Sunday, July 7, 1776. Declaring independence is one thing, winning it quite another.

Being a Sunday, Congress did not meet. 

Philadelphia July 7, 1776

I have this Moment folded up a Magazine, and an Evening Post and sent it off, by an Express, who could not wait for me to write a single Line. It always goes to my Heart, to send off a Packett of Pamphletts and News Papers, without a Letter, but it sometimes unavoidably happens, and I suppose you had rather receive a Pamphlet or News Paper, than nothing.

The Disign of our Enemy, now seems to be a powerfull Invasion of New York and New Jersey. The Hallifax Fleet and Army, is arrived, and another Fleet and Army under Lord How, is expected to join them. We are making great Preparations to meet them, by marching the Militia of Maryland, Pensilvania, and New Jersey, down to the Scene of Action, and have made large Requisitions upon New England. I hope for the Honour of New England, and the Salvation, of America, our People will not be backward in marching to New York. We must maintain and defend that important Post, at all Events. If the Enemy get Possession there, it will cost N. England very dear. There is no danger of the Small Pox at New York. It is carefully kept out of the City and the Army. I hope that your Brother and mine too will go into the Service of their Country, at this critical Period of its Distress.

Our Army at Crown Point is an Object of Wretchedness, enough to fill a humane Mind, with Horror. Disgraced, defeated, discontented, dispirited, diseased, naked, undisciplined, eaten up with Vermin -- no Cloaths, Beds, Blanketts, no Medicines, no Victuals, but Salt Pork and flour. A Chaplain from that Army, preached a Sermon here the other day, from "cursed is he, that doth the Work of the Lord, deceitfully."

I knew better than he did, who the Persons were, who deserved these Curses. But I could not help myself, nor my poor Country any more than he.

I hope that Measures will be taken to cleanse the Army at Crown Point from the small Pox, and that other Measures will be taken in New England, by tolerating and encouraging Inoculation, to render that Distemper less terrible.

I am solicitous to hear, what Figure, our new Superiour Court made in their Eastern Circuit. What Business they did? Whether the Grand Juries, and petit Juries, were sworn. Whether they tried any Criminals? or any civil Actions. How the People were affected at the Appearance of Courts again. How the judges were treated, whether with Respect, or cold Neglect &c.

Every Colony, upon the Continent will soon be in the same Situation. They are erecting Governments, as fast as Children build Cobb Houses. But I conjecture they will hardly throw them down again, so soon.

The Practice We have hitherto been in, of ditching round about our Enemies, will not always do. We must learn to Use other Weapons than the Pick Axe and the Spade. Our Armies must be disciplined and learn to fight. I have the Satisfaction to reflect, that our Massachusetts People, when they have been left to themselves, have been constantly fighting and skirmishing, and always with success. I wish the same Valour, Prudence, and Spirit had been discovered every where.

John Adams to Abigail Adams, on this day. 

Concerned about the spread of smallpox amongst the retreating American army which had invaded Quebec and the dore strategic situation,  Major General Philip Schuyler, commander of the Northern Department of the Continental Army, convened a council of war at Crown Point, New York, to assess the military situation following the American retreat from Canada and the disastrous situation of the troops. In attendance was Major General Horatio Gates who was the newly appointed commander of American troops that had invaded Quebec. That army's attrition had been so high, much of it recently due to disease, that it really didn't exist.

Smallpox was a major topic of the meeting.  A decision was made to make a stand at Champlain where the LaChute River empties into the lake.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 6, 1776. President Hancock sends a letter.

Labels: 1770s, 1776, American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, George Washington, John Hancock, The Press

Tuesday, July 4,1826. The Fiftieth Anniversary of American Independence.

July 4, 1826 was the fiftieth anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence, of course.  By that time the country had not only achieved independence, but it had also survived a second war with Britain, one which the United States provoked and which nearly caused New England to succeed from the union.  And it had grown from 13 states, to 24.

The United States in 1825/26.

It's probably best remembered in the United States for being the date on which both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died.  What's even more peculiar about that, however, is that while 90 year old John Adams was living in Quincy, Massachusetts and 83 year old Thomas Jefferson was in Monticello, Virginian, Adams knew when Jefferson died, and commented on it.

The two men were not very much alike temperamentally.  Adams was a lawyer and a farmer who first entered the public's consciousness when he defended British troops in court following the Boston Massacre.  He was truly one of those rare characters who loved the law, something made even better for him as he was a circuit riding lawyer who also loved horses.  Active in farming his entire life, he was more closely matched Jefferson's yeoman ideal than Jefferson.  Somewhat taciturn, he dreamed of being a soldier at the beginning of the Revolution, but his talents lay elsewhere and he never was.

His place in history is secure due to his being the second President of the United States, but by the 20th Century he was one who was very little focused on.  His popularity enjoyed a resurgence, however, due to  David McCullough 2001 book which is somewhat of a hagiography.  

During his lifetime he had a falling out with Jefferson, who served as his Vice President, but they repaired their rift in later years.

If Adams was well known during his lifetime and the somewhat placed on the shelf, Thomas Jefferson has never been out of the public imagination.  At the same time, probably no American President has had his character analyzed and reanalyzed as much.

From a Puritan background, Adams is problematic for modern American far right-wing Evangelist in that his religious views were unconventional.  While a Congregationalist, he tended towards Universalist views and did not regard the Trinity as well founded.  While we have argued here that the United States is a Protestant nation, figures like Adams cut against that argument.  Adams was very much opposed to state established churches, for instance.

Like Adams, Jefferson was also a lawyer by training but what he really was by temperament and occupation was a planter.  An absolute renaissance mind he dabbled in everything, including engineering and agronomy.  One of the most influential figures of the founding generation, he served as the country's third President and was the first American President to engage in an undeclared war.

Regarded as a founding member of the Democratic Party, it was Jefferson's foresight that caused the U.S. to purchase Louisiana, converting the country from an Atlantic maritime power to a continental power.  Arguably, no President is more responsible for what the US became than Jefferson, even though he did not see it becoming what it became.  An Agrarian philosopher, he thought that it would take Americans 1,000 years to spread across the continent and that gave the country a 1,000 year chance at remaining a democracy.

Historians have been tortured by trying to define Jefferson's character ever since he died.  He was clearly a genius but his personal life was often in grave conflict with his stated beliefs.  Once hugely adored, in recent years his relationship with his sister in law and slave, Sally Hemings, has caused a great deal of debate on his personal morality.

North America with territories as claimed by the United States.

That the country had survived fifty years was somewhat amazing.  The War of 1812, not well remembered in the United States, had been a US war of choice that had not been supported by New England and which the United States, in spite of what is commonly claimed, lost.  The central seaboard South, which  had favored the war, proved to retain a sizable population that retained strong sympathies with the United Kingdom.  The US Army was twice very badly defeated by Canadian militias which gained ground in the Midwest, something also rarely noted.  Only the logistical difficulties faced by the British and a high desertion rate of its troops kept the country from returning to British possession.

Last edition:

Thursday, March 24, 1825. State Colonization Law of March 24, 1825.

Labels: 1820s, 1825, emigration, Hypocrisy, Immigration, Mexican State Colonization Law of March 24, Mexico, Slavery, Texas

Eating Like John Adams for a Day

Interesting fare.

Sunday, March 5, 1775. The Boston Massacre.

In Boston, a young wigmaker's apprentice began a pestering British sentry about an allegedly unpaid barber bill, although the bill was paid in fact and the officer produced a receipt. Applying a universal rule about harassing people with guns being a bad idea, sort of like at Kent State many years later, a British soldier tired of the event and butted the kid was his musket.

A crowed soon gathered, somebody yelled "Fire", perhaps because Church Bells were ringing which was a fire alarm, and the troops fired their muskets, killing five.  This is also reminiscent of Kent State.

The troops went on to be defended in a trial by John Adams.

Last edition: 

Friday, March 3, 1775. A British ship.

Labels: 1770s, 1775, Colonial North America, Lent, press, Royal Navy, Virginia

Sunday, January 9, 1825. The "Corrupt Bargain".

Henry Clay and John Adams had a meeting which resulted in Jacksonians accusing them of reaching a deal in which Clay would support Adams in exchange for a cabinet position, presumably Secretary of State.

The accusation was without evidence.

Last edition:

Thursday, December 2, 1824. Unclear results.

Labels: 1820s, 1824, 1824 Election, Politics

Thursday, September 22, 1774. ""it always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have."

 Abagail Adams.

:Last edition:

Saturday, September 17, 1774. Congress adopts the Suffolk Resolves.

1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, First Continental Congress, Suffolk Resolves

Thursday, August 4, 1774. A letter from Adams.

 John Adams wrote William Tudor.

To William Tudor

Braintree August 4. 1774Dr. Sir

I have received from your Father, a Letter dated August the first, in answer to mine. It has been an high Regale to my Benevolent Feelings I assure you. I am informed in it, that the old Gentleman has not been thoughtless about his Son, and that he thinks to give him the Rent of the House at Boston 200 O.T. a year, &c &c &c. But I find the Father has not so good an opinion of the Sons Prudence as I have, and that he has a great Desire to see him locked fast to a Girl. I Should think, if I were a young Fellow, that it would not be very difficult to gratify him in this particular. He Says, should you get a Wife, agreable to yourself, your Mother and him, he should think it one of the happyest Times of his Life and Act accordingly.

From these and other Expressions, in his Letter I conclude, he Suspects you to be attached to Some young Lady or other. If this is so, you had better deal frankly with him about it, confess it, and ask his Permission to pursue your Inclination, and I dare say, whether the Lady is such as he would have chosen or not, he will acquiesce in your Choice, and contribute not ungenerously to your Advancement in Life.

However, Love is a Subject which I have nothing to do with, or ought not to have in my Correspondence with you; it is a Point of too much Delicacy.

Your Rise in the World, I have some kind of Authority, to take into Consideration. I wish it was more in my Power to assist you than it is. I am but a poor Patriot, you know, and have no Interest with the Ministry, at Home, nor here, by which I could procure you the favours of the Court. I wish your Connections with me, may not have an Influence against you.

If you will take my Advice or follow my Example, you will neither content yourself to depend upon the Smiles of Government, of a Court, or the Indulgence of a Father: But will be indebted to yourself alone for your Support. To do this, and to enjoy the Pleasure, the Pride of Independency you must devote yourself to study and Business and a rigid OEconomy. You must assume an Intrepidity and a Contempt and an Industry Superiour to all Fatigues and Discouragements.

You must mix yourself with the World and through yourself in their sight. But you must choose your Times for this with Judgement —for your Attendance at your office must be incessant.

The observation of Cicero to which I alluded the last Time I saw you, is certainly just. When Cicero was Quaestor, the Province of Lilybeum, in the Island of Sicily fell to his share by Lot. He did not receive this office, as Persons do now a days, as a Gift, or a Farm, but as a public Trust, and considered it as a Theatre, in which the Eyes of the World, were upon him;—He determined to devote himself to it, and deny himself every Pleasure, which could interfere with a laudable Discharge of it.

Sicily was the Granary of Rome, and the Quaestors Employment was to Supply Corn for the City. This year there happened a great Scarcity, so that Tully had a delicate Task to supply the Demands of the City, without pinching the Natives. He conducted with so much Address, that he exported great Quantities without being gravaminous to the Province; Shewing great Politeness to the Traders, Justice to the Merchants, Generosity to the Natives, Humanity to the Allies and in short doing good Offices for every Body: by which he conciliated the Affections and excited the Admiration of the Cicilians, who decreed greater Honours to him at his Departure, than they ever had before to any of their Governors.

He came away much pleased, as usual, with himself and his Administration, as he had Right to be: and flattered himself that all Rome was celebrating his Praises. He landed at Puteali adjoining to Baia, the chief Seat of Pleasure in Italy, and the Resort of the rich and great, for the Delights of its Situation and the Use of its Baths. Here he was egregiously mortifyed by the first Friend he met, who asked him, how long he was from Rome, and what was the News there? He answered that he came from the Provinces: from Afric, I Suppose, Says another. No from Sicily. A third Person who Stood by and had a Mind to be thought wiser than the other two, Said “did you not know that Cicero was Quaestor of Syracuse?” This Mortification did him more good he Says, than if he had received all the Compliments he expected; for it made him reflect, that “the People of Rome had dull Ears, but quick Eyes”; and that it was his Policy to keep himself always in their Sight; nor to be so solicitous how to make them hear of him, as to make them see him: So that from this Moment he resolved to Stick close to the Forum, and to live perpetually in the View of the City, nor to suffer either his Porter or his Sleep, to hinder any Mans Access to him.

You may read the Story more at large in Dr. Middletons life of this great and excellent orator, and Statesman Vol. 1. p. 65,1 a Book that I would warmly recommend to all my young Friends. Characters like Cicero, Demostheness, Sully, Caecil, and Pit, We ought to have always before our Eyes. In them We see every Thing that is great and good in Human Nature, tho we must make Allowance for some Faults.

I am your Friend,

John Adams

Last edition:

Wednesday, August 3, 1774. Connecticut chooses its delegates to the First Continental Congress.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, Connecticut, First Continental Congress, Politics