184371From Benjamin Franklin to Deborah Franklin, 11 October 1766 (Franklin Papers)
ALS : American Philosophical Society I received your kind little Letter of August 26. per Packet. Scarce any one else wrote to me by that Opportunity. I suppose they imagin’d I should not be return’d from Germany. You mention writing to me by a Son of Mr. Potts’s. A Ship is come from Philadelphia, Capt. Golley. But I have only one Letter in her, and that is from Mr. Hall, to whom my Respects....
184372John Jay and Dutch Affairs: Editorial Note (Jay Papers)
During his years abroad as envoy and peace commissioner, Jay was not directly involved in negotiations with the Dutch. John Adams, assisted by American agent C. W. F. Dumas, bore the brunt of such responsibilities. The connections they forged resulted in support for American independence from the Dutch Patriotic faction; loans to the United States in June 1782, the first obtained by the United...
184373Editorial Note on Franklin’s Accounts (Franklin Papers)
The following accounts, identified in earlier volumes, continue to apply to the current period: VI and VII ( XXIII , 21); XVII ( XXVI , 3); XIX and XXII ( XXVIII , 3–4); XXV, XXVII ( XXXII , 3–4); XXX ( XXXVI , 3); XXXI ( XXXVIII , 3). We offer here a summary of entries that have not found a place elsewhere in our annotation but provide insights into Franklin’s private and public life. Account...
184374Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
The Commissioners’ letter or memorial to Vergennes of early January 1779 is highly significant. Despite its long dissertation on the evils of the Carlisle Commission’s manifesto of 3 October 1778 and its appeal for a French declaration to counter the manifesto’s effects, the principal object of the letter was the dispatch of naval reinforcements to America. John Adams later wrote to Elbridge...
184375Editorial Note (Washington Papers)
The network of spies and couriers that has come to be known as the Culper ring, on account of the code names of its spies, had its genesis in GW’s need to provide reliable intelligence to Vice Admiral d’Estaing on British naval movements at New York during the fall of 1778. Recognizing the provision of quality intelligence as a critical aspect of the new military partnership, GW sought...
184376Address from Rhode Island Federalists, 2 April 1789 (Adams Papers)
The Federalists of this State though denied the Priviledge of giving you their Suffrages, are peculiarly happy, to find your Excellency by so decided a Majority, One of the Gentlemen placed at the Head of that August Body, to which, with Anxious expectation, this Country now looks up to rescue it from that Anarchy & Prostration which have So long degraded the American Character, and rendered...
184377To James Madison from an Unidentified Correspondent, 4 June 1815 (Madison Papers)
As Christians you all profess to be upon an equality with all other men, inasmuch as you rest your hopes for eternal life in the world to come, upon the Grace of God revealed in his son Jesus Christ. Therefore, as Christians I presume to address you. God hath given you much, may you be good stewards for the Lord of hosts. War is contrary to the spirit of Christianity, which is universal...
184378Editorial Note (Adams Papers)
In the bitter verbal battling which rumbled beneath the physical violence of the pre-Revolutionary years, the heavy advantage rested with the radical press. Led by such pseudonymous journalistic swordsmen as Samuel Adams, Joseph Hawley, and Joseph Warren, the patriots skewered the administration and the loyal faction without restraint, and almost without opposition. Only one tory printer...
184379Report of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, 21 December 1790 (Jay Papers)
The Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate, The Chief Justice, The Secretary of State, The Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General Respectfully report to the Congress of the United States of America: That pursuant to the Act intitled an Act making provision for the Reduction of the Public Debt, They on the 26th day of August last convened at the City of New...
184380“A Republican” to Thomas Jefferson, [ca. 5 February 1820] (Jefferson Papers)
It is for no trifling end that I venture to intrude upon the honourable retirement in which you have placed yourself. The authority of your name has been used to advocate sentiments that are entirely opposed to those conveyed in your writings. It has been asserted that you have abandoned your former opinions, and that your silence is conclusive proof of it. It is, sir, with a full belief that...