Adams Papers

To John Adams from James Lovell, 9 July 1789

From James Lovell

Boston July 9th. 1789—

Dear Sir

altho’ this Letter is somewhat of a public Nature, yet I dare not address you in a consonant manner, ’till the Point is settled between his Excellency and John Adams. I apply to you, as I feel you in my Heart to be; satisfied that the Yeas & Nays of no public Body whatsoever concerning Epithets can in any measure alter Essences.

Dear Sir,

Sturgis Gorham of Barnstable is my Brother in Law, whether I wished it or not; He is less beloved by me however on that Score, than because he has been habituated to esteem you.1 Inspired early by the Prognostications of James Otis junr when you was on your first Barnstable Circuit, he has looked for an Event of Eminence which Time has realised; and he feels happy in considering the Merits of a young Barrister ripen’d into the Dignity of a Vice President of the United States for the Promotion of his and my Felicity in common with other Fellow Citizens. He is so situated in Barnstable as to be locally fit for a Collector. He has been so educated as to be fit for a scientific and efficacious officer of the Customs—is in Estate responsible and is deeply interested, personally and as a Citizen, to make a good Collector for the United States, in that District.

I cannot conceive how the President will nominate so great a Number of Officers as the Districts make necessary without depending much upon Informations; for he certainly cannot have personal Knowledge in such various Localities. In this Idea, I have written to Mr Partridge who is representative of the District.—2 I do not consider Mr. S. A. O3 as one whom the President will consult with Propriety—or as fit to be consulted in this Case, especially.

As on the one hand I would not seek for a Place myself unless in the full Idea of Faithfulness, so on the other I would not recommend any Man for any other Place but on the same Idea—

I consider this Attempt as connected with my own Reputation Mr. Partridge’s and yours so far as the President may be influenced by it, and I feel a conscientious Awe with Firmness.

I am Sir / your devoted Friend

James Lovell

RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The Vice President of the / United States. / His Excellency / John Adams Esqr”; endorsed: “Mr Lovel July 9. / ansd. 16. 1789.”

1. Barnstable, Mass., shopkeeper Sturgis Gorham (1742–1795), a former militia captain who was active in local politics, wrote to George Washington on 9 July soliciting a federal post; he was unsuccessful. Gorham’s daughter Deborah married Lovell’s son James Smith in 1786 (John A. Schutz, Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court 1691–1780: A Biographical Dictionary, Boston, 1997; Washington, Papers, Presidential Series description begins The Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, ed. W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Jack D. Warren, Mark A. Mastromarino, Robert F. Haggard, Christine S. Patrick, John C. Pinheiro, David R. Hoth, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1987–. description ends , 3:154–155; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates description begins John Langdon Sibley, Clifford K. Shipton, Conrad Edick Wright, Edward W. Hanson, and others, Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, 1873–. description ends , 14:47; NYGBR description begins New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. description ends , 45:247 [July 1914].)

2. George Partridge (1740–1828), Harvard 1762, of Duxbury, represented Massachusetts in the House of Representatives from 1789 to 1790. He followed up on Lovell’s request, writing to the president’s secretary, Tobias Lear, on 27 July 1789 and to Washington on 21 Feb. 1791, to recommend Gorham and Ephraim Spooner for customs posts in Massachusetts; none earned appointments (Biog. Dir. Cong. description begins Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–2005, Washington, D.C., 2005; rev. edn., bioguide.congress.gov. description ends ; Washington, Papers, Presidential Series description begins The Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, ed. W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Jack D. Warren, Mark A. Mastromarino, Robert F. Haggard, Christine S. Patrick, John C. Pinheiro, David R. Hoth, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1987–. description ends , 3:333, 7:398–399).

3. Samuel Allyne Otis.

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    Adams Papers
    Title
    To John Adams from James Lovell, 9 July 1789
    Author
    Lovell, James
    Recipient
    Adams, John
    Date
    9 July 1789

    Reference

    Cite as
    “To John Adams from James Lovell, 9 July 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-20-02-0041. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 20, June 1789–February 1791, ed. Sara Georgini, Sara Martin, R. M. Barlow, Gwen Fries, Amanda M. Norton, Neal E. Millikan, and Hobson Woodward. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020, pp. 60–61.]

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