Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 12 October 1800
Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams
Quincy october 12th 1800
my dear Thomas
I received Your Letter inclosing the one from Your Brother—1 I do not find the extract you mention in Wayne Paper. I would have had it inserted in J Russels before I leave here, but that I know not how it may be introduced in the U S Gazet, and it would not be proper they should clash but if there is any hesitation upon the subject in Philadelphia, there will not be any here.
I well remember Some of the peices You allude to. keep
them untill I See you— it may not be amiss to have them re-published in Boston— you will be surprized when I
tell you; health permitting, You may see me in Philadelphia in the course of
a Month; I mean to stop at Rose Hill if the Family are out there; so tell my
good Friends so.2 Your Father
began to think how dismall it would be, to be so far off seperated; and my
Health which suffers more here in the Winter than in a more Southern
climate, at last brought him to determine that I Must go. so bag & Baggage, I must get ready
in a week, make all necessary arrangements in haste; which might better have
been done coolly and quietly a Month ago—independant of all Male assistance;
but the Coachman, (who is now sick of a fever) and vallient Christopher. my
Girls I must send by the stage. I shall do very well untill I undertake a
new road. I think more of the journey from Philadelphia to Washington, than
from hence, but I have one resourse there; I can press you into the service,
or what will be better inlist You as a volunteer— I mentiond to You some
lace; you may keep it untill You see me, if the washerwoman sends it— Mr
shaw I presume will not omit to Send you the last Chatham—3 I will get a cover or two
[fran]kd, and continue the papers whilst I stay— Waynes paper begins to
assume a more federal appearence, but the state of Pensilvanna is almost any
thing but what it ought to be. I consider the Election as a Mere hazard: a
chance, a dye. I am morally certain we shall never have an other— if
Jefferson comes in, he will have a “turbulent Sea of Liberty[”]4 if Pinckny—he will be hemd round.
he will not be a free man nor dare to pursue measures, which may be
necessary for the peace and Safety of the Country— God save the united
states of America ought to be the petition of every true American— I
consider the peace safety and security of it, to rest, under God, in the
reElection of one in whom even the Jacobins, cannot but respect; and do. So they did Washington Devils
Believe, & tremble we are told—5 our Government rests upon public
confidence. that confidence cannot be placed in a Man little known—much less
in one Distrusted, by more than half the community
Your Aunt Cranch is better. Mrs Norten yet very ill
adieu my dear Thomas—
affectionatly / Yours
A Adams6
RC (Adams Papers). Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript.
1. TBA to AA, 5 Oct., and note 1, above.
2. For Rose Hill, the Philadelphia estate of Elias and Hannah Stockton Boudinot, see TBA to AA, 19 July, and note 4, above.
3. The Boston Russell’s Gazette, 6 Oct., printed the final installment of Chatham’s series, for which see TBA to William Smith Shaw, 23 Sept., and note 3, above.
4. AA was paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson’s comments on U.S. politics from his 24 April 1796 letter to Philip Mazzei, for which see vol. 12:164–165. The letter was widely quoted and reprinted in the run-up to the presidential election of 1800, including in the Boston Russell’s Gazette, 7 April 1800, and the Newark, N.J., Centinel of Freedom, 5 August.
5. James, 2:19.
6. In a brief note to TBA of 20 Oct., AA enclosed a newspaper and requested an update on JA’s travels (NRU).