Adams Papers

1773. Decr. 18. Saturday.
[from the Diary of John Adams]

1773. Decr. 18. Saturday.

J. Quincy met me this Morning and after him Kent, and told me that the Governor said Yesterday in Council, that the People had been guilty of High Treason, and that he would bring the Attorney General on Monday to convince them that it was so—and that Hancock said, he was for having a Body Meeting1 to take off that Brother in Law of his.2

1That is, a mass meeting, which anyone could attend (including persons from nearby towns), as distinguished from a town meeting. The term is fully explained in Tudor, James Otis description begins William Tudor, The Life of James Otis, of Massachusetts, Boston, 1823. description ends , p. 418, note.

2This can only mean Jonathan Sewall, the attorney general. Sewall’s wife was the former Esther Quincy. Hancock was betrothed to her sister Dorothy.

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