John Adams

by David McCullough

Written on September 25, it did not reach Adams until October 8. Were he to be denied the deciding voice in the selection of his general staff, Washington informed the President, he would resign his commission. Adams sent off an immediate reply, agreeing to Washington’s wishes. As he had accepted Washington’s cabinet in the interest of unanimity, so he now accepted Washington’s choice of Hamilton. But he also had reason to believe now that Hamilton and the army might not be needed at all. As a matter of form, he reminded Washington a bit lamely that by the Constitution it was the President who had the authority to determine the rank of officers. Washington promoted Hamilton to be inspector general. In the contest of who was in charge, Adams, it seemed, had been put in his place, outflanked not so much by Washington as by his own cabinet, and ultimately Hamilton, which left Adams feeling bruised and resentful. But at the same time, it gave Hamilton, and those in Adams’s cabinet whose first loyalty was to Hamilton, an inflated sense of their own importance and authority.