John Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 19 January 1795

John Adams to Abigail Adams Smith

Philadelphia, January 19, 1795.

My Dear Daughter:

I have a letter from your brother Thomas, dated London, 19th October; and the Secretary of State has one from John of the 22d. They had a good passage, and were in good health. They intended to go to Holland on the 29th.

Enclosed is a copy of a letter from me to Mr. Jay, dated at the Hague, August the 13th, 1782, which probably put him first upon insisting on a new commission from Great Britain, before he would treat, expressly authorizing Mr. Oswald to treat with the Ministers of the United States of America. Put this copy with those that I sent you before.1 Col. Smith, if he thinks fit, may show this in confidence to Mr. Webster, Mr. McCormic, and Judge Hobart, if he will.2

Charles and I smoke our segars and look over old letter books, in great comfort together. He talks of leaving me next Thursday.

I wish you good health and a daughter, and the blessing of Heaven on the mother and all her children.

John Adams

MS not found. Printed from AA2, Jour. and Corr., description begins Journal and Correspondence of Miss Adams, Daughter of John Adams, … Edited by Her Daughter [Caroline Amelia (Smith) de Windt], New York and London, 1841– [1849]; 3 vols. description ends 2:138.

1. In this letter, JA reiterated his opinion that negotiations for peace should not commence until American independence was recognized. That it was a shared belief is evident by John Jay’s 1 Sept. 1782 response, in which he informed JA that he formally stipulated such recognition to the British commissioners (JA, Papers description begins Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert J. Taylor, Gregg L. Lint, and others, Cambridge, 1977– . description ends , 13:236, 238–239, 412–413).

2. John Sloss Hobart (1738–1805), Yale 1757, was born in Fairfield, Conn., but settled in Huntington, N.Y. After serving in the provincial congress from 1775 to 1777, he was elected to the state supreme court in May 1777, where he served until his election to the U.S. Senate in Jan. 1798. After only four months in the Senate, JA appointed Hobart a federal judge for New York, a position he held until his death (DAB description begins Allen Johnson, Dumas Malone, and others, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928–1936; repr. New York, 1955–1980; 10 vols. plus index and supplements. description ends ).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: John Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 19 January 1795
Author: Adams, John
Recipient: Smith, Abigail Adams
Date: 19 January 1795

Reference

Cite as: “John Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 19 January 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-10-02-0228. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 10, January 1794 – June 1795, ed. Margaret A. Hogan, C. James Taylor, Sara Martin, Hobson Woodward, Sara B. Sikes, Gregg L. Lint, and Sara Georgini. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011, pp. 353–354.]

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