ABSTRACT
Scarcely anyone in America had heard of the Italian historian, Enrico Caterino Davila. But Adams, the insatiable reader, owned a French translation of Davila's History of the Civil Wars of France, a commentary on the intrigues and wars of sixteenth-century France, when unrestrained rivalries between the great noble houses had plunged the nation into a blood bath. In the following spring of 1791, shortly after Adams had discontinued publication of his Discourses, he fell into a political tangle with Jefferson that caused him everlasting heartache. Severely embarrassed, since everyone immediately assumed the "political heresies" to refer to Adams' Discourses, Jefferson hastened to write Washington an explanatory letter. In order to deny authorship, said Jefferson, Adams would have to disavow both the Discourses and the Defence** To William Short in Paris, Jefferson denounced not only Adams but Hamilton, Jay and Knox, accusing them of being monarchists.
