John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 6 September 1800
John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams
Quincy September 6. 1800
Dear Sir
I am greatly pleased with your Letter of the 30 of August. Every Part of it shows a Sound Understanding and a manly honest heart. Your Conduct at the meetings was wise, as well generous. Never mind Majorities. Weigh well and judge right and never fear being in a minority. You are right to mix with your fellow Citizens at their invitation to their Consultations. Although Horatius has Sacrificed to the Charm of a name, his numbers upon the whole are excellent, the last particularly is the truest representation of the Embassy to France, that I have seen and the clearest Justification of it.1
I have no Objection to your hope that the Types will never be unsett.— I had no Idea that I ever wrote so long a Letter to that confidential Friend and assistant of Secretary Hamilton. But upon reading it 8 or 9 years after I had forgotten it I dislike it less than I do most of my Productions. There is a Sportive, playfull Vein runs through the whole Letter—a few strokes of Satirical humour that if they are understood, ought to have good Effect. The Comments are curious: but they will take with the fools and Knaves for whom they are intended.
Your Letters give Us all so much delight that I pray you to be as generous as you can Afford time to be in dispensing them to your / Affectionate Father
John Adams
RC (private owner, 2011); internal address: “T. B. Adams Esq.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 120.
1. JA was referring to the sixth installment of the Horatius series, which appeared in the Trenton Federalist, 26 August. The essay argued that if the second mission to France was successful, it would enable the United States to separate itself from European affairs and further establish economic and political stability. The piece lauded JA’s fortitude in the face of opposition to the initiative: “President Adams like his illustrious predecessor stands as a rock braving the storms of faction, firm, uniform and unshaken.”