1To John Adams from James Asheton Bayard, Jr., 25 April 1802 (Adams Papers)
I have been extremely flattered by the letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 10th. Inst. It is no virtue to be insensible to the praise of great & good men. I could not have received a more grateful reward for any labour than your approbation. I beg the favor of being presented very respectfully to Mrs. Adams. and / have the honor to be / with sentiments of the highest...
2To John Adams from John Sinclair, 3 June 1802 (Adams Papers)
I expected to have had the Honour of hearing from you before this time, on the subject of the publication of General Washingtons Letters, but I hope to have that pleasure soon. In the interim I beg to send an engraving of the proposed Monument and a plan of the new town of Thurso in which it is proposed to be erected. You will also herewith receive a paper on Longevity. Permit me to request...
3To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 14 August 1805 (Adams Papers)
Your letters are full of aphorisms. Every paragraph in them suggests new ideas, or revives old ones. You have given a true picture of parties in our Country. We have indeed no national Character, and however much we boast of it, there are very few "true Americans" in the United States. We have four distinct parties in Pennsylvania. 1. old tories. 2. honest federalists. 3 violent democrats. 4....
4To John Adams from William Cunningham, 10 December 1808 (Adams Papers)
I had the pleasure to write you the 3d. inst. I follow it with this to make the explanation of the concluding part of that letter which subsequent discoveries have made necessary. I mentioned a particular object as my inducement to a public notice of Mr. J. Q. A., in the thirteenth number of certain speculations, but it appears that the occasion I intended to influence has gone by in advance...
5To John Adams from Mercy Otis Warren, 7 August 1807 (Adams Papers)
I know not how to satisfy the demands you make upon my time and patience without entering into discussions, which, at this late day, I have no wish to call up. Yet the chain of your illiberal criticisms still kept up in your subsequent letters, obliges me, however reluctantly, to pursue my remarks. I shall, therefore as leisure permits, attend to most of your paragraphs, exclusive of the...
6To John Adams from Joseph C. Foxcroft, 18 February 1807 (Adams Papers)
The package I had the honor of forwarding to you was from my honored Father Samuel Foxcroft of New Gloucester.—He has had the misfortune to lose his sight one year ago, be reason of an inflamation in the Same his eyes; And by reason of his never having made use of glasses, & his whole time having been spent in reading & writing; the loss has been very sensibly felt by him.—He did not know of...
7To John Adams from Richard Morris, 5 November 1804 (Adams Papers)
Having been honored with a commission of a Captain in the Navy by you, and still desirous of preserving your good Opinion, which I highly prize, I have taken the liberty to send your Excellency my defence, upon charges exhibited against me, by Order of the President of the United States. I have the honor to be, Sir / with great respect, Your / Obedient Servant, MHi : Adams Papers.
8To John Adams from Henry Guest, 15 June 1808 (Adams Papers)
Your Very Frindly Letter of the 14th. March last Came Duly to hand. it gave and Still gives Me Much pleasure—I am allso Much pleased with my son Henry for doing himself so Much Sattisfaction As his Paying you that respect that He Knew I should have done if Near you on a Journey to Boston—He realy gave Me Much Sattisfaction that his Pollitical ideas pleased you. His Lettes to Me Are full of...
9To John Adams from Benjamin Lincoln, 30 March 1801 (Adams Papers)
The extreme bad traveling for some time past has prevented my calling and paying to you the debt of my most dutiful Gratitude While I sympathise with my country in the loss which they have sustained by the events of the late election it is some consolation that you will suffer less by the change than any other of your fellow citizens in the Union. Some few of them may be ingrateful for your...
10To John Adams from Oliver Whipple, 23 February 1809 (Adams Papers)
When I consider, I was once a Pupil at Braintree in the mansion House of your venerable Father, I claim a Sort of Right to Indugence to address you, which your wontted Benevolence will not deny me; Time, I dare say, has not yet effaced the Remembrance of the little Phamphlet , intitled, “ Tears of the Serv’edors ” and another intitled The Progress of civil & rational Liberty . Through those...