Adams Family Correspondence, volume 11
th1796
Captain Beal who is always attentive to the post office for me in your absence, brought Me on the Evening of the Seventh your Letter written at Stratford Novbr 27th, which is the only line which has yet reachd me; I fear you sufferd from the cold on the journey, for it has been unusually so, for the Season. the continuence of it, has frozen the Ground very deep. I fear we shall not be able to have our Hill ploughd this Winter. our people get Seaweed and wood. Vesey will remain with me only untill the last of Feb’ry. mr Bass is gone to capt Beals for Six Months. very fortunately there was an opening for him there, Tim having left them.
I am of your mind, that prices must fall Genll Lincoln who dinned with Me with his Daughter Polly otis Lincoln last Saturday, on their return from Boston, told me he had not heard such a cry for money,
442
amongst the merchants for a long time, that he thought there must be some failures. He mentiond having lately made a purchase in Hingham accidently at a vendue, of a House Barns out houses &c said he had no thoughts of its being Struck off to him, but that it would prevent his building, which he was about to Do for his Daughter in Law who was with him— the House & place he purchased was the one next to that of Dr Herseys & was formerly own’d by the Drs Brother, a Double House lately put in good repair with two Barns one quite new & an excellent Garden full of fruit Trees with Eleven acres of Land for four Hundred & 50 pounds.1 he observed that he could not build the House for that Money.
The Electors all arrived in Boston the Day before the Election and met, in the Eve their great difficulty was respecting a Vice President. they could not agree untill near Evening on the 7th you will see they were unanimous for President, 13. for Princkny 2 for Gov Johnstone of N C, 1 for Mr Elsworth.2 I am very glad that they were all in season, as it removes one Source of clamour, & the G——r might as well have let his Name have stood, as recorded his own imbecility by erasing it. we are told that the votes of Vermont will not be legal. we had the Same report respecting Georgia.3 I cannot believe untill I see it that the old Chief Justice will give his vote against you.4 I yesterday had the Washington paper of Novbr 16th there is a peice in it, dated Virginna addrest to the Electors of that state. it is a recital of the services you have been rendering Your Country for 30 years back. it is written with a warmth a zeal and an affectionate remembrance of them, beyond any other publication which I have seen.5
Beals says that Adets Note Does not make any great impression in Boston, that it is considerd as a mere Electionering Scheme. there is however mischief enough in it. I believe this as critical a juncture as any our Country has seen. John Bull will have enough to Do, to take care of his own Calves. he may make Love to us, but we know what value to place upon it. we understand matchs of convenience as well as Adets Chrocodile tricks. with England the questions
is a very Solemn one, and Parson West will be looking for the completition of the Prophesy according to his interpretation. If a very Serious allam, had not taken place, a Mission of so much pomp would never have been addrest to the Directory.
I have not yet, a Letter from N york. I hope you will give me some 443 infomation respecting mrs smith and Family as I have not had a line from her for a long time.
Mrs Brisler and Family were well yesterday.
Yours as ever
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs A. Decr 9. Ansd 18 / 1796.”
Dr. Ezekiel Hersey (1709–1770), Harvard 1728, a noted physician of Hingham, Mass., provided the original endowment for the Hersey professorships in medicine at Harvard. He had treated JA in the 1750s for general ill health, encouraging him to eat a diet of vegetables, bread, milk, and water with no meat or alcohol (
Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 8:432–436; JA, D&A
, 3:269).
Samuel Johnston (1733–1816) was a member of the Continental Congress in 1780 and 1781. He was elected governor of North Carolina in 1787, serving two years before resigning to become a candidate for the U.S. Senate, in which he served between 1789 and 1793 (
Biog. Dir. Cong.
).
News circulated in Massachusetts that the votes in Vermont and Georgia would be declared illegal due to irregularities in each state’s voting procedures. The Vermont legislature, according to reports, had authorized electors via a resolution instead of a law and failed to act within the time frame required by the state’s constitution. In Georgia, the legislature had allegedly failed to obtain the sanction of the governor for the resolution providing for the choice of electors. Both stories proved false, and Vermont’s and Georgia’s electoral votes were duly counted (Boston Columbian Centinel, 7 Dec. 1796; Massachusetts Mercury, 29 Nov., 9 Dec.).
John Jay was not a presidential elector for New York State (Kurtz, Presidency of JA, p. 410).
The Washington Gazette of 16–19 Nov. reprinted an earlier article from the Virginia Gazette recommending JA for the presidency as “a strenuous advocate for the rigars of his country” and “one who regarded his wealth, his fame and life as the property of his country.”
r.12. 1796
I have just recd your favr. of the 4th. I wrote you from stratford New York and from Philadelphia.
Adets Note has had some Effect Pensilvania and prov’d a Terror to some Quakers and that is all the ill Effect it has had. Even the southern States appear to resent it.
If Col Hamiltons personal Dislike of Jefferson does not obtain too much Influence with Massachusetts Electors, neither Jefferson will be President nor Pinckney V. P. of U.S.—
I am not enough of an Englishman nor little enough of a French Man for some People. These would be very willing that Pinckney should come in, Chief. But they will be disappointed.
The Letter you Sent me has been read by many and is admired by all. it is impossible it should be otherwise. Hichbourn held the Same Language here.1
I find nobody here intimidated. Those who wish to Say they are dare not. There is a grand Spirit in the Senate.
444Giles Says “the Point is settled.— The V. P. will be President. He is undoubtedly chosen. The old Man will make a good President too. (theres for you). But We shall have to check him a little now and then. that will be all.”
Thus Mr Giles.
I am just now come from pronouncing a most affectionate Address of the senate to the President in Answer to his Speech. I felt so much that I was afraid I should cry betray a Weakness. but I did not. I thought I was very firm & cool— But the senators say that I pronounced it in so affecting a manner that I made them cry.— The Tears did certainly trickle. The President himself was affected more tenderly than ever I saw him in my Life in pronouncing his Reply.2
The southern Gentlemen with whom I have conversed, have expressed more Affection for me than they ever did before since 1774. They certainly wish Adams elected rather than Pinckney. perhaps it is because Hamilton and Jay are said to be for Pinckney.
I had rather hazard my little Venture in the ship to the Pilotage of Jefferson, than that of Pinckney, or Burr.
My old Friend Mc.Kean, had so often expressed his Friendship and Confidence in me, that his Conduct is much censured and ridiculed.
Nothing affects me so much as to see McKean, Whitehill, Osgood and even Sam Adams and such Men sett up in opposition to me. It gives such a Specimen of Party Spirit as is very disgusting, very shocking.3
I am most tenderly yours
I remember the time, however, when the Friendship of Sam. Quincy, Jona. sewall Daniel Leonard, Col Brattle & Treasurer Gray and twenty others went away from me in Consequence of political systems & Party Spirit.
I remember too an hundred other Instances during the Revolution and Since of declared Friendships giving Way before Jealousy, Envy and Competition or Rather Rivalry that these Things do not shock me as they would have done when I had less Experience.
The Inveteracy of Party Spirit is however indeed alarming at present.
There have been Manœuvres and Combinations in this Election that would Surprize you. I may one day or other develope them to you.
There is an active Spirit, in the Union, who will fill it with his 445 Politicks wherever he is. He must be attended to and not Suffered to do too much.
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “December 12 1796.”
In JQA’s letter to JA of 13 Aug., which AA had forwarded to JA on 27 Nov.,
JQA commented particularly on the attacks on George Washington by the French government as an attempt to undermine the whole U.S. government. JQA reported, “The object will remain … to force us out of our neutrality; to deprive us at least of all connection with Britain, and to alter our Constitution to such a form, as shall give them a more certain and effectual influence over our national Executive.” JQA also noted that these same sentiments were being repeated by Americans in Paris, including Benjamin Hichborn, “whose conversation was of exactly the same complection more than a twelve-month ago.” Hichborn had returned to the United States earlier in 1796 after spending several years in Europe (Adams Papers;
Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, 17:42).
On 7 Dec. Washington addressed the new session of Congress, reviewing diplomatic progress made with Native Americans, Britain, Spain, and Algiers and noting improved protection of U.S. seamen. He encouraged further consideration of the creation of a navy and argued for better promotion of manufacturing. He also reiterated his desire for the creation of a national university and a military academy. Finally, he noted, “with much pain, and deep regret,” recent attacks on U.S. shipping in the West Indies by the French Navy and expressed his strong hope that “a spirit of justice, candor, and friendship” would allow the United States to resolve its growing tensions with France.
Five days later the Senate presented its response, which in large measure concurred with Washington’s agenda and congratulated Washington on his administration’s political and diplomatic success. The Senate concluded its remarks with a tribute to the president, acknowledging that the prosperity of the nation must in part be attributed “to the virtue, firmness, and talents, of your administration—which have been conspicuously displayed in the most trying times, and on the most critical occasions. … When we review the various scenes of your public life, so long and so successfully devoted to the most arduous services, civil and military; … we cannot look forward to your retirement without our warmest affections and most anxious regards accompanying you. … The most effectual consolation that can offer for the loss we are about to sustain, arises from the animating reflection that the influence of your example will extend to your successors, and the United States thus continue to enjoy an able, upright, and energetic administration.”
Washington thanked the Senate in his reply, adding, “When contemplating the period of my retirement, I saw virtuous and enlightened men, among whom I relied on the discernment and patriotism of my fellow-citizens to make the proper choice of a successor; men who would require no influential example to ensure to the United States ‘an able, upright, and energetic administration.’ To such men I shall cheerfully yield the palm of genius and talents to serve our common country; but, at the same time, I hope I may be indulged in expressing the consoling reflection, (which consciousness suggests,) and to bear it with me to my grave, that none can serve it with purer intentions than I have done, or with a more disinterested zeal” (U.S. Senate, Jour., 4th Cong., 2d sess., p. 296–299, 300–303).
Possibly John Whitehill (1729–1815), a judge in Lancaster County, Penn., who had recently been chosen as a Democratic-Republican elector (
Biog. Dir. Cong.
; Kurtz, Presidency of JA, p. 411).