1From John Adams to William Tudor, 28 August 1774 (Adams Papers)
I received your obliging Letter at New York, and it was peculiarly acceptable to me and my Companions, and of great Use to Us among our Friends at New York. We all intreat the Continuance of your Favours, you can have no Idea of the Pleasure We take, in the Letters of our Friends and especially in yours because the Contents of it were very usefully particular and interesting. The Generals...
2From John Adams to William Tudor, 15 February 1791 (Adams Papers)
My good Genius this morning has thrown in my Way, by perfect Accident, your oration of the 4. July last, and although I read it with much pleasure, in its Season it now appeared to me, new and beautiful as ever. I am afraid I never thanked you for the handsome Compliment paid to me in a Note. Indeed I now and then get a Compliment, and do not always give thanks for it. I am informed, within a...
3From John Adams to William Tudor, 12 April 1776 (Adams Papers)
I wish you Joy, sir, of your new Abode. I hope you found, the Houses, Wharves &c. &c., in the Town of Boston which are hereafter to contribute to your Satisfaction in Life, in good order. I Should be very happy to learn the Condition in which the Town appeared, the situation of the Buildings and the State and History of the Inhabitants, during the Seige, what Tories are left, and what is to be...
4From John Adams to William Tudor, 11 March 1777 (Adams Papers)
Yours of the 7th. instant, I just received. Am glad to find the Post begins to do its Duty, and that Intelligence, is like to be more regular. I doubt, whether the Enemy have at Amboy and Brunswick So many as near 10,000 Men. But are they not posted in Smaller Numbers at other Places? Cannot these Places be attacked or Surprised? We must continually harrass them. As to their marching to...
5From John Adams to William Tudor, 12 October 1775 (Adams Papers)
I have received yours of the first of this Instant and am glad to find you have me still in Remembrance. I wrote you some time ago, and ventured to acquaint you with the appointment of fifty dollars a Month to the Judge Advocate for himself and his Clerk, to commence from his first appointment. This I hope you received. I feel more anxious about Letters than formerly as you may well imagine....
6From John Adams to William Tudor, 12 June 1789 (Adams Papers)
Your Letters put me more and more out of Patience every Post.— Why, in that of the 6 th. do you call our national Government a federal Republick ? It is no more that, than it is Sphœrical Trigonometry. What is a federal Republic? It is an association of a Number of independent Sovereign States.— Are the Seperate States in our national Government, Sovereign and independent? If they are, We had...
7From John Adams to William Tudor, 29 September 1774 (Adams Papers)
I wish it was in my Power, to write you any Thing for the Relief of your Anxiety, under the Pressure of those Calamities which now distress our beloved Town of Boston and Province of Massachusetts. The Sentiments expressed in your last to me, are Such as would do Honour to the best of Citizens, in the Minds of the Virtuous and worthy of any Age or Country in the worst of Times. You can have no...
8From John Adams to William Tudor, 27 March 1777 (Adams Papers)
I had yours by Coll Palfry last night. General Green is just taking his Departure so that I can, only write you a Line. I blame you not for determining either to rise at the Bar or in the Army. I wish you to rise in both. It is a critical, and delicate Thing to give Advice to our best Friends, and therefore I hope you will pay no more Attention to any that I may give you, than just to weigh it...
9From John Adams to William Tudor, 29 August – 20 September 1776 (Adams Papers)
I Sett down now in the Character of a School Master, or a Fellow of a Colledge to give myself Airs, the Pedantry and Impertinence of which I have no doubt you will pardon, as the Precepts I am about to deliver are of such vast Importance, to the public, and so little practiced, altho they are so very easy, and natural. You must be sensible that Intelligence, is of the last Consequence to the...
10From John Adams to William Tudor, 3 May 1789 (Adams Papers)
Your fav r. of 22 Ult. is rec d. — I was well aware that many of my Friends and the Well Wishers to good Gov t , would be prevented from making their Compliments to me, on my Departure, by their alienation from the House from which I Set off: but perhaps their delicacy, upon that occasion, was too great. The Duty of 6 Cents on Mollasses, appears to me to be generally reprobated at present as...
11From John Adams to William Tudor, 9 May 1789 (Adams Papers)
Thank you for your favour of 28. Ult.— There is an entire harmony, between the two Persons you Speak of, and there is no probability of its interruption. The first is modest and the Second at least Shall be unassuming. The Constitution has furnished him with a justification of a cautious conduct, and imposed it on him as a duty. Cæsar would never have been displeased, at a Compliment on his...
12From John Adams to William Tudor, 24 June 1776 (Adams Papers)
Your Favour of May 4th. has lain by me, till this Time unanswered, and I have heard nothing from you Since. I have entertained Hopes of seeing you here before now, as I heard you intended Such an Excursion. I was much obliged to you, for your particular Account of Major Austin, and Mr. Rice. The first I find has the Command of Castle William. The last is gone to Canada, where if he lives...
13From John Adams to William Tudor, 20 June 1775 (Adams Papers)
I have lamented excessively the Want of your Correspondence ever since I have been here. Not a Line from Dr. Winthrop, Dr. Cooper, Mr. Kent, Swift, Tudor, from some or other of whom I was accustomed the last Fall, to receive Letters every Week. I know not the state, the Number, the Officers of the Army—the Condition of the poor People of Boston or any Thing else. I have taken the Liberty to...
14From John Adams to William Tudor, 27 April 1777 (Adams Papers)
Aha!—exchanging the Pride, Pomp and Circumstance of Glorious War, for the soft Charms of Wedlock and domestic Felicity, I suppose—abandoning Gun, Drum, Trumpet, Blunderbuss and Thunder, for the less terrible Sounds of the Wranglers at the Bar. Well! Young Folk must have their Way. But I suppose by that Time you have laid the Foundations of a Young Tudor or two, you will be on Fire again with...
15From John Adams to William Tudor, 14 September 1774 (Adams Papers)
I have been so totally taken up, that I dont know whether I have acknowledged your Agreeble Letters or not. They have been of Use as well as Amusement to me I assure you. You can hardly conceive the avidity with which your Letter and Mr. Trumbulls, and indeed every Scrap of Letter or Newspaper from Boston is read here. You cannot conceive the Esteem And Honour in which the Mass. is held here....
16From John Adams to William Tudor, 28 July 1775 (Adams Papers)
Mr. Lux, Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Smith, with Mr. Cary, all from Baltimore, are bound as Voluntiers to the Camp. Beg the Favour of you, to treat them complaisantly and show them all you can consistently with the Labours of your honourable tho troublesome office. Shall endeavour to get you a Commission this day, and Such an appointment that you will not be a Looser at the Years End. I hope to get you a...
17From John Adams to William Tudor, 22 March 1777 (Adams Papers)
Yours of the 16th. I got Yesterday. If Howe imagines that one fourth of Pensilvania are Quakers, he is mistaken one half: for upon the most exact Inquiry, I find there is not more than one in Eight of that Denomination. If he imagines that 99 in 100 of these are his Friends, he is mistaken again. For I believe in my Conscience that a Majority of them are Friends to Nobody but themselves—And...
18From John Adams to William Tudor, 24 August 1776 (Adams Papers)
Your Favours of 18 and 19 of August are before me. I am much obliged to you for them, and am determined to pursue this Correspondence, untill I can obtain a perfect Knowledge of the Characters of our Field Officers. If the Colonell quits the Regiment Austin will certainly be promoted, unless Some Stain can be fixed upon his Character, Since he has been in the Army. His Genius is equal to any...
19From John Adams to William Tudor, 27 May 1789 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favour of the 18 th. but cannot agree with you that “a considerable Period must elapse before the United States can arise to Greatness.”— They are already arrived at Greatness, and their greatest Misfortune is that they know it not.— The Politicians, if such there are, who think it best We never should be great are already disappointed. They may possibly contribute to keep...
20From John Adams to William Tudor, 10 July 1776 (Adams Papers)
Yours of the 7th. instant I received yesterday. I wish to see you here for Several Reasons. But particularly, to hear your Observations upon the Articles of War. I am perfectly of your Opinion, that they must be amended, for the Value of an Army depends upon its Discipline. The Discipline of Rome and Britain, occasioned the Tryumphs of their Arms. I am Sorry you are tired of your situation in...
21From John Adams to William Tudor, 29 June 1774 (Adams Papers)
I am determined to amuse my self with my Pen, whenever I am at Leisure, that I may not rust, upon the Circuit, and I dont know, who I can write to with more Pleasure, than to you. General Brattle has lately made a Jaunt to Portsmouth and the Country round about it, and has made a most Shining figure in the political Way. A Gentleman of Portsmouth informs me, that he intimates to the Piscataqua...
22From John Adams to William Tudor, 7 October 1774 (Adams Papers)
I have just Time to thank you for your Letters by Mr Revere, and all other of your Favours. The Task which lies upon me here is very arduous. You can form no Conception of it: and I can give you no Idea of it. The Assurances you give me, of the great Dependance of the People, upon the Result of the Deliberations of the Congress, increase my Anxiety. I fear the operations of the Continent will...
23From John Adams to William Tudor, 6 July 1775 (Adams Papers)
I have at last the Pleasure of acknowledging your Favour of the 26. June. I have mourned, week after Week, the loss of all my old Correspondents, in a Course of Time when they were of more Consequence to me and to my Errand, than ever. What is become of Tudor? Where is Tudor? Is he gone to England? Is he sick? Is he afraid to write? Is he gone into the Army, and become so intent on War, with...
24From John Adams to William Tudor, 28 May 1789 (Adams Papers)
What is there which the new Government possesses, on which to found its Authority.? Has it Honours? has it pleasures? has it profits to bestow, which may Attract the Attention, excite the Love, or alarm the Fear, of Such a Majority in every State as will compell the Minority to Obedience? Has the national Government at this moment, Attractions enough to make a Seat in it, an Object of Desire,...
25From John Adams to William Tudor, 24 April 1776 (Adams Papers)
Your Favour by Mr. Palfrey, I received this Evening, and it was the more agreable because it resolved a Question I had often asked and never before could obtain an Answer, vizt. whether the Judge Advocate was come with the Army to N. York. Am very Sorry to hear that Boston is in so defenceless a Condition. That Harbour must be made impenetrable at all Events. I think our People will exert...
26From John Adams to William Tudor, 24 July 1774 (Adams Papers)
In this Retreat I promise myself, much Pleasure from the Letters of my Friends in Boston,: and from none more than from yours. I rely upon it, you will not miss any convenient opportunity, of communicating any Thing of Importance that turns up,—even the Tittle Tattle of the Town, and the Anecdotes of private Social Life, will be acceptable. Your Interest and Advancement in Life, is an Object...
27From John Adams to William Tudor, 23 July 1775 (Adams Papers)
We live in Times, when it is necessary to look about Us, and to know the Character of every Man, who is concerned in any material Branch of public affairs, especially in the Army. There will be a large Number of Voluntiers in the Army perhaps. Certainly there will be many young Gentlemen from the southern Colonies, at the Camp. They will perhaps be introduced, into Places, as Aid du...
28From John Adams to William Tudor, 28 June 1789 (Adams Papers)
I Shall not grant the Indulgence you request in yours of the 21 st , most certainly: I mean that for hastily adopting Expressions, which are So often improperly used by Massachusetts Politicians. Our Fellow Citizens will never think alike nor act aright, untill they are habitually taught to Use the Same Words in the Same Sense. Nations are governed by Words, as well as by Actions; by Sounds as...
29From John Adams to William Tudor, 4 August 1774 (Adams Papers)
I have received from your Father, a Letter dated August the first, in answer to mine. It has been an high Regale to my Benevolent Feelings I assure you. I am informed in it, that the old Gentleman has not been thoughtless about his Son, and that he thinks to give him the Rent of the House at Boston 200 O.T. a year, &c &c &c. But I find the Father has not so good an opinion of the Sons Prudence...
30From John Adams to William Tudor, 25 February 1777 (Adams Papers)
I had last Evening yours of the 12 Instant. Am much obliged to you for it. Why did not the Court martial find Buckner guilty of Cowardice? Why did they only cashier him? When shall We have any Discipline? When shall We be decisive? When shall We punish, the worst Crimes, with the last Punishment? I shall very soon become as clamorous an Advocate for Order, Subordination, Government, and...
31From John Adams to William Tudor, 14 August 1776 (Adams Papers)
By a Return from the Adjutant General of the 10. instant, I see a new Brigade, makes its appearance, under the Title of General Fellow’s Brigade, composed of Coll. Holman’s Coll. Smith’s, and Coll. Carys Regiments, making in the whole 1544 Men. These I conclude are from the Massachusetts. Neither the Council, nor the House nor any Individual, of our Province, have ever mentioned one Word, in...
32From John Adams to William Tudor, 18 September 1789 (Adams Papers)
Yours of July 9 & 27 are unanswered. I cannot reconcile myself to the Idea of a Division of this Continent, even fifty Years hence. great Sacrifices ought to be made to Union, and an habit of Obedience to a well ordered, and judiciously limited Government, formed at this early Period. a Dissolution of the Union involves Consequences of so terrible a kind, that I think We ought to consent to an...
33From John Adams to William Tudor, 1 October 1775 (Adams Papers)
I have at last the Pleasure to mention to you what I Suppose Mr. H. has informed you of, before, vizt that the Pay of the Judge Advocate is raised to fifty dollars per Month for himself and his Clerk, and this is to be allowed from the day he entered upon the service. There was an Expression in your Representation to the General which alarmed me much, and put me to some Pain lest it should...
34From John Adams to William Tudor, 14 November 1775 (Adams Papers)
I received your kind Letter of the 28th. of Octr.—but yesterday. It was such a Letter as I wish all my Friends would write me, as often as possible—that is it was long, full of Intelligence, well written and very entertaining. I lament the Dishonour which falls upon the Colony by the mean, mercenary Conduct of some of her Servants. But in all Events I hope no Instance of Fraud or Peculation...