To John Adams from Eliphalet Fitch, 10 May 1790

From Eliphalet Fitch

Kingston Jama. May 10th. 1790

Dear Sir

Since writing you, on the 7h. Instant, by this Conveyance I have delivered to Captn. Peters, of the Marianne, a Barrell of Sugar and a Barrell containing One dozen of old Rum and Two dozen of old Madeira Wine.— The Sugar and Rum were made on my Estate and the Wine is from my Cellar— Let me therefore present them to you.— I have requested my Mother to Send you a Packet with Some Papers relative to the Slave-Trade; and if you approve of Sending Copies to the President I would avail myself of your kind Attention therein; as you will See by the inclosed Copy of my Letter.—1 With Sincere Esteem— / I am, Dear Sir / Yr. Mo. Obedt. Servt

Elipht Fitch

I do not know what Title to give to Men in America; and beg your Candour in that respect.—

RC and enclosure (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Honble. John Adams / &c. &c. &c.”; notation: “Please to turn over.”

1. Boston native Eliphalet Fitch (1740–1810), second cousin to JA, was a sugar merchant. Fitch wrote to JA on 7 May (Adams Papers), announcing his plans to retire from his post as receiver general of Jamaica. Fitch sent his gift to JA via the Marianne, Capt. Peters, which arrived in Boston on 22 June. No letter to JA from Jerusha Boylston Fitch (1711–ca. 1799) has been found.

JA forwarded Fitch’s enclosure, which contained a 10 May letter to George Washington and several pamphlets on the African slave trade. The publications were Debates in the British House of Commons, Wednesday, May 13th 1789, Phila., 1789, which included a key speech by abolitionist and Yorkshire M.P. William Wilberforce and A Speech Delivered at a Free Conference between the Honourable the Council and Assembly of Jamaica Held the 19th of November, 1789 on the Subject of Mr. Wilberforce’s Propositions, Kingston, Jamaica, 1790, which was the opposition’s response, made by Jamaican merchant and slave owner Bryan Edwards (Boston Columbian Centinel, 23 June; New York Evening Post, 4 Sept. 1810; AFC description begins Adams Family Correspondence, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Richard Alan Ryerson, Margaret A. Hogan, Sara Martin, Hobson Woodward, and others, Cambridge, 1963–. description ends , 5:173; Ezra S. Stearns, comp., “The Descendants of Dea. Zachary Fitch of Reading,” NEHGR description begins New England Historical and Genealogical Register. description ends , 55:400 [Oct. 1901]; Washington, Papers, Presidential Series description begins The Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, ed. W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Jack D. Warren, Mark A. Mastromarino, Robert F. Haggard, Christine S. Patrick, John C. Pinheiro, David R. Hoth, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1987–. description ends , 5:391–392; François Furstenberg, “Atlantic Slavery, Atlantic Freedom: George Washington, Slavery, and Transatlantic Abolitionist Networks,” WMQ description begins William and Mary Quarterly. description ends , 3d ser., 68:266, 270 [April 2011]; DNB description begins Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, New York and London, 1885–1901; repr. Oxford, 1959–1960; 21 vols. plus supplements; rev. edn., www.oxforddnb.com. description ends ).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: To John Adams from Eliphalet Fitch, 10 May 1790
Author: Fitch, Eliphalet
Recipient: Adams, John
Date: 10 May 1790

Reference

Cite as: “To John Adams from Eliphalet Fitch, 10 May 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-20-02-0197. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 20, June 1789–February 1791, ed. Sara Georgini, Sara Martin, R. M. Barlow, Gwen Fries, Amanda M. Norton, Neal E. Millikan, and Hobson Woodward. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020, pp. 347–348.]

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