Adams Family Correspondence, volume 11
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I have just received Your Letter, sent by the Gen’ll Green, Captain Sheldon via RhoadeIsland, dated August 27th. I believe I have scarcly lost a Letter from You or Your Brother notwithstanding the many hazards and Chances to which they have been liable.1 accept My thanks for Your last Communications.
I rejoice at the return of your Health Strength and spirits, and most sincerely wish that your constitution may be mended by the ordeal you have past.
I have much upon my mind, which I could say to you.2 prudence forbids My committing it to writing, at this Eventfull period. I can judge of your solisitude to learn through a channel upon which you could depend, whatever affects the interests of our Country. In a Quotation from the Chronical You cannot expect Truth. Falsehood and Malevolence are its strongest features. it is the ospring of faction, and Nursed by Sedition, the adopted Bantling of Party. it has been Crying Monarchy and Aristocracy, and vociferating Anathemas against the Defence, as favoring Monarchy making quotations of detachd sentences, as the Atheist endeavourd to prove by the
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Scripture that, “there is no God” omitting, “the Fool hath Said in his Heart”3
one writer asserts that [“]mr A has immortaliz’d himself as an advocate for hereditary Governments as much as mr J
By such false and glaring absurdities do these misirable Beings endeavour to deceive and delude the people into a distrust of their most disinterested Friends the Real Gaurdians of their Liberties, and defenders of their Priviledges.
The Chronical writers6 put up Gov’r Adams for an Elector & Mr Bowdoin Rep. in the Room of Mr Ames, who declined being again Elected. on the other side col Daws was put up for an Elector & H G Otis as Rep’ve the result of the votes you will find inclosed.7
I feel anxious for the Fate of My Country. if the Administration should get into Hands who would depart from the System under which we have enjoyed so great a share of Peace prosperity and happiness, we should soon be involved in the wars and calamities which have deluged other Nations in Blood, we should Soon become a devided and a misirable people.
I have been too long a Witness to the Scenes which have been acted for years past, and know full well what must be endured, to have any other sensations when I look to an Elevated Seat, than painfull Solisitude and anxiety, a Mark at which Envy Pride and Malevolence will shoot their envenomed arrows.
Joy dwells in these dear silent shades8 at Quincy and domestick pleasures in Peace and tranquility. if I should be calld to quit thee, with what regreet shall I part from thee.
I feel perhaps too keenly the abuse of Party. Washington endured it, but he had the Support of the people, and their undiminishd Confidence to the Hour of his Resignation and a Combination of circumstances which no other Man can look for. first a unanimous Choice, 2ly personally known to more people, by having commanded their Armies, than any other Man, 3ly possessd of a Large Landed Estate, 4ly refusing all Emoluments of office both in his Military & civil capacity. Take his Character all together, and we 396 Shall not look upon his like again, notwithstanding which he was reviled and abused, his administration perplex’d and his measures impeeded. What is the expected Lot of a Successor.? He must be armed as Washington was, by integrity, by firmness, by intrepidity. these must be his sheild, and his wall of Brass, and with Religion too, or he will never be able to stand Sure and steadfast.9 Dr Preistly in a dedication of some sermons which he deliverd last winter, and which he dedicated to the Vice President of the United States, observes to him “that Religion is of as much use to a statesman as to any individual whatever, for Christian Principles will best enable Men to Devote their Time, their lives, their talents, and what is often a greater sacrifice, their Characters to the publick Good, and in publick Life he observes this will often be in a great measure necessary. Let a Man attain to Eminence, of any kind, and by whatever means, even the most honorable he will be exposed to Envy and Jealousy, and of course, he must expect to meet with calumny and abuse. What principel can enable a Man to consult the real Good of his fellow citizens without being diverted from his generous purpose by a regard to their opinion concerning him, like those of the Christian, who can be satisfied with the Approbation of his own mind, and who tho not insensible to Due praise, can despise Calumny and steadily overlooking every thing which is intermediate, patiently wait for the Day of final retribution”10 Thus says the Poet.
As I consider it one of my chief Blessings to have Sons Worthy of the confidence of their Country So I hope in imitation of their Father they will serve it with honour and fidelity, and with consciences void of offence, and tho they may sometimes, meet with ingratitude, they will have,
adieu my Dear Son. I hope to See you in the course of an other year. Time which improves Youth every Year furrows the brow of Age.
397Thus my son in the course of three years absence, You will find many depredations of Time upon those whom you left advanced in Life, and in none more perhaps than your Mother, whose frequent indispositions hasten the Strides of Time, and impair a frail fabrick but neither Time, absence or sickness have lessned the warmth of her affection for her Dear Children which will burn with undiminishd / fervour untill the Lamp of Life / extinguishes the Name of
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A Adams Novr 8th: 1796 / 27 Jany 1797 Recd: / 7 April Answd.” Dft (Adams Papers).
In the Dft, AA adds here: “I have been Surprizd that they have so regularly come to hand.”
In the Dft, AA adds here: “but which I fear to write to you. Yet I know at this Time You are all alive to every movement and transaction of your Native Country.
The present is no Doubt a momentous period to the people of the United States.”
Psalms, 14:1.
In the Dft, AA adds here: “(Hear, my Sons and Glory in the Testimony).”
Here AA paraphrases from the Boston Independent Chronicle, 31 Oct., in which “Safety” attacks JA for his “aristocratical principles” and anti-French sentiments, defends Thomas Jefferson’s candidacy, and lobbies for Aaron Burr as vice president.
In the Dft, AA uses “Jacobins” instead of “Chronical writers.”
On 27 Oct. the Boston Independent Chronicle recommended that the First Middle District of Massachusetts be represented in the forthcoming election by Gov. Samuel Adams, whose constant support of “those pure principles of Republicanism” and his personal familiarity with both JA and Jefferson made him an ideal candidate to serve as a presidential elector. To represent the district in Congress, the newspaper put forward James Bowdoin Jr., for whom see vol. 1:327, as a person whose “political sentiments are such, that every man who is governed by principle rather than party, will uniformly approve.” Both men were formally chosen to stand as candidates in a meeting of Democratic-Republicans held on 2 November. The Federalist candidates chosen were Harrison Gray Otis for Congress and as an elector, Col. Thomas Dawes (1731–1809), a successful mason and architect who had served in the Massachusetts militia. The enclosure has not been found but was likely from the Massachusetts Mercury, 8 Nov., which announced Dawes and Otis as the winners by significant margins (Boston Independent Chronicle, 3 Nov.; Boston Columbian Centinel, 2 Nov.;
Doc. Hist. Ratif. Const., 5:918). For the process of selecting electors in Massachusetts and elsewhere, see
CA to AA, 16 Nov., note 2, below.
In the Dft, AA extends the passage and places it within quotation marks: “Joy dwells in Silent Shades, and / private pleasures, in Peace and not in Pomp” (John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, The Tragedy of Julius Cæsar, Altered: With a Prologue and Chorus, London, 1722, Act III, scene i, lines 6–7).
In the Dft, AA adds here: “if I am not deceived in My Countrymen, their Suffrages will be given to Him whom next to Washington they consider as the supporter of their constitution and their Government.”
AA quotes the dedication to JA in Joseph Priestley’s Discourses Relating to the Evidences of Revealed Religion, in which Priestley wrote, “the favourable attention you gave to the following Discourses, when they were delivered,
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and the wish you expressed that they might be published, induce me to take the liberty to dedicate them to you.” A copy of the volume is in JA’s library at MB (
Catalogue of JA’s Library
). See also
JA to AA, 5 March, and note 4, above.
John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus: With the Prologue and the Two Last Chorus’s, London, 1722, Act I, scene v, lines 30–35.
Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, Epistle IV, line 168.
William Cowper, “The Sofa,” The Task, Book I, lines 129–133.
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I have to acknowledg the receipt of two kind Letters from You Since I wrote You last, No 21 from the Hague June 30. and No 22 July 25. for both of them accept my Cordial Thanks. Letters from either of my sons, give me a flow of spirits for a week, and a Durable gratification in the perusal of them, as they contain judicious reflections and observations which would do honour to the most experienced Statesmen, not only in the partial mind of a fond Parent, but are so esteemed by disinterested judges.
Before this reaches You, the Solemn News of the Presidents declaration to retire from the publick service together with his Excellent address to the people, will no Doubt be communicated to you by some earlier opportunity. Words cannot do justice to this last Legacy. Where shall we look What Page of History can shew us a Character like Washingtons
God Almighty bless him in this world and the next.
You quite mistook my meaning, when I observed to You, “That if two Events Should take place, You must not expect promotion.[”]1 by the first I meant the Resignation of the President. the other was, that his successor might be one who would feel a Delicacy on account of your Personal Connection with him. but the President has not left this Subject to embarress his Successor, should he be the person contemplated, and whilst I consider it as the reward of Merrit I feel myself indebted to his Paternal care.
I rejoice that they are found worthy of the Confidence of their Country, and hope that they will ever prove Some of its firmest pillars and Supporters.
I wrote to you upon My first hearing of your appointment to Portugal, and in My Zeal for your Welfare, I fear I might mix more warmth of expression, than on maturer reflection I ought to have Done. What ever I wrote was well intended. my fear arose from the Youth and inexperience of the Lady with whom you was about to connect yourself, least she should contract Tastes and Sentiments altogether Anti American, least the Stile and Manners of a court Should make too Deep an impression upon a Youthfull Mind, to realish the Republican Manners of an American
Your experience will I hope gaurd you against those evils, and impress them upon her mind. I think you ought not to go to Portugal alone. Your Brother means to return to us. You whose chief delight is in Domestick Life, must feel yourself in a Desert without a companion. as you have fixd, and I trust wisely, I advise you to marry the Lady before you go to Portugal. Give my Love to her and tell her I consider her already as my Daughter, and as she made England delightfull to you, I hope she will, every other Country.
As your return to America will be postponed, I shall not say any thing upon the intimation you gave of setling at the Southard. The Lady it is who is to forsake Father and Mother, and follow the fortunes of her Husband, but this must be the Subject of a future Letter.
I inclose to you a News paper2 all the Arts of the Jacobins are in practise at the approaching Election, united with the Pride of the old Dominion and foreign influence. you will see in the paper which I have inclosed to Thomas, Adets Letter.3 You will mark the period at which it appears the people are not insensible to this movement. the News papers inform us that the most active measures are taking by the Democratic Societies to ensure success to their Candidate, by circulating Hand Bill containing libels on mr Adams. Gate post, Doors of Houses & posts are coverd through the Country, a right Gallic measure. Men are hired to ride through the Country with Bags of these Hand Bills. I do not however learn that they contain any thing but to represent him as attach’d to Monarchy to Tittles &c that he is Enemical to the Rights of the people, all of which these very engines of Mischief know to be false.4
they have Dropt all Candidates but the Vice President & mr 400 Jefferson, who on the other side has his Principles and pratises throughly Desected. inclosed is a paper which will give you some Idea of the subject, but who the writer is, is unknown both to your Father and to me.5
You will readily suppose that a fiery ordeal is prepareing.
Our Friends here are all well and desired to be affectionatly rememberd to you. I am my Dear Son your / Ever affectionate Mother
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by TBA: “Mrs: A Adams J Q A / Novr. 11— 1796 / Jany 27 1797 Recd: / Feby 8 Do Answd.” Tr (Adams Papers).
AA is paraphrasing from her letter to JQA of 25 May, above.
Not found.
On 27 Oct. Pierre Auguste Adet wrote to Timothy Pickering enclosing the Directory’s 2 July decree on neutral navigation, for which see
TBA to JA, 6 Aug., and note 5, above. In his letter Adet justified the decree on the grounds that the U.S. failure to defend “the vexations imposed upon their commerce” by British encroachment disadvantaged France under the terms of the 1778 Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, especially in light of the fact that the British assault on American shipping continued even after the Jay Treaty was completed. Adet ignited a public exchange with Pickering by publishing the letter in the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 31 Oct. 1796; it was reprinted in the 8 Nov. Massachusetts Mercury, which AA likely enclosed with her letter to TBA of the same date, above. Pickering’s reply of 1 Nov. was first published in the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 3 Nov., and appeared in the Massachusetts Mercury, 11 November. His letter countered that the Franco-American treaty confirmed the policy that “free ships should make free goods,” and thus that France had no right to seize neutral American vessels trading with the British. Pickering also noted that the British had issued no new orders regarding the seizure of American ships carrying French goods, but that such seizures were within the law of nations. Pickering concluded by chiding Adet for making his original note public, arguing that “it was properly addressed to its government, to which alone pertained the right of communicating it in such time and manner, as it should think fit to the citizens of the United States.” The public debate continued with a long second letter from Adet, dated 15 Nov., in which the minister suspended his functions in the United States, charging that America had surrendered its rights as a neutral to Great Britain and had violated its treaty agreements with France. While summaries appeared earlier, the entire letter was first published in a special issue of the Philadelphia Gazette, 21 Nov., and would appear in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 3 December.
A contributor to the New York Herald, 29 Oct., asked, “Whence this extraordinary exertion in favour of Mr. Jefferson? and why are so many handbills in circulation villifying Mr. Adams? … and what is the object of Mr. Jefferson and his partizans?” Handbills condemning JA’s Defence of the Const.
as a “Eulogium of Monarchy and the British Constitution” and JA as an “avowed MONARCHIST” had appeared in Boston as early as 24 Sept. but were most virulent in Pennsylvania, where prior to the state’s 4 Nov. election of presidential electors, John Beckley, a Virginia politician working on behalf of Thomas Jefferson, arranged for the distribution of thousands of handbills and sample ballots encouraging residents to vote for Jefferson. This was the first use of such tactics in a U.S. presidential election. Most often these handbills cited brief excerpts from the Defence to demonstrate JA’s “royalist” leanings. One reprinted part of a letter by Thomas Paine in which he equated JA’s preference for hereditary government to treason: “John Adams is one of these men, who never contemplated the origin of government, or comprehended any thing of first principles. If he had, he must have seen that the right to set up and establish hereditary government, never did and never can exist” because doing so was “of the nature of treason” (Americanus,
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Boston, 24th Sept. 1796. At This Important Crisis, Evans, No. 29982; Republican, Fellow Citizens! The First Concern of Freemen, Calls You Forth into Action, [Phila., 1796], Evans, No. 30411; Robert V. Friedenberg, Communication Consultants in Political Campaigns: Ballot Box Warriors, Westport, Conn., 1997, p. 4; Public Notice. Friday the Fourth Day of November Next … Extract of a Letter from Thomas Paine, [Phila., 1796], Evans, No. 30983).
The enclosure has not been found but was probably one of the Phocion articles, for which see JA to AA, 7 Dec., and note 2, below.