The Adams Papers: Adams family correspondence. January 1794 - June 1795 0674057848, 9780674057845

Table of contents :
Contents
Descriptive List of Illustrations
Introduction
1. The Second President
2. A New First Lady
3. Changing European Perspectives
4. This Side of the Atlantic
5. Notes on Editorial Method
6. Related Digital Resources
Acknowledgments
Guide to Editorial Apparatus
1. Textual Devices
2. Adams Family Code Names
3. Descriptive Symbols
4. Location Symbols
5. Other Abbreviations and Conventional Terms
6. Short Titles of Works Frequently Cited
Family Correspondence, March 1797 – April 1798
Appendix: List of Omitted Documents
Chronology
Index

Citation preview

The Adams Papers C. JAMES TAYLOR, EDITOR IN CHIEF

series ii

Adams Family Correspondence

Adams Family Correspondence SARA MARTIN, C. JAMES TAYLOR, NEAL E. MILLIKAN, AMANDA A. MATHEWS, HOBSON WOODWARD, SARA B. SIKES, GREGG L. LINT, SARA GEORGINI EDITORS

Volume 12 • March 1797 – April 1798

THE BELKNAP PRESS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS AND LONDON, ENGLAND

2015

Copyright © 2015 by the Massachusetts Historical Society • All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America

Funds for editing The Adams Papers were originally furnished by Time, Inc., on behalf of Life, to the Massachusetts Historical Society, under whose supervision the editorial work is being done. Further funds were provided by a grant from the Ford Foundation to the National Archives Trust Fund Board in support of this and four other major documentary publications. In common with these and many other enterprises like them, The Adams Papers has continued to benefit from the guidance and cooperation of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, chaired by the Archivist of the United States, which from 1975 to the present has provided this enterprise with major financial support. Important additional funds were supplied from 1980 to 1993 by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust, and The Charles E. Culpeper Foundation through the Founding Fathers Papers, Inc. Since 1993, The Adams Papers has received major support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and matching support from The Packard Humanities Institute, through the Founding Fathers Papers, Inc., and from The Charles Francis Adams Charitable Trust, The Florence J. Gould Foundation, The Lyn and Norman Lear Fund, and anonymous donors. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. ∞ This volume meets all ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 standards for permanence. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data (Revised for vols. 5–12) Adams family correspondence. (The Adams papers: Series II, Adams family correspondence) Vols. 3–4 edited by L. H. Butterfield and Marc Friedlaender. Vols. 5–6 edited by Richard Alan Ryerson et al. Vols. 7–11 edited by Margaret A. Hogan et al. Vol. 12 edited by Sara Martin et al. Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 1. December 1761 – May 1776—v. 2. June 1776 – March 1778—[etc.]— v. 12. March 1797 – April 1798. I. Butterfield, L. H. (Lyman Henry), 1909–1982. II. Friedlaender, Marc, 1905–1992. III. Ryerson, Richard Alan, 1942– . IV. Hogan, Margaret A. V. Martin, Sara. VI. Series: Adams papers: Series II, Adams family correspondence. E322.1.A27 929′.2 63–14964 ISBN 0–674–00400–0 (v. 1–2) ISBN–13 978–0–674–03275–0 (v. 9) ISBN 0–674–00405–1 (v. 3–4) ISBN–10 0–674–03275–5 (v. 9) ISBN 0–674–00406–X (v. 5–6) ISBN 978–0–674–05784–5 (v. 10) ISBN 0–674–01574–6 (v. 7) ISBN 978–0–674–07244–2 (v. 11) ISBN–13 978–0–674–02278–2 (v. 8) ISBN 978–0–674–50466–0 (v. 12) ISBN–10 0–674–02278–5 (v. 8)

This edition of The Adams Papers is sponsored by the massachusetts historical society to which the adams manuscript trust by a deed of gift dated 4 April 1956 gave ultimate custody of the personal and public papers written, accumulated, and preserved over a span of three centuries by the Adams family of Massachusetts

The Adams Papers ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE Douglas Adams Charles Ames Bernard Bailyn Frederick D. Ballou Levin H. Campbell Joyce E. Chaplin Amalie A. Kass Catherine R. Matthews Alan Rogers L. Dennis Shapiro John Walsh Hiller B. Zobel

EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE Joyce O. Appleby Joseph J. Ellis Linda K. Kerber Gordon S. Wood

The acorn and oakleaf device on the preceding page is redrawn from a seal cut for John Quincy Adams after 1830. The motto is from Cæcilius Statius as quoted by Cicero in the First Tusculan Disputation: Serit arbores quæ alteri seculo prosint (“He plants trees for the benefit of later generations”).

Contents Descriptive List of Illustrations Introduction

ix xix

1. The Second President xx 2. A New First Lady xxiii 3. Changing European Perspectives xxvi 4. This Side of the Atlantic xxix 5. Notes on Editorial Method xxxi 6. Related Digital Resources xxxi

Acknowledgments Guide to Editorial Apparatus

xxxv xxxvii

1. Textual Devices xxxvii 2. Adams Family Code Names xxxvii 3. Descriptive Symbols xxxviii 4. Location Symbols xxxix 5. Other Abbreviations and Conventional Terms xl 6. Short Titles of Works Frequently Cited xli

Family Correspondence, March 1797 – April 1798

1

Appendix: List of Omitted Documents

545

Chronology

555

Index

561

Adams Family Correspondence

Descriptive List of Illustrations 1. thomas boylston adams’ french passport, 8 may 1797 (an. v, 19 floréal) 109 In June 1796 Thomas Boylston Adams informed Abigail Adams of his “design . . . to pass a short time in Paris” before returning to the United States. It was ten months before he realized the first part of his plan. He departed The Hague on 16 April 1797 and arrived in Paris six days later. During the month he toured the French capital, Thomas Boylston “endeavored to gain a sight of every thing worth a travellers curiosity,” as he reported in a 24 July letter to his mother, where he named more than twenty of the sites he had visited (below). His Paris residence was “the Hotel des Etrangers Rue Vivienne No 6,” from which he reported to John Quincy Adams on 26 April that as required by one of the many laws governing visitors in France he had “sent to the Directorie the necessary petition to obtain leave of residence for a short time” (below). On 8 May he further reported that although he had not yet been granted “formal permission to remain” in Paris, he had “obtained a passport this day from the Minister of Police to return, and as it is valid for two decades only, you may calculate pretty nearly the time I shall set out” (below). By order of an 8 January 1797 decree (An. V, 19 nivôse), Americans were required to obtain passports endorsed by the minister of police, Charles Cochon de Lapparent. Lapparent (1749–1825) had held the position since April 1796, and it is his signature and the seal of his office that appear on the passport printed here, the 185th passport issued under the 19 nivôse decree. Near the top left of the document is an embossed stamp recording a payment of ten francs, a requirement under a subsequent decree of 24 April 1797 (An. V, 5 floréal) regarding stamp duties. The passport identifies Thomas Boylston as a “Citoyen-Américain”; 24 years old; five feet, three inches tall; with chestnut hair, black eyes, a long nose, and an ordinary forehead. It also notes his intention to return to The Hague via Brussels. The reverse bears the signature of the police commissioner at Valenciennes, France, through which Thomas Boylston passed on 20 May before arriving at The Hague on 26 May (vol. 11:326; D/JQA/24, 16 April, 26 May, APM Reel 27; Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale; J. B. Duvergier, Collection complète des

ix

Adams Family Correspondence Descriptive List of Illustrations

Adams Family Correspondence lois, décrets, ordonnances, règlements, avis du Conseil d’Etat, 30 vols., Paris, 1834–1838, 9:347). From the original in the Adams Family Papers. Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

2, 3. anna (nancy) greenleaf and william cranch, ca. 1795

177

By the summer of 1797 William Cranch and Anna (Nancy) Greenleaf Cranch were living in Washington, D.C., with their two sons— William Greenleaf, who was eighteen months, and the infant Richard, who was born on 26 June. William was at a crossroads professionally after the collapse of the land speculation firm Morris, Nicholson, & Greenleaf left him financially distressed. As he considered potential career opportunities, he received both advice and offers of assistance from the Adamses, and it was during the summer of 1797 that he began a regular correspondence with Abigail that lasted the remainder of John’s presidency. William became a reliable conduit of information about the future federal capital, and he served as an important ally in Abigail’s attempts to counter the opposition press. Meanwhile, Nancy was occupied with the cares of a young family and worry about the imprisonment of her brother, James Greenleaf, for debt, and the resulting financial impact on her parents and siblings (AA to William Cranch, 5 July and 15 Nov., and note 2; William Cranch to AA, 5 Aug., 21 Nov., all below). These facing portraits by an unknown artist show the young couple in three-quarter view and possibly date to their 6 April 1795 wedding. The present location of the originals is unknown, and the portraits are reproduced here from Leonora Cranch Scott, The Life and Letters of Christopher Pearse Cranch, Boston, 1917, plate following p. 6 (vol. 10:402, 11:xvi; Greenleaf, Greenleaf Family, p. 222). Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

4. william blount, ca. 1790

191

“When shall we cease to have Judas’s? here is a diabolical plot disclosed,” Abigail Adams wrote to Mary Smith Cranch on 6 July 1797 (below) as news spread in Philadelphia of a conspiracy involving Tennessee senator William Blount. Previously the territorial governor of the Southwest Territory as well as the superintendent of Indian affairs there, Blount (1749–1800) was deeply involved in land speculation in the territory. Nearly bankrupted by the collapse of western land values following the October 1796 Anglo-Spanish declaration of war, Blount attempted to protect his land holdings from creditors by joining a conspiracy whereby the Creek and Cherokee Nations would assist the British in conquering West Florida and securing navigation of the Mississippi River. In an April 1797 letter to a Cherokee interpreter named James Carey, Blount described himself as “the head of the business on the part of the British” and reported that the plan would be attempted in the fall and that “if the Indians act their part, I have no doubt but it will succeed.” News of the plot and Blount’s involvement in it surfaced in Phila-

x

Descriptive List of Illustrations delphia on 20 June. John Adams consulted with the attorney general, Charles Lee, who reported that the letter was “evidence of a crime” and made Blount subject to impeachment by the Senate. The president then submitted Blount’s letter to Congress on 3 July. Four days later the House of Representatives voted to impeach Blount; on 8 July the Senate voted for his expulsion. The House subsequently appointed a committee to prepare articles of impeachment, and its findings were reported on 4 December 1797. It was not until 17 December 1798, however, that Blount’s trial began. Ultimately, the case was dismissed after the Senate on 11 January 1799 voted fourteen to eleven that senators were not impeachable civil officers (JA to Charles Lee, 20 June 1797, LbC, APM Reel 118; Lee, William Rawle, and William Lewis to JA, 22 June, Adams Papers). This watercolor-on-ivory miniature portrait is by an unknown artist. Set against a sepia background, Blount wears a blue jacket with metal buttons and a white waistcoat with gold trim. The ruffled frill on his shirt front displays matching trim. His pulled-back hair is powdered (Biog. Dir. Cong.; William H. Masterson, William Blount, Baton Rouge, La., 1954, p. 216, 300–302, 307, 339, 341–342; Abernethy, The South in the New Nation, p. 184; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 6 July; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 440–441, 462–466; 2d sess., p. 672–673; Doris Devine Fanelli, History of the Portrait Collection, Independence National Historical Park, Phila., 2001, p. 93). Courtesy of Independence National Historical Park.

5, 6. abigail adams and john adams, by james sharples, ca. 1797 264, 265 Itinerant artist James Sharples captured one of the few known pairs of likenesses of Abigail and John Adams. Each measuring approximately nine-by-seven inches, the waist-length portraits depict Abigail in three-quarter view and John in profile, as was the artist’s custom when painting couples. Abigail wears an empire-waist dress with fitted sleeves and a ruffled fichu pinned at the front. A highcrowned dress cap, presumably in silk, bears a small lace brim and ribbon embellishment. The companion portrait depicts John in a light gray jacket and double-breasted waistcoat with a high collar. Although bald at the crown, he wears his hair curled at the sides and tied in a single tail at the back. The crisp, continuous outline of his profile suggests the use of a tracing device, such as a physionotrace. Sharples dabbled with mechanical inventions, and it seems likely he employed such an implement in his work. Fellow artist and acquaintance William Dunlap offered a candid assessment of Sharples’ work in History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States, praising the artist’s ability to capture “strikingly like” profile portraits but contending that the full-face portraits were “never so good.” James Sharples (ca. 1751–1811), or Sharpless as he was sometimes known, was born in Lancashire, England. He trained as an artist in Liverpool and first exhibited portraits at the Royal Academy in 1779.

xi

Adams Family Correspondence In 1793 he left England for the United States, accompanied by his third wife, Ellen Wallace, and three children. Their arrival in New York was delayed several months when their vessel was captured and detained in France. The family settled in Philadelphia, and it was likely there in 1796 or early 1797 that Sharples painted another portrait of John, which now resides in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in England. Sharples “was generally engaged drawing in crayons the portraits of the most distinguished Americans, foreign ministers, & other distinguished visitants from Europe.” He charged $15 for a profile portrait and $20 for a full face. In late 1797 he moved his operations to New York, working there until 1801. Overlap in the travel itineraries of Sharples and the Adamses suggests the pastel portraits printed here were initiated in 1797—either midyear in Philadelphia or in October in New York. Sharples later returned to England, but he made a second voyage to the United States in 1809. He died in New York on 26 February 1811 from a “complaint of the heart” (David Meschutt, “A Long-Lost Portrait of John Adams and an Unknown Portrait of Abigail Adams by James Sharples,” American Art Journal, 32:77–82 [2001]; DNB; William Dunlap, History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States, ed. Alexander Wyckoff, rev. edn., 3 vols., N.Y., 1965, 2:204–207; Katharine McCook Knox, The Sharples: Their Portraits of George Washington and His Contemporaries, New Haven, 1930, p. 12–13; Bristol, England, Central Library:Ellen Sharples diary, May 1806 – Jan. 1808, 25 March 1811, in the microfilm edition Material Relating to Ellen Sharples and Her Family, East Ardsley, Eng., 2000, reel 1). Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

7. “le général bonaparte proclamant la république cisalpine à milan le 9 juillet 1797,” by louis lafitte, 1813 341 “Buonaparte . . . has already become almost too great for his masters of the french Directory,” John Quincy Adams wrote to Abigail Adams on 28 December 1797 (below). The Directory hoped to keep northern Italy as a bargaining tool in its ongoing conflict with Austria, but Napoleon Bonaparte, as commander of France’s Army of Italy, pursued an alternate strategy. By encouraging existing revolutionary sentiments in a region where the French Army alone could not maintain its dominance, he facilitated the creation of a dependent state, or sister republic, which provided a stable base for French military operations as well as additional troops and funds to support his military objectives. Contrary to the Directory’s explicit orders, Napoleon proclaimed the Cisalpine Republic with a great civic festival in Milan on 9 July. Despite the revolutionary language of liberty and freedom employed on the occasion, John Quincy believed that “Buonaparte himself, who if not quite so great a General as Ceasar . . . has no objection to the exercise of sovereign power.” The Cisalpine Republic, a confederation of northern Italian territory that lasted until 1802, was united under a constitution modeled on the French Constitution of 1795 with the important

xii

Descriptive List of Illustrations distinction that Napoleon retained the power to appoint members to both the executive council and the bicameral legislature. By the end of 1797 the incorporation of additional territory expanded the reach of the client state south from Lake Maggiore and the Adige River to Rimini on the Adriatic Sea. This large oil on canvas by Louis Lafitte depicts Napoleon receiving the military salute in the courtyard of the Milan lazaretto after declaring the Cisalpine Republic. Lafitte (1770–1828), a painter and draftsman who had been a student of Jean Baptiste Regnault, won the Prix de Rome for painting in 1791. After studying in Rome and Florence, he established himself in Paris and regularly took part in the Salon. This painting was commissioned by the French government in 1809 and was intended for the Palais du Sénat Conservateur, now the Luxembourg Palace. Lafitte completed the painting in December 1813, however it was likely never installed (Philip Dwyer, Napoleon: The Path to Power, 1769–1799, New Haven, 2008, p. 286–287, 289; Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:588– 590, 9:86; Musées de l’Île d’Aix, Collections, Musée napoléonien, www.musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org; Jean Tulard, ed., Dictionnaire Napoléon, rev. ed., [Paris], 1989; Oxford Art Online). Courtesy of © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, New York.

8. “what a beastly action,” 1798

381

On 30 January 1798 an altercation occurred on the floor of the House of Representatives between Roger Griswold (1762–1812) of Connecticut and Matthew Lyon (1749–1822) of Vermont. Writing to Cotton Tufts on 6 February (below), Abigail Adams described “the Brutal conduct of that Wild Irishman Lyon” and reported that the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 6 February, had published “the most accurate account of the proceedings.” The account was the testimony of House Speaker Jonathan Dayton, who claimed that the Democratic-Republican Lyon disparaged the Federalist Griswold by suggesting that Connecticut congressmen represented only their own interests rather than those of their constituents. Lyon said further that if he were put in charge of a Connecticut newspaper he could convince the people of the state to remove Griswold from office, citing his past success in political battles he had fought with Connecticut people who had moved to his district. Overhearing the remarks, Griswold asked if Lyon fought those battles with a wooden sword, a reference to Lyon’s having been cashiered during the Revolutionary War. Lyon then spat in Griswold’s face, and Dayton reported that the latter man “drew back as if intending to strike Mr. Lyon” but instead “took out his handkerchief and calmly wiped his face.” In response, the House formed a Committee of Privileges and debated Lyon’s actions for fourteen days. On 12 February the House resolved to expel him, but the 52-to-44 vote lacked the necessary two-thirds majority. Abigail was shocked by the outcome and complained to Mary Smith Cranch that Lyon’s “low vulgar and base” act should have led to “the expulsion of the Beast” but was instead

xiii

Adams Family Correspondence “spun out, made the object of party, and renderd thus, the disgrace of the National legislature.” Further, Abigail believed that “something still more unpleasent” might happen. Her words were prophetic; a second confrontation occurred on 15 February when Griswold attacked Lyon with a walking stick. Lyon retaliated by hitting his adversary with fire tongs, and it took their fellow congressmen to separate the two men. A motion to expel both members was made on 16 February but was subsequently dropped (AA to Cranch, 15, 21 Feb., both below). Several cartoons captured the sensational events, including this one by an unknown artist depicting the Vermont representative as a lion. Standing on his hind legs with paws poised to fight and a wooden sword hanging at his side, the lion tramples a document inscribed, “Ve——t Politness.” In the center, handkerchief in hand, Griswold declares, “What a Beastly Action.” On the left William Cobbett, in the guise of Peter Porcupine, claims, “My Quills shall pierce & my Press shall black You.” The reference was to a vow Cobbett made on 15 February to print in his Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette “once a fortnight as long as I publish it” a record of Lyon’s despicable act. It was a promise he fulfilled in spirit if not in letter; the newspaper carried the “Spitting Record” at least nine times before ceasing publication in January 1800 (Biog. Dir. Cong.; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 955–1009, 1034–1043; Aleine Austin, Matthew Lyon: “New Man” of the Democratic Revolution, 1749–1822, University Park, Penn., 1981, p. 99, 100; Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 22 March 1798, 4 April, 3, 16 May, 5 June, 14 July, 10 Sept., 3 Nov., 1 May 1799; Jefferson, Papers, 31:322). Courtesy of the Boston Public Library.

9. “a solemn humiliation under the reign of john adams,” by benjamin henry latrobe, ca. 1798 471 On 23 March 1798, in an effort to bring unity to a nation already fractured over relations with France and about to learn the details of the XYZ Affair, President John Adams proclaimed that on 9 May “all Religious Congregations” should observe a “day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer.” His choice to resurrect a New England religious practice—once reserved for afflictions like war, drought, and illness—as an occasion for national penance was a striking reinvention of the rite and marked a new use of executive power. With the country “placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation, by the unfriendly Disposition, Conduct and Demands of a foreign power,” John exhorted Americans to follow the “loud call to Repentance and Reformation” occasioned by divine judgment. Some ministers, like the Massachusetts Congregationalist Jacob Norton, heeded the president’s call and crafted sermons meant to foster political support. However, the proclamation also drew sharp criticism from the Democratic-Republican opposition. Critics felt it was too sententious, reading like a “death bed repentance.” Virginia senator Richard Brent announced that he “would not fast a

xiv

Descriptive List of Illustrations day to save John Adams from an appoplectic fit” and “would on that day rather introduce a dance.” “I know not what can excite their Wrath to such a degree,” Abigail Adams wrote to Mary Smith Cranch on 31 March, “but that they think there is yet some Religion left in the Country, and that the people will have some respect to it, & to those Rulers who acknowledge an over Ruling Providence” (below). From the pencil and pen-and-ink sketch printed here, the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820) appears to have been critical of the entire political scene. Born in England and educated in Moravian schools in Germany, Latrobe immigrated to the United States in 1795. While traveling from Philadelphia to Richmond, Virginia, Latrobe was “assailed” by news of the XYZ Affair, which he called “storms in a teapot de chambre” that ruined “honest men, who know not the tricks of the world.” His resulting caricature is an adaption of William Hogarth’s satirical print “The Sleeping Congregation.” The pulpit is inscribed with Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 27 March 1798; Cranch to AA, 29 April, and note 6, below; Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 30 March; Edward C. Carter II, ed., The Virginia Journals of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1795–1798, 2 vols., New Haven, 1977, 2:369; Edward C. Carter II, John C. Van Horne, and Charles E. Brownell, eds., Latrobe’s View of America, 1795–1820: Selections from the Watercolors and Sketches, New Haven, 1985, p. 136–137; Biog. Dir. Cong.; ANB). Collection of the Maryland Historical Society.

10. “uss constitution,” by michele felice cornè, ca. 1803 “Our Frigate Constitution is at last afloat,” William Smith wrote to his cousin Abigail Adams on 8 November 1797, describing the vessel as “a most beautiful sight” (Adams Papers). After two unsuccessful launch attempts, a Boston newspaper reported that the Constitution had eased into the harbor with “steadiness, majesty and exactness” on 21 October, accompanied by “the huzzas of the citizens.” Prompted by “An Act to Provide a Naval Armament” of 27 March 1794, the 44-gun warship was among the new vessels built to reestablish the American naval force. Master shipwright Joshua Humphreys began designing the frigate in May, and contracts for construction materials went out soon after. An extant bill from Paul Revere to naval agent Henry Jackson itemized forged and cast fittings, including “Brass Coggs,” nails, braces, “a Copper Rudder chain,” and “a Bell for Frigate Weigt 242lb.” At John Adams’ request, Congress appropriated additional funds on 1 July 1797 and 21 March 1798 to complete construction and to crew the ship. Samuel Nicholson was named the Constitution’s first captain, although Cotton Tufts reported to Abigail on 30 June 1798 that it was an “unfortunate” choice as he was “very unpopular among the Sailors” (Adams Papers). The frigate was put to sail on 22 July 1798,

xv

479

Adams Family Correspondence but it was not until the War of 1812 that the Constitution gained its enduring reputation for naval victories, earning the sobriquet “Old Ironsides.” This earliest known depiction of the Constitution, dating to about 1803, was captured by the Neapolitan artist Michele Felice Cornè (1752–1845). Renowned for his work in Boston and Salem, Cornè obtained a “reputation as a painter of Ships . . . delineated for those who have navigated them.” His extraordinarily accurate painting of the Constitution was probably executed under the captain’s watchful eye while the warship was being refitted in Boston. Rendered in watercolor and gouache on paper, the image shows the majestic frigate cutting through the water under full sail. Both the upper deck and the masts are alive with activity, as a cannon is fired and sailors climb the rigging and trim the sails. Three additional vessels fill the midground and the horizon, their movements tracked by the Constitution’s masthead lookout. A figurehead of Hercules stands at the bow brandishing a scroll of the U.S. Constitution. At the stern a sailor hoists an American flag with the unusual configuration of fifteen stripes and seventeen stars; the vessel reportedly sailed under a flag of fifteen stars until after the War of 1812. High on the mainmast flies the commodore’s blue broad pennant, indicating the seniority of the captain and the Constitution’s designation as the squadron flagship (Boston Columbian Centinel, 25 Oct. 1797; Tyrone G. Martin, A Most Fortunate Ship: A Narrative History of Old Ironsides, rev. edn., Annapolis, Md., 1997, p. 2–5, 10, 13–17, 23, 67–68, 157; MHi:Special Coll., Loose MSS, Revere, 28 Oct. 1797; AA to JQA, 17 March 1798, and note 2, below; Oxford Art Online; The Diary of William Bentley, D. D., Pastor of the East Church, Salem, Massachusetts, 4 vols., Salem, 1905–1914, 3:68; Karl Heinz Marquardt, The 44-Gun Frigate USS Constitution: “Old Ironsides,” Annapolis, Md., 2006, p. 26; George Henry Preble, History of the Flag of the United States of America, 2d rev. edn., Boston, 1880, p. 317, 660, 662–663). Courtesy of the Curator of the Navy. USS Constitution Museum Collection. Photo by David Bohl.

11. “the presidents march: a new federal song,” ca. 1798 The President’s March was likely composed in 1789 by German immigrant and musician Philip Phile (d. 1793) to honor then president-elect George Washington. After its 1793 publication the melody quickly became popular with Federalists, and in the spring of 1798, amid Federalist calls for a national song to counter French patriotic anthems such as “Ça Ira” and “Le Marseillaise,” it was set to lyrics. Gilbert Fox, a singer with the New Theatre in Philadelphia, asked his friend and former classmate Joseph Hopkinson to write the lyrics. On 24 April Fox announced his intention to perform “an entire New Song (written by a Citizen of Philadelphia)” as part of the following night’s program. Abigail Adams, who “had a Great curiosity to see for myself the Effect,” attended its first performance, and she described its reception in a letter to Mary Smith

xvi

530

Adams Family Correspondence Descriptive List of Illustrations

Descriptive List of Illustrations Cranch of 26 April: “At every Choruss the most unbounded applause ensued,” and at the conclusion the entire audience “rose gave 3 Huzzas, that you might have heard a mile” (below). The Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 26 April, similarly extolled the performance as exceeding “any thing of the kind ever witnessed in a public place.” The song became known as “Hail Columbia,” and in its final verse it praises “the Chief who now commands”—John Adams—as “the rock on which the storm will beat.” The sheet music reproduced here, which also included a version of “Yankee Doodle,” was printed by George Willig (1764–1851), a German immigrant who operated the successful Musical Magazine on Market Street in Philadelphia. “Hail Columbia” was considered a national anthem until officially supplanted by “The Star Spangled Banner” in 1931; today, it continues to be used as the vice president’s official anthem (John Tasker Howard, Our American Music: Three Hundred Years of It, 3d edn., N.Y., 1946, p. 118–121; Liam Riordan, “ ‘Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be?’: The Urban Early Republic and the Politics of Popular Song in Benjamin Carr’s Federal Overture,” Journal of the Early Republic, 31:215–217 [Summer 2011]; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 24, 26 April 1798; Dorothy Potter, “Music by the ‘Celebrated Mozart’: A Philadelphia Publishing Tradition, 1794–1861,” in Jeffrey H. Jackson and Stanley C. Pelkey, eds., Music and History: Bridging the Disciplines, Jackson, Miss., 2005, p. 84, 92–93; Philadelphia Directory, 1797, p. 153; Martin J. Manning and Clarence R. Wyatt, eds., Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America, Santa Barbara, Calif., 2011, entry on “Hail Columbia”). Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Music Division.

xvii

xviii

Adams Family Correspondence

Introduction The fourteen months covered by volume 12 of the Adams Family Correspondence witnessed significant transitions for both the Adams family and the nation. With his inauguration on 4 March 1797 as the second president of the United States, John Adams assumed the mantle of government during a tumultuous period. For Abigail Adams, John’s inauguration meant stepping from the comfort and familiarity of Quincy into the stressful national political arena as an active participant in her husband’s administration. Change was afoot for the Adamses’ children as well. Notably, the marriage of John Quincy to Louisa Catherine Johnson in July 1797 and the couple’s subsequent move to his new diplomatic posting in Berlin opens another chapter in the family saga. The first transition of presidential administrations was accompanied by a pervasive anxiety about the implications of a contested election that resulted in only a narrow victory for John Adams. The divisive nature of party politics challenged the new administration and was compounded by a crisis in foreign policy that further entrenched the animosity between Federalists and DemocraticRepublicans. Having spent his life securing the American republic, John was committed to ensuring its survival. Seeking a peaceful resolution to the conflict with France, he deployed a special diplomatic mission in the summer of 1797. France’s refusal to treat with the U.S. envoys until certain demands were met became known as the XYZ Affair. By the time this volume closes in April 1798, the insulting details of the failed negotiation had been made public in the United States, and the possibility of war loomed. In a change from recent volumes of Family Correspondence, the rich exchanges between John and Abigail constitute only a small portion of the book. Abigail remains the dominant presence with fully 74 percent of the 276 letters included being written by or to the

xix

Adams Family Correspondence Introduction

Adams Family Correspondence Adams matriarch. Her absence from Quincy during much of the period required leaving the management of the Adams properties to her uncle Cotton Tufts and her sister Mary Smith Cranch, and their letters offer tantalizing glimpses of late eighteenth-century life in Massachusetts. The correspondence allowed Abigail to maintain her connections to family and community, while at the same time it afforded a reliable means of transmitting information from the seat of national government. The letters between Abigail and Mary, of which 59 are printed here, offer the most intimate view of Abigail’s thoughts and actions as she settled into life on the national political stage. She candidly wrote to her sister about her concerns for the country and its future, and she vented her frustrations about the divisiveness of congressional politics and the scurrility of the opposition press. In return, Mary kept her apprised of local news and dutifully reported the reaction in Massachusetts to the Adams administration. As might be expected, John Quincy is the most prolific writer among the Adams children with 33 letters, including his share of the 19 letters that conclude the courtship correspondence between him and Louisa Catherine Johnson. Once married, John Quincy’s preoccupation with family concerns, coupled with the cares attendant in commencing a new diplomatic mission, translate to gaps in his usual dutiful correspondence to his parents. These gaps are at times ably filled by his brother Thomas Boylston, who accounts for only 4 percent of the total but whose letters offer perhaps the most cogent summaries of European events. Both brothers’ letters from The Hague, London, Paris, and finally Berlin supplied the rest of the family with critical information about the state of Europe and reactions, especially in France, to John’s election to the presidency. Abigail 2d (Nabby) and Charles, together responsible for only 5 letters, remain on the periphery, although concern for Nabby’s emotional and financial well-being is a constant refrain within the family’s correspondence. 1. THE SECOND PRESIDENT “The Sight of the Sun Setting full orbut and another rising tho less Splendid, was a novelty.” Thus John Adams described a pivotal moment in the nation’s history—the official shift from the first to the second presidential administrations. Questions abounded about

xx

Introduction whether the republic could withstand the executive transition or whether extreme partisanship would irreparably divide the union. At the heart of the matter was the deterioration of Franco-American relations—the dominant issue of the Adams presidency. John was committed to a peaceful resolution with France “provided that no Violation of Faith, no Stain upon Honour is exacted,” he reported to John Quincy, “but if Infidelity, Dishonour, or too much humiliation is demanded, France shall do as she pleases and take her own course. America is not Scared.” The possibility of war was already on the horizon in the spring of 1797. In retaliation for the Jay Treaty, which France believed unfairly advantaged Anglo-American commercial relations, France increasingly targeted American maritime commerce and refused to receive Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as U.S. minister. Many, including Thomas Boylston, believed these actions were intended to engage the United States in war, and tensions at home ran high. John attempted to navigate a middle course, and the addresses of his first year in office repeatedly attest to a dual message of diplomacy and defense. On learning of Pinckney’s expulsion, he convened Congress in May to announce his intention “to make one trial more at accomodation with France,” but he also recommended that Congress enact defensive measures, including the establishment of a navy and the arming of merchant vessels. And in a move that drew sharp criticism from the opposition, he redirected the diplomatic mission of John Quincy from Portugal to Prussia, asking his son “to continue your Practice of writing freely to me, and cautiously to the office of State.” Wary of the High Federalists in his cabinet and resolute in the belief that his middle path was the correct one, John looked to his family for reliable information and advice.1 The commission to France comprised three special envoys— Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry— all of whom were at Paris by early October. During the months between their appointment and arrival, however, France underwent another radical shift in leadership. On 4 September (An. V, 18 fructidor) a majority of the French Directory, with military backing, staged a coup d’état that ousted conservative members of the Directory and legislative councils. The new government further consolidated its control through a series of laws that restricted freedom of the press and nullified recent elections. John Quincy characterized the events as “undisguised and unblushing” violations of the repub1 JA to AA, 5 March 1797; to JQA, 31 March; TBA to JA, 17 March; JA to AA, 14 April; to TBA, 2 June, all below; JA to JQA, 2 June, Adams Papers.

xxi

Adams Family Correspondence lican and constitutional values the instigators claimed to be protecting, and he doubted the willingness of the new government to embrace Franco-American negotiations. “For any reconciliation worth having there must be a favourable and an honest temper on both sides.— My hopes are but small,” he reported to Abigail.2 Thus from the outset of their mission, the U.S. envoys faced a Directory prone to war and a foreign ministry inclined to delay negotiations. The French foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, refused to open formal negotiations, instead using unofficial channels—the agents that became known as X, Y, and Z—to demand a personal payment as the basis of negotiations, a U.S. loan to France, and an apology for comments contained in the president’s 16 May 1797 address to Congress. The envoys refused these conditions and all attempts to be officially received by Talleyrand were rebuffed. In mid-April 1798 Marshall and Pinckney left Paris to return to the United States. Gerry, more sympathetic to the French cause than his fellow commissioners, remained behind. In the United States months passed with only “Vague and contradictory accounts” surfacing about the mission, all the while news of France’s territorial conquests and treatment of neutral European states heightened anxieties. A new decree authorizing French attacks on any vessel carrying British goods made “a general Wreck” of American commerce, and still Congress enacted few of the defensive measures that John again recommended in his address at the opening of the session in November 1797. The failure to pass legislation, however, did not translate into a calm session. Partisan vitriol was on full display in long and fruitless debates, and it erupted into violence in January 1798 when a physical altercation occurred on the floor of the House of Representatives between Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold.3 Finally in March 1798 the first dispatches were received, exhibiting what Abigail described as “a picture of National Degradation and unparalled corruption.” Concerned for the safety of the American envoys, John initially chose to keep the contents of the dispatches confidential. He addressed Congress on 19 March to report the mission’s failure and to again urge that provisions be made for American defense; he also removed the restriction preventing merchant vessels from arming. The speech was condemned by the opposition as a call for war, and both Congress and the public clamored for 2 JQA to AA, 7 Oct. 1797, below. 3 AA to Mary Smith Cranch [1] Feb. 1798; to JQA, 10 Feb., both below.

xxii

Introduction more information. When John complied in early April, the effect was immediate. “The Jacobins in senate & House were struck dumb,” and “the cementing of Hearts, and the Union of mind” turned public opinion against France and, briefly, in support of John Adams.4 2. A NEW FIRST LADY “You and I are now entering on a new Scene, which will be the most difficult, and least agreable of any in our Lives.— I hope the burthen will be lighter to both of Us, when We come together.” Although John initially suggested that Abigail wait until the fall to join him in Philadelphia, the magnitude of his presidential duties and the arrival of news from France changed his mind. “I never wanted your Advice & assistance more in my Life,” he declared, and he repeatedly urged Abigail “to loose not a moments time . . . that you may take off from me every Care of Life but that of my public Duty, assist me with your Councils, and console me with your Conversation.” In the charged political atmosphere John needed his greatest ally. For Abigail, leaving Quincy was filled with anxiety and anguish. In addition to her responsibility for making adequate arrangements for the care of the Adamses’ properties and tenants, as well as for organizing her own domestic and travel arrangements, Abigail’s cares were compounded by the death of John’s mother, Susanna Boylston Adams Hall, followed in quick succession by that of her young niece Mary Smith. For once, Abigail looked forward to leaving Quincy, “where every scene and object wears a gloom, or looks so to me.” Her escape to Philadelphia, however, carried its own worries, not only for John and his public duties but also about her impending role in the new venture. While en route to the federal seat, she reflected on the changes she faced: “Such appears, to me the situation in which I am placed, enviable no doubt, in the Eyes of Some, but never envy’d or coveted by me. that I may discharge my part with honour, and give satisfaction is my most earnest wish.”5 Abigail arrived in Philadelphia early in May 1797 and immediately stepped into the “ceremonious part of my Duty.” She spent several hours each day receiving company and hosted a series of dinners until she had been introduced to the cabinet secretaries and all 4 AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 4, 9 April 1798; to William Smith, 15 April, all below. 5 JA to AA, 22 March 1797, 11 April, 4 May; AA to JA, 26 April; to Mary Smith Cranch, 30 April, all below.

xxiii

Adams Family Correspondence members of Congress. In keeping with the Washingtons’ tradition, which the Adamses felt they could ill afford, she and John also welcomed foreign ministers, Congress, and a large contingent of local politicians and Philadelphia citizenry to celebrate the Fourth of July. Soon thereafter, she and John were able to return to Quincy for a brief respite. When she returned to the capital in the fall, she was more accustomed to the social responsibilities of her position, and she wrote about it less frequently, turning instead to a topic nearer to her heart—politics.6 “How is it possible for you to take your Pen & not write Politicks,” Mary Smith Cranch asked her sister. “I shall feel myself Shut out of the world if I cannot have your oppinion how it is going on.” It would have been impossible for Abigail to abstain from political commentary, and yet she recognized that her public role required a certain amount of circumspection. “Be cautious to whom you communicate my sentiments. I am not asshamed of them, but perhaps I ought not to write Them so freely,” she warned her sister Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, and when frustration gave way to indignation, she worried that opinions expressed to Mary might be misinterpreted, and “as it respects the Character I hold—I will not knowingly degrade it.” Abigail’s letters to her sisters provided a much needed emotional outlet, but her letters within her broader circle of correspondents demonstrate the myriad ways she leveraged her position on John’s behalf.7 Abigail and Elizabeth Ellery Dana had long been friends and occasional correspondents, but in June 1797, shortly after John’s appointment of Francis Dana as one of the envoys to France, Abigail wrote with another motive, suggesting it was Elizabeth’s republican duty to ensure her husband’s acceptance. Just as both women had sacrificed domestic happiness for the revolutionary cause, Abigail urged Elizabeth to suppress “every personal Consideration to the Welfare of our Country.” The multiple extant drafts of this painstakingly crafted letter demonstrate Abigail’s struggle to find the appropriate balance between familiarity and formality. She hoped her personal relationship with Elizabeth would be enough to influence a political outcome that John sought. In other instances she served as a conduit between the president and those who sought political patronage. When her nephew William Smith wrote to the president 6 AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 24 May 1797, below. 7 Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 4 May 1797; AA to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 13 Feb. 1798; to Cranch, 15 Feb., all below.

xxiv

Introduction seeking a position, Abigail replied. She explained that he must demonstrate merit before receiving consideration, and even then he “must be sensible a more than ordinary delicacy” was required in such situations. Similar requests were sent directly to Abigail with the expectation that she would be better able to enlist the president’s support. Thus Charles Storer asked that his father be considered for the position as inspector of the excise in Massachusetts, and Ruth Hooper Dalton implored, “Under the present administration I should have hoped some thing to Mr Daltons advantage, and still flatter myself his good Friend will not forget him.” The success of both of these requests testifies not only to the efficacy of the approach but also to the influence Abigail wielded.8 Incensed by the opposition press, Abigail utilized her network of correspondents to actively shape public opinion by combatting the “incendaries who kindle Flames where ever they go.” One ally in this fight was her nephew in Washington, D.C., William Cranch, into whose “safe and honorable Hands” she entrusted her sons’ letters from Europe. She did so with the expectation that he would have excerpts accurately published in the southern press in order “to Enlighten our Countrymen in the views and intrigues of France as they respect America.” In Boston, it was her cousin William Smith who both aided and informed Abigail’s efforts. During the winter of 1798 reports surfaced claiming that John had already received dispatches from the envoys to France but was withholding them in order to spur anti-French sentiment. Smith countered these reports by publishing an excerpt of Abigail’s letter noting no dispatches had been received. When the dispatches finally did arrive, speculation was rife in Boston regarding their contents, especially the French demands. Smith assumed that some of the ubiquitous reports were true and offered his services: “If I cou’d say with certainty that they were true, it wou’d have the best effect here.” Smith recognized that if news was funneled through him, it would be seen as trustworthy given his relationship with the first family.9 Abigail may have leveraged private relationships to reinforce the political message of the administration; however, when the opposition press crossed into personal attacks on her family, she took more 8 AA to Elizabeth Ellery Dana, 6 June 1797; to William Smith, [2 March 1798]; Charles Storer to AA, 15 July 1797; Ruth Hooper Dalton to AA, 15 Aug., all below. 9 AA to JQA, 14 July 1797; to William Cranch, 15 Nov., both below; William Smith to AA, 25 Feb. 1798, Adams Papers; AA to Smith, 6 Feb., below; Boston Columbian Centinel, 17 Feb.; Smith to AA, 2 April, Adams Papers.

xxv

Adams Family Correspondence direct action. In the fall of 1797 the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser repeatedly lambasted John for the public tributes shown him while traveling between Quincy and Philadelphia. After a particularly loathsome squib, Abigail reported to her sister “all will not do.” She subsequently wrote a detailed refutation of the criticism leveled at the president, and sent it to John Fenno, the editor of the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, who published the letter without a signature on 18 November. The following spring, when the Aurora accused John Quincy of undeservedly receiving his father’s patronage, Abigail wrote directly to the editor, Benjamin Franklin Bache, chastising the onetime schoolmate of John Quincy’s for “the Misrepresentation a Writer in your paper” had given of her son’s appointment.10 3. CHANGING EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES In the spring of 1797 as John Quincy Adams was making the final arrangements for taking up his new diplomatic post in Portugal, his father instead nominated him to be minister plenipotentiary to Prussia. He explained that his son’s “Talents, Sagacity and Industry” would be better applied at the northern post than the southern, but in doing so he unwittingly caused the younger Adams serious consternation. John Quincy had vowed to never hold a position under his father’s nomination, and he complained to his brother Charles that the appointment was “not an agreeable one to me, nor should it ever have taken place with my consent.” To Abigail, he reported his reluctant acceptance of the position but noted that its origin took from him “all the satisfaction which I have enjoyed hitherto in considering myself as a public Servant.” His parents thought John Quincy was overreacting. John scolded, “It is the worst founded Opinion I ever knew you conceive,” and Abigail believed her eldest son was simply being too scrupulous.11 John Quincy learned of the change in his mission while en route to London, where after a courtship of fourteen months he and Louisa Catherine Johnson were married on 26 July 1797. In a joint letter to John and Abigail written two days after the wedding, John Quincy boasted of Louisa’s able domestic qualifications. Louisa dutifully 10 AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 15 Nov. 1797; AA to Benjamin Franklin Bache, 17 March [1798], both below. 11 JA to JQA, 2 June 1797, Adams Papers; JQA to CA, 1 Aug.; to AA, 29 July; JA to JQA, 3 Nov.; AA to TBA, 7 Nov., all below.

xxvi

Introduction reported that her “greatest wish” was “to meet the approbation of my Husband, and family.” Upon learning of the marriage, Abigail wrote to congratulate her son and then welcomed Louisa to the family in a quintessentially Adams fashion: “Strengthen the bond of union between us my Dear Louissa by a frequent communication by Letters your observations and remarks upon the new scenes before you and the Manners and customs of Foreign Nations, will both amuse and entertain me, always however keeping in mind, your own public Character, and the Critical Times in which we Live.” With her first letter, Abigail established a model of instruction that characterized much of her early correspondence with her daughter-inlaw.12 The newlyweds spent three months in London before proceeding to Berlin. Thomas Boylston, who had repeatedly written to his parents that he was “not only desirous but anxious to revisit my native land,” and whose return to the United States was keenly anticipated by both John and Abigail, nonetheless determined to continue as John Quincy’s secretary. In reporting the decision to his mother, he noted that “after full and mature consideration” he acquiesced to his brother’s “earnest desires” that he continue in the post, but he urged Abigail to find a replacement for him, “for I plainly see, that until some arrangement of this kind be made, I shall not be released.” He renewed his appeal once settled in Berlin, and both he and John Quincy asked their parents to find a successor.13 The “little family” arrived in Berlin in early November, shortly after which began John Quincy’s “severest affliction[s]” as first Louisa and then Thomas Boylston became gravely ill. “At a tavern—in a strange country—unacquainted with every human being in it, and ignorant in a great measure of the language,” John Quincy reported to his mother, “you can judge what we all suffered.” Louisa, pregnant when she left for Berlin, had a miscarriage; Thomas Boylston was felled by a throat disorder compounded by an attack of rheumatism. Both recovered and slowly became active participants in the new prospect before them.14 John Quincy’s entrée into his public business was hampered by the death of Frederick William II only days after the new minister’s 12 JQA and LCA to AA and JA, 28 July 1797; AA to JQA, 3 Nov.; to LCA, 24 Nov., all below. 13 TBA to JA, 17 March 1797; to AA, 7 April, 17 Aug. 1797, 12 Feb. 1798; JQA to AA, 22 Feb., all below. 14 JQA to AA, 28 Dec. 1797, below; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 21 April 1798, AA, New Letters, p. 158.

xxvii

Adams Family Correspondence arrival in Berlin. Deprived “of an Audience to deliver my credentials,” John Quincy envisioned months of idleness as he waited for a new letter of credence. Fortunately, Frederick William III dispensed with formality and agreed to recognize John Quincy based on his previous credentials, and he made his presentation at court in December 1797. His arrival took place during the height of the social season and at the outset of a new monarchy, and John Quincy found the constant social whirl taxing. “You can easily judge how heavily all this goes with my disposition,” he wrote to Abigail. More importantly, as a public servant he found his increased social calendar offered little benefit in informing his understanding of events in Europe or advancing the purpose of his presence in Prussia. Louisa made her presentation in mid-January 1798, while Thomas Boylston tried to avoid the obligation and expense of court life altogether. He succeeded until February, when he reported to Abigail that he was preparing for his presentation by having “a suit of the United States uniform to be made.” It resembled that of American naval officers, and Thomas Boylston took pleasure in the fact that “the french Minister here will look askance at it, & I hope he may, for he can’t question my right to wear it, and I want him to see how an American looks in the livery of his own Country.”15 From their new vantage point in Berlin, both John Quincy and Thomas Boylston—none of Louisa’s letters are extant for the period— continued to serve as keen but anxious observers of European affairs. “The picture which presents itself to inspection is to my view the most humiliating, that the history of man has ever furnished,” Thomas Boylston reported to his mother, and discussions of France’s territorial conquest of Europe dominated his letters to both parents. In describing the series of dependent republics established under the auspices of France, Thomas Boylston believed, “It is natural enough for an American citizen, who has witnessed the undeviating march of all these modern Revolutions effected by foreign interference, to figure to himself the possibility of a similar turn to affairs in his own Country.” He viewed one French navigational decree as a particularly loathsome demonstration of French intentions toward the United States and eloquently warned: “If such treatment of their suffering Countrymen produce no resentment, no indignation, I shall begin to believe that the syren song of Liberty, equality & fra15 JQA to AA, 28 Dec. 1797, 5 Feb. 1798; TBA to AA, 12 Feb., all below.

xxviii

Introduction ternity, has captivated all minds and prepared both governors & governed to receive a french garrison as soon as it can be made to reach the Continent— From that moment, come when it will, I have no longer a Country—”16 John Quincy reported favorably about the future of Prussia following the accession of Frederick William III: “The Prussian dominions have profited by the Peace which they have now enjoyed nearly three years, and the young king though of a military turn, has too much good sense to begin his reign by involving his People in a War.” However, he was not so sanguine about Napoleon Bonaparte, whom he believed “has already become almost too great for his masters of the french Directory.” Late in 1797 the conquering general had been named commander of France’s Army of England, and reports were rampant about an impending invasion. John Quincy accurately predicted that Napoleon would not support the invasion, however, he speculated—with uncanny prescience—that should the general achieve such a military feat, he would become “too great for a french Republic.”17 4. THIS SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC For the Adams children in the United States, life remained stationary if not always stable. Charles, the most marginal Adams in the volume, was in the spring of 1797 living “prettily but frugally” in New York City. He continued to make his way in the legal profession and was entrusted with occasional requests from his parents, including assisting John’s secretary with arrangements for a parade the president was to attend in New York City. His management of John Quincy’s financial affairs in the United States, however, continued to worry the family, and his failure to provide regular reports tried the patience of John Quincy, who urged Charles to report on “business rather more frequently than you have hitherto done.” When six months later Charles had still not responded, John Quincy implored: “I must in the most pointed manner again entreat you to shew this attention to my business. The neglect of it introduces inevitable disorder into my own arrangements, and you have lived long enough in the world to know that disorder is of itself a great ad16 TBA to AA, 12 Feb. 1798; to JA, 4 March, both below. 17 JQA to AA, 28 Dec. 1797, below.

xxix

Adams Family Correspondence vance towards ruin.” But for Charles the path “towards ruin” was already well paved.18 Abigail arrived at her daughter’s home in Eastchester, New York, in May 1797 to find Nabby in a situation she described to Mary Cranch as taking “from me all appetite to food, and depresst my Spirits.” Nabby’s husband, William Stephens Smith, was “gone a journey,” not to return for another eight months as he attempted to escape his creditors and right his dismal finances. In one of only two extant letters by Nabby during this time, she hinted at the situation to John Quincy: “For thease two years past I have had so many trialls and strugles in my mind to Contend with that I only wonder that I have retained my senses.” Mostly she kept close council, “Melancholy enough,” in Abigail’s opinion, but saying “nothing unless drawn from her.” Abigail felt compelled to act. While en route to Quincy in the summer of 1797, she collected Nabby’s sons— William Steuben Smith and John Adams Smith. Her plan was to place the boys under Elizabeth and Stephen Peabody’s care at the Atkinson Academy. This she felt was necessary in order to “break them of habits which they had imbibed” through the “train of uncles and Aunts and servants to spoil them and very few examples such as I wisht to have them innured to.” On her return to Philadelphia in the fall, Abigail tried to convince Nabby to accompany her parents to the capital, and Mary Cranch suggested she come to Quincy, where the attention paid to her situation would be far less than at the federal seat. Ultimately Nabby remained in Eastchester waiting for the colonel’s return.19 When William Stephens Smith did return to New York in January 1798, he found a cold reception. Having written to the president, ostensibly to inform him of nefarious activities witnessed in Detroit, John scathingly questioned the propriety of his son-in-law’s calling into question another man’s character. “There have not been wanting Critics upon your conduct,” John chastised. To Abigail, Smith defended his actions. His letters to Nabby had all been lost in the post office. His financial situation resulted from his reliance “too much on the integrity of others,” and he could not understand why he had fallen out of favor. “From my Wifes friends, I have not re18 AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 16 May 1797; CA to Joseph Dennie Jr., 9 May; JA to CA, 13 April, 11 Oct.; AA to Elizabeth Ellery Dana, 27 June; JQA to CA, 1 Aug. 1797, 14 Feb. 1798, all below. 19 AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 16 May 1797; AA2 to JQA, 4 Nov.; AA to William Smith, 23 Oct.; to Cranch, 26 Dec.; Cranch to AA, 2 Nov., all below.

xxx

Introduction ceived one complimentary line on the subject of my return, and I am not acquainted with any congratulations, that she may have received, indeed I doubt whether any have been made— this you will readily conceive, touches my sensibility, and perplexes my mind— perticularly, when I can look back with an unoffending heart, and review my conduct to my Wife and family for nearly 12 happy years, and no circumstance crosses my recollection wherein I failed in any of the important Duties, either of a Husband, a father, a son or a Brother.” Abigail’s letters to Smith for this period have not survived, but her worry that if Smith returned he would remove his sons from Atkinson Academy was telling.20 5. NOTES ON EDITORIAL METHOD For a complete statement of Adams Papers editorial policy as revised in 2007, see Adams Family Correspondence, 8:xxxv–xliii. Readers may also wish to consult the descriptions of the editorial standards established at the beginning of the project in Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 1:lii–lxii, and Adams Family Correspondence, 1:xli–xlviii. These statements document the original conception of the Adams Papers project, though significant parts of them have now been superseded. The only major addition to the 2007 policy regards the selection for publication in the Adams Family Correspondence series of John Quincy Adams’ letters from his diplomatic posts to his father. In general, we will include those letters only when they focus substantially on family matters. If their contents revolve largely or entirely around diplomatic and political affairs, they will be reserved for consideration and likely inclusion in The Papers of John Adams or The Papers of John Quincy Adams. John Quincy’s letters to other family members—especially Abigail, to whom he often wrote at the same time as he did to his father—will continue to be published routinely in the Family Correspondence books. 6. RELATED DIGITAL RESOURCES The Massachusetts Historical Society continues to support the work of making Adams family materials available to scholars and 20 JA to WSS, 16 Feb. 1798; WSS to AA, 21 March, both below.

xxxi

Adams Family Correspondence the public online. Four digital resources in particular complement the Adams Family Correspondence volumes: The Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive, The Diaries of John Quincy Adams: A Digital Collection, the Adams Papers Digital Edition, and the Online Adams Catalog. All of these are available through the Historical Society’s website at www.masshist.org. The Adams Family Papers Electronic Archive contains images and text files of all of the correspondence between John and Abigail Adams owned by the Massachusetts Historical Society as well as John Adams’ Diaries and Autobiography. The files are fully text searchable and can also be browsed by date. The Diaries of John Quincy Adams Digital Collection provides digital images of John Quincy Adams’ entire 51-volume Diary, which he composed over nearly seventy years. The images can be searched by date or browsed by diary volume. The Adams Papers Digital Edition, a project cosponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Harvard University Press, and the Massachusetts Historical Society, offers searchable text files for 36 of the Adams Papers volumes published prior to 2011 (excluding the Portraits volumes). There is a single consolidated index for volumes published through 2006, while the indexes for more recent volumes appear separately. This digital edition is designed not to replace the letterpress edition but rather to complement it by providing greater access to a wealth of Adams material. The Online Adams Catalog represents a fully searchable electronic database of all known Adams documents, dating primarily from the 1760s to 1889, at the Massachusetts Historical Society and other public and private repositories. The digital conversion—based on the original Adams Papers control file begun in the 1950s and steadily updated since that time—was supported by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the Massachusetts Historical Society, and was initiated with Packard Humanities Institute funds in 2009. The catalog allows public online access to a database of over 110,000 records, with some 30,000 crossreference links to online, printed, and microfilm editions of the items, or to websites of the holding repositories. Each record contains information on a document’s author, recipient, and date and on the location of the original, if known. The letters in volume 12 of the Adams Family Correspondence may be supplemented with material from the same time period included in John Quincy Adams’ Diary available online (as described above)

xxxii

Introduction and in the letters of John Adams and John Quincy Adams published, respectively, in The Works of John Adams, edited by Charles Francis Adams, 8:530–572, and Writings of John Quincy Adams, edited by Worthington Chauncey Ford, 2:132–282. Also of interest may be the Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams, edited by Judith S. Graham and Beth Luey, 1:1–83, and the unpublished Diary that Thomas Boylston Adams kept while in Europe, which is available on the Adams Papers microfilm. Future volumes of the Papers of John Adams will provide considerably more coverage of John’s public activities during these years. The correspondence printed in this volume captures the Adams family and the nation at moments of transition. The overlap offers unique insights into late eighteenth-century American and European life. Whether it is John’s or Abigail’s comments on the changing American political scene or their sons’ descriptions of the tumultuous European landscape, the Adamses candidly discussed the world around them. Moving beyond the external events that shaped the family’s experiences, the letters demonstrate a commitment to maintaining internal connections among family, friends, and community. A rich tapestry of domestic life and social relationships unfolds, informing our understanding not only of the family but also of the world in which they lived. Sara Martin October 2014

xxxiii

xxxiv

Adams Family Correspondence

Acknowledgments Many individuals contributed to the completion of this volume of Adams Family Correspondence. Former staff members Margaret A. Hogan and Mary T. Claffey made significant contributions to the early stages of the book’s development and production. The Adams Papers were fortunate to have dedicated interns—Emily Etzel and Kellianne King—who supported work on this and future volumes. Emily Ross, a recent addition to the project staff, has been enthusiastic in her participation in the final stages of production. Many thanks are due to our long time copyeditor, Ann-Marie Imbornoni, who skillfully reviewed the manuscript with her customary thoroughness. A great deal of research is necessary to prepare a volume such as this and that would not be possible without the assistance of many people outside of the project. We especially thank Tracey Kry of the American Antiquarian Society; Caroline Keinath, Kelly Cobble, and all the staff at Adams National Historical Park; Sylvia Augusteijn, Archives and Reference Specialist at George Washington University; and Janet Bloom from the Clements Library at the University of Michigan. The reference staff at Harvard University’s Houghton, Lamont, and Widener libraries also provided valuable help in navigating their collections. Once again, Kenneth and Kevin Krugh of Technologies ’N Typography in Merrimac, Massachusetts, proficiently managed the typesetting of the volume. At Harvard University Press, we are grateful for the ongoing assistance of Kathleen McDermott, Executive Editor for History; Tim Jones, Director of Design and Production; Abigail Mumford, Assistant Director of Production; Lisa Roberts, Design Manager and Book Designer; Andrew Kinney, Editor; and Phoebe Kosman, Publicity Manager. The Massachusetts Historical Society, the home of the Adams

xxxv

Adams Family Correspondence Papers editorial project, is particularly deserving of our gratitude for their knowledgeable staff and unrivaled collections. We especially thank Dennis A. Fiori, President; Peter Drummey, Stephen T. Riley Librarian; Elaine Heavey, Librarian; Conrad E. Wright, Worthington C. Ford Editor; Brenda M. Lawson, Director of Collections; Anne E. Bentley, Curator of Art & Artifacts; Mary E. Yacovone, Senior Cataloger; Nancy Heywood, Digital Projects Coordinator; Peter Hood, Director of Finance & Administration; and all of the members of the Library–Reader Services department. The Adams Papers Administrative Committee of the Society continues to provide important ongoing support for the success of the project.

xxxvi

Guide to Editorial Apparatus The first three sections (1–3) of this guide list, respectively, the arbitrary devices used for clarifying the text, the code names for prominent members of the Adams family, and the symbols that are employed throughout The Adams Papers, in all its series and parts, for various kinds of manuscript sources. The final three sections (4–6) list, respectively, the symbols for institutions holding original materials, the various abbreviations and conventional terms, and the short titles of books and other works that occur in volume 12 of the Adams Family Correspondence. 1. TEXTUAL DEVICES The following devices will be used throughout The Adams Papers to clarify the presentation of the text. [. . .] [. . . .] [. . . .]1 [ ] [roman] roman [italic] {roman}

One word missing or illegible. Two words missing or illegible. More than two words missing or illegible; subjoined footnote estimates amount of missing matter. Number or part of a number missing or illegible. Amount of blank space inside brackets approximates the number of missing or illegible digits. Conjectural reading for missing or illegible matter. A question mark is inserted before the closing bracket if the conjectural reading is seriously doubtful. Canceled matter. Editorial insertion. Text editorially decoded or deciphered.

2. ADAMS FAMILY CODE NAMES JA AA

First Generation John Adams (1735–1826) Abigail Adams (1744–1818), m. JA 1764

AA2 WSS JQA

Second Generation Abigail Adams (1765–1813), daughter of JA and AA, m. WSS 1786 William Stephens Smith (1755–1816), brother of SSA John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), son of JA and AA

xxxvii

Adams Family Correspondence Guide to Editorial Apparatus

Adams Family Correspondence LCA CA SSA TBA AHA

Louisa Catherine Johnson (1775–1852), m. JQA 1797 Charles Adams (1770–1800), son of JA and AA Sarah Smith (1769–1828), sister of WSS, m. CA 1795 Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832), son of JA and AA Ann Harrod (1774–1845), m. TBA 1805

GWA JA2 MCHA CFA ABA ECA

Third Generation George Washington Adams (1801–1829), son of JQA and LCA John Adams (1803–1834), son of JQA and LCA Mary Catherine Hellen (1806–1870), m. JA2 1828 Charles Francis Adams (1807–1886), son of JQA and LCA Abigail Brown Brooks (1808–1889), m. CFA 1829 Elizabeth Coombs Adams (1808–1903), daughter of TBA and AHA

BA

Fourth Generation Louisa Catherine Adams (1831–1870), daughter of CFA and ABA, m. Charles Kuhn 1854 John Quincy Adams (1833–1894), son of CFA and ABA Charles Francis Adams (1835–1915), son of CFA and ABA Henry Adams (1838–1918), son of CFA and ABA Marian Hooper (1842–1885), m. HA 1872 Mary Adams (1845–1928), daughter of CFA and ABA, m. Henry Parker Quincy 1877 Brooks Adams (1848–1927), son of CFA and ABA

CFA3 HA2 JA3

Fifth Generation Charles Francis Adams (1866–1954), son of JQA2 Henry Adams (1875–1951), son of CFA2 John Adams (1875–1964), son of CFA2

LCA2 JQA2 CFA2 HA MHA MA

3. DESCRIPTIVE SYMBOLS The following symbols are employed throughout The Adams Papers to describe or identify the various kinds of manuscript originals. D

Dft Dupl FC

FC-Pr IRC

Diary (Used only to designate a diary written by a member of the Adams family and always in combination with the short form of the writer’s name and a serial number, as follows: D/JA/23, i.e., the twenty-third fascicle or volume of John Adams’ manuscript Diary.) draft duplicate file copy (A copy of a letter retained by a correspondent other than an Adams, no matter the form of the retained copy; a copy of a letter retained by an Adams other than a Letterbook or letterpress copy.) a letterpress copy retained by an Adams as the file copy intended recipient’s copy (Generally the original version but received after a duplicate, triplicate, or other copy of a letter.)

xxxviii

Guide to Editorial Apparatus Lb

LbC

M

MS, MSS RC Tr

Tripl

Letterbook (Used only to designate an Adams Letterbook and always in combination with the short form of the writer’s name and a serial number, as follows: Lb/JQA/29, i.e., the twentyninth volume of John Quincy Adams’ Letterbooks.) Letterbook copy (Used only to designate an Adams Letterbook copy. Letterbook copies are normally unsigned, but any such copy is assumed to be in the hand of the person responsible for the text unless it is otherwise described.) Miscellany (Used only to designate materials in the section of the Adams Papers known as the “Miscellanies” and always in combination with the short form of the writer’s name and a serial number, as follows: M/CFA/31, i.e., the thirty-first volume of the Charles Francis Adams Miscellanies—a ledger volume mainly containing transcripts made by CFA in 1833 of selections from the family papers.) manuscript, manuscripts recipient’s copy (A recipient’s copy is assumed to be in the hand of the signer unless it is otherwise described.) transcript (A copy, handwritten or typewritten, made substantially later than the original or later than other copies—such as duplicates, file copies, or Letterbook copies—that were made contemporaneously.) triplicate

4. LOCATION SYMBOLS CSt CtHi DLC DNA DcWaGWG MB MBNEH MH-Ar MH-H MHi MQHi MWA NHi NN NNPM NcD OCHP PHi PPAmP VtHi

Stanford University Connecticut Historical Society Library of Congress National Archives and Records Administration George Washington University, Gelman Library System, Special Collections and University Archives Boston Public Library New England Historic Genealogical Society Harvard University Archives Houghton Library, Harvard University Massachusetts Historical Society Quincy Historical Society American Antiquarian Society New-York Historical Society New York Public Library Pierpont Morgan Library Duke University Cincinnati Historical Society, Cincinnati Museum Center Historical Society of Pennsylvania American Philosophical Society Vermont Historical Society

xxxix

Adams Family Correspondence 5. OTHER ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONAL TERMS Adams Papers

Manuscripts and other materials, 1639–1889, in the Adams Manuscript Trust collection given to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1956 and enlarged by a few additions of family papers since then. Citations in the present edition are simply by date of the original document if the original is in the main chronological series of the Papers and therefore readily found in the microfilm edition of the Adams Papers (APM, see below).

The Adams Papers

The present edition in letterpress, published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. References to earlier volumes of any given unit take this form: vol. 2:146. Since there is no overall volume numbering for the edition, references from one series, or unit of a series, to another are by writer, title, volume, and page, for example, JA, D&A, 4:205.

Adams Papers, Adams Office Manuscripts

The portion of the Adams manuscripts given to the Massachusetts Historical Society by Thomas Boylston Adams in 1973.

APM

Formerly, Adams Papers, Microfilms. The corpus of the Adams Papers, 1639–1889, as published on microfilm by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1954–1959, in 608 reels. Cited in the present work, when necessary, by reel number. Available in research libraries throughout the United States and in a few libraries in Canada, Europe, and New Zealand.

Biografisch Portaal van Nederland

Biografisch Portaal van Nederland, a compendium of online Dutch biographical resources including Repertorium van Ambtsdragers en Ambtenaren 1428–1861, Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland, and others: www.biografischportaal.nl.

Oxford Art Online

Oxford Art Online, a compendium of online art resources including Grove Art Online (formerly the Grove Dictionary of Art), the Bénézit Dictionary of Artists, and others: www.oxfordartonline.com.

TBA, Diary, 1798–1799

Thomas Boylston Adams, Diary, 26 Dec. 1798 – 31 Aug. 1799, MHi:Adams Papers, All Generations.

Thwing Catalogue, MHi

Annie Haven Thwing, comp., Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston, 1630–1800. Typed card catalogue, with supplementary bound typescripts, in the Massachusetts Historical Society. Published on CD-ROM with Annie Haven Thwing, The Crooked and Narrow Streets of the Town of Boston, 1630–1822, Massachusetts Historical Society and New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001. Also available at www.americanancestors.org.

xl

Guide to Editorial Apparatus 6. SHORT TITLES OF WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED AA, Letters, ed. CFA, 1848

Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams. With an Introductory Memoir by Her Grandson, Charles Francis Adams, 4th edn., rev. and enl., Boston, 1848.

AA, New Letters

New Letters of Abigail Adams, 1788–1801, ed. Stewart Mitchell, Boston, 1947.

AA2, Jour. and Corr.

Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams, . . . Edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841– [1849]; 3 vols. Note: Vol. [1], unnumbered, has title and date: Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, 1841; vol. 2 has title, volume number, and date: Correspondence of Miss Adams . . . Vol. II, 1842; vol. [3] has title, volume number, and date: Correspondence of Miss Adams . . . Vol. II, 1842, i.e., same as vol. 2, but preface is signed “April 3d, 1849,” and the volume contains as “Part II” a complete reprinting, from same type and with same pagination, of vol. 2, above, originally issued in 1842.

Abernethy, The South in the New Nation

Thomas P. Abernethy, The South in the New Nation, 1789–1819, [Baton Rouge, La.], 1961.

AFC

Adams Family Correspondence, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Richard Alan Ryerson, Margaret A. Hogan, Sara Martin, and others, Cambridge, 1963– .

Amer. Philos. Soc., Memoirs, Procs., Trans.

American Philosophical Society, Memoirs, Proceedings, and Transactions.

Amer. State Papers

American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1832–1861; 38 vols.

Ammon, James Monroe

Harry Ammon, James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity, New York, 1971.

ANB

John A. Garraty, Mark C. Carnes, and Paul Betz, eds., American National Biography, New York, 1999–2002; 24 vols. plus supplement; rev. edn., www.anb.org.

Annals of Congress

The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States [1789–1824], Washington, D.C., 1834–1856; 42 vols.

Billias, Elbridge Gerry

George Athan Billias, Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman, New York, 1976.

Biog. Dir. Cong.

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, Washington, D.C., 2005; rev. edn., bioguide.congress.gov.

Biro, German Policy of Revolutionary France

Sydney Seymour Biro, The German Policy of Revolutionary France: A Study in French Diplomacy during the War of the First Coalition 1792–1797, 1 vol. in 2, Cambridge, 1957.

xli

Adams Family Correspondence Bond, Watertown Genealogies

Henry Bond, Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Boston, 1855; 2 vols. in 1.

Boston and Charlestown Ship Registers

Ship Registers and Enrollments of Boston and Charlestown, Boston, 1942.

Boston Directory, [year]

Boston Directory, issued annually with varying imprints.

Boston, [vol. no.] Report

City of Boston, Record Commissioners, Reports, Boston, 1876–1909; 39 vols.

Braintree Town Records

Records of the Town of Braintree, 1640 to 1793, ed. Samuel A. Bates, Randolph, Mass., 1886.

Buchan, Domestic Medicine

William Buchan, Domestic Medicine; or, the Family Physician, 2d U.S. edn., Philadelphia, 1774, Evans, No. 13181.

Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace

Edmund Burke, Two Letters Addressed to a Member of the Present Parliament, on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France, Philadelphia, 1797, Evans, No. 31895.

Burke, Three Memorials on French Affairs

Edmund Burke, Three Memorials on French Affairs. Written in the Years 1791, 1792, and 1793, London, 1797.

Cambridge Modern Hist.

The Cambridge Modern History, Cambridge, Eng., 1902–1911; repr. New York, 1969; 13 vols.

Catalogue of JA’s Library

Catalogue of the John Adams Library in the Public Library of the City of Boston, Boston, 1917.

Catalogue of JQA’s Books

Henry Adams and Worthington Chauncey Ford, A Catalogue of the Books of John Quincy Adams Deposited in the Boston Athenæum with Notes on Books, Adams Seals and Book-Plates, Boston, 1938.

CFA, Diary

Diary of Charles Francis Adams, ed. Aïda DiPace Donald, David Donald, Marc Friedlaender, L. H. Butterfield, and others, Cambridge, 1964– .

Clark, Greenleaf and Law

Allen C. Clark, Greenleaf and Law in the Federal City, Washington, D.C., 1901.

Col. Soc. Mass., Pubns.

Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Publications.

Columbia Hist. Soc., Records

Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C.

Congressional Globe

Congressional Globe, Containing the Debates and Proceedings, 1833–1873, Washington, D.C., 1834–1893; 109 vols.

xlii

Guide to Editorial Apparatus DAB

DNB

Allen Johnson, Dumas Malone, and others, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928–1936; repr. New York, 1955–1980; 10 vols. plus index and supplements. Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, New York and London, 1885–1901; repr. Oxford, 1959–1960; 21 vols. plus supplements; rev. edn., www.oxforddnb.com.

Doc. Hist. Supreme Court

The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789–1800, ed. Maeva Marcus, James R. Perry, and others, New York, 1985–2007; 8 vols.

Evans

Charles Evans and others, American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America [1639–1800], Chicago and Worcester, Mass., 1903–1959; 14 vols.

Gerry, Letterbook

Elbridge Gerry’s Letterbook: Paris, 1797–1798, ed. Russell W. Knight, Salem, Mass., 1966.

Greenleaf, Greenleaf Family

James Edward Greenleaf, comp., Genealogy of the Greenleaf Family, Boston, 1896.

Hamilton, Papers

The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Harold C. Syrett, Jacob E. Cooke, and others, New York, 1961–1987; 27 vols.

Harvard Quinquennial Cat.

Harvard University, Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates, 1636– 1930, Cambridge, 1930.

History of Hingham

History of the Town of Hingham, Massachusetts, Hingham, 1893; 3 vols. in 4.

History of Weymouth

History of Weymouth, Massachusetts, Boston, 1923; 4 vols.

Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale

Jean Chrétien Ferdinand Hoefer, ed., Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu’à nos jours, Paris, 1852–1866; 46 vols.

JA, D&A

Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols.

JA, Defence of the Const.

John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, London, 1787–1788; repr. New York, 1971; 3 vols.

JA, Earliest Diary

The Earliest Diary of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1966.

JA, Legal Papers

Legal Papers of John Adams, ed. L. Kinvin Wroth and Hiller B. Zobel, Cambridge, 1965; 3 vols.

xliii

Adams Family Correspondence JA, Papers

Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert J. Taylor, Gregg L. Lint, and others, Cambridge, 1977– .

JA, Works

The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, ed. Charles Francis Adams, Boston, 1850–1856; 10 vols.

Jefferson, Papers

The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, Princeton, N.J., 1950– .

Jefferson, Papers, Retirement Series

The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, ed. J. Jefferson Looney and others, Princeton, N.J., 2004– .

JQA, Diary

Diary of John Quincy Adams, ed. David Grayson Allen, Robert J. Taylor, and others, Cambridge, 1981– .

JQA, Writings

Writings of John Quincy Adams, ed. Worthington Chauncey Ford, New York, 1913– 1917; 7 vols.

Laurens, Papers

The Papers of Henry Laurens, ed. Philip M. Hamer, George C. Rogers Jr., David R. Chesnutt, C. James Taylor, and others, Columbia, S.C., 1968–2003; 16 vols.

LCA, D&A

Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams, ed. Judith S. Graham and others, Cambridge, 2013; 2 vols.

Madison, Papers, Congressional Series

The Papers of James Madison: Congressional Series, ed. William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, and Robert Allen Rutland, Chicago and Charlottesville, Va., 1962–1991; 17 vols.

Malone, Jefferson

Dumas Malone, Jefferson and His Time, Boston, 1948–1981; 6 vols.

Marshall, Papers

The Papers of John Marshall, ed. Herbert A. Johnson, Charles F. Hobson, and others, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1974–2006; 12 vols.

Mass., Acts and Laws

Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts [1780–1805], Boston, 1890– 1898; 13 vols.

MHS, Colls., Procs.

Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections and Proceedings.

Miller, Treaties

Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America, ed. Hunter Miller, Washington, D.C., 1931–1948; 8 vols.

Monroe, Papers

The Papers of James Monroe, ed. Daniel Preston, Marlena C. DeLong, and others, Westport, Conn., 2003– .

NEHGR

New England Historical and Genealogical Register.

xliv

Guide to Editorial Apparatus NEQ

New England Quarterly.

Norfolk County Probate

Norfolk County Probate Court Records, Canton, Mass., 1793– .

NYGBR

New York Genealogical and Biographical Record.

NYHS, Colls., Pubn. Fund Ser.

New-York Historical Society, Collections, Publication Fund Series, New York, 1868– .

OED

The Oxford English Dictionary, 2d edn., Oxford, 1989; 20 vols.; rev. edn., www.oed.com.

Oliver, Portraits of JA and AA

Andrew Oliver, Portraits of John and Abigail Adams, Cambridge, 1967.

Oliver, Portraits of JQA and LCA

Andrew Oliver, Portraits of John Quincy Adams and His Wife, Cambridge, 1970.

Oxford Classical Dicy.

Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3d edn., New York, 1996.

Pattee, Old Braintree

William S. Pattee, A History of Old Braintree and Quincy, with a Sketch of Randolph and Holbrook, Quincy, 1878.

Penna. Archives

Pennsylvania Archives, Selected and Arranged from Original Documents in the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 1852– 1935; 119 vols. in 123.

Philadelphia Directory, [year]

Philadelphia Directory [title varies], issued annually with varying imprints.

PMHB

Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.

Princess Louise, Forty-five Years

Princess Louise of Prussia (Princess Anton Radziwill), Forty-five Years of My Life, 1770–1815, transl. A. R. Allinson, London, 1912.

Princetonians

James McLachlan, Richard A. Harrison, Ruth L. Woodward, Wesley Frank Craven, and J. Jefferson Looney, Princetonians: A Biographical Dictionary, Princeton, N.J., 1976–1991; 5 vols.

Repertorium

Ludwig Bittner and others, eds., Repertorium der diplomatischen Vertreter aller Länder seit dem Westfälischen Frieden (1648), Oldenburg, 1936–1965; 3 vols.

Rush, Letters

Letters of Benjamin Rush, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Princeton, N.J., 1951; 2 vols.

Schama, Patriots and Liberators

Simon Schama, Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1813, New York, 1977.

xlv

Adams Family Correspondence Sibley’s Harvard Graduates

John Langdon Sibley, Clifford K. Shipton, Conrad Edick Wright, Edward W. Hanson, and others, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873– .

Sprague, Annals Amer. Pulpit

William B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit; or, Commemorative Notices of Distinguished American Clergymen of Various Denominations, New York, 1857– 1869; 9 vols.

Sprague, Braintree Families

Waldo Chamberlain Sprague, comp., Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, Mass., 1640–1850, Boston, 1983; repr. CD-ROM, Boston, 2001.

Stewart, Opposition Press

Donald H. Stewart, The Opposition Press of the Federalist Period, Albany, N.Y., 1969.

Stinchcombe, XYZ Affair

William C. Stinchcombe, The XYZ Affair, Westport, Conn., 1980.

Suffolk County Probate

Suffolk County Probate Court Records, Boston, 1636– .

TBA, Journal, 1798

Berlin and the Prussian Court in 1798: Journal of Thomas Boylston Adams, Secretary to the United States Legation at Berlin, ed. Victor Hugo Paltsits, New York, 1916.

U.S. House, Documents

United States Congressional Serial Set: House Documents, Washington, D.C., 1817– .

U.S. House, Jour.

Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Washington, D.C., 1789– .

U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour.

Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., 1789– .

U.S. Senate, Jour.

Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., 1789– .

U.S. Statutes at Large

The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, 1789– , Boston and Washington, D.C., 1845– .

Washington, Diaries

The Diaries of George Washington, ed. Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, Charlottesville, Va., 1976–1979; 6 vols.

Washington, Papers, Presidential Series

The Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, ed. W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Jack D. Warren, Mark A. Mastromarino, Robert F. Haggard, Christine S. Patrick, John C. Pinheiro, David R. Hoth, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1987– .

Washington, Papers, Retirement Series

The Papers of George Washington: Retirement Series, ed. W. W. Abbot, Edward G. Lengel, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1997–1999; 4 vols.

xlvi

Guide to Editorial Apparatus Washington, Papers, Revolutionary War Series

The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series, ed. Philander D. Chase, Frank E. Grizzard Jr., Edward G. Lengel, David R. Hoth, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1985– .

Weis, Colonial Clergy of N.E.

Frederick Lewis Weis, The Colonial Clergy and the Colonial Churches of New England, Lancaster, Mass., 1936.

Williams and McKinsey, Hist. of Frederick County

T. J. C. Williams and Folger McKinsey, History of Frederick County, Maryland, 2 vols., Frederick, Md., 1910; repr. Baltimore, 1967.

Williams, French Assault on American Shipping

Greg H. Williams, The French Assault on American Shipping, 1793–1813: A History and Comprehensive Record of Merchant Marine Losses, Jefferson, N.C., 2009.

xlvii

xlviii

volume 12

Family Correspondence March 1797 – April 1798

Adams Family Correspondence

Adams Family Correspondence Abigail Adams to John Adams My Dearest Friend Quincy March 1 1797 This is the first Day of March, and I have no Letters from you of a later date than the 11th of Feb’ry. and then only a few lines.1 Several things which I have written to upon, and which I wish for directions before I proceeded to execute, are I suppose lost and forgotten by upon, in the Multitude of Your Thoughts. I must proceed with the advise of Dr Tufts, for whom I have this day sent, in order to consult with him. Vintons time is near out. there is an apprizement of the stock which must be made & he allowd for a quarter part of their increased value. a mate is to be procured for the ox we lost. I tell French he ought to buy it, as he expects a further indulgence with the team. he pleads that he is not able. I like French so well, and he seems disposed to conduct honorably that I think it had best be done. I believe I wrote you that I had hired a Young Man, for a Month, a son of Samll Bracket who went from this Town Some Years ago;2 he is very capable of Buisness but holds himself very high, so that I do not expect to agree for more than the present Month. Billings has had an other Caper of a week long I fear he will not do to hire again after his period expires. he is now comeing out of it. I shall be a better judge of the Qualities of Bracket at the expiration of a Month. he is large and Stout used to a team, of a good Stock himself, brought up to labour hard, and is now sought after by several persons for the Season, but gold may be bought too dear— prices are not setled untill April & May. I yesterday sent for Mears and gave him my proposals in writing. the chief objection he offerd was, that being in a setled way of Buisness by which he must get his future living, he should lose his old custom, which would make it difficult for him to obtain it again.

1

Adams Family Correspondence to obviate that difficulty I promised to Build him a shop, he to furnish the tools himself coal & Iron to the halves, and to receive half the profits. in Winter he could be pretty constant in it. he has the proposals under consideration, which whether he accepts or not he has promised to keep secreet, but I am more & more convinced that he is the only Person to put here.3 We had as I expected a very splendid Birth Day, an account of which you will see in the paper.4 His Honours politeness led him to stay untill he had conducted & seated me at the supper table. he however escaped as soon after as he could.5 I do the Managers but Justice when I say, I never saw an assembly conducted with so much order regularity & propriety. I had every reason to be pleased with the marked respect and attention Shewn me. Col Bradford, who is really the Beau Nash of ceremonies even Marshalld his company, and like the Garter King at Arms calld them over as they proceeded into the Grand saloon, hung with the prostrate Pride, of the Nobility of France.6 Swan had furnishd them with a compleat set of Gobelin Tapresty.7 as the Ladies only could be Seated at Table with about 20 or 30 of the principle Gentlemen the rest were requested to retire to the Boxes untill the Ladies had Supped. when they left the Table & took their seats in the Boxes whilst the Gentlemen sup’d, all was order and decency. about half after one, the company returnd to the Ball Room, and I retired with those who accompanied me to the Ball. most of the rest of company remaind untill 4 oclock. neither the Govenour or Lady or Mrs Gill were present. the only person who shewd that they felt mortified & placed in the back ground, was Mrs Scott. how could she expect any thing else? the seat assignd to the Lady of the President Elect was Hung with Gobeline Tapestry, and in the center of the Room, conspicuous only for the hanging. on my Right the Manager placed the Lady of Judge Lowel, and on my Left the Lady of Judge Sumner.8 Judge Dana, but not his Lady was present. when I was conducted into the Ball Room, the Band were orderd to play the President March.9 the Toast were only 6 in Number. I presume you will see them in the paper. have the Philadelphians behaved as well? every toast save one, made the Saloon resound with an universal Clap, and a united huza. that was the Vice President Elect. I was sorry it was so cold and faint.10 The scripture assures us, that it is better to go to the House of mourning than the House of Feasting11 previous to my attendance

2

Adams Family Correspondence March 1797

March 1797 at the Ball Room, I performd the last office of respect to the remains of your Aunt Vesey, by following her to the Grave. I received notice of her death but the day before12 I considerd this as a Duty which I owed to your Mother, and I found it a very acceptable notice to the Relatives. at six oclock I returnd to mr smiths, and prepaird for a different scene, not without reflections upon the visisitudes of Life. I see by the paper your address of leave to the senate.13 I do not wonder that you was affected upon the occasion. The Chronical, I am told, assures all good Republicans that they ought to rejoice in your Election, first because you was opposed to the British Treaty, 2dly because you are not Enimical to France, 3d because you are no party man and will have an oppinion of your own, fourthly because Hamilton Secreetly opposed your Election, and 5ly because you and the Vice President will harmonize— Wonderfull Discoveries.! and much of a peice with all their late publications.14 I see there has been an arrival at N york from Amsterdam. I hope Dispatches from our sons have arrived15 present me kindly to the Vice President when he arrives, and if you think it will do, tell him I am glad that he is your successor. I shall now take my leave of the Vice President, and address my next Letters to the President, whom neither Rank or station can more permanantly fix in the Heart of His / ever affectionate Abigail Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. March 1. / Ansd 11. 1797.” 5 That is, Lt. Gov. Moses Gill. 6 Lt. Col. Samuel Bradford (1759–1818) was marshal for the district of Massachusetts as well as commander of the Independent Company of Cadets, the parade escort for Massachusetts governors. AA’s comparison of Bradford to Beau Nash was a reference to Richard Nash (1674–1761), long the master of ceremonies and arbiter of fashionable society at Bath, England (Doc. Hist. Supreme Court, 6:184; Samuel Bradford Jr., Some Incidents in the Life of Samuel Bradford, Senior, by His Son, Phila., 1880, p. 12–13, 15, 16; DNB). 7 The Gobelin factory in Paris, established in 1662 as the state-sponsored manufacturer of decorative arts, became especially well known for its tapestries (Oxford Art Online). 8 Elizabeth Hyslop had married Increase Sumner in 1779 (DAB).

1 For a summary of JA’s letter to AA, 11 Feb. (Adams Papers), see vol. 11:554. 2 Samuel Brackett (1741–1826) relocated from Braintree to Peterborough, N.H., in the 1780s. His second son, John (b. 1775), was probably the farmhand AA hired (Herbert I. Brackett, Brackett Genealogy Descendants of Anthony Brackett of Portsmouth and Captain Richard Brackett of Braintree, Part 2, Washington, D.C., 1907, p. 543; Sprague, Braintree Families). 3 For AA’s suggestion that George Mears become the overseer at Peacefield, see vol. 11:517, 527, 565. 4 For AA’s attendance at the Boston ball celebrating George Washington’s birthday, see same, 11:566–567. Boston newspapers reporting on the festivities included the Columbian Centinel, 25 Feb. 1797, and the Boston PriceCurrent, 27 February.

3

Adams Family Correspondence 9 For the President’s March, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 11, above. 10 Reports of the Boston celebrations of Washington’s birthday appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States and American Daily Advertiser, 7 March 1797. Similar to news reports in Boston, descriptions failed to include the toasts offered at the Federal Street Theater. For the Philadelphia festivities, see vol. 11:575–576. 11 Ecclesiastes, 7:2. 12 Jerusha Boylston Veasey, for whom see vol. 8:246, died on 19 February. Notice of her death appeared in the Massachusetts Mercury, 21 Feb., and in the Boston Columbian Centinel the following day. 13 For JA’s 15 Feb. address upon taking leave from the Senate, see vol. 11:575, 576. The Boston Price-Current and Boston Independent

Chronicle were the first to reprint the speech on 27 Feb.; it appeared in the Boston Columbian Centinel on 1 March. 14 The Boston Independent Chronicle, 27 Feb., reprinted a piece from the New York Journal, 18 Feb., claiming that “the republicans are well satisfied with the election of Mr. Adams” and, in addition to the reasons stated by AA, that JA would “distribute public office, among men of probity and talents, and not select those only who may approve of his administration.” 15 On 27 Feb. the Boston Price-Current reported the arrival of the ship Three Friends, Capt. Sherry, from Amsterdam at New York between 17 and 20 February. For the letters it carried, see AA to JA, 12 March, and note 1, below.

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my dear son Quincy March 3d 1797 Two vessels are notified, one for England, the other for Hamburgh. I will write by both, but the pleasure and freedom of communication, is much damp’d by the restraints of Station, and the apprehension of Capture.1 It is now several Months since I took my pen to address you. I believe my last date was in December. I have since written largly to Thomas, but fear my Letter is still waiting a conveyance.2 Tomorrow the 4th of march, the Government devolves upon the new President, and may he have firmness of Mind, and Health of Body, to enable him, to support himself under the weight, of perplexing cares, and arduous Duties which are anexed to it. The President in reply to an address presented to him on his Birth Day by the officers and Militia of Pensilvana, says, “the Patriotism uprightness and abilities of him who is to succeed to the station I now have the honour to hold, will leave you no room to regreet my retirement”3 Your Charming and affectionate Letter of Novbr. 14th arrived safe after a passage of 99 days. as your Father had written me more than once, expressing an anxiety to hear from you, as soon as I had read it, I inclosed it to him, as the greater part of it was a private confidential Letter; when I sent it to him, I had not a thought of its being communicated. he returnd it to me by the last post, and says “it is

4

March 1797 the most beautifull thing he ever read. I could not withhold it from the P.”4 nor can I my Dear son regreet it, for it was returnd with the following, which I must risk communicating. who shall say, that virtue is not its own reward? I will lay up the original as a precious Deposit for your posterity— Dear sir Feb’ry 20 1797 I thank you for giving me the perusal of the inclosed— the sentiments do honour to the Head and Heart of the writer and if my wishes would be of any avail, they should go to you with a Strong hope that you will not withold merited promotion from mr J Q Adams, because he is your Son, for without intending to Compliment the Father or the Mother, or to censure any others, I give it as my decided opinion that mr Adams is the most valuable publick Character we have abroad, and there remains no doubt in my mind that he will prove himself to be the ablest of all our diplomatic Corps, if he was now to be brought into that line, or into any other publick walk. I could not upon the principle which has regulated my own conduct dissaprove of the Caution which is hinted at in the Letter. But he is already enterd— the publick more and more as he is known, are appreciating his talents and Worth, and his Country would sustain a loss if these were to be checked by over Delicacy on Your part. With sincere esteem and affectionate Regard I am ever Yours— G W.5 I see the gratefull, the tender emotion of Your Heart filling your Eyes upon the perusal of this testimony of approbation from the first of Characters. I know you too well to fear any Ebulitions of vanity on the occasion. how different would my Sensations have been, if in your publick Character, I had learnt, or heard, that you had departed from the example, or sullied the Character, of him whose Successor you are. persevere my son and be the ornament and Glory of your Country, and the Solace and comfort of the declining Years of Your Parents. our publick affairs, as they respect the conduct of our Allies towards us, wear an unpleasent aspect. America is rousing from that delirium of enthusiasm, which has enveloped her ever since the revolution of France commenced. judgment and not justice, is dealt out to us. how much by our blind adulation we have merited the punishment, is not for me to say.

5

Adams Family Correspondence Tom Paynes Letter to the President has greatly Served the cause of Liberty and Religion.6 even the Jacobins are ashamed of him. he is considerd as an apostate an out cast. like Cain there is a Mark sit upon him. he is accursed on the Earth, “and his Name shall like his carcass Rot alive abhord, and Dead forgot”7 I will send you the secretary of states answer to Adets Note.8 you will find it a full and explicit answer to all the complaints and charges exhibited by Adet, and his predecessors— Your Friends are all well and desire to be affectionatly rememberd to you. Boston shone on the late Birth Night an Elegant Ball, 200 50 Ladies present, and a Magnificent Supper. all was order, and Decorum. Col Bradford, our Beau Nash principally presided as master of Ceremonies. you know he is admirably calculated for such occasions. the Theatre was converted by a platform across the Pitt, into an Elegant Saloon, hung with the prostrate pride of the Nobility of France. mr Swan on the occasion furnished a compleat Set of Gobelin Tapestry hangings, which took all the upper Boxes in. Three Tables extended from one end of the House to the stage, at which 200 & 50 Ladies and about 30 Gentlemen were at one time accommodated. the rest of the Gentlemen took their seats in the Boxes whilst the Ladies Sup’d 600 dishes fancifully displayd and decorated with ornamental Lights made a very pleasing view. The Ladies in their turn filld the Boxes and the Gentlemen took their seats at table. under the orchestra was placed a crimson Canopy in which was a portrait of the President. the opposite view, as a stage scene was an Equesterian Statue of the same illusturious personage all Hearts appeard to be gratified and every person to vie with his Neighbour in expression of Love Gratitude and veneration for this truly Great Man. The writer, and witness of this scene, was you may be sure no unfeeling spectator. every mark of respect and attention was shewn her, which propriety admitted, or Decency required. adieu my Dear son. our good Friend mrs Welch is just come to Peace Field, (the Name Your Father has given to his Farm) to pass a week with me. she request me to give her Love to you. Charlot is grown a fine Girl, and Harriot is improved greatly. many of your old Friends and acquaintance inquired kindly after you on the Birth Night. Some were introduced to me whom I did not before know, With the claim of your acquaintance. Dr Clark is always particular. the old Club recollet you with affection9

6

March 1797 I make no appology for entertaining you with these domestic occurrences, to bring home to your remembrance scenes in which you once delighted, cannot fail in a mind like yours to excite pleasing sensations, for I judge of yours, by the feelings of your ever affectionate Mother A Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by JQA: “Mrs: A. Adams. / 3. March. 1797. / May do: recd:”; and by TBA: “26 June answd.” Tr (Adams Papers). 1 The brig Lydia was advertised for departure to Hamburg, while the London-bound vessel was likely the ship America, Capt. Solomon Swain, which arrived in London by 19 May. AA’s second letter to JQA was dated 15 March, below (Massachusetts Mercury, 3, 7 March; London Lloyd’s List, 19 May). 2 No letters from AA to JQA dated Dec. 1796 have been found. AA’s previous extant letter to JQA, dated 28 Nov. and for which see vol. 11:420–424, exists only as a Dft. Her previous extant letter to TBA is dated 21 Feb. 1797, for which see same, 11:571–574. 3 On 22 Feb. the “Militia of the City and County of Philadelphia” presented an address to George Washington thanking him for his military and public service and wishing him well in his retirement: “Great as our confidence is in your successor, we cannot but lament the resolution you have taken to resign the helm.” Washington’s reply thanked the troop for their praise and, as AA accurately quoted, voiced his support for JA as his successor (Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 22 Feb.). 4 For JQA’s letter to AA of 14 Nov. 1796 and its arrival in Boston, see vol. 11:404–408, 555, 556. AA received the letter on 9 Feb. 1797 and enclosed it in a letter to JA on the same

day (Adams Papers). JA’s comments about JQA’s letter derive from his reply to AA of 20 Feb., for which see vol. 11:567. 5 Washington to JA, 20 Feb. (Adams Papers). 6 For Thomas Paine’s Letter to George Washington, see vol. 11:431, 432. 7 “Thy name shall like thy carcass rot, / In sickness spurn’d, in death forgot” (Edward Moore, Fable XIV, “The Sparrow, and the Dove,” lines 303–304, Fables for the Female Sex, London, 1744). 8 For the public correspondence between French minister to the United States Pierre Auguste Adet and Timothy Pickering, see vol. 11:400, 541–542. Here, AA referred to Pickering’s letter to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, which addressed Adet’s accusations and was subsequently published in pamphlet form in several U.S. cities, including Letter from the Secretary of State to Charles C. Pinckney, Esq. in Answer to the Complaints of the French Minister against the Government of the United States, N.Y., 1797, Evans, No. 33063. AA sent the pamphlet to JQA in care of Joshua Johnson, to whom she wrote on 15 March, below. 9 AA was likely referring to the Wednesday Evening Club, for which see vol. 6:355.

John Adams to Abigail Adams My dearest Friend Philadelphia March 3. 1797 The Congress have passed the Law allowing 14,000 d to purchase furniture. The State Legislature have done nothing about their new House: so that I shall take the House the President is in, at a 1000£ or 2700 dollars rent, nothing better can be done.1 Mr Jefferson arrived Yesterday and came to visit me in the Evening. Tomorrow will be a worse day than the 8th. of Feb. was. We are to take the oaths. and P. Washington Says he will be there.

7

Adams Family Correspondence I shall purchase little furniture, before you come or give directions. All the World are of opinion that it is best for you not to come till next fall. I will go to you as Soon as I can but that is uncertain. We shall be put to great difficulty to live and that in not one third the Style of Washington. Mr Malcom Charles’s Clerk is with me as a private Secretary. Oh how I long to go and see you I am with everduring and never ending affection your John Adams RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.” 1 In 1791 the Pennsylvania legislature, in an attempt to keep the federal capital in Philadelphia, authorized the construction of a presidential mansion. Located on Ninth Street between Chestnut and Market Streets, the building was completed by the spring of 1797, and after the legislature failed to pass a bill offering the property to Congress, Gov. Thomas Mifflin wrote to JA on 3 March (Adams Papers) offering the house at a rent “for which you might obtain any other suitable House in Philadelphia.” Replying the same day (PHi: Ferdinand J. Dreer Autograph Coll.), JA declined the offer, citing “great doubts whether by a candid Construction of the Constitution of the United States, I am at Liberty, to Accept it without the Intervention and Authority of Congress.” Mifflin submitted this correspondence to the legislature on 8 March recommending it “designate some other use to which the building may be applied.” It was

also published in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 10 March. Ultimately, the state senate authorized the sale of the property, and it was purchased in 1800 by the University of Pennsylvania (Dennis C. Kurjack, “The ‘President’s House’ in Philadelphia,” Pennsylvania History, 20:380, 382, 384, 389–390, 393–394 [Oct. 1953]; Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Commencing on Tuesday, the Sixth Day of December, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Six, Phila., 1796, p. 141, 145, 186–187, 229, Evans, No. 32653; Journal of the First Session of the Seventh House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which Commenced at Philadelphia, on Tuesday, the Sixth Day of December, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and NinetySix, Phila., 1797, p. 224, 233–234, 238, 240, 246, 281–282, Evans, No. 32651).

Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren my Dear Madam Quincy March 4th 1797 I received yesterday your obliging favour of Feb’ry 27th.1 I have been so little a favorite of fortune, that I never once examined my Numbers by the News papers, or otherways, concluding that those who were equally interested would take proper care for me. as I had formd no expectations, I meet with no dissapointment, and am quite pleased that my adventure should be appropriated to the promotion of Science and Literature. The few shillings in your hands be so kind as to lay out, in the purchase of some little Books, and present them for me, to the Lovely Marcia as a token of approbation for the Sweet engageing simplicity of manners, which were so conspicuous in her.2

8

March 1797 For your Congratulations upon a late important event, accept my acknowledgments, considering it as the voluntary and unsolicited Gift, of a Free and enlightned people. it is a precious and valuable Deposit, and calls for every exertion of the Head, and every virtue of the Heart, to do justice to so sacred a Trust. Yet however pure the intentions, or upright the conduct, offences will come.3 “High stations, Tumult, but not bliss create”4 As to a Crown my Dear Madam I will not deny, that there is one which I asspire after, and in a Country where envy can never enter to plant Thorns beneath it. the fashion of this world passeth away, I would hope that I have not lived in vain, but have learned how to estimate, and what value to place upon the fleeting and transitory enjoyments of it. I shall esteem myself peculiarly fortunate, if at the close of my publick Life, I can retire, esteemed beloved and equally respected with my predecessor.5 Old Friends can never be forgotten by me. in that number I have long been accustomed to consider the Gen’ll and Mrs Warren. it will always give me pleasure to see them at Peace Field, or where ever else, they may meet, their Friend and Humble Servant, Abigail Adams RC (MHi:Warren-Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs. Adams. / March 1797 / No. 18.” FC (Adams Papers). Dft (Adams Papers). 1 For Warren’s letter to AA and the latter’s success in the Harvard College Lottery, see vol. 11:576–577. 2 That is, Warren’s granddaughter, Marcia Otis Warren, for whom see same, 11:404. 3 In the Dft, AA wrote and then canceled

here, “and the more elevated the station, the more conspicious the mark for the darts of envy and Jealousy—” 4 Edward Young, Love of Fame, the Universal Passion, Satire I, line 237. 5 The Dft ends at this point.

John Adams to Abigail Adams My dearest Friend, Philadelphia March 5. 1797 your dearest Friend never had a more trying day than Yesterday. A Solenm Scene it was indeed and it was made more affecting to me, by the Presence of the General, whose Countenance was as serene and unclouded as the day. He Seem’d to me to enjoy a Tryumph over me. Methought I heard him think Ay! I am fairly out and you fairly in! see which of Us will be happiest. When the Ceremony was over he came and made me a visit and cordially congratulated me

9

Adams Family Correspondence and wished my Administration might be happy Successful and honourable. It is now Settled that I am to go into his House. It is whispered that he intends to take french Lave tomorrow.1 I shall write you, as fast as We proceed. My Chariot is finished and I made my first appearance in it Yesterday. It is Simple but elegant enough. My horses are young but clever.2 In the Chamber of the House of Representatives, was a Multitude as great as the Space could contain, and I believe Scarcely a dry Eye but Washingtons. The Sight of the Sun Setting full orbut and another rising tho less Splendid, was a novelty. C. J. Elsworth administered the oath and with great Energy. Judges Cushing, Wilson and Iredell were present. Many Ladies. I had not Slept well the night before and did not sleep well the night after. I was unwell and I did not know whether I Should get through or not— I did however. How the Business was received I know not, only I have been told that Mason the Treaty publisher Said We should loose nothing by the Change for he never heard such a Speech in Publick in his Life.3 All Agree that taken all together it was the sublimest Thing ever exhibited in America. I am my dearest friend most / affectionately & kindly your John Adams RC (Adams Papers). 1 George Washington left Philadelphia on 9 March, traveling with Martha Washington, Eleanor Parke Custis, and George Washington Motier de Lafayette and his tutor, Felix Frestel. The party arrived at Mount Vernon on 15 March (Washington, Diaries, 6:236– 239). 2 For JA’s purchase of a new carriage and horses, see vol. 11:497, 508. 3 JA’s inauguration as the second president of the United States took place in the chamber of the House of Representatives before a joint Congress, members of the Supreme Court, various “Foreign Ministers and Ambassadors, the Heads of Departments . . . and a very crowded auditory of the principal inhabitants” of Philadelphia. Prior to receiving the oath of office, JA gave his inaugural address, in which he praised Americans for

their revolutionary courage to “cutt asunder the Ties which had bound them and launched into an Ocean of Uncertainty” a new nation. He praised the unity that “good heads, prompted by good hearts” achieved through the Constitution, and he extolled the virtues of a republican government: “This is very certain, that to a benevolent human Mind, there can be no Spectacle presented by any nation, more pleasing, more noble, majestic, or august, than an Assembly, like that which has So often been Seen in this and the other chamber of Congress, of a Government, in which the Executive Authority, as well as that of all the Branches of the Legislature, are exercised by Citizens Selected, at regular periods, by their neighbours to make and execute Laws for the general good.” JA continued, warning that the “danger to our Lib-

10

March 1797 tinuance, in all its Ennergy and my mind is prepared, without hesitation, to lay myself under the most solemn Obligations to Support it, to the Utmost of my Power. “And may that Being, who is Supream over all, the Patron of order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector, in all Ages of the World, of virtuous Liberty, continue his Blessing, upon this Nation and its Government and give it all possible Success and duration, consistent with the Ends of his Providence.” JA then “energetically repeated” the oath of office, “seated himself, and after a pause of a few moments, he rose and bowed to all around him and retired” (Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 6 March; “No 11. Address of the President of the United States on the day of his Inauguration into office March 4th. 1797,” DNA:RG 46, Records of the U.S. Senate, Presidential Messages to the 5th Congress, 1797–1799; Philadelphia Gazette, 6 March).

erties” required vigilance to “virtuous and independent Elections” and the “Pestilence” of foreign influence. He stated his “conscientious determination to Support” the Constitution “untill it shall be altered by the Judgments and Wishes of the People,” and he offered his “inflexible determination to maintain . . . that System of Neutrality and Impartiality” previously established and supported by the government and people. About France, JA acknowledged “a personal Esteem for the French nation” and “a Sincere desire to preserve the friendship which has been so much for the honour and Interest of both nations,” but he underscored the need to do so consistent with the “honour and Integrity” of the United States. He finished: “With this great Example before me; with the Sense and Spirit, the Faith and Honour, the duty and Interest of the Same American People, pledged to Support the Constitution of the United States I entertain no doubt of its con-

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson The Hague March 6. 1797. Since writing my last Letter I have received yours of the 17th: of February.1 It is kind: it is amiable: it is worthy of yourself. I recognize again the temper that I love, the heart that I admire, and the mind that I esteem.— Yes—this Letter I am sure was written by my own Louisa; and its strain is too congenial with her character, and too full of delight to me, for me to believe that she will ever quit it for one of a different description and contrary effects. I cannot but be flattered by the motive which induces you to regret your approaching departure for America, and to wish you could stay in England. The encreased distance, and the impossibility of hearing so frequently from each other are indeed substantial reasons for your preference of inclination; but when you recollect that the indispensible interest of your Parent requires his return, and the numerous reasons which make it advisable, I am persuaded that you will easily reconcile yourself to it.— As Events will not accommodate themselves to our desires, it is one of the most necessary arts of human life, to accommodate our desires to Events.— But I am sliding inadvertently again into that terrible thing called Philosophy.— Alas! there is no moving a single step without finding the want of it.

11

Adams Family Correspondence The Winter has at length melted away, and the charming season of Spring is approaching. My uncertainty of departure from this place continues as it has been for many months past. I have no new Letters from America; but I have one from Lisbon; from the Gentleman whom I am to succeed there. He tells me that the period of his removal is as uncertain as mine.—2 This is exclusively for your information. After what I said in one of my late Letters upon the subject of the Harp, it is perhaps hardly allowable for me to enquire whether your proficiency is more rapid than it has been.3 I know not indeed but I shall incur the suspicion of growing morose and gloomy, by my opinion so explicitly given upon the subject of music.— Angels! ever bright and fair!—4 what have become of the raptures, which the Harp and the Piano forte and the voice, were wont to inspire?— They are indeed not forgotten my lovely friend— Memory often repeats to my Fancy, every strain which was once performed by you; it gives an Echo still returning to my ear, to every sound uttered by your voice, or called forth by your fingers.— But after all in rousing from these reveries I am always sensible that they are merely the pleasures of idleness, and that they must never be suffered to usurp an improper degree of importance in our estimate. When you tell me that your slow progress in improvement must be attributed to myself because I engross all your time, and that you have not given your Harp as I have my books the primary place in your mind, the compliment possibly flatters my vanity, but it does not satisfy my reason, nor indulge my pride. I should infinitely prefer to have you think less of me, and more of every thing that can add to your own worth.— Besides, My Louisa, I do not think it really necessary that the one should be sacrificed to the other.— I do not think I should be shewing you the highest degree of affection, if I lavished away hour after hour, day after day, week after week, in a dull and lazy insignificance; though you should never be absent from my thoughts.— No— I believe that in employing steadily my time, and dedicating myself even to a painful exertion of Industry to improve the qualities which alone can give me value, I should prove myself a more constant Lover.— Reflect therefore once more my amiable friend, and ask yourself, whether as a means either of acquiring or of shewing sincere affection, it is not better to have it in our power to say “I have possessed myself of another accomplishment”—rather than “I have wasted my time in thinking of you.”— I

12

March 1797 must therefore renounce and protest against all accountability, for the consequences of your idleness.— Think of me my charming friend, and employ every moment of your time too. I am sure the thing is not impractible. But these observations, are only meant to answer, what I believe was rather intended by yourself as an ingenious compliment, than as substantially true. I always give you credit for merit more than you profess. You will not raise my expectations by acknowledging your improvements, but intend to surprize me agreeably by the proof of them at the time when we shall meet again.— But indeed you will gain nothing by this little innocent design of deception. For as I know you will not boast of your acquisitions, I am convinced of your attention to obtain them, and shall be prepared to find you at least as much improved, as you would be if you had not once thought of me during the whole period of our separation. I know not why you should have imagined your last Letter was unintelligible; or that I should scarcely be able to read it. The fault would certainly in such case have been in my mind, or in my eyes, not in your expression or hand.— Since you have written so frequently to me I have been more than ever at a loss to account for your old aversion to writing—more than ever disposed to impute it to the natural though unlaudable origin of mere indolence. Your stile of writing is more than good— It is excellent.— The art of varying your topics of correspondence, which is one of the most difficult parts of Letter-writing, can be acquired only by frequent practice, constant attention, and consultation of the most approved collections of printed Letters, a thing well worthy of some part of your time, if you can obtain a respite for it from your thoughts of me. Farewell; remember me affectionately to all, and be assured that I am ever yours. A. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Miss Louisa C. Johnson / London.” FC-Pr (Adams Papers); APM Reel 131. 1 For LCA to JQA, 17 Feb., see vol. 11:562– 564. JQA’s previous letter to LCA was dated 27 Feb. (Adams Papers), for a summary of which see vol. 11:570. 2 David Humphreys to JQA, 27 Jan. (Adams Papers), which JQA received on 3 March and in which Humphreys confirmed arrangements for JQA to take over his residence in Lisbon. Humphreys’ letter made no mention of his expected departure for his mission to

13

Spain, and in fact he did not arrive in Madrid until mid-August (Frank Landon Humphreys, Life and Times of David Humphreys, Soldier—Statesman—Poet, 2 vols., N.Y., 1917, 2:263). 3 In a letter to LCA of 7 Feb., JQA described harp playing as a “charming” but “trivial accomplishment” (vol. 11:545). 4 A line from the oratorio Theodora by George Frideric Handel and Thomas Morell.

Adams Family Correspondence

Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams London March 7th 1797 The package, containing your various beautiful presents, is arrived—1 I have distributed them according to your desire, and am requested to return the most grateful acknowledgements, and to tell you that being given by you, renders them peculiarly valuable— Accept my thanks my beloved friend, they are the return I can offer except the most tender and sincere affection— As a token of your esteem, the Bracelets will ever be inestimable to me, but indeed my dearest friend I have too firm a reliance in your affection, to require such proofs of it— Mr. Bourne came last night, to take leave of my father, he sails for America to day,2 I know not whether his having lately seen you was the reason, but I was determined to be pleased with him before I saw him, and I really feel a sort of affection for him because he says he esteems, and loves you— You tell me, in your letter of the 20 of February,3 that you are altered, and hope I shall not like you less, though you think it necessary to prepare me for its effects, when we meet—no alteration can diminish my love for you, and I hope yours will be as permanent, as to your faults my friend, they may be unpleasant, to a lady of taste, and elegance, but as I have no pretensions to any thing of the kind, I have no fear of their becoming so to me— In regard to your Fathers election, it is impossible I should feel so unconcerned as you seem to imagine. my love for you my best friend, is such that for your sake, I love, and esteem, all your family, and am as anxious for their welfare, as for my own—besides which, do you suppose it possible, I can hear of your anxiety, without partaking it? surely my Adams you can have very little idea of my affection, or you would know, that you cannot feel even a momentary pain without its being shared by your Louisa— Indeed my best friend you should not always contemplate the dark side of things, believe me it will be a constant source of uneasiness, and prevent your enjoying the happiness, already in your power— It is true we should always be prepared to meet disappointments, and misfortunes, with firmness, but we should not encourage evil by anticipation in this instance, I hope your fears will prove erroneous, and that your father will find the situation, easy and pleasant— I make no doubt that he will acquit himself with honor, and satisfaction to

14

March 1797 himself, and for the benefit of his Country— let us then instead of indulging painful apprehensions, look forward to brighter prospects, and trust in providence for the future— To the latter part of your letter, I have little to reply— I endeavor to be contented, though I confess it is with difficulty, I check hopes, that will sometimes arise, that we may yet meet— I believe it would have been better, to have omitted this proof of my folly, but it is written, and it will only serve to shew the weakness of my best resolves— Nancy is recovering, and with the rest of the family, desires to be remembered— Adieu, offer my best respects to your brother, and believe me sincerely, and faithfully, yours, Louisa C Johnson RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “John Q Adams Esqr. / The Hague”; endorsed: “L. C. J. / 7. March 1797. / 29. do: recd: / 31. do: Ansd:.” 1 On 5 Feb. JQA wrote to LCA that he was sending gifts to her mother and sisters and a pair of bracelets to her, all of which would be carried from the Netherlands to London by Sylvanus Bourne (Adams Papers). 2 Bourne sailed aboard the ship William Penn, Capt. James Josiah, which was delayed by adverse winds and did not depart Graves-

end until 23 March. Bourne arrived at Philadelphia on 17 May (William Bell Clark, “James Josiah, Master Mariner,” PMHB, 79:477 [Oct. 1955]; London Oracle and Public Advertiser, 25 March). For more on Bourne’s visit to the United States, see vol. 11:550. 3 See same, 11:568–570.

Belinda Smith Clarkson to John Adams Dear Sir. New York, March. 8th.: [1797] I hope you will not deem it intrusion to address you upon a subject which is of great consequence to me, and must interest your feelings on the principles of Commiseration and Benevolence: a subject which necessity impells me to expatiate upon—and maternal affection dictates. It is Sir, to solicit, (earnestly) an office for Mr: Clarkson to enable him to support a Family of young Chilldren—1 his long confinement the last winter with the rhuematism render’d him incapable of attending to any kind of Business— in the spring the physicians proposed his going in the Country as the only probable resource for returning health— my Brother Col. Smith offer’d us his House at East Chester—where we remain’d untill the Fall— Mr: C. was perfectly recover’d—but mercantile Business was so dull and precarious—his friends advised him not to think of Engaging in it— Mr: Wilkes offer’d him an office in the New York Bank—where he has been constantly Employ’d ever since:2 It was a temporary Releif—but the salary is only 500. dollars pr. year—which will not

15

Adams Family Correspondence provide common necessaries for the family. Mr: Clarksons diffidence for want of a personal acquaintance with you, must plead an apology for his not writing—and has induced me to take the Liberty of making this application which I flatter myself you will not disapprove— If any recommendatory Letters are necessary, I have not a doubt they can be obtained from respectable Characters in this City. as there is no advancement in the Bank, occasion’d by their being so many who have a prior right to Mr: C— I am Impell’d (from the gloomy prospect before me) to make this (allmost) Unprecedented address! which I hope My dear Sir will claim your attention, and induce you to place Mr: C. in a more Eligible situation.—which will always be remembered and acknowledged with gratitude. Wishing you all the happiness, and Respect / your virtues, and dignified station merits— / I subscribe myself / with sentiments of Respectful Esteem & & Belinda Clarkson—3 RC (Adams Papers). 1 For Belinda Smith Clarkson, sister of WSS, see vol. 8:323; for Matthew M. Clarkson, see vol. 9:172. The Clarksons had three children, William Smith (b. 1791), Charlton (b. 1793), and Margaret Eliza (vol. 9:241; Trinity Church [New York, N.Y.] Registers, www.trinitywallstreet.org/history; The Clarksons of New York. A Sketch, 2 vols., N.Y., 1875– 1876, 1:234). 2 Charles Wilkes (1764–1833) was the cashier of the Bank of New York (Henry W. Domett, A History of the Bank of New York, 1784–1884, Compiled from Official Records and

Other Sources at the Request of the Directors, N.Y., 1884, p. 83–84). 3 Clarkson’s letter was accompanied by another to JA, likely of the same date, from Clarkson’s mother, Margaret Stephens Smith, with a similar entreaty for JA’s assistance (Adams Papers). JA replied to Smith on 16 March, writing that he knew of no vacant positions at the current time but that his lack of acquaintance with Matthew Clarkson would prohibit special consideration in any event (LbC, APM Reel 117).

John Adams to Abigail Adams My Dearest Friend Philadelphia March 9. 1797 I have no Letter this Week and begin to fear that your Respect to our late P. has laid a foundation for a Sick Spring and Summer. Sometimes too I am jealous of unfair Play in the Post office to prevent me from hearing from you at the most critical Period of my Life. The public Papers must give you an Account of Proceedings, which I am wholly unable to describe.1 What Judgment is form’d of my Part in the late Transactions, by my Friends or my Ennemies, I know not. There is a Reserve in both, beyond my comprehension.

16

March 1797 The P. and Mrs W. go off this morning for M. Vernon. Yesterday afternoon he came to make me his farewell Visit and requested me in his own Name and Mrs Ws. to present “their Respects” to Mrs Adams. I believe, that I envyed him more than he did me: and with Reason. The House is to be cleared and cleaned, and I am to go into it on Monday next, if possible. I shall make a Small Establishment for myself for the present and wait yur Advice for Ulteriour Arrangements. It is now generally understood that I am to go home before Midsummer and bring my Family in October. The Business of all kinds and Writing particularly out of the habit of which I have been so long, presses upon me very severely and would endanger my health if I did not make Conscience of riding every day. Mrs Cushing will call upon you and give you an Account of what they call The Inauguration. It is the general Report that there was more Weeping than there has ever been at the Representation of any Tragedy. But whether it was from Grief or Joy, whether from the Loss of their beloved President, or from the Accession of an unbeloved one. or from the Pleasure of exchanging Presidents without Tumult or from the Novelty of the Thing, or from the sublimity of it, arising from the Multitude present, or whatever other cause I know not. one Thing I know I am a Being of too much Sensibility to Act any Part well in such an Exhibition. Perhaps there is little danger of my having Such another Scene to feel or behold. The Stilness and Silence astonishes me. Every body talks of the Tears, the full Eyes, the streaming Eyes, the trickling Eyes &c but all is Enigma beyond.— no one descends to particulars to say Why or wherefore, I am therefore left to Suppose that it is all Grief for the Loss of their beloved. Two or three Persons have ventured to whisper in my Ear that my Speech made an agreable Impression I have ventured to Say Things both in that Speech and in my farewell address to the senate, So open to Scoffs and Sarcasms that I expected them in Abundance. I have not yet Seen any. The more may come. I have been So Strangely Used in this Country. so belied and so undefended—that I was determined to say some Things, as an Appeal to Posterity. foreign nations and future times will understand them better than my Ennemies, or friends will own they do.

17

Adams Family Correspondence The Vanity and Egotism, which is so apparent or at least to seeming may be pardoned for what I know lest Satirical Reflections on it should provoke Some one to produce Proofs that if it is Egotism it is no Vanity. My dear Wife your Society is invaluable to me and yet I cannot enjoy it, before July I fear. All will depend upon public Events. I shall come to you as soon as possible. I am with an affection that can end only / with my Life and I hope not then, Your / faithful Friend & Husband John Adams RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.”; endorsed: “March 9th / 1797.” 1 JA’s inaugural address first appeared in special supplements of the Philadelphia Gazette and Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 4 March. Other newspapers later reprinted the speech with accounts of the inauguration but offered little comment on the address itself; see, for example, the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 6 March. One exception was the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 11 March, which judged

the address patriotic, conciliatory, and “completely satisfactory to the candid and dispassionate. It is the address of a fellow citizen, who will not deign to become the President of a Party, but the President of the United States.” It would be published in Boston from 15 March; see, for example, the Boston Columbian Centinel, 15 March, and the Massachusetts Mercury, 17 March.

John Adams to Abigail Adams My Dearest Friend Phila. March 11. 1797 Yesterday only I recd yours of March 1.— am surprized you should have recd none from me from 11. Feb. I have written never less than once a Week, seldom less than twice and 9 Weeks out of 10, three times, ever Since I left you. The Roads or some irregularity of the Post must have occasioned your disappointment. I hope you will obtain Mr Mears, but I must leave every Thing to you— The Load of Business that now compells my Attention every day is such that I cannot think a moment about my farm Mr Maund writes me that he has sent me a Barrell of seed oats of a superiour quality, to Boston by a Captain Allen, who was to Sail beginning of March, from Virginia1 The Family is gone— Mr Lear and Mr Dandridge remain—2 But it is a great Work to arrange and clean the House— I cant get into it before the middle of next Week I hope Billings will Sow the Barley and Grass seed well— what will become of my Meadow Cornfield I know not.— However I must leave that, and all the rest to you & I could not trust it better.

18

March 1797 My Heaps of Compost will suffer I fear. I sent you the last Letters from our Sons.3 My Aunt Veseys death was unknown to me am very glad you went to the Funeral. The Feast that Succeeded was one of those Things which are not to my Taste. I am glad you went— I went too.— But those Things give offence to the plain People of our Country, upon whose Friendship I have always depended. They are practised by the Elegant and the rich for their own Ends, which are not always the best. If I could have my Wish there should never be a Show or a feast made for the P. while I hold the office.— My Birth day happens when Congress will never Sit: so that I hope it will never be talked of.4 These are hints entre nous. I am, my dear / est friend ever yours John Adams Washington has at last denounced the forged Letters.5 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “March 11th / 1797.” 1 On 13 Feb. John James Maund wrote to JA to offer the oats and at the same time presented his respects to AA and to his “friend” TBA (Adams Papers). It is unclear if the oats were received, although AA informed JA on 31 March, below, that William Smith was making inquiries. Maund (d. 1802) was a Virginia attorney who had spent time in Philadelphia in 1794, where he apparently made the acquaintance of the Adamses (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 15:668). 2 Tobias Lear, George Washington’s former secretary, lived in Washington, D.C., at this time but had come to Philadelphia in Feb. 1797 to help the Washingtons close their household. Bartholomew Dandridge Jr. also stayed behind to help settle the Washingtons’ affairs, remaining in Washington’s employ until his departure for The Hague as secretary to William Vans Murray (vol. 11:528; Washington, Papers, Retirement Series, 1:23–25). 3 For the letters JA forwarded to AA, see AA to JA, 12 March, and note 1, below. 4 Public celebrations for JA never reached the level accorded to Washington. Celebrations of JA’s 30 Oct. birthday, which throughout his public life generally fell during the congressional recess, were held only in central New England, most prevalently during the Quasi-War (Simon P. Newman, Parades and the Politics of the Street: Festive Culture

in the Early American Republic, Phila., 1997, p. 74). In 1798 JA and AA declined an invitation to celebrate Washington’s birthday in Philadelphia; for AA’s comments on the subject, see her letter to Mary Smith Cranch, 15 Feb., and note 4, below. 5 During the Revolution the British attempted to undermine Washington’s command of American forces by publishing a series of forged letters, allegedly captured after the fall of Fort Lee in Nov. 1776, that exposed Washington’s pro-British sympathies and low opinion of American troops. Largely discredited at the time of their publication in London in 1777 and in the United States in 1778, a pamphlet of the letters was reprinted in Philadelphia in 1795 in the midst of political furor over the Jay Treaty. Washington waited until the end of his public career to denounce the letters, describing them as “base forgery” in a 3 March 1797 letter to Timothy Pickering. Believing their original intent was “to strike at the integrity of the motives of the American Commander in Chief” and more recently that “another crisis in the affairs of America having occurred, the same weapon has been resorted to, to wound my character and deceive the people.” Pickering submitted Washington’s letter to the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, which printed it on 10 March. It was then widely reprinted; see, for example, the New York Daily Advertiser,

19

Adams Family Correspondence 13 March, Massachusetts Mercury, 21 March, and the Charleston, S.C., City Gazette and Daily Advertiser, 29 March (Worthington Chauncey Ford, The Spurious Letters Attributed to Washington, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1889, p. 9–11, 20–21; Stewart, Opposition Press, p. 531–

532; Letters from General Washington to Several of His Friends, in June and July, 1776, Phila., 1795, Evans, No. 28969; Pickering, To the Editor of the United States Gazette, no imprint, 1797, MWA, Evans, No. 33072).

Abigail Adams to John Adams My Dearest Friend Quincy March 12th 1797 After a week of anxious expectation, I received by last Thursdays post, a packet containing three News papers a pamphlet, two excellent Letters from our Dear sons, and fourteen lines from a hand, from which I was desirious of receiving, fourteen times as much.1 unreasonable do you exclaim! Publick Buisness, publick cares, allow’d, but there is a kind of communication and intercourse which is a relieaf to the burdend mind, at least I conceive so. I have read the address the answer, and the reply.2 upon reading the first period in the address, it Struck me as obscure oweing to the length of the period. I read it a second time, the sense was clear but some how, it did not seem what I wanted to have it; I attempted to throw the Ideas into an other form, but could not succeed, without weakning the force of expression, or greatly lengthing the address. I therefore concluded that you had labourd yourself under the same difficulty. I made no remark upon it, but in my own mind. Three persons have since mentiond to me, the same thing, and one of them told me that he had himself been trying to place the Ideas of the first period in shorter sentances, but met with the Very obstical which I had myself before experienced. the address brought into view a Number of home Truth’s, Evident to Some, unseen by others. as the Sentiments of the writer are known to me, I trace their meaning, end and aim, and pronounce them all wise, just, and Good. the answer of the senate, is Manly, dignified, affectionate and cordial. the Reply will tend to strengthen the bond of union. the whole is calculated to remove the film from the Eyes of those who are disposed to see. I have heard but one remark, and that was from Jarvis. he was glad to see you come out so fully and declare that the senate were equal to the defence and preservation of the constitution, and that it needed not a more permanant counsel.3 with mischievious men, no honest man would hold communion: but with men who have been mislead, and who possess integrity of Heart, every good Man would be desirious of standing fair. to the latter the

20

March 1797 conduct of H——n has been misterious, and they are ready to think that the President is a more impartial Man than they were taught to believe, and that the opposition and Secret machinations and intrigues of a certain Character arose altogether from knowing that the Man whom a majority of the people wishd to succeed the President was too independent in his Sentiments to receive controul. they conclude that they have been mistaken in him. I see by the paper received last Evening that the senate are notified to convene, by which I judge there are subjects of concequence to be imparted.4 are there any official accounts of the reception of Pinckny by the Directory? Such reports are in circulation.5 I am pleasd to find mr Murray appointed as the Successor of our son.6 I do not know where a properer person could have been found. Russel the Printer is an abominable Blunderer, he is not fit to publish state papers. no less than three blunders has he made in publishing the address to the senate & in the reply to their answer as you will see by reading it.7 my mind has ever been interested in publick affairs. I now find, that my Heart and Soul are, for all that I hold Dearest on Earth is embarked on the Wide ocean, and in a hazardous Voyage. may the experience wisdom and prudence of the helmsman conduct the vessel in Safety. Abigail Adams I am as ever a fellow Passenger RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. March 12 / ansd 22d. 1797.” 1 With his letter to AA of 24 Feb., for which see vol. 11:575–576, JA likely forwarded TBA to JA, 26 Nov. 1796, for which see same, 11:413–417, and JQA to JA, 17 Dec. (Adams Papers), for a summary of which see same, 11:433. 2 On 22 Feb. 1797 the Senate submitted its reply to JA’s 15 Feb. address, thanking him for his long and continued service and expressing its belief that his “conduct will be measured by the Constitution, and directed to the public good” and that he could therefore expect “a confident reliance, that you will be supported, as well by the people at large, as by their constituted authorities.” JA responded the following day acknowledging its approbation with thanks. Both the Senate’s reply and JA’s response were printed by the Boston Price-Current and Boston Independent Chronicle, 6 March (Annals of Congress, 4th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1555–1556, 1557–1558). 3 In a letter to JA of 28 Feb., Thomas Welsh similarly described Dr. Charles Jarvis’

comments on JA’s 15 Feb. address and on his election: “It was a great Task for any Man to follow successfully in the same Office and maintain the same Respect & Confidence which the late President has enjoyed, replied that no Man ever had a better Oppertunity to do well than Mr Adams whose Abilities and Integrity were universally acknowledged who would act for himself and not be led by any one & that he had it in his power to do more for this Country than any Man ever had done and that it was impossible he could do worse than Washington” (Adams Papers). 4 The Boston Columbian Centinel, 11 March, reported news from Philadelphia of the 4th, including the following notice: “The Senate of the U.S have received a notification from the President, convening them on Saturday next.” There is no record that JA issued the notice, and it most likely referred to a message submitted by George Washington on 1 March convening the Senate for the Saturday, 4 March, inauguration (Annals

21

Adams Family Correspondence of Congress, 5th Cong., special sess. no. 1, p. 1580). 5 Credible reports of France’s refusal to receive Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as U.S. minister and his subsequent expulsion from the country had surfaced in Philadelphia by this time, although the government had yet to receive official confirmation from its diplomats in Europe. Similar reports had surfaced in Massachusetts but were discounted by the press as “unfounded” (Philadelphia Gazette, 9 March; Timothy Pickering to JQA, 15 March, Adams Papers; Boston Columbian Centinel, 8 March; Newburyport Impartial Herald, 10 March). For more on Pinckney’s reception in France, see vol. 11:457–458. 6 For William Vans Murray’s appointment as JQA’s replacement at The Hague, see same, 11:457. News of Murray’s appointment was reported in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 11 March. 7 The masthead of the Boston Columbian Centinel identifies its printer, Benjamin Russell, as “Printer to the United States, for the Northern States.” JA’s address to the Senate

was printed in the newspaper on 1 March but contained two substantial omissions, which are represented in brackets in the following sentences: “I ought not to declare, for the last time, your adjournment, before I have presented to every senator present, and to every [citizen who has ever been a] senator of the United States, my thanks, for the candor and favor invariably received from them all” and “In all the abstruse questions, difficult conjunctures, dangerous emergencies, and animated debates upon the great interests of our country, which have so often, [and] so deeply impressed all our minds, [and interested the strongest feelings of the heart,] I have experienced a uniform politeness and respect from every quarter of the house.” JA’s answer to the Senate’s reply, printed on 11 March, contained only one error, the insertion of “found” instead of “known” in the following phrase: “wherever it shall be known, both at home and abroad” (U.S. Senate, Jour., 4th Cong., 2d sess., p. 325; Annals of Congress, 4th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1557).

Abigail Adams to John Adams my Dearest Friend Quincy March 13th 1797 Dr Tufts has been consulted by me respecting the leaseing our places, and we have come to an agreement with the Tennants, who in proportion to the rise of Labour & produce, Annually expect more & more indulgences. a Farmer cannot be content with the profits he once made. he will tell you, the Day Labourer fares better, which is true. I meet with so many difficulties, that I wish Sometimes that we had not but one Farm. Dr Tufts thinks it would be better for your interest, under certain restrictions to lease out the places for a sum of Money. but this is for future consideration. Burrel I have agreed to find him a yoke oxen & cart, he to be at the expence of keeping them in order French I have agreed to find a mate for his steer. his Father has one of the same Age, for which he asks 35 Dollors. this being agreed to, the next thing was wood, to be found all their Wood. this I absolutely refused, and we came very near parting upon the Subject. after much conversation, Dr Tufts advised to stipullating a certain Sum, to be allowd for wood. I can only say I have Done the best I could. Trask wants employ.1 Dr Tufts

22

March 1797 says that the Bushes behind Belchers House wants clearing up in the medow and Burrel says those in curtis Pasture which our people cut two years ago want again to be attended to. The spring is advancing but the Month of March has been one cold Bluster as yet and greatly impeeds our advance in buisness, which will occasion a press of Buisness Soon. I have several matters which I should wish to Do as Soon as it will answer among the number is painting the House & Fence, and finishing the Chamber in the out House. We shall want it much When you return for the additional Servants you will bring with you. I have many more things to Say, but will not at present take up more of your Time. as ever / yours A Adams RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “The President of the United / States / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs A. March 13 / 1797 / Ansd 22d.” 1 Samuel Trask does not appear to have been rehired by the Adamses at this time, although Cotton Tufts would recommend hiring him again in a 2 May 1798 letter to JA (Adams Papers).

John Adams to Abigail Adams My Dearest Friend Phila. March 13. 1797 I am So constantly engaged in Business most of which is new to me, that it Seems as if it was impossible to find time to write even to you— Yet I believe I write every Post. It proves to be a tedious Business to clear the Presidents house for me. I am now told it will not be ready this Week. You will See by the Gazette how the new Pensilvania House is disposed of. The Weather is bad— I have a great Cold— The News is not pleasant— And I have no Society but Statesmen. Mr Jefferson has been here and is gone off to day for Virginia. He is as he was.— I cannot write to you, about any Thing at home— You must do as you judge best. I like all that you have proposed to me. I must not write about public affairs. I must go to you or you must come to me. I cannot live without you till October. But all will depend upon Events and Intelligence to come. My Regards to the Neighbours, Duty to my Mother Love to Relations, &c Oh my poor Meadow and Wall &c &c &c— It would do me good like a Medicine to See Billings one hour at any sort of Work.

23

Adams Family Correspondence Mr Maund writes me that he has sent to Boston an extraordinary Barrell of seed Oats for me. if they come too late What then? Mr Beale was here a day or two ago very well.1 I have no Letter to day— But I shall have one on Wednesday or saturday. I find you dont forget your ever affectionate John Adams2 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “March 13. 1797.” 1 Likely Benjamin Beale III, who had visited JA in Philadelphia in January (vol. 11:496). 2 JA also wrote to AA on 15 March repeating the information about the weather and his cold, and asking that the oats be distributed among family and neighbors (Adams Papers).

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson The Hague March 14. 1797. It is nearly a fortnight since I received your letter of the 17th: of last month. The two last Posts from Bremen have brought no English Letters, and while the wind remains in the quarter to which it has been fixed these ten days I can have no hopes of being more fortunate in hearing from you. These Easterly winds bring a clear sky and a brisk air with them.— Yet they are to me more dull and gloomy, than the thickest western vapours which bear me your Letters. Neither have I from any of my friends in America, any Letters within these six weeks. [It se]ems that the aversion to writing is very prevalent in that Country.— The state of the Elections for President and Vice-President remains in the same uncertainty.— You mention that the universal opinion is in London that the choice was ascertained.— The same opinion is equally prevalent here, and it may be true; but may likewise, and just as probably be erroneous— People are always in a hurry to outrun the course of Events.— By the time when you get this Letter, information upon which some dependence can be placed will be received. Your opinions as to the supposed result were very acceptable— Of their accuracy I am not the proper judge.— To wish a fortunate Event is all that belongs to me, on this Occasion. I mentioned in a late Letter one of my occupations on the Post days which bring me no Letter from you.1 The day before yesterday I tried another. The weather being fine I took a walk to the seashore about three miles from this place. The English Coast is opposite, though far beyond the reach of the sight. I looked over the Wa-

24

March 1797 ters, as far as the eye could extend, and although it finally settled upon the borders of the horizon and the Ocean, the imagination by no means rested there. It instantly carried me the rest of the way. An instant of illusion transported me to you but the next returned me to the beach of Scheveling, and admonished me to return to my solitude and my books. To my books I can return with pleasure, even from the most pleasing excursions of the fancy. They leave no languor, no satiety, no listlessness of indolence upon the mind. They are therefore the only refuge of one to whom the common course of Society is now more than ever insipid.— Of Society indeed through the course of the past Winter there has been here a great abundance and variety. There have been many endeavours to render it splendid: public amusements have been multiplied, and the members of the new Government having many of them families here, have formed a circle of Company, which at any very other period I should have found very agreeable.— As it is I leave you to judge what sort of an opinion the Ladies must have formed of me.— Fortunately my brother compensates for all my deficiencies.— He has no comparisons to make; he can therefore estimate them favourably, and feel a proportionate disposition to make himself agreeable. All I can do is not to estimate them at all, and pass for a Philosopher. Your ever faithful friend. A. RC (Adams Papers). FC-Pr (Adams Papers); APM Reel 131. Tr (Adams Papers). Text lost due to the placement of the seal has been supplied from the FC-Pr. 1 In his letter to LCA of 27 Feb., JQA wrote, “Whenever the Post from Bremen arrives without bringing me a new Letter of my friend, I endeavor to find some consolation in perusing over again some of her old ones” (Adams Papers).

Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams London March 14th 1797 I have repeatedly perused your letter of the 27 of February, which afforded me infinite pleasure, as it perfectly coincides with my sentiments— Let me again assure you my best friend, that you shall never more be offended by an assertion of Spirit, that I in reality do not possess, and permit me to request, you will cease to mention a subject, which has already cost me so much pain, and for which I entreat your pardon— no sooner were those letters gone, than I repented my

25

Adams Family Correspondence folly and was convinced my conduct was weak, and ridiculous.1 I therefore trust in your accustomed indulgence, to overlook and forgive the past, as I have long since and believe me, I shall carefully avoid every thing of the sort in future— You tell me that you fear to mention your books, since the success of your recommendation, of Madame de Stael’s new Work.2 I expected this, and felt inclined to ask you to recommend such books as you thought might improve me, but I was fearful after what I had written, you might suppose I had no meaning in the request, and therefore pay no attention to it—but since you have mentioned it, I wish you would point out such as you think will be profitable, and I can assure you I shall feel myself much obliged— We hear nothing of the Election in America—but by a Gentleman lately arrived from New York, we understand there is a report, of Mr. Madissons being appointed Minister extraordinary to France, to settle the difference between that Country, and America3 I wish it may be true, as I think a war with France, or any Country, must be very injurious at this period to America— All the family desire to be remembered— Mr: Bourne is not gone being detained by contrary winds— Adieu— present my respects to your Brother, and be assured of the constant, and invariable affection, of your Louisa C. Johnson RC (Adams Papers). 1 LCA was referring to the angry exchange of correspondence with JQA in Dec. 1796 and Jan. 1797, largely stemming from a suggestion in her letter of 29 Nov. 1796 that she and her family return to the United States via The Hague, for which see vol. 11:426–427, 451–454, 489–491, 503–505, 530–535. 2 For Anne Louise Germaine, Baronne

Staël von Holstein (Madame de Staël), De l’influence des passions sur le bonheur des individus et des nations, and LCA’s response to JQA’s recommendation that she read the work, see same, 11:512–513, 534. 3 For the rumors regarding James Madison’s diplomatic posting to France, see same, 11:515–516.

Abigail Adams Smith to John Adams my Dear Pappa East Chester March 14th 1797 I received some time since your letter of the 21st of Febuary—and am very happy to find that you suppose my apprehensions respecting any embarrassments which may be thrown in your way are premature—1 I have heard from all quarters that the Choice of President has been highly approved of and is perfectly Sattisfactory to all parties even the most violent Democrats in New York have

26

March 1797 expressed their intire acquiessence in the Election and I am very happy to find Mr Jefferson has come forward with such fair and Candid sentiments as his address to the senate discovers—2 I beleive many persons will be agreeably disappointed with respect to his pursuits you must not my Dear Sir judge unfavourably of me—from my silence at this period—when all Connected with you are I presume offering to you their Congratulatory addresses—upon your assention to a Station so highly important—and which you are undoubtedly better prepared to fill with advantage to our Country than any other Man—or suppose that it is the result of indifferance towards you or any want of fillial affection—for I seek with avidity for every thing that is made public to us respecting yourself at this time, and have read with much pleasure your speach at the inauguration—and I Lamented that you should not have had one single Brance of your own family present at the interesting Scene— if I had been in a situation that could have rendered it proper, or Possible, I would most certainly have been present that I am retired from all society and have no intercourse with any one out of my family would be no mortification to me—if it afforded me an opportunity of Educating my Children; there is no Personall gratification nor individual advantage that I should not readily relinquish if it could afford me an opportunity of Seeing them improve or advancing in their Studies— but the Place we are in neither affords a school or a Clergyman—and I am much at a loss to know, what to do with them— William is now at an age when it becomes necessary for him to have constant and regular attention—and I think every day he passes is a day lost to him—3 what is to be their or our future destination is hid from our view by “that impenetrable veil which you observe covers futurity”—4 I see nothing in prospect for them but the most undistinguished stations in Life— and I expect that they will have to acquire as much self command and experience as many humiliations and mortifications of spirit as can be necessary for them; or as any one can wish them to encounter— but thease things are directed by an Higher Power and all Human Exertions are inadequate to Counteract them whatever fate m[ay be] in reserve for me I hope I shall be supported under [it] without repineing—and that my Heart may be steeled against the misfortunes which seem to await us— but I must

27

Adams Family Correspondence beg your forgiveness for obtruding upon your time, and important avocations with every wish for your Happiness I am affectionately your Daughter A Smith— RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The President / of the United States / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs Smith. March 14 / 1797.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 See vol. 11:574–575. 2 On the morning of 4 March, prior to JA’s inauguration, Thomas Jefferson was sworn in as vice president by the president pro tempore of the Senate, William Bingham. After assuming the chair, Jefferson offered brief remarks in which he promised “diligence and attention” to the duties of his office and a “rigorous and inflexible impartiality” to the rules of the Senate. He also declared his “zealous attachment to the constitution of the United States, that I consider the Union of these states as the first of blessings, and as the first of duties the preservation of that constitution which secures it,” and he praised his predecessor, praying that JA “may be long preserved for the government, the happiness,

and prosperity of our common country” (Jefferson, Papers, 29:310–312). In its reporting on the inauguration, the Democratic-Republican New York Journal, 8 March, commented on JA’s and Jefferson’s addresses: “We dare congratulate the friends of Republican Virtue, on the auspious prospect which is presented before them by the patriotic speeches of JOHN ADAMS President, and THOMAS JEFFERSON, Vice-President of the United States.” 3 William Steuben Smith was nearly ten years old at this time. For his enrollment in the Atkinson Academy, see AA to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 12 Aug., below. 4 From JA’s letter to WSS of 18 Jan. (vol. 11:507–508).

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my Dear Son Quincy March 15 1797. The vessel which was up for Hamburgh by which I promised to write has changed her Voyage, and the vessel for London is just upon the point of sailing, so that I have only time to inform you that your old Friend William Vans Murray is appointed your successer.1 This will give you pleasure, because he is a sensible Worthy Man, and a firm Friend to his Country. You will now be released, and enabled to fulfill the most pleasing of all your engagements Heaven bless and prosper you. Since I wrote you on this Month by the last post from Philadelphia, your Father sent me the Letters he had received from you, and your Brother. December 17 No 26. No 25 has not reachd here. Thomas was dated Novbr 25 & Decbr 12.2 both Letters gave us great pleasure. I have Written to Thomas and to you since your of Novbr to me. I do not however recollect whether I mentiond that both mrs Welch and I had received our table Linnen, which proved more satisfactory than the former.3

28

March 1797 I Inclose to you the address of the Vice President upon his taking leave of the senate, their answer & his reply.4 all at present seems Harmony and internal Peace.— the Antis many of them say they are gratified by the Elections. We shall soon see how measures opperate. by the papers I see that the President issued notifications to the senate to convene, the day after he was sworn into office. the Vice President arrived and was Sworn at the same time. May peace and Harmony prevail. French influence declines, America is made to feel, and that has cleard the films from her Eyes. It is impossible for any Man to carry with him into retirement, more fervent, more sincere and gratefull testimony of the Love, respect esteem and veneration; of a whole people; than is the happy portion of the Retireing Patriot. O ’tis a joy too exquisite, a thought Which flatters Nature more than flatt’ry ought! The best reward which here to Man is given ’Tis more than Earth, and little short of Heav’n;5 I do not know when I shall go on to Philadelphia. I wish to defer it untill the Fall, but that will depend upon circumstances. I have not time to write again to Thomas. His Father says he must have him, here. I shall want him very much at Philadelphia. I hope he will not delay his return. I have a Number of cupons to send, but do not know of any Passengers and am fearfull of committing them to the post I shall embrace the first opportunity.6 I Should be glad to have Thomas bring me 20 yds of what is calld faun coulourd Sattin I will send him a Bill for the purpose by an early conveyance perhaps Mrs Johnson will undertake the commission for me adieu my Dear son. When you arrive in England I hope to hear oftner from you, tho I presume Your stay will not be long there. the consul in Portugal you know when the Dangerous vice was written, the Author little thought of Such circumstances taking place as are now in being.7 it would ill become a King of France said Henry the 4th to avenge the Injuries of the Duke of Navare.8 I always admired the Dignity of that sentiment, but this does not prevent a watchfulness and a Distance. I know not when to lay asside my pen. it must however be done least I lose the conveyance. I am with every sentiment / of Love and tender regard / Your affectionate Mother Abigail Adams

29

Adams Family Correspondence RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A Adams / 15 March 1797 / July Recd: / 29 Do Answd:.” 1 See AA to JQA, 3 March, and note 1, above. 2 For TBA’s letter to JA of 26 (not 25) Nov. 1796 and JQA’s to JA of 17 Dec., see vol. 11:413–417, 433. JQA’s letter No. 25 to JA was dated 25 Nov. and was received by JA on 17 Jan. 1797 (vol. 11:506). 3 For AA and Abigail Kent Welsh’s commission of table linens, see same, 11:76, 323– 324, 386. 4 Enclosure not found. 5 Charles Churchill, “Gotham,” Book III,

lines 93–94, 97–98. 6 These were likely coupons from the 1791 Dutch-American loan, which AA had similarly asked JQA to exchange in Dec. 1795 (vol. 11:81). 7 For Edward Church’s 1789 satire of JA, “The Dangerous Vice ———,” see vol. 8:403– 404, 405. 8 King Henry IV of France was also the king of Navarre, a title he inherited prior to ascending the French throne in 1589 (Cambridge Modern Hist., 3:15, 18, 47).

Abigail Adams to Joshua Johnson Sir Quincy March 15 1797 I inclose to you a pamphlet, The correspondence between the Secretary of state, and the French Minister, for my son J Q Adams. if upon receiving it, you have reason to think he has allready had it; from any other hand, you will retain it, untill his arrival in England.1 William Vans Murray, of the state of Maryland, is appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Batavian Republick. This Gentleman I presume, is well known to you, having resided Some years in England and studied in the temple. he is esteemed a Gentleman of abilities, and has acquired much reputation since he became a Member of Congress. he is considerd as a firm Friend to his Country, and a very able Man. Mr Adams will be gratified by this appo[int]ment of an old acquaintance and Friend, as his successor. he will be particularly gratified, in being permitted to return to England, to unite himself to the amiable Young Lady, whom he is desirious of presenting to me as a Daughter. in return Sir, I present You a son, whose value, requires not Maternal affection to estimate. they both receive my blessing and my fervent prayers for their future happiness. your son was well a few days Since when I heard from him, and I believe, I may assure you, that he conducts himself with prudence and discretion.2 Present my compliments to Mrs Johnson. tell her that I hope it will not be many years, before she will feel an additional inducement to consider America as the permanant Seat of her future residence, drawn heither by the double attraction of a son and Daugh-

30

March 1797 ter. The Letters addrest to your care for my sons be so kind as to forward For Your Friend and Humble servant Abigail Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Abigail Adams / Quincy 15 March 1797. / Riceved 31 May / Answrd 14 August / pr the William Penn / Capt. Josia.” Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript. 1 See AA to JQA, 3 March, and note 8, above. 2 No correspondence between AA and Thomas Baker Johnson has been found for this period.

Richard Cranch to John Adams My Hond: and dear Brother Quincy Mar: 15th. 1797 To wish you Joy on your advancement to the high Station you now hold will perhaps, at present, be premature; I shall therefore rather wish you Patience. The comprehensive and clear Views that you have acquired from an accurate Examination of all the ancient Forms of Government and their consequences in actual operation, and your great Experience in the modern Systems that have been exhibited, will often put your Patience to the tryal on hearing the many wrong-headed Projects and half-digested Schemes that will be advanced by Men who really wish the Good of their Country. But the Prejudices that have been infused into the honest Minds of many, who have been duped by foreign Influence at bottom, tho’ they do not know it, will require the exercise of much Patience and a continued course of Alteratives to set them right. Perhaps the most pernicious effects on the last mentioned Class have originated in an artfull address to one of the most amiable affections of the human Heart, I mean Gratitude. No arts have been left untried to make the People believe that they are indebted to France for their Liberty, Independence, and all the political Blessings that they enjoy as a Nation; and that therefore they must be subservient to Her in all their national conduct. As this sentiment is by no means founded in truth, I cannot help thinking that a systematical course of addressing the People on this Subject from time to time in the publick Papers, shewing them that their Liberty and Independence are not owing to the exertions of that or any other Nation in our favour, will have a happy tendency to make them feel their own Importance, and by degrees to free them from that supposed Dependence which is so humiliating to our national Character. Perhaps also the exhibit-

31

Adams Family Correspondence ing to our People at large, at proper times, the true Picture of that Infidelity and Atheism which have been substituted in France in lieu of the Christian Morals, may have a good effect on many good People whose zeal for french Politicks will almost tempt them to think that Christ may have “concord with Beliel.”1 I sincerely congratulate the People of the United States of America on their having you to take the Helm on the Resignation of the illustrious Washington; wishing you all that Success in promoting the general Good which your Experience, Wisdom, Virtue and Patriotism are so fitted to produce. I am, with Sentiments of the highest Esteem, your affectionate Brother Richard Cranch. P: S. I wish you to let me know as soon as possible your Determination about purchasing my Farm, as I shall not offer it to any other Person until I have your Answer.2 RC (Adams Papers). 1 2 Corinthians, 6:15. 2 JA replied to Cranch on 25 March (LbC, APM Reel 117), writing that while “one of the greatest pleasures I could have in Life would be to Cultivate your Farm—& my own together” the demands of the presidency obliged him to decline the offer. Cranch had previously offered the farm to JA and would

do so again, for on 20 Feb. 1798 the deed was conveyed to JA in consideration of $2666.67. Comprising 38 acres and a building, the property was part of Stony Field, now called President’s Hill, and adjoined Peacefield (AA to JA, 7 Feb. 1797, Adams Papers; Adams Papers, Adams Office Manuscripts, Box 2, folder 16).

John Adams to Abigail Adams My Dearest Friend Philadelphia March 17. 1797 I have yours of the 6th. by the Post of this day.1 I have proposed to Brisler to give him 300 dollars and pay the Expences of his Wife and Children to this Place and back again to Quincy, when they return— And He and his Wife and Children are to live in the Family. This is pretty well— I must and will have him. I am peremptorily for excluding all blacks and Molattoes. I hope to get into the House on Monday next. But shall purchase no nice furniture, till you come. I shall make a little Establishment for myself, and keep Bachelors Hall for some time. We have no Authentic News from Europe. These long East Winds may bring Us some thing. I have procured Some Horses and a Carriage.— and ride on Horseback as often as the Weather will permit.

32

March 1797 I sent you the last Letters from our sons dated about the middle of Decr.2 Mr Murray is to go to Holland and Mr Dandridge as his secretary so that Thomas will come home, directly I hope— I would not even Advise him to go France. I hope to have one of my Children near me— It would have given me great Pleasure to have had some of my Family present, at my Inauguration which was the most affecting and overpowering Scene I ever acted in— I was very unwell had no sleep the night before, and really did not know but I should have fainted in Presence of all the World.— I was in great doubt whether to Say any Thing or not besides repeating the Oath— And now, the World is as silent as the Grave— All the Federalists Seem to be afraid to approve any Body but Washington The Jacobin Papers, damn with faint praise, and undermine with Misrepresentation and Insinuation. If the Fæderalists go to playing Pranks I will resign the office and let Jefferson lead them to Peace, Wealth and Power if he will. From the Situation, where I now am, I see a Scene of Ambition, beyond all my former suspicions or Imaginations.— An Emulation which will turn our Government topsy turvy. Jealousies & Rivalries have been my Theme and Checks and Ballances as their Antidotes till I am ashamed to repeat the Words: but they never Stared me in the face in such horrid forms as at present. I see how the Thing is going. at the next Election England will sett up Jay or Hamilton and France Jefferson and all the Corruption of Poland will be introduced. Unless the American Spirit should rise and say we will have neither John Bull nor Nicholas Louis Boborn— Silence.— Yours affectionately J. A RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “March 17 / 1797.” 1 In her letter to JA of 6 March, AA underscored the importance of John Briesler’s service in the Adams’ household and inquired about appropriate wages for him as well the cost of other domestic labor in Philadelphia.

She also reported two recent fires in Boston and advised JA on addressing his letters (Adams Papers). 2 For these letters, see AA to JA, 12 March, and note 1, above.

Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams My dear Sir. The Hague March 17th: 1797. Your kind favors of October 28. & November 11. of the past year, have been some weeks in my possession.1 I am not, nor can I con-

33

Adams Family Correspondence veniently be, so good a correspondent as my brother, whose frequent and copious communications exhaust most of the subjects upon which I should feel disposed to write you myself, I think it is my duty nevertheless not to suffer any considerable period to pass, without giving you some testimony of my attachment & respect, though I am sensible that my letters can otherwise have but little merit. Public report and general belief, have long since conferred upon you Sir, the chief Executive Magistracy of the American Union, and if I have hitherto maintained a rigorous silence upon this subject, I feel no concern lest the motives of it should have been misinterpreted by you. The occasion was too important, and affected too nearly the cause of my dearest relatives and of our common Country, not to call forth a lively interest in my mind with a view to its ultimate decision. If the result be in reality as it has been reported, I shall freely own, that I do not consider it a subject of personal congratulation to yourself. The post of danger however, was neither sought or shunned by you in times of greater difficulty than the present; but you have often been placed in it by the public, when its only honor was its very danger. I feel a confidence therefore that this fresh example will witness an ability a zeal and an activity, proportioned to all its exigencies, and I shall never cease to pray that the issue may prove as honorable to yourself and beneficial to the public, as the exercise of the same qualities has been on all preceding occasions. The advice, which your letters contain with respect to my conduct, upon the arrival of certain contingencies, will be my guide, untill I receive those further indications from you which I am led to expect. It is proper that I should observe however, that my present state of uncertainty as to my future destination, considerably interferes with the plan, which I had purposed to pursue respecting my return home. The probability that my brother will remain here some months longer, is nearly as strong as when I last wrote you; the negotiations, of our Minister in Portugal being still in train, as we have lately been informed by him, without a possibility of fixing a precise term for their close.2 Unless therefore a new arrangement, of which we have yet no notice, should have taken place upon this head, my brother may be continued here through the Spring & perhaps the ensuing summer. The place of Minister here, by this calculation, will not be vacant untill the period, which I had contemplated for my departure, and unless new obstacles should make a further post-

34

March 1797 ponement necessary, choice & preference would then determine me upon it. But I hope that the next letters we receive from you, will put an end to all surmises of the above nature, and unless a successor to the Minister here should already be appointed, under the nomination of the late President, I shall govern myself by your recommendation to return home, when, or perhaps before, my brother leaves this place. Though I should be sorry to “leave the public service unhandsomly,” I shall freely own that neither my wishes or expectations would induce me to seek a more responsible station than that which I now hold; and I rejoyce in the assurance, which was given us some time past from an authentic source, that upon the arrival of a certain contingency, the road of preferment, under the immediate superintendence of the Executive of the Union, would no longer be open to us.3 I am not only desirous but anxious to revisit my native land, for the longer my absence from it is, the more difficult & tedious will be the establishment I should wish to make upon my return. The recultivation of my own language, and that of my profession, and the formation of connections for future benefit in the exercise of them, must be a business of time and labor, and the age of 25. seems to me quite late enough to commence the undertaking.— I owe an apology for engrossing so much of this letter with an exposition of so selfish a nature, though I am well assured of its being received with the same indulgence, that has been accorded to all preceding ones of a similar strain. Our latest intelligence from home reaches no further than the middle of December; the most important particulars of it relate to the proceedings of the french Minister which had then just transpired, and which naturally occasioned some concern.4 The correspondent measures which the Directory have since pursued towards our Government are of a nature still more violent and hostile, and though I am fully confident that our Countrymen are not unprepared to meet the crisis which is thus hurried upon them, I cannot but regret that the present administration in France discover so little remorse in the employment of so dangerous an experiment. It is said by some of our Countrymen recently from Paris, that the Directory are bent upon war with us, and are only waiting a confirmation of the result of our Elections to put in force further acts of rigour towards our navigation. It is notorious that several of our vessels have already been taken by french privateers, commanded & owned by Americans; that they have been carried in & condemned in

35

Adams Family Correspondence french ports, and as many of our London traders as shall fall in the way of these pirates, may be expected to share a similar fate.5 This open encouragement of piratical depredation, cannot I think be regarded with indifference in America; it must rouse resentment against both its authors and patrons; but in what manner these feelings will be manifested, I am at some loss to conjecture. Our intercourse with the french Government is suspended; our wrongs are hourly multiplying, and the only alternative left to us seems to be silent uncomplaining submission, or manful resistance. Painful as this situation is in contemplation, there is to me a sensible satisfaction in the reflection, that we have neither provoked or merited it, for in my mind those calamities which are inevitable are always less irksome to endure, than such as prudence & discretion might have averted. If Sir, it should be your lot, and that of the American people to be forced into a war at the commencement of your administration, I hope and I believe there exists public spirit enough among our Countrymen to second your endeavors to procure a favorable & happy issue. The struggle may be arduous, but the object is such as merits every sacrifice. France notwithstanding her “retinue of victories,”6 may possibly learn too late, that the friendship of a feeble power is preferable to its enmity. The strength of the United States does not consist in the possitive force of fleets and armies, but there is a sort of negative power in her commerce, the efficacy of which can only be appreciated by its deprivation. France may drive it by violence from her ports, but if I mistake not, she will be the first to feel its loss, more especially as her rival enemy, Britain, will benefit in the same degree as she suffers. But plunder seems to be the great object with the french Government, and the question, to whom the property belongs, never enters into their calculation, except, that if any preference is discoverable, it appears to be given to that of their friends. A great naval battle has lately been fought between a British and a Spanish squadron, in which the former is said to have lost six ships, either sunk or taken, and the latter four of their first rate line of battle ships. The affair is yet so recent that the particulars of the engagement have not yet fully transpired, but the vast superiority of the Spaniards over the English both in number and rate of vessels, makes it a matter of surprise that the issue was not more disastrous to the latter than it seems to have been. I send herewith the Leyden Gazette which contains the principal details that have yet appeared upon this subject.7

36

March 1797 In compliance with your desire, I wrote soon after the receipt of your last letters, to Mr: Tegelaar of Amsterdam, to ascertain whether he had received the papers which were transmitted by you for him. His answer acknowledges their receipt in good condition, and at the same time requests me to convey to you his grateful thanks for the trouble you had taken in his affair.8 I am, my dear Sir, with much duty & attachment / Your Son Thomas B Adams RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “John Adams Esqr:”; endorsed by AA: “T B Adams March / 17 / 1797.” 1 Not found. 2 David Humphreys had been instructed to remain at Lisbon until the peace treaties with the Barbary States were concluded. On 10 Feb. he approved the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Tripoli, which had been signed at Tripoli on 4 Nov. 1796 and at Algiers on 3 Jan. 1797. Negotiations with Tunis would conclude with the signing of a treaty on 28 Aug., after Humphreys’ departure for Madrid, which was approved by him on 14 November. Similar to the Algerian-American Treaty of 1795, for which see vol. 11:185, both treaties guaranteed U.S. rights of navigation and the protection of American seamen in return for tributes paid to the Barbary States (Edward M. Cifelli, David Humphreys, Boston, 1982, p. 90–91; Miller, Treaties, 2:349– 426). 3 For AA’s early admonitions to her sons regarding the possibility of promotion under a JA presidency, see vol. 11:299, 398. 4 TBA was possibly referring to a letter from Timothy Pickering to JQA, 9 Dec. 1796, which enclosed the secretary of state’s correspondence with Pierre Auguste Adet (Adams Papers). 5 In a letter of 5 March 1797, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney reported to Pickering the disturbing news that U.S. citizens in France were “fitting out privateers under French colors, and plundering our fellow-citizens.” JQA similarly reported such news in letters to Pickering of 15 and 27 March and to Oliver Wolcott Jr. of 26 March, in which JQA described the system: “There have already been several American vessels going from ports of England, taken, carried into France and condemned; taken in general too by privateers is fitted out and armed by Americans now in France. It appears to have been reduced to a regular system. Under the privileges of Amer-

ican Citizens they go themselves to England, obtain there information of the vessels destined for America, and the time intended for their sailing; then return to France, and from the ports of Brest, Havre and Dieppe send out privateers for their plunder. Many of them however have been taken, and as there are now several British fleets out in these Seas, they will it is likely soon be swept clear of such adventurers for the present” (Amer. State Papers, Foreign Relations, 2:11; LbC’s, APM Reel 129). 6 Here, TBA quoted JQA’s letter to JA, 14 Jan., in which JQA commented at length on the pomp and ceremony employed by the French during James Monroe’s leave-taking from the Directory. Viewing the “tinsel” as an attempt to influence the American public at the start of the new presidential administration, JQA summarized the intended message: “Tremble O ye People of America! for at the moment when a french Director, announces the fury of France against your Government, his Republic rich by her Liberty, surrounded by a retinue of victories, and strong by the esteem of her allies, displays before your eyes, her dubious Italian trophies, and her expiatory Embassies from the Duke of Parma and the Bey of Tunis!” (Adams Papers). 7 On 14 Feb. the Battle of Cape St. Vincent was fought off the southern coast of Portugal between the British Mediterranean fleet, commanded by Vice Adm. John Jervis, and the Spanish fleet, under the command of Adm. Don José de Cordova. Although superior in numbers, the Spanish were caught by surprise and out of battle formation, allowing the fifteen British ships of the line to split their ranks. Como. Horatio Nelson established his naval prowess by breaking with the British line to challenge the lead Spanish vessel, a bold move that secured the

37

Adams Family Correspondence British victory and resulted in the capture of four prizes. News of the battle was reported in the Gazette de Leyde, 14, 17 March. (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:461–464; Jonathan R. Dull, The Age of the Ship of the Line: The British and French Navies, 1650–1815, Lincoln, Nebr., 2009, p. 147–148).

8 For JA’s assistance to Jan Gabriël Tegelaar in refunding outstanding loan certificates, see vol. 11:355. On 8 Aug. 1796 JA had written to TBA (private owner, 1966) asking that he update Tegelaar on the situation; TBA’s correspondence with Tegelaar has not been found.

Abigail Adams to John Adams my Dearest Friend Quincy March 18th 1797 I received by the post yours of March 3d & 5th I had previously received the speach which I think well calculated to do great Good. I am much out of the way of hearing the observations which will be made upon it. as it is a publication to the people, of your real sentiments & opinions I hope it will be considerd and believed as such, and have a tendency to remove prejudices. I do not wonder at your sleepless Night. the bare reading the speach interested my feelings so much as to have a similar effect upon me. the Idea of So sacred and solemn a transaction could not fail to impress Your mind with anxious solisitude. I think Gen’ll Washington judged right in giving weight to the solemnity by his presence it will not fail to add Luster to the transaction in the Eyes of all Foreign Nations and be honorable to his successor— the vice Presidents speach will have a favourable Effect, and confirm the opinion which I have ever had of him, in spight of the virulence of party, which is at present Dorment. all parties Said mrs Black who had been sometime in Boston, appear to be pleasd and happy with the Election. not a single person have I heard express a sentiment to the contrary. I was pleasd with a Toast drunk by Some Scholars at Cambridge. Adams & Jefferson or Checks and balances.1 I do not recollect that I expresst my satisfaction before at the appointment of mr Murray. I was pleasd with it. Will the present Minister be allowd to leave the Hague before his successor arrives? as to Domestick arrangments I am not fearfull to trust them to Brisler—he must do as well as he can with respect to Female help. When the Time approaches for my going I will advertize for such as I want I should chuse not to send any from hence, untill I go; unless it may be thought best that mrs Brisler should go on soon as we cannot entertain Company half so often as the late President. I should hope not to want so numerous a Household, and be relieved in some measure from a weight of care and torment I will however

38

March 1797 neveer relinquish my Right of direction & controul over the Household, to no steward or Housekeeper. I believe half the torment experienced, was oweing to that cause— in Brisler we know we have the Man of Honour and integrity. there was due to Brisler on the 15 of Febry 30 pound which you will pay him, as I presume his Family will want it, and I wish you to give him a decent suit of Cloaths as a token of his Faithfull services— Brisler had better make out a List of the furniture in the House, such as he thinks will do to remain. I suppose Family Linnen must be purchased immediatly. I would advise not to procure more than for immediate necessity, you know by your former experience, how handy those articles are for transportation. Mrs otis was kind enough to offer her assistance. she is a good judge & Brisler had better consult her: I can give better advise as soon as I have knowledge of what is left. I hope you will not remain in Philadelphia any longer than absolute necessity requires I Shall fear much for your Health. Your Farm will suffer in your absence, but that you expect. I find I want more help. Billings persues his Wall, but there is an immensity of Stones to cast off of this Hill. they have been at it, for a week. I made James assist, but he met with an accident & scald both his feet, and poor Becky had her share by the fall of a boiling teakettle of water, so that they are both useless now, and will be for a long time. I shall persue buisness with spirit and courage as soon as I have the means— at present I live upon credit. Thayer has purchased of Fogg and is building a wall with fence of two rails in order to keep sheep.2 Burrel says we shall be devourd if we do not do the same. this will be another peice of Buisness for Billings—and we have not posts. shall red ceadars be cut for the purpose? I shall be anxious to hear again from you, and let me know how you are. march has been a trying month to me. I have combatted hard not to be laid up. Poor Mary Smith Louissa Sister is far gone in a consumption. we have very little hopes of her recovery. Mrs Brisler and Family are well So constant and frequent are the Captures, that there is little hope of the safe conveyance of Letters abroad. plunder seems the only rule of conduct, which our Allies practise.3 I shall be happy not to be obliged to come on untill you find it necessary to return to Philadelphia. it would be an expence; and I would avoid every unnecessary expence, for I could not use the horses which I have, nor travel without four if I used the Coach Mr smith was advising me the other Day to get the bright marks coul-

39

Adams Family Correspondence our &c of your Horses and Wood of Charlstown who buys many horses would be like to procure a pr at a much more reasonable rate than can be bought at the Southard. I should wish in that case to part with three of ours but this must be as you think best—4 I am my dearest Friend / most affectionatly and / tenderly yours A Adams. RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. March 18 / 1797.” 1 The Boston Columbian Centinel, 11 March, reported that “a circle of young federalists” at Harvard College celebrated George Washington’s birthday with “prudence,” offering toasts first to “Washington, or the apex of the pyramid of humanity,” and then to JA and Thomas Jefferson as quoted by AA. 2 Susannah Thayer Fogg, wife of Dr. Daniel Fogg (1759–1830), had inherited property from her father, Ebenezer Thayer Jr. Located at Washington and Cedar Streets on the Quincy-Braintree border, the land had been owned previously by Elkanah Thayer and was probably sold to one of Susannah’s brothers, most likely Ebenezer Thayer III or Capt. Atherton Thayer, both of whom owned property in the immediate area (vol. 10:10–11; Sprague, Braintree Families).

3 The Boston press reported with increasing frequency the seizure of American vessels, especially in the Caribbean. The Boston Price-Current, 16 March, noted, “Almost every arrival from the West Indies, brings confirmation, strong, of the hostile conduct of the French Administration towards the Commerce of the United States.” Three days earlier the same newspaper published a report submitted by Timothy Pickering to the House of Representatives summarizing French depredations on American shipping, in both European and French colonial ports, since 1793. 4 Col. David Wood, for whom see vol. 9:136, operated a horse stud and stable in Charlestown (Boston Columbian Centinel, 2 May 1795, 17 May 1797).

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson The Hague March 20. 1797. I have successively received your Letters of the 28th: and 24th: of last month, which I mention thus in inverted order because they so came to me, and the latest of date was the first here.—1 It must indeed be an implacable breast which such a Letter as this would not disarm of all resentment.— I have hailed and welcomed it as the pledge of uninterrupted future harmony between us. You have rightly concluded that in speaking of your father to you, I could never mean any thing but what was respectful. His own character as well as his relation to you secures from me all the regard and deference to which he is so fully entitled. I regretted even the necessity of having any observations to make respecting him in a discussion which I should have wished might have been limited only to yourself and me.— But I could not leave his Letters unanswered; nor could I use with you any disguise, upon a subject in which you were concerned.— No my lovely friend; far from permit-

40

March 1797 ting myself the most distant reflection which could wound your veneration and affection for your Parents, I would if it were possible give a brighter hue and a warmer glow to Sentiments which do so much honour to your Heart. There is an inseparable connection between the most precious Virtues of domestic life, and a nice and delicate sensibility to the ties and duties of one relation, is the most unequivocal proof of a character devoted to those of every other, and a temper attached to them. I love you therefore the more for the keenness of your feelings on every occasion in which your father is concerned. Never shall his name pass from my lips or flow from my pen, but with honour, and I hope that in future all the measures particularly regarding you and me, will so exclusively pass between ourselves, as to render every reference to him, which could possibly displease you unnecessary. I cannot express the pleasure which every new proof of the goodness of your heart and accuracy of your Sentiments gives me. When you tell me that you are not satisfied to possess merely my Love, but will also deserve my esteem, this is a kind of Spirit that I admire; a resolution that I most cordially approve, and which I am sure you will carry into effect.— The Spirit which gives us a command of ourselves which enables us to combat our own failings and subdue our own propensities, is the most exalted heroism; a heroism adapted alike to the characters of both sexes, and the laurels of which are as graceful upon the female brow as the myrtle of Love. It is this reverence for yourself, this regard to the dignity of your own character, that is one of your fairest attractions in my eyes. Ever cherish it my best friend; never suffer it to depart from your mind, and make it always your care to distinguish and separate it from pride, which in some respects resembles it, but is in substance directly opposite to it.— Always remember this plain distinction between them. The rigours of self-reverence all refer to ourselves; those of pride bear only upon others. The former are perfectly consistent with humility, a virtue that pride never knows. Pride vainly clamours for respect and esteem, self-reverence irresistibly draws without ever claiming them. There are some expressions in both your last Letters, concerning yourself so harsh and undeserved that I cannot without pain observe them used even by yourself.— In the first you speak of “tiring me with your stupidity,” of “sending me nonsense,” in the latter of your “ridiculous conduct” and your “folly.” There is not one of these

41

Adams Family Correspondence terms that can with any sort of propriety be applied to any thing that I ever observed of you. I do not think I should either love or esteem a person to whom such terms would apply. I would have you never for a moment imagine that they could by any possibility be with justice applied to you.— Always think too well of your own mind to suppose it capable of stupidity, and of your own discretion to imagine it can turn to folly. I am much obliged to you for your information concerning the American Elections. I suppose that by this time there is in England some authentic intelligence, concerning them. Hitherto the accounts are perhaps all inaccurate.— You mention that there were Letters for me, waiting for the opportunity of a vessel directly from London. I should be glad to have all that are not large packets forwarded by the mail, to Bremen as you send your Letters.2 This mode of conveyance appears to be safe, and I so seldom have the pleasure of receiving Letters from my friends in America, that I always wish for them with some impatience Your last Letters observes that your Papa was expecting the arrival of Mr: Bourne.— I suppose that he must have reached London within a day or two after, as he sailed from Amsterdam two or three days before then. My brother had at one time some idea of going with him, but has concluded not to leave me, while I am chained here. Will you be so good as to request our friend Mr: Hall to send me by the first convenient opportunity,—Burke’s Letters on a Regicide Peace:— His Letter to the Duke of Portland lately published,—and Mr: Erskine’s Pamphlet, the title of which I do not know; but he will.—3 I give you this trouble, to save him that of receiving another Letter from me, merely stating my wants. I am very sorry to hear that your Sisters have been so unwell.— The Season here has been generally unhealthy though uncommonly fine. Colds especially have been very prevalent. Perhaps it has been the same in England. This I hope will find you, with all the family in perfect health. I beg to be remembered kindly to them all, and remain, ever yours. A. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Miss Louisa C Johnson. / London.” FC-Pr (Adams Papers); APM Reel 131. 1 For a summary of LCA to JQA, 24 Feb. (Adams Papers), see vol. 11:579. For her letter of 28 Feb., see note 2, below.

2 On 7 April LCA informed JQA that the letters mentioned in hers of 28 Feb., for which see same, 11:577–579, had been carried

42

March 1797 by a Mr. Vandyke and should have been previously received. She also reported that she had forwarded JQA’s request for books to Joseph Hall and that she believed her family’s departure for the United States was imminent (Adams Papers). 3 The works JQA requested were Edmund Burke’s Two Letters . . . on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France,

London, 1796, and A Letter . . . to His Grace the Duke of Portland, on the Conduct of the Minority in Parliament. Containing Fifty-four Articles of Impeachment against the Rt. Hon. C. J. Fox, London, 1797, and Thomas Erskine’s A View of the Causes and Consequences of the Present War with France, London, 1797. Hall informed JQA on 1 April that the commission had been fulfilled (Adams Papers).

Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams London March 20th 1797 I have recieved your letter of the 6 which gave me infinite satisfaction your approbation love and esteem being my greatest ambition and delight— My father talks of embarking early in July and preparations are making for our removal—1 I almost wish the time was arrived— though I know the advantages resulting from it, to the whole family, I cannot help regreting the necessity, of our renewed seperation however I know it must be, my friend, and though a kind of forced philosophy, I endeavor to be contented— I presume Mr. Humphrys does not regret his detension at Lisbon, as it certainly must be more agreeable to him, to remain some time with his Lady’s family, after his marriage, than to quit the Country immediately—2 I have lately been reading Lord Chesterfields letters to his Son,3 and think them very good, though he does mention the Ladies with so much severity—I cannot say I admire his sentiments altogether, they were written by a courtier, and addressed to one whom he intended should be the same. therefore I am not able to judge how proper such sentiments may be in such a situation— I dare say you have read them, and I should like to hear your opinion— All the family desire to be remembered, and my father wishes to know, if you would have any letters, he may recieve for you, forwarded by the Mails, as he says they sometimes remain with him a considerable time, for want of private opportunities— Present my respects to your brother, and be assured, I shall invariably remain, your tenderly attached, Louisa. C. Johnson RC (Adams Papers). 1 The Johnson family would not depart until 9 Sept.; for details of their travels, see vol. 11:275. Upon their arrival, the Johnson

family lived in Georgetown, D.C., for which see William Cranch to AA, 21 Nov., and to JQA, 5 March 1798, both below.

43

Adams Family Correspondence 2 For Ann Frances Bulkeley Humphreys, see vol. 9:395. 3 Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, Letters Written by the Late

Right Honourable Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to His Son, Philip Stanhope, first published in 2 vols., London, 1774.

John Adams to Abigail Adams My dearest Friend Philadelphia March 22d. 1797 Last night for the first time I slept in our new House.— But what a Scene! The Furniture belonging to the Publick is in the most deplorable Condition— There is not a Chair fit to sit in. The Beds and Bedding are in a woeful Pickle. This House has been a scene of the most scandalous Drunkenness and Disorder among the servants, that ever I heard of. I would not have one of them for any Consideration. There is not a Carpet nor a Curtain, nor a Glass nor Linnen nor China nor any Thing.1 Dont expose this Picture. This morning I recd your favours of March 12 and 13th.— I am highly pleased with your Criticisms and Observations on my Adieus to the Senate, their Answer and my Reply. Before now you have a long Speech, which I hope you will descant on as learnedly and ingeniously. As to the farms I must leave all to you and Dr Tufts. Let Trask clear all the Bushes in Curtis’s Pasture. I want to have clean Work made there. You have not mentioned My Mares nor Colts— Are the Mares in a Way to breed Us Horses? I have procured five Horses, which with my little fellow at home, will be all I shall keep. As to Public affairs all is Suspence at present— Nothing can be determined till further and more Authentic Accounts arrive. I never wanted your Advice & assistance more in my Life.— My Country will not always oblige her Public Men to make Brick without Straw— As soon as I shall be out of the Question, their Presidents will go on Swimmingly whoever lives to See it. But it is wicked to complain. I have not been able to receive any Company. And the House will not be fit for some time. I am with all Affection and / ardent Wishes for your Society J. A. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “March 22 / 1797.” 1 In February George Washington made an inventory of goods—both public and private—in the presidential mansion in Phila-

delphia. About the condition of the furnishings he wrote: “Nothing herein has been said relatively to the Table Linnen, Sheeting,

44

March 1797 China and Glass-ware which was furnished at the expence of the United States; because they have been worn out, broken, stolen and replaced (at private expence) over & over again.” He also noted that “except a few of the most durable articles” none of the kitchen furnishings remained and that “the Carpets also are entirely worn out.—all on the floors, at present, have been purchased on private account.” In a letter to Washington of 15 March, Tobias Lear described the condition of the house, “now preparing for the President . . . everything will be in as good order as it can be put.” Lear further described the results of a public auction of some of the furnishings in which “The Lus-

tres—Stoves & other fixtures in the House will be taken by the President at cost or a fair valuation. There is nothing to be sold of the public furniture.” On 20 March Lear further reported to Washington that the house had been vacated on the 18th but that it would be “some days yet before Mr Adams can take up his own residence in it as they are putting new Carpets on the floors and talk of having the Rooms painted,” neither of which appears to have happened (DLC: George Washington Papers, 1741–1799, Series 4, General Correspondence, 1697–1799; Washington, Papers, Retirement Series, 1:37, 38).

Abigail Adams to John Adams my Dearest Friend Quincy March 23d 1797 I received by this Days post your Letters of the 9th 11th and 13th, that of the 13th I hoped would have containd a post Note that my word which I had given for the payment of Haydens Note, and to the collecters of Taxes might not be forfeited. yesterday the collector calld upon me for the 2d Time. I told him I could not pay him, but that I would in the course of the Month, relying upon the post of this day. he observed if I could not pay, who could? I told him I had not the money. I could have added that I had but one solitary 5 Dollors bill at my command. I get Letters only once a week from you. the various dates then come together perhaps you do not send them to the office as you write them. concequently I cannot receive any thing further untill the 30th which will be next thursday. that my word may be stricktly kept, I must have recourse to our old Friend the Gen’ll. for the sum which I have to pay, is the Note to Hayden which is 100.6 dollors or near it, and 200 hundred taxes, 178 dollors 20 cents; for the tax Bill presented me, 25 as half taxes to the other place & 8 as half of Burrel.1 I have a hired Man whose time will expire on the 30th. I have to pay for an ox bought for French 35 dollors. I have to hire day Labour as an assistant to Bracket, in plowing and tending manure Billings is wholy occupied with the Wall, and there he had better be kept. there is a peice against Deacon Bass to be made next, then against Jonathan Bass and against Bracket, replaceing old walls &c. as usual a multiplicity of Buisness comes on and many hands are wanted at once, that time which waits for none may not be lost. the seed is arrived. I will make inquiry about the

45

Adams Family Correspondence oats. I have endeavourd to be as frugal as I could of the money remitted, and in one instance only, have afforded myself an indulgence at the expence of 30 dollors which was for a pr Runners, that I might not be wholy indebted to my Neighbours for conveyance even to meeting. 30 I paid to mr Bass for keeping the cattle at the Island. 30 I paid to vesey for 3 months labour, & 25 to Billings. some of the remaining Sum was necessaryly expended for shoes cloathing for my Boys and girls, and a little very little for myself. Family expences in the course of 3 months have brought me some in Debt every article having risen instead of falling. I can give you no satisfaction with respect to mears. he had my proposals in writing, he considerd them for a month, and then came and told me, that my offers were generous were satisfactory, but he should have a responsibility upon him that he feard to engage in, that he should lose his custom which must finally be his living, that now when his day labour was performd, he had no care no anxiety, but should he take Such a charge upon him, he should not enjoy an hours comfort. he should be always in fear of not doing right. he ownd he could not clear the sum I offerd begd me to excuse him, tho it paind him to refuse. he had not an alteration that he could have wisht me to have made. he promised to keep the whole secreet, but where I am now to look or what next to do I can not tell. I know not of any other person who could be equally confided in. I must finish off the out house and Marry up Polly, & let her and Jonathan go in this Winter I believe, & take charge of the place till another Season.2 to quit here in october, will leave considerable buisness remaining to be done. I see not what else is to be done better I do not know that the man has any faculty but for shoe making: but we must consider of this subject. perplexitys surround me which ever way I look. I know you feel the want of your usual Rural amusement and relaxation. I hope you will not suffer in concequence of it. I feel too, as if we ought not to be so seperated. I want to talk with, & to you of a thousand things which should not be committed to paper, but I will close this as it relates wholy to our own Domestick matters and begin an other sheet upon other Subjects. most affectionatly yours A Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. March 23 / 1797.” 1 For AA’s previous comments regarding the Adamses’ property taxes, see vol. 11:561.

In her letter of 29 March she informed JA that she had borrowed $300 from Gen. Ben-

46

March 1797 jamin Lincoln in order to settle her outstanding debts. She also complained that she had lost a valuable farmhand who was offered higher wages by two of her neighbors (Adams Papers).

2 That is, Polly Doble Howard and Jonathan Baxter Jr. (1773–1845), the son of Lt. Jonathan and Susanna Field Baxter (Sprague, Braintree Families). For the couple’s marriage, see vol. 10:281.

Thankful White Adams Hobart to Abigail Adams Dear madam abington March the 24 1797 I take my pen to make a Recuest to you in Behalf of Elisha adams as you are in high Surcomestances I was affraid to Right Butt have Ben [Prevld?] with to Dear madam the Case is this Elisha adams has Bought a Plase which he agred to give 1600 hundrede Dollers and has Paid 800 Dollers Try Be So kind as to Lend him 4 or 5 hundrede Dollers tis Not in my Power to Let him have the money I Shuld be exciding Glad if he Can get the money I wish it was in my Powre to help him1 I will Promice to Pay the Intrest I fear he will Not Be aeble to Pay for his Place un-les Some Person will Send him the Cash he Can Not Pay it in 1 year But may in 3 or 4 yers Dear madam Pray Be So kind as to faver him if it is in your Power for how Can I Endure to See him turndout of Dors I Beleve in a fue years he Can Pay for it the man he Bought it of is in Destres for the money Pray madam Parden me if I have Intrud Excuse my Poor Speling and Riting I must in form you that he is under oblations to Pay the money By the first of aprel I fel very anckches abot the affar Pray Reade with Cander if I am Denide I Remaine your Sincer friend till Death thankfull Hobart N B the Barer will in form you of his Charicter Pray Rite By the Barer2 RC (Adams Papers). 1 Elisha Adams, son of Hobart and JA’s brother Elihu Adams, appears to have purchased a property in Abington, Mass., comprising approximately 44 acres (MBNEH: Direct Tax List of 1798 for Massachusetts and Maine, 12:596, 626). For the financial assistance provided by the Adamses, see JA to AA, 7 April, and Cotton Tufts to AA, 8 June,

and note 1, both below. 2 AA received this letter from Dr. Richard Briggs of Abington, whom she met while on the road to Weymouth (AA to JA, 29 March, Adams Papers; Benjamin Hobart, History of the Town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, from its First Settlement, Boston, 1866, p. 136).

47

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to John Adams my Dearest Friend Quincy March 25 1797 I have neither Seen or heard of any unpleasent remarks or strictures upon your late addresses. what may be reserved for hereafter I know not. the Chronical has been quite favourable, drawing however wrong inferences that your administration would be very different from your predecessors.1 the impression made upon the minds of the publick as far as I can learn them, have been highly favourable, but the publick have exhausted themselves upon your predecessor. they must take breath, and recollect themselves, before they can bestwo even merrited praise. our good Brother Cranch, Said he was enraptured with the speach, that he had read it repeatedly, and every time with new delight & pleasure. Mr Flint who lately attended the ordination of mr Peirce at Brookline, reported that it was held in high estimation.2 I saw a proposal in Websters paper, of having it printed & Framed with the late Presidents.3 The solemnity of the scene in which you was the Principle actor, the dignified Speach deliverd previous to the oath of office, the Presence of the Great Friend and Father of his Country, who presented himself to the publick, as a pledge for his successor, could not fail to inspire into the minds and Hearts of all present, the strongest emotions of tenderness, nor do I wonder that it found its way to their Eyes. there are many other reflection which would have penetrated my Heart upon the occasion— I cannot consider the event in the light which a Lady of our acquaintance describes it, “a Game of chance, the highest Card in the pack, a second throw could make no addition but a Crown.” promotion cometh neither from the East nor from the West nor from the south, but God is the judge, Saith the scripture—4 I inclose you the Letter and my reply. when I was at Plimouth a number of them were purchasing tickets, and invited me to join them. I bought one with them. this will explain the first part of the Letter, the feelings, and spirit are endeavourd to be conceald under the appearence of Friendship. I hope the professions are sincere, tho there is a manifest design to lead me to consider the event as Chance, rather than choice. The Idea of great Wealth held up, so that the Chance of 5 thousand dollors or Eight shillings could be no object with me, is a reflection not justified, and this she knew—5

48

March 1797 You observe that the News is unpleasent. I presume you mean as it respects mr Pinkny but this does not appear to be well founded, or do you mean, as it respects Peace? I do not think it improbable that Pinckny may be refused, considering what are the designs of the Directory. but as you once observed in a Letter to a Friend in the year 1782 That your whole Life from Infancy, had been passed through an uninterrupted series of delicate Situations, so when you found yourself suddenly translated into a New one, the View of it, neither confounded or dismayed you.6 I hope you will continue to possess the same fortitude, and resourses, for where there is neither fixed Principles nor any Laws Humane or divine, which are considerd binding, it puzzels all calculation to know what part to act. I read the Letter of Mifflin & your reply. I should not have wisht you to have accepted the House on any terms. I have not got my last papers so do not know what they have done with the House. there is one observation in your Letter which Struck me as meaning more than is exprest. J. n is as he was!7 can he still be a devotee to a cause, and to a people, run Mad, without, any wish for Peace, without any desire after a rational system of Government, and whose thirst for power and absolute dominion is become Gluttonous? can it be? I regreet that dr Preistly has been left to the commission of Such an error of Judgment as to be present at the Feast of ——— as Porcupine call them. he has laid himself open to the scourge, & peter lays it on with exultation he has given him a handle, and the Friends of the Doctor, must censure he ought not to have had, any Hand or part in the buisness. poor Mckean, he has made him a Henpeck indeed.8 how the truth cuts. I wonder peter does not get broken bones. poor Pennsilvania keeps no gallows, but she keeps Rogues and Villans who deserve one, and she will find to her cost that she has not reachd the Millenium.9 I know when you get to Housekeeping you will pine for society, for your Farm, For your Wall, and wish as Boylestone Adams, says that it was the end of the fourth, instead of the beginning Year. please to tell Brisler that his wife looks quite sober & sad that she has not had a Letter from him for a month. The man imitates his Master, and has written so frequently to his wife of late, that she, like her mistress feels mortified when ever a dissapointment prevents her from receiving assurences of unabating Love and affection, which tho a thousand times told, will never diminish of their Value in the estimation of your A Adams—

49

Adams Family Correspondence Your Mother—who is here, desires me to give her Love to you she has past through this cold Winter better than I expected— Mrs Temple just passing by reminds me of a sausy old poet who says, Frailty, thy name is woman—10 could mr Russel look from his happy abode, what would he say to see his property flying into the hands of a young British officer, whose commission of Leiut is all the wealth he owns. his wife, aya she ought never to have been his, and I know not but mr Russel was as indiscreat at 55 as she has been at 29. all the contrivance of that old Sinner his Father—11 Let every Man enjoy his property as he passes through Life, do with it all the good he can—and not leave it to be disposed of at his discease, by he knows not whom— RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. March 25 / 1797.” 1 The Boston Independent Chronicle published several articles in March differentiating the incoming JA administration from that of George Washington. On 6 March the newspaper reprinted an article from the New York Journal, 1 March, expressing its “sincere wish” that JA “may in every respect shun the pernicious example of his predecessor.” On the 16th it reprinted an 8 March article from the same, concluding that JA’s inaugural address set him in “striking contrast” to Washington and hoping that JA might “persevere in it, uninfluenced by the menaces or machinations of artful and designing men!” Finally, a 20 March article, similarly reprinted from the New York press, extracted JA’s comments on France from his inaugural address and read in his words a “desire to preserve our friendship with that republic, which, contrary to the assertion of the federal junto, he declares has been ‘much for the honor and credit of both countries.’ ” See also, AA to JA, 1 March, and note 14, above. 2 Rev. John Pierce, for whom see CFA, Diary, 3:269, was ordained and installed as the minister of the First Church of Brookline on 15 March (Sprague, Annals Amer. Pulpit, 8:331). 3 Noah Webster’s New York Minerva, 3 March, carried an advertisement soliciting proposals to publish by subscription Washington’s Farewell Address. The article AA read has not been found; however, news reprinted from New York in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 10 March, recommended that JA’s inaugural address be published in a “similar stile.”

4 Psalms, 75:6–7. 5 AA was referring to Mercy Otis Warren’s letter to her of 27 Feb., which she sent to JA along with the FC of her reply, dated 4 March, above. 6 Here, AA paraphrased JA’s 14 Feb. 1782 letter to Robert R. Livingston, then secretary for foreign affairs, in which JA responded to Livingston’s concerns about the delicacy of his diplomatic position in the Netherlands (JA, Papers, 12:233–235). 7 See JA to AA, 13 March 1797, above. 8 On 6 Feb. Joseph Priestley had attended a commemoration held at Oeller’s Hotel in Philadelphia of the Franco-American alliance of 1778. Labeling the event “The Festival of Fools,” Peter Porcupine excoriated Priestley for his participation: “Men of faction will still be factious in whatever country and under whatever government they may live. Here is no established hierarchy for Doctor Priestley to rail at . . . and yet he cannot be quiet. Wherever the standard of discontent is hoisted, there the Doctor is a volunteer, ready armed and accoutred, whether it be in a conventicle or a club-room, whether the attack be to be made with scraps of scripture, mangled and profaned from the quivering lips of malice, or with blackguard toasts roared forth from the lungs of gluttony and drunkenness.” Similarly, Thomas McKean was condemned for forgetting the dignity of his position as a judge and becoming “the companion of a herd of sottish malcontents” (Philadelphia Gazette, 7 Feb.; Porcupine’s Political Censor, for Jan. 1797, Phila., 1797, p. 30, 39, 40, Evans, No. 31946).

50

March 1797 9 “Poor Pennsylvania keeps no gallows!” is likely quoted from Porcupine’s Political Censor, for Jan. 1797, p. 33, although it originated with line 347 of the “Guillotina” for 1797, for which see vol. 11:483. While used satirically in both cases, the line is a reference to the 1794 Pennsylvania law restricting the use of capital punishment to cases of first degree murder (Albert Post, “Early Efforts to Abolish Capital Punishment in Pennsylvania,” PMHB, 68:40 [Jan. 1944]). 10 Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, scene ii, line 146.

11 Elizabeth Watson Russell (1767–1809), the widow of the wealthy Boston merchant Thomas Russell, married Grenville Temple in Boston on 20 March 1797. Temple (1768– 1829) was the son of Elizabeth Bowdoin and Sir John Temple, the British consul general to the United States (vol. 3:188–189, 5:272; Boston Repertory, 23 Jan. 1810; The Manifesto Church: Records of the Church in Brattle Square Boston . . . 1699–1872, Boston, 1902, p. 265; W. H. Whitmore, An Account of the Temple Family, with Notes and Pedigree of the Family of Bowdoin, Boston, 1856, p. 7–8).

John Adams to Abigail Adams My dearest Friend Philadelphia March 27. 1797 You will See by the Proclamation in the Public Papers that I have been obliged to convene Congress on the 15th of May, and as it is probable they will Sitt till the Middle of July, this measure must make an entire change in all our Arrangements1 There are so many Things to do in furnishing the House in which I want your Advice, and on so many other Accounts it is improper We should live in a state of seperation that I must intreat you to come on, in your Coach with Louisa, Mrs Brisler and her Children. You must hire four Horses in Boston and a Coachman to bring you here, upon as good terms as you can. James may ride my little Horse and Anthony you must give away. I am very unwell—a violent cold and cough, fatigues me, while I have every Thing else to hurry me: so that I must entreat you to come on as soon as you can— I shall send you some Post Note in a day or two. Prince’s Time is out and he will be discharged— James may come on with you, and return immediately to New York. I will not keep him a day— You may leave him at New York and hire Some one to ride on the Horse to this Town— I will not have my Family here ruined by them turbulent blacks.— give them their Cloaths handsomly and dismiss them. My Expences are so enormous, that my first Quarters salary will not discharge much more than half of them. You must come and see for yourself. The French Executive Directory, will take Care to make our public Path thorny enough and our Country men will make our private

51

Adams Family Correspondence one uneasy enough. so We need not expect Beds of Roses nor Walks of Flowers. I have been obliged to decline Brother Cranches farm. it will involve me—and I cannot increase my Cares— I have and shall have quite enough. You will be Surprized to see hurry of Business in which I am daily and hourly involved. J. A RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “March 27th / 1797.” 1 On 25 March JA issued a proclamation convening both houses of Congress on 15 May in order to consider “divers weighty matters.” The proclamation was printed in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States

the same day and reprinted in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 1 April. The first session of the fifth Congress lasted from 15 May until 10 July (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 49; Biog. Dir. Cong.).

Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams London March 27th 1797 The official account is arrived and your Father and Mr. Jefferson are Elected President and Vice President1 In a letter from Mr J. to your father, he says “notwithstanding the efforts of his enemies to make the people believe otherwise, he aspires to no higher post than that of Vice President. that he will serve with pleasure under Mr. Adams, and he flatters himself they shall act together, with as much harmony, as they have done heretofore[”]2 Mr. Washingtons address on announcing the choice, is likewise come, but my father has not-yet seen it— The Merchants of Philadelphia, were to give a superb entertainment, on the day he resigned his situation, and became a private man—3 Mr. Hall means to write you shortly. he will inform you more correctly than I can of these Events—4 I suppose you have seen Mr. Pinckney— we understand by a Gentleman lately from Paris, that the French are determined never to recieve him as Minister— Thank you my friend for your very kind letter of the 14th I am happy to hear that the society at the Hague is so pleasant were you to partake of the amusements it affords more frequently you perhaps might find it less insipid— you are I think too young a man to devote all your time to your books, and solitude, if you now indulge this distaste to society, what will you do some years hence, even your Louisa’s may then become irksome, and unpleasant. indeed my

52

March 1797 beloved friend it is a dangerous indulgence, you know I think it prejudicial to your health, excuse me when I say hurtful to your temper— I should not have given my sentiments so freely my Adams, had I not observed the same expression, in two or three of your letters— I think it a pity that you so calculated to adorn society, should encourage a disposition improper, for the station in which you are placed, and in which you are likely to remain— the extreme dislike I have to what is called society, enables me to judge of its inconvenience, it is this my best friend which induces me to urge you to guard against this indulgence, knowing your excessive fondness for books, perhaps renders me too apprehensive— excuse, and do not think this impertinent, believe me it is dictated by the most sincere affection, and the tenderest anxiety— My father yesterday recieved a letter from Mr: Humphries in which he mentioned his detention— he is not yet married— Mr. & Mrs. Church embark for America in the course of next week—5 Adieu may you be as happy as I wish you Louisa C Johnson RC (Adams Papers). 1 LCA’s source for this information is unknown, but news of the 8 Feb. reading of the electoral votes in Congress was soon reported by the London press. See, for example, the London Chronicle, 28–30 March, and Lloyd’s Evening Post, 29–31 March. 2 This is likely a reference to the 17 Dec. 1796 letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison regarding the election, for which see vol. 11:480, 481. 3 On the evening of 4 March 1797 Philadelphia merchants hosted a public dinner “in testimony of their approbation” of George Washington. More than 200 people attended the event, which began with a procession from Oeller’s Hotel to Ricketts’ Amphitheatre. The dinner was accompanied by a “full band of instrumental music” and an “emble-

matical painting” of allegorical figures, the principal of which was a female “America” (Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 6 March; Philadelphia Gazette, 6 March). 4 Joseph Hall wrote to JQA on 1 April listing the various commissions he had executed on JQA’s behalf, providing the final electoral count in the U.S. presidential election, and reporting on the progress made by the Anglo-American claims commission that had been established under the terms of the Jay Treaty (Adams Papers). 5 For the emigration of John Barker and Angelica Schuyler Church, see vol. 11:182, 183. Notice of the Churches’ departure was reported in the London Evening Post, 16–18 March.

Abigail Adams to John Adams my Dearest Friend Quincy March 31 1797 With my borrowed Money I have just paid the collector my tax Bill. I have the satisfaction to know that I did not borrow it to pay any expences of my own creating, but having been twice before

53

Adams Family Correspondence call’d upon, I could not submit to a third, without discharging it. I have not any Letter from you of a later date than the 17th nor do I expect to get an other untill the 4th of April. the weather is exceeding cold and sour. our dreadfull east winds prevail and Peirce one through and through. I have not been confined, but fear every day least I should. we are all in affliction. Polly smith is just gone. I do not expect she will continue an other week. her decline has been rapid, about two months since she was first confined. my spirits are low. I want something to Cheer them up. I think you are fastned to a spot which you cannot leave at Will, and I believe you want your Family more than when you was occupied by a daily attendance in congress Your Mind is however so fully employd that you cannot think much of it. we are suffering under the same apprehensions which have afflicted other places. the attempts to destroy Boston by fire are daily, or rather Nightly repeated. Patroles are constantly kept. they have detected but few. the vile wretches have got into the Country.1 at Milton they keep a Nightly Watch. it is really a Distressing calamity, but we shall be infested with more vagabonds, if the states go on to abolish capital punishments2 you write me that you shall not procure any furniture untill I come, but if it is to be made, it will require time. I have written to mrs otis to request her to go through the House with Brisler after you get into it, and to tell me what she thinks will be necessary.3 When an inventary is taken of what is in the House, I can judge better. I have not heard of the oats. I have got mr smith to inquire. Billings is at work upon the wall it takes an immence number of stones. our people have been several days carting them. it is so very wet, that they have only been able to plow a part of the ground, before the House the medow below the House is flow’d and the Brooks are very high. we have floods of Rain every day or two. the manure has all been pitch’d over some of it carted out. our people say there are two hundred load of it. the season is backward. when a fair day comes I am obliged to hire three or four hands to get any thing forward, and after all Your Eye is wanted, and your direction too. I cannot mount on Horse back. I can only direct. I mourn the loss of a Man who had zeal in his nature, and activity in his bones, as well as Strength of Body, and was not a rum drinker. he however tells me that he will let himself to me an other year if I should want him Money will be of more value I trust. there is complaint of a

54

March 1797 scarcity of it, Yet every thing is high, but Grain which is much lower. corn may be had at a dollors Rye & 6.8, flower 10 dollors and half— Provision is yet very high. west India produce also. Yours as ever Abigail Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. March 31. / Ansd. April 11. 1797.” 1 A recent spate of “frequent and distressing” fires, some in conjunction with thefts in and around Boston, prompted newspaper reports on fire prevention and the formation of neighborhood watches, such as in Boston where on 15 March because of the “alarming situation . . . arising from Incendiaries” the town meeting appointed a watch “consisting of ten persons from each Ward to patrole the Town, for apprehending of vagrants and suspicious persons in the streets.” The Mass. General Court passed “An Act to Secure the Town of Boston against Damage from Fires” requiring the use of brick or stone in the construction of new buildings and restricting certain activities such as boiling tar, tobacco smoking, and carrying open flames (Boston

Columbian Centinel, 1, 8, 25 March; Massachusetts Mercury, 14, 17 March; Boston Independent Chronicle, 16 March; Mass., Acts and Laws, 1796–1797, p. 193–196). 2 Capital punishment was an increasingly contested issue in the 1790s. Between 1794 and 1798 five states restricted the use of the death penalty to cases of murder or murder and treason. Virginia and New Jersey joined New York and Pennsylvania in enacting reforms by this time; Kentucky did so in 1798 (vol. 11:165; Stuart Banner, The Death Penalty: An American History, Cambridge, 2002, p. 88, 97–98). For the Pennyslvania law, see AA to JA, 25 March 1797, and note 9, above. 3 Not found.

John Adams to John Quincy Adams My dear Son Philadelphia March 31. 1797 Mr Murray of Maryland, your old Friend, with whom you form’d your first acquaintance at the Hague is to Succeed you. That Gentleman has been So long a Member of Congress and has given Such Proofs of Talents, amiable dispositions, and patriotic Sentiments, as qualify him to do honour to the Mission, as well as to his Predecessor. It would have been enough to have Said that he is well chosen to fill the Place: for I have the best authority besides my private opinion, to say that no Place has been better filled than that at the Hague, Since Your Appointment to that mission. You Sometimes hint an Inclination to return to America. and nothing would give me greater Pleasure, on certain Suppositions. But, my Son, Independence is essential to Self Esteem as well as to command the Esteem of others. and where is your Independence? If you would return to the Bar, you might be independent, I grant. But I would not advise you to return to America yet. Go to Lisbon and Send me as good Intelligence from all Parts of Europe as you have done.

55

Adams Family Correspondence My Entrance into Office is marked by a Misunderstanding with France, which I shall endeavour to reconcile, provided that no Violation of Faith, no Stain upon Honour is exacted. But if Infidelity, Dishonour, or too much humiliation is demanded, France shall do as she pleases and take her own course. America is not Scared.1 The Multiplicity of Business, in which I am involved is no otherwise irksome to me, than as it may endanger my Health: but I have great Confidence in my Saddle. I pray you to write me, as often as you can. I am your affectionate Father John Adams2 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “J. Q. Adams Min. Plen. / to Lisbon.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 117. Tr (Adams Papers). 1 “Scared” was written in large letters. 2 JQA also wrote to JA at this time. In a letter dated 30 March he reported receiving the Boston Columbian Centinel, 15 Feb., which confirmed JA’s election, and he dis-

cussed the recent French decree on American shipping and the role some of his countrymen were playing in French privateering (Adams Papers).

John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams My dear Son Thomas Philadelphia March 31. 1797— I am very much concerned, least you as well as your Brother, should think hard of me, for neglecting so long to write to you, but the multiplied Cares and engagements of Life added to indifferent health must plead my Excuse Mr: Murray is to take the place of your Brother, and Mr. Dandridge is to be his private Secretary, your brother will go to Lisbon, and you I hope will return to Philadelphia as soon as possible My desire is that you would take an office, attend the Courts, do business, and get the Character of a Man of business, All depends upon this in our Country— If a man is once suspected to be a man of Pleasure or an idle man, or an inattentive man he is Lost— I shall desire you to live, that is board & lodge with me, your Mother I Expect here by the latter End of April, and Congress are to meet by the middle of May, You may act as my Secretary, Sometimes, or Not as you please What is meant by the French Directory, I Know Not, But will discover if I Can, I shall miss your Letters and your Brothers which Contained more Satisfactory information than all the Other Letters from Europe—

56

March 1797 I will Keep the Peace with their High Mightinesses at Paris, if possible, but they Seem to be disposed to assume too much— I am my dear Son your affectionate / Father John Adams— You Say you want Exercise on Horesback, Come & live with me and we will ride out together LbC in Samuel Bayard Malcom’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Thomas B Adams—”; APM Reel 117.

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson The Hague March 31. 1797. I received at once, and with the utmost pleasure your two Letters of the 7th: and 14th: of this month. The tenderness and affection with which you assure me that you participate in my anxieties, sheds among them a gleam of the purest consolation The American Election is decided, and has been declared in the manner which I have mentioned to you in former Letters. All my friends here congratulate me upon the result.— I am sure it is no subject of congratulation to me, though I am much obliged to my friends for their intentions.1 You advise me not to contemplate so constantly the dark side of things, and your advice is good.— “Tis fond, to wail inevitable ills,” says Shakspeare,2 and I am fully sensible that it is.— The trial is now commenced.— No more complaints— No more anticipations of evil— Spirit and perseverance; Resolution and Fortitude; these are henceforth the qualities necessary; and they will be shewn.— To perceive all the dangers of futurity, to examine and scrutinize them, is the part of prudence— To shrink from them is the part of cowardice. I have as yet no Letters that give me any means of forming an opinion when I shall go from hence.— It seems rather probable at present that it will not be until the fall.— According to the present prospects of things, there will be a new reason to comfort us in part for our painful separation.— Portugal seems like to be invaded by a foreign army, and if this Event should take place the residence of Lisbon, will be unpleasant for a Lady, though it might not expose you to any personal danger.3 You observe that you find it difficult to check hopes that will sometimes arise that we may yet meet—in Europe you doubtless mean, for there is no reason for us to check the hope that we shall

57

Adams Family Correspondence meet in America— The other indeed being so contrary to every probability, can only tend to prolong and renew disappointment and therefore, I think you should not indulge it Since I began writing this Letter, the french Minister here, called on me, and told me, he came to give me notice of an Event about to take place with him, which I suppose will one of these days (said he) happen to you too.— After such a formal introduction of discourse, as you will readily suppose I was all attention and expectation.— I thought he was at least going to announce his departure for a negotiation of Peace, or for making more War—until at length it came out— “I am going to be married,” said he.—4 So I thanked him for the information, wished him joy, told him that to be sure I hoped one day to have the same good fortune, and that, rather earlier in life than himself.— He is just gone, after thus passing the cup of Tantelus close under my lips. You desire a recommendation of books for your perusal, and I am not qualified to point you to those which you might find the most useful.— Much depends upon the taste and sentiments of the reader.— There are in the English language several very valuable and highly reputed works professedly written for the benefit of the Ladies, and containing excellent advice to them. But it is probable they are more known to you than to me.— I shall however occasionally as you wish mention such books as I think may be serviceable to you. Remember me affectionately to all the family, and believe me, ever / faithfully your friend. A. RC (Adams Papers). FC-Pr (Adams Papers); APM Reel 131. Tr (Adams Papers). 1 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney wrote to JQA on 30 March, “I find by some American Papers that your Father is elected & has been proclaimed President of the United States. I heartily congratulate you on that event.” In a letter of 30 March, the Amsterdam bankers Wilhem & Jan Willink, Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst, and Nicolaas Hubbard offered their “most sincere and warm congratulations on an event not less auspicious to the Happiness and Prosperity of the United States, than honorable to the object of the free choice of a great and enlightened people” (both Adams Papers). 2 “Tis fond to wail inevitable strokes”

(Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Act IV, scene i, line 26). 3 Rumors of a Spanish invasion of Portugal had circulated for some time. JQA noted the possibility in a letter to JA of 17 Dec. 1796 (Adams Papers), and reports from Madrid and Lisbon in early March 1797 described the accumulation of Spanish troops and British preparations for war (London Evening Mail, 13–15 March; London Bell’s Weekly Messenger, 19 March). 4 In May François Noël married a Miss Bogaërt, the eldest daughter of a wealthy Rotterdam banker (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale; D/JQA/24, 31 March, APM Reel 27).

58

Adams Family Correspondence March–April 1797

March–April 1797

John Adams to Abigail Adams My Dearest Friend Philadelphia April 3 1797 Monday Morning, the most agreable in the Week because it brings me Letters from you, has not failed me to day. I have yours of 23 and 25 March. The Correspondence with Plymouth amused me much— The Answer is Superiour to the Letter both in Delicacy, and keenness.— You might have told her, if Chance decides in Elections, it is no better than Descent. But she knows not what she wants. The Letter is the fruit of a mind poisoned with Envy, Malice and disappointed Ambition. I shall inclose a Post Note for 600—1 and I pray you to come on immediately. I will not live in this State of Seperation. Leave the Place to Jonathan & Polly. to Mears—to my Brother—to any body or nobody. I care nothing about it— But you, I must and will have— My Duty to my Mother— I hope to see her in the Autumn— But alass my healthy Walks and rides over Pens hill and Peacefield Hill, will be wanting all the Spring and Summer. And I fear for my health— My Application to Business, of a very dry, dull and perplexing nature is incessant. The Papers I have to read and judge of, are so numerous, that it is Business enough for any Mans Life—besides it is enough compleatly to put out my feeble Eyes. The Writing I have to do is also a great deal. Indeed I expect nothing but to loose my health and be obliged to resign. Dont expose this croaking and groaning however. I should loose all my Character for firmness, if any one should read this. Indeed I sometimes Suspect that I deserve a Character for Peevishness and fretfulness, rather than Firmness. I believe honesty is always anxious and consequently peevish and fretful. It is always afraid of doing wrong, or making mistakes. The Lady, you think so frail, is of one of those Families who have long thought a Lt. in a British army a Superiour Being to a Coll or a Senator in their own Country. Russell was a Dunce for marrying Such a young Girl. Lt Governor Gill has sent me one of his Princetown Cheeses, of such a Size as to require handspikes to manage it, according to Father Niles’s old Story.2 Dolly I really think acted wisely. she is certainly a Philosopheress.— Ambition in her was compleatly Mortified and Subdued. Comfort was her Object. The Title, “Lady Temple,” Sounded, from the Lointain, with celestial Harmony in the Ears of Mrs Russell.3

59

Adams Family Correspondence Aye! No Philosophy there! at all! at all!— wicked Ambition! cruel Vanity! It is to avoid Such feelings as those expressed in your Letter from Plymouth that Ladies make such Provision beforehand as Mrs Temple has done. But Dolly is Superiour in Philosophy to Mercy or Betcy. Do you have a Care when your Turn comes, to imitate Dolly rather than either of the others. or rather old Mrs Bowdoin, than any of them.4 You however will be in no danger— You have sons, a Daughter and Grand Children, who will inspire you with more Dignity of Conduct. You cannot mortify so many worthy Persons as owe their Being to you, so much as to disgrace yourself or them, or the Memory of your affectionate J. A5 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “April 3d / 1797.” 1 AA acknowledged receipt of the post note in her letter to JA of 12 April (Adams Papers). 2 On 27 March Lt. Gov. Moses Gill wrote to JA (Adams Papers) to offer his congratulations on JA’s election and to present him with a “Small token of my Affection and esteem”—a 110-pound wheel of cheese. JA and Rev. Samuel Niles of Braintree, for whom see JA, D&A, 1:51, had been acquaintances while the latter was writing a history of the French and Indian War in Massachusetts (William Smith to JA, 27 March, Adams Papers; JA to William Tudor, 23 Sept. 1818, JA, Works, 10:361). 3 JA was comparing the second marriages of Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott and Eliz-

abeth Watson Russell Temple. 4 Elizabeth Erving Bowdoin (1731–1803) was the widow of former Massachusetts governor James Bowdoin and the grandmother of Grenville Temple (Temple Prime, Some Account of the Bowdoin Family with Notes on the Families of Pordage, Newgate, Lynde, Erving, 2d edn., N.Y., 1894, p. 5–6, 42; W. H. Whitmore, An Account of the Temple Family, with Notes and Pedigree of the Family of Bowdoin, Boston, 1856, p. 7). 5 JA had also written to AA on 1 April 1797 urging her to come to Philadelphia, voicing his worries about their personal finances, and informing her that William Vans Murray had arrived in Philadelphia (Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to John Adams my Dearest Friend Quincy April 5th 1797 The proclamation of the 25 of March, which is published in the Centinal of April 1st has excited many anxious thoughts in my Mind. What would I give for an hours conversation it would tend to alleviate my apprehensions. I feel as if I could fly in all our many seperations. I have experienced a variety of anxieties. I thought there could be nothing New to feel, but there is now such a responsibility annexed to your station, that New and various thoughts arise hourly in my mind, when I contemplate what may be the concequence of such, and Such, measures. How the senate, how the House will conduct, how the people will act, How Foreign Nations will be affected, in this dark abyss my imagination wanders, without any one to converse with, who can at all enlighten me.

60

Adams Family Correspondence April 1797

April 1797 I agree with you that there has been an uncommon silence respecting the late address the Breath of praise was exhausted, the address was acceptable to every one as I have been told, and has had a very salutary effect upon many who had been misled, tho well meaning. as Genll Lincoln assured me, no one has assaild it, but the time is fast approaching when the measures of the Government cannot be looked upon with an Eye of indifference. we shall either be a united people, more strongly bound by common danger, or we shall become a prey to foreign influence. the people will judge right, if they are left to act for themselves it is well to observe, to watch and to attend to concequences. in the present state of things, it is almost difficult to conjecture what a Day may bring forth, much less can we see to the end of a year. “For what is fame? the meanest have their Day The Greatest can but blaze, and pass away”1 The ambition of individuals, and their Envy will no doubt opperate in proportion to the good or ill success, of the Administration. That you may be supported through the Arduous and important trials, is the constant and fervent prayer of your A Adams— RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The President United stats / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs A. April 5th. / ansd. 14. 1797.” 1 Alexander Pope, “The Sixth Epistle of the First Book of Horace,” lines 46–47.

Abigail Adams to John Adams My Dearest Friend Quincy April 6 1797 I received an hour ago your Letters of the 22d and 27th. I have been anxious enough for you since I saw the proclamation. I advised you to take for your cough Rhubarb & calomil. do not omit it, but take it immediatly. it will serve You for the complaint which usually afflicts you in the spring as well as for your cough.1 I will obey the summons as soon as possible but there are many arrangements to make, or deliver all up to destruction, at once. I Shall endeavour to send mrs Brisler on first by the Stage with her Children. I will See her tomorrow, and consult with her about it. I must find a Family which I can place here. I expected you would find every thing in disorder in the House, tho not so bad as you represent— I have as I wrote you, had three

61

Adams Family Correspondence hundred Dollors, of Gen’ll Lincoln for the purposes mentiond, and one Hundred more I was obliged to take, to enable me to pay my Labourers as I went on; O I had got a going so cleverly. Billings will compleat his circle of Wall in two days more, and it is a Beauty, Stutson in the Garden, and Tirril and Bracket have been carting manure & plowing. I had employd Pratt to compleat and finish a cart begun by Billings. it is Done and painted. I had got new ploughs and tools, and a Man to come next week, for the season. I expected to have got all things in order for your reception when you should be able to return to the Domestick joys of Peace Feild. All these pleasing Ideas must yeald to new arrangements. I will do the best I can and come as soon as I can. I write this now only to assure you that I shall tomorrow take some measures for executing the system proposed Yours most affectionatly A Adams 7th I hope to get this Letter in early enough for the post. I have been in Bed it is true but the multitude of my Thoughts have allowd me but a small portion of sleep. I am determined to feel as little Despondency as possible. the situation of poor mary Smith dejects all our spirits. I do not know by your Letter whether to send on all my Domesticks or whether I may hope to return in the summer this is a very incoherent jumble. I will write again when my thoughts are more collected two Days past have been very oppressive with heat. I am told that most minds are prepared for any measure consistant with the honour and Dignity of the Country, that they have not a mind like Israel Asses to crunch beneath two burdens—2 RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. April 6. & 7. / ansd. 14. 1797.” 1 Rhubarb and calomel were purgatives and considered effective treatments for some intestinal disorders (Buchan, Domestic Medicine, p. 215, 239, 267–268). 2 “Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens” (Genesis, 49:14).

John Adams to Abigail Adams My Dearest Friend Philadelphia April 7. 1797 I recd. to day your favour of March 29th. I write you every Post day and send my Letter to the office. If they do not come regularly to you it must be owing to the office.

62

April 1797 It would hurt me to refuse the request of my Nephew Elisha Adams: but you gave him and his Mother all the Answer in your Power. If Dr Tufts has any Money of mine in his hands, I should be glad if he would Supply my Nephew and take his Security. I never was in greater Straits for money in my Life, than at this time. I know not how to get along and expect to be obliged to borrow at the bank. But it is in vain to talk to the People about these Things I want Physick and I want Exercise: but I want your assistance more than either. You must come and leave the Place to the mercy of Winds. I will let them, the Places all out next Year for what they will fetch in money. reserving the house and Garden. You must come here and see, before you will have an Idea of the, continual Application to Business, to which I am called. I should not have believed it possible for my Eyes to have read the Papers which are brought me every day and every hour of the day. I wonder not that my Predecessor was weary. Adets Visit was not in a public Capacity. He solicited a private Interview and I consented. The Purport was to clear up his Character. But it was of no Consequence.— I shall not write about it. He is now soliciting Permission to call on me to take Leave before his Departure. It is hardly consistent to grant it— But I wont make difficulties & give them handles about such Trifles—dont mention this.1 You must come, at all Events and leave the Place as you can—nay if you leave it common and bring Mrs Brisler & her Children. You must hire Horses as I wrote you. tell Louisa We shall have a pretty Chamber for her. she will have the honour of sleeping & dressing and reading & writing in no less an Apartment than that in which the celebrated Washington transacted all the Business of the Govt. But this must not be whispered. it will be tho’t too irreverent. On the 4th. I inclosed a Post note for 600— make the best bargain you can for Horses.— You must go for the Hot months to East Chester, and keep your Horses at the Tavern & pay for your board—and I must go to the Feoderal City2—that must be my farm in future: and I shall have as much more plague as less Pleasure, in it, than I had in the Quincy farm. You must get my Brother to board Billlngs— But I believe you must get Mears at least for this summer. I am determined not to be perplexed with Farms. Dr Tufts may Let all but the House for a Rent or upon shares or any Way. Come away and leave it to Chance. My Duty to my Mother & love to my Brother and Neighbours and friends. it would give me

63

Adams Family Correspondence great Pleasure to see them— But I fear it will not be possible this Year. Cousin Boylston was in the right.— My farm would give me more Pleasure in a Week than my office in four Years— Except that all the Pleasure of Life that is solid consists in doing ones duty. You invite me to write and you must take such Trash and I can write without thinking. Yet I think a great deal about you— I wish I could come to escort you but that is impossible. affectionately J. A.3 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.” 1 In her letter to JA of 29 March (Adams Papers), AA reported that rumors of a meeting between JA and Pierre Auguste Adet were causing a stir in Boston. The meeting had taken place on 14 March at Adet’s request (Adet to JA, 13 March, Adams Papers; JA to Adet, 13 March, LbC, APM Reel 117). There is no mention of a second meeting in JA’s correspondence. 2 JA did not visit Washington, D.C., at this time. He and AA did visit AA2 at Eastchester, N.Y., in July but only for a few days

while en route to Quincy (AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 21, 29 July, both below). A more extended visit with AA2 did not occur until the fall, for which see AA to Mercy Otis Warren, 1 Oct., and note 2, below. 3 JA also wrote to AA the previous day repeating many of the comments made here but also explaining that his desire to know “what Criticisms are made, upon my little harrangues” stemmed from a need to gauge public opinion accurately (Adams Papers).

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson The Hague April 7. 1797. Just after writing my last Letter I received your kind one of March 20; by which I find your departure is postponed until July. As it continues to us the opportunity of hearing frequently and regularly from each other it is an agreeable circumstance; it would be still more so, if it could secure to us the means of meeting again in Europe, which will however I apprehend be impossible. You mention having lately read Lord Chesterfield’s Letters, and desire my opinion of them.— I have never read them all— It was a book which my early instructors never thought proper to put into my hands.— They did not judge it the best course of education; and since I have been of age to choose books for my own perusal, I have had too much contempt for the general Principles of those Letters, to scrutinize with much attention the details. Chesterfield was a Courtier, and a nobleman; and all his views of life, his course of observations, and his maxims of conduct founded

64

April 1797 on them, are confined to the very narrow circle of which such a situation is the centre.— Hence the stain of depravity which pervades all his ideas of morality— Hence the ridiculous importance which he would give to grace, elegance and propriety of manners in Society.— His theory is calculated only to produce an accomplished knave, and accordingly, I understand, that almost all the cheats, swindlers, and thieves who abound so much in the City of London, are the highest adepts in the practice of his instructions. The very foundation of his system, the reason for which he teaches the sacrifice of every virtue to the art of captivating favour is false.— To please, says he, is the way to rise in the world. I do not believe this to be true, even in England.— I am sure it is not true, any where within my experience and observation. If by rising in the world, he meant the acquisition of Wealth, or honour, or fame, or power; I can name an hundred examples of men who have thus risen, from other qualities. I know not one instance where it has been owing to this art of pleasing.— The fact may perhaps be directly the contrary. At least I know instances of persons who suffer, in the opinion of the world, by their great accomplishment in this art, and Lord Chesterfield himself, if he had possessed nothing but his graces, would most certainly never have risen higher in the world than to the rank of an approved dancing master. Indeed had he been born in any of the lower ranks of life it is not improbable that his vicious morality combined with his system of courtesy, would have turned him off at last, in the same manner as many of his thieving disciples, still meet their end. The object of all reading should be amusement or instruction, and the last is by far the most valuable of the two motives. It should not be forgotten even when the other is principally sought. Instead of Lord Chesterfields lessons of elegance, treachery, and infidelity, I would recommend not merely to your perusal, but to your attentive meditation and reflection the severe virtues of a Man, the very contrast of Chesterfield, both as to principles and manners: your own namesake Dr: Johnson.— You will read with pleasure, all his works, and I think it impossible to read them without great improvement. His maxims of life, are those of honour and honesty; Chesterfield’s are those of fraud and baseness. The Rambler especially and the Lives of the Poets contain a fund of moral principles and of literary taste, which cannot be too much studied.— His Letters are excellent both in style and sentiment.— One of them, written to Lord Ches-

65

Adams Family Correspondence terfield must I think have disconcerted the nobleman’s Graces, and ruffled altogether his good breeding.1 I remain with the steadiest affection, your friend A. RC (Adams Papers). FC-Pr (Adams Papers); APM Reel 131. Tr (Adams Papers). 1 Samuel Johnson, The Celebrated Letter from Samuel Johnson, LL.D. to Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, London, 1790, in which Johnson condemns Chesterfield’s endorsement of his Dictionary of the English Language as arriving too late to serve as true patronage of the endeavor (p. 3–4).

Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother. The Hague 7th: April 1797. I have already acknowledged the receipt of your kind favors of Septr: 25th: & Novr: 8th:1 which were the last I have from you, and that notorious thief of time, procrastination, has devoured a long interval since I made the promise to write you in a few days. I delight in receiving letters from you, but I have an almost inconquerable aversion to writing in my turn, nor can I account for a reluctance, which is at the same time so unreasonable & inconsistent, for I well know that epistolary favors are of all others the least gratuitous—one good turn deserves another, and this is the acknowledged basis of all friendly correspondence; but we often yield a ready assent to truth at the very moment when we refuse to obey its dictates. My letter, I presume, will find you at Philadelphia, for we have already learnt that the new President has entered upon the functions of his office. I can well appreciate your reluctance at quitting the peaceful dignified abode of Quincy, to plunge at once into the wide sea of care, which must inevitably surround that elevated station. For you I am particularly apprehensive, lest the fatigues & toils of your particular department should prove too weighty, for I am well aware, that though the laborious part of it may be transferred to subordinate agents, the care & thought about it, will be all your own. The die is cast, however, as you observe, and though the sorrows of our Countrymen should have been powerfully excited at the retirement of our first parents, I would fain flatter myself that their successors will have the good fortune to replace them in their affections. “It is a consummation devoutly to be wished,”2 nor will I easily suffer myself to doubt its realization. The same voice which called a good and faithful servant to employ his talent in hard & difficult times, for the public good, will I believe be ready when an account shall be rendered of it, to cry, “well done”!

66

April 1797 The present period in the affairs of our Country is so interesting that we are particularly anxious to obtain direct & recent intelligence of passing events; the news we have is in general but just enough to make us wish for more, and to me it is somewhat unaccountable, that while we are daily shipping off whole cargoes of letters and papers, while not a vessel scarcely sails for any part of our Continent without bearing more or less of them, we should see so many arrive in this Country unfurnished with commodities of the same nature in return. The merit of production does not belong to me, but that of exportation does, and when I observe the apparent negligence of others in this respect, I may be pardoned for vaunting a little of having transmitted with scrupulous punctuality for more than two years together, two or three periodical papers, to as many different persons. This I know to be my proper business, for which I am employed and paid by my Country; but are there not also at home persons employed & paid for making returns of a similar kind?— The language of complaint can never be agreeable, and therefore not employed from choice, and I am not unaware that a self constituted Censor has but slender means to accomplish reformation; but I cannot suppress the wish nor stifle the hope that we shall shortly see amendment, where we know it to be so much wanted. For myself, I do not expect to be personally benefited should such a change take place, but for my brother, who is to continue in the public service, I believe it to be important that the earliest notice should be given him of the current affairs at home. Should I return myself in the course of the coming fall, as I expect to do, it seems to me, at present, that I may render him some service in the line of a correspondent, and unless the same lethargy should fasten upon me, which seems to seize all our Countrymen the moment they reach home, I shall hope to enforce a resolution with the consequence of which I am now so fully impressed.— But why do I address to you, such reflections as the above? In fact I know not, unless it be from conviction that I am not authorised by right to impart them where they best apply. We have seen American papers to the last of February and collect from them that the expectation of an approaching war with France was generally prevalent. The news which must have soon after been received of several steps of the french Government with regard to us, surpassing in violence any that preceded them, and barring the door to reconciliation, which was before only partially shut, has doubtless e’re now confirmed this anticipation in the minds of our

67

Adams Family Correspondence Countrymen. Open hostilities have long been exercised against the American Commerce by the armed vessels of France, and the property of our fellow citizens is falling fast into that gulf which devours every thing, and renders nothing back. An organized system of plunder, authorized only by the existence of extreme enmity, and the violation of all amicable compacts, is the offering now made by the French Government to the affections and partialities of their American adherents.3 Would you give credit to any one who should undertake to affirm that they expect to succeed in this extraordinary Courtship, which seems to be conducted upon principles, similar to those with which Shakspere’s Richard 3d: wood & won Lady Anne?4 The rack of credulity would not be more violent perhaps, than is required by the fact, that American Natives are the chief instruments employed in promoting this suit.— But it cannot be—for though frenchmen have found specimens of double refined depravity among us, which in some degree justify their belief that baseness & treachery is mingled in our national character in a greater portion than falls to the lot of other people, I cherish the belief that a purer clay has formed my Countrymen in general. With this ray of consolation, I can look forward with some composure to the most desperate issue, that can attend our present difficulties with France. The public prints are continually announcing approaches to a continental peace, and the uninterrupted success of the french armies against those of the Emperor, seem to warrant a belief that the present will be the last campaign by land.5 The embarassments which are like to result from the late shock experienced by the failure of the English Bank, will probably hasten an event which all nations do, or pretend ardently to desire.6 The victories and conquests of the English navy, buoy up for the moment, the paralized confidence of that Nation, but they produce not the same effect upon foreigners; the possessors of English funds therefore are waiting with fear and trembling to hear of fresh disasters to the finances of that Country. Here, the people are in a manner accustomed to misfortunes of this nature, but they are never the more prepared for them, and in the present instance they are doomed to see & gaze at their approaching ruin, should an English bankruptcy happen, without the power to extricate themselves. If the house fall therefore, it must tumble about their ears. Present me kindly to all my Philadelphia & other friends, who may fall under your eye, and accept the assurance of warmest love & duty from / Your Son Thomas B Adams.

68

April 1797 PS. My brother is well, and will write you soon— We have not heard these six months from our friends at Newyork. I recd: a few days ago, my Father’s letter of Decr: 5th: which is the latest I have from any body. Mr: Ross who brought it to England has not yet visited this Country.7 My last letter to my father went by the Grace Cap. Wills.8 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A Adams.”; endorsed: “T B Adams April 7th / 1797.” 1 Vol. 11:381–383, 394–398. 2 Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, scene i, lines 63–64. 3 On 2 March the French Directory issued a decree empowering French ships to seize neutral vessels carrying enemy merchandise. American sailors holding British commissions or found aboard British ships, even if impressed, would be declared pirates, and any American vessel found without a rôle d’équipage—a notarized crew list—could be seized and condemned (Williams, French Assault on American Shipping, p. 22; Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, N.Y., 1993, p. 647–648). For the 2 July 1796 French decree regarding American shipping, see vol. 11:353. 4 In Act I, scene ii, of Shakespeare’s King Richard III, Lady Anne mourns the deaths of her betrothed, Edward, and his father, the Lancastrian king Henry VI. When the future Yorkist king Richard III enters, Lady Anne accuses him of murder, which he admits. By the end of the scene, however, she has succumbed to his wooing. 5 The Gazette de Leyde, 4 April 1797, reported a meeting held at Neuwied, Germany, on 24 March between French and Austrian generals, which ended with a lavish supper and the expectation of continued meetings.

The newspaper also published several reports from Austria and Germany detailing French and Austrian troop movements in the Tyrol. 6 The cost of Britain’s war efforts increasingly depleted the Bank of England’s gold reserves, which dropped from £6 million to £1 million between Feb. 1795 and Feb. 1797. A rumored French invasion further exacerbated the issue, causing a run on the bank, and on 26 Feb. an Order in Council temporarily halted specie payments. This was formalized on 3 May by the Bank Restriction Act of 1797, which remained in effect until 1821 (John H. Wood, A History of Central Banking in Great Britain and the United States, N.Y., 2005, p. 10). 7 JA’s letter to TBA has not been found but was carried from Philadelphia by Charles Ross, for whom see LCA, D&A, 1:54. Ross does not appear to have visited the Netherlands prior to JQA and TBA’s departure but did socialize with the brothers in London and then again in Hamburg, ultimately deciding to travel with them to Berlin (D/JQA/24, 9, 26, 27, 31 Oct., 22, 23 Nov., APM Reel 27). 8 See TBA to JA, 17 March 1797, above. The brig Grace, Capt. Thomas Wills, departed Amsterdam on 1 April and arrived at Philadelphia after a passage of sixty days (Philadelphia Gazette, 29 Nov. 1796, 5 June 1797).

Abigail Adams to John Adams my Dearest Friend Quincy April 9th 1797 I sent last Evening to the post office in hopes that I might get a Letter of a late Date. I received my News papers to the 30th March, but no Letter. if there is any delay on my part in executing your directions, attribute it solely to the post offices, which will not permit me to receive Letters but once a week from you. I should Suppose that if a Mail containd only one Letter, it ought to be sent on; but I have known a Quincy mail arrive on a Saturday with Letters for

69

Adams Family Correspondence others, whilst those for me tho of various dates, are detaind to be sent all together, and so Careless are they, that in the Mail before last, a Letter to Charles from you, was put in the Quincy Mail, and returnd by mr. Hastings to N york as he informd me.1 That I have my perplexities in the arrangment of my affairs here, You will not doubt. I shall not however trouble you with them. I will Surmount those which are to be conquerd, and submit to those which are not. amongst the latter is mrs Brislers declining to go either before me, or with me without her Husbands comeing for her. now as I do not expect to be so honourd, or indulged, by mine, I shall exert myself to get to him, as soon as possible. she is a poor feeble thing, and never was calld upon for any exertion of any kind, without having him to lean upon. I told her he would not be able to come for her untill the Fall of the Year, and she seemd rather inclind to remain here untill then. I shall take with me Betsy Howard, Becky and Betsy.2 I must leave to come by water when they can be accommodated, for one of my inevitables is, that Becky has not walkd or scarcly put her foot upon the ground for a week, oweing to an absess Which appears to be forming upon the joint of her knee. thanks to Heaven, my Health is such as enables me to exert myself, tho I have my sick Days, they have not been lasting, and I have not been confind to my Chamber— I am in treaty with Porter whom I expect to place here with his wife and a Girl of ten years of Age whom she has taken,3 no Children no incumberance, and I believe an honest Man. I shall hire a man with him. much must be left to his honour and integrity as I have agreed to find him and his Family in every article except west India, to keep three Cows, 2 yoke oxen one Horse. Mrs Farmer I have let French take; She will soon increase. Anthony I shall leave here; Ceasar will come on, and Cleopatra I must dispose of if I can, as she is not like to increase. I shall engage Horses and driver to carry me as far as N york. I do not see why your Horses & coach man may not come on for me there. I will give you information in season, and you may convey word to Charles if it should not be in Time for me here. you may write me however for I fear I cannot get all things so as leave them, in less than a fortnight. Porter has a little place which he has bought, to let out before I can receive his answer and you will note this is only the 3 day since I received your Letter of call.4 I have no Brisler to assist me, nor any person to think or arrange for me further than hand Labour will go—and there is much of that to be done

70

April 1797 which requires my oversight and direction. I sent for dr Tufts, and made my objects known to him, and to him I have told French Burrel and Porter, they must apply—and Porter that he will receive from you or me directions for his future conduct. There is Something to be done for my Mother. a maid is engaged, which I have promised to pay, and in some other things I should be glad to leave her comfortable & respectable— I have thoughts to get your Brother to Board Billings untill his Time is out and let him keep at the Walls, unless in Hay time. I am very anxious for your Cough and pray you to take advise about it. I read two Letter in Fennos paper of Dec’br 23 & 30th I cannot mistake the writer.5 Mr Smith informs me that he saw a Captain of a vessel from Roterdam, who saw our children in Febry, they were well. he brought no Letters.6 I have a Letter from England of the 10 Febry from mrs Copley, in which she requests me to accept the united congratulations of their Family, upon the wisdom of our Country Men (considering herself still as an American) in the choice of their first Majestrate, that it not only afforded pleasure to all your particular Friends, but also to very many people of that Country by this you see the choice was considerd as certain in that Country as early as Febry.7 I have a Letter from plimouth, containing sentiments of Truth, and from no inaccurate observer. “Mr Adams has enterd on his dignified station at a period when the greatest ability and perspicuity the clearest understanding, and the most uncorruptable Virtue is necessary to guide the helm, and conduct the political Bark in Safety between Scilly & Charibdes. [“]God Grant he may be an instrument in the Hands of Providence to preserve the united States from War, or from slavery. I wish I could add with a rational hope, from venality and vice. [“]expectation is awake among all Parties— among the Rivals of his Fame Emulation is on tip-toe. participation and affection accompany the wishes of his Friends, and his Enemies lie in wait, for reasons to justify disapprobation. this is the World. [“]This your Friend knew without my description. he knows also, or ought to know that he has Friends at Plimouth, who wish his administration may be productive of Glory Safety, and happiness, both to himself and Country.”8 The Whole Letter is written much more in the Stile of an old Friend than the former one, and without that Spice of levity which Seasond the other. the manner of it is, “I Stand corrected—”

71

Adams Family Correspondence this is sunday. it will be thursday before I shall again hear from you. Heaven preserve support and sustain you. most affectionatly Your Abigail Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. Ap. 9. 1797 / ansd 18th.” 1 The misdirected letter from JA to CA has not been found. 2 Elizabeth Hunt (ca. 1784–1857), the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Thayer Hunt (1761–1844) of Quincy, did not accompany AA to Philadelphia (Sprague, Braintree Families; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 23 June, below). 3 For David and Lydia Harmon Porter and AA’s previous negotiations with the couple about leasing one of the Adams properties, see vol. 9:476, 10:69, 93. 4 That is, JA’s letter of 27 March, above. 5 The Philadelphia Gazette of the United

States, 31 March, published long extracts of JQA’s letters to JA of 24 and 30 Dec. 1796 (both Adams Papers), for summaries of which see vol. 11:433–434. 6 This was possibly Capt. Pinegar of the ship Sterling, who arrived in Boston on 6 April 1797 (Boston Price-Current, 10 April). 7 For Susanna Clarke Copley’s letter to AA of 10 Feb. (Adams Papers), see AA to JQA, 23 June, and note 3, below. 8 AA excerpted here the majority of Mercy Otis Warren’s 6 April letter to her (Adams Papers).

John Adams to Abigail Adams My dearest Friend Philadelphia April 11. 1797 Your Letter of the 31. of March made me unhappy because it convinced me that you were so. I Attribute the Cause of it all however, to the dangerous illness of Cousin Polly Smith which I am very sorry to her. The Deaths and dangerous sicknesses of your near Relations and intimate friends always affect your tender and benevolent heart with very deep and affectionate Impressions. I hope she may still live, but if otherwise, Resignation is all our Resource. You had not received any of my Letters, which urge your immediate departure for Philadelphia. I must now repeat them with Zeal and Earnestness. I can do nothing without you. We must resign every Thing but our public Duties, and they will be more than We can discharge, with Satisfaction to Ourselves or others I fear. Public affairs are so critical and dangerous that all our Thoughts must be taken up with them. A Letter recd from Albany a few days ago says “Perhaps no Person from the Days of Noah, down to the present time, had ever a more important Trust committed to his Charge, in a more trying Crisis, than the one now devolved on you. The Eyes of the World are turned to you, with Anxiety to see, what Expedients can be devised, to extricate us from the Precipice now before Us. to avoid the final and dreadful Appeal to Arms, especially without an Object, or a

72

April 1797 hope on ourside of Avenging Ourselves or gaining any Thing by the sickening Contest—but broken bones.”1 I must intreat you, to loose not a moments time in preparing to come on that you may take off from me every Care of Life but that of my public Duty, assist me with your Councils, and console me with your Conversation. Every Thing relating to the Farms must be left to our friends. You will find your Drawing Room furnished and the rest of the house, and servants and stables in tolerable order. My Love to all Neighbours & friends especially my Mother. Comfort her as well as you can— We shall take a Journey together, in August or as soon as Congress rises I hope— I am unalterably your affectionate J. A RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.” 1 On 1 April Elkanah Watson Jr. wrote to JA describing electioneering efforts in New York during the 1796 presidential election and noting that JA’s letter to him of 17 March 1797 gave rise to local speculation that he was to receive a diplomatic appointment from JA (Adams Papers).

Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams London April 11th. 1797 Do not imagine my friend, that I am so weak as to indulge the hope of meeting you in this Country, ardently as I desire it, I am too well convinced our seperation for a time is inevitable to suffer myself to encourage such delusive ideas, and I now endeavor as much as possible to acquire that fortitude, you so much admire, and which I really find so essential— You tell me my friend that it is probable you may not remove untill the fall— I need not repeat what I have so often said, for you must know that this certainty cannot contribute to my happiness, however I must content myself with the hope that when we do meet, we shall never again be seperated— What you said respecting Portugal surprized me, as I had lately understood she was likely to make her peace, but I think a Country that is likely to be invaded by a foreign army, cannot be a desirable residence for a Lady, though I should not have hesitated accompanying you, had it been possible—1 Mr. Hall who dined with us yesterday, talks of visiting you at The Hague in a week or two—2

73

Adams Family Correspondence Mama, and my Sisters, send their love to you— believe me ever faithfully your friend. Louisa C. Johnson RC (Adams Papers). 1 See JQA to LCA, 31 March, and note 3, above. 2 Joseph Hall did not visit JQA at this time.

John Adams to Charles Adams Sir Philadelphia apl: 13th 1797— I have this day been obliged to take a serious and painful measure in the removal of the Collector of Newyork, and I wish you to give me your opinion concerning a successor— The office is important and lucrative, Walker has been named to me. What think you of him?1 I must and will have a good Federalist, one who will not prostitute his office, to a Foreign faction, or a domestic one,— I am &ca John Adams— LbC in Samuel Bayard Malcom’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Charles Adams Esqr:”; notation: “private & Confidential”; APM Reel 117. 1 John Lamb (1735–1800) was the collector of customs at New York from 1784 until 1797, when a shortage of nearly $100,000 prompted his removal from office. Benjamin Walker (1753–1818), a former Revolutionary War soldier and commission merchant and broker in New York City, served as the naval officer for the port of New York between 1789

and 1797, at which time he relocated to Fort Schuyler (now Utica), N.Y. JA ultimately nominated Joshua Sands to the office, and the Senate confirmed his appointment on 20 May (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 2:368–369, 430; Oliver Wolcott Jr. to JA, 12 April, CtHi:Wolcott Papers, vol. 42; U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 240).

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson The Hague April 13. 1797. The day after I sent off my last Letter, I received that of my good friend, dated the 27th: of last month; and at the same time, a Packet from America, containing my orders to quit my station here, and proceed upon that to which I am now destined.1 Since then I have been occupied in taking measures preparatory to my departure, which I shall however probably not effect before the latter part of the next month. My principal embarassment is how to make arrangements so as to render it possible for me to visit London on my way, that I may have the pleasure of meeting you there, and putting an end at length to a separation so painful to us both.— I have in some of my former Let-

74

April 1797 ters mentioned several circumstances which seem to render inexpedient your going to Lisbon: yet the moment when the possibility that you may, presented itself to me, all those objections lost much of their force in my mind, and my inclination to have your company, almost silenced every objection that Reason and Prudence had raised. But insuperable obstacles, render it impossible to take passage from England for Lisbon on board an English vessel; and by the present system and conduct of the french, they treat even neutral vessels going from any English Port, no better, than if they were English.— In either case we should be exposed to capture by french privateers, which have become this Season more numerous than ever. The only mode in which I may find it possible to meet you in England, will be if I can meet here with an American vessel having accommodations for Passengers, going to Lisbon, and can engage the Captain, to stop two or three days in some English Port, until we can come from London to the vessel. In that case, there will be no danger of capture; and if I can procure such an opportunity, I shall come over to you as soon as I can get away from here.— But the chance of such an occasion appears precarious, and if I find my endeavours for the purpose ineffectual, we must still reconcile ourselves to the necessity of waiting for our union until we shall both be in America.— I shall continue to write you regularly every week until I go from this place. If I find it possible to come to England, I shall give you the earliest notice of it, and of the time when I may be expected.— If not, I shall be equally careful to inform you how I go to Lisbon, and at what time I depart. I should not think it necessary to renew the discussion between us with regard to my books; but you tell me that my attachment to them is hurtful to my temper. I receive the intimation with thanks, because it is not flattering, but it does not meet with the assent of my own mind.— I believe that my temper never was and never will be hurt by my devotion to study or to solitude— There is another thing which never fails to hurt it, as you have often witnessed while I was in England, and as you may have more than once perceived in my correspondence; and that is, any attempt by those whom I love, to cross the current of my character, or controul my sentiments or manners; The effect becomes the more considerable, when to the force of habit is added the sense of duty in forming my attachment to my own practice.— In these things therefore, I believe all my

75

Adams Family Correspondence friends will find it, saving trouble to themselves, and they will certainly consult my happiness, by considering them as articles upon which I am incorrigible, and upon which it is vain for them to impart however liberally their superior judgment or instructions. But you intimate a suspicion, that this attachment, unless I should check it, may even interfere with that which I bear to you, and may render even your society irksome to me. No— I can never believe that possible. Instead of weakening, the ardent love of literature tends to confirm, to increase to exalt every virtuous and laudable affection.— I shall love you the more, in proportion to my degree of application. I have it is true repeated the same idea to you, in two or three different Letters. The reason may perhaps have been, because I observed you not satisfied with this propensity of mine, and inclined to use your influence over me to divert me from it.— I saw this disposition with concern. It was painful to me to reflect, that so essential a wideness of sentiment existed between us.— Still more painful, to see you consider the Time which I dedicate to improvement, as a Time, lost to you.— I considered the union for life between two persons of sense and honour, as something more than a mere living together; and that one of its greatest objects, and of its fairest charms, was a mutual exhortation and encouragement of each other to every honourable pursuit and every laudable employment. . . .2 I had conceived the hope that by a repetition of the same sentiments, I might give you the means of concluding my bent to be taken, and that you would reconcile yourself to it.— The subject appeared to me important with regard to your happiness as well as to my own in our future connection, and I wished you to adopt at once the conviction that I consider such arguments as would take Time from myself, in order to give it to the world, as little better than frivolous. My lovely friend, reprove me for every day of my time that I lose in indolence: persuade yourself, that no man in my condition of life, ever hurt his health, by too much application to his duties, but that thousands have ruined themselves by neglecting them. Cheer my Industry, instead of dissuading me from it. Encourage me to persevere, instead of endeavouring to divert me from such purposes, and be assured that every exhortation of that kind will be more worthy of yourself, and more useful to me, than any intimation that either my health or my temper suffer by my application to books or my solitude.

76

April 1797 Remember me affectionately to all the family, and believe me ever faithfully yours, A. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Miss Louisa C. Johnson / London.” FC-Pr (Adams Papers); APM Reel 131. 1 For JQA’s commission to Portugal and recall from the Netherlands, see vol. 11:307–308. 2 Ellipsis in MS.

John Adams to Abigail Adams My Dearest Friend Philadelphia April 14. 1797 I have this day recd, in your favours of the 5. 6. and 7th. of the month the first Acknowledgment of the Receipt of my Invitations to you to come to Philadelphia and share in the Burthens of your friend. I hope you may have commenced your Journey before this day: but knowing how many dispositions you have to make, and how difficult it will be to make them I cannot promise myself the happiness of seeing you so soon. Your Solicitudes would be less if you were here. The Variety here would amuse you—and the Spirits of the gay enliven you—the Reasoning of the Wise assure you. Your narration of your Agricultural Management delights me and the picture of Billings’s circular Wall, or oval Wall as he calls it charms me— We shall see it again I hope in August. But this will depend upon Congress and Intelligence from Europe. Oh what an enchanting Summer I should have had, if W. had been P. and I, V. P.!— But never mind that— We will do our Duty as We are, and he could do no more. On the 4th. I enclosed you a Post Note. I have recd a Chronicle to day, by which I perceive that French those who profess so much Attachment to France, So much devotion to the french Revolution and so much Enthusiasm for the french Republic are very much afraid that the Voice of the People will be for War.1 They need not fear that War will be sought. If it comes of itself and We cannot avert it, We must make the best of it, unpleasant as it is. Poor Ed. Savil would be glad to revenge himself at the hazard and for ought I know at the Sacrifice of his Life. Jarvis and Austin should see his back.2 To day I have recd the Lt. Governors Cheese—like a charriot forewheel boxed up in Wood & Iron. it will last till you come.

77

Adams Family Correspondence I am grieved for Mary smith: but think you ought not to tarry on her Account. You can do her no good that others cannot do. My Duty to Mother Love to Brothers and friendship to Neighbours. Yours as always J. A RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.” 1 The Boston Independent Chronicle, 6 April, included “an exact statement of the inevitable effects which a War with the French Republic would produce in this country” and which “The PEOPLE must weigh.” Among the suggested outcomes were decreased maritime trade, economic ruin, and a greater

alliance with and reliance on Great Britain. 2 Edward Savil, a seaman from Quincy who had been a prisoner of war in Britain during the Revolution, had fallen into French “hands and not only been robbed of all his Property but mangled and every thing but murdered” (vol. 4:257; JA to AA, 13 April, Adams Papers).

Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams My Dear Sister Atkinson April 14th 1797 If words could express the gratitude I feel for your kindness to me, & my Children, it would be worth while to delineate it upon paper, but as I am sure the attemt would be vain, I can only beg of him to reward you a thousand fold, who alone knows your particular wants, & can amply supply either body, or mind, out of his rich treasury— I sent for Cousin Charles to spend the Sabbath with me, he came, but the account he gave of his Sister Mary, gave me no reason, to expect her recovery. I am distressed for you all— Sickness & death casts a gloom over every Object— I have been led to ask, are these the beauteous prospects which my Eye was wont to dwell upon with pleasure, & delight? are these the same Birds whose melodious notes ravished my attentive ear? have I food & raiment as usual? have I kind friends? yes—but it is circumstances, it the mind that gives the tincture to every surrounding Object—& it is astonishing what an effect it has, when the heart is pierced with the sharp thorns of adversity. those things which once gave us the greatest pleasure, often become the objects of our aversion—& we daily find, more, & more the necessity of cultivating a calm, placid state of mind—a mind disposed to find comfort, will never want occasion it may be culled, even from a thorny Bush— And if our situation is not exactly what we wish, we must rejoic, that it is no worse— Mr Smith came here a Wednesday, preached half the day yesterday for Mr Peabody, he is gone to take a walk with him, & I have

78

April 1797 been involuntary led to some remarks, resulting from past scenes, which I have some mind to keep at home—but as I have not time to write further, you must read them as the ebbulitions of an heart that has experienced more viscissitudes, & trials than I hope will again be the portion of your Sister—1 E Peabody— I intended writing to Sister, & Betsy but cannot now— I hope you did not think I sent, for a silk skirt, or a white one, it was an old durant one— accept mine, & your neices thanks— Do not let any opportunity pass, without a line to inform me, how my neice is— Love to Louisa & all, from your E P— RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs Abigail Adams / Quincy”; endorsed: “E Peabody / April 14 1797.” 1 That is, Isaac Smith Jr., a former suitor of Peabody’s (vol. 10:449).

Abigail Adams to John Adams My Dearest Friend Quincy April 17th 1797 Tho I have not heard from you since I wrote you last, and have nothing new to say, unless it be a resital of my own perplexities, out of which I must get by myself. Yet a few lines will assure you that I am getting forward as fast as possible with my affairs, and prepairing to sit out on my journey. the weather has been as uncommonly cold and stormy for the week past, as it was Hot for two days the week before. we have a snowstorm, of some inches Depth, which has lain for three days. it has retarded our Buisness on the farm and chilld our exertions. the sudden changes have confind Your Mother and brought on one of her old Lung complaints the good old Lady is sure she shall dye now her Physician & Nurse is about to leave her, but She judges with me, that all ought to be forsaken for the Husband. it is an additional care and anxiety for me. I shall provide for her comfort every thing necessary before I leave her. Mary Smith is yet living. of how uncertain a duration are all our worldly possessions, and Earthly comforts? if we could not look for brighter scenes and fairer prospects, who could wish to remain the victims of pain and sorrow? mr otis has lost his son George with a dropsy in his Head.1 I have just been reading chief Justice Elsworths Charge to the Grand jury at New York!2 did the good gentleman never write be-

79

Adams Family Correspondence fore? can it be genuine? the language is stiffer than his person. I find it difficult to pick out his meaning in many sentences. I am sorry it was ever publishd— how I run on. the Federilist say there is but one blot in Your Character. the Chronical has undertaken to praise and the Jacobins to speak well.3 the snare will not hold action will soon break it— critical are the Times. may you get valiently through them. yours for ever A Adams— RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “The President of the United / States / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs A. Ap. 17. / ansd. 24. 1797.” 1 George Otis (b. 1777), son of Samuel Allyne Otis and his first wife, Elizabeth Gray, died in Newburyport on 13 April, having been “seized with a violent and painful disorder, which he sustained with exemplary patience; and retaining his reason until the moment of dissolution” (The Manifesto Church: Records of the Church in Brattle Square, Boston, 1902, p. 190; Boston Columbian Centinel, 15 April). 2 On 1 April Oliver Ellsworth addressed the federal grand jury of New York, charging its members: “PLACED as guardians of the laws, you have in trust the government itself.” The chief justice outlined some of the challenges to good government, all of which “a spirit of party has not failed to cherish, to ripen, and to marshal,” thus allowing the government to become susceptible to “foreign

influence” and demanding “vigilance and firmness in the execution of laws.” Ellsworth’s charge was published in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 15 April. 3 The Boston Independent Chronicle, 13 April, offering late commentary on JA’s inaugural address, extolled the speech as having “flowed, spontaneously from a heart enlightned by the rays of right reason” and praised his long career in service to his country. Celebrating “another champion of freedom,” Thomas Jefferson, and calling “every lover of our America” to “flock to this standard,” the writer further urged the nation to strive to “be in peace with all the world” but to “not forget that great people who were our best friends in the time, of our trouble; let us set FRANCE on our right hand.”

John Adams to Abigail Adams My dearest Friend Phila. Ap. 19. 1797 as soon as your Letter informed Us that Mrs Brisler could not come without her husband I sent him off, in two hours, the day before Yesterday, i.e Monday. There has been Such a snow storm ever since that he must have had a bad Journey to N. York— Whether he will wait there for a Wind for Rhode Island or take the stage I know not but hope he will get home before you come away. This days Post brought me Yours of the 12th. Your fatigues and perplexities must be great as well as mine— I am here at Mercy without Brisler. But We seem to go on well— I am very willing you should let the Place and sell every Thing perishable as you thought of doing. Every Thing works against Us in

80

April 1797 the Article of Expences and We shall find ourselves more Straitened than ever We were in our whole Lives. Mr Murray Sailed last sunday was Sennight—so that the Papers you inclosed must remain here some time.1 Bring on the Portfeuill or Leave it with Dr Tufts. Bring my Seals too.2 I like the Plan of letting the Place, better than any other. We cannot be there this Year above a month or six Weeks if at all.— I shall be content however with Any disposition you may make. I dont know but I shall send my Coachman and Horses to Paulus Hook for you, with a Man to ride on my little Horse.— James you will discharge I suppose; but as you please. James would ruin this family, I fear.3 Let me know when you shall be at N. York. I will Let you know whether you may wait for my Horses, or whether you must hire at N. York. Let me know whether you have Harness for four Horses. or whether I must send on Harness for two or more. Charles is here on a Visit to me. I am, most tenderly J. A4 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.” 1 William Vans Murray sailed aboard the ship Good Friends, Capt. Smith, departing Philadelphia on 9 April and arriving at The Hague on 9 June. In a letter of 12 April (Adams Papers) AA enclosed coupons from the 1791 Dutch-American loan, to which JA was a subscriber, and asked that JA send them with Murray. Her letter also detailed the arrangements she had made to travel to Philadelphia (Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 11 April 1797; D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27). 2 For JA’s seals, see JA, Papers, 15:xvii, 448, and Catalogue of JQA’s Books, p. 136–137.

3 James appears to have remained with the Adamses until at least April 1800 by which point he had accompanied the family to Philadelphia (AA to AA2, 9 March 1800, M/CFA/31, APM Reel 327; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 17 April 1800, AA, New Letters, p. 246). 4 JA had also written to AA on 18 April 1797 stating much of the same information, reporting that he would send future letters by the more frequent Boston post, and complaining about the “prodigious” reading he was forced to do (Adams Papers).

Thomas Boylston Adams to John Quincy Adams Brussels 30e Germinal an 5e: [19 April 1797] My dear Brother. I arrived here last night after a pleasant journey from Antwerp, where I lodged on Monday.1 Upon enquiry here I found no Diligence going to day, so that it has given me an opportunity of seeing a great part of the City, which I find surpasses much in point of situation the idea I had of it. The quarter of the park is delightful, and the prospect from the Ramparts is such as brings to mind some parts of our own Country. The cultivation & the soil are perhaps

81

Adams Family Correspondence superior to any we have. The season here is at least a fortnight earlier than in Holland. It does me good to see a little uneven ground, as well as to breathe a better air. I have two pleasant companions who came with me from this side of the Meuse; and who go with me as far as Valenciennes— One is a french Merchant of Amsterdam, the other a manufacturer of Remscheid and a neighbor of our Correspondents Halbach & Sons.2 The frenchman answers well to his character as such—Gay, pleasant, civil, but he conceives much better than he combines—for example— He conceived the morning we were to leave Antwerp that we could walk & have our baggage transported from our lodgings to the Diligence office, a distance of three quarters of a mile—in five minutes. I assured him it would take at least a quarter of an hour— He was occupied with some of his people, and when I pressed him, he replyed “Mon ami nous avons encore du tems—” It turned out therefore that when we came to the Office, the Diligence was gone. Que faut il faire à cette heure. Said I— “Il faut prendre un voiture particulier.” said he— This was not to be had but for two persons with half the baggage. He and the German took that, and I was obliged, or rather I chose to take one myself which cost me just eight times as much as if I had gone in the Diligence; for it costs but two Brabant Schellings with this and for the other it cost me near two Crowns to go as far as Bonn, only three leagues— You perceive I was imposed upon— I learnt a lesson by it however, which I think was not dearly paid for, if I can observe in future the moral of it.— In the afternoon the frenchman missed his Cane—where was it? He believed he had left it in the other Schuit or au Commodité of the Auberge— He would not have lost it for a Louis— He would therefore be set on shore from the Schuit and walk back two or three leagues to get his stick— But it was between 2 & 3 o’Clock and we were four leagues from Brussels so that he could hardly arrive before the Gates would be shut; n’importe—j’arriverois toujours avant que les portes soient fermées, said he— of course he stripped off his pentalons—his belt of Louis—his purse & other articles to march the lighter, left them with the German—jumped out of the Schuit and after his stick— We reached here at 5 o’Clock and he got in before nine, having found his stick, and trés heureusement an extraordinary Schuit, which he overtook about half way on his return— Dont il etoit trés content. So much for him. His friend the German is a good natured easy man, to whom Monsieur entrusts the care of half his effects, to preserve on the

82

April 1797 road— The German calls him his spoilt child, but they jump very well together— I am told the Directory have taken a recent resolve that the passports of American Ministers shall be no more respected in France— This I suspect is only the old arrête, made public—3 There is news of a new victory of the army in Italy—4 I start tomorrow at 4 oClock in the morning, and with good fortune shall be in Paris on Saturday evening— Make my Comps to every body, and to young De Kock5 in particular—he probably told you that he saw me start from this side of the Meuse on Monday morning. I am always yours Thomas B Adams P.S. I met at Rotterdam on Sunday evening a young man by the name of Cutting who brought me an introduction from our Brother Charles— I expect to see him at Paris—6 RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “à Monsieur / Monsieur J. Q Adams / Ministre Resident des Etats Unis / d’Amérique / à / La Haye”; internal address: “J Q Adams Esqr:”; endorsed: “T. B. Adams. / 30. Germinal. an 5. 19. April 1797. / 21. April 1797. recd: / do: ansd:.” 1 TBA had departed The Hague three days earlier and was on his way to Paris; see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 1, above. 2 Jean & Gaspar Halbach & Fils was an arms manufactory in Remscheid, Germany, with which JQA had corresponded since Dec. 1794 regarding its trade in the United States (Halbach & Fils to George Washington, 15 April 1783, DLC:George Washington Papers, 1741–1799, Series 4, General Correspondence, 1697–1799; JQA to Halbach & Fils, 7 Dec. 1794, 2 April 1797, LbC’s, APM Reels 127, 129). 3 In a 21 April letter to Timothy Pickering, JQA reported that the Directory had recently forbid both payment to U.S. citizens by the French treasury and recognition of passports “signed or certified by Ministers or Envoys of the United States” (LbC, APM Reel 129). 4 In March France’s Army of Italy advanced through northeastern Italy forcing the

retreat of the Austrian Army, securing the Tarvis Pass in the Alps, and reaching Klagenfurt, Austria, by 30 March (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:582). 5 Baron Hendrik Merkus de Kock (1779– 1845), a civil servant at The Hague, was at this time working as a clerk in the Dutch war department (Biografisch Portaal van Nederland). 6 CA’s letter of introduction has not been found, although in his letter to CA of 14 May, JQA acknowledged receiving a similar letter of introduction. Cutting was likely William Cutting (1773–1820), Columbia 1793, a lawyer and later sheriff in New York (LbC, APM Reel 130; Stinchcombe, XYZ Affair, p. 135; Richard Lowitt, Bronson M. Cutting: Progressive Politician, Albuquerque, 1992, p. 3; Cuyler Reynolds, comp., Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley, 3 vols., N.Y., 1914, 2:843).

Abigail Adams to William Smith Dear sir Quincy April 21 1797 The Death of my Mother which took place this afternoon very suddenly, will prevent my Sitting out on my journey as I had in-

83

Adams Family Correspondence tended on twesday. we propose to burry her on Monday.1 I do not think I can get away untill thursday. I shall therefore omit sending Beckey untill fryday. I would wish two places engaged in the Stage as I have an other Girl to go with her, and should like to have them under the care of some person who would take charge of them.2 I should be glad of the portmantua if you should not want it. You will be here on Wedensday Evening if you please; unless I should be again detaind by the Death of Mary Smith which is more than probable as she has not been able to be raised from her Bed for three days— Inclosed is the pattern which I should have sent to cousin Betsy.3 I am Dear sir your affectionate Abigail Adams RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “Mr William Smith / Boston.” 1 See Obituary of Susanna Boylston Adams Hall, 29 April, below. 2 AA likely intended that Nabby Hunt would accompany Rebeckah Tirrell. For Hunt, see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 6 June, and note 4, below. 3 Enclosure not found.

John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams The Hague April 21. 1797. 2 Floréal an 5. My dear Brother. For I suppose you must have an explanation to keep you current with the vieux stile, now-a-days.— I have received your pleasant account from Brussels of your travels thus far. Continue to write me as often as you can, and sur tout return as speedily as possible. I have read something in Adam Smith about the wonders performed by division of labour. I know very well the effects of its multiplication, for the moment you went away, it took me as usual au depourvu, and I am so overloaded with it, that I finish by doing little or nothing. The Decree or arrête against our passports was a new one, as you will find. Mr: Cutting and his friends are prevented by it from going to Paris, very much to their disappointment.1 General Pinckney and his family are here.2 Mr: Rutgers was here too this morning and is gone on to Amsterdam. Capt Mackay gave me no opportunity to reject the offer you mentioned; he expected to find you here, and will write you. I have since your departure, received letters from Mr: Short and

84

April 1797 Mr: Waldo, at Paris, both of whom I suppose you will see. I enclose a letter for Waldo.3 Your friends here enquire after you avec interêt. We visited the Hansetowns on Tuesday and Sweden according to custom on Wednesday.4 This evening, we expect to see Madam Schimmelpenninck.5 You know my aversion to long Letters (to writing them I mean) and I suppose will be glad to find mine short ones. None from America since you went away. Your’s with the truest affection. LbC in TBA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mr: T B Adams.”; APM Reel 130. 1 On 17 April JQA recorded in his Diary that William Cutting was accompanied by “Mr: Apthorp” and “Mr: Shaw.” These were likely George Henry Apthorp, for whom see Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 15 Oct., and note 6, below, and John Shaw, of New York, who would marry a cousin of Apthorp’s in 1799 (D/JQA/24, 1 June, 6 Aug. 1797, APM Reel 27; John Wentworth, The Wentworth Genealogy: English and American, Boston, 1878, p. 519–520, 525; Hopper Striker Mott, The New York of Yesterday: A Descriptive Narrative of Old Bloomingdale, N.Y., 1908, p. 333; Frederic W. Bailey, Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800, 7 vols., New Haven, 1896–1906, 7:28). 2 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and his family had removed from Amsterdam to The Hague by 18 April, taking up residence in the Maréchal de Turenne (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27; Stinchcombe, XYZ Affair, p. 51). 3 In his letter of 12 April William Short thanked JQA for forwarding items via James Monroe and noted his regret at not seeing JQA at Paris prior to his imminent return to the United States (Adams Papers).

John Jones Waldo wrote to JQA on 10 April (Adams Papers) seeking a recommendation for a consular posting at Bordeaux, France, where he planned to settle. JQA replied on 21 April offering to provide the recommendation (LbC, APM Reel 130). Waldo (ca. 1769– 1803), who was engaged in commercial shipping, had been a Harvard classmate of JQA’s (vol. 7:140; Jefferson, Papers, 38:420). 4 JQA was referring to visits made to two diplomats. The first was Baron Georges François Bosset de la Rochette, who had long represented several German states and independent Hanseatic towns at The Hague; the second was the Swedish minister, Count Fredrik Adolf Löwenhielm, who frequently held parties on Wednesdays (D/JQA/24, 15, 29 March, 5, 12, 18, 19 April, APM Reel 27; M/TBA/2, 15 March 1795, APM Reel 282; JA, Papers, 13:493; Repertorium, 3:412). 5 Catharina Nahuys Schimmelpenninck (1770–1844) was the wife of Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, a member of the Batavian National Assembly (Biografisch Portaal van Nederland).

John Adams to Abigail Adams My dearest Friend Philadelphia April 22. 1797 I had no Letter from you Yesterday. As You intended to commence your Journey on the 24th. it is not probable this Letter will meet you, till it returns to this Place. But as it is possible you might not be able to set out so soon, you may receive it at Quincy. Brisler is at Quincy before this, I hope.

85

Adams Family Correspondence Charles is just gone, for N. York— I have communicated to him my Plan of sending my Coachman and Horses to Paulus Hook for You. I shall be obliged to send a Man or Boy with the Coachman and that Man or boy may ride my little Horse, which James rides to N. York.— I Suppose you will give James his Time, with his Cloaths &c. I however shall leave it to you— I fear he will Spoil our whole House, if he comes here. He has been so indulged like a Baby. Let me know when you shall be at N. York.— You may write me indeed from New York.— The Letter will come to me in a day. But it will take two days for my Horses to go from hence to Paulus Hook.— If however you should by any Letter I may receive next Week, inform me on what day you shall arrive at N. York I could send my Horses early enough to be at Paulus Hook as soon as you will be in the City. If you have Sold all at Vendue, that is proper to sell and let the Place at any reasonable Price, it will prove the most economical Measure for Us that could have been taken. I am your ever Affectionate J. A RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “J A / April 22 1797.”

Abigail Adams to John Adams My Dearest Friend: Quincy, April 23, 1797. I think through all the most trying conflicts of my life, I have been called to pass through them separated from the personal condolence and support of my bosom friend, I have been taught to look for support and aid from superior power than man: there is a state of mind, when affliction dries up the source of tears, and almost bids the swollen heart burst. I have left one of those distressing scenes, and come from the house of sorrow, and bitterness, and wo, to the house of silent mourning. The venerable remains of our parent, yet lie uninterred, and the distressing pangs of dissolution of an agonizing nature, are separating the soul from the body of my dear niece, whilst her senses are perfect, and alive to every attention, willing to go, praying to be released, yet requesting her friends and sisters not to leave her dying bed; but to remain by her until she breathes her last. O it is too much to bear! my heart is too big for my bosom; it rends my frame, and you will find me, when I reach you, more emaciated than with a fit of sickness. To-morrow I have

86

April 1797 the last duties to pay to our venerable parent. I have taken upon me the care and charge of the funeral; and to-morrow she will, for the last time, enter our doors. I have requested Mr. Whitney to attend. It is not for me to say when I will leave here; the will of heaven has detained me; I must not complain. By the mistake or misarrangement of the mails, you will not receive my letters as I wish, but the detention will only spare you pain. I am, my dearest friend. Your very afflicted, A. Adams. MS not found. Printed from AA2, Jour. and Corr., 2:149–150.

John Adams to Abigail Adams My dearest Friend Phila. Ap. 24. 1797 This day you promis’d me to begin your Journey: but if the Weather is as disagreable with you as it is here, I could not exact the fullfillment of the Engagement. I fear you will have bad roads and unpleasant Weather. You talk of your Perplexities and say you must get out of them yourself. Do you think mine less severe, public or private? My dear and venerable Mother— Alass— I feel for her.— She can complement her daughter yet—that is a good Sign.— As to the Husband it Seems to me that the Mother and the Daughter ought to think a little of the President as well as the Husband. His Cares! His Anxieties! his Health! dont laugh— his Comfort—that his head may be clear and his heart firm, ought to be thought on more than the Husband. Provide every Thing for my aged and worthy Mother I hope to see her yet again before October. You and Such petit Maitres and Maitresses as you, are forever criticising the Periods and Diction of Such great Men as Presidents and Chief Justices.— Do you think their Minds are taken up with such Trifles. there is solid keen, deep sense in that Morsel of Elsworths— You ought to be punished for wishing it not published. I warrant you, I shall soon be acquitted of the Crime of Chronicle, Argus and Aurora praise— Let it run its rig however—and say nothing at present.1 Your moral reflections on worldly Possessions and earthly Comforts—Your look into futurity for brighter Scenes and fairer Prospects are wise.

87

Adams Family Correspondence You cant imagine what a Man of Business I am—how many Papers I read and how much I write, every day. I fear you will effeminate me when you come. I have determined to Send my Coachman and Horses to Paulus Hook for you. as soon as I know the day you will be ready to get Your Coach over to the Hook I will endeavour to contrive that the Horses shall be ready. to be harnessed at you command. You will find the Coachman very Attentive sober, skillful and obliging. I am forever your J. A RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “Mr J A April 24 / 1797.” 1 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser and Thomas Greenleaf ’s New York Argus were among the Democratic-Republican newspapers that wielded praise in an attempt to lure JA from staunch Federalism (Stewart, Opposition Press, 281–282). For example, the Aurora, 13 April, printed extracts of a letter stating that “sentiments have been imputed

to Mr. Adams that he never adopted.” The New York Journal, Greenleaf ’s semiweekly newspaper, similarly published a letter on 15 April commenting, “It is said, that Mr. Adams is sincerely disposed to reconcile France to us. I wish it may be true—he will establish a lasting and solid glory by it. . . . I hope much from his administration.”

Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams London April 24th 1797 I have recieved your letter of the 13th, my beloved friend, it is impossible to express the delight I experienced, when I read the welcome tidings it conveyed yes my Dearest friend, should you find it practicable, I will with pleasure attend—you—my whole life shall be devoted to render you happy, and I trust in time, it will be in my power to convince you, that I am far from wishing to interrupt your studies, Too great an anxiety for your health induced me to write what has so much offended you, I have so often committed these faults lately, that whenever I write you, I feel a sort of fear, lest I should inadvertently repeat them I will say no more on this subject my Adams, your letter conveyed such pleasing intelligence, I cannot dwell on the latter part of it— I only fear that something will happen to prevent our meeting, and I scarcely dare encourage the flattering hope, lest I should again be disappointed— I shewed my father that part of your letter, wherein you mention the probability of your return he told me he would write you by this opportunity

88

April 1797 Ah my friend, it was in my last letter I said, that I was more reconciled to our lengthened seperation but the pleasure I now feel, fully convinces me how much I shall suffer, should we at last be doomed to seperate— my last disappointment has taught me to fear, and I find it almost impossible to check my apprehensions— All the family desire to be remembered— Farewell my best friend, believe me sincerely yours, Louisa C. Johnson RC (Adams Papers).

Hannah Quincy Lincoln Storer to Abigail Adams Boston April 24th.— 1797 I feel as if I were My worthy friend, Compel’d to write a few lines to you in this uncommon hour of distressing events that await you. Tho’ what you wished with respect to one of the deceased has happen’d—Yet Not the less affecting I am sure— Your Mind I think Must be freed from a Charge that Seem’d to dewell heavy upon you— when I last had the Satisfaction of Seeing You— at this Moment the World Seems dyeing around you—and as the following lines aptly speak My sentiments upon the Melancholy Accation—I hope to be excused from transcribing them.— “Come friendship, with thy Sweetly-pleaseing power Teach Me to calm My dear lov’d Stella’s breast. Shed thy kind influence o’er the gloomy hour, And Sooth her every anxious care to rest. Tell her that providence, immensely kind, Through all events its guardian care extends; Nor can a real grief oppress her Mind But ev’n that grief unerring wisdom Sends. Oft, when imaginary woes oppress, A dark cloud rises, and we shrink with fear, Perhaps that very cloud is Meant to bless, And Shed rich comfort on the Coming Year The ways of providence, how kind! how wise! From Seeming ills what real good is born! Nor can the heart its blessings learn to prize That gay and thoughtless, Never knew to Mourn.

89

Adams Family Correspondence O May My Stella raise her wishes high! With warm devotion May her bosom glow! Pant for unmingled bliss beyond the Sky And thankful own the gifts enjoy’d below![”]1 To the Amiable Louisa and her friends I wish every consolation in this hour of their Afflection, And with a Sympathetic heart petition that these light Afflections May Yeild them a far More exceeding and an eternal weight of Glory. I hope My good friend has e’er this heard of the restored health of the President. and that amidest her present troubles, his want of health is Not to be added— Tho’ our Social Circle here cannot be compleat without You My dear friend, Yet you have the warmest wishes of your friends that you May Soon join the partner of your joys and Sorrows, and by the Mutual exchange of each reap pleasures that cannot be procured while seprate. Here Suffer Me to add, (however painful the Idea that I May Never See either of you again) My constant wishes will attend you through the Thorny Path—and flowery way, that each May as you ever have done—exhibit a pure example in every Situation worthy to be imitated by all that May be call’d to the like conspicuou[. . . .] And Now dear Madam be asured [that] My best friend, with My Children, join me in offers of every Sentiment proper to be transmitted to the friends we So Much esteem. And believe me as ever / Your Attached Hannah Storer P S The Young Ladies desire love to Miss Smith—2 RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs A Adams. / Quincy”; internal address: “Mrs. Adams—”; endorsed: “Mrs Storer 24th / April 1797.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 Anne Steele, “To Silvia,” Miscellaneous Pieces, in Verse and Prose, by Theodosia, Bristol, Eng., 1780, p. 97–98. 2 That is, Storer’s daughters—Hannah, Anna, and Susan—for whom see vol. 8:286.

Joshua Johnson to John Quincy Adams My Dear Sir London 25 April 1797. I thank you for your obliging Letter of the 31st Ultimo1 I do not know that I should have replied to it before the 5th. of next Month had not my Daughter receved a late Letter from you & in which you inform her that the Letters you had recived from America had de-

90

April 1797 termined you to proceed to Lisbon as soon as possible but that you was diserous of takeing London in your way,2 I need not tell you that I should be glad to see you on many Accounts, one amongst the rest is to shew you that I have arrainged all my old concerns & am now nearly ready to return to the Country that gave me Birth, with a hope of Settling my Family comfortably & then ending the remainder of my Days, prudence will in this, direct that I arrange my Worldy matters by Will & if I should be deprived of seeing you before I quit this Country I shall take the liberty to nominate you; my Son; & Nephew my Executors, being confident that you will exert your self to protect, the Fortunes & Morals of all my Children & under your advice & Instruction my Nephew will be enabled to Collect & arrange all my Merchantile affairs & which must produce a large Sum, to be divided amongst my Family, but I will refrain from saying any thing more to you at present on this gloomy Subject3 You mention your intentions of ingageing a Vessell to take you to Lisbon, that you intended to arrange with the Captain to touch in some Port & then wait for you until you could come to London & Join my Daughter whom you intend to take with you, as her Father I am anxious to see her happy & united to the Man, I am shure will make her so; & one whom I esteem, I would therefore do anything in my power to promote your intentions & was not the Schooner Mary rather two small to take you to Lisbon, I would send her immedeatly to Rotterdam & their wait your conveniency in comeing over, this Vessell is about 50 Tons Built in Virginia is fitted up for Passengers & remarkably handsome I wish that I could have known your intentions sooner,4 I certainly would have indeavored to accomodate you, I expect the Holland by the Fifteenth of next Month,5 she may be order’d to Rotterdam or Amsterdam if so she will afford you a good conveyance to London where I want her to take me & my Family out to Amica & from this I think you may always meet with Vessells bound to Lisbon, I however wish by the return of Post to hear from you & know your determenatin. Your Successor I find is expected every Day, it is more than probable that he may come home in the Holland— It is said here that the Emperor has made his Peace, is it so, & if it is, what effect will it have on this & our Country,6 I am afraid & very much afraid that it will make the Directory very imperious & Insolent to us— I have the pleasure to inform you that Mrs. Johnson & the Ladies are all well, they unite in their most Affectionate good wishes to you & I am— / Dear Sir / Your truly Affecte. Friend Joshua Johnson

91

Adams Family Correspondence RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “[. . . .]s Esqr. / [Minister Res]ident from the / [U. S.] A. / Hague”; endorsed: “J. Johnson. / 25. April 1797. / 10. May. do: recd: / 12. do: Ansd:.” Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript. 1 JQA to Johnson, 31 March, LbC, APM Reel 130. 2 See JQA to LCA, 13 April, above. 3 A copy of Johnson’s will has not been found for this period, although for JQA’s receipt of it, see his letter to Johnson of 11 Oct., below. In Johnson’s final will, dated 1801, JQA was named as an executor along with Thomas Baker Johnson and Joshua Johnson’s nephew and son-in-law, Walter Hellen (LCA, D&A, 1:18, 167). 4 The Mary did not carry JQA from Rotterdam but remained in London. On 17 July 1797 JQA and LCA visited the schooner, which he described as “a vessel belonging to Mr: Johnson, and which he has offered to carry us to Lisbon.— We had a pleasant

time, and the vessel is a very good one; but I am turned away from the Lisbon course” (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27). 5 The ship Holland arrived at Eastbourne, England, during the first week of June. The vessel also traveled to Amsterdam, and in September it returned to the United States with the Johnson family aboard, arriving at Georgetown, D.C., on 25 Nov. (London Lloyd’s List, 6, 13 June, 12 Sept.; LCA, D&A, 1:51). 6 Unofficial reports of the preliminary peace agreement between France and Austria were published in the London General Evening Post, 22–25 April, and the London Chronicle of the same date. For the official report in the London press, see LCA to JQA, 3 May, and note 2, below.

Abigail Adams to John Adams My Dearest Friend, Quincy, 26 April, 1797. This, I hope, is the last letter which you will receive from me at Quincy. The funeral rites performed, I prepare to set out on the morrow. I long to leave a place, where every scene and object wears a gloom, or looks so to me. My agitated mind wants repose. I have twice the present week met my friends and relatives, and taken leave of them in houses of mourning. I have asked, “Was all this necessary to wean me from the world? Was there danger of my fixing a too strong attachment upon it? Has it any allurements, which could make me forget, that here I have no abiding-place?”1 All, all is undoubtedly just and right. Our aged parent is gone to rest. My mind is relieved from any anxiety on her account. I have no fears lest she should be left alone, and receive an injury. I have no apprehensions, that she should feel any want of aid or assistance, or fear of becoming burdensome. She fell asleep, and is happy. Mary, in the prime of life, when, if ever, it is desirable, became calm, resigned, and willing to leave the world. She made no objection to her sister’s going, or to mine, but always said she should go first. I have received your letters of April 16th and 19th.2 I want no courting to come. I am ready and willing to follow my husband wherever he chooses; but the hand of Heaven has arrested me.

92

April 1797 Adieu, my dear friend. Excuse the melancholy strain of my letter. From the abundance of the heart the stream flows. Affectionately yours, A. Adams. MS not found. Printed from AA, Letters, ed. CFA, 1848, p. 376–377. 1 AA was possibly paraphrasing Rev. John Tillotson’s “Sermon XCIII” (The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, 12 vols., London, 1748, 6:113–114). 2 JA to AA, 16 April, has not been found, although AA likely meant JA’s letter of 18 April, for which see his letter of 19 April, note 4, above.

Thomas Boylston Adams to John Quincy Adams My dear Brother. Paris 26. April 1797. I wrote you from Brussels on the 19th: instt: and acquainted you with the progress of my journey to that place. I left it on the 20th: with the Diligence, and reached Valenciennes in safety at an early hour of the evening. There I was deserted by my fellow travellers whom I met on the banks of the Mease, but in the course of the day I had become tolerably acquainted with my new companions who entered at Brussels, and the subsequent part of the Journey was rendered very pleasant by the new accession. A very interesting young lady, accompanied by her father, and bound upon a matrimonial voyage formed the principal agrément of the journey. I learnt her history in ascending a very long hill upon our second days route from Valenciennes, having ravished by violence her arm and attached it to my own— She also learnt mine, and upon comparing stories we found that we were fellow-townspeople as well as fellow travellers. She is the Daughter of Mr: De Thune the Bookseller at the Hague—has received a principal part of her education in France, and is certainly one of the most charming little girls, I have ever seen. Her father is a parisian by birth and very much of a gentleman in his manners and conversation— Our other companions were of the ordinary cast, but for the most part very accommodating. On the journey we met with but one accident, which retarded us on the high road nearly four hours of the night. We had dined at Cambray and were to ride all night, but at 9 in the evening our Director discovered that one of the wheels of the carriage was on the point of breaking, just in the middle of a long hill. The remark was very opportune for the wheel must have fallen with two or three more turns. Before we could get it repaired it was nearly one in the morning as we were two leagues distant from the place where it could be

93

Adams Family Correspondence done— The interval I employed in sleep beside the fire of an humble cottage, which I was told by the owner was only à quatre pas d’ici, but which proved to be half a mile. We proceeded without further delay and reached this place at half past ten on Saturday evening— I took my little case under my arm, and by the help of a verbal direction undertook and effected the discovery of the Hotel des Etrangers Rue Vivienne No 6. whence I now write you. I shall say nothing to you of my enchantment on the road at the sight of such a favored spot of the globe as France appears to be— I had never formed a notion of it, though I expected to meet the finest Country under Heaven. Since I have been here, I have scarcely done or seen any thing— I have this day sent to the Directorie the necessary petition to obtain leave of residence for a short time— Mr: Skipwith has also undertaken to procure me one to return to the Hague.1 I find every thing here enormously dear, in so much that I am persuaded I shall have occasion for an extension of my credit upon the Bankers to whom Messrs: Moliere addressed me.2 This is very different from what I expected; but I see no help for it unless I should defeat the object of my visit by a spirit of oeconomy. It is frightful for me to think of such an enormous expence in so short a time, but every thing here is taken by the month and must be paid for at that rate. I must have a carriage, for I foresee that nothing can be done without one, where the object is to see Paris and its environs, and the common Hacks would shortly consume the price of a carriage at my own command. On Sunday evening I saw at the grand opera Mr: D’Araujo, who enquired with much politeness after you; he has not been absent from Paris.3 You know what the Opera is— Do you think I was disappointed in it? Yesterday I made one of a party to Sceaux, one of the former Royal Chateaux, and of all perfection of nature and art, I am yet to see its equal.4 Mr: Pitcairn is well; Paris swarms with our fellow citizens, who are here upon various affairs; for my own part I know not how they can live here at this time when it costs a small fortune to live for a month only. I have seen nor heard nothing about books since my arrival; indeed until this very hour, I have found leisure for neither reading or writing; as to thought, It has necessarily been active, but you will wonder how when you read this letter.

94

April 1797 The preliminaries of peace with the Emperor are said to be possitively signed concluded; but the Armies of the Rhine are advancing rapidly with success. Peace will stop them e’re long.5 Remember me to our friends and believe me / your brother Thomas B Adams. PS. Your friend Mr: Burling is my next door neighbor here. I find pleasure in his Society. Waldo, Rogers. D. Parker. Cutting, Russel, &ca: are among the number of your acquaintance here.6 Mr: Short has just left me, and desires to be remembered to you. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “J Q Adams.”; endorsed: “T. B. Adams. Paris. / 26. April 1797. / 2. May do: recd: / do: Ansd:.” 1 Fulwar Skipwith (1765–1839) was a Virginia merchant who had been appointed secretary for James Monroe’s mission to France. He subsequently served as consul general to France (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 11:438; Henry Bartholomew Cox, The Parisian American: Fulwar Skipwith of Virginia, Washington, D.C., 1964, p. 46–47, 58). 2 Moliere & Fils had assisted JQA with several private financial matters since his arrival at The Hague. On 5 May he paid the firm a visit, presumably regarding the extension of TBA’s credit (Moliere & Fils to JQA, 16 March 1795, 12 July 1796, both Adams Papers; D/JQA/24, 2 March 1795, 23 July 1796, 5 May 1797, APM Reel 27). 3 For Antonio de Araujo de Azevedo’s mission to France, see JQA to LCA, 6 May, and note 4, below. 4 For a fuller description of TBA’s visit to the château at Sceaux, see his letter to AA, 24 July, and note 1, below. 5 A preliminary peace agreement between France and Austria was signed at Leoben, Austria, on 18 April, under the terms of which

the Austrian Netherlands were ceded in return for an indemnity to be paid by France after the definitive treaty was signed. Secret articles addressed the division of Italian territory, with Austria ceding lands west of the Oglio River but gaining the Venetian lands to the river’s east, as well as its territory in Dalmatia and Istria (now Croatia), and France retiring from the Austrian territory occupied by the Army of Italy. The official report of the peace did not reach the Directory until 29 April, but news of the agreement preceded it to Paris (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:582–583; Biro, German Policy of Revolutionary France, 2:754–756, 758). 6 Walter Burling, a Massachusetts merchant living in Paris, had been among JQA’s social circle in Boston prior to his departure for the Netherlands. Daniel Parker, for whom see vol. 7:221, was engaged in financial speculation in Paris at this time. Boston merchant Joseph Russell lived in Paris from 1796 until 1798 (Monroe, Papers, 3:509, 4:75, 268; D/JQA/19, 22 Oct. 1793, APM Reel 22; D/JQA/22, 28 Aug. 1794, APM Reel 25).

Eunice Paine to Abigail Adams my Dear mrs Adams [ca. 26 April 1797]1 From an old friend the companion of your youthfull days you will allow the familliarity I use— I was so Struck with the intelligence mr Belcher left this morning that I am hardly capable of writing but the Spirit constraineth me the dispensations of providence are so visibly kind they have a voice of their own and need not be repeated— Peace to the Spirits of the

95

Adams Family Correspondence departed they had their Dear freinds around them—and all the Love & all the honour that they coud receive was granted go now to thine Dearer half & be to him a supporter under all his great affairs Go ride in the whirlwind & derect the Storm2 & may This benign Spirit Guide you, Gaurd you, Strengthen you & perfect all the work which you have taken in hand And in the mids of a crooked Generation you may Shine together as lights in the world.—3 I understand that you Set forward to morrow may Every Element be favourable to you and I ask that you woud tender my Love to your Daughter it is as good as Ever and I woud also ask the favour that you woud put the annexed Testimony of Cais tome to my friend into your Trunk and convey it as derectd at yr Leizure4 my love to Louisa may heaven preserve you all from the p[. . .] of the City you will Excu[se] the penman-Ship this Employ agitates my Nerve but I am better than I have been & may live to rejoyce in your adminstrations you must think of me as of a good nature’d Spirit who hovers round you & woud if possible convey to you the pleasurables which yr circumstances have allowd you to Shed upon me for all favours may that Being reward you who Supplyd my want from yours in the Bonds of Love Eunice Paine RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs Adams / Quincy”; endorsed: “Mrs Payne / April 1797.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. Filmed at [April 1797]. 1 The dating of this letter is based on AA’s intended departure date, for which see her letter to JA, 26 April, above. 2 The previous nine words were written vertically in the margin and marked for insertion here. They are quoted from Joseph Addison, “The Campaign, a Poem, to His Grace the Duke of Marlborough,” line 292.

3 Philippians, 2:15. 4 Possibly a reference to Roman historian Gaius (or Caius) Sallustius Crispus’ The Works of Sallust, Translated into English. With Political Discourses upon that Author, transl. Thomas Gordon, London, 1744, a copy of which is among the books in JA’s library at MB (Catalogue of JA’s Library).

Obituary of Susanna Boylston Adams Hall Quincy April 29th. 1797.— On Friday the 21st. instt. departed this life, in the 89th. year of her age, Mrs. Susannah Hall, the venerable Mother of John Adams, President of the United States of America. And on Monday following her funeral was attended from the President’s house to the Meeting-House in this place, by a large & respectable assembly of the inhabitants of this and the neighbouring Towns, who came to pay their last respects to her memory. Her remains were carried into

96

April 1797 that house of Prayer, in which, when living, she took so much comfort & delight. Previous to her interment a most excellent Prayer, adapted to the solemn occasion was made by Mr Peter Whitney a young Candidate for the sacred Ministry, now officiating here.1 The deceased, in early life, was married to Mr John Adams, then a most worthy and respectable gentleman of this place. With him she passed the prime of life fulfilling the duties & partaking in all the sympathies of domestic care and tenderness, till death dissolved the union. She was then left a widow with three sons, whose dutiful & filial affection for their remaining parent, softened the affliction that left them fatherless, and did honour to the principles of virtue and piety in which they had been educated. Her eldest Son received a liberal education at the University of Cambridge, and now sustains the Office of President of the United States of America.— After continuing in widowhood until her Children were agreeably settled in life she consented to alter her state, by accepting the addresses of a worthy gentleman by the name of Hall as the companion and friend of her declining age, with whom she lived happily a few years when he also was taken from her by death.2 Mrs Hall was descended from the family of the Boylstons, one of the most respectable families in New England. Her uncle Doctor Zabdiel Boylston, a most celebrated Physician, was the gentleman who first discovered and practiced the method of inoculation for the small-pox, which has since proved of such inestimable benefit to Mankind.3 Other branches of the same family have been eminent for Learning, & one of them in particular, of late for his generous Donation to the University of Cambridge4 for the purpose of promoting polite literature and the belles lettres.5 A life, like Mrs Hall’s protracted so much beyond the common period, afforded the present generation a living example of that singularity simplicity of manners & godly sincerity for which the venerable settlers of this country were so justly esteemed, & her peaceful death brightened by the full prospect of immortal felicity through a reedemer afforded an example of the unspeakable value of that Religion by which “Life & immortality are brought to light.”6 MS in Louisa Catharine Smith’s hand (Adams Papers); docketed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “Character of / Mrs. Susannah Hall. / who died on Friday the / 21st. of April / 1797.” 1 Hall is buried at the Hancock Cemetery in Quincy.

97

2 For John Hall, see JA, D&A, 1:307. 3 For Dr. Zabdiel Boylston and the intro-

Adams Family Correspondence duction of smallpox inoculation into the American colonies, see JA, Papers, 8:366. 4 The Boston Columbian Centinel, 3 May, printed this obituary almost verbatim to this point. It concludes with this sentence, which in the published version ends, “for the promotion of Literature in the seat of science.” Several U.S. newspapers published notifications of Hall’s death, and a few printed all or portions of the obituary. See, for example, Massachusetts Mercury, 25 April; New York Minerva, 1 May; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 1 May; Portland, Maine, Eastern Herald, 10 May; and Charleston, S.C., City

Gazette, 25 May. 5 Nicholas Boylston, a cousin of Hall’s, was a benefactor of Harvard College, contributing to the rebuilding of the library after it was destroyed by fire in 1764 and bequeathing £1,500 on his death in 1771 to endow a professorship of rhetoric and oratory, the inaugural appointment for which was awarded to JQA in June 1805 (JA, D&A, 1:295; Josiah Quincy, History of Harvard University, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1840, 2:214–215; D/JQA/27, 26 June 1805, APM Reel 30). 6 2 Timothy, 1:10.

Abigail Adams to John Adams springfield sunday Evening April 30 1797 my dearest Friend Thus far am I on my journey. I hope to reach East Chester on thursday Evening, and one day I must pass there, and one in N york. on Monday I shall sit forward for Philadelphia, and could wish you to meet me at muckleroys to dinner on twesday, if agreable to you, of which you can inform me by post addrest to me at N york to be left at our Sons.1 Brisler will be home by Saturday Night or sunday at furtherst with his Family and my two Girls— we have got on very well, only mrs Brisler the first night was sick all night with one of her old turns which a little fatigue always produces. I was thankfull he was with her to take charge of her— I endeavour to feel cheerfull, and try to make Louissa so who is much affected by the Death of her sister, and has been quite sick. we have both had severe trials upon us the week we left home— I come to place my head upon your Bosom and to receive and give that consolation which sympathetick hearts alone know how to communicate. your A Adams2 RC (Adams Papers). 1 Archibald McElroy operated the Cross Keys tavern in Bristol, Penn. (Laurens, Papers, 16:490). 2 AA wrote JA again on 4 May, reporting the arrival of her travel party in Stamford,

Conn., and noting that they hoped to reach Eastchester, N.Y., that day. She also reported that John Briesler was continuing on to Philadelphia and that she required funds to pay for the rest of her journey (Adams Papers).

98

April 1797

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my Dear sister springfield April 30 1797 I know you will rejoice to hear that we are so far on our journey without meeting any accident my Quincy Friends and Neighbours who accompanied us as far as Westown could tell you that they parted with us in as good Spirits, as the peculiar circumstances which preceeded our leaving home would admit. we reachd Williams’s and lodgd there.1 it was fortunate that mr Brisler was with his wife, for in the Night she was taken with one of her sick turns, and was ill all night and part of the next day. Worry and fatigue had brought on, what would have taken place without it as Soon as the Hot weather commenced. having effectually cleard her stomack, I hope she will proceed without any further inconvenience. the next day we reachd Worcester to dine, and Brookfield to lodge. how we got to springfield to night, is not worth Your while to inquire. the Attorney Generall will not present us I presume, as we caught him on the Road, returning from Northhampton Court.2 but with a Family of thirteen persons it behoves us to get on as fast as we can, particularly when I consider my detention, and how necessary to the Wheels of the Presidents Family Brisler is. my Thoughts are continually like Noahs Dove, returning to the Ark I have left. Whether like that I shall return no more, must be left with that Being, in whose hands my Breath is. I consider myself following where Duty leads and trust the Event. “is Heaven tremendous in its frowns? most sure; And in its favours formidable too; Its favours here are trials, not rewards; A call to Duty, not discharge from care And Should alarm Us, full as much as woes; Awake us to their cause, and concequence; O’er our Scann’d conduct give a jealous Eye And make us tremble.[”]3 Such appears, to me the situation in which I am placed, enviable no doubt, in the Eyes of Some, but never envy’d or coveted by me. that I may discharge my part with honour, and give satisfaction is my most earnest wish. My kindest regards await my Friends, particularly to Brother Cranch. Love to my Dear Eliza. I hope she will not let her spirits

99

Adams Family Correspondence faint or sink under her bereavement. how consolutary the reflection, that whom the Lord loveth, he chastneth You have the consolation of knowing that no part of your duty was omitted. all that the tenderest Love and kindest affection could do or perform was done by You, for the Dear Girl whose loss we mourn this with her dying Breath she bore witness too.4 Let mrs Howard know that Betsy stands her journey pretty well5 the other Girls are very well. I forgot to mention to mr Porter to attend to the first catipillar webb and take them of as soon as they appear. pray send him word. I see they are beginning upon the Road— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A Adams, Spring- / field, Apl. 30 1797.” Some loss of text due to a cut manuscript. 1 George Williams (1736–1813) was the proprietor of the Williams Tavern in Marlborough, Mass. (Ella A. Bigelow, Historical Reminiscences of the Early Times in Marlborough, Massachusetts, Marlborough, Mass., 1910, p. 25–26; Charles Hudson, History of the Town of Marlborough . . . with a Brief Sketch of the Town of Northborough, Boston, 1862, p. 469, 470). 2 The Supreme Judicial Court was held at Northampton, Mass., on the last Tuesday in April and the fourth Tuesday in September.

As attorney general, James Sullivan would have attended the spring court on 25 April (Mass., Acts and Laws, 1792–1793, p. 497– 498). 3 Edward Young, The Complaint; or, Night Thoughts, Night I, lines 327–334. 4 A portion of the RC is cut away at this point comprising approximately one-third of the third page. 5 Jerusha Field Howard (ca. 1747–1825) was the mother of Betsy and Polly Doble Howard (Sprague, Braintree Families).

John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams My dear Brother. The Hague 2 May 1797. I am very much gratified to find by your favour of the 26th: that your Journey from Brussels was so pleasant, and that you are so well satisfied with what you had seen.— I shall request Messrs: Moliere to extend your credit with their correspondents at Paris. There is a Danish vessel going to Lisbon from Amsterdam in the course of three weeks or a month. I shall go to Amsterdam in a few days to ascertain whether it will be expedient to take passage in her. Your friend Parker is here for a few days. The Citizen Plenipotentiaire & our Tilly are sitting to him for their pictures.1 Your numerous friends here, always obligingly demand of your news. I go on in the usual stile, more and more dissatisfied with my solitude. No letters from America. Remember me particularly to my friends at Paris, and to Messrs:

100

Adams Family Correspondence April–May 1797

April–May 1797 d’Aranjo and Brito. Tell the latter that I shall be happy to take any commands for his Country. He mentioned before he went from here that he might have some.2 After the letter, which you will find I have written this morning to Mr: Pitcairn,3 you will not be sorry to see me come to a short conclusion with you, in the assurance of being your ever affectionate brother. LbC in TBA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mr: T B Adams. Paris”; APM Reel 130. 1 That is, Mr. Parker, the artist who had painted miniature portraits of JQA and TBA, for which see vol. 10:xii. Parker’s current subjects were François Noël, the French minister at The Hague, and Tilly Whitcomb, JQA’s servant. 2 Francisco José Maria de Brito was the secretary of the Portuguese legation at The Hague, described by JQA as “a sensible well informed Man.” Brito had likely accompa-

nied Antonio de Araujo de Azevedo on the latter’s special mission to France (D/JQA/24, 22 March, 9 April 1795, APM Reel 27). 3 JQA to Joseph Pitcairn, 2 May 1797, in which JQA commented on Algerian-American relations and criticized recent French attempts to instigate war with the United States. He also discredited rumors of James Madison’s arrival in Paris as envoy extraordinary to France (OCHP:Joseph Pitcairn Letters).

Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams London May 3d 1797 Your letter of the 21st of April, appears to intimate a doubt of the possibility of our meeting, my last disappointment my beloved friend, has taught me to fear, and I have endeavored to acquire fortitude, in case of the worst—1 Heaven knows with what delight I should have accompanied you, and how rejoiced I should be to have it in my power to contribute to your happiness but if this cannot be done, without inconvenience to you, my Adams, I should surely consult my own happiness not yours, if I wished it— I am happy to hear that your brother means to accompany you, could I envy any one it certainly would be him— We have this day hear’d of the Peace between the French and the Emperor of Germany your brother is fortunate as this it is said has made Paris very gay—2 Papa has been very ill, but is now recovering— Adieu, write to me I entreat you my best friend, endeavor to mitigate the pain, I cannot help feeling, at the idea of your departure, and believe / me unalterably yours Louisa C. Johnson3 RC (Adams Papers). 1 In a short letter to LCA of 21 April, JQA suggested that their separation was likely to continue owing to the difficulty of finding

American vessels bound for Lisbon. JQA also wrote that TBA, who was currently visiting Paris, had decided to accompany him to Por-

101

Adams Family Correspondence May 1797

Adams Family Correspondence tugal. He wrote again on 28 April reporting his intention to travel from Amsterdam to Lisbon aboard a Danish vessel and that ongoing friction between Portugal and France would likely prohibit her accompanying him (both Adams Papers). 2 The London Evening Mail, 1–2 May, published a report from the French Directory

announcing the signing of the preliminary peace agreement with Austria. 3 LCA wrote a similar letter to JQA on 16 May, repeating her acceptance of their continued separation and her happiness that TBA would remain with him. She also commented on her father’s preparations to return to the United States (Adams Papers).

John Adams to Abigail Adams My dearest Friend Philadelphia May 4, 1797 Your Letters of the 21. 22. 23. and 26 of April are all before me—1 They have inspired me with all the Melancholly in which they were written. Our Mother and our Niece are gone to rest. The first a fruit fully ripe the last but a blossom or a bud.— I have Suffered for you as much as you have Suffered— But I could give you no Aid or Amusement or Comfort.— I pray God that these dispensations may be for ever good. My Mothers Countenance and Conversation was a Source of Enjoyment to me, that is now dried up forever, at Quincy. Our Ancestors are now all gone, and We are to follow them very Soon, to a country where there will be no War or rumour of War, no Envy, Jealousy Rivalry nor Party. You and I are now entering on a new Scene, which will be the most difficult, and least agreable of any in our Lives.— I hope the burthen will be lighter to both of Us, when We come together. I am, as long as Life lasts your / ever affectionate John Adams2 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs Adams.” 1 AA’s letters to JA of 21 and 22 April have not been found. 2 JA wrote AA a second letter of this date, reporting that he would be unable to send his coach and horses to Paulus Hook, N.J., for her but that he would try to meet her in Bristol, Penn.; he also enclosed $150 to pay for the rest of her journey (Adams Papers).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy May 4th—1797 I this day receiv’d your kind Letter from Springfield. I Set you down in Brookfield in my mind that day however I think you did right to go on as fast as you could the President must want both you & mr Brisler & could I think you would have any rest after you arriv’d I should feel better about you. but I do hope you will not think

102

May 1797 of Staying thro the hot months your Life is of too much importance to be thus risk’d— I did feel—I cannot Say how the day you left me— I could not bear to stay at Quincy I Should have done like poor Prince wept all day it was necessary also for Cousin Betsy to get out She Set the greatest part of her time at the kitchen chamber window looking into the Burying Ground. I have not let her know I notic’d it but I lead her away as much as I can. Sister Smith has had a terrible [crazy] turn quite raving last Saturday & a monday She made mrs Brackit believe She was going to dye we were there the most of the day She made mrs Brackit lug & lift her about like a baby till I went over.1 She was very cross wanted a Doctor & a nurse. had nobody to take any care of her. wishd She could be among people who had some feeling I told mrs B it would not last long I had Seen her so many times we put her to Bed & I desired them not to let her get up till She could do it herself I knew she put all them airs on to fright them She hinted about her [Peuking] to fright Cousin Betsy. She was Strong enough the next morning. tis a Strange disorder which can make a person act so— She is now much better—but it has worried Cousin— mr Whitney is gone a journey So we have no meeting to day. capn. Lindsey has had a drumb & a Fife playing all day at his house & all the worst drunkards in town with him & he has been fireing guns himself & this evening they have been before mr Apthorps house making a wretch’d noise—2 you will be Surpriz’d I believe when I tell you that mr whitney had a large majority of the votes on monday & more Still that upon a motion made to know if those who had voted for mr Flint would consent to join the others, that but eight Should Stand back & not one of them have any objection to mr Whitney & that finally they consented to Suffer the Clerke to record it a unanimous vote they chose a Committe to desire him to preach till the last of May & the Same Committe to draw up what they might think a proper offer to make him & lay it before the Town at a meeting they are then to have I hope it will be what he can accept. but mr Flint will be mortified I have a great value for him but I must say I had rather hear mr Whitney. this harmony is so unexpected that I hope we shall have him3 I hope you found your children well at new york & the President in good health I must send my Love to him if he was five times as big as he is— & now my Sister how is it possible for you to take your Pen & not write Politicks I see tis right that you Should not— I do

103

Adams Family Correspondence not want Secrets but I Shall want to See my Cousin Letters from abroad I Shall know what is taking or too take place just as I do when I read a Prophesy only I do not think him supernaturally inspir’d— will you be So kind as to send us all the inteligence from them that we may Safely know— I shall feel myself Shut out of the world if I cannot have your oppinion how it is going on— my dear Louissa will keep up her spirits & write us often. Cousin Betsy will not leave me I hope or think of any other home untill She gets one of her own I Shall tell mr Porter about your Trees & take every other care you wish me to— pray let me hear from you or Cousin every week it Will comfort the heart of your affectionate Sister M Cranch mr Cranch & madam welsh Send their affectionate regards RC (Adams Papers). 1 Possibly Rachel Marsh Brackett (1746– 1818), who had worked for the Adamses prior to her marriage to Capt. Joseph Brackett in 1767 (vol. 1:50; Sprague, Braintree Families). 2 For Capt. John Linzee, see JA, D&A, 3:227. James Apthorp, for whom see vol. 7:174, lived on School Street in Quincy, the same street as the Cranch family (vol. 7:255; Sprague, Braintree Families). 3 At the Quincy town meeting of 1 May

1797 a vote was taken to settle a colleague for the aging Rev. Anthony Wibird. In the first round of voting Rev. Peter Whitney Jr. received 46 votes to Rev. Jacob Flint’s 34 votes; the second ballot saw the balance shift to 60 to 8 votes, respectively. Whitney, however, refused the offer at that time but would accept a subsequent call in 1800 (Pattee, Old Braintree, p. 92, 95).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my Dear sister East Chester May 5 1797 we reachd here yesterday being thursday the 7th day from leaving home. we had very bad Roads, the Rains having washd all the stones bare, and the ruts were very deep I was much fatigued; Brisler and Family went on to N york mrs Brisler much mended in her Health by her journey. I hope when we get over our fatigue we shall all be able to say so. Betsy does not seem the worse for it, tho I think I have run a risk in taking so feeble a Being, but I hope it may be a means of restoreing a Good Girl to Health— I found mrs Smith and her Children in good Health. mrs smith grows very fleshy as much so I think as before she first went abroad, tho being older and more moulded into the form of woman, she does not look so burdend. the col has been gone, a journey for a fortnight up to his New Lands—1 tomorrow I go into New york and on Monday proceed for Philadelphia. I think it a very fortunate circumstance that mr smith

104

May 1797 accompanied us. it has renderd the journey much pleasenter, and he has taken a good deal of care and anxiety from my mind, which I should have felt if he had not been with me. I want to hear how you all are, and how my Farming buisness goes on. I would wish you to go & look at them sometimes. my Love to all Friends and Neighbours Mrs smith joins me in a kind remembrance. your affectionate Sister AA RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy”; endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A: Adams (E Chester) / May 5th. 1797.” 1 WSS departed Eastchester, N.Y., in April 1797 and did not return until late Jan. 1798. He first visited his lands in what would become Chenango County, N.Y., and from there traveled to Detroit in the Northwest Territory then to Fort Stanwix, N.Y., before returning home. During the months he was gone, WSS rarely wrote to AA2 (there are no extant letters), and the Adamses presumed he had abandoned his family. The lands in central New York were part of a land speculation scheme WSS had undertaken in 1791, when he applied to purchase six townships in the future Chenango and Madison Counties. Comprising 150,000 acres and costing £24,375, WSS received the patent to these lands on 16 April 1794, retaining two of the townships and entering into an agreement to be the agent for Englishmen Sir William Pulteney and William Hornby for the other four. WSS allegedly failed to pay Pulteney and Hornby for lands that were sold and failed to

report advances amounting to £60,000, and in March 1796 Pulteney dismissed WSS. Patrick Colquhoun, another land agent, wrote on 6 May about WSS’s financial problems, “it was impossible that such a career of folly could end in anything but ruin,” and that Pulteney “could not be easily persuaded that Mr Smith’s intentions were not from the beginning very impure.” By 4 Oct. WSS owed Pulteney and Hornby nearly $231,000, a debt that remained unpaid in 1805 when Pulteney was informed that WSS was “totally bankrupt in fortune” and continually “pressed by his numerous creditors” (James H. Smith, History of Chenango and Madison Counties, New York, Syracuse, 1880, p. 68; Luna M. Hammond, History of Madison County, State of New York, Syracuse, 1872, p. 545; The Law Practice of Alexander Hamilton: Documents and Commentary, ed. Julius Goebel Jr. and others, 5 vols., N.Y., 1964–1981, 5:54, 55, 107, 110).

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson The Hague 6. May 1797. Upon receiving this morning your Letter of the 21st: of last month, I recurred to mine of the 7th: in answer to which it was written. I was not conscious of being displeased at your reading Chesterfield’s Letters, or at your having mentioned it to me.— But in reading over my own letter again, I am not surprized at your having taken it in that light.—1 No, my ever dear, and valued friend, I am not displeased that you should have read the book, because it contains many good [observ]ations, and many useful precepts: and your purity of heart and discernment of [mind will] easily distinguish

105

Adams Family Correspondence them from the base and corrupted lessons with which they [are] mingled. It was the author and the work with which I was displeased, not with you for reading them.— Chesterfield by his own story was a great scoundrel; a principled villain, and he gives as precepts, many rules which strike at the very foundation of human society.— Perhaps besides all this, I have a prejudice against him, even beyond what he deserves— Perhaps that in reading even his just and reasonable instructions, I feel as if he was personally satyrising myself.— Perhaps the interest I have that his doctrine about the extreme importance of the Graces should be false, may have some share in forming my conviction that it is so.— If however you wish to know the more immediate reason, which might render my letter so apparently acrimonious, consult the book itself and read his Letter 300.— You will find in it a certain anecdote about Lord Shaftesbury, which Chesterfield highly approves and recommends as an example for imitation.— It so happened that just before I wrote my letter to you that passage of the book fell in my way.— Now the conduct of Shaftesbury as thus related appeared to me to form such a combination of meanness, of servility, of falsehood and of profligacy, that I could not repress a sentiment of contempt and indignation for a Man, who could mention it with applause, and hold it out as a lesson, to his own son.—2 I am not indeed altogether singular in my opinion of Chesterfields book, as you will perceive by an epigram which I somewhere read several years ago, “Vile Stanhope (Demons blush to tell) In twice three hundred places, Taught his own Son, the road to Hell Escorted by the Graces: But little the ungracious Lad Concern’d himself about ’em: But base, degenerate, meanly bad, He sneak’d to Hell without ’em.”3 If there was as much foundation for the second of these couplets as there certainly was for the first, it may serve as the best possible comment upon the Chesterfieldian system of education. The lessons of vice were successful; those of elegance were ineffectual. The serpent was able to instill his venom, but could not impart his power of fascination. My brother is still at Paris and I am alone. I have not yet finally fixed upon the mode of my voyage, but believe I shall go by a Dan-

106

May 1797 ish vessel, directly from Amsterdam to Lisbon. I cannot express how much anxiety I suffer at the necessity of thus protracting the period of our union. I am engaged in a situation from which in the present state of things I cannot retreat. I can only hope for a Time of more tranquility, when I shall be at liberty to indulge my inclination for retirement, and the happiness which you only can bestow. My disappointment is aggravated by the sentiment of your’s, and the persuasion that our separation is no less distressing to you than to myself gives the keenest edge to my affliction. The negotiation for Peace between France and Portugal, is broken off, and the Minister who conducted it has left France.4 What the next summer may produce cannot easily be conjectured. You have told me that you would not hesitate in any Event to accompany me to Lisbon, and in this determination I recognize with pleasure and gratitude the Spirit, that dictated it. I do not apprehend there would be any personal danger to you in that residence, but there may be circumstances which would subject you to inconveniences, and might render a removal at once difficult and necessary. We have accounts from America to the 25th: of March. The news of the refusal to receive Mr: Pinckney, and the prospect of a rupture with France, had occasioned considerable alarm. I suppose however that there will be in England intelligence of a yet later date before you receive this Letter. Farewell, my best friend. Remember [me affection]ately to your Parents and Sisters. Present my respects to Miss Holling, and believe me ever tenderly your’s. A. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Miss Louisa C. Johnson / London.” FC-Pr (Adams Papers); APM Reel 131. Tr (Adams Papers). Text lost where the seal was removed has been supplied from the FC-Pr. 1 In her letter to JQA of 21 April, LCA apologized for reading Lord Chesterfield’s Letters . . . to His Son, adding, “I shall certainly read the books you recommend with attention, and endeavor to improve myself, that I may become a fit companion for my beloved friend.” Her letter also reported that her family’s departure for the United States had been delayed until July (Adams Papers). 2 Chesterfield’s “Letter 300” argues that to gain social acceptance men must employ “a ready conformity to whatever is neither criminal nor dishonourable.” To demonstrate his point, Chesterfield relates a story about

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621–1683) and lord chancellor from 1672 to 1673, who curried favor with King Charles II by adopting the same interests— women. Shaftesbury began keeping a prostitute and once he drew the king’s attention claimed that “though he kept that one woman, he had several others besides,” leading the king to characterize the earl as the “greatest whore-master in England” (Chesterfield, Letters . . . to His Son, 4 vols., London, 1787, 4:24–25; DNB). 3 This epigram was published in the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, 30 Dec.

107

Adams Family Correspondence 1784, and was reprinted in New England in 1790; see, for example, the Windsor Spooner’s Vermont Journal, 12 May 1790, and Pittsfield, Mass., Berkshire Chronicle, 3 June. 4 In Sept. 1796 JQA noted in his Diary that Antonio de Araujo de Azevedo, the Portuguese minister to the Netherlands, was going to Paris as a peace negotiator and would depart in early October. By April 1797 the negotiations had stalled because Portugal refused to meet France’s conditions, namely an indemnity of 30 million francs, the ces-

sion of part of Brazil to Spain, and the closure of all Portuguese ports to England. Having been given an ultimatum to agree to the conditions or leave France, Araujo de Azevedo refused and departed Paris by 2 May. In July he would be appointed a special envoy to France to again negotiate peace for Portugal, for which see TBA to AA, 17 Aug., and note 1, below (D/JQA/24, 7, 30 Sept. 1796, APM Reel 27; Nouvelles politiques, nationales et étrangères, 15, 30 April, 2 May 1797; Repertorium, 3:317).

Thomas Boylston Adams to John Quincy Adams Dear Brother. Paris ce 19 Floréal an 5. [8 May 1797] I have written you three letters since my arrival here;1 this is the fourth, which I mention only for the sake of knowing whether you received them in order. It is very well known that I am here and some people might think it worth while to discover what I write to others I have hitherto only one letter from you, and had not expected to have another until the last post, supposing you to have written as soon as you received my first letter from hence.2 The next I hope will bring one as I wish to learn what progress you have made in the accumulation of business and the state of preparation you are in for departure. My time is already half expired, and I have yet obtained no formal permission to remain here. I have however obtained a passport this day from the Minister of Police to return, and as it is valid for two decades only, you may calculate pretty nearly the time I shall set out.3 The weather has been so unfavorable for several days past that I have in a great measure kept house, and therefore have seen little— Yesterday however I visited the pantheon, ascended its majestic dome and from its summit beheld a spectacle of grandeur & magnificence, surpassing all description. In point of Architecture the building itself must be the first model of the universe. I descended also into the cave of honor and paid my homage at the tombs of Voltaire & Rousseau—of the other worthies who once were thought to merit such interment, there rests only the Coffins which contained their Corps Mirabeau Le Peltier & Marat were not made for immortality. The miracle of justice, which condemned them to a pre mature resurrection, consigned them in the opinions of many to endless infamy. There is a place assigned for the General Dampiere,

108

May 1797

i. thomas boylston adams’ french passport, 8 may 1797 (an. v, 19 floréal) See page ix

109

Adams Family Correspondence but his pretentions have not yet stood the ten years probation. It seems to me to be in some respects a wise, in others an erroneous provision, which requires such a length of time to pronounce upon the merits of those distinguished personages to whom the Country would testify its gratitude.4 The inscription on the façade of the Panthéon is “Aux grands hommes, La patrie reconnoissante.” Real merit demands in my mind a speedier recompense than after a ten years ordeal. On the other hand, the provision is calculated to prevent improper intrusions, such as were perhaps those of the three persons above named. Posterity will perhaps doubtless acknowledge other great men than Voltaire & Rousseau. The History of France might perhaps furnish such at this day— You remember that a deputy of the National Convention once moved that honorable mention should be made of King John. Upon the present plan the scale is much too partial. From the pantheon I visited the “Jardin des plantes,” the same which Buffon improved & which improved Buffon. I am charmed with its arrangement, its order neatness and regularity. I could not get a sight of the Museum which is in it, but hope to some other day.5 I must not neglect to mention the National Museum at the Louvre. It is some time since I saw it, but in my former letters I omitted speaking of it, in hopes of seeing it again and being better able to describe it. The paintings are at present in the utmost confusion; being placed from one end of the Gallery to the other upon the floor & without frames, except a few— There is neither Catalogue or description of them, which for a novice like myself in the art of a Connoisseur is particularly unfortunate. The collection is magnificent already, though the gleanings of Italy have not yet arrived; they are seen however at this moment under every disadvantage—6 The style of Claude Laurens is in my eye the most pleasing of any I saw. It was with Mr: Rogers that I saw the gallery, who unfortunately was as great a stranger as myself, and our Conductor not being very expert at his trade we were unable to make up in any degree the want of a Catalogue. These are the principal objects that have as yet fallen under my observation, except the Theatres, which I frequent regularly. I relish them much. The Feydeau-Cidevant Théatre de Monsr: is my favorite rendezvous. Molé & Fleury are I think superior to vestris; by this I mean only, that I am more gratified by their performance than by his.7

110

May 1797 Yesterday I discovered the dwelling of your old friend M. Arnoux. It is the same as when you used to see him— He seemed much gratified at your remembrance of him and expressed great attachment to our family— He introduced me to his kitchen because there was no fire in his apartment. There I saw a female who was dressed in costume Cuisiniere, and to whom the old Gentleman mentioned my name— She entered at once into conversation with me; asked me whe[re] you were, and distinguished you by the name of M. le Gros. I told her you were no longer the gros that you had been when she knew you. She asked me a number of questions which seemed to me to partake much of naïveté; I did not discover her relationship to the old man or in what capacity she is with him— You will probably recollect her. M. A— offered me very politely his services and begged me to mention any way in which he could be useful to me here. I told him that I knew of none except it were to procure me the honor of his acquaintance. “He invited me to dine with him,”8 as Yorrick says, and promised at the same time to prepare a letter for you. During the reign of terror he past one year in prison as he informed me.9 I have purchased some books and made a provisional bargain for Barboue’s edition of the classics—10 The price is 15 Louis; my finances will not admit of so great an expence at present, so that I shall leave this for a future negotiation. The Councils of the Nation, which would naturally attract the curiosity of a traveller I have not yet seen, for two reasons: first because to gain admittance to one of them you must pay money; secondly, for the other you must have a card. I hope however to see the Directory tomorrow, being Decadé, whereon they are to receive some military trophies.11 I am as ever / your affectionate Brother Thomas B Adams May 9th: P. S. I dined with our friend P— to day who delivered me your’s of the 2d & 5th: currt: I hope to comply with your wishes for my return by the 25th: at least it will not be later than the 28th: according to my present calculation.12 I shall procure the books & laws you desire, if possible. P— tells me they can be had. I observe in your letter to him that you notice the annunciation of Mr: [M]——s arrival here as special envoy—13 I have mentioned the circumstance in one of my letters. The report was published in the

111

Adams Family Correspondence Gazettes the day previous to my arrival so that I did not give rise to it, as was surmised by some of our friends. I have been positively assured that Mr M——s appointment is announced in a private letter from Philada: but I could not learn to whom this letter came. You will see how the Nouvelles Politiques speaks of the report and how it accounts for it.14 My opinion on this subject I try to keep to myself. The thing is generally wished, or pretended to be so. Present me kindly to our friends, whom I thank for their civil enquiries. Tell Parker that he has an occasion to make an interesting groupe of the subjects under his hands. I have been clearing off for ten days, my mass of Dutch bile— Imprimis purgare you know is the foundation of Medecine en France. I hope to return quite enlightened. As before I am ever yours T B A. RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “T. B. Adams. Paris. / 8–9. May. 1797. / 16. do: recd: / do: ansd:.” Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript. 1 In addition to a letter of 26 April, above, TBA wrote letters to JQA on 30 April and 4 May, neither of which has been found (JQA to TBA, 5 May, LbC, APM Reel 130, and 9 May, below). 2 See JQA to TBA, 21 April, above. 3 For TBA’s French passport permitting his return to The Hague, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 1, above. 4 The Church of Sainte Geneviève in Paris was renamed the Panthéon in 1790 and designated a civic temple and burial place for esteemed Frenchmen. From April 1791 Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, Jean Paul Marat, and Louis Michel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau (1760–1793), a French politician assassinated for voting for Louis XVI’s death, were all interred there. Following the Terror, however, Mirabeau and Marat’s remains were removed, and the National Convention decreed that a person could only be entombed ten years after death. In 1795 Le Peletier’s body was also removed, albeit at the request of his family. Gen. Auguste Henri Marie Picot, Marquis de Dampierre (1756– 1793), had been killed in battle and was honored with the right to be buried in the Panthéon (Paul R. Hanson, Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution, Lanham, Md., 2004, p. 246, 247; Avner Ben-Amos, “Monuments and Memory in French Na-

tionalism,” History and Memory, 5:62 [FallWinter 1993]; Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale). 5 The Jardin du Roi, also called the Jardin des Plantes, was founded in 1626 by Louis XIII. In 1739 French writer and naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707–1788), was appointed director of the gardens and the Cabinet d’Histoire Naturelle therein. Under his stewardship significant additions were made to the natural history collection, and the gardens were doubled in size. It became a center for the study of the natural sciences and in 1793 was renamed the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Toby A. Appel, The Cuvier-Geoffroy Debate: French Biology in the Decades Before Darwin, N.Y., 1987, p. 16; Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale). For JA’s visit to the Jardin des Plantes in the spring of 1780, see vol. 3:332. 6 The main gallery of the Louvre closed to the public in 1796 in order for the collection to be definitively arranged and a new floor to be installed. During the closure temporary exhibitions were held in the museum’s Salon Carré and Galerie d’Apollon. In April 1799 sections of the Grand Gallery reopened and were devoted to the French and Northern schools. The sections with the confiscated Italian collections were opened in 1801 (Andrew L. McClellan, “The Musée du Louvre as Revolutionary Metaphor During the Terror,” Art Bulletin, 70:311 [June 1988]; Bette

112

May 1797 W. Oliver, From Royal to National: The Louvre Museum and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Lanham, Md., 2007, p. 48). 7 The Théâtre de Monsieur, a comic opera company in Paris, was established by royal sanction in 1788 and operated from the Salle des Machines of the Tuileries Palace until forced into temporary lodgings at the outset of the French Revolution. The company opened a permanent theater in 1791 and changed its name to the Théâtre Français et Italien de la rue Feydeau, or Théâtre Feydeau. François René Molé (1734–1802) and Abraham Joseph Bénard (1751–1822), known by the stage name Fleury, were two of the best known comedic actors of the period, both of whom were affiliated with the Théâtre Feydeau in the mid-1790s. TBA was possibly comparing Molé and Fleury to Marie Auguste Vestris (1760–1842), an Italian-French dancer with the Paris Opera (F. W. J. Hemmings, Theatre and State in France, 1760–1905, Cambridge, Eng., 1994, p. 69–71; Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale; Debra Craine, The Oxford Dictionary of Dance, 2d ed., Oxford, 2010). 8 Likely, Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. By Mr. Yorick, 2 vols., London, 1768, 2:158–159. 9 JQA had given TBA a letter of introduction to the Abbé Guillaume Arnoux, who he fondly recalled from his time in France with JA. Arnoux lived at No. 17 in the Place Vendôme, known as the “Place des Piques” during the French Revolution. At the age of seventy in 1793 Arnoux was imprisoned by the Revolutionary committee of the Place des Piques for favoring aristocrats and spent over eleven months at St. Lazare prison (JQA to Arnoux, [ca. 16 April 1797], LbC, APM Reel 130; R. Galliani, “Glanes,” An-

nales historiques de la Révolution française, 45:134 [Jan.–March 1973]). For the Adamses’ previous acquaintance with Arnoux, see vol. 5:440 and JA, Papers, 16:329. 10 The Barbou publishing house in Paris was associated with an edition of Latin classics comprising 76 volumes in 12, published under the Barbou imprint from 1755 (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale). 11 Between Oct. 1795 and Nov. 1799 the French legislature met in the Tuileries Palace, with the Council of Five Hundred occupying the Manège (riding school) and the Council of Elders meeting in the Salle des Spectacles (theater). The Directory met in the Luxembourg Palace (George L. Craik, Paris, and its Historical Scenes, 2 vols., London, 1831, 1:102–103). TBA visited the French legislature and the Directory shortly before he left Paris, for which see his 24 July 1797 letter to AA, below. 12 In addition to asking TBA to return by the 25th, JQA in his letter of 5 May requested several publications on French maritime law, especially as it pertained to American navigation (LbC, APM Reel 130). 13 For JQA’s letter to Joseph Pitcairn, 2 May, see JQA to TBA, 2 May, and note 3, above. 14 The Paris Nouvelles politiques, nationales et étrangères published two notices about James Madison’s supposed diplomatic appointment to France. On 22 April, the day TBA arrived in Paris, a notice was published that Madison had arrived the previous day as an envoy extraordinary to settle the differences between France and the United States. On the 30th the newspaper confirmed Madison’s appointment but reported that he had yet to arrive in Paris.

Charles Adams to Joseph Dennie Jr. Dear Sir New York May 9 1797 Your kind letter of the month of March last deserved an earlier answer. but my absence from this City must be my excuse.1 The Lay Preacher has not escaped the notice of any one who has a taste for fine writing and you may be assured it has afforded me great pleasure to hear my friend Dennie mentioned as one of the most charming writers of The age. Unfortunately I have mislaid The proposals you sent me, or I should have procured some more subscribers I

113

Adams Family Correspondence wish you had sent me the Museum without consulting me for whatever litterary production you may be concerned in will always be eagerly read and as far as in my power assisted by me: Nor have your writings passed unobserved by those who are much better judges than myself My father has requested me to subscribe for two setts of The Museum for him and mentioned you in a manner that were I to relate you would perhaps think flattering2 I wish you to send another subscription paper that I may give you what aid is in my power. With sentements of sincere esteem I am / Your friend and huml Sert Charles Adams. RC (MH-H:Joseph Dennie Papers, MS Am 715 [55]); internal address: “Joseph Dennie Junr.” 1 Not found. 2 Joseph Dennie Jr. (1768–1812), Harvard 1790, was the editor of the Walpole, N.H., Farmer’s Weekly Museum and the author of a regular column therein entitled “The Lay Preacher,” a collection of which had been published as The Lay Preacher; or, Short Sermons, for Idle Readers, Walpole, N.H., 1796, Evans, No. 30335. In 1797 Dennie sent a solicitation for subscribers among booksellers, printers, and “Gentlemen, inclined to foster literary habits.” The Adamses not only sub-

scribed to this and Dennie’s later endeavor the Port Folio, both JQA and TBA would also contribute as writers (Catherine O’Donnell Kaplan, Men of Letters in the Early Republic: Cultivating Forums of Citizenship, Chapel Hill, N.C., 2008, p. 7, 117, 122, 137, 143, 144, 145–146; Dennie, An Established Literary and Political Paper. The Editor of the Farmer’s Weekly Museum . . . Offers His Paper to the Publick, no imprint, 1797, MWA, Evans, No. 49460).

John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams My dear Brother. The Hague 9 May 1797. Messrs: Moliere, will this day extend your credit with their correspondent at Paris, to the amount of 4000 livres more. This I presume will amply suffice for your occasions. I requested you by my last letter, to be here not later than the 25th: of this month. There is to be a Ball on that day at the Hotel de Suéde. The Count desires me to tell you, that you will be very much wanted as a danser; that he cannot excuse you, and what is more, that if you do not come to attend it, Mlle N— will never forgive you.1 General Pinckney and his family are gone to Rotterdam.2 The Fair is not remarkably brilliant.3 I do not hear as yet of any fête for the peace. I have this day your letter of 15. Floréal.4 Mr: König went from this, three or four days after you.5 If you see him, remember me kindly to him, and to all my other friends at Paris. Your affectionate brother.

114

May 1797 LbC in TBA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mr: T. B. Adams.”; APM Reel 130. 1 Count Fredrik Adolf Löwenhielm’s ball was held instead on 23 May in honor of François Noël and his new wife. JQA, who had been asked to “do the honours” by sitting at the head of one of the four supper tables, described the company as “numerous and agreeable.” “Mlle N——” was Miss Nahuys, a sister of Catharina Nahuys Schimmelpennick whom TBA had socialized with and described as handsome (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27; M/TBA/2, 21 Jan. 1795, APM Reel 282). 2 The Pinckney family visited Rotterdam from 8 to 11 May 1797 (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27).

3 A fair was held at The Hague between 8 and 17 May. JQA attended several times and saw various performances, including juggling and glassblowing (same). 4 Not found. 5 Likely Carl Gustaf König (1764–1852), the former Swedish chargé d’affaires to the Netherlands and Portugal, who served as chargé d’affaires to France from Nov. 1796 to May 1797 (O. Schutte, comp., Repertorium Der Buitenlandse Vertegenwoordigers, Residerende in Nederland 1584–1810, The Hague, 1983, p. 525–526).

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson The Hague 12. May. 1797. And is it possible that my charming friend should feel an uneasy sentiment a sentiment of fear in sitting down to write to me: to me, the friend of her Heart, who would rather suffer a thousand torments than give her a moment of pain?— I am really ashamed of myself for having by morose expressions chilled the feelings of a breast which was formed for the reception of none but warm and kind, and generous sentiments.— Pardon!— pardon!—my gentle friend. Believe not that my worst humour has ever extended to my tenderness for you. Amidst a thousand crosses, I have not kept my temper mild and placid and unruffled, as that of a Philosopher ought to be, and when we are provoked to petulance, any thing, however distant from the cause of irritation becomes obnoxious to it.— With you indeed, I ought to be always amiable; and always ought to avoid, what I now have to excuse— I will endeavour to acquire that controul over myself, and I well know how unnecessary even the remotest appearance of harshness is in signifying disapprobation to you. I have written to your father by this Post.—1 I am afraid that the only possible chance, I see for our meeting again in Europe, will fail me like all the former. If so we must still continue the painful practice of Patience. The certainty, of an immediate passage from England to Lisbon, in a neutral vessel, with such accommodations as would suffise for you, will induce me to overlook every other consideration. Engaged

115

Adams Family Correspondence as I am in the service of the public, a detention in England, for the chance of an opportunity which might not happen for months, would be inconsistent with my duties, to which I am bound to sacrifice if necessary, every private concern.— If the expedient which I have suggested to your father meets his approbation and has your consent, we shall yet have the happiness of completing our union in Europe— You know the Man you have chosen, for the friend of your life— You know him the better, for that absence, which has at once shewn you a trial of his affection and of his temper.— He has disguised to you none of his failings and weaknesses. You know the chances of hardship, inconvenience and danger, which you may be called to share with him. You know his inviolable attachment to his Country, and his resolute determination not to continue long his absence from it.— You know that upon his retirement, the state of his fortune will require privations, which will be painful to him only as they may affect you. Choose, Louisa, choose for yourself, and be assured that his Heart will ratify your choice. I shall remain here time enough in all probability to receive your answer to this. If the opportunity for a passage from England can be assured, I shall immediately come to you. If not, let us submit with resignation to the will of Providence, and acquiesce in the separation which we could not prevent. Above all, retain unabated your affection for your friend, and believe him unalterably yours. A.2 RC (Adams Papers); FC-Pr (Adams Papers). 1 In his letter to Joshua Johnson, also of 12 May, JQA described his difficulty finding a neutral vessel sailing between London and Lisbon and accepted Johnson’s offer of passage in the schooner Mary, as long as LCA was willing to travel in the small vessel; otherwise, he would make arrangements to travel

aboard a Danish vessel departing from Amsterdam (Adams Papers). 2 JQA wrote a similar letter to LCA on 19 May repeating that he held slim hope of meeting with her in Europe. He also noted TBA’s imminent return from Paris and the closing of the local fair (Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch My Dear sister Philadelphia May 16 1797 most cordially welcome to me was your kind Letter of May the 4th, yet I have not found time since my arrival to thank you for it, or even to write a Line to any Friend. my Journey was as pleasent as my thoughts upon what was past, and my anticipations of what was to come would permit it to be. we reachd East Chester on thursday

116

May 1797 noon and found mrs smith and Children well. my reflections upon prospects there, took from me all appetite to food, and depresst my Spirits, before too low. the col gone a journey, I know not where I could not converse with her, I saw her Heart too full. such is the folly and Madness of speculation and extravagance. to her no blame is due. Educated in different Habits, she never enjoyd a life of dissipation. the Boys are fine Lads, I wish they were at Hingham under your care. I tarried one day & a half, and then went into Nyork. Charles lives prettily but frugally. he has a Lovely Babe and a discreet woman I think for his wife, quite different from many of the Family. a Number of Ladies and Gentlemen visited me there. on Monday the 8 of May we left Nyork to persue our journey. on Wednesday morning about 25 Miles from Town, I was met by my Friend who clameing his own, I quitted my own carriage, and took my seat by his side. we rode on to Bristol where I had previously engaged a dinner, and there upon the Banks of the Deleware, we Spent the Day, getting into the city at sunset. I found my Family of Domesticks had arrived on Saturday without meeting any accident, which was very fortunate for 40 miles through the Jersies was the worst Roads I ever travelld the soil is all clay. the heavey rains & the constant run of Six stages daily, had so cut them up, that the whole was like a ploughd feild, in furroughs of 2 feet in deepth, and was very dangerous. to me you may well suppose such roads were more peculiarly distressing. they were so much so, as to confine me to my Room & Bed the greater part of Two days—by some applications I have in a great measure recoverd, tho I am still a sufferer. Yesterday being Monday, from 12 to half past two I received visits, 32 Ladies and near as many Gentlemen I shall have the same ceremony to pass through to Day, and the rest part of the week. as I am not prepaird with furniture [for] a Regular drawing Room, I shall not commence one I believe as the Summer is to near at hand, and my Health very precarious. at the Winter Sessions I shall begin—1 Mrs Tufts once stiled my situation, splendid misery, She was not far from Truth. To Day the President meets both Housess at 12 to deliver His speech. I will inclose it to you.2 I Should like to learn the comments upon it, with a veiw to discover the Temper and sentiments of the publick mind. we are indeed as Milton expresses it, “Thrown on perilous Times” We have Letters from the Minister at the Hague as late as 23 Feb’ry.3 I will send you in my next some extracts from them. they are

117

Adams Family Correspondence in the Same strain of information and intelligence with the former. the decission as it respected the Election here, was well assertaind in France & England & Holland, and it had its influence upon all those powers. I pray you to Remember me affectionatly to all my Friends & Neighbours. I rejoice in your unanimity as it respect mr Whitney, who you know is the Man of my choice without any prejudice or dissafection to mr Flint the union was however unexpected, but not the less agreable. the hour approaches to dress for the morning. My Love to cousin Betsy. I wish she could run in as formerly. I do not however dispair of seeing her Here, Some future Day. I can say nothing to you of future prospects of returning to my own Dear Home. that must be governd by circumstances. my pens are so bad I know not whether you can read. I am most affe’ly / Your sister A Adams Evening 8 oclock. The day is past, and a fatiguing one it has been. the Ladies of Foreign Ministers and the Ministers, with our own Secretaries & Ladies have visited me to day. and add to them, the whole Levee to day of senate & house strangers &c making near one Hundred askd permission to visit me, so that from half past 12 till near 4 I was rising up & sitting down— mr A will never be too big to have his Friends. RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs. / A Adams (Pha:) / May 16. 1797.” Some loss of text due to bleeding of the ink. 1 AA would hold a biweekly drawing room on Friday evenings from 24 Nov. 1797 to 22 June 1798 (Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 22 Nov. 1797; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 15 June 1798). 2 In his 16 May 1797 address to Congress, JA justified convening the federal legislature because deteriorating relations with France required a reasoned response. France’s refusal to receive Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as U.S. minister until its grievances against the United States were addressed was “to treat us neither as allies, nor as friends, nor as a sovereign State.” Pinckney’s expulsion, the country’s continued attempts to create

divisions between Americans and their government, and the decree of 2 March against U.S. shipping were all given as a call to action by JA, who promised to “institute a fresh attempt at negotiation” but recommended “effectual measures of defence” be taken in the meantime. These included establishing a navy, arming merchant vessels, equipping frigates for convoy, and creating a provisional army to improve domestic defense. JA also recommended the renewal of U.S. treaties with Prussia and Sweden (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 54–59). 3 For a summary of JQA to JA, 23 Feb. (Adams Papers), see vol. 11:550.

118

May 1797

John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams My dear Brother. The Hague 17 May 1797. I have just got your agreeable favours of 8–9— & 11— May, and as this is the last day upon which I can write to reach you at Paris, and I have but little time for the post, I shall be short.1 Mr: Arnoux’s letter has given me great pleasure, and I wish you if you have time, to give him my grateful thanks for it; for his kind remembrance of the family, as well as his attentions to you.2 Madame de Ville if she is the same lady, whom I have seen at the farmer General M. de Chalut’s (his daughter, though not then recognized as such), I very well remember.3 If you see her again, you must tell her, qu’elle n’êtait pas faite pour être oubliée. I have a perfect and very lively recollection, not only of herself, but of her charming performances upon the Forte-piano. Perhaps her fine children have taken some of her attention off, from that instrument. M. le Gros, is much obliged to the Cuisinière for her remembrance. She used to be very kind to him, when he was a boy, and he has always been grateful for it. I am very glad to hear she is well, and wish you to assure her of it, should you have an opportunity. I hope you will not leave Paris, without visiting the two Councils. A card, I suppose may be procured, and a little money is what you will not begrudge for such a sight. The Fair is tapering off, and has not been very splendid. We have had a Ball at M. de Schubarts.4 The Count has changed his day to the 23d: so that I suppose you will not be able to be here. There is in the Nouvelles Politiques of 21 Floréal an infamous aspersion upon your father, as false as if it had come in a straight line from Hell. I am surprised to see it in that paper, because it is generally moderate & impartial.5 M. Noël was married on Sunday. Adieu. LbC in TBA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mr: T. B. Adams”; APM Reel 130. 1 TBA’s letter to JQA of 11 May has not been found. 2 Not found. 3 Marie Catherine Desroches Chalut de Vérin Deville (b. 1769), called Lucille by AA2, had been adopted in 1776 by Geoffroy Chalut de Vérin (d. 1787). In 1785 she married Ni-

colas Deville, for whom see TBA to AA, 24 July 1797, note 5, below, although by this time she was a widow with five children (Revue de l’histoire de Versailles et de Seine-etOise, 61 vols., Versailles, 1907, p. 191; Yves Durand, Les fermiers généraux au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1996, p. 628). For the Adamses’

119

Adams Family Correspondence acquaintance with Chalut de Vérin and Lucille while in France in the 1780s, see vol. 6:435, 436, 479, and JA, D&A, 3:53. 4 Baron Hermann von Schubart (1756– 1832), whom JQA described as having “nothing characteristic in his manners, but complaisance and apparent goodness of disposition,” was the Danish envoy extraordinary to the Netherlands from 1789–1797. JQA attended Schubart’s ball on 12 May, where he “dansed a single danse. supped late.— Played whist” and found that his “enjoyment for parties of this kind is extinguished for ever”

(D/JQA/20, 10 Feb. 1795, APM Reel 23; D/JQA/24, 12 May 1797, APM Reel 27; Repertorium, 3:49). 5 The Paris Nouvelles politiques, nationales et étrangères, 10 May (An. V, 21 floréal), reported on the 8 Feb. session of Congress in which JA read the electoral votes and declared himself president. In addition to recording the vote counts, the article characterized JA as representing the faction “attached to the union with England,” while Thomas Jefferson was associated with that of France.

Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams London May 19th 1797 Although it is probable you will have quitted the Hague, e’re this can reach you, I cannot help answering your very kind letters, and flattering myself, that they will not arrive too late— I yesterday recieved yours, of the 6th, which I cannot say gave me satisfaction, as it confirmed my fears of your not returning— I am sorry my best, and dearest friend, you should ever feel a moments uneasiness, on my account, and would most willingly suffer any thing, to relieve your mind from anxiety—but indeed my Adams, I think we meet with difficulties, and disappointments, enough without anticipating them— Excuse me if I say, it appears to me very unreasonable, to embitter the few moments of happiness within our reach, by permiting ourselves to indulge unpleasant, and disagreeable conjectures— Life is short, and admits not of much real felicity, therefore we ought not to reject the good that offers, by watching for evil, but thankfully accept it, with gratitude to the giver of all good— You have accustomed me to write my sentiments without reserve, and to you who possess my whole confidence, I would not wish to conceal a thought, it would be an affectation of delicacy in me, to deny how much I wished to accompany you, yes my beloved friend, I most sincerely wish it was possible, believe me, no trifling obstacle should prevent me, yet if it is attended with any inconvenience to you, I am the last person on earth to desire it, your letters all tend to convince me, that this is the case, and I have relinquished the pleasing hope of our meeting, I acknowledge it has cost me some pain, but I have conquered my feelings, and trust I have suc-

120

May 1797 ceeded so far, as to enable me to hear of your departure, without much regret— One year my best friend, is almost elapsed since we parted— may the next be more propitious to us than this has been, but alas, I much fear, that many must pass ere I shall experience the delight of beholding you—when I think on this subject my friend, my fortitude almost forsakes me— Adieu, all here desire their love— that you may enjoy health, and happiness, is the constant, and earnest prayer / of your tenderly attached, Louisa C. Johnson RC (Adams Papers).

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams N: 27. My dear Mother. The Hague 21. May 1797. The last Letter I have received from you is dated the 11th: of last November. I know not whether since that time the multiplicity of your own avocations or the uncertainty where your Letters would find me have prevented you from writing to me. However it be I cannot suffer a long period to pass without writing, on my part, and I feel already culpable in some degree, when I reflect, that I have not written you since the 8th: of February.—1 I have indeed kept my correspondence with my father very active and frequent. So that for whatever information I can give of news and politics you will find no vacancy; but a mother; and especially the best of mothers, loves to hear from her children something about themselves.— I am so sensible of this, and feel so much the common disposition of tattling about myself, that I can scarce ever read over a letter written to you without blushing a little at the strain of uninterrupted egotism into which it constantly slides.— I hope you will receive this as partly apologizing for the long intervals which sometimes elapse between the dates of my Letters to you. About the 10th: of last month, I received my commission for Lisbon, and my recall from this mission. But as it has appeared to me rather expedient for the public service to delay than to hasten my departure I am still here.— In about three weeks from this. I expect to sail either directly from Amsterdam, or else to send my baggage

121

Adams Family Correspondence from thence, and go myself first to London. This last plan would suit me best, but I know not whether it will be possible. By my baggage, I mean principally my books for I have scarcely any other. I have never kept house here, as indeed I could not, and am therefore not encumbered with furniture. But I have collected a small parcel of books, valuable for their contents though not by their splendor, and I cannot reconcile myself to part with them. They have been gathered with a real intention of use, and not for shew, though even in this, comparatively speaking, solitude, I am able only to snatch here and there a moment for the entertainment and instruction they afford.— The practice however of purchasing books at all the sales (which are frequent) and a certain reserve, which has kept me much out of what is called la Societé, or la bonne compagnie, or has accompanied me into it, have given me a formidable reputation as of a student, which I but ill deserve.— I am not completely idle, but my father would think me inexcusably indolent. In speaking of la bonne compagnie, I must tell you what it is.— The National Assembly and the various offices created under it, have collected here a considerable number of wealthy families, from various parts of the Country.— The influence and example of the french Minister has been constantly used, to unbend the reserve which characterizes the manners of this People, and to introduce among them the sort of sociality which prevails in France. He has formed a sort of Court about him, more numerously attended, and more assiduously cultivated than that of the Stadholder under the old Government.2 The example has spread with more or less extent among the members of the present Government, and their numerous and crowded parties have assumed an appearance of gaiety and splendor, which forms a counterpart to the dulness and dissatisfaction very discernible among the People in general.— As the french of the present day affect to have taken for their model the conquering policy of the Romans, I often think that in this instance they have adopted the system pursued by Agricola, among the Britons, in a situation not very different. The writer of his life, though his son in Law and a Roman, makes a reflection upon the occasion, concerning the effects of that policy upon the Britons, which the Batavians of the present day, much less warlike and much more civilized might however forcibly apply to themselves.3 My brother has consented to go with me to Lisbon; but he was so desirous before his return home, to get at least a transient view of

122

May 1797 France, that he has taken the present opportunity for a short trip to Paris. He has been gone about five weeks; and I expect him back now in the course of a few days. My last Letter from him is of the 11th:— I gave him a letter to M. Arnoux, who treated him with much kindness and attention, and in his answer to my introduction, requests me to present his respects to you.— You remember the pretty young Lady, we used to see at Messrs: de Chalût, and who was afterwards recognized as the farmer General’s daughter.— She is married and has five children. My friends in Boston, have left off writing to me altogether. I have scarcely received a letter from thence these twelve months. I find that the want of punctuality from American correspondents is proverbial.— I find by the newspapers that Mr: S: Adams has declined being re-elected as Governor of Massachusetts.— His age and infirmities are entitled to repose, and his retirement from the public service, will prove his best security to preserve unimpaired the grateful sense of his former exertions in the cause of his Country. I am unwilling to enter with you upon the subject of politics. Europe is still the theatre of stupendous Events, which crowd upon one another with a rapidity and a violence that baffle all anticipation, and leave not a moment for the wonder of common minds to subside. The Emperor has made his Peace with France, having the Republican armies almost at the gates of Vienna.— The Government of Venice, the most antient in Europe, expires almost without a groan, in the hands of a Corsican stripling, whose name two years ago might have been hidden under a dogs ear on the rolls of Fame, but which at this moment disdains comparison with less than those of Caesar or Alexander.4 The British power is crumbling to pieces from every corner of its foundations. A new order of ages is advancing with gigantic strides, and would to Heaven there were better grounds to promise ourselves that with it Saturnian times are about to roll round again.— “Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.”5 There will be vice, while there is Man. So said two thousand years ago, one of the most penetrating judges of human Nature that ever surveyed the species, and so with whatever reluctance, must repeat every cool observer of the present times.6 Corruption is an Antaeus that rises with fresh vigour from every point of contact with his mother Earth, and never, never will a son of Jove appear, to wrest him from his hold and strangle the monster in the air.7 My prose is running mad. Let me rather return to the plain and

123

Adams Family Correspondence simple assurance that I am, as I shall ever remain with the tenderest sentiments of gratitude and affection, your Son. John Q. Adams.8 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A. Adams.”; endorsed: “J Q Adams. May 21 / 1797”; docketed: “May 21. 1797 J Q A.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. 1 For these letters, see vol. 11:398–401 and 546–550, respectively. 2 François Noël held almost weekly “tea and card” parties from Oct. 1796 until April 1797 (D/JQA/24, 6 Oct. 1796, 13 April 1797, APM Reel 27). 3 During his tenure as governor of Britain from a.d. 77 to 84, Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola promoted the adoption of Roman culture by the Britons, a fact that is emphasized in his son-in-law Tacitus’ Agricola (Oxford Classical Dicy.). 4 Civil unrest in the Veneto became violent on 17 April when a group of men in Verona massacred several French soldiers and civilians. Four days later a French gunboat entered the harbor of Venice and was fired on, killing four French sailors. After learning of the preliminary peace treaty of Leoben the Venetian senate sought to appease Napoleon by offering reparations, which were refused. On 1 May Napoleon proposed a provisional government for Venice, on the 12th the municipality invited French forces to enter the city, and they arrived in St. Mark’s Square on the 16th (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:584– 587). 5 Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, line 565.

6 Tacitus, Histories, Book 4.74, line 12. 7 In Greek mythology Antaeus, the son of Poseidon and Earth, was a giant who drew great strength from contact with the earth. He was defeated by Hercules, son of Jupiter/ Jove in the Roman tradition (Oxford Classical Dicy.). 8 JQA also wrote to JA at this time. In a letter of 20 May (Adams Papers), JQA described the ongoing constitutional debates in the Batavian National Assembly and commented on French motives in provoking the United States, believing them in part to be directed toward the western and southern regions of the country. He also noted the lack of recent private correspondence from JA, advising the “President of the United States . . . to fasten an eternal seal upon his lips, and burn his pen of private correspondence, with regard to public affairs.” In a previous letter to JA of 11 May, JQA reported the persistence of rumors about James Madison’s diplomatic appointment to France and discussed the relationship between James Monroe and Thomas Paine. He also relayed requests from friends seeking consular appointments (LbC, APM Reel 130).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia May 24 1797 I keep up My old Habit of rising at an early hour. if I did not I should have little command of my Time at 5 I rise from that time till 8 I have a few leisure hours. at 8 I breakfast, after which untill Eleven I attend to my Family arrangements. at that hour I dress for the Day. from 12 untill two I receive company, sometimes untill 3. we dine at that hour unless on company days, which are tuesdays & thursdays after dinner I usually ride out untill seven. I begin to feel a little more at Home, and less anxiety about the ceremonious part of my Duty, tho by not having a Drawing Room for the Summer I am obliged every day, to devote two Hours for the purpose of seeing

124

May 1797 company. tomorrow we are to dine the secretaries of state &c with the whole senate. the Male Domesticks I leave wholy to Brisler to hire and to dismiss; the Female I have none, but those I brought with me, except a Negro woman who is wholy with the Cook in the kitchin, and I am happy in not having any occasion for any others for a very sad set of creatures they are. I believe this city is become as vile and debauched as the city of London—nay more so, for in the lower classes, much more respect is had to Character there Speculation in Property in politicks and in Religion have gone very far in depraving the morals of the higher, classes of the people of our Country. You will see by the Chronical I presume that the Tone of the Jacobins is turnd, and that the president has committed with them the unpardonable sin “by saying; that he was convinced that the conduct of the Government had been just and impartial to foreign Nations” Bache opend his batterys of abuse and scurility the very next day, and has in every paper continued them, extracts of which I dout not the Faithfull Chronical will detail.1 the answer of the Senate You will find equally firm and decided as the speech. I call it a supporting answer. the House cannot yet get theres through. the Antis, want to qualify. they dare not openly countanance the conduct of France, but they want to court and coax, her.2 with Barra’s insolent speech before their Eyes and Pincknys dispatches, which fully prove the unbecomeing and indignant conduct of France toward the united states, these degraded Beings would still have their Country men “lick the Hand just raisd to shed their Blood”3 amongst that number is Freeman of our state, who yesterday appeard a full blood Jacobin in his speech in the House. Langdon in the senate is more bitter than, even Mason or any Virginian. Mr otis I am told appeard to great advantage; and was much admired in a speech of considerable Length.4 I want to hear from you again You must write to me once a week. how does mr & mrs Porter succeed. I will thank you to get from the table Draw in the parlour some Annetto and give it to mrs Burrel, and tell her to make her cheese a little salter this Year.5 I sent some of her cheese to N York to Mrs smith and to mr Adams which was greatly admired and I design to have her Cheese brought here. when she has used up that other pray dr Tufts to supply her with some more, and I wish mrs French to do the Same to part of her Cheese, as I had Some very good cheese of hers last Year. in my best chamber closset I left a white Bonnet. be so kind as to take it and

125

Adams Family Correspondence give it for me to mrs Norten. in a small wooden Box is a new crape cap which I designd to have sent here, but omitted it untill my other things were gone. will you get it & fasten it down to the Box by making a Small hole or two and then putting a thread through the cap & Box. in my Bathing machine you will find a peice of canvass which will cover the Box. You will have it addrest & give it into mr smiths care who will send it to me— I have Bacon in Boston which I should be glad to have sent. mr Belcher knows about it. dr Tufts will pay the expence when requested— my Respects to Brother Cranch & to Mrs Welch Love to cousin Betsy from your / ever affectionate sister A Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A Adams (Pha:) / May 24: 1797.” 1 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 17 May, printed JA’s 16 May speech to Congress, and the following day attacks on JA’s “war speech” began. The final paragraph of the speech, quoted in part by AA here, was challenged by the Aurora, 19 May: “How can he redress injuries and correct errors when he is ‘convinced’ that none have been ever committed by government. The plain language of this is, I will make a shew of negociation with the French Republic and if they will take for granted all I shall say to them, and subscribe to the justice, impartiality and uprightness of the administration, we will not go to war with them; but if they should dare to have an opinion of their own, and insist that we have injured and decieved them, then I will let loose the dogs of war upon them, and devour them at a snap. Does Mr. Adams suppose that ‘the most enlightened nation upon earth,’ are to be gulled by such bare face artifice? If he can believe this, he must suppose himself the President of a nation of Ourang Outangs instead of men.” For the comments by the Boston Independent Chronicle, see Cranch to AA, 29 May, and note 7, below. 2 On 24 May the Senate presented its response to JA’s address, offering its approbation of the “vigilance, firmness, and promptitude” exhibited by JA in convening Congress and, as a possible rebuke to the House of Representatives, noting, “it is an object of primary importance, that each branch of the Government should adopt a language and system of conduct, which shall be cool, just, and dispassionate; but firm, explicit, and decided.” The Senate endorsed JA’s plan to

seek a diplomatic resolution with France and pledged to give due consideration to his recommendations for defensive measures, believing that “the present session of Congress will manifest to the world, that, although the United States love peace, they will be independent” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 12–15). 3 The speech given by Paul Barras at the time of James Monroe’s recall, for which see vol. 11:489, and the dispatches from Charles Cotesworth Pinckney regarding his dismissal by the Directory were among the eighteen state papers submitted to Congress at JA’s behest on 19 May documenting French actions. Ordered published by the House, the papers were printed in the regular and a special supplementary edition of the Philadelphia Gazette, 22 May (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 64–67). AA quoted from an article in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 29 March, condemning Monroe’s praise of France when presenting his letters of recall. The writer, “No French Patriot,” castigated Monroe’s actions: “Americans who love their country, cannot kneel to those who have robbed them, cannot court a continuance of robberies, and lick the hand just raised to shed their blood. For tho’ you could crouch, and kneel, and lick and fawn on such an occasion, your fellow citizens can feel nothing but contempt, and for the Directory who requires of the United State, an act that would prostrate them in the dust, the utmost indigination.” 4 The House on 22 May took up consideration of a proposed reply to JA’s 16 May address. Partisan debate, largely concerning the

126

May 1797 language to be included regarding France, delayed approval of a final version until 2 June. Both Nathaniel Freeman Jr. and Harrison Gray Otis spoke during the debates of 23 May, the former voicing “two principal objections” to the proposed answer’s “unequivocal approbation of all the measures of the Executive respecting our foreign relations” and the “expressions of resentment and indignation towards France.” He argued that the rejection of the U.S. minister by France “was not a breach of the law of nations,” and while he did not “consider the conduct of the French as perfectly justifiable,” he did not believe it warranted “irritating or violent measures” by the United States. Conversely, Otis argued that the House reply “should not be a spiritless expression of civility, but a new edition of the Declaration of Independence.”

He did not favor war, but he supported U.S. defensive measures: “Do gentlemen suppose that when negotiation shall have absolutely failed, the French will give us time to equip our vessels, fortify our ports, and burnish our arms, in order to show us fair play? Let gentlemen consider our defenceless situation in such circumstances; let them not pause until it shall be too late” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 67, 88–93, 103–108, 233– 234). 5 Mary Dunbar Burrell (b. 1742), originally of Hingham, had married Peter Burrell in Weymouth in 1761. Anatta or anatto is an orange-red plant dye of Central American origin used in cheese making (History of Hingham, 2:198; Sprague, Braintree Families; OED).

Cotton Tufts to John Adams My Dear Sr. Weymouth May 25. 1797— I hope before this Time Mrs. Adams has arriv’d at Philadelphia and recovered from the Fatigues of her Journey; of her Health & yours I am solicitous to hear— Since Mrs. Adams’s Departure I have been busily employed in adjusting your Farming Concerns, Mr. Porter, who has the Care of your Homestead, appears to me from what little Experience I have had of Him, to be well disposed, diligent & trusty. Billings remains on the Farm, has his Frolicks and now & then will require a private Lecture— Soale who was hired for a Month, is engaged for another, his monthly Wages are high, but not being able to procure a Man of whose Fidelity & Service I can rely upon at a lower Rate, I think it Will be best to engage him for the Summer & Fall. There is much to be done on the Farm & less Help will not execute it— The Forty Acres bought of Jackson Field & Neddy Curtis is let to Jackson & Eben. Field for the Season, Salt Marsh at Milton to Mr. Elisha Turner, The House in which Brisler liv’d is leas’d to Revd. Willm. Clark—1 The Bay Mare have sold to E. Turner the Bay Horse having the Heaves & being old, think it will be best to sell Him & place Hobart’s Mare & Colt on the Homestead— Porter has finishd his Plowing sewing & planting, except the planting on the Meadow in some part of which the Water still remains and will not, for sometime to come, be in a Condition to plant— Should You think it would be best to contract for a Quantity of

127

Adams Family Correspondence Boards & Shingles this Summer, You will inform me—or any other Matter that may occur to you— The great & momentous Affairs that engross Your Attention, will probably leave You but little Time to reflect upon your domestic Affairs, this short detail of them may, however, serve for your Amusement and I hope that our National Affairs will assume as promising an Appearance as Your Domestic and can long be placed upon such a Footing as will secure to us Peace and Tranquillity. Wishing You every Support and an happy Issue to our Troubles— / I am with Love to Mrs. Adams / Your Affectionate Friend & H Servt. Cotton Tufts RC (Adams Papers). 1 Ebenezer Field (1722–1798) was a Quincy housewright; Jackson Field (ca. 1751–1826) held several town offices and later was involved in the early stone quarries at Quincy (Sprague, Braintree Families; Pattee, Old Braintree, p. 501). For the Adamses’ salt marsh at Penny Ferry in Milton, see JA, Papers, 1:34, 37.

Joshua Johnson to John Quincy Adams My Dear Sir London 26 May 1797. Yesterdays Mail brought me your very Affectionate Letter of the 12 Instant which I have repeatedly read with great attention and deliberately wieghed the contents & therefore Speak in reply without any reserve,1 I find that you & my Daughter have the strongest Affection for each other & that Life must be a burthen to each so long as you are seperated, it is hard for Parents to part with Children whom they Dearly Love, but it is the first duty a Parent owes his Child to do all in his power to insure their happiness, this consideration wieghs down all others with me & Louisa’s Mother & we acquiesce in her Joining you & Embarking in the Mary, I have ingaged Capt. Saml. Crozier a very sober usefull Man & who has been in the habit of carrying Passengers to conduct you to Lisbon & he will tomorrow commence on putting the Schooner in compleat order for your reception & which will be perfected against the time you can reach this & in order to secure you from any interruption, she shall not take in any thing but your Baggage & Ballast,2 you do not say whether your Brother accompanys you or not, I however shall have a birth prepared for him, also accomodations for your Servant & Louisas— From what I learn from some very intelegent Persons Just from Paris, I find that the Directory begin to moderate & think that

128

May 1797 they have gone two far with us indeed it is expected that they will recall their orders to their Cruzers and forbid them to molest any more of our Vessells, but I confess I am not so sanguine, yet I am convinced their will be no War between us— Precautions is always necessary, and I cannot do better than confide in a Man I esteem & whose Integrity & Principals I have a high an opinion of, you will never decieve me, I shall use the permission you grant me— I transmit you at foot an extract of a Letter I have Just recieved from the Clerk to the House of Delegages in Congress,3 it has given me real pleasure & I am sure it will you, as I think it speaks the general Sentiments of our Country, besides it proves the Harmony which subsists between the two Heads of the Executive and contradicts what many designing Men has asserted, that they differd not only in opinions but disliked each other— I will write you again tomorrow by way of Rotterdam in the meantime I am with sincerty / Dear Sir / Your truly Affectionate Friend Joshua Johnson Extract of a Letter from Philadelphia 4 April 1797. “The affairs of our Country has undergone a change since my last, Mr. Adams as I anticipated to you, was Elected President by a Majority of 3 Votes to suceed Mr Washington, Mr. Jefferson vice President to succeed Mr. Adams, Both Gentlemen have entered upon their Offices with great Cordiality and Friendship, Union, Harmony and an anxious desire for Peace universally prevail. The Crisis of our affairs with France is generally deprecated, but as Mr. Adams has prudently convened by Proclamation the New Congress to meet on the 15th next Month, their is every confidence that the Wisdom & Policy of that body will secure us from an impending eruption. We greatly lament the failure of Malmsburys Negociation & hope the repose of the World will not long continue to be disturbed by contending Nations—[”]4 RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “[. . . .]ms Esqr. / [Minister Res]ident / [from the United] States of America / Hague.”; endorsed: “J. Johnson. / 26. May 1797. / 7. June do: recd: / do: Ansd:.” Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript. 1 For a summary of JQA to Johnson, 12 May, see JQA to LCA, 12 May, and note 1, above. 2 Although JQA and LCA were not passengers, Capt. Samuel Crozier (d. 1800) of Virginia did sail the Mary from England to Alexandria, Va., arriving on 13 Nov. after a journey

of sixty days (“Abstract of Wills on File in the Surrogate’s Office, City of New York,” NYHS, Colls., Pubn. Fund Ser., 39:250; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 20 Nov.). 3 John Beckley (1757–1807) served as the clerk of the House of Representatives from 1789 until 15 May 1797 and then again from

129

Adams Family Correspondence 1801 until his death (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 2:8–9). 4 For the Anglo-French negotiation of 1796, see vol. 11:392. For the subsequent negotia-

tion by Sir James Harris, Earl Malmesbury, see JQA to AA, 26 June 1797, and note 2, below.

Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams London May 26th 1797 Your letter of the 12th is arrived, and I flatter myself that our difficulties are ended— Why my beloved friend did you tell me to choose, what I have always declared, requires not a moments hesitation to determine, no my Adams, I have long ardently wished you might be enabled to return, and I have repeatedly assured you, that no personal inconvenience, would prevent my accompanying you, if possible—need I then say more to convince you, that your return would make me happy, and that I anticipate it with the utmost pleasure— I only fear my friend, that you will find me a troublesome companion— In regard to your temper &c:, I can only say, that the more I know you, the more I admire, esteem, and love you, and the greater is my inclination, to do every thing in my power, to promote your happiness, and welfare— Mama, and my sisters, desire their love, and say they hope to see you shortly— for myself, my best friend, I would say a great deal if I knew how to express it. but it is impossible, and I must simply stile myself, yours unalterably, Louisa C. Johnson1 RC (Adams Papers). 1 LCA wrote again to JQA the following day repeating her “infinite satisfaction” in their impending reunion (Adams Papers).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy May 29th 1797 I hear by mr Smith & Cousin Louissa’s Letter to her Sister that your journey made you sick for several days I do not wonder at it. you was fatigued before you sat out & such bad roads to pass without more time to pass them in was enough to make you sick the weather has been very cool, uncommonly So here every thing but Indian corn grows finely notwithstanding. your Farms Would delight you. your deserted House makes me feel melancholy when I pass it.

130

May 1797 but I say to my self how foolish to indulge such feelings my Friends cannot be in two places at the same time. my thoughts shall follow them & immagination supply the place of reality united you can serve your country better than when Separated—& I See the President look so happy at again being with his Family that I cannot wish my Sister to be absent from him so long as her health can be any way preserv’d—but you do not think of Staying any of you in Philadelphia I hope thro the hot months & if you must leave the city why cannot you take mrs Smith & her children & come & make us a visit I want much to see her & her little one. how are her spirits I always feel as if she was depressed. Cousin Charles mr Smith says is doing well. I rejoice that any body is, but these dreadful breakages have made such a change in peoples circumstances & prospects as is truly distressing what our son will do I know not. he means to go immediately into the practice of Law— he never should have left it to dance after a “will-with-a-whisp.” the loss of his Books he now feels Severely tis like a mans going to work without Tools & rather worse because an ingenious man could make them. it is cruil in them not to let him have money enough to get a few Law Books. I shall be glad when he is independent of them all— I wish it may be in mr J Greenleaf ’s power to place some securitys in his Parents & Brother Johns hands to preserve them from distress— mrs Appleton & her three children are Boarding with her Brother John & they live very will, at present but I am very uneassy & think as I always have done that Lucy acted a very imprudent part ever to consent to take the charge upon her she has done without security deposeted in their own hands—for the annuity they were to receive.1 I said all at the time that it was proper for me to say & must be silent now— mr & mrs Greenleaf desire me to thank you for the cheese you sent them— mrs Norton was here last week She was better than she had been. She hurt her stomack by attending wholly herself to her dairy. She makes her girl do it now with looking after2 Mrs Beal has been unwell ever since you left home3 mrs Black is well. mr Belcher has had a very ill turn & keept house a week I think he has a fever we miss him sadly about our work— We have a Town Meeting to day to receive mr Whitneys answer to a request to preach from the last meeting to this. I told you before that the Town had chosen a Comitteee to consider what was proper to be offer’d mr whitney. mr Black & Captain Beal waited upon him with the vote & the request. He said he could not supply the Pulpit for the

131

Adams Family Correspondence two first sundays as he was going a journey & when he got to his Fathers he would let them know what he would do4 he accordingly Sent them a Letter & a very unpolite & ungentlemany one it is. it was directed to mr Cranch as chairman. I was astonish’d at the imprudence of it. I will send you a copy of it. you will not like very well to see your name in it to be read in a Town meeting— I wanted to hide the Letter—to bid him put it into his Pockit & send a Polite refussal at least— That he should have so large a majority of the votes at first so little as we knew of him out of the Pulpit when mr Flint had preach’d so much longer & had made himself so agreable to the People by his sympathitic manners in their troubles & afflictions one would have thought rather flattering to him than otherways, & upon the second trial to find mr Flints party so willingly joining the minority & declaring they had no other objection to him but that they did not know him as well as they did mr Flint. but trusted from what they had heard of him that he was a worthy character was an evidence not only of their prudence but of their disposition to peace & harmony— It was very odd in him to tell us we could not offer him any thing that would be an object with him till he had found what would be offer’d & very wrong indeed to mention a private oppinion of yours in such a publick manner. if he had been so determin’d at first not to settle with us upon any other terms than that of being the first choice of all the people he should have told us so or stay’d among us enough to have been known— mr Harris has call’d him very justly a clerical Coquette—5 Mr Cranch has just return’d from meeting he has been reading mr Whitneys Letter to the Town— they were some of them so angry that they said if he was to preach here again they would not go into the meeting house to hear him. this was said by some of his warmest Friends your Brother adams & Capt. Beal Say they will do their own preaching rather than he should be ask’d even to supply the Pulpit mr Black that this will teach him never to again vote for a man with whom he is not acquainted Honest mr Flint would not have treated the Town so— we cannot with any face send again for him & so we have lost them both— mr Whitney has undoubtedly superior Pulpit Talents, but I do not believe he would have made so useful a minister as mr Flint we have had a younger Son of mr Hilliards preaching for us two sabbaths. he is as unlike his Brother as he well can be— He has a good voice & speaks handsomely writes & prays well & is quite a

132

May 1797 sensible well bred man he is desir’d to preach six days more. but whether he can I question he has been trouble’d with weak eyes for a year or two which prevents his reading or writing much he has been oblig’d to get others to read to him6 I have had a Letter from sister Peabody lately She was well. Cousin Betsy is more cheerful than I fear’d she would be but I cannot make her willing to go from home so much as I want her too— she has a cough hanging about her which makes me uneassy. I hope the air & a little exercise will make her better— I feel the loss of my dear Cousin Mary more than I could have conceiv’d I should she is almost constantly present to my mind. she posses’d great fortitude & had many hard struggles to obtain the resignation she arriv’d at I wish she could have talk’d more— I hope her Spirit is at rest— dear dear girl I did not know how much I lov’d her till she left me— it was the will of heaven & I must be silent— I was going to copy mr Whitneys Letter but it is too long I will only make an extract or two I hope to hear from you this week if you have found a little leasure please to give my Love to the President & tell him that even the chronicle has spoken highly of his late Speech.7 My Love to cousin Louisia She is a good Girl to write so often she does us a great deal of good— now for the extract— After observing that upon the first voting near half the Town were for mr Flint & that tho upon a second trial the votes were almost all for him. yet he says the Language of those who gave their sufferages for mr Flint was—tho we have no particular objection to mr Whitney yet we like mr Flint better— he says it was a fix’d principle with him never to settle where there was much of a division in short he must be their first choise another reason why he does not chuse to stand as a candidate any longer is That while mr Wibird draws fifty pound of his salary tis probable we should not be able to offer him any thing that could induce him to think of fixing down among us— this Idea he says was suggested to him by mrs Adams when he was last there—“that he had no Idea whatever others might have of setting without an adequate support—[”] he should have waited till they had made an offer & not have said this till he had found it insufficient there was no request made to him but to preach longer he might have thank’d the Town & declin’d without giving a reason—

133

Adams Family Correspondence I know you will write as often as you can as you must be assur’d you will add greatly to the comfort of your affectionate Sister M Cranch RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs Cranch 29 / May. 1797.” 1 Sarah Greenleaf Appleton (1757–1838), the daughter of William and Mary Brown Greenleaf, was the widow of Dr. Nathaniel Walker Appleton and administrator of his estate. She had four living children at this time, the three younger of whom—Charles Henderson (b. 1784), Mary (b. 1789), and William Greenleaf (b. 1791)—were likely living with her at the home of her brother and sister-in-law, John and Lucy Cranch Greenleaf (Greenleaf, Greenleaf Family, p. 216, 217; W. S. Appleton, A Genealogy of the Appleton Family, Boston, 1874, p. 22; Suffolk County Probate, 93:647). 2 On 3 June Elizabeth Cranch Norton “rode out in search of a Girl to do my dairy work, had the good luck to engage one—” On the 5th she noted in her diary: “Lydia Cushing came to live with me as dairy Girl” (MHi: Jacob Norton Papers, Elizabeth Cranch Norton Diary). 3 For Ann Copeland Beale, see vol. 5:420, 421–422. 4 That is, Rev. Peter Whitney Sr. of Northborough, Mass., for whom see vol. 10:190. 5 Likely Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, the minister of the First Church of Dorchester who occasionally supplied the pulpit in Quincy during March and July (JQA, Diary, 2:198–199; MHi:Christopher P. Cranch Papers, The Farmer’s Almanack, 1797, belonging

to Richard Cranch). 6 Likely Timothy Hilliard Jr., son of Rev. Timothy Hilliard Sr., for whom see vol. 8:21. Hilliard Jr. (1776–1842), Harvard 1793, completed a master’s degree at Harvard College in 1796 and would become a rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Portland, Maine, in 1803. His brother, Rev. Joseph Hilliard (1774–1843), Harvard 1793, possibly preached at Quincy in July 1796; he was ordained minister of the Second Church in Berwick, Maine, in Oct. 1797 (Sprague, Annals Amer. Pulpit, 1:661; Calvin R. Batchelder, A History of the Eastern Diocese, 3 vols., Claremont, N.H., 1876, 1:73; JA, D&A, 3:228–229). 7 The Boston Independent Chronicle, 22 May, printed JA’s 16 May address to Congress, stating: “It appears of the utmost importance, and no doubt will receive an universal and attentive perusal. On the wisdom of Congress rests the fate of this country. We must wait their decision.” These tepid comments, however, soon gave way to criticism. A 25 May report called the speech “the President’s Philippic against France,” which demonstrated his “zeal against that Republic.” On 29 May the newspaper cautioned, “Fellowcitizens, be not deceived by words, or pretensions, if the President’s Speech can be relied on, we shall be in a war with France in the course of three or four months.”

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson The Hague 31. May. 1797. I have received my kind friend’s letters of 3d, 16th: and 19th: of May, and am impatiently waiting to hear from you and your father again.1 I am going this day on a tour to Amsterdam, where I shall make the arrangements for my immediate departure; so that I shall probably not remain here long enough to receive your reply to this Letter.2 There are many difficulties in the way of any arrangement that I can take.— The situation of the Country to which I am going is not the least of them.— It is extremely precarious, as Portugal [ha]s every prospect of becoming the seat of War.

134

Adams Family Correspondence May–June 1797

May–June 1797 My brother has returned from Paris after passing a month there, very agreeably. I have been in the mean time very much engaged, and am so still. It is a poor apology to you for writing you so shortly but it is the best, and the only one I have.— You make frequent use of the appellation “my Adams”.— I do not like it.— It is a stile of address that looks too much like that of novels. A bare proper Name does not sound or look well for a Man, in real life.— I have endeavoured to habituate myself to it, because you appear fond of using it; but it looks to me more and more uncouth and aukward. Remember me kindly to all the family, and believe me ever affectionately / yours A. RC (Adams Papers). Some loss of text due to placement of the seal. 1 For a summary of LCA to JQA, 16 May, see her letter of 3 May, note 3, above. 2 JQA remained in Amsterdam until 14 June. In addition to making travel arrangements, JQA also met with the Dutch bankers regarding the Dutch-American loan. He returned to The Hague on 15 June (D/JQA/24, 2, 6, 7, 14, 15 June, APM Reel 27).

John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams My dear Sir Philadelphia June 2d 1797— Your Brother is appointed to Berlin, but you I presume will soon return to America; perhaps you may be upon your passage, and this Letter may not reach you, before You Sail1 I long to see you, but yet I am Very sensible it must be a cruel separation to your Brother— Who he can obtain for a Secretary I know not.2 The family is all here, and are as happy as the absence of all our Children, and the critical situation of public affairs will permit— The Intelligence we obtain from the Fratrum dulce par,3 continues to be the most ample, copious and systematic of any that is sent us Mr: Quincy has favored us with the perusal of your Letter in February, which does you great honor; there is a delicacy in the Stile which is much admired—4 I have selected Two Characters as respectable as I could find, and as impartial as any in the Union, and United them with Mr: Pinkney, to make one trial more at accomodation with France, which I heartily desire; whether they will be received or not, time must discover; If they are not the French will never have another overture in my time; There are no abler men, than Dana and Marshall.5 I think upon the whole it will be more for your advantage, to come home, and become acquainted with all the principal charac-

135

Adams Family Correspondence Adams Family Correspondence May–June 1797

Adams Family Correspondence June 1797

ters; Live and ride with me, be my Secretary when you can or will, and keep your office, and attend the courts; it will certainly be most for my comfort, and that of your Mother; But I dont mean to controul you— I am with a tender affection / your Father John Adams LbC in Samuel Bayard Malcom’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Thomas B Adams”; APM Reel 117. 1 JA nominated JQA to be minister plenipotentiary to Prussia on 20 May. The Senate confirmed the nomination on 31 May. The following day Timothy Pickering wrote to JQA that his commission would be sent by the first conveyance, and on 15 July Pickering sent JQA instructions for renewing the Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, noting that JA’s “principal design” in appointing JQA to Prussia “was to place at Berlin a Minister of your abilities and knowledge in diplomatic affairs, from whom in the existing situation of Europe correct intelligence and information highly interesting to the United States might be derived” (both Adams Papers). JA had similarly written to JQA on 2 June, explaining his decision to change the mission from Portugal to Prussia and noting the strategic importance of northern Europe and the renewal of the Prussian treaty. He also asked JQA to describe the roles the king of Prussia and the emperors of Russia and Germany planned to take during and after the European war (Adams Papers). JQA learned of the appointment on 7 July, prior to receiving these letters, and he re-

ceived the commission and instructions on 22 Sept. (U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 240, 242; William Vans Murray to JQA, [6 July], first letter, Adams Papers; JQA to Murray, 7 July, LbC, APM Reel 130). An original and a Dupl of JQA’s commission, dated 1 June and signed by JA and Pickering, are in the Adams Papers. For the Senate debate over JQA’s nomination, see CA to JQA, 8 June, note 4, below. 2 Thomas Welsh Jr. would replace TBA as JQA’s secretary in Sept. 1798 (D/JQA/24, 28 Sept. 1798, APM Reel 27). For more on Welsh, see vol. 3:189 and LCA, D&A, 1:89–90. 3 Charming pair of brothers. 4 See AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 3 June 1797, and note 8, below. 5 On 31 May JA nominated Francis Dana and John Marshall, along with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, to serve as envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to France. On 5 June the Senate voted 23 to 4 to approve Pinckney’s appointment, and 22 to 6 to approve both Dana’s and Marshall’s appointments (U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 241, 243–244).

John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams My dear Brother. Amsterdam 2. June 1797. I arrived here last Evening and this morning received your cover, enclosing the Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury.—1 There are Letters here from America, as late as the 29th: of April.2 Mr: Murray had then sailed so that he may be looked for every day. I have not yet seen Mr: Damen, and of course have made no arrangements.3 I shall make none immediately for my own departure. I feel a little anxious on account of your Health.— Let me know by return of Post how you are.— Do not by any means undertake to go with me, untill you can do it with perfect safety. I can and will pro-

136

June 1797 tract my departure if it should be expedient.— Above all, be of good cheer. Keep up your Spirits, and take care not to expose yourself to a cold. I will thank you to send me half a dozen, blank Passports;—you will see Captain Mackay again tomorrow or the next day at the Hague. Your’s affectionately John Q. Adams.4 RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “À Monsieur / Monsieur T. B. Adams. / à / La Haye.”; internal address: “Mr: T. B. Adams.”; endorsed: “J. Q Adams Esqr: Amsterdam / 2 June 1797. / 3 Recd: / Do Answd.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. 1 The letter from Oliver Wolcott Jr., dated 8 April, detailed the remittances sent by the United States to discharge the interest and principal on the Dutch-American loans that were due on 1 June. Wolcott also reported that William Vans Murray would leave for Amsterdam in ten days (Tripl, Adams Papers). TBA’s cover letter to JQA has not been found. 2 No letters to JQA or TBA dated 29 April have been found, but on 2 June JQA noted that Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst and Nicolaas Hubbard had “received some late remittances from America” (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27). 3 Herman Hend Damen was an Amsterdam merchant-broker originally from the Palatinate. On 25 June JQA informed Damen that he had “eighteen wooden chests and boxes, numbered from one to five, and four other packages containing a book case” that he was sending to Amsterdam to be shipped to Portugal via Captain Jeffries’ Neptune, and on 8 July, after learning of the change in his

mission, JQA requested Damen to have his goods relanded and stored at Amsterdam pending further orders (both LbC’s, APM Reel 130). Damen did not receive JQA’s letter in time, however, and the shipment arrived in Lisbon by early October. The books were eventually sent to Massachusetts, arriving in Quincy in June 1799. They were stored by Rev. Peter Whitney at the John Quincy Adams Birthplace until collected by JQA in Nov. 1802 (Jefferson, Papers, 23:321; JQA to Krochman & Jacobsen, 28 June 1797, 2 June 1798, LbC’s, APM Reels 130, 133; JQA to William Loughton Smith, 13 Sept. 1797, LbC, APM Reel 130; AA to JQA, 12 June 1799, Adams Papers; D/JQA/24, 1 Nov. 1802, APM Reel 27). 4 JQA also wrote letters of 4 and 5 June 1797 asking TBA to perform various secretarial tasks and reporting that he would depart for England as soon as Murray arrived in Amsterdam. JQA also noted the arrival of James Markham and Esther (Hetty) Morris Marshall in Amsterdam (LbC’s, APM Reel 130).

Thomas Welsh to Abigail Adams Dear Madam Boston June 2. 1797. I had the Pleasure of receiving your Letter of 23 Ulto: with the Pamphlet last Saturday 27th: for which please to accept my Thanks.1 According to your Directions I requested Russell to send the Centinel to you which he has since informed me he has done; you will see the Statement made relative to the Nomination and by this Scrap from the Chronicle the pitifull Venom of Envy in the party really too insignificant to be noticed Go. Blake I suppose is the Author. this is sub Rosa—2

137

Adams Family Correspondence With Respect to the Enquiry how the President’s Speech was received? I can say that for the first 48 Hours it was spoken of with universal Satisfaction by all Classes ’till some of the Leaders had Time to conjure up Objections this they found difficult and still more difficult to [procure?] Aversion as many well meaning Men had suspended their Prejudices and had already expressed their full approbation of the Speech. so that I fully believe that it still is very generally & highly approved. Governor Sumner is to be introduced into office at 12 O’Clock this Day.3 The Senate is composed of a very fœderal Body. but the House has more antis than usual but not enough to carry any Points how this has hapened I know not without some Secret Schemes have been in operation4 Please to present my Respects to the President let him know that the Fœderalists are begining to deify him and the Jacobins preparing to send him to Tartarus;5 but his Friends wish him to occupy the midle Region of Space. and that he and his Country men may be permitted to inhabit our own peacefull Plains uninterupted by foreign Arts, or foreign Arms. I am with respect your, Friend and St Thomas Welsh RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs Adams / Philadelphia”; internal address: “Mrs Adams”; endorsed: “Dr Welch June / 2d 1797.” 1 Neither AA’s letter nor the enclosure has been found. 2 The Boston Independent Chronicle, 29 May, printed the news of JQA’s nomination, followed by a squib referring to JQA as “an obscure practitioner of the law . . . mounted on the political ladder with an uncommon celerity.” In response, the Boston Columbian Centinel, 31 May, detailed JQA’s previous diplomatic service, arguing that he was “the best qualified” to serve as minister to Prussia and that JA, “as an independent magistrate,” could nominate whomever he chose. On 1 June the Chronicle requested the Senate to reject JQA’s nomination to Prussia because of “the impropriety of the President’s son being appointed a Minister at any foreign Court,” arguing that JQA would “be induced to give such accounts to his father, as may ultimately involve this country in the utmost perplexity.” It is unclear if George Blake was the author of either of the Chronicle articles. 3 Federalist candidate Increase Sumner won the 1797 Massachusetts gubernatorial

election, earning 14,540 votes to DemocraticRepublican candidate James Sullivan’s 7,125 votes. On 2 June hundreds of citizens escorted Sumner from Roxbury to the State House in Boston, where he and Lt. Gov. Moses Gill were sworn in. Prior to his inauguration, Sumner told the General Court that if he could promote “the prosperity and happiness of the people” of Massachusetts, “it will gratify one of the first wishes of my heart.” When the inauguration was announced from the eastern balcony of the State House, the crowd below “joined in three hearty cheers” and an artillery group “hailed the annunciation with a Federal salute.” Sumner was twice reelected, in 1798 and 1799 (Anson Ely Morse, The Federalist Party in Massachusetts to the Year 1800, Princeton, N.J., 1909, p. 174, 175; William H. Sumner, Memoir of Increase Sumner, Governor of Massachusetts, Boston, 1854, p. 21, 22, 37; Boston Gazette, 5 June 1797). 4 The elections for Massachusetts governor, lieutenant governor, and senators were

138

June 1797 held on 3 April; members of the house of representatives were chosen in May by the individual towns (Massachusetts Mercury, 4 April; Mass. Constitution of 1780, Ch. I, Sect. iii, Art. iv, v). The Boston Columbian Centinel, 31 May, noted that “no material changes have been made in the Members of

the House,” and that almost “three quarters of the Senate of last year are reelected.” For the previous Federalist majority in the 1796 elections, see vol. 11:240. 5 Tartarus, a place of punishment, was the deepest region of the underworld in Greek mythology (Oxford Classical Dicy.).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch My Dear Sister Philadelphia June the 3. 1797 The weather was so cold yesterday that we had fires in our Rooms. I suppose you have weather of a similar kind. we have had frequent showers and yesterday a fine rain. The House have at length got through the answer to the speech, 3 weeks debating whether, they should use the term indignation, or sensibility. the answer as reported and as finally agreed to, is a very handsome one, as well as a firm and decided one. it was carried 60 to 40. the yeas & Nays were taken. amongst the Nays will be found three of Massachuts delegation, Freeman, Who is a devoted ———, Varnum well known and skinner, of whom better hopes were entertaind.1 The appointments of Envoys extraordinary, like every other measure of Government will be censured by those who make a point of abusing every thing. Mr Marshall of Virginna is said to be a very fair and Honorable Man, and truly American. a Lawyer by profession against whom no objection is offerd, but that he is not Frenchman enough for those who would have sent Jefferson or Madison Giles or even Jarvis. Judge Dana is known to be a decided Character, but not a party Man, nor any other than a true American— Yet Bache has undertaken to abuse the appointment, and the Chronical will not fail to retail it that has more low Billingsgate than even Bache.2 but I can read them all with a true Phylosiphical contempt, and I could tell them what the President says, that their praise for a few weeks mortified him, much more, than all their impudent abuse does. There is no terror Jack asses in your threats For I am armed so strong in honesty That they pass by me as the Idle wind Which I respect not.3 This Day the House in a Body come at 12 to present their answer. the whole Hundred come.4

139

Adams Family Correspondence I hope they will proceed to buisness with some dispatch. I see by the Chronical that you, only have one side of the Question. I think Russel ought to give the debates on the other side5 we have Men from our state who do great honour to it. mr sewall & otis, are the principle Speakers.6 I must retract, however what I have written as it respects Freeman & Skinner. they are on the question of agreeing to the address upon the yea side, but on most questions they vote with the antis. a Virginian who being right and a new member was misrepresented by peter porcupine in his paper. some Gentleman expresst his regreet at it, upon which mr Evans who was the member, observd that peter knew he was a Virginian, and so took it for granted that he must be wrong7 I inclose you a newpaper. it has in it, a Letter of Thomas to mr J Quincy.8 tis said to be from Paris, merly as a cover for you see the spirit of Envy and Jealousy opperating and the misrepresentations respecting only the Change of missions to Berlin instead of Lisbon. at Portugal this present time, it was the opinion of the President & his ministers, that J Q A. could not be equally, usefull to his Country as at the Prussian court. a Treaty was to be renewd with that court, and various other reasons opperated, which it would not be so proper to disclose. the appointment was made thus early to prevent his proceeding to Lisbon Where he would go on the arrival of his successor— but Malovelence is unbounded. the inclosed extract is from Bachs paper. make the Chronical insert it.9 Mr Brisler has accomplishd the buisness for mr Cranch and I inclose the Bill.10 I have had but one Letter from you since I came here.11 We are all in pretty good Health. John Brisler has had the small pox & that very light. remember me affectionatly to all Friends and Neighbours— I am my Dear sister / affectionatly / Your A Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A Adams (Pha:) / June 3d. 1797.” 1 Thomson Joseph Skinner (1752–1809) served in both houses of the Mass. General Court and was a judge in the Court of Common Pleas from 1788 to 1807. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the 4th Congress after the resignation of Theodore Sedgwick and was reelected to the 5th Congress (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 2 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 2 June 1797, chastised JA for his choice of envoys extraordinary to France, believing

the nominations would only “lay the certain ground work of war” and arguing that if the president truly wanted to achieve reconciliation, “he would not have nominated characters who would have carried with them a temper in hostility to the French Republic.” The Boston Independent Chronicle, 12 June, reported the appointments and included a piece on making a treaty with the French Republic: “Do not let us insult them, or disgrace ourselves by a ridiculous parade of res-

140

June 1797 olution about a maritime force which we have neither men, money, credit nor ships of war to carry into effect.” The article further stated: “Let us . . . appoint honest men, attached to the invincible cause, Republicanism; with complete and discretionary powers” to make a treaty with France, because “short of this, we can expect nothing but additional disgrace and disappointment.” 3 Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act IV, scene iii, lines 66–69; AA substituted the phrase “Jack asses” for “Cassius.” 4 The reply of the House of Representatives to JA’s 16 May address noted “with extreme regret . . . the measures of the French Republic tending to endanger a situation so desirable and interesting to our country,” and although the House supported “with the utmost satisfaction . . . a fresh attempt at negotiation,” it promised “every attention which their importance demands” to the defensive measures proposed by JA. The address was delivered to JA on 3 June, and in his reply of the same date, JA reaffirmed his desire for a diplomatic resolution with France and expressed his satisfaction that House “cooperation may be expected in those measures which may appear necessary for our security or peace” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 234, 236–238). 5 The Boston Columbian Centinel, 27, 31 May, printed only summaries of the speeches in the House on 19, 23, and 24 May. However, on 3 June, it printed Harrison Gray Otis’ entire 24 May speech as a corrective to “a mutilated sketch” of the speech that had been “foisted on the public.” 6 Samuel Sewall (1757–1814), Harvard 1776, practiced law in Marblehead and served in the Mass. General Court before being elected to the 4th Congress upon the resignation of Benjamin Goodhue. Sewall was reelected to the 5th and 6th Congresses (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 7 Thomas Evans (ca. 1755–1815), a lawyer and member of the Va. House of Delegates, was elected to the 5th and 6th Congresses as a Federalist. On 22 May after the reading of the House’s answer to JA’s 16 May speech, Evans moved that the phrase “will be felt with indignation” be changed to “will be felt with sensibility,” as he “wished to avoid using expressions more harsh than were necessary.” The Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 23 May, described Evans’ amendment as “pusillanimous, whining, and calculated to dis-

guise the real sentiments of the people” and continued, “I will allow the gentleman to have meant, that the insults of the French to our minister, would be heard of with sensibility: this is sense, but it is far from expressing what ought to be expressed on the present occasion” (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 8 The enclosure has not been found but was probably from the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 2 June, which printed a letter “written by an American of the first respectability, at Paris,” who believed that a “system of terror is employed against our government with as little ceremony as it was once employed by a British ministry against our nation” and that “A French yoke, or a British, will never fit lightly upon my neck, and I think I am not singular in the delicacy of my feelings.” The article noted that if the “accumulated injuries” compelled America to declare war, “the French nation will be made the blind and deluded instrument of vengeance against their only real and sincere friends.” JA wrote to Josiah Quincy III on 3 June thanking him for sending TBA’s 13 Feb. letter and noting that “the Paragraphs useful to the Public were judiciously published” (CSt:Robert R. Gros Papers). 9 The enclosure has not been found but was possibly one of three articles the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser printed about JQA’s nomination to Prussia. On 22 May the Aurora underscored that it was JA’s “first nomination” and that George Washington “never appointed to any station in government, even the most distant of his relations.” The 24 May issue printed a defense of the nomination by “Fair Play,” who noted that “the present nomination is only to a change of situation for a particular purpose, and not a new appointment.” In response, an article on 26 May agreed that JQA, as “the heir apparent,” had been nominated “for a particular purpose” and suggested that it was to interfere with the Franco-Prussian alliance. 10 This is probably in reference to Richard Cranch’s 23 April letter to AA, in which he sent condolences on the death of Susanna Boylston Adams Hall and “enclosed Mr. Black’s Order which he desires you to endorse and return to the Collector, who will thereupon discharge that Sum on his Bill against you” (Adams Papers). 11 Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 4 May, above.

141

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister June 6 1797 philadelphia I received your Letter by this days post1 I began to be anxious to hear from my Friends at Quincy. I cannot but say that I was astonishd at some of its contents. I could not believe that any Gentleman would have had so little delicacy or so small a sense of propriety as to have written a more vague opinion, and that of a Lady too, to be read in a publick assembly as an authority. the Man must have lost his Senses I cannot say that I did not utter the expression, because it has always been my opinion that the people would not be willing to support two ministers, but little did I think of having my Name quoted on any occasion in Town meeting. if he had respected my publick Character only, he would have had some Scruples upon that Head I should have supposed. I shall always consider it as a want of Delicacy in him, and a real breach of confidence to make use of my Name on the occasion. I am mortified to find a Gentleman of whom I had formed so favourable an opinion, guilty of such a Want of Decorum. it will however serve as a lesson to me, to be upon my guard, & to be very close mouthed. I have not any remembrance of saying so, tho I think it very probable that I did— by your account of the whole transaction, he has not behaved like a Gentleman. I hope however we shall not be loosers in the end— I rejoice to hear our Farm looks well. the president is very desirious of seeing it. a journey some where will be absolutely necessary for him. Such close application for so long a period without any relaxation but a ride of a few miles, is too much for him & I see daily by a langour of his countanance that he wants rest. I fear he will not sustain himself unless congress rise so that we may quit this city during the Hot season— I long for my rose Bush my Clover Field, and the retirement of Quincy, and the conversation of my Dear sister and Friends— June 8th to Day is post day to Quincy, and yesterday we had the Chronical. I think impudent as Bache is the Chronical has more of the true spirit of satan, for he not only collects the Billingsgate of all the Jacobin papers but he add to it the Lies, falshoods calumny and bitterness of his own. for what other purpose could he design that par-

142

June 1797 agraph, that the President was to receive one hundred & 14 thousand Dollors for four years. the sallery every one knows is the same Nominal sum granted to President Washington without half its value. the 14 thousand Dollors is no more the Presidents than the money voted to Rigg one of the Frigates building. Every dollor of it, is laid out for the use of the united states, and accurate Books kept accounts kept & vouchers taken, all of which will be regularly renderd in at our quitting the House. the son too, of 23 years old receiving this sallery of ten thousand dollers pr year. these salleries are all setled by Law. a minister Resident has 4 thousand 500 Dollors pr year, a Minister plenipotentiary Nine thousand2 this he is not pickd out to receive more than any other, but his fault is being the son of the President. this wretched party are sinking very fast; but the mischief of these publications arises from their circulating amongst persons and in places where no inquiry is made into facts. Bache will publich on both sides— I wish mr Cranch would make a true Statement and see if the wretch would publish it. we give for this very House a thousand pounds a year— President Washington never gave more than 500, and every thing else in the same proportion, nay more than double— but enough of this. I expected to be vilified and abused, with my whole Family when I came into this situation. strickly to addhere to our duty, and keep ourselves unprejuced, is the path before us and the curse causeless shall not come. I feel most sincerely for mrs Greenleaf and her situation. I know it will do no good to look back but you well know how anxious I was when it might have been of use to her. mr James Greenleaf it is said, is absconded mr Morris is confind to his House. each Party criminate the other, as you have no doubt seen by the Washington paper. I regreet that there should exist any occasion for it, but know not the state of Facts, to judge between the parties—3 as soon as it is in my power I will endeavour to render cousin William some assistance to enable him to purchase some Books. Say nothing about it. I will not forget him. The time for the post to go out prevents my adding more. tell mrs Howard that I think Betsy is getting better. she begins to look more like flesh and Blood. Nabby has been sick from some imprudence of her own, but is about again.4 Becky well, but I have a Lad who has been Sick a week, and that from eating Ice creeme when he was making it & hot. he brought on such a cramp in His stomack, that his Life has been in danger ever since.

143

Adams Family Correspondence Remember me affectionatly to all Friend’s particuliarly to dr Tufts to whom I mean soon to write. my conscience accuses me that I have not. Your affectionate sister, Abigail Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A: Adams (Pha:) / June 6th. 1797.” 1 Cranch to AA, 29 May, above. 2 After misrepresenting the salaries for JA and JQA, the Boston Independent Chronicle, 1 June, asked, “Did ever two men of these States of the same family receive from the public so much?” Like other ministers plenipotentiary, JQA received a salary of $9,000 per year while he was in Prussia plus $9,000 for travel and household costs. JA, like Washington before him, received a salary of $25,000 per year, a rate that remained unchanged until 1873 (vol. 8:370; Annals of Congress, 1st Cong., 2d sess., p. 2292; Congressional Globe, 42d Cong., 3d sess., p. 258). For the $14,000 appropriated by Congress to accommodate the president’s household, see vol. 11:543. 3 For the dispute between James Greenleaf and Robert Morris over Washington, D.C., land sales, see vol. 11:xvii, 483. In the winter of 1796–1797 Greenleaf had been

jailed briefly in Boston, but he had returned to Philadelphia by the spring. In 1797 Morris avoided arrest by confining himself to his country house near Philadelphia where he continued to conduct business. Between March and May the Washington Gazette carried a series of notices written by Greenleaf on one side and Morris and John Nicholson on the other, maligning each other’s conduct and warning buyers not to purchase land from their adversary. See, for example, the 29 March and 12 April issues (Bob Arnebeck, Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790–1800, Lanham, Md., 1990, p. 420, 436, 658; Bruce H. Mann, Republic of Debtors: Bankruptcy in the Age of American Independence, Cambridge, 2002, p. 28). 4 Abigail (Nabby) Hunt (b. 1779) was the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Thayer Hunt (Sprague, Braintree Families).

Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Ellery Dana Philadelphia June 6t[h 1797]1 Blessed are the Peace makers, says [a Good] Book, for which you and I, entertain the highest respect and reverence. I quote this benidiction to reconcile you to the appointment of your Best Ffriend, as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the French Republick.2 An appointment which all true Friends to their Country, and real Americans will rejoice in out of 28 Senators, there were 22 approving voices, as the Yeas and Nays were taken. I commit no transgression in Communicating this to you. Two Senators were absent, & two have not been here this Session. amongst the Six, Massachusetts has the Misfortune to have one. my Situation forbids my expressions of indignation! The French Faction are not less insolent or less sparing of their abuse upon the President, than they were upon his Predcessor; but I can read Bache every morning with Cool contempt. I think this a Proof of Phylosphy. you too my dear Madam,

144

June 1797 must arm yourself with the same shield for you will find occation for the full exercise of it. But the Curse Causeless, shall not hurt us—3 You know well, that I can sympathize with you in all those trials which have call’d our dearest Friends, to the Post of Danger and difficulties;4 they have heretofore been fellow Laboures together in the arduous, and Perilious Conflict for Freedom and danger independance, having thrown of the Shackles, and shivered the fetters as of one dominering power,5 we must not now permit them to be forced upon us, by a more insolent and assuming Hands with pretentions less founded, aiming not only to wrest from us our Freedom and Independance, But our Religion also—6 The Prospect is truly allarming, and threatens but our Country [with] nothing less than the Subversion of all, which our [Friends] have Mutually aided each other in obtaining, and [whic]h we had good reason to Expect would be transmitted [a] fair inheritance to our Children. As your Friend is again Calld upon by his Country to take an active part, in a Mission of a highly interesting and very important Nature, on the isssue of which is involved the Peace of our Country, I cannot permit a doubt to arrise respecting his acceptance of it. Mr Marshall who is joind with him supports a very fair and Honorable Character, and is sayd to be truly American, and to this Opinion, the Six Votes against both the Gentlemen, will be a standing Record. Having been Whitness to your fortitude and Patriotism upon a more trying occation than the Present, as the Circumstances of our Country were then more distressing I flatter myself you will persevere in the sane line of Conduct, which led you then to Sacrifice, every personal Consideration to the Welfare of our Country—7 FC in Louisa Catharine Smith’s hand (Adams Papers). Dft (2, both Adams Papers). Text lost due to a torn manuscript has been supplied from the Dft dated 5 June. 1 AA drafted this letter twice after Francis Dana’s 31 May nomination as special envoy to France but before his appointment on 5 June. An undated Dft, presumably the first of the two, is four pages in length and comprises a complete draft on the first and second pages and then a partial redrafting that begins on the fourth page and concludes on the third page. The second Dft, dated 5 June, is a single page. Meticulous at the start of the letter, AA paid close attention to her penmanship, clearly intending this to serve

as the final copy. Halfway down the page, however, she began to cancel text. The FC, printed here, includes additional details regarding Dana’s appointment. 2 The complete, undated Dft reads from this point forward: “I do not expect you will give him your thanks for this nomination, but My Dear Madam You will recollect that my Husband and yours have been fellow labourers in the Great Cause of Building up the goodly Fabrick which has become the envy of Nations, but which still requires able

145

Adams Family Correspondence and skillfull Artist to shield and protect it from being sapped at Home, and overturned from abroad. he will not, he must not refuse his aid to the pilot when the Ship is threatned with a storm. it is in full confidence of his known, tried and long experienced attachment to his Country, and his pure American Sentiments that he is now calld to this important embassy and however painfull it may be to you to be again seperated, I hope you will reassume your former magnininity which supported you in times more perilious than the present, and under circumstances still more distressing to you as your Children were then all young. “To the judge taking for granted that he will not refuse I have only to request that he will consider this house as his Home when he comes on here and if you would accompany him it would be an additional pleasure and satisfaction / to Your Friend / and Humble Servant / Abigail Adams.” 3 A paraphrase of Proverbs, 26:2. 4 In the undated Dft, AA redrafted the start of this paragraph, “As it personally respects you, I can sympathize in all your feelings, having had My full share of those trials” and referred to Elizabeth Ellery Dana and herself as “sister Sufferers” in the nationbuilding process. 5 In the redrafted portion of the undated Dft, AA concluded this paragraph, “We must not submit to the Iron Rod of a more Insolent and assuming Hand.” The balance of this version mirrors the contents of the final three paragraphs of the FC. AA initially closed this version, “Be so good as to present both the Presidents and my Regards to the Judge With our request that he would consider this House as his Home,” but she

emended it to read, “I presume the judge will lose no time in making his arrangments and that we shall have the pleasure of seeing him here previous to his Departure. if you would accompany him & consider this House as your Home during your stay it would give great pleasure to Your old and constant / Friend / A Adams.” 6 In the Dft of 5 June this paragraph reads: “I know very well as it personally affects you, that You will feel much pain and anxiety at the prospect of being again seperated from Your Friend, having past through one tempestuous Season as fellow Laboures, and Friends, having weatherd the storm, it might have been expected that my Friend and yours might have enjoyd the Evening of Life in a calm, but no Man liveth for himself. the prospect now opening to us, requires the abilities, & firmness of the ablest and firmest Patriots, and most experienced Patriots, it was natural for the executive to turn his Thoughts to a Gentleman personally known to him and whose truly American Sentiments and Principls would bear the Strickest Scrutiny.” 7 Elizabeth Ellery Dana’s reply, dated 19 June, states that her husband could not accept the appointment owing to “his nervous complaints.” She worried that the rigors of negotiation might “incapacitate” him “from aiding the Mission” and could possibly “render him useless to the public and his family” (Adams Papers). In a letter to Francis Dana dated [June], AA offered assurances that the president was not upset with his refusal of the appointment, as JA “had his doubts with respect to your acceptance . . . knowing Your suffrings at sea & the present delicate State of your Health” (Dft, Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to Thomas Welsh my dear sir Philadelphia June 6th 1797 We yesterday received the Centinal. I thank you for the vindication which I found in it.1 I well knew how watchfull the Faction would be to lie in wait & catch at every Straw, misrepresenting and abusing every measure which was intended to secure us from foreign influence. the President waited a reasonable time for the answer of the House to his Speech, before he made his nominations to the senate of envoys extraordianary to the French republick. the

146

June 1797 Jacobins Seazd this interval to propogate a report that he was not Sincere in his professions to treat. when he sent in his Nominations to the senate, they were obliged to Change their ground. the next attack was upon the persons Nominated judge dana was declared to be an open & avowed Enemy to France. this opinion was propagated by Varnum & confirmd by Freeman. I tell you Names, you will however keep your informant out of sight. they however advanced this at Francis’s Hotel at the publick table at which they Dine; there are others who will transmit the same account I doubt not. the senate however confirmed the Nominations Yesterday 28 senators being present 22 voted in favour Virginna senators, Langdon Cokce of Tenassee, & two others against them.2 You will also see that the Nomination of JQA 19 to 9. No one ventured to utter a syllable against the person, but undertook to judge of the propriety of having a mission there. We yesterday had Letters from both our sons dated in March 18 I will transcribe a passage from JQAs. “The french Government at present evidently design to go to War with the united states, unless the Americans will submit to sacrifice their interest their honour and their independance. to Effect this design their great expectation is founded upon the hope of our internal disunion, a hope which is very much encouraged by the Americans who are conversent with the ruling Men in France [“]The determination for the present is to take and perhaps to condemn all American vessels and merchandize bound to or from any Ports under the dominion of Great Britain. this system has long been discernable but is now openly avowd. upon this Principle they have already taken and condemnd several vessels going from England. the Privateers which took them have generally been fitted out by Americans, and it is from Such Specimins that the Directory judge of the dispositions and Character of the American people.” [“]one of the objects to which this system is destined in plunder they consider the american commerce as a benificial prey, and they are desirious of a pretext to refuse the payment of about 40 millions of livers which I understand they owe to the citizens of the united stats.3 that they are seeking pretexts for a quarrel is plain from every circumstance that has happened Since the note of mr Adet, in october of the last year. but they gradually proceed from one step to an other because the Directory have not by the constitution the right of declaring War and they do not think the Nation or the Legislative

147

Adams Family Correspondence assembly Yet sufficiently exasperated to make a proposal to declare war for the present pass. in order to produce such an animosity they are daily useing every means of misrepresentation and falshood against the American Government. at the same time they are offering every provocation of insult indignity and injury in there power, depending either that no power exists on our part to resent them, or if they are resented that our measures will furnish them pretext for further insolence, and perhaps for proposing to the Legislature a Declaration of War.”4 You are at Liberty to communicate this to such Friends as may be relied on. I inclose You Bache impudenc of this day. I say with the Member from Conneticut, I hope if the Chronical retails it, there will be found American Blood enough in Boston and American ink enough to punish him.5 we now have a Govenour who will give a different Tone to the sentiments of many and will aid the Federal Government. we wait for his Speech with raised expectations.6 I must close or the post will leave me a kind remembrance to all Friends / from your affectionate Friend / &c &c RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “June 5th ’97 / Mrs. Adams.” 1 See Welsh to AA, 2 June, and note 2, above. 2 William Cocke (1748–1828) served in the Va. House of Burgesses before moving to Tennessee in 1776, where he was elected one of the state’s first senators in 1796. He joined Timothy Bloodworth, Stevens Thomson Mason, and Henry Tazewell in voting against Charles Cotesworth Pinckney’s nomination. The votes opposing Francis Dana were cast by Cocke, Mason, Tazewell, as well as John Brown, John Langdon, and Alexander Martin, and it was Bloodworth, Brown, Cocke, Langdon, Martin, and Mason who opposed the nomination of John Marshall (Biog. Dir. Cong.; U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 243–244). For more on these votes, see JA to TBA, 2 June 1797, and note 5, above. 3 On 10 March Joseph Pitcairn wrote to JQA that France planned to demand a loan of 60 million livres from the United States, but he noted that “if our Gouvernment should pay any attention at it, I hope it will only be to obtain the payment of Debts due to their Citizens which I am told amount to 40,000,000. a sum exceeding by 8 Millions

the advances made by France during our Revolution” (Adams Papers). JQA repeated the amount in a 27 March letter to Timothy Pickering, where he noted that France was “indebted to a great number of Americans either for supplies or for indemnities of captures and depredations, which they themselves acknowledge to be due. The amount of these debts is said to be nearly or quite forty millions of livres” (LbC, APM Reel 129). For a summary of JQA’s 27 March letter to Pickering, see AA to JQA, 15 June, note 4, below. 4 See TBA to JA, 17 March, above. In addition to the extract AA quoted here, JQA also discussed in his letter to JA of 18 March France’s influence in the Batavian Republic and his hope that harmony would be the common goal of the Adams-Jefferson executive. He also reported the death of Marie Dumas (Adams Papers). 5 During the 2 June House debate of its response to JA’s 16 May address, Albert Gallatin objected to a sentence stating that the House “did not hesitate to declare, that they would give their most cordial support to

148

June 1797 principles so deliberately and uprightly established.” John Allen of Connecticut challenged the foreign-born member of Congress: “There was American blood enough in the House to approve of this clause, and American accent enought to pronounce it,” after which a vote was taken and the sentence retained. The following day Allen’s words were twisted by Matthew Lyon, who in attempting to excuse himself from attending the delivery of the response to JA, claimed that “he had no objection to gentlemen of high blood carrying this Address. He had no pretensions to high blood, though he thought

he had as good blood as any.” In reporting on these events, the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 6 June, perverted Lyon’s discussion: “A gentleman from Connecticut rose yesterday for the purpose of telling this house that there was American blood enough in it to carry the answer. . . . I never heard any one before yesterday, boasting of his blood, that I thought had any pretensions to good sense, or good manners” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 232–233, 235). 6 Increase Sumner’s 2 June address was printed in the Philadelphia Gazette, 9 June.

John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Amsterdam 6. June 1797. “Our difficulties ended”!—1 Be it so.— But Faith is not one of the articles of which I possess a remarkable store.— I wish you may never have reason to consider as the commencement of difficulties, what you now regard as their termination. We shall have the means of conveyance to Lisbon.— Such as will perfectly well suit me; and such as you are willing to take up with.— But I do not like [to have] the vessel sent for us alone.— I submit to the expedient, but cannot [approve it.] [You] tell me that you like me the better, the more you know me.— Be but as easily pleased my friend, after marriage, as you are before, and we shall live together as well as can be expected.— But you have put too much gilding upon your prospects: you have promised yourself too much, and I regret already your disappointment. I know this so well, that I have always meant to leave you to your choice, until the last moment.— You have made no hesitation— I hope you will have no regret. I shall probably soon be released from this Country; and hope shortly to see you. In the mean time I remain ever affectionately yours A.2 RC (Adams Papers). FC-Pr (Adams Papers). Text lost where the seal was removed has been supplied from the FC-Pr. 1 JQA was paraphrasing from LCA’s 26 May letter to him, above. 2 JQA also wrote two letters to Joshua Johnson at this time. In a letter of 6 June (Adams Papers), he reported that he was still detained in Amsterdam and that he was

sorry Johnson had appropriated his ship Mary to carry him and LCA to Lisbon. On 7 June JQA wrote that he must stay in Amsterdam until William Vans Murray’s arrival, which he hoped would be very soon (LbC, APM Reel 130).

149

Adams Family Correspondence

Charles Adams to John Quincy Adams My dear Brother New York June 8th 1797. The present period is more interesting to this Country than any since the adoption of The Federal Constitution The House of Representatives after a three weeks debate on their answer to The Speech of The President have at length entered on Serious business. The fortifying our Ports and harbours. Finishing and equipping our Frigates Purchasing some large Merchantmen to be converted into Sloops of War, raising additional troops, and permitting our Merchants to arm their Ships are among the objects which will occupy their attention.1 Upon these questions from what I learn there will be a majority of about sixteen in favor of most or all of them. That the sentiments of people in general are very much altered you may well suppose but yet there are some few who justify The French in every act however atrocious. Your friend Ben Bache abuses you at a great rate in his paper You have it seems told some disagreable facts respecting our allies which do not suit his pallet.2 Mr Edward Livingston too the worthy representative from this City in one of his three hour speeches says your communications are about on a par with the speech of Barras to Monroe.3 Your appointment To Berlin was carried in Senate 17 to 12 The cause of opposition I imagine was an objection to renew our Treaty with Prussia. but of this I am not certain.4 The distresses of our Merchants through the plunder of the French are truly alarming; Their groans and curses are echoed from Georgia to New Hampshire. You will before this reaches you have heard of the deaths of our aged Grandmother, and our Cousin Mary Smith. The rest of our family are well. As I know not where to direct to you I shall cover this to Mr Johnson at London. Your affectionate brother Charles Adams. RC (Adams Papers). 1 On 5 June William Loughton Smith presented ten resolutions to the House regarding defensive measures. In addition to those mentioned by CA, the resolutions included empowering the president to employ U.S. naval forces as convoys to protect trade; au-

thorizing the president to borrow money to defray expenses arising from national defense and security; providing the means to raise a revenue adequate to reimburse the borrowed funds; and prohibiting the exportation of arms, ammunition, and naval stores.

150

June 1797 Congress eventually passed several bills on these measures, including preventing the export of arms and ammunition and prohibiting Americans from privateering against nations at peace with the United States (14 June); fortifying American ports and harbors (23 June); equipping a militia of 80,000 men (24 June); and authorizing the arming of the three frigates and providing further naval armament (1 July). Congress also passed on 6 July a stamp tax to take effect in December, for which see AA to William Smith, 28 Feb. 1798, and note 2, below. On 8 July 1797 it allowed for a salt tax and authorized the government to borrow $800,000 (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 239; U.S. Statutes at Large, 1:520–522, 523–525, 527–532, 533–534). 2 An article in the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 6 June, argued that JA, in his 16 May speech to both houses of Congress, used “whole volumes” of correspondence from JQA in order to “work up their resentments to the highest tone.” For JQA’s earlier friendship with Benjamin Bache, see vol. 3:15. 3 Excerpts of two letters JQA wrote to Timothy Pickering, dated 4 Nov. 1796 and 17 Feb. 1797, were published in Documents Referred to in the President’s Speech to Both Houses of Congress, on the Sixteenth May, 1797, Phila., 1797, Evans, No. 32966. JQA noted in the 4 Nov. 1796 letter that he had received “an intimation” that “the French Government had determined to defeat if possible” the Jay Treaty “and had signified to the Committee of Foreign affairs” in the Batavian Republic “their expectation, that they would concur with all their influence towards the same object.” In his 17 Feb. 1797 letter JQA stated: “The neutrality of every other Nation is as little respected by the french Government,

as that of the United States. They have recently proposed to Denmark to shut up the mouth of the Elbe against all British vessels” (LbC’s, APM Reel 129). On 24 May Edward Livingston spoke on the House reply to JA’s speech. He enumerated several French complaints against the United States in order to “determine whether they are all so frivolous as to excite irritation at the mere mention of them” and then defended recent French conduct, including the dismissal of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and the spoliations against American ships. Livingston hoped with his comments to avoid “a war of the most ruinous nature, whose consequences were so various as to be incalculable.” In his remarks, Livingston compared Paul Barras’ speech to James Monroe with the 4 Nov. 1796 letter from JQA to Pickering. Livingston agreed that Barras’ speech was “insulting” but questioned if the speech was “a just ground of war.” Livingston argued that the Batavian Republic could, on similar grounds, “declare war against us for the aspersions cast upon it” by JQA’s letter, which described the subordination of the Dutch Patriot Party to France. Livingston asked, “Can we wonder when our Minister speaks thus contemptuously of a nation, that others should make use of a similar freedom with us?” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 115–135). 4 On 31 May 1797 the Senate resumed debate on JQA’s nomination to Prussia. A motion to postpone consideration of the nomination failed 17 to 12; a subsequent resolution declaring there was no need for a minister to Prussia also failed by a vote of 18 to 11, after which the Senate consented to JQA’s appointment (U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 242).

Cotton Tufts to Abigail Adams Dear Madm Weymouth June 8. 1797 As you are now in a Sphere of Life that requires the Enjoyment of Health, the Exercise of Wisdom, Patience and every other Virtue, I wish you the Possession of these equal to its Exigences and that as is the Day so may be your Strength. I feel anxious for my Friends, but peculiarly so for the State of my Country, at the same Time can

151

Adams Family Correspondence chearfully leave it to the Care of Providence and those on whom our Constitution has devolved it— The Presidents Speech has met with the Approbation of the most sensible People and wherever Federalism prevails is applauded. Since you left Quincy, I have found much to do, something turns up every Day or two, that calls for Advice, Direction &C— In Consequence of your Letter to Mrs. Hobart, Her Son Mr. Adams applied for the 200 Dollars, has received it & gave his & his Father Nortons joint Note1 In examing the State of your Farms, I have found much unprofitable Stock— The Bay Mare lame, the Bay Horse old & with the Heaves. the former I sold to Elisha Turner for 50 Dollrs. A Number of Persons have applied for the Horse but none as yet will give 50 Dolls for him—for less I should be loth to sell him— The Mare bought of Hobart, has a Colt. I have been told within a few Days that she has also the Heaves and exceeding breachy— if the Horse should be sold, it will be best to put her at Porter’s, She is Still with French. Porter is full stock’d— The Stock at French’s is unprofitable, one yoke of oxen too old to keep longer, Propose to sell the first oppy. & replace them with a younger pair— There are also 4 old Cows, two of which propose to fat, the other Two to sell or keep till they Calve, being too far advanc’d for fatting— One Two (or 3 yrs. old Heifer) which calvd last Winter and proves but of little Value for a Dayry (small also) have disposd off— These, 5, if sold or fatted will leave for the Dayry 14 Cows most of them young and will be sufficient for the Purpose— on Thayers Farm, there is also a yoke of oxen too old to keep any Longer, shall sell them as soon as I can, not finding a Place on any of the Farms for fatting; there is, besides the 4 year old Steers, a pair of two year old which I propose Burrell shall work and that these two yoke shall suffice for him, there is also one old Cow and an unruly Heifer which must be disposed of, the Cow must be fatted & the Heifer also, or sold— Very little Sale for Cattle— Price fallen— I think it will be best to steer clear of a heavy bill at the End of the year for keeping Stock which the Tenant will demand by his Lease, (at least as far as may be) The Bill for keeping the Young Stock at Frenchs & Burrells was estimated at £45.16.0 one half of which I have to account for with them— Benj. Field, who applied to you for the Pasture bought of Jackson Field & Neddy Curtis is dead, have since let it to Jackson & Ebenr Field for the Season at

152

June 1797 15 Dollrs. Salt Meadow at Milton to Elisha Turner @ 9 Drs. shall also let the Sedge Banks bought of Penniman Borlands Meadow offered to Jon. Baxter I found to have been contained in Frenchs Lease and claimd by him— In my Letter to the President I mentiond my letting the House Brisler removed from to Parson Clark, this let at 28 Dollrs. pr. Anm.—2 The Wall between Richardson & the Cedar Pasture I engaged Lt. Veazie to make @ 6/ pr Rod—3 there will be a necessity of making a small Piece of Wall at Burrells on the Road against his Pasture, and also in several other Places besides those you mentiond, before you left Quincy, but these must be attended to when the People are at Leisure And as there will be frequent occasion for this Business it will be best to retain Billings if we can keep him sober— As Soale will not continue under 15 Dolls. pr. Month for 6 Months, I have concluded to discharge Him—and engage one at a lower Rate if possible— Our Season has been very wet the meadow behind your dwelling House could not be planted till the latter End of May by which Time all the sewing & planting was compleated— the Lane to the great Pasture on the Hill fencd out with Rails & stone Wall— Tax on the high Way worked out—4 Wall on Quincys Meadow now making. Our Prospects of Hay are promising— Porter appears to be prudent industrious & trusty, rather too fearful of undertaking any Thing out of the common Track, without Advice—but a more general Acquaintance with the Business assigned him will remove his Diffidence— he keeps a particular Account of all Labour hird, of Articles deliverd of monies paid & received &C his wife fills her place well, that upon the whole I do not know where you could have been better suited— As there has been full employ for Porter Billings & Soale without attending to the Garden, Turrell has taken the Care of it principally— Porter has not as yet calld upon me for any Supplies of West India Articles &C— the Surplus of Butter & other Articles he sends to market, that I hope the Bill for these will not be so high as we expected, with the Oeconomy at present maintaind by them— I wish to hear from you as soon as may be relative to any Expences or other Matters—as I shall want to regulate Money Matters so as to answer every Exigency— If the Value of my Letter is to be measured by the Length of it I shall have some Merit to claim, for be assured it is the Longest I have wrote this seven years and my Eyes tell me that the next must be shorter—

153

Adams Family Correspondence Mrs. Tufts joins me in Love to You & your Dear Husband and believe me to be with sincere Regard Yr. Very H Servt Cotton Tufts— not forgetting Miss Louisa— RC (Adams Papers). 1 AA’s letter to Thankful White Adams Hobart has not been found, but see Hobart’s letter to AA of 24 March, above. In Jan. 1796 Elisha Adams had married Sarah Norton, daughter of Sarah Whitmarsh and John Norton (b. 1755), who cosigned Adams’ promissory note (Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, 2 vols., Boston, 1912, 1:149, 150, 2:143). 2 Tufts to JA, 25 May 1797, above. 3 Possibly Lt. Elijah Veasey (1754–1827), who lived on Granite Street in Quincy, and

his son-in-law John Pray Richardson (1773– 1816) (Sprague, Braintree Families). 4 In 1764 JA served on the town committee that formulated a plan for repairing the Braintree highways via a tax that residents could either pay or “work out.” On 2 Sept. 1796 JA noted in his Diary that he felt he had been taxed “more than my Proportion,” being required to do “between forty nine and fifty days Works on the Roads” (JA, D&A, 1:252; 3:246; Braintree Town Records, p. 397).

Abigail Adams to William Smith Dear sir Philadelphia June 10th 1797 Will you be kind as to see mr Frothingham and tell him that I wish him to have the Coachee cased, and put on Board the first vessel which sails for this place agreeing for the freight of it, before he puts it on Board I have a Leeding Brass Harniss at Quincy which I will write to have sent to mr Frothingham that the whole may come together.1 Dr Welch has in his Hands three hundred Dollors which he was to repay to mr Frothingham when he had done the Carriage. mr Frothingham will credit me that and send on his Bill for the remainder. We hope that Congress will be Warm’d out of the city by the middle of July. I believe they will rise before, not by accomplishing the buisness, but by not doing it. this Dead weight of Pennsilvanna consisting of Quakers, who are always opposed to every arming proposition, of more Jacobins than any other city, who all wish to see our Government Prostrate, and a proportionable part of timid Men who fear offending the terrible Nation. all these causes have their influence upon a proportion of those members who wish for an excuse to rise without doing any thing more than negotiate these people however are very ready to advocate Convoys which may it is said be a protection to the trade of this state, and further southard, but will by no means be a sufficient shield to the trade of the Eastern states. these Members are willing that vessels should Arm for the East In-

154

June 1797 dias and for the Meditarranean but not for the west Indias.2 we want more Men of Deeds, and fewer of Words. a speech which shall take up ten Collums of a News paper and part of an additional supplement must contain very weighty and important matter indeed to induce people to hear it patiently, or read it afterward.3 there is no Man from our state, whose abilities talants and integrity are more highly spoken of than mr sewalls, and none who has more weight in the House. if his talants are not so striking as mr Dexters, he has qualities which are an adequate compensation mr otis too is highly spoken of, but it requires some time to be Way wise, and from reading his speeches, I think him too personal and too great a share of satire and Wit. he is a thorn to the antis, accordingly they abuse him— I hope you had a pleasent journey home and found mrs smith and Family well. I do not despair of seeing you this summer if congress rise in any season the President says he must take a journey, and it seems quite necssary for him. the buisness accumulates, instead of lessning. the Dons are cutting out work for us,4 stimulated no doubt by our Dear Friends the French. I hope as mr Frothingham is a Man of his Word, that the Carriage will not fail of being ready to come— My Love to cousin Betsy. mr otis and Family are well— Yours affectionatly A Adams RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); addressed: “Mr William Smith / Boston”; endorsed: “Philaa. 10. June. 1797.” 1 For the Adamses’ previous discussion of purchasing a coach from Nathaniel Frothingham, see vol. 11:521, 522–523. AA wrote to Smith on 1 July, lamenting that Frothingham had not yet finished their coach, and then again on 19 July, stating that they still had not received the coach in Philadelphia and that it should be held until their return to Quincy (both MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers). 2 Privateers from the French West Indies had been plundering American ships in the Caribbean since 1796. After a House resolution was introduced on 5 June 1797 “for regulating the arming of the merchant vessels of the United States,” debate arose about specifying the East or West Indies. On 7 June Joshua Coit proposed inserting the phrase “bound to the East Indies and to the Mediterranean,” and Robert Goodloe Harper proposed further including the “West Indies.”

Although William Loughton Smith, the resolution’s author, did not believe that arming U.S. vessels heading for the West Indies would lead to war, Samuel Smith argued that adding the phrase “brought them to an issue; for it was war or no war.” On 8 June a vote was taken on the two amendments; the addition of “West Indies” failed, but the “East Indies and the Mediterranean” passed. Ultimately, however, the House voted 45 to 37 against the entire resolution on 9 June (Alexander DeConde, The Quasi-War: The Politics and Diplomacy of the Undeclared War with France 1797–1801, N.Y., 1966, p. 124; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 253, 257, 259, 280, 281–282). 3 AA was referring to Edward Livingston’s 24 May speech, which required ten columns in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States and was published over four issues, 30, 31 May and 1, 3 June. The Philadelphia Por-

155

Adams Family Correspondence cupine’s Gazette, 27 May, noted that Livingston spoke “upwards of three hours. He did not address himself to the reason or the passions, but to the patience of his hearers, which he, at last, completely overcame.” The article further stated that if “the merits of an orator are to be measured by the page or the column, I do not hesitate to affirm that Mr. Livingston will be counted the Cicero of his day.” 4 In Sept. 1796 Andrew Ellicott left Philadelphia to survey the boundary line between the Spanish colonies of East and West Florida and the United States. Ellicott planned to meet his Spanish counterpart at Natchez, Miss., according to the arrangement made in the 1795 Pinckney Treaty. The men agreed to commence drawing the line on 19 March 1797, but while Ellicott waited for the Span-

ish commissioner to arrive, he received word from Gov. Manuel Gayoso de Lemos that Spain would maintain jurisdiction over the Floridas until the second article of the Pinckney Treaty (regarding withdrawing from posts) was further clarified. On 8 June Timothy Pickering received a report from Ellicott regarding the difficulties he encountered with the Spanish authorities in Florida. Pickering sent the report to JA on 10 June, and JA submitted it to Congress on the 12th (Amer. State Papers, Foreign Relations, 2:20–21, 26; Robert V. Haynes, The Mississippi Territory and the Southwest Frontier, 1795–1817, Lexington, Ky., 2010, p. 13). For more on the correspondence between Ellicott and Gayoso de Lemos, see Amer. State Papers, Foreign Relations, 2:20–27.

William Smith to Abigail Adams Dear Madam. Boston. 10th. June. 1797. I was not more fortunate in the weather on my return, than I was in going to Philaa. 3 days out 5 on the road it constantly rain’d.— before this you have seen the Speech of our New. Gov. & the answers of the Senate & House. this Election is as popular as any for some Years. the Answer from the House passd. as reported by the Comtee. without any debate or the least alteration.1 the Printers of the Chronicle expected to have made interest sufficient to be appointed printer’s. in this they have been disappointed the Senate appointed the same as the last Year & sent to the House their appointment one Member mov’d, as usual, to assign a Day for the choice, another Member, Dr Eustis mov’d to concur with the Senate, which was immediately passd. without debate.2 this business for several Years past, has taken up the House several Days. at present it appears to be the disposition of the Court, not to enter into any trifling controversy but join & promote the best interest of the Country— the Answer of the House to the President, we have just recd. 3 as the Members have not deliver’d their long Speeches (many of which I presume were wrote before they left home.) I hope they will now proceed upon business. people differ very much in their opinion, in this place respecting the arming of Merchantmen I believe from what I have heard, it is generally against it. it is fear’d that the imprudent conduct of many, wou’d have a tendency to involve us in, rather than extricate us, from, a contest with F[rance.]

156

June 1797 from our last accounts I think the [. . .] greatest probability that a general peace will soon take place. in Europe & that the Embassy from this Country will be well recd. Mrs. S. & our Children are well she joins me with Betsey in our best regards to you & the President. I am Affecly. Wm. Smith. This will be handed you by Mr. Cutts. brother to our Mr Cutts. Portso. 4 RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs. Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mr Smith June / 10th 1797”; notation: “Mr. Cutts.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 The senate accepted “with lively satisfaction” Gov. Increase Sumner’s 2 June inaugural address. Its reply offered praise of George Washington’s service to the nation and approbation of JA as his successor, while at the same time it lamented “those depredations on our commerce . . . and the evil effects” of French privateers. The response concluded by noting the senate’s readiness “to receive and attend to any communications which your Excellency may think proper to make.” The house reply also praised Sumner’s address, which “excites the most pleasing expectations from your administration.” It recognized JA as a “successor . . . so eminently conspicuous for his talents and his virtues” and declared itself prepared “to support the civil magistrate in the constitutional

and legal discharge of his duty” (Mass., Acts and Laws, 1796–1797, p. 493–497). 2 Alexander Young and Thomas Minns, publishers of the Massachusetts Mercury, were once again chosen to be printers to the Mass. General Court (Mass., Acts and Laws, 1796– 1797, p. 609; vol. 11:240). 3 The House of Representatives’ answer was published in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 10 June. 4 Edward Cutts, for whom see vol. 11:300, was Smith’s brother-in-law. Cutts had four brothers—Samuel, Charles, George, and Hampden (JQA, Diary, 2:288; Cecil Hampden Cutts Howard, comp., Genealogy of the Cutts Family in America, Albany, N.Y., 1892, p. 42–43).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Sister Quincy June 13th 1797 I had a mantua makaker & a Tailor last week which keept me so fully imploy’d that I had not time to write I receiv’d your kind Letter by the Post a thursday & rejoice that you have got into such good order so soon.1 I do not rise quite so early as you but I should if I could get all my folks to Bed in season you do well to devote so much of the day to riding I hope the difficulty the bad roads occasion’d you is over as you do not mention any thing of it I have been not a little uneasy about it. every body but Fools & knaves are charm’d with the Presidents Speech & the Senates answer. but the House—oh! for Shame all is not as it should be there. but I see that finally after spending as much money in debateing about their pityful Spoilations—I am Sure

157

Adams Family Correspondence I cannot call them amendments as would have rais’d an army they have squeez’d it through— I think you will be pleas’d with the address of our new first Magistrate & the House’s answer— as to the chronicle venom it will do no harm to the President— old Doctor Hitchcock call’d to see mr Cranch to talk a little about the President & his Speech—2 after expressing his approbation in very high terms (you know his energitic manner).3 he said—“Mr Cranch whoever wishes to move that man from preserveing what he thinks to be for the honour & good of his Country let him first try his Strength upon Mount Atlas— if he can remove that—then let him make the attempt upon the President—[”] If the writer from Holland is just in his observations, all Europe is of the same oppinion with the good Doctor. I think I know that writter wherever he appears— there is but one such gone out from among us—& he poor fellow must be dandled by the chronicle because his Father had nominated him to a place where he could be more Serviceable to his country than that he was destin’d for— Such foolish Lies hurt rather than Serve their base cause. mr Cranch thanks you for the Pamphlet & papers I have been to your House & found every thing mr & mrs Porter had the care of Safe & in good order. the mice have taken possession of your Store Room. there were several things wanted to be taken care of. the Loaf Sugar was in a sad plight the mice had got into the cask & fatten’d upon it. every loaf was cover’d with their dirt & those which were in a Bag were wet & smelt badly— I took them all out of the cask as it would not shut close & put what I could get in into the Barrel of Brown Sugar that can be made close. the Bag & cask I gave to mrs Porter to wash & I hung up two Loves in a pail in your chamber closet to dry & air. I shall take care of them this week— mrs Porter wish’d me to let her have the use of a Brass Skimmer & a Tin cullender which Polly had put into the Store Room. I deliver’d them to her. every thing is keept very nice. the Garden looks well, & promisses good Fruit mrs Beal & Black mourn the loss of their Neighbour with unfeign’d Sorrow. I have promis’d them with your leave to open your House & give it an airing & Send for them to take coffee with me there. they are pleas’d with the proposal tho it will be attended with some melancholy Ideas I Shall Send for Suky Adams too— mrs Black will be so much without her Husband this summer she will miss you the more for that. I am glad we have sent mr Black to court—4 mrs Beal is in a miserable state of health. I fear She will not live long unless she is help’d soon. She

158

June 1797 wasts fast & thinks herself in a decline. She is gone to Tauton now mrs Tisdal drank Tea with me a friday & told me she should not be surpriz’d if She did not live two months.5 she would be a dreadful loss to her Family at least so it seems to us— I have got the annatto & will send it to your dairy women I have the cap & Box also & will forward that mr Belcher has been to Boston & taken care of your Bacon & I suppose tis sent but I will inquir about it. there are two Bonnts— Which do you mean mrs Norton Should have? She thanks you for the Cap. She is very well & her Family. mr & mrs Greenleaf also. She gets to Bed the last of august or the beginning of Sepr..6 I did hope She would not have had children. however—I do not know what I ought to wish— this Life is but for a moment— for what reason—we shall know better hereafter. I have had a Letter from washington this last week they were well mrs Cranch tells me tis the last Letter She shall write me till She gets about again She expected every day to be confin’d— mr Morris has promis’d to procure Law Books for my Son & send him— I had rather hear he had sent them—7 I hope these imbarrasments of mr G & company will not hurt my son eventually. I never was pleas’d with his leaving his profession & shall be glad to hear he is following it again. he has been oblig’d to struggle without Scarcly any assistance from us Since he left us & has been very unfortunate in many losses he has Sustain’d—but I am happy in the moral improvment he makes of his disappointments if his Spirits can be keept from sinking he will yet do well I hope my heart acks for my dear mrs Smith I think of her continually. I wish she was here I would comfort her all I could. I am glad Cousin charles prospects are so good & that he is so happy in a wife— mrs Smith never was extravagant & the Coll’s way of Living keept her constantly anxious I could always see—but he is interprizing & young & may do better for having seen to what evils such a manner of Living tends but my dear Sister do you not know certainly where he is gone? we are all well I am affraid to ask you if we shall not see you this Summer. tis a long journey in hot weather I know but you had better take it than remain in that hot city. Cousin & I live rather a lonely Life we have no where we can go as we could to your house. I am more careful than ever to read all the debates in congress I hear nothing now from what I see I must judge & I feel very much interested—

159

Adams Family Correspondence my Love to the President & Cousin Louisia— mr Cranch & Madm welsh send their Love—accept that also of your Sister M Cranch8 RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “mrs Cranch 13 / June 1797.” 1 AA to Cranch, 24 May, above. 2 Probably Rev. Gad Hitchcock (1719– 1803), Harvard 1743, who served as minister of the First Congregational Church of Pembroke (now Hanson), Mass., from 1748 to 1799 (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 11:231–232, 235). 3 Closing parenthesis has been editorially supplied. 4 On 1 May 1797 Quincy voters elected Moses Black to represent them in the Mass. General Court (Pattee, Old Braintree, p. 92). 5 Probably Alice Street (d. 1806), who married Mace Tisdale of Easton, Mass., on 29 Feb. 1792 in Quincy. Tisdale died in 1796

(Sprague, Braintree Families; Edith Francena Tisdale, Genealogy of Col. Israel Tisdale and His Descendants, Boston, 1909, p. 36– 37). 6 Lucy Greenleaf, the first child of John and Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, was born on 14 Sept. 1797 (Greenleaf, Greenleaf Family, p. 223). 7 See William Cranch to AA, 5 Aug., below. 8 Mary Smith Cranch also wrote to AA on 20 June reporting that she had visited AA’s house and found it “neat & clean within & without.” She also updated AA on the search for a new minister in Quincy (Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts Dear sir Philadelphia June 14th 1797 I have felt every day as if I was conscience smit for neglecting to write to you. I have been some encumberd with cares and ceremonies which tho not very pleasent, the custom of the World, and the state of society have made them necessary in publick Life. the sitting of congress has added to my cares, at a season of the Year when I should very gladly have dispenced with so much company as we are now obliged to entertain. I however bear the heat better than I apprehended I could, and my Health was mended by my journey after I had recruited from the fatigue of it, which was so great from the bad Roads through the Jersies, that I thought I should feel no temptation to make a second journey this season. But the close application to buisness for Nine Months together which has fallen upon the President, requires Some relaxation, and his Health Suffers for want of it. I see it in a languor, and in a lassitude which every day succeeds the hours of Buisness. I do not tell him how much of it is visible, but I shall make no objection to accompany him on a journey as soon as congress rise, which I hope will be by the beginning of july, and his Farm at Quincy is you his Hobby Horse. I think we shall come on there & spend a Month or two from July untill october if circumstances will permit. I could wish you sir if possible to accomplish it, to have the Chamber over the

160

June 1797 office finishd as I know not what I shall do for lodging room for Men servants. I must leave it to you to judge whether the wood house could be done as we proposed, so that mr Porter and Family might be accomodated, but as our stay at furthest will be of short duration this season, I shall be willing to do what I can by way of accommodation, tho I fear some inconvenience from the mixture of Domesticks.1 we shall have four men servants with us— the President has proposed Boarding them at Marshs,2 but I think the expence of that would exceed the cost attending finishing that Room if it could be done in so short a time, and there would arise perhaps some other difficulties from a measure of that kind but I must leave that to your judgment, and the proposal to remain between ourselves without notice to any one but the Chamber I know will be the work of only ten Day or a fortnight. Stables we must have an other year and if the Frame could be got at the same time that the Boards are procured it would be best. capt Beals stables I think would answer for a model.3 he talkd of having the post longer a greater convenienc, but you can judge of that. we have a Brass Harness at Quincy a leading harness, which I should be glad to get conveyd to mr Frothingham to pack with the Carriage which he is going to send by water to us immediatly. I believe I must not scarcly touch upon politicks in this Letter, but the late news from all quarters is sufficient to put us on our Gaurd, and to lead us to be in a state of preparation for defence. The Seperate peace of the Emperor, the Mutiny on Board the British Fleet are events which in their concequences may essentially affect us.4 the Devouring Rapacity of the Galick Nation increases with their power and ability of gratification. our senate are firm and strong. our House too equally divided. our state is wanting to itself to send such a Tony Lumkin, such a dead weight, such a narrow soul, sordid minded creature as V——m to represent so wise so patriotick, and in general so judicious a state as Massachusetts—5 But I quit the subject, and present my kind regards to mrs Tufts & to miss Warner6 from Dear / Sir your truly affectionate / Neice Abigail Adams RC (NHi:American Historical Manuscripts Coll.—Adams, Abigail); endorsed: “Mrs. Adams June 19 1797 / recd. the 22—”; notation: “3 / x.” 1 The “outhouse” directly behind the Adamses’ residence was a 54-foot-long structure divided in three sections—wash house, wood-

shed, and office. The wash house, situated on the west end of the structure, remained relatively unchanged until its demolition in

161

Adams Family Correspondence 1869. Alterations to the remaining structure were completed in two phases. By mid-July 1797 two upper chambers were completed to house servants. A more extensive addition to the woodshed and office was begun in April 1798 and largely completed by June; for the best description of this addition, see Tufts to AA, 31 March 1798, below (Helen Skeen, “Documentary Narrative of Buildings Shown on Historic Base Map of the Adams National Historic Site,” unpublished report prepared for the National Park Service, Adams National Historic Park, 1965, appendix III; Tufts to AA, 27 July 1797; Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 22 June 1798, both Adams Papers). 2 That is, the tavern run by Jonathan Marsh (vol. 9:335). 3 JA also wrote to Tufts on this date similarly asking that boards and shingles be procured for a stable. Construction, however, was deferred until the summer of 1799, when a new barn and stable were erected at Peacefield (private owner, 1971; AA to TBA, 15 June 1799, Adams Papers). 4 The Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 12, 14 June 1797, reported “A SERIOUS MUTINY” within the British Channel Fleet. It was the first of two significant mutinies within the British Navy. In February sailors at Spithead (near Portsmouth, England) had petitioned the admiralty for better wages and provisions. Their demands went unanswered, and in mid-April they refused the order to weigh anchor, even as a French invasion threatened. Resolution was swift; the government met most of the sailors’ requests, including a pardon from the king, and

the majority of the fleet was again at sea by the end of the month. In contrast, the mutiny in May of seamen anchored at Nore (at the mouth of the Thames River) carried a more extensive lists of demands, including the removal of unpopular officers, the disbursement of prize money, and revisions to the Articles of War. It also ended more violently when the admiralty denied the sailors’ demands and executed approximately a dozen of the mutineers. Reports of this second mutiny would reach the United States in late July; see, for example, the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 22 July (Ann Veronica Coats and Philip MacDougall, eds., The Naval Mutinies of 1797: Unity and Perseverance, Woodbridge, Eng., 2011, p. 1–2). 5 Tony Lumpkin is an “idle but cunning” character in Oliver Goldsmith’s 1773 play She Stoops to Conquer (Dinah Birch, ed., The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 7th edn., Oxford, 2009, p. 914). 6 Susanna (Sukey) Warner (1778–1798) was the daughter of Elias Elwell Warner and Hannah Gould and the niece of Tufts’ second wife, Susanna Warner Tufts. Her father had died in 1781, and Sukey was at this time living with her aunt and uncle (Andrew Oliver and James Bishop Peabody, eds., “The Records of Trinity Church, Boston, 1728–1830,” Col. Soc. Mass., Pubns., 56:52 [1982]; John J. Babson, History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, Including the Town of Rockport, Gloucester, Mass., 1860, p. 259; Cotton Tufts to JA, 2 May 1798, Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my Dear Son, Philadelphia June 15 1797 I have not written a line to you for a long time; yet scarcly an hour of the day passes in which you are not present to my mind; I fear my last Letters were captured the ship, captain scott, was taken by the French.1 you will think me more tardy than I have really been. by the date of this you will see where I am. it was not my intention to have come here untill the Fall of the Year. I expected your Father would have been able to have returnd to me, and to have relieved himself from the weight of Buisness and care which has oppressed him; by a month or twos relaxation in the rural occupations

162

June 1797 of his Farm, which are so necessary for his Health of Body and vigor of mind. But the critical state of our Country as it respects France, the daily and increasing depredations made upon our commerce, and refusal to receive our Minister, were Subjects of so allarming a Nature, as to induce the Executive to convene Congress. This measure left me no alternative. I thought it my Duty to risk my Health, and Life in a climate which has heretofore proved injurious to the one; and hazardous to the other, for I could not permit your Father to be left Solitary, wanting my care or aid, after he had commenced Housekeeping. on the week I was to have sit out on my journey, I was suddenly calld to pay the last sad office of respect to the Remains of your venerable Grandmother. she died on the 21 of April, after a short illness. her wish was fulfilld which was to be removed before I left her: she had lived to an advanced Age having enterd her 89th year. But seldom comes a solitary woe. two days after her Death, I was again arrested in my journey by the death of Mary Smith. She had been in a decline for three Months. she had resided at your Uncle Cranchs for several years, and was a fine girl, with a very improved mind. her death at the Age of 21, was severely felt by us all. patient resignd and Submissive, she evinced to all the justice of the poets sentiment That, “Whatever farce the Boastfull Hero plays, Virtue alone has Majesty in Death”2 These melancholy harbingers following, so closely each other, cast a Gloom over every object, and saddend the otherways Cheerfull Scenes of Nature, which were just waking into Life, and putting on new verdure after a long and severe winter. I cannot Name to you the date of your last Letter to me, having undesignedly left it at Quincy. I know the Month was March.3 I find here a double pleasure and advantage having the priviledge of reading all your Letters. Your last publick Letter was March 27th 4 those which I have seen to your Father since I came here, were dated Feb’ry 3d 7th & 16th March 4th and 18th.5 the originals and duplicats have all safely arrived, tho not always in the order of Time, but they never come too late to communicate authentick information, and have not been a little instrumental in disolving the facination which had bewilderd too many of the well disposed of our Countrymen.6

163

Adams Family Correspondence There are so many occurences of a publick nature which daily arise that I cannot undertake to detail them to you. that which more particularly affects you is the Change of your mission from the Court of Lisbon to Berlin. the reason which opperated in affecting this Change will be obvious to you, that of being more usefull to your Country at the present time, than you could be in Lisbon. it was necessary that the Nomination should take place early in the session, that you might be prevented an unnecessary voyage. the senate concured in the appointment, 19 to 9: those who were opposed, said it was not to the person, but to the Mission; it was contended that the constitution gave them no Right to judge of that, that the power lay wholy with the Executive. The Jacobins endeavourd to make use of it, as tho it was an advancement from the Residentship at the Hague, to a Plenipotentiaryship and being the first nomination, was held up by communications in Baches papers, as a proof of the asspiring views of the President, but this could only impose on a few. the subject was clearly stated, but Envy is always Malignant. the Faction are not Idle, but their views are perfectly understood. The next nomination was of Envoys Extraordinary to France. Judge Dana, and Genll Marshal of Virginna are joind with mr Pinckny. these Gentlemen were also opposed by Some in senate, tho a very small Number, 4 against 22—2 were absent. the reason given was that they were voilently opposed to the French; they would not have been chosen by the Executive if that had been the case. they are true Americans, and as such, will be desirious of setling all differences amicably upon just and equitable Terms, which is the sincere desire of every real Friend of both Countries. War we deprecate with any power, and Peace will be cultivated by every means consistant with our National honour and independence. I presume you may have seen a Letter which has been the subject of much conversation here, and was publishd just before the meeting of congress. The writer may say with the poet, “What sin to me unknown dipd me in Ink”7 Mazzei committed a breach upon a private correspondence when he publishd it. from the stile of it, and the sentiments it contains, I presume it was Written, about the period when the writer was anxious to convert all political Heriticks to French Faith.— I believe it

164

June 1797 has been republishd in every News paper throughout the united states and is thought, to be genuine, as the writer has never denied it, tho publickly calld upon to do it; You may be sure it has not escaped censure, and will never be forgotten by the Characters traduced.8 my paper remind me that it will not contain more / than the affectionate Regard of your / Mother A Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A Adams 15 June 1797. / 22d July Recd / 29 Do Answd.” Tr (Adams Papers). 1 The brig John, Capt. James Scott Jr., which left Boston on 23 Jan. en route to London, was captured by the privateer L’Amitié on 27 Feb. and carried to Roscoff, France. On 4 April a French tribunal of commerce condemned the John for lacking “a rôle d’équipage in good form.” After several appeals the vessel and its cargo were condemned a second time on 3 June 1799 by a French civil tribunal on the grounds that there were irregularities with the passport, bills of lading, and rôle d’équipage (Williams, French Assault on American Shipping, p. 203– 204; U.S. House, Documents, 59th Cong., 1st sess., No. 807, p. 1–2). 2 Edward Young, The Complaint; or, Night Thoughts, Night II, lines 649–650. 3 The most recent extant letter from JQA to AA is dated 8 Feb. 1797, for which see vol. 11:546–550. 4 In his 27 March letter to Timothy Pickering, JQA described the French Directory’s latest navigation decree and reported rumors that France intended that the U.S. government pay French debts to American citizens for previous shipping seizures and that a secret treaty between France and Prussia had been signed (LbC, APM Reel 129). 5 In his letter to JA of 4 March, JQA reported rumors of JA’s election in Europe. He commented on various French attempts to influence U.S. politics and the complicity of Democratic-Republicans in those attempts. JQA also briefly described European affairs, including the recent successes of the

French Army and the civil unrest across the Batavian Republic (Adams Papers). For summaries of JQA to JA, 3, 7, and 16 Feb. (all Adams Papers), see vol. 11:550; for a summary of JQA to JA, 18 March, see AA to Thomas Welsh, 6 June, and note 4, above. 6 JQA’s 3 Feb. letter to JA was reprinted in the New York Minerva, 25 May, and the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 29 May. 7 Alexander Pope, “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot,” lines 125–126. 8 On 24 April 1796 Thomas Jefferson wrote to his former neighbor Philip Mazzei, then living in Pisa, Italy. Written at the height of the Jay Treaty debate, the letter revealed Jefferson’s thoughts on the current state of American politics: “In place of that noble love of liberty and republican government which carried us triumphantly thro’ the war, an Anglican, monarchical and aristocratical party has sprung up,” among which Jefferson included the president, the courts, two-thirds of the legislature, and “all timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty.” On receipt of the letter Mazzei sent copies to several friends, one of which was published in the Paris Gazette nationale ou le moniteur universel, 25 Jan. 1797. An excerpt first appeared in the United States in the New York Minerva, 2 May (Jefferson, Papers, 29:73–88). For JQA’s views on the letter, see JQA to AA, 29 July, below. For more on Mazzei, see JA, Papers, 9:483 and 17:xvi–xvii.

Thomas Welsh to Abigail Adams Dear Madam Boston June 16. 1797. Your’s of the 6th Instant I received yesterday together with the Extracts from Bache’s Paper they have not yet found their way in to

165

Adams Family Correspondence the Chronicle ’tho it may be expected. with respect to the Charge against the President of Insinserity in the Interval between his Address to Congress and his Nomination I can say that I took notice of the same here two Days only before the Nomination was known in this Town. when it was known the Men were objected against Mr Pinkny say they is a very improper Person because he had been so lately rejected by the Directory Mr Dana is known to be an Enemy to the French Republic and so is Mr Marshall now how can it be expected that a Negociation conducted by the Agency of such Men can be successfull however the Instruction they receive say they will demonstrate this Point. I was up at Dracut on the 13 & 14th Inst which by the Way was the Reason I did not receive your’s so soon as I should otherwise. This was a Visit to the Middlesex Canal of the Directors. Sullivan is the President1 we had a Meeting of the Directors in March at Page’s Tavern in Charlestown soon after the President’s Proclamation convening Congress was published.2 Sullivan at this Meeting took occasion to vindicate the Conduct of the Directory in not receiving Mr Pinkny upon a Principle as he said of Ettiquette known and acknowledged among Nations that whenever a Minister was withdrawn by any Nation that a Renewal of Intercourse must commence by the Mission of a Minister Extra, that in the Dispute with Great Britain a Minister Extra had been sent and that France would expect the same. Some Warmth took Place between him and some of the Directors upon the Occasion altho’ I remember I said Nothing. After Dinner in our Return from the Canal the Conversation turned upon the same Subject and it was observed that as Matters grew serious people would be obliged to take a more serious Position and that the Measures of the Executive were so fair and honorable there could be no just Room left to the French to refuse an amicable adjustment. I said no and that the objection that the Minister’s were not exactly of a Turn suited to the Views of the French Government could be not justify them in a Perseverance. and that if they wanted an Envoy Extra they must be Satisfied for instead of one they now had three. Sullivan said yes they could not be otherwise than satisfied and he had no Doubt the Difficulties would be settled and that it did concern them who the Men were if We were willing to trust them it is the Character in which they go which will be regarded “though you turning to me was so high when I mentioned it last Spring.” I denied that it was I and here ended the Conversation.

166

June 1797 Please to present our respectfull Compliments to the President and remember us all to Miss Luicy and believe me to be with Respect / your Humble: St. Thomas Welsh RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs. Adams”; internal address: “Mrs. Adams.”; endorsed: “Dr Welch June / 26. 1797.” 1 For the Middlesex Canal, see vol. 10:298. James Sullivan served as president of its board of directors from 1793 until his death in 1808 (Thomas C. Amory, Life of James Sullivan: With Selections from His Writings, 2 vols., Boston, 1859, 1:365).

2 Jonathan Page, originally from Lincoln, Mass., kept a tavern in Charlestown (William Richard Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, 4 vols., N.Y., 1908, 3:1517).

Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams my Dear Thomas Philadelphia June 20th 1797 Your Friend Quincy is married, truly married and to a Nyork Lady, by the Name of Morten, without Beauty and without Money, but amply compensated by the accomplishments of her mind and the Virtues of her Heart, as I am informd, for I have not the pleasure of knowing her.1 Having told you this peice of News, I shall proceed and would acknowledge the date of your last Letter to me, but I undesigndly left it, with some others at Quincy.2 that it was a good one I know, because no other comes from your pen. your Last letter to your Father is dated the 17th of March; I have an opportunity of communicating them to some of our Friends here in Congress; the information which both your Brothers and your Letters contain, is So accurate that great dependance is placed upon them; We are not a little anxious to receive Letters of a more recent date, especially when our situation becomes daily more critical, by the Hostile conduct of France. Much conquest has made them Mad, as Festus said to Paul with respect to learning.3 if Peace depend upon our Government, it will be preserved. there is but one wish, it is, to avoid War—if it can be done without Prostrating our National honour, or sacrificing our independance. Congress are in session. the speech of the President and the answers of the two Houses I would inclose to you, but presume you will have them before this reaches you, as well as two Bills which have passt both Houses, one for the prevention of Arms and Amminition being exported, and an other to prevent citizens of the united states Privateering against any of the powers

167

Adams Family Correspondence The People at large are thinking right, and I hope will act so. there is said to exist in Congress a much greater diversity of opinion, than is to be found without the Walls of that House I inclose to you Govenour sumners speech that you may learn the Temper of Massachusetts.4 This state you know is always a Dead Weight. the interest of the union is swallowd up in local interests. such a mass, but I forbear. [“]Ye powers divine Who mark the movements of this nether world And bring them to account! Crush Crush those vipers. Who singled out by the community To Guard their Rights, shall for a Grasp of ore or Paltry office sell them to the foe”5 I hope we shall be more fortunate in our future embassys to France than we have been in some of the former appointments; the three Gentlemen who are now united, will do every thing proper to accommodate the difference which subsist between us— there will not be wanting however persons on this side the water, to represent the Envoys as Enemical to France. nothing can be more false, but of that party. no Man would have pleased them but a voilent Democrat. Mr Murray will be arrived I trust before this will reach you. you will proceed to England on your way Home. your Brothers new destination will I hope be as agreable to him, as Lisbon, but his own pleasure will never be his object if incompatable with the service of his Country; I hope he will Marry that he may have a companion, or I fancy he will be more unwilling to part with you, and we want you here very much. Your Friend mr Bourn brought me the Watch safe. it is a very good one—6 I shall write you again soon as there are several opportunities from this place. I am my Dear son / Your ever affectionate / Mother Abigail Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs: A Adams / 20 June 1797 / 22 July Recd: / 24 Do Acknowledged / 17 August Answd.” 1 Eliza Susan Morton (1773–1850), daughter of the late New York City merchant John Morton, married Josiah Quincy III on 6 June in that city (New York Weekly Mu-

seum, 10 June; Boston Gazette, 26 June). 2 Probably TBA to AA, 21 Dec. 1796, for which see vol. 11:454–458. 3 “And as he thus spake for himself, Fes-

168

June 1797 tus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad” (Acts, 26:24). 4 Enclosure not found.

5 James Miller, Mahomet, the Imposter, Act I, scene i, lines 31–36. 6 For the watch AA had requested, see vol. 11:81, 190, 323, 549.

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my dear son Philadelphia June 23. 1797 The packet being detaind I write you a few Lines further to inform you that mr Marshal accepts his appointment, but Judge Dana declines on account of his Health The President accordingly has Nominated mr Gerry. the senate have not yet agreed to it.1 the N Englanders do not like this Nomination. You are so well acquainted with mr Gerry, and With his sentiments Principles conduct and services, that I need make no observation to you; you will at first sight conceive the reason why he is opposed by Essex Men. they all allow that he is an honest honorable Man, but too stiff and inflexable. for myself I believe mr Gerry will have the interest of his Country at Heart, and only that. we all know that he has on some occasions mantaind his own opinions against the Majority, tho he has peaceably and quietly submitted to the Government, and firmly supported it, When it was adopted— this subject of appointments is one of the most difficult and delicat parts of the Executive department. Lewis the 14, it was I believe who used to say, that when he made an appointment, he made 99 Enemies, and one ungratefull Man.2 I hope however, he represented Humane Nature worse than it really is, but it is extreemly difficult to give satisfaction. I presume the senate will not negative mr. Gerry. it is not a very desirable embassy under present circumstances and pains will be taken to defeat it, and from this Country, I have not a doubt. Congress have been in Session ever since the 15 May, and only two Acts have yet been past, and those originated in the senate. In March last I received a very polite Letter from mrs Copley, desiring leave to introduce to me a Friend of ours. one only expression led me to suppose it was a portrait. I Sent to the Captain of the vessel. He knew not of any thing for me. Mr smith went to the custom House, and found a case with D D R upon it. he inquired of mr Rogers if any thing had been sent him for me. he had not received any advice of any thing. Mr smith orderd the case to his House. upon opening it, we were not any of us at a moments hessitation. I recognized the striking resemblance of my Dear absent son. it is allowd to be as fine a portrait as ever was taken, and what ren-

169

Adams Family Correspondence ders it peculiarly valuable to me is the expression the animation the true Character which gives it so pleasing a likeness—and I have been not a little flatterd, by strangers saying, they can trace the resemblance of my features in it. I cannot Do that, myself; but I have those of Thomases, who I never before thought, look’d like you. Mrs Copleys Letter was designdedly Enigmatical, and I know not to this Hour Whether the picture was sent me by your direction, or whether it comes unknown to you, as a present from her. it is most Elegantly Framed, and is painted in a masterly Manner. no present could have been more acceptable.3 24 the senate have advised and consented to mr Gerry 21 yeas to 6 Nays. I am sorry to say amongst the six were our two senators. the other four also are all good Men indeed I must regreet that they did not give him their Vote as all of them allowd him to be a Man, of abilities and integrity. there apprehension was, that by a too rigid opinion upon trivial matters he might obstruct the negotiation; I hope he will not fall into this Error, as he will be carefully guarded against it. he is certainly a Man as impartial with Respect to the two Nations France & England, as could have been pointed out, and will be as much disposed to conciliate our differences. but the successes of that Nation and their Dominering power, give them such a weight that all Nations appear to be Sinking under their Weight. No further Letters from you than those which I mentiond in my last Letter to the 27 March4 I believe there is more diversity of Sentiment in Congress than is to be found in any portion of the union—more party Spirit, and I hope more [. . .] I must close however and putt a check upon my pen. if I could write freely I should say many more things to you— I am as Ever / Your &c &c &c RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A Adams / 23–4 June 1797. / 22d July Recd / 29 Do Answd.” Tr (Adams Papers). 1 On 20 June JA nominated Elbridge Gerry to serve as envoy extraordinary to France in place of Francis Dana. The Senate confirmed the nomination on 22 June, although both Benjamin Goodhue and Theodore Sedgwick, along with Humphrey Marshall, Jacob Read, James Ross, and Uriah Tracy, opposed the nomination because Gerry was perceived to be sympathetic to Democratic-Republicans

and his desire for a resolution with France angered some Federalists (U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 244, 245; Billias, Elbridge Gerry, p. 248). 2 “Whenever I dispose of a vacant post, I make a hundred male-contents, and one ungrateful person.” In his biography of Louis XIV, Voltaire attributed this adage to the king after detailing how two of the king’s

170

June 1797 friends had deceived him (Voltaire, The Age of Louis XIV: To Which is Added, an Abstract of the Age of Louis XV, transl. R. Griffith, 3 vols., London, 1779–1781, 2:165, 166). 3 For John Singleton Copley’s portrait of JQA, see LCA, D&A, 1:ix–x, 39, and Oliver, Portraits of JQA and LCA, p. 38–41. Susanna Clarke Copley wrote to AA on 10 Feb. (Adams Papers) presenting the portrait, the subject of which Copley referred to as “a friend of ours, which I trust you will meet at

the same time that this Letter is handed to you.” She asked AA to have the portrait “honored with a place in your Appartments as a token of those sentiments of high esteem and sincere Friendship which I ever retain to wards you my dear Madam.” The painting was probably carried on the Minerva, Capt. Cushing, which arrived in Boston on 6 April after a 42-day voyage from London (Boston Price-Current, 10 April). 4 AA to JQA, 15 June, above.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia June 23 1797 I received your Letter of June 13th. and thank you for it. the account you give me respecting my House and the Farm are very pleasing. I like your proposal of going to it and taking tea with my good Neighbours very much— I am very sorry to hear that mrs Beal is so unwell. I have feard that she would fall into a decline, for she has appeard to me, to look very unwell for many Months. she was a good Neighbour, and would be a very heavy loss to her Family. I do flatter myself with the prospect of comeing to Quincy to pass the Months of August and sepbr I know it will be a tedious Journey, but I fear it will be more tedious here, and the President really suffers for want of a journey, or rather for want of some Relaxation. to day will be the 5th great dinner I have had, about 36 Gentlemen to day, as many more next week, and I shall have got through the whole of Congress, with their apendages— then comes the 4 July which is a still more tedious day, as we must then have not only all Congress, but all the Gentlemen of the city, the Govenour and officers and companies, all of whom the late President used to treat with cake punch and wine. what the House would not hold used to be placed at long tables in the Yard. as we are here, we cannot avoid the trouble nor the expence. I have been informd the day used to cost the late President 500 dollors. more than 200wt of cake used to be expended, and 2 quarter casks of wine besides Spirit. you will not wonder that I dread it, or think President Washington to blame for introducing the custom, if he could have avoided it. Congress never were present here before on the day, so that I shall have a Hundred & 50 of them in addition to the other company. long tables are sit in the House with Similar entertainment. I hope the day will not be Hot. I am like to be favour’d with a cool one to day at which I rejoice for it is no small task to be sit at table with 30 Gentlemen.

171

Adams Family Correspondence Judge Dana declines his appointment. I feard he would as the state of his Health has been infirm the President has now nominated mr Gerry. this I know will be cavill’d at by some, and he will be blamed for it, but the responsibility rest with him, and he must bear it. he would not have nominated him if he had not thought him, an honest Man and a Friend to his Country, who will neither be deceived nor Warped— I hope he will not refuse. The task of the President is very arduous, very perplexing and very hazardous. I do not wonder Washington wishd to retire from it, or rejoiced at seeing and old oak in his place— he has manifested his intire approbation of the measures persued by the Executive.1 I thank you for your care of my things. let mrs Hunt know that Nabby is well and I believe contented and that I shall want Betsy if I come as I expect, and I shall stand in need of some more female help—particuliarly a cook— I might here of some black woman in Boston perhaps who would undertake for two Months. I wish you would inquire I want to have the House White Washd. I will thank you to see a little about it. it will be well to have the Garden attended to. I inclose you a Ribbon, I met With the other day, and I sent cousin Betsy a short Gown to show her the fashion, by mrs douse who was to send it to Boston to mr smiths. I hope it will fit her—2 adieu my dear sister. / I am, most affectionatly / yours A Adams I have not seen a speech more to the point than Genll shepards but old Men do not take so much pains to circulate their Fame as young ones. I inclose it for mr Cranch.3 let me know if you get Fennos papers now if you do not I will send them to you Love to all Friends. tell Polly Baxter, that I shall miss her very much when I come to Quincy, particuliarly in cooking Betsy Howard I think is better, tho not able to go through but little— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy”; endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A: Adams (Pha:) / June 23 1797.” 1 In a letter to Oliver Wolcott Jr. of 29 May, George Washington praised JA’s recent address: “The President has, in my opinion, placed matters upon their true ground in his speech to Congress. The crisis calls for an unequivocal expression of the public mind, and the Speech will, mediately, or immediately, bring this about. . . . it is time the People should be thoroughly acquainted with

the political situation of this country, and the causes which have produced it, that they may either give active & effectual support to those to whom they have entrusted the Administration of the government (if they approve the principles on which they have acted)” (Washington, Papers, Retirement Series, 1:161). 2 The dressmaker was possibly Martha

172

June 1797 Dow, a widow and seamstress who lived on South Street in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Directory, 1796, p. 51, Evans, No. 31235). 3 The enclosure has not been found but was likely one of the two speeches made by Gen. William Shepard, who represented Massachusetts in the House in the 5th through 7th Congresses. On 16 June Shepard spoke on a bill for raising an additional corps of artillery, arguing that many fortifications “would be useless” in their current, undermanned state and denying claims that “put-

ting our ports and harbors in a state of defence could give just cause of offence to the French.” On the 20th he recommended that “men should be sent to those forts where there were none, to prevent them from going to ruin,” because the United States was not “in a safe state” (Biog. Dir. Cong.; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess. p. 328, 343). Shepard’s speeches were published in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 19 June, and the Philadelphia Gazette, 22 June, respectively.

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother The Hague 26. June 1797. I have not written to you, since receiving your very kind Letter of 3d: March. though I received it almost a month ago. I have determined finally to go by the way of England; you will readily conceive that this circumstance together with the necessary attention to the preparations for my departure from this Country, and since the arrival of Mr: Murray, the arrangements for introducing him to the course of our affairs here, have so thoroughly engrossed my time as to leave me little even for the pleasing employment of writing to you. I shall quit this Country with some regret. The mission here is not indeed a station of splendor either in the line of profit or of reputation. Yet upon the whole it has been rendered very agreeable to me, both by the good dispositions of the Government here, and by the indulgence, and approbation of my own Government, particularly of the late President.— I know with what delight your truly maternal heart has received every testimonial of his favourable voice, and it is among the most precious gratifications of my life to reflect upon the pleasure which my conduct has given to my Parents.— The terms indeed, in which such a character as Washington has repeatedly expressed himself concerning me, could have left me nothing to wish, if they did not alarm me, by their very strength. How much my Dear mother, is required of me, to support and justify such a judgment as that which you have copied into your Letter. With respect to the strong hope which he intimates, I have thought it required an explicit Declaration to my father from me. I wish not to discuss or even to dispute the propriety of the distinction suggested, to exempt me from the exclusion which the writer gave to all his own relations.— However the matter may stand as it respects my father, I know and feel how my duty operates, and you

173

Adams Family Correspondence may rest assured that I never shall hold a public office under the nomination of my father. But where is my Independence?— for this question has been made me; and I am sensible that when upon the point of assuming the weighty charge of a family, it is a most serious question to me. Still however I can answer— It is in the moderation of my wishes; and in my industry.— Far as I am from bearing an affection to the practice of the Law, I will most certainly return to it in all the humility of its first outset rather than forfeit my independence; but it must have changed essentially its character upon the score of liberality in Massachusetts, if I cannot upon my return find any mode of private employment as honest and much more productive. We have just received the speech of the President upon the 16th: of May, at the opening of the Session of Congress. It has given us great satisfaction, and we hope that the line of policy marked out by it, will succeed in terminating our differences with France.— The Legislative Councils and even the Directory have assumed quite a different complexion since the introduction of the new third into the Legislature, and of your old acquaintance Barthelemi into the Directory.1 It is probable however that there will be a great struggle by the party who have hitherto governed with so much injustice and oppression, both at home and abroad. New conspiracies or new Revolutions are apparently forming, and whatever party prevails will hold its power by no other tenure than that of violence. The negotiations for Peace between France and Britain are resuming. They are to be conducted it is said at Lille in Flanders.2 I still doubt very much whether they will terminate successfully. There is yet too much Ambition and too much of the disorganizing Spirit in the french Government to allow them a disposition sincerely pacific.— Their treatment of Venice and Genoa, both neutral states, which had never been engaged in the Coalition, has been in open defiance, not only of all Justice and Honour, but of all shame. They have not been satisfied with dissolving the Governments of those Republics, but are dismembering them, and taking parts of their Territories to give them for indemnity to the Emperor and the king of Sardinia, instead of the dominions they have sacrificed to the conquering Genius of France.3 Buonaparte, not only wages but formally declares War, makes Peace, dissolves Governments, orders the adoption of others, sets up or pulls down the Sovereign People just as suits his own caprice, or that of his employers, and in the midst of the deep Tragedy of massacre, pillage, Assassination, and

174

June 1797 crimes of every dye, that attends these Revolutions, the farce, of Liberty, of Equality, of Fraternity, of the Rights of Man, with its whole Babylonish Dialect4 of imposture and hypocrisy is assiduously kept up, and I verily believe still finds its dupes. You will excuse the shortness of my letter. I expect to sail from Rotterdam for London by the last of the month, having already engaged my passage, and taken leave of the Government here.5 I remain with the tenderest affection and duty, your son John Q. Adams.6 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: Adams.”; endorsed: “J Q Adams 26 June / 1797 N 28”; notation by TBA: “No 28.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. 1 During March and April, 216 members of the French legislature were retired by ballot. All were former members of the National Convention, and although most stood for reelection to the legislature, only eleven were chosen. The election gave the majority in both chambers to the Constitutionalists, who were openly hostile to the Directory. On 20 May the new members took their seats. On the 27th François Barthélemy was elected to the Directory in the place of Charles Louis François Honoré Le Tourneur, who was also retired by ballot (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:506). For the Adamses’ previous acquaintance with Barthélemy, see vol. 6:303, 305, 472; 7:40, 153. 2 The Anglo-French negotiations at Lille lasted from June to October. France’s demand that all colonial possessions seized by Britain from France, Spain, and the Netherlands be returned nearly ended the negotiations in late June. But when Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord became the new French foreign minister in July, he began to work with Sir James Harris, Earl of Malmesbury, to achieve a true peace. Negotiations collapsed, however, after the 4 Sept. (An. V, 18 fructidor) political coup returned the prowar party to power in France (Paul W. Schroeder, The Transformation of European Politics 1763–1848, Oxford, 1994, p. 173–174). For the previous negotiations between Great Britain and France in the fall of 1796, see vol. 11:392. 3 Genoese attempts at neutrality were unsuccessful, and internal feuds between proFrench and pro-Austrian factions were exacerbated by Napoleon’s interference. On 6 July 1796 Napoleon instructed the French envoy at Genoa to banish the ruling Genoese fami-

lies that supported Austria. Feuds arose in the city between the supporters of France and Austria, and when a few French subjects were killed in the melee Napoleon sent two French divisions to the city. The Genoese senate, realizing it could not resist the French forces, agreed to send envoys to treat with Napoleon, and on 6 June 1797 a provisional treaty was signed at Mombello that created a moderate democracy and renamed Genoa the Ligurian Republic (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:587–588). For France’s earlier armistice with Sardinia, see vol. 11:287. 4 “But, when he pleased to show’t, his speech / In loftiness of sound was rich; / A Babylonish dialect, / Which learned pedants much affect” (Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part I, canto i, lines 91–94). 5 On 20 June JQA delivered his letters of recall to the Batavian National Assembly. On the 28th he and TBA left The Hague and arrived in Rotterdam in preparation for their voyage to London; two days later they boarded the Alexander & Alexander but made it only as far as Maassluis, where they were detained by bad winds for nine days. Finally on 9 July, they boarded another ship, the Alexander, Capt. de Vries, and reached Gravesend early on the morning of the 12th. Traveling by coach from Gravesend to London, they arrived at Osborne’s Hotel in the Adelphi Buildings that afternoon (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27). 6 JQA also wrote to JA twice in June. On 7 June he noted that he intended to go to London and marry but that he was still waiting on the arrival of William Vans Murray. He also reported that the Abbé Arnoux had been helpful to TBA in France, and he commented on the changes within the Directory.

175

Adams Family Correspondence JQA continued the letter on 19 June, noting Murray’s arrival. JQA also wrote to JA on 29 June reporting his departure from The Hague, where he “did not conceive myself at Liberty to accept the customary present of a medal & chain which was offered me.” He

commented on Napoleon’s treatment of the Italian states and reported that he would send the secretary of state copies of the Batavian National Assembly’s new constitution (both Adams Papers).

William Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Madam Washington June 26th. 1797 I have no doubt that you retain such an Interest in my happiness as to rejoice with me in the birth of another son.1 The boy appears strong and healthy and the mother seems very well.— The feelings of a Parent will easily account for such an Event being uppermost in my mind at this time.— When I wrote last to my friends at Quincy, it was my determination to have enter’d again into the Profession of the law in this place, and gradually to have withdrawn myself from the business of Mr. Morris in proportion as my own should increase. For this purpose, Mr. Morris had engaged to send me a law library from Philada.2—but since that time I have received a letter from my brother Webster in NYork in which he proposes to me to join him in publishing a dayly paper in Boston similar to the Minerva, and a Country Gazette like the Herald—of which it is intended that I shall become the Editor—the proceeds of Mr. Webster’s share of the Stock to be applied to the relief of my father Greenleaf ’s family— The facts stated by Mr. Webster are, that his Stock at N York does not exceed 2,000 Dols. the net produce of which is at least 5,000 Dols. per Annum, vizt. 250 per Cent.— This he assures me is the fact, and that he has no doubt but that a similar and equally profitable establishment may be made at Boston in the Course of 18 months or two years.— To this proposal I have given my assent provided I can get clear of the business at Washington and raise my proportion of stock; both which I think I shall be able to accomplish.—3 The principal objection to my becoming an Editor of a Gazette, is, that I am the Nephew of the President—for I could not exercise my own judgement and at the same time prove myself not under influence—and whatever sentiments the Nephew might express would not fail to be attributed to the Uncle.— In fact, we should never hear the last of “Uncle & Nevvy”. But the theme would soon become as threadbare and disgusting as the Epithets and phrases with which Bache every day so fastidiously blots his paper.— I shall

176

2, 3. anna (nancy) greenleaf and william cranch, ca. 1795 See177 page x

June 1797

Adams Family Correspondence have little regret in bearing my part of the abuse; but I hesitate when I think what new slanders it may call forth against a Character I so much venerate.— Nancy joins in respectful remembrance of yourself and Mr. Adams with your truely affectionate and obliged W. Cranch. RC (Adams Papers). 1 For the birth of Richard Cranch, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, Nos. 2 and 3, above. 2 In his letter to JA of 18 April, William Cranch similarly reported his intentions, describing the law as the only means “of geting bread for my family.” He also explained the housing situation of Gustavus Scott, a Washington, D.C., commissioner, and discussed the navigation of the different branches of the Potomac River and their impact on the capi-

tal’s development (Adams Papers). 3 Noah Webster and William Cranch were brothers-in-law; Anna Greenleaf Cranch’s sister, Rebecca, had married Webster in 1789. It does not appear that Webster ever produced a Boston daily newspaper; in April 1798 he moved to New Haven and gave up active editorship of his two New York newspapers (Greenleaf, Greenleaf Family, p. 218; John S. Morgan, Noah Webster, N.Y., 1975, p. 137).

Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Ellery Dana My Dear Madam 27 June [1797] Your favour of June 19th I duly received1 indisposition has prevented my replying to you before. the President regreets the feeble and infirm state of Health which prevents his old and tried Friend from the acceptance of an Embassy he was personally so well qualified for. it was with great apprehensions from that circumstance only, that he made the nomination and the critical state of the Country required an immediate appointment, which prevented his consulting any Gentleman previous to his Nomination. he has made a second, but not without a similar apprehension— The reasons which have prevaild upon the Judge to decline the appointment are satisfactory to his Friend the abuse and calumny which is thrown out by a party upon every Character, on this side the Potomack, who is appointed to any office of concequence, is a calamity under which the best Friends of the Country are obliged to suffer, and it requires no common share of integrity, and consiousness of pure motives to support a Man under the ordeal. this abuse too originates and is issued forth from the pens of foreigners, who having forfeited the Priviledges of their own Country, abused insulted & conspired against its Government, have fled or been driven to seek an assylum in this, which they are full as Sedulous to embroil and destroy I have been credibly informd that most of the insolent communications in Bache paper are the productions of a Man of this cast. a

178

June 1797 publication in Greenleafs paper reprinted in the Aurora has roused all my indignation.2 It is as you will see a base attack upon the Character of the Judge in his official Character. I had my doubts for some time whether I ought not to have forwarded it immediatly. I wrote to Charles to see if he could discover the Author. he returnd me for answer that he could not, but thought some Friend ought to send it the Judge, as he conceived it actionable3 I inclose the paper. it contains an other speculation which will not escape the Judges notice. by some persons it is asscribed to Vollney—4 My dear Madam the situation of our Country becomes daily more and more Dangerous, and I fear we shall find ourselves involved in a War wholy unprepaird for it, a War which we have not provoked, but by patient suffering and forbearence shewn a sincere desire to cultivate Harmony & Peace. I hope the negoation may be successfull. I am grieved to hear that your Health declines. I cannot press you to a journey this way at this season. it is my intention to flee from hence as soon as possible, I hope to my Native state. I shall then promise myself the pleasure of seeing both the Judge & you at Quincy. the President unites with me in wishing both of you a more confirmd state of Health and in assuring you of our attachment and persevering Friendship A Adams Dft (Adams Papers); notation: “1797.” 1 For a summary of Dana’s 19 June letter to AA, see AA’s letter to Dana, 6 June, note 7, above. 2 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 23 June, reprinted an article from the New York Journal, 21 June, on Francis Dana’s nomination to France. The article reported that Dana had once mutilated “a proceeding in the court where he presided, by erasing a person’s name, and by concurring in the fabrication of a record which he knew to be a falshood.” The author, “Anti Crispin,” alerted readers to Dana’s previous actions because he was “apprehensive, that some uncommonly deep stroke is in agitation against the French republic” and worried something similar might happen while Dana was in France. “Anti Crispin” may have been James Martin, who was prevented from practicing law in Massachusetts on the argument that he was not a citizen; Dana was one of the judges on the case and was accused of tampering with

the records in order to decide against Martin’s citizenship (Doc. Hist. Supreme Court, 6:212, 214). 3 Letters not found. 4 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 23 June, also contained an anonymous article discussing France’s future naval power: “Having so gloriously terminated the war by land, she will, undoubtedly, direct her whole attention to naval preparations.” The article discussed the eventual joining of all the European lands France had conquered into a group of “faithful allies of the republican confederation.” Constantin François Volney (1757–1820) was a French historian, philosopher, and politician who traveled in the United States from 1795 to 1798, during which time he visited with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; it is unclear if he was the author of the article (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale; Jefferson, Papers, 29:80, 523 ).

179

Adams Family Correspondence

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Sister Quincy June 27th 1797 I never visit or pass your house but I think of that beautiful & simple Song in the Spectator “My time oh ye Muses’ was happyly spent when Phebe went with me wherever I went,[”] &c—1 The Rose Bush under your window is as full of bloom & fragrance I suppose as formerly. your Garden florishes & your Clover Field is delightful—but Should I tell you how the view of them affected me before I recieved your last Letter you might call me romantick— I pass’d them yesterday—went into your Garden—tasted of the Strawberrys—they will be Sweet said I to Cousin Betsy by the time my Sisters returns, & this rose bush—how beautiful it is to day. the melancholy shade which was cast upon every thing around your House & Fields was Vanish’d— I anticipated the pleasure the President and you & my gentle Cousin will feel if you should be permit’d to behold those rational Sources of pleasure the rewards of cultivation & industory. this I will retreat where the formalities attendant upon your Station may be dispenced with in some measure, & the dear delights of facing & conversing with your old Friends & Neighbours will I hope restore & preserve the health of you all— we are all rejoicing at the prospc of your return— I thank you my dear Sister for your Letter I thank you for all your kind designs.2 we are doom’d to always be the oblig’d. I was unwilling mr Cranch Should make the application to you he did— we know not what is in the womb of Providence— While our children deserve well & maintain there integrety I feel as if they would have always Bread to eat & Raiment to put on— their prospect are clouded for the present but in this changable world, the next appearence may be brighter— it affects mr Cranchs health & Spirits very Sensibly. he Says but little about it: but he cannot Sleep without groaning you too my Sister have your troubles & indeed we have our difficulties but what if known are felt in common by both of us. yours are mine, & mine yours— will you give my Love to mrs Smith & her dear Boys & tell her I feel as interest’d for her welfair as for my own Daughter’s & wish it was in my Power to sooth an anxious hour Cousin Charles & Family will accept my good wishes also

180

June 1797 what we are going to do about a minister I do not know many are very desirous of having mr Flint. above a hundred have manefsed their desire in writing. Capt Adams & Capt Hall & Deacon Bess are the only People of any consequence who are oppos’d I beleive.3 I wish We may not get into Strong parties. there is Something disagreable to me in mr Flint’s voice but we may not get a better man upon the whole. we wish we knew the Presidents mind. the young mr Hillard would have pleas’d you both. if he lives he will make a figure Mrs Beal is return’d & is better mr & mrs Black are well. we are quite Sociable. She Sends her Love to you & is in Spirits, at the thought of your visit tho we Suppose it must be short— mr Apthorp has had a dreadful turn of Fits & is confin’d & very weak— I hear there is a large Packet from mr Adams gone on to Philadelphia. I hope it will reach you before you Set out4 I had a Letter from Sister Peabody last week. her little Girl has been very bad with the canker rash but is recoverd. the rest of the Family are well mr Cranch joins in every sentiment of Love & respect to the President & you—express’d by / your affectionate Sister Mary Cranch RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs / Abigail Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch / June. 1797.” 1 John Byrom, “Colin and Phoebe,” lines 1–2, The Spectator, No. 603 (6 Oct. 1714). 2 Probably AA to Cranch, 6 June 1797, above. 3 Capt. John Hall Jr. (1739–1822), the stepson of Susanna Boylston Adams Hall, served as a selectman for several years (vol.

1:356; Sprague, Braintree Families). For Deacon Benjamin Bass, see vol. 8:106. 4 On 15 July JA wrote to JQA acknowledging letters of 30 March and 3 April and thanking him for several publications, some of which JQA mentioned forwarding in his letter to JA of 16 Feb. (all Adams Papers).

Ruth Hooper Dalton to Abigail Adams My dear Madam Washington June th28 1797 It gives me great pleasure to know you are so near me and I should have told you so and condoled with you and our good Friend the President before this time on the loss of his good Mother had I not been much ingaged in moveing into the City.1 by what I have heard your loss must be much her gain I think She had lived till She could sing the song of good old Simeon2 I was flattered by the kind assurances of Freindship expressed to me and my Family in your much esteemed favour of Feb. 203 give

181

Adams Family Correspondence me leave to say you think too highly of the attention I paid you when sick in Philadelphia I hope the like occasion will never happen again if it should and in my power I shall be ready to shew how much you may depend upon my Friendship. when I left Philadelphia it was with regret I feel it now in full force as your being there would be a source of pleasure to me I do look forward to the time that it may please God we may have a happy meeting in this City at the time appointed for Congress. before that we hope to see our good President here and wish you may be able to accompany him. a Visit from him is at this time looked on as of very great importance to this City. I do assure you and much wished for. I have been at Mount Vernon Mrs Washington made me promise I would pay her a Visit this Summer I did not think the old Lady was in good health when she passed through this City in her way home She really had been much fatigued in her Journey the great attentions that were paid them however pleasing were tiresome to her. I rejoice with you that our Country has done enough to convince the Enemies of it that we have but one heart and one mind in the Veneration we feel for our Illustrious Benefactor. my dear Friend let me say to you that it also gives me the greatest pleasure to find all classes of people unite in approbation of the late Choice of the President it is really much more than at so short a period I dared hope I have great reason to think we shall be as much United as ever we were in his Whorthy Predecessor. It gave me and my good Girls great pleasure to hear their Papa read the proceedings of the fourth of March it was Solemn and affecting and we felt all the Friendly sensations for you. it gave us great Sattisfaction to find the proceedings so much approved of by every body this way which I hope will continue through a long administration. my Daughters beg me to present their respects to you and love to Louisa and to say your being at Philadelphia would indeed be an additional motive to them in Visiting it I felt so much in their absence that I cannot think of parting with them very soon again it would give me pleasure to spend a few Mounths with them there at present I see no prospect of it the account you give of your health pleases me very much I think the cold Winter must have been of service to you and I wish you would try the cold bath this Summer I am sure you would find

182

Adams Family Correspondence June–July 1797

June–July 1797 great Benefit from it I use it every day through the year in this fine Climate Mrs Deblois lives at the other end of the City four miles from me injoys great health Unites with me in respects to the President and yourself begs when you write to Mrs Smith you will not forget our love to her. Polly Tailor has received her things safe She left me in May I was very glad to get rid of her. her temper I think is worse than ever and in some other things no better than She Should be nothing can tempt me to take her into my Family again I fear I am takeing too much of your time beg leave to subscribe myself / with respect your / Very affectionate and Sincear / Friend Ruth Dalton4 I have just heard of Mrs Cranch being well abed with another Son RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs Adams”; endorsed: “Mrs Dalton / June 28 1797.” 1 The Dalton family moved from Georgetown to Washington, D.C., in March (Tristram Dalton to JA, 26 March, Adams Papers). 2 Luke, 2:25–32. The Holy Ghost promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen Christ. When Mary and Joseph first brought Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, Simeon picked up the baby and exclaimed, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”

3 Not found. 4 AA replied to Dalton [ca. 18 July] thanking her for the condolences and reporting that they would leave the following day to return east. She also noted that she hoped to visit the new capital soon and that she had “no particular attachments to one City more than an other & should certainly relinquish this without any regreet for that of Washington if I should be calld to it” (Dft, Adams Papers).

Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams Atkinson July 3d 1797 Health to my Sister, under a more fervid Sun, than that to which she has hitherto been accustomed. Yes! I most ardently wish you this most needfull blessing, without which all others must be tasteless, even Friends a burden, & grandeur painful.— I hope Queen Mab has told me a falsehood. She came last thursday night in her airy Chariot, drove directly upon my heart, presenting you to me, laying upon a sick Bed, very ill— I awoke, chid the impertinent Hag, & prayed she might bring me more welcome news. The distressing, & solemn Scenes to which you were called, just as you were leaving Quincy, the variety of duties devolved upon you, & the many necessary preparations for your Journey all centering in

183

Adams Family Correspondence July 1797

Adams Family Correspondence you, made me extremely anxious that even your magninimity would scarcely be “sufficent for these things”;1 but I am happy to hear you got safe to your best Friend, your earthly treasure.— I felt a Satisfaction that if death must enter the dwellings of my Sisters, the melancholly bereavements were before you left home— It must be a great comfort to both Families; particularly to the President whose filial affection has been an honourable, & distinguished trait in his Character.— How must it serve to meliorate his grief, that in his absence, you could prevent the asking Eye, smooth the pillow of age, soften the bed of Sickness by the most solicitous attentions, & pay the last respect to his worthy much valued Mother— I believe in truth it may be said, that your filial affection “for a while, has kept a Parent from the Sky.”2 Yet we find that no attentions, no arm can avert the fatal stroke, the undistinguishing hand of Death, reaps not only the head that is white with the blossoms of age, & the Shock of corn that is fully ripe in its season, but cuts down also, the early flower, e’er it reaches the meridian of Life— a recent instance in the death of our dear Mary— She had not those strong attachments which bind so many of us to earth, yet life was sweet to her; though not so alluring as if she had been in more prosperous, & agreeable circumstances— Her date was short, yet she had experienced many disappointments. Her extreme sensibility rendered her an easy prey to misfortune, & she felt its wounds with peculiar poignancy. Her amiable deportment, & the virtues of her heart will be held in pleasing remembrance, & her death will (I hope) be improved by the near relatives, as shall terminate in their future felicity— The other day I received a letter from my good Sister Cranch which furnished my mind with an abundance of materials for pensive contemplation— It informed me that her Sons Situation at Washinton was not so flattering as he expected, I have for sometime been fearful of it— I hope his prospects will brighten— I have often wished he had never left Haverhill, but he thought he was secure, quitting an uncertainty, for a certainty, so short sighted are we. He thought it the “tide of his affairs,” & considered it as an absolute duty to leave us, & this ought ever to solace his mind, & preclude remorse, or reproach— He has good abilities, & an excellent education, & is capable of rising, & making an handsome figure in his profession— his Wife, & friends have that to encourage, & comfort them— I believe Mr James Greenleaf has drawn into his Vortex the whole of the Family, not a connection I fear has escaped— I pity

184

July 1797 Mr John Appleton of Salem, from affluence, reduced in the decline of life to almost penury.—3 The unfortunate, amiable John Greenleaf, & our Lucy’s fair prospects all blasted— When I look around, & see the inevitables of life, that one event happeneth to the wise, & the unlearned, the virtuous & the vicious, which no exertions, or knowledge of ours could prevent, my heart often sighs responsive to the sage adage, that all is vanity, & vexation of Spirit, that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards, & that all beneath the Sky is marked with this humilating Ensignia—fleeting, & unstable—4 Mr Payson, & Johnstone of Haverhill are confined to their houses for debt— I am grieved for mrs Seargent as Mrs Payson is the only child she has left— But those persons whose mode of living exceed their anual income, subject themselves to mortifications, & cannot be just, or honest—5 General Peabody has been gone to the southward for many months— It is an unfavorable circumstance for our family, for he has more generosity than all the rest of the parish—6 Mr Peabody was appointed to preach the Election Sermon at Concord, he & his Daughter went—7 I believe I should have accompanied him, if my dear Abby had not been sick with the scarlet fever, & she had not recovered so that I dared to leave her— It is a terrible disorder— It took off her skin as if a fire had passed over her— She was very good to take what was proper, through the goodness of a kind providence she is now injoying fine health—& the rest of our family— William has written to me that he has still been troubled with the head ake but otherways well— how he must miss his dear, more than kind uncle, & Aunt— Sister Cranch says they are solitary without you— I fully believe it—& poor Betsy feels the want of your, & Her Sisters society— Mr Peabody has been sent for by concord Church to consult, about their affairs— Mr Evans has said he would not stay—& they have not desired him to tarry the alternative is now, that he must go—& for nothing but whims— I believe he will repent it all his days— He say the court house is not high enough, they will not get a Bell, & there is not literary characters sufficent for him to dwell among &cc, now if he could quit all trouble by leaving the ministry it would be a charming thing—but we poor mortals have no exemption—the interdict is irrevocable8 Could I write politicks with as good a grace as my Sister, I would tell her that this state is quite fedral, that is to say friends to Order, government, & the liberties of a People—that they speak higly of the Presidents speech, firmness, integrity, &cc— But if I may tell you without giving Offence, I would mention a remark I have heard

185

Adams Family Correspondence made upon his Composition, that his periods were too long, that his mind could contain a concatenation of Ideas much better than those inferior Persons who perused them, & that his Sentiments were so excellent that they should be obvious to every one, that even those “who run, might read”—9 When I can get resolution enough to set pen to paper I never know when to leave it— If my letter was not so long, I would not trouble you with such bad writing, but now I have not courage to copy it, & if I do not send it to Haverhill immediately I shall lose the chance of sending it by Mr Livermore who has had a Son here at School, more than a year, & told me he should be happy to do me the favour of conveying a letter to you—10 Betsy Quincy is reaping the benefit of your good counsels, & maternal tenderness, as well as myself, I have a comfort in her good temper, I think it improves every day— She begs you & her Uncle to accept of her best, & most dutiful regard— Let your candor excuse every error / you may see in your affectionate / Sister— Elizabeth Peabody Mr Peabody & daughter presents his respects to the President, & yourself— RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs Peabody july 3. / 1797.” 1 2 Corinthians, 2:16. 2 “And keep a while one parent from the sky” (Alexander Pope, “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot,” line 413). 3 John Appleton (1739–1817), Harvard 1757, was a merchant in Salem, Mass. His second wife, Priscilla, was a sister of James Greenleaf. Appleton became involved in Greenleaf ’s Washington, D.C., land speculation activities and was $40,000 in debt by 1797 (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 14:127–129). 4 A conflation of Ecclesiastes, 1:14, and Job, 5:7. 5 Jonathan Payson (d. 1826) of Boston was the second husband of Sarah Leavitt White (b. 1757). Sarah’s mother, Mary Pickering Leavitt Sargeant (1733–1805), was the widow of Nathaniel Peaslee Sargeant. Payson’s partner was possibly John Johnston, who in 1770 at age eighteen emigrated from Scotland to Boston and married Ann Payson (possible sister of Jonathan Payson) two years later. Payson and Johnston were partners in a Haverhill, Mass., trading business that suffered heavy losses (Harrison Ellery

and Charles Pickering Bowditch, Pickering Genealogy, 3 vols., n.p., 1897, 1:112, 113, 116, 236, 237; Edith A. Sawyer, “A Year of Cooper’s Youth,” New England Magazine, 37:499 [Sept. 1907 – Feb. 1908]; Boston, 24th Report, p. 257). 6 Gen. Nathaniel Peabody was away from Atkinson, N.H., possibly dealing with his financial affairs. During his years of public service Peabody had left his finances in the hands of agents who subsequently cheated him; this, coupled with extravagant tastes, meant that by 1794 he was in debt (Edwin P. Hoyt, The Peabody Influence: How a Great New England Family Helped to Build America, N.Y., 1968, p. 31; J. M. Opal, “The Politics of ‘Industry’: Federalism in Concord and Exeter, New Hampshire, 1790–1805,” Journal of the Early Republic, 20:666 [Winter 2000]). 7 On 8 June 1797 Rev. Stephen Peabody delivered the election sermon to the N.H. General Court in Concord. The subject of the sermon was Exodus, 28:21: “Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating cov-

186

July 1797 etousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.” Peabody’s sermon was published as A Sermon, Delivered at Concord, Before the Honourable General Court of the State of New-Hampshire, at the Annual Election, Holden on the First Wednesday in June, 1797, Concord, N.H., 1797, Evans, No. 32640. 8 For Israel Evans, see vol. 7:50. Since Evans started as minister at the First Congregational Church of Concord, N.H., he repeatedly had trouble collecting his salary, and in April he announced his intention to resign. On 5 July an ecclesiastical council composed of Stephen Peabody and six other men “after due consideration . . . proceeded to dissolve the connection between Mr. Ev-

ans and the church and congregation of Concord.” After leaving the pulpit Evans remained in Concord, serving as clerk of the New Hampshire Ecclesiastical Convention. Rev. Asa McFarland was installed as the new minister on 7 March 1798 (Concord, N.H., New Star, 4, 11 July 1797; Princetonians, 2:213; First Congregational Church, History and Manual of the First Congregational Church, Concord, New Hampshire, 1730–1907, Concord, N.H., 1907, p. 11). 9 Habakkuk, 2:2. 10 Likely Edward St. Loe Livermore (1762– 1832), an associate justice of the N.H. Supreme Court, and his son Samuel Livermore (ca. 1786–1833), Harvard 1804 (Biog. Dir. Cong.; Bond, Watertown Genealogies, p. 351).

Abigail Adams to William Cranch my Dear sir Philadelphia July 5th 1797 I received your favour of June 26th, and rejoice with you in the Birth of an other son, and in the safety and Health of Mrs Cranch, to whom be so kind as to present my Regards. I have shewn your Letter to the President, and he desires me to tell you, that he would not have you on any account, be the least detered from persueing any line of buisness which shall appear eligible to you, or to your Friends, out of delicacy to his station, and that if you will risk the “Goads and stings which patient merit from the unworthy take”1 He is too old a veteran to be driven from his post by squibs; Faction is determind to follow the Station with calumny and slander, but he has too good an opinion of the Virtue firmness and Patriotism of his Countrymen to believe that they will ever forfeit those qualities, or easily relinquish their independance, upon that Ground he stands. if the Arts and Machinations of our foes, sap and undermine that, he would not wish to continue a conspicuous Actor upon so disgracefull a Theatre. Whether becomeing the Editor of a paper, may in the end, prove as advantageous to you, as returning to the practise of the Law, is a question which I am unable to determine. my own opinion is that a daily paper would not succeed in Boston, as it must depend chiefly upon the Town for its support. it was tried this spring and fail’d perhaps oweing to the Character of the Editer, who was a banished Irishman of Revolutionary principles,2 Burk by Name.3

187

Adams Family Correspondence Russels paper has been degenerating some time. Edds has laid down his,4 and the Chronical would not long survive, if it did not live upon Faction, and some aid which it receives from the real Friends of Government who take it, to read what is calld, both sides. there is one paper more, publishd in Boston calld the Mercury which is Federal, and well conducted, but I do not know any paper publishd in the united states, in so high repute as mr Websters of N York.5 a well conducted paper, publishd twice a week might succeed in Boston. it is of real importance at this Eventfull period and crisis of our publick affairs, that the people should not be deceived, and led blind fold to their own destruction. They all know what cannon Ball, and Hostile Armies mean, but the Arts of deception and seduction may be practised a thousand ways, and through an infinate variety of channels, unseen and unknown, except to those who are more immediatly connected with the Government, as a late, and recent transaction will convince you as soon as it is publishd; and will end in an expulsion it is thought of a Senator, by the senate, and of impeachment by the House. I hope it will have this salutary effect, to convince the Well meaning but misinformd; that the President is no respecter of Nations, when their views run counter to the independance and prosperity of America. those Who represent him otherways believe not a word of their own assertions. they are chiefly hireling writers from Foreign Nations with which this city abounds. I inclose to you in confidence the latest Letter of an absent Friend of ours. mr Webster has publishd it in his paper, but with several inaccuracies. you are at liberty to publish it, in the Washington paper with the corrections, as however from the Minerva of July 3d 6 one of the commissioners of the Federal city, mr Scott dinned with us, this week. he appears a solid, sensible, well informd, & well disposed Man.7 I made some inquiries of him respecting you; which he answerd much to my satisfaction; amongst others, I asked his opinion, whether he thought you would succeed in the practise of the Law there? he replied that he never knew a Gentleman of mr Cranchs industery, and abilities fail, with a steady perseverence, that speaking was very necessary towards obtaining a reputation at the Bar. If my dear sir upon mature consideration of the subject, you should think it best to go into the practise of the Law: where you are now known, and as I am assured much esteemed and respected,

188

July 1797 your uncle desires me to tell you that he will Lend you two Hundred dollors to purchase you such Books as you may be in immediate want of, that you shall take your own time to repay him. if you wish to have Books purchased here, upon making out a List, mr Malcomb who is secretary here to the President, & Studied Law with mr Adams at N york, will do the best he can in the purchase of them for you. I should with the rest of your Friends rejoice to have you in Boston, but I fear to have you quit what may be considerd a certainty, for an uncertainty, where a considerable stock is also required to commence buisness— I yesterday received a Letter from your Mother who with the rest of the Family were well.8 I have inclosed to you the original Letter which I mentiond. you will return it to me by the next post. I am my Dear sir / Your affectionate Aunt Abigail Adams RC (MHi:Cranch Family Papers); endorsed: “Mrs. A. Adams July 5 / 1797 / ansd. 12th.” Dft (Adams Papers). 1 “The insolence of office, and the spurns / that patient merit of the unworthy takes” (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, scene i, line 73–74). 2 In the Dft, AA ended this sentence, “like Greenleaf Bache & Adams, tho he had not arrived at quite so great a degree of Audicity.” 3 John Daly Burk’s daily Boston Polar Star boasted high sales during its first months of publication, but financial troubles, coupled with competition from five other Boston newspapers, led to its demise. By January subscribers and advertisers were asked “to make a punctual settlement of their bills,” and the paper ceased publication on 2 Feb. (ANB; Joseph I. Shulim, “John Daly Burk: Irish Revolutionist and American Patriot,” Amer. Philos. Soc., Trans., 54:12 [1964]; Boston Polar Star, 2 Feb.). For Burk, see vol. 11:418. 4 For Benjamin Edes and the Boston Gazette, see vol. 1:195. An announcement in the newspaper on 2 Jan. requested customers “who are two, three and more years in Debt, to discharge their Arrears” and stated that Edes would cease publication in March “unless he meets with greater Encouragement than he has had for more than two Years past.” After publishing the weekly newspaper for 43 years, Edes printed his final issue on 17 Sept. 1798.

5 In the Dft, AA concluded this sentence, “and I cannot but regreet that he and Peter had a little Sparing, tho peter is really what he stiles himself a true John Bull.” 6 This was JQA’s letter to JA of 3 April 1797 (Adams Papers), in which he discussed several recent French publications and his belief that the French government’s intention toward the United States was “to sever the Union into two parts, by the help of a French War against the whole,” a goal that would be advanced by the impending return of Thomas Paine to the United States. The letter was published in the New York Minerva, 1 July; the New York Herald, 5 July; and the Washington Gazette, 3–12 July. The articles contain spelling and punctuation differences from the original, particularly in the French phrases, but the body of the letter is the same. 7 Gustavus Scott (1753–1800) was born in Virginia and educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, Scotland, and the Middle Temple in London. He returned to the United States in 1771, settling in Maryland, where he practiced law. From 1794 to 1800 Scott served as a commissioner of Washington, D.C., and superintended the construction of public buildings in the new capital (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 8 Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 27 June 1797, above.

189

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my Dear sister Philadelphia July 6th 1797 I got through the 4 July with much more ease than I expected. it was a fine cool day, and my fatigue arose chiefly from being drest at an early hour, and receiving the very numerous Sets of company who were so polite as to pay their compliments to me in succession in my drawing Room after visiting the President below, and partaking of cake wine & punch with him. to my company were added the Ladies of foreign Ministers & Home Secretaries with a few others. the parade lasted from 12 till four oclock. Fenno has saved me further occasion of detailing the Events of the day. he has given them with accuracy. I inclose his account of it—1 You will see an intimation in his paper of some Mal practices by a senator. I inclose to you the Letter this day made publick.2 When shall we cease to have Judas’s? here is a diabolical plot disclosed. When the Message was sent to the senate with the original Letter mr Malcomb the Presidents Secretary met mr Blount comeing out, who stopd and askd him what message he had got, upon which mr Malcomb replied it was a secreet and confidential one. mr Blount did not return untill after the Letter was read which threw the whole senate into a consternation. upon his comeing in, the Letter was again read. he turnd very pale, said he did write a Letter at that time to a mr Cary, but desired a coppy of it, and untill the next day to make his defence. it was granted, but mr Blount has not since been seen. search was made after him yesterday and a vessel found which he had Charterd to go off in. Poor Pensilvanna keeps no Gallows, as Porcupine says. the senate will expell him, & it belongs to the House of Reps—to impeach, but they have not yet reported— it does not appear that his offerd Service was accepted by the British, tho it is a glorious kettle for the Jacobines to Swim in. how they rejoice. corruption, is corruption from what ever source it originates. this same Tenesse Senator was arrested for debt four different times on his return home last fall, and but for his Priviledge as senator which Screens him 20 days, he would have been lodged in Jail, which he no doubt richly deserves. he has a Brother in the House who lately took fire at the mention of French Faction & challenged mr Thatcher in concequence of it.3 this Buisness tho communicated last twesday to both Houses, is but just transpiring. the House have orderd all the papers to be publishd. I will send them as soon as they are publick—4

190

July 1797

4. william blount, ca. 1790 See page x

191

Adams Family Correspondence I thank you for your kind Letter of 27 June. I derive much pleasure from your account of the Garden and rose Bush. I wish I could enhale the one & taste the other, but I fear not. I past an hour or two with mrs wolcot last Evening the Lady of the Secretary of the Treasury. mr Wolcot seemd anxious at the Idea of the Presidents going so far from the Seat of Government at so critical a period. I know he will not leave here for any time if the Ministers think his presence necessary. we may truly say, we know not what a day will bring forth— from every side we are in Danger. we are in Perils by Land, and we are in Perils by sea; and in Perils from false Breathern. Dr Blair gave us an Exelent discourse a sunday or two ago. “Trust in the Lord, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting Strength.[”]5 if it was not for that trust and confidence, our Hearts would often fail us. I inclose with this a part of a Letter written a day or two since, one part of which I thought proper to cut of, and am too laizy to coppy the remainder—6 Congress expect to rise this week. I will write you again, as soon as I can determine what will be the result of our deliberations. My Love to all inquiring Friends present me respectfully to mrs welch and be assured I am my dear sister most affectionatly Your A Adams7 Let the Friends of my domesticks know that they are all well RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs. / A: Adams (Pha:) / July 6th. 1797.” 1 The enclosure has not been found but likely was the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 5 July, recounting the celebrations of the previous day: “At noon, the Governor of this Commonwealth, officers of the general and state governments, members of both houses of Congress, the society of the Cincinati, Officers of the militia in their uniforms, the Foreign Ministers and many private citizens waited on the President of the United States with their congratulations.” As host of the day, JA “was dressed in full uniform on the occasion, and looked extremely well. He shewed by his countenance the delight he felt at the return of the auspicious anniversary.” 2 Enclosure not found. Several Philadelphia newspapers published the letter revealing William Blount’s conspiracy, for which see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 4, above.

See, for example, Gazette of the United States and the special supplement of the Philadelphia Gazette, both 6 July. 3 Thomas Blount (1759–1812) ran a mercantile business in Tarboro, N.C., and represented the state in the 3d, 4th, and 5th Congresses. During a 9 June debate on the proposed defensive measures, George Thatcher claimed that a resolution introduced by Blount carried pro-French connotations. After a heated exchange, Blount challenged Thatcher to a duel, but the latter declined to fight, citing his family’s reliance on him (Biog. Dir. Cong.; Lorenzo Sabine, Notes on Duels and Duelling, Boston, 1859, p. 66–67; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 282, 284). 4 Only the Senate printed its report during the current congressional session: In Senate of the United States, July 6th, 1797. The

192

July 1797 Committee to Whom Was Referred . . . a Letter Purporting to Have Been Written by William Blount, Phila., 1797, Evans, No. 48290. The House report was issued during the subsequent session as Report of the Committee of the House of Representatives of the United States, Appointed to Prepare and Report Articles of Impeachment against William Blount, Phila., 1797, Evans, No. 34785. 5 Isaiah, 26:4. Rev. Samuel Blair, the former chaplain of Congress, resided at Germantown, Penn., and occasionally returned to the capital to preach (vol. 9:340; Sprague, Annals Amer. Pulpit, 3:269). 6 The enclosure was part of a [5 July] let-

ter to Mary Smith Cranch congratulating her on the birth of a new grandson, offering to help procure law books for William Cranch, and mentioning that a letter and post note sent to AA2 had been miscarried. AA cut away most of the verso folio page, leaving only a fragment at the bottom with text on both the first and second pages. The recto folio page remains intact with text on the third page (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 7 AA also wrote to Mary Smith Cranch on 11 July, sending her a handkerchief and asking for farming news from Quincy (MWA: Abigail Adams Letters).

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother. Maassluys 6. July 1797. I am once more in the same pleasant situation as that which I described to you twenty months ago from Helvoetsluys. Nine days since, we left the Hague, and I believe you will think I have at least as much occasion for Patience and Philosophy as I had upon the former occasion. I am going to London, where I shall stay no longer than will be absolutely necessary, and from whence I intend to proceed directly to Lisbon. I am afraid it will be long before I shall have any further Letters from America. Even when I am fixed for any time to one spot my American correspondents are not very assiduous, and my frequent removes furnish an excuse, readily adopted for avoiding to write where it is unknown how to address.— Yet I am very sollicitous to hear from you; especially, as you are doubtless now at Philadelphia, and as I am anxious to hear how your health bears the residence of that City, and the mode of life to which you will be obliged to submit in it. I waited about two months in this Country for the arrival of Mr: Murray. After he came I thought it necessary to hasten my departure as soon as possible, and allowed myself only time to accompany him through the forms of his reception, and to introduce him as far as I was able to the current of affairs. I shall again be deprived of the same advantage at Lisbon. It will be the third time of my finding myself launched upon an unknown Ocean, without Pilot or compass. Coll: Humphreys will be gone before I can possibly arrive.

193

Adams Family Correspondence If you should as I presume you will constantly reside at Philadelphia, I must address to you as to the most punctual of my correspondents, a request, which I despair of having executed by any other person. It is to send me some weekly newspapers, regularly by every vessel coming to Lisbon; a series of such kind of dispatches requires indeed a constant attention, which I know from experience, not to be very easy.— My brother Charles undertook to send us Webster’s Herald when we came from America; for which we were to send him the Leyden Gazette. We have faithfully done our part, and scarce a vessel has sailed for New York since we have been in this Country without bearing some Papers, and always the latest possible. We have received in return once in every four or five months a few of the Heralds, and generally six months old.— But Charles is in business, (I hope in great business) he is married, and has a child, and has so many other things to call off his attention that I have been perfectly ready to excuse and to account for his neglect of us. Indeed it is exactly the same thing with my friends at Boston.— I was to receive regularly the Centinel; and I think it has reached me to so late a date as March or April 1796.— In comparison with this, Charles really shines, for I think we have received his Heralds as late as September. I have for the last six months sent to my father one of the best Paris, daily newspapers.1 I have indeed constantly since my residence in Europe endeavoured to furnish him from time to time with newspapers and valuable or interesting publications; but I have not been able to accomplish this so much to my satisfaction as I should if I had been more settled, for although it is almost three years since I sailed from Boston, I have scarcely been a year at a time in the same place.— I now send the latest Paris Papers that I have received. Our situation with that Country is still equivocal, and dangerous. General Pinckney acts with great Prudence and Wisdom, and I am persuaded will do every thing possible in the disadvantageous situation in which he still remains. But there are many very wicked agents and many very bad Passions at work against the interest and the friendship of the two Nations.— With regard to the West India depredations, the Directory have published a Letter from Southonax and his brother robbers their Agents in which they freely declare that they had employed cruizers against American vessels, without authority, but because they wanted provisions, because the Ameri-

194

July 1797 cans were ill-disposed, and because after the election of John Adams as President of the U.S. they concluded there would be a War between the two Countries.— The Directory have recalled those Commissioners, and their infamous piracies have not been unnoticed even in Paris. An investigation and scrutiny has been called for into the other hostile measures of the Directory: there is no doubt a strong party in France who disapprove of them, but they are afraid of nothing so much as of being too much in the right.2 Among those who call and think themselves our friends, and who are indeed sensible how unjustly the Directory has treated us, is Barbé-Marbois, a man well known in America, and now a very distinguished member of the Council of Antients. He has lately made a report relative to the expences in the department of foreign affairs.— It appears they are four or five times as great as they were in the most extravagant periods of the old Government.— And for all this augmentation of charges they have according to Marbois, got but a very contemptible set of negotiators abroad; among whom he has with equal Justice and Severity included their late Minister to the United States: “one of them (says Marbois) sent to a friendly nation will imagine he serves his Country by sowing distrust and suspicion between the government and the People. In order to acquire the reputation of being active and influential, he will expose two Nations united by their reciprocal interests, by benefits and by gratitude, to a fatal rupture: he will exert himself to sully the splendor of the fairest life, the eminent qualities of the greatest man, that our Century can offer to History and present to posterity; and even though he should not attain the end proposed, the minds of men, will nevertheless be alienated, and a double portion of wisdom will be necessary to bring them again together.”—3 So you see that even in the Capital of France, even in the sanctuary of their Legislation, a public and an eloquent voice is yet found ready to pay the tribute of justice to the character of Washington, and to reward with richly deserved contempt the reptile that would have shed its filth and venom upon such brightness. I will not promise you my dear mother to be a very good correspondent from this time untill I get settled at Lisbon. Perhaps the present contrary winds under which I labour are to be considered as advantages, as they give me time to make up for some future deficiencies.— Not that I intend them; but I have a sort of foresight that

195

Adams Family Correspondence I shall not devote enough of my time to my American correspondents, while in London. We have had an agreeable acquaintance with General Pinckney and his family, who for the last three months have generally resided at the Hague. He is himself a very pleasant and agreeable, as well as an able and well informed man. Mrs: Pinckney both in person and manners has considerable resemblance with you, and you can easily judge how much we have been pleased with her.4 They are great botanists, and the General has undertaken to make one of me; I have a better opinion of the master’s abilities, than of the scholar’s docility. I beg to be remembered affectionately to all our friends in America, and remain your ever affectionate and dutiful Son John Q. Adams RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A. Adams.”; endorsed: “J Q Adams july / 6. 1797”; notation by TBA: “No 29 / 28. June 26.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. 1 That is, the Paris Nouvelles politiques, nationales et étrangères (William Vans Murray to JA, 15 July, 4 Aug., both Adams Papers). 2 Léger Félicité Sonthonax (1763–1813) served as a commissioner in St. Domingue from 1792 to 1794 and then again from May 1796 to Aug. 1797, along with Pierre Leblanc, a former French representative in the United States, and Julien Raimond, a planter and spokesperson for free men of color. In a letter to Laurent Jean François Truguet, the French minister of the marine, Sonthonax reported that the commissioners encouraged privateering in order to supplement St. Domingue’s limited financial resources. He also noted that Americans daily violated the terms of the 1778 Franco-American treaty, and the commissioners thus ordered the use of retaliation even before they had received official authorization. Extracts of this letter were printed in the Paris Nouvelles politiques, nationales et étrangères, 6 June 1797. On 3 June the French Directory ordered the return of the commissioner to France “in order to render an account of their mission.” Sonthonax left St. Domingue on 24 Aug. and arrived in Paris on 24 Jan. 1798, by which time the 4 Sept. 1797 (An. V, 18 fructidor) coup had ousted many of his rivals from power. After Sonthonax defended his actions in a written report and addressed the French

legislature on 4 Feb. 1798, the Directory declared it was “satisfied” with his conduct (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale; Robert Louis Stein, Léger Félicité Sonthonax: The Lost Sentinel of the Republic, Rutherford, N.J., 1985, p. 124, 130, 142, 177, 180, 181; Boston Columbian Centinel, 12 Aug. 1797). 3 François de Barbé-Marbois, for whom see JA, D&A, 2:380, and Papers, 8:58–59, became a member of the Council of Elders in 1795. JQA is almost certainly referring to his Rapport fait par une commission composée des représentants Barbé-Marbois, Boussion et Chassiron, sur une résolution relative aux dépenses du ministre des relations extérieures, Paris, 1797. The report, presented on 4 June 1797, was a response to a 7 May resolution allotting more than 4 million francs to the French foreign ministry. Barbé-Marbois proposed rejecting the resolution, citing the increasing difficulties in raising revenue and his preference for cutting spending (Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. générale; Paris La Clef du cabinet des souverains, 7 June). JQA’s comments on Barbé-Marbois and the report, as well as the paragraph discussing Sonthonax, were printed in the New York Daily Advertiser, 18 December. 4 Mary Stead Pinckney (ca. 1751–1812) was the daughter of the deceased Charleston, S.C., merchant Benjamin Stead. She

196

July 1797 married Charles Cotesworth Pinckney on 23 July 1786 (Charleston, S.C., City Gazette, 9 Jan. 1812; Charleston, S.C., Columbian

Herald, 24 July 1786; Marvin R. Zahniser, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney: Founding Father, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1967, p. 80).

Abigail Adams to William Smith my dear sir Philadelphia July 11th 1797 Mr otis will tell you all the News in this quarter of the Earth, where Wickedness abounds of all kinds. I hope however there may be found Rightous sufficient to save the city. we have a senator—you see by his Letter what he is capable of. the Government is not found sufficently strong to punish him according to his Demerrits, or he would not have been permitted to have escaped, nor do I think he would, if too great lenity had not lessned his Bonds— Congress are up— before they come again together, I think they will repent of not having left some powers in the hands of the executive of laying on an Embargo if it, was thought necessary. it certainly would not have been wantonly used.1 it may before, the meeting of congress, be found necessary to have past the Law Regulating the Armanent of private Merchantmen. many will Arm now contrary to Law, and without regulation. an Indiaman captured two Days since belonging to this place, and within the capes is a proof of our Embicility, and I hope of our Love of Peace, for some good ought to flow from so much evil as a counter balance.—2 We have had some very Hot weather which makes me anxious to get away. I was calld sudenly out of my bed this morning to John Brisler, who was taken in the night with the Cholori Morbus.3 he was fainted intirely away, and every appearence of death for half an hour— the child went well to Bed. he is come too, but I think him very dangerous We must get away from this Hot city— I inclose to you a post Note of three Hundred Dollors, with which I will thank you to take up a Note of Hand of mine to Genll Lincoln. mr Wells may give it to you if the Genll is not there.4 you will destroy the Note and write me only these Words—“I have tranacted the buisness you desired in the Way you directed,” as we may be absent When the Letter arrives. I do not desire any more should be said than that. My best Regards to mrs smith and Children Love to cousin Betsy—from your sincere Friend / and affectionate A Adams

197

Adams Family Correspondence I wrote you last saturday concerning the carriage You will let me hear Soon.5 I put dr Tufts Letter in your care there is a post note in it RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “Mr William Smith, Merchant / Boston”; endorsed: “Philaa. 11. July. 97 / A. Adams.”; notation: “24 July. wrote Mrs. A. that I had transacted the / Business she requested as directed.” 1 On 24 June Jacob Read introduced a bill in the Senate “to authorize the President of the United States to lay, regulate, and revoke embargoes,” but it was voted down 15 to 12 on 27 June. A similar measure was also introduced in the House on 24 June, when William Loughton Smith proposed a resolution appointing a committee “to prepare and report a bill empowering the President of the United States to lay and revoke embargoes during the recess of Congress.” The resolution was tabled and was not taken up again before Congress adjourned (U.S. Senate, Jour., 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 376, 379; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 386). 2 The ship Asia, Capt. Edward Yard, en route to Philadelphia after a five-month voyage from Bengal, India, was captured near Cape May, N.J., on 7 July by the privateer Julia, Capt. Baptista Mahon, and sailed for Cap-Français, St. Domingue. On 2 Aug. the

British privateer Ranger intercepted the Asia, seized the vessel, and sent it to New Providence, N.J., where it was libeled for salvage (Philadelphia Gazette, 10 July; Williams, French Assault on American Shipping, p. 68). 3 Cholera morbus was a gastrointestinal complaint characterized by “violent purging and vomiting” and diarrhea and thought to be caused by rancid food (Buchan, Domestic Medicine, p. 235–237). 4 Possibly Arnold Welles (or Wells) Jr. (1761–1827), Harvard 1780, who represented Boston in the Mass. house of representatives along with William Smith (Albert Welles, History of the Welles Family in England and Normandy, Welles, N.Y., 1876, p. 122; Mass., Acts and Laws, 1796–1797, p. 490). 5 For a summary of AA’s 1 July letter to William Smith regarding the carriage, see AA to William Smith, 10 June, note 1, above.

Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts My dear sir Philadelphia July 12 1797 Your kind Letter of June 8th gave great pleasure to the President, as well as to your Friend. We were happy to learn so good an arrangement of our Domestick concerns. I then hoped to have come to Quincy for a Month or two. some difficulties arise from the procecution of that plan, tho it is the place of all others which the President seems most desirious of visiting We could not be accommodated at [ho]me for want of sufficient stable Room— we want more Chamber Room— an other thing I thought we should quite put out Porter & Family, as I did not suppose the Room which I proposed having done could be finishd in time; I think it will be best to go on and compleat it, and put up a wood House in some other place. the stables must be got in readiness for an other season, & the more which can be done about them this; the better, as I hope if it please God to spair our Lives to

198

July 1797 come on early next spring. it will be best to get the stone for underpinning in the common pasture which is Let to Field & curtis; all these obsticales would not have been sufficient to have prevented our return if our publick affairs had wore a less dissagreeable Face, but we are so critically situated, that the very next vessel which arrives may bring us a Formal declaration of War. our Commerce is all sacrificing. if we had been without any intelligence from abroad during the whole session of Congress, it would have been much shorter and much more decicive. the Mutiny on Board the English Fleet, the fall of English Credit, the troubles in Ireland1 the Peace of the Emperor with France, but above all the victories of Buonaparta, all these Events had their influence and their opperation in various ways, and retarded those measures which in the opinion of the Executive were necessary for the preservation Security and honour of the Nation. We must wait the event. Mr Marshall will sail from hence in a few days, and mr Gerry who has accepted the appointment with many Family difficultis to encounter; will not delay his departure.2 My kind Regards to mrs Tufts and miss suky. I have had an ill turn similar to that which I had at Quincy, but got much sooner over it, and I sustain the Heat much better than I expected, but we came very near losing little John Brisler last night. he was taken with a Cholera Morbus which followd him with such voilence that he fainted and was as if dead for half an hour. he appears some what better now and the disorder has abated— inclosed is a Post Note for 100 dollors 30 cents which you will be kind enough to lay out in a certificate. it is a little balance which was found due to the President on a settlement as vice President. I am dear sir / Your affectionate A Adams RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “The Honorable / Cotton Tufts Esqr / Weymouth—”; endorsed: “Mrs. Adam’s Lett July 12 / 97 / recd. 2d Aug”; notation: “5.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 Influenced in part by the ideals of the French Revolution, the predominantly Catholic United Irishmen was founded in Belfast in 1791 with the twin goals of universal suffrage and parliamentary reform. In 1796 the organization formed a military wing and ordered its members to procure arms and await a French invasion in which they were to serve as auxiliaries. The same year Parliament passed the Insurrection Act authorizing the search for arms, and in the spring of 1797

Gen. Gerard Lake, under orders from the lord lieutenant of Ireland, proclaimed martial law in Ulster, where the most formidable threat from the United Irishmen existed. Intended to disarm the population, Lake’s strategy included punitive measures such as house burning, flogging, and mass arrests (Marianne Elliott, Partners in Revolution: The United Irishmen and France, New Haven, 1982, p. 26; Cambridge Modern Hist., 9:694, 700; DNB; Tommy Graham, “The

199

Adams Family Correspondence Shift in United Irish Leadership from Belfast to Dublin, 1796–1798,” in Jim Smyth, ed., Revolution, Counter-Revolution, and Union: Ireland in the 1790s, Cambridge, Eng., 2000, p. 62). 2 John Marshall sailed from Philadelphia to Amsterdam on the brig Grace, Capt. Thomas Wills, leaving on 18 July and arriving on 29 August. Marshall traveled to The Hague on 3 Sept. where he met Charles

Cotesworth Pinckney; they delayed their trip to France, hoping for the arrival of Elbridge Gerry, but finally left The Hague on 18 Sept. and arrived in Paris on the 27th (Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 24 July; Marshall, Papers, 3:123, 130, 152; Marvin R. Zahniser, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney: Founding Father, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1967, p. 162–163). For Gerry’s travel, see his letter to AA, 14 July, and note 4, below.

William Cranch to Abigail Adams Washington July 12th. 1797 I thank you, my dear Madam, for your obliging favr. of 5th. instant, and for the interest you take in my happiness. Upon further deliberation, I had, before the receipt of your Letter, renounced all ideas of returning to Boston, and had determined immediately to apply for admission to the Bar in this state. I shall for this purpose go to Annapolis on Monday, and as soon after my return from thence as possible I shall go to Philada. to transact some Business with Mr: Morris, and to procure such books as may enable me to begin without commiting any egregious blunders. Mr. Morris is about purchasing a library for his son William and has promised to procure one for me at the same time. If he should fail of doing it, I shall perhaps be glad to accept the kind offer of the President, for which, please to present him my grateful acknowledgements. I return you the letter and thank you for the Communication;—it is printed correctly in this days paper. The subject deserves the most serious consideration of every real American, and I hope will tend to open the eyes of those, who are themselves too simple and honest, to believe in the views of that restless nation. In every sentiment of respectful affection Nancy joins with your obliged & grateful Nephew W. Cranch.— We are all well.— RC (Adams Papers).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Quincy July 13th 1797 I write my dear Sister with a hope that this letter will not find you in Philadelphia but as we have not heard that congress have risen I

200

July 1797 would not have you without a line of information that we are all well & that your chambers are ready the mason has promis’d to white wash the house & mrs Porter is waiting for orders to clean for your reception I have been fearful for your health & that of the Presidents but I know that Being who has plac’d him in the exalted Station he Sustains can & will if he sees it best prolong his life & usefulness. he is a good as well as a great man & I have no fears for Such an one as a Scourge for the wickedness of the people he may be taken from us but no real evil can befall him— I fear there has been foul play at the Post offices cousen Louissa Says you have receiv’d Letters not cover’d to the President no Such ever went from our office no not one there came two Letters the other day & Several before for mrs Hunt & mr Tyrrel not frank’d & with Such a Postage that they have refus’d to take them out I thank you my dear Sister for the Ribbon tis very pretty if cousen Should me with a pair of half mourning gloves leather or silk which are good & will take them for me I Shall be oblig’d I cannot find any here good I hope Something may bring my son this way there are So many gone from the Bar that I do not see why he may not do in Boston as well as any where else & certainly can live as cheap it will be dreadful to me to have him Settle there I do not love a roling Stone I know the Proverbe but in this changable World things may turn up which may make a change eligable without verifying the proverbe— I am full of anxiety mr webster is wishing to establish a paper in Boston Similar to his own & wishes my son to engage with him he says tis very profitable to him & thinks it will in a little time become So to him at Boston— What do you think I am So affraid of new Scheems & yet Something must be done I can only Say heaven direct them I know So little myself please to give my most respectful Love to the President to cousin & all enqueing Friend good wishes—to yourself / all that is affectionate from your forever oblig’d / & grateful Sister M Cranch RC (Adams Papers). Filmed at 17 July 1797.

201

Adams Family Correspondence

William Smith to Abigail Adams Dear Madam. Boston. 13th: July. 1797. Your several favors of the 1st & 9th Ins. I have recd. & am much oblig’d to you for the inclosures.1 the situation of the United States is indeed very critical, but in my opinion, every day strengthens the Union of the people in favor of the government. the Treason of Blount will confirm the sentiments of many, that all nations are equally friends to us so long as their interest is benefited by it. it is generally suppos’d that Mr Blount’s plan was projected by a very different Interest. from British.— if we can keep clear from a rupture on the Mississippi I have no doubt the dispute will be of service to the Government.2 & unite us more generally in putting the country in a state of defence.— I hope the warm air of Philaa. will not injure the Healths of the President & yourself. we shou’d be happy of seeing you this way, but hope you will take frequent excursions from the noxious air of the City.— your Couchee will be soon compleated & I will send it by the first good oppertunity.— Cap. Carter arriv’d here this week from Jamaica he was taken by a French Privateer on his passage home. they took out his Mate & part of his people. left Cap. C. on board with 2 Hands. put on board 8 frenchmen. after they had been in possession 10 Days—the prize Master fell overboard by accident. Cap. C. immediately drove the Frenchmen below & retook his Brig & after 12 Days bro’t her in here. he has suffer’d great fatague but is in good health.—3 Mrs. S & my Sister join me in affectionate regards to yourself &, the President.— Yrs. Affecly Wm. Smith. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs. Adams / Philadelphia”; internal address: “Mrs. Adams.”; endorsed: “Mr W Smith / July 30 1797.” 1 In her letter to William Smith of 9 July, AA noted her satisfaction at Elbridge Gerry’s appointment to France and informed Smith that she was enclosing some correspondence and two issues of the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers). 2 Navigation of the Mississippi River was another complaint presented by the Spanish government to the United States in an effort to delay the turnover of East and West Florida. Spain argued that the Jay Treaty unfairly

accorded the United States the right to allow British navigation of the river. On 6 May Carlos Martínez de Irujo (1763–1824), the Spanish minister to the United States, wrote to Timothy Pickering that the Pinckney Treaty stipulated that “the free navigation” of the Mississippi River “to the ocean belongs exclusively to the subjects of the King, and to the citizens of the United States.” Pickering responded on the 17th that “the United States were contending with Spain for the free navigation of the Mississippi for themselves” and

202

July 1797 that “any declaration of His Catholic Majesty alone, to exclude other nations, was to them quite immaterial.” Pickering communicated this correspondence to Congress on the 19th (Abernethy, The South in the New Nation, p. 211; Amer. State Papers, Foreign Relations, 2:5, 14–17; LCA, D&A, 1:234; Gerard H. Clarfield, Timothy Pickering and American Diplomacy, 1795–1800, Columbia, Mo., 1969, p. 138, 139). 3 The brig Katy, Capt. Thomas Carter, was returning from Jamaica when it was taken by

a French privateer on 18 June and sailed toward Havana. On the night of the 28th Carter learned that “the prize master, had got drunk, had fell over board and was drowned.” When Carter found all but one of the other privateers asleep on deck, he disarmed the “good republicans” and made the French sailors “assist in working the vessel” on the voyage to Boston (Boston and Charlestown Ship Registers, p. 108; Newburyport Political Gazette, 13 July; Boston Price-Current, 13 July).

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my dear son Philadelphia July 14 1797 Gen’ll Marshal expects to sail tomorrow Several Days sooner than I expected, and the weather has been so very Hot, that I have not had resolution to touch my pen for several days past. you recollect what the Month of July is in this place, and how severely I feel, and suffer from the Heat. I wrote to you about a fortnight since by the British Packet, Captain Cathcart, but I am so hamperd that I cannot write you with the freedom I wish.1 I shall therefore send you some publick papers and some Pamphlets and leave you to make your own comments.2 you will see that an whole Host are rising up in formal array against your Country and that too surely your Prophesys become History. Mr W smith of south Carolina is appointed to Portugal, in your Room and will sail in the next week.3 your & my old Friend mr Gerry accepts his appointment, and will sail in a few days. amongst the papers inclosed you will find Some of your Friend and old school mate Bene Baches virtuous Auroras in one of which you will find remarks upon your mission to Berlin. a French production, all the writers in that paper are said to be foreigners, many of them fugitives from the Halter in their own Country, incendaries who kindle Flames where ever they go, and who for the peace of Mankind, might be very readily consignd to the Element they delight in, with their kindred Spirits4 you will find in Gen’ll Marshal a sensible upright honest Man you may be of great service both to mr Gerry and him by a free communication with them. by a pamphlet in which you will find a plot disclosed, you will see what Americans are capable of, but to your mortification, I am sure, too many instances occur within your daily observation.

203

Adams Family Correspondence you will be pleased to learn that amidst this War of parties and Nations the chief Majestrate preserves his spirits and his fortitude unshaken, and that he sustains the burden of his office with patience and magninimity, that the people are alive to the injuries they sustain, but patiently wait the issue of the Mission Extraordinary— but from which, viewing the state of publick affairs, in all their various connections and concequences, I can form but faint hopes— I heard from your sister last week. she is at East Chester, and has been ever since last winter the col has been gone up with his Brothers to their new Lands for some time. I can say, She is a truly deserving woman whose lot is cast, not with the most fortunate of her sex— Your Brother is doing well in N york— Louissa who is by desires me to present her Love to you. I hope mr Murry is arrived long e’er this— my Letters have been lost. I have written you 4 different times of which Letters we have no acknowledgment—5 I am my dear son / with every sentiment of Maternal affection your Mother A Adams RC (Adams Papers). Tr (Adams Papers). 1 Presumably AA’s letters of 15 and 23 June, both above, which JQA noted receiving in his letter of 29 July, below. 2 See JQA to AA, 7 Oct., below. 3 JA nominated William Loughton Smith to be minister plenipotentiary to Portugal on 6 July. The Senate gave its advice and consent on 10 July, and Smith served in the position until 1801 (U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 248, 249; ANB). 4 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 8 July 1797, published an article stating that JA “intends his eldest son, now gone to Berlin, to ride the whole of the northern circuit,” having JQA spend a year each in

Prussia, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, earning $13,500 dollars per residence for a total of $54,000. At this time the Aurora had at least two foreign writers: Scottish-born James Thomson Callender, for whom see vol. 10:277, and Irish-born Dr. James Reynolds, for whom see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, [1] Feb. 1798, and note 6, below (ANB; James Tagg, Benjamin Franklin Bache and the Philadelphia “Aurora,” Phila., 1991, p. 285). 5 Presumably AA to JQA, 3 and 15 March 1797, both above, another letter dated 28 Nov., for which see vol. 11:420–424, and possibly one dated in December, which AA mentioned in her letter of 3 March.

Elbridge Gerry to Abigail Adams My dear Madam Cambridge 14th July 1797 I am honored by your letter of the 8th, & am much obliged to you for the kind interest you have manifested in my concerns; & for the communications contained in the letter & documents.1 Whatever may have been the reasons which induced some of the senators to vote against me, if they were influenced by a due regard

204

July 1797 to the publick welfare, & their opinions in this instance were even erroneous, they did no more than their duty; & I shall honor them, for their independent conduct: but you know, madam, & the first friend of yourself & of this country knows, that interest, prejudice, envy, & even pique, have often great effect on great men; & much more, on those who are not blessed with remarkable powers of discrimination. I dissented to the Constitution, it is true, and seven states were dissatisfied with it, for the reasons which influenced me. I was then a representative of this State; saw, or thot I saw a disposition in many of the Convention to have an indifinite Constitution; brot forward, with several others, motions to make it explicit; & saw every motion, to this effect, negatived; & under such circumstances, I could not, consistently with a sense of duty to my country, assent to the constitution, as it stood, & have therefore been abused ever since. admitting I was in an error, had I voted for it under such impressions, I should have sunk in my own esteem & have not risen again: but conscious of the rectitude of my intentions, I have never repented, a moment, of my vote on that occasion, & have since seen the constitution amended, as I wished, & the illiberality of those retaliated, who denied me the right of deliberating freely, & of exercising my judgment, when my country demanded it.2 but is there not, madam, an intimate difference, between voting on a bill for a constitution, & negotiating in behalf & under the instructions of a supreme executive? Can any candid mind, judging of my whole political conduct, & even of that part of it, liberally, draw from it such inferences as some gentlemen of the Senate have on this occasion? perhaps it may, but I flatter myself it will hereafter discover its error. I am happy however, to find, that these gentlemen who have manifested such an unfavorable opinion of me, are not of that description, who will “abuse the government, or calumniate its officers”:3 such characters I dislike, whether for or against me. I regret exceedingly the impossibility of my paying my respects to the President, & yourself Madam, before my embarkation for Europe; but have taken a passage in the ship Union of Boston for Rotterdam, which is not yet provided with a captain, & the owner, Capt Fellows, supposes she will sail in ten days from this date.4 My dear Mrs Gerry has shewn great fortitude, in urging my acceptance: her distress, at the first notice of my appointment, rendered it impossible for me to accept without her solicitation. having this, & the promise of her sister to come from New york & reside

205

Adams Family Correspondence with her in my absence, my mind is eased in some degree of a heavy burthen.5 may God grant to her & my petits, in my absence, comfort & happiness.6 If the President or you, my dear madam, have any particular commands in Europe, I shall depend on the honor of executing them, & remain with the highest sentiments of esteem & respect, in which Mrs Gerry requests to join, your most / obedt & very / huml sert E Gerry RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mr Gerry July 14 / 1797.” 1 AA wrote to Gerry on 8 July after learning with “great pleasure” that he had accepted his appointment. She also expressed her disappointment with the Federalists who voted against Gerry’s nomination, and she offered her sympathies to Ann Thompson Gerry on the upcoming separation from her husband (MB:Mss. Acc. 348). 2 Elbridge Gerry refused to sign the Constitution in Sept. 1787, believing it gave the central government too much power, undermined the independence of the states, and threatened personal liberties because it lacked a bill of rights (ANB; Billias, Elbridge Gerry, p. 186). 3 Here, Gerry quoted AA’s 8 July 1797 letter, for which see note 1. 4 On 7 Aug. Gerry departed Boston aboard the ship Union, Capt. Ebenezer Nutting, owned by Boston merchants Nathaniel Fellows and Samuel Brown. He arrived in Rot-

terdam on 19 Sept., and after making trips to Amsterdam and The Hague he departed Rotterdam on the 25th and arrived in Paris on 4 Oct. (Massachusetts Mercury, 8 Aug.; Boston and Charlestown Ship Registers, p. 208; Gerry, Letterbook, p. 13–14, 17, 18). 5 Helen Thompson was Ann Thompson Gerry’s youngest sister. Elbridge Gerry wrote to his wife on 9 Oct. from Paris inquiring if Helen had arrived in Massachusetts (Annette Townsend, The Walton Family of New York, 1630–1940, Phila., 1945, p. 52; Gerry, Letterbook, p. 14). 6 Elbridge and Ann Thompson Gerry’s surviving children were Catharine (1787–1850), Eliza (1791–1882), Ann (1791–1883), Elbridge Jr. (1793–1867), Thomas Russell (1794– 1848), and Helen Maria (1796–1864). Another son, James Thompson, would be born in Oct. 1797 (Billias, Elbridge Gerry, p. 403– 404; Gerry, Letterbook, p. 30, 32).

Charles Storer to Abigail Adams dr Madam, Boston. 15th. July. 1797: Pardon my thus abruptly addressing you. I plead the occasion as my apology— I am just informed that Mr: Leonard Jarvis expects soon to quit his Office. The Office is considered as a decent livelihood. Were I seeking emolument for myself I might be diffident; but when soliciting for the Interest & happiness of a Parent, I am emboldened, & venture to presume upon your friendship & goodness on the occasion.— For the discretion, prudence, integrity & honor of the Candidate you will not require a voucher from so near a friend as myself—& to the President I hope it will be unnecessary; but allow me to say that for exactness & correctness in accounts none exceed him— May I request you to mention my father to the President—at

206

July 1797 the same time presenting him my best respects— Tis said some application has already been made: I would hope how ever mine may not arrive too late—1 With sentiments of esteem & respect, I am, Madm: / Yr: much obliged friend / & humle: servt: Chas: Storer:2 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: Adams.” 1 Leonard Jarvis (1742–1813) was a Boston merchant whom George Washington had appointed an inspector of the excise for Massachusetts in 1792. Reports of Jarvis’ “delinquency” surfaced in June 1797, and on the recommendation of Oliver Wolcott Jr. JA dismissed Jarvis. Prior to his departure from Philadelphia, JA appointed Ebenezer Storer to fill the position because of Storer’s “established Character for Integrity and his well known Accuracy in Accounts.” Once Congress reconvened, JA formalized the nomination on 24 Nov., and the Senate gave its consent the following day (Doc. Hist. Supreme

Court, 5:569; Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 3:412; Timothy Pickering, James McHenry, and Charles Lee to JA, 18 Dec., Adams Papers; JA to Wolcott, 4, 15 Sept., CtHi:Oliver Wolcott Jr. Papers; U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 251). 2 In a reply to Charles Storer of 23 July, AA reported her compliance with his request and praised Ebenezer Storer’s “honour, integrity, and probity,” without which “the President would not knowingly appoint to office any Man, however nearly connected, or otherways bound to him” (MHi:Norcross Autograph Coll.).

Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams My dear son Thomas, Philadelphia July 16 1797 Tis expectation that make a Blessing sweet, says the poet.1 how sincerely sweet would it be to me to fold my dear Thomas to my Maternal Bosom in his own Native Land. I hope and wish, wish & hope that the Day may not be far distant.— This Day, the 14 of July I received by way of N york your kind Letter of April 7th, more than 3 months Since it was written, from your Brother no one of a later date than the 3 of April has arrived.2 I should suppose that your Brother was kept regularly informd of the various transactions of our Government. I regreet that there is reason of complaint, particuliarly as he is allowd on all hands to be one of the most industerous, able, and accurate ministers abroad. I have sent him some News papers and pamphlets. I could fill a volm if I thought my self at Liberty to enter into the details of politicks, that our Country is in danger, and perils, as saint Paul was, in Perils by sea in Perils by Land and in Perils from false Breathern is a melancholy truth.3 However Foreign Nations may deceive themselves by supposeing that the people are opposed to the Government, if affairs are brought to a crisis, they will find the spirit of America will not easily bend to a foreign yoke, and that the Faction who so loudly clamour, are a combination of Foreigners, joined

207

Adams Family Correspondence with some unprincipled Americans, but by no means, the Body of America. I shall not make any strictures upon the conduct of the Members of the last session of Congress. you will see by the various papers which I have cull’d, that these are the same parties, equally voilent, in existance now, as were under the former Administration. I hope however that the Government will stand the various shocks to which it is daily subject. we cannot expect to escape wholy when So many great and powerfull Nations are rending to peices Mr Munroe visited here, so did Mrs Munroe. I returnd her visit. she told me she saw you that you was very well & very lively—4 you will see that an entertainment was made for him, about 40 persons only attended. Congress were sitting. some of the voilents were there, and the vice President. the Man of the people was toasted.!5 Your Friends desire to be rememberd to you amongst the Number was the pretty miss wescot, who visited me I have sustaind the weather tolerably untill this week— I find I must quit the city. adieu my dear son / God send you a safe passage to your Native land prays your affectionate / Mother A Adams RC (Adams Papers). 1 Sir John Suckling, “Against Fruition,” line 23. 2 For JQA’s 3 April letter to JA, see AA to William Cranch, 5 July, and note 6, above. 3 2 Corinthians, 11:26. 4 James and Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, for whom see LCA, D&A, 2:409, toured the Netherlands prior to their departure from Europe, spending 21 through 28 Jan. at The Hague where they socialized with TBA and JQA. Returning to France, the Monroes departed from Bordeaux aboard the ship Amity in April and arrived in Philadelphia on 27 June. They visited the Adamses the following day, during which time James Monroe appeared “very guarded” according to AA (Monroe, Papers, 4:141, 143, 155; D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27; AA to William Smith, 1 July, MHi:

Smith-Carter Family Papers). 5 On 1 July James Monroe was the guest of honor at “an entertainment” in Philadelphia, where Thomas McKean congratulated the former minister to France on having “uniformly endeavoured to fulfil the objects of your mission; to render your country and yourself agreeable to the Republic of France, and to maintain, on all occasions, the interests and connections of the two nations.” Monroe presented his own reply, noting, “My whole mission . . . was employed in a continual effort to promote harmony between the two republics . . . which I did with a fervent zeal.” Thomas Jefferson attended the event, and the toasts included one to the vice president as “the man of the people” (Philadelphia Gazette, 3 July).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sisters Philadelphia July 19 1797— If the Compass by which my course is directed does not vary again through unavoidable necessity I shall sit out for Quincy next

208

July 1797 week. we shall probably be 12 days in comeing. I shall want some preparation at Home. I will write to you from N york.1 Betsy wrote to her Mother to know if her sister Nancy was at home & that I should want her during my stay at Quincy2 The Hot weather of july has weakend us all. complaints of the Bowels are very frequent and troublesome. I received your Letter of 13 yesterday I have suspected unfair dealings in the post office for some time, tho I cannot say where the fault is. as to the Girls Letters I believe they were foolish enough to send them without any Frank. I received a Letter yesterday from your Son who was well, and expected, to come to Philadelphia soon on buisness.3 I fear I shall be away, but I shall write him to come & put up at the House the same as if we were here Let mrs Porter know that I should be glad she would have mrs Bass to clean up the House I hope it will be white washd first— the post will be gone if I do not close— yours affectionatly AA RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy”; endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A: Adams (Pha:) / July 19. 1797.” 1 JA and AA left Philadelphia on 24 July and arrived in Quincy on 5 Aug. after spending time with CA and his family in New York City and visiting AA2 in Eastchester, N.Y., where they picked up William Steuben Smith and John Adams Smith (Philadelphia Southwark Gazette, 25 July; AA to Cranch, 29 July;

AA to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 12 Aug., both below). 2 Nancy Howard (b. 1779) was the sister of Betsy Howard and Polly Doble Howard Baxter (Sprague, Braintree Families). 3 William Cranch to AA, 12 July, above.

Joshua Johnson to John Quincy Adams Dear Sir Coopers Row. 19 July 1797. In consequence of what Mrs. Johnson tells me, had passed between you & her on Sunday, I am induced to believe that a matter of Delicacy on your part retards your Union with my Child. the uncertainty how long you may remain here, together with the shortness of my stay makes me ardently wish to see it compleated, do not then lose sight of personal happiness, by the supposition that the request made by her Mother (to make my House your Home) can possibly be attended with the slightest inconveniency, on the contrary, believe me that your acceptance (en Familli) of the small comforts we have to bestow, will diffuse general Joy & Delight through our little Circle. Any Embarassments you may [. . .] attendant on your private business, will be easily obviated by de-

209

Adams Family Correspondence voteing (should you prefer it) your Mornings or any part of the Day at your present aboade— I have been thus particular, in order to prevent your haveing an Idea that you will not be perfectly free from restraint, from the pleasure you will recive in takeing her, will be but Judged, my feeling, at parting with her, the goodness of your Heart, will lead you to believe, that being a Witness to her happiness during her stay here will in some degree tend to allevete the pangs of seperation. That those sentiments may be riciprocal is the sincerest wish of my. / Dear Sir / Your truly Affectionate Joshua Johnson P.S. If you have no Engagement I shall be happy to see you an hour before Dinner Tomorrow as I want to consult you on some affairs of my own1 RC (Adams Papers). 1 On 21 July JQA “called at Mr: Johnson’s sometime before dinner, and received his directions concerning his affairs with his former partners, in case I should ever have occasion for them,” and also made arrangements for his upcoming marriage to LCA (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27).

Abigail Adams to William Cranch my dear sir Philadelphia July 20 1797 I received your Letter of July 12. I am inclined to think your last determination will prove a judicious one. I most sincerely hope it will. The President expects to leave this city next week. we shall go Northward for a Month or two. I could have wisht that my Health would have permitted me, to have visited the new city at this season; but the Heat is so great that I dare not make the attempt. I should feel but one anxiety at a removal from this place to Washington, viz that it would place me so much further from Home, but as it respects the independance and happiness of the Country, a Removal from this sink of corruption & depravity would be a very happy and fortunate circumstance. I speak of the city only. I suppose Congress will have Birds of prey, enough where ever they go, but as Porcupine observes “Poor Pensilva[nia] keeps no Gallows.” it has become the common receptical of the abandoned and most Profligate of other Nations. many of these persons possessing some

210

July 1797 talants, and every disposition for Mischief, are employd by the discontented, and treacherous Americans to abuse and vilify that Government whose blessings they daily Enjoy— If you come to Philadelphia in my absence, it is my, & your uncles desire that you would come to t[his?] House, which you will find cooler, and more comfortable than a[ny] Lodgings you can procure; you will find mr Brisler & Family here who have directions to offer you every accommodation [. . . .] stay, and you will give us real pain if you do not freely comply with our request; I should have had an additional pleasure, if you had come before we left here. in mr Brislers hands will be left the sum mentiond to you that you may not meet with the dissapointment which I fear you will, if you depend upon a Broken Read. I heard from your Mother a day or two since. she was well tho anxious for her Children. alass who of us are without our anxieties? I thank you for the care and accuracy with which you gave to the publick, what had before been very badly publishd. My kind regards attend on mrs Cranch & your two little Boys. be assured I am my Dear sir / Your truly affectionate / Aunt A Adams RC (MHi:Adams Papers, All Generations); endorsed: “Mrs Adams July 20 / 1797.—” Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister July 21 1797 The weather is Hot as we can bear the whole city is like a Bake House. we have a House with large and airy Rooms, or I could not sustain it I do bear it surprizingly well however, tho I long for a sea Breaze. I hope to leave here on monday and get on to Bristol 18 miles the first night. I shall want Several things put in order at home for our reception when I once get on my journey. I shall write to you So that you will learn our progress. I heard from your Son this week, and I wrote him yesterday we are becomeing very intimate. I inclose to you the two last papers from thence. I have just read a peice, under the signature C. I am at no loss for the writer, nor will you be when you read it.1 it does honour to the pen of the writer and proves him, no superficial observer— I expect to bring on with me William smith to place

211

Adams Family Correspondence him either at Hingham, or Atkinson. I too my dear Sister have my troubles and anxieties.— When we get together, we may say to each other what would not be proper to write— Louissa is better, but had an allarming turn of Numbness, so that she made no opposition to bleading, which with some powerfull medicine has restored her, but the side seazd was nearly useless for a day or two. two years ago She had a number of these affections, but never one equal to this— She was, as well as I, pretty well allarmd. I hope she will be induced to be more active We are all so, so, none very sick. mrs Brisler has her turns, little John has had the Cholora Morbis— I thought him Dead for ten minuts. Nabby & Becky are well. Betsy returns with me, and if she does not fail on the journey will do credit to Philadelphia, by looking like flesh instead of clay— adieu my dear sister / most affectionatly / Your A A— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs. / A Adams, July 21st / 1797” and “July 21 1797.” 1 The Washington Gazette, 12–15 July, contained an article on the Blount affair presumably written by William Cranch under the pseudonym “C.” The article claimed that William Blount had long “been intimate” with “all the agents of the French Republic,” that he “always voted with what is called the

French interest,” and that there was little doubt Blount “has been made acquainted with the secret views of the Directory, and his pecuniary embarrassments rendered him a fit man to be employed in the most desperate projects.”

John Quincy Adams to John Adams My Dear Sir. London 22. July 1797. Three or four days after the date of my last Letter, which was from Maassluys, and while I was yet wind bound there, Mr: Murray, informed me that by private Letters from a friend he understood that my destination was changed from Lisbon to Berlin. On the 9th: instt: I sailed from Maassluys, and arrived here at the Adelphi, on the 12th: Soon after, Mr: King delivered to me your Letter of 2. June together with those from the Secretary of State of 27. May, and 1. June.1 I cannot disguise to you, that this appointment was so totally contrary to every expectation and every wish I had formed, that I have been not without hesitation with respect to accepting it.— I had formed the resolution, never to hold any public office under your

212

July 1797 nomination. I had explicitly declared that resolution to my Mother, and I had indulged the hope, that my adherence to it would never be put to so severe a trial, as I have experienced.2 Two considerations have prevailed upon me to depart from that Resolution, and to acquiesce in your directions, though with more reluctance, than any that you ever gave me before— The one I cannot be ashamed to own it, is the weight of parental authority, which I had not calculated at its full force, when I considered the object merely in speculation: the other is that, the new destination, will be so much more inconvenient and troublesome to myself, than that to which I had already been appointed, though without any additional emolument or advantage to myself. My objections against the appointment were 1. My own disqualification, or at least, the much superior title of many other American Citizens. 2. My disapprobation upon principle, of a nomination by the President of the U.S. of his own Son, to office. 3. The degraded and humiliating aspect in which it places me personally, by giving a colour of reason to those who would represent me as the creature of favour, the “parent de Ministre,” without other title to a station of so much trust and emolument than kindred to the person possessing the right of nomination. I have spoken very freely (perhaps too freely) my sentiments upon this occasion. I am very certain that in making the nomination, your purpose was to consult the benefit of the public service alone, or that if any consideration personal to me, had its weight it was, that an additional inconvenience would give me the fairer opportunity to prove my zeal and devotion to the interest of my Country. It has not I think hitherto been my practice to return marks of confidence with discontent, or to murmur at any service assigned to me. But it would have been much more reconcileable to my wishes and feelings to have been simply recalled from Portugal as from an useless mission, and to have seen any other person sent to do the business in the North than it is to pursue the course now prescribed to me. There is one other circumstance, somewhat embarassing with respect to the affair at Berlin.— I know not an human being there. Since our treaty with that Country was made, a succession to the throne has occurred: the character and views and system of policy of the reigning Prince differ in many important points from those of his predecessor.3 It is far from being certain to me that his Government will be willing to renew the Treaty; especially as I take it for granted that all the influence from a certain quarter, with which

213

Adams Family Correspondence they are apparently upon very good terms, and whom they would perhaps be willing to gratify, upon a point which they must consider as not very interesting, will be employed to prevent it.— I have endeavoured by the means of the chargé des affairs at the Hague, whom I mentioned in my last Letter, to ascertain something upon this point, but have yet no answer: and indeed I sailed so soon after hearing of this new turn, that I had no opportunity to converse with him about it, which I much regretted.— Mr: King, to whom I mentioned here the doubts above suggested, will endeavour also to procure similar information, through the Prussian Minister here; should he soon return from the Continent, where unluckily he now is4 You will find in the Papers an account of the late change in the french Ministry, which I consider upon the whole as favourable to us and our affairs.5 I regret very much that I cannot now enlarge to you upon this subject. I hope to write you again before many days, and that it will then be as a married Man. This is not perhaps a good excuse for a present failure in the punctuality and accuracy of my correspondence, but it is the only one I have. I am in duty and affection, your Son. John Q. Adams. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The President of the U.S.”; endorsed: “N. 44. / J. Q. A. July 22 / Ansd. Nov. 3. 1797”; notation by TBA: “No 44 / 43 July 2.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. Tr (Adams Papers). 1 On 2 July JQA wrote to JA from Maassluis commenting on France’s continued complaints about the Jay Treaty, which it deemed “an act of the American Government, unfriendly to France.” JQA also noted that Prussia had resumed its diplomatic relations with the Batavian Republic and mentioned the death of the Danish minister, Andreas Peter, Count Bernstorff, and the declining health of the Prussian king. The letter from William Vans Murray to JQA was dated 6 July. In a letter of 27 May Timothy Pickering informed JQA of his nomination as minister to Prussia (all Adams Papers). For Pickering’s letter of 1 June and JA’s of the 2d, see JA to TBA, 2 June, note 1, above. 2 See JQA to AA, 26 June, above. JQA described learning of the change in his diplomatic mission as receiving “some very unpleasant intelligence, personally concerning myself” (D/JQA/24, 7 July, APM Reel 27). 3 Frederick the Great was in power when the Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed in 1785. He was succeeded in Aug. 1786 by Frederick William II

(vol. 7:325; JA, Papers, 16:373–420). 4 No correspondence between JQA and the Baron von Bielfeld exists for this period. The Prussian minister to Great Britain was Baron Konstans Philipp Wilhelm von JacobiKloest, who held the post from 9 Oct. 1792 to 13 Aug. 1816 (Repertorium, 3:329). 5 The London Lloyd’s Evening Post, 21–24 July 1797, reported that on 18 July the French Directory appointed Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Gen. Lazare Hoche to the Ministry of War; Georges René Pléville Le Peley to the Ministry of the Marine; Nicolas François de Neufchâteau to the Interior Ministry; and Jean Jacques Lenoir-Laroche to the Ministry of Police. The appointments were part of a political move to oust moderates from the French ministries and cemented the growing divisions within the Directory, pitting Paul Barras, Jean François Rewbell, and Louis Marie de Larevellière-Lépeaux against Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot and François Barthélemy (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:507–508).

214

July 1797

Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother. London 24th: July 1797 The journey which I made to Paris, towards the last of April was performed so hastily, that it was out of my power to give you any satisfactory account of it from thence, and since my return, preparation for departure from Holland has engrossed most of my leisure hours, so that I have only found time to give an imperfect sketch to my Father of the most material occurrences of that tour. The detail which I intended for you, is by no means so fresh in my memory as it was two months ago; indeed the greater portion of it would at this time be unseasonable, and I shall therefore content myself with a simple enumeration of the objects, which attracted my notice, during the short period of my residence in the Capital of the french Republic. The first visit of curiosity, that I made was to Sceaux a seat which formerly belonged to the Duke de Penthiévre. You doubtless saw it in all its glory, and will be sorry to learn that it has materially suffered since the Revolution. Every thing about it bears the marks of former splendor, strongly contrasted by its present deplorable appearance. Nothing remains of its beauty, but that for which it is indebted to nature. I will not distress you by a description of the barbarous ravages which were committed upon it, while the rage of destruction continued, but of all the Country seats in the neighborhood of Paris, this perhaps is the most damaged.1 Reincy, a Chateau of the Duke of Orleans, which I saw likewise, had the good fortune to escape. The interior of the house is pillaged like all the rest, but the grounds &ca: are still in good order. The place itself has lately been sold, and will probably recover its former appearance.2 I passed two days at the palace of Versailles, and was greatly delighted with every thing I saw. I never before had a perfect idea of magnificence. My time would not admit of going to Marli, but I went to St: Cloud and at the same time visited the porcelaine manufactory at Sevres.3 In most of these tours, I was accompanied by my friends Pitcairn & Rogers, both of whom were then at Paris. In the City, I endeavored to gain a sight of every thing worth a travellers curiosity, but many things unavoidably escaped me, though I was as diligent as possible. The National Museum, & Library, the Garden of Plants, the Louvre, the pantheon, the Luxembourg, the Thuilleries, Elysian

215

Adams Family Correspondence Fields, Wood of Bulogne, Bagatelle, Military School, field of Mars, Hospital of Invalids, & the Gobbelins, together with a considerable number of the public theaters were all visited and admired in their turns. The two Councils & the Directory were the last, though not the least objects of my notice. In my letter to my Father, I have particularly described the interview, which was procured me by Mr: Arnoux, with a distinguished character in the Government.4 The conversation which he addressed to me may appear strange, but I am persuaded he has a great respect for the character of the person to whom it referred, and I shall be disapointed if his voice, at least, is not in favor of an amicable settlement of our national differences. I presume not however to possess any infallible testimony of such a disposition on his part. He is a frenchman, and has high notions of the invincible & terrible Republic of which he is one of the heads. I wonder that it should escape their shrewd understandings, that an object of terror, can never be an object of love. Your old friend Arnoux treated me with great kindness & civility, and seemed to regret sincerely the misunderstanding which has arisen between our two Countries. He used frequently to say, that the french nation were lovers of justice, and disposed to shew it to others; but added he, you have heard the annecdote of a conversation which once took place between a french Ambassador & the English Minister of State, wherein the latter assured the former, that “if England had always done justice to other nations, she herself would long since have ceased to exist.” I was not displeased to find him reduced to such strange reasoning as this, in order to palliate the conduct of the french Government towards ours, but I could not help asking him, if the french Ambassador was satisfied with the reply of the Minister of State. As my journey was one of observation, I travelled in the public diligence, and think it much preferable to a private carriage, not for convenience, but for dispatch, and for the opportunity it affords of remarking the manners of the people, whom you occasionally meet in these public vehicles. I was fortunate in my companions, both going & returning, and was much amused by several little incidents which occurred on the road. The sentimental Journey was continually present to my mind, and I think I have now learnt to appreciate its accuracy. It is a very exact copy of a very laughable original. I took very few letters of introduction for Paris, and consequently saw but little private Society. I witnessed enough however to dis-

216

July 1797 cover the fascinating charm which operates upon strangers who visit Paris, of which I had previously heard so much, and knew so little. But I was not there myself long enough to form an attachment to their mode of living, and I left it with no regret, but that which arose from the apprehension of having seen too little of the people & their Country, to form an accurate opinion of them. The Theatres to which I devoted many of my evenings, were the greatest source of delight & entertainment. Nothing in my opinion can surpass the excellence of their Comic Actors, nor the grace & elegance of their Opera attitudes. Old Mr: Arnoux said to me, “My young friend, a young person sees too much there.” I forgot to mention that the day I dined with him, I met Madam de Ville, the daughter of the late M. de Challoux, who recollected my Father & brothers, and desired to be remembered to them. I am not certain that you knew her. She is now a widow with five children, her husband having been one of the victims of the Revolution.5 Mr: Arnoux himself was a year in prison during the reign of terror. The death of the Tyrant alone saved his life. I returned to the Hague towards the last of May; the beauty of the Country as it appears on the road, can hardly be described; even that part of Brabant and the frontiers of old France, which has been ravaged by the war, scarcely exhibits a vestige of damage or destruction, except within the walls of some towns. These indeed have suffered, & no length of time will probably ever repair them. The Country is fertile throughout, and the cultivation very high, scarcely an inch of land appearing to be neglected. Their approaching harvest bid fair to be abundant. Soon after my return to Holland, Mr: Murray arrived, and we began to prepare for departure. The family of General Pinckney being then at the Hague, made quite a Congress of American Ministers, and their similarity of views & opinions rendered our Society very pleasant during the remainder of our stay. Mr: & Mrs: Murray were introduced to several of our acquaintance, and will I think pass their time agreeably.6 I parted with regret from my friends in Holland, particularly those at the Hague, with whom for nearly three years I had lived upon terms of harmony. I shall always retain great regard for the Dutch people, and reflect with pleasure upon the time I passed in their Country. As I intend soon to write you again, in answer to your kind letters of Feby 21 & June 20, I shall now merely thank you for them, this

217

Adams Family Correspondence letter being only in payment of an old debt.7 You are the best and most punctual of our correspondents, & indeed almost the only one that has not ceased writing to me, altogether. Remember me affectionately to my father, and to all my Philadelphia friends, and believe me in constant love and duty / your Son Thomas B Adams. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A Adams.”; endorsed: “T B Adams 24th / july 1797.” 1 Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duc de Penthièvre (1725–1793), was a grandson of Louis XIV. The Duc de Penthièvre used his vast fortune for good works, and as a result his château at Sceaux was not damaged by French revolutionaries during his lifetime. After Penthièvre’s death Sceaux was declared national property and its furnishings were removed and sold. The land was sold in 1798, and after five years of neglect the château was in such a state of disrepair that it was demolished (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale; Victor Advielle, Histoire de la ville de Sceaux depuis son origine jusqu’a nos jours, Sceaux, France, 1883, p. 443–445). 2 The château at Raincy became national property in 1793 after the execution of Louis Philippe Joseph, Duc d’Orléans. In 1797 it was sold to Antoine Joseph Ventujol, and the next year to Hippolyte Sanguin, a descendant of Raincy’s former owners, who held the property until 1801 (vol. 7:156; Denise Almonzi-Grossard, En Ile-de-France: LivryGargan et son histoire, [Livry-Gargan], 1969,

p. 110, 111). 3 For the châteaus Marly and St. Cloud, see JA, D&A, 4:121–122. The Sèvres porcelain factory, established west of Paris in 1756, was taken over by Louis XV in 1760 and became the leading porcelain producer in Europe. After the factory was nationalized during the Revolution, production dropped considerably until the appointment of a new director in 1800 (Oxford Art Online). 4 Not found. 5 Nicolas Deville (b. ca. 1750) was a former secretary to Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, and had been chosen as a Farmer General by Louis XVI. He was guillotined on 8 May 1794 along with several other Farmers General (vol. 6:479; Liste des victimes du tribunal révolutionnaire à Paris, Paris, 1911, p. 50). 6 William Vans Murray and Charlotte Hughins (Hughens) had married in Cambridge, Md., in 1789 (LCA, D&A, 1:23; ANB). 7 For AA’s 21 Feb. 1797 letter to TBA, see vol. 11:571–574.

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy July 26th 1797 we have made every thing as ready for your reception as we can. but alass I fear we Shall not see you. I think it will not be possible under the present State of affairs for the President to leave with prudence the Seat of Goverment for So long a journey but I hope you will leave the city If you do not come you will be Sav’d the melancholy prospect of your ruin’d Barley field & distroy’d Garden. we had a fortnight Since Such a Storm of hail as your eyes never beheld it lasted about an hour it was attended with thunder lightning & a torrent of Rain with a violent wind.1 the hail Stones were between three & four inches round it thresh’d all the Barley broke the

218

July 1797 corn, kill’d the vines & tore the cabbages & ever vegetable out of the ground all to peceis where ever it extended there is a hollow in our Farm from which was carried pailfulls of hail a week after to make punch with. it kill’d all my chickens & the bird lay thick in many places kill by it the windows on the west Sides of houses were broke all to peceis the Doctor will write you what he has had to do to repair yours2 I thank you my Sister for your kindness to my Son. he inform’d us of mr websters proposal. we knew not what to advise him I hope he will act prudently. I have advis’d him to open an office where he is immediately for he cannot come away Suddenly if his prospects here were ever So inviting he may be able then to judge what he can do if he Should think it best to stay washington is now at its lowest Stage I immagene at present his character I believe is establish’d there for honour & probity I know the President thought he did right to go there & I would wish him now not to do any thing which he Should think unadvisable I Should rely much upon his opinion what a Family of Blounts are there any more of them— Providence has Still an eye over us for good. more Blounts will be found out or I am mistaken— the V. P had no curiosity I think or he would not have taken himself of just as he did & tho tis customary to ask leave of absence before the rising of congress yet his doing it just as Bs trial was coming on did not look like the late V Ps doings—thats all— far be it from me to speak evil of dignitys—where there is really any—3 mr Cranch thanks you for the Pamplight— it exceeded in weight what a Postmaster has a right to receeve Post free, & he was charg’d three dollars & an half for it— I do not know if a President may not write Free upon any weight but a Postmaster cannot receeve any thing above a certain weight unless he can— mr Cranch is writing to the Postmaster Generall about it4 Jo Beal was buried yesterday he was in a dreadful Situation a mortification in both his Feet all the Toes on one Foot had been taken off & before he dy’d his whole Foot drop’d off he has been in terrible distress—& has left a numerous helpless Family unprovided for I beleive.5 [. . .] Beals Black Tom was buried the day before he was drown’d a Sunday Washing himself in the water just below mr Careys— I had a Letter last week from sister Peabody She & her Family were well but Charles she Says is in a poor State of health

219

Adams Family Correspondence I am concern’d about him— Cousen Betsy is at Weymouth the Post is come Love to the P. & Cousen from Your / truly affectionate Sister M Cranch RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Richard Cranch: “To Mrs. Adams the / President’s Lady / Philadelphia.”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch July / 26 1797”; notation by Richard Cranch: “Quincy July 26th. 1797. Free.” 1 The Boston Columbian Centinel, 15 July, noted that on the 14th “a severe thunder storm accompanied with hailstones of very uncommon dimensions” broke the glass in windows throughout the city. 2 Cotton Tufts wrote to AA on 27 July detailing the destruction from the storm: “It broke, in your Dwelling House & out Houses, from 130 to 140 squares of Glass—destroyed in your Garden a considerable part of the Vegetables and injured the Rest greatly.” Tufts also described the damage to the Adamses’ field crops: the barley “was broken down” and could only be used “for Fodder,” but he hoped the corn would “in some Measure recover” (Adams Papers). 3 On 5 July Thomas Jefferson obtained a leave of absence from the Senate for the remainder of the congressional session. He left Philadelphia the following day, prior to William Blount’s expulsion on the 8th. The New York Minerva, 12 July, remarked that

“Jefferson was taken ill the very day” the Blount affair “was detected,” suggesting ulterior motives for Jefferson’s early departure. However, the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 21 July, justified Jefferson’s leavetaking, stating that when JA was vice president, he “usually had leave of absence a few days before the close of the session” so that the Senate could “chuse a President pro. tem.” to act in case the president or vice president were “incapable of exercising their respective functions” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 37; Malone, Jefferson, 3:318). 4 For a discussion of the president’s free postage allowance, see vol. 9:95. 5 Joseph Beale (b. 1743) died on 23 July, leaving behind eleven children. Beale served in the Revolutionary War and lived in the Squantum neighborhood of Quincy (Sprague, Braintree Families).

John Quincy Adams and Louisa Catherine Adams to Abigail Adams and John Adams My dear and Honoured Parents. London 28 July 1797. I have now the happiness of presenting to you another daughter, worthy as I fully believe of adding one to the number of those who already endear that relation to you.— The day before yesterday united us for life.1 My recommendation of her to your kindness and affection I know will be unnecessary. My sentiment of her merit, will not at this moment especially boast its impartiality, but if there be as I believe an inseparable chain of connection which binds together all the domestic virtues, I have the strongest pledge that she, who has in an amiable and respectable family, adorned the characters of a daughter and Sister, will prove an equal ornament to that of a wife. In renewing to you, the assurances of my unalterable duty and affection, I would now join hers to them, but believe they will be

220

July 1797 more acceptable to you from her own hand, remaining your ever faithful Son John Q. Adams. The day before yesterday by uniting me to your beloved Son, has given me a claim to solicit your parental affection, a claim I already feel will inspire me with veneration to pursue the path of rectitude, and render me worthy as deserving of your esteem and tenderness, as those who stand in the same relation, my pride would be severely wounded to yield the palm in the fulfillment of my duties either as wife or daughter, to be respected in these characters, and to meet the approbation of my Husband, and family, is the greatest wish of my heart— Stimulated by these motives (your affection the reward) will prove a sufficient incitement, never to sully the title of subscribing myself your, / Dutiful Daughter Louisa C. Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by AA: “J Q Adams / L C Adams. july / 28th 1797.” 1 JQA described his wedding day: “At nine this morning I went accompanied by my brother to Mr: Johnson’s, and thence to the Church of the Parish of All Hallows, Barking, where I was married to Louisa Catherine Johnson, the second Daughter of Joshua and Catherine Johnson,—by Mr: Hewlett.— Mr: Johnson’s family, Mr: Brooks, my brother and Mr: J. Hall were present. We were married before 11. in the morning: and immediately after, went out to see Tilney House; one

of the splendid Country seats for which this Country is distinguished.— We returned at about 4. P. M. The company before mentioned, and Mrs: Court a friend of Mrs: Johnson, dined with us.— The day was a very long one and closed at about 11” (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27). JQA and LCA’s marriage certificate, along with a copy, are both in the Adams Papers. For LCA’s recollection of the wedding, see LCA, D&A, 1:50.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch Saturday Morg. East Chester 29 July 1797. My Dear sister We leave this place this morning & hope to reach Home on fryday of the next week. I have written to mr smith to procure sundry articles for me in Boston which will require a Team to bring them to Quincy, & bags for oats will you be so good as to consult with mr Porter, and if mr Belcher can go to Town for them So as to get them up before we arrive I should be very glad. will you be so kind as to have some coffe burnt and ground, some Bread and cake made for me, and to be at our House on fryday when we hope to reach Quincy and if you should hear of any intention of company meeting us on the road, to accompany us to Quincy, I must beg of you to make Such arrangments of punch & wine as may be necessary. I have written to mr smith on the subject and he will inform you.

221

Adams Family Correspondence wine you can draw from the casks in the cellar Punch must be made by Gallons. you will procure spirit for the purpose, and in a Box in the North cellar which is naild up is some Jamaca Spirit, that with some Brandy will answer I believe it would be best to get Mrs Baxter to go to the House and assist in making Beds as she knows where my things are, better than any one else. the Matresses should be put on the Feather Beds, & two Beds put up in the new out Chamber for the Men servants. I have my two Grandson with me, but they can be provided for by some of my Friends if we cannot lodge them at first. we met at N york with so many unexpected things which we were not provided for, that I wish to have Some arrangments made now previous to our getting home particuliarly if we should meet company. you will find glasses &c enough. you will be so good as to have a table set in the dinning parlour, and every thing ready, to receive / Your truly affectionate / sister & Friends Abigail Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy”; endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A: Adams (E: Chester) / July 29. 1797.”

Abigail Adams to William Smith my dear sir East Chester july 29 saturday 1797 We are thus far on our Way to N England if no accident happens to prevent us. I hope on thursday of next week to sleep at williams at Malbourough, and to dine at Watertown on fryday. We escaped from N york with less parade than was intended, tho we were not less sensible to the politeness and civility of the inhabitants who were disposed to do us every honour both civil and Military. the first we received, the second we, avoided as much of, as we could.1 From Some Hints which I have received I am led to believe some thing of the kind is designd in Boston if there should be, I will be much obliged to you to send on the inclosed Letter to mrs Cranch as soon as you receive it. the President requests the favour of you to purchase for him a quarter cask of Maderia wine proper for immediate use. I will thank you to procure for me a Barrel of best flower, if mine should not be arrived, a quarter hundred Loaf sugar, one Hundred of Brown Sugar quarter Hundred Coffe, 1 pd best Hyson Tea one souchong a cask crakers & as many dozen of Lemmons as

222

July 1797 you may suppose will be necessary if we should have company to go Home with us. I would inclose you Money, but having lost a post Note lately by Post, from Philadelphia to N york, I had rather ask credit till we arrive.2 I would have a Team sent from Quincy for these things & some oats which I requested the favour of you to procure for us, and which our coachman will think himself and Horses undone without. your known kindness in Executing the buisness of your Friends prevents my apologizing for the trouble I give you. my best regards to mrs smith and our Friends, / From your affectionate A Adams Newhaven 31 July we have concluded to go by way of Providence and hope to be at dedham on fryday noon I do not mention this with any desire to have it communicated unless particularly inquired after. RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); addressed “Mr William smith merchant / Boston”; endorsed: “East. Chester 19 July 97 / A Adams.” 1 JA and AA arrived in New York City on the evening of 26 July. At sunrise on the 27th “16 guns were fired from the battery on Governor’s Island” announcing their arrival. A brigade assembled “in Broad-Way, opposite to the Trinity Church . . . to pay due honors” to JA, who also dined with Gov. John Jay. A “Grand Concert, In Honor of the Presi-

dent of the United States” was planned at Vauxhall Garden on the 28th, the finale of which included “a Transparency of the President, with grand Illuminations” (New York Time Piece, 28 July; New York Diary, 28 July; New York Minerva, 26, 28 July). 2 For the miscarried post note, see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 6 July, note 6, above.

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother. London 29. July 1797. I wrote you a few lines yesterday, jointly with my new partner informing you of our marriage, upon which I would once more invoke your maternal blessing.— At present I write in answer to your very kind Letters of 15. March. 15. and 23. June all of which I have received since my arrival here. Before the receipt of the latter, I was in doubt whether you were at Philadelphia, or at Quincy.— I feel very anxious with regard to your health and that of my father, and cannot but dread the effects of the Philadelphia climate, and the pressure of public cares. I had been first informed of the Death of my venerable Grandmother, and of our Cousin Mary Smith, by a letter from my brother Charles.1 In the former instance, acquiescence in an Event so inevitable at some day, and which had been so long delayed beyond

223

Adams Family Correspondence the usual course of Nature, seems more easy than in the other, which snatched youth and virtue at once from life, in its first bloom. You observe that the reason for changing my mission from Lisbon to Berlin was that I might be more useful to my Country in the latter situation.— I have notwithstanding my formal declaration both to you and to my father made a short time ago, submitted to take this appointment.— I have broken a resolution that I had deliberately formed, and that I still think was right and proper; but I must say that I never acted more reluctantly, and that the tenure by which I am for the future to hold an office is of such a nature as will take from me all the satisfaction which I have enjoyed hitherto in considering myself as a public Servant. It has indeed totally disconcerted all my arrangements taken in consequence of my previous appointment to Lisbon, and will be very inconvenient to me personally; but these are not circumstances of the slightest objection; on the contrary they have been among the most powerful motives to induce the sacrifice of my Resolution, and the determination to go upon the new mission.— I am now waiting here only for the necessary papers, which I shall expect from day to day. I beg at the same time to be understood that it is not the animadversions of my old school mate Bache, nor those of any of his party that I dread; or that can raise the shadow of a scruple in my mind.— I know them and their purposes tolerably well— And they may rest perfectly assured that if instead of concluding to go to Berlin, I had on this occasion requested to be recalled, and had returned to America, as I had serious thoughts of doing, it would not have been for their benefit or advantage; nor would they have had any reason to be gratified by it. They should find me at least as hard an antagonist at home, as I have been, abroad, and as I perceive I have had the advantage of giving them some dissatisfaction that they have expressed, and a great deal more that they have betrayed, I promise them faithfully that upon my return to America whenever it may be, I will not suffer their malevolence to cool at all, but will feed and nourish it by much more frequent and copious doses of mortification than I have been able at this distance to administer. The Letter to the Florentine which you mention, and which was undoubtedly published by way of Justification for the violence with which the Directory have conducted towards us, was something more than imprudent: it shews a mind full of error, or an heart full of falsehood. I cannot yet believe this last to be the case. My old

224

July 1797 sentiments of respect veneration and attachment still hang about me with regard to that man.— Yet if he really believed what the Letter to M affirms, he must be a very weak man; if he did not believe it, what can be said of his principles.— Neither can I reconcile the letter with the public and solemn professions made on a recent occasion, and indeed nearly at the same moment, while the Letter was published in France.— However it may be, there could not be a stronger proof of the misrepresentations and calumnies which have contributed to produce the late and present conduct of France towards us. Nor could any possible evidence appear more unequivocally to shew how much the french depended upon an internal party in America, to support and justify their treatment of us.2 I was for my own part much pleased with the appointment of Mr: Gerry, after finding that Mr: Dana did not accept; but I find opinions of him here, similar to those which you mention as having been objected against him by the opposing members of the Senate.3 I sincerely hope however that he will raise no captious difficulties, and that he will both bring with him and meet a cordial disposition for reconciliation. Of this however I cannot at present well judge. My means of communication from France, are very much reduced since I left Holland, and I do not even understand well, what are the consequences to be expected from the late change of Ministers there. You will find the strong dissensions that have broken out between the Legislative and Executive bodies, and between the members of the Directory. They will perhaps bring on an accommodation, that will restore a sort of Peace, but the remnants of the old Convention have entailed upon themselves forever, the curse which tyrants never escape; the undying worm of a guilty conscience, and the terrors of approaching punishment. They never can be reconciled to the Nation which they have ruined and disgraced, nor the Nation to them— War, open or understood is their irrevocable destiny, they can never support themselves but by force, and every appearance indicates that their only reliance is upon the military The history of the Portrait which you received last March was this. While I was here, the last time, Mr: Copley told me that Mrs: Copley had long been wishing to send you some token of her remembrance and regard, and thinking that a likeness of your Son, would answer the purpose, requested me to sit to him; which I did accordingly, and he produced a very excellent picture, as you see. I had it framed in a manner which might correspond to the merit

225

Adams Family Correspondence of the painting, and after I left this Country it was sent out by Mr: Copley in the manner in which you received it.— I never mentioned it to you in any of my former letters, because I knew not exactly when it would be sent out, and I wished to reserve to you what I thought would be the pleasure of an agreeable surprise; it seems that Mrs: Copley’s letter to you by its enigmatical style was written in the same Spirit, and the Portrait served really as its own introduction. it is therefore to the delicate politeness of Mr: and Mrs: Copley, that we are indebted for a present so flattering to me, and in your maternal kindness, so acceptable to you. They are well, with all their family and continue to remember you with affection. I find by some of my father’s and your Letters, that you expect my brother to return; but I really cannot part with him, especially upon being sent into the very centre of Germany, where I shall scarcely meet with a Countryman twice a year. I did hope that I should at length have it in my power to settle in some orderly family state, and had taken my measures for the purpose at Lisbon: all is broken up again, and I am afloat once more upon the troubled wave of accidents. What is worse, I can now see no end to it; for I foresee that I shall not be long at Berlin.— But I will not complain. I have had some thoughts of proposing to Judge Dana’s eldest son, to come and take the place of my brother, when he leaves me.— Among other motives, it would be highly pleasing to me to return to him the benefits which I once received from his father.— But I know not exactly what his qualifications would be for the situation, nor whether it would be agreeable to himself or his father.— I do not wish to have the subject immediately mentioned; but I should be glad if from an impartial and unbiassed quarter information could be obtained, what is the young Mans character in point of Industry, of Sobriety, of Discretion and of Temper.— These are all the important questions.—4 I am your ever affectionate Son John Q. Adams. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs. A. Adams.”; endorsed: “J Q Adams july / 29 / 1797.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. 1 CA to JQA, 8 June, above. 2 For Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Philip Mazzei, see AA to JQA, 15 June, and note 8, above. 3 The London Chronicle and the London Evening Post, both 22–25 July, reported Elbridge Gerry’s appointment to France. 4 Francis Dana Jr., for whom see JA, Pa-

pers, 16:459, initially worked for the Salem, Mass., merchant William Gray and later became a merchant in Boston (Elizabeth Ellery Dana, The Dana Family in America, Cambridge, 1956, p. 504; LCA, D&A, 1:282). For the opinion AA solicited from William Smith Shaw, see Shaw to AA, 23 Jan. 1798, below.

226

July 1797

Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams My Dear Sister Atkinson July 29th. 1797 Your kind Letter which assured me of your welfare was a cordial to my heart.1 It came safe to hand, with its contents by Judge Livermore. The affectionate regard it evinced for me, & mine, might have overwhelmed an heart less accustomed to favours; accustomed, not callous I assure you, for esteem, love, & gratitude so often put in motion, fans the finer feelings, & makes them glow with unremitted ardor, & I am frequently so oppressed with such a sense of the unmerited beneficence of my Friends as to leave me drowned in tears, espicially when I consider how inadequate a return I can ever make. I feel myself under peculiar obligations to the President, & to you my Sister for thinking upon my Son for good. I wish he may be qualified in every respect for the office proposed.2 As to his capability of retention I think I can assure you, that he is not “loose of Soul,”3 but from a Child considered a Secret, as a sacred deposit & I believe at this more mature age would keep inviolate anything entrusted to him. The Utility of method, & regularity in small affairs, & the absolute necessity of it, in the more important concerns of Life, I have frequently inculcated in the most pressing manner, & shall repeat them upon this occasion, with a request to pursue the method you proposed, of purchasing Copper plates, & writing every opportunity he can be released from his Clasickcal Studies—4 I feel affraid that his mind may be too much absorbed, & that he will not attend sufficently to the various duties of life, but when he realizes that his bread must be earned by assiduity to whatever may be his employment, I hope he will not be wanting in propriety of conduct— I suppose I have had greater anxiety upon my mind respecting William’s proffession, & getting into business, than if both Parents were living. I have had thoughts of requesting Mr Abbot to bear him upon his mind for an assistant at Exeter Accademy,5 but your letter has releived my mind from that care, & my wish is, that he may treasure up such seeds of useful knowledge, as shall be servicable in future life, yeilding a rich harvest; & hope that the suggestions relative to my Son in your letter, may prove an incentive to everything that is lovely, & of a good report.— I know he feels too young to determine what proffession to follow, indeed the decission must depend upon Contingences. He wishes to pursue his studies after he leaves Colledge. I find that History both ancient, & modern is his

227

Adams Family Correspondence favourite pursuit, & he seems gratified that you say, there will be some time for the purpose of reading. When he first entered Colledge, I did not know but he might prefer the study of divinity, but I cannot say I wish it— Law, I presume would be his favourite pursuit, were there not so many obstacles to impede his Course. I wish him to lay a good foundation a store of knowledge that may qualify him for any business, & then it will not be difficult to find some whereby he may get a living— I scarcely know what to say, with regard to his taking a School in the winter vacation, as his board & other expences in this senior year must necessarily be much accumalated. Perhaps it may be best, should a good place be offered—6 Judge Livermore called upon us Commencement Week. Mr Peabody & Daughter attended it—& I could not give an answer respecting the Children till his return— He now wishes me to assure you, that if Mrs Smith should like to send her Sons, & place them under our care, he will attend to their morals, & manners, & as far as it is in his power, make them excellent Scholars—& on my part I shall be happy to render either you, or my dear Niece any service, & as much as possible supply the place of their amiable Mother, to her dear Children— We have a most worthy Preceptor, who understands human passions, & well knows how to regulate, not exterpate them—7 The intense heat, & dryness of the weather for this month has been as much as we could bear— I think of you often, & hope you find cool breezes to refresh, & invigorate both body & mind after the fatigues of the Day— I was at Mr Allens the other day, She enquired very affectionately after you— She has not been well this summer—she has the Jandice I believe—8 Our Haverhill friends are well as usual— Mr White called upon me the other morning, & said his Wife, & Son, & daughter were well—9 Our worthy friend Mr Sam. Tufts drinks deep of the bitter Cup— He will soon be called to part with all his Children I fear— His Son, & daughter now lie at the point of death— They are upon the brink of the eternal world—10 He is almost bowed to Earth with grief—but the Christian religion is his support— Faith in the being, & attributes of a righteous Governor, is as an anchor to his wounded Soul— General Wadsworth said he saw you the night before he left the City,11 & you had some hope of returning & making a short visit, I wish it might be in your power, & then you could take your Grand-

228

July 1797 sons with you, if it was agreeable to Mrs Smith— I long to see her, she was always a favourite Neice— I cannot but think of what Juba, said of Marcia—“The virtuous Marcia towers above her Sex, true— she is fair” &cc—12 I do not know how to convey this Letter to you, I suppose the mail will be the most regular— I commend it to the care of Mr Smith—wishing it a speedy passage, I / subscribe with much love, & affection, your Sister Elizabeth Peabody P.S— Everything that respect & gratitude can inspire, is presented by your Nephew, & Neices— Perry’s Dictionary Websters third part, & what latin Books are in schools, are used here—13 Terms of board in Town is from eight to nine shillings pr week, nine shillings entrance for three months—& nine d. pence14 week—afterwards as long as they chuse— RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs Peabody July / 29th 1797.” 1 Not found. 2 Peabody is presumably referring to the suggestion that William Smith Shaw act as JA’s secretary while the president was in Quincy. She wrote to her son on 24 Sept. regarding his position: “I hope this unexpected call will excite you, to turn your attention more upon this art— I fear you could not do the President much service . . . I am anxious for you— If you do right, everything will (I trust) be favourable, but if wrong, you must expect your life will be lost in bogs, & shallows” (DLC:Shaw Family Papers). Shaw officially served as JA’s secretary from Aug. 1798 until March 1801 (JA to Elisha Boudinot, 21 Sept. 1798; JA to Samuel Bayard Malcom, 28 Aug. 1798, both LbC’s, APM Reel 119; Shaw to JA, 6 April 1801, Adams Papers). 3 “There are a kind of men so loose of soul / That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs” (Shakespeare, Othello, Act III, scene iii, lines 416–417). 4 Shaw’s poor penmanship was a subject of comment by the Adamses; see, for example, AA to Shaw, 26 Dec. 1797 and 20 March 1798, both below, TBA to Shaw, 23 Aug. 1799 (MWA), and to JQA, 5 Jan. 1803 (Adams Papers). The copperplate method of writing grew out of the sixteenth-century use of rolled copper sheets by engravers; instructional copybooks that taught copperplate writing were printed from metal plates. Copperplate cursive was both elegant and easy to read, but the real advantage of using it was

that it could be written quickly: because the script was composed of four basic strokes, the writer need not lift the pen from the paper except for punctuation and word and line breaks (Diana Hardy Wilson, The Encyclopedia of Calligraphy Techniques, Phila., 1990, p. 25, 26). 5 Benjamin Abbot was the headmaster of Phillips Exeter Academy from 1788 to 1838, not Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., as stated in vol. 8:92 (Frank H. Cunningham, Familiar Sketches of the Phillips Exeter Academy and Surroundings, Boston, 1883, p. 19, 27). 6 Shaw was unable to teach during his winter break due to illness; see Peabody to AA, 28 Jan. 1798, below. 7 John Vose (1766–1840), Dartmouth 1795, had attended Atkinson Academy and returned to the school immediately after his college graduation, serving as preceptor for 25 years (Harriet Webster Marr, Atkinson Academy: The Early Years, Springfield, Mass., 1940, p. 43–44). 8 Rev. Jonathan Allen (1749–1827), Harvard 1774, and Elizabeth Kent Allen, for whom see JQA, Diary, 1:369. He was minister of the First Church of Bradford, Mass., from 1781 to 1827 (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 18:362, 363, 365; JQA, Diary, 1:350). 9 Probably Leonard and Mary Dalton White and their children, Mary (b. 1795) and Leonard (1796–1824) (Daniel Appleton White, The Descendants of William White, of

229

Adams Family Correspondence Haverhill, Mass.: Genealogical Notices, Boston, 1889, p. 56). 10 Samuel Tufts, for whom see vol. 2:197, had two surviving children—Simon (b. 1769) and Sally, for whom see vol. 7:273—who died on 8 and 15 Aug. 1797, respectively (Boston Columbian Centinel, 19 Aug.; Vital Records of Newburyport, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols., Salem, Mass., 1911, 1:399; Newburyport Political Gazette, 10, 17 Aug.). 11 Gen. Peleg Wadsworth, for whom see JA, Papers, 3:241, represented Massachusetts in the House of Representatives in the 3d

through 9th Congresses (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 12 Joseph Addison, Cato, Act I, scene iv, lines 151–152. 13 That is, William Perry, Royal Standard English Dictionary, Worcester, Mass., 1788, and Noah Webster, A Grammatical Institute of the English Language . . . in Three Parts. Part III. Containing, the Necessary Rules of Reading and Speaking, and a Variety of Essays Dialogues and Declamatory Pieces . . . for the Use of Children, Hartford, Conn., 1785. 14 Peabody began to write “shillings” here but erased it and wrote “pence” instead. She also interlined “d.” above “nine.”

John Quincy Adams to Thomas Baker Johnson My Dear Sir. London 31. July 1797. Though I have not hitherto enjoyed the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with you, I have long since learnt to participate in the warm affection which a most amiable and worthy family, to which you belong, bear towards you, and at this time after having formed and solemnized, the tenderest and dearest of all human connections with your beloved sister, Louisa, I am happy in deriving from it some claim to your regard, and the right of giving you the sincerest and most cordial assurances of my friendship and attachment.— On Wednesday last the 26th: instt: we were married, and it is my wish and hope, that henceforward you will consider me in the light of a zealous and affectionate brother. The University at which you now reside, was also the instructress of my early youth, and is remembered by me with affection and gratitude. I hope that your career there will be as pleasing and as useful to you, as it was to me, and that in future life you will find the fruits of Literature and Science, as abundant and valuable, as their blossoms are fair and fragrant.1 I have to request your acceptance of the case of mathematical instruments which will accompany this Letter, and I hope they may prove of some utility to you in the pursuit of a branch of your studies, which if not the most attractive of those in which you are engaged, is among the most important. I am, Dear Sir, very sincerely and faithfully your friend & humble Servt: John Quincy Adams RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mr: T. B. Johnson.”; docketed by JQA: “Adams J. Q. / to / Thomas B. Johnson / London / 31. July / 1797.”

230

Adams Family Correspondence July–August 1797

July–August 1797 1 Thomas Baker Johnson was admitted to Harvard College in Nov. 1795 as a member of the class of 1799. He did not graduate, however, leaving at the end of 1797 once his family settled in Georgetown, D.C. (LCA, D&A, 1:238–239; MH-Ar:Faculty Records, 6:288, 290).

John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams My dear Brother. London 1. August 1797. Upon my arrival at this place, about three weeks since, I received your kind letter of June 8th: which was the first line, I have had from you these many months, and it needed not that circumstance to render it highly valuable. You do not however mention in it the receipt of several letters, which I have written you, and which I hope have not miscarried in the conveyance. Among the rest, that of 29 December of the last year was of a nature to require some notice of its contents, as it related particularly to my affairs in your hands. It gave you an authority to draw on me for 2000 Dollars provided you could place such a sum to good advantage, in a proper and legal manner. I have never received any answer to it whatever, and know not whether you have drawn for the money or not.— I requested you to direct the payee of the bills, in case they should come after my departure from Holland, to make application to Messrs: W & J Willink at Amsterdam, who would discharge them on my account. I have accordingly left such directions with them, when I came away.— But if you should not yet have drawn, when you receive this letter, it will be best to draw the bills themselves on Messrs: Willink to be paid on my account, which they will duly honour.1 And I wish to suggest to you once more, the expediency of your mentioning business rather more frequently than you have hitherto done. I should even at this time be glad to know how a small further sum might be disposed of beneficially, but cannot expressly authorise you to draw for any thing more, for want of proper, minute and precise information. I had not heard of the death of our Grandmother and of our Cousin Mary Smith, until the receipt of your letter. The former had lived to such a great age, and had seen her Son raised by his merit to such an eminence, that she must have quitted this life, without reluctance. For Mary Smith, her friends might hope a longer date & a more fortunate lot. The appointment to Berlin, which your letter speaks of, is not an agreeable one to me, nor should it ever have taken place with my

231

Adams Family Correspondence consent. I shall go however as it is required of me, and am only waiting for my orders. The Jacobins you tell me, are not pleased with my official communications that have been published, and Mr: Livingston can compare them to nothing but the speech of the Director Barras to Mr: Monroe. My old Schoolfellow Bache has become too thorough-bred a democrat to suffer any regard for antient friendship, or any sense of generosity for an absent enemy, to suspend his patriotic scurrility. These people have improved upon the doctrine of Mandeville. He only contended that private vices were public benefits, but their theories and still more their practice, makes public virtue essentially consist of the most detestable private vices.—2 As for Mr: Livingston’s comparison, from whom it would have given me severe mortification to have heard it made; but those men would not have made it, however they might have disapproved the tenor of my communications. Had they meant a violent attack upon a man, who never gave them, nor intended them any provocation, they would have waited until he could be present to defend himself. Sentiments of this description however, Mr: Livingston does not admit, perhaps does not understand, and therefore he cannot mortify me, by comparing my letters to any speeches whatsoever, unless it be to his own.— I never intended nor expected that those letters of mine would have been published. It is not my wish unnecessarily to give offence to any one, much less to offer an insult to persons for whom I have a real regard, but it was my duty to give the true state of facts to my Government, as well as to reply firmly to the inadmissible proposals of the Dutch Committee. Had I imagined the documents would have been brought before the public eye, perhaps I should have altered in some few passages the phraseology; but the substantial truth of facts, and the reasoning upon them would have been exactly the same, in defiance of all the teeth of Livingston and all the slaver of Bache. I have at length followed the example, which I should regularly have given to you, and was married last Wednesday the 26th: ulto: to Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, I can pass no higher eulogium upon her, than to say, she is worthy of being the third Sister, where there were already two so deserving. Our Sister Smith knows her well, and I ardently hope for the time, when she will be equally well-known and beloved by my Sister Adams. She intends writing to

232

Adams Family Correspondence August 1797

August 1797 her, as I ought to have done long ago.3 I hope however you will convince her that the omission has not proceeded from churlishness. I once more entreat you to write me as frequently as you can, and for the future you may direct your letters either under cover to Mr: King here or to Mr: S Williams the American Consul at Hamburg, or to Mr: Frederick Delius at Bremen.4 The two latter places will be those, to which the communications from America will be the most frequent. I am with invariable affection your Brother.5 LbC in TBA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Charles Adams Esqr:”; APM Reel 130. 1 For JQA’s 29 Dec. 1796 letter to CA, see vol. 11:465–466. JQA wrote to Wilhem & Jan Willink on 19 June 1797 enclosing a copy of CA’s signature and requesting them “to discharge any bill of Exchange, drawn by him upon me, to the amount of two thousand Dollars, that may be presented to you after my departure from this Country” (LbC, APM Reel 130). 2 For Bernard Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees; or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits, see

vol. 11:115. 3 For AA2’s previous acquaintance with LCA, see vol. 11:274–275. 4 For Samuel Williams and Frederick Delius, see LCA, D&A, 1:54, 86–87. 5 JQA also wrote to CA and JA on 7 Aug. letters of introduction for the king’s botanist, “Mr. Mason,” who would be visiting the United States for research purposes (LbC’s, APM Reel 130).

William Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Madam Philadelphia Augt. 5th. 1797 Mrs. Cranch informs me that a kind letter arrived from you at Washington since my arrival here, requesting me to reside at your house while I remained in Philada.—1 I need not repeat how much I am obliged by all your goodness & attention. The second day after my arrival here I met Mr. Briesler, who mentioned to me your kind request & the orders he had received; & inforced the invitation with such appearance of real sincerity, that I promised, I would reside at the house on my return from N. York. I return’d last Monday, & have since occupied your house—but it is solitary in the extreme. I do not recollect that I ever felt the want of society before. The weather indeed, has its share of operation.— My journey to N. York was to carry Miss Eliot, who expects there to meet her parents.2 I had the pleasure to dine with Mr. C. Adams on saturday.— I find Messrs. M & N strongly fortified on the banks of the Schuylkill, with scarce the means of obtaining even their dayly bread.3 But I feel myself pretty secure, & have no fear of being

233

Adams Family Correspondence eventually a great loser by their misfortunes. But I feel most severely for the confinement of my poor friend Greenleaf.— Disappointed Speculation & exulting Envy have tried to blast his Character, but if ever a heart possess’d that Charity which ought to cover a multitude of faults, I believe it to be his.— His fault has been too sanguine a disposition, in himself and too much Confidence in that of others.— I find Mr. Morris in such a situation that I can not urge a compliance with his promise to purchase me a library. I shall therefore accept my Uncle’s kind offer of the Loan of $200 for which I shall leave with Mr. Briesler my note of hand on demand with Interest. Colo. Deakins of Georgetown, voluntarily offer’d to accept my drafts for any sums of money I might want before my return, either for the purchase of books or any other call I might have— But at present I had rather be under obligations to my uncle. Colo Deakins is one of the best men in the world— It would make a convert of the greatest misanthropist to know that even one such man was to be found among ten thousand.— I am happy in believing him one of my best & most influential friends. This is not simply my own opinion of the man, but it is a character establish’d through the whole state.—4 I shall probably be obliged to remain here a few days longer, much against my inclination.— Present my most grateful & affectionate Respects to the President, & believe me with every sentiment of respectful affection, your dutiful Nephew W. Cranch. RC (Adams Papers). 1 AA to Cranch, 20 July, above. 2 Elizabeth (Betsy) Eliot was going to visit her mother, Elizabeth Greenleaf Eliot Pope (1750–1841), and her stepfather, Edward Pope (1740–1818), a judge from New Bedford, Mass. (Greenleaf, Greenleaf Family, p. 210–211). 3 In 1797 John Nicholson conducted business from his Philadelphia mansion at the corner of Seventh and Race Streets in order

to avoid his creditors. He and Robert Morris corresponded daily via messenger (Clark, Greenleaf and Law, p. 41). 4 William Deakins Jr. (1742–1798) was a Georgetown, D.C., merchant and landowner who had served as treasurer for the commissioners of the District of Columbia from 1791 to 1796 (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 6:616).

Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody Dear sister Saturday— Quincy August 12 1797 I arrived here this day week, but have been so constantly occupied in seeing company that I have not had time to write a single Line. I received your Letter which I suppose had been on to Phila-

234

August 1797 delphia,1 on fryday last, in the full Faith that mr Peabody & you would comply with our request. I took the Children, and brought them with me. John is somewhat indisposed with a return of his Ague— I gave him an Emetic yesterday which I hope will remove the disorder. the Parade of next week, and some engagements which I have, will prevent my getting the Children to you untill the week after, when it is my intention to bring them to you.2 the President would be very happy to accompany me but the Buisness which every post brings him from Philadelphia, and not having a Clerk secretary with him, will keep him from more than a days absence at a time during our Stay here. I shall take with me our Good sister Cranch & come as early in the week as my other engagements will permit.3 I am going this day to Boston. I inclose a Letter which mrs smith gave me to you,4 and have only time to add my kind Regards to mr Peabody, to my dear cousins / from their and your affectionate A Adams5 RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers); addressed by JA: “Mrs Elizabeth Peabody / Atkinson / New Hampshire”; endorsed: “August 12th 1797”; notation by JA: “J. Adams.” 1 Peabody to AA, 29 July, above. 2 On 16 Aug. the citizens of Boston held “a political Jubilee” for JA. The day began at 9 a.m. when the Boston cavalry “paraded in front of the PRESIDENT’s house in Quincy,” and afterward enjoyed “an elegant collation which had been prepared for them there, they escorted the PRESIDENT and a numerous Cavalcade of the First Citizens of Quincy . . . to his Excellency the Governor’s.” The procession then traveled to the State House in Boston and at 3 p.m. proceeded to a dinner at Faneuil Hall with more than 300 attendees. “The Hall was elegantly decorated, and particularly ornamented with two fine portraits of the PRESIDENT of the United States, and his predecessor, with apt and suitable encomiums on their respective merits.”

That evening JA attended the Haymarket Theatre in Boston (Boston Price-Current, 17 Aug.; Massachusetts Mercury, 18 Aug.). 3 AA, John Adams Smith, William Steuben Smith, and Mary Smith Cranch left Quincy for Atkinson, N.H., on 31 Aug., traveling “in the President’s Carriage.” AA and Cranch probably returned on 14 Sept. (Richard Cranch to William Cranch, 5 Sept., MHi:Christopher P. Cranch Papers). 4 Not found. 5 AA also wrote to Peabody, [ante 25] Sept., asking about her grandsons and reporting that William Smith Shaw was currently staying with them in Quincy. She also noted that she and JA planned to set out for Philadelphia the first week in October (DLC:Shaw Family Papers).

Stephen Peabody to John Adams Hond. Sir Atkinson August 12th. 1797. With pleasure we are informed in the public prints of your safe return from the seat of government.1 The present critical state of the affairs of our country, has undoubtedly produced pressing anxieties in your mind, of which we have all in some measure been partakers. But the public mind appears to be relieved and satisfied,

235

Adams Family Correspondence with the cool, deliberate, and spirited measures recommended in your excellency’s spech, and adopted by Congress, which we think, cannot fail of arresting the attention, and approbation of every enlightened citizen possessed of a prenciple of integrity.— May Heaven direct our public measures, establish a government upon the prenciples of equal liberty, and make our country an asylum for the virtuous, from all parts of the world. The enclosed sermon you will please to accept; excuse want of sentiment, and inaccuracies in the composition, and unjustifiable liberties taken by the printer.2 Here you will permit me to observe; that for a clergyman, in an obscure country village to propose a visit from the president of the United States with his lady, might seem assuming; to omit making the request, taking into view family relations, would be an exhibition of neglect; which involves me in a dilemma. I may say however, that one of the best Sisters in the world is worthy of attention, and with her connections, would feel themselves honored, and gratified to wait on her friends when ever an opportunity presents. Master William Shaw the bearer, will inform you of our health and domestic circumstances. That the smiles of Heaven may accompany your exertions in directing our national affairs, in discovering the dark complicated machinations of our enemies foreign and domestic, is the cordial pray[er] of / Hond. Sir / Your most obedient, / humble servant— Stephen Peabody RC (Adams Papers). Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 News of JA’s return to Quincy was reported in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 9 August. 2 Enclosure not found, but see Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to AA, 3 July, and note 7, above.

Ruth Hooper Dalton to Abigail Adams my Dear Madam Washington August. 15. 1797 After your having been three months in the City of Philadelphia at this season of the year I think our good Friend the President and you must want some relaxation, and the sea air for a few weeks will be gratefull to you. as we are agreeably situated near the river I dont feel the want of it. where ever you are I wish health and happyness to attend, and hope you will return perfectly recovered and injoy

236

August 1797 an agreeble Winter, and that another season we shall have the Pheasure to see you here. I have often thought of the alteration there was in the former set of our acquaintance, almost every one then belonging to Congress are gone. I know but few of those who supply their places. the times we live in my dear Madam are Critical indeed, and God only knows what will be the end. that the Vessell of State with its present Conductors may be kept in Safety, and brave all the storms and tempests that they may have to pass through, is my Sincere prayer. He took the Command at a difficult season but His known abilities and good conduct I think I can Venture to say the Majority of the people have great confidence in. I hope His endeavours will be crowned with peace and tranquility and Honor to the Country The publick affairs have very much affected this place in its growth and Commerce. I hope soon both will revive. This has been a great disappointment to Mr Dalton and made him a Man of much more leisure than he expected or likes to be which makes me sometimes wish we were in Philadelphia, as under the present administration I should have hoped some thing to Mr Daltons advantage, and still flatter myself his good Friend will not forget him1 Please to present my kind love to Louissa and tell her I can sympathize with her from feeling the loss of a sister, dear indeed, for She was more than that, I took her as a Child from the dying hands of a tender Mother, and brought her up, Married her, and she had four de[ar] Children; and in my absence died very suddenly2 It was for a long time I lost my health and indeed have never injoyed it so well since, the lenient hand of time has in a degree eased the smart not cured the wound these are tryalls we must submit to Mr Dalton and all my Family joyn in very affectionate regards to the President and yourself. my young Ladys thank you and Louissa for your kind wishes to see them. At present it will not be in their power they would like it much. Wishing you a most pleasant Jurney and happy return / I am Dear Madam / your very affectionate Friend Ruth Dalton RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs. Adams.” Some loss of text due to wear at the edge. 1 Tristram Dalton was a partner, along with James Greenleaf, in the mercantile firm of Tobias Lear & Company and was also involved in land speculation in the District of Columbia; he filed for insolvency in 1799.

JA appointed Dalton to be one of the commissioners for Washington, D.C., a position he held from 10 March 1801 until the commission was abolished on 1 July 1802 (Clark, Greenleaf and Law, p. 147; Jefferson, Papers,

237

Adams Family Correspondence Retirement Series, 8:679; John B. Larner, “List of Principal Municipal Authorities of the Cities of Washington, Georgetown and the District of Columbia,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., 23:180 [1920]). For Dalton’s previous financial hardships, see vol. 10:270. 2 Ruth Hooper Dalton raised her youngest sister, Rebecca (b. 1755), following the death of their mother, Ruth Swett Hooper in 1763. Rebecca married Lewis Jenkins and had four children—Rebeckah Hooper, Joseph Marien,

Robert Dalton, and Susannah Caroline— prior to her death in Newburyport on 18 Dec. 1790, at which time Ruth Hooper Dalton was presumably with her husband in Philadelphia (Charles Henry Pope and Thomas Hooper, Hooper Genealogy, Boston, 1908, p. 107, 109, 110; Vital Records of Newburyport, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols., Salem, 1911, 1:209, 210; Newburyport Essex Journal, 22 Dec. 1790; U.S. Senate, Jour., 1st Cong., 3d sess., p. 215).

Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother. London 17th: August 1797. I have at length made up my mind to accompany my brother and his lady to Berlin. In justification of this resolution I shall only observe, that it was formed after full and mature consideration, in which both sides of the question, to go or not to go, were deliberately examined, but I may also add, that compliance with the earnest desires of my brother, had a greater share in producing this determination, than any personal gratification of my own. I shall not therefore meet my family and friends, this year, as I fondly anticipated would be the case, for I had resolved, upon leaving Holland, to return home in the course of this fall. Since then, I have been induced to postpone the execution of that purpose, though I hope not for any length of time. Let me entreat you however, to negotiate a Successor to me, in my present office—some good-natured confidential lad, who will be willing to undertake a voyage across the Atlantic, and pass a few years in the humble capacity in which I have served. To such an one you may say, that the service is not difficult or laborious, though unremitting; that the opportunity it gives of seeing Europe in various parts, is valuable, and that with prudence & oeconomy, the appointments annexed to the service will enable him to live decently and independantly, though very little more. My Brother has mentioned this subject to you, and proposed the person whom he should be fond of taking into his family. I join to his my solicitations that the offer may be made, and if not accepted there, that some other may be attempted, for I plainly see, that until some arrangement of this kind be made, I shall not be released. I hope to turn this new expedition to my profit in acquiring the German language, an object which I have much at heart, and which I

238

August 1797 shall take pains to accomplish. I never gave myself much trouble to obtain the Dutch, though some of it has intruded itself upon me. My chief attention was to the French, while in Holland, and I began to speak it with fluency & tolerable accuracy. Want of practice however, would soon make me a bungler again. Since I wrote you on the 24th: ulto: my brother has been married, and has given me an amiable and accomplished Sister. He is very happy at present, and I doubt not will continue so, for the young lady has much softness of temper and seems to love as she ought. Her family have laid me under great personal obligations to them, by the kindness and hospitality with which they have treated me, since I have been here. I feel proud of an alliance with such worthy people. They are all to embark in the course of next month for America, and will prove a great acquisition to the City of Washington, where Mr: Johnson intends to establish himself. Your last letter of 20 June informs me of the marriage of my friend Quincy, to a young lady of New York. I rejoice in every accession to his happiness, because I bear him a sincere friendship, and I dare say that his choice in a wife has done him equal credit with the rest of his conduct, since I have known him.— He does not write me so often as I could wish, though I endeavor to find an apology for his neglect in the importance and magnitude of his late operations. Now that he is settled for life, I may expect more punctuality for the future. But I intend shortly to refresh his memory by a direct remonstrance. My father’s choice, you tell me, is not engaged. If I rightly divine the person who is the object of it, it is a very flattering one to me, and such as I might think seriously of making my own, if the opportunity should ever offer for an experiment. This however seems little probable, and if the celestial record has coupled my name with that of any female, I am strongly disposed to think, that I have not yet fallen in with her. I have visited so many strange lands without being tempted to turn a deaf ear to my Mentor, that I hope his influence may continue until I reach that of my nativity. We expect every day to hear of the arrival of the new Commissioners to France. The men are well chosen, according to general estimation, but the success to be looked for from their mission, is very problematical. Ours are claims upon the justice & rectitude of the French government and I hope they will not be fruitless. We shall see whether they will make a treaty that shall be more benefi-

239

Adams Family Correspondence cial to our Commercial interests than the British Treaty, of which they have so bitterly complained. I venture to predict, that if they consent to any treaty at all, it will be much less favorable & less satisfactory than the treaty with this Country, at least so far as respects indemnity for captures. This is my opinion, but I sincerely wish that the result may falsify my prophesy. The debates in Congress upon the important subjects which were brought before them in their extraordinary Session, fall far short of the manly and vigorous spirit, which discovered itself in the reply of the house of Representatives to the President’s speech. If their deeds had corresponded with the language of that answer, our negotiators would have come out with a favorable prospect of succeeding in their mission. They will arrive at a time when negotiation is going forward in all quarters, and attempts will doubtless be made to confound & influence one with the other, though our pretentions have nothing in common with any other nation. Portugal has just made its separate peace, by which another ally of this Country is taken off without its consent.1 The terms are yet unknown, but the Times says, “that the conclusion of this treaty was one of the last events, that our Court could have expected.”2 Of the famous coalition it may be said, that it was joint & several; they began all together and concluded all alone.3 I am glad to hear that you received the watch in good order and are satisfied with it. You thank the wrong person for it however, because my brother was the purchasor and sender also. He executes all the Commissions, which you charge me with, and thinks himself justly entitled to the credit. He has lately sent you the silk your ordered I am, with love and duty your Son Thomas B Adams. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs: A Adams / Philadelphia”; internal address: “Mrs: A Adams.”; endorsed: “T B Adams. / 17 August / 1797.” 1 A Franco-Portuguese peace treaty was signed on 10 Aug. by Antonio de Araujo de Azevedo and Charles Delacroix de Constant, under the terms of which Portugal granted France most favored nation status in its ports. France ratified the treaty on 12 Sept., but British opposition resulting from its alliance with Portugal led to delays in the Portuguese ratification. On 26 Oct. the Directory issued a decree nullifying the treaty on the grounds that the queen of Portugal

had exceeded the two months stipulated for ratification. Ordered to leave France in early November, Araujo de Azevedo remained and submitted the Portuguese ratification on 1 December. This was refused, and the minister was confined in the Temple Prison from January to March 1798 (Hamilton, Papers, 21:378; Georg Friedrich de Martens, Recueil de traités d’alliance, de paix, de trêve . . . depuis 1761 jusqu’à présent, 2d edn., 8 vols., Gottingen, 1817–1835, 6:413–419; William

240

Adams Family Correspondence August– September 1797

August–September 1797 Vans Murray to JQA, 4 Nov. 1797, Adams Papers). For Araujo de Azevedo’s previous peace negotiations with France, see JQA to LCA, 6 May, and note 4, above. 2 TBA was quoting from the London Times, 17 August. 3 Between 1 Feb. and 26 Sept. 1793, Great

Britain established alliances against France with Russia, Sardinia, Spain, Prussia, Austria, Portugal, and the Bourbons of Naples (Georges Lefebvre, The French Revolution, transl. Elizabeth Moss Evanson, 2 vols., N.Y., 1962–1964, 2:4). See also, vols. 9:420 and 11:6–7, 8, 457.

John Briesler Sr. to Abigail Adams Madam Philadelphia August 17th 1797 I this Day Received your kind Letter and we are all Happy to hear of your Safe arivall at Quincy1 we are all in the Dumps the yellow fever has again found its way in to this City and threatens Great mortality the hoal City is in Confusion and mooving out of town it first Broke out in Spruce and Pen Street and thair Seems to be Confined at Present But how fare it will go God only knows if it Should Continue to spread2 Advicce from you madam and the President would give us Great Relief we are all well Except The Two Children which I hope will Soon be Better we have had hear the greatest Rains that Ever was known our Cellar was filed Over Shoes but we have taken it allmost all out with Pails and Tubs I hope to hear again from you by the first Opportunity we all Remain with Love and Respect your / most humble Servants— John Briesler RC (MHi:Adams-Hull Collection); addressed: “Mrs. / A. Adams— / Quincy”; endorsed: “Brisler August / 17th / 1797.” 1 Not found. 2 The Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic lasted from late July to late October. Many residents fled upon learning of the reappearance of the disease, and on 13 Oct. health inspectors cautioned residents that it was not “advisable to return at so early a period” even though the yellow fever appeared to be subsiding. They also suggested that citizens should particularly avoid “entering South-

wark, and the lower parts of the city.” The fact that so many Philadelphians left the city during the summer helped account for the lower mortality rates: approximately 1,000 residents died during the outbreak compared to the 5,000 deaths recorded in 1793 (vol. 9:447; Richard Folwell, Short History of the Yellow Fever, that Broke Out in the City of Philadelphia, in July, 1797, Phila., 1797, p. 3, 22, 64, Evans, No. 32138).

Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother. London September 10th: 1797. Mr: Fitch Hall being about to embark for New York I have entrusted to his care a trifling present, which I beg you to accept from

241

Adams Family Correspondence me.1 I intended to have sent you a profile of myself by Mrs: Johnson, but was prevented by the suddenness of her departure, which took place a week sooner than it had been previously fixed. The whole family left this place yesterday morning with the intention of joining their vessel at Gravesend and embarking immediately for Georgetown. The separation, you will easily conceive to have been painful to fond & affectionate parents, & tender sisters, who were taking leave for the first time of a much loved daughter and Sister, though they are well assured that she is left to the care of an husband & a brother who will shew her every tenderness and attention that her situation can claim. She is indeed a most lovely woman, & in my opinion worthy in every respect of the man for whom she has with so much apparent cheerfulness, renounced father & mother, kindred & Country to unite her destinies with his. It would have been less unpleasant for us to have parted from this family, had we been ready & free to depart hence ourselves; but no orders have yet arrived, and we are apprehensive of their being so long deferred as to occasion us a disagreeable & uncomfortable journey & voyage in the severest season of the year, which is fast approaching. It is hoped however, that Mr: Smith, or our Commissioners to France, will be the bearers of instructions by which our movements may be regulated. Our actual position is disagreeable. The latest news from America is of the 23d or 4th: of July. As there is nothing comfortable in it, I forbear making any remarks upon it, further than that I am heartily ashamed & mortified at the depravity & wickedness of some of our native fellow-citizens. I feel angry rather than humiliated at the injurious language of which the diplomatic body in America, are the organs to our Government; but I hope their communications will be carefully preserved, for ere long they will make a novel & curious collection, worthy to be baptised by the name of impudent tracts, being a specimen of modern negociation, with a neutral nation. You will see the newspapers, which I send by this occasion to my father. Those of the day contain important statements of french affairs, but the intelligence is so recent that I know not how far it can be credited. I shall therefore hazard no remarks upon it.2 Present me kindly to my father & to our friends in general & accept the / love & duty of your Son Thomas B Adams. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A Adams.”

242

Adams Family Correspondence September 1797

September 1797 1 Fitch Hall (1759–1841) was a merchant and distiller in Medford, Mass. (David Brainerd Hall, The Halls of New England: Genealogical and Biographical, Albany, N.Y., 1883, p. 322; Helen Tilden Wild, Medford in the Revolution: Military History of Medford, Massachusetts, 1765–1783, Medford, Mass., 1903, p. 59). 2 News of the 4 Sept. (An. V, 18 fructidor) coup reached London by 9 Sept.; however, the London Evening Post, 9–12 Sept., cautioned readers that the latest Parisian paper they had received, dated 4 Sept., was “evidently hostile to the Directors” and “was probably printed on the evening of the preceding day.” On 10 Aug. JQA had written to JA (Adams Papers) about the growing rift between the Council of Five Hundred and the Directory, which itself was “almost at open War against each other.” He noted that a triumvirate of directors was “preparing to call military force. . . . Their negotiations with the army of Buonaparte, have been very public.” On the morning of 4 Sept. Gen.

Pierre François Charles Augereau and 2,000 troops advanced on the Tuileries and denied the legislative councils access to their chambers. That same day directors Paul Barras, Jean François Rewbell, and Louis Marie de Larevellière-Lépeaux declared the emergence of a royalist conspiracy composed of directors Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot and François Barthélemy, members of the legislative councils, journalists, émigrés, and priests. The following day the triumvirate passed the law of 5 Sept. (19 fructidor), annulling the elections in 49 departments, condemning 53 citizens to transportation, forcing all émigrés to leave France within two weeks, abolishing religion, and restricting freedom of the press. Carnot escaped to Switzerland, while Barthélemy and fifteen others condemned to transportation were sent to Sinnamary, French Guiana. On 6 Sept. Philippe Antoine Merlin and Nicolas François de Neufchâteau filled the two vacant seats in the Directory (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:507–512).

Joshua Johnson to John Quincy Adams My Dear Sir Margate Rhoads 12 Septr. 1797. We r0eached Graves end about 11 OClock on Monday & proceeded immediatly on Shipboard. the Wind being fair we Saild in about Two Hours afterwards & rundown to the Hope, we remained their that Night & got under weigh the next Day & reached Bugsbeys Hole, where we remained until to Day 1 O Clock during which time we experined very heavy Gales of Wind, which created both alarm & much Sickness. we got to this place to Day about 3 OClock & if the Wind comes fair have hopes of reaching the Downs tomorrow, where I purpose to remain the shortest time possible, indeed I am the more anxious to get away as the Season grows late & we may expect a very rough Passage— I need not attempt describing to you my sufferings on this occasion of leaving England you have seen & witnessed them, my determination was formed from disappointments & I am perswaided that it is the most proper to enable me to do speedy Justice to every one, however I doubt not but many will censure me, for the moment & who will by & by approve the stop— I deposited a Paper with you, before parting with you, should any accident happen to me, I recommend that to your serious attention—1

243

Adams Family Correspondence To the part of the World you are going to I do not expect to hear from you often, but when ever an opportunity offers I hope you will not omit droping me a Line— I beg that you will deliver the Inclosed to my Dear Child & your Wife,2 with the attendance of the most sincere affections of a Tender & Loving Father whose Prayers are ever held up to the supream being for your Healths & happiness & who is my, / Dear Sir / Your truly Affecte. Frn Joshua Johnson RC (Adams Papers). 1 Johnson was referring to his will, for which see his letter to JQA, 25 April, and note 3, above, and JQA to Johnson, 11 Oct., below. 2 Enclosure not found.

Catherine Nuth Johnson to John Quincy Adams Stromness the orkney Islands Sept 18th 97 My Dear Son altho an unsolicited Corespondent my heart assure’s, me these few Lines, will find A Generous Asylum, in your Breast, you will doubtless be surpris’d at the date of this, but driven by adverse Winds, & what is still Worse, Adverse Fortune, we are Obliged to take refuge in one of the Islands, of the Orkney’s, the sport of Boreos for these last ten days, we Blest the Providence, which Secure’d us a safe Retreat, in this harbour. the town the only one on these Island’s, that I Can discover, is A miserable poor place, but to me at this moment, Magnificently Grand, so do we measure happiness, from the transition, of Pain to Pleasure, not a face that I see, but appears to bring me some Comfort, Alass short Live’d will it be, as we are now, not, any nearer to our destination than when we Left Margate, the same tract of Ocean to Measure & the season far advancing, I will not however give way, to unpleasant anticipations, but return my gratefull acknowledgements, to the great [disposer?] of the Universe, that has Conducted me to this port of Safety, well knowing your time Can be better Spent then in perusing my Dull Epistle, I must Conclude with this Great truth, that no Event of my Life, has given me more heartfelt Satisfaction, than that which enables me, to Subscribe myself your / Affectionate Mother C Johnson RC (Adams Papers).

244

September 1797

Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody my Dear sister Quincy sepbr. 25th 1797 I last Evening received your Letter of the 19 & 20th Instant.1 I am most sincerely grieved for the melancholy situation of our Nephew, and the more so as it is not in my power to render him any personal assistance.2 Since my return from Haverhill I have thought it necessary to return the civilities received, which has obliged me to entertain weekly several sets of company and that with a Family of 20, & frequently more, is sufficient care, if I was well accommodated with help which from ill health, I am not. Cousin Betsy and your son were sitting out, or had every thing in readiness to do so, when she was Seizd with a turn of the inflamitory Rhumatism, and detaind she made yesterday an experiment to see how she could ride and came there, but was unable to sit up more than half the day. I cannot think but what she would herself need the aid of others, instead of being of service as she is most desirious to be. Louissa fell away during Marys sickness and has never recoverd her flesh since. they all have a Sharp Humour in their Blood which some times falls upon the Lungs & sometimes into their faces. they have none of them firm constitutions. I have only one fortnight more to remain here when we must sit out on our Journey, like the doves of Noah not knowing where to place our feet, for the Pestilence still rages in Philadelphia, and that with accumulated voilence. I received a Letter from mrs Smith in which she says that she anxiously waits to hear from you. I shall write her and inclose Williams Letter.3 she says when she received the first Letter from them she was ready to cry for Joy. poor Women, her Lot in Life is not what I could wish it. she has not had any late Letters from the col and I believe does not know where he is. it is my determination, that she and her daughter shall go with me this winter if I can find a Home for myself—unless she hears from the col or he returns. I will let her know the calls you have upon your benevelence; I fear it will affect your Health. to mr and Mrs Atwood I shall ever feel a strong attachment and regard for their Parental goodness. may their Children never want the like aid;4 amidst the many evils and the great cruelties which are daily presenting themselves to our view from Foreign Wars and devastation, it is a relieaf to the pained mind, to find that Benevolence, Love and Friendship still have an existance, and that proofs are not

245

Adams Family Correspondence wanting of many, yet being the deciples of him, who made it a criterion, that we should Love one an other. as soon as it is practicable cousin Betsy will come, should her Brother need her. my Love to him and tell him I pray that he may have all needed support your son is still here, and looks in much better Health than he was; he grows quite fat & has a good coulour, to what he had. he has had but one of those Headacks to which he is subject. his uncle does not know how to spair him whilst he stays here, and as he has time to study I hope it will not be any injury to him— I was glad to hear that my Children were well. I am more anxious for them knowing that they are under my care, than when they were with their Mother. I could not have placed them any where else to have been so well satisfied as I feel myself now. I would have you get a Trunk or chest made, but perhaps with adding one dollor more a chest with two draws might be made to Serve both of them. I inclose ten dollors out of which I will thank you to get some fine yarn spun for Socks for them and to pay for a trunk or chest. if cousin B. gets time to knit them, I will pay her. Present me kindly to mr Peabody. my son you see, as I do by the papers is married we have Letters to June 29th from Thomas & from J Q A to the 20th he was just then going to England.5 he was married on the 27 July as the Newspapers inform us. We have not yet any Letters from England. my Love to the Children their next Letter must be to me. adieu my dear sister. I scarcly know what I have written, I have not been calld away less than 20 Times since I began. most affectionatly your sister Abigail Adams compliments to mr Vose I should be glad to have his opinion of the Boys without any scruples. RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers); endorsed: “Sept 25th. 1797.” 1 Not found. 2 For Charles Salmon Smith’s death, see Peabody’s letter to AA, 6 Oct., and note 1, below. 3 Letters not found. 4 Moses Atwood was the Haverhill, Mass., merchant and trader to whom Smith was apprenticed. Smith lived with Atwood and his wife, Mary Tenney (1769–1853), who had five children at this time: Mary (b. 1789), Elizabeth (b. 1791), Harriet (b. 1793), John Mulliken (b. 1795), and Sarah (b. 1797) (The

Saltonstall Papers, 1607–1815, ed. Robert E. Moody, 2 vols., MHS, Colls., 81:48–49 [1974]; Memorial of Professor Aaron Warner, Amherst, Mass., 1884, p. 74–75). 5 For the earliest news of JQA and LCA’s marriage in U.S. newspapers, see the New York Minerva, 12 Sept., and Boston Gazette, 18 September. TBA’s 29 June letter has not been found. For a summary of JQA’s 7 June letter to JA, which he continued on 19 June, see JQA to AA, 26 June, note 6, above.

246

Adams Family Correspondence September– October 1797

September–October 1797

Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren my dear Madam Quincy october 1st 1797 I acknowledg myself indebted to you for two kind Letters,1 both of which found me in circumstances of distress; the first which came to me before I went to Philadelphia, I fully intended to have replied to at the Time, but the many cares and avocations which at that time occupied my mind, preparitory to my going, and the peculiar melancholy circumstance of the Death of my Mother and Neice within a day or two of each other, not only arrested me in my journey, but added to the cares with which I had before felt myself opprest. to you therefore, who have so frequently been summoned on like Solemn occasions, I need make no further appology. your Last kind Letter, which I had no right to expect, and was therefore received as a pledge of a Friendship which bears the stamp of Time, and which I hope will endure with our Lives, however we may discent upon some Subjects, upon that of Mutual good will esteem, and real affection I trust we shall be ever united, and your Letter expressive of it should have met a ready reply, but I was dissabled both with my Eyes and Hands, having met an accident in a carriage which like to have cost me my Life— I have however recoverd so as to leave only a small scar behind. Your kind invitation to visit you in the, only stile which can ever be agreable to me, that of Hospitality and freedom, would have given both mr Adams & myself great pleasure. a promise which he made to the secretaries, of not being absent from Quincy more than one day at a Time, that their communications might always find him, has confined him to this place ever since his return. one only visit have I made, and that to my sister in New Hampshire. I fulfilld two duties, that of visiting a very dear sister, which I had not done before, since her residence & Marriage in that state, and placing my two Grandsons at an accademy there, and in her Family and under her inspection, that they may receive a Genuine New England Education which I am Yanky enough to prefer to any other I have yet seen. We leave this place in a few days, without knowing where we are to Stop.2 the distrest state of a city which seems devoted to Calamity, and the Pestilence which still rag[es] there, renders it Dangerous to enter it at this Time, and the certain clamour which will be raised if Congress are convened at any other place, renders it

247

Adams Family Correspondence difficult for the President to know what is best and most for the Good of the Country, & the safety of its Members; without being much nearer, where a more accurate statement of Facts can be assertaind.— The Philadelphians will complain & say there is no danger, tho at Present their city is deserted of two thirds of its inhabitants I received a Letter from Mrs otis a few days since.3 she with her Family are at Bristol about 18 miles from the city, and were all well. When I was at Providence I took Tea at the late Govenour Bowens. they inquired kindly and particularly after you & your Family, and desired a particular remembrance to you.4 The President joins me in an affectionate remembrance to his old Friend the Genll and to Mrs Warren both of whom it would have given him pleasure to have Seen at Quincy. I am dear Madam with sentiments of / Regard and esteem / Your affectionate Friend Abigail Adams RC (MHi:Warren-Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “Mrs. Mercy Warren / Plymouth.”; endorsed: “Mrs Adams Oct 1797.”; notation: “No. 19.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 For Warren’s 6 April letter to AA, see AA to JA, 9 April, and note 8, above. In her 17 Aug. letter, she invited the Adamses to visit Plymouth (Adams Papers). 2 JA and AA departed Quincy on 3 Oct., and on the 11th arrived at Eastchester, N.Y., where they remained for nearly a month. Once Philadelphia was deemed safe from yellow fever, they continued their journey, departing Eastchester on 7 Nov. and arriving

at Philadelphia on the 10th (JA to Timothy Pickering, 2 Oct., and to Oliver Wolcott Jr., 7 Nov., both Adams Papers; JA to CA, 11 Oct., AA to TBA, 7 Nov., AA to William Smith, 16 Nov., all below). 3 Not found. 4 That is, Jabez Bowen, for whom see vol. 8:375. The Adamses visited Providence, R.I., on 4–5 Aug. en route from Philadelphia to Quincy (Providence Gazette, 5 Aug.).

Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams My dear Sir. London 3. October 1797. Since I came to this Country, two of your kind letters have reached me; one dated in June & the other in July; the latter came by Genl: Marshall, but by some accident was not forwarded at the same time with your letter to my brother of the same date.1 It has only this day come to hand. Contrary to your expectation, as well as my own, your letters find me still in Europe, and about to embark in a few days, with my Brother, upon his mission to the North. I am somewhat apprehensive, from the repeated recommendations which are contained, both in yours & my mothers letters, for my return, that this deviation on

248

Adams Family Correspondence October 1797

October 1797 my part from my original purpose, may not meet your approbation. I cannot say indeed that it entirely meets my own, for I had made up my mind to return home in the course of this fall, and make some permanent establishment for my future life, and my diversion from this plan, has been rather a sacrifice to the earnest wishes of my brother, than to a conviction of its ultimate benefit to myself. I do sincerely wish to see once more my native land, my family & my friends, but I have consented to defer the gratification for some period further; I hope & expect it will not exceed another year; if within that period some young man can be found to take my situation with my brother. He cannot be alone, without losing half his usefulness to his Country & the service in which it employs him. I do not mean by this, that the Secretary is of equal importance with the Minister, but at least an embassy is incomplete without one. I feel grateful for your kind offers of a situation with you in case of my return, though I am not sure that my ambition would lead me to embrace it. Upon this subject however, it is not necessary at present to decide. It is with much regret that I learn from your letter the difficulties & embarassments which imprudent & unsuccessful speculation has brought into the families of some of our near relations. I had not forgotten your oracular predictions upon this subject, and the anticipation of such an issue, however painful it might have been, had in some measure prepared my mind to hear it with composure. I think I can venture to assure you Sir, that these examples, and your admonitions will not be lost to experience. My Brother has copiously detailed to you, since our residence here, every thing that relates to the political concerns of our Country. The facts are serious, and the events of which they are probably the precursors, will not I trust surprize our Countrymen or damp the ardor with which it is their duty & their interest to meet them. Our Commissioners have reached Paris, but I do not expect that they will be there long. Since the recent revolution, every thing looks dark & hollow, & if justice be done to any earthly power, by the triumphant faction in France, to accident, not design be all the honor & all the praise. What sacrifices of interest, our Country & fellow-citizens may be prepared to make, to their peace & neutrality, I am unable to conjecture; it is more easy to conceive the extent & magnitude of those which will be demanded of them. Our national dignity & honor must not look to a foreign power for patronage.

249

Adams Family Correspondence I have a task upon hand, which compels me to shorten my letter. You will I hope by the next or perhaps by the present opportunity become the depositary of it. Present me affectionately to my mother; I shall endeavor to reply to her kind letter of July 14, before we leave this Country.2 With fervent attachment & respect, I am, Dear Sir, / Your Son, Thomas B Adams. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The President of the U. States.” 1 JA to TBA, 2 June, is above; the July letter has not been found. For a summary of JA’s 15 July letter to JQA, see Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 27 June, note 4, above. 2 Probably AA to TBA, 16 July, above.

Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams My Dear Sister— Atkinson Oct. 6th 1797 Since my last my time has been cheifly occupied, in attending to those services, which were due to our late worthy Nephew—1 Though we had been in daily expectation of his dissolution, & every breath he drew seemed as if I heard a voice, saying “Sister Spirit come away”2 yet it was a sudden stroke at the close— As he called the watcher who set by him, Aunt, I suppose he took her for me; & I was perswaded to go & lie down; sleep, I did not expect— I presumed that was mounted upon its airy pinions— I had no sooner thrown my head upon my pillow, than I was roused by his distressing exertions to raise, I heard him speak “call the Dr. give me a puke I shall die”—& then an awful silence ensued— it was not dificult to guess the cause— the watchers met me, he is gone—he is gone was their exclamation— I suppose an ulcer broke, & suffocated him— thus ended the short life of the sober minded, patient, once healthy blooming Charles—& may his budding virtues, blossom in an happier, less tempestous Clime— I feared his Mother, & Sisters would think his Funeral was appointed at so early a period, as to preclude the Opportunity of their attending even if they had earnestly desired it— I thought they would not come, & as I found it would interrupt Mr Atwoods buisness to have it deffered, as he shut up his Shop I thought it best to let him suit his convenience, & have the funeral when he pleased— I returned home thursday P M, & sent back Betsey Quincy, & her Sister that night— William hired an horse for himself, & we took Cousin John in the Chaise the next day with us— I think

250

October 1797 there were twelve of us went down to his Funeral— The near neighbours, & connections were desired to walk as mourners, & it being a pleasant day, there was a large concourse who payed the last tribute of respect to a youth, deservedly dear to all his acquaintance— It is a great satisfaction to me that I have been able to attend my Nephew during his painful Sickness— nothing but having him in my own house could have given me more— Mr Atwood is one of the most benevolent of men— The great beneficent Parent must behold him with pleasure, for “God loveth a chearful Giver”3—& there has been nothing spared, that could tend to make Charles easy, & comfortable— It is really a charming Family, & I am convinced that those virtues of the heart which dignify human nature, are not confined to time, or place, but are found where we have least reason to expect them, & often flourish most in an humble station— I have desired Mr Atwood to collect all the bills The Drs, Nurses, Porters—&cccc ready for me to lay before you, & Dr Tufts— I presume Charles had Cash nearly enough to answer the chief of those— I told Mr Atwood he must think what his own bill will be, & let me know soon as he could what his expences had been— He frequently told me while Charles was sick, that he should charge nothing for his own trouble, but I know the expence occasioned by watchers, two in a night frequently, which were generously treated must be great—& the handsome provision made at the funeral of Coffee, tea, wine &cc must be more than he ought to do— At first I felt loth to stay at his house— Charles was easier, & I went home a day, or two, but he sent his Chaise for me a Sabbath day, & said I must stay, with Charles, & his wife, that he loved to have me with them, & should not feel easy if I, were not— Betsy went & watched with Charles twice, but the poor Girl beged so for me to come again if I were not sick, that I told her I would not leave him— I hope her Cousins sick Chamber may prove salutary to her immortal Spirit, & though painful to the body, yet happy for her Soul— Mr Abbot prayed, that the near friend of equal age who with affectionate concern had watched his pillow, might have such a sense of divine things, such important realities impressed upon her mind as should not be erased by time, or the vicissitudes of Life— He knew the circumstances of the Family, & most fervently prayed for the absent Mother, Brethren, & Sisters, that they might be supplyd with every needful Blessing, & those consolations which their particular circumstances required— It was a most excellent prayer, presented upon the alter of my heart, I hope an acceptable Sacrifice—

251

Adams Family Correspondence I told Mr Atwood that his Sister had been a most attentive, neat, kind nurse, that I would have her paid the usual price, & something handsome given her— He kindly told me, I must not think of giving her less than eight or ten Dollars, for she was high spirited, & he had rather give a part back to me, than not have her gratified—& pleased— I thanked him for his frankness, & said, she had payed Charles those attentions which no money could purchase—& ought to be rewarded—4 I wish for your counsel, & advice— The exertions which I had made to keep well, that I might behave with true magninimity of Soul, through the gloomy Scenes, & various duties I was necessarily engaged in, shattered my feeble Bark— It was the twenty-ninth day of September, that I was called to attend my dear Charles to his dark mansions; a day, to me ever memorable—for thoughts which are improper for me to utter—5 In awful Silence, I adore & tremble— Thy divine attributes are conspicuous in all thy works, & in all thy dealings, O thou great arbiter of Events!— Thy righteousness is as a mountain, which no human Eye can pervade, & thy Judgments a great deep, which no mortal man can fathom.— Impressed with a sense of thy all surrounding power, I join the Psalmist in that grateful apostrophe, How excellent is thy loving kindness, how great is thy goodness O my God! therefore in humble reliance upon thy mercy, will I ever put my trust, under the shadow of thy wings, & confide to thy arms my fatherless Children— These were the reflections which occured, while with solemn steps, & slow, I passed from Grave, to Grave till I came to the house appointed—till I reached that, which, though no stone told where he laid, I could easily perceive One, over which the turf was scarcely closed & whose green had not yet received its wonted hue— I turned from this melting scene, with this petition,—though our Sins have been as scarlet, may we be white as Snow, washed in the blood of the Lamb, & though these vile bodies of ours, may moulder in the dust, may we all rise in Glory, & be permitted to join the celestial Choir in ceaseless Hallelujahs—6 I have had a charming visit from Mr. & Mrs Smith. I had been quite sick all day, but I would not suffer the gloom I felt at my heart, to interrupt the pleasure of their visit— By them the kind present you sent to Betsy Quincy came safe to hand, for which she most cordially thanks you— Mrs Smith told me how good you had been to my Son, & that he looked finely—how thankful shall I be, if he does but do credit, & honour to his benefactors— I feel a

252

October 1797 peculiar pleasure in endeavouring to serve your Grand-children, in every respect—either body, or mind, we wish to pour the “fresh instruction” into their tender minds, & lead them to habits of virtue, that they may reach the temple of honour, & like their ancestor, be crowned with unfading laurels—7 Mr Vose says William does well with learning english Grammer, but 2 years makes some difference, & as John is not so good a reader, he had better be kept to that, & to writing at present— They are neither of them bad tempered— William is orderly, & attends to reasoning, John hears, & is faulty the next moment— Mr Peabody is very kind to them, but is resolute in exacting proper obedience— Limited monarchy is the best Government— It is as necessary in large families to have the power vested in one, & to be obeyed, as in states, & kingdoms— We are doing your Childrens stocks with some mixed blue yarn, I had left of my sons— they will do in the snow better than wosted— I have put away all their best shirts, & keep the old ones in wear— If you will send cotton, for three a peice, Betsy Q shall make them— The little fellows are charming well, & hearty & I believe happy, I intended writing to their dear Mamma, but I have had something the Dr says of a slow fever all the week, I have taken two large portions of Cinnce, & feel a little better—8 If I were well, I would not send this ill written letter— May heaven direct your steps, & preserve you, & yours in health prays your Sister Give my love to Louisa John & William have written letters, & sealed them, before they brought them to me, I would have corrected them if they had not, you will please to excuse their errors—9 pray do not forget Scate[s]—10 RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs Peabody / october 2d.” Some loss of text due to wear at the fold. 1 Charles Salmon Smith died of consumption on 27 Sept. at Haverhill (Vital Records of Haverhill, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 2 vols., Topsfield, Mass., 1910–1911, 2:473). 2 Alexander Pope, “The Dying Christian to His Soul,” line 8. 3 2 Corinthians, 9:7. 4 Sarah Atwood (1747–1833) was a daughter of Joseph and Sarah Chresdee Atwood and eldest sister of Moses (Charles Atwood, History of the Atwood Family, in England and the United States, Boston, 1888, p. 25; Haver-

hill Essex Gazette, 23 Feb. 1833). 5 Peabody’s first husband, Rev. John Shaw, died on 29 Sept. 1794 (vol. 10:252). 6 In this paragraph Peabody conflated several biblical verses: Psalms, 36:7 and 31:19; Isaiah, 1:18; and Revelations, 7:14. 7 Peabody excerpted James Thomson, The Seasons, “Spring,” line 1151. The phrase “crowned with unfading laurels” is from Tacitus, “A Dialogue Concerning Oratory,” ch. 37 (transl. Arthur Murphy, 5 vols., London, 1830–1831, 5:331). 8 Quince seed prepared as an infusion

253

Adams Family Correspondence or decoction in a beverage was believed to aid patients suffering from various types of consumptions (Buchan, Domestic Medicine, p. 137).

9 Letters not found. 10 The postscript was written vertically in the margin.

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams My Dear Mother. London 7. October 1797. It is but a few days since I received your kind letter of 14. July, brought to Holland by Genl: Marshall, and forwarded to me here. The pamphlets also which you have been kind enough to send me have come to hand. I value them much not only for the advantage of perusing them, but because I am endeavouring to preserve a collection of such publications. My state of continual motion is indeed very unfavourable to this purpose, for it often prevents packets destined to me, from arriving. For instance I have not to this day received the pamphlet containing the correspondence upon the subject of the refusal by the Directory of France to receive Genl: Pinckney last Winter, and as this makes a very material chasm in the series of my State Papers, I shall request you to forward me one of them— It was printed towards the last of May, and is the more material to me, as it contains (so I am informed) extracts of one or two of my own Letters to the Secretary of State.1 Mr: Harper’s Observations upon the dispute between the United States and France are very valuable, and must I think prove very useful.2 The facts I think are very correctly stated, and the Spirit with which they are commented is truly American. I rejoyce to see that Spirit thus coming forth, and hope to see more of it than any of our Enemies expect.— It becomes every person of information and character to detect and expose that base and hypocritical villainy of faction, which endeavours to load with the odium of being under British Influence, every Man who is not the servile or the venal tool of France.— Mr: Harpers example will I hope be followed, and the sooner we can ascertain who are the true, unmingled Americans, the better.— I have seen enough, and more than enough of those characters who would slide along between the two parties, with the hope of sharing in the triumph of either, under the pretence at present of belonging to none. Randolph’s catastrophe, made me sick of such personages.— Solon was right in subjecting to severe penalties every Citizen who refused to take his side, in great public controversies.3

254

October 1797 The elaborate pamphlet against the late President, is apparently of french origin. The french idiom is manifest in every page, and the translation is poorly done, for they have been obliged to help it with an explanatory glossary by way of notes.— Yet I think Randolph must have some hand in it: for what other man upon earth could quote Randolph’s pamphlet and Fauchet’s certificate as authorities4 As to Washington’s character, it is one of the fortunate things of his fortunate life, to be attacked by such beings as Randolph and Payne, and this pamphleteer; that is by men of some talents, and more popularity, full to the brim of the foulest and most malignant venom that the human heart can engender. Against such a life and such virtues, secured and sanctioned as they are by retirement, no talents, no malice can avail, and publications like those which have been levelled at him, only expose the authors to disgrace, and will serve in future to be quoted as the tests by which his virtue was proved, as the fires from which it issued only brightened in its lustre. But in the pamphlet which you sent me, the attack upon Washington, is a mere feint to cover an attack upon the Constitution. You know that the plan for this attack has long been laid, and the substantial object of it fully understood.— I confess that I was not a little diverted at reading the laboured and pompous panegyric upon the wisdom of the french Constitution in establishing a Directory of five persons, at a moment, when three of the five had just expelled and proscribed the other two, by mere military force, and in the most undisguised and unblushing violation of that wonderful Constitution; nor did I avoid remarking, that Carnot so emphatically eulogised in the pamphlet as the great author and organizer of the stupendous Republican french victories, was at the time when I read this encomium, one of those very two directors, thus expelled and proscribed by his three Colleagues, without, the forms of a trial or even the ceremony of an accusation.5 The convulsion of the 18th: fructidor (4th: of September) displays in such a striking manner the merits and operation of this boasted Constitution, that I have drawn up very hastily at such leisure as I could snatch while preparing for my departure from this place, some observations upon that Event; which you will see, and read if you have the Patience to go through them.— They are founded upon the facts as stated by the prevailing party; the party so loud in crying up the Constitution which they have sacrificed: they rest principally too upon official documents.6

255

Adams Family Correspondence Mr: Smith arrived at Lisbon about the 25th: of August. I have a letter from him of that date. Mr: Gerry arrived at Rotterdam the 19th: of last month. I have a letter from him dated there on the 24th:—7 Genl: Marshall had arrived before him and with Genl: Pinckney had proceeded to Paris where they arrived on the 28th:— The commission in my opinion is excellently composed, but for any reconciliation worth having there must be a favourable and an honest temper on both sides.— My hopes are but small.— In general the American diplomacy in Europe,—myself excepted, is now as well chosen as can be wished— The men are all honest, and able.— In excepting myself I do not mean a silly disqualifying salvo. I cannot be contented with my last appointment. My old school mate Bache has indeed been so industrious in making his praise slander and his slander praise, that abuse from his press, is at least what as a lawyer I should call prima facie evidence of merit. I feel therefore some satisfaction in being the object of it.— But the appointment to Berlin was objectionable on two grounds.— It had a bad face: for it looked like a nomination by the President of his own Son to high office; it was not well-timed for it was I think the very first nomination, after the opposite example of the Predecessor— It was not in fact a promotion of me, but it looked like it.— A train of reasoning, a recurrence to other facts was necessary to answer cavillers against it. The first appearance of things, is a point which deserves some attention. When from the appearance you turn to the reality: I had been destined as Minister Plenipotentiary to Lisbon; but for the expences of the voyage and journey there; or what is called the outfit, I had been allowed only half the usual sum.— I had been at all this expence, had taken my own passage and that for all my baggage, and had even engaged an house there, when I am at once ordered back to the other extremity of Europe, with a new voyage and journey necessarily and inevitably very expensive, without the addition of a farthing to my previous half-allowance.—8 I received therefore an office at once invidious in appearance, and oppressive in reality.— But I have done with this subject, which I have not willingly renewed. My Country has every claim upon me; if her service were merely a bed of roses, it would not be a worthy incitement to ambition.— As for Bache,—he was once my school mate; one of the companions of those infant years when the heart should be open to strong and deep impressions of attachment, and never should admit any durable sentiment of hatred or malice. There is a degree of re-

256

October 1797 gard and tenderness that mingles itself in my recollection of every individual with whom I ever stood in that relation— The school and the College are the sources of the dearest friendships; they ought never to be those of malevolence or Envy.— Bache has none of these feelings, or he would not have been the vehicle of abuse upon me, at least during my absence from the Country.— But he cannot hurt me. That the President retains his Spirits and fortitude unshaken is what I expected, and it gives me much pleasure. Great worth and virtue has no vouchers so complete as strong trials. I have a firm and undoubting confidence not only in the Justice but in the final success of the cause for which we may soon be called to contend with all our energies.— But our strength has slept too long; it must be called forth. Your hints concerning my Sister’s situation, give me pain more than surprize— I am too familiarly conversant with such things.— Perhaps it may give you and my father some satisfaction to learn, that I remain still as independent as your own hearts can wish: and that notwithstanding my increased expences without any increase of fortune, and notwithstanding the additional voyage and Journey above-noticed, I am and will continue fully within my means. your ever affectionate Son John Q. Adams. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A. Adams.”; endorsed: “J Q Adams / october 7th / 1797”; notation by TBA: “No 31 / 30. July 29.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. Tr (Adams Papers). 1 See CA to JQA, 8 June, note 3, above. 2 Robert Goodloe Harper’s Observations on the Dispute Between the United States and France . . . in May, 1797, Phila., 1797, Evans, No. 32226, argued that the United States should negotiate with France while simultaneously preparing for war: “I am persuaded that they intend not to make war upon us, but to scourge and frighten us into submission: and that the only possible method of making them desist from the attempt, is to convince them . . . that we are not frightened.” Harper believed the negotiation with France would succeed but cautioned that “we must consider ourselves as in the presence of a bully, who can be prevented from striking us in no manner but by shewing him that we are able and resolved to return the blow” (p. 99, 100). 3 For Solon and this law, see vol. 7:474. 4 Benjamin Bache, not Edmund Randolph, has been credited with authoring Remarks Occasioned by the Late Conduct of Mr.

Washington, as President of the United States, Phila., 1797, Evans, No. 31759. Drawing heavily from Edmund Randolph’s A Vindication of Mr. Randolph’s Resignation, which in turn includes an affidavit from Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet, the pamphlet notes: “It is proper to read Mr. Randolph’s narrative upon the subject of the . . . treaty with Great Britain; a treaty, calculated to embroil America at home and abroad, without its gaining one true friend, or one honourable and permanent advantage” (p. 12; James D. Tagg, “Benjamin Franklin Bache’s Attack on George Washington,” PMHB, 100:224–225 [April 1976]). For Randolph’s Vindication, which AA had sent to JQA, see vol. 11:39, 146–148. 5 The pamphlet contrasted Washington’s letters, “filled with vain regrets of evils and disasters which he could neither prevent nor remedy,” with “the concise relation given” by Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot “of the victories of the French in their celebrated long campaign; victories, which he had so

257

Adams Family Correspondence much share in organizing, and which sprang out of a war upon defensive principles” (Remarks Occasioned by the Late Conduct of Mr. Washington, p. 11). 6 Between 27 Sept. and 4 Oct. JQA wrote “Observations, upon the Operation of the French Constitution, as Exemplified in the Transactions of the 18th: fructidor 5th: Year (4. September 1797.) and the Days Following,” in which he summarized the events surrounding the coup and the actions of its leaders as “manifest and undisputed violation of the constitution of France,” and further stated they were “in violation of the first and most simple elements of humanity and of justice.” JQA also excerpted some addresses and proclamations produced by the French government after the coup, in which the conspirators justified their actions by arguing that “unless you would abandon yourselves to your enemies, you cannot apply ordinary rules to an extraordinary case” (Adams Papers; D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27). “Ob-

servations” was published in several newspapers; see, for example, the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 5, 6 Feb. 1798, and the Boston Federal Gazette, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19 February. 7 The letter from William Loughton Smith has not been found. Elbridge Gerry wrote to JQA on 24 Sept. 1797 that he had brought him a packet from the secretary of state and newspapers, both of which he left with William Vans Murray. Gerry also congratulated JQA on his recent marriage (Adams Papers). 8 For the baggage JQA sent to Lisbon, see his letter to TBA, 2 June, note 3, above. While JQA, through the auspices of David Humphreys, had already secured lodgings in Lisbon large enough for “a newly married man,” it does not appear that he sent payment before learning of the change in his mission (JQA to Humphreys, 10 April, LbC, APM Reel 130; Humphreys to JQA, 2 May, Adams Papers).

John Adams to Charles Adams Dear Sir East Chester Oct. 11. 1797 I arrived here this Evening with your Mother and Cozen all in good health, and was Sorry to hear that you went from hence on Monday unwell. I hope you are better. If I go into Town in Ceremony I Should be glad of your Company with me in my Carriage.1 My Letters will, Some of them be directed to your Care, I Shall be glad to receive them as soon as possible. Can you Send them out by the Stage to Guions, or by private hands.2 Any News or Newspapers will be acceptable. I hope Mrs Adams and the little Miss are well. I must depend upon you and Mr Malcom to make all necessary Preparations for me. I feel the honour that is done me by the City of New York and pray you to Signify my respectful Attention to it, upon all proper Occasions. It seems to me the Arrangements had better be conditional—on such a day and hour if the Weather is fair—otherwise the next fair day. However this is only Suggestion. I shall conform in all Things to whatever is determined on. The Thought was Suggested to me, by a drenching in a Soaking Rain of Governer Sumner, General

258

October 1797 Hull and seven thousand Militia in compleat Uniform the other day at Concord in Massachusetts.3 I am your affectionate Father John Adams RC (MHi:Seymour Coll.); internal address: “Charles Adams Esq.” 1 For JA’s reception upon his arrival in New York City, see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 13 Oct., and note 1, below. 2 Charles Guion had owned an inn in Eastchester, N.Y., since the Revolutionary War. Situated on the Boston Post Road, the inn served as one of the coach stops along the route from New York to Boston (Valentine’s Manual of Old New York, 10 vols., 1919– 1928, 3:241; Susanne Stone, “Some Historic Houses of Westchester County,” Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, 9:294 [1910]).

3 On 26 Sept. Gen. William Hull, for whom see vol. 7:343, led a review of the Massachusetts militia at Concord that was attended by Gov. Increase Sumner. The Boston Columbian Centinel, 27 Sept., noted the inclement weather at the event: “The troops had no sooner formed than a severe equinoxial storm commenced” during which “the whole of them were drenched to the skin. The troops nevertheless, went through the usual manoeuvres and evolutions with veteran exactness.”

John Quincy Adams to Joshua Johnson Dear Sir. London 11. October 1797. I received your obliging letter dated in Margate Roads just before your departure. I had indeed long observed your distress and that of your family. I was not particularly acquainted with its causes, nor was it a subject upon which I thought it proper or necessary to enquire You expected that the step upon which you determined would expose you to censure; but as you observe you thought it the best you could take to do equal Justice to all.— The turn of affairs here has not been such as your friends could have wished— Appearances and allegations are advanced which bring in question something more than merely your credit, and unfortunately your friends have not the means of refuting them in their power.1 I enclose to you a copy of a letter I have received from Mr: Delius at Bremen: I can see no honourable motive upon which he could address it to me; but it is such as calls for animadversion from you.2 Your affairs in America, as you represented them to me, are amply sufficient to satisfy every claim upon you in Europe, and to leave you still a decent property. Let me urge you then Sir by every consideration of regard for yourself and your family, to consider Justice to your creditors as the most imperious of your obligations.— To render it speedily, and amply, however unkind you may think their

259

Adams Family Correspondence treatment of you has been.— I urge it, because I cannot suspect you of an unnecessary misrepresentation of your affairs to me, and because if your statement was correct it will be perfectly and largely within your power. With respect to the Execution of your Will, I hope there will be, these many years no occasion for it— But as far as my situation may leave me the possibility to co-operate in it, I shall always cheerfully contribute to it, or to any other service that I can render to yourself or your family. With my affectionate regards to Mrs: Johnson, and all the children, I remain, Dear Sir, / [your friend &] very hble: Servt: John Q. Adams. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “J. Johnson Esqr”; endorsed: “John Q. Adams / London 11 October 1797 / Recievd 9 Feby. 1798. / Answerd 1st Decmr 98 / through the [Points?].” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. Text lost where the seal was removed has been supplied from the LbC. 1 For more on Johnson’s financial situation, see LCA, D&A, 1:36, 50–53. 2 On 29 Sept. Frederick Delius wrote to JQA (Adams Papers) reporting Johnson’s outstanding debts and criticizing Johnson for

failing to contact him before leaving England. JQA described Delius’ letter as “a very unpleasant and improper one” (D/JQA/24, 7 Oct., APM Reel 27). For a summary of JQA’s 9 Oct. response, see LCA, D&A, 1:86–87.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister East Chester october 13 1797 we arrived here on twesday Evening on the 11th, after a pleasent journey in which we met with but few obstructions the Weather on one Day prevented our travelling, and we tarried on sunday at Hartford, and on Monday morning were escorted out of Town by a Troop of light Horse, and the citizens in carriages and on Horse back as far as Weathersfield. we proceed then for New Haven about 40 miles from Hartford. Six Miles from the Town a Horsemen met us, to inform us a Troop cometh. it consisted of near a Hundred Light Horse in a Red uniform very well mounted, Gentlemen in carriages and on Horse back. they escorted us to our Lodgings, fired three rounds made their compliments and left us. we Met with no more parade, but as we past the Inn near col smith we Saw a Horseman in uniform. when we reachd here mrs smith informd us that he had been waiting two days there, and had orders to stay untill we arrived. Soon after we got in, he came with Letters from col Morten & from mr Malcomb to know when the President would go into Town

260

October 1797 as the citizens & Military proposed meeting and escorting him in. Monday is the Day assignd.1 I found mrs smith and her little Girl well. she has not received any account from the col as yet which makes her not a little anxious. I want to hear from you, and to learn how cousin Betsy is. We have not any prospect of getting in to Philadelphia. there has been a Rumour that the same fever prevaild in N york. that Some Instances of it have occurred is true, taken from Some Irish families who arrived there about a Month since, and were crowded together in small apartments. the city is full. it is said more than two thousand of the inhabitants of Philadelphia are now in N york— Lodgings are very difficult to be procured there. I have made arrangements to remain here untill the siting of congress, and untill we can go to Philadelphia. mrs smith has House Room enough, and the weather is so cold that there is no danger of Ague— Mrs smith desires to be rememberd to all her Friends. so does your / affectionate Sister A Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A: Adams (East / Chester) Octr 13. 1797.” 1 Jacob Morton, for whom see CFA, Diary, 2:63, wrote two letters to JA on 9 Oct., inquiring when JA planned to arrive in New York City and the route he would take so that a military escort could be prepared. On 11 Oct. JA reported to Samuel Bayard Malcom that he would travel by way of Harlem on the 16th, and he asked if Malcom and CA would accompany him (all Adams Papers). The New York Commercial Advertiser, 18 Oct.,

noted that “a large concourse of citizens on horseback and in carriages, received the President at Harlaem, and were met in their way to town by the legion commanded by col. Morton.” JA’s arrival in the city “was announced by salutes of cannon from the battery and fortifications on Governor’s Island,” and the ringing of the bells “at Trinity Church likewise proclaimed this event, till some time in the evening.”

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy october 15th 1797 I thank you for your Letter from worcester since that I have heard by the papers you have arriv’d in new-york.1 I hope Safe. you must have had bad weather some part of the way if Such as we had reach’d you. last Sunday evening we had a terrible Tempest of thunder Lightning & wind & rain the Lightning struck the house of capn. Jo. Baxter & every person in it reciev’d a Shock there were many young People collected there Boilstone Adams & I believe Sukey mr Adams was very much affected for several hours & many were obliged to be rub’d with vinagar for a long time it came down

261

Adams Family Correspondence by the side of the chimney & went thro the house into the cellar.2 that no one should be kill’d was a great preservation. it Struck a house in milton also. I never Say Such Lightning. it was like columns of Fire & fell to the Ground. the wind was violent mr & mrs Norton were on the top of Pens hill when it took them. they were oblig’d to run into a house for shelter they look out their house & the chaise was blown half way down the hill. they were on their way to Atkinson. they return’d yesterday found & left all well. the little Boys were finely & contented. cousen Betsy Stay’d with mrs Nortons children in her absence3 I Saw mrs Porter to day they are both well I spoke to her about the clothes lines. She will take care of them. mr Foster & Eliza Bond were here last Sunday— She has got her health & looks finely but neither She nor I can make Cousen Betsy own that there is any connection design’d to be form’d between mr F & her notwithstanding all the appearences She does fib. I know She does. they were Several hours alone together in our east Parlour4 she has recover’d her spirits much better than I fear’d She would. had She been with her Brother She would have felt very differently from what She now does I believe it would have kill’d her in her feeble State. Sister Peabody did not forget that the day he was buried was the 29th of September it render’d the Scene doublely Solemn your Neice mrs Hubbart & Salomy came the last week to make you a visit they did not know you were gone. they spent an affternoon with me5 Doctor Tufts came to do business with you about half an hour after you left us. he wishes for many directions which he expected to receive— mr Cranchs coat I supposed you must have taken by mistake. we have not receiv’d it yet nor heard of it only by your Letter. but think it will come along Tis one he wants much this time of the year his Devonshire is too thick & heavey I am impatient to hear from you again & to know how you found mrs Smith & your other children my Love to them all— I want to know also where congress will be call’d. do not go to an unhealthy Spot— Stay with your children untill you can go into your own house I Shall be distress’d about you if you do— I have been from home but once since you left me your house looks So gloomy I cant bear it— I wish it was occupy’d in your absence by some Sensible neighbour— George Apthorp is come with his wife & her mother mrs Perkins, a Sister of mrs Aptho[rp] mrs A is a pretty innocent Sensible coun[try] Girl just 19 years old— they are come to Settle

262

October 1797 here.— our neighbour mrs Apthorp has been very ill for above three weeks in violent pain in her back & one side it has at last Show’d itself to be the Shingles to a dreadfull degree. She continues very ill6 mrs Norton Sends a thousand thanks for your kind present. had it made. & it looks very handsome— pray give my Love to the President & Louissa / & believe me at all times your truly / affectionate Sister M Cranch mrs Porter Says she has found [. . .] Buckets Doctor Tufts wishes to know what is to be done with the cheese butter &C7 RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Richard Cranch: “To Mrs. Abigail Adams / the President’s Lady. / New York.”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch / october 15 1797”; notation by Richard Cranch: “Quincy, Octr. 16th. 97. Free.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 AA wrote to Mary Smith Cranch on 5 Oct. to give a progress report of her journey thus far. She also noted that they had accidentally packed Richard Cranch’s coat and she was sending it back (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). A notice of the Adamses’ arrival in New York was published in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 14 October. 2 Vinegar was thought to be a restorative for victims of lightning strikes (James Thacher, The American Modern Practice; or, A Simple Method of Prevention and Cure of Diseases, Boston, 1817, p. 665). 3 Jacob and Elizabeth Cranch Norton had four sons at this time: Richard Cranch, William Smith, Jacob Porter, and Edward, who had been born 24 Oct. 1795 (vol. 9:3, 243, 479; History of Weymouth, 4:445). 4 James Hiller Foster, for whom see CFA, Diary, 3:13, married Elizabeth (Betsy) Smith on 15 Nov. 1798. Thomazine Elizabeth (Eliza) Fielder Bond was the daughter of William and Hannah Cranch Bond and the greatniece of Richard Cranch (Edward S. Holden, Memorials of William Cranch Bond . . . and

of His Son George Phillips Bond, San Francisco, 1897, p. 3). 5 That is, Susanna Adams Hobart, for whom see vol. 1:331, and her half-sister, Salome Hobart. Salome (b. 1784) was the daughter of Col. Aaron and Thankful White Adams Hobart and thus also a half-sister to Susanna’s husband Aaron Hobart Jr., the son of Col. Aaron and his first wife, Elizabeth Pilsbury Hobart (Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts, 3 vols., Chicago, 1912, 1:6). 6 George Henry Apthorp (1770–1825) married his cousin Anna Perkins (1778–1825) on 22 July 1797 in London. Anna’s mother was Elizabeth Wentworth Gould Rogers Perkins (1737–1802), whose sister, Sarah Wentworth Apthorp (1735–1820), was George Henry’s mother and Mary Smith Cranch’s neighbor in Quincy (vols. 6:376, 7:174; John Wentworth, The Wentworth Genealogy: English and American, 3 vols., Boston, 1878, 1:317, 525, 526, 527). 7 The second postscript was written vertically in the margin.

Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts Dear sir East Chester october 17th 1797 I was in hopes to have seen you, and had some more conversation with you upon the subject of finishing the Room in the out House. I experienced so many inconveniencies from a mixture of Families Whilst I was at Home, that I should not wish to try it again, for if

263

Adams Family Correspondence

5. abigail adams, by james sharples, ca. 1797 See page xi

264

October 1797

6. john adams, by james sharples, ca. 1797 See page xi

265

Adams Family Correspondence mr & mrs Porter had not been of a very accommodating disposition we should have met with more trouble than I did. I told mr Porter that I would have him digg a cellar under it, and I should be glad to have a small building behind for a dairy room suppose it only 12 foot Square so as to communicate with the Room. the Chimny I would build without the House so as to make as much Room as possible. I would have an oven built in it. from the wash House a communication can be made through the closet under the stairs, so that two windows in front may be made, if (as I hope we shall), some alteration should be made in the House, so as to take the Books into the House there will then be a good Bed room for a Family, and my own people when at home may occupy the Chambers and the wash House without much inteference I wish you would consult deacon Perce of Dochester, whether an addition might not be made to the House in front of 8 or 10 feet, and by that means enable us to raise the Roof on that part so as to make us some good upper Chambers, or in what way a comfortable addition might be made. as to taking down chimnies, I could not think of it to such a House as that is. I know by adding to the front it will bring the Chimnies wrong, but that I should not regard since it would tend to accommodate us, and I believe in the least expensive mode.1 we are yet here, that is I am here, for you will learn by the publick papers, that the President went yesterday into N york, and that on Wedensday a splendid dinner is to be given to which there are 300 subscribers—2 N york is determined to vie with Boston on this occasion— the people will have it so, it must be submitted to— a light Horseman had been sent out to this place 20 miles from the city 5 days before we came with orders to stay untill we arrived, that the military might not be again dissapointed. I know not when we shall be able to go into the city of Philadelphia it is however said that it will be safe by Nov’br the fever is chiefly confined to Southark. it will be deplorable to that city to convene Congress any where else. so many are dependant upon them for their Daily Bread, and I doubt very much whether any congress will be made untill December. the Members must be very reluctant to trust themselves in Boarding Houses—and I do not yet learn that the inhabitants have returnd. the weekly Bills of Mortality are near the same for these 3 or four weeks past. before I came from Home I had taken from mrs French & Burrel part of my Cheese. some I had left with mrs Porter, some I sent to

266

October 1797 my Children I should like to have a Barrel of mrs Burrels sent me to Philadelphia, as soon as I can give you notice that any person is there to receive it. when we past through Conneticut we found in most parts great quantities of cider—no doubt much of it, will be sent to Boston. I could wish sir that as much as half a dozen Barrels of the best of cider under your particuliar care might be Secured for us against an other summer. if we should live, I presume we shall wish to return as early in the spring as publick Buisness will permitt, and Congress I fancy will not risk sitting in that city late. My best regards to all Friends— / Your affectionate / Neice A Adams— Mrs smith desires to be kindly rememberd RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs. Adams Octob. 17— / 1797—”; notation: “6.” 1 Deacon Edward Pierce (1735–1818) of Dorchester had built a home for Col. Josiah Quincy in 1770 and had recently completed alterations to the Dorchester meeting house. Although Tufts did consult Pierce regarding an addition to Peacefield, no changes were made until 1800 (T. M. Harris, “Chronological and Topographical Account of Dorchester,” MHS, Colls., 1st ser., 9:167 [1804]; Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, ed. Keith N. Morgan, Charlottesville, Va., 2009, p. 557; Katharine Lacy, Cultural Landscape Report: Adams National Historic Site, Quincy, Massachusetts, Boston, 1997, p. 15–

17). See also Tufts’ reply to AA, 24 Nov. 1797, below. 2 On 18 Oct. JA was feted at a public dinner at the New City Assembly Room on Broadway. The decorations included “a magnificent display in Sugar” on which “was fixed the figure of Wisdom, having in one hand the bust of President Adams, and in the other a garland of roses entwining sixteen columns, representing the States of America.” After the dinner, “which for elegance and taste has never been equalled in this city,” several toasts were offered (New York Commercial Advertiser, 18, 19 Oct.).

Abigail Adams to William Smith Dear sir East Chester october 23. 1797 As you was absent when I left home I was unable to pay you for some articles which you had purchased for me, as well as some which mrs smith had procured for me. if you will be so good as to forward me the amount, I will transmit it to you— When I pay’d mr Fothingham for the Carriage, there were the quarter Lights and some other matters which made the carriage amount to more than our first agreement. I gave him a Note for the remainder for either 83 or 85 dollors. I have not the account here and cannot exactly determine. I inclose to you 90. you will be so good as to pay him, & the overpluss credit me for upon your account.1 I have been in this Solitude ever since I came; compared with

267

Adams Family Correspondence Quincy, it is indeed a solitude but lonely as it, is I should consider it preferable to the city if on looking round, any agreable prospects arose in my mind but all is dark and Gloomy. We have no intelligence of the col since June, nor has mrs smith received a line since— here we found her quite alone. she had been so for near a Month, and at times Melancholy enough, tho she says nothing unless drawn from her. we are however determined not to leave her here, if we go ourselves to Philadelphia. she seems loth to go with us— she cannot go from painfull scenes recollections and mortifications. I hope however she will be able to conquer them so as to go with us— I have assured her that she shall not be obliged to see any more company than she chuses—but to leave here here alone a prey to Grief and misfortune I cannot. N york you will see by the publick papers, have manifested their attachment to the Goverment & their Satisfaction with the administration of the Executive by a splendid and magnificent Dinner to the President, and every other mark of Personal respect and Satisfaction which could have been hoped for or desired— We see but a little way into futurity, and we know not what is before us— So we will hope for the Blessings of Peace & Plenty, and thankfull Hearts to enjoy them— My kind regards to Mrs smith and Family to Dr and Mrs Welch, from your Friend, Abigail Adams. RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “Mr William Smith / Boston”; endorsed: “East Chester. Oct. 97 / Mrs Adams.” 1 William Smith’s reply of 8 Nov. provided an account of items he had purchased for the Adamses from August through October, including the $85.27 paid to Nathaniel Frothingham. Smith noted receipt of the money AA had enclosed in the 23 Oct. letter and reported a balance owed of $57.52. He also

reported sending “2 packages of Fish,” commented on recent events in France, and announced that the frigate Constitution “is at last afloat . . . she is a fine Ship & I wish all her Officers may be equal to such a Ship” (Adams Papers).

John Adams to Abigail Adams My Dearest Friend Oct. 25. [1797] I send you the Letters— I could not keep my hands off of Nabby’s.1 I beg her Pardon. They write me flattering Accounts from Phila. Mr Anthony writes most confidently. No danger. No fever—alls well.—2 When Brisler goes he should throw Lime into the Cellar Vault &c. I think We ought to have been together to day. But tomorrow will do.

268

October 1797 I am glad Malcom came out. We must prepare to go to Phila. the first Week in Novr. if no bad news. Caroline & all are well RC (Adams Papers); docketed: “J A to A A.” 1 TBA to AA, 24 July, 17 Aug., JQA to AA, 29 July, all above, and JQA to JA, 10 Aug. (Adams Papers), for which see TBA to AA, 10 Sept., note 2, above. JQA and LCA’s joint letter to AA2 has not been found, but see AA2 to JQA, 4 Nov., below. 2 Joseph Anthony wrote to Timothy Pickering on 21 Oct. reporting “the good News of the Fever having done in this City . . . there is Some of it yet; but it is going off Rapidly,— so that the Vissiting Doctors, and the health

Committee assure me, the Citizens may Return Next week, or Even Now, with the most perfect Safety.—” Anthony asked Pickering to communicate this news to JA in New York “to Comfort and Compose his mind,” adding that “there is No Sort of Danger Near where he Resides.” Pickering forwarded the letter to JA, writing on the back, “the best account I have recd. from Philadelphia” (Adams Papers).

John Adams to John Quincy Adams East Chester, 20 miles from N. York October 25. 1797 My Dear son The Newspapers had informed Us of your Marriage, but the first Evidence of it from yourself, was in your Letter to your Mother of the 29. July.— I congratulate you and your Lady on this Event, which I hope will be for your mutual Happiness and the Comfort of all the Friends of both Parties, for a long Course of years, dedicated to the Public— And may the Blessing of God Almighty be bestowed on this Marriage and all its Connections and Effects. By Some Intimations in your Letter I understand that your Appointment to Berlin is not perfectly pleasing to you. I am a little Surprized at this. 1. Because your amiable Companion will I presume accompany you, and to her as well as to you I should Suppose Berlin would be preferable to Lisbon. 2. Berlin is Said to be the Athens of Germany, both in Learning and Taste abounding in Men of Science and Letters. 3. I should Suppose you will be more in the Way of Information and Intelligence, there than you would have been at Lisbon. 4. I think your health will be less exposed to danger, in Prussia than in Portugal. There are other reasons which I must leave to your Sagacity, to discover. There is one however, that I may mention. The great Characters and political Systems in the North of Europe, are not so well understood in your own Country as they ought to be. Your Delicacy about holding a Commission from your Father, Seems to me, too refined. you are under no greater Obligation to me,

269

Adams Family Correspondence than if you had gone to Lisbon. You are as independent now as ever, and will continue independent in your Sentiments I hope as long as you live, even though your father should remove you hereafter to another Court, or call you home and make you one thing or another. I have not laid it down to myself as a Law never to appoint any of my Relations to office, as my Predecessor did, and I never will impose upon myself any Such Shackle. I shall be cautious and delicate, in Such Cases: but merit in my Family deserves as well of its Country as in another. My greatest fear is, that you will find it difficult to maintain the Punctuality of your Correspondence with me and the secretary of State. But as the Inconvenience is well known, Allowance will be made for it. I have concluded from your Letter that your Brother will go with you. However mortifying it is to me to be deprived of the Society of all my Children, I can neither blame you nor him. I think however it will not be for his Interest to remain long in Europe. It would give great offence here, if I should advance him in Europe while you are there and a Young Man Should be employed in laying his foundations at home, among his own Countrymen, if he cannot have adequate Employments abroad. That the most high may bless you and yours / shall be the concluding Prayer of your affectionate / Father John Adams1 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “J. Q. Adams / Min. Plen. at Berlin”; endorsed by TBA: “The President of the U. S. / 25 October 1797 / 28 Decr: Recd: / 3 Jany 1798 ansd.” Dupl (Adams Papers). LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 119. 1 JQA wrote two letters to JA on 16 Oct., the first of which was a letter of introduction for Mr. P. Abbot, a native of Constantinople, who planned to visit the United States (LbC, APM Reel 129). The second letter concerned Dr. John Nicholls, who wished to give a collection of anatomical figures to Harvard (LbC, APM Reel 130).

John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams My Dear Thomas East Chester Octr. 25. 1797 I have recd your charming narration of your Tour to Paris, both to me and your mother, and am happy to find you were so civilly treated and so well pleased.1 I shall never forget the kindness of my Friend Arnoux to myself or to you. I congratulate you, on your new Acquisition of a Sister. I Suppose this match grew out of a Spark that was kindled at Nantes in 1779

270

October 1797 when your Brother was with me frequently in the Family of Mr Johnson. But through whatever course it came down from Heaven, I pray for its Blessings on it. If you go to Berlin as I Suppose you will, from your Brothers Letter to his mother,2 this kind and accomplished Sister will contribute much to your, Amusement, Improvement and Comfort. A session of Congress approaches, and the Epidemic or Endemic is not yet perfectly quelled in Philadelphia, tho they Say it is almost gone. I am very glad Mr Murray arrived before your Departure from the Hague. This Interview must have been, of Service to him, and to the Public. He earnestly wished for it, before he Sailed. I hope, your Brother and you will maintain a constant Correspondence with him, and the Envoys at Paris, particularly my ancient and never failing Friend Mr Gerry. I am much pleased with the affection expressed both by your Brother and yourself for the Dutch. I felt the same Attachment and feel it at this hour. We must preserve the Friendship of that Nation: and of all others if We can. Such however is the combustible State of Europe, that We must look out for our own security and Stand upon our defence. We know not what Power may Attack Us: but We have great Reason to fear, that some one or other will before many Years, and We ought to be better prepared for Defence. A Navigation and Commerce as extensive as ours is a temptation to Ambition and Avarice as well as hunger. and Experience has shewn that Justice & Law & Compact are not impregnable Bulwarks. With your Knowledge of the German Language, the Tour to Berlin will be agreable and instructive. I am under great Obligations to your Brother and you for the Books Pamphlets and Newspapers you have sent me. I fear this Resource will fail in some degree, but I hope not altogether. I have heard of a misterious Phenomenon in Germany by the Name of Kant. Pray give me a little Idea of his History and Philosophy: as also of the Misticism which is Said to prevail in the North.3 If Belgium is ceded to France, will Antwerp revive and Amsterdam decline? Will it drain off the Waters of Opulence from London? Is the Prince of orange to be provided for in Germany?4 Is Poland null? Are the Jealousies of the Nobility, and the Principles of Democracy Spread in Germany?

271

Adams Family Correspondence What turn will these Commotions take? Democracy has been so bloody in France, that it Seems to have run its Career there, and the nation Seems to be sensible of the necessity of something more wise steady consistent just & humane? I have asked too many questions for one I pray God to bless and direct you in all / Things. / Your Affectionate Father John Adams RC (private owner, 1959); internal address: “Thomas B. Adams Esqr.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 119. 1 TBA to AA, 24 July, above. 2 JQA to AA, 29 July, above. 3 Philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) believed that human reason was the foundation on which the precepts of scientific knowledge, morality, and religious belief could be mutually consistent (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu). In his 3 Jan. 1798 letter to JA, JQA wrote that Kant was “a man of wonderful fame throughout Germany, and held up by his disciples as the acutest logician that ever appeared. His writings are all moral or political, and his adepts tell me that such is the profound obscurity in which his theories are involved, that it requires at least two years of steady application to understand him.” JQA also noted that the German and British press had “for many years teemed with novels, romances and plays founded upon mysteries and goblins and incantations, always connected with some tale of horror,” and that the popularity of these works “is undoubtedly both cause and effect of a superstitious propensity” that had “given rise to the idea of a sect of illuminés” in Europe (Adams Papers). For TBA’s comments on Kant, see his 4 March 1798 letter to JA, below.

4 The Treaty of Campo Formio, signed between Austria and France on 17 Oct. 1797, gave Austria lands in the Veneto, including the city of Venice, as well as the Venetian lands of Dalmatia and Istria (now Croatia). In exchange, Emperor Francis II relinquished all claims to the Austrian Netherlands and agreed to summon a separate congress to settle German affairs. The eighth secret article of the treaty called for providing William V with a territorial indemnity, which had been promised by France in the Franco-Prussian Treaty of 1796. However, Napoleon ensured that the Treaty of Leoben, for which see TBA to JQA, 26 April 1797, and note 5, above, did not offer any compensation to the Prince of Orange. It was not until 1802 that William V was given the bishopric of Fulda and the German cities of Dortmund, Isny, and Buchhorn (now Friedrichshafen) in return for renouncing all lands in the Batavian Republic (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:591–592; Biro, German Policy of Revolutionary France, 2:619, 829, 938; Raymond Kubben, Regeneration and Hegemony: Franco-Batavian Relations in the Revolutionary Era, 1795–1803, Leiden, 2011, p. 532, 698, 699). For the Congress of Rastatt, see JQA to AA, 28 Dec., and note 12, below.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister East Chester october 31 1797 I have received but one Letter from you Since I left Quincy now near a Month; I have been here three weeks, except 3 days which I past at my sons in N york— next Monday I leave here for Philadelphia where it is thought we may now go with safety— I was in hopes to have taken Mrs smith with me, but her situation is difficult not having received any advise what to do, and She is

272

October 1797 loth to go for the present. I cannot say so much as is in my mind the subject being a very delicate one, and wishing to have her do no one thing but what may prove benificial to the whole— Sister Peabody has not yet written to Mrs smith, which she regreets. I know how much she has been engaged, and fear the concequences upon her Health. she feels most keenly, and you know by experience what it is to pass through such a Heart rending trial. I wish these repeated Summonses to the surviving Brothers might have a serious influence. the sisters are not unmindfull, but William has to, me, the air of a too free thinker.1 Since I wrote you last I have Letters from my sons abroad. Thomas’s late as 17 August. he has consented to go to Berlin with his Brother, Who writes that he cannot by any means part with him, especially upon being sent into the center of Germany where [“]I shall scarcly meet a Countryman twice a year,” he says. “and Thomas writes me, I intreet you to negotiate a successor to me for I plainly see untill some such arrangement is made I shall not be released. He says since I wrote you last, my Brother has been married and given me an amiable and accomplishd sister. he is very happy and I doubt not will remain so, for the Young Lady has much Sweetness of Temper and seems to Love as she ought.[”] Thomas speaks highly of the Family and of their kindness and attention to him—says they are about to embark for America & settle in the city of Washington, where mr Johnson has property— they will be an agreable acquisition to the city at which I rejoice for the sake of my Nephew and Neice— I have nothing of concequence to communicate. this place is as retired as you can imagine we however keep up a communication with N york and Philadelphia. I had a Letter from Brisler, who was well with the rest of the Family Yesterday2 I write merely to keep up our communication, and to tell you that we are all well. I will thank you to go to our House and see that particuliar attention is paid to the Carpets—I fear they will suffer adieu yours / affectionatly A Adams— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.” 1 That is, Charles Salmon Smith’s brothers William and Isaac, who were living in North Carolina (vol. 11:362). 2 Not found.

273

Adams Family Correspondence November 1797

Adams Family Correspondence

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy November 2d 1797. I last monday receiv’d your Letter of the 22d of october it was a long time coming.1 I wrote to you as soon as I thought you had arriv’d at your Daughters you have receiv’d a Letter from me & sister Peabody too I hope.2 I shall write, always about mrs Smiths little Boys when I can get any news from them. Willm Shaw did not go home this vacation but stay’d at cambridge to study I have not heard a word since Sisters Letter to you I had one at the Same time. I Should have heard if they had not been well. they could not have better care taken of them if they were with their mother & for her I really feel distress’d. tis dreadful to be left in such a state of suspence but it may be necessuty that obliges the Colln. to do it & it may be as distressing to him as to her I am glad you are with her she never felt the want of you So much. would She not suffer less to come here & go into your House than to go on with you to Philadelphia. tis true she needs the Soothings of her good mama, but the reterment she would find here would be more agreable to her feelings than the publick appearence She will be oblig’d to make with you. I would be every thing to her that a kind aunt coud be & She would have charming neighbours & be among those Friends who know that She had no hand in producing the difficulties She suffers—but you can judge better than I I have had a Letter from washington which has given me great trouble mrs Cranch & her willm. have both been very sick She has not been well since miss Elliot left her. a slow fever with great relaxation of Body. She has griev’d herself almost to death. the troubles of her Family & the confinement of her Brother has sunk her spirits & injur’d her health to a great degree their own perplexities the return of her neice & the absence of her Husband joind to her fears that her Parents would Suffer real want had So taken hold of her mind that when my Son return’d from Philadelphia he found her very ill. I am very much alarm’d about her. She has lost her appetite her flesh & her Spirits & is very weak & has a great fat baby to nurse & tend— will is cutting his teeth & is cross & sick too— tis dreadful to have our children so far from us when they are sick that we cannot afford them any assistance. I write to her every week & comfort her all I can. I hope I have remov’d Some of her fears & aprehensions her Parents have broke up housekeeping & are gone

274

November 1797 to spend the winter with Coll. Pope at Bedford he is going to put mr Greenleaf into some business which will make him easy & mrs Bell has taken a house at charlestown & is going to open a Schoole & keep Boarders. what will be the event of all these things I know not— but tis a Sober reverse of fortune— they bear it with great chearfulness & pious resignation—3 I was at Boston on Saturday mrs Greenleaf & her baby were well it grows finely & is very quiet mrs welsh had a bad sore throat & was very Sick I thought yesterday there was a Splendid ordination at Milton4 mr & mrs Smith & Cousen Betsy were there & half Boston besides. We were invited but did not go. I do not love Such a croud— mr & mrs Norton were there— I wish we may ever be as united here— we have given mr whitman a Call & made him a very handsome offer one which he would willingly accept—if there were not so many oppos’d to his Settling. I will not say who dislikes him for I do not believe they do: mr Black & wife really do—& Stand at the head of the opposition—but at the Same time Say they will always be Friendly to him—but that is not enough for mr whitman. he is fully sensible of mr Blacks worth & very highly esteems him & has been treatdd so handsomly by him that he should feel mesirable unless he can render himself acceptable to him as a preacher mrs whitman has been with us almost a week. She is a charming woman She is every thing we could wish for a minister. She is a Spritily Sensible affable industerous little woman. you would love her very much. She has been with him part of her time at Boston, since Saturday with mrs Beal & me. we all drank Tea & spent the evening of monday with mr & mrs Black mr Cranch too for a wonder we were there till half after ten & a very pleasent evening we had Capn. Beal’s Family & your Brother Adams were of the Party— Cousen Betsy is goi[ng] to spend a week with mrs whitman a week or two hence when we voted to give mr w a call he had the votes of all present 52 but mr Black & mr Seth Spear. but we hear many grumble. those who were warm for mr Flint have not got over their disappointment & feel cross would not attend the meeting they had no objection to mr w. but would have nothing to do with the business. they do not consider what a disagreable Situation it places a candidate. his Happiness & his usefulness depends upon his being their choice, so far at least as to be willing to treat him in a Friendly manner I veryly think if m w accepts we Shall be very peacable with him & that he will be more like’d as he is more known— he improves upon acquaintance & then his wife!— every Body will love her—5

275

Adams Family Correspondence November 1797

Adams Family Correspondence my paper is full before I have had half my chat out but the hour as well as paper reminds me that tis time to assure you of the unalterable affection of your Sister M Cranch Love where due. the coat is come6 RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Richard Cranch: “Mrs Adams / the President’s Lady, at / New York.”; notations by Richard Cranch: “Quincy, Massts: Novr 3d, 1797. Free” and “To the Care of Charles Adams Esqr. Counsellor / at Law in the City of New York.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 In her 22 Oct. letter to Cranch, for which the extant MS appears to be incomplete, AA commented on AA2’s situation, reporting that letters had yet to be received from WSS and that AA hoped to bring AA2 and Caroline Amelia Smith to Philadelphia for the winter (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 2 Probably Cranch to AA, 15 Oct., and Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to AA, 6 Oct., both above. 3 William Greenleaf, for whom see JA, Papers, 4:204, and Mary Brown Greenleaf (1728–1807) would spend the rest of their lives in New Bedford, Mass., where William opened a store near the customs house by 1799. Mary Greenleaf Bell (1752–1836) was their second-eldest surviving daughter and the widow of Daniel Bell (New-Bedford Mercury, 4 Dec. 1807; Greenleaf, Greenleaf Family, p. 91, 207, 210, 213; New Bedford, Mass., Columbian Courier, 29 Nov. 1799). 4 Rev. Joseph McKean (1776–1818), Harvard 1794, was ordained as the pastor of the First Church of Milton on 1 Nov. 1797, serving until ill health resulted in his resignation in 1804 (Boston Columbian Centinel, 4 Nov. 1797; Col. Soc. Mass., Pubns., 6:152 [March

1899]; The Selected Letters of Mary Moody Emerson, ed. Nancy Craig Simmons, Athens, Ga., 1993, p. 105). 5 Discord in choosing a new minister continued to plague the Quincy town meetings. Rev. Jacob Flint had declined a call in August because he considered the salary insufficient, and in October an offer was made to Rev. Kilborn Whitman, a former minister at Pembroke who left due to financial concerns. Whitman also declined the call, citing a lack of unanimity among the town in choosing him. He ultimately pursued a legal career, and it was while he was studying law that he supplied the pulpit at Quincy, continuing until March 1799. His wife was Elizabeth S. Winslow (1769–1854), the daughter of Dr. Isaac and Elizabeth Stockbridge Winslow of Marshfield, Mass. (vol. 8:211; Pattee, Old Braintree, p. 93–95, 224; AA to William Smith Shaw, 6 Jan. 1799, DLC:Shaw Family Papers; Maria Whitman Bryant, Genealogy of Edward Winslow of the Mayflower and His Descendants from 1620 to 1865, New Bedford, Mass., 1915, p. 133–134). 6 The postscript was written vertically in the margin.

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams East Chester 20 miles from N york Novbr 3d 1797 my Dear son Since my residence at this place, now a Month, occasiond by the prevalence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, I have had the pleasure to receive two Letters from you; one from the Hague june 26th, the other from London july 29th. the joint Letter you mention as having written, is not yet come to Hand. The Newspapers before I left Quincy, which was on the 2d of the last Month, had informd us of the Marriage of Mr J Q Adams to

276

November 1797 Miss Louissa Johnson, upon which the Chronical made as usual, an ill Natured reflection. this induced some friendly Correspondent to place the subject in its true Light in the Centinal; from whence it made its way into the Albany Gazette, and from that into Porcupines paper, from which, as it become a subject of so much importance, I culld it and inclose it to you.1 For myself I sincerely congratulate you upon the Event, and I hope I may add, my dear Louissa too. I want not the Authority of Milton to pronounce the state, a perpetual fountain of Domestic Bliss “to those who like yourself, seek for happiness and pleasure in the Bosom of virtuous Friendship, endeard by those engageing ties, of delicate sensibility, and sweetness of disposition, beauty will forever remain attractive, and knowledge delightfull.[”]2 It has given me real pain to find that the Change in your Embassy does not meet your ready assent; or that it should be personally so inconvenient to you, as you represent. I cannot but flatter myself you will find it more agreable than you anticipate; your Father has written you so fully upon the Subject, and in my mind, obviated every objection, that I think you will feel more satisfied, that you would not have been sent to Berlin at this Time; if mr Washington had continued in office, I fully believe, but I can tell you where you would have been employ’d, as one of the Envoys to France. this was the desire and opinion of all the Ministers, and nothing but your near connextion with the Chief Majestrate, prevented your being nominated. he had a delicacy upon the Subject, and declined it.3 I have one criterion to judge of the utility of the present mission it is the allarm the Jacobins took at it, but this did not lessen the confidence of the people who value and esteem you for what they know you are, and here I may mention an honour paid you by our Academy of Arts, who at their last meeting unanimously voted you a member. you was nominated at a previous meeting by the Rev’d Dr Belknap as I was inform’d.4 The spirit of union and Federalism pervades every part of New England, with very few exceptions. I have been assured from all quarters, that there is but one mind and that mind, is in support of our constitution and Government. they know no distinction between the People and the Government, on every occasion and opportunity they have shewn their attachment to the Government, by personal respect to the Chief Majestrate, both by civil and military exhibitions, which however contrary to the taste and inclination, of one, who through Life, has avoided every kind of show and parade;

277

Adams Family Correspondence is now obliged to submit to the Will of the people Some specimins are inclosed.5 N york has endeavourd to Rival Boston. in my journey from Philadelphia in the summer I was a feeling witness to some of these scenes—where the sincerity of the Actors renderd it peculiarly interesting, and proved to me that the people will Love & respect their Chief Majestrate, if his administration is that of Wisdom and justice. The unjust and piratical plunder upon our unarmed Commerce, has wrought conviction upon the minds of many of the former Idolaters of our Gallic Allies, even in the southern states.6 that Nation will find itself grosely deceived if they consider the nearly equal divission of votes at the Election of Chief Majestrate, as a criterion of the Voice of the people the people wish for Peace. they wish the happiness of all Nations and if no undue Methods had been practised, they would have generally given their suffrages to that person whom they supposed best qualified to promote and ensure the honour and dignity of the Government, without any respect to English or French partizens. The Letter writer is now more generally known, and the hollowness of his Principles better understood. there is an other tale of a more recent date, yet to be unfolded. you can Witness for me, how loth I have been to give him up. it is with much reluctance that I am obliged to look upon him as a Man whose Mind is so warped by prejudice, and so Blinded by Ignorance as to be unfit for the office he holds, however wise and scientific as a Phylosopher as a politician, he is a Child, and the dupe of party.7 on the 13 of this Month Congress are to meet, but I have not any expectation that they will make a Congress untill December.8 The yellow fever has been again Raviging that poor Devoted City. the mortality has not been so great as in the year 1793, but the city has been deserted 30 thousand inhabitants fled from it, very soon after it appeard. 5 Physicians have fallen sacrifices to it.9 it has so far abated as to be thought safe to return to it. I hope it is, as next week we go on— You will see I date from hence, a Farm purchased by col S——h. prudence requires me to be silent. you will however understand me, when I tell you that I took William and John when I went on to Quincy in july, that I have placed them at an Academy in Atkinson and in the Family of your Worthy Aunt Peabody, whose kindness and benevolence are well known to you— Your sister is going with her little Daughter to pass the Winter with us.—

278

November 1797 In one of my Letters I acknowledgd the receipt of the Watch, but unaccompanied by any Bill of the cost. I requested some sattin, and mentiond sending Bills, but I found you had given orders to your Brother to draw for some money to be laid out for your use. I therefore thought it might be more Eligible to pay the sum to him as your Agent, or to any other person so employ’d I now request you to send me the amount, as your Brother writes me you have orderd the silk. I accepted formerly a cloak as a testimony of your filial regard, but I have no design to tax you with my commissions, nor can I send any more untill you comply with my request.10 without any disparagement to your Brother Whom I doubt not, will do the best he can with your property I would advise you to employ our old tried and Faithfull Friend Dr Tufts whose experience and judgment, will not permit him to run any risks. as I know what money you have must be saved by a rigid oeconomy, I wish you might have it placed in safe and productive funds. I have only room left to say to you & yours accept my Maternal / Blessing. A A— RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A Adams / 3 Novr: 1797 / 24 Jany 1798 Recd: / 5 Feby Answd.” Tr (Adams Papers). 1 Enclosure not found. The Boston Independent Chronicle, 14–18 Sept., remarked that JQA’s “negociations, have terminated in a Marriage Treaty with an English lady. . . . It is a happy circumstance that he has made no other Treaty.” The Boston Columbian Centinel, 20 Sept., called the Chronicle squib “an imposition on the public, who ought to be informed, without derogating from the merits of the ladies of England, that Mrs. A. is an American lady” and added, “if every negotiation Mr. A. makes in Europe, terminates as happily for his country, as this will for him, we shall have additional cause to praise the wisdom of that illustrious character, who selected him from his fellow-citizens as one of the representatives of the United States, in the Eastern hemisphere.” The Centinel article was reprinted in the Albany Gazette, 6 Oct., and the Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 12 October. 2 A possible conflation of Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 4, line 728, which characterizes married life as bliss, and a paraphrase of Isaac Bickerstaff, The Tatler, 1 July 1710, reprinted in The Tatler by Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire, 4 vols., London, 1794, 4:11. 3 On 21 April 1797 Oliver Wolcott Jr. responded to a request from JA for comment

on a series of questions regarding French conduct. Wolcott noted, “For the reasons which have been stated, the expediency of uniting two of the Ministers now in Europe with Mr. Pinckney is respectfully suggested.— If the idea be admissable, it is believed that Mr. King & Mr. Adams are the most proper Characters” (Adams Papers). 4 JQA was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on 23 August. On 16 July 1798 Eliphalet Pearson, the corresponding secretary, wrote to JQA enclosing his membership certificate and apologizing for the tardiness of the letter, noting that the previous recording secretary had never prepared the document. This letter, and the certificate dated 23 Aug. 1797 and signed by JA, Pearson, Rev. Joseph Willard, and John Davis, are both in the Adams Papers. Rev. Jeremy Belknap (1744–1798), Harvard 1762, formerly served as pastor of the Congregational Church in Dover, N.H., but had been the minister of the Federal Street Church in Boston since 1787 (vol. 7:183; DAB). 5 Enclosures not found. 6 The Albany Gazette, 16 Oct. 1797, commented that “the bold efforts of our fellowcitizens in the southern states, to enlighten

279

Adams Family Correspondence their countrymen on their political interests . . . will be followed by very salutary effects. These efforts ought to have been made earlier, as they were in the northern states. But late as they are, they will be useful in preparing the public mind, either for peace or war.” An article questioning Thomas Jefferson’s conduct with regard to France was originally printed in a Virginia newspaper and republished in the New York Commercial Advertiser, 25 October. 7 In addition to Jefferson’s letter to Philip Mazzei, for which see AA to JQA, 15 June, and note 8, above, AA was probably alluding to a letter Jefferson sent to Peregrine Fitzhugh on 4 June, in which he characterized JA’s convening Congress in May as “an experiment of the new administration, to see how far and in what line they could count on it’s support.” In a letter to JA of 23 June, Uriah Forrest, Fitzhugh’s nephew by marriage, summarized Jefferson’s letter: “It is extracted without exaggeration indeed not so strong in substance as the letter but as I put it to paper from memory (though immediately after twice reading) I chose to give it every degree of moderation it was susceptible of ” (Adams Papers). JA replied to Forrest on 28 June, describing “the Paper inclosed” as “a Serious Thing. It will be a Motive in Addition to many others, for me to be upon my

Guard. It is evidence of a Mind Sowered, yet Seeking for Popularity, and eaten to an honeycomb with ambition: yet weak, cofused, uninformed and ignorant” (private owner, 2009). Fitzhugh wrote to Jefferson on 15 Oct. informing the vice president that excerpts of the 4 June letter had been printed in the Baltimore Federal Gazette, 29 July; a paraphrased version appeared in the New York Minerva, 2 August. For more on Jefferson’s letter to Fitzhugh and its publication, see Jefferson, Papers, 29:415–419, 555–561. 8 The 2d session of the 5th Congress was convened on 13 Nov., although a quorum was not achieved in the House until 15 Nov. and in the Senate until 22 Nov.; the session adjourned on 16 July 1798 (Biog. Dir. Cong.; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 469–471, 625–626). 9 The New York Commercial Advertiser, 12 Oct. 1797, reported that a number of Philadelphia physicians had contracted yellow fever, and by 10 Oct. five had died: Benger Dobel, William Annan, Nicholas Way, Jacob Thompson, and Samuel Jones (Richard Folwell, Short History of the Yellow Fever, that Broke Out in the City of Philadelphia, in July, 1797, Phila., 1799, p. 26, 35, 54, 57, Evans, No. 32138). 10 For AA’s receipt of the cloak, see vol. 11:296.

John Adams to John Quincy Adams My Dear son East Chester November 3. 1797 It was only Yesterday that I received your No. 44 of 22. July though I had recd No. 45 a few days before.1 When I nominated you to Berlin, your Mother had not recd the Letter in which you mentioned your aversion to holding an office under my nomination.2 If I had known you had formed Such a resolution I should not have made any Alteration in your destination till I had written you on the subject. I think however that resolution was not well considered. It is the worst founded Opinion I ever knew you conceive. 1. In the present Case you have no greater Emolument nor higher Rank than you would have had, if you had gone to Lisbon under the Nomination of President Washington. 2. You will not occasion one farthing more expence to your Country. 3. You are not more dependent upon me

280

November 1797 now than you would have been, because I should have had the Power to recall you at my Pleasure from Lisbon, and I have no greater Power to recall you from Berlin. Your Reasons will not bear examination. Your own disqualifications, if they had existed, would have been the Same at Lisbon as at Berlin. The Superiour Tittle of many other American Citizens if that had existed would have been the Same, in Portugal as in Prussia. But if there is any Authority in the Opinion of Washington and All his Ministers, with which mine concurs, and it is supported by the opinions of all Men I know or hear of and by the general Sense of America, your qualifications and title to the Mission either to Portugal or Prussia are equal to those of any one of your fellow Citizens be he who he may. 2 Your disapprobation of a nomination by the President of his own son, is founded on a Principle which will not bear the Test. It is a false Principle. It is an unjust Principle.— The sons of Presidents have the Same Claim to Liberty, Equality and the benefit of the Laws with all other Citizens. It is dowright Injustice to them to prescribe a Law of Proscription against them. The Law considers it as one of the severest Punishments to declare a Man incapable of serving in any office under the Government. Shall an infamous disqualification to serve their Country, the Punishment of the highest Crimes, be arbitrarily inflicted on the sons of a President merely because they are his sons.— Why has not the Constitution or the Legislature made such a Law of Exclusion? Upon my honour if such a Law had existed I would not have accepted the Office at my time of Life, at least that is my present feeling and Judgment. It gives no Colour of Reason to those, who represent you, (if any such there are, which I do not believe, because it is well understood that Mr Washington appointed you not only without my solicitation, but without my desire) as the Creature of favour: because you Stand exactly as you did and there is no favour in it. “Parent de Ministre”! I hope the Puppies dont call a P. of the U. S. “Le Ministre.”— Mr Washington made it a Rule not to Appoint his Relations. But if Washington had been blessed with Sons, and those Sons had been qualified, I presume to say he never would have observed the Rule. If he had thought Such a Rule a Duty of the office he never would have accepted the office. I respect Mr Washingtons Character and Conduct in all Things: but I will imitate him servilely in nothing.

281

Adams Family Correspondence I have a vast field of Speculation to open to you relative to this subject. Mr Washington was Sincere in the Principle and consistent in his practice. But the Principle has been the most execrable Tool of Imposture and Hypocricy, that ever plagued and abused Mankind. All the Impostures political Military and Ecclesiastical have been begun and carried on by the most selfish Men in the World, under Such enthusiastic Pretexts of Disinterest.3 I did not consider the Mission to Portugal as useless: if I had I should certainly not have appointed one of the most respectable Representatives for your Successor, as Mr Smith undoubtedly was. The Affairs of the Barbary Powers and Mediterranean Trade, over which the Minister in Portugal has some superintendance is of great Consequence: besides the Affairs in Portugal which are considerable and their Connections in Spain. I pray you to write me all your Feelings with freedom and if after the Tour of Duty in Berlin, you wish to remove, some opening nearer home or at some other Court or Government may afford an opportunity to make you easy. I congratulate You on your Marriage and give you my Blessing. Remember me affectionately / and respectfully to your Lady. I am / your Affectionate John Adams RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “J. Q. Adams / Min. Plen. at Berlin”; endorsed by TBA: “The President of the U. S. A / 3 Novr: 1797 / 24 Jany 1798 Recd: / 31 Do Answd:.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 119. Tr (Adams Papers). 1 For a summary of JQA’s letter No. 45, dated 10 Aug., see TBA to AA, 10 Sept., note 2, above. 2 JQA to AA, 26 June, above. 3 For a more thorough explanation of JA’s

views on the “Hypocritical Pretense of Disinterestedness,” see the two letters he wrote to the British radical John Jebb in 1785 (JA, Papers, 17:344–348, 422–427).

Cotton Tufts to John Adams Dear Sr. Weymouth Novr. 3. 1797— I received Yours of Octobr. 14h. and have attended to the several Matters mentiond therein.1 The Wall at the Foot of Pens Hill is nearly compleated, one or two Days Work will finish it as far as you directed the Workmen to proceed— there will then be Stones sufficient to rebuild the Wall between you & Hardwick and a large Number besides for any other Purpose it therefore appears to me,

282

November 1797 that it would be best to rebuild that Wall with those Stones when the Hands have leisure, as Hardwick agrees to dispence with your offer of blowing stones in his Land for that purpose—2 There has been no Rain with us for some Time past. we have therefore seized upon this Opportunity to plough the Meadow on the back of the House, which will probably be finishd to Day or to Morrow, this being done, as the Harvesting is finishd and the Corn in the Crib— We shall next plough the Hill & brake up the Ground proposed, that which is design’d for Barley the coming Year, it is proposed to carry the Manure upon it and plough it in—as it will be much easier to get the Manure upon it before Winter than in the Spring when the Ground will probably be very spungy.— As you concluded to let the Farms on which Burrell & French lives as heretofore, I think it would be best to agree with them as soon as may be, that they may have an Opportunity to enter upon the preparatory Work for another year (Guarding against some of the inconveniences of the former mode of leasing it) I have hinted it to them and shall proceed upon the Business if you do not disapprove of it— Your Directions upon the Subject I wish to have by the first Oppy— I am happy to hear that the Sickness at Philadelphia is much abaited & hope you will meet Congress without any Danger of receiving the Infection and find that Body discharged of all its morbid Humors and purged from all its Corruptions— With mine & Mrs. Tufts’s affectionate Regards to Mrs. Adams / I am Your Affectionate friend & H Servt Cotton Tufts— RC (Adams Papers). 1 Not found. 2 This is likely John Henry Hardwick (1764–1846), a stocking weaver who lived on Franklin Street at the foot of Penn’s Hill (vol. 9:159; Sprague, Braintree Families).

Abigail Adams Smith to John Quincy Adams My Dear Brother East Chester Novr 4th 1797 I received a few days since with much pleasure your letter jointly with my new Sisters for which be pleased to accept my thanks.1 the account of your Marriage reached me some time before your letter, and I should have written congratulating you upon an Event which a knowledge of the Ladys merits induces me to hope may be fraught with happiness had I not been a little piqued that you had never

283

Adams Family Correspondence communicated to me your prospects, altho I had heard of them from several others you must excuse me that I have been so negligent in writing to you, but for thease two years past I have had so many trialls and strugles in my mind to Contend with that I only wonder that I have retained my senses My Dear Sister may be assured that I shall receive her into my heart with all the friendship which that tender epithet can claim and that her connection with a Brother I have ever loved and respected would entitle her to my sincere affection were I unacquainted with her merit but from the acquaintance I had the pleasure to form with her through the polite and friendly attention of her family when I was last in England I have every reason to beleive her well calculated to promote my Brothers happiness, and I most sincerely wish you all that felicity which the connection will ensure to those whose hearts and minds are united, and whose pursuits are directed to one object, the happiness of each other I have to offer my acknowledgements and thanks for the very elegant Present which accompanied Mrs A letter and if ever it should be in my power I shall reserve to myself the pleasure of making some return I presume you will have left London before this letter can reach you, I anticipate with much pleasure the period when we shall again be assembled together on this Side the Atlantick if such a scene of happiness is in reserve for us, and I shall flatter myself with the hope of hearing frequently from you and my Sister untill that interesting period arrives Be assured of the sincere affection of / your Sister A Smith RC (Adams Papers). 1 Not found.

Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams my Dear Thomas East Chester Novbr 7th 1797 Your Letters have become Such a model of elegant composition, that I cannot but think you must discover So many dificencies in my untoutord stile, that I feel a little anxious in Exposing it to your Eye. your desire however to obtain intelligence from your Native Land, and from the Friends, and Relatives you have Left there, will induce

284

November 1797 you to pass over with a less scrutinizing Eye the affectionate sentiments of the Heart, tho unadorned by the elegance of Language. Since I have been at this place, a Village 20 miles from N york, I have had the pleasure of receiving two Letters from you dated in London, one of July 24th and the other August 17th. Your Letters are the reviveing cordials of my spirits. they administer consolation for your absence, which I fondly hoped, would not have been protracted an other year. yet I cannot but approve your resolution to accompany your Brother to Berlin, especially as he appears so Chagrined at the alteration in his Mission. His scruples are too nice. the Appointment being of the same grade as his former, I see no objection at his holding it from his Father. the successor in Lisbon is a very honorable Man. Mr smith having Served his Country 8 Years in the Legislature, was entitled to an advancement, and he wished it abroad. I do not know where his place can be supplied take him in all respects. His state have chosen mr Pinckney late Minister in London, whose qualifications are better known to Your Brother than to me, never having had the pleasure of seeing him.1 I am glad your Brother married before he went to Berlin as I have not a doubt it will contribute to his happiness, and domestic comfort. “celibacy is existance thrown away, and every unmarried day is a blank in Life” said a great advocate for Matrimony. these expressions must be received with allowence, not implicitly follow’d. yet the Man who voluntarily lives a Bachelor deprives himself of one great end of his Being, social happiness. I do not however recommend very early Marriages. I am not displeased to find you disposed to return single to America— The account given by you, to your Father, and to me, of your Parissian tour entertaind and pleased us, as well as your reception by our old Friend and acquaintance the benevolent Abbe Arnoux, whom I remember with affection— Your introduction to a distinguishd Member of the directory, the notice you received from him, and the distinction paid you, by no means agrees with, the obliging information communicated by a mr Putman to his Friends in Boston, “that you had been orderd to quit Paris.” this I never believed, but the Jacobin Printers Seazd it with the eagerness of sharks, and circulated it, with the greediness of vultars.2 Mr Twist arrived last week, and deliverd your Letter at our House to mr Brisler who transmitted it to me.3 he had just returnd to Philadelphia with his Family; having been obliged to leave the House

285

Adams Family Correspondence alone, and escape for his Life to Trenton during the Fever. when I go to Philadelphia, as I expect to in a few Days, I shall seek out this Gentleman and pay him all the attention a recommendation from my dear son intitles him to. I fear I have not acknowledgd Some Letters which I received from your Brother and you whilst at Quincy. my time which I intended to have past in retirement there, was so constantly occupied by company, that I found less leisure than at Philadelphia. it is only Since I have been here at this Village that I can say, I have been retired. your sister is well, and I believe will pass the Winter with us. she has a fine little Girl near three years old— Agreable to your Brothers & your request I am endeavouring to find a successor to you. The young Gentleman your Brother named to me, is living with a Merchant in Boston, a Buisness he prefered to the study of the Law, which Would have been his Fathers choice.— I presume as his mind is bent upon that, he would not wish a different occupation.4 I have with your Fathers Consent, proposed to mr Malcom to take the place. Mr Malcom, is the Son of the late Gen’ll Malcom of N york. he studied Law with your Brother Charles, and by him was recommended to your Father as a private Secretary, as such he has served. he has a pretty property of his own left him by an uncle. he is a Discreet young Gentleman of amiable Manners and obliging disposition— he cannot however be Spaired untill next fall, when William shaw will be at liberty to take his place— I shall be able when I write you again to be more decicive, as he has requested time for consideration.5 we have again been call’d to mourn the Death of a young Relative, Charles smith, tho in the Bloom of Health and Vigor 5 months ago. survived his sister only three Months. he dyed of a consumption at Haverhill where he lived beloved, and dyed lamented. “Lifes little stage, is a small eminence Inch high above the Grave, the home of Man Where dwell the Multitude”6 four or five years absence will make many Chasms amongst your acquaintance. it will give vigor to youth, but wrinkles to Age, and you will find Time has shed his hoary Honours upon the Heads of your Parents.7 if he spairs their Lives to you, perhaps he will have so changed them, as to make the alteration painfull to you, but tho

286

November 1797 he may waist and decay these earthly Fabricks, whilst the Heart Beats, it will Beat for the Welfare and happiness of those who are deservedly Dear to their ever affectionate / Mother Abigail Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs: A Adams / 7th: November 1797 / 24 January Recd: / 12 Feby Answd.” 1 Thomas Pinckney represented South Carolina in the 5th and 6th Congresses, serving until 3 March 1801 (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 2 The Boston Independent Chronicle, 31 July – 3 Aug. 1797, published “AUTHENTIC EXTRACTS, Of Letters from a respectable Citizen of this Town, now in France, to his friend here, dated paris, may 9–14,” which reported that “the second son of Mr. Adams, (President) arrived here about fifteen days since, and yesterday received an order to quit the Republic.” The news was reprinted in the New York Herald, 12 Aug., and the New Jersey Journal, 16 August. Jesse Putnam (1754– 1837) was a Boston merchant who resided in Paris in 1796 and 1797 (John Codman, An Exposition of the Pretended Claims of William Vans on the Estate of John Codman, 2 vols., Boston, 1837, 2:343). 3 Hore Browse Trist (1775–1804), of Philadelphia, had been visiting London and returned aboard the William Penn, Capt. James Josiah, arriving on 26 Oct. (Jane Flaherty Wells, “Thomas Jefferson’s Neighbors: Hore Browse Trist of ‘Birdwood’ and Dr. William Bache of ‘Franklin,’ ” Magazine of Albemarle County History, 47:1, 2 [1989]; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 26 Oct.). The letter Trist carried was likely TBA to AA, 17 Aug., above.

4 For JQA’s inquiry about Francis Dana Jr., see his letter to AA of 29 July, and note 4, above. 5 Samuel Bayard Malcom was the son of Gen. William Malcom (1750–1791), who served in the Revolutionary War and later in the New York legislature. The uncle was in fact a great-uncle named Capt. Samuel Bayard (d. 1784), who in his will left his son, Peter Bayard, only 5 shillings for having “behaved himself in a very undutiful and disorderly manner” and divided the bulk of his estate among Samuel Bayard Malcom and three other relatives (Thomas P. Hughes and Frank Munsell, eds., American Ancestry, 12 vols., Albany, N.Y., 1887–1898, 3:36; New York Journal, 3 Sept. 1791; NYGBR, 29:176 [July 1898]; William S. Pelletreau, Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Family History of New York, 4 vols., N.Y., 1907, 1:101). 6 Edward Young, The Complaint; or, Night Thoughts, Night II, lines 360–362. 7 AA was possibly paraphrasing Charles Billinge’s “Melancholy,” which describes the advancing of years: “Age creeps on, / Feeble— relax’d:—and o’er thy wrinkled brows / With trembling hand, its hoary honors sheds” (lines 127–129).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia Novbr 15 1797 I yesterday about 11 oclock went into the Presidents Room to see if John had returnd from the post office. my good Gentleman was soberly Standing at the fire with your Letter open and very gravely reading it.1 I scolded and very soon carried it of. I thank you for all your communications. the P. says one of sister Cranchs Letters is worth half a dozen others. she allways tells us so much about home, and if he does not get them clandestinely he does not often see

287

Adams Family Correspondence them. I wrote you a few lines the day before I left East Chester.2 on that day mrs smith got Letters from her Brother Justice by a private hand, informing her that both he & the col had written frequently by the post, and were astonishd that she had not received any Letters, that by a private hand he had written and sent her some money, in october. the col was not then at shenang the Name of the place which Justice owns, but was expected in a few days— these Letters communicated some comfort.3 she came to N york with me in search of the Man by whom the money and Letter was sent since I have been here, I have had a Letter from her informing—that he had been sought where he formerly lived, but had removed from thence. I have contemplated the plan you mention. it may be put into effect if future circumstances require it. at present, it would be expensive and lonely, and not less subject to unpleasent feelings than being here on a visit, which is all that at present is expected, nor will she be obliged to appear on my publick Evenings, unless it is her choice I found mr and Mrs Brisler and the Children very well and much the better for their country excursion. the Girls Becky and Nabby were very well, and both mr and mrs Brisler say, behaved with great prudence and discretion, quite to their satisfaction. I found every thing in the House in perfect good order, and all my old Hands escaped through the Pestilence. one only, of them had the fever. the others returnd as soon as Brisler got home, those whom he had dismisst when he went out, and those he retaind in pay— so that at present I could not wish to be better off than I am with respect to domesticks, which greatly enhances the comfort of Life. I regreet that there should be an opposition to mr Whitman, and that it should principly arise from mr & Mrs Black whom I very sincerely regard, tho I cannot say I respect their judgment in this case. I have not a doubt but mr and Mrs Black will be reconciled in time. reasoning and not railing will have the effect. mr Flint was opposed by the latter— present my compliment to mr Whitman, & tell him if our state constitution had been equally liberal with that of New jersey and admitted the females to a Vote, I should certainly have exercised it in his behalf.4 as it is, he may be sure both of the Presidents and my good wishes for him, with a sincere desire for his settlement. I have received one Letter from sister Peabody written just after the Death of Charles— but mrs smith has not had a line from her since her Children have been with her. sister Peabody has so many

288

November 1797 cares that she has not much time to write, but I wish she would to mrs smith. in her lonely hours she thinks much of her Children, and wishes to have from her Aunts hand some account of them. I have written her twice since I came from home, beside, one or two Letters just before I left home.5 I know not if she has received them. I am sorry to learn that mrs Cranch is unwell. I have just been writing to him, and I have recommended to her to keep good spirits, and that it is a long lane which has no turn ask Cousin Betsy when I am to speak for the weding cap?6 no congress yet. a House but no senate. Ben Bache is as usual abusing the President for forceing the respect from the people, degradeing this city by representing the Military parade here as all forced. that it is a corrupt mass of Jacobinism Quakerism and abominationism, I will most readily admit, but at the same time there are many worthy and respectable people here. inclosd is a speimin of Bache Gall, but all will not do.7 I can see where the respect and attention is sincere, many affecting proofs I have witnessd in this tour. one in particular of a private nature, at Brunswick— a White headed venerable Man desired to be admitted to the President. when he came in, he bowd respectfully and said he was happy to see him inquired if that was his Lady? I came said he many miles this morning on purpose. I told my wife this morning that I would come, and she said why aint you affraid. no said I, why do you think I should be affraid to go and see my Father? this was said with so much hearty sincerity, that to me it was of more value, than the whole Military calvalcade of Pensilvannia8 write me often, and / remember me affectionatly to all Friends— / Yours as ever Abigail Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Papers). 1 Probably Cranch to AA, 2 Nov., above. 2 Not found. 3 Letters not found. Justus Bosch Smith, for whom see vol. 8:323, was the first member of the Smith family to reside in what became the town of Lebanon, N.Y., where he acted as a land agent for WSS (James H. Smith, History of Chenango and Madison Counties, New York, 1 vol. in 2, Syracuse, 1880, 2:575). For WSS’s land purchases in central New York, see AA to Cranch, 5 May, note 1, above. 4 The 1776 New Jersey Constitution contained a franchise clause that defined eligible voters as those who had been residents

for a year and owned property worth at least £50, thus allowing single adult women who met these criteria to participate in state elections. The law was changed in 1807 when the ranks of eligible voters were limited to male citizens (Judith Apter Klinghoffer and Lois Elkis, “ ‘The Petticoat Electors’: Women’s Suffrage in New Jersey, 1776–1807,” Journal of the Early Republic, 12:159–160, 162 [Summer 1992]). 5 See AA to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 25 Sept. 1797, and Peabody to AA, 6 Oct., both above. AA’s letters after her departure from Quincy have not been found. 6 In the eighteenth century, bridal veils

289

Adams Family Correspondence went out of fashion; brides instead wore caps, bonnets, or hats, often decorated with lace (Doreen Yarwood, Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Costume, Mineola, N.Y., 2011, p. 440). 7 In several articles the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 10 Nov., queried why citizens were being called from their “useful occupations to greet the libeller of the republican form of government” as JA returned to Philadelphia, and noted that when George Washington traveled to and from Mount Vernon, “there was no parading of the military to escort him out or in.” Further, the newspaper suggested that because “it has been found so impossible to engage a respectable number of the military to turn out” as escorts, the militia’s participation would be compelled. On 11 Nov. the newspaper reported that day’s “Triumphal entry of his Serene Highness of Braintree into the

capital,” observed with “the greatest possible order . . . not a whisper was heard more than at a funeral” but only sparsely attended by the local militia, some of whom refused to participate. And on 15 Nov., one squib stated that although “only two or three” members of the military troops voted for “parading to meet the President,” they still agreed to participate “out of respect” for their commander who had previously promised their involvement. 8 The Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 16 Nov., printed an account of JA’s 8 Nov. trip to New Brunswick, N.J., where “among the citizens introduced to the President were a number of the substantial old farmers of the neighborhood, who expressed the highest satisfaction at the truly republican, affectionate behaviour of their chief magistrate.”

Abigail Adams to William Cranch my Dear sir November 15th 1797 Philadelphia After an absence of near four Months I returned, to this City the last week. I am disposed to renew my correspondence with you, if you can find leisure to attend it. The fraternal regard and affection which for many years subsisted between you and my sons is not lessned by time, or diminished by absence, but I trust has grown ripened, and matured by age, and like the Affection of your parents for each other, will burn with undiminished brightness untill the Lamp of Life is extinguishd; for never were sisters more tenderly united or more strongly attached to each other than your Dear Mother, and your affectionate Aunt, and the strong union between our Children has ever been a source of pleasure to me. upon this principle I communicate to you the inclosed Letters,1 with a confidence that I trust them to safe and honorable Hands— there are some parts of them, you are at Liberty to publish; and I am confident you will not permit them to appear before the publick in so incorrect a manner, as mr Webster has some times done, by those which have been Committed to him. yet he has been frequently indebted to those very Letters for the Summary he has often given of French affairs to the publick. Those parts which I have

290

November 1797 thought might be communicated are 1st a Letter from JQA, dated Hague June 26th, beginning Top of the last page, “The negotiations for Peace” one from JQA, to me dated Maasluys, July 6th, 1797 beginning with “our Situation with that Country” say France, in lieu of that country say Gen’ll P——y, one from JQA, to me, dated London july 29th, beginning “my Means of communication, are very much reduced since I left blank[”] one from TBA to me dated London August 17th beginning with, “The Debates in Congress.” From those Letters inclosed which are written to the President, you may make such a selection by way of communication as you conceive may tend to Enlighten our Countrymen in the views and intrigues of France as they respect America. I have thought the Character of Pastoret as drawn in the Letter dated July 2d might be usefull, and the whole of the last page of the Letter dated sepbr 11th mentioning the publication of Burks and the reflections which follow.2 I have sent you the Letters intire that you might have the whole before you at once, as they contain an accurate view of the gathering storm, which has since the dates of all, but the last, burst forth with a voilence which has rent assunder the Constitution of France, thrown down the pillars, and prostrated the whole fabrick, so that the pained imagination looks forward to a renewall of a Reign of Terror, and Scenes of horrour and Blood, which will cover that Devoted Nation, with “a Darkness visible”3 I have not seen a Washington paper untill my return here for several Months. I find a writer under the Signature of Aristidas, but by no means answering to the Character of the just, endeavouring to sow the seeds of Jealousy and distrust against the measures of Government and excite an oblique against the stamp Act. such disorganizing spirits ought to be consignd to the Regions of Darkness from whence they spring—4 Mr Burk in describing the progress of the French spirit, “observes, that the seeds are sown almost every where, chiefly by News paper circulations infinately more efficacious and extensive than ever they were, and they are a more important instrument than generally is imagined. They are a part of the reading of all, they are the whole of the reading of the far greater Number the writers of them, (speaking of French papers) for the greater part, are either unknown, or in contempt, but they are like a battery, in which the stroke of any one Ball, produces no great effect, but the amount of continual repetition is decisive. Let

291

Adams Family Correspondence us suffer any person to tell us his Story, morning and Evening but for one twelvemonth, and he will become our Master.”5 I think with few variations these observations will apply to our Jacobin papers, every good Man should as far as his influence extends, aid, in counteracting these incendaries6 I am daily in hopes of hearing of the arrival of mr Johnson & Family in Maryland. I begin to feel anxious for them, knowing that they saild early in sep’br. will you be so kind as to give me early information. they mean to setle in washingtown, and will be a valuable acquisition to it. I hope you will visit them and Mrs Cranch.7 they are a very domestic Family, as such you will be pleased with them. I was sorry to learn as I did to day by a Letter from your Mother, that Mrs Cranch had been unwell.8 tell her she must keep up her spirits. it is a long lane which has no turn. who of us is exempt from trouble, and sorrow of some kind? my daughter in Law has like her, forsaken Father & Mother and sisters, and gone into a foreign Land without one natural connection. it is a hard trial, I know by experience what it is, to be seperated from all those Dear Relatives. few persons have so often been exercised as I have, but we live not for ourselves— When you have perused the inclosed Letters you will be So good as to return them to Your affectionate / Aunt Abigail Adams— RC (MHi:Cranch Family Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “William Cranch Esqr / Washington”; endorsed: “Mrs. A. Adams / Novr. 15. 1797 / Ansd. 21. & 26th.” Dft (Adams Papers). 1 In the Dft, AA completed this sentence with the following: “The complaint mr A makes of having his Letters misprinted, you know I complaind of and engaged you to do justice for him in one which I sent you last summer. yours was the only coppy which was correct. you may publish from these inclosed those parts which are marked with inverted commas. I have three Reasons for sending them to you, the first is that in so doing I conceive I communicate a pleasure to you, and information which you could not obtain with so much Authenticity from any other quarter. my second reason is that in your Hands they will be perfectly safe & the extracts made from them be less suspected than from many other quarters and my third, that you will not permit the Printer to commit such egregious Blunders in the publication of them.”

2 Cranch obliged AA’s request. The Washington Gazette, 25 Nov. – 2 Dec., published excerpts from each of the identified letters, along with an excerpt from JQA to JA, 31 Aug., for which see AA to JQA, 23 Nov., note 2, below. They were also reprinted in the New York Daily Advertiser, 16, 18 December. JQA’s letter to JA of 2 July ( Adams Papers) described Claude Emmanuel Joseph Pierre Pastoret as “one of the most distinguished members, of the Council of 500. He came in at the first Constitutional election in Oct. 1795, and was not a member of the Convention. He has all along supported with eloquence and firmness the cause of moderation and Justice against the revolutionary violence and wickedness which has so often prevailed even since the establishment of the Constitution.” Pastoret (1756–1840) was a French statesman exiled during the 18 fruc-

292

November 1797 tidor coup who managed to escape before he was forcibly deported (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale). In his 11 Sept. 1797 letter to JA (Adams Papers), JQA offered extensive commentary on several publications on French affairs. He also reported that Edmund Burke had died in July and commented that if the governments of Europe “are considered as composing a sort of confederated whole, their situation and circumstances appear to resemble in an extraordinary degree those in which the same portion of the Earth were placed at the period when the Roman Republic fell, under the Ambition and talents of Caesar. . . . The ultimate consequence in that instance was the total dissolution of the system by which Europe was governed, and centuries of barbarism: the novelties of this day are calculated to produce with much greater rapidity the same effect. If there be any accuracy in this view of things, the similarity between the character and genius of Burke and those of Cicero, will appear wonderfully striking.” AA did not enclose this letter to Cranch; instead, she forwarded an extract in her own hand, noting, “I have made this extract in lieu of sending the whole Letter which the P. could not spair” (MHi:Adams-Cranch Family Papers). 3 Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1, line 63. In the Dft, this paragraph reads: “Since the writing of all these Letters but that of sepbr 11th, the Reign of Terror and absolute Despotism has again commenced in France by the overthrow and banishment of every Man disposed to the system of Moderation justice & Peace; a Military Government so usurped & so corruptably administerd as we have every reason to expect it will be, presents to the imagination renewed scenes of horrour massacre & ‘Darkness visible’ exhausted as that Nation is, and embarrassed as all the states & kingdoms of Europe are who have voluntarily enterd, or been forcibly dragged into the war. we have no reason to expect but what every day will witness some new voilence, some dreadfull calamity to the Humane species, for in the Chaos which France is plunged no order or harmony can arrise, and we have nothing to look for, but Robbery and plunder so long as we expose our Property unarmed to their grasp, yet we have in our power the Means at least of protection.”

4 A series of five articles signed Aristides was printed in the Lexington Kentucky Gazette, 6, 9, 13, 16, 20 Sept., and republished in the Washington Gazette, 14–21 Oct., 21–28 Oct., 28 Oct. – 4 November. Addressed “to the Citizens of Western America,” the articles commented on the differences between the eastern seaboard and the western states, arguing that the East was too closely aligned with British ideas about debt and taxation. Aristides claimed that citizens residing in the West “are so far removed from those foul nests of political iniquity, the large commercial cities on the Atlantic shore, that we can think and act like the free born sons of America ought to do.” He accused the Federalists of having “uniformly and invariably adopted the British systems of government— Every plan that a corrupt and degenerate people held out for imitation, they copied literally,” particularly in terms of taxation: “imposts, duties and excise are increased to a number approaching fast to the hateful catalogue of our British model.” He also claimed that “a national debt with its appendage a national revenue, is the carcass on which the vultures of government prey,” and he believed the U.S. government had “invariably pursued a line of conduct calculated to suppress the rising importance of Western America.” 5 Burke, Three Memorials on French Affairs, p. 17–18. 6 In the Dft, AA began the next paragraph, “I hope my dear sir that you find the persuit of the Law both pleasing and profitable to you. I most sincerely wish you success.” 7 In the Dft, AA continued: “and present my congratulations to them on their arrival and to inform mrs Johnson, that Mrs Adams was well on the 19 of sep’br and sustaind the painfull seperation from all her Family with a becomeing fortitude, that mr Adams had not received his instructions at that Date. they went by mr marshal of whose arrival we are not yet informd. I must request mrs Cranch to form an acquaintance with the Family there are six daughters yet unmarried, accomplishd young Ladies those who are grown up, very domestick. so is their Father & Mother. Mrs Johnson I personally know— she is a very amiable woman and they are going to become inhabitants of Washington.” 8 Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 2 Nov., above.

293

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to William Smith my dear sir Philadelphia Novbr 16 1797 I wrote you from East Chester and inclosed you 90 dollors to pay a Note in mr Frothinghams hands. I have not received a line in acknowledgment of the letter, which makes me a little anxious for its fate.1 you was so good as to Say you would send me Some salt fish. I should like a couple of kental to treat our good Massachusetts Friends. I will thank you to send it by one of the first vessels, and 6 Gallons of neats foot oil from Hughs—Brislr says he used to buy it there at half a dollor pr Gallon—2 we reachd here on the tenth, and found our Family all well. from the Mobility who appeard in the Streets on the Day of our arrival, no one could have imagined that there had been either sickness or deaths in this place. in short it is like the wave of the sea, when it is past no vestage remains, I am affraid not even in their Hearts. You cannot affront a Philadelphian more than by intimating that the fever originated with them. No congress yet a House was made yesterday but no senate, nor are they like to make one this week the Vice President is detaind by a Law suit, which is still on trial, and will not be here this fortnight.3 mr Tazewell is sick. no loss neither—4 no certain accounts of the arrival of our Envoys, and poor souls what can they do when they get there. what but voilence is to be seen in that devoted Nation, honour & justice, Religion & virtue are fled from the land, or so abashed that their voice is not heard. I have not the smallest hope remaining that any thing durable can be effected with a people or Government, which to day is and tomorrow is not. I hope Mrs smith and your little flock are well. give my Love to them. Mrs Cranch wrote me that mrs Welch was unwell. I hope she is better pray let me know, and acquaint me if mrs Gill is like to recover—5 I am dear sir affectionatly / Your A Adams your sister otis and Family are well Love to cousin Betsy RC (MHi:Smith-Townsend Family Papers); addressed by JA: “William Smith Esqr / Merchant / Boston”; endorsed: “Philaa. Mrs. Adams / Novr. 16. 97. / Ansd”; notation by JA: “J. Adams.” 1 AA to William Smith, 23 Oct., above. 2 Robert Hewes, for whom see vol. 9:231, sold neatsfoot oil, as well as soap, glue, rosin,

and varnish, from his Boston shop (Boston Columbian Centinel, 7 May 1796; Boston Directory, 1798, p. 62).

294

November 1797 3 Thomas Jefferson, as an executor of his father-in-law John Wayles’ estate, was involved in a legal dispute regarding payment owed to an English firm for a consigned cargo of slaves delivered to Virginia in 1772, on which Wayles’ business partner had been unable to collect bonds from the slave owners. In Nov. 1790 a suit was brought against the executors of the estate; the case did not go to trial until 1797, and on 28 Nov. the jury found in favor of the defendants. Jefferson took his seat as president of the Senate on 13 Dec. (Jefferson, Papers, 15:642– 644, 647–649; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 477). 4 Henry Tazewell (1753–1799), William and

Mary 1770, represented Virginia in the Senate from Dec. 1794 until his death in Jan. 1799. He took his seat for the 5th Congress on 27 Nov. 1797 (Biog. Dir. Cong.; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 472). 5 Rev. William Walter wrote to AA on 22 Dec. with an update on Rebecca Boylston Gill’s health. He reported that although Gill continued to regain her strength and that Moses Gill intended for her to travel to Boston, he feared “the undertaking will be too much for her, for she has never been out of her Warm room, & sets up but about 20 minutes in the Forenoon & as much in the Afternoon” (Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to John Fenno Editorial Note On 16 November 1797 the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser printed the following squib: “His serene highness of Braintree made an anti-climax on his journey from his dukedom. Boston made the cap of the climax, Philadelphia its tail. On another occasion it would be safer and wiser to make no further attempts at forcing respect; for it sits aukwardly upon men, that from respect it degenerates into farce. In future, it would be better for him to travel to and from Braintree as he did before his exaltation, like Darby and Joan.” The latest in a series of Aurora articles lambasting John Adams for the public honors shown him during his travels between Philadelphia and Quincy, for which see Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 15 November, and note 7, above, this article appears to have prompted a direct response from the Adamses. An unsigned letter to the editor of the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, John Fenno, was published in the newspaper on 18 November. Printed below, the article defends John Adams by providing examples of similar marks of respect shown him both during his tenure in the Continental Congress and at the start of his vice presidency. The level of detail included in the argument suggests the author was someone close to the president. But it is the curious document labeled “Communication” that further suggests the author was Abigail. Enclosed in a letter to Abigail’s sister Mary Smith Cranch, the document in Abigail’s hand is a near match to the printed article. Other than spelling and punctuation variations common to Abigail, there exist only two substantive differences, both of which were canceled by Abigail in favor of the word used in the printed version. Coupled with the fact that it seems unlikely Abigail would copy by hand the text of a newspaper article when she regularly enclosed printed extracts in her letters to Cranch, this leads the editors to believe that Abigail authored the piece.

295

Adams Family Correspondence The document fits within the broader spectrum of Abigail’s public letters. As the wife of the president, Abigail frequently used her networks of correspondence to influence public perceptions of the Adams administration, but it is in countering direct attacks by Democratic-Republicans that she moved beyond her established private networks to directly engage public figures. Here, it is John she champions, but she was no less attentive in her defense of John Quincy, which she demonstrated in letters to Benjamin Franklin Bache, 17 March [1798], and to Robert Goodloe Harper, [13 April 1798], both below.

Mr. Fenno, 18 November 1797 Mr. Bache, and his correspondents appear to be in great distress, least the respect shewn to the President of the United States, by the people of every city and town thro’ which he passed, on his journey to his own home, and on his return to the seat of government, should be construed into satisfaction with the government, and an approbation of its administration. As Mr. Bache is but a youth of yesterday, when compared with the old patriots, who first stood forth in defence of the invaded rights of their injured country, against the usurpation of GreatBritain, I who am grown grey with years, and was witness to what I relate can tell him, that the testimonials of respect which have recently been offered to the President of the United States are no novelties to him. Previous to the meeting of the first Congress in the year 1774, the members from Massachusetts (our venerable President was one) were met, escorted and feasted (if you please) in all the principal towns and cities through which they passed; the same public marks of respect were again manifested with increased splendour, at the meeting of Congress in the year 1775, and in the year 1789, when the President was first elected Vice-President, a troop of horse waited upon him at his seat in Braintree, and escorted him from thence, to the Governor’s in Boston, accompanied by numbers of citizens; from thence he was attended to Cambridge, by a large, and respectable concourse of people, where he was again met by an other troop of horse. Throughout the state of Connecticut he received the same marked attention; the citizens of New-York were not less zealous on that occasion, than they have been to do honor to him as President; troops of horse and respectable citizens went as far as Kingsbride and escorted him into the city of New-York.1

296

November 1797 Every person who is acquainted with the republican manners and habits of the President, can witness for him that every kind of show and parade are contrary to his taste and inclination, and that they can be agreeable on no other ground,2 than as the will of the people, manifesting their determined resolution to support the government3 and the administrators of it, so long as the administration is conformable to the constitution.— As to Mr. Bache’s polite allusion to Darby and Joan, I consider that as highly honorary to the domestic and conjugal character of the President, who has never given his children or grandchildren cause to blush for any illegitimate offspring.4 MS not found. Printed from the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 18 November. 1 For these marks of respect, see vol. 1:195–196, 8:331, and JA, D&A, 2:97–98, 161. 2 In a MS AA labeled “Communication” and sent to Mary Smith Cranch, possibly with her letter of 28 Nov., AA first wrote “footing” before canceling it and writing “ground”

instead (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 3 Here, AA used and canceled “constitution” before interlining “Government.” 4 “Darby and Joan” was a common appellation for a devoted couple, often advanced in years and of meager finances (OED).

John Adams to Cotton Tufts Dear sir Philadelphia Nov. 18. 1797 I have received your favour of the 3d and am much obliged to you for it and equally pleased with its Contents. I agree with you in opinion that it will be well to rebuild the Wall against Hardwick: to renew the Leases as soon as possible with French and Burrill, if they choose to do so, and to plough and cart manure as you propose. I am very glad the Meadow is ploughed. This is a great Point gained. I shall Send a quantity of Clover seed for all the Places and some extraordinary Yellow Corn for Seed next Year— Barley for Seed must be purchased. This is not the Place for that kind of small Grain. We dont hear half so much Said here about the Yellow fever as you do in Weymouth— It is wholly gone as all Men agree. Yesterday We had a snow and to day a clear cold Northwester a State of the Air which would have killed the Miasmata, if there were as many of them as ever. The senate have not formed a quorum however, not so much from fear of the disease as from the real sickness at home of several

297

Adams Family Correspondence of the members, and the Obligations several others are under of Attending as Judges or Council upon their Judicial Courts—at home. a Circumstance which with many others shews the Impropriety of adjourning to so early a day. Another Paroxism at Paris and a renewal of the War.! Have a Care! What are We to expect from our Negotiation? Europe seems to be one burning mountain, whose Bowells are full of Materials for Combustion. though they lie inactive for a time you can never know when you are safe, for the next hour or Moment may produce an Explosion. My Respects to Mrs Tufts and all / the Family— I am your sincere and / affectionate friend John Adams RC (NNPM:Literary and Historical Manuscripts, Misc. American Presidents, MA 2423); internal address: “Dr. Tufts”; endorsed: “J. Adams Esq Nov. 18. 1797 / recd. the 28th—”

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy November 19th 1797 That you have reciev’d but one Letter from me my dear Sister is not because I have not written I cannot think where they are detain’d— they were address’d to the President & to the care of charles Adams Counsellor at Law—as the President directed. I have sent three.1 I have not written So often as I would have done if I had not been much taken up with Company & Family cares.— I have been oblg’d to write much to Washington— mrs Cranch & the children have been very ill dangerously So— She has been So distress’d about her Parents & Friends that She made herself quite Sick. she had been a Bed but three weeks when miss Elliot left her—that almost broke her heart. She was weak— my Son went to Philadelphia with Eliz So that she was quite alone— She had just heard of her Brother Jame’s confinement also, & mr webster wrote them that her Parents had not a dollar to procure them a loaf of bread. he had been in Boston & left them in this state— he was not pleas’d that my Son did not comply with his proposal I suppose but how evvil! to distress nancy in this manner if they were So destitute why did he not releave them he kept at thier house while in town & might have done something for them or his sister Bell?.—2 When my Son return’d he

298

November 1797 found his wife a prey to melancholy She had lost her appetete, her Bowels had got into a relax’d state, & attended with a Slow fever. willm. was very sick also, & with the Same complaint— She at last utter’d all her troubles to me. her dissorder remain’d four months & my Son wrote me She & willm. both were reduc’d to Skin & bones— that her milk was almost gone & her Baby Suffering for want of its food.— I have been Seriously alarm’d for her.— I set myself to endeavour to heal both Body & mind. they thought willm. was occation’d by breeding Teeth & did not attempt to check his till the child was almost gone— I have written her a Letter a week every Since you left me & I hope I have done her some good. She writes me— she & the children are much better. I set her mind at rest about her Parents they have never wanted the comforts of Life to be Sure the Family have been distress’d by the misfortunes of mr J Greenleaf— but confin’d as he is, he has not let his Parents want. they are gone to spend the winter with Colln. Pope at Bedford. the Colln. Says he will put mr G in a way to support himself— mrs Bell has taken a House at charlestown & will open a School or take Boarders If her Father succeeds he will send for her unless She should be doing better they mean to take a Small house at Bedford in the spring.— The Humour Lucy had in her mouth when you went away has fallen into her Breast— I went to Boston & found her so unwell that I brought her here the week before last She has been confin’d ever since her Breast broke last week & she is better but her mouth is now sore again She will return as soon as she is able—but I think her Blood must be mended She & mrs Norton (who is very well) send their Duty to the President & you— I Shall be glad if mr Johnson Should Settle in washington Such Families will make the city respectable I do not wonder that mr Adams wishes to retain his Brother— I suppose you in Philadelphia I hope the Sickness has left it. but I think it must be a melancholy place What work again in France— will they ever be a Settled people can any thing be more tyranical than their late conduct mr Tudor is return’d a flaming Jackn. I hear—3 I have not been unmindful of your carpets & have had them taken care of. your Butter cheese & pork would you not have part sent to you? the Doctor has talk’d with me about it. do write us. your Legs Shoulders &c I Shall take & Bacon for you & send you as much as you wish for if you will give direction Some I hope you will want

299

Adams Family Correspondence here. If there is any thing I can do for you pray write me— did you take mrs Smith with you. has She not heard from the Colln yet? I am full of concern for her my Love to her wherever she is. her children were well a week or two Since— I have not had a line from sister Since one which accompany’d yours which I sent on to you.— I think you had not receiv’d it when you wrote to me & yet Where can it be tis three weeks or a month since we sent it I can tell you a great peice of news— Thomson Baxter is Publish’d to a miss Ann Whitman of Bridgwater!!! I very believe the forlorn Situation of mr Wibird has frighten’d him—& that he had rather be married than be ——— I think to congratulate mr wibird—but what a dreadful alternative for poor Baxter—4 remember me most affectionately to the President & pray tell Louissa I love her dearly— I have had a Letter from her Brother William in a more “Smart full thinking” way than what he wrote his sister it troubles us all I hope Isaac will send a proper [one?] Cousen Betsy has written to him— She is greiv’d that her sister has not receiv’d her letters— She has written frequently.— I did so little work last winter that I have never got it before hand since & Polly chandlers absence has thrown a great deal of care & labour upon me which I have not had for many years—not since my daughters were grown up.5 I find less time to write for that most affectionately adieu M Cranch this is long [mater?]. Short was receiv’d yesterday RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “mrs Cranch / nov 19—” 1 The most recent extant letters from Cranch to AA are those of 15 Oct. and 2 Nov., both above. 2 For Noah Webster’s newspaper proposal, see William Cranch to AA, 26 June, and note 3, above. 3 William Tudor was in Paris when James Monroe was recalled and was among the group of Americans that addressed Monroe on 6 Dec., testifying “to your faithful and unabated application to the duties of your arduous office and your unceasing vigilance for the honor and interest of our common country” (vol. 11:315; Monroe, Papers, 4:141– 142). 4 Capt. Thompson (Tompson) Baxter (1734–1813) of Quincy, with whom Rev. An-

thony Wibird resided, married Anna Whitman (1754–1821), daughter of Terah and Anna Whitman of Bridgewater, Mass., on 16 Dec., after what the Massachusetts Mercury, 2 Jan. 1798, teasingly described as “a long and tedious courtship of 48 years, which they both sustained with uncommon fortitude” (Sprague, Braintree Families; Braintree Town Records, p. 555, 571; New-Bedford Mercury, 20 Aug. 1813; Vital Records of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850, 2 vols., Boston, 1916, 1:341, 2:46, 436; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 12:227). 5 Possibly Mary Taylor Chandler (b. 1779), daughter of William and Susanna Spriggs Chandler of Quincy (Sprague, Braintree Families).

300

November 1797

Abigail Adams to William Smith Dear sir Philadelphia Novbr 21. 1797 I received your obliging favour of Novbr 8th the day after I last wrote you. I inclose the amount of your account with many thanks for your kindness—1 The Betsy is arrived with the fish, and if my cook can be taught to dress it, some of our Nothern Friends shall Toast your Health.2 The state of N Jersey as you observe, most certainly manifested a very marked respect and approbation of the Government by the unfeigned, and affectionate reception which they gave to the President, some personal instances could not fail of impressing the Heart. It was oweing to a mistake in the post office, that the invitation to dine at Trentown on the 9th was not received, and accepted. I was sorry for the dissapointment, as the Legislature were sitting, and the Dinner prepared. The Govenour of the state with a numerous concourse of Persons, and a Troop of Light Horse met us 6 miles from Trentown, to accompany us into Town— The President stoped and deliverd his answer to the address— I past on and crossd the Ferry, in about half an hour. the whole procession came to the Ferry, and waited on the opposite side untill the President reachd the Pensilvanna side accompanied by the Govenour the Marshal and several officers, where they took an affectionate Leave of us—3 if the publick were to judge of our reception here by Ben Baches account of it, they might suppose that we were deliverd over to satan to be buffetted by his imps so far as it respects that contemptable Hireling. it is true, but Pensilvanna at no time, can bear a comparison with N England in their Militia, clogd as they are by the spirit of Quakerism and cursd as they are by the spirit of Jacobinism. they are a House divided against itself. the greater Number of their officers, I have the Authority of their Marshal for it, are taken from the lowest grade of Society. few of them can read or write, and are Popular demagogues who can procure votes for a Govenour, by mixing with the Herd. to do them all the justice they deserve, on this occasion, they made as good an appearence as they could. they were well clad and mounted.4 there is a Triumvirate of Printers in Boston N york and Philadelphia who richly deserve that French Freedom and Liberty which has been excercised against 18 or 20 Printers in France—5

301

Adams Family Correspondence since I wrote you last we have reason to think that both mr Marshal & Gerry are arrived. no offical account of mr Gerry, yet report thus states it— no senate yet formed. our Weather is very cold for November. if there should be any quantity of good oats to be sold this fall as low as 2 shillings or two and 4 pence, will you be so good as to take a Hundred Bushels and send our people word to come for them. in the spring they are scarce— my best Regards to all Friends / affectionatly yours, A Adams— inclosed is 60 dollors please to pay the overpluss to mrs smith for sundries she has against me RC (MHi:Smith-Townsend Family Papers); endorsed: “Philaa. 21. Novr 97 / Mrs Adams. / Ansd.” 1 See AA to Smith, 23 Oct., note 1, above. 2 AA was mistaken about the arrival of the ship; the schooner Betsey, Capt. Robert Welsh, did not reach Philadelphia until 6 December. AA noted the error and reported receipt of the shipment in mid-December (Massachusetts Mercury, 3 Nov.; Philadelphia Gazette, 6 Dec.; AA to Smith, 18 Dec., MHi: Smith-Townsend Family Papers). 3 On 9 Nov. JA arrived in Trenton, N.J., escorted by a troop of cavalry and met by Richard Howell (1754–1802), the governor of New Jersey from 1793 to 1801, and Thomas Lowry (1737–1806), the state’s marshal from 1789 to 1802, “together with a number of citizens.” Welcoming JA with “a Federal salute” from an artillery company “and the ringing of the different bells,” the state legislature then addressed JA, taking “this opportunity of assuring you of their high respect for your person and character, both in your political and individual relations.” JA responded: “Your kind compliments to me, merit my best thanks and strongest assurances, that should any thing in my administration protect your interest in common with all those of your fellow-citizens thro the union, promote harmony and unanimity among the citizens of these states, and friendly sentiments and intercourse with all mankind, I should es-

teem myself the happiest of all men” (New York Commercial Advertiser, 15 Nov. 1797; ANB; Mark Edward Lender, “This Honorable Court”: The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, 1789–2000, New Brunswick, N.J., 2006, p. 15, 46). 4 William Nichols (1754–1804), a Revolutionary War veteran, served as marshal of Pennsylvania from 1795 to 1799 (Emma St. Clair Whitney, Michael Hillegas and His Descendants, Pottsville, Penn., 1891, p. 37; Nichols to JA, 29 Nov. 1799, Adams Papers). 5 Following the 18 fructidor coup, freedom of the press was greatly curtailed in France. Warrants were issued for the arrest of several writers and editors, and at least 29 Parisian newspapers were suppressed after a new law gave the Directory the power to ban publications by decree. In his 25 Sept. 1797 letter to Timothy Pickering (LbC, APM Reel 129), JQA noted that after the coup “about forty printing presses were destroyed, and the Editors and Printers of them, committed to Prison” and that “all sorts of periodical papers and printing presses” had been “placed for a year under the controul of the Directory” (Jeremy D. Popkin, Revolutionary News: The Press in France, 1789–1799, Durham, N.C., 1990, p. 54, 101, 173–174).

302

November 1797

William Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Madam.— Washington Novr. 21. 1797 I am not only highly gratified, but extremely grateful for your kind communication of 15th. instt, with it’s important inclosures.— The fraternal and affectionate friendship, which has so long existed between your sons and myself, has indeed been among the greatest Consolations of my life—and the consciousness that it still continues, brightens many of my passing days.— Having been so long accustomed to friendship so sincere, to Confidence so unlimited and to an interchange of sentiment so unconfined by distrust or suspicion, I have most deeply and sincerely felt the loss occasioned by our seperation— Yet the sensation was not immediate—it’s Effect was by a continued repetition of the want of those Consolations which a confidential friendship affords.— Since my residence at this place, the Cares and perplexities which have occupied my mind, have almost entirely excluded every literary pursuit, and I was fast approaching towards the pitiful condition of a dull, plodding man of business.— The misfortunes which have driven me from that Course, and thrown me again into the practise of the Law, “in all the humility of its first outset,”1 are perhaps not to be regreted, since it is a fact that I return to the dry pages of Coke upon Littleton, with almost as much pleasure as I have formerly found in those of some of the best of the Poets.— Whether this taste will continue long, or whether it is a mere temporary thirst occasioned by a long abstinence from the waters of Helicon, I am not able to say, but I have certainly a great accession of happiness, since I have taken the resolution.—2 Some remnants of my old business, however, intrude themselves upon me; and the affairs of my brother Greenleaf have occupied and still occupy a great part of my time.— These with the Care of supplying the wants of my family, and a little law business, have prevented me from being punctual in my Correspondence with your sons; as I have thought it my first duty to devote my leisure moments to assist Mrs. Cranch in the Care of her Children—to amuse her mind—to console her anxieties, and to support her spirits.— But she is now, I hope, recovering her health, and I will most certainly renew a correspondence, the benefits of which must be so evidently on my own side.— It is necessary that I inform you that I have never had any Controul over the publishment of the Washington, Gazette, and that I

303

Adams Family Correspondence never interfered with the Editor, although there were many things publish’d which displeased me extremely; and that since the 24th. of Augt. last I have had no interest or concern whatever in the office. The Editor deceives himself with the idea of being impartial, & says he means to publish both sides of the question.— under this notion he prints the rankest disorganizing pieces he can find, & satisfies his Conscience by saying he refuses nothing. His paper has a very limited Circulation, and he pays so little regard to his own interest, that he can not support it long. This man was sent here from Boston in 1794 by Mr. Appleton, the loan officer, to be a book-keeper for Doctr. Appleton, and was afterwards continued in Employment by me. I found him to be very honest, tolerably industrious, sufficiently accurate for his Employment, and having a large family to support, I was disposed to do every thing in my power to assist him. The salary allow’d him was not sufficient to support his family, and a number of concurring Circumstances induced me to purchase the printing office and set him up as an Editor—but he has not the industry or abilities to support it.3 The reason he gave for republishing Aristides, was, that it was possible it might be the begining of important movements in the western Country and therefore ought to be known. I was absent when those pieces were published, and have never read them. I once took up one of them, but threw it down again in disgust. They are supposed to be written either by Mr. Brown, the senator, or (which is much more probable) by his brother Doctr. Samuel Brown, who lately resided in this City. He is a man of some abilities and Address, and is lately from Edinburgh where he received his medical Education. While here, he was the founder of a Club, in which affairs of state were discuss’d with all the depth of jacobinical profundity. At the head of this Club was placed, Doctr. Coningham—a man about 50 years of age, by birth an Irishman—and possessing little of medical or any other Knowledge, but a plenty of Conceit. He was formerly a roman Catholic, but was excommunicated for his infidelity, and is now as open in his atheistical, as in his jacobinic principles. He is a Justice of peace, and gets his living by brewing beer and distilling Whiskey, with a Capital furnished by Mr. Greenleaf, through the unsuspecting goodness of the late Doctr. Appleton.— The rest of the Club was composed principally of foreigners, of no Education. Whether Doctr. Brown could not support himself by his profession or whether he found his politics did not thrive in this part of the Country, he went off to Kentuckey in the summer, and is without doubt trying to raise himself

304

November 1797 into notice by the Vehemence of his zeal in the Cause of french principles.—4 I received a letter from your son T. B. A. dated London septr. 11th. informing me of Mr. Johnson’s family having sail’d.—5 A house is taken for them (not in this City) but in Georgetown. They are not y[et] arrived, but are anxiously expected.— I sha[ll r]eturn the letters as soon as I have made the Extr[acts], & you may be assured that my own Exertions shall not be wanting, as far as my leisure and abilities shall permit, to promote the safety and happiness of our common Country. My Richard has had the quinzy (synansia trochealis) but is geting better.6 William has a very severe Cold.— With the most affectionate respect, I am, Dear Madam / your obliged & obedt. nephew W. Cranch I have heard Complaint made, that the President neglects the Interest of this City—that he does not Answer the letters from the Commissioners &c— At the time of the Election it was said that Mr. Adams would be opposed to the City.— I denied it— I said that I had never heard any direct opinion from him—but I knew it to be one of his strongest principles that the existence of our independance, depended on the Union of the states—that the federal City was a new bond of Union and therefore he could not be opposed to its wellfare.7 But we are spoiled by the fondness of the late Presdt.— There is a great difference between a common horse and a Hobby. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs. A. Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mr W Cranch / Novbr 21 1797.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 Cranch quoted from JQA to AA, 26 June, above. 2 In Greek mythology the Helicon was a mountain sacred to the Muses upon which the Hippocrene—a spring whose waters were credited as a source of poetic inspiration— could be found (Oxford Classical Dicy.; Hesiod, Theogony, lines 1–3, 8–9). 3 On 21 May 1796 Cranch and Benjamin More (d. 1821) signed articles of agreement “to carry on the printing business, as well as the business of a Bookseller and stationer, in partnership at their joint and equal expence, in the name of Benjamin More only, but for their equal and joint profit for the term of Five years.” For running the business, More would be paid $800 per year; Cranch would advance the necessary funds and receive

6 percent interest per year. The Washington Gazette debuted on 15 June 1796 and ceased publication on 24 March 1798 (Contract, Benjamin More and William Cranch, 21 May 1796, DcWaGWG:MS2135, Box 5, Folder 66; Boston Daily Advertiser, 23 July 1821; Fred A. Emery, “Washington Newspapers,” Columbia Hist. Soc., Records, 37/38:45 [1937]). 4 John Brown represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate in the 2d through 8th Congresses. His brother Dr. Samuel Brown (1769– 1830), Dickinson College 1789, received his medical degree from Marischal College of the University of Aberdeen in 1794 and was a professor of chemistry, anatomy, and surgery at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., from 1799 to 1806. Cornelius Coningham (1746–1820) served as a hospital surgeon dur-

305

Adams Family Correspondence ing the Revolutionary War and in 1796 established with James Greenleaf the first brewery in Washington, D.C. (Biog. Dir. Cong.; ANB; Jefferson, Papers, 35:592; Clark, Greenleaf and Law, p. 146). 5 Not found. 6 Cynanche trachealis was a term for an inflammation of the larynx and trachea in infants that caused difficulties in breathing (William Cullen, First Lines of the Practice of Physic, 2 vols., N.Y., 1793, 1:177, Evans, No. 25359). 7 On 31 Oct. 1797 JA wrote to the commissioners of Washington, D.C., noting the receipt of a letter “you wrote me Sometime ago inclosing the Form of a full Power to borrow money” and explaining that he had

not yet replied because “some questions arose upon it in my mind, which I wished to take Advice in.” JA again wrote to the commissioners on 5 Dec., enclosing the power to borrow $150,000 “for the Use of the fœderal City,” and he further noted that “if this Resource should fail of having its compleat Effect, I agree fully with you in opinion, that it will be necessary for your board to lay the whole subject before Congress for their consideration and further provision and that it will be necessary for One of you to attend in Philadelphia, in order to explain all things to the Members of Congress” (both DLC: U.S. Commissioners of the City of Washington Records, 1791–1869).

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my Dear Son Philadelphia Novbr 23d 1797 I am under obligations to you my dear son, for keeping up so regularly, and so constantly your correspondence with me; notwithstanding your various publick employments and private engagements, and I consider myself as very fortunate in receiving your Letters, tho frequently of an old date, owing to the circuitous route they have to make. By mr Fisher of this city I received a few Days Since the joint Letter written by you and your amiable partner; accompanied by the Sattin, which is very excellent.1 I did not receive with it any Bill of it, nor have I received any account of the cost of my watch. I cannot by any means assent to this. I had no intention to lay a Tax upon you. I therefore request you to send me an order to pay the amount to Dr Welch, or your Brother Charles who I know have your pecuniary affairs in their hands. I have written to you already upon this Subject. I had hoped I should have been able by this Time, to have congratulated you and my Dear Daughter upon the arrival of her Parents in America. I shall not fail of giving the earliest intelligence to you. Your Friend mr otis has spent the Evening here, and says young mr Johnson is very well. he will come on as soon as his Parents arrive. I will send you by this opportunity Some Newspapers. the reason why I have not been more attentive on this subject, is that I knew

306

November 1797 the secretary of state was to send you regularly the papers from hence. I supposed the postage must be a heavy Charge. at present the papers contain little besides the affairs of Europe Which you have much nearer to you, than we have, or desire to have your Father and I left Philadelphia as soon after the rising of Congress in july last, as we could, and we have been absent near four Months. we were detaind a Month longer than we intended by the breaking out of that deadly disease, the yellow fever in this city, which but for the fleeing of the inhabitants to the number of thirty Thousand, would have made as great ravage as in the year 1793 the Frost only puts a stop to it. we returnd here on the 11th, Congress were adjournd to the 13th, but oweing to the dread of that Disease they have not been able to make a Congress untill this day. Mr Hall arrived in N York on the 7th. I saw him a few moments only. he brought your Letters of August 10 & 31, and sep’br 11th which is the latest date received from you. the papers and Books he also deliverd, but fears he has lost a Ring which he says he had for me. I fancy it was a lock of my New Daughters Hair I the more regreet it, as I suppose it came from her.2 I have received a Letter from you july 6th dated Maasluys one of july 28 and one of july 29th. tho I have before acknowledgd the receipt of all these Letters, yet I repeat it, as this may possibly reach you before those; I have inclosed to you a duplicate of a Letter from your Father, in hopes that the reasons alledged in it for a change of your mission, will satisfy Your scruples. I am also desired to forward to you a Letter from the President of Harvered Colledge.3 in a former Letter I informd you that you were unanimously Elected a Member of the Academy of Arts and Sciencies, at their last meeting. The affairs of Europe are so Surrounded with clouds, and enveloped in darkness, that the wisest Politicien with the most Scientific Eye cannot penetrate their mazes, nor trace the regular Confusion. The raging of the Sea, and the Tumult of the people have been aptly compared; who can say to either, thus far shalt thou go, and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed; or peace be Still. None but He who rides in the Whirlwind, and directs the storm, can calm the contending Nations. unto him I commit “the hour the Day, the Year,” and view with Awe this astonishing Revolution.4 happy indeed if we may be permitted to escape the calamities of War, tho cruelly Buffeted and Maltreated. the opening Session of

307

Adams Family Correspondence Congress will soon develope the sentiments of the people, who have heitherto been disposed to bless them, who have cursed them, and do good to those who have despightfully used them; you will find the sentiments of the President unchanged, as his Speech will shew you. he therefore in few words rcommends to the two Houses the former system.5 I can write to you only in general terms without that freedom of communication which is desirable, but which might expose more than myself. Your old school mate Bache goes on in his old way loosing altogether the Character of Gentleman, by a low malicious kind of abuse and scurility. if he ever had any of the milk of Humane kindness, it is all turnd to vinigar, and I believe he is a very misirable Being, for he cannot but feel, that all good Men despise him, and who is hardy enough to brave contempt? I fear your Father will not get time to write at all by this opportunity, as he is overwhelmd with Buisness at this Time— This Day we have the first official account of the arrival of Gen’ll Marshall and mr Gerry and of their proceeding to France, but from whence are we to look for justice?6 I will write to mrs Adams and to Thomas if I can by this opportunity. our Friends are all well. my own Health has been much mended by my frequent journeys and your Father supports the fatigues of his office much better than I expected; The vice President has not yet arrived. he is detained by a suit at Law in which he is much interested. Mr Read of Carolina is President pro Tem.7 I am my Dear Son with the sincerest wishes for your Health and prosperity your ever affectionate / Mother A Adams RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “John Quincy Adams / Minister Plenipotentiary / At the Court of Berlin”; endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A Adams / 23 November 1797 / 15 January 1798 Recd / 19 Do Answd:.” 1 Philadelphia merchant James Cowles Fisher (1756–1840) was one of the passengers aboard the William Penn, for which see AA to TBA, 7 Nov., note 3, above. Fisher carried JQA and LCA to AA and JA, 28 July, above (Philadelphia Directory, 1797, p. 69; Edward Carpenter, Samuel Carpenter and His Descendants, Phila., 1912, p. 216; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 26 Oct.). 2 For a summary of JQA to JA, 10 Aug., see TBA to AA, 10 Sept., note 2, above. In his 31 Aug. letter to JA, JQA commented on the Blount affair and noted that he was still

waiting for his commission and instructions for his posting to Prussia. He also criticized U.S. newspaper editors with regard to their publishing his letters: “In some instances there have been so many blunders of the press, that I could scarcely recognize myself.— Some of these errors strike me as being designed” (Adams Papers). For a summary of JQA to JA, 11 Sept., see AA to William Cranch, 15 Nov., note 2, above. 3 The Dupl of JA’s letter to JQA of 3 Nov., above, has not been found. In May JQA had sent Rev. Joseph Willard “a small token of

308

November 1797 gratitude and veneration to the Library of the University.” The gift of “two boxes, containing a few books” totaled 19 works in 176 volumes. The letter enclosed by AA here was Willard’s 3 Nov. letter of thanks (JQA to Willard, 19 May, LbC, APM Reel 130; Adams Papers). 4 Alexander Pope, “The Sixth Epistle of the First Book of Horace,” line 9. 5 In his 23 Nov. address to Congress, JA reported the arrival of John Marshall and Elbridge Gerry in Europe but cautioned that “whatever may be the issue of the negotiation with France, and whether the war in Europe is or is not to continue, I hold it most certain that perfect tranquillity and order will not soon be obtained.” He recommended “that we should make every exertion to protect our commerce, and to place our country in a suitable posture of defence, as the only sure means of preserving both.” JA also noted that the Spanish garrisons within U.S. territory had not yet been evacuated and suggested a law be passed to punish “attempts of foreign agents to alienate the affections of the Indian nations.” The speech included updates on various articles relating

to the treaties with Great Britain and Spain, raised the issue of French depredations on American shipping, and noted the expense incurred by American consuls abroad, suggesting that “the Consular act relative to seamen requires revision and amendment” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 630–634). 6 Marshall wrote to Timothy Pickering from The Hague on 15 Sept. confirming the 18 fructidor coup in France. The letter included a notation on the address leaf that “Genl. Pinckney & Mr. Marshall left Rotterdam on the 19th. Septr. for Paris. Mr. Gerry arrived at Rottm. the evening of the same day, & proceeded to France a few days after.” The letter was carried by George Izard, who left Rotterdam on 28 Sept. aboard the Adelaide, Capt. John Mann, and arrived in Baltimore on 19 November. Pickering received the letter on the 22d (Marshall, Papers, 3:136; Baltimore Federal Gazette, 20, 21 Nov.). 7 Jacob Read was elected president pro tempore of the Senate on 22 Nov. and served in that capacity until 13 Dec. (U.S. Senate, Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 406, 414).

Abigail Adams to Louisa Catherine Adams my Dear Daughter Philadelphia November 24 1797 Thus has my son given me a legal right to address you. I feel also, that I have an affectionate right devolved to me from him, to stile you thus. it would have given me great pleasure to have embraced you as Such in America, but as it has been otherways ordered, I must submit to that destiny which has through the greater part of my Life seperated me from my dearest connections. I feel a tender sympathy for you that at this early period of your days, you are Seperated from all your Natural connections, and introduced into a new and untried scene of Life. I should feel still more solisitude, if I had not been assured of your attachment to Domestic Life, and of your possessing those mental accomplishments, which need not seek abroad for entertainment, and those qualities of the Heart which assimulate you by the strongest bonds of affection, to the well Chosen partner of your Heart. long may you live, mutual blessings to each other ameliorating the Rugged path of Life

309

Adams Family Correspondence with “Every Matron grace combin’d Chast deportment, artless Mien Converse sweet, and Heart serene”1 Strengthen the bond of union between us my Dear Louissa by a frequent communication by Letters your observations and remarks upon the new scenes before you and the Manners and customs of Foreign Nations, will both amuse and entertain me, always however keeping in mind, your own public Character, and the Critical Times in which we Live. I recommend to your sisterly kindness my Dear Thomas. I have received from under his Hand a gratefull acknowledgment of the Hospitality of your whole Family towards him— I hope e’er long to welcome them all to America. your Father directs me to Say for him, that he is already prepared to Love you, from the amiable Character he has received of you from all who know you— accept my dear Daughter, the sincere / Regard of your / affectionate Mother Abigail Adams RC (Adams Papers); notation by CFA: “To Louisa Catherine Johnson.” 1 William Melmoth writing under the pseudonym Thomas Fitzosborne, Letters on Several Subjects, 2d ed., London, 1748, p. 119.

Cotton Tufts to Abigail Adams Dear Madm. Weymouth Novr. 24. 1797— I received Your Favour of Octobr. 17. last, and have agreably to your Request consulted Deacn Pierce, respecting an Addition to your Dwelling House, He is of opinion that if an Addition be made in Front, (which He supposes to be practicable) it will be necessary to take the east Chimney down; the Floors below & in the Chambers must be taken up as well as some other Parts of the Rooms— upon the whole he does not advise to that Addition, but think thinks that adding 25 or 30 Feet on to that Part of the West End of the House which makes the Kitchen or otherwise extending it into the Garden, beginning at the End of the Brickwork as it joins on to your large Closet and running Northward to the End of that side of the House, would be most likely to compass Your Wants— I desird the Deacon to give me a Plan of it, it has been made some Days, but have not had an Opportunity to send for it—1 The Stones for the Woodhouse Cellar are collecting, To accomplish your Wishes with

310

November 1797 respect to this Building, It appears to me to be necessary to add 12 Feet on the Back of the woodhouse or if you thought best you might carry it the whole length of the Library office— perhaps it may be best to placce the Chimney on the Side of the Room adjoyning the office rather than at the End, I doubt whether it will answer to build the Chimney on the outside as you proposed— A Fire Place & oven will be wanting, this must rest on Stone or Brick at least 6 by 9 Feet— However I propose to consult Mr. Newcomb and will write you further upon this as well as upon the Addition above mentiond with the Plan—2 As you left no Directions what You would have done with the Legs & Shoulders of Pork, I mentiond it to Mrs. Cranch and she consented to take them & prepare them for smoking, and have told Porter to deliver them to her for that Purpose as soon as I have an opportunity shall put up a Barrell of Burrells Cheese and forward to you— The St. Germain Pears I found to be so knotted & few in Quantity, that I thought You would not wish to have them sent, nor will they answer for the Market, and shall take the Liberty to distribute them among your Friends— I have wrote in great Haste & with a Head confused, have not Time to copy— Cotton Tufts Your Affectionate Friend & Kinsman RC (Adams Papers). 1 This plan has not been found. 2 The stonemason John Newcomb was engaged to work on the construction. In a letter to AA of 10 June 1798, Mary Smith Cranch

reported that Newcomb was “very Slow about his part” (Adams Papers). For a summary of the construction at Peacefield, see AA to Tufts, 14 June 1797, and note 1, above.

Cotton Tufts to John Adams Dear Sr. Weymouth Novr. 27. 1797 Since my last to you, Porter has finishd ploughing the Meadow on the back of your House, the lucky Moment was embraced for the purpose, no Time before or since would have answer’d. the Land by Bass is also broke up— The Manure in the Dung yard has been ploughd several Times and a considerable part of it carried upon the Clover Field on the Hill and on the Land designd for Barley, the latter would have been ploughd before this, had not the severe cold Weather prevented The Manure that would be wanted on the Hill, it was thought best to get there before the Spring, as the Hill at that Time of the Year is very spongy— There has been a great Scarcity of Sea Weed this fall, but little could be collected— The cold Weather sits in with Violence, that I fear they will not be able to get

311

Adams Family Correspondence much, although some late Storms have thrown considerable on the Shores— As there will be some Fire Wood to be collected this Winter, Would it not be best to take a Piece and cut it smooth, rather than to ramble about the Lots for it— Mr. Porter observed, that He thought the Growth of Wood in your Lots had been injurd by consulting the Ease & Convenience of cutting & getting it, rather the Benefit of the Woodlot— For a fortnight past, the Weather has been cold, the Thermomr. for several Days stood from 20 to 25— this Morning it stands at 19°. With fervent Wishes for your Peace Comfort & Happiness / I am Your Affectionate Friend & H Servt. Cotton Tufts— RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “President of the United States”; endorsed by AA: “Dr Tufts 27 / Novbr 1797.”

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia Novbr. 28th 1797 I received your kind Letter of Nov’br. 19th by this days post. I had previously received two others both of which I had replied to, but I do not know how to pass a week without hearing from you. at the same time I received your Letter, I also had one from mrs smith informing me that She had received Letters from the col of 2d of Nov’br and that he had written her word that he Should be home soon.1 she accordingly gave up the thoughts of comeing to Philadelphia, which is a very great dissapointment to me. I fear she will be waiting & expecting, expecting & waiting, the rest of the Winter, but I cannot advise her not to stay a reasonable time. she writes me in anxiety at not hearing a word from her Aunt. sister Peabody did not use to be inattentive to her Friends— She knows the Boys are well and happy, but She should know that there Mother is not so, and for that reason is the more anxious for her Children, and wishes to have it to say that she hears often from them; for she may be blamed for placing them at such a distance from her, without considering the utility it is of to the Children— I have written repeatedly so has mrs smith, both to sister and the Children— before I left home I wrote & inclosed in one Letter a ten Dollor Bill.2 I never received any acknowledgment of it. Betsy should write if her Mamma cannot. pray do You represent the matter to her. I have re-

312

November 1797 quested that all Letters may be sent on under cover to the President at Philadelphia, and I will see them forwarded. The city of Philadelphia is very Healthy at this time. I have had my Health much better than for several years past. I have not had a single days confinement since I left Quincy. the President took a bad cold by riding with the carriage windows down a very raw day in complasance to the Military, and was confined ten days after we came here, but good Nursing got the better of it. The senate and House have dispatchd their answers already to the speech. I believe they were asshamd of their delay the last session.3 What said the Duke de Liancourt to the President, soon after the late constitution was adopted in France, do you think of our Constitution? I think replied the President, who was then vice President I think that the directory are Daniel in the Lions Den. the Directory however, saw their Fate, and having an Army at their beck, banishd the Lions, before they devoured them but still the Den ya for them and will sooner or later have them. the measure of their iniquity is not yet full, they are instruments in the hands of Providence to scourge the nations of the Earth. 29th Mr Bartlet from Haverhill attended the Levee.4 I requested the President to ask him to take a Family dinner with us, which he did, and I was happy to learn by him that he brought Letters to Mrs smith, so that I hope her mind is more at ease. I did now however get any, but that as I hear they are well I do not So much care for— I will thank you to make my Bacon for me, and when it is fit to smoak let mr Belcher carry it to the same place he got the other smoakd at but I do not want it here. God Willing I will eat it at Home, & stay not an hour here longer than Duty requires— I should like to have a Barrel of cheese sent if can come immediatly otherways I fear we shall be frozen up— as to Butter I do not know as I am not there to work it myself I fear it will not be put up so as to keep. I hope mrs Pope will not forget me.5 pork I should like to have a plenty of that. I inclose you a 5 dollor Bill I forgot amongst my Pensioners old Mrs Hayden.6 pray send her two, and get some salt peter & Molasses with the other to do my Bacon. Will you be so good as to see that Pheby does not suffer for wood or any necessary.— I this moment have received a Letter from your son of 21 Nov’br a

313

Adams Family Correspondence November– December 1797

Adams Family Correspondence very excellent Letter. he writes me that Mrs Cranch was better, that Richard had been sick with the Quincy but was better William had a bad cold. he is doing well I hope. he writes in pretty good spirits. no News of mr Johnsons Family tho they saild the 10 of sepbr. I am under great fears for them I think Baxters resolution a good one. the next News I expect the parson will be courting— I am sorry to hear Mrs Greenleaf has been so unwell. my Love to her and mrs Norten a kind remembrance to all Friends / affectionatly your / sister A Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Papers). 1 Cranch to AA, 15 Oct., 2 Nov., and AA to Cranch, 31 Oct., 15 Nov., all above. The AA2 letter to AA and the WSS letters to AA2 have not been found. 2 AA to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 25 Sept., above. 3 On 27 Nov. the Senate adopted a reply to JA’s 23 Nov. address, noting that “we hold ourselves obliged, by every tie of duty which binds us to our constituents, to promote and concur in such measures of marine defence, as may convince our merchants and seamen that their rights are not sacrificed, nor their injuries forgotten” and offering its support “in all such measures as may be necessary, either to enable us to fulfil our engagements at home, or to cause ourselves to be respected abroad.” The reply was presented to JA on 28 Nov., to which he responded, “Nothing has afforded me more entire satisfaction, than the coincidence of your judgment with mine, in the opinion of the essential importance of our commerce, and the absolute necessity of a maritime defence.” The response from the House of Representatives, presented on 29 Nov., stated that regardless of the outcome of the negotiations with France it did not “doubt of the sincerity

of your efforts to conduct the negotiation to a successful conclusion, on such terms as may be compatible with the safety, honor, and interest of the United States.” The House noted its regret over Spain’s delays in fulfilling the terms of the Pinckney Treaty and responded to JA’s comments on the intrigues of foreigners toward Native Americans by claiming, “No means in our power should be omitted of providing for the suppression of such cruel practices, and for the adequate punishment of their atrocious authors.” JA replied the same day, “I rejoice in that harmony which appears in the sentiments of all the branches of the Government, on the importance of our commerce and our obligations to defend it” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 472–475, 642–643, 652). 4 Bailey Bartlett, for whom see vol. 7:404– 405, represented Massachusetts in the 5th and 6th Congresses (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 5 Probably Sarah Whiting Pope, for whom see vol. 8:147–148. 6 Judith Stevens Hayden (ca. 1712–1806), to whom AA had given small monetary gifts for a number of years (vol. 7:432, 433; Sprague, Braintree Families).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Sister Quincy November 29th 1797 I thank you for your Letter of the 15th of Novbr. before this I hope you have receiv’d another Letter from me but I shall be very cautious what I Say if tis liable to be inspected by the President without your leave he thought he must Say Something I suppose make his

314

Adams Family Correspondence November– December 1797

November–December 1797 peace with me for taking Such libertys. I do not remember what I writ but I believe no treason. I am glad mrs Smith has heard from the Colln. I thought he could not have neglected her in such a manner. I believe her Boys are well but I have not heard a word since the Letter you receiv’d only by mr & mrs Smith I wonder Sister has not written to mrs Smith I will write to her about it— Decm: 3d Thus far I had written when Mrs Bond came in to make me a visit of a few days. So that I had only time to send you a few lines last week I have deliver’d your message to mr. Whitman & he returns his very best respects to the President & you with his thanks for your approbation & wishes, & assures you that they have great weight with him: but Still the coldness of mr & mrs Black with the distance of Deacon webb tho they all promise to be very friendly to him will prevent his acceptance of our offer. mr Cranch would have him venture I think he would be very happy here. but he is too nice mr & mrs Black are obstinate mrs Spear admires the man but her Husband does not like him because he Studies law mrs webb has given him her vote & the People in general warmly advocate his Settling1 he din’d with Captain Beal a thanksgiving day & has been in town ever Since: din’d, with Capn. Adams yesterday but mr Black has not taken the least notice of him—yet he says to mr Cranch—I will be very Friendly to mr whitman if he Settles here— mr w will Send his answer tomorrow but it will be in the negative— I am certain Mr Black will be Sorry for his behavior. he Should have Told mr whitman his objections & convers’d upon the Subject mr W gave him Several openings but he wav’d it— there will be warm work at the next town meeting— mr W is too good a Preacher to be lost. so, another difficulty in mr Ws mind is, there does not appear to be Spot of ground for him to Build a House on which would be handy to the meeting house. a Single man he says might take time to accomidate himself but he must have a place to put his Family in— I hope we Shall get fix’d Soon or we Shall split all to peices What a wretched peice of business was the Slip of paper you inclos’d it cannot hurt the President—but Shews there Spite their gall & venom— there was Something very affecting in the old mans address— I dare Say he went away as much gratified by the obliging

315

Adams Family Correspondence November– December 1797

Adams Family Correspondence manner he was receiv’d tis a wonder if he does not come again & bring his wife to see madam— I hope you invited him— The Presidents Speech is much admir’d but I think it contains a gloomy picture— I was glad to hear of your Sons welfair will you remember my Love to them when you write & offer my congratulations to your eldest upon his marriage— I have had a Letter from mrs Cranch within a day or two She is much better & the children quite well but She was oblig’d to wean her baby my Letters to her had more affect upon her than her medcine mr & mrs Norton & their little ones are well mrs Greenleaf has a Boil gathering under her arm tis very troublesome She is otherways well— Cousen Eliza Sends her duty to you & desires you would not bespeak the cap yet as she fears it will be out of fashon before She shall want it— the Swain has not had any business at mr Marshes Since he brought her from Boston about a month Since Parson Montague has waited upon her this evening to see her mother—2 Sister is nicely your affairs go on well at your house I des[ign] to go there again soon & see that all is Safe I hope you w[ill be] able to return earley in the spring / to your affectionate Sister M Cranch RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Richard Cranch: “Mrs: Adams. / the President’s Lady / Philadelphia.”; endorsed: “mrs Cranch / Novbr 29th / 1797.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 That is, Abigail Marsh Spear (1756–1812), who married Lt. Seth Spear on 15 May 1788, and Nancy Nash Webb (1751–1835), who married Deacon Jonathan Webb (1752–1826), a tanner who held several town offices, on 27 Feb. 1775. The Webbs resided on Hancock Street in Quincy (Sprague, Braintree

Families). 2 Rev. William Montague (1757–1833), Dartmouth 1784, was the rector of Christ Church in Quincy from 1793 to 1799 (Carlos Slafter, “The Schools and Teachers of Dedham,” Dedham Historical Register, 4:99–100 [July 1893]).

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my Dear son Philadelphia December 2 1797 I have the pleasure of informing you and Mrs Adams of the safe arrival of mr Johnson and Family in George Town on the 25 of November, after a passage of 60 Days. I heard from mr Cranch that the Family were all well. I had written to him previous to their arrival to give me immediate notice of it, and I yesterday had the Satisfaction of writing to mrs Johnson to congratulate her upon her arrival in America, as I now do both you and my dear Daughter, for when I wrote last to you both; I was under very serious concern for their safety tho I dared not to express it to you.1

316

Adams Family Correspondence November– December 1797

November–December 1797 I wrote to you last week by way of Hamburgh, and inclosed to you the speech at the opening of the Present Session of Congress.2 I now send you the answer of the senate and House. heitherto there has appeard a disposition to moderation Cander and uninimity. I sincerely hope they will have but one object before them, the ultimate Good of the Country. I sent you last week by way of Hamburgh a mess medly of News papers, from different parts of the union, that you might see the politicks of them collectively there were two or three Virgina papers which containd a Series of Numbers under the signature of Aristidas. these have been published in the Washington Gazzet. I have learnt from a correspondent there, that the supposed Author, is a Doctor Brown, Brother of the senator of that name from Kentucky. he has lately returnd from Edinburgh where he received a medical Education. he establishd himself in the city of Washington, and became the founder of a Jacobinical club, at the Head of which was placed, a dr Cuningham by Birth an Irishman and a Roman Catholic, but excommunicated for infidelity, and now openly atheestical but a Justice of Peace, and a Distiller of Whisky—a man possesst of some talents with a smattering of learning. the rest of the club were composed Chiefly of Foreigeners of no Education. in this hopefull Society, publick measures were discusst and from this fountain, and Similar ones, have issued most of the foul streams which have polluted our Country, from Men of no Principles, no Religion, and no Country. Brown finding his sentiments not Congenial to the taste of the inhabitants of Washington, removed to Kentucky as a Soil more congenial to them. the design of these publications is to decry the Government of the united states, and to recommend one similar to the French constitution, with a directory. fortunately for America, the French are not Stationary enough in their Political career, for to recommend their Government to Americans. The Age of frenzy I hope is passed, and giving place to the Age of Reason, and cool reflection. I have been thus minute in this History that you might know who are made use of, to spread the Principles of anarchy and confusion amongst us. this city abounds in such Characters. here is the focus, yet with all their exertions, there cause grows into disrepute, and is daily weakning. should we be forced into a war, which God forbid, parties would again assume a face of voilence My Love to Thomas. I do not forget him tho I have not written to him by these two last conveyences— I am most sincerely and / affectionatly yours &c.

317

Adams Family Correspondence December 1797

Adams Family Correspondence RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A Adams / 2 December 1797 / 12 Jany Recd 1798. / 19 Do Answd:.” Tr (Adams Papers). 1 For AA’s request for immediate notification of the Johnsons’ arrival, see her letter to William Cranch, 15 Nov., above. Cranch reported the Johnsons’ arrival and his subsequent introduction to them in his letter to AA of 26 Nov., in which he also returned let-

ters AA had sent to him (Adams Papers). AA’s letter to Catherine Nuth Johnson has not been found; there are no extant letters from Johnson to AA. 2 AA to JQA, 23 Nov., above.

Abigail Adams to William Cranch my Dear sir. Philadelphia December 3d 1797 I had the pleasure of receiving from you a very excellent Letter last week,1 which fully proves that neither your Patriotism, or abilities have sufferd any elimination by your engagements in the ploding buisness of an accomptant, tho a course of years might have blunted the Edge of literary persuits, which are much better suited to your Education, taste and usefulness in Life. I rejoice therefore in your return to the Bar, and in the assureance that you derive new pleasure in the persuit. Providence has kindly orderd, that every step of improvement whether moral or Mental, should be attended with complaceney, and that industery in laudible persuits should be a never failing source of satisfaction.2 I most sincerely wish you a success, proportionate to your Merrits, and ample as Your wishes— The calumny which has issued from many of our presses, unmolested, and almost uncensured upon some of the wisest, best and most respected Characters in our Country, is a disgrace to it.3 both at Home and abroad the Eyes of the whole World are upon us, and our Liberty, as well as that of other Nations, is degenerated into licentiousness as shakspear expresses it, [“]No might nor greatness in Mortality can censure scape, back wounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes, what power so strong can tie the Gall up in the Slanderous Tongue”?4 The observations which I made in a former Letter upon the publications in the Washington Gazzet were designd to express the mistaken policy of the Printer in giving an Antifederal Tone to it, and by that means injuring the reputation of that Rising city, by disceminating poison through it, at its very Birth. I have the best Authority to say, that the Chief Majestrate of the union wishes to see it pros-

318

December 1797 per and succeed, nor do I believe that he will, any more than his Predecessor, throw any obstical in the way of a Removal to it, at the stated period, if it is then in a state to accommodate Congress and he should be in office. for I can most sincerely assure you, that neither the President, or any of his Family have any devotion to this city in preference to any other but before complaints are utterd, Gentleman should determine what their real object is. if this week one Scheme is offerd, the next retracted and an other brought forward, and before that can be executed, revoked and a third offerd, it is necessary to weigh them all maturely, that a consistant and decisive answer may be returnd. you have the thanks of your Friends for the Hint given. I hope Congress will rise early enough in the spring to give the President an opportunity of visiting the city before we go Northward I received your Letter with the inclosures and thank you for your communications, and for the intelligence of mr Johnsons arrival which I read in the paper just at the Time I received your Letter. I had a Letter from Quincy from your Mamma on the same day.5 they were all well. I inclose to you two papers one of them contains a peice from the columbian Centinal addresst to the Bishop of Norwich. the other is a reply to it, under the Signature of an English man, a very well written peice as you will perceive. I know not the writer, but it is too good to pass unnoticed. the writer in the Centinal, whoever he was, wrote like a Man zealous for the honour of his Country, but like a Man who had never seen any other, and assumes too much. the Englishman tho candid writes like a man who has not been beyond this state, certainly not as far Northward as Boston, or he would not have past over our state House, and mentiond the new Bank building in this city, as the only specimin of classick taste & knowledge in Building. the Chaple tho Gothick without, is an other instance of fine Architecture. the Theater built under the direction of mr Bulfinch is an other.6 He ought also to be reminded, not to judge of a Whole Country so extensive as America, by a single city where the Religious establishment of Quakerism has given to every other denomination a tast which at least, has an influence upon the Manners of the whole state, in preventing that liberality of sentiment and that union harmony, and cordiality which is more Characteristic of the Northern states than this. That America has not acquired any great taste for the fine Arts, must be allowed when that day arrives, we shall be nearer a state of dissolution than I hope we are at

319

Adams Family Correspondence Present, but there has been too prevelant, and a eager grasping after Property, an unbounded thirst for speculation, and a sacrifice of Principle of Honour & of concience at the shrine of Mammon— if you think the publications worth reprinting, they may at least keep out those which are less usefull. be kind enough to return them to me when you have read them as I wish to preserve them Remember me kindly to Mrs Cranch. I feel her sorrows but it is her duty to strive to overcome them. few of us but have a share, and some of the same nature. I am sure I am not exempt I write to you with the same freedom I should to a son and have the same confidence in your honour cander and affection for next to my own Children there are none Dearer to me than those of your Family. with sentiments of the / Sincerest Regard / I am your affectionate / Aunt Abigail Adams RC (MHi:Adams-Cranch Family Papers). Dft (Adams Papers). 1 Cranch to AA, 21 Nov., above. 2 In the Dft, AA also included the sentence, “A Modern Writer observes that there is no state So happy as that of an industerous Man in the exercise of his skill and abilities.” 3 In the Dft, AA continued, “both for purity & morality.” 4 Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act III, scene ii, lines 196–199. 5 Likely Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 19 Nov., above. News of the Johnson family’s arrival at Georgetown, D.C., was reported in the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 1 December. 6 An article in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 8 Nov., commented on a sermon preached in London by Charles MannersSutton, the bishop of Norwich, before “the society for propagating the gospel in foreign parts.” The article by “An American” lauded the bishop’s tribute to George Washington but challenged his assumptions about the organization’s role in guiding Americans from “the darkest stage of ignorance” to “an enlightened people, possessing . . . many eminent and distinguished characters.” Instead, he argued that American education and culture were superior to those of England: “There never was a day from the first emigration to this country from Europe, that the body of the people on your island, possessed more light and information, in proportion to their numbers, than were in the possession of the civilized people of these states collectively.” He

also held up JA’s Defence of the Const. as superior to any English writer’s consideration of government. In response, the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, which had reprinted the Centinel article on 17 Nov., published a condemnation by “An Englishman” on 25 Nov.: “Let not an American presume to repress the arrogance of Englishmen, till he can speak of his country in other language than that of hyperbole.” The author allowed, “I would not . . . insinuate that you have nothing of your own, or that all you possess is immediately derived from us,” but in a clear reference to JA noted, “Those serpents amongst you . . . have heaped epithets of reproach on those whose services might command the highest honors; who have, by broken quotations, and distorted inferences, from his work, basely accused Him, of holding principles hostile to your most excellent constitution, who of all others, has most ably defended it.” About American architecture “An Englishman” asked, “Where throughout the continent can you produce classic taste and knowledge in building, except that single specimen, the new Bank of the United States?” The Bank of the United States in Philadelphia was designed in neoclassical style by Samuel Blodgett Jr. Construction began in 1795 and was nearing completion at this time, although the bank had opened for business in July 1797. In Boston a new state house, designed by Charles Bulfinch, was similarly begun in 1795 and based on a neoclassical style;

320

December 1797 it was finished in Jan. 1798. The chapel was King’s Chapel, the first stone church in Boston, designed in 1749 by Peter Harrison of Newport, R.I. For the Federal Street Theatre, see vol. 10:x (James O. Wettereau, “The Oldest Bank Building in the United States,” Amer. Philos. Soc., Trans., 43:72–73 [1953];

Harold Kirker and James Kirker, Bulfinch’s Boston, 1787–1817, N.Y., 1964, p. 81, 82–83; Priscilla Metcalf, “Boston Before Bulfinch: Harrison’s King’s Chapel,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 13:11 [March 1954]).

John Adams to Joshua Johnson Dear Sir Philadelphia Decr: 4th 1797— A Letter from my Nephew, Mr: William Cranch of the City of Washington, informing me of your arrival, gives me an opportunity of congratulating you and Mrs: Johnson and the young Ladies, on your good fortune in seeing your Native Country, after so long an Absence and so tedious a Voyage— I have at the same time to thank you for an amiable daughter, and to congratulate you, on the acquisition of another worthy Son— May the young Couple enjoy every felicity under the blessing of Heaven, be a Comfort to us all, and ornaments to their Country— I recollect with pleasure the agreeable Hours I used to pass with you in France, and in England, and should be very happy to see you all in Philadelphia.— I am with Esteem and Affection / Your most obedient. John Adams LbC in Samuel Bayard Malcom’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Joshua Johnson Esqr:”; APM Reel 117.

Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts Dear sir Philadelphia December 6 1797 I received your Letter of Novbr 24 by the post of yesterday. with respect to the Notes you wrote me about I wish you to do by them as you would by your own, as I do not want at present neither Principle or interest. I think it would be most for my interest to do by them as you propose. the method you mention of adding to the out house so as to give me a dairy Room I like very much, and would leave it to your judgment. I think it would be best to have it large enough to take of a closset that cold vitictuals &c may not be mixt in with dairy affairs. I should be glad to have it compleated if possible before I return in the spring, but the winter has sit in with great voilence here, and the Rivers are already frozen up so that I fear we

321

Adams Family Correspondence shall not have a Chance of getting any Cheese here. Congress are but just getting into Buisness, and the vice President is not yet arrived to sit six months together, regulating debates, moderating Warmth and reading papers, is a laborious task, and what I fancy the Present VP. does not like so well as Rocking in his Pivot Chair, or amusing himself with the vibration of a Pendilum. I have never yet seen the southern Man—Washington excepted, who could bear close application for any length of Time. what a ringing would there have been in all the Jacobinical papers from one end of the united states to the other if somebody else had done so! we are all well. the cold Weather has intirely put a stop to the yellow fever, and no person would now suppose that such a calamity had ever befallen the city the synod recommended a day of fasting and prayer. the difference between this place and N England, was this, being recommended by a Body of Presbeterian Ministers, none of the Church Clergy would join in it, every shop in the city was open as usual and a very Small proportion of the inhabitants attended worship buisness and pleasure went on as usual.1 Remember me to mrs Tufts and all other Friends from your ever affectionate Abigail Adams. RC (Draper Memorial Library, Hopedale High School, Hopedale, Mass.:William F. Draper Autograph Coll.); endorsed: “Mrs. Adams Letter / of Dec. 6. Recd. the 19th.”; notation: “7.” 1 On 28 Oct. the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania proclaimed a fast day for 7 Dec., although it appears to have been held instead on 30 Nov. (Philadelphia Gazette, 6, 24 Nov., 6 Dec.).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia december 12th 1797 I receied yesterday your kind favour of 29 Nov’br and 8th December. I had a few lines from you on monday I got my Letter to day to myself. I believe I shall not venture to communicate it. the President will be very angry with Some of his Neighbours, if through their means we lose so good a Man, as is now in our power to settle. the judgement of those in opposition is weak. I would sooner take the opinion of Gaius, with regard to the merrit of a Preacher than either of them. I do not know what their objections are. spear ought to know that the scriptures combine the Gosple with the Law. I fancy mr B s objection are not much more forcible. I think mr Whitman ought not to decline merely on account of those per-

322

December 1797 sons who all of them, I have not a doubt will be conciliated by a prudent conduct. to mr Flint there was an obstinate intemperate opposition from a certain quarter which I always condemned, and tho I did not like mr Flint so well as mr Whitman as a preacher, yet both the President and I determined to Sit down quietly with him if he had accepted the call of the people. I have a regard for and Love my Neighbours but I cannot but condemn their conduct on this occasion and look upon it as mere obstinancy to make themselves of concequence. poor Mrs Hall & her Husband are both Dead. they left a Child, but for some reason, I cannot devine what, her Brother will not let me, or any of the Family find it or see it, tho on mr Blacks account and from the regard I had for Mrs Hall I have taken some pains to find it, and know how it was Situated. I have written to Mrs Black respecting it—1 Mrs smith is gone back to East Chester determined to wait there the arrival of the col. we had a Letter from him this week. he was then at fort stanwick on his way to East Chester he Says it was dated 29th november— it was directed to Thomas supposing him, private secretary to the President2 we have not any late Letters from London. I presume mr Adams is gone to Berlin I had a Letter from Thomas dated the 10 of sep’br Thomas speaking of his new sister says, “she is indeed a most lovely Woman, and in my opinion Worthy in every respect of the Man for whom she has with so much apparent Cheerfulness renounced father and Mother kindred and Country to unite her destinies with his” this is a great deal for Thomas to say. I inclose to you some remarks from Fennos paper upon some of Baches lies and abuse and a strip of paper containing Baches round assertion that the observations Printed in the Boston Centinel upon the sermon of the Bishop of Norwich were “Positively known” to proceed from the pen of the Duke of Braintree as he stiles the President. if this has not been printed in any of our papers, let it be sent to the Mercury to insert, that the world may see what bold and daring lies these wretches are capable of.3 yet when calld upon for proof, they have not a word to offer. the wretch who is supposed to have written this for the Aurora is a Hireling scotchman Campbel by name, who fled from England for publishing libels against the Government, and has been employd by the Jacobins here to excite a spirit of opposition to the Government.4 who the writer of those remarks upon the Bishops sermon was, is as Well known to the Pope of Rome, as to the President scarcly a day passes but some such

323

Adams Family Correspondence scurility appears in Baches paper; very often unnoticed, and of no concequence in the minds of many people, but it has like vice of every kind, a tendency to corrupt the Morrals of the common people. lawless principls naturally produce lawless actions.— I have not heard from your son since I wrote you last. I am glad to learn that Mrs Greenleaf is like to get rid of her complaint by a collection of the cause of it to one point. I dare say she will find herself better— Miss Alleyne is gone to Levingstone Manor to pass the winter with her sister.5 mr G f is yet confined, tho I believe he hopes soon to be liberated. The vice President is come and dines here to day with 30 other Gentleman— Remember me kindly to mr Cranch and respectfully to Mrs Welch. tell cousin Betsy I will send her an old Maids cap, that will never be out of fashion— Love to Mrs Norten and family. how much charigned shall I feel if you write me that mr Whitman has given his answer in the Negative. I hate Negatives when I have sit my Heart upon any thing— half the year I must sit under as strong Calvinism—as I can possibly swallow and the other half—I do not know what is to come my paper reminds me to close; and my company that I must dress for dinner. yours most / affectionatly A Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 On 7 Dec. AA wrote to Esther Duncan Black to inform her of the Halls’ deaths during the recent yellow fever outbreak and to report that their two-month-old daughter was being cared for by her uncle, William Black, and a hired wet nurse. AA promised to check on the infant and to continue to send the Blacks information (NcD:Trent History of Medicine Manuscript Coll.). The infant was Ann (Nancy) Hall, a niece of Moses Black and his brother William, a silk and stuff (woven textile) shoemaker at 110 South Street in Philadelphia. Raised in Quincy by Moses and Esther Black, Hall would marry James Taggart of Genesee Co., N.Y., in Jan. 1819 and settle in Byron, N.Y. (AA to Esther Black, 18 Dec. 1797, NcD:Trent History of Medicine Manuscript Coll.; Norfolk County Probate, 18:461–463; Philadelphia Directory, 1797, p. 28, Evans, No. 32868; OED; Sprague, Braintree Families; Boston Weekly Messenger, 4 Feb. 1819; J. M. Toner, “Report on American Medical Necrology, 1878,” Transactions of the American Medical Association, 29:770 [1878]). 2 Not found.

3 For the original article in the Boston Columbian Centinel, see AA to William Cranch, 3 Dec. 1797, and note 6, above. A squib in the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 5 Dec., countered its praise of JA’s Defence of the Const., describing it as “three volumes of trumpery and dullness, which are now selling from the book-stalls in London for waste paper” and claiming that the laudatory comments were “positively known to have proceeded from the modest pen of the Duke himself.” In response, the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 6 Dec., castigated the Aurora for exceeding “in impudence the general tenor” of the newspaper. The Gazette also challenged the Aurora’s conclusions about the Defence, noting the publication of new editions in Britain and the United States and its publication and influence in France. In Boston, it was the Columbian Centinel, 13 Dec., that denounced the Aurora article, contending that JA could not have authored the original 8 Nov. Centinel piece because he was in New York when it and the response were published.

324

December 1797 4 AA likely meant James Thomson Callender. 5 Anne (Nancy) Penn Allen, whose sister Mary Masters had wed Henry Walter Living-

ston in Nov. 1796 (vol. 9:168; Charles P. Keith, The Provincial Councillors of Pennsylvania, Phila., 1883, p. 152).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy Decr. 17th 1797 I design’d to have written you last week but was prevented by company I have receiv’d your Letter of November 28th & thank you for it I always wish to receive one a week at least but I have no right to expect it constantly as I know your time must be taken up with more important matters. I cannot myself write so often as I wish but be assur’d you shall hear from me often— I rejoice in your health & I pray for its continuance the President has I hope recover’d from the ill effects of his complasance how did you escape taking cold at the same time? I believe you deriv’d more pleasure from the respect Shown than he did—he says you love parade better than himself—but I who know you both am well Satisfied that Darby & Joan are never So happy as when at home attending to their rural occupations & Surrounded by their chosen Friends & neighbours Bach Greenleaf & Cronicles Lies notwithstanding their Gall there venom cannot hurt you— I receiv’d a Letter a few days Since from sister Peabody She & the little Boys were well, but little Nabby had the misfortune to have one of her Eyes very much hurt by Sam. Livermores accidently runing a pair of Scizers into it— Sister was affraid for some time she would have lost the Sight of it—but it was better but very weak— I shall write to her & desire her to write often to mrs Smith & Shall give her the particular reasons you mention Your Bacon is pickling I hope it will be good I shall send mrs Hayden the money you sent her— I have been uneasy about your carpets— I went & examin’d the Boxs they were in I found the mice had made very free with them & found them very convenient to deposit their young in mr Porter took them out Shook them & put them in again & Stop’d all the holes—but I found the cornhouse So over run with mice I could not feel easy about them I went again about ten days ago & upon examining found they had knaw’d holes & were again in eating the carpets we brought two into the house & spread them on the floor one of the largest we Slung up in the cornhouse three I brought home & spread them on our Chambers two of them in chambers we do not use but Seldom & one in my chamber over

325

Adams Family Correspondence which I shall keep an old one to save it from any hurt by wear or any accident I could think of no other way to keep them from being ruin’d till you return’d. there is one more large one I do not know what to do with mr Porter promis’d to look at it daily but I Shall go again & see that it takes no harm— I hope you will not think I have done wrong in spreading them here if I had rol’d them up I was affraid the moths or mice & indeed both would have hurt them. as they are they will take no harm. If I Should use the chambers I shall take care to cover them. a little Brooming will do them no harm. nothing could be more dirty than they were. they appear to have been drag’d along the cow yard & all its contents rol’d up in them I begin to discover what colours they were originally compos’d off. if you inlarg your house you will find Rooms for Some of them tis a pity to have them distroy’d by vermin Doctor Tufts Says he will send you pork & cheese. Pears you had none worth Sending mr Porter gave me a Small Basket of them for which I thank you— this is Sunday we have no preaching to day the Town met last Monday to receive mr Whitmans answer which was in the negative it was a very full meeting & a vote was taken to see what or how great the oppisition was, & it appear’d there were present Seventy nine for & nine against Sitting mr Whitman mr Black mr Seth spear & two of Willm spears Sons Deacon webb Capn. James & Peter Brackett Jonathen Baxter & Jo Field were against him—1 mr Black said he Should be easey if mr whitman Settled come to meeting pay his Taxes & treat mr w. in a Friendly manner but he could not in conscience vote for him— he gave his reasons to mr cranch— they are not all difference in Religious Sentiments. he is not grave enough & a little too volatile for mr B—& a number of other things which mr B did not chuse to say in publick he Said to mr Cranch. mr w must make a great many Sacrifices to settle here. he is much in debt. if he comes here he shall be oblig’d to sell at a Loss he cannot bear. here he could not purchase to an advantage to ballance it. his Brethren of the association Say if he Settles again in the ministry it must be where he can purchase a Farm cheap he has not the faculty to Labour upon it as some ministers have he is good natur’d. will hire men & let them work or play as they please he was not regularly dismiss’d. he ask’d a dismission & they gave him thier consent to leave them & a recommendation I think the study of the Law will be more for his advantage & more to his tast than the grav-

326

December 1797 ity of the Pulpit— I love to hear him Preach & I beleive he would make a good speaker at the Bar— we have invited him to supply the Pulpit for three months longer but not as a candidate whether he will or not I cant yet say— I never think it best to force things some who were violent against mr Flint are now as violent for mr w.— mr Flint is to be ordaind at Cohusett the first wednesday in January. they will have a prudent descret minister—2 I wish we may have as good a one— mrs Norton & her two Sons Richard & willm were here a Friday She is well— I never saw her look better she sends her duty to you & her uncle & her Love to cousen Louissa mr & Mrs Greenleaf are well She is not quite Strong yet her baby is very good & very pretty. If colln Smith returns I hope it will be to make her very happy I feel very Sorry when I think She is not plac’d more to your & her mind had she been left to have follow’d her own plan of education her children would have done her more honour— Sister Says she finds it difficult to make mr Peabody believe that their Mother is a woman of Breeding & politeness. Parents must be united in their mode of education or their children will suffer I desir’d mr Porter to carry Pheby a Load of wood she is oblig’d to be continually washing for her Husband he keeps his bed wholly & I think cannot live out the winter she has a dreadful hand with him mr Cranch talk’d to the Select men about her & told them they ought to allow her Something for nursing him. Deacon webb appears to be willing. mr Porter gave her meat when he kill’d the creatures— I have told her to apply to me if She is in necessaty for any thing— I thank you my dear Sister for your attention to my Son & Family. I hope he will do well— he has had a very Sick Family but they are now better I have a Letter from her every week & write to as often She Says She almost thinks me with her Cousen Betsy is well. mr Foster was here last thursday night has not been here before Since he brought her from Boston five weeks ago I did not know whether he was ever expected again for we change not a word on the subject. She has deny’d any connection So often that I never design to begin a conversation upon the matter any more. if She leads to it I will follow her not else. they were up long after the Family were in Bed. this is not her custom with any one else. If he has not offer’d hims[elf] She has given him oppertunitys enough to do it—& I would not Say he had not— I have a bad cold & cough which has confind me pretty much to

327

Adams Family Correspondence the house for a fortnight I thought it almost gone till the late warm days. I beleive I added to it then my Stomack is very Sore— will you my Sister lend me your arm’d Straw bottom chair that you us’d to set in when you liv’d at your old House I will get one made Soon tis for mrs welsh she wants one this winter to lean her head against in the evening— Sister Smith is a little unwell but not bad I think She has been better this fall than usual not so many fits Uncle Thaxter fails fast his Son was here last week Says he thinks he will live but a very little time aunt is well as usual— Uncle Quincy is well mrs Pope has your Pot for Butter— mr Cranch is well & joins in Love to the President your— / ever affectionate Sister Mary Cranch RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs Cranch 17 / decbr 1797.” Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript. 1 Possibly Capt. James Brackett (1769– 1855), the son of the Quincy tavern keeper of the same name; Peter Brackett (ca. 1753– 1827), the son of Moses and Sarah Jones Brackett; and Joseph Field (1749–1836), a son of Joseph and Abigail Newcomb Field. The Spear brothers were possibly William

(1739–1805) and Stephen (1742–1802), sons of William (1708–1782) and Hannah Penniman Spear (Sprague, Braintree Families). 2 Rev. Jacob Flint was ordained the minister of the First Parish Church of Cohasset, Mass., on 10 Jan. 1798 (Sprague, Annals Amer. Pulpit, 2:466).

Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody my Dear sister Philadelphia Decbr 18th 1797 I wrote to you from East Chester, but I believe I have not written to you from hence.1 I was dissapointed in not receiving a Letter by mr Bartlet from you, tho I was much pleased in learning that he brought Letters from you to mrs smith. Seperated as she is from all her connections except her little Girl, and living in a village where she has not any Society, communications by Letters are the only means she has of intercourse with her Friends, and she feel more sensibly the want of them, from her retirement I had depended very much upon her comeing to pass the Winter with me, but late advises from the Col. have alterd her determination as she now daily expects his return to east Chester. there can be no difficulty of communication, if your Letters are put under cover addrest to the President of the united states, and Sent to the Haverhill post office. I have been here 5 weeks the city has apparently recoverd from the depression occasiond by the late Calamity. indeed a stranger, to

328

December 1797 come into it, would not see a Symptom but the Burying Ground to manifest to him that such a Destroying Angle as the late Pestilence had visited the City. Publick amusements are commencing as usual the Same eagerness and persuit of pleasure is visible. the disease assailed the poorer class of people who were crouded together in small apartments and those very dirty. The Irish scotch and foreigners of that desscription were chiefly the victims. every person who could find an assylum, fled the city to the number of 30 thousand. The inhabitants of this city shut their Ears and their understandings against the Idea of the diseases originating here, and they are ready to anathimize every person who even suggests Such an Idea. I am fully in the opinion that it is imported, and that it originates here also the same cause will produce the same effect in the West India climate as here, a putrid state of Air, occasiond by a collection of filth, heat and moisture. a proof that the disease is caused by such a state of Air, is that a frost immediatly destroys it. I hope my Dear Boys are good Children, that they pay a proper attention to their Books and are respectfull to their Preceptor dutifull to you kind and affectionate to their cousins and schoolmates— I want to see them for my Heart is much engaged in their welfare— I have inclosed to mr Peabody 50 dollors to pay the Board and tuition of the Children whatever overpluss there may be he will credit it on my account. I inclose to you ten dollors to pay their quarter washing and any other expences you may have been out for them. Mr Peabody when he sends me a receit will be so good as to send me quarterly the shoe makers Bill or whatever else he may have against me.2 give the Boys out of the money half a dollor a peice if you think proper for a new years present. I regreet that you do not write to me oftner. how is cousin Betsy this Winter. my Love to her. how is William? does he have his Headakes as he had last Winter? he will be at home I suppose in the vacancy. tell him to write to me. I have many Letters to write to my Children, and other correspondents, and the Duties and ceremonies of my station occupy much of my Time The President desires to be rememberd to you, and so does RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers); endorsed: “December 18th 1797.—” 1 Not found. 2 In a letter to William Smith, also of 18 Dec., AA enclosed letters for Rev. Stephen Peabody, not found, and likely this one. She also sent a post note for $50, which she asked Smith to change and forward with the letters (MHi:Smith-Townsend Papers).

329

Adams Family Correspondence

Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams My Dear Sister— Atkinson Dec. 19th 1797 Least I should forget it, I acknowledge the receipt of ten Dollars you sent while I was at Haverhill, but in the multiplicity of my thoughts I for-got to mention it—1 you will please to excuse me— I have conversed with Mr Attwood about receiving pay for his expences he absolutely refuses taking anything for his trouble— The extra, charges I have seen payed, by mony Mr Attwood, & I found in his trunk, some of which you gave him, & between thirty & forty dollars, which he had obtained by the sale of lemmons &ccc— He had likewise a new watch which cost him twenty Dollars— Mr William Smith made me a visit, & gave the nurse, more than any other woman, but Mr Atwoods Sister ought to have— As Mr Atwood would not take anything, I supposed no one could have any objection against his making what use he pleased of Cousin Charles’s Cloathing, taking them for his other prentics, or what he chose— Mr Atwood has likewise spoken for decent gravestones, which are now doing, & will be set in the Spring— If Louisa has any lines, comprehensive, short & perspicuous that she would like to have engraved, I wish she would send them on, as soon as possible— Your Grand Children are well, & are in a very good way— Cousin William loves to be quiet, but John beats all for noise— I ask him what you did with him, & how his mamma could bear it— We have talked coaxed, flattered, & assumed a sterner manner, & all does not avail, but for a moment— I cry soft—soft my Child—instead of “steady steady,” which was of so much service to the Prince2—but it is not from ill will, but a shocking habit of speaking as sharp, & as loud, as a boatswain—or a coachman driving over pavements— He is a dear boy notwithstanding—& we all love him— I was very glad you checked the Children about going to Boston— I feared I should have tears, but I did not see any— What you, & their mamma writ was of service & it strengthened our authority, & gave sancttion to our advice— Their Aunt Shaw was so good as to send for them, to keep thansgiving with her—sent them a nice ginerbread, & an excellent letter— This was a new trial for their manliness—but I easily perswaded them to tarry here till the Spring— Cousin John said he would not go, if William did—& they appear quite easy— Indeed they should—for I am sure they are better off than thousands—they have necessaries & comforts— The Cotton you sent made them three

330

December 1797 Shirts a peice, exactly. & I have made each of them a pair of trowsers out of a riding coat, which was tight, & I never had worn but 5 or 6 times—& I thought it would be better than any I could purchase for them— I have knit Cousin Williams Stocks, Johns I have not knit, because his mother sent word she had some she should convey to us—& I supposed he had better wear those out, as there was none younger to take them— Cousin John improves in writing you will see, & William too— William’s manners are muh softer, & they are both much more respectful than they were—but still my Sister it is necessary to add precept, to precept, & line upon line— if I did not find my own Children always deviating from rectitude, I should think other peoples Children had not been taught propriety of behaviour— I conclude therefore, that it is best never to put Children under the care of those who have not been Parents—nor of those, who cannot remember how they conducted in their youth— I have not heard from Quincy for several weeks, I fear Eliza Smith will triffle away a worthy friend—but it is a delicate point for me to say, or to urge a connection, I presume the difference of age being, upon what is called the wrong side, is an insurmountable objection—sad—sad I think— I had a letter from my William—he has got the Influency, it is prevalent here— I hope he will come home soon to your Sister E Peabody RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs Shaw / decbr 19 1797.” 1 See AA to Peabody, 25 Sept., above. 2 Possibly a reference to John Bancks, The History of the Life and Reign of William III. King of England, Prince of Orange, and Hereditary Stadtholder of the United Provinces, London, 1744, in which an attempt by the English in 1678 to lure the Dutch into declaring war on France was rebuffed by the

Prince of Orange, who said, “Was ever any Thing so hot and so cold as this Court of yours? Will the King that has been so often at Sea never learn a Word that I shall never forget since my last Passage? When in a great Storm the Captain was all Night crying out to the Man at the Helm, Steady, Steady, Steady” (p. 126).

Ann Thompson Gerry to Abigail Adams My dear Madam Cambridge Decr 21st 1797. I acknowledge the receipt of your very obliging favour of th’ 23d of Novbr 1 and should have done myself that pleasure before but was prevented by a severe indisposition (from which I am now pretty well recover’d) and the afflicting loss of my Father which has called my Sister from me2

331

Adams Family Correspondence I am extremely anxious to hear from Mr. Gerry at Paris I find by my letters from him previous to his quitting the Hague that the other Gentlemen where misinformed with respect to the place he sailed for having heard that it was Havre instead of Rotterdam which occasioned their proceeding without him I hope that as soon as any probable cojecture can be formed of the time of his return you will be so obliging as to inform me of it. with my best respects to the President and wishes for many returns of the season I remain / Dear Madam with sentiments of the highest / respect and esteem your obliged friend Ann Gerry3 RC (Adams Papers). 1 In her letter to Gerry of 23 Nov., AA relayed news of the safe arrival of Elbridge Gerry at Rotterdam en route to Paris (private owner, 1971). 2 In addition to giving birth to a son in October, Ann Gerry was suffering from an eye ailment. Elbridge Gerry consulted several oculists in Europe and transmitted their recommendations in several of his letters. Ann Gerry had also learned about the death of her

father James Thompson, for whom see vol. 7:142 (Gerry, Letterbook, p. 24, 27, 31). 3 Ann Gerry wrote again on 15 Jan. 1798 informing AA that she had received a letter from her husband with news of his arrival at Paris and that the envoys had presented their letters of credence and received cards of hospitality but were waiting for further response from France (Adams Papers).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy December 24th 1797 I have not been So shock’d for a long time as by the account of mr & mrs Halls death. Cousen Louisia mention’d it in her Letter to her sister which accompany’d yours to mrs Black.1 I sat down & wrote a Letter to her my Self to prepare her for what she was to find in yours & sent our Boy with it. the weather was So cold & I almost Sick with a cold that I could not go to carry the melancholy tydings in person both mr & mrs Black are greatly affected they had been a long time uneasy at not hearing from them. mr Black concluded mr Hall had when he left the city met with a Farm which he had purchas’d. but why he did not hear from him was strange. they are greatly oblig’d to you for the trouble you have taken in informing yourself of So many circumstances relative to them I have just left them. their anxiety now seems Wholy about the child. it would be difficult bringing So young a baby so far in the winter. they wish to know if the nurse is a married or a Single woman if the later if She would be willing to come with the child. but above all if you can find out whether tis taken good care of & is with a person who will

332

December 1797 not be likely to give it any bad dissorder they Shall feel themselves under the greatest obligation they hope that these Solemn Scenes their Brother has had to go thru will have a good affect upon him mr Black will go to Philadelphia in the spring & bring the child here—if it lives mr Black wishes to know a thousand things about them which she says she never shall know mr willm. Black has not a happy talent of communicating his Ideas mrs B Says if she could get the child here she would bring it up by hand She should not value any trouble She should be at if She could but know it was well treated that its mother was always the most attentive nurse to her & that she can now only reward her by being a mother to orphan Babe She would be greatly oblig’d to cousin Louisia if She would call & see the child if it would not be improper for her so to do. Some time, When the nurse did not expect it Or get mrs Brisler or some of your Girls to go She thinks you could form a better judgment than only to see them at your house. She would not ask Such a favor but in behalf of helpless innocence. She knows the profligacy of the city & is always affraid of a mercinary nurse. If you Should find that all is not right she begs that you would perswaid mr Black to let another be procur’d She would wish it might be one who would be willing to come here with it. She should feel miserable if you was not in the city She told me— There is no one without trouble our neighbour mr Prat has lost a Son cotton Prat went to sea you know with Capn. Brown returning home in a very windy night he was upon the ropes doing Something & fell & was drown’d.2 Pheby will Soon be deliver’d from her trouble I believe Abdy is just gone. he is hardly alive now. they thought him dying last night mr Porter carried her some wood & I sent her Such things as I thought She wanted. I certainly Shall not let her Suffer if She will let me know her wants. She has had watchers for these three weeks. the Town are never enough you know in providing for Such things. I sent her cheese Sugar rice raisins meat &c. I beleive She needs bread corn as much as any thing— the weather continues extreamly cold we have not Snow enough for Slieghing— we & all our Friends are well mrs Black will write to you Soon herself She does not use her pen So often as we & must take more time She has deputized me for the present I hope you are well & will let me hear from you often I feel disappointed when the mail comes & nothing for me— yours affectionately M Cranch

333

Adams Family Correspondence mr Whitman Supplys the pulpit till march. preach’d two excellent Sermons to day Love to the President & cousin L RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs / Abigail Adams / Phladelphia”; endorsed: “mrs / Cranch / Decbr 24 / 1797.” 1 For AA’s letter to Esther Duncan Black of 7 Dec., see her letter to Cranch, 12 Dec., and note 1, above. 2 Probably Cotton Pratt (b. ca. 1772), the eldest son of Mary Green and Thomas Pratt, for whom see vol. 10:279 (Sprague, Braintree Families; History of Weymouth, 3:517).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia December 26 1797 I received Your Letter by this days mail of 17th I am mortified at the loss of mr Whitman, tho from what you wrote me I apprehended it would be so. every one has a right to their own opinion, and my conscience suffers as much when I hear mr. & mr & mr deliver sentiments which I cannot assent to & preach doctrines Which I cannot believe, as my Neighbours because a Man does not wear Calvinism in his face, and substitute round Os for Ideas—but we must be doomed to a—a droomadery— I am out of patience—and yet I am brought down, for last week I was obliged to lose Blood, and, confine myself for a week in concequence of one of my old attacks. I had some Rhumatism with it, but am getting better, and should have ventured to ride out to day if the weather would have permitted.— I could not see company on fryday Evening, nor the gentlemen to day who attend the Levee. Mrs Cushing came last Evening and took tea with me. I promise myself some society with her. most of the rest is parade & ceremony. Next Monday is Newyears Day and we shall have a tedious time of it I thank you for the care of my Bacon & carpets. I had much rather they should be down on your floor than not. as to the Chair, I pray you take it. I had Letters from Mrs smith this week.1 she thought it best to part with mr & Mrs King as her family were small, so that she now has only one Man to look after the stock, and a Boy & Girl. in that manner she lives without a Human being to call upon her from one week to an other, buoyd up with an expectation of the col’s return which however I have very little faith in. the old Lady is going out to stay with her now, which will render her situation more tolerable.2 I know she relucts at the thought of comeing here. if I was in private Life she would feel differently.

334

December 1797 I was fully sensible that the Boys must be taken from all their connections to break them of habits which they had imbibed. there were a train of uncles and Aunts and servants to spoil them and very few examples such as I wisht to have them innured to, and I dread their Fathers return least he should take it into his Head to take them away. I rejoice to hear that mrs Norten and Family are well. I hope mrs Greenleaf will recover her Health. Slip the inclosed into her Hand when you see her, and say nothing about it.3 where is mr Wibird & is he this winter? multiplying and increasing as he was? 5 dollors are inclosed that you may apply them to the use of Pheby as her necessities may be. I have not heard from Washington Since I wrote you last. I have been the communicator of very Melancholy News to mr & mrs Black. I was much Shockd when John returnd from mr Halls House and brought me word that they were both dead, and when the Baby at my request, was sent to me to see, I felt for the poor little orphan an inexpressible tenderness. it is a fine Baby and the Image of its poor Broken Hearted Mother, who the Physicians agree, dyed with fatigue and dejection of spirits without any symptoms of the fever. I hope mr & Mrs Black will take the child as soon as it is weaned. The President has agreed that he will not open any more Letters to me, and will be satisfied with such parts as I am willing to communicate. accordingly he has not opend any since I scolded So hard about it. pray if you have got the song of Darby and Joan do send it me. I do not recollect but one line in it, and that is, [“]when Derbys pipes out Joan wont smoke a whiff more”4 and I know they were represented as a fond loving conjugal pair. Baches object was to bring such a Character into Ridicule. true French manners in Religion and politicks is what he aims to introduce but corrupt as our manners are, there is yet too much virtue to have such doctrines universally prevail Remember me to all our Friends whom I hope to see again in the spring / and be assured I am my dear / Sister your ever affectionate Abigail Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 Not found. 2 Likely Margaret Stephens Smith, AA2’s mother-in-law. 3 Enclosure not found, but in her reply of

14 Jan. 1798 Cranch forwarded Lucy Cranch Greenleaf ’s “duty to you & thanks you for every expression of your affection towards her” (Adams Papers).

335

Adams Family Correspondence 4 “And at night when old Darby’s pot’s out, / His Joan will not smoak a whiff more”

(“The Joys of Love Never Forgot,” Gentleman’s Magazine, 5:153 [March 1735]).

Abigail Adams to William Smith Shaw my Dear Nephew 26 December 1797 I received by the last post your kind Letter and the Poem of Mrs Mortens which the President had received a few days before from the Author “For the beloved President of a Free and enlightned People, the following Poem is gratefully and Respectfully offerd, by the Author” I would fain flatter myself that the fair Authoriss did not take a poetic lisence in this sentance; I send you in return Erskine speeches on the trial of Thomas Williams for Publishing the Age of reason and Giffords Letter to Erskine. I like mr Erskines Religious sentiments much better than his Politicks in the former he is a very good Christian, in the latter a very great Heritic. Gifford has proved himself a much more enlightned Politician, and places Erskine intirely in the back ground.1 I have lately been reading Letters of a Lady written in France during a residence there in the years 92 93 94 95 prepared for the press by this same mr Gifford they are admirably well written and corrobarate the facts which we received from other pens of most of the Horrours which stain this unparaleld Revolution in France intersperced with sentiments and reflections which do honour to the Head and heart of the writer. What is to be the fate of that devoted Nation no Humane foresight can determine. a more despotic act was never perpretrated by the most absolute of Tyrants, than banishing untried Such a number of citizens Legislators. I can not describe my sentiments on this subject better than quoting the words of this Lady in her Letter of June 3 1794 before the Death of Robespierre. The individual sufferings of the French may perhaps yet admit of increase: but their Humiliation as a people can go no further; and if it were not certain that the acts of the government are congenial to its principles one might suppose this tyranny a moral experiment on the extent of human endurance than a political system.2 the late tyrannical mandates of the directory, shew the weakness and instability of a form of government which is incapable of resisting opposition, and which knows no medium between yealding to its adversaries, or destroying them. force alone is Law. I would send you Porcupine papers, sometimes if you do not see them. he is frantick with joy and exultation just now for the Victory

336

December 1797 obtaind by Admiral Duncan over the Dutch. he crows and claps his wings and says the English ought to have blown them all up. a good Haunch of a fat Dutchman would be worth more than the whole Body of a san cullot. he is a sad dog, but his Wit is without malice, tho he frequently decends to Blackguardism3 When you go to Atkinson do You write a Letter to mrs smith & tell her how her Sons are. she will receive it very friendly of you. cover it to me and I will forward it. Johnson kept sabbeth with me & went off on twesday last for George Town. write me again, and I will not omit replying to you. you mend in your Hand. your uncle says you will do very well in time. adieu your affectionate / Aunt AA Dft (Adams Papers). 1 Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton’s Beacon Hill. A Local Poem, Historic and Descriptive, Boston, 1797, Evans, No. 32512, was dedicated to the “citizen-soldiers” of the Revolution and took as its subject “the great events” of the war that “originated within the view of this interesting eminence.” Neither the letter from Shaw to AA, nor a communication from Morton to JA, have been found. The works AA sent Shaw in return were The Speeches of the Hon. Thomas Erskine . . . on the Trial the King versus Thomas Williams, for Publishing The Age of Reason, Written by Thomas Paine, Phila., 1797, Evans, No. 32093, and John Gifford, A Letter to the Hon. Thomas Erskine; Containing Some Strictures on His View of the Causes and Consequences of the Present War with France, Phila., 1797, Evans, No. 32191. 2 A Residence in France, During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795; Described in a Series of Letters from an English Lady, 2 vols.,

London, 1797, of which the letter dated 3 June 1794 describes several mass executions under Robespierre’s regime and declares, “Such are the horrors now common to almost every part of France.” The portion quoted by AA derives from the first paragraph of the author’s letter (2:116, 120). 3 Adm. Adam Duncan (1731–1804), commander of the British fleet in the North Sea, defeated the Dutch fleet in the Battle of Camperdown on 11 Oct. 1797, capturing nine ships of the line and two frigates. Between 18 and 23 Dec. the Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette gleefully reported the victory under titles such as “Drubbing the Dutch” (18 Dec.) and “Lambasting of the Dutch Confirmed” (19 Dec.). The editorial comments to which AA referred were published on 18 Dec.: “I imagine that the gammon of a fat Dutchman must at least be as good a dish as that of a care-worn prison-worn aristocrat” (DNB; Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:482–483).

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother. Berlin 28. December 1797. I believe it is almost three months since I wrote you last. The interval has been a disastrous and distressing period to me, and as while our misfortunes were pressing upon me, I had not the time to write even to my dearest friends, so now that as I hope they are past, I feel little inclination to give you pain by a minute recital of them. It may suffise to say that soon after the date of my last Letter I sailed with my little family from London for Hamburg which place

337

Adams Family Correspondence we reached after a stormy but not a long passage.1 From Hamburg we proceeded hither by—Land, I was going to say; but it is rather an ocean of a different description, or what Milton would call a windy sea of Land—2 That is abo[ut] 200 miles of continued sand-banks, converted by the wetness of the season into bogs of mu[d.] We reached Berlin on the 7th: of last month, and three days after began my severest affliction[s.]3 My wife and brother one after the other were seized with violent and dangerous illnesses.— At a tavern—in a strange country—unacquainted with every human being in it, and ignorant in a great measure of the language, you can judge what we all suffered, though in the midst of all our mischances we had the good fortune to find a good physician, an Englishman who has for many years been settled in the Country.—4 My wife and brother thanks be to God, are now both recovered, though with regard to the former a remainder of anxiety must rest upon my mind untill time shall discover whether her Constitution has suffered any injury.— She is now well and desires me to present her duty to my parents. It will I am very sure give you pleasure when I assure you that I find her every day more deserving of all my affection. You will hear of other untoward circumstances relative to my public business, such as the time of my arrival when the Sovereign to whom I was accredited was at the point of Death, and his decease a few days after which deprived me of an Audience to deliver my credentials, together with the consequent necessity of waiting some months for new ones. I have hitherto seen nothing of the Country, and very little even of the City. Great part of the time have been confined and engrossed by domestic concerns as well as by the sickness in the family. And having had an Audience of the reigning king, I have found it necessary to conform to the usage of being formally presented to all the Princes and Princesses of the royal family, who are at Berlin, and they are numerous.5 It has introduced me to a large circle of Company; but from whom little information of any sort is to be obtained. Among the inconveniences which I find myself subjected to by this residence is a separation from my library which I had assiduously collected in Holland. I had embarked them for Lisbon, before I was acquainted with the change of my destination; there they safely arrived as I have lately learned, and there for the present they must remain. I have now but a very few, that I brought from

338

December 1797 England, and have purchased here. There will be enough of them no doubt to employ all the time I have to spare.— But to be without books seems to me as it seemed to the famous Dr: Clarke when he had lost his wife. He imagined that his soul had parted from him. While I am writing, I receive a Letter from my father, dated EastChester, 25. October. I was in hopes of one likewise from you.— With respect to my appointment here, I feel properly grateful for the intentions with which it was conferred upon me.— I cannot and ought not discuss with him the propriety of the measure.— I have undertaken the duty and will discharge it to the best of my ability, and will complain no further. But I most earnestly entreat, that when there shall be deemed no further occasion for a Minister here, or for me to remain here, I may be recalled, and that no nomination of me to any public office whatsoever, may ever again proceed from the present chief magistrate. I willingly allow that merit in one family has as good a right to notice and employment as in another. But the President is the constitutional judge of merit in general, for the purpose of nomination to Office, and as it respects me, I know that he is a favourably partial judge.— I am certainly not disposed to disqualify his judgment with regard to any other man on earth but myself. The present period is considered as very important by the accession of the present king, who is a young man about twenty-seven years old. But I do not imagine it will be followed by any immediate important effects or by any alteration that will have an influence upon the affairs of Europe. The Prussian dominions have profited by the Peace which they have now enjoyed nearly three years, and the young king though of a military turn, has too much good sense to begin his reign by involving his People in a War.—6 He has certain qualities in his character, which are not very common among kings, but which may serve if any thing in the present times can serve both to support and adorn a throne.— He is distinguished for private and domestic virtues, and makes not his high station a shield to protect a dissolute life, or to indulge himself in luxurious indolence and dissipation.— He is active, industrious, constantly attentive to business, and exhibits an uncommon simplicity of manners, habits and personal appearance. The Queen is a Princess of Mecklenburg Strelitz, about twenty-two years old, very beautiful, and said to be equally amiable.— Her Sister is widow of the king’s brother who died an year ago. She is only nineteen, and is also very handsome.—7 The

339

Adams Family Correspondence king has also two younger brothers the Princes Henry and William, and one Sister here, the hereditary Princess of Orange.—8 There are further the famous Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of the great Frederic, and his Princess.— He does not however reside at Berlin, but at Rheinsberg about 30 miles off. He came here however on the occasion of the present king’s accession, which procured me an opportunity of being presented to him.9 Another brother of Frederic the second, Prince Ferdinand, and his Princess now reside at Berlin, and a daughter of their’s who is married to a Polish Prince Radziwill.10 The dowager of the late Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, is likewise a Prussian Princess and now lives here.— To all these persons it is customary for all foreign Ministers to be introduced, which I have been accordingly as well as to the Queen dowager, widow of the late king. I have also met in company the Duke of Brunswic and the present Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; not without some little satisfaction, and recollections which became the more lively as the former was accompanied by the General Baron de Riedesel, who made many enquiries about America, and in particular after General Schuyler, of whose treatment to him at the time when he was taken with Burgoyne at Saratoga, he spoke with much gratitude and satisfaction.11 I am placed at a distance too remote from the great scenes which are acting in Europe, to give you a good account of them. You know that the Emperor and France have made Peace by sacrificing between them the State of Venice, and perhaps some of the German States. A Congress is assembled at Rastadt to treat of a Peace between France and the German Empire.12 Buonaparte is the first of the french Plenipotentiaries, and after that is to take the command of the army destined for the conquest of England.—13 Buonaparte affects great splendor and magnificence every where out of Paris, and as great meekness and simplicity there.— The Emperor and the English Government want to make him king of Italy, or at least of the new Cisalpine Republic, and probably most of the monarchical governments in Europe would favour such a design. Buonaparte himself, who if not quite so great a General as Ceasar, is as genuine a democrat, has no objection to the exercise of sovereign power, as he has proved by his rescripts which have been obeyed as laws throughout his Republic ever since its establishment, and by his appointment of the whole legislative and executive powers, for this time only.—14 He has already become almost too great for his mas-

340

December 1797

7. “le général bonaparte proclamant la république cisalpine à milan le 9 juillet 1797,” by louis lafitte, 1813 See page xii

341

Adams Family Correspondence ters of the french Directory. If he should go to England and succeed he will be too great for a french Republic.— England is weak enough and ill governed enough to be conquered, and they have not a single military character of any reputation to command their armies in case of an invasion. If the Frenchmen can land, I would not venture any great stake upon the efficacy of defence against them, and yet I think if Buonaparte has his wits about him, he will not undertake the expedition.— I say nothing of our own affairs with the terrible Republic. We shall find her to the last, what she has been to us from the first moments of her existence; a domineering, captious, faithless, and tyrannical sister; but of one thing I have no doubt: it is that her open enmity will be less pernicious to us, than her perfidious pretended friendship. As long as the earth is curst with such beings as Sieyes and Merlin of Douai, we are not to look for any thing like Justice or candour or honesty from the ruling power of France. Ever affectionately your’s. RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “[Mr Adams?]”; notation by TBA: “No 32 / 31. October 7th:.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. Tr (Adams Papers). Text lost due to wear at the edge has been supplied from the LbC. 1 JQA to AA, 7 Oct., above. 2 Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III, line 440. 3 JQA, LCA, TBA, and Tilly Whitcomb departed Gravesend on 18 Oct. and arrived at Hamburg on the 26th, remaining there until 2 November. They arrived at Berlin on 7 Nov. and stayed at the Golden Sun Hotel (Hôtel de Russie) on Lindenstrasse (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27). For LCA’s account of the journey, see LCA, D&A, 1:53–55. 4 LCA was treated by Dr. Charles Brown, for whom see LCA, D&A, 1:55. She was pregnant when they left London and miscarried shortly after their arrival in Berlin (LCA, D&A, 1:xxx, 53; D/JQA/24, 16–19 Nov., APM Reel 27). For her account of her illness, see LCA, D&A, 1:66–67. 5 JQA presented his credentials to the Prussian ministers of foreign affairs on 9 and 10 Nov. but was prohibited from an audience with King Frederick William II. The king died on 16 Nov. and was succeeded by his eldest son, who was crowned Frederick William III. On 23 Nov. JQA learned that the ministers had requested an audience with the king for JQA prior to the arrival of his new credentials. The king agreed on 3 Dec., and JQA’s

presentation was scheduled for the 5th, prior to which it was suggested that he request audiences with the royal courts of the two queens and the various princes and princesses. He sent ten such inquiries on 4 and 5 Dec.; see, for example, his letter of 4 Dec. to Monsieur de Massow (LbC, APM Reel 132), requesting an audience with Queen Louise Auguste Wilhelmine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Over the next week, JQA endured what he described on 15 Dec. as the “cross of presentations” (LCA, D&A, 1:56; D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27). 6 For the Franco-Prussian treaty signed on 5 April 1795, see vol. 10:422. 7 That is, Frederica Sophia Carolina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the widow of Prince Louis Charles (1773–1796). For LCA’s impressions of the queen, her sister, and many other members of the Prussian court, see LCA, D&A, 1:58–61. 8 The king’s siblings were Prince Friedrich Heinrich Karl (1781–1846), Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Karl (1783–1851), and Princess Frederica Louisa Wilhelmina (1774–1837), the future queen of the Netherlands (George F. Nafziger, Historical Dictionary of the Napole-

342

Adams Family Correspondence December 1797 – January 1798

December 1797 – January 1798 onic Era, Lanham, Md., 2002, p. 125, 127; Daniel Rosenfeld, ed., European Painting and Sculpture, ca. 1770–1937: In the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I., 1991, p. 52). 9 JQA was presented to Wilhelmina of Hesse-Cassel, Princess Henry, on 7 Dec. 1797 and to Frederick Henry Louis, Prince Henry, on the following day (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27). 10 That is, Prince August Ferdinand and Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Princess Ferdinand; their daughter, Frederica Dorothea Louise Philippine, Princess Radziwill (also Princess Louise); and her husband Prince Anton Radziwill (LCA, D&A, 1:58, 61). 11 On 5 Dec. JQA was presented to Frederica Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, the dowager queen, and three days later to Philippine Auguste Amalie of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Countess of Hesse-Cassel and the widow of Count Frederick II (1720–1785). JQA was invited to dinner following the latter presentation, and the guests included Count William IX of Hesse-Cassel (1743–1821); Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick; and Friedrich Adolf Riedesel, Baron Eisenbach (1738–1800), who had commanded Hessian troops for the British Army during the Revolution, surrendered at Saratoga in 1777, and who had been held by the Americans until 1780 (vol. 9:306; D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27; LCA, D&A, 1:56, 61; Princess Louise, Fortyfive Years, p. 418; The Writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone, 1763–98, ed. T. W. Moody, R. B. McDowell, and C. J. Woods, 3 vols., N.Y.,

1998–2007, 3:80; Washington, Diaries, 3:362– 363). 12 Under the terms of the Treaty of Campo Formio, a congress was convened in late 1797 at Rastatt, Germany, to negotiate peace between France and the German empire. Although French intimidation of Austria and the German states led to the cession of the left bank of the Rhine, the negotiations, riddled with intrigues and territorial machinations, ultimately proved futile. The congress dissolved in April 1799 amid the resurgence of war (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:634, 641– 642, 654–655). 13 Wary about the return of Napoleon and his troops to the French capital, the Directory appended an announcement to its proclamation of the Franco-Austrian peace on 26 Oct. 1797, directing troops not to disband but to set their sights on Britain. They also named Napoleon commander of the Army of England. In Feb. 1798 he made a brief tour of the northern coastline to assess the feasibility of a naval invasion, recommending instead that the appearance of an invasion be used as a diversionary tactic for other military efforts, namely securing the mouths of the Elbe and Rhine Rivers or disrupting British commerce with the East Indies by invading the Levant (Biro, German Policy of Revolutionary France, 2:942–943; Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:594–595). 14 For Napoleon’s proclamation of the Cisalpine Republic, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 7, above.

Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams my dear son Philadelphia Jan’ry 3 1798 I Embrace the opportunity by the British packet of writing you a few lines, tho I have not any thing very material to communicate to you. I have already informd your Brother and sister of the safe arrival of her Parents and sisters at George Town after a passage of 60 days.1 Since which, I have received Letters both from mr and Mrs Johnson both of whom with the young Ladies were well. young mr T B Johnson came on from Cambridge & past a couple of days with us on his way to visit his Parents. when he returns, I expect the pleasure of a visit from the Family2

343

Adams Family Correspondence I wish I could learn as much respecting my dear Children at Berlin, but not a line has reachd us of a later date than 16 sep’br from London.3 Congress have been in Session ever Since Nov’br I forwarded by way of Hamburgh the Presidents speech at the opening of the session, and the answers of the two Houses. all have yet gone on cooly. at present the Country is more quiet and tranquil, than for several years past. it is not infested with Jacobin Clubs—and tho no doubt there is combustible materials sufficient to kindle a fire. it is watching for a fit occasion, whilst the Friends of Government are waiting with consumate Patience the result of the Extraordinary mission to France, supporting their losses with patience, and restraining their indignation, knowing that they have a right to justice, for the wanton plunder committed in defiance of Treaties, and the Laws of Nations. The News of Admiral Duncans victory over our Friends the Dutch, has excited feelings of compassion for them. so have the exorbitent requisitions of our Galic allies. we pitty them all, and can say to them whilst we commissirate your sufferings, we beseech you to keep your distance, and do not infect us with your Pestilence Mr Munroe has just publishd a Book of four Hundred and six pages.! which he calls a “view of the conduct of the Executive of the united states” illustrated by His instructions and correspondence, and other Authentic Documents; Fauchett has also written a Book, and these two luminous works, have Shone so Bright upon all good Democrats, that all Mistery is dispelld, and the Executive alone is found Guilty, of the crime of loveing their own Country so well as whilst desireing and wishing to do justice to all, to be unwilling to subjugate it self to any one.4 some of the Jacobins do not even want to read Munroe. they are sure he was the injured Man and to requite him for his Patriotism, they fully intended he should have been Govenour of Virginna, but it so happened that—he had not a vote, and what was still worse a Federalist is chosen in his stead.5 well there is one more Chance, and it is said mr Tazewell designs to decline an other Election to make way for mr Monroe in the Senate. There has been one other Book written by a Gentleman formerly in publick office, but as I do not wish to circulate scandle, I shall not send it you. I dare Vouch for it, your Brother has had it, or accounts of it.6 some persons have given it the tittle of “whose’s the Dupe.[”] others of a more proflicate turn have quoted the old saw, of the

344

Adams Family Correspondence January 1798

January 1798 greatest sin this side Hell, is first to kiss and then to tell; but confessions have not washd the Ethiope white, nor at all cleard up the publick transactions, which stood fair and unshaken, by the disclosure of a private Amour. alass—alass—how weak is Humane Nature. I know not into whose Hands this may fall. it would not be prudent to write any thing but what is known to the world. I saw your Friend mr Charles Hall yesterday who inquired affectionatly after you. he is doing very well in his profession. he is to dine with us to day. I heard from your sister last week. she is well. I wish I could add happy Charles is doing well in Buisness. our Friends at Quincy are well and at Boston— I got your Letter by mr Hall, tho not untill a long time. he very unwisely put it into the post office, and in a list of letters publishd as remaining in the post office, I saw my Name.7 the Ring committed to him, he unfortunately lost I am not however less sensible of the Gratefull remembrance of the Donor— Your Father is so pressd with buisness that he cannot write you by this opportunity. he desires to be rememberd to you, and to your Brother, to whom I have not time now to write Wishing each of you many happy returns of the season, I am my dear Children / your ever affectionate / Mother Abigail Adams I send Report on Blounts conspiracy— RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs: A. Adams. / 3 January 1798 / 12 Feby Recd: / Do Answd.” 1 See AA to JQA, 2 Dec. 1797, above. 2 Catherine Nuth Johnson did not visit AA in Philadelphia until the spring of 1800 (AA, New Letters, p. 244; AA2, Jour. and Corr., 2:177) 3 Not found. 4 James Monroe, A View of the Conduct of the Executive, in the Foreign Affairs of the United States, Evans, No. 32491, and Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet, A Sketch of the Present State of Our Political Relations with the United States of North-America, Evans, No. 32115, were both published by Benjamin Franklin Bache in Philadelphia in 1797. 5 James Wood (1747–1813) was elected governor of Virginia in 1796 and reelected on 7 Dec. 1797. He served until 1799, when Monroe was elected (Monroe, Papers, 4:291, 338; Journal of the House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Begun and Held at the

Capitol, in the City of Richmond, on Monday, the Fourth Day of December, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Seven, Richmond, Va., 1798, p. 7, Evans, No. 34936). 6 Alexander Hamilton, Observations on Certain Documents Contained in No. V & VI of “The History of the United States For the Year 1796,” in Which the Charge of Speculation Against Alexander Hamilton, Late Secretary of the Treasury, is Fully Refuted, Phila., 1797, Evans, No. 32222. The author responded to charges leveled against him by James Thomson Callender, who alleged that while Hamilton was secretary of the treasury, he and James Reynolds were involved in “improper pecuniary speculation.” Hamilton claimed that Reynolds had been blackmailing him and that his “real crime is an amorous connection” with Reynolds’s wife Maria, which he argued the Reynoldses had pur-

345

Adams Family Correspondence sued “with the design to extort money from me” (p. 9). For more on the pamphlet, see Hamilton, Papers, 21:121–145, 215–285. 7 TBA to AA, 10 Sept. 1797, above. The

New York Daily Advertiser, 5, 7 Oct., included “mrs. Adams” on its list of letters being held at the post office.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia Jan’ry 5th 1798 I received your kind Letter of December1 and was surprized to find that my Letter should convey the first intelligence of the Death of mr & Mrs Hall to mr & Mrs Black, as their Brother assured me he had written three weeks before. I told him I would take charge of any Letter from him, and could nearly vouch for its going safely I was much dissatisfied when mrs Brisler sought the Child so earnestly and could not find it, and thought it my duty to inform mrs Black of it, as I did immediatly upon his sending the child to me. my own conclusions were that it was at Nurse with Some person, and in some place that he did not chuse my people Should see. however this may be, the Nurse who brought the child and whom I saw Nurse it in my Chamber whilst she stay’d, is a very decent respectable healthy looking Woman, above the common-level of such persons here I have already written mrs Black my opinion of her and her replies to such questions as I put to her;2 I shall send some of my people to see the child as you say, when they are not expected, and I will have it brought me as often as once a Month, and I will let the Nurse know, that the Child has relatives who are much interested for it, and design to take it in the spring, if the Child lives untill the spring. the Sooner mr Black comes for it, the better, for this city is a very unhealthy place for Children as soon as Mrs Brisler is well enough she will go with Betsy, and see the Baby. mrs Brislr has had one of her old ill turns, but is better. I expect that your next Letter will bring me tydings of Abdes Death. I look upon it a release to Pheby, but I am fully sensible her days of usefullness are nearly over and what is to be done with her I cannot tell. for this Winter she must remain where she is, but there is no reason that the whole of the House should be devoted to her as it is in a manner, for no other person will occupy it, who will give any thing for it, whilst she resides there, and she must have somebody to look after her. 12 or 13 years she has lived there, and never paid a sou. more than that she has lately received as much as her

346

January 1798 House rent from me; and as long as I am able I shall be willing to do for her,—but I think some new plan must be struck out for her.3 I received Letters from sister Peabody yesterday for myself and mrs smith.4 she thinks mr Atwood ought to have some acknowledgment made to him for his trouble. she says Charles left a New Watch Worth 20 dollors. suppose that should be given him, but I know not who has a right to do it. to miss sarah Atwood she also thinks some Handsome present ought to be made. query who ought to make these presents? She ought to have what is reasonable and proper & handsome considering all circumstances, but the situation of Charles Family is well known they are not in independant circumstances. I would not have them however receive from Strangers obligations which should be thought the Family ought to reward. sister Peabody has twice written me upon this subject. she says Charles left in Money about 40 dollors with which she has paid all extra Charges. his Cloaths which were given him by mr Atwood I think ought all to return to mr Atwood. he was his appretenc and mr Atwood received from him all the service of his time &c— he treated him like a child in his sickness, and I shall ever esteem & respect the Family for it. I wish you would consult dr Tufts and mr Cranch upon it. I will be at the expence of a Ring for mrs Atwood, such as cousin Betsy smith has, for mrs Rogers. pray inquire of her and get her to have one made with Charles Name, & present it to mrs Atwood for me, and I will pay for it. I do not want this known however beyond ourselves— Tis true he was my Nephew but not the only relative I had or have who stands in need of pecuniary assistance. Marys sickness was much longer and more expensive. that too ought to be considerd. I wish you would write me fully upon the subject and whether you have had any Letters from william since the Death of his Brother— The News from abroad of the Peace made by the Emperor with the directory of France (to call it a Republick, would be a subversion of terms) is an Event big with concequences. the treatment of our envoys, as rumourd; for the Executive has not received any communication from them since their arrival in France excites however unpleasent sensations, for the insolent proposition & threat sent to swisserland a Nutral power shows us that tyrants stick at nothing.5 the threatned invasion of England I do not much credit. they may be Mad enough however to attempt it, for I believe they fear nothing so much as Disbanding there Armies.

347

Adams Family Correspondence our American minister in England is making a Tour of it, so that at this most critical moment the Government is indebted to News Paper intelligence for all they have.6 “I never left my post a moment but upon buisness for my Country during the whole war” crys—you know who— but my paper is full, and the post will be gone— adieu my dear sister affectionatly / Your Adams.— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 Cranch to AA, 24 Dec. 1797, above. 2 After reporting to Esther Duncan Black in a letter of 15 Dec. that William Black was making it difficult for her to visit the infant, AA wrote again on the 18th that she had seen the baby, Nancy Hall, who was in good health and being well cared for by the nurse (both NcD:Trent History of Medicine Manuscript Coll.). 3 Phoebe Abdee, who had previously resided in the John Quincy Adams Birthplace, was then living in one of the smaller Adams properties, described during the Dec. 1798 tax assessment as a two-story house, measuring 29 by 18 feet, and containing eight windows, the whole of which was valued at $75 (vol. 5:303; “The Presidents Valluation,” [Dec. 1798], Adams Papers, Wills and Deeds). 4 Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to AA, 19 Dec. 1797, above; no letters from Peabody to AA2 have been found for this period. 5 In late December reports surfaced in the Philadelphia press that in October France had sent an envoy to the Swiss confederation to demand the expulsion of the British envoy, whom the Directory feared was sowing the

seeds of counterrevolution against France. In November, while on his way to Rastatt, Germany, Napoleon encouraged republican factions in the Swiss cantons and recommended to the Directory that the French intervene. The Directory agreed and sent 15,000 troops into Switzerland in the opening months of 1798. By the end of March France had dissolved the Swiss confederation and established the Helvetic Republic with a constitution resembling its own (Philadelphia Gazette, 27 Dec. 1797; Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 4 Jan. 1798; Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:639, 858). 6 In the fall of 1797 Rufus King spent several weeks traveling through England and Wales, a fact that was reported by the Philadelphia Gazette, 29 Dec., and criticized by the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 3 Jan. 1798: “From London prints it appears that Rufus King, the American ambassador at the British court, is deeply engaged; he arrived at Worcester, the 10th of October—on a tour through England” (Robert Ernst, Rufus King: American Federalist, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1968, p. 227).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy Janury 7th 1798 I design’d to have written you by the friday mail but on Wednsday mr Norton came over to attend Abdys funeral (he dy’d on monday) & brought a chaise to take me back to spend a few days at weymouth.1 mr cranch went that morning to Boston So I thought I would go & return as soon as he would. but I was caught in a Snow Storm the first of any value we have had— by it I lost my chance of writing to you as I did not return till last evening I found mrs N & children well. The Doctor & mrs Tufts were tempted by the fine weather too to go to Boston & were caught as I was & I met them last evening plowing home with their chaise it took them all day to

348

January 1798 get home General Lovel married his last Daughter while I was at mr Nortons to a capn. Little of marshfield a very respectable wealthy man we all din’d their the day they were married but I shall say nothing about the splendid entertainment.2 mr Norton had a good Fee a five dollear Bill—the largest he ever had. They generally cheat him out of a quarter of a dollear—3 your Letter of December 12th I have receiv’d I am Sorry you have Set your heart So much upon mr Whitmans Setttlng here as I think he never will. I have written you that he gave his answer in the negative & his reasons. I think the opposition was not what determen’d him but the Sacrifice he must make of his property. his Friends & Neighbours advis’d him to decline as he could not Sell without doing it greatly under its value. he continus to preach here & will I suppose as long as we have a mind to hear him. but not with a view to Settling— mr ware was here lately & Saw mr whitneys answer to the Towns request.4 Says mr w totally mistook the meaning of the committe who waited upon him that notwithstanding his imprudence in that affair he is a very worthy man & wishes it was possible to reinstate him in the good oppinion of the People but thinks you can Scarcly forgive him. I told him tho’ you consider’d it as a great want of delicacy yet I was Sure you would overlook it & Set it down to want of consideration Sooner than any other person in town would do but I did not see how it was possible to bring him & the Town together again he had so grossly affronted them I am Sure I have never been half So Sorry for any ones refussing as I was for his & yet I Should have been contented & mr cranch too with others. mr Flint for his prudence if for nothing else. the President would have been pleas’d with mr whitney full as much as with mr whitman I am certain—but I hope there is yet Some choice Preacher in Store for us— mr mac-kean preach’d for us to day. he Speaks well, & gave us good Sermons I am glad we have him So near us— I sent on to you for mr Black last week Letters to you & his Brother. they are very grateful to you for the interest you have taken in the poor Child. you have prevented their wishes, but mr willm Blacks conduct is very Suspicious I hope he will not injure the child. his Brother has no confidence in him— Is coll’n Smith return’d has mrs Smith been with you I have written to sister Peabody as you desir’d but have not receiv’d an answer— I hope your health continues good. I miss you Sadly upon every account but I desire to be thankful that we are not Sick any of us this cold weather. I am concern’d about Phebe She is very unwell

349

Adams Family Correspondence & unable to do much towards her support. She seems to have a house full of Black & white about her whether they are of any advantage to her I do not know I design to have some talk with her. I have done what I could for her. wood seems to be as necessary for her as food. mr Porter carried her one load. the Town have found her some while her Husband liv’d.— mr cranch Sends his Love. mr Norton & mrs Greenleaf their duty— mr welsh feels highly gratified by your remembrance of her & desires her respect by your ever affectionate Sister Mary Cranch RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs Cranchs / Letter 7 dec’br.” 1 Rev. Jacob Norton wrote that “about 30 negroes” attended the 3 Jan. funeral of William Abdee and expressed hope that “the solemn scene be sanctified to them—particularly the widow of the deceased” (MHi:Jacob Norton Diaries, 1787–1818). 2 Hannah Lovell (1771–1826) was the daughter of Hannah Pittey and the Revolutionary War brigadier general Solomon Lovell (1732–1801) of Weymouth. On 4 Jan. she married Capt. Luther Little (1756–1842) of Marshfield, Mass., who had served as a naval officer during the Revolution and then become a merchant sea captain (Washington, Papers, Revolutionary War Series, 16:260; Sol-

omon Lovell, The Original Journal of General Solomon Lovell . . . with a Sketch of His Life by Gilbert Nash, Weymouth, 1881, p. 115–116; Salem Gazette, 16 May 1826; Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County Massachusetts, 3 vols., Boston, 1894, 2:517; Boston Daily Atlas, 26 March 1842). 3 Norton described the $5 fee as “twice as large a fee as I ever recd. before.” In contrast, the next wedding for which he recorded receiving payment garnered him nine shillings and eleven pence (MHi:Jacob Norton Diaries, 1787–1818, 4 Jan., 29 March 1798). 4 Likely Rev. Henry Ware of the First Church of Hingham, for whom see vol. 7:92.

Abigail Adams to Esther Duncan Black Dear Madam Philadelphia Jan’ry 17 1798 I received Your Letters of December the 30 & Janry 1st 1 accept my thanks for them. the Letter inclosed for Mr Black, mr Brisler deliverd with his own Hand to him. he wept at receiving it. said he would write to his Brother. Mr Brisler says there are two persons in his store, a young Man & a Lad. he has a Housekeeper Since I wrote you last my Little Friend has been again to visit me. I sent a very Worthy good young Man who lives with me to find out the Nurse, and as she is his Countrywoman and from Belfast, he met with no difficulty. he brought me word that she had a very good Room, that it lookd clean and so was the Bed he said which he took particular notice of and the Children lookd very well. the next Day I sent for her she came with the Baby, who was cleverly grown from the time I saw it before. it begins to play and spring upon its feet. it is quite lively and has cut an other tooth. the Nurses Name is

350

January 1798 Elenora Malony. I should suppose better than 30 years old. she has one child 6 Months old who is Boy. I askd her if she should be willing to go & live in New England she said yes if she could take her own child. she has two Brothers here. I askd her what she had a week for the child at first she had two dollors & half, now she had two dollors, and a pound of soap, & a pound of candles. mr Blacks housekeeper washd for the child all but its small cloaths. she said mr Black was very fond of the child, and visited it always once a week sometimes oftner—that the Housekeeper too was very fond of it, that she nursd Mrs Hall. I askd her if she was a clever Woman. she said she did not know any thing to the contrary I told her to bring the child here as often as once a week, and to let me know at any time if the child should be sick. I should advise that the baby be innoculated for the small pox in April. that is the custom here, and they usually get well through. if you agree to it, and mr Black is willing, I would request Dr Rush to take the Charge of it. he innoculated John Brisler last spring. I would chuse however to consult mr William Black about it.2 I happy in being able in any manner to alleviate your affliction for the loss of so worthy and amiable a woman as I always conceived mrs Hall to be, and it is no small Satisfaction to me to know that the little orphan will find Parents in you & mr Black I hope it will live to be a comfort to you both, and to reward you for all your solicisitude. tho Providence has not seen proper to give you Children of your own, it now seem’s to call upon you to addopt that, from which it has taken both Father and Mother— I claim no merrit from any attention I have shown towards it. I owe it, both to Humanity, and the Friendship I have for you; I have frequently been minute in my account, because I thought you would wish to learn every thing respecting the child I should think it best not to remove it untill the spring, as it appears very well nurs’d I am sorry to hear that my Neighbour Mrs Beal is so unwell, as well as for her late loss. she will soon be made happy by the return of her son, who has been a week in this city, and is well tho thin from the yellow fever which he had in Jamaica—3 Present my Regards to mr Black, and to mrs Lamb and Family4 from / your Friend A Adams RC (NcD:Trent History of Medicine Manuscript Coll., David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library).

351

Adams Family Correspondence 1 Letters not found. 2 In a letter to Black of 30 March, AA reported the successful inoculation by Dr. Benjamin Rush of Nancy Hall and the child of Elenora Malony. She also noted her assistance in procuring wood and other supplies for Malony, and she recommended that Moses Black wait until late May to travel to Philadelphia, as the road conditions would be improved by then (NcD:Trent History of

Medicine Manuscript Coll.). 3 Benjamin Beale III did not return to Quincy until March (Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 19 March, Adams Papers). 4 Rosanna Duncan Lamb (ca. 1760–1849) was a cousin of Esther Black and the wife of Boston merchant Thomas Lamb (Edward L. Parker, The History of Londonderry, Comprising the Towns of Derry and Londonderry, N. H., Boston, 1851, p. 270).

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams Berlin 19. January 1798. I am still to acknowledge my dear and ever honoured mother as the most attentive and punctual of all my American correspondents, by announcing the receipt of her kind favours of December 2. and November 23, which I mention in the order, as I received them, and which by their contents I find should have been preceded by another of yet earlier date which has not come to hand.—1 I shall endeavour still to keep my correspondence with you as frequent as it has been hitherto though more remotely situated for the transmission of Letters than I have hitherto been. Through Hamburg excepting in the Winter Season, the opportunities are frequent, and though my letters in general will be of old date when you receive them, yet I know how much better it is to receive even such communications, than to be totally neglected, as I have been by some correspondents who ought to be more attentive. For the watch and the sattin which I sent you according to your request, I paid twenty five guineas, the amount of which you will pay since you insist upon it, to Doctor Welsh.— I am very happy that the articles safely reached you, and that they met your approbation. I am much obliged to you for the newspapers. In general your packets of this kind are more fortunate in reaching me than those from the department of State; some of which have altogether failed, and even those that have come to hand are always of a very old date. The ring which Mr: Hall mislaid, was from my brother.— My wife did intend to have sent you also a ring containing some of her hair, and was only prevented because I thought you would consider the casing too gaudy.— She will take however an early opportunity to repair my fault in that particular. I have received my father’s letter containing the reasons for the change of my mission, though not the duplicate which you kindly

352

January 1798 forwarded.2 I have perhaps already said too much upon this topic. I wish not to renew it, but only to repeat that I will discharge to the best of my capacity the office which I have undertaken; that I am sure my father’s motives were perfectly patriotic as well as paternal, and that I beg above all things never again to occasion the possibility of an observation that the President nominated his own son to an office of trust and emolument. The Letter from President Willard which you enclosed, related to a little present of books which I sent last Summer to the University at Cambridge, and which I am glad to hear have arrived.— My own books unfortunately are at Lisbon, and I know not when I shall be able again to join them.— I should be glad to have them added to my father’s library at Quincy, with which they would form a very valuable collection indeed. But it would be necessary to provide a library room of capacity to contain them all— I have thought sometimes that at the end of the garden, where the old ruinous summer house used to stand, a little building might at no great expence be raised, destined for the sole purpose of serving as an Office and library. If such an one were there, I could order my books to be sent from Lisbon to Boston, and they might find a shelter under such a roof.— At present they are stored at Lisbon, and I know not what to do with them.3 I feel very much flattered by the honour done me in the election as a member of the American Academy; and yet I cannot help having some misgivings that my father had an hand in procuring me that honour.— My dearest mother, why am I so tremblingly fearful of being indebted to him for the honours and distinctions of my Country?— Am I an ungrateful child?— No! my heart assures me that I have not to answer for that unpardonable crime, for that supereminent guilt, with which depravity itself can seldom be justly charged— But I would have no advantage, no notice, no distinction but such as my own qualities should require from impartial judges, and have no Ambition to be rewarded for any merits of another; not even for those of a Parent. The antifederalism, and servile devotion to a foreign power still prevalent in the sty[le] of some of our newspapers is a fact that true Americans must deplore.— The proposal for establishing a Directory in America, like that of France is no new thing. They have given one to their Cisalpine Republic, prepared one which they still destine to their Batavian Republic and are upon the point of forcing one upon Switzerland— They purpose even to make the same present to the

353

Adams Family Correspondence Republic of Albion, as was honestly confessed recently by a member of their Council of 500, who in a debate upon the intended expedition, kindling into the most fervid enthusiasm of prophecy, declared himself fully convinced that England is now upon the very verge of the precipice, that her total and irretrievable ruin is at hand and that in a few months she will have a Directory. But they are tired themselves of that very Constitution which their tools so warmly recommend to others. They pay indeed very little regard to it. By means of the armed force, the Directory have reduced the two Legislative Councils to a subserviency nearly absolute to their will: they have no more liberty of the press than at Constantinople. They declaim against the Constitution in the very bosom of the Legislature, and after having exercised all the powers of despotism to annul most of the popular elections of the last year, they are about to exercise them again to confine the votes of the next elections to their own creatures.4 You will be fully convinced before you receive this, that we have nothing but evil to expect at their hands.— Their newspapers have lately been proclaiming that the Kaskaskias, and anoth[er] peuplade, both of whom they represent as Citizens of the United States, and forming part of the American confederacy, had revolted, assumed the three coloured cockade, and determined to live only under the laws of the french republic.5 They tell this with much exultation and anno[unce] that these facts together with the obstinacy of the American Government in favour of England betoken an approaching political convulsion in the United States.— They know full well the aversion of our Government against War, and therefore even now although they levy it they do not proclaim it against us.— The Directory propose to take and confiscate as lawful prize, eve[ry] vessel and cargo, any part of which shall be the produce of british manufactures or of british dominions, without any regard whatsoever to neutral property.6 The present is the Season which in this Country they denominate the carnaval. It is usually a period of much splendor and dissipation, and this year peculiarly so, on account of the accession of a new king, with a young Queen, fond of the amusements and diversions of Society. scarcely a day passes without some ball or Court party, at which most of the royal family attend.— We have invitations to all these parties, which I hope however will not be of long continuance, as they consume a great deal of time. My wife owing to her state of health has not yet been into company at all.7

354

January 1798 I wrote you from London that I had hitherto and was inflexibly determined to continue within my means in point of expence. I still retain that intention, though its execution compels me to follow a mode of living very different from that which is usual among the diplomatic characters of Nations far less respectable than the United States. I am indeed obliged to submit even to greater limitations in this point than I had contemplated as necessary.— The additional expence upon my change of destination, which I have found altogether inevitable has been not less than 2500 dollars.— My father has advised me not to make any arrangements for a permanent establishment here. I suppose that by the necessary delay occasioned by a change of reign at the moment of my arrival, I shall not complete the business which was the immediate object of my mission in less than eighteen months; that is, if a Treaty should be made, and I am to remain here until the exchange of the ratifications.8 After that, as I apprehend the continuance of an American Minister here will be unnecessary, it is my desire to be recalled: to go home and attend to my personal and domestic concerns, which I am persuaded I can do with as much advantage, and with more satisfaction to myself, than by lengthening out a residence in Europe, which estranges me from that repose and tranquility which is to me the greatest charm of life, and has even a tendency to estrange me from my fellow-citizens, and from my Country, dearer to me than life. My wife and brother join the assurance of their affection and duty to that of your / ever grateful son John Q. Adams. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A. Adams.”; endorsed: “Mr Adams Janry 19 / 1798”; notation by TBA: “No 33 / 32 Decr: 28.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. Tr (Adams Papers). Text lost due to wear at the edge has been supplied from the LbC. 1 AA to JQA, 3 Nov. 1797, above, which JQA would receive on 24 Jan. 1798. 2 JA to JQA, 3 Nov. 1797, above. 3 For the transportation of JQA’s library, see JQA to TBA, 2 June, and note 3, above. 4 In advance of the April 1798 elections, the French Directory responded to growing opposition by threatening a repeat of the events of 18 fructidor and the nullification of elections that failed to support the current regime (Cambridge Modern Hist., 8:516). 5 The American press began reporting in Oct. 1797 that at the instigation of French and Spanish representatives, Franco-American settlers at Kaskaskia in the Northwest Territory had disavowed their allegiance to the

United States and had raised “the standard of the French republic.” Reports further noted that Native Americans in the region were also being encouraged to rebel. These reports reached Europe in December, and although JQA first learned of them in a letter from Samuel Williams of 12 Dec., news of the unrest was also reprinted in the French press; see, for example, Paris Le publiciste, 4 Jan. 1798 (Baltimore Federal Gazette, 6 Oct. 1797; Elizabethtown New-Jersey Journal, 11 Oct.; Adams Papers). 6 Reports of a decree proposed by the French Directory had reached JQA by the middle of Jan. 1798. In a letter to Timothy Pickering of the 15th, he reported that “a

355

Adams Family Correspondence neutral flag shall no longer protect enemy’s property and that every vessel laden wholly or in part with articles of british produce or manufacture, shall with its cargo be lawful prize.” JQA assumed the law had already been passed, but it was not until 18 Jan. that the legislature passed it, without debate. In addition to the provision described by JQA, the decree also prohibited vessels having visited British ports from entry into French ports except in cases of emergency (JQA to Pickering, 15, 30 Jan., LbC’s, both APM Reel 132; Williams, French Assault on American Shipping, p. 24, 484). 7 JQA found “little real enjoyment, at such parties,” believing that “they appear equally tedious to all the company. . . . There is stiffness, coldness, formality, politeness, laboured

affability, studied attention and every thing except that mutual abandon (to use a french phrase) which constitutes the charm of conviviality” (D/JQA/24, 6 Jan., APM Reel 27). 8 JQA would sign a new Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce on 11 July 1799, which he described as “a renewal of the former Treaty with a few alterations.” The ratifications—by the United States on 19 Feb. 1800 and Prussia on 13 June—would be exchanged on 22 June and the treaty proclaimed on 4 Nov. (JQA to Joseph Pitcairn, 13 July 1799, OCHP:Joseph Pitcairn Letters; Miller, Treaties, 2:433–456). For the 1785 treaty negotiated by JA, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, see JA, Papers, 16:373– 420, 17:427.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia Janry 20 1798 I do not know whether there is any getting over the Rivers. the Eastern Mail due yesterday is not arrived. the Ice has been broken up for two or three days past mr B Beals who has been here more than a week, talkd of leaving the city yesterday. I have given him a little matter addrest to Cousin Betsy. it is a small Box of the size of a little plate. in it you will find a shawl handkerchief which is for you, and tho almost the only covering worn by our Ladies here, in the Winter, you will think it more proper for April or May. my Sattin fur Cloak is almost singular. I wrote to mrs Black yesterday and shall certainly be very attentive to the Child. it grows finely1 we had some snow at the same time you had, but a much less quantity. we have had some very fine Weather this Month, and it still continues. I wish our political Horizen look as bright as our Natural one does, but we have a dark prospect. I am at a loss to know how the people who were formerly so much alive to the usurpation of one Nation can crouch so tamely to a much more dangerous and dareing one, to one which aims not only at our independance and libety but a total annihilation of the Christian Religion—whose Laws, all which they have, are those of Draco, who are Robbers murderers scoffers, backbiters. in short no crime, however black or Horrid to which they have not become familiar. America must be punished, punished for having amongst her legislatures men who

356

January 1798 Sanction these crimes, who justify France in all her measures, and who would rejoice to see fire sword and massacre carried into the Island of Great Britain untill she became as misirable, as France is wretched. O My Native state, wash ye, make yourselves clean from these abominations.2 you are Guilty of sending three such Men, V——m, F——n s——er not a single state but what has Some Conneticut excepted—tho many of them would not go all lengths. Virgina has but two Federilists, North Carolina but one.3 can we expect such measures to be adopted as the safety and security of the Country require? every Man who sees the danger, may toil & toil, like Syssiphass, (I believe the Name is misspelt) the weight recoils. we have Letters from mr Murry a few lines from, mr Marshall to him informs him: that the envoys were not received, and he did not believe they would be they dare not write, knowing that every word would be inspected. they have not been permitted to hold any society or converse with any citizen. in short they have been in a Mere Bastile. We are in daily expectation of their return—4 I expected from what you last wrote to hear of Abdes death. Pheby will be surrounded as long as there is any thing to eat or drink, and I suppose she will think very hard to be obliged to alter her mode of living, but tho I am willing to assist towards her mantanance, I do not like to Support all she may keep with her—and her whole income would not find her wood. untill spring it would be best she should remain where she is. I would have mr Porter let her have a Bushel of corn. the money I sent, you will lay out for wood or otherways as you think best. it would not do for me to order her any more wood but, I would buy for her. that is an article she must have. pray order her some when she wants and I will pay for it. the negro Woman who lives with her should be obliged to find some; for she pays no rent. you will be so good as to let me know how she is. Mrs smith is still at East Chester, waiting & expecting!— I have just had a line from sister Peabody of Jan’ry 5th all well—5 I could very easily forgive mr Whitney, and should still like him for our minister. I am sorry he was not better advised. I suppose mr Wibird will not think of removeing now there is a female in the House. I do not know but mr Wibird himself may go and do likewise. Remember me affectionatly to all our dear Friends ever your affectionate sister Abigail Adams— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters).

357

Adams Family Correspondence 1 Likely AA to Esther Duncan Black, 17 Jan., above. 2 Isaiah, 1:16. 3 Four Federalists represented Virginia in the House of Representatives at this time: Thomas Evans, James Machir, Daniel Morgan, and Josiah Parker. North Carolina’s lone Federalist representative was William Barry Grove (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 4 John Marshall’s brief letter to William Vans Murray of 21 Oct. 1797 reporting that

the envoys had not been received, did not expect to be, and were “preparing for orders . . . to leave France” was enclosed with Murray’s letter to Timothy Pickering of 28 October. Murray also wrote to JA on 31 Oct. repeating the information from Marshall but also relaying news of JQA’s arrival at Hamburg en route to Berlin (Marshall, Papers, 3:254; Adams Papers). 5 Not found.

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams My Dear Sister Quincy Jany. 20d 1798 I wonder Sister Peabody Should trouble you about our Nephews concerns. the first Letter She wrote you She sent open for me to read.1 I had written her before desiring that mr Atwood would get all the Bills, his own, the Doctors & nursies with the funiral charges, & send them to mr Cranch with an account of what money Charles had by him. we Should then be able to write to his brother william about it. I do not think that any of us ought to be at this expence tis all the poor young creature can have of what our Father gave them— not a Bill has been sent nor a line from Sister about it to me. She wrote cousin Betsy the other day that mr Smith had given the nurse more than any one but mr Atwoods Sister ought to have. I know mr & mrs Smith were at Atkinson very Soon after charles’ death I hope She did not beg it of him. he is a generous man & would need but a Small hint. he has been ever ready to assist that Family & I must Say they are not half grateful enough at least some of them are not. till mr Atwood had sent his charges, we could not tell what ought to be done by a present or whether any thing. all we know we have learnt from sisters Letters to you. as to his Brothers we none of us have had a line from them Since we inform’d them of charles’ death Cousen Besty is gone to Boston & means to get a ring made for mrs Atwood but not to be paid for by you we have her mothers money which can be spair’d to purchase it, & sister will send it in her own name. there is no one else of the Family can properly give it out of her income but herself— I hope Sister will not write you again upon the Subject. She Should have written to us not to you. it has quite mortified cousen Betsy I have givin Phebe out of the money you sent a pound of Tea 3/4 & seven pounds of Sugar. 6/. I shall get some Rye & some fresh meat for her as I see she wants it. I gave her three cheeses besides

358

January 1798 pork & many other things She always keeps a house full of Blacks & low whites I fear She does not get any thing by it. when you return we must try what way may be least expensive to support her. it ought not to lay so much upon you. She seems to be much better than She was— she was worn down with her Husbands sickness I have been Since meeting with mr ware who preach’d here to day to see mrs Baxter. I found her very low indeed Scarcly able to speak to be heard. the other child is dead. The Family sent here at eleven a clock last evening for a minister to pray with her they thought her dying. her head has been in a dreadful State they put on a large Blister between her Shoulders last eve, which has releav’d her a little for the present. She looks very Sick can take nothing but Toast & water. She can Scarcely bear a person to whisper in the house. She may live but I think her very dangerous. Some of her diffeculices are remov’d but they have reduc’d her almost to the grave her Lips are white as tho she had not a drop of blood in them—2 Nathan Hunt has been Sick above five weeks & is very low now. a Lung fever but the longest I ever head of I think it will prove a consumtion. colds & complaints of the Lungs are very common. every body almost has been & is now labouring under them. capn. Beal & mrs Beal are yet confin’d by a Severe cold. he kept his Bed Several days. mr Cranch has just caught his. I dread his having one— I had a Letter yesterday dated the 8th of this month from wash. mrs Cranch was well. the children breeding teeth & very unwell & cross. my Son seting off for Baltimore to attend a Court She says he is in good Spirits has more business than he expected to have had in So short a time for he is but little known as a Lawyer but among his Friends I fear he does not speak enough tis that will make him known to the multitude our other children are well. have you heard from yours lately mrs Smith how is she. I wish I could afford her any comfort. mrs Shaw does not rise in her character in Boston— remember us affectionately to the President & Louissa / & accept the Love of your affectionate Sister M Cranch If you know any thing of mr James Greenleaf I will thank you to mention it nancy is very much destress’d about him as they have not heard any thing [for] Several weeks RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Richard Cranch: “Mrs: Abigail Adams. / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Jan’ry 2d / 1798.” Filmed at 2 Jan. 1798. Some loss of text where the seal was removed.

359

Adams Family Correspondence 1 Likely Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to AA, 6 Oct. 1797, above. 2 In her letter to AA of 14 Jan. 1798 (Adams Papers), Cranch reported that Polly Doble Howard Baxter had given birth to twin

boys on 9 Jan., well before their expected due date in March. One died the same day; the other lived until 18 Jan. (vol. 7:92; Sprague, Braintree Families).

Cotton Tufts to John Adams Dear Sr. Weymouth Jany. 22. 1798 Yours of the 8th. I received the 17th. Inst. and broke the Affair to Mr. Cranch, who has it under Consideration and expect he will give me an Answer this Week—1 A Day or two previous to the Receipt of yours, Solomon Thayer of Braintree came to my House and offered me a piece of Pasture Land adjoyning to a detached Piece of the Farm which You bought of Elkanah Thayer, the same Piece he had offered me last Summer @ 18 Dollr. Pr. Acre, I then refus’d the offer— Dr. Fogg had now made him an offer of his Pasture (@ 30 Dollr Pr. Acre) the Money to be paid in 3 or 4 Days. this laying near Thayers House, led him to renew his offer to me— Although I felt an Aversion to engage without consulting you upon it—Yet several Considerations induced me to make him an Offer with which He finally closed, it turnd out 11 Dollrs. & 47 Cents Pr. Acrend by Admeasurement, about 13 Acres. have paid him & received a Deed— In the Piece now purchased is a living spring which Thayer assures me He never knew to be dry; in Your Land adjoyning the water fails in a Dry Season— heretofore You could not get into Your Land without passing through his— Thayer has also cleared up & cut off a greater part of the Bushes in the Fall2 past— The Purchase of half an Acre (or an Acre at most) of John Hobart, which I am told may be easily made, would bring You into all Your Lands in that Quarter, without being dependant on any Body for a Passage—3 These Considerations led me to think that the Purchase would be agreable to You, if not You must rap my Knuckles & tell me to do so no more—4 For two Months past I have been upon the Enquiry for Barley in Quincy, but without Success— I hope to collect some in Weymouth or Hull— I shall not feel easy untill it is secured, as I foresee that it will be difficult to secure it in the Spring— Burrell is disposed to keep his Station another Year— French seems to be undetermind— I settled Accounts with him about Ten Days past He appeared very dull, He told me He had worked hard

360

January 1798 and should close the Year with a Loss of (at least) 50 Dollrs. His Barley had been lost his Crop of Corn greatly diminishd, on these Articles He had placed much Dependance for his Profits, He askd me whether I could make him any Allowance, I declind doing it without Advice, He wishd me to represent his Case to You, this I have now done, and shall follow Your Directions— The Subject Matter of Your Letter I shall carefully attend to, and in my next give You information of my Proceedings— Mine & mrs. Tufts’s best Regards to Mrs. Adams and accept of the best Wishes of / Your Friend & H Servt. Cotton Tufts RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “President of the Unitd States.” Dft (Adams Papers). 1 The letter has not been found but was almost certainly regarding the sale of the Cranch farm, for which see Richard Cranch to JA, 15 March 1797, and note 2, above. 2 In the Dft, Tufts wrote “Summer” instead of “Fall.” 3 JA replied to Tufts on 1 Feb. 1798 approving the purchases from Solomon Thayer and John Hobart. Thayer (1755–1835) had served in the Revolutionary War and was a farmer in Braintree; the lands JA purchased were among those he asked his brother to

value in May 1803. Hobart (or Hubbard) was possibly John Hobart (1755–1834) who was the constable of Braintree in 1777 and the town’s surveyor of highways in 1783 (MHi: Anna E. Roth Coll.; Sprague, Braintree Families; JA to Peter Boylston Adams, 5 May 1803, Adams Papers, Adams Office Manuscripts, Box 1, folder 2). 4 In the Dft, Tufts continued, “If Mr. Cranch should decline acceptg the offer I shall employ the Money agreably to your Instructions—”

William Smith Shaw to Abigail Adams My Dear aunt Atkinson Jan 23d 1798. Your kind attention to my last emboldens me again to interrupt your more important pursuits, & offer my warmest acknowledgement for your excellent letter and the packet accompaning it, received Jan 13th. Yours, my aunt, afforded a fund of refined and rational pleasure. Besides containing much valuable information, it pleasingly assured me of a share of that love and friendship, which I have ever been desirous of obtaining. For next to the divine plaudit, and the approbation of that inward testimony, which faithfully admonishes me whenever I deviate from the peaceful path of rectitude, it is the heigth of my ambition to merit the esteem of a virtuous few. I was not less pleased with Porcupines genuine humor, than instructed by the good sense, sound judgment and elegant style of Gifford. It appears to me it must completely silence the cavils of

361

Adams Family Correspondence the jacobins. Mr. Gifford writes like a man whose conduct is guided by the ennobling principle “Assert your rights, or quit the name of man.”1 I most heartily rejoice with Porcupine on the late success of the English. I do love England next to our country America, and surely that country ought to be reverenced, which reverences liberty and law, which has produced men, worthy to govern the interests of nations, & patriots equal to the far famed heroes of ancient Europe, and only inferior to the Washingtons of our country The premeditated invasion of England by France is, like the rest of her conduct, absurd & foolish in the extreme. Does not France know, that she has not as England has, a navy? That the channel is not frozen over, as the Scheld was, when the army of France conquered Holland. Indeed I am no fear of the conquest of England. In that Island are men, and manners, and laws and liberty, all powerful interest. These combined will tell the French, they are not fighting puny Italians, nor chicken hearted Dutchmen. Your grand children are well & excellent boys. I should be quite lonely without them. Polly is very busy. She soon expects to be tied by the connubial loose and thrown swung from the gallows of celibacy into the eternity of matrimony.2 Judge Dana’s eldest son is in Mr. Gray’s store at Salem. He was with me at college two years. I was not much accquainted with him; but always heard that he was a very accomplished young fellow & pretty good scholar. Ned graduates a year from next commencement—possesses excellent abilities but is no great student.3 I wish you and my good Uncle many happy returns of the season. That this letter may find you in health, and every revolving year be crowned with blessings prays most ardently / your dutiful nephew Wm: S Shaw. RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “W S Shaw Janry / 29th 1798.” 1 Charles Churchill, “Night. An Epistle to Robert Lloyd,” line 376. 2 Mary Peabody married Stephen Peabody Webster on 15 Feb. (vol. 11:51; Selim Hobart Peabody, comp., and Charles Henry Pope, ed., Peabody Genealogy, Boston, 1909, p. 38). 3 Edmund Trowbridge Dana (1779–1859)

attended Harvard College, but he was not awarded a degree owing to a dispute with the faculty. He later became a justice of the peace in Cambridge (Elizabeth Ellery Dana, The Dana Family in America, Cambridge, 1956, p. 487–488).

362

January 1798

John Quincy Adams to Thomas Welsh My dear Sir. Berlin 24. January 1798. I received some time ago, though not until after my arrival at this place your favour of 15. July last enclosing a statement of my affairs with which you have the goodness to charge yourself, and an account, coming down to the same month of July.—1 For all the trouble you have taken relative to my little concerns, I feel much obligated to you.— I am happy that you concluded to abandon for sale my share of the theatre; I shall be glad to get rid of it, at as little loss as possible.— With respect to the canal shares, although the expences and assessments become heavy, by continual disbursements with a distant prospect of any returns, yet as I hope the undertaking will eventually succeed, and as it is meant to be productive of public benefit, I do not regret the monies which are thus applied.— I hope however that in future there will be less of that absorption which swallows up all the produce of my little property in America, from year to year, and that upon my return I shall find some sort of income that may contribute to provide me a subsistence; an object infinitely more important since I have become a married man, than it ever was before. I am desirous of acquiring in the town of Boston, a real property, which may render a profitable rent, and which also may serve me for an habitation when I shall return home.— If therefore you can purchase me an house upon such terms that while I remain absent I may depend upon its renting in such a manner as at least to give the legal interest of the money, and that when I come home I may take it if I find it expedient for my own use, I shall be obliged to you to purchase it for me.— To pay for it, you can draw bills upon Messrs: William & John Willink, merchants at Amsterdam, payable on my account, at 30 or 60 days sight, to an amount not exceeding twelve thousand five hundred current florins of Holland, which as you will be careful to take a favourable moment for the course of exchange, I suppose will give you something more than five thousand Dollars. As it is not equitable however that you should have this constant trouble for me without compensation, I would propose to you to make a charge of two per Cent for drawing the bills and transacting the business, and the same charge for the receipt and payment of any other sums that may in future pass through your hands on my account.— I need not recommend to you, if you should

363

Adams Family Correspondence make the purchase the most special caution with regard to the security of the title, as I well know your accuracy in that particular; nor to avoid the purchase of a wooden building which would be perpetually exposed to the dangers of fire. My brother Charles has no doubt since the date of your letter made another remittance to you on my account, and my mother will pay you also 25 Guineas for me, according to a request in my last Letter to her.— If you should make for me the purchase above indicated you will in future receive annually sums on my behalf to the amount of from 800 to 1000 dollars, and I wish you in proportion as you receive them to place whatever you may have no occasion for, to provide the necessary disbursements, in the most advantageous public funds.2 It is possible that an opportunity may occur to you of making a beneficial purchase for me, but which would not answer as an house for my own residence. In that case I wish you still to make it, as my principal object is to possess a profitable and productive freehold within the town of Boston.— When you draw upon the Messrs: Willink, you will be so good as to give me immediate notice of it, and it would be best to send it by duplicates.— Any letter forwarded under cover to Mr: King in England, or to Messrs: Willink at Amsterdam, or to the American Consul at Hamburg, will reach me in due time. I will not give you any further trouble to forward Russell’s Centinel, which in my present situation I could not easily receive even if it should constantly and expeditiously arrive in Europe.— You will if you please drop my subscription to that paper. I say nothing of political affairs, and with my kindest regards to Mrs: Welsh, and your family, and also to that of Mr: Smith, I remain, Dear Sir, your faithful & obedt: hble: Servt: John Q. Adams. RC (Adams Papers); addressed by TBA: “Dr Thomas Welsh / Boston”; internal address: “Dr: T. Welsh.”; endorsed: “J Q Adams / Berlin ’98.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. FC-Pr (Adams Papers). 1 Not found. 2 Although Welsh sought a Boston property for JQA, he reported to AA in a letter of 13 June (Adams Papers) that he had “not heared of an House which would agree with the discription but if I had the Course of Exchange is so much against Holland, that I should not think of doing any thing at present.” Financial difficulties prevented Welsh from managing JQA’s investments in the

United States, and after failing to hear from Welsh and learning of his financial situation, JQA instructed Wilhem & Jan Willink in July to hold any bills received on JQA’s account and to disregard previous instructions to pay drafts submitted by CA or Welsh. Ultimately, JQA turned his affairs over to TBA, who returned to the United States with a power of attorney for JQA and a schedule of the “papers and securities left in the hands of

364

January 1798 Dr: Thomas Welsh.” Included on that list were his shares as an original subscriber in the Middlesex Canal, for which see CFA, Diary, 3:151, and his share in the Federal Street Theatre, in which he was an original proprietor, holding a 1/60 share dated 1 Dec. 1794 that was retained until 31 Oct. 1804. JQA’s instructions to TBA included authorization to purchase a residential property in Boston costing up to $10,000 (Mary Smith Cranch

to AA, 25 May 1798; to JQA, 12 June, both Adams Papers; JQA to Wilhem & Jan Willink, 24 July; to Welsh, 1 Aug., both LbC’s, APM Reel 133; JQA to TBA, 2 Oct.; to Welsh, 2 Oct., both FC-Pr’s, APM Reel 131; share in Boston Theatre made out to JQA, 1 Dec. 1794, Item D 20; JQA to Elisha Sigourney, 7 Nov. 1804, Item D 51, both MB:Boston Theatre [Federal Street] Records, 1793–1852).

Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams My Dear Sister Atkinson Jan. 28th 1798 I have thought day after day, that another should not pass without writing to my much loved Sister; that tomorrow I should have time, & would devote it, to the effusions of Sisterly affection, but I find each day fraught with its cares, & now more peculiarly so by my dear Betsy Quincy’s being sick with a lung fever, in consequence (I suppose) of a sudden cold. She was voilently seized with a pain in her right-side, & in all her limbs, attended with a distressing stricture upon her Breast, & a constant desire to fetch a long breath— It is three weeks since she has been confined, but not to the bed one day, & has had no regular turn of the fever, but is greatly relieved as to pain, & breathing. I always feel an anxiety when my Friends have pulmonick complaints, & slow intermiting fevers, they often undermine the constitution, & like a worm in the bud destroy unseen— May heaven preserve both her, & me, from so severe a trial, & restore her to health, & usefulness, for at this Juncture she is wanted in the Family more particularly— William at home, & her Sister Mary making silent demands for her assistance, I do everything in my power to get her well, & to comfort them both— We cannot chuse a time to be sick, & we must be patient— though it greviously retards our buisness, & impedes our pursuits—1 But when I received a Letter from Mrs Smith, accompanied by one line from you, I was determined to break through hymeneal preparations, & every obstacle, to beg you would not make my frequent writing a criterion of my Love, no,—my Sister, rather let me be judged by the thoughts of my Heart, could you discern this, you would here see love, & gratitude ever rising, like an overflowing stream— I have the pleasure to tell you, your grandsons behave exceeding well, & are become quite the favourites of the Family. Mr Vose says

365

Adams Family Correspondence William recites, & parsses nicely, rather better than John, he, little dear is seting in one of his Cousins Laps, or curling round Mr Peabody’s Legs half his time, & his Uncle & cousins say he is as “good hearted a Child as ever lived, not a spark of guile in his breast”— They are in fine health, & their Cheeks would vye, with the rose, to the lilly, boys should not have a claim, though I think ours would scarcely be thought too presuming—should they make some pretensions— The circumstances of our Family, & its intended connection are peculiar, & were Betsy Quincy well, would afford a fertile subject for her wonted raillery. Sick as she is, it will break out, remarking to her Sister, that even friendship was punctual to the alloted time, but Love, was rapid in its course, had a thousand wings, crying, “O lash thy Steeds, post time away, & haste about my bridal Day”2 that nothing but fear could detain the Swain, & a dread of the matrimonial Noose—courage—courage my Lad—“all is well, that ends well”— The truth is, I really suppose he has by business been necessarily prevented coming the last of November as he designed, & now has written to Mr Peabody that as the season is so far advanced, he hopes to complete his plans by One Journey, instead of two, as he expected when he left us the last of October— However, I find to day that Hymens berated has proclaimed at the house of publick worship, Mr & Misses intentions of marriage— I desired to know of Mr Vose whether all, was to be transacted by proxy, like other great Folks, & if he was deputized to stand sponsor? if so, I was glad they had the superior priviledge of seeing each before, that Mr Webster should have no occasion to swear as Henry the 8th did, when Anne of Cleves was presented to this royal Glutton—3 I am sorry that you have been troubled with the Rheumatism, I was in hopes the warmer Climate would prevented it— But changing your dress frequently, & the ceremonies of your Station expose your health, equally with our northern air— My William has been with me this vacation, he would have kept School at Lanchester if he had not felt rheumatic complaints, & in his right arm, so that he did not dare to undertake it— I gave him some Salts, & he has been quite free since he has been here, & of the head ake— I presume if he would use stated exercise, & be careful, he would enjoy good health— I find he is enveloped in politicks, & History— The latter is an excellent corner stone, upon which to build the Man, nobly, upon a large Scale, but the former is more

366

Adams Family Correspondence January– February 1798

January–February 1798 contracted, & moulds only in one shape, designed for a statesman— & as his profession must be determined upon, by circumstances, I cannot but feel concerned to see his eagerness after a newspaper— & his attention engrossed by politicks— I tell him the publick weal will be quite safe without his troubling himself—& this should be an after affair— I have not time at present to write to Mrs Smith, if you please to let her know from this Letter how the Children do, you will oblige her, who is at all times, your obliged, & affectionate Sister Elizabeth Peabody PS— Mr Peabody, presents his respects to the president, & you— William, Betsy, & Abby their duty— Mr Peabody received gratefully the attention you shewed him, by sending on the Bills specified in your letter, & likewise your E Peabody— I thank you for so kndly remembering William— He says he acknowledged the favour last week. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs Abigail Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs Shaw / 28 Janry / 1798.” 1 Elizabeth Quincy Shaw remained ill for the next several months and died on 4 Sept. (Peabody to AA, 22 Aug., Adams Papers; Boston Columbian Centinel, 15 Sept.; Joseph B. Felt, Memorials of William Smith Shaw, Boston, 1852, p. 30). 2 Allan Ramsay, The Gentle Shepherd, Song XI, lines 23–24. 3 Stephen Webster (d. 1841), Harvard 1792,

who had his name legally changed to Stephen Peabody Webster in 1795, was a clerk of courts for Grafton County and a state politician in New Hampshire. He also taught at Atkinson Academy (William C. Todd, “Atkinson Academy,” NEHGR, 26:124 [April 1872]; Laws of New Hampshire Including Public and Private Acts, Resolves, Votes, Etc., 10 vols., Concord, N.H., 1904–1922, 6:269–270).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia [1] Febry 17981 your kind Letter of Jan’ry 14th I received last week.2 I Shall not be dissatisfied with mr Whitney if the people are disposed to give him a call, but far otherways, I shall rejoice in the prospect of having so Virtuous and sensible a Gentleman Setled with us, to whom I doubt not, years will teach more knowledge of the world I can understand you well tho you do not speak plain. I know you think that there may be allowd a greater latitude of thought and action at the Bar than in the pulpit. I allow it, and yet each Character be perfectly honourable & virtuous.—

367

Adams Family Correspondence You ask me, what has Cox done that he is dismist. I answer a Man of his Character ought not to have been employd where he was. at the Time the British were in possesion this State, mr Cox then a Young Man, went from this city and joind them, and as a Guide led them into this city with a chaplet of ever Greens round his Head; when this Government was about to be establisht, he turnd about, and possessing some talants became a warm advocate for the Federal Government. he possess specious talants. he got col Hamilton to appoint him first Clerk in His office whilst he was secretary of the treasury. in this office he continued till it is said Hamilton found him very troublesome to him, and not wanting to have him an Enemy, he contrived to get the office of commissoner of the Revenue created, and Cox appointed to it. when Hamilton resignd, Cox expected to be appointed in his Room but finding mr Wolcot prefered befor him, he was much mortified, and at the late Election for President, he became a Writer in the papers and in Pamphlets against the administration of washington and a Partizen for Jefferson, but no sooner was the Election determined, than Sycophant like he was worshiping the rising sun outwardly whilst secretly he was opposing and thwarting every measure recommended by the President for the defence of the Government Country. but this was not all, he was constantly opposing and obstructing the secretary of the Treasury in his department, a Man of no sincerity of views or conduct, a Changling as the Wind blow’d a Jacobin in Heart.3 You will see by the papers I send you the Debate continued by Congress for 15 days and yet undetermined, upon the foreign intercourse Bill. those debates will be a clue to unfold to you the full system of the Minority, which is to usurp the Executive Authority into their own Hands.4 You will see much Said about the Patronage of the President and his determination to appoint none to office as they say, who do not think exactly with him. this is not true in its full extent. Lamb the collector was not dismist from office, for his Jacobin sentiments, but for his Peculation. Jarvis for Peculation.5 Cox for opposing the Government in its opperations. the P—— has said and he still says, he will appoint to office merrit Virtue & Talents, and when Jacobins possess these, they will stand a chance, but it will ever be an additional recommendation that they are Friends to order and Government. President Washington had reason to Rue the Day that he departed from this Rule, but at the commencement of the Government, when parties were not so high, and the Country not in Danger from foreign factions; it was thought

368

Adams Family Correspondence February 1798

February 1798 it would tend to cement the government, but the Ethiopen could not Change his skin, and the spots of the Leopard have been constantly visible, tho sometimes shaded. I cannot think Virgina declamation will make many converts for how stupid would that man be thought in private Life who should put the care and oversight of his affairs into the Hands of such persons as he knew would counteract all his instruction and destroy all his property? Vague and contradictory accounts are in circulation respecting our Envoys. one thing is certain no official communication has been received from them, from whence I judge they do not think it safe to make any. Bache is in tribulation. he publishd last saturday an attack upon the secretary of State for receiving as he said 5 dollors for a pasport which should have been deliverd Gratis. one dr Reynolds appears to have been at the bottom of the buisness. an Irish scape Gallous who fled here from the justice of his country charged as he was with treason against it, and a reward of a hundred Guineys was offerd for him by the British Government. a person wholy unknown to the secretary but one of Baches slanderers and employd by him as it is said to write libels— I hope the Rascals will be persued, to the extent of the Law—6 It is time to leave politicks for my paper is already full We had a very heavy storm last week and it looks more like winter now than since I have been here Mr Greenleaf has been sick, but I believe he is quite recoverd. I hear of him frequently and I am told that no comfort or convenience is wanting but that of Liberty, that unfortunately there is but too much company, for I have been Credibly informd that as many as two Hundred Heads of Families and persons formerly in good circumstances are now in confinement. mr Greenleaf expects soon to be liberated by a Law of this state which is now before the Legislature7 I had Letters from mrs smith last week.8 the col was not returnd, nor do I much believe that he will. I believe I mentiond to you to get sister smith to knit me some stockings, but I wholy forget whether I sent any money either to buy cotton or pay her. I wish you would mention to mrs Black to make a cap for the Baby and inclose it to me. it will have a good Effect I know in fixing in the mind of the Nurse a Certainty that it has Relations who attend to it. I inquired of the Nurse, if it was well provided fir she said it had sufficient for the present, and she always brings it clean and well enough drest—

369

Adams Family Correspondence I know it will give you pleasure to learn that mr & Mrs Adams had arrived safe at Hamburgh in october & left it for Berlin on the 2d of Nov’br we learn this from mr Murry by a Letter of Novbr 7th—9 We have not received any letters of a later date than sep’br—10 we are all at present in the enjoyment of Health. Mrs Cushing came in last Evening in the sisterly manner & past the Evening with me. with mrs otis and her I could fancy myself at Quincy I bear my Drawing Rooms, Sometimes crowded, better than I expected, tho I always feel the Effects of the lights the next day—11 My affectionate Regards to all Friends young or old from your / sister A Adams P s pray let me hear from Polly. I am very uneasy about her Just as I had written the last sentance yours of 20th was brought, me. alass poor Polly my Heart acks for her. I shall dread to hear again. if she wants Wine pray send from my cellar as much as she may have need of. they cannot buy such. if she lives do get see her again I wish I could do her any good. I really Lovd her— the post will be gone. Yours AA RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 The dating of this letter is based on Cranch’s reply of 18 Feb., below. 2 See Cranch to AA, 20 Jan., note 2, above. 3 Tench Coxe served as assistant secretary of the treasury from Sept. 1789 to May 1792 and as commissioner of the revenue from June 1792 until Dec. 1797. Initially a loyalist during the Revolution, he switched allegiance after being arrested and paroled. During the Washington administration, he penned four articles as “Juriscola” protesting the Jay Treaty, and during the 1796 presidential election he wrote ten articles under the pseudonym “A Federalist” in support of Thomas Jefferson. On 2 Dec. 1797 Coxe wrote to JA (Adams Papers) regarding a series of letters from Oliver Wolcott Jr. alleging Coxe’s “deliberate misconduct in office.” JA presented the matter to Timothy Pickering, James McHenry, and Charles Lee, who responded on 18 Dec. (Adams Papers): “We are of opinion that there is sufficient reason for Mr. Coxe’s dismission from office; and we think the public good requires it” (vol. 9:296; Biog. Dir. Cong.; Jacob E. Cooke, Tench Coxe and the Early Republic, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1978, p. 276–277, 286, 303; Philadelphia Gazette, 31 July, 4, 8, 12 Aug. 1795; Philadelphia

Gazette of the United States, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 24, 25, 29, 30 Nov. 1796). 4 On 18 Jan. 1798 Robert Goodloe Harper presented a “bill providing the means of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations,” which sought to repeal previous foreign intercourse acts and provide appropriations for the U.S. diplomatic and consular service. That same day John Nicholas of Virginia introduced an amendment to limit the salaries of ministers plenipotentiary to London, Paris, and Madrid to $9,000, and to reduce all other foreign diplomats to ministers resident at the salary of $4,500. Nicholas questioned the necessity of American diplomats in general and particularly challenged the need for one at Berlin, with which the United States “had little or no commercial intercourse.” He also challenged executive authority by suggesting that JA’s power to bestow diplomatic appointments could sway citizens “to sacrifice all independent political opinions and bend at the shrine of Executive wisdom” in order to obtain positions. Debate continued intermittently until 5 March, when the Nicholas amendment was defeated by a vote of 52 to 48. The foreign intercourse bill was passed by the House

370

February 1798 the following day and by the Senate on 13 March (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 521, 848–852, 856, 866–867, 920–930, 1234). 5 For John Lamb, see JA to CA, 13 April 1797, and note 1; for Leonard Jarvis, see Charles Storer to AA, 15 July, and note 1, both above. 6 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 24 Jan. 1798, reported that on 12 Nov. 1796 Thomas Wotherspoon, a Philadelphia merchant and native of Scotland, had obtained a passport “signed with the hand writing of Timothy Pickering.” When Wotherspoon had asked about the fee, he was told, “there is no particular sum charged, it is left to people’s own generosity,” to which he “laid down five dollars (in silver).” The article commented that the “transaction seems such a shameful breach of the laws which declare that passports . . . should be given gratis that it would be injustice to the public to conceal it.” The Aurora, 26 Jan. 1798, then published a letter from Pickering, along with an affidavit from Wotherspoon, which “proves that as it respects” the secretary of state “the charge is utterly false, and as malicious as it is false.” Wotherspoon’s affidavit clarified that it was Jacob Blackwell, a clerk in the secretary of state’s office, who had supplied his passport and accepted his money, not Pickering. The source of the story in the Aurora was Dr. James Reynolds, who lodged at the same boardinghouse as Wotherspoon and had asked him about the passport. Reynolds (d. 1808) was an Irish physician who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1794 and became a prominent Democratic-Republican (Maldwyn A. Jones, “Ulster Immigration, 1783–1815,” in E. R. R. Green, ed., Essays in Scotch-Irish History, Belfast, 1992, p. 64–65). 7 On 4 April 1798 the Pennsylvania legislature passed an act declaring that a debtor

who turned over “his estate for the benefit of his creditors” would not be subject to imprisonment “unless he hath been guilty of fraud or embezzlement.” An imprisoned debtor would be released upon exhibiting “a just and true account of his debts” and after executing a deed “for all his property, debts, rights and claims” to be administered by courtappointed trustees. James Greenleaf was discharged from the Prune Street prison on 30 Aug. (Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Passed at a Session, Which Was Begun . . . the Fifth Day of December, in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Seven, Phila., 1798, p. 269–276, Evans, No. 34323; Clark, Greenleaf and Law, p. 171). 8 Not found. 9 It was William Vans Murray’s 14 Nov. 1797 letter to JA that reported, “Mr. Adams left Hamburgh, for Berlin, on the 31. Octr., & is I hope safely arrived there— I have not heard from him since the 26th Octr., when he had just landed at Hamburgh” (Adams Papers). 10 TBA’s letter to AA of 10 Sept. is above. JQA wrote JA three letters in September, one dated the 11th, for which see AA to William Cranch, 15 Nov., note 2, above; one dated the 21st, for which see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 6 Feb. 1798, note 5, below; and a letter dated 19 Sept. 1797, summarizing Edmund Burke’s Three Memorials on French Affairs, which had been published posthumously (Adams Papers). 11 AA’s drawing room may have been lit by Argand lamps, which were relatively economical to operate and consumed their own smoke. The drawback, however, was that the lamps were too bright, often bothering the eyes of those accustomed to the dim light of candles (Marshall B. Davidson, “Early American Lighting,” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 3:37 [Summer 1944]).

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams Berlin 5. February 1798. I had scarcely closed my last Letter to you my dear mother, acknowledging the receipt of your favours of Decr: 2. and Novr: 23. before I received that of Novr: 3. written at East-Chester.— We are duly grateful for your kind congratulations upon our marriage.— You will find by some of my late Letters that we have already been brought to the trial of some unpropitious circumstances Yet much

371

Adams Family Correspondence as we have reason to regret them, we have at least the consolation that they have only strengthened and confirmed our mutual affection. My wife is all that your heart can wish— I will not indulge myself in the panegyric which my inclination dictates, for you would imagine that the lover had not yet subsided into the husband— But I will say that I am as happy as a virtuous, modest, discreet and amiable woman can make me. Upon the subject of my change of destination, I wish to say no more. Of itself, I believe Berlin a much more agreeable residence than Lisbon.— As to the utility of the mission here, I can scarcely be deemed a proper judge of it.— The immediate relations between the United States and Prussia cannot in ordinary times be very considerable. If our intercourse with England or France should be interrupted it might become more important. I am very glad that I was not sent to France, for there is so much personal malignity among the men in power in that Country against my father, that they would have felt a special satisfaction in treating me with more than common indignity, and in defeating every attempt by me for a reconciliation between the two Governments.— Since the 4th: of September all hopes of Justice from France must vanish untill some further Revolution, and although I think those Gentlemen who have submitted to every sort of contumely and illtreatment for the sake of preserving Peace, deserve as highly of their Country, as if their negotiation had been successful, I am pleased that no part of their failure can be imputed to the appointment of a person in any degree obnoxious to the ruling persons in France. Of the personal malignity which I have above noticed, there has been for years past incessant proofs many of which I have heretofore noticed; it continues still indefatigable. You will have the plainest evidence of the arts used by the Directory and their creatures to give the colour of a personal quarrel to the differences between the Governments.— They not only make personal complaints against the President, but they have made their creatures in Holland (creatures which since then they have without ceremony kicked out of doors themselves) complain against me: simply because they bear a personal malice against him, and of course against every one connected with him.—1 “Principles and not men” is their motto— (It used to be that of our last Minister in France, until from some secret stings of conscience, or other cause he changed it to that of “Dread God.”)2 By which they mean that no sentiment of honour, truth, Justice, or

372

February 1798 generosity, is to be admitted to protect the feelings, or character or reputation, or person, or property of any Man, whose Principles happen to differ from theirs.— Consequently they are in their animosities the most personal, and most malicious of mankind— They always affect even to attack particular persons—as the french have done in all their declarations of War, and as all their writers and most of their partizans have invariably done ever since by fixing upon individual men upon whom to pour the perpetual torrent of their invective.— The consequence of this system is by unavoidable necessity, a state of inexstinguishable War between Man and man, as long as there exist two human beings together: for no sooner has one sett of persons been swept away by the pestilence of these doctrines than their destroyers immediately divide against each other with the same system of destroying men to establish Principles. The french Government have at length crowned the measure of their injustice and violence towards neutral Nations by a decree declaring all goods of British produce to be the worst sort of contraband.— They have not yet declared War against us, but by this measure they will do us all the mischief that they could by a state of open War. In my own opinion the United States have long enough tried a “tame beseeching of rejected Peace.”3 It does not appear to me necessary to declare or even to make War against France; but I most sincerely hope our commerce will be allowed to arm in its own defence. I am not prepared for unresisting submission to robbery, even though all the rest of the world should be. You will find in my last letter a suspicion that my father had contributed to procure me the honour of admission as a member of the American Academy. My opinion was founded upon some hint of his having such a design, which I dare say you will remember, just before I left America; and you will also remember the regret with which I then observed it.— As you mention my nomination to have been made by Dr: Belknap, I am the more disposed to flatter myself there was no paternal recommendation in the case.— It is not the first instance in which I have been honoured by the particular notice of Dr: Belknap, nor can any thing afford me a more flattering gratification than to be distinguished by such men.4 I should be glad to know, how long it is the President’s intention that I should remain here, that is, whether in case the particular object of my mission should be accomplished, in either or both instances, it is proposed to leave me still here, or to keep constantly a

373

Adams Family Correspondence Minister here at all. I do not really think it worth while, from my present observation, unless we should get at serious variance either with France or England; in which case the commercial concerns of the United States with all the other great European powers would be of much more consequence than they have hitherto been.5 The state of Society here is such as better suits persons fond of an incessant round of company, than those whose chief enjoyments are at home. The Court is especially brilliant and gay at the period of a new accession. The series of fetes and balls which were almost continual is now interrupted by the illness of the king and Queen, both of whom have the measles, and I hope it will not be renewed before the next Winter Season— It is the universal and indispensable custom after being presented at Court and to the Princes & Princesses of the royal family, to send round visiting cards to all the Ministers, the members of the corps diplomatique, the Generals, and nobility belonging to the court amounting to about two hundred persons, most of whom return cards, after which you are constantly invited to all the great parties that are given.— The present king holds no Levees except for his own military, but attends at the Queen’s Court which is held once a week, and her balls of which there has yet been only one, but which are to be once a fortnight.— The Princess Henry has an Evening card party at which the foreign Ministers attend once a week, and Prince Ferdinand invites to Evening parties and supper about once a fortnight. Besides this many of the Ministers, Generals and nobility, give single balls, or have weekly evening parties, at all of which are to be met the same round of company, and at all the balls, the king and queen and royal family, who join in all the dances, and live with all this Court upon quite an accessible and almost a familiar footing.— Foreign Ministers are considered as under a sort of obligation to be present at all these parties, and many among them take their turns in giving them.— You can easily judge how heavily all this goes with my disposition, and how impossible it is for me to adopt on my part such a style of living.— As it is, and with a most punctilious and minute rigour of Oeconomy, I shall find it very difficult to persevere in the determination which I have hinted to you— But I will not upon any terms break through it. I am very much obliged to you for your advice with regard to the employment of any little sum which I find myself enabled to lay aside, though I regret the necessity without which I am sure you would not have given it.— My injunctions to avoid every improper

374

February 1798 and every hazardous speculation with my money, have been sufficiently strong and repeated, to have deserved a full and unequivocal compliance with them.— I will hope they have not been disregarded.— I have requested Dr: Welsh to purchase me a little freehold in Boston, which if possible may in case of need serve for my own residence upon my return home. This will so effectually swallow up all the funds that I have at my disposition, or shall have for many months to come, that I shall not have it in my power to take the benefit of your good council, by the experience and judgment of Dr: Tufts, though I have the most unbounded confidence in it. If at any future period an opportunity should offer, I shall be happy to sollicit his kindness. I feel sincerely and deeply my Sister’s afflictions, which I am confident have not been imputable to her. Her children I am glad to find will enjoy the advantage of my Aunt Peabody’s kindness, and I hope will receive an education teaching them such lessons of moderation of Industry and of prudent discretion, as are peculiarly proper for Americans in general, and for every member of our family in particular. I am your ever dutiful and affectionate Son John Q. Adams. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A. Adams.”; endorsed: “JQ Adams 5th / Feb’ry 1798”; notation by TBA: “No 34 / 33. Jany 19.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. Tr (Adams Papers). 1 On 20 Sept. 1797 Jacob Hahn, a member of the Batavian Republic’s foreign relations committee, confronted William Vans Murray about JQA’s 4 Nov. 1796 letter to Timothy Pickering, for which see CA to JQA, 8 June 1797, and note 3, above. Hahn claimed that JQA “was consider’d here as British & Orange.” In describing his meeting with Hahn, Murray wrote, “He was extremely irritated— & remarked that no foreign minister who would behave so ought to be permitted to act as such & that this govt. would certainly have demanded your recall had you remained here—” He later informed JQA that Hahn was one of the Moderates placed under house arrest during a coup (Peter P. Hill, William Vans Murray, Federalist Diplomat: The Shaping of Peace with France, 1797–1801, Syracuse, 1971, p. 62, 63; Murray to JQA, 1 Oct. 1797, 22 Jan. 1798, both Adams Papers). 2 “Principles not men” was used in 1793 in a toast given at a banquet at Oeller’s Tavern

in Philadelphia celebrating French military victories; the phrase soon became a favorite among supporters of France. “Dread God” was the Monroe family motto (Marcus Daniel, Scandal & Civility: Journalism and the Birth of American Democracy, Oxford, 2009, p. 126; James Allan Mair, ed., Proverbs and Family Mottoes with the Names of the Families by Whom They Are Adopted, London, 1891, p. 121). 3 James Thomson, “Britannia,” line 31. 4 Rev. Jeremy Belknap had printed JQA’s 1787 Harvard commencement oration; see JQA, Diary, 2:265. 5 The United States did not have a minister plenipotentiary in Prussia between 1801, when JQA left Berlin, and 1835, when Henry Wheaton was appointed (Debra J. Allen, Historical Dictionary of U.S. Diplomacy from the Revolution to Secession, Lanham, Md., 2012, p. 110).

375

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia Feb’ry 6th 1798 I was very anxious to receive a Letter from you this morning, and Betsy was wishing yet dreading to hear from her sister. that she yet lives, is some hope for to build upon. mr Brisler has just brought your Letter from the office dated 29th Jan’ry 1 I believe I have written you every week, but fancy the Ice may have prevented the post from arriving. I wish Polly was where you could often see her— I have a great opinion of cabbage leaves I would apply them to her feet, to her neck & to her Head.2 you know how opprest she always was at her Lungs if any thing ailed her— I want to be doing some thing for her. tell her I am very anxious for her and hope she may yet recover, but great care and tenderness is necessary or she will be lost. pray take care, but why should I ask what I am sure is always done. pray tell mr Cranch to take great care of himself, and my dear sister my cellar is always open to you. do not let so good a man want wine to make his Heart glad, when you know where it can be had with a hearty welcome— I have written to dr Tufts to get my Room & chamber new painted and that as soon as it can be done in March the closset floor & the entrys and stairs they will have time then to dry Sufficiently. I had a letter on saturday from mrs smith3 the col returnd last week and has notified his Credittors to meet him in order to adjust with them his affairs. I cannot suppose that he has it in his power to satisfy the Demands they have, but if he can settle so as to be able to do any buisness in future it will be a great relief to my mind as well as to hers—but I am affraid of Vissions—of Ideal Schemes &c at any rate I am glad he has returnd.4 it really seemd to me at times, as if mrs smith would lose herself. She has sometimes written me that existance was a burden to her, and that she was little Short of Distraction. I have been more distresst for her than I have been ready to own. you know she always kept every thing to herself that she could, but she writes in better Spirits, and is at least relieved from that worst of states, I think, a constant anxious expectation, and anticipation— I have had Letters from my sons abroad to october. they were then well, but none since they left London. I hope they are safe at Berlin long before this time. you saw a Letter or rather an extract of a Letter in the Centinal from J Q A—dated as if written at Paris about a fortnight since in order the better to disguise the source. it

376

February 1798 is probable you may see publishd from Fennos paper some observations upon the operation of the French constitution as exemplified in the transactions of the 4 sep’br by the same hand.5 you complain of always having a share of Rhumatism, that is just my case. I have it floting about, sometimes in my head Breast stomack &c. but if I can keep of fever I can Parry it so as not to be confined. dr Rush is for calling it Gout, but I will not believe a word of all that for Rhumatism I have had ever since I was a Child when I feel any thing like fever, nitre in powder of about 6 Grains with a 6 part of a Grain of tarter Emetic & a 6 part of a Grain of Calomil in each taking 3 powders in a day, generally relieves me—6 Inclosed is a ten dollor Bill out of which be so good as to give two to the widow Green mr Pratts Mother,7 and to pay sister smith for the stockings knit, and supply her with Cotton buy Pheby a load of wood if necessary. I know you Love to be my almoner. I wish it was in my power to do more abundantly. if there is any thing in the way of oranges milk Bisquit &c. which will be for Pollys comfort do be so kind as to procure it for her and send to her for me— I hope captain & mrs Beal are recoverd and that mr & Mrs Black are well I pray you to remember me to Brother Adams & Family when you see them. my Love to mrs Norten to mrs Greenleaf, & respects to mrs Welch / From Your Ever / affectionate Sister Abigail Adams when you see mrs Pope, ask her about the Butter, the quantity & price. I Should wish to pay for it, as well as two or three of her Cheses— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 In her letter to AA of 29 Jan., Cranch reported Polly Doble Howard Baxter’s continued illness and noted that Moses Black would “be in Philadelphia as Soon in the spring as he can” to collect Nancy Hall (Adams Papers). 2 Cabbage leaves were considered a remedy for several ailments; for example, red cabbage leaves were applied to the breasts of women suffering from milk fever after childbirth (Buchan, Domestic Medicine, p. 401). 3 Not found. 4 WSS’s financial difficulties at this time included money owed for land in Chenango County, N.Y., for which see AA to Cranch, 5 May 1797, note 1, above, and a lawsuit brought against him by William Ward Bur-

rows of Pennsylvania. In 1796 WSS pledged property to Burrows that he had already conveyed to William Constable, a New York merchant and land speculator. Upon learning of the previous transaction, Burrows sued WSS for $194,000. It is unclear if WSS settled with these men in 1798 (Hamilton, Papers, 21:55, 22:354). 5 The Boston Columbian Centinel, 27 Jan., published excerpts from JQA’s 21 Sept. 1797 letter to JA, in which JQA noted that he had still not received his commission and instructions for Prussia and commented on the results of the 18 fructidor coup that expelled “the men of moderation and talents, from whose sentiments of Justice and Honour we might have expected some return to friend-

377

Adams Family Correspondence ship” and put in their place “the most inveterate Enemies of America” (Adams Papers). For his “Observations” on the 4 Sept. coup in France, see JQA to AA, 7 Oct., and note 6, above. 6 The same ingredients AA recommended for treating rheumatism are found in George Wallis, The Art of Preventing Diseases, and Restoring Health, Founded on Rational Prin-

ciples, and Adapted to Persons of Every Capacity, N.Y., 1794, Evans, No. 28021; Wallis, however, suggested a different formula and dosage (p. 370, 372). 7 Mary Humphrey Green (d. 1806), the mother-in-law of Thomas Pratt, had received small monetary gifts from AA in the past (vol. 5:346; Sprague, Braintree Families).

Abigail Adams to William Smith Dear sir Philadelphia 6th Febry 1798 I received your Letter of Jan’ry and observed Your communication, somewhat alterd to better suit the Times. I thought the alteration not amiss. the paper you inclosed to me I put into the Hands of the President. he could not apply the Character as he did not recollect that any such person had applied. I had an opportunity of shewing it to the secretary at War. he was at no loss, and mentiond a circumstance of one Gentleman who had put his Name to a Paper in recommendation of that same Person, who had written a private Letter giving his reasons for so doing, but at the Same time recommending an other person as much more Suitable for the place.1 Gentlemen who recommend to office; should consider that as far as their recommendation has an influence, they are answerable to their Country for the proper discharge of the trust, and that in very many instances, recommendations are the only grounds upon which the Executive can act, for it is impossible to have a personal knowledge, in a Country so extensive as this, and tho it may be the Wish and desire of the Executive to appoint to office only such persons as will faithfully discharge the trust reposed in them he may frequently, by the facility with which respectable people are led to recommend those who apply to them for office, give to those from whom he would withold, if he had a personal knowledge of them, and after all the bluster and racket which has been made by those who would readily engrose all power to themselves, concerning Executive Patronage, it is attended with much trouble and great anxiety, and as Louis the 14 once observed, that when he appointed a man to office, he made 99 Enemies and one ungratefull person, for every person who applies considers his own claims as the best, and his own pretensions the strongest. Since I have been here, I have known a Member of Congress quit his Seat and go home, vowing he would

378

February 1798 not return again, merely for being dissapointed in a recommendation which he gave.—2 The Jacobins think they have little Chance, and are therefore for taking from the President the power vested in him by the constitution. the Question has not yet been determined respecting the foreign intercourse Bill as it is term’d, that gives place to a very dirty Buisness which has already occupied the house 3 days, and is like to continue 3 days longer for ought I see. yet it is a subject which as Gentlemen I should suppose might have been setled in one day. the papers will give you a statement of the Buisness. Mr Griswold is a very respectable Member from the state of Conneticut, a Gentleman of Strong sensibility and high spirit, but very fortunately on this occasion so far respected the House and the Decorum due to it whilst sitting, that he restraind his uplifted Hand, and withheld the blow he was just going to lay upon Lyon.— Party, Party Spirit enters into this degrading buisness, and it is thought that 2 thirds of the House will not vote for the expulsion of this unclean Beast; you will find on the Nay side citizen Nicholas and citizen Jacobins from our own state I doubt not.3 Not a word yet from our Envoys either they are held, in durance vile, or their dispatches are intercepted. knowing how great the anxiety of our Country must be, I am certain they would take early and constant measures to inform their Government. Mr Murrey writes in one of his dispatches, that he learnt that no communication was permitted them with any citizen of France, that they were not allowd even to speak to them. this being the case, no communications can be made but such as our good Allies chuse— You will see in Fennos paper of the 5 & 6th of Feb’ry “observations upon the operation of the French Constitution[”] &c written by the same Hand as those which I sent you before. you will judge of the propriety of having them Published in Boston. the People of N England generally read more, and judge better than they do here, where so many discordent particles are jumbled together as in this city. as you take the papers I do not think it worth while to inclose them to you— Mr otis got in this morning and will add one to the respectable Number of Federilist, but it is a Sad thing to have such a ——— worse than dead weight attachd to them, benumbing every active measure, and opposing every dignified proposition.4 my kind regards to mrs smith & Children, to the Doctor and Mrs Welch and to all other inquiring Friends— The President re-

379

Adams Family Correspondence quest me to ask you for what you can purchase a genuine pipe of old Maderia wine. you will not forget a hundred Bushels oats for us—even tho you give 2/6 pr Bushel the P——t will send you an order upon Genll Lincoln for any sum of money you may lay out for him— when any vessel is about to Sail for Hamburgh or Bremin, will you be so good as to send mr Adams the latest papers addrest to the care of the different consuls— he complains much for want of intelligence from his Country. I fear he will get less now than ever— Let Dr Welch know that the Gentleman mentiond by him is placed upon the List of applicants— There are Letters from mr King as late as october & from mr Murrey to the 10 Nov’br they are as much in the dark with respect to our envoys as we are here.5 if the French are seriously bent upon a decent upon England, no doubt an Embargo has taken place— there will nothing be done in Congress I fear untill we receive dispatches, and whether then any measures for defence can be carried, is by some doubted. the spirit must come from the East & from the North. pray my dear sir, do all in your power to promote the choice of true federilist from our state at the next Election. do not send Men, who would bear to have their faces spit in, or countanance it in others. this constant uphill work is enough to discourage every Man who has not the strength of Hercules, and might be set down for an Eigth Labour— my paper admonishes me to subscribe yours &c AA RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); docketed: “A. Adams 1798.” 1 Neither the letter nor the enclosure regarding this application has been found. 2 AA was likely referring to John Vining, who resigned from the Senate on 19 Jan. (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 3 For the Lyon-Griswold affair, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 8, above. 4 On 16 Jan. Samuel Sewall asked the House of Representatives for a three-week leave of absence for Harrison Gray Otis, to which the House consented. Otis was in Boston from 20 to 29 Jan., the reason for which was credited to “a pulmonary complaint” (Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 17 Jan.; Boston Columbian Centinel, 24, 31 Jan.). 5 Rufus King made no mention of the en-

voys in his letter to Timothy Pickering of 31 Oct. 1797. Similarly, in a letter to Pickering of 10 Nov., William Vans Murray offered no concrete news of the envoys but wrote, “I can not bring myself to believe that the Directorie will absolutely reject them, until they can hear from America, after the opening of the Session of Congress.” He also suggested that if France was “seriously determined” to invade England then it might “detain the commissioners between hopes and fears until the moment approaches of the attempt at the invasion” (The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, ed. Charles R. King, N.Y., 1894– 1900, 6 vols., 2:236–237; DNA:RG 59, Despatches from United States Ministers to the Netherlands, 1794–1906, Microfilm, Reel 4).

380

8. “what a beastly action,” 1798 See page xiii 381

February 1798

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts my Dear sir Philadelphia Febry 6th 1798 I have not had the pleasure of receiving a Line from you for some time. I laughd at my Friend not long since when he sent a Letter to you the contents of which he appeard to be very private about.1 I told him I knew it was the Farm he had written about, and that he would not tell me because he knew I was averse to encumbering ourselves as we grew older with more cares. it is not my wish to add to our landed Property without we were Sure of a fund to improve it, and if my inclination was followd it would be to put all our lose coins, into deferd stock—but you must follow your directions. I shall however when I can lay by any thing, do it, and tho it may be but a triffel, I shall apply it to that fund which if I should live, will prove usefull to me. if I do not, it will not be lost to the Family. I inclose to you two Hundred dollors— one hundred you will apply to my stock the other, you will use to compleat the out house as soon as work can be done. let the Building upon the back designd for a dairy Room be large enough to take of a part as a closset or store Room. might it not be so constructed as to have a half cellar for milk and a cheese Room over it. the small House at the end of the out house, I proposed to mr Porter to dig a vault for and stone it, and remove it upon it. a wood house might then extend from the out house to the end of the Garden fence leaving a passage to the small House through the wood House I do not see any prospect of accomplishing my views in a Building in addition to our House, untill I return & consult further about it, but I must have the out house so that our families may not interfere, and I should be glad to have our dinning parlour painted as soon as it can be done together with the closset, stairs & entrys. I could wish an experienced person to do it, that particular attention may be paid to the wainscoat over the Chimny by white washing or otherways making it fit for to receive the paint that it may dry. if march should be a pleasent month, the sooner it is done the better for drying, and my Chamber I would have new painted at the same time— I believe as this is wholy upon Buisness of a private nature, I must omit politicks particuliarly as the most important matter now under discussion is occasiond by the Brutal conduct of that Wild Irishman Lyon—Who as you will see stated in the papers, Spit in the face of a man whose shoes he was not worthy to clean, but notwith-

382

February 1798 standing the insult, one of the greatest that could be offerd a Gentleman mr Griswold so far respected the House as to restrain his anger. yet will there not be found impartial men enough in the House to expell the wretch, it requiring two thirds o tis a pityfull buisness. my kind regards to mrs Tufts and to miss Warner as well as to your son and daughter from dear sir / Your Ever affectionate Abigail Adams you will note to me that the Letter and contents come Safe to Hand can you secure us a hundred Bushels of oats. we shall want that quantity & more— I do not often give currency to Baches papers, but it is the most accurate account of the proceedings of yesterday.2 I send you a report of the proceedings of the college of Physicians. as they will not allow that the Pestilence which lays waste so many of the inhabitants is of domestic origion, so will they annually be exposed to its ravages.3 I shall hope for an early escape from the city, but I fear these French men will keep us in fire one way or other RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “The Honorable Cotten Tufts / Weymouth—”; endorsed: “Mrs. Adams / Feby 6. 1798”; notation: “8.” 1 JA to Tufts, 1 Feb., for which see Tufts to JA, 22 Jan., and note 3, above. 2 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 6 Feb., printed testimony regarding the Lyon-Griswold affair, for which see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 8, above. 3 College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Proceedings of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Relative to the Prevention of the

Introduction and Spreading of Contagious Diseases, Phila., 1798, Evans, No. 34356, a copy of which JA received from Dr. John Redman on 2 Feb. (Adams Papers). The publication included minutes, correspondence, and recommendations on quarantine procedures and stated that yellow fever imported from the West Indies had caused both the 1793 and 1797 epidemics.

John Quincy Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson My dear Madam Berlin 7. February 1798. Your very obliging favour, written at Stromness, found its way to London, only a few days before our departure from it, and reached us in the midst of our preparations for the voyage and Journey then before us;1 the occasion then of much anxiety, and since, the cause of much distress as my dear wife has no doubt before this related to you.— In the hurry and constant avocations of that time, I had no moment left in which to indulge my inclination of writing to any of my friends, and in particular of answering your kind Letter.— On the 18th: of October about six weeks after you, we left London, and

383

Adams Family Correspondence sailed the next morning from below Gravesend in a Hamburg merchant vessel for that City, at which we arrived on the 26th: of the same month.— By an accidental circumstance we were detained some hours too late in London, and were in consequence obliged upon our arrival at Gravesend in the Evening, to join in an open boat our ship which had sailed, and come to anchor seven or eight miles below.— The Evening though cold was fine and clear, and we reached the vessel at about 10 o’clock.— Our accommodations, though the best I had been able to procure, were very indifferent, and our voyage from the mouth of the Thames to that of the Elbe, extremely boisterous, though with a fair wind and therefore short. We were eight days only on board ship, of which two were employed in descending one river and four in ascending the other. Mrs: Adams had for the last fortnight before we left London, been in an infirm state of health, so as very much to increase my concern with regard to our voyage, but upon our arrival at Hamburg, she appeared to have supported it remarkably well, and to have improved in health to a very flattering degree.— We spent a week at Hamburg, and left it on the 2d: of November accompanied by Mr: Ross and Mr: Williams brother of our Consul at that place.— Mr: Calhoun who there took leave of us, assured us that he would upon his return to America which he soon intended, mention to our friends, his parting from us there all well—2 The roads from Hamburg to this place are a continual heap of sand, which at that season had by the continual falls of rain been converted into deep bogs.— The drivers were careless and disobliging, and seemed to bear a special ill will to a carriage of English construction in which we travelled. Nevertheless we reached Berlin on the 7th: after 6 days riding, without any material accident.— Your daughter had supported this Journey too extremely well, and we congratulated ourselves upon having got over with so much facility an undertaking, which had appeared so formidable in prospect.— We were not permitted long to enjoy this satisfaction. Three days after our arrival, on the 10th: Mrs: Adams was taken ill, and from that time untill the 20th: I could scarcely for a moment leave her bedside.— I shall not attempt to describe what she suffered, nor the deep distress of my own feelings in considering that she was remote from her beloved mother and sisters; from all her friends, at a public Inn in a foreign land with a strange language, and without the benefit of a single female, who could give her assistance or relief. Amidst these numerous afflictions we had however the consolation of meeting an

384

February 1798 able English Physician, who attended her not only with professional skill, but with that kindness and interest which is more efficacious in sickness than medecine— She recovered slowly, but I hope effectually, and notwithstanding some remains of weakness, I think her health and appearance for this month past has been as good as I have known it, at any period. Since her recovery she has been presented at Court, and to the several Princesses belonging to it.3 Her personal appearance as well as her manners and deportment which are such unequivocal indications of her character and disposition have been every where pleasing We have been informed by letters from my mother that you arrived at Georgetown about the 25th: of November, after a passage of ten weeks, which no doubt you found tedious and uncomfortable, but which as happily all the family arrived in good health, you now remember only as a difficulty overcome—4 I hope you will find the residence of America more agreeable than you had anticipated, and that Mr: Johnson by his own preference may bring his affairs to such a settlement as may be satisfactory to himself and to you. Your meeting with your son must have given you the most heartfelt pleasure, as my mother writes us he intended going to meet you immediately after your arrival. I beg to be remembered affectionately to Mr: Johnson and to all the young family, and remain, Dear Madam, your faithful & very hble: servt: John Q. Adams. P. S. My wife has not yet entirely conquered an old and obstinate aversion to writing, and therefore her friends may perhaps not hear from her directly so frequently as they would wish. She has written however several Letters, both at Hamburg & here, and writes now a letter to be enclosed with this.5 We hope to hear as often as possible from you. Any letter either addressed under cover to the American Consul at Hamburg, or to me directly, at Berlin and sent by a vessel bound to Hamburg, would be regularly forwarded to us. RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: Johnson.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130. 1 Johnson to JQA, 18 Sept. 1797, above. 2 Francis Williams (1776–1847), Harvard 1796, was born in Salem, Mass., and spent most of his life in Europe. James Calhoun (1770–1819), son of Baltimore, Md., mayor James Calhoun, had been acquainted with JQA and TBA since arriving in Europe in 1795. Calhoun sailed from Cork, Ireland, on

25 March 1798 aboard the Sidney, Capt. Parker, and arrived in Baltimore on 26 May (vol. 11:102; D/JQA/24, 31 Oct. 1797, APM Reel 27; Harrison Ellery and Charles Pickering Bowditch, Pickering Genealogy, 3 vols., n.p., 1897, 1:246–247; Harvard Quinquennial Cat.; George A. Hanson, Old Kent: The Eastern Shore of Maryland, Baltimore, 1876, p. 48;

385

Adams Family Correspondence TBA, Diary, 1798–1799, 11 May 1799; Baltimore Federal Gazette, 26 May 1798). 3 LCA was presented at the Prussian court on 21, 22, and 23 January. She expressed her “trepidation” at meeting Queen Louise but noted that the queen “came immediately almost to the door to meet me, and kindly expressed the desire she had had to become

acquainted with me, and used the most encouraging expressions to set me at my ease.” For more on LCA’s presentations, see LCA, D&A, 1:56–58, 68–69, 73–74, and D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27. 4 AA to JQA, 2 Dec. 1797, above. 5 Not found.

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams Smith My dear Sister. Berlin 7. February 1798. I received a few days ago your kind letter written at East Chester Novr: 4. and am very thankful for it. The circumstance of my not having mentioned to you my expectation of being married was merely accidental, or owing to the uncertainty as to the time when that event should take place, which continued until a few weeks before it happened. I am very sorry that it should have given you a moment of uneasiness, as I shall always take a peculiar pleasure in communicating to you any occurrence interesting to my happiness. You have judged rightly in concluding that your new sisters character was calculated to promote it. Seven months of marriage, may serve at least to give a full specimen of what two persons are to expect from each other, and after the lapse of almost that period, we find our mutual affection increasing, rather than suffering any abatement. I most sincerely and cordially feel for the afflictions with which you observe you have been visited for some time past, and the severe trials, which you have undergone. I hope that a more favourable fortune will in future smile upon you, and compensate for the sufferings you have experienced. You may perhaps before this have seen in America, Mrs: Johnson & her family, who arrived there soon after the date of your last letter.— I left England myself about the middle of October, and after a stormy passage to Hamburg, and a very unpleasant journey from thence to this place, arrived here the 7th: of November. Since then my wife and brother have both been very ill, as you will doubtless be informed by our dear mother, to whom I have written a particular account of our disasters. We are however now all in very good health. I look forward with impatience to the time when we shall all again be assembled together in our own Country, and in the mean time hope to hear frequently from you, being with the tenderest

386

February 1798 affection, in which sentiment my wife cordially joins, Your faithful brother. LbC in TBA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A. Smith.”; APM Reel 130.

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Sister Quincy Feb. 9th 1798 what a feast you have sent us my good sister. for alhough it may be call’d a feast of bitter herbs yet I would not be ignorant from whence the Poison is extracted which is design’d to destroy our constitution this is evidently the design of those declamers. how can the People bare to see their members spending So much of the publick money to the very worst purpose. is it possible that they can prostitute their talants their reason & understanding & Submit to look So small & make Such a pitiful figure as they do without a prospect of touching foureign money for it. They will meet their reward I hope. but not in the way they expect I love my country too will to wish it Such an evil. I do hope good will come out of this controversy. excellent reasons have been offer’d why Nicolas amendment Should not take place. every one must see whether they will allow it or not, their design is to get from the President the little Power he posses to my Sister continue to send us Such papers as you think interesting & write me what you dare. It makes me feel important to be able to talk after you tho’ I do not bring my voucher always. I love to discover the spring of a Movement Mrs Baxter is getting better but cannot set up half an hour yet. I Shall see her & inquire if She can take wine she has not been able too yet. the weather has been & Still is extream cold we had a Snow about ten days since which has made tolerable Sleighing mrs Black has been very Sisterly to me & given me a Seat with her frequently. I was at Boston Hingham & to see miss Eunice Paine last week all were well but our poor lame Friend & She has suffer’d much this winter but I found her more comfortable than she had been. She cannot work at all but can read better than usual. She sent her Love to you says you promis’d her a Letter— I have Bottled your mythiglin there are eleven Bottles tis more like Syrrup than any thing else—1 the settling was as thick as molasses. I had the cask rinc’d & the Settlings put into a vessel with a gallon of water & Boil’d Skum’d & put into the cask again I design

387

Adams Family Correspondence to add some Brandy to it & Bottle it in a month or Six weeks I believe it will be better to drink next Summer than the other I rinc’d with & left in each Bottle a little Brandy. your things are all Safe I went into the cellars my Self— your carpets are out of danger too— there is one which I have spread on our east front chamber which is more wore & burnt & eat than the rest. will you Sell it? I will give you what you may think tis worth. I have bought mrs Quincys flour cloth but it must be painted & I have nothing to lay upon the floor till tis done my Scotch carpet would mend no longer. I have been So long us’d to one in the winter that I have had my feet froze all the time this cold weather. you have So many & they are So difficult to be keept from injury that I thought you might be willing to part with the poorest mr Beal is not return’d. but I thank you with my whole heart for your kind present.— Sister Smith has done three pair of stockings & I have got more cotton for her you did not leave me money for cotton or to pay her. but I will purchase when she wants & pay her too I shall owe you for milk I have had we will Settle it when you return would you have the stockings sent you— Phebe is comfortable— I have been prevented writing by company & gadding my Self till to day. & now the Post is come before I have half done. I will write again next week— yours affectionately Mary Cranch every good wish attends the President Love to Louissa RC (Adams Papers). 1 Metheglin is a spiced or medicated variety of mead (OED).

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my Dear son Philadelphia Feb’ry 10th 1798 I hope long before this time you have arrived Safe at Berlin. The first intelligence which I received of your having left England, was under the Copenhagen head soon after. Letters were received from mr Murrey of the 9th of November, in which he mentions your writing to him from Hamburgh. I immediatly informed my dear Louissa’s Parents and received a Letter from mrs jhonson this last week; in which she expresses herself relived from much anxiety by the information. in her Letter to me, she acknowledes receiving one from Mrs Adams dated in sep’br with the pleasing account of her

388

February 1798 Health, and happiness. I mention these circumstances because Letters from one quarter, are sometimes more fortunate in their destination than others. on the last of Jan’ry I received a Letter from you dated the 7th october at London. at the same time your Father received one from your Brother of the 3d and a communication from you of the 4th. your Letters always possess one good quality beyond many others. they have an intrinsick value which Age does not impair. as far as they respect political intelligence, or rather what is calld News. we should like to get them sooner. very few reach under two and three months I flatter myself I shall hear from you as often as that, even tho further removed. Congress you know are now in Session and have been so ever Since Nov’br yet tho total want of official intelligence from our Envoys, are an excuse for suspending opperations which ought not to have been hessitated about at their Summer Session. the subject was brought again before the House and after a debate of two Days, postponed untill this Month, not doubting but that Something to be relied upon would before now have arrived. From various quarters, it is reported that after the Presenting the Letters of Credence by our Envoys, not any thing further has taken place, and expectation is entertaind of their Speedy return. In the mean time our Commerce is suffering a general Wreck, and nothing is respected by these Piratical Sea Robbers. An astonishing degree of forbearence, and respect to the Laws of Neutrality; and to the Government, is manifested by our Countrymen, and one might be almost ready to credit Mr Munroes assertion, “that his Countrymen would not only bear with Patience, a breach of Treaty, but with pleasure, provided it was benificial to France.”1 There is however a spirit in Man. I see it rising from the North. it will come with the Besom of destruction; and sweep from the bed of the ocean these Mauraders. I hope however they will receive the sanction of Law. During the Winter, Health has been restored to this city, and to the United States. we have an abundance of the fruits of the Earth, and might sit under our own vines, and fruit Trees, having none to make us affraid if we were as wise, as experience ought to make us; but in such a state of warfare, against all order, Law and Religion, the spirit of French prosiliteism pervades all quarters of the civilized world. it is not to be wonderd at, that we should partake of the general calimity

389

Adams Family Correspondence In daily expectation of some important event, we wait. we have ceased to wonder at the most improbable. the threatned invasion of England has brightned her Glory, united all Parties, for all seem determined to exert every energy, and I trust every effort to subdue them will prove ineffectual. England appears the only barrier left, with a chance for Stoping the ravages of the most Sanguinary Nation whose History has yet been transmitted to Posterity. I send you a Number of Pamphlets you will see by them, what trouble France has given the united states by spain.2 in short we are buffetted by both Nations, yet enjoy more happiness and tranquility than any other Nation. if we could but have our commerce protected, and preserve our Neutrality, we may pitty all other Nations, but envy none of them. The Chel’er de Friere lives amongst us universally respected and beloved he has a most agreable Lady, for his wife, with whom I am much pleased.3 I am sorry to inform you of the sudden death of mr Regal last week. he was sick but two days. he has left a young amiable wife 35 years younger than himself, who has not a relative in the Country. both mr & Mrs Regal made many Friends here. he was a Man of extensive learning and science. She will not fail of every consolation which the kindness and benevolence of Friends can render to her. her circumstances are easy, as mr Regal was I think a German and an officer under the Duke of Bavaria. I have been thus particular not knowing but you might meet with some Friend of theirs— Your sister was well last week and I had Letters from William & John Who are at Atkinson under the Patronage of your Aunt Peabody, at an accademy there.4 our other Friends are all well. I hope your Father will be able to write you, but if he is not, my Letters must be a substitute. Tell Thomas we want him, but approve his going with you. if I do not write him now, his turn shall be next. my Love to mrs Adams. I have not yet Seen her Mamma but expect a visit from her soon. we exchange Letters frequently. I am my Ever dear Son / most affectionatly / Your Mother Abigail Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: Adams 10 Feby 1798 / 30 April Recd / 4 May answd.” 1 AA was paraphrasing James Monroe’s A View of the Conduct of the Executive . . . Connected with the Mission to the French Republic, During the Years 1794, 5, & 6, Phila., 1797, p. 34, 35, Evans, No. 32491. 2 Among the pamphlets AA sent was pos-

sibly the Message from the President of the United States, Accompanying a Report to Him from the Secretary of State, and Sundry Documents Relative to the Affairs of the United States on the Mississippi; the Intercourse with the Indian Nations, and the Inexecution of the

390

February 1798 Treaty Between the United States and Spain, Phila., 1798, Evans, No. 34801. 3 Agnes Frances Lockyer Freire, for whom see 10:319, wrote to AA on 13 Nov. 1797, returning the copy of the Franco-Portuguese

peace treaty that AA had lent her and sending two pamphlets, one of which was John Gifford’s Letter to Thomas Erskine (Adams Papers). 4 Letters not found.

Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother. Berlin 12 February 1798. Your kind favor of November 7th: written at East Chester came to hand on the 24th: ulto: and I have now to acknowledge the receipt, on this day, of your more recent communication, dated the 3d: ulto: at Philadelphia. I have written to you but once since our arrival here, but my brother has been so frequent & copious in his letters both to you and my father, that I derive a sort of excuse for my own negligence, from his punctuality. You do not know perhaps, how extremely irksome & discouraging a thing it is, to be employed as a copyist of all sorts of letters for eight or ten days, sometimes without intermission, & then to be under the necessity of composing an original letter. I have not my brother’s facility in writing nor his readiness, nor yet his diligence. This, you will say perhaps, is my own fault. If I thought it such myself, I would endeavor to correct & reform it, but some length of experience has persuaded me, that in these particulars, there is no equality between us. Even the flattering compliment you are pleased to pay me, upon the style of my letters, does not convince me so much of my own merit as of your maternal partiality. I am pleased to hear that you have proposed to Mr: Malcom to take my place here, & I hope he may find it convenient & agreeable to accept the offer, as I am resolved to embark, if possible, early in the coming fall, for America.— I shall hope therefore that Mr: M—— may make his arrangements for departure about the same time, so that no considerable interval may elapse between my embarkation & his arrival. I shall be sorry to leave my brother alone, but my inclination so irresistibly calls me home & is therein so nearly connected with a prudent regard for my own interest, that I could not reconcile to my feelings or to my sense of propriety, the protraction of my stay in Europe beyond the above mentioned period. I am even now impatient for its arrival, for altho’ the residence of Berlin has been rendered infinitely more comfortable by the family establishment of my brother & his aimiable wife, than it otherwise would have been, yet what can compensate for a tedious & painful separation from

391

Adams Family Correspondence every thing worthy of the love affection & veneration of an American citizen, his Country and his friends?— To a mind interested in what nearly concerns the welfare of others, & attentive to the current events, the residence of any part of Europe must hourly become more odious & insupportable. The picture which presents itself to inspection is to my view the most humiliating, that the history of man has ever furnished. When violence is seen stalking abroad, and by far the greater portion of men are worshiping it as their redeemer, what hope is there that its progress will be arrested, short of the attainment of its object, the downfal of virtue of wisdom, (& perhaps reason too may be added to the list) throughout the world. I think this cause ought to be resisted more effectually than it has been; but it must eventually triumph over all opposition in Europe. It is an insurrection of poverty against wealth & in such a contest superiority of numbers must prevail. I do believe that a majority of our Countrymen are content with their present form of Government; that they deprecate a revolution, and are ready to make great sacrifices in defence of what freemen hold most dear. I even anticipate with a sort of enthusiastic impatience the commencement of the struggle, which I believe to be not far off, and though I have not been bred to arms, I feel an ardor in the cause, which would render delightful to me the assumption of them in its support. The present tranquility which pervades the United States, I sincerely hope to be but vengeance asleep, & when the recent measures of the french government shall be known, it will be time in my opinion for it to rouse from slumber and grapple with its antagonist. That the United States are at peace with all the world may yet afford to Chief Justice McKean, triumphant occasion to render thanks to God,—to me I freely confess, it inspires no such holy fervor. Whether this disposition of mind savours of impiety, I know not, but hypocrisy at least has no share in it. In speaking of the Chief Justice, I allude to a late very extraordinary charge of his to a grand Jury, delivered at Philadelphia, in which the old dotard prates about the necessity of government, which “may be called a Representative Democracy.” In the same charge he denounces a printer for calumniating & traducing, in his newspaper, our magnanimous allies, & recommends to the Jury to present the impudent fellow, who in flagrant defiance of a recognizance to keep the peace, still persists in his outrageous behaviour, in contempt of his (the Chief ’s) authority. Now this high guardian of the laws, says not a word to the Jury, about certain other publishers

392

February 1798 of newspapers, from whose presses the vilest slander is continually issuing against all the decent & respectable characters in his darling democratic government. No! No! Scandal, Falsehood, defamation, in short, every engine which is of use to destroy reputation, that belongs to his own Countrymen, is very far from meeting his animadversion. It is only against Porcupine, (who sometimes divulges family secrets, to be sure, rather unseasonably, but who oftener tells monstrous true-tales of our great allies & their little allies) that the mad-rage, or if you please (the Madeirage) of his Honor is pointed. “The Market street Scoundrel,” may go on with his hireling abuse upon American Citizens, and never stand in awe of a reprimand from the same Honorable gentleman.1 I beg pardon for digressions, but I do confess that this strain pleases me greatly; it flows with ease & rapidity from an abundant source; for scarcely any subject so much occupies my thoughts & irritates my nerves as the tolerance of such a press as Bache’s at the seat of Government. I am not fond of reforming abuses by the help of mob’s, but I would cheerfully abate such a nuisance in a summary manner. Were I a personal sufferer by french spoliation, I could not bear to see the mockery of my calamities, the exultation in my distresses of which Bache is so prodigal. The reading of these detestable papers has made me as intolerant in politics as they are themselves. I hate the dirty, low hypocritical democracy of them, and I sincerely hope that for every Bache there may be a Porcupine throughout the world. As to complaisance or decency or delicacy, these are words not to be found in the dictionary of the vulgar tongue, which is doubtless the only one consulted by these Editors of newspapers in the amendment or reformation of their orthography; but if there exists a man shameless enough to tell the people of the United States, that the cause of the french Republic, is their cause, I am glad there lives another man to tell the people that he lies. The one other book to which you allude, has, as you conjectured, already reached us. I hardly know what to say of it, though by the rules of galantry I should pronounce the hero guilty of a notorious breach therein; for his awkward management and want of address. The benefit of telling one’s own story in these cases, is not much to be courted. The ladies never forgive that crime. It admits of no apology, and whoever is reduced to the extremity of confession must suffer all the consequences of such an offence.— But there are different grades in vice, and in the opinion of every man, the outrage

393

Adams Family Correspondence of the ex-Secretary upon public decorum, bears no comparison with the behaviour of those who extorted it from him. Has not the man, who has published a book of 406 pages, betrayed confidence also; divulged secrets of State, infinitely momentous in comparison of a paltry amour? Has he not discovered upon every occasion since his return a malign spirit, a base temper, fit only for a Devil or one of the Illuminati? What sentiment of honor or morality can possess that man’s mind, that has not pride or generosity enough to sacrifice a resentment to a sense of public good, but will rather expose to the enemies of his Country those sacred secrets deposited with him, while he was employed in its service? God be praised there are no more such Ministers from the United States in Europe, nor is there more than one man in our Government at home, liable to be seized with the distemper, so common among his neighbors & intimates, that of betraying their Countrys trust. We hope our friends will send us the works mentioned in your letter, the volume of M—— & the book of F——.2 I have little fear that they will disturb the repose of the late President in his retirement; he must know too well their drift, and be too well fortified with conscious rectidue to be apprehensive of their effects upon the minds of that portion of his fellow-citizens, who supported his administration, and whose approbation he must be always solicitous to retain. But the repeated instances of ungrateful returns, which he has experienced from men whom he patronized, who owed him their advancement & the only real consequence they possess, must inflict a wound upon his sensibility. To know the real worth of fidelity in attachments some experience of ingratitude is perhaps necessary; but it is a painful proof, and few minds can endure it with composure. The writing of pamphlets & letters against the Executive of the United States, is no longer a paltry trick of party, it has long been reduced to system, though borrowed, like so many other infamies from the french reformers. If we do come to extremities, I should hope that a coat of tar & feathers will point out to scorn & derision the authors & publishers of such works. I am particularly partial to this lenient mode of punishment, for if I mistake not it is national; it is our own yankee invention, & the salutary effects of it are already known among us from experience. It is further recommended by the facility with which it may be administered, but a one horse cart is a necessary appendage to it, for the purpose of giving the patient an airing, in full view of his assembled fellow-citizens. It suits

394

February 1798 all shapes and sizes of vilains & malefactors, for a daub more of pitch or a daub less, a feather more or a feather less in the plumage is not perceptible to even the nicest connoisseurs. Since our residence here we have received intelligence from our Country more frequently & generally later, than we used to get in Holland—but for much the greater portion of it we are indebted to our dear parents. My friend Quincy indeed, has resumed the pen, which courtship & marriage & such like employment compelled him to lay aside, and promises faithfully to atone for past remissness. I have heard from him twice in the course of the winter, & learnt with pleasure from his own relation, how abundantly happy & satisfied he is with his change of condition.3 The distresses of my beloved Sister must be felt & regretted by all her family; for myself, I can say with sincerity, that her sufferings affect me deeply. She is worthy an happier lot. From your letters prior to the last we had concluded she would pass the winter with you at Philadelphia— I shall soon write to her myself. It was natural to expect that a period of four years, which I calculate as the term of my absence, should give birth to a variety of incidents, some of them painful, & some, to which the sympathising tear would be justly tributary. Even the narrow circle of our family connections, mourns the loss of members, not long since counted among its fairest ornaments. To us, at a distance the chasm already created seems wide, and we dread as the greatest of all calamities, any addition to it from those, who are unspeakably dear to us. In my last letter to you, (22d: Decr:) I mentioned an expectation that I should have but little intercourse with the Society of Berlin during this season.4 I had purposely & from choice avoided a presentation at Court, and thereby kept myself for sometime out of sight, but I have already been detected, and shall not be able to persist much longer in my systematic distance. Upon the recovery of their Majesties the king & queen, I expect therefore to be presented, & for this purpose I have caused a suit of the United States uniform to be made for me, in which as one of their Citizen Soldiers, I shall appear. It is the most commodious and at the same time the least expensive of all Court dresses, and none is more in vogue here.—5 I hope not to be reduced to the same extremity as was once a Russian General, who being present at a review of the royal guards at Potsdam, was asked by the Great Frederic how he found the manoeuvres & evolutions? The Russian, somewhat embarrassed

395

Adams Family Correspondence replied—“Sire, Je ne suis qu’un Général Civil.” Ah! replied the Monarch—“Nous ne connaissons pas ça ici.” The uniform I have had made, is very nearly the same with that prescribed by the Secretary at War, for our Navy Officers, though when it was ordered I had not seen his directions.6 I dare say the french Minister here will look askance at it, & I hope he may, for he can’t question my right to wear it, and I want him to see how an American looks in the livery of his own Country.7 With the tenderest affection, I am, my dear Mother / Your Son Thomas B Adams P.S. The Ring which was entrusted to the care of Mr: Hall, as a present to you & which he lost, was of no great value, but I regret its miscarriage, because I know that such little tokens are often prized by the receiver much above their intrinsic worth. The Report which you mention as accompanying your last letter, has not yet come to hand.8 RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs: A Adams / Philadelphia”; internal address: “Mrs: A Adams.”; endorsed: “T B Adams / 12 Febry 1798.” 1 Thomas McKean’s 27 Nov. 1797 charge to the grand jury of Pennsylvania, in explaining the three classes of treason, stated that the third form was aiding or assisting an enemy of the United States during wartime. After giving his explanation, McKean noted, “It will be unnecessary to enlarge under this head, as we are (thank God) at peace with all the world.” McKean also commented that in “a Representative Democracy” those in power “are chosen immediately by the people,” and he declared that “a free and equal government” was “one of the greatest temporal blessings the Almighty ever bestowed on mankind.” At the same time McKean indicted William Cobbett for seditious libel for articles he published from May to July about the Spanish minister Carlos Martínez de Irujo. In the end the grand jury dismissed Cobbett’s indictment. The Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 16 Nov., referred to Benjamin Franklin Bache as “The Market Street Scoundrel” and described him as an “atrocious wretch (worthy descendant of old Ben),” who “knows that all men of any understanding set him down as an abandoned liar, as a tool and a hireling, and he is content that they should do so” (Philadelphia Gazette, 29 Nov.; Marcus Daniel, Scandal &

Civility: Journalism and the Birth of American Democracy, Oxford, 2009, p. 225–227, 360). 2 For the publications by James Monroe and Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet, see AA’s letter to TBA of 3 Jan. 1798, and note 4, above. 3 Letters not found. 4 Although this letter has not been found, AA likely summarized a portion of it describing LCA’s illness in her 21 April letter to Mary Smith Cranch: “The extraordinary exertion and fatigue of our Voyage and journey proved too much for the delicate constitution of mrs Adams, and Since our arrival she has undergone Severe illness, illness of Such a nature as an experienced Matron would easily divine upon calculation and comparison of dates, but which a young Batchelor knows not how to describe, but by the use of terms which practise very properly renders familiar only to professionals.— I conceive that you take my meaning, notwithstanding the veil of Mystery, which is thrown over it.” AA also reported TBA’s comments on the poor quality of their lodgings and his description of Berlin (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 5 On 24 May TBA was presented to King Frederick William III, Queen Louise, and Prince Henry. He described the event in his

396

February 1798 Diary, “introduced at Court, Ball & Supper . . . very glad when the ceremony was over.” He also noted that Prince Charles of Nassau “spoke to me of my uniform” and “enquired how many troops we have upon foot—&ca Being now one of the initiated I may follow the fashions if agreeable” (TBA, Journal, 1798, p. 17). 6 On 24 Aug. 1797 James McHenry distributed regulations regarding uniforms for naval officers. The captains’ uniform consisted of a “full dress Coat” in “Blue Cloth, with long buff lappels, and standing collar and lining of buff to be made and trimmed full with a gold Epaulet on each shoulder.” The vest and breeches were also buff in color

with matching flaps and buttons “so as to corresp0nd and be in uniform with the Coat” (United States Office of Naval Records and Library, Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France, 7 vols., Washington, D.C., 1935–1938, 1:10, 11). 7 Antoine Bernard Caillard (1737–1807) served as the French minister to Prussia from 29 Oct. 1795 to 5 July 1798 (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale; Repertorium, 3:131–132). For more on Caillard, see LCA, D&A, 1:72, 73. 8 That is, the report on William Blount’s conspiracy, for which see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 6 July 1797, note 4, above.

Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody my dear sister, Philadelphia Febry 13 1798 I wrote you on the 23 Jan’ry. you have not received a Letter of that date, for a very good reason, that it still lies unfinishd in my desk, and now it is so much out of date that I do not think it worth sending. in it however I acknowledgd a Letter from you, and one for Mrs smith which I sent, also 2 Letters from the children all of which I forwarded to their Mamma.1 I have now the pleasure of informing the Children that their Father returnd to East Chester about a fortnight since in very good Health, as there Mamma informs me. Yesterday my dear sister I received Your kind Letter of Jan’ry 28th I thank you for it. I know your many cares and avocations, and can allow for your not writing frequently tho I always regreet whatever deprives me of that pleasure. Eliza is not firm, and should not be exposed. I am sorry to hear she has had such an attack, but I believe it is of the Rhumatic kind, which you and I entaild upon our Children I am scarcly ever free from it, yet do not think it worth while to complain unless it is when attended by fever I have then found much relief from bleeding. I hope cousin Betsy made use of the same remedy. I will send you a receit for some powders which I have found great releif from and always keep by me. cousin william wrote me a very good Letter for which I thank him.2 he is eager after knowledge and would not deserve to claim kindred with his Country if at a period like the present he was not alive to every event which affects her. this anxiety however ought not to interfere

397

Adams Family Correspondence with the persuit of those studies which more particuliarly fall to his investigation whilst at the university. The only fault I have found with him on this Head is permitting his persuits to be too desultory, not regarding the Maxim of the Great De Witt, “one thing at one time” by that means he accomplishd Great things, but to derive advantage from any science or persuit, it should be persueded with assiduity, and investigated with attention.3 any person at all conversant in the world must be stupid indeed not to take an interest in the Great Events which are now acting upon the Theater of the World, particuliarly the French revolution which astonishes the universe. I know not how better to describe it than in the words of a late writer [“]It is an atrocious tragedy, directed by monsters, and supported by Heroes. The military department commands admiration, the political part horrour. The Men of France as soldiers are unconquerable, as Citizens they tremble and suffer. Intrepid in the field before the most Warlike troops of Europe, but at Home the slaves of a handful of Wretches.” at the End of the 1794, according to a report presented to the convention of France, the war at that period had cost the French Armies Six hundred and fifty thousand Men. if says the writer (who was one of the Generals of their Armies) [“]if to this number, which is one third less than the truth, we add the losses by Emigration the Guillotine, want and civil war it will be seen with horror, that this state of anarchy has deprived France of twelve hundred thousand Men without including the aged, the women and Children”4 What a dreadfull warning this: how many must have fallen since, in the course of the last four years? Yet in this state of that desolated and desolating Country, behold in our National Legislature a Number, much too formidable Who would lay this Country, its Government Laws & Liberties prostrate at the feet of that awefull Nation, Who would change our present happy and mild Government, for a tyrranny worse than was ever exercised by Nero or Caligulla. by a thousand efforts are they endeavouring to undermine our Religion. they assure it by Books by pamphlets, by Emisaries, by a corruption of manners, well knowing that untill they can prevail destroy that Barrier which exalteth a Nation, no weapon formed against us shall prosper—and may God of his mercy preserve us, not withstanding our merited punishment;5 I am ashamed to mention a most disgracefull buisness which has

398

February 1798 occupied for ten days the national Legislature, and has been finally determined by the party who are ever opposed to all measures for the support of the order and dignity of the Government. in this particular case a majority is not sufficient. the constitution has required that 2 thirds of the members should concur in the expulsion of its members. instead of considering what was due to the Honour of the House, as Legislatures and as gentlemen, they have sufferd narrow party views to opperate, and one vote on their side could not be spaired, tho given by a brute or a savage— this one act has created more warmth, more wrath more ill will, than the most momentous questions of National concern. Mr Griswold the Member insulted is a very respectable Man connected with all the first families in the State of Conneticut, whose Ancesstors was Govenour of the state,6 and who has himself been long in publick office but nothing has arrisen to give the Jacobins so much pleasure as to mortify that state which they hate with a more peculiar venom— my dear sister, I am sick, sick sick of publick Life, however enviable it may appear to others and if the End of our Creation was not best answered by the most good we can do, I Should wish to hide myself in the shades of Peacefeild, Secured from the Noise of the World, its power and ambition. Publick service becomes urksome to all men of talents and to men in Years, who are worn out by continual opposition and by constant exertions to support order Harmony and peace against ambition disorder and anarchy. I hope we may be held together, but I know not how long, for oil & water are not more contrary in their natures, than North and south. yet I see so many evils arrising from a devisision that I deprecate it during my day— but I will quit a subject upon which conjecture becomes painfull. I will add a hope at concluding, that the mean spirited wretches from our own state who could vote for continuing Lyon in his place, may never again be sent to disgrace our state.7 be cautious to whom you communicate my sentiments. I am not asshamed of them, but perhaps I ought not to write Them so freely I am rejoiced at the favourable account you give me of the Children. my Love to them. the better they are the more I shall Love them I design to write to them soon. I have heard of my Childrens leaving Hamburgh for Berlin, but have not any Letters from them since. Not a word of an official nature has transpired from our Envoys— there is foul play I doubt not and their communications are stop’d,

399

Adams Family Correspondence but of what may we not suppose a government capable, who can lay every obligation prostrate before them, who are bound by no tye and restraind by no principle— Give my Love to miss Polly and tell her I wish her very happy in her connection— I have not had a Letter from Mrs smith for more than a week The President desires to be rememberd to you. if Congress sit till June as it seems likely and do—as they have done—I do not know but they will destroy, one of the Countrys best Friends. Tell Abby she must learn to write and send me a Letter— I have some Books for John When I have an opportunity of sending them. if the Children want any thing let it be known to your affectionate / Sister Abigail Adams RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers). 1 Peabody to AA, 19 Dec. 1797, above. 2 William Smith Shaw to AA, 23 Jan. 1798, above. 3 For the maxim of Johan de Witt, see JA, D&A, 1:175. 4 Charles François Du Périer Dumouriez, A Political View of the Future Situation of France, London, 1795, p. 1, 64. 5 In this sentence, AA conflated passages from Proverbs, 14:34, and Isaiah, 54:17. 6 Roger Griswold was the son of Matthew

Griswold, the Connecticut governor from 1784 to 1786, and the grandson of Roger Wolcott, a colonial governor from 1750 to 1754. He was also the nephew of Oliver Wolcott Sr., the state’s governor from 1796 to 1797 (ANB). 7 Massachusetts representatives Nathaniel Freeman Jr., Thomson Joseph Skinner, and Joseph Bradley Varnum voted against expelling Matthew Lyon from the House (Biog. Dir. Cong.; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1008–1009).

John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams My dear Brother. Berlin 14 February 1798. I wrote you on the 25 of October & 29 of Decr: 1796. & on the 14th: of May & 1st: of August of the last year.1 All these letters excepting that of 14 May, related to my affairs in your hands.— I have never received any answer whatever to either of them. That of 29 Decr: I think must have miscarried, but I have long since received answers from other persons, to letters which went by the same opportunities as the others to you. In my letter of the first of August last, I indicated to you three several persons at London, at Hamburg & at Bremen, under cover to whom you might safely direct letters for me. I have received two months ago answers to other letters, which went at the same time with that of 1st: August, but not a line not a syllable from you. I have not a word from you upon the subject of my business later than the 7th: Septr: 1796.2 In all my letters I have urged you to write me, constantly & frequently, and par-

400

February 1798 ticularly to send me a state of the accounts between us at the close of every year. I must in the most pointed manner again entreat you to shew this attention to my business. The neglect of it introduces inevitable disorder into my own arrangements, and you have lived long enough in the world to know that disorder is of itself a great advance towards ruin I am your affectionate brother. LbC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Charles Adams Esqr.”; APM Reel 130. 1 For JQA to CA, 25 Oct. and 29 Dec. 1796, see vol. 11:390–392, 465–466. In his 14 May 1797 letter to CA, he noted: “I have not a syllable from you for many months. I endeavour to apologize for you by concluding that

you are extremely pressed with business. It is at least the most pleasing way of accounting for the long interval since you wrote me last” (LbC, APM Reel 130). 2 Not found.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia Feb’ry 15 1798 I have not received a Line from Since the last of Jan’ry 1 Betsy is much distresst to hear from her sister and I am not a little anxious. I hoped the twesday post as usual would have given me some information. I must attribute it to the weather for my dear sister, write me a line every post if only to tell me how you all are. You will see much to your mortification, that congress have been fiteing, not the French, but the Lyon, not the Noble British Lyon, but the beastly transported Lyon. I am of the Quakers mind whom Peter Porcupine quotes “speakin of the Irish, he says, there is no mediocrity, or medium of Character in these people: they are either the most noble, brave generous and best bred: or the most ruffian like dirty and black gaurd of all the creation.[”]2 What a picture will these, 14 teen days make upon our Journals?! yet are the supporters of Lyon alone to blame: the Gentlemen the real federilist would have expeld him instantly, and if it were possible a federilist could be found thus to have degraded himself, he would not have cost the Country 14 days debate, besides the infamy and disgrace of sitting again there I inclose you a paper containing a speach or two upon the subject3 the Brute has not been in the house for several Days, but he is unfealing enough to go again, and if he does, I have my apprehensions of something still more unpleasent. These Philadelphians are a strange set of people, making pretensions to give Laws of politeness and propriety to the union. they have the least feeling of real genuine politeness of any people with

401

Adams Family Correspondence whom I am acquainted. as an instance of it, they are about to celebrate, not the Birth day of the first Majestrate of the union as such, but of General Washingtons Birth day, and have had the politeness to send invitations to the President Lady and family to attend it. The President of the united states to attend the celebration of the birth day in his publick Character, of a private Citizen! for in no other light can General Washington be now considerd, how ever Good how ever great his Character, which no person more respects than his successor. but how could the President appear at their Ball and assembly, but in a secondary Character, when invited there, to be held up in that light by all foreign Nations. but these people look not beyond their own important selves. I do not know when my feelings of contempt have been more calld forth. in answer to the invitation, the President returnd for answer, “that he had received the card of invitation, and took the earliest opportunity to inform them, that he delined accepting it.”—4 that the Virginians should celebrate the day is natural & proper if they please, and so may any others who chuse.5 but the propriety of doing it in the Capital in the Metropolis of America as these Proud Phylidelphians have publickly named it, and inviting the Head of the Nation to come and do it too, in my view is ludicrious beyond compare. I however bite my Lips, and say nothing, but I wanted to vent my indignation upon paper. you must not however expose it, nor me. it will be call’d pride it will be calld mortification. I despise them both, as it respects myself—but as it respects the Character I hold—I will not knowingly degrade it— Let me know whether a Letter coverd to mr Cranch for dr Tufts has reachd you safely—6 we are all as well as usual. the Baby was here on sunday and is very well. Remember me kindly to all Friends Your ever affectionate / Sister A Adams— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 For Cranch’s 29 Jan. letter, see AA’s reply of 6 Feb., note 1, above. 2 AA was quoting from the Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 13 February. 3 The enclosure has not been found but was possibly from the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 15 Feb., which printed Samuel Whittlesey Dana’s 12 Feb. speech to the House of Representatives stating he would vote to expel Matthew Lyon, removing him “as citizens removed impurities and filth from their docks and wharves.” Dana also noted

that if his fellow representatives chose “to associate with such a Kennell of Filth,” they would “be designated as the companions . . . by being pointed at, by ‘There goes the member of Congress, who voted to have Matthew Lyon as a companion!’” 4 On 12 Feb. Stephen Kingston and others sent JA an invitation to a ball and supper celebrating George Washington’s 66th birthday to be held at Ricketts’ Amphitheatre in Philadelphia on 22 Feb. (Adams Papers). Although JA’s reply has not been found, it was

402

February 1798 published in the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 23 Feb., along with remarks that JA’s answer was “couched in . . . impolite & arrogant terms” and that the organizers “certainly had not the presumption to suppose, that the president of the U. States would so far forget the dignity of his station as to mingle with shop keepers.” An election caused the event to be held a day later than planned, and then it was only sparsely attended (Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 17 Feb.; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 23 Feb.; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 28 Feb., MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 5 On 22 Feb. Fredericksburg and Norfolk,

Va., held celebrations in honor of Washington’s birthday. In both cities the day began with cannon fire; citizens in Fredericksburg had a celebratory dinner at Herndon’s tavern followed by a round of toasts, while those in Norfolk attended a ball at the Borough Tavern (Alexandria Times, 27 Feb., 3 March). 6 This was probably AA’s 6 Feb. letter to Cotton Tufts, above. In a 2 March letter to AA, Cranch noted that Richard Cranch had “receiv’d the Letter for Doctor Tufts which you inclos’d to him & will receive it to day. We have sent to the Docr. their was one for him. We dare not venture it by any body—but tis safe now” (Adams Papers).

John Adams to William Stephens Smith Sir Philadelpa: Feby. 16th 1798: I have received the Letter you wrote me on the 7th of this month, and I shall give all the attention to the Subject of it which may be necessary. It is not new to me— You are too precipitate in my opinion in pronouncing an opinion that the General has been guilty of high Crimes &Ca: 1 There have not been wanting Critics upon your conduct, as severe as you have been upon his It is reported not much to the advantage of your Reputation or mine that you have been to detroit, for Brockholst Livingston and company to Speculate in Lands, and Claims of those who mean to remain British Subjects, and to remove to Canada, and that to cloak your real purposes you gave out, that you had been Sent by me, for ends of government of Some Sort or other, I can scarcely beleive that you could Countenance a report so totally unfounded—2 I am Sir your most obedient & / most humble Servant John Adams LbC in Samuel Bayard Malcom’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Coll. W Smith—”; APM Reel 117. 1 WSS wrote to JA on 7 Feb. (Adams Papers) enclosing two packets of documents relating to the military and political situation around Detroit, namely, the declaration of martial law made on 12 July 1797 by Gen. James Wilkinson in an effort to prevent military desertions. Wilkinson (1757–1825), a native of Maryland who achieved the rank of brigadier general during the Revolutionary War, served as Gen. Anthony Wayne’s second

in command in the Northwest Territory and succeeded Wayne after his death in 1796. WSS reported that merchants were “building Houses & stores, on the British side of Detroit River, to move . . . from under the lash of military Law,” and he warned JA that “unless there is some interference on the part of our Government, martial Law, will depopulate the District.” WSS further commented, “I cannot pretend to say, that The General

403

Adams Family Correspondence derives any emolument from his despotick arrangements but I do believe his acts, and Orders, are not alway’s founded on the Laws of equity, and that generally Justice would not smile upon them” (ANB). 2 Brockholst Livingston and WSS had been classmates at Princeton. It is unclear if WSS

was involved with any land speculation undertaken by Livingston, who had been consulted about Native American land grants to British subjects (Princetonians, 2:397, 425; John Askin, The John Askin Papers, ed. Milo M. Quaife, 2 vols., Detroit, Mich., 1928–1931, 2:60–62).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Quincy Feb. 18th 1798 I write again my dear Sister because I know you love to hear from me, & not that I have any thing important to communicate I was disappointed by not having a line from you yesterday as you clos’d your last Letter of Feb. 1d by Saying you had just receiv’d one from me which you Should reply to the next day I went to Boston a Friday with mr & mrs Black in their Sleigh & return’d with them the next day. at mr Smiths I took up a chronicle & Saw in it an infamous Lie as I had it in my power to make appear. I had your Letter in my Pockit in which you say. “one thing is certain that no intillgince is reciev’d by the President from our Envoys abroad.” there were a number of Gentlemen present to whom I thought proper to make this declaration The writer in the chronicle asserts that the President had receeiv’d dispatches from them, three weeks Since. which he had for base purposes conceal’d— to day I see the centinel & Mercury have given the chronicle the Lie— this paper is become So notorius that no one gives any credit to the party writers in it. not even the Jacobins themselves—1 Adam Colison is dead. that Pickaxe of goverment. tis Said how truly I know not, that a week before his death he had to appoint executers to his will. Some he wish’d, declin’d & advis’d him to take them from his own party & inquir’d why he had not at first made a choice among them. because Said he—“I knew not one I can trust—” dying Speeches are generally thought to be Sincere. if he had been a little wiser I should have had a better opinion of those who caress’d him. but he was just fit to Bark as he was bid2 I veryly think our General assembly get thro their business with more dispatch than your venerable Body The Judiciary Bill & the Dog act, have taken up most of the Session I hear. the former is lost the latter is past & a tax lay’d.3 the design is to exterpate the race how happy for the country if congress could as profitable get rid of their mad Dogs! they are more to be dreaded than any we have yet

404

February 1798 heard off If People will send Such vulgar Members they must expect Such conduct from them but how must we be degraded in the eyes of foreign Nations. your Jacobin equallity too— oh fie. but tis all of a peice our Envoys must be very disagreable Situated. I fear congress will be oblig’d to Set till Summer. I begin to long for your return, & as to the winter I never knew So long a one. we have fine slieghing & the weather Severly cold—but I do not mind it in a cover’d Sleigh. I drank Tea with mrs Smith mrs Belnap mrs Bs Sister & mrs Black last Friday at mrs Lambs.4 we talkd of you my dear Sister & of our pleasent meetings at your house. mrs Black will send a cap by the mail. She would send a slip if She could. She has a large Baskit of cloathes for the child which She design to have sent mrs Hall before She got to Bed. they will be large enough for the Baby when it comes here she thinks to take the woman & her child if She is willing to come. She Says She shall want a person she can trust to take care of the Baby & there is no one so likely to be attach’d to it as She who has nurs’d it I do not know but you will see my Son Soon mrs Cranch writes me that mr Greenleaf wishes him to be with him a few days before he is to have a hearing. it will be a satisfaction to him to see the President & you it will be next to seeing us—5 mrs Greenleaf makes too good a nurse to be fleshy I think she is full as thin as her sister Norton use’d to be but she is in good health. but looks as if She grew in the Shade. She has no colour. She sends her duty to you— Willm Shaw spent a couple of nights with me last week he Says his mother has had her health every well this winter his sister Betsy has been Sick with a fever. is about house. but has a bad cough still. your Lads are well & fine boys. I hear their Father is return’d. I hope he will not take the children away. he cannot be So ungrateful as well as disrespectful— I was glad to hear of the welfair of your children abroad. I hope you & I too shall Some time or other see all our children again— mr & mrs Norton & her Family are well. poor Suky warner is very low the Doctor has very little expectation of her living thro the spring mrs Beal has not been at meeting Scarcly this winter. she has been very unwell. Richards wife & child are with her for the winter.6 mr Ben Beal has not yet return’d from new-york uncle Quincy is

405

Adams Family Correspondence well as usual & mr Wibird crawls—about yet I believe but I have not seen him for a long time mr Baxter has not brought his wife home nor do I believe he will tis suppos’d he will go & live with her. Cousin Betsy return’d about a week since from Boston I wonder if She has inform’d her sister who brought her home. he was often at mr Smiths while she was their—but “they were all accidental visits”—not made to her—but to mrs Smith.— mr Smith is a good hand to rally you know—& these accidental visits were So rung in her ears—that she had no peace— She will make a visit to her aunt Peabody Soon. I fancy She will not go alone [. . . .] a long visit— She has a bad cold & cough at present. I f[. . . .] about it. but I am trying to cure it mrs Baxter continues to mend I took a Bottle [. . . .] wine for her from your cellar. I feel almost Sure she has had the Rhumatism in her head when I saw her last Sunday She had it in her wrist, So bad She could not help crying out Sometimes She can only Set up long enough to have her Bed made now It has been very healthy here this winter. we have had several deaths but no great Sickness Jonathan Beal has lost another child very Suddenly. it was sick but nine hours. the Quincy they thought was its disorder—7 mr Cranch sends his Love to the President & you. will write you Soon. he will not condicend to Scrible as I do but must take time to think— I should never write if I did—& you my Sister will I know be always kind enough to look with candor / upon every thing, which falls from the pen of / your affectionate Sister Mary Cranch RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Richard Cranch: “To Mrs. Adams / the President’s Lady, at / Philadelphia.”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch / Febry 18 / 1798.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 An article in the Boston Independent Chronicle, 12–15 Feb., asserted that JA did not make the envoys’ dispatches public because “the personal and political character of the first magistrate depends upon the success of his favorite project of reducing the French Government to submit to his terms.” In reply, the Massachusetts Mercury, 16 Feb., countered, “It is nothing new to have to give the Lie to Chronicle assertions” and noted that the Chronicle “writer knew it to be false; but hoped it might irritate the People against their Government.” The Boston Columbian Centinel, 17 Feb., also denounced the article, defending JA: “The character of the President for patriotism and integrity is too firmly

fixed with every true American, to be injured in the least by the abuse of such a vile incendiary.” 2 Adam Colson (or Collson, b. 1738) was a leather dresser, innkeeper, and shopkeeper who resided on Marlborough Street in Boston. His will, dated 31 Jan., named as his executors his second wife, Christian, and his nephew, John Collson Lyman; his total inventory was valued at $16,864.08 (Thwing Catalogue, MHi). Colson’s allegiance to the Democratic-Republican Party had been satirized in “Remarks on the Jacobiniad,” Boston, 1795, Evans, No. 28726, p. 47–48. 3 The Mass. General Court considered a judiciary bill to establish a circuit Court of

406

February 1798 Common Pleas and institute new regulations for the Courts of Sessions and justices of the peace. On 9 Feb. the Mass. house of representatives voted 86 to 45 against the bill receiving a second reading. The dog tax act, requiring dogs “to wear a Collar of some kind, with the name of the owner and town or place of residence” and levying a tax on dog owners, passed on 6 Feb. (Massachusetts Mercury, 26 Jan., 9 Feb.; Boston Independent Chronicle, 8–12 Feb.; Mass., Acts and Laws, 1796– 1797, p. 420–422). 4 Probably Ruth Eliot Belknap (1741– 1809), the wife of Rev. Jeremy Belknap, and his sister, Abigail (1750–1816), who lived in Dover, N.H. (Walter Graeme Eliot, A Sketch of the Eliot Family, N.Y., 1887, p. 26; Boston Columbian Centinel, 25 Jan. 1809; Russell

M. Lawson, The Piscataqua Valley in the Age of Sail: A Brief History, Charleston, S.C., 2007, p. 64; Boston, 24th Report, p. 272; Amherst, N.H., Farmer’s Cabinet, 2 March 1816). 5 William Cranch stayed with the Adamses in Philadelphia from 22 Feb. to 7 March 1798 (AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 28 Feb., 13 March, MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 6 Maria Ann Sellon (1775–1847) married Capt. Richard Copeland Beale on 29 March 1796. The couple’s first child was a daughter named Ann Copeland (Sprague, Braintree Families). 7 Jonathan Beale (1757–1834), a brother of Capt. Benjamin Beale Jr., lost his son Peter (b. 1797) on 3 Feb. 1798 (Sprague, Braintree Families).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch My dear Sister Philadelphia Feb’ry 21 1798 I received your kind Letter of Feb’ry 9th and was quite rejoic’d to hear that mrs Baxter was like to do well, when I feard to open the Letter least it should inform me of her death. I have been Confined with a cold like the influenza for several days past. I have dreaded least it should prove one of my Feb’ry attacks. it came on with a very soar Throat and hoarsness and terminated in sneezing it has made me quite sick. I have not been out of my Room Since saturday. I hope however it is going of. I have a company of 33 to dine with me tomorrow Eleven of whom are Ladies, and Louissa is in much trouble on account of being obliged to act as Principle to morrow. she would have had me sent cards of apology to defer it, but I could not consent, as most of the Ladies are well known to her, and it is good Sometimes to oblige young people to come forward and exert themselves. amongst the Ladies is mrs Law the Grandaughter of mrs washington, who lives in the city of washington. she is a very pleasing agreable Lady, and I loved her for the kind and affectionate manner in which she spoke of mr & mrs Cranch and Betsy Elliot whose absence she says they all regreet— I have some expectation of seeing Your son here in a few days. I hear he is comeing upon mr Greenleaf affairs. mr Morris deliverd himself to his bail and went to Jail last week.1 if ever said mrs Law, I had felt a disposition to extravagance, I should have been cured by a visit to mrs Morris. two years ago, Mrs Morris was a remarkable

407

Adams Family Correspondence well looking woman. Maria, my companion gay and blith as a bird, blooming as a rose in June. I went to visit mrs Morris, & met her without knowing her, so alterd that I was shockd. maria pale wan dejected & Spiritless— such is the change Here I cannot refrain quoting a passage which struck me in reading it, as applicable not only to that Family, but to one with which I am more closely connected. “The man who loses his whole fortune, yet possesses firmness, Philosophy, a disdain of ambition and an accommodation to circumstances, is less an object of contemplative pity, than the person who without one real deprivation, one actual Evil is first, or is suddenly forced to recognise the fallacy of a Cherished and darling hope all speculative Wealth has a shallow foundation, but that its foundation has always been shallow is no mitigation of dissapointment, to him who had only viewed it in its superstructure, nor is its downfall less terrible to its visionary elevator because others had seen it from the beginning as a folly or Chimera: its dissolution should be estimated, not by its romance in the unimpassioned examination of a rational looker on but by its believed promise of felicity to its credulous projector.”2 I am sometimes ready to exclaim when I see one bubble bursting after an other, all is vanity and vexation of spirit— you write me that I have amused and entertaind you by my communications. I am sure I must mortify you by a detail of some late proceedings in congress. you must have heard of the spitting animal. this act so low vulgar and base, which having been committed, could only have dignifiedly resented, by the expulsion of the Beast, has been spun out, made the object of party, and renderd thus, the disgrace of the National legislature, by an unfortunate clause in the Constitution which gives the power into the hands of the minority, requiring two thirds to concur in an expulsion of a member. the circumstances were so fully proved of Lyons being the base agressor, that as Gentleman I could not have belived they could have got one third of the members to have consented to his continuence with them, but you will learn the state of the buisness from the documents I send you—3 I know not where it will end— in the mean time the buisness of the Nation is neglected, to the great mortification of the federalists. you will have received before this my Letters, which contain a reply to some of your queries

408

February 1798 I want to say a word to you by way of advise. the Farm which has been disposed of, I hope may prove a relief to mr Cranch as well as an advantage to him and that the income from the money if vested in publick Securities will yeald you more real profit than the Land. yet that was solid money fleeting. my request is that the sum during Brothers Life may not be broken in upon with an Idea of assisting Children. they are young and can better bear hardships and care, than those who are advanced in Life. I hope therefore nothing will lead to a dispertion of the capital, tho you have as deserving children as any person need desire. I repeat pray do not let the bank be touchd. I have seen too many instances of Parents dependant upon Children— tho there are instances which do honour to humane nature, there are more which disgrace it as to the Carpet you speak of, you may use it, and when I return I will let you know whether I will part with it— adieu my dear sister / most affectionatly / your A Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs / A Adams (Pha:) / Feb: 21. 1798.” 1 Robert Morris was imprisoned for debt at the Prune Street prison in Philadelphia from 16 Feb. 1798 until 26 Aug. 1801 (Charles Rappleye, Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution, N.Y., 2010, p. 507, 512). 2 Fanny Burney, Camilla; or, A Picture of Youth, 5 vols., N.Y., 1797, 3:32. 3 Possibly Report of the Committee of Privileges . . . Relative to the “Expulsion from this House, of Matthew Lyon, for a Violent Attack,

and Gross Indecency Committed upon the Person of Roger Griswold, a Member from Connecticut, in the Presence of the House, While Sitting,” Phila., 1798, Evans, No. 34757, and The Testimony Given Before a Committee of the Whole of the House of Representatives of the United States, in Relation to a Report of Their Committee of Privileges, Phila., 1798, Evans, No. 34760.

John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams My dear Mother. Berlin 22 February 1798. By your letter to my brother dated 3. January which he has just received I find that at the time when it was written you had received from us no advices later than the 16th: of September, a circumstance equally surprizing and mortifying to me. After that date I wrote on the 19th: and 21st: of September to my father and on the 4th: of October addressed to him some observations upon an important event then recent. To you I wrote on the 7th of October. And to the Secretary of State on the 25th: of September, from London and on the 31st: of October from Hamburg—1 Almost all these were long, very long Letters, and upon topics extremely interesting to our Country.

409

Adams Family Correspondence The Letter of 21. September & the observations of 4. October most peculiarly so. And I had flattered myself that all of them had reached their destination before the commencement of the new year.— Though I find myself disappointed in this hope, I am still desirous to hear they did arrive, though late.— After my arrival here indeed, for the first six weeks my correspondence was almost wholly suspended by the unfortunate circumstances which I have related to you in former letters. Since the middle of December it has been resumed with its usual activity as I hope you will in due time see by my letters of 15. 16 & 28. December 3. 15. 19. 30. and 31. January and 5. 8. 17 of this month, all sent, and now on their way to you, to my father or to the Secretary of State.2 I have some curiosity to see Mr: Monroe’s book, and also that of Fauchet. These men were very confidential from the beginning, as appears by Fauchet’s intercepted Letter.— Monroe was one of Fauchet’s virtuous Republicans, who even before he went to France betrayed to him as many secrets as he could— Fauchet expressly designates him as “a patriot of whom he delights to entertain an idea worthy of that IMPOSING title.[”]3 An imposing title indeed, if conduct is the proper test of patriotism.— I hope however that some notice will be taken of these books, which I dare say will furnish materials for the refutation of their authors.— I think there has not been that advantage taken of Randolph’s pamphlet, which it was susceptible of, in this respect.— Porcupine’s observations as far as they went were very well—4 But Porcupine is professedly an Englishman, and our own friends of the Government should not have left the exposure of Randolph & his party, altogether to him. I have in a former letter to my father mentioned one observation that occurred to me as particularly striking, and which is not noticed by Porcupine.— It is that the falsehood of Fauchet’s certificate to Randolph with regard to the essential point upon which Randolph’s guilt depends, is completely demonstrated by the internal evidence of a passage in the intercepted Letter.—5 This fact appears to me of some consequence; for if it appears beyond a contradiction that Fauchet solemnly certified a falsehood, for the purpose of washing Randolph white, what credit can be given to any thing that he may afterwards publish, to sully the fair splendor of Washington’s fame. If I were in America, with my books at hand and a little leisure at my command these things should be properly unfolded to the public notice I have seen the other pamphlet to which you allude. The solici-

410

February 1798 tude to escape from a charge of speculation has compelled a reluctant disclosure of a different sort of error. It might be unnecessary. But we must remark the extreme industry with which Monroe laboured to foster and preserve a suspicion of malversation, which at the same time he dared not avow.— His correspondence upon this subject amounts to this “I do not believe you guilty, but I wish the world to think you so. I cannot accuse you, but I will not disculpate you.”6 He used his benefactor the late President no better.— For he fed and boarded Tom Paine, to abuse him in the most false and scurrilous manner, and made Tom at the same time certify, that he had checked his malicious effusions.—7 Monroe justly says that speculation in our funds would have been criminal in a Secretary of the Treasury, but he does not tell us what he thinks of An American Minister in France, speculating in Assignats and confiscated property.8 Of the policy or morality of this he could not properly decide; no man is a judge in his own cause. I shall be well pleased if Mr: Malcom should conclude to come and take my brother’s place, though I shall never have the vacancy which his leaving me will occasion, entirely supplied: I am not in future to expect a brother in my assistant, and happy shall I be to meet with the qualities of industry, fidelity, and prudence which so strongly distinguish him.— It will be proper that this Gentleman, or any other to whom it may be agreeable, and whom you shall think well qualified to join me, should understand perfectly the terms. The allowance to me for a Secretary is 1350 Dollars per annum, which I shall pay to the Gentleman, commencing from the time when he joins me, and to finish either when he shall leave me or at the time when I shall receive my recall. But I must not be understood to charge myself with any of his expences, of what kind soever, either for his voyage in coming or returning, or during his continuance with me.— It is probable from the situation of my family that it will be neither convenient to us, nor agreeable to him to live in the house with us.— All these things must be known and understood by any person who will undertake to come to me— The conditions are perhaps not such as can agree with the views and prospects of any young man, properly qualified for such a place— But I can offer no others, and at the same time it must be known that my continuance in Europe may be short, and must be very precarious.— The advantages of such a situation consist, in the introduction which it gives to the knowledge of public affairs, and in the opportunity of seeing the world, and becoming acquainted with distin-

411

Adams Family Correspondence guished European characters.— It affords likewise an opportunity of acquiring the habit of speaking and writing the french language, a requisite almost essential to a diplomatic man in every part of Europe except England, and the want of which has been often severely felt by the American Ministers abroad. My wife is yet unable from the state of her health to answer your very kind letter to her, for which she is very grateful. As soon as she recovers strength she will take the earliest opportunity to assure you of her affection and duty, herself.— Since her first illness she had been remarkably well untill the last ten days. I hope soon to inform you that she is perfectly recovered.— She has been introduced at Court, and to the Princesses connected with the royal family, by whom she has been noticed with great kindness. Whitcomb has given me notice that he shall leave me, in the course of the next Summer— He says his affairs require his return to America, but I am not altogether sure that he means to go there.— I shall miss him very much, for in four years rolling about the world, he has acquired the essential qualities of service, of which he was ignorant enough when he entered my service.— He is honest too, and has upon the whole been very orderly and well-behaved while with me— Such a man, it is not easy to replace. I suspect he will have leisure to regret his quitting me, but he must fulfill his destiny. I give you no news. The world is all on tiptoe to see the issue of the great expedition which the great nation are preparing against England. It is not to be wished I believe by any body, that they may succeed, but I cannot confidently say, that it is not to be apprehended.— Force and persuasion combined are the most powerful of all engines that operate upon human affairs— They established the Empire of Mahomet—they swelled to immensity the Power of the Roman Church— Glory and Plunder are pungent stimulatives, wealth and ease, are dull and heavy, and therefore against such impetuous attacks, in a great measure defenceless.— The approach of danger may call forth extraordinary exertions, and the household Gods inspire some enthusiasm for their defence. But the period is extremely critical, and perhaps time and chance only will determine the Event. I am your ever affectionate Son John Q. Adams.9 RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A. Adams.”; endorsed: “J Q Adams 24 Feb / ry”; notation by TBA: “No 35 / 34 February 5th:.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 133. 1 In his letter of 25 Sept. 1797 to Timothy Pickering, JQA noted that his commission to

Prussia had been received, and he offered comment on the aftermath of the 18 fructi-

412

February 1798 dor coup in France. In his 31 Oct. letter, he emphasized the need for the United States and other neutral nations to defend against any encroachment by the British on their shipping rights. He also reported the liberation of the Marquis de Lafayette and other prisoners at Olmütz (both LbC’s, APM Reel 129). Pickering did not acknowledge receipt of the 31 Oct. letter until 20 April 1798 (Adams Papers). 2 JQA’s letters to AA of 28 Dec. 1797, 19 Jan., and 5 Feb. 1798, are all above. In letters to JA of 16 Dec. 1797, 31 Jan., and 17 Feb. 1798, he reported his introduction at the Prussian court but also his inability to move forward with treaty negotiations until he received new credentials. He commented on the progress of the congress at Rastatt and the worsening situation between France and Hamburg (all Adams Papers). For his 3 Jan. letter to JA, see JA to TBA, 25 Oct. 1797, note 3, above. JQA wrote to Pickering on 15 Dec. 1797, 15 Jan., and 8 Feb. 1798 discussing the situation of Malta and the deteriorating relationship between Prussia and France. He relayed news of the U.S. envoys to France and a conversation he had with the French minister regarding the Jay Treaty. He also commented on events in the Batavian Republic (all LbC’s, APM Reel 132). For his letter to Pickering of 30 Jan., see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 22 April, and note 6, below. 3 JQA was quoting from Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet’s Dispatch No. 10, dated 31 Oct. 1794, which was printed in Edmund Randolph’s A Vindication of Mr. Randolph’s Resignation, Phila., 1795, p. 46, Evans, No. 29384. For more on Fauchet’s captured letter, see vol. 11:39. 4 Peter Porcupine, A New-Year’s Gift to the Democrats; or, Observations on a Pamphlet, Entitled, “A Vindication of Mr. Randolph’s Resignation,” Phila., 1796, Evans, No. 30215, which intersperses quotations from Randolph’s publication with his own commentary. 5 In a letter to JA of 23 Feb. 1797, JQA noted: “Fauchet in his plastering certificate pretends that this passage of his N. 3. refers to a conversation which he had with Randolph in April 1794. and that it related to the political divisions in different parts of the United States, and to a bill which gave the Executive, powers that might be abused, and wound liberty.— The impudence with which this story is told, when the clause about the

taking away the article relative to the sale of prizes comes so immediately after, in the dispatch, is not one of the least curious particulars in the strange publication of Randolph.— The clause about the sale of prizes was struck out, on the 2d: of June 1794. And Fauchet certifies that the conversation was the April before.— In fact from the internal evidence of Fauchet’s dispatch, compared with Adet’s last Note, it is clearly the 7th: Section of the Act of June 5. 1794. which was so extremely obnoxious to Mr: Randolph, and at the same time is so to the French Government” (Adams Papers). 6 James Monroe, along with Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg and Abraham Venable, approached Alexander Hamilton in Dec. 1792 about Hamilton’s presumed speculation activities and subsequently learned of the Reynolds affair. On 5 July 1797 Hamilton wrote to the three men demanding an explicit declaration in writing that they were fully satisfied with Hamilton’s explanation of the events. Venable replied on 9 July, and on the 17th Monroe and Muhlenberg sent Hamilton a joint letter affirming their confidence in his explanation. That same day, Hamilton wrote separately to Monroe insisting that he also repudiate a memorandum written on 2 Jan. 1793 asserting that evidence had been specifically fabricated to support Hamilton’s story. Monroe refused to further affirm Hamilton’s innocence, writing on 21 July 1797: “Whether the imputations against you . . . are well or ill founded, depends upon the facts and circumstances which appear against you upon your defence. If you shew that they are ill founded, I shall be contented, for I have never undertaken to accuse you since our interview, nor do I now give any opinion on it, reserving to myself the liberty to form one, after I see your defence” (Hamilton, Observations on Certain Documents Contained in No. V & VI of “The History of the United States for the Year 1796,” in Which the Charge of Speculation Against Alexander Hamilton, Late Secretary of the Treasury, Is Fully Refuted, Phila., 1797, p. 25–27, 30–31, xxxiii–xxxiv, xxxvii– xli, xliii–xlviii, Evans, No. 32222). For more on the exchanges between Hamilton and Monroe in the summer of 1797, see Hamilton, Papers, 21:146–212. 7 Monroe secured Thomas Paine’s release from a French prison and allowed Paine to live with him in Paris from Nov. 1794 to the spring of 1796. During that time Paine drafted

413

Adams Family Correspondence his Letter to George Washington, President of the United States of America, on Affairs Public and Private, for which see vol. 11:430, 431– 432, despite Monroe’s objections. The tract was published in the United States after Monroe was recalled (Ammon, James Monroe, p. 135–137). 8 In 1795 an American loan remittance for $120,000, ultimately destined for a Dutch bank, was sent to France. Fulwar Skipwith took charge of the funds, and when his house was subsequently burglarized some of the money was stolen. Monroe told Skipwith to replace the money, believing that Skipwith would be reimbursed; the funds were then forwarded to the Netherlands. Skipwith’s bill for compensation was protested and remained unpaid until 1802. Monroe, accused of holding some of the remittance funds back to buy

a confiscated French estate, insisted that he had legitimately purchased his Parisian residence directly from the former owner (Monroe, Papers, 4:40–41, 260; Jefferson, Papers, 29:165; Madison, Papers, Congressional Series, 16:304). 9 JQA wrote to JA on 25 Feb. 1798 reporting that France was likely to invade Portugal to create an Iberian Republic. He commented on the limitations of the press in France, noting, “The superintendency over the press is rigorous and in constant exercise; within the last month a great number of periodical Prints have been suppressed, and the Offices shut up.” He also noted that the decree against neutral navigation “will meet with spirited resistance from the Northern Powers” (Adams Papers).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy Feb 23d 1798 I cannot enough thank you my dear Sister for your kind Letter1 its Sisterly contents Sink deep in my heart & draw tears from my eyes. happy happy woman! to have the ability & the Will to do So much good. yes my delight is to be you almoner I am always sure of a welcome wherever I go to distribute your bounty. mrs Smith dear creature what She must have Suffer’d I know her Silent manner of receeving both good & evil. I hope She will yet see happier days than She has injoy Since she was married. for she must have known to what Such a stile of living tended. it was not what she had been us’d to nor what she approv’d her Boys are doing well willm. is studious but John must play a few years to spend his spirits before he can fix himself to any thing— I hope their Fathers pride will not take them away Mrs Baxter is mending Slowly I believe she does not want for any thing. I carried her Apples Rusk & Milk Bisket my Self. She has appetite enough the danger is of her eating too much I go to see her as often as I can. tis a dreadful place to get to. cold & bleak to pass in an open Sleigh— thire is no going through the lane I Shall talk with doctor Tufts about your Rooms & he will have them done. had not your kitchen Floor better be painted too— write me in season about every thing you wish done that I can attend too. Sucky warner is almost gone I do not believe she will live a

414

February 1798 month. I was at weymouth with mrs Black on monday & went to see her I was amaz’d to find her So ill— She has no expectation of living. her fever is high & She looks like a Saint resign’d. mr Norton Baptiz’d & admited her a member of the church that day. mrs Tufts & mrs Norton will mourn her loose seriously2 your kind offer of wine for mr cranch I shall accept it if I find it necessary he Should have what I cannot get else where. he appears relax’d & feeble I have the port you left me & I give him that but he does not love it So well as white wine I got Lisbon very good from Boston & he has drank that I hope when he can ride & take the air he will feel better. Tis as you Say while Phebe has a house every Black thing will be living upon her. the day before yesterday Jonathan Rawson sent a Sick negro woman to her that had liv’d with him for Some time he took her out of Bed & sent her in a Sleigh with a Boy in a Storm to be left with her & sent word to Sussy who lives with her to get a Sleigh & carry her to Bridgwater & he would pay her for it. he sent her without any thing but a little rice & hard Biskit. she was So ill Phebe could not send her back in the Storm She had fits all that night & a watcher last. She cannot dress or undress herself. this morning Phebe sent a Letter which she had written to mr Rawson for us to send. but we thought best to let the Select men know of the affair & take care of her. how cruel in mr Rawson to behalf So—3 Lucy gets along better than I could have expected & they look chearful. Now She feels the importance of knowing the value of being oblig’d to make the best of every thing while young. She is an excellent house wife & there does not appear the want of any necessarys. not a farthing is lost & yet nothing looks mean her Family is rather encumber’d with children for so Small a house but every thing is made easey by good humour & mr Greenleafs attention he has an exellen Spirit of goverment & they have a fine Boy & Girl in their kitchen. mr Norton & Family are will & live very comfortably. my Son I hope will do well he must Struggle hard. but She too trys to make the best of the little they have—& my dear Sister I think they are all virtuous & good I knew the Letter writer the moment I read it. If it was dated from the moon I Should descover from where it came. I think I did not see the piece in Fennos paper I wish you would send it I am glad when I see any thing from your Sons. I can depend upon their judgment. there is a striking difference between their commu-

415

Adams Family Correspondence nications & any others I see which must be visible to any one who compairs them— If you have met with any thing new in the interesting or amusing way written lately & will send I Shall be glad. I want Some thing Sometimes— the winter has been long & cold. I am almost tir’d of it. if it had not been for mrs Black I Should have Scarcly been out. but She has whirll’d me about & been like a Sister. mrs Hannah has been with me in her aunts absence. She keeps with her Husband while the court sets— I shall see mrs Pope about your Butter & cheese pray remember me affectionately to the President tell him I wish him patience & fortitude. his reward he must look for hereafter— his intigrety will intittle him to what no Jacobin can take from Cousin Louissa always Shares largely in my affections— to you my dear Sister every thing is due that love can Suggest & gratitude demand from your / ever affectionate Sister Mary Cranch Mrs Greenleaf has sent you the Song4 RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs / A. Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch / 23 Febry 1798.” 1 AA to Cranch, 6 Feb., above. 2 Rev. Jacob Norton admitted Susannah Warner to the First Church of Weymouth on 19 Feb. (MHi:Rev. Jacob Norton’s Record Book, 1788–1833, First Church [Weymouth, Mass.] Records, 1724–1839). 3 Jonathan Rawson (1762–1819) was a quarryman and gravestone cutter in Quincy (James Blachowicz, “The Shop of Jonathan Rawson of Quincy: A School for Grave-

stone Carvers,” New England Ancestors, 7:34 [2006]). 4 Cranch reported in a 14 Jan. letter to AA, “I am hunting up the song of Derby & Joan tis a beautiful Simple Song but I have not found it yet. I think tis in Mrs Greenleafs collection I will send it when I am able to find it” (Adams Papers). See also AA to Cranch, 26 Dec. 1797, and note 4, above.

William Stephens Smith to John Adams Sir. East Chester Feby. 23d. 1798 I have received the letter you did me the honor to write under date of the 16th. inst.—and am content that the communication I thought it my duty to make, has been received—and am also satisfied that it is not new to The President— The report that on my visit to Detroit, I gave out, that I was sent by The President, for ends of Government of some sort or other—is utterly and totally false—and I defy the person or persons, who made this infamous communication, to face the question, or to point out during my excurtion, that I ever mentioned, The President unless when his health was drank at table—

416

February 1798 I am at a loss to account, from any action of my, life, how it was possible that The President should for a moment allow himself to believe me capable of so base and dishonourable a coulouring I am The Presidents most obedt. Humble Servt. W: S: Smith RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The President of The United States.”

Charles Adams to James Whitelaw Sir New York Feby 25 1798 Seeing an advertisement in the farmers Weekly Museum that you would attend to the payment of monies due on Lands in the State of Vermont I now take the liberty to trouble you with respect to some owned by my family1 A Mr Jesse Gilbert called on me some days ago and I promised to transmit him money to clear our claims but as I was not so fortunate as to receive the money in time for him I think it best to transmit it immediately to you requesting you to redeem the lands and if in your way to consult Mr Gilbert whose disinterested services deserve my gratitude and Mr Samuel Walker of Rutland to whom I write on the subject2 The Lands in question were purchased many years since of a Mr Davis they are situated in the town of New Salem on the Borders of Lake Memphre-Magog and are as follows. One right to John Adams One to Abigail Adams his wife one to Abigail Adams their daughter one to John Quincy Adams and One to Charles Adams. I send you enclosed forty dollars. I suppose the sum will be sufficient for the occasion3 I had thoughts of requesting you to attend to this business and to draw on me for the sum you might be obliged to advance but as I have not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with you I thought it more adviseable to transmit the money As it is contained in Bank Bills you may perhaps find some difficulty in changing them should this be the case you can send them back to me and draw an order at five days sight for what ever you may disburse on my account. Your immediate attention to this business and your information to me respecting the subject will be highly gratifying to / Sir Your humble Servant Charles Adams. RC (VtHi:James Whitelaw Papers); addressed: “James Whitelaw Esqr / Surveyor General of The State of Vermont / Ryegate in the County of Caledonia State / of

417

Adams Family Correspondence Vermont / To be left at the Post office / Newbury on Connecticutt / River”; endorsed: “Charles Adams / Letter respecting / lands in Salem.” 1 The Walpole, N.H., Farmer’s Weekly Museum, 16 Jan., printed an advertisement from James Whitelaw (1748–1829), a Scottish immigrant who served as surveyor general of Vermont. The advertisement stated, “All persons who wish to have their lands taken care of . . . or who wish to be informed of the situation, quality or any matter respecting lands in said State, by applying to him, may have their business faithfully transacted for a reasonable compensation” (Thomas Goodville, “Life of General James Whitelaw,” Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society, 1905–1906, p. 105, 106, 117). 2 Probably Jesse Gilbert (1762–1833) of Hamden, Conn., who had previously surveyed land in Vermont, and Samuel Walker, Harvard 1790, who had been CA’s college roommate and was a lawyer and schoolteacher in Rutland, Vt. (vol. 7:4; William P.

Blake, History of the Town of Hamden, Connecticut, with an Account of the Centennial Celebration, June 15th, 1886, New Haven, 1888, p. 249; William H. Jeffrey, Successful Vermonters: A Modern Gazetteer of Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans Counties, East Burke, Vt., 1904, p. 198; Dawn D. Hance, The History of Rutland, Vermont, 1761–1861, Rutland, 1991, p. 211, 214). 3 That is, Col. Jacob Davis (1739–1814) of Charlton, Mass., who served in the Revolutionary War and in 1780 purchased lands in Vermont; he was instrumental in establishing the city of Montpelier (D. P. Thompson, History of the Town of Montpelier, from the Time it was First Chartered in 1781 to the Year 1860, Montpelier, Vt., 1860, p. 169, 170, 172). For previous discussions of the Vermont lands, see vol. 4:106, 107, 315, 316–317, 345; 7:457, 459.

Abigail Adams to William Smith my Dear Sir Philadelphia Febry 28 1798 We now have the appearence of some fine weather our Rivers are open, but our Roads are all like what we experienced when we came through the Jersis in April last. I begin to look towards my Native state with a wish to be early there, which I fear will not be seconded by Congress, for tho many of them are distresst at the manner this session has heitherto been wasted, yet they cannot controul those who wish to make long speeches, and upon subjects which have been canvassed and upon which nothing new; which is not absurd can be offerd. the shamefull buisness respecting Lyon ought not to have occupied as many hours, as it did days—but not content with performing so little, they are Spinning a mere Penolipean Webb not with such pure motives as actuated that Virtuous Lady, for she destroyd the works of the day, by night to preserve her honour and her integrity.1 Congress have already repeald a Law respecting foreign coins which they past last sessions, and now are repealing the stamp act, and that before any experiment is made to see what might be the result,2 at a time too, when Revenue is wanted for to defend the southern states against the Indians, to form new treaties to purchase their lands. Money is also calld for to put the forts & garisons in repair by Charlstown s C. Money is calld for to assist in com-

418

February 1798 pleating the Solitary buildings in the Federal city.3 commerce is distrest, unable to yeald the Revenue which has heretofore been so productive yet every measure which can aid or protect that, is bellowd against as a declaration of War—and mr Giles declares that he would if he could, destroy every tax throughout the united states. this is the method by which he would pay his adoration to the sovereign People— our Envoys have been near six months in Paris, but to this hour not a line has been received from them, not with standing the bold assertion of Plain truth in the Chronical, and I challenge him for his proof. I have not a doubt that their dispatches have been intercepted if any have been sent, or that they are so situated that they cannot communicate in either case it is very dissagreable— I do not see by your papers that you have followd the lead of the Metropolis of the united states, and celebrated the Birthday of a truly Great and Good Private citizen—or so far fortogtton what belongs to the Character of the Head of your Nation, as to call upon him to attend the Birth Night of Gen Washington. In what light would such a step be looked upon by foreign Nations? the President the chief Majestrate of an independant Nation, placing himself in a secondary Character, celebrating Birth Nights, not of a President, but a Private citizen? yet these wise judicious people cannot find out the Reason why the President declined to accept their invitation. some of their Masters of the Ceremonies were polite enough to publish in Baches paper the inclosed Scrap the morning of the Ball, but they defeated their own plans.4 as soon as it was known, it went through the city like an Electrical shock—and the Ball was meager enough, so much so, that tho it was by subscription I have heard but 15 Ladies were present. not a lisp of it has appeard in one of their News papers. there were a number of persons who were not subscribers who went and I suppose came under Baches denomination of shop keepers— if the Chronical should undertake to publish any thing upon the subject, I hope some persons will represent it in its true light. it most assuredly was not any want of Respect and Regard to Genll Washington he himself would have done the same in like circumstances Witness his refusal to dine with Gov Handcok, after the dinner had been purposely prepared and the company invited he would not subject the Character of the chief Head of the Government to state soverignty5 what I write to you is in confidence that I shall not be brought as an Authority. one thing I think I ought to say, I have heard that

419

Adams Family Correspondence there is a design to shift this matter off upon the Vice President, but in Justice to him, he had no hand in it further than to subscribe to it, being told that the President would certainly attend. when he found that he would not go, he refused also, this I am sure of so that let no more be laid upon him than he deserves.6 I wish he always conducted with as much propriety— the Philadelphians drew in the N yorkers in order to keep them in Countanance, and that after the President had refused. adieu my paper say I must only add / yours &c A A—7 RC and enclosure (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers). 1 Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, was pressured to marry a local noble in her husband’s absence. She pretended she must first weave a shroud for her father-in-law, and every night for ten years she unraveled her day’s work in order to delay the marriage (Oxford Classical Dicy.). 2 On 9 Feb. 1793 Congress passed a law regulating foreign coins, the second section of which stated that in three years “all foreign gold coins, and all foreign silver coins, except Spanish milled dollars . . . shall cease to be a legal tender.” On 22 July 1797 JA announced that in conformity with the law, all foreign silver coins (except Spanish milled dollars) would cease to be legal tender on 15 Oct., and all foreign gold coins would cease to be legal tender on 31 July 1798. On 13 Dec. 1797 a House committee submitted their report on necessary alterations to the act, noting that very little U.S. specie had made its way to the interior of the country and that it would be impossible to mint enough coinage by the required date to replace all foreign coins currently in circulation. On 24 Dec. the House passed an act suspending the second section of the 1793 law, relating to foreign coins, for three years; the Senate passed the bill on 17 Jan. 1798. A stamp tax had been passed by Congress in July 1797 and was intended to take effect in December; however, on 11 Dec. the secretary of the treasury presented a report to the House stating that it would be “impossible to provide the necessary machinery, dies, &c.” to carry the act into effect by 1 Jan. 1798, and he recommended that implementation be delayed until 1 July. On 28 Feb. the House voted to repeal the act, but the same day the Senate “resolved that the bill for repealing the Stamp Act should not pass” (Amer. State Papers, Finance, 2:197; Annals of Congress,

5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 489, 692–693, 717, 721– 722, 758, 1097–1098; U.S. Statutes at Large, 1:527–532). 3 On 17 Jan. JA recommended that Congress appropriate funds to defray the expenses of concluding a treaty with the Cherokee Nation, and on 26 Jan. Thomas Pinckney submitted a bill to the House for that purpose. The bill, which passed the House on 30 Jan. and the Senate on 21 Feb., provided up to $25,880 “to defray the expense of holding a treaty” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 842, 930–931, 953, 1058–1060, 3708). On 5 Feb. JA presented materials to Congress submitted by Gov. Charles Pinckney of South Carolina detailing French depredations along the Charleston coast. On 10 April Samuel Sewall presented an appropriations bill “for the protection of the ports and harbors of the United States.” The bill passed the House on the 12th and the Senate on the 27th. Construction on Fort Moultrie in Charleston harbor, which had stopped in 1795 due to a lack of funds, was subsequently completed. Charleston residents supplemented federal funding, thus gaining a credit toward the state’s debt to the United States (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 550, 963– 964, 1384, 1402, 3726; J. E. Kaufmann and H. W. Kaufmann, Fortress America: The Forts that Defended America 1600 to the Present, Cambridge, 2004, p. 144). For a previous discussion on fortifying ports and harbors, see CA to JQA, 8 June 1797, and note 1, above. On 23 Feb. 1798 JA presented a memorial from the Washington, D.C., commissioners asking Congress for additional funds. The House passed a bill on 20 March approving a loan for completing the construction of government buildings; the bill passed the Senate on 12 April. The loan authorized $100,000, of which half would be disbursed in 1798 and

420

Adams Family Correspondence February– March 1798

February–March 1798 the remainder in 1799 (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 539, 1063, 1275, 3722). For a previous discussion of the commissioners’ monetary requests, see William Cranch to AA, 21 Nov. 1797, note 7, above. 4 The enclosure was from the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 23 Feb. 1798, for which see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 15 Feb., and note 4, above. 5 In Oct. 1789 George Washington, during a visit to New England, was escorted by Lt. Gov. Samuel Adams but not Gov. John Hancock. Washington noted the slight in his diary: “Having engaged yesterday to take an informal dinner with the Govr. to day (but under a full persuation that he would have waited upon me so soon as I should have arrived) I excused myself upon his not doing it.” That evening Hancock sent messengers to Washington “to express the Govrs. Concern that he had not been in a condition to call upon me so soon as I came to Town. I informed them in explicit terms that I should not see the Govr. unless it was at my own

lodgings.” The following day Hancock visited Washington, claiming “that he was still indisposed; but as it had been suggested that” the governor “expected to receive the visit from the President, which he knew was improper, he was resolved at all hazds. to pay his Compliments to day” (Washington, Diaries, 5:473–476). 6 On 2 Feb. 1798 Thomas Jefferson purchased a ticket to attend Washington’s birthday celebration, but on the 23d he wrote to Thomas Willing, one of the organizers of the ball, hoping that “his non-attendance will not be misconstrued,” as he had “not been at a ball these twenty years, nor for a long time permitted himself to go to any entertainments of the evening, from motives of attention to health” (Jefferson, Papers, 30:112, 132). 7 AA had previously written to William Smith, on 22 Feb., enclosing a letter for Dorothy Quincy Hancock Scott and requesting him to send “two more quontal of fish” (MHi: Smith-Carter Family Papers).

Abigail Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson my Dear Madam Philadelphia March 2 1798 Yesterday the secretary of state received Letters from mr Adams at Berlin dated Nov’br 10th & 17th in which he says that he left Hamburgh on the 2d and reachd Berlin on the 7th. he had an interveiw with the Minister. the King was informd of his arrival, and desired the Minister to express to him the extreem regreet he felt at not being able to give him Audience, as his dangerous illness wholy prevented him from doing buisness. he desired the Minister to express to him the satisfaction he received from this Mark of attention from the united states, as well as his regreet at being unable to give him his first Audience.1 Mr Adams’s Letter of the 17th informs that the King of Prussia died yesterday morning at 9 oclock, and was immediatly succeeded to the Throne by his son Frederic William the 3d. concequently Mr Adams’s Credentials cannot be presented, untill new ones are sent him, which will be as speedily as possible2 He mentions having written Letters from Hamburgh of 31 of october, which are not come to Hand;3 as these Letters are to the secretary of state & wholy upon publick buisness—no mention is made of his private affairs, and as yet We have not any private Letters, tho

421

Adams Family Correspondence I cannot but hope there are some. It was however a great Satisfaction to me, to learn their safe arrival at Berlin; and my pleasure would be incompleat, if I did not embrace the earliest opportunity of communicating it to you, Who I have not a doubt, take an equal interest in the safety and prosperity of our Children From our Envoys in France no official Communications have been received, only vague News paper reports. their situation must I think be very painfull. if they have attempted any communications with their Government, they have failed. that they have been altogether silent, I know not how to believe. The Jacobins as usual, are very insolent false and abusive upon the occasion— Indeed my dear Madam, the service of this Government is not a Bed of Roses— in any department of it The President unites with me, in presenting his Regards to mr Johnson and Family. I forwarded a Letter to you from mrs smith.4 I hope you received it— I am dear Madam with Sentiments / of Esteem and Friendship / Yours &c A Adams5 RC (Adams Papers); notation by CFA: “To Mrs Catherine Johnson.” 1 When JQA arrived in Berlin, there were three primary foreign ministers serving under Frederick William II—Count Karl Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein, Philipp Karl von Alvensleben, and Count Christian August Heinrich Kurt von Haugwitz. Here, AA accurately summarized JQA’s 10 Nov. 1797 letter to Timothy Pickering (LbC, APM Reel 132) reporting his meeting with Haugwitz and noting that Commandeur Joseph de Maisonneuve, then representing the Maltese Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in Berlin, had asked him to forward a letter to JA (Brendan Simms, The Impact of Napoleon: Prussian High Politics, Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Executive, 1797–1806, Cambridge, Eng., 1997, p. 49; D/JQA/24, 9, 10 Nov., APM Reel 27; LCA, D&A, 1:294). 2 In his letter to Pickering of 17 Nov., JQA

also reported that he had presented his credentials to renew the Swedish-American treaty to the Swedish minister, Baron Carl Gustav Schultz von Ascheraden (LbC, APM Reel 132). 3 For JQA to Pickering, 31 Oct., see JQA to AA, 22 Feb. 1798, and note 1, above. 4 Not found. 5 AA wrote again to Johnson on 12 April informing her that public dispatches from JQA reported his presentation to the new Prussian king. She also sent Joshua Johnson the recently published dispatches and instructions of the U.S. envoys to France, reporting, “I hope our Envoys will not be the sufferers, in concequence of their being made public; I should feel much happier if I was sure they were out of that Man trap of Paris” (Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to William Smith Dear sir [2 March 1798]1 The President received your Letter this morning dated 5 Feb’ry.2 the Rule of the former President not to answer Letters of this na-

422

Adams Family Correspondence March 1798

March 1798 ture, he has abided by. his Rule is to place all Canditates for office upon a Book kept for that purpose, and to appoint to office such persons as come best recommended for abilities integrity and industery. in your case he would be particuliarly delicate, for as he has never removed a Man from office, but such as have betrayd their trust by becomeing publick defaulters, or otherways misconducting themselves, So would he be peculiarly cautious not to appoint to office any one who does not produce very respectable Recommendations he therefore desires you to procure such and forward to him. Mr Grove of the House is well known to you. you had better write to him—and if you are at all acquainted with mr Bloodworth or Govr Martin who are Senators from that state, an application to them might not be amiss either from yourself or some Gentlemen who knows them, for tho Born & Educated in N England, I do not know whether you are known to a single Gentleman now in senate from that State.3 All Nominations you well know go from the President to the Senate, whose duty it is, before they advise & consent to the same, to inquire who the Gentleman is & what is his Character? altho the President has not made it a rule as his predecessor did never to appoint a Relation to office, Yet you must be sensible a more than ordinary delicacy is necessary for him to observe on such occasions, and a faithfull discharge of the trust will be expected and required on no other terms would he continue in office the nearest and dearest Friend he has upon Earth— Your sister Louissa is well she heard both from your mother and sister last week who were both well. My Love kind Regards to your Brother whose life I hope as well as yours may be prolonged to serve Your Country, and to be a comfort to your Relatives. The death both of your sister & Brother who have been cut of in the morning of their days, has been a very melancholy event to me Who loved and esteemed them highly. they were both deserving. Let not the Warning be in vain to you my young Friends [“]That Life is long which answers lifes great End— Virtue alone has majesty in Death”4 I close my Letter rather seriously, but not more so than I hope a subject of such concequence will be considerd buy you for there is no sure and certain dependance to be placed upon any Man, however high and dignified his office, who has not solid principles of

423

Adams Family Correspondence Religion and Virtue for their basis— my affection and Regard both for your Brother and you will be a sufficient appoligy I trust for the freedom with which I have written. I am / Your affectionate / Aunt Abigail Adams—5 Dft (Adams Papers). 1 The dating of this letter is based on the endorsement, “Recd. March 2. 1798,” that JA wrote on Smith’s 5 Feb. letter, for which see note 2, below. 2 In his letter to JA of 5 Feb., Smith requested an appointment as the next revenue inspector for the first survey of North Carolina in the place of Thomas Overton, who intended to resign (Adams Papers). 3 William Barry Grove (1764–1818), a North Carolina lawyer, served as a Federalist in the House of Representatives from 1791 until 1803. Alexander Martin (1740–1807), the former governor of North Carolina, served in

the Senate from 1793 to 1799 (Biog. Dir. Cong.). There is no evidence that Grove, Martin, or Timothy Bloodworth wrote Smith a recommendation, and he did not receive a nomination under JA. 4 AA combined two lines from Edward Young, The Complaint; or, Night Thoughts, Night V, line 773, and Night II, line 650. 5 Smith replied to AA [post 2 March 1798], thanking her and JA for their kindness and patronage thus far. He also assured his aunt that he would be able to demonstrate his merit (Adams Papers).

Cotton Tufts to John Adams Dear Sr. Weymouth March. 2d. 1798. I have enclosed a Letter to Mr. Webster in Answer to his which you forwarded to me, I have left it open, when you have read it, please to seal & forward it. If I have faild in any of the striking Features of the Epidemic of 1761, as you was with Your Father who died with that Distemper, your Memory will perhaps enable you to supply the Defects.1 Mr. Cranch has several Cows, which He wishes you to purchase in April; the Addition of his Farm to yours will call for more Stock— unless you should think best to improve the Pasture for fatting Cattle— There are Three yoke of oxen on the several Farms that must be fatted or sold— they are too old to keep any longer— Soule who liv’d with you for some Time and was well approv’d of, will as I am inform’d apply to me to be hir’d, at least one Man more than Porter & Billings will be wanted for the coming Season—and should I not receive your Instructions seasonably, I shall feel myself rather at a Loss how to conduct, more especially as I have not received your Plan of operations for the Home Farm— I do not apprehend that you will hire Billings any longer than the Farm He is engaged for—2 the Spring Work may be done with Three Hands, in the Summer you will probably want more.

424

March 1798 We have had some very good Sledding in February, & considerable Snow still remains on the Ground— Hay is become an Article of considerable Importance it fetches from 8s/ to 9d/ in Boston— What must be the Fate of a Nation, what its Character? when the Seat of its Legislature becomes a Theatre on which Envy, Malice, Rage & Passion are let loose and vulgar Arts of Revenge are practised. Oh Wretched. Adieu— I am with great Respect & Affection / Your H Servt. Cotton Tufts RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The [. . . .]”; internal address: “The President of the United States.” Dft (Adams Papers). Some loss of text due to a cut manuscript. 1 On 13 Jan. Noah Webster wrote to JA asking about the presence of influenza in Boston at the time of Deacon John Adams’ death (Adams Papers). In his 16 Jan. reply, JA confirmed that in 1761 his father and several others in Braintree “died of a Fever occasioned by an endemial Cold, so much like the Influenza that I Suppose it to have been the same” (NN:John Adams Letters and Documents). He suggested that Tufts might be able to supply additional information and then forwarded Webster’s letter to Tufts. The letter Tufts enclosed here was sent by JA to Webster on 13 March 1798 and is the source

of information printed in Webster’s A Brief History of the Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases, 2 vols., Hartford, Conn., 1799, 1:250, Evans, No. 36687 (Tufts to JA, 20 Feb., Adams Papers; JA to Webster, 13 March, NN: John Adams Letters and Documents). A Dft of Tufts’ letter to Webster, dated [ante 2 March], is in the Adams Papers. 2 In the Dft of the letter printed here, Tufts wrote in more detail about the Adams farmhand: “I have not much Expectation from Billings, he has made several Excursions since you left Quincy—Every one of which has evidently wrecked his Constitution—”

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia March 3d. 1798 To communicate pleasure, is reflecting happiness. The secretary of state came smiling in my Room yesterday. I said to him, I know you have got dispatches, upon which he took from his pocket, two Letters from my dear son at Berlin. tho they were publick Letters and upon publick buisness, they informd us of his safe arrival at Berlin on the 7th of Nov’br, 4 days from Hamburgh— on the 10th he had an audience of the Prussian minister. the King was informd of his arrival, and directed his Ministure to assure mr Adams, that he received with great satisfaction this mark of attention from the united states and that he regreetedly exceedingly that his extreem illness renderd it impossible for him to give him the first Audience “on the 17th mr Adams writes, The King of Prussia died yesterday morning at 9 oclock at Potsdam. he was immediatly succeeded by

425

Adams Family Correspondence his son Frederic William the 3d. my Credentials cannot now be presented I must request New ones to the Present King may be forwarded as soon as possible.” I hope the mission began so contrary to his wishes, and so injurious to his Private interest, will become more auspicious. He had made his arrangement for going to Lisbon, hired a house there taken and paid his passage when he received news that he must go to Berlin—and this without any additional allowence, and only half the sum allowd for the outfit of a minister going from this Country, tho his expences must amount to the same— I received he observes an office tho no promotion at once invidious in appearence and oppressive in reality, but I have done. my Country has every claim upon me. if her service were merely a Bed of Roses, it would not be a worthy incitement to ambition1 I inclose you an other paper upon the Foreign intercourse Bill. a stranger Would be ready to suppose that The President, instead of having appointed only one single Minister Since he came into office (the Envoys excepted, who was only for a particular object,) that he had Nominated an incredible Number, and increased or wanted to increase their salleries.2 the House of Rep’s have not by the constitution any right to judge of the propriety of sending foreign Ministers, nor the courts to which they shall be sent, nor the Grades. the Constitution has given that power solely to the President as it has to the House of Reps the granting of money. as well might the President assume to himself the disposal of Money, unappropriated, yet have they according to calculation expended as much Money by the length of the debate as would pay the salleries of all our ministers for two years to come— Mr otis & mr Harper have very abley replied to mr Gallitin whose speaches I will send you as soon as they are Printed.3 Your son is well and talks of returning the beginning of the week I would have my stockings kept till I return. I had Letters from mrs smith4 she was well— my Love to Mrs Norten Greenleaf & their Families. Poor suky Warner. I am Grieved for her. I am my dear sister / With unalterable / affection Your sister A Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.” 1 See JQA to AA, 7 Oct. 1797, above. 2 The enclosure has not been found but was likely a copy of the Philadelphia Gazette

of the United States, 3 March 1798, which printed a 27 Feb. speech given by New York representative Jonathan Nicoll Havens dur-

426

March 1798 ing the debate of the foreign intercourse bill. Havens argued that because no limit was placed on the number of foreign ministers the president could appoint, the House could be compelled to make appropriations whether or not it supported the appointments. In particular, Havens questioned the usefulness of having ministers at Berlin and The Hague (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 3 On 1 March, during the ongoing debate over the foreign intercourse bill, Albert Gallatin defended the constitutionality of the House’s declining to fund the salaries of foreign ministers it deemed unnecessary. He also warned that extending connections with Europe would entangle the United States in foreign conflicts, inevitably leading to war and higher taxes. The following day both Harrison Gray Otis and Robert Goodloe Harper offered responses. Otis defended the usefulness of existing U.S. commercial treaties and justified “Executive Patronage” as an extension of the will of the people who elected the executive. Harper argued that Gallatin’s po-

sition was less about appropriations than it was about the power to determine foreign appointments, which, as offices established by the law of nations and in the case of Portugal and Prussia expressly sanctioned by Congress, the House was bound to fund. Harper also voiced his support for a mission to Berlin and argued that it was only through foreign ministers, not through consuls as suggested by Gallatin, that the United States could keep itself free from political entanglements in Europe. The Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser printed the three speeches on 9, 10, and 12 March (Gallatin), 14 March (Otis), and 17, 20, 22, 24 March (Harper). Gallatin’s and Harper’s speeches were also published in pamphlet form; see, for example, The Speech of Albert Gallatin . . . upon the Foreign Intercourse Bill, 2d ed., Phila., 1798, Evans, No. 33777, and Mr. Harper’s Speech on the Foreign Intercourse Bill, in Reply to Mr. Nicholas and Mr. Gallatin, [Phila., 1798], Evans, No. 33839. 4 Not found.

Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams My dear Sir. Berlin 4 March 1798. Since my residence at this place I have received your kind letter of October 25th: written at East Chester, a few weeks previous to your return to the seat of Government, from your nothern excursion. I have been highly delighted by the accounts which reached us from various quarters of the cordial & dignified reception given by the people to their chief magistrate, both in his going from & his return to Philadelphia, and at the strain of affection which pervades the numerous addresses, which were presented to him during his tour. They are so many testimonies of approbation of the past & so many pledges of support to the future administration of the Government, from the most respectable portion of the community; and independent of the interest which I naturally took in sentiments of respectful attachment addressed to you, I felt their full force & effect also, as one of your fellow citizens. Our intelligence from home is not later than the beginning of January, when affairs are represented as having been particularly calm, though no important discussion had then taken place in Congress. In a late letter to my mother, I expressed an hope that this tranquility was not the consequence of a dull indifference to the

427

Adams Family Correspondence actual state of our national concerns, for in my opinion no period ever existed, which called for more wakefulness; but I cannot help entertaining an apprehension that this is too much the case.1 Not that I distrust the spirit or temper of my Countrymen if it were properly called forth. I believe it amply competent to ensure success & triumph to any cause in which it shall be thoroughly exerted— But there has been an organized employment of means to sooth the just resentment of our injured fellow citizens, and above all to prevent any ebullition of popular indignation. The people must appear to be satisfied with the state of things, and the Government only enraged & revengeful. I have regretted most unfeignedly, & I still deplore as a signal calamity the necessity of a serious contest between our Country & France, but I have long been convinced that we ought not to decline it when forced upon us, and so perfect has been my persuasion that no reconcilement was practicable while such dispositions existed in the french Government, that I have for sometime considered forbearance of hostilities on our part as impolitic & dangerous. If the progress of Jacobinism is to be arrested at all it is by fighting it. It will not be treated with upon peaceable terms, and if there be a nation on earth capable of going the necessary lengths and making the proper sacrifices to stop its course, it must be one that is already possessed of substantial liberty, that knows how to appreciate it & how to distinguish between it & that sort of liberty which France is trying to propagate throughout the world. To every other nation & people, the french liberty is perhaps equal if not superior to their own, at least the difference is not worth contending for; when therefore, it is offered, accompanied like the pistol of the highwayman with the alternative of surrender or death, who shall dare to reject it? Our Commissioners at Paris have been suffered to remain there longer than I expected; but they will not succeed in their mission— they will eventually be forced to depart, by the indignant conduct of the french Government, and so soon as they are gone we may expect to see them accused of breaking off the negotiation and their mission Stigmatized as perfidious & insincere. There is precedent for this surmise, though for the treatment of the American Envoy’s even the haughty register of the Directory does not furnish any. They will not hear the legal Representatives of the American Government—nor will they acknowledge them as such. It is clear then that the Government itself is disavowed by them, and probably

428

March 1798 nothing will content them short of an exchange of the Constitution of the United States for one of the newest fashion from the manufactory at Paris, with a loan of money into the bargain by way of indemnity. If the people of the United States consent to this, they will be worthy of admittance into the numerous Sisterhood of the Batavian, the Cisalpine, the Cisrhenine, the Ligurian, the Liman & the Transjurane Republics;2 but by what pretty original name they will be baptised, I am at some loss to conjecture; though in honor of those who first assumed the french cockade perhaps they will call it Kaskaskian. The question, in spite of all my aversion to meet it, will force itself upon me. Will the United States connect itself with this family? & Will the American people desert their Government in the hour of danger, exposed to all the consequences of the independent engagements made in their name and under the expectation of their support? While Switzerland is fulfilling its destiny, the Cantons of Berne Friburg, Zurich & Solathern declare their intentions of substituting democracy for aristocracy, in order to preserve peace with France. They had previously declared their firm resolution to maintain & adhere to their ancient Constitution at the price of their treasures & their blood. The people revolt & their magistrates are forced to recant. Still they take new ground and talk of an unanimous resolution of the mass of the people to resist foreign invasion, dominion or influence, & the french Directory disclaim at the same time all views except the abolition of the Swiss Oligarchy, having no projects whatever against their Sovereignty & independence. It is well known that Switzerland cannot resist this foreign invasion, which notwithstanding all declarations to the contrary is destined to reduce this Sovereignty to the most absolute dependence upon the french Republic— Here is precept & example too for our Countrymen—will they obey the one, or imitate the other? I believe not, because I know they are capable of resistance, and are more attached to their present government than the people of Switzerland are to their aristocratic institutions. It is natural enough for an American citizen, who has witnessed the undeviating march of all these modern Revolutions effected by foreign interference, to figure to himself the possibility of a similar turn to affairs in his own Country; upon no other principle can I apologize to myself for harbouring so unworthy and degrading an opinion of my fellow citizens— They will, I am fully persuaded, never merit or incur the application of it.

429

Adams Family Correspondence The philosophy of Professor Kant will probably spread throughout Germany, as his works are held in high repute by those who are capable of diving into their profound mysteries— He ranks with the Luther’s & the Calvins, but whether his writings are destined to bring about an important reformation in the political world, equal to that produced in religion by the labors of those to whom he is compared, time must determine. Upon this subject, however, I can add nothing to the information already given you by my Brother;3 but in answer to the question whether the jealousies of the nobility and the principles of democracy are spread in Germany, I firmly believe that it is not hazardous to affirm it. They are thickly and universally sown & time will gather a plentiful crop of them. Mr: Burke predicts a revolution in the Empire which is to have a more extensive & important influence upon human affairs than that of France, of which however it can only be a consequence. France is unquestionably the head of the new reformation, but the predictions of Burke may be oracular.4 The Congress at Rastadt now occupied upon the momentous business of a settlement for peace between the Empire & the french Republic, must eventually subscribe to all the sacrifices which France requires; and in so doing the precedent of innovation upon the integrity of the Empire will be effectually established— The bulwark of the Germanic Constitution will thereby be irrecoverably lost, and future inroads upon it will follow in the train until the Empire itself is swallowed up by the two great powers which it contains in its own bosom, though France, when bordering upon it, will not forget to put in its claim for a share of the plunder, of which it now gives the first example. These consequences seem naturally to result from the peace of Campo-Formio, where the head & chief of the Empire consented to a separation of his interests from the common cause— This abandonment secured to him an indemnity, but if my ideas upon this subject be correct, this indemnity, however ample it may seem, will eventually prove perfidious. Where is now his frontier or barrier against France? Mentz, Manheim, Philipsburg & Ehrenbreitstein are upon the Rhine & not upon the Danube.5 The small & pitiful policy, as Burke calls it, of adding towns to their dominions seems to possess all the first rank powers of Europe.6 Poland is irrecoverably gone— Some parts of its territory may change masters in the course of trafic, but as a separate power there is no resurrection for it. Venice is consolidated with the mass of Aus-

430

March 1798 tria in exchange for Flanders & the Ecclesiastical States upon the left bank of the Rhine, which are necessarily sacrificed to the natural limits insisted on by the french Republic. By way of indemnity to the princes & States thus despoiled, they may possibly be invited to join with the french emigrants in the enterprize of reconquering Canada.7 The prospect for the Prince of Orange is perhaps not much more cheering than this, though his pretensions may be advocated by the negotiator from this Court at the General Congress. Peace both continental and maritime must take place & have some permanency before it can be fully ascertained to what degree the Scheld is to supercede the Texel & the Mease. A time of Commercial proscription is little favourable for such a prediction. Antwerp appeared to me when I saw it, in deep despondency— Its internal appearance offered the gloomy picture of a mind predisposed by sorrows, afflictions & mortifications to assume the veil of devotion. The cross & the image which was still left standing in some of the public squares, joined to the occasional votaries to be met with in the act of offering their homage at its feet, served to impress such a conception upon my mind. Its situation is highly favorable for trade and the majestic river that runs by its borders is worthy of a comparison with our Hudson or Delaware; but the finger of the french Republic is upon it, and though its liquid floods do not thereby dry up, the floods of wealth & treasure which it once bore upon its bosom have settled into other channels, but peace & a liberal policy may possibly restore them to their kindred by nature.8 After the conquest of England, which is to follow the Great Nation’s descent commercial law is to cease altogether & the most unrestrained lawless liberty of the seas is to take its place; the great monsters of the deep are to grow tame & civil by the force of such “dulcet harmony” between all Nations of the Globe. The late decree of the french government which is so hostile to all neutral commerce has given considerable umbrage to the neutral powers of Europe; it has already produced remonstrance from two of them, Denmark & Prussia, but with what effect is not yet publicly known.9 If the Legislature of the United States really wanted another proof of the evil dispositions & the pernicious designs of the french Republic towards their constituents, I should hope this last measure might convince them. Will the House of Representatives persist in their refusal to authorise the arming of Merchant

431

Adams Family Correspondence vessels, lest it should interfere with & influence the negotiation with France? They may persist, but not from such motives—the negotiation they talk of has never commenced— They may continue to repeat that a lapse of six months has brought with it no alteration in the affairs of the union, & that defence will be hostility—and if such arguments are received in lieu of facts; if such treatment of their suffering Countrymen produce no resentment, no indignation, I shall begin to believe that the syren song of Liberty, equality & fraternity, has captivated all minds and prepared both governors & governed to receive a french garrison as soon as it can be made to reach the Continent— From that moment, come when it will, I have no longer a Country— I professedly belong to Mr: Burke’s class of obstinates, and can never consent to a compromise with Jacobinism even should it be disposed to pardon my heresies.10 From the little observation I have had occasion to make of the disposition & temper of the Prussian people, I have concluded that the subtle fluid of the french Revolution has been pretty copiously diffused among them— The Nobility is a numerous, though an indigent & idle class—the revolutionary literature circulates among all ranks with very little disguise— still it is not uncommon to hear them utter very rankorous & bitter execrations against french principles, but like every body else, they gape & stare at their astonishing progress & with a shrug of the shoulders exclaim C’est étonant— ma foi! je ne l’aurai pas cru possible!11 I have made up my mind to leave my brother in the course of the present year, and return home. He is now settled here in a snug family way and can better dispense with my assistance than he could have done heretofore. As a companion too I am now happily superceded, and though I shall leave him with great reluctance, it will always be a consoling reflection that my continuance could add less to his comfort than to his convenience. It is to be wished however, that my place may be supplied, and I cannot but hope, that Mr: Malcom your present Secretary, will be induced to come. If in returning to America I should be so fortunate as to escape perils by sea & from privateers, I shall hope to reach it by the month of November at furthest; but I am doubtful whether the City of Philadelphia will be the most eligible place for my future residence— The almost annual occurrence of that devastating disorder, which banishes during a great part of the Summer & Autumn more than half the inhabitants, or exposes those who remain to continual alarm & danger, must be a powerful objection against that city, as

432

March 1798 the permanent residence of a professional man. I shall hope to find an opening in some other quarter.12 I am dear Sir, with affectionate attachment your / Son Thomas B Adams. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The President of the United States / Philadelphia”; internal address: “The President of the U.S.A.”; endorsed by AA: “T B Adams / 4 march 1798.” 1 See TBA to AA, 12 Feb., above. 2 The Cisrhenish or Rhineland Republic was a short-lived French client state centered in Cologne and created in Sept. 1797 out of territory between the Moselle and Rhine Rivers. However, because the Directory wanted the direct annexation of the territory, it refused to recognize the fledging republic. The Lemanic Republic was formed out of the Pays de Vaud region of Switzerland in Jan. 1798 but was soon incorporated into the Helvetic Republic (Biro, German Policy of Revolutionary France, 2:838, 898–904; Lina Hug and Richard Stead, The Story of the Nations: Switzerland, N.Y., 1890, p. 349). 3 For JQA’s comments on Immanuel Kant, see JA to TBA, 25 Oct. 1797, note 3, above. 4 “A great revolution is preparing in Germany; and a revolution, in my opinion, likely to be more decisive upon the general fate of nations than that of France itself; other than as in France is to be found the first source of all the principles which are in any way likely to distinguish the troubles and convulsions of our age” (Burke, Three Memorials on French Affairs, p. 20). 5 The 13th secret article of the Treaty of Campo-Formio specified within twenty days of ratification the evacuation of several cities and fortresses along the Rhine River, including Mainz, Mannheim, Philippsburg, and Ehrenbreitstein (Biro, German Policy of Revolutionary France, 2:939). 6 In A Vindication of Natural Society; or, A View of the Miseries and Evils Arising to Mankind from Every Species of Artificial Society, London, 1756, Edmund Burke characterized the territorial struggles of ancient Greece as “one of the bloodiest Scenes in History. One is astonished how such a small Spot could furnish Men sufficient to sacrifice to the pitiful Ambition of possessing five or six thousand more Acres, or two or three more Villages” (p. 20). 7 While no invasion was attempted, the French government did desire to reclaim Can-

ada and even hired spies to lay the groundwork for revolt against British rule in Quebec (F. Murray Greenwood, Legacies of Fear: Law and Politics in Quebec in the Era of the French Revolution, [Toronto], 1993, p. 139– 140). 8 Antwerp had been in a state of economic decay for more than a century after the 1648 Treaty of Münster restricted navigation of the Scheldt River, thereby closing the city’s access to the sea. Following French military success in the Austrian Netherlands in the fall of 1792, the National Convention reopened the river to international commerce, and trade was slowly reestablished (vol. 5:452; JA, Papers, 9:283; Schama, Patriots and Liberators, p. 405, 580). 9 For the French decree on neutral shipping, see JQA to AA, 19 Jan. 1798, and note 6, above. The neutral nations of Europe, including Denmark and Prussia, protested France’s attack on their shipping rights. JQA reported in several letters that while Prussia and Denmark reinforced their armies and raised their naval forces, they also ordered their ministers at Paris to remonstrate jointly against the French decree. By mid-March however, France had neither answered nor shown signs of withdrawing the provision. Denmark, following Sweden’s lead, began convoying its merchant vessels in the summer of 1798, and the two nations coordinated their efforts under the armed neutrality agreement of 1794 (Alexander DeConde, The Quasi-War: The Politics and Diplomacy of the Undeclared War with France 1797–1801, N.Y., 1966, p. 53; JQA to William Vans Murray, 13 Feb. 1798, LbC, APM Reel 130; to JA, 25 Feb., Adams Papers; to Timothy Pickering, 19 Feb., 8 March, LbC, APM Reel 132; H. Arnold Barton, Scandinavia in the Revolutionary Era, 1760–1815, Minneapolis, Minn., 1986, p. 248). 10 “If a great change is to be made in human affairs, the minds of men will be fitted to it; the general opinions and feelings will

433

Adams Family Correspondence draw that way. Every fear, every hope, will forward it; and then they who persist in opposing this mighty current in human affairs, will appear rather to resist the decrees of Providence itself, than the mere designs of men. They will not be resolute and firm, but

perverse and obstinate” (Burke, Three Memorials on French Affairs, p. 80). 11 It is astonishing—indeed! I would not have believed it possible! 12 For TBA’s return to the United States in the fall of 1798, see LCA, D&A, 1:90.

Hannah Quincy Lincoln Storer to Abigail Adams Boston March 4th. 1798 I presume Dear Madam that I Shall receive Your pardon by Complying with the request of Mr. Charles Bulfinch, to be the bearer of a Letter of Mine to You— his wish without doubt is to be Noticed in Your family, as an acquaintance of this.— his Merrits Need Not be Mention’d as they are well known— He is Now imploy’d (And his expences paid) by a Number of Gentlemen, to veiw the Banks in Your City And those in New York.— The inside work is his Object. to Make a through investigation of it, And then return to improve if he can, upon one for this State—1 Your Noticing him in a family way, will be exceeding pleasing to him, and his Connections, as well as gratifying to Your friend, who Anticipates the pleasure—She expects In the Approaching Summer by the return Of those friends She So highly Values.— I can Now only wish that every blessing May decend On You And Yours, And that each May long injoy the Aplause due to their Superiour Merrits.— If Mrs. Smith is with you pray Offer My warm regards, also to Your Amiable Neice—with those Of Mr Storer to the President And his Esteemed Lady. The Young Ladies desire to join their respects with those. / Dear Madam from / Your Sincere friend Hannah Storer2 P. S. Your friends this way are in usual health— pray let Miss Smith know that her Sister drank Tea with Me Not long Since and was very well— My love to Mrs. Otis and family— RC (Adams Papers). 1 Charles Bulfinch’s tour of the New York and Philadelphia branches of the Bank of the United States was in conjunction with his work on the Boston branch. Located on State Street, the neoclassical building opened in Dec. 1798 and was described as “the neatest public building in the state.” It was demolished in 1824 (Kenneth Hafertepe, “Banking

Houses in the United States: The First Generation, 1781–1811,” Winterthur Portfolio, 35:36–38 [Spring 2000]; Philadelphia Gazette, 25 Dec. 1797; Asher Benjamin and Daniel Raynerd, The American Builder’s Companion, Boston, 1806, p. 65; Boston Columbian Centinel, 19 Dec. 1798). 2 In her reply of 21 March, AA noted her

434

March 1798 regret that Bulfinch had so little time to spend in Philadelphia and applauded his work to design more beautiful buildings for Massachusetts. She cautioned, however, that many private citizens had exceeded the

bounds of economy and sense in building homes for themselves. She also criticized the inaction of Congress and the efforts to repeal bills from the previous session (Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia march 5th 1798 I received on saturday Evening the 3d March Your kind Letter of 25 Feb’ry.1 You estimate much too highly the little services I am able to render to my Friends, and you depreciate the value of your own, the benifit of which I have too often experienced to Sit lightly by them, for whilst you visit the widow the orphan, the sick, and console them by your presense, enliven them by your conversation, & prescribe for their necessities, you prove that it is possible to be very benevolent and Charitable, tho with small pecuniary means— when you do all the good in your power, you enjoy all the happiness the practise of virtue can bestow, and long may you receive the Reward. Your son has been with us near a fortnight I feel very loth to part with him. he must leave us he Says tomorrow. I believe he has just received Letters from mrs Cranch I will step and ask him how she is. I have read Nancys Letter She and the Children are both well. it is dated the 27 Feb’ry she is very anxious for her Brother, Which is very natural I know not how she could be otherways, for tho unfortunate belevolence has been a striking trait in his Character Mr & Mrs Law have been three weeks in this city. you know he married miss custos, who seems to inherit all the benevolence of her Grandmother. she is a charming woman the more I See of her the more amiable she appears. she is to Spend the day with me tomorrow, in the family way, for which She seems to be formd. I loved her the more for the friendly manner in which she expresses her Regard for your son and for mrs Cranch and Betsy Eliot who she says, she misses very much. Mrs Law is so easy, so tranquil so unaffected, that her first appearence preposses You in her favour, So different from most of the formal Ladies of this city, yet there is sociabity enough here amongst Some of them. I alway however sit it down when I meet with it, that N England comes in for some share of it. I have visited sometimes & Sit half an hour in company in some families with whose reception and Manners I have been particuliarly gratified. upon making inquiries of my intelligenser

435

Adams Family Correspondence Dr Rush who knows everybody and their connections, I discover that Grandfather or Mother or some relative originated from N England. two Nations are not more different than the N Englanders and many Natives of this city. I must not however be too local which has the preference I have not said— You will learn that at length dispatches have arrived from our commissoners, but with them, no prospect of success. we have letters to the 8 Janry I inclose you the paper which contains the Message from the President with the Letter to both Houses—of Congress.2 we shall now see how the American pulse beat— I fear we shall be driven to War, but to defend ourselves is our duty. War the French have made upon us a long time. I cannot learn what is become of mr Beal. is he not yet got to Quincy? Let mrs Black know that the Nurse and Baby were with me yesterday. it had, had a bad cold but was better. we put on the cap and it lookd very pretty. I gave the Nurse the 5 dollors sent by mrs Black for which She was very thankfull, and says mrs Black may assure herself that she shall take the best care of the child. she told our people mrs Brisler and Betsy, that mr Black complaind a good deal of the expence, but she could not keep it for less. she had to give at the rate of 15 dollors pr cord for Wood which I know to be true, and that she could not do any other buisness than look after the two Children. she seems to think that carrying the Children by water when the weather becomes pleasent will be less fatigue to them than by land, but this for a future days consideration Louissa desires the Letter to her sister may be sent to her if she is gone to Atkinson. thank mr Cranch for his kind Letter3 I would have the floor painted in the kitchin & the stairs a plain yellow unless the floor is too thin. I believe it is much worn, the closset too. the best time for painting is when there can be time enough for it to dry without any persons treading upon it, and that makes me earnest to have it done quite early, and with boild oil—4 I should be glad mr Billings would now lay the wall against the Garden as soon as the frost is out the Ground. be so good as to desire mr Porter to lay in a load of Charcoal. dr Tufts will give him money to pay for it. we cannot do without it when we are there. I hope too he will get wood enough home. I must get you to have an Eye to the painting or I fear it will not be done to my mind. as soon as the season will permit I would have persons enough employd to compleat what is to be done—and my strawburry bed Stutson must attend to

436

March 1798 very soon in the spring. I should not like any other person should touch it. as to the rest of the Garden, I must look to Tirril to do it I suppose but more of this an other time. I had rather prepare to come Home than to go from it. adieu my dear sister / most affectionately / your A Adams— Foreign intercourse the Question upon Nicolas motion was taken to day & regected by the 52 Gentlemen 44 in favour of it, 3 federilist absent RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 That is, Cranch’s letter to AA of 23 Feb., above. 2 Five dispatches from the American commissioners to France reached Philadelphia on 4 March. The four dated 22 Oct., 8 and 27 Nov., and 24 Dec. 1797 detailed what became known as the XYZ Affair, so-called for the letters used to represent the names of the French agents who attempted to bribe the commissioners—Jean Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy, and Lucien Hauteval—as well as Nicolaas Hubbard, who was designated W. The dispatches described meetings with these unofficial agents of the French foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, who demanded as the basis of any negotiation a payment of £50,000 sterling for Talleyrand, a loan to the French government of 32 million florins, and an apology for certain statements in JA’s 16 May message to Congress. Refusing to meet these demands or to continue negotiations through unofficial channels, the commissioners sent a letter directly to Talleyrand in early November reiterating their desire to resolve the differences between the two countries. When Talleyrand, who believed it served France to draw out negotiations, still had not responded by the end of December, even as his agents continued to demand payment, the commissioners prepared another letter requesting the government to open formal negotiations or to grant them passports for departure. The enclosure AA mentions has not been

found but was likely the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 5 March 1798, which printed JA’s message to Congress of that day, along with the fifth dispatch. Dated 8 Jan. the letter reported the impending French decree against neutral shipping and reiterated the commissioners’ belief that the French government would never receive them. In his message to Congress JA explained that while the commissioners had encoded their other letters and time was needed to decipher them, their letter of 8 Jan. was of such importance to the country that he believed that it was necessary to communicate it immediately (Stinchcombe, XYZ Affair, p. 4, 44–46; Amer. State Papers, Foreign Relations, 2:150– 151, 157–168). 3 In a letter of 22 Feb. to AA, Richard Cranch noted his surprise that feelings of suspicion and distrust toward the government and its actions had taken root among Americans, a trend he attributed mainly to French influence (Adams Papers). 4 Paints used for home interiors were prepared by grinding individual pigments into boiled oil, usually linseed oil, which had been augmented with lead to decrease drying time. Copal varnish or turpentine was then added (Abbott Lowell Cummings and Richard M. Candee, “Colonial and Federal America: Accounts of Early Painting Practices,” in Roger W. Moss, ed., Paint in America: The Colors of Historic Buildings, N.Y., 1994, p. 38; OED).

Abigail Adams to William Smith Dear sir March 5th 1798 I received your kind favour of Febry 25 this morning.1 the badness of the roads I suppose was the reason it did not reach me sooner.

437

Adams Family Correspondence The Maderia I do not want to be sent here. it is for Home consumption I have no occasion for it here. there are some other articles I should wish you to secure for me immediatly half Hundred Coffe and a Hunderd & half Brown sugar; which will immediaty rise, for I see not but war is inevitable. This morning for the first time dispatches have arrived from our Envoys the latest Letter is of the 8 Jan’ry and is a joint one, informing that they had not been received, nor was there the least Probability that they should be. the other dispatches which are all in Cypher and pretty Volluminous are now decyphering In a private Letter from mr Pinckney to Mr Rutledge of Nov’br 16th he says the French papers are full of abuse against them. in one of which they call mr Pinckney a “Wretch sold to England”2 every deception is made use of to exasperate the Publick mind againt America & to prepare them for Hostilities. every paper being under the despotism of the directory, not a line can be publishd to undeceive them. they had not been formerly orderd a way, but knew not how soon it might be the case.3 there is a decree in agitation in the counsel of 500 which the commissoners expect will be carried respecting Commerce, the details of which I cannot give you as the secretary took the papers to have them translated. they will however be immediatly sent to Congress, and as they are of concequence to be known by our Merchants, they will no doubt be made publick— As the dispatches came by way of Boston no doubt Private Letters have reachd mr Gerrys Friends I see by the last centinal as Sterns said on an other occasion—you manage those things much better in Boston.4 A publick Dinner was much wiser than a Publick Ball. I am delighted with some of the volunteers Toasts.5 but my dear sir, let me whisper to you, and to you only, That untill the News respecting the fullfillment of the Treaty with spain, on the part of spain, had been officially notified to our Government, after the Rasscally treatment offerd to it by Don cats Paw as Peter calls him “I think it would have been better for publick Characters—to have declined accepting the invitation” to dine with the Consul. at Present no invitation goes to his Majestys Representitive here, even to “Eat pork and Beans” but the Natural good humour & sociability of our Countrymen given to Hospitality do not always look at objects with a publick Eye, whilst the Agents of foreign powers, do not take a single step without their views, and their representations are made accordingly, thus at the last Levee,

438

March 1798 the don presented himself, and said to the secretary of War, [“]I hope sir I shall soon smoak the calmut of Peace with you” Whilst the other Ministers are constant in their attendance the don has made himself scarce. once only has he been at the drawing Room; it is whisperd here that he is recalld. I do not report it as Authentic6 since I began this Letter I find in Browns paper under the Boston Head of 26 Febry the extract of the Letter from mr Gerry, by which you learn the purport of what I have already written.7 I will write you all that may be known as soon as the dispatches are decypherd Inclosed is a Bill of some Grass seed which you will be so good as to Let Dr Tufts know of as soon as it arrives, and what ever money you expend for us, When you let us know, the P. will give an order on Genll Lincoln to pay you. we shall want some English porter. any thing You may suppose will rise pray be so good as to secure some for us. my Love to mrs smith and Children— I am Sorry to hear they have been unwell I am dear Sir / affectionatly / yours A Adams RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); endorsed: “Philaa. 5 March 98 / A. Adams—” and “answd. 21st.” 1 See note 6, below. 2 On 16 Nov. 1797 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney wrote a letter to his brother-in-law Edward Rutledge (1749–1800), a member of the South Carolina legislature, in which he despaired of the commissioners achieving their aims and reported that French attacks against American shipping continued unabated. The letter was enclosed in another of 17 Nov. to John Rutledge Jr., Edward’s nephew and a member of the House, with instructions that its contents be shared with his fellow congressmen and Timothy Pickering (MHi:Pickering Papers; ANB; Biog. Dir. Cong.). 3 An excerpt of AA’s letter, beginning with “This morning for the first time” and continuing to this point, was printed in the Boston Price-Current, 15 March 1798, as “Extract of letter from Philadelphia, dated March 5, ’98.” Pinckney’s and Edward Rutledge’s names were withheld, however, and the document was instead referred to as “a private letter, from Paris.” 4 “They order, said I, this matter better in France” (Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental

Journey through France and Italy. By Mr. Yorick, 2 vols., London, 1768, 1:1). 5 A dinner celebrating George Washington’s birthday was held at the Boston Concert Hall on 22 February. Reported in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 24 Feb., several toasts were made in support of the administration and Federalists, particularly in reference to the Lyon-Griswold affair, among them: “The Hon. Roger Griswold, and the fifty-two Gentlemen in Congress:— May their exertions to rid the National Legislature of a beastly character, be remembered by their constituents.” 6 In his letter to AA of 25 Feb. (Adams Papers), Smith commented on the LyonGriswold affair and the Adamses’ requests for supplies. He also described a dinner he had attended with John (Juan) Stoughton (1745– 1820), the Spanish consul at Boston, and with “the Govr &c &c. & a large company.” Smith informed AA that “after dinner the Consul in a formal manner, inform’d the company, that he had the pleasure to announce to them officially, that the posts on the Missisippi wou’d be deliver’d up in March & all

439

Adams Family Correspondence disputes adjusted.” In accordance with the terms of the Pinckney Treaty, some Spanish frontier forts were evacuated in March, but it was not until 24 April that Carlos Martínez de Irujo informed Pickering that Spain would fully abide by the terms of the treaty (Boston Repertory, 29 Jan. 1820; Abernethy, The South in the New Nation, p. 216; Gerard H. Clarfield, Timothy Pickering and American Diplomacy, 1795–1800, Columbia, Mo., 1969, p. 138). 7 An excerpt of a letter from Elbridge Gerry

to his sister-in-law Helen Thompson, dated 3 Jan. 1798, was printed in the Boston Federal Gazette, 25 Feb., and reprinted in the Philadelphia Gazette, 5 March. It reported that there was little hope that the French government would receive the American commissioners and that their residence in Paris would be brief. Andrew Brown Jr. (1774–1847) became the publisher of the Philadelphia Gazette when his father Andrew Brown Sr. died in 1797 (Rush, Letters, 2:792; Gerry, Letterbook, p. 15, 29–30).

William Cranch to John Quincy Adams Philadelphia March 5th. 1798. I do not know what was the date of my last to you, nor of yours to me, nor is it material to decide on whose part the last omission happend.1 You may have learn’d from some of my former letters, that I was much engaged, that no opportunity presented itself, to determine me to write at one time rather than another, and that although I have always been extremely industrious, I have always found something still remaining to be done, which seem’d to demand a more immediate attention. I have no reason to believe that you have less regard for me now than at any former period of our lives, and I beg you to be assured that my attachment to you is still unabated. Indeed, since your marriage I have attached many new traits to your Character which it did not possess before; I believe you now to be an Advocate for marriage, since you have become one of us yourself; and I most fervently invoke all the Blessings of heaven upon you and the dear Partner of your life. It is unnecessary for me to wish you more happiness resulting from your new Connexion than I have myself enjoy’d from a similar source.— I am the father of two Boys, and still feel my Affection for my dear Nancy increasing every hour of my life, and as new Endearments arise, and new proofs of unbounded Confidence & Love dayly appear, I feel the most perfect assurance of a continuance of our domestic happiness.— You may have heard that Messrs. Morris, Nicholson & Greenleaf have totally fail’d. Morris & Greenleaf are in prison in this City, and Nicholson only escapes a similar fate by castleing himself within his own Walls. Mr. Greenleaf is about giving up all his Estate, & discharging himself by the insolvent laws of this Commonwealth, & I came here at his earnest request to consult &

440

March 1798 advise with him on this subject. I have been here about ten days, & have resided at the Presidents. Next to my own parents, yours are nearest to my heart, and possess the strongest Claim to my filial reverence & affection. The President seems to retain all his vigour, & remains firm as mount Atlas. I was much pleased with a toast given lately at Cambridge—“John Adams, Prest. of U.S. the american Terminus,” with a note, that Terminus was the Roman God of boundaries who swore he would not stir one foot for Jupiter.—2 The first Dispatches from the Envoys since their arrival in france were recd. last Evening, dated Jany 8th.— There is no doubt, but the Directory have intercepted all former Communications—& this escaped by mere stealth, being secreted by the mate of a ship which saild from Havre de Grace.3 Congress has been in session 5 months and done Nothing. A new attack is made upon the Executive under the name of Amendments to a bill for regulating foreign Intercourse. But a sullen stillness seems to reign throughout the U.S. which only portends the Gathering Storm. The Spirit of the People is willing to wait the Event of the Embassy—but it will not wait long. A Voice is now & then heard amidst the stillness of Suspence—and distinctly sounds from one End of the Continent to the other.— It will soon be the voice of thunder.— We are ready to rally round the standard of our Government, and we shall be able to crush the faction into Dust. The Spirit of the People only wants to be rouzed. The lion of America has been call’d a mean spirited Beast, but the Lyon which has been shewn to the world is not an American,—the beast was born in Ireland & has been led about by a french man. The Dispatches from the Envoys have not yet been made public— Indeed they are not yet decypher’d. One letter of 8th. Jany. incloses the Redacteur of 5th. which mentions a decree proposed by the Directory to the Council of 500, that Vessels of Neutrals containing Enemies Goods shall be lawful prize—& that the french Ports shall be shut against neutral Vessels which have touched at any British port— The Envoys also say that there is no hope of doing any thing towards accomplishing the Object of their mission.— We want some bold, and powerful man, whose Abilities can command Respect in our house of Representatives, to take the lead, & to bring forward energetic means of Defence,—to call forth the Resources of the Country,—to permit the merchants to Arm their Ships,—to request the President to see that the frigates are in readiness,—to put the fortifications—ports & harbours in some respectable defensive Con-

441

Adams Family Correspondence dition—to order out and review the militia—to call on the Officers to hold themselves and their Companies in readiness—to examine the situation of the Magazines, and arsenals, and to put our diplomatic Corps in a respectable situation. Such a Character, to marshall and concenter the Spirit of the Nation might retreive its Character.— I shall return to Washington tomorrow. You have perhaps heard that I have resumed the practise of the Law “in all the humility of its first outset.” The misfortunes of M, N & G have reached me in some respects. I am answerable for about 3 or 4000 Dols. on their Acct. for which it is very doubtful whether I shall get security. I expect therefore to be plagued & vexed for some years, unless the Creditors should think proper to treat me with severity, which would make but short work of it. I wish they may if I should fail of security, for the sooner it is over the better.4 Mr. Johnson’s family reside in Georgetown about 3 miles from my house. I was introduced to Mr. & Mrs. Johnson & two of the ladies, on their first arrival,—& before they had gone to housekeeping. They afterwards went to see Govr. Johnson at Frederick & spent some time there.5 After their return to Georgetown I call’d twice but did not find them at home. I shall call again as soon as I return. Believe me that I feel an affection for all who are dear to you, and that I am most truly your / affectionate friend W. Cranch RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “John Quincy Adams Esqr / Berlin—”; endorsed by TBA: “W Cranch Esqr: / 5 March 1798 / 17 May Recd / 6 June Answd:.” 1 The most recent extant correspondence between Cranch and JQA is Cranch’s letter of 16 Sept. 1796, for which see vol. 11:375– 379, and JQA’s reply of 29 Nov. (private owner, 1957). 2 Several toasts, including the one to JA quoted by Cranch, were given at a celebration of George Washington’s birthday at Harvard College (Boston Columbian Centinel, 24 Feb. 1798). 3 The first dispatches from the U.S. envoys to France arrived in Boston on 25 Feb. aboard the Lucy, Capt. Dill, having sailed from Le Havre in 45 days (Boston Federal Gazette, 26 Feb.; Massachusetts Mercury, 27 Feb.). 4 On 1 Oct. 1799 Cranch would advertise his intention to petition the Maryland legislature “for an act of Insolvency” and later describe the action thus: “The most mortify-

ing part of the business is done, and I felt as if I had thrown a large burden from my shoulders. . . . I no longer have the horrors of a prison before me, which I confess, for some time past have tormented my mind.” On 3 Jan. 1800 the Maryland legislature passed “An ACT for the relief of sundry insolvent debtors,” discharging Cranch and several others from their debts “upon their delivering up all their property for the use of their creditors” (Georgetown, D.C., Centinel of Liberty, 1 Oct. 1799; Cranch to Mary Smith Cranch, 23 Nov. 1797, MHi:Christopher P. Cranch Papers; The Laws of Maryland, 2 vols., Annapolis, Md., 1799–1800, 2:Chap. lxxxviii, Evans, No. 35775). 5 Thomas Johnson, for whom see LCA, D&A, 1:21–22, was a former governor of Maryland and a brother of Joshua Johnson.

442

March 1798

Abigail Adams to Hannah Phillips Cushing my dear Madam Philadelphia March 9th 1798 I yesterday received your kind Letter of March 5th 1 and congratulate you and the Judge upon your safe arrival at N york. I assure you I was under serious apprehensions for your safety when I found you gone; I had sent Betsy to your Lodgings to inquire after your Health, a few moments after you were gone. I did not know how to credit it when she returnd with the News— I will not say, you took French leave, because at present they are so much out of my good graces, that I cannot consent any one whom I love and esteem, Should be thought to immitate them in any thing, but I may say your going the day you did, was sudden and unexpected to me and many others of Your Friends. The Chief Justice I have seen since you left us, and engaged him to dine with us the next day, but he sent an apology as being too unwell. he is upon the whole better than when he came. At Length Dispatches have arrived from our envoys, but they bring us no comfort. insult is added to injury. mr Pinckney writes to his Brother, that they are most basely insulted and abused in the French papers and that they call him, [“]a Wretch sold to England” the Party in Congress who think themselves worthy companions for the Vermonter, will be very ready I suppose to bow their necks to any yoke sister France may chuse to put on— this observation is to you only. I wish I may be dissapointed, but by their deeds shall they be judged. I miss you very much, for the pleasure of your society & company was much more valuable to me, than any little attentions which it was in my power to offer you, could be to you. the President desires to be kindly rememberd to the Judge and to you. beds of Roses, have never been his Destiny to repose in the Thorns and thistles are too thick Sown in his path at Present, for the most Wary and cautious to tread secure from wound. the virtue spirit and Energy of the people will I hope aid and support him in every right and proper measure, and the Wisdom of the most high direct him to those measures. in times like the present, all Neutral ground should be abandoned, and those who are not for us, be considerd as against us— pray let me hear from you be assured it will always give pleasure to / Your affectionate / Friend A Adams— Dft (Adams Papers); notation by CFA: “Copy. Mrs Cushing.?”

443

Adams Family Correspondence 1 It was a letter to AA of 7 March, in which Cushing apologized for her and her husband’s sudden departure from Philadelphia and chronicled their journey to New York (Adams Papers).

William Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Madam Washington March 12th. 1798 After a most fatigueing journey I arrived on friday Evening. I travel’d all the first night, & arrived in Baltimore the next night at 9 oClock, & sat off again at 3 the next morning. The roads as far as Wilmington were extremely bad, the rest were much better, and in this City they are quite settled. I found Mrs. Cranch well, altho’ fatigued & worried with watching and attending my little William, who had been dangerously ill with a fever which the Doctr. thought was pleuretic, but had that day begun to mend. He is now, I hope, recovering. Richard, too, had been ill a few days with a bad cold.— William had not taken the least notice of anything for several days before my return, but on my going up to him he held up his little emaciated arms for me to take him, & held his face to be kiss’d. He has been trying to run about, to day, but he is took weak to get across the Chamber without falling. Yesterday (Sunday) the weather was uncomfortably warm, so that we wanted the windows open— But at night we had a thunder shower, and to day it is freezing.— I was much shock’d on my return at being inform’d of the sudden death of Colo. W. Deakins of Geo. Town.1 He was almost the only man of real respectability and influence on whose active friendship I could place dependence. He knew all the Circumstances of my situation, and I had always applied to him for advice and assistance in every important occurrence of my life, since my residence here. I had look’d up to him, almost as to a parent, & had received from him almost parental kindness. Amidst a sordid world, he is almost the only man I have met with here whose actions seem’d to flow from the impulses of his heart—and yet he was so far engaged in Business, that he supported almost the whole commerce and Credit of Georgetown and it’s vicinity. He left no children, but he has left a thousand mourners. There was no man in this neighbourhood so universally love’d and respected.— I think I mentioned him to you at Philadelphia.— I have seen Mr Dalton’s family since my return. I ask’d Mr. D. if

444

March 1798 he would accept the office of Commissioner of this City, if a vacancy should happen. He said he was now out of business & would accept if he should be appointed, but there was no probability of a vacancy. He also said that it would not be in his power to accept any office out of this State at present, as there were some demands on the House of Lear & Co, on which he might perhaps be arrested should he remove from hence.2 I have been inform’d that Mrs. Peter (whose name was Custis a Grand-daughter of Mrs. Washington) said that the President had done a very unpopular thing in refuseing to go to the Ball at Ricketts’s on the 23d. ulto.—and that she spoke it with a little warmth. It was also said by the person who gave me this information that, that family (the Custis’s) were very jealous of any praise bestowed upon the present President, as tending in some measure to detract from the merits of his Predecessor. You may remember that I mentioned a Coolness between Mrs. D & Mrs. Peter & Mrs. Law. This must be taken into Consideration when the force of those Expressions is weighed.— I have seen the Knoxville Gazette of feby. 2d. containing a great deal of inflamatory stuff, & replete with the seeds of sedition and rebellion. I laid it by with an intent to forward it to you, but it is lost. There were 4 or 5 Columns, pretending to a great deal of Philosophy & moderation, but tending to flatter & inflame the people of Tenesee; and also a letter from Judge somebody (I forget the name) to their members of Congress, & letters from the members to their Constituents.3 In the Virginia Gazette, are also No. 1 & 2 of an Answer to Scipio. I have seen only No. 1.—4 If you wish to see it & can not procure it in Philada. I will endeavour to send them. Mrs. Cranch presents her most affectionate Respects to you & Love to Louisa.— Believe me with greatest Respect for the President & yourself, most sincerely & affectionately / your obedient servant & obliged Nephew W. Cranch. My Compts. to Mr. Malcom.— RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs. A. Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “mr Cranch / March 12th / 1798.” 1 William Deakins Jr. died on 3 March (Baltimore Federal Gazette, 8 March). 2 See Ruth Hooper Dalton to AA, 15 Aug.

1797, and note 1, above. 3 In April 1797 the federal government established the boundary line between Cher-

445

Adams Family Correspondence okee territory and the new state of Tennessee, which put hundreds of American settlers outside the state border despite having land grants from North Carolina. The army was sent in to enforce the boundary and remove settlers from Cherokee lands. The Knoxville Gazette, 2 Feb. 1798, printed a lengthy condemnation of the federal government’s actions and warned that the people when “driven to despair . . . are not to be subdued.” The judge mentioned by Cranch was David Campbell (1750–1812), who was born in Virginia and served as a judge of the Tennessee Superior Court of Law and Equity from 1797 to 1807. Campbell’s letter accused the administration of using their military presence along the Tennessee-Cherokee border to destroy the civil liberties of Americans by illegally seizing their property, and it further argued that the government was bound to respect the state’s land grants as binding. Letters from William Charles Cole Claiborne (1775–1817), Tennessee’s representative, and Joseph Inslee Anderson (1757–1837), a senator, encouraged citizens to be patient as plans to aid the Tennessee residents were under way (Cynthia Cumfer, Separate Peoples, One Land: The Minds of Cherokees, Blacks, and Whites on the Tennessee Frontier, Chapel Hill, N.C., 2007, p. 90–91; Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 5:423; Biog. Dir. Cong.). 4 The Philadelphia Gazette of the United States from 2 to 27 Jan. 1798 ran a fifteenpart response by Scipio to James Monroe’s A

View of the Conduct of the Executive, in the Foreign Affairs of the United States. The articles, written by Uriah Tracy, were also published in pamphlet form in early March as Reflections on Monroe’s View, of the Conduct of the Executive, [Phila., 1798], Evans, No. 34675. Drawing from Monroe’s letters to the secretary of state, Scipio argued that Monroe’s recall was warranted because of his misconduct as minister. He claimed that in his zeal to show partiality for France Monroe betrayed the interests of the United States and likely contributed to the current system of French depredations on American commerce and, more particularly, that Monroe explicitly violated his instructions to insist France comply with the 1778 Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce. Monroe not only denied to the French government that he had any such instructions, Scipio noted, but said, “I well know, that if upon consideration, after the experiment made, you should be of opinion that it produces any solid benefit to the republic, the American government and my countrymen in general, will not only bear the departure with patience, but with pleasure” (p. 13, 14). A rebuttal to Scipio by Thrasybulus was printed in the Virginia Gazette and General Advertiser, 21, 28 Feb., 28 March 1798 (Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 8 March; Richard R. Beeman, The Old Dominion and the New Nation, 1788– 1801, Lexington, Ky., 1972, p. 174; Jefferson, Papers, 30:223).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia March 14th 1798 yesterday dispatches were received from mr King up to the 9th Jan’ry in a postscrip he says, I have just learnt that mr Adams has been received by the new King notwithstanding his commission was to his Father. this is civil and will enable him to proceed with business—1 I received a Letter from dr Tufts yesterday that allarmd me. I thought I inclosed him some Bills. I might as I wrote you the same [ti]me put them into yours, for the dr in a post scrip says that you had written him that you had them—2 when the dr writes to me inclose his Letters in yours, for as those are held sacred now by a promise not to open them I shall receive them, in a way I wish— the dr and I have some buisness transaction which are between ourselves—

446

March 1798 Nothing new transpires but what your Boston papers have; warm words in congress must be apprehended, whilst some are for going shares with France submitting intirely to her Will and quietly disposed to receive every lash she pleases to inflict— Northern Blood boils, and I do not know what will take place— I hope they will be cooler to day—but Giles has just opend his batteries.—3 Pray is Betsy going to steal a wedding upon us? she inquires the fashions they are as various as the Changes of the moon— the young Ladies generally have their Hair all in Curls over their heads, and then put a Ribbon Beads Bugles or a Band of some kind through the fore part of the Hair to which they attach feathers. the Band is put upon Ribbon sometimes on wire. frequently two are worn which cross each other they tye behind under over the hind Hair & then a small Bunch of Hair turns up behind in which a small comb is fixd and the ends of the hind Hair fall Back again in curls the Gounds are made to have only one side come forward and that is confind with a belt round the waist, the waist made plain. Some sleaves are drawn in diamonds some Robins drawn up & down with bobbin in 5 or 6 rows. in short a drawing room frequently exhibits a specimin of Grecian Turkish French and English fashion at the same time, with ease Beauty and Elegance equal to any court— what a medley are my Letters. I had yesterday to visit me after the Prisidents Levee, the Kings of 3 Indian Nation. one of them after Sitting a little while rose and addrest me. He said he had been to visit his Father, and he thought his duty but in part fulfilld, untill he had visited allso his mother, and he prayd the great spirit to keep and preserve them. they all came and shook me by the Hand, and then took some cake and wine with me. there were nine of them one of them spoke english well. they then made their bow and withdrew.4 much more civil than the Beast of Vermont. adieu my dear sister / I am most affectionatly / Your A Adams5 RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 Rufus King’s 9 Jan. letter to Timothy Pickering, which arrived on 12 March, summarized the current situation in Europe but did not include any information about JQA. The information AA notes here was mentioned in a postscript to King’s letter of 14 Jan. (DNA:RG 59, Despatches from United States Ministers to Great Britain, 1791–1906,

Microfilm, Reel 5). 2 Cotton Tufts’ letter to AA has not been found, but see her letter to Tufts of 6 Feb., above, in which she forwarded money. In Cranch’s 26 March reply to AA, she explained that she had taken the money from AA’s letter to Tufts and had given it to him the next time she saw him (Adams Papers).

447

Adams Family Correspondence 3 During a heated House debate over arming U.S. frigates, William Branch Giles argued that while he supported defending the coasts, he viewed the proposal “to afford a defence beyond the limits of the United States, as a part of that system which had a direct tendency to involve us in war.” In a jab at the Federalists he further claimed “that there was not only a part of this House, but a part of Government, determined on war,” to which Harrison Gray Otis responded, calling it a “bold, ungraceful, and . . . disgraceful assertion.” An indignant Giles expected that Otis “would have been called to order” over the comments, at which point the Speaker of the House gave a “loud call to order” and declared “in vain that he endeavored to confine gentlemen to order Almost every member who had spoken had transgressed in this respect” (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1256–1257, 1260–1262). 4 The Kahnawake Mohawk tribe of the upper St. Lawrence River region of Quebec was involved in an ongoing feud with Mohawk chief Joseph Brant over the alleged sale of Kahnawake lands to the United States. Although Brant denied having sold

the land, by 1798 the controversy had escalated into a threat of war, and the Kahnawake tried to enlist support among other northern tribes and the United States. The Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 24 Feb., reported that two Kahnawake chiefs, along with five chiefs from other First Nation tribes, were traveling to Philadelphia, via New York, to present their claims to JA and Congress. Additionally, the group carried information about a proposed “confederated Council” of tribes led by Brant, which to them “appeared to be fraught with mischief against the United States.” Ultimately the trip proved futile because they lacked evidence of their claims (Isabel Thompson Kelsay, Joseph Brant, 1743–1807: Man of Two Worlds, Syracuse, N.Y., 1984, p. 178, 548, 551–552; Vergennes Gazette (Vt.), 25 Oct. 1798). 5 AA also wrote to Cranch the previous day commenting on William Cranch’s concerns over the financial trouble of Morris, Nicholson & Greenleaf and JA’s struggle to decide what to do with the recently deciphered dispatches from the U.S. envoys to France (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters).

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my dear son Philadelphia March 17th 1798 A private opportunity offering by way of Hamburgh to write to you, I eagerly embrace it, and hope it may reach you safely notwithstanding the various Chances it may run. your arrival at Berlin was made known to us from your Letters to the secretary of state of Nov’br the 10th and 17th. no private Letter has yet been received, nor the publick Letter which you mention having written from Hamburgh of October 30th— I rejoiced to find that from the date of your Letter to the time when it was received, was but about the same period of time, in which they have been accustomed to come tho now so distant. you will be surprized to learn that your Letters from Berlin, were the first received from any of our ministers, either from France England or Holland from the month of sep’br. the Reason was that the Nov’br packet on Board of which were dispatches both from mr King and our Envoys in France was captured by the French.1 the concequence was that not a single line came to Hand from them untill the last of Feb’ry when the dis-

448

March 1798 patches poured in from all quarters, those from our Envoys, from october to Jan’ry 9th, and what is a little remarkable, they arrived at Boston Baltimore N york and Philadelphia in the course of the same week What measures will be adopted by congress in concequence of the Hostile Disposition of France towards us, a short time will devolope. The frigates are officerd and Congress have voted money to get them ready for Sea immediatly.2 I wish our Envoys were safely returnd, or at any rate out of the French territory. I send you by this conveyance Newspapers and pamphlets, by which you will learn something of the state of our affairs here. they will become more determind and decissive. the film is falling from the Eyes of our Countrymen and you know that they will do right in time. the Emissaries of France are Scatterd through our Country, and they work all the Mischief in their Power. we have British Scotch and Irish Renagadoes. they are however less subtle and less intrigueing than the French. we are yet able to make a stand against their Principles and Practises. if many Quixot expeditions had not already been undertaken by the French and succeeded, I should not admit of their seriously thinking of invading England. I believe them desperate, and I do not know Whether for the general benifit of Mankind, I we ought not to wish that the attempt might be made. they will find that they have not Italians and Dutch Men to deal with. It is true that they will put the English to great expence, and may distress them, but common danger will more firmly unite the people. Your arrival at Berlin was at an important Period. you have witnessd the funeral obsequies of one Monarck, and the assension of an other to the Throne, of whom it has been asserted, that the Great Frederic Said, “I shall Reign again in Him.”3 Frederic never saw a period of greater moment or Hazard than the Present. we have not fallen upon common times. I find it much more difficult to write with cautious restraint, than with the freedom I have been accustomed to. Tom Paine is again useing his weapons, but they have lost their Poison very much in this Country. he is perfectly well known and detested very generally.4 In our state of Massachusetts the people are bold and firm. the Boston papers speak more freely than any others. I send you the Centinal of March the 7th 5 The President has this day signd Your

449

Adams Family Correspondence commission to the Court of sweeden, and you will receive other dispatches by this conveyance—6 The Theatre in Boston in which you owned a share is burnt down by accident. finding what the situation of the Theatre was last winter, and that the proprieters were at constant expence, I advised dr Welch to dispose of yours, but he felt loth to do so without your particular orders. You have now shared the fate of others—7 I heard last week from Your sister She was well. her prospects are not however more favourable than they were. the col was returnd from his excursion to the Miami Country. I do not know what his plans are. My Love to Mrs Adams. tell her she must write me an account of her Journey, and of Berlin. I heard from her Mamma last week she was well and is very anxious to hear from You. I wrote her immediatly upon the arrival of your Letters to the secretary.8 By a Letter from mr King to the secretary of state of 9th of Jan’ry he informs that you had been received by his Present Majesty, tho accreditted to his Predecessor— you will however receive the commission a new I rejoice in the event of your reception, as you will not feel so dissagreably situated. our Friends are all well at Quincy Weymouth and Boston. I hope soon to hear from you my dear son. O! When shall I again see you? I write often to you but I do not know whether my Letters reach you. Your Brother Charles was well this week I fear he is not so attentive in writing as I wish I send you Monroes Book & scipio. I am my dear son most affectionately / Your Mother Abigail Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A Adams / 17 March 1798 / 18 May Recd: / 30 Do Answd.” 1 This was likely the British packet, Countess of Leicester, Capt. Dodd, which sailed from Falmouth, England, to New York on 21 Nov. 1797 and was captured by the French frigate L’Insurgente and taken to L’Orient. AA probably learned this information from Rufus King’s 6 Jan. 1798 letter to Timothy Pickering (MHi:Pickering Papers) reporting the capture of the packet and its contents (London Lloyd’s List, 24 Nov. 1797; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 5 March, 8 Nov. 1798). 2 On 8 March JA submitted to the Senate

twenty nominations of naval officers for the frigates Constellation, Constitution, and United States; all but two were approved the following day. On 16 March the House of Representatives passed “An Act for an Additional Appropriation to Provide and Support a Naval Armament,” allowing an additional $115,833 to complete the three frigates and $216,679 to staff them; the Senate concurred on 21 March (U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 264–265; U.S. Statutes at Large, 1:547; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 526, 1270).

450

March 1798 3 Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, The Secret History of the Court of Berlin, 2 vols., London, 1789, 2:220. 4 Thomas Paine’s Letter to the People of France, and the French Armies, on the Event of the 18th Fructidor, N.Y., 1798, Evans, No. 34292, defended the 4 Sept. 1797 coup as necessary, if not constitutional, and also claimed that the present state of affairs in England assured a French victory over the British. 5 The Boston Columbian Centinel, 7 March 1798, printed a letter urging the United States to take “energetic measures” against French attacks on American sovereignty, even at the cost of war, because “it is in defence of our injured rights and laws” and “against a nation perfidious and unprincipled; who thirsts for power as the tiger for blood.” 6 JQA had received a commission to renew the Swedish-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce along with his commission as minister to Prussia in June 1797; however, since JA never specifically nominated JQA in the Senate for that purpose, he feared the

commission would expire when the session of Congress concluded. He therefore formally submitted the nomination in a message to the Senate on 12 March 1798, which approved it in a 20-to-8 vote two days later (U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 265, 266). An original and Dupl of JQA’s commission to renew the treaty with Sweden, dated 1 June 1797, as well as the 14 March 1798 commission are in the Adams Papers. 7 On 2 Feb. a fire broke out in one of the dressing rooms of the Federal Street Theatre in Boston. Within hours, “the intire inside . . . was totally destroyed—nothing being left unconsumed but the brick walls.” The cause of the fire was accidental, possibly the result of a servant’s failure to monitor the fires in the dressing rooms. The theater would reopen in October (Boston Gazette, 5 Feb.; Boston Columbian Centinel, 27 Oct.). For JQA’s share in the theater, see his letter to Thomas Welsh, 24 Jan., and note 2, above. 8 AA to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 2 March, above.

Abigail Adams to Benjamin Franklin Bache Sir March 17th— [1798] Taking up your paper yesterday morning, I was shockd at the Misrepresentation a Writer in your paper has given to the nomination and appointment of J Q. Adams, to sweeden for the purpose of renewing the Treaty with that Power.1 I could not but reflect upon the different feelings which must actuate your Mind, and the writer of the following paragraph, written last october, upon seeing Some ungenerous reflections in your Papers of the last summer upon the Change of [com]mission from Lisbon to Berlin— “As for mr Bache, He was once my Schoolmate; one of the companions of those Infant Years when the Heart Should be open to strong and deep impressions of attachment, and never should admit any durable Sentiment of hatred or malice. There is a degree of Regard and tenderness that mingles itself in my recollection of every individual with whom I ever stood in that relation. The school and the College are the sources of the dearest friendships. they ought never to be those of malevolence or Envy. Mr Bache must have lost those feelings—or he would never have been the vehicle of abuse upon me, at least during my absence from the Country.”2

451

Adams Family Correspondence Mr Bache is left to his own reflections. this communication is only to his own Heart, being confident that the writer never expected it would meet his Eye.3 RC (private owner, 1990); addressed to “Mr B Franklin Bache.” This letter is included in the microfilm edition of the Castle-Bache Collection at PPAmP. Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 16 March, reported: “When John Q. Adams, the son of our President was taken from the Hague, and sent to Berlin on a new appointment with a new outfit, we suggested, that he would be made to perform the circuit thro the Northern Courts of Europe, with a new outfit at each removal; as such business would be found more profitable than any he could follow at home, and as it was the du[t]y of every father to provide handsomely for his son, especially when it could be done at the public expence.” The article then argued that because the House of Representatives was expected to appropriate funds to support diplomatic appointees, the record of the votes in the Senate should be public in order that people could know “what Senators countenance this lavish expenditure of the public treasure?” 2 See JQA to AA, 7 Oct. 1797, above. 3 No response to this letter is extant, although the veracity of Bache’s article was challenged in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 16 March 1798. “A Member of the Senate” labeled the article “a falsehood

from beginning to end” and noted that the appointment was a commission to renew an existing treaty, carried no salary, and would likely be concluded with the Swedish minister at Berlin. Junius offered a similar argument in a second piece but further discussed the expenses JQA had incurred by the sudden change in his mission from Portugal to Prussia, which went without remuneration as a new outfit was not awarded. The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 17 March, responded to the “anonimous” senator’s assertions by suggesting it would take a “rare” Federalist to serve without compensation and that it would be “unusual, if it be not unprecedented,” for a diplomatic negotiation to be carried out at a foreign court “not interested in the business.” The Aurora, 19 March, responded to Junius, denying that it could be known whether “our chubby itinerent envoy” would not ultimately go to Sweden and thereby be granted further money toward his expenses, “which he may contrive, like another great man, to swell to the full extent, and a little beyond, the amount of the sum usually allowed for outfit.”

Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams Dear Thomas. Philadelphia March 18 1798 When I have written to your Brother I feel as if I had exhausted all the subjects which it is proper for me to write upon, but as your Hand writing allways gives me pleasure tho I see it only upon the superscription of a Letter, or in a few Promissory lines in the cover, I judge you will allways be gratified with a few words from me tho they contain no more than a Bullitin of our Health and that of your Friends. I find in this city many of your old acquaintance who profess Friendship for you, and speak of you with affection. there are several of your sisters yet unmarried, the Miss Brecks miss Westcot & miss Wilson— Miss Breck I have been told is engaged, and has

452

March 1798 been so for a long time to a French Gentleman. miss Lucy to your old Friend Wycoff. Miss Betsy stael is lately married, and I am told by mrs Judge Cushing who lodges there, when she is in this city, that she is well married.1 dr Rush also frequently inquires after you. he is lately appointed treasurer, of the Mint.2 your master Ingersol goes on getting Money in his Profession. It is a long time since I received a Letter from you. so many new scenes must open before you that I should receive much entertainment if a free communication was proper. there will be many things which I should like to hear and know, which will have no connection politicks and of which you are very able to detail. The customs and Manners of the people, the fashions of the Ladies all of which you can draw, in an agreable point of view I can tell you a peice of News— Mrs Law formerly Miss custos, has been to make a visit here this Winter. she says that Nelly is unmarried, and that she thinks few young men of the present day are Worth having She Said that, She should have been very happy to have had her marry one of my sons— now as two of them are married, who could she mean? I have had Some hints as tho your Heart was some where near the city of Washington. as yet it is not fixed at Mount Vernon You are a freeman. fix where you like. I shall never controul you. all I require is the means of supporting a Family before a young Man engages in so important a transaction. write to Hamburgh & commit your Letters to the care of mr Pitcarn. if these French men, who have never recoverd the stroke of the Hammer, will but come to reason, and grow quiet and calm, we shall be a very happy people, but I know not when they will cease to torment and afflict. I am my dear Thomas / most affectionatly / Your Mother Abigail Adams RC (MQHi); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “Thomas B. Adams Esqr: / Berlin”; endorsed: “Mrs: A Adams / 18 March 1798 / 17 May Recd: / 16 June acknd”; notation by ECA: “To my / Father / from his / Mother / one hundred / & 2 years / old.” 1 Hannah Breck, for whom see vol. 9:237, did not marry until 1809; her sister Lucy (b. 1777) died of yellow fever in Sept. 1798 at the same time as her friend Elizabeth Wescott. Mary (Polly) Wilson (1772–1832) was the daughter of Judge James Wilson and his first wife, Rachel Bird. Henry Wikoff (1770– 1826) was the son of Philadelphia merchant

Peter Wikoff; when TBA returned to Philadelphia in 1799, the two resumed their friendship. Elizabeth Stall (1779–1821) was the daughter of John Stall, in whose boardinghouse TBA had stayed in 1793; she married William Lytle of Kentucky on 28 Feb. 1798 (vol. 9:436, 10:346; Samuel Breck, Genealogy of the Breck Family Descended from Edward

453

Adams Family Correspondence of Dorchester and His Brothers in America, Omaha, Neb., 1889, p. 41; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 12 Sept.; Charles Page Smith, James Wilson: Founding Father, 1742–1798, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1956, p. 42, 49; C. S. Williams, Descendants of John Cox, N.Y., 1909, p. 44–46; TBA, Diary, 1798–1799, 2 May, 9 June 1799; For Honor, Glory, and Union: The Mexican and Civil War Letters of Brig. Gen. William Haines Lytle, ed. Ruth C. Carter, Lexington, Ky., 1999, p. 4, plates following 114; Byron Williams, History of Clermont and Brown Counties, Ohio, 2 vols.,

Milford, Ohio, 1913, 1:300; Penna. Archives, 2d ser., 9:580 [1880]). 2 JA nominated Benjamin Rush to be the treasurer of the U.S. Mint on 24 Nov. 1797, and the Senate confirmed the appointment three days later. His duties amounted to little more than bookkeeping, but the appointment kept Rush’s finances afloat after the backlash against his use of bloodletting to treat yellow fever harmed his medical practice. Rush retained the position until his death in 1813 (U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 251; Rush, Letters, 2:797, 1209–1212; ANB).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister March 20th 1798 I write you a few Lines this mor’g just to inclose to you the News paper of yesterday which contains an important Message from the President;1 it is a very painfull thing to him that he cannot communicate to the publick dispatches in which they are so much interested, but we have not any assurance that the Envoys have left Paris and who can say that in this critical state of things their dispatches ought to be publick? our foreign ministers can never be safe, or they will cease to be useful to us abroad, if their communications are all to be communicated. this was not the case during our revolution. under the old Congress, dispatches were never made publick. I expect the President will be represented as declaring War, by taking off the restriction which prevented Merchantmen from Arming. it was always doubtfull in his mind, whether he had a Right to prevent them, but the former President had issued such a prohibition, and he thought it best at that time to continue it. you see by the papers that Bache has begun his old bilingsgate again, because mr J Q Adams is directed to renew the treaty with sweeden which is now just expiring, and for which not a single sixpence will be allowd him as the King of sweeden will empower his Minister at Berlin to renew it there.2 Dr Franklin made the treaty in Paris with the sweedish minister, and the President made the Treaty with Prussia in Holland.3 yet this lying wretch of Baches asserts that no treaties were ever made without going to the courts to negotiate them, unless the power where they were made, were concernd in them, and says it is all a job in order to give mr Adams a new outfit & additional sallery at every Court. but there is no end to their audaciousness, and you will see that French emissaries are in every corner of

454

March 1798 the union sowing and spreading their Sedition. we have renewed information that their system is, to calumniate the President, his family his administration untill they oblige him to resign, and then they will Reign triumphant, headed by the Man of the People.4 it behoves every Pen and press to counteract them, but our Countrymen in general are not awake to their danger— we are come now to a crissis too important to be languid, too Dangerous to slumber— unless we are determind to submit to the fraternal embrace, which is sure and certain destruction as the Poisoned shirt of Danarius—5 adieu my dear sister. I intended only a line but I have run to a great length. we have had snow and rain for three days. what has been your Weather? Love and a kind remembrance to all Friends / from your ever affectionate / Sister Abigail Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.” 1 The enclosure has not been found but was likely the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 19 March, which printed that day’s message from JA to Congress, in which JA explained that after examining the dispatches from the commissioners to France he saw “no ground of expectation, that the objects of their mission, can be accomplished, on terms compatible, with the safety, honor, or the essential interests of the nation.” He urged Congress to provide for the nation’s defense by replenishing arsenals and establishing foundries, and he informed them that he was removing the restriction on merchant vessels’ arming themselves before sailing. 2 Baron Carl Gustav Shultz von Ascheraden served as the Swedish minister to Prussia until his death on 22 March; he was succeeded by Baron Lars von Engeström, whom JQA described as being pro-French and unlikely to negotiate. It was not until 1816 that a new Swedish-American treaty was signed (LCA, D&A, 1:73, 91; TBA, Journal, 1798, p. 13; D/JQA/24, 3 May 1798, APM Reel 27; Miller, Treaties, 2:601–616). 3 The Swedish-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed by Benjamin Franklin and Count Gustav Philip Creutz at Paris on 3 April 1783. The Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce was negotiated between 10 Nov. 1784 and 14 March 1785 by Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Thulemeier, based at The Hague, and the American commissioners—Benjamin Franklin, JA,

and Thomas Jefferson—based in Paris (JA, Papers, 14:12, 16:373–420). 4 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 20 March 1798, attacked JA’s 19 March message to Congress as making war even though the legislature had not declared war on France. One article called on “the people to step forward and by an expression of their sentiments secure the preponderance of those counsels on which the Peace, Union, and Prosperity of this country depend.” On 21 March the Aurora further called on JA “to do a most acceptable service to his country, by retiring from the cares of public life, and giving up the helm . . . to a more fortunate pilot.” AA might also have been quietly alluding to information gleaned from the recently deciphered dispatches, in which the commissioners reported a threat made by one French agent: “You ought to know that the diplomatic skill of France, and the means she possesses in your country, are sufficient to enable her, with the French party in America, to throw the blame which will attend the rupture of the negotiations on the federalists, as you term yourselves, but on the British party, as France terms you; and you may assure yourselves this will be done” (Amer. State Papers, Foreign Relations, 2:164). 5 Written above this word, in Richard Cranch’s hand, is “Deianira.” For the Greek myth of Deianira and Hercules, see Mary Smith Cranch to AA, 1 April, and note 1, below.

455

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to William Smith Shaw my Dear Nephew Philadelphia March 20th 1798 I received your Letter of Jan’ry 23d and was gratified to find your Hand writing improving. I know you are attentive to what is passing in the political World, indeed who can be an indifferent Spectator, in Times so critical, so allarming and so big with Concequences as the present? I send you a late publication under the signature of scipio, [“]Reflections on Monroe’s view of the conduct of the Executive.” I do not know who the writer is— Many of the observations and reflections containd in your Letter, meet with my approbation, and do honour to you. Not so the Sarcasam, and the Metaphor, by which you describe miss Peabodys expected Change from a single to a married state, connecting the Image of a Melafactor condemned to Execution, with the entrance into a state, prounounced by holy writ “Honarable in all things”1 and Sanctiond by the experience of Ages as one of the strongest Links in the social order, as one of the firmest pillars which supports Decency, Virtue, and Religion, in the world. It is the origion of all relations, and the first Element of all duties, “The source of every social tie united wish and mutual joy”2 “Mr Burk observes in a Letter of his, That the Christian Religion by confining marriage to pairs, and by rendering that Relation Indissoluble, has by these two things done more towards the Peace, happiness settlement and civilization of the world, than by any other part, in the whole scheme of divine Providence”3 Never again my dear Nephew, exercise your wit at the expence of Reason and judgement, to that holy state you owe your own honorable existance, and it is always a proof of a depravity of Mind and Manners to aim at Sapping the foundation upon which they are built. I cannot asscribe to you any Such motives, the thoughtless Ebuilition of a youth full fancy gave your pen the latitude, which I know your judgment must condemn. In this Rage of innovation, this endeavour at shaking down all old revered Principles of Religion and Government, it would be well for the Youth of our Country to attend with the veneration due to an oracle to the following eloquent observations of the late mr Burk upon Manners—

456

March 1798 “Manners are of more importance than Laws. upon them in a great measure the Laws depend. the law touches us, but here and there, and now and then. Manners are what vex or sooth, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible opperation, like that of the air we breathe in. They give the whole form and contour to our Lives. According to their quality, they aid Morals, they supply them or they totally destroy them”4 I rejoiced at the good account you give me of my Grandsons, and I indulge the pleasing hope, that with examples So pure and amiable as they have before them, they will be led to adopt and cultivate every Virtue and grace, which may adorn society, and do honour to their Teachers to their Parents and to your truly affectionate / Friend and Aunt Abigail Adams RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “William S Shaw, / Student at Harvard College / Cambridge”; endorsed: “No. 2 / March 20th., 30th. April 25th”; docketed: “1798 March 20th.” 1 Hebrews, 13:4. 2 Alexander Pope, “Chorus of Youths and Virgins,” Two Choruses to the Tragedy of Brutus, lines 25–26. 3 Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace, p. 49. 4 Same, p. 48.

Abigail Adams to William Smith Dear sir March 20th 1798 I yesterday received your Letter of March 11th 1 it would give the President great satisfaction to communicate to the publick the dispatches of our Envoys if he could do it consistant with their safety and Security. the Portugeze minister is imprisoned now in France.2 we have not Certainty that ours have left Paris—and so critical are the times, that our Ministers cannot communicate confidentially if their dispatches are to be laid before the publick. the experiment made at the extraordinary sessions of Congress, in which some dispatches were made publick, gave some of our ministers more trouble abroad than is proper to be made known & would have opperated their removal if measures had not been taken to prevent the ill Effects produced by the communications. I mention this to you in confidence. You will receive by this post the Message of the President sent yesterday to Congress— I suppose the cry will be, that the President

457

Adams Family Correspondence has declared War by his taking off the restriction from preventing merchant men to Arm, a restriction lade by the former President, and continued by the Present for prudential motives, tho not with out his doubts of the legality. the Times are becomeing very Serious. that other powers as sweeden and Denmark are treated as we are, is no consolation I presume to the merchant who loses his property. it only serves to prove that the British treaty about which so much clamour has been raised, is only made use of as a cover to the Hostile designs of France, who would have plunderd us, under some other pretence, or no pretence at all, for Plunder is what she wants. she has no means of paying; and power with unbridled ambition, have laid silent & dumb all Principle, all Rights all obligations, and all the powers whom France has conquerd, and those which she has fraternized, are pretty nearly on the same footing her embrace has proved like the Poisoned shirt of Dejanira. As to the stamp Act, the decisive conduct of the senate, which would not give it a second reading quelld all opposition to it here, and there is never a word or Paragraph appeard since that I have heard. there will undoubtedly be wanted all the Revenue it will produce, to put our Country in a state of Defence— if we would preserve that Independance for which we have once fought & bled, we must be up & doing; as to what is publishd in the papers respecting mr Gerrys going to Talyrands Ball I do not credit it.3 a thousand lies will be circulated, and every method made use of to divide our Counsels, to distract our Country. you know it is a part of their system which they practised under the administration of washington, and which they are now working into a system from one End of the united States to the other. hence the grose lies daily publishd in the Aurora, Argus, & Chronicle. we have the most Authentic information that, all their malice will be leveld against the President Personally, against his family his administration, in order to make the people discontented and oblige him to resign, that they may have no obstical in the way of their wishes— the Coffe House in this city is filld with french Men. I was was told last Evening that there are ten to one American, who daily filld that place.4 they are scatterd all over the union and what ever their Professions, they are to a Man Frenchmen— Inclosed is a Letter which mr Brisler requests you to send to his Brother5 my Love to mrs smith and Family / From your Friend Abigail Adams6

458

March 1798 RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “William Smith Esqr / Merchant / Boston”; endorsed: “Philaa. March. 98 / A. A.” 1 Smith’s letter of 11 March reported local anxiety to learn the contents of the envoys’ dispatches and commented on the French Directory’s recent navigation decree. He also criticized the factions in Congress and the recent challenges to the Stamp Act (Adams Papers). 2 News of the imprisonment of Antonio de Araujo de Azevedo, for which see TBA to AA, 17 Aug. 1797, note 1, above, was reported by the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 13 March 1798, and the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 17 March. 3 An extract of a 25 Jan. letter from Paris printed in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 17 March, reported that “on the evening of the 3d inst. Talleyrand gave a splendid ball to Madame and Gen. Buonaparte” to which Elbridge Gerry was invited. “Mr. Gerry at first declined the invitation, as his brother Commissioners were not invited; however, from political motives he was afterwards induced to go.” 4 From 1796 to 1799 the City Tavern and

Merchants’ Coffee House, for which see JA, D&A, 2:115, was operated by Samuel Richardet, who had hosted Democratic-Republican celebrations of the Franco-American alliance at his former tavern on Tenth Street (Jefferson, Papers, 38:485; Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 9 Feb. 1796; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 14 Sept. 1793). 5 Enclosure not found. John Adam Briesler (b. 1765) was the younger brother of John Briesler Sr. (Sprague, Braintree Families). 6 In a letter to William Smith of 24 March 1798, AA enclosed a letter to Rev. Stephen Peabody containing money. She also accused Thomas Jefferson of subverting JA’s administration and criticized the French as tyrannical and unprincipled (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers). In his reply of 2 April, Smith lamented the situation of the American commissioners but believed that even the rumors of French demands would help unite Americans behind the administration. He also reported the death of Rev. John Clarke (Adams Papers).

Ruth Hooper Dalton to Abigail Adams Washington March 20 1798 To hear of your health and happiness my dear Madam is always pleasing to me when ever you can spare time from the many ingagements I know you have I shall esteem it a favour. I am flattered from the pleasing account you give of my Daughter White she was always a good Child and I think she will do all she can to render the Family she is in happy Mrs Bartlett is a fine Woman.1 Mr Dalton and I have often wondered how he could leave his dear Family to come to Congress There seems a faseination in Congress that has induceed many to come to their prejudice I believe he is not much pleased with this Session and many others do not like the conduct of some of the members I hope there will not be any more spiting nor caining if there is may they be cained home and not be kept to disgrace a body that Ought to be so Honorable I pity Louissa very much Mrs White wrote me of the death of her Brother such is the lot of mortals I hope it will not injure her health which I think used to be delicate We Visited Mrs Johnson when she

459

Adams Family Correspondence first arived and have several times Since the connection they have with part of Your Family was a Sufficient motive We are pleased with the accounts we have of your Daughter Mr Lear was much acquainted with them in London speaks highly of her2 Miss Johnson is very much like Mrs Knox in look and Manners The young Ladies are agreeable. When I gave the hint you are so kind as to notice I had reason to think there would have been a Vacancy in the Commissioners office in this City as there was not much Harmony among them at that time I am sorry to find so much contention and disputeing about the City my dear Madam the President is much desired and much wanted on the spot that He may see for Himself how things go on or rather do not go on as they might. I hope in a few Months I shall have that pleasure as we find what intelligence He has is from party and from one we know to be a very busy body that dont care for the Country nor the City any father than to answer his own particular porpose of whose Character Mr Dalton thought it incumbent on him to trouble the President with a Sketch knowing he would be in Philadelphia.3 Mr Dalton Mr and Mrs Deblois and the Young Ladies joyn me in respects to the President and Yourself and our love to Louissa Mrs Deblois has a large Family four Daughters one Son about six Month old which I hope she may have the Life of4 believe me dear Madam your / affectionate and Oblidged Friend Ruth Dalton RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs Adams.” 1 For Peggy White Bartlett, the wife of Bailey Bartlett, see vol. 7:404–405. 2 Tobias Lear was in Britain from Dec. 1793 until June 1794; he spent part of that time in London where, presumably, he met the Johnson family (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series, 14:620, 15:115, 16:594). 3 From the summer of 1797 through early 1798 disagreements emerged between Washington, D.C., commissioners Gustavus Scott and Alexander White and architect William Thornton regarding the construction of the U.S. Capitol. Scott and White, hoping to avoid unnecessary costs, voted against some of Thornton’s building designs. This was in part to address the more pervasive issue, the continuing shortage of funds, for which the commissioners sought federal loans. The commissioners also had to deal with a dis-

pute between prominent landowners Uriah Forrest, who owned lots near Georgetown, D.C., and Thomas Law, whose holdings were close to the Capitol; both men wanted the federal buildings constructed near their respective properties. On 12 Feb. Tristram Dalton wrote to JA (Adams Papers) about Law’s intentions: “His whole Aim is to force improvements to the particular Spot where he has pitched—with a sole View of rendering that more valuable.” Dalton further noted that Law had “discouraged Persons, some of property, from coming to settle in the City—because he found they preferred another part to that where he was” (Papers of William Thornton, ed. C. M. Harris and Daniel Preston, Charlottesville, Va., 1995, p. xlvii, 415, 430–432; Bob Arnebeck, Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washington, 1790–1800, Lan-

460

March 1798 ham, Md., 1991, p. 442, 448, 465, 469). See also William Cranch to AA, 21 Nov. 1797, note 7, and AA to William Smith, 28 Feb. 1798, and note 3, both above. 4 Lewis and Ruth Dalton Deblois’ surviving children at this time were Mary Ann (b. 1790), Charlotte (b. ca. 1791), Elizabeth

(b. 1792), John (b. ca. 1797), and possibly Matilda (b. ca. 1798). Another son, Dalton, had died in 1793 (Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, “Old Boston Families: Number One, The De Blois Family,” NEHGR, 67:16 [Jan. 1913]; Boston Repertory, 7 Nov. 1820; Boston Independent Chronicle, 18 July 1793).

William Stephens Smith to Abigail Adams Dear Madam— East Chester March 21st: 1798. It would be singular indeed, were I to permit your friendly note of March 9th. to pass unanswered, and not to thank you for forwarding the letter from the west-ward, which accompanied it,1 I should not have taken the liberty of desiring my correspondents to have addressed letters to me, to the care of the Presidents secretary, had I not experienced the basest treatment thro’ the line of the Post offices; for every Letter I addressed to Mrs: Smith from May, to the 3d. of November, have been intercepted and never reached their address, to the amount of eleven in Number—& I find upon this ground, resentments have been cultivated, and by some, it has been considered, as an intentional Slight from me to my Wife— tho’ I rank myself amongst the last, who should receive this censure, and tho’ I am confident no man in justice, was less exposed to such calculations, still I find in the minds of some, this, with other high and flagrant crimes, have been laid at my door, circulated with avidity, and credited with apparent pleasure— as your letter contains the only expression of regard that I have received from the family, since my return, accept of my thanks for it; and to gratify my own feelings, I shall always retain the impression it makes— It will appear singular even to you, who have many interesting lines of sensibility in your composition, that from my Wifes friends, I have not received one complimentary line on the subject of my return, and I am not acquainted with any congratulations, that she may have received, indeed I doubt whether any have been made— this you will readily conceive, touches my sensibility, and perplexes my mind— perticularly, when I can look back with an unoffending heart, and review my conduct to my Wife and family for nearly 12 happy years, and no circumstance crosses my recollection wherein I failed in any of the important Duties, either of a Husband, a father, a son or a Brother— to what then must I attribute the Horrid state that I find myself in? but I do not mean to address myself to you my dear madam, in the line of complaint, or censure, it is only in the line of

461

Adams Family Correspondence lamentation, “that such things are,” perhaps, the fault lays entirely with me, and I have not wisdom to deserve, or candour enough to acknowledge my faults— With respect to my private, and pecuniary affairs, I am embarassed, because, I have relied too much on the integrity of others, and never supposed that my own, could be called in question, but I find, I have relied too far, upon a conscious integrity, and upon the justice of those, who called themselves my friends— I find myself wounded in my honor, by the false statements of wicked, and designing men, under the garb of friendship— of course I must vindicate that honor. I have insults and injuries, to revenge, and a station to recover from which, I have been cruelly and unjustly crowded— under these circumstances, I feel no diffidence in appealing to those, who have been acquainted with my earliest movements in life; who have been acquainted with the springs of my action, and the principles which have regulated my conduct, to my Companions in arms, thro’ the whole course of the last War,—to officers in the Enemies service—to my fellow Citizens, in my native City & thro’ the Continent, whether, under any circumstance, or in any of the various stations of public or private Life, either in a civil or a military Capacity, I ever dealt by them unjustly, or ever acted a dishonourable or an uncandid part?— By some, who considered themselves above me in wealth or station, I know I have been considered as proud & haughty, and have sometimes been made acquainted with their complaints on that score— such complaints however, could have only effected me, had they been made, by my inferiors in station or purse, to them I also appeal, if ever I neglected their suit, or denied them my bread— confident and bouyant in the appeals I make, judge of my sensations, when I noticed the avidity with which the world took hold of the first charge ever made against my honor and my Conduct— be not therefore astonished that I wrap myself in my Mantle and retire in disgust from the World— Cæsar himself had not firmness enough to resist the stroke, when he saw the dagger of the assassign in the hands of his friends. You may readily suppose this treatment has surprised, it shall also be a lesson to me hereafter—and at the same time, I may safely say with Bolingbroke, that I am far from being conquered by the storms of misfortune, I bear up against it with firmness enough—but it is true—the burst of the cloud had gone nigh to overwhelm me, from our enemies [we] expect evil treatment of every sort, we are pre-

462

March 1798 pared for it—we are animated by it—and we sometimes triumph in it but when our friends abandon us, when they wound us, and when they take to do this, an occasion where we stand the most in need of their support—and have the best title to it the firmest mind finds it hard to resist—2 Your goodness will excuse the freedom of this letter—and your own mind will tell you that I do not complain of, but to you— I would detail to you the prospect I have of rising superior to the attack made upon me, were I not satisfied, that I had better leave the circumstances to unfold themselves, least my projects should be thought visionary and delusive, however I really flatter myself, I shall readily overcome them and be free once more, to move in the storm that overshadows my Country Should it burst—and as I did before, acquire a degree of honest fame, and have hitherto been the founder of my own fortunes, I think I can with equal success, after I have rendered pecuniary justice to all; rub off the unmeritted blot on my coat, with my Sword— “Death is the worst; a fate which all must try; And for our Country, ’tis a bliss to die. The Gallant man, though slain in fight he be, Yet leaves his Nation safe, his Children free; Entails a debt on all the grateful state; His own brave friends shall glory in his fate; His Wife live honoured, all his race succeed; And late posterity enjoy the deed![”]3 With Great regard I am Dr. Madam / Yours sincerely

W: S: Smith

RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “Col. Smith to A. A. / 1798.” Some loss of text due to wear at the fold. 1 Not found. 2 Henry St. John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, “A Letter to Sir William Windham,” Miscellaneous Works, 4 vols., Edinburgh, 1773, 4:4–5. 3 Homer, The Iliad, Book XV, lines 582–589.

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Sister Quincy March 22d 1798 I write now because I know how it feels to be disappointed not because I have any thing to communicate of importance. I receiv’d your kind Letter of the 13th of this month1 what related to my dear

463

Adams Family Correspondence Son has given me great pain tis no more than I have fear’d. but his Father Says if he can get over these difficulties he will be as cunning as the ——— he does not speak wicked words you know. my fear is that they will hang like a milstone about his neck for a long time. tis cruil to involve a young man Struggling to get his living in Such a manner he had money enough passing thro his hands to have Secur’d himself many a time but it was always appropriated & he possessd too much integrety to touch it. I know he Sustains a good character & I trust he deserv’s a better fate than has yet befallen him. perseverence & prudence never yet fail’d of geting a decent living in the world & I believe never will I hope he will not be discourag’d & dispirit’d. if he has his health he will do well eer long. but he must rub hard at present. I am glad you have seen him tho I could not— I wish mr Greenleaf may be Set at liberty & mr morris poor old man I grieve for him & his Family.— they have too many companions in their troubles. every week produces Some instance of Such direful changes Estates have wings, & hang in Fortunes power Loose on the point of every wav’ring hour2 Mr Little one of the Representatives of Boston Shut up last week, & many more must Soon Mr Black says.3 Lucy writes me “mama, don’t be concern’d about us we do not owe a farthing but what we can pay when call’d upon & we feel in good Spirits[”] people are fitter to their circumstances I think that is all I can say. but I can easily believe She is happier than many others whose affairs are all in a State of Suspence. She would run the risk she has & will never complan let her Suffer what she will but I feel the more for her dear Girl for this very reason. I think the Society at Doctor clark church do not give mr Greenleaf what they ought as orginest it is not more than half what Doctor Thatchers people give theirs as it is all mr Greenleaf can do I think tis hard upon him circumstanc’d as he is—4 I wish Mrs Smith was as happy as Lucy Seems to be, & yet when we compair their Situations it Seems as if mrs Smith had many resources to rely upon for future Support that mrs Greenleaf is destitute of— but why am I troubling you with my perplexities & cares. you have enough of your own. you have your private ones & that of our country besides. I feel for the President I feel for you both my dear sister & hope you will have all the Support from the People you can wish if not from their Representatives

464

March 1798 I have seen a long address in the Chronicle to mr Sewall against the merchants arming their vessels I wish I knew who writ it. tis Said to be Judge Sullivan— I hardly believe it—5 I hope mrs Cushing will call & see me I am always glad to see her & Shall be double So if she brings me intelegence of the welfair of my Sister I have Spoken to Stutson about your Strawbarry Beds he says he will attend to it as soon as the frost is out of the Ground. I will see that your garden is in order & seeds got in season Sucky warner lives yet but grows weaker. She is in a happy State of mind & Suffers but little distress of Body— The roads are So bad I have not seen mr or Mrs Norton for a month. they have had bad colds I hear Cousen Betsy has spent the day with mrs Black mr Black came here this morning & told me his Wife had sent him out to pick up some Girls he carried nancy Ordian & mrs Blacks Niece who had been upon a visit of a day or two at Capt. Brackits first.6 they will not return to night. we have spent our winter much pleasanter than I expected we should. I hardly thought I should go out of the house except to meeting a Sundays. but I have lived as neighbourly as possb[le] with mrs Black & mrs Bracket & have had ma[ny] rides & in general we have had very good hea[lth] mr Cranch is get much better & his cough is go[ne.] you are very kind my Sister to endeavour to reconcile me to myself— I have as many good wishes for my Friends & as hearty a desire to do good in the world perhaps as most people—but my ability to manifest it is small mr whitman will be requested to preach for us the year to come but not to keep the Schoole he would not have been long respected if he had keept the Town Schoole. respected I mean as a minister I wonder he should think of it. it was Capt Beals proposal I have whiten’d your Stocking & they look as well as english ones Sister Smith is well for her Love as due— / from your ever affectionate Sister M Cranch RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs / Abigail Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch / 1798 March / 22—” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 In her 13 March letter to Cranch, AA commented on the financial situations of Robert Morris, John Nicholson, and James Greenleaf, and the toll they were taking on

William Cranch. She also mentioned that the “dispatches are but just decypherd” and remarked about JA’s views toward France, “knowing what he thinks ought to be done,

465

Adams Family Correspondence yet not certain whether the people are sufficiently determined to second the Government, is a situation very painfull” (MWA: Abigail Adams Letters). 2 Alexander Pope, “The Second Epistle of the Second Book of Horace,” lines 248–249. 3 William Little (d. 1803), who had represented Boston in the Mass. General Court since 1795, was a merchant with a store at 46 State Street (Boston New-England Palladium, 9 Dec. 1803; Mass., Acts and Laws, 1794–1795, p. 460; 1796–1797, p. 204, 490; Massachusetts Mercury, 23 March 1798). 4 John Greenleaf, who had been blind since youth, served as the organist of the First Church of Boston for more than two decades, from the mid-1780s until at least July 1807. In July 1796 his yearly salary was approved at $100 with an additional $40 granted “on account of the high price of the articles of living.” This amount remained essentially unchanged through 1807. Hans Gram (1754–1804), originally from Copenhagen, was likely the organist at Boston’s Brattle Street Church at this time (vol. 10:402; Arthur B. Ellis, History of the First Church in Boston, 1630–1880, Boston, 1881, p. 337; Richard D. Pierce, ed., “The Records of the First Church in Boston, 1630–1868,” Col. Soc. Mass., Pubns., 40:587–588, 615 [1961]; Don Michael Randel, ed., The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, Cambridge, 1996; Boston Columbian Centinel, 23 Oct. 1793, 7 May 1796). 5 An article printed in the Boston Independent Chronicle, 19–22 March 1798, declared that “expenditures on the Frigates, were

extravagant and unnecessary” and argued that an 8 March report to Congress on fortifications by Samuel Sewall “justifies these assertions” because in it Sewall noted that naval armament had been “enormously expensive” and plagued by “unaccountable delays.” The article then blasted Sewall for proposing that an officer superintend the American Navy and predicted that within six months of allowing merchants to arm, “the United States will be at war with France Spain and Holland” and that Federalists “will as universally reprobate Arming, as the republicans do the Treaty.” Mary Smith Cranch later reported to AA that James Sullivan “was undoubtedly the author of the peice I mention’d being in the chronicle” (Amer. State Papers, Military Affairs, 1:119; Cranch to AA, 26 March, Adams Papers). 6 Nancy Odiorne (1772–1814), the daughter of Nathaniel and Mary Grindall Odiorne of Unity, N.H., was a cousin of Quincy resident Elizabeth (Betsey) Odiorne Brackett, the wife of Capt. James Brackett. Moses Black’s niece was likely Rosanna Black Blake (ca. 1772–1848), the wife of Joseph Blake Jr., whom she had married on 6 Jan. 1793 (James Creighton Odiorne, Genealogy of the Odiorne Family, Boston, 1875, p. 62, 63, 92, 98; Sprague, Braintree Families; Catalogue of the Collections of the Bostonian Society in the Old State House, Boston, Boston, 1895, p. 35; Daniel Munro Wilson, Where American Independence Began: Quincy, Its Famous Group of Patriots; Their Deeds, Homes, and Descendants, Boston, 1902, p. 187).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia March 27 1798 I received yesterday your kind Letter of March 19th.1 I expect a Letter every week if you have nothing else to say, but as Sterns observes, “how the Shadows Lengthen, as the sun declines” and this may be applied to the well as the natural System.2 as we descend the Hill of Life, our gay and vissonary prospect vanish, and what gilded our meridian days, our Zenith of Life, as the Shadows lengthen, we see through a different medium and may justly estimate many of our persuits, as vanity and vexation of spirit. “But theres a Brighter world on high” which opens to us prospects more permanant, and pleasures more durable.3 to that let us

466

March 1798 aspire in the sure and certain hope, that by a patient Continuence in the path of Religion and Virtue, we shall assuredly reap, if we faint not, the happy fruits of a glorious immortality when I took my pen this morning, with the rising Sun, I did not think of moralizing thus, but the visions of the Night had left an impression upon my mind, and those visions were occasiond by reflections upon the Dangerous and Hazardous situation in to which our Country is brought, by that Demoralizing wicked and abandoned Nation, or Government of France. when no Sacrifice on their part was required, when justice and Equity is all we wanted, when two repeated offers of accommodation have been generously offerd to them, they turn a Deaf Ear and refuse to listen eitheir to the voice of Reason, or the call of Honor; but answer only by renewed insults and more audacious plunder. in this situation our Country is calld upon to put themselves in a state of defence, and to take measures to protect themselves by sea. this is calld a declaration of War on the part of the President, by those who would gladly see their Government prostrate, Religion banishd and I do not know if I should judge too hardly if I said our Country, shared by France— That war will not be the concequence of the conduct of France towards us is more than I can say; it certainly leads to it, as the most probable Event, but the President did not make our difficulties, nor has the Government. no Nation has more strictly adhered to nutrality, none sufferd so much—none bourn with more patience the spoiling of their Property. union is what we Want, but that will not be easily obtaind. it is difficult to make the people see their Danger, untill it is at their doors, or rouse untill their country is invaded. the senate are strong. they are much more united in their measures than the House. there is an attempt in this city to get a petition Signed to congress declaring their determination not to go to War with France—and they hope to sit this measure in opperation through the different states.4 is it possible that any person can suppose this Country wish for War by which nothing is to be obtaind, much to be expended and hazarded, in Preference to Peace? but in self defence we may be involved in War; and for that we ought to be prepared, and that is what the President means. What benifit can War be to him? he has no ambition for military Glory— he cannot add by war, to his Peace comfort or happiness. it must accumulate upon him an additional load of care toil trouble, malice hatred, and I dare say Revenge, but for all this he will not Sacrifice the honor and independance of his Coun-

467

Adams Family Correspondence try to any Nation, and if in support of that, we are involved in War, we must & we ought to meet it, with firmness with Resolution & with union of sentiment. I shall sigh for my retirement at Peace Feild, before I shall reach it. if I can leave here in May, I shall be content, but I cannot say positively. the Roads will not be tolerable untill then; I should like to have what I proposed done as soon in the season as it can be with advantage. The President says you may keep a Cow at the Farm through the season. I had a Letter from your Son two days after he got home.5 he found little William had been dangerously sick with a fever, but he was on the recovery, and he mournd the loss of a very valuable Friend a mr Deakins who dyed in his absence, a Man possessd of a most Estimable Character in whom he says he had found an other Father. mr & Mrs Law returnd last week. I really think she is a truly worthy Woman I inclose to you a News paper because it contains a speech of mr Reads upon the foreign intercourse Bill. it contains as much good sense and is more to the point than the three & four hours Harangues of Some others. mr Read very seldom Speaks—6 what have I got so near the End of my paper before I was aware. I have more to say Yet, but Louissa warns me to Breakfast, and I bid you adieu for the Present— affectionatly your A Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 In her letter of 19 March, Cranch thanked AA for her attentions to her son during his visit to Philadelphia, commented on the number of local bankruptcy claims, and asked whether Congress would consider a bankruptcy act. She also teased AA for her “local prejudices” and speculated that the slave trade was the reason for southerners’ poor manners (Adams Papers). 2 Laurence Sterne, “The Levite and His Concubine,” The Sermons of Mr. Yorick, 4 vols., London, 1766, 3:35. 3 Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David, Imitated in the Language of the New Testament, Psalm XXIV, line 5. 4 On 20 March a motion was introduced in the Penn. house of representatives declaring “their disapprobation of seeking redress by arms” and that its members were “against war in any shape . . . especially against a people with whom their hearts and hands

have been so lately united in friendship.” The motion failed 37 to 33. However, on 3 April Albert Gallatin presented an unofficial memorial to the House of Representatives signed by forty Pennsylvania legislators calling on Congress “to avert the horrors of the war which threatens” and “not merely to deprecate a public annunciation of hostilities, but firmly to discountenance every measure which tends to inflame the spirit of animosity, and to dissolve the bond of amity with that Republic” ( Journal of the First Session of the Eighth House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which Commenced at Philadelphia, on Tuesday, the Fifth Day of December, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Seven, Phila., 1797, p. 306–307, Evans, No. 34326; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1373– 1374). 5 William Cranch to AA, 12 March, above.

468

March 1798 6 The enclosure has not been found, although the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 27 March, printed John Reed’s 5 March speech in the House of Representatives. Reed argued that John Nicholas’ proposed amendment to the foreign intercourse bill was based on “a fear, or apprehension of abuse in future” by the president, “which in my estimation, is very far from being a reason, sufficient to justify the measure in con-

templation.” Reed stated that the amendment was “not only unnecessary, but improper, and accordingly contrary to the intention and spirit of the Constitution. We find no violation of constitutional trust, in the executive— no flagrant abuse of power is pretended—no instance of improper conduct, which can, in the least degree justify the measure in contemplation.”

Abigail Adams to William Smith my Dear sir March 30 1798 I fully unite with you in sentiment, that much ill Blood and warmth of Passion is excited by Town meeting Government.1 the Merchants who are most interested ought to be left free to Arm or not as they please. You cannot conceive what Mischief will result to our Country from the inteference of People, who can have only a partial view of subjects of this nature; I will tell you Sir, that the Money paid by Portugal to France to purchase her Peace, was applied to the Army of France and enabled France to overthrow the directory on the 4 of sep’br. this being accomplishd, more Money is wanted, and the Portegeeze Ambassador is imprisoned to obtain it—2 England might have purchased a Peace as lasting as the present Rulers if she had not spurnd the Proffer— so that Money is what they want, plunder is their object, and no meaness too grose for them to resort to—3 where money cannot be obtaind the small weak States are parssel’d out amongst the conquerers— what I have mentiond with regard to Portugal & England is little known you will not name your Authority. it is however received through such channels as cannot be doubted. the report respecting America which you have seen in the publick papers—Viz a demand for 2 Million of dollors—is perhaps judging from Annalogy, not improbable— should you be willing to pay your proportion for a Six Months Peace, which Price might be again demanded by the next set of Directors— The unfortunate movement in our state will and has given Impudence to Bache, if it was possible to add to his former audacity, and dampd the Friends of Government. it has given triumph to the Jacobins— it weakens the hands of Government, and has a Hydra Head of evils—4 Inclosed is a paper with Some debates which you may not perhaps get. I send you a pamphlet a speech of mr Harpers—5 adieu my

469

Adams Family Correspondence dear sir excuse a very bad pen and be assured of the affectionate / Regard of your / Friend A Adams RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “William Smith Esqr, Merchant / Boston”; endorsed: “Philaa. 30 March 98 / A. Adams—” 1 It is unclear when Smith had previously written to AA regarding this issue. The residents of Roxbury, Mass., met on 20 March and agreed to draft a petition “to entreat that Congress will not allow the Merchants to Arm their vessels by Public Authority.” Harrison Gray Otis presented Roxbury’s petition to the House of Representatives on 30 March. In a letter to Cotton Tufts of 30 March (Adams Papers), AA wrote, “I am sorry very sorry to see Massachusetts commence Town meeting government. how is it possible they should have sufficient information to judge of measure which are best calculated for the benifit of so widely extended a people as we are.” She also reported, “The Jacobins are all life spirit and triumph upon this Roxbury meeting & petition.” Similarly, a town meeting held at Milton on 22 March resolved, “as citizens who must eventually feel the distressing consequences of any measure tending to war, we most earnestly deprecate the system of arming.” The petition was presented in the House on 2 April by Joseph Bradley Varnum (Boston Independent Chronicle, 19–22 March; Dedham, Mass., Minerva, 29 March; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1357, 1367–1368). 2 AA possibly learned this information from Rufus King’s dispatch to Timothy Pickering of 18 Nov. 1797, in which he reported: “The fate of the late Treaty between France and Portugal would confirm this Truth, was it doubtful. Portugal was also required to pay down a sum of money to be distributed as a

preliminary to Negotiation and she advanced it. By a secret article of the Treaty she was bound to make a loan to France, a part of which was paid at the Signature of the Treaty and was the money that enabled the Directory to march the Army which effected the Revolution of the 18th Fructidor. You may depend on this information” (The Life and Correspondence of Rufus King, ed. Charles R. King, N.Y., 1894–1900, 6 vols., 2:243). 3 On 23 Dec. King wrote to Pickering from London, “This Cabinet last night, after several days consideration, gave a decided negative to a proposal of Peace made by the Directory thro’ Talleyrand.” According to King, “the price was a Bribe of a Million Sterling to be divided among Directors, Ministers and others.” King noted that this information was “obtained in a way that forbids its publication in this shape or as received from me” (same, 2:261–262). 4 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 30 March 1798, printed “the spirited resolutions of Roxbury” and believed that “Milton will follow their worthy example.” The Aurora also commented on the impact of town meetings on arming: “The contagion of common sense will spread from town to town, from county to county, and from state to state till the aristocracy throughout the Union, are scared into their senses.” 5 Enclosure not found. For Robert Goodloe Harper’s pamphlet, see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 3 March, and note 3, above.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister March 31 1798 I write you a few lines this morning merely to inclose a Letter which I will thank you to cover and forward to Atkinson.1 I have not time to write this morning to Atkinson. inclosed I sent you a specimin of the Manners Religion & politeness of one of the 44 Gentlemen, Who can come and Eat of my Bread, & drink of my Wine one

470

March 1798

9. “a solemn humiliation under the reign of john adams,” by benjamin henry latrobe, ca. 1798 See page xiv

471

Adams Family Correspondence whom the Virginians consider as a Paragon of politeness whom they have plumed themselves upon as a promising young Man, and a Man of Property, one of their best Speakers.—2 I know not what can excite their Wrath to such a degree, but that they think there is yet some Religion left in the Country, and that the people will have some respect to it, & to those Rulers who acknowledge an over Ruling Providence— Baches you see is striving to render the Proclamation Ridiculous and With his Atheistical doctrines spreading French principles far and Wide—but I trust and hope we may as a people be of that happy Number, Whose God is the Lord, and never forget that it is Righteousness which exalteth a Nation, Whilst sin is their Reproach.3 adieu my dear sister / affectionatly Yours A A— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.” 1 Not found. 2 AA was referring to the proclamation JA issued on 23 March declaring a fast day for 9 May and the heated response it generated from Democratic-Republicans, including Virginia representative Richard Brent. For both the proclamation and the backlash, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 9, above. 3 An article printed in the Philadelphia Au-

rora General Advertiser, 30 March, decried the proclamation and blamed JA and his administration for the present state of U.S. affairs: “The crisis in which this country finds itself and the dangers that threaten it, have principally arisen from our administration, and that of course it is it that ought to fast, reform, and repent.”

Cotton Tufts to Abigail Adams Dear Madm. Weymouth March. 31. 1798 In my last I enclosed a rough Plan of the proposed Addition to the Wood House, that Plan will exhibit to You an Idea of the lower Room; since then I have found, that it will not be much more expensive, to take the Roof off from the Wood house & Library and erect a new one over them, than to proceed in the Way that was projected.1 I have accordingly orderd it to be framd in this Way; upon this plan You will have 4 upright Chambers and if You are disposed to have the Library in one of them or to throw two of the Chambers into one Room for that Purpose, it may be done and in either Case, You may have a Way to it from the outside if You should chuse it or if You mean to devote it entirely to a Farm House, it will render it much more convenient and give You sufficient Room. I do not know what will become of S. Bass if You do not employ him, he is so attach’d to the Place, that he will not enjoy himself if

472

March–April 1798

March–April 1798 he is not at Work for You—2 what must I do and what Wages must I give them if hired— Soule is on the Farm at 200 Dollars for 8 Months, He did not incline to engage for the Year— Mr. Lane of Hingham will paint the setting Room Chamber &C Next Week—3 The Season past has been wet & Cold, scarce any drying Weather till within Two or three Days, We shall now push the Business of the Farm, Building and other matters, I have orderd a Boat to Boston to bring all the Necessaries for the Building not already provided, together with 100 Bushells of Oates which will be on the Spot next Week— Yours of the 18th. Inst. I recd. with 200 Dr. enclosed— I have thought whether it would not be best to purchase fundd. Stock at Philadelphia as I have found for sometime past that it has been sold (6 pr. Ct. Stock) 8d & 10d £ cheaper than at Boston this might be done by Brisler who might get it transferd to the office of Nath. Appleton Esq, it might be purchased in my Name or Brislers—4 I have a strong Inclination to touch upon Politics but my trembling Hands tell me I must close— Mrs. Tufts is as well as her Fatigues & Anxiety of Mind will permit— Sukey I expect will Soon be verging to a close of her Distress, if this warm weather continues Adieu / Yr. Affecte. Frend C. T—5 RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs. Abigail Adams”; endorsed: “Dr Tufts.” Dft (Adams Papers). 1 This letter has not been found. In her reply of 16 April, AA reported that the letter and plan had not arrived but that even without them she approved Tufts’ proposal for the construction on the outbuilding. She also suggested that entry to the library be accessible from the exterior so as not to disrupt the rest of the house and asked that Tufts provide an estimate of the total cost for the project, enclosing $100 toward the balance (Adams Papers). 2 Tufts was probably referring to Joseph Bass, a longstanding Adams tenant who was by this time 75 years of age and about whom

AA commented, “The old man is usefull” (vol. 8:334, 335; AA to Tufts, 16 April, Adams Papers). 3 Likely Rufus Lane (1758–1801), a painter and glazier who lived on South Street in Hingham (History of Hingham, 2:419). 4 This letter has not been found, and it is unclear where the funds were ultimately invested. For Tufts’ earlier investments on AA’s behalf, see vol. 9:xiii–xiv, 197. 5 Tufts also wrote to AA on 20 March inquiring about her plans to keep a dairy at their farm and what should be done with the cheese and butter (Adams Papers).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Sister Quincy April 1d 1798 I thank you for your Letter of the 20th of march which I receiv’d yesterday & for the papers you sent mr otis & Harpers Speeches are much admir’d by one party & their Wit & Satire felt by the other.

473

Adams Family Correspondence April 1798

Adams Family Correspondence they “have bar’d the Breasts of those villains who are doing their utmost to ruin & degrade their country & have Strip’d the gilding from the Principle which they wish’d to establish.[”] it had so dazzled the eyes of the multitude that they did not percieve to what it tended I do hope the people will be roused & united. As to the Presidents resigning. it must not be thought of. there is no body who takes the least pains to inquir can be deceiv’d the more Lies they publish the less credit they will gain tis Strange that they cannot place So much confidence in a man whom they have long found to be firm & faithful as to suppose he must have the best reasons in the world for not communicating all the dispatches receiv’d from our Envoys. they must know that it might be highly improper I am glad the President has taken of the restriction which prevented our merchantmen defending their property it was like Standing Still & having ones house raz’d without Saying why do you So It was Deianira Daughter of Oeneus king of Elolia whom Hercules won from the River Achelous & afterwards married who gave him the bloody poison’d Shirt or rather sent it to him by his Servant & which made him So mad that he threw himself into the fire as he was offering Sacrefice. when Hercules was returning with his new wife he prayed the centaure Nessus to carry her over the river Evenus. which he did—but afterwards endeavour’d to ravish her, for which Hercules wounded him with a poison’d arrow. Nessus finding himself dying gave his bloody Shirt to Deianira assuring her that if her Husband wore the same he would never love another woman. She believ’d it. & knowing him to be inamour’d with Iola very innocently Sent him the Shirt—but when She found how fatal it had prov’d She Kill’d herself this is the Story as I find it in Colliers Dictionary you may know it all already. but if you did not I know you would like to have it. I had forgot it—1 I wish there was a possibility of making the Chronicle & the other Jacobin printers publish a refutation of their own Storys the Poison & antidote Should go together I am Sure you will be Shock’d & griev’d when you hear of the Death of Mrs Quincy. it was Sudden Mrs Greenleaf writes me She did not know She was sick till she heard She was dead She was in company with mrs Storer the Friday before & She did not mention her name. her Friends had not an Idea of her being dangerous Mr Quincys wife got to Bed at the Same time but was very ill & is So now. She does not know of his mothers death mrs Quincy was

474

April 1798 bury’d from her Brothers upon the account of her Daughters illness. I have not had a Satisfactory account of the cause of Mrs Qs death. She has a very just character given her in the paper. She was a lovely woman & will be greatly mourn’d by her Freinds mr Quincy must be in great affliction. he was fond of his mother & knew her worth. her Sisters I greatly pity She has been a mother to them2 the death of mrs Gill was not unexpected She had almost accomplished her three Score years & ten & is gone to receive the reward of I hope a well spent life. her memory will be dear to her Friends. She has left no child to mourn for her & his honour is at liberty to Seek another rich wife3 I had Letters yesterday from nancy. the poor Girl was in great destress about her little Boy while my Son was absent Doctor May thought him very dangerous. I think by her description it must have been a Lung fever. he is now weak & feeble but recovering. She told me of your kindness to her & is very grateful the Book was very pleasing [to the] little Sick lamb. I was to see uncle Quincy yesterday he thanks you for your present to him. but mrs Pope Says it will be found in his trunk after he is dead as good as it is now. I have not seen him since you was here till now— he has been very well all winter & does not look a day older than when I saw him last— your Asparagus Beds are fork’d & Lettece Sown we have had a warm week but it was preceeded by two violent Storms of rain a little Snow & some hail Mrs Pope told me She would lay you down some Butter if she could, but they were raising Six or seven calves & were oblig’d to Supply their work people with Butter. you will have five or Six cows at home which will give you Butter for your Tea table if you get a milk Cellar— my paper bids me be concise. a great deal of Love can be put in a little place accept [. . .] you for the President & your Self the tenderest affection of your Sister Mary Cranch RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs / Abigail Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch / April 1st / 1798.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 Louis Moréri, The Great Historical, Geographical, Genealogical and Poetical Dictionary, 2d. rev. edn., transl. Jeremy Collier, 2 vols., London, 1701. 2 Abigail Phillips Quincy died on 25 March. An obituary published in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 28 March, characterized her

as “loved as a friend, trusted as a guide, prized as a companion and revered as a pattern” and noted that owing to an illness in her family the funeral would depart from the home of her brother William Phillips Jr., for whom see LCA, D&A, 2:601. That illness was related to the birth on 15 March of Eliza Su-

475

Adams Family Correspondence san Quincy, the first child of Eliza Susan Morton and Josiah Quincy III. Hannah Phillips Shaw (b. 1756) and Sarah Phillips Dowse (1756–1839) were the sisters of Abigail Phillips Quincy (Eliza Susan Quincy, “Memoir of Edmund Quincy (1681–1738) of Braintree, Massachusetts Bay,” NEHGR, 38:145 [April

1884]; Albert M. Phillips, comp., Phillips Genealogies; Including the Family of George Phillips, First Minister of Watertown, Mass., Auburn, Mass., 1885, p. 26–27). 3 Rebecca Boylston Gill died on 19 March (Boston Columbian Centinel, 24 March).

William Smith Shaw to Abigail Adams My dear Aunt. Cambridge April 2d. 1798 Some lover of your nephews happiness, last thursday added something to the fragment of life, by placing in my hands your agreeable favor of March 20th. The pamphlet sent me, I give you my sincere thanks. Is not Mr. Pickering the author. As soon as I read it, I thought I could see in it his simple style and forcible reasoning. I had read both Scipio and Munroes view, before I received your letter, and think that the latter ought to be hung, even if he were guilty of no other crime than, that of thus betraying the secrets of our government. I am sorry that my dear aunt should have so poor an opinion of the goodness of her nephews heart— I regret that she should think me so much of the Frenchman, as to suppose it were possible I could throw any sarcasm against the married state—a state which I have ever considered, as the foundation of community and the chief band of society, without which I sincerely believe there is no true solid happiness. I wanted to tell you, that my sister M was soon to be maried, the metaphor, to which you refer, came into my head— I was rather in a hurry, and immediately wrote it down, with out considering its propriety. I have since thought of it, and acknowledge it improper, but must beg of you to believe, that nothing was more opposite or distant from the sentiments of my heart, than any sarcasm against so holy, so sacred an institution. Monday I went to the town meeting, called to take into consideration the allarming situation of publick affairs &c. You may easily believe that I was not a little provoked to see upwards of an hundred assembled, the most ignorant, unpricipled crew under Gods earth, to decide an interesting national question. I there heard men arraigning the administration of government, whom I knew did not understand half of the terms they used. Very few of the voters knew but little more than the boy of the jacobin, who after waiting on an entertaiment of that society, & hearing their execrations against

476

April 1798 Mr. Jays treaty being ordered in the evening to bring their carriages, burst into tears, begged of his master to excuse him from going, for he was afraid the treaty would catch him. There were lies there told which, would have ashamed even the devil himself. Dr. Hill, little in body and mind, and Judge Dana were the principle speakers. The latter spoke near an hour with elegance and energy. The former was very voluble in words, but as for his ideas, they were like needles hid in the hay. You may search all the day before you find them, & when you have them, they are not worth the search.1 Congress, as usual, seem to be doing little or nothing. They seem to forget that they are not the representatives of sansculotte Frenchmen, but of indepenent Americans. Why do they not put themselves in a defensive state? I believe the French would never have been such ravenous wolves, had they not seen so many of the Americans mere passive sheep. How can congress quetly set and see their country calumniated—their ministers insulted by an unprincipled, plundering, ferocious, bloody and tyranical nation,—a nation, whose government is anarchy, whose religion is atheism? This passive spirit is not confined to congress alone. The whole country seem to forget that they are men—that they have rights, which they ought to assert— which should not be violated with impunity. Every one ought to rise, indignant at the insults we have received. I should glory this moment, lame and weak as I am; in shouldering my firelock & swearing on the alter of my country, to fight the enemy, as long, as there was a particle of me left or a drop of blood to shed. The federalists here do not sufficiently exert themselves to inform the people. We have very few good political pices in the Mercury or Centinel. We have not even the debates of congress. The chronicle, that speaking trumphet of the devel, is always filled with inflaming pieces, calculated to deceive ignorant people. Men of abilities ought not at the present time to live in retirement. I am an uninformed— unexperienced youth, but were “I a Fisher Ames or a Hamilton I should think myself almost a traitor to my country if I remained buried in my farm or spending my time pleading at the bar.”2 I suspect there are some jacobinical villains, postmasters between Boston & N.C. Williams from N.C. an intimate friend and classmate of mine, anxious that his father should read some of our Nothern papers, subscribed for the Mery. & Cenl. His father has written to him repeatedly, that the chronle. comes regularly twice a week, but that he does not receive more than a third of his papers. Russell & Minns botho say they send them regularly twice a week.3

477

Adams Family Correspondence Our frigate constitution, though crushed, like Hercules of old, in infancy in its cradle, is I am told almost ready for sail, and for strength & elegance is almost unequalled.4 I am very anxious to see the letters from our commissioners I suspect “They will a tale unfold, whose lightest word Will harrow up my soul, freeze my young blood,”5 Have you heard from my cousins abroad lately. How does Cousin John’s wife do? Where is Johnson? I sincerely pitty the poor fellow? He is very poorly calculated for his situation. His ideas were always too aristocratical, to please even me & I have told him so repeatedly. We have now completed our college studies & are excused from all college exercises. The day (21st of June) will soon be present, when I shall leave this seat of science.6 To me that day will be a day of sorrow. To leave the tender and affectionate smiles of some of my worthy classmates is my aunt, melancholy in the extreme. The idea I love not to cherish, but it is an idea which often obtrudes on the social hour—which makes its appearance when unlooked for, & when combined with the future prospects of my life, makes me miserable indeed. It was not for man to anticipate evil, but it impossible to prevent it. I have been pecularly happy, during my college life, in selecting a worthy few for my particular friends. & the tie is now drawn so close, that to dissever it, will be like dissevering a limb. We have lived, my aunt, like a band of brothers and the only point we ever contended was, who loved the most. I have read all the debates on foreign intercouse, except Mr. Harper’s, of which I have heard much said. If you have the paper by you, which contains it or any of Porcupines & it is not too much trouble I wish you would send them to me7 I wish my Aunt would write to me more frequently, I am sure she would, if she knew how much pleasure, her letters always give me. Please to me remember me affectionately to Uncle & cousin. I have written you a long unconnected letter—I feel almost ashamed to send it. You must, my dear aunt, accept the little all I have to offer, as freely as I give it; my love, esteem & gratitude which are indeed sincerely yours. Wm S Shaw8 I have just received a letter from my mother, all are well but my dear sister & she continues unwell yet.

478

10. “uss constitution,” by michele felice cornè, ca. 1803 See 479 page xv

April 1798

Adams Family Correspondence RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “William S Shaw / April 2. 1798.” 1 On 2 April a town meeting was convened in Cambridge “to take into consideration the alarming situation of Public Affairs.” The outcome was the adoption of several resolutions and a petition to Congress declaring that “the National Neutrality ought to be preserved inviolate; and that to this end, no merchant vessels ought to sail armed” because doing so would be viewed by the constituents as “tantamount to War.” Dr. Aaron Hill (1757–1830), Harvard 1776, was a former selectman for Cambridge and a current representative for Middlesex County in the Mass. General Court (Boston Independent Chronicle, 2–5 April; Harvard Quinquennial Cat.; Lucius R. Paige, History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630–1877, Boston, 1877, p. 461, 466; Mass., Acts and Laws, 1796–1797, p. 490). 2 Shaw quoted from the Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 6 March 1798, which noted that “the French are at this moment busied in accomplishing the prostration of the Federal Government,” and that “every man of talents should contribute his mite” to prevent “another revolution.” 3 William Williams (1776–1862), Harvard 1798, was the son of Elisha Williams of Scotland Neck, Halifax County, N.C. (Alexander Mackay-Smith, The Colonial Quarter Race Horse: America’s First Breed of Horses, [Middleburg, Va.], 1983, p. 276; “Recollections of Eclipse and Coeur-De Lion,” American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, 1:274 [Feb. 1830]). 4 For the successful launch of the frigate

Constitution on 21 Oct. 1797 and its eventual sailing on 22 July 1798, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 10, above. Two earlier attempts to launch the vessel had been unsuccessful. JA attended the initial launch on 20 Sept. 1797, when the frigate advanced 27 feet toward the water before becoming mired in mud. The entry ramp was raised, and two days later a second attempt was made, resulting in the vessel’s sliding only another 31 feet (Massachusetts Mercury, 22 Sept.; Charles E. Brodine, Michael J. Crawford, and Christine F. Hughes, Interpreting Old Ironsides: An Illustrated Guide to USS Constitution, Washington, D.C., 2007, p. 7). 5 Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, scene v, lines 15–16. 6 Shaw was referring to the last meeting of the Harvard senior class prior to vacation and the 18 July 1798 commencement. Seniors gathered in the college chapel to hear valedictory exercises before retiring to the president’s house for refreshments with the faculty (“Class Day,” The Harvard Magazine, 4:313– 317 [Oct. 1858]; Boston Russell’s Gazette, 19 July). 7 The Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 19, 29 March, 2 April, printed Robert Goodloe Harper’s 2 March speech on the foreign intercourse bill. 8 On 9 April AA wrote a brief letter to Shaw enclosing a pamphlet by Joseph Hopkinson and commenting on the literary achievements of Francis Hopkinson (DLC: Shaw Family Papers).

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my Dear Son Philadelphia April 4 1798 I embrace this opportunity by mr Thornton Secretary to mr Liston the British Minister to write too you, and to Send you two Speeches upon the Foreign intercourse Bill, one by mr Gallatin, and one in reply, by mr Harper.1 I wrote to you last week by Way of Hamburgh:2 but we are still without a line from you of a private Nature; and have only learnt of your arrival at Berlin from your Letters to the secretary of state of Novbr 10 & 17th. At this Eventfull period you must be greatly anxious for the wel-

480

April 1798 fare of your Country; I wish it was in my power to remove your solisitude; but the present Rulers of Franc appear determined to drive us into War, or oblige us to submit to all their unjust and iniquitious depredations upon our commerce; and to all their evil machinations, against the Peace order and happiness of our Government. Our Envoys to France are not yet returnd but they have reported to the Executive; that they have not any hopes of being received, tho they have waited five months for the purpose. In concequence of their communications, the President has thought fit to send the inclosed Message to both Houses.3 the purport of it, is considered in different Lights by the different Parties in the House. on one side they call it; an ultimatum, which is to decide the question, Peace or War. on the other; they contend that the measures recommended are merely defensive, and such as the safety security and independane of our Country loudly calls for: these are the subjects now in agitation. after what is past within your view for these 5 years, you will readily believe that the Government is encompassed with many dangers, and difficulties. wherever the Breath of French influence has been blown, Kingdoms and Countries, have more or less been agitated by the centending Huricane The projected invasion of England is an attempt which I cannot permit myself to consider in a Serious light, or rather the success of the undertaking, for the benifit of Mankind. I believe we ought to wish it might be attempted, with every hope and wish that it may prove as abortive in reality, as it appears Chimerical in Idea. The House yesterday past a vote of call, for the Instructions to and dispatches from our Envoys; and to day they will receive them. they cannot therefore any longer complain that they are calld upon to Legislate in the dark.4 It would be improper for me to make any remarks. I can only add a hope that we may be induced to act, as a wise free, prudent and united People, and then with the Blessing of Heaven, we need not fear What Man can do towards us. we are at present in the enjoyment of Health and of Plenty, but too supine; too regardless of the future, we hug the blessing we possess; and are loth to believe them in jeopardy. we want those strong passions roused, which awaken the faculties, and which suffer not a particle of the Man to be lost. There is says an admired Author, a courageous wisdom there is also a “false reptile prudence, the result not of caution but of fear, An abject distrust of ourselves, an extrav-

481

Adams Family Correspondence agant admiration of the Enemy.”5 this has been too much the case of our Countrymen, nor has it yet been intirely eradicated, tho a great Change has been wrought within these 2 years past. I shall write to you by every opportunity, and most ardently long to hear from you and from yours. Mr Johnson has not received any Letters from you as yet or I am sure he would have communicated the intelligence as I frequently write to, and receive Letters from mrs Johnson. I have been dissapointed in her not comeing this winter here, and have little hope of seeing her untill an other Season; my Love to Mrs Adams and to Your Brother Thomas. I had Letters fr[om] N york last week.6 our Friends there were all well. Your [Father] Send you his Blessing. you know the reason why he does not write more frequently. in that respect I feel that I have the advantage of him. I pray Heaven my dear son to preserve your Life, and to increase and continue your usefullness, for Providence has destined you to the service of your Country I am your ever affectionate / Mother Abigail Adams7 RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “John Quincy Adams / Minister at / Berlin—”; endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A Adams / 4 April 1798 / 11 June Recd / 11 Do Acknd & ansd.” Tr (Adams Papers). Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 Having served as George Hammond’s secretary during his mission to the United States, Edward Thornton (1766–1852) was appointed secretary to the British legation in March 1796 and served as its chargé d’affaires between 1800 and 1804 (DNB). 2 AA wrote to JQA on 29 March 1798 noting that American attitudes toward France were becoming “more disposed to repel insult with due energy” and that she believed Congress would enact defensive measures. She also noted that no news about the envoys’ departure from France or dispatches from Berlin had been received (Adams Papers). 3 Enclosure not found. For JA’s message to Congress of 19 March, see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 20 March, and note 1, above. 4 On 26 March William Branch Giles called for the House of Representatives to consider JA’s 19 March message to Congress, noting that “from the best judgment he could give it, it involved the question of peace or war to this country, and he thought

gentlemen must be prepared to say which of the two States they wished.” The following day Richard Sprigg Jr. of Maryland proposed several resolutions, the first of which declared that “under existing circumstances, it is not expedient for the United States to resort to war against the French Republic.” Subsequent debate of this resolution was interrupted when Giles noted that JA had not disclosed the dispatches to Congress, and the House was therefore “obliged to take up the subject in the dark.” A resolution requesting JA to “communicate to this House, the instructions to, and despatches from, the Envoys Extraordinary of the United States to the French Republic, mentioned in the Message of the 19th instant” passed the House by a vote of 65 to 27 on 2 April. JA complied with the request the following day but asked that Congress keep the documents confidential until it had time to consider whether it was appropriate to publish them (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1313–1316, 1319–1367, 1370, 1371, 1374–1375).

482

April 1798 5 Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace, p. 7. 6 Possibly a reference to WSS to AA, 21 March, above. 7 AA had also written a brief letter to JQA on [3] April commenting on the recent pam-

phlet by Joseph Hopkinson and reporting that the dispatches had been submitted to Congress. Enclosed with the letter was a copy of JA’s 23 March fast day proclamation (Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams my dear son Philadelphia April 4th 1798 To know that one Cannot freely say that Black, is Black; even tho it be “darkness visible,” or that white is white, tho the new fallen snow is not purer, is fettering ones faculties, as well as restraining ones pen. Yet in such perilious Times as the present, freely to discuss motives which lead to measures, or to Characterize the Actors “who fret and Strut their hour upon the stage”1 would not be prudent in me Considering where I stand. In writing to your Brother, and to you, I am constantly considering what, I may not write accordingly my Letters can afford you but little information or entertainment. our publick affairs grow too serious to be speculated upon; Of one thing however you may rest assured, that the Present Helms Man will quit his station sooner than Sacrifice the honour, interests, and independance of our Country to any Foreign Nation or Power, and He who is resolved to hazard his existance, rather than abandon those objects, must have a superiour advantage over those, who are resolved to yeald rather than carry their resistance beyond a certain point. If we do not oppose, even by force the Fraternal embraces of our Allies, they will prove as fatal to us as the poisoned shirt of Dajanire. happy for us that old ocean Rolls between us. You cannot Wonder that I wait with impatience to hear from you. I chide the tardy vessels, and abhor the piratical Search I wrote to you a week since by a Mr Millar from this city who has saild for Hamburgh and who gave us some reason to hope, that he would visit Berlin before his return; he is the son of a Mr magnus Millar of this place Merchant.2 Some of your old acquaintance here remember you with affection; and kindly inquire after you. Miss Wescot is yet unmarried and very lovely still. Miss Wilson is in ill Health, and much dejected with the embarressments of her Fathers affairs, which wholy preve[nt] him from residing here.3 She is an amiable Girl. many of those whom you knew as Children; have in the course of three

483

Adams Family Correspondence years, come forward into society since you left this city, and in the drawing Room is frequently to bee seen an assemblage of as much Beauty and elegance, as is to be met with in any foreign Court My son keep thy Heart with all diligence, not doubting but there is in reserve for you a Crown! a Crown! doth not the scripture say, a virtuous Woman is a Crown to her Husband!4 With the tenderest solisitude / For your happiness I am most affectionatly / Your Mother A Adams Louissa & other Friends desire to be rememberd your Brother & Sister were well RC (Adams Papers). Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, scene v, line 25. 2 Likely AA to TBA, 18 March, above. Magnus Miller (d. 1807), a former ship’s captain who had become a successful Philadelphia merchant, had two sons—William (b. 1761) and James (b. 1765)—both of whom worked in the family business (Billy G. Smith, The “Lower Sort”: Philadelphia’s Laboring People, 1750–1800, Ithaca, N.Y., 1990, p. 126–127; Philadelphia United States’ Gazette, 4 Sept. 1807). 3 In an attempt to avoid his creditors,

Judge James Wilson did not return to Philadelphia after traveling the southern circuit of the federal courts. From the spring of 1797 until his death in Aug. 1798, he moved from Bethlehem, Penn., to Burlington, N.J., to Edenton, N.C., where legal proceedings were brought against him. He died in Edenton (Charles Page Smith, James Wilson: Founding Father, 1742–1798, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1956, p. 382–385, 388). For more on Wilson’s financial affairs, see vol. 11:205, 206, 448. 4 Proverbs, 12:4.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch dear sister April 4 1798 The eastern post will go out this morning and I take my pen to thank you for your Letters of the 20 & 26th of March.1 we had received intelligence of the wisdom of Roxbury & Milton, their petitions having reachd their Representitives in Congress. the reply to them may be found in the dispatches of our Envoys yesterday communicated to congress. The publick exegiency of our Country, and the real in Some, and the Pretended unbelief of others, produced a torpor, and an indicision which call’d for Conviction & proof as strong as holy writ, that all, and more than was exprest, in the Presidents last message, was necessary to be done to put our Country on its gaurd, and to inspire them with a determined resolution to preserve their Rights their freedom and independance all of which are attack’d by the most base profligate and abandoned Culprits which were ever permitted to scourge the Nations of the Earth; the Algerines lose all their venality & tyrranny when Compared to them.

484

April 1798 The Proofs of this will now be lade before the publick, as soon as they can be printed2 out of fears for the safety of our Envoy’s they would not have yet been published, if the House of Reps’ had not calld for them. Gallitan, the sly the artfull the insidious Gallitan knew better than to join in the call. Giles was heard to say, to his Friends in the House—you are doing wrong to call for those dispatches. they will injure us— These Men knew that the President would not have exprest himself in such strong terms in his message, if he had not possesst convincing Evidence, and tho they lie to the publick, they believed all that was asserted in his Message, “that all hopes of accommodation was at an End.[”]3 I have never seen the Dispatches, but I have learnt from the Members who yesterday visited me, what I had before suspected, that Tallyrand & the Directory would have been bought. the wretches even stipulated a certain sum to be paid them for the Presidents, saying in his speech at the opening of the summer session “that we ought to shew France that we were not a degraded People” they wanted to prove him deficient in knowledge, a false man by making us tributary to them and that by the consent of the very ministers he had Sent to negotiate with them but I will not mutilate further, what I have only learnt by incorrect details.4 as soon as the dispatches are publishd I will send them to You— The Jacobins in senate & House were struck dumb, and opend not their mouths, not having their cue, not having received their lessons from those emissaries which Tallyrand made no secret of telling our Envoys are Spread all over our Country; and from whence they drew their information. I believe S n is not too scrupelous to take a fee. we are ensnared. we shall be destroyd unless the snare is broken, and that speedily. thus you see Town meetings can judge! I was much shockd yesterday at reading in the Paper the Death of Mrs Quincy I had only heard by way of Mrs otis the day before, that she was unwell. what was her complaint? it must have been sudden I think, or you would have mentiond it. the Glory of the family is departed. mrs Quincy was in all respects the first Character in it. I mourn with all her Friends most sincerely, for by them her loss must be deplored. Mrs Gill is an other of my Friends & connections whose loss I lament. she was however at an age when we could not expect her much longer continuence, yet I feel these ligaments giving way one after an other. I feel their loss to society and the warning voice to myself—“this Lifes a dream an empty show.”5

485

Adams Family Correspondence How is your Weather? last week we had three or four days when we were obliged to sit with our windows open and for these three days past we have had a voilent east storm of wind and Rain we had sallid, and the Trees in our yard are budding & would have Blossomd in a few Days— the Roads had got tolerably good so that I just began to ride out of Town but this great rain will spoil them again. If we have many troubles we have also many blessings amongst which & not the least I consider Health. both the President & I have enjoyd our Health better this Winter & spring than usual, but the constant care application and anxiety will wear out the firmest constitution. I received cousin Betsys Letter and shall write to her soon—6 Your truly affectionate / Sister Abigail Adams I send you a pamphlet just publishd, said to be written by a mr Hopkinson a young Lawyer, whose father was a judge & Author of the battle of the Kegs.7 RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 No letter from Cranch to AA of 20 March has been found. In a letter of 26 March, Cranch commented on the town meetings at Milton and Roxbury, reported news of William Cranch in Washington, D.C., and asked AA for a copy of Allan Ramsay’s The Gentle Shepherd (Adams Papers). 2 For the publication of the dispatches, see AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 7 April, and note 1, below. 3 AA does not appear to be quoting from JA’s message of 19 March but rather from comments made by John Nicholas during the House debate on the request that JA communicate the commissioners’ dispatches (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1368). 4 “This conduct of the French Government . . . evinces a disposition to separate the people of the United States from the Government. . . . Such attempts ought to be repelled with a decision, which shall convince France and the world, that we are not a degraded people.” The French had noted this passage in particular, from JA’s message to Congress of 16 May 1797, as one for which they required an explanation and reparation (Amer. State Papers, Foreign Relations, 2:159, 160). For a full summary of JA’s speech, see AA to Cranch, 16 May, and note 2, above. 5 Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David Imitated

in the Language of the New Testament, Psalm XVII, Long Metre, line 13. 6 Not found. 7 Joseph Hopkinson’s What Is Our Situation? And What Our Prospects?, Phila., 1798, Evans, No. 33904, outlines the many ways “the peace and safety of this country are assailed by two enemies mutually encouraged and enflaming each other. The French, who are invited to their hostility by an assurance that our Government is divided from the people . . . and an internal faction, who finding themselves supported, by the aggression and countenance of the French, aim at nothing short of universal uproar and plunder— These then are our foes— Let us understand them to be so, and no longer contend in the dark; no longer feel ourselves wasting away, and see our property and rights wrested from our hands, without knowing against whom we should repel the outrage, or to what point to direct our defence” (p. 8). The pamphlet also urges Americans to ensure that “every exertion be vigorously and solely bent to the public weal, the preservation of our country” (p. 40). Hopkinson, for whom see LCA, D&A, 1:224, was the son of Francis Hopkinson (1737–1791), the Revolutionary-era statesman and author, who numbered among his many works “The Battle of the Kegs” (DAB).

486

April 1798

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams My dear Sister Quincy April 5th 1798 I last week had to inform you of the Sudden death of my much value’d Freind Mrs Quincy I Now have to acquaint you that last Sunday afternoon in the midst of his Sermon Doctor Clark was struck with an apoplexy & fell down— after he was got into the carriage to be carry’d home he came a little to but Soon seem’d to fall asleep & into a Suoun out of which he never wak’d & ceas’d to breath about 3 oclock the next Morning1 his Freinds the Society to which he belong’d & the community at large have met with a great loss. he was a very useful Minister to his People. & such a Friend in trouble & affliction as renderd him like a Brother— He was visiting at Mr Greenleafs this winter when I was there. & I observ’d to him that I thought he was growing too corporlent. he Say’d he found himself short-breath’d when he walk’d he look’d Strangely to me about his throat & under his chin. his voice was observ’d to fail a moment or two before he fell. how Strange my Sister that we Should place any dependance upon a thing So uncertain as life for in the midst of life there is death— Sucky warner Still lives but is gradually failing. She has not a wish to recover She has brought her mind to be resign’d & does not wish to again form any ties which she has found so hard to break we have had a Strange rumour here for Several days. tis Said that mr Giles had Shot mr otis in a Dual I hope tis not true. we are disgrac’d enough already by the behavior of Some of the members of that house. tis greatly to be lament’d that Such unhappy divisions are to be found where uninimety & firmness is so necessary2 I have been reading Sipios Strictures upon mr munroes conduct. tis greatly to be regreted that we Should have had Such a minister abroad especially in France I wonder that he was not recall’d Sooner. there is no Saying how much mischief he might have prevented but it appears he did not try to prevent any. he ought to be Severely punish’d. Is he weak enough to suppose that what he has publish’d is a vindication of himself. I Should Suppose no person could possibly offer a better justifecation of the late presidents conduct in recalling him & leave no blame upon him except for suffering him to stay so long & what can the Ve. President Say for the part he has acted—3 oh dear! what a Nest of Vipers do we nourish—

487

Adams Family Correspondence we have had a Stormy week the Sun has not for four days till this afternoon. It is fast day4 I have been to meeting Mr whitman has given us two good Sermons. he is ingag’d for three months. mr whitney would not go down— he will get a better parish I beleive we have turbelant Spirits to engage tis well we are not all So waspish the Painter comes next week it has been no time to paint exceep last week & then he could not attend The Doctor hir’d mr Soal & the day after he was taken with the billious cholick & has Scarcly been able to set up long inough to have his Bed made Since they got old mr Bass to attend to him night & day. he has been Sick a fortnight I have been to see him he has had great pain & much of a fever. he is better but can set up but little it has been a great addition to mrs Porters work. She has much to do with work people. & her other cares & She is not very Strong. If wine Should be want[ed] for mr Soal I know I may take it for him & Sh[ould] not wait for leave from you as you gave me [. . .] [ge]neral orders The Doctor sent me a letter to inclose [. . . .] I shall do it—5 If I ply you too close with Letters you must tell me So. adieu my dear Sister most affectionately Mary Cranch Mr Cranch desire you to accept his Love & thanks for the last Pamphlet he has read it with pleasure & pain cousen Betsy goes tomorrow RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs / Abigail Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch / April 3d / 1798.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 Rev. John Clarke collapsed in the pulpit of the First Congregational Church of Boston on Sunday, 1 April, and died the next day. In reporting his death, the Massachusetts Mercury, 3 April, praised his character: “The moral, social and political duties of life were the counter part of his publick labours, and like a double mirror shed a mutual strength and lustre on the Preacher and the Man.” 2 The Massachusetts Mercury, 23 March, reported the near “fracas” that erupted in the House of Representatives prompted by the verbal sparring between Harrison Gray Otis and William Branch Giles during the debates of 13 March, for which see AA to Cranch, 14 March, and note 3, above. On the 27th the same newspaper printed the full debates, and from these reports apparently emerged the rumor of a duel between the two men, for the New York Journal, 18 April,

noted, “It has been reported thro’ New England, that a Duel had been fought between Mr. Giles and Mr. Otis, in which the latter fell;—this we know to be untrue.” 3 The Scipio articles, for which see William Cranch to AA, 12 March, and note 4, above, commented that on the eve of the 1796 presidential election “the French Republic was intent on raising to the helm Mr. Jefferson, who . . . was justly deemed, hostile” to both the Constitution and the American political system (Scipio’s Reflections on Monroe’s View of the Conduct of the Executive on the Foreign Affairs of the United States, Boston, 1798, p. 132, Evans, No. 34676). 4 On 1 March 1798 Gov. Increase Sumner proclaimed that 5 April would be a fast day in Massachusetts, in order that among other things the state “may be Protected from

488

April 1798 Internal Commotion and Foreign Invasion” and “that the overtures for adjusting differences in Europe may be successful, and Permanent Peace be established” (Boston Inde-

pendent Chronicle, 15–19 March). 5 Probably Cotton Tufts’ 31 March letter to AA, above.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister April 7th 1798 The senate on thursday voted to have the dispatches from our Envoys made publick, and orderd them Printed, but not the instructions.1 I hope however that those too, will be published; the People will then be convinced that every word Containd in the Presidents message of the 19 of march can be justified both by the instructions given, and by the dispatches received, and that what Jugartha said of Rome is literally applcable to France.2 when the Instructions were read in the House, the words of milton might have been applied to the Jaco’s “Abash’d the Devil stood And saw virtue in her own Shape How Lovely—”3 not one of the clan have dared to say, that they themselves would have been willing to have conceided more; or that more could have been granted “consistant with the maxims, for which our Country has contended at every hazard; and which constitutes the basis of our National Sovereignty”4 Some of those who have been voters, more than speakers, came forward and declared their intire satisfaction in the conduct of the President and their conviction of his sincere desire to preserve Peace,—their astonishment at the profligate Demands of France, and an abhorence of her conduct. these are Some of those who have been decived and declare so, but their is yet a Number of a different sort, those whom the French boast of as their Partizens who will not leave them, very wicked men, who tho now convicted will only shift their ground, retreat for a little while seeing the current without doors sits so strongly against them; but return to the Charge again, as soon as their plans are concerted and matured. it is however come to such a crissis, that they will be adjudged Traitors to their Country. I shall not be able to send you the Dispatches untill twesday next. in the mean time I inclose you Fennos paper which will give you a few of the out lines.5 If the communications should have the happy effect which present appearences

489

Adams Family Correspondence lead me to hope, that of uniting the people of our Country, I shall not regreet that they were call’d for. out of apprehension what might prove the result of such communications to our Envoys, if they still remain in Paris, the President forebore to communicate them and in his Message was as explicit as was necessary for those who reposed confidence in him, but such lies and falshoods were continually circulated, and base and incendary Letters sent to the house addrest to him, that I really have been allarmd for his Personal safety tho I have never before exprest it.6 with this temper in a city like this, materials for a Mob, might be brought together in 10 minuts. when the Language in Baches paper has been of the most insolent and abusive kind when Language in the House of Rep’s has corresponded with it, and anathamas have been thunderd out by members without doors, and a call upon the people to Humble themselves before their maker, treated with open contempt and Ridicule, had I not cause for allam? but that which was meant for evil, I hope may terminate in good. I am not without many fears for our Envoys. the wretches may imprison them and since they avow Algiers for their pattern, oblige us to Ransome them at an enormus price; they are like the three Children in the Furnace—7 I wish they may have as safe a deliverence, but none of these fears should transpire. poor mrs Gerry with such a family as she has, may be very misirable with the apprehension if she should know that it is feard they will not be permitted to leave France. Let mrs Black know that my Little Ward has quite recoverd from the Small pox— I expect it here tomorrow. I have received cousins Letter and have answerd it by a little Box which is to be put on Board a vessel going to Boston committed to the care of mr smith & addrest to him. I shall say more to her when I write to her upon the subject.8 I know not when I shall see you, but I exhort the Members to dispatch buisness so as to rise in May. I hope their will subsist more harmony & union Peace and good will in the House than has appeard this Session. may the people be united now they have before them such proof of the base veiws and designs of France to Plunder us of all we hold dear & Valuable, our Religion our Liberty our Government and our Property— My kind Regards to mr Cranch to Mrs Welch to sister smith, and all others who interest themselves in the happiness of your / Ever affectionate sister Abigail Adams

490

April 1798 RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 On 5 April the Senate voted to publish the commissioners’ dispatches. Thomas Jefferson, in describing the closed vote, wrote, “The votes for & against publication have been not at all party votes, but a perfect jumble. all see something they like & something they do not like.” The House of Representatives similarly voted for publication on 6 April, and a number of Philadelphia newspapers, including the Gazette of the United States and the Philadelphia Gazette, dedicated their 9 April issues to printing the dispatches and the commissioners’ letters of credence and full powers (Jefferson, Papers, 30:252; Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 536–537, 1380). The papers were also soon published as pamphlets; see, for example, Message of the President of the United States, to Both Houses of Congress. April 3d. 1798, [Phila., 1798], Evans, No. 34812. 2 Before Jugurtha, leader of Numidia, came to Rome to stand trial, he sent emissaries to bribe the Roman senate. After his acquittal, Jugurtha reportedly stated that Rome was a city for sale and could be purchased by a rich buyer (vol. 5:284, 285; Sallust, The Works of Sallust, Translated into English, London, [1744], p. 166, 172, 193–194). 3 Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV, lines 846–848. 4 AA was quoting from JA’s 19 March message to Congress. 5 A brief summary of the instructions to

and dispatches from the envoys to France was printed in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 6 April. 6 In a letter dated [April 1798], “A Friend to America & Truth” informed JA of a 9 May plot that “all good men will shudder at,” warning, “Do not sleep in fearless security: the hour of danger is near at hand. . . . Have an eye to the Frenchmen. Look to that grandest of all grand Villains— That traitor to his country—that infernal Scoundrel Jefferson— he has too much hand in the Conspiracy” (Adams Papers). 7 A reference to the plight of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were cast into the furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel, 3:12–21). 8 The letter from Elizabeth Smith has not been found, but the “square Box coverd with canvass” contained a dress “with the handkerchief Ruffels &c” valued at $30.00 and intended “for Betsys wedding dress.” Carried aboard the sloop Mary and Sally, Capt. Joshua Bradford, which sailed from Philadelphia on 11 April and arrived in Boston between the 18th and 21st, the box was not received by Cranch until 10 June, a fact that caused AA much anxiety (AA to Cranch, 4 June, MWA: Abigail Adams Letters; Cranch to AA, 10 June, Adams Papers; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 11 April; Boston and Charlestown Ship Registers, p. 128; Boston Columbian Centinel, 21 April).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch My Dear sister Philadelphia April 9th 1798 I wrote you on saturday that I would forward to you the Dispatches as soon as they were out. I accordingly inclose them.1 they exhibit a picture of National Degradation and unparalled corruption, which presents Burks picture of the French Nation, not as the product of a heated imagination, but as real Life. “out of the Tomb of the Murdered Monarchy in France, has arrisen a vast, tremendous, unformed spectre, in a far more terrific Guise than any which ever yet overpowerd the imagination, and subdued the fortitude of Man, Going strait forward to its End, unappalled by Peril, unchecked by remorse, despising all common maxims, and all common means. The poison of other states is the food of this Regiside Republic.[”]2 it would be happy for America to cut off all further

491

Adams Family Correspondence connection with her, and to repel her Arts her Arms and her wiles, by that fire and Brimstone to which her crimes destine her. They have repeld our advances for acommodation with scorn they are an Enemy to whose Virtues we can owe nothing. if we possess virtue, if we possess Union of sentiment, and Independance of spirit we Shall have little reason to dread the force of their Arms at the distance we are removed from them, and their resources are pretty well drained by their eagerness for Plunder, and their avowal to sacrifice all for money. even the Presidents speech at which they have the insolence to pretend they are offended, may be expiated by money! In the records of Pride there does not exist so insulting a declaration. It is insolent in words, in manner but in substance, it is not only insulting but alarming. it is a specimen of what may be expected from the Masters. Some are disposed to give to our Humbled Country. The senate have directed the instruction to our Envoys to be publishd. the World will then see that our advances were honorable candid and generous, and that nothing further can be done consistant with our National Independance, untill France changes her Rulers and her measures—3 We must prepare to defend ourselves. My dear sister I turn from the painfull subject to the Rural delights which are just opening upon us here. the willow assumes its lost verdure and is cheering the prospect by its coulour so gratefull to the Eye. the peach blosom opens and the daisy and daffy adorn my Room. the brown hue of the Feild is changed to a bright Green, and the spring songsters assume a cheering note. my spirits are exhilirated by the Scene, and for a moment I forget the disturbers of our Peace, and the destroyers of our pleasures. I can ride out daily and enjoy the air of the Country, but my own state & cottage are the objects which I most wish to see. there are my Relatives & my Friends whom I can enjoy with out that ceremony attendant upon my Present station. The Death of my Friends and acquaintance affcets me very sensibly. three succeeding weeks have each been the melancholy harbinger of some new breach. mrs Gill mrs Quincy and the Sudden stroke which has deprived the people of his Charge of the most valuable Life of Dr Clark, is amongst the unsearchable Ways of Providence. in the midst of his days, in the vigor of his usefullness, he is suddenly calld to a higher & superiour station, as the reward

492

April 1798 we rationally hope of having been a good and Faithfull servant in the vineyard of his master. The loss is to the survivors. that indeed is great. at such a period as the present, when the Ministers of Religion are amongst the firmmest supporters of our Government, We may justly adopt the words of Scripture and say [“]Help Lord, for the Godly Man ceaseth, and the faithfull fail from among the Children of Men”4 I intended to have written to cousin Betsy to day, but must omit it untill the next Post. I inclose a Receit for a small Box sent to Boston to mr smiths care. it is for cousin Betsy. be so good as to send to him the Receit. I forgot to inclose it to him yesterday.5 I have subscribed or rather mr Brisler has for Porcupines paper which will be sent by the next Post as directed, three Papers a week. I hope to get a Letter from you to day. I had the baby with me on sunday it is very well. it had a hundred Pock & for three days & nights was very sick, but is happily through. it is a quiet Little Creature. nothing would give me greater pleasure than myself to present it to the Arms of mrs Black. I feel what a Gaurdian and Parent the little orphan will find, and hope they will both live to be mutual blessings to each other. with my kindest wishes for the Health happiness & Prosperity of all my Dear Friends / I am most affectionatly / your sister Adams— pray my dear sister dispose of the inclosed for the use of miss Paine. RC (private owner, 1957). 1 Enclosure not found. AA similarly sent the dispatches, along with the instructions, to Norton Quincy with a letter dated 12 April (Adams Papers). 2 Here, AA quoted two sections of Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace, p. 5–6. 3 On 9 April the Senate voted sixteen to ten to print the instructions to the American commissioners, which were first printed in several Philadelphia newspapers; see, for example, the Philadelphia Gazette, 11 April. William Cobbett also published them in a separate pamphlet the same day. Subsequent pamphlet editions contained the dispatches, the commissioners’ full powers, and the in-

structions; see, for example, Message of the President of the United States, to Both Houses of Congress, April 3d. 1798, Philadelphia, 1798, Evans, No. 34814 (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 538; Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 11 April). 4 Psalms, 12:1. 5 The enclosure has not been found. AA wrote to William Smith on 8 April lamenting both the recent deaths of several friends and the state of the nation. She enclosed the commissioners’ dispatches, remarking, “I pray God to unite all America against the most Dissolute & corrupt Nations I hope now existing” (MHi:Smith-Townsend Papers).

493

Adams Family Correspondence

Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams Plimouth April 9th 1798 Have I my dear madam appeared negligent in not answering your last friendly letter jest before you left this state.— low health through the winter may be an apology—1 I could make several others if necessary. but it can be of no importance for you to hear often from a retired individual whose Greatest pleasure is the retrospect of past life—of departed enjoyments—of future hope from a wish to discharge the domestic and social duties within her own sphere— these have been intermixed with so much Grief and bitterness of soul; that often when I take up my pen, I am affraid of diverging to private affliction that may call up feelings that for a moment might interrupt the felicity of others— we may melt inwardly at a succession of painful events, but we have no right to bring forward the obtrusive scenes and call out the involentary simpathy of the happy.— Public subjects farther than for the amusement of the moment, I have done with.— you and myself have long trodden over the wide feild of politics— we have walked hand in hand—have observed the flowers that adorn it: and the thorn that peirces the heel of him who explores the eminencies: as well as those that wound the breast of him who treads over the plain, or roams in the lonely Vally.— This in our day has not been the path of peace— And I fear we have yet to weep the miseries of our Country. a Country that has struggled with adversity—Gloryed in her successes—now weakened by the bitterness of party. and spreading regret over every mind for the stigma brought on the Great Council of America: by the disgraceful conduct of some of its members.— what a prostration of character within the Dome that once echoed the voice of fredom through the land. when the Amphitions of the western world were every where revereed for their cool dispassionate reasonings: and dignified by the Wisdom and equability of their measures— I have frequently heard with pleasure in answer to my inquiries relative to your health that you enjoy a Great share in a clime different from your native air.— Notwithstanding the Ettiquete of station that calls for a part of your time: I have no doubt madam that you find leasure for the exercise of your pen—and though your correspondents may be numerous—I dare say before you leave the capi-

494

April 1798 tal of American politics—splendor information and pleasure, you will take it up for the amusement and Gratification of one: who wishes no distance of time, place, or opinion,—may ever allienate the affections of those annimated by principles that look beyond the present confused state of human affairs.— Mr Warren is not now at home. when he is we read the news papers on all sides—and everything else we can come at. We read st Pierre—2 We have studied nature before—human nature—and have seen it in all its varieties.— we in General enjoy a healthful old age— a Competence—Contentment: and peace of Conscience— Mr Adams in a letter to me once quoted a beautiful Couplet which I now repeat,—and apply. Here Contemplation, prunes her ruffled wings. And the free soul looks down and pitys Kings.—3 My respects ever await the president of the united states. you may tell him if you please that if we should ever happen to meet another personal interview, his presence might awaken some Ideas of the Divine science of politics, which he used zealously to exhort us to Cultivate.—4 this might also annimate to that loquacity, and undisguised Chit-Chat, that he formerly admired in your uniform friend, / and Humble servant Mercy Warren the Death of the Good and amiable Dr. Clark I know you mourn with us.— RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Madam Adams”; endorsed: “Mrs Warren April 7th / 1798”; notation: “Sense.” 1 AA to Warren, 1 Oct. 1797, above. 2 Possibly the works of Charles Irénée Castel, Abbé de Saint-Pierre (1658–1743), many of which express ideas of social and political reform and of which the most notable is Le projet de paix perpétuelle, 3 vols. in 12, Utrecht, 1713 (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale). 3 The lines are from Alexander Pope, “Sat-

ires of Dr. John Donne, Dean of St. Paul’s, Versified,” Satire IV, lines 186–187, which JA quoted in his letter to Warren of [26] Aug. 1775 and she repeated in a letter to him dated 1 June 1784 (JA, Papers, 3:126, 16:226). 4 JA used the phrase “the divine science of politicks” in Thoughts on Government, Boston, 1776, and in a 17 June 1782 letter to James Warren; see JA, Papers, 4:86, 13:128.

Abigail Adams to Abigail Adams Smith My Dear Child: Philadelphia, April 11th, 1798. I received your two letters of April 5th and 7th, yesterday, and I enclosed you two from the children, in a letter to your brother this

495

Adams Family Correspondence week, receiving them on that day; and not having time to write to you, before the post went.1 I do not think I have so frequently written to you for a month past, as I did through the winter; and it is because I have felt less anxious for you since the Col.’s return, and have a great deal of writing to one and another: to your brothers abroad I write as often as I have opportunity, with but little hope, however, that half my letters will reach them. We have not had any private letters from them; and heard but once since their arrival at Berlin. You ask me, if we shall have war? I answer, that we already have war; the French have been at war with us for these many months: but your question is, I presume, will America declare war against France? which is what I cannot say. I hope we shall have spirit and energy sufficient to arm, and defend ourselves; and if that obliges us to declare war, the sooner the better; for at present we suffer the miseries and misfortunes attendant upon war, on one side only, having done all that honour, justice, patience, and forbearance can possibly demand, or humanity require; we must submit our cause to Heaven, and use the means which Providence has put into our power for our defence. One of the great evils we suffer has arisen from the disunion in our Representatives, and the blind attachment which this people imbibed towards France, even though the whole system of their revolution has become the tyranny and oppression of every kingdom, and country, which they have conquered, or fraternized as they term it; success has rendered them deaf to every principle both of law and equity; and avarice and venality is the only order of the day. I enclose the despatch from our Envoys, which when called for, the President thought the critical state of the country required him to submit the communications; though I am very apprehensive at the expense of the liberty at least of our Envoys if they are still in Paris. The instructions the Senate have directed to be published: the world will then see, that the unjust aspersions cast upon the President, that he wished for war, and that the instructions were not ample, are as groundless as many others which are industriously circulated to injure him in the minds of the people; but whether it arises from my expectation that he was destined to suffer all the lies and falsehoods which party can invent; or whether, from a knowledge of his rectitude, and the certainty that nothing injurious to the country or the liberties of the people will ever be knowingly done, all the jacobinical abuses, and foul asper-

496

April 1798 sions, give me no other pain, than what arises from the injury done to the people by misleading and deceiving them. It is not uprightness of intention or rectitude of action, which can shield from censure, or guard from envy and malice, even the purest motives; but they will bear a man out to himself, and his judge, and the world will finally do him justice. Who is there that was ever placed in an eminent station, that has not suffered the curse causeless? I do not mean to hint by this, that high stations are exempt from vice or folly, but that they are always a mask for the baser passions to level their weapons against. If Mr. and Mrs. ——— come to Philadelphia and call upon me, as I presume they will, I shall certainly notice them, and will with pleasure invite them to stay with me. You ask me of Mrs. ———. I thought I had expressed my opinion of her to you before; if I have not, I can say with truth that I think her a very fine woman, and vastly superior in manners and understanding to her husband; she has a fine person, affable manners, and a lady-like deportment. Money, money is his sole object, and he feels the weight of it; he is not without some talents, but they are all turned to gain; for that he would make sacrifices, which a man who considers the honour and independence of his country at stake, would sooner sacrifice his life than submit to. I am warranted in saying this from his public conduct. Yet in company he is a social pleasant man, and always seemed good humoured. I cannot answer you when Congress will rise. I hope however as there appears much more union amongst them, that they will proceed with business, and make more despatch. I think they will not rise until June, do the best they can; for scarcely any thing yet has been accomplished. I shall be very happy to have you go with me whenever I do go.2 Your affectionate mother, A. Adams. MS not found. Printed from AA2, Jour. and Corr., 2:151–154. 1 Letters not found. 2 AA and JA left Philadelphia on 25 July and arrived in Eastchester, N.Y., by the 29th. AA2 and Caroline Amelia Smith traveled with

them to Quincy, where they arrived on 8 Aug. (AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 29 July, MWA: Abigail Adams Letters; Boston Russell’s Gazette, 9 Aug.).

497

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my dear son Philadelphia April 13th 1798 mr Thorntons stay has been protracted much beyond the time I expected, and it gives me an other opportunity of adding to what I have already written, and of sending you the Printed coppy of the instructions given to our Envoys. the liberality of them has extorted acknowledgments from the minority, that they were eaquel to their most sanguine wishes, and satisfied many who had been imposed upon that the President has been Sincere in his desires for Peace, and an amicable adjustment of our differences with the French Republic1 the publishing the dispatches & instructions, tho a measure which could not have been warranted, but by the peculiar situation of our Country, has been the severest Death wound the Jacobins have ever received. it has laid open to the People base and corrupt designs of the French Directory, and given them to know their real Friends, and protectors from their pretended ones. the real Jacobins are for the Present struck dumb. Abash’d the devil stood, and saw virtue in her own shape, how Lovely? there is much more union and harmony in Congress, and they are proceeding to the defence of the Country with a degree of Spirit which has not before appeard. I hope in my next Letter to be more particular, to prove to you the great alteration in the sentiments of the people in this city. the French have divested themselves of the National Cockade, and scarcly one is to be seen— no native American is willing to be sold indignation succeeds to affection, and the weaning will be compleat, if we must have recourse to Arms. but we have a dreary prospect before us I hope however that the virtuous spirit of the Fathers will descend to their Son’s and that the present generation will not tamely yeald those Rights for which the former shed their Blood. By the packet col Pickering received the duplicate of your Letter of December the 6th.2 mr King writes that he had put on Board a vessel bound to N york from Liverpool Letters from you— this vessel I presume waits a convoy I pray she may arrive safe. I most ardently long for Letters from you. I have comfort in those which the secre-

498

April 1798 tary receives, for in the duplicate is both your Brothers and Your Hand writing by which I presume you are both well. I cannot form any judgement when congress will rise. I hope before the very Hot weather Your Father is well and sustains the cares and fatigues of his station to admiration. My Love to Thomas and to mrs Adams. I never receive any intelligence from you, or of you without communicating it to her Family. not a word from our Envoys Since Janry 10th why, why, do we not hear that they have left Paris, shaking the dirt from their feet.3 Mr Pinckney is here as member of Congress. his plain affable Manners are agreable to every one. he is Esteemed and beloved. he is quite the Gentleman The spainard was married this week to miss sally mcKean.4 But I must close or the post will go with mr Thornton. I am my dear son / your ever affectionate A Adams5 RC (Adams Papers). Tr (Adams Papers). 1 The Philadelphia Gazette, 13 April, printed the resolutions of a meeting held the previous evening at Dunwoody’s Tavern, where Philadelphia residents from the Southwark and Northern Liberties districts unanimously declared that “the measures pursued by the President . . . to establish a permanent good understanding between the two nations as the same are specified in the Instructions to the Envoys Extraordinary, have been wise, just, liberal and sincere, and entitle him to the grateful acknowledgments of his country.” The newspaper further remarked that although the meeting had been “composed of gentlemen whose political sentiments have hitherto been diametrically opposite, the greatest harmony and unanimity imaginable prevailed on every motion.” The memorial was among a number presented in the House of Representatives on 26 April (U.S. House, Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 274). 2 For AA’s summary of JQA’s letter to Timothy Pickering, 6 Dec. 1797 (LbC, APM Reel 132), see her letter to Mary Smith Cranch, 13 April 1798, below. 3 Passports were not issued to the envoys until 13 April, and then only to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and John Marshall, both of whom left Paris in mid-April. In a letter to JA

of 15 April (Adams Papers), JQA reported his assumption that the envoys were “doubtless before this upon their return home,” although he intimated that Elbridge Gerry would remain in France: “The system of dividing to conquer is pursued as usual by the Directory and amidst all the proofs of malevolence, of perfidy, and of over-bearing insolence which their whole conduct towards the United States exhibits, they have at length intimated a disposition to negotiate with one of the three Commissioners, whose dispositions they consider as more entitled than those of the others to their confidence.— That one, is your particular friend and acquaintance.” Gerry remained in France until August (Albert Hall Bowman, The Struggle for Neutrality: FrancoAmerican Diplomacy During the Federalist Era, Knoxville, Tenn., 1974, p. 324–325, 349– 350). 4 Sarah (Sally) Maria Theresa McKean (1777–1841), daughter of Thomas and Sarah Armitage McKean, married Carlos Martínez de Irujo in Philadelphia on 10 April 1798 (Cornelius McKean, McKean Genealogies from the Early Settlement of McKeans or McKeens in America to the Present Time, 1902, Des Moines, Iowa, 1902, p. 118, 122, 123). 5 AA had previously written to JQA on 8

499

Adams Family Correspondence April, enclosing a copy of the envoys’ dispatches and informing him of the deaths of

Dr. John Clarke and Abigail Phillips Quincy (Adams Papers).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia April 13 1798 I inclose a Letter to cousin Betsy who has been very frank with me upon the subject of her approaching connection. I hope they will live to enjoy mutual happiness—1 I believe I have been deficient in not mentioning to you that mr Greenleaf was liberated from Prison on saturday week. I have not seen him. mr Malcomb was present at Court and heard the examination. he returnd quite charmed with mr Greenleafs manners and deportment, tho not so with the counsel against him, who he said used mr Greenleaf in a very ungenteel manner but still mr G——f did not forget what belongd to himself—by which means he obtaind many advocates—2 I know my dear sister you will rejoice that I can hear from my Children publickly, that is officially, tho I have not received any Private Letters. mr King writes that he has put on board a vessel bound to Liverpool Letters from mr Adams to his Family. that vessel I presume waits to sail under the convoy granted The secretary of state has received by the British packet duplicates of Letters from mr Adams at Berlin dated 6 december—in which he writes that he was received by the New King of Prussia on the 5th of december, that the King had waved the common ussage with respect to him, considering the distance of the united states, and received him. upon presenting his Credentials, he assured the King that he had no doubt that new ones would be sent him, and that he doubted not he should be warranted by his Government in assureing him of the interest the united stats take in his welfare and prosperity, and that he should but fulfill their wishes by reiterating to him the Sentiments of Friendship and good will which he had in Charge to express to his Royal Father and Predecessor—, to which his Majesty answerd, that he was much gratified by the mark of attention which the united states had shown to the Government, and wished to assure him of his recipriocal good will, and good wishes for their happiness and prosperity. That the similarity of the commercial interests of the two Countries renderd the connection between them important, and might be productive of mutual benifit. on the same Evening mr Adams had an Audience of the Queen mother—

500

April 1798 This is rather different from the treatment which our Envoys meet with from the 5 Kings in France— The publick opinion is changeing here very fast, and the people begin to see who have been their firm unshaken Friends, steady to their interests and defenders of their Rights and Liberties. the Merchants of this city have had a meeting to prepare an address of thanks to the President for his firm and steady conduct as it respects their interests.3 I am told that the French Cockade so frequent in the streets here, is not now to be seen, and the Common People say if J——n had been our President, and Madison & Burr our Negotiaters we should all have been sold to the French—4 it is evident that the whole dependance of the French is the devision amongst ourselves. their making such a Noise & pretending to be very wroth at the Presidents speech, is designd only to effect a Change in the chief Majestracy. they dare not openly avow it, but the declaration that all vessels should be subject to capture which had passports on board signd, with the Presidents Signature is one amongst the many personal insults offerd—5 but they have sprung a mine now which will blow them up. they have discoverd a greedy appetite to swallow us all up, to make us like the Hollanders, to cut us up like a capon, and deal us out like true Gamesters— I sent and bought Kings Pantheon as soon as I found myself foild in my recollection6 I shall write to your son tomorrow; I have not heard lately from him7 I dont care whether Mrs Pope puts me down any butter, if she will only let me have fresh when I come home. I could never find any body who would take the pains which she does, and make so good Butter in the heat of summer. My Love to mrs Norton & Greenleaf. to each I have sent a simplicity cap— Respects to mr Cranch & Mrs Welch from your truly affectionate / Sister Abigail Adams— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.” 1 Not found. 2 James Greenleaf was not released from debtors’ prison until August; see AA’s letter to Cranch, [1] Feb., note 7, above. 3 A group of Philadelphia merchants, traders, and underwriters met at the City Coffee House on 11 and 12 April and agreed to express to JA “their determination to support the measures of our government.” On 17 April they waited on JA, presenting an ad-

dress bearing 500 signatures and noting that they would “always unite in opposing the attempts of any foreign nation to diminish our rights as an independent people.” The group further assured JA, “We are prepared to meet any state of suffering to which our commerce may be exposed” and “shall give our sincere and firm support to the measures which may be adopted for the general welfare” (Philadelphia Gazette, 13 April;

501

Adams Family Correspondence Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 18 April). 4 Contained within the published dispatches were comments from Jean Hottinguer, “Mr. X,” of 3 Nov. 1797 stating “that intelligence had been received from the United States, that if Colonel Burr and Mr. Madison had constituted the mission, the differences between the two nations would have been accommodated before this time” (Philadelphia Gazette, 9 April 1798). 5 The Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 24 March, reported that the French Directory proposed that “as John Adams was in the pay of England, all vessels, having his name on their papers, should be condemned as good

prize.” With JA “stigmatized as a base wretch” and “a subsidized traitor” by the French, the article wondered if there could be “a drop of American blood, that does not tingle with indignation at the insult!” 6 William King, An Historical Account of the Heathen Gods and Heroes, Necessary for the Understanding of the Ancient Poets, London, 1772. 7 In her letter to William Cranch of 13 April, AA noted several recent deaths in Quincy and Boston and erroneously reported Greenleaf ’s liberation from debtors’ prison. She also forwarded copies of the envoys’ dispatches and instructions (private owner, 2006).

Abigail Adams to Robert Goodloe Harper Sir [13 April 1798] in Porcupines paper of last Evening I read a Letter Said to be Written by Mr Findley to his Friends in the Western Country.1 Is it to be wonderd at that the people are disunited in sentiment When such grose Misrepresentation are made them respecting the Veiws and designs of the Government, and its Representitives? it is rather a subject of surprize that So little Effect is produced by them. I hope that Letter will not be permitted to pass Without a due comment & refutation for Such a texture of lies and falshood are woven into it, as none honest Man but a Knave could fabricate. it cannot have escaped your notice sir, that a part of the French System is to render as much as possible the Chief Majestrate unpopular With the People by asscribing to him views and designs as foreign to his Heart and mind as honesty and truth are to the Heart and mind of mr Findley for to effect this purpose their Emisaries here have Seizd With avidity the Removal as one object to accomplish their designs the appointment of Mr Adams to Berlin, which tho no promotion of him by his Father either of Rank or Emolument, has given to his Enemies an opportunity a plausible pretence to deceive by misrepresentation the appointment tho made With the purest intentions, has not met With the approbation of mr Adams himself, as you will see by a Letter Which I inclose to you from him in perfect confidence, Which I received last November.2 Mr Findley “asserts that before ever the President met Congress he appointed his own Son Plenipotentiary to Prussia” the journals of Senate Will prove this falshood. Congress met the 15 of May, and the Nomina-

502

April 1798 tion Was the last of June, I think, but the Journals will shew the exact time. he also asserts that he has had an outfit every Year Since his first appointment, one to Holland, one to Lisbon and one to Portugal. not having Scrupled to assert this untruth in the true stile of his oration, he adds 18 thousand dollars more advanced for out fit and first years Sallery—in order to accumulate the sum by his statement. The inclosed Letter will show the falshood of the assertion which I presume may be proved to demonstration from the Secretary of the Treasury & Secretary of States office— So cautious has mr Adams been in Pecuniary matters, that he says in a Letter of 24 June 1797 “You will find from my correspondence With the Secretary of state that I did not conceive myself at Liberty to accept the customary present of a Medal & chain Which Was offerd me at taking leave, and that tho urged to request the permission of Congress, I shall not do it”3 The inclosed Letter you will be kind enough to return to me When you see me, and excuse the trouble I give you. the integrity and honour of an absent son is precious to me. he has it not in his power to defend himself I am sir With Sentiment / of Confidence and Esteem / Your Humble / Servant A Abigail Adams4 a Life Wholy devoted to the service of his Country, Without one Wish or Idea of accumulating Property will leave to the President of the united states and his family a bare compentancy the remainder of his Life Dft (Adams Papers); docketed: “A. A.” Filmed at [1798]. 1 The Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 12 April, printed a 21 Feb. letter attributed to William Findley and directed to one of his constituents in western Pennsylvania, in which Findley claimed that republicanism within the current administration was “pronounced to be a Leprosy, the greatest evil that can befal a people” and that some “who figure in our public councils declare that the restoration of royalty and its appendages would the greatest good that would happen to France.” Findley further reported that while JA may have news from the envoys, “secrecy has been the order of the day, and we have no official information of foreign correspondence.” He also castigated JA’s diplomatic appointments—including the barbs

lobbed at JQA described by AA in this letter— and believed the House of Representatives was within its rights to limit appropriations for foreign offices. 2 AA likely enclosed JQA’s letter to her of 29 July 1797, above. 3 JQA to JA, 29 June (Adams Papers). 4 Harper replied to AA on [13] April 1798 that “it was not my purpose to let Mr. Findleys letter pass without personal & public animadversion. My share in his slanders is small; but were it larger, it would give me more uneasiness. Not so when my friends are abused; friends too, who either from their station, absence, or other circumstances, are prevented from defending themselves” (Adams Papers). That same day he announced

503

Adams Family Correspondence to the House of Representatives his intention to submit a motion to reprimand Findley “for the most vile and unfounded slanders . . . contained in a letter which I have read in the public prints of this city” and targeting

“members of this House, and of the Government.” Harper had not presented the motion when Findley obtained leave for the remainder of the session on 14 May (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1415, 1701).

Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts Dear sir Philadelphia April 14 1798 I sent you a pamphlet containing the instructions to our Envoys, and I now inclose the dispatches from them.1 no Event Since our unhappy controversey with France, has so throughly awakend the people to a sense of their danger as these dispatches; nor any imprest them with such strong conviction of the sincerity and candour, with which our Government has sought peace upon fair and honorable terms, as the publication of the instructions. it has for the present stoped the Current of Jacobinism, and no one is now heard hardy enough to espouse the cause of France, against our own Country; Holland is compleatly Revolutionized in the true French Stile. Charles de la Croix is sovereign he has turnd out of their Assembly & imprissoned every Man of worth and Merrit, every Moderate Man as they have been calld and has now given them a directory intirely devoted to France under his own Authority, which has been sanctioned by the Military directory in France; the last step of national degradation it is worthy of remark, that France excepted, no Kingly power has been entirely destroyd, or kingdom overturnd, but the Republicks have been swallow’d up—2 Great Brittain & America must now make a stand. Britain is able & powerfull united and determined. her Government is strong, and common danger has calld forth all the Aids and resources of the Country. America too may be strong if she will use the means in her power. She has this advantage, a great distance, and a numerous People— You will see Sir by the movements in this city, that the people are throughly allarmed. this morning is to be presented by the grand Ju an address to the President, approbating the measures he has persued an other address is comeing from the merchants of the city.3 every Man countanance appears alterd in stead of the Gloom and Suspision which hung upon them, light seems to have broken in, and one would Suppose that Some good News had arrived, instead of the prospect of War—but War with union, war in defence of all we hold dear, is not So allarming as the secreet plots which were diging mines for our destruction whilst we believed ourselves se-

504

April 1798 cure. amidst the universal satisfaction which seems to have succeeded a painfull state of anxiety and Suspence, one Man appears misirable, pevish and overthrown. The President received your Letter4 if he can possily get time he will write to you, but he is overwhelmd with buisness, dispatches arriving from England from Holland and from France, officers to appoint Naval & military, Recommendatory Letters to read weigh and examine that he may be enabled to make his appointments judiciously, and now addresses that he cannot get time once a week to Ride or walk, upon which his Health greatly depends but labour with support, is a pleasure to what it is to be for ever tuging against the stream. I presume tho some of our Towns have been guilty of folly, and indiscretion. when our General court meet, they will wipe it of by a declaration to support the General Government5 I do not despair of seeing you sometime in the month of June I do not think it will be earlier. I am dear sir with sincere / affection your Neice Abigail Adams altho the President has been censured for not at first communicating the dispatches, I believe it will be found that he acted right whilst he used only the power vested in him by the constitution he was attentive to the safety of our Envoys, and dispatches went to them by various ways. before the papers were communicated, he had in a Message fully exprest his own sense of our danger and urgd to means of defence. for this he was reviled, and abused, distrusted and scofft at. my fears began to be awakend for his personal safety, but when in compliance with the request of the House the papers were deliverd promptly and without delay, together with the instruction. “Abashd the devil stood” many of the minority declared that the Instructions were all they ought to have been they could not have given more candid and liberal ones, and it is said Giles declared that he believd he should not himself have gone so far— what becomes of mr Hitchbourn love of the french for us? it is like the Love of a Man, who kills his Friend, and then marries his widow— they would kill all who oppose them & then possess themselves of all we possess6 RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Hon’lll Cotton Tufts / Weymouth”; endorsed: “1798 / Mrs. Adams’s / April 14. recd the 25—”; notation: “11.” 1 Enclosure not found. 2 On 2 Jan. Charles Delacroix de Constant

(1740–1805), the former French minister of foreign affairs, replaced François Noël as

505

Adams Family Correspondence minister to the Batavian Republic. On 22 Jan. members of the Batavian Assembly, supported by Delacroix, declared themselves a constituent assembly representing the Batavian people and proclaiming their “unalterable aversion” to the stadholder. Delacroix took a leading role in drafting a new constitution, which vested executive power in a fivemember directory. Presented on 6 March, the constitution was approved by the legislature eleven days later. The Philadelphia Gazette, 12 April, reported that “six members of the committee for foreign affairs, and 22 deputies of the Batavian republic” were arrested during the events and that the new assembly “sanctioned this act of violence, and have taken from the provinces all right of sovereignty, which they have vested in themselves It is scarcely necessary to add that the French minister at the Hague is supposed to have concerted this act” (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale; Repertorium, 3:126; George Edmundson, History of Holland, Cambridge, Eng., 1922, p. 350, 351). 3 The Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 14 April, printed the Pennsylvania grand jury’s 13 April address to JA supporting his decision to make public the instructions and dispatches of the envoys and showing “a strong determination to promote and preserve a good understanding with the French Republic, provided it could be accomplished without affecting our national character and the Independence of the United States.” JA’s response, printed at the same time, noted, “The conviction you express, that the conduct of our government to all nations, has been

just and honorable, affords me the highest satisfaction.” 4 On 31 March Tufts wrote to JA expressing his approbation of JA’s 19 March message to Congress and his concern over local and national factions. He also offered a recommendation of Edmund Soper of Braintree to the office of purser for the frigate Constitution (Adams Papers). 5 On 7 June the Mass. General Court would draft an address to JA “as a native citizen of our Commonwealth, and as the supreme Executive of the government of our deliberate choice.” The legislature, “with a mixture of indignation and regret,” noted “the state of our negociations with the French Republick” and declared, “Should any further attempts, either to controul the government, or subjugate the people of the United States, be the result of her inordinate ambition, the citizens of Massachusetts, will meet them with the firm and determined spirit of Freemen” (Mass., Acts and Laws, 1798–1799, p. 164–165). 6 AA was referring to the scandal arising from Benjamin Hichborn’s involvement in the shooting death of his friend Benjamin Andrews in Jan. 1779 and his subsequent marriage to Andrews’ widow, Hannah Gardner Andrews, in Feb. 1780 (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 17:39; The Papers of Robert Treat Paine, ed. Stephen T. Riley and Edward W. Hanson, 3 vols., MHS, Colls., 89:46 [2005]). For the Adamses’ previous comments regarding Hichborn’s pro-French beliefs, see vol. 10:454 and 11:445, 459.

William Smith to Abigail Adams Dear Madam Boston. 14th. April 1798 I am much oblig’d by your favors of the 30 Ult. & 6th Inst. with the inclosures1 the communications from our Commiss. will, when publish’d, have the most happy effect. Many who were zealous friends to French, not long since, are now as zealous friends to their own country. I hope our Commiss. will be able to make good their retreat, before the contents of their dispatches arrive.— we have had for a few days a rumor of an Embargo I hope this measure will not be adopted if the Merchants are allow’d to consult their own interest, they may embargo themselves or not as their feelings dictate this measure is only advocated by those who are unfriendly to their

506

April 1798 country, who wish to throw a great number of Men out of employ, to give them an oppertunity to excite their feelings & passions to obstruct the measures of Government—2 To the number of our friends whose deaths we have lately lamented, we must add Mr Carter, Mrs S. Father. he was taken with a faintness Yesterday Morning abt. 4 oClock and died in half an hour.3 we are now setting out to attend the funeral. he has supported thro’ life an unblemished character as a Christian & an honest Man. he was in his 83d. Year.— this event tho’ expected for some time, (added to the death of our late worthy Dr.) is almost too much for Mrs. S. I trust that time & a christian resignation to the will of Providence will restore her sperits.— Mrs. S. joins me in affectionate regards to you & the President. Yrs. Wm. Smith. RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs. Adams / Philadelphia”; internal address: “Mrs. Adams—”; endorsed: “Mr smith / April 14th / 1798”; notation: “per Post.” 1 In her 6 April letter to Smith, AA enclosed a pamphlet by Joseph Hopkinson and noted that JA had submitted the envoys’ dispatches and instructions to Congress. She also commented that the recent town meetings in Massachusetts “only Sit the minds of the people in a ferment, at a time when we want coolness in deliberation, calmness in opperation union and decisions in counsel” (MHi:Smith-Carter Papers). 2 On 27 March the Senate voted 22 to 5 against adopting a resolution “that it is expedient to lay an embargo, for a limited time, on all ships and vessels owned wholly or in part by citizens of the United States.” The Boston Gazette, 9 April, advocated an embargo in order to prevent showing “our partiality to Great Britain, and our dislike to the people of France,” further noting that the

“distress such a step would produce . . . would not bear comparing with the horrors of war” (U.S. Senate, Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 463). 3 The death of Nathaniel Carter Sr. on 13 April was reported in the Newburyport Herald, 17 April, which summarized his loss to the community: “His family have lost in him a kind and affectionate parent, the poor and the distrest a patron and benefactor, and religion a steady friend and supporter.” On 22 April AA wrote to Hannah Carter Smith offering her condolences, writing, “Whilst we experience the loss of our Earthly Props, may it lead us to fix our hopes, and our attention, upon that Being, whose duration is not limited, and whose tender Mercies are over all the Works his hands hath formed” (MHi:Smith-Carter Papers).

Abigail Adams to Esther Duncan Black Philadelphia sunday mor’g April 15 1798 my dear Madam The sooner mr Black comes to Philadelphia, the better it will be for the Child; as I was yesterday dressing for dinner the Nurse desired to see me. she came up, but not as usual with the Baby which allarmd me. I instantly inquired how it was, to which she replied very well and burst into Tears. I inquired what had happend? she

507

Adams Family Correspondence replied that mr Black had been the Evening before and taken the child from her. she said she expostulated with him, and begd him not to take it, untill he had informd me; it was of no avail; [“]let it then stay till the morning. No it should go directly. but why? have I not taken good care of it have I not watchd it night & day through the Small Pox, and now it is just recovering its strength, you take it from me, to kill it. she says she was Angry.” no persuasion would prevail. she says, mr Black told her, he was determined to take it away out of spight, for that the doctor had brought in his Bill the day before of 30 dollors for innoculating the Baby, her child, and one in the house belonging to a woman whose child would have been exposed by the others, and which child I had told the doctor I would myself be answerable for, and that he had pay’d the Bill. I was sure it could not be so. I supposed, what was really the case, that the doctor might have Sent his Bill in, for his attendance upon mr Hall during his sickness as dr Cox & he were jointly concernd. I immediatly wrote to the dr I inclose you his answer1 I then wrote to mr Black, and told him I was sorry he should think it necessary to take the child away as it appeard to me to be very well taken care of, and I hoped he would be so kind as to restore the child to the Nurse again, that if any Bill had been presented him for the innoculation of the Children it was through mistake, as no charge was ever intended to be made to him. I thought I would let him know, that I knew he had given this as a Reason. I added that if any misfortune of sickness or death should happen in concequence of his depriving the child of its nurse just as it was recovering its strength, I thought he could not answer it either to mr Black or to you— with this Billet I sent mrs Brisler and Betsy in the carriage with orders to take the child if they could obtain his consent, and carry it back to the Nurse, and to tell her that I would be answerable to her for its Nursing untill mr Black should come for it. they accordingly went, and were told by his Housekeeper, that he was not at home. however mrs Brisler was not content; she went to the store where she found him, and deliverd my Note, and requested his permission to take the child to the Nurse. he said it was so expensive keeping it at Nurse that he thought to have it weand, and then he had such a Bill to pay for innoculating the children. Mrs Brisler replied it could not be for that, as I had just received it, from under the doctors Hand that no Bill had been offerd him on that account. he said no more on that subject; but went into the House and consented to let it go for a fortnight longer. the woman who ever she is, appeard very An-

508

April 1798 gry & said she would carry it herself the next day. Mrs Brisler said she had come in the carriage on purpose to take it, and she should be glad to report to me that she had deliverd it to the Nurse the House keeper tried to get an opportunity to speak to mr Black, but mrs Brisler followd him so close that she would not let her. after some delay to find the Bonnet and Cloak, she deliverd the Child to them and they carried the Baby to the Nurse, to the great joy of the dear little orphan who stretchd out its Arms and cryd as bad as the Nurse. mr Black told mrs Brisler that he did not know whether he should let it go if his Brother came for it. she replied; that, was a subject which she had nothing to do with, that I certainly could have no interest in the Matter, but what I felt for an orphan child, whose parents Mother I knew, and whose Friends had requested my attention to it— Both Betsy and mrs Brisler think mr Black was governd in this matter by the Housekeeper—as he appeard to be affraid of her resentment. I received the Bundle you sent for it, and had sent it to the Nurse. they were exactly the things she told me last sunday that she wanted for it, only that you had been more liberal than her request. this was an other source of Resentment to mr Black, that so much attention should be paid to the child, and So little to him. I think the sooner mr Black can sit out the better. if this Letter reaches you by saturday next, it will be a fortnight or 20 days before mr Black can get here from this time. that will bring it into May when the roads will be well setled, and if he should take the child away again, it will not be in my power to do any thing more. my kind Regards to mrs Beal, who I am sorry to learn is unwell again. I cannot say when I shall see you but hope it may be in June. when you see mrs Lamb my compliments to her. Be assured my dear Friend of the / Regard of Abigail Adams—2 RC (NcD:Trent History of Medicine Manuscript Coll., David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library). 1 Letters not found. Dr. John Redman Coxe (1773–1864) was the grandson of Dr. John Redman, for whom see JA, Papers, 3:245. Coxe’s medical education began in Britain, but he returned to the United States for further study under Dr. Benjamin Rush, receiving his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1794. In 1798 he was the

physician for the port of Philadelphia (ANB). 2 On 12 April AA had also written to Moses Black, sending him the envoys’ dispatches and instructions and commenting, “Publishing them, is like to produce here, a most desirable effect, that of union and harmony. I sincerely wish it may become general” (private owner, 1988).

509

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to William Smith Dear sir

sunday April 15 1798

I inclose a Letter to you for Mrs Black. as there is but one post a week for Quincy, it may probably lay in the office Some days, and it is of conquence that she should have it immediatly as it respects an orphan Baby which I have under my care here. you will be so kind if mr Black should not be in Town when you receive it to send it to mr Lambs with a request to them to send it to Quincy immediatly— Since I wrote you last nothing very material has taken place in the opposition Line, but the cementing of Hearts, and the Union of mind increases. a very handsome address manly & firm was presented by the Grand Jurors of this state to the President acknowledging the Wisdom of his Measures, their confidence in him and their determination to support the Government, not like the Cambridge support, by opposing, but by uniting with the different Branches of the National Government. on twesday a smiliar address from the Merchants will be presented. I do not know how our state can wipe off the stain, from themselves, but through the legislature when they meet. it was an object with the Jacobins here, to sit on foot an opposition in Massachusetts, that they might strengthen themselves here by saying as they already have done, that the state from whence the President originated, is foremost in opposing his measures, but they will change their Sentiments I presume, or they will stand nearly alone— The fish came safe we have had a report that our Frigate sunk in the hale storm. it was not however credited.1 you may mention to Dr Welch, that young Wier will be made midshipman2 I have been this afternoon to hear dr morse, and have been highly Entertaind. he preach’d for dr Green— We have a number of Bostonians here at present.3 My kind Regards to Mrs smith, to dr & mrs Welch and to mr & mrs storer, Green and Aunt Edwarsds—and all the young folks in a Bunch. I wish I had them here to grace my Drawing Room. who could be so foolish as to make such a Pother about a few words between mr Giles & otis, neither of whom I believe wisht to measure swords. yet they must make a duel of it— Giles is in very bad Health—and will not come again tis said—4 we yesterday received Letters from mr Adams at Berlin and from

510

April 1798 Thomas, three days after they reachd Berlin & whilst they could get no better accommodation than a Paltry Inn, Mrs Adams was taken dangerously sick, and before She was able to rise from Bed, Thomas was Seizd with an inflamitory soar Throat & fever poor mr Adams was nearly out of his wits, in a strang Country, not a human Being whom he knew, and even the common language he could not speak. happily he says, he found a Good English Physician When he wrote, mrs Adams was recovering, and Thomas had got quite well. the New King had waved the ceremony of new Credentials and received him upon his old one, which was a stretch of civility not shewn to others, in consideration of the compliment made his Government by sending a minister, at which the King appeard to be much pleased5 adieu my dear sir / yours affectionatly AA RC (MHi:Smith-Carter Family Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “William Smith Esqr / Boston”; endorsed: “Philaa. 15 April 1798 / A. Adams—” 1 The Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 11 April, reprinted a report from the New York press that a storm on 3 April had sunk the frigate Constitution in Boston Harbor. The following day it further reported that Boston newspapers carried no similar accounts. 2 Edward Wyer (ca. 1777–1839) of Boston was commissioned as a midshipman on 26 April and promoted to lieutenant on 18 May 1800. He resigned from the navy in 1805 and thereafter held several consular posts before serving as the Senate doorkeeper (The Papers of James Madison, Retirement Series, ed. David B. Mattern and others, Charlottesville, Va., 2009– , 1:380; United States Office of Naval Records and Library, Naval Documents Related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France, 7 vols., Washington, D.C.,

1935–1938, 7:358). 3 Rev. Jedidiah Morse (1761–1826), Yale 1783, served as the minister of the First Congregational Church of Charlestown from 1789 until 1819. During a visit to Philadelphia in mid-April 1798, he presumably stood in for the chaplain of Congress, Rev. Ashbel Green (vol. 9:340; ANB; Boston Independent Chronicle, 14–18 June). 4 On 16 April William Branch Giles obtained a leave of absence for the remainder of the congressional session. He resigned his seat on 2 Oct. but would again be elected to the House in 1801 before serving in the Senate from 1804 to 1815 (U.S. House, Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 261; Biog. Dir. Cong.). 5 See JQA to AA, 28 Dec. 1797, above. For TBA’s letter of 22 Dec., see his letter to AA of 12 Feb. 1798, and note 4, above.

Cotton Tufts to Abigail Adams Dear Madm. Weymouth April 17. 1798 It is now past Ten oClock Am. and a violent Snow Storm which began about 7 oClock this Morning still continues, the Thermometer stands at. 32. and has not been much lower in any Snow Storm We have had in the Winter past— Our Winter has been severe, the Month of March cold & stormy, April hitherto has been a continuation of the Scene, but Two or Three Days of fair Weather thro the

511

Adams Family Correspondence Day, since its Commencement. Our Progress in Farming & out Door Business has been greatly retarded— the Earth is filld with Water— if Warm Weather should come on, Vegetation will be very rapid— Had not the Weather & other unavoidable Hindrinces prevented—I should have had the proposed Building raised & covered before this Time— The Frame is ready for raising, Windows already made, & the necessary Stuff upon the Spot— the Building will be more expensive than I imagined, but will I hope embrace all Your Views— Poor Soule was taken sick the very Day I engaged him & has been confind ever since, which has been much Trouble to Mrs. Porter— at first he was attacked (as I was informed by dr Phipps) with the Bilious Cholic, it was several Days before his Bowells could be opend, after this a Losness with Pains in his Bowells similar to the Dysentery came on & continued for 7 or 8 Days, attended with a Fever, next a Constipation of his Bowells ensued with severe Pain— I have visited him with Dr. Phipps for some Days past and find that his Bowells are deeply obstructed, and I think there is much Danger of his falling into a Dropsical State, unless a Mortification should end the Scene sooner. His Brother at present supplies his Place on the Farm— Mr. Lane began Yesterday Morning to paint the Rooms, having waited a considerable Time for a dry Season for the Purpose— I am fully in Opinion with You, That You could not have found any Couple that would have suited you better than Porter & his Wife, they are both highly valuable—and ought to receive every Encouragement— We cannot think that it would be for your Interest to hire Tirrell by the Month, nor indeed at any Time more than what absolute Necessity may require— Hitherto but little wuld be done in the Garden, the Ground being too Wet & heavy— Stutson has put the Strawberry Beds in order, and we shall get on with Gardening as fast as possible— Yours of the 29 & 30th Ulto. I recd. last Week,1 at the latter End of which the Communications of the Presidents Instructions to our Envoys and their Dispatches reach’d us; There is not a candid Mind in America, but must allow, That the President has done all that is incumbent upon him, to produce a Reconciliation & Intercourse with the French Government and all such I think must allow that our Envoys, have submitted to a Mortification, that nothing but a Desire of Peace, would have sufferd them to have endured, and all such must also allow that the Directory and their under workmen

512

April 1798 have acted like themselves In short, it appears to me, That there is not a Person in whom a spark of Honesty remains, tho heretofore misinformed & misguided, who will not be convincd by these Communications, and I hope converted— but there is a Class of People, Slaves to Vice & Corruption, that will Still persist, in refusing all Light & pursue their vile Purposes, even if possible to the Destruction of their Country— It may be fortunate for us, that Money, Money was demanded our Countrymen will be awake at this Cry and stare not a little. I have not said half I wishd to have utterd but I must break off and only add, That I feel much for the President and pray God to guide him by his Wisdom, guard him by his Providence and enable him to steer our Political Vessell safe amidst all the Storms & Tempests that attack her— Sukey is verging towards the close of Life and will I trust make a hapy Exit— Yours Affectionately C. T— RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs. Abigail Adams.” 1 AA’s letter of 29 March has not been found; for her letter of the 30th, see AA to William Smith, 30 March, note 1, above.

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy April 20th 1798 I have read the dispatches from the Envoys with as much astonishment as the Jacobins in congress heard them but not with those twinges of conscience which some of them must feel. those who by their false representations to that nation of the designs of the Goverment here & the spirit of the People in General, those who have known the truth & have ly’d to the publick, those who have been all the Session abuseing the President in & out of the House— I envy not the feelings of the Vs. President— I Question whether there will be a man in the united States who will not read them, & mr Otis exellent well tim’d Letter to Gen: Heath being printed in the Same paper will get read also—1 Dochester makes a Scrub figuer with their Petition & the article upon which they acted worded as it was in the warrent has afforded a Subject for much ridicule. I Charge the observations upon it in the centinal to mr [Otiss brevade?] & Suppose I am right. the Cobler is

513

Adams Family Correspondence williard Baxter. the Coll you know the Deacon mr How.2 the Abington Specimen of folly tho handsomly worded, is said to be the product of Parson Niles.3 but Shame will be the Portion of them all— I am told that the People who were against arming are now for fighting them wherever they can meet with a Frenchman— So true is the concluding Sentence of mr Hopkin’s observations in the Pamphlit you was So kind as to send Mr cranch, & for which he thanks you. It will be seen that the american Spirit can yet be rous’d nothing could be better calculated to awake them from their political Slumber than the insolent demand of Talarand & the Directory for their money. the Sound of their dollars pouring into French Coffers is greatly Superior to any marchal Musick Tis curious to observe that, the British Treaty is not amonge their list of complaints & here all their depradations were ascrib’d to it I inclose a Letter from Doctor Tufts— I went yesterday to see mr Soule, & found him much better. I think if he is careful he may recover your building was raising the paint on your rooms looks very well but he went away without doing your lower closet Floor notwithstanding I charg’d the Painter to do it. it was night before he had done the other parts & he wanted to return. he may be wanted to do more then he must do it. I was quite vex’d about it, because it ought to be well dry. your Bacon is brought home mrs Porter had boil’d a Shoulder of it & I think I never Saw better— I have got a fine parcel of Garden Seeds for you & hope to see you abound in vegitables. but as yet it has been So cold & for a week So like winter that no Gardening could be done to advantage this day is a fine one but it will take many Such to warm the [groun]d I find mrs Quincy had a complication of dissorders. she [had] been some time unwell but keept about house & was so well [. . . .] be with her Daughter when She was ill. mrs Dowsse was also very Sick at the same time in the house; & mrs Quincy did not attend to herself as she ought. but her dessorder Suddenly put on the appearence of a dropsey & she Sunk away instantly almost— we are all as well as usual, & our children— I must write a few lines to washington, & I am going to see Miss Paine this morning. So Must be brief. I hope to get a Letter from you tomorrow, & will write again by Mondays Mail. I wish Cousen Louissa would make a little drapery gown out of a pice of old Lin-

514

April 1798 nen that we may form an Idea of it, & send me a pattern of one large enough for her & a pattern of a cap Such as I ought to wear. Cousen carried all hers Fashions to atkinson with her. a Hankerchief pattern also— Love to all Friend from your ever affectionate sister M. Cranch RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Richard Cranch: “To / Mrs. Abigail Adams, / the President’s Lady, / Philadelphia.”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch / 20 April 1798.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed. 1 The dispatches from the envoys were published in both the regular edition and a special supplement of the Massachusetts Mercury, 17 April, along with a long letter of 30 March from Harrison Gray Otis to William Heath. Heath, for whom see vol. 8:99, was one of the drafters of the Roxbury petition and had forwarded it to Otis on 21 March. In the letter Otis thanked his constituents for their sincere contemplation of the armament issue but suggested their opposition stemmed from a “sincere and laudable anxiety for Peace, rather than to a deliberate examination of the arguments relating to the subject.” He then justified his support for arming, beginning with the law of nature and law of nations, both of which “authorize the right of carrying arms for self defence.” Otis warned that should nothing be done the financial implications for Massachusetts commerce would be devastating and that of the three available courses of action—embargo, a public navy, and private armament—the last was the most expeditious route to protecting Americans and U.S. commerce. He further argued that French actions were tantamount to a maritime war, but that it could devolve into full-scale war only if “our American Hearts of Oak can be shivered and splintered” by French attempts to divide the American populace. Otis therefore beseeched his Roxbury constituents to “rouse from the enchantment of mistaken gratitude, from the dream of delusive friendship, from the indolence of peace, and the apathy of riches. It is time for them to realize that . . . Their liberties were never in such danger as at this moment.” 2 A town meeting held in Dorchester on 2 April voted to petition Congress against armament, believing that “the late determination to take off the Restrictions for arming

is pregnant with evils, which we apprehend will eventually involve the United States in a War, with our Sister Republic.” The meeting also voted to publish the petition, which accordingly appeared in the Boston Independent Chronicle, 2–5 April. In response, the Boston Columbian Centinel, 14 April, criticized the individuals who spoke during the meeting: “Rhetoric was rummaged, and exhausted of its tropes, fancy of its imagery, and falsehood and flummery drest in their most spacious garbs, to proclaim the wondrous love France still bears to America.” Further, the article mocked the public warrant calling for the meeting: “ ‘To see whether the town will allow the merchantmen to arm,’ and in fact, from the debates of the foregoing gentlemen it would seem as if they imagined the prerogative lay in Dorchester.” The “Cobler” was Edward Willard Baxter (d. 1819), a cordwainer and the son of Seth and Eleanor Allen Baxter of Braintree; the “Coll” almost certainly was James Swan; and the “Deacon” was John Howe (1740–1818), the current representative for Dorchester in the Mass. General Court. All three men were on the committee that drafted the petition (Sprague, Braintree Families; Ellen F. Vose, comp., Robert Vose and His Descendants, Boston, 1932, p. 89–90; JA, Papers, 3:354; Anna Glover, Glover Memorials and Genealogies. An Account of John Glover of Dorchester and His Descendants, Boston, 1867, p. 304; Mass., Acts and Laws, 1796–1797, p. 493). 3 Town meetings were similarly held on 2 and 6 April 1798 in Abington, Mass., the first to appoint a committee to draft a memorial opposing armament, and the second to approve its submission to Congress. The resulting report claimed that the arming of private merchants would “prove fruitless in the object, and destructive in the consequence.”

515

Adams Family Correspondence Rev. Samuel Niles (1744–1814), Princeton 1769, was the minister of the First Church at Abington and the grandson of JA’s early political mentor of the same name (vol. 4:126;

Boston Columbian Centinel, 14 April; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 9:72; Sprague, Braintree Families).

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams my dear son Philadelphia April 21 1798 It was with a mixture of pleasure and pain that I read your Letter of December 25th from Berlin No 32—1 it gave me pleasure to see your Hand writing addrest to me, after a painfull interval of three months Some of your communications were attended with circumstances which gave me pain, and anxiety, for my dear Louissa, whose situation under the circumstances you describe; must have been peculiarly distressing to both, her, and you. Nurterd as she ever was, under the tender care and Fostering wing of the tenderest of Parents; unaccustomed to fatigue, and inconveniencies of travelling, either by Land or sea, she has had them all to encounter, in a situation less able to bear them, than usual. happy for you both that they did not prove fatal to her. you must have had your share of sufferings new terrors, and allarms, for new and dear Connections, “even where you had garnerd up your Heart.”2 all your sensibility must have been awakend by a species of anxiety and distress, before unknown to you, and as woes are seldom solitary, The dangerous sickness of your Brother must have enhanced your affliction; I have enterd fully into your domestic distresses, and gratefully acknowledge the kind Providence which has carried you safely through them.— I wrote you largly by mr Thornton who saild from hence, in the British packet, or rather from N york; the Letters were addrest to the care of mr King. I have not omitted a month since October last, and have frequently written more than once. By this opportunity to Bremin, I send you a duplicate of the dispatches from our Envoys, and instructions to them, together with some News papers.3 By the latter you will see that our Countrymen are seriously allarm’d and are vigorously exerting themselves to put our Country in a proper State of defence. the effects of the communication which have been made in compliance with the request of the House of Rep’s, has made the blind to see and the Deaf to hear; it has been like an Electrical shock, as far as it has yet extended. The instructions which were communicated at the same time, were so candid so liberal, so

516

April 1798 fully up to any thing which the Party themselves had ventured to a vow, that the words of Milton might justly be applied, Abash’d the Devil stood, And saw virtue in her own shape, how lovely? It would be difficult for you at the distance you are; to conceive the change which has taken place in this city; the center of foreign influence, and Jacobinism the Real French Men, the unprincipled Jacobin, the emissaries of France remain unchanged, but real Americans who have been deceived, and betray’d by falshood, and deception; are the mass of the lower class of the people. they are uniting & united, and I would fain hope that the Hydra monster of Jacobinism is crushd never to rise with such mischevious effects again. those in Congress who dare not now act, fearing the voice of the people will cry out against them, whom they have deceived, are falling off, and going home. Giles, Nicholas, Clayton Clopton from Virgina, are gone & going.4 old Findly has written a Letter to his Friends in the Western County, which has by some means got into Peters paper; it is one continued tissue of Lies from begining to end.5 the journals of congress & senate are proofs that it is so, and the old wretch could not but know it. he will get enough of it before Congress rises— the subtle jesuit Gallatin will turn, and twist, twist & turn, but the Indignation of the House rises against him so strongly that he is quite placed in the back ground, and must quit the feild or take a less conspicuous station.6 After the arrival of the dispatches the President sent to both Houses of Congress the Letter of Jan’ry 8th (in which the envoys say, that they have not been received neither do they expect to be,) accompanied with a message to them. a day or two after arrived the whole Bugget which being in cypher took some days to decypher. after reading and considering them, the President sent an other message which you will find in the pamphlet I send you; that Message contains the result drawn from a view of the dispatches, but which at that time the President thought might risk the safety of our Envoys if made publick. he therefore withheld them. This Message was openly & publickly call’d a War speech, and the Jacobin Party did not fail to make the allarm general. they attempted first to stir up the Quakers in this city, but a timely address to them the morning of their meeting, by Peter, who is held in much estimation by them prevented them from petitioning against war.7 having faild here, there next step was to

517

Adams Family Correspondence excite meetings in more remote parts of the Union; and to procure them in the Presidents own state accordingly through the influence of Gen’ll Heath a meeting was held in Roxbury, then in Milton Dochester Cambridge and Abington. but before any were received here, except those from Roxbury, the House calld for the dispatches, and instructions which being communicated, produced the effect I have described and now addresses are comeing in from all quarters expressive of the intire satisfaction of the addressors in the conduct of the executive and of their determination to support him, and to adhere to their Government. some you will find in the papers I send you, others are not yet made publick. N york & Baltimore are following this city & state. York Town Presented one yesterday, and the one inclosed was presented to day. I send it you to prove the change wrought—8 [“]They seem already to have quench’d seditions Brand And zeal that burnt it, only warms the land The jealous Sect’s that durst not trust their cause So far from their own Will, as to the laws. Him for their umpire and their synod take And their appeal alone to Ceasar make”9 I heard last week from mr Johnston’s and Family. they were well. I mournd with you, and with all good people the loss of Your much esteemed Friend Dr Clark of Boston of whose sudden death I gave you an account in my last Letter10 To my dear Thomas I will write by the May packet. I am sorry he is so great a sufferer by his mother but the Rheumatism is an hereditary Gift I fear. I wrote to mrs Adams in answer to her kind & joint Letter.11 I hope she has received it. I wrote to you and to Thomas whilst I was at East Chester, about the 6 or 7th of November— your sister also wrote to you at the same time— that your Father does not write you often, you can easily devine the cause— with Love to Mrs Adams and Thomas, I am my Dear son affectionatly / your Mother A Adams RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A— Adams— / 21 April 1798— / June Recd. / 27 Do Answd:.” 1 That is, JQA to AA, 28 Dec. 1797, above. 2 A paraphrase of Shakespeare, Othello, Act IV, scene ii, line 55.

3 Possibly the ship Eagle, Capt. Tate, which left Philadelphia on 22 April 1798 for Hamburg; JQA noted in his 27 June letter to AA

518

April 1798 (Adams Papers) that he received the 21 April letter “not however by the way of Bremen, but from Hamburg” (Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 19 April; Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 25 April). 4 Joshua Clayton (1744–1798), elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Vining, served as a senator for Delaware from 19 Jan. until his death on 11 Aug.; he appears to have been absent from the Senate between 13 and 23 April. John Clopton (1756–1816), University of Pennsylvania 1776, represented Virginia in the 4th and 5th Congresses and later in the 7th through 14th Congresses; on 11 April he received a leave of absence for three weeks. John Nicholas was excused from the House for the remainder of the session on 24 April (Biog. Dir. Cong.; U.S. Senate, Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 471–477; U.S. House, Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 257, 268–269). 5 See AA to Robert Goodloe Harper, [13 April], and note 1, above. 6 Albert Gallatin continued to represent Pennsylvania in Congress until 3 March 1801 (Biog. Dir. Cong.). 7 The Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 26 March 1798, offered a “timely caution” to the city’s Quaker residents that a “Petition is hawking about” by local druggist and Free Quaker minister Samuel Weatherill (or Wetherill). While the petition would appeal to “your well known and amiable principles,” the article warned readers that Weatherill was more pro-French than antiwar, and the petition was likely the work of DemocraticRepublicans. The Porcupine’s Gazette, 13

April, further commented on the petition’s disappearance: “Sammy was busy amongst his chemical matters, when a bottle of oil of vitriol accidentally broke; some of it got into his pocket and burnt up the petition” (Joseph W. England, ed., The First Century of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 1821– 1921, Phila., 1922, p. 36). 8 A meeting of the New York Chamber of Commerce on 20 April “unanimously” approved “the candid and honorable overtures of our executive” toward France. The citizens of Baltimore met on 18 April and resolved that “the conduct of the Executive of the United States, in relation to France, has been liberal, wise and just.” That same day the residents of York, Penn., presented an address to JA noting their satisfaction with “the most zealous exertions on the part of our Executive to conciliate the French, and restore that harmony and mutual confidence between the two Republics.” The enclosure has not been found but was possibly the address of the Philadelphia mayor and aldermen, who assured JA “of their perfect approbation of your administration, and their entire confidence in your wisdom, integrity and patriotism” (New York Commercial Advertiser, 24 April; Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 21, 23, 24 April). 9 John Dryden, “To His Sacred Majesty. A Panegyrick on His Coronation,” lines 79–84. 10 That is, AA to JQA, 8 April, for which see her letter to JQA of 13 April, note 5, above. 11 See AA to LCA, 24 Nov. 1797, above.

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my Dear sister 22 April Philadelphia 1798 By the post of yesterday I received yours of April 151 as the post will now go more frequently I hope you will get Letters more regularly It was very unfortunate for Mrs Porter, to have mr sole taken sick the very day after he came, and the more so because she is now encumberd with more buisness. I have written the dr. that I think it would be best to through two Chambers into one and to have access to it from without by stairs, which Chamber may hold all the Books in regular order, and be a pleasent Room for the President to do buisness in, as we are so confind in the House there are in the

519

Adams Family Correspondence granery some Book shelves which may be made to answer in addition to those we have, and may be new painted—2 I mean to have the whole executed without Mr Adams knowing any thing of the accommodation untill he sees it and when the building is finishd for the Book Room, I must request Brothers Cranch to see the putting the Books up in order. the Room now used for the Books will serve mrs Porter for a Lodging Room. The Gentlemen say they will let me go home early in June, but it is difficult to keep the good Men together. there are now absent nine Federal senators, from some excuse or other, some for a fortnight, some for three weeks, and some for the remainder of the session.3 I think it difficult to excuse absence at so Critical a period. the Antis, all stick by, tho the senate are strong; yet they appear to be weak from the absence of so many federal men— in the House they are become so strong, as to do Buisness by a considerable Majority. the Jesuit Gallatin is as subtle and as artfull and designing as ever, but meets with a more decided opposition, and the Party, tho many of them as wicked as ever, are much weakened by some whose consciences will not let them go all lengths with them. as the French have boasted of having more influence in the united states, than our own Government, the Men who now espouse their cause against their own Country, and justify their measures, ought to be carefully mark’d, they ought to be brought into open light. Addresses from the Merchants Traders & underwriters have been presented and signd by more than 500 of Men, of the greatest Property here in this city, highly approveing the measures of the Executive. a similar one from the Grand Jurors, one from york Town, and yesterday, one from the Main Aldermen & common counsel of the city a very firm and Manly address. others are comeing from N york from Baltimore, and I presume Boston will be no longer behind than time to consult, upon the measure. they must in this way shew the haughty Tyrennts, that we are not that divided people we have appeard to be; their vile Emissaries make all our trouble, and all our difficulty. a Report is in circulation that Our Envoys left Paris for London on the 16 Feb’ry but nothing has been received from them here later than Jan’ry 8th tho many Rumourd accounts of dispatches, has been circulated4 I would recommend to my countrymen the judicious observations of mr Burk, who says [“]a Great state is too much envied, too much dreaded, to find safety in humiliation To be Secure, it must be respected, Power and Eminence, and consideration are things not to

520

April 1798 be begged. they must be commanded and they who suplicate mercy from others, can never hope from justice through themselves. often has a Man lost his all because he would not submit to hazard all in defending it.”5 See the opinion of the French minister at Berlin upon our Naval defence. Mr Adams writes, I have had some conversation with the French Minister here concerning the New law against Neutral navigation which he admitted as contrary to the Law of Nations. But he says it is only a necessary Retaliation against the English, and if the Neutral Nations will suffer the English to all their vessels, the French must do the same I told him without being disposed to justify or apologize for the Predatory practise of England, which I utterly detested, I must say they never had been carried to an extent any thing resembling this regulation— That besides England was now making indemnification for many of the depredations committed under coulour of her Authority, that if the Principle of Retaliation alledged as a warrant for this new measure on the part of France were founded there could never be any such thing as Neutrality in any maritine war, for that it would require every Neutral power to Make War upon the first instance of improper capture of a vessel under her flag.— No said he, that is not necessary, but the Neutral powers should shew a firm countanance, and determined resolution to Mantain its Rights and send all its commerce under convoy.— I askd him what a power was to do that had no ships of war to give as convoys?— He said they must raise sufficient for the purpose—6 this you see is the opinion of even a French Minister, yet no longer ago than fryday. our House of Rep’s sit till near 8’ oclock combatting Gallatins motion, that the President should be restricted from useing the ships built & to be built as convoys in time of Peace, thinking I presume as he could not prevent their being built, he would defeat the use of them at this present time, as France had not declared War, and it was not probable we should, the Federilists cast out the motion by 50 to 34—7 I believe I have wearied you with politicks. I wrote mrs Black last week, and in hopes that she might get the Letter sooner inclosed it to mr smith, who when it arrives may be absent, which I regreet please to tell her that I received her Letter of the 16 yesterday8 that since I took the child from mr Black, he nor his Housekeeper have not been near it, that they retaind all the Cloaths which the child had except what it had on, and those which mrs Black Sent it. I

521

Adams Family Correspondence knew it must have more clouts or it could not go the journey. never having had more than 8—I have therefore got some diaper and made 13 for it, a couple of yellow flannel coats & two calico slips, all of which we have made and if mr Black does not think proper to give up the other things, I will see that the Baby shall have every necessary article. I shall be answerable to the Nurse for its Board, but they made the poor thing sick by taking it out in the Evening and giving it Rum, the Nurse says to make it sleep. it was more uneasy and gave her more trouble than when it was sick with the small Pox— I was quite unhappy about it it is better now, and I expect to see it to day. I believe I should have lost it, if they had kept it a week, and gone on in the way they began.— I shall rejoice when I hear it is safe with its Patron and Benefactress— let me know when the Box for cousin Betsy arrives. has mrs Norten been unwell? I hope it is not her old sickness.— my Love to her. when she is Blessd with a daughter I shall think she deserves well of her Country—and need no further aid it with Recruits— I quite long to see you all. I do hope the buildings will be all finished so that Mrs Porter may be able to remove into them when we come. I should like to have the kitchin floor & stairs painted, and the chamber floor where the Girls used to sleep. I hope particular attention will be paid to the chimny peice in the parlour to get the smoak of that it may dry— I inclose 5 dollors. will you be so good as to get something of the value of a couple of dollors & present to mrs Porter. perhaps a new Bonnet might be acceptable. I will not confine you to two dollors— please to pay sister smith as she knits & keep her supplied with cotton. I will put ten dollors instead of 5 in, that you may draw upon it for a load of wood to Pheby if she wants or Bread corn— I sent to get an other of mr Harpers Books to send to the Library, but tho two thousand were Printed they are all gone. a new Edition is comeing out9 I am my dear sister / most affectionatly / your / Sister A Adams Mrs otis who with her Family always dine with us on sundays desires to be rememberd to you we live like sisters— my dear sister the Aniversary of this day awakens all my feelings.10 is poor suky yet living? The Baby has been to see me to day. it grows very fat since it had

522

April 1798 the small pox. I dont think it half so pretty since as it was before yesterday the nurse went to mr Blacks and they sent it what things it had. they had got over their anger, but said they would take it away at the end of a fortnight, but I do not believe them— my pens are very bad but I cannot copy my scrawls— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters). 1 In her letter to AA of 15 April, Cranch mentioned the construction at Peacefield. She also described the reaction to JA’s hesitance to publish the envoys’ dispatches and instructions: “Tis hard, very hard indeed, that the People Should Shew Such a jealousy & want of confidence in the President after Such proofs as he has repeatedly given of his wisdom & faithfulness & his unshaken attatchment to the true interest & Safety of his Country. will people never reason? must they be drub’d into the use of their Senses? what mules they are— Tis in the Power of a few designing artful men to lead them astray at any time” (Adams Papers). 2 AA to Cotton Tufts, 16 April, for which see Tufts to AA, 31 March, note 1, above. 3 In addition to Joshua Clayton, the Federalist senators who obtained leave between 12 and 18 April were Elijah Paine and Nathaniel Chipman, both of Vermont, and James Lloyd of Maryland. John Sloss Hobart of New York resigned his seat on 16 April, after receiving an appointment to the federal judiciary. James Gunn of Georgia had obtained leave for the remainder of the session on 14 March, and John Rutherford of New Jersey does not appear to have attended the session prior to July. The remaining Federalist senators had all been present as recently as 19 April (U.S. Senate, Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 455, 471–475, 524). 4 AA was possibly referring to the Philadelphia Carey’s United States’ Recorder, 21 April, which reported, “A vessel in a short passage from London, seen going into Baltimore, reported, that the American commissioners had left Paris, and were in London.” 5 AA paraphrased two paragraphs from Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace, p. 8. 6 The conversation AA recounted here derives almost verbatim from JQA’s letter to Timothy Pickering of 30 Jan., in which he

commented on the likelihood of a French invasion of England and the fact that it was “embroiling herself by turns with every inferior power which in its ruin may satiate her ever growing avidity.” JQA further reported the arrest of the Portuguese and Roman ministers in France and described French efforts to bring the Swiss cantons to heel (LbC, APM Reel 132). 7 A bill authorizing JA to purchase or build additional vessels “for the protection of the trade of the United States” led to a protracted and heated debate in the House of Representatives between 18 and 20 April, during which Albert Gallatin proposed an amendment that the vessels “shall not, in time of peace, be employed as convoys to any foreign port or place.” Gallatin admitted that French depredations and the recent decree against neutral shipping were offensive, but he argued that convoys could not successfully protect maritime trade and could lead to war, thereby harming American commerce more than if French privateering was submitted to for the time being. John Allen, a Federalist from Connecticut, condemned Gallatin’s argument, accusing him of being an agent of French influence in the United States. Gallatin’s motion was defeated 49 to 34, and the bill was enacted on 27 April (Annals of Congress, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1440, 1466–1521; Biog. Dir. Cong.; U.S. Statutes at Large, 1:552). 8 Esther Duncan Black’s letter to AA of 16 April has not been found. 9 The third edition of Robert Goodloe Harper’s Observations on the Dispute Between the United States and France was published in Philadelphia in May (Evans, No. 33841). 10 AA was likely referring to the deaths of Mary Smith and Susannah Boylston Adams Hall, for which see her letter to JA of 23 April 1797, above.

523

Adams Family Correspondence

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Dear Sister Quincy April 23d 1798 I write now merely to inform you that I have reciev’d your two Lettes of the 9th & 13th of this month & Shall answer them by the next mail. I reciv’d them both last Saturday with the instructions & dispatches— I do not wonder that the Jacobins in Senate house & every where else Should be Struck dumb.— do you really Suppose Galletan Sinscere in his declarations?1 & what says mr Nicolas?— the chronical has got a mortal wound. it agonzes.2 we thank you my dear Sister for all your communications. I wonder how you have preserv’d your health thro So much trouble & anxiety as you have had to incounter this winter. but I feel as if they were over as it relates to the Sentiments of the People & as to France She has sprung a mine which will distroy her influence here. the Southern States will assuredly become a prey to their Slaves if they do not take great care. how blind they are? Doctor Tufts has left the inclos’d memorandom for me to send you.3 we think you had better have two of those chambers thrown into one for a Library it will be much larger & more pleasenter than the old one. that will make a Bedroom large enough for mr Porter when the entry & Stairs are taken from it. I think you would like to have a chimney in the Library— take in the two east chambers would be furtherest from the noise of the Family. the Doctor is concern’d about the expences exceeding what he at first calculated & does not know what to do about mentioning it to the President he knows him to be burthen’d with publick troubles & concrns enough without having much care for his private matters. you must direct what method the Doctor must persue to Stere right I rejoice to here mr Greenleaf is releas’d & hope he will get into better business than speculating— mrs Clark wants firmness of mind. She is confin’d & her children taken from her. it was a dreadful shock be Sure but She has not poverty to contend with & ought to Submit with dignity & christian resignation.4 Coll. Billings was buried a Saturday.5 but mr Soule to my astonishment was down Stairs yesterday & will be about again Soon I hope. Sukys lamp is not yet extinguish’d She has seem’d to be almost gone Several times & then lights up again. but the oil is almost spent—

524

April 1798 I was to see miss Paine a friday I found her patiently waiting her great change— She has had a distress’d winter but can chear up as she use’d to do when she was brightend by the countenance of a Friend. mrs Rhodes went with me I shall visit her again in a few days & will give her your token of remembrance. we are all well mrs Black drinks Coffee with me this afternoon She has just Sent a Letter to be inclos’d—6 I Shall forward cousens letters to her sister Betsy. her mother is well. we had a Severe thunder Storm last evening. I think the thunder broke close by but have not heard I have not heard again from Betsy Shaw. I am very uneasy about her cough & cold fits I wonder cousen Betsy Smith has not written me a line. the caps you was So kind as to send my Daughters I do not see how did you Send them? The post will be upon me. I was too sick yesterday to write or you would have had a longer Letter from your ever affectionate Sister Mary Cranch RC (Adams Papers). 1 The Boston Columbian Centinel, 14 April, in reporting news from Philadelphia during the closed debates over publishing the envoys’ dispatches, stated: “Some of the most uniform and ardent opposers of the President have assured me with their own lips, that they are perfectly satisfied with the sincerity and anxiety which he has discovered to preserve peace with the French Republic. . . . Gallatin, Giles and Nicholas, declare themselves satisfied with the conduct of our President, and the temper and spirit of the instructions.” The newspaper further reported on 18 April that Albert Gallatin, who had opposed both the call for the papers and also the publication of them, instead proposed a resolution avowing that JA’s instructions were “well calculated to ensure the objects of their mission” and that if the commissioners failed it would “be attributed altogether to an indisposition on the part of France to meet the advance made by our Government.” 2 The Boston Independent Chronicle, 16–19 April, queried whether “the mode pursued by the Commissioners was the reason why no Official communications were made to them by the Directory.” The squib also stated that “the Commissioners should have been totally silent” about their mission “unless they could

negociate with some persons actually authorized by the government.” The next issue, of 19–23 April, printed the envoys’ dispatches and acknowledged that “if the Directory are guilty to the extent insinuated, then the public concerns of that great and mighty nation, are in the hands of the basest and most infamous, of the wickedest, and even the weakest of people!” 3 Not found. 4 Esther Orne Clarke (1758–1848) was the daughter of Rebecca Taylor and Timothy Orne Jr., a wealthy Salem merchant. She had married Rev. John Clarke in June 1780, and the couple had three surviving children— Esther (b. 1784), Charles Chauncy (b. 1789), and Harriet (b. 1792)—at the time of the pastor’s death (Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 18:396, 405; Salem Register, 28 Sept. 1848; Vital Records of Salem, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, 6 vols., Salem, 1916– 1925, 2:125; Boston Repertory, 9 Sept. 1806). 5 Col. Edmund Billings (b. 1731) of Quincy had served on the Committee of Safety during the Revolution and held numerous town offices, including moderator and fence viewer. He died on 18 April 1798 (Sprague, Braintree Families; Massachusetts Mercury, 20 April). 6 Not found.

525

Adams Family Correspondence

Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren my dear Madam Philadelphia April 25 1798 I received your obliging favour of April 7th on the 18 of this Month, for which accept my sincere thank—1 To hear of the Health, and Welfare, of old, and Esteemed Friends, gives pleasure to her, who sincerely rejoices, that the decline of Life, of all those, whom she highly values; is renderd agreeable by the enjoyment of Health, Peace, and Competance.— Blessing at all periods valuable but more particularly so, when active Life, yealds to the more tranquil and contemplative scenes of Age— A scene to which your Friends are as rapidly hastning, as time can carry them; and accelerated by the Burdens which are devolved upon them, when retirement from the “Worlds Mad stage” would be more consonant to their feelings, particuliarly as they have weather’d one political storm, and enterd the Harbour with Safety, it is hard to be calld again to engage in a Tempest,2 and with a power which defies all Laws, both humane and devine, whose Ambition knows no limits, and which seems to threaten universal Domination, and like an other Alexander, weep for new worlds to conquer—“in proportion, (to use the words of a celebrated writer) as we have been attracted towards the focus of illegality, and irreligion all the venomous, and blighting insects of our Country, have been awakened into life, and the promise of the years has been blasted”3 The olive Branch, tendered to our Gallic Allies, by our Envoys; has been rejected with scorn.— nor would the Military Despots, give to our Ambassadors, an opportunity of Presenting those liberal generous and Pacifick terms,4 with which they were Charged. they seemed to thing all negotiation useless, which possessd not the power of Midas— The haughtiness by which the proud repell us, has this of good in it; that in making us keep our distance, they must keep their distance too.5 having swallowd up all the Republicks with which they have contended, drained them of all their resources, they proceed from the same rapacious spirit, to imprison the Ambassador of a sovereign Power: not as alledged, for offering a Bribe, but having exacted from his court one heavey contribution, as the Price of Peace; and employd that very Money in establishing their late Military Despotism. they refuse to Sign the Treaty, which was a few days protracted, in order to obtain the consent of an Ally, against whom some articles

526

April 1798 militated with their former engagements. having obtaind their consent, the Minister Presented the Treaty for signature, and was refused, unless a new Gift of a still more oppressive sum was given upon the refusal of his court to comply, the Minister, contrary to the Law of Nations is imprisoned, and Portugal threatned with an invasion—6 The dispatches from our Envoys which you have undoubtedly read; and which I now send you, will be prooff sufficient, to shew, what a pitch of venality Rapacity and avarice,7 the Present Rulers of France have arrived at. The confidence with which they boast of a powerfull Party in this Country devoted to their views, is daily experienced. their Emissaries are scatterd through all parts of this extensive union, sowing the seeds of vice, irreligion, corruption, and sedition. hence has grown up that spirit of Party, and of faction within those Walls, where wisdom and Patriotism alone should preside; where you behold Sophistory, Substituded instead of Argument, and Personal Reflection’s giving place to, National Dignity and Decorum. I wish however a veil to be thrown over the disgracefull buisness which occupied much too large a portion of the present Session; and that it may sink into oblivion with the party views which supported it— The Nation appears to be rousing from the Lethargy, which has too long benumbed its powers, and rising to a Sence of its own Dignity, and concequence, with a firm resolution to repell the insults offerd her,8 too long a habit of humiliation, does not seem a very good prepartive to manly and vigorous sentiments, but the Reluctance which every American feels to engage in Hostilities with any Nation, and the desire they have to sacrifice all consideration to the preservation of Peace, short of their Independance, and security, has restrained them from expressing the full extent of their Indignation against a Nation, which they considerd as oppressed, and in the early stages of its Revolution, sincerely wished it success in obtaining and securing to itself equal Liberty & social Rights—but when we see them ifrom, being oppressed, become themselves the greatest of all oppressors, and usurpers, we can no longer wish them success. If we become a united people, there is no doubt but we can withstand the storms which threatens us. united we stand—united we are formidable, and sufficent to ourselves, nor need we seek a Foreign Aid, or dread a Foreign Foe. As Calumny, and abuse upon the Fairest Characters and the best

527

Adams Family Correspondence Men in France, was one of the most powerfull engines, employed, to overturn one set of Rulers and in sitting up others who in their turn shared the same fate, so have their Emissaries adopted the Same weapons in this Country,9 and the Liberty of the press, is become licentious beyond any former period. the Good sense of the American people in general directs them Right, where they can see and judge for themselves, but in distant and remote parts of the union, this continued abuse, deception, and falshood is productive of great mischief, and tends to destroy that confidence & Harmony which is the Life Health & security of a Republick. I write to you my dear Madam with the Freedom and confidence of an old Friend, whom I am sure, will unite with me in sincere, and Ardent wishes, for the Peace security and prosperity of our common Country. The President desires me to Present to Gen’ll Warren the Remembrance of an old Friend who would be much more at his ease, & happier in cultivating the usefull science of Agriculture with him, than, in the Arduous, complicated, turbulant and difficult task assignd him— he will however do his utmost, that the fruits of the Husbandman, and the Commerce of the Merchant shall be protected and Secured, and that the Liberty and Independance which we obtaind and secured from the Grasp of one Foreign Nation shall not be unjustly wrested from us by any other Power. if we are but just to ourselves, and in these endavours he hopes for the aid and countanance of all his fellow citizens— when I return to Quincy, which I hope may be in the course of the summer, it will give me great pleasure to see and welcome you & Gen’ll Warren at Peace Feild— My compliments to your son and daughter and to miss Marcia— From Dear Madam Your Friend / and Humble servant Abigail Adams RC (MHi:Warren-Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs. Adams— / April 1798”; docketed: “No. 20.” Dft (Adams Papers). 1 That is, Warren to AA, 9 April, above. 2 In the Dft, AA continued, “without a shadow of prospect that the end will be in our day—” 3 AA was paraphrasing Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace, p. 21. 4 In the Dft, AA continued, “founded upon equity & justice.” 5 The preceding sentence is a quotation from Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace, p. 24.

6 The Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 18 April, reported that the residents of Lisbon “are very much alarmed at the march of the French troops through Spain, to attack Portugal” and characterized the French as “marauders, who first promise protection, but finish with plunder and destruction.” 7 In the Dft, from this point to the sentence beginning “hence has grown,” AA wrote instead: “their views are extended placeing

528

April 1798 confidence in the Emissaries which they Boast of and we by Sad experience know are scaterd through all parts of this extensive union to sap the foundation of our holy Religion & to introduce upon its Ruin, a system of Proffligacy totally subversive of all Moral & Religious restraints, to devide our counsels and to destrory the very foundations of our Government.” 8 In the Dft, from this point to the end of the next paragraph, AA wrote instead: “and to unite in Defence of that Liberty and Indepemdance which they so dearly Earned, so highly prize and so ardenly have cherished, as to experience the Benefits which have resulted from it, whilst all the Nations of Europe have been Deluged in Blood. the old Maxim—of united we stand, cannot be too strongly inculcated. it is that which amidst the storms which threatens to overtake us, would be sufficient to repell the Bolts, without seeking Aid from any Foreign power; which is Ardently to be desired, for to be truly free, we must be trully Independent—” 9 In the Dft, AA from here to the end of the next paragraph wrote instead: “and tho they have not yet been equally successfull, they have had too much influence in deceiving and deluding the people and thereby diving them. it is my setled opinion, that the

virtue and good sense of the mass of our American citizens only wish to know what is really Right, to practise it but when those in whom they the repose confidence, Give them such information respecting the Designs of the Executive, and the objects of our Government, Representing them as under the Influence and in Leigue with a foreign Power, to deliver up their country into their Hands, not aiming at Peace or wishing to conciliate how can it be expected, that a Government divided against itself Can stand— Such have been the Representations made in Letters to their constituents, by a Findley of Pensilvana, and by a New & a Clay Representitives from Virginna during the Pressent sessions of Congress— The Instructions to our commissoners speak for themselves—and happily prove the assertions false as they are malicious— What have we to gain by War with any Nation. we want not territory, we want not Plunder we want nothing but Justice and Equity from all, and we wish to render it— May Heaven my dear Madam avert from us from so great a calamity as war & preserve to us our Religion our Liberty and independanc unshackled by foreign connecttions and alliances, further than a commercial intercourse warrants—”

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister April 26 1798 I inclose to you a National song composed by this same mr Hopkinson. French Tunes have for a long time usurped an uncontrould sway. since the Change in the publick opinion respecting France, the people began to lose the relish for them, and What had been harmony, now becomes discord. accordingly their had been for several Evenings at the Theatre something like disorder, one party crying out for The Presidents march, and yankee Doodle, whilst Ci era, was vociferated from the other it was hisst off repeatedly. the managers were blamed. their excuse was that they had not any words to the Presidents march— Mr Hopkinson accordinly composed these to the tune. Last Eve’ng they were sung for the first time. I had a Great curiosity to see for myself the Effect. I got mr otis to take a Box, and silently went off with mr & mrs otis mr & mrs Breck to the play, where I had only once been this winter. I meant now to be perfectly in cogg, so did not sit in what is calld the Presidents Box—

529

Adams Family Correspondence

11. “the presidents march: a new federal song,” ca. 1798 See page xvi

530

April 1798 after the Principle Peice was perford, mr Fox came upon the stage to sing the song he was welcomed by applause.1 the House was very full, and at every Choruss the most unbounded applause ensued. in short it was enough to stund one. they had the song repeated— after this Rossina was acted.2 when Fox came upon the state after the curtain dropt, to announce the Peice for fryday, they calld again for the song, and made him repeat it to the fourth time and the last time. the whole Gallery Audience broke forth in the Chorus whist the thunder from their Hands was incessant, and at the close they rose gave 3 Huzzas, that you might have heard a mile— My Head acks in concequence of it. the managers have requested the President to attend the Theater, and twesday next he goes. a number of the inhabitants have made the same request, and now is the proper time to gratify them.3 their have been six differents addresses presented from this city alone; all expressive of the Approbation of the measures of the Executive. yet dairingly do the vile incendaries keep up in Baches paper the most wicked and base, voilent & caluminiating abuse—4 it was formely considerd as leveld against the Government, but now it is contrarry to their declared sentiments daily manifested, so that it insults the Majesty of the sovereign People. but nothing will have an Effect untill congress pass a sedition Bill, which I presume they will do before they rise— not a paper from Bache press issues nor from Adams Chronical, but what might have been prossecuted as libels upon the President and Congress. for a long time they seem as if they were now desperate— the wrath of the public ought to fall upon their devoted Heads5 I shall send a paper or two because your Boston papers cannot take in one half of what these contain. mr otis’s Letter is a very judicious sensible patriotic composition, and does him great honour— You may rely upon it from me, that not a single line from our Envoys have been received but what has been communicated, and nothing has been received from them Since the last communication. I received your Letter of the 20 this day. I am very sorry the closet should be omitted because it wanted painting very much and does not easily dry. I wrote to the dr and proposed having the out side of the house new painted, and the Garden fence also which never was more than primed, but I would not put too many Irons at once in the fire if you have got cousin Betsys Box or she has, as I see the vessel is arrived, you will then find what a Drapery dress is, and the young Lady will teach how it is to be put on. a Cap for You should be made

531

Adams Family Correspondence as you usually wear yours, and as I wear mine, of handsome Muslin, with a pleated border or a lace— I wear no other but upon publick Evenings when I wear a Crape dress cap— I do not wear the drapery dress myself as I consider it too youthfull for me. I have both Sides alike, but they both come forward upon the top & then fall away and are worn with a coat or the Apron lose— will you desire mr Porter to get some slips of the Quince Tree and sit out in the lower garden adieu my dear sister. my pen I think is scarcly ever dry. yours in Love affection Abigail Adams P S Since writing the above the song is printed. Bache says this morning among other impudence that the excellent Lady of the Excellent President, was present, and shed Tears of sensibility upon the occasion.6 that was a lie, however I should not have been asshamed if it had been so. I laughd at one scene which was playd, be sure untill the tears ran down I believe but the song & the manner in which it is received, is death to their Party. the House was really crouded, and by the most respectable people in the city— RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.” 1 Gilbert Fox (1776–1807) emigrated from Britain to the United States in 1795. An engraver by training, he became a singer with the New Theatre in Philadelphia in 1798 (Pennsylvania Biographical Dictionary, 3d ed., 2 vols., St. Clair Shores, Mich., 1999). 2 Rosina was a comic opera by William Shield and Frances Brooke (DNB). 3 For the song written to the President’s March and AA’s attendance at its initial performance, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 11, above. JA, AA, and several members of the government attended the New Theatre on 1 May. As JA entered his box, “the whole audience rose, and expressed their affection for him in enthusiastic acclamations that did honour to their hearts,” and the new song was “repeatedly sung” (Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 2 May). 4 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser printed several articles condemning recent memorials in support of JA. On 17 April one squib warned residents that Federalists were “misrepresenting the contents” of the memorials. On 21 April the newspaper cautioned that “the merchants, traders and underwriters have presented an address to

the President, highly commendatory of his war measures” and that “should the voice of these men now be listened to, ruin to the farmer, manufacturer, mechanic and labourer must be the inevitable consequence.” On the 24th the signatories of the grand jury memorial were labeled “the tories of 1798,” and the article noted that “it is the extravagance of folly to attempt to bully freemen into a coincidence of sentiment, particularly by a set of men, whose partiality for Britain is evident in all their words and actions.” 5 By late April there was widespread discussion of a bill to punish seditious speech against the federal government. Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison on 26 April: “One of the war-party. in a fit of unguarded passion declared some time ago they would pass a citizen bill, an alien bill, & a sedition bill. . . . there is now only wanting, to accomplish the whole declaration beforementioned, a sedition bill which we shall certainly soon see proposed. the object of that is the suppression of the whig presses. Bache’s has been particularly named. that paper & also Cary’s totter for want of subscriptions. we should really exert ourselves to procure them,

532

April 1798 for if these papers fall, republicanism will be entirely brow-beaten.” The Senate introduced a bill to “define and punish the crime of sedition” on 26 June; on 14 July JA signed the bill into law (Jefferson, Papers, 30:299– 300; U.S. Senate, Jour. 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 518; U.S. House, Jour., 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 392). 6 The Philadelphia Aurora General Adver-

tiser, 27 April, described the debut of “The President’s March”: “The rapture of the moment was as great, as if Louis the 18th had actually been seated on the throne of France, or John Adams had been proclaimed king of America, and the loyalty was so impressive, that even the excellent lady of his excellency (who was present) shed tears of sensibility and delight.”

Catherine Nuth Johnson to Louisa Catherine Adams My Dear & Beloved Child George Town April 26th 98 it was with the most heart felt anguish I heard from Mrs Adams of your late severe & dangerous illness. Oh my Louisa What does your Father & myself feel at not having A Line from you to Convince us of your Recovery, the Anxiety we labour under for your Preservation, the Solicitude we have ever Shewn the Principles we have endeavour’d to inculcute taught us to believe; that you wou’d have embraced every opportunity in your Power to Assure us of undiminished affection indeed in the Present instance the Condescention of A Line from Mr Adams might (Could he have been A Witness) have Repaid him the Sacrifice by the Gratitude of the Reception but alass human nature ever Ready to Contribute to its Own unhappiness fills us with the most alarming apprehensions for your Safety the Prayers we Continually Offer to the throne of Mercy will I trust be heard & the Reestablishment of your health and every other Comfort be Compleat— You will perhaps expect me to write you A great deal of News, indeed my Beloved Child I am in A Place where visiting only is the order of the day, Commerce is entirely at A stand Speculation in the Federal City has absorbed not only the money of individuals, but the Enterprize & Spirit also, your Father is much disappointed & knows not how to act— Philadelphia & Baltimore are at this moment very little better, every thing begins to wear the appearance of War and every one dreads the approach— the Opposition have Committed themselves in asking for the Communications to the Envoys at Paris— they immagin’d they were widening, the Pit for the President which has Swallow’d them all up, be it so, those who wish to Subvert, the Laws or the Constitution deserve no better fate— I have been extreemly ill since Christmas but am now much Recoverd I am not very Strong Change of Climate I expect will try me— your Sisters are all Pretty well at Present, Nancy is to be mar-

533

Adams Family Correspondence ried very Shortly to your Cousin Walter—1 I sincerely hope she will be happy, but their dispositions are not so Similar as I think Essential in the married State, however Reason will soon teach her accommodation to her husbands temper, is the best Criterion to Guide her and the only Basis on Which we women ought to Build Carolina has not yet got A Profest Lover, altho many admirers, Kitty grows A very fine Girl she is Wonderfully improv’d since her arrival, the little ones much the same Harriet is grown Considerable and as great A Hoyden as ever,2 I wou’d give you A description of some of the Ladies but you Know so few it will not be very entertaining Colonel Forrest & his Lady are Remarkable Friendly she is A most Charming woman as is her Sister Mrs Key altho not so animated yet Equally Facinating Mrs Mason is great favorite of mine which in A great degree originates from the Resemblance I think She bears to you Need I after that say, she is Pretty Elegant & that the Propriety of her Conduct Renders her truly amiable3 General Washington has been to Pay us A Visit, Personally he told me, to invite me, & your Sisters to Mount Vernon4 Miss Nelly Custis Came very Shortly after to Second the General invitation, which I shall most assuredly accept, she is A very Pretty woman but not so handsome I think as many others I have seen Mrs Law & Mrs Peter not Esteem’d so Pretty but very agreeable, Miss Carrol has been to see us She is very much improved5 you will Laugh when I tell you Mr Charles Wallace is to be married this Evening he is but 72 to day—6 the Death of your Cousin James Cook which happen’d very suddenly from the Breaking a Blood Vessel has Shaken your Father, a good deal, he had taken up a great Prejudice in his favor, of Which he was very deserving, he was A very Rising Character in the Law & had more Business than any 3 men in the County,7 your Father, had put all his hands for he is obliged to Sue every man to Realize one Shilling Such is the honor & honesty, of this part of the World, your father has in Consequence of the above event Perswaded Mr Cranch to take your Cousins office, & has put all his papers into his hands Which has induced many People to follow his Example and I sincerely hope it will be the means of enabling Mr C to provide for his familly who have been very much deranged by the failure, of Mr Greenleaf 8 Poor Mr Morris is in gaol and I am afraid will ever Remain, Mrs Marshal Passed through Frederick Last Week while I was there I did not know any thing of it, till she was gone or

534

April 1798 I Certainly Shou’d have waited on her and offer’d her any assistance in my Power, neither Allegations or appearances will ever prevent me from giving every Consolation; Misfortune Requires from Mrs Adams who is so kind as to give me every information Concerning you I learnt Mr Tom Adams had been very ill, I flatter myself he is now Perfectly Recover’d, if his happiness & Prosperity, in this Life, depended on the wishes of his Coopers Row friends,9 his Success wou’d be no Longer doubtful make my affectionate Love to him, Mr Adams Letter of the 11th October, Came safe to hand, but not till the begining of February, it was then to soon, the Letter that accompanied it & the motive, I think, to A generous Mind, Woud have Stampt its own infamy, you know your Fathers heart, & will not I trust be easily led, to believe that he is Villain, I will however drop the Subject, & leave it to time, the developer of all things to discover, but was Mr A here he woud be taught to know, that neither Exalted Worth or Exalted Station, are Sufficient to Protect any man from Slander & Calumniations10 I wrote you in January by the Peggy11 Mrs Adams will forward this with her own Letters, My best Respects to Mr Adams, and believe me my Dear Child your affectionate Mother C Johnson Let me know if Epps is with you12 RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs: Louisa C Adams / Berlin”; docketed by JQA: “Louisa Catherine.” 1 That is, Walter Hellen, a tobacco merchant in Washington, D.C. The couple’s marriage license was issued on 18 Oct. (LCA, D&A, 1:36, 196; J. Thomas Scharf, History of Western Maryland. Being a History of Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties from the Earliest Period to the Present Day, 2 vols., Phila., 1882, 1:662). 2 Harriet (1781–1850) and Catherine Maria Frances Johnson (1786–1869), for whom see LCA, D&A, 2:774. 3 Uriah Forrest (1756–1805), for whom see vol. 7:27, was married to Rebecca Plater (1765–1843), the daughter of Gov. George Plater of Maryland; they were two of the earliest residents of the District of Columbia. Rebecca’s sister Ann (ca. 1774–1834) was the wife of Washington, D.C., lawyer Philip Barton Key. Anna Maria Murray (d. 1857) had married in 1796 John Mason, a Georgetown, D.C., banker and wharf owner (Biog.

Dir. Cong.; Kate Kearney Henry, “Richard Forrest and His Times, 1795–1830,” Columbia Hist. Soc., Records, 5:88, 89 [1902]; Edward C. Papenfuse, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635–1789, 2 vols., Baltimore, 1979–1985, 2:651; Baltimore Sun, 7 Sept. 1843; Pittsfield, Mass., Sun, 10 Dec. 1857; Mary E. Curry, “Theodore Roosevelt Island: A Broken Link to Early Washington, D.C. History,” Columbia Hist. Soc., Records, 71/72:20 [1971/1972]). 4 George Washington visited Georgetown and Washington, D.C., between 7 and 9 Feb. 1798 to attend a meeting of the shareholders of the Potomac Company. Catherine Nuth and Joshua Johnson would visit Mount Vernon in May 1799, accompanied by Thomas Baker Johnson and TBA (Washington, Diaries, 6:280, 281, 349). 5 That is, Catherine (Kitty) Carroll, whom LCA had met in England (LCA, D&A, 1:25). 6 On 26 April 1798 Charles Wallace, for

535

Adams Family Correspondence whom see LCA, D&A, 1:3, married his second wife, Mary Bull Ranken, who was approximately fifty years old (The Diary of William Faris: The Daily Life of an Annapolis Silversmith, ed. Mark B. Letzer and Jean B. Russo, Baltimore, 2003, p. 104, 287). 7 James Cook (b. 1772), a lawyer in the District of Columbia, died on 16 April. He was the son of George and Elizabeth Johnson Cook, Joshua Johnson’s sister (Baltimore Federal Gazette, 25 April; Williams and McKinsey, Hist. of Frederick County, 1:111). 8 In a letter to AA of 8 May, William Cranch recounted Joshua Johnson’s offer to place his own legal affairs in Cranch’s hands on the condition that Cranch assume the law office of James Cook. Cranch also reported that he had purchased Cook’s law library and office furniture and would soon move his family to Georgetown to be closer to the new

office (Adams Papers). 9 From 1783 to 1797 the Johnson family lived in Cooper’s Row on Great Tower Hill, London (LCA, D&A, 1:7). 10 See JQA to Joshua Johnson, 11 Oct. 1797, above. 11 The letter has not been found but was likely carried by the bark Peggy, Capt. Robert Gore, which sailed from Alexandria, Va., on 22 Jan. 1798 (Alexandria Times, 22 Jan.; Baltimore Federal Gazette, 30 Aug.). 12 Elizabeth Epps (1781–1823) of Canterbury, England, served as LCA’s maid before marrying Tilly Whitcomb in March 1802 (A. C. Thompson, Eliot Memorial Sketches Historical and Biographical of the Eliot Church and Society, Boston, Boston, 1900, p. 437; D/JQA/34, 26 Aug. 1823, APM Reel 37; LCA, D&A, 1:84, 121, 165, 166).

Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch my dear sister Philadelphia 28 April 1798 I have just received yours of the 23 April and I sit down to answer your inquiries respecting the building I wrote to dr Tufts my Ideas upon it.1 I should think the East Chambers the best for a Library and I do not see any inconvenience from having the stairs to it without doors like going into a store as mr Tufts store is built.2 I pray neither the dr or mr Black when he comes will say any thing about the Building. I mean to have it all done Snug, and the Library removed if I can before I come, and I pray the dr to inform me of the cost which I design to Secure monthly from my expences here—3 I know the President will be glad when it is done, but he can never bear to trouble himself about any thing of the kind, and he has no taste for it, and he has too many publick cares to think of his own affairs you mention Betsys Shaws illness. I did not know She had been sick, except the beginning of the winter. I am allarmd for her The caps are at the bottom of the Box sent to cousin Betsy. I see by the papers that the vessel is arrived. if she is not at home you may open the Box I never received the Letter in which the Dr Mentions having inclosed the plan. tell the dr if four or 5 Hunderd dollors will meet the object, I will remit the remainder to him as he shall have occasion.— The Child is very well let mrs Black know—

536

April 1798 the weather yesterday was very Hot and is like to be so to day. I had a very full drawing Room last evening— I must close them in May. I cannot have them in Hot weather. I went yesterday to return Some visits, and where ever I past, I received a marked notice of Bows & the Friends in the street in their Way noticed me. I thought nothing of it, untill my attention was caught by a Bunch of Tradesmen they lookt like, who at the corners of the street saluted me as I past with their Hats— in short we are now wonderfully popular except with Bache & co who in his paper calls the President old querilous Bald blind cripled Toothless Adams4 thus in scripture was the Prophet mocked, and tho no Bears may devour the wretch, the wrath of an insulted people will by & by break upon him—5 I have not time to add more than my Love and Regards to all Friends / from your / affectionate sister A Adams RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.” 1 AA’s letter to Cotton Tufts has not been found. 2 Cotton Tufts Jr., for whom see vol. 1:15 and CFA, Diary, 5:82, ran a store in Weymouth (Bond, Watertown Genealogies, 2:725). 3 In his letter to AA of 12 May Cotton Tufts estimated the cost of construction at Peacefield to be between $600 and $700, of which he needed $200 to $300 before July. In a letter of 28 May he revised the estimate to closer to $700, excluding the cost of painting, and he repeated his immediate need for cash to meet expenses (both Adams Papers). 4 The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 27 April, printed a letter warning Americans against alienating “the only nation upon earth, from whose amity she can expect permanent advantage.” It claimed that because the United States “is destined to occupy a

superior station” it would be “ludicrous to suppose” that JA, with his “cankered murmurs” and traits quoted by AA, along with the “venal machinations of the Executive tide-waiters, cake-catchers, meat-mongers, bubble-gulpers—the Harpers, Otis’s and Sewalls, can have any other effect, than to afford additional and experimental proof of the folly of trusting such men with power.” 5 “And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them” (2 Kings, 2:23–24).

Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams Quincy april 29th 1798 I am doom’d my dear Sister to be the messenger of death to you. I believe for five weeks past my Letters have convey’d you an account of the death of Some Freind or acquaintence & almost all of them Suddenly taken away the death of Sucky warner whos remains I yesterday Saw depositted by the Side of our dear Parents & much belov’d aunt.1 there to remain till the last trumpet Shall bid them Spring to life was not so. for Several weeks She has had great Suf-

537

Adams Family Correspondence ferings which she bore with the utmost patience she may be truely Said to “Sing her self away to everlasting bliss.[”]2 while dying She Sung till She was quite Spent that Hymn of Docr. watts. There is a House not made with hands. Eternal & on high &c—3 & when She could Sing no longer She desir’d her aunt to repeat the rest. mrs Tufts is much affected but not So much as cousen Lucy. Sucky was so fond of her that She could Scarcly bear her out of her sight. & most faithfully nurs’d she was by her Cousen Lucy has been familliar with death for the year past the Scenes She was witness to in her uncles Family at Newburry were very distressing4 the poor Girl looks as if She had been sick herself. I was Shock’d to see how low Doctor Tufts himself was. he has had a turn of pain at his breast for five or Six days which with the death of Sucky & the care it devolv’d upon him has reduc’d him So low that he could hardly Speak. he has no appetite & has Sweat profusely. the pain has left him— I thought he did very wrong to go out but he would— I am griev’d for mr & mrs Smith. they have lost their little Mary. mrs Greenleaf calld upon mrs Smith yesterday morning as Soon as She return’d. She had spent the week with us She write me that mrs Smith appear’d really bow’d down with Such repeated Strokes of affliction mrs Greenleaf told he before that She Saw no one more distress’d by the death of Doctor Clark than mrs Smith she thought She would have been made Sick by it. She had but just return’d from the Funiral of her Father when mary was So Suddenly Snatch’d away. I have not been in Boston Since the day She was first taken ill in the winter but heard she was almost well. I thought I saw death in her face the day She was taken sick. I believe She has been in a consumtion. She was pined to Skin & bone I am told. I believe they had no Idea of her danger. Isaac is but just got to School again5 The loss of the kindl & friendly Soothings of Doctor clark makes the present trouble more grievous— what a world this is! full of publick & private troubles—but never I believe was there So Sudden & So universal a change in the publick mind as has been made in So Short a time as in the three weeks past— The Southern People Say the President has jocky’d the Jacobins the Northern, That he has out Manieuverd them & the Honest Tars that he has get to the winder’d of them. all agree that he has acted with conssumate wisdom.

538

April 1798 mr Norton has been writing Fast Sermons upon the Story of Senacarib & Hezekiah & he will have very fine discourses I think— do read the 2d of kings 18 & 19 chapters, 2d of chronicles, 32 chapter, & the 36th & 37 chap. of Isaiah, & see what a similarity there is between the History of Senacarib & the republick of France at the present day. mr Nortens Text is in the 2d of Kings 19th chap. 14th verse—“And Hezekiah received the Letter of the Hand of the Messengers & read it: & Hezekiah went up into the House of the Lord & spread it before the Lord—”6 The Ministers will in general be Zealous & we shall have excellent performences from mr Whitman I expect Something very good. I do not know any one who preaches more good sermons than he does he has given us two very excellent ones to day mrs Baxter came out all day for the first time She is feeble but much better than I ever expected to see her.— mr Soule is gone home. I never Saw any one mend So fast as he did after taking the calomel. I veryly believe he would have dy’d Soon if he had not sent for Doctor Tufts I am Sorry to hear mr Greenleaf has not obtaind his liberty as you Suppos’d he had. I inform’d his Family that he had. but they had heard he had not. Daniel & Thomas are coming with their Families to live in Quiny they have Let their houses in Boston7 my Love to cousin Louisa had better get the President to free her Letters to her Sister & let them go immediately to Atkinson She will get them Sooner by a week. If I could ever get a Pen mended as it Should be I would not send you Such bad writing— mrs Black has been with me this evening. She is very well we are going to make mrs Bois a visit tomorrow I have not been there for Several years—8 mr Black will be with you before this letter reaches you if he is well. I hope he will find the child alive & well.9 what would have been its fate if you had not been its protectors! mrs Black Says She Shall not feel easey till She gets it out of Philadelphia. they were very much greiv’d when they read your Letter to mrs B. not only for mr Blacks cruilty to the Baby but that he Should give you so much unnecessary trouble10 Doctor Tufts told me had receiv’d a Letter from you the last week11 in which was answer’d most of the questions he had propos’d to you. but that you had not Said whither you would like to have the Stairs to the office chamber out of doors So as to go in without entering the house or whether it would be best to take an entry &

539

Adams Family Correspondence Stairs from the present office— it will make the room a few feet Smaller— I think your Sons must be agreably Situated & I auger good from the mission to that court I hope you will have their private Letters Soon Mrs Smith & Cousens Charles Family are I hope well do when you write tell all of them that thier aunt continues to love them & wishes them every good good night my dear Sister tis after twelve. but I knew I Should not have time to write tomorrow & I could not bear to let a Week pass without asking you how you did & assuring you of the tender affection / of your Sister Mary Cranch RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “April 2 Mrs Cranch.” 1 Sukey Warner died on 27 April and was buried at the North Weymouth Cemetery, where Rev. William and Elizabeth Quincy Smith and Lucy Quincy Tufts were also interred (Vital Records of Weymouth Massachusetts to the Year 1850, 2 vols., Boston, 1910, 2:6, 340, 357, 362). 2 Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in Three Books, Book II, Hymn 14, lines 15–16. 3 2 Corinthians, 5:1. 4 Lucy Hall (b. 1783) was the daughter of Cotton Tufts’ niece, Lucy Tufts Hall, for whom see vol. 7:423. She appears to have been living with her great-uncle Samuel Tufts when his children died, for which see Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to AA, 29 July 1797, and note 10, above (David B. Hall, The Halls of New England: Genealogical and Biographical, Albany, N.Y., 1883, p. 162). 5 William Smith first wrote to AA of his children’s ill health on 25 Feb. 1798, reporting that Isaac had been “unwell for several weeks past” but was now better and that Mary was confined with a “slow fever.” On 11 March Smith noted that Isaac was still out of school and Mary, although seemingly improving, did not have strength enough to walk across the room. By 22 April Mary had taken a turn for the worse and Smith reported that his daughter was now “exceeding ill” and had not had “her senses since 3 oClock” (all Adams Papers). Mary Carter Smith was seven years old when she died on 25 April (Boston Price-Current, 26 April). 6 News of JA’s 23 March fast day proclamation reached Boston by 4 April. Writing on 21 and 23 April and 8 May, Rev. Jacob Norton took 2 Kings, 19:14, as the topic of his

sermon, a passage which forms part of the story of Hezekiah and Sennacherib, the kings of Judah and Assyria, respectively, and which is told in the passages noted by Cranch. Sennacherib, after capturing many fortified cities in Judah and receiving a tribute of gold and silver from Hezekiah, laid siege to Jerusalem. Hezekiah responded by reinforcing the city’s defenses, but when he received a message with the Assyrian demands he carried it to the temple and asked God for the salvation of his people. His prayer was answered; the Assyrian armies were destroyed and Sennacherib killed. In a letter to AA of 12 May (Adams Papers), Cotton Tufts described Norton’s sermon as a “very good political Discourse . . . he delineated the Conduct of France towards America from our first Connection with them to the present Time in a fair & just Point of Light” (Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 27 March; Boston Columbian Centinel, 4 April; MHi:Jacob Norton Diaries, 1787–1818). 7 Daniel Greenleaf, for whom see CFA, Diary, 2:153 and 3:57, was an elder brother of James. In 1785 he married his cousin Elizabeth Greenleaf (1765–1839), the daughter of Dr. John and Ann Wroe Greenleaf and the sister of Thomas Greenleaf (1767–1854), Harvard 1784, who later became a justice of the peace in Quincy. Prior to relocating to Quincy, both men were recorded as “druggists” in Boston, Thomas at 62 Cornhill and Daniel with a house in Brattle Square. Thomas married Mary Deming Price in 1787, and the couple had four children (Greenleaf, Greenleaf Family, p. 207, 209–210, 217; Harvard Quinquennial Cat., p. 200; Boston Di-

540

April 1798 rectory, 1796, p. 50; Sprague, Braintree Families). 8 That is, Sarah Hanson Clark Boies of Milton (vol. 8:286). 9 Moses Black arrived in Philadelphia on 3 May 1798. On the 10th he sent Elenora Malony, her child, Nancy Hall, and Nabby Hunt by vessel. He departed for Quincy on

13 May and arrived on the 17th (AA to Cranch, 7, 10 May; to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 13 May, all AA, New Letters, p. 168–172, 173–174; Cranch to AA, 18 May, Adams Papers). 10 AA to Esther Duncan Black, 15 April, above. 11 Not found.

541

Adams Family Correspondence

542

Appendix

543

544

Appendix LIST OF OMITTED DOCUMENTS The following list includes 126 documents that have been omitted from volume 12 of Adams Family Correspondence and one document that has come to the editors’ attention since the publication of the volume in which it would have appeared. Each entry consists of the date, correspondents, form in which the letter exists (Dft, FC-Pr, LbC, RC, Tr, etc.), location, and publication, if known. All copies that exist in some form in the Adams Papers are noted. The letters between John Adams and John Quincy Adams in their public roles that have been omitted from the Family Correspondence will be considered for inclusion in forthcoming volumes of Series III, General Correspondence and Other Papers of the Adams Statesmen. 12 April

4 March

6 March 8 March 15 March 16 March

1796 Thomas Boylston Adams to Joseph Pitcairn, RC (NHi:Gilder Lehrman Coll., on deposit). 1797 John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:135–137. Abigail Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Margaret Stephens Smith to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Adams to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Adams to Margaret Stephens Smith, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 117.

545

Adams Family Correspondence Appendix

Adams Family Correspondence 18 March

25 March 29 March 30 March

1 April 3 April

6 April 6 April 7 April 12 April 13 April 18 April 21 April 21 April 23 April 28 April 30 April

4 May 4 May

John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:142–144. John Adams to Richard Cranch, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 117. Abigail Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; FCPr (Adams Papers); Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:148–152. John Adams to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:155–157. John Adams to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Adams to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Adams to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson, RC (Adams Papers); FC-Pr (Adams Papers), APM Reel 131. Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Richard Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson, RC (Adams Papers); FC-Pr (Adams Papers), APM Reel 131. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:159–162. Abigail Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Adams to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers).

546

Appendix 5 May 11 May 12 May 14 May 16 May 19 May 20 May

[27? May] 2 June 4 June 5 June 6 June 7 June

7 June 14 June 19 June 20 June

John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:165–167. John Quincy Adams to Joshua Johnson, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson, RC (Adams Papers); FC-Pr (Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; FCPr (Adams Papers); Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:167–170. Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Adams to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 117; Tr (Adams Papers); printed: JA, Works, 8:545. John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. John Quincy Adams to Joshua Johnson, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:177–180. John Quincy Adams to Joshua Johnson, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. John Adams to Cotton Tufts, RC (private owner, 1971). Elizabeth Ellery Dana to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers).

547

Adams Family Correspondence 29 June June 1 July 2 July

5 July 8 July 9 July 11 July 15 July [ca. 18 July] 19 July 23 July 25 July 27 July 7 Aug. 7 Aug. 10 Aug.

John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. Abigail Adams to Francis Dana, RC (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to William Smith, RC (MHi:SmithCarter Family Papers). John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:181–184. Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, RC (MWA: Abigail Adams Letters); printed: AA, New Letters, p. 102–103. Abigail Adams to Elbridge Gerry, RC (MB:Abigail Adams Correspondence, 1779–1797); Dft (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to William Smith, RC (MHi:SmithCarter Family Papers). Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, RC (MWA: Abigail Adams Letters); printed: AA, New Letters, p. 103–104. John Adams to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers); Tr (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to Ruth Hooper Dalton, Dft (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to William Smith, RC (MHi:SmithCarter Family Papers). Abigail Adams to Charles Storer, RC (MHi:Norcross Autograph Coll.); printed: MHS, Procs., 62:24–25 (1928–1929). Thomas Welsh to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Cotton Tufts to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (private owner, 1984); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers).

548

Appendix 17 Aug.

Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 31 Aug. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:198–199. 11 Sept. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed: JQA, Writings, 2:199–207. 19 Sept. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:207–210. 21 Sept. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:210–216. [ante 25] Sept. Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers). 25 Sept. Rosanna Duncan Lamb to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 30 Sept. Hannah Storer Green to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 5 Oct. Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, RC (MWA: Abigail Adams Letters); printed: AA, New Letters, p. 107–108. 16 Oct. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 129. 16 Oct. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 2d letter, LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130. 22 Oct. Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, RC (MWA: Abigail Adams Letters); printed: AA, New Letters, p. 108–109. 8 Nov. William Smith to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 13 Nov. Agnes Frances Lockyer Freire to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 23 Nov. Abigail Adams to Ann Thompson Gerry, RC (private owner, 1971). 26 Nov. William Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers).

549

Adams Family Correspondence 7 Dec. 15 Dec. 16 Dec.

18 Dec. 18 Dec. 22 Dec.

3 Jan. 5 Jan. 14 Jan. 15 Jan. 29 Jan. 31 Jan.

Jan. 1 Feb. 17 Feb.

20 Feb. 22 Feb.

Abigail Adams to Esther Duncan Black, RC (NcD: Trent History of Medicine Manuscript Coll.). Abigail Adams to Esther Duncan Black, RC (NcD: Trent History of Medicine Manuscript Coll.). John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:231–234. Abigail Adams to Esther Duncan Black, RC (NcD: Trent History of Medicine Manuscript Coll.). Abigail Adams to William Smith, RC (MHi:SmithTownsend Family Papers). Rev. William Walter to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 1798 John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers). Uriah Tracy to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Ann Thompson Gerry to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 130; Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:247–252. Abigail Adams to William Smith, RC (MHi:SmithCarter Family Papers). John Adams to Cotton Tufts, RC (MHi:Anna E. Roth Coll.). John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 133; FCPr (Adams Papers); Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:255–257. Cotton Tufts to John Adams, Dft (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to William Smith, RC (MHi:SmithCarter Family Papers).

550

Appendix 22 Feb.

Richard Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 25 Feb. John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 133; FCPr (Adams Papers); Tr (Adams Papers); printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:263–264. 25 Feb. William Smith to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 28 Feb. Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, RC (MWA: Abigail Adams Letters); printed: AA, New Letters, p. 136–138. 1 March John Adams to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers); Tr (Adams Papers). 2 March Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). [post 2 March] William Smith to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 7 March Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 11 March William Smith to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 13 March Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, RC (MWA: Abigail Adams Letters); printed: AA, New Letters, p. 142–144. 19 March Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 20 March Cotton Tufts to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers); Dft (Adams Papers). 21 March Abigail Adams to Hannah Quincy Lincoln Storer, Dft (Adams Papers). 24 March Abigail Adams to William Smith, RC (MHi:SmithCarter Family Papers). 26 March Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 29 March Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers). 30 March Abigail Adams to Esther Duncan Black, RC (NcD: Trent History of Medicine Manuscript Coll.). 30 March Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts, RC (Adams Papers).

551

Adams Family Correspondence 2 April 3 April 6 April 8 April 8 April 9 April 12 April 12 April 12 April 13 April [13] April 15 April 15 April 16 April 21 April 22 April 22 April

William Smith to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to William Smith, RC (MHi:SmithCarter Family Papers). Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to William Smith, RC (MHi:SmithTownsend Family Papers). Abigail Adams to William Smith Shaw, RC (DLC: Shaw Family Papers). Abigail Adams to Moses Black, RC (private owner, 1988). Abigail Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, RC (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to Norton Quincy, RC (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to William Cranch, RC (private owner, 2006). Robert Goodloe Harper to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). John Quincy Adams to John Adams, RC (Adams Papers); LbC (Adams Papers), APM Reel 133; printed (in part): JQA, Writings, 2:275–278. Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts, RC (Adams Papers). Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, RC (MWA: Abigail Adams Letters); printed: AA, New Letters, p. 157–160. Abigail Adams to Hannah Carter Smith, RC (MHi: Smith-Carter Family Papers). William Smith to Abigail Adams, RC (Adams Papers).

Adams Family Correspondence

552

Chronology

553

554

Chronology THE ADAMS FAMILY, 1797–1798 1797 2 March: The French Directory issues a decree permitting French ships to seize neutral vessels carrying enemy cargo and requiring notarized crew lists. 4 March: JA is inaugurated as the second president of the United States. 16 April: TBA departs for Paris, arriving on 22 April; he returns to The Hague on 26 May. 19–22 April: CA visits JA in Philadelphia. 21 April: Susanna Boylston Adams Hall, JA’s mother, dies in Quincy. 23 April: Mary Smith, AA’s niece, dies in Quincy. 27 April: AA departs Quincy for Philadelphia, arriving on 10 May after visiting AA2 in Eastchester, N.Y., and CA in New York City. April 1797: WSS departs on an extended trip through central New York and the Northwest Territory, returning in Jan. 1798. 15 May: The 1st session of the 5th Congress convenes in Philadelphia; it sits until 10 July. 16 May: JA addresses Congress about deteriorating Franco-American relations. 20 May: JA nominates JQA to be minister plenipotentiary to Prussia; the Senate confirms the appointment 31 May. JQA learns of the appointment on 7 July and receives his commission and instructions on 22 September. 31 May: JA nominates Francis Dana and John Marshall to join Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to France. The Senate confirms the appointments on 5 June. On 20 June JA nominates Elbridge Gerry in place of Dana; the Senate consents on 22 June.

555

Adams Family Correspondence Chronology

Adams Family Correspondence 20 June: JQA delivers his letters of recall to the Batavian National Assembly. 26 June: Richard Cranch, son of William and Anna Greenleaf Cranch, is born in Washington, D.C. 28 June: JQA and TBA depart The Hague for London, arriving on 12 July. 3 July: JA submits evidence of the Blount affair to Congress. 24 July: JA and AA depart Philadelphia for Quincy, arriving on 5 Aug. after visiting CA and AA2 in New York. They bring with them AA2’s sons, William Steuben Smith and John Adams Smith. 26 July: JQA and LCA marry at the Church of All Hallows Barking in London. 23 Aug.: JQA is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 31 Aug. – 14 Sept.: AA and Mary Smith Cranch visit Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody in Atkinson, N.H., bringing with them William Steuben Smith and John Adams Smith, who are enrolled in Atkinson Academy. 4 Sept.: The coup d’état of An. V, 18 fructidor, in Paris results in the expulsion of conservatives from the French Directory and legislature. 9 Sept.: The Johnson family departs London for Georgetown, D.C., arriving 25 November. 14 Sept.: Lucy Greenleaf, the first child of John and Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, is born in Boston. 27 Sept.: Charles Salmon Smith, AA’s nephew, dies in Haverhill, Mass. 3 Oct.: JA and AA depart Quincy for Philadelphia, arriving at Eastchester, N.Y., on 11 October. They stay with AA2 until 7 Nov. because of a yellow fever outbreak in the capital. 16 Oct.: JQA, LCA, and TBA depart London for Berlin, arriving on 7 November. 10 Nov.: JA and AA arrive in Philadelphia. 13 Nov.: The 2d session of the 5th Congress convenes in Philadelphia; it sits until 16 July 1798. 16 Nov.: King Frederick William II of Prussia dies. He is succeeded to the throne by his son, who is crowned Frederick William III. 5 Dec.: JQA is presented to King Frederick William III.

556

Chronology 1798 1 Jan.: William Abdee, Adams family servant and husband of former slave Phoebe Abdee, dies in Quincy. 18 Jan.: The French Directory issues a decree declaring all ships carrying British goods to be lawful prizes and restricting any vessel having visited British ports from entry into French ports. 30 Jan.: Matthew Lyon and Roger Griswold have an altercation on the House floor. A second confrontation occurs 15 Feb.; neither man is expelled for his actions. 4 March: The first dispatches from the American commissioners to France arrive in Philadelphia. 12 March: JA nominates JQA to renew the Swedish-American treaty, having previously commissioned him for that purpose in June 1797. The Senate confirms the appointment on 14 March 1798. 19 March: JA addresses Congress, reporting the failure of the mission to France. He authorizes merchant vessels to arm and urges Congress to provide for the defense of the nation. 23 March: JA proclaims a fast day for 9 May. 3 April: JA submits to Congress copies of the instructions to, and dispatches from, the American commissioners to France. Congress votes to publish the dispatches on 6 April and the instructions on 9 April, thereby making the XYZ Affair public. 25 April: “The President’s March” (later “Hail Columbia”) is first performed at the New Theatre in Philadelphia; AA is in attendance.

557

558

Index

559

NOTE ON THE INDEX The index for volume 12 of the Adams Family Correspondence is designed to supplement the annotation, when possible, by furnishing the correct spellings of names, supplying forenames when they are lacking in the text, and indicating dates, occupations, and places of residence when they will aid in identification. Markedly variant spellings of proper names have been cross-referenced to what are believed to be their most nearly standard forms, and the variant forms found in the manuscripts are parenthetically recorded following the standard spellings. Cross references under maiden names are used for women who were single when first mentioned in the text and were married subsequently but before the end of April 1798. Branches, departments, and positions within the U.S. federal government are indexed individually under the name of the entity, with subdivisions as appropriate. For example, the Supreme Court is found as a subentry under “Judiciary, U.S.” while “Presidency, U.S.” stands as a main entry. Subentries appear in alphabetical order by the primary word of the subentry. Abbreviations are alphabetized as if they were spelled out, thus “JQA” is alphabetized under “Adams, John Quincy.” The Chronology, “The Adams Family, 1797–1798,” has not been included in the index. The index was compiled in the Adams Papers office.

560

Index AA. See ADAMS, ABIGAIL SMITH (1744– 1818, wife of JA) AA2. See ADAMS, ABIGAIL, 2d (1765–1813, wife of WSS) Abbot, Benjamin (Phillips Exeter Academy headmaster), 227, 251; identified, 229 Abbot, P. (of Constantinople), 270 Abdee, Phoebe (Adams family servant): W. Abdee and, 327, 333, 346, 350, 359; AA on, 346, 357; Mary Cranch on, 349–50, 388; health of, 349–50, 359; helps other African Americans and the poor, 350, 357, 359, 415; support and provisions for, 313, 327, 333, 335, 346–47, 348, 350, 357, 358–59, 377, 522 Abdee, William (husband of Phoebe), 327, 333, 346, 348, 350, 357, 359 Aberdeen, Scotland, 189 Abington, Mass., 47, 514, 515, 516, 518 ADAMS, ABIGAIL, 2d (Nabby, 1765–1813, daughter of AA and JA, wife of WSS, designated as AA2 in The Adams Papers) character, appearance, habits anxiety of, 27, 284; Mary Cranch on, 131, 159; health of, 104, 390; letter writing of, xx, 284; Elizabeth Peabody on, 229; religious beliefs of, 27; WSS on, xxxi, 461 domestic life correspondence with LCA, 269, 283; correspondence with WSS, xxx, 105, 245, 276, 288, 312, 314, 315, 461; Mary Cranch on, 274, 327, 414, 464; Mary Cranch suggests Quincy visit for, 131, 274, 288; marriage of, 414; relationship with LCA, 232, 284; relationship with Mary Cranch, xxx, 180, 262, 300, 349, 359, 540; resides in Eastchester, N.Y., 204, 323; servants of, 334; WSS’s absence and, xxx, 104, 105, 117, 159, 204, 245, 261, 268, 274, 276, 288, 300, 312, 323, 327, 328, 334, 349, 357, 369, 376, 450,

461, 496; WSS sends money to, 288; Vermont lands of, 417, 418 letters Letters: To JA (1797), 26; To JQA (1797), 283 Letters: From AA (1798), 495; From JQA (1798), 386 96, 220, 484

mentioned

opinions and beliefs LCA, 283, 284; T. Jefferson, 27 relationship with children desires news of sons, 245, 288–89, 312, 337; education of sons and, 27, 228, 327, 375, 457; Peabodys’ care of sons and, 330; sends clothing for sons, 331; separation from sons, 289, 312; Caroline Smith as companion of, 328 relationship with parents AA and care of sons of, 228–29, 246, 278; AA on, xxx, 104, 117, 204, 245, 268, 272–73, 276, 312, 328, 334, 345, 450, 496; AA sends items and news to, 125, 193, 266–67, 397, 495, 496; as AA’s legacy, 60; AA’s public role and, 334; AA wants in Philadelphia, xxx, 245, 268, 272–73, 274, 276, 278, 286, 288, 312, 328, 334, 395; on JA’s election, 26–27; correspondence with AA, 183, 193, 204, 245, 288, 312, 314, 334, 369, 376, 400, 426, 450, 496; parents and correspondence of, 268, 337, 422; parents visit, xxx, 64, 98, 103, 104, 116–17, 209, 260, 261, 274, 285; separation from parents, 27, 33, 135, 270; visits parents, 497 relationship with siblings CA and correspondence of, 495; JQA on, 232, 257, 375, 386; on JQA’s marriage, 283–84,

561

Adams Family Correspondence Index

Adams Family Correspondence ADAMS, ABIGAIL, 2d (continued) 386; TBA on, 395; affection for JQA, 284; correspondence with JQA, xxx, 269, 518; separation from JQA, 284, 386

ADAMS, ABIGAIL SMITH (1744–1818, wife of JA, designated as AA in The Adams Papers)

character, appearance, habits aging of, 102, 286–87; clothing of, xi, 159, 531–32; William Cranch on, 441; dreams of, 467; exercise of, 124, 157, 486, 492; frugality of, 39, 46, 266; grief of, xxiii, 86, 89, 92, 93, 98, 102, 163, 247, 492, 522; handwriting of, 118, 145, 470, 523; health of, 16, 39, 54, 70, 86, 102–103, 117, 130, 140, 157, 160, 163, 178, 182, 183, 193, 199, 201, 202, 203, 208, 210, 211, 223, 236, 247, 262, 308, 313, 325, 334, 366, 370, 377, 407, 486, 494, 524, 531; interest in politics of, xxiv, 21, 103, 185; letter writing of, xix–xx, xxiv, 4, 59, 62, 103–104, 121, 185, 192, 193, 218, 284– 85, 329, 352, 447, 494–95, 523, 532; as mother, 121, 274; M. Pinckney compared to, 196; portrait of, xi, xii, 264 (illus.); prefers private life, 142, 325, 437, 468, 492, 522; pride in New England heritage, 247, 468; religious beliefs of, 86, 99, 192, 245–46, 318, 324, 334, 423–24, 466–67, 472, 492–93, 507; scarred in carriage accident, 247; WSS on, 461

books and reading Bible, 2, 48, 62, 100, 143, 144, 145, 167, 190, 192, 207, 246, 313, 357, 398, 408, 456, 466, 484, 490, 493, 537; Charles Billinge, 286, 287; Edmund Burke, 291–92, 456–57, 481–82, 491, 493, 520–21, 523, 526, 528; Fanny Burney, 408; Edward Church, 29; Charles Churchill, 29; John Dryden, 518; Charles François Dumouriez, 398; Thomas Erskine, 336; Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet, 344; John Gifford, 336; gifts of, 8; Oliver Goldsmith, 161; Robert Goodloe Harper, 469, 522; Francis Hopkinson, 480, 486; Joseph Hopkinson, 480, 483, 486; Isaac Bickerstaff, 277; William King, 501; lending of, 391; William Melmoth, 310; James Miller, 168; Milton, 117, 277, 291, 293, 489, 498, 505, 517; Comte de Mirabeau, 449; James Monroe, 344, 389, 390; Edward Moore, 6; newspapers, 3, 21, 40, 48, 49, 60, 71, 125, 126, 137, 139, 140, 142, 143, 144, 148, 179, 188, 189, 190, 203, 211, 246, 266, 268, 276–77, 285, 289, 291, 317, 318, 319, 320, 323, 336–37, 368, 369, 376–77, 379, 383, 401, 402, 419, 436, 438, 439, 449, 451, 454, 458, 468, 469, 485, 489, 490, 493, 516, 518, 531, 536; Thomas Paine, 6, 449; Peter Porcupine, 210; Alexander Pope, 61, 164, 307, 456; purchases books, 501; Scipio, 456; Shakespeare, 50, 139, 318, 483, 516; Laurence Sterne, 438, 466; John Suckling, 207; John Tillotson, 92; Voltaire, 169; Isaac Watts, 466, 485; Helen Maria Williams, 336; Johan de Witt, 398; Edward Young, 9, 99, 163, 286, 423, 424

domestic life advises Mary Cranch, 201, 409; advises Elizabeth Peabody, 252, 312–13, 328; affection for Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 320; affection for Elizabeth Norton, 320; assists family and neighbors, 78, 143, 185, 186, 209, 211, 219, 227, 233, 246, 251, 252, 346–47, 356, 357, 377, 475, 522; attends funerals, 3, 19, 92; cares for Susanna Hall, 3, 50, 71, 73, 79, 86–87, 183, 184; charity of, 47, 96, 131, 313, 314, 325, 335, 358, 377, 378, 414, 435, 493, 522; church attendance, 192, 510; concern for Elizabeth Smith (AA’s niece), 261; concern for Louisa Smith, 212; condolences sent to, 181, 183; William Cranch and, 211, 320, 327, 405, 426, 435, 464; daily routine of, 124, 157; exchanges news and publications with Mary Cranch, 140, 190, 211, 262, 289, 295, 300, 315, 323, 333, 335, 368, 401, 408, 454, 468, 473, 486, 489, 491, 529, 531; exchanges news and publications with William Cranch, 292, 318, 319, 502; exchanges news and publications with William Shaw, 226, 336, 337, 361, 456, 476, 478, 480; friendships of, 17, 181–82, 247; E. Gerry and, 204, 206; gift giving of, 125–26, 159, 172, 193, 252, 263, 335, 356, 388, 475, 490, 491, 493, 501, 522, 525, 531, 536; gifts to, 169, 170, 171, 225, 226, 307, 352; missed by Quincy friends and family, 158, 180, 181, 185, 405; relationship with LCA, xxvii, 310, 516; relationship with sisters, 180, 183–84, 290; requests information from Elizabeth Peabody, 235; search for Quincy minister and, 132, 133, 349; sends

social life in France, 119–20; in London, 232, 233, 284; M. S. Smith visits, 334; visits New York City, 288 travels to England (1792), 284; possible to Philadelphia, 300, 349, 395, 434; to Quincy (1798), 497 writings Journal and Correspondence, 87, 497

562

Index ADAMS, ABIGAIL SMITH (continued) items to Mary Cranch, 193, 201, 356; sends publications to Richard Cranch, 158, 172, 219, 488, 514; sends publications to E. E. Dana, 179; sends publications to William Smith, 202, 379, 419, 469, 493, 506, 507; sends publications to T. Welsh, 137; William Shaw visits, 235; Hannah Carter Smith and, 267, 302; Louisa Smith as secretary for, 23, 80, 84, 145, 198, 199, 268, 292, 308, 383, 453, 457, 459, 463, 470, 482, 511; welfare of A. Hall and, 323, 324, 332–33, 335, 346, 348, 349, 350– 51, 352, 356, 369, 402, 436, 490, 493, 507–509, 510, 521–22, 536, 539 first lady AA2 and, 334; AA’s attitude toward, xxiii, xxiv, 9, 99, 116, 124, 143, 313, 402; JA’s election and, xix; TBA on, 66; attempts to influence press and public opinion, x, xxiv, xxv–xxvi, 140, 143, 148, 179, 204, 211, 291, 295, 296, 320, 323, 379, 380, 502, 507; Mary Cranch on, 131, 180, 316, 325, 464, 524; distributes printed XYZ dispatches and instructions, 493, 496, 502, 504, 506, 524, 527; duties and obligations of, 329, 334, 459, 492, 494; Fourth of July and, xxiv, 171, 190, 192; as intermediary for JA, xxiv–xxv, 144–46, 178, 187, 206–207, 378, 380, 460; lack of respect shown to, 142; letters of introduction to, 434; J. McHenry and, 378; need for restraint as, xxiv, 4, 103–104, 140, 144, 147, 170, 203, 207, 212, 308, 345, 399, 402, 419, 449, 469, 481, 483; patronage and, 206–207, 237, 378, 422–23, 460; Elizabeth Peabody on, 366; promotes Federalism, 380; public respect for, 2, 6, 117, 222, 223, 260, 537; requests and receives reports on public response to JA’s administration, 117, 138, 152, 305; Louisa Smith and, 407; social responsibilities of, xxiii–xxiv, 117, 118, 124–25, 160, 171, 221–23, 235, 245, 286, 288, 324, 334, 370, 371, 407, 439, 470, 472, 485, 537; Hannah Quincy Lincoln Storer on, 90; Cotton Tufts on, 151; visits made to and by, 117, 208, 447, 537; G. Washington birthday celebrations and, 19, 402, 419–20; wishes for retirement, 399, 468, 526 household management accounts and finances of, 29, 30, 39, 45, 46–47, 53–54, 61–62, 81, 141, 153, 197, 223, 267, 268, 301, 302, 306, 329, 352, 364, 439, 446, 508, 522, 536; JA advises on farm management, 1, 63, 80, 81; JA on, 18, 23, 77, 86, 87; Adamses’ land purchases and, 382; on churning butter, 313; construction at Peacefield

and, 23, 46, 160–61, 198, 263, 266, 310–11, 321, 382, 472, 473, 512, 519–20, 522, 523, 524, 536, 537, 539–40; Mary Cranch assists with, xx, 100, 104, 125, 126, 158, 160, 172, 201, 209, 211, 218, 221–22, 262, 263, 273, 299–300, 311, 313, 325–26, 334, 377, 387–88, 414, 436, 465, 468, 475, 488, 493, 514, 522, 524, 531, 532, 536; Mary Cranch uses items from Peacefield, 328, 334, 388; horses and carriages for, 39–40, 51, 88, 117, 154, 155, 161, 198, 202, 223, 267; investments of, 199, 321, 382, 417, 418, 446, 447, 473; manages Adamses’ properties, xxiii, 1–2, 3, 18, 22–23, 39, 44, 45, 46, 54, 59, 61, 62, 70–71, 72, 77, 79, 86, 266, 302, 346, 436–37, 531; manages livestock, 1, 44, 70; manages tenants and farmhands, 1, 3, 22, 39, 45, 47, 54, 62, 70, 71, 72, 346, 436–37, 472, 473; painting at Peacefield and, 23, 172, 376, 382; presidential household and, 8, 17, 32, 38–39, 46, 51, 54, 61, 62, 70, 124, 125, 241; purchases lottery ticket, 8, 9, 48; requests and receives money and supplies from JA, 45, 59, 60, 63, 77, 98, 102; requests and receives reports on Peacefield, 105, 171, 180, 192, 193, 218–19, 316, 475, 488, 514, 523; servants of, 38–39, 62, 70, 104, 117, 125, 143, 172, 192, 209, 222, 223, 266, 288, 301, 333, 335, 346, 350, 443; William Smith as agent for, 19, 54, 126, 154, 169, 172, 197, 198, 202, 221, 222–23, 267, 268, 294, 301, 302, 329, 421, 438, 439, 458, 459, 490, 493, 510; taxes on Adamses’ properties and, 45, 46, 53–54; Cotton Tufts and, xx, 1, 22–23, 71, 152, 153, 160–61, 198, 199, 251, 262, 263, 266, 267, 310–11, 321, 376, 382, 383, 414, 436, 439, 446, 447, 472, 473, 488, 512, 524, 531, 539–40; T. Welsh as agent for, 137 letters Letters: To AA2 (1798), 495; To JA (1797), 1, 20, 22, 38, 45, 48, 53, 60, 61, 69, 79, 86, 92, 98; To JQA (1797), 4, 28, 162, 169, 203, 276, 306, 316; (1798), 388, 448, 480, 498, 516; To LCA (1797), 309; To TBA (1797), 167, 207, 284; (1798), 343, 452, 483; To Benjamin Franklin Bache (1798), 451; To Esther Duncan Black (1798), 350, 507; To Mary Smith Cranch (1797), 99, 104, 116, 124, 139, 142, 171, 190, 208, 211, 221, 260, 272, 287, 312, 322, 334; (1798), 346, 356, 367, 376, 401, 407, 425, 435, 446, 454, 466, 470, 484, 489, 491, 500, 519, 529, 536; To William Cranch (1797), 187, 210, 290, 318; To Hannah Phillips Cushing (1798), 443; To Elizabeth Ellery Dana (1797), 144, 178; To John Fenno (1797), 295; To Robert Goodloe Harper (1798), 502; To Cathe-

563

Adams Family Correspondence ADAMS, ABIGAIL SMITH (continued) rine Nuth Johnson (1798), 421; To Joshua Johnson (1797), 30; To Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody (1797), 234, 245, 328; (1798), 397; To William Smith Shaw (1797), 336; (1798), 456; To William Smith (1797), 83, 154, 197, 222, 267, 294, 301; (1798), 378, 418, 437, 457, 469, 510; To William Smith (AA’s nephew) (1798), 422; To Cotton Tufts (1797), 160, 198, 263, 321; (1798), 382, 504; To Mercy Otis Warren (1797), 8, 247; (1798), 526; To Thomas Welsh (1797), 146 Letters: From JA (1797), 7, 9, 16, 18, 23, 32, 44, 51, 59, 62, 72, 77, 80, 85, 87, 102, 268; From JQA (1797), 121, 173, 193, 223, 254, 337; (1798), 352, 371, 409; From JQA and LCA (1797), 220; From TBA (1797), 66, 215, 238, 241; (1798), 391; From John Briesler Sr. (1797), 241; From Mary Smith Cranch (1797), 102, 130, 157, 180, 200, 218, 261, 274, 298, 314, 325, 332; (1798), 348, 358, 387, 404, 414, 463, 473, 487, 513, 524, 537; From William Cranch (1797), 176, 200, 233, 303; (1798), 444; From Ruth Hooper Dalton (1797), 181, 236; (1798), 459; From Ann Thompson Gerry (1797), 331; From Elbridge Gerry (1797), 204; From Thankful White Adams Hobart (1797), 47; From Eunice Paine (1797), 95; From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody (1797), 78, 183, 227, 250, 330; (1798), 365; From William Smith Shaw (1798), 361, 476; From William Smith (1797), 156, 202; (1798), 506; From WSS (1798), 461; From Charles Storer (1797), 206; From Hannah Quincy Lincoln Storer (1797), 89; (1798), 434; From Cotton Tufts (1797), 151, 310; (1798), 472, 511; From Mercy Otis Warren (1798), 494; From Thomas Welsh (1797), 137, 165 Letters to, from, omitted: To JA listed (1797), 545, 546 (3); To JQA listed (1798), 551, 552 (2); To Esther Duncan Black listed (1797), 550 (3); (1798), 551; To Moses Black listed (1798), 552; To Mary Smith Cranch listed (1797), 548 (2), 549 (2); (1798), 551 (2), 552; To William Cranch listed (1798), 552; To Ruth Hooper Dalton listed (1797), 548; To Francis Dana listed (1797), 548; To Ann Thompson Gerry listed (1797), 549; To Elbridge Gerry listed (1797), 548; To Catherine Nuth Johnson listed (1798), 552; To Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody listed (1797), 549; To Norton Quincy listed (1798), 552; To William Smith Shaw listed (1798), 552; To Hannah Carter Smith listed (1798), 552; To William Smith listed (1797), 548 (3), 550; (1798),

550 (2), 551, 552 (2); To Charles Storer listed (1797), 548; To Hannah Quincy Lincoln Storer listed (1798), 551; To Cotton Tufts listed (1798), 551, 552; From JA listed (1797), 545, 546 (5); From Mary Smith Cranch listed (1797), 547; (1798), 550 (2), 551 (3), 552; From Richard Cranch listed (1797), 546; (1798), 551; From William Cranch listed (1797), 549; From Hannah Phillips Cushing listed (1798), 551; From Elizabeth Ellery Dana listed (1797), 547; From Agnes Frances Lockyer Freire listed (1797), 549; From Ann Thompson Gerry listed (1798), 550; From Hannah Storer Green listed (1797), 549; From Robert Goodloe Harper listed (1798), 552; From Rosanna Duncan Lamb listed (1797), 549; From William Smith listed (1797), 549; (1798), 551 (2), 552 (2); From William Smith (AA’s nephew) listed (1798), 551; From Uriah Tracy listed (1798), 550; From Cotton Tufts listed (1797), 548; (1798), 551; From William Walter listed (1797), 550; From Mercy Otis Warren listed (1797), 546, 549; From Thomas Welsh listed (1797), 548 opinions and beliefs Europe: Britain, 504; France, 154, 161, 167, 170, 294, 347, 357, 390, 443, 453, 458, 459, 484, 490, 491, 493; French coup of 18 fructidor, 291, 293, 336; French Directory, 313, 317, 347, 400, 527; possible French invasion of Britain, 347, 380, 449, 481; French Revolution, 336, 356, 398, 496, 527–28; French territorial conquests, 469, 504, 526; Irish people, 401; London, 125; Paris, 422; war in, 293, 307, 390, 529 Individuals: P. Abdee, 346, 357; LCA, 292, 309; SSA, 117; Thomas Adams, 142–43; Abbé Arnoux, 285; M. T. Atwood, 245–46, 347; Moses Atwood, 245–46, 347; B. F. Bache, 142, 143, 296, 301, 308, 335; Joseph Bass, 473; P. Baxter, 172, 370; A. C. Beale, 171; E. Black, 288; M. Black, 288; John Brackett, 1, 54; S. Bradford, 2, 3, 6; R. Brent, 470, 472; J. Briesler Sr., 33, 39, 99; C. Bulfinch, 435; J. Callender, 323; J. Clarke, 492, 495; Anna Cranch, 320; Mary Cranch, 100, 435, 465; William Cranch, 318, 409; S. Dexter, 155; O. Ellsworth, 80; W. Findley, 502, 517; J. Flint, 323; N. Freeman Jr., 125, 139; Freire family, 390; M. French Jr., 1; A. Gallatin, 485, 517, 520; A. T. Gerry, 490; E. Gerry, 169, 170; R. Gill, 485; James Greenleaf, 435; Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 143, 324, 409; R. Griswold, 379, 382–83, 399; A. Hall, 350, 356, 522–23; Susanna Hall, 92; Mrs. Hall,

564

Index ADAMS, ABIGAIL SMITH (continued) 351; A. Hamilton, 20–21, 344–45; B. Hichborn, 505; B. Howard, 104, 143, 212; A. Hunt, 172; T. Jefferson, 38, 49, 164, 278, 322, 420, 459, 505; C. N. Johnson, 293; Johnson family, 292, 293; T. B. Johnson, 30; J. Langdon, 125; E. Law, 407, 435, 468; M. Lyon, 382, 447; S. B. Malcom, 286; E. Malony, 346, 350–51; John Marshall, 203; S. Mason, 125; J. Monroe, 208; R. Morris, 211; W. V. Murray, 21, 28, 30; Elizabeth Norton, 409, 522; H. G. Otis, 155, 379, 531; M. S. G. Otis, 39; T. Paine (author), 449; Elizabeth Peabody, 273, 278, 288–89, 312, 397; Peter Porcupine, 189; T. Pinckney, 499; S. Pope, 501; D. and L. Porter, 266; A. Quincy, 485; E. S. M. Quincy, 167; Mr. and Mrs. Regal, 390; J. Reynolds, 369; B. Russell, 21; G. Scott, 188; S. Sewall, 155; William Shaw, 397–98; T. Skinner, 139; Charles Smith, 245, 286, 423; Elizabeth Smith (AA’s niece), 99– 100, 245, 273, 324; Isaac Smith, 245, 273; Louisa Smith, 245, 273; Mary Smith, 92, 153, 245, 423; William Smith, 245, 273; W. L. Smith, 285; WSS, 369, 376, 408; Ebenezer Storer, 207; J. Sullivan, 485; I. Sumner, 148; H. Tazewell, 294; Temple family, 50; J. Varnum, 139, 161; Marcia Warren, 8; Mercy Warren, 48, 71; G. Washington, 6, 29, 48, 172, 322, 419; M. Washington, 9, 435; C. Welsh, 6; H. Welsh, 6; E. Wescott, 483; M. D. White, 459; K. Whitman, 323; P. Whitney Jr., 142, 367; A. Wibird, 357; M. Wilson, 483 United States: abuses by the press, 324, 528, 531; Adet-Pickering correspondence, 6; American Revolution, xxiv, 145, 146, 458, 528; art and architecture, 319, 435; attitudes toward France in, 5, 356–57, 482, 489, 498; Blount affair, x, 190, 197; Boston newspapers, 187–88, 449; capital punishment, 54; celebrations for J. Monroe, 208; celebrations for G. Washington, 402, 419–20, 438; commerce of, 199; compares Boston and Philadelphia, 319; Congress, xx, 125, 139, 140, 154–55, 161, 168, 170, 172, 197, 199, 210, 267, 307–308, 313, 317, 322, 356–57, 379, 380, 389, 398, 399, 418, 426, 435, 467, 468, 482, 490, 496, 497, 498, 520, 527; defensive measures for, 197, 380, 389, 458, 469, 492, 496; Democratic-Republican Party, 49, 125, 143, 144, 146, 164, 178, 317, 344, 357, 368, 399, 422, 443, 489, 517, 520, 532; Democratic-Republican press, xx, 139, 142, 143, 291–92, 301, 318, 323, 369, 531; DemocraticRepublican societies, 317; Eastchester, N.Y., 267–68, 273; Federalist Party, 344, 401; federal spending, 418–19; First Mission to France,

139, 144, 145–46, 164, 168, 169, 172, 204, 206, 294, 347, 369, 422, 436, 443, 449, 484, 485, 491, 504, 516–17, 526, 529; foreigners as opposition writers, 178, 203, 204, 210–11, 323; foreign influence on, 29, 161, 178, 203, 207–208, 278, 317, 443, 447, 449, 458, 485, 493, 505, 529; foreign intercourse bill, 369; French actions toward, 39, 49, 125, 145, 146, 167, 278, 293, 389, 398, 454–55, 467, 481, 483, 490, 498, 502, 527, 529; government of, 208, 398; influence of press, 188; location of federal capital, 183, 210; Lyon-Griswold affair, xiii–xiv, 379, 382–83, 398–99, 401, 408, 418; Massachusetts, 161; Massachusetts’ antiwar petitions, 469, 470; Mazzei letter, 164–65; New England, 154–55, 247, 379, 435, 436; party politics, 38, 207–208, 317, 344, 379, 399, 502, 527; patronage, 169, 368–69, 378; peace, 164, 167, 307; Pennsylvania, 49, 154, 168, 210–11, 301; people of, 168, 278, 438; Philadelphia, 125, 183, 197, 210, 247–48, 289, 294, 313, 319, 322, 346, 379, 401–402, 435, 436, 483–84, 490; presidency, 60, 171, 172, 278; publication of diplomatic correspondence, 454, 489–90, 498, 509; religion in, 125; rumors of Giles-Otis duel, 510; Southern men, 322; state of U.S., 29, 192, 199, 203, 390, 481–82; town meetings, 469, 470, 505, 507; U.S. relations with France, 179, 436, 438, 467–68, 491–92, 496, 504, 529; unity in, 61, 62, 467, 504–505, 510, 527, 529; vice presidency, 322 Miscellaneous: African Americans, 125; aging and death, 466, 485, 526; charity, 377; corruption, 190; O. Ellsworth’s address to grand jury, 79–80; envy, 164; family obligation, 347; farm labor, 22; inheritance, 50; integrity, 20–21, 497; investments, 382, 409; lawyers, 367; letter writing, 20; mails, 29, 70, 209; marriage, 285, 456; medical remedies, 376, 377, 378; ministers, 367, 493; presidential housing, 49, 211; “The President’s March,” xvi–xvii; public service, 399, 422; road conditions in New Jersey, 117; search for Quincy minister, 118, 142, 288, 322–23, 324, 334, 357, 367; servants, 161, 288; social classes, 125; speculation, 117, 320, 376, 408; virtue, 335, 423–24; G. Washington’s Fourth of July celebrations, 171; women, 79, 288; yellow fever, 329, 383; youth, 172, 407, 409, 456 relationship with ja JA and correspondence of, 187, 235, 294, 446; JA and relocation to Philadelphia of, xxiii, 8, 51, 59, 60, 61, 63, 70, 72, 73, 77, 79, 81, 86, 87, 88, 92, 98, 117, 135, 184; JA forwards

565

Adams Family Correspondence ADAMS, ABIGAIL SMITH (continued) letters and publications to, 19, 20, 21, 28, 33, 268; JA on, 60, 72, 87; JA reads letters sent to, 287, 314–15, 335; JA requests items from, 81; on JA’s character, 49, 118, 277–78, 496; on JA’s farewell address to Senate, 20; on JA’s fast day proclamation, xv, 472, 490; on JA’s letter writing, 20, 33, 49, 482, 518; on JA’s patronage, 37, 169, 207, 368, 378–79; on JA’s presidency, 4, 118, 204, 278, 443, 467–68, 483, 499, 504, 528, 536; on JA’s public service, 21, 145– 46, 292, 503; JA’s reliance on, xxiii, 18, 44, 51, 59, 73, 80, 87, 99, 102, 131, 163; concern and affection for JA, 39, 60, 61, 71, 92, 142, 155, 160, 171, 490, 505; correspondence with JA, xix, xxxii, 4, 7, 10, 19, 21, 24, 33, 46–47, 49, 54, 60, 63, 64, 70, 81, 93; defends JA, xxv–xxvi, 295, 296, 502; duty to JA, 99; endorses JA’s letters, 37, 433; forwards letters to JA, 4, 7, 48, 50; on public perceptions of JA, 48, 289, 323–24, 454, 496–97, 505, 510; quotes JA’s message to Congress, 489, 491; on respect shown to JA, 289, 301; seeks consolation from JA, 98, 102; separation from JA, 8, 18, 23, 27, 33, 44, 46, 51, 54, 59, 60, 86, 90, 102, 131, 184, 268, 292 relationship with children AA2: on AA2, 104, 204, 245, 268, 345; AA2’s correspondence and, 337, 397, 422, 495; AA2 visits, 497; concern for AA2, xxx, 104, 117, 272–73, 274, 276, 312, 328, 334, 376, 496; sends money and items to AA2, 125, 193, 266–67, 397, 495, 496; visits AA2, 64, 98, 103, 104, 116–17, 209, 260, 261, 274, 285; wants AA2 to come to Philadelphia, xxx, 245, 268, 272–73, 274, 276, 278, 286, 288, 312, 328, 334, 395 CA: on CA, 117, 204, 345, 450; CA advises and assists, xxix, 179, 495; CA and correspondence of, 98, 276, 298, 495; CA as agent for, 417; sends items to CA, 125, 266–67; visits CA, 98, 103, 104, 117, 209, 272 JQA: on JA’s patronage for JQA, xxvi, 35, 37, 451, 502, 503; JQA as agent for, 29, 30, 240, 279, 306, 352, 364; JQA on duty to, 220; JQA presents LCA to, 220; JQA requests news and publications from, 194, 226, 254, 339; JQA’s concern for, 193, 223; JQA’s correspondence and, 4, 7, 293; JQA seeks blessing on marriage, 223; JQA sends news and items to, 123, 240, 279, 280, 307, 352; on JQA’s integrity, xxvi, 285, 503; on JQA’s letter writing, 117–18, 163, 306, 389; on JQA’s marriage, xxvii, 28, 30–31, 168, 276–77, 285, 309, 371; on JQA’s mission to Prussia, 224, 277, 285, 426, 449, 450; JQA’s portrait and, 169–70; on JQA’s public service, 5, 168, 173, 482; on JQA’s reliance

on TBA, 168; JQA’s resemblance to, 170; advises JQA, 203, 279, 374; compares JQA to JA, 5; defends JQA, xxvi, 296, 451–52, 502–503; desires letters from JQA, 3, 344, 450, 482, 498; forwards letters to JQA, 307, 309, 352–53; publication of JQA’s letters and, xxv, 188, 189, 200, 211, 290–91, 292, 293, 303, 305, 318; receives news of JQA, 71; reports G. Washington’s praise to JQA, 5, 173; seeks secretary for JQA, xxvii, 238, 286, 287, 391, 411; sends publications to JQA, 6, 7, 29, 30, 194, 203, 207, 254, 255, 257, 277, 278, 306, 317, 344, 352, 380, 390, 449, 450, 480, 481, 483, 498, 500, 516, 517, 518; separation from JQA, 188, 450, 503; shares JQA’s letters, 104, 117–18, 147, 148, 167, 499, 502, 503, 521, 523 TBA: on JA’s patronage for TBA, 35, 37; on JQA’s reliance on TBA, 168; TBA as agent for, 28, 29, 30, 168, 169, 240; TBA sends items to, 241–42, 307, 345, 352, 396; on TBA’s letter writing, 167, 284, 391, 453; TBA’s possible residence with, 136; TBA’s romantic relationships and, 285, 453, 484; approves TBA’s continuation in Europe, 285, 390; desires TBA’s return to U.S., 29, 168, 207, 226, 248; desires letters from TBA, 3, 344; on hereditary traits passed to TBA, 518; publication of TBA’s letters and, xxv, 291, 292, 303, 305, 318; receives news of TBA, 71, 208; requests information and items from TBA, 29, 168, 169, 453; sends publications to TBA, 168, 344, 345, 396; separation from TBA, 238, 285, 286; shares TBA’s letters, 104, 167 Miscellaneous: affection for children, 320; children as legacy of, 60; separation from children, 135, 292, 309, 405; on sons’ relationship with William Cranch, 290 relationship with grandchildren on Susanna Boylston Adams, 117; correspondence with grandsons, 253; education of grandsons and, xxx, 117, 211–12, 235, 247, 278, 329; financial assistance for grandsons, 246, 312, 329, 330; on grandsons, xxx, 335, 457; Elizabeth Peabody and, 228–29, 246, 330; receives news of grandsons, 330–31, 365–66, 367, 405; requests letters from grandsons, 246; Caroline Smith and, 245, 276, 278, 286, 497 social life attends theater, xvi, 529, 531, 532, 533; attends G. Washington’s birthday celebration, 2–3, 6, 19; in Boston, 3, 90, 235; in France, 119–20, 123, 217; invitations to and from, 146, 179, 235, 236, 247, 248, 528; in Philadelphia, xvi, 182, 188, 192, 208, 228, 286, 294, 301, 306,

566

Index ADAMS, ABIGAIL SMITH (continued) 313, 334, 337, 345, 370, 435, 443, 497, 522, 529, 531, 532, 533; in Quincy, 180, 234, 405; visits made to and by, 17, 47, 48, 89, 245, 247, 248, 337, 343, 345, 390; visits New York City, 288 travels delayed by yellow fever, 261, 266; in France (1784–1785), 215; planned to Philadelphia, 56, 83–84, 85, 96, 245, 269, 286; to Philadelphia (1797), xxiii, 98, 99, 104, 116–17, 127, 130, 160, 183, 184, 235, 247, 248, 258, 263, 272, 274, 290, 294, 418; planned to Quincy, 155, 172, 179, 183, 198–99, 208–209, 210, 211, 267, 319, 509, 520; to Quincy (1797), 64, 209, 221, 222, 223, 234, 248, 278, 307; to Quincy (1798), 497; possible to Washington, D.C., 182, 183, 210, 237 writings CFA edits papers of, 93; CFA notates correspondence of, 310, 443; correspondence published in newspapers, xxv, xxvi, 295, 439; edits “Communication,” 295, 297; edits correspondence before sending, xxiv, 7, 9, 145– 46, 189, 292, 293, 320, 528–29 Adams, Boylston (1771–1829, nephew of JA), 49, 64, 261 ADAMS, CHARLES (1770–1800, son of AA and JA, designated as CA in The Adams Papers) books and reading Joseph Dennie Jr., 113–14 character, appearance, habits, domestic life AA on, xxix, 204; attends Harvard, 418; Mary Cranch and, 262, 540; domestic situation of, 159, 194; friendships of, 290, 303; health of, 258; letter writing of, xx, xxix, 450; Vermont lands of, 417, 418 letters Letters: To JQA (1797), 150; To Joseph Dennie Jr. (1797), 113; To James Whitelaw (1798), 417 Letters: From JA (1797), 74, 258; From JQA (1797), 231; (1798), 400 Letters to, from, omitted: From JQA listed (1797), 547, 548 opinions and beliefs Franco-American relations, 150

public life AA on, 345; JQA on, 194; law clerk of, 8, 189, 286; success of law practice, 131, 159 relationship with parents AA on domestic situation of, 117; AA’s affection for, 320; AA’s correspondence and, 98, 276, 298, 495; AA sends items to, 125, 266–67; as AA’s legacy, 60; JA requests assistance from, xxix, 74, 258, 261; JA’s correspondence and, 70, 258; advises and assists parents, xxx, 179, 495; as agent for parents, 417; correspondence with AA, 179, 495; correspondence with JA, 70, 72; parents visit, 98, 103, 104, 117, 209, 272; separation from parents, 27, 33, 135, 270; visits JA, 81, 86 relationship with siblings AA2’s correspondence and, 495; JQA’s correspondence and, 150; JQA sends letters of introduction to, 233; as agent for JQA, xxix–xxx, 231, 233, 279, 306, 364, 374–75, 400– 401; correspondence with JQA, xxvi, xxix–xxx, 83, 223, 233, 401; correspondence with TBA, 83; exchanges newspapers with JQA and TBA, 194; separation from siblings, 238, 386; visits AA2, 258

217

social life William Cranch dines with, 233; in France,

travels from New York City, 113; to Philadelphia (1797), 81, 86 Adams, Charles Francis (1807–1886, son of JQA and LCA, designated as CFA in The Adams Papers), xxxiii, 93, 310, 422, 443 Adams, Elihu (1741–1775, brother of JA), 47, 97 Adams, Elisha (ca. 1770–1819, nephew of JA), 47, 63, 152, 153 Adams, Elizabeth Coombs (1808–1903, daughter of TBA, designated ECA in The Adams Papers), 453 Adams, Elizabeth Welles (wife of Samuel), 2 Adams, Deacon John (1691–1761, father of JA), 97, 424, 425 ADAMS, JOHN (1735–1826, designated as JA in The Adams Papers) books and reading Bible, 313; Joseph Dennie Jr., 114; library at MB, 96; library at Peacefield, 266, 353, 519, 520, 524, 536; newspapers, 77, 269; Alexander

567

Adams Family Correspondence ADAMS, JOHN (continued) Pope, 495; publications sent to, 236, 383; Shakespeare, 187; Adam Smith, 84; subscriptions for, 114 character, appearance, habits, domestic life aging of, 102, 286–87; assists family and neighbors, 24, 47, 63, 152, 154, 185, 189, 200, 211, 234; birthday of, 19; J. Briesler Sr. and, 102, 241; bust and portrait of, xi, xii, 235, 265 (illus.), 267; clothing of, xi, 192; concern for legacy, 17; condolences sent to, 181; Mary Cranch on, 158, 201, 416; William Cranch on, 178, 441; William Cranch visits, 405; domestic character, 297; education of, 97; envies G. Washington, 17; exercise of, 17, 32, 56, 57, 59, 63, 142; E. Gerry offers assistance to, 206; Susanna Hall’s care and, 87, 96, 97, 184, 231; health of, 10, 17, 23, 24, 33, 39, 51, 56, 59, 61, 71, 90, 140, 160, 163, 201, 202, 223, 308, 313, 325, 486, 499, 505; integrity of, 496; J. Johnson on, 91; letter writing of, 20, 23, 33, 49, 64, 124, 482, 518; love of rural life, 23, 32, 46, 49, 59, 62, 64, 128, 142, 160, 162–63, 325, 528; as Massachusetts citizen, 506; Elizabeth Peabody on, 184; republican values of, 277–78, 297; seals of, 81; search for Quincy minister and, 181, 288, 322, 323, 349; William Shaw carries letters to, 236; vanity of, 18 finances and property AA seeks advice from, 1, 39; AA’s farm management and, 18, 23, 44, 63, 77, 80, 81, 86; Peter Adams and, 361; construction at Peacefield and, 162, 520, 524, 536; Richard Cranch farm and, 32, 52, 360, 361, 424, 468; financial status of, 60, 63, 80–81, 380, 439; horses and carriage for, 10, 32, 39–40, 44, 51, 70, 81, 86, 88, 102, 117, 154, 155, 161, 198, 202, 223, 235, 258, 267; household arrangements for presidency, 8, 10, 17, 32, 44, 45, 51, 54, 73; investments of, 29, 30, 81, 382; land and properties of, 127, 152–53, 348, 360, 361, 417, 418; loans provided by, 47, 63, 152, 154; names farm Peacefield, 6; rent paid by, 143; sends money and supplies to AA, 45, 51, 59, 60, 63, 77, 102; William Smith as agent for, 222, 379– 80; taxes, 45, 46, 53, 153, 154; Cotton Tufts as agent for, 127–28, 152–53, 198, 282–83, 297, 311–12, 360, 361, 382, 424 letters Letters: To AA (1797), 7, 9, 16, 18, 23, 32, 44, 51, 59, 62, 72, 77, 80, 85, 87, 102, 268; To

CA (1797), 74, 258; To JQA (1797), 55, 269, 280; To TBA (1797), 56, 135, 270; To Joshua Johnson (1797), 321; To WSS (1798), 403; To Cotton Tufts (1797), 297 Letters: From AA2 (1797), 26; From AA (1797), 1, 20, 22, 38, 45, 48, 53, 60, 61, 69, 79, 86, 92, 98; From JQA (1797), 212; From JQA and LCA (1797), 220; From TBA (1797), 33, 248; (1798), 427; From Belinda Smith Clarkson (1797), 15; From Richard Cranch (1797), 31; From Stephen Peabody (1797), 235; From WSS (1798), 416; From Cotton Tufts (1797), 127, 282, 311; (1798), 360, 424 Letters to, from, omitted: To AA listed (1797), 545, 546 (5); To JQA listed (1797), 547, 548; (1798), 551; To Richard Cranch listed (1797), 546; To Margaret Stephens Smith listed (1797), 545; To Cotton Tufts listed (1797), 547; (1798), 550; From AA listed (1797), 545, 546 (3); From JQA listed (1797), 545, 546 (4), 547 (3), 548 (4), 549 (6), 550; (1798), 550 (3), 551, 552; From Margaret Stephens Smith listed (1797), 545; From Cotton Tufts listed (1798), 550 opinions and beliefs Europe: Dutch people, 271; French government and politics, 56, 272, 298, 313; U.S. relations with, 271; war in, 271, 298 Individuals: LCA, 310; Abbé Arnoux, 270; E. Bowdoin, 60; J. Briesler Sr., 32; William Cranch, 219; F. Dana, 135; E. Gerry, 271; Susanna Hall, 102; James, 81, 86; T. Jefferson, 3, 23, 49, 129, 148, 280; John Marshall, 135; W. V. Murray, 55; Thomas Russell, 59; D. Q. H. Scott, 59, 60; William Shaw, 337; Mary Smith, 78, 102; W. L. Smith, 282; WSS, xxx, 403; Ebenezer Storer, 207; E. W. R. Temple, 59–60; Mercy Warren, 59, 60; G. Washington, 9, 63, 77, 281, 282 United States: defensive measures for, 271, 314; elections in, 10–11; factionalism in, 33, 74, 187; foreign influence on, 11, 74; government of, 10; neutrality of, 11, 125; people of, 56, 187; Philadelphia, 77; public service to, 44, 72; Senate, 297–98; state of U.S., 51–52, 72, 135; trade and commerce, 271; treatment by U.S., 17; U.S. relations with France, 11, 50, 51, 57, 77, 309, 465–66 Miscellaneous: celebrations for president, 19; Mary Cranch’s letters, 287–88; duty, 64; O. Ellsworth’s address to the grand jury, 87; financial challenges of presidency, 8; “Hypocritical Pretense of Disinterestedness,” 282; inauguration, 7; patronage, 281, 282, 368; ser-

568

Index ADAMS, JOHN (continued) vants, 32, 44, 51, 88; speculation, 249; tax assessment, 154 public life Continental Congress: service in, 295, 296 Diplomatic Career: dedication to, 348; in France, 113; minister to Netherlands, 50, 454; Prussian-American Treaty (1785) and, 356, 454, 455 Vice Presidency, 1789–1797: announces election results to Congress, 7, 120; attitudes toward, 77; farewell address to Senate, 3, 4, 17, 20, 21, 29, 44, 48; Jay Treaty and, 3; T. Jefferson and, 7, 28, 129, 219, 220; Duc de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt and, 313; leaves of absence from Senate, 220; presides over Senate, 3, 7, 54; public honors for, 295, 296; salary for, 199; satire of, 29, 30 Presidency, 1797–1801: JQA and, 124, 136, 143, 151, 372; JQA as minister to Prussia and, xxi, xxvi, 135, 136, 138, 140, 147, 158, 212–13, 256, 269, 279, 280, 307, 339, 352, 353, 373–74, 503; JQA as successor to, 141; addresses Congress regarding France, xxii, 117, 118, 125, 126, 133, 134, 148, 150, 151, 156, 157, 166, 167, 172, 174, 235–36, 308, 309, 313, 314, 316, 317, 344, 429, 436, 437, 486, 492, 501; P. Adet and, 63, 64; administration of, 48, 50; attends launch of frigate Constitution, 480; authorizes arming of merchant ships, xxii, 454, 455, 458, 474; Blount affair and, xi; burdens of, xxiii, 23, 52, 56, 59, 63, 87, 102, 155, 160, 162, 237, 308, 345, 524, 526, 528; cabinet of, 247, 269, 277, 279, 370; concern about absence from Philadelphia of, 192, 218, 222, 235, 247; Congress and, xv, 400, 420, 441, 469, 525, 529, 533; congressional implementation of defensive measures and, xxi, xxii, 118, 141, 150, 199, 308, 309, 368, 441, 455, 481, 505; congressional responses to addresses on France, 126, 127, 139, 141, 146, 149, 150, 156, 157, 167, 240, 313, 314, 317, 344; convenes Congress, xxi, 51, 52, 118, 126, 129, 163, 166, 280, 457; Mary Cranch on, 464, 474; William Cranch and, x, 176, 187; DemocraticRepublican Party and, 87, 125, 144, 146–47, 178, 505, 517, 533; rumored diplomatic appointments of, 73; dismisses public officers, 74, 207; duties of, 17, 18, 23, 59, 81, 88, 505; election of, xx, 3, 4, 9, 14–15, 26–27, 31, 32, 34, 52, 56, 57, 58, 60, 71, 119, 120, 129, 165, 182, 195, 278, 305, 506; fast day proclaimed by, xiv–xv, 470, 471 (illus.), 472, 483, 490, 540; Federalist Party and, xxi, 74, 152; FrancoAmerican relations and, 56, 309, 314, 458,

467, 501; franking privileges, 219, 539; French policy of, xix, xx, xxi, xxii, 126, 127, 135, 140– 41, 166, 174, 308, 372, 485, 486, 489, 492, 498, 499, 501, 502, 504, 512, 518, 519, 524, 525, 538; gifts to, 18, 19, 24, 45–46, 59, 60, 77, 336; inauguration of, xix, 4, 7, 9–11, 16, 17, 18, 27, 28, 29, 33, 38, 44, 48, 50, 61, 182; T. Jefferson on, 28, 280; memorials presented to, 427, 501, 504, 505, 506, 510, 518, 519, 520, 531, 532; Mississippi River and, 390–91; newspapers and, xxvi, 80, 87, 88, 133, 134, 139, 141, 158, 187, 315, 323–24, 325, 403, 404, 406, 452, 455, 472, 531, 532, 533, 537; nominations by, 74, 204, 207, 423, 426, 449–50, 451, 454, 503, 505, 506; patronage and, xxi, xxiv–xxv, 4, 15–16, 173–74, 204, 206–207, 237, 269–70, 368, 380, 422–23, 424, 460, 502, 503, 505, 506; Philadelphia’s yellow fever epidemic and, 247–48; powers of, 197, 198, 281, 370, 379, 387, 426, 427, 505; proclamations of, 51, 52, 60, 166; public honors and celebrations for, xxvi, xxix, 19, 222, 223, 235, 236, 258, 259, 260–61, 266, 267, 268, 277–78, 289, 290, 295, 296, 301, 302, 313, 315– 16, 325, 427; public perceptions of, xx, xxii, xxiii, 3, 17, 21, 64, 71, 72–73, 90, 120, 138, 166, 188, 237, 277–78, 290, 295, 296, 297, 324, 336, 441, 445, 446, 454, 455, 457–58, 467, 476, 489, 490, 496, 501, 502, 503, 505, 506, 510, 512, 513, 517, 523, 529, 532, 533, 537; public response to address on France, 138, 152, 158, 185–86, 235– 36, 316; recommends renewal of treaties, 118; 416; representatives of First Nations visit, 447; residence in Philadelphia, 7, 10, 17, 18, 23, 44, 45; possible resignation from, 33, 59, 455, 474; safety of, 490, 491, 505; salary and provisions for, 8, 49, 51, 143, 144, 171; secretary for, 56, 57, 74, 136, 189, 190, 227, 229, 235, 246, 258, 286, 321, 323, 403, 461; WSS and, 403, social responsibilities of, xxiv, 44, 160, 171, 190, 192, 222, 313, 324, 334, 438–39, 447, 531; songs celebrating, xvi–xvii, 529, 530 (illus.), 531, 532; submits messages and reports to Congress, 126, 190, 420, 454, 455, 457, 481, 482, 484, 485, 486, 489, 490, 505, 506; tampering with mail to, 201; toasts offered to, 38, 40, 438, 439, 441, 442; Treasury Department and, 207; Cotton Tufts on, 128; uniform of, 192; U.S. borders and, 156, 446; Washington, D.C., and, x, 178, 182, 305, 306, 318–19, 460; G. Washington’s birthday celebrations and, 402–403, 419, 420, 445; as G. Washington’s successor, 4, 7, 10, 38, 48, 129, 157, 172, 182, 445 Miscellaneous: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 279; assists J. Tegelaar, 37, 38;

569

Adams Family Correspondence ADAMS, JOHN (continued) Braintree town committee, 154; public service of, xix, 77, 80, 145–46, 292, 503 relationship with aa AA as intermediary for, xxiv–xxv, 144–46, 178, 187, 206–207, 378, 380, 460; AA defends, xxv–xxvi, 295, 296, 502; AA endorses letters of, 37, 433; AA forwards letters to, 4, 7, 48, 50; AA on, 21, 49, 118, 207, 277–78, 454; AA on health of, 142, 155, 171, 505; AA on patronage of, 37, 169, 207, 368, 378–79; AA on presidency of, 4, 38, 118, 204, 278, 443, 467– 68, 483, 499, 504, 528, 536; AA on public perceptions of, 48, 289, 323–24, 454, 496–97; AA quotes message to Congress, 489, 491; AA requests money from, 98; on AA’s character, 60, 72, 87; AA’s concern and affection for, 39, 60, 61, 71, 92, 160, 490; AA’s correspondence and, 187, 235, 287, 294, 312–13, 314–15, 328, 335, 446; AA’s duty to, 99; AA’s grief and, 98, 102; on AA’s letter writing, 59; AA’s relocation to Philadelphia and, xxiii, 8, 51, 59, 60, 61, 63, 70, 72, 73, 77, 79, 81, 86, 87, 88, 92, 98, 102, 117, 135, 184; concern for AA’s health, 16; correspondence with AA, xix, xxxii, 4, 7, 10, 19, 21, 24, 33, 46–47, 49, 54, 60, 63, 64, 70, 81, 93; forwards letters and publications to AA, 19, 20, 21, 28, 33, 268; reliance on AA, xxiii, 18, 44, 51, 59, 73, 80, 87, 99, 102, 131, 163; requests items from AA, 81; separation from AA, 8, 18, 23, 27, 33, 44, 46, 51, 54, 59, 60, 86, 90, 102, 131, 184, 268, 292 relationship with children AA2: AA2 and Caroline Smith visit, 497; AA2 on election of, 26–27; reads letter intended for AA2, 268; visits AA2, 64, 209, 260 CA: CA and correspondence of, 70, 258; CA as agent for, 417; CA visits, 81, 86; requests assistance from CA, xxix, 74, 258, 261; separation from CA, 270; visits CA, 209 JQA: JQA forwards letter to, 422; JQA on election and presidency of, 14, 57, 124, 257; JQA presents LCA to, 220; on JQA’s appointment to Prussia, xxvi, 269, 280–81, 307; JQA’s concern and respect for, 213, 220, 223, 231; JQA sends publications to, 181, 194, 214, 271; JQA’s letter writing and, 4–5, 7, 19, 20, 21, 28, 33, 56, 135, 136, 233, 270, 293; JQA’s library and, 122, 353; on JQA’s marriage, 269, 270–71, 282, 321; JQA’s public service and, 55, 173, 271, 282; patronage for JQA and, xxi, xxvi, 35, 37, 173–74, 212–13, 224, 256, 269–70, 277, 280–81, 285, 339, 353, 373, 449–50, 451, 452, 502, 503 TBA: TBA on public service of, 34, 66;

TBA’s career and, 34, 56, 135–36, 249, 270, 271; TBA’s duty to, 34; TBA seeks approval from, 248–49; TBA sends publications to, 271; TBA’s letter writing and, 19, 20, 21, 28, 33, 56, 135, 141; on TBA’s romantic relationships, 239; hopes TBA returns to U.S., 29, 33, 35, 57, 135, 226, 248; invites TBA to live with AA and, 136; patronage for TBA and, 35, 37, 270; separation from TBA, 238 Miscellaneous: separation from children, 27, 33, 135, 270 social life attends theater, 235, 531, 532; in Boston, 235; dines with J. Jay, 223; in England, 321; in France, 119–20, 217, 270–71, 321; invitations to, 236, 247, 248; Johnson family and, 270–71, 321; in Philadelphia, 17, 24, 313, 345, 443, 522; G. Washington’s birthday and, 19 travels in France (1779), 270–71; in France (1780), 112; to New York City (1797), 223; to Philadelphia (1797), 235, 248, 258, 261, 269, 290, 294, 301, 302, 307, 427; planned to Quincy, 8, 17, 23, 77, 180, 198–99, 210, 319; to Quincy (1797), xxiv, 64, 207, 209, 221, 235, 236, 248, 307; to Quincy (1798), 497; possible visit to Washington, D.C., 182, 319 writings Published: correspondence in newspapers, 402–403, 419 1776: Thoughts on Government, 495 1787–1788: Defence of the Const.: British edition of (1794), 324; French edition of (1792), 324; newspapers and, 324; opinions on, 320; U.S. edition of (1797), 324 Diary and Autobiography, xxxi Unpublished: Diary, 154 ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (1767–1848, son of AA and JA, designated as JQA in The Adams Papers) books and reading books purchased, 122, 339; books requested by, 42, 43, 111; Edmund Burke, 42, 43, 291, 293, 371; Samuel Butler, 175; Lord Chesterfield, 105–106; Cicero, 293; Samuel Clarke, 339; devotion to, 12, 25, 52, 53, 75–76, 122, 339; Thomas Erskine, 42, 43; Jean Antoine Joseph Fauchet, 410; French publications, 189; Alexander Hamilton, 344, 410–11; Robert Goodloe Harper, 254; Samuel Johnson, 65–66; Immanuel Kant, 272, 430, 433;

570

Index ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (continued) library of, 137, 338–39, 353, 355; Bernard Mandeville, 232; Milton, 123, 338; James Monroe, 410; newspapers, 56, 119, 123, 214, 364; pamphlet collection, 254; Peter Porcupine, 410; Edmund Randolph, 410, 413; sends books to Harvard, 308–309, 353; Shakespeare, 57; Madame de Staël, 26; Tacitus, 122, 123; James Thomson, 373

Letters to, from, omitted: To CA listed (1797), 547, 548; To JA listed (1797), 545, 546 (4), 547 (3), 548 (4), 549 (6), 550; (1798), 550 (3), 551, 552; To LCA listed (1797), 546 (2), 547; To TBA listed (1797), 547 (3); To Joshua Johnson listed (1797), 547 (3); From AA listed (1798), 551, 552 (2); From JA listed (1797), 547, 548; (1798), 551; From LCA listed (1797), 546 (2), 547 (2)

character, appearance, habits, domestic life agents for, 352, 363–65, 375, 450; ambition of, 353; behavior of, 14; called “M. le Gros,” 111, 119; classmates of, 151, 203, 232, 256–57, 308, 451; Cranch family and, 290, 303, 316, 440; description of, 452; domestic situation of, xx; education of, 64, 85, 122, 230, 373, 375; exercise of, 24; finances of, xxix, 116, 174, 231, 233, 256, 257, 279, 306, 355, 363–65, 374–75, 400–401, 450, 451; foreign language skills of, xxvii, 119, 122, 338, 511; friendships of, 14, 30, 55; health of, 53, 69, 88; integrity of, xvi, 285, 503; Johnson family and, 230, 533, 535; J. Johnson and, 91, 92, 129, 210, 243, 259–60; letters desired by, 24, 42, 100, 123, 193, 380, 385; letter writing of, xx, xxi, 4–5, 7, 34, 67, 85, 121, 135, 158, 163, 167, 195–96, 232, 244, 306, 352, 389, 391, 409–10, 415–16; luggage of, 122, 128, 256, 258; patriotism of, 116, 213, 256; portrait of, 169–70, 171, 225–26; pride of, 213; purchase of Boston property and, 363–64, 365, 375; servants of, 101, 412; studies botany, 196; temperament of, 75–76, 100, 115, 149, 273, 337–38; Vermont lands of, 417, 418

opinions and beliefs Europe: Anglo-French negotiations, 174; Britain, 123, 221; British Army, 342; British press, 272; compares to Roman Empire, 293; Dutch government, 173, 232; Dutch people and society, 25, 122, 271; fair at The Hague, 114, 119; French actions toward neutral nations, 151, 373; French government, politics, and constitution, xxi–xxii, 174–75, 214, 225, 255, 258, 291, 354, 372, 377–78, 412–13; French influence on governments of, 122, 213–14, 353–54; French military activity, 123, 174, 342, 412, 523; French privateering, 37; German press, 272; London, 65; Löwenhielm ball, 115; mysticism, 272; Prussia, 339, 354, 356, 374; residing in, 194, 355, 372; war in, 123, 134 Individuals: Samuel Adams, 123; SSA, 232; P. Adet, 195; Abbé Arnoux’s cook, 119; B. F. Bache, 232, 256, 257, 451; F. Barbé-Marbois, 195, 196; F. Brito, 101; Lord Chesterfield, 64– 65, 106; Baron Engeström, 455; Frederick William II, 213; Frederick William III, xxix, 339; Susanna Hall, 231; T. Jefferson, 224–25; J. Johnson, 40, 41; I. Kant, 272; Queen Louise, 354; P. Merlin, 342; J. Monroe, 372, 411; Napoleon, xii, xxix, 123, 174–75, 340, 342; T. Paine (author), 189; C. Pastoret, 291, 292; Peter Porcupine, 410; C. C. Pinckney, 194, 196; M. Pinckney, 196; E. Randolph, 254; Baron Schubart, 120; Abbé Sieyès, 342; Mary Smith, 231; Solon, 254; Cotton Tufts, 375; G. Washington, 255, 410; T. Whitcomb, 412 United States: Adams-Jefferson executive, 148; Algerian-American relations, 101; American character, 254, 375; arming merchant ships, 373; Blount affair, 308; British attacks on U.S. shipping, 413, 521; DemocraticRepublican Party, 224, 225, 232; diplomatic corps, 256; Federalist Party, 410; foreign influence on, 254; internal improvements, 363; Mazzei letter, 165; party politics, 254; presidential election (1796), 24; U.S. presidency, 57, 339; U.S. relations with France, 37, 101, 124, 147–48, 174, 189, 194, 342, 353, 354, 373, 499; U.S. relations with Prussia, 372 Miscellaneous: corruption, 123; death, 223–

letters Letters: To AA2 (1798), 386; To AA (1797), 121, 173, 193, 223, 254, 337; (1798), 352, 371, 409; To AA and JA (1797), 220; To CA (1797), 231; (1798), 400; To JA (1797), 212; To LCA (1797), 11, 24, 40, 57, 64, 74, 105, 115, 134, 149; To TBA (1797), 84, 100, 114, 119, 136; To Catherine Nuth Johnson (1798), 383; To Joshua Johnson (1797), 259; To Thomas Baker Johnson (1797), 230; To Thomas Welsh (1798), 363 Letters: From AA2 (1797), 283; From AA (1797), 4, 28, 162, 169, 203, 276, 306, 316; (1798), 388, 448, 480, 498, 516; From CA (1797), 150; From JA (1797), 55, 269, 280; From LCA (1797), 14, 25, 43, 52, 73, 88, 101, 120, 130; From TBA (1797), 81, 93, 108; From William Cranch (1798), 440; From Catherine Nuth Johnson (1797), 244; From Joshua Johnson (1797), 90, 128, 209, 243

571

Adams Family Correspondence ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (continued) 24; diplomatic service, 411–12; duty, 41, 76; education, 230; errors in publication of letters, 308; German coachmen, 384; harp playing, 13; letter writing, 13; marriage, 76; pride, 41; public service, xxvi, 107, 115–16, 213, 224, 232, 256, 426; qualities for Adams family members, 375; qualities for a secretary, 226; reading and study, 65, 75–76; ships, 92, 384; social advancement, 65, 106 public life Law Career: newspapers and, 138, 256; plans to return to, 55, 174, 442 Diplomacy, 1794–1797, Minister Resident to the Netherlands: TBA as secretary for, 7, 30, 42, 84, 85, 101, 115, 119, 136, 137, 165, 170, 175, 196; appointment of, 503; assists W. Short, 85; consular appointments sought from, 124; possible continuation as, 34–35; declines gift from Dutch government, 176, 503; departure from, 38, 121, 193; dispatches to and from, 37, 74, 83, 136, 148, 150, 151, 163, 165, 232, 254, 375, 503; Dutch-American loan and, 135; Dutch attitudes toward, 173, 372, 375; Jean & Gaspar Halbach & Fils and, 83; need for current U.S. news, 67, 207; news from France and, 225; newspaper criticism of, 150, 151; nomination to Prussia and, 164; presents letter of recall to Batavian National Assembly, 175, 503; recall from, 74, 77, 90–91, 121; recommendations sought from, 85; salary and provisions for, 503; sends Dutch constitution to T. Pickering, 176; succeeded by W. V. Murray, 21, 22, 28, 30, 35, 38, 55, 56, 91, 136, 137, 140, 173, 175, 193, 271 Diplomacy, 1796, Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal: TBA as secretary for, 122; appointment of, 55, 56, 224, 256, 280; commission as, 12, 34, 42, 57, 74, 77, 90–91, 121; dispatches to, 212; mission changed from Portugal to Prussia, xxi, xxvi, 92, 136, 137, 140, 158, 164, 168, 212, 214, 224, 256, 258, 277, 281, 285, 307, 338, 352, 353, 355, 372, 426, 451, 452; on mission of, 193, 213; qualifications for, 281; salary and provisions for, 224, 226, 256, 258, 338, 355, 426, 503; W. L. Smith replaces, 203, 285; succeeds D. Humphreys, 12, 13; travel arrangements for, 55, 56, 57, 74–75, 91, 100, 101, 102, 106–107, 108, 115, 116, 120, 121–22, 128, 129, 134, 135, 136–37, 140, 164 Diplomacy, 1797–1801, Minister Plenipotentiary to Prussia: JQA’s attitude toward, xxvi, xxviii, 212–13, 224, 256, 269, 280, 285, 307, 339, 353, 426, 502; TBA as secretary for, 136, 214, 226, 233, 238, 248, 257, 270, 273, 279, 282,

308, 318, 342, 355, 364, 375, 387, 390, 391, 411, 412, 442, 450, 452, 482, 499, 500, 518; commission and instructions for, 136, 232, 242, 293, 308, 377, 412, 446, 450, 451; correspondence with U.S. diplomats in Europe, 203, 258, 271; Mary Cranch on, 158, 540; credentials for, xxviii, 224, 338, 342, 413, 421, 426, 500, 511; dispatches to and from, xxi, 212, 214, 258, 270, 302, 355–56, 409, 410, 412–13, 421, 422, 425–26, 448, 450, 480, 482, 498–99, 500, 521, 523; duration of service as, 226, 373–74, 411; Frederick William II and, xxvii–xxviii, 338, 421, 425; importance of mission, 136, 232, 355, 372, 374; isolation of, 226, 273, 340, 352; meets with Prussian ministers, 421, 425; nomination and appointment as, xix, 135, 136, 147, 150, 158, 212–13, 214, 231–32, 256, 269, 280, 285, 426, 502; presentation at Prussian court, xxviii, 338, 340, 342, 343, 413, 422, 446, 450, 500, 511; public response to JA’s nomination as, 138, 140, 502, 503; reaction to appointment as, xxvi, 137, 140, 141, 151, 158, 164, 203, 204, 224, 277, 451, 452, 454; recall from, 224, 355, 375; receives newspapers, 258, 306–307; renewal of Prussian-American Treaty (1785) and, 136, 140, 150, 213–14, 355, 356, 413; renewal of Swedish-American Treaty (1783) and, 422, 449–50, 451, 452, 454, 455; requests information on Prussia, 214; salary and provisions for, 143, 144, 204, 256, 280, 355, 374, 411, 426, 452, 454, 503; secretary for, 135, 226, 236, 238, 249, 286, 391, 411, 432; Senate confirmation as, 147, 150, 151, 164 Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, 1805–1809: appointment as, 98 Miscellaneous: JA’s presidency and, 124, 173–74, 204, 269–70, 372; F. Dana’s Russian mission and, 226; elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 277, 279, 307, 353, 373; as possible envoy to France, 277, 279, 372; future plans of, 55, 363; praise for, 207, 281; possible retirement from public life, 107, 116; as successor to JA, 141; G. Washington and, 5, 173, 256, 277, 281 relationship with lca AA on, 309; on LCA, xxvi, 41–42, 105–106, 220, 232, 371–72, 385; LCA and appointment to Portugal of, 57, 74–75, 102, 120, 128, 130; LCA as wife and companion of, xxvii, 116, 149, 221, 269, 310, 432; LCA calls “my Adams,” 14, 53, 88, 101, 120, 130, 135; LCA on reading habits of, 52–53, 75, 76; LCA on temperament of, 14, 53, 57, 120; LCA’s affection and concern for, 53, 88, 130, 371–72; LCA’s correspondence and, 25, 149, 535; LCA seeks

572

Index ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (continued) approval of, 41, 43, 88, 107; LCA sends news to, 26, 42, 52, 101; LCA’s gift to AA and, 352; LCA shares letters of, 88; on LCA’s letter writing, 11, 13, 40, 41–42, 115, 120, 385; on LCA’s musical abilities, 12; LCA’s reading and, 13, 26, 58, 65–66, 105–106, 107; LCA’s separation from family and, 242; advises LCA on self-improvement, 12–13; affection and concern for LCA, 338, 371–72, 386, 511; correspondence with LCA, xx, 12, 13, 15, 25, 26, 42, 53, 58, 75, 76, 90, 102, 106, 107, 116, 135, 149; disagreements and apologies, 25–26, 76, 115; marriage, xix, xx, xxvi, 28, 30–31, 57, 58, 64, 75, 91, 107, 116, 149, 168, 174, 175, 209, 210, 214, 220, 221, 223, 230, 232, 239, 246, 258, 269, 273, 276–77, 279, 282, 283–84, 285, 316, 363, 371, 386, 391, 440, 460, 478; marriage certificate, 221; possible reunion with, 26, 74, 88, 89, 115, 130; seeks LCA’s assistance, 42, 43; sends gifts to LCA and family, 14, 15; separation from LCA, 11, 13, 14, 15, 24–25, 43, 57–58, 73, 101, 102, 107, 115, 116, 120–21, 128, 130

204, 213, 226, 269, 271, 273, 279, 280, 286, 291, 308, 316, 317, 339, 355, 364, 373, 385, 386, 389, 390, 391, 399, 410, 413, 451, 452, 482, 483, 496, 499–500, 502, 503, 510–11, 518–19; correspondence with JA, xxi, xxvi, xxxi, 19, 20, 21, 28, 30, 33, 35, 36, 37, 56, 58, 71, 72, 117–18, 121, 124, 136, 147, 148, 163, 165, 175–76, 181, 189, 207, 214, 226, 233, 243, 246, 248, 249, 250, 270, 272, 277, 282, 291, 292, 293, 307, 308, 339, 352–53, 371, 376–78, 409, 410, 413, 414, 415, 422, 430, 499, 503, 545; correspondence with parents, 290, 307, 376–78, 389, 390, 391, 395, 413, 421–22; on French attitudes toward JA, 372; offers library to JA, 353; parents and public service of, 5, 168, 173, 353, 482; presents LCA to parents, 220; resembles AA, 170; seeks information from AA, 226; sends AA news of European acquaintances, 123; sends JA letters of introduction, 233, 270; sends JA newspapers and publications, 181, 194, 214, 271; sends items to AA, 240, 279, 280, 307, 352; separation from parents, 27, 33, 135, 188, 270, 309, 386, 405, 450, 503

relationship with parents AA advises, 203, 279, 374; AA and correspondence of, 4, 7, 104, 117–18, 147, 148, 167, 181, 204, 293, 307, 352–53, 502, 503, 521, 523; AA and publication of letters of, xxv, 188, 189, 200, 211, 290–91, 292, 293, 303, 305, 318; AA defends, xxvi, 296, 451–52, 502–503; AA desires letters from, 3, 344, 450, 482, 498; AA forwards letters to, 307, 309, 352–53; AA on, xxvi, 5, 30, 163, 285; AA on appointment and mission to Prussia, 224, 277, 285, 426, 449, 450; AA on marriage of, xxvii, 28, 30–31, 168, 276–77, 285, 309, 371; AA receives portrait of, 169–70; AA reports Johnson family’s arrival in U.S., 316, 343; AA’s affection for, 320; AA seeks secretary for, xxvii, 238, 273, 286, 287, 391, 411; AA sends newspapers and publications to, 6, 7, 29, 30, 194, 203, 207, 254, 255, 257, 277, 278, 306, 317, 344, 352, 380, 390, 449, 450, 480, 481, 483, 498, 500, 516, 517, 518; as AA’s legacy, 60; on AA’s letter writing, 352; JA desires letters from, 4, 136; JA on career of, 55, 282; JA on marriage of, 269, 270– 71, 282, 321; on JA’s election and presidency, 14, 57, 124, 257; on JA’s opinion of, 122; JA’s patronage and, xxi, xxvi, 35, 37, 173–74, 212– 13, 224, 256, 269–70, 277, 280–81, 285, 339, 353, 373, 449–50, 451, 452, 502, 503; as agent for AA, 29, 30, 240, 279, 306, 352, 364; concern and respect for parents, 121, 193, 213, 220, 223, 231; correspondence with AA, xii, xxi–xxii, xxvi, xxviii, xxxi, 7, 31, 69, 163, 165, 170, 175,

relationship with siblings AA2: on AA2, 257, 375, 386; AA2 on marriage of, 283–84, 386; AA2’s affection for, 284; compares LCA to AA2, 232; correspondence with AA2, xxx, 69, 269, 518 CA: CA as agent for, xxix–xxx, 231, 233, 279, 306, 364, 374–75, 400–401; CA forwards letter to, 150; CA sends newspapers to, 194; correspondence with CA, xxvi, xxix–xxx, 69, 83, 223, 233, 401; separation from CA, 386 TBA: on TBA, 411; TBA and marriage of, 221, 273; TBA as agent for, 111, 113, 364–65; TBA as companion of, 168, 226, 249, 273, 299, 432; TBA as U.S. correspondent of, 67; TBA on, 34, 239, 249, 432; TBA quotes letter of, 37; TBA’s visit to Paris and, 84, 94, 95, 100, 111, 113, 114, 119, 123; concern for TBA, 136, 137, 511; correspondence with TBA, ix, 85, 94, 110, 111, 112, 113, 123, 137; resemblance between TBA and, 170 residences in Berlin, xxvii, 338, 342, 384, 511; planned in Lisbon, 13, 258; in London, 209–10, 212 social life aversion to, xxviii, 25, 52, 120, 122, 374; in Berlin, 343, 354, 356, 374; in Boston, 95; in France, 111, 113, 119–20, 123, 217, 270–71; at The Hague, 53, 85, 114, 115, 116, 119, 120, 208, 217; in Hamburg, 69; in London, 69, 221; plays whist, 120; visits to, 58, 85, 208

573

Adams Family Correspondence ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (continued) travels England to Netherlands (1796), 226; England to Prussia (1797), xxvii, 69, 337–38, 342, 358, 370, 371, 376, 383–84, 386, 388, 396, 399, 421, 425, 496; in Europe (1784), 53; in France (1779), 270–71; in France (1784), 113; in Netherlands, 100, 134, 135, 136; planned Netherlands to England, 29, 30, 88; Netherlands to England (1795), 225; Netherlands to England (1797), xxvi, 69, 175, 176, 193, 212, 214, 223, 231, 246; planned to Prussia, 238, 323; planned return to U.S., 116, 224, 355; return to U.S., 137; U.S. to Europe (1794), 95, 194, 373, 451 writings Diary: digital publication of, xxxii; on Franco-Portuguese peace negotiations, 108; on U.S. visitors to The Hague, 85 Published: contributor to Port Folio, 114; correspondence in government reports, 151, 232, 254; correspondence in newspapers, xxv, 71, 72, 165, 188, 189, 196, 200, 211, 232, 290–91, 292, 308, 376–78, 415; Harvard commencement oration (1787), 373, 375; “Observations, upon . . . the French Constitution” in newspapers, 255, 258, 376–77, 379, 415 ADAMS, LOUISA CATHERINE JOHNSON (1775–1852, wife of JQA, designated as LCA in The Adams Papers) books and reading Lord Chesterfield, 43, 64, 105–106, 107; Madame de Staël, 26 character, appearance, habits AA2 on, 283, 284; AA on, 309; JA on, 310; TBA on, 239, 242, 273, 323, 391; R. H. Dalton on, 460; foreign language skills of, 384; health of, xxvii, 338, 342, 354, 384–85, 386, 396, 412, 511, 516, 533; C. N. Johnson on, 534; letter writing of, xxviii, 11, 13, 40, 41–42, 115, 120, 385 domestic life AA advises on letter writing, xxvii, 310, 450; AA sends news to, 316, 343, 499; Adamses on marriage of, 269, 270–71, 277, 283– 84, 309, 321; correspondence with AA2, 269, 283, 284; correspondence with AA, 308, 412, 518; correspondence with AA and JA, xxvi– xxvii, 221, 223, 276, 306, 308; gift giving of, 284, 307, 352; lodgings in Berlin, xxvii, 338,

342, 384, 511; musical abilities of, 12; relationship with Adamses, 14, 220–21, 232–33, 271, 310, 516; relationship with parents and family, 41, 128, 220, 221, 244, 516, 533; separation from family, 210, 242, 292, 293, 309, 323, 384; servants of, 310, 535 letters Letters: To AA and JA (1797), 220; To JQA (1797), 14, 25, 43, 52, 73, 88, 101, 120, 130 Letters: From AA (1797), 309; From JQA (1797), 11, 24, 40, 57, 64, 74, 105, 115, 134, 149; From Catherine Nuth Johnson (1798), 533 Letters to, from, omitted: To JQA listed (1797), 546 (2), 547 (2); From JQA listed (1797), 546 (2), 547 opinions and beliefs JA’s election, 14–15; implications of war for U.S., 26; Queen Louise, 386; Portugal, 73; Prussian court, 342 relationship with jqa JQA advises, 12–13, 26, 58, 65–66, 105–106, 107; JQA and correspondence of, 25, 149, 535; JQA on, xxvi, 41–42, 105–106, 220, 232, 371–72, 385; JQA’s affection and concern for, 338, 386, 511; JQA seeks assistance from, 42, 43; JQA sends gifts to family and, 14, 15; JQA’s Portugal appointment and, 57, 74–75, 102, 120, 128, 130; on JQA’s reading habits, 52–53, 75, 76; on JQA’s temperament, 14, 53, 57, 120; affection and concern for JQA, 53, 88, 130, 371–72; calls JQA “my Adams,” 14, 53, 88, 101, 120, 130, 135; correspondence with JQA, xx, 12, 13, 15, 25, 26, 42, 53, 58, 75, 76, 90, 102, 106, 107, 116, 135, 149; disagreements and apologies, 25–26, 76, 115; marriage, xix, xx, xxvi, 28, 30–31, 57, 58, 64, 75, 91, 107, 116, 149, 168, 174, 175, 209, 210, 214, 220, 221, 223, 230, 232, 239, 246, 258, 269, 273, 276–77, 279, 282, 283–84, 285, 316, 363, 371, 386, 391, 440, 460, 478; marriage certificate, 221; possible reunion with, 26, 74, 88, 89, 115, 130; role of as JQA’s wife, xxvii, 116, 149, 221, 269, 310, 432; seeks JQA’s approval, 41, 43, 88, 107; sends JQA news, 26, 42, 52, 101; separation from JQA, 11, 13, 14, 15, 24–25, 43, 57–58, 73, 101, 102, 107, 115, 116, 120–21, 128, 130; shares JQA’s letters, 88 social life aversion to, 53; in London, 221, 460, 535; presented at Prussian court, xxviii, 385, 386, 412; in Prussia, 354

574

Index ADAMS, LOUISA CATHERINE JOHNSON (continued)

romantic relationships of, 239, 285, 453, 484; settles in Philadelphia, 453

travels England to Prussia (1797), xxvii, 238, 337– 38, 342, 370, 383–84, 396, 399, 450; planned to Portugal, 73, 102, 107, 116, 128, 129, 149, 209; travel companions, 384; possible to U.S., 11, 26, 43, 64, 107

letters Letters: To AA (1797), 66, 215, 238, 241; (1798), 391; To JA (1797), 33, 248; (1798), 427; To JQA (1797), 81, 93, 108 Letters: From AA (1797), 167, 207, 284; (1798), 343, 452, 483; From JA (1797), 56, 135, 270; From JQA (1797), 84, 100, 114, 119, 136 Letters to, from, omitted: To Joseph Pitcairn listed (1796), 545; From JQA listed (1797), 547 (3)

Diary: 342

writings

Adams, Peter Boylston (1738–1823, brother of JA): Adamses’ properties and, 59, 361; Mr. Billings and, 63, 71; Cranches socialize with, 275; search for Quincy minister and, 132, 181, 315; mentioned, 97 Adams, Samuel (1722–1803, 2d cousin of JA), 2, 123, 421 Adams, Sarah Norton (wife of Elisha), 154 Adams, Sarah Smith (Sally, 1769–1828, wife of CA, designated as SSA in The Adams Papers), 117, 159, 194, 209, 232–33, 258 Adams, Susanna (Sukey, 1777–1816, niece of JA), 158, 261, 377 Adams, Susanna Boylston (mother of JA). See Hall, Susanna Boylston Adams Adams, Susanna Boylston (1796–1884, daughter of CA), 117, 180, 194, 209, 258 Adams, Thomas (Boston printer), 142–43, 156, 189, 531. See also Independent Chronicle ADAMS, THOMAS BOYLSTON (1772–1832, son of AA and JA, designated as TBA in The Adams Papers) books and reading book purchases by, 111; books desired by, 394; Edmund Burke, 430, 432; Immanuel Kant, 430; lack of in Paris, 94; newspapers, 112, 240, 241, 242, 393; Shakespeare, 66, 68, 110; Laurence Sterne, 111, 216 character, appearance, habits, domestic life LCA and, 271, 310; ambition of, 249; art appreciation of, 110; clothing of, xxviii, 395, 396, 397; description of, ix, 109; exercise of, 57; finances of, 94, 100, 111, 114, 238; foreign language skills of, 82, 111, 112, 238–39, 271, 396, 432; friendships of, 19, 239, 290, 303; health of, xxvii, 136, 338, 386, 511, 516, 518, 535; Johnson family and, 239, 535; letters desired by, 67, 239; letter writing of, xx, 33– 34, 56, 66, 94, 135, 167, 284, 391, 415–16, 453;

opinions and beliefs Europe: Antwerp, 431; Berlin, 396; Brussels, 81–82; Battle of Cape St. Vincent, 36; destruction caused by French Revolution, 215; Dutch people, 68, 271; First Coalition, 240; France, 94, 428, 430; Franco-Portuguese peace, 240; French coup of 18 fructidor, 249; French culture and customs, 110, 217; French decree on neutral navigation, 431; French government, 36, 216; French people, 82; German politics, 430; Netherlands, 112, 217; Paris, 94, 108, 110, 216–17; Poland, 430; Prussian people, 432; Scheldt River, 431; trade and commerce of, 431; Treaty of Campo Formio, 430; value of working in, 238; Versailles, 215; war in, xxviii, 392 Individuals: LCA, 239, 242, 273, 323, 391; Abbé Arnoux, 216; Abbé Arnoux’s cook, 111; B. F. Bache, 393; J. Detune, 93; A. Hamilton, 393–94; Johnson family, 239, 273; T. McKean, 392, 393; J. Monroe, 394; W. V. Murray, 217; Miss Nahuys, 115; C. C. Pinckney, 217; J. Quincy III, 239; traveling companions, 82– 83, 93, 216; G. Washington, 394 United States: citizens of, 68; Congress, 240, 291, 427–28, 431–32; diplomatic dispatches, 242; First Mission to France, 239– 40, 249, 428–29; French influence on, xxviii– xxix, 35, 36, 249, 394, 428, 429, 431, 432; Jay Treaty, 239–40; newspapers, 392–93; party spirit in, 428; Philadelphia, 432–33; support for government in, 392; U.S. affairs, 249; U.S. relations with France, xxi, 36, 67–68, 141, 239–40, 392, 428 Miscellaneous: public transportation, 216; speculation, 249; tar and feathering, 394–95; vice, 393 public life Law Career: absence from, 35; plans to return to, 35, 56, 136; studied law with J. Ingersoll, 453

575

Adams Family Correspondence ADAMS, THOMAS BOYLSTON (continued) Secretary to the Minister to the Netherlands, 1794–1797: JQA on absence of, 84; JQA requests passports from, 137; JQA’s correspondence and, 7, 30, 67, 85, 101, 115, 119, 137, 165, 170, 175, 196; as JQA’s secretary, 42, 136, 137 Secretary to the Minister to Prussia, 1797– 1798: JQA’s correspondence and, 214, 233, 257, 270, 279, 282, 308, 318, 342, 355, 364, 375, 387, 390, 391, 412, 442, 450, 452, 482, 499, 500, 518; attitudes toward service as, 238, 249, 391; A. Caillard and, xxviii; continues as JQA’s secretary, xxvii, 238, 248, 270, 273, 285, 390; Mary Cranch on, 540; presented at Prussian court, xxviii, 395, 396–97; replacement for, xxvii, 136, 226, 238, 249, 273, 286, 287, 391, 411, 432 Miscellaneous: as JQA’s secretary in Portugal, 101–102, 122; future plans of, 34–35, 249, 432–33; as public servant, 67; as possible secretary to JA, 56, 136, 249, 323 relationship with parents AA and news of, 3, 71, 208, 344; AA and publication of letters of, xxv, 291, 292, 303, 305, 318; AA on heredity of, 518; AA requests descriptions of Prussia from, 453; AA’s affection for, 320; AA shares letters of, 104, 167; as AA’s legacy, 60; on AA’s letter writing, 218; JA advises on career, 34, 56, 135–36, 270; JA and correspondence of, 19, 20, 21, 28, 33, 141; JA’s patronage and, 35, 37, 270; on JA’s public service, 34, 66; as agent for AA, 28, 29, 30, 168, 169, 240; asks parents to find replacement, xxvii, 238, 273, 286, 391; correspondence with AA, ix, xxvii, xxviii, 4, 7, 28, 29, 31, 168, 217–18, 239, 246, 248, 250, 270, 273, 279, 285, 286, 291, 307, 308, 316, 323, 345, 370, 371, 390, 394, 396, 399, 427, 453, 484, 496, 510–11, 518; correspondence with JA, xxvii, xxviii, 19, 20, 21, 28, 34, 35, 37, 38, 69, 147, 167, 215, 216, 249, 250, 285, 290, 345, 389; duty to JA, 34; exchanges letters, items, and news with parents, 168, 242, 271, 307, 344, 345, 396; on honors shown to JA, 427; parents desire return to U.S., 29, 33, 35, 57, 135, 136, 168, 207, 226, 248, 249; parents on plans to go to Berlin, 271, 285, 390; seeks JA’s approval, 248–49; sends gift to AA, 241–42, 307, 345, 352, 396; separation from parents, 27, 33, 135, 238, 285, 286, 405 relationship with siblings on AA2’s domestic situation, 395; on JQA,

34, 239, 249, 432; JQA and visit to Paris by, 84, 94, 95, 100, 111, 113, 114, 119; JQA on, 411; JQA provides letter of introduction for, 113, 123; as JQA’s companion, 168, 226, 249, 273, 299, 432; JQA’s concern for, 136, 137, 511; on JQA’s letter writing, 34, 37, 391; on JQA’s marriage, 273, 391, 432; as agent for JQA, 111, 113, 364–65; attends JQA’s wedding, 221; correspondence with CA, 83; correspondence with JQA, ix, 85, 94, 110, 111, 112, 113, 123, 137; exchanges newspapers with CA, 194; on lack of letters from AA2 and CA, 69; resemblance between JQA and, 170; seeks information from JQA, 108; sends news to JQA, 83; separation from AA2 and CA, 238; as U.S. correspondent of JQA, 67 residences in Berlin, xxvii, 338, 342, 384, 396, 511; possible with parents in Philadelphia, 56; in Philadelphia, 453 social life attends theater, 94, 110, 216, 217; in Berlin, 395; at The Hague, 114, 208, 217; in Hamburg, 69; letters of introduction for, 216; in London, 69, 310; in Netherlands, 25, 100; in Paris, 94, 110, 111, 215–16, 217, 270, 285; in Philadelphia, 208, 218, 452, 453, 483–84; visits Mount Vernon, 535 travels cost of, 82, 111, 114; England to Prussia (1797), xxvii, 69, 238, 242, 248, 250, 271, 337– 38, 342, 376, 383–84, 396, 399; Europe to U.S. (1798–1799), 364; expulsion from France reported in U.S., 285, 287; Netherlands to England (1797), 69, 175, 193, 215, 246, 248, 271; Netherlands to France (1797), ix, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 93, 94, 100, 101, 106, 108, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 119, 122–23, 135, 175, 215, 216; planned Netherlands to Portugal, 128, 136, 217; papers required for, ix, 94, 108, 109 (illus.), 111, 112, 119; planned return to U.S., 29, 33, 34–35, 67, 135, 168, 238, 249, 391, 432, 434; travel companions, 42, 69, 384; U.S. to Europe (1794), 194 writings Diary: xxxiii, 396–97 Published: contributor to Port Folio, 114; correspondence in newspapers, xxv, 140, 141, 291 Unpublished: ECA notates correspondence, 453

576

Index Adams Family Correspondence: editorial method, xxxi; letters omitted from, 545–52; publication of JQA’s correspondence in, xxxi Adams National Historical Park. See Old House Adams Papers: digital catalog for, xxxii; mentioned, 136, 221, 279, 425, 451 Addison, Joseph: “The Campaign,” 96; Cato, 229, 230 Adelaide (ship), 309 Adet, Pierre Auguste (French minister to the U.S.): F. Barbé-Marbois on, 195; calls on JA, 63, 64; correspondence with T. Pickering, 6, 7, 30, 35, 37, 147, 413 Adige River, Italy, xiii Adriatic Sea, xiii Aetolia, Greece, 474 African Americans: AA on, 125; JA on, 32, 51; in Quincy, 350, 357, 359, 415; as servants, 32, 81, 86, 172, 219. See also Slavery African Caribbeans, 196 Agricola, Gnaeus Julius (Roman general), 122, 124 Agriculture: JA’s love of, 23, 32, 46, 49, 62, 64, 160, 162–63, 325, 528; TBA on, 81–82; in Britain, 356; carting stones, 39, 54; clearing and preparing land, 23, 44, 127, 360; clover, 142, 180, 297, 311; dairying, 152; destruction of crops, 218–19, 220; farm conveyances and implements, 22, 62; fencing for, 39, 45, 54, 62, 71, 77, 153, 282–83, 297, 382, 436; grains and hay, 18, 19, 24, 45–46, 54, 71, 130, 153, 218–19, 220, 221, 223, 283, 297, 302, 311, 360, 361, 380, 383, 425, 473; harvesting, 283; livestock, 1, 22, 39, 44, 45, 46, 70, 127, 152, 219, 220, 424, 468, 475; in Netherlands, 81–82, 217; payment of farmhands, 1, 46, 47, 62, 127, 153, 475; pest control, 100, 104; planting, 18, 127, 153; plowing, 45, 54, 62, 283, 297, 311; profitability of, 22; seeds, 18, 297, 439; use of manure in, 19, 45, 54, 62, 283, 297, 311; use of seaweed in, 311; weather affects, 23, 54, 79, 130, 153, 283, 311–12, 360, 436, 465, 475, 512 Albany, N.Y., 72 Albany Gazette, 277, 279–80 Alexander (ship), 175 Alexander & Alexander (ship), 175 Alexander the Great, 123, 526 Alexandria, Va., 129, 536 Algiers. See Barbary States Allen, Anne Penn (Nancy, sister of Mary Livingston), 324, 325 Allen, Elizabeth Kent (wife of Jonathan), 228, 229

Allen, John (Conn. representative), 148, 149, 523 Allen, Rev. Jonathan (of Bradford, Mass.), 228; identified, 229 Allen, Capt. (of Va.), 18 Alps Mountains, 83 Alvensleben, Philipp Karl von (Prussian foreign minister), 421, 422, 425 America (ship), 4, 7 American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 277, 279, 307, 353, 373 American Daily Advertiser (Phila.), 4, 18, 202, 320, 427, 469 American Revolution: AA on, xxiv, 145, 146, 458, 528; JA’s role in, 145, 348; books dedicated to soldiers of, 337; cashiering of soldiers, xiii; Committee of Safety, 525; debts from, 148, 420; French support during, 80, 148; German service in, 340, 343; loyalists in, 368, 370; prisoners of war, 78, 343; Battle of Saratoga, 340, 343; service in, 74, 78, 145, 146, 220, 287, 296, 302, 305–306, 350, 361, 403, 418, 462; U.S. diplomacy during, 454; G. Washington and, 19; mentioned, 10, 165, 259, 486, 498 Ames, Fisher (Mass. politician), 477 Amity (ship), 208 Amsterdam, Netherlands: JQA visits, 100, 134, 135, 136, 149; bankers in, 58, 135, 231; future of, 271; merchants in, 37, 82, 363; ships to and from, 3, 4, 42, 69, 91, 92, 100, 102, 107, 116, 121, 137, 200; U.S. visitors to, 58, 84, 206 Anatomy, 305 Anderson, Joseph Inslee (Tenn. senator): identified, 446 Andover, Mass., 229 Andrews, Benjamin (of Boston), 506 Annan, William (of Phila.), 278, 280 Annapolis, Md., 200 Anne of Cleves, Queen of England, 366 Anthony, Joseph (Phila. merchant), 268, 269 Antwerp, Belgium, 81, 271, 431, 433 Appleton, Charles Henderson (son of Sarah), 131; identified, 134 Appleton, John (Salem merchant), 184–85; identified, 186 Appleton, Mary (daughter of Sarah), 131; identified, 134 Appleton, Nathaniel (U.S. loan commissioner in Mass.), 304, 473 Appleton, Dr. Nathaniel Walker (of Boston), 134, 304 Appleton, Priscilla Greenleaf (wife of John), 186

577

Adams Family Correspondence Appleton, Sarah Greenleaf (wife of Dr. Nathaniel), 131; identified, 134 Appleton, William Greenleaf (son of Sarah), 131; identified, 134 Apthorp, Anna Perkins (wife of George), 262– 63; identified, 263 Apthorp, George Henry (son of James), 84, 85, 262–63; identified, 263 Apthorp, Grizzel (cousin of George), 85 Apthorp, James (of Quincy), 103, 104, 181 Apthorp, Sarah Wentworth (wife of James), 262; identified, 263 Araujo de Azevedo, Antonio de (Portuguese minister to Netherlands): TBA visits, 94; French treatment of, 240, 457, 459, 469, 523, 526–27; negotiations of with France, 95, 101, 107, 108, 240, 241, 527 Argus (N.Y.), 87, 88, 325, 458 Army, U.S.: JA and, 118, 505; Congress authorizes expansion of, 150, 151, 158, 173; Northwest Territory and, 403–404; U.S. attitudes toward, 59, 442; U.S. border enforced by, 446; mentioned, 36 Arnoux, Abbé Guillaume (French cleric): AA on, 285; JA on, 270; TBA and, 111, 119, 123, 216, 217, 270; Adamses’ relationship with, 111, 113, 119, 123, 285; correspondence with JQA, 111, 119, 123; imprisonment of, 111, 217 Art. See Paintings and prints; Sculpture Artists: John Singleton Copley Sr., 169–70, 171, 225–26; Michele Felice Cornè, xv, xvi, 479 (illus.); William Dunlap, xi; William Hogarth, xv; Louis Lafitte, xii, xiii, 341 (illus.); Benjamin Henry Latrobe, xiv, xv, 471 (illus.); Claude Lorrain, 110; John Parker, 100; Jean Baptiste Regnault, xiii; James Sharples Sr., xi, 264 (illus.), 265 (illus.) Ascheraden, Baron Carl Gustav Schultz von (Swedish minister to Prussia), 422, 452, 454, 455 Asia (ship), 197, 198 Athens, Greece, 269 Atkinson, N.H., 185, 229, 235, 278, 436, 539 Atkinson Academy: AA2’s sons attend, xxx, xxxi, 28, 212, 247, 278, 390; books used at, 229; instructors at, 228, 229, 367; students at, 186, 229; tuition for, 229 Atlantic Ocean, 238 Attorney General, U.S., xi, 370. See also Judiciary, U.S. Atwood, Elizabeth (daughter of Moses), 245; identified, 246 Atwood, Harriet (daughter of Moses), 245; identified, 246

Atwood, John Mulliken (son of Moses), 245; identified, 246 Atwood, Joseph (father of Moses), 253 Atwood, Mary (daughter of Moses), 245; identified, 246 Atwood, Mary Tenney (wife of Moses), 245– 46, 251, 347; identified, 246 Atwood, Moses (of Haverhill, Mass.): identified, 246; AA on, 245–46, 347; business and apprentices of, 246, 250, 330, 347; Elizabeth Peabody on, 251; Charles Smith’s death and, 250, 251, 330, 347, 358; mentioned, 253 Atwood, Sarah (1747–1833, sister of Moses), 252, 330, 347, 358; identified, 253 Atwood, Sarah (b. 1797, daughter of Moses), 245; identified, 246 Atwood, Sarah Chresdee (mother of Moses), 253 Augereau, Gen. Pierre François Charles (French), 243 August Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, 340, 343, 374 Aurora General Advertiser (Phila.): AA on, 139, 490; AA’s theater attendance reported in, 532, 533; JA and T. Jefferson compared in, 220; JA criticized in, xxvi, 125, 126, 139, 140, 176, 178, 204, 289, 290, 295, 296, 297, 301, 315, 323–24, 454, 472, 531, 532, 537; JA’s addresses to Congress reported in, 18, 126, 149, 151, 455; JA’s correspondence printed in, 419, 421; JA’s Defence of the Const. criticized in, 324; JA’s election reported in, 87, 88; JQA criticized in, xxvi, 150, 151, 203, 204, 451, 452, 454; JQA’s appointment to Prussia reported in, 140, 141, 164; antiwar petitions reported in, 469, 470; Columbian Centinel and, 323; Mary Cranch on, 325; F. Dana criticized in, 139, 178–79; Federalists criticized in, 537; foreign writers for, 178, 203, 204, 323, 369; Franco-American relations reported in, 139, 140, 179, 458, 537; Gazette of the United States and, 323, 324; R. King criticized in, 348; Lyon-Griswold affair reported in, xiii, 383; New York Journal and, 178–79; sedition bill as attempt to suppress, 532; subscriptions to, 532; U.S. passport law breach reported in, 369, 371. Austin, Benjamin, Jr. (Boston merchant), 77 Austria: French indemnities to, 174; peace with France, 91, 92, 95, 101, 102, 114, 123, 124, 161, 199, 272, 340, 347; relations with Britain, 241; relations with France, xii, 174, 343, 430; relations with Genoa, 175; territorial acquisitions of, 272, 430–31

578

Index Austrian Army, 68, 69, 83 Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium), 95, 271, 272, 431, 433 Bache, Benjamin Franklin (Phila. printer): AA on, 142 143, 296, 301, 308, 335; JQA on, 232, 256, 257; JQA’s appointment to Prussia and, xxvi, 224, 256; TBA on, 393; books published by, 345; J. Burk compared to, 189; called “The Market Street Scoundrel,” 393, 396; correspondence with AA, xxvi, 296, 452; as editor of Aurora General Advertiser, xxvi, 150, 296, 297, 369; B. Franklin and, 396; relationship with JQA, 151, 203, 308; Remarks Occasioned by the Late Conduct of Mr. Washington, 255, 257 Letter: From AA (1798), 451 See also Aurora General Advertiser Baker, Hilary (Phila. mayor), 519 Baltimore, Md.: attitudes toward JA in, 518, 519, 520; economy of, 533; mayor of, 385; ships to, 309, 385, 449, 523 Bancks, John: History of the Life and Reign of William III, 330, 331 Bank of England, 68, 69, 199 Bank of New York, 15, 16 Bank of the United States, 319, 320, 434 Barbary States, 34, 37, 101, 282, 484, 490 Barbé-Marbois, François de (French politician and diplomat): Rapport . . . sur une résolution relative aux dépenses du ministre des relations extérieures, 195, 196 Barbou (Paris publishing firm), 111, 113 Barras, Paul (president of French Directory), 125, 126, 150, 151, 214, 232, 243 Barthélemy, François (member of French Directory), 174, 175, 214, 243 Bartlett, Bailey (Mass. representative), 313, 314, 328, 459, 460 Bartlett, Peggy White (wife of Bailey), 459, 460 Bass, Ann Adams (Nancy, 1773–1818, niece of JA), 209 Bass, Deacon Benjamin (of Braintree), 45, 181 Bass, Deacon Jonathan (of Quincy), 45 Bass, Joseph (of Braintree), 46, 311, 472, 473, 488 Batavian Republic. See Netherlands Bath, England, 3 Baxter, Anna Whitman (wife of Thompson), 357, 406; identified, 300 Baxter, Edward Willard (son of Seth), 513– 14; identified, 515 Baxter, Eleanor Allen (wife of Seth), 515 Baxter, Lt. Jonathan (1743–1821, of Quincy), 47, 153, 326

Baxter, Jonathan, Jr. (1773–1845, son of Lt. Jonathan), 46, 59; identified, 47 Baxter, Capt. Joseph (of Quincy), 261 Baxter, Polly Doble Howard (wife of Jonathan, Jr.): AA on, 172, 370; Adamses and, 46, 59, 158, 222, 370, 376, 377, 406; children and family of, 100, 209, 359, 360, 376, 401; Mary Cranch on, 359, 414; health of, 359, 376, 377, 387, 406, 407, 414, 539; marriage of, 46, 47 Baxter, Seth (of Braintree), 515 Baxter, Susanna Field (wife of Lt. Jonathan), 47 Baxter, Capt. Thompson (Tompson, of Quincy), 314, 406; identified, 300 Bayard, Peter (son of Samuel), 287 Bayard, Capt. Samuel (of N.Y.), 286; identified, 287 Beale, Ann Copeland (1745–1814, wife of Benjamin, Jr.): AA on, 171; health of, 131, 158– 59, 171, 181, 351, 359, 377, 405, 509; social activities of, 158, 159, 181, 275; mentioned, 134 Beale, Ann Copeland (daughter of Richard), 405; identified, 407 Beale, Capt. Benjamin, Jr. (1741–1825, of Quincy): family of, 407; health of, 359, 377; search for Quincy minister and, 131, 132; social activities of, 275, 315; stables of as model for Peacefield, 161; K. Whitman and, 315, 465 Beale, Benjamin, III (1768–1826, son of Benjamin, Jr.), 24, 351, 352, 356, 388, 405, 436 Beale, Jonathan (brother of Benjamin, Jr.), 406; identified, 407 Beale, Joseph (of Quincy), 219, 351; identified, 220 Beale, Maria Ann Sellon (wife of Richard), 405; identified, 407 Beale, Peter (son of Jonathan), 406; identified, 407 Beale, Capt. Richard Copeland (son of Benjamin, Jr.), 405, 407 Beckley, John (clerk of the House of Representatives): identified, 129–30 Belcher, Moses, Jr. (of Braintree), 23, 95, 126, 131, 159, 221, 313 Belfast, Ireland, 199, 350 Belknap, Abigail (sister of Jeremy), 405; identified, 407 Belknap, Rev. Jeremy (of Boston), 277, 373, 375, 407; identified, 279 Belknap, Ruth Eliot (wife of Jeremy), 405; identified, 407 Bell, Daniel (husband of Mary), 276

579

Adams Family Correspondence Bell, Mary Greenleaf (daughter of William Greenleaf), 275, 298, 299; identified, 276 Bellamy, Pierre (French agent “Y”), xxii, 437 Bénard, Abraham Joseph (French actor), 110; identified, 113 Bengal, India, 198 Berlin: JA on, 136, 269; JQA, LCA, and TBA arrive in, xxvii, 363, 391, 410, 422, 448, 449, 480, 496, 511; JQA, LCA, and TBA travel to, xxvii, 69, 338, 342, 363, 370, 384, 386, 391, 396, 399, 410, 421, 422, 425, 448, 449, 480, 496, 511; JQA on, 213, 372; TBA on, 391, 396; court life in, xxviii, 374; Golden Sun Hotel (Hôtel de Russie), 338, 342, 384; Lindenstrasse, 342; mails between U.S. and, 395 Bern, Switzerland, 429 Bernstorff, Count Andreas Peter (Danish diplomat), 214 Berwick, Maine, 134 Betsey (schooner), 301, 302 Bible: Abednego, 490, 491; Acts, 167, 168–69; Assyria, 540; Belial, 32; Bethel, 537; Cain, 6; 2 Chronicles, 539; 2 Corinthians, 32, 184, 186, 192, 207, 208, 251, 253, 538, 540; Daniel, 313, 490, 491; Ecclesiastes, 2, 4, 185, 186, 408, 466; Exodus, 186–87; Festus, 167, 168–69; Genesis, 62, 313; Habakkuk, 186, 187; Hebrews, 100, 456, 457; Hezekiah, 539, 540; Holy Ghost, 183; Isaiah, 192, 193, 252, 253, 357, 358, 398, 400, 539; Issachar, 62; Jerusalem, 183, 540; Jesus, 32, 183, 246, 252; Job, 185, 186; John, 246; Joseph, 183; Judah, 540; Judas, x, 190; 2 Kings, 537, 539, 540; Luke, 181, 183; Mary, 183; Matthew, xv, 144; Meshach, 490, 491; King Nebuchadnezzar, 490, 491; Noah, 72, 99, 245; Paul, 167, 169, 207; Philippians, 96; Proverbs, 143, 145, 146, 398, 400, 484; Psalms, 48, 50, 252, 253, 493; Revelations, 252, 253; Sennacherib, 539, 540; Shadrach, 490, 491; Simeon, 181, 183; 2 Timothy, 97, 98 Bielfeld, Baron von (Prussian diplomat), 214 Billinge, Charles: “Melancholy,” 286, 287 Billings, Col. Edmund (of Quincy), 524; identified, 525 Billings, Mr. (Adams farmhand): Peter Adams and, 63, 71; alcoholism of, 1, 127, 153, 425; builds wall for Adamses, 39, 45, 54, 62, 71, 77, 436; employment with Adamses, 1, 18, 153, 424 Bingham, William (Penn. senator), 28 Births: sons of P. Baxter (1798), 360; Richard Cranch (1797), x, 176, 178, 183, 187, 193; James Thompson Gerry (1797), 206, 332;

Lucy Greenleaf (1797), 160; Edward Norton (1795), 263; Eliza Susan Quincy (1798), 474, 475–76 Black, Esther Duncan (wife of Moses): AA and, 38, 158; correspondence with AA, 323, 324, 332, 334, 348, 352, 356, 510, 521, 523, 525, 539; Mary Cranch on, 416; death of Halls and, 332, 346; A. Hall and, 324, 332–33, 335, 346, 348, 349, 350–51, 369, 405, 436, 490, 493, 508, 509, 521, 522, 536, 539; health of, 131; letter writing of, 333; search for Quincy minister and, 275, 288, 315; social activities of, 181, 275, 387, 404, 405, 415, 416, 465, 525, 539; letters from AA listed (1797), 550 (3); (1798), 551; mentioned, 377 Letters: From AA (1798), 350, 507 Black, Moses (of Quincy): AA on, 288; AA sends publications to, 509; Adamses’ finances and, 141; W. Black and, 346, 349, 350, 509; correspondence with AA, 349, 509; Mary Cranch on, 315; death of Halls and, 332, 346; on financial failures in Boston, 464; A. Hall and, 324, 332–33, 335, 346, 349, 351, 377, 507, 522, 539, 541; search for Quincy minister and, 131, 132, 275, 288, 315, 322, 326; serves in Mass. General Court, 158, 160, 416; social activities of, 181, 275, 404, 465; travels between Quincy and Philadelphia, 333, 352, 377, 507, 508, 509, 536, 539, 541; letter from AA listed (1798), 552; mentioned, 466, 510 Black, William (brother of Moses): identified, 324; AA and, 346, 350, 351, 508; M. Black and, 346, 349, 350, 509; communication skills of, 333; A. Hall and, 323, 324, 333, 346, 348, 349, 351, 436, 508, 509, 521, 522, 523, 539; housekeeper for, 350, 351, 508–509; store of, 350 “Black Tom,” 219 Blackwell, Jacob (State Department clerk), 371 Blair, Rev. Samuel (chaplain of Congress), 192, 193 Blake, George (Boston lawyer), 137, 138 Blake, Joseph, Jr. (of Boston), 466 Blake, Rosanna Black (wife of Joseph, Jr.), 465; identified, 466 Blodgett, Samuel, Jr. (Phila. architect), 320 Bloodworth, Timothy (N.C. senator), 148, 423, 424 Blount, Thomas (Tenn. representative), 190, 219; identified, 192 Blount, William (Tenn. senator): identified, x; AA on, 197; JQA on conspiracy of, 308; conspires against U.S., x–xi, 188, 190, 192,

580

Index 397; foreign influence on, 202, 212; portrait of, x, xi, 191 (illus.); response to conspiracy of, 202, 203, 212, 219, 220, 345 Bogaërt, Miss. See Noël, Mrs. Bogaërt Boies, Sarah Hanson Clark (of Milton), 539, 541 Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, 1st Viscount: “A Letter to Sir William Windham,” 462–63 Bonaparte, Marie Josèphe Rose de Tascher de La Pagerie (Josephine, wife of Napoleon), 459 Bonaparte, Napoleon: JQA on, xii, xxix, 123, 174–75, 340, 342; Congress of Rastaat and, 340, 348; Franco-Austrian peace and, 272; French Directory and, xii, 240, 340, 342, 343; Italian campaign of, xii, xiii, 123, 124, 175, 176, 199, 340, 341 (illus.), 343; named commander of Army of England, xxix, 340, 342, 343; portrait of, xii, xiii, 341 (illus.); Switzerland and, 348; C. Talleyrand gives ball for, 459 Bond, Hannah Cranch (niece of Richard Cranch), 263, 315 Bond, Thomazine Elizabeth Fielder (Eliza, daughter of Hannah), 262; identified, 263 Bond, William (husband of Hannah), 263 Bonn, Germany, 82 Books and pamphlets: JA’s library, 96, 266, 353, 519, 520, 524, 536; JQA on, 25, 65, 75, 76, 122, 230, 339; JQA’s library, 137, 338–39, 353, 355; Adamses’ purchase of, 111, 114, 122, 339, 501; booksellers and printers, 93, 114, 305; for children, 229, 230; congressional journals, 502–503, 517; of congressional speeches, 426, 427, 469, 470, 480; dictionaries, 229, 230; of diplomatic reports, 491, 493; French Revolution and, 398; gifts of, 8, 308–309, 353, 400, 475; on handwriting, 227; Harvard College library, 98, 309; law libraries, 131, 143, 159, 176, 189, 193, 200, 234, 303; of letters, 13; of music, xvi, 530 (illus.), 532; posthumous publication of, 371; sermons as, 187; subscriptions for, 50, 113–14; for women, 58 Bordeaux, France, 85, 208 Borland, Leonard Vassall (of Braintree), 153 Bosset de la Rochette, Baron Georges François (envoy from German states to Netherlands), 85 Boston, Mass.: AA on, 319; JA honored in, 222, 235, 266, 278, 295; JQA seeks property in, 363–64, 365, 375; African Americans in, 172; architecture in, 319, 434; attitudes toward JA and government measures in, 38, 156, 520; building regulations in, 55; cavalry of, 235; diplomatic dispatches ar-

rive in, 438, 442, 449; financial failures in, 464, 468; fires in, 33, 54, 55, 450, 451; history of, 337; immigrants to, 186; influenza in, 424, 425; mails and goods to and from, 24, 123, 126, 159, 172, 194, 221, 223; Mass. General Court and, 198, 464, 466; merchants in, 51, 95, 206, 207, 226, 286, 287, 466; news and newspapers in, xv, 40, 64, 176, 178, 187–88, 189, 201, 447, 449, 459, 511, 531, 540; postmaster at, 70; prices in, 425; sale of stock in, 473; ships to and from, 18, 72, 165, 171, 202, 203, 205, 206, 473, 490, 491; Spanish consul at, 439; town meetings in, 55; visitors to, 144, 275, 348–49, 387, 403; G. Washington’s birthday celebrated in, 2–3, 4, 6, 19, 438, 439; weather in, 220 Buildings, Landmarks, Streets, etc.: Bank of the United States, 434; Boston Concert Hall, 439; Boston Harbor, 511; Boston Post Road, 259; Brattle Square, 540; Brattle Street (Square) Church, 464, 466; Bulfinch’s State House, 319, 320–21; Cornhill, 540; Custom House, 169; Faneuil Hall, 235; Federal Street Church, 279; Federal Street Theatre, 4, 6, 319, 321, 363, 365, 450, 451; First Church, 464, 466, 487, 488; Haymarket Theatre, 235; King’s Chapel, 319, 321; Marlborough Street, 406; Newbury Street, 294; State House, 138, 235; State Street, 434, 466 Boston Gazette, 188, 189 Boston Price-Current, 3, 4, 40, 439 Boston Public Library: JA’s library at, 96 Botany, 196, 233 Bourbon, House of, 33, 241 Bourne, Sylvanus (U.S. consul at Amsterdam), 14, 15, 26, 42, 168 Bowdoin, Elizabeth Erving (wife of James): identified, 60 Bowdoin, James (gov. of Mass.), 60 Boylston, Nicholas (1716–1771, cousin of JA’s mother), 97, 98 Boylston, Dr. Zabdiel (1679–1766, great uncle of JA), 97–98 Boylston family, 97 Brabant, Belgium, 217 Brackett, Elizabeth Odiorne (Betsey, wife of Capt. James), 465, 466 Brackett, James (Quincy tavern keeper), 328 Brackett, Capt. James (son of James), 326, 465, 466; identified, 328 Brackett, John (Adams farmhand), 1, 45, 47, 54, 62; identified, 3 Brackett, Capt. Joseph (of Quincy), 104 Brackett, Moses (father of Peter), 328

581

Adams Family Correspondence Brackett, Peter (of Quincy), 326; identified, 328 Brackett, Rachel Marsh (wife of Capt. Joseph), 103; identified, 104 Brackett, Samuel (father of John), 1; identified, 3 Brackett, Sarah Jones (wife of Moses), 328 Bradford, Capt. Joshua (of the Mary and Sally), 491 Bradford, Lt. Col. Samuel (U.S. marshal for Mass.), 2, 3, 6 Bradford, Mass., 229 Braintree, Mass., 40, 60, 154, 361, 425, 515. See also Quincy, Mass. Brant, Joseph (Mohawk chief), 448 Brazil, 108 Breck, Hannah (daughter of Samuel, Sr.), 452–53 Breck, Hannah Andrews (wife of Samuel, Sr.), 529 Breck, Lucy (daughter of Samuel, Sr.), 452; identified, 453 Breck, Samuel, Sr. (of Phila.), 529 Bremen, Germany, 24, 25, 42, 233, 380, 516, 519 Brent, Richard (Va. representative), xiv–xv, 470, 472 Brest, France, 37 Bridgewater, Mass., 300 Briesler, Elizabeth (daughter of John, Sr.): health of, 241, 288; travels to Philadelphia, 32, 51, 61, 63, 98, 104 Briesler, Esther Field (wife of John, Sr.): AA on, 70; Adamses’ presidential household and, 32, 38, 51, 61, 63, 211; correspondence with J. Briesler Sr., 49; A. Hall and, 333, 346, 436, 508, 509; health of, 98, 99, 104, 212, 288, 346; travels to Philadelphia, 80, 98, 99, 104 Briesler, John, Sr. (1756–1836, Adams family servant): AA and, 33, 39, 99, 285, 350, 376, 473, 493; JA and, 32, 80, 99, 102, 234, 268; Adamses’ payments to, 32, 33, 39; Adamses’ presidential household and, 38, 39, 54, 125, 211, 233, 241; assists Richard Cranch, 140; health of, 288; letter writing of, 49, 273, 458; residence of, 127, 153; travels between Philadelphia and Quincy, 70, 80, 85, 98, 99, 104; mentioned, 294, 459 Letter: To AA (1797), 241 Briesler, John, Jr. (1794–1877, son of John, Sr.): health of, 140, 197, 199, 212, 241, 288; smallpox inoculation of, 351; travels to Philadelphia, 32, 51, 61, 63, 98, 104 Briesler, John Adam (brother of John, Sr.), 458; identified, 459

Briggs, Dr. Richard (of Abington, Mass.), 47 Bristol, Penn., 98, 102, 117, 211, 248 Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, England, xii British Army, 50, 58, 59, 342, 343 British Navy: Battle of Camperdown and, 336–37, 344, 362; Battle of Cape St. Vincent and, 36, 37–38; Channel Fleet, 161, 162; European war and, 68; French Navy compared to, 362; French privateering and, 37; impressment of U.S. sailors by, 69; Mediterranean fleet of, 37–38; mutinies at Spithead and Nore, 161, 162, 199; North Sea Fleet, 337 Brito, Francisco José Maria de (Portuguese diplomat), 101 Brooke, Frances: Rosina, 531, 532 Brookfield, Mass., 99, 102 Brookline, Mass., 48, 50 Brooks, Mr., 221 Brown, Andrew, Sr. (1744–1797, Phila. printer), 440 Brown, Andrew, Jr. (1774–1847, Phila. printer), 439; identified, 440. See also Philadelphia Gazette Brown, Dr. Charles (in Berlin), 338, 342, 384–85, 511 Brown, Jabez (of R.I.), 248 Brown, John (Ky. senator), 147, 148, 304, 305, 317 Brown, Samuel (Boston merchant), 206 Brown, Dr. Samuel (of Ky.), 291, 293, 304– 305, 317; identified, 305 Brown, Capt., 333 Brunswick, Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of, 340, 343 Brussels, Belgium, ix, 81–82, 84, 93, 100 Buchhorn, Germany. See Friedrichshafen, Germany Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de (French writer and naturalist), 110; identified, 112 Bugsby’s Hole, England, 243 Bulfinch, Charles (Boston architect), 319, 320–21, 434, 435 Bulkeley, Ann Frances. See Humphreys, Ann Frances Bulkeley Burgoyne, Gen. John (Brit.), 340 Burk, John Daly (Boston printer), 187, 189. See also Polar Star Burke, Edmund (M.P.): death of, 293, 371; Letters on a Regicide Peace, 42, 43, 456– 57, 481–82, 483, 491, 493, 520–21, 523, 526, 528; Letter to the Duke of Portland, 42, 43; Three Memorials on French Affairs, 291– 92, 293, 371, 430, 432, 433–34; Vindication of Natural Society, 430, 433

582

Index Burling, Walter (Mass. merchant): identified, 95 Burney, Fanny: Camilla, 408, 409 Burr, Aaron (N.Y. politician), 501, 502 Burrell, Mary Dunbar (wife of Peter), 125, 159, 266, 267, 311; identified, 127 Burrell, Peter (Adams family tenant): Adamses’ arrangements with, 22, 71, 152; as Adams tenant, 23, 45, 153, 283, 297, 360; advises AA on farm management, 39; marriage of, 127 Burrows, William Ward (of Penn.), 377 Butler, Samuel: Hudibras, 175 Byrom, John: “Colin and Phoebe,” 180, 181 Byron, N.Y., 324 CA. See ADAMS, CHARLES (1770–1800) Caesar, Julius, xii, 123, 293, 340, 462 Caillard, Antoine Bernard (French minister to Prussia), xxviii, 396, 413, 521; identified, 397 Calhoun, James, Sr. (1743–1816, mayor of Baltimore), 385 Calhoun, James, Jr. (1770–1819, son of James, Sr.), 384; identified, 385 Caligula (Roman emperor), 398 Callender, James Thomson (Phila. printer), 204, 323, 325, 345 Calvin, John, 430 Cambrai, France, 93 Cambridge, Md., 218 Cambridge, Mass., 296, 362, 476–77, 480, 510, 518 Camden, John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess (lord lieutenant of Ireland), 199 Campbell, David (Tenn. jurist), 445; identified, 446 Camperdown, Battle of, 336–37, 362 Canada, 403, 431, 433 Canterbury, England, 536 Cape May, N.J., 197, 198 Cape St. Vincent, Battle of, 36, 37–38 Cap-Français, St. Domingue (Cap-Haïtien, Haiti), 198 Carey, James (Cherokee interpreter), x, 190 Carey, James (Phila. printer), 532 Carey’s United States’ Recorder (Phila.), 523, 532 Caribbean Sea, 40, 155 Carnot, Lazare Nicolas Marguerite (French revolutionary), 214, 243, 255, 257–58 Carroll, Catherine (Kitty, of Md.), 534, 535 Carter, Nathaniel, Sr. (father of Hannah Carter Smith), 507, 538 Carter, Capt. Thomas (of the Katy), 202, 203 Cary, Alpheus (of Quincy), 219

Cathcart, Capt. (of the Brit. packet), 203 Central America, 127 CFA. See Adams, Charles Francis (1807– 1886) Chalut de Vérin, Geoffroy (French farmer general), 119–20, 123, 217; identified, 119 Chandler, Mary Taylor (daughter of William): identified, 300 Chandler, Susanna Spriggs (wife of William), 300 Chandler, William (of Quincy), 300 Charles II, King of England, 107, 331 Charles IV, King of Spain, 202–203 Charleston, S.C., 196, 418, 420 Charlestown, Mass., 40, 166, 167, 275, 299, 511 Charlton, Mass., 418 Chemistry, 305 Chenango County, N.Y., 105, 377 Cherokee Nation, x, 420, 445–46 Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of: JQA on, 64–65, 106; Samuel Johnson and, 65–66; Letters to His Son, 43, 44, 64–65, 105–106, 107 Chipman, Nathaniel (Vt. senator), 523 Church, Angelica Schuyler (wife of John), 53 Church, Edward: “The Dangerous Vice,” 29, 30 Church, John Barker (of England), 53 Churches: Brattle Street (Square) Church, Boston, 464, 466; Christ Church, Quincy, 316; Church of All Hallows Barking, London, 221; Church of Sainte Geneviève, Paris, 112; Congregational Church, Dover, N.H., 279; Federal Street Church, Boston, 279; First Church, Abington, Mass., 516; First Church, Atkinson, N.H., 185; First Church, Boston, 464, 466, 487, 488; First Church, Bradford, Mass., 229; First Church, Brookline, Mass., 50; First Church, Dorchester, 134, 267; First Church, Hingham, 350; First Church, Milton, 276; First Church, Quincy, 96–97, 132, 134; First Church, Weymouth, 415, 416; First Congregational Church, Charlestown, 511; First Congregational Church, Concord, N.H., 185, 187; First Congregational Church, Pembroke, Mass., 160; First Parish Church, Cohasset, Mass., 328; Harvard College chapel, Cambridge, 480; King’s Chapel, Boston, 319, 321; St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Portland, Maine, 134; Second Church, Berwick, Maine, 134; Trinity Church, New York City, 223 Churchill, Charles: “Gotham,” 29, 30; “Night,” 362 Church of England, 165

583

Adams Family Correspondence Cicero, Marcus Tullius (Roman philosopher), 156, 293 Cincinnati, Society of the. See Society of the Cincinnati Cisalpine Republic, xii–xiii, 340, 341 (illus.), 343, 353, 429 Cisrhenish (Rhineland) Republic, 433, 449 Claiborne, William Charles Cole (Tenn. representative): identified, 446 Clark, Rev. William (of Quincy), 127, 153 Clarke, Charles Chauncy (son of John), 524; identified, 525 Clarke, Esther (daughter of John), 524; identified, 525 Clarke, Esther Orne (wife of John), 524; identified, 525 Clarke, Harriet (daughter of John), 524; identified, 525 Clarke, Rev. John (of Boston): AA on, 492, 495; JQA and, 6; death of, 459, 487, 488, 492, 495, 500, 507, 518, 525, 538; marriage of, 525; as minister of First Church, Boston, 464, 487 Clarke, Katherine Lockwood (wife of Samuel), 339 Clarke, Rev. Samuel (Brit. theologian), 339 Clarkson, Belinda Smith (sister of WSS, wife of Matthew), 15–16 Letter: To JA (1797), 15 Clarkson, Charlton (son of Matthew): identified, 16 Clarkson, Margaret Eliza (daughter of Matthew): identified, 16 Clarkson, Matthew M. (of N.Y.), 15–16 Clarkson, William Smith (son of Matthew): identified, 16 Classical references: Acheloüs, 474; Antaeus, 123, 124; Atlas, 441; Boreas, 244; centaurs, 474; Deianira, 455, 458, 474, 483; Helicon, 303, 305; Hercules, xvi, 123, 124, 380, 455, 474, 478; Hippocrene, 303, 305; Hydra, 469, 517; Iole, 474; Jove, 123, 124; Jugurtha, 489, 491; Jupiter, 124, 441; Midas, 526; Mother Earth, 123, 124; Mount Atlas, 158; Muses, 305; Nessus, 474; Numidia, 491; Odysseus, 420; Oeneus, 474; Penelope, 418, 420; Poseidon, 124; River Evenus, 474; Saturn, 123; Scylla and Charybdis, 71; Sisyphus, 357; Tantalus, 58; Tartarus, 138, 139; Terminus, 441 Clay, Matthew (Va. representative), 529 Clayton, Joshua (Del. senator), 517, 523; identified, 519 Clopton, John (Va. representative), 517; identified, 519 Clothing: accessories, xi, 82, 172, 201, 447;

for Adamses, xi, xxviii, 192, 395, 396, 397, 531–32; baby, 351, 369, 405, 436, 509, 521– 22; canes, xiv, 82; caps and bonnets, xi, 125, 126, 159, 369, 405, 436, 501, 509, 515, 522, 525, 531–32, 536; cloaks and coats, 262, 263, 276, 279, 280, 331, 356, 509, 522; dresses, gowns, and skirts, xi, 70, 79, 172, 447, 514, 531, 532; fabrics, xi, 29, 79, 126, 201, 240, 246, 253, 279, 306, 331, 352, 356, 369, 377, 388, 514–15, 522, 532; French symbolic, 354, 429, 498, 501; gifts of, 39, 51, 86, 125–26, 159, 172, 193, 279, 280, 356, 490, 491, 501, 522, 525, 531, 536; handkerchiefs and fichus, xi, xiii, xiv, 193, 515; ice skates, 253; jackets and waistcoats, xi; lace decoration for, xi, 290, 532; leather and fur, 201, 356; for mourning, 201, 420; patterns for, 84, 514–15; at Prussian court, 395; for servants and apprentices, 39, 46, 330, 347; shawls, 356; shirts, xi, 253, 331; shoes, 46, 324; stockings and socks, 246, 253, 283, 331, 369, 377, 388, 426, 465; trousers, 82, 331; undergarments, 351; uniforms, xxviii, 111, 192, 259, 260, 395, 396, 397; for weddings, 289–90, 447, 491. See also Jewelry Clubs. See Societies and clubs Cobbett, William (Phila. printer): AA on, 189; JQA on, 410; diplomatic instructions published by, 493; indicted for sedition, 392, 393, 396; Lyon-Griswold affair and, xiv, 381 (illus.); New-Year’s Gift to the Democrats, 410, 413; as Peter Porcupine, xiv, 49, 50, 51, 140, 361, 362, 393, 438; Porcupine’s Political Censor, 51, 190, 210. See also Porcupine’s Gazette Cocke, William (Tenn. senator), 147; identified, 148 Codes and ciphers, 437, 438, 439, 441, 448, 455, 465, 517 Cohasset, Mass., 327, 328 Coit, Joshua (Conn. representative), 155 Coke, Sir Edward: Littleton, 303 College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 383 Collier, Jeremy: translates Moréri’s Dictionary, 474 Cologne, Germany, 433 Colquhoun, Patrick (N.Y. land agent), 105 Colson (Collson), Adam (of Boston), 404; identified, 406 Colson (Collson), Christian (wife of Adam), 406 Columbian Centinel (Boston): AA on, 188; AA sends to JQA, 194, 364, 449; JA defended in, 406; JA’s addresses to Congress reported in, 4, 18, 22, 157; JQA defended in, 138, 146; JQA’s marriage reported in,

584

Index 277, 279; JQA’s writings in, 376–78; Adamses’ travels reported in, 236, 261, 263; Aurora General Advertiser and, 324; congressional activities reported in, 21, 141; Dorchester petition reported in, 513, 515; election results reported in, 56, 139; O. Ellsworth’s address printed in, 80; FrancoAmerican relations reported in, 451; Independent Chronicle and, 404, 406; obituaries in, 98, 475; presidential proclamations printed in, 52, 60; subscriptions to, 137, 146, 477; U.S. and Britain compared in, 319, 320, 323, 324; as U.S. printer, 22; G. Washington’s birthday celebrations reported in, 3, 40, 438, 439 Concord, Mass., 259 Concord, N.H., 185, 187 Congress, U.S.: AA on, 168, 170, 197, 199, 210, 267, 307–308, 313, 317, 322, 356–57, 379, 380, 389, 398, 418, 435, 482, 496, 498, 527; JA addresses, 117, 118, 125, 126, 134, 150, 151, 156, 157, 167, 172, 174, 235–36, 308, 309, 314, 317, 344, 429, 436, 437, 486, 492, 501; JA convenes, xxi, 51, 52, 118, 126, 129, 163, 166, 280, 457; JA on patronage and, 281; JA submits messages and reports to, 190, 420, 454, 455, 457, 481, 482, 484, 485, 489, 490, 505, 506, 517; JQA’s and TBA’s letters shared with members of, 167; TBA on, 240, 291, 427–28; adjournment and recess of, 19, 73, 142, 154, 155, 160, 192, 197, 198, 200, 307, 319, 451, 490, 497, 499, 517, 531; arming of merchant ships and, 154–55, 197, 431–32, 448, 470, 513–14, 515; arms exportation restricted by, 150, 151, 167, 169; attitudes toward JA in, 126, 513, 525, 529; celebrations for J. Monroe attended by members of, 208; chaplain of, 193, 511; composition of, 161, 357, 358; considers defensive measures, xxi, xxii, 118, 126, 127, 150–51, 157–58, 172, 173, 192, 236, 308, 309, 314, 380, 389, 441–42, 448, 455, 466, 482, 498, 505, 521, 523; considers embargo, 197, 198, 507; considers foreign intercourse bill, 368, 369, 370–71, 379, 387, 426–27, 437, 441, 468, 469, 478, 480; debates in, 159, 525; Democratic-Republican Party and, xxiii, 140, 357, 368, 399, 443, 485, 489, 505, 513, 517, 520, 524; divisions in, xx, 459, 496, 497; elections to, 140, 141, 285, 511, 519; electoral votes read in, 53, 120; entertained by JA and AA, xxiii–xxiv, 118, 125, 160, 171, 192, 485; European news impacts efficacy of, 199; executive appointments and, 378–79; executive powers and, 197, 413, 441; Federalist Party and, 141,

585

206, 379, 401, 408, 424, 437, 448, 520, 521, 523; financial failures and, 468; foreignborn members of, 149; Franco-American relations and, 126–27, 129, 134, 141, 154, 190, 192, 212, 314, 398, 449, 468, 481, 482; French influence on, 356–57, 447, 458, 477, 485; inactivity of, 154–55, 435, 477; indigenous peoples and, 309, 314, 448; T. Jefferson on, 165; leaves of absence from, 144, 190, 219, 220, 380, 504, 511, 517, 519, 520, 523; levies taxes, 151; lodging for members of, 266; naval measures enacted by, xv, 143, 151, 449, 450, 466; party politics in, xxii, 170, 208, 344, 380, 447, 458, 466, 527, 529; Pennsylvania presidential mansion and, 8; petitions submitted to, 467, 480, 518; power of to declare war, 455; presidential inauguration and, 10–11; provisions for presidential household by, 7, 44–45, 143, 144; public attitudes toward, 59, 283, 387, 404–405, 425, 441–42, 459, 494, 510; quorum for, 278, 280, 289, 294, 297, 302, 307; regulation of foreign coins and, 418, 420; repeals laws, 418, 435; salaries determined by, 143; service in, x, 30, 55, 59, 141, 148, 173, 190, 192, 230, 287, 304, 305, 314, 317, 344, 423, 424, 426, 439, 445, 446, 459, 499, 511, 519, 523; sessions of, 52, 56, 192, 193, 271, 278, 280, 344, 380, 389, 400, 405, 502; stamp tax and, 418, 420, 458, 459; U.S. consuls and, 309; U.S.-Florida boundary and, 156; U.S. privateering restricted by, 151, 167, 169; G. Washington addresses, 52; Washington, D.C., and, 182, 306, 319, 420– 21, 460; yellow fever and, 247–48, 261, 262, 266 House of Representatives: AA on, 140, 154–55, 161, 467, 490; CA on, 150; JA responds to reply of, 141, 314; JA’s diplomatic appointments and, 426, 427; TBA on, 431– 32; authorizes president to borrow money, 150, 151; challenges power of executive, 370; clerk for, 129–30; committees of, xi, xiii; conduct of members of, 487, 488; considers appropriations, 370, 418–19, 420, 426, 427, 450, 452, 503; Mary Cranch on, 157–58; expulsions from, xiii, xiv, 379, 399, 401, 402, 408; impeachment proceedings of, xi, 188, 190; journals of, 517; LyonGriswold affair and, xiii–xiv, xxii, 379, 380, 382–83, 398–99, 401, 402, 408, 418, 439, 459; Massachusetts delegation to, 139; members challenged to duels, 190, 192; memorials and petitions submitted to, 468, 470, 484, 490, 499, 513–14, 515; motion to reprimand W. Findley, 503–504; party poli-

Adams Family Correspondence tics in, xiii, xiv, 126–27, 408, 481, 487, 490, 504; T. Pickering submits report to, 40, 457; C. C. Pinckney correspondence and, 439; Pinckney Treaty and, 314; powers of under Constitution, xiii, 399, 408, 426; publications of, 126, 190, 193, 408, 409; replies to JA’s addresses, 125, 126–27, 139, 141, 146, 148–49, 150, 156, 157, 167, 240, 313, 314, 317, 344; resignations from, 140, 141, 510, 511; Senate rebukes, 126; Speaker of, xiii, 448; speeches by members of, 125, 172, 468, 469, 473, 480; spoliation claims and, 157 Senate: AA on, 161, 467; JA on, 297–98; JA presides over, 3, 7, 54, 120; JA responds to reply of, 314; JA’s farewell address to, 3, 4, 17, 20, 21, 29, 44, 48; JQA’s confirmation and, 136, 138, 147, 150, 151, 164, 451, 502–503; Blount affair and, xi, 188, 190, 197, 219, 220; closed sessions of, 190; confirmation of presidential nominations by, 74, 164, 207, 451, 454; diplomatic appointments and, 146, 147, 204, 427, 452; diplomatic instructions and, 489; doorkeeper, 511; expulsions from, xi, 188, 190, 220; T. Jefferson presides over, 28, 219, 295, 491; journals of, 502–503, 517; legislation originating in, 169; party politics in, 491; passes House appropriations, 420; powers of under Constitution, 164, 423; president pro tempore, 28, 220, 308, 309; privileges of members of, 190; professions of members of, 298; publications of, 192–93; rebukes House, 126; replies to JA’s addresses, 20, 21, 44, 125, 126, 157, 167, 313, 314, 317, 344; resignations from, 378–79, 380, 519; secrecy in, 491; G. Washington convenes for inauguration, 21, 29 See also First Mission to France Congress of Rastatt, 272, 413, 430 Coningham, Cornelius (of Washington, D.C.), 304, 317; identified, 305–306 Connecticut: JA honored in, 296; congressional delegation of, xiii, 148, 149, 357, 379; Democratic-Republican Party and, 399; governors of, 399; militia of, 260; production of apple cider in, 267 Connecticut Courant (Hartford), 51 Constable, William (N.Y. merchant), 377 Constantinople, 270, 354 Constellation (U.S. frigate), 449, 450 Constitution, U.S.: JA and, 11, 20, 21, 297, 320; JA on, 8, 10, 281; attitudes toward, 205, 206, 277, 387, 533; congressional powers under, xiii, 164, 399, 408, 426; convention for, 205, 206; foreign inter-

course bill and, 469; France and, 255, 429; frigate Constitution and, xvi; governance and, 152; T. Jefferson and, 28, 488; presidential powers under, 164, 379, 387, 426, 469, 505; ratification of, 150, 205 Constitution (U.S. frigate): congressional appropriations for, 449; crew of, xv, 268, 449, 450, 506; descriptions of, 268, 478; launch of, xv, 268, 480; as “Old Ironsides,” xvi; painting of, xv, xvi, 479 (illus.); rumored sinking of, 510, 511; use of in War of 1812, xvi Continental Congress, 295, 296, 454 Cook, Elizabeth Johnson (mother of James), 536 Cook, George (father of James), 536 Cook, James (nephew of Joshua Johnson), 534; identified, 536 Copenhagen, Denmark, 466 Copley, John Singleton, Sr. (artist), 169–70, 171, 225–26 Copley, Susanna Clarke (wife of John, Sr.), 71, 72, 169, 170, 171, 225, 226 Cordova, Adm. Don Jose de (Spanish), 37–38 Cork, Ireland, 385 Cornè, Michele Felice (Neapolitan artist): identified, xvi; “USS Constitution,” xv, xvi, 479 (illus.) Countess of Leicester (Brit. packet), 450 Court, Mrs. (Johnson family friend), 221 Court Party. See Orangist Party Courts. See Judiciary, U.S. Coxe, Dr. John Redman (of Phila.), 508; identified, 509 Coxe, Tench (Phila. merchant), 368, 370 Cranch, Anna Greenleaf (Nancy, 1772–1843, wife of William): AA on, 320; AA’s assistance to, 475; birth of son, x, 176, 178, 183, 187; concern for children, 444, 475; correspondence with Mary Cranch, 159, 298, 299, 316, 327, 359, 405, 475; correspondence with William Cranch, 435; Mary Cranch on, 274, 415; William Cranch and, x, 303, 440; Greenleaf family and, x, 274, 298, 359, 435; health of, 159, 274, 289, 292, 298–99, 303, 314, 316, 327; Johnson family and, 273, 292, 293; portrait of, x, 177 (illus.); mentioned, 200, 211, 407, 445 Cranch, Mary Smith (1741–1811, sister of AA): P. Abdee’s care and, 350, 357, 358–59, 377; charity of, 435, 465; church attendance, 488, 539; clothing of, 157, 514–15, 531–32; concern for children, 131, 159, 211, 274, 298, 299; domestic work of, 300; health of, 327–28, 332, 349, 377, 465, 525; interest of in politics, 159; letter writing

586

Index of, 276, 298, 406, 463, 466, 539, 540; neighbors of, 104, 263; patriotism of, 387; Peabody-Shaw family and, 235, 274, 405; relationship with Richard Cranch, 180, 290; servants of, 332; Charles Smith and, 220, 347, 358; Elizabeth Smith (AA’s niece) and, 104; Louisa Smith and, 201, 300; Mary Smith and, 100, 133, 163, 184; social activities of, 158, 159, 171, 181, 275, 315, 325, 349, 359, 387, 388, 404, 405, 414, 415, 416, 465, 514, 525, 539; storm damage at farm of, 219; visits to and from children, 131, 275, 327, 348, 349, 487, 538 Books and reading: Bible, 538; John Byrom, 180; Collier’s Dictionary, 474; Joseph Hopkinson, 514; newspaper subscriptions of, 172; Alexander Pope, 464; Scipio, 487; Isaac Watts, 538 Correspondence: with AA, x, xiii–xiv, xv, xvi–xvii, xx, xxiv, xxvi, xxx, 134, 140, 160, 189, 192, 193, 209, 211, 222, 262, 263, 273, 288, 292, 294, 295, 297, 299, 300, 311, 319, 324, 335, 349, 357, 360, 370, 377, 396, 402, 403, 406, 408, 416, 447, 448, 465, 466, 467, 468, 486, 493, 523, 531, 539; with E. Black, 332; with Anna Cranch, 159, 298, 299, 316, 327, 359, 405, 475; with Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 464, 474, 538; with Elizabeth Peabody, 79, 133, 181, 184, 219, 274, 300, 325, 349, 358; with Louisa Smith, 104; with Cotton Tufts, 446 Opinions and beliefs: P. Abdee, 349–50, 388; JA, 201, 416; A. Apthorp, 262; arming of merchant ships, 474; P. Baxter, 359; T. Baxter, 300; E. Black, 416; M. Black, 315; Blount family, 219; T. Bond, 262; children’s prospects, 180; E. Clarke, 524; J. Clarke, 487; A. Colson, 404; Congress, 387, 404–405, 473, 487; Anna Cranch, 274, 415; William Cranch, 159, 201, 359, 415, 463–64; Democratic-Republican Party, 473–74; education, 327; fast day sermons, 539; J. Flint, 103, 132, 181, 327; J. Foster, 316; France, 299; French influence on U.S., 524; R. Gill, 475; Greenleaf family, 275; James Greenleaf, 524; John Greenleaf, 415, 464; Lucy Greenleaf, 275, 327; Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 159, 180, 405, 415, 464; T. Hilliard Jr., 132–33, 181; T. Jefferson, 219, 487, 513; Johnson family, 299; L. Little, 349; J. McKean, 349; J. Monroe, 487; R. Morris, 464; Elizabeth Norton, 180, 327, 405, 415; Jacob Norton, 415; Eunice Paine, 387; petitions to Congress, 513–14; Philadelphia, 299; L. Porter, 488; public perceptions of JA, 315–16, 325; A. Quincy,

587

475; Norton Quincy, 475; J. Rawson, 415; search for Quincy minister, 132–33, 181, 275, 315, 326–27, 349, 488; C. Shaw, 359; slavery, 468; Catharine Smith, 316; Elizabeth Smith (AA’s niece), 133, 262, 327; John Adams Smith, 131, 414; William Smith, 358, 406; WSS, 159, 274, 315, 405; William Steuben Smith, 131, 414; speculation, 131; town charity in Quincy, 333; U.S. envoys to France, 405; U.S. South, 468, 524; S. Warner, 465, 537–38; E. Whitman, 275; K. Whitman, 275, 315, 326–27, 539; P. Whitney Jr., 132, 488; A. Wibird, 300; XYZ Affair, 513, 514, 538 Relationship with Adamses: AA desires letters from, 125, 312; AA on, 100, 435; AA on care of AA2’s sons and, 117; AA on relationship with sisters, 290; AA requests items and publications from, 126, 335; on AA’s and JA’s public service, 131, 180, 316, 325, 464, 474; AA’s charity and, 313, 377, 406, 414, 493; AA’s correspondence and, 298, 349, 387, 404, 446, 470, 488, 514, 525; AA sends financial advice to, 409; AA sends items to, 172, 193, 201, 356, 388; AA sends newspapers and publications to, 117, 140, 190, 295, 315, 323, 368, 401, 408, 426, 436, 454, 468, 470, 473, 486, 489, 491, 524, 529, 531; AA’s political activities and, 117, 140, 323; on CA, 159; JA and correspondence of, 287–88, 298, 314–15; on JQA’s and TBA’s letters, 181, 415–16; on JQA’s mission to Prussia, 540; Adamses’ assistance to family of, 180, 219, 376, 415, 468; assists AA with household management, xx, 100, 104, 105, 125, 172, 193, 201, 209, 211, 218, 221–22, 262, 273, 299–300, 311, 313, 325–26, 334, 377, 387–88, 414, 465, 468, 475, 488, 493, 514, 522, 531, 532, 536; borrows items from Peacefield, 325–26, 334, 388, 409; concern for AA’s health, 131, 157, 201, 262, 524; concern for JA, 201; concern for Adams children, xxx, 131, 159, 180, 262, 274, 288, 300, 327, 349, 359, 414, 464, 540; desires letters from AA, 103–104, 262, 333, 387, 514; misses AA, 130–31, 159, 180, 185, 349, 405; reports on Adamses’ properties, 130, 160, 171, 180, 192, 218–19, 316, 475, 488, 514, 523; reports on Quincy minister negotiations, 103, 131–33, 160; reports on response to JA’s address, 157, 316; requests items and publications from AA, 328, 388, 415, 416, 486, 488; seeks advice from AA, 201; sends AA news of Quincy, 300; sends AA news of Smith children, 274, 325, 405; teases AA, 468

Adams Family Correspondence Letters: To AA (1797), 102, 130, 157, 180, 200, 218, 261, 274, 298, 314, 325, 332; (1798), 348, 358, 387, 404, 414, 463, 473, 487, 513, 524, 537 Letters: From AA (1797), 99, 104, 116, 124, 139, 142, 171, 190, 208, 211, 221, 260, 272, 287, 312, 322, 334; (1798), 346, 356, 367, 376, 401, 407, 425, 435, 446, 454, 466, 470, 484, 489, 491, 500, 519, 529, 536 Letters to, from, omitted: To AA listed (1797), 547; (1798), 550 (2), 551 (3), 552; From AA listed (1797), 548 (2), 549 (2); (1798), 551 (2), 552 Cranch, Richard (1726–1811, husband of Mary): P. Abdee and, 327; AA sends publications to, 158, 172, 219, 488, 514; JA and purchase of farm of, 32, 52, 180, 360, 361, 409, 424; on JA’s election, 31, 32; on JA’s inaugural address, 48; assistance to and from the Adamses, 140, 143, 347, 376, 415, 520; attends Quincy town meeting, 132; clothing of, 262, 263, 276; correspondence with AA, 141, 402, 403, 406, 436, 437; correspondence with JA, 32; Mary Cranch and, 180, 290; on William Cranch, 464; farm and livestock of, 219, 424, 468; finances of, 180; on French influence in U.S., 31–32, 437; health of, 180, 359, 415, 465; letter writing of, 406; as Quincy postmaster, 219; search for Quincy minister and, 132, 315, 326, 349; as secretary for Mary Cranch, 100, 105, 118, 126, 140, 144, 172, 192, 209, 212, 220, 222, 261, 263, 276, 316, 359, 406, 409, 455, 515; Charles Smith and, 358; Mary Smith and, 163; social activities of, 158, 275, 348, 465; letters to AA listed (1797), 546; (1798), 551; letter from JA listed (1797), 546 Letter: To JA (1797), 31 Cranch, Richard (1797–1824, son of William): birth of, x, 176, 178, 183, 187, 193; Anna Cranch’s care of, 274, 316; William Cranch and, 303; health of, 176, 298, 299, 305, 314, 327, 359, 444; mentioned, 211, 435, 440 Cranch, William (1769–1855, nephew of AA): AA on, 210, 318, 409; AA sends publications to, 319, 502; JA on, 187, 219; JA’s presidency and, 176, 178, 187, 305, 444–45; on JQA’s marriage, 440; Adamses’ assistance to, x, 143, 189, 193, 200, 209, 211, 219, 233, 234, 327, 468; authors newspaper article as “C,” 211; on C. Coningham, 304; correspondence with AA, x, 43, 209, 211, 289, 313, 316, 318, 319, 320, 468, 501, 502, 536; correspondence with JA, 178; corre-

spondence with JQA, 43, 303, 442; correspondence with TBA, 305; correspondence with Anna Cranch, 435; correspondence with Mary Cranch, 299; Mary Cranch on, 159, 180, 201, 219, 327, 359, 415, 463–64; Richard Cranch on, 464; on W. Deakins Jr., 234, 444, 468; domestic situation of, x, 176, 187, 303, 440, 468, 475; finances of, x, 159, 176, 305, 442, 464; James Greenleaf and, 159, 234, 303, 405, 407, 440–41, 534; Johnson family and, 273, 292, 318, 534, 536; law career of, 131, 143, 159, 176, 178, 187, 188–89, 193, 200, 211, 219, 234, 293, 303, 318, 359, 442, 534, 536; letter writing of, 303, 313–14; on B. More, 304; R. Morris and, 159, 176, 200; Morris, Nicholson & Greenleaf and, x, 233–34, 442, 448, 465; as possible newspaper editor, 176, 178, 187, 201, 219; Elizabeth Peabody on, 184; portrait of, x, 177 (illus.); publication of JQA’s and TBA’s letters and, xxv, 188, 189, 200, 211, 290–91, 292, 293, 303, 305; quotes from JQA letter, 442; relationship with Adamses, 178, 211, 290, 303, 320, 441; reputation of in Washington, D.C., 188, 219, 407; sends AA news of Johnson family, 305, 316, 319, 321; travels of, 200, 209, 233, 274, 298– 99, 359, 444; on U.S. public affairs, 441– 42; visits Adamses, 233, 405, 407, 426, 435, 441, 464; Washington Gazette and, 303–304, 305; letter to AA listed (1797), 549; letter from AA listed (1798), 552 Letters: To AA (1797), 176, 200, 233, 303; (1798), 444; To JQA (1798), 440 Letters: From AA (1797), 187, 210, 290, 318 Cranch, William Greenleaf (1796–1872, son of William): AA sends book to, 475; William Cranch and, 303; health of, 274, 298, 299, 305, 314, 316, 327, 359, 444, 468, 475; mentioned, x, 211, 435, 440 Credit: of Adamses, 39, 94, 95, 100, 114, 223; British, 199; Elizabeth Peabody on, 185. See also Debt; Money Creek Nation, x Creutz, Count Gustav Philip (Swedish ambassador to France), 455 Crime: arson, 54, 55; assassination and murder, 51, 55, 69, 112, 174, 356; debt, x, 144, 185, 190, 234, 369, 371, 409, 440, 442, 500, 501, 502; embezzlement, 74, 368, 371; evidence tampering, 179; extortion, 345, 346; fraud, 65, 371; during French Revolution, 174, 356; insurrection, 199; libel and slander, 179, 323, 369, 392, 393, 396, 503, 504, 531, 535; mutiny, 162; pardons, 162; sedi-

588

Index tion, 369, 445, 455, 531, 532–33; theft, 39, 45, 55, 65, 356, 414; treason, xi, 55, 369, 396 Punishments for: AA on, 54; arrests, 199; cashiering, xiii; death penalty, 49, 51, 54, 55, 190, 210; dismissal from office, 368; exile and transportation, 243, 292–93; flogging, 199; house arrest, 185; impeachment, xi; imprisonment, x, 111, 113, 144, 190, 234, 240, 302, 369, 371, 407, 409, 413, 440, 442, 500, 501, 502; tar and feathering, 394–95. See also Executions Croatia, 95, 272 Crozier, Capt. Samuel (of the Mary), 128; identified, 129 Curtis, Edward (Neddy, of Quincy), 23, 44, 127, 152, 199 Cushing, Hannah Phillips (wife of William): correspondence with AA, 444; Philadelphia lodgings of, 453; social activities of, 17, 334, 370, 443, 465; travels of, 443, 444; letter to AA listed (1798), 551 Letter: From AA (1798), 443 Cushing, Lydia (Norton servant), 131, 134 Cushing, William (U.S. Supreme Court justice), 10, 443, 444 Cushing, Capt. (of the Minerva), 169, 171 Custis, Eleanor Parke (Nelly, granddaughter of Martha Washington), 10, 453, 534 Cutting, Nathaniel (U.S. consul at Le Havre), 95 Cutting, William (N.Y. lawyer), 84, 85; identified, 83 Cutts, Charles (brother of Edward), 157 Cutts, Edward (Portsmouth, N.H., merchant), 157 Cutts, George (brother of Edward), 157 Cutts, Hampden (brother of Edward), 157 Cutts, Samuel (brother of Edward), 157 Daily Advertiser (N.Y.), 19, 196, 292, 345, 346 Dalton, Catherine (daughter of Tristram), 182, 183, 237, 460 Dalton, Ruth Hooper (wife of Tristram): on JA as president, 182, 237; Adamses and, 181–83, 237; on Congress, 237, 459; on death of sister, 237, 238; health of, 237; residence of, 181, 183, 236; seeks JA’s patronage, xxv, 237, 460; on G. Washington, 182; Washington, D.C., society and, 445, 459–60; on M. D. White, 459; letter from AA listed (1797), 548 Letters: To AA (1797), 181, 236; (1798), 459 Dalton, Sarah (daughter of Tristram), 182, 183, 237, 460 Dalton, Tristram (of Washington, D.C.): JA’s

patronage and, xxv, 237; as commissioner of Washington, D.C., 237, 444–45; correspondence with JA, 460; financial affairs of, 237–38, 445; reads news of inauguration, 182; residence of, 183, 238 Damen, Herman Hend (Amsterdam merchant), 136; identified, 137 Dampierre, Gen. Auguste Henri Marie Picot, Marquis de (French), 108, 110; identified, 112 Dana, Edmund Trowbridge (1774–1776, son of Francis, Sr.), 146 Dana, Edmund Trowbridge (1779–1859, son of Francis, Sr.), 146; identified, 362 Dana, Elizabeth Ellery (1751–1807, wife of Francis, Sr.): correspondence with AA, xxiv, 146, 179; F. Dana’s appointment to France and, xxiv, 144–45, 146; health of, 179; letter to AA listed (1797), 547; mentioned, 2 Letters: From AA (1797), 144, 178 Dana, Elizabeth Ellery (1789–1874, daughter of Francis, Sr.), 146 Dana, Francis, Sr. (1743–1811, Mass. chief justice): AA invites to visit, 146, 179; AA on public service of, 145, 146; JA on, 135; JQA and mission to Russia of, 226; attends Cambridge town meeting, 477; attends G. Washington’s birthday celebrations, 2; correspondence with AA, 146; F. Dana Jr. and, 286; health of, 146, 169, 172, 178; newspaper attacks on, 139, 178–79; letter from AA listed (1797), 548 Dana, Francis, Jr. (1777–1853, son of Francis, Sr.), 146, 226, 286, 287, 362 Dana, Martha Remington (daughter of Francis, Sr.), 146 Dana, Richard Henry (son of Francis, Sr.), 146 Dana, Samuel Whittlesey (Conn. representative), 402 Dana, Sarah Ann (daughter of Francis, Sr.), 146 Dancing: by JQA, 120; by TBA, 114; balls, 2, 3, 6, 114, 115, 119, 120, 354, 374, 402, 403, 419, 421, 438, 445; instructors of, 65; professional dancers, 113 Dandridge, Bartholomew, Jr. (secy. to William Vans Murray), 18, 19, 33, 56 Danube River, 430 Dartmouth College, 229 Davis, Col. Jacob (of Charlton, Mass.), 417; identified, 418 Davis, John (Mass. jurist), 279 Dayton, Jonathan (Speaker of the House), xiii, 448

589

Adams Family Correspondence Deakins, William, Jr. (Georgetown, D.C., merchant), 444, 445, 468; identified, 234 Deaths: William Abdee (1798), 348, 357; AA on, 485; Deacon John Adams (1761), 97, 424, 425; JQA on, 223–24; Benjamin Andrews (1779), 506; William Annan (1797), 278, 280; Carl Gustav Schultz von Ascheraden (1798), 455; Baxter twins (1798), 359, 360; Joseph Beale (1797), 219, 351; Peter Beale (1798), 406, 407; John Beckley (1807), 130; Count Andreas Peter Bernstorff (1797), 214; Edmund Billings (1798), 524, 525; “Black Tom” (1797), 219; Nicholas Boylston (1771), 98; Lucy Breck (1798), 453; Andrew Brown Sr. (1797), 440; Edmund Burke (1797), 293, 371; Nathaniel Carter Sr. (1798), 507, 538; John Clarke (1798), 459, 487, 492, 495, 500, 507, 518, 525, 538; Joshua Clayton (1798), 519; Adam Colson (1798), 404; James Cook (1798), 534, 536; Auguste Henri Marie Picot, Marquis de Dampierre (1793), 112; William Deakins Jr. (1798), 444, 445, 468; Dalton Deblois (1793), 461; Nicolas Deville (1794), 217, 218; Benger Dobel (1797), 278, 280; by drowning, 202, 203, 219, 333; Marie Dumas (1797), 148; Benjamin Field (1797), 152; Frederick William II (1797), xxvii, 338, 342, 421, 425, 449; Rebecca Boylston Gill (1798), 475, 476, 485, 492; John Hall (1780), 97; Susanna Boylston Adams Hall (1797), xxiii, 83, 86– 87, 89, 92, 95–96, 98, 102, 141, 150, 163, 181, 183, 184, 223–24, 231, 247, 522, 523; Mr. and Mrs. Hall (1797), 323, 324, 332, 335, 346; Ruth Swett Hooper (1763), 237, 238; Rebecca Hooper Jenkins (1790), 237, 238; Samuel Jones (1797), 278, 280; Louis XVI (1793), 112, 491; Prince Louis Charles (1796), 339; Marie Antoinette (1793), 491; Louis Philippe Joseph, Duc d’Orléans (1793), 218; George Otis (1797), 79, 80; Elizabeth Peabody on, 184; Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duc de Penthièvre (1793), 218; Cotton Pratt (1797), 333; Abigail Phillips Quincy (1798), 474–75, 485, 487, 492, 500, 514; Mr. Regal (1798), 390; Maximilien Robespierre (1794), 217, 336; Benjamin Rush (1813), 454; James Sharples Sr. (1811), xii; Elizabeth Quincy Shaw (1798), 367; Rev. John Shaw (1794), 227, 252, 253, 262; Charles Salmon Smith (1797), 246, 250, 253, 262, 286, 288, 347, 358, 423, 459; Mary Smith (1797), xxiii, 89, 92, 95–96, 98, 100, 102, 133, 150, 163, 183, 184, 223, 224, 231, 237, 247, 286, 423,

522, 523; Mary Carter Smith (1798), 538, 540; James Sullivan (1808), 167; Henry Tazewell (1799), 295; Jacob Thompson (1797), 278, 280; James Thompson (1797), 331, 332; Mace Tisdale (1796), 160; Sally Tufts (1797), 230, 540; Simon Tufts (1797), 230, 540; Jerusha Boylston Veasey (1797), 3, 4, 19; Elias Elwell Warner (1781), 162; Susanna Warner (1798), 537, 540; Nicholas Way (1797), 278, 280; Anthony Wayne (1796), 403; Elizabeth Wescott (1798), 453; James Wilson (1798), 484; from yellow fever, 241, 266, 278, 280, 294, 324, 329, 453. See also Executions Deblois, Charlotte (daughter of Lewis), 460; identified, 461 Deblois, Dalton (son of Lewis): identified, 461 Deblois, Elizabeth (daughter of Lewis), 460; identified, 461 Deblois, John (son of Lewis), 460; identified, 461 Deblois, Lewis (of Washington, D.C.), 460, 461 Deblois, Mary Ann (daughter of Lewis), 460; identified, 461 Deblois, Matilda (daughter of Lewis), 460; identified, 461 Deblois, Ruth Dalton (wife of Lewis), 183, 460, 461 Debt: of Adamses, 45, 46–47, 53, 61–62, 63, 141, 197, 268; of J. Appleton, 185, 186; of W. Blount, 212; bonds, 295; British as model for U.S., 293; of William Cranch, 442; of T. Dalton, 237; French to U.S. citizens, 147, 148, 165; of James Greenleaf, x, 143, 144, 440, 500, 501, 502; imprisonment for, 143, 144, 190, 369, 371, 409, 440, 500, 501, 502; of J. Johnson, 259, 260; of J. Johnston, 185; laws and, 369, 371, 440, 442; of R. Morris, 143, 144, 234, 409; of J. Nicholson, 234; owed to Adamses, 47, 52, 154, 189; owed to newspaper printers, 189; payment of interest on, 47, 137; of J. Payson, 185; of N. Peabody, 186; Revolutionary War, 148, 420; of WSS, xxx, 105, 376, 377; of U.S. merchants to Britain, 295; U.S. to Netherlands, 29, 30, 81, 135, 137, 414; of Virginia slave owners, 295; of Washington, D.C., land speculators, 237; of J. Wilson, 484. See also Credit; Money Declaration of Independence, 127 Dedham, Mass., 223 Delacroix de Constant, Charles (French minister to Netherlands), 240, 504; identified, 505–506

590

Index Delaware, 519 Delaware River, 117, 431 Delius, Frederick (Bremen merchant), 233, 259, 260 Democratic-Republican Party: AA and, 296; AA on, 49, 125, 143, 144, 146, 164, 178, 317, 344, 357, 368, 399, 422, 443, 489, 517, 520, 532; JA’s fast day proclamation and, xiv–xv, 472; JA’s presidency and, 3, 4, 26–27, 29, 80, 87, 88, 323, 379, 533; JQA on, 224, 225, 232; JQA’s nomination to Prussia and, 164, 224, 277; TBA on, 432; antiwar petitions and, 469, 470, 519; attitudes of toward JA, 138, 144, 513, 517; attitudes of toward France, 120, 125, 144, 165, 225, 317, 458, 459, 517; Congress and, xxiii, 190, 368, 520; Federalist Party and, xiii, xix, 155, 410; First Mission to France and, 146–47, 168, 170, 178, 485, 489, 498, 504, 513, 516–18, 524; foreign influence on, 178, 203, 204, 210–11, 323, 394, 443, 455, 485, 486, 520, 527; French attitudes toward, 410; Jay Treaty and, 466; in Massachusetts, 138, 140, 357; J. Monroe and, 344; newspapers and, xx, xxv, 28, 33, 137, 139, 142, 143, 178, 203, 204, 210–11, 291–92, 301, 318, 322, 323, 369, 392–93, 404, 474, 477, 531, 532–33; T. Paine (author) and, 6; in Pennsylvania, 154, 301, 317, 517; public attitudes toward, 361–62, 371, 473–74, 533; in Washington, D.C., 304, 317 Denmark: diplomatic appointments of, 120, 214, 433; emigration from, 466; relations with France, 151, 431, 433, 458; relations with Sweden, 433; ships of, 100, 102, 106– 107, 116; mentioned, 204 Dennie, Joseph, Jr. (N.H. editor): The Lay Preacher, 113, 114; Port Folio, 114 Letter: From CA (1797), 113 Detroit, Mich., 105, 403–404, 416 Detroit River, 403 Detune, Jacques (bookseller at The Hague), 93 Detune, Miss (daughter of Jacques), 93 Deville, Marie Catherine Desroches Chalut de Vérin (Lucille, wife of Nicolas), 119– 20, 123, 217; identified, 119 Deville, Nicolas (French farmer general), 119, 217; identified, 218 Dexter, Samuel (Mass. representative), 155 Dieppe, France, 37 Dill, Capt. (of the Lucy), 442 Dobel, Benger (Phila. physician), 278, 280 Dodd, Capt. (of the Countess of Leicester), 450 Domestic work: cheese making, 125, 127, 159,

311; churning butter, 313, 475, 501; cleaning, 201, 209, 222, 326; cooking, 111, 119, 125, 172, 301; Mary Cranch on, 300; curing meat, 311, 313, 514; dairymaids, 131, 134; knitting, 246, 331, 369, 377, 388, 522; laundry, 327, 329, 351, 465; making mead, 387–88; sewing, 253, 331, 405, 514–15, 522; taking in boarders, 275, 299; washing, 327, 329. See also Servants Dorchester, Mass., 134, 266, 267, 513–14, 515, 518 Dortmund, Germany, 272 Dover, N.H., 279, 407 Dow, Martha (Phila. seamstress), 172–73 Downs, The, England, 243 Dowse, Sarah Phillips (sister of Abigail Phillips Quincy), 475, 514; identified, 476 Draco (Athenian statesman), 356 Dracut, Mass., 166 Dryden, John: “To His Sacred Majesty,” 518, 519 Duels, 190, 192, 487, 488, 510 Dumas, Marie (wife of Charles), 148 Dumouriez, Charles François Du Périer: Political View of the Future Situation of France, 398, 400 Duncan, Adm. Adam (Brit.), 344; identified, 337 Dunlap, William: History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States, xi Dutch language and literature, 239 Dutch Navy, 336–37, 344 Eagle (ship), 518 Eastbourne, England, 92 Eastchester, N.Y.: AA2 on, 27; AA and JA visit, 63, 64, 98, 104, 116–17, 209, 221, 248, 258, 259, 260, 261, 266, 268, 276, 278, 285, 286, 288, 294, 328, 371, 391, 427, 497, 518; AA on, 267–68, 273; Guion’s Tavern, 259, 260; WSS’s property in, 15, 278, 386; WSS travels to and from, 105, 397 East Indies, 154–55, 343 Easton, Mass., 160 ECA. See Adams, Elizabeth Coombs (1808– 1903) Edenton, N.C., 484 Edes, Benjamin (Boston printer), 188, 189 Edinburgh, Scotland, 304, 317 Education: of AA2 and WSS’s sons, xxx, 27, 28, 117, 211–12, 235, 247, 253, 329, 375, 390, 457; AA on, 247; JQA on friendships made during, 256–57; in art, xi, xiii; books for, 229, 230; in Britain, 189, 320; in copperplate writing, 227, 229; Mary Cranch on,

591

Adams Family Correspondence 327; in grammar, 253; in history and classics, 227–28; medical, 304, 305, 317, 509; in New England, 247; promotion of, 97, 98; religious instruction, 228, xv; schoolmasters, 418, 465; tuition for, 229, 329; in U.S., 320; of women, 93. See also names of individual schools, colleges, and universities Edwards, Hepsibah Small (1717–1817, aunt of AA), 510 Ehrenbreitstein, Germany, 430, 433 Eisenbach, Friedrich Adolf Riedesel, Baron (German military officer), 340; identified, 343 Elbe River, 151, 343, 384 Elections: AA on, 380; JA on, 10–11; congressional, 140, 141, 344, 511, 519; in France, xxi, 174, 175, 243, 292, 354, 355; Massachusetts congressional, 380; Mass. General Court, 138–39, 160; Massachusetts gubernatorial, 123, 138–39, 156; in New Jersey, 288, 289; in Pennsylvania, 301; presidential (1800), 33; sermons on, 185, 186–87, 236; Virginia gubernatorial, 344; voting requirements, 289 Presidential (1796): JA elected, xix, 305; attitudes toward JA’s election, 38, 129, 182, 195; T. Coxe and, 368, 370; DemocraticRepublicans and, 26–27, 29; electioneering in, 73, 129; electoral votes, 278; European interest in, 24, 26, 35, 58, 118, 165; French influence on, 488; A. Hamilton and, 3; T. Jefferson and, 488; JeffersonMadison correspondence on, 53; results of reported in Europe, 34, 42, 52, 53, 56, 57, 120 Eliot, Elizabeth (Betsy, daughter of Elizabeth Pope), 233, 234, 274, 298, 407, 435 Ellicott, Andrew (U.S. surveyor), 156 Ellsworth, Oliver (U.S. Supreme Court chief justice), 10, 79–80, 87, 443 Engeström, Baron Lars von (Swedish minister to Prussia), 454, 455 England. See Great Britain English Channel, 362 English language and literature, 35, 58, 253, 447, 474 Epps, Elizabeth (servant of LCA), 128, 535; identified, 536 Erskine, Thomas: View of the Present War with France, 42, 43 Europe: AA on, 307; JA on, 271, 298; JQA on, 293; TBA on living in, 238, 391–92; attitudes toward JA in, xx, 158; emigration from, 178, 203, 320; French decrees on neutral navigation and nations of, 431, 433; French influence in, 170, 353–54, 481;

influence on U.S., 199, 489; interest of in U.S. affairs, 165; lack of news about in U.S., 32, 77, 136, 269; porcelain production in, 218; U.S. diplomacy in, 136, 256; U.S. trade with, 374. See also names of individual countries European war: AA on, 293, 307, 390, 529; JA on, 298; JQA on, 123, 134; TBA on, xxviii, 392; alliance of the First Coalition, 174, 240, 241; destruction caused by, 217; France and, 398, 496; possible general peace in, 68, 157; naval battles of, 36, 37– 38, 336–37, 344, 362; peace negotiations during, 91, 95, 343; succession of Prussian monarchy and, 339; territorial conquest during, xxviii, 179, 430–31, 469; trade and commerce affected by, 431; U.S. and, 309, 427. See also names of individual countries, armies, navies, and battles Eustis, Dr. William (of Boston), 156 Evans, Rev. Israel (of Concord, N.H.), 185, 187 Evans, Thomas (Va. representative), 140, 358; identified, 141 Evening Mail (London), 102 Executions, 162, 217, 218, 337, 398, 491. See also Crime; Deaths Exercise: JA on, 63; health and, 17, 56, 59, 133, 212, 366, 415; horseback riding, 17, 32, 56, 57, 59, 136, 142, 505; riding in a carriage, 124, 157, 486, 492; walking, 24, 59, 78, 505 Falmouth, England, 450 Farmers General, 119, 123, 218 Farmer’s Weekly Museum (Walpole, N.H.), 114, 417, 418 Fauchet, Jean Antoine Joseph (former French minister to U.S.): J. Monroe and, 410; E. Randolph and, 257, 410, 413; Remarks Occasioned by the Late Conduct of Mr. Washington and, 255, 410; Sketch of the Present State of Our Political Relations with the United States, 344, 345, 394, 396, 410 Faypoult de Maisoncelle, Guillaume Charles (French envoy to Genoa), 175 Federal Gazette (Baltimore), 280, 440 Federalist Party: AA on, 344, 401; JA’s election and presidency and, xxi, 33, 74, 88, 152; JQA on, 410; alien and sedition bills and, 532; antiwar petitions and, 469; attitudes of toward JA, 80, 138; attitudes of toward Britain, 120, 293, 455; Congress and, 357, 358, 379, 408, 424, 437, 466, 520, 521, 523; Democratic-Republican Party and, xiii, xix, 410; First Mission to France

592

Index and, 170, 206; French attitudes toward, 455; T. Jefferson on, 165; in New England, 138, 139, 169, 185, 277, 477; newspapers and, 188, 452, 477, 532; patriotic music and, xvi; Elizabeth Peabody on, 185; public attitudes toward, 293, 438, 439, 448, 473, 532; in Virginia, 141, 344 Fellows, Nathaniel (Boston merchant), 205, 206 Fenno, John (Phila. printer), xxvi, 71, 295 Letter: From AA (1797), 295 See also Gazette of the United States Ferdinand, Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Princess (wife of Prince August Ferdinand), 340, 343 Ferdinand, Prince. See August Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia Field, Abigail Newcomb (wife of Joseph, Sr.), 328 Field, Benjamin (of Quincy), 152 Field, Ebenezer (Quincy housewright), 127, 152–53, 199; identified, 128 Field, Jackson (of Quincy), 127, 152–53, 199; identified, 128 Field, Joseph, Sr. (1720–1776, of Quincy), 328 Field, Joseph, Jr. (1749–1836, son of Joseph, Sr.), 326; identified, 328 Finances. See Credit; Debt; Investments; Money; Taxes Finckenstein, Count Karl Wilhelm Finck von (Prussian foreign minister), 421, 422, 425 Findley, William (Penn. representative), 502, 503–504, 517, 529 Fires, 33, 54, 55, 98, 364, 450, 451 Firewood. See Wood First Mission to France: AA on, 139, 168, 169, 294, 489–90, 526; AA on U.S. envoys, 139, 164, 168, 172, 206, 422, 449; JA accused of secrecy regarding, xxv, 474, 503; JA and, xix, 309, 314, 347, 404, 485, 519; JA and XYZ Affair, xix, 436, 437, 448, 459, 484, 485, 489, 517; JA and XYZ dispatches, 437, 454, 455, 457, 474, 481, 486, 490, 505; JQA on, 256, 372; TBA on, 239–40, 249, 428–29; concern for safety of U.S. envoys, xxii, 449, 454, 457, 485, 490, 496, 499, 505, 506, 517; Congress and, 380, 389, 432, 436, 489, 524; Mary Cranch on, 405; credentials for U.S. envoys, 491, 493; F. Dana declines appointment to, 146, 169, 170, 172, 178, 225; Democratic-Republican Party and, 146–47, 168, 170, 178, 485, 489, 498, 504, 513, 516–18, 524, 533; departure of U.S. envoys from France reported in U.S., 520, 523; dispatches from U.S. envoys, xxii, xxv,

308, 309, 436, 437, 438, 439, 441, 442, 443, 448–49, 454, 455, 457, 459, 465, 478, 481, 482, 483, 484, 502, 505, 517, 527, 531; failure of, xxii, 441, 455, 459; Federalist Party and, 170, 206; France demands payment as basis of negotiations, xix, xxii, 513, 514, 526; France refuses to receive U.S. envoys, xix, xxii, 357, 358, 437, 438, 440, 469, 481, 517, 526; French treatment of U.S. envoys, 380, 428–29, 437, 438, 440, 441, 467, 477, 499, 501, 502, 512, 525; E. Gerry remains in Paris, xxii, 499; instructions to U.S. envoys, 422, 493, 496, 498, 499, 516– 17, 526, 529; lack of dispatches from U.S. envoys, 369, 379, 380, 389, 399, 404, 419, 422; John Marshall leaves Paris, xxii, 499; newspapers and, 166, 179, 226, 438, 525; nomination and confirmation of U.S. envoys, xxi, xxiv, 135, 136, 144, 145–46, 147, 148, 164, 166, 169, 170, 172, 178, 199, 202, 203, 204–205, 206, 225, 226, 426; C. C. Pinckney leaves Paris, xxii, 499; publication of XYZ documents and response to in U.S., xiv, xv, xix, xxiii, xxv, 422, 485, 486, 489–90, 491, 492, 493, 496, 498, 500, 502, 504, 506, 509, 512, 513, 515, 516, 517, 518, 523, 524, 525, 527, 529, 538; C. Talleyrand and, xxii, 437, 459, 485, 514; U.S. envoys arrive in Paris, 200, 239, 249, 256, 332; U.S. envoys present letters of credence, 332, 389; U.S. envoys’ return to U.S. anticipated, 357, 389, 481, 482; XYZ documents submitted to Congress, xxii–xxiii, 481, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 490, 496, 505, 507, 516, 518, 525, 533 First Nations, 447, 448. See also Native Americans; names of individual tribes Fisher, James Cowles (Phila. merchant), 306; identified, 308 Fitzhugh, Peregrine (of Md.), 280 Flanders, Belgium, 174, 431 Fleury. See Bénard, Abraham Joseph Flint, Rev. Jacob (of Reading, Mass.): AA on, 323; on JA’s inaugural address, 48; as candidate for Quincy ministry, 103, 104, 118, 132, 133, 181, 275, 276, 288, 327, 349; Mary Cranch on, 103, 132, 181, 327; ordination of, 327, 328 Florence, Italy, xiii Florida, 156, 202 Fogg, Dr. Daniel (of Braintree), 39, 360; identified, 40 Fogg, Susannah Thayer (wife of Daniel), 40 Food and drink: alcohol, 54, 55, 171, 190, 219, 221, 222, 251, 304, 317, 370, 376, 380, 387– 88, 406, 415, 438, 439, 447, 470, 488, 522;

593

Adams Family Correspondence anatta, 125, 127, 159; biscuits and crackers, 222, 377, 414, 415; bread, 221, 359, 470; cider, 267; coffee, 158, 221, 222, 251, 438, 525; confections, 143, 171, 190, 221, 330, 447; dairy products, 59, 60, 77, 125, 127, 131, 153, 263, 266–67, 299, 311, 313, 322, 326, 328, 333, 358, 377, 388, 416, 473, 475, 501; feasts, 6, 19; fruit, 158, 180, 222–23, 311, 326, 330, 333, 377, 414, 465, 532; gifts of, 59, 60, 77, 125, 131, 327, 330, 357, 377, 406; grains and flour, 55, 222, 333, 357, 358, 415, 522; health affected by, 143, 198; loss of appetite, 117; meats and fish, 126, 159, 268, 294, 299, 301, 311, 313, 321, 325, 326, 327, 333, 334, 358, 359, 421, 510, 514; molasses, 313; salt, 125; sugar, 158, 222, 267, 333, 358, 438; tea, 124, 159, 171, 222, 248, 251, 275, 334, 358, 405; vegetables, 219, 220 Ford, Worthington Chauncey (editor), xxxiii Forrest, Rebecca Plater (wife of Uriah), 534; identified, 535 Forrest, Uriah (of Md.), 280, 460, 534; identified, 535 Fort Lee (Fort Constitution), N.J., 19 Fort Moultrie, S.C., 420 Fort Schuyler (now Utica), N.Y., 74 Fort Stanwix, N.Y., 105, 323 Foster, James Hiller (1773–1862, later husband of Elizabeth Smith), 262, 263, 316, 327, 406, 500 Fox, Gilbert (Phila. singer), xvi, 531; identified, 532 France: actions toward neutral nations, xxii, 151, 521; actions toward U.S., xxv, 49, 125, 126, 141, 145, 146, 147–48, 163, 165, 167, 189, 195, 291, 449, 451, 454–55, 467, 483, 488, 489, 490, 496, 499, 506, 512–13, 515, 527, 528, 529, 540; AA on, 154, 161, 167, 170, 294, 357, 390, 443, 453, 458, 459, 484, 491, 493, 504, 526; JA on, 11, 50, 465–66; JQA on, 122, 151, 174, 194, 214, 256, 291, 342, 373, 523; TBA on, 67–68, 82, 94, 110, 239–40, 392, 428, 430, 431; Americans fit out privateers for, 36, 37, 56; Ancien Régime, 195; Anglo-American relations and, 354; attitudes toward JA in, xx, 3, 88, 118, 126, 502; attitudes toward U.S. in, xxii, 68, 438; Austrian Netherlands and, 271, 272, 433; British shipping attacked by, xii, xxii, 75, 356, 448, 450, 521; burial practices in, 108, 110, 112; colonial possessions of, 40, 175; commissions painting, xiii; compared to Algiers, 484, 490; compared to Germany, 430, 433; compared to Roman Empire, 122; Congress of Rastaat and, 343,

594

430; debt of to U.S. citizens, 148, 165; diplomatic appointments of, 7, 30, 35, 101, 175, 195, 196, 396, 397, 505–506; diplomatic appointments to, xxi, 101, 107, 108, 115, 118, 124, 163, 166, 168, 433, 457; elections in, 175, 243, 292; emigration from, 243, 398, 431; House of Bourbon as symbol of, 33; influence in Europe, 170, 353–54, 481; influence on U.S., xxviii–xxix, 29, 31–32, 33, 35, 37, 51, 124, 155, 214, 278, 353, 354, 355, 394, 428, 429, 431, 432, 437, 443, 447, 449, 453, 455, 458, 471, 477, 480, 485, 486, 488, 493, 496, 505, 523, 529; possible invasion of Britain by, xxix, 69, 342, 347, 353–54, 357, 362, 380, 390, 412, 431, 449, 451, 481, 523; Jay Treaty and, xxi, 214, 240, 413, 458; loans demanded as prerequisite for negotiations, xxii, 108, 437, 469, 470; loans to U.S., 148; Mazzei letter printed in, 225; ministry of foreign affairs, 175, 195, 196, 214, 505; ministry of interior, 214; ministry of marine, 196, 214; ministry of police, 108, 214; ministry of war, 214; passports required for visitors to, ix, 108, 109 (illus.), 112; peace with Austria, 91, 92, 95, 101, 102, 114, 123, 124, 161, 199, 272, 340, 347; publications on Anglo-French war, 42, 43; relations with Austria, xii, 174, 343; relations with Britain, 36, 129, 130, 174, 175, 216, 241, 469, 470, 504; relations with Canada, 431, 433; relations with Denmark, 151, 431, 433, 458; relations with Germany, 340, 430; relations with Hamburg, 413; relations with Italian states, 174, 175, 449, 523; relations with Netherlands, 122, 148, 151, 331, 431, 449, 501, 504, 505–506; relations with Portugal, 102, 107, 108, 240, 241, 391, 414, 469, 470, 523, 526–27; relations with Prussia, 141, 165, 213–14, 272, 413, 431, 433; relations with Spain, 155, 390; relations with Sweden, 433, 458; relations with Switzerland, 347, 348, 429, 523; relations with U.S., xxi, 5, 11, 19, 22, 26, 36, 50, 56, 57, 67–68, 88, 107, 113, 118, 129, 141, 157, 172, 174, 179, 194, 196, 214, 239–40, 257, 342, 370, 372, 374, 392, 465, 491–92, 498, 504; royal properties in, 94; sister republics of, xii–xiii, xxviii, 175, 353–54, 414, 429, 433; study of natural science in, 112; support for invasion of Ireland in, 199; support for monarchy in, 503; treasury of, 83; Treaty of Campo Formio and, 272; tribunals, 165; U.S. attitudes toward, xiv, 50, 68, 77, 80, 107, 126, 127, 140–41, 147, 150, 151, 164, 166, 170, 173, 179, 208, 212, 224, 225, 257, 278, 299, 304–305, 317, 335, 354,

Index 356–57, 375, 389, 392, 393, 398, 429, 482, 489, 498, 501, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 515, 517, 525, 527, 528, 537, 539; U.S. consuls to, 95; U.S. shipping attacked by, 35–36, 37, 39, 40, 56, 67–68, 129, 147, 148, 150, 151, 157, 163, 165, 194–95, 196, 202, 203, 240, 278, 293, 309, 389, 393, 420, 439, 446, 467, 502, 514; possible war with U.S., xix, xxi, 26, 35, 36, 49, 71, 72–73, 77, 78, 101, 126, 127, 129, 134, 140, 141, 147–48, 151, 155, 156, 179, 189, 195, 199, 257, 317, 373, 428, 436, 438, 448, 451, 454, 457–58, 466, 467–68, 470, 480, 481, 482, 496, 498, 504, 507, 515, 517, 521, 523, 529, 533. See also First Mission to France; French Army; French Navy; French Revolution Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor: JA seeks information about, 136; Franco-Austrian peace and, 91, 95, 101, 123, 161, 174, 199, 272, 340, 430; mentioned, 68 François de Neufchâteau, Nicolas (French politician), 214, 243 Franklin, Benjamin, 356, 396, 454, 455 Frederica Louisa Wilhelmina, Princess of Orange (sister of Frederick William III, future queen of Netherlands), 340; identified, 342 Frederica Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, Queen of Prussia (2d wife of Frederick William II), 340, 343, 500 Frederica Sophia Carolina, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. See Louis, Frederica Sophia Carolina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Princess Frederick II, Count of Hesse-Cassel, 340; identified, 343 Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia, 213, 214, 340, 395–96, 449 Frederick Henry Louis, Prince of Prussia, 340, 343, 396–97 Frederick William II, King of Prussia: accession to Prussian throne, 213, 214; JA seeks information about, 136; JQA on, 213; JQA’s mission to Prussia and, 342, 421, 422, 425, 446, 500; death of, xxvii, 338, 342, 421, 425, 449; health of, 214, 421; mentioned, 340 Frederick William III, King of Prussia: accession to Prussian throne, xxix, 338, 340, 342, 354, 355, 374, 421, 425–26, 449, 500; JQA on, xxix, 339; JQA presented to, xxviii, 338, 422, 446, 450, 500, 511; TBA presented to, 395, 396–97; family of, 339– 40; health of, 374, 395; social customs in court of, 374 Frederick, Md., 442, 534 Fredericksburg, Va., 402, 403

Freeman, Nathaniel, Jr. (Mass. representative): AA on, 125, 139, 357; congressional activities of, 125, 127, 139, 140, 147, 399, 400 Freire, Agnes Frances Lockyer (wife of Ciprão), 390, 391; letter to AA listed (1797), 549 Freire, Ciprão Ribeiro, Chevalier de (Portuguese minister to U.S.), 390 French, Eunice Vinton (wife of Moses, Jr.), 125, 159, 266 French, Moses, Sr. (1731–1807, of Quincy), 22 French, Moses, Jr. (1769–1842, son of Moses, Sr.): AA on, 1; crop failure of, 360–61; lease of Adamses’ Quincy farm and, 1, 22, 45, 70, 71, 152, 153, 283, 297 French and Indian War, 60 French Army: Army of England, xxix, 340, 342, 343; Army of Italy, xii, 37, 83, 95, 124, 175, 362; Army of the Rhine, 95; confiscation of art by, 110, 112; coup of 18 fructidor and, xxi, 243, 255, 293, 313, 354, 469, 470; French Directory and, 111, 257–58, 347; invades and occupies Netherlands, 362, 433; possible invasion of Portugal by, 528; success of, xxii, 36, 37, 165, 174, 179, 375, 398; war with Austria, 68, 69, 95, 123 French language and literature, 239, 255, 324, 412, 474 French Navy, 78, 124, 162, 179, 343, 362 French Revolution: AA on, 293, 336, 356, 398, 496, 527–28; JA on, 272; JQA on, 174–75, 225, 255, 258, 354, 372–73; commemoration of leaders of, 110; constitutions of, xii–xiii, xxii, 147, 255, 258, 291, 292, 313, 317, 348, 376–77, 379, 428, 451; coup of 18 fructidor, xxi–xxii, 175, 196, 242, 243, 249, 255, 258, 268, 291, 292–93, 298, 302, 309, 313, 336, 354, 355, 372, 376–78, 412–13, 451, 469, 470, 526; influence of, 199, 389, 432; monarchy and, 491; National Convention, 110, 112, 175, 225, 292, 398, 433; newspapers and, 291–92; Paris theater and, 113; religion and, 32, 112, 243, 356, 398, 467, 477, 529; Revolutionary committee, 113; royalists and, 243; songs in support of, xvi, 529; speculation in currency of, 411; symbols of, 354, 429, 498, 501; Terror, 111, 112, 217, 291, 293, 336, 337; treatment of property during, 215, 218; U.S. attitudes toward, 5, 77; violence of, 111, 112, 113, 217, 398 Councils of Elders and Five Hundred: JQA on, 174; TBA visits, 111, 113, 216; Constitutionalist majority in, 175; coup of 18 fructidor and, 354; debates of, 354, 438, 441; Directory and, 147–48, 175, 225, 243;

595

Adams Family Correspondence elections to, 174, 175; held in the Tuileries, 113; service in, 195, 196, 292 Directory: actions of toward Britain, 91; actions of toward U.S. of, 35, 51, 83, 118, 147, 148, 189, 194–95, 216, 224, 225, 372, 481, 486, 488, 498; AA on, 313, 347, 400, 527; JA on, 56, 57, 313; JA’s FrancoAmerican policy and, 429, 492, 501; JQA on, 174, 175; TBA and, ix, 36, 94, 111, 113, 216, 285; attitudes of toward JA, xxii, 502; attitudes of toward U.S., xxii, 147, 212; Cisrhenish Republic and, 433; constitutional powers of, 147–48; decrees on navigation, xxii, xxviii, 35, 56, 67–68, 69, 118, 128–29, 165, 354, 355–56, 373, 414, 431, 433, 437, 441, 459, 501, 502, 521, 523; demands payment for diplomatic negotiation, xxii, 429, 469, 470, 485, 489, 492, 513, 514, 526, 527; divisions in, 214, 225, 243; elections to, 174, 175; establishment of, 255; FrancoAustrian peace and, 95, 102, 343; FrancoPortuguese treaty and, 240; freedom of the press restricted by, xxi, 243, 301, 302, 354, 414, 438; French military and, 111, 225, 255, 347, 354; Jay Treaty and, 151, 514; legislature and, 175, 225, 243, 354, 356; meets in Luxembourg Palace, 113; ministerial appointments of, 214, 225; as model for sister republics, 353–54; J. Monroe takes leave of, 37; Napoleon and, xii, 340, 342, 343; nullifies elections, xxi, 243, 354, 355; opposition to, 355; orders transportations and deportations, 243; restricts passports of U.S. citizens, 83, 84; St. Domingue and, 195, 196; treatment of C. C. Pinckney by, xxi, 21, 22, 49, 118, 126, 127, 151, 163, 166, 254, 467; U.S. attitudes toward, 126, 127, 195, 317, 512–13, 525 See also First Mission to France; France; French Army; French Navy Frestel, Felix (tutor), 10 Fribourg, Switzerland, 429 Friedrich Heinrich Karl, Prince of Prussia (brother of Frederick William III), 340; identified, 342 Friedrichshafen (Buchhorn), Germany, 272 Friedrich Wilhelm Karl, Prince of Prussia (brother of Frederick William III), 340; identified, 342 Frothingham, Nathaniel (Boston coachmaker): Adamses’ account with, 267, 268, 294; Adamses purchase coach from, 154, 155, 161, 198, 267 Fulda, Germany, 272 Funerals: William Abdee (1798), 348, 350; Nathaniel Carter Sr. (1798), 507, 538; Su-

sanna Boylston Adams Hall (1797), 86–87, 92, 96, 97; Abigail Phillips Quincy (1798), 474–75; Charles Salmon Smith (1797), 250–51, 358; Mary Smith (1797), 92; Jerusha Boylston Veasey (1797), 3, 19 Furniture and furnishings: bathing machine, 126; beds and bedding, 44, 222, 350; carpets, 44, 45, 273, 299, 325–26, 334, 388, 409; chairs, 44, 328, 334; china, 44, 45; clotheslines, 262; construction of, 54; curtains, 44; damaged by mice, 325, 326; fire tongs, xiv; glassware, 44, 45, 222; Gobelin tapestries, 2, 3, 6; kitchen, 39, 45, 158, 328; lighting, 45, 351, 370, 371; linens, 28, 30, 39, 44; office, 536; as payment, 351; for presidential household, 7, 8, 32, 39, 44–45, 51, 54, 73, 117; sale of, 45, 218; tables, 125, 222; theft of, 39, 45; trunk, 246; windows, 219, 220, 266, 348, 512 Gallatin, Albert (Penn. representative): AA on, 485, 517, 520; antiwar petitions and, 468; attitudes of toward JA, 524, 525; congressional service of, 519; debate over use of convoys and, 521, 523; foreign intercourse bill and, 426, 427, 480; House response to JA’s address and, 148–49; publication of speeches of, 426, 427; XYZ Affair and, 485, 525 Games and pastimes, 115, 120, 124, 253, 374 Gardens and gardening: fencing of, 531; in France, 110, 112; fruit, 180, 436–37, 512, 532; at Peacefield, 62, 63, 142, 153, 158, 172, 180, 192, 218, 220, 353, 382, 436–37, 465, 475, 512, 514, 531, 532; rose, 180, 192; vegetable, 219, 220, 475, 514; weather affects, 218, 219, 220, 514 Gayoso de Lemos, Manuel (gov. of Natchez), 156 Gazette de Leyde, 36, 38, 69, 194 Gazette nationale ou le moniteur universel (Paris), 165 Gazette of the United States (Phila.): AA’s writings in, xxvi, 295, 297; JA and, 18, 50, 52, 295, 324, 437, 455; JA-Mifflin correspondence in, 23; JQA’s writings in, 71, 72, 165, 258, 376–77, 379, 415; TBA’s writings in, 141; Adamses’ Fourth of July celebrations reported in, 190, 192; Aurora General Advertiser and, 323, 324; congressional affairs reported in, 155, 173, 190, 402, 426– 27; debut of “The President’s March” reported in, xvii; E. Gerry’s attendance at C. Talleyrand’s ball reported in, 458, 459; J. Monroe criticized in, 126, 446; Spithead mutiny reported in, 162; subscriptions to,

596

Index 172; U.S. and Britain compared in, 320; Washington-Pickering correspondence in, 19; G. Washington’s birthday celebrations reported in, 4; XYZ Affair reported in, 437, 489, 491 General Evening Post (London), 92 Genesee County, N.Y., 324 Genoa, Italy, 174, 175 George III, King of England, 162 Georgetown, D.C.: commerce of, 444, 533; William Cranch moves to, 536; Johnson family arrives and settles in, 43, 92, 231, 305, 316, 320, 337, 343, 385, 442, 533; lawyers in, 534, 536; residents of, 181, 183, 234, 535; ships to, 92, 242; Washington, D.C., and, 460; G. Washington visits, 535 Georgia, 523 German language and literature, xxvii, 238– 39, 271, 338, 384, 511 Germantown, Penn., 193 Germany: JQA on, 226; Congress of Rastaat and, 343, 430; diplomatic appointments of, 85; education in, xv; emigrations from, xvi, xvii; I. Kant and, 271, 430; relations with France, 340, 430, 433; trade with U.S., 83; Treaty of Campo Formio and, 272 Gerry, Ann (daughter of Elbridge, Sr.): identified, 206 Gerry, Ann Thompson (wife of Elbridge, Sr.), 205–206, 332, 490; letter to AA listed (1798), 550; letter from AA listed (1797), 549 Letter: To AA (1797), 331 Gerry, Catharine (daughter of Elbridge, Sr.): identified, 206 Gerry, Elbridge, Sr. (1744–1814, Mass. politician): AA on, 169, 170; AA sends publications to, 204; JA on, 271; JQA’s orders to Prussia and, 242; attitude of toward Britain and France, xxii, 170; correspondence with AA, 205, 206; correspondence with JQA, 256, 258; correspondence with H. Thompson, 440; French attitudes toward, 499; A. T. Gerry and, 205–206, 332; news of reported in U.S., 302, 308, 309, 332, 458; offers assistance to Adamses, 206; publication of letter of, 439; travels of, 199, 203, 205, 206, 256, 309, 332; U.S. Constitution and, 169, 205, 206; letter from AA listed (1797), 548; mentioned, 438 Letter: To AA (1797), 204 See also First Mission to France Gerry, Elbridge, Jr. (1793–1867, son of Elbridge, Sr.): identified, 206 Gerry, Eliza (daughter of Elbridge, Sr.): identified, 206

Gerry, Helen Maria (daughter of Elbridge, Sr.): identified, 206 Gerry, James Thompson (son of Elbridge, Sr.), 332; identified, 206 Gerry, Thomas Russell (son of Elbridge, Sr.): identified, 206 Gifford, John: Letter to the Hon. Thomas Erskine, 336, 337, 361–62, 391; Residence in France, During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795, 336, 337 Gilbert, Jesse (of Hamden, Conn.), 417; identified, 418 Giles, William Branch (Va. representative): attitude of toward JA, 525; congressional service of, 510, 511, 517; congressional speeches of, 447, 448; First Mission to France and, 139, 482, 485, 505; health of, 510; H. G. Otis and, 448, 487, 488, 510; on taxes, 419 Gill, Moses (lt. gov. of Mass.): R. Gill and, 295, 475; as lieutenant governor, 2, 138; sends cheese to JA, 59, 60, 77; mentioned, 3 Gill, Rebecca Boylston (wife of Moses, 1727– 1798, 1st cousin of JA’s mother), 2, 294, 295, 475, 476, 485, 492 Goldsmith, Oliver: She Stoops to Conquer, 161, 162 Good Friends (ship), 81 Goodhue, Benjamin (Mass. politician), 141, 170 Gore, Capt. Robert (of the Peggy), 536 Grace (brig), 69, 200 Grafton County, N.H., 367 Gram, Hans (Boston organist): identified, 466 Gravesend, England, 15, 175, 242, 243, 342, 384 Gray, William (Salem merchant), 226 Great Britain: AA on, 504; JQA on, 123; American Revolution and, 19, 145, 296, 343, 368; attacks on neutral navigation, 413, 521; attitudes toward JA’s election in, 71, 118; banking and finance in, 68, 69, 199; Blount affair and, x, 190, 202; consuls from, 51; country estates in, 221; diplomatic appointments of, 175, 348, 480, 482; diplomatic appointments to, 166, 214, 285; emigration from, xii, xv, 11, 53, 91, 92, 320, 449, 532; European war and, 69, 91, 108, 240, 241; possible Franco-American war and, 78; French attacks on shipping and trade of, xii, xxii, 75, 147, 151, 343, 356, 373, 441, 448, 450, 521; French attitudes toward, 216, 354, 502; possible French invasion of, xxix, 69, 162, 340, 342, 347, 353– 54, 357, 362, 380, 390, 412, 431, 449, 451,

597

Adams Family Correspondence 481, 523; influence on U.S., 33, 293, 319, 320, 447; Insurrection Act, 199; John Bull as symbol of, 33, 189; legal dispute between U.S. firms and, 295; lord chancellor, 107; medical education in, 509; Order in Council, 69; publications in, 42, 43; relations with Austria, 241; relations with Canada, 433; relations with France, 36, 129, 130, 174, 175, 216, 241, 331, 469, 470, 504; relations with Naples, 241; relations with Native Americans, 404; relations with Netherlands, 175; relations with Spain, x; relations with Switzerland, 348; relations with U.S., 53, 141, 166, 239–40, 354, 370, 372, 374, 403, 521; royal botanist, 233; sedition in, 323, 369; ships to and from, 4, 115, 129, 169, 203; trade with East Indies, 343; trade with U.S., 36, 37; U.S. attitudes toward, 170, 278, 362, 410, 455, 507, 532; U.S. land speculation by citizens of, 105; U.S. news reported in, 42, 107, 226; U.S. visitors to, 69, 460. See also Ireland; Scotland; Wales Greece, 433, 447, 455 Green, Rev. Ashbel (of Phila.), 510, 511 Green, Hannah Storer (of Boston), 510; letter to AA listed (1797), 549 Green, Mary Humphrey (mother-in-law of Thomas Pratt), 377; identified, 378 Greenleaf, Ann Wroe (mother of Elizabeth), 540 Greenleaf, Daniel (brother of James), 539; identified, 540 Greenleaf, Elizabeth Greenleaf (wife of Daniel): identified, 540 Greenleaf, James (Washington, D.C., merchant): AA on, 435; character of, 500; Mary Cranch on, 524; William Cranch and, 159, 234, 303, 405, 407, 440–41, 465, 534; dispute between R. Morris, J. Nicholson, and, 143, 144; family affected by finances of, x, 131, 184–85, 186, 299, 359, 435; family of, 540; finances and investments of, 131, 186, 237, 298, 304, 306, 440, 465, 534; health of, 369; imprisonment of, x, 144, 234, 274, 298, 299, 324, 369, 371, 440, 464, 500, 501, 502, 524, 539 Greenleaf, John (1763–1848, husband of Lucy Cranch): AA sends cheese to, 131; Mary Cranch on, 415, 464; employment of, 464, 466; family of, 131, 134, 160; James Greenleaf and, 131, 185; health of, 327, 466; Elizabeth Peabody on, 185; social activities of, 487; mentioned, 159 Greenleaf, Dr. John (father of Elizabeth), 540

Greenleaf, Lucy (1797–1877, daughter of Lucy Cranch), 160, 275, 327 Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch (1767–1846, niece of AA): AA on, 143, 320, 324, 409; AA sends items to, 131, 335, 501, 525, 536; Mary Cranch and, 275, 299, 474, 538; Mary Cranch on, 131, 159, 180, 405, 415, 464; family of, 134, 160; James Greenleaf and, 185; health of, 159, 299, 314, 316, 327, 335; sends song to AA, 416 Greenleaf, Mary Brown (mother of James): identified, 276; children of, 131, 134; Anna Cranch and, x, 274, 298, 299; moves to New Bedford, Mass., 274–75, 276, 299 Greenleaf, Mary Deming Price (wife of Thomas, 1767–1854), 540 Greenleaf, Thomas (1755–1798, N.Y. printer), 189, 325. See also Argus; New York Journal Greenleaf, Thomas (1767–1854, Quincy J.P.), 539; identified, 540 Greenleaf, William (father of James): children of, 131, 134; Anna Cranch and, x, 274, 298; finances of, 176, 275, 299; moves to New Bedford, Mass., 274–75, 276, 299 Griswold, Matthew (father of Roger), 400 Griswold, Roger (Conn. representative): identified, xiii; AA on, 379, 382–83, 399; cartoon of, xiii–xiv, 381 (illus.); M. Lyon and, xiii–xiv, xxii, 379, 380, 381 (illus.), 382–83, 398–99, 400, 401, 408, 418, 439, 441, 459 Grove, William Barry (N.C. representative), 358, 423; identified, 424 Guion, Charles (Eastchester, N.Y., innkeeper), 258; identified, 259 Gunn, James (Ga. senator), 523 Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden, 454 Habersham, Joseph (U.S. postmaster general), 219 Hague, The, Netherlands: JQA and TBA travel to and from, 38, 83, 112, 120, 135, 175, 176, 193, 217, 271; book sales in, 93, 122; civil service in, 83; fair held in, 114, 115, 116, 119; Maréchal de Turenne, 85; merchants in, 95; ships to, 81; as social and political center, 122; social life in, 52; U.S. diplomatic corps in, 19; U.S. election results reported in, 24; U.S. visitors to, 55, 73, 84, 200, 206, 208, 332 Hahn, Jacob (Dutch politician), 375 Haiti. See St. Domingue Halbach, Jean & Gaspar, & Fils (German arms manufacturer), 82, 83 Hall, Ann (Nancy, niece of Moses Black):

598

Index identified, 324; AA and welfare of, 323, 324, 332–33, 335, 346, 348, 349, 350–51, 352, 369, 402, 436, 490, 493, 507–509, 510, 521– 22, 536, 539; AA on, 350, 356, 522–23; appearance of, 335; E. Black and M. Black and, 332–33, 349, 377, 405, 507, 539, 541; W. Black and, 323, 324; care of, 346, 436, 507–509, 539; health of, 436, 490, 522–23; inoculation of, 351, 352, 490, 493, 508 Hall, Charles (Sunbury, Penn., lawyer), 345 Hall, Fitch (of Medford, Mass.), 241, 307, 345, 352, 396; identified, 243 Hall, Lt. John (1698–1780, JA’s stepfather), 97 Hall, Capt. John, Jr. (stepson of Susanna): identified, 181 Hall, Joseph (Boston lawyer): as agent for JQA, 42, 43, 53; attends JQA and LCA’s wedding, 221; correspondence with JQA, 42, 43, 52, 53; social activities of, 73, 74 Hall, Lucy (daughter of Lucy Tufts), 538; identified, 540 Hall, Lucy Tufts (daughter of Simon Tufts Sr.), 540 Hall, Susanna Boylston Adams (1707–1797, mother of JA): accommodations for, 71; AA and, 3, 50, 163; AA on, 92; AA’s care of, 73, 79, 184; JA and, 59, 87, 102; JQA on, 231; death of, xxiii, 83, 86, 89, 92, 95– 96, 98, 102, 141, 150, 163, 181, 183, 184, 223– 24, 231, 247, 522, 523; funeral and burial of, 84, 86–87, 97; health of, 50, 79; obituary for, 96–97; Elizabeth Peabody on, 184; on wives’ roles, 79; mentioned, 23, 63, 78 Hall, Mr. (father of Ann), 246, 323, 324, 332, 335, 508 Hall, Mrs. (mother of Ann), 323, 324, 332, 333, 335, 346, 351, 405 Hamburg, Germany: JQA, LCA, and TBA travel to Prussia via, 69, 337–38, 342, 370, 371, 384, 386, 388, 399, 421, 425; mails to and from, 233, 317, 352, 448, 480, 519; relations with France, 413; ships to, 4, 7, 28, 384, 385, 483, 518; U.S. consul at, 233, 384, 385 Hamden, Conn., 418 Hamilton, Alexander: AA on, 20–21, 344–45; TBA on, 393–94; T. Coxe and, 368; Federalist Party and, 477; J. Monroe and, 411, 413; Observations on Certain Documents, 344–45, 393–94, 410–11, 413; presidential election (1796) and, 3, 20–21; as treasury secretary, 345, 368; viewed as pro-British, 33 Hammond, George (Brit. undersecretary for foreign affairs), 482

Hammuda ibn Ali, Bey of Tunis, 37 Hancock, John (gov. of Mass.), 296, 419, 421 Handel, George Frideric: Theodora, 12, 13 Hannah, Mrs., 416 Hanseatic League, 85 Hardwick, John Henry (of Quincy), 282, 297; identified, 283 Harper, Robert Goodloe (S.C. representative): AA and, 296, 502–503; arming of merchant ships and, 155; W. Findley and, 503–504; foreign intercourse bill and, 370, 426, 427, 478, 480; newspapers and, 537; Observations on the Dispute between the United States and France, 254, 257, 522, 523; publication of speeches of, 426, 427, 469, 470, 473; letter to AA listed (1798), 552 Letter: From AA (1798), 502 Harris, Rev. Thaddeus Mason (of Dorchester), 132, 134 Harrison, Peter (of Newport, R.I.), 321 Hartford, Conn., 260 Harvard College: CA attends, 418; JA attends, 97; JA toasted by students of, 441; JQA attends, 85, 230, 375; JQA on, 230; JQA’s commencement oration, 373, 375; Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, 98; chapel at, 480; commencement at, 228; donations to, 97, 98, 270, 308–309, 353; fire at, 98; T. B. Johnson attends, 230, 231; library at, 98, 309; lottery for, 8, 9, 48; president of, 307; senior class day, 478, 480; William Shaw attends, 227–28, 229, 362, 398, 477, 478; vacation from, 228, 229, 274, 329, 366; G. Washington’s birthday celebrated at, 38, 40, 442 Harvard University Press, xxxii Hastings, Jonathan, Jr. (Boston postmaster), 70 Haugwitz, Count Christian August Heinrich Kurt von (Prussian foreign minister), 421, 422, 425 Hauteval, Lucien (French agent “Z”), xxii, 437 Havana, Cuba, 203 Havens, Jonathan Nicoll (N.Y. representative), 426–27 Haverhill, Mass., 184, 186, 228, 246, 286, 313, 328 Havre, Le (Havre de Grâce), France, 37, 332, 441, 442 Hayden, Judith Stevens (of Braintree), 313, 325; identified, 314 Hayden, Mr. (of Quincy), 45 Health and illnesses: abscesses, 70; ague, 235,

599

Adams Family Correspondence 261; alcoholism, 1, 153, 425; backaches, 263; boils, 316; burns, 39; canker, 181; chest pain, 538; childbirth, 176, 178, 183, 187, 298, 332, 360, 377, 474; cholera morbus, 197, 198, 199, 212; colds and coughs, 23, 24, 42, 51, 61, 71, 133, 137, 305, 313, 314, 325, 327, 332, 359, 365, 405, 406, 407, 425, 436, 444, 465, 525; constipation, 512; consumption, 39, 250, 253, 254, 286, 359, 538; cynanche trachealis (quincy), 305, 306, 314, 406; diarrhea, 198; dysentery, 512; edema (dropsy), 79, 512, 514; eye problems, 59, 133, 247, 325, 332, 371; fainting, 197, 199, 487, 507; fevers, 131, 253, 274, 299, 365, 377, 397, 405, 415, 425, 444, 468, 488, 511, 512, 540; food poisoning, 198; gallstones (biliary colic), 488, 512; gout, 377; hand injuries, 247; headaches, 185, 246, 329, 359, 366, 531; heart ailments, xii; hereditary, 518; influenza, 331, 407, 424, 425; insomnia, 10, 33; jaundice, 228; lightning strikes, 261, 263; loss of appetite, 117, 274, 299, 538; measles, 374; melancholy and grief, 237, 299; mental disorders, 103; necrosis, 219; nervous disorders, 96, 146; numbness, 212; nursing and weaning, 299, 316, 335, 377, 508; overwork and, 59; pneumonia (lung fever), 359, 365, 475; pregnancy and miscarriage, xxvii, 159, 342, 384–85, 396, 522; respiratory ailments, 79, 359; rheumatism, xxvii, 15, 245, 334, 366, 377, 378, 397, 406, 518; ruptured blood vessel, 534; scarlet fever, 185; seasickness, 146, 243; seizures, 181; shingles, 263; smallpox, 97–98, 140, 351, 352, 490, 493, 508, 522, 523; sore throat, xxvii, 275, 306, 314, 407, 511; stomach disorders, 61, 62, 99, 131, 143, 209, 299, 328; strokes, 487, 492; sweating, 538; teething, 274, 299, 350, 359; travel affects, 130, 182, 212, 243, 295, 308, 334, 384, 396; weather and climate affect, 42, 99, 131, 163, 182–83, 199, 202, 203, 208, 209, 211, 223, 228, 261, 297, 307, 313, 322, 328, 329, 349, 366, 389, 473, 533; weight and diet affect, 143, 246, 487; weight loss, 245, 274, 444, 538; yellow fever, 241, 245, 247– 48, 261, 266, 268, 269, 271, 276, 278, 280, 283, 285–86, 288, 294, 297, 299, 307, 322, 324, 328–29, 335, 351, 383, 432–33, 453, 454 Remedies: alcohol, 488, 522; amputation, 219; bleeding, 212, 334, 397, 454; blisters, 359; cabbage leaves, 376, 377; calomel, 61, 62, 377, 539; cold baths, 182–83; emetics, 235, 250, 377; infusions or decoctions, 253–54; inoculation, 97–98, 140, 351,

352, 490, 493, 508, 522, 523; medicine, 212; powders, 377, 397; purgatives, 62, 63; quarantine, 383; quince seed, 253–54; rhubarb, 61, 62; salts, 366; travel, 15, 104, 160, 202, 208, 288; vinegar, 261, 263; “watchers” for sick people, 250, 251, 333, 415. See also Exercise Heath, Maj. Gen. William (of Roxbury), 513, 515, 518 Hellen, Walter (nephew of Joshua Johnson), 91, 92, 533–34; identified, 535 Hellevoetsluis, Netherlands, 193 Helvetic Republic, 347, 348, 353, 433 Henry IV, King of France, 29, 30 Henry VIII, King of England, 366 Henry, Prince. See Frederick Henry Louis, Prince of Prussia Henry, Wilhelmina of Hesse-Cassel, Princess (wife of Prince Frederick Henry Louis), 340, 343, 374 Herald (N.Y.), 176, 178, 188, 189, 194, 287 Hesse-Cassel, Philippine Auguste Amalie of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Countess of (wife of Frederick II, Count of Hesse-Cassel), 340, 343 Hewes, Robert (Boston shopkeeper), 294 Hewlett, John (Brit. biblical scholar), 221 Hichborn, Benjamin (Boston lawyer), 505, 506 Hichborn, Hannah Gardner Andrews (wife of Benjamin), 506 Hill, Dr. Aaron (of Cambridge), 477; identified, 480 Hilliard, Rev. Joseph (son of Timothy, Sr.), 132, 134 Hilliard, Rev. Timothy, Sr. (1747–1790, of Braintree), 132, 134 Hilliard, Timothy, Jr. (1776–1842, son of Timothy, Sr.), 132–33, 181; identified, 134 Hingham, Mass., 117, 127, 212, 350, 387, 473 History, 227–28, 366 Hitchcock, Rev. Gad (of Pembroke, Mass.), 158; identified, 160 Hobart, Col. Aaron (husband of Thankful), 263 Hobart, Aaron, Jr. (1764–1818, husband of Susanna), 263 Hobart, Elizabeth Pilsbury (1st wife of Col. Aaron), 263 Hobart (Hubbard), John (of Braintree), 127, 152, 360; identified, 361 Hobart, John Sloss (N.Y. politician), 523 Hobart, Salome (daughter of Col. Aaron), 262; identified, 263 Hobart, Susanna Adams (1766–1826, niece of JA), 262, 263

600

Index Hobart, Thankful White Adams (sister-in-law of JA), 63, 152, 153, 263 Letter: To AA (1797), 47 Hoche, Gen. Lazare (French), 214 Hogarth, William (Brit. artist): “The Sleeping Congregation,” xv Holidays: Carnival, 354; Christmas, 533; Fourth of July, xxiv, 171, 190, 192; New Year’s, 329, 334; thanksgiving days, 315, 330; G. Washington’s birthday, 2–3, 4, 6, 19, 38, 40, 402, 419–20, 438, 439, 442, 445 Holland (ship), 91, 92 Holling, Miss (of London), 107 Homer: Iliad, 463 Hooper, Ruth Swett (mother of Ruth Hooper Dalton), 237, 238 Hopkins, Dr. Lemuel (of Hartford, Conn.): “Guillotina,” 51 Hopkinson, Francis, 480; identified, 486; “The Battle of the Kegs,” 486 Hopkinson, Joseph: “The President’s March,” xvi, 529, 530 (illus.); What is Our Situation?, 480, 483, 486, 507, 514 Hornby, William, 105 Hotels: boarding of horses at, 63; Borough Tavern (Norfolk, Va.), 403; Cross Keys Tavern (Bristol, Penn.), 98; Francis’ Hotel (Phila.), 147; Golden Sun Hotel (Hôtel de Russie, Berlin), 338, 342, 384; Guion’s Tavern (Eastchester, N.Y.), 259, 260; Herndon’s Tavern (Fredericksburg, Va.), 403; Hôtel des Étrangers (Paris), 94; Maréchal de Turenne (The Hague), 85; Marsh’s Tavern (Quincy), 161, 162; Oeller’s Hotel (Phila.), 50, 53, 375; Osborne’s Hotel, Adelphi Buildings (London), 175, 210, 212; Page’s Tavern (Charlestown), 166, 167; Williams Tavern (Marlborough, Mass.), 99, 100, 222 Hottinguer, Jean (French agent “X”), xxii, 437, 502 House of Representatives, U.S. See Congress, U.S. Houses: boardinghouse, 266; building regulations, 55; construction and renovation of, 23, 45, 160–62, 315, 403, 472, 473, 512, 514, 520–21, 522, 536, 537, 539–40; damage to, 219, 261–62; French estates, 94, 95, 215, 218, 414; materials used in construction of, 55, 127–28, 161, 162, 199, 310, 311, 364, 473; in New York, 324; painting of, 436, 437, 488, 514, 520, 522, 531, 537; rental of, 363, 539. See also John Adams Birthplace; John Quincy Adams Birthplace; Old House; President’s House (Phila.); names of individual estates

Howard, Betsy (Adams servant): AA on, 104, 143, 212; Adamses’ presidential household and, 70, 100, 212, 443; correspondence with J. Howard, 209; family of, 209, 376, 401; A. Hall and, 346, 436, 508, 509; health of, 172, 212 Howard, Jerusha Field (mother of Betsy and Polly Baxter), 143, 209; identified, 100 Howard, Nancy (sister of Betsy and Polly Baxter): identified, 209 Howard, Polly Doble. See Baxter, Polly Doble Howard Howe, John (of Dorchester), 514; identified, 515 Howell, Richard (gov. of N.J.), 301; identified, 302 Hubbard, Nicolaas (Amsterdam banker), 58, 135, 137, 437 Hudson (North) River, 431 Hull, Gen. William (Newton lawyer), 258–59 Hull, Mass., 360 Humphreys, Ann Frances Bulkeley (wife of David), 43, 44, 53 Humphreys, Col. David (U.S. diplomat): JQA succeeds as minister to Portugal, 12, 13, 193, 258; correspondence with JQA, 12, 13; correspondence with J. Johnson, 53; diplomatic service of, 13, 34, 37; marriage of, 43, 53 Humphreys, Joshua (Phila. shipbuilder), xv Hunt, Abigail (Nabby, Adams servant): identified, 144; AA on, 172; behavior of, 288; health of, 143, 212; travels of, 84, 98, 100, 541 Hunt, Elizabeth (Betsy, sister of Abigail), 70, 172; identified, 72 Hunt, Elizabeth Thayer (wife of Joseph), 144, 172, 201; identified, 72 Hunt, Joseph (father of Abigail), 72, 144 Hunt, Nathan (of Quincy), 359 Immigration: from Britain, xii, xv, 53, 449, 532; from Denmark, 466; from Europe, 178, 203, 320; from France, 398, 431; from Germany, xvi, xvii; from Ireland, 187, 204, 261, 304, 317, 329, 350, 371, 382, 441, 449; of Johnson family, 11, 26, 30, 43, 91, 92, 107, 239, 242, 273, 310, 320, 385, 386; from Scotland, 186, 204, 323, 329, 418, 449; to U.S., xii, xv, xvi, xvii, 53, 178, 186, 187, 203, 204, 261, 304, 317, 329, 350, 371, 382, 418, 441, 449, 466, 532 Independent Chronicle (Boston): AA attempts to influence, 140, 143, 419; AA on, 139, 140, 142–43, 188; JA criticized in, 125, 139, 140–41, 142–43, 144, 158, 404, 406, 531;

601

Adams Family Correspondence JA’s addresses to Congress reported in, 4, 80, 126, 133, 134; JA’s election reported in, 3, 4, 87; JQA criticized in, 137, 138, 143, 144, 158; JQA’s marriage reported in, 277, 279; Aurora General Advertiser and, 148, 165–66; Mary Cranch on, 325, 474; Dorchester petition printed in, 515; false report about TBA printed in, 287; FrancoAmerican relations reported in, 77, 78, 404, 406, 458; William Shaw on, 477; as possible state printer, 156; subscriptions to, 188, 477; U.S. defensive measures reported in, 465, 466; Washington and Adams administrations compared in, 48, 50; XYZ Affair reported in, 524, 525 Independent Company, Boston, 2, 3 Indians, American. See Native Americans Indians, Canadian. See First Nations Indigenous peoples. See First Nations; Native Americans; names of individual tribes Ingersoll, Jared (Phila. lawyer), 453 Investments: AA on, 117, 376, 382, 409; TBA on, 249; of Adamses, 29, 30, 81, 199, 321, 363–65, 374–75, 446, 447, 450, 451, 473; annuities, 131; interest on, 305, 321; in internal improvements, 363, 365; in land, 32, 382, 417, 418; land speculation, x, 104, 105, 125, 186, 204, 237, 289, 377, 403, 404, 460; loan obligations, 29, 30, 38, 81; loss of, 450; in newspapers, 176, 305; in property, 363–64, 365, 375; return on, 176, 473; securities for, 131; speculation, 95, 117, 131, 249, 320, 375, 408, 411, 413, 524, 533; stocks and bonds, 364, 382, 409, 473. See also Money Iredell, James (U.S. Supreme Court justice), 10 Ireland: AA on people of, 401; emigration from, 187, 204, 261, 304, 317, 329, 350, 371, 382, 441, 449; Insurrection Act (1796), 199; Society of United Irishmen, 199 Irujo, Carlos Martínez de (Spanish minister to the U.S.), 396, 438–39, 440, 499; identified, 202 Irujo, Sarah Maria Theresa McKean (Sally, wife of Carlos): identified, 499 Isaac Bickerstaff: The Tatler, 277, 279 Isny, Germany, 272 Italian Army, 362 Italy: confiscation of art from, 110, 112; Franco-Austrian war and, xii, 83, 95, 431; Napoleon and, 176, 340, 341 (illus.); relations with France, 429, 449 Izard, George (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), 309

JA. See ADAMS, JOHN (1735–1826) JA Birthplace. See John Adams Birthplace Jackson, Henry (U.S. naval agent), xv Jacobi-Kloest, Baron Konstans Philipp Wilhelm von (Prussian diplomat): identified, 214 Jamaica, 202, 203, 351 James (Adams family servant), 39, 51, 81, 86 Jarvis, Dr. Charles (of Boston), 20, 21, 77, 139 Jarvis, Leonard (Boston merchant), 206, 368, 371; identified, 207 Jay, John (gov. of N.Y.), 33, 223 Jebb, Dr. John (Brit. physician), 282 Jefferson, Thomas: AA2 on, 27; AA on, 38, 49, 164, 278, 322, 420, 459, 505; on JA, 28; JA on, 23, 49, 280; JA’s presidency and, 280, 459; JA’s vice presidency compared to, 219, 220; JQA on, 224–25; addresses Senate, 27, 28, 38; Blount affair and, 219; correspondence with P. Fitzhugh, 280; correspondence with J. Madison, 52, 53, 532–33; correspondence with T. Willing, 421; Mary Cranch on, 513; France and, 164, 280, 455, 488; lawsuits involving, 294, 295, 308; Mazzei letter and, 164–65, 224–25, 226, 280; J. Monroe and, 208, 487; newspapers and, 280, 532–33; obtains leave of absence from Senate, 219, 220; perceived unity of Adams-Jefferson executive, 3, 52, 129, 148; presidential election (1796) and, 52, 368, 370, 488; presidential election (1800) and, 33; presides over Senate, 28, 220, 295, 491; Prussian-American Treaty (1785) and, 356, 455; public attitudes toward, 80, 120, 139, 491, 501; on sedition bill, 532; socializes with Adamses, 7, 324; as successor to JA, 3, 33, 129, 455; sworn in as vice president, 28, 29; toasts offered to, 2, 38, 40, 208; travels to and from Philadelphia, 7, 23, 29, 220, 294, 308, 322, 324; on U.S. politics, 165; C. Volney visits, 179; G. Washington’s birthday celebrations and, 2, 419– 20, 421 Jeffries, Capt. (of the Neptune), 137 Jenkins, Joseph Marien (son of Rebecca), 237, 238 Jenkins, Lewis (husband of Rebecca), 237, 238 Jenkins, Rebecca Hooper (sister of Ruth Hooper Dalton), 237; identified, 238 Jenkins, Rebeckah Hooper (daughter of Rebecca), 237, 238 Jenkins, Robert Dalton (son of Rebecca), 237, 238

602

Index Jenkins, Susannah Caroline (daughter of Rebecca), 237, 238 Jervis, Vice Adm. John (Brit.), 37–38 Jewelry: bracelets, 14, 15; gifts of, 307, 352, 396; mourning, 347, 358; rings, 307, 345, 347, 352, 358, 396; watches, 168, 169, 240, 279, 306, 330, 347, 352. See also Clothing John (Adams servant), 287, 335 John (brig), 162, 165 John Adams Birthplace: arrangements for during presidency, 63, 71, 73; lease of, 22, 297; taxes on, 45, 46, 53–54; Cotton Tufts oversees management of, 152, 153, 283 John Quincy Adams Birthplace: JQA’s books stored at, 137; arrangements for during presidency, 63, 71, 73; furnishings of, 328; lease and tenants of, 22, 137, 297, 348; taxes on, 45, 46, 53–54; Cotton Tufts oversees management of, 152, 153, 283 Johnson, Adelaide (sister of LCA): attends JQA and LCA’s wedding, 221; health of, 42; immigration of, 92, 242; C. N. Johnson on, 533, 534; mentioned, 293, 460 Johnson, Ann (Nancy, sister of LCA): JQA sends gift to, 15; attends JQA and LCA’s wedding, 221; compared to L. Knox, 460; William Cranch introduced to, 442; health of, 15, 42; immigration of, 92, 242; C. N. Johnson on, 533–34; marriage of, 533–34, 535; mentioned, 293 Johnson, Carolina Virginia Marylanda (sister of LCA): JQA sends gift to, 15; attends JQA and LCA’s wedding, 221; William Cranch introduced to, 442; health of, 42; immigration of, 92, 242; C. N. Johnson on, 533, 534; mentioned, 293, 460 Johnson, Catherine Maria Frances (sister of LCA): identified, 535; JQA sends gift to, 15; attends JQA and LCA’s wedding, 221; health of, 42; immigration of, 92, 242; C. N. Johnson on, 533, 534; mentioned, 293, 460 Johnson, Catherine Nuth (wife of Joshua, mother of LCA): AA and, 29, 293, 499, 535; AA on, 292, 293; JQA and, 15, 209, 385; JQA and LCA’s wedding and, 128, 221; on TBA, 535; TBA and, 242, 310; TBA on family of, 239, 273; arrives in U.S., 316, 318, 320, 321, 343, 385, 386; concern for LCA and JQA, 450, 533; correspondence with AA2, 422; correspondence with AA, 316, 318, 343, 388, 390, 422, 450, 482, 533, 535; correspondence with LCA, 388–89, 535, 536; on daughters, 533–34; on Georgetown, D.C., 533, 534; health of, 533; immigration of, 30, 92, 239, 242, 244, 273,

385; relationship with LCA, 41, 220, 221, 516; residence of in London, 535, 536; on role of wives, 534; separation from LCA, 242, 292, 323, 384; social activities of, 318, 442, 459–60, 533, 534, 535; visits AA, 345; possible visit to Philadelphia, 390, 482; letter from AA listed (1798), 552 Letters: To JQA (1797), 244; To LCA (1798), 533 Letters: From AA (1798), 421; From JQA (1798), 383 Johnson, Eliza Jennet Dorcas (sister of LCA): attends JQA and LCA’s wedding, 221; health of, 42; immigration of, 92, 242; C. N. Johnson on, 533, 534; mentioned, 293, 460 Johnson, Harriet (sister of LCA): identified, 535; attends JQA and LCA’s wedding, 221; health of, 42; immigration of, 92, 242; C. N. Johnson on, 533, 534; mentioned, 293, 460 Johnson, Joshua (father of LCA): AA on, 292, 293; AA sends news and publications to, 388, 422, 499; JA invites to Philadelphia, 321; on JQA, 129; JQA and LCA’s travel arrangements and, 91, 115, 116, 128, 134, 149; JQA and LCA’s wedding and, 128, 209, 221; JQA on, 40, 41, 259; TBA and, 310; TBA on family of, 239, 273; arrival of in U.S. anticipated, 292, 305, 306, 310, 314, 316, 318; correspondence with AA, 343; correspondence with JQA, 40, 88, 92, 115, 116, 129, 134, 149, 244, 482, 535, 536; correspondence with LCA, 244; correspondence with J. Beckley, 129; correspondence with D. Humphreys, 53; Mary Cranch on, 299; William Cranch and, 318, 442, 536; finances of, 91, 210, 243, 259–60, 385, 533, 534, 535; forwards letters and items for Adamses, 7, 30, 31, 43, 150; on FrancoAmerican relations, 129; health of, 101; previous acquaintance with Adamses, 270– 71; relationship with LCA, 41, 88, 128, 220, 221, 244, 516, 533; relatives of, 442, 536; residence in London, 535, 536; resides in Nantes, 270; planned return to U.S., 11, 26, 43, 102, 107, 209, 239, 273; return to U.S., 91, 92, 242, 243, 259, 260, 273, 292, 305, 306, 310, 316, 319, 320, 321, 343, 385; sends news to JQA, 128–29; separation from LCA, 210, 242, 292, 323; social activities of, 14, 42, 73, 460, 535; will and executors of, 91, 92, 129, 243, 244, 260; letters from JQA listed (1797), 547 (3) Letters: To JQA (1797), 90, 128, 209, 243

603

Adams Family Correspondence Letters: From AA (1797), 30; From JA (1797), 321; From JQA (1797), 259 Johnson, Louisa Catherine. See ADAMS, LOUISA CATHERINE JOHNSON (1775– 1852, wife of JQA) Johnson, Samuel: Dictionary of the English Language, 66; Letter to Earl of Chesterfield, 65–66; Lives of the Poets, 65; The Rambler, 65 Johnson, Thomas (of Md., uncle of LCA): identified, 442 Johnson, Thomas Baker (brother of LCA): Adamses and, 30, 230, 337, 343; attends Harvard, 230, 231; character of, 478; as executor for J. Johnson, 91, 92; travels to Georgetown, 306, 337, 343, 385; visits Mount Vernon, 535 Letter: From JQA (1797), 230 Johnston, Ann Payson (wife of John), 186 Johnston, John (Haverhill, Mass., trader), 185; identified, 186 Jones, Dr. Samuel (of Phila.), 278, 280 Josiah, Capt. James (of the William Penn), 15, 31, 287 “Joys of Love Never Forgot,” 335, 336 JQA. See ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (1767– 1848) JQA Birthplace. See John Quincy Adams Birthplace Judiciary, U.S.: grand jury, 79–80; T. Jefferson on, 165 District and Circuit Courts: appointments to, 523; attendance at, 484 Supreme Court: chief justice, 87; members of attend inauguration, 10 See also Attorney General, U.S. Julia (Spanish privateer), 198 Kahnawake Mohawk, 448 Kant, Immanuel (German philosopher), 271, 430, 433; identified, 272 Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, 390 Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, Prince of NassauWeilburg, 397 Kaskaskia, Ill., 354, 355, 429 Katy (brig), 202, 203 Kentucky, 55, 304, 305, 317 Kentucky Gazette (Lexington), 293 Key, Ann Plater (wife of Philip), 534; identified, 535 Key, Philip Barton (Washington, D.C., lawyer), 535 King, Rufus (U.S. minister to Britain): JQA requests information from, 214; JQA’s correspondence and, 212, 233, 364, 498, 500,

516; dispatches of, 348, 380, 446, 447, 448– 49, 450, 470, 498, 500; as possible envoy to France, 279; reports news of JQA, 446, 447, 450; U.S. newspapers and, 348 King, William: Historical Account of the Heathen Gods and Heroes, 501, 502 King, Mr. (servant of AA2), 334 King, Mrs. (servant of AA2), 334 Kingsbridge, N.Y., 296 King’s College (Aberdeen, Scotland), 189 Kingston, Stephen (of Phila.), 402 Klagensfurt, Austria, 83 Knox, Lucy Flucker, 460 Knoxville Gazette, 445, 446 Kock, Baron Hendrik Merkus de (of The Hague): identified, 83 König, Carl Gustaf (Swedish diplomat), 114; identified, 115 Lafayette, Georges Washington Motier de (son of Marquis de Lafayette), 10 Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de, 413 Lafitte, Louis (French artist): identified, xiii; “Le Général Bonaparte proclamant la République Cisalpine,” xii, xiii, 341 (illus.) Lake, Gen. Gerard (Brit.), 199 Lake Maggiore, xiii Lake Memphremagog, 417 Lamb, John (N.Y. customs collector), 368, 371; identified, 74 Lamb, Rosanna Duncan (wife of Thomas), 351, 405, 509; identified, 352; letter to AA listed (1797), 549 Lamb, Thomas (Boston merchant), 352, 510 L’Amitié (French privateer), 165 Lancashire, England, xi Lancaster, House of, 69 Lancaster, Mass., 366 Lane, Rufus (Hingham painter and glazier), 512, 514; identified, 473 Langdon, John (N.H. senator), 125, 147, 148 Lapparent, Charles Cochon de (French minister of police): identified, ix Larevellière-Lépeaux, Louis Marie de (member of French Directory), 214, 243 La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, François Alexandre Frédéric, Duc de, 313 Latin language and literature, 111, 112, 113, 229 Latrobe, Benjamin Henry: identified, xv; “A Solemn Humiliation under the Reign of John Adams,” xiv, xv, 471 (illus.) Law, Elizabeth Parke Custis (wife of Thomas, granddaughter of Martha Washington), 407–408, 435, 445, 453, 468, 534

604

Index Law, Thomas (of Washington, D.C.), 435, 460, 468 Law and lawyers: AA on, 367; JQA considers return to, 55; JQA on, 174; TBA considers return to, 35, 56, 136; admission to the bar, 200; books for, 131, 143, 159, 176, 189, 193, 200, 234, 303, 536; clerks for, 8; congressional service and, 298; William Cranch’s return to, 176, 178, 188–89, 200, 219, 293, 303, 318; education of, 30, 189, 228, 276, 286, 315; French maritime, 111, 113; lawsuits, 294, 295, 308, 377, 484, 500, 534; offices of, 536 Law of nations, 127, 344, 515, 521, 527 Law of nature, 515 LCA. See ADAMS, LOUISA CATHERINE JOHNSON (1775–1852) Lear, Tobias (former secy. to George Washington), 18, 19, 45, 237, 460 Lear, Tobias, & Company (Washington, D.C., mercantile firm), 237, 445 Lebanon, N.Y., 289 Leblanc, Pierre (St. Domingue commissioner), 196 Lee, Charles (U.S. attorney general), xi, 125, 247, 370 Lemanic Republic, 429, 433 Lenoir-Laroche, Jean Jacques (French politician), 214 Leoben, Austria, 95 Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, Louis Michel (French politician), 108, 110; identified, 112 Le rédacteur (Paris), 441 Le Tourneur, Charles Louis François Honoré (member of French Directory), 175 Levant, 343 Lexington, Ky., 305 Leyden Gazette. See Gazette de Leyde Ligurian Republic, 175, 429 Lille, Belgium, 174, 175 Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin (of Hingham): on JA’s inaugural address, 61; Adamses’ debt to, 45, 46–47, 53, 61–62, 197; Adamses’ finances and, 380, 439 Lincoln, Mass., 167 L’Insurgente (French frigate), 450 Linzee, Capt. John (of Quincy), 103, 104 Lisbon, Portugal: JQA’s arrangements for moving to, 13, 56, 195, 224, 226, 258, 338, 353; LCA’s possible move to, 57, 75, 107; Berlin compared to, 269, 272; foreign invasion feared in, 58, 528; D. Humphreys’ departure from, 12, 13, 37, 43, 193; ships to, 75, 91, 92, 100, 102, 107, 115, 116, 128, 137, 194; W. L. Smith arrives in, 256

Liston, Robert (Brit. minister to U.S.), 480 Literary characters: Lady Anne, 68, 69; Cassius, 141; Darby and Joan, 295, 297, 335, 416; Prince Edward, 69; Henry VI, 69; King John, 110; Juba, 229; Queen Mab, 183; Marcia, 229; Richard III, 68, 69; Tony Lumpkin, 161, 162 Little, Hannah Lovell (wife of Luther), 349; identified, 350 Little, Capt. Luther (of Marshfield, Mass.), 349; identified, 350 Little, William (Boston merchant), 464; identified, 466 Livermore, Edward St. Loe (N.H. judge), 186, 227, 228; identified, 187 Livermore, Samuel (son of Edward), 186, 325; identified, 187 Liverpool, England, xi, 498, 500 Livingston, Brockholst (N.Y. lawyer), 403, 404 Livingston, Edward (N.Y. representative), 150, 151, 155–56, 232 Livingston, Henry Walter (of N.Y.), 325 Livingston, Mary Masters Allen (wife of Henry), 324, 325 Livingston, Robert R. (N.Y. chancellor), 49, 50 Livingston Manor (N.Y. estate), 324 Lloyd, James (Md. senator), 523 Lloyd’s Evening Post (London), 214 London, England: JA on, 271; JQA and TBA travel to, 69, 91, 175, 193, 212, 231, 249; JQA on, 65; forged Washington letters published in, 19; French news reported in, 92, 242, 243; Johnson family’s departure from, 242; mails from, 42; Philadelphia compared to, 125; ships to and from, 7, 28, 42, 92, 116, 165, 171, 175, 523; U.S. news reported in, 24, 26, 52, 53; U.S. visitors to, 15, 287, 460 Buildings, Landmarks, Streets, etc.: Church of All Hallows Barking, 221; Cooper’s Row, 535, 536; Great Tower Hill, 536; Middle Temple, 30, 189; Osborne’s Hotel, Adelphi Buildings, 175, 210, 212 London Chronicle, 92 London Evening Post, 53, 243 Lorient, France, 450 Lorrain, Claude (French artist), 110 Lotteries, 8, 9, 48 Louis XIII, King of France, 112 Louis XIV, King of France, 169, 170–71, 218, 378 Louis XVI, King of France, 112, 218, 491

605

Adams Family Correspondence Louis XVIII, King of France. See Provence, Louis Stanislaus Xavier, Comte de Louis, Frederica Sophia Carolina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Princess (wife of Louis Charles), 339, 342 Louis Charles, Prince of Prussia, 339; identified, 342 Louise Auguste Wilhelmine of MecklenburgStrelitz, Queen of Prussia (wife of Frederick William III): JQA on, 339, 354; JQA presented to, 342; LCA on, 342, 386; LCA presented to, 386; TBA presented to, 395, 396–97; customs in court of, 374; health of, 374, 395 Lovell, Hannah. See Little, Hannah Lovell Lovell, Hannah Pittey (wife of Solomon), 350 Lovell, Gen. Solomon (of Weymouth), 349; identified, 350 Lowell, John, Sr. (of Newburyport), 2 Lowell, Rebecca Russell Tyng (3d wife of John, Sr.), 2 Löwenhielm, Count Fredrik Adolf (Swedish minister to Netherlands), 85, 114, 115, 119 Lowry, Thomas (marshal of N.J.), 301; identified, 302 Lucille. See Deville, Marie Catherine Desroches Chalut de Vérin Lucy (ship), 442 Luther, Martin, 430 Lutheran Church, 430 Lydia (brig), 4, 7 Lyman, John Collson (nephew of A. Colson), 406 Lyon, Matthew (Vt. representative): identified, xiii; AA on, 382, 443, 447; altercation with R. Griswold, xiii–xiv, xxii, 379, 380, 381 (illus.), 382–83, 398–99, 400, 401, 402, 408, 418, 439, 441, 459; cartoon of, xiii–xiv, 381 (illus.); foreign influence on, 441; House response to JA’s address and, 149 Lytle, Elizabeth Stall (wife of William): identified, 453 Lytle, William (of Ky.), 453 Maassluis, Netherlands, 175, 193, 212, 214 McElroy, Archibald (Penn. tavern keeper), 98 McFarland, Rev. Asa (of Concord, N.H.), 187 McHenry, James (U.S. secy. of war): AA and, 378; JA consults, 370; JA’s absence from Philadelphia and, 247; Adamses entertain, 125; C. Irujo and, 438–39; regulations for naval uniforms and, 396, 397 Machir, James (Va. representative), 358 Mackay, Capt., 84, 137

McKean, Rev. Joseph (of Milton), 349; identified, 276 McKean, Sarah Armitage (wife of Thomas), 499 McKean, Sarah Maria Theresa. See Irujo, Sarah Maria Theresa McKean McKean, Thomas (Penn. chief justice), 49, 50, 208, 392, 393, 396, 499 Madison, James: correspondence with T. Jefferson, 52, 53, 532–33; rumored diplomatic appointment of, 26, 101, 111–12, 113, 124; First Mission to France and, 139, 501, 502; C. Volney visits, 179 Madison County, N.Y., 105 Madrid, Spain, 13, 37, 58 Mahon, Capt. Baptista (of the Julia), 198 Mails: AA on, 29, 69–70, 209; British packet, 343, 448, 450, 498, 500, 516, 518; delays in, 4, 16, 18, 69, 298, 300, 356, 483; franking privileges, 201, 209, 219, 539; interception of, 4, 39, 108, 162, 197, 379, 399, 419, 441, 448, 461, 483; lost letters, xxx, 204, 223; misdelivery of, 70, 72, 87, 193, 231, 301, 400, 477; money transfers via, 45, 51, 59, 60, 63, 77, 193, 197, 198, 199, 223, 267, 268, 294, 301, 302, 329, 382, 383, 417, 522; to and from Netherlands, 24, 25, 42, 43, 108, 119, 128, 136; newspaper delivery via, 20, 49, 69, 142, 477, 493; between New York and Boston, 70; between Philadelphia and Boston, 81, 148; between Philadelphia and New York, 86, 98, 223; between Philadelphia and Quincy, 28, 45, 59, 70, 142, 181, 234–35; postage, 201, 219, 307; postal routes and schedules, 20, 32, 45, 80, 142, 157, 220, 259, 312, 321, 334, 401, 484, 510, 514, 519; postmasters, 70, 219, 477; post offices, 16, 45, 62, 69, 201, 209, 287, 301, 328, 345, 346, 376, 477; sent via stage, 258; tampering with, 201, 209, 477; between U.S. and Europe, 29, 112, 136, 168, 233, 306, 395; weather affects delivery of, 24, 32, 352, 356, 376, 401, 437 Mainz (Mentz), Germany, 430, 433 Maisonneuve, Commandeur Joseph de (Knights of Malta), 422 Malcom, Samuel Bayard (private secy. to JA): AA on, 286; as CA’s law clerk, 8, 189, 286; as JA’s secretary, 8, 57, 74, 136, 189, 190, 258, 261, 286, 321, 403, 432, 461; attends court, 500; correspondence with JA, 260, 261; William Cranch and, 189; inheritance of, 286, 287; as possible secretary for JQA, 286, 391, 411, 432; WSS’s correspondence and, 461

606

Index Malcom, Gen. William (father of Samuel), 286; identified, 287 Malmesbury, James Harris, Earl of (Brit. diplomat), 129, 130, 175 Malony, Elenora (of Phila.): AA on, 346, 350–51; AA’s assistance to, 352; cares for A. Hall, 324, 332–33, 346, 348, 350–51, 369, 405, 436, 507–508, 509, 522, 523, 541; family of, 351, 405, 508 Malta, 413 Maltese Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, 422 Mandeville, Bernard: Fable of the Bees, 232, 233 Mann, Capt. John (of the Adelaide), 309 Mannheim, Germany, 430, 433 Manufacturing: brewing and distilling, 304, 306; in Britain, 356; of decorative arts, 3, 215, 216, 218; of dies, 420; in France, 215, 216, 218; in Germany, 82, 83; of weapons, 83 Marat, Jean Paul (French revolutionary), 108, 110, 112 Marblehead, Mass., 141 Margate, England, 243, 244, 259 Maria I, Queen of Portugal, 240 Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, 491 Marlborough, Mass., 100, 222 Marly (French estate), 215, 218 Marriages: AA2 and WSS (1787), 414; AA on, 285, 456; Elisha Adams and Sarah Norton (1796), 154; Deacon John Adams and Susanna Boylston (1734), 97; JQA and LCA (1797), xix, xx, xxvi, 58, 91, 116, 149, 168, 174, 175, 209, 210, 214, 220, 221, 223, 230, 232, 239, 246, 258, 269, 270–71, 273, 276–77, 279, 282, 283–84, 285, 316, 363, 371, 386, 391, 440, 460, 478; George Henry Apthorp and Anna Perkins (1797), 263; Jonathan Baxter Jr. and Polly Doble Howard (1797), 46, 47; Thompson Baxter and Anna Whitman (1797), 300; Richard Copeland Beale and Maria Ann Sellon (1796), 407; Joseph Blake Jr. and Rosanna Black (1793), 466; Capt. Joseph Brackett and Rachel Marsh (1767), 104; Peter Burrell and Mary Dunbar (1761), 127; John Clarke and Esther Orne (1780), 525; Nicolas Deville and Marie Catherine Desroches Chalut de Vérin (1785), 119; Uriah Forrest and Rebecca Plater (1789), 535; James Hiller Foster and Elizabeth Smith (1798), 263, 500; Daniel Greenleaf and Elizabeth Greenleaf (1785), 540; Thomas Greenleaf and Mary Deming Price (1787), 540; John Hall and Susanna Boylston Ad-

ams (1766), 97; Walter Hellen and Ann Johnson (1798), 533–34, 535; Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves (1540), 366; Benjamin Hichborn and Hannah Gardner Andrews (1780), 506; David Humphreys and Ann Frances Bulkeley (1797), 43; Carlos Martinez de Irujo and Sarah Maria Theresa McKean (1798), 499; Lewis Jenkins and Rebecca Hooper (1780), 237, 238; John Johnston and Ann Payson (1772), 186; Thomas Law and Elizabeth Parke Custis (1796), 435; licenses for, 535; Luther Little and Hannah Lovell (1798), 349; Henry Walter Livingston and Mary Masters Allen (1796), 325; James Lloyd Jr. and Hannah Breck (1809), 453; William Lytle and Elizabeth Stall (1798), 453; John Mason and Anna Maria Murray (1796), 535; William Vans Murray and Charlotte Hughins (1789), 218; François Noël and Miss Bogaërt (1797), 58, 115, 119; Stephen Peabody and Elizabeth Smith Shaw (1795), 247; Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Mary Stead (1786), 196–97; Josiah Quincy III and Eliza Susan Morton (1797), 167, 168, 239, 395; Thomas Russell and Elizabeth Watson (1788), 59; James Scott and Dorothy Quincy Hancock (1796), 60; John Shaw and Grizzel Apthorp (1799), 85; Seth Spear and Abigail Marsh (1788), 316; Increase Sumner and Elizabeth Hyslop (1779), 3; James Taggart and Ann Hall (1819), 324; Grenville Temple and Elizabeth Watson Russell (1797), 51, 60; Mace Tisdale and Alice Street (1792), 160; Charles Wallace and Mary Bull Ranken (1798), 534, 535–36; Deacon Jonathan Webb and Nancy Nash (1775), 316; Noah Webster and Rebecca Greenleaf (1789), 178; Stephen Peabody Webster and Mary Peabody (1798), 362, 400, 456, 476; Tilly Whitcomb and Elizabeth Epps (1802), 536. See also Weddings Marsh, Jonathan (of Quincy), 161, 162, 316 Marshall, Esther Morris (Hetty, wife of James), 137, 534–35 Marshall, Humphrey (Ky. senator), 170 Marshall, James Markham (Va. lawyer), 137 Marshall, John (Va. lawyer): AA on, 203; JA on, 135; arrival in Europe reported in U.S., 302, 308, 309; carries letters for Adamses, 248, 254; correspondence with W. V. Murray, 357, 358; dispatches of, 309; French passport issued to, 499; public attitudes toward, 139, 145, 164, 166; travels of, 199,

607

Adams Family Correspondence 200, 203, 293, 309, 332. See also First Mission to France Marshfield, Mass., 276, 349, 350 Martin, Alexander (N.C. senator), 147, 148, 423; identified, 424 Martin, James (of Boston), 179 Mary (schooner), 91, 92, 116, 128, 129, 149 Mary and Sally (sloop), 491 Maryland, 55, 189, 200, 442, 523, 535 Mason, Anna Maria Murray (wife of John), 534, 535 Mason, John (of Georgetown, D.C.), 535 Mason, Stevens Thomson (Va. senator), 10, 125, 147, 148 Massachusetts: AA on, 161; antiwar petitions in, 469; attitudes toward JA in, xx, 296, 510; attorney general of, 99, 100; congressional delegation of, 139, 140, 144, 161, 230, 296, 314, 357, 379, 399, 400; congressional elections in, 380; Constitutional Convention and, 205; constitution of, 288; Court of Common Pleas, 140, 404, 406– 407; Courts of Sessions, 404, 407; fast day in, 488–89; Franco-American relations reported in, 22, 518; French and Indian War in, 60; governors of, 60, 123, 138, 148, 157; gubernatorial election in, 123, 138–39, 156; inspector of excise in, xxv, 206, 207; militia of, 3, 138, 258–59; newspapers in, 22, 449; political parties in, 138, 139, 357, 379, 477, 506; Supreme Judicial Court, 99, 100, 179; taxes in, 404, 407; town meetings in, 469, 470, 505, 507; U.S. marshal of, 3; U.S. trade policy and, 506–507, 515; G. Washington visits, 419, 421 General Court: elections to, 138–39, 160; legislation considered by, 55, 406– 407; printer for, 156, 157; public attitudes toward, 156, 404; service in, 140, 141, 198, 416, 464, 466, 480, 515; I. Sumner addresses, 138, 149, 156, 157, 158, 168; support for JA in, 505, 506, 510 Massachusetts Historical Society: digital resources, xxxi–xxxii Massachusetts Mercury (Boston): AA attempts to influence, 323; AA on, 188; deaths and marriages reported in, 4, 300; Independent Chronicle and, 404, 406; Roxbury petition reported in, 513, 515; as state printer, 156, 157; subscriptions to, 477; XYZ Affair reported in, 515 Massimi, Marquess Camillo (Roman minister to France), 523 Masson, Francis (Brit. botanist), 233 Massow, Monsieur de (marshal of Prussian court), 342

Mathematics, 230 Maund, John James (Va. attorney), 18, 24; identified, 19 May, Dr. Frederick (of Washington, D.C.), 475 Mazzei, Philip (of Pisa, Italy), 164, 165, 224– 25, 226 Mears (Mearsh), George (of Quincy), 1–2, 3, 18, 46, 59, 63 Medford, Mass., 243 Mediterranean Sea, 155 Melmoth, William: Letters on Several Subjects, 310 Merlin, Philippe Antoine (French revolutionary), 243, 342 Meuse River, 82, 83, 93, 431 Miami, Ohio, 450 Middlesex Canal, 166, 167, 363, 365 Middlesex County, Mass., 480 Mifflin, Thomas (gov. of Penn.), 8, 49, 171, 192 Milan, Italy, xii, xiii, 341 (illus.) Miller, James: Mahomet, the Imposter, 168, 169 Miller, James (son of Magnus), 483; identified, 484 Miller, Magnus (Phila. merchant), 483; identified, 484 Miller, William (son of Magnus), 483; identified, 484 Milton, John: AA quotes, 117; Paradise Lost, 123, 124, 277, 279, 291, 293, 338, 342, 489, 491, 498, 505, 517 Milton, Mass.: Adamses’ salt marsh at Penny Ferry, 127, 128, 153; First Church, 276; lightning strike in, 262; ordination at, 275, 276; petition to Congress submitted from, 470, 484; town meeting in, 470, 486, 518; town watch in, 54 Minerva (N.Y.), 48, 50, 165, 188, 189, 220 Minerva (ship), 171 Minns, Thomas (Boston printer), 157, 477. See also Massachusetts Mercury Mint, U.S., 453, 454 Mirabeau, Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de, 108, 110, 112; Secret History of the Court of Berlin, 449, 451 Mississippi River, x, 202–203, 390–91, 439 Mohawk Nation, 448 Molé, François René (French actor), 110; identified, 113 Moliere & Fils (Amsterdam merchants), 94, 95, 100, 114 Mombello (Montebello), Italy, 175 Money: AA on, 50; bills of exchange, 29, 140, 141, 231, 233, 279, 363, 364, 417; bribes and rewards, 369, 437; British Order in Coun-

608

Index cil on, 69; exchange rates, 7, 363, 364; French demands for, xxii, 148, 469, 470, 485, 489, 492, 513, 514, 526, 527; gifts of, 313, 314, 329, 377, 378; indemnities, 95, 108, 240, 521; inheritances, 40, 50, 98, 286, 287, 358; invoices, xv, 154, 439; loans of, 189, 234; minting of, 420; money orders, 45, 51, 59, 60, 63, 77, 193, 197, 198, 199, 223, 329, 380, 417, 439; promissory notes, 45, 63, 152, 154, 234, 267, 294; salaries and wages, 15–16, 32, 33, 39, 46, 47, 51, 127, 133, 143, 144, 153, 162, 187, 204, 304, 305, 351, 411, 426, 427, 452, 464, 466, 473; scarcity of, 54–55; specie, 69, 420; for U.S.Cherokee negotiations, 420; U.S. regulation of foreign coins, 418, 420. See also Credit; Debt; Investments; Prices; Taxes; names of individual banks Monroe, Elizabeth Kortright (wife of James), 208 Monroe, James: JQA on, 372, 411; TBA on, 394; Adamses and, 85, 208; attitudes of toward France, 126, 208, 446; P. Barras’ speech and, 150, 151, 232; DemocraticRepublican Party and, 344; DutchAmerican loan and, 414; elected governor of Virginia, 345; family motto, 372, 375; J. Fauchet and, 410; A. Hamilton and, 411, 413; T. Paine (author) and, 124, 411, 413– 14; public attitudes toward, 126, 208, 300, 476, 487; recall from France, 126, 300, 414, 446, 487; as U.S. minister to France, 95, 208, 410, 411, 446; View of the Conduct of the Executive, 344, 345, 389, 390, 394, 396, 410, 446, 450, 476, 487 Montague, Rev. William (of Quincy): identified, 316 Montpelier, Vt., 418 Moore, Edward: “The Sparrow, and the Dove,” 6, 7 Moravians, xv More, Benjamin (Washington, D.C., printer), 303–304, 318; identified, 305. See also Washington Gazette Morell, Thomas: Theodora, 12, 13 Moréri, Louis: Great Historical, Geographical, Genealogical and Poetical Dictionary, 474, 475 Morgan, Daniel (Va. representative), 358 Morris, Mary White (wife of Robert), 407– 408 Morris, Nicholson & Greenleaf (Washington, D.C., land firm), x, 233–34, 440, 442, 448, 465 Morris, Robert (financier): AA on, 211; correspondence with J. Nicholson, 234; Mary

Cranch on, 464; William Cranch and, 159, 176, 200, 233–34, 465; dispute between J. Nicholson, James Greenleaf, and, 143, 144; finances of, 144, 233, 409, 465; imprisonment of, 143, 407, 409, 440, 534 Morris, William White (Phila. lawyer), 200 Morse, Rev. Jedidiah (of Charlestown), 510; identified, 511 Morton, Eliza Susan. See Quincy, Eliza Susan Morton Morton, Jacob (general of N.Y. militia), 260, 261 Morton, John (N.Y. merchant), 168 Morton, Sarah Wentworth Apthorp: Beacon Hill, 336, 337 Moselle River, 433 Mount Vernon (Va. estate), 10, 182, 290, 453, 534, 535 Muhlenberg, Frederick Augustus Conrad (Penn. politician), 413 Murray, Charlotte Hughins (wife of William), 217, 218 Murray, William Vans (U.S. minister to Netherlands): AA on, 21, 28, 30; JA on, 55; JQA’s mission to Prussia and, 149, 175, 212, 258; TBA on, 217; appointment of, 21, 22, 28, 30, 33, 38, 55, 56; congressional service of, 30, 55; correspondence with JQA, 212, 214, 271, 388; correspondence with John Marshall, 357, 358; dispatches of, 357, 358, 370, 379, 380, 388, 448–49; legal studies of, 30; marriage of, 218; as minister to the Netherlands, 137, 140, 173, 193, 271, 375; relationship with JQA, 55; secretary for, 19; sends JA news of JQA, 358, 370, 371, 388; travels to Netherlands, 60, 81, 91, 136, 137, 168, 173, 176, 193, 204, 217 Music: JQA on, 13; band, 53; church organists, 464, 466; fife and drum, 103; fortepiano, 12, 119; French revolutionary, xvi, 529; “Hail Columbia,” xvii; harp, 12, 13; honoring AA and JA, 223; “The Joys of Love Never Forgot,” 335, 336, 416; opera and oratorio, 12, 13, 94, 217; “The President’s March,” xvi–xvii, 2, 4, 529, 530 (illus.), 532, 533; Rosina, 531, 532; singing, xvi, 12, 532; “The Star Spangled Banner,” xvii; G. Washington’s birthday celebrations and, 2; “Yankee Doodle,” xvii, 529 Mysticism, 271, 272 Nahuys, Miss (sister of Catharina Schimmelpennick), 114, 115 Nantes, France, 270–71 Naples, Italy, xvi, 241

609

Adams Family Correspondence Nash, Richard “Beau” (of Bath, Eng.), 2, 6; identified, 3 Natchez, Miss., 156 National Endowment for the Humanities, xxxii National Historical Publications and Records Commission, xxxii Native Americans: Blount affair and, x; Congress and, 309, 314; French and Indian War, 60; in Northwest Territory, 355; relations with First Nations, 448; relations with U.S., 390–91, 404, 418, 420, 445–46, 448; U.S. superintendent of Indian affairs, x. See also First Nations; names of individual tribes Navy, U.S.: JA and, xxi, 118, 450, 505; Congress debates expansion of, 143, 150, 151, 448, 449, 450; crews of, xv, 506, 511; flags of, xvi; frigates equipped for, xv, 118, 150, 441, 448, 449, 466, 478, 479 (illus.); protection of U.S. trade by, 150, 515, 521; public attitudes toward, 36, 140–41, 521; resignations from, 511; superintendent of, 466; uniforms of, xxviii, 396, 397 Nelson, Como. Horatio (Brit.), 37–38 Neptune (ship), 137 Nero, 398 Netherlands: JA on, 271; JA’s service in, 50; JQA declines gift from, 176, 503; JQA on, 25, 122, 173, 232, 271; JQA’s departure from, 149, 173, 225, 231, 233; JQA’s recall from, 121, 175; TBA on, 68, 112, 271; TBA’s departure from, 215, 217, 238; agriculture and landscape of, 81–82, 217; attitudes toward JA in, 118; attitudes toward JQA in, 372; Batavian National Assembly, 25, 85, 122, 124, 175, 176, 504, 506; civil unrest in, 165; constitution of, 124, 176, 506; diplomats to, 85, 101, 108, 115, 120, 214, 505–506; economy of, 68; Franco-Austrian peace and, 114; French influence on, 122, 148, 151, 353, 372, 429, 431, 504, 506; French invasion of, 362; Patriot Party, 151; political revolution in, 504, 506; relations with Britain, 175; relations with France, 331, 449, 501, 505–506; relations with Prussia, 214; relations with U.S., 271, 427, 466; U.S. diplomatic appointments to, 19, 21, 22, 28, 30, 33, 38, 55, 56, 503; U.S. loans from, 29, 30, 81, 135, 137, 414; U.S. visitors to, 15, 69, 208, 524; war department of, 83; William V and, 272, 506 Neuwied, Germany, 69 New, Anthony (Va. representative), 529 New Bedford, Mass., 234, 276, 299

New Brunswick, N.J., 289, 290 Newburyport, Mass., 80, 538 Newcomb, John (of Braintree), 201, 311 New England: Adamses’ roots in, 97, 247; attitudes toward JA in, 19, 538; attitudes toward Britain in, 293; climate of, 494; newspapers in, 108; Philadelphia compared to, 301, 319, 322, 379, 435, 436; politics in, 169, 277, 279–80; protection of trade of, 154–55, 389; religion in, xiv, 322; U.S. West compared to, 293; G. Washington visits, 421. See also names of individual states New Hampshire, 185, 186, 187, 367 New Hampshire Ecclesiastical Convention, 187 New Haven, Conn., 178, 260 New Jersey: JA addressed by legislature of, 301, 302; capital punishment in, 55; congressional delegation of, 523; constitution of, 288, 289; governor of, 301, 302; militia of, 301, 302; road conditions in, 117, 160, 418; suffrage in, 288, 289 New Jersey Journal (Elizabethtown), 287 New Providence, N.J., 198 Newspapers: AA on, 291–92, 318, 323, 528, 531; AA’s writings in, xxv, xxvi, 295, 439; JA’s addresses and proclamations printed in, 21, 51, 52, 166; JA’s inauguration reported in, 16, 18, 33, 50; JA’s writings in, 402–403, 419; JQA and LCA’s marriage reported in, 246, 269, 276–77; JQA on, 272; JQA’s writings in, xxv, 71, 72, 165, 188, 189, 196, 200, 211, 232, 258, 290–91, 292, 308, 376–77, 379, 415; TBA on, 392–93; TBA’s writings in, xxv, 140, 141, 291; Adamses exchange, 20, 56, 67, 194, 203, 207, 208, 214, 242, 271, 277, 306, 317, 352, 449, 516, 518; advertisements in, 50, 189, 417, 418; celebrations for JA reported in, 266, 268; congressional debates reported in, 155–56, 469, 488; DemocraticRepublican Party and, xx, xxv, 28, 33, 125, 137, 142, 143, 178, 203, 204, 210–11, 285, 291–92, 301, 318, 322, 323, 369, 392–93, 404, 474, 477, 532–33; European affairs reported in U.S., 68, 307; failure of, 187, 188, 189; fire prevention reported in, 55; First Mission to France and, 348, 422, 438, 443, 469, 493; foreign influence on U.S., 178, 188, 203; French restrictions on, xxi, 243, 301, 302, 354, 414; influence of, 31, 188, 455; investment in, 176; libel and sedition and, 392, 532; lottery results reported in, 8; Lyon-Griswold affair reported in, 379, 401; Mazzei letter printed in, 164–65; obituar-

610

Index ies in, 98, 475, 488; presidential election (1796) and, 58, 368; subscriptions to, 137, 188, 189, 364, 379, 477, 493; U.S. news reported in European, 53, 111–12, 354, 355. See also names of individual papers and printers New York Chamber of Commerce, 519 New York City: JA honored in, xxix, 222, 223, 258, 259, 260–61, 266, 267, 268, 278, 296; Adamses visit, 98, 104, 209; attitudes toward JA in, 518, 520; William Cranch visits, 233; fortifications of, 261; mails to and from, 70, 86, 223; merchants in, 74, 168; newspapers in, 50, 176, 178, 301; post road between Boston and, 259; sheriff of, 83; ships to and from, 3, 4, 241, 450, 498, 516; theater in, 223; trade and commerce of, 15; G. Washington’s birthday celebrated in, 420; yellow fever in, 261 Buildings, Landmarks, Streets, etc.: Bank of the United States, 434; Broadway, 223, 267; Governor’s Island, 223, 261; Harlem, 261; New City Assembly Room, 267; port of, 74; Trinity Church, 223, 261; Vauxhall Garden, 223 New York Journal, 4, 50, 88, 178–79, 325 New York State: attitudes toward JA in, 26– 27, 296; capital punishment in, 55; congressional delegation of, 426, 523; electioneering in, 73; federal grand jury of, 79–80; land speculation in, 104, 105; legislature of, 287; militia of, 261, 266, 296 Nicholas, John (Va. representative): attitude toward JA, 524, 525; congressional activities of, 370, 379, 387, 437, 469, 485, 486; obtains leave of absence from Congress, 517, 519 Nicholls, Dr. John (of London), 270 Nichols, William (marshal of Penn.), 301; identified, 302 Nicholson, John (Washington, D.C., investor), 143, 144, 233–34, 440, 465 Nicholson, Capt. Samuel (of the Constitution), xv Niles, Rev. Samuel, Sr. (1673–1762, of Braintree), 59, 60, 516 Niles, Rev. Samuel, III (1744–1814, grandson of Samuel, Sr.), 514; identified, 516 Noël, François (French minister to the Netherlands): C. Delacroix replaces, 505; influence of in Netherlands, 122; marriage of, 58, 115, 119; portrait of, 100, 101; social activities of, 58, 124 Noël, Mrs. Bogaërt (wife of François), 58, 115, 119

Nore, England, 162 Norfolk, Va., 402, 403 Northampton, Mass., 99, 100 Northborough, Mass., 134 North Carolina, 273, 357, 358, 423, 424, 446 Northwest Territory, 105, 354, 355, 403–404, 450 Norton, Edward (1795–1814, son of Elizabeth), 262, 316, 348, 405; identified, 263 Norton, Elizabeth Cranch (Betsy, 1763–1811, niece of AA): AA on, 409, 522; AA’s affection for, 320, 335; AA sends items to, 125– 26, 159, 263, 501, 525, 536; attends ordination, 275; Mary Cranch on, 180, 327, 405, 415; dairy of, 131, 134; health of, 131, 465, 522; visits to and from, 131, 262, 327, 348; S. Warner and, 415 Norton, Rev. Jacob (husband of Elizabeth): attends ordination, 275; Mary Cranch on, 415; fast day sermon of, xiv, 539, 540; health of, 465; religious ceremonies performed by, 348, 349, 350, 415, 416; visits to and from, 262, 348, 349; mentioned, 263, 316, 405 Norton, Jacob Porter (1793–1846, son of Elizabeth), 262, 263, 316, 348, 405 Norton, John (father-in-law of Elisha Adams), 152, 154 Norton, Richard Cranch (1790–1821, son of Elizabeth), 262, 263, 316, 327, 348, 405 Norton, Sarah. See Adams, Sarah Norton Norton, Sarah Whitmarsh (wife of John), 154 Norton, William Smith (1791–1827, son of Elizabeth), 262, 263, 316, 327, 348, 405 Norwich, Charles Manners-Sutton, Bishop of, 319, 320, 323 Nouvelles politiques, nationales et étrangères (Paris), 112, 113, 119, 120, 194, 196 Nutting, Capt. Ebenezer (of the Union), 206 Odiorne, Mary Grindall (wife of Nathaniel), 466 Odiorne, Nancy (daughter of Nathaniel), 465; identified, 466 Odiorne, Nathaniel (of Unity, N.H.), 466 Oglio River, 95 Old House (Peacefield, now Adams National Historical Park): accommodations for servants at, 161, 162, 198, 222, 520, 522, 524; AA2 as possible resident of, 274; AA invites visitors to, 9, 179, 528; Adamses miss, 198, 468; Adamses’ public entertainments at, 221–23, 235; arrangements for during presidency, 1–2, 3, 18, 46, 59, 61, 63, 70, 73, 80, 81, 86; caretaker for, 127, 153, 262, 263,

611

Adams Family Correspondence 311, 312; cleaning of, 201, 209; construction at, 23, 46, 127–28, 160–62, 198, 201, 263, 266, 310–11, 321, 326, 382, 472, 473, 512, 514, 519–20, 522, 523, 524, 536, 537, 539–40; Mary Cranch on Adamses’ absence from, 262; Mary Cranch plans to entertain at, 158, 171; dairy at, 266, 321, 382, 473; farms at, 54, 63, 153, 180, 218, 220, 283, 297, 311, 424, 473, 512; fencing for, 39, 45; furnishings of, 125, 126, 273, 299, 325–26, 334, 388, 409, 512; gardens at, 62, 63, 142, 153, 158, 172, 180, 192, 218, 220, 310, 353, 382, 436–37, 465, 475, 512, 514, 531, 532; Susanna Hall’s funeral and, 87, 96; library at, 266, 311, 353, 472, 473, 519, 520, 524, 536; outbuildings at, 23, 46, 161– 62, 220, 222, 263, 266, 310–11, 321, 325, 353, 382, 472, 473, 512, 514, 522; painting of, 172, 201, 209, 376, 382, 414, 436, 473, 488, 512, 514, 520, 522, 531, 537; as Peacefield, 6; produce of, 153, 299, 311, 326, 387, 475; stables for, 161, 162, 198; storm damage at, 218–19, 220; supplies for, 154, 158, 267; taxes on, 45, 46, 53–54, 153. See also AA—Household Management; John Adams Birthplace; John Quincy Adams Birthplace Olmütz, Austria, 413 Orangist Party (also Court Party; Dutch), 375 Orkney, Scotland, 244 Orléans, Louis Philippe Joseph, Duc d’ (Philippe Égalité), 215, 218 Orne, Rebecca Taylor (wife of Timothy), 525 Orne, Timothy, Jr. (Salem merchant), 525 Otis, Elizabeth Gray (1st wife of Samuel, Sr.), 80 Otis, George (son of Samuel, Sr.), 79; identified, 80 Otis, Harriet (daughter of Samuel, Sr.), 522 Otis, Harrison Gray (Mass. representative): AA on, 155, 379, 531; arming of U.S. merchant ships and, 515; congressional speeches of, 125, 127, 140, 426, 427, 448, 473; foreign intercourse bill and, 426, 427; W. B. Giles and, 448, 487, 488, 510; health of, 380; House response to JA’s address and, 141; obtains leave of absence from Congress, 379, 380; public attitudes toward, 155, 537; Roxbury petition and, 470, 513, 515, 531; socializes with Adamses, 306 Otis, Mary Ann (daughter of Samuel, Sr.), 522 Otis, Mary Smith Gray (wife of Samuel, Sr.), 39, 54, 248, 370, 485, 522, 529 Otis, Samuel Allyne, Sr. (1740–1814, secy. of the Senate), 79, 80, 155, 197, 522, 529

Ottoman Empire, 412 Overton, Thomas (N.C. revenue inspector), 424 Paine, Elijah (Vt. senator), 523 Paine, Eunice (of Germantown, Mass.), 95– 96, 387, 493, 514, 525 Letter: To AA (1797), 95 Paine, Thomas (author of Common Sense): AA on, 449; JQA on, 189; imprisonment of, 413; Letter to George Washington, 6, 7, 255, 411, 413–14; Letter to the People of France, 449, 451; J. Monroe and, 124, 411, 413–14; returns to U.S., 189 Paintings and prints: of AA, xi, 264 (illus.); of JA, xi, xii, 223, 235, 265 (illus.); of JQA, 101, 169–70, 171, 225–26; of TBA, 101, 242; of allegorical figures, 53; of W. Blount, x, xi, 191 (illus.); cartoons, xiii–xiv, xv, 381 (illus.); commissions for, xiii; cost of portraits, xii; of Anna Cranch, x, 177 (illus.); of William Cranch, x, 177 (illus.); framing of, 170, 225–26; French school of, 112; “Le Général Bonaparte proclamant la République Cisalpine,” xii, xiii, 341 (illus.); gifts of, 225, 226; as indemnities to France, 110, 112; instruction in, xi, xiii; Italian school of, 112; of Lyon-Griswold affair, xiii–xiv, 381 (illus.); miniature portraits, xi, 101, 191 (illus.); museums and exhibitions for, xi, 110, 112; of Napoleon, xii, xiii, 341 (illus.); Prix de Rome, xiii; “The Sleeping Congregation,” xv; “A Solemn Humiliation under the Reign of John Adams,” xiv, xv, 471 (illus.); “USS Constitution,” xv, xvi, 479 (illus.); of G. Washington, 6, 235; “What a Beastly Action,” xiii, 381 (illus.); mentioned, 100 Media: crayon, xii; gouache, xvi; oil, xiii; pastel, xii; pencil and pen-and-ink, xiv–xv; physionotrace, xi; profiles, 242; transparencies, 223; watercolor, xi, xvi See also Artists; names of individual artists Palatinate, Germany, 137 Papers of John Adams, xxxi, xxxiii Papers of John Quincy Adams, xxxi Paris, France: AA on, 422; TBA visits, 83, 94, 100, 106, 108–11, 113, 114, 119, 123, 215–17, 285; aristocracy in, 113; artists in, xiii; émigrés from, 93; financial speculation in, 95; Franco-Austrian peace reported in, 95, 101; Franco-Portuguese negotiations in, 108; J. Madison’s rumored arrival in, 101, 111–12; news from reported in London, 52,

612

Index 128, 243; newspapers in, 243, 302; restrictions on U.S. citizens visiting, 84; SwedishAmerican Treaty (1783) signed at, 454, 455; theater in, 94, 110, 113, 216, 217; U.S. citizens in, 35, 85, 94, 95, 287, 300; U.S. envoys arrive in and depart from, 200, 206, 249, 332, 499 Buildings, Landmarks, Streets, etc.: Bagatelle (château), 216; Bastille, 357; Bibliothèque Nationale, 215; Bois de Boulogne, 216; Champs de Mars, 216; ChampsElysées, 215–16; École Militaire, 216; Gobelin factory, 3, 216; Hôtel des Étrangers, ix, 94; Hôtel des Invalides, 216; Jardin du Roi, 110, 112, 215; Louvre, 110, 112, 215; Luxembourg Palace, xiii, 113, 215; Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 110, 112, 215; Palais du Sénat Conservateur, xiii; Panthéon, 108, 110, 112, 215; Paris Opera, 113; Place des Piques, 113; Place Vendôme, 113; Rue Vivienne, ix, 94; St. Lazare prison, 113; Salon, xiii; Temple Prison, 240; Théâtre de Monsieur, 110, 113; Théâtre Feydeau, 110, 113; Tuileries, 113, 215, 243 Parker, Daniel (Watertown merchant), 95 Parker, John (Brit. artist), 100, 112 Parker, Josiah (Va. representative), 358 Parker, Capt. (of the Sidney), 385 Parma, Ferdinand, Duke of, 37 Passports: JQA requests from TBA, 137; for TBA, ix, 108, 109 (illus.), 112; charges for, ix, 369, 371; French restrictions against U.S., ix, 83, 84, 501; for ships, 165; for U.S. envoys to France, 437, 499 Pastoret, Claude Emmanuel Joseph Pierre (French statesman), 291; identified, 292– 93 Patriot Party (Dutch), 151 Patronage: AA on, 169, 378; JA on, 281, 282, 368; JA’s and G. Washington’s compared, 141, 256, 270, 422–23; JQA and JA’s, xxi, xxvi, 35, 37, 269–70, 277, 280–81, 285, 339, 353, 373, 449–50, 451, 452, 502, 503; JQA on JA’s, 173–74, 212–13, 224, 256; TBA and JA’s, 35, 37, 270; attitudes toward JA’s, 4, 138, 140, 141, 204, 368; of Lord Chesterfield, 66; of Louis XIV, 378; presidential, 427; sought from JA, xxiv–xxv, 15–16, 206– 207, 237, 378, 380, 422–23, 424, 460, 505, 506; of G. Washington, 280, 281, 282, 368– 69, 394; G. Washington on, 5, 173 Paul I, Emperor of Russia, 136 Paulus Hook (Jersey City), N.J., 81, 86, 88, 102 Pays de Vaud, Switzerland, 433

Payson, Jonathan (Haverhill, Mass., trader), 185; identified, 186 Payson, Sarah Leavitt White (wife of Jonathan), 185; identified, 186 Payson & Johnston (Haverhill, Mass., trading firm), 186 Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw (1750–1815, sister of AA): on AA2, 229; AA advises on letter writing, 312–13, 328; AA on, 273, 278, 288–89, 312; Adamses’ assistance to, 78, 79, 227, 252; affection and concern for AA, 183–84, 365; correspondence with AA2, 235, 288, 289, 312, 328, 347, 348, 365, 367, 397; correspondence with AA, xxiv, 79, 186, 229, 235, 274, 288, 289, 312, 315, 329, 347, 357, 358, 365, 470; correspondence with Mary Cranch, 79, 133, 181, 184, 219, 274, 300, 325, 349, 358; correspondence with William Shaw, 185, 229, 478; courtship and marriage of, 79, 247; Mary Cranch on, 274; on William Cranch, 184; on credit, 185; education and care of Smith children and, xxx, 228, 229, 235, 246, 247, 252–53, 274, 278, 325, 327, 329, 330, 331, 367, 390; on I. Evans, 185; on Greenleaf family, 184– 85; health of, 133, 245, 252, 253, 273, 405; on history, 366; on human nature, 251; letter writing of, 185, 186, 253, 329, 365, 397; literary and biblical references by, 183, 184, 185, 186, 227, 229, 250, 251, 252, 253, 330, 366; on parenting, 331; N. Peabody assists, 185; Stephen Peabody on, 236; on politics, 185–86, 366–67; religious beliefs of, 228, 252; Rev. John Shaw’s death and, 252, 262; on Shaw children, 185, 186, 227– 28, 229, 251, 331, 365, 366–67; on sickness and death, 184, 365; Charles Smith’s death and, 250, 251, 330, 347, 358; Elizabeth Smith (AA’s niece) and, 79, 331, 358; on Mary Smith, 184; on Smith children, 253, 330–31, 365–66; on Samuel Tufts, 228; visits to and by, 78, 228, 247, 252, 330, 331, 406; on J. Vose, 228; on M. Webster, 366; letter from AA listed (1797), 549 Letters: To AA (1797), 78, 183, 227, 250, 330; (1798), 365 Letters: From AA (1797), 234, 245, 328; (1798), 397 Peabody, Mary. See Webster, Mary Peabody Peabody, Gen. Nathaniel (Atkinson, N.H., physician), 185, 186 Peabody, Rev. Stephen, Sr. (1741–1819, 2d husband of Elizabeth Smith Shaw): AA’s accounts with, 329, 367, 459; attends Harvard commencement, 228; correspondence

613

Adams Family Correspondence with AA, 329, 367, 459; correspondence with S. Webster, 366; education of Smith children and, xxx, 228, 235, 253, 327, 329, 366; invites Adamses to visit, 236; marriage of, 247; on Elizabeth Peabody, 236; N. Peabody assists, 185; sermons of, 185, 186–87, 236; serves on ecclesiastical council, 185, 187; Isaac Smith Jr. preaches for, 78; on U.S. affairs, 235–36; mentioned, 246 Letter: To JA (1797), 235 Peacefield. See Old House Pearson, Eliphalet (Harvard professor), 279 Peggy (bark), 535, 536 Pembroke (now Hanson), Mass., 160, 276 Penniman, Ebenezer (of Quincy), 153 Pennsylvania: AA on, 49, 154, 168, 210–11, 301; American Revolution and, 368; attitudes toward JA in, 301, 506, 520; attitudes toward France in, 468, 506; builds mansion intended for U.S. president, 7, 8, 23, 49; capital punishment in, 49, 50, 55, 190, 210; congressional delegation of, 519, 529; elections in, 301; Fourth of July celebrated in, 190, 192; grand jury of, 392, 396, 504, 506, 510, 520, 532; insolvency laws in, 369, 371, 440; judiciary of, 50, 136; legislative activities of, 7, 8, 369, 371, 468; militia of, 171, 192, 289, 290, 301, 302; religion in, 154, 322 Penthièvre, Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duc de (French royal), 215; identified, 218 Perkins, Anna. See Apthorp, Anna Perkins Perkins, Elizabeth Wentworth Gould Rogers (mother of Anna Apthorp), 262; identified, 263 Perry, William: Royal Standard English Dictionary, 229, 230 Peter, Martha Parke Custis (granddaughter of Martha Washington), 445, 534 Peterborough, N.H., 3 Peter Porcupine (pseudonym). See Cobbett, William Philadelphia, Penn.: AA and JA travel to and from, 209, 235, 248, 269, 391; AA compares New England to, 319, 322, 379; AA on, 125, 183, 197, 210, 247–48, 289, 294, 313, 333, 346, 401–402, 435, 436, 490; AA’s relocation to, 8, 29, 33, 39, 66, 72, 81, 104, 116, 117, 127, 162, 193, 194; JA honored in, 10, 289, 295; JA on, 77; TBA as resident of, 29, 56, 68, 483–84; TBA on, 432–33; attitudes toward JA in, 499, 501, 504, 510, 518, 519, 520, 531; attitudes toward France in, 49, 208, 375, 458, 498, 501, 517; Blount affair reported in, x–xi, 192; city government

of, 519, 520; climate of, 131, 163, 202, 223, 329, 494; courts in, 56; Mary Cranch on, 299; William Cranch visits, 200, 233, 405, 407; Dalton family’s residence in, 182, 237, 238; Democratic-Republican Party in, 154, 317, 371, 459, 517; dressmakers in, 172–73; economy of, 533; fashion in, 356; Fourth of July celebrations in, xxiv, 171, 190, 192; health inspectors in, 241, 269; housing in, 7, 329, 371, 453; mails from, 28, 112, 223, 234–35; merchants in, 308, 350, 371, 453, 483, 484, 501, 504, 520; newspapers in, 22, 192, 301, 348, 393, 504, 531; petitions and memorials circulated in, 467, 499; religion in, 319, 322; sale of stock in, 473; as seat of federal government, 8, 183, 192, 193, 210, 218, 247–48, 266, 296, 306, 319, 402, 494–95; ships to and from, 15, 69, 81, 197, 198, 200, 208, 490, 491, 518; G. Washington celebrated in, 4, 7, 19, 52, 53, 401–402, 419–20, 421, 445; yellow fever in, 241, 245, 247–48, 261, 266, 268, 269, 271, 272, 276, 278, 280, 283, 285–86, 288, 294, 297, 299, 307, 322, 328–29, 432–33, 453 Buildings, Landmarks, Streets, etc.: Bank of the United States, 319, 320, 434; burying ground, 329; Chestnut Street, 8; City Tavern and Merchants’ Coffee House, 458, 459, 501; Dunwoody’s Tavern, 499; Francis’ Hotel, 147; mansion intended for U.S. president, 7, 8, 23, 49; Market Street, xvii, 8; Musical Magazine, xvii; New Theatre, xvi, 529, 531, 532; Ninth Street, 8; Northern Liberties, 499; Oeller’s Hotel, 50, 53, 375; Penn Street, 241; port of, 509; Prune Street prison, 371, 409; Race Street, 234; Ricketts’ Amphitheatre, 53, 402, 445; Seventh Street, 234; South Street, 173, 324; Southwark, 241, 266, 499; Spruce Street, 241; Tenth Street, 459. See also President’s House (Phila.) Philadelphia County, Penn., 4, 7 Philadelphia Gazette, 18, 126, 173, 348, 439, 440, 491 Phile, Philip (German musician): identified, xvi Philippsburg, Germany, 430, 433 Phillips, William, Jr. (brother of Abigail Quincy), 474–75 Phillips Academy, 229 Phillips Exeter Academy, 227, 229 Philosophy, 271 Phipps, Dr. Thomas (of Quincy), 512 Pickering, Timothy (U.S. secy. of state): JA consults, 370; JQA’s dispatches to and

614

Index from, xxi, 37, 83, 136, 148, 150, 151, 165, 176, 212, 214, 254, 258, 270, 302, 355–56, 375, 409, 410, 412–13, 421, 422, 425–26, 448, 450, 480, 498–99, 500, 503, 521, 523; Adamses entertain, 125; as possible author of Scipio pieces, 476; correspondence with P. Adet, 6, 7, 30, 35, 37, 413; correspondence with J. Anthony, 269; correspondence with G. Washington, 19; forwards letter to JA, 269; Letter to Charles C. Pinckney, 7; newspaper reports on, 369, 371; Pinckney Treaty and, 156, 202–203, 390–91, 440; reports on attacks on U.S. shipping, 40, 457; sends newspapers to JQA, 306–307; signs passports, 371. See also First Mission to France; State Department, U.S. Pierce, Deacon Edward (of Dorchester), 266, 310; identified, 267 Pierce, Rev. John (of Brookline), 48, 50 Pinckney, Charles (gov. of S.C.), 420 Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth (U.S. minister to France): JQA on, 194, 196; TBA on, 217; correspondence with JQA, 58; correspondence with T. Pickering, 7; correspondence with E. Rutledge, 438, 439, 443; Directory refuses to receive, xxi, 21, 22, 49, 52, 107, 118, 127, 151, 163, 166, 254; dispatches of, 37, 125, 126; French press and, 438, 443; marriage of, 196–97; resides at The Hague, 84, 85, 196, 217; travels of, 114, 115, 200, 309, 332. See also First Mission to France Pinckney, Eliza (daughter of Charles Cotesworth), 84, 85, 114, 115, 196, 217 Pinckney, Mary Stead (wife of Charles Cotesworth), 84, 85, 114, 115, 217; identified, 196–97 Pinckney, Thomas (S.C. representative), 285, 287, 420, 499 Pinegar, Capt. (of the Sterling), 72 Pisa, Italy, 165 Pitcairn, Joseph (U.S. consul at Hamburg): TBA and, 94, 111, 215, 453; correspondence with JQA, 101, 111, 113, 148; letter from TBA listed (1796), 545 Plater, George (gov. of Md.), 535 Pléville Le Peley, Georges René (French politician), 214 Plymouth, Mass., 248 Poetry, 89–90, 106, 107 Poland, 33, 271, 430 Polar Star (Boston), 187, 189 Pope, Alexander: “Chorus of Youths and Virgins,” 456, 457; “The Dying Christian to His Soul,” 250, 253; “Epistle to Dr. Ar-

buthnot,” 164, 165, 184, 186; “Satires of Dr. John Donne,” 495; “Second Epistle of the Second Book of Horace,” 464, 466; “Sixth Epistle of the First Book of Horace,” 61, 307, 309 Pope, Edward (Mass. judge), 233, 274–75, 299; identified, 234 Pope, Elizabeth Greenleaf Eliot (wife of Edward), 233; identified, 234 Pope, Sarah Whiting (of Quincy), 313, 314, 328, 377, 416, 475, 501 Porcupine’s Gazette (Phila.): JA criticized in, 502, 503, 517; JQA’s marriage reported in, 277, 279; B. F. Bache criticized in, 396; Battle of Camperdown reported in, 336– 37, 362; ceases publication, xiv; congressional activity reported in, xiv, 140, 141, 155–56, 477, 478, 480; Society of Friends and, 401, 519; subscriptions to, 493 Porter, David (of Abington, Mass.): P. Abdee’s care and, 327, 333, 350, 357; accommodations for, 161, 198, 524; AA on, 266; AA’s instructions to, 71, 100, 104, 221, 266, 382, 436, 532; as caretaker of Peacefield, 70, 72, 125, 127, 153, 158, 311, 312, 325, 326, 512; farmwork of, 152, 311, 424; Cotton Tufts on, 127, 153 Porter, Lydia Harmon (wife of David): accommodations for, 161, 198, 520; AA on, 266; AA sends gift to, 522; cares for sick farmhand, 488, 512, 519; as caretaker of Peacefield, 70, 72, 125, 158, 201, 209, 262, 263, 266, 488, 512, 514; Cotton Tufts on, 153 Portland, William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3d Duke of (Brit. home secretary), 42, 43 Portland, Maine, 134 Portraits. See Paintings and prints Portsmouth, England, 162 Portugal: JA on U.S. mission to, 282; JQA on, 134; JQA’s appointment to, 55, 56, 121, 224, 256, 280, 281; LCA on, 73; diplomatic appointments of, 101, 107, 108, 457; diplomatic appointments to, 12, 13, 34, 115, 164, 203, 204, 213, 282, 285, 427, 451; naval battle off coast of, 37–38; relations with Britain, 240, 241; relations with France, 102, 107, 108, 240, 241, 391, 414, 469, 470, 523, 526–27, 528; relations with Spain, 57, 58, 73, 282; relations with U.S., 427; U.S. consul to, 29 Post. See Mails Potomac Company, 535 Potomac River, 178

615

Adams Family Correspondence Potsdam, Germany, 395–96, 425 Pratt, Cotton (son of Thomas), 333; identified, 334 Pratt, Mary Green (wife of Thomas), 334 Pratt, Matthew (Adams family tenant), 62 Pratt, Thomas (of Quincy), 333, 334, 377, 378 Presbyterian Church, 322 Presidency, U.S.: AA on, 60, 171, 172, 278; JA on, 63, 87, 102; JA on celebrations for, 19; JQA on, 57; burdens of, 56, 59; Congress and, 150, 197, 198, 379, 387, 413, 441; duties of, 505; election to, xix, 278; European interest in election to, 24, 26, 35, 58, 118, 120, 165; franking privileges, 219, 220, 539; impact on U.S. of succession of, xix, xx– xxi; inauguration for, 4, 7, 9–11, 21, 29, 33, 48, 182; T. Jefferson on, 165; party politics and, xix, 187; patronage and, 353, 378, 427; Philadelphia theater box for, 529, 532; powers of, xiv, 164, 339, 379, 426, 469; presidential appointments, 169, 378–79; public attitudes toward, 72–73, 208, 368, 370, 510; salary for, 51, 143, 144; social obligations of, xxiv, 38, 44, 160, 171, 324, 334, 419, 421, 438–39, 447; U.S. diplomacy and, 426, 427; vice presidency and, 3, 52, 129, 148, 182; Washington and Adams administrations compared, xxiv, 50, 290, 454, 458 First Lady: AA’s attitude toward, 9, 99, 143, 313, 399, 492; JA on, 102; TBA on, 66; influence of, xxv, 296; public attitudes toward, 2, 6, 117, 151; social obligations and etiquette of, xxiii–xxiv, 117, 124–25, 160, 171, 286, 288, 324, 329, 334, 439, 494; M. Washington as, 9, 66 See also AA—First Lady; JA—Public Life: Presidency President’s House (Phila.): AA on, 211; Adamses’ arrangements for, 17, 18, 23, 32, 38– 39, 44, 51, 54, 62, 73; J. Briesler Sr. and, 32, 241, 268, 285–86, 288; congressional provisions for, 7, 143, 144; William Cranch and, 209, 211, 233; furnishings of, 39, 45– 46, 54, 117, 370, 371; rent for, 7, 143; servants for, 38–39, 44, 62, 70, 73, 117, 125, 288, 301; stables of, 73; of Washingtons, 7, 10, 19, 63 Prices: AA on, 55; of books, 111; of clothing and fabric, 352, 491; of fencing, 153; of firewood, 436; of foodstuffs, 55, 358, 438; of funded stock, 473; of grains and hay, 55, 302, 380, 425; of housing and board, 7, 143, 153, 229; inflation, 143, 438; of land, 32, 47, 105, 152–53, 360; of livestock, 22, 45, 46, 152; of neatsfoot oil, 294; for nurses, 252;

of passports, ix, 369, 371; of portraits, xii; of postage, 219; of smallpox inoculations, 508; of transportation, 46, 82; of tuition, 229; of watches, 330, 347, 352; for wedding officiants, 349, 350. See also Money Priestley, Joseph (Brit. scientist and theologian), 49, 50 Prince (Adams family servant), 51, 103 Princeton, Mass., 59 Princeton College (formerly College of New Jersey), 404 Privateers and privateering: AA on, 39; British, 198; Congress restricts U.S., 151, 167; French, 68, 69, 75, 157, 202, 203, 344, 523; Spanish, 198; travel impacted by, 432; U.S. citizens support French, 35–36, 37, 56, 68, 147; in the West Indies, 155, 194–95, 196. See also Ships and shipping Provence, Louis Stanislaus Xavier, Comte de (brother of Louis XVI), 533 Providence, R.I., 223, 248 Prussia: JQA on, 339, 354, 356; JQA presented at court of, xxviii, 338, 340, 342, 343, 413, 422, 446, 450, 500, 511; JQA presents credentials, 342, 421, 425; JQA’s appointment to, xix, 135, 136, 140, 147, 150, 151, 164, 212, 213, 214, 224, 231, 256, 269, 280, 281, 285; LCA presented at court of, xxviii, 385, 386, 412; TBA on, 432; TBA presented at court of, xxviii, 395, 396–97; diplomatic appointments of, 214, 433, 454; diplomatic appointments to, 375, 396, 397, 422, 427, 451, 454, 455, 511; foreign ministry of, 342, 421, 422, 425; influence of French Revolution on, 432; military of, 433; monarchs of, xxix, 213, 214, 338, 339–40, 342, 354, 355, 421, 425–26, 449, 500; relations with Britain, 241; relations with France, 141, 165, 213– 14, 272, 413, 431, 433; relations with Germany, 430; relations with Netherlands, 214; relations with U.S., 118, 140, 213, 355, 356, 370, 372, 373–74, 375, 413, 427, 500, 511; royal court and society of, 340, 354, 453 Pseudonyms: “An American,” 319, 320; Samuel Brown as “Aristides,” 291, 293, 304, 317; William Cobbett as Peter Porcupine, 49, 50, 51, 393; Tench Coxe as “A Federalist” and “Juriscola,” 368, 370; William Cranch as “C,” 211, 212; “An Englishman,” 319, 320; “Fair Play,” 141; “A Friend to America & Truth,” 491; Isaac Bickerstaff, 277, 279; Junius, 452; James Martin possibly as “Anti Crispin,” 179; William Melmoth as Thomas Fitzosborne, 310; “A Member of the Senate,” 452; “No French Patriot,” 126;

616

Index “Plain Truth,” 419; Thrasybulus, 445, 446; Uriah Tracy as Scipio, 445, 446, 450, 456, 476, 487, 488 Pulteney, Sir William, 105 Putnam, Jesse (Boston merchant), 285; identified, 287

tery, 97, 103; Hancock Street, 316; Marsh’s Tavern, 161, 162; Penn’s Hill, 59, 262, 282, 283; Quincy Meadow, 153; School Street, 104; Squantum, 220; Stonyfield Hill (later President’s Hill), 32 See also Braintree, Mass.

Quakers. See Society of Friends Quebec, Canada, 433, 448 Quincy, Abigail Phillips (mother of Josiah, III): AA on, 485; Mary Cranch and, 388, 475; death of, 474–75, 485, 487, 492, 500, 514; sisters of, 476 Quincy, Eliza Susan (daughter of Josiah, III), 474, 475–76 Quincy, Eliza Susan Morton (wife of Josiah, III): identified, 168; AA on, 167; birth of daughter of, 474, 475–76; health of, 474, 475, 514; marriage of, 167, 168, 239, 395 Quincy, Josiah, I (1710–1784, “the Colonel”), 267 Quincy, Josiah, III (1772–1864, later “the President”): TBA on, 239; birth of daughter of, 474, 475–76; correspondence with JA, 141; correspondence with TBA, 135, 140, 141, 239, 395; marriage of, 167, 168, 239, 395; A. Quincy’s death and, 474, 475 Quincy, Norton (1716–1801, uncle of AA), 328, 405–406, 475, 493; letter from AA listed (1798), 552 Quincy, Mass.: AA on, 142; Adamses honored in, 96, 99, 221, 222–23, 235; Adamses’ travels to and from, 64, 92, 152, 153, 155, 162, 198–99, 209, 221, 236, 241, 262, 266, 267, 286, 289, 313, 494, 505; African Americans in, 357, 359, 415; Braintree and, 40; Eastchester, N.Y., compared to, 267–68; education in, 465; house construction in, 128, 315; minister for, 97, 103, 104, 118, 131–33, 142, 160, 181, 275, 276, 288, 315, 322–23, 324, 326–27, 334, 349, 357, 367, 465; post office and mail in, 69–70, 201, 219, 510; quarries in, 128; religious services in, 103, 131–32, 134, 276, 326, 327, 349, 359, 405, 488; representatives to Mass. General Court, 160; selectmen and town officers of, 103, 128, 181, 316, 327, 415, 525, 540; taxes in, 45, 46, 53–54, 153; town charity in, 327, 333, 350; town meetings in, 103, 104, 131, 132, 142, 275, 315, 326; weather damages property in, 219, 261–62 Buildings, Landmarks, Streets, etc.: Brackett’s Tavern, 328; Christ Church, 316; First Church, 96–97, 132; Franklin Street, 283; Granite Street, 154; Hancock Ceme-

Radziwill, Anton, Prince (of Poland), 340, 343 Radziwill, Frederica Dorothea Louisa Philippine, Princess (wife of Anton), 340, 343 Raimond, Julien (St. Domingue commissioner), 196 Raincy (French estate), 215, 218 Ramsay, Allan: The Gentle Shepherd, 366, 367, 486 Randolph, Edmund (former secy. of state), 254; Remarks Occasioned by the Late Conduct of Mr. Washington and, 255, 257; Vindication of Mr. Randolph’s Resignation, 255, 257, 410, 413 Ranger (Brit. privateer), 198 Ranken, Mary Bull. See Wallace, Mary Bull Ranken Rastatt, Germany, 272, 340, 343, 348 Rawson, Jonathan (of Quincy), 415; identified, 416 Read, Jacob (S.C. senator), 170, 198, 308, 309 Redman, Dr. John (of Phila.), 383, 509 Reed, John (Mass. representative), 468, 469 Regal, Mr. (German military officer), 390 Regal, Mrs. (wife of Mr. Regal), 390 Regnault, Jean Baptiste (artist), xiii Religion: AA2 on, 27; AA on, 99, 192, 245–46, 318, 324, 334, 423–24, 466–67, 472, 492–93, 507; JA on, 11; afterlife, 9, 86, 92, 95–96, 97, 102, 159, 250, 252, 416, 466–67, 492–93, 537; atheism, 32, 304, 317; baptisms, 415, 416; calling and ordination of ministers, 48, 50, 103, 104, 134, 187, 275, 276, 327, 328; Calvinism, 324, 334, 430; clergy and politics, 493; clergy finances, 187, 276, 349, 350; ecclesiastical councils, 185, 187; fast days, xiv–xv, 322, 470, 471 (illus.), 472, 483, 488–89, 490, 539, 540; in France, 32, 112, 145, 243, 294, 398, 467, 477, 490, 529; music and, 464, 466; New England and Philadelphia compared, 322; Elizabeth Peabody on, 228, 252; Providence, 15, 244; Sabbath observance, 78, 132, 192, 337, 487, 539; as source of solace, 86, 89– 90, 100, 133, 228, 507, 524; study of, 228. See also Sermons; names of individual religions and denominations Remscheid, Germany, 82, 83

617

Adams Family Correspondence Revere, Paul, xv Rewbell (Reubell), Jean François (French revolutionary), 214, 243 Reynolds, Dr. James (of Phila.), 204, 345–46, 369; identified, 371 Reynolds, Maria Lewis (wife of James), 345– 46, 413 Rhineland Republic. See Cisrhenish Republic Rhine River, 343, 430, 431, 433 Rhode Island, 80 Rhodes (Rhoades), Catherine Greenleaf (of Quincy), 525 Richardet, Samuel (Phila. tavern keeper), 459 Richardson, John Pray (of Quincy), 153; identified, 154 Riedesel, Friedrich Adolf, Baron Eisenbach. See Eisenbach, Friedrich Adolf Riedesel, Baron Rimini, Italy, xiii Robespierre, Maximilien (French revolutionary), 217, 336, 337 Rogers, Abigail Bromfield (wife of Daniel), 347 Rogers, Daniel Denison (Boston merchant), 169 Rogers, Mr., 95, 110, 215 Roman Britain, 122, 124 Roman Catholic Church, 199, 304, 317, 323, 412 Roman Empire, 122, 293, 489, 491 Rome, Italy, xiii, 523 Roscoff, France, 165 Ross, Charles (Phila. merchant), 69, 384 Ross, James (Penn. senator), 170 Rotterdam, Netherlands: bankers in, 58; mails to, 129; ships to and from, 71, 175, 205, 206, 309, 332; travel to and from, 91, 256, 309; U.S. visitors to, 83, 114, 115 Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 108, 110, 112 Roxbury, Mass., 138, 470, 484, 486, 513, 515, 518 Royal Academy of Arts, London, xi Rush, Dr. Benjamin (of Phila.): appointed treasurer of U.S. Mint, 453, 454; correspondence with AA, 508; death of, 454; gives smallpox inoculations, 351, 352, 508; medical practice of, 454, 508, 509; Philadelphia society and, 435–36 Russell, Benjamin (Boston printer), 21, 137, 140, 188, 364, 477. See also Columbian Centinel Russell, Elizabeth Watson. See Temple, Elizabeth Watson Russell Russell, Joseph (Boston merchant), 95

Russell, Thomas (Boston merchant), 50, 51, 59 Russia, 204, 241 Rutgers, Henry (of N.Y.), 84 Rutherford, John (N.J. senator), 523 Rutland, Vt., 417, 418 Rutledge, Edward (S.C. politician), 438; identified, 439 Rutledge, John, Jr. (S.C. representative), 439 St. Cloud (French estate), 215, 218 St. Domingue (Haiti), 196 St. Lawrence River, 448 Saint-Pierre, Charles Irénée Castel, Abbé de: identified, 495; Le projet de paix perpétuelle, 495 St. Vincent, Vice Adm. John Jervis, Earl (Brit.). See Jervis, Vice Adm. John Salem, Mass., xvi, 185, 186, 226, 362, 385, 525 Salem Township (Orleans County), Vt., 417 Sallust: Works, 96 Sands, Joshua (N.Y. merchant), 74 Sanguin, Hippolyte (of Raincy, France), 218 Saratoga, Battle of, 340, 343 Sardinia, 174, 175, 241 Sargeant, Mary Pickering Leavitt (mother of Sarah Payson), 185; identified, 186 Sargeant, Nathaniel Peaslee (husband of Mary), 186 Savil, Edward (of Quincy), 77, 78 Sceaux (French estate), 94, 95, 215, 218 Scheldt River, 362, 431, 433 Scheveningen (Scheveling), Netherlands, 24–25 Schimmelpenninck, Catharina Nahuys (wife of Rutger), 115; identified, 85 Schimmelpenninck, Rutger Jan (Dutch politician), 85 Schubart, Baron Hermann von (Danish diplomat), 119; identified, 120 Schuyler, Maj. Gen. Philip (of N.Y.), 340 Schuylkill River, 233 Science, 110, 112, 230, 272 Scipio (pseudonym). See Tracy, Uriah Scotland, 186, 204, 323, 329, 371, 418, 449. See also Great Britain Scotland Neck, Halifax County, N.C., 480 Scott, Dorothy Quincy Hancock (wife of James), 2, 59, 60, 421 Scott, Gustavus (Washington, D.C., commissioner), 178, 188, 460; identified, 189 Scott, Capt. James, Jr. (of the John), 162, 165 Scott, Leonora Cranch: Life and Letters of Christopher Pearse Cranch, x

618

Index Sculpture, 6, 267 Sedgwick, Theodore (Mass. politician), 140, 170 Senate, U.S. See Congress, U.S. Sermons: of bishop of Norwich, 319, 320, 323; of J. Clarke, 487; election, 185, 186–87; fast day, xiv, 488, 539, 540; funeral, 97, 251; of J. McKean, 349; of S. Peabody, 185, 186– 87, 236; as political discourse, xiv, 539, 540; publication of, 187, 236; of K. Whitman, 334, 488, 539. See also Religion Servants: AA on, 39, 125, 161, 288; for Adamses, 23, 32, 33, 38, 51, 62, 70, 81, 84, 86, 88, 101, 104, 117, 125, 143, 161, 172, 192, 209, 222, 223, 266, 288, 301, 333, 334, 335, 346, 350, 412, 443, 520, 522, 535, 536; behavior of, 44; coachmen, 70, 81, 86, 88, 223; cooks, 111, 119, 125, 172, 301; for Cranches, 332; dairy maids, 131, 134; in France, 111, 119; for Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 415; for Susanna Hall, 71; housekeepers, 39, 350, 351, 508–509, 521; lady’s maids, 536; for Nortons, 131, 134; stewards, 39; wages and costs of, 39, 46, 86, 111, 351; for Washingtons, 44. See also Domestic work Sèvres, France, 215, 218 Sewall, Samuel (Mass. representative): identified, 141; AA on, 155; congressional activities of, 140, 380, 420, 465, 466; newspapers and, 537 Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of (Brit. lord chancellor), 106; identified, 107 Shakespeare, William: Coriolanus, 57, 58; Hamlet, 50, 51, 66, 69, 187, 189, 478, 480; Julius Caesar, 139, 141; King John, 110; King Richard III, 68, 69; Macbeth, 483, 484; Measure for Measure, 318, 320; Othello, 227, 229, 516, 518; Romeo and Juliet, 183 Sharples, Ellen Wallace (wife of James, Sr.), xii Sharples, Felix Thomas (son of James, Sr.), xii Sharples, James, Sr. (ca. 1765–1811, artist), xi– xii, 264 (illus.), 265 (illus.) Sharples, James, Jr. (ca. 1788–1839, son of James, Sr.), xii Sharples, Rolinda (daughter of James, Sr.), xii Shaw, Abigail Adams (1790–1859, niece of AA): Adamses’ assistance to, 78, 79; health of, 181, 185, 325; Elizabeth Peabody on, 185, 331; Rev. John Shaw’s death and, 252; Charles Smith’s death and, 250; John Adams Smith and, 366; mentioned, 229, 367, 400

Shaw, Charity Smith (sister of WSS), 330, 359 Shaw, Elizabeth Quincy (Betsy, 1780–1798, niece of AA): AA and, 186, 312, 329; Adamses’ assistance to, 78, 79, 252, 253; death of, 367; health of, 365, 366, 367, 397, 405, 478, 525, 536; Elizabeth Peabody on, 186, 251, 331; Rev. John Shaw’s death and, 252; Charles Smith’s death and, 250, 251; mentioned, 229 Shaw, Elizabeth Smith (sister of AA). See Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw Shaw, Hannah Phillips (sister of Abigail Quincy), 475; identified, 476 Shaw, John (of N.Y.), 84, 85 Shaw, Rev. John (1748–1794, 1st husband of Elizabeth Peabody), 227, 252, 253, 262 Shaw, William Smith (1778–1826, nephew of AA): AA on, 397–98; JA on, 337; Adamses’ assistance to, 78, 185, 252; attends Harvard, 227–28, 229, 274, 362, 398, 477, 478; books and reading of, 361–62, 367, 476, 477, 478, 480; carries letters to JA, 236; correspondence with AA, 337, 367, 397, 478, 480; correspondence with Elizabeth Peabody, 185, 229, 331, 478; exchanges publications and news with AA, 329, 336, 337, 361, 456, 476, 478, 480; handwriting of, 227, 229, 337, 456; health of, 185, 229, 246, 329, 331, 366, 477; interest in history and politics, 361, 362, 366–67, 476–77, 478; on T. B. Johnson, 478; letter writing of, 456, 476, 478; on marriage, 362, 476; Elizabeth Peabody on, 227–28, 229, 331, 366–67; as secretary for JA, 227, 229, 246, 286; Rev. John Shaw’s death and, 252; on Smith children, 362; as possible teacher, 227, 228, 229, 366; visits family and relatives, 235, 245, 246, 331, 337, 365, 366, 405; letter from AA listed (1798), 552 Letters: To AA (1798), 361, 476 Letters: From AA (1797), 336; (1798), 456 Shephard, Gen. William (Mass. representative), 172, 173 Sherry, Capt. (of the Three Friends), 4 Shield, William: Rosina, 531, 532 Ships and shipping: JQA’s difficulties in finding neutral, 75, 91, 102, 115, 116; advertisements for, 7; arming of U.S. merchant, xxi, xxii, 118, 150, 156, 197, 441, 454, 455, 458, 465, 466, 469, 474, 480, 513–14, 515; attacks on U.S. in Caribbean, 40, 155, 194– 95, 202; British attacks on neutral, 413, 521; capture and condemnation of, 40, 165, 197, 198; carry goods for Adamses, 137,

619

Adams Family Correspondence 154, 161, 301, 302, 355, 491, 510, 531, 536; chartering of, 190; commercial, 85; convoys for protection of, 118, 154–55, 498, 500, 521, 523; within Europe, 137, 175; FrancoPortuguese relations and, 108, 240; French attacks on British, xii, xxii, 75, 354, 356, 448, 450, 521; French attacks on neutral, xxii, 354, 355–56, 458; French attacks on U.S., xxi, 35–36, 37, 39, 40, 56, 67–68, 147, 148, 150, 151, 157, 163, 165, 194–95, 196, 202, 203, 240, 293, 309, 389, 393, 420, 439, 446, 458, 467, 502, 514, 523; French policies on, 69, 113, 118, 165, 354, 355–56, 373, 414, 433, 437, 441, 459, 501, 521, 523; impressment and capture of seamen, 69, 78, 202; painting of, xv–xvi, 479 (illus.); permits required for, 69, 165, 502; Scheldt River and, 433; shipping instructions, 126, 154; between U.S. and East Indies, 198; between U.S. and Europe, 165, 169, 171, 200, 498; U.S. treaties with Barbary States and, 37; weather affects, 15, 313, 321–22. See also Privateers and privateering; Trade and commerce; names of individual ships and captains Short, William (U.S. diplomat), 84–85, 95 Sidney (ship), 385 Sieyès, Abbé Emmanuel Joseph (French revolutionary), 342 Sinnamary, French Guiana, 243 Skinner, Thomson Joseph (Mass. representative), 139, 357, 399, 400; identified, 140 Skipwith, Fulwar (U.S. consul general to France), 94, 414; identified, 95 Slavery, 295, 468, 524. See also African Americans Smith, Adam: Wealth of Nations, 84 Smith, Caroline Amelia (1795–1852, daughter of AA2 and WSS): AA2 and, 27, 328; AA as grandmother of, 60; AA on, 286; AA wants in Philadelphia, 245, 276, 278, 286; Mary Cranch and, 131; health of, 104; visits with Adamses, 116–17, 497; mentioned, 261, 269 Smith, Catharine Louisa Salmon (1749–1824, sister-in-law of AA): AA offers paid work to, 369, 377, 522; correspondence with Louisa Smith, 423; Mary Cranch on, 316; finances of, 347, 358; health of, 103, 328, 465, 525; Charles Smith’s death and, 250, 251, 358 Smith, Charles Salmon (1779–1797, nephew of AA): AA on, 245, 286, 423; apprenticeship of, 246, 347; Mary Cranch on, 220; death and funeral of, 246, 250–51, 253, 262, 286, 288, 347, 358, 423, 459; family of,

246, 273; finances of, 251, 330, 347, 358; health of, 219; Elizabeth Peabody and, 250, 251 Smith, Elizabeth (Betsy, 1770–1849, cousin of AA): AA sends items to, 84, 172; attends ordination, 275; Mary Cranch and, 525; jewelry of, 347; William and Hannah Carter Smith and, 155, 157; mentioned, 197, 202, 294 Smith, Elizabeth (Betsy, 1771–1854, niece of AA): AA offers paid work to, 246; AA on, 99–100, 118, 261, 273, 324; AA sends items to, 356, 490, 491, 493, 522, 531, 536; correspondence with AA, 486, 490, 491, 493, 500; correspondence with Elizabeth Peabody, 79, 358; correspondence with Louisa Smith, 130, 300, 332, 423, 436, 525, 539; Mary Cranch on, 133, 262, 327; Cranch family and, 104, 159, 262; finances of, 347, 358; health of, 133, 245, 262, 406; relationship with siblings, 185, 300; romantic relationships and marriage of, 262, 263, 289, 316, 327, 331, 406, 447, 491, 500; Charles Smith’s death and, 246, 250, 251, 358; Mary Smith’s death and, 86, 103; social activities of, 220, 275, 316, 406, 434, 465; visits Peabodys, 245, 406, 436, 488, 515, 539; mentioned, 126 Smith, Elizabeth Quincy (1721–1775, wife of Rev. William, mother of AA), 537, 540 Smith, Elizabeth Storer (1789–1859, daughter of William and Hannah Carter), 155, 157, 197, 379 Smith, Hannah (1794–1863, daughter of William and Hannah Carter), 155, 157, 197, 379 Smith, Hannah Carter (1764–1836, wife of William, cousin of AA): AA and, 267, 302, 507; grief of, 507, 538; social activities of, 252, 275, 315, 358, 405, 406; letter from AA listed (1798), 552; mentioned, 157, 439 Smith, Isaac, Jr. (1749–1829, cousin of AA), 78, 79 Smith, Isaac (nephew of AA), 251, 273, 300, 358, 423, 424 Smith, Isaac (1792–1813, son of William and Hannah Carter), 439, 538, 540 Smith, Col. John (brother of WSS), 204 Smith, John Adams (1788–1854, son of AA2 and WSS): AA2 on, 27; AA as grandmother of, 60; AA brings to Quincy, xxx, 209, 222, 235; AA on, xxx, 246, 329, 335, 457; AA requests and receives news of, 246, 274, 300, 315, 325, 405; AA’s assistance to, 246, 312, 329, 400; AA visits, 116–

620

Index 17; correspondence with AA2, 245, 312, 397, 495; correspondence with AA, 312, 390, 399; Mary Cranch on, 131, 414; education of, xxx, 27, 117, 228–29, 235, 253, 329, 366, 375, 390; handwriting of, 331; health of, 104, 235, 366; manners of, 331; Elizabeth Peabody cares for, 253, 274, 330– 31, 365–66, 367, 375, 390; separation from AA2, 289, 312, 337; C. Shaw and, 330; William Shaw on, 362; Charles Smith’s death and, 250 Smith, Justus Bosch (brother of WSS), 204, 288, 289 Smith, Louisa Catharine (1773–1857, niece of AA): AA on, 273; as AA’s secretary, 23, 80, 84, 97, 145, 198, 199, 201, 248, 268, 292, 308, 383, 453, 457, 459, 463, 470, 482, 511; Adamses’ presidential household and, 63, 92, 107, 204, 468; correspondence with Cranches, 104, 133; correspondence with Catharine Smith, 423; Mary Cranch on, 300; Mary Cranch requests items from, 201, 514–15; finances of, 347; A. Hall and, 333; health of, 98, 212, 245, 459; Charles Smith’s death and, 250, 251, 330, 459; Elizabeth Smith (AA’s niece) and, 130, 185, 300, 332, 406, 423, 434, 436, 525, 539; Mary Smith’s death and, 39, 86, 90, 98, 104, 237; travels of, 51, 180, 258 Smith, Margaret Stephens (mother of WSS), 16, 334, 335; letter to JA listed (1797), 545; letter from JA listed (1797), 545 Smith, Mary (Polly, 1776–1797, niece of AA): AA on, 92, 163, 423; JA on, 78, 102; JQA on, 231; Cranch family and, 100, 163; death of, xxiii, 89, 92, 95–96, 98, 100, 102, 133, 150, 163, 183, 184, 223, 224, 231, 237, 247, 286, 347, 423, 522, 523; health of, 39, 54, 62, 72, 78, 79, 84, 86, 245; Elizabeth Peabody on, 184 Smith, Mary Carter (1791–1798, daughter of William and Hannah Carter), 155, 157, 197, 379, 439, 538, 540 Smith, Samuel (Md. representative), 155 Smith, Thomas (1796–1880, son of William and Hannah Carter), 155, 157, 197, 379 Smith, Rev. William (1707–1783, father of AA), 358, 537, 540 Smith, William (1755–1816, cousin of AA, Boston merchant): AA’s attempts to influence press and, xxv, 380; AA’s correspondence and, 510, 521; AA sends publications to, 202, 379, 419, 469, 493, 506, 507; AA’s finances and, 197, 223, 267, 268, 301, 302; AA’s relocation to Philadelphia and, 84, 104–105, 130, 155, 156; as Adamses’ agent,

19, 39–40, 54, 126, 154, 169, 172, 197, 198, 202, 221, 222–23, 267, 268, 294, 301, 302, 329, 379–80, 421, 438, 439, 458, 459, 490, 493, 510; concern for AA’s and JA’s health, 202; correspondence with AA, xv, 155, 198, 221, 268, 302, 329, 419, 421, 439–40, 459, 470, 493, 507, 540; Mary Cranch on, 358, 406; death of daughter of, 538; on frigate Constitution, xv; letter writing of, 378; on Lyon-Griswold affair, 439; Mass. General Court and, 156, 198; relays news of Adamses, 71, 131; Charles Smith’s death and, 330, 358; social activities of, 275, 439; on U.S. affairs, 202; visits to and from, 3, 252, 315, 330, 358, 404; letters to AA listed (1797), 549; (1798), 551 (2), 552 (2); letters from AA listed (1797), 548 (3), 550; (1798), 550 (2), 551, 552 (2) Letters: To AA (1797), 156, 202; (1798), 506 Letters: From AA (1797), 83, 154, 197, 222, 267, 294, 301; (1798), 378, 418, 437, 457, 469, 510 Smith, William (1774–1801, nephew of AA): AA on, 273; correspondence with AA, xxv, 423, 424; correspondence with Mary Cranch, 300; education of, 423; resides in North Carolina, 273; seeks JA’s patronage, xxiv–xxv, 422–23, 424; Charles Smith’s death and, 251, 347, 358; letter to AA listed (1798), 551 Letter: From AA (1798), 422 Smith, William (1788–1811, son of William and Hannah Carter), 155, 157, 197, 379 Smith, William Loughton (U.S. minister to Portugal): AA on, 285; JA on, 282; JQA’s commission to Prussia and, 242; appointed minister to Portugal, 203, 204, 282, 285; congressional activities of, 150–51, 155, 198; correspondence with JQA, 256, 258; travel of, 203, 256 Smith, William Stephens (1755–1816, husband of AA2, designated as WSS in The Adams Papers): absence from family, xxx, 104, 105, 117, 159, 204, 245, 261, 268, 274, 276, 288, 300, 312, 323, 327, 328, 334, 349, 357, 369, 376, 461; on AA, 461; AA on, 369, 376, 408; JA on, xxx, 403; attends Princeton, 404; correspondence with AA2, xxx, 105, 245, 276, 288, 312, 314, 315, 461; correspondence with AA, xxx, 463, 482, 483; correspondence with JA, xxx, 27, 28; Mary Cranch on, 159, 274, 315, 405; defends conduct, xxx–xxxi, 416–17, 461–62; education of sons and, xxxi, 335, 405, 414, 457; finances of, xxx, 105, 376, 377, 462, 463;

621

Adams Family Correspondence land speculation of, 104, 105, 204, 289, 377, 403, 404; letter writing of, 268; marriage of, 414; military service of, 462; reports to JA on Northwest Territory, xxx, 403–404, 416; residence of, 15, 260; returns to Eastchester, N.Y., xxx, xxxi, 376, 397, 405, 450, 461, 496; sends money to AA2, 288; J. B. Smith and, 289; travels of, 104, 105, 323, 450 Letters: To AA (1798), 461; To JA (1798), 416 Letter: From JA (1798), 403 Smith, William Steuben (1787–1850, son of AA2 and WSS): AA2 on, 27; AA as grandmother of, 60; AA brings to Quincy, xxx, 209, 211–12, 222, 235; AA on, xxx, 246, 329, 335, 457; AA requests and receives news of, 246, 274, 300, 315, 325, 405; AA’s assistance to, 246, 312, 329, 400; AA visits, 116– 17; correspondence with AA2, 245, 312, 397, 495; correspondence with AA, 312, 390, 399; Mary Cranch on, 131, 414; education of, xxx, 27, 28, 117, 211–12, 228–29, 235, 253, 329, 365–66, 375, 390; handwriting of, 331; health of, 104, 366; manners of, 331; Elizabeth Peabody’s care of, 253, 274, 330–31, 365–66, 367, 375, 390; separation from AA2, 237, 289, 312; C. Shaw and, 330; William Shaw on, 362; Charles Smith’s death and, 250 Smith, Capt. (of the Good Friends), 81 Societies and clubs: AA on, 317, 344; in Ireland, 199; in London, 320; in Massachusetts, 6, 7, 277, 279, 307, 353, 373; in Philadelphia, 192; in Washington, D.C., 304, 317. See also names of specific societies and clubs Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (London), 320 Society of Friends (Quakers), 154, 289, 301, 319, 401, 517, 519 Society of the Cincinnati, 192 Society of United Irishmen, 199 Solon (Greek statesman), 254, 257 Solothurn, Switzerland, 429 Sonthonax, Léger Félicité (St. Domingue commissioner), 194–95; identified, 196 Soper, Edmund (of Braintree), 506 Soule, Mr. (Adams farmhand): employment with Adamses, 153, 424, 473, 488; health of, 488, 512, 514, 519, 524, 539; Cotton Tufts on, 127; wages of, 127 Soule, Mr. (brother of Adams farmhand), 512 South: AA on, 322; attitudes toward JA in, 538; attitudes toward France in, 124, 278; Native Americans in, 418; newspapers in, xxv;

politics in, 279–80; protection of trade of, 154; slavery and, 468, 524. See also names of individual states South Carolina, 203, 285, 287, 420, 439 Southwest Territory, x Spain: diplomatic appointments of, 13, 202; Franco-Portuguese negotiations and, 108; French influence on, 155, 390; relations with Britain, x, 175, 241; relations with Portugal, 57, 58, 73, 282; relations with U.S., 155, 156, 198, 202–203, 309, 314, 355, 370, 390–91, 438, 439–40, 466 Spanish Army, 58 Spanish Navy, 36, 37–38 Spear, Abigail Marsh (wife of Lt. Seth), 315; identified, 316 Spear, Hannah Penniman (wife of William, Sr.), 328 Spear, Lt. Seth (of Quincy), 275, 315, 316, 322, 326 Spear, Stephen (son of William, Sr.), 326; identified, 328 Spear, William, Sr. (1708–1782, of Quincy): identified, 328 Spear, William, Jr. (1739–1805, son of William, Sr.), 326; identified, 328 Speeches of the Hon. Thomas Erskine, 336, 337 Spithead, England, 161, 162 Sprigg, Richard, Jr. (Md. representative), 482 Springfield, Mass., 98, 99, 102 SSA. See Adams, Sarah Smith (1769–1828) Staël von Holstein, Anne Louise Germaine, Baronne (Madame de Staël): De l’influence des passions, 26 Stall, Elizabeth. See Lytle, Elizabeth Stall Stall, John, Sr. (Phila. boardinghouse owner), 453 Stamford, Conn., 98 Staphorst, Nicolaas & Jacob van (Amsterdam banking firm), 58, 135, 137 State Department, U.S.: JQA collects papers of, 254; JQA on diplomatic service, 256, 411–12; JQA’s dispatches from, 212, 214, 258, 352; JQA’s dispatches to, xxi, 83, 148, 150, 151, 163, 165, 176, 232, 254, 270, 302, 355–56, 375, 409, 410, 412–13, 421, 422, 425–26, 448, 450, 480, 482, 498–99, 500, 521, 523; Congress and, 370, 427; consular service, 370, 427, 511; credentials and instructions to diplomats of, 166, 224, 232, 242; dispatches to, 357, 358, 380, 446, 447, 450, 470, 498, 500, 505; language skills of diplomats, 412; J. Monroe’s View of the Conduct of the Executive and, 394; papers submitted to Congress by, 126, 203; passports and, 83, 369, 371; protocol of, 166;

622

Index public attitudes toward, 442; salaries in, 143, 144, 204, 280, 370, 411, 426, 427, 503; translation of documents sent to, 438. See also First Mission to France; Pickering, Timothy Stead, Benjamin (of Charleston, S.C.), 196 Steele, Anne: “To Silvia,” 89–90 Sterling (ship), 72 Sterne, Laurence: “The Levite and His Concubine,” 466, 468; A Sentimental Journey, 111, 113, 216, 438, 439 Storer, Anna (daughter of Ebenezer), 90, 434 Storer, Charles (1761–1829, son of Ebenezer), xxv, 206–207; letter from AA listed (1797), 548 Letter: To AA (1797), 206 Storer, Deacon Ebenezer (1730–1807), xxv, 90, 206–207, 434, 510 Storer, Hannah (daughter of Ebenezer), 90, 434 Storer, Hannah Quincy Lincoln (1736–1826, wife of Ebenezer), 434–35, 474, 510; letter from AA listed (1798), 551 Letters: To AA (1797), 89; (1798), 434 Storer, Susan (daughter of Ebenezer), 90, 434 Stoughton, John (Juan, Spanish consul at Boston), 438, 439–40; identified, 439 Stromness, Scotland, 244, 383 Stutson (Statson), Mr. (Adams farmhand), 62, 436–37, 465, 512 Suckling, John: “Against Fruition,” 207, 208 Sullivan, James (Mass. attorney general): AA on, 485; attends Northampton court, 99, 100; death of, 167; on First Mission to France, 166; as Mass. gubernatorial candidate, 138; Middlesex Canal and, 166, 167; opposes U.S. defensive measures, 465, 466 Sumner, Elizabeth Hyslop (wife of Increase), 2, 3 Sumner, Increase (gov. of Mass.): AA on, 148; addresses Mass. General Court, 138, 148, 149, 156, 157, 158, 168; attends public events, 2, 235, 258–59, 439; election and inauguration of, 138; fast day proclaimed by, 488–89; marriage of, 3 Supreme Court, U.S. See Judiciary, U.S. Sussy (of Quincy), 415 Swain, Capt. Solomon (of the America), 7 Swan, James (Boston merchant), 2, 6, 514, 515 Sweden: diplomatic appointments of, 85, 115, 422, 454, 455; diplomatic appointments to, 449–50, 451; relations with Denmark, 433; relations with France, 433, 458; relations with U.S., 118, 422, 449–50, 451, 452, 455; mentioned, 204

Switzerland: constitution of, 429; diplomatic appointments to, 348; French exiles in, 243; Lemanic and Helvetic Republics, 429, 433; relations with Britain, 348; relations with France, 347, 348, 353, 429, 523 Tacitus: Agricola, 122, 124; “A Dialogue Concerning Oratory,” 253; Histories, 123, 124 Taggart, James (of Genesee Co., N.Y.), 324 Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles Maurice de (French foreign minister): Anglo-French negotiations and, 175, 470; appointment of, 214; E. Gerry’s rumored attendance at ball of, 458, 459; Napoleon and, 459; XYZ Affair and, xxii, 437, 485, 514 Tarboro, N.C., 192 Tate, Capt. (of the Eagle), 518 Taunton, Mass., 159 Taxes: on Adamses’ properties, 45, 46, 53–54, 141, 153, 154; British as model for U.S., 293; collectors of, 45, 53–54, 141; Congress considers, 150; customs duties, 74; dog tax, 404, 407; for highway repairs, 153, 154; inspectors of excise, xxv, 206, 207; on investments, 363; on salt, 151; stamp act, ix, 151, 291, 418, 420, 458, 459; U.S. attitudes toward, 293, 419, 427. See also Money Taylor, Polly (former Adams family servant), 183 Tazewell, Henry (Va. senator), 147, 148, 294, 344; identified, 295 TBA. See ADAMS, THOMAS BOYLSTON (1772–1832) Tegelaar, Jan Gabriël (Amsterdam merchant), 37, 38 Temple, Elizabeth Bowdoin (wife of Sir John), 51 Temple, Elizabeth Watson Russell (wife of Grenville), 50, 59–60; identified, 51 Temple, Grenville (son of Sir John), 50, 60; identified, 51 Temple, Sir John (Brit. consul general to U.S.), 50, 51 Tennessee, x, 147, 148, 190, 445–46 Texel, Netherlands, 431 Thacher (Thatcher), Rev. Peter (of Boston), 464 Thames River, 162, 384 Thatcher, George (Mass. representative), 190, 192 Thaxter, Anna Quincy (1719–1799, wife of John, Sr.), 328 Thaxter, John, Sr. (1721–1802, uncle of AA), 328 Thaxter, Quincy (1762–1837, son of John, Sr., cousin of AA), 328

623

Adams Family Correspondence Thayer, Capt. Atherton (of Braintree), 39, 40 Thayer, Ebenezer, Jr. (of Braintree), 40 Thayer, Ebenezer, III (of Braintree), 39, 40 Thayer, Elkanah (of Williamsburg, Mass.), 40, 152, 360 Thayer, Solomon (of Braintree), 360; identified, 361 Theater: JQA’s investment in, 363, 365, 450; Adamses attend, xvi, 94, 110, 216, 217, 235, 529, 531, 532, 533; in Boston, 235, 319, 321, 450, 451; comic opera, 113, 217; in New York City, 223; in Paris, 94, 110, 113, 216, 217; in Philadelphia, xvi, 532; politics and, 529 Thompson, Helen (sister of Ann Thompson Gerry), 205–206, 331, 440 Thompson, Jacob (Phila. physician), 278, 280 Thompson, James (of N.Y.), 331, 332 Thomson, James: “Britannia,” 373, 375; The Seasons, 253 Thornton, Edward (secy. to Brit. legation in U.S.), 480, 498, 499, 516; identified, 482 Thornton, William (Washington, D.C., architect), 460 Thrasybulus (pseudonym), 445, 446 Three Friends (ship), 4 Thulemeier, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von (Prussian minister to the Netherlands), 455 Tillotson, Rev. John: “Sermon XCIII,” 92, 93 Tilney House (Brit. estate), 221 Times (London), 240, 241 Tirrell, Nathan (father of Rebeckah, Adams farmhand), 62, 153, 201, 437, 512 Tirrell, Rebeckah (Becky, Adams servant): Adamses’ presidential household and, 70, 288; correspondence with N. Tirrell, 209; health of, 39, 70, 143, 212; travel of, 84, 98, 100 Tisdale, Alice Street (wife of Mace), 159; identified, 160 Tisdale, Mace (of Easton, Mass.), 160 Tobacco, 55, 535 Tracy, Uriah (Conn. senator): E. Gerry nomination and, 170; Reflections on Monroe’s View, of the Conduct of the Executive, 446, 450, 456, 476, 487, 488; as Scipio, 445, 446, 450, 456, 476, 487, 488; letter to AA listed (1798), 550 Trade and commerce: TBA on U.S., 36; between Britain and East Indies, 343; embargoes of, 197, 198, 380, 506–507, 515; European war and, 271, 431; possible Franco-American war and, 78, 199, 523; French attacks on, xxi, xxii, 35–36, 37, 40, 68, 147, 150, 163, 194, 278, 343, 356, 373,

389, 438, 441, 446, 458, 481, 501; Hanseatic League, 85; Jay Treaty and, xxi, 239– 40; neutral nations and, 431, 433; protection of U.S., 150, 154–55, 293, 309, 314, 373, 389, 390, 419, 431–32, 441, 454, 455, 458, 465, 466, 469, 474, 480, 513–14, 515, 521, 523; Scheldt River and, 433; in slaves, 295; as source of U.S. revenue, 419; in U.S., 237, 322, 403, 419, 444, 515, 533; between U.S. and Britain, xxi, 36, 37, 295; between U.S. and East Indies, 154–55; between U.S. and Europe, 36, 83, 370, 374, 500; between U.S. and Mediterranean, 155, 282; between U.S. and West Indies, 155; in U.S. arms, 150, 151, 167. See also Ships and shipping Tradespeople and artisans: AA saluted by, 537; apprentices, 246, 330, 347; booksellers and stationers, 305; brewers and distillers, 243, 306, 317; coachmakers, 154, 155, 161, 268; coachmen, 51, 384; draftsmen, xiii; druggists, 519, 540; engravers, 229, 532; glaziers, 473; horse dealers, 40; housewrights, 128; innkeepers and tavern keepers, 328, 406; mantua makers, 157; painters, 473, 488; porters, 251; quarrymen, 416; seamstresses, 172–73; shipwrights, xv; shoemakers (cordwainers), 46, 324, 329, 515; shopkeepers, 294, 406, 419; stocking weavers, 283; stonemasons, 201, 311, 416; surveyors, 418; tailors, 157; tanners and leather dressers, 316, 406; mentioned, 1–2 Transylvania University, 305 Trask, Samuel (Adams farmhand), 22, 23, 44 Travel: TBA on, 216; by boat, 70, 80, 82, 92, 175, 243, 384, 436; by carriage, 10, 32, 39– 40, 51, 70, 82, 88, 93–94, 175, 216, 235, 260, 261, 313, 384, 508, 509; by chaise, 250, 251, 348; cost of, 82, 102; delays in, 93–94, 193; by ferry, 301; health and, 15, 104, 117, 130, 160, 182, 202, 208, 212, 243, 288, 295, 308, 384, 396; by horse, 32, 250, 260, 261; permits for, ix, 83, 84, 94, 108, 109 (illus.), 112, 369, 371, 437, 499, 501; post roads, 259; road conditions, 18, 87, 104, 117, 130, 157, 160, 352, 384, 418, 437, 444, 465, 468, 486, 509; by sleigh, 46, 387, 404, 405, 414, 415; by stagecoach, 61, 80, 81, 82, 84, 93, 117, 216, 258; transatlantic, 14, 15, 43, 92, 129, 238, 316, 432; weather affects, 15, 26, 80, 87, 104, 108, 117, 156, 159, 175, 195, 210, 212, 242, 243, 244, 260, 338, 348–49, 352, 384, 386, 387, 418, 436, 486 Treasury Department, U.S.: JQA’s salary and, 503; assistant secretary of, 368, 370; inspectors of excise, xxv, 206, 207; public

624

Index funds, 387, 418–19; reports to Congress on stamp tax, 420; secretaries of, 345, 368, 411. See also Wolcott, Oliver, Jr. Treaties: Algerian-American Treaty of Peace and Amity (1795), 37; Franco-American Treaties (1778), 50, 196, 446; FrancoGenoese Provisional Treaty (1797), 175; Franco-Portuguese Treaty (1797), 240, 391, 470, 526–27; rumored Franco-Prussian, 165; Franco-Prussian Treaty (1795), 342; Franco-Prussian Treaty (1796), 272; Jay Treaty (1795), xxi, 3, 10, 19, 53, 151, 165, 202, 214, 239–40, 257, 309, 370, 413, 458, 466, 476–77, 514; Pinckney Treaty (1795), 156, 202, 309, 314, 390–91, 438, 439–40; Prussian-American Treaty (1785), 118, 136, 140, 150, 213, 214, 355, 356, 454, 455; Prussian-American Treaty (1799), 355, 356; Swedish-American Treaty (1783), 118, 422, 449–50, 451, 454, 455; Swedish-American Treaty (1816), 455; Treaty of Campo Formio (1797), 95, 272, 343, 430, 433; Treaty of Leoben (1797), 95, 102, 124, 272; Treaty of Münster (1648), 433; Tripolitan-American Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1797), 37; Tunisian-American Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1797), 37; U.S. commercial, 427 Trenton, N.J., 286, 301, 302 Tripoli. See Barbary States Trist, Hore Browse (of Phila.), 285, 286; identified, 287 Truguet, Laurent Jean François (French minister of the marine), 196 Tudor, William (Boston lawyer), 299, 300 Tufts, Dr. Cotton (1732–1815, uncle and cousin of AA): on AA, 151; AA sends money to, 198, 199, 382, 383, 473; AA sends publications to, 383, 504; on JA’s presidency, 151–52, 513; advises AA on farm management, 1, 22–23, 44, 71; as agent for Adamses, 63, 81, 125, 126, 127–28, 153, 199, 251, 267, 279, 326, 360, 361, 375, 383, 436; on Congress, 283, 425; correspondence with AA, xiii, xv, xx, 144, 198, 219, 220, 311, 376, 383, 402, 403, 446, 447, 470, 473, 488, 489, 512, 513, 514, 519, 523, 524, 531, 536, 537, 539, 540; correspondence with JA, 23, 153, 162, 361, 382, 383, 505, 506; correspondence with Mary Cranch, 446; correspondence with N. Webster, 424, 425; family of, 537, 540; on frigate Constitution, xv; health of, 538; letter writing of, 153, 311; manages AA’s investments, 321, 382, 446, 447, 473; manages Adamses’ properties, xx, 127–28, 152–53, 198, 219, 220, 262, 263, 282–

83, 297, 299, 311–12, 360, 376, 414, 424, 436, 439, 512, 531; manages Adamses’ tenants and farmhands, 152, 153, 282, 283, 297, 360–61, 424, 425, 472, 473, 488, 512; on J. Norton’s fast day sermon, 540; oversees construction at Peacefield, 127–28, 160–61, 162, 198, 263, 266, 267, 310–11, 321, 382, 446, 447, 472, 473, 512, 519–20, 524, 536, 537, 539–40; seeks advice from JA, 361, 424; sends letter of recommendation to JA, 506; Charles Smith’s death and, 347; treats Adams farmhands, 539; on Susanna Tufts, 473; visits Boston, 348–49; S. Warner and, 162, 405; on XYZ Affair, 512; letters to AA listed (1797), 548; (1798), 551; letter to JA listed (1798), 550; letters from AA listed (1798), 551, 552; letters from JA listed (1797), 547; (1798), 550 Letters: To AA (1797), 151, 310; (1798), 472, 511; To JA (1797), 127, 282, 311; (1798), 360, 424 Letters: From AA (1797), 160, 198, 263, 321; (1798), 382, 504; From JA (1797), 297 Tufts, Cotton, Jr. (1757–1833, cousin of AA), 383, 536, 537 Tufts, Lucy Quincy (1729–1785, 1st wife of Cotton, Sr., and aunt of AA), 537, 540 Tufts, Mercy Brooks (1763–1849, wife of Cotton, Jr.), 383 Tufts, Sally (daughter of Samuel), 228, 230, 540 Tufts, Samuel (1735–1799, brother of Cotton, Sr., and cousin of AA), 228, 230, 538, 540 Tufts, Simon (son of Samuel), 228, 540; identified, 230 Tufts, Susanna Warner (1744–1832, 2d wife of Cotton, Sr.), 117, 162, 348–49, 415, 473, 538 Tunis. See Barbary States Turkey, 447 Turner, Elisha (of Milton), 127, 152, 153 Tyrol, Austria, 69 Ulster, Ireland, 199 Union (ship), 205, 206 United States: AA on, 178, 192, 199, 203, 320, 390, 422, 481–82; JA on, 72; JA’s accounts with, 143, 199; JA’s service to, 17, 44, 80; JQA on duty to, 232; Anglo-French negotiations and, 129; art and architecture in, 319, 320; attitudes toward Britain in, 170, 278, 410, 507, 532; attitudes toward France in, xiv, 50, 68, 77, 80, 107, 126, 127, 139, 140–41, 147, 150, 151, 164, 166, 170, 179, 208, 212, 224, 225, 257, 278, 304–305, 317, 335, 354, 356–57, 375, 389, 392, 393, 398, 429, 482, 489, 501, 503, 504, 505, 507, 515,

625

Adams Family Correspondence 525, 527, 528, 537, 539; attitudes toward government of, 151–52, 211, 277, 291, 392, 396, 441, 506–507, 510; banking and finances of, 293, 418–19, 420; Blount affair and, x–xi, 190, 202; borders and frontier of, 156, 309, 354, 355, 403, 439–40, 445–46; British actions toward, 141, 413, 521; British influence on, 254, 319, 320; class divisions in, 50, 125, 532; consuls from, 29, 85, 95, 124, 233, 309, 384, 385; defense of, xxii, 118, 127, 150–51, 173, 202, 257, 271, 309, 314, 380, 418, 420, 441–42, 448, 451, 458, 466, 467, 477, 481, 482, 492, 496, 498, 501, 505, 516; desire for peace in, 72–73, 129, 138, 164, 167, 278, 307, 344, 467, 469, 470, 480, 482, 489, 515, 527, 529; diplomatic appointments of, xix, xxi, 12, 13, 19, 21, 22, 26, 28, 30, 33, 34, 38, 50, 52, 55, 56, 95, 101, 107, 111–12, 113, 118, 124, 135, 136, 140, 147, 150, 151, 163, 164, 166, 168, 197, 203, 204, 212, 213, 224, 231, 256, 269, 282, 285, 370, 375, 389, 427, 449–50, 451, 454, 511; diplomatic appointments to, 7, 30, 35, 195, 196, 202, 396, 480, 482; Dutch loans to, 29, 30, 81, 135, 137, 414; European interest in elections of, 26, 58, 120, 165; lack of European news in, 32, 44, 77, 136, 269; European war and, 91, 161, 199, 309, 427; fashion in, 356, 447; female representations of, 53; flags of, xvi; foreign influence on, 11, 74, 80, 138, 146, 188, 207–208, 249, 309, 438, 441, 449, 489, 501; French actions toward, xxv, 83, 113, 118, 125, 126, 141, 145, 146, 147–48, 163, 165, 167, 189, 195, 196, 216, 224, 225, 291, 449, 451, 454–55, 467, 481, 483, 486, 488, 489, 490, 496, 498, 499, 502, 506, 512–13, 515, 527, 528, 529, 540; French attitudes toward, xxii, 68, 354, 438; French debt to citizens of, 147, 148, 165; French influence on, xxviii–xxix, 29, 31–32, 35, 37, 51, 118, 124, 147, 155, 165, 195, 214, 254, 278, 353, 354, 428, 431, 432, 437, 443, 447, 449, 453, 455, 458, 472, 477, 480, 485, 486, 488, 493, 496, 505, 520, 523, 529; French loans to, 148; government of, 10, 61, 80, 135, 148, 208, 235–36, 398, 476; immigration to, xii, xv, xvi, xvii, 11, 26, 30, 43, 53, 91, 92, 107, 178, 186, 187, 203, 204, 239, 261, 273, 304, 317, 320, 350, 371, 382, 385, 386, 418, 441, 449, 466, 532; legal dispute between British firms and, 295; military strength of, 36, 140–41; Mississippi River and, 202–203, 390–91; national capital for, 182, 183, 189; neutrality of, 11, 125, 354, 389, 390, 467, 480; partisanship in, xiv, xix, xxi, 33, 38, 71, 74, 80, 125, 165, 204, 207–208, 254, 317, 368,

379, 413, 428, 441, 443, 458, 473–74, 494, 496, 502, 506, 527, 529; patriotic songs, xvi– xvii, 529, 530 (illus.); people of, xxiii, 56, 61, 62, 163, 168, 187, 202, 254, 278, 305, 335, 375, 438, 467, 474, 504–505, 510, 527, 529; postmaster general, 219; privateering by citizens of, 35–36, 37, 151, 167; regional divisions in, 124, 279–80, 293, 380, 399, 447; relations with Barbary States, 34, 37, 101, 282; relations with Britain, 53, 166, 239–40, 370, 372, 374; relations with France, xxi, 5, 11, 19, 22, 26, 36, 50, 56, 57, 67–68, 88, 107, 113, 118, 129, 141, 157, 172, 174, 179, 194, 196, 214, 239–40, 257, 342, 370, 372, 373, 374, 392, 465, 467, 491–92, 498, 504; relations with Native Americans, 390–91, 404, 418, 420, 445–46, 448; relations with Netherlands, 271, 427, 466; relations with Portugal, 427; relations with Prussia, 118, 140, 213, 355, 356, 370, 372, 373–74, 375, 413, 427, 500, 511; relations with Spain, 155, 156, 202–203, 309, 314, 370, 390–91, 438, 439– 40, 466; relations with Sweden, 118, 422, 449–50, 451, 452, 455; religion in, xiv–xv, 125, 398, 472; study of botany in, 233; taxes in, 206, 207, 293, 418, 420, 427, 458, 459; U.S. marshals, 3; possible war with France, xix, 35, 49, 71, 72–73, 77, 78, 101, 126, 127, 134, 140, 147–48, 151, 155, 156, 189, 195, 199, 317, 428, 436, 438, 448, 451, 454, 457– 58, 466, 467–68, 470, 480, 481, 482, 496, 507, 515, 517, 521, 523, 529, 533. See also First Mission to France; Ships and shipping; Trade and commerce United States (U.S. frigate), 449, 450 U.S. government. See names of individual branches and departments Unity, N.H., 466 University of Aberdeen, 305 University of Pennsylvania, 8, 509 Valenciennes, France, ix, 82, 93 Vandyke, Mr., 42–43 Varnum, Gen. Joseph Bradley (Mass. representative), 139, 147, 161, 357, 399, 400, 470 Veasey, Lt. Elijah (of Quincy), 153; identified, 154 Veasey, Jerusha Boylston (1719–1797, aunt of JA), 3, 4, 19 Venable, Abraham Bedford (Va. representative), 413 Veneto, Italy, 95, 124, 272, 340 Venice, Italy, 123, 124, 174, 272, 430–31 Ventujol, Antoine Joseph (of Raincy), 218 Vergennes, Charles Gravier, Comte de (French foreign minister), 218

626

Index Vermont, xiii, xiv, 381 (illus.), 417, 418, 523 Verona, Italy, 124 Versailles, France, 215 Vestris, Marie Auguste (French dancer), 110; identified, 113 Vice Presidency, U.S.: AA on, 322; JA and T. Jefferson compared, 219, 220; anthem of, xvii; European interest in election to, 24, 120; T. Jefferson’s election to, 52, 129; presidency and, 3, 52, 129, 148, 182; as president of Senate, 220; swearing in of, 28, 29. See also JA—Public Life: Vice Presidency; Jefferson, Thomas Victor Amadeus III, King of Sardinia, 174 Vienna, Austria, 123 Vining, John (Del. senator), 380, 519 Vinton, John, Jr. (Adams tenant), 1 Virginia: AA on, 125; capital punishment in, 55; congressional delegation of, xiv, 140, 147, 295, 357, 358, 370, 472, 519; Federalist Party in, 141, 344, 357; governors of, 344, 345; gubernatorial election in, 344; lawyers in, 19, 139, 141; merchants in, 95; newspapers in, 280, 317; service in legislature of, 141, 148; ships of, 18, 91, 129; slave trade in, 295 Virginia Gazette, 445, 446 Volney, Constantin François (French historian and politician): identified, 179 Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de, 108, 110, 112; Age of Louis XIV, 169, 170–71 Vose, John (Atkinson Academy preceptor), 228, 246, 253, 365–66; identified, 229 Vries, Capt. de (of the Alexander), 175 Wadsworth, Gen. Peleg (Mass. representative), 228, 230 Waldo, John Jones (shipping agent), 95; identified, 85 Wales, 348. See also Great Britain Walker, Benjamin (of N.Y.): identified, 74 Walker, Samuel (Vt. lawyer and teacher), 417; identified, 418 Wallace, Charles (Md. merchant), 534, 535– 36 Wallace, Mary Bull Ranken (wife of Charles), 534, 535–36 Walter, Rev. William (of Boston), 295; letter to AA listed (1797), 550 Ware, Rev. Henry (of Hingham), 349, 350, 359 Warner, Elias Elwell (father of Susanna), 162 Warner, Hannah Gould (mother of Susanna), 162 Warner, Susanna (Sukey, niece of Susanna Warner Tufts): identified, 162; baptism of,

415, 416; Mary Cranch on, 465, 537–38; death of, 537, 540; health of, 405, 414–15, 426, 465, 473, 487, 513, 522, 524 War of 1812, xvi Warren, Henry (son of James), 528 Warren, James (Mass. politician), 9, 248, 495, 528 Warren, Marcia Otis (daughter of Henry), 8, 9, 528 Warren, Mary Winslow (wife of Henry), 528 Warren, Mercy Otis (wife of James): AA and granddaughter of, 8; AA on, 48, 71; JA on, 59, 60; on JA’s election, 9, 48, 71; Adamses’ relationship with, 9, 48, 247, 248, 528; correspondence with AA, 9, 48, 50, 59, 71, 72, 248, 528; correspondence with JA, 495; enters Harvard lottery, 8, 9, 48; health of, 494, 495; political views of, 494; quotes JA’s Thoughts on Government, 495; letters to AA listed (1797), 546, 549 Letter: To AA (1798), 494 Letters: From AA (1797), 8, 247; (1798), 526 Washington, George: AA on, 6, 8, 29, 48, 172, 322, 419; JA on, 9, 63, 77, 281, 282; JA’s inauguration and presidency and, 4, 7, 9–10, 17, 21, 38, 48, 129, 157, 172, 182, 290, 445; JQA on, 255, 410; JQA’s career and, 5, 173, 280, 281; TBA on, 394; addresses Congress, 52; appointments by, 35, 207; birthday of celebrated, 2–3, 4, 6, 16, 19, 38, 40, 402–403, 419–20, 438, 439, 442, 445; correspondence of, 5, 6, 7, 45, 172; Farewell Address, 48, 50; finances of, 143, 144, 535; forged letters denounced by, 19–20; French attitudes toward, 195, 458; J. Hancock and New England visit of, 419, 421; military and public service of, 7, 19; patronage of, 141, 256, 270, 281, 282, 368–69, 394, 422– 23; portrait and statue of, 6, 235; President’s House (Phila.) and, 7, 10, 17, 18, 23, 44–45, 63, 143; prohibits arming of merchant ships, 454, 458; public attitudes toward, 4, 7, 10, 17, 21, 40, 48, 52, 66, 144, 157, 182, 208, 235, 257, 290, 320, 362, 368, 370, 394, 411, 487; retirement of, 4, 7, 10, 17, 18, 29, 32, 52, 66; secretaries for, 19; social activities of, xxiv, 38, 171, 534; songs celebrating, xvi; on U.S. affairs, 172; Washington, D.C., and, 182, 305, 319, 535 Washington, Martha Dandridge Custis (wife of George): AA on, 9, 435; Fourth of July celebrations of, xxiv; granddaughters of, 407, 445; health of, 182; public attitudes toward, 66, 182; returns to Mount Vernon, 10, 17, 18, 182

627

Adams Family Correspondence Washington, D.C.: AA on, 183; JA and, 182, 305, 318–19; Adamses’ possible visit to, 63, 64, 182, 183, 319; brewery and distillery in, 304, 306; climate of, 183; commissioners of, 178, 188, 189, 234, 237, 305, 306, 420, 421, 444–45, 460; William Cranch’s residence in, x, 184, 219, 303, 442, 444, 486; Dalton family’s residence in, 181, 183; financing for development of, 306, 418–19, 420–21, 460; Johnson family’s residence in, 239, 292, 293, 299; justices of the peace in, 304, 317; land speculation in, x, 144, 186, 237, 460; lawyers in, 535; merchants and commerce of, 237, 533, 535; newspapers in, 291, 318; politics in, 304, 317; Potomac River and, 178; public buildings in, 189; road conditions in, 444; treasurer of, 234; as U.S. capital, x, 182, 183, 189, 210, 305, 319; U.S. Capitol, 460; G. Washington and, 182, 305, 319, 535 Washington Gazette: AA on, 318; JQA’s writings in, 188, 189, 292; “Aristides” articles in, 293, 304, 317; Blount affair reported in, 212; William Cranch and, 212, 303–304, 305; dispute between Greenleaf, Morris, and Nicholson reported in, 143, 144 Watertown, Mass., 222 Watson, Elkanah, Jr. (merchant), 72–73 Watts, Isaac: Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in Three Books, 538, 540; Psalms of David, 466, 468, 485, 486 Way, Dr. Nicholas (of Phila.), 278, 280 Wayles, John (father-in-law of Thomas Jefferson), 295 Wayne, Maj. Gen. Anthony (U.S.), 403 Weather: cold, 23, 50, 54, 79, 130, 139, 171, 182, 190, 261, 297, 302, 311, 312, 322, 332, 333, 349, 384, 387, 388, 405, 416, 444, 473, 511, 514; damage caused by, 219, 220; damp, 153, 338, 473; dry, 228, 283, 360; fair, 24, 42, 190, 258, 356, 384, 418, 511–12, 514; farmwork affected by, 23, 54, 79, 130, 153, 283, 311–12, 360, 436, 465, 475, 512, 514; freeze and frost, 307, 321, 329, 356, 376; hail, 218, 219, 220, 475, 510; health affected by, 42, 79, 99, 131, 163, 182–83, 199, 202, 203, 208, 209, 211, 223, 228, 261, 297, 307, 313, 322, 328, 329, 334, 349, 389, 473, 533; heat, 62, 79, 99, 103, 142, 159, 160, 171, 197, 199, 202, 203, 209, 210, 211, 228, 328, 444, 473, 475, 486, 537; mail delivery affected by, 24, 32, 352, 356, 376, 401, 437; rain, 54, 104, 117, 139, 156, 218, 241, 258, 261, 384, 444, 455, 475, 486; snow, 79, 80, 297, 333, 348, 356, 387, 425, 455, 475, 511; storms, 259, 312, 369, 415, 488, 511; thaw, 12, 418; thunder

and lightning, 218, 220, 261–62, 444, 525; travel affected by, 15, 26, 80, 87, 104, 108, 117, 156, 159, 175, 195, 210, 212, 242, 243, 244, 260, 321–22, 338, 348–49, 352, 384, 386, 387, 418, 436, 486; wind, 15, 24, 26, 32, 54, 175, 195, 212, 218, 243, 244, 261, 262, 333, 384, 486 Weatherill, Samuel (of Phila.), 519 Webb, Deacon Jonathan (of Quincy), 315, 326, 327; identified, 316 Webb, Nancy Nash (wife of Deacon Jonathan), 315; identified, 316 Webster, Mary Peabody (Polly, wife of Stephen): marriage of, 362, 366, 400, 456, 476; Elizabeth Shaw and, 365; social activities of, 185, 228; mentioned, 186 Webster, Noah (N.Y. printer): JQA’s writings and, 290; Mary Cranch on, 298; W. Cranch and possible Boston newspaper of, 176, 178, 201, 219, 298, 300; Grammatical Institute of the English Language, 229, 230; Greenleaf family and, 176, 298; History of the Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases, 424, 425; marriage of, 178; moves to New Haven, 178; Peter Porcupine and, 189; as publisher of Herald, 176, 178, 188, 194, 201; as publisher of Minerva, 48, 50, 176, 178, 188, 201. See also Herald; Minerva Webster, Rebecca Greenleaf (wife of Noah), 178 Webster, Stephen Peabody (of Haverhill, N.H.), 362, 366, 400, 456, 476; identified, 367 Weddings: JQA and LCA (1797), 221; cost of, 349, 350; William Cranch and Anna Greenleaf (1795), x; Luther Little and Hannah Lovell (1798), 349, 350. See also Marriages Wednesday Evening Club (Boston), 6, 7 Welles (Wells), Arnold, Jr. (Mass. politician), 197; identified, 198 Welsh, Abigail Kent (wife of Dr. Thomas, cousin of AA), 6, 28, 30, 275, 294, 328, 350 Welsh, Charlotte (daughter of Dr. Thomas), 6 Welsh, Harriet (daughter of Dr. Thomas), 6 Welsh, Capt. Robert (of the Betsey), 302 Welsh, Dr. Thomas (of Boston): JA’s presidency and, 21, 138, 380; as agent for Adamses, 137, 154, 306, 352, 363–65, 375, 450; correspondence with AA, 166, 364; correspondence with JA, 21; correspondence with JQA, 364; on Democratic-Republican press, 137; finances of, 363, 364; Middlesex Canal and, 166; letter to AA listed (1797), 548; mentioned, 510 Letters: To AA (1797), 137, 165

628

Index Letters: From AA (1797), 146; From JQA (1798), 363 Welsh, Thomas, Jr. (1779–1831, son of Dr. Thomas), 136 Wescott, Elizabeth (of Phila.), 208, 452, 453, 483 West, 124, 293, 304. See also names of individual states and territories West Florida, x West Indies: attitudes toward U.S. in, 194– 95; commissioners of, 194; produce of, 55, 70, 153; U.S. shipping attacked in, 40, 155, 194–95; U.S. trade with, 40, 155; yellow fever in, 329, 383. See also names of individual islands Weston, Mass., 99 Wethersfield, Conn., 260 Weymouth, Mass.: First Church, 415, 416; North Weymouth Cemetery, 540; storekeepers in, 537; visitors to, 47, 220, 348, 415; mentioned, 127, 297, 350, 360 Wheaton, Henry (U.S. minister to Prussia), 375 Whitcomb, Tilly (JQA’s servant), 100, 101, 128, 342, 412, 536 White, Alexander (Washington, D.C., commissioner), 460 White, Leonard, Sr. (1767–1849, of Haverhill, Mass.), 228, 229 White, Leonard, Jr. (1796–1824, son of Leonard, Sr.), 228; identified, 229 White, Mary (daughter of Leonard, Sr.), 228; identified, 229 White, Mary Dalton (wife of Leonard, Sr.), 228, 229, 459 Whitelaw, James (surveyor general of Vermont): identified, 418 Letter: From CA (1798), 417 Whitman, Anna. See Baxter, Anna Whitman Whitman, Anna (wife of Terah), 300 Whitman, Elizabeth S. Winslow (wife of Kilborn), 275; identified, 276 Whitman, Rev. Kilborn (of Pembroke, Mass.): identified, 276; AA on, 323; Adamses and, 315; as candidate for Quincy ministry, 275, 276, 288, 315, 322–23, 324, 326, 327, 334, 349; Mary Cranch on, 275, 315, 326–27, 539; preaches in Quincy, 276, 327, 334, 349, 465, 488; as possible Quincy schoolmaster, 465; studies law, 326 Whitman, Terah (of Bridgewater, Mass.), 300 Whitney, Rev. Peter, Sr. (1744–1816, of Northborough, Mass., father of Peter, Jr.), 132, 134 Whitney, Rev. Peter, Jr. (1770–1843, of

Quincy): AA on, 142, 367; as candidate for Quincy ministry, 97, 103, 104, 118, 131– 32, 133, 142, 349, 357, 367; Mary Cranch on, 132, 488; Susanna Hall’s funeral and, 87, 97; preaches in Quincy, 103, 131–32; resides in John Quincy Adams Birthplace, 137; travels of, 103, 132 Wibird, Rev. Anthony (of Braintree), 104, 133, 300, 314, 335, 357, 406 Wichelhausen, Frederich Jacob (U.S. consul at Bremen), 380 Wikoff, Henry (son of Peter): identified, 453 Wikoff, Peter (Phila. merchant), 453 Wilkes, Charles (cashier at Bank of New York), 15; identified, 16 Wilkinson, Gen. James (U.S.), 403–404; identified, 403 Willard, Rev. Joseph (pres. of Harvard), 279, 307, 308–309, 353 William III, King of England, Prince of Orange, 331 William V, Prince of Orange, 122, 271, 272, 431, 506 William IX, Count of Hesse-Cassel, 340; identified, 343 William Penn (ship), 15, 31, 287, 308 Williams, Elisha (of Scotland Neck, N.C.), 477, 480 Williams, Francis (brother of Samuel), 384; identified, 385 Williams, George (Marlborough, Mass., tavern keeper), 222; identified, 100 Williams, Helen Maria: Residence in France, During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795, 336, 337 Williams, Samuel (U.S. consul at Hamburg), 233, 355, 364, 380, 384, 385 Williams, William (son of Elisha), 477; identified, 480 Willig, George (of Phila.): identified, xvii; “The President’s March” and, xvii, 530 (illus.) Willing, Thomas (of Phila.), 421 Willink, Wilhem & Jan (Amsterdam banking firm), 58, 135, 231, 233, 363, 364 Wills, Capt. Thomas (of the Grace), 69, 200 Wills and estates: of S. Bayard, 287; of A. Colson, 404, 406; executors for N. W. Appleton, 134; executors for J. Johnson, 91, 92, 129, 243, 260; of J. Wayles, 295 Wilmington, Del., 444 Wilson, James (U.S. Supreme Court justice), 10, 453, 483, 484 Wilson, Mary (Polly, daughter of James), 452, 483; identified, 453 Wilson, Rachel Bird (1st wife of James), 453

629

Adams Family Correspondence Winslow, Elizabeth Stockbridge (wife of Isaac), 276 Winslow, Dr. Isaac (of Marshfield, Mass.), 276 Witt, Johan de (17th-century grand pensionary), 398, 400 Wolcott, Elizabeth Stoughton (wife of Oliver, Jr.), 192 Wolcott, Oliver, Sr. (1726–1797, father of Oliver, Jr.), 400 Wolcott, Oliver, Jr. (1760–1833, U.S. secy. of the treasury): JA’s absence from Philadelphia and, 192, 247; JQA and, 279, 503; JQA’s dispatches to and from, 37, 136, 137; Adamses entertain, 125; advises JA, 207, 279; appointment of, 368; correspondence with G. Washington, 172; T. Coxe and, 368; Dutch-American loan and, 137; submits report on stamp tax to Congress, 420. See also Treasury Department, U.S. Wolcott, Roger (father of Oliver, Sr.), 400 Women: AA on, 54; American Revolution and, xxiv, 145, 146; attend JA’s inauguration, 10; books and, 43, 58; clothing and fashion for, 356, 447, 453; as cooks, 172; education of, 58, 93; enfranchisement of, 288, 289; as housekeepers, 350, 351, 508–509, 521; inheritances of, 40; as nurses, 251, 252,

358; paid work of, 246, 275, 369, 377, 522; prostitutes, 107; seamstresses, 172–73; as servants, 38, 125, 172; as wet nurses, 324, 332–33, 346, 348, 350–51, 405, 507–508; as wives, 79, 494, 534. See also Domestic work Wood, Col. David (of Charlestown), 40 Wood, James (gov. of Va.): identified, 345 Wood: as charity, 313, 327, 333, 350, 357, 377, 522; collecting of, 22, 312, 436; cost of, 436; fencing, 153; storage of, 161, 162, 198, 310, 311, 472; as term of lease, 22; mentioned, 352 Worcester, Mass., 99, 261 Wotherspoon, Thomas (Phila. merchant), 371 WSS. See Smith, William Stephens (1755– 1816) Wyer, Edward (of Boston), 510; identified, 511 Yard, Capt. Edward (of the Asia), 198 York, House of, 69 York, Penn., 518, 519, 520 Young, Alexander (Boston printer), 157. See also Massachusetts Mercury Young, Edward: Love of Fame, 9; Night Thoughts, 99, 100, 163, 165, 286, 287, 423, 424 Zürich, Switzerland, 429

630

The Adams Family Correspondence was composed in the Adams Papers office using Microsoft Office Professional with style sheets and programs created by Technologies ’N Typography of Merrimac, Massachusetts. The text is set in eleven on twelve and one half point using the Linotype-Hell Postscript revival of Fairfield Medium, a design by Rudolph Ruzicka that includes swash characters especially designed for The Adams Papers. The printing and binding are by Sheridan Books of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The paper, made by Finch, Pruyn & Company and distributed by Lindenmeyr Munroe, is a grade named Finch Fine Vanilla. The books were originally designed by P. J. Conkwright and Burton L. Stratton. 

631