1Petition to the General Court for Setting off “The Farms” From Dorchester to Braintree, 5 February 1773 (Adams Papers)
To his Excellency Thomas Hutchinson Esqr. the Honorable his Majesty’s Council and the honble. House of Representatives in General Court assembled February A.D. 1773. The Petition of Josiah Quincy John Adams and Joseph Palmer in Behalf of themselves and the North Precinct in Braintree. Humbly sheweth. That there is a certain Tract of Land in the Town of Dorchester lying on the south side of...
2Report of the Committee on Proposals for Boston’s Conduct under the Port Act., 18 May 1774 (Adams Papers)
18 May 1774. Report of the Committee on Proposals for Boston’s conduct under the Port Act. No Dft found. printed : Boston Record Commissioners, 18th Report City of Boston, Record Commissioners, Reports , Boston, 1876–1909; 39 vols. , p. 175. Prepared by a committee appointed 13 May composed of Samuel Adams, John Rowe, Thomas Boylston, William Phillips, Joseph Warren, John Adams, Josiah Quincy,...
3To John Adams from Josiah Quincy, 11 July 1775 (Adams Papers)
Your amiable Lady tells me, you have often complained of your Friends not writing to you. I should have wrote to you, but was unwilling to be troublesome; for I concluded, your Head, your Heart, and your Hands must be so full, so anxious, and incessantly laboring to save your Country, that a Letter, even from a Friend, would be rather a Burthen than a Pleasure; and this Sentiment (I doubt not)...
4To John Adams from Josiah Quincy, 22 September 1775 (Adams Papers)
Under my adverse Circumstances, I stood, and still stand in great Need of your Advice; and am therefore, very sorry I had not an Opportunity to converse with you, before your Return to the Congress. Your kind Letter of July 29th is now before me. Were my Abilities equal to my Inclination, you would be amply assisted, in giving Birth to a Revolution, which, I think with you, “seems to be in the...
5To John Adams from Josiah Quincy, 25 October 1775 (Adams Papers)
I have now before me your obliging Letter of the 6th: Instant. It came to hand with another for your good Lady, which was imediately forwarded to her by Mr. Thaxter who was here when I received it. At the same Time, I received a Card from our Friend Doctr: Franklin, assuring me a friendly visit before he returns to Philadelphia. If he can spare Time to take a View of the Harbor I hope to...
6To John Adams from Josiah Quincy, 2 January 1776 (Adams Papers)
A number of my Neighbours who are present, and in the Names of the rest who are absent, desire me to acquaint you, that, not withstanding Genl. Ward’s Request, that the Companies stationed for the Protection of Squantum would tarry there till further Orders, they are all gone, and that important Place, and the valuable Farms in the Vicinity of it, are left exposed to the Ravages of the Enemy,...
7To John Adams from Josiah Quincy, 13 – 25 June 1776 (Adams Papers)
Your worthy Lady has been so good as to lend me a Pamphlet printed at Philadelphia intituled “Thoughts upon Government”: I have perused it with Pleasure, because, in general they are agreable to my own. It is difficult to contract, within the Limits of a Sheet of Paper, ones Thoughts upon such a copious Subject : however, I have selected the following for your Amusement; and when you are not...
8To George Washington from Josiah Quincy, 31 October 1775 (Washington Papers)
My worthy and dear Friend Doctr Franklin, the honble Mr Bowdoin, Doctr Winthrop, and Doctr Cooper, were, the last Week, so kind as to honour me with a friendly Visit: The Conversation naturally turned, upon the savage Cruelty we are dayly suffering, from the unrelenting Vengeance of a tyrannical Government : In the Course of it, the stoping up the Harbor of Boston, as one salutary Measure, was...
9To George Washington from Josiah Quincy, 27 November 1775 (Washington Papers)
Since I was honoured, with your Excellency’s obliging Answer to my Letter of the 31st Ulto, the Question has often occurred to my Mind, whether, Row Gallies might not be as advantageously employed, in the Harbor of Boston, as in the River Delaware? and the more I have thought upon the Subject, the more I am confirmed in the Opinion that they may. The Quantities of Provision that, in the Course...
10To George Washington from Josiah Quincy, 19 February 1776 (Washington Papers)
Since the sudden and unexpected burning of the Houses upon Dorchester Neck, I have been repeatedly and earnestly solicited, by my distressed Friends and Neighbours, to make an humble Representation to your Excellency, that, our Habitations are equally exposed to be destroyed by our Enemies, whenever their Malice shall stimulate them to make us feel the Effects, of the unrelenting Vengeance of...