John Adams to Abigail Adams, 1 January 1779

John Adams to Abigail Adams

Passy Jany. 1. 1779

I wish you an happy new Year, and many happy Years—and all the Blessings of Life. Who knows but this Year may be more prosperous for our Country than any We have seen. For my own Part I have hopes that it will. Great Blessings are in store for it, and they may come this Year as well as another. You and I however must prepare our Minds to enjoy the Prosperity of others not our own. In Poverty and Symplicity, We shall be happy, whenever our Country is so. Johnny sends Duty. Mr. Williams waits—I knew of his going but this Moment.1—I think I shall see you this Year, in spight of British Men of War. If it should be otherwise ordered, however, we must submit.

RC (Adams Papers).

1. Jonathan Williams, Franklin’s grandnephew, often called Jonathan Williams Jr., had been at Passy planning a voyage to America, but at Nantes on 12 Jan. he informed Franklin that the loss of a vessel had altered his plans (JA, Diary and Autobiography description begins Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. description ends , 2:228; Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S. description begins I. Minis Hays, comp., Calendar of the Papers of Benjamin Franklin in the Library of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 1908; 5 vols. description ends , 2:6).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: John Adams to Abigail Adams, 1 January 1779
Author: Adams, John
Recipient: Adams, Abigail
Date: 1 January 1779

Reference

Cite as: “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 1 January 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-03-02-0118. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 3, April 1778 – September 1780, ed. L. H. Butterfield and Marc Friedlaender. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973, p. 145.]

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