1John Adams to Abigail Adams, 1 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I have taken a Sheet of Paper, only to wish you an happy new Year and many happy repetitions of this Aniversary. I received yesterday a Letter, and Pacquet of his Liberty Papers and Pamphlets from M r B. Hollis dated 18. Feb. 1793. Where it has been I cannot guess. He Sends his best Wishes to you and hopes you have recovered your health and Spirits. I Suppose Columbus has now done with G— I...
2John Adams to Charles Adams, 2 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
This morning I rec d your agreable Letter of the 30. Ult.—I wish you would explain to me what you mean, by “most of them finding their Purses lightened by their Connections[”] with (blank). Have they lent him Money? The Letter you mention was written in a careless haste intended for no Eye but yours and I fear not fit for any but a partial one— but if you think it will do any good, you may...
3John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 3 January 1793 (Adams Papers)
The Public Papers will inform you that M r Jefferson has resigned and that M r Randolph is appointed Secretary of State. The Attorney General is not yet nominated. M r Lewis M r Lawrence M r Benson M r Gore, M r Potts &c have been mentioned in Conversation. The Motives to M r Jeffersons Resignation are not assigned, and are left open to the Conjectures of a Speculating World. I also am a...
4Thomas Boylston Adams to William Cranch, 4 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
The Minister of the French Republic has litterally pursued the Instructions of his Masters, the Executive Council of France; but the Members of that Council who gave the instructions are at present in disgrace; hence a question arises; whether when a source from whence power is derived, becomes, & is declared to be corrupt, any authority flowing from thence, be sufficiently valid to justify...
5Abigail Adams to John Adams, 5 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I did not receive your Letter of dec br 15 till I had closed mine of the 30th two of later date came first to Hand. the reason as I suppose that Bringhurst did not send in his account before I left Philadelphia, was that he never used to make out his account but once a year. I had pay’d him up to Jan’ry 92; Robert by his drunken frolicks exposed us to double a necessary expence and the Chariot...
6John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 5 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I must apologize for not having answered before this your last Letter; but your conjectures with respect to Columbus were not without foundation, and what with politics and Law, what with public and private discussion, I have scarcely had a moment that I could call my own to perform my duties to you.— Columbus has been attacked in the Chronicle by a writer under the signature of Americanus,...
7Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
Throughout the first half of 1794, John Adams made a concerted effort to instruct his son Charles, and to a lesser extent Thomas Boylston and John Quincy, on the subjects of equality, especially “natural equality,” and the laws of nature and of nations. John believed that his own understanding of natural equality had been best expressed in the first article of the Declaration of Rights...
8I. Charles Adams to John Adams, 6 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
Your excellent letters have been duly received. I have been much instructed by them. The necessity of turning our attention to the two great questions which now agitate the world, must be sufficiently apparent to every thinking mind I esteem myself peculiarly happy in having a father to aid my pursuits and assist me in my researches. The mind of man however it may sometimes wander in the...
9II. John Adams to Charles Adams, 9 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I received this Morning your valuable Letter of the 6 th and am much pleased with your Observations as well as with your Researches. but I wish you would examine the Passage in Polybius in Greek. It is the highest Satisfaction to me to perceive that you have so just a sense of the Importance of the Beleif of a Deity and his Providence and moral Government to the Happiness of Nations as well as...
10III. John Adams to Charles Adams, 22 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
As I wish to turn your Attention to those Political Questions which involve Points of the Law of Nature and Nations, and which have lately employed the Deliberations of the Executive Authority of our Government, I have turned to such Books as I have at hand, and made Extracts and References for your Use. And I wish you not only to read over carefully the Passages referred to, but to search the...
11IV. John Adams to Charles Adams, 13 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
By the first Article of the Treaty of Commerce between the United States and France it is Stipulated that There Shall be a firm, inviolable, and universal Peace, and a true and Sincere Friendship between the most Christian King, his Heirs and Successors, and the United States of America; and the Subjects of the most Christian King and of the Said States; and between the Countries, Islands,...
12V. Charles Adams to John Adams, 17 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I have duly received your letters up to the first of this month and am grateful for your kindness towards me your extracts from Heineccius and your remarks About three years ago I read this author. I cannot find him in this City our public library is very badly selected in my opinion although it has the effect of all public libraries that is to make individuals careless of collecting books....
13VI. John Adams to Charles Adams, 24 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
As the genuine Equality of human Nature is the true Principle of all our Rights and Duties to one another: and the false Notions of Equality the source of much folly and Wickedness: and the undefined and indeterminate Ideas of it, the Cause of much Nonsense and confusion, it is of great Importance to assertain, what it does mean, and what it does not mean. It really means little more than that...
14John Adams to Abigail Adams, 6 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
The Door Keeper has just brought me your kind Letter of Dec r 28. Freneau’s Paper is discontinued and Fenno’s is become a daily advertising Paper and has not yet been worth Sending you. The State Papers will be reprinted in Russells Paper which you have and there has been nothing else worth Reading. I Send you the Negotiations with Genet, inclosed. The Algerines will cost this Country very...
15John Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 7 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
Colonel Smith spent the last evening with me, and presented me with your kind letter of the 29th of December. I have seen Mr. G.; he made me a visit which I returned. His conversation was agreeable enough; but he appeared, by all his discourse, to be a young gentleman of much ingenuity, a lively wit and brilliant imagination, enamoured to distraction with republican liberty, but wholly without...
16Abigail Adams to George Cabot, 8 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
When I had the pleasure of visiting you in the Summer you may recollect Some conversation which too place respecting a young Gentleman whom You was pleasd to say you wishd to see engaged in writing upon a certain subject as You thought many circumstances concured to render him the most suitable person. at that Time he declined. But an opportunity has since offerd to discuss a subject, by which...
17Charles Adams to John Adams, 8 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
Your letter inclosing the Pamphlet, came very safe to hand. I thank you, for your kindness. The Mails between this City and Philadelphia are very safe and secure. I have never heard of any accident happening to anything sent by this conveyance. Many of the communications published in this pamphlet have already appeared in our papers You know Sir that it is an idea cherished by many that a...
18John Adams to Abigail Adams, 9 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
The Anxiety you express (in your kind Letter of Dec r 31 which I received this morning ) for your Country and the Happiness of your Children is very amiable. The Prospects of this Country are gloomy, but the Situation of all Europe is calamitous beyond all former Examples. At what time and in what manner and by what means, the Disasters which are come and Seem to be coming on Mankind may be...
19Abigail Adams to John Adams, 12 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
My Neighbour captain Beals went to Town yesterday and was so good as to bring up, and send me my Letters last Evening, whilst I was sitting mourning that I had no hope of getting them, as the travelling was very bad and the Day stormy. I find the Family an agreable acquisition. we live upon friendly & social terms. I agree with mr Izzard, that we are grown too old to live seperate, and I could...
20Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 12 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I wish you to direct the inclosed Letter—to your Father I read Barnevelt in Mondays paper. it may be necessary to defend himself, but I look upon his opponent in a contemtable light, and that no honour or reputation is to be obtaind in a contest with him. I therefore wish to see Barnevelt close Your Father is really affraid that columbus may be inflated with vanity and too much emboldened. he...
21John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I had Yesterday the Pleasure of yours of January 5. I will Send, to M r Adams a Check upon the Branch Bank for two hundred Dollars as soon as I can get Thomas to transact the Business for me. I am glad to find that you have had Applications for the Farms— I wish you to hear them all and enquire their Characters and Circumstances We are all of Us here, very much concerned for Cheesman. he has...
22George Cabot to Abigail Adams, 17 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
The ice in the Delaware having delayed the post beyond it’s usual period I had not the honor to receive your esteemed letter of the 8 th until this moment, but my respect for the writer constrains me to acknowledge it’s arrival before I can be prepared to give an answer to its contents. in a free country it is so important that the people shou’d entertain just sentiments respecting their...
23Abigail Adams to George Cabot, post 17 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
Your obliging favour of the 17 of Jan’ ry reachd me a few days sine the polite and Friendly manner in which You communicate Your inttentions call for my acknowledgment. our Legislators never having considerd our Sex sufficiently dangerous to enact a salique Law or perhaps entertaining too good an opinions of us to suppose we would encroach upon their establishd perogatives have left us to the...
24Abigail Adams to John Adams, 18 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I received two day ago yours of Jan’ ry 6 th with the Pamphlet, and last Evening our Son brought me yours of the 9th. When he comes, his first request is, to read all the Letters which I have received since his last visit. I usually grant him this indulgence. the compliment of “Learning force of Reasoning Style” &c barely compensated for the censure which follow’d. he felt it a little hard to...
25John Adams to Abigail Adams, 18 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I Send you, at present the Negotiations with M r Hammond as I sent you before those with M r Genet. I wish I could send you “The Example of France a Warning to Britain” a Pamphlet of Arthur Young the Secretary of Sir John Sinclairs Agricultural Society: but it is borrowed and must be returned. He is more Burkish than Burke I think. Congress will do little this session I believe and perhaps the...
26John Adams to Abigail Adams, 21 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
We go Slowly forward: So Slowly as to produce no Results, which is a better course than to run rapidly in a Career of Mischief. I go to Senate every day, read the News papers before I go and the Public Papers afterwards, see a few Friends once a Week, go to Church on Sundays; write now and then a Line to you and to Nabby: and oftener to Charles than to his Brothers to See if I can fix his...
27John Adams to Abigail Adams, 22 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I am weary of this Scæne of Dulness. We have done nothing and Shall do nothing this Session, which ought to be done, unless We Should appropriate a Sufficient Sum of Money, for treating with the Algerines. We are afraid to go to War, though our Inclinations and Dispositions are Strong enough to join the French Republicans. It is happy that our Fears are a Check to our Resentments: and our...
28Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 22 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
your favor of the 6 th: Inst t: has been received— The expressions of tendeness & Maternal affection which it contains on my behalf, deserve a grateful return. It is true I commenced my career at the Bar, as the Prosecutor of a Female— The cause was of such a nature, that there was no necessity for personal or general remarks in the manner you allude to; I took occasion to remark to the Jury...
29Abigail Adams to John Adams, 24 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
We have had four days and Nights of Rain an old fashiond rain. if there had been upon the Ground a Body of snow, the flood of Rain, would have carried away all our Mills and Bridges it has laid our fenses in the meddow below the House flat the water is a foot above the bridge at mr Blacks, and over the Top of his wall which he built last Summer. till this Rain we have not had water to Grind...
30Abigail Adams to John Adams, 25 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
The weather from an unhealthy warmth has changed to an insufferable cold. I had little expectation of getting my Letters to night, but a market Man whom I requested to call upon our son, was faithfull to his promise, and brought me yours of the 12 and 14 th. I also received a letter from an other hand so late as the 17th but not a Word of the important foreign intelligence, which so greatly...
31John Adams to Abigail Adams, 26 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I have just now rec d your favour of the 12 th. The Mail from the Eastward has been unusually delayed by bad Roads I suppose, or Obstructions to the Passage of the Rivers. Your Letter is a feast to me—am happy to learn you have so good a Neighbour. It is not worth while for Barneveld to continue long to altercate with Such a loose head as Americanus. Your simelitude of the Eagle and snake is...
32Thomas Boylston Adams to William Cranch, 26 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I hasten within two hours after the receipt of your Letter, which came to my hands while at my Father’s lodgings, to commerce an Answer—tho’ I must frankly own, without the smallest idea of the arrangement of the matter which crouds itself upon my mind in the perusal of your favor— I wish to communicate my whole soul to a friend, of all others, most deserving of the confidence— But how I shall...
33Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
We have had a severe Snowstorm but attended with such a voilent wind that half the Ground is bare, whilst the other is almost impassible Banks; I hear nothing from Town this week. even the post has not come, but I have good domestick intelligence for you, which is that this day I think our Parent better, and I am much encouraged she says with one of her smiles, tell my son that I am here...
34Abigail Adams to John Adams, 2 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I last Evening received your kind Letters of Jan’ry 18, 21 & 22 d accompanied with the Negotiation’s I have read the two pamphlets you sent me before. if the American pamphlet is the production of the person to whom report asscribes it, I think very little honour is due to his Head, and none to his Heart. I am sorry he is calld to fill so important an office, as the one to which he is lately...
35Abigail Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 3 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I have not written to you since I received yours of January 5th. I go from home but very little, yet I do not find my time hang heavy upon my hands. You know that I have no aversion to join in the cheerful circle, or mix in the world, when opportunity offers. I think it tends to rub off those austerities which age is apt to contract, and reminds us, as Goldsmith says, “that we once were...
36John Adams to Abigail Adams, 4 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
The Mail of Yesterday brought me, a rich Treasure in your kind Letters of the 18. 24 and 25 th of January— Ice in the Rivers or Snow or some other Obstructions on the Roads have delay’d the Conveyance of some of them and occasioned their Arrival all together. Columbus and Barneveld were both written with Elegance and Spirit and the poor Wretches who so justly fell under their Lashes were never...
37John Adams to Abigail Adams, 4 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
The Indisposition of my ever honoured and beloved Mother gives me a very tender Anxiety— I hope she may yet get the better of her Disorder and enjoy a good share of Health— remember me to her in the most affectionate and dutiful manner You ask me if I wish to give any Directions. I pray you not to let the good old Lady know that you have asked or I answered such a Question. But if the...
38Abigail Adams to John Adams, 8 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I was very sorry to learn by your last Letters that you had little hopes of getting home till May. there are so many new Arrangments to make upon our places that I really feel unequal to the Task, but if it must be so, I will do the best I can according to my ability, and if I fail in the execution, you must at least allow for the intention. I would wish you to think what you would have done...
39John Adams to Abigail Adams, 8 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I have rec d your s of the 30 th. Ult. and given the inclosed to son Thomas, who will do with it what he can. Congress have been together, more than two Months and have done nothing, and will continue Sitting two Months longer, and do little. I for my part am wearied to death with Ennui— Obliged to be punctual by my habits, confined to my Seat, as in a Prison to see nothing done, hear nothing...
40John Adams to Abigail Adams, 9 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
Vive la Baggatelle! Dulce est desipere. I have no other Resource in my solitude, amidst all my gloomy forebodings of the future Miseries of my beloved Species. Our Allies, Our only Alies as the Demi-Crazies pathetically call them, have compleated their System by turning all their Churches into, Je ne seais quoi and if they should have any Government erected among them either by Themselves or...
41John Adams to Abigail Adams, 10 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I have rec d yours of Jan. 31.— And it has relieved me from a Melancholly which has hung upon me and been taken notice of by every body, since you wrote me of my Mothers illness— Present her my dutiful Affection and tell her that I hope to enjoy the Pleasure of her Company yet for many Years— That I am of her Opinion that she has the best Daughter and that the best Mother ought to have such a...
42Abigail Adams to John Adams, 12 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
Yours of the 26 th of Jan’ ry I received last evening. You talk of not rising till june. why I know not what I shall possibly do, every Farm to Man—and with hands perhaps that I am unacquainted with. a scene of Buisness quite distant from me, when my Garden & potato Yard are full enough for me to attend to. why I shall have to travell from one Farm to the other, and not bring much to pass...
43John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 13 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I received by the last post your favour enclosing a draft upon the branch Bank, for 100 dollars. The political speculations of which your fraternal feelings have formed so favourable a judgment, originated in motives at least as disinterested, as are the common sources of patriotism. That a literary reputation is an object of Ambition to the writer, it would be false and absurd to deny. That...
44Abigail Adams to John Adams, 14 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I received last Evening by my obliging Neighbour captain Beals your kind Letters of Fe bry 4th, and before I reply to them, I would inform you that our venerable Parent has appeard to revive for these two days past. her disorder has proved a Lung fever. the dr advised to a puke two days ago. She was rather averse to it, wishing rather as she expresst herself to dye in quiet. she had labourd...
45John Adams to Abigail Adams, 17 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
We have done nothing hitherto, but prevent our Countrymen from plunging blindfold into a War, with they know not whom, and for they know not what. If We continue to sit till June, and do no more nor less We shall do well. Tomorrow the Senate is to discuss the Election of M r Gallatin, with their Doors open for the first Time. Whether a Vote will be carried for building a Gallery or for keeping...
46John Adams to Abigail Adams, 17 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I this day rec d your favours of the 8. and 12 th. but how this last could have leaped to this distance in five days I know not. It is impossible to Say precisely when Congress will rise: but I will go home as soon as possible; I hope in April. I am very willing to confide all Arrangements to you— I like shaw and his Wife: and I like Richards and Joy from your Account of them.— We will try a...
47Abigail Adams to John Adams, ca. 20 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
The post of the last saturday was the first for a long period, which faild of bringing me a Letter from you. I should have been more anxious but that I received one from you on the wedensday preceeding: you say so many handsome things to me respecting my Letters that you ought to fear making me vain. since however we may appreciate the enconiums of the world, the praises of those whom we Love,...
48Abigail Adams to William Cranch, 23 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I received your kind Letter last evening. I should be glad of two shares if you would part with them. I inclose 30 dollors for the first payment, but at the same time will content myself with one rather than be any disadvantage to you yet wish you not to sell to any other person any share you may part with, should you determine to not to keep them. I would however advise you to keep as many as...
49John Adams to Abigail Adams, 23 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
The Birthday was celebrated Yesterday with as much Joy affection and Festivity as ever, and as it happened the New French Minister was then presented. Poor Genet I fear is undone— Bad as his Conduct has been I cannot but pity him. What will become of him I know not. The Name of his Successor is Fauchet. Gloomy as I was in expectation daily of afflicting News from home, I contented myself with...
50Mary Smith Gray Otis to Abigail Adams, 23 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
I am quite ashamed my dear M rs Adams that I have so long neglected writeing to you, indeed I can make but a very poor excuse for so doing, & must depend wholly on your candor to excuse my neglegence. You wish to know how your acquaintance are, M rs Washington enjoys as much health as can be expected at her time of life, and her spirits are better than I expected to find them. M rs Powell, I...