Papers of John Adams, volume 20
th.1790
I feel very sensibly the impropriety of Your Address to me in senate yesterday—1 As it was a very indellicate departure from the line of Your Official duty, I did expect that You woud, while in the Chair, have made at least the same Apology You did out of it—namely, that You meant me no offence.— The strong desire I have of promoting and preserving harmony in that branch of the Legislature induces me to take no further notice of it at this time; but if ever anything similar to it takes place again, I shall in justification of my own feelings, and of the situation in which I stand on that floor, be under a necessity of personally resenting it—
I am / sir / Yr Humble servant
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Exc̃y the Vice President of / the United states.”
The Irish-born Butler (1744–1822), a merchant of Charleston,
S.C., and New York City, represented South Carolina in the Senate from 1789 to 1796
and again from 1802 to 1804. Although no mention of Butler’s confrontation with
JA appeared in the official record, William Maclay’s Journal offers a hint of detail. Following George
Washington’s 8 Jan. 1790 address to Congress, Butler complained that “the speech was
committed rather too hastily” and then “made some remarks” on the Senate floor.
JA called Butler to order. As Maclay wrote: “He resented the call, and
some altercation ensued.” Butler’s chief objection was that JA and
Washington had embraced British parliamentary ritual with its “mimickry of royalty,
state and parade.” AA later cautioned JA that Butler was
“unsteady and wavering” in his conduct (
AFC
, 10:264;
Biog. Dir. Cong.
; Maclay, Journal
, p. 174; The Letters of Pierce Butler,
1790–1794: Nation Building and Enterprise in the New American Republic, ed.
Terry W. Lipscomb, Columbia, S.C., 2007, p. 1).