1To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 12 November 1822 (Adams Papers)
I take pleasure in introducing to your acquaintance the Revd. Mr Barber, who has been some years attached to the Catholic Seminary at this place and to the College at Georgetown, and is now going to reside at Claremont in New Hampshire. In passing through Boston he proposes to pay you a visit, from which I am persuaded you will derive equal satisfaction with him. I am, Dear Sir, your faithful...
2To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 24 September 1822 (Adams Papers)
You have been made acquainted with the controversy in which I have been for some Months engaged in relation to transactions at the Negotiation of Ghent. As the subject is one in which the defence of my own character and that of two of my Colleagues was inseparably connected with principles of deep concernment to this Union, I have thought it necessary to collect in one publication the papers...
3To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 9 February 1825 (Adams Papers)
The enclosed note from Mr King, will inform you of the Event of this day, upon which I can only offer you , my congratulations, and ask your blessing and prayers. Your affectionate and dutiful Son P.S. Have the goodness to cause the Note from Mr King, to be sent back to me. MHi : Adams Papers.
4From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 28 March 1822 (Adams Papers)
It has given me great satisfaction to learn that a part has be assigned to you to perform at the exhibition, fixed for the 30th. of April—and should be well pleased if it if it were in my power to be present at the performance—But as that will not be practicable, I wish you to let me know what dialogue it is that you are to speak—I feel also some anxiety for your performance, and quite...
5From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 19 January 1818 (Adams Papers)
I received with much pleasure you new year’s Letter, with the copy of the Lamp–lighter’s address, and the hint from the fount of the Centinal about a Present; which your uncle Thomas will tell you I have not forgotten. Your Parents were very highly gratified with what Mr Gould gave you leave to write to me concerning your promotion to the second Class, in which you will no doubt take care to...
6To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 24 June 1824 (Adams Papers)
In pursuance of a joint Resolution, of the two Houses of Congress, a copy of which is hereto annexed, and by direction of the President of the United States, I have the honour of transmitting two fac simile copies of the original Declaration of Independence, engrossed on parchment, conformably to a secret Resolution of Congress 19 July 1776, to be signed by every member of Congress, and...
7To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 14 February 1819 (Adams Papers)
I have received you kind Letter of the 3d: instant, full of good counsel, of which I hope at the proper time to make a suitable improvement. It is a great satisfaction to me, that my Son George has mentioned your approbation, and made himself in any manner useful to you during the vacation at the University. My affection for him induces me to hope that his time has been spent most...
8To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 15 June 1818 (Adams Papers)
If your Letter of 20. May were the only one from you upon my files yet unanswered, every look at its date would give me a pang of self-reproach—How then shall I acknowledge at the same time the receipt of those of 31. Decbr. and of 2. 8. 13. 29. January, and apologize for not having replied to them sooner—During the Session of Congress, your indulgence would readily account for my...
9From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 12 December 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have written to my brother this day, informing him that I have consented that you and Charles should leave Cambridge, for your journey hither on the 23d. of this month, and requesting him to furnish each of you with 80 dollars, for the expenses of your Journey; an account of which expenses you will each of you keep to be exhibited to me. Take good care of yourselves on the road—We shall all...
10To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 17 July 1819 (Adams Papers)
I take great pleasure in introducing to your acquaintance, Mr. David Hoffman, a distinguished Member of the Bar at Baltimore, who makes with his Lady a Summer excursion to our Section of the Union and will deliver you this Letter. I am dear Sir ever faithfully your Son MHi : Adams Family Papers, Letterbooks.
11To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 10 January 1826 (Adams Papers)
The enclosed papers numbered 1. and 2. are copies 1 Of a Letter from Mr Bassett, Chairman of a Committee of the House of Representatives of the United States to me. 2 Of a Letter from Mr G. W. P. Custis to him, enclosed by him in his own Letter to me, and referred to in it. I am to request you to have the goodness to state, whether your recollection coincides with that of Mr Custis, with...
12To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 30 June 1818 (Adams Papers)
Mr G. W. Campbell is going out as Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States to the Court of Russia. He is to embark at Boston in the frigate Guerriére, and I hope will find an opportunity to go out and see you, with Mrs Campbell, and their family at Quincy—You and my dear Mother will I am well assured take the more satisfaction in seeing them with the...
13From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 18 September 1826 (Adams Papers)
I hereby authorise John Adams in my name and behalf to make proposals for renewing the Insurance, at the Massachusetts Mutual Fire Insurance Company, at the expiration of my Policies No 3592. and 3593. MHi : Adams Family Papers, Letterbooks.
14To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 25 April 1824 (Adams Papers)
I take great pleasure in presenting to you the bearer of this letter, Mr Juli u s de Wallenstein, a Secretary of the legation of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia—He visits Boston & other parts of our Country for the improvement of his health, & with purposes of enlightened curiosity. Upon the most transient conversation with him, no testimonial will be needed to mark him in your estimation as...
15To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 9 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
The three papers written by me, recommending the system of neutrality , as the duty and policy of the United States, were published, with the signature of Marcellus , in the Boston Centinel, in the Month of April 1793.—President Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality was issued the 22d. of that Month. Marcellus was republished in some newspaper at New–York, and perhaps at Philadelphia; but...
16To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 22 May 1821 (Adams Papers)
I have been highly gratified in recieving your kind Letter of the 10th. instant.—I hope you will not attribute the infrequency of my Letters to you, to any other than its true cause. The Revd. Mr. Little will deliver you this Letter. He is the Pastor of a small flock of Unitarian Christians, who are gathering in this City, and who need some assistance to enable them to erect a place of Worship...
17From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 29 May 1823 (Adams Papers)
I have received your two Letters; and have since then also received a Letter from President Kirkland, containing a Statement of the reasons of your dismission from the University—I have delayed answering your Letters, in the hope, that you might obtain permission to return after the vacation, and receive your degree, without degradation—I have written to President Kirkland, and hope to hear...
18To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 26 December 1817 (Adams Papers)
I enclose you a Post-Note upon the Branch Bank of the United States at Boston, for Nine hundred and one dollars, and ninety–five Cents, being the amount of the dividend of five per Cent upon the debt proved under the Commission of Bankruptcy of Robert Bird and Co at New-York—I will thank you for a line acknowledging the receipt of this, and remain, Dear Sir / ever affectionately yours CSmH .
19To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 2 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
By a Letter from my Son John, I have this day been apprized, of that afflictive dispensation of Providence which has bereft you of the partner of your life; me of the tenderest and most affectionate of Mothers, and our species, of one whose existence was Virtue, and whose life was a perpetual demonstration of the moral excellence of which human nature is susceptible—How shall I offer you...
20From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 6 May 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received your two Letters of 5 and 22. April—with much pleasure; and it would have been with more, had not the hopes which I had formed from your success at the last term, been somewhat damped by certain accounts which have reached me, of a less favourable character—It has given me great pain to learn that you have in the course of the present term exposed yourself to the censure of the...
21From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1823 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 15th. instt. which informed me of the part assigned to you at the next exhibition has given me great satisfaction; and I now indulge the hope that your performance of it, will be still more creditable to you than the assignment. The question will afford full scope for all your abilities, and as I believe the affirmative to be the right side, you will have no lack of argument...
22From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 30 January 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received from President Kirkland, his answer to my enquires respecting your standing as a Scholar in your Class, and it confirms the Statement made by yourself—Your number upon the general scale, at the close of the last term was 24—In the course of one half year, you had risen from 45. This result has opened my heart to the cheering hope, that you will yet redeem a standing worthy of...
23From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 17 November 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have received three Letters from you since I have been here, all grumbling Letters; and all very badly written—The first was of the 16th: the second of the 17th: of September, and the last of the 27th: of October—This last I disapprove of the most; and request you to write me no more such Letters—You conclude it by saying that you hope I will forgive any thing rash in my Son; but I shall do...
24From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 25 May 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the 16th. instt. and have given deliberate attention to its contents—I listen with pleasure to all the circumstances that you allege in indication of yourself; and shall doubly rejoice to learn at midsummer, that your expectations are confirmed, by the standing which you will then have attained—If you should not be lower than 12. it will be apparent that my...
25To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 30 August 1824 (Adams Papers)
I take much satisfaction in presenting to you, the Bearer of this Letter, the Count de Medem, recently arrived, from St. Petersburg, and attached to the Legation of His Majesty the Emperor of Russia, in this Country—On his visit to Boston, it affords me pleasure to have the opportunity of making him personally known to you.— I hope to have in a few days the satisfaction of presenting myself...
26From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 17 January 1822 (Adams Papers)
The proposal contained in your Letter of the 12th. instt. does equal honour to your head and to your heart—It shall be carried into effect; but I shall take upon myself a suitable portion of the expense necessary to that purpose—I shall immediately write to your uncle concerning it. The sum received for the Claim given you by your Grandfather, was three hundred and seventy dollars and forty...
27To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 24 November 1817 (Adams Papers)
I have to answer two Letters from you—one of 28 October, and the other of 13. November—Tant va la Cruche à l’eau qu’à la fin elle se casse, was an old french proverb, long before Washington’s Mother was born. Tant va la Cruche a l’eau qu’à la fin elle s’emplit is the variation of Beaumarchais’s Basila in the Marriage of Figaro—But whether the pitcher is filled or whether it is broken it was...
28To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 23 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have duly received your Letter of the 10th. instant, and take great consolation in learning from yourself, as I had already, and have since again heard from others, that your characteristic fortitude has firmly stood the test of that greatest of bereavements, with which it has pleased heaven that you should now be afflicted Mr Colman of Hingham was here a few days, and upon my shewing him...
29To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 7 November 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have forwarded to you a Copy of the Additional Census of Alabama, in virtue of an Act of Congress of the 7th. of March last; the receipt of which you will be pleased to acknowledge. I have the honour to be, very respectfully, / Sir, / Your obedt: & very hu. Servt. MHi : Adams Papers.
30To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 31 October 1823 (Adams Papers)
I was desirous of offering you some token of my dutiful Affection, upon yesterday’s anniversary; and having as you know occasionally wasted an hour of leisure, upon the cultivation of Poetry I attempted the performance of my intention in verse—I soon found that the theme called for the Voice of a more favoured wooer of the Muse than I have ever been, or can ever hope to be—and after writing...
31To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 5 October 1817 (Adams Papers)
Yesterday your kind Letter of 29 September came to hand I thank you for your Congratulations upon my arrival here—My Wife and our family relations at this place are well. I was happy to meet the President here, but had the pleasure of seeing him only once before he departed for his Seat in Virginia. I am breaking in to the business of my Office. I find it even now as burdensome as I had...
32From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 23 November 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have had some time on hand your Letter of the 4th. instt. and although it would have given me great satisfaction to have known that you were continuing to rise as constantly and steadily in the scale of your Class, as you had risen rapidly in the course of the last year, yet I should much rather see you again descending as low as you had ever been, than that you should rise upon no better...
33To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 14 December 1818 (Adams Papers)
I have been delighted in receiving your Letter of the 7th: instant, and am glad that you have seen Trumbull’s picture of Independence—I rejoice that the Picture has been painted—As a collection of likenesses taken from the life, of the founders of the greatest Nation, this Ball of Earth has seen or will see, which ours will certainly be, it has merit—As the Representation of the sublimest...
34From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 26 September 1822 (Adams Papers)
Upon your return to Cambridge at the beginning of your Senior year, I wish to remind you of your father’s hopes and wishes by a word of encouragement and advice—Although upon the half-yearly list in June last your standing in your Class was not so high as you had expected, and I had flattered myself it would be, yet the testimonial of President Kirkland, both with regard to your conduct, and...
35To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 21 December 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your Letters of 21 and 26 Novr. and of the 8th: instant have been received—Of Mr Mason the bearer of the first, I have seen much less than I could have wished; and of Mr Barrell who brought the second a little more; for coming not only with your Recommendation, but with a volume of others all highly respectable, he pushed his importunity to such an excess, that I lost my temper with him, for...
36To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 23 April 1822 (Adams Papers)
I send you the enclosed pamphlet, at the request of Mr John Williams, a native of North Carolina, now a member of the Senate of the United States from the State of Tennessee— I am ever faithfully and affectionately, your Son MHi : Adams Papers.
37From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 16 December 1821 (Adams Papers)
I have received with much pleasure your Letter of the 9th: instt. and hasten to answer it, that I may assign to you the reasons which deprive me of the satisfaction of complying with your request to come and pass the approaching winter vacation with us— When on taking leave of you at Cambridge at the Commencement of the term, I directed you to pass the Winder vacation at Quincy, for which I...
38To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 24 June 1820 (Adams Papers)
I have requested Mr. Edward Cruft to pay you on my account two hundred and fifty dollars on the first of July and the same sum quarter yearly from that day. I am Dear Sir your affectionate and dutiful Son. MHi : Adams Family Papers, Letterbooks.
39From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 2 November 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your Letter of the 28th. of last Month, has this day brought me the most distressing intelligence that I ever received; yet my dear John, if there was any thing that could soften its bitterness, it was that it should first come from a beloved and affectionate hand—Such it was coming from yours, and I thank you, for the kind and filial attention with which you immediately communicated the...
40From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 4 February 1822 (Adams Papers)
I hasten to assure you that I have never been displeased with you for not writing to me more frequently than you have done, though your Letters always give me pleasure. It is true you have frequently left open for my perusal your Letters to your mother and brother, and I have always received gratification from the indulgence. Yet I am not desirous of restraining in the slightest degree the...
41From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 13 October 1823 (Adams Papers)
A man encumbered with my indispensable duties and occupations must have some apology for the allowance even of a few hours to the composition of Poetry—After perusing the three new Cantos of Don Juan, which you lent me, on board the Steam-boat, on our late journey, it occurred to me to make the experiment of writing a few Stanza’s in the same measure, with a view to ascertain whether it was a...
42From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 26 October 1822 (Adams Papers)
I have received your Letter of the12th. instt. In the Letter to which it was the answer, it was not my intention either to grieve you, or to threaten you with the loss of your visit to Washington, during the next vacation—It was only to encourage you by the success of your former exertions and to exhort you, by my own anxious wish for your own credit and reputation, to persevering and...
43To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 23 September 1819 (Adams Papers)
Know all Men by those Presents, that I John Quincy Adams, of Boston in the County of Suffolk, Esquire, am holden and stand firmly bound and obliged unto John Adams of Quincy in the County of Norfolk, Esquire, my honoured father, in the full and just sum of ten thousand Dollars, to be paid unto the said John Adams, his Executors, Administrators or Assigns; to the which payment, well and truly...
44To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 31 March 1817 (Adams Papers)
As the Season of business and of gaity in London, advances, we have found from the experience of the last year, a sort of necessity to be for some time nearer its centre than our residence at Little-Boston; and as a mezzo termine between a complete removal, and an inflexible adherence to the country, we have taken Apartments in Town by the week without altogether abandoning our rural...
45To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 19 July 1820 (Adams Papers)
Your Subscription for the National Intelligencer is stopped, and the enclosed receipt is in full to this day $29..12.1/2 I wrote to Mr Cruft on the 24th. of last month requesting him to pay you on my account 250 dollars the first of this Month and quarterly afterwards. I wrote also at the same time to you, to give you notice of that arrangement. Not having heard from him or you on the subject,...
46From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 10 May 1818 (Adams Papers)
Your dear Mother has this day received your Letter of the 3d: instant, which gave us both much pleasure; for various reasons—First because it gave us the gratifying intelligence of what you call Charles’s promotion—Secondly because it is a proof of your brotherly kindness to him, that you take the opportunity of writing to let us know of his success, which you know we have as well as your own...
47From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 17 July 1820 (Adams Papers)
We were a long time without hearing from your brother George or you, at all, and when at last we did hear it was with pain that you had been unwell, though happily mingled with the comfort of learning that your health was restored. My own occupations deprive me of the satisfaction of writing to you so often as I would, but you have other Correspondents here who have more leisure to be...
48To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 22 April 1823 (Adams Papers)
Mr De Bresson, a Secretary to the French Legation at this place, and his Lady who is a daughter of Mr Thompson the Secretary of the Navy, are going upon a Short visit to Boston; occasioned by the approaching departure of our old acquaintance and relative of Mr de Valnais. Mr de Bresson is desirous upon this occasion of paying his respects personally to you, and I take great pleasure in...
49To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 24 May 1819 (Adams Papers)
I answer without delay your Letter of the 18th: instt. concerning Mrs. Clark—My wife has already written you very particularly the Circumstances in which she was left by the death of her husband—There is no provision made by the Public, for widows of the Officers who have died since the Peace—There is I believe no prospect of her having any more family. We invited her to come and spend some...