1241From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 30 July 1815 (Adams Papers)
Who shall write the History of the American Revoluion? Who can write it? Who will ever be able to write it? The most essential Documents, the debates & deliberations in Congress from 1774 to 1783 were all in secret, and are now lost forever. Mr Dickinson printed a speech which he said he made in Congress against the declaration of Independence; but it appeared to me very different from that...
1242From John Adams to Thomas McKean, 30 July 1815 (Adams Papers)
Who Shall write the History of the American Revoluion? Who can write it? Who will ever be able to write it? The most essential Documents; the debates and deliberations in Congress from 1774 to 1783 were all in secret, and are now lost forever. Mr Dickinson printed a Speech which he aid he made in Congress against the declaration of Independence: but it appeared to me very different from that...
1243John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 30 July 1815 (Jefferson Papers)
Who shall write the history of the American revolution? Who can write it? Who will ever be able to write it? The most essential documents, the debates & deliberations in Congress from 1774 to 1783 were all in secret, and are now lost forever. Mr Dickinson printed a speech, which he said he made in Congress against the Declaration of Independence; but it appeared to me very different from that,...
1244From John Adams to William Gray, 25 July 1815 (Adams Papers)
Inclosed is a Letter for Major Sweet. I leave it open, that he may shew it at his discretion in France. He may shew it to Monsieur Le Ray de Chaument, to the Count Marbois, to Mr Benjamin Beale, or to the whom he will.— My old Friends in France, (and I had Some) are all dead. I would venture to write to the Gentlemen above mentioned: but my Eyes and hands admonish me to forbear. If Major Sweet...
1245From John Adams to Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, 25 July 1815 (Adams Papers)
Major Samuel Sweet, who had has served in the American Army attached to General Izzards Staff, as a Topographical Engineer; wishing to Visit France to Compleat his Education, in the Study of Military Tacticks; I have been requested to give him a Letter of Introduction to a Character so interesting to Mankind in America and Europe, as — (shall I say know very well which title you would prefer.)...
1246From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 13 July 1815 (Adams Papers)
I have read D’Argens’s Ocellus, Timæus and Julian. Instead of being Sincere he appears to me to be a consummate Hypocrite, in the Beginning the middle and the end. The most frank, candid, impudent and Sincere Lyar; I ever read. It is plain that he believed neither Old Testament nor new; neither Moses nor Jesus. He labours to destroy the credibility of the whole Bible, and all the Evidence of a...
1247From John Adams to Thomas McKean, 6 July 1815 (Adams Papers)
Your friendly letter of the first of this memorable month; bearing in the hand writing, the sentiments and the arrangement every mark of undecayed Vigour of mind and body: while it delights me in every other View mortifies me by a comparison with my own quivering Infirmities which make it painful and difficult for me to write. The History of Mankind, as far as We can race it, is full of...
1248From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 30 June 1815 (Adams Papers)
Where Shall the Begining, the Middle or the End of an oration be when the orator has nothing to Say? We are distracted for News from You, your Lady and your Children God bless you all. When I was young I read Hobbes and his Antagonists. A terrible Pother was made about his Doctrine, That the State of Nature is a State of War. That it is so, however till every One knows his place, all Nature...
1249From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 26 June 1815 (Adams Papers)
To Shew the pretty, little, easy task you have undertaken, let me give you a Schematic Picture of the publick and private Courses in a German University, for Six months. 1. Encylopedy, and Method of Studies. An encyclopedick course of general Litterature, of the divisions and Subdivisions, and of the relations of Sciences among themselves. A course on the method to be pursued, in Academick...
1250From John Adams to D.C. Ballard, 25 June 1815 (Adams Papers)
Your quotation from “An Irish publication” in your Saturday’s Paper, under your head of “free Trade” is ingenious and amusing. The Allegory of the Law Suit, is pretty and Supported, through out. But the good humoured Witt was mistaken in a Fact. He characterises Samuel Adams as a “School Master.” This is an Error. Samuel Adams never was a Schoolmaster. He was a Merchant. He was the Son of...