1James Madison: Temperance statement, July 1831 (Madison Papers)
Being satisfied from observation and experience, as well as from Medical testimony that ardent spirit, as a drink, is not only needless, but hurtful; and that the entire disuse of it would tend to promote the health, the virtue, and the happiness of the community, We hereby express our conviction, that should the citizens of the United States, and especially all young men, discontinue entirely...
2From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 19 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
There have been a multitude of American Vessels, wind–bound at Liverpool near two months, several of which have Letters for you, and for my father, and which I suppose will nearly all arrive about the same time—In the interval there will be a wide chasm during which you will be without advices from us, as we have now been long without any from you—The present will go by Mr A. H. Everett, who...
3From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 6 August 1817 (Adams Papers)
After a passage of fifty days from Cowes, we have this day landed from the Ship Washington; all well—We shall stay here only so long as may be indispensable for landing our baggage, and making other necessary arrangements. In the course of a week or ten days, I hope to enjoy the happiness of seeing once more, my dear father and you—Remaining in the meantime, ever affectionately your’s. MHi :...
4From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 25 May 1818 (Adams Papers)
I am ashamed to find upon my file of Letters to be answered , one from you of 29. January; besides two or three from my father of as old standing—you know however the only cause, which has occasioned so long a postponement of my reply—There has been I believe no change in the office of Collector at Plymouth; and it was with much pain that I learnt it was probable there would be. Should it...
5From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 23 April 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your kind Letters of 12 and 17. March, the latter enclosing one (copy) from Mr H. G. Otis to my father reached me on the same day with a Letter from the New President of the United States, informing me that with the concurrence of the Senate, he had appointed me to the Office just vacated by himself—I had never received from him any previous intimation that it was his intention to make this...
6From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 2 November 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your kind Letter of 15th. October was received by me on the 20th. from which time, the only possible choice that has been left me with regard to my employments has been what necessary act of duty I should postpone for the sake of attending others still more urgent. On that day (the 20th.) the President returned to the City.—There is a routine of the ordinary department business of the...
7From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 21 September 1817 (Adams Papers)
An alternation of six Stages, and six Steam-Boats finally landed us here yesterday afternoon, being the very day upon which I had promised to be here. The President had arrived here on Wednesday, and occupies the official mansion, where I had an interview with him last Evening—But the walls are fresh plaistered, and the wainscoting is new painted; and they render it so insalubrious for present...
8From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 10 April 1817 (Adams Papers)
We have been many weeks without receiving a line from you, or from any of our friends at Quincy—Your last was of 8. January, and then remarked on the mildness of the Season on that side of the Atlantic; corresponding with that which had been experienced here—But here it continued through the Winter, and to this day we have scarcely been visited with frost or snow, while we hear that in your...
Your dear Mother not long since received a Letter from you, in which I read with great pleasure, that you get on at School pretty fast, and that in three weeks you hope to begin College Studies—As it is just three weeks since you wrote that Letter; if your hopes have been fulfilled you will this very day begin upon your College studies; and Oh! how happy shall I be, if you can hereafter write...
10From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 14 December 1817 (Adams Papers)
A very few days after my arrival in this City, I received your Letter of 19. September, the contents of which I dare say you have before this time forgotten; unless you kept a copy of it, as you remember you used to do, of the Letters that you wrote to me from St. Petersburg, when I was at Ghent. This Letter of yours of 19. September last, I have kept upon my file, ever since I received it;...
11From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 3 October 1822 (Adams Papers)
It is long since I had the pleasure of writing to you or of receiving a Letter from you; yet there has not been a day when you have been absent from my mind and from my heart. I learnt with sorrow and great anxiety that you had been sick, and hope that you have entirely recovered. The accounts that I received of your proficiency were that you had improved in your standing with the Class, and...
12From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 13 August 1826 (Adams Papers)
I received in due time your Letter of the 1st. instt. from New–York; since which Letters from your mother have informed me of your progress to Fishkill Landing, and the Newspapers of your arrival at Albany—I ardently hope your mother’s health will derive more benefit from the Springs than it appears she has from the journey—We are expecting by the next Mail to hear of your reaching Lebanon— I...
13From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 4 December 1824 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 25th. ulto. and very cheerfully comply with your desire to come and pass your vacation with us. On your shewing this Letter to your brother George, it will be an authority for him to pay you sixty dollars; additional to your stated allowance; to defray the expenses of your journey hither, taking your receipt for the same. I am your affectionate father MHi :...
14From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 18 May 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have learnt from some of the Letters which you have lately written to your Mother and your Brother, that you express yourself dissatisfied with your situation at the University, and that you have repeatedly intimated the desire of leaving it— My motive in placing you there, was to furnish you with the means of passing through life in the exercise of a liberal profession—By debarring yourself...
15From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 28 October 1822 (Adams Papers)
In replying to your Letter of the 12th. instt. I might begin, by asking an explanation if its first paragraph—You say that you was taught to think when you came back from Europe, that your Letters were only an incumbrance—It has always given me pleasure to receive Letters from you, and I cannot imagine to what you refer in your supposition to the contrary—If the assurance is necessary from me...
16From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 12 June 1824 (Adams Papers)
Your Letters of 21. February and 6. April, have remained long unanswered—They are both upon Subjects important to your feelings and prospects, and therefore highly important to me—But independent of the occupations which press so heavily upon my time, the tenour of the first of them, written so soon after you had left us, required some deliberation from me to answer it in the Spirit of the...
17From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 19 January 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your new-years day Letter was received with much pleasure. I had heard something before, about your having had the Φ. Β. K. medal to wear for a week, and generally that Mr Gould was well satisfied with your attention to your studies, and with your good conduct; all which was very delightful to your mother and me—But it would have been still more agreeable if you had written that you continued...
18From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 15 September 1826 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 9th. instt. and now enclose a Check on the Branch Bank for 500 dollars payable to your order—With this you will repay the Coachman, his advances; repay to Mary Hellen the 50 dollars borrowed of her, and give the remainder to Antoine, for the purchase of winter fuel and other necessary payments. You and I will settle accounts when I return to Washington, which...
19From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 7 December 1823 (Adams Papers)
I have duly considered your affectionate Letter of the 25th. of last Month, and shall be glad to see you here , during your approaching vacation—I will direct your brother George to furnish you the money, necessary for the journey, and assure you of the cordial welcome which I hope and trust will always endear your father’s house to you as your home . I do not altogether understand that part...
20From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 30 January 1822 (Adams Papers)
You are well aware, because you have mentioned it in more than one of your letters to this place, with how much sorrow I have learnt that at the close of the first term of your studies at the University you were found upon the scale of scholarship among the very lowest in your Class. At the same time it is said that nothing exceptionable has been observed in your personal deportment. That you...
21From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 17 July 1825 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 2d. Instt. has remained some days unanswered, more from a repugnance in me to think at all upon the subject, than from any other cause. If as you say, you have destroyed the prospect of having any part assigned to you for Commencement, I agree with you in the opinion that it will be most comfortable for you, to be as far distant from Cambridge, on that day as you can—Under...
22From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 15 July 1823 (Adams Papers)
The bearer of this Letter Mr Cornelius McLean is a young Gentleman of very respectable character and connections who goes to Cambridge with the view of entering the University after the next Commencement in the Sophomore Class. I pray you to shew him every kind attention and to render him every obliging service that may be in your power— I am, Your affectionate father— MHi : Adams Family...
23From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 18 February 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received, and duly reflected upon your Letter of the 10th instt. and approve very cordially of the determination you have taken, of exerting yourself by diligence to acquire a respectable standing in your Class—From this day your term begins, and if you carry your Resolution into effect I shall not only never have any inducement to repeat the proposal which I made you in my last Letter;...
24From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 10 November 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 2d. instt and trusting entirely to the faithfulness of the account which you give in it, of your own conduct, am prepared as I have before promised you to make every allowance for the interruption of your studies occasioned by your infirm state of health—Hoping that it is now permanently recovered, I flatter myself you will make henceforth the proper use of...
25From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 5 October 1817 (Adams Papers)
On the 22d. of September, the day upon which I entered on the Execution of the duties of my Office, I received your Letter of the 16th. which the pressure of business prevented me from answering immediately—Your mother however answered it for me, and now that I am enabled to catch a moment of leisure, I take advantage of it to write to you myself. Your remarks upon Mr Gilman’s discourses which...
26From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 30 March 1825 (Adams Papers)
I have this day drawn upon you, at sight, for ten thousand Dollars, in favour of Richard Smith, Cashier of the United States Branch Bank or Order—I drew for the whole sum, because I cannot comprehend, how you should want five hundred dollars, to supply any claims upon you, on my account, while you are in the receipt of all the rents due not only on the first of January last, but on the first...
27From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 3 February 1824 (Adams Papers)
On the 5th. of last month I received your letter dated on the first & have been in expectation of receiving the statement of your account promised in it which has not yet arrived. It gives me great pleasure to learn that you are perseveringly devoting your attention to the art of regular account-keeping & I can not erase exhorting you to master it thoroughly & to apply it unintermittingly to...
28From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 4 March 1824 (Adams Papers)
I duly received your Letter of 15. January, with a Statement of your Account of Agency to the close of last year, upon which I have one remark to make, to which I wish you to pay the most pointed attention—It is that in charging yourself in the Account B. with $1139..29 for Cash received, you do not shew on the credit side, in what manner or for what purposes it has been expended—You only...
29From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 9 October 1819 (Adams Papers)
On examining my books at the Athenarum, I find there are several volumes missing; among which—Vols. 1. 2. and 32. of Voltaire—1. Volume of Racine—One Volume, from three different sets of Shakespear. 1. Vol: of the Glasgow Sophocles; and some others—part of not all of which, you have—There is danger, if you keep them out that they will get damaged, or mislaid and forgotten; and then make broken...
30From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 13 April 1826 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 1st. instt. and am expecting another with your quarterly account—From your account of the projected Railway in Quincy, I shall follow Mr Cruft’s advice, and take no part in it—of which you will at proper time notify the Gentleman who wrote to me on the subject. With respect to the woodland you must obtain more direct and precise information—both as to the...
31From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 6 December 1818 (Adams Papers)
I received about a fortnight since a few lines from you so ill written that it was with difficulty that I could read them, and to my great surprize dated at Quincy, when I had expected you were assiduously pursuing your studies at Cambridge, after an interruption not less melancholy than indispensable—Your Letter barely hinted at the temporary dissolution of your Class, and by its brevity and...
32From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 28 October 1819 (Adams Papers)
Since my return to this City I have received your Letters of the 12th and 21st. instt. the former, enclosing a list of my books which you have in your possession—and the latter, six dollars in Bank Bills. It is not, nor has it been my intention to withdraw from you the permission to take out from time to time at the Athenaeum such of my Books as you may wish to peruse—but merely to caution you...
33From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 27 November 1826 (Adams Papers)
I enclose herewith the following papers 1. An Order in my favour on the U. S. Branch Bank Boston, for two thousand Dollars—This you will immediately on receiving it deposit at the Bank, and have it entered to my Credit, in my Bank Book which I lately sent you. 22. A Check on the same, Bank dated 4. December 1826. Signed by me, for three thousand Dollars, payable to Mrs Susan B. Clark, or...
34From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 4 December 1826 (Adams Papers)
I received yesterday your Letter of the 18th. ulto. enclosing four more copies of Mr Whitney’s funeral Discourse, and all under a cover Post marked, Boston 29 . November—This Post-mark was almost as pleasing to me as your Letter itself because it assured me that my failure to receive from you a Letter of that date was not occasioned by inability proceeding from the state of your health—I am...
35From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 17 April 1824 (Adams Papers)
I have duly received your Letters N.7, 8 and 9. with their enclosures; accounts and vouchers—When in my last Letter; I observed that the account which you had previously sent me, did not inform me for what , the expenditures which you had charged against me were made, it was not my intention to require of you a full settlement, and a delivery of vouchers, at the close of every quarter—It was a...
36From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 29 November 1826 (Adams Papers)
On the 18th. instt. I received and duly acknowledged your Short note of the 14th. accompanied with your Account to the 1st. of July Last and with a promise that you would the next day forward the account for the following quarter: and this day I have had the pleasure of receiving your Letter of the 6th. and 10th with four more copies of Mr Whitney’s discourse, and all under a Cover Post marked...
37From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 7 December 1826 (Adams Papers)
On the 8th. of last month, I wrote you a Letter enclosing three orders from W. S. Smith, and just before receiving this morning your Letter of the 2d. instt. I had written to remind you of it, as well as of my subsequent Letters to you—I am now relieved from the apprehension that you had not received my former Letters, by your acknowledgment of the receipt of those of the 8th. 19th. and 27th....
38From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 6 February 1821 (Adams Papers)
With this Letter I commit to you a power of Attorney to receive for me any dividends, due or which may hereafter become due to me on Stock belonging to me in the State Bank at Boston There is now standing in my name of the Stock of that Bank 227 Shares at 60 Dollars a Share $13620. And the dividends due to me there, as appears on my books are Octr. 1819—on five Shares at 3 per Cent $9 April...
39From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 9 December 1823 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 14th. ulto. N. 4. came duly to hand, but I have not before found time for replying to it—The House in Hancock Street must wait its appointed time; that is for the expiration of the lease. I have invited your brother Charles to come and spend the winter vacation with us, and have informed him that I should direct you to furnish him with the money necessary for the journey—You...
40From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 17 July 1824 (Adams Papers)
I have not replied to your Letter of the 24th. of June, having been in expectation of receiving your statement of Account, of the first of this Month—I shall this day give a Check on the U.S. Branch Bank, Boston, payable to R. Smith, Cashier of the Branch here or Order, for one thousand Dollars—You will on receiving this Letter, take care that it shall be duly paid—I have drawn it directly on...
41From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 25 June 1825 (Adams Papers)
I enclose here with the two Policies of Insurance on my two Houses in Nassau Street Boston, which will expire on the first of next Month; and which you will take care to have renewed. Keep the new Policies in your own custody, till further order from me— I hear a pleasing account of your industry and attention to your profession—Send me a list of the Law Books that you have, and I will...
42From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 21 October 1825 (Adams Papers)
We had a boisterous passage of 47 hours from Providence to this place—After reaching Newport in 2 hours and a quarter from the time when you left us, it blew so fresh a gale, and the aspect of the sky was so threatening that Captain Bunker concluded to remain the Night there.—We sailed again the next morning at 9 but a strong and steady head wind slackened our progress so that we only arrived...
43From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 4 October 1823 (Adams Papers)
I leave with you one thousand Dollars to be deposited in the Bank, and applied to the payment of a subscription which I have promised, for the Establishment of a Professorship of Astronomy, and the erection of an observatory at Cambridge—I authorize you to make the subscription in my name as my Agent, and to pay the money for me in such manner as may be directed by the subscribers. You will...
44From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 10 November 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of 14. October N. 2. but Post-marked on the Superscription, “Cambridge 21 Octr. was received by me on the 25th: of the same month—my engagements as you suppose absorb so much of my time, that I am seldom able to snatch a moment for writing private Letters to my family and friends. Yet I shall always endeavour to be as punctual a correspondent as possible, and shall particularly...
45From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 17 November 1824 (Adams Papers)
I duly received your Letter N. 14. dated the 15th. ulto. with the enclosed account, which appears to be regular and correct. I now enclose you a note for fifteen dollars from Richard Johnson, residing he says at N. 68 Hanover Street—He promised to pay it to you—I Lent him the money, on a Story of his own that he had had his pocked picked at Richmond, of more than 1300 dollars, and that he was...
46From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 14 December 1826 (Adams Papers)
The last Letter I have from you is of the 2d. instn. but I have also received Mrs Clark’s receipt upon my note to her, which was enclosed in your Letter to your brother John of the 6th.—My latest Letters to you, are of the 19th. 27th. and 29th. ulto. and 4th. and 7th. instn.—I expect answers to them all. I now enclose, 1. an order from W. S. Smith, upon the Executors of my father’s Will, for...
47From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 31 December 1826 (Adams Papers)
May the blessing of God, whose justice is remembered at the close of your last Letter rest upon you through the year about to commence, and many more, as long as it shall be his pleasure that you live upon earth, and then follow you to a better world. Your Letter and scrap of the 22d. and 23d. have brought up tolerably well the arrears of your correspondence with me, excepting that I am still...
48From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 3 May 1824 (Adams Papers)
Abby S. Adams returns home in company with Mr Fuller. I have requested him to pay her expenses on the road, and upon his arrival, to give you a minute of them, informing him that you will discharge it—I now write merely to request you to do so, and to charge the same, in account, to me. your affectionate father MHi : Adams Papers.
49From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 21 October 1823 (Adams Papers)
I received yesterday your Letter N 1. dated the 15th. instt. with its enclosure, and am much pleased with the attention you are paying to my Affairs and your own—In entering upon a new Scene of life, it is important to begin well; to commence the formation of good habits, and to form a system for the employment of time which will obviate the formation of bad ones. At your Season of life, it is...
50From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 24 December 1826 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 15th. instt. has been duly received. I s till hope that your Account to the first of October will be received by me before the close of the year; and that the next, that is, your Account for the present Quarter will be made up and forwarded to me at the day. On the first of January, you will pay to my brother, the sum of 315 dollars, and take from him a receipt in following...