Adams Papers
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Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 July 1802

Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams

Philadelphia 14th: July 1802

Dear Mother.

I have received & thank you for your favor of the 6th: currt:. This day, twelve months ago, I left Philadelphia to visit my friends, in N. England, but however strong my inclination to see them often, I must forego that gratification for the sake of bettering my condition here. Should any serious cause occur, such as the yellow fever, (of which we have already had some alarm), which should make it dangerous to abide here, I shall then set my face towards a more healthful dwelling, and perhaps renounce the design, to which I have hitherto so pertinaciously adhered, of making this City my permanent residence.

You notice the jealousies, which are daily disclosing themselves, between the chiefs of the prevailing sect. They are indeed worthy of remark, as they have a tendency to display the characters of principals, no less than of subordinate agents. Here is that John Wood, who falls out with Duane, and they begin to expose each other’s villainy, in print.1 There is that J T Callender, who wrote “the prospect before us,” so much praised & extolled by the Jacobins, and who disagreeing with his employers about the wages of his sins, now comes out, with his “secrets worth knowing,” which for your amusement I herewith enclose.2 This unprincipled scoundrel, who was actually caressed by Jefferson, until he became importunate for his recompense, may be believed when he testifies against himself, however unworthy of credit on other subjects, and when he confesses his own venality, we must suppose that he knew to whom he was indebted for the bribe. The low & dirty malignity of this transaction, if Jefferson was really guilty of it, ought to blast his name & fame to all eternity. But what else can we expect from “a man of the people”?

Burr & Hamilton are alike inimical to my father, and though they could agree in nothing else, they are both glad to see & hear him traduced. Woods testimony goes thus far. There cannot be a coalition between their adherence, and if the breach with Burr & the Republicans widens, Clinton or McKean will throw him out. It seems that Jefferson thinks Burr ought not to be travelling about, so much, and it begins to be understood that Burr would have willingly been chosen President, by the Representatives.3

There is an abusive paragraph in the Aurora of the 13th: currt: partly aimed at JQA, and partly at the Junto. I knew not whence Duane got this, unless from some of the Boston correspondents— He did not write it. It made me angry when I read it, and heaped one more coal of fire upon that miscreants head. The defeat of the bronze Statue of Washington, is attributed to JQA—s amendment, and the paragraph says there was zeal & activity displayed on the occasion by the mover— You will have a better idea of the matter from reading the paper itself, which I send you, with my best love to the old woman.4

Your’s

T B Adams.

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs: A Adams.”

1Although John Wood relied on William Duane as a source for his History of the Administration of John Adams, Duane in the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 5 July, labeled the resulting work as “stupid and vapid.” This prompted a 6 July letter from Wood, published in New York newspapers on 8 July, claiming the dispute stemmed from Duane’s displeasure with Wood for showing his letters to Aaron Burr and his dislike of Wood’s characterization of Alexander Hamilton. Duane responded by printing Wood’s letter in the Aurora, 12 July, and offering additional detail on the History’s suppression. Wood offered a final rebuttal on 30 July, when he published A Correct Statement of the Various Sources from which the History of the Administration of John Adams was Compiled, and the Motives for its Suppression by Col. Burr, N.Y., 1802, Shaw-Shoemaker description begins Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker, American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801–1819, New York, 1958–1966; 22 vols.; supplemental edn., Early American Imprints, www.readex.com. description ends , No. 3578, and attributed the errors within his History to Duane (Burr, Political Correspondence description begins Political Correspondence and Public Papers of Aaron Burr, ed. Mary-Jo Kline and Joanne Wood Ryan, Princeton, N.J., 1983; 2 vols. description ends , 2:727).

2The enclosure has not been found, but it was an article titled “Secrets worth Knowing” in the Philadelphia Gazette and the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, both 14 July. The article was extracted from James Thomson Callender’s letter “To the Public” in the Richmond, Va., Recorder, 7 July, which claimed that in 1798 Thomas Jefferson had characterized Callender as one of America’s best writers and had made two $50 payments to Callender in support of The Prospect before Us, for which see vol. 14:228 (Jefferson, Papers description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, James P. McClure, and others, Princeton, N.J., 1950– . description ends , 44:6). See also AA to Jefferson, 1 July 1804, below.

3New York City’s Democratic-Republicans were embroiled in a dispute that pitted Clintonians against Burrites. Jefferson’s assessment was that the Clintonians embraced “the whole republican interest” of New York while supporters of Burr sought only to advance his personal agenda. Burr’s decision to travel to North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia during the early stages of the dispute was seen by critics as an attempt to curry favor with southern Democratic-Republicans, a move that invited questions about Burr’s loyalties to Jefferson and the interests of the party as a whole. He returned to New York on 23 June 1802 and avoided participating publicly in the debate until September (Freeman, Affairs of Honor description begins Joanne B. Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic, New Haven, 2001. description ends , p. 182; Jefferson, Papers description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, James P. McClure, and others, Princeton, N.J., 1950– . description ends , 38:89; Burr, Political Correspondence description begins Political Correspondence and Public Papers of Aaron Burr, ed. Mary-Jo Kline and Joanne Wood Ryan, Princeton, N.J., 1983; 2 vols. description ends , 2:720, 724–728; Thomas N. Baker, “‘An Attack Well Directed’: Aaron Burr Intrigues for the Presidency,” JER description begins Journal of the Early Republic. description ends , 31:572–574 [Winter 2011]).

4TBA enclosed the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 13 July, which reported on divisions among Massachusetts Federalists and blamed the cause, in part, on “the Adamite dynasty.” In particular, the article pointed to JQA’s actions on a bill to erect a monument to George Washington. The bill originated in the Mass. house of representatives, and when it reached the state senate JQA introduced an amendment to alter the material from bronze to marble. The amendment passed, but when the house disagreed over the change, the issue was tabled until the following legislative session. The Aurora offered JQA’s actions as evidence that he and “the old woman”—a reference previously used for AA—pursued a different agenda to that of the Essex Junto, to the detriment of Federalist political aspirations (vol. 13:421, 425; Boston Columbian Centinel, 12, 19 June; Boston Independent Chronicle, 17 June).

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