Adams endorsed independence knowing it would bring ruinous war

Evidence

In his July 1 plea to Congress urging delegates to reject the resolution on independence, Dickinson had stressed the “severity” of the impending attack by Britain, but supporters of the resolution understood that risk. On the same day, Adams had written in a letter to Maryland delegate Samuel Chase, “If you imagine that I expect this Declaration will ward off Calamities from this Country, you are much mistaken. A bloody Conflict We are destined to endure.” In another July 1 letter, Adams added to Georgia delegate Archibald Bulloch, “The Object is great which We have in View, and We must expect a great Expence of blood to obtain it.” Despite the likely calamities and certain bloodshed, Adams assured Chase, “Freedom is a Counterballence for Poverty, Discord, and War,” and admonished Bullock, “A free Constitution of civil Government cannot be purchased at too dear a Rate; as there is nothing on this Side of the new Jerusalem, of equal Importance.” — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 228

Categorization

• XREF: Direct historical evidence for how founding actors weighed competing values (freedom vs. cost of war) prior to the Declaration’s adoption.