Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary

The voyage of the Sensible was fraught with danger. Storms overworked the pumps and forced her to beach on the northwestern shore of Spain. Too impatient to await repairs, Adams struck out on a quixotic 1,000-mile overland trek, hoping to reach Paris in under a month. Much of the journey passed in steep mountainous regions on foot. Adams was appalled by the squalor of Spanish village life. Illness in the party soon convinced him he had erred, but he was buoyed by the warm reception he received as an American, although Madrid refused to recognize the colonies' independence, despite diligent efforts by envoy John Jay. The party crossed the frontier into France in mid-January 1780 and reached the capital on February 9, travel-worn but in tolerable health.

Adams enrolled his sons in a boarding school at Passy, paid a call on Franklin and...