1John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 20 November 1790 (Adams Papers)
I have indeed, my dear Sister, been guilty of a neglect, in omitting so long to write to you, which I cannot upon any principle justify to my own heart; I am sure it has been totally inconsistent with the ardent and sincere brotherly affection which that heart invariably acknowledges for you, and which no length of time, no absence, no course of circumstances, shall ever impair: I have very...
2John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 20 November 1794 (Adams Papers)
About a month after I last took my leave of you in New York, I sailed from Boston, and after a passage of twenty eight days landed at Deal in England. We spent a fortnight in London, where we saw several of your friends who enquired particularly after you: and have now been about three weeks in this Country, principally at the Hague. It is at a very critical and dangerous period for this...
3John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 15 April 1795 (Adams Papers)
By the arrival of M r: Van Rensselaar, I am favoured with your letter of Nov r: 29. I have not yet seen that Gentleman, who is still at Amsterdam, but proposes visiting this place in a few days; you well know what a pleasure we always derive in foreign Countries merely from the sight of one of our own Countrymen, and in this instance I shall be still more gratified in meeting a person, who...
4John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 31 July 1796 (Adams Papers)
I received a few days ago your letter of April 27 th: which was forwarded to me from London. My stay there was much longer than I had expected when I went from this place. I returned here about two months ago. The time when you wrote was indeed a critical moment in the state of our political affairs. I was before I came from England witness to the effect produced there by the resolutions past...