First Family (43 page)

1.
Editorial note, quoting report in the
Massachusetts Centennial, AFC
8:216–17.

2.
AA to AA(2), 7 July 1788,
AFC
8:277–78.

3.
AA(2) to JA, 27 July 1788,
AFC
8:282; AA(2) to JQA, 28 September 1788,
AFC
8:299.

4.
JA to AA, 2 December 1788,
AFC
8:312.

5.
JA to AA(2), 11 November 1788,
AFC
8:305; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 24 November 1788,
AFC
8:308.

6.
AA to JA, 15 December 1788,
AFC
8:318–19; JA to AA, 28 December 1788,
AFC
8:325.

7.
AA to JA, 3 December 1788,
AFC
8:313–14; JA to TJ, 2 January 1789,
AJ
1:234.

8.
JA to AA, 19 December 1793,
AFC
, vol. 9. The editors of the
Adams Papers
granted me access to the unpublished galleys of the forthcoming volume of the
Adams Family Correspondence
before pagination was finalized. Subsequent references to this volume will provide the date of the letters without pagination.

9.
Editorial note, 16 March 1789,
AFC
8:340.

10.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 28 June 1789,
AFC
8:379; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 12 July 1789,
AFC
8:391.

11.
JA to AA, 14 May 1789,
AFC
8:352.

12.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 9 August 1789,
AFC
8:397.

13.
Editorial note, 21 April 1789,
AFC
8:340; JA to JQA, 9 July 1789,
AFC
8:387.

14.
Linda Grant De Pauw, et al., eds.,
Documentary History of the First Federal Congress
, 15 vols. (Baltimore, 1972–84) 9:3–13; James H. Hutson, “John Adams’ Title Campaign,”
NEQ
41 (January 1968), 30–39.

15.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 5 January 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9. There is no modern, easily accessible edition of
Discourses on Davila;
I have relied on the old edition in
Works
, vol. 6.

16.
JA to AA, 24 November 1792,
AFC
, vol. 9, where John describes a conversation that he overheard containing these accusations.

17.
Works 6:258–62.

18.
Works
6:237, 245; see also JA to JQA, 7 May 1794,
UFC
, and JA to TBA, 19 September 1795,
UFC
.

19.
AA to JA, 31 December 1793,
AFC
, vol. 9.

20.
JA to AA, 12 March 1794,
UFC
.

21.
JA to AA, 11 November 1789,
AFC
8:342.

22.
AA to Cotton Tufts, 18 April 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9.

23.
Woody Holton, “Abigail Adams, Bond Speculator,”
WMQ
64 (October 2007), 821–38; editorial note, AA to Cotton Tufts, 6 February 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9.

24.
AA to Cotton Tufts, 7 March 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9.

25.
AA to JQA, 11 July 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9; AA to Cotton Tufts, 1 September 1789,
AFC
8:405; AA to AA(2), 21 November 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9.

26.
I have discussed the issues surrounding the treaty with the Creek Nation at greater length in
American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic
(New York, 2007), ch. 4.

27.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 8 August 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9.

28.
TJ to JA, 10 May 1789,
AJ
1:237.

29.
JA to TJ, 29 July 1791,
AJ
1:247–48.

30.
TJ to JA, 17 July 1791,
AJ
1:246.

31.
JA to TJ, 29 July 1791,
AJ
1:249–50. John Quincy’s eleven essays appeared in the
Columbia Centinel in
June and July 1791.

32.
AA to JA, 7 January 1793,
AFC
, vol. 9.

33.
AA to JA, 27 May 1794,
UFC
; JA to AA, 11 March 1796,
UFC
.

34.
AA to Martha Washington, 25 June 1791,
UFC
; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 20 March 1792,
UFC
.

35.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 28 April 1790, 25 October 1790,
UFC
; AA to JQA, 7 November 1790, 5 November 1792,
UFC
.

36.
JA to JQA, 26 April 1795,
UFC
.

37.
JA to AA(2), 31 January 1796,
UFC
; JA to AA, 28 December 1794,
UFC
.

38.
JA to AA, 13 February 1796,
UFC
.

39.
JA to AA, 2 February 1796,
UFC
.

40.
AA to JA, 26 February 1794, 8 March 1794,
UFC
; JA to AA, 16 January 1795,
UFC
.

41.
AA to AA(2), 14 December 1795, 21 February 1791,
AFC
, vol. 9.

42.
WSS to JA, 21 October 1791,
AFC
, vol. 9; JA to AA, 2 March 1793,
AFC
, vol. 9.

43.
JA to AA, 21 January 1794,
UFC
.

44.
JA to JQA, 4 October 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9; JA to JQA, 8 September 1790, 17 October 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9.

45.
JA to Thomas Welsh, 13 September 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9; JA to AA, 19 May 1794,
UFC
.

46.
AA to Mary Cranch Smith, 12 March 1791,
AFC
, vol. 9; JA to AA, 14 January 1794,
UFC
.

47.
JA to JQA, 30 May 1794,
UFC
; Martha Washington to AA, 19 July 1794,
UFC
; JA to JQA, 19 September 1795,
UFC
, in which John provides the quotation from Washington.

48.
JA to JQA, 25 August 1795,
UFC
.

49.
AA to JA, 22 April 1789,
AFC
8:334; JQA to William Cranch, 27 May 1789,
AFC
8:361. See also AA(2) to JQA, 30 March 1789,
AFC
8:363.

50.
AA to JA, 20 October 1789,
AFC
8:427; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 9 January 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9; JA to JQA, 8 September 1790,
AFC
, vol. 9.

51.
The correspondence started on 23 December 1793 and ended on 17 May 1794. The early letters are in
AFC
, vol. 9, the remainder in
UFC
. The question is from JA to CA, 11 May 1794,
UFC
.

52.
JA to CA, 25 December 1794,
UFC
.

53.
JA to CA, 7 February 1795,
UFC
. My interpretation here cannot be proved conclusively, but strikes me as the most plausible explanation based on a considerable body of circumstantial evidence.

54.
JA to AA, 8 December 1792,
AFC
, vol. 9. John took offense at the support for Clinton, calling him “a mere cipher, a logroller in New York politics, a man of mere ambition and no virtue.” JA to AA, 19 December 1792,
AFC
, vol. 9.

55.
JA to AA, 4 February 1794, 8 February 1794,
AFC
, vol. 9.

56.
JA to AA, 19 November 1794,
UFC
; JA to AA, 23 November 1794,
UFC
; AA to JA, 13 February 1795,
UFC
.

57.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 20 April 1792, 25 March 1792,
AFC
, vol. 9.

58.
JA to AA, 26 January 1794,
UFC
; JA to AA, 14 January 1793,
AFC
, vol. 9.

59.
The best secondary account of this crowded moment is in Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick,
The Age of Federalism
(New York, 1993), 330–84. See also my
American Creation
, ch. 5, and CA to JA, 29 July 1793,
AFC
, vol. 9; JA to AA, 12 December 1793,
AFC
, vol. 9; JA to AA, 17 February 1793,
AFC
, vol. 9.

60.
JA to AA, 28 December 1792,
AFC
, vol. 9.

61.
JA to AA, 3 February 1793,
AFC
, vol. 9.

62.
JA to JQA, 3 January 1794,
UFC
. See also JA to AA, 6 January 1794,
UFC
.

63.
Jerald A. Combs,
The Jay Treaty: Political Battleground of the Founding Fathers
(Berkeley, 1970), is the standard account. Elkins and McKitrick,
The Age of Federalism
, 406–50, is superb on the diplomatic twists and turns.

64.
JA to CA, 13 December 1795,
UFC
; AA to JQA, 15 September 1795,
UFC
.

65.
JA to AA, 9, 14, 23, and 29 June 1795,
UFC
, for John’s report on the debate in the Senate. AA to JQA, 10 February 1795 and JA to CA, 20 April 1796,
UFC
, for the quotations.

66.
JA to AA, 21 and 26 April 1796,
UFC
, for John’s description of the melting Republican majority. JA to AA, 28 April 1796,
UFC
, for reference to Madison’s condition.

67.
JA to JQA, 29 November 1795,
UFC
.

68.
JA to AA, 5, 7, and 20 January 1796,
UFC
.

69.
AA to JA, 21 January and 14 February 1796,
UFC
.

70.
JA to AA, 15 February 1796, 10 February 1796,
UFC
.

71.
AA to JA, 20 February 1796,
UFC
; JA to AA, 1 March 1796,
UFC
.

72.
AA to JA, 28 February 1796,
UFC
.

73.
JA to AA, 9 April 1796,
UFC
; AA to JA, 4 December 1796,
UFC
.

74.
JA to AA, 8 December 1796, 7 December 1796,
UFC
.

75.
AA to JA, 1 January 1797,
UFC
.

76.
JA to AA, 27 December 1796,
UFC
.

77.
AA to JA, 31 December 1796,
UFC
.

78.
AA to JA, 15 January 1797,
UFC
.

1.
TJ to James Madison, 8 January 1797,
JM
2:955;
Aurora
, 6 March 1797; William Duane, “A Letter to Washington” (Philadelphia, 1796); AA to JA, 23 December 1796,
UFC
.

2.
AA to JA, 15 January 1797,
UFC
; AA to JA, 31 December 1796,
UFC
; AA to JA, 28 January 1797,
UFC
. The standard account of the Adams presidency is Stephen G. Kurtz,
The Presidency of John Adams: The Collapse of Federalism, 1784–1800
(Philadelphia, 1957).

3.
JA to Elbridge Gerry, 20 February 1797,
AP
, reel 117; TJ to James Madison, 1 January 1797, 22 January 1798,
JM
2:953, 959–60.

4.
TJ to JA, 28 December 1796,
JM
2:961–62; JA to AA, 1 and 3 January 1797,
UFC
; AA to JA, 18 March 1797,
UFC
.

5.
James Madison to TJ, 15 January 1797,
JM
2:956–58.

6.
I have told this story in somewhat greater detail in
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
(New York, 2000), 184; John’s recollection of the episode is in
Works
9:285.

7.
JA to AA, 13 March 1797,
UFC
; AA to JA, 2 March 1797,
UFC
; JA to JQA, 3 November 1797,
UFC
. On Jefferson’s machinations, see Elkins and McKitrick,
The Age of Federalism
, 566.

8.
JA to AA, 17 March 1797,
UFC

9.
JA to AA, 5, 9, 17, and 27 March 1797,
UFC
.

10.
JQA to JA, 3 February, 4 March, and 20 May 1797,
UFC
, for John Quincy’s quite extraordinary analysis of French policy toward the United States.

11.
JQA to JA, 21 May 1797,
UFC
.

12.
AA to JA, 26 April 1797,
UFC
.

13.
Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 21 April 1797,
HP
20:574–75. An excellent account of Hamilton’s behind-the-scenes behavior is in John
Ferling, John Adams: A Life
(Knoxville, 1995), 343.

14.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 23 June 1797,
UFC
.

15.
Aurora
, 16 June 1798.

16.
George Washington to JA, 28 February 1797,
Works
8:529–30.

17.
JA to JQA, 25 October and 3 November 1797; AA to JQA, 3 November 1797,
UFC
; JQA to AA, 28 December 1797,
UFC
.

18.
Aurora
, 17 May 1797, 26 May 1797.

19.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 6 June 1797,
UFC
; AA to Mercy Otis Warren, 1 October 1797,
UFC
.

20.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 20 and 27 March 1798,
UFC
; AA to Hannah Cushing, 9 March 1798,
UFC
.

21.
JQA to AA, 29 December 1797,
UFC
; JA to Cotton Tufts, 18 November 1797,
UFC
.

22.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 20 March 1798,
UFC
.

23.
AA to TBA, 4 April 1798,
UFC
.

24.
AA to TBA, 1 May 1798,
UFC
.

25.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 10 May 1798,
UFC
.

26.
JQA to JA, 15 April 1798,
UFC
.

27.
AA to WSS, 8 April 1798,
UFC
; AA to Norton Quincy, 12 April 1798,
UFC
; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 13 April 1798,
UFC
.

28.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 22 April and 26 May 1798,
UFC
; AA to JQA, 26 May 1798,
UFC
.

29.
The standard work is James Morton Smith,
Freedom’s Fetters: The Alien and Sedition Laws and American Civil Liberties
(Ithaca, 1956). For a somewhat less harsh assessment of Adams, see Elkins and McKitrick,
The Age of Federalism
, 590–93, which cautions against imposing our modern notion of civil liberties on an era that was still groping toward a more expansive version of First Amendment protections.

30.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 21 May 1798,
UFC
; AA to Cotton Tufts, 25 May 1798,
UFC
; AA to WSS, 20 March 1798,
UFC
.

31.
JA to George Washington, 7 July 1798,
Works
8:575.

32.
JA to James McHenry, 22 October 1798,
Works
8:612–13.

33.
HP
21:381–447.

34.
Ron Chernow,
Alexander Hamilton
(New York, 2004), 546–68, provides the fullest and fairest account.

35.
Ibid., 568.

36.
AA to WSS, 7 July 1798,
UFC
.

37.
AA(2) to JQA, 28 September 1798,
UFC
, for a description of Abigail’s ailments; AA to JQA, 20 July 1798,
UFC
.

38.
JA to AA, 1 February 1799,
UFC
.

39.
JQA to JA, 25 September 1798,
UFC
.

40.
JA to AA, 25 February 1799,
UFC
.

41.
AA to JA, 27 February 1799,
UFC
.

42.
JA to AA, 22 February 1799,
UFC
.

43.
Pickering’s comment is in
HP
, 22:494–95.

44.
AA to JA, 3 March 1799,
UFC
.

45.
AA to JQA, 15 November 1998; AA to JA, 25 January 1799,
UFC
.

46.
The correspondence with his cabinet during the Quincy seclusion is in
Works
8:626–69.

47.
JA to Benjamin Stoddert, 21 September 1799,
Works
9:32–34.

48.
JA to AA, 5 January 1799,
UFC
.

49.
JA to WSS, 22 May 1799,
Works
8:652.

50.
AA to JA, 14 February 1799,
UFC
, for the first explicit mention of Charles’s condition, prompted by the loss of John Quincy’s money.

51.
JA to JQA, 28 February 1800,
UFC
.

52.
AA to WSS, 6 September 1799,
UFC
.

53.
JA to AA, 12 October 1799,
UFC
.

54.
Works
9:254–55, for John’s recollection in 1809; JA to AA, 30 October 1799,
UFC
.

55.
Works
9:154–55; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 30 December 1799,
UFC
.

56.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 24 April 1800,
UFC
.

57.
Marshall quoted in Elkins and McKitrick,
The Age of Federalism
, 728; Alexander Hamilton to Charles Carroll, 1 July 1800,
UFC
.

58.
James T. Callender,
The Prospect Before Us
(Philadelphia, 1800), 12–14, 47–48, 67; TJ to James Monroe, 26 May 1800, quoted in Ellis,
American Sphinx
, 219.

59.
AA to JQA, 1 September 1800,
UFC
.

60.
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 24 April 1800,
UFC
.

61.
Chernow,
Alexander Hamilton
, 612–14, provides the fullest treatment of McHenry’s hyperbolic account of the incident. Hamilton was especially upset at the firings because he believed that McHenry and Pickering worked for him.

62.
JA to AA, 13 June 1800,
UFC
.

63.
AA to JA, 22 May 1800,
UFC
.

64.
Alexander Hamilton to JA, 1 August 1800,
HP
25:51.

65.
HP
25:187–88, 190, 208–9.

66.
JA to Uzal Ogden, 3 December 1800,
HP
25:183; AA to TBA, 12 October 1800,
UFC
.

67.
JA to AA, 2 November 1800,
UFC
; AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 21 November 1800,
UFC
.

68.
AA to AA(2), 21 and 28 November 1800,
UFC
.

69.
AA to TBA, 13 December 1800,
UFC
; JA to TBA, 11 December 1800,
UFC
.

70.
JA to TBA, 18 December 1800,
UFC
.

71.
AA to Sarah Smith Adams, 8 December 1800,
UFC
.

72.
AA to TBA, 3 January 1801,
UFC
; JA to TBA, 25 January 1801,
UFC
; JA to Cotton Tufts, 26 December 1800,
UFC
.

73.
AA to TBA, 3 January 1801,
UFC
; A Conversation Between Abigail Adams and Thomas Jefferson [January 1801],
UFC
.

74.
AA to TBA, 3 February 1801,
UFC
; JA to AA, 16 February 1801,
UFC
.

75.
Aurora
, 11 March 1801.

76.
Washington Federalist
, 21 January 1801.