1To John Adams from Jonathan Mason Jr., 9 July 1776 (Adams Papers)
Whether to act in a civil or military department, many are the disadvantages attendant upon those who are just entering upon the stage of Life—The universal confusion throughout all America—This I doubt not, being intended as the Era of a glorious independancy, tho’ of happy consequences, yet they have cast a temporary veil upon the prospects of the rising Generation. The mature have a task...