From John Adams to Charles Carroll, 10 December 1794
To Charles Carroll
Philadelphia December 10 1794
Dear Sir
The Bearer of this Letter William Cranch is a Nephew of mine, and to me very much like one of my sons, and I should therefore think myself, in a sort, wanting in parental affection if I suffered him to go to Anapolis, without a Letter of introduction to you. He is destined to settle at least for Some Years in the Fœderal City, to the Prosperity of which, his Education, Talents Application and Virtues, may make him very Useful. Permit me to solicit your Patronage in his favour in proportion to his merits.1
Some of our most important Characters are imitating your Example, by retiring from the national Government.2 It is indeed so tedious anxious, irksome and unthankful a service, that I wonder We do not all resign and go home.
Thank God, We did, by dint of hard Battles, last Winter, preserve Peace, and at present there Seems little disposition for War. The fit is over.
I hope in time to be as happy upon my farm as you are, though mine is but a speck and yours is an Empire: But whether that should happen or not, I shall ever be, my Dear sir / your Friend and servant
John Adams
RC (DLC:Cranch Family Papers); internal address: “Mr Carrol.”
1. William Cranch traveled to Washington, D.C., to handle the legal and business affairs of the firm Morris, Nicholson, & Greenleaf (, 10:229, 304).
2. Carroll served as a U.S. senator from 4 March 1789 to 30 Nov. 1792 and as a Maryland state senator from 1777 to 1800. He resigned his position as a U.S. senator in 1792 owing to a Maryland law that disqualified dual office-holding ().