Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
th1800
The last letter I wrote you was from Frederick Town.1 I should have written to you
more frequently, while on the road and sooner after our arrival in this
city, had it not been for the concourse of people, from the time of his reaching entering, till he left a house,
which continnually surrounded the P——t, and which, in this warm weather, was
infinitely more fatigueing than his journey. We arrived at Georgetown on
tuesday to dine. A large number of the citizens went out about four miles to
meet the P——t and escorted him into town, where his presence appeared to
give universal satisfaction. Yesterday a dinner was given by the inhabitants
of Georgetown, at 274 which
were present nearly seventy gentlemen—2 Joy and conviviality were the
order of the day. The President is highly gratifyed with the situation of
the city—finds the public buildings in a much greater forwardness than he expected. One wing of the
capitol is nearly compleated—a sufficient number of rooms in the Presidents
house, will no doubt be ready by the fall.3 Some of the furniture is already
arrived and in the house.— The season here is, it is calculated, about a
fortnight earlier than in Philadelphia. Strawberries, which they have had in
very great abundance, are almost gone. We have had cherries, peas—beans
cucumbers, potatoes &c. ever since we came into town, none of which were
forced.— On thursday we dined at General Mr. Johnson’s—they are all very well and desire to be
affectionately remembered to you. Mr. Cranch returned from the court at
Annapolis yesterday.4 He,
Mrs. Cranch & the children are all very well.— Gen. Marshall is at
Alexandria & is expected here, this day.— The probability is, that the
President will not leave this city for Philadelphia much before the 15th. of this month—goes to Mount Vernon on
monday—the citizens of Alexandria meet him at the ferry & have invited
him to dine with them on Wednesday, as he returns, which he has
accepted.5 No letters
have been received from you since you left N. York—we were however made very
happy by hearing that you had safely arrived at Quincy by B. Russels
paper.6
In haste and with respect I am my dear Aunt / Yours &c
mS Shaw.
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs. Adams.”
Shaw to AA, 1 June, above.
JA arrived in Georgetown, D.C., on 3
June and was presented with an address from the town’s inhabitants. On 6
June he attended a dinner and offered a toast: “George-Town— may its
prosperity equal the ardent enterprize of its inhabitants, and the
felicity of their situation” (Baltimore Federal
Gazette, 5, 9, 11 June).
For more on the construction of the Capitol building, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 7, above.
On 12 May the Md. Court of Chancery convened to hear
a case on the disposition of land purchased by speculators, including
property mortgaged in 1796 by the Washington, D.C., mercantile firm of
Morris, Nicholson & Greenleaf. The court ordered that notices of the
case be published in successive issues of the Baltimore Telegraphe, which was done beginning on 14
May 1800. William Cranch had been appointed James Greenleaf’s trustee by
the court on 30 Aug. 1799 (
Doc. Hist.
Supreme Court
, 8:379).
On 9 June 1800 JA departed Washington,
D.C., to visit Martha Washington at Mount Vernon. During his return on
the 11th he stopped in Alexandria, Va., where he was presented with an
address and attended an entertainment at Gadsby’s Hotel, offering the
following toast: “Alexandria—may it become intimate in commerce with its
name-sake in Egypt.” Among more than 100 guests were John Marshall and
U.S. attorney general Charles Lee. JA returned to
Washington, D.C., reporting to Elbridge Gerry on 13 June, “I have taken
a view of the federal city & its environs as far as Mount Vernon
& am well pleased with the whole” (Adams Papers). He departed for
Quincy on 14 June, passing 275
276 through Philadelphia on 19 June
and arriving in Quincy on 3 July (Georgetown, D.C., Centinel of Liberty, 10, 13, 17 June; Alexandria Times, 10, 12, 13 June;
Philadelphia Gazette of the United States,
20 June; Massachusetts Mercury, 4
July).
AA’s arrival in Quincy was reported in
the Boston Columbian Centinel, 31 May.