Adams Papers
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Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 23 January 1804

Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams

Quincy Janry 23 1804

my dear son

I am sorry to say that I write you from my Sick Chamber, where I have been confined for near a week with the Severest attack of the Rhumatism Which I have experienced for many Years in my Limbs. I hope it will not be very durable, but Submission is my lesson, and patience my Study—

We last Evening received the port folio containing the Character of your much Loved Friend.1 I read it with a sympathizing heart, and dropt a tear over the well delineated Character. no Man in this Country so well knew his worth, or perhaps so possessd his confidence, as he who has paid this tribute of Justice & respect to his memory. towards that Friend Mr Murray always exprest an invariable attachment from his earlyest acquaintance.

At length we have been favord with part of a debate in a Washington paper upon the alteration of the constitution. it has not yet graced our Boston papers. it is a full refutation to mr Russels correspondent.2 if the subject of Bridges so much more important does not engrose all the papers in Boston a Month hence it may appear.3 I presume You have had the pamphlet which creates So great allarm in Newyork under the Signature of Aristides. amidst a torrent of calumny, there are many observation Worthy of note to which every honest Heart will Subscribe. that which I particularly allude to, is upon the Subject of parties, “That a Man is bound to pursue indiscriminately the measures of his Party, however unjust in themselves, or Dangerous to the Community, is a doctrine not novel in this Country, but not the less Wicked. That in defiance of his own conviction he should be driven by an exasperated party, to the Support of measures Which he deems hostile to the prosperity & happiness of the Nation, supposes too outrageous an attack on Mental independance to be tollerated for a Moment”4 I wish the Blind followers of the Blind would consider concequences, but what else is to be expected from those who compose the Majority of Voters? How few look into concequences, or see the end and aim of measures which they adopt? You will find yourself constantly rolling up the Stone of Syssiphus

Your Brother received a Letter from You to day of Janry 6th5

the point of Etiqutte is curiously adjusted. We are told in Scripture that the wife is the crown of the Husband.6 I certainly would not so much underrate myself as to Yeald a point, which my Husband considerd necessary to Support his dignity. What the Ladies Yeald! give up their Etiquette and their Husbands retain theirs? oh fie— never let the Gentlemen again accuse them upon this Head—

I wrote to You and to Mrs Adams last week, but I realy was so Stupified for want of rest, that I know not what I wrote.7

Your Uncle & Aunt are Without a line from washington to assertain the Situation of Mrs Cranch. I trust She is not worse, or You would have said Something respecting her in your Letter

My Love to mrs Adams and the Children from your truly affectionate Mother

Abigail Adams

RC (Adams Papers).

1For JQA’s obituary of William Vans Murray, see his letter to AA of 22 Dec. 1803, and note 2, above.

2JQA’s speech during the debate of the 12th Amendment, for which see his 9 Dec. letter to AA, and note 1, above, appeared in the Washington Federalist, 2 Jan. 1804. Despite AA’s assertion to the contrary, the Boston Columbian Centinel, 18 Jan., had already printed the speech. The Boston Independent Chronicle, 26 Jan., printed a summary of JQA’s remarks drawn from the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 6, 7 Jan., which the Centinel, 28 Jan., condemned as “mutilated members of sentences, and partial extracts.”

3A group of Boston speculators purchased 148 acres on Dorchester Neck in the summer of 1803 and on 27 Dec. proposed that it be annexed to Boston. The plan proved controversial because a proposed bridge to the neck from South Street in Boston cut off wharves in South Bay, and the new lots reduced property values in the South End. Boston newspapers covered the issue in detail, as proponents argued the necessity of the land for the expanding city and that the bridge would provide a new route south for travelers. Residents approved the plan in town meetings of 17 and 30 Jan. 1804 and the Mass. General Court did so on 6 March. A bridge in a less controversial location further south at present day East Berkeley Street opened on 1 Oct. 1805, and the newly annexed land became known as South Boston (Nancy S. Seasholes, Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston, Cambridge, 2003, p. 238, 240–241, 243; New-England Palladium, 6 Jan. 1804; Boston Columbian Centinel, 21 Jan.; Boston Independent Chronicle, 23 Jan.).

4Aristides, An Examination of the Various Charges Exhibited against Aaron Burr, N.Y., 1803, p. 97–98, 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. 5491. William Peter Van Ness wrote the Dec. 1803 pamphlet in response to attacks on Aaron Burr by printer James Cheetham, whose goal was to replace Burr with George Clinton as the Democratic-Republican candidate for vice president in the 1804 presidential election. Van Ness argued that Clinton was subject to the undue influence of his nephew DeWitt Clinton and criticized Thomas Jefferson for failing to defend Burr. The pamphlet emboldened Burr to file a libel suit against Cheetham (Isenberg, Fallen Founder description begins Nancy Isenberg, Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr, New York, 2007. description ends , p. 243, 246, 250–251).

5Not found.

6Proverbs, 12:4.

7Not found.

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