1To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 13 August 1822 (Adams Papers)
I duly received, and am greatly obliged by your interesting letter of the 6th in answer to mine of the 2d inst. Should any other questions occur on of importance enough to authorize me to interrupt your repose, I shall use the liberty you allow me, to propose them. In recurring to the early opposition to British taxation of the Colonies, you some two or three years since mentioned your own...
2To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 2 August 1822 (Adams Papers)
As no act of the Congress of the Thirteen United American Colonies was so distinguished as that by which their Independence of Great Britain was declared, the most particular history of that transaction will probably be sought for; not merely as an interesting curiosity, but to do substantial justice to the abilities and energy of the leaders in that great measure. By the public journals it...
3To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 12 May 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State has the honor to lay before the President of the United States, letters and voluminous documents relative to calumnies formed and propagated in St. Domingo, chiefly by Jacob Mayer, the American Consul at Cape Francois, against Doctor Edward Stevens the Consul General; connected with which are said Mayer’s base insinuations and open slanders against the President of the...
4To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 12 May 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated last Saturday, stating that “as you perceive a necessity of introducing a change in the administration of the Office of State, you think it proper to make this communication of it to the present Secretary of State, that he may have an opportunity of resigning, if he chooses:” and that “you would wish the day on which his resignation is to...
5To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 12 May 1800 (Adams Papers)
The inclosed letter dated February 26. 1800, from Jacob Mayer, Consul of the United States at Cape Francais, should have accompanied the Secretary of State’s report made to the President this morning, relative to the Consul General, Doctor Stevens, and the Consul Mayer. The Secretary stated that he had not received from the Consul Mayer an answer to his (the Secretary’s) letter of the 18th of...
6To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 10 May 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State has the honor to lay before the President of the United States a letter from Wm. H Harrison Esqr. represented in Congress, from the N. Western Territory, such persons as have occurred to him as best qualified for the appointments of General Officers for that Territory. as Mr. Harrison is himself a Candidate for the office of Major General of the Hamilton Division of...
7To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 9 May 1800 (Adams Papers)
We have considered the question of renewing the commercial intercourse of the United States with the ports and places in the island of Hispaniola, from Montechristi, on the north, round by the east end thereof, as far as Jacmel, on the south, inclusively; and respectfully submit, to the President of the United States, our opinion, That it is expedient, and for the interest of the United...
8To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 6 May 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State has the honor to inclose Mr. Rawles’ resignation of the office of Attorney of the United States for the district of Pennsylvania . MHi : Adams Papers.
9To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 11 April 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State has the honor to lay before the President sundry recommendations of Joseph Forman of Baltimore to be appointed a Consul in France. Mr. Lloyd, Senator from Maryland, knowing that the Consulate of Rotterdam is vacant, by the death of John Baeldemaker, informs that that place would be accepted my Mr. Forman, and solicited that the nomination might be made. MHi : Adams Papers.
10To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 29 March 1800 (Adams Papers)
On the petition of David Steward & other respectable citizens of Baltimore, praying the President to order a nolle presequi in the case of Captain Levin Jones, late master of the American Brigantine called the David Stewart, who has been indicted for the crime of murder committed, as alledged on the body of William Davis one of his crew, on the high seas. The Secretary of State, in obedience...
11To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 21 March 1800 (Adams Papers)
We have had the honour in obedience to your commands maturely to consider the papers and subject referred to us in your letter dated 29 January Ultimo, and the law of Tennessee passed the 26. October 1799 and a letter from the Governor of the said State to William Cocke and Joseph Anderson Senators and William Charles Cole Claiborne Representative of the State of Tennessee in the Congress of...
12To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 20 February 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary has the honor to lay before the President 1. Mr. Liston’s note of Feby. 2. 1800 with papers referred to relative to the rescue of three American Vessels from the hands of the British captors, and for the restoration of which he is instructed by his government to apply. 2. Mr. Liston’s note of the 4th of February, together with his project of a treaty for the reciprocal delivery...
13To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 20 February 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State has the honour to lay before the President the petition of Robert Fisher of Harford County, Maryland, committed to gaol in Baltimore for theft committed in the Island of Cuba , praying a Nolle prosequi may be entered. Governor Howard has just been here with the father of the young man who anxiously waits your decision. On the enquiries of the Secretary, two letters were...
14To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 10 February 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State begs leave to inform the President of the United States, that the Georgia Commissioners are desirous of meeting those appointed by the United States, without delay, on the subject of the claims of Territory. As Mr. Sitgreaves is gone for London, the Secretary respectfully proposes that another Commissioner should be appointed in his place; and submits whether it would...
15To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 6 February 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State has prepared, as directed, and now respectfully submits to the President of the United States, copies of the papers, which probably were contemplated by the House of Representatives, in their resolve of the 4th. instant: Altho’ no requisition, as the resolve supposes, has ever been received, nor any communication made to the Judge of the District Court of South Carolina,...
16To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 30 January 1800 (Adams Papers)
Not knowing the President’s determination respecting the Consulate of Madeira, the Secretary of State respectfully lays before the President a letter of the 24th instant, just received, from some respectable citizens, recommending Mr. Marien Lamar for Consul in that island. Mr. Lamar is the nephew of the late Henry Hill Esqr. of Philadelphia, & has resided some time at Madeira, in Mr. Hill’s...
17To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 16 January 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have the honor to lay before you the letters I have prepared for Tunis and Tripoli. With the latter every thing appears to be adjusted. The Bey of Tunis demands a present of Jewels, the amount about 40,000 dollars. In his letter to you he persists in the demand. Upon a second reading and deliberate examination of Mr. Eaton’s communications, the present appears to me indispensable: our peace...
18To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 9 January 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State has the honor to lay before the President of the United States a statement of the claims of American Citizens adjusted by the board of Commissioners under the 21st. article of our treaty with Spain; and a letter from Matthew Clarkson Esquire, the commissioner on the part of the United States, dated the 2d. instant, informing that the commission terminated on the 31st. of...
19To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 2 January 1800 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State respectfully proposes to the President of the United States, that there be allowed to Samuel Sitgreaves, going to London on the business of the sixth article of the treaty, of amity &c. with Great Britain, A continuation of his salary as one of the Commissioners under that article; And the expences which shall be necessarily incurred for his voyage to and from London,...
20To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 27 December 1799 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State has the honour to inform the President, that he received Mr. Pintard’s papers here inclosed, from Mr. Wolcott—read & handed them to Mr. McHenry—& has this moment received them back from Mr. Stoddert. It appears that Mr. Pintard himself first gave them to Mr Lee. The Secretary of State sees no remark upon them from any of the gentlemen; nor has he any to make himself. MHi...
21To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 17 December 1799 (Adams Papers)
Agreeably to your direction the papers which were laid before you respecting John Marsden Pintard Esqr. Consul of the United States for the Island of Madeira, including his own communications to you, have been committed to the Heads of Departments and Attorney General for their examination and consideration: and their opinions thereon I presume will be submitted to you immediately: by own I...
22To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 20 November 1799 (Adams Papers)
Agreeably to the President’s direction, the Secretary of State respectfully offers the following notices of matters appearing to him proper to be communicated to Congress, at the opening of their approaching session. “It appearing probable; from the information I had received, that our commercial intercourse with some ports of the Island of St. Domingo might safely be renewed: Conformably to...
23To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 6 November 1799 (Adams Papers)
I received your letter of last evening; & have written to Mr. King on the subject of a Danish Consul—The letter to go by the British packet, which will not sail till next Saturday. To-day I received a letter from Mr. Winchester, acknowledging the receipt of your commission, constituting him Judge of the Maryland District. He concludes—“Be pleased, sir, to communicate to the President my...
24To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 5 November 1799 (Adams Papers)
By the inclosed letter of July 30 from Mr. King, it seems that the King of Denmark intends to name a Consul to reside in the United States; but desires first to know whether it will be agreeable to the American Government. With your permission I will communicate to Mr. King the requested assurance that such an appointment will meet your approbation. The inclosed letter of Sept. 6th from...
25To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 24 October 1799 (Adams Papers)
The Secretary of State presents to the President the inclosed letters received last evening from Morristown, announcing the dissolution of the Circuit Court—with the reasons stated by the Judges. MHi : Adams Papers.
26To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 24 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
The subject of the proposed mission to France is so important, that whether it proceed or be suspended, your decision will certainly be the result of your mature consideration. But as the idea has occurred to you of coming to Trenton, and you have intimated that you would do it, if judged best; I have consulted my colleagues; and they concur with me in opinion that it will be an eligible step....
27To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 16 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have the honor to inclose a letter of July 15th. from Mr. Adams at Berlin, with a copy of the treaty which he has concluded with Prussia. The original has since arrived. The former letters from Mr. Adams which I promised to forward, were packed up in a trunk when we were moving from Philadelphia, which has not yet been opened: I will now select them in a day or two and forward them. On...
28To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 11 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have the honor to transmit, in a packet accompanying this letter, fifty Mediterranean passports, for your signature, and to be, / With perfect respect, / Your most obed. servt. MHi : Adams Papers.
29To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 11 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
The general alarm of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, occasioned the removal of the public offices to this place. This has caused some delay in finishing the draught of instructions for the envoys to the French Republic, which I had the honor of transmitting you yesterday: the draught having been previously examined, altered & amended, conformably to the opinions of the Heads of Departments....
30To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 10 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have but just time to inclose the draught of instructions. I have some papers to forward respecting these, which shall go by to-morrows mail: if I wait longer now I shall miss the post of this day. I am most respectfully / sir your obt. servt. MHi : Adams Papers.
31To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 9 September 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have the honor to inclose the opinions of the attorney general and heads of departments on the petitions of John Fries and others, insurgents in Bucks and Northampton Counties in Pennsylvania; that no pardon should now be granted, nor any answer given. I am revising the draught of instructions for the envoys to France, and making the alterations which have been agreed on: I expect to...
32To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 23 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
I inclose a letter addressed to you by Mr. Murray, which came to hand this morning under cover from Mr. King. The draught of instructions preparing agreeable to your directions for the Envoys to the French Republic, will be ready in two or three days to submit to the consideration of the Heads of Departments. Judge Ellsworth was here when I recd. your letter on this subject; and I wrote...
33To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 16 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
I inclose a letter from B. H. Phillips the Consul of the U. States at Curacao, which with the three papers accompanying it, exhibit the shameless conduct of the Governor and Council of that Island, in the protection of French pirates, & in their rigorous punishment of Americans for acting in their own defence when assailed by those murderers. The fact not least remarkable is, that a Dutch...
34To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 16 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
Upon the receipt of your letter inclosing the letter and deposition of Capt. Ebenr. Giles of Beverly, I turned to some communications I had some time before received from Captain Truxtun, in which he had, and I still think justly, ascribed the beating given to Giles on board the British frigate Daphne, to his own extremely improper and insolent behaviour. This I think will appear from the...
35To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 10 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have just recd your letter of August 3d respecting Mr. Gerry’s accounts; and with it an extract of his letter to you of July 24th, & nothing else: the numbers 1. 2. 3. 4. & 5, and a paper of extracts of letters, which you mention as also inclosed were omitted; which doubtless your Secretary will discover, and forward them by the next mail. I have recd. at the same time your two letters of...
36To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 1 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
The day before yesterday I received from Mr. Charles Hall of Northumberland County in this State, a letter concerning a publication by Thomas Cooper, an Englishman, & a connection of Dr. Priestly, addressed to the Readers of the Sunbury and Northumberland Gazette, on the 29th of June. This address has been republished in the Aurora of July 12th which I now inclose. By Mr. Hall’s information,...
37To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 1 August 1799 (Adams Papers)
Mr. Paleski, formerly Prussian Consul in the U States, has sent me a certified copy of a commission from the King of Prussia to Johann Ernst Christian Schultze, appointing him his Consul at Baltimore, where Mr. Schultze resides. Mr. Paleski called this morning, and expresses no doubt of the authenticity of the appointment, and prays that the exequatur may issue. The original probably may...
38To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 31 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
Yesterday, by the southern mail, I received the inclosed triplicate of Mr. Murray’s letter of May 17th, covering a copy, also inclosed, of the answer of M. Talleyrand, minister of foreign relations of the French Republic, to his letter of May 5th (which I forwarded a day or two since) announcing the appointment of Envoys to negociate with that Republic, in which the Minister declares the...
39To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 30 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have the honor to inclose a letter dated June 5th. recd. this day from Mr. King, respecting the proposed negociations with the Porte and the Emperor of Russia; and to be / with perfect respect / sir your most obt. servt. MHi : Adams Papers.
40To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 29 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have the honor to inclose Mr. Murray’s letter of May 5th, acknowledging the receipt of the commission constituting him, Mr. Ellsworth & Mr. Henry, Envoys to the French Republic, and covering a copy of his letter to the French Minister Mr. Talleyrand, announcing the appointment.—As he refers to his instructions on this subject, being by letter of March 6th, I also inclose a copy of the...
41To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 24 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
There is in the Aurora of this city, an uninterrupted stream of slander on the American Government. I inclose the paper of this morning. It is not the first time that the Editor has suggested—that you had asserted the influence of the British Government in the affairs of our own—and insinuated, that it was obtained by bribery. The general readers of the Aurora will believe both.—I shall give...
42To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 18 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
The unfortunate mistake referred to in Mr. Liston’s letter of the 13th to Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, has induced me to reprint your proclamation for opening the trade with St. Domingo, and to subjoin an extract of Mr. Liston’s letter, to put into the hands of as many of the Collectors as are within reach, prior to the first of August.—General Maitland’s letter to me of the 23d of May and the 5th...
43To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 13 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have the honor to inclose copies of three letters from Mr. Liston, copied from his rough draughts which on the 8th instant he put into my hands, supposing them to be the letters which report said had been taken in Bucks County in this State from the man to whom Mr. Liston had entrusted them, and which in my letter of yesterday I said would be forwarded to-day. This morning the Aurora has...
44To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 13 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
By the southern mail of this day I have received the inclosed letter from James Seagrove, late superintendant of Indian affairs for the Creek nation, with Methlogy’s speech and his answer. I have also the honour to inclose the copy of a letter I have just written to Mr. Seagrove on the subject.—What Methlogy says of Colo. Hawkins’s conduct at the close of the conference, I doubt not is utterly...
45To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 13 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
Since closing my other letter of this date, I have received a packet from Mr. Pitcairn, with the inclosed note and pamphlet (Le Spectateur du Nord) for you. In his letter to me, he says he sends 1. one large letter for the President & do. for you; both from Mr. Adams. There was none for you, except the pamphlet & P’s note. Mr. Adams was near concluding a commercial treaty with Prussia: I will...
46To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 12 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
There has been much noise made by the presses and persons devoted to France, about some letters of Mr. Liston to the Governors of the Canadas. Mr. Liston has handed me his original draughts of the letters referred to, which are copying, and which copies I will transmit to you to-morrow: you will see that they are quite harmless; and therefore, notwithstanding the threat of publishing them, the...
47To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 11 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
You will recollect that John Scotchler presented to you a second petition, praying a remission of his fine. I desired Mr. Davis, the District Attorney of Massachusetts, to enquire into the truth of the petitioners allegations. His answer of the 29th ult. induced me to think that you would be inclined to forgive him. That answer with the draught of a pardon are now submitted to your...
48To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 11 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
Messrs. Willings & Francis of this city have undertaken to prepare a fast sailing vessel, of a moderate size, to go to the Isle of France, with a cargo estimated to defray the expence of the voyage, in order to carry thither a suitable person as the agent of the United States, to propose a renewal of our commercial intercourse with that Island.—They have brought to me a very pointed...
49To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 11 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
When I took the liberty of referring you to Mr. Jacob Lewis for information relative to the Isle of France s , I presumed he might communicate something useful, because he would not, I conceived, have any interrested motive to deviate from facts: But when I learnt that he had returned home to Boston with his family, I thought it fortunate.—I had seen a letter from an American at the Isle of...
50To John Adams from Timothy Pickering, 5 July 1799 (Adams Papers)
I have received this morning a letter from the Secretary of the Northwestern Territory, informing that the reports propagated in the news-papers of Indian depredations in the two western counties of the Territory & in Shelby county in Kentuckey, are utterly destitute of foundation. I inclose a letter which came to hand yesterday under a cover from a Christopher McPherson at Norfolk. A letter...