John

Abigail

     I have† concluded to mount my horse to-morrow morning at four, and ride to Wells to hear my old worthy, learned, ingenious friend Hemmenway*, whom I never was yet so happy as to hear. Mr. Winthrop¹ agrees to be my company. Wells is about fifteen miles from this place; from thence we propose to ride after the evening service is over to Saco, i.e., Biddeford, which is about thirty miles from here, which will leave us an easy journey to Falmouth for Monday.
     Mr. Winthrop tells me that he has heard the late Governor Hutchinson², while he was Chief Justice, frequently say for seven years together, that Salem was the most proper, convenient, and suitable place in the province for the seat of government; that he frequently complimented the gentlemen of Salem with the happiness and convenience of their situation for the seat of government, and with his prophecies that it would certainly be made such in a course of years. I mentioned this to Judge Trowbridge³, and he told me that he himself remembered to have heard him say so too. And I remember I happened to be with Kent when he carried to Judge Lynde‡ his commission as Chief Justice, and Judge Lynde entertained me for some time with conversation about making Salem the seat of government, and with the probable effects of such a measure; one of which he said would be a translation of a great part of the trade from Boston to Salem. But he said he did not want to have troops in Salem.
     Now let any one who knows these anecdotes judge who was the suggester, planner, and promoter of this wrongheaded and iniquitous measure.
     Safford, my barber, tells me, that his Minister Lyman is bribed to be a Tory. He says that whenever Deacon Sayward has a vessel arrive, he sends the parson ten gallons of rum, two or three hundred of sugar, ten gallons of wine, a barrel of flour, etc., etc., etc. He says “he thinks that all Toryism grows out of bribery.” I thought the barber’s observation as just and as memorable as Parson Moody’s doctrine “that when men know not what to do, they ought not to do they know not what.”
     I write you this tittle-tattle, my dear, in confidence. You must keep these letters to yourself, and communicate them with great caution and reserve. I should advise you to put them up safe and preserve them. They may exhibit to our posterity a kind of picture of the manners, opinions, and principles of these times of perplexity, danger, and distress.
     Deacon Sayward said at table this week in my hearing that there was but one point in which he differed in opinion from the late Governor Hutchinson, and that was with regard to the reality of witchcraft and the existence of witches. The Governor, he said, would not allow there was such a thing. The Deacon said he was loath to differ from him in anything; he had so great a regard for him and his opinions, that he was willing to give up almost everything rather than differ with him. But in this he could not see with him.
     Such is the cant of this artful, selfish, hypocritical man.
     Pray remember me to my dear little babes, whom I long to see running to meet me and climb up upon me under the smiles of their mother.

     John Adams
     York
     2 July 1774

Footnotes:

     † – For some reason, John doesn’t seem to begin his letters with the customary, “Dear Abigail”. He just starts off writing! He also very, very rarely signs his name at the end. Previously I had thought I’d add a “Dear” at the beginning and sign his name at the end, just to keep things familiar and clear to modern readers. But I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I’ve finally decided that I won’t add the “Dear” if he didn’t want it there, for whatever reason. So that’s that. I will, however, continue to put “John” at the end, so that I can include the information about where and when he wrote the letter. The few times when he did actually include a signature will be obvious in the forthcoming letters. Of course, I may change my mind and decide to remove that too. We’ll see. Work in progress and all that.
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     * – Moses Hemmenway (1735-1811), a Harvard classmate and friend of John’s. He was minister at Wells, Maine, since 1759.
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     ¹ – Samuel Winthrop was clerk of the Superior Court of Judicature.
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     ² – Thomas Hutchinson (1711-1780) had just recently been replaced as the royally appointed governor of Massachusetts. He was horribly unpopular, and as such had become the focus for Whig resentment of British ministerial policies.
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     ³ – Edmund Trowbridge (1709-1793), a Superior Court Judge who was regarded by fellow lawyers and colleagues for his thorough nature and diligence as a lawyer.
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     ‡ – Benjamin Kent was a legal colleague of John’s. Judge Benjamin Lynde Jr. (1700-1782) had been appointed Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court in March 1771, but he resigned the position a year later and was replaced by Peter Oliver.
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     Dear Abigail,

     I am so idle that I have not an easy moment without my pen in my hand. My time might have been improved to some purpose in mowing grass, raking hay, or hoeing corn, weeding carrots, picking or shelling pease. Much better should I have been employed in schooling my children, in teaching them to write, cipher, Latin, French, English, and Greek.
     I sometimes think I must come to this–to be the foreman upon my own farm and the schoolmaster to my own children. I confess myself to be full of fears that the ministry and their friends and instruments will prevail, and crush the cause and friends of liberty. The minds of that party are so filled with prejudices against me that they will take all advantages, and do me all the damage they can. These thoughts have their turns in my mind, but in general my hopes are predominant.
     In the trial of a cause here to-day, some facts were mentioned, which are worth writing to you. It was sworn, by Dr. Lyman, Elder [John] Bradbury, and others, that there had been a number of instances in this town of fatal accidents, happening from sudden noises striking the ears of babes and young children. A gun was fired near one child, as likely as any; the child fell immediately into fits, which impaired his reason, and is still living an idiot. Another child was sitting on a chamber floor. A man rapped suddenly and violently on the boards, which made the floor under the child [sound?]. The child was so startled, and frightened, that it fell into fits, which never were cured.
     Dr. Gardiner¹, arrived here to-day from Boston, brings us news of a battle at the town meeting, between Whigs and Tories, in which the Whigs, after a day and a half’s obstinate engagement, were finally victorious by two to one. He says the Tories are preparing a flaming protest.
     I am determined to be cool, if I can. I have suffered much torments in my mind heretofore as have almost overpowered my constitution, without any advantage. And now I will laugh and be easy if I can, let the contest of parties terminate as it will, let stand high or low in the estimation of the world, so long as I keep a conscience void of offense towards God and man. And this I am determined by the will of God to do, let what will become of me or mine, my country or my world.
     I shall arouse myself erelong, I believe, and exert an industry, a frugality, a hard labor, that will serve my family, if I can’t serve my country. I will not lie down in despair. If I cannot serve my children by the law, I will serve them by agriculture, by trade, by some way or other. I thank God I have a head, and heart, and hands, which, if once fully exerted altogether, will succeed in the world as well as those of the mean-spirited, low-minded, fawning, obsequious scoundrels who have long hoped that my integrity would be an obstacle in my way, and enabled them to outstrip me in the race.
     But what I want in comparison of them of villainy and servility, I will make up in industry and capacity. If I don’t, they shall laugh and triumph. I will not willingly see blockheads, whom I have a right to despise, elevated above me and insolently triumphing over me. Nor shall knavery, through any negligence of mine, get the better of honesty, nor ignorance of knowledge, nor folly of wisdom, nor vice of virtue.
     I must entreat you, my dear partner in all the joys and sorrows, prosperity and adversity of my life, to take a part with me in the struggle. I pray God for your health–entreat you to rouse your whole attention to the family, the stock, the farm, the dairy. Let every article of expense which can possibly be spared be retrenched; keep the hands attentive to their business, and the most prudent measures of every kind be adopted and pursued with alacrity and spirit.

     - John Adams
     York, July 1, 1774

     Footnotes:
     ¹ Dr. Gardiner: Dr. Silvester Gardiner, a client of Adams’, was a Tory sympathizer with extensive land dealings in Maine (aka Massachusetts, at the time.) The battle between Whigs and Tories that John refers to occurred at a town meeting which was held on June 27th & 28th at Faneuil Hall, and later at Old South Church. The proposal in question was presented by the Tories, who sought a public reading of all the letters written and received by the Boston Committee of Correspondence. After a long debate, the proposal was defeated by a large majority, and a motion commending the committee passed by a similar margin.

     Dear Abigail,

     I have nothing to do here but to take the air, inquire for news, talk politics, and write letters. This town has the best air I have ever breathed. It is very level and there are no mountains or hills to obstruct the free course of the air upon any point of compass for eight or ten miles. It lies upon the sea on the south and has a river running through it. The weather has been inexpressibly fine all this week. The air is as clear, as bright, as springy, as you can conceive. Braintree air is thick and unelastic in comparison of this. What then is that of Boston?
     I regret that I cannot have the pleasure of enjoying this fine weather with my family, and upon my farm. Oh, how often am I there! I have but a dull prospect before me. I have no hope of reaching Braintree under a fortnight from this day, if I should in twenty days.
     I regret my absence from the county of Suffolk this week on another account. If I was there, I could converse with the gentlemen who are bound with me to Philadelphia¹; I could turn the course of my reading and studies to such subjects of Law, and Politics, and Commerce, as may come in play at the Congress. I might be furbishing up my old reading in Law and History, that I might appear with less indecency before a variety of gentlemen, whose educations, travels, experience, family, fortune, and everything will give them a vast superiority to me, and I fear to some of my companions.
     This town of York is a curiosity, in several views. The people here are great idolaters of the memory of their former minister, Mr. Moody. Dr. Sayward² says, and the rest of the generally think, that Mr. Moody was one of the greatest men and best saints who have lived since the days of the Apostles. He had an ascendency and authority over the people here, as absolute as that of any prince in Europe, not excepting his Holiness.
     This he acquired by a variety of means. In the first place, he settled in the place without any contract. His professed principle was that no man should be hired to preach the gospel, but that the minister should depend upon the charity, generosity, and benevolence of the people. This was very flattering to their pride, and left room for their ambition to display itself in an emulation among them which should be most bountiful and ministerial.
     In the next place, he acquired the character of firm trust in Providence. A number of gentlemen came in one day, when they had nothing in the house. His wife was very anxious, they say, and asked him what they should do. “Oh, never fear; trust Providence, make a fire in the oven, and you will have something.” Very soon a variety of everything that was good was sent in, and by one o’clock they had a splendid dinner.
     He had also the reputation of enjoying intimate communication with the Deity, and of having a great interest in the Court of Heaven by his prayers.
     He always kept his musket in order, and was fond of hunting. On a time, they say, he was out of provisions. There came along two wild geese. He takes gun and cries, “If it please God I kill both, I will send the fattest to the poorest person in the parish.” He shot, and killed both; ordered them plucked, and then sent the fattest to a poor widow, leaving the other, which was a very poor one, at home,–to the great mortification of his lady. But his maxim was, Perform unto the Lord they vow.
     But the best story I have heard yet was his doctrine in a sermon from this text: “Lord, what shall we do?” The doctrine was that when a person or people are in a state of perplexity, and know not what to do, they ought never to do they know not what. This is applicable to the times.
     He brought his people into a remarkable submission and subjection to their spiritual rulers, which continues to this day. Their present parson³ does and says what he pleases, is a great Tory, and as odd as Moody.

     - John Adams
     York, June 30, 1774

     Footnotes:
     ¹ “gentlemen… bound with me to Philadelphia”: Just prior to the drafting of this letter, on June 17, Adams had been selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress, scheduled to meet in Philadelphia; also chosen were James Bowdoin, Thomas Cushing, Robert Treat Paine, and John’s second cousin, Samuel Adams.

     ² Mr. Moody. Dr. Sayward: Samuel Moody was born in 1675, graduated from Cambridge in 1697, and died in 1747. He was often referred to as “peculiar”, but most seemed to mean that with nothing but respect and positivity. Dr. Jonathan Sayward (1713-97), a known loyalist, was a prominent citizen of York County. Despite his loyalist leanings, he retained his property and social position during and even after the Revolution.

     ³ their present parson: This letter was later edited to remove Adams’ identification of the pastor as Isaac Lyman, a known Loyalist. I haven’t been able to find out why it was edited. It seemed important to note, however, since Isaac Lyman will be referenced in future letters.

     Dear Abigail,

     I have a great deal of leisure, which I chiefly employ in scribbling, that my mind may not stand still or run back, like my fortune. There is very little business here, and David Sewall, David Wyer, John Sullivan and James Sullivan, and Theophilus Bradbury¹, are the lawyers who attend the inferior courts, and consequently, conduct the causes at the superior.
     I find that the country is the situation to make estates by the law. John Sullivan, who is placed at Durham in New Hampshire, is younger both in years and practice than I am. He began with nothing, but is now said to be worth ten thousand pounds lawful money, his brother James allows five or six or perhaps seven thousand pounds, consisting in houses and lands, notes, bonds, and mortgages. He has a fine stream of water, with an excellent corn mill, saw mill, fulling mill, scythe mill, and others, in all six mills, which are both his delight and his profit. As he has earned cash in his business at the bar, he has taken opportunities to purchase farms of his neighbors, who wanted to sell and move out farther into the woods, at an advantageous rate, and in this way has been growing rich; under the smiles and auspices of Governor Wentworth², he has been promoted to the civil and military way, so that he is treated with great respect in this neighborhood.
     James Sullivan, brother of the other, who studied law under him, without an academical education (and John was in the same case), is fixed at Saco, alias Biddeford, in our province. He began with neither learning, books, estate, nor anything but his head and hands, and is now a very popular lawyer and growing rich very fast, purchasing great farms, etc., and a justice of the peace and a member of the General Court.
     David Sewall, of this town, never practices out of this county; has no children; has no ambition nor avarice, they say (however, quaere³). His business in this county maintains him very handsomely, and he gets beforehand.
     Bradbury, at Falmouth, they say, grows rich very fast.
     I was first sworn in 1758. My life has been a continual scene of fatigue, vexation, labor, and anxiety. I have four children. I had a pretty estate from my father; I have been assisted by your father; I have done the greatest business in the province; I have had the very richest clients in the province. Yet I am poor, in comparison with others.
     This, I confess, is grievous and discouraging. I ought, however, to be candid enough to acknowledge that I have been imprudent. I have spent an estate in books. I have spent a sum of money indiscreetly in a light, another in a pew, and a much greater in a house in Boston. These would have been indiscretions, if the impeachment of the Judges, the Boston Port Bill†, etc., etc., had never happened; but by the unfortunate interruption of my business from these causes, those indiscretions became almost fatal to me; to be sure, much more detrimental.
     John Lowell‡, at Newburyport, has built himself a house like the palace of a nobleman, and lives in great splendor. His business is very profitable. In short, every lawyer who has the least appearance of abilities make it do in the country. In town, nobody does, or even can, who either is not obstinately determined never to have any connection with politics, or does not engage on the side of the Government, the Administration, and the Court.
     Let us, therefore, my dear partner, from that affection which we feel for our lovely babes, apply ourselves, by every way we can, to the cultivation of our farm. Let frugality and industry be our virtues, if they are not by any others. And above all cares of this life, let our ardent anxiety be to mould the minds and manners of our children. Let us teach them not only to do virtuously, but to excel. To excel, they must be taught to be steady, active, and industrious.

     John Adams
     York, 29 June 1774

     Footnotes:

     ¹ David Sewall – Theophilus Bradbury: At this time, Adams was visiting York, in what we would today refer to as the state of Maine. However, up until 1820, York was a part of Massachusetts. Adams was visiting in order to do business at the circuit court there. The men listed in Adams letters would go on to fulfill rather interesting destinies. The Sullivan brothers would both support the Revolution. John (1740-95) became one of the first brigadier generals of the Continental Army and eventually became Governor of New Hampshire. James (1744-1808) became a prominent legislator and jurist in Massachusetts. David Wyer (1741-76), friends with Adams since college, became a successful lawyer at Falmouth; we’ll hear more about him in future letters. David Sewall (1735-1825) was a Harvard classmate of Adams’. Theophilus Bradbury (1739-1803) later served in the U.S. Congress and on the Massachusetts Superior Court. And he has one of the coolest names I’ve ever heard.
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     ² Governor Wentworth: Governor John Wentworth (1737-1820) was a classmate of Adams’ at Harvard, who succeeded his uncle, Benning Wentworth (another great name), as Royal Governor of New Hampshire from 1767 to 1775.
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     ³ quaere: i.e., inquire about this.
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     † the impeachment of the Judges, the Boston Port Bill: Adams had drawn up an impeachment of Chief Justice Peter Oliver because he would not renounce a salary grant from the crown. Adams and other Whigs feared that if judges were paid by the royal government and not the elected assembly, they would lose their independence.
     The Boston Port Bill was enacted by the Parliament of Great Britain on March 30, 1774 in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, and was part of what was referred to in the Colonies as the “Intolerable Acts” or “Punitive Acts”. It outlawed the use of the Port of Boston for “landing and discharging, loading or shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise” until such time as restitution was made to the King’s treasury (for customs duty lost) and to the East India Company for damages suffered. In other words, it closed the port to all ships, no matter what business the ship had. This angered both Loyalists and Patriots, as they felt the entire city was being unfairly punished for the acts of only a few individuals. More from Wikipedia.
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     ‡ John Lowell: Lowell (1743-1802) would go on to serve in the Continental Congress and became one of Adams’ staunch Federalist friends.
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John Adams to Abigail Adams

     Dear Abigail,

     I am extremely afflicted with the relation your father gave me of the return of your disorder. I fear you have taken some cold. We have had a most pernicious air a great part of this spring. I am sure I have reason to remember it. My cold is the most obstinate and threatening one I ever had in my life. However, I am unwearied in my endeavors to subdue it, and have the pleasure to think I have had some success. I rise at five, walk three miles, keep the air all day, and walk again in the afternoon. These walks have done me more good than anything, though I have been constantly plied with teas, and your specific. My own infirmities, the account of the return of yours, and the public news* coming altogether have put my utmost philosophy to the trial.
     We live, my dear soul, in an age of trial. What will be the consequence, I know not. The town of Boston, for aught I can see, must suffer martyrdom. It must expire. And our principal consolation is, that it dies in a noble cause–the cause of truth, of virtue, of liberty, and of humanity, and that it will probably have a glorious resurrection to greater wealth, splendor, and power, than ever.
     Let me know what is best for us to do. It is expensive keeping a family here, and there is no prospect of any business in my way in this town this whole summer. I don’t receive a shilling a week. We must contrive as many ways as we can to save expenses; for we may have calls to contribute very largely, in proportion to our circumstances, to prevent other very honest worthy people from suffering for want, besides our own loss in point of business and profit.
     Don’t imagine that from all this that I am in the dumps. Far otherwise. I can truly say that I have felt more spirits and activity since the arrival of this news than I had done before for years. I look upon this as the last effort of Lord North’s despair†, and he will as surely be defeated in it, as he was in the project of the tea.
     I am, with great anxiety for your health,
     Your,

     John Adams
     Boston
     12 May 1774

Footnotes:
       *“The public news”: News had just reached John Adams that the British Parliament had passed the Boston Port Bill, which effectively closed all ports in Boston effective June 1, 1744, in response to the Boston Tea Party, which took place December of 1743.
       †“Lord North’s despair”: This refers to Frederick, Lord North, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister. He repealed most of the taxes that were being protested by the colonists, but refused to repeal the selective taxation on specific tea imports, which of course led to the Boston Tea Party. He was also instrumental in the parliamentary passage of the coercive acts of 1774, including the aforementioned Boston Port Bill.