Adams Papers
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From John Adams to James Bowdoin, 11 June 1789

To James Bowdoin

New York June 11. 1789

Dear Sir

I have recieved the Letter you did me, the honour to write me, on the 30. of May: but have not yet had an opportunity to See Mr Boid.1

Whenever that Gentleman shall appear, it will be a pleasure to me to give him all the Attention and Assistance, in my Power, which may be due to public Justice, and to your Recommendation.

We proceed Slowly: but in digesting Plans so new, so extensive and so important, it is impossible to bring Bodies of Man to a clear Comprehension of Things and a mutual Satisfaction without long deliberation and debate.

I called on Sir John Temple last Saturday and tho I was sorry to find him in so ill health, I apprehend with Exercise and Care he will get the better of his Complaint.2

With great Respect I have the Honour / to be, Sir, your most obedient and / most humble servant

John Adams.

RC (MHi:Winthrop Family Papers); internal address: “Governor Bowdoin”; endorsed: “1789. / Letter from John Adams / Esqr. Vice President of / the United States. / dated New York June / 11th:—” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 115.

1. For American sympathizer James Boyd’s efforts to reclaim land near Passamaquoddy, Mass. (now Maine), see vol. 19:484–485.

2. John Temple served as British consul general to the United States from Feb. 1785 to his death in 1798. He was married to Bowdoin’s daughter, Elizabeth (vol. 17:16; 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 , 4:240).

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    Adams Papers
    Title
    From John Adams to James Bowdoin, 11 June 1789
    Author
    Adams, John
    Recipient
    Bowdoin, James
    Date
    11 June 1789

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From John Adams to James Bowdoin, 11 June 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-20-02-0012. [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. 18–19.]

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