8701From John Adams to Samuel Lord, 20 June 1798 (Adams Papers)
Your Address and Memorial to the President Senate and House of Representatives has been presented to me. The Veneration you profess of the Blessings of civil and religious Liberty, and your Attachment to your Country and its Government under which you enjoy Such inestimable Advantages, are Sentiments worthy of the best of Men. The Confidence and Satisfaction you express in the firm and upright...
8702From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 18 February 1783 (Adams Papers)
The Bearer of this, D r. John Wheelock, is President of an Institution in America, which is founded upon good Principles and deserves Encouragement. If you will give him Leave he will explain to you his Errand to Europe, and if you think there is any Prospect of his Success, I should be obliged to you for any Advice you may give him. I am impatient to get back to Holland where I hope to have...
8703From John Adams to Edward Augustus Holyoke, 10 June 1783 (Adams Papers)
Upon an Intimation from my Friend D r. Tufts of Weymouth, that the Medical Society, of which you are President, desired to extend its Connections in Europe, I ventured to apply to the Chiefs of the Royale Société de Médecine at Paris, and met with a more complaisant Reception than I expected. Enclosed are Copies of Letters which have passed upon the Occasion, and of the Diploma, which is the...
8704From John Adams to Peter Whitney, 2 March 1825 (Adams Papers)
John Quincy Adams was born in Braintree, now called Quincy, in the year 1767, in the white house, near the foot of Penn’s Hill, which you sir, once inhabited. I had been attending Plymouth Court the whole week under the greatest anxiety. Returning on Saturday afternoon from Plymouth, I met Dr. Tufts on Hingham Plain between Dr. Shute’s house and Mr. Cushing’s tavern, who informed me that I had...
8705From John Adams to B. de Cabarrus Jeune, 13 April 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have received the Letter, which you did me, the Honour to write to me, the 8th of this month, and I thank you, sir, for So ready an Answer to my Request, and for so clear, So full and So intelligible an Account, of the Several Sorts of Wines, which go, in general under the Denomination of Bourdeaux. It is a Branch of Knowledge, which like many others, is much wanted in America, where I shall...
8706John Adams to Abigail Adams, 19 June 1795 (Adams Papers)
Last Night the Consul General De la Tombe made me a Visit with your kind Letter of the 18 th. He looks older than When I last saw him and he is indeed a fortunate Man: He gave me many details of affairs in France: a gloomy Picture of the Reign of Terror and a Smiling one of the present Reign of Moderation: but he is not without Inquietude on the subject of a Constitution. By the Turn which the...
8707From John Adams to William Henry Harrison, 11 August 1798 (Adams Papers)
I have received and read with much pleasure your unanimous address of the 29th of june. I agree with you, that in the ordinary Course of Affairs interpositions of popular Meetings to overawe those to whom the management of Public affairs are confided will seldom be warranted by discretion, or found compatable with the good order of Society. but at a Period like this there is no Method more...
8708From John Adams to the Marquis of Carmarthen, 29 July 1785 (Adams Papers)
The Course of Commerce, since the peace, between Great Britain and the United States of America, has been such as to have produced many inconveniencies to the persons concerned in it, on both sides, which become every day more and more sensible. The Zeal of Americans to make remittances to british merchants, has been such as to raise the Interest of Money to double its usual standard, to...
8709From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 23 April 1807 (Adams Papers)
you have Spent your Winter with delight as well as Industry. My Moments have neither produced pleasure or improvements to be compared to yours. I am obliged to be very œconomical of my sight. Though I can See very well, with Glasses, or without them My Eyes cannot bear fatigue as they did when they were young. you have Sett me a Task that will infallibly make me blind before it will be...
8710From John Adams to Mathew Carey, 3 July 1813 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your favour of the 28th of June. I know your press of Business too well to need any Apology for delays of answers to my Letters. It is a great Satisfaction to me, that Mr Jefferson has interested himself in Mr Clarks Publication. His Memory, I presume can furnish many materials: and certainly no man is better qualified to suggest improvements of the Work. Jus suum cuique. I...
8711From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 22 June 1780 (Adams Papers)
I this day acknowledged the Receipt of the Letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 21st. by mistake I dated my Letter on the twenty third. I have the Honor to agree with your Excellency in Opinion that it is the Intention of Congress to redeem all their paper Bills which are extant at an Exchange of Forty for one; by which means the two hundred Millions of Dollars which are out,...
8712II. To Le politique hollandais, 22 January 1782 (Adams Papers)
The abby Raynal in his History of the American Revolution p. 19. Speaking of the Repeal in 1770 of the Act of Parliament which imposed Duties on Glass, Paints, Paper, Tea &c says “on n’en excepta que le Thé encore cette reserve n’eut elle pour objet que de pallier la honte d’abandonner entiérement la Superiorité de la métropole Sur Ses colonies: car ce droit ne fut pas plus exigé que les...
8713From John Adams to Oliver Wolcott, Jr., 27 September 1800 (Adams Papers)
I have carefully read all the Applications and Recommendations for the Office of Collector of Norfolk: and altho the List of Candidates is numerous and their Pretensions respectable, I think I discern Sufficient reasons in the papers to concur with you in opinion that Col William Davis ought to be appointed and pray you to send him a Commission Accordingly. His Letters have a strong Character...
8714From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 5 April 1818 (Adams Papers)
In Mr Wirts elegant and eloquent Panegyrick on Mr Henry.—I beg your attention to page 56 to page 67. the end of the second section. Where you will read a curious specimen of the agonies of Patriotism in the early Stages of the Revolution—“When Mr Henry could carry his Resolutions but by one Vote, and that against the influence of Randolph, Bland, Pendelton Wythe and all the Old members whose...
8715John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 3 February 1812 (Jefferson Papers)
Sitting at My Fireside, with my Daughter Smith , on the first of February My Servant brought me a Bundle of Letters and Newspapers from the Post office in this Town: one of the first Letters that Struck my Eye, had the Post Mark of Milton 23. Jan y 1812 . Milton is the next Town to Quincy and the Post office in it is but three Miles from my House. How could the Letter be So long in coming...
8716From John Adams to United States Congress, 19 December 1799 (Adams Papers)
The letter herewith transmitted will inform you that it has pleased Divine Providence to remove from this life our excellent fellow-citizen, George Washington, by the purity of his character and a long series of services to his country, rendered illustrious through the world. It remains for an affectionate and grateful people, in whose hearts he can never die, to pay suitable honors to his...
8717From John Adams to Robert Hallowell Gardiner, 16 March 1823 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for your favour of the 1 March inst. and the valuable pamphlets inclosed. The inaugural address of Mr. Hale by its ingenuity & ample intelligence is perfectly adapted to the deep utility & novelty of the institution of the Gardiner Lyceum. You will be please to present my thanks to the first principal for his inaugural address, & receive the same for yourself from your very humb...
8718From John Adams to Franklin Dexter, 11 July 1819 (Adams Papers)
accept my thanks for an Oration, of dignified Candour and Moderation, as remarkable for its elegance and taste as for its profound Wisdom, at the Composition of which, party Spirit had was not present and had no share, it is worthy of the Son of my Great and Excellent friend; whose loss I have reason to deplore not only from the purest principles of disinterested friendship, but from selfish...
8719From John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 3 April 1815 (Adams Papers)
I have written to the President on your Subject. I know not what Weight my opinion has or whether any at all. But this I know, that if such Scoundrels as Skinner, Bidwell Gannet: Such imbeciles as Dearborne, Hall Varnum Seaver are to be made Great men in New England: and such as Gerry Waterhouse Dexter and Grey to be neglected, Old Anarch will resume his Reign Washington has indeed a dreadful...
8720From John Adams to United States Senate, 15 June 1797 (Adams Papers)
I by the President of the United States, to inform the Senate that he yesterday, approved & Signed, two Acts, which originated in this House, the one An Act preventing Citizens of the U. States from privateering against Nations in Amity with, or against Citizens of the United States—the other an Act prohibiting for a limited time the Exportation of Arms & Ammunition for a limited time and for...
8721From John Adams to United States Senate, 20 April 1800 (Adams Papers)
I nominate Joshua Johnson Esqr. of the city of Washington to be superintendent of stamps according to the Act of Congress to establish a general Stamp Office. DNA : RG 46—Records of the U.S. Senate.
8722John Adams to Abigail Adams, 23 June 1795 (Adams Papers)
Some Senators are confident We shall rise tomorrow or next day. if so, I shall be with you on Sunday— But these Conjectures are always uncertain. I shall write you every day so that you will be apprized of the time when you may expect me. Both the public Dispatches and private Letters of our dear Boys are the delight of all who read them— No public Minister has ever given greater Satisfaction,...
8723From John Adams to James Mease, 24 August 1816 (Adams Papers)
A letter of the 8th of August from Dr Mease has revived many recollections of conversations at Bush Hill, and at the Corner of Arch Street and Fourth Street. Though I know not how you could have conceived a project more victorious or more patriotic, than the publication of Dr: Rushes Letters: Yet I shudder at the thought. A complete collection of Dr: Rushes letters never will be published, or...
8724John Adams to Abigail Adams, 9 October 1774 (Adams Papers)
I am wearied to Death with the Life I lead. The Business of the Congress is tedious, beyond Expression. This Assembly is like no other that ever existed. Every Man in it is a great Man—an orator, a Critick, a statesman, and therefore every Man upon every Question must shew his oratory, his Criticism and his Political Abilities. The Consequence of this is, that Business is drawn and spun out to...
8725From John Adams to Nathaniel Lord, 6 May 1807 (Adams Papers)
Be pleased to accept of thanks for your favour of the second of this month, and for your Alphabetical Catalogue of the Sons of Harvard inclosed with it, which I think is convenient and usefull and will be a gratification to numbers of the most respectable people in the Country. You ask me whether I can give you the Family connections and genealogy of the several Persons on the Catalogue by the...
8726John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 16 July 1813 (Jefferson Papers)
your Letters to Priestley , have encreased my Grief if that were possible, for the loss of Rush . Had he lived, I would have Stimulated him to insist on your promise to him to write him on the Subject of Religion. your Plan, I admire. In your Letter to Priestley of March 21. 1801 , dated at Washington you call “The Christian Philosophy, the most Sublime and benevolent, but the most perverted...
8727From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 5 July 1813 (Adams Papers)
Correspondences! The Letters of Bernard and Hutchinson, and Oliver and Paxton &c were detected and exposed before The Revolution. There are I doubt not, thousands of Letters now in being, but Still concealed, (from their Party to their Friends, which will, one day See the light. I have wondered for more than thirty Years that So few have appeared: and have constantly expected that a Tory...
8728John Adams to Abigail Adams, 30 May 1789 (Adams Papers)
Your old Acquaintance M r Harrison of Cadiz will deliver you this, if you should not, as I hope you will, be Sett off for this place before he can reach Braintree.— I expect you, here indeed in a Week or ten days at farthest, from this date. M rs Washington is arrived. My House and Garden want us very much. We Shall be obliged to bring all our Furniture and most of our Books, except the Law...
8729From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 10 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
On the 6th of March a letter was written by the Secretary of State by my order, in the following words, to Mr. Murray : Philadelphia, March 6, 1799. Sir, I enclose a commission constituting you, in conjunction with the Chief Justice Elsworth and Patrick Henry , Esq. of Virginia, Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the French Republic.—By the President’s direction, I enclose...
8730From John Adams to Benjamin Stoddert, 16 October 1799 (Adams Papers)
I request you to transmit immediate orders to Captain Barry to receive on board his frigate and convey to France, and such port of France, as they shall desire, our envoys to the French republic, with directions to touch at any other ports which they may point out, & to sail by the first of November or sooner if consistent with their convenience. I need say nothing of the respect to be paid or...