Adams Family Correspondence, volume 11

Abigail Adams to John Adams, 15 January 1797 Adams, Abigail Adams, John

Abigail Adams to John Adams

my Dearest Friend Quincy Janry 15 1796 [1797]

The Cold has been more severe than I can ever before recollect. it has frozen the ink in My pen, and chilld the Blood in my veins, but not the Warmth of My affection for Him for whom my Heart Beats with unabated ardor through all the Changes and visisitudes of Life, in the still Calm of Peace Feild, and the Turbelent Scenes in which he is about to engage, the prospect of which excite, neither vanity, or Pride, but a mixture of anxiety and solisitude, which soften, but do not Swell the Heart.

By the last Post I receivd Yours of December 27th & 30. Janry 1 & 3d The extract from mr Madisons Letter I believe to be the genuine sentiments of Mr Jeffersons Heart. tho wrong in Politicks, tho formerly an advocate for Tom Pains Rights of Man, and tho frequently mistaken in Men & Measures, I do not think him an insincere or a corruptable Man. My Friendship for him has ever been unshaken. I have not a Doubt but all the Discords may be tuned to harmony, by the Hand of a skillfull Artist. I See by the paper of to Day that the extract is publishd in the Centinel, not through Eve, I assure you, for I have not disclosd it. it has gaind as Most storys Do, that mr J. 500 declares he would not have taken the Vice Pressidency under any other Man. the writer adds not unaptly, from shakspear,

“the Event we hope will Unite the Roses Red and White together That on one kind and Friendly Stalk, they both may flourish”1

My Authority for the Author of Aurelias, was William Shaw who going one Day into Nancreeds Book store saw a young Gentleman correctting the press. Nancreed introduced him to William as the Writer of Aurelias and gave him one of the Books; notwithstanding this, he may only, as he has on former occasions for our son be the Channel only, to convey & foster the ospring of an other.2

You ask me what I think of comeing on in Feb’ry? I answer that I had rather not if I may be excused. I have not for Many Years enjoyd so good Health as this Winter. I feel loth to put it to risk by passing a spring in Philadelphia. I know not what is to be Done. I think an inventory ought to be taken of what belongs to the United States a House ought to be provided and furnishd in such a Manner as they chuse, or a Committe appointed to Do it, if a sum Should be granted for the purpose. I desire to have nothing to Do with it. there are persons who know what is both necessary & proper. if this is Done I should not be against going to assist in the arrangement of the Household.

I will make the necessary inquiry respecting a Carriage and write you word as soon as I can obtain information. my old Chariot, I have purchased Runners and put it on. Dr Tufts Says it must never be hung again. it has long been too shaby for use. I was beholden to My Neighbours for a conveyance before I got them. it answers very well for that purpose. the Sleighing is remarkable fine and has been so for more than a Month. I have had one Succession of visiters & company, more than for any two years past. every Body who ever knew one comes to pay compliments & visit who would not have been so forward perhaps . . . .3 a little prematurely too, but it shews their good wishes.

I see no prospect of the fall of any article. Grain is as high as ever and all West India articles risen beyond bounds. Such Sugars as were purchased last Winter at 12 Dollors pr hundred are now 18. Loaf Sugar 2/6 pr pd. Tea Coffe Chocolat risen in proportion. at this rate we must be Starved if the House of Reps have not a sense of Justice before their Eyes.

501

What is to be Done with our places? I have not advertized, nor have I seen Vinton or French since you went away. Burrel I believe will stay on if we find him a yoke oxen & cart. he has not had a Drop of water since last july. Billings is getting steady. he had but a Small flight this last time, but he wants his Money as fast as he earns it

I have been so much hindred by company that I have not been able to write for these ten Days only one short Letter to you.

I took up the Note and Destroyd it.

I inclose You a Letter from an old Friend it contains some just sentiments.4 I need not say to you how necessary it is to lay ones finger upon their Lips—and to be upon our gaurd with all foreign Characters, and most domestick ones— I want to acquire an habit of silence, or of saying unimportant things.

We have had a Wedding in our Family too in the last week which has occupied some part of my Time. Nancy Adams was married on thursday last, and to Day the New married pair dinned with me.5 Mr and Mrs Shaw are here upon a visit to keep Sabbeth with me, and desire their Respects to you— I am Sitting up after all are a bed to write you that tomorrows post may not go without a Letter. you will write me and inform me what I must Do, or what you wish— Cabot says I must go on or all the Wheels will Stand Still, but I know better.—

Yours most affectly

Abigail Adams

return the Letter when read

RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. Jan. 15 / Ansd 23. 1797.”

A summary of Thomas Jefferson’s letter to James Madison, for which see JA to AA, 1 Jan., and note 1, above, appeared in the Boston Columbian Centinel on 14 January. The quotation is derived from Shakespeare’s King Richard III, Act 5, scene v, lines 19–22: “We will unite the White Rose and the Red. / Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction, / That long have frown’d upon their enmity! / What traitor hears me, and says not amen?”

Paul Joseph Guerard de Nancrede, a bookseller and stationer whose business was located at 49 Marlborough Street in Boston (Thwing Catalogue, MHi).

Ellipsis in MS.

Probably Elbridge Gerry to AA, 7 Jan., above.

JA’s niece Ann Adams married Capt. Josiah Bass on 12 January.

John Adams to Abigail Adams, 16 January 1797 Adams, John Adams, Abigail

John Adams to Abigail Adams

My Dearest Friend Philadelphia January 16. 1797

I went Yesterday to hear Dr Priestley, in the Philosophical Hall of the University and there I met unexpectedly with Dr Euwing and Dr 502 Andross or Andrews.1 Euwing Seems paralytic and falling very fast. The Drift of the Discourse was to shew the Superiour moral Tendency of the Jewish and Christian Religions, to that of all the Pagan Rituals ancient and modern.2

The Weather is moderated. I hope to find a Letter from you this Morning when I go to the senate.

Inclosed is a List of the best natured Toasts I ever read.3 They were Sent me in a Baltimore Paper. They are peculiarly indulgent to me, as they allow me, Salmon & Lobster in Addition to Hog, Homminy, Mush, Milk and Cider. There is no Malice in any of them. An Old Fielder is a tough hardy laborious little Horse, that Works very hard and lives upon very little. very Useful to his Master at small Expence.

Priestly has written something in answer to Volneys Ruins of Empires, which has been more universally read in England than any of his Writings.4

I begin to long for Letters from the Hague. Our next must be important.

It is not probable, that Dr Wests Year 1796 has wholly Stripped the Pope of his Temporalities.

The French People in this Country, Seem to be disappointed and a little confounded, at the Strong Ground which has been taken by the People of this Country in Consequence of Mr Adets Note. There have been no Signs of dismay, except among the Quakers and a few weak merchants in Philadelphia, at the time of the Election.

I, am affectionately and perpetually / your faithful

J. A5

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “Janry 16. 1797.”

Rev. John Andrews (1746–1813), University of Pennsylvania 1765, was ordained as an Episcopal clergyman in London in 1767; he was appointed professor of moral philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania in 1789 and served as provost from 1810 to 1813 (Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, University of Pennsylvania; Its History, Influence, Equipment and Characteristics, 2 vols., Boston, 1901–1902, 1:260).

On 15 Jan. 1797 Joseph Priestley preached a sermon on “The Moral Design of Revelation” that included quotations from Psalms, Proverbs, the Gospels, and the Epistles relating to the morality of Revelation. The sermon, along with six others Priestley gave in Philadelphia in early 1797, was published there in March as the second volume of Discourses Relating to the Evidences of Revealed Religion, Evans, No. 32715 (Robert E. Schofield, The Enlightened Joseph Priestley: A Study of His Life and Work from 1773 to 1804, University Park, Penn., 2004, p. 381, 382). For the first volume of Priestley’s Discourses, see JA to AA, 5 March 1796, note 4, above.

Not found.

The third edition of Priestley’s Observations on the Increase of Infidelity, Phila., 1797, included as a subtitle To Which Are Added, Animadversions on the Writings of Several Modern Unbelievers, and Especially the Ruins of Mr. Volney. Priestley informed his readers that Constantin François Volney bore “such 503 evident marks of prejudice” against Christianity that Priestley considered his writings on religion ineffectual. Both men were living in Philadelphia at the time, and Priestley wanted to provoke Volney into a debate. Priestley sent a copy of Observations to Volney and stated that “it will be in his power to notice any mistake that he shall think I may have made with respect to his opinions” (p. xviii–xix, 142, Evans, No. 32721; Elizabeth M. Geffen, Philadelphia Unitarianism, 1796–1861, Phila., 1961, p. 50).

The Frenchman responded with Volney’s Answer to Doctor Priestley, published in Philadelphia in March, in which he replied, “The question between us is not of a very urgent nature: the world would not go on less well with or without my answer as with or without your book” (p. 3, Evans, No. 33140).

In a second letter of the same date, JA hinted at continuing stories of electioneering. He also mentioned a meeting with Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth and recounted Wadsworth’s opinions of French sentiment toward the United States in light of Pierre Auguste Adet’s note (Adams Papers).