3931From John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 4 June 1817 (Adams Papers)
Your pathetic Letter of the 2d. has filled my heart with Sympathy and Grief. Your Son, by all that I know, or have heard of him, would have been an ornament to Society. Your Sorrow at his loss must be exquisite. I can give you no better Advice for your Consolation, than to read your favourite Dr Barrow. It is the Lot of humanity! You are not alone! If I look back for Sixty years, what a long...
3932John Adams to Abigail Adams, 28 January 1797 (Adams Papers)
It is now determined what the President has to depend on after the 4 th March. The Committee determined against raising the Salary of P. or V. P. The House which the P. had for 500 £ cannot again be had under 1000 £ — Horses are from 3 times to five times as high as they were Seven Years ago, Carriages three times as high—Provisions &c In Short all Levees and Drawing Rooms and Dinners must be...
This Sodality has given rise to the following Speculation of my own, which I commit to writing, as Hints for future Enquiries rather than as a satisfactory Theory. The Desire of Power Power Dominion, that encroaching, grasping, restless, and ungovernable Principle in human Nature, that Principle which has made so much Havock and Desolation, among the Works of God, in all the Variety of...
3934John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 18 April 1776 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your agreable Letter of the Twenty fourth of March. I rejoice with you that our Friends are once more in Possession of the Town of Boston, and am glad to hear that so little damage is done to our House. I hope you and your Sister and Brothers will take proper Notice of these great Events, and remember under whose wise and kind Providence they are all conducted. Not a Sparrow...
3935From John Adams to United States Congress, 12 February 1798 (Adams Papers)
In obedience to the Law, I now present to both Houses of Congress, my annual account of Expenditures from the Contingent Fund during the year 1797. by which it appears, that on the first of January last there remained in the Treasury a Balance of Fifteen thousand, four hundred, and ninety four dollars and twenty four Cents, Subject to future dispositions of Government. DNA : RG 46—Records of...
3936John Adams to Richard Cranch, 24 March 1786 (Adams Papers)
In yours of the 10th. of Novr. you desire me to give you the Connection between the Premises and conclusion, when I said that the Navigation act would compell all the other states to imitate it. If they do not the Massachusetts will soon get so much of their carrying Trade as will richly compensate her for any present Inconvenience. I take it for granted that the United States will make peace...
3937From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 30 July 1818 (Adams Papers)
Another Passage, which Mr Otis read from Ashley gave Occasion, as I suppose, to another memorable and very curious Event, which your esteemed Pupil and my beloved Friend Judge Minot has recorded. The Passage is in the 42 page. “In fine, I would humbly propose that the duties, on foreign Sugar and Rum imposed by the before mentioned Act, of the 6th of King George the Second, remain as they are,...
3938John Adams to Charles Adams, 12 October 1792 (Adams Papers)
I congratulate you on your Admission to the Bar and your taking Possession of an Office in So good a Part of the Town, and I would not advise you to exhange it for any other, without an absolute necessity. There is a great Advantage to a Lawyer in being always to be found in the Same place. I wish you as much Success as you can desire and all the Pleasure and Profit from your Practice in a...
3939From John Adams to Jeremy Belknap, 21 March 1795 (Adams Papers)
I received, last night, your favour of the 20 th and a day or two before had rec d that of the 2 d , returned to me from Philadelphia. Thanks for M r Winthrops Prophecies. I wrote to Charles Thompson on the subject of Cooks Voyage, long enough before I left Philadelphia to have had an Answer but none has yet arrived. M r Thompson is as deeply engaged in Preparing an English Translation of the...
3940From John Adams to Timothy Pickering, Jr., 29 January 1800 (Adams Papers)
The President of the United States refers the inclosed law of Tennessee, and letter from the Govenor, laid before him, by the Senators and Representatives of that state this day, to the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War, & requests their examination into the subject & a report of their opinion, what is in the power of the President to do for the accommodation of the people of...