Adams Family Correspondence, volume 10
br
th1794
I hope you are agreably lodgd and that your Company will be to your mind. I rejoice in the ReElection of mr Ames, and mr Smith of Carolina. tis Said mr Freeman is chosen for Barnstable a clasmate of our Son JQA, a Lawyer, a worthy Sensible Man as I have heard.1 for this district mr Reed I hear is chosen. I do not however approve of Clergymen becomeing politicians. you may mak a Chaplin of him. I hear however that he is an ingenious Sensible Man.2 mr Dexter tis thought is not yet chosen, oweing to their being several persons voted for. a large number of votes for mr Gerry who did not wish to be considerd as a candidate and whose influence will be given to mr Dexter should a second vote be necessary.
I have read mr Munroe speach in the National assembly!!! Charmed with the stability of their counsels! what a consience. the 251 Translater may be in fault. every minister could not have made Such a speach.3
You wish to know how the Business proceeds— Savil Nightingal & Bracket have been constantly carting sea weed. they have brought sufficient to compleatly cover the orchard. it is not yet all spread oweing, to the potato which has taken of Some of the Hands, and will take they tell me, two days more to compleat. I inclose you a journal of the Buisness of every day since you left me. I set out tomorrow for Haverhill, leaving the weeks buisness agreed upon with Shaw.4 I hope to return on fryday, and by saturdays post to hear from you. do not let Brisler omit my flower. it has risen here to 52 shillings Remember me to all inquiring Friends Thomas thought mr Brisler had best send round his Bed & what things he left. I forgot to mention it to him. he will judge whether it is best to send them now or in the Spring
Your ever affectionate
julia has scarcly got upon the settee since you went away She however retains her affection for the Bed—
Shaw at this place I call N1. Shaw at the other No2
october 30. Shaw No 1 & 2 carting Sea weed. Joy getting wood Trask Hayden & Minos the No leged Negro diging potatoes5 Arnold & Bass spreading sea weed Copland absent. Statson in the Garden—
31 Shaw No1 Bass Arnold joy Minos at the Beach medow diging potatoes very small & slow work— driven of at 12 oclok by a heavy Rain. Spread sea weed in the afternoon shaw No 2 at home getting wood for himself & making a pigs trough Stutson in garden
Novbr 1 All Hands at the Beach medow. left only half a dozen Bushel
2d. sunday—
3d Shaw No1 No 2 joy and Copland splitting Hills Arnold & Bass spreading sea weed, a drisly wet day—
4th Shaw No 1 & 2—Copland Arnold Bass joy & Minos diging potatoes at shaws place
5 all Hands at potatoes stutson Garden
6 ditto—
7th shaw & Howard killing creatures6 Bass & Arnold employd all
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day in bringing round the Scow— Copland Minos shaw No2 & joy at potatoes
8 shaw No1 & Bass loading the Scow & carting up sea weed joy Shaw No 2 Arnold Copland Minos diging potatoes
9th sunday—
10th shaw & Bass loading the Scow & carting up sea weed shaw No2 plowing captain Beals joy Copland Arnold potatoes
RC and enclosure (Adams Papers). Filmed at 7–10 Nov. 1794.
Nathaniel Freeman Jr. represented Massachusetts in the 4th and 5th Congresses (
Biog. Dir. Cong.
).
Rev. John Reed (1751–1831), Yale 1772, had been a chaplain in the U.S. Navy and was the minister of the First Congregational Church of West Bridgewater, Mass. He served as a representative in Congress from 1795 to 1801 (same).
James Monroe, the new U.S. minister plenipotentiary, was introduced in the French National Convention on 6 Sept. 1794 (An. II, 26 thermidor). His speech emphasized the commonalities and friendship between France and the United States: “Their governments have much analogy to each other. They both cherish like principles, and repose on a similar basis, to wit, the unalienable and equal rights of man. The remembrance, even of common dangers, can but augment their harmony, and cement their union.” He also praised “the wisdom and the firmness of her councils” and pledged the support of the U.S. government for “the liberty, prosperity and happiness of the French republic” (Boston Federal Orrery, 10 Nov.).
AA was going to Haverhill to visit Elizabeth Smith Shaw, whose husband, John Shaw, had passed away on 29 September. See AA to TBA, 30 Nov., below.
Possibly Samuel Trask (1736–1808), originally of Hingham but at this time living in Quincy (Sprague, Braintree Families
).
Possibly Samuel Hayward (1760–1812) of Roxbury, a cordwainer (same; JA, D&A
, 3:238).
Since the Certainty has arrived of the very honourable Reelection of our Friend Mr Smith of S. Carolina, the wiser Part of the Community have been the more anxious for that of Mr Ames. The Orrery from Boston, which arrived Yesterday has excited great Expectations, that the District in which Boston is placed, will not disgrace itself by disgracing Sound Principles and independent Conduct in that worthy Representative. Thursdays Post will relieve Us from all Uncertainty. Mr Swanwick is announced to be elected instead of Mr Fitsimmons, by a Small Majority, but it is Said it will be a contested Election Still, and Swanwick may be, for any Thing that I know as fœderal as his Rival.1
The President told me that Mr Finlay Said to him, at their Interview, that the Opposition of the People in the rebellious Counties of Pensilvania was not a Resistance to the Excise, or any other
253
particular Measure of Government, but it was an universal Opposition to All Law, all Government and all Magistracy. And that rather than go through Such another Scæne as he had witnessed among them he should wish to quit the Scæne of Life. This Declaration from Finlay is as important as it is curious.2
If The French Should be in Possession of The Hague and the United Provinces, Our Minister will not go there. His Credentials are to their High Mightinesses and His most Serene Highness, but if their Authority is annulled, either by Conquest or by a Change of Government, Mr Adams will wait in England for new Powers or further Orders. I do not believe however that the French will be in Holland nor the Government changed.
The President and his Lady enquired kindly after your Health. Mr Cranch I took with me on Sunday Evening and presented him to All the Family, where We drank Coffee and Spent two Hours. He gave The President & Lady a particular Account of the present State of the City of Washington.
Miss Custis, Mr Cranch Says, is to be married to Mr Peter of George Town son of a rich Proprietor in the Fœderal City.3
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Novbr 11th / 1794.”
John Swanwick represented the first congressional district of Pennsylvania as a Democratic-Republican from 1795 to his death on 1 Aug. 1798. He was elected by a vote of 1,240 to 1,182 (
Biog. Dir. Cong.
; Michael J. Dubin, United States Congressional Elections, 1788–1994, Jefferson, N.C., 1998, p. 11–13).
William Findley (ca. 1741–1821) was originally from Ireland but immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1763. He held various state government posts before being elected as a representative from western Pennsylvania to the U.S. Congress in 1791. He served as a Democratic-Republican there until 1799, then again from 1803 to 1817 (
Biog. Dir. Cong.
). During the Whiskey Rebellion, he worked to quell the revolt and later wrote a book defending his actions, History of the Insurrection in the Four Western Counties of Pennsylvania, Phila., 1796, Evans, No. 30419.
Martha Parke Custis married Thomas Peter (1769–1834) of Georgetown in early Jan. 1795. Peter was the son of Robert Peter (1726–1806), a Scottish merchant who became the first mayor of Georgetown in 1789 (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series,
7:368; Charles Moore, The Family Life of George Washington, Boston, 1926, p. 116–117, 121).