foreign trade relatively than the English.
This quotation illustrates two important points. First, that foreign and domestic trade and merchants were very much appreciated at the time and an important component of society that there were special protections for traders and merchants. Second, was the national preemption of jurisdiction and control over business and commerce that would enter and leave the city. On most matters the local authorities would handle things, but intercity and international commerce was historically continuously impaired by individual nobles and other authorities making rules affecting merchants who might come to their town or city. The Crown preempted this authority in the 13th century and the “Commerce Clause” of our Constitution was not an unusual concept and had an extensive legal and economic history.
Congress was delighted with this report. This quotation is interesting for a number of reasons. In this first contact between Americans and the Chinese, foreign trade was the main subject of interest, and when the Chinese saw the size of the new nation, their immediate interest was to sell America Chinese manufactured goods. By the start of the 21st century, the largest trade the world had ever seen was that between American and China with us getting Chinese manufactured goods just as the 1785 Chinese and Americans at this meeting envisioned.
This was written by a French Journalist who had been assigned to America for 7 years when he wrote this in 1939. WWII was just breaking out in Europe. America is one of the few countries where naturalized citizenship is based on nothing other than desire and commitment.
The Egyptian Army, responding to huge demonstrations, ordered the Muslim Brotherhood President to step down in what appeared to be a coup d’etat. There was an American law that required a cut off of foreign aid to any government that had come to power. The American Administration and most of Congress did not want to terminate foreign aid to Egypt, and announced that it could not come to a conclusion as to whether or not there was a coup. They did not say that there was no coups—they just decided not to decide. Since there was no finding of a coups, there was no cutoff. Senator Paul and a few other Senators, observing that there had been a coup, wanted the administration to cut off the foreign aid even though it would be detrimental to our foreign policy. The government must obey the law they argued, regardless of the consequences.
John Adams Jr. was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain, and he served as the first vice president of the United States. Adams was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with many important figures in early American history, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
