31John Adams to Abigail Adams, 18 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
I rec d , Yesterday by the Post, the inclosed Letter, which excites a hope of more by the Same Ship. There is a curious Mass of matter in fermentation at this Time. The French and Spaniards are as injurious as ever the English have been. Washington retires and his Sucessor will have but a majority of three Votes at most. and as if, it were to irritate every feeling nerve a Land Tax must be...
32John Adams to William Stephens Smith, 18 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
I Received yesterday your kind Letter of the 13 th and Return you and yours the Compliments of the Season and Thanks of your Congratulations on the Probability of a Cartain Election the felicities or infelicities of what Events however are Hidden from our Vew by that impenetrable Veil which Covers Futurity the Prospect at Present is not very bright a Country Impotent at Sea tho Powerful at...
33John Adams to Abigail Adams, 16 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
I went Yesterday to hear D r Priestley, in the Philosophical Hall of the University and there I met unexpectedly with D r Euwing and D r Andross or Andrews. Euwing Seems paralytic and falling very fast. The Drift of the Discourse was to shew the Superiour moral Tendency of the Jewish and Christian Religions, to that of all the Pagan Rituals ancient and modern. The Weather is moderated. I hope...
34John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
M r Beale called upon me, a few Days ago and left your Letter of Dec r. 23 d. — Last Evening I presented him to the P. and M rs W. together with M r Howard, a son of D r Howard of Boston. You Say M r H. is very full of his Praises of M r Monroe— So is D r Edwards— He Says M
35John Adams to Abigail Adams, 11 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
on Tuesday when I waited as usual on M rs W. after attending the Levee, She congratulated me very complaisantly and Affectionately on my Election and went farther and Said more than I expected. She Said it gave them great Pleasure to find that the Votes had turn’d in my favour. &c I doubted whether their Prudence would have ventured so far. I believe it Sincere. Ket however the Stewart was...
36John Adams to Abigail Adams, 9 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
I received to day, together, your Favours of the 31 st December 1796 and 1. Jan. 1797 Our H. of R. boasts that We are the most enlightened People in the World: but We behave like the most ignorant Babies, in a thousand Instances. We have been destroying all Terror of Crimes and are becoming the Victims of them. We have been destroying all Attachment and Obligation to Country and are Sold in...
37John Adams to Abigail Adams, 5 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
M rs Swan and her Daughters, conducted by M rs Otis came into the Senate Chamber this morning to see the Room and Pictures. There I had Opportunities to see for the first time the fair young Ladies. I send you Guillotina, the most wanton Muse of the whole ten.— dreadful Truths are told in jest— Dallas tho, innocent , Dallas is much injured. I have now rec d Votes from Kentucky the last state:...
38John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
I rec d Yesterday your favour of 23. of Dec r. from Boston. The old Patrioch, has got a Name of Old Scrathum, or old Scratch or Some Such Oddity that will amuse the Blackguards for a time. M rs Storers Verses are very shrewd The Story of my Muteness, or Incapacity to talk, I almost wish were true.— On Some Occasions. D r Walters Politeness to be Sure is conspicuous. It is enough at present to...
39John Adams to Abigail Adams, 1 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
I wish the new Year may be the happiest of your Life. Last Night I had a Visit from D r Rush, whose Tongue ran for an hour.— So many Compliments, so many old Anecdotes. To be Sure, My Election he Said, he had vast pleasure in assuring me Since it had been made certain had given vast Satisfaction in this City and State. Even those who had voted for another had a great Affection for me. M r...
40John Adams, Deposition regarding Mitchell’s Map, 1796 (Adams Papers)
Deposition of President Adams—In answer to Interrogatories by the Agent on the part of the United States he deposed, “that Mitchell’s Map was the only Map or Plan which was used by the Commissioners at their public Conferences, tho’ other Maps were occasionally consulted by the American Commissioners at their Lodgings; the British Commissioners at first claimed to Piscataqua River, then to...
41John Adams to Abigail Adams, 30 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
The Prospect that opens upon me presents Troubles enough of every kind.— I have made Some Inquiry concerning Horses and Carriages, and find that a common Chariot of the plainest Sort cannot be had under Twelve hundred Dollars, and if you go to a little more ornament and Elegance you must give fifteen hundred. The President has a Pair of Horses to sell, one 9 the other 10 Years old for which he...
42John Adams to Charles Adams, 30 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I have received with great Pleasure your kind Letter of 28 th. I think M r Sands’s Plan for the Education of his Nephew is judicious. But I Should not advise him to Send him to Europe, So very early. If he remains in America two or three Years, undergoes his Examination and is admitted to the Bar it will be early enough to go to Europe. By your Representation M r Joshua Sands has been your...
43John Adams to Abigail Adams, 27 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I rec d yours of the 14 on Fryday: but had no Letter on Monday. According to present appearances, Jefferson will be Daddy Vice, and between you and me I expect you will soon See a more ample Provision made for him, that he may live in Style—and not be obliged to lodge at Taverns and ride in Stage Coaches. I See plainly enough that when your Washingtons and Adams’s are Stowed away our dear...
44From John Adams to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., 21 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
In obedience to the Resolutions of the Senate, passed on the 10th. of February and 16th. of March 1796, I have the honour to transmit herewith the following statements. 1st. A statement of the Tonnage of the ships and vessels employed in the Trade of the United States for the year preceding the first day of October 1795. distinguishing the Foreign from the Domestic Tonnage, and the quantity...
45John Adams to Abigail Adams, 20 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I Yesterday dined at M r Binghams and Sitting next to Madam at Table, had Something like a political Conversation with her. She has more ideas of the Subject than I Suspected: and a correcter Judgment. She gave me the Characters of Several of the notable Foreigners, and I find has the Same Jealousies of them, which I have entertained. Talleyrand Liancourt, Volney, Caznove &c. Noailles is the...
46John Adams to Abigail Adams, 19 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I have this morning yours of the 9 th. Am glad you have mine from Stratford: you will receive others in Succession. I am not much chagrined at the disappointment of ploughing the Hill. The Spring will do. The more Seaweed is procured the better. I need not exhort you to get Wood. I am Glad M r Bass is provided for. I wish you to expend as little as possible in Labour except for Seaweed and...
47John Adams to Abigail Adams, 18 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I went Yesterday at 12 O Clock to the Presbyterian Meeting House in Market Street to hear D r Rush pronounce an elegant and pathetic Elogium on M r Rittenhouse the late President of the Philosophical society. He made him out to be a good Man and a great Astronomer & Philosopher. This I agree and if he had not betrayed Jacobinical Weaknesses I should have liked him very well. D r Euwing is Sick...
48John Adams to Abigail Adams, 16 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I rec d this morning your kind Letter of the 7 th. and wonder you had not rec d a Letter. I wrote from Stratford & Newyork and twice a Week since I have been here. your Anxiety for your Country is amiable and becomes your Character. Elevated Expectations of Grandeur and Glory as well as Prosperity have accompanied me through Life and been a great source of my Enjoyment. They are not diminished...
49From John Adams to United States Senate, 16 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund Respectfully Report to Congress as follow. That the purchases of the Debt of the United States as stated in their Report of the eighteenth of December 1795, amount to Two Millions, three hundred, seven thousand, six hundred, sixty one dollars, and Seventy one cents, for which there have been paid in specie, One Million, six hundred, Eighteen thousand, Nine...
50John Adams to Abigail Adams, 12 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I have just rec d your fav r. of the 4 th. I wrote you from stratford New York and from Philadelphia. Adets Note has had some Effect Pensilvania and prov’d a Terror to some Quakers and that is all the ill Effect it has had. Even the southern States appear to resent it. If Col Hamiltons personal Dislike of Jefferson does not obtain too much Influence with Massachusetts Electors, neither...
51From John Adams to George Washington, 12 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
We thank you, sir, for your faithful and detailed exposure of the existing situation of our country; and we sincerely join in sentiments of gratitude to an overruling Providence for the distinguished share of public prosperity and private happiness which the People of the United States so peculiarly enjoy. We are fully sensible of the advantages that have resulted from the adoption of measures...
52John Adams to Abigail Adams, 8 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
Inclosed are Some Signal Accomplishments of Prophecies. Be cool and discreet in your Communications of them. No Such Person as Jasper Dwight is known to either of the Senators of Vermont. The Signature is thought to be fictitious. I have no Letter from you later than the Sunday after my Departure. Major Butler has indeed resign’d. They kept back Paines Letter Several Weeks, presuming no doubt...
53John Adams to Abigail Adams, 7 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I have rec d your Letter of the cold Sunday on which I wrote you one from Stratford. In N. York Charles gave me the original Letter, the Duplicate of which you transmitted me. I communicated it to the P. with five preceeding Numbers. After reading them The P. was pleased to say that “M r Adams’s Intelligence was very good, and his Penetration and foresight very great. At least Things appeared...
54From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 6 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I have recd your favour of the 10. of Nov. and thank you for the quotations from the Posthumous Works of the late K. of Prussia. The Quotations from Condorcet are Proofs of Insincerity or Inconsistency but the latter may be easily expected from a Person who writes upon a subject he knows nothing of. I am able unfortunately to give you some Extracts of letters concerning a Man of more Sense,...
55John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 5 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
As I came through New York, where I found your Sister and your Brother and their families in good health I rec d your Letter N o. 24. and upon my arrival here, presented it to The President together with the preceeding Numbers to 19 inclusively. I dined with him on Saturday when he returned me the Letters, with an Eulogium. He Said that “Things appeared to him exactly as they do to your son”...
56John Adams to Abigail Adams, 4 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
After Spending a Day and a Night at East Chester with our Children there and another at Newyork with our Children there I came to this City on Fryday night after a cold ride of 80 miles from Elizabeth Town. There are great Complaints of Want of Water for grinding, for Cattle and for Families through the whole Country. Yesterday I dined with the President in Company with John Watts the King of...
57John Adams to Abigail Adams, 1 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
I Spent a pleasant Day before Yesterday with M rs Smith and her Children at East Chester where they now live. At night the Col & his two Brothers came home from hunting Patridges and Quails an Amusement which had engaged them two Days. Halcyon Days are over, at that house but Horses are still very plenty. Yesterday I came to Town and have been happy with My son and Daughter here. The Baby is...
58John Adams to Abigail Adams, 27 November 1796 (Adams Papers)
We lodged at Monroe’s in Marlborough on Wednesday night, at Hithcocks in Brookfield Thursday night, at David Bulls in Hartford Fryday night and at Lovejoys in Stratford last night. I have been to hear Sound orthodox Calvinism from M r Stebbins this morning. At Hartford I Saw M r Adets Note in Folio to our Secretary of State, and I find it an Instrument well calculated to reconcile me to...
59From John Adams to John Trumbull, 25 November 1796 (Adams Papers)
Mr John Adams asks the favour of Mr Trumbulls Company for an hour this Evening at Mr David Bulls. Mr A. would not ask Such a favour on such a Snowy night, but would wait on Mr Trumbull at his house, if he was not much chilled with the cold and much fatigud with a Journey all day NjP : DeCoppet Collection.
60John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 11 November 1796 (Adams Papers)
I know not where to find you—Whether in Holland England or Portugal—Whether to address you as a married Man or a Single one. And I am equally at a Loss what to write to you. one thing I am at no loss to say that your Letters have continued up to N o. 23. inclusively to delight and inform me, and that I beg you not to be discouraged from continuing your favours, by my Remissness in Writing Our...