Adams Family Correspondence, volume 15
th.1802
I recd. last night, your Letter of the
3d.—
1 It
was far from my thoughts to assign you a task. I meant only to turn your mind to a
Subject, which must necessaryly engage much of your contemplations, as long as you live.
The Folc Right, the Peoples Right, the common law, is the natural, Inheritance of Us
all. It is our Birth 186 Right. But precious as it is, and dear as it ought
to be to all our hearts, it is likely to be a subject of controversy in this country,
untill an examination of it, on a large Scale, Shall be undertaken and accomplished by
you or Some other, whose Industry may be equal to the Subject. The assistance to be
expected from me, must be very Small. I have Scarcely a Law Book of any kind left in my
office. It is almost 30 Years since I abandoned my Office and Law Library, and now I
have none. My Recollections of the contents of Law Books, you may well Suppose to be
very faint confused and incorrect.
A Lawyer, Should have in his Desk, or Bureau, more pidgeon holes, than a Coiner of constitutions. In these he should deposit, in exact, numerical or Alphebetical order, all the Effects of his Researches into moot Points, as well as the States of his Cases and his notes of Arguments or Authorities relative to them. One of these Apartments in your Scrutoire or your Case or Drawers for writings you may dedicate to the common Law, and fill it up with your disquisitions as Slowly or as Swiftly as you please.— And if it Should be growing upon you at intervals for fifty Years; instead of injuring your mind body or estate, it may be of great benefit to the first and last, at least. Hæc Olim meminisse juvabit.— Indocti discant, et ament meminisse periti.2 The Plan indeed is vast, and will require a long time: but nothing presses for haste. The United States and the State of Pennsylvania are now within your reach. See what progress you make in ascertaining the common Law in them. You may pursue the Clue when you shall have Seized it, into other States at your Leisure.
Judge Addisons thoughts may be of Use to you: but figures of Spech are not always Science of Law. Passion Politicks and Eloquence Should always be Studied with diffidence and Jealousy in discussions of Laws and Government. Avail yourself however of every thing that can afford you any light.
Lord Chief Justice Hale, wrote a Book under the Title of An History of the common Law I had it, and Suppose you have it now among my Law Books that I lent you. In this Work, an Octavo Volume well worth your reading, you will find much perhaps to your purpose. Fortesque Aland’s Reports You have among my Books. In a Preface to that Work there is much concerning the Saxon Language and the Saxon Folc Right. Ther is the best Deffinition, or description, or History if you will of the common Law, in that Preface, which I remember to have read. Blackstone took his Account of the common Law from that preface. Reeves’s History of the Law will probably assist you.3
187If you look into the Journal of Congress for 1774 you will find a Declation of the Rights of the Colonies and another of the Violations of those Rights— These declarations or Lists were drawn up by two Committees. I was one of the first Committee and drew up the Report. in this you will See, not only the rough materials of the Declaration of Independence made two years after, but you will See in what Light the common Law was Seen by that Congress and by all America at that time. Extracts from these Journals, Should go into your common Law Pidgeon hole. There is a public printed declaration of the Town of Boston Some time anteriour to the meeting of the first congress which will deserve your Attention.4
I can keep no Copies of my Letters to you and therefore I pray you to keep them Safely or to burn them, that they may not fall into the hands of the Ennemy of all good. I am your / affectionate Father
RC (private owner, 2008); internal address: “T. B.
Adams Esqr.”
In his 3 March letter to JA, TBA agreed to his father’s suggestion that he undertake a study of common law on the condition that JA assist him with the task. He also noted his satisfaction with U.S. district judge Alexander Addison’s statement that the common law arose from the laws of nature and dictates of God (Adams Papers).
“It will some day be a joy to recall,” from Virgil’s Aeneid, and “let the unskillful learn, and let the learned
improve their recollection,” a common inscription on literary works of the time. The
latter quotation appeared on the title page of La Harpe, Lycée; ou, Cours de littérature
ancienne et moderne
, which JA was then reading (Virgil,
Aeneid, transl. H. Rushton Fairclough and G. P. Goold,
rev. edn., Cambridge, 1999, Book I, line 203; A Dictionary of
Quotations, in Most Frequent Use, 2d edn., London, 1798).
A copy of the 1736 edition of Sir Matthew Hale’s Historia Placitorum Coronæ, 2 vols., London, is in
JA’s library at MB.
JA also referred to Sir John Fortescue Aland’s preface to Sir John
Fortescue’s The Difference between an Absolute and Limited
Monarchy, 2d edn., London, 1719, p. xx–xxv, which discussed the Saxon origins
of common law and was referenced in William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 4 vols., Oxford, 1765–1769, 1:65–67. A
copy of the original Oxford edition and a 1771–1772 Philadelphia edition are in
JA’s library at MB. The
final work JA referenced was John Reeves, A
History of the English Law, from the Saxons to the End of the Reign of Edward the
First, 2 vols., London, 1783–1784 (
Catalogue of JA’s Library
).
The Declaration of Rights and Grievances was adopted by the
Continental Congress on 14 Oct. 1774 and listed ten rights that the Congress
determined all colonists held, including the right “to life, liberty, and property.”
It also detailed recent parliamentary acts that were deemed “infringements and
violations of the rights of the colonists” and noted the pending implementation of a
trade boycott and the preparation of an address to the inhabitants of Britain and “a
loyal address” to George III. JA successfully argued that the document
should emphasize the relatively unassailable tenets of natural law over the more
tenuous and variable precepts of common law. To support his claim JA
pointed to the Nov. 1772 resolutions of the Boston committee of correspondence, which
listed grievances against Parliament and detailed colonists’ constitutional rights as
Britons. The resolutions were published as The Votes and
Proceedings of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston,
Boston, [1772], Evans, No. 12332. TBA replied to this letter
on 18 April 1802 (Adams Papers), noting the
“remarkable uniformity in the expressions used” by the Continental Congress’ delegates
when they presented their 188 credentials. He
also summarized the “leading principles” of the Boston committee of correspondence’s
resolutions and further discussed the roles of natural and common law in current legal
practice (JA, Papers
, 2:145–146, 159–163;
JCC
,
1:63–73).
I am sorry that we are again obliged to postpone our visit to you
at Quincy, as George is this day breaking out with the meazles— His symptoms however are
favourable, and we hope he will have the disorder lightly.— I send out by William the
two turkies and a fish. There is no Cod at market, for which reason I send a haddock—
You will also receive a Rochefort cheese enclosed in a leaden cover— Of this Coll: T. H. Perkins with his respects requests my father’s
acceptance—1 To complete the cargo,
there is a puppy, of the pure Newfoundland breed, which Mr:
Jeffrey presents to my father, and which may serve as a substitute for one of Blanch’s,
the only one of her litter that surviv’d not being of the right sort.—2 We are all well, excepting George— Betsey
Newcomb has had the meazles too and is quite recovered—
Your’s faithfully.
RC (Adams Papers); docketed by JA: “J. Q. A to his Mother / 1802.”
Boston merchant Col. Thomas Handasyd Perkins (1764–1854), for
whom see CFA, Diary
, 2:151.
Probably Boston merchant Patrick
th1802
I have received two Barrels of flower but no account of the price either from the Baker or You. be so kind so to forward one to me. also let me know as soon as possible whether my Letters of the 28 of Febry got safe to Hand.1 the Roads were so bad at that time, and the Mails so irregular that I had feard for the letters. I would not Suppose that there is less responsibility in the Post masters than formerly— pray who is this mr Hemphill who makes so respectable a figure in debate from Your State?2 I rejoiced when I saw that a good thing could come out of ——— from what part of the State is he sent? I understand he is one of the Friends he certainly has done honour to his State and country—but Solomon Said if you Bray fools in a morter, yet will not their folly depart from them, he has not told us 189 what can drive it out of knaves, unless he meant those when he said a word entereth more into a Wise Man, than a thousand Stripes into a foal—3
I find by the papers that the measles is very prevelent in Philadelphia so they are in Boston little George is just breaking out with them—4
Your uncle Cranch Still is confined and low the rest of us are well as usual
Your Brother has been chosen to deliver an oration before the Fire Society—and it seems as if he was to have sufficent proofs of the dreadfull calamity to impress his mind with the horror of that destroying element. Ten stores upon the long Wharff have this week been destroyed by it and vast property—5 He has also been appointed one of a new Board of commissoners upon the Bankrupt act,6 and you will find his name upon the list of State Senators.7 here I shall be Silent, but if once they put him up for congress then will I raise my warning Voice— I only intended you a line, but my pen has run on
adieu yours &c.
RC (Adams
Papers); endorsed: “Mrs: A Adams / 13th: March / 20th: Recd: / Do acknd.”
Only one letter from AA to TBA of 28 Feb., above, is extant.
On 16 Feb. Joseph Hemphill (1770–1842), University of
Pennsylvania 1791, delivered a speech in the House of Representatives opposing the
repeal of the Judiciary Act of 1801. Hemphill argued that the act’s repeal would
challenge the separation of powers within the federal government and threaten the U.S.
Constitution (
Annals of Congress
, 7th Cong., 1st sess., p. 533–545;
Biog. Dir.
Cong.
; TBA to AA, 14 April 1802, Adams Papers).
Proverbs, 17:10, 27:22.
The Boston Columbian Centinel, 10
March, reported that “the measles are rife in Baltimore,
Philadelphia, New-York, and in this town.”
On 28 May JQA delivered an address at the annual
meeting of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, applauding the society’s efforts
and encouraging the use of brick and stone in the construction of buildings. The
following day the Boston Columbian Centinel described the
address as “masterly” and announced that it would be published as a pamphlet. The
first edition was issued on 3 June, and a second edition was issued a week later;
JQA’s copy of the second edition, containing a table of contents in his
hand, is at MBAt. JQA’s
address may have been influenced by a fire that broke out in Boston on 10 March.
Starting at Joseph Ripley’s store on Spear’s Wharf, the blaze spread quickly to Long
Wharf and burned for between three and four hours. At least ten stores were destroyed,
including Ripley’s (JQA, “Address to the Massachusetts Charitable Fire
Society,” 28 May, Adams Papers; Boston Commercial Gazette, 11 March, 3, 10 June; Boston Columbian Centinel, 13 March, 29 May;
D/JQA/24, APM
Reel 27).
On 4 March U.S. District Court judge John Davis appointed
JQA to the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Commission under the federal
Bankruptcy Act of 1800. He was sworn in later that day and received his first case, to
explore the finances of Joseph Ripley, who was declared bankrupt on 5 March 1802.
JQA then heard an additional twenty cases through 6 July, after which
his commission expired under the Judiciary Act of 1802, for which see
AA to TBA, 23
May, and note 3, below (D/JQA/26, APM Reel 29; M/JQA/21, APM Reel 216; Jefferson, Papers
, 37:701–702,
44:245).
In March the Boston press speculated about the upcoming
senatorial elections to 190 the Mass. General
Court, including possible Federalist tickets for Suffolk County. In a 2 March letter
to AA (Adams Papers), William
Smith Shaw noted that he had “seen several lists” and that JQA’s name was
“upon all of them.” The final ticket included JQA, Peleg Coffin, William
Tudor, and Oliver Wendell. In his Diary JQA noted: “I have little desire
to be a Senator; for whether it will interfere with my duties as a Commissioner or
not, it will interfere with pursuits much more agreeable to me than politics.” On 5
April the election took place and the Federalist ticket prevailed; JQA
was sworn in on 26 May. TBA in a letter to AA of 14 April
(Adams Papers) noted his pleasure with
JQA’s election and expressed a hope that his brother would never leave
state government for federal office: “Let him be any thing that he can, where he is,
but never suffer himself to be sent away, out of New-England” (Boston Columbian Centinel, 3, 13 March; New-England Palladium, 2, 5, 9, 12 March; Boston
Commercial Gazette, 1, 15 March; D/JQA/24, 1 April,
26 May, APM Reel 27; A New Nation Votes).