Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 20 June 1803
Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams
Quincy June 20 1803
my dear Thomas
William Shaw I presume has given You the reason why you have not received a Letter in reply to Your last.1 I have been in danger of loosing my Life, by a fall Backwards down a steep flight of Stairs: I was much bruised, and inwardly hurt, for many days quite helpless; that I rose without broken Bones is a wonder considering the force of the fall. by immediate bleading, and applications of various sorts, I have so far recoverd as to be able to walk, and get down Stairs again tho I shall long feel the effects of the fall. I had begun a Letter to you; it was not in the best of spirits; I have so much remaining to be thankfull for; that I am glad I did not send you the Letter. that I am not a wretched criple for Life, that I have food to Eat and Raiment to Cloath me, Friends to comfort and console me, are all blessings of which I might have been deprived: instead of repineing at what is taken, I will rejoice and be glad with that which remains. I had built up some pleasent prospects and agreable Scenes in the Bosom of my family: if it is not given me to realize them; I must submit—
June 26th
Thus far I had written when I was interrupted, and it is now a week since, during which time I have been so unwell as not to be able to write a line, or keep from my Bed more than an hour at a time. the weather became Suddenly Hot and my strenght is weakness. we have the severest and sharpest drught I have known for very many Years. the English Grass is cut of to a quarter part of the product of last Season. the Barly suffers greatly, and in many places the corn could not get up for want of moisture; every object wears the Hue of melancholy; it is too frequently by the loss only, that we learn to estimate the daily bounties of Providence, or are taught to acknowledg the Hand from which they flow.
Since I began this Letter I have received one from you of the 8th giving me an account of the conduct of the prime conductors of publick affairs both in your state and of the Union—2 the Aurora man is one of those impudent daring fellows that who is ripe for crimes of any magnitude, from circumstances which I have heard, he bullies his masters into any terms he pleases. he is in bodily fear of him—and as his courage is not considerd of the most vallient nature, he Yealds to his Maker as I have heard Duane calls himself.3 I do not know what time may effect. I hope a union of the federalist upon better principles than have heitherto governd them; I See by an extract from the Aurora that the expected return of mr King raises the jealousy of the Antis. Gen’ll Pinckny and mr King are said to be the intended candidates for the next Election,—4
Your Brother has not been out this fortnight. he is waiting Madams confinement which is daily expected—5 he looks as anxious as tho he had the trouble himself to pass through. She is very well for so feeble a Body as she is— when you take a wife, it must be for better or for worse—but a healthy & good constitution is an object with those who consider, maturely. very few Maturists in the world tho—
I do not know how to give up the hope of seeing You here, tho I give full force to your reasons. why are the goods of fortune so niggardly bestowed upon the deserving, and so wantonly Scatterd upon fools and knaves? if it would not be a Breach of confidence I should like to see the Letter you allude to describing the parting interview dear Girl, I could have folded her to my Heart if I had dared to—6
When I am better able I shall write you again— I see you have promissed some Biografical Sketches in the port folio. you will find in a publication calld the monthly Visitor 2d vol’m by a society of gentlemen year 1797. London printed, the Life of Zimmerman—which I wish to see in the port folio. tis said to have been written by Tissot—7 if you read it you will think it worthy a place there— your circulating Libraries will furnish it—
So badly written is my Letter that I am asshamed to send it, but you must pick it out— my arm is too lame to coppy or attempt further / than to subscribe your ever / affectionate Mother
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs: A Adams / 20. & 26th: June 1803 / 2d: July Recd: / 8th: & 10th: Answd:.”
1. Neither TBA’s letter to AA nor a letter from William Smith Shaw to TBA have been found.
2. Not found.
3. The influence of William Duane’s Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser made him a major player in Pennsylvania politics. Duane’s advocacy of a radical Democratic-Republican agenda promoted a schism between his supporters and more moderate members of the party. In June 1803 Duane began calling moderate Democratic-Republicans “Quids,” a label that became widely used in coming years. In late 1802 and early 1803 he championed radical candidates for Congress, much to the consternation of moderates. Thomas Jefferson attempted to remain above the dispute, sidestepping Duane’s attempts to engage him on the subject, to avoid alienating supporters in either camp (Jeffrey L. Pasley, “The Tyranny of Printers”: Newspaper Politics in the Early American Republic, Charlottesville, Va., 2001, p. 285, 302–304; , 38:511–514, 39:73–74).
4. The Aurora, 23 May, correctly predicted that Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Rufus King would form the Federalist Party ticket in the 1804 presidential election. The article claimed that Pinckney would lobby Massachusetts electors to counterbalance the “hatreds and jealousies” of JA, adding that Pinckney feared ‘the share of influence which John Adams possesses in Massachusetts, though little, will amount to a check upon his hopes in that state” (A New Nation Votes).
5. For the birth of JA2, see JQA to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 4 July 1803, and note 1, below.
6. Not found.
7. A serialized biography of German physician and philosopher Johann Georg Zimmermann (1728–1795) appeared in the London journal Monthly Visitor, 2:193–197 (Sept. 1797), 392–406 (Nov.), 513–521 (Dec.). The work was unsigned but drew verbatim passages from Samuel Auguste David Tissot, The Life of M. Zimmerman, London, 1797. The profile was not reprinted in the Port Folio.