Adams Family Correspondence, volume 15
I received this morning your letter of the 4th: instt: which gave me pleasure as containing the
information of the children’s health; and sorrow by that of your own indisposition—1 The remainder of the letter was equally
painful and unexpected to me— Our separation was very much against my inclination; but
it was your own choice, and it has been my unvaried principle, and I hope will always be
so, to leave the place of your own residence, entirely at your own election— Thinking as
I do that my home, is the proper and only proper home of my wife and children, I shall
always feel the sweetest satisfaction in having them with me; and shall ever lament your
determination to abide elsewhere— But wherever you yourself choose to dwell, I shall so
long as I have it in my power to support the expence comply with your desire— I never
can be happy, distant from you, and will never be so, when I can avoid it without
constraint upon your inclinations— Of coldness or unkindness to you, at any time, I am
not conscious— The first wish of my heart is to make you happy as far as it is in my
power, and it is a subject of deep affliction to me, that my means of accomplishing this
wish are not more adequate to its ardour and sincerity.— Your attachment to your own
family, is a sentiment so amiable in itself, that I can never disapprove it, and even
when it leads you to prefer separation from me rather than 356 separation from them, I acquiesce however reluctantly in your determination— But you
will be sensible that I have naturally the same sentiments of affection and respect on
my part, and I hope this will be my justification for remaining silent with respect to
some of the observations in your letter— The duties of filial, of conjugal and of
paternal tenderness are all equally sacred, and I wish to discharge them all with equal
fidelity.
I arrived here on Saturday morning— This is Monday, and tomorrow, I
expect to take my passage for Providence— From Baltimore to Philadelphia, we came the
greatest part of the way by water— The roads from Washington to Baltimore and from
Philadelphia here were very bad— I stop’d only one night at Philadelphia— I found Mr: Otis at Baltimore, and we came on as far as this together—
The same day we arrived here, a Packet sailed for Providence— Mr: Otis went in it, and I placed Patty under his protection— They had a fine
wind, and I believe are by this time at Providence— She was quite unwell on the road
from Philadelphia here, but got better, and appeared very glad to proceed immediately on
her way home—2
Mr: and Mrs: Payne are here, and had engaged their passage to Rhode-Island for to-morrow—
But yesterday morning, she made him a present of two boys, at seven months— The children
will probably not live, but she is as well as could be expected—3
My Sister and her children are well— Coll: Smith is confined to his chamber by a severe cold—
I have seen the Vice-President— It seems to be the prevailing opinion that he will be elected Governor of this State.4
Remember me affectionately to your mother, brothers and Sisters— My dear children; do not let them forget their father— And George, if he expects his drum must be a very good boy.
I enclose you a fifty dollar bill, from which Dr: Weems’s due may be discharged; I will send you some more
from Boston; as soon as I can.
Adieu, my dearest friend— May you never feel a pang imparted from your husband’s hand; and may his feelings of the warmest and tenderest affection, ever meet with equal and correspondent sentiments in return.
So prays he who is ever faithfully yours
RC (Adams
Papers); internal address: “Mrs: L. C. Adams.”;
endorsed: “J. Q. Adams Esqr. / Recd. April 14th.”
Not found.
JQA departed Washington, D.C., for Quincy on 2
April, leaving LCA and their children to stay with LCA’s
family in 357 Washington during the congressional recess.
LCA’s servant Patty Walin (also called Patty Milnor) traveled with
JQA, a departure LCA attributed to Walin’s winterlong
illness and her being “constantly in hysterics, because
she could not see her Sweetheart.” Leaving the capital at
six o’clock in the morning, the two traveled via stage and water to Philadelphia,
where they arrived on the 4th. The next day the travelers continued by stage to New
York City, pausing at Newark, N.J., due to Walin’s illness and arriving at
AA2’s Manhattan home on 7 April. Samuel Allyne Otis was traveling the
same route, and he and Walin departed for Boston by ship the same day.
JQA sailed for Providence, R.I., on 12 April, and arrived on the 13th.
The following day he took the mail stage to Boston, meeting JA in the
city and riding with him to Quincy that evening (D/JQA/27,
APM Reel 30; LCA, D&A
, 1:192, 193, 216).
William and Lucy Gray Dobell Payne were traveling from
Washington, D.C., to Boston when Lucy gave birth to twins Edward William (d. 1832) and
William Edward (d. 1838) in New York City on 8 April. William Edward Payne, Harvard
1824, was later CFA’s friend and legal associate in Boston (Whitmore, Families of
Payne and Gore
, p. 20–25; CFA, Diary
, 1:128, 4:311).
In late 1803 Thomas Jefferson informed Aaron Burr that he was
dropping Burr from the Democratic-Republican ticket in the 1804 presidential election,
prompting Burr to announce his candidacy for governor of New York on 18 Feb. 1804. A
group of New England Federalists—Timothy Pickering, William Plumer, James Hillhouse,
Uriah Tracy, and Roger Griswold—helped spur the decision. Reacting to
Democratic-Republicans energized by the repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801, the
Louisiana Purchase, and the impeachment of John Pickering, the group advocated for the
secession of New England and New York from the United States and the formation of an
independent confederation. The group saw as a first step Burr’s election as governor
because it would give them a Democratic-Republican ally who shared their distrust of
the Virginia branch of his party. Alexander Hamilton and Rufus King were among the
Federalists opposed to the plan, and Hamilton raised the rumored secession proposal in
campaign speeches against longtime rival Burr. JQA remained on the
sidelines of the debate, writing of his visit with Burr on 8 April 1804, “He says if
the Election were to be a fortnight later, he should probably succeed— Nothing could
have induced him to let his name be held up as a Candidate for the Office of Governor
of New-York, but the absolute necessity of interposing to save the Country from ruin
by these family combinations &c &c &c.” Hamilton’s opposition and the
failure of New York Federalists to support Burr led to his defeat by Morgan Lewis on
26 April. The loss effectively ended agitation for secession, and in reporting Burr’s
loss to LCA on 9 May (Adams
Papers), JQA wrote, “It seems the federalists and his partizans
could not cordially coalesce, and failed in giving each other the mutual assistance
upon which they depended” (Isenberg, Fallen Founder
, p. 252–256; Kevin M. Gannon,
“Escaping ‘Mr. Jefferson’s Plan of Destruction’: New England Federalists and the Idea
of a Northern Confederacy, 1803–1804,”
JER
, 21:418–429, 438–443 [Autumn 2001]; Hamilton, Papers
, 26:240; D/JQA/27, APM Reel 30; New York Commercial
Advertiser, 26 April; A New Nation
Votes).