“Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.”
~ John Adams

John Adams, known as one the founding fathers of the United States, was a leading advocate in the colonies for separation from England; a cause he knew would lead to war. He pushed for the Declaration of Independence during the 2nd Continental Congress and gave impassioned speeches on the need for the colonies to revolt; so much so that he himself admitted he was “obnoxious and disliked.” This is one of his most famous quotes or war sayings.

But the war he was referring to in the quote above did not receive his enthusiastic support. He wrote it long after the Revolutionary War, during his term as US President, when many in the government were advocating going to war, not with England but with France.

John Adams became the 2nd US president in 1796 after first serving as Vice President under George Washington. He was not particularly popular in the capital because of his tendency to give long, opinionated speeches and to lecture Congress.

He narrowly won election over Thomas Jefferson and set about to mend fences and set up a cohesive government. One issue became the most bitterly contested in his administration, that of relations with France.

In 1796, the US had signed a treaty with England of which the French heartily disapproved. Called the Jay Treaty, after its author John Jay, the document provided for the removal of British troops from lands in the Northwest Territory claimed by the States, and cleaned up some other unfinished business left after the Revolutionary War.

In the eyes of the French, who had helped the colonies in their war effort, and who were constantly skirmishing with England, the Jay Treaty seemed to be an alliance between America and Britain, and therefore, anti-French.

France started seizing American ships and by 1797 had captured more than 300 vessels.
Americans in the government began to see war with France as inevitable and pressure mounted for President Adams to act. When George Washington gave his Farewell Address to the nation and said that the Untied States should not get involved in foreign entanglements, Adams had wholeheartedly agreed. But with many members of Adams’ own party now clamoring for revenge against France, he made the decision to begin a military buildup. He asked Congress to appropriate funding for refurbishing both the Army and the Navy.

It was during this time when he wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, fretting about the possibility of more conflict when he knew it could very well bring his young country to ruin. He wrote, “Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war, “ because he felt that unlike the Revolutionary War, fighting with France would not lead to any good.

He sent secret envoys to negotiate with the French who were ultimately successful, but in doing so he caused a rift with Alexander Hamilton, a leader of his own political party.

That, in turn, probably caused him to lose the election of 1800 and become a one-term president. John Adams was a principled man who did not believe in war for war’s sake, but truly tried to reserve it for noble causes.