11John Adams to Charles Adams, 2 January 1795 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of December 30 th. — I approve of your caution and applaud your discretion. You ought nevertheless to reconoitre the Country round about you, like a good officer. Between you and me, I believe you to be Surrounded by a gang of sharpers, and I wish you to keep a good look Out, preserve your own honour; keep a clear Conscience and clean hands: but examine every Man...
12John Adams to Charles Adams, 11 May 1794 (Adams Papers)
Your Favour of April 19. I believe has not yet been acknowledged. The Extracts from the King of Prussia were very acceptable. Yesterday I received your favour of May 9 th.— You ask whether there might not exist Such an Equality in Society as the Democrats of this Day Seem to advocate? Yes my Son, there are many Such Societies, in the Forrests of America, called Indian Tribes. Yet among these...
13John Adams to Charles Adams, 31 December 1795 (Adams Papers)
Yesterday I received your kind and pleasing Letter of the 26, and am happy to hear of your and your Ladies health. I dont approve of your calling her Sally unless to herself in a Family Way. To other People especially in Writing you must call her Mr s Adams. Your Nephews and Neice I hope will have the Meazles favourably. it is a good age and a good Season: so that I think the family may be...
14John Adams to Charles Adams, 11 September 1794 (Adams Papers)
Last night I received your kind Letter of Sept r. 3 d and am sorry to find that your Books were not then arrived. Before this day I hope they are in your Office, and I should be glad if you would inform me whether they are or not. The early Part of my Life was Spent among them, and they have never been many Days together out of my thoughts; so that I have contracted an habitual Affection for...
15John Adams to Charles Adams, 12 October 1792 (Adams Papers)
I congratulate you on your Admission to the Bar and your taking Possession of an Office in So good a Part of the Town, and I would not advise you to exhange it for any other, without an absolute necessity. There is a great Advantage to a Lawyer in being always to be found in the Same place. I wish you as much Success as you can desire and all the Pleasure and Profit from your Practice in a...
16John Adams to Charles Adams, 17 May 1794 (Adams Papers)
I am delighted with your delicious little Letter of 14 th. —but was puzzled to guess where you got your Description of Lubberland or what do the French call it? Pays de Cocany or some such Word. Does he get this, says I, from Old Chauar, or Spencer, or from shakespear? Young M r Otis, turned me to the Passage in elegant Extracts— It is it seems from the Tempest, which was to me, once very...
17John Adams to Charles Adams, 14 February 1795 (Adams Papers)
As you Seem to wish to know my sentiments of M r Kents Lecture I will give you a few Hints to assist your own Reflections and Inquiries but as they may be liable to misconstruction and Misrepresentation, they must be in Confidence between you and me. I am much pleased with the Lecture, and esteem the Talents and Character of the Professor: indeed I wish you to consider whatever I may write...
18John 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...
19John Adams to Charles Adams, 13 February 1792 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 9 th , gave me great Pleasure as it discovers a curiosity that is laudable and contains a very handsome Relation of political Events and Movements in New York of great Importance to that State and very interesting to the United States. The Writings which have excited your inquisitive disposition, were of Some importance in their day as they had Some Influence on the public...
20John Adams to Charles Adams, 19 February 1792 (Adams Papers)
I wish you to take of Berry and Rogers as handsome a set of my Defence as you can find and packet them up handsomely and address them to The Reverend Joseph Priestley D. D. London, and send them by your Brother and Sister Smith. That Philosopher has made them so many Compliments in conversation as well as one in print; and as his sett was probably destroyed by the Rioters at Birmingham, I...
21John Adams to Charles Adams, 13 December 1794 (Adams Papers)
The Nature, Designs, rise, Progress, present State future Operations and successes of “Selfcreated Societies,[”] are likely to become Objects of interesting Enquiry and should be critically Studied by a Lawyer. We know something of the History of them in France. The fruits of them in Geneva you will see in the Pamphlet inclosed which was written by D’Ivernois. The fruits of them in Scotland,...
22John Adams to Charles Adams, 20 April 1796 (Adams Papers)
I rec d. yesterday your favour of the 18 by the Post M r Van Persyn, whom you mention as the Bearer I have neither Seen nor heard of. My Conclusion is that he is not yet come on. I should be very glad to See him and receive the Letters he brought for me. My Friendship for M r Luzac will be motive enough to do him all the Service in my Power. The Disposition of The H. of R. is very firm not to...
23John Adams to Charles Adams, 2 March 1794 (Adams Papers)
What! are my venerable Old Friend Gates, and my respectable old Acquaintance Osgood, and my intimate Connection W. S. Smith, about becoming Town Meeting Men and to aid the Democratical Societies, the Constitutional Societies and the Jacobinical Clubbs, in their Attempts to overawe the Government of their Country? or is the Object to divide the People into Parties? or to force Us into a War...
24II. John Adams to Charles Adams, 9 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
I received this Morning your valuable Letter of the 6 th and am much pleased with your Observations as well as with your Researches. but I wish you would examine the Passage in Polybius in Greek. It is the highest Satisfaction to me to perceive that you have so just a sense of the Importance of the Beleif of a Deity and his Providence and moral Government to the Happiness of Nations as well as...
25John Adams to Charles Adams, 22 April 1796 (Adams Papers)
I believe I never have acknowledged the Rec t of your favour of March 21.— In Dexter and Ames We lost the Lyre of Aphion in our H. of R. and Jaring Discords have led Mydas astray ever since. The Rout before us is very thorny and very rugged and very Steep and what is worse than all the End of it is far behind the Hill, out of our sight, and may be more dangerous and impracticable than any Part...
26IV. John Adams to Charles Adams, 13 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
By the first Article of the Treaty of Commerce between the United States and France it is Stipulated that There Shall be a firm, inviolable, and universal Peace, and a true and Sincere Friendship between the most Christian King, his Heirs and Successors, and the United States of America; and the Subjects of the most Christian King and of the Said States; and between the Countries, Islands,...
27John Adams to Charles Adams, 10 March 1794 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of Yesterdays Date has given me much Pleasure. I recognize in it, my own son. Your Language to the Gentleman was manly and your sentiments independent. Col. Smiths Aberrations from the true system of his Country have given me great Uneasiness. You must let me know in Confidence, the Name of the Gentleman. Every Citizen has a right to think, speak and Act for himself in his own...
28John Adams to Charles Adams, 16 December 1794 (Adams Papers)
This morning I received your favour of the 13 th. and wonder not that your honest heart is disgusted at the Iniquities always practiced at the New York Elections, where I Suppose Lord Nugents Maxim is adopted, that “ all Things are lawful at Elections. ” This moral Aphorism he once alledged as an Apology for having once at an Election at Bristol, when his Lordship and Alderman Beckford were...
29John Adams to Charles Adams, 31 January 1796 (Adams Papers)
A fat Sleekheaded young Gentleman was here last Week or the Week before who told me he knew you, that you were well that you had a good share of Business: that your disposition was so amiable that People were fond of throwing Business into your hands &c— All this was Musick in my Ears— I know not his name but am told he is a Limb of the Law in your City. According to Peter Pindar Business is...
30VI. John Adams to Charles Adams, 24 February 1794 (Adams Papers)
As the genuine Equality of human Nature is the true Principle of all our Rights and Duties to one another: and the false Notions of Equality the source of much folly and Wickedness: and the undefined and indeterminate Ideas of it, the Cause of much Nonsense and confusion, it is of great Importance to assertain, what it does mean, and what it does not mean. It really means little more than that...
31John Adams to Charles Adams, 7 February 1795 (Adams Papers)
I was So happy in the News of the agreable Circumstances of your Sister and her Infant, and of the Safe Arrival of your Brothers at the Hague and Amsterdam, that the melancholly Account in your Letter of the 5 th came upon me by Surprize and afflicted me very much. The detestable Cause of your sisters Misfortune the Infidelity or Negligence of the Apothecary, is alarming to every Body. The...
32John Adams to Charles Adams, 13 December 1795 (Adams Papers)
So great a Part of my Life has been and Still continues to be Spent in travelling that I seldom trouble my Friends in Conversation or by Letter with the Inconveniences or Adventures I meet upon the Road: otherwise I might give you a Romantic History of my Journey from N. York. The Roads were bad enough and the Company but Speak well of the Bridge that bears you well over— They behaved civilly...
33John Adams to Charles Adams, 2 February 1795 (Adams Papers)
A Letter from M r Jay of the 24. of November informs me, that he had rec d two Letters from your Brother in Holland, one of the 14 th. and another of the 20 th. the first at the Hague the last at Amsterdam, which inform’d him that your Brother had been presented to their High Mightinesses, and rec d and acknowledged by them, and that he had Afterwards had an Audience of the statholder. so that...
34John Adams to Charles Adams, 2 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
This morning I rec d your agreable Letter of the 30. Ult.—I wish you would explain to me what you mean, by “most of them finding their Purses lightened by their Connections[”] with (blank). Have they lent him Money? The Letter you mention was written in a careless haste intended for no Eye but yours and I fear not fit for any but a partial one— but if you think it will do any good, you may...
35John Adams to Charles Adams, 6 December 1794 (Adams Papers)
I condole with you, under the mournful News of the Barons Palsy. I have long wondered that a Military Character so habituated to exercise should have neglected it so imprudently for so many Years. This Country is loosing in rapid Succession the Characters who were forward and active in the Revolution. M r Handcock, M r sherman M r Alsop, M r Witherspoon, M r Clark M r Lee, M r Gillon, and now...
36John Adams to Charles Adams, 5 June 1793 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your, agreable Letter of the 29. Ult. Your Brother is destined to be celebrated and consequently envyed and abused. He has great Talents, and equal Industry. Publicola has passed through Several Editions in Ireland and Scotland as well as England, and I am well informed that the Speaker of the House of Commons, M r Pitt and Several other Characters high in office besides the...
37John Adams to Charles Adams, 14 February 1795 (Adams Papers)
Our amiable Professor, in the 5 th Page, informs us that “The free Commonwealth of the United States, which in all its ties, relations and dependencies, is animated with the pure Spirit of popular Representation, offers the highest Rewards to a Successfull cultivation of the Law, and the Utmost Encouragement to Genius.”— I Scarcely have the Courage, my dear son, to write even to you, my...
38John Adams to Charles Adams, 4 December 1790 (Adams Papers)
Although I am much obliged to you for your kind Letter of the Second, and the News and Observations in it; I am dissappointed in not receiving you as I expected, instead of a Letter. I thought it was Sufficiently explained and understood between Us, that you were to be at Philadelphia on the first monday in December. But as it now appears otherwise I desire you to loose no time in coming on;...
39John Adams to Charles Adams, 24 April 1796 (Adams Papers)
I have yours of the 22 d. M r Van Persyn I shall be glad to see whenever it Suits his convenience to come to Philadelphia. I can Say little of favourable Symptoms. The Waggon is fast in the Mire, up to the Axletree and unable to move forwards or backwards. Whether the People will draw us out or not, and Whether We shall advance or retreat I know not. The Passengers are unable to help...
40III. John Adams to Charles Adams, 22 January 1794 (Adams Papers)
As I wish to turn your Attention to those Political Questions which involve Points of the Law of Nature and Nations, and which have lately employed the Deliberations of the Executive Authority of our Government, I have turned to such Books as I have at hand, and made Extracts and References for your Use. And I wish you not only to read over carefully the Passages referred to, but to search the...
41John Adams to Charles Adams, 20 December 1794 (Adams Papers)
The inclosed Tryals of Muir, Margorot and Gerald, will afford you Entertainment and Information. as Nothing lays open the Spirit and Temper of the Times, better than the Criminal Proceedings in the Courts of Justice: I thought I could not send you a more acceptable Present. The great Question whether a Part of the People may So far assume the Powers of Government, already delegated by the...
42John Adams to Charles Adams, 17 February 1793 (Adams Papers)
I have not answered your favour of 31. of Jan. nor that which announced the Arrival of your Brother and Sister. was repeated by Cornelius De Wit on The Rack and in torture; as you may See in Cerisiers Tableau. I know not whether the Rack is to be borne or not; but I know, the most disgusting, Sickening, disheartening grieving, provoking, irritating Feeling of the soul, is excited, by the...
43John Adams to Charles Adams, 31 January 1795 (Adams Papers)
If C. as you Say in yours of the 29 th. must provide for his Family, I Suppose it will be easy for him to do it: because being not only a Republican but a Democrat by Profession, no doubt he is possessed of the most essential Ingredient in that Character, which is a Love of Poverty and equality. Two Acres of Land is more than an Equality, and as much as Cincinnatus owned, who was an...
44John Adams to Charles Adams, 23 November 1794 (Adams Papers)
Although you have not informed me, of the Result of your Examination at Albany, I shall venture to address this Letter to a Councillor at Law. You will see by your public Papers tomorrow The Address of the Senate to the President in Answer to his Speech, and his Reply. I wish to know the Sensations and Reflections, both of one Party and the other in New York upon both. I have Suffered Some...
45John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 15 September 1795 (Adams Papers)
The most recent intelligence we have from America is contained in your letter of June 30 & July 23. which arrived some days since, and gave me information unpleasant but not unexpected. I was convinced from a variety of reasons that all the engines of popular agitation would be played off against the ratification of the treaty signed by M r Jay, and I knew that some of its contents were such...
46John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 9 June 1796 (Adams Papers)
I returned here ten days ago from England and have this day received your letter of April 24. th: brought by M r: Rutgers. He is at Amsterdam, and when he comes this way it will give me much pleasure to see him. It gives me the most heartfelt satisfaction to be informed of the prosperous situation in which you are placed; of your present happiness, and future pleasing prospects, and you will...
47John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 4 November 1795 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of September 3 d. advising your having drawn the preceding day, bills on me in favour of Daniel Ludlow & C o: for ƒ7,500. at thirty days sight, was received by our Brother Thomas at the Hague on the first of this month, and forwarded by him to me, at this place, where it reached me the next day. The bills though mentioned by you as accompanying the Letter, were not presented for...
48John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 29 December 1796 (Adams Papers)
It is a long time since I have had the pleasure to receive any letter from you. I suppose you spend so much time in dandling your offspring that you have none left to think of Collaterals. But what makes me most impatient is that you do not send us even the Newspapers until they are six months old. Here have arrived since the beginning of the Summer twenty or thirty vessels from New York...
49John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 16 April 1795 (Adams Papers)
I have to thank you for your favour of Dec r: 1 st: sent me a few days since by M r Van Rensselaar. It is the first direct communication we have had from any part of our own family, since we left our Country, and it was an article which wanted no stimulus of scarcity to make it valuable. Your political information was very acceptable, and I hope you will not fail to continue it by every future...
50John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 17 May 1795 (Adams Papers)
I have to acknowledge the receipt of your favours dated Feb y 16. which M r: Wilcox sent me from Hamburg, and of March 10 th: which came in a Vessel arrived a day or two since at Amsterdam. The newspapers came with them, and proved a great entertainment to us. The Herald is a very excellent paper and I wish you by all means to continue sending it by every opportunity. But when you send them by...
51John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 24 November 1794 (Adams Papers)
I have already written you respecting the private business upon which I was commissioned by your father, and I enclose a duplicate of that Letter, to meet the case of miscarriage, that may happen to the original. But you will expect, and indeed are entitled to some more lines from me, though I have nothing interesting to say to you, except that we are well, and very anxious to hear the same...
52John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 10 May 1796 (Adams Papers)
Your favour of January 6 th: was received by our brother Thomas at the Hague, and by him forwarded a few days ago to me. He has been very ill during a great part of this last Winter; at first with an attack from his old Enemy the Rheumatism, and afterwards with a bilious intermittent fever, but by his last Letters he appears in a great measure to have recovered, and I hope by this time he has...
53John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 30 December 1795 (Adams Papers)
Your favour of 19 th: September was transmitted to me by our brother from the Hague about a fortnight since; I have answered already that of Sept r: 27. which I received on my first arrival here. You will find from one of my former Letters, that with a little balance of yours still to be accounted for by me, and with another little Commission which I have troubled you with your demand on me...
54John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 25 October 1796 (Adams Papers)
I have received your letter of September 7 th: with the account current, which as you observe, though not altogethe mercantile in point of form is fully intelligible and satisfactory. As I shall as soon as it is in my power authorise you to make another draught on my account, I shall remind you of two directions contained in my former letters and from which it is my wish that you will in no...
55John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 4 November 1795 (Adams Papers)
I received at this place by your letter of September 3 d: the pleasing intelligence of your marriage, and offer you my warmest congratulations, upon an event so important to your happiness, and thereby to that of your brother. In requesting you to make the assurance of my fraternal affection acceptable to my new Sister, I depend upon your intercession for her permission to add that sentiment...
56John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 6 July 1795 (Adams Papers)
I received some time since from M r: Rogers in London your bill upon me for £225 sterling, with a request to have the money remitted there. I have been obliged in consequence of the measures that have been taken in England, to prevent all payments from this Country, to procure a bill upon London from Hamburg, which I hope M r Rogers will receive within a week or ten days, from this. The...
57John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 20 November 1794 (Adams Papers)
Upon my leaving America, your Father gave me an order upon Mess rs W. & J Willink for five obligations on a Loan of the United States, for a thousand Guilders each, bearing an interest of five per cent. and upon which one years interest will be due, on the first of June next, which he directed me to hold in trust for your use, and subject to your orders. This instruction has been complied with...