1To John Adams from Hezekiah Niles, 5 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
I am, indeed, gratified by the receipt of your letter of the 27th ulto. The approbation of those we ourselves reverence for their virtues, is, perhaps, the sweetest reward for our efforts to be useful. Only eleven volumes of the Weekly Register are yet finished. These may be forwarded, if you please, immediately to Boston, & can be easily sent to you, through Mr. Dawes; or by my agent there,...
2To John Adams from Harrison Gray Otis, 5 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have the satisfaction to inform you that John Quincy Adams Esq. was this morning nominated Secretary of State, and forthwith agreed to, in Senate, with only one dissenting vote—Mr Crawford continues in the Treasury and Gov Shelby is appointed Secy of War;—Mrs: Otis unites with me in respects to Mrs. Adams and yourself, and hope you have experienced no material inconvenience from the rigour...
Did I not foster Such an exalted opinion of John Quincy Adams, then yet I might deem it a becoming courtesy to address his excellent Parents on this Solemn occasion—But now I will indulge the irresisteble impulse, of allowing my Self the exquisiste gratification, which not often can be offered, in congratulating his Mother with the certainty—that the highest office—in the gift of the...
4From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 8 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
“Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity!” The French have a distinction, between Eulogy and Apology. I know not under which of these heads to class, the following anecdote. Governor Hutchinson, in the plenitude of his Vanity and self sufficiency, thought he could convince all America and all Europe, that the Parliament of Great Britain had an authority supreme, sovereign, absolute and...
5From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 8 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have not had any opportunity of writing to you before—indeed I have been So occupied: that I have not had time, for beside Sickness, the good folk who love Sleighing have many of them embraced this opportunity of visiting us; and Louissa wants constant watching to Supply her by little & little with the small nourishment She takes and to See that She does not exceed her Strength by Sitting up...
6To John Adams from Charles Cushing, 10 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
To my very great surprise and mortification, I saw in the daily Advertizer a week or ten days since, letters written by you in early life to my Father, and how they ever got abroad or published is wholly a mystery to me, and to our Family; I recollect to have seen them some twelve or fifteen years since, & then they were in a trunk of my father’s, with other private papers, that trunk was in...
I recieved your very kind letter, this morning, and hasten to acknowledge it; from Mr Clark, I heard last week, his health is entirely reestablished, but he was prevented leaving Maryland by the Ice, which renders the navigation very difficult, indeed it has been entirely closed for the last two months; I hope however by this time, the fetters, which have surrounded him are dissolved, and he...
8From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 12 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
The voice of the Nation call’s you home. the Government call you home—and your parents unite in the general call to this Summons. you must not, you cannot refuse your assent, nor will you, I presume have a disposition to regret so honorable an appointment, as is assignd to you; by so unanimous a vote— It is now more than four months Since the News papers from all parts of the united States,...
9From Abigail Smith Adams to John Adams Smith, 12 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have not noticed your Letter bearing date 10 Novb’r—I had begun to think that you had renounced me as a correspondent—not having had a line from you for a long time—Like other Ladies who when Slighted turn their Backs or otherways express their Sense of it I did not feel myself obligated to write again—and gratified myself by reading Your Letters to Your Grandfather, and discharging my duty...
10From John Adams to Charles Cushing, 13 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
Though the publication of my juvenile Letters to your Father, especially in a Nantucket Gazette is a riddle, a mystery beyon d all comprehension; yet as it was impossible for me to Suspect any unkindness in your Family, the friendly Apology in your Letter of the eleventh of this month was unnecessary, though highly gratifying to m e The Letters, while they have afforded some amusement to my...