Note 22 — Chapter I · THE NAVAL COMMITTEE
Reading edition
Works of John Adams, III, 11. Certain words of John Adams in a letter dated, Philadelphia, April 28, 1776, have an interest in this connection: “I have vanity enough to take to myself a share in the merit of the American navy. It was always a measure that my heart was much engaged in, and I pursued it for a long time against the wind and tide, but at last obtained it.”—Force, American Archives, 4th, V, 1111.