Thomas Jefferson's Picturesque Visit to Grumpy John Adams in 1786:
They both attended the King's Levee, an exclusive reception for men hosted by representatives of the British Crown (usually held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). It was mainly attended by army and naval officers, diplomats, and other distinguished members of society.
To attend one of these gatherings, you first needed a sponsor—someone who had previously attended or had family or professional connections. That person would send a letter of introduction to the Lord Chamberlain, who decided whether to approve or reject the candidate. The letter had to be submitted no later than two days before the event (which I assume is what happened with Adams and Jefferson, considering the previous levee had been on Wednesday).
On the day of the event, each guest had to bring two presentation cards: one for the King and another for the Lord Chamberlain (or the Lord in Waiting), who would announce your name and rank before presenting you to the King.
The levee was held at St. James's Palace and began in the early afternoon, around 1:00–2:00 p.m. Guests were placed along the walls of the Presence Chamber so they wouldn't block the King's path, then gradually advanced in line toward the Throne Room. Once your name was called, you approached the King and bowed before him.
During the individual presentations, the King stood on a raised platform. Behind him were the male members of the royal family, officers of the Royal Household, and other high-ranking officials.
Once the presentation ceremony was over, the King walked through the rooms—the Presence Chamber and the Throne Room—stopping to speak with whoever he wished. When he was finished, he retired to the King's Closet to celebrate with his Privy Council, officially bringing the gathering to an end.
(Yep... basically a terrible party where you just stared at the King's face for a while and then everyone went home.)
The event also had a strict dress code, which is honestly one of my favorite parts:
Single-breasted dress coat with gold buttons, a standing collar, and embroidery on the cuffs and pocket flaps.
Materials made of either velvet or broadcloth.
Yes, you read that right—a sword. :)
I genuinely cannot picture Jefferson or Adams carrying one. Especially Jefferson. I just can't imagine him holding a sword.
And honestly, that's not far from reality. Since the United States didn't have a royal court or an aristocracy at the time, it also lacked a well-developed arms industry. That wasn't just a matter of custom—it was also the result of British regulations imposed on the colonies.
Iron Act of 1750 (23 Geo. II c. 29)
"An Act to encourage the importation of pig and bar iron from his Majesty's colonies in America; and to prevent the erection of any mill or other engine for slitting or rolling of iron; or any plating forge to work with a tilt hammer; or any furnace for making steel, in any of the said colonies."
In short, the colonies were encouraged to supply Britain with raw iron, but they were prohibited from manufacturing finished iron and steel products in order to eliminate colonial competition.
Making a sword wasn't the work of just one blacksmith—it required multiple skilled craftsmen and access to specialized equipment. Producing the high-quality steel needed for a proper blade required water-powered tilt hammers, specialized refining furnaces, and an industrial supply chain that simply didn't exist in the colonies.
Without the tools that British regulations restricted, producing a good-quality sword was incredibly difficult. The knowledge itself wasn't public either. Swordsmithing required precise control over the carbon content of the steel and expert heat treatment, and those techniques were closely guarded secrets passed down within very specialized European sword-making centers like Solingen in Germany or Toledo in Spain.
As a result, swords were mostly reserved for military officers, with combat use taking priority. Most were imported, their blades coming from places like Solingen (Germany), Sheffield and Birmingham (England), or Klingenthal (France), where sword production had already become highly developed.
What American craftsmen generally did was assemble the finished weapon. They imported the blades, cast the hilts, and made the scabbards.
In fact, during the Revolutionary War itself there was a shortage of swords because of naval blockades—another reason why the colonies relied so heavily on France.
So yes, some of the Founding Fathers probably experienced a bit of culture shock when traveling abroad and suddenly finding themselves in situations where court etiquette actually required them to wear a sword... and they had to go buy one.
By the time Adams and Jefferson were in London, carrying swords to social events had already become much less fashionable. Walking canes had largely replaced them, along with swordsticks (which were literally canes with hidden blades). Swords had become something reserved for the highest levels of court etiquette—especially occasions involving His Majesty George III or major political ceremonies.
Tracking down the origins of Jefferson's and Adams's swords has honestly been one of the hardest parts of my research. Since I'm limited to online sources, I can't access everything I wish I could, but I can at least offer a general overview. I'm fully aware that someone with access to more archives could probably uncover much more.
It's difficult to determine exactly when Adams acquired the sword he wore or where it came from. However, I did find an old letter in which Adams discusses claiming some of the belongings of his late brother, Elihu Adams, who had served in the Continental Army.
John Adams to Abigail Adams, June 16, 1776"
I am willing to take the Woodland Sister mentions, and the Watch and the sword. As to the Lighter, it cost more than five hundred Dollars in hard Cash."
In the letter, Adams says he's willing to purchase his brother's land as well as several of his possessions—including a sword.
Since Elihu was a captain, I don't know exactly what type of sword he owned or whether Adams ever used it himself. It's also entirely possible that, like Jefferson, Adams later purchased another sword specifically for diplomatic travel.
(I personally call this painting "Mr. Adams's butt." Who is this diva???!!!)
The painting I showed was completed by John Singleton Copley in 1783, when Adams was in London following the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution. In the portrait, he's wearing a smallsword.
Jefferson, meanwhile, didn't own a sword until just before his trip to France in 1784. He purchased one on August 10.
( I JUST realized it says "shaving apparatus." AAAAHH Jefferson is getting exposed so hard. 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭)
although there aren't many details about exactly what he bought. It was almost certainly a court sword. While both are technically smallswords, French and British smallswords had noticeable stylistic differences. I'll leave some comparison charts showing the most common ceremonial swords—from the most formal to the more casual ones. Some of them were even designed with self-defense in mind.
(I'm still not going to talk about everything that happened during the Queen's Drawing Room, since according to Adams's diary that took place around March 30, and I don't want to skip ahead in the timeline. It'll get its own chapter when we get there.)
Jefferson's opinion of both events:
"On my presentation as usual to the King and Queen, at their leveés, it was impossible for any thing to be more ungracious than their notice of Mr. Adams & myself. I saw at once that the ulcerations in the narrow mind of that mulish being left nothing to be expected on the subject of my attendance."
Jefferson never elaborated on what he specifically meant by that.
As for the rest of his thoughts... I'll leave those for Lord Carmarthen (if you read the previous chapter of this little saga). Personally, I think Jefferson vented far more about Carmarthen in his autobiography than he ever did about George III.
Adams, on the other hand, left us no additional comments about the levee.
So... did George III actually turn his back on Jefferson?
If the King had openly turned his back on Jefferson, I think it would've caused a much bigger diplomatic incident than people tend to imagine. That kind of insult wouldn't have simply ended there. And if it had happened without justification, I have a hard time believing Adams would've just stood there without reacting.
More importantly, there's no contemporary evidence that either of them described anything like that happening.
The closest thing I found was an article by Charles R. Ritcheson titled "The Fragile Memory."
The article mostly repeats much of what I've already discussed throughout this series (I won't lie—it was surprisingly similar to my own research ). But it also explores how one of John Adams's grandsons, Charles Francis Adams, edited historical documents and helped popularize the story that George III turned his back on Jefferson during the levee.
"Seventy years after George III's celebrated levee on March 17, 1786, Charles Francis Adams, editing the works of his illustrious grandfather, incorporated Jefferson's autobiographical account into his commentary and made some baroque additions. The king 'turned his back upon the American commissioners, a hint which, of course, was not lost upon the circle of his subjects in attendance.'"
From everything I've been able to gather, the myth simply grew because later historians kept citing—and sometimes exaggerating—the same story.
This is exactly why I have such a hard time trusting historians unless I can trace what they're saying back to a primary source.
Even then, I'm not sure how much I trust this particular article either. It claims Jefferson and Adams arrived at St. James's Palace around 11:00 a.m., and honestly... I have no idea where that information came from.
To piece together the schedule, I had to dig through a scanned copy of an 1868 London Gazette, parts of London of To-day: An Illustrated Handbook for the Season (1887), and Fanny Burney at the Court of Queen Charlotte (1912). Ironically, those books contain far more information about the Queen's Drawing Rooms than about the King's Levees themselves, so I had to compare both events just to estimate how the levees worked.
That's why it seems odd to me that the article confidently states they arrived at 11:00 a.m. Maybe the author was simply estimating how early Jefferson and Adams would've shown up, or maybe there's physical evidence I just can't access with the resources available to me.
But that's probably just me overthinking things.
