Papers of John Adams, volume 19
I am much obliged to you for your kind Letter of the 5. of December, and for a former one, and for the important Intelligence conveyed in both.1
Braintree could not have made a wiser Choice of Delegates to Convention, and We may now depend upon a wise decision from our Town.2 We can Scarcely hope to hear of the Result of the Massachusetts Convention, before We embark. March is the Month fixed for our Departure, and We hope to be home in May. Accept of my Thanks for the good News of my Sons. I almost envy them and you, the felicity of your Prospects. Clouds and Darkness hung over my head, at your time of Life, and soon afterwards the Sword of Damocles. The rising Generation have such Assistances in study at this day, which had no Existence thirty years ago, that the Life of a Lawyer is relieved from many of its Thorns.
May God bless you my dear sir and your young Companions in your virtuous and honourable Pursuits, and grant the Pleasure of seeing and assisting you, to your / affectionate Uncle
RC (private owner, 1957): addressed by AA2: “Mr: William Cranch / Boston / Massachusetts”; internal address: “Mr William Cranch.”; endorsed: “J. Adams. Janry 23 / 1788.”
Cranch, AA’s nephew, was then studying law with Thomas Dawes of Boston. His 5 Dec. 1787 letter has not been found, but the “former” may have been Cranch’s 1 Oct. note to AA (
AFC
, 8:21, 176–177).
At a 3 Dec. town meeting, Braintree residents elected two delegates to send to the Massachusetts ratification convention: Richard Cranch and Rev. Anthony Wibird, minister of the First or North Precinct Church in Braintree (later Quincy) since 1754 (
Doc. Hist. Ratif. Const.
, 5:940;
AFC
, 1:146).