Founding Brothers (45 page)

3.
Adams to William Cranch, 23 May 1801,
Adams,
reel 118; Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 29 October 1805, Worthington C. Ford., ed.,
Statesman and Friend: The Correspondence of John Adams and Benjamin Waterhouse,
1784
–
1822
(Boston, 1927), 31.

4.
Abigail Adams to Jefferson, 20 May 1804, Cappon, vol. 1, 268–269.

5.
Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 14 June 1804, ibid., 270–271.

6.
Abigail Adams to Jefferson, 1 July 1804, ibid., 271–274.

7.
Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 22 July, 11 September 1804, ibid., 274–276, 279–280.

8.
Abigail Adams to Jefferson, 25 October 1804, ibid., 280–282.

9.
Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 13 March 1789, Boyd, vol. 14, 650.

10.
Adams postscript, 19 November 1804, Cappon, vol. 1, 282.

11.
Adams to Benjamin Rush, 18 April 1808,
Spur,
107.

12.
Adams to Rush, 30 September 1805, Alexander Biddle, ed.,
Old Family Letters
(Philadelphia, 1892), 86; Lyman H. Butterfield, ed.,
The Diary and Autobiography of John Adams,
4 vols. (Cambridge, 1961), vol. 3, 335–336; Adams to Rush, 21 June 1811,
Spur,
182.

13.
I have covered these early years of the Adams retirement in greater detail in
Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams
(New York, 1993), 57–83. Mercy Otis Warren to Adams, 7, 15 August 1807, Charles Francis Adams, ed.,
Correspondence Between John Adams and Mercy Otis Warren,
reprinted in
Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society,
vol. 4 (1878), 422–423, 449; Adams to William Cunningham, 22 February, 31 July 1809,
Correspondence Between the Honorable John Adams … and William Cunningham, Esq.
(Boston, 1823), 93, 151; Adams to Nicholas Boylston, 3 November 1819,
Adams,
reel 124.

14.
Adams to Rush, 23 July 1806,
Spur,
61.

15.
Rush to Adams, 23 March 1805; Adams to Rush, 29 November 1812, ibid., 25, 254–255.

16.
Adams to Rush, 22 December 1806, ibid., 72–73.

17.
Adams to Rush, 17 August 1812, Biddle, ed.,
Old Family Letters,
420.

18.
Adams to Rush, 12 June, 17 August 1812,
Spur,
225, 242.

19.
Adams to Rush, 20 June 1808, 14 November 1812, ibid., 110, 252.

20.
Adams to Rush, 30 September 1805, 14 March 1809, 21 June 1811, 11 November 1807, 8 January, 14 May 1812,
Spur,
39–42, 97–99, 181, 204, 216–217.

21.
Ellis,
Passionate Sage,
143–173; Adams to Rush, 27 September 1809,
Spur,
155; John Ferling and Lewis E. Braverman, “John Adams’s Health Reconsidered,”
WMQ
55 (1998): 83–104.

22.
Adams to Cunningham, 16 January 1804,
Correspondence Between the Honorable John Adams … and William Cunningham, Esq.,
7–9; Adams to Rush, 18 April 1808,
Spur,
107–108.

23.
Adams to Rush, September 1807,
Spur,
93.

24.
Adams to Rush, 10 October 1808, ibid., 122–123.

25.
Adams to Rush, 23 March 1809, ibid., 139.

26.
Rush to Adams, 16 October 1809, ibid., 156–157.

27.
Adams to Rush, 25 October 1809, ibid., 158–159.

28.
Rush to Jefferson, 2 January 1811, quoted in
Spur,
157–158.

29.
Jefferson to Rush, 5 December 1811, Ford, vol. 9, 300. See also Lyman H. Butterfield, “The Dream of Benjamin Rush: The Reconciliation of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson,”
Yale Review
40 (1950–1951): 297–319.

30.
Adams to Rush, 25 December 1811,
Spur,
200–202.

31.
Adams to Jefferson, 1 January 1812, Cappon, vol. 2, 290; Adams to Rush, 10 February 1812,
Adams,
reel 118; Rush to Adams, 17 February 1812,
Spur,
211; the remark about “a brother sailor” is in Donald Stewart and George Clark, “Misanthrope or Humanitarian? John Adams in Retirement,”
NEQ
28 (1955): 232.

32.
The quotation is from Adams to Jefferson, 15 July 1813, Cappon, vol. 2, 357. I have explored the Adams-Jefferson correspondence in two previous books: from the Adams perspective in
Passionate Sage,
113–142; from the Jefferson perspective in
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
(New York, 1997), 281–300. My account here represents an attempt to combine the perspectives of both men and to assess the correspondence as a self-conscious capstone to the work of the revolutionary generation.

33.
Jefferson to Adams, 12 October 1823; Adams to Jefferson, 10 November 1823, Cappon, vol. 2, 600–602. A typical letter took from a week to ten days to go from Quincy to Monticello, or vice versa, and both men were amazed at the relative speed of delivery, seeing it as a measure of technological progress and the arrival of a “new age” quite different from that of their time.

34.
Jefferson to Adams, 21 January 1812; Adams to Jefferson, 3 February 1812, ibid., 291–292, 295.

35.
Jefferson to Adams, 5 July 1814; Adams to Jefferson, 16 July 1814, ibid., 430–431, 435.

36.
Jefferson to Adams, 11 June 1812; Adams to Jefferson, 11 June 1813; Jefferson to Adams, 12 September 1820, ibid., 305–307, 328, 566–567. The Adams quotation on Samuel Johnson comes from his correspondence with Catherine Rush, 23 February 1815,
Adams,
reel 118.

37.
Adams to Jefferson, 1 May 1812; Jefferson to Adams, 27 May 1813, Cappon, vol. 2, 301, 324.

38.
Adams to Jefferson, 10 June 1813; Jefferson to Adams, 15 June 1813, ibid., 326–327, 331–332.

39.
Jefferson to Adams, 15 June 1813, ibid., 331–332.

40.
Adams to Jefferson, 14, 25, 28, 30 June 1813, ibid., 329–330, 333–335, 338–340, 346–348.

41.
Adams to Jefferson, 15 July 1813, ibid., 358.

42.
Jefferson to Adams, 27 June 1813, ibid., 335–336.

43.
Jefferson to Adams, 27 June 1813, ibid., 336–338.

44.
Jefferson to Adams, 27 June 1813, ibid., 337.

45.
Adams to Jefferson, 9 July 1813, ibid., 350–352.

46.
Adams to Jefferson, 9, 13 July, 14 August, 19 December 1813, ibid., 351–352, 355, 365, 409.

47.
Jefferson to Adams, 28 October 1813, ibid., 387–392.

48.
Jefferson to Adams, 24 January 1814, ibid., 421–425.

49.
Adams to Jefferson, 15 November 1813, 16 July 1814, ibid., 397–402, 438.

50.
Adams to Jefferson, 2, 15 September, 15 November 1813, ibid. 371–372, 376, 398.

51.
Works,
vol. 6, 461–462.

52.
Jefferson to Adams, 11 January 1816, Cappon, vol. 2, 458–461.

53.
Adams to Jefferson, 2 February 1816, ibid., 461–462.

54.
Adams to Jefferson, 16 December 1816, ibid., 500–501.

55.
Adams to Jefferson, 16 December 1816, ibid., 501–503.

56.
Adams to Jefferson, 2 February 1816, ibid., 462.

57.
Adams to Reverend Coleman, 13 January 1817,
Adams,
reel 124; Jefferson to George Logan, 11 May 1805, Ford, vol. 9, 141.

58.
Jefferson to Adams, 10 December 1819, 20 January 1821, Cappon, vol. 2, 448–450, 569–570. Jefferson’s extreme reaction to the Missouri crisis is a major problem for his more admiring biographers. See Dumas Malone,
Jefferson and His Times,
6 vols. (Boston, 1948–1981), vol. 6, 328–344. More balanced and critical assessments include Robert Shalhope, “Thomas Jefferson’s Republicanism and Antebellum Southern Thought,”
JSH
72 (1976): 529–556, and Donald S. Fehrenbacher, “The Missouri Controversy and the Sources of Southern Separatism,”
Southern Review
14 (1978): 653–667. My own appraisal is in
American Sphinx,
314–334.

59.
Adams to Jefferson, 23 November 1819, Cappon, vol. 2, 547–548; Adams to William Tudor, 20 November 1819; Adams to Louisa Catherine Adams, 29 January 1820,
Adams,
reel 124.

60.
Jefferson to John Holmes, 22 April 1820, Ford, vol. 10, 157–158; Adams to Jefferson, 3 February 1821, Cappon, vol. 2, 571–572. If one were to take the generational argument literally, the Adams family provides a perfect example of the unwritten rules. John Adams sustained his commitment to silence and avoidance, but his son John Quincy Adams became a leader in the antislavery movement. Moreover, John Quincy’s leadership was rooted in his personal knowledge of the sectional compromise consented to by his father and his strong sense that the South, especially Virginia, had not kept its end of the bargain.

61.
Adams to Jefferson, 22 June 1819; Jefferson to Adams, 9 July 1819; Adams to Jefferson, 21 July 1819, Cappon, vol. 2, 542–546; Adams to Vanderkemp, 21 August 1819,
Adams,
reel 124. For the best and most recent scholarly study of the Mecklenburg matter, see Pauline Maier,
American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence
(New York, 1997), 172–177.

62.
Butterfield, ed.,
The Diary and Autobiography,
vol. 3, 335–352.

63.
For the deathbed scene with Abigail, see Paul C. Nagel,
Descent from Glory: Four Generations of the John Adams Family
(New York, 1983), 129–130; Jefferson to Adams, 1 June 1822, Cappon, vol. 2, 578–579.

64.
Jefferson to Adams, 12 October 1823; Adams to Jefferson, 25 February 1825, Cappon, vol. 2, 599–601, 610.

65.
Jefferson to Adams, 11 April 1823; Adams to Jefferson, 25 February 1825, ibid., 591–594, 610; Adams to Vanderkemp, 27 December 1816,
Works,
vol. 10, 235.

66.
Adams to Jefferson, 10 February 1823; Jefferson to Adams, 25 February 1823, Cappon, vol. 2, 587–589.

67.
Bennett Nolan, ed.,
Lafayette in America: Day by Day
(Baltimore, 1934), 247–257; Jefferson to Madison, 18 October 1825, Smith, vol. 2, 1942, for the Browere incident; Jefferson to Adams, 25 March 1826, Cappon, vol. 2, 613–614.

68.
Jefferson to Roger C. Weightman, 24 June 1826, Ford, vol. 10, 390–392. The handwritten draft, with its multiple deletions and revisions, is reproduced in Ellis,
Passionate Sage,
207.

69.
Douglass Adair, “Rumbold’s Dying Speech, 1685, and Jefferson’s Last Words on Democracy, 1826,” in Trevor Colbourn, ed.,
Fame and the Founding Fathers: Essays by Douglass Adair
(New York, 1974), 192–202.

70.
Adams to John Whitney, 7 June 1826,
Works,
vol. 10, 416–417; Lyman H. Butterfield, “The Jubilee of Independence, July 4, 1826,”
VMHB
61 (1953): 119–140.

71.
Sarah N. Randolph,
The Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson
(Charlottesville, 1978), 422–432, for Jefferson’s last hours and words; see also Ellis,
American Sphinx,
280–281. For the deathbed scene at Quincy, see Eliza Quincy,
Memoirs of the Life of Eliza S. M. Quincy
(Boston, 1861); see also Ellis,
Passionate Sage,
209–210.

INDEX

*The following items may be used as a guide to search for information in
this eBook.

abolitionist movement,
see
slavery debate

Adams, Abigail

Adams’s correspondence with

as
Adams’s presidential adviser

Adams’s relationship
with

Alien and Sedition Acts

bipartisan effort
regarding Adams presidency

death of

federal
government’s transition to permanent location

on Gerry

on Hamilton

Jefferson and

peace delegations to
France

presidential election of 1796

presidential
election of 1800

Adams, Henry

Adams, John

Abigail Adams and,
see under
Adams, Abigail

Alien
and Sedition Acts

American Revolution, account of

background

candor of

death of

Declaration of Independence, composition of

dreams, reports
on

“enlightened perversity” style

erratic
habits

executive leadership, approach to

Federalists,
alienation from

Franklin and

on frustration of
governing

Great Britain, attitude toward

Hamilton
and

historical explanation, realistic approach to

historical vindication, desire for

inauguration of

Independence Day comments (1826)

Jay’s Treaty

Jefferson-Madison campaign against

judicial
appointments

Madison’s attitude toward

memoir
projects

“monarchist” label

nepotism charge
against

New Army

peace delegations to France

political foes, attitude toward

presidency of

presidential election of 1796

presidential election of
1800

presidential form of address

on retirement by
politicians

retirement from public life

revolutionary
career

Rush’s correspondence with

slavery
debate

vice presidency of

Washington and

see also
Adams-Jefferson correspondence; Adams-Jefferson
relationship

Adams, John Quincy

diplomatic
appointment

slavery debate, 278
n
60

Adams,
Samuel

Adams, Thomas Boylston

Adams-Jefferson
correspondence

Adams’s motives

on aging and
death

as argument between competing versions of the revolutionary
legacy

beginning of retirement correspondence

delivery
of letters

elegiac tone

on French Revolution

friendship recovered through

as historical record

Jefferson’s apology

on presidential election of
1796

on slavery

on social equality and the role of
elites

verbal prowess

Adams-Jefferson relationship

Adams’s criticisms of Jefferson

Adams’s jealousy
of Jefferson’s revolutionary reputation

Adams’s
satirical account of

Adams’s sense of betrayal

bipartisan effort regarding Adams presidency

bonding during
revolutionary period

breakdown of

Jefferson-Madison
collaboration, comparison with

Jefferson’s defamation of
Adams

Jefferson’s failed attempt at reconciliation

odd-couple status

reconciliation under Rush’s
influence

silence following Jefferson’s election

see also
Adams-Jefferson correspondence

Addison,
Joseph

African Americans,
see
blacks

Alien and
Sedition Acts

American Colonization Society

American
Daily Advertiser

American nationhood, origins of

American Philosophical Society

American Revolution

Adams’s nonmythologized account of

alternate possible
outcomes

factionalism of revolutionaries

improbability
of

as improvisational affair

inevitability of

Jefferson’s vision of

most decisive moment

participants’ historical perspective

slavery debate
and

Washington’s realist approach to command

Ames,
Fisher

André, Maj. John

Antifederalists

aristocracy

Arnold, Benedict

Articles of
Confederation

assumption of state debts by the federal
government

consolidation issue

Hamilton’s answer
to objections

Hamilton’s proposal

Jefferson’s views on

long-term effects

Madison’s views on

philosophical foundations

recalculation of Virginia’s debt

secession issue
and

Virginians’ objections

see also
Compromise of 1790

Augustus, Caesar

Aurora
(newspaper)

Bache, Benjamin Franklin

Baldwin, Abraham

Ballard, Martha

Bayard, James

Beckley, John

Benezet, Anthony

Berlin, Isaiah

Bill of Rights

blacks

Washington’s attitude
toward

see also
slavery debate

Boone,
Daniel

Braddock, Gen. Edward

Browere, John Henri

Burke, Aedanus

Burr, Aaron

physical appearance

political career

presidential election of 1796

presidential election of 1800

as threat to American
nation

western adventure

see also
Burr—Hamilton duel

Burr, Theodosia

Burr-Hamilton
duel

anti-dueling crusade following

Burr’s
challenge to Hamilton

Burr’s disgrace

Burr’s intentions

Burr’s surprise and regret at
outcome

contradictory accounts

core meaning

eyewitness’ statement about

feud immediately preceding
the duel

firing of weapons

Hamilton’s alleged
suicidal intentions

Hamilton’s derogatory comments about
Burr

Hamilton’s final hours

Hamilton’s
thoughts about

Hamilton’s wound

legendary
status

location of

long-standing conflict between Burr
and Hamilton

motives of participants

public’s
perception of

rules of

scholarly consensus on

serious or mortal injury, unlikelihood of

weapons for

Butler, Pierce

Caesar, Julius

Calhoun, John C.

Callender, James

Canada

Carroll, Charles

Catiline

Cato
(Addison)

census of 1790

centralized political power,
Americans’ suspicion of

Church, John

Cicero

Cincinnatus

Civil War

Clay, Henry

Clinton,
George

Cobbett, William

Coles, Edward

Compromise
of 1790

congressional approval

dinner-table
bargain

direct link between two issues

Jefferson-Madison collaboration and

Jefferson’s views
on

preliminary negotiations

slavery debate and

survival of American nation and

Confederation Congress

Congress, U.S.,
see
House of Representatives; Senate

consolidation

assumption issue and

slavery debate
and

Constitution

criticisms of

ratification
of

slavery debate and

Washington’s retirement
and

Constitutional Convention

compromises to produce
consensus

extralegal nature

minutes of secret
deliberations

“miraculous” quality

slavery
debate

Continental Army

Continental Congress

Cooper, Charles

Courier of New Hampshire

Coxe, Tench

Declaration of Independence

composition of

slavery debate and

Defence of
the Constitution of the United States of America
(Adams)

Destutt
de Tracy, Antoine

Discourses on Davila
(Adams)

Douglas, Stephen

Duer, William

early republic,
see
revolutionary era and the early republic

economic
philosophy

Edwards, Jonathan

Embargo Act of 1807

England,
see
Great Britain

Eppes, Maria Jefferson

Fairfax, Fernando

Fauchet, Joseph

Federalist Papers, The

Federalists

Adams’s alienation from

downfall of

ideological warfare

interpretation of revolutionary era and
the early republic

Jefferson-Madison campaign against

Jefferson’s conspiracy theory regarding

political
elitism and

presidential election of 1796

secession
conspiracy

fiscal policy,
see
assumption of state debts by
the federal government; funding of the domestic debt

“Founding
Fathers” myth

France

invasion of Canada during
American Revolution, proposed

Monroe’s assurances to

peace delegations to

“quasi-war” with United
States

XYZ Affair

see also
French
headings

Franklin, Benjamin

Adams and

memorial service for

slavery debate

stature
of

timing, sense of

Washington and

French
and Indian War

French Revolution

Adams-Jefferson argument
about

funding of the domestic debt

Gallatin, Albert

“General Wolfe’s Song”

George III of Great Britain

Gerry, Elbridge

peace
delegations to France

Gettysburg Address

Great Britain
(England)

Adams’s attitude toward

Jay’s
Treaty agreement

Jefferson’s condemnation of

Hamilton, Alexander

Adams and

Alien and Sedition Acts

assumption issue

background

death and funeral

economic
philosophy

funding of the domestic debt

Jay’s
Treaty

Jefferson and

Jefferson’s conspiracy
theory and

libel case

Madison and

New
Army

personal qualities

physical appearance

political downfall

presidential election of 1796

presidential election of 1800

secession conspiracy of New
England Federalists

slavery debate

treasonable
activities

trusting nature

Washington’s Farewell
Address

see also
Burr-Hamilton duel

Hamilton,
Elizabeth

Hamilton, Philip

Hannibal

Harrison,
Benjamin

Hartford Convention of 1815

Hemings, Sally

Henry, Patrick

historical explanation

Adams-Jefferson
argument

Adams’s realistic approach

History of
the American Revolution
(Warren)

Holmes, Oliver Wendell

Hosack, David

House of Representatives

assumption
issue

Franklin’s memorial service

funding of the
domestic debt

Jay’s Treaty

Missouri
Compromise

presidential election of 1800

residency
issue

slavery debate

treaty-making powers

Hume, David

“ideology”

imperialism

Indians,
see
Native Americans

isolationism

Jackson, Andrew

Jackson,
James

Jay, John

Jay’s Treaty

Jefferson,
Thomas

Abigail Adams and

Alien and Sedition Acts

American Revolution, vision of

assumption issue

conspiracy theory regarding Federalist takeover of government

death of

debt problem

Declaration of
Independence, composition of

detachment from American developments
while in Paris

dichotomous world view

dishonorable
behavior, accusations of

economic philosophy

European
affairs, misunderstanding of

Federalists’ attitude
toward

First Inaugural Address

foreign policy

Franklin and

global revolution, belief in

Great
Britain, condemnation of

Hamilton and

Hemings
affair

Independence Day letter (1826)

Jay’s
Treaty

party leadership role

peace delegations to
France

personal and political ideals

on political
parties