1To John Adams from John Trumbull, 20 August 1774 (Adams Papers)
In the county of Worcester, the people, at a general meeting, have resolved that no court shall be held there, according to the new regulation of juries, and that judge Oliver shall not take his seat. Upon a report that a regiment would be sent to protect the court, they declared that they were ready to meet it. It is to be hoped, however, that no violent measures will be taken, till the sense...
2To John Adams from John Trumbull, 14 November 1775 (Adams Papers)
I had the satisfaction last evening of receiving your very friendly Letter, which was the more agreable for being unexpected. As I am setting out tomorrow on a short Tour to the eastward, I have taken the only leisure moment to answer it. You may easily guess how much I am flattered by your approbation of the little essay, you mention in yours. As to its being mysterious, as you term it, you...
3To John Adams from John Trumbull, 21 November 1776 (Adams Papers)
Since I had the pleasure of seeing You last, I have conversed with my Father on the plan you proposed to me of going into the Service; and tho’ we were both very sensible of the kindness of your Offer, and should have preferred the Office You engaged to procure me to any other Post, I could have expected to obtain, yet he seemed averse to my joining the Army on any Conditions at present. He...
4To John Adams from John Trumbull, 8 December 1785 (Adams Papers)
I must apologize for delaying to acknowlege the honour of your letter of the 28 th. of April which I received by the hand of your Son. I had the pleasure of an hour’s interview with him, & from the proofs he gave in that time of his native genius, his literary improvements, & his just observations on the various parts of Europe, thro’ which he has travelled, I could not but regret that I had...
5To John Adams from John Trumbull, 6 February 1790 (Adams Papers)
Your letter found me on my return from the session of our Superior Court at Haddam—since which, I have attended a three weeks session of our County Court here. So that I have had little leisure to prepare for my defence in a capital Trial. To your charge of reading myself to death , I now propose to plead double by leave of the Court. My first Plea is that I am yet alive. Lord Hale advises...
6To John Adams from John Trumbull, 14 March 1790 (Adams Papers)
I have the honour of yours of the 9 th. instant, & am happy to find that you are not displeased at the frankness of my communications. There are very few Persons to whom I would have written with equal freedom— Half the world are of the temper of the Italian Cardinal, described in the Spectator, who kicked his Spy down stairs for telling him what the world said against him—but with such I...
7To John Adams from John Trumbull, 30 March 1790 (Adams Papers)
You may easily conceive how much I was pleased, & flattered by your very friendly & confidential letter of the 6 th instant. At the beginning of the war, he who could advance principles the most agreable to popular pride, & the most destructive to all energetic government, was the best Whig & the greatest Patriot. Many of these, who rose into high rank at that time, were not superior as...
8To John Adams from John Trumbull, 5 June 1790 (Adams Papers)
Since I had the honor of receiving yours of April 25 th. , my time has been wholly taken up in attending on our Supreme Court of Errors, & the Session of our General Assembly, which with us is a kind of extrajudicial Court for the trial of private causes on Petition— I had also to conduct an application from the Mercantile Interest for the Repeal of our Excise-Laws—in which by influencing the...
9To John Adams from John Trumbull, 5 February 1791 (Adams Papers)
You cannot doubt how much I esteem myself honored by your Correspondence— But in a Correspondence with Great Folks, it is my rule to consider myself only an Echo—and like that, I will answer punctually— The Title of your Volumes is not a Misnomer, in the light you place it— Our Constitutions were indeed attacked by M r. Turgot on the only side capable of A Defence. But I think Sir, You have...
10To John Adams from John Trumbull, 20 March 1791 (Adams Papers)
I have just been reading the Philippic of Edmund Burke against the Revolution Society in London, & the National Assembly in France. It has started a crowd of ideas in my mind, of whose propriety no one can so well judge as yourself. This work presents itself in two points of view—as the declamation of the first of English Orators, & as the result of the collected wisdom of an old & experienced...
11To John Adams from John Trumbull, 25 February 1793 (Adams Papers)
You will easily believe that none of your Friends rejoice more heartily than myself, in the Decided Majority, which has secured your Re-election. In spite of calumny, art & intrigue, you have the firm support of Ten States. I congratulate you on the event, but still more congratulate my Country. For nothing can be more favorable to our future prospects than to find, that one of the firmest...
12To John Adams from John Trumbull, 27 April 1793 (Adams Papers)
I enclose to you, Frederic Bull’s Account & Receipt. It was with difficulty, & not till I had called on him four or five times, that I could persuade him to exhibit it. He said he had no account against you, & did not want any of your money. He was irritated by the stories told him by Mr. Pease , the Post-rider, who called on you for payment at Philadelphia. It seems that Pease thought You did...
13To John Adams from John Trumbull, 16 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I returned to this place on the same day You left it, & was extremely disappointed to find You had passed thro’ on your journey to Philadelphia—as I had supposed it probable You would not set out so early from home. I intended to visit my Friends at Boston and Braintree last summer—but about the time I had calculated for the journey, the Smallpox broke out in my neighbourhood, my family had...
14To John Adams from John Trumbull, 25 June 1794 (Adams Papers)
I have the pleasure to forward to the care of your Son in Boston, a packet which I presume comes from your friend Mr. Hollis—neither Lord Wycombe nor Mr. B. Vaughan are in Town. but your Letters I have been careful to forward. The Campaign by Sea as well as by Land is thus far severe & bloody—In the Naval Engagement the French Suffer’d a severe loss, which they consider as compensated in a...
15To John Adams from John Trumbull, 15 July 1794 (Adams Papers)
I have the Honor to forward a packet which I presume is from your friend Mr. Brand Hollis: and also to add two or three the latest Newspapers.— The Affairs of the Combin’d powers have very much chang’d their Aspect since the Opining of the Campaign within four or five weeks all Flanders, as far as Namur on one hand & Antwerp on the other is lost by them:— The Austrian Troops are said to be...
16To John Adams from John Trumbull, 27 July 1794 (Adams Papers)
Will you permit me to present to your acquaintance Dr: Edwards of Pensylvania:—He returns by the way of Boston & the Northern States to Philadelphia, after having pass’d some time in this Kingdom, attending particularly to its agriculture:—On this Subject as well as the general Ones of the War & present state of Europe you will find Dr. Edwards very well inform’d, & will I doubt not derive...
17To John Adams from John Trumbull, 20 November 1794 (Adams Papers)
The Result of Mr Jay’s Negotiation goes with this letter:—A Treaty which was sign’d yesterday, and which, being founded on the mutual desire first to do Justice, and then to grant accommodations, will I trust meet with the approbation of the Honest and well disposed Men of all Nations; & prove the Basis of future good understanding & good Offices between the two Countries who are Parties to...
18To John Adams from John Trumbull, 6 February 1795 (Adams Papers)
I received yours of the 24th. of Jany. with the enclosures, & esteem myself honored by your confidence. The general idea among us relative to the treaty with Great Britain has been, that Dr. Franklin scarcely extended his ideas beyond the hopes of a long truce, guaranteed by our Allies, without the acknowlegement of our Independence, or a settlement of the line of our Inland boundaries:—That...
19To John Adams from John Trumbull, 6 March 1798 (Adams Papers)
I have at length the Satisfaction of informing you that my two Plates of American Subjects are finished, and in a Style perfectly satisfactory to me:—I had hopes of sending out their impressions to my subscribers by this Convoy, but it has been impossible to print a sufficient number to deliver to all, and as I can make no distinctions, I must Suffer the whole to wait the next Convoy, when...
20To John Adams from John Trumbull, 2 November 1798 (Adams Papers)
There being a probability that Your Excellency will soon have occasion to nominate a Collector for the Port of New Haven in this State, in the room of Mr Austin, the present holder, I take the Liberty of naming to you Mr Nathan Beers of this City, as a Man well calculated to fill that Office when vacant.—He was an Officer in the American Army during the War—& conducted himself well—He is a Man...
21To John Adams from John Trumbull, July 1800 (Adams Papers)
Your Friends in Hartford were exceedingly disappointed, that they had not the Pleasure of Seeing writing or seeing You on your Return from Philadelphia, but supposed, that an Inclination to seeing visit a Part of the State of Connecticut in which you had not travelled, & visit the State of Rhode Island, induced you to vary your accustomed Route. A Report has since been triumphantly circulated,...
22To John Adams from John Trumbull, 6 August 1800 (Adams Papers)
Your Friends in this Town were exceedingly disappointed, that they had not the pleasure of seeing You on your return from Philadelphia, but supposed that an Inclination to view a part of Connecticut in which You had not before travelled, & visit the State of Rhode Island, induced You to vary your accustomed route. A report has since been triumphantly circulated, that You changed the course of...
23To John Adams from John Trumbull, 4 September 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have been absent on a Journey to Newhaven, or I should sooner have acknowleged the receipt of your letter of the 12th: Ult. As I never doubted that the reports concerning the conversation in question, originated chiefly from that Spirit mentioned in your Postscript, I was gratified by the account you gave me, principally as it enabled me positively to contradict many unfounded assertions...
24To John Adams from John Trumbull, 24 September 1800 (Adams Papers)
In my last, I asserted that Connecticut would continue firm against all efforts of the present factions. Our Freemen’s Meetings are now past; & notwithstanding evry exertion of our Jacobins, their expectations have been wholly disappointed. We are not ripe for revolutions, but are generally decisive adherents to our present governments & our antient institutions. The facts & observations...
25To John Adams from John Trumbull, 21 July 1801 (Adams Papers)
Returning last night in the course of our Circuit, I had the pleasure of receiving yours of the 8th. Instt: Notwithstanding the extreme fatigue I have undergone in the last fortnight, in attending the Sessions in two Counties in weather as severely hot as I ever experienced, & from an almost total loss of rest all the last week, owing to the decided attention, which my numerous companions in...
26To John Adams from John Trumbull, 24 February 1805 (Adams Papers)
On my return from the Sessions of our Court at New London, I had the pleasure of finding here your letter of the 6th Instant. I thank You sincerely for your affectionate remembrance, and am happy to find that you enjoy in your retirement, an undiminished share of health, and spirits; and without casting "One longing, lingering look behind", view the world only with that eye of curiosity and...
27To John Adams from John Trumbull, 16 September 1805 (Adams Papers)
Returning to Hartford in the course of our Circuit, I found your letter, of July 27th. & August 5th: which had lain a month in the Post Office. From some appearances, I am led to believe that a correspondence so free as ours has been, cannot with perfect safety be carried on at present—I will however answer some of your enquiries. The letter You remark on, relative to the capture of...
28To John Adams from John Trumbull, 19 October 1805 (Adams Papers)
‘Till I received your last of the 4th: instant I had no idea that you doubted the truth of Washington’s letter relative to the capture of Cornwallis and supposed you only questioned the propriety of his allowing a letter to be published, in which he appears to boast of his success in stratagems. You express a wish that "the veracity of the letter might be established beyond all cavil." I can...
29To John Adams from John Trumbull, 26 December 1816 (Adams Papers)
Twenty Eight years ago, I had the honor of painting in London your portrait in my picture of the Declaration of Independance,—the long succeeding period of War and Calamity palsied and suspended thy progress in the work of which that picture was a most important part. Peace is at length restored; I have resumed my task; that Picture is finished; Trenton, Princeton & York Town are far advanced;...
30To John Adams from John Trumbull, 28 January 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your letter of the 1st. of this Month was received by me here on the 6th. I will not attempt to express to you the feelings which were excited in my mind by its kind & approving Language—to have the approbation of the first benefactor & most eminent patriot of my Country gratifies my proudest ambition. You also will be gratified to learn that in this instance Our Country has departed from...