To James Madison from Thomas Boylston Adams, 18 June 1810
From Thomas Boylston Adams
Quincy June 18th. 1810.
Sir.
Since the departure of my Brother, Mr. John Q Adams, upon his Mission to Russia, and while he was yet at sea, I had the pleasure to receive from him a list of names, comprizing the circle of his particular friends to whom he requested I would present, in his name, and as a small token of his respect, a set of Lectures on Rhetorick & Oratory, delivered during the period of his Professorship at Harvard University.1 I have the honor, at this late hour, of complying with the injunctions of my Brother, when I transmit to The President of the United States, and ask his acceptance of a copy of these Lectures. Unforeseen delays have prevented an earlier discharge of this duty. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, Your Obedient Servant
Thomas Boylston Adams.2
RC (DLC).
1. John Quincy Adams, Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory, Delivered to the Classes of Senior and Junior Sophisters in Harvard University (2 vols.; Cambridge, Mass., 1810; 19304).
2. Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832) graduated from Harvard in 1790 and served as chargé d’affaires at The Hague and secretary of legation at Berlin, circa 1795–99, when his brother, John Quincy Adams, was U.S. minister in those capitals. He practiced law in Philadelphia, settled in Quincy, Massachusetts, by 1806, and later served as a judge of the court of common pleas in Norfolk County (Joseph Jerry Perling, Presidents’ Sons: The Prestige of Name in a Democracy [New York, 1947], pp. 25–29).