451From John Adams to the President of Congress, 31 May 1781 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, 31 May 1781. RC in John Thaxter’s hand PCC , No. 84, III, f. 181–182. printed : Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev. Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States , Washington, 1889; 6 vols. , 4:461. John Adams provided an English translation of a memorial presented to the States General on 28 April by the Danish envoy, Mestral de Saint...
452From John Adams to James Warren, 17 August 1776 (Adams Papers)
I had a Letter from you, by the Post Yesterday. Congratulate you, and your other Self, on your happy Passage, through the Small Pox. I must intreat you to embrace the earliest opportunity, after the General Court Shall assemble, to elect Some new Members to attend here, at least one, instead of me. As to others they will follow, their own Inclinations. If it had not been for the critical State...
453From John Adams to Wilhem & Jan Willink, Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst, and De la Lande & Fynje, 1 December 1782 (Adams Papers)
The Preliminaries, to be inserted, in the definitive Treaty of Peace, when the other belligerent Powers shall be ready, were yesterday signed & sealed by the Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty on the one part, & the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States on the other. This Fact I communicate to You in Confidence, that You may make the best Use of it You can, for the...
454From John Adams to William Tudor, 12 April 1776 (Adams Papers)
I wish you Joy, sir, of your new Abode. I hope you found, the Houses, Wharves &c. &c., in the Town of Boston which are hereafter to contribute to your Satisfaction in Life, in good order. I Should be very happy to learn the Condition in which the Town appeared, the situation of the Buildings and the State and History of the Inhabitants, during the Seige, what Tories are left, and what is to be...
455From John Adams to the President of the Congress, 11 September 1778 (Adams Papers)
I have the Honour to inclose to Congress, the latest Gazettes. We have no other Intelligence than is contained in them. Since the 11. July the Date of Lord Howes Letter, announcing the Arrival of the Compte D’Estaing off Sandy Hook, We have not a syllable from America by Way of England. In France We have nothing from America Since 3 July. This long Interval leaves a vast Scope for Imagination...
456To Benjamin Franklin from John Adams, 12 December 1782 (Franklin Papers)
L : American Philosophical Society Mr: Adams presents his Compliments to his Excellency Dr: Franklin, & requests the honor of his Company to dinner on Monday the 16th. inst. at 3. oClock. Addressed: Son Excellence / Monsieur Franklin. / Passy In the hand of Charles Storer. JA issued a nearly identical invitation to WTF ( APS ). Fitzherbert, Oswald, and Laurens attended JA ’s dinner, among...
457John Adams to Abigail Adams, 13 February 1779 (Adams Papers)
Yours of 15 Decr. was sent me Yesterday by the Marquiss whose Praises are celebrated in all the Letters from America. You must be content to receive a short Letter, because I have not Time now to write a long one.—I have lost many of your Letters, which are invaluable to me, and you have lost a vast Number of mine. Barns, Niles, and many other Vessells are lost. I have received Intelligence...
4581780. January 2. Sunday. (Adams Papers)
Rode from Villa franca de el Bierzo Rio P uen te. We dined at Ponferrada. We passed through several Villages and over Bridges and Rivers. We passed Campo de Narraya, Cacabelos Rio P uente and Ponferrada where We dined. The Country grows smoother. The cavalcade stopped this night at Bembibre, a village seven leagues beyond Villafranca del Bierzo; both JQA and Dana had difficulty spelling its...
459From John Adams to John Jay, 13 August 1782 (Adams Papers)
The public Papers announce Fitzherbert’s Comission to be, to treat “With the four Powers at War with Great-Britain” But whether they mean Hyder Aly, or the Marattas, is uncertain. I have obtained Intelligence of a Paper addressed lately from the Court of St. James’s to the Courts of Vienna and Petersbourg, as well as that of Paris, in which are the following words, vizt. Sa Majesté Britannique...
460From John Adams to James Warren, 25 October 1775 (Adams Papers)
Upon the Receipt of the Intelligence of Dr. Church’s Letter, Dr. Morgan was chosen in his Room. This Letter is intended to be sent by him, and therefore probably will not go in ten days. John Morgan, a Native of this City, is a Doctor of Physick, a Fellow of the Royal Society at London; Correspondent of the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris; Member of the Arcadian Belles Lettres Society at...
461June 28 Monday. (Adams Papers)
We have been favoured, in our Voyage hitherto, beyond my utmost Expectations. We have enjoyed a Succession of favourable Winds and Weather, from the Time of our leaving L’orient to this Moment. The Discipline, on Board this Ship, is a constant Subject of Speculation to me. I have seen no Punishments inflicted, no Blows struck, nor heard scarcely an Angry Word spoken, from the Captain to any of...
462From John Adams to Samuel Adams, 21 May 1778 (Adams Papers)
Passy, 21 May 1778. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:106–108 . Adams commented on, among other things, the probability of a European war, the movements of the French and British fleets, and the possibility of wider European support for the Revolution. He then discussed the large amounts...
463From John Adams to Henry Knox, 28 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
Your Friend the Marquis, with whom I have sometimes had the Honour to drink your Health after that of General Washington, will deliver you this. His Love of Glory is not diminished, nor his affection for America, as you see by his Return. He has been indefatigable in endeavours to promote the Welfare and Comfort of our Army, as well as to support their Honour and Character, and has had success...
4641779 July 31 Saturday. (Adams Papers)
Found Bottom this Morning on St. Georges Bane. The Weather, the Wind, the Discovery of our Longitude, give Us all, fine Spirits this Morning. The Wind is as good as We could wish it. We are now about to pass the Day and Night of greatest Danger. By the present Appearances, We are highly favoured. But Appearances are often deceitful. At the Moment I am writing a thick fog comes up, on all...
465From John Adams to Benjamin Franklin, 4 November 1780 (Adams Papers)
Mr. De Neufville, this morning brought to me, a number of Bills of Exchange, drawn upon Mr. Laurens, in the Month of July, amounting to seven or eight hundred Pounds Sterling, and informed me that your Excellency had declined becoming responsible for them and referred him to me. I have enquired of Mr. Searle who informs me there are about twenty thousand Pounds in such Bills now on their Way....
466[Fryday June 9th. 1775.] (Adams Papers)
On Fryday June 9th. 1775. The report of the Committee on the Letter from the Convention of Massachusetts Bay being again read, the Congress came into the following Resolution: Resolved, That no Obedience being due to the Act of Parliament, for altering the Charter of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, nor to a Governor or Lieutenant Governor who will not observe the directions of, but endeavour...
467From John Adams to Samuel Freeman, 27 April 1777 (Adams Papers)
Your Favour of 25 March I duely received. The Plan of riding you mention, between Boston and Falmouth, appears to me, reasonable enough, but the Committee will not incline to take upon themselves, Regulations of that kind of which they cannot be so good Judges, at this Distance as the Post Masters who are nearer. My Advice would be for Mr. Hastings, Mr. Libby and yourself, to confer upon this...
468From John Adams to John Jay, 17 August 1782 (Adams Papers)
The States General have chosen Mr Brantzen Minister to negotiate for Peace. Yesterday he did me the honour to dine with me. He is represented to me to be a good Man and well fixed in the true System. I have very authentic Information that his Instructions will be such as France and America as well as his own Country ought to wish them. I have Letters from Boston 17 June —grand Rejoicings on...
469John Adams to Richard Cranch, 2 August 1776 (Adams Papers)
I received your Favour of 22 July, by last Tuesdays post. I thank you for the Trouble you have taken to inform me of the Circumstances of your Family and my own. It gives me great Joy to think your Symptoms were so favourable.—I had a Letter, from my best Friend by the same Conveyance, which gave me more Pleasure than many Times its Weight in Gold would have done. You mention the Exultation at...
470John Adams to Abigail Adams 2d, 4 December 1782 (Adams Papers)
Your Solicitude for your Papa is charming: But he is afraid to trust you to the uncertain Elements, and what is infinitely more mischievous, the follies and depravities of the old world, which is quite as bad as that before the Flood. He has therefore determined to come to you, in America, next Summer, if not next Spring. Duty and Affections where due. RC or Dupl , in Charles Storer’s hand (...
471From John Adams to Edmé Jacques Genet, 29 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have this Moment your s of the 28. I thank You, Sir, for your kind Invitation to my three Sons, to come some time in the Spring, and spend a day at Ver sailles, which will be very agreeable to them, and to me. I am happy to find that the Report of the Committee has your Approbation; and shall be very g lad to see it translated and printed as it is. Every Attempt of this kind may be worth...
472[Sixth of December 1775] (Adams Papers)
About the sixth of December 1775, I obtained Leave of Congress to visit my Family and returned home. The General Court satt at Watertown, Our Army was at Cambridge and the British in Boston. Having a seat in Council, I had opportunity to Converse with the Members of both Houses, to know their Sentiments and to communicate mine. The Council had unanimously appointed me, in my Absence, without...
473April 17. Vendredi. (Adams Papers)
Dined at home with Company—Mr. Platt and his Lady—Mr. Amiel and his Lady—Mr. Austin—Mr. Alexander &c. After Dinner, went to the long Champ, where all the Carriages in Paris were paraded which it seems is a Custom on good Fryday. See, further, JA ’s Autobiography under the present date .
474Thursday May 8. (Adams Papers)
The Duke de la Vauguion and Mr. Hartley, Mr. Laurens and Jay, Mr. Barclay and Ridley, dined with me. Thomas Barclay (1728–1793) , a Philadelphia merchant, had been elected by Congress United States consul in France, 5 Oct. 1781; on 2 Jan. 1783 he was named consul general. He had business interests at Lorient, but JA first encountered him in Amsterdam, and before long Barclay rented a large...
4751779 November 13th. Saturday. (Adams Papers)
Took Leave of my Family, and rode to Boston with my Son Charles, nine years of Age last May. At four O Clock went on board the french Frigate the Sensible, Mr. Thaxter, my Son John, twelve Years old last July, and my Servant Joseph Stevens having come on Board in the Morning.—I find the Frigate crouded with Passengers, and Sailors, full 350 Men. They have recruited a great Number here. First...
476From John Adams to Robert Morris, 5 July 1783 (Adams Papers)
Your two Favours of the 12 and 29 of May, were delivered me on the third of this Month by Captain Barney. Every Assistance, in my Power, shall be given to Mr Barclay, M r Grand will write you, the Amount of all the Bills which have been paid in holland which were accepted by me. You may banish your fears of a double Payment of any one Bill.— I never accepted a Bill without taking down in...
4771778. May. 7. Thursday. (Adams Papers)
J’allai, hier, apres midi, a la Revue, ou Le Roy, a fait une Revue de ses Guardes de Suiss et de francoise. Ce Matin, sentence unfinished
478From John Adams to John Boylston, 5 March 1779 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Billet of the 6. Feb. and altho I am much obliged by your Care to put me on my Guard, against dangerous Men: Yet I am extreamly Sorry to find, that Slander has been So successfull, as to impose upon you, who I know have no sinister Motive, nor any Thing to byass you; in this Case from the Truth and the Interest of a Country whose Welfare you wish. The “Freres” have been...
4791778 April 21. Mardi. (Adams Papers)
Dined, this Day, at Mr. Chaumonts, with the largest Collection of great Company that I have yet seen. The Marquis D Argenson, the Count De Noailles, the Marshall de Maillebois, the Brother of the Count de Vergennes, and a great many others, Mr. Foucault and Mm., Mr. Chaumonts Son in Law and Daughter, who has a Fortune of 4 or 5000£ st. in St. Domingo, Mr. Chaumonts own Son and Miss Chaumont....
480Tuesday May 20. (Adams Papers)
Saw Philadelphia Papers to the 12 of April. The Corvette dispatched from Cadiz by the Comte D’Estaing, carried the first News of the Preliminaries of the 20 of January. Mr. Livingston wrote it to Carlton and Digby, but they thought it, however respectable, not authentic for them. Soon after the February Packet arrived, at New York, from whence English News Papers were sent out and the...