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Contents

TREATY COMMISSIONER AND MINISTER TO THE NETHERLANDS AND TO GREAT BRITAIN, 1784–1788

To Joseph Reed, February 11, 1784Washington’s Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

To Charles Spener, March 24, 1784“Three grand Objects” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

To the Marquis de Lafayette, March 28, 1784Chivalric Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

To Samuel Adams, May 4, 1784“Justice may not be done me” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

To John Quincy Adams, June 1784“The Art of writing Letters”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

From the Diary: June 22–July 10, 1784 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

To Abigail Adams, July 26, 1784“The happiest Man upon Earth” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

To Abigail Adams 2nd, July 27, 1784Keeping a Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

To James Warren, August 27, 1784Diplomatic Salaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

To Benjamin Waterhouse, April 23, 1785John Quincy’s Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

To Elbridge Gerry, May 2, 1785“Kinds of Vanity” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

From the Diary: May 3, 1785 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

To John Jay, June 2, 1785Meeting George III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

To Samuel Adams, August 15, 1785“The contagion of luxury” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

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To John Jebb, August 21, 1785Salaries for Public Officers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

To John Jebb, September 10, 1785“The first Step of Corruption” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

To Thomas Jefferson, February 17, 1786The Ambassador from Tripoli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

To William White, February 28, 1786Religious Liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

To Matthew Robinson-Morris, March 4–20, 1786Liberty and Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

To Granville Sharp, March 8, 1786The Slave Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

To Matthew Robinson-Morris, March 23, 1786American Debt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

From the Diary: March 30, 1786 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Notes on a Tour of England with Thomas Jefferson, April 1786 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

From the Diary: April 19, 1786 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

To Charles Adams, June 2, 1786“A schollar is always made alone” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

From the Diary: July 1, 1786 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

To Richard Cranch, July 4, 1786Nabby’s Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

From the Diary: July 21, 1786 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

To Rufus King, November 29, 1786Tumult in New England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

To James Warren, January 9, 1787“Popularity was never my Mistress”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

To Thomas Boylston Adams, January 15, 1787“We are not born for ourselves alone” . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

To Cotton Tufts, August 27, 1787Buying Land in Braintree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

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To Thomas Jefferson, October 9, 1787Keeping Resolutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

To Thomas Jefferson, December 6, 1787The New Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

FROM A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Vol. I, 1787. . . . . . . 64

FROM A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Vol. III, 1788 . . . . . 110

To John Quincy Adams, January 23, 1788Oratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

To Cotton Tufts, January 23, 1788“Trying the Experiment” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

To Cotton Tufts, February 12, 1788Amending the Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

To Thomas Brand Hollis, April 5, 1788“A balance of three branches” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

To Thomas Brand Hollis, December 3, 1788Balancing Vanity and Comfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

VICE PRESIDENT, 1789–1797

To Elbridge Gerry, March 20, 1789The Presidential Election . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Inaugural Address as Vice President, April 21, 1789 . . . . 172

From the Diary of William Maclay: April 25–May 8, 1789. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

To Benjamin Lincoln, May 8, 1789Monarchy and Aristocracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

From the Diary of William Maclay: May 9–14, 1789 . . . 190

To George Washington, May 17, 1789Presidential Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

To Nathaniel Peaslee Sargeant, May 22, 1789“We are in great danger” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

To Abigail Adams, May 24, 1789A House in New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

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From the Diary of William Maclay: May 26–28, 1789 . . 208

To William Tudor Sr., May 28, 1789Official Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

To Jeremy Belknap, June 5, 1789“Human passions are insatiable” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

To Richard Peters, June 5, 1789“The avarice of Liberty” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

To Benjamin Rush, June 9, 1789“Fatal Divisions” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

To Benjamin Rush, June 19, 1789Republican Governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

To William Tudor Sr., June 28, 1789National and State Sovereignty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

To Benjamin Rush, July 5, 1789“The Constitution of human nature” . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

To Roger Sherman, July 17, 1789Species of Governments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

To Roger Sherman, July 18, 1789“A monarchical Republic” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

To Roger Sherman, July 20, 1789Appointments and the Senate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

To John Trumbull, January 13, 1790“You read yourself to death” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

To John Trumbull, March 12, 1790Ancestry and Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

To Benjamin Rush, April 4, 1790Franklin and Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

To Thomas Brand Hollis, June 11, 1790The Few and the Many . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

To George Washington, August 29, 1790Preserving Neutrality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

To John Quincy Adams, October 4, 1790“Nil Admirari Nil contemni” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

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To Samuel Adams, October 18, 1790Republics and Nobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

FROM Discourses on Davila, 1790–1791 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

To Charles Storer, March 16, 1791The Boston Massacre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

To Thomas Jefferson, July 29, 1791“A direct and open personal attack” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

To Abigail Adams, December 28, 1792“Four years more” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

To Abigail Adams, January 9, 1793“This miserable Scramble” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

To Abigail Adams, February 3, 1793The Trial of Louis XVI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

To Charles Adams, December 23, 1793“Flowers of Jacobinical Rhetorick” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

To Charles Adams, January 9–10, 1794“The modern Doctrine of Equality” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

To Charles Adams, February 24, 1794“A moral Equality only” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

To Charles Adams, May 11, 1794Chimerical Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

To Charles Adams, May 17, 1794Uncontrolled Power and Passions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

To Charles Adams, December 24, 1794“The Follies of the Times” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

To Winthrop Sargent, January 24, 1795“The dirty Torrent of dissolving Europe” . . . . . . . . . . 308

To John Trumbull, February 13, 1795“One of my remarkable Cures” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

To Charles Adams, February 14, 1795Popularity and Party Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

To Jeremy Belknap, March 21, 1795Slavery in Massachusetts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

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To Jeremy Belknap, October 22, 1795“Justice to the Negroes” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

To Abigail Adams, March 11, 1796“The Ennui of Life” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

From the Diary: July 12–September 8, 1796 . . . . . . . . . 316

To Abigail Adams, January 9, 1797Hamilton’s Hypocrisy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

To Abigail Adams, February 4, 1797Financial Difficulties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Farewell Address to the Senate, February 15, 1797 . . . . . 324

PRESIDENT, 1797–1801

Inaugural Address, March 4, 1797. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

To Abigail Adams, March 5, 1797The Inaugural Ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

To Henry Knox, March 30, 1797“The late Election” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

To Oliver Wolcott Jr., April 14, 1797Crisis with France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Address to Congress in Special Session, May 16, 1797. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

To Elbridge Gerry, May 30, 1797“A Strong Antigallican Party” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

To the Citizens Committee of Boston and Vicinity, August 7, 1797“Calumnies and Contempts” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

To William Walter, October 1797Writing the “Defence” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

First Annual Message to Congress, November 23, 1797 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

To Timothy Pickering, January 24, 1798Contemplating War with France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Message to Congress on Relations with France, March 19, 1798 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

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Proclamation of a Fast Day, March 23, 1798 . . . . . . . . . 363

To the Mayor and Citizens of Philadelphia, April 23, 1798“The prospect of Unanimity” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

To the Grand Jury for Plymouth County, Massachusetts, May 28, 1798“Plundered, by professed Friends” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

To the Second Battalion of Militia of Prince George County, Virginia, June 6, 1798French “Ambition and Avarice” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

To the Citizens of Richmond, Virginia, June 10, 1798Dangers of Foreign Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

To the Citizens of Concord, Massachusetts, June 25, 1798Forgetting British Injuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

To George Washington, July 7, 1798“The urgent necessity” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

To the Citizens of Harrison County, Virginia, August 13, 1798“A Union of sentiment” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

To the Greens & Whites Cavalry Troop of the Virginia Militia, August 15, 1798“The Motives of such base Americans” . . . . . . . . . . . 372

To Timothy Pickering, September 16, 1798Passports for French Philosophers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

To Oliver Wolcott Jr., September 24, 1798Military Appointments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

To Timothy Pickering, November 2, 1798Logan’s Unauthorized Diplomacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377

To the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, December 21, 1798“France ought to be ashamed” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

To the Maryland General Assembly, December 23, 1798“The Basis of moral obligation” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Valuation of Real Estate, December 1798 . . . . . . . . . . . 381

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To Charles Lee, March 29, 1799“The real Spirit of the Parties” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

To Oliver Wolcott Jr., May 17, 1799Fries Rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

To Timothy Pickering, June 7, 1799Impressment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

To Oliver Wolcott Jr., June 21, 1799Public Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

To Timothy Pickering, August 1, 1799Prosecuting the “Aurora” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

To Abigail Adams, October 27, 1799“The Essence of my Religion” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

To William Tudor Sr., February 25, 1800“A name for our Country” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

To Benjamin Stoddert, Oliver Wolcott Jr., and Charles Lee, May 20, 1800Pardoning the Fries Rebels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

James McHenry to John Adams, May 31, 1800Crisis in the Cabinet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Fourth Annual Message to Congress, November 22, 1800 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

To Thomas Boylston Adams, January 24, 1801“All revolutions are alike” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

To George Churchman and Jacob Lindley, January 24, 1801“Slavery is fast diminishing” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406

To Samuel Smith, February 7, 1801“Downright corruption has spread” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

RETIREMENT, 1801–1826

To Benjamin Stoddert, March 31, 1801“We have no Americans in America” . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

To Philip Peck, November 16, 1801A Namesake Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

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To Thomas Boylston Adams, March 1, 1802Appraising the “Defence” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

To William Cunningham Jr., March 15, 1804“The awful spirit of Democracy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

To Benjamin Rush, February 6, 1805“Dangerous Questions”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

To Benjamin Waterhouse, February 19, 1805Tobacco and Cider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

To John Trumbull, July 27, 1805Hamilton and Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

To Benjamin Rush, August 23, 1805Hamilton’s Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

To Benjamin Rush, September 30, 1805Avoiding European Alliances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

To Benjamin Waterhouse, October 29, 1805Laurence Sterne and Thomas Paine . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

To John Trumbull, November 18, 1805Hamilton and Madison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

To François Adriaan van der Kemp, January 8, 1806Meteorites and Natural History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

To Benjamin Rush, January 25, 1806General Miranda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

To John Quincy Adams, February 5, 1806Blockade and Impressment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

To John Adams Smith, March 27, 1806Advantages of a College Degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

To François Adriaan van der Kemp, August 23, 1806“The real Fathers of their Country” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

To Benjamin Rush, December 22, 1806“The Perfectibility of Man” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455

To Benjamin Rush, February 2, 1807The Burr Conspiracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Excerpt from a letter of Abigail Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, March 9, 1807 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462

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To William Heath, May 11, 1807Military Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

To Benjamin Rush, May 21, 1807The Origin of Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

To Benjamin Rush, May 23, 1807“Empire rises where the Sun descends” . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

To Benjamin Rush, June 23, 1807“Calamities of my Enemies” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

To Mercy Otis Warren, July 11, 1807Responding to Warren’s “History” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

To Benjamin Rush, September 1, 1807Prudence “a rascally Virtue” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

To Benjamin Rush, November 11, 1807Washington’s Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

To William Heath, December 14, 1807“The Art of War” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

To Benjamin Rush, January 18, 1808Naivete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

To John Quincy Adams, February 12, 1808Judicial Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495

To Benjamin Rush, July 25, 1808The Embargo Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

To Benjamin Rush, September 27, 1808Preserving the Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503

To Josiah Quincy III, December 23, 1808Removing the Embargo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

To Joseph B. Varnum, December 26, 1808Relations with France and England . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508

To Daniel Wright and Erastus Lyman, March 13, 1809“Strict historical Truth” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

To Joseph Ward, January 8, 1810Jefferson and “Sally” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514

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To François Adriaan van der Kemp, April 9, 1811“Causes of the Revolutionary Spirit” . . . . . . . . . . . . 518

To Benjamin Rush, June 21, 1811Family News and the “stormy Science of Politicks” . . . 519

To Benjamin Rush, August 28, 1811“My posthumous sermon” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523

To Benjamin Rush, December 25, 1811Differences with Jefferson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

To Thomas Jefferson, January 1, 1812“Two Pieces of Homespun” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

To John Adams 2nd, February 2, 1812“That Word ‘worthy’” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

To Thomas Jefferson, February 3, 1812Resuming a Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

To William Cranch, March 19, 1812Strengthening the Navy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

To Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1812American Indians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538

To Benjamin Rush, December 29–30, 1812“Had I been continued President” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

To Benjamin Rush, January 4, 1813“A moral essay” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544

To Joseph B. Varnum, January 5, 1813Naval Anecdotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

To Elbridge Gerry, April 2, 1813Foreign Affairs in 1789 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

To Elbridge Gerry, April 9, 1813Judicial Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

To Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1813Christianity and Liberty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

To Thomas Jefferson, June 30, 1813Terrorism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

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To Thomas Jefferson, July 9, 1813Advances in Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

To Thomas Jefferson, July 15, 1813“Where is the Amelioration of Society?” . . . . . . . . . . . 562

To Richard Rush, July 15, 1813The War of 1812 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

To Thomas Jefferson, September 14, 1813God and the Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

To Thomas Jefferson, November 15, 1813Natural Aristocracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

To Richard Rush, November 20, 1813“I never owned a slave” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576

To John Taylor, April 15, 1814Liberty and Morality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577

To Thomas Jefferson, July 16, 1814Plato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580

To John Taylor, January 13, 1815“Causes of Aristocracy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

To James Lloyd, February 17, 1815Burr and Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

To Jedidiah Morse, March 4, 1815“I have little Faith in History” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 592

To John Taylor, March 5, 1815Knowledge and Equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593

To James Lloyd, March 31, 1815“I left my Country in Peace” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

To George Washington Adams and John Adams 2nd, May 3, 1815Advice for Foreign Travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

To Thomas Jefferson, August 24, 1815“The Revolution was in the Minds of the People” . . . . 601

To Charles Francis Adams, October 23, 1815“Greek and latin are indispensible” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603

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CONteNtS xxiii

To William Stephens Smith, October 23, 1815Clergymen and Priests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603

To Jedidiah Morse, November 2, 1815Secrecy and the Continental Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . 604

To George Washington Adams, December 15, 1815Urging a Grandson to Return Home . . . . . . . . . . . . 605

To Thomas Jefferson, May 3, 1816Death and the Afterlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607

To Thomas Jefferson, May 6, 1816“The Uses of Grief” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610

To George Washington Adams, May 27, 1816“A martial spirit” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613

To John Quincy Adams, July 24, 1816Newton and the Ether . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

To John Quincy Adams, August 26, 1816“The most conceited People” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616

To François Adriaan van der Kemp, December 27, 1816Christianity and Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618

To Henry Colman, January 13, 1817“A Colony of free Blacks” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620

To John Quincy Adams, January 22, 1817“Metaphisicks” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621

To John Gorham, January 28, 1817“The only perfect Chymist” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623

To Benjamin Waterhouse, February 26, 1817The Fine Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626

To James Madison, June 17, 1817Universal Suffrage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 627

To Hezekiah Niles, February 13, 1818“Thirteen Clocks were made to strike together” . . . . . 629

To John T. Watson, July 23, 1818“A dull, dreary unfruitful Waste” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636

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xxiv CONteNtS

To Mordecai M. Noah, July 31, 1818Jewish Citizenship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

To William Tudor Sr., September 23, 1818Indian Land Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638

To Thomas Jefferson, October 20, 1818Abigail’s Final Illness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641

To Thomas Jefferson, December 8, 1818“My great Affliction” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642

To William Tudor Sr., February 9, 1819Samuel Adams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643

To William Willis, February 21, 1819Temperance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644

To Mordecai M. Noah, March 15, 1819A Jewish Nation in Judea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

To Isaac Hall Tiffany, March 31, 1819Defining “Liberty” and “Republic” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

To Robert J. Evans, June 8, 1819The Infamy of the Slave Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

To Vine Utley, September 10, 1819“My Physical habits”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648

To François Adriaan van der Kemp, September 25, 1819“This weight of woe” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

To Emma Willard, December 8, 1819Women’s Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650

To Thomas Jefferson, December 21, 1819Virtue in Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

To Louisa Catherine Adams, December 23, 1819“The Missouri Question”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652

To Louisa Catherine Adams, January 13, 1820“The gangrene” of Slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654

To Jesse Torrey, February 7, 1820Public Libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655

To Thomas Jefferson, May 12, 1820“Pillows of Ignorance” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656

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CONteNtS xxv

To Samuel Miller, July 7, 1820Calvinism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658

To Charles Holt, September 4, 1820“Stubborn facts” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 660

To Benjamin Waterhouse, May 8, 1821Duty to Posterity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661

To Benjamin Waterhouse, May 21, 1821Natural Genius and Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 662

To David Sewall, May 22, 1821“Exhilirating prospects” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664

To William Smith Shaw, June 20, 1821Indian and African Religions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665

To Louisa Catherine Adams, November 15, 1821Religious Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 666

To George Washington Adams, December 27, 1821Montesquieu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

To John Van Ness Yates, January 1, 1823Assisting Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669

To Alexander Bryan Johnson, March 1, 1823Missionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670

To Edmund Rogers, April 5, 1824Coffee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671

To Thomas Jefferson, January 23, 1825Blasphemy Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672

To John Quincy Adams, February 18, 1825John Quincy Is Elected President. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

To John Adams 2nd, February 19, 1825“Not an event to excite vanity” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

To John Whitney, June 7, 1826Anniversary of Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 674

Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679Note on the Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879

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