1From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 15 November 1775 (Adams Papers)
The Course of Events, naturally turns the Thoughts of Gentlemen to the Subjects of Legislation and Jurisprudence, and it is a curious Problem what Form of Government, is most readily and easily adopted by a Colony, upon a Sudden Emergency. Nature and Experience have already pointed out the Solution of this Problem, in the Choice of Conventions and Committees of safety. Nothing is wanting in...
2From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 25 July 1778 (Adams Papers)
Passy, 25 July 1778. printed: JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:171–172 . In this letter, the last copied from Adams’ Letterbooks into his Autobiography for the period of the first mission, he thanked Lee for his letter of 13 May (above), described his voyage to France, and commented on the...
3From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 5 August 1778 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 20 June, by Captain Ayrs from Boston had a quick Passage. She Sailed on the 4 July and your Letters were brought to Passi from Bourdeaux, where she arrived, the 3d of August. I thank you sir, for the kind Expressions of your obliging Anxiety for me. The Uncertainty in which you remained so long, concerning the Fate of the Boston, must have been occasioned by the Capture of,...
4From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 13 February 1779 (Adams Papers)
I am much obliged to you for your kind Congratulations on my Arrival, and agreable Accommodation at Paris. I assure you, Sir, I have no Objection to the “Splendid Gayety of a magnificent Court,” in a Country, where Manners, Habits and the Constitution of the Country Government make it necessary, which I hope however, will never be the Case in America. He must be of a Strange Disposition,...
5From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 15 March 1780 (Adams Papers)
After my last Embarkation for Europe, Your Letter of October the eighth was brought me on Board the French Frigate the Sensible, just upon the point of sailing, so that I had no Opportunity to answer it in America, and since my Arrival in Europe, I have gone through a Land Journey from Ferrol in Spain to Paris little short of four hundred Leagues, in the dead of Winter, in such Roads and such...
6John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 8 February 1785 (Adams Papers)
It was with very great Pleasure, that I learn’d your Return to Congress, and Election to the Chair. indeed So many names that are familiar to me make me wish myself with you. a Congress So respectable as the present must have great Weight both at home and abroad. it is only by Sending to that Assembly, the best Men and most respectable Characters, that the People can expect to have their Union...
7From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 29 April 1785 (Adams Papers)
The Appointment of a Secretary of foreign Affairs, interrupts the Official Correspondence, with your Excellency, and I know too well the constant Employment of the Time of the President of Congress to flatter myself with hopes of many private Letters. I may not however Suffer my son to return home, as he must go by the Way of New York without a Letter of Introduction to the President...
8From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 15 July 1785 (Adams Papers)
I have received the Letter you did me the Honour to write me on the 28 May, and am fully of your Opinion of the Importance of Concord between our Country and this and of the Causes which obstruct it. The Malignity of disappointed Men is astonishing; but the Change of Language, if not of Sentiment, of Some who have not been disappointed is more so. in Truth Sir, some, who foresaw the Success of...
9From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 26 August 1785 (Adams Papers)
This letter will be delivered you by M r: C. S. of Boston, who has lived much in my family & done me much service as a private Seretary, and that without any other reward than the opinion that he was doing service to his Country.— The time was approaching when the K. of Prussia was to make the annual review of his Army, & the month of August is so disagreable & unwholesome in London that all...
10From John Adams to Richard Henry Lee, 6 September 1785 (Adams Papers)
I had Yesterday the Honour of receiving your Letter of the first of August, and I pray you to accept of my Thanks for your kind Attention and obliging Civilities to my son. It was the first News We had of him Since he Sail’d from L’Orient. I hope that, after remaining in N. York long enough to pay his Respects where they were due, he made haste to Boston. Your Reasoning, Sir, both upon the...