14551Thomas Jefferson to John W. Webster, 28 January 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved yesterday your favor of the 10 th and owe you acknolegements for offering us the occasion of procuring the valuable collection of minerals mentioned in your letter, but I have to regret that our institution is not yet so advanced as to permit us to avail ourselves of it. our funds being lim i ted and moderate, we must marshal their application according to the respective urgencies...
14552From James Madison to Noah Webster, 10 March 1826 (Madison Papers)
In my letter of Ocr. 12. 1804. answering an enquiry in yours of Augst. 20. it was stated that “In 1785 I made a proposition with success, in the Legislature (of Virginia) for the appointment of Commissioners to meet at Annapolis, such Commissioners as might be appointed by other States, in order to form some plan for investing Congress with the regulation & taxation of Commerce.” In looking...
14553From James Madison to Noah Webster, [18 January] 1820 (Madison Papers)
In looking over my papers in order to purge, and finally arrange my files, my attention fell on your letter of Aug 20. 1804 in which I was requested to give such information as I could, as to the origin of the change in the Federal Government which took place in 1788. My answer does not appear; the copy of it having been lost, if one was retained as is probable. Will you be so obliging as to...
14554William Jay to Noah Webster Jr., 17 July 1826 (Jay Papers)
My Father sometime since desired M r . Converse of New Haven to place his name on the list of Subscribers to your Dictionary for six Copies. It has twice occurred to him, that the expense which this great work has already cost you & that which must still attend its publication, might perhaps render it convenient for you, to receive the amount of his subscription in advance. He therefore...
14555Thomas Jefferson to Mason L. Weems, [30 October 1821] (Jefferson Papers)
The informn you have rec d of my being in possn of a piece of the maple under which Penn treated with the Indians is entirely a fable. I know nothing of such a relick; or any informn I could have given should hav e been quite at your service Dft ( NNPM ); on address leaf of RC of Weems to TJ, 14 Oct. 1821 ; undated; edge trimmed. Recorded in SJL as a letter of 30 Oct. 1821.
14556From James Madison to Mason Locke Weems, 16 February 1819 (Madison Papers)
Your favor of Jany. 22. was duly received, and I thank you for the Copy of the “Life of Marion,” which accompanied it. I have read it for the first time, having not before had an opportunity: and have been much pleased with the vein of patriotism running through it; as well as with the vivid pictures, and moral lessons, for which the career of your justly admired hero furnished you the happy...
14557From James Madison to Roger C. Weightman, 21 June 1826 (Madison Papers)
I received by yesterday’s Mail your letter of the 14th. inviting, in the name of the Committee of arrangement, my presence at the celebration in the Metropolis of the U.States, of the fiftieth anniversary of their Independence. I am deeply sensible of what I owe to this manifestation of respect on the part of the Committee; and not less so of the gratifications promised by an opportunity of...
14558From Thomas Jefferson to Roger Chew Weightman, 24 June 1826 (Jefferson Papers)
The kind invitation I recieve from you on the part of the citizens of the city of Washington, to be present with them at their celebration of the 50 th anniversary of American independance; as one of the surviving signers of an instrument, pregnant with our own, and the fate of the world, is most flattering to myself, and heightened by the honorable accompaniment proposal for the comfort of...
14559From John Adams to Roger Chew Weightman, 22 June 1826 (Adams Papers)
Col House of U.S. Army now stationed at Fort Independence in my neighborhood, has favored me with a call, and communicated your very polite letter, desiring him to offer me a escort to Washington in order to celebrate with your approaching Fiftieth Anniversary of our National Independence I feel very gratefull for this mark of distinguishing and respectful attention on the part of the citizens...
14560Thomas Jefferson to John C. Wells, 13 May 1820 (Jefferson Papers)
I am sincerely mortified at my total inability to meet the demand in your letter of yesterday . my engagements of the last were upon the ordinary scale, and within the limits of my means had the produce of the year obtained ordinary prices. but having recieved for it but half the ordinary prices, I fall short with nearly the half of my engagements. this situation being general, there is a...
14561Thomas Jefferson to Wells & Lilly, 3 January 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
Meeting casually with the 2 d of the Dissertations prefixed to the Supplement of the Encyclopaedia, by Playfair , I observe that you have before printed the 1 st and are proceeding to print the rest. I ask the favor of you to send me those already printed, and the others as they shall come out. I see on the covers of the 2 d your notice of some books you have for sale, among which are those...
14562Thomas Jefferson to Wells & Lilly, 1 April 1818 (Jefferson Papers)
You must have thought me very tardy in acknoleging the reciept of your letter of Jan. 13. and in returning my thanks which I now do for the very handsome copy of Cicero ’s works from your press, which you have been so kind as to present me. I waited first the reciept of that & the books accompanying it, but I happened at the time of their arrival to be reading the 5 th book of Cicero ’s...
14563Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Adams Wells, 12 May 1819, with Jefferson’s 6 August 1822 Note (Jefferson Papers)
An absence of some time at an occasional and distant residence must apologise for the delay in acknoleging the reciept of your favor of Apr. 12. and candor obliges me to add that it has been somewhat extended by an aversion to writing, as well as to calls on my memory for facts so much obliterated from it by time as to lessen my own confidence in the traces which seem to remain. one of the...
14564From John Adams to Samuel Adams Wells, 19 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
I return you the papers relative to the Gaspee—I long to see them in print you ought to publish them in the first News paper they are among the most Significant Documents of the Revolution—I inclose you also a letter to the President—I wish I could see you every day—for a multitude of thoughts occour to me which I cannot write— I am Sir with Esteem and affection your friend my letter to your...
14565From John Adams to Samuel Adams Wells, 22 July 1819 (Adams Papers)
I have so many irons in the fire,—that every one of them burns—and none more than your favor of the 10th. I thank you for your Oration, I have heard it read, it is a succinct candid and manly compendium of the Revolution if you will furnish me with a Copy for Mr Jefferson, another for Mr Monroe, and another for Mr Madison—I will transmit them to those Gentlemen as from myself—and I pray you to...
14566From John Jay to Samuel Adams Wells, 15 March 1827 (Jay Papers)
I rec d . last week your Letter of the 5 th . of this month. Being engaged in collecting materials for a Biography of your Grandfather M r . Sam l . Adams, you are desirous to ob t ain from me some Information ^on Subjects in which^ which he and I were joint were joint actors; and particularly what Agency M r . Adams had in drafting the Report of the Committee appointed by Congress in 1774, to...
14567From John Adams to Samuel Adams Wells, 6 August 1819 (Adams Papers)
your letter of July 23d. is as yet unanswered, I thank you for the communications. I now return you, your Grandfathers letter to J. S.—which I long to see in print, it is a masterly sumeary of the reasonings of the Whigs at the time it was written and worthy of the pen of your Grandfather, his hand writing, is as familiar to me as my own I have sent your Oration, to Mr Jefferson Madison and...
14568Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Adams Wells, 23 June 1819 (Jefferson Papers)
Your favor of the 2 d inst. has been duly recieved, & I answer your request to make use of the information given in mine of May 12. by a free permission to employ it for any purpose you may think useful. you suppose that the fact that six colonies were not yet matured for a separation from the parent stock could not have been known unless a vote had been taken. yet nothing easier. for the...
14569From John Adams to Samuel Adams Wells, 7 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
Your letter of the 3d. has distressed me—It will compel me to disclose truths which will be disagreeable to you—and very unpleasant to me— Your ardour in support of the honour of your Grand Father—has my Cordial appropriation—we know where to find the precept—Honour thy Father, and Mother, and we know it has been approved by all Ages and Nations—Civil, and Savage, till french philosophers...
14570From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to Harriet Welsh, 16 December 1818 (Adams Papers)
I scarcly know how to apologize for my remissness in not writing to you sooner but did you know how I am teazed you would excuse most readily any apparent negligence and always assign some sufficient excuse for it Congress is come back and with it all the stormy passions jealousies and petty enmities which are so widely spread against those who either by talents or circumstances have risen to...
14571From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 10 August 1817 (Adams Papers)
Thank you thank you dear Harriet for the Letter from mr Adams you sent me last Evening. tho only a few lines, it informd me that after a passage of 50 days from Cowes they had arrived all well—and should remain no longer in N york than to get out their baggage & necessary arrangements, that in a week or ten days they would be here—I presume by the close of the week or sooner—It will indeed be...
14572From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 12 June 1818 (Adams Papers)
But once Since You left us, have I received a line from you. Twice I have written, and twenty hundred times twenty; thought of you, and Sometimes with an exclamation, what can be the reason that H. does not write? now you who have Eyes, fingers at command, and the pen of a ready writer, ought to employ them, when they are So much Sought after. I presume they are so: and that you have Some...
14573From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 2 May 1817 (Adams Papers)
mr Clark will deliver you this Susan has a Letter from her Mother urgeing her to come to See her, and consenting to her.… which I cannot under present circumstances—so they say no more to me—I think with you that it will be best for them to go Silently and if a female travelling companion can be found at the Same time it will be more agreable—fine weather for your Father & Sister Mr C will...
14574From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 24 January 1818 (Adams Papers)
The President has a letter from Vanderkemp, in which he proposes to have him send a collection of my letters to publish! A pretty figure I should make. No. No. I have not any ambition to appear in print. Heedless and inaccurate as I am, I have too much vanity to risk my reputation before the public. Printed Source--Letters of Mrs. Adams. Edited by Charles Francis Adams (Boston: 1840)..
14575From John Adams to Harriet Welsh, 22 March 1822 (Adams Papers)
In answer to your Question of the 11th of this Month which has been so long on its way, that I have received it but this moment, I have no hesitation in saying that at no period of our revolution, could any Man be his popularity what it might, could have persuaded the people of this Country or any considerable number of them to be governed by a King of their own, or even a President for Life,...
14576From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 5 May 1817 (Adams Papers)
I inclose to you a paper with the distrest State of an old Batchelor, not Supposing that you will answer the advertizement, but because amongst my acquaintance I know no one who So nearly answers his description—He has left his own qualifications out of the question—a dolt does he think to get Such a wife without Sterling worth on his own part? dr Franklin says “ a Batchelor is not a compleat...
14577From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, March 1818 (Adams Papers)
I beleive you thought me very imprudent to consent to the Presidents going to Town So cold a day as yesterday—but the cold increased much after the morning and I was quite anxious untill he returnd—much pleased and gratified with his days excursion there is Such a thing as Staying at Home untill it becomes wearisome to us change of place, or dear variety compose part of our happiness I enclose...
14578From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 30 January 1818 (Adams Papers)
I received the articles this morning cloth Nankeen Ribbon Letter covers &c altho the Gospel declares man & wife to be one, the Law of congress will not allow me that priviledge and my name upon a package or Letter Subjects me to postage—in future by post, let my good mans priviledge cover mine—I Send you my last Letter—what would have been Said in my day if Such Etiquette had been establishd?...
14579From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 7 July 1818 (Adams Papers)
I expected you home. that is the reason I did not write. beside I have melted away and very, very feeble—I rejoice to learn that you have had a fine rain. we had only a little drisel , but miss H Adams Said the Minister thanked the Lord for that; and prayed that he would send a soaking rain. we may put up a Similar petition, for Rain is much wanted— I received this morning your favour of 28...
14580From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 12 April 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have Sent the Shoe & Shall have a pr by Saturday—it is a folly to keep the Boots I Send—charles will out grow them—and as mr John wants to make money by them, his uncle consents to give him his price for them— osburn will call to day for the articles I Sent for—a line from you to Callender will get them for me. you will be so good as to pay him for them—I did not receive any Tea— The weather...