John Adams in London
Adams lived for three years at the location of the building above
Opposite to the former US embassy building in Grosvenor Square in a forgotten corner stands a plaque, almost completely hidden by a red post box. The plaque is situated on a relatively small, plain and inconspicuous building. It reads,
'In this house lived John Adams, first American Minister to Great Britain, May 1785 to March 1788, afterwards Second President of the United States. From here his daughter Abigail was married to Colonel William Stephens-Smith, First Secretary of the Legation and an officer in the Revolution Army on Washington's staff. John Adams and Abigail his wife, through character and personality did much to create understanding between the two English-speaking countries. In their memory this tablet is placed by the Colonial Dames of America, 1933'.
When John Adams was appointed United States minister to the Court of St. James in 1785, he brought much needed experience to the job, having already served as a foreign diplomat in Europe for three years. Adams, who had been a strong supporter of the Revolutionary War, faced challenges in representing U.S. interests in England at the close of the War. However, he attempted to strike a conciliatory tone when presenting his credentials to George III. He said he hoped the ‘good old nature and good old humor between people who... have the same language, a similar religion, and kindred blood’ could be restored. This overture was received well by the king.
Despite the good reception he received from King George, the public of London, in particular the press, did not react in kind. They would not so easily forget how Adams had employed the help of the French, with whom the English were almost constantly at war, to defeat the British in America. While Adams was relatively immune to these insults, his wife Abigail, who joined him in London, struggled. When one friend asked her how she dealt with the criticism, she replied that she could not. Nevertheless, John recounts in his diary how grateful he was for her presence as a help against the critics.
Adams’ main goals as Ambassador included restoring good relations between two countries so recently at war. One aim was to resolve violations of the Treaty of Paris, which had ended the Revolutionary War. From the American perspective, Adams complained that British troops still occupied land in the Great Lakes region. His British counterpart Lord Carmarthen raised the point of unpaid debts by American farmers to British creditors. With the Americans and the British deadlocked on these two issues, Adams found himself unable to make progress toward an American-British trade alliance.
Regarded as a failure at the time, John Adams’ time as Minister to the Court of St. James did yield some results. He gained the favour of George III, which helped him greatly as second President of the United States. Furthermore, he had coped admirably in highly unfavourable circumstances. Today Adams’ time in London is much forgotten and if it were not for that plaque, so modest compared to the three bigger than life size Presidential statues that stand just feet away, I too would not have known. And yet Adams arguably did just as much as Eisenhower, Roosevelt and Reagan, perhaps more, by setting a precedent for the special relationship that the United States and Britain enjoy to this day
'In this house lived John Adams, first American Minister to Great Britain, May 1785 to March 1788, afterwards Second President of the United States. From here his daughter Abigail was married to Colonel William Stephens-Smith, First Secretary of the Legation and an officer in the Revolution Army on Washington's staff. John Adams and Abigail his wife, through character and personality did much to create understanding between the two English-speaking countries. In their memory this tablet is placed by the Colonial Dames of America, 1933'.
When John Adams was appointed United States minister to the Court of St. James in 1785, he brought much needed experience to the job, having already served as a foreign diplomat in Europe for three years. Adams, who had been a strong supporter of the Revolutionary War, faced challenges in representing U.S. interests in England at the close of the War. However, he attempted to strike a conciliatory tone when presenting his credentials to George III. He said he hoped the ‘good old nature and good old humor between people who... have the same language, a similar religion, and kindred blood’ could be restored. This overture was received well by the king.
Despite the good reception he received from King George, the public of London, in particular the press, did not react in kind. They would not so easily forget how Adams had employed the help of the French, with whom the English were almost constantly at war, to defeat the British in America. While Adams was relatively immune to these insults, his wife Abigail, who joined him in London, struggled. When one friend asked her how she dealt with the criticism, she replied that she could not. Nevertheless, John recounts in his diary how grateful he was for her presence as a help against the critics.
Adams’ main goals as Ambassador included restoring good relations between two countries so recently at war. One aim was to resolve violations of the Treaty of Paris, which had ended the Revolutionary War. From the American perspective, Adams complained that British troops still occupied land in the Great Lakes region. His British counterpart Lord Carmarthen raised the point of unpaid debts by American farmers to British creditors. With the Americans and the British deadlocked on these two issues, Adams found himself unable to make progress toward an American-British trade alliance.
Regarded as a failure at the time, John Adams’ time as Minister to the Court of St. James did yield some results. He gained the favour of George III, which helped him greatly as second President of the United States. Furthermore, he had coped admirably in highly unfavourable circumstances. Today Adams’ time in London is much forgotten and if it were not for that plaque, so modest compared to the three bigger than life size Presidential statues that stand just feet away, I too would not have known. And yet Adams arguably did just as much as Eisenhower, Roosevelt and Reagan, perhaps more, by setting a precedent for the special relationship that the United States and Britain enjoy to this day