Adams Papers

12 Thurdsday.
[from the Diary of John Adams]

12 Thurdsday.

A cool, but pleasant morning. Heard Mr. Welman [Wellman] preach the Lecture, and drank Tea, with him, at home where he made this observation, (viz.) That Dr. Mayhew was a smart man, but he embraced some doctrines, not generally approved.1

1. Jonathan Mayhew (1720–1766), Harvard 1744; D.D., Aberdeen 1749; minister of the West Church, Boston; early famous for his radical theological and political views. JA admired him as “a transcendent genius” whose character would require “a dozen volumes” to delineate; and there can be no question that Mayhew’s numerous published discourses profoundly influenced young JA. (DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928–1936; 20 vols. plus index and supplements. description ends ; Clinton Rossiter, “The Life and Mind of Jonathan Mayhew,” WMQ description begins William and Mary Quarterly. description ends , 3d ser., 7:531–558 [Oct. 1950]; JA, Works description begins The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, ed. Charles Francis Adams, Boston, 1850–1856; 10 vols. description ends , 10:288.) See also 17 March, below.

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    Adams Papers
    Title
    12 Thurdsday.
    Author
    Adams, John
    Date
    12 February 1756

    Reference

    Cite as
    “12 Thurdsday.,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-01-02-0002-0002-0012. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 1, 1755–1770, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961, p. 6.]