Title: From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 31 August 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Tudor, William, Sr.

Dear Sir
Quincy August 31 1818

I have before mentioned the Instructions of the City of Boston to their Representatives, in May 1764, printed in an Appendix to Mr Otis’s “Rights of the Colonies” In Obedience to those Instructions, or at least in Consequence of them Mr Otis prepared a Memorial to The House of Representatives, which was by them voted to be transmitted to Jasper Mauduit Esqr Agent for the Province, only as a Statement drawn up by one of The House, to be improved “as he may judge proper.”
In this Memorial Mr Otis has preserved and immortalized his own Arguments and Authorities to prove the Acts of Trade null and void, which he had advanced and produced three Years before in his Oration against those Acts and their formidable Instrument Writts of Assistance. This is a fortunate Circumstance for me, because it relieves me from the trouble of Recollection, and the more painfull task of research in old Books.
“The publick transactions” says Mr Otis, “from William the first, to the Revolution, may be considered as one continued Struggle, between the Prince and the People, all tending to that happy Establishment, which Great Britain has Since enjoyed.
“The absolute Rights of Englishmen, as frequently declared in Parliament, from Magna Charta, to this time, are the Rights Of Personal Security, Personal Liberty and of Private Property.
“The Allegiance of British Subjects being natural, perpetual and inseparable from their Persons, let them be in what Country they may; their Rights are also natural inherent and perpetual.
“By the Laws of Nature and of Nations; by the Voice of Universal Reason, and of God, when a Nation takes Possession of a desert, uncultivated uninhabited Country, or purchases of Savages, as was the Case with far the greatest part of the British Settlements; the Colonists transplanting themselves and their Posterity, tho’ Separated from the principal Establishment, or Mother Country, naturally become part of the State with its ancient possessions, and intitled to all the essential Rights of the Mother Country. This is not only confirmed by the practice of the antients, but by the Moderns ever Since the discovery of America. Frenchman, Spaniards and Portugats are not greater Slaves abroad than at home; and hitherto Britons have been as  free, on one Side of the Atlantic as on the other: and it is humbly hoped that his Majesty and the Parliament will in their Wisdom be graciously pleased to continue the Colonies in this happy State.”
“It is presumed, that upon these Principles, The Colonists have been by their Several Charters declared natural Subjects, and entrusted with the power of making their own local Laws, not repugnant to the Laws of England, and with the Power of taxing themselves.” “This legislative power is subject to the same charter to the kings negative as in Ireland. This effectually secures the dependence of the Colonies on Great Britain. By the 13th: of George 2nd: Chapter 9th: even foreigners having lived seven years, in any of the Colonies, are deemed natives on taking the oaths of allegiance; &c. and are declared by the said act to be his majestys natural born subjects of the kingdoms of Great Britain, to all intents Constructions and purposes, as if any of them had been born within the kingdom. The reasons given for this naturalization in the preamble of the act are, that the increase of the people is the means of advancing the wealth or of any nation or Country. And many foreigners and strangers, from the lenity of our Ggovernment, the purity of our religion, the benefit of our laws the advantages of our trade and the security of our property, might be induced to come and settle in some of his Majesty’s Ccolonies in America, if they were partakers of the advantages & privileges, which the native born subjects there enjoy.
“The several acts of parliament and charters, declaratory of the rights and liberties of the colonies are but an affirmance of the common law and law of nature in this point. There are, says my Lord Coke, regularly three incidents to subjects born. (1) Parents under the actual obedience of the king. (2) That the place of his birth be within the king’s dominions. (3) The time of his birth to be Cchiefly Cconsidered. “For he cannot be a subject born of one kingdom, that was born under the allegiance of a king of another kingdom. See Calvin’s case and the several acts & decision on naturalization, from Edward the third to this day. The common Law is received and practised upon here and in the rest of the colonies; and all ancient and modern acts of parliaments, that can be considered as part of or in amendment of the common Law, together with such acts of parliament, as expressly name the plantations, so that the power of the British parliament is held sacred and as uncontrolable in the colonies, as in England. The question is not upon the general Ppower or Rright of the Parliament; but whether it is not circumscribed within some equitable and reasonable Bbounds?. It is hoped it will not be considered as a new doctrine, that even the authority of the parliament of Great Britain is circumscribed by certain bounds, which,  if exceeded, their acts become those of mere power without right, & consequently void. The judges of England have declared in favour of these sentiments, when they expressly declare; that acts of Pparliament against natural equity are void. That acts against the fundamental principles of the British constitution are void. A very important question here presents itself. It essentially belongs to the society, both in relation to the manner, in which it desires to be governed, & to the conduct of the citizens. This is called the Llegislative Ppower. The nation may entrust the exercise of it to the prince or to an assembly: or to an assembly and the Pprince joinedtly, who have then a right of making new & abrogating old laws. It is here demanded whether, if their power extends so far, as to the fundamental laws, they may change the constitution of the state? The principles we have laid down lead us to decide this point with certainty, that the authority of these legislators does not extend so far, & that they ought to consider the fundamental laws as sacred, if the nation has not in very express terms given them the power to change them. For the constitution of the state ought to be fixed; & since that was first established by the nation; which afterwards trusted certain persons with the legislative power, the fundamental laws are excepted from their commission. It appears that the society had only resolved to make provision for the state’s being always furnished with laws, suited to particular conjunctures, & gave the legislature for that purpose the power of abrogating the ancient civil & political laws, that were not fundamental, & of making new ones. But nothing leads us to thingk that it was willing to submit the constitution itself to their pleasure.”
When a nation takes possession of a distant country & settles a collony there that country though seperated from the principle establishment or mother country naturally becomes a part of the state equally with its ancient possessions. Whenever the political laws or treaties make no distinction between them every thing said of the territory of a nation ought also to extend to its colonies. An act of Parliament made against natural equity as to make a man judge in his own cause would be void Hob 87 Trin 12 Jac. Day v. Savage S. C. & P. cited Arg 10 Mod 115 Hill 11 Ann C. B. in case of Thornby & Fleetwood “but says that this must be a clear case & judges will strain hard rather than interpret an act void, ab initio” This is granted but still their authority is not boundless if subject to the controul of the judges in any case. Holt chief justice thought what Lord Coke says, in Dr: Bonham’s case, a very reasonable & true saying, that if an act of parliament should ordain the same person both party & judge, in his own case, it would be a void act of parliament, & an act of parliament can do no wrong tho’ it may do several things that look pretty odd, for it may discharge one from the allegiance he lives under & restore to the state of nature but it can not make one that lives under a government both party and judge per Holt C. J. 12 Mod. 687. 688 Hill 1. 3 W 3 B. R in the case of the city of London v Wood. It appears in our books that in several cases the common law should controul acts of parliament & sometimes adjudge them to be utterly void for when an act of Parliament is against com-right & reason or repugnant & impossible to be performed the common law shall controul it & adjudge it to be void; & therefore 8 E 3. 30 Thomas Tregors Case upon the statute of W 2 Cap 38 & Art sup Chart 9 Herle said that sometimes statutes are made contrary to law & right, which the maker of them perceiving will not put them into execution. This doctrine is agreeable to the law of Nature and Nations and to the divine dictates of Natural & revealed religion. It is contrary to reason that the supreme power should have a right to alter the Constitution This would imply that those who are intrusted with Sovereignty by the people have a right to do as they please. In other words that those who are invested with power to protect the people and support their rights & liberties have a rieght to make slaves of them. This is not very remote from a flat Contradiction. Should the parliament of Great Britain follow the example of Some other foreign States Sweden, Denmark, France &c and vote the King absolute & despotic; would such an act of parliament make him so? Would any Minister in his senses advise a prince to accept of such an offer of power? It would be unsafe to accept of such a donation because the parliament or donors would grant more than it was in their power lawfully to give, the law of Nature never invested them with a power of surrendering their own liberty and the people certainly never entrusted any body of men with a power to surrender theirs in exchange for slavery. But if the whole state be Cconquered if the Nation be subdued in what manner can a victor treat it without transgressing the bounds of justice? What are his rights over the conquest? Some have dared to advance this monstrous principle that the conqueror is absolute master over this conquest that he may dispose of it as his property treat it as he pleases according to the common expression of treating a state as a conquered country and hence they derive one of the sources of despotic Government. But enough of those that reduce men to the state of Transferable goods or use them like beasts of burden who deliver them up as the property or patrimony of another man Let us argue upon principles countenanced by reason & becoming humanity. The whole right of the conquerer proceeds from the just defence of himself which contains the support & prosecution of his rights. Thus when he has totally subdued a nation with whom he had been at war, he may without dispute cause justice to be done him with regard to what gave rise to the war & require payment for the expence & damage he has sustained; he may according to the exigency of the place impose penalties on it as an example, he may should prudence so dictate disable it from undertaking any pernicious design in for the future. But in securing all these views the mildest means are to be preferred. We are always to remember that the law of nature permits no injury to be done to an enemy unless in taking measures necessary for a just defence & a reasonable security. Some princes have only imposed a tribute on it, others have been satisfied in stripping it of some of its privileges dismembering it of a province or keeping it in awe by fortresses; others as their quarrel was only with the Sovreign in person have left a nation in the full enjoyment of its rights only setting a sovreign over it. But if the conquerer thinks propper to retain the sovreignty of the vanquished state & has such a right; the manner in which he is to treat the state still flows from the same principles If the sovreign be only the just object of his complaint reason declares that by his conquest he acquires only such rights as actually belonged to the dethroned sovreign & on the submission of his people he is to govern it according to the laws of the state. If the people do not voluntarily submit, the State of war subsists. When a sovreign as pretending to have the absolute disposal of a people whom he has conquered is for enslaving them he causes the state of war to subsist between this people & him. Mr: De Vattel B. 3. C. 10 Sec 201. R. It is now near three hundred years Since the Continent of N America was 1st: discovered and that by British Subjects the Cabots discovered the Continent before the Spaniards. Ten Generations have passed away thro’ infinite toils and bloody Conflicts in Settling this Country. None of those ever dreamed but that they were intitled at least to equal privileges with those of the same rank born within the realm.
British America has been hitherto distinguished from the slavish Colonies round about it as the fortunate Britons have been from most of their neighbours on the Continent of Europe. It is for the Interest of Great Britain that her Colonies be ever thus distinguished. Every man must wilfully blind himself that dont see the immense value of our acquisitions in the late war and that tho’ we did not retain all at the Conclusion of Peace that we obtained by the Sword; yet our gracious Sovereign at the same time that he has given a divine lesson of equitable moderation to the Princes of the earth, has retained sufficient to make the British arms the dread of the universe, and his name dear to all Posterity.
To the freedom of the British Constitution and to their increase of Commerce tis owing that our Colonies have flourished without diminishing the inhabitants the of our mother Country quite contrary to the effects of plantations made by most other nations which have suffered at home in order to aggrandize themselves abroad. This is a remarkably the case of Spain. The subjects of a free and happy Constitution of Government have a thousand Aadvantages to Colonize above those who live under despotic princes.
“We see how the British Colonies on the continent, have outgrown those of the French.—Notwithstanding they have ever engaged the Salvages to keep us back.—Their advantages over us is the West-Indies are, (1.) A Capital neglect in former reigns, in suffering them to have a firm possession of so many valuable Islands, that we had a better title to than they. (2) The French enable to push their Settlements effectually on the Continent, have bent their views to Islands, and poured vast numbers into them. (3) The climate and business of these Islands is by nature much better adapted to Frenchmen and to Negroes than to Britons. (4) The labour of Slaves, Black or white, will be ever cheaper than that of freemen free men, because that of the Individuals among the former, will never be worth so much as with the latter; but this difference is more than supplied; by numbers under the advantages abovementioned. The French will ever be able to sell their West-India produce cheaper than our own Islanders; and yet while our own Islanders can have such a price for theirs, as to grow much richer than the French, or any other of the King’s Subjects in America, as is the case, and what the Northern Colonies take from the French, and other foreign Islands, Centers finally in return to Great Britain for her Manufactures, to an immense value, and with a vast profit to her. It is contrary to the first principles of policy to clog such a Trade with duties, much more to prohibit it, to the risque if not certain destruction of the fishery. “It is allowed by the most accurate British writers on commerce, Mr. Postlethwait in particular, who seems to favour the cause of the Sugar Islands, that one half of the immense commerce of Great Britain is with her Colonies. It is very certain that without the fishery seven eights of this commerce would cease. The fishery is the center of motion, upon which the wheel of all the British commerce in America turns. Without the American trade, would Britain, as a Commercial State, make any great figure at this day in Europe? “Her trade in woolen and other manufactures, is said to be lessening in all parts of the World, but America where it is increasing, and capable of infinite increase, from a concurrence of every circumstance in its favour. Here is an extensive territory of different climates, which in time will consume, and be able to pay for as much manufactures as Great Britain and Ireland can make, If true maxims are persued. The French for reasons already mentioned, can underwork, and consequently undersell the English manufactures of Great Britain in every market in Europe. But they can send none of their manufacturers here; and it is the wish of every honest British American that they never may; ’tis best they never should, we can do better without the manufactures of Europe, save those of Great Britain, than with them: But without the West-India produce we cannot; without it our fishery must infallibly be ruined. When that is gone our own Islands will very poorly subsist. No British manufactures can be paid for by the Colonists. What will follow? One of these two things, both of which it is the interest of Great Britain to prevent. (1.) The northern Colonists must be content to go naked, and turn Savages. Or (2) Become manufacturers of linnen and woolen, to cloath themselves; which if they cannot carry to the perfection of Europe, will be very destructive to the interests of Great Britain. The Computation has been made, and that within bounds, and it can be demonstrated, that if North America is only driven to the fatal necessity of manufacturing a suit of the most ordinary linnen or woolen for each inhabitant annually, which may be soon done, when necessity the Mother of invention shall opperate Great Britain & Ireland will loose two millions per annum, besides a diminution of the revenue to nearly the same amount. This may appear parodxical, but a few years experience of the execution of the Sugar act, will sufficiently convince the parliament not only of the inutility, but destructive tendency of it, while calculations may be little attended to—That the  trade with the Colonies has been of surprising advantage to Great Britain, notwithstanding the want of a good regulation is past all doubt.—Great Britain is well known to have increased prodigiously both in numbers and in wealth since she began to colonize.—To the growth of the plantations Britain is in a great measure indebtteed, for her present riches and strength.—As the wild wastes of America have been turned into pleasant habitations, and flourishing trading towns; so many of the little Villages and obscure boroughs in Great Britain have put a new face, and all suddenly started up, and become fair markets, and manufacturing towns, and opulent cities. London itself, which bids fair to be the metropolis of the world, is five times more populous than it was in the days of Queen Elizabeth, such are the fruits of the spirit of  Commerce and liberty. Hence it is manifested how much we all owe to that beautiful form of civil Government, under which we have the happiness to live.—
“It is evidently the interest, and ought to be the care of all those intrusted with the administration of Government to see that every part of the British empire enjoys to the full the rights they are intitled to by the laws, and the advantages which result from their being maintained with impartiality and vigour.—This we have seen reduced to practice in the present and preceeding reigns; and have the highest reason from the paternal care and goodness that his Majesty, and the British Parliament, have hitherto been graciously pleased to discover to all his Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, and to the colonists in particular, to rest satisfied, that our privileges will remain sacred and inviolate.—The connection between Great Britain and her Colonies is so natural and strong, as to make their mutual happiness depend upon their mutual support.—Nothing can tend more to the destruction of both, and to foward the measures of their enemies, than sowing the seeds of jealously, animosity and dessention between the mother Country and the Colonies.
“A conviction of the truth and importances of these principles, induced Great Britain during the late War, to carry on so many glorious enterprizes for the defence of the colonies; and those on their part to exert themselves beyond their ability to pay, as is evident from the parliamentary reimbursements.
“If the Spirit of Commerce was attended to, perhaps, duties would be every where decreased, if not annihilated, and prohibitions multiplied.—Every branch of trade that hurts a Community, should be prohibited for the same reason that a private Gentleman would break off commerce with a sharper or an extensive usurer. ’Tis to no purpose to higgle with such people, as you are sure to loose by them.—’Tis exactly so with a Nation, if the balance is against them, and they can possibly subsist without the Commodity—as they generally can in such cases, is like a Composition a prohibition is the only remedy; for a duty in such case, is like a Composition with a thief, that for five shillings in the pound returned, he shall rob you at pleasure; when if the thing is examined to the bottom, you are at five Shillings expence in travelling to get back your five shillings, and he is at the same expence in coming to pay it, so he robs you of but ten shillings in the pound, that you thus wisely compound for. To apply this to trade, I believe every duty that was ever imposed on commerce or in the nature of things can be, will be found to be divided between the state imposing the duty, and the Country exported from. This if between the several parts of the same Kingdom or dominions of the same Prince, can only tend to embarress trade, and raise the price of labour above other States, which is of very pernicious consequence to the husbandman, manufacturer, mariner and merchant, the four tribes that support the whole hive. If your duty is upon the a commodity of a foreign state, it is either upon the whole useful and gainful, and therefore necessary for the husbandmen, and manufacturer, mariner or merchant, as finally bringing a profit to the state by a balance against your State—There is no medium that we no know of.—If the commodity is of the former kind, it should be prohibited; but if the latter, imported duty free, unless you would raise the price of labour by a duty on necessaries, or make the above wise composition for the importation of commodities you are sure to loose by—The only test of a useful commodity is the gain upon the whole to the State; such should be free; the only test of a pernicious trade is the loss upon the whole, or to the community, this should be prohibited. If therefore it can be demonstrated that the Sugar and molasses trade from the northern colonies to the foreign Plantations is upon the whole a loss to the community, by which term is here meant the three kingdoms and the British dominions taken collectively, then and not ’till then should this trade be prohibited.—This never had been proved, nor can be; the Country Contrary being certain to wit, that the nation upon the whole hath been a vast gainer by this trade, in the vend of and pay for its manufactures; and a great loss by a duty upon this trade will finally fall on the British husbandman, manufacturer, mariner & Merchant, and consequently the trade of the Nation be wounded, and in constant danger of being eat out by those who can undersell her.—“The art of underselling, or rather of finding means to undersell, is granted is the grand secret of thrift among commercial States, as well as among individuals of the same State.—Should the British Sugar Islands ever be able to supply Great Britain and her northern Colonies with those articles, it will be time enough to think of a total prohibition; but untill that time, both prohibition and duty will be found to be diametrically opposite to the first principles of policy. Such is the extent of this Continent, and the increase of its inhabitants, that if every inch of the British sugar Islands was as well cultivated as any part of Jamaica, or Barbadoes, they would not now be able to supply Great Britain, and the Colonies on this continent. But before Such further improvements can be supposed to take place in our islands, the demands will be proportionably increased by the increase of the inhabitants on the continent. Hence the reason is plain why the British Sugar Planters are growing rich, and ever will be greater than they can possibly supply, so long as they English hold this continent, and are unrivalled in the fishery.—
“We have every thing good and great to hope from our gracious Sovereign, his Ministry and his Parliament; and trust that when the Services and Sufferings of the British American colonies are fully known to the Mother Country, and the Nature and importance of the plantation trade more perfectly understood at home, that the most effectual measures will be taken for perpetuating the British empire in all parts of the World. An empire built upon the principles of justice, moderation and equity, the only principles that can make a State flourishing, and enable it to elude the machinations of its secret and inveterate enemies.—”
Dear Sir
Excuse Errors, for I cannot revise and correct. I hope your patience will never be put to the tryal of another Letter So long and dry. One or two more much Shorter, will close the Subject of Writts of Assistance, and relieve you from Ennui, do well as your / Friend
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from James Lloyd, August 1818
From: Lloyd, James
To: Adams, John

					—Sir—
					August 1818

				The Humble Daniel Corry, Judge Bridge, Ruel Williams Esqr, and Colonel Corry of Augusta, in the District of Maine, have recently sent me two barrels of flour, made from wheat grown on the borders of the Kennebeck, and there manufactured, believing as they state, that I should be gratified with the accounts of the abundant wheat crops which that District will produce, and on which its Inhabitants appear to rely as a source of great & increasing benefit to them.—As I know not how I can so well meet the patriotic views of the Donors, which I presume must be directed to an extended a diffusion of the knowledge of the introduction and success of this important article of culture among them, as to present a part of it, to him, to whose early, long continued, and useful public labors they are pre-eminently indebted, not only for the prosperity they now but for that which they may hereafter enjoy, and whose interest is alive to the rapidly expanding resources of every part of our great & widely extended Country—;I therefore request you Sir, to do me the honor to accept the half barrel of kennebeck flour which accompanies the present note, which also carries with it the hope, that both neither the motive and nor the quality of the offering is may not be unacceptable to you.—With sentiments of the highest respect / I have the honor to be Sir— / Your Obed & hble Servt.

					—James Lloyd.—

					Sent a half Barrel to Gvr Brooks
Do Prest. Kirkland—


Title: To John Adams from John Marston, 1 September 1818
From: Marston, John
To: Adams, John

					My dear friend
					Quincy 1st Sepr. 1818.

				Parental solicitude for the welfare of a beloved son, I hope will excuse the liberty I take of inclosing you, a letter from Mr Bailey at Washington, who has kindly interested himself in behalf of my son, who you know is a Cadet at West point.My Son has been at the Academy four years, & in consequence, of not passing his last examination in mathematicks, was not included in the list of promotions which lately took place. This is a great disappointment to me, as I have been pleasing myself with the hope, that he would accomplish himself for the corps of Engineers. I am however gratified to find that in submission to discipline—in all the practical parts of the duty of a soldier—in an enthusiastick regard for the duties of his profession—in morals in good habits,—in the deportment of a gentleman—and above all, in an ardent love of Country, instilled into his mind from his earliest infancy—there are none who surpass himAn officer of the army, on whose testimony I can depend, informs me that three appointments have lately taken place in this section; two of which are from the lowest grades in society, without education, or the manners of gentlemen and unfit to associate with officers; the other is a respectable young gentleman who is appointed to the Artillery, tho’ younger, & far inferior in a military education to many Cadets who have been obliged to resign, to prevent being dismissed from the Academy. What must be the feeling, of those parents who have devoted their sons to their Country, to find them superceded by such appointments!I am fully sensible that it is utterly impossible for the President & heads of department to be accurately informed on every application. Recommendations are given without due consideration, consequently appointments are made which are injurious to the interest & honour of the Country, and the government perfectly innocent.You my dear Sir know my son personally. Your virtue I believe is inflexible—I will not ask you anything which that virtue will not dictate—If you can say a word in favour of my son, you will lay me under obligation, & perhaps rescue an honourable & excellent young man from ruin, as there are very few youths, who have received a military education, who succeed in the civil walks of life.You will perceive that my son’s name is sent to the President of the United States, nominated as  a Lieut. of Marines. I should prefer his being placed in the Artillery, as I served in that corps in the revolutionary war, but will submit to the decision of the good President with perfect satisfaction, as I consider him a worthy brother soldier.—I must conclude, with again assuring you that nothing but the fate of an interesting son, could induce me to trouble you on this occasion.Most respectfully / and sincerely / Your friend

					John Marston

					P.S. My son’s name is Ward Marston, now at the Military Academy


Title: To John Adams from James Savage, 3 September 1818
From: Savage, James
To: Adams, John

					Dear Sir,
					Boston 3 Septr. 1818

				without having the honour of acquaintance with you, I feel bold enough to prefer a request, which it may be a benefit to our common country for you to grant, and will refer to my excellent friends, Josiah Quincy or William S. Shaw, Esquires to justify my appeal to your kindness. My friend, George Ticknor, Esquire, now in Spain, will next month visit England, and there desires to enjoy the advantage which a letter from yourself, to introduce him to our minister at the Court of St. James, will afford. You know, Sir, too well the reputation of Mr. Ticknor, Professor of the French and Spanish language and literature at our University, to make it necessary for me to say more, than that I remain, with highest respect / Your obedient servant

					James Savage


Title: From John Adams to Hezekiah Niles, 6 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Niles, Hezekiah

Mr Niles
Quincy Sept 6 1818

I have not Seen one of your register for I know not how many months I have long expected a Volume.
I see I must Subscribe by the Week or the year. Please therefore to put my name down among your Subscribers and tell me to whom shall pay the needfull.
I am Sir your humble servant
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from Caesar Augustus Rodney, 6 September 1818
From: Rodney, Caesar Augustus
To: Adams, John

					Dear Sir,
					Wilmington, Del: Septr. 6. 1818.

				The perusal of your letter to Judge Tudor, published in a late number, of that valuable work, Nile’s Register, has given me great pleasure & satisfaction. You have done justice to departed worth, by rescuing form oblivion, the conduct & character of one of the earliest & ablest defenders of American rights & liberties. The memory of the illustrious James Otis, too long neglected, will be thus transmitted to posterity. You could not have bequeathed them, a more valuable legacy. He was a rare example of splendid talents, fervent patriotism and inflexible  integrity.From my youth, I have been taught to consider him, one of the greatest statesmen of the age. Among the papers of my late Uncle, Cæsar Rodney, who served with him, in the Stampt Act Congress, I have seen several of his letters, which did him infinite honor. This measure, was, perhaps, the offspring of his penetrating mind, for it originated in the House of Representatives of Massachussets, who recommended, unanimously, the time and place of their meeting. How often have I listened to the encomiums pronounced on his eloquent speeches delivered in that illustrious body, of which he was the pride and the principal ornament.The late Governor McKean, under whose auspices I was  educated, and who was the last surviving member of that Congress, has frequently spoken to me, in terms of the highest admiration of his conduct.It was in this assembly of firm & faithful patriots, that the foundation of our liberty was laid. Yet strange to tell, some years before Mr. McKean’s death, he was obliged to resort to “Almon’s Remembrancer” to print an imperfect  sketch of their proceedings. A few months after, he enquired of me, whether I had not, an authentic copy of their Journal, in my possession; and upon being informed that I had, he desired it might be published, as he knew of no other in existence. In compliance with his wish, this was done in Nile’s Register for 1812. Nos. 47. &. 48.In various papers in my possession, I find this distinguished character (James Otis) respectfully mentioned. In a pamphlet originally published, in London, & reprinted in Philadelphia, in the year 1774, entitled “A true State of the Proceedings in the Parliament of Great Britain & the Province of Massachussets Bay,” it is stated, that “Mr Robinson one of the commissioners who had attempted to assassinate Mr. Otis was dispatched to England”My late father Thomas Rodney, with whom, as well as, Cæsar Rodney, you must have been acquainted, in the old Congress, has left the following note in the margin of that page, in the first edition of  Ramsays History of the Revolution, in which, the author breifly notices the Stampt Act Congress. “The historian passes by this Congress, in a very light manner. It was in this Congress that James Otis, of Boston displayed that light and knowledge of the great interests of America, which, shining like the sun, illumined those  who afterward appeared with lustre, in our political hemisphere. Mr Otis was, subsequently injured in his mind by a blow from Mr. Williams Robinson one of the Board of Commrs. at Boston, but he lived until the revolution.”How has it happened that such claims to distinction have been overlooked, and that in the American gallery of portraits we have not long since beheld a faithful likeness of the original?My habitual veneration for the characters of all our old patriots, will, I hope, furnish an apology for this intrusion. Yours Very Respecty.

					Cæsar A. Rodney


Title: From John Adams to William Tudor, Jr., 9 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Tudor, William, Jr.

Dear Sir
Quincy September 9th. 1818

The Charters were quoted or alluded to by Mr Otis frequently in the whole Course of his Argument: but he made them also a more destinct and more Solemn head of his discourse. And here, these Charters ought to be Copied Verbatim.—But an immense Verbiage renders it impossible. Bishop Butler some where Complains of this enormous Abuse of Words in publick Transactions, and John Reed and Theophilus Parsons of Massachusetts have attempted to reform it. So did James Otis. All with little success. I hope however that their examples will be followed and that common sense in common Language will, in time become fashionable.—but the hope must be faint as long as Clerks are paid by the line and the number of Syllables in a Line
Some passages of these Charters must, however, be quoted; and I will endeavour to strip them as well as I can, of their Useless Words. They are recited, in the Charter of King William and Queen Mary, dated the Seventh day of October in the third year of their Reign. i.e in 1691.
Whereas King James the first, in the 18th year of his Reign, did grant to the Council at Plymouth, for the planting and Governing New England, all that Part of America, from the 40th. to the 48th. degree of Latitude, and from Sea to Sea, together with all Lands Waters, Fishings, and all and Singular other Commodities, Jurisdictions Royalties; Priveleges, Franchises and Preeminences, both within the Said Tract of Land upon the Main, and also within the Islands and Seas adjoining: to have and hold, all, unto the said Council their Heirs and Successors and Assigns forever: to be holden of his said Majesty as of his Manor of East Greenwich in free and common Socage, and not in Capite, or by Knights Service. Yeilding to the King a fifth Part of the Oar of Gold and Silver. For and in respect of all and all manner of Duties, Demands and Services whatsoever. But I cannot pursue to the end, this infinite Series of Words,—you must read the Charter again. For although you and I have read it fifty times, I believe you will find it as I do, much Stronger in favour of Mr Otis’s Argument than I expected or you will expect. I doubt Whether you will take the pains to read it again: but your Son will and to him I recommend it.—
The Council of Plymouth, on the 19th. of March, in the 3d year of the Reign of Charles the first, granted to Sir Henry Rosswell and others Part of New England by certain Boundaries, with all the Prerogatives and Privileges.
King James Charles 1st. on the 4th. of March, in the fourth year of his Reign confermed to Sir Henry Rosswell and others, all those Lands before granted to them by the Council of Plymouth.—
King Charles the first, created, Sir Henry Rosswell, and others a Body Corporate and Politick. And Said Body Politick, did Settle a Body Colony which became very populous.—
In 1684. in the 36th. year of King William and Queen Mary’s dearest Uncle, Charles the Second, a Judgment was given in the Court of Chancery, that the Letters Patent of Charles the first, should be cancelled vacated and annihilated.—
The Agents petitioned to be reincorporated, I can easily conceive their Perplexity, their Temidity, their Uncertainty, their Choice of Difficulties, their necessary Preference of the least of a multitude of Evils: for I have felt them all, as keenly as they did.—
William and Mary, Unite Massachusetts, new Plymouth Nova Scotia, and the Province of Maine into one Province, to be holden in Fee as of the Manor of East Greenwich, paying one fifth of Gold and Silver Oar.—
Liberty of Conscience to be granted at all Christians except Papists. Good God! A Grant from a King of Liberty of Conscience! Is it not a Grant of the King of Kings, which no Puppit of a Royolest Royolet upon Earth can give or take away?
The Records and Files of the Court of Probate in Boston were transported to Hallifax. Judge Foster Hutchinson had the Honour to return them after the Peace of 1783. But Admiralty Records have never been restored as I have heard.—
The subject may be pursued hereafter by your Servant
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from William Tudor, Jr., 9 September 1818
From: Tudor, William, Jr.
To: Adams, John

					Dear Sir,
					Sandwich Sept 9th. 1818

				I write to return my thanks for your kind answer to my letter respecting the biography of James Otis—which I did not receive in course being absent from town, but it was forwarded to me by my Father.I am here with Mr Baldwin making some surveys of the ground for the Canal; and shall not lose the opportunity of inquiring among the gentlemen of this County for anecdotes of the great Patriots which it gave birth to. I shall see what materials I can collect, before I finally resolve on the undertaking. I come to it with unfeigned diffidence, & hesitation. All my previous writing has been only a sort of desultory scribbling, and the plan of a regular work carries with it all the apprehension that attends untried efforts. There is something so severe & elevated in the character of the man, and so momentous in the scenes in which he was engaged, the revolution of which you have shewn him to be one of the first movers, has had and is yet to have such a wide bearing on the interests of the civilized world, that I approach the task with the awe that the poets tells us the men of their degenerate day looked at the armour of ancient heroes. I should be loth to commence, without having at least the hope of executing it in a manner that would not require it should be done again, and there is something obviously animating in such a hope since the name of James Otis will go down to after times.  I appreciate the permission to make use of your letters, which have so fully developed his public labours; indeed without those I never should have ventured at all upon the subject. Your example encourages at one moment & discourages the next—that you should be in possession of all the wisdom & experience resulting from a long & eventful life employed for such a series of  years in the highest concerns is a matter of congratulation, but that you should at the same time have all the vivacity & enterprize of youth in your writings is almost a subject to furnish an excuse for envy. With the highest respect, / I am your hble sert

					W. Tudor jr.


Title: From John Adams to Caesar Augustus Rodney, 13 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Rodney, Caesar Augustus

Dear Sir
Quincy September 13, 1818.

You cannot imagine how much You have obliged me by your kind Letter of the 6th.
I was intimately acquainted with your Uncle Cesar Rodney who under the constant pressure of ill health, preserved a clear Under Staing and a firmness a stediness, and inflexibility of heart, equal to any Statesman I have known. He was pleased to be very Social and familiar with me; and there was no Topick on which he delighted more to descant, than on the Character of Mr Otis, and his Conduct in what you call the “Stamp Act Congress,” of 1765. He Often Said to me, that “Mr Otis was the best Speaker, and the greatest Statesman in that Assembly; the greatest Master of every Subject; whenever all appeared at a loss, and no Man pretended to have any Information on a Subject, Mr Otis would rise and explain every Thing to the Satisfaction of all.” Mr Mackeen has often Said to me the Same things in Substance.
Your Letter Sir, is to me a Pearl of great price. I was So affected on the first reading of it, that I thought of nothing but printing it the next day. But Seeing the Word “Private” I dared not publish it without Your Consent. I do now most earnestly request your permission to publish it, totidem Liberis et numeris, for it cannot be mended, except in One Word. Robinson for Williams. To renew a friendship with the Name of Rodney will be and is a great Pleasure to your / most obedient and humble Servant

John Adams


Title: From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 13 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Tudor, William, Sr.

Dear Sir
Quincy September 13th. 1818

It is some consolation to find in the Paragraph of the Charter, next following the Court of Admiralty, that Nothing in it, “Shall in any manner enure, or be taken to a bridge, bar, or hinder any of our loving Subjects Whatsoever, to Use and exercise the Trade of Fishing upon the Coasts of New England, but that they and every of them Shall have full and free Power and Liberty to continue and Use their Said Trade of Fishing upon the said Coast, in any of the Seas thereunto adjoining, or any Arms of the Said Seas, or Salt Water Rivers, where they have been wont to fish; and to build and Sett, upon the Lands within our Said Province or Colony, lying Waste, and not then possessed by particular Proprietors, Such Wharfs, Stages, and Work-Houses, as Shall be necessary for the Salting, Drying, Keeping and Packing of their Fish, to be taken And gotten upon that Coast; and to cutt down and take Such Trees and other Materials there growing or being upon any Parts or Places lying Waste, and not then in Possession of particular Proprietors, as Shall be needful for that purpose, and for all other necessary Easments, Helps and Advantages, concerning the Trade of Fishing there, in Such manner and form, as they have been heretofore at any time accustomed to do, without making any wilfull Waste or Spoil, any thing in these Presents to the contrary, not with standing.”
Fellow Citizens! Recollect that “This Our Province or Colony” contained the Whole of Nova Scotia as well as the “Province of Maine Massachusetts Bay and New Plymouth.” Will you ever Surrender one particle one Iota of this Sacred Charter Right, and Still more Sacred Right of Nature, Purchase Acquistion Possession Usage and habit and Conquest, let the Thunder of British Cannon Say what it will? I know you will not. I know you cannot. And if you could be base enough to Surrender it, which I know you cannot and never will be, Your Sons will reclaim it, and redemand it, at the Price of What ever blood or Treasure it may cost. and will obtain it, Secure it and command it, forever. This pretended Grant is but an Acknowledgement of Your antecedent Right by Nature, and by English Liberty. You have no Power or Authority to Alienate it. It was granted or rather Acknowledged you your Successors and Posterity as well as to You, and any Cessions you could make would be null and void in the Sight of God and all reasonable Men.
Mr Otis descanted largely on these Charters. His Observations carried irresistable conviction, to the Minds and Hearts of many others as well as to mine, that every one of those Statutes from the Navigation Act to the last Act of Trade was a violation of all the Charters and Compacts between the two Countries, was a fudamental Invasion of our essential Rights, and was consequently null and void; that the Legislatures of the Colonies, and especially of Massachusetts, had the Sole and exclusive Authority of Legislation and especially of Taxation in America.
The Indecision and Inconsistency which appear in Some of Mr Otiss Subsequent Writings is greatly to be regretted and lamented. They resemble those of Colonel Bland, as represented by Mr Wirt. I wish I had Col. Blands Pamphlet that I might compare it with Some of Mr Otis’s.
I have too many dayly proofs of the infirmity of my memory to pretend to recollect, Mr Otis’s Reasoning in detail. If indeed, to I had a general recollection of any of his Positions I could not express them in that close, concise nervous and energetic languag, which was peculiar to him, and which I never possessed.
I must leave you, Sir to make your own Observations and Reflections upon these Charters. But you may indulge me in throwing out a few hints, rather hints, or as Queres or Topicks of Speculation, than as positive Opinions. And here, though I See a wide field I must make it narrow.
1. Mr Bollan was a kind of learned Man, and as of indefatigable Research; and a faithful Friend to America; though he lost all his influence when his Father in Law Governor and General Shirley went out of Circulation. This Mr Bollan printed a Book very early on the “Rights of The Colonies.” I Scarcely ever knew a Book So deeply despized. The English Reviews would not allow it to be the production of a rational Creature, In America itself it was held in no Esteem. Otis himself expressed in the House of Representatives, in a public Speech his contempt of it, in these Words “Mr Bollans Book is the Strangest thing I ever read; Under the Title of Rights of the Colonies, he has employed one third of his Work to prove that the World is round and another, that it turns round; and the last that The Pope was a Devil for pretending to give it to whom he pleased.”
All this I regretted. I wished that Bollan had not only been permitted but encouraged to proceed. There was no doubt he would have produced much in illustration, of the Ecclesiastical and Political Superstition and Despotism of the Ages when Colonization commenced and proceeded. But Bollan was discouraged and ceased from his Labours.
What is the Idea Mr Tudor of Brittish Allegiance? And of European Allegiance? Can you, or rather will you analyze it. At present, I have demands upon me, which compell me to close abruptly / With the usual regard of your Friend
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Virginia Patiot, 17 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Virginia Patiot

Sir,
Quincy Sep 17th. 1818

I thank you for the copy of Decius’s letters &c. And I pray you, accept a Sermon of Dr Mayhew in 1749—50, and to present another to Decius, whoever that Gentleman may be, with the compliments of one who agrees with him in the Aphorism “Omnes deteriores sumus Licentia” and who is his and your well wisher / and humble Servant

John Adams


Title: From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 18 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Tudor, William, Sr.

Mr. Tudor
Quincy Sepbr 18th 1818

The English doctrine of Allegiance, is so mysterious, fabulous, & enigmatical, that it is difficult to decompose the Elements Of which it is compounded. The Priests under the Hebrew Economy, especially the Sovereign Pontiff were anointed with consecrated Oil, which was poured upon their heads in such profusion, that it ran down their beards, & they were thence called “The Lords Anointed” When Kings were permitted to be introduced, they were anointed in the same manner by the Sovereign Pontiff & they too were called “The Lords Anointed.” When the Pontiffs of Rome assumed the Customs, Pomps & ceremonies of the Jewish Priesthood, they assumed the power of consecrating Kings by the same ceremony of “Holy Oil.” The Pope, who as Vicar of God possessed the whole Globe of earth in supreme dominion & absolute property, possessed also the power of sending the Holy Ghost wherever he pleased. To France it pleased his Holiness to send him in a Phial of Oil to Rheims in the beak of a Dove. I have not heard that my friend Louis the 18th has yet been consecrated at Rheims, by the pouring on of this holy Oil, but his worthy elder brother Louis 16th was so consecrated at a vast expence of treasure & ridicule. How the holy bottle was conveyed to England is worth Enquiry. But there it is, and is used at every Coronation & is demurely, if not devoutly shewn to every traveller, who visits the Tower, these ideas were once, as firmly established in England, as in Rome; and no small quantity of the Relics of them remain to this day; Hence the doctrine of the divine right of Kings, & the duties in subjects of unlimited submission, passive obedience, and non resistance, on pain, on pain (oh! how can I write it) of Eternal damnation. these doctrines have been openly & boldly asserted, & defended, since my memory, in the town of Boston, & in the town of Quincy, by persons of no small consideration in the world, whom I could name, but I will not, because their posterity are made softened from this severity
This indelible character of Sovereignty in Kings, & obedience in Subjects still remains the rights & duties, are inherent, unalienable, indefeasible, indestructable, & immortal. Hence the right of a Lieutenant, or Midshipman of a British Man of War, to search all American Ships, impress every Seaman his Judgeship shall decree by Law, & in fact, to be a subject of his king, and compel him to fight, though it may be against the Father Brother, or Son. My Countrymen! Will you submit to these miserable remnants of Priestcraft and Despotism?
There is no principle or Law or Government, that has been more deliberately, or more solemnly adjudged in Great Britain than that Allegiance is not due to the King in his official capacity or political capacity, but merely to his personal capacity. Allegiance to Parliament is no where to be found in English, Scottish, or British Laws. What then had our Ancestors to do with Parliament? Nothing more than with the Jewish Sanhedrin or Napoleons literary & Scientific Institute at Grand Cairo. They owed no Allegiance to Parliament, as a whole or in parts. None to the house of Lords, as a branch of the Legislature, nor to any individual Peer, or number of Individuals. None to the House of Commons, as another branch, nor to any Individual Commoner, as groups of Commoners. They owed no allegiance to the Nation, any more than the Nation owed them; and they had as good, & clear a right to make Laws for England, as the people of England had to make Laws for them. What right then had King James the first to the Sovereignty dominion or property of North America? No more than King George the third has to Georgium Sidus, because Mr Herschel discovered that Planet in his reign. his only colour, pretension, or pretext is this. The Pope as head of the Church in England was Sovereign of the world. Henry the 8th deposed him, became head of the Church in England & consequently became sovereign Master, & proprietor of as much of the Globe as he could grasp. A Group of his Nobles hungered for immense landed Estate in America & obtained from his Quasi Holiness a large Tract. but it was useless & unprofitable to them. they must have Planters and Settlers. The sincere & conscientious Protestants, had been driven from England to Holland Germany & Switzerland Geneva &c. by the terrors of Stocks, Pillories, Croppings, Scourges, Imprisonments, Roastings & Burnings, under Henry the 8th Elizabeth Mary, James the first, & Charles the first. The noblemen & Gentlemen of the Council of Plymouth wanted Settlers for their lands in America, set on foot a negotiation, with the persecuted fugitive Religionists abroad, promised them liberty of Conscience, exemption from all Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical, civil & political except Allegiance to the King and the tribute, moderate surely of one fifth of Gold & Silver Oar. This Charter was procured by the Council Plymouth & displayed off as a Lure to the persecuted, fugitive Englishmen abroad, & they were completely taken into the snare as Charles the 2nd. convinced them in the first years of his actual, and the twelfth of his imaginary reign. Sir Josiah Child, Enemy as he was has stated in the Paragraphs, quoted from him in a former letter, fairly and candidly the substance of these facts.
Our Ancestors had been so long abroad, that they had acquired comfortable establishments, especially in Holland that singular region of Toleration, that glorious Assylum for persecuted Hugonets and Puritans; that Country, where Priests have been eternally worrying one another & alternately teasing the Government, to persecute their Antagonists, but where enlightened Statesmen have constantly & intrepidly resisted their wild fanaticism.
The first charter, the charter of James the first, is more like a treaty between Independent Sovereigns than like a Charter or grant of privileges, from a Sovereign to his Subjects. Our Ancestors were tempted by the prospect & promise of a Government of their own, independent in religion, Government, Commerce, Manufactures, and every thing else excepting one or two Articles of trifling importance.
Independence of English Church & State was the fundamental principle of the first Colonization has been its general principle for 200 years, & now I hope, is past dispute.
Who then was the Author, Inventor, Discoverer of Independence? The only true answer must be the first Emigrants, & the proof of it is, The charter of James the first. When we say that Otis, Adams Mayhew, Henry, Lee, Jefferson &c were Authors of Independence, we ought to say, they were only Awakeners & Revivers of the original fundamental principle of Colonization. I hope soon to relieve you from the trouble of this tedious Correspondence with your humble / Servant
John Adams.


Title: To John Adams from Hezekiah Niles, 19 September 1818
From: Niles, Hezekiah
To: Adams, John

					Honored Sir,
					Balt. Sept 19. 1818

				My time has latterly been so severely occupied that I fear I have been remiss in sending to you the different numbers of the Register enriched by your communications. But the 13th vol. was duly sent to Mr. Ballard, & the 14th, only completed on the 1st inst—after which the index for it was to be done, is now on its way to you by water—together with a Copy of the General Index for the first series, or first 12 volumes—a very laborious, & I trust a very useful appendage to the Register.With great respect, / your Obt St.

					H Niles

					Mr Ballard I presume will deliver the vol. the moment it is received. He has also the little bill due me.


Title: From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 23 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Tudor, William, Sr.

Dear Sir
Quincy September 23d 1818

If, in our Search of Principles We have not been able to investigate any moral phylosophical or rational foundation for any Claim of Dominion or Property in America, in the English Nation, their Parliament or even of their King; if the whole appears a mere Usurpation of Fution Fancy and Superstition: What was the Right to dominion or Property in the native Indians?
Shall We Say that a few handfulls of Scattering Tribes of Savages have a Right of Dominion and Property over a quarter of the Globe capable of nourishing hundreds of Millions of happy human Beings? Why had not Europeans a Right to come and hunt and fish with them?
The Indians had a Right to Life Liberty and Property in common with all Men. But what Right to Dominion or Property beyond these? Every Indian had a Right to his Wigwam his Armour his Utensils; When he had burned the Woods about him and planted his Corn and Beans his Squashes and Pompions, all these were his undoubted Right: but will you infer from this that he had Right of Exclusive Dominion and Property over immense Regions of uncultivated Wilderness that he never Saw, that he might have the exclusive Priviledge of hunting and fishing in them which he himself never expected or hoped to enjoy.
These Reflections appear to have occurred to Our Ancestors and their general Conduct was regulated by them. They do not Seem to have had any Confidence in their Charter, as conveying any Right, except against the King who Signed it. They considered the Right to be in the Native Indians. And in Truth all the Right there was in the Case, lay there. They accordingly respected the Indian Wigwams and poor plantations, their Clambanks and Musclebanks and Oysterbanks and all their Property.
Property in Land, antecedent to civil Society, or the Social Compact, Seems to have been confined to actual Possession, and power of commanding it. It is the Creature of Convention; of Social Laws and artificial Order. Our Ancestors however, did not amuse themselves nor puzzle themselves with these Refinements. They considered the Indians as having Rights: and they entered into Negotiations with them, purchased and paid for their Rights and Claims whatever they were, and procured Deeds, Grants and Quit-claims of all their Lands, leaving them their Habitations Arms Utensils Fishings huntings and Plantations. There is Scarcely a Litigation at Law concerning a Title to Land, that may not be traced to an Indian Deed. I have in my Possession, Somewhere a Parchment Copy of a Deed of Massasoit of the Township of Braintree incorporated by the Legislature in 1639, one thousand Six hundred And thirty nine. And this was the general Practice, through the Country and has been to this day, through the Continent. In Short I See not how the Indians could have been treated with more Equity or Humanity than they have been in general in North America. The Histories of Indian Wars have not been Sufficiently regarded.
When Mr Hutchinsons History of Massachusetts Bay first Appeared, one of the most Common Criticisms upon it, was the Slight, cold and unfeeling manner in which he passes over the Indian Wars. I have heard Gentlemen the best informed in the History of the Country Say “He had no Sympathy for the Sufferings of his Ancestors” “Otherwise he could not have winked out of Sight, one of the most important, most affecting, afflicting and distressing Branches of the History of his Country.”
There is Somewhere in Existence, as I hope and believe, a Manuscript History of Indian Wars, written by the Reverend Samuel Niles of Braintree. Almost Sixty Years ago I was an humble acquaintance of this venerable Clergyman, then, as I believe more than fourscore Years of Age. He asked me many questions, and informed me, in his own House, that he was endeavouring to recollect and commit to writing and History of Indian Wars, in his own time, and before it, as far as he could collect Information. This History he compleated and prepared for the Press: but no Printer would undertake it, or venture to propose a Subscription for its publication. Since my return from Europe, I enquired of his Oldest Son The Honourable Samuel Niles of Braintree, on a Visit he made me at my own House, what was become of that Manuscript? He laughed and Said it was Still Safe in the Till of a certain Trunk, but no Encouragement have ever appeared for its publication. Ye Liberal Christians! Laugh not at me, nor frown upon me, for thus reviving the Memory of your once formidable Enemy. I was then no more of a Disciple of his Theological Science than Ye are now. But I then revered and Still revere the honest virtuous and pious man. Fas est, et ab hoste doceri. And his Memorial of Facts might be of great Value to this Country. What infinite Pains have been taken and expenses incured in treaties, Presents, Stipulated Sums of Money, Instruments of Agriculture, Education? What dangerous and unwearied Labours to con convert these poor ignorant Savages to Christianity? And Alass! With how little Success? The Indians are as biggotted to their Religion as the Mahometans are to their Koran, the Hindoos, to their Shasta, the Chinese to Confucius, the Romans to their Saints and Angells, Or the Jews to Moses and the Prophets. It is a Principle of Religion, at bottom, which inspires the Indians with Such an invincible Aversion both to Civilization and Christianity. The Same Principle has excited their perpetual Hostilities againsts the Colonists and the independent Americans.
If the English Nation, their Parliaments and all their Kings have appeared to be tottally ignorant of all these things, or at least to have vouchsafed no Consideration upon them; if We, good patriotic Americans have forgotten them; Mr Otis had not. He enlarged on the Merit of our Ancestors in Undertaking So perilous arduous and almost desperate Enterprize, in disforresting bare Creation; in conciliating and necessarily contending with Indian Natives; in purchasing rather than conquering a Quarter of the Globe at their own Expense, at the Sweat of their own Brows; at the hazard and Sacrifice of their own Lives; without the Smallest Assistance or Comfort from the Government of England, or from England itself as a Nation. On the contrary, constant Jealousy Envy, Intrigue against their Charter, their Religion and all their Priviledges. Laud, the pious Tyrant dreaded them, as if he foresaw they would overthrow his Religion. Mr Otis, reproached the Nation, Parliaments and Kings with Injustice, Ungererosity, Ingratitude Cruelty, and Perfidy in all their Conduct towards this Country, in a Style of oratory that I have never heared equalled in this or any other Country.
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Caesar Augustus Rodney, 26 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Rodney, Caesar Augustus

Dear Sir
Quincy Sept. 26 1818

I thank you for Permission to publish your former Letter.
In that Letter you allude to original Letters from Mr Otis which you have Seen, and which do him honour.
I dare not ask for those Original Letters, because If I possessed them myself, I would not part with them.
But if you will favour me with Copies you will greatly oblige me.  I would hesitate at no Price for them.
I can never recollect the Character and History of Mr Otis, without a tenderness of Sentiment, that all my Stoical Phylosphy cannot conquer. One must have lived with him to have known him.
I wish, Sir, that I lived near you and that I could converse with you every day. You have lately travelled in the Country the most interesting as far as I know, in the World. I gaze with Awe and reverence on South America. And I have gazed for forty years. That all America will be torn from the Domination of Europe I have never doubted: but what will be the Effects and Consequences? Aye! theres the Rub. My Maxim is all Such Cases of incomprehensible difficulty, has always been “Stand Still and See, the Salvation of the Lord.”!
A free Government in South America would produce Revolutions in Religion and Government over the whole Globe: But what an hundred Despotisms would produce who can foresee? I am Sir your much obliged Friend
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from Ann Hewison, 26 September 1818
From: Hewison, Ann
To: Adams, John

					Sir
					N Shields Septr. 26—1818

				I have taken the Liberty of writing to inform you that I have by me Manuscripts of the travels for 5 years of A Mr. Wm. Langborn (A Native of Virginia) through France Holland England, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia prussia, Germany Turkey, Italy, &c. they are very voluminous and if published would be particularly interesting to his Country they were sent to England by A Gentmn sealed up Under the restriction that they should not be opened for ten years in which time should he not claim them the Gent. was to make what use of them he pleased they are wrote so small that altho many saw them not one had application enough to read them except myself who they were made a present to; Now Sir as I intend to publish them I shall esteem myself highly honored if you would be so kind as favor me with some account of him his Rank &c As he almost travelled Invariably on foot was taken up for A spy at Wallada, Moscow, and suffered many hardships frequently reduced to beg I would like to be informed what his motives could be sometimes it would appear to have been entirely for the information of his Country to which he was most Jealously Attached as the following extract will proveVenice Jany 14 1790There is no man that searches acquaintances less than myself nor is there one that deserves the worthy part more the English and their dependants I know well their Government as well as mine is similar the people the same, I have often observed on the Continent the Chagrin that An American gives an English or Scotchman they are self conceited there is A prejudice in their favor, they boast and bully the people submit to both, since the English have been driven out of France which is murder to suggest to them they have so conducted themselves in the North that their Arms and Navy added to their money has merit in the Opinion of these Northerners as well as other Nations the peculiar situation of England is similar to a large Fortress ‘tho whenever attacked pregnable still its forgot and the English claim their merit in strength because its not tried the American War it must be confessed has opened the Eyes of all Europe yet as the greater part of the world is informed by report they are liable  to be imposed on which the English most generally do to preserve their credit in the last War they have the Credit of being Candid consequently too much believed When An American who from his rarity as well as novelty courage in the last war presents himself their stories disagree so widely that its impossible for the English to suffer him, the American generally treats the English as revenged of them for their injuries and satisfied the English search revenge and ever will because we are no longer their Slaves, As I am always Incog and seldom as an American I cant be supposed to be much in their way still the instance of this Evening will Justify my Opinion tho I except men of sense and truth, the Club that I was obliged in some measure to Join by the invitation of one of the Capts. of Ships who joined me in St. Mark we found the same party with the addition of the Vice Counsul A Mr. Watson who had called on me in complaisance to A visit I made to deliver by particular desire the respects of the Consul of Trieste Mr. Stanly I had my glass of Punch the conversation was indifferent we went after to walk in St. Mark all the rest dropped off but the Scotch Illiberal fellow of a Vice Consul he was full of Chat his voice his prejudices & in speaking of the Emperor and many other matters confirmed him in my opinion in every sense of the word to be a disagreeable Scotchman I did not suppose the fellow had any design on me till to night he did not know I was an American   at length the conversation turned on America and on the Scotch merchants and the debts due them from America knowing his bad information I endeavoured by plain facts and Justice to Justify the Americans and to convince him of the Justice of stopping executions against Debtors for a certain time and particularly that the Articles of peace had not been complied with on their part that the means of paying the Scotch debts was still in Governments hands that the Courts of Justice of England was shut against the American Creditors in recovering the property Have took away that our Forts were still in their possession contrary to an Article of the treaty still all had no effect my supposing him wrong from information made me hear from him what was Illiberal false brutish and Blackguardish at my moderation his voice as elevated and he began to be general in his damnable Opinions seeing that all was an error of the heart I attacked him when his voice was the most Elevated and his pride up I ordered him to halt and in the same tone demanded an Explanation that if he chose to represent Scotland and make War against me as an American he had nothing to do but proceed the great fool was dumb I had my turn and was so vexed that I gave him a lecture of half an hour in the public place of St. Mark with A Voice and action that I wished the people could have understood for we were well noticed he made me every acknowledgement believed me every thing good did not mean to hurt my feelings &c I told him that he should never forget that he was A Scotchman by Dr. Johnsons rule esteemed only by his own Country that as frequently A Rebel he should be ashamed to insult us under that Epithet that he should not envy us being happier in our Revolution than his Nation in their Rebellions that I never wished to speak on the subject that I was satisfied with the conduct of the Americans in the Revolution that we did not care for England in any sense of the wordThe following extract will well shew how I knew of your Excellencys knowledge of himLondon 17 July 1786Waited on Col Smith found at No 16 Wimpole street his reception was candid and friendly his conduct was always good now enviable he has made choice of A Lady whose goodness was admired by all who knew her she realized all the reports I had heard on haveing the pleasure of being made known to her—Satur 18Did myself the pleasure agreeably to yesterdays invitation of Dining with Mr. Adams and his Family we had but one stranger he remarkable for his American Attachment our dinner was plain neat and good Mrs. Adams’s Accomplishments and agreeableness would have Apologized for any thing otherwiseWedReceived an invitation to dinner with his Excellency Mr. Adams thro’ Col. Smith he read me a letter from Short it was laborious but good enough for the subject except the congratulatory part, Smiths answer was well and proved to me how capable A virtuous mind is of doing good he never wanted good sense Rich Ideas and liberal Sentiments but now he possesses more sound reason knowledge of right and wrong of mankind and application to right that makes him an example to all and enviable to manySunWalked to Hackney to hear preach and pray the celebrated Dr Price who is distinguished as an Author on many laudable subjects a friend to mankind and is a good man I waited for Mr. Adams and family who had offered me a part of their Box which the Society had built particularly for them this must have been mutually flattering as well to Mr Adams as to the Congregation—Sir, the size of A large volume would not give an Idea of the merit of the work which I shall endeavour if possible to have pubushed herefore I will esteem myself highly Obliged if you will be so good as let me know what account you can of his family and Rank in the Army—


Title: From John Adams to Horace Holley, 28 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Holley, Horace

Dear Sir
Quincy Sept. 28. 1818

I presume I Shall not have The pleasure of Seeing You before your departure. My best Wishes will ever attend you. Your powerful Mind and uncommon Talents will mark your Progress, wherever you go.
Success is in heaven. And does not always descend according to our Ideas of Justice. I Shall never forget a Motto under a Portrait of the Protector Cromwell
“Careat Successibus, Opto
Quisquis ab Eventu, facta notanda putat.”
Mr Jefferson, laments, from The impression you left upon his Family, The loss of an Opportunity of conversing with You.
How happy Should I have been to have visited Carrol and Madison with You.
If your important Engagements Should allow You a moment to drop me a Line, it will greatly oblige your Sincere Friends Abigail and
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Hezekiah Niles, 29 September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Niles, Hezekiah

Mr Niles
Quincy September 29th 1818

Will you be so good as to print in your Register, the inclosed Original Letter from Mr Rodney and the Copy of my Answer.—As I never saw this Gentleman and know his name only by Newspaper fame, his Letter was as unexpected to me as if it had fallen from the Morning Star. I have his explicit Permission to publish it and am ambitious that my name should descend to Posterity in friendly Company with his. I pray you to return me, Mr Rodneys original Letter, for I have no means of multiplying Copies.—
I have received your 13th Volume and ordered the Bill to be paid. The 14th. and the general Index I hope will soon arrive, and the Bills shall be paid.—
A note, in this 13th Volume had diverted me so much that it has provoked me to send you half a dozen Sermons of Dr Mayhew upon “Passive Obedience.”
I had hoped that this Tory Doctrine was become unfashionable.—In France, it cannot be revived. The Clergy have renounced it, When the Comte De Estaigne in the Assembly of Notables said that he believed in the divine Right, and Sacred inviolable Character of Kings; the Bishop of Langres, a Duke and Peer who had Assisted at the Consceration of Louis the Sixteenth at Rheims, arose and said “Nous ne disons plus cela.”
But I find France is more liberal than England—In the first Volume of Bishop Horseleys Sermons page Sixty Six—you will find these Words “The peaceable Submission of the Subject to the very worst of Kings, is one of the most peremptory Precepts of Christianity.”
John Adams—.


Title: To John Adams from John Sanderson, 29 September 1818
From: Sanderson, John
To: Adams, John

					Sir,
					Philada. Septr. 29th. 1818.

				I have taken the liberty of sending to your address some pages of a work I have just put to press in Philada.—A copy of which I shall convey to you, entire, as the nos. or half vollumes  are competed. The first will be published in a few weeks, & the others at convenient intervals, perhaps of six months.—I wished very much to consult you on the subject of this publication before the present time, and especially to request from you some notice of the life of Mr. Hancock; but from the respect which I felt was due to that repose, which has so long been sacrificed to the interests of others, I abstained from it. On a nearer view however, of a difficulty the importance & sacredness of the task I have perhaps rashly undertaken, I have ventured to solicit your attention to it.The sketch I now send you is yet without revision, or final preparation for the public; it contains, however, the sum of the inteligence my enquiries have enabled me to obtain; which is indeed very scanty & general. I regret extremely my inability to converse or correspond with some one whose intimacy with Mr. Hancock might have supplied my imperfections in the knowledge of his character & the incidents of his life.In describing the characters of  those to whom we are indebted for the best of all human blessings, I feel impelled by my warmest inclinations, as well as interests, to use no expressions unworthy of them; I need not, therefor declare to you the gratitude I should owe to your kindness for any information which may promote the interests of an undertaking for which I feel the most anxious and religious solicitude.With great respect / I have the honor to be / Your Obt. hbl. Sevt.

					John Sanderson


Title: To John Adams from Alden Bradford, 30 September 1818
From: Bradford, Alden
To: Adams, John

					Sir,
					Boston Sepr. 30th. 1818

				I have thot it would be a useful & acceptable service to have published in a volume, the Speeches of the Governors of the Province of Massachusetts from 1765 to 1775; & the answers to those speeches by the House of Representatives, together with other addresses of the Representatives to the people, in the same period, touching the controversy between the Colonies & the the King & Parliament of G. Britain. These documents would show what the Governors claimed, on the one hand, as to the authority of the British government; & the principles contended for, on the other, by the People here, as to their rights in all cases of internal policy, taxes &c— Should you approve of such a publication, & think it important to preserve & publish these documents in such a form, I should esteem it a great favor to receive your opinion, with liberty to communicate it to the public, in a prospectus which would be circulated for subscription—A printer in this town will engage to do the work under my inspection, should it be considered proper to prosecute the plan—with sentiments of great / esteem & respect,  I am, / Sir, your obt Servt—

					Alden Bradford


Title: To John Adams from Rev. Horace Holly, 30 September 1818
From: Holly, Rev. Horace
To: Adams, John

					My dear Sir.
					Boston, September 30th 1818.

				Your letter of the 28th was handed to me yesterday. That, which you did me the honor to write to me at Lexington, went thither in the mail and returned before I received it. I should have answered it immediately, had I not intended every day to get an early opportunity to make you a visit at Quincy. My wishes on this subject have been controled by the series of preparations which I have been obliged to make to leave my parish, to procure tutors for my college, to perform the long journey with my family, and to preach, as well as act in all the details of business. But I have never for a moment thought of departing from Boston for so long an absence as my present enterprise indicates, without calling to pay my respects to you and Mrs Adams in person, and to receive your benediction. I am grateful for the privilege of being allowed to consider you as the acquaintances and friends of Mrs Holley and myself. Your good opinion of me goes directly to my heart, and the letters, in which it is expressed, I shall preserve with pride and veneration. I needed not the stimulus of this to keep in my remembrance the pleasure and instruction which I have derived from the hours spent in conversation at your house. One of the felicities of my journey south and west was the opportunity it gave me of speaking of you to a succession of new acquaintances who were all interested to talk about New England, her institutions, her manners, & her great men. I hope to aid in the honorable cause of making the east and the west better acquainted with each other, and thus to promote union and good will.  I regret the loss of the opportunity to see Mr Jefferson at Monticello more than he can in regard to myself. I hope to have another occasion to call upon him in Virginia, and then to be more fortunate. His daughter interested me very much, though she is a plain, unpretending, and unimposing woman. The central college at Charlottesville I visited, and certainly think that Transylvania has a greater prospect of success in obtaining scholars and influence. Your remark, that “success is in heaven, and does not always descend according to our ideas of justice,” will console me if I fail in this enterprise, or if success should be long postponed. But on this subject I may have the opportunity of talking with you when I shall be at Quincy.The interest, which you continue to take & to cherish in the institutions, history, & progress of our country, and in all our means of instruction, and private & public happiness, delights me. The old maxim is a good one, “Mind, however old in experience, is always young in sympathies, and love of thought and action.” I believe that I gave this idea in a former letter, but if I did, it was because your character at 83 suggested it then, as it does now with increased force.My best respect to Mrs Adams, / & believe me yours with very / great regard,

					Horace Holley—


Title: To John Adams from Ann Frances Bulkeley Humphreys, 30 September 1818
From: Humphreys, Ann Frances Bulkeley
To: Adams, John

					My dear Sir
					Boston Sepr. 30th. 1818

				The enclosed Letter has been written some time since, but I have had no opportunity of sending it by private conveyance. Having heard from Monsr Artiquendue that he proposed doing himself the honor of paying his homage to you at Quincy, I have charged him with it, & at the same time avail myself of the occasion to present this Gentleman to you.As his estimable qualities must be already known to you, I have only to add, that he was much esteemed by General Humphreys and that he is one of those persons who does justice to his memory, & as such merits the notice of those who appreciated the worth of our departed friend.Accept, my dear Sir, the assurances of my veneration & respect, & believe me to be / Your faithful Friend / & Mo: humble: Servt

					Ann Frances Humphreys


Title: From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., September 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Tudor, William, Sr.

					Dear Sir
					Quincy September 1818

				The Charters were quoted or alluded to by Mr Otis frequently in the whole course of his Argument: but he made them, also a more distinct and more Solemn head of his discourse. And here, these Charters ought to be copied verbatim. But an immense Verbiage renders it impossible. Bishop Butler, some where complains of this enormous abuse of Words in publick Transactions and John Reed and Theophilus Parsons of Massachusetts have attempted to reform it. Examples will be followedSo did James Otis. All with little success. I hope however that their Examples will be followed and that common Sense in Common Language will, in time become fashionable. but the hope must be faint as long as Clerks are paid by the line and the number of Syllable in a line,—Some passages of these Charters must, however, be quoted; and I will endeavour to Strip them as well as I can, of their Useless Words. They are recited, in all the Charter of King William and Queen Mary, dated the Seventh day of October in the third year of their Reign. r.e. in 1691.Whereas King James the first, in the 18th year of his Reign, did grant to the Council at Plymouth, for the planting and Governing New England, all that Part of America, from the 40th. to the 48th degree of Latitude, and from Sea to Sea, together with all Lands Waters Fishings, and all and Singular other Commodities, Jurisdictions Royalties, Priviledges Franchises and Preeminences, both within the said Tract of Land upon the Main, and also within the Islands and Seas adjoining: to have and hold, all, unto the Said Council their Heirs and Successors and Assigns forever: to be holden of his said Majesty as of his Manor of East Greenwich in free and common Socage, and not in Capite, or by Knights Service.—Yeilding to the King a fifth Part of the Oar of Gold and Silver. For, and in respect of all and all manner of Duties Demands and Services whateverFor, and in respect of all and all manner of Duties Demands and Services whatsoever—But I cannot pursue to the End, this infinite Service of Words. But I cannot You must read the Charter again. For although you and I have read it fifty times, I believe you will find it, as I do, much Stronger in favour of Mr Otis’s Argument than I expected or you will expect.—I doubt Whether you will take the pains to read it again: but your Son will and to him I recommend it.—The Council of Plymouth, on the 19th. of March, in the 3d. year of the Reign of Charles the first, granted to Sir Henry Roswell and others Part of New-England by certain Boundaries, with all the Prerogatives and Priviledges—King James 1st. on the 4th of March, in the fourth year of his Reign, conformed to Sir Henry Rosswel and others, all those Lands before granted to them by the Council of Plymouth. King Charles the first, created, Sir Henry Rosswell, and others a Body Corporate and Politick. And said Body Politick, did settle a Colony which became very populous.—In 1684, in the 36th year of King William and Queen Mary’s dearest Uncle, Charles the Second, a Judgment was given in the Court of Chancery, that the Letters Patent of Charles the first, should be cancelled vacated and annihilated.The Agents petitioned to be reincorporated. I can easily conceive their Perplexity, their Timidity, their Uncertainty, their Choice of Difficulties, their necessary Preference of the least of a multitude of Evils: for I have felt them all, as keenly as they did.—William and Mary, unite Massachusetts, new Plymouth, the Province of Maine and Nova Scotia, into one Province, to be holden in Fee, as of the Manor of East Greenwich, paying one fifth of Gold and Silver Oar.—Liberty of conscience too be granted to all Christians except Papists. Good God! A Grant of the King of Kings, which no Puppit of a Royalist upon Earth can give or take away?—The Records and Files of the Court of Probate in Boston were transported to Hallifax. Judge Foster Hutchinson had the honour to return them after the Peace of 1783. But Admiralty Records have never been restored as I have heard—The subject may be pursued hereafter by your Servant

					John Adams


Title: From John Adams to DeWitt Clinton, 1 October 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Clinton, DeWitt

Sir
Quincy October 1st. 1818

I thank you, Sir, for the very acceptable Present of a Memoir, not less ingenious than curious, on the Antiquities of the Town of Pompey in your State
If I were to hazard a Conjecture, it would be, that the French had made a populous and flourishing Settlement there, excited the Jealousies of the Six Nations, who invaded and exterminated them. Those Six Nations Seem to have been the Goths and Vandals of North America, Scourges, equally terrible to Europeans and to all other Indian Nations.
It is very desireable that Gentlemen in this Country Should amuse themselves and indeed employ themselves in imitation of your example, in recording their occasional Observations of this kind. I must confess and repent my own negligence, in this Way. I am Sorry to have let Slip Some Advantageous Opportunities which are now irrecoverably lost.
The Indian Languages have not been Sufficiently Studied, with humble Submission be it Spoken, by our Ancestors or by ourselves.
The Religion of the Indians, has been Still less regarded. Religion has always governed and will always govern Mankind.
Tecumseh and his Brother the Prophet, We are told, revived the Religion of their Ancestors when they Said “The Sun is our Father and our Mother the Earth.”
Pray Sir, Shew this to my Friend Dr Michel, and believe me with much respect and gratitude your obedient / humble Servant
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 2 October 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Van der Kemp, François Adriaan

Dear Sir.
Quincy Montezillo  Oct. 2. 1818

As Misery is Said to derive Some consolation from the Misery of others; your Letter of 18. Septr. has given me Some miserable Comfort, to find to find that your Batavian Predecessors in New York were not much more tollerant than my Yankee Ancestors in New England.
But I admire your East India Company and their Director, and their Threat, of the Authority of their H. M. the States General. How can it have happened that Holland Should have been the Berceau of Tolleration?
Your West India Company appear to have preceeded Thomasius, Voltaire and Jefferson.
Religion always has, and always will govern Mankind. Man is constitutionally, essentially and unchangeably a religious Animal. Neither Phylosophers, or Politicians can ever govern him in any other Way, I will not condescend to employ the Word Tolleration: I assert that unlimitted Freedom of Religion, consistent with Morals and Property, is essential to the Progress of Society And the Amelioration of the Condition of Mankind.
The Visit of my Children Short as it has been has been to me as high a gratification as my nature and Age can receive. To the Candour of the World And the favour of Heaven, they and You, my Country and all my Friends are recommended by your old Friend / and humble Servant
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Ann Frances Bulkeley Humphreys, 3 October 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Humphreys, Ann Frances Bulkeley

Dear Madam.
Quincy October 3d. 1818.

The unexpected Honour of your Obliging Letter of the 30th of September and the rich presents it contained have excited in my Bosom more tenderness of Sentiment, than you could foresee.
The Pin which preserves a Sample of General Humphrey’s hair is to me a Pearl of great price and his Portrait, though I think it has not done him justice is yet so much of a resemblance, that it shall be preserved with care as a Memorial of its Antitype—
An uninterupted Friendship with General Humphreys for thirty four Years, endeared him to my heart and his Services to the Litterature Science Arts Manufactures and political Interests of his Country commanded my Esteem and will never be forgotten—
I rejoice that a Lady who did him so much honour in his Lifetime remains, with all the Disposition, Accomplishments and abilities to adorn a Memory of Talents and Virtues which must by their intrinsic merit perpetuate themselves—
I pray you, Madam to accept, the Sincere Expression of the Thanks the Esteem and respects of your Friend and / most humble Servant
John AdamsTo the above Sentiments of regard respect and esteem, both to the deceased and the Survivor I beg leave to Subscribe the Name of Abigail Adams


Title: From John Adams to Alden Bradford, 4 October 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Bradford, Alden

Sir
Quincy October 4th. 1818

I have received with pleasure your favour of the 30th. of September; and can express nothing but the most respectful Approbation of the Proposal to publish in a Volume the Speeches of the Governors of Massachusetts from 1765 to 1775. with the Answers. and if a Pamphlet of the Town of Boston within the Same Period, the last Effort of Mr Otis could be added it would enhance its Value.—
These documents are of importance in the history of our Country and no Man is so well qualified as yourself to give a correct and authentic Edition of them to the World.
I am, Sir with much Esteem, your most / Obedient Servant
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from Stephen Miller, 5 October 1818
From: Miller, Stephen
To: Adams, John

					Respected Sir
					New York 5 Oct. 1818

				The Office of Navy Agent of this place having become vacant by the death of the late incumbent I am about to apply for the appointment: my brother who is in the Marine Corps & station’d at Washington will ask it of the President for me, but he has suggested to me that a word in my favor from your Son the Secretary of State would have much influence, would it be asking too much Sir, to request through you this expression of his good will? I am personally unknown to Mr. Adams, but my friend Mr. Apthorp who I presume will hand you this, will answer any questions you may think proper to ask—Your goodness in this affair will secure to you my warmest thanks & gratitude.With great respect & consideration I am / Sir / Your Obedt. Servt.

					Stephen Miller


Title: To John Adams from Thomas Jefferson, 7 October 1818
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Adams, John

Monticello
Oct. 7. 18. It is very long, my dear friend, since I have written to you. the fact is that I have was scarcely at home at all from May to September, and from that time I have been severely indisposed and not yet recovered so far as to sit up to write, but in pain. having been subject to troublesome attacks of rheumatism for some winters past, and being called by other business into the neighborhood of our Warmsprings, I thought I would avail myself of them as a preventive of future pain. I was then in good health and it ought to have occurred to me that the medecine which makes the sick well, will may make the well sick. those powerful waters produced imposthume, general eruption, fever colliquative sweats, and extreme debility, which aggravated by the torment of a return home over 100. miles of rocks & mountains reduced me to extremity. I am getting better slowly and, when I can do it with less pain shall always have a pleasure in giving assurances to mrs Adams & yourself of my constant and affectionate friendship & respect.Th: Jefferson


Title: To John Adams from Caesar Augustus Rodney, 7 October 1818
From: Rodney, Caesar Augustus
To: Adams, John

					Venerable & Dear Sir,
					Wilmington Octobr. 7. 1818.

				Your much esteemed favor of the 26th. ulto. was received, a few days since, when I was occupied at court.My stock of letters & papers, left me, by my father &c uncle, is very  large; and it constitutes my principal inheritance, which I prize, beyond any estate, preserved from the wreck of the revolution. The patriotism of that period was without alloy. The perusal of the productions of those trying times, more especially those letters, evidently never intended for publication, always affords me  new pleasure & satisfaction. The actors in those scenes appear to have been inspired with an holy fervor & fortitude, which is breathed throughout their correspondence.I distinctly recollect two letters from, the deceased patriot Otis. One of them referred to a pamphlet, sent with it,  which he, or some friend had, then, just published: The other, was on the occasion, of the repeal of the Stamp Act. I have diligently searched the chest, which contained the journal of that congress, for these letters, without success. They must be mislaid, for they can, scarcely, be lost, and I shall before long come across them. As soon as I can find them, you shall be gratified with a sight of the originals, if I can meet with a friend, to whom I can confide them, to be safely delivered into your hands, relying, with the utmost confidence, on your care, for their return. It is true, as you justly observe, that the country I have lately visited presents a most interesting spectacle. Of the delightful climate of Buenos-Ayres, I can give you no adequate description. It seems an earthly Paradise, when blest with perpetual wisdom, you enjoy the fruits of the temperate & torrid zones, without experiencing any season, in which you would have to complain of either the heat, or the cold.I beheld there, to my agreeable surprise, an amiable and an interesting people nearly resembling in appearance & disposition the inhabitants of the U. States.I trust they will succeed. If they are deficient in any thing, it will be in that probity of character, which so peculiarly distinguished the patriots of our revolution. In this important respect, I think they have been very fortunate in the selection of their general officers.They have the example of the U. States to imitate; & that of France to avoid. The latter, really operates with them, like a bloody buoy, warning them of the dangers of its excesses. The former, they admire, & earnestly wish to copy. On these topicks I should deligt delight to have an opportunity, of conversing freely, with one of the principal pillars of our revolution.I am now engaged in drawing up a report, on the subject of our the late mission to S. America, to be presented to the Secretary of State. But two very unexpected courts, since my return, have reluctantly occupied a month of my time, and retarded my progress; so that, I fear, the work will bear evident marks of an hasty production.Your Very Respect. / & Truly

					C. A. Rodney


Title: From John Adams to William Mumford, 9 October 1818
From: Adams, John
To: Mumford, William

Sir,
Quincy October 9th. 1818.

Though I have no intercourse with government, and very little to do with this world; I might have transmitted your letter of July 7th. to the President, if I had thought that either of the Floridas was ours. But knowing the fact to be otherwise, it would have been trifling to solicit a Secretaryship or Judgeship in such a territory.
You might with more propriety apply to the Hyper honourable Mr. Ellery who is almost old enough to be my father, or to the  honourable Mr. Foster for recommendations than to me. Those gentlemen are your neighbours, know more of you than I do and have more influence with government than I have.
The last paragraph of your letter I understand not. “When I made my last application to you, my political principles were in unison with yours, and are so at the present moment, agreeable to the maxim Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis.”
This seems to imply that in the intermediate time you have differed from me. If so, you have been a changeling and a Heretick, for I have been always the same and constantly orthodox.
I am Sir with all proper esteem / and regard your most obedient / and very humble Servant
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from Hezekiah Niles, 10 October 1818
From: Niles, Hezekiah
To: Adams, John

					Honored Sir,
					Balt Oct 10, 1818

				I have the pleasure to return to my dear friend Rodney’s letter, with a copy of your interesting correspondence, published in this day’s Register: Permit me to tender you my thanks for the favor conferred in sending it to me.Your 14th vol & the Genl. Index I expect  have reached Boston before this time.I thank you for the copies of Dr. Mayhew’s sermons. I Shall publish some extracts from to confirm the wise, & reprobate the fools. The is nothing so opposite to the ideas of an  enlightened mind as the doctrine of “legitimacy” & passive obedience. Nay, though so  fashionable in England at present, these notions adverse to every principle, which, as an individual, an Englishman glories in. Very respectfully

					H Niles