To John Adams from Jabez Bowen, 16 June 1789
From Jabez Bowen
Providence June 16. 1789
Sir,
I Returned yesterday from attending the Genl Assembly, the great matters on which the ins. & outs differ were bro’t on. we lost the Convention by 11 Votes. The Repeal of the Tender by 9. on the whole we gain a little. but our progress is so slow that we shall never arive at our wish’d for point except something like Mr Bensons motion in Congress, could be obtained.1 it was usual for us to adjorn ’till August, but no such motion was made. consiquently the Assembly will not meet ’till October (except calld by Warrant.) in August the Lower house are Re:chosen. we shall do our utmost to make a Change to our wishes, but have no great prospects. The oposition which consists of the Debtors, with the midling & Lower Classes of Farmers continue firm in their oposition. and I am afraid will so Continue Their Leaders keep up a Correspondence with some of the Antifederal Members of Congress by which they are encouraged to stand out. our situation is Difficult & verry disagreable and what further steps to take we know not. wish for your advice & assistance. I think it was a great oversight in not putting the old Impost Bill in motion the first moment Congress was organized, in that case no time would have been lost, and every one would have been fully heard with patience.2
From the forme of the Address used by The House of Representatives of the U. States to the President, one would think that the House was composed of a Majority of Quakers, and should we have no occasion to Talk to any Bodys of Men in the old World, we might make out pretty well. but when the Respectable Republicks of America determin that no Title shall be affixed to their Head, it will be looked upon as a piece of Singularity & oddity. I hear President Manning is just arived shall call on him before I Close this as I dont mean to be troublesome by the frequency of my Letters.3 By him I learn that no plan seems to be agreed on, that on the whole we must be endur’d with that most Excellent Virtue Charity Patience; and let Time bring us to that period that shall deliver us out of the hands of unjust men.
Continue to be mindful of us, and Believe me to be with the greatest Esteeme Your Excellency’ Most Obedient Servant
Jabez Bowen
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Governor Bowen / July June 16. ansd 26. / 1789.”
1. The Rhode Island legislature met from 8 to 13 June. It passed an embargo on grain and approved exemptions to that act in cases of hardship, but the proposal to repeal the state’s tender act lost by seven votes. An impost bill that called for a 30 percent tax on all imports was referred to the next session. More significantly, the proposal for another ratification convention failed. New York representative Egbert Benson introduced a congressional resolution on 1 June recommending that the Rhode Island legislature call for a convention. The House considered the motion on 5 June but, led by Virginia representative Alexander White, decided against it (Records of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, ed. John Russell Bartlett, 10 vols., 1856–1865, 10:332, 334–335; Newport Herald, 18 June; , 9:339; , 25:527, 531).
2. In 1781 the Continental Congress approved a 5 percent tax on all imports despite the refusal of delegates from Rhode Island to support the motion. By 1786 Rhode Island was in favor of a federal impost, but New York defeated it (vol. 14:139, 140; , p. 242).
3. Rev. James Manning (1738–1791), Princeton 1762, served as Rhode Island’s delegate to the Continental Congress in 1786 and was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Providence, R.I., from 1771 to 1791. An ardent Federalist, he attended the Massachusetts ratification convention, and, in Aug. 1789, he chaired the committee that drafted Providence residents’ petition to Congress seeking exemption from foreign duties (, 7:1532; 24:42, 314–315).