Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
st:November 1800.
The morning after you left this place, the Aurora was
filled with five columns & an half, from T. Coxe; wherein he undertakes
to detail another private conversation, which passed between him and Mr: Dennie, during his last visit to the City,
& while he lodged in the same house with Dennie & myself. It is
hardly necessary to observe, that this, like all other details from the same
source, is grossly 431
incorrect, as to both fact & inference. Judge Chipman’s name is
introduced in a manner altogether unwarranted by the reality; altho Mr: D—— disclaims any recollection of his having
introduced the name of that Gentleman. At all events, he positively denies
having quoted Judge Chipman, as an advocate for a Government of King Lords
& Commons, in this Country, because he intimately knows, that the Judge,
dislikes many parts of the British Constitution as administered, which he
has shewn in his own book— As to the connection of your name in this
conversation & discussion, Mr: Dennie,
asserts that Mr: Coxe’s interpretation is
entirely false & unfair. I was not present when this conversation took
place—indeed none of our fellow lodgers were disposed to listen, except by
compulsion; as was in a degree the case
with Dennie, to a talk of three hours & an half, in the forenoon, upon
forms & modes of government & upon the various opinions of them
entertained by men of talents in this Country. I know however that the
conversation was on a morning subsequent to the evening that Mr: Dennie told Mr.
Coxe to his face, (good naturedly enough to be sure) that he was a political
apostate— This talk therefore was held the next morning, for the purpose of
convincing D—— that he had mistaken his character & conduct.
Dennie has been advised & persuaded by many, to come out in reply; at least so far as he is accused of implicating the opinions of other people. After due reflection, I believe he has come to a determination, not to write a word on the subject. He disdains having any controul over the political department of Waynes Gazette— He has never written any of the squibs & paragraphs against Coxe, of which he complains, & therefore does not hold himself responsible to the man against whom they were levelled.1
I have recommended silence to him on the occasion, altho’ I think there would be no harm in rectifying the misrepresentation as to Judge Chipman.
This morning Tench appears again, in six fine spun, monotonous columns, in answer to your letter.2 It is any thing else but an answer— The press literally groans under the burthen of his communications, and the public, I think must be weary of tolerating his everlasting impertinence— Who is Tench Coxe, that he should attract to himself in the public newspapers, the notice of the whole Continent? The public will know him better & better, & he has a thirst for notoriety. I am apt to believe this will be the only reward & gratification he will obtain.
432I presume you can see the Aurora, from the Office of State, but least you should not, I will enclose some of the full ones.
I rejoyce to see the selection of characters, for Electors made by the Legislature of New Jersey—3 It reflects honor upon the State.
From So Carolina, accounts
are more favorable than expected a federalist in the room of Major Pinckney
& a great majority of the Charleston members of State Legislature,
federal, to the exclusion of Several democrats.4
I hear nothing from my Mother since you passed—
With great attachment, I am / Your Son
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The President of the United States / City of Washington”; internal address: “The President of the U S.”; endorsed by William Smith Shaw: “T B Adams Esqr / rec 4 Nov.”
The Philadelphia Aurora
General Advertiser, 30 Oct., printed a 27 Oct. essay by Tench
Coxe recounting a conversation with Joseph Dennie Jr. during which Coxe
called JA “an English Whig”
who believed in a bicameral legislature and a sovereign. Coxe alleged
that during the conversation Dennie attributed the same belief to
Nathaniel Chipman. Chipman (1752–1843), Yale 1777, a Vermont senator who
previously had served as chief justice of the Vt. Supreme Court, was the
author of Sketches of the Principles of
Government, Rutland, Vt., 1793, Evans, No. 25297. The Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 1, 4, 5, 8,
12 Nov., subsequently criticized Coxe, characterizing him on 1 Nov. as
“a slave to ambition” (
Biog. Dir. Cong.
). For Dennie’s
editorial influence on the Gazette of the United
States, see
TBA to William Smith Shaw, 22 Aug., and note
1, above.
Coxe continued his condemnation of JA in
the Aurora, 1 Nov., framing his comments as
a response to the publication of JA’s May 1792 letter to
him and tracing the deterioration of his relationship with
JA to the “mental alienation” he experienced after
reading JA’s
Defence of the Const.
in
1794.
The Philadelphia Gazette of
the United States, 31 Oct. 1800, announced New Jersey’s seven
presidential electors, all of whom were Federalists who would ultimately
vote for JA and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (A New Nation Votes).
For the electioneering that preceded the selection of the state’s
electors, see
TBA to JQA, 25 Feb., and note
8, above.
Thomas Pinckney declined to seek reelection to
Congress, and Federalist Thomas Lowndes was elected in his stead on 14
October. The state’s legislative elections took place at the same time,
and fourteen of the fifteen candidates elected had ties to Federalist
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who was reelected to the S.C. senate. The
Philadelphia Gazette, 29 Oct., said of
the legislative contest, “There can be no doubt also, of the Federal
list for Representatives having a handsome majority” (Philadelphia Gazette, 20 Oct.; A New Nation Votes; N.
Louise Bailey, Mary L. Morgan, and Carolyn R. Taylor, Biographical Directory of the South Carolina
Senate, 1776–1985, 3 vols., Columbia, S.C., 1986; Charleston,
S.C., City Gazette, 14, 18 Oct.).
We arrived here last night, or rather yesterday at one O
Clock and here We dined and Slept. The Building is in a State to be
habitable.1
433 And now We wish for your Company. The
Account you give of the melancholly state of our dear Brother Mr Cranch and his family is really distressing
and must Severely afflict you. I most cordially Sympathize with you and
them.
I have Seen only Mr Marshall
and Mr Stoddert General Wilkinson and the two
Commissioners Mr Scott and Mr Thornton.
I Shall Say nothing of public affairs. I am very glad you consented to come on, for you would have been more anxious at Quincy than here, and I, to all my other Solicitudines Mordaces as Horace calls them i.e. “biting Cares” Should have added a great deal on your Account.2 Besides it is fit and proper that you and I should retire together and not one before the other
Before I end my Letter I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.
I Shall not attempt a description of it. You will form the best Idea of it from Inspection.
Mr Brisler is very anxious
for the arrival of the Man and Women and I am much more so for that of the
Ladies. I am with unabated Confi / dence and affection your
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs Adams”; endorsed: “President Novbr / 3 1800 Washington.”
The cornerstone of the President’s House in
Washington, D.C., was laid on 13 Oct. 1792, but when JA
took up residence on 1 Nov, 1800, walls were unplastered, few
furnishings were in place, and only one of three staircases was built.
Despite offers of private lodgings, JA resolved to remain
in the President’s House as work continued. When Thomas Jefferson moved
in on 19 March 1801, he ordered numerous architectural changes, and the
building was not completed until 1802 (William Seale, The President’s House: A History, 2 vols.,
Washington, D.C., 1986, p. 35, 79–81, 83–84, 90–91, 93; Papers of William Thornton, ed. C. M.
Harris and Daniel Preston, Charlottesville, Va., 1995, p. 587, 588).
Horace, Odes, Book I,
Ode xviii, line 4.