Papers of John Adams, volume 19

From John Adams to Arnold Welles, 21 May 1789 Adams, John Welles, Arnold

To Arnold Welles

Sir— New york May 21 1789—

I have received the letter you did me the honour to write me, on the fifth of this month and thank you for your obliging congratulation on the event of the votes of the Electors.1 as far as I am personally concerned in this Event it was not a subject of much congratulation: it was rather a mortification to me to see that in our first great Election, so great a portion of our Fellow Citizens had been artful 471 and that so many more had been Dupes. It is only on the supposition that such Knavery and such Folly. may be guarded against in future that I can congratulate you on the prospect of happiness under the new Government— I thank you Sir for introducing to me Capt Gustavus Fellows, whom for the sake of your recommendation, as well as on his own Account I should be glad to serve. but as I am not as yet acquainted with his particular Views—am not able to judge what prospect he has of success—

With great Esteem I have the honour to be Sir / your most Obedient & most humble Servant

John Adams—

LbC in an unknown hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Arnold Welles Esquire— / Boston—”; APM Reel 115.

Boston merchant Arnold Welles (1727–1802), Harvard 1745, obtained wheat and food for city inhabitants during the Revolutionary War, and in 1797 he was named president of the Boston branch of the Bank of the United States ( Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 11:606–608).

On 5 May 1789, Welles wrote to JA (Adams Papers), congratulating him on his election and recommending Capt. Gustavus Fellows (1736–1818), a Boston merchant and former privateer, for a federal post (Washington, Papers, Revolutionary War Series , 4:162).

From John Adams to William Hindman, 22 May 1789 Adams, John Hindman, William

To William Hindman

Sir— New york May 22d 1789—

I have received your kind letter of April 24th—recommending Gustavus Scott Esqr for employment in the Law Department—1 The President is you know in the first Instance the sole Judge of the Persons proper to be nominated to officer When the Nomination is made the Senate have a Negative but the Vice President has no Voice excepting in the case of an equal division of the Senators— There are many Chances to one therefore that I shall not have a Vote in this Question. if however it should so happen. I shall have all the attention to your recommendation which you as a public Man would advise me to have— I thank you Sir for giving me this opportunity of congratulating you on your escape from the alarming danger in which I saw you at Sea. I am with much Esteem / Sir your most Obedt & most humble Servant

John Adams—

LbC in an unknown hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Hoñble Wm Himnan Esquire / Annapolis in Maryland—”; APM Reel 115.

The Adamses encountered Maryland lawyer William Hindman (1743–1822), a former Maryland delegate to the Continental Congress from 1785 to 1786, en route to America aboard the Lucretia in May 1788. Hindman was aboard the Thomas and Sally, Capt. F. Dorset (Dorsett), sailing from London to Baltimore, when a storm struck off the coast of the Isle of Portland and brought down the ship’s mast on 18 May. The crew of the 472 Lucretia replaced the mast and offered medical assistance. Hindman survived, and he served as a Maryland congressman from 1793 to 1799 ( AFC , 8:267, 269; Biog. Dir. Cong. ).

Gustavus Scott (1753–1800), of Prince William Co., Va., studied law at the Middle Temple. He did not receive a post in the federal judiciary, but he later served as one of the officials overseeing the construction of public buildings in Washington, D.C. ( Biog. Dir. Cong. ).