Adams Family Correspondence, volume 13

Abigail Adams to William Smith Shaw, 21 February 1799 Adams, Abigail Shaw, William Smith
Abigail Adams to William Smith Shaw
Dear William Quincy Feb’ry 21 1799—

I have to acknowledge the receipt of three Letters from you since my last. your punctuality and attention deserve commendation; and claim a pardon for any inaccuracies of stile, or manner, which escape your pen. shall I tell you however what Thomas says? “this young man must aim at more accuracy of expression. he must not be slovenly I will take him to task.” you know his way, and I dare Say will receive his admonitions with the spirit of Candor in which they are meant; the Letters which I have not before acknowledgd are of the 5th 9th and 12th of Feb’ry 1 with the latter I received the pamphlets you sent, and thank you for your attention;

It appears to me from the insult in the Gallery of congress to the Speaker; and the conduct of Reynolds as well as of the chief Justice, that a crisis is working up which will call for all the energy of Government to suppress. I recollect that during a debate of mr Madisons in support of some Resolutions, commonly calld Madisons Resolutions, that some persons in the Gallery clap’d, upon which a motion was made to clear the Galleries. this motion was seconded by mr Madison himself, who made a handsome speech upon the occasion.2

I think the dignity of the House required that if the culprit could not have been pointed out, that the Galleries should have been cleard, and the House ought to have set till it was done instead of rising: I wish more spirit had been shewn upon the occasion. as to the conduct of McKean, he should never Sit upon the Bench as Judge again, If I had Mifflins Reins.— but like Preist, like people, 414 there is leven enough in the city of Philadelphia, put into a state of fermentation by the Minority in Congress, to sour the whole state.

I have seen Dr Morse Sermon. he Sent me one, and I was well acquainted with the communications I can trace the hand, as well as I can trace the sentiments of an other hand, in the Secretarys Report upon the last dispatches

I have read the address of the minority of the Virgina assembly— and can only lament, that in that case, the Minority for the honor of Virgina, had not been the Majority: I have also read with approbation mr dents speech upon unaccreditted Envoys.3

The last Thaw we had laid me up for several days— I am not yet well. it gave me Rhumatism I believe. I am not yet below, for my head is done up with Blisters behind my Ears which tingle like pins, but I have rested better since; I have a Whitlow upon my left hand fore finger. I rejoice that it is not my Right, for then I could not write a line:

This day is commemorated as the Birth day of Washington. Mr Adams and Louissa are gone to Town to the Ball. I always have sickness in Feb’ry if I escape other Months. I hope to be below stairs tomorrow. the Philadelphia News papers announce the Presidents Lady as going to the Play: I am not Jealous, but alass she poor creature was more than 3 hundred Miles off, so much of an invalide as not to have been ten miles from home for seven months—

I had a Letter from your Mother to day; she says she wrote you, the beginning of Jan’ry Abbe has been sick of a fever, but is getting better. she says she cannot write to you so often as she wishes, and begs I would supply her place—4 I had a kind Letter from mrs otis.5 she speeks very Handsomely of you, and affectionatly—

I am really ashamed that I have not written to mrs Cushing. I will not neglect it if I find myself able—

adieu. my Neck acks— / affectionatly your

Aunt A A—

RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers); endorsed: “Aunt Adams / received 4th March.”; docketed: “1799 Feby 21.”

1.

That is, [11] Feb., above.

2.

On 14 March 1794 during House debate of James Madison’s resolutions calling for commercial retaliation against the British, a pro-French statement prompted “a faint attempt to clap” by observers in the gallery. After the interruption Madison supported a call to clear the gallery: “Especially on important questions, the request of any member, who might conceive similar conduct as an attack on the independence of deliberation, would command his voice for clearing the galleries” (Madison, Papers, Congressional Series , 15:285; Philadelphia General Advertiser, 17, 18 March).

3.

Maryland Federalist George Dent made only a brief comment during the House debate of the Logan Act. AA was probably 415 referring to the extended remarks of Dent’s fellow Federalist in the Maryland delegation, John Dennis, who on 17 Jan. 1799 said that “he believed there were many persons in the country who would join in any system of foreign or domestic combination, to subvert the Government; that, although this bill did not fully meet his ideas, as far as it went it would produce good, and narrow the present latitude of unofficial correspondence with a Government from which we had much to fear” ( Annals of Congress , 5th Cong., 3d sess., p. 2619, 2696–2702). Dennis’ comments were published in the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser., 6 February.

4.

See Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to AA, 16 Feb., and note 2, above.

5.

Mary Smith Gray Otis to AA, 20 Jan., above.

John Adams to Abigail Adams, 22 February 1799 Adams, John Adams, Abigail
John Adams to Abigail Adams
My dearest Friend Phyladelphia Feb. 22. 1799

Your last Letter, which I have recd was dated the 10th.— I have one from Mr Thomas at Brookfield of the 8th.1 I hope your ill turn was soon over and that your health is reestablished.

What the ultimate determination of our son will be I cannot conjecture.— I would not overpersuade him. Phyladelphia is on many Accounts, a good place. My Inclination as well as yours is for Quincy: his for Phyladelphia. Let him determine.— If We were to live in Phyladelphia for many Years I should have less Objection to his fixing here. We should enjoy his Conversation, some times. But this is impossible.— I have no Idea that I shall be chosen P. a second time— tho this is not to be talked of. The Business of the office is so oppressive that I shall hardly Support it two years longer.

To night I must go to the Ball: where I Suppose I shall get a cold, and have to eat Gruel for Breakfast for a Week afterwards.2 This will be no Punishment.—

Since my nomination of Murray I have been advised by Some to name my son John and Mr King, with Mr Murray. But I answer that the nomination of either Mr King or Mr Adams would probably defeat the whole measure.3 Rivalries have been irritated to madness and Federalists have merited the sedition Law and Cobbet the Alien Bill— But I will not take Revenge.4 I dont remember that I was ever vindictive in my Life. though I have often been very wroth. I am not very angry now, nor much vexed or fretted. The Mission came across the Views of many and stirred the Passions of more. This I knew was unavoidable. The Reasons which determined me are too long to be written

J. A5

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.”; docketed: “J A to A A Feb 22nd / 1799.”

416 1.

Not found.

2.

On the evening of 22 Feb. a ball in honor of George Washington was held at Ricketts’ Circus in Philadelphia, preceded by an artillery salute at the arsenal and a parade of military volunteers. The following day JA reported to AA (Adams Papers) his attendance, despite frigid weather, which he staved off by drinking three glasses of madeira at dinner and two more on arriving home (Philadelphia Gazette, 21, 23 Feb.).

3.

After French overtures to William Vans Murray and Joel Barlow, JA on 18 Feb. nominated Murray to serve as minister plenipotentiary on a second peace mission to France. Many Federalists were shocked by JA’s decision, in part because he did not consult with anyone about it, including the members of his cabinet. Timothy Pickering described Federalists as being “thunderstruck” about the decision, and James McHenry later called the nomination “either doubted or condemned by most if not all of the federal members of Congress.” McHenry also alleged that JA’s decision to act without the knowledge of his cabinet broke with “established practice,” a view shared by both Alexander Hamilton and Theodore Sedgwick when they also voiced opposition to the move. Boston Federalist George Cabot branded its supporters “Federal hypocrites with Jacobin hearts.” However, not all Federalists opposed the nomination, including John Jay, Henry Knox, John Marshall, and Washington, all of whom felt that JA’s timely measure would avert war with France. The press response was also mixed. William Cobbett’s Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 20 Feb., satirized the nomination, labeling it “a most atrocious falshood.” The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 20 Feb., supported JA’s decision, and so too did the Boston Independent Chronicle, 25–28 Feb., Boston Columbian Centinel, 27 Feb., and Massachusetts Mercury, 1 March. After members of Congress expressed a preference for a delegation over a single envoy, JA on 25 Feb. nominated Patrick Henry and Oliver Ellsworth to join Murray. The Senate confirmed the appointments on 27 Feb., and—after Henry declined and was replaced by William R. Davie on 1 June—the envoys departed for France on 3 Nov. (U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour. , 5th Cong., 3d sess., p. 313–314, 317–319; Hamilton, Papers , 22:487–490, 493, 500, 503–504; 24:24; 25:212–215, 220; Henry Cabot Lodge, Life and Letters of George Cabot, Boston, 1878, p. 224; Washington, Papers, Retirement Series , 3:389–390, 4:397; DeConde, The Quasi-War , p. 183; Elkins and McKitrick, Age of Federalism , p. 617–620).

4.

After the Porcupine’s Gazette expressed vociferous opposition to JA’s proposed second mission to France, the New York Mercantile Advertiser, 27 Feb., suggested that Cobbett would be deported under the Alien Act. Cobbett responded in Porcupine’s Gazette, 28 Feb., that despite such rumors he was confident that no deportation order was forthcoming because JA would not use the Alien Act “as the means of gratifying his own private revenge.” Cobbett was not prosecuted, but he later alleged that JA did indeed contemplate such an order: “I was afterwards informed, by those who knew the fact, that the Old Man really thought of sending me off, but was opposed in his project by the Attorney General” (William Cobbett, Porcupine’s Works; Containing Various Writings and Selections, Exhibiting a Faithful Picture of the United States of America, 12 vols., London, 1801, 10:153).

5.

AA replied to this letter on 3 March, reporting that the news of Murray’s appointment had “universally Electrified the public,” because “it came so sudden Was a measure so unexpected, that the whole community were like a flock of frightned pigions; nobody had their Story ready: some call’d it a hasty measure; others condemnd it as an inconsistant one; some swore some cursd.” Observers marveled that JA had made the nomination without consulting advisers, AA said, and she congratulated him on his self-reliance: “The true Americans whose confidence is firm, and unshaken; believe & say, that the President acts an independant part, pinning his faith upon no Mans sleave.” Wagers were being made as to whether the Senate would confirm the nomination, she added, noting that she had discussed her views on the subject only with TBA. AA also expressed outrage at Cobbett’s “impudence” (Adams Papers).