Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis

Chapter two contains the letters Adams and Jefferson exchanged between June 1784 and September 1785. Before declaring independence, the Continental Congress wanted to create treatise and open commerce with other nations. They aimed to embrace the "most-favored-nation" principle and aim to protect private property from being devastated and stolen during war time. Adams and Jefferson were responsible for many of these treatise and commercial negotiations and so the letters cover these matters.

Jefferson joined Adams and Benjamin Franklin in France in 1784. Adams was then against the senior of the two partners (Franklin was soon to retire). Adams was commissioner to France from 1777-79. In 1780, he went back to France to negotiate with Great Britain for peace. Along the way, he was made minister to the Dutch and helped negotiate a treaty of friendship and trade. This positive relationship with the Dutch would help...