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I Received the Letters, with which you were pleased to favor me per Mr. Fessenden on Saturday last being the 18th Instant, at a Critical Time for the Army posted at Cambridge. The Evening preceeding Orders were Issued in Consequence of a Consultation between the General Officers and Committee of Safety to take possession of Dorchester Hill and Bunkers hill in Charlestown which I must confess...
Since I wrote You from New York, I have spent most of my Time in endeavouring to get Information of the true State of Things in the eastern Colonies. With Respect to the Levies for New York and the northern Department they are nearly compleated. I have wrote to the president giving an Account of them and proposing an order of Congress for reinforcing the Army at New York with one of the...
Watertown, 11 November 1775. (Misc. Papers of the Continental Congress, Reel No. 8). Although the credentials as passed by the house bear the date 10 November, the Journal of the House of Representatives Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts [1715- ], Boston, reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1919- . (For the years for which reprints are not yet available,...
We are informed by his Excellency General Washington, that it is his opinion, the paying our Troops, by the Lunar Month, will throw the rest of the Army into disorder, as the Continental Congress have resolved, that it is the Kalender Month they mean to pay by; and that the difference between the two, must be consider’d as a Colonial, and not a Continental Charge. We are sensible, it is...
Virginia, 16 December 1774. LbC ( MHi :Donations to Sufferers by the Boston Port Bill, p. 66); addressed: “To Sam & Jno. Adams Esqrs at Boston”; signed: “John Tabb, of Amelia Ro Bolling, Jno. Bannister Dinwiddie.” This letter was addressed to the two Adamses because the writers knew of no particular committee to which the donation could be sent. The donation was described as “a small...
At the same time that we think Ourselves obliged to acknowledge the vigilance and care of our Delegates to the defence of our Colony, and the attention of the Congress to an impartial defence of every part of the united Colonies, in the late provision made for the Massachusetts Bay, their Resolve for adding three more Battalions to those left for the defence of it; we conceive it necessary to...
Whereas John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, and Elbridge Gerry Esqrs. have been chosen by joint Ballot of the two houses of Assembly to represent the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New England in the American Congress untill the first day of January A.D. 1777— Resolved that they or any one or more of them are hereby fully impowered, with the delegates from the other...
I have been fully employed since Thursday Noon in obtaining some Knowledge of the State of the Army and conferring with the different Corps of Officers from the General to the Field officers, and have the pleasure to inform You that they appear to be in high Spirits for Action and agree in Sentiments that the Men’s as firm and determined as they wish them to be, having in View since the...
Inclosed you have an Account of Powder supplyed the Army lately before Boston, by this Colony. We have not been able to procure the proper Vouchers for the delivery of the whole of it to the Army, but as it was delivered on the day of the Battle at Bunker Hill and at other times of Alarm and Confusion, we trust that neglect will be excused. The Account is not supposed to contain the whole of...
Watertown, 25 July 1775. FC ( M-Ar : Mass. House of Representatives Records, 57:263). As speaker, James Warren notified JA and the other members of the delegation of their election to the Council and expressed the wish that they would take their seats on the Council as soon as their duties in the congress permitted. Their election to the Council had taken place on 21 July. JA took his seat on...
The Marquiss, who loves Us, will deliver You this. He will tell You every thing. Arbuthnot, Rodney and Walsingham are to be pitted against de la Motte Piquet, Guichen and Ternay in the West Indies. So that I hope, You will be pretty quiet. Prepare however to co-operate and rout them out of the Continent if possible. Above all let me beg of You to encourage Privateering. The French will be...
The Sovereign of Britain and his Council have determined to instruct their Commissioners to offer you Independance, provided you will disconnect yourselves from France. The Question arises how came the King and Council, by Authority to offer this? It is certain that they have it not. In the next Place, is the Treaty of Alliance between Us and France, now binding Upon Us? I think there is not...
I am thankful to our common friend as well as to you for your favour of the 4 th. which I received last night.— My fears are in Unison with yours, that Hay, Wood and Stubble will be the materials of the new political Buildings in Europe, till Men shall be more enlightened and friendly to each other. You agree, that there are undoubtedly Principles of Political Architecture: but instead of...
As your good Lady had promised me the favour of a visit before your return to your Native Town, give me leave sir to request a compliance with the promise and that you would do me the Honour of accompanying her here. I wish sir to be informed by you with regard to the situation of my absent Friend and what congress propose to do with him. The publication of a report of a committe of Congress...
This Letter is intended to go, by Monsieur Le Veillard, a Young Gentleman bound to America, with Design to travail with engage in the service of Mr. Holker or to lay the Foundations of a mercantile House either in France or America, as Circumstances may be. I have the Pleasure to know his Father and his Family and the young Gentleman very well: They are all worthy and amiable, and have on many...
The Marquiss de la Fayette did me, the Honour of a Visit, Yesterday, and delivered me, your Favour of the 25. of October. I am not sorry, as Things have been ordered, that mine of May 24 did not reach you till 24 Octr. because as the new Arrangement was previously made, it cannot be said that I had any Hand in accomplishing it. Yet I am glad the Letter has arrived because it will shew that the...
Passy, 21 May 1778. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:106–108 . Adams commented on, among other things, the probability of a European war, the movements of the French and British fleets, and the possibility of wider European support for the Revolution. He then discussed the large amounts...
Your advice “to reconcile myself to the Thought that Justice may not be done me, till I am dead” is friendly. I am not however apprehensive of Injustice living or dead. I am not ambitious of a Reputation for great Talents or Splendid Actions, with the present Age or with Posterity. The great Anxiety of my Life, has been to do my Duty and avoid just Reproach. and I know very well, that my Life...
D r Gordon who is arrived with your Favour of the 13 of April, will probably be disappointed in his Wishes that mutual affection may be restored; as much as he is mistaken in his opinion; that this is the only means of the Prosperity of both Countries.— America will prosper whether Love or Hatred Subsists. It is indeed improbable that mutual affection will ever be restored, not indeed So much...
Your kind Favour by the Marquis, I have received, and it touched a thousand tender Springs, in my heart. You suppose I am informed of every Thing that passes at Philadelphia, but I am not: I never was and never shall be informed of any Thing that passes there but the Results in the Journals &c. I am very happy to learn that you are acquainted with my good Friend Mr De L’Etombe, who is a very...
You will see by the public Papers, that your Committee of Correspondence is making greater progress in the World, and doing greater things in the political World than the Electrical Rod ever did in the Physical. Ireland and England have adopted it, but mean Plagiaries as they are, they do not acknowledge who was the Inventor of it. Mr. Lee and Mr. Izard will go with this Letter in the...
Extract: reprinted from Richard Henry Lee, Life of Arthur Lee ... (2 vols., Boston, 1829), I , 216–18. When Franklin was elected agent for the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the autumn of 1770, it was over the opposition of a faction led by James Otis and Samuel Adams. Their candidate was Arthur Lee, and they succeeded in having him named as alternate, to serve if Franklin were...
I had a few days ago the Pleasure of your Letter of the 21. of June, which is the only one as yet received. I have written Several to you, some of which I fear have miscarried. You mention a Difference of Sentiment, among the Commissioners before my Arrival, concerning a particular Gentleman, and desire me to investigate the Grounds of it. If I should take the Pains, I might write you, a few...
Amidst a multiplicity of Business smaller matters are apt to be overlook’d—this I conceive to be the case with respect to the proposition of a Colo. Baillie, for opening a Road from Connecticut River to Montreal, and which I laid before Congress for their direction some Months ago—The matter again occurs upon a Second application, from Mr Weatherspoon (the bearer, at, as I understand, the...
I have this morning received your Favours of the 16 & 17 of April, and am fully with you in Sentiment, that “the Sooner a commercial Treaty is settled with the English, the better,” but you must be Sensible that no Treaty can be made untill Somebody or other, one or more, are authorized by Congress. While every British Minister is dancing on a slack Rope and afraid of every popular Wind, least...
This will be delivered to you by Mr. Izard, who goes out in the Alliance, with Mr. Lee, Mr. Wharton, Mr. Brown and others. He will wait on you of Course, and will be able to give you, good Information concerning the Intentions of the English and their military Preparations by sea and Land: and those of the French and Spaniards, at the same Time. He will also give his Opinion very freely...
The ill Health, contracted in Amsterdam, which began with a violent nervous Fever, last August, and which left me with Gout and Scurvy, and a complication of Disorders, which are scarce yet cured, have prevented me from Writing to my Friends so often as I wished. It was necessary that I Should take my Station, at Amsterdam, in the Time of it, for the Sake of the Society of my Countrymen, and...
I addressed a letter to you, my very dear & antient friend, on the 4th. of March: not indeed to you by name, but through the medium of some of my fellow citizens, whom occasion called on me to address. in meditating the matter of that address, I often asked myself, is this exactly in the spirit of the patriarch of liberty, Samuel Adams? is it as he would express it? will he approve of it? I...
The Child whom you used to lead out into the common to see with detestation the British Troops and with Pleasure the Boston Militia will have the Honour to deliver you this Letter. He has since seen the Troops of most Nations in Europe, without any Ambition I hope of becoming a military Man. He thinks of the Bar and Peace and civil Life, and I hope will follow and enjoy them with less...
Yesterday the B. Parliament met. The 2d of Decr., We shall have the Speech. We hope to make Inferences from it of the Intentions of Spain, as well as Great B. Among the innumerable Falshoods that the English Emmissaries propagate every Year, to keep up the Spirits of stockjobbers and others, one has constantly been that Russia will take a Part with them. This is repeated lately. But I have...
I rec d. your letter by Mons r: de le Tombe yesterday: Every line from your hand gives me pleasure. The Embarassments thrown in the way of our trade will at least have one good effect: they will break a few deceitfull bubbles. They ought to do greater good by curing the People at large of a dangerous distemper brought upon them by the war—the itch of extravagance.— It is melancholy that no...
I had the Pleasure of a line from you, at Princetown, and Yesterdays Post brought me another from New York. I thank you for this Attention, and for the encouraging Account you give of the State of our Affairs at New York and Ti. The last is agreable to the Official Letters We have from General Gates who has at last Sent Us a general Return of the Army and Navy upon a more distinct, accurate...
I received this morning your Letter of November 4 & Dec r 4, with great Pleasure. I had heard of your Illness and was anxious to hear of your recovery. long Voyages and Journeys, great Agitation of Mind, and the Air of putrid Cities, have given me So many Severe Fits of Sickness, that I feel myself more affected At hearing of Such Misfertunes befalling my Friends. I have recovered however, a...
Give me Leave to introduce to you, M r Anstey a Member of Parliament and Barrister at Law, who is Sent out by the Commissioners of American Claims to verify Facts, Such as Titles to Estates, Incumbrances upon them &c. The House of Commons Yesterday ordered an Account of Vessells cleared out for the Importation of Flour Biscuit and Live Stock from the U States into any of the Islands of...
M r Grigby, the Bearer of this Letter, is recommended to me, by Gentlemen, who have been friendly and Usefull to America in the Peace, in Such a manner that I beg Leave to introduce him to your Acquaintance. His Views I Suppose are commercial, but a Letter to You may do him more Honour, than to many more Merchants, and perhaps more service even in his own Way. I have been waiting month after...
The present Minister, Shelburne I remember disgusted me by an unintelligible, misterious and Equivocal Letter or Number of Letters and in general by the Conduct he held, fifteen or Twenty years ago, and I recollect some disputes I had with Mr Otis upon his Lordships subject at that time. His Lordship appears to be the Same Character at this day. He is a good Proof of personal Identity. His...
On the 21 May, I wrote you a very long Letter, on the Subject of foreign Affairs in general, and particularly in this Country: on the 28 July, I wrote you another lengthy Letter, on the 7 August I wrote you again in answer to yours of 21 June, which is all I have ever received from you, on the 27 November I wrote you again. I hope Some of these have reached you, but So many Vessells have been...
We were very happy to have the definitive Treaty signed, altho’ We could obtain no Improvement Amendment or Alteration. The English had got so bewitched again, & began to appear to obtain such strange hopes, from the proceedings of the Army & the difference of Sentiments between Congress & some of the States, & discovered such an Inclination to sign with France & Spain without Us, that We were...
ALS : New York Public Library By this Conveyance the Treaties we have concluded here go over to Congress. I flatter myself they will meet with Approbation. If there should be any Particulars which the Congress would wish to be chang’d or added, there is at present an exceeding good Disposition in this Court to oblige; and no Proposition tolerably reasonable will meet with Difficulty. But the...
The King of England has Sent Mr Fitzherbert to Paris with a Commission to treat of Peace, with his dear Brother the King of France and with the Ministers of the states General, and of all other Principum et Statuum quorum interesse poterit. The States General have appointed Mr Brantzen to make Peace too but in concert with France and the other belligerent Powers. Mr Brantzen is not yet gone...
Mr. Erving delivered me your favor of Jan. 31. and I thank you for making me acquainted with him. you will always do me a favor in giving me an opportunity of knowing gentlemen as estimable in their principles & talents as I find mr Erving to be. I have not yet seen mr Winthrop. a letter from you, my respectable friend, after three & twenty years of separation has given me a pleasure I cannot...
I have received your Letters by M r Jackson and M r Appleton. The former I answered Some days ago.— My Son who is going to London in hopes of meeting his Mother and Sister will convey this from thence.— I shall probably be fixed here, out of the reach of that Envy, which you prophecy whose Power I never felt or dreaded untill I Saw Europe.— There are little Fermentations in the Courts of...
This will be sent or delivered by the Viscount de Noailles, a Son of the Duke D’Ayen a Brother of the Lady of the Marquis de la Fayette, an amiable and gallant young Nobleman as full of military Ardour as the Marquis. We have this Moment the News of the safe Arrival, of a Convoy and sixty Sail of Merchant ships of St. Domingo, which is a great Event, for this Country, and for Ours. It is also...
After the repeal of the late American Stamp Act, we were happy in the pleasing prospect of a restoration of that tranquility and unanimity among ourselves, and that harmony and affection between our parent country and us, which had generally subsisted before that detestable Act. But with the utmost grief and concern, we find that we flatter’d ourselves too soon, and that the root of bitterness...
You have, once more received, the highest Testimony of the Confidence and Affection of your Constituents, which the Constitution has impowered them to exhibit; the Trust of representing them in the great and general Court or Assembly of this Province. This important Trust is committed to you, at a time when your Country demands the Exertion of all your Wisdom Fortitude and Virtue; and...
Upon my return from Philadelphia to which beloved City I have been, for the purpose of getting an house to put my head in next Winter I had the pleasure of receiving your favour of the Second of this month. The Sight of our old Liberty Hall, and of Several of our old Friends, had brought your venerable Idea to my mind, and continued it there, a great part of the last Week, so that a Letter...
This will be delivered you by a Madame de Gregoire a lady of this country who goes to America to sollicit from the state of Massachusets a claim which she has to certain lands in the province of Maine. These lands had been long in the occupation of her family under a grant from the crown of France, while it held the colony of Acadie. Subsequent events threw this territory under the British...
Your Favour of the 10th. of July, is received. Mr. Searle, who is yet at Paris, I hope to see soon here. Am happy to learn that the People of Massachusetts have accepted the Constitution: May they be wise in the Choice of their Rulers, and happy under them. The Constitution, and the Address to the People have much Respect Shewn them in Europe. The Accounts from various Parts of the Activity...