Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 8
1839-04-23
Fine day. Morning, Office. Afternoon Quincy. Evening to Mrs. H. B. Rogers’.
I made a little more headway upon Burr but not much. I am almost discouraged about it. I must increase the number of my working hours. For at this rate I shall get nothing done. Ajax for an hour.
Afternoon to Quincy where I kept on my work transferring trees to the bottom of the slope in front of my house. But I had so short a time to do it in that I could not finish.
Home late where I found Mr. Brooks, who took tea. After which we 222went to a small party at Mrs. H. B. Rogers’. A few persons to meet Mrs. John Rogers from Northampton. Middling dull.
1839-04-24
Fine day. Morning to Quincy. Dinner company. Evening at home.
I went to Quincy again this morning and continued my work of transplanting trees. I removed a great number of Firs from the low ground to the edge of my new inclosure and one or two larger trees. The men were at work upon the wall so that once again every thing seems to be in operation. I finished this morning the heavy part of the transplanting and have now only to replace some particular trees, which have died. The past week has advanced matters wonderfully at Quincy. We have been favored by weather and my personal attention has been beneficial.
Home to meet some gentlemen I had invited to dinner, to meet I. Hull Adams and Mr. Campbell. Present Dr. Frothingham, Mr. Joy, H. B. Rogers, Dr. Gorham and the two gentlemen. A pleasant dinner. They sung well but I am afraid nearly all of us drank a little too much wine for convenience. There is a sort of conviviality in music that renders it exceedingly dangerous. It makes one forget the limits of prudence a little.
1839-04-25
Fine warm day. Morning Office. Afternoon Quincy. Evening at Mrs. Minot’s.
It was a very agreeable morning, but I was not in much condition to enjoy it as I was slightly suffering from the excess of last evening. To me all the pleasure of a social meeting is very poor compensation for the feeling of dissatisfaction which it brings with it, the lassitude and inability to set about the usual occupations with relish. I was not able to do much of the work which is really pressing upon me, and so limited myself to accounts and reading a long letter of my father’s which appeared in the Intelligencer, in which Mr. Otis is answered among others.1
Home. Ajax. Afternoon to Quincy, but my work was cut off by a heavy thunder shower. The improvements in the old house are going on simultaneously with all the rest. The shower prevented my getting home until quite late when we went to Mrs. Minot’s. The Quincy family, but it was uncommon dull. Home at eleven.
In the National Intelligencer for 23 April (p. 2, col. 1 – p. 3, col. 1) appeared JQA’s letter “to the Citizens of the United States, whose petitions ... have been entrusted to me, to be presented to the House of Representatives ... at the Third Session of the 25th Congress.” In it he reported that those 825 petitions had received “very little attention from the House” because by adoption of the Atherton Resolutions of 12 Dec. 1838 all antislavery petitions were required to be laid on the table “without reading, printing, or debating.” He proceeded to attack the Resolutions as annihilating not only “the right of petition, but the freedom of speech in the House.” Defending his position that the Resolutions were in violation of the Constitution, he undertook also to reply to arguments that had been advanced especially in state legislatures to defeat efforts to record their opposition to the “gag” rules.
One such formulation that had attracted favorable notice recently and that JQA addressed himself to was that made by John Whipple in January in a minority report to the Rhode Island legislature. On 1 March, Harrison Gray Otis had written to Whipple: “Had I been a member of Congress ... I should not have voted for the [Atherton Resolutions]. At the same time, I have no doubt of the constitutional power of the House to adopt them.... Had I been a member of the Rhode Island Legislature, I should have been found on your side.... It is one thing for Congress to refuse to act upon a petition, and another thing for a State Legislature to deny the right of the former to regulate its own proceedings.” The Intelligencer printed Whipple’s report along with JQA’s letter (p. 1, cols. 2–6), and Otis’ letter to Whipple on the 25th, p. 4, cols. 3–5. See also JQA, Diary, 17 April, and JQA to CFA, 23 April, Adams Papers.