John Adams to Abigail Adams, 8 June 1795

John Adams to Abigail Adams

Philadelphia June 8. 1795

My dearest Friend

Through the finest Fields of Wheat Rye, Barley Oats and Clover, but very indifferent Roads We arrived on Saturday all well

The Senators to the Number of five or six and twenty are in Town and will meet in this Chamber at Eleven O Clock.

I can form no Judgment how long We shall sitt.

I congratulate you and all good People on the favourable decision of the Elections in New York which indicates a Change of sentiment very desirable in that state, and of great Importance to the Union.

We are told that Adet is arrived and De Letombe and that Dudley Rider is to take the Place of Hammond1

The State of Things in Paris arising from Scarcity and from Party is gloomy—but the Particulars you will see in the Papers.

Mr Swan was in my old Lodings but has very politely offered me the saloon as usual—2 He is thought here to have made a great Fortune and to be a very important Man— it is said he has been the most Successfull of any Man in getting his Vessells to Port.

The Want of Bread in France & England will raise flour to 20 Dollars a Barrell—it is now 15.

My Love to all the Family

JA.

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A”; endorsed: “June 8th 1795.”

1. Pierre Auguste Adet (1763–1834), a French scientist, government official, and diplomat, served as minister to the United States from 1795 to 1796. Philippe André Joseph de Létombe had been recalled as French consul general in 1792 but was reappointed in 1795 (Jefferson, Papers, description begins The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, Princeton, 1950– . description ends 28:459; 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, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1987– . description ends 1:34–35).

JA appears to have confused the brothers Dudley Ryder (1762–1847) and Richard Ryder (1766–1832), both British MPs. In early June 1795, newspapers in New York and then Philadelphia reported that Richard Ryder had been appointed minister plenipotentiary to the United States in place of the recalled George Hammond. Hammond, who departed the United States in August, was succeeded by Robert Liston in Feb. 1796 (DNB description begins Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, New York and London, 1885–1901; repr. Oxford, 1959–1960; 21 vols. plus supplements. description ends ; New York Argus, 6 June 1795; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 9 June; New York Daily Advertiser, 18 Aug.).

2. Boston merchant James Swan, for whom see JA, Papers description begins Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert J. Taylor, Gregg L. Lint, and others, Cambridge, 1977– . description ends , 3:354, had gone to France in 1787 but returned to the United States in Feb. 1795 to negotiate a payment for the remaining U.S. debt to France (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 Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 24 Feb.; Madison, Papers, Congressional Series, description begins The Papers of James Madison: Congressional Series, ed. William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, and Robert Allen Rutland, Chicago and Charlottesville, Va., 1962–1991; 17 vols. description ends 15:358).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: John Adams to Abigail Adams, 8 June 1795
Author: Adams, John
Recipient: Adams, Abigail
Date: 8 June 1795

Reference

Cite as: “John Adams to Abigail Adams, 8 June 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-10-02-0276. [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. 443–444.]

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