Adams Family Correspondence, volume 15
An attempt was made this morning to postpone the adjournment for
two days—from the 26th: (Monday next) to Wednesday the 28th:— The motion however was rejected.— Next came a motion to
meet tomorrow. yeas 3. nays about 20.— The motion to protract, will probably be renewed
on Monday; but I believe without success.
A bill has pass’d the Senate, the object of which is to abandon the further building of the Capitol; to remove the place of Session of Congress to the President’s House, and to purchase or hire a house for the President—1
A motion was some ten days ago offered to the Senate for
consideration, to have the proceedings on the Impeachment of J. Pickering together with
the documents filed in the cause, printed, as an Appendix to the Journals of the
Session— It [was] this morning called up for consideration, and a majority voted not to t[. . . .]2 This aversion to have the proceedings printed,
is not without its rew[ard]3
You were lucky, in having disqualified yourself to act as Counsel
for my friend Mr: […] I dissuaded him as much as I could
from proceeding in his action— He had once by my advice referr’d the matter to
arbitration— The report of the referees was against him; but it was informal. I never
expected he would succeed better before the Supreme Court, and so advised him— His cause
was at the best, questionable, and had you acted as his Counsel, you would have felt the
discouraging influence of the doubtful circumstances of the case— So I hope you will
come on the tapis, with a more propitious introduction.
We have debated untill this moment (past 5. o’clock P.M— A hungry hour) on the bill further to protect our Commerce in the Mediterranean against the Barbary powers, and to levy an additional tax for the purpose— It has pass’d to the third reading.4
RC (Adams
Papers); addressed: “Thomas B. Adams Esqr /
Quincy. / Massachusetts.”; endorsed: “3d: April Recd:”; notation by JQA: “Free / John Quincy Adams. / S. U. S.” Some loss of text where the seal was
removed.
Since 1801 the House of Representatives had met in a structure
slated to be incorporated into the south wing of the U.S. Capitol. Poor ventilation
and other deficiencies led congressmen to refer to it as “the Oven” and press for
alternative accommodations. On 24 March 1804 the Senate passed a bill to appropriate
$50,000 for the construction of federal buildings, with the amendment JQA
described in this letter. The House rejected the amendment the same day, and on 27
March the Senate voted to also drop it; 355 Thomas Jefferson
signed the legislation into law the same day. In a related effort Senator Robert
Wright of Maryland introduced on 17 March a bill to temporarily move the capital to
Baltimore. JQA in a letter to JA of the same date (Adams Papers) predicted the bill would not
pass, and in a 19 March letter to William Smith Shaw (MWA:Adams Family Letters) he reported the bill failed in a
bid for a third reading. “The Oven” was demolished during the summer, and in the fall
the House convened in the north wing of the Capitol (Jefferson, Papers
, 34:234–235,
38:569, 42:532–533; U.S. Senate, Jour.
, 8th Cong., 1st sess., p. 380, 383, 392, 402;
U.S. House, Jour.
, 8th Cong., 1st sess., p. 655, 686–687;
U.S. Statutes at Large
, 8th
Cong., 1st sess., p. 298).
Approximately three words missing.
A 14 March motion to print the Senate’s impeachment trial of
Judge John Pickering as an appendix to the Senate’s Journal failed on a voice vote on 24 March (U.S. Senate, Jour.
, 8th Cong.,
1st sess, p. 376, 392–393).
Jefferson, in his 20 March letter to Congress detailing Tripoli’s
capture of the U.S. frigate Philadelphia, asked Congress
to increase funding for operations against the Barbary States. In response a bill
originated in the House of Representatives on 21 March to raise revenues through new
import duties. The House passed the bill unanimously on 22 March, the Senate concurred
on the 26th with JQA one of five opposed, and Jefferson signed it into
law the same day. JQA explained his vote to TBA on 26 March
(private owner, 2013), writing that while “chastising the barbarians is in the highest
degree laudable,” he voted against the bill because he did “not approve the means, proposed” (Jefferson, Papers
, 43:63–64;
U.S. Senate, Jour.
, 8th Cong., 1st sess., p. 397–398; U.S. House, Jour.
, 8th Cong.,
1st sess., p. 692).