Adams Family Correspondence, volume 9
ante 8] September 17901
I received with great Pleasure your Letter of the 9 of August, inclosing a Receipt from Mr Parsons for one hundred Pounds lawful Money, which you paid him in the month of August, Second day, in full for your Tuition as a Clerk in his office for the term of three Years.2
I learned, with Pleasure also, that on the 9th of August you took Possession of an office in my house, where I wish you more pleasure and as much Profit as I once had.
At the Age of 23, My son, I know by Experience, that in the Profession of the Law, a Man is not to expect a run of Business, nor indeed enough to afford him a subsistence. I mean to assist you, till you can do without my Aid: I only ask of you to recollect that my Circumstances are not affluent: that you have Brothers and a sister who are equally intitled to assistance from me: and that therefore as 106Strict an Œconomy as is consistent with your Comfort and with decency is necessary.
There is a Pew in an Obscure Corner of Mr Thatchers Church which belongs to me.3 My Advice to you is to acquaint the Family in Possession of it, that you have the Care of it. indeed I would have you take Possession of it, and Sit in it— The Contribution I had rather pay than that you should not have a known Seat in some Meeting.
You are happy in a Connection with Dr Welsh. He is a Man of Sense and Information in publick as well as private affairs, and will be a worthy Friend to you. I hope he will introduce you to his Clubb:4 and I know that it will be in his Power and inclination to promote your Reputation.
Dread not “unmerited Enmity” nor “unprovoked Ma[li]ce” “Industry” and “honour” will dissipate every Vapour of those kinds. Patience will be necessary. You must take large draughts of Patience. nothing is to be done in this World with out that.
If you meddle with political subjects, let me Advise you to never loose sight of Decorum. Assume a Dignity above all Personal Reflections: and avoid as much as possible a Party Spirit. The true Interest and honour of your Country should be your only Object. And may you be a Terror to those evil Doers, to whom Truth and Falshood are equally but sport, honour but a Phantom, and their own insignificant importance their only objects. The hands of two many such Creatures appear in some of the Boston Newspapers.5
I shall give you the Care of my House where you are and will send you a Power for that Purpose.6 fifteen Pounds is too much to be deducted out of 36 for your office. I had however rather apply the whole 36 to your accommodation there than that you should go any where else.
Your communications on political subjects, will always be agreable.
Your Brother Charles is uncommonly assiduous in his office, and very attentive to his studies. He is acquiring [a] Reputation for the Ease and Elegance of his manners as well as for the solidity of his Pursuits.
I am uneasy at the Delay of your Brother Tho[mas.] I long to See you, as well as my Aged venerable, beloved Mother and all my other dear friends Around the Blue Hills.
I am with the tenderest Affection / your Father
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “John Quincy Adams / Attorney at Law / Boston”; internal address: “Mr J. Q. Adams.”; endorsed: “My Father. September 1790.”; notation: “Free / John Adams.” Filmed at Sept. 1790. Some loss of text due to placement and removal of the seal.
The letter is dated based on the receipt of TBA's letter on 8 Sept. informing his parents he would soon arrive in New York; see AA to JQA, 9 Sept., below.
In his letter of 9 Aug., JQA expressed gratitude for his father's ongoing financial support: “After all the trouble, and all the expence which you have so liberally bestowed upon my education, I am sensible, that I cannot with a very good grace acknowledge my dependence upon your further assistance, and that at the age of 23 it is incumbent upon a man to rely for his subsistence, only upon his own exertions. But my confidence in your goodness is too well grounded, not to be convinced, that you will make every necessary allowance for the peculiar circumstances in my education which have retarded my advancement, and for the unfavourable situation of the profession which I have embraced” (Adams Papers). For the enclosure, see JA to JQA, 1 April, note 1, above.
The Adamses attended the Brattle Square Church when they lived in Boston prior to the Revolution. Dr. Samuel Cooper, the minister at the time and a friend of JA, baptized CA (JA, Papers
, 2:viii–ix; The Manifesto Church: Records of the Church in Brattle Square, Boston, 1902, p. 186).
For the Wednesday Evening Club, of which Welsh was a founding member, see vol. 6:355.
In a letter to JQA of 5 Sept., AA similarly noted, “Pray who is the writer, if it was not vulgar I would say the Liar in Edes paper under the signature of a Republican? Boston has justly the Character of the Nest of Sedition. There are no papers throughout the United States half as virulent, but the Government stands now too strong, for these wrestless Spirits to overturn” (Adams Papers). In the Boston Gazette, 16 Aug., “A Republican” attacked the editor of the Boston Columbian Centinel, accusing him of forwarding “the views of the artful and designing Aristocraticks” by suggesting that the supporters of the Constitution, in order to win the endorsement of their opponents, promised additional amendments without ever intending to pursue their adoption.
JA signed a power of attorney giving JQA control over the Court Street house on 1 June 1791 (Adams Papers).
br9
th1790
yesterday mr Howard arrived here and brought me Letters from your Brother Thomas, and one from you to Charles—1 I was rejoiced to find that he was on his way here, as the delay had been the source of a good deal of uneasiness. I am fully of your mind with regard to Thomas, and know that if he studies Law it will be a force to his inclinations. the want of capital I Suppose is one great objection to Merchandise, but I think a young man who is dilligent and attentive to Buisness may make his way very [wel]l in a country like this, or suppose your Father was to send him to Holland & place him with the Willinks.2 I think as far as I can judge, that it would be the best method to promote his interest. you and I know Thomas so well, as to feel satisfied that he would be steady industerous and indefatigable in his persuits, but at the same time you know that advising to a measure against which some objections arise, in case 108of failure the adviser must bear the blame. I have sometimes found great address necessary to carry a point, and much prudent caution to effect my scheme, yet I am sure your Father would do every thing in his power to promote the interest of his children— that they must labour for themselves is pretty plain, how foolishly so ever the world judge—and one shilling earned by their own industery is worth a pound in the publick Service. it is not grudged you may spend it, or save it without a murmer, but the people who are continually Clamouring may rest satisfied that instead of lower salleries there will be higher, and the further the Southern Gentlemen can get from the North So in proportion will there salleries be increasd, and if they Send an intire New delegation, they will very soon be converted, or what is more likly out voted. at Philadelphia they will have higher Salleries soon, than at N york, and higher still when they go to Potomack I reason from the Nature of things, and from the probable flourishing state of the Country, the burdens of which will be greatly lessned by the funding of the debt, and the measures taken to sink it.3
is Sullivan the inve[nome]d Snake that lifts up his head and bites, then squirms about & sneaks into the Grass? I suppose he wants a sop you must expect to feel your share of envy.
Mr Bourn wrote to your Father in favour of mr Woodard as a proper person to employ to purchase publick securities, if any Agents were employd by the commissioners—but the act does not appear to have been attended to, which says they shall be purchased openly and at the market price. the Loan officers of the several states will do the buisness—4
adieu yours / affectionatly
Thomas is not yet arrived owing I suppose to contrary winds
RC (Adams Papers). Some loss of text where the seal was removed.
Probably Rev. Simeon Howard or his elder son, John Clarke Howard. The letters have not been found.
For Jan and Wilhem Willink, see JA, Papers
, 13:ix–x.
When the Salaries—Legislative Act first passed the House on 10 Aug. 1789, establishing generous salaries for members of Congress, all of the representatives from southern states voted for it. By contrast, the Massachusetts and New Hampshire congressmen uniformly voted against the bill, joined by several representatives from New Jersey and New York.
Newspapers throughout the nation, but especially in New England, bitterly denounced the new level of compensation for congressmen as excessive and unnecessary. The subject of federal salaries remained a frequent topic in the opposition press for over a year, and Antifederalist writers particularly emphasized it during the election campaign in the fall of 1790. A highly critical piece by Rusticus in the Boston Independent Chronicle, 2 Sept., recently had argued that “extravagant compensations, will, independent of the waste of money, have a pernicious tendency upon the people. There are very 109few men, who have an annual income equal to the wages of Congress. And there are not twenty persons, in the three millions, which compose the United States, who have an income equal to the Vice President, and to the Judges. But their stile will be imitated if they spend their salaries, and if they do not, the farmer at the plough, the mechanic in his shop, and the fisherman on the water, will stand still to enquire, why they are toiling to hoard up wealth for the children of these men?” (
First Fed. Cong.
, 3:141–142; Stewart, Opposition Press
, p. 71–75).
“An Act Making Provision for the Reduction of the Public Debt,” also known as the Sinking Fund Act, was signed into law on 12 August. It provided for the appropriation from the nation's treasury of any surplus earned from duties on imported merchandise, as well as the acquisition of two million dollars in loans, all to be invested in public securities. The president of the Senate was one of five commissioners designated to handle these purchases (
First Fed. Cong.
, 6:1890–1891). In his letter to JA of 15 Aug., Sylvanus Bourne suggested Joseph Woodward as a possible agent to act on JA's behalf, noting Woodward's integrity and “thourough acquaintance in this kind of buisness” (Adams Papers).