1To John Adams from Samuel Adams, 21 July 1786 (Adams Papers)
There are two great Objects which I think should engage the Attention of Patriots here, & which appear to me to involve every thing else—to preserve entire our political Liberties, & to support our National Faith. To effect either of these Capital Ends, we must counterwork the Designs of Great Britan, who to say the least does not appear to be our most cordial Friend, by her Emissaries amongst...
2To John Adams from Samuel Adams, 13 April 1786 (Adams Papers)
Doctor Gordon is to deliver you this Letter. He is going to the Land of his Nativity, wishing for the best Happiness of his own Country & ours and hoping that mutual Affection will be at length restored, as the only Means of the Prosperity of both. As he determines to spend the Remainder of his Days in the Country where he was born, what rational Man who considers the Ties of human Nature will...
3To John Adams from Samuel Austin, 23 December 1785 (Adams Papers)
I am now to advise you, that John Rowe Esq r. Cap t. Patridge Cap t. Dashwood & myself have applied to our General Court, for their aid and assistance, to recover our money of Gen l. How, for goods taken from us the 11 th. March 1776. our cases being Similar, altho’ in some instances, altogether different from many other persons, who as well, as we, have lost their goods by the Kings troops,...
4To John Adams from Samuel Austin, 11 [July] 1786 (Adams Papers)
Your favor of the 25 May last per Cap t Biggilo, now lies before me.— In answer to which, shall only Observe. The difficulties and Obstacles you mention, which are in the way, and which at Present Prevents my Recovering my money, however Plausible, are altogether falacious, and without foundation with Respect to this State, yet it seems they are made an objection of such Magnitude that neither...
5To John Adams from Thomas Barclay, 27 March 1786 (Adams Papers)
I arrived here the 10 th. and expect to be able to proceed to Cadiz in a few days, the Copys of three short Letters which I wrote to M r. Jefferson, will place before you our Progress untill this day, when I had the pleasure of receiving through the hands of M r. Carmichael The Kings Letter to the Emperor; informing him that it would be better the Peace should be made in Morocco than in Spain,...
6To John Adams from Joel Barlow, 12 December 1785 (Adams Papers)
My friend M r Trumbull has done me the honour to mention my name to you in a letter which is herewith enclosed. The Poem which he mentions is likewise forwarded thro’ the hands of Col—Humphrey to Doct Price with an assgnment of the Copy Right. I have requested the Doctor to use his discretion in procuring an impression & disposing of the copy-Right. Out of the first impression I wish to have...
7To John Adams from Nathaniel Barrett, 29 January 1786 (Adams Papers)
I have delayed for some Time writing to your Excellency, being desirous of compleating some g. of Importance.— I have now the pleasure of informing you, that I have contracted in my own Name, & in behalf of others in America, for Oil to the Am t of 400,000 Livres per annum, for 6 years, at a price which I think will answer, I have the Guarrantee of Mess Le Couteulx, for accepting 1/3 bills on...
8To John Adams from the Board of Treasury, 7 March 1786 (Adams Papers)
We do ourselves the Honor of transmitting to you the Resolves of Congress of the 15 th. day of February last from which you will observe the Embarrassments under which the United States labor to Comply with their Foreign Engagements through the want of Exertions in the several States to pay in their Quotas of the Annual Requisitions.— The present State of the Treasury is in Consequence so...
9To John Adams from Board of Treasury, 6 April 1786 (Adams Papers)
We do ourselves the Honor of transmitting to you a Duplicate of our Letters to yourself, and the Commissioners of the Dutch Loans of the 7 th: and 22 d: March last. The latter together with one of this Date addressed to the same Gentlemen & Enclosing a Bill in their Favor on Mess rs: Wilhem, and Jan Willink of Amsterdam, we Request the Favor of you to forward by the first Mail— Our Letter to...
10To John Adams from the Board of Treasury, 31 October 1786 (Adams Papers)
In your Letter of the 19 th May last, you were pleased to inform us that you had already accepted Bills which had been drawn on you to a considerable amount by M r. Barclay and Lamb, in consequence of the appropriation which had been made by Congress for forming Treaties with the Barbary Powers; but as we have no advice from you since that date, we are at a loss to know whether the whole or...
11To John Adams from James Bowdoin, 10 April 1786 (Adams Papers)
I had the honour of writing to you in August last relative to the conduct of Captain Stanhope; and twice since on the subject of British Encroachments upon territory of the United States, adjoining the newly established Province of New Brunswick. I hope those Letters came to your hand. New complaints from our people in those parts have been received, particularly from the Inhabitants of Moose...
12To John Adams from James Bowdoin, 11 July 1786 (Adams Papers)
In addition to the papers I sometime ago sent you, relative to the encroachments made upon our Eastern boundary by our Neighbours of New Brunswick, I have the honor of transmitting to your Excellency copies of other Letters & papers upon the same subject— By Mess rs. Smith & Bowles’s Deposition it appears, that the Province of New Brunswick is by its Charter bounded on the Western shore of...
13To John Adams from James Bowdoin, 12 January 1786 (Adams Papers)
I am honored by your Excellency’s Letter of the 2 d. of Sept. by M r. Storer. The navigation Act of Massachusetts having been found to militate with the french treaty of commerce, & to exclude our fish from the Levant by excluding the subjects of the italian & other states coming with their Vessels for it, when our own in attempting to carry it to them would be intercepted by the Algerines, it...
14To John Adams from the Marquis of Carmarthen, 11 December 1786 (Adams Papers)
You will be pleased to recollect that, in the Month of May 1783, M r. Hartley communicated to You, and the other Plenipotentiaries then residing at Paris, pursuant to the Instructions he had received, a Memorial from the Merchants trading to South Carolina and Georgia, representing their just Claims to an Indemnification for Debts due to them from the Creek and Cherokee Indians, for the...
15To John Adams from the Marquis of Carmarthen, 28 February 1786 (Adams Papers)
In Answer to the Memorial You did me the Honour to deliver to me on the 8 th. Dec r: , I have to observe to You, Sir, that it is His Majesty’s fixed Determination, upon the present, as well as on every other Occasion, to act in perfect Conformity to the strictest Principles of Justice and good Faith. The Seventh Article both of the Provisional and of the Definitive Treaties between His Majesty...
16To John Adams from the Marquis of Carmarthen, 6 July 1786 (Adams Papers)
I have received His Majesty’s Commands to inform You, that, in order to prevent the Abuses to which the Indulgence given by the Foreign Ministers is frequently liable, by granting that Protection which their Compassion often inclines them to afford to Persons who solicit it for the sole Purpose of screening themselves from the Laws of their Country, His Majesty has instructed His Secretary of...
17To John Adams from Antoine Marie Cerisier, 10 August 1786 (Adams Papers)
J’apprends dans l’instant par l’une de nos Gazettes Hollandoises que Votre Excellence est actuellement à la Haye; & je m’empresse de vous faire passer le renouvellement du respect & de la venération que j’ai toujours eus & invariablement fait éclater pour votre Personne & vos vertus. La confiance & l’amitié dont vous avez bien voulu m’honorer dans les tems de votre Residence dans ce Pays-ci,...
18To John Adams from Edward Church, 14 January 1786 (Adams Papers)
Notwithstanding the deep wound which one branch of our fishery had rec’d by an act of the british parliament, We were not without hope, while we had a free and an uninterrupted Commerce with the Mediterranean, and it’s neighbouring ports, that we might still be able not only to employ, but increase the number of our fishermen, and from our local advantages, it is not an extravagant Idea to...
19To John Adams from John Singleton Copley, 15 October 1786 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for the loan of the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, they have afforded me much entertainment particularly those written by Governor Bowdoin on the structure of the Heavens, and on Light; I feel my-self happy that my Countrymen are inspired with a thirst after knowledge, and to see them emulating the Nations of Europe in the cultivation of the Arts and...
20To John Adams from Richard Cranch, 3 October 1786 (Adams Papers)
The Gen l Court met here last Wednesday being called together much sooner than was expected, on acc t. of the Disturbances that have taken place in several Counties by unlawfull Assemblies of armed-Men to stop the Courts of Justice. I herewith send you the News-Papers in which you will find a general account of the Proceedings in the Counties of Bristol, Hampshire, Worcester, and at Concord in...
21To John Adams from Richard Cranch, 11 January 1786 (Adams Papers)
M r. John Jenks, the Bearer, has this moment inform’d me that he shall sail for London this Day in Cap t. Lyde. As he has been so long connected with our most valuable Friend Doct r Tufts, and is knowing to so many of our Friends and Relations, I think it must be a Pleasure to you and you Family to see him in London. He comes, as I am inform’d, in behalf of some Merchants in Salem to transact...
22To John Adams from John Brown Cutting, 13 December 1786 (Adams Papers)
A croud of thanks to You for the pleasure and instruction I have received from your defence of the american constitutions. I have as yet read it but three times, because I wish to forget it a little before I read it a fourth; but I find that impossible: I shall therefore only wait till you give us the augmentation promised. Let me intreat You for the sake of mankind in general and the united...
23To John Adams from Tristram Dalton, 23 January 1786 (Adams Papers)
Under the 18 th of last October I did myself the honor and pleasure of addressing you, com̃itting the Letter to the Care of Doctor Gordon, who since tells me that He put the same into a safe Channel of Conveyance— I hope you received it in due time—as I therein acknowledged the Satisfaction given to me and my family, by your good & worthy Son, who had passed a day with us—and was the bearer of...
24To John Adams from Tristram Dalton, 11 July 1786 (Adams Papers)
This morning has honored me with your most esteemed favors of the 26 th May—for which be pleased to accept my sincere thank[s—] All on this side of the Atlantic, who speak of the affairs of these United States, joyn in the Opinion you express, “that they must soon take a turn for the better or become much worse—[ ” ] Most of our Citizens appear too unconcerned, falsely supposing that they now...
25To John Adams from François D’Ivernois, 30 January 1787 (Adams Papers)
Lord Lansdown ayant satisfait mon impatience en me confiant votre defense of the American Constitutions ; j’ai commencé cet ouvrage avec un plaisir et une attention, qui (dans le cas ou il y aurait une 2 de edition) me feraient desirer d’avoir avec l’auteur un entretien sur la suisse en general et sur Geneve en particulier. En attendant cet honneur, j’ai celui Monsieur de vous envoyer un petit...
26To John Adams from C. W. F. Dumas, 12 October 1786 (Adams Papers)
Autant nous avons été en peine de Vous savoir avec Madame en mer par la tempête qu’il faisoit, autant nous a réjoui la nouvelle de votre arrivée à Londres, laquelle écrite ici par Mr. De Lynde, me fut com̃uniquée en son temps par Mr. Fagel, avec qui j’eus occasion de m’entretenir de V. E. à l’hôtel de France, & qui m’a chargé de vous faire parvenir ses complimens. Mr. Jrujo, mon très cher ami,...
27To John Adams from C. W. F. Dumas, 31 January 1786 (Adams Papers)
J’ai reçu la Lettre Ministerielle de N. York que V. E. a eu la bonté de m’acheminer. Je suis sensible com̃e je le dois à la part tout-à-fait obligeante que Vous daignez y prendre; & j’ai l’honneur de vous en transmettre ci-joint copie du contenu, ainsi que ma reponse à la dite Lettre, qu’après avoir lue V. E. voudra bien avoir la bonté de fermer & faire acheminer. V. E. verra le recours que je...
28To John Adams from Timothy Dwight, [ca. 8-12 December 1785] (Adams Papers)
This letter accompanies to you the Conquest of Canaan. It is the wish of the writer, that this poem may be published in England. For the accomplishment of this design, he becomes a suitor to your Excellency, for such assistance as may be necessary. As an apology for this application, he could allege, that it was recommended to him by Col Wadsworth, who indeed offered him a letter of...
29To John Adams from Elbridge Gerry, 12 April 1786 (Adams Papers)
A few Days since, I rec d your Letter of the 13 th of Decr last, without either of the Arrets therein referred to. from the Cover of the Letter, which is inclosed for your Inspection, I suspect it has been opened, previously to my receiving it; if so, I should be well pleased to know who the person is that is so very curious as to loose his Sense of Honor in this Matter. When I left New York,...
30To John Adams from Benjamin Goodhue, 20 December 1785 (Adams Papers)
Having an acquaintance with your good brother M r. Cranch, from being a fellow member of the same Legislative body; at his request and from the Assurance which he has given me, that a letter from one of whom you have no Kind of Knowledge, where the views of the Writer are painted to the general good, would meet a Kind reception; I have taken this liberty of sending you inclosed the present...