11From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 18 May 1817 (Adams Papers)
I pretend not to preserve any order, in my Letters to you. I give you hints, as they accidently occur to me, which, an hundred years hence, may be considered as Memoires pour Servir a l’histoire des Etas Unis.—I am about to write to you the most melancholly Letter, I ever wrote in my Life. One, which the most deeply touches my Soul with Greif.—And now, I know not where to begin, nor how to...
12From 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...
13From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 31 August 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have before mentioned the Instructions of the City of Boston to their Representatives, in May 1764, printed in an Appendix to Mr Otis’s “Rights of the Colonies” In Obedience to those Instructions, or at least in Consequence of them Mr Otis prepared a Memorial to The House of Representatives, which was by them voted to be transmitted to Jasper Mauduit Esqr Agent for the Province, only as a...
14From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 1 June 1817 (Adams Papers)
That Mr Hutchinson repented, as sincerely as Mr Hamilton did, I doubt not. I hope the Repentance of both has been accepted and their fault pardoned. And I hope I have repented, do repent and shall ever repent of mine and meet them both in an other World, where there will need no Repentance. Such vicissitudes of Fortune command, compassion; I pitty even Napolion. You never profoundly admired Mr...
15From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 27 July 1818 (Adams Papers)
Another Author produced by Mr Otis was “The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain considered” by Joshua Gee. “A new Edition, with many interesting Notes and Additions by a Merchant” printed in 1767. This new Edition which was printed no doubt to justify the Ministry in the System they were then pursuing, could not be the Edition that Mr Otis produced in Feb.1761. The Advertisement of the...
16From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 7 June 1818 (Adams Papers)
No man could have written from memory Mr Otis’s Agument of four or five hours in length, against The Acts of Trade, considered as Revenue Laws, and against Writts of Assistance, as tyrannical Engines to carry them into execution, the next day after it was Spoken. How awkward then, is an Attempt to do it, after a Lapse of fifty Seven Years? Nevertheless, Some of the heads of his discourse, are...
17From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 17 June 1818 (Adams Papers)
The next Statute produced & commented by Mr Otis was the 15th. of Charles the Second, i.e. 1663, Chapter 7. “An Act for the Encouragement of Trade.” Section 5. “And in regard his Majesty’s Plantations beyond the Seas are inhabited and peopled by his Subjects of this his Kingdom of England.” for the maintaining a greater Correspondence and Kindness between them, and keeping them in a firmer...
18From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 30 July 1818 (Adams Papers)
Another Passage, which Mr Otis read from Ashley gave Occasion, as I suppose, to another memorable and very curious Event, which your esteemed Pupil and my beloved Friend Judge Minot has recorded. The Passage is in the 42 page. “In fine, I would humbly propose that the duties, on foreign Sugar and Rum imposed by the before mentioned Act, of the 6th of King George the Second, remain as they are,...
19From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., September 1818 (Adams Papers)
The Charters were quoted or alluded to by Mr Otis frequently in the whole course of his Argument: but he made them, also a more distinct and more Solemn head of his discourse. And here, these Charters ought to be copied verbatim. But an immense Verbiage renders it impossible. Bishop Butler, some where complains of this enormous abuse of Words in publick Transactions and John Reed and...
20From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 15 April 1818 (Adams Papers)
I HAVE received your obliging favour of the 8th, but cannot consent to your resolution to ask no more questions. Your questions revive my sluggish memory. Since our national legislature have established a national painter—a wise measure, for which I thank them, my imagination runs upon the art, and has already painted, I know not how many, historical pictures. I have sent you one, give me...