Papers of John Adams, volume 19

To John Adams from Thomas Brand Hollis, [2 September 1787] Hollis, Thomas Brand Adams, John
From Thomas Brand Hollis
Dear Sir [ ante 2 September 1787 ]1

The conversation you honored me with the last time I dined at your house has affected me most sensibly & made me change my opinion of the person who was the subject of it. for it is impossible for me to entertain a doubt of the facts you assert, and if conviction did not strike so forcibly sooner, it must have been owing to the esteem & regard I had, for two persons, whom I could not think mistaken as to matters of fact; being so essentially concerned, but which now appears otherwise; but knowing the goodness of their hearts perhaps permitted me not to suspect their Judgement.2 The dereliction of all principles & the universal rage for distinction & pleasure, has almost annihilated the glorious principle you maintain; of never giving up your friend till clearly convicted of baseness.

This is not the least illustrious part of your character, & for which you have my esteem if possible, in a higher degree than ever. I have 143 had my trials of this sort.— and have suffered & do suffer.— but I shall persevere till time & truth shall justify me & them.!

you Sir, can easily imagine what it must have cost me to suspect & give up one, whom I had esteemed & valued. nothing but the apprehension that the American cause, the cause of truth and freedom, could have effected such a change.

but during a civil war carried on from interest party & disappointment, the defection from publick virtue, & the change of principles according to the times, was so common & prevalent, that some instances among my friends did not surprise me much.

This desertion was more to be expected to happen among them, when one considers there were rewards grants & titles for them to expect. but in case of failure, the sad reverse of disappointment, punishment, & relinquishing their native country, and no Asylum to fly too!

But thanks to heaven many of them, in that dubious anxious state of things, stood firm & inflexible, at the risque of fortune, life, & reputation and have been blessed with Success.

during a civil war, suspicion & distrust always prevails among the leaders, & the common enemy are industrious to promote it & has been too successful against the Americans!

your oppressors will never forgive you, for the injuries you have received, & for the glorious asserting of your privelegies as men, & the noble independence you have obtained, by your perseverance, magnanimity, and virtue; for which suceeding generations will bless your memory.

and the world in general be made wiser & happier by the spreading truth & knowledge.

long may you continue to tread the glorious path of publick virtue, & be an illustrious ornament to your country, & enjoy the sublime happiness of having been greatly instrumental to save to your country, & preserve its liberties to future ages, is the sincere & invariable wish of, Dear Sir, / your affecte: & faithful Friend

T Brand Hollis.

now Dear Sir I must claim your promise of the pleasure of your company with mrs Adams here at the Hide.

the only difficulty was the number of your family, which with me is none, but if that is any objection, I shall be very glad the Col & his Lady with your Grandson to Succeed you here, as you was so obliging as to declare your inclination. I hope you will comply with 144 it and oblige me also. I am perfectly disengaged after this week & hope monday se’en night the tenth instant will be convenient or any other day. but do not fix your time of absence. a pair of horses will bring you down to dinner breakfasting at Rumford.3

some of your family you will find here healthy & well. complts to the Colonel & Ladies.

RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by AA: “Mr Hollis Sepbr / 2d 1787”; docketed: “Thomas Brand Hollis / Sep. 2. 1787.”

1.

The dating of this letter is based on AA’s endorsement. Hollis was uncertain of this letter’s date, indicating only that he likely wrote it “last friday,” or 31 Aug., in his 6 Sept. letter to JA , below.

2.

Hollis referred to Edmund Jenings, whom Henry Laurens accused of writing four anonymous letters designed to divide the American peace commissioners. JA received the first letter, of April 1781; Benjamin Franklin received two letters, of 31 Jan. and 8 May 1782; and Edward Bridgen received a letter, intended for Laurens, dated 3 May. The “two persons” were Laurens and Bridgen, both of whom Jenings challenged to duels. JA identified the anonymous author as “this Anglo Norman,” a clerk in the firm of Jean de Neufville & Fils named Mr. Chouquet (vols. 13:64–65; 15:13–14; 16:xxiv, 126, 191). There is no record of correspondence between JA and Jenings while both were staying in London, though JA dined with Hollis, Bridgen, and Jenings on several occasions. See, for example, JA, D&A , 3:188.

3.

JA and AA visited Hollis at The Hyde between 11 Sept. and 20 Oct. 1787 (to Hollis, 5 Sept., below; AFC , 8:195).

To John Adams from Richard Henry Lee, 3 September 1787 Lee, Richard Henry Adams, John
From Richard Henry Lee
Dear Sir, New York September the 3d. 1787

Since my letter to you of december 1785 from Chantilly in Virginia in answer to the letters that you were pleased to write me on the 26th. of August, 6th. & 7th. of September 1785; I have not been honored with any letter from you.1 On my arrival here I met with, and read with great pleasure your book on the American governments— The judicious collection that you have made, with your just reflections thereon, have reached America at a great Crisis, and will probably have their proper influence in forming the federal government now under consideration— Your labor may therefore have its reward in the thanks of this and future generations. The present federal system, however well calculated it might have been for its designed ends if the States had done their duty, under the almost total neglect of that duty, has been found quite ineffecient and ineffectual— The government must be both Legislative and Executive, with the former power paramount to the State Legislatures in certain respects essential to federal purposes. I think there is no doubt but that this Legislature will be recommended to consist of the triple 145 ballance, if I may use the expression, to signify a compound of the three simple forms acting independently, but forming a joint determination.

The executive (which will be part of the legislative) to have more duration and power enlarged beyond the present— This seems to be the present plan expected, and generally spoken of— I say expected, because the Convention is yet sitting, and will continue so to do until the middle of this month. I was appointed to that Assembly, but being a Member of Congress where the plan of Convention must be approved, there appeard an inconsistency for Members of the former to have Session in the latter, and so pass judgement at New York upon their opinion at Philadelphia. I therefore declined going to Convention and came here; where we have lately contracted for the sale of six millions of Acres on the N.W. side of Ohio in the ceded territory, for lessening the domestic debt— And now, another Offer is made for two millions more.2 I hope we shall at least be able to extinguish the domestic debt created by the late war, which is by far the greatest part of the debt. So many of our Members have lately gone from hence to the Convention, that we have had but 5 States in Congress for a month past, which has prevented any determination on your application to return.

It seems at present to be very doubtful whether there will be any Resident appointed to the Court where you are— Some being for a Minister, some for a Chargé, and some for neither— But a Consul only— How it will terminate can scarcely be conjectured yet.3 Permit me now Sir to entreat your attention and good offices in the following affair— Mr. Thomas Steptoe, concerning whom I formerly wrote to you, dyed on shipboard as he was returning home from the East Indies either in 1784 or 1785, and we are not certain whether he was in a Danish or Sweedish Ship; but it was one of these— Captain Miller who gave me this intelligence by letter, and who is now up the Baltic, was not certain to which of these nations the Ship belonged. But he said it was supposed that Mr. Steptoe had a considerable property.—

His heirs in Virginia having heard nothing concerning this property, apprehend that it has been secured by the Officers of the Ship wherein he dyed. The want of exact information concerning Mr. Steptoes affairs will render it difficult to procure redress— Perhaps a proper enquiry among those people in London who trade with the East Indies, may furnish some light upon this business Or an 146 application to the Danish & Swedish Ministers at the Court of London might cause an enquiry to be made in their respective countries, so as that the holders of his property fearing detection, may come forward and honestly deliver up this gentlemans effects— And inform, if he left any Will— It is not improbable that he left a will somewhere, which if procured would regulate the descent of his Virginia estate— I shall be singularly obliged to you my dear Sir if you will interest yourself in this business and let me know the success of your enquiries—4 My complements, if you please to Colo. Smith; and affectionate regards to my Nephew Shippen—5 With every sentiment of esteem and friendship I am dear Sir sincerely yours.

Richard Henry Lee.

RC (Adams Papers).

1.

For Lee’s letter of 12 Dec. 1785, see vol. 18:34–35. For JA’s letters of 26 Aug. and 6 Sept., see vol. 17:365–367, 412–413; and for that of 7 Sept., see note i to the 6 Sept. letter.

2.

On 13 July 1787 Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, a landmark piece of legislation establishing how the United States governed territorial possessions prior to statehood. A mixture of land sale agreement and lawmaking, it shaped what became the politically fraught area of the Northwest Territory, encompassing the Allegheny Mountains on the east, the Great Lakes on the north, the Mississippi River on the west, and the Ohio River on the south. The ordinance, which pledged “the utmost good faith” to Native Americans and prohibited slavery, became a key part of American abolitionists’ arguments (Robert Alexander, The Northwest Ordinance: Constitutional Politics and the Theft of Native Land, Jefferson, N.C., 2017, p. 1–4).

On 23 and 27 July Congress made a contract with Rev. Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent for the sale of more than 5 million acres between the Ohio and Scioto Rivers, comprising a portion of modern-day southeastern Ohio. On 27 Oct., Cutler and Sargent signed a contract for 1.5 million acres on behalf of the newly formed Ohio Company and for an additional 5 million acres for the Scioto Company, assenting to the price of roughly 66 cents per acre. They made an initial payment of $500,000, with another $500,000 due after the lands were surveyed, and the final balance due in six equal semiannual payments.

Following the lead of Cutler and Sargent, New Jersey delegate John Cleves Symmes petitioned for a similar grant on 29 Aug., for a swath of territory near the Ohio and Miami Rivers, which was laid before Congress on 21 September. On 15 Oct. 1788 Symmes signed a contract for 1 million acres with Congress and made an initial payment of $82,198. Congress estimated that the contracts with Cutler, Sargent, and Symmes tallied more than $3 million, which would alleviate residual Revolutionary War debt. In March 1792, however, the Ohio Company petitioned Congress for relief, which was granted on 21 April, and also extended to Symmes on 5 May. The Scioto Company, which had made no initial payment, failed to secure funding and the sale lapsed ( JCC , 32:334–343; 33:399–401, 427–430, 509, 512; Payson Jackson Treat, The National Land System, 1785–1820, N.Y., 1910, p. 49–52, 54, 55–57, 59, 60, 63; U.S. House, Jour. , 2d Cong., 1st sess., p. 525–526, 549–550; U.S. Senate, Jour. , 2d Cong., 1st sess., p. 430, 440).

3.

Amid controversy, George Washington nominated Thomas Pinckney on 21 Dec. 1791, and he served as U.S. minister to Britain until 1796 (Jefferson, Papers , 24:282; AFC , 9:248, 13:535).

4.

Thomas Ludwell Lee Steptoe was the half brother of Lee’s first wife, Anne Aylett Lee. There is no evidence that JA followed up on Lee’s request (vol. 17:127).

5.

Thomas Lee Shippen was studying law at the Middle Temple in London (vol. 18:326).