Adams Family Correspondence, volume 11
The Presbyterian Congregation have voted me the front Pew in their Church for my Family. It is an elegant new Building and the Pew is large1
I have bought me a Pair of Young Horses for a Carriage and a saddle horse.
The Birthday was affecting and the Night Splendid but tedious to those who were too old to dance.2
I have now Settled all My Accounts with the senate as you will see by the inclosed Papers.
I assure you it was a tender Scene at parting.3 How do you like our Adieus alias Farewells. Nothing yet determined about House or Furniture. Yours with a great desire to be with you, but it is impossible
RC (Adams Papers).
For the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, see vol. 10:261. On 8 Feb. church secretary Dr. David Jackson wrote to JA offering him the use of pew no. 92 “for the accommodation of your self & family, should you be inclined to join in religious worship there” during his presidency. JA replied to Jackson the same day accepting the church’s offer (Adams Papers; LbC, APM Reel 117).
George Washington celebrated his 65th
576
birthday in Philadelphia on 22 February. The day began with the ringing of bells and firing of cannon in the city, followed by congratulations from congressmen, the governor, and members of the Pennsylvania legislature, who paid their respects at the president’s house. In the evening a ball was held at Ricketts’ Amphitheatre, “which for Splendour, Taste and Elegance, was, perhaps, never excelled by any similar Entertainment in the United States” (Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 23 Feb.).
The enclosure has not been found but was likely a newspaper account of JA’s 15 Feb. address to the Senate in which he took his leave; see, for example, the Philadelphia Gazette, 17 February. JA used the address to praise Washington and express his gratitude for being chosen to succeed him and also to thank the members of the Senate “for the candor and favor invariably received from them all … within these walls, for a course of years, I have been an admiring witness of a succession of information, eloquence, patriotism, and independence” (U.S. Senate, Jour., 4th Cong., 2d sess., p. 324–326).
th1797
It Can be of little Consequence to you my dear Madam wither Your late adventure with me amounts to 8000 dollars or only 8/— Yet it is my duty to let you know how it stands and to take your commands either to vest You again as an adventurer in the next Class—or remit to your order the sum of 8/4—
as I think it always best to rise in our subject instead of sinking from great to small things—my Gratulations on mr Adams elevation to the presidential Chair are secondary to my Condolence: and may form a perfect Contrast to Your Ill success in H C lottery—the one a small stake in the most precarious Game—the other the best Card in the pack.— a second throw Could make no addition but a Crown—and that you have too much understanding and knowledge of the World to suppose it Could enhance Your happiness.—1 I hope we shall meet again before You take up Your residence in a southern Clime—
Was I a Courtier I Could say many prety things in the present occasion both to you and to mr Adams but his old friend will only observe in her usual stile of Correspondence that she sincerly wishes peace prosperity & Virtue may pervade the united states under his administration and may you my dear madam feel no interruption of health nor any of those Circumstances in human life ten fold more painful—that might impede the tide of prosperity in which you have long sailed—
The bearer of this will wait on You next Tuesday for an answer to this or any other Commands You may have for your / assurred Friend & Humble servt
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Madam Adams / Quincy”; notation: “pr plimouth stage.”
Presumably, Warren purchased a ticket in the fourth class of the Harvard College Lottery on behalf of AA. The lottery began in 1794 to raise money to build Stoughton Hall to house the increasing number of students enrolling at the school. By 1796 the lottery had successfully completed three classes, and the fourth class was scheduled to be drawn in January but was postponed until September; after several delays due to slow ticket sales, the drawing finished in Jan. 1797. The fifth class of the lottery did not take place. The construction of Stoughton Hall was completed in 1805. In a 4 March 1797 letter to Warren, AA asked that her lottery winnings be used to purchase some books for Warren’s young granddaughter Marcia Otis Warren, for whom see Mercy Otis Warren to AA, 13 Nov. 1796, and note 4, above (Massachusetts Mercury, 13 Jan. 1797; John Noble, “Harvard College Lotteries,” Col. Soc. Mass., Pubns., 27:163, 179, 182–183 [April 1929]; Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard, p. 173; Adams Papers).