11To John Adams from François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 2 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
A continued headache has compelled me, to delaÿ an answer to your favour of the 16th of Febr. from daÿ to daÿ; tho I receive no higher gratifications than from these. It is indeed far beyond, what I could reasonably have flattered me with, that, in your far advanced age, you So often would have condescended, in taking notice of mÿ letters, and bestowing So manÿ marked proofs of your...
12To John Adams from Samuel Perley, 5 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
A few days since, I saw a letter written by his Excellency John Adams. For years I have seen nothing of a political nature, that gave such pleasing, tender, and grateful emotions to my very soul. I have been well acquainted with the names of John Adams , Samuel Adams , John Hancock , and James Bowdoin , ever since I left Cambridge Colege, in the year 1763. Oh, sir, the scenes that these...
13To John Adams from Joseph Ward, 10 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
I have long felt an inclination to write to you, two circumstances forbid me, want of matter, & having no personal weight to supply its place. Love and venerration, to Gentlemen, as well as to Ladies, sometimes prompt to a familiarity bordering on rudeness. Thus in time past I feared I might be led into an error in addressing you. The strong existence of those sensations, is the only apology I...
14To John Adams from Oliver Whipple, 10 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
I received your pleasant and most obliging Letter of the 3d of March last, it answered my Request; I find you have amidst the Turmoils of State pre d your eligant Classic Tale, and your Observations in Respect of the Views, and Conduct of the honble J Q. Adams, so perfectly coinside with my Sentiments, that I can not refrain to break again on your Patience, and solicit your attention. I must...
15To John Adams from Lyman Spalding, 14 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
Permit me to inclose to your address the Portsmouth bill of Mortality for 1809, and at the same time to assure you that my best wishes accompany you, through life. I am Sir / Your most Obt / Servt. MHi ; MBAt : Adams Papers.
16To John Adams from George Bourne, 22 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
During some time past my time has been devoted to writing the History of Mr. Jefferson’s administration with an historical sketch of the affairs of the Union from the period of the adoption of the Federal Constitution: as the sale of the work in Massachusetts will be considerably enhanced by the Sanction of your name—I have intruded upon your politeness to ask permission to place it at the...
17To John Adams from Henry Guest, 1 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of 29 January Last Came duly to For which be pleased to Except my moste respectful thanks Particularly as it Contained a few strokes of your pollitical oppinion in these Turbulent Times. I find Sir, My Last Letter to you, wants Explenation—As to what I observed of your Son I Wanted Him in the Senate one Season more That He Might have had an opportunity of Displaying His Superior...
18To John Adams from William Lyman, 1 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
I have the honour at this time to address you for the purpose of requesting your acceptance of the Report of the Examination before the House of Commons into the Conduct of the Duke of York late Commander in chief, which is herewith transmitted by the Messenger of the United States Reed, in the Pacific via New York. I trust it will not prove uninteresting, and that you will pardon the liberty...
19To John Adams from Chester Wright, 2 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
An individual, obscure, & to yourself unknown, begs leave to address you. May I be permitted, Sir, to suggest, that a love for that Country, of which I, with millions of my fellow citizens, consider you the Father, is my only apology for this intrusion. I have long viewed, with grief, the unhappy division which has rent the United States into two great political parties, & well nigh armed them...
20To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 5 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
I am much pleased with the Specimen you have given of the Use of your Wings upon a certain Subject in your last letter. Your publications in the newspapers show still further how important to the public, to posterity, and to your family honor are the words you have preserved of your political life. Your defence of the rights of our Seamen is much admired. It discovers with the Experience &...
21To John Adams from William Cunningham, 6 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
I was duly favoured with yours of the 24th. ult. The species of sensibility excited by your Letters in March, are defined by the interest I take in whatever affects your repose, your happiness, and your just claims on the affection, confidence and gratitude of a Country reared under your paternal care. If it can be necessary to be more particular—they were the various and refined emotions...
22To John Adams from Jared Ingersoll, Jr., 9 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
A Dispute existing at New–Orleans involving property to an immense amount and also very interesting questions of a legal and Constitutional nature; I thought it would probably gratify your Curiosity, to know precisely the circumstances of a Case of which you might have received an indistinct Report I therefore have taken the Liberty to send you two Pamphlets lately printed upon the subject...
23To John Adams from Joseph Ward, 10 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 15th April I have had the honor to receive; and have read it over and over again with great pleasure. I cannot let go the pleasing hope, that future historians may record with truth & impartiality, the glorious deeds of our revolutionary Patriots, whose preeminent merit in founding our Nation, and framing our System of Government, entitles them to the gratitude and is a...
24To John Adams from James Martin, 24 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
The sight of your Venerable and Respectable Name in the papers on a subject so interesting to every one as a proof of the purity and penetration of your political principles has induced me to take the liberty of mentioning to you a Matter in which I am personally interested—I was indebted to you in paris during you Mission there in 1783 for many Acts of Kindness and Hospitality—I had a Claim...
25To John Adams from François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 29 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
As you felt So Sensiblÿ for mÿ Sorrows, it is highly becoming, that you Should be among the first, to whom I Should communicate mÿ happier prospects. Mÿ Eldest Son John at Philadelphia did ask me, two days past, for my consent in his marriage with a Miss Julia Taylor, of a respectable familÿ and connections, with a moderate fortune, adequate to his wishes. His former prudent conduct made me...
26To John Adams from Jonathan Williams, 5 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
WITH a view to collect and preserve the Military Science, which must still exist among the Veterans of our revolutionary contest, and those of our Fellow-Citizens, who may have gathered scientific fruits in the course of their travels, the Corps of Engineers have, under the auspices of the President of the United States , commenced an Institution for the purpose of establishing and...
27To John Adams from Samuel Perley, 12 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of April, 18th. 1809, came safe to my Hand. It was soon read by our Lawyer in Gray. He was so Pleased with it, that he quickly publised it, in the Portland Gazette. I have seen your Letter and mine, Published in the Boston Patriot. Both are published (as I Understand) in Amherst Paper in the State of New-Hampshire. No writings, that appear in our public Papers, are in General read,...
28To John Adams from William Cunningham, 14 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
I am favoured with yours of the 7th. inst. After telling me that the employment of your thoughts upon your public essays precludes your attention, for the present, to my letters, I should be bereft of apology for filling again a whole sheet, if you had not also said that you are in no apprehension of being inundated. Amidst the heaviest outpouring which may be supposed to be congregating in...
29To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 14 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
My son Richard who has been a customer for the Aurora ever since he lived at the Jersey College, after reading your last letter, brought the enclosed papers from his office, and requested me to forward them to you. I have lately met with an account of the brain of Voltaire being preserved by a Lady in a France, and showed to her friends as an object of affection and adoration. The author of...
30To John Adams from Pseudonym: "76", 15 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
“Oh Shame, Shame! where is thy blush” that thou shouldst thus dare prophane the manes of the immortal Hamilton “a Spirit pure as the unsullied light of Heaven & incorruptible as Heaven itself—” Why weak old fool wage war with the dead? A cannibal could not more—Why not publish those impious falsehoods during his existence? Oh, how lost how degraded view’d with digust by one party, & pitiful...
31To John Adams from Joseph Ward, 23 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
Your letter of the 6th Inst. I had the honor to receive the next day, just before I commenced a journey; I read it repeatedly and with great attention—and feel the importance of all your remarks. I wish every mind was duly impressed with the sentiments. The longer I live the more I am convinced that truth makes slow progress in the world; and to reform public errors is an arduous task. But...
32To John Adams from William Cunningham, 30 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
I received, by the last mail, your esteemed favour of the 22d. inst. The united testimony of your most amiable Family, in repulsion of the calumny which was said to have originated with Mr. Whitney, has not disappointed me. Should it become again a topick at your social board, I pray that my affectionate respects may go along with it to the company. The gentleman who gave me the information I...
33To John Adams from Oliver Whipple, 7 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
Allwise Providence has most ierally decreed, That there should be born for the Benefit of Mankind, Patrons & Lovers of Friendship; Under this auspicious & benevolent order of Things has eventuated rare & singular Blessings To mankind, but from no Persons or Characters have the sweet Dropings of pure Benevolence been poured, with more Judicious Gratuity, than from your fostering hand: To...
34To John Adams from Elias Boudinot, 17 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
Mrs: Bradford & myself arrived here on friday Evening last—among the principal Objects we had in View in this long Journey, the honor of waiting on Mrs. Adams & your self was one. As the distance is so considerable, and the disappointment would be great, should you be from home, will you be so kind as to drop one a line by the Post, to let us know if you will be at home, the begining of the...
35To John Adams from Elihu Phinney, 21 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
Elihu Phinney was ever an admirer of your Unshaken patriotism, your eminent talents, your Steadfast Integrity, and your universal knowledge. I felt the loss of your election in 1801, deeply; altho the latter part of your administration occasioned some unpleasant reflections, you have more than healed them, by your late letters—They have restored a fund of knowledge, the lack of which had...
36To John Adams from William Cunningham, 24 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
To my letter of the 30th. ult. I have not been favoured with an answer. I feel an uncertainty, from which I wish to be relieved, whether that letter got to your hands. When I gave you the name of my informer, that your Family were in opposition to your making public any elucidations, I thought it incumbent on me to apprise him of it; accordingly, in a day or two after the date of my last. I...
37To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 26 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
I enclose you three numbers of Duane’s papers that you may see in what manner the late news from St James’s has operated upon one Class of our Citizens. Your Communications Continue to excite Attention. A general wish prevails among those who read them, that they may be preserved & perpetuated in the form of a pamphlet, or of a larger Work. My Wife and youngest daughter left me on the 8th of...
38To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 5 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
“salus, honor et bonus Appetitus.” to use the Words of Molière— from Dear sir ever / Yrs MHi : Adams Papers.
39To John Adams from William Cunningham, 9 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
I duly received your favour of the 31st. ult. The separation from you of your Son, would be, I knew, as painful to you both, as was the parting of Paris and Priam, when the son took leave of the Father for Lacedemon; but I was equally sensible, that I should have dishonoured the noble sacrifices you have made in the service of your country, had I have suggested a motive to induce your...
40To John Adams from William Campbell, 12 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
Have I mistaken your political principles or have I rightly understood them as being truly federal upon the Basis of our Constitution and the government of our own choice. The People of the United States at the time of choseing their Convention-men for the formation of the Federal Constitution upon which government as been Administered must have had all the zeal of Freemen emancipated from the...
41To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 14 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
I send you herewith some more of Col Duane’s papers. You will perceive in One of them proposals for republishing you letters in a pamphflet. It was from a Conviction that you saw things with Other eyes than most of the persons that cooperated with you in establishing the Independance of the United states, and that your Opinions and Conduct would bear the Scrutiny of posterity at that eventful...
42To John Adams from William Cunningham, 18 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
The last mail brought me your favour of the 8th of July, with a postscript of the 13th. inst. Whether you had received my letter of the 9th. inst. does not appear by you favour. You request the return of the Letter to yourself uncopied—you will find it enclosed, but if you have no particular reasons to the contrary, you would oblige me by entrusting it to my possession. It contains many things...
43To John Adams from Ignatius Thomson, 22 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
Most respectable Patriot I take the liberty at sending to you by the mail an oration which I delivered on the fourth of July; a liberty which I presumed wants not be received a miss if well intended. Vanity in the author with respect to the merits of the work is not my object, but real information. When I penned the oration it was from the best information I then could obtain. A summary view...
44To John Adams from Henry Guest, 25 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
I took the liberty some time back, (I cannot say how long, as I did not kn date the copy of that letter wherein I honestly explained my meaning of the word dormant, and thought you would have been pleased, and satisfied with my explanation—but I have not been honoured with a line from you since yours of reprimand of dormant. To my great satisfaction and pleasure your dormant powers have lately...
45To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 25 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
I enclose you four numbers of Duane’s paper. They contain a good deal of matter relative to the dispute between our Country & great Britain. I have not read a column of it, but it excites general attention in our city, and of course is probably worth the notice of a Man who has not, like myself, outlived his patriotism. My wife, Uncle Mr Boudinot and his daughter it is said, have lately paid a...
46To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 6 September 1809 (Adams Papers)
Although for many years past I have read nothing, but books upon medicine on week days, & upon Religion on Sundays, and have expected to continue to do so as long as I lived, yet you have almost persuaded me to read Fox’s history of James the Second. Your praise of it is enough for me, for I know how much your habits of reading and thinking qualify you to judge of the merit of books that...
47To John Adams from William Cunningham, 9 September 1809 (Adams Papers)
On our way home from Quincy, we were detained by the kindnesses of friends till the last evening. Of the pleasant events of our excursion, none are recollected with more delight than the attentions we received at your house. Nor have I to express my obligations to any but yourself, for any part of the secret history you orally communicated. Your Letter of the 22d. ult. I received, with the...
48To John Adams from Joseph Ward, 9 September 1809 (Adams Papers)
I have to make my grateful acknowledgements for your favour of the 31 Ult. I read, it as I do every thing that falls from your pen, with great attention. Every letter in the Patriot, under your Signature, I have read with equal attention pleasure & profit. I wish most sincerely they might be read by all men. There never was a time when the propagation of sound principles was more necessary....
49To John Adams from William Cunningham, 23 September 1809 (Adams Papers)
My letter of the 9th. inst. had an enclosure which it is so interesting to myself, as well as to you, that it should get to your possession, that I cannot suppress my solicitude to be advised of its safe reception. The present covers the last National Aegis, in which you will find your juvenile Letter to your friend Webb, which I have caused to be inserted in the paper according to your...
50To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 30 September 1809 (Adams Papers)
“Great men (says Lord Bacon) have neither Ancestors nor posterity.” This, you and I know is not the case with Writers. The enclosed pamphflett pamphflet is a proof that the passion for pen, ink and paper has descended in my family. It is written by my son Richard, who requests you will do him the honor to accept of a copy of it. Health, respect & friendship from / ever yours MHi : Adams Papers.
51To John Adams from William Bentley, 10 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
Last evening I received with great pleasure your request for an explanation of a note left at Quincy. Having been in the habit for many years of receiving from Mr Endicott a portion of the Endicot Pears, & being desirous to honour the man, who above all others, deserved the name of the Father of New England, I concluded, in passing, I should be accepted, if, in the reverence of my heart, I...
52To John Adams from Benjamin Stoddert, 12 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
Until within a few Days, I had only seen detached parts of your letters, published in the Boston Patriot. I have now a pamplet containing eighteen letters—I presume the first eighteen you sent to the press. I do not know, that more have been published. It was impossible for me to read these letters, & subscribe to their Justice—at least, so far as they respect myself. You have corrected me...
53To John Adams from Joseph Ward, 13 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
I had the honor to receive in due time your favour of the 27th Sept. I read it with that attention which is due to every line from your pen. The approbation you have been pleased to express in respect to the sentiments in my letter, gives me more satisfaction, than I could receive from the united voice of the whole mob of Statesmen from Newhampshire to Georgia. I continue to read with much...
54To John Adams from William Cunningham, 17 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
Your favour of the 27th. ult. arrived when I was at Worcester attending a session of the Supreme Court to get some redress for a most gross and injurious Fraud. Immediately on my return, I set out for Boston, from whence I returned last evening. These jaunts have occasioned this delay in the acknowledgment of your Letter. “Poor Democrats, Republicans, and still poorer Americans, are,” you say,...
55To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 17 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
Who were the ancestors and posterity of Homer, Demosthenes, Plato and Aristotle? who were the ancestors and posterity of Cicero, Horace and Virgil? Were any of them philosophers, orators or poets? who were the ancestors and posterity of Walsingham Sully, Malborough and Wolfe? Were any of them statesmen generals, or heroes? I do not ask whether they were descended from gentlemen, or whether...
56To John Adams from William Cunningham, 28 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favour of the 23d. The sentence from your Letter of the 27th. ult. which made the theme of my answer, I understood as being extended to the whole body of the Federalist. Several circumstances conspired to induce me to make of it an unqualified application to that party. I cannot, and it is unnecessary to recite them all—two or three shall suffice. In your Letter to the...
57To John Adams from William Plumer, 28 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
Although I have never had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with you, yet to your real character & to the great services you have rendered our common country, I am no stranger. With your worthy son, now on a mission to St. Petersburg, I served three years in the Senate of the United States, & contracted a friendship with him that I hope will terminate but with life. You no doubt will...
58To John Adams from William Bentley, 1 November 1809 (Adams Papers)
I received your Letter of Oct. 26, & am happy, if, in any degree, I have satisfied the curiosity, I excited. It would have been a great pleasure, to have been introduced to Mr Adams at Quincy, but I received every attention due to a Stranger in his absence. I took the earliest notice of your Letter, & offered such evidence of the fact; as I immediately recollected; & to which I could instantly...
59To John Adams from Joseph Ward, 2 November 1809 (Adams Papers)
Your highly esteemed favour of the 24 ult. I had the honor to receive. I am instructed by your remarks upon Hutchinson, Hamilton, and other characters, and by your deep sentiments upon finance, the want of a correct History of American affairs, the conduct of England, &c. I admire your candor to Hutchinson. I think your remarks just as well as candid. If he had fortunately escaped the old...
60To John Adams from Oliver Whipple, 6 November 1809 (Adams Papers)
Being at this Time at Boston, on my Way to Washington, I have a Favour to ask your Excellency, you will not deny; I have it in Contemplation to remove from Hallowell, on the Kennebec next Season, either to Washington, or Baltimore in Maryland; in case I should fix at Washington I would, Sr. intreat the Favour, that you would give me a Letter of Introduction, There, by which I can find the Way...