Papers of John Adams, volume 19

To John Adams from John Bubenheim Bayard, 13 April 1789 Bayard, John Bubenheim Adams, John
From John Bubenheim Bayard
New Brunswick 13th: April 1789

It is with great sincerity, I beg leave to congratulate your Honor on your election as Vice President of the United States— the many high offices you have been called by your Country to fill, & the eminent services you have render’d to your fellow Citizens during our important struggle, justly entitle you to this distinguished mark of their gratitude & affection—

I take the liberty to inform your Honor, that by the advice of my Friends both in Philadelphia & NewYork as well as from the calls of my family I am induced to apply for the office of Collector of the customs for the State of Pennsylva. 1 My long residence in the City of Philadelphia, in the mercantile line (near thirty years) the various offices of honor & trust confer’d on me during our important contest, & my having put, at an early period of the War, the greatest part of my estate into the loan office of the United States, (which still 413 continues there & renders me unable to provide for a numerous family of children, several of whom are come of age & stand in need of some advance to put them forward in life,) are among the reasons which give me hopes of success in my present application—

I beg leave to lay before your Honor the copy of a certificate which the Judges of the supreme Court of Pennsylva. were pleased to send me & shou’d it be deemed necessary, have no doubt I could obtain a recommendation from many of the principal merchants & Citizens of Philadelphia—2

Shou’d I be so happy as to meet with the approbation & interest of your Honor on this occasion I shall ever entertain a grateful sense of the obligation confer’d on me—

With every Sentiment of respect & esteem / I beg leave to Subscribe myself / Your Honor’s most Obedt / & very hmble. Servant

John Bayard

RC and enclosures (Adams Papers); addressed: “Honorable John Adams Esqr.”; internal address: “The Honble: John Adams Esqr.”; endorsed: “John Bayard / April. 13. 1789.”

1.

Philadelphia merchant John Bubenheim Bayard (1738–1807) had carried letters between JA and AA during the Continental Congress. He moved to New Brunswick, N.J., in 1788. His application for the post of collector of customs was denied, and a 1791 attempt to obtain a post in the excise service was similarly unsuccessful. He was elected mayor of New Brunswick in 1790 and later served as justice of the Court of Common Pleas (vol. 3:182; Washington, Papers, Presidential Series , 7:458–459; ANB ).

2.

Bayard enclosed copies of a brief cover letter of 16 March 1789 from Thomas McKean, along with a letter of recommendation of 5 March from McKean, Jacob Rush, and George Bryan, which described Bayard as “a steady, active & zealous friend to the American cause.” McKean was the state’s chief justice, and Rush and Bryan were prominent judges in Pennsylvania ( Biog. Dir. Cong. ; AFC , 2:252, 10:72).

To John Adams from Robert Treat Paine, 13 April 1789 Paine, Robert Treat Adams, John
From Robert Treat Paine
Much respected Freind Boston April 13. 17891

When we were going to the first Congress our worthy Freind Hawley, gave us in writing some broken hints—2 I take Liberty to imitate him in the method tho not in the matter, I intended to have done my self the great pleasure to wait on you at Braintree for the benefit of social Conversation, but innumerable Accidents have prevented, I wish to Communicate a few Ideas respecting my Official Situation, & hope this method may not be disagreable

I have toiled in public business from the first movings of the Revolution with all my Exertions of mind & body, elven Years in my present Office, & what with the difficulties of the times & the 414 Contracted Ideas some Influential men have of Supporting public Officers, I have spent my well earned monies I had on Loan for the necessary support of my Family, & in lieu thereof have demands on Government which bear no Interest & which I receive in a manner too Scanty for my Support— twice have I been honored with an Appointment to the Sup. Court, the first while at Congress I declined because I thought I could be more Serviceable (in our then precarious State) in the political line,—when I returned from Congress in ’77 I accepted the present Office on the Unexpected Call of Government, because I saw it was necessary for the Existence of the Commonwealth that it should be executed in the manner Which I have Endeavoured, & every Lawyer who was capable was immersed in more profitable business— I cannot describe the fatigues of it, nothing but a Sense of Honor & Duty prevented my resigning— in ’83 I was honored with an Appointment to the Sup. Jud. bench which I declined because I hoped my Office would have yeilded me more income which my family wanted, than a Judgship, but I have been sadly disappointed and have the mortification to find my self out ranked by all my juniors in Politicks & having no Income to recompence it, & by drudging in an office which tho of essential importance to Government, I have been out of the line of public Notice, And am not without Apprehensions that the Change of Government may Still further reduce me— I have not Sought Popularity but endeavoured to do my duty; expecting that this which first brought me into notice, would continue me in it— my Age, abilities, political pretensions, of all which you will judge for your Self, make me wish for some station less exposed to drugery & fatigue than that I am in, but my Family Circumstances oblige me to attend to the income. if any Judgship, or quam die office Should turn up it would Suit me better than the one I am in, but if I should be appointed to this with reasonable Support, I shall be thankful— I do not mean to Sollicit any thing improperly, & if I should, I am sure it would have no effect on you— I present these Observations because I have always known you attentive to a propriety of Conduct & desirous of a State of facts, & I have no other wishes than that as Opportunity Offers, you would do respecting the premisses what you think proper to be done— I think General Washington cannot have forgotten me, my Vote, when he took Charge of our Army to Support him with life & fortune & my signing the Charter of our Independence— it would be galling to me to find that those who in the times of greatest danger were acting a Salvable part, should now catch the bird from the bush which I have 415 beaten— but I will trouble you no more but wishing you health & all happiness / Subscribe your Freind & hble Sert

RTPaine

P:S if there is Occasion for any particular information, pray favour me with a line

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “honble. John Adams Esq”; endorsed: “Mr. R. T. Paine. / Ap. 13. 1789.”

1.

Massachusetts attorney general Robert Treat Paine (1731–1814), Harvard 1749, was JA’s frequent rival at the bar and his former colleague in the Continental Congress. JA did not reply to Paine, whose professional reputation had been dented by his inefficient management of confiscated loyalist estates. Drafting his “Black List” of dozens of men whom he believed had violated state law, Paine also led the prosecution of several Shays’ Rebellion participants for high treason. He sat on the Supreme Judicial Court from 1790 to 1804 (vol. 15:431; JA, Legal Papers , 1:cv–cvi; Richards, Shays’s Rebellion , p. 33).

2.

JA’s mentor, Northampton, Mass., lawyer Joseph Hawley (1723-–1788), Yale 1742, kept up a correspondence with JA when fear of contracting smallpox prevented him from attending the Continental Congress. In Aug. 1774, Hawley sent to JA his “Broken Hints to be communicated to the Committee of Congress for the Massachusetts,” which urged members, “We must fight.” JA circulated Hawley’s message to motivate Virginia delegate Patrick Henry and others and, in 1819, arranged for its publication in Hezekiah Niles’ Principles and Acts (vol. 2:102, 135–138; JA, Legal Papers , 1:ci).