William Smith Shaw to Abigail Adams, 25 February 1801
William Smith Shaw to Abigail Adams
City of Washington Feb 25th [1801]
My dear Aunt
I have had the pleasure to receive your very kind letter of the 14th of Feb. at Baltimore, for which I pray you to receive the grateful offerings of an honest heart. I should not have neglected answering it, till this late date, had I not been uncommonly occupied in business, and had nothing to tell you, but what I wrote to Mr. Adams, whose letters I presume you have seen1
Soon after you left us the election was decided in favor of Mr. Jefferson for President. A majority of none of the New England States were in his favor. To be obliged to vote for J. or B. was, to be sure, placing the Legislators of our Country in a very responsible and delicate situation—not unlike a man in the chamber of a house that is burning—if he runs down stairs, he will probably be burnt in the flames, and if he jumps out of the window, he will clearly break his legs.— When Stewart announced the election in his paper, at the head of the paragraph, the eagle was reversed, with the motto e pluria uno. I ask’d him what he meant by it. His answer was
[“]the eagle’s flight
Is out of sight.”2
Gentlemen here speak confidently of the men to fill the executive departments. Sam Smith gives it with his own signature, that Maddison will be Secretary of State—Gallatin Secretary of Treasury Dearborn Secretary of War—and Levi Lincoln Attorney General. He told the Secretary of the Navy Mr Stoddert that that department had been twice offered him but that he could not accept—that Mr. J. would not receive his refusal and said, if he could not have men, for his ministers of the most respectable character and first talents the Country afforded,3 he would not accept of t[he] office of President.—4 I understand the democratic members of the house give a dinner this day in honor of Mr. J. They gave one to Duane on friday last.
No laws of national importance have been enacted since you left us. A bill has passed the house respecting this district, which I understand to be a mere system of judicature, only. The Senate have at last agreed to Col Smiths nomination, 18 & 8. The malice which Mr. H. has discovered on this occasion and the mean and unfair manner, which he has conducted through the whole business, deserves and ought to receive the most unequivocal scorn & contempt of the whole family.5
The President sen is very well—desires his best love to be presented to
you—is so occupied in business that he cannot find time to write and if
he could, says he should not dare to do it. We leave this city very
early on Wednesday morning. Shiply & his wife go Tuesday
With every sentiment of gratitude and respect / I am my dear Aunt / your dutiful nephew
Wm S Shaw
I have received a letter from Dr Tufts inclosing the [bill] from Frothingham, you requested,6 which I have recorded on the book. Friends at Quincy and Weymouth were all well on the 8th of February—
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs. Adams”; internal address: “Mrs. Adams.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed.
1. Shaw to TBA, 19 Feb., above.
2. John Stewart (1759–ca. 1823) was one of the printers of the Washington Federalist. In the issue of 17 Feb., he inverted the Great Seal of the United States, published in every issue of the newspaper, and also changed the de facto U.S. motto, “E pluribus unum,” or “Out of many, one,” to “Pluria e uno,” meaning roughly, “Many out of one.” The election results were reported above the image, stating of Thomas Jefferson, “May he discharge its duties in such a manner as to merit and receive the blessings of all good men, and without reddening the cheek of the American Patriot with blushes for his country!!!” Stewart was quoting from a children’s alphabet book that was designed to teach moral lessons (Bruce F. Jamerson, Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Delegates 1776–2007, Richmond, Va., 2007, p. 33; Thomas L. Purvis, Colonial America to 1763, N.Y., 1999, p. 241).
3. The rumors relayed here by Shaw largely proved true. James Madison, Albert Gallatin, and Henry Dearborn served, respectively, as the secretaries of state, treasury, and war, and Levi Lincoln served as attorney general. Jefferson struggled to find a successor to Benjamin Stoddert as naval secretary, and Samuel Smith, who was twice offered the post, temporarily filled the role between 31 March and 13 June (, 32:537, 583; 33:188–189, 234, 255–256, 260, 271–272, 339, 382, 438, 456; , 1:12, 13; ).
4. In a Dft of this letter, Shaw continued here, “I have nothing new to tell you. The P——t has made all the appointments under the new judiciary act, which are already published in the papers—the gentlemen are highly approved of” (DLC:Shaw Family Papers).
5. For WSS’s appointment as surveyor and inspector of the port of New York and James Hillhouse’s involvement therein, see AA to JQA, 29 Jan., and note 6, above.
6. Not found, but see AA to Cotton Tufts, 15 Jan., above. Cotton Tufts wrote to JA on 9 Feb., commenting that a dozen years of government under JA and George Washington “has not only render’d us respectable in the Eyes of Nations abroad, but has been productive of incalculable Advantages at Home.” He also reported that AA was expected soon in Quincy (Adams Papers).