401From John Adams to William Tudor, Jr., 28 April 1819 (Adams Papers)
In answer to your favour of the 25th. I must refer you to one of those letters—I wrote to your Father—in which I have given a particular account—of the trial of Michal Corbett and three other sailors—an accusation of Murder and Piracy on the high Seas—by killing Lieunt—Parton—of the British Frigate the Rose—before a special Court of Vice Admiralty—I have some where amongst my old manuscript...
402From John Adams to Ann Frances Bulkeley Humphreys, 28 April 1819 (Adams Papers)
Your letter of Yesterday reached me yesterday me last night— I cannot express in terms strong enough, my thanks to you for it— The Yankey in England—five hundred years hence will be more esteemed in this Country than all Chaucers Canterbury Tales—it is infinitely Superiour to Sherridons School for Scandall—such a mass of Wit and Character— I know not where to find—Wheather it is conformable to...
403To John Adams from George Blake, 29 April 1819 (Adams Papers)
Two Young Gentlemen, fellow Students at Princeton University, the One, Mr S. Clay of Kentucky, a near relative of Mr. Speaker Clay; and the other, Mr. Lee a member of a highly respectable family of Virginia, being here on their first visit to the Eastern States, & having expressed to me their desire of paying their respects to you before their return, I have taken the liberty to offer them...
404From John Adams to J. H. Tiffany, 30 April 1819 (Adams Papers)
Of Republicks the Varieties are infinite—or at least as numerous, as the tunes and changes, that can be rang upon a complete sett of Bells—Of all the Variety’s a Democracy is the most Natural—the most ancient and the most fundamental—and essential of all others— In some writing of mine or others of mine I happened currente calamo to drop the phrase “the word republic as it is used may...
405To John Adams from Dummer Sewall, 3 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
At the request of a number of my friends who feel a deep sense of obligations for the distinguished services you have performed for our country on the most important occations, I take the liberty to address you on the interesting subject of the contemplated division of the state of Massachusetts by forming the District of Maine into a seperate State. I the more cherfully comply with this...
406To John Adams from Samuel Adams Wells, 3 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
Mr Secretary Bradford has shown me a letter which you wrote him respecting the probable author of the pamphlet published by the Committee of Correspondence in 1772 and wherein you express an opinion that it was written by the “great James Otis.” Having recently been employed in collecting the materials for a biography of my late grandfather Samuel Adams in the course of my investigations, I...
407From John Adams to Thomas Goodsell, 4 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
Be pleased to accept my thanks—for an address from the Agricultural Society of the County of Oneida by Alexander Coventry Esqr.— Tho I have not the honour, of knowing, or being known—either to yourself or Mr Coventry I have not the less obligation to both for this favour—I have been more amused with this Address than with any I have ever read upon such occasions—it has laid open sources of...
408From John Adams to Robert Walsh, Jr., 5 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
For every Man of Letters and reputation is dear to me—altho an entire stranger in Person—your name and writings have not been unknown to me—for several years— your favour of April 27th. does me honour—your Prospectous of Avindiciæ Americanæ is not only Comprehensive but vast and requires talents information and application equal to yours—I heartly wish you success in the execution of it....
409From John Adams to Samuel Adams Wells, 7 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
Your letter of the 3d. has distressed me—It will compel me to disclose truths which will be disagreeable to you—and very unpleasant to me— Your ardour in support of the honour of your Grand Father—has my Cordial appropriation—we know where to find the precept—Honour thy Father, and Mother, and we know it has been approved by all Ages and Nations—Civil, and Savage, till french philosophers...
410From John Adams to Hezekiah Niles, 9 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
In one of your letters—you ask me whether I can give you the names of the Mohawk’s who were concerned in the Noyade of the ten in Boston Harbour I now tell you in the truth and upon honor—that I know not and never knew the names of any one of them during the week of that transaction— I was employed in the discharge of my duty as a Barrister at Law in the Court of Judicature—in the Town and...
411To John Adams from François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 10 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
Although my health is very indifferent, and my eyes soo weak and dim, that within a fortnight, I could Scarce affect any thing, either by labour or in writing—yet I must indulge the gratification of thanking you, for the few affectionate lines with which your kindness favoured me with. My Physician Says—all will be Soon well—the chief remedies are—abstinentia et quiete.Was your life less...
412From John Adams to Benjamin Russell, 10 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
I have very particular reasons for requesting of you a favor— it is that you would inform me—where I can find a Copy of three little Essays printed in your Centinal and written by my Son John Quincy Adams—in the years 1791 1792 93—under what Signature I am not able to recollect—but reccommending to the Government of the United States a System of Neutrality—these little Essays—if I do not...
413From John Adams to Dummer Sewall, 12 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
I have your favour of the 3d of May your Name has been familiar to me for fifty or Sixty years, the Names of Dumor and Sewal are amongst the most respectable in the Lexicography of New England—whether you are an Elder Brother or a Cousin of my friend David of York, I know not— Main has cost me two many anxious nights and laborious days to save it from the all grasping gripe of Great Britain—to...
414To John Adams from J. H. Tiffany, 14 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
Your kind wishes for my success secure my grateful thanks. If I rightly understand the expression “that in your investigations you have had no profit & very little, if any success”, it takes from me all hopes—Who dares attempt, if you had failed! I communicate to you chearfully, those Sentiments of Mr Jefferson alluded to in your last.—He esteems a democracy the only pure Republic,...
415To John Adams from Thomas Jefferson, 15 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
your letter of Apr. 2. was recieved in due time, and I have used the permission it gave me of sending a copy of that of Mar. 2. to the editor of Tracy’s Political economy. Mr. S. A. Wells of Boston, grandson of our old friend Saml. Adams, and who proposes to write the life of his grandfather, has made some enquiries of me relative to revolutionary antiquities which are within your knolege as...
416To John Adams from Hezekiah Niles, 18 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
I have your letter of the 10th in reply to mine requesting the names of those who distroyed the tea in Boston harbor, & regret to believe from it that a record of them is lost, as I cannot now see any possible object of concealing them. But I am not a lawyer, & perhaps even yet, if surviving, they might be made liable for the offence! The last or 15th vol. of the Register was delayed on...
417From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 20 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
I see by your favour of May 10th that we must all grow Old—but you have not yet experienced one tenth part of the Infirmitys of Old Age—I am very glad your Physician promises you, that all will be well In your Researches do you find any Evidence of Persecutions of Quakers Anabaptists Witches or any–other Sectary’s amongst your Primitive Dutch Settle’rs in New–york—or amongst the cortier...
418From John Adams to Rev. Greenwood, 21 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
Inclosed are two letters—one to Mr Jefferson—which I pray you to present to them with my the affectionate Respects / of your humble Servant MHi : Adams Family Papers, Letterbooks.
419From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 21 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
All the Literary Gentlemen of this part of the Country have an Ambitious Curiosity to see the Philosopher and Statesmen of Monticello—and they all apply to me for Introductions— and if I had ever received one introduction from you, I should have less scruple of Conscience in granting their requests—in the Stile of our New-England—the Reverend Mr Greenwood the Successor of Mr Thatcher and Dr...
420From John Adams to Robert Walsh, Jr., 25 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
For every Man of letters and reputation is dear to me—altho an entire Stranger in Person—your Name and writings have not been unknown to me for Serveral years— Your favour of April 27th does me honour—your prospectus of Avindiciæ Americaniæ—is not only Comprehensive but Vast and requires talents information and application equal to yours—I heartly wish you Success in the execution of it.—...
421From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 27 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
I have transmitted you a letter to Samuel Adams Welles Esqr. in Boston as you desire This gentleman is a singular character he is I believe the only surviving male of his Grandfather the late govenor of Massachusetts Samuel Adams who never had but two children a son and a daughter; his son who bore his name died early a surgeon in the army of the Revolution—without issue; his daughter married...
422From John Adams to Benjamin Russell, 29 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
I thank you Sir for your kind letter of the 17th and am much obliged by your attention to my request’s—I now remember that the three Essays—were signed Marcellus and I well know they were written by John Quincy Adams—and I know that posterity will deem them—documents of importance—in the History of the United States of America—if you or my friend Mr Shaw will procure them to be copied for me...
423From John Adams to Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, 1 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
accept my thanks for your polite Invitation, to your Anniversary Dinner at Faneuil Hall on the 7th. of this Month—nothing would give me greater pleasure than to meet a Society which I have held in veneration from my earliest youth, and to whom I Attribute—in a great Degree that Valour Military Skill Science and discipline which has contributed much to the present and prosperity and glory of...
424From John Adams to J. H. Tiffany, 1 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
you are engaged in an inquiry which I think the most important—which can occupy the human mind next to the first Philosophy— I wish I could attend you to the end of your Career but as age forbids it—I can only furnish you with such feeble helps as were the productions of former years I have sent you the first Volume of the “the Defence & which I again pray you to return—as I cannot replace it—...
425To John Adams from J. H. Tiffany, 1 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
I acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 24 ult. & of the Volume—which will be punctually returned when read. I have progressed about 100 pages in it, & it will be some days before it is finished, as I make extracts & shall be occasionally interrupted—The writers of the “Federalist” may have been materially aided by your labour which preceeded that production, & which, I perceive, tend...
426To John Adams from Robert J. Evans, 3 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Profoundly impressed with the conviction, that the time has arrived when some plan should be adopted for the eventual total extirpation of Slavery from the United States; I am endeavouring through the medium of the National Intelligencer, under the assumed signature of “Benjamin Rush,” to call the attention of the American People to the subject. Knowing your devotedness to the best interests...
427From John Adams to Robert J. Evans, 8 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
I respect the Sentiments and motives which have prompted you to engage in your present occupation so much that I feel an Esteem and affection for your person, as I do a Veneration for your assumed Signature of Benjamin Rush—the terpitude the inhumanity the Cruelty and the Infamy of the Affrican Commerce in Slaves have been so impressively represented to the publick—by the Highest powers of...
428To John Adams from William Plumer, 8 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Permit me to present you with a copy of my valedictory Address to the legislature of New Hampshire; and to assure you that I am with much respect and esteem / Sir, / Your obedient servant MHi : Adams Papers.
429From John Adams to J. H. Tiffany, 9 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Please to accept the third Voloum of the “Defence” the first you will please to return when you have made all the use of it you wish for—the second I hope you have received—a fourth I may here–after lend you on the same condition I have the first —As you are the only Man now living who studies the Science of Government as far as I know—I should be willing if I had many days to live—to become...
430To John Adams from François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 9 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
As I know not where mrs de Wint resides—I must address my Lett to your care—I could not indulge my Self of adopting this ignorance for an apology in not writing—as I have been So peculiarly gratified by their kind and courteous present of Verplank’s Oration—which I had not yet Seen—except in the Rev. of the N. Amer. It proves indeed that I am not forgotten, and that the Spirt of the Grand...
431To John Adams from John Farmer, 12 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Permit an humble individual to present you a memoir of one of the ancient towns of Massachusetts, which claims some affinity with Braintree, as it derived from thence some of its early and most respectable inhabitants. The Brackett and Tompson families might be mentioned among those which emigrated from Braintree, some of whose descendants were persons of influence & wealth. Both families have...
432To John Adams from Robert J. Evans, 14 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Be pleased to accept my thanks for your valuable letter. The important observations contained in it, I intend to incorporate in a future communication to the Editors of the National Intelligencer— If any thing further should occur to you as a subject equally important with any that can engage the serious attention of this Nation it would be esteemed a great favour, if you would indulge me with...
433To John Adams from J. H. Tiffany, 14 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
The 2d. & 3d. Vols. of the “Defence” with the accompanying notes are duly recieved. Deeply Sensible to those considerations which accompany presents of such distinguished intrinsic worth, bestowed with so impressive manner, the acknowledgement of my gratitude & great respects seems but a poor and inadequate return. In truth, when I pre view thes e pages, & reflect upon the thoughts & deeds of...
434From John Adams to William Plumer, 16 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your favour of the 8th and for your Valedictory Address—I have read it with pleasure it appears to be an honest account of his Stewardship by a faithful Steward to his Master—I have but one remark to make upon it and that is relative to the subject of Pardons in this important Article I have sometimes considered myself at Liberty to revise and to question the propriety of the...
435From John Adams to Samuel Adams Wells, 19 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
I return you the papers relative to the Gaspee—I long to see them in print you ought to publish them in the first News paper they are among the most Significant Documents of the Revolution—I inclose you also a letter to the President—I wish I could see you every day—for a multitude of thoughts occour to me which I cannot write— I am Sir with Esteem and affection your friend my letter to your...
436From John Adams to James Monroe, 19 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
For the last twenty years I have made it a rule to interfere as little as possible with public affairs. but an occation now presents in which I think it my duty to make a frank, a Candid, a Submissive representation to you—if the Treaty with Spain returns ratifyed there will be commissioners appointed to adjust the claims for Spoilations on our Commerce—there is a Gentleman who I recommend to...
437From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 22 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
May I inclose you one of the greatest curiositys and one of the deepest Mysterys that ever occoured to me—It is in the Essex Register of June the 5th. 1819.—it is entitled from the Raleigh Register Declaration of Independence—How is it possible that this paper should have been concealed from me to this day—had it been communicated to me in the time of it—I know, if you do not know that it...
438From John Adams to Peter Stephen Duponceau, 23 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Moriturus te Salutat! this pathetick Saluation I am sure will engage your humanity to pardon a question which I acknowledge to be impertinent and might be Offensive from any-other than a dying Man— Have you examined Bryants Annalysis of Ancient Mythology Court De Gebelin’s Monde Primitif—in nine ponderous Volum’s—and Dupuis’s Culte Universal—the two former of these appear to be Christian...
439From John Adams to J. H. Tiffany, 23 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favour of the 14th.—as Religion and Government and the Literature and the Sciences Subservient to them are the only objects worth the Study of a wise Man—I love every sincere enquirer after truth relative to either of these Subjects— I cearch for principles petits fontes nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri jurare in verba magistri—is the only precept that can guid us...
440From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 23 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Pray tell me how you apply the sublimate murcury for the cure external’y and internally of weak weeping inflamatory and dim sighted Eye—I am interested in this inquiry—have you seen duponceau and Heckevelder on the Indians—which is the worst! the Revenge of Indians or the inquisition? I admire your maxim Nil Peractum do nec aliquid peragendum—but I have scarcely written eleven hundred words,...
441From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 24 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Pray tell me how you apply the sublimate Murcury for the cure of externally and internally of weak weeping inflammatory and dim sighted Eyes—I am very much interested in this inquiry— Have you seen Duponceau and Heckevelder on the Indians—which is the worst! The Revenge of Indians or the Inquisition—I admire your maxim—Nil peractum donec aliquid peragendum—but I have scarcely written eleven...
442To John Adams from Jeremiah Greenleaf, 24 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Whatever has a tendency to facilitate Science, or to diffuse usefull knowledge, is generally considered by the learned and wise worthy to merit their approbation. With this impression I have presumed to transmit you a new System of English Grammar— of which I am the Author, designed for the use of Schools in the United States, to facilitate the progress of youth, and to abridge their...
443From John Adams to John Farmer, 25 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your favour of the 12th but I have not received the memoir. The Brackets and Thompsons were amongst the earlier settellers of Mount Walliston—out of which the town of Braintree was fabracated Tompson after Wheelright was one of the first ministers, but his name is here extinct—the Brackets are still numerous and wealthy; that either of those families Emigrated to Billerica I...
444From John Adams to John Farmer, 26 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your favour of the 12th. but I have not received the memoir.— The Brackets and Tompsons were among the early Settlers of Mount-Waliston out of which the Town of Braintree was fabracated. Tompson, after Wheelright, was one of the first Ministers, but his name is extinct—the Brackettss are still mumerous and wealthy—that either of those families Emigrated to Billerica I know...
445To John Adams from Alexander Anderson, 28 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Without the claims of an acquaintance, I take the liberty of presenting you a Copy of the Oration I had the honor to deliver, in this place, on the last Anniversary of our Independence. Be pleased, Sir, to accept it, as a mark of the high respect I entertain for your Character And your distinguished Services to our Republic. I regret I have not had the opportunity of knowing you personally,...
446To John Adams from Peter Stephen Duponceau, 28 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
I feel exceedingly honored as well as gratified by your kind notice of my humble labours. Your Letter, which I shall preserve with Care, will be a proud Testimony to my descendents, that their Ancestor enjoyed the esteem of one of the most illustrious among the illustrious founders of this great Empire. I have not read either Bryant’s Analysis nor Dupuis’ Culte Universal, but Shall read them...
447To John Adams from John Manners, 30 June 1819 (Adams Papers)
Although I have not the honour of a personal acquaintance with you, yet from the knowledge I have of your character, I trust you will pardon the liberty I have taken in consulting you on an important subject of our national jurisprudence. For in difficult subjects of this nature to whom shall we look, with so much propriety for instruction, as to the author of the Defence of the American...
448To John Adams from Sylvester T. Goss, 3 July 1819 (Adams Papers)
I take the liberty to forward to you, six copies of Novanglus, &c. as a small token of the respect which I entertain for your exalted character, and of the gratitude, which I feel for your condescension, in furnishing such invaluable materials for this publication. That you may continue many years, in health and prosperity, to behold the rising glory, and receive the grateful approbation of...
449From John Adams to Peter Stephen Duponceau, 5 July 1819 (Adams Papers)
Your favour of 28th. June has given me more pleasure than you can imagin; I am delighted to find a Gentleman in America who ever knew Court my friend Court, he was introduced to me in 1778 and I continued to enjoy his friendship till his death, he has mentioned me more than once in his Works, he was a kind of Walking Alexandrian Library And as modest amiable and unassuming as he was learned—if...
450From John Adams to Jeremiah Greenleaf, 5 July 1819 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favour of June 24th. but not your “New System of English Grammar”—I therefore cannot make any remarks upon it—the title promises well, every effort to felicitate Education deserves encouragement I therefore wish you abundant success—and am your / most humble and obidient Servant MHi : Adams Family Papers, Letterbooks.