Paris and Amsterdam in 1780 John Adams ended the year 1780 by
observing that it had been “the most anxious and mortifying Year
of my whole Life.”1 The documents presented in volumes 9 and 10
supply ample evidence of the anxiety and mortification that he
experienced, but they also offer an unparalleled portrait of
Adams the diplomat, first at Paris, as he tried against all odds
to initiate Anglo-American peace negotiations, and then at
Amsterdam, as he sought against equally formidable obstacles to
encourage European political and financial support for the
American cause. John Adams was named minister to negotiate
Anglo-American peace and commercial treaties on 27 September
1779, and by early February 1780, after a perilous voyage on the
French frigate La Sensible and an arduous trek through Spain, he
reached Paris.2 There, with his sons John Quincy and Charles,
and secretaries Francis Dana and John Thaxter, Adams took up
residence at the Hôtel de Valois on the Rue de Richelieu. Adams
remained in Paris through